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I first visited this congregation 
in January of 1995. I was told to fly into Sea-Tac, 
rent a car, cross the border, and to be here at a certain time 
on the Lord's Day. I made a reservation for a small 
compact car. I arrived at Sea-Tac airport. 
went to pick up the car and the lady handed me the keys. I went 
to the place in the airport garage where the car was to be parked 
and there instead of my small compact was a brand new pure 
white Lincoln Continental Town Car. I went back to the counter 
and I told the clerk, this won't do. I'm going to a church to 
preach the gospel to them. They are paying for this car. 
And I dare not show up in a Lincoln Town car. She said, oh, I understand fully. 
And she went into her data bank and she came back and she said, 
what did Jaguar do? I said, no, we're missing something 
here. I finally talked her down. to 
a Ford Taurus. And it ended up being a wonderful 
decision in many ways because that Lord's Day and the day following 
there was a major snowstorm in the Fraser Valley and the Lincoln 
Town car would not have made it out. And so that was the first 
trip here. There have been many trips since. 
It's been good to see God's blessing on this congregation over the 
years and to see that God is still blessing you in this place. Now please turn in your copy 
of the Scriptures to Romans chapter 8, and let us give attention to 
the reading of God's Word. I will read verses 14 through 
25. As many as are led by the Spirit 
of God, these are the sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit 
of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption, 
by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself bears witness 
with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then 
heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. If indeed 
we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together. For 
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not 
worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed 
unto us. For the earnest expectation of 
the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of 
God. For the creation was subjected 
to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected 
it in hope. Because the creation itself also 
will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious 
liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation 
groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who 
have the first fruits of the even we ourselves grown within 
ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption 
of our body. For we were saved in this hope, 
but hope that is seen is not hope, for why does one still 
hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do 
not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. mixed with happiness in our present 
experience is what the Bible describes in this text as our 
groaning. The joys of life are continually 
being interrupted by pain and by suffering. A trial that is 
so great that the Bible calls it the bondage of corruption. And this is the portion even 
of God's children We are not exempt from this. Our future, 
however, is very bright. We are said to be joint heirs 
of Jesus Christ. And in the age to come, the scripture 
here teaches us that we will be delivered from the bondage 
of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. In this text, the Apostle Paul 
weighs in a balance the sufferings of this present life compared 
with the glory that is promised to the children of God. And he 
concludes that our present afflictions, however great they may feel or 
appear to us now, they are not worthy to be compared to the 
glory that shall be revealed. Our text today is found in verse 
18 of this chapter. Here the scripture says, For 
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not 
worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed 
to us. This morning we will look at 
this verse under three very simple heads. First, the present that 
is experienced by the children of God. Second, the future that 
is promised to the children of God. And then third, the account 
that is to be kept by the children of God. But consider first what 
this text tells us about the present that is experienced by 
the children of God. It is a present that is described 
as the sufferings of the present time or of the now time. Now 
if you've read this far already in Romans, you know that Paul 
has said that our justification, the justification of the believer 
in Christ, is secure in him. That is, being justified by faith, 
we have peace through our Lord Jesus Christ. Our justification, 
our reconciliation, are accomplished in Christ. And yet there remains 
for us a burden of suffering to be experienced. And we know 
this from experience, don't we? We clearly are not exempt from 
the ordinary sufferings of all men. With the whole creation, 
we groan and we prevail in pain. Sickness and grief, disappointment 
and failure don't pass us by just because we are Christians. These things are part of the 
common lot of mankind. But in addition to these ordinary 
sufferings, the Christian has a unique burden of suffering 
to endure as well. We have the opposition of the 
world. We have the opposition of the 
devil. And from within, we have the 
opposition of our own indwelling sins. Now the world knows nothing 
of that burden of suffering. The world does not oppose the 
worldly. The devil does not hinder the 
worldly. Indwelling sin is quiet in the 
worldly. It is engaged, it is active, 
but the worldly is at peace with it. But the Christian, because 
of the stand that he or she has taken with Christ, It suffers 
the opposition of the world and the flesh and the devil. But 
now I don't want to dwell here because our text doesn't dwell 
here. But whether it is the ordinary 
sufferings of all men or the special, unique sufferings of 
the Christian, you know well enough what are the sufferings 
of the present time. You know what the Bible means 
when it speaks of the manifold trials that are the portion of 
the Christian. But my point is that these are 
the sufferings of the now time. These are the sufferings of this 
age. These are the sufferings of our 
present experience. And it is a present which will 
not continue forever. And though these trials are real 
enough, and though they are painful enough, yet nonetheless we know 
that they will come to an end. They are for a little while. 
They are for a moment. They are for now. And very soon 
we will pass out of this world to be with Christ, there to await 
the resurrection of our bodies and the full revelation of the 
blessings of the world to come. And when we do, all the sufferings 
of this age will be behind us. And it's this glorious prospect. 
that I want to bring into view as we turn our eyes away now 
from our present experience to the future that is promised to 
the children of God. Notice again the language of 
the text. Paul says, For I consider that 
the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared 
with the glory which shall be revealed unto us. even as our 
present experience is described in terms of suffering. So the 
future is described in terms of a glory that is destined or 
is certain to be revealed unto us. The Bible here speaks of 
a future glory, and it is promised to the children of God. It is 
a which is the object of our hope, it is not the object of 
our present possession in terms of an experience of it in its 
fullness. But it is a blessing which is 
the object of our hope, it is the object of our patient waiting, 
but again it is not our present experience. Our present experience, 
though there are many blessings in it because of the gospel, 
is described here in terms of suffering. But the future, the 
future is described in terms of glory that is to be revealed 
unto us. Paul here is saying that there 
is about to be revealed or about to be unveiled a glory which 
when it is revealed will terminate upon us. Now we know that the 
Bible says a lot about the glory of God and a lot about the glory 
of Christ. But here is a glory that has 
to do with the believer. Here is a glory which terminates 
on us. At the redemption of our bodies, 
we will receive as joint heirs with Jesus Christ a glorious 
inheritance and estate that is promised by God and is sure and 
secure to the heirs of God. God will be faithful to give 
what he has promised to the full, packed down and running over. 
There is a glory that is to be revealed. But what is that? What does Paul mean when he speaks 
of a glory that is to be revealed to us at the time of the redemption 
of our bodies, when he speaks of the revealing of the sons 
of God? I want to suggest three things 
to you that I believe have scriptural warrant. This is by no means 
exhaustive. of what the reality will be. 
We now see through a glass very darkly. Nonetheless, in Scripture 
we have sufficient light to say at least three things, to confirm 
three things concerning the identity of this glory that is about to 
be revealed. The Bible speaks of our reigning 
with Christ on the throne of His glory. The Bible speaks of 
our being like Christ in the image of His glory. And the Bible 
speaks of our seeing Christ in the full splendor of His glory. Let's take a moment and examine 
those things. First of all, the Bible speaks 
of the believers reigning with Christ on the throne of His glory. At His first coming, we know 
He came as a suffering servant. He came to be despised and to 
be rejected. He came to bear iniquity, to 
be wounded for our transgressions and to be bruised for our iniquities. But at His second coming, the 
Scriptures tell us, He will come in royal glory. He will come 
as King of kings and as Lord of lords. And the Bible teaches 
us that the day of His manifestation as the royal Son of God will 
be the day of the Christian's manifestation as the royal child 
of God. then we also will receive royal 
honor and dignity. Now our Lord Jesus hinted at 
this, well more than hinted I suppose, in Matthew 19 and verse 28 in 
speaking to the twelve. He said, Verily I say to you, 
that you who have followed me in the regeneration, that is 
in the new heavens and in the new earth, in the new genesis, 
the new beginning, Verily I say to you, that you who have followed 
me in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit on the 
throne of His glory, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, 
that is, in a place of royal honor and dignity and glory, 
judging the twelve tribes of Israel." And then if you look 
to Revelation chapter 3 and verse 21, We find this promise again. Here the scripture says, he that 
overcomes, I will give to him to sit down with me in my throne, 
as I also overcame and sat down with my father in his throne. Here is the very heart of being 
a joint heir with Jesus Christ. even as he has received the throne 
from his father, and he is seated with his father in his throne, 
so we will sit with him in his throne in a place of royal honor 
and dignity and glory. And then in Colossians chapter 
3, verses 1 through 4, Paul here is laying out certain motives 
to heavenly mindedness. And he says in this text, if 
then you were raised together with Christ, seek the things 
that are above where Christ is seated on the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things that 
are above, not on the things that are on the earth, that is, 
not on the glory of this age, for you have died and your life 
is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, 
shall be manifested That is, when His royal glory as the one 
seated at the right hand of God is revealed, then you also shall 
with Him be manifested in glory. And then 2 Timothy 2, verses 
11 and 12. Here Paul says, faithful is the 
saying, if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. 
If we endure or persevere, we shall also reign with Him. Now, I don't pretend, brethren, 
to know all that's involved, or very much that's involved 
for that matter, of what it will mean to reign with Christ, to 
be in a place of royal honor and dignity, to share with Him 
in some sense in the government of the universe. I don't pretend 
to know what the privileges of that station will be. It is part 
of a future that is promised. But nonetheless, in that future, 
there is for you, believer, a place of royal honor and dignity reigning 
with the Lord Jesus Christ. But now consider, second, there 
is not only a reigning with Christ, there is a being like in the 
image of His glory. And here Philippians 3 verses 
20 and 21 teaches us. Here the scripture says our citizenship 
is in heaven. Whence also we wait for a Savior, 
the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall fashion anew the body of our 
humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of His glory. according to the working whereby 
he is able even to subject all things to himself. What work 
will Christ do upon our bodies at the resurrection? We are told 
that we will be conformed to his body by the power that he 
has, the infinite power as the creator of the heavens and the 
earth, that he will transform our lowly bodies into the image 
of the body of His glory. And then we find in John's first 
epistle, in chapter 3, verses 2 and 3, these words. John also 
speaks of the present as contrasted with the future. He says, Beloved, 
now we are children of God. That is, our standing as joint 
heirs with Christ If we are joined to Christ in faith, that standing 
is not in doubt. It is a present position and 
standing that we have. Beloved, now we are children 
of God, and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be. That's 
yet in the future. It's yet the object of hope. 
It's yet the object of patient waiting. But, John goes on to 
say, we know that when He shall be manifested, that is, when 
He shall appear in His glory, we shall be like Him. For we shall see Him even as 
He is, and everyone that has this hope set on Him purifies 
himself even as he is pure. At the time of the manifestation 
of Christ's glory, the Scripture tells us we shall be made like 
Him. according to the working of His sovereign power by which 
He is able to subdue all things. He will transform the body of 
our humiliation so that it will be conformed to the body of His 
glory. As Romans 8, 17, the verse just 
prior to our text says, having suffered with Him, we will be 
glorified with Him. Now, brethren, that's a promise 
of tremendous importance, isn't it? Think of the contrast that 
there will be with your present experience. As part of your inheritance 
as a Christian, as part of your inheritance as a believer, God 
has bequeathed to you a future perfection of the whole person, 
of all that he has made you to be, not only in body but in mind, 
in soul, in spirit, in will, in conscience, all that God has 
put together to make the inner man, along with the outward body, 
all is going to be transformed into the image of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. And he has especially promised 
us, and here is a promise of exceeding preciousness to the 
believer, he has promised that we will be delivered from our 
remaining sins. We will be delivered from what 
Paul describes elsewhere in this letter as the body of this death. And what a tremendous blessing 
that will be, brethren, as I think of trying to rank the blessings 
of heaven. Heaven is a beautiful place, 
as the Bible describes it, and we know that it's far more beautiful 
than any human language, even inspired human language, could 
describe. The privileges of heaven are 
wonderful, but day by day the chief attraction of heaven, at 
least to me, is that there will be no more indwelling sin, no 
more this law within my members that is at war with the law of 
my mind. Though I delight in the law of 
God, I find this other law present which would seek to reassert 
its rule. which would seek to ruin my soul, which would seek 
to lead me away from fellowship with God and back into the company 
of the devil. But Christ has promised that 
part of the glory that is to be revealed is that we should 
be transformed into His likeness, body and soul, mind and spirit, 
heart and will, that we will be changed. And brethren, what 
a promise. As sinners we have fallen short 
of the glory of God, but as heirs of God we shall be raised in 
the pure image of Christ, never to sin again. Part of the glory that is to 
be revealed to us is our reigning with Christ on the throne of 
His glory. That sounds pretty nice, doesn't it? Part of it 
will be our being like Christ in the image of His glory. Now 
consider the supreme blessing. We shall see Christ in the full 
splendor of His glory. The Bible teaches us that the 
unshielded glory of God is an awesome and a fearful thing. 
Consider the testimony of several texts. Exodus 24, 17, Moses writes 
that the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring 
fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of 
Israel. They were given a glimpse of the glory of God, and it struck 
their hearts with fear. Moses was told, Exodus 33, 20, 
when he asked to see God's glory. You cannot see my face, for no 
man shall see me and live. 1 Timothy 6, 16, Paul says, God 
dwells in light unapproachable whom no man has seen nor can 
see. And even in a vision, the unveiled 
glory of Christ was too much for the Apostle John. We read 
in Revelation 1, verses 16 and 17, His countenance was as the 
sun shining in its strength. And when I saw Him, I fell at 
His feet. as one dead. And yet when Christ 
comes, when He transforms the body of our humiliation so that 
we are conformed to the body of His glory, then in our glorified 
bodies we will enjoy open-faced communion with God in the full 
splendor of His glory. You remember in the Sermon on 
the Mount, the Lord Jesus said, Blessed are the pure in heart 
for they shall see God. Our Lord prayed, John 17, verse 
24, Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be 
with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which you 
have given me. And the Bible says that our Lord's 
prayer on that occasion will be answered far, far beyond our 
imagining. Indeed, the unveiled glory of 
God and of Christ is such a dominant feature of our experience in 
the world to come that the Bible speaks of the New Jerusalem as 
being lighted by the glory of God. Revelation 21 and verse 
23, ìAnd the city has no need of the sun, neither of the moon, 
to shine upon it, for the glory of God does lighten, and the 
lamp thereof is the Lamb.î Jude wrote that God is able to guard 
you from stumbling and to set you before the presence of His 
glory without blemish in exceeding joy. What a combination of words. God is able to guard you from 
stumbling and to set you before the presence of His glory without 
blemish in exceeding joy. no longer under God's wrath, 
but in a glorified state of grace without even remaining sin to 
cause us to shield our eyes to His glory, not with fear, but 
with a joy that will surpass anything that we have ever experienced. We shall stand in the glorious 
presence of God. We shall look upon the face of 
the Father and of the Son, and we shall live But a glorious future is promised 
to the children of God, reigning with Christ upon His 
throne, upon the throne of His glory, like Christ in the image 
of His glory, seeing Christ in the full splendor of His glory. That's the future that is promised. 
That's the glory that will be revealed unto us. But Paul does 
not simply speak of a present that is experienced by God's 
children, a present that is marked by suffering. And he doesn't 
just speak of a future that is promised, that is the future 
of glory. He also speaks in our text of 
the account that is to be kept by the children of God. Look 
again at Romans 8 and verse 18. For I consider or I reckon that 
the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared 
with the glory which shall be revealed in us. The word there 
that is translated consider or reckoned is a commercial term. 
It's from the world of business. It was used in a variety of contexts 
in the ancient world. It meant to calculate. Or it 
meant to weigh as in a balance. Or it could mean to count up 
on one side and then count up on the other side as on a balance 
sheet. But it's a commercial imagery 
and drawing on this commercial imagery, Paul uses the word to 
introduce a carefully weighed conclusion, a conclusion that 
is based on not just part of reality, but on the entirety 
of reality, with all the facts gathered in, all the facts calculated, 
all the facts considered. This is the term that Paul uses 
to speak of the account that is to be kept by the people of 
God in the midst of our present suffering. He says, I have weighed our present 
suffering in a balance. with the glory that is promised 
to us in the age to come. And I have concluded, after taking 
all of the facts into account, that our present suffering is 
not of sufficient weight even to be compared to the glory that 
is to be revealed unto us. Now imagine for a moment that 
you have a balance sitting before you. You children, a balance, 
if you don't know, a bar with chains hanging from each end, 
there's a center post where it pivots, and there's some kind 
of receptacle, a pan or a pot or something underneath that 
holds what you're trying to weigh. And the way you weigh things 
is you put whatever you want the weight on this side, want 
to know, then you put measured weights on this side and you 
determine whether you have so many ounces or so many grams 
of whatever it is you're weighing. Well, imagine you have a balance. And in one side of that balance, 
you put a pile of feathers. What will happen to that balance? 
Well, if it's a sensitive balance, even the weight of those feathers 
will cause that pan to settle down. And in that small view 
of reality, with the balance and with those feathers, those 
feathers will appear to be very weighty. But now let's suppose 
that on the other side of the balance you still have the feathers 
over here. On this side you take a large 
brick of gold and you set it on this side. What happens now? 
Well, it's a completely different picture, isn't it? The feathers 
now seem inconsequential. The brick of gold weighing many 
pounds or many kilograms, that brick of gold causes that balance 
now to settle not slowly but rapidly to this side. And it 
is very apparent that that brick of gold, in terms of its weight, 
in terms of its importance in those terms, is much greater 
than that little pile of feathers on this side. Now let's get rid 
of the feathers and get rid of the gold. Over here in this side 
now, we have our present suffering. And if that's all that we consider, 
if that's all that we bring into the picture, we place our present 
sufferings in that side of the balance with nothing in the other 
side to counterbalance it in any way, and those present sufferings 
will appear to us to be exceedingly weighty. But now Paul is telling us there 
is something to put on the other side. It is the glory that is 
to be revealed unto us. It is what it will mean when 
indeed we reign with Christ on the throne of His glory and we 
are like Christ in the image of His glory and we see Him in 
the full splendor of His glory. When you put that into the balance 
now, when you take not just present reality but the future, also 
the facts of the future and bring it into the picture, then the 
whole picture changes. And the present suffering, which 
by itself may have seemed to be unbearably weighty, That present 
suffering is as nothing. He says it's not sufficient to 
be compared with the glory that is to be revealed. Well, let's 
change the imagery just a bit. Let's leave the balance behind 
and come to a balance sheet. On one side of that balance sheet, 
we list our liabilities. On the other side, we list our 
assets. And let's assume that you're 
a business person. Let's assume that you have founded 
a small company and you go to your accountant and you hand 
him an invoice that is to be paid. And it's an invoice for 
a million dollars for a piece of equipment. And the blood runs 
out of your accountant's face. He looks at you and he says, 
you cannot afford this. This is going to destroy your 
business. As I look now at your balance sheet, at this snapshot 
of the present, I see all your assets, I see all your liabilities, 
I look at this, when I put this on the side of your liabilities, 
this million dollars, do you understand that your company 
is done? You're finished. That's pretty bleak, isn't it? But you say to him, I forgot 
to mention that I have just secured a major government military contract 
for that piece of equipment. And over the next 10 years, a 
reasonable forecast is that I will make a billion dollars in profit. Well, the blood runs back into 
his face, the heart attack ceases, and he realizes that your forecast 
sheds a completely new light on your balance sheet. Your balance 
sheet is, after all, just a snapshot of the present. But that forecast, 
you've got this government contract, a billion dollars. What's a million 
dollars investment on the other side? Well, let's get rid of 
all of that now. If all we look at in the present 
is our balance sheet, our sufferings are going to appear to be very 
weighty and very significant. If that's the only reality that 
we consider is present reality and present experience, it's 
going to be hard to rejoice. But once we bring our forecast 
into the picture, once we bring the promise of reigning with 
Christ on the throne of His glory, and being like Christ in the 
image of his glory, and seeing Christ in the full splendor of 
his glory. Once the forecast comes into the picture, the whole 
picture changes. Now we're looking at the entirety 
of reality, not just the present snapshot. And that's what Paul 
is saying. He's saying that once we look 
to the present that is beyond the present that we experience 
to the future that is promised, then the present can be seen 
in an entirely different light. With our eyes firmly fixed, not 
on our present groaning, but upon the future glory, the glory 
about to be revealed, then we can say with John Trapp, what 
is a drop of vinegar in an ocean of wine? What is a drop of suffering 
in an ocean of glory? It's not worthy to be compared. 
I confess to you, brethren, I don't even begin to know all that's 
involved in the future that is promised. I don't know all that's 
involved with reigning with Christ. I don't know all that will be 
involved in being like Christ. And what shall it be, brethren, 
to see Him in the full splendor of His glory? The Bible teaches 
us that these blessings far outweigh, far outweigh the reality of present 
suffering so much as that it will be put behind us and never 
brought to mind again. I ask you to consider what are 
the sufferings of this body compared with the joys That will be ours 
when we have a body like Christ? What notice should we take of 
the pain of suffering with Christ compared with the glory of reigning 
with Him? How little, how little brethren, 
is the cost of being pure in heart compared with seeing God? Elizabeth Mills in a poem, I've 
never been able to track down the entire poem. This may be 
the entirety of it, I don't know. She says, we speak of the land 
of the blessed, a country so bright and so fair, and oft are 
its glories confessed. But what must it be to be there? We have a glorious future, brethren. There is a glory to be revealed 
at the revealing of the children of God. And this inheritance 
is ours in Christ. Because in Christ we are justified. Because in Christ we are reconciled. Because in Christ we are securely 
rooted in what Paul describes in Romans 5 as this grace. Because of this, he says, we 
rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Life takes on an entirely 
different shape. Our experience comes into a brighter 
light. The darkness is dispelled. Our 
hearts are expanded. Our minds are dazzled when we 
think of what God is going to do for us in Christ. We experience 
now all kinds of trials and disappointments, yes, weakness and failure. And 
though these things grieve us for a season, in the end of the 
day, brethren, what are they compared to what God has prepared 
for those who love him? So I want to encourage you, brethren, 
you take heart. Don't get discouraged in your 
present trials. God has not forgotten you. His 
grace is sufficient for you. And he has a future that transcends 
your imagination as far as the heavens are above the earth. Take hope. Wait patiently. Persevere. And the day will appear. And you shall be seated with 
him upon the throne of his glory. be like Him in the image of His 
glory and see Him in the full splendor of His glory. Now I cannot close there, though 
I am just about finished. I want to say a word to those 
of you who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ. Much of what I've said here today 
perhaps has not made a lot of sense to you. We understand that. Or perhaps, indeed, the gospel 
has made some sense to you in the past. There's been some glimmering, 
some understanding of the issues involved. But you've counted 
the cost too high to come to Christ and to believe on Him 
and to commit yourself to walk with Him in holiness and in godliness 
of life, by refusing to believe on Christ, by refusing to submit to His 
rule, you will indeed escape the unique 
sufferings of the Christian in this life. You will still suffer 
all the things that everyone else in the world suffers, you 
will still know illness, you will still know disappointment, 
you will still know weakness and failure, and you will still 
know death. But you will know nothing of 
the world's opposition because the world will not oppose you. The world has no conflict with 
you. The devil is not concerned about 
you. He will not oppose you. He will 
not fight you. He will not seek to hinder you 
in your course in any way whatsoever. And you will know perfect peace 
with your indwelling sin. For it has the mastery over you, 
and that's really all it wants. Having that, the game is over. 
It desires nothing more. But you will escape the opposition 
of the world and the flesh and the devil. But I say to you, 
my friend, the price is too high. For you will also know nothing 
of the future that is promised to the children of God. You will 
know nothing of the inheritance that is ours in Christ. Instead of reigning with Christ, 
you will be under his feet as a vanquished enemy. Your mouth 
will be in the dust and your company will be with devils. 
Instead of being raised to glory, you will be transformed, yes, 
but not transformed as the Christian. Your mortal body will be given 
immortality, but you will suffer in it forever, not rejoice in 
it forever. And instead of seeing God with 
exceeding joy, you will flee in terror from before his face. The Bible describes him as a 
consuming fire who pursues his enemies into outer darkness. The price is too high. And so 
I admonish you, I plead with you, come to Christ. Lay hold 
of him now. He freely offers to receive you 
now and to save you from your sins. He freely offers to transform 
you. From the inside out. And to take 
you into his own inheritance. And into all the blessings that 
are promised to the children of God. Which would you have? A bit of peace now from the world 
in the flesh and the devil. or eternal peace with the living 
God. Which would you rather have? 
A little conflict? A little conflict now with the 
world and the flesh and the devil? Or the living God pursuing you 
into outer darkness forever? The issues are waiting. You have 
a present, but you have a future. What will you do with them? John Piper wrote a book some 
years back called Don't Waste Your Life. Paul is telling you not to waste 
your soul. Paul says, For I reckon that 
the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared 
with the glory which shall be revealed. unto us. Let us pray. Our Father, we bow before You. We again ask, Lord, for Your 
grace and Your mercies. We pray, Father, that for Your 
people, as these words have been heard, as this text has been 
opened, we pray, Lord, that You would take the things that have 
been said that you would bless them to the encouragement of 
their souls. Grant much grace to us, Lord, 
that we might lift our eyes from the present, even to the future, 
even above, to see all that you have for us in union with your 
son. Encourage our hearts, Lord. Strengthen 
us for the warfare with the world and the flesh and the devil. 
and fill our sails, Lord, with Your grace, that we might move 
forward. Lord, we ask also Your mercy 
upon those who do not know You. We pray, Father, that You would 
also give them understanding of these things, that You would 
work in their hearts to show them the seriousness of their 
case, that You would by Your grace and power draw them to 
Your Son, and that you would work genuine faith in their hearts. Lord, you have said, why will 
you perish? And indeed, Lord, there is no 
rationale. It is insanity to turn away from 
you, the living God, and to turn away from your son and the gospel 
and to go on in a course which can only end in eternal ruin. Lord, we ask for mercy and we 
ask for grace. Thank you, Lord, for your word. 
It is a light to our pathway. We ask that you would seal it 
now to our hearts. In Jesus' name, amen.