SUBJ: The eternal aim of God in
salvation witnessed in what we know now and what we may expect in the
eternity to come.
AIM: That we might treasure what we
possess in Christ now and what we shall as the eternal increase of
blessedness and joy in Him.
INTR: As believers ours is the
privilege of having preferred seating as to viewing the things of
Christ. We understand that the motive of God in salvation is love. His
aim in salvation is glory, His and ours together with Him. 1. This
scripture is difficult in that we are functioning in the Kingdom of God
while yet in this present world. But we have an inseparable tie to
Christ and can anticipate that which is to come without full
understanding – we walk by faith and experience joy in Him. 2. Paul
laid the foundation for comparison in the first three verses of this
chapter and then points us to the heights of Christian experience as we
contemplate that which is to come. 3. As we realize what we were and
come to see something of the glory of God, we often become frustrated
that we cannot communicate it to others and yet we persuade men with the
hope that God will reveal Christ to them the hope of glory.
THESIS: It is for His own glory and
delight that God has raised us up together with Christ and it will be
for His glory and our delight that we should have the riches of His
grace revealed. It will not be merely “here it is; what do you think?”
It will be an eternal unfolding of the wonders of riches and kindness of
which we can only imagine.
I. Quickened together (v. 5) 1. The
fact and the necessity of regeneration is ever before us in the Word of
God but is not in the purview of many in this age. 2. It is essential
that we understand that salvation entails being made alive in the sense
of having an existence in which sin and sinfulness cannot be. 3. It
is also essential that it is not of ourselves – it is wholly of grace
(see the parentheses) – it is God’s doing altogether. 4. It is
further to be understood that it is a vital connection with Christ.
5. There is reason that we declare without apology that “Ye must be born
again.”
II. Raised up and seated together (v. 6) 1. Being
quickened is what we experience of the grace of God; being raised up
together ties us inseparably to Christ from the ordeal of His suffering
and death to His resurrection and ascension back into glory and on to
the ages to come. 1) It places us together with Him in this new life
in which we walk. 2) All the characteristics of salvation are derived
from Him and pertain to Him. Nothing is given to us apart from being
together with Christ. 3) Consider the vine and the branches and be
reminded of the common life! 2. Being seated speaks to us of the
position of Christ. He is Lord and Christ (Acts 2) 1) Our position
with/in Christ is as sure as He is there 2) Consider that John spoke
in the present tense when he wrote: 5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the
faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of
the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our
sins in his own blood, 6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and
his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Revelation 1:5-6. 3) It is a place of revelation even now as are
taught of Him and learn of Him (from Him). 4) It is a throne that He
occupies as do we. See again, Revelation 1:6)
III. Together In
the ages (eons) to come (v. 7) 1. In verse 7, the Apostle comes to
the eternal purpose of God in salvation – that He might glorify Himself
in showing us the wonders of His grace and mercy. 1) Consider the
superlative “exceeding” and that it takes beyond comprehension – Fanny
Crosby described it well as the “foretaste of glory divine.” 2) Our
minds experience limitations that our hearts and souls do not – we do
not need to understand to know that it is glorious any more than we
consider his majesty. 3) We are made to see the value, the beauty,
the abundance, and the endurance of it all. 2. His kindness as like
no other: 1) Do we pause to contemplate the things mentioned above
both now and forever? 2) Nothing is free in the sense of no cost to
anyone – free to us but 3) We think of kindness as being good to
someone or as an expression of sympathy. 4) The Kindness of God was
expressed in giving His only begotten Son and by being anything but kind
to Him as we went to the cross. 3. The ever-increasing presentation
of the riches of His grace to us took the blood of Christ to obtain –
His was an infinite sacrifice; ours will be an infinite blessedness.
4. All of this is included in salvation and is magnified to us in verses
8-10.
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