Good morning and welcome in everybody. Today we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
Each day the human body goes through a process of aging. Each day that passes, the older we become. We begin to find a wrinkle here, or another there. We begin to see our hair change color, as it slowly turns into a lovely shade of gray. This is something that each of us must go through, as the human body slowly begins to decay. One man told me that his body was beginning to fall apart at the seams.
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
God grants some people to live an extended period of time, even well into their hundreds. That may seem like a long time, but it is nothing in comparison to living forever, something that is attainable through our precious Lord Jesus Christ. For a Christian, we understand that death is working on the outside, but God is working on the inside.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
When we are babies, we are born into this world of sin. It permeates our souls from our very youth. We have inherited physical death because of the garden of Eden. Scriptures clearly teach us that everybody has sinned, and the wages of sin is death.
Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death;…..
So on the outside, our bodies are growing older, as even the Apostle Paul. referred to himself as Paul the aged. Everybody grows older, but we can obtain victory over the grave, through Jesus Christ. What we must do is put to death that old man of sin, and put on the new man that is created through faith in Christ. The very first step in becoming a Christian, is getting baptized, and becoming reborn through the Holy Spirit.
John 3:1-7 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
Christianity is about becoming recreated through faith in Jesus. Death is happening on the outside, but through Christ, we can begin a brand new life. It begins with a leap of faith into the waters of baptism. Each of us are born into this world through the womb of a woman. This is how our physical life began. But through the waters of baptism, we are born from the womb of God. This is how our spiritual life begins. We dive deep under the water, and rise up to newness of life. This is a Spiritual rebirth that happens inside of our hearts. When we are baptized, God completely forgives us of all our past sins. We rise up out of the water as a brand new baby in Christ. Just as we were born through a woman, and temporarily lived in your parents’ home, we must all be born again through God in order to enter into His everlasting home.
As we continue to age on the outside, God is creating a brand new creature on the inside, one that will be capable of entering into eternity. Our physical bodies cannot get there, and this is why we must be born again. The new creature being formed inside of our hearts will be able to live forever, through faith in Christ.
John 11:26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die…..
To obtain eternal life, we must grow from a baby Christian into Spiritual maturity. Just as a newborn grows here on the Earth, the new Spiritual baby from God must grow too. Day by day and step by step, we are being renewed in knowledge. Just as we learn things on this Earth growing up, we begin to learn the way of God through the teachings of scripture. There are people who are at many different stages of maturity in the Christian Life. Some are still babies, while others are more seasoned and mature. Some people are still in their carnal state, and just like a young child, they need correction in order to keep them on the right path of service to Christ. When we hear the Word of God preached and taught, our minds are renewed. To renew means to make something new. We are being transformed from the old sinner that we used to be, and beginning to walk on the path of the saints. Just like when you went to school in your youth, we must be schooled in the wisdom and knowledge of God’s Word.
As we age physically, we begin to slow down. We start being careful when we walk down hills. Like a very old vehicle, our bodies become old too, but Paul calls it a light affliction. It is an affliction in our flesh that we endure patiently, as God grows a new person inside each of us. You might live to be a hundred years old, and that’s a long time in our Earthly body but it is nothing compared to being able to live forever in a place where our new celestial.bodies will never age. To obtain immortality, each of us need to endure the process of sanctification through God’s Word. The new child of God needs to become obedient to the commands and teachings of the Heavenly Father.
The wages of sin is death and you can see its repercussions as we age in our lifetime. But although each of us are under the penalty of death on the Earth, God grants us the opportunity of inheriting everlasting life. Those who serve Him in the newness of life are eventually going to see him.
We must also remember that this Earth and everything in it, is only temporary, just like our physical bodies. Our Earthly bodies are like a tent that you would pitch out in the woods for a short period of time, and then you pack it up and go home. Those who have faith in Christ will be raised up as new creatures, casting off the tabernacle of their Earthly body, to possess new celestial bodies that will never decay. They will be given to us by God to replace this corruptible body of sin.
So as a Christian, we don’t need to be concerned about aging on the exterior. We don’t need to be concerned about the temporal things of this place. Heaven and Earth shall be burned up and there will be a new place for us, a perfect place where there will be no more sin. We need to look to eternal things, such as God’s Holy Word, that gives us a vision into immortality. As we age, it doesn’t matter what you look like on the outside, what matters is if you have become a new creature on the inside. The first step to eternal life, begins with a walk into the deep waters of baptism, completely submerged beneath the sins of this world, and rising up as a new child, to be raised and nurtured by God.
For a sincere Christian, death on the Earth is only the beginning, as God takes us through this world, to the promised Land of eternal life. As we patiently wait to obtain that promise, each of us need to grow old gracefully, accepting with patience our light affliction, and in the meantime,..working out…..
…….A Few More Wrinkles
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody. ❤️
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