God Walking In Your Shoes

The presence of God evident in your life. Now that’s much more than religiosity and piety that’s put on. You cannot fake real godliness. It can’t be done. It has to be real, the mystery of godliness. Why is a person that way?


Scripture: 2 Peter 3:11-13, 1 Corinthians 3, Galatians 5, 1 Timothy 3:6

Transcript

Alright, thank you very much. And hello again my dear radio friend. How in the world are you? Doing Alright today? I trust so; bless your heart. I’m here ready to open up the Word of God. It’s the early morning hours and I’ve got my Bible and my concordance and my Greek New Testament, and the inevitable cup of coffee and you. Hey, that’s a nice combination, isn’t it? I’m so grateful for the privilege of giving out the Word of God day by day. It’s the nicest thing the Lord could do for me.

You and I have been in 2 Peter chapter 3. And so, Peter is saying “Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved.” He’s been saying the day of the Lord will come and the elements will pass away with fervent heat, the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up. The final great atomic explosion when God pulls the trigger and the blast that will loose the energy and all of the atoms and all of this terrestrial creation, and then there will be a new heaven. According to John in Revelation, “We look for new heavens and new earth,” says Peter.

So, he said, “Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness?” The assumption here is that you’re going to last after all of that, after all of the final judgment and after all of the earth and the works that are therein, to use Peter’s words, are burned up. You and I are still going to be around and what is left then, according to Paul, will be the gold and the silver and the precious stones, the valuable things, the eternally real things that you have built in to life.

And he says everything else is going to be burned up and what’s left will be holy lifestyle and godliness; holiness and heavenliness and hope looking for the coming of the day of God. Godliness is something that will last past the judgment. Now you and I will never come into judgment for our sins. Jesus our blessed Lord took that for us when He died on the cross of Calvary. Our Lord Jesus said, “He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into the judgment but has passed already from death unto life.”

And so, we’re not looking for ourselves to be judged on that last great judgment day. Our Lord Jesus Christ took care of the judgment for us. You are going to be a spectator along with all the rest of the redeemed when God does all of this. But after it’s all over the only thing that will be left is that which is eternal. Paul says in 7 Corinthians 3, “We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal.” It means they just last for a little while, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

The fruit of the Spirit, what’s the result of the Holy Spirit working in your life? “Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, weakness and temperance against such there is no law” says Paul in Galatians 5. So, he says you better pay attention to what’s going to last. That’s the logic of what he’s saying here. Everything else is going to be gone so you better pay attention to what’s going to last.

The investment game, of course, is interesting and you get all sorts of newsletters, telling you what to do in order to invest profitably and to avoid any crash that may come in the market. Periodically, someone will say you better put your money in gold because that will last. Well, it may outlast some of the junk bonds and some of the stocks that are volatile and that go up and down to be sure. But there will be coming a day when even the gold and other valuable metals and jewels will be gone. Everything that will be left will be holiness, godliness and your confidence in God’s Word and His promise.

Now, we talked about holiness the last time, a life that’s set aside for God to use and that’s the God-ward part of it. Now the man-ward part of it, godliness is an English word that is short for God-likeness. The Greek word in your Greek New Testament is translated piety or reverence. The idea of a life that shows, a life that shows the truth of what you believe. Now that thought is brought out as you run down the different verses that refer to godliness.

In your New Testament, take, for example, 1 Timothy 3:16, I’m turning the pages of my big Bible just now and to get to that verse, “and without controversies,” says Paul the apostle, “great is the mystery of godliness.” Now what is it? What’s the mystery of godliness? Here it is. God who has manifest in the flesh justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the world received up into glory. The mystery of godliness is God manifest in the flesh. Now that of course is perfectly portrayed in the life and death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and it is done so in a way that no one else could ever reduplicate.

However, the Bible says as he is, so are we in this world. Our savior said, “As my Father hath sent me even so send I you.” And he breathed on them and said, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost.” What’s the point? Godliness is a mystery that can only be explained by the presence of God in your life. I got little Cookism definition that I often use; godliness is the quality of God in everyday living.

The presence of God evident in your life. Now that’s much more than religiosity and piety that’s put on. You cannot fake real godliness. It can’t be done. It has to be real, the mystery of godliness. Why is a person that way? Because God is walking in his shoes, and I’m not using that phrase lightly. Turn to Corinthians and he says, “I will dwell in them and walk in them.” That’s God talking.

God walking in your shoes, when you walk into a room, mister, people should feel God’s presence, if you’re a normal Spirit-filled Christian. God walking in your shoes, that’s godliness. God was manifesting the flesh and you can turn to Colossians 1:27, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Or you turn to Galatians 2:20, “I’m crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” See?

“It pleased God to reveal his son in me,” Galatians 1. You get the point? God manifest in the flesh. Not limited then this concept only to the savior who portrayed it perfectly, but now extended to you and to me who, by faith, in that same savior and through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit of God can also experience this wonderful mystery God manifest in human flesh.

Justified in the spirit, what does that mean? Well, you go over to Romans 8, “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again who also is at the right hand of God interceding for us.” Justified in the spirit means you take your claim for anything from the Lord Jesus Christ. Who shall lay anything through the charge of God’s elected as God that justified. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again and is at the right hand of God making intercession for us. See?

So justified in the spirit, so far, as we are concerned, is that the blessed indwelling Holy Spirit of God points to the finished work of Christ as our only basis for being justified. Being justified by faith Romans 5:1, “We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Justified can be paraphrased by the phrase; just as if I had never sinned. Justified: just as if I’d never sinned. God cleanses the record and declares you righteous when you place your faith in the Lord Jesus and the blessed Holy Spirit of God witnesses, the Bible says, “with our spirit that we are indeed the sons of God and if children of God, then heirs, joined heirs with Jesus Christ.”

Seen of angels, how does that apply to me? “Being compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses”, that refers to the heroes and heroines of faith. But also we’re made a spectacle unto angels and demons, Paul says. And that word, spectacle, is the idea of somebody in a stadium with the crowd looking on. That’s the word he uses. He said you’re like a performer in a stadium like the ancient gladiators with the crowd looking on and we’re made a spectacle, said he, unto angels and demons.

You have an audience every split second of the time you spend here on earth, not seen, but unseen. The angels are there and they’re rejoicing because you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. Preach so that the Gentiles, that’s part of the mystery of godliness that somebody who deserve nothing but judgment in hell, now through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, born again, and indwelt by the Spirit of God can actually give out this good news of the Gospel.

We lead down in the world and that’s part of the delight of being a Christian when you lead somebody else to the Lord Jesus and then he says received up into glory. When you get to the end of the road, it’s graduation day. It’s commencement time. It’s not the end, it’s the beginning. To depart, says Paul, to be with Christ which is far better. There is just a little microcosm of the Christian life and that is part of the essence of what we’re talking about– godliness.

The very presence of God in your life, the Holy Spirit of God making Him real in you and through you, the entire audience of unseen spirits around you. Angels cheering you on to serve God and ministering spirits, to minister to them which shall be heirs of salvation, the Bible says, ministering to you. Giving out that blessed message, preached unto the nations and believed on in the world, received up into glory.

Yes, Jesus did it all. That’s what is said of Him 1 Timothy 3:16, but in a very wonderful sense, beloved. That same process is reduplicated, limited to be sure because you and I are mortal, but reduplicated in its glory, Christ in you the hope of glory. Hallelujah for godliness. Well, we’ll go on with this the next time we get together.

Dear Father today, oh may we be godly, I ask in Jesus name. Amen.

Till I meet you once again by way of radio, walk with the King today and be a blessing!



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