The Glorious Hereafter and Ourselves

worlddic.com

2 Corinthians 5:5

Now he that has worked us for the selfsame thing is God, who also has given to us the earnest of the Spirit.

It is a very comforting thing to be able to see the work of God in our own hearts. We have not to search long for the foul handiwork of Satan within us. The apostle found indications of the Divine work in a groan. Believers may trace the finger of God in their holy joys, yet just as surely is the Holy Spirit present in their sorrows and groanings which cannot be uttered. So long as it is the work of God, it is comparatively a small matter whether our hearts' utterance be song or sigh.

I. GOD'S WORK IS SEEN IN CREATING IN US DESIRES AFTER BEING "CLOTHED UPON WITH OUR HOUSE WHICH IS FROM HEAVEN."

1. The Christian is the most contented man in the world, but he is the least contented with the world. He is like a traveller, perfectly satisfied with the inn as an inn, but his desires are ever towards home. He is like a sailor, well content with the good ship for what it is, but he longs for harbour.

2. What is it that makes the Christian long for heaven?

(1) A desire for the unseen. The carnal mind is satisfied with what the eyes can see, etc., but the Christian has a spirit within him which the senses cannot gratify.

(2) A yearning after, holiness. He who is born again of incorruptible seed finds his worst trouble to be sin. What bliss to be without the tendency or possibility to sin!

(3) A sighing after rest, which we cannot, find here.

(4) A thirst for communion with God. Here we do enjoy fellowship with God, but it is remote and dark.

3. This desire is above ordinary nature. All flesh is grass, and the grass loves to strike its root deep into the earth; it has no tendrils with which to clasp the stars. Man by nature would be content

to abide on earth for ever.

4. While they are contrary to the old nature, such aspirations prove the existence of the new nature. You may be quite sure thai you have the nature of God in you if you are pining after God.

5. Note the means by which the Holy Spirit quickens these desires within our spirits.

(1) They are infused in us by regeneration, which begets in us a spiritual nature, and the spiritual nature brings with it its own longings — viz., after perfection and God.

(2) They are further assisted by instruction. The more the Holy Ghost teaches us of the world to come, the more we long for it.

(3) They are further increased by sanctified afflictions. Thorns in our nest make us take to our wings; the embittering of this cup makes us earnestly desire to drink of the new wine of the kingdom.

(4) They are increased by the sweets as well as the bitters. Communion with Christ sharpens the edge of our desire for heaven. And so does elevation of soul. The more we are sanctified and conformed unto Jesus, the more we long for the world to come.

II. THE FITNESS FOR HEAVEN WHICH IS WROUGHT IN US.

1. Who fits us.

(1) God the Father, by adopting us into His family, by justifying us through Christ, by preserving us by His power.

(2) God the Son, by blotting out our iniquities, by transferring to us His righteousness, by taking us into union with Himself.

(3) The Holy Spirit, by giving us food for the new nature, instruction, etc.

2. In what this fitness consists.

(1) In the possession of a spiritual nature. The unregenerate would not by any possibility be able to enjoy the bliss of heaven. They would be quite out of their element. A bee in a garden is at home, and gathers honey from all the flowers; but admit a swine, and it sees no beauty in lilies and roses, and therefore it proceeds to root, and tear, and spoil in all directions.

(2) In a holy nature. If a man has no delight in God he has no fitness for heaven.

(3) In love to the saints. Those who do not love the people of God on earth would find their company very irksome for ever.

(4) In joy in service.

(5) In conformity to Christ. Much of heaven consists in this.

3. The unfitness of unrenewed souls for heaven may be illustrated by the incapacity of certain persons for elevated thoughts and intellectual pursuits. Alphonse Karr tells a story of a servant-man who asked his master to be allowed to leave his cottage and sleep over the stable. What was the matter with his cottage? "Why, sir, the nightingales all around make such a "jug, jug, jug" at night that I cannot bear them." A man with a musical ear would be charmed with the nightingales' song, but here was a man without a musical soul, who found the sweetest notes a nuisance.

III. THE LORD HAS GRACIOUSLY GIVEN TO US AN EARNEST OF GLORY. An earnest is unlike a pledge, which has to be returned when the matter which it ensures is obtained; it is a part of the thing itself. So the Holy Spirit is a part of heaven. His work in the soul is the bud of heaven.

1. His very dwelling in our soul is the earnest of heaven. If God Himself condescends to make these bodies His temples, is not this akin to heaven's honours?

2. When He brings to us the joys of hope, this is an earnest. While singing some glowing hymn our spirit shakes off all her doubts and fears, and anticipates her everlasting heritage.

3. When we enjoy the full assurance of faith, and read our title clear to mansions in the skies; when faith knows whom she has believed, and is persuaded that He is able to keep that which she has committed to Him — this is an earnest of heaven.

4. Heaven is the place of victory, and when the Holy Spirit enables us to overcome sin we enjoy an earnest of the triumph of heaven.

5. When through the Spirit we enjoy fellowship with Christ, and with one another, we have a foretaste of the fellowship of heaven.Conclusion: If these things be so, believers —

1. Be thankful. Remember these things are not your own productions; they have been planted in your soul by another hand, and watered by a superior power.

2. Be reverent. When a scholar knows that all he has learned has been taught him by his master, he looks up from his master's feet into his master's face with respectful esteem.

3. Be confident. If the good thing had been wrought by ourselves we might be sure that it would fail before long. Nothing of mortal man was ever perfect. But, if He that hath begun the good work be God, there is no fear that He will forsake or leave His work undone.

worlddic.com