The Consummation of Our Salvation - Genesis Part 31

Well, you know, three weeks ago, we began a four-part miniseries entitled Our Salvation in Jesus Christ, and in part one, we talked about how our salvation works, and we saw that the answer was imputed righteousness, which means that when we believe in Jesus Christ, we don't really become righteous. I mean, we're still sinners through and through, but God credits to our account.

God imputes to us righteousness, not a righteousness that we have earned by our own effort, but rather the righteousness that the Lord Jesus purchased for us on the cross, and that God credits to our account as a gift. And then in part two, we saw that once we've trusted Christ, our imputed righteousness, our salvation, our place in heaven is eternally secure, regardless what we do or don't do from that point on. In part three, we answered some practical questions about eternal security, and then last week in part four, we looked at two great results of our salvation, namely peace with God and access to God because we are children of God. If you missed any of this, I urge you to pick up the CD in the lobby before you go or go online to our website and download and podcast it, but you know, this miniseries is supposed to be over, except when I was thinking this week about where to go on to, it would occur to me there was one more thing we needed to talk about in order to make our treatment of the subject, our salvation in Christ, really complete, and that is the consummation of our salvation at the end of our lives in eternity. So in part five of our four part series, which is what we're doing today, we're going to talk about the consummation of our salvation. So are you ready?

Ready? All right, here we go. Our passage is Luke chapter 24.

A little bit of background. Jesus has risen from the dead. He's appeared to two men walking on the road from Jerusalem to the little village of Emmaus. They've immediately turned around, gone back and found the disciples, Peter, James, John, and said, We've just seen the Lord and he's alive.

And that's where we pick up the story. Verse 36. Now, as they were talking about these things, Jesus himself appeared in the midst of them and said to them, Peace be with you. In John's gospel account, we learn a very important fact about this gathering where Jesus suddenly appears. John tells us chapter 20 verse 19 that the doors were locked where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews.

And why is that important? Well, because it explains what happens next. Verse 37. But the disciples were terrified and frightened, supposing they were seeing a ghost. Remember, every way into this room was locked. And yet suddenly, here was the Lord Jesus standing in the middle of the room, and he didn't come through the door and he didn't come through the window.

He just appeared out of nowhere. And Jesus said to them, Why are you afraid and why do doubts arise in your heart? Look at my hands and my feet and know that it is I. Touch me and see, for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see I have. And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. Now, what was so special about Jesus's hands and his feet? Well, if this really was Jesus's tangible body that had been crucified three days before, then there should have been nail holes in his hands and in his feet.

And folks, there were. We all remember the story of doubting Thomas in John chapter 20. Thomas said, Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, I will not believe. And Jesus said, Thomas, put your finger here and see my hands. You can stick your finger right through the hole if you want to, Thomas. And Thomas didn't even need to do that. Just seeing the hole in Jesus's hand from the nails on the cross.

Thomas immediately exclaimed, My Lord and my God. The point, my friends, is that after the resurrection, not only did Jesus have a real tangible body, but it was his body, the same one that had been nailed to the cross. Or was it?

You say, What do you mean? Or was it? Well, here's our question. Was this the exact same body that Jesus had had while he was here on Earth before he died on the cross and rose from the dead?

Well, the answer to that question is not quite. I mean, this body that Jesus now had could pass through walls and doors, as we just saw in Luke 24. We know from other passages in the Bible that this body Jesus now had could appear and disappear at will. John Chapter 20, that it could levitate and fly through the sky. Acts Chapter one, that it shined with the brilliance of the sun.

Revelation Chapter one. And also in Revelation Chapter one, we're told that this body was a body that would live forevermore. It was an immortal body, a body that would never die. The point is that the body Jesus had after his resurrection was his.

All right. Except it was different. It had been transformed. It had been transmuted.

It had been transmogrified. Philippians 3 21 calls it now a glorified body. First Corinthians 15 40 calls it a heavenly body for First Corinthians 15 46 calls it a spiritual body. And here's the best part of all. Best part of all is that as believers in Jesus Christ, the Bible says that one day in eternity, God is going to consummate our salvation in Christ by giving you and me a body just like this.

Listen. First John three, verse two. Beloved, we are now the children of God. And we know that when he, the Lord Jesus, is revealed at his second coming, we shall be like him.

That is with a glorified body. The apostle Paul makes it even more clear. Philippians 3 20. He says, For our citizenship is in heaven from which we eagerly await our savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will watch now transform our lowly bodies into into what that they may be like his glorified body.

So this is what the future holds for us. This is the consummation of our salvation is receiving one of these new glorious bodies. And, you know, the Bible goes on to tell us a little bit about these bodies. Not a lot, but a little bit.

For example, we don't know all the details. Are you going to get your bald body or the one that had hair? Can't tell you that. Are you going to get your pre or post pregnancy body? Can't answer that question for you. But I can tell you five things about these bodies that the Bible does tell us.

And I want to do that quickly. So here we go. Five things about these new bodies. Number one, the Bible tells us that they're going to be heavenly bodies. First Corinthians 15 40 says there are bodies that are heavenly as well as bodies that are earthly. Right now, we're living in earthly bodies, bodies that are designed for living here on this planet. And as such, we are subject these bodies are to all the laws of Newtonian physics were subject. These bodies are to gravity and inertia and the second law of thermodynamics, which is why these bodies over time age and they break down. But our new heavenly bodies will be different. They will be designed for life in heaven and in heaven. The laws of Newtonian physics do not apply.

And this is why Jesus is glorified. Heavenly body could do what it did. It could fly around.

It could go through walls. It could appear and disappear at will. Now, according to the laws of Newtonian physics, this is impossible. But remember, Newtonian physics describes life in an earthly body. This was not an earthly body anymore. Jesus had it was a heavenly body. And man, are these bodies going to be fun, huh?

Yeah, these are gonna be cool. All right. Number two, the Bible also tells us that our new bodies are going to be powerful bodies. First Corinthians 15 43 says our earthly bodies are sown in weakness. That is when they die and when they're buried in the ground.

But they are raised in power. Our earthly bodies are perishable. They're breakable. They're weak.

Ah, but not our new bodies, friends, our new bodies. They are powerful bodies. They won't be vulnerable to bacteria and viruses and disease and decay. They won't be susceptible to injury and exhaustion and aches and pains.

They're powerful bodies. And this is why in heaven there will be no wheelchairs and in heaven there will be no crutches. And in heaven there will be no handicapped parking spaces in heaven. There will be no doctors, no nurses, no ambulances, no hospitals, no emergency rooms, no trauma centers, no 911 in heaven. There'll be no respirators, no hearing aids, no insulin, no pacemakers, no antibiotics, no anticonvulsants, no radiation, no chemotherapy. Friends, in heaven there won't even be Tylenol.

Because we're not going to need it. We're going to have powerful bodies. Praise God. Huh?

How cool is that? Number three, these new bodies we're getting are going to be spiritual bodies. First Corinthians 15 44 says our earthly body is sown.

That is buried a natural body. But it is raised a spiritual body. Now what that means is Romans chapter 5 tells us that every one of us in these bodies have a sin nature that we inherited from our parents Adam and Eve. But First Corinthians 15 is telling us that our new bodies won't have that sin nature. And just think what that's going to mean. It'll mean our glorified bodies won't want to do wrong all the time.

They'll want to do right all the time. It means that when we try to obey God that our bodies will cooperate instead of fighting us. How pleasant will that be? It means no toddler in heaven will ever say no.

How pleasant will that be? These are bodies that are spiritual bodies. Number four, these bodies are going to be incorruptible bodies. First Corinthians 15 42 our bodies are sown in corruption, but they're raised in incorruption. Verse 52 for the trumpet will sound and the dead in Christ will be raised.

What? In corruptible. Our earthly bodies are corruptible. They're mortal.

They die. But our new bodies that God is going to give us are utterly and totally incorruptible in heaven. There are no cemeteries either. And there are no funeral homes either. And there are no hearses either because nobody's dying there.

You don't need these things. And finally, number five, these new bodies are bodies we must have in order to live in heaven. First Corinthians 15 verse 50. Now I say to you, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. And corruption that is our earthly bodies cannot inherit incorruption that is heaven for this corruption. The earthly bodies we now live in must put on incorruption and this mortality must put on immortality. The Bible is telling us that only an incorruptible, immortal body can live in an incorruptible, immortal place like heaven. And this is the great news of the Bible, is that if you are a born again, justified by faith, regenerated believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, God's going to give you one of these bodies.

First Corinthians 15 51. For we, that is believers in Christ, shall all be changed for the trumpet will sound and we shall all be raised incorruptible with a body that we need to live in heaven without one of these. Can't live there. It's like taking this body and go and try to live on Jupiter.

Can't be done. And people outside of Christ don't get one of these bodies and therefore they can't live there. So let's summarize. What have we learned? We've learned that the Bible says that in eternity, God is going to consummate our salvation in Christ by giving us a brand new body, a glorified body, just like the one the Lord Jesus got after his resurrection. Number one, it's going to be a heavenly body no longer subject to the physical laws of this world. Number two, it's going to be a powerful body no longer susceptible to the infirmities of this world. Number three, it's going to be a spiritual body no longer in rebellion against God. Number four, it's going to be an incorruptible body no longer subject to mortality and death. And number five, it's going to be a body designed to live eternity with Christ in heaven. The bottom line here, and this is what I want you to see today, is that as followers of Christ, the gospel of Jesus doesn't end with our salvation on earth. It ends with our glorification in eternity.

We praise God for that. Yes. Amen. All right. Now, that's as far as we're going to go in our treatment of this subject, because we're going to stop now and ask our most important question.

And all of you at Loudoun and Prince William and Bethesda and down in the edge and around the world on the internet and here at Tysons, we know the question. So, are you ready? Okay.

Deep breath helps. Ready? Here we go. Nice deep breath. Here we go.

One, two, three. So what? Oh, I messed your timing up, didn't I?

Because that wasn't that good. Okay. Let's try it again. Come on now. We're going to really do it this time. Ready?

One, two, three. Oh, that was much better. You say, all right, Lon, you know, I appreciate this. This is cool, but I don't have a glorified body right now. You know, on the beltway, I can't just fly up and over top of the cars and, you know, and when my boss is yelling at me, just disappear. I can't do that kind of stuff.

So what good is any of this to me right now? Well, let's talk about that, shall we? You know, my son, James, my oldest son, went to the U.S.

Naval Academy and he was a plebe there in 1995. And as you know, during your plebe summer and your plebe year, I mean, they're trying to break you down so they can rebuild you the way they want to. And the people in charge of this are called detailers. They're the ones that yell at you and scream at you and just make your life miserable. Well, anyway, I tried to write my son Jamie a letter almost every day just to encourage him. And I would always send along a far side cartoon because I figured he needed a yuck. You know what I'm saying?

Going through this. And I found a far side cartoon once that said how birds see the world. But I scratched that out to send it to him and wrote down how detailers see plebes. And so he put it on his bulletin board outside his room and said he could hear sometimes at night, detailers come walking down the hall, stop for a minute, read the cartoon and break out laughing out in the hallway.

But you know what else? One other thing I sent my son every time I wrote him. I sent him a verse of scripture. And early in the summer, I sent him this verse. Second Corinthians four seventeen for our momentary light affliction is working for us. A far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. And later, my son told me that he taped this verse into the top of his hat so he could look at it every day, sometimes more than once a day, and remind himself that plebe summer would one day be over and plebe year would one day be over.

And if he would just stay faithful and keep his eyes on the finish line that once he got through it, he would be really glad that he did. And it brought hope and encouragement to it. Now, that's an OK application of a practical application of Second Corinthians four seventeen. Let me show you.

Here we go. Second Corinthians four verse eight. It says, Paul writes, says, even though we are hard pressed on every side and persecuted and struck down and constantly exposed to death for Jesus's sake, we know that he who raised up the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us up with Jesus and give us glorified bodies. And since we know this, therefore, we do not lose heart. Here comes my verse for our momentary light affliction here on Earth is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory in heaven.

While we do not focus on the things which are seen here on Earth, but on the things which are unseen, the things the Lord has promised us in eternity for the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are unseen are eternal. Folks, in context, Second Corinthians four verse seventeen is not talking about making it through plebe summer. It's not talking about making it through plebe year. It's not talking about making it through plebe anything without losing heart.

It's talking about making it through life, making it through life without losing heart. And what these verses are telling us is that the way we do this is by keeping our focus on eternity, the things that are unseen, the new bodies the Lord's going to give us, the new world the Lord's going to take us to, the glorification he's going to perform on us. This is why Paul said Romans eight eighteen, for I consider that the sufferings of this present world are not even worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us. Now, friends, there are a lot of us here today who are discouraged.

You say, how do you know that? Friends, I know that because that's what this world does to us. There are a lot of us here today, I think, who are struggling not to lose heart, as the apostle Paul said. Well, friends, the apostle Paul right here in Second Corinthians four tells us that he's right where we are.

He talked about being hard pressed and being persecuted and being struck down and even being exposed to death. And he says, but we don't lose heart, he said, because we don't focus on the things which are seen on our momentary light affliction here on Earth. But we focus on things that are unseen for the things that are seen or temporary, Paul says, but the things which are unseen are eternal. Paul is saying to us, the way I keep from losing hope and losing heart is that I keep my eyes on heaven and on all the glorious things that the Lord has promised me there. And I understand that this is just temporary, but that's going to be eternal.

Now, friends, this is how we do it, too. And don't get me wrong, I'm not saying we shouldn't pray about our troubles and pray about our difficulties and pray about the tough things in our life and ask God to intervene and to help us here on Earth to lighten our load. And many times God does that.

And that's great. And it lifts our spirits for a few a few moments or a few days, and it gives us hope here on Earth. But then the world beats us down again and we find ourselves struggling again not to lose heart.

That's just the way it is here on Earth. And that's why the Lord has offered us something to give us eternal hope. He didn't have to tell us about these glorified bodies. He didn't have to tell us what awaits us in heaven. He didn't have to tell us how different life's going to be, but he did. And once he told us, he said, now that'll give you hope that transcends the things of this world. Keep your eyes on that. You know, my son John, my youngest son, was a very athletic little guy. And he loved competing in the presidential fitness.