Living Above See Level | Part 1

0:46 Adrian Rogers. This month, we're in a series called How to Weather the Storms of Life. As believers, we have faith in a God who rules over life's storms. In 2 Corinthians 4, the Apostle Paul was facing, by all appearances, deep affliction. Yet he was a man who lived above sea level, S-E-E level. His perspective shows us how to live in faith in times of trouble. If you have your Bible, turn now to 2 Corinthians 4, we'll begin in verse 17, as Adrian Rogers shares more about living above sea level. Take God's Word, please, and find 2 Corinthians chapter 4. I want to talk to you tonight about living above sea level, S-E-E, that is learning to live by faith or learning to see the invisible.

1:49 Now, we've often heard this little motto that what you see is what you get. That's just the world's way of saying the things that are real are the things that we can touch, things we can taste, the things we can hear, the things that we can smell, handle with our five senses. But there's another very real world out there. It is the unseen world. The Apostle Paul had been going through affliction. You and I would call it deep affliction, but he called it light affliction. I want you to look in verses 17 and 18. He says, for our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

2:47 So he's contrasting the lightness of this present affliction, the weighty glory that shall be ours. He is contrasting here pain and glory, and he's going to contrast that which can be seen and that which cannot be seen. Look in verse 18. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things that are seen are temporal. That means they're temporary, transitional. but the things which are not seen are eternal. So he says we are looking at things which are not seen. That sounds like double talk, but if you'll stay tuned, you'll understand it's not double talk. When I was a little boy, I heard a little poem that said something like this last night.

3:42 I saw upon the stair a little man who was not there. He was not there again today. Oh, how I wish he'd go away. Now, that's the kind of double talk, some think that we find right here in this passage of Scripture. But this is not double talk. Paul is not playing with words. He's talking to us about some great eternal truths that we must learn to live by if we would live the life of faith. I want you to think with me about, first of all, what I'm going to call the reality of an unseen world, the reality of an unseen world. The Bible teaches that there is a visible material world and there is an invisible spiritual world, and these two coexist side by side. Now, we would be very foolish to deny that there is an unseen spiritual world just because we cannot see it with our physical eyes.

4:41 A blind man would be foolish to deny the radiant splendor of a sunset simply because he cannot see it. If you were to take my great-grandfather and bring him back to this world and tell him that this room right now is full of music and sports and drama and action and automobiles crashing and news from all over the world? He'd say, no, that's not true. You're telling a lie, but we know that it is true. If we took a television receiver up here and plugged it in and tuned it right, it would draw all of these images out of the air. They're here. They're in the air. Now, because we cannot see them right now, it just simply means that we're not tuned into them, but we know that they're here.

5:34 Isn't that true? Sure, you know that's true. these things are in the air. We have a wonderful illustration of another world in this age in which we live that our great-great-grandfathers did not have. But unless you have your antenna up and tuned into station J-E-S-U-S, you may not know it. You may say, well, these people, they're just conjuring up things. They're talking about things that are reality that are not reality. There is more to life than what you can touch, what you can taste, what you can smell, what you can hear. Now here's the point. What is not seen is even more real than that which is seen. Now go back, take your Bibles, and just fast forward a little bit to Hebrews chapter 11. Let me show you what I'm talking about. I'm saying that what is not seen is more real than what is seen. Hebrews chapter 11, and turn to it, it's worth turning to, and look with me in verse 3.

6:33 Here's what the Apostle Paul says. Well, let's start in verse 1. Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Just underscore that. That is, faith is the evidence that there is an unseen world out there. For by it, that is by faith, the elders obtained a good report. Would you like to get an A on your report card? Well, pay attention. Through faith we understand that the worlds, that is the universes, were framed, that is brought into being, by the word of God. That is God spoke and God made something out of nothing. So that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. Now, Moffat translates that this way, the visible is made out of the invisible.

7:29 Things that are seen were first made of things that can't be seen. That is, the invisible was here before the visible. Before there was anything that you could touch or taste or hear or smell, there was the invisible Spirit of God and the Word of God that brought all of these things here. The invisible was here before the visible. Now, sometimes people try to deny the idea of God because they say it all just happened. But God made everything out of nothing. Do you believe that? I believe that. God made everything out of nothing. So the invisible world was here first. Again, let me read that scripture to you. through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. That is, the visible is made out of the invisible.

8:32 Now, not only was the invisible world here first, but the invisible world will be here last. It's going to outlast the visible world. As a matter of fact, the scripture that we just read to you, 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 18, Paul says, While we look not at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are what? Temporal. It is temporal. It deals with time. It is passing away. Everything around you is changing, winding down, and decaying. It is temporary. What is more real, therefore? that which is passing away or that which can never pass away. What I'm trying to say, the things that are not seen are eternal. Now, the unseen world is more real than the seen world because the unseen world was here first, and the unseen world is here last.

9:30 And if you're living for the things that are seen, you're in for a big disappointment. I want to tell you that. Now, we've talked to you about the reality of this unseen world. How do we know it is there? because God himself says that it is there. We'd be foolish to deny it. But now let me talk to you not only about the reality of it, but the resources of it. What good does it do for us to know that there's an unseen world? Well, there are great vital resources that are wrapped up in the unseen world that can be ours, and I'm going to tell you how to tap into those resources right out of the Word of God in a moment. But let's just see what kind of a resource, knowing that there is an unseen world can be to me and to you. In the first place, knowing that there's an unseen world is a great, great resource when you're going through trouble. And we're all going to go through troubles. If you've not had any troubles lately, just settle down and hang on.

10:27 There's some out there waiting just for you that have your name on them. And being a Christian does not make you immune. As a matter of fact, let's just back up all the way to verse 3. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. Now lost people cannot understand spiritual things because they don't have the spiritual antenna and receiver to receive station J-E-S-U-S. In whom the God of this world, notice that word God is spelled with a little g, that is Satan who is the God of this world. Not Almighty God, the God of this world spelled with a little g in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. Now these people are blind. How are they blind? Not blind physically, but they're blind spiritually. Who is the blinder?

11:25 Satan, the God of this world. He has blinded the minds of them which believe not. Why? Why? Because he doesn't want the light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ, who is the image of God, to shine unto them. Then the apostle Paul says, For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. Well, Paul, if you preach Jesus, God's going to bless you, and the world's going to be good to you. You won't have any problems. Well, just hold on and see if that is true. He says, For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure, that is the glory of God, in earthen vessels, in clay pots, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. We are like a clay pot. And the only thing that makes us worthwhile or anything good about me, you, or any other person on the face of this earth is Jesus Christ, the treasure that is in the clay pot.

12:26 And then Paul describes the difficulty that he got in. He said, we're troubled on every side, but not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in despair. We are persecuted, but not forsaken. Cast down, but not destroyed. What he's saying is, I've been knocked down, but I haven't been knocked out. I keep getting up, always bearing about in the body, that is my body, this clay pot, the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also might be made manifest in our bodies. Now what Paul is saying is, listen, it's not me thereafter, it's Jesus. I simply have Jesus on the inside of this clay pot. And the reason they keep striking the pot, the reason that they keep after this earthen vessel is because there is a treasure in this earthen vessel, and rather than treasuring the treasure, they detest the treasure, and so they're after me.

13:27 But he says, when I endure these blows, I only endure the blows for Jesus who took the blows for me. I bear about in my body the dying of the Lord Jesus because he died for me. And when I react with love, when I react with wisdom, when I react with courage and gentleness, what do they see? When the clay pot is broken, they see Jesus Christ shining out. They see the treasure. when that vessel is broken. So he says, always bearing about in the body, that is my body, the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. People will see Jesus in you when you react to trouble, heartache, sorrow, and pain like a Christian ought to. And notice what he says in verse 11. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

14:24 So then death worketh in us, but life in you. That is, he's saying, the more I die to myself, the more I'm willing to bear suffering for the Lord Jesus, the more his life radiates out of me. And he goes on to say, we having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I have believed, and therefore have I spoken. We also believe, and therefore speak, knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus and present us with you. He says, listen, I believe what I believe and therefore I say what I say. I may die, they may kill me, but I know that I know that the God who raised up Jesus is going to raise me up also and he's going to raise you up also and together we're going to meet the Lord.

15:19 So he goes on to say why he suffers. He says, for all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. And then he says, for the which cause we faint not. He's just saying, I don't quit. For though our outward man perish, though they beat on this clay pot, though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. Well, Paul, how do you do that? What keeps you ticking? What keeps you going? How do you suffer like this? How were you pickled in the Mediterranean? How were you beat with a lictor's lash? How were you stoned and left for dead? How were you fasting and starving in prison? How, Paul, did you do this? Well, he tells you in verse 17, For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.

16:24 Now, when you get into trouble, and especially when you get into trouble for standing up for the Lord Jesus Christ, you had better look into another world. You had better fix your eyes upon the things that cannot be seen. Because when you do this, God is going to give you supernatural strength. you will be marching to the tune of a different drummer. Now Paul was perplexed. He didn't understand it all. He said, we're perplexed, we're distressed. Just because it didn't make sense to Paul didn't mean it didn't make sense. And just because it doesn't make sense now doesn't mean it won't make sense later on. The apostle Paul says, I don't understand it, but I look at the things which are not seen. And the Greek word there, to look, literally means he fixed his gaze. He looks steadfastly at things which other people cannot see. Now that's what the Apostle Paul was doing here.

17:21 In times of trouble, you need to see an unseen world. Now not only in time of trouble, but when you're afraid, you need to see an unseen world. Go back, if you will, to 2 Kings with me for just a moment. And chapter 6. Open your Bibles to it. 2 Kings chapter 6, and I'm going to be in reading here in verse 8 in just a moment. Now what happened is this, that Elisha is the man of God, and he is a prophet of God. He has a servant, but like any man of God, like the Apostle Paul, and like any man, woman, boy, or girl who tries to live for Jesus, he got into trouble. I've told you before that Jesus didn't come to get us out of trouble, but to get into trouble with us. And so here's this man of God, he's in trouble. And verse 8, trouble for this thing. And he called his servants and said unto them, Will ye not show me which of us is for the king of Israel? That is, there's a spy in the camp somewhere.

18:46 He didn't know that the prophet, the man of God, had been warning the king of Israel. And one of his servants said, None, my lord, O king, but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber. You talk about a leak. There was one here because Elisha was tuned into heaven to an unseen world. So he said, go and spy where he is that I may send and fetch him. That is, I'm going to put him under arrest. And it was told him saying, behold, he is in Dothan. Therefore sent he thither horses and chariots and a great host. Now here's one little preacher out there and he's sending a whole army after him. And they came by night and compassed the city about. Now they want this man of God and so they have cordoned around the city with horses and chariots and soldiers. And when the servant of the man of God was risen early and gone forth, behold, and host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master, how shall we do?

19:53 Plain English, we're in a mess. What are we going to do? And he answered, fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, not his physical eyes, but his spiritual eyes. And he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. Now the enemy had his soldiers. God had his soldiers. And the point that I want to make is this, that when you're afraid and when the devil intimidates you and blusters against you, you need to understand that the angel of the Lord encamps round about those that fear him. And what we need to do when we're afraid is to say, Lord, open my eyes.

20:47 Help me to see, Lord, that you are with me. So many times we're in danger and may not even know it. So many times God may send an angel escort to pick us up, to take us and take care of us. One time I was in serious danger. I mean very serious danger. And that danger passed. I was in physical danger. And I went to the Word of God and it said, you will not die but live. And you will bear testimony of me. God just took that word right off the page and gave it to me. But the strange thing was that several days after that, I received three letters, one from down in Mississippi, one from in Georgia, and one from another place right here. They said, Adrian, were you in difficulty? Were you in trouble?

21:39 God laid on my heart that I should pray for you. And what a blessing it was to get these letters. He said, I don't understand it, but God told me to pray specially for you. Such a blessing to know that the angel of the Lord encamps round about those that fear him. God is a good God. He protects his own. And if we could only see in time of trouble, if we could just say, Lord, show me the things that are eternal. If we in times of fear and persecution could say, Lord, open my eyes to see the angels that encamp round about me that are protecting me. And nobody can get to you. No thing can get to you except to come through God's angels first. If God allows it, he will allow it for your good and for his glory.