Benefits of Being Believers - Part B

I know a lot of us don't like the idea of suffering or we would love to see that suffering is out of God's will.

The problem is we do it so much and I know you want a trouble-free life, but the trouble-free life is the shallow life. If you live a trouble-free life, please never counsel somebody who has suffered because you'll never get it. When you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, those people will be all around you asking for prayer and advice and help. Sorrow turns out to be one of life's greatest fellowship enhancers. Oswald Chambers said, Human fellowship can go to great lengths, but not all the way. Fellowship with God can go to all lengths. Connect with Skip Heitzig today as he explores what it means for you to have fellowship with God and experience His glory. But before we begin, we want to invite you to be a part of an unforgettable journey to Israel. Take a trip to experience Israel, not just the historic landscapes and delicious food, but the spiritual significance. In 2022, you have the opportunity to join Skip and his wife Lenya to worship and study God's Word in the very places Jesus taught, preached, and healed.

Find out more at inspirationcruises.com slash c-a-v-q. Now, speaking of Israel and the Middle East, we want to let you know about a resource that will give you critical insight into what exactly is going on in that region and why it's important for you to know. The beating heart of Bible prophecy is the land of Israel and the Middle East. Joel Rosenberg has his finger on the pulse of the world shaking changes happening right now, and he unveils them in his new nonfiction book, Enemies and Allies. This is the first book of its kind that takes you inside the Oval Office, inside the palaces of the kings and crown princes, the presidents and the prime ministers in Israel and in the Arab world. As we ask them, what do you think about religious freedom, about making peace with Israel, about the threat from Iran, about U.S.-Arab relations, U.S.-Israel relations? Enemies and Allies from multiple New York Times bestselling author Joel Rosenberg takes you on an unforgettable journey inside the turbulent Middle East. You'll go behind closed doors to hear from the very kings and crown princes, presidents and prime ministers who are leading the charge. Enemies and Allies includes exclusive, never before published quotes, insights and analysis from the author's conversations with some of the world's most controversial leaders. Your hardcover copy of Enemies and Allies is our thanks for your generous gift of $35 or more today.

To give, call 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com. Now, we're in Philippians chapter three as Skip Heitzig gets into today's message. When you get into your car, if I were to follow you to the parking lot, when you get into your car, when I look at you, I see your car. I might see you through the windshield if it's not too tinted. You're in it, but I see the car.

You're in that car. If you then drive home and step into your house, you might wave at me through the kitchen window. But when I look at you, I see the home, the edifice that you are now in. If you decide to travel to another city and get in an airplane and fly away, I look up in the sky.

You're up there, but I see the plane. So to be in Christ means this. When God looks at you now, He sees Christ. He sees Christ. He no longer sees your imperfections, your failures and your sins. He sees the Savior who died for them. So you can't go 60 miles an hour on your own, but in a car you can.

You can't fly through the air at 500 miles an hour, but in a plane you can. You can't get to heaven by yourself, but in Christ you can. You are in Christ.

That position is a monumental benefit. So we have knowledge, we know God, we have position, we're in Christ. A third benefit is righteousness. Verse 9, he says, Be found in him, not having my own righteousness. Now he talked about how he worked hard for his own righteousness in previous verses. Not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that, that is that righteousness, which is through faith in Christ. The righteousness which is from God by faith. The happiest day of Paul's life is when he stopped trying to be righteous and believed that he was righteous because he was in Christ.

It's like he's been patting hard his whole life trying to work for him. And he realized, I'm accepted. I've been given a righteousness.

God has made me that way. Now the word righteousness, would you agree, is a pretty important Bible word, right? It's used a lot in the Scriptures. The New Testament uses that word a lot.

Let me tell you what it means. Righteousness is the word dikaiosune, which means to have right standing before God or to be right with God. Righteousness is being right with God, having a right standing or being accepted by God.

Now, think of it. Paul spent his whole adult life trying to manufacture a righteousness before God. How? By externals, by rituals, by works.

We read the list already. He tried to get right with God by keeping the rules. He tried to get right with God by leaning on his religious heritage. He tried to get right with God by practicing legalism as a Jewish Pharisee. And he failed. And the day he discovered that failure was the happiest day of his life, because he found that true righteousness can't be produced.

True righteousness must be provided. He tried to produce it. He tried to manufacture it.

And the Damascus Road experience, that whole experience made him realize, I can't produce it, but it has been provided for me. There's this cool little thing that's been going on since the 1990s in malls across America called Build-a-Bear. Have you seen the Build-a-Bear workshop, Build-a-Bear experience? Okay, so it's a great idea.

But the thought behind it, and they put out 160 million of these things, so it's pretty successful. But the idea is simply, forget somebody else's idea of what a teddy bear ought to be. Make your own.

Size, ears, eyes, look, skin. You can even get away from the teddy bear, get a Pokemon figure if you want, or a Star Wars figure if you want. You build your own bear.

It's incredibly a genius idea. But, when it comes to spiritual matters, I have discovered the world is absolutely fixated on this approach with God. It's a Build-a-Bear approach. It's build your own way to God approach. Build your own road to heaven. Build your own righteousness.

Well, you know, I picture God as, and my idea is, and I have always thought, if I try and I do, and this happens, that I'll get to heaven. It's a Build-a-Bear approach. The problem is, it's an unattainable goal.

You can build a bear in a mall, that's attainable. But this is an unattainable goal, because true righteousness is not by working, it's not by determination, it's by, here's a word, imputation. I'm not just trying to throw out big words, that's an important word. Four times in Romans 4, it says, a righteousness has been imputed to you, means accounted or accredited to you. It's like Abraham. Abraham, it says, believed God, and God accounted or imputed it to him as righteousness. Righteousness does not come then by determination, but by imputation. That's the idea in verse 9. A righteousness which is from God, that's provided, by faith.

What did you do? Believed? It's from God by faith. It was imputed to you. It was credited to your account.

So, this is how it works. Jesus Christ has a perfect record. He never sinned.

I have an imperfect record. I've sinned a lot. Biblical righteousness is when God takes Jesus Christ's perfect record and superimposes it over my imperfect life. I'm in Christ, he sees me, he sees Christ, his righteousness given to me.

This is what the Bible sees as the great exchange. One of the most important verses of Scripture, one of the most important truths you will ever know is 2 Corinthians 5.21. God made him, Jesus, who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him. God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him. My translation, God treated Jesus Christ like you deserve to be treated so that he could treat you like Jesus Christ deserves to be treated.

That's the great exchange. This is why I never ask God to give me what I deserve. Ever, ever, ever. I would never go and say, God, you've watched my life, it's been pretty good, give me what I deserve.

Boy, do you like lightning strikes? You better run away from that. I never ask God to give me what I deserve, but rather give me what Jesus deserves. If I'm in Christ, if I've been given his righteousness, then I never ask God to give me what I deserve. Grace is God giving you what you don't deserve. If you start thinking, well, let me tell you what I deserve, you better consult the prophet Isaiah, who said in chapter 64, verse 4, but we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags. Next time you boast, remember that verse. If you try to wear your own righteousness, you will be poorly clothed before God. G. Campbell Morgan, one of the expositors and commentators I've long enjoyed, said, there's a greater chance for the man, or there's a greater chance for the non-believer who has not heard the gospel than the man who has become an evangelized non-believer. Powerful words. There are people, Morgan says, who come to churches week after week after week, and they're evangelized, but they're non-believers.

They've never personalized it. They've just heard it, heard it, heard it. And they are inoculated with a mild form of Christianity, so as to be immune from the real thing. Listen, the worst form of badness is human goodness when used as a substitute for true righteousness. That's the worst form of badness, human goodness, that is used as a substitute for righteousness.

And why is that? Why is that the worst form of badness? Because it's the highest insult you could ever give God. You are telling God, you are saying in effect, your son didn't do enough. He died on a cross and he said it is finished, but let me add to that, I think he needs a little help to finish the job. That's an insult to the whole redemptive plan of God. So, seeing this as a benefit, we have knowledge, we know him personally, we're in him, we're in Christ, position and righteousness, he's given it to us.

There's a fourth benefit, gets better, we have fellowship. Verse 10, That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death. Now, I hope you're catching this, I hope you're at this point going, well, didn't he already say knowledge was a benefit, now he's asking for it? He said, I know God, I know God personally. Oh God, I want to know you. Paul, are you confused?

Has prison time gotten to you a little bit? Because you said you had it, now you're asking for it. Well, yes, he already listed knowledge as a benefit, but he wants you to know that's still his heart cry. I want to know him more and more and more. What I love is this, Paul never came to a place where he felt I've had enough of God. Here's a guy, he's walked with the Lord 30 years, he's established churches, he's like Mr.

Bold, Mr. Unafraid, Mr. Joyful, and he never ever came to a place where he said, you know, I've had enough of God, I don't want to go overboard, I don't want to be some religious fanatic and get too much into this thing and not be normal any longer. Paul is saying the most normal thing to do is to walk in fellowship with this God, more and more and more. The Amplified Bible renders it this way, my determined purpose is that I may know him, that I may be progressively, become more deeply and intimately acquainted with him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of his person more strongly and more clearly. So get this, the initial saving knowledge of Christ becomes his lifelong pursuit. I want to know him. Now he didn't just say I want to know him, he longs for a fellowship that includes both dynamic experiences as well as difficult ones.

Unpack it a little bit. Look down at your Bible and you'll notice what he's asking for, what he's longing for is a personal fellowship. He says that I may know him, that's personal again. He never wanted a second-hand experience with God.

He was never, well, you know, my parents believe in this stuff, I think that's good enough, or my sister or my wife, she's really into this, or my brother. He wanted it firsthand, that I may know him. Also, what he longed for was a powerful fellowship. He says that I may know him in the power of his resurrection.

We know what that means. It means the power to live a victorious life, the power to live above the norm by the grace and help of God, the Holy Spirit, the power to say no to sin and conquer sinful habits, the power of his resurrection. And he also wanted, get this, a painful fellowship. He longed for fellowship in the most painful times. He says that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings. So what he is saying, I believe, is this, I want to walk through life's best times and life's worst times in fellowship with Jesus Christ.

That's what I want. Because all the sufferings Paul experienced drove him deeper in fellowship with Jesus. And here's why. Because Jesus, his companion in suffering, suffered more than he ever would, understood suffering. This Jesus that is with him in fellowship was the guy who was despised, mocked, spat on and crucified. And he is sharing that life experience with Paul.

Paul recognizes that. The fellowship of his sufferings being conformed even to his death. I know a lot of us don't like the idea of suffering or we would love to see that suffering is out of God's will.

The problem is we do it so much. And I know you want a trouble-free life, but the trouble-free life is the shallow life. If you live a trouble-free life, please never counsel somebody who has suffered because you'll never get it. But when you've walked through the valley of the shadow of death, those people will be all around you asking for prayer and advice and help. Sorrow turns out to be one of life's greatest fellowship enhancers. If I were to take this microphone and walk down the aisles and we had time and you said, Yeah, I'm suffering, I've been suffering or I went through a period of difficulty, you would probably also be the one to say, But during that time, Jesus became so real to me. It was such an intimacy that I experienced during that time of difficulty that I never had in the lighter times of life.

I bet that would be the testimony that you would bring. I've heard it time and time again. One of my favorite poems is by Robert Browning, very simple. He said, I walked a mile with pleasure, she chattered all the way, but made me none the wiser for all she had to say. I walked a mile with sorrow and never a word said she, but oh, the things I learned from her as sorrow walked with me. Sorrow will walk with you, but Jesus will walk with you through the sorrow. That's the fellowship of his suffering that Paul is speaking about.

And you'll know him better. So these are all in the benefit category. These are all in the asset category. The things that Paul said, these were loss. These were to be marginalized.

Now he says these are actually in the asset column, they're gain. Knowledge, position, righteousness, and fellowship. And there's a final one, a fifth one.

I look at this as the ultimate one. And that is glory. Glory, verse 11. Paul continues his long rambling sentence. If by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Now don't misunderstand that verse. He's not doubting that he can't get there. He's going to say, man, I'm working really hard. I just hope I can attain that.

I hope I can earn that. Because that would defy everything he just said, right? About being given righteousness. So this isn't Paul doubting. This is Paul being humble. He's simply expressing it in humility. He is stating his unworthiness. Which amazes me that Paul never lost his sense of unworthiness.

It smattered throughout all his writings. 1 Corinthians 15, he writes, I am the least of all the apostles. Ephesians chapter 3, he writes, I am the very least of all the saints. So he is being very humble, but expressing confidence and stating this as a benefit that there will be for me, Paul, and for all believers, a resurrection in glory. If I may attain from the resurrection of the dead. Now I don't have time to go into the physical resurrection of believers. We've done that before.

Can I just say, please go back and read 1 Corinthians chapter 15 where he belabors the point. But do this just so you kind of get the importance of this. Just grab your arm for a moment and feel the skin, your flesh, your physical body or your face. Grab it.

Do you feel that? It's that physical body, that physical body that will one day be resurrected to life even after death. We believe in a literal physical resurrection from the dead. It's going to happen at an event called the rapture of the church. Now some of you are not excited about that.

Last service I had a few people clap for that and a whole lot of people going like in horror. I have to live with this body forever? Look at it. It's got wrinkles. Or it's overweight.

Or I've lost my hair. That's a punishment, not a reward. Well, I'll answer that just by saying if you go to 1 Corinthians 15, Paul says, you know what though? It's sort of like a seed in a flower. The flower comes from the seed. The seed and the flower share the same DNA. But if you look at the seed and you look at the flower, they're very different looking. So Paul is saying your body right now is like that ugly seed.

No offense, but that's what it's like in comparison to the beautiful flower that represents your glorious resurrected body. So when you say, well, how am I going to look resurrected? Answer, better. Okay? Better. And you might think, well, I look pretty good now.

You wish. Paul says this, 1 Corinthians 15, I tell you a mystery, we shall not all sleep, but we will all be changed. I heard of a church that put that little verse over the nursery where all the babies are. We shall not all sleep, but we will all be changed.

That's out of context. What he means is resurrection. I tell you a mystery, we will not all sleep, we will all be changed in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised, that's resurrection, imperishable, and we will all be changed physically, a metamorphosis, for that perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality. So this is your eventual benefit. This is the ultimate benefit. This is the believer's death benefit. You know, we belong to the greatest company, the greatest organization in the world.

Our retirement package is out of this world, literally. It's in glory, it's in heaven. So as you are making choices in life, remember the fly in the flypaper. One side is just a temporary stop off, the other side is permanent death. It matters a lot to that fly, which side he chooses to land on. Make your choices with that in mind.

I never want to get stuck. I want to have the freedom to soar with these benefits. That concludes Skip Heitzig's message from his series, Technicolor Joy. Now here's Skip to share how you can help keep this broadcast going strong, connecting more people like you to the good news of Jesus. The Bible tells us that every day draws us closer to the return of Jesus. One day the Lord will return, and that means our time to reach others with the gospel is urgent.

People need to hear the good news that changed your life and mine. So today I'm asking for your help to reach more people around the world with these teachings from God's word. Here's how you can partner with this ministry to make that happen. Give us a call at 800-922-1888 to give a gift today. 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate.

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Simply download the app and search Skip Heitzig. Next week, Skip Heitzig shares how you can be a winning champion in the race of faith. Make a connection. Make a connection at the foot of the crossing. Cast all burdens on His word. Make a connection. Connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.