September 6, 2026 | Our Riches in Christ Part 2
Our Riches in Christ Part 2
2 Corinthians 1:20–22 – All of God's promises find their "Yes" in Christ, and the Holy Spirit is given in our hearts as a seal and guarantee (arrabon).
Matthew 1:20 – The binding, covenantal nature of ancient betrothal illustrated through Joseph and Mary.
2 Corinthians 11:2 – The church betrothed to Christ to be presented as a pure virgin.
Ephesians 1:13–14 – Believers sealed with the promised Holy Spirit as the pledge of their future inheritance.
Exodus 25:8 – God's command to build a sanctuary so He could dwell in the midst of His people.
Ezekiel 36:27 – The prophetic promise that God would place His Spirit within His people rather than residing solely in a physical building.
John 14:17 – Jesus foretelling the shift from the Spirit dwelling with disciples to being in them.
1 Corinthians 6:19 – The believer's body designated as the inner sanctuary (naos) and temple of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 8:9 – The presence of the Spirit of Christ as the defining mark of belonging to Him.
2 Corinthians 3:18 – The ongoing, passive transformation of believers from one degree of glory to another by the Spirit.
Philippians 1:6 – The promise that God will bring the good work He started in believers to complete realization.
Romans 8:13 & Philippians 2:12–13 – Active participation in sanctification by putting to death the deeds of the body through the Spirit.
Romans 8:20–23 – Creation and believers possessing the firstfruits of the Spirit while groaning for final bodily redemption.
Romans 8:26 – The Holy Spirit helping believers in their weakness and interceding for them with groanings too deep for words.
Hebrews 7:25 & Romans 8:34 – Christ’s ongoing intercession for believers at the Father's right hand.
In "Our Riches in Christ Part 2," Isaias Viñales presents the Holy Spirit as the believer's secure pledge (arrabon) and living guarantee of God's future promises. Moving beyond Old Testament physical temples, God now resides directly within every Christian, transforming their bodies into His personal sanctuary. This indwelling Spirit actively sanctifies believers from one degree of glory to another while guaranteeing a far greater eternal inheritance to come. Though possessing these spiritual firstfruits produces a natural tension—manifested in inward groaning and longing for final redemption—believers do not wait alone; the Holy Spirit sympathetically groans alongside them in their weakness, continually interceding according to God’s perfect will.
Transcript of Our Riches in Christ Part 2
The Engagement Ring
if you were to walk into a jeweler's shop in Athens this afternoon, okay, and ask for an engagement ring, the jeweler would reach for something that they call an arrabonos. Okay, an arrabonos. In Paul's Greek, it was the word arrabon, and it meant something rather plain, a pledge, a first installment, something costly, okay, placed on the table that binds the giver to everything that is still to come.
And the Greeks kept this word for 2,000 years, and eventually they slid it onto a finger in the engagement ring. And I think because of that they understood the word exactly right and correct.
an engagement ring is the promise of a consummation. It's a pointing forward to something else. And, it's a promise with something valuable and dear attached to it.
Reflection on Our Current Riches in Christ
Now, open your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter one. 2 Corinthians chapter one. Last Sunday we stood on verse 20 and we counted the promises of God, at least some of them, and every one of them were landing on Christ and coming back as an emphatic and a resounding yes and amen.
So just to remind you, okay, of some of the line items before we dive deep into this sermon. We saw that we have union with the Son of God so that your life is hidden inside of His. A record of debt erased, past reading, and carried off of the premises. Peace with God is a settled state and no condemnation standing over you this morning just like last week if you're in Jesus. Adoption into the family with the Spirit of the Son of the living God himself teaching your mouth and your heart to cry and to say, "Abba Father." You have a name placed in the will beside Jesus, the heir himself. A torn curtain and an open throne. A living priest who has not stopped speaking your name since the day He walked into heaven. Powers of darkness disarmed and paraded in public spiritually. Death stripped of its power to enslave you by fear. A completed transfer out of darkness into the kingdom of the beloved Son, and the seat that you have already occupied in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
Every one of these realities, if you recall, is secure, as secure as Christ is secure. Not one of them is pending. All of them are yours this morning.
And just like last week, it doesn't matter if you did not wake up feeling rich this morning. If you are in Christ, these are your riches. This is what you have. This is what is true of you, dear Christian. It is true.
The Spirit as a Guarantee
And so for the rest of our time today, we're gonna focus on what Paul wrote right after that great verse, "All the promises of God find their 'Yes' and 'Amen' in Him." Because this sermon, I hope, will stand on the shoulders of that sermon that we heard last week. And beginning in verse 21 and 22 of 1 Corinthians chapter... excuse me, 2 Corinthians chapter 1, we read these words: "It is God who establishes us with you in Christ," we're established in Christ, "and has anointed us, and who has also put His seal on us and given His Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee."
Here we have this arrabone, this guarantee. My brothers and sisters in Christ, God has put a pledge on you. God has put a seal on you. And in Paul's world back then, okay, a pledge like this would be legally binding.
When Joseph, and I'm talking about the Joseph who was the husband of Mary, okay? When Joseph learns that Mary is with child, the angel calls her your wife. But here's the thing, they were only betrothed. Matthew 1:20. We learn that from Matthew 1:20. But you have to understand that the angel, he wasn't speaking loosely. The angel wasn't speaking loosely because betrothal in the ancient world was often a binding covenant. Unfaithfulness at this point would be considered adultery, and the only way out was something like a bill or a bill of divorce. Remember Mary actually excuse me, Joseph actually tried to do that, and the angel had to intervene, if you recall.
So in betrothals in this ancient context, the bond was real, though many things were still ahead of this couple. For instance, like the day that Joseph would bring Mary home. And that's the tension that Paul lives in when he tells the Corinthians, "I have betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ." That comes from 2 Corinthians 11:2.
So we as Christians, we are bound to Christ already in the here and now. Praise God for that. We are bound to Christ. But if you recall from last week, there will be a glorious day, will there not? When you are presented to him without spot, without blemish, without wrinkle, without any such, without any such thing. That day is still on the horizon. So praise God, we're his today, but the best of it is still to come.
Now, in every betrothal you perhaps ever witness, the one asking is the one that takes on the risk, right? think about it. Normally, you have a young man that spends all of this, what, money to buy a ring that he's hopefully gonna slip on a young lady's finger, right? But she could say no. That's how it normally works. Hopefully, he's asking when he's a little bit more sure, right? So he's not let down.
But in this case, who's putting this down? It is God himself who's doing the pledging. It is God himself who takes on the obligation, and look what he laid down. The text tells us, "His Spirit in our hearts." That's the guarantee.
So remember, better things are yet to come, and God puts something down to assure you of that. And what he puts down is not a shiny stone or a gem dug up from the ground, like a young man does when, "Will you marry me?" He gives himself. He's given you himself. I want you to say this. Say, God. God. Say, God. God. Has given me himself.
There Is a Future Promise
And Paul says it again to the Ephesians, and this time he, tells us what the pledge is toward, okay? And this is from Ephesians 1:13-14. "In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory."
Our brother read from that earlier. The guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it. we have something so precious and so valuable right now, but the fact is that we're still waiting for something that is yet to come, that is still out on the horizon, that is still in the future.
But that's... When I hear that, a certain question comes to my mind, okay? When I hear this. Because if the pledge, think about it, the guarantee, is the Holy Spirit Himself. Then what will the consummation be like? How spectacular. if you will, in the down payment, right? If the engagement ring, so to speak, is God himself Then how glorious will it be when the full inheritance is finally embraced. Just sit with that for a second. Certainly it's gonna mean more of God. More of him. What a thought.
See, last week we counted just some of what Christ has secured. You were an estranged alien, and now you're a full son, a full daughter with full legal rights, the papers signed as it were, and the precious red ink of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. But signed papers, they point forward to a day of possession. And God has given us a pledge for that day.
So this morning we hold that pledge up to the window, okay? The way that a jeweler will hold a stone to the sun. And we wanna look through it to the other side. We're gonna look at what the Spirit is doing in us right now while we wait, beloved. And then we're gonna look at, Lord willing, what we're actually waiting for. what is it that we're looking forward to? And God wants you to know these things. He's revealed these things for us in His Word. He wants you to know what's right around the corner, okay? Lest you get, grow tired. and you think, "Oh, maybe it's not worth it to try to turn the corner." There's glorious things ahead of us.
Where Does God Live?
Now with that said, let's consider a question the whole Bible spends itself answering. Now, I like to think there's a lot of questions like that that we can ask, okay? But one of those questions is this: Where does God live? May sound strange now, but you'll see why I phrase it that way. Where does God live?
Come back with me mentally to Exodus 25, okay. Israel is camped at Sinai, and God hands Moses a blueprint. It's a blueprint for a tent, and he tells him what this tent is for. Okay? So he gives them, he gives the people a little building project, but he tells them why they're to do this, all right? And this is what we read from Exodus 25:8. It's remarkable. "And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst." That I may dwell in their midst.
Did you know that's why God had the sanctuary be built, the tent? That he would dwell in their midst. God wants an address among his people. If you recall from last week, I mentioned the fact that God is very generous.
He gives gifts upon gifts Saving gifts, right? But they're found in a single address. Do you remember what that- where those gifts are received, in whom? In Christ. Say it loud and proud. In Christ. In Christ. That's where they're found, beloved. But here's the thing, God wants an address here in this room. God wants an address in every single heart in this place this morning. In every single one, in every single body in this room, God wants an address. This is what that old story was pointing to.
See, when the tent is finished, this is what happens. The glory of the Lord fills it so thickly that Moses, the man who spoke with God face to face, he can't even get in the door. You can read about that in Exodus chapter 40. And then centuries later, Solomon builds the temple, and the priests can't stand up to do their work because the glory has filled the house. That's from 1 Kings chapter 8. It's like God's home.
But mark this, at that time at least, God is home in a building in the Old Testament, behind a curtain at that point in time. And when the nation's sin grows heavy enough, Ezekiel, a prophet of the Lord, is given a vision he must have wished he had never seen. I wonder if you know it. He watches the glory of God lift off the cherubim. And it pauses at the threshold And then the glory leaves. It departs. That's Ezekiel chapter 10.
And it's Ezekiel, the same prophet who watched, as it were, God move out, who is handed good news later on. Y'all know this. Listen to these words from Ezekiel 36, "I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules." Within you, God now says. God is going to trade the building for the people, for you and I.
And on the night before Jesus died, He tells the disciples in that upper room that the trade is about to go through. Okay? Listen to John 14:17. He says this, "You know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you." Okay? I want you to hear the shift in that sentence. When He says, "With you," that's the whole Old Testament in two words, with you. God in a tent, God in a temple, and now God in a body. They shall call His name Immanuel, which means what? God with us. And He's reclining at table beside them. But when He says, in you," that's Ezekiel's promise finally about to come due.
And we know that it takes place on Pentecost. And by the time Paul writes to Corinth, it has come. Now, you have to understand, the, the church at Corinth was like a hot mess. they had some serious problems, which Paul had to address and correct.
And so I like to think while he's kinda like a father scolding them a little bit, he writes these words. This is 1 Corinthians 6:19, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?" He says, "Do you not know this?" He's not writing anything new. He's astonished that they've forgotten this old truth. He says, "Don't you know? Don't you know this?"
And the word, by the way, for temple there is the word for the inner sanctuary, the holy place itself. Remember, by the time the New Testament kicks off and the New Testament writers were writing and doing their work there, the Old Testament Hebrew scriptures had already been translated into Greek. And so the very word that Paul reaches for is not the word that would've been used for the outer courts, but the inner sanctum itself, the most holiest of places.
and so what he's saying, to translate that for today, this morning, he's saying your body, the one in that chair this very moment, is where that glory now lives. Let it sit with you. That's a hard thing to grasp. That's a hard thing to believe. The glory that filled the temple now in you.
Romans 8:9 says the same exact thing. It puts it in the form of a test, "Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ doesn't belong to him." Which means, dear saint, that if you are Christ's, then Christ's Spirit is in you. And unlike good friends that may drop by for dinner, they're sleeping in their own beds that night, right? They're just stopping by for a while. Unlike that, the Spirit has come and he's made his home. He's unpacked the bags. He doesn't plan to go anywhere. He doesn't plan to go anywhere.
So there's no such thing as a Christian who hasn't been moved into. Remember, we all should wanna get into Christ. But what I'm saying to you, the other half of that, is that Christ has got into you Christ has got into you. Like something's happened to you. Something's different. A real living holy being has moved in. Has moved in.
Now think back to the first illustration of the engagement ring, okay? What does it do? Man slips it on her finger. She says yes. Woo-hoo, she said yes. And it goes with her on her hand while she makes dinner and drives to work, right? and while she's lying awake at night on her bed, the ring is there with her. It's on her finger.
And God, which what I want you to know is he did even more than that. With his pledge, he put it inside of you. He put it inside of you. The same glory Moses couldn't walk into has chosen your ribcage as a sanctuary. And unlike Ezekiel's day, he's not going anywhere because you're sealed until the day of redemption, until the acquired possession of it.
So last week I told you that the deepest thing true about you is that you are in Christ. I take none of that back, okay? But here's the other half. Christ by His Spirit is in you. He's in you. So there's this double address. There's this beautiful double address.
And a God who moves in, God, the one true living God, when he moves in, he doesn't leave the house the way he found it. He cleans up. He reorganizes. He sets things up just the way that he likes.
God Is Transforming Us From Glory to Glory
We have some homemakers in the house, praise God for it. You know what that's like. Some of you have owned however many properties, but when you get your first property, you try to set it up, right? It's your home now. It's your place. Buy whatever couch you want, you can afford at least, right? You set up things just the way you like. This is what God is doing, and it's the second thing that this pledge, this guarantee, and the Holy Spirit is doing in our lives. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 3, okay? 2 Corinthians chapter 3. We're gonna be looking at verse 18 here just, just here in a moment.
But in this chapter, okay, Paul has just reminded us that the glory on Moses's face as he was coming down was so bright that Israel couldn't even look at him, okay? and with the brilliance and how much it was dazzling and all that, nevertheless, it was fading away. It was a glory that was fading away. It was on out.
But then Paul, what he does is he turns from Moses to us, members of the new covenant, and he says this, "And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit."
Look how he opens up that verse. He says, "We all." I'm gonna point out some contrasts here real quick. Under the old covenant, it was just Moses. It was just one man's face who shone because he was the only one who got that close. But under the new, every last one of us stands unveiled, beholding the glory of the Lord.
So this applies from the grandmothers all the way down to the teens this morning who didn't, quite wanna come to church. We all stand unveiled, and we're all being transformed. This is taking place right now in our lives.
And while I don't wanna get too technical, it's in the passive voice, meaning it's being done to you. You're not the sculptor. You're the stone under the chisel. And Paul tells us who's holding that chisel, the Lord who is the Spirit.
And so what is he making? he's transforming you after the same image from one degree of glory to another. Now, when I say that, from one degree of glory to another, most of us, what, what jumps out of that, what jumps out to us from that text is this idea of a process, and that's certainly there, but a process of what?
you're gonna miss the heart of this if you don't catch this. He doesn't say that we're being transformed from abject nothingness to something somewhat glorious and beautiful. Read the text again, my dear friends. From one degree of what? What's the word? Glory. Glory to another, which necessitates, like logically demands, for you to understand you are glorious in one sense, and you're becoming more glorious. This is a process from one degree of glory. The literal Greek, it's from glory to glory.
Is that the way we tend to picture ourselves? I think not. But it's biblical. Dear saint, you are being transformed from one degree of glory, hear that word, glory, to another. That's how scripture speaks of us. And so yes, it's gradual, and you're becoming more glorious.
and again, there's another contrast here. Moses's glory, it was fading away. The strongest that it ever was the moment he began to come down that, come down that mountain. Us, for the church, it's the opposite. The glory is meant to grow. It's meant to increase. There's meant to be more of it as time goes by.
But we gotta be brutally honest with ourselves, especially when it comes to something like a Tuesday morning, 'cause Paul talks about this as though it's happening in our lives right now. it's just, it's the tense of the it's just how he talks about it. But the way that we experience this is very slow sometimes, right?
Some of you have a doorframe at your house with pencil marks on it. You know what I'm talking about? Or, something like that. What is it for? You've marked the years, right? The height of your children as the years gone by. Now, what's remarkable about that, if you think about it, if I look at Grant right here, he's on the front row. Say hi, Grant. Okay. If I look at Grant, I can't see him growing. Like in the moment if I just stare at him, I can't see him grow. I can't see him shoot up.
But his parents know throughout the years he's grown because they see the marks of it. And if you step back season by season really, you can see marks of growth. This is much like what sanctification is like in our own lives. Where if you were to stare on any particular day, it's discouraging. I don't think I've grown.
I remember my mom only did this one year or two. I think she stopped doing it because of how annoying I was. What do It's And guess who came around about 10 minutes later? And then the next day. But it doesn't work like that, does it? It's gradual. It's over time.
And here's the thing, a day is coming, dear Christian. Oh, let this be encouraging to you. Some of you are so discouraged about where you're at spiritually. When you're gonna look at that doorframe and you're gonna hardly believe where you started-
You know, one of the passages that this brought to mind as I thought about this was Matthew 25, when Jesus says to those, the sheep on his right hand, "Enter, into the kingdom prepared for you before the foundation of the world." he says, "For when I was naked, you clothed me," right? "When I was hungry, you gave me to eat, and, you visited me," all this. And they're like, "When did we do that?" They're just, they're in shock. They're in awe. And it really is like that, right? Because from day to day, it can feel no different than the day before. And if we're honest, sometimes it feels like we're doing worse than the day before. But genuinely, sincerely, and however quietly, the Spirit is moving that mark right up that doorframe.
Take courage, take heart that is true. And it's not just that's true, but Paul, he stakes the very character of God on it, on your growth. In Philippians 1:6, we know this verse, "He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." The one who began the work is the one who carries it through to completion.
Now, I knew some contractors, general contractors, they weren't the best. What do we gotta be careful who you hire out for work, right? There's guys who have a reputation of starting work that they never complete, that they never finish, right? We know people like that. God doesn't tear out the kitchen and then walk off the job, my dear friends. He completes what he starts He completes what he starts.
We Are Called to Prepare Ourselves
Now, earlier I said also that this is in the passive voice, so it's being done to you. It's being done to you, okay? But that's not meant to make us a spiritual couch potato, okay? It's not meant to do that. Because Romans 8:13, and later on in Philippians chapter 2, the same book that we get, "He who began a work in you will complete it at the day of Christ Jesus," tells us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God at work in us, both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
And in Romans 8:13, the apostle hands us a sword. He hands us a blade and he says this: "If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live." Now, who's doing the killing there? You are. At least we're supposed to be. But by whose power are we doing it? If you by the Spirit put to death the deeds of the body.
So while Paul will not let us get the credit, he will not let you take a nap and snooze your way into glory. He just ain't gonna let it happen. Doesn't work that way. So this is why when Paul describes the result, the things that the Spirit is doing at work in your life, he uses the imagery of fruit.
Remember Galatians chapter 5? Fruit. Because it's born naturally and organically in you, and yet he gets the credit. I've always marveled at that. When you do a loving act, when you've loved on me, when you've loved on the people around you, that's you being faithful and obedient, right? And the scriptures look at that and it's like, "That's the fruit of the Spirit." Isn't that remarkable? But you can't manufacture fruit. It's grown by the one who planted himself there inside of you.
So this pledge in the Holy Spirit, this guarantee is not to be tucked away in a drawer, and he's not tucked away in a drawer. He's working. He's making you ready. Think about the engagement picture. He's making you ready. And if you remember Revelation 19:7, this is exactly what the bride is said to be doing while she waits. She has made herself ready. And many of you were to do a study on the parables of Jesus, many of them, although not all of them, have one point: Be ready. Be ready.
So I wanna say to all of us here, church, we have to be ready. We have to be ready. We have to live in preparation of that day that's coming, of the consummation, of the wrapping up of all things. We have to be ready.
Expect Groaning
Now as he, what I wanna do is I wanna, poke down into this. I wanna go down deeper into this, because if we stop here, you think, "Okay, fine, the Christian life is just like this." Just up and up. And when you don't feel like that, you might even wonder, "Am I even a Christian, or what in the world is wrong with me?"
So I wanna, deal with that. Romans 8:20-23. Listen to this. "For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we eagerly await for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies."
I want you to highlight or notice the word groan there. Paul says it of creation, and then he says it of all of us in here. And notice the way he describes us who groan. He says, "The people with the first fruits of the Spirit." What that means is then if you have the Spirit, that doesn't exclude the groaning, because those who groan are the ones that have the Spirit. Do you see that? So although we have the Spirit, we who have the Spirit, the firstfruits of the Spirit, are the very ones groaning.
And this is, this picture of first, firstfruits is another way that he looks at this guarantee in the Holy Spirit. We'll flesh it out. if you would go back to Leviticus 23, the first sheaf of the harvest, would be carried and offered to the priest, okay? And it was the guarantee that the whole field was coming.
It's the concept of firstfruits. Now, you think about it, right? Every year, there's always the first of the harvest. There's the first of the batch, and once that comes around, you know the rest of it is coming. The season has dawn, where the harvest is in. It's gonna come. That's the idea of firstfruits, okay?
So what you have right now is real. You have the firstfruits of the Spirit, but it's only the beginning. It's only the beginning And it's us who are holding these first fruits in hand who are the doing the groaning.
Now, I remember when I used to read that in that passage, I found that so strange. It was just weird. okay, we have the Spirit, why are we groaning? We have the first fruits of the Spirit, and in that picture it kinda, it, it used to mess with me a little bit. So why?
it's because we've tasted it. We've tasted and seen that the Lord is good, and the waiting hurts You know, one of the pictures I've been using is this engagement, right? This couple that's now engaged.
I remember a week and a couple days before wedding day, guys, it was hard for me. Why? Because I've already knew, I knew her a little bit. Spend months and years getting to know this gal, and all of a sudden, the big day's around the corner. All the dates, all the hours talking, all the time getting to know one another, it didn't cancel out the fact that I was gonna know her in a deeper and more intimate kind of way.
In fact, what's remarkable about that, by the way, when we think about marriage, is that the word the Bible uses for the c- the consummating marital act And Adam knew Eve.
I knew my wife before I married her, But I didn't know her like on that day. I didn't know her like on that day, and that's what it's kinda my dear friends.
So this groaning in you, when there's this ache, when there's this pain, when there's this longing, when you know there's more, it's not evidence that something has gone wrong with your faith, per se. It's evidence of someone who has tasted and is homesick for the rest.
God Himself is Groaning
And then Paul says something in this very same chapter, in Romans 8:26. Should stop us cold, really. Says this, "Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness." So just like this concept, you can have the Spirit and have groaning. You can have the Spirit and have weakness. The Spirit helps us in our weakness. In fact, He's there precisely because of the weakness. Do you see that? The Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
So you have creation groaning. You and I groan. But lo and behold, the Spirit Himself groans. So we have three groanings in six verses, and the third one is God.
And this is why that's, it just ought to blow our minds, dear friends. We're told why we groan. It's because we're subject to futility. It's because we are weak. No way that's true of the Holy Spirit. Amen? The Spirit is not, He's no weak chump . But He's groaning. Why? Because it's a sympathetic groaning. He's groaning because of you, because of your groaning.
So it's like Jesus weeping at the tomb of Lazarus. It's like Jesus when He's moved in the depths of His soul with pity and compassion when He sees someone in desperate need. The Spirit is not weak, and He's groaning because you groan.
Is that your picture of God? It's there in the text. He groans. He intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
God Intercedes For Us
So you remember last Sunday, we have Hebrews 7:25, Romans 8:34, Christ Jesus at the right hand of God, always alive, interceding for us. We have the same word here in verse 26. The same chapter, it's the same verb, and it's spoken of two different people. You have one intercessor who is standing in heaven at the Father's right hand, and another one that is dwelling and living on the inside of you right now.
So we are surrounded, dear church, by intercession. Surrounded. when you kneel and all that can come out is a sigh. You ever been there? Where it hurts? Maybe all you can say is, "I'm sorry." Or maybe you're just like, "God, I don't even know." At that exact moment, the Spirit is interceding with groanings too deep for words.
And he doesn't get it wrong, because Paul goes on to tells, tell us he prays according to the will of God. Which, by the way, means that God's will concerns you. Because the Spirit can't pray according to the will of God if you're not included in the will of God.
But you're included in that will, my dear friends. So when the Spirit prays He's heard.
It's not an exaggeration to say this, okay? It just takes a little thinking. You have never once prayed alone. If you're a Christian, you've never once prayed alone. Not one time in your life as a Christian. The Son speaks your name above you, and remember whose name you actually pray in the name of Christ. And the Spirit groans your need within you, and the Father hears them both, and He hears you because you are dearly loved and you are His child. God hears you. God hears you. And he loves you. And he cares about you. And he's moved into You our home is with God, right? As Christians, we talk like that. But God's home is with us. Can we talk more like that, too? It's true. God's home is with you, dear brother. God's home is with you, dear sister. God's home is with us. He's moved in, and He loves us. So that, that throne room that we access when we go to pray, it's not like, " hey, you're on foreign territory. You don't belong here. Get out of here." the angel's "Hey, look at him. He's, broken in again. So who left the window open?! no, Oh, no, my dear brothers and sisters. Not at all. It's our house. It's where we belong. It's where we belong. And we'll see more about that later. It gets better, I promise. And that's astonishing to say when I can say that in honesty and with a clear conscience, it gets better than that.
Our Bodies Will Be Raised
So what are we waiting for? He says we ea- we, wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. And it's wait, didn't Ephesians 1:5 tell us we're already adopted? yes, he's not denying that. But a piece of that adoption is still outstanding. We're still waiting for the redemption of our bodies.
So we have the deed, we have the title, we have the name. That's who and what we are. We're sons and daughters of the, the Most High God. But our bodies are a little slower than that, to catch up to those things But things will change, and that's what this guarantee, this pledge is pointing to. So we're gonna focus in on this body, okay?
And how the Spirit, like, how the Spirit guarantees that something's gonna happen to this body. Listen to this. This is Romans 8:11 from the same chapter, "If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you."
Notice how Paul names the Spirit there in Romans 8:11. He doesn't refer to him as the Spirit of Christ or the Spirit of God, though he does go by those titles, but here he is named by his resume. By his resume. The Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead, and he runs a straight line from that resume to your body so that the power that walked a dead man out of a sealed tomb has taken up residence in you. And the proof and the guarantee of the fact that one day your body will be raised from the dead is the fact that right now, the power of the resurrection dwells in you already. That's what he's saying.
Hear those words again, "If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you."
So how do you know? If someone were to ask me, "Man, death is a real thing, brother. That is hard. how do I know?" I would simply, "Do you have the Holy Spirit? Does the Spirit of Christ dwell in you?" Why? Because it's not by a different power. It's not by something else. It's by that same spirit, that same power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead and that already, right now, like already dwells in you. He's gonna raise up that body.
That's glorious. 1 Corinthians 15, the concept of first fruits come up again Christ has been raised, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. And we have the Spirit, the first fruits in us. Okay, and then the risen Christ, the first fruits ahead of us. And again, the picture is there is just like the first sheaf has already been cut. And we, like the church, are standing in the sun waiting for that same sickle to come and fetch us, as it were, to God.
Okay, now the way that he talks about death and stuff like that is, quite fascinating. The way he talks about the body. He uses a farmer's vocabulary. He says the body is sown. That's the language we use of seed, right? Sown, when we sow seed. He says the body is sown and it is raised. Sown perishable, raised imperishable. Sown in dishonor, raised in glory. Sown in weakness, raised in power.
Now, I want you to show by a raise of hands, okay? When's the la- Has anybody ever heard of a farmer who hold, who held a funeral for a seed? No, right? Why? Because he puts it in the ground, because what does he expect to come up.
And Paul looks at a Christian grave and he sees a planting. He sees a sowing. Why? Because just like the farmer who sows the seed, he expects something to spring up. He expects something to spring up.
Now, I wanna say this this gently, because some of you came in here this morning in a body that hurts, in a body that is slower than it was, or carries a diagnosis, or is simply worn down through years, which quite frankly you didn't pra- may, you didn't even ask for, right? And Paul knows that. He calls the body lowly in Philippians chapter 3. But it's also there in Philippians 3 where he says this: "Who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself."
So what the Spirit is doing now, slowly, remember we're being transformed from one degree of glory to another, Christ will do all at once to your body then. All at once.
And I want you to pay attention to the power by which this will be done. The power is the power to subject all things to himself. So Christ, who's over the powers of darkness, Christ who reigns over sin, Christ who reigns over death itself, that Christ is going to turn the whole weight of his supremacy towards your body. That's what the text says. By the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. That's the power of omnipotence. That's all power
So he will spend his omnipotence on your crackly knees. Sometimes I got crackly knees. I'm a young man, but my, my knees can croak. He's gonna spend it on lungs that unless the Lord comes back will stop expanding one day. He's gonna spend that power and direct it towards eyes that will be closed and shut in death. God's almighty power directed to the resurrection of your body, transforming this lowly body to be like His glorious body.
And what of death? we know it's swallowed up in victory. It's devoured. It's put on the menu now. It's a picture. Swallowed. I love that, isn't that sweet?
The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth
Now here's where I wanna correct something. A lot of us absorb this in our Christian culture, and we've never really checked it against the various texts of the New Testament. But where if you were to ask your average Christian what the inheritance is, and I sympathize with this answer, and it's not entirely incorrect, they will tell you something like heaven. Okay? They'll tell you something like heaven.
But listen to what Jesus actually promises in the plainest sermon he ever preached, Matthew 5. "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." The earth. And Paul makes it bigger still. In Romans 4:13, he calls Abraham heir of the world. You ever thought of Abraham that way? Paul did. He calls Abraham heir of the world. Abraham was promised a strip of ground between the Jordan and the sea, and Paul reads that promise as if the deed had the whole planet on it.
And now set that beside Romans 8:19 and 21, right before that groaning that we read about earlier. The creation itself is waiting up on its toes for a single event. Okay? Creation is waiting on this particular event. What's that event? The revealing of the sons of God. That's us. So that Earth's liberation, it's being set free, is scheduled on the same day, the same moment, the same hour as our glorification.
why? Remember in the beginning, "Cursed is the ground because of you, Adam." And now, when humanity is being restored, when we're being set free, creation that was under bondage because of our bondage, it fell through us, is itself now liberated. That's beautiful.
So you and the ground under your feet get free together. That's why John, on the last pages of the Bible, does not see saints floating up and away. He sees a city coming down, and look how he describes her. "I saw the Holy City, New Jerusalem, coming down, out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." So it's a picture here of a bride again, adorned, coming down. There is a consummation, that's it, that we've been walking towards from the first minutes of this sermon, and it happens on a renewed earth. New heavens and new earth.
And then John hears this voice from the throne and it says this: "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man." The dwelling place of God. There's that tabernacle word again, dwell.
So God pitched a tent among Israel, then God has moved into you and I, and in the end, the whole new renewed Earth becomes His home.
We asked where God lives. Revelation 21 answers that. He will live with us on a world made new and handed to the meek, those who have bowed the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ, those who have cried out, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner."
We've heard things like, in past sermons, empires having fallen, right? Egypt and the like. And every one of them would fight over land, over dirt, right? But every one of those empires is gone. The dirt is still there, though. Think about it. it's the same earth. Jesus tells us who gets that, land. It's the meek, the people who were pushed off of it. think about how Israel was oppressed, even in Egypt. Overlooked, buried in it, sown, right?
You're not gonna lose the world, dear saint. You're going to be given the world. Jesus said, "He who seeks to keep his life will lose it, but he who loses his life for my sake and the gospel will find it." Jesus said, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."
We Will Judge Angels
But there's one more line, Adam, and we're gonna close here 'Cause I couldn't close without mentioning this because it, to me, this, I have no words to describe this. I think very few things point to, our estate there, how things will, be. few things testify to that, okay? Like this does. And he brings this up in the strangest possible place. The Corinthians again. Oh, Corinthians, right? They're dragging one another into pagan courts. And Paul is, he's exasperated. He's about done with them. And listen to these words. He returns to that pet phrase.
He had several of them. Oh, "Do you not know?" He says, "Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more then matters pertaining to this life?"
He says, "Do you not know?" He doesn't say simply, "Stop suing each other because that's a bad thing and it's gonna make us look bad." He says, "You're going to sit on the bench of the cosmos, of the universe, and you can't settle a quarrel about a property line? are you kidding me?" That's his argument. Do you think that way? When you're tempted to, fight other brothers and sisters, be divisive and all that, you're gonna sit on the bench of the universe.
And notice Paul meant that to have practical application for their life. It's not just, "Oh, oh, that's wishful, pie in the sky." That's how he argues with them. That's how he's trying to open their eyes to say, "That's not appropriate." The idea is that the future is so large that the present issues and disputes were meant to shrink it to nothing in comparison.
Judge angels. Sit with that. Sit with it. Don't dismiss it. Might make you feel weird to think about it. You're going to judge angels. Now, don't ask me at all what that means, okay? I don't have an answer for you there. But sit with it as best as you can. Sit with it.
Why? Why will we? how can we be sure? Because of where you're seated. Last week we ended at Ephesians 2:6, "Seated with Him in the heavenly places." It's done. It's a past tense. It's accomplished. But this morning I want you to see what that seat turns out to be. Okay? These are Jesus' own words. I'm not making this up. This is from Revelation 3:21. Hear it loud and clear, "The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat with my Father on His throne."
So we're seated with Christ in the heavenly places, and Jesus is like, "This is a throne." And Jesus says, "It's not just any old throne." He says, "It is my throne." The sovereign of the universe invites us to sit with him on his throne.
That's what I wanna feel when I wake up in the morning. You think that'll change the way you live your life? You bet you it will. You think that'll change the way you view that sin that's been nagging you? You feel like you got no power over? it will most certainly do that for you, dear brother and sister.
When your patience is growing, it's waning, you think that's not gonna help you? When you're a husband trying to lay down your life for your wife and you're tired and your body's groaning, you gotta love this woman, and it's a good gift. He who finds a wife finds favor from the Lord. Praise God.
Or a child. students in here, when you gotta obey mom and dad, that can be hard. You want something that's gonna help you? To him who conquers.
What does that mean when he says that to them? He wants them to conquer. He wants them to conquer. He wants you to conquer. To him who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne. Yeah.
So it's not overlooked. Just a, a, parading army taking out its enemies, right? They've conquering the land, they're coming. It's not overlooked. Nations over here and there, they, get whiff of it, right? Rumors start spreading and all this and that, and it's not overlooked. Next thing they're the next world superpower, right? That's how it used to work.
It's very much the same way. To him who conquers. He's looking, scanning even the room right now. To him who conquers, to her who conquers. Some of you are very close, my dear friends. I'm not, I am not God. You are not God. Some of you will meet the Lord very soon, and the word is, "To him who conquers. To him who conquers."
Do you see how big? Do you see why last week, even with all the promises, I'm like, "We don't get it." It's just some of it. Brothers and sisters, if I would've ... This is, unbelievable almost, is it not?
So check this out. What is the song in heaven? From Revelation 5, listen. "A kingdom and priests to our God." He's making us a kingdom and priests to our God, "and they shall reign on the earth." There it is again. And the very last description, the very last one, of God's servant in the Bible, servants, us, in the Bible, ends the whole story in four words. You ready for them? "And they will reign forever and ever." Revelation 22:5. But there's a condition attached "Provided we suffer with Him," Romans 8:17. "If we endure with Him, we will also reign with Him," 2 Timothy 2:12.
So the road, they can't, bypass Gethsemane, so to speak. We have to pick up our cross daily and follow Him. This is why that groaning that we looked at earlier matters so much, 'cause it's the way there. It doesn't earn us anything. But think about that picture of a young son that's gonna inherit everything. When he's young, when a baby comes out, most of the time his skin is fresh, right? No marks, knees haven't got bruised up yet and scraped.
But by the time he's of age, he wears some marks. And that doesn't earn us anything before God, but it is the way to the inheritance. It's the same way spiritually.
Conclusion
So let's count the whole thing in conclusion. Last week, union with the Son, a record erased, peace with God, adoption, an open door and a living priest, a people to belong to, a seat already occupied. Every one of them absolutely secure if you're in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then this morning, God himself living in you as the pledge, the Spirit remaking you from glory to glory, a second intercessor groaning inside you while the first one speaks your name above you, a body sown in weakness but raised in power, a renewed earth handed to us, the meek, the lowly, a bench from which you, yes you, will judge angels, and a throne beside his, right there with the Lord Jesus Christ forever and ever.
It's beautiful. Hold onto those things. Hold onto those things.
This is a hard thing for us to grasp. My prayer for me, so you know, and for you all, is God just Let us just see. Beholding the glory of the Lord.
You have to understand, as wonderful as these promises are, they speak more about Him. The size and the magnitude of the gifts, they're big. But they come from this big and glorious God. That's what it tells us.
My encouragement is pray this. Say, "God, help me see. Help me believe these things." I need to, 'cause it's the way that we're being transformed. Right? Beholding the glory of the Lord, we're transformed. We don't get transformed without beholding the glory of the Lord. That's the idea.