back to index2019-03-20: Wed Bible Study Lesson 9
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Heavenly Father, we are gathered here together to continue to study your word. I pray for 00:00:12.300 |
insights, Lord God, and diligence. Help us to recognize the importance of knowing your 00:00:18.660 |
word that we do not just coast along from week to week, and not simply to depend on 00:00:26.560 |
others, but learning how to come to your word, Lord God, and to hear from you directly. We 00:00:32.240 |
pray for your grace, we pray for your Holy Spirit to lead and guide us. In Jesus' name 00:00:35.400 |
we pray, amen. Alright, so as you probably have noticed that there is a major transition 00:00:41.480 |
that takes place between chapter 2 and chapter 3. Can somebody tell me what that is? We mentioned 00:00:50.440 |
it in the overview study. What is the transition that took place between chapter 2 and chapter 00:00:59.840 |
3? Take a guess from what you've seen. Or maybe you remember from our introduction study. 00:01:18.720 |
Chapter entering into the imperatives. So chapter 1 and 2 predominantly was indicative, 00:01:26.320 |
basically describing what happened, who he is, who we are in light of that. So if you 00:01:31.320 |
look at chapter 3 and 4, it's imperatives of therefore you should do this, therefore 00:01:36.360 |
this is what you ought to do. So predominant, it doesn't mean every single verse is like 00:01:40.000 |
that, but it's indicative, this is why you should do what you should be doing, and this 00:01:44.400 |
is what you should be doing. Right? Is that just in this book? No. Much of the New Testament 00:01:49.760 |
is organized exactly in that way. Right? It begins by saying this is what has happened, 00:01:54.400 |
this is what Jesus has done, this is who he is, therefore this is what you ought to do. 00:01:59.680 |
Okay? So that's a big transition that's taking place in chapter 3 and 4. So we've been studying 00:02:04.120 |
a lot about the gospel, and then now we're going to be talking about the implications 00:02:08.700 |
of the gospel. Okay? So before we jump into the text itself, I wanted to introduce a couple 00:02:13.640 |
of study tools. Now, obviously this is not outdated, but the avenue in which you access 00:02:24.520 |
this is definitely outdated. So a long time ago when I used to prepare sermons and do 00:02:29.960 |
Bible study, I would have to get maybe about five or six of these reference books, and 00:02:35.520 |
again, I didn't actually own them. I had to go to the library, and then I had to get all 00:02:42.400 |
these, and stack it up, and get the different commentaries, and then as I'm studying, if 00:02:46.120 |
I have a question, I would open this up, jot the notes down, and then open the other one 00:02:49.800 |
up, and jot the notes down. All of this stuff is on either online, or how many of you have 00:02:57.400 |
a Bible program on your computer? Not internet, but Bible program. Okay, a few of you. If 00:03:06.040 |
you don't have a Bible program, I know that you can go to the internet, but it is so much 00:03:10.960 |
more easier, because it just goes much faster, and there's so much more that you can access. 00:03:18.600 |
If you have about $100, and you want to invest in a material to help you study the Bible, 00:03:30.680 |
there's nothing that will help you more than investing in a Bible program. Now, if you 00:03:35.400 |
have questions about which Bible program, there's one I use, but that's not the most 00:03:38.760 |
popular one, and then there's ones that are used by pastors, and professors, and sometimes 00:03:43.720 |
it's too complicated, but there's mid-grade ones, right? Especially, how many of you use 00:03:47.760 |
Mac? Really? How many of you use Mac? Okay, if you use Mac, Accordance is a good one that 00:03:59.560 |
you could use, but I'm going to, I wanted to bring my computer, but I didn't today. 00:04:04.760 |
One of these days, I'm going to show you what I use, and it's very, very basic, but it saves 00:04:10.280 |
me a ton of time. I wanted to introduce to you two reference books. One is Divine Complete 00:04:16.640 |
Expository Dictionary, right? So, years ago, they put together a reference book, where 00:04:25.080 |
basically with definitions of all the words, key words that are used in the Bible, and 00:04:30.600 |
they put definitions on it, and it's linked to a strong number, so they have a number 00:04:35.140 |
for every single word that is used in the Bible, and then if you look up that number, 00:04:39.280 |
they'll give you the definition of that, where that word is used, how many times it's used, 00:04:44.400 |
and how they understood it, in what context, okay? So, this is the book for that, and this 00:04:50.280 |
has been around for a long time, but a lot of people who study the Bible on a regular 00:04:55.760 |
basis, this is what they reference, okay? So, this is one of them, the Vines Dictionary, 00:05:01.160 |
okay? Again, you can get one of these, and have it in your library, and carry it around 00:05:06.800 |
in your backpack, and open it up, and go to do that, but if you have a Bible program, 00:05:11.600 |
all you have to do is just download this onto the Bible program, right? It's like 15 bucks, 00:05:16.360 |
20 bucks, and then whenever you have a question on a word, you just click it, and this will 00:05:20.000 |
come up, okay? The other one, this is probably what I use on a week-to-week basis more than 00:05:27.200 |
any other reference book. Every sermon, every Bible study, every time I study the Bible, 00:05:33.440 |
I reference this, and basically what this is, is gives you key cross-references, okay? 00:05:39.800 |
I know that most of your Bibles have something in the middle, and let's say if you have a 00:05:44.440 |
really important verse, and it'll give you like one or two verses that are related to 00:05:48.920 |
that verse, this goes through, like let's say if you were looking at John 3, 16, "For 00:05:56.200 |
God so loved the world," so, you know, where in other parts of the Bible is that phrase 00:06:01.520 |
used, "God and love," and it'll give you all the references where God's love is mentioned 00:06:07.000 |
in the Bible. Now, do you think that would be useful? Extremely useful, right? And so, 00:06:13.520 |
instead of just giving you two verses, or one or two verses for the verse, it'll break 00:06:17.160 |
down every phrase, every thought, and it'll list down all the verses, okay? It's not 100% 00:06:25.680 |
complete, but it's thorough enough where if you are seriously studying the Bible, this 00:06:30.440 |
is going to help you tremendously, okay? So, this, again, if you bought this and you carry 00:06:37.120 |
this around, imagine carrying this thing around every time you study the Bible, but if you 00:06:40.560 |
have a good Bible program, all you have to do is purchase this and download it, okay? 00:06:44.560 |
So basically, it's half the cost of annual Disneyland Pass, so if you invest in this, 00:06:52.400 |
right, in the Bible program, you can easily download it and have eternal value instead 00:06:56.980 |
of earthly things, okay? So, seek eternal things instead of the earthly things, all 00:07:02.920 |
right? So, this is the Vines, this is the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, Treasury 00:07:12.600 |
of Scripture Knowledge, okay? Revise and expand it. I didn't know, but Esther told me that 00:07:22.080 |
she was listening to MacArthur, and MacArthur said that this is one reference book that 00:07:25.560 |
he uses more than any other reference book, okay? If that helps. I don't care what Pastor 00:07:33.520 |
Peter says, okay? But John McIler said it, so, okay? All right, so again, this would 00:07:41.320 |
be tremendously helpful. If you're digging and you really want to study the Bible, this 00:07:46.040 |
and this is highly recommended. It'll take your Bible study to another level, okay? I'm 00:07:54.160 |
just going to leave it up here. If you want to, like, jot it down or take a picture of 00:07:57.080 |
it, okay, for reference, I'll leave it up here. Okay. All right, so let's look at the 00:08:07.040 |
text. Remember, the very first thing that we do every week is to, is for sentence structure 00:08:13.320 |
outline, right? If you look at it, what are the key words or phrases or ideas that are 00:08:21.560 |
repeated in this text? Okay, things above. I actually highlighted it for you. I highlighted 00:08:34.400 |
it and I was going to de-highlight it and I forgot, okay? Christ. How'd you get that? 00:08:43.040 |
All right, so Christ is the ongoing theme. Obviously, the whole New Testament, Christ 00:08:48.280 |
is the ongoing theme, but in this verse, in these verses, right, the outline, raised with 00:08:56.760 |
Christ, right, to seek where Christ is, we are hidden with Christ, Christ is our life, 00:09:07.520 |
we will be revealed with Christ, right? So the whole theme or the outline of these four 00:09:14.480 |
verses is about our relationship with Christ and how that determines our life, okay? So 00:09:21.960 |
the outline of what we're looking at today is, verse one, we are raised with Christ, 00:09:27.480 |
right? Two, seek where Christ is. Three, we are hidden with Christ. Four, our life is 00:09:39.120 |
in Christ. Five, we are, we will be revealed with Christ. Okay, so if I was to give a sermon, 00:09:45.320 |
it'd be a five-point sermon, right, on this. So that's kind of the outline of how we're 00:09:51.760 |
going to follow, and the reason why I didn't, all I did was give you the verses, because 00:09:55.800 |
I want you to put the notes directly into the verses. Instead of, instead of putting 00:09:59.760 |
the notes on the side, I want you to see where it's coming from. Make circles and then draw 00:10:03.960 |
lines and then say, this is where the insights are coming from, okay? So that when you're 00:10:08.480 |
studying the Bible, you would do the same thing, okay? All right, so, like I said, the 00:10:14.840 |
outline is our relation to Christ and how does that affect what we do. So one is, if 00:10:23.880 |
you have been raised with Christ, well, even before we get there, he says, therefore, therefore 00:10:29.480 |
is obviously connecting us to the previous verse. And what was the main theme of the 00:10:33.280 |
previous passage in chapter two? What was he speaking against? Legalism, right? They 00:10:42.040 |
were all holding on to the Judaistic ways and he says that all of these things have 00:10:49.240 |
no value in what? Taming the flesh, right? So basically he says, don't do this. That's 00:10:56.800 |
how he ended chapter two. And then he says, but do this. So considering that none of these 00:11:02.080 |
things that you're doing, don't touch, don't eat, don't do this, they have no value in 00:11:07.880 |
absolute, in changing who you are, right? Therefore, do this. And then so basically 00:11:13.560 |
what he's saying, if you connect what he is saying, these things don't have any power 00:11:17.840 |
over you. So therefore, what? Right? The only power that you're going to have is when you're 00:11:23.680 |
connected to Christ. You being self-disciplined and saying, I'm not going to do this, I'm 00:11:29.440 |
not going to go here, in and of itself, you just, you could be as disciplined as possible, 00:11:34.600 |
but there's no interchange going on. You just happen to be a disciplined person. You just 00:11:38.760 |
happen to be a smart person. You just happen to like to study the Bible. In and of itself, 00:11:43.520 |
there's no transformation going on. True transformation happens when we are connected to Christ, right? 00:11:48.780 |
And that's what he's basically saying in chapter three. And he leads us, and that's basically 00:11:54.040 |
the outline. One of the questions that came in is why does he say he was raised with Christ, 00:11:59.360 |
right? Instead of died with Christ. Because the previous chapter, right, mentions it over 00:12:04.960 |
and over again that we were crucified with Christ. So you have to see it in the context 00:12:07.980 |
of the whole letter. So one of the things that I caution you, even though we're only 00:12:12.400 |
studying section at a time, always, always reread what you read before. Okay? Because 00:12:19.000 |
you have to understand it in context. If you don't understand the context, you're going 00:12:23.160 |
to draw out things that he's not talking about. Right? So over and over again, what is the 00:12:27.920 |
most important thing in interpretation? Context, context, context. So even though we're only 00:12:34.840 |
starting four verses, you have to read how did he get to chapter three, right? Because 00:12:41.040 |
therefore connects us to everything that he's been saying up to this point. So he says, 00:12:45.760 |
if you have been raised with Christ, right? Another question came in is why did he say 00:12:49.160 |
if, not since? Part of the reason why he says if is because he's challenging this church 00:12:57.960 |
that keeps drifting. Right? Because the early church kept on having problems and the whole 00:13:03.400 |
book of Hebrews about that. People are drifting back to what they know. Self-righteousness. 00:13:08.440 |
Right? So basically he's challenging them. If you've been raised with Christ, if you're 00:13:14.080 |
truly united with Christ, there's no power in that. Right? You need to change your mindset 00:13:21.800 |
and seek the things that are above. So he says, if you've been raised with Christ, right? 00:13:27.600 |
And the imperative here is keep seeking the things that are above. Right? If you've been 00:13:32.840 |
united with Christ. Now, what does it mean to be raised with Christ? Right? We talked 00:13:40.020 |
about that in baptism. When you're baptized, you're united with Christ in his death. And 00:13:45.760 |
it's clear what it means to be united with his death. Our old self is dead. Whatever 00:13:51.360 |
ambition that you had, if you had a plan of life and you met Christ, all of that is to 00:13:57.160 |
be crucified with Christ. And any part of that that we do not crucify is going to continue 00:14:02.080 |
to cause problems in your life. Right? Any part of your life that you resist the surrender 00:14:08.560 |
to God will over and over and over again in your life is going to be a source of headache 00:14:13.740 |
and problem. Right? Because God is not going to ever, if you are his child, God is not 00:14:20.880 |
going to ever say, you know what? That part of your life, since you're so stubborn, I'm 00:14:26.780 |
just going to let it go. Right? I'm just going to let it go. So that part you can have independence 00:14:32.080 |
and you can do whatever you want, but just give me this. He's king. The whole reason 00:14:37.160 |
why the world is under sin and judgment is because of this rebellion. So there's no point 00:14:46.160 |
in our Christian life in human history where God's going to just tolerate that because 00:14:49.600 |
remember God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So if he didn't tolerate the 00:14:53.240 |
old Testament, he's not going to tolerate the new Testament. So part of what it means 00:14:57.440 |
before we get, we understand being raised with Christ, that we are crucified with him. 00:15:02.760 |
Right? Then what does it mean to be raised with Christ? Right? And how does that relate 00:15:08.200 |
to, how does that relate to what he said in chapter two? Chapter two says, not doing this 00:15:14.640 |
and not touching this and not eating this. They in and of itself has no power to change 00:15:18.640 |
you. Right? Therefore, if you've been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above. 00:15:24.360 |
So what does he mean to be raised with Christ? Since there's no power in this, therefore 00:15:30.600 |
if you've been raised with Christ, seek the things above. Right? If you take the raised 00:15:35.360 |
with Christ out, right? You understand what I'm saying? If you take the raised with Christ 00:15:41.080 |
part out and he says, seek the things that are above. Couldn't that easily be another 00:15:50.240 |
religious thing that they're doing? You understand what I'm saying? Because they're saying, I'm 00:15:56.480 |
not going to do this. I'm not going to eat this. And they want to be righteous and they 00:16:00.080 |
want to, they want to, you know, be righteous by doing things and not doing things. So when 00:16:05.040 |
he says seek the things above, wouldn't that automatically cause us to say, okay, what 00:16:08.880 |
should we do? What should we not do? Right? So the key to this passage is with Christ. 00:16:17.040 |
Since therefore that in and of itself has no power, if you've been raised with Christ, 00:16:21.320 |
seek the things that are above. So the big difference is with Christ. Right? Raised with 00:16:26.820 |
Christ. So being raised with Christ isn't simply saying like, oh, I was resurrected 00:16:31.840 |
and you know, now I'm going to try to try my best to live a life that's worthy of God. 00:16:37.800 |
Something happens when we are crucified and raised with Christ that you could not do by 00:16:42.240 |
your own strength. Right? He says that in Ephesians chapter 1, 19 to 20, and what is 00:16:49.040 |
the surpassing greatness of his power toward us who believe these are in accordance with 00:16:54.040 |
the workings of the strength of his might, which he brought about in Christ when he raised 00:16:58.360 |
him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places. So he said there 00:17:03.280 |
was tremendous power that lifted Christ up, but when he was lifted and we are lifted with 00:17:08.520 |
him, what is he saying? That same power is in us. Right? So he's not just talking about 00:17:17.080 |
just having your mind and heart, just like thinking about Jesus. Right? What we did not 00:17:22.960 |
have the ability to do before we were united to Christ, he's saying now you have that power. 00:17:28.480 |
That same power that resurrected Christ is the same power that you and I have access 00:17:32.120 |
to. Does that make sense? Because without that union with Christ and his death and resurrection, 00:17:38.720 |
it just becomes another form of legalism. Right? And isn't that exactly how it feels? 00:17:47.400 |
If you're trying really hard to do quiet time and not to do bad things and not to sin and 00:17:52.720 |
you don't have affection for Christ and you don't feel this union with Christ, doesn't 00:17:57.160 |
it just feel like you're doing more stuff? Right? What's the difference? What's the difference 00:18:04.440 |
between the Pharisees trying to keep the Sabbath holy versus Christians trying to do quiet 00:18:08.480 |
time? What's the difference? The key is with Christ. Right? Resurrected with Christ. Right? 00:18:17.920 |
So the moment we drift away from Christ, you have no power. The only power that you and 00:18:23.440 |
I have is the same power that the Pharisees had. To be disciplined. Right? To say the 00:18:30.840 |
right things, to do the right things. But there's no interchange going on. So he says, 00:18:36.360 |
"Seek." Right? If you've been raised with Christ, with the power he's given you, seek 00:18:41.180 |
the things that are above. Right? And that's in Matthew 7, 7, "Ask and it will be given 00:18:47.260 |
to you. Seek and you will find and knock and it will be opened to you." So if you've been 00:18:54.200 |
resurrected with Christ and you have this union with Christ and you just sit there and 00:18:59.280 |
do nothing, what happens? If you have this resurrected power that justified your sins 00:19:10.100 |
and now you're united with Christ in his death and resurrection and you sit there and do 00:19:14.760 |
nothing, what happens? Nothing. Nothing happens. Right? Just because your car is filled with 00:19:25.400 |
gas, if you don't go there and drive that car, it's useless. Right? So God has given 00:19:32.560 |
us in our union with Christ in his death and resurrection, he has given us the power that 00:19:37.040 |
we didn't have before. So he said, "If you have that, if you've been resurrected with 00:19:41.360 |
Christ, seek the things that are above." Right? Jeremiah 29, 13. "Seek, seek me and you will 00:19:50.160 |
find me if you seek me with," what? "All your heart." Right? He has given, given us, right, 00:19:59.760 |
the resources. And what is the primary resource that we have that they didn't have, that the 00:20:05.520 |
Jews didn't have, that we have now? Yes. Okay. The Holy Spirit. There is no Christian who 00:20:13.480 |
does not have the Holy Spirit. Right? There's not a single Christian, if you are a genuine 00:20:19.520 |
Christian, if you've been raised with Christ, who does not have the Holy Spirit. And that's 00:20:23.880 |
why he says, "If you've been raised with Christ, if you're united with him in his death and 00:20:27.080 |
resurrection, with that, seek." Right? "Seek the things that are above." John 6, 26, 27. 00:20:32.600 |
"Jesus answered them and said, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me, not because you 00:20:37.120 |
saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled." In other words, they're 00:20:41.160 |
not seeking Christ. They're thinking the gift that Christ was going to give. They weren't 00:20:45.000 |
seeking him. He corrects them, "Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food 00:20:49.200 |
which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him, the Father, 00:20:53.640 |
God has set his seal." Right? God has given them, right, maybe not them, but God has given 00:21:01.080 |
us the Holy Spirit, and we're using the Holy Spirit for what purpose? Right? If we use 00:21:06.960 |
the Holy Spirit to seek earthly things, what's going to happen? We're going to be frustrated. 00:21:11.760 |
Right? So, look at the content of our prayer. How much of the content of your prayer is 00:21:18.000 |
for a better job? How much of the content of your prayer is for health? How much of 00:21:23.960 |
the content of your prayer is for certain things to work out? Right? Now, does it mean 00:21:31.440 |
that God doesn't want us to pray for none of that? But how much of our pursuit is really 00:21:37.600 |
earthly things in Jesus' name? How much of our pleading and seeking and praying is about 00:21:45.360 |
things that have eternal value for lost souls, for his glory, right, building up of the church? 00:21:51.640 |
Right? So, he says, "If the Holy Spirit's been given to us, the purpose of the Holy 00:21:56.440 |
Spirit is for us to have the power to seek eternal things, to bring us to God." Right? 00:22:03.120 |
Which I mentioned before, when the Holy Spirit is groaning, what do you think it's groaning 00:22:07.440 |
for? It's not groaning for us to have, you know, the best investments and have nice retirement 00:22:14.280 |
and get a better job or, you know, have better health. And again, none of these things are 00:22:19.160 |
things that God says you shouldn't pray. You should pray, right? But how much of it is 00:22:25.040 |
that and how much of it is really seeking the things that are above? So, if you've been 00:22:29.240 |
raised with Christ, seek the things that are above. Number two, where Christ is seated 00:22:33.520 |
at the right hand of God. Right? Set your mind to the things that are above because 00:22:39.480 |
that's where Christ is. We don't think about heaven because if you go to heaven, you're 00:22:46.800 |
going to get the things that you didn't get here. Right? You can get a mansion here, so 00:22:51.240 |
we're going to get a mansion there. Right? If you're short, you get to be tall. Right? 00:22:57.840 |
Whatever it is that your desire is, it's not go to heaven and all your, you know, fleshly 00:23:05.880 |
desires will be fulfilled. And that's what the world thinks heaven is. Right? He says 00:23:10.200 |
to seek the things that are above because why? Because that's where Christ is. So, if 00:23:15.760 |
you're not united with Christ, a non-Christian cannot desire heaven. The heaven he desires 00:23:20.440 |
is a heaven that he created in his own mind. It is not a heaven that we know of scripture. 00:23:25.560 |
Right? A non-Christian would never desire heaven. Not the heaven of the Bible because 00:23:32.720 |
the primary reason heaven is heaven is because this is where Christ is. Right? So, if you've 00:23:38.800 |
been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right 00:23:43.960 |
hand. Set your mind on the things that are above. So, when he says set your mind on the 00:23:48.080 |
things that are above, typically we think of mind as what? Our intellect. Right? That's 00:23:56.520 |
not how the Bible uses it. In that culture, again, this is why the context is so important. 00:24:01.680 |
This is why when you get one of these, right? For the low cost of $15.95. Right? If you 00:24:10.240 |
get one of these and you look up that word mind, it will give you, like, your intellect 00:24:16.840 |
is part of it. But the mind is used in the Bible to refer to the mind, affection, and 00:24:23.760 |
the will. Right? I mentioned many times in sermons and Bible study, when the Bible talks 00:24:29.160 |
about heart, we usually primarily use it to describe what? Emotion. Remember? Those of 00:24:36.960 |
you guys who pay attention during sermons. Right? When the Bible talks about heart, what 00:24:41.600 |
is that in reference to? It's not just emotions. Huh? Volition. Yeah, part of it. Okay, that's 00:24:54.760 |
part of it. Basically, when the Bible talks about heart, it's in reference to your whole 00:24:59.640 |
being. All of you. It's equivalent to for us to saying, like, put your soul into it. 00:25:06.480 |
Right? The essence of who you are. So it's not just limited to heart. So volition, it's 00:25:11.400 |
obviously is included in that. So in the Bible, it's kind of reversed. Because when he says 00:25:18.160 |
mind, it encompasses the idea of affection. And not just intellect. Right? So when you 00:25:25.600 |
understand that, think about Romans chapter 12 too. Do not be conformed to this world, 00:25:32.400 |
but be transformed by what? Reading of your mind. So if you understand the word mind, 00:25:38.480 |
in our context, you only think that God is trying to get you to think differently. Right? 00:25:46.240 |
Not to conform to this world, but to change your thinking. That is not how the word mind 00:25:52.520 |
is understood. The word mind there is not just talking about thinking, but your affection 00:25:57.320 |
and your will. All of that is included in Romans chapter 12. So you can have good thinking 00:26:04.480 |
and poor affection and still be like the world. Right? So when God is calling us to be transformed, 00:26:13.720 |
he's not only calling us to be transformed in the way that we think. He's causing us 00:26:18.040 |
to transform in the things that we have affection for. Right? So that's why he says, if you've 00:26:26.080 |
been raised to Christ, seek the things that are above. Because this is where Christ is, 00:26:29.520 |
at the right hand of God. Set your mind, your affection, your will, on the things that are 00:26:34.520 |
above and not on the things that are on earth. Okay? To your whole being. He's not just thinking 00:26:41.400 |
about like, hey, just memorize scripture. Why do you memorize scripture? If memorization 00:26:46.320 |
of scripture is just keeping it in your head, what will you do with that? Right? You'll 00:26:53.520 |
probably catch me when I quote it wrong. Right? When somebody else misquotes it, it's like, 00:27:00.760 |
that's not the right way to say that. Right? The purpose of Bible memorization is for the 00:27:06.480 |
purpose of what? Meditating. Right? Allow the word of God in your mind to meditate on 00:27:12.280 |
it. Right? So that you would not turn from it to the left or to the right. That's the 00:27:15.960 |
purpose of Bible memorization. It's not just so that your mind would be fresh. Right? So 00:27:23.600 |
thirdly, for you have died and your life is now hidden with Christ. You notice here that 00:27:30.400 |
he doesn't say hidden in Christ. What is the difference between being hidden in Christ 00:27:36.240 |
and hidden with Christ? Because it's sometimes when you see prepositions or, or, you know, 00:27:46.840 |
certain, certain words, it's not necessarily in the Greek, but this is deliberate. He says 00:27:55.480 |
it is, we are not hidden in Christ, but hidden with Christ. So what do you think the difference 00:28:01.920 |
with the, the meaning between the two? Okay. Active participation. When you say hidden 00:28:16.920 |
in Christ, with Christ. Okay. Okay. Active and inactive participation. What do you think 00:28:29.640 |
when you say we are hidden in Christ? Is Christ hidden? When you say you're hidden in Christ, 00:28:41.920 |
is Christ hidden? Christ is not hidden. Right? Christ is being exalted and you are in Christ. 00:28:49.360 |
Right? So Christ is being exalted, you stand behind Christ. Right? But that's not what 00:28:56.000 |
he says. He says you are hidden with Christ. So when he says you are hidden with Christ, 00:29:03.480 |
is Christ hidden too? Christ is hidden too. You see the difference between in and with? 00:29:12.000 |
Right? So what does he mean that you are hidden with Christ? What does that mean? Huh? Something 00:29:33.120 |
died? I didn't hear the rest. Huh? We died with him. Okay. Who is Christ hidden to? Not 00:29:46.960 |
to us. Right? Those who are perishing. Right? The Bible says the God of this age has blinded 00:29:55.360 |
the minds of the unbelievers so that they do not see the glory of the gospel of Jesus 00:29:59.160 |
Christ. It is foolishness to them. Right? So why would he say that? Don't seek the things 00:30:06.000 |
that are above. Seek where Christ is. Where is Christ? He doesn't, again, of course Christ 00:30:12.120 |
is omnipresent, the Lord is with you to the end of the age, but here he says seek the 00:30:17.060 |
things that are above because that's where he is. So as he is hidden, as he is not here, 00:30:23.440 |
you along with him, right, are hidden with Christ. I think the importance of that, of 00:30:35.280 |
the hidden with and in is, he's talking about a earthly ambition. Earthly ambition to seek 00:30:43.080 |
the things that are earthly. Right? But Christ, even Christ is hidden. Meaning, Jesus says 00:30:49.640 |
they're not going to know you because they didn't know me. Right? They're not going to 00:30:53.840 |
honor you because they didn't honor me. And so if you seek honor and glory, right, while 00:31:00.600 |
you are united with Christ, you're going the opposite direction. You're not with Christ. 00:31:06.080 |
If you are with Christ, you're not going to be glorified by people who don't glorify Christ. 00:31:14.820 |
If people say, "I hate Jesus, but I love you." Right? I think Jesus is a monster, but you're 00:31:21.600 |
a good person. Right? There's something that went wrong with your life. Right? Either you're 00:31:29.720 |
not truly united with Christ, but you live in a compromised life. So basically he's saying, 00:31:35.880 |
if you seek the things that are on earth and not to seek where God is, Christ, he himself 00:31:40.680 |
is hidden in this world. He is not honored. Right? So your life, our life is hidden with 00:31:46.280 |
Christ as Christ is hidden to those who are perishing. So if you try to be glorified and 00:31:51.320 |
become somebody in this world outside of Christ, right, you're going the opposite direction. 00:31:56.960 |
How can you be glorified beyond your master? How can you be loved by people who hate our 00:32:02.520 |
master? Right? If I'm married to Esther and somebody just cannot stand her, it's probably 00:32:11.160 |
the other way. Right? If I'm married with her and somebody cannot stand me and they 00:32:15.720 |
can't stand to be in my presence, they're not going to be able to be with her either. 00:32:20.520 |
Right? So if we're truly united with Christ, and that's why he says, "If you died with 00:32:29.000 |
him, you have been hidden with Christ." Right? In other words, we are crucified with Christ. 00:32:35.640 |
We're hidden with Christ. Number four, so when Christ, who is your life, not life in 00:32:42.880 |
this world, but life that is found in Christ, when he appears, what's going to happen? You 00:32:50.400 |
will also appear with him in glory. In other words, the glory that you seek in this world, 00:32:57.080 |
you will only see that when he is glorified, because we're united with him. When he is 00:33:04.400 |
loved, you will be loved. When he is honored, you will be honored. Does that make sense? 00:33:12.120 |
That's how closely united we are with Christ. We are united with him in his death, united 00:33:16.400 |
with his resurrected life, we have become one. Right? In essence, the Holy Spirit is 00:33:21.320 |
in us. The same reason why they hate Jesus will be the same reason why they would hate 00:33:27.000 |
us. So trying to be a cool Christian, right, cool in the eyes of the world, but to be holy 00:33:34.600 |
in the eyes of God is an oxymoron. Right? Whatever they hate about Jesus, they will 00:33:40.400 |
hate about us. What do they love about Jesus, they will love us for. You understand what 00:33:50.240 |
he is saying? So this seeking of this world, right, desiring glory in this world, to be 00:33:58.600 |
somebody in this world, goes contrary to be united with Christ. Right? He said when Christ, 00:34:06.560 |
who is your life, is revealed. If you have truly been resurrected with Christ, your life 00:34:13.040 |
is now in Christ. He is your life. Right? Not whatever it is that we get attracted to, 00:34:21.280 |
whatever it is that we fantasize about having one day or doing one day. Right? He said that's 00:34:27.080 |
not where life is. And if you are a Christian, either you embrace that and you have wisdom 00:34:33.760 |
and you live toward that, or if you resist that, right, if you're a child of God, you're 00:34:40.680 |
going to find at the end of that just frustration, heartache, because God is going to discipline 00:34:46.880 |
you. If you're a child of God, God will discipline you because he's trying to give you himself, 00:34:54.720 |
and you're running the opposite direction. Right? If you're not a child of God, running 00:35:01.160 |
toward Christ would only frustrate you, because that's not where your life is. Right? So why 00:35:09.280 |
do we come? There's only two reasons why people would come to church and sit through what 00:35:17.040 |
seemingly will seem like a boring Bible study. I remember somebody I met a couple years ago, 00:35:26.760 |
and they found out that we were going through Isaiah, and he listened to some of the lectures 00:35:31.600 |
in Isaiah, and I remember I sat down with him, and the first thing he asked me is like, 00:35:35.800 |
"Do people come to this?" That's what he said. Like, "They actually come to this?" And I 00:35:41.800 |
said, "Come, come, take a look." Right? He said, "Yeah, I mean, a lot of people are not 00:35:46.920 |
going to be interested in that. They're going to come, and then just because the length 00:35:51.080 |
of the sermon, or it's a little bit difficult, you know, say, 'Oh, these people take the 00:35:55.520 |
Bible too seriously,' and that's enough to drive people away." But if you've tasted Christ 00:36:01.340 |
in the Scripture, you can't do anything else. Right? If your eyes have been opened, nothing 00:36:07.720 |
compares. So either you're willing to go through this boring lecture, right, because you just 00:36:16.240 |
love your friends. Right? Football is your life, and this is the only place you can play 00:36:21.200 |
football. Right? Just community, just a place where you belong. That's a huge pool. Right? 00:36:30.480 |
That's where your friend is. That's where your community is. And a lot of people jump 00:36:33.140 |
through the hoops and do things that they don't believe just to have a community that 00:36:37.620 |
they belong to. Either you're coming to the church for that reason, which a lot of people 00:36:43.180 |
do, or you're coming to Christ because you've tasted the goodness of God and nothing can 00:36:49.660 |
replace it. Right? It's one or the other. And so he's saying, "When Christ, who is your 00:36:55.980 |
life, if Christ is your life, don't try to seek life here, because life is not here." 00:37:03.020 |
Right? That's the whole reason why our sins were justified. That's the whole reason why 00:37:06.780 |
we want to study the Bible. Right? There's nothing I am saying that's so riveting because 00:37:13.540 |
it's coming out of my mouth. It's because you've tasted, you've tasted the goodness 00:37:19.500 |
of God and you want more. Right? Finally, he says, "Then when he appears, you also will 00:37:27.100 |
be revealed with him in glory." Right? So for now, right, he's not saying like just 00:37:35.260 |
suppress everything. He says, "No." You're pursuing life. Like the world is pursuing 00:37:40.620 |
life in places where life is not found. But if you found life in Christ, right, right 00:37:47.460 |
now we're hidden to the rest of this world. So don't try to be glorified. Don't try to 00:37:52.860 |
get attention. Don't try to be honored. Don't try because this is not our home. When Christ 00:37:57.580 |
comes and he is glorified, right, and he is exalted, he is worshipped, he said, "We will 00:38:03.260 |
be glorified with him." Right? Everything that this world tempts us with, everything 00:38:09.260 |
that we think like, "Oh man, I would just rather have it now." Right? All of that stuff. 00:38:14.400 |
He says, "Don't seek the earthly things. Seek things that are above when he comes." 00:38:18.380 |
Philippians 3, 20 to 21. "For our citizenship is in heaven from which also we eagerly wait 00:38:24.080 |
for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into 00:38:27.920 |
conformity with the body of his glory by the exertion of the power that he has even to 00:38:33.900 |
subject all things to himself." Right? We will be transformed. Whatever you don't like 00:38:39.880 |
about your body, it's going to be transformed. Right? Second Thessalonians 1, 10 through 00:38:45.180 |
12. "When he comes to be glorified in his saints on that day and to be marveled at among 00:38:50.020 |
all who have believed, for our testimony to you was believed." Right? So I'm talking to 00:38:57.220 |
those of you who are here who know what I'm talking about. Even if you've drifted, right? 00:39:03.960 |
Even if your heart feels like it's become callous for a while, if you've tasted the 00:39:10.100 |
goodness of God, even if it was a while back, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Right? 00:39:17.120 |
You know exactly what I'm talking about. One day he's going to come. And what you've tasted 00:39:25.560 |
was just a little. Right? He tasted just enough so that you would keep coming to him. Right? 00:39:33.180 |
You've seen just enough to know that that's what you want. Right? That's the difference 00:39:38.940 |
between a Christian and a non-Christian. A non-Christian will jump through the hoops 00:39:44.000 |
to belong in a church. But a genuine Christian who's tasted the goodness of God will never 00:39:49.880 |
be satisfied unless he is seeking the Lord. Right? That's why we're here. And that's why 00:39:56.880 |
Paul is saying this external thing of like, "I'm going to be disciplined. I'm going to 00:40:00.440 |
do this," in and of itself doesn't have any power to transform us until we are united 00:40:04.520 |
with Christ. United with Christ in his resurrection. Right? We understand that we are hidden with 00:40:09.760 |
Christ. We understand that he is our life. And then we are longing for him to come so 00:40:14.160 |
that we may find his true life in him. Until there is this union with Christ, all other 00:40:18.660 |
things is just legalism. Right? Okay. So the questions are in the bottom. I forgot where 00:40:38.820 |
the questions are. Okay. Well, I don't have it. Can you just put up the questions? Okay. 00:40:46.580 |
Let me pray first and then I'll let you guys go get into your groups. Heavenly Father, 00:40:55.740 |
I pray for your blessing upon our small group. And I know that even in this room we have 00:41:01.820 |
varying degrees of maturity. Some people who have been here for a long time, people who 00:41:06.940 |
have been a Christian for decades, and some who are just entering in, just trying to figure 00:41:12.500 |
out what it means to be a follower of Christ. I pray, Father God, that the small group times 00:41:18.100 |
will be a blessing. And whether they feel a bit lost in the studies or excited and this 00:41:25.980 |
is nothing new to them and they're continuing to dig and to find, I pray, Father God, that 00:41:32.460 |
you would help us to continue to taste the goodness of Christ. That our longing, our 00:41:38.300 |
affection, our desire, our mind, our strength, our will, all of it, Lord God, would long 00:41:43.100 |
for Christ and Christ alone. So I pray that your Holy Spirit would lead and guide the 00:41:47.980 |
discussions. And I pray for those who are hurting, Lord God, that they would find comfort. 00:41:53.520 |
I pray for those who are struggling, Lord, that they would find their way. I pray that 00:41:58.340 |
those who are strong, that you'd open their eyes to those who are around them who are 00:42:02.460 |
in need of them. Unite us together, Lord God, and help us to build a church that honors 00:42:07.820 |
and glorifies Christ. We long to see you one day. Help us to live toward that end.