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The Meaning of Life

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The Meaning of Life

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The Meaning of Life

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In this sermon we will explore the meaning of life. Why we need to know the meaning of this life, and how it exists, how it transpires and how it progresses. What's going to happen in the future because of this life?

Transcript

 

Job was a faithful, Old Testament ambassador for God. The setting of Job's life has engendered a couple of theories – necessarily both of which revolve around Job's character.

One theory is that Job's troubles came from the natural effects of living a righteous life. Timothy 3:12 tells us that when you live in a godly manner you shall suffer persecution.

The other one comes from the idea that Job was self-righteous for which God corrected him. That's in 1 Corinthians 11:32. We read that and really refer to that during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And that has to do with the fact that, if we don't correct ourselves, God does, so that we don't wind up with the world, and the reward of the world, going the wrong way.

Ironically both of these concepts are right. Both of ‘em are right. Job was a righteous man. Job 1:8, let's take a quick look there. It says here, and God is saying this.

Job 1:8 - Then the Lord said unto Satan,... (they all came together for a meeting,)And the Lord said unto Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect, or a blameless and an upright man, one that (who) fears God and avoids (shuns) evil?" That's God's testimony of Job. Did I tell you verse 8? I hope I did. I think I did. Job 1:8 - Someone says yes, someone says no. I'm pretty sure. How many of you heard me say Job 1, so I did say that, that Job was a righteous man, and he also suffered from self-righteousness.

Let's take a look at Job 32:1. This scripture is in your Bible and mine. So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. That may be difficult for you and me, and it shouldn't be, but it could be difficult for us because we might say, "Well, wait a minute. God said he was righteous." And he was, he was a righteous man but when God allowed him to be tested then we find out that Job was identifying, as it were, his worth through his righteousness. And he was telling, if you went through every one of these men, these three friends, and you listen to what he has to say about himself  he defended the fact that he was a righteous man. And so here we see the scripture says that"...he was righteous in his own eyes."

V. 2 - Then was kindled the anger (wrath) of Elihu... against Job; (I'm skipping) was his wrath or his anger stirred up; here it is,...because he justified himself  rather than God. We don't normally look at these scriptures, don't normally think about these, and I've had people question me, ministers I've talked with in times past as well. They've said, "They've had nothing to do with his having a righteousness of his own, the scripture does say that, so that's important for us to know that. Not to look down our nose at him but I think it just simply brings to light what we're like.

We can be so-called "righteous" and obey God, and honor God, and some people might even be more strict about it in their own lives than others. I do not doubt that but the problem we run into because of our human nature is to begin to think that we are righteous of ourselves. That's the danger of it. That's why we've gotta be so very careful because we can tend then to look at others and say, "Well, their sins are out there and we know it, so I'm a little bit more righteous than them." We're really not because if you sin once you're guilty of death. You're guilty of breaking His law, and one sin can bring you eternal death. But God, of course, has mercy upon us. He justifies us through the blood of Jesus Christ, and we are reconciled to God, the Father, and then Christ's life is applied to you and me as we confess our sins, repent of ourselves, and then we become righteous, God's life, not our life, God's life, although we must still obey the laws of God.

Now Job knew the meaning of life, and that's the message I want to get across here today. You and I are going to explore the meaning of life. Why it exists. Why we need to know the meaning of this life, and how it exists, how it transpires, how it progresses. What's going to happen in the future because of this life. So if you want a title it's really simple, "The Meaning of Life".

I was talking with my son. We discuss subjects, and we enjoy discussing subjects, and I.... He said, "Well, what do you think you're going to speak on?"

Well, I said, "I have two messages. I already did one but I'm going to do another. I had a suggestion to do another, especially life of Mr. Luker's death, and so on. So I'm going to work on "The Meaning of Life."

And he said, "How long is it going to take you to get through that subject?" And I got the message. He was saying, "It's way too large a subject."

I said, "Well, here's my idea." And I gave him the points I'm gonna give you today.

And he said, "You just come up with those?"

And I said, "Yes."

He said, "Those are good. Do it."

I said, "Thanks. I'm glad to have your approval, your pat on the back because he's really very good at arranging subjects, getting to the heart of a matter, and arranging them, and so I depend on him as well even though I've got many more years in doing this. And so we visit and talk, and discuss, and explore a lot of things. I'm grateful I can do that with him.

Early last Thursday morning, as I mentioned earlier, Mr. Dennis Luker died. That was a shock! To those of us who know him it was an unexpected shock because he's pretty vibrant. Dennis is going to be missed, and he left a legacy in service, certainly as president of the United Church of God. I believe that this coming June he would have served in the ministry for fifty years, that's a long time; in many, many different areas around the world. He reminded us right to the end to remain faithful and to show off to one another, and that he himself had confidence that he would see us in the kingdom. We want to be there. He knew the meaning of this life.

So now, let's go back to Job. Job knew the meaning of this life, that it leads to the meaning of eternal life. We're in Job, if you've not moved from there I'm going to direct you to Job 14:14 - 15.

Job 14:14"If a man dies," Job says, "shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait, until my change come. First question that Job offered here is what we call a rhetorical question.

A rhetorical question is a question that should be thought of as an answer. So if you look at a rhetorical question, "If a man dies, shall he live again?" In essence he's saying, "Since a man will die he is going to live again?" You turn a question as if it were an answer. Well, he answers it here. And so he says, personally on his behalf, "... All the days of my appointed time (that would be in the grave) will I wait, (that's what he's talking about here) until my change comes.

Job knew he was going to be changed. He knew it. Job knew the meaning of this life. He knew that he was going to have to change throughout his life, while he was alive, but that the biggest change was going to be when Jesus Christ changed him as he resurrects him from the grave. I'd like you to think about those concepts. We change in this life, and that just speaks to the point in the future when God will ultimately change you and me from physical to spirit.

V. 15 - You shall call,... How in the world did he know that? Jesus Christ wasn't alive on this earth. Isn't that incredible? God revealed this to him, of what was going to take place, the process of your salvation and mine. That is so powerful! Now I could look at you and I could ask, "Do you think you're worth it?" (Laughs)

I look at Mr. White, and he's told me this so many times. "I'm not worth it," he says. He always beats me to it. And I'm saying, "Well, I'm not worth it. I'm less worthy than you are."

But people who are called, people in the Church of God who are members of the church who recognize that they're not worth it. It is such a fantastic blessing that God has given to you and me, and to all mankind. We can't be selfish and all turned into ourselves. We're just first fruits. Not a bad thing, but we're not everything.

We're first fruits. And then later on, ... a lot of you folks have gardened, and maybe raised crops, and that which came up first may have looked great and so on but you're not done until you get the whole crop - the whole crop. Well, we're not the whole crop. We're a part of the crop, a very small part. Thank God we're a small part, and you and I did not have a choice when we were called.

And I've had people say to me, and I don't want to belabor it because I've told you this before, who said, "Wow, if it's gonna be wonderful in the thousand year period and the white throne judgment I think I'll just wait on that. Hope you don't mind."

And that really hurt me in my heart at that point because I thought, "You understand a lot but you don't realize that you're held accountable for what you understand now." He knew. This one person, sort of as an example of others who've said this, that it's going to be great in the white throne judgment when Satan won't be around, and it's gonna to be absolutely a Garden of Eden. You come up. Satan's not around. Everyone's gonna have the same ideas and concept about the laws of God. Christ is going to be there. You and I hopefully will be there by the grace of God so that we can help them. They're not gonna have any opposition like that.
They will have human nature, and all that human nature, all of those thoughts, and habits, and so on that they took to the grave with them. When they come up those aren't gone. They'll be able to think about that, so if somebody asks you or if you come to ask me, "Yeah, but well, what do they have to struggle against? They don't human nature." No, they do have human nature, and so they will have to struggle against that. And they'll make it, and it's a lot better, a lot easier in a sense than for you and me as a first fruit.

When you have a child, and he is your firstborn or she is your firstborn that child has to learn what we're learning as parents. We don't know what it's like to be parents. So we learn. We may be a little stricter, and then later on we say, "If I only knew better."

We're really great grandparents because we've already gone through as parents with our own kids, and then when they have their children, all right."  I'm not saying we're perfect but we're a lot more polished in this. A lot better at it. I'm speaking of myself  here. If that happens to fit any of you, that's fine. I know it fits me, and that's just how it is.

So the firstborn, don't feel guilty about this, it's just part of life. The firstborn are going to take a little more heat, a little bit more of the learning process that the parents are going through. Hold on, that's what you and I do because Satan the devil is on this earth, and the demons, and this world is going his way.

Yeah, you and I are gonna to have more struggles than those people in the thousand year period and the white throne judgment, and it's gotta be a lot easier for them in that sense, still have human nature. Took a little more time on that but I thought I might be of help to you if I mentioned that.

V. 15 - You shall call, (at that point, at the resurrection, at the return of Jesus Christ, at the seventh trump) and I will answer You; You will have... (I love this. I love this. I'm reading from the King James translation. I'm sure there are other translations that might make it a little clearer but I will do what I can to put it in modern vernacular. That might be of help to us.) ...You will have a desire to the work of Your hands. It's like saying, "You are gonna finally finish the work with me." You're going to finish the work you began with me. And the finishing touches on Job is the same finishing touches you and I are hoping for. And we have hope that that'll happen, and He will make us into spirit essence, spirit beings.

I want to show you a scripture before I go any further that I think is really important, and I'll never forget this. Way back in the sixties, I think, somebody brought this to our attention at Ambassador College in Pasadena, Romans, I said 16, I mean 14, and we were using the phrase "the thought of the work of God". The work of God is getting out the magazines, booklets, the telecast. In those days we had a good telecast going, even had some radio programs going, and so on. And we said, "That's the work of God." But this one minister said, "Have you ever thought about what God calls "the work of God"?
I thought, "Piece of cake, of course. I know the answer to that." So he took us to Romans 14. He's talking about human beings in the church, about brethren not throwing a stumbling block in front of others, and you can see that as you read from verse 1 all the way to verse 15.

Romans 14:15 – (But) if your brother be grieved with thefood or the meat that you eat,... you're not walking in love if they're grieved about that. Do not destroy him with what is legal and lawful for you. The meat that you're able to eat. ...Don't destroy that person for whom Christ died.

V. 16 - Let not then your good be evil spoken of:

V. 17 - For the kingdom of God is not ultimately meat and drink;... That's not saying that we say, "Uh, oh, okay, let's load up on all kind of the seafood, pork, and everything. That's not what he's saying at all. He's making a comparison there. But the kingdom of God is ... righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

V. 18 - For he that in these things serves Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men.

V. 19 - Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may build up (edify) one another. Look at verse 20.

V. 20 - For meat (which might be legal for you to eat, lamb, beef, chicken, turkey, for examples). For meat do not destroy the work of God. Hmm. So the work of God is really transforming you and me. And Job said that in the latter part of verse 15. You have a desire to finish your work in me.

For now the world appears to have no hope. I allude to these because I have a number of scriptures.

1 Thessalonians 4:13 – He's talking about people who have died in the faith, and then he said, "We're not like the world which has no hope but we know what's coming in the future. We know about the resurrection of the dead." That's 1 Thessalonians 4:13.

And there are a couple of other scriptures. One in Romans 8:20-22 which shows the world is groaning just like we do, but without hope for God.

Suddenly one day when the thought came to me, we are literally built in this life to need God. Just think about that. You're not built to get in a Maserati. If you happen to have the money for a Maserati and you can afford to do it, that's fine. You're not built to get into a Volvo. You're not built to whatever you might like. You're built to need God, and that's why the world cries out and can't seem to find God but knows that they need something. And Christians will tell you that really quickly.

What about those people who do not profess to be Christians? They have other religions. They know there's some sort of a "super being" that they need in their lives, and so no matter what the religion is you're going to find that to be true. One day the world will understand the meaning of their lives on this earth; the very reason for why they draw the breath of life.

I have often asked people when I've visited them for the first time, as we get along, and if it fits, not if it doesn't. But if it fits, I'm not going to fill it in there just to be cute. But if it fits, I might say to them, "Do you realize why you draw the breath of life?" They don't think about that because that's just involuntary, I mean it's just done. Your heart beats. You don't say, "Let me see, oh, hit now; oh, hit now; oh, pound now; uh, oh, pulse now. You don't do that. It just happens.

You don't think about breathing, just happens, until you, somebody tries to stop you from breathing. Then you think about it, and so would I. That's when we think about it. So there is a reason why you and I draw the breath of life, why our hearts beat, why we're able to feel things. There's a reason for that, and it's a three letter word called God. It's because of God, he has been for us.

So here are four reasons in support, as I mentioned earlier, of the meaning of life. I'll give them too you quickly and then we'll go through them.

The first one has to do with design. God carefully designed us in His image.

The second one, what is the meaning of life again? God designed us to learn to serve and to share. I could just say, "To serve."

Number three, God gave us this life in order to prove ourselves. We're being proven, and we prove to God that we love His way more than any other.

Number four kind of changes a little bit. It's sort of a summation for the first three. God has already, in this life, given us the victory over death, already victorious.

If you have the holy spirit of God, you've repented, confessed your sins, repented, been baptized, had hands laid on you, received the gift of the holy spirit, you already have the victory over permanent and eternal death. And that victory is the gift of eternal life. That is the victory. When God says He's going to destroy death He does it through life, getting back to that later.

Number 1,  God carefully designed us in His image. Genesis 1:26, I know I've gone there a few times. I do realize that.

 Genesis 1:26 - And He said, "Let us,..." the two Gods, the one that became God, the Father, and the other one voluntarily became God, the Son so you've got two. They eventually became The Father, and the Son. Two Gods said, "Let us, (plural form of God), "Let us make man in our image,..." it is easy as human beings to think, He's just telling us that He made us to look like Him because you can go through the scripture and you can see that God has white hair.

Daniel 7, I believe it is, one of the places; Revelation 1 shows a vision, as it were, of Jesus Christ, what He looks like, and He has the same anatomical parts that you and I have. He talks about His hair, talks about his head, talks about His eyes, talks about His mouth, talks about His chest, talks about His legs and feet, talks about all those things. That's part of the anatomical structure, our anatomy, that we take for granted.

So, yes, we were built in that part of the image but there's a greater part of the image that we were not automatically built into, and that's the spiritual image. That's the difficult one. The beauty of that is, one of the beauties of it as I might just allude to it, and you might see it's just a little bit humorous is that you're not going to have to worry when you're spirit about how tall, how short, how heavy, how skinny, how much you ache, bad joints, sore shoulders, bad back. You're not gonna to have to worry about that. You're not gonna have to take any kind of a mirror or a cosmetic kit to keep yourself looking at your best, and you're not gonna have to worry about that.

Men, you're not going to have to be concerned about your best suit, your best shoes, whatever that might entail. I don't have the best but I get the best I can buy, which is not the best but for me it's good. I'm not gonna have to worry about that. Because when you're made in the spiritual image of God, and it's happening now in character, building character through the values that we apply with the help of God through Christ but eventually you're gonna be made of an incredible dynamic spirit essence that's brighter than the sun up in the sky.

Did you hear the word brighter? I mean that! Much brighter than this giant orb we know as the sun for this solar (solar means sun), this solar system, much brighter than that. It's probably going to look pretty dark compared to be how bright you are.

So, if somebody says, in that time, "Well, it's good to see, you're pretty bright today."

"Yeah, well, I'll be bright every day." Because you're going to be beautiful. You're going to be great. Handsome, beautiful, whatever descriptors you can use. That's what you're gonna be... that's why God is going to make us over in His spiritual image. That is so vitally important.   

1 Corinthians 15, we're in Romans so I'm moving over to 1 Corinthians 15. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, 1 Corinthians 15 to me is such an inspiring, encouraging chapter. If you ever feel down read 1 Corinthians 15, you can read Psalms. Those are beautiful, wonderful, encouraging, inspirational but 1 Corinthians 15 really takes Jerry Aust, and says, "Sit up and listen carefully. I'm going to tell you where you are now, and where you're gonna be." And that's a great hope for the future. You should know that. You should keep that in front of your mind all the time. God tells us this, shows us this. 1 Corinthians 15, we call it lovingly "The Resurrection Chapter." Let's begin in verse 42.

1 Corinthians 15:42 - So also is the resurrection of the dead. It (the body) is sown in corruption, (it's talking about bodies) it is raised in incorruption. Once you're made into a spirit being you're uncorruptable, and you're incorrupted. You're not corrupted. You can't die. You live forever. Won't that be great for all of us to put our arms around one another and say, "Wow, we're living forever! Do you remember what it was like when we were human beings and we were complaining, and bickering, and whining, and bellyaching? Do you remember all that?"

Well, hopefully we won't have to remember that for awhile. I'm sure we will know some of that, and we will remember that because we're going to help a lot of other human beings through the thousand year period and the white throne judgment who are going to bellyache, and complain, bicker, they're gonna do all that. And your having done that, you're gonna say, "Hold it. Let's not go there. Let's be uplifting. Think about what God has for you," and you and I teach them. What a great blessing!

V. 43 - It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory.... Think of the contrast. Sown in dishonor, but it's raised in glory. ...It is sown in weakness, (that's us) it is raised in power. I wonder if Jesus Christ told Peter as He tells us, "Just keep forgiving. Don't worry about it. You're all human , and we're going to offend one another now and again, and it's shameful."

And I think about that all the time. I don't know if you do. And I say, "God, please forgive me. I'm very sorry. Whatever it's takes, it's gonna take, I'll do it." Now, when I was younger I didn't know any better. I wasn't smart enough to know that but I'm smarter today than I was then. That's because God has helped me to understand these things. There's a lot for us to understand.  

V. 44 - It is sown a natural body, and it is raised a spiritual body.... He says, to make sure we don't misunderstand, to these Corinthian brethren, and Christ, to us today, "You need to understand there is a natural body, and you need to understand there is a spiritual body."

V. 45 - And so it is written, "The first man Adam was made (became) a living soul (being)." The last Adam was made a living spirit. That would be Jesus Christ. How be it.

V. 46 - That was not first which was spiritual. Nah! You start with what is natural, afterward that which is spiritual.

V. 47 - The first man is of the earth. ...He is earthy. ...The second man is the Lord from heaven. Can't mistake who He's talking about.
V. 48 – And as is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that (who) are heavenly.

V. 49 - And as we have borne the image of the earthy,... What does it say in Genesis 1:26?  

Genesis 1:26 - ...Let us make man (that includes ladies, women) in our image,... see how that sets with verse 49?

1 Corinthians 15:49 - And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Because as He says in the next verse, "You can never get into God's kingdom as a human being, flesh and blood." Not gonna happen. I can say, "It ain't gonna work. It will not work. It's not going to happen." Only those who make it into the kingdom of heaven, or the kingdom of God will be made spirit beings to be a part of that kingdom.

Now you can argue the point but it would be moot to say, "Well, when Christ brings his kingdom to this earth there are going to be a lot of physical human beings. But they are not an, how do I say this word, inseparable part, seamless part of the spiritual kingdom of God." They are not that yet. They will be, but you and I should be by that time.

V. 51 - Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all remain dead (sleep)..., Job knew that. "What if a man dies, shall he live again?" Then he said, "Yeah, I'm just gonna wait in the grave until that happens." But, we shall not all sleep. Well of course Paul, in those days thought that maybe Christ was going to come in his time, and I'd say, "Well you can't say that. If you look at the content of some of his thoughts you'll see that's what he taught, but later on he knew better. ...but we shall all be changed,

V. 52 – Gonna happen ...in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump,... and we shall be changed like in verse 51.

It's important for us to know that God has designed us in His image, and I want to go to 2 Corinthians 3 – since I'm here close – and verse 18. And I started looking through my concordance under certain words, because I wanted scriptures that would help support this idea about our design.

2 Corinthians 3:18 - But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass – this is all done spiritually – the glory of the Lord, are changed – listen now – into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. You know, he's saying there in the latter part of that verse, he's talking about our growing spiritually in Christ here on this earth. That's physical human beings. That's what he's talking about here.

When He says that we are changed into His spiritual image, we are created in His image first physical, and then second spiritual. And in that second one, we are created in the same image from glory to glory which is from unrighteous work to a righteous work – from the glory of God the Father, through Christ, to the glory seen in us through the Spirit of God, and the truth of God.

It's all done here by the Spirit of the Lord – that's the Holy Spirit of God. That's how that design is finished. That's what Job knew when he said, "I will wait, and you're going to have to finally finish the work." That's the great desire you have. God the Father and Jesus Christ are waiting for that day patiently – to be able to change us. Boy, they're eager for that! Oh, they want that! They love that.

You and I say, "Well, I'll think about some tea right now. I'm thirsty," or, "Well, gimme some lamb," or "Gimme a steak." Now They're thinking, "Can't wait ‘till we can change all of these people into spirit beings." Wow! That is fantastic. If they could moan for that, they would. They desire it so deeply. That's God. That's the great God we serve. That's our holy God. That's our loving Father and our elder brother Jesus Christ. Every fiber of their almighty beings dedicated to you and me living forever. I need to ask you, "How could you follow anyone any better than that?"  

Number 2, God has designed us to serve, and that's the operative word here. Others now in order for us to serve billions later. We are given the privilege. When God calls you and me He's saying, "I am handing you the privilege to share what I give you with others, what I'm handing you." That's a privilege. That's an opportunity. You want that. Malachi 3:16, gotta go back there. I know you've seen these verses before. They're some of my favorite verses if there are such things. I love them, you may too.

 Malachi 3:16 - Then they (and I identify who they are) that feared the Lord..., which is to say that you and I want to honor God. You want to keep His holy laws and the spirit of the law as well as the letter of the law. You want to do right by others. You want to protect your brothers and your sisters. That's what He's talking about, those that feared the Lord.

These people fellowshipped a lot. That's what they did. They spoke often one to another. We do that. The Church of God is very good in fellowshipping. You go to the Feast of Tabernacles. You're trying to get through some of the aisles if you go to Panama City Beach for example, in the Edgewater Convention Center and the Grand Ballroom, and when the service is over, even before it begins, the aisle ways, you think, "Well, nobody ever thunk of this."

"Yeah, we did." I try and make those aisles some wider. You know why? ‘Cause I know that the brethren are going to be talking with one another, and fellowshipping, and if it's not wide enough, you can't get through. And so have you ever started down an aisle and said, "Oh, I'll never get through this. I'll go to the side." And you go to the side, and it's filled too. "Well, I'll beat 'em to this. I'll go out in the hallway. You go out in the hallway, and make your way around and you come in and when you get to, near the back of the stage and you finally come in. Now you've got to wade through the crowd because they're what? Fellowshipping.

So, we try to widen the aisles if we can, and still have enough chairs for everybody. And we try and widen them. You may not think there's any plan to this.  But in the back I'm always looking, is there enough room that we don't block the egress, getting out. Ingress, coming in. We don't block any of that so they can get out. The sides, I try and keep ‘em up front. So, yes, there's a spot in there, but since I am not perfect, I don't know anyone else working with me that's perfect. We do an imperfect job.

We'll try our best, and it doesn't always work so we ask the song leader to please have them find their chairs. I used to say find their seats and a couple of smart alecks out there grabbed their backside, and I said, "Nah, Nah, Nah, Nah! Well, that's cute. We'll do the jokes. We work along but find your chairs. Find them ten minutes before so you have an opportunity, and then, I have to be careful, I've often said this, "Be careful when you do this because I know you want to honor God, and do what's right, that you don't hurt one another and there's not enough ministers to anoint all of you. So, let's be careful in the way we do this. Let's clear the aisles but when it's all over we don't tell them, "Don't block the aisle." We're hoping that they don't in a sense just to let people, but it's not the biggest problem we have. So we're gratefully fellowshipping.

Okay, so that's where we are here, ...spoke often one to another: and the Lord watched this, He saw this, and He also heard it, and a book of remembrance (at His behest. "Hey, you know what? I need to remember this. Let's have a book.") It ...was written before him.... (Just what, somebody scribbled on it? No.) ... for them that feared the Lord... (this has comes as close to the Book of Life as you can get. I think it is the Book of Life,) ... and that thought upon his name. That's why the Book of Life is there. Your name's in it.

V. 17 - And "they shall be mine," says the Lord of hosts, "In that day when I make up my jewels (or special treasure); and I will spare them, just as a man, a father would spare his own son that serves him."

 Wow! I cried like a baby when my son left. You say, "Well, you big baby."

And I'll say, "You're right. I was a big baby." Why? I didn't want to see him go. I did the same thing with my daughter, Barbara. Well, maybe not that bad but I was sheddin' some tears because I remembered all the good things he did, and how wonderful it was to have him and my daughter around, and we stood out in the street as we watched those kids leave with all their goods in the back of a moving van, and they were gonna drive from California to Texas. I said, "I'm getting' in the car and I'm following them."

She says, "Well, honey, you can't do that."

I said, "Well I'm really desperate. I may just do that, thinking somehow I might be able to get them back."

"Too late. They're gone. Served us." So your children, love ‘em, hug ‘em, be nice to ‘em, be sweet to ‘em, encourage them cause eventually they're not gonna be around, and God has given us that great privilege to have children. We're a literally stewards for God for those children. Did you hear that? Stewards for God for future gods. Those are children, that's what He's given us.  

V. 17 -  And "they shall be mine,...' as I said, "...as a man spares his own son that serves him."

V. 18 – Then shall you return,..." What do you mean return? Well, you know about the nation of Judah. They always want to get back to Jerusalem. You better believe that they were moved out of Judah. Where did they want to come back to? Judah. Did they like Jerusalem? Bet on it, you betcha. So then shall you return...

Well, okay, so they're comin' back to Jerusalem. Now what are they gonna do there? Well, you remember Corinthians where Paul said they're going to be judging people when they're spirit beings and you're even going to judge angels? Isn't that incredible? Notice this, and at that point you're going to ...discern, you're going to be a judge, a righteous judge. A priest who judges in the right, the good, and the merciful, and patient way ... between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serves God... that would be the righteous, ...and him that does not serve Him. That would be the wicked. Pretty well self explanatory, isn't it? That's whatcha got on point number 2.

God designed us in this life to learn to serve others so that we could serve billions in the thousand year period and great white throne judgment. No, you are not gonna have to look for a job. No, you're not going to have to get, what do they call that, where they pay you? I've forgotten the name of it. Maybe you can help me. What is it? Unemployment. You're going to be employed permanently by the Father. Never get in any line to be employed. Never ask for a job. You've got it.

As we used to say in the Navy, "If you strike for a particular job, you're striking for eternal life and the priest." That's what you're going to be. You are going to be a priest, and I want to be right there and lock arms with you, and say, "Hey, we're here by the grace of God, and we want to help others." We're gonna help others. We're going to be consumed with helping others. That's really what life is all about but as human beings we're all so selfish. Oh, what can I get, and what can I hold on to?      

God said, "Get your arms off your chest. Stick ‘em out there. Spend yourself. How much can you give? How much can you share? How much can you help others? How much can you love others?" That's why we're here on this earth, to serve, share, and give to others. And that's why we're alive because that's what we're gonna do forever.

Can you tell me any job you know that's better than that? I don't know of anything that is ever better than that. That's what we're in the midst of doing. Thank God you're doing that because
I look at all of you, I say, "I want to be like you." I watch you. I observe you. I'll say, "I like, you know, I see your attitudes, and who's perfect? I'm not perfect. You're not perfect, and I'm thinking ‘I love to be with you because I see Christ in you.'" That's encouraging to me. That  lifts me up.

So, you might say, "Well no, Mr. Aust, you're the pastor. You're the minister, and ..., I want to be like you. I want to have your outlook." And you might say, "Well you really don't know me. I'm not very nice at times but you don't know that."

Who isn't? Come on. Let's be realistic. We have found now and then, and we don't want to but we do. We're human. But God wants us to be happy, full of his joy because of what we're doing. We're striving to serve and to share our lives. That's number 2, that's the meaning of life.

Number 3, it's kinda hand in glove with that, and I mentioned this to you earlier. God gave us this life in order to prove, that's the operative word, to prove us for the next life.

If you had all the money of the richest man in the world, who I think is from Mexico if I'm not mistaken, I've forgotten his name, or Bill Gates, or Mr. Buffet. Mr. Gates, Mr. Buffet or someone else who has billions upon billions upon billions of dollars, and you had children, would you require anything from your son, daughter, son, daughter, whatever before they inherited that money?

Or would you say, "There it is. I'm gonna die. Do whatever you want to with it. I don't really care." Nah, nah, nah, nah. The person that works so hard and denied him or herself, and was strict with him or herself, and met certain codes in their lives important to acquire that wealth, do you think for a moment they're not going to expect their children to exhibit some kind of good character to keep it? Of course they will. They just will.

So that's what God wants you and me to do. He's proving us now in this life so when it comes forth "the desire of the work of His hands," as Job says, to change this He knows that what He makes you and me into spirit beings we're never gonna turn from Him. We're never going to rebel.

That job is for the children, Satan and the demons. We don't. And He's not going to do that if human beings refuse to go His way then there's the lake of fire. That's the final thing He does to get rid of sin, wickedness, evil, and death. That's the last thing He does there. Well, I say the last thing. Heavenly Jerusalem comes down here so I, don't want to pinch pennies or fight with minor little things, details, but it's important.

So, we have a choice but it's overwhelmingly in your favor and mine. Overwhelmingly in favor for you and me to have eternal life. You look at some of the examples of individuals who knew they had the crown of life waiting for them, and what they had done in their past. You and I might not allow them in the church but God is going to give them eternal life. You gonna fight Him for that? You can't do it, so we're kind of, I don't know, we get a little bit self righteous in ourselves and God said, "Nah, nah, nah. Let's just cool our heels a little bit and you realize you're human, you make mistakes, and I'll forgive you and give you grace, and I'll eventually, if you remain faithful to the end I'm going to make you into a spirit being."

So we are proving ourselves. Isaiah 55, quickly. I love these verses. Isaiah 55:8 – A very powerful prophecy throughout Isaiah.

Isaiah 55:8 – "For my thoughts," God says," are not your thoughts,..." He says, "Get that squared away in your minds. ...neither are your ways my ways," saith the Lord.

V. 9 - For as the heavens are higher than the earth, that's how much higher my ways are than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. And you're not gonna come to an end of that.

V. 10 - For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, the rain doesn't return  there, but waters the earth first, and makes it bring forth and bud, (it produces it) so that it may give seed to the sower, he sows these rows, and bread to the eater, once the harvest is ready to be harvested or reaped.

V. 11 – In like manner shall my word from God be that goes forth out of my mouth: it is not going to return to me empty, it will not return to me empty but (it) shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. So, have you ever asked God, "Why me?"

Think about the words, "I do what I please." That's what God does. You didn't choose it. You didn't know enough to choose it. I didn't. I didn't know enough to choose God in God's right way. It pleased God to call me. It pleased God to call you. So if it pleases God that's the way it's gonna be. And now our holy responsibility, and opportunity, and privilege is to get in line with God.

V. 12 - For ye shall go out with joy, excuse me,

V. 11 - ...but it shall accomplish that which I please, ...and (it) shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. That's an absolute guarantee, it's going to happen! You may not think it's happened because you know you. You think you know you. Oftentimes our minds are deceitful enough we think of a particular thing that we see and we, you might not know it, but  psychologically this happens in your mind but I've been studying this, and I think this is at least in part what happens; that our minds construct reality in what we see.

Now let me give you a little example. You ever saw somebody about, I knew that person because I saw him do this. Well, does that make him the way you think he is or she is? Well, it sure adds to it. Yeah, but does it really? And do you know that beyond any shadow of a doubt? So what we do is we construct in our minds reality to us based on what we see or what we hear.

That may not be full reality. It just may be a little here, little there, and then what happens is, that image goes into our brain reservoir, our mind reservoir, and when we think of it again this is what really surprised me. And they've proven this already in some studies, that you reconstruct every image you have. Did you know that?

You have this image, and you think, "Well, that's the way it's gonna be. It's set in steel, concrete. Not gonna change."

Wrong! You have a plasticity to the way your brain processes cognitive thinking, reasoning, analyzing. My engineering friend back here is really interested in this, I can see that. What happens is, when you dredge it back up, you rearrange that concept, that old image. You do.

You say, "Oh, no I don't. You can't prove it."

Well, if you study it a little bit you'll find out that you probably do, and that's why our minds can be very deceptive. We can do all kinds of things with our brains so we can live comfortably with what we want. It may not be real but to us, we say, "I'm comfortable with this."

Someone else comes along and says, "You're not really real in this area, and you need to re-consider, and re-think, and re-structure your thinking."

And you say, "Not on your life. This is real to me, baby. See ya' later."

It may not be. Somebody else maybe will see something that you don't see. So, if somebody comes up to me, and I've had people do this over the years many, many times, say, "I see this, I say that." I might say a true story, and I'm not sure you've got the whole picture but you know what I'll do? I walk away but I think, "Let me explore, let me examine if there's some truth to this, ‘cause if there is, I can change. Not a bad thing for me to do."

I hope we all do that. I'm not setting myself up as a great teacher, leader, example in this but that's how I try and do it. And I hope that we do that and don't take ourselves for granted as if we've got a lock on everything. We do not have a lock on everything we think. They might come close. We do come close, the truth of God, and we try our best to keep it, and just shows the greatness of God. "Wow, what a great God!" Not just to put up with us but to help us, share Himself with us, give Himself to us. So that we can prove ourselves in this life that we'll make.

If you had known David, King David after what he had done, and you would have started a church, would you have included him in your congregation? Probably not.

If Saul who became Paul said, "You know, I'd like to become a part of your church, and you knew that he had been responsible for jailing a number of the brethren of the church, and some of them might have even been put to death, possible. And he wants to not only become part of your church but he's going to be one of your ministers. And you would say, "Bring him on. I love this. Give me more of Paul."

Nah, you wouldn't. You'd say, "No way!" We keep a manual, or a record. Keep his name off the record. But then you take Haman.

Whoops! God said, "hun unh. We gotta use him, and we're gonna teach him, we're gonna teach Haman, and they're gonna be really responsible servants forever so they prove themselves on this earth."

Now the last point I want to make is that God has already given us the victory over death, life eternal. It says in 1 Corinthians 15:49 – 58, and it talks about that we have the victory. If I have time for that. Boy, it's gonna be close. Let me see here. I Corinthians 15, because I want to go to one scripture here as well, maybe two scriptures, and then I want to read you a, finish with a kind of a poem about the meaning of life.

1 Corinthians 15, I wish I were "perfect" so when I say something I don't have to question myself  and look again. Am I there? Am I going crazy? Did I see this? Am I reading it right? Do I have it here right? It's not gonna happen, I'm not gonna have to do this as a spirit being. As a physical being I do it a lot, all the time. I make a lot of mistakes. I'm not proud of it. I'm human, just like you. We're both human, we're all human.   

1 Corinthians 15:54, and I'll just touch on this one, verse 54, entirely, and I'll just touch on it. ...put on incorruption, ... put on immortality then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written:" Death is swallowed up in victory."

V. 55 - O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory? We have the victory.

V. 57 - ... thanks be to God, which give us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. And He is our victory. That's our victory.

John 5:24 – I get that, we've got to do that one. John 5:24 - And it says, "Truly, truly, I say unto you,... (John 5:24) Jesus, here – "...He that hears my word, and believes on Him (that would be the father) that sent me, (Jesus Christ) has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed - notice - from death unto life."

God calls those things that aren't as though they are – as if they've already happened. They haven't, but God is eternal. He can do what He wants, and He says, "I'm calling that...it's a done deal."

You already have a victory in Jesus Christ, because "Jesus Christ is right beside me" – The Meaning. He says He's your life. And you have that victory in Him. He's been resurrected. That's why you're going to be resurrected – because He was. And you believe in God, and in Christ, and in His laws – the laws of God – and apply the spirit of the law. And you exercise faith, which is belief in the promises of God. And you have hope that this is all going to come to pass. Boy! You're in there. You've got the victory. It's there. It's a done deal.

Four reasons that help support the meaning of life include a design – the design of God's image; (I'm recapping.) learning how to serve now so that you can serve billions later; living this life to prove yourself so we can live forever; and we know that we have the victory over death.

So let's remember God's great plan of salvation for all humankind and how the process works throughout our lives. And let's encourage one another to remain faithful, and never give up for the end of our patient faith is life eternal.

Thank you for being such wonderful brethren, so we can share our lives with you.