April 10, 2025, 9:00 AM
53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory."
55 “Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your
Where, O death, is your
Now one is aware that a new taste has been created from this world to our heavenly world. It is a taste for the glory of God and the beauty of Christ. Once we had no delight in God and Christ was just an historical figure. We enjoyed food and friends and material things, and vacations and hobbies and games and reading and shopping and sex and sports and art and TV and travel. But all those things come before God in our hearts. But then something miraculous happens.
As John Piper puts it. "First the stunned silence before the unspeakable beauty of holiness. Then a shock and terror that we had actually loved the darkness. Then the settling stillness of joy that this is the soul's end. The quest is over. We would give anything if we might be granted to live in the presence of this glory forever and ever. And then faith- the confidence that Christ has made a way for me, a sinner, to live in his glorious fellowship forever, the confidence that if I come to God through Christ, he will give me the desire of my heart to share his holiness and behold his glory. We come to the light because we love it."
When one responds there is a condition. It is the condition of sacrifice. It is a willingness to put Christ first above and before all other things. It is the issue of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. If you respond to accept Christ, you respond by giving him your heart. Your heart controls all of you. You are saying, “ Lord here is my house, my family, my job, my money, my interests, my hobbies, here am I. Now they are yours to do with as You see fit. Consider the cost. It is a call to commitment.
Faith as the Bible characterized it is nothing less than the complete exchange of all that we are for all that He is. The thought is not on what is given up, but what is received. It is the pearl of great price. The idea of sacrificing and giving up all we have to the unsaved mind is ridiculous. It is foolish. But to the believing heart it is great joy. The glorious freedom from sin and unending blessings of eternal life far outweigh the cost of anything else.
Paul illustrates the understanding the joy of giving all things up for single gain. Phi. 3:7-8 ‘Whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ."
What is important to emphasis is that the Kingdom of God is worth everything and anything to enter. To be in the Kingdom - to enter the Kingdom is to accept and to do God's will. It is worth anything .
Let me say this lest some misunderstand. Eternal life is a free gift (Rom 6:23) Salvation cannot be earned with good deeds or purchased with money. That isn't the point of this parable. It has already been bought by Christ who paid with His blood on the cross. But that does not mean there is no cost in terms of its impact on each one's life. We have an abandonment of our selfish desires and like a grain of wheat that falls to the ground and dies so that it can bear much fruit. True faith is humble submissive obedience. As spiritual understanding unfolds that obedience grows deeper and the genuine believer displays an eagerness to please Christ by abandoning everything to His Lordship.
To accept the Lord's will may be to give up certain aims and ambitions which were very dear, to abandon certain habits and ways of life and even to accept discipline and self-denial which are not easy, but taking up the cross and following Christ. But there is no other way to peace of heart in this life and to glory in the life to Come.
Application: Seek always to grow in obedience and full surrender.
Prayer: I surrender all. All to be my blessed Savior, I surrender all.
