Confident Heavenly Living
An all-creatures Bible Message

Confident Heavenly Living
 
A Sermon Delivered to
The Compassion Internet Church
 
26 July 2020
 
Frank L. Hoffman, Pastor

Scripture References

Matthew 13:44-52
Romans 8:26-39
 
Confident heavenly living occurs in people who naturally live in the heavenly will of God and this is what every confessing Christian should have, and their lifestyles should reflect it to the world around them, but unfortunately this isn’t happening, because the vast majority of Christians are living in the violent and corrupt ways of the world.
 
The violence in the world is responsible for the suffering and death of millions of humans and billions of animals every year; thus, if people invest in or buy the products of this violence, their money goes to producing more violence.
 
If we just look at the animal agriculture industry, every aspect of it deals in violence, and this includes the people who grow feed for the animals and the people who drive trucks and the railroads that are used to haul what they need and sell, and let’s not forget the wholesalers and retailers who sell their products; all are living in the violent and corrupt ways of this world, and none of these people can have a confident heavenly living experience.
 
And before we leave this introduction about confident heavenly living, let’s consider the side effects: people who eat the meat and dairy products quite often suffer from chronic diseases, and everyone can be infected with the viruses that stem from the animal agriculture industry such as Covid-19 and the emerging new strain of swine flu and the immense cost that this places on the health care industry which affects us all.
 
And we could go on and on with examples of how far reaching the violent and corrupt ways of our society go, but let’s return to the Bible and look at Matthew 13:44-52…
 
44. "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field. 
 
The point that Jesus is making is that the kingdom of heaven is the most valuable thing we could ever want, but this example bothers me because if the treasure is in someone else’s field that treasure really belongs to him whether or not he knows about it, and we cannot steal our way into heaven.
 
45. "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls,
 
46. and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it. 
 
Again, the kingdom of heaven is the most valuable thing we could ever hope to have, but unlike the example above, where the person buys it; however, we cannot buy our way into heaven.
 
47. "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind;
 
48. and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down, and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away.
 
This example also bothers us, because we cannot get to heaven by killing other living beings, because such violence, suffering and death is against the heavenly will of God.
 
We only get to heaven through faith, which is acting upon our belief in the Lord and heavenly will of God, and by His grace; we cannot earn it or buy it or get there by any other means.
 
49. "So it will be at the end of the age; the angels shall come forth, and take out the wicked from among the righteous,
 
This is God’s grace in action.
 
50. and will cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
 
And, only God can condemn anyone in this way.
 
51. "Have you understood all these things?" They said to Him, "Yes."
 
And we hope that all of you say, Yes, too,
 
52. And He said to them, "Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings forth out of his treasure things new and old." 
NASB
 
As a pastor, I always try to bring the message of the Bible to life in today’s society, so we know how to apply it in our lives and in the heavenly will of God, for in this example we believe that our treasure is the heavenly will of God, and to us, this is confident heavenly living.
 
Let’s continue our discussion about confident heavenly living as we look at Romans 8:26-39…
 
26. And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;
 
This has nothing to do with speaking in tongues, as we have heard some pastors say, but only that when we rely upon the Holy Spirit, He takes our inner most thoughts that we cannot even formulate into words and lets them be known to God, for the Holy Spirit is God.
 
27. and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
 
We believe that this passage is referring to Jesus, which rounds out the Trinity, for all three work for our wellbeing if we truly rely upon God in everything we do and say and even think.
 
28. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
 
This is who we all should be, His peacemaking children who live according to His heavenly will, and because we love Him and do everything we can to eliminate any harm to His creation and help free it from its present corruption.
 
29. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren;
 
Again, this is referring to Jesus Christ, but most importantly, He is here for us to bring us to salvation, if we allow Him, as we see next.
 
30. and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
 
31. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?
 
We know that as long as we are upon this corrupt earth, the devil and his minions will still be against us, so what this verse is telling us is that the devil cannot win unless we turn away from God.
 
32. He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?
 
This does not mean that He will give us any of the corrupt things that the people of the world crave, but the things we need to survive, and those that further the kingdom of God here on earth.
 
33. Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies;
 
Worldly people might bring charges against us, but they will be dismissed by the Lord, our righteous judge.
 
34. who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.
 
This is why we should all be able to have confident heavenly living, because we know that the whole of the Trinity is for us, and is helping us to stand against the corrupt and evil ways of the world.
 
35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
 
And the answer to all of these questions is none of them, for even if we die upon this earth, we shall still be with the Lord in heaven forever and ever.
 
36. Just as it is written,
"For Thy sake we are being put to death all day long;
We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered."
 
By acting this way, the devil may think he is winning, but he cannot if we remain the Lord’s, and knowing this in our heart and soul should allow us to have confident heavenly living, for even if we die, we shall live.
 
37. But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.
 
If we are the peacemaking children of God, we should be experiencing these things in our everyday life, which should further encourage us to have confident heavenly living.
 
It is only when we give in to the ways of the devil and his minions that we lose this confidence.
 
38. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
 
39. nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
NASB
 
Paul says it all in this statement of confident heavenly living, and this is the way that all of us should be living, and it is for us today, just as much as it was for the Romans some 2,000 years ago.
 
If we believe that Jesus is our Lord and Savior, and we have the faith to act upon that belief, then we too should have this same kind of confident heavenly living.
 
Amen?
 
Amen.

Return to: Sermons Archive