ONE VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS - S:02 E:03

RECORDED IN THE STRONGHOLD STUDIO IN PALM BAY, FLORIDA

THEME SONG "STAY IN MY LANE" - WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY BURKS

AUDIO EDITED BY U-DIRECT VIDEO WORKS IN AUBREY, TEXAS

PRODUCED AND DIRECTED BY JAMES EDWARD BURKS FOR ONE VOICE MINISTRIES

https://www.onevoiceministriesinc.org/

https://www.onevoiceministriesinc.org/

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

We've been talking about salvation as a three-step process. The first step being justification, and then the next step being sanctification. Today we're going to talk about the third step, which is glorification, today on one voice in the wilderness. Hi, friends. James Burks of One Voice Ministries. Welcome to our podcast today, One Voice in the Wilderness. We are so glad to have you here with us, and we are just excited, as always, to just come and share with you from the Word of God. We're thankful, as always, for uh UDirect Video Works, uh, our uh the uh partnership we have with them in terms of helping to video edit um all of our podcasts, and my son Jesse is the one that uh uh heads that company. And also we uh always like to give a shout out to our son Caleb, uh the theme song, Stay in Your Lane, which is what this is about for me, just staying in my lane and doing what God's given me to do. Um we love that song and we love his music, so go check him out as well. And again, we're just glad to have you joining us uh for this episode. Uh let's open in prayer and then let's dive right in uh with our lesson for today. All right? Father, we thank you for this day. What a blessing you are so good. You give such good and perfect gifts to us. Lord, thank you for the little reminder you gave me in the word today that there is not a bird that drops from the sky that you're not aware of, and that we are more precious than the sparrows. That there's nothing going on in our lives that you are not aware of, that you don't see, that you are not there for us. And we are so thankful for that, thankful for that kind of attention, for that kind of love, and for that amazing grace. Uh so thank you, Father. Be with us in this time uh as we share. Lord, I pray that the seed of your word would find good ground in the hearts of the hearers and that you would give the increase. Thank you as always, Lord. Thank you for your the gift of your son Jesus. And it's in his name that we pray. Amen. All right. Again, we are just so excited uh about uh sharing this message and kind of wrapping this up. Now, let me just say up front, salvation is so big. It is so beyond anything that we could fully, fully, fully explain how God could, in his infinite wisdom, uh, put together something that gives us a chance to be restored to fellowship with him, even with all of our sin, even with all of our shortcomings, even with all of our failures. It's an amazing, amazing thing that he does. Um there there was a picture that I heard one time about how he looks at our black sin and then covers it with red blood and we come out white as snow. It is it is something that is uh beyond compare, and we're so grateful. So we've been talking about it in the stages, if you will, of the first stage being justification. That is where we are forgiven of our sins. That is where God cancels the sentence that we are due, the punishment that we are due. Um, and he's able to do that because he is just and the justifier. By that I mean when we have sinned and rebelled against God, um, there it's it's deserving of punishment, okay? And the scripture tells us in Romans that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. So the wages, what we've earned, what we deserve for our rebellion against God, is the punishment of eternal separation from him, and that's death. Okay, and so as a just God, okay, who demands justice, he has every right and every freedom to punish us for our rebellion and disobedience against him. But he doesn't. Here's what he does instead, or at least here's what he offers instead. He offers for that penalty to be paid for by one who is perfect and sinless, and that's his son Jesus Christ. And because Jesus is sinless and perfect, God is able to put all of our sin for all mankind, all humanity on him, and let him take the full wrath of God and the punishment for that sin. He dies on a cross. He is buried in a grave. But because of God's love for us, he is just demanding the punishment for sin, but then he gives the offering to pay the price for that sin. That's how he justifies is that he makes it so through Jesus, through the blood of Jesus, that we can't, if we put our faith and trust in him, if we repent and believe, we can be forgiven of our sins and be restored back into our fellowship with him that he always wanted and have that, as John 3.16 says, everlasting life. We get to leave this world and spend eternity, the rest of eternity with him. All of eternity. Eternity will never end. And so we get to spend it with him in his presence in worship and praise and adoration and fellowship with him. And that's the piece I want to get to because that's the glorification piece. Now, before that, we mentioned the middle stage of that sanctification. That's how we are changed and transformed here while we're still here. He didn't save us and take us, he saved us and we're still here. And because of that, we're supposed to walk out a life that honors and glorifies Christ, and in that leads others to Christ. We get to tell the story of how amazing salvation is and how amazing his love is and how amazing his grace is, so that others will receive that as well. Okay? And so the sanctification is the work God is doing through the Holy Spirit put in us upon salvation, uh, upon that moment of surrendering our lives to Him. The Holy Spirit comes and dwells in us and it begins to do a work. It's getting rid of, it's cleaning up, it's straightening out, it's doing all the work to change and transform us more into the image and likeness of God's Son, Jesus Christ. Okay? So then now I don't talk the way I used to talk, and I don't think the way I used to think, and I don't act the way I used to act. And it's not because I'm personally trying to make the effort to be better, okay? Yes, I have to walk it out. But it's not because of that, it's because the Holy Spirit is transforming me. It is changing my mind, changing my thinking. Okay, that repentance is taking full effect because the things I used to love, the sin, the evil, the darkness, I now hate those things. And the things I used to hate, God, his light, his righteousness, I now love those things. And that's part of that transforming. My mind is being renewed, it is being refreshed in the Word of God, it is being touched by the Holy Spirit that lives in me. And so all that is occurring, and that is that second stage of transformation and sanctification. Okay? That is worked out as we are here on this earth, okay? So that again we can impact the lives of others. We can love them as he loved us, as he directs us. We can show the love of Christ to everyone. Okay? So after that takes place, that's that's the rest of our journey on earth. What happens when we leave the earth, okay, and there's many ways that can happen. We may leave the earth because of death, okay? We may leave the earth because we're here when God comes back to get his people. Okay, whichever way it happens, what then happens is we get that last stage, that final reward, that final piece of the salvation process, which is that glorification. Oh my goodness. I can't wait. I'm so excited to get to that point to see what it's going to be like, to be in the presence of God, to just dwell in his presence in a tangible way. Okay, we can enter into his presence now, we can we can dive in and just worship him and honor him. We can we can get there, but man, to be there with him is going to be so incredible. And that's part of that glorification. Alright, so let's start to take a look at this picture of glorification. Okay, now let me remind you that when we started this, we talked about the fact that um through the process of salvation, there's this victory over sin and it's multi-layered. In in um justification, we get victory and freedom over the punishment of sin. Okay, in that sanctification and transformation process, we get freedom over the power of sin in our lives. Okay, and in this last stage, we get freedom from the presence of sin because we're going to be in eternity with God, in his presence. He will have separated the sheep from the goats, he will have um dried our tears. There'll be no more sorrow, no more sickness, no more death. And we get to enter into his presence, and sin won't be uh ravaging us the way it is now. It won't be tempting us, it won't be drawing us, it will not be present with us. Okay? So let's take a quick look at a little bit of this picture of what it's going to be like. Ephesians chapter 2, I'm reading from the King James, verse 6 says this, and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Okay? That's already starting to talk about that glorification. We're going to be in Christ Jesus, in the presence, in heavenly places. Okay. We we talk about heaven. Um, people want to get saved because they want to go to heaven, okay? But they often don't want to surrender the authority over their life. Okay? Jesus is savior and lord, and it's a package deal. It's all of that or none of that. He has got to be savior and lord over your life. And then what happens as a result of that is that in that justification, he transforms us into uh more of his likeness. Okay? Let's look at that for a quick second. Um turn with me to 1 Thessalonians. I think I already have it here marked in my ESV. 1 Thessalonians, yeah, chapter 4, verse 16. Listen to this. It says, we're going to begin at 16, we'll read down to 18. Okay. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore, encourage one another with these words. Okay? We're going to be in the presence. Okay, I talked about those heavenly places. We're going to be in the presence of the Lord forever and ever and ever. Okay? Look at look at 1 John chapter 3. Uh 1 John chapter 3, and we're looking at verse 2. Alright, again, ESV. Uh, because I was talking about us being transformed on this journey into the likeness of Christ. Watch this. It says, Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when he appears, watch this, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. We're gonna be like him. Oh my goodness. There's gonna be a change. We are going to get an eternal body, and we're gonna be like him. Let's go back to Genesis for just a second. It all starts there, and I love it. So let's go back there because I want you to hear what we were like, Adam and Eve, in the original creation, because I just told you what we're gonna be like in the end as we are made into the more into the likeness of Christ. But watch this. Genesis chapter 1, uh King James Version, verses 26 and 27. It says, And God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air, over the cattle, over all the earth, over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, and in the image of God created he him, male and female, created he them. Okay? There is so much meat to that, talking about dominion, talking about um all of those things, talking about uh um being made in his image and in his likeness. That's how we started off uh when this all began. And where first John takes us is that we don't we don't know exactly what it's gonna look like, but we will be like him when we see him. Okay? That's that glorification, that dwelling in his present, that being, that final uh changing from this earth to to the next. Let me look real quick at at 1 Corinthians. Um I've always loved this passage as I was growing up and stuff like that. And the more time I spend with the Lord, the more it's making more and more sense, and the more I'm desiring it, and the more I'm hungry hungering for it. Okay. Listen, I I'm not trying to rush my life. I'm trying to be here to do, stay in my lane and do the kingdom work that God has for me to do now. But oh, when he comes, when he comes, and we get to enter into his presence, the joy that's going to come with that is going to be amazing. Uh, there's a song I've been listening to uh recently by a few different artists, um, and the song is Come Jesus Come. Oh my goodness, Come, Jesus Come. Listen, I love you all. I want to finish the podcast here, but if he comes now, I'd be okay with that. If he comes right now, that would be wonderful. Um, and so uh I'm looking forward to his final kingdom coming. But look at 2 Corinthians chapter 5. This is the King James. It says, For we know that if this earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, when this falls apart, when this decays, when this uh disintegrates, when we return to the dust that we were made of, okay, we have a building of God and house not made with hand, eternal in the heavens. Let me keep reading. Um for in this we groan earnestly, desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven. Verse three. If so, being that being clothed we shall not be found naked. Verse 4, for we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened, not for that which we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, um, that mortality might be swallowed up, uh might be swallowed up of life. Verse 5. Now he has hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who hath given unto us the earnest of the spirit. Verse six, therefore we are always confident knowing that with we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith and not by sight. Verse eight, we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Verse 9, wherefore we labor that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of Him. Oh my goodness. There is a day coming where we will leave this body, and when we're absent from this body, we will be present with the Lord in a heavenly home, with a heavenly body, with a change in who we are from what we are here, we'll become like He is there. Okay? Can't wait to see it. So excited about it. Oh my, that final step in the salvation process, that final reward, uh, the giving of the crown of life, all of those things that are going to take place. Um I'm so excited to experience that one day. Um look at what uh Romans chapter 8 says. Again, we're talking about the glorification. We're talking about being in the glory of God and being in the full perfection of God's nature as we receive a glorified nature from God. Okay? So here's what it says. It says in verse 18, uh chapter 8 of Romans in the King James Version, it says, For I reckon that the suffering of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Let's keep reading. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who has subject the same in hope. Verse 21, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorified liberty of the child of God. Verse 22. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now, verse 23. And now, and not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to with the redemption of our body. The redemption of our body. I love it. Well, let me keep going a little bit further. Oh, this is just so good. Verse 24 and 25. It says, For we are saved by hope, but hope that is not seen, for what a man seeth, what does he yet hope for? So if you see it, you're not hoping for it, you can see it. Alright? He says uh in in uh verse 25, but if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Okay? You you've you've heard somebody say when when there's a dramatic moment, they say, wait for it, wait for it. That's us. Okay, those of us that are God's children, that have surrendered our lives, that have um walked in faith, that have trusted Him, we are going to receive a glorification of our bodies. We are going to be trans transferred and translated in the twinkling of an eye. We will be in God's presence and we'll be in our new bodies. We'll be glorified with the glory of God. Okay? And so, uh, like I said earlier, I'm not trying to rush life away. I'm excited and anticipating his coming, but I'm gonna wait for it. I will wait with patience until God says, James, come on home. It's time. Okay. And so uh we we wait on that last stage of salvation. God sent his son, his son died on the cross, and whoever would put their faith and trust in him, who would repent and turn away from their sin, their the action of sin, the heart of sin, their thinking about sin, whoever would repent and then believe, put their faith and trust in Jesus, that he is Lord, that he is God, that he is uh salvation for us, that he did a sufficient work that we could be forgiven of our sins. Okay? When we do all that, we are saved, we receive the gift of salvation and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. So we are justified. In that the rest of our journey here on earth, that Spirit in us is helping us to change and become more and more like him. That seed of the Spirit is producing fruit in us, and that fruit of the Spirit, that joy, that peace, that patience, that uh um that that that desire to walk in the fullness of what it would be to represent Christ, okay, to have that self-control. All right, all of that stuff um is part of that middle step of sanctification. And then when it's all over, when it's all said and done, and that trumpet blast occurs, we get to go and be with him for all eternity and walk into the glorification that God has for us. Alright, let's have a Malawi moment. For our Malawi moment, we just we thank you for your prayers and support for our families. We have 16 families that we are supporting monthly with food and provisions, and you are a big part of that, and we are grateful for that. Each of our families gets about $60 U.S. a month to give food, medicine, whatever it is they need. We help in so many ways. So, thank you very much.

SPEAKER_02 23:02

My name is Fortune Rowling, and this one here sitting by me is my young brother, Cliff Rollins. We want to thank you because of the support that we received from one voice ministry. We've been receiving this support for close to four years now. By then we were very young, but by the grace of God, we are growing up now. We want to thank you because of this support. May the good Lord continue blessing you and give you long life. Thank you very much.