NOT NOW, BUT AFTERWARD

Photo by B Smith from the Patio

 

 

253 – NOT NOW, BUT AFTERWARD 

November 25, 1962

Pastor Henry F. Kulp

 

The word wait has a large place in the Christian life. We are to wait for this to happen. What we have right now is an earnest of our possession and an earnest in the olden days was just a handful. A man might buy 100,000 bushels of wheat and take home with him a handful to see that when the bulk is delivered it is the same.

I can remember a while back—a few years back, my father, when I was in Philadelphia told me to go to his tailor and he would pay that I could have a tailor-made suit. So, I went to see the tailor and my wife wasn’t along at that time, and she as back home in Altoona. So, I picked a bolt of clothe and the tailor took my measurements, and I said, I am going back to Altoona, and I would like my family to see what type of suit I’m getting. So, what did he do, but he took his scissors, and he cut a piece of material, just maybe an inch by an inch and a half, and he gave it to me and he said, “Here, you can show them what you are getting.” That literally was a piece of the suit I was getting. All I had when I came back to Altoona, because he mailed the suite to me later, was just that little piece of clothe, but it showed me what I was getting, and I could make sure the suit was of that same clothe when it came.

The word, wait, is here. We have the earnest at this present time.

Romans 8: 17 - 19 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

Many folks look at the Christian life and they say, “If that is the Christian life, I don’t want it.” They see the suffering that many Christians go through. They see that folks many times shun them—they see that many folks are maligned because they love the Lord Jesus Christ, and they say—I don’t want that type of life. Many children of Godly parents have said this very thing, for they have seen that their parents have paid a price for loving and serving the Lord Jesus Christ. But there is one thing you must recognize —you cannot judge the Christian life by what Christians have here and now. You cannot judge the Christian life by the things that many Christians suffer—it is true that we have been promised suffering, but the life that the Christian lives here is not the life that you judge Christianity by.

1/ When we look at this passage of Scripture that we want to study this morning, one word shouts out to us, it is the word, wait. Waiting has a large place in the Christian life—just notice what Paul says to us in Romans 8: 18. Notice, we may also be glorified together—The suffering of this present time is not worthy to be compared to that which will be revealed in us. This is all future, and the Christian is waiting for all this to come to pass.

2/ I remember there was a preacher I used to love to listen to by the name of James McGinley. He had a sermon entitled, “Not Now, but Afterward,” and I heard him preach it quite a few times—and I used to thrill to it as he would bring it forth in his Scottish manner. He would tell us about the time that he would get a new suit of cloths--as soon as the box was delivered to the house, he said he would cut the string, tear off the paper, and remove the lid, and then he would say to his mother, may I put the suit on now, and she would reply, “Not now, but afterward.” And then he pointed out that before meals, he had a very strong boyish appetite. He craved food, and one look at him would show that he did—and he would say, “Mother may I have a slice of bread and jam now, and, of course, he was raised in a home where the folks were very poor, and she would answer, “Not now, but afterward” and then, the parents would promise to take him on a picnic, and he would say, "Are we going on the picnic today?" And every morning when He would wake up he would say, “Is this the day?” And his mother would say, “Not now, but afterward.” Life is a good bit like that for all of us—the things we want to do, we can’t do just now. That word, wait—not now, but afterward is ever before us.

3/ Let us look at the 17th verse. And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

I am so glad that God is not governed in His actions as man is governed. Notice, if children, then heir.

A human father can disinherit a son for many reasons—he can cut off his child without an inheritance because he thinks the child is unworthy—or perhaps he has been insulted by something that the child has said or done, and then he can disinherit a son because of just some simple whim of his own—but the heavenly Father can do none of these things—He is bound by the character of His nature. The reasoning that Paul sets forth here is purely divine. If children, then notice, then heirs.

There are two parts to the phrase—two nouns—children and heirs. There is an if associated with the first of these two words, but there is no if attached to the second word. It is true that He has to set forth a doubt in connection with sonship, because there are many of His creatures who are not His children—but once one is saved and believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, he becomes a child of God then by necessity, he is an heir of God.

What does it mean to be joint-heir with Christ? A joint-heirship is something that is left and is divided. To be joint-heir is to hold whatever is left jointly and never to have it divided. What Christ has we come into the possession of, and we shall always possess it with Him, and the Lord Jesus Christ will say to us—this much is yours, and this much is mine. We will have all things together—all that is the Father’s is Christ’s, and all that is Christ’s is ours. Never to be divided.

4/ When you stop to think about this point of waiting for this—what if one doesn’t have too much on this earth—what is there on this earth that can compare with that which we will have in the future? We might compare the fortunes of men to anthills. Here is an ant who builds a little bigger hill than the other fellows. But it is still just an anthill. Compare that with the houses and the buildings and the mansions in which men still live here. What is an anthill? Not very desirable is it? Well, actually what men have down here on earth—all their fortunes, their houses and their cars. They are merely anthills when compared with what God has for those who love Him. Yes, one may get a little more than another, but he just has a little larger anthill and that is all, and it will mean nothing in eternity, and it will be just an anthill compared to what the child of God will have in eternity.

5/ It might be well if we understand that in law there is a large difference between an heir and a joint-heir. The distinction can be explained as follows. If a man dies, leaving a large farm to four sons who are four heirs—the estate is divided equally and each heir receives 25% of the whole. But if a man leaves his estate to four of his sons as joint-heirs, then each one own the whole farm, each one can say, the house is mine, the barn is mine, the fields are mine. In human division, such a procedure might be undesirable, because it would be possible for the brothers to fight over the inheritance, but in divine procedure it is perfect, for we shall all be like the Lord Jesus Christ, and each will be seeking the good of others before his own good—so this is a perfect setup. What God owns, we own, and we will share it with Him jointly—through all eternity. Certainly the suffering of this life cannot be compared with what we will have in eternity.

6/ Every time I read this Scripture, my mind goes to II Timothy 4: 7 where Paul says, I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.

You remember Paul was about to go and be with the Lord. He was ready to be martyred for the Lord Jesus Christ.

But notice the first word of II Timothy 4: 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

Henceforth—it is wonderful to have a henceforth in your life. Do you have a henceforth in your life? That is what we have that makes the future so wonderful. Do you have just a NOW in your life, or do you have a henceforth? Yes, we look at life now, and it is nothing compared to what we will have henceforth.

7/ When we go back to Romans 8: 17 where it says, If it shall be that we suffer with Him, it may also be that we shall be glorified together.

So, it would seem that unless we suffer, we are not going to be glorified together, but that is not what the Greek language teaches us at all. This is not a matter that is conditional, that if we do something, God will do something. That is not the thought here at all. So, let us notice three things in our text--the meaning of the phrase, if so be that—and the meaning of the phrase suffering with Christ and the meaning of our being glorified together with Him.

8/ Now let us look at the phrase—if so be that. It is a single word in the Greek, and it is pronounced A-PEAR and if we look at the word, we will find that it is not a phrase implying doubt at all. Let us notice how it is used elsewhere in the Bible.

II Thessalonians 1: 6 Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;

Paul is speaking of the tribulation through which the believers were passing in that Macedonian town, and of the judgment that shall ultimately come upon their persecutors. We read that, ye may be counted worthy of the Kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer.

Suffering is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you. The three words SEEING IT IS, are used to translate our word, A-PEAR, and the idea of any doubt is alien to the phrase. Actually, it could be translated, Because it is a righteous thing with God. So we may translate this, then seeing it is that we suffer with Him that we may be also glorified together. Or, because it is that we suffer with Him, that we may be glorified together.

9/ A Christian is one who suffers with Christ, for notice, Philippians 1: 29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake.

The Apostle here enters into a discussion as to the degrees of suffering through which a Christian may pass. Some may suffer more than others, but there is appointed a ministry of suffering which the believer cannot fully escape, even if he would.

Additional verses of interest:

I Corinthians 15: 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.

John 17: 5 And now, O, Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

Romans 8: 19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

Colossians 3: 4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

AMEN

Ref: 11/25/1962 / 253 - NOT NOW BUT AFTERWARD / 08/25/2021