Gooding, David: 2 - The Cosmic Christ and You

A very good evening to you, and we are currently studying certain themes in the epistle of Paul to the Colossians. And tonight we can launch ourselves on our study by reading some verses beginning in chapter one. And we take up our reading there at verse nine which says as follows: For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray and make request for you, that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, to walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all power according to the might of his glory unto all patience and long suffering with joy, giving thanks unto the Father, who made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance in the sa- of the saints in light, who delivered us out of the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son. Verse uh twenty four: Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church, whereof I was made a minister according to the dispensation of God, which was given me to you, Ward, to fulfill the word of God, even the mystery which has been hid from all ages and generations, but now has it been made manifest to his saints, to whom God was pleased to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, whom we proclaim, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ. Whereunto I labor also, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily. For I would have you know how greatly I strive for you, and for as me- and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, that they may know the mystery of God, even Christ, in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden. This I say, that no one may delude you with persuasiveness of speech. For though I am absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. And may God give us good understanding of his holy word. Now, last night, when we came to the end of our study, we were engaged in contemplating the topic of our Christian hope. We had considered in some detail the hope that laid up for us in the heavens. And when we ended the study, we were thinking of the hope of the gospel. Tonight, our main task will be to proceed from that, to consider the final element in our hope as it is given us here in Colossians chapter one, which is the hope of glory. But before we proceed to that, we have some unfinished business hanging over from last night that we must now turn to complete. The hope of the gospel that we were considering then is the hope that one day our blessed Lord Jesus Christ will present us before the Father without blemish and without charge. But as we came to the end, we noticed that that great hope is conditional upon an if. Verse twenty three has it thus, if so be that you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached in all creation under heaven, whereof I, Paul, was made a minister. And because that hope is so tremendous, we are obliged, are we not, for a moment to stand still and consider why Paul feels it necessary to add the condition, if so be that you continue in the faith. I want immediately to suggest to you that the if that Paul uses is a genuine if. We should notice at once what the if is concerned with. It is if you continue in the faith. We only have to put the opposite to make ourselves see quite clearly the importance of the if. What is a man or woman who does not continue in the faith? Scholars will disagree among themselves as whether you should translate the words continue in the faith or simply continue in faith. Continue in the faith would mean continuing steadfast in our belief of the fundamental doctrines of the Christian gospel. The faith, the body of doctrine. Continuing in faith would mean continuing personally to believe. Actually, we may not decide the matter here at this moment, because those two alternatives are two sides of the one and the same coin. In order to continue in the faith, you must, of course, maintain your personal faith. Now here, of course, ideas will immediately come to our mind, such as what is the preacher going to say now, and doesn't he believe in the eternal security of the believer? So let me at once say, I believe in the eternal security of the believer with all my heart, one hundred and five percent. So let there be no doubt on that score, however confused my explanations are hereafter. But you see, if we talk about the eternal security of the believer, we are begging a very big question, are we not? Of course the Bible says that every believer is eternally secure. He who believes on the Son has everlasting life. Of course the believer is eternally secure. But what, may I ask, does Holy Scripture say on the more fundamental matter? Is it true that once you are a believer, you automatically remain a believer forever? Or can a believer cease to believe? You see, while scripture assures all believers that they have eternal life, there is no scripture known to me from Genesis to the Revelation that says as follows, that the person who once believed has everlasting life, and if that person ceases to believe thereafter, never mind, he or she still has eternal life, whether they believe or not. I haven't read it, even if it is in scripture. And obviously it couldn't be in scripture, could it? There can be no salvation for those who do not believe. What then says Holy Scripture on the matter? Christ is going to present us before the Father without charge, if we continue in the faith. I want to say at once, therefore, that it seems to me it is the mark of the true believer that they do continue. It is the evidence, if you like, that they have eternal life, that they do continue. We must here separate in our minds, mustn't we, the difference between the condition of having eternal life and the evidence of having eternal life. A little baby doesn't get its life by crying, does it? But it's a bad thing if a newborn babe doesn't start crying. That's a triumphant moment, is it, isn't it, mother? When the midwife gets or the doctor gets the newborn babe and holds it up by its ankles and spanks it a wallop on the back, and the little brat gives out an inordinate yell. Hurrah, they say, the babe is alive. Look how it has cried, you see. The crying is not the means by which it got life. It is the evidence, however, that it, uh, has life. And if a mother went upstairs one day to the cot and saw her babe lying as sinisterly still and touched it and it was cold, she might well cry and push the babe and nip it and say, cry baby! Because she feared it might have suffered a cot death or something. She hopes the baby will cry to give evidence that it is alive. Of course, if the baby has died, it's no good telling it to cry. Crying won't give it life. The only way a babe would get life in those circumstances is if it could be born again, of course. So it is with the Christian life. Continuance in the faith is an evidence and a very nece- necessary evidence, that this person or that is truly a believer. You'll say the Gospel of John in chapter eight records our blessed Lord upon this topic, doesn't it? For John tells us that when he spoke these things that he had been preaching, then some of the Jews believed on him, so s- scripture says, and I mustn't contradict what Holy Scripture, uh, uh, puts. Some of them believed on him. Jesus therefore said to those Jews which had believed on him, if you continue in my word, you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. If you continue in my word, then are you really my disciples? And the truth, you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Continuance in his word, the evidence that they were genuine disciples. You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. And as he said those words, a frown came over the face of his hearers. They said, excuse us, uh, uh, what exactly did you mean by being made free? Free from what? He said, I was talking, gentlemen, about freedom from sin. You'll see everybody that continues to practice sin is a slave of sin. And I was observing, gentlemen, said he, that if you are really my disciples, you will continue in my word, and you shall get to know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. At which they became angry and told him to go and preach in the next street and asked him who had invited him to come and preach here. Who did he think they were? Go and preach to the prostitutes, they said, you'll say. We'll have you know that we are children of Abraham ourselves. Indeed, we're children of God. Don't you come here talking to us about being delivered from slavery to sin. And our blessed Lord had to point out to them that if they were Abram's seed, as they claimed to be, they would do Abram's works, wouldn't they? And if they were children of God, they would love him, the Son of God. Our blessed Lord was obliged to tell them, these very Jews who had professed to believe on him, that so far from being children of Abraham and children of God, they were of their father, the devil. What use that kind of faith if it does not continue? It is, I say, the indispensable mark of the true believer, that he or she continues in the faith and is not moved away from the hope of the gospel. Lurking behind these words in the epistle to the Colossians is an obvious concern that had arisen in Paul's heart. Dear Epaphras had visited Paul in prison and brought news of the believers at Colossae, and a great deal of the news was excellent news. They were standing fast, and Paul rejoiced as in his mind's eye he saw those believers holding rank and standing steadfast. Ephrathas also had to tell him about some very strange and weird doctrines that were floating around that, uh, region and liable to entice these believers into false ideas that, if they really embraced them, would lead them far from the fundamental truths of the gospel. And his apostolic warning was not unnecessary, that they should abide in the faith. It is the only gospel that can present us at last without charge before God. And therefore it is that Paul tells them of his prayers for them. It is good, isn't it, when somebody takes us by the shoulder or by the hand and says, I pray for you daily. For those of us who preach publicly, that is a tremendous encouragement. It'd be more interesting, even so, to know what it is they pray for, but perhaps sometimes those who pray for us most would think it wise to shield from us exactly what, uh, they're praying for. Their prayers might run, Lord, deliver him from stupidity and vainglory or something, and they might not think it fit to tell us what they pray for, you see. But Paul was here concerned that is these converts of Epaphras should know exactly what he was praying for. And I ask you, if you care, to take your Bible in hand and go through wi- with me the steps of the prayer that Paul constantly prayed for these believers. Take your Bible in hand, it will help to keep you awake, help you to forget the pull of gravity that is pulling you so painfully to the seat of your chair. Well, his prayer begins, doesn't it, in verse nine, and he says, we pray and make requests for you that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. The prayer is specific for the means, but what would you need to be filled with such knowledge and spiritual wisdom and understanding? What's the point of collecting knowledge like that? Paul gives the answer, so that you may wor- walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing. So right from the very start, we notice that Paul, when he sets himself to prayer, is not wool gathering, he's not letting his mind run all over the place, grasshopper fashion. He has in his mind certain very clear objectives to be prayed for. But as the objectives come into view, he's concerned about the means by which those objectives will be achieved. Master workman in his prayer. He's not beating the air. He is focusing on the objectives. He is focusing on the steps that must be taken towards those objectives. Objective number one: that these believers should work- walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing, and for that they would need all wisdom and understanding. But what, we might ask, would walking worthily of the Lord involve? It's not just a vague term with Paul, it has content, specific content. Working worth- worthily of the Lord will involve bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. Very good, but if it involves bearing fruit, if to please the Lord I have to bear fruit, well, pray, how may I bear fruit? What is the absolutely indispensable condition for bearing fruit? And the answer he gives comes, of course, in verse eleven, to the end of that verse, patience, or rather endurance, and long suffering with joy. Every gardener will know what Paul is talking about, will he not? Your lovely fruit trees. How do they manage to bear fruit? Well, it's not an overnight job, is it? There's nothing quick fix about bearing fruit. The only secret for bearing fruit known to God or man involves endless patience. I worked on a farm once, and at a certain time we bought, we grew certain crops, or my boss did, you'll see, they were called sugar beet, and they were in those days mightily diff- difficult things to, um, germinate, and then when they had germinated, bless them, they didn't know how to take root in the soil. And of course, with so much money invested in in the seed, the boss was naturally apprehensive, and day after day he'd come down poking around these poor little tiny, uh, sugar beet to see if they were really taking root, you see, and going to bear fruit, and he'd haul one up out of the ground and look at it, poor dear. Well, how on earth could it have grown since yesterday, I wonder? Of course not. Growing fruit is a long drawn out process and will require supremely endurance. With all long suffering, come rain, come sun, come wind, come drought. The plant has to learn to put up with it, with all long suffering, and carry on carrying on in all endurance. And now we begin to perceive that Paul has already anticipated the need, hasn't he? We shall be presented before God without charge if we continue in the faith and be not moved away. And because that is so, the holy apostle with the genuine pastor's heart is homing in on what is the vital thing in the whole process, praying God that these dear believers may endure and continue in the faith. And all who have a pastor's heart will likewise pray thus for those for whom they are responsible. Let's go over the details of the prayer a little bit more in detail, shall we, before we move on. Paul starts by saying that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may work- walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing. The goal is to please the Lord and to behave worthily of him, but we need the means thereto, and the means is to be filled with the knowledge of his will. We mustn't suppose that we start off by knowing what the will of God is. To say scripture advises us that God's thoughts are not our thoughts, are they? And saying God is not going to change his, we shall be obliged to change ours. And certainly we must never take the view in our Christian life that if anything pleases us, it's bound to be right. Hm. Why, you husbands, you wouldn't fall into that trap, would you? I know you wouldn't. You know what it is when you're hurrying out the door one Monday morning, and just as you're about to disappear, your wife says, do you know what day it is today? And you say, oh yes, I do, I do, I do, I do. I, I haven't forgotten. It's your birthday, my dear. Yes, you nearly had though. And uh, uh, you'll say, you'll say, my dear, what w- w- w- what would you like for your birthday present? Would you like some chocolates by any chance? And the dear lady says, well, chocolates, mm, well, not really, but um, I would like some uh, daffodils, do you see? So off you go to work, and at night time you come home to give the present all tied up in bl- pink ribbon, you'll say. There you are, you say, my dear, my birthday present to you, my love. And she looks at it and thinks to herself, that's a funny looking box of daffodils. Anyway, she undoes the paper, you see, and there is a box of chocolates. And she says, uh, chocolates? Weren't there any daffodils? Oh yes, you say, there were daffodils in plenty. Well then, why, why have you brought chocolate? I thought I told you not chocolate, but daffodils. Oh yes, but you say, I like chocolate, you see. You'll have to be careful that she doesn't throw the chocolates at you. You wouldn't do it, would you? Of course you wouldn't. Experience would teach you not to. And what an impertinence it would be if we made our life, our religious life, our secular life, if we made it out on the principle that if it pleases us, it must be right. Our objective is to walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing of him, and for that reason, we need to know what his sovereign and blessed will is. I remember hearing Dr. Laubach at a missionary breakfast. He was the great missionary pioneer who developed a means of teaching once-time savages to be able to read. He told us a touching story. He'd led the chief of some savage tribe in his lessons, and now the chief could read. So grateful was he to Dr. Laubach that he came and sat by his side and put his arm around his neck. He said, Dr. Laubach, I am so grateful to you for teaching me to read. I'd like to do you a favor, Dr. Laubach. Is there anybody around here I could kill for your sake? They wanted to please the good doctor. He hadn't learned what would please him. So Paul prays that we may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that we can walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing. This will involve, says Paul, two things. It will absorb, uh, involve two, uh, good works. And in addition to good works, it will involve always an increasing, with a snowball-like effect, of our knowledge of God. It is difficult for the Almighty to make himself known to us personally, isn't it? If we are just carrying on living in a way that displeases him. It is to those who please him that he can reveal himself ever the more deeply. Very good then, if we are to bear fruit in every good work, we shall need this endurance. But now the great question arises. From where shall we get the strength, the moral and spiritual power to carry on enduring with all long suffering. And Paul gives us, does he not, here the delightful answer. Verse eleven: strengthened with all power according to the might of his glory. That's where we shall get the strength from to endure. All sit back for a moment and put these things together. The great future that lies ahead to be presented before the throne of God's glory without charge. And this, if we continue, where shall I get the power from to continue? What if my own little strength is insufficient and inadequate and exhausts itself before life's race is run, where shall I look to for strength? And the answer comes back, strengthened with all power according to the might of his glory. Now perhaps we shall begin to see another facet of that great passage that we attempted to study, uh, briefly last evening. The great cosmological p- passage dealing with the cosmic glories of the Lord Jesus. God has delivered us from the power of darkness and put us into the kingdom of his dear Son. In his Son we have release, we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin. We have been qualified by the Father to take our share of the inheritance of the saints in light. Now comes the long distance race. If we continue... How shall we continue? Pray, consider again in your mind the strength, the power of the might of his glory. He it is, as we saw last night, that upholds the very universe, for that he is strong in power. Not one of his multitudinous galaxies fail. And he who upholds the uncountable myriads of the stars and the galaxies, shall he not hold up you? Shall he not hold up me? Me strengthened Strengthened with with all. all power according to the might of his glory. In him all the physical universe consists, stands together. It is not ultimately the weak atomic power nor the strong atomic power that keeps the atoms together and keeps our universe. Or the weak atomic power and the strong atomic power and electromagnetism and all that brood are but what we see as the results of the blessed creator of the universe, as he not only made all things, but holds them together by the word of his power. And he who upholds the universe, he in whom the whole universe stands together, he it is that undertakes to hold us together and to uphold us in the faith. He it is who has conquered death and is risen from the grave, says Paul. He is the firstborn from the dead. He is the head of the body, the church, that in all things he may be first. Oh, consider those line, that great line of worthies, right down to the present. There was Paul, and there was Peter, there was James, and there was John, and there was Luther, and there was Wesley, and all the myriad of the saints down the centuries, and he, the head of the church, upheld them. Not but one of them, if they could speak to us now from the glory, would turn round and say, it was I who upheld myself. They would all proclaim themselves to have been weak and poverty stricken of their own strength, and they were upheld by the vast ministries of the cosmic Christ and you. In him and in him forever, he has undertaken to uphold you, if you are a true believer. That doesn't mean, does it, that we are automata, that things happen automatically. It doesn't even mean that our faith shall not on times wobble a little bit. I am so delighted with that evil that still clings to me from time to time, to read that the great example of faith, Abraham himself, was on a time rather wobbly in his faith, dear man. It encourages me to go on in, in with God, actually, to say, because if Abraham had been a little bit more of a saint than he was, I should give up in despair, to see. That's crooked reasoning, isn't it? But that's how I, I, I feel on time. And we have the example, do we not, in the New Testament, of one whose faith wobbled exceedingly. And I turn aside to mention it now because it is germane to the topic of the continuance of our faith. Our Lord, in the upper room, a few hours before Gethsemane, had to warn Peter that Satan had desired to have all twelve apostles to sift them as wheat. And then our Lord added, I have prayed for you, Peter, that your faith shall not fail. Our Lord's prayers, of course, were exceedingly precise. He did not pray that Peter's courage should not fail. His courage failed abysmally. He did not pray that his testimony should be kept intact. He blotted his copybook severely. He prayed that his faith should not fail, and added, and when, not if, you are restored, strengthen your brothers. When the day came, everything failed, his courage, his testimony, but his faith held. True, he denied the Lord Jesus and used all the swear words he knew to make it sound convincing, but it was a lie. Mark the genius, if I may reverently say so, of our blessed Lord. I prayed for you, he said, that your faith shall fail not. When Peter had denied the Lord three times and the cock crew, then the Lord turned and looked upon Peter, did he? And in that moment, Peter believed the Lord Jesus more than ever he had done before. And for this simple reason, that the Lord had said to Peter, before the cock crowed twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter at that moment had not believed it, thought it was nonsense and exaggerated untruth. When he denied the Lord, and the cock crow, then he remembered the word of the Lord Jesus, and now he couldn't help himself. He believed it and knew the Lord Jesus was true and had more confidence in the Lord Jesus than ever he had had before. All the genius of our Lord, seeing the need of his people and making preparation in advance that after their fall, they should have the occasion to believe him even more than they believed him. Our blessed Lord Jesus, who prayed for Peter that his faith should not fail, and his faith didn't fail, came through a believer still, ever lives to make intercession for us. But now we must turn to the final reference to hope in this chapter one of Paul's letter to the Colossians. And here we should notice the contrasts between what this paragraph will say and what the previous paragraph has said. We began by thinking in the early part of the chapter of the hope laid up for us in the heavens. Then we turn to thinking of the hope of the gospel. Now notice how hope is described in verse twenty seven of chapter one of Colossians. It is Christ in you, the hope of glory. How shall we define it? Well, Paul says, my hope is, my striving is towards this, that we may present every man, verse twenty eight, perfect in Christ. That is mature, full grown in Christ. So we notice the contrast. In verse, uh, you'll see in verse twenty two, it was the good pleasure of the Father that Christ should present us without charge. Now, in this later verse, it is that Paul should present us full grown, perfect, mature. We notice the other differences that go with it. When it comes to being presented before the Father without charge, it is Christ Jesus himself who shall present us to the Father without charm. When it comes to presenting each one full grown and mature, then it is we, says Paul, we labor, that we may present everyone without charm. And we notice the difference again, uh, in the grounds of the presentation. How and on what grounds will Christ be able to present us to the Father without charge, so that none shall be able to lay any charge to God's elect? The answer to that is he shall do it on the grounds of his sufferings at the cross. But on what basis shall we be presented with our, we're fully grown and mature? Well, this time it is the sufferings of Christ yet, yes, but also the sufferings of Christ alongside of and with and joined together with the sufferings of Paul. For I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, he says, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake. So let's get this very clear. When it comes to presenting us without charge, it is Christ's sufferings and the sufferings of Christ alone. He stands the sole and only redeemer of mankind. When it comes to the process necessary for presenting us fully grown to the Father. And not only is it the sufferings of Christ, but it is the sufferings of Christ filled up by his apostle Paul and the long succession of worthy people that have followed since. And now you'll see the secret of it all is different, isn't it? The secret of our being presented without charge is the cross of Christ. Christ on Calvary is our hope that we shall be presented without charge. When it comes to the hope of being presented fully grown, the hope is not so much Christ on Calvary, it is Christ in you, says Paul. Christ in you, the hope of glory. So now then, let's go over these things, because Paul is not now like some bad preachers known to you, uh, and those standing before you, indeed, he's not just repeating himself for want of knowing how to fill up the rest of his sermon. He's now going to turn to some quite different side to our Christian hope. The hope now not merely of being presented without charge, the hope of being presented full grown and mature. So that at once we have to ask ourselves a question. We shall all be presented without charge, without accusation. None shall be able to lay the charge against God's elect. Shall we all be presented Centered. mature? Mature. Fully grown. Perfect. How say you? Well, I'm tempted in my simplicity to say, of course we shan't. Take the dying thief, converted one minute, and within a few hours in paradise. Shall he be as mature, as fully developed, as say the Apostle Paul, to his verse? Well, without turning to God's word for a moment, my natural answer to that would be, how could it possibly be? Unless life is a mockery. Here's one dear lady, you'll say, and she got converted when she was a girl of ten and since that time she took the Lord seriously, and all her life, as her physical and mental and emotional powers developed, she has followed the Lord. In all her life, she has tried to work heartily unto the Lord. She has been constant in her prayers, diligent in her self-examination, diligent in her repentance and confession to the Lord, and growing in the strength of her faith to take upon her the resources of the Lord. Yes, all indeed who have watched her over the years watch with joy how she comes to her seventies, a ripe, venerable, mature, and delightful Christian character, and she goes home to the Lord. And take this other fellow. He wasted his time all his years till he was about fifty five and a half, and when he was already bald, he found repentance and came to the Lord. And even then he didn't take the Lord very seriously. He was content with an odd snatch of a verse of a calendar daily. That's all his Bible reading consisted of. And as for examining his soul and repenting of his sin and seeking to lay hold of the grace of the Holy Spirit to make progress in his life, alas, alas, alas, alas. On his brothers and sisters would whisper in your ear, he's a good chap, but he's a rough diamond, yes? Yes, a rough diamond indeed. And he goes home to the Lord within five years of his conversion. And shall we really think that he will be as mature and spiritually developed, fully adult, equally as well as the godly sister. And if that were so, it would begin to suggest, wouldn't it, that really there's no pressing need to perfect holiness in the fear of God in our Christian life, because careless and careful, godly and worldly, so long as they're believers, will all end up the same. Yes, before, before you go any further, says somebody, young man, I'd have you know that Holy Scripture tells us that when we see the Lord Jesus, we shall be like him, all of us. We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Thank God it's true. We shall be like him. I want to add what there is of us. A baby is like his father, isn't he? And when he grows up and becomes pretty, they tell me he's like his mother, but that's another story. A baby is like his father, so is a full-grown man of fifty. There is, to be sure, a difference between the two. The one has grown, and there's more of him than there is of the baby. But I don't need to rely upon my own conjecture, do I, for an answer to my question? For if I've read it right, Peter in his second epistle in chapter one deals precisely with this particular question, and in more detail than Paul applies here. He says God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. But now alongside that, we ourselves are to apply all diligence so that in the power of our faith we may add to our characters sheer goodness, and in the power of our goodness add knowledge, and in knowledge perseverance, and in perseverance self-control, and in self-control love of the brethren, and in love of the brethren love. We are diligently and by considered effort to add these qualities to life, to our character, to our personality. Why should we bother? Why, says Peter, for if you do these things in the first place, you will not stumble along life's pathway. And in the second place, says Saint Peter, thus shall be richly ministered to you the entrance into the eternal kingdom. And in that last sentence, the emphasis is upon the adverb, isn't it? Peter does not say, thus the entrance shall be ministered to you. No, no. Entrance into the eternal kingdom is not dependent upon our spiritual progresses either. Let's have chapter and verse, but read it in the best text. For what the conditions of entry into that eternal kingdom are. Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they might come to the tree of life and enter into the gates of the city. Every blood-washed believer will enter the gates of the eternal kingdom and enter them on that ground of the redeeming blood of Christ. But Peter is not talking about that. He's talking not just of entry into the eternal kingdom. He is talking of an entrance being ministered to us richly, abundantly. And next we must ask, pray, what is the difference between a plain, ordinary, common or garden entry and an abundant entry. There was a hymn that some people used to sing in my youth, some low place within his palace, some low seat beside the door, and it was meant to be an expression of great gratitude and humility before God that the man who sang was be content with a drafty seat just inside the palace of the king. I have to tell you, there will not be any drafty seats anyway. And secondly, that while heaven is a place, heaven is more than a place, isn't it? Heaven is an experience. Entering into the eternal kingdom is not simply like entering a place, and that's that. Entrance into the eternal kingdom is entering into the experience and enjoyment of the et- of the eternal kingdom. And because it is thus, it is understandably important that whether our entry be an abundant one or not will depend upon the extent to which we have grown, this extent to which we have developed our characters. Add these things, says Paul, says Peter, to your characters. And so an abundant entrance be ministered to. We could take a simple analogy, couldn't we? I know of no better to use. I'm rather hard up for analogies. But now suppose a party, Christmas party, or if you don't like Christmas parties, well, some other kind of a party then. And let me suppose at this party there are, are present an eleven-month-old in his high chair. And then there's a 9-year-old on the floor playing with, um, electronic trains with his father. Then there's a sweet young thing of seventeen sitting on the sofa, and there's mum and there's dad, you see. Now you are to understand they're all at the party. All of them at the party. And eleven-year-old is at the party, he's enjoying it to the full. He's got hold of a spoon, he's dipped it in the cream, and he's ladling it all over his head and down the chair and on the carpet, and he's having a tremendous time, according to his lights, you'll see, and his potentials. Marvelous party. And when it comes to five o'clock, a mother puts him to bed, he goes to bed content. He's been at the party, enjoyed it to the full. Nine-year-old on the carpet isn't emptying the s- the cream ladle over his head, of course not. He's playing with marvellly sophisticated electronic, uh, machines on the floor, as aforesaid with father. There were moments in the course of the afternoon that, uh, 11-month-old peered over the edge of his IGR and wondered what on earth it was going on down there, but it didn't look interesting, and he didn't understand it, and so he didn't join in and didn't miss it. Why couldn't he understand it? Well, because he hadn't grown, of course. He didn't know he hadn't grown, of course. That was another good point, wasn't it? Then there was Sweet seventeen. Uh-huh. She was sitting on the sofa talking to a rather elegant young gentleman, and her brother of nine year old kept pleading with the dear lady, why didn't she come and sit on the floor and play trains? It was a mystery to him how any otherwise intelligent human being could waste time sitting on a sofa talking, just talking, if you please, when they could be sitting on the floor playing trains, you see? It wasn't a mystery to her, it was to him, because dear chap, well, he hadn't grown up far enough, had he, even to get a concept of what was going on. And if you'd asked him, he would have said he preferred to be on the floor. And then there was mum and dad, and they understood everything. They could remember the time, perhaps, when perhaps, perhaps, perhaps they were little infants at the party and the things that pleased them. Now they'd gone through all those stages, and now they had their own special joys. None of the children could, of course, as yet know at all. And if that's only a party, pray then, what do you think the great eternal banquet will be? There is, says Peter, such a thing as a plain entrance. There is an abundant entrance, and it depends on whether we have grown. The hope of glory. All glory is in one sense perfect, but there are degrees of glory. And in that world where they do not measure age by time, they measure maturity, uh, they measure size by maturity. The hope of glory. It is so real, so much depends on it being able to present everyone fully grown, that Paul tells us without boasting that he rejoices in his suffering, like you do, mother, don't you? What sacrifices you make, what pains you go through, what drudgery you might even call it, as the women's lib are inclined to do. But you rejoice in it, don't you, to see your now eighteen-year-old carrying off the honors in his profession. You've seen him grow up from a babe, haven't you, out of his nappies into his graduate's gown, and oh, how it rejoices your heart. And Paul says, I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind in the sufferings of Christ for his body's sake. You'll see. How shall we understand the phrase the sufferings of Christ in this context? That which is yet to be suffered, Paul means, are the sufferings of Christ. It could be, could it not, that Paul is talking about the sufferings of Christ simply in the sense that these are the sufferings that he endures for Christ? Would it, my brethren, I appeal to you that are the theologians present, would it be wrong to think that Christ still suffers? Of course, his atoning sufferings are finished once and for all, are they not? And forever, let there be no doubt upon the topic. He offered one sacrifice for sin, and he has sat down never again to suffer the wrath of divine displeasure on account of our sin. Then I read that when his saints were being persecuted by that wretch Saul of Tarsus, the glorified Lord said out of heaven, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And am I to think that our Lord merely said that for the purposes of identification, but felt nothing of the suffering? Did he sit impassively, impassively upon the Father's throne and say, well, it doesn't hurt me actually, but I don't like to see it done. I think I would be inclined to read the verse in the ancient prophet where it says that in all their afflictions, God himself was afflicted. And sure, my brother, my sister, when the blessed Lord Jesus, in glory though he is, sees me going astray, dawdling, fooling around, and wasting the potential of life that he has bought for me at the cost of his blood. Dare I think that it doesn't concern him, that he is not grieved to his very heart? If God the Holy Spirit can be grieved by our obstinacy and lack of progress, our worldliness and uncleanness. Is not the rhythm- risen Lord too grieved? Oh, for the longings of the ascended Christ, that even as we sit here this night, my brothers, my sisters, where we can be presented fully grown, says I, I, I am prepared to take my part in those sufferings. And you suffer the churches, see men and women not waffling about unimportant things, but making genuine spiritual progress towards spiritual maturity. This is the resource available to us, and to expound the secret that God has made known me, to grasp the wonder of spiritual sin, not only with it. It is a miss past ages, hid from all ages and generations, but now God has revealed it to his saints. It is this mystery, Christ in you, the hope of glory. I must allow myself the pleasure of joining our blessed Lord in congratulating you, my brothers, my sisters, that you have seen it. Listen to our Lord, blessed are your eyes that see and your ears that hear, for I tell you, says Christ, that many a prophet desired to hear what you hear. Many a king desired to, to see what you see, and they heard and saw them not. Oh, my dear brother, King David would have given his very throne to see what you see. Why, King David, much as he loved the Lord, dare not for the life of him enter the holiest of all to sing God's praise, but stood outside. Oh, with what excitement David would have received the news. I should think he would have written another one hundred and fifty psalms had he known it, that we have access into the holiest of all. Sometimes we're not aware, are we, of the wealth that we have. We live in such a modern, pampered age. We have such spiritual wealth that we take it as though it were a mere nothing. Solomon would have given his right arm to know it, and Moses as well. To know not only a God awesome in his holiness, a God dwelling in the literal temple, but to know the secret Christ in us. And they never saw it. And you can sit on the seat without an es- hallelujah escaping your lips, but no, you can't. You're saying it privately, aren't you? Thank the Lord, I see it. Christ in me. And if God has a problem, it is this. To whom God was pleased to make known what is the riches of the glory of this secret, which is Christ in you. Oh, my brother, calculate the riches, if you can, of this glorious potential, this potential for glory of Christ is already in you. Blessed hope. We started by thinking of the hope laid up in heaven. We proceeded to think of the hope of the gospel, which is Christ on the cross. We have come at last to the hope of glory, which is Christ actually in me. I love that story given us in the Old Testament. Some nowadays dismiss it as typology fit only for the simple, but then I'm a simple, so I qualified. That when Abraham sent the servant to fetch a bride to his son, and he came and gave her all the costly garments and the earrings and what have you, and got her to agree, yes, she would go and come to be Isaac's bride. He didn't say, well, now, my dear, that's a marvelous decision you have made, my dear. Now here's my visiting card and my master's address, and if any time you should happen to be in our area and turn up, well, please call, and I'm sure Isaac will be delighted to see you. Of course, he didn't. Now he took the dear lady and had camels for her and plodded step by step and step by step with her until he got her home. So did God in the wilderness with Israel. He said to David subsequently, all these years, says God, I've walked in a tabernacle, walking with Israel across the hot, thirsty desert till he should get them at last to the promised land. With infinite condescension, the blessed Lord of glory has come to make his tabernacle in our very hearts, and he walks with us day by day. He was with you as you got up this morning. He will be with you as you go to rest, pondering your day's progress, with you if you see the morning light, to walk with you life's journey, bringing you that he can to maturity of glory. And alongside of it, says Paul, I proclaim it. And not only proclaim it publicly, but says he, I admonish every man and teach every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ. And you will notice the thrice times repeated phrase, every person, every person. I not merely proclaim it from the pulpit, says Paul, to the public in general. I admonish each person individually. Every individual counts. I must, this is my duty, to present every man, if I can, every person perfect in Christ. And I, their diminutive, their diminutive follower, must do it to you this night, my brethren. Not that I'm more advanced than you are, I lag behind you, but my task is as a preacher to do it. Not enough to have preached a lecture generally. I must ask you, sir, you, and you, madam, how is your progress getting on, my dear? Are you nearer glory today than you were yesterday and last week and last year? And you, madam, and you, sir? How goes it with you? As you take your spiritual stock taking this Easter time, maybe, and you bow in gratitude before God and say, by God's grace, oh, how I have stumbled oftentimes, how nerve and flesh has seemed to fail me. But I do believe, by God's grace, I'm nearer the image of Christ now than I was heretofore. Oh, God help us that it may be so. To that end, it would be worth striving, wouldn't it, with every fiber in our being, with gratitude to God for this. I strive, laboring, he says, according to the power that works in me mightily. So may God bless his word to our heart for his name's sake.