A HEART SET ON ETERNITY

Ecclesiastes 3:11b2 Corinthians 4:18

WE ARE MEANT FOR AN ETERNAL EXISTENCE.

“God has set eternity in our hearts…” In other words, “God has placed forevermore in our hearts.”

“We fix our eyes… on what is unseen…what is unseen is eternal.”

THE ETERNAL GOD HAS PLACED THIS UNDENIABLE TRUTH IN OUR HEARTS.

The heart is the controlling center of every person’s life.

What captures our hearts controls our lives.

“In the midst of life’s changes, God has endued man with eternal attributes and longings. God, in putting eternal yearnings into men’s hearts, has made it impossible for them to satisfy themselves with the joys which this world can supply.” D. Davies, Biblical Illustrator.

“Thou hast made each heart for Thyself, and it finds no rest until it rests in Thee.” St. Augustine, Confessions.

“Do you know what it is that makes man the most suffering of creatures? It is that he has one foot in the finite and the other in the infinite, and that he is torn asunder, not by four horses, as in the terrible old times, but between two worlds.” Lamennais, French Preacher, Biblical Illustrator.

James 4:14 “…What is your life? You are a mist (vapour) that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”

See Psalm 39:4-5 and Psalm 90:2-6

What then is our comfort and hope?

1. Eternity impacts our present spiritual condition.

2. Eternity gives us a clear and certain prospect of future glory after affliction.

1 Corinthians 2:9-10 (from Isaiah 64:4) “THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM." 10 For to us God revealed them through the Spirit.”

See Isaiah 65:17-18

“The assurance of eternal glory is the best support under all temporal calamities…all the afflictions of this mortal life are but light and transient (even when the longest and heaviest) compared to the eternal weight of glory.” J. Mason, Biblical Illustrator.

Luke 12:16-21

1 John 2:17a “The world is passing away, and also its lusts but the one who does the will of God lives forever.”

How should the truth of eternity affect our lives?

1. WE WOULD ANCHOR OUR FAITH ON THE ETERNAL REALITIES OF GOD.

ETERNITY WILL SHOW US WHAT IS REALLY IMPORTANT IN LIFE.

Hebrews 11:1,6

2 Timothy 1:9-10 “from all eternity… now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus immortality through the gospel.”

See 1 Peter 1:5-9

THE HOPE OF ALL ETERNITY IS CHRIST.

See Colossians 3:1-4

2. WE WOULD BE CAREFUL TO AVOID SIN IN ANYTHING WE DO.

Romans 6:23

See also Revelation 21:3-8

3. WE WOULD RESPOND IN TRUST AND HOPE IN THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD.

Isaiah 26:3-4

Job 19:25-27 “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. 26 And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; 27 I myself will see him with my own eyes — I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!”

4. WE WOULD BE WISE IN USING OUR TIME.

“What we need is not more time management but time perspective.” Stu Weber, Infinite Impact

Psalm 90:12 Ephesians 5-15-16

5. WE WOULD BE MORE PATIENT, STEADFAST AND JOYFUL IN SUFFERINGS FOR CHRIST.

Hebrews 11:13-16, 26-27

6. WE WOULD BE MORE CONFORMED TO CHRIST-LIKENESS.

2 Corinthians 3:18 "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."

1 John 3:2 "But we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is."

7. WE WOULD BE MORE DEDICATED AND DILIGENT IN OUR SERVICE TO GOD.

1 Timothy 4: 13-16 "Give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Meditate upon these things; give yourself wholly to them… Take heed unto yourself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them." (also 2 Timothy 4:7-8)

Acts 20: 25-27 2 Corinthians 2:1, 4

GOD GIVES US SUFFICIENT TIME IN THIS WORLD TO PREPARE FOR ETERNITY.

2 Corinthians 6:1-2 “As God's fellow workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain. 2 For he says, "In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you." I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation.”

Rom 13:11-12 “And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.”