Transcript
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Well, it's almost the end of another year, and I can hardly believe that today is actually the last day of Things Unseen. So I want to say thank you to the Ligonier staff who have made Things Unseen possible for us. And I want to thank you also for the privilege of being with you over these weeks and months as we We've tried to reflect together on all kinds of different themes related to our Christian lives over the past year. We've thought about some doctrinal and theological themes, and we've thought about some pastoral themes, and we've thought about some personal themes. And I'm sure not all podcasts are equal. They're not all equally well done. But also because we're wired differently and we're in different places and stages in our spiritual experience, some of these themes will have been more helpful to us than others. And that's true of me too. But what we share in common is that very soon we'll be in a new year, and at least from our human point of view, the old year will have gone forever. And that's quite a thought, isn't it? Gone forever. It really underlines the importance of putting into practice Paul's encouragement in Ephesians chapter 5, verse 16 to redeem the time. Or as the English Standard Version translates it, to make the best of the time. One of my earliest memories of New Year's Eve is of my parents telling me to go into the bedroom and to decide on 10 New Year resolutions. Yes, 10. I think the number probably had something to do with the Ten Commandments. Or perhaps I was so difficult a child that they assumed that there would be at least 10 ways I could easily come out of the room slightly improved. But to be honest, after I got the first few obvious ones written down, I actually struggled to get to 10. I suppose I. I just didn't know myself very well. Wouldn't be so difficult today for me to find 10 points of improvement. But what struck me in later life, looking back, was that while my mom and dad loved and cared for me very deeply, they didn't yet understand that my life would be transformed. Not first by laws that told me where I needed to change, but by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ actually transforming me. We were a moral family, certainly, but not yet a churchgoing, gospel hearing and gospel understanding family. And I thought that perhaps reflecting on this today would be a good place to bring our year of podcasts to a conclusion. Because it brings us back to a theme that in a variety of ways has been part of the background music to the whole of things unseen. And it's we don't get God's grace by what we try to do. It's God's grace that transforms all we do. We don't become acceptable to Jesus by our efforts, not our efforts to follow his example or live according to the Sermon on the Mount. It's really the other way around. It's only when we come to recognize our own spiritual bankruptcy and then entrust ourselves to him and as our Savior and embrace him in all his saving sufficiency, it's then that life begins to change. And that's exactly what Paul is saying In Romans, chapter 8, verses 3 and 4, isn't it? What the law with its commands couldn't do because of our sinfulness, God Himself did for us by sending His Son to take on flesh in order that he might take our place, bear our sins. And then when we come to him in faith and are united to him, the very things we couldn't do, the righteous requirements of the law, they begin to be fulfilled in us through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. And instead of crushing us, we find that God's law and will become light on our path. In fact, it becomes like the tracks on which a train runs. It's the path along which the Spirit of Christ directs us and empowers us to live for the glory of the Savior. And then we begin to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. Perhaps those famous words of the Shorter Catechism might be a good way to sign off that the Lord Jesus will mean more and more to us as we go on in the Christian life glorifying God. But maybe we should leave the last words of the podcast to the APostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:16, 18. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. May God continue to bless you richly and thank you for listening. Sa.