exhortation and that reminder and that encouragement during our communion time. How important that is as those two, our conscience and Christ and the blood of Christ, which cleanses our conscience, to be always brought together. So I appreciate that. So I think we've, don't hold me to it, but I think we've concluded our study in Genesis chapter three. after some 20-odd messages, I believe, we concluded with those very three important topics, Adam, Christ, and justification. Of course, in the garden, we saw that we, through disobedience of one, the need for righteousness, and of course, Christ. We saw specifically from Romans 5 that answer there. We saw Adam, Christ, and death. As in Adam all die, so in Christ all are made alive. And then last time we saw Adam, Christ, and the resurrection. That wonderful chapter, 1 Corinthians chapter 15, it talks about the resurrection from the dead. We've spent that long. I trust there's really so much foundational understanding in Genesis chapter three for our Christian life, really a dense, chapter, a very important starting point to understand. There could be, I could see one or two perhaps more sermons, but I don't want to try your patience either in that chapter. I was recalling, I forget which Puritan did it, but he spent, he preached through a series in the book of Job, and he spent 38 years in the book of Job. And he started with a congregation of about 400, And when he finished 38 years later, there was only eight people left. I, I assume some of those people had passed on and maybe some had moved away. Hopefully nobody, although you would have to admit spending eight, 38 years in the book of Job, um, could be a little bit spiritually exhausting and spiritually, uh, tiring. I don't want to do that, but I trust you've seen that those 20 or so in chapter three were important and I trust God will have used them in her life. This past week, Lori and myself have been to a couple of funeral services for a sister in the Lord. Actually, it's a family, and the wife, though she was only 60 or 61, passed away in the spring. They held off the services until now. So last Saturday, we were at a memorial service for her. And then Thursday of this week, we went to the military funeral and the actual, the graveside service for her sister in the Lord, dear sister. They've actually came to our church a few times. I don't know if it was a conference or just a Sunday service, but we've known them since the mid 80s. Ups and downs, but following the Lord through thick and thin. And she died rather suddenly. And I was thinking about, as I was preparing to share some words at the graveside service Thursday, I was thinking about that instantaneous change that occurs when a believer passes from this life to the next. Ecclesiastes, I love the wording of Solomon. When he speaks about death, he says, the silver cord is loosed and the golden bowl is broken. The pitcher is broken at the fountain. The wheel is broken at the cistern. There's our death, and he says, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. And at that instant when your spirit is in the twinkling of an eye in an instant. There's this change that the Bible speaks about when we are instantaneously in the presence of the Lord. And there's two verses that came to my mind as I'm thinking about this. And I want to today just speak about these two verses in contrast one to the other. And the first one, I wanna mainly spend time in the second one, but the first one, both are well-known, I trust, 2 Corinthians 3, in verse 18, that says, but we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed, or are being changed, into that same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Certainly, there's many themes in that verse, but it's also speaking about sanctification, that being changed. We are going through this changing process in this life, though painfully slow to us, one degree to another degree. But then that instantaneous change, Psalm 17 and verse 15, where the psalmist says, as for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness, I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. Contrasted to the beholding as in a glass darkly, the being changed from one degree of glory to another, that whole sometimes painful, that progressive sanctification process, compared to that, we, Psalm 17 speaks about the immediate, instantaneous, presence of God, where there is that change, that elevation, that cataclysmic transforming change that occurs in a moment. Scripture says, eye has not seen nor has ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man. What God has prepared before for us, it goes on to say, but the Spirit of God, God has revealed them to us by His Spirit. There's a lot we don't know, there's some things we do know about that change. But as I mentioned, maybe you've heard me say this before, it's not original with me, but the Christians' last day is their best day. It's the best day because the scaffolding of this progressive sanctification is being taken down and God is ready to usher us into his presence. where we will evermore be with the Lord. So I want to look at these two verses kind of side by side, and comparing them one with the other. They seem to be two separate ideas. I think they are complementary one to the other, being prepared for that final day, and then that final day. when we are with the Lord. There's scriptures that do this very thing in the same verse. You're probably thinking about 1 Corinthians 13, verse 12. For now we see through a glass darkly, there's all life now, boots on the ground now, but then face to face, ah, that forward look. Now I know in part, but then I shall know even as I am known. So I want to just look at these two ideas again, 2 Corinthians 3.18, but we all with open face beholding the glory of the Lord as in a glass, we are being changed from one degree of glory, the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord, and then that ultimate and final realization, as for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake. with thy likeness." That promise of being transformed now, I mean, that is a blessed promise, is it not? If we did not know what it would be like when we woke up in the presence of the Lord, just to think that God is working in us to change us, to conform us, to get us ready, the ability to behold him, we would just be blessed and thankful for that. by itself. But again, that promise is a promise that is being realized and worked in us now, but then there's this other promise that's being held in reserve. God's promised it, but he's held the realization of it in reserve until we pass from this life. So let's just break down these six verses or phrases From Psalm 17, it's in your bulletin. Number one, as for me. Secondly, I will behold thy face. Thirdly, in righteousness. Fourthly, I shall be satisfied. Fifthly, when I awake. And sixthly, with thy likeness. And then we'll close with just a couple of applications. And I want to share these two, as I was thinking through these two, I think it brightens our hope. It helps us understand what we are ultimately and finally being prepared for. It opens the door of joy, I think, for us. First of all, in Psalm 17, the psalmist says, as for me. This is very individualistic. There's a private part of our Christianity, thoughts that we have about God, meditation that we have about God that we just don't blab to everybody. In the second Corinthians passage, there seems to be a corporate setting. We all. We are changed, all of us by the self-same spirit. There's this corporate, of course there's individually implied, but it's a corporate. In Psalm 17, it seems to be very individualistic. We talked about when we were speaking about the resurrection, we showed how Job individualized it. He said, though after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh, I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself. Mine eyes shall behold not another, though my reigns be consumed within me. When we talked about the resurrection unto eternal life, we looked at the same idea where it's, yeah, it's corporate, it's all of us, but it's individual. And I'm always concerned about, and I have a wide circle of Christian friends and churches, but sometimes I sense there's this vicarious entering in through this corporate window, this corporate door, this corporate understanding. And if the corporate fellowship or church or this group or that group is being blessed, well, by virtue of me just being part of that, am I truly entering in? Is it really my portion? Am I able to say what the psalmist, me, myself, and I, yes, I am included in that. when Joshua said at the end of his book, as for me and my house, I am going to serve the Lord. Choose you this day who you will serve. He didn't say that as a wispy little weak. He said it very definitively. He said it boldly. I'm going to follow the Lord. And I think this is what the context of the psalmist, what he is saying. There's no equivocation. There's no doubts. Faith has become sight. There's no entering in just because God is dealing in a covenant way with Israel, let's say. That's happening. That's well and good. But he's saying, because what Christ has done for me, I'm going to go to the head of the line. It's me. I'm going to be there. As for me, I will see not another. Can you visualize yourself being in the presence of God as though you are the only one in heaven with Christ? Forget the thousands and myriads and myriads of angels and all the saints. And don't think Christ is going to be spending more time with Pastor Joe because he's more holy. You alone with Christ. That's what the psalmist is saying. Transfigured body, soul, and spirit. Received and welcomed in. Not awkward and out of place. Do I really belong here? Oh, I don't belong here. I really shouldn't be here. I'm a sinner. David, who committed some very serious sins, had his conscience cleansed to the point where he could say, as for me, When I awake, when I die and I wake up in heaven, I'll be satisfied with the Lord of glory. As for me, as for me. Dear friends, you should be able to say that as well. As for me. Secondly, I will behold thy face. Again, there's a difference, this or not, with the 2 Corinthians 3.18 experience, our present day, experience where now we're beholding not the face of the Lord, but the glory of God, the residual, backscattered glory as it were. We have to look through this glass. We're not seeing the Shekinah glory. We're seeing residual, and we're blessing God for the residual, don't get me wrong. But there's an infinite distance between what we can behold of Christ now and we bless him for that. And what it will be on that day, we have no idea. Moses, if you recall, wanted to see the glory of God. Moses had to put a veil on his face when he spoke to others because even though the scripture says God spoke to Moses as friend to friend, There was still this division between Moses and God. Moses, of course, said, Lord, show me thy glory. I beseech you, I beg you, show me thy glory. And what does God say? He said, I will make all of my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of Jehovah before thee. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. I will be merciful to whom I will show mercy. But he goes on to tell Moses, no man, can see my face, for no man can see my face and live." It's that powerful, perfectly glorious and majestic. He goes on to say, I will make my glory pass by you. I think that's kind of where we're at in this life, seeing God's glory pass by us. Moses also had to be put inside the cleft of a rock Moses also had to be covered by the hand of God when he passed by. Then after God passed by him, he removed his hand and he saw the back parts, the scripture says. But my face, he told Moses, my face thou shalt not see. We behold in a glass darkly, as in a mirror. But on that day we will be changed into a condition that will fit our surroundings. In the same way that you could never live in a glorified body upon this earth, you could never live in your earthly body in heaven. There will be this instant change. Psalm 17 removes every barrier, every hindrance, your surroundings. And what the psalmist is going to say eventually What he's going to say is what's important to him is the face of the Savior, not the streets of gold, not the temple, not the angels, not even our loved ones who have gone before. But he will behold the face of his Savior. No figurative, allegorical, shadow, pattern, language here. This is a clear statement. He will be changed instantaneously. I was trying to imagine our friend who passed from this life, that sister, where her location changed, her body lying in the grave, of course, but her soul and spirit essence in the presence of God, her imperfect Christian experience immediately sanctified to the point where, as Christ told the thief on the cross today, thou shalt be with me in paradise. She had never seen him, but she loved him, as Peter said, Peter goes on to say, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. When she got there, it really was joy unspeakable and full of glory. What will that be like to see his face? None of you can see his face now and live, but there you will see his face. Here I think that seeking the face of God is that symbolic language for close fellowship, understanding spirit to spirit as it were, impacting us with wonderful thoughts and conforming us and warming our heart and filling our mind with scriptures and with the promises of God. But there we will see him face to face. We'll see his wounds. Those wounds that he received on Calvary, the nail prints, the sword, he has in his glorified body forever those marks. And you'll see those. And when we see those, I think he's going to give us a deeper understanding of the great love with which he loved us. You'll see his father. And his father is going to receive you not as somebody who occasioned the death of his son, but as the father who would receive the prodigal back to him. You're going to see the father's house, not Mount Sinai with threatenings and judgments and terrors, but you'll see this house, the father of mercies, preparing this mansion. You'll see the angels who are worshiping, and they're not bored, and they're not tired, And they're still inquisitive, though it appears many of them, maybe all of them, are still covering their eyes, trying to behold this thrice-holy God. And you will be invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. We need to be convinced of this truth, that we are going to be coming face-to-face with the Savior. The most complete manifestation of God to Himself Directly, I will behold his face. Thirdly, in righteousness, in righteousness. If we look at 2 Corinthians 3.18, we would see this connection between justification and sanctification. As Pastor Joe was speaking about sanctification, we understand these two are inseparably linked. When we think about our sanctification, our progressive sanctification from 2 Corinthians, beholding the Lord, changed from one degree of glory to another, we see that that is a good work. And God is doing something in our life as he is sanctifying us. And we have to go through this process. But in Psalm 17, We see the full and final complete work of sanctification, where it's done. It's completely done. And he's gifted to us this righteousness in righteousness. And the righteousness you have on that day is not going to be like Christ's. It will be his. His righteousness will be your righteousness. Two things about this righteousness, and I'm kind of linking it with sanctification. The tremendous contrast between 2 Corinthians now, or life now, beholding in a glass darkly, and on that day. We could think of progressive sanctification if we want to, like a gear with a lot of teeth, or a sprocket. And every click, it just turns another click, and it gets closer. That's kind of like our life here. Every click, another work of God in our life. When we get to heaven, it's not going to be like, oh, there's the final click, and now we're in heaven. What it's going to be like is that gear, that sprocket is thrown away, and God starts completely new. It's going to be that radical of a change. We cannot measure our final state by the small clicks of progressive sanctification. It's gonna be accomplished in an entirely different realm. Mortality, I'm not gonna say I understand this, but the scripture does say mortality has to be swallowed up by life. Life as God defines life. Mortality, as we painfully are aware of what mortality is. Having said that, God just doesn't throw away our progressive sanctification. God is using that in our life. He's joining the two together, our positional and progressive sanctification are joined together to make us what we will be for all of eternity. God is outfitting us for that day. We cannot We cannot focus just on the eternal and assume that this small clicks of progressive sanctification are a bother. We would rather just get to the end. We have to exercise ourself under godliness. We have to perfect holiness in the fear of God. God is using that and he's somehow mixing it in to that final momentous change. So it's not just another click on the wheel. It's a dramatic instantaneous change. It's cataclysmic. It's an infinite jump. What is he doing to prepare us for an infinite jump? Secondly, about this righteousness. I shall behold thy face in righteousness. This righteousness is not, Not, it's not just a legal covering. Again, righteousness, we're not made righteous in this life, we're declared righteous, but the Bible speaks about this kind of righteousness in this way. Isaiah put it this way. He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he's covered me with the robe of righteousness, like a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride has adorned herself with her jewels. The righteousness that you will have on that day was not just a righteousness to get you out of the prison house of sin, but it's gonna be a righteousness that will make you the very bride of Christ. It's, we see this union. It's like the righteousness as a bride decks, a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments and as a bride adorns herself with jewels. When I got married, Lori and myself got married, Lori decided, we got married in the fall, the wedding colors and theme was fall colors. And so the bridesmaids had fall colored bridesmaids dresses on. And her flowers and everything was fall colors. I couldn't just show up for the wedding in jeans and a t-shirt and my New Balance running shoes, because there would be this disparity. She instructed me that I had to dress with fall colors, top or top, or I forget the color. Little did she know, she has a lot to teach me about fashion. But when I got married, there was this harmony, there was this similarity between what the bride and the groom looked like. We looked like we were together even before we were pronounced man and wife. So it is with the righteousness that you are gonna be clothed with on that day. It'll be that righteousness where you will be the bride of Christ, to be forever joined with him. He really has made you acceptable in the beloved. As for me, compared to all of us, I will behold thy face, as opposed to residual glory, in righteousness, completely realizing that kind of righteousness, as opposed to progressive sanctification. Fourthly, he says, I will be satisfied I will be satisfied. Here, we're going through this agonizing process. There, I will be satisfied. I'll be filled up. I'll be full. I will have enough. Right now, we have a holy dissatisfaction, I hope, a holy dissatisfaction that we're not holy enough. We don't know the deep things of God like we should. There's all this whole lot of work goes into sanctification, doesn't it? learning, afflictions, trials of faith, so our faith is exercised, repenting, joys and sorrows, body life, meditation and prayer, this slow process. Contrary to Psalm 17, where it's instantaneous, here we have this holy dissatisfaction. And though being changed from one degree of glory to another is a blessing unimaginable, We say with Paul, oh, wretched man that I am. Who will deliver me from this body of death? You know, Paul was undergoing the process of sanctification. He had a blessing to be going through this agonizing process, but he also said to depart is far better. To live is Christ, to die is gain. He, like us, like Elijah, like passions, On one hand, boots on the ground, the sanctification process, we're agonizing, we're going through it, but we also look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will change our vile body, change our vile body so that it might be fashioned like unto his glorious body, whereby he's able to subdue all things unto himself. Paul said in another place, it's as though we have nothing, and yet we possess all things. Paul said in another place, he says we're gonna enjoy the unsearchable riches of Christ. Think about that. When we think about riches, riches are usually rich because they're rare, like precious metals, gold, titanium, platinum. Why are they so expensive and they cost so much? Because they're rare. Well, here, there is unsearchable riches of Christ, boundless, not only riches of compassion and love and mercy and comfort and transforming power, but things that on this side of eternity we don't know. That's your Savior. That's my Savior. Satisfied. Fifthly, when I awake. This is language that's speaking about the death process. We fall asleep in Jesus. We wake up in eternity. There is this elevation. There is a gulf between time and eternity. On the final day, the day when our body is resurrected, we will be outfitted perfectly to inhabit eternity. Again, as we saw about the resurrection, It is sown in dishonor, weakness, a natural body of the earth, earthy. But it will be raised in glory, in power, a spiritual body, and it will bear the image of the heavenly. The Puritans love this saying, to be awakened. And they have all this image. You're awakened from the night of trouble. A lot of trouble in this life. You're awakened from the night of little faith. You're awakened from the night of living outside of the Garden of Eden. I knew I could get Genesis in there. Awakened from outside of the Garden of Eden to be brought into the paradise of God. You're awakened from the night so that joy will come in the morning. When I awake from the sleep of death, we will instantaneously, in our soul essence, our spirit essence, be with the Lord. And we'll understand, once and for all, what this whole Christian life has been about. He's been trying to get us to Him. And He will perform that. We will get there, though many dangers, trials, and toils, and snares. When I awake, that will be the time when I will be satisfied, fully, finally, and completely. He goes on to say, lastly, with thy likeness, I will finally be changed into his image with thy likeness. It's very interesting if you look at the scriptures, Christ by way of theophany or visions, or dreams people have, I'm going to say, seen God. Ezekiel, Daniel, Isaiah. Jacob, when he was wrestling with the angel of God, which I think was a theophany, was Christ, and he said, I've seen the face of God and I've lived. Well, he didn't see the Shekinah glory. He didn't see God in all of his essence. He had the realization of this meeting that he had with God. But nobody has seen, as God told Moses, nobody has seen God in that full effulgence, that Shekinah glory, that majestic heavenly arena that he possesses. But here the psalmist is saying that with the likeness of God, his very person, not an image, not a theophany, not a figure, he will see God. His single focus, again, it's predominant, it's Christ himself, his savior, his redeemer himself. And as a New Testament Christian, you have the benefit of reading through the scriptures and understanding that Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, is central, is preeminent and predominant in that heavenly place. The Lamb of God is the one who stands in that place. He's the one who sits upon the throne. He alone is the one who can take the book as both the lamb and the lion of the tribe of Judah. He is the one who is worshiped. He is the temple of that place. He is the light of that place. The lamb is all the glory in Emmanuel's land. And that is what the psalmist has been thirsting for. That is what he has been hungering for. And it's not that once he gets there, David will never let Christ go. The fact is, Christ will not let him go, and he will evermore be with the Lord. What's it like now? We all, brethren, with open face beholding as in a glass, the glory of the Lord are being changed into that same image. We bless God for that. From glory to glory, it's painful, It's agonizing, it's hard, it's difficult, but we're changed even by the Spirit of the Lord. Today we behold, we behold now, but then we are satisfied. The psalmist says, as for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. Let me close with three brief applications. Number one, faith. must be patient, both as we are being changed by degrees, and it must also, at the same time, lay hold of the hope that is set before us. As with so much in scripture that talks about our Christian life, our experimental religious life, so much of the scripture talks about two ideas that have to be held in tension, that counterbalance each other. And we have to hold on to both. We have to be patient while God is doing this work in us. And we must lay hold of the hope that is set before us. If you focus just on heaven at the expense of neglecting daily spiritual duties and responsibilities, that's no good. God wants us in the here and the now to be changed and to work in us. Conversely, if you focus on the here and now at the expense of never meditating upon heaven, you're going to be spiritually exhausted. You're going to have no joy. You're not going to be able to worship. Your ability to worship will be dulled if you never meditate on heaven, if you never think about that day. These two have to be held in tension. And we have to realize both in our life today as best as we can. Secondly, let me read a verse and then I'll mention the application. 1 John 3, 2 says, Beloved, now we are the sons of God. Amen for that. We're the sons of God. And it does not yet appear what we shall be. Psalm 17. But we know that when he shall appear, we will be like him, for we shall see him as he is. We'll see him as he is. And, oh, it doesn't stop there. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. You see, God himself put both of these together. Every man that has this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure. I don't want to speak about sanctification, Pastor Joe is doing that, but the point is we must pursue holiness without which no man will see the Lord. We should purify ourself if we have that hope of meeting him someday. If we're not purifying ourselves, then what are we doing? Is there a replacement? Is there something else that's better or easier to accomplish in our life? I think he's speaking to the believer who automatically is saying, amen, I want to purify myself because I'm going to see the Savior, like the psalmist. I want to have that assurance. I want to have that boldness. I want to have that forward-looking joy and blessedness. Thirdly, we have to ask the question, answer it in your heart with Judgment Day honesty. What are you satisfied with? Our verse in Psalm 17, verse 15, and the very thread of scripture details the reality of those who have drunk from the water of life that they will never thirst again. They are satisfied with God himself, with Christ himself, and they understand that the only satisfaction for the believer is a relationship with God that is vital, growing, and will have that expected end in heaven. If you are not completely satisfied with that now, you will not be satisfied with that in the future. If the seed of God is within you, that seed's gonna grow. Not perfectly, but having a true desire, a faith-fueled expectation to behold God's faith and righteousness. To awake from this dream of life. I always say that I think in heaven we're gonna look back on our life and say, is that a dream? Was that real? It was so quick and it was so foggy and there was a lot of nonsense mixed in with everything like dreams. This is real life. That must have been a dream. It must not have been real. We're gonna wake up from the sleep of death to the reality of his person, unveiled glory. And nothing compares with that. Not a thing. The psalmist says, I will be satisfied with thy likeness. The end of the conflict, no more doubt. This life of progressive, sanctification, growing faith, it's blessing, God's using it, but we could not bear that forever. As Pastor Joe said, the older and longer you are in the Christian life, there's battles that you had not envisioned, there's other things that come in, you start to get tired. We could not bear that forever. Consciousness, this is what the psalmists look forward to, of a perfect reconciliation with God. Do you think David ever had some doubts as Satan threw those darts of those tremendously bad sins? He would have a consciousness of a perfect reconciliation with God, no doubts. This is enough, I think. as Paul would say, to be absent, to depart, to be with Christ is so much better. To be home with the Lord. We shall see him as he is. I will be satisfied. This was the psalmist's keenest desire. Will it satisfy us? Are we looking forward to it? with a desire to be where the psalmist had this expression of his heart. And you have to believe that he pursued these heavenly visions of God. He had tasted, he understood this. We just didn't close it in a theology book and put it on a shelf. I think he meditated deeper and fuller about heaven. Let me close with a quote. into glory will first of all, and in the fullest sense of the word, bring satisfaction. Thy likeness, Christ, nothing less will satisfy. This is the hope of all of our hoping. This is the joy of all of our joys. The rest that remaineth for the people of God, how grand must that possession be that will satisfy the soul, awaken to the highest life and the most noble aspirings. Not only will the redeemed be satisfied, but the redeemer also will see the travail of his soul and be satisfied. This is what we are being outfitted for. And this is the blessed hope that's been set before us. And we should have very high expectations and desires to have this Psalm 17, verse 15 realized in our life. Passing from this life into the next. As for me, the psalmist said, I will behold thy face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. Let's pray. It seems sometimes very, very difficult to enter in to this wonderful prospect because it seems to be so infinitely far away. And yet we also know that we're only a heartbeat away, a single breath away from that day when you will receive us unto yourself. Help us to have holy meditation about heaven, Help us to pursue it, as it appears that the psalmist David did. Father, fill us with that joy that you are preparing us for. Enable us to have a worship that would speak to others that, wow, they must be going to heaven. They worship with vitality and spirit and truth. Write thy word upon our heart, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen.