More Than Immortality: One Pastor’S Journey of Discovery

By Linton Smith

This book is the fruit of a lifetime of ministry. It is both encouraging and wise, and
is always rooted in Scripture, which the author unpacks relevantly and insightfully.
This is more than a collection of sermons. It gives plenty of clues of what it means
to live life well. Read it for encouragement, for guidance and for growth. It will
strengthen your faith, challenge you to deepen your relationship with the Spirit
and invite you to live in the light of the resurrection. While the author is convinced
that the best is yet to be, he unpacks a practical faith rooted in the realities of
everyday life. Dont leave this book on the shelf. Read it.

-Dr Brian Harris, Principal, Vose Seminary, Perth, Australia

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Mar 9, 2015
• ISBN: 9781503501843

Linton Smith

Linton Smith was raised on a farm in the Southern Flinders Ranges of South Australia. In 1959, he came to faith in Jesus Christ through the preaching of Billy Graham. Almost immediately, he began to preach, and later trained for the Baptist Ministry. He was ordained in 1966 and continued to study in his spare time as an external student with the London University. In 1972, he graduated with a BA Degree in Hebrew, Theology, and Ethics. Linton ministered in country South Australia, Adelaide, Perth, and Canberra, and on retiring, as an interim in country Western Australia, New South Wales, and Tasmania. He and Alison were married in 1966 and have two children and six grandchildren

Book preview

Copyright © 2015 by Linton Smith.

Cover: Scenic Walk, New Norfolk, Tasmania.

Photo by Linton Smith

Library of Congress Control Number:   2015901822

       ISBN:         Hardcover   978-1-5035-0186-7

                          Softcover     978-1-5035-0185-0

                          eBook          978-1-5035-0184-3

Except in the sections, ‘Why Believe?’, ‘Law and Grace’, and ‘The Best Is Yet To Be’, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations in the sections, ‘Why Believe?’ and ‘Law and Grace’ are taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

In the section, ‘The Best Is Yet To Be’, scripture quotations are the author’s own paraphrase.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 03/09/2015

Xlibris

1-800-455-039

www.Xlibris.com.au

626059

Contents

FOREWORD

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

SET FREE TO LOVE

Free!

The Aim Is Love

A Sincere Faith

A Good Conscience

A Pure Heart

Love

WHY BELIEVE?

It’s About Jesus

Jesus Raised And Exalted

Jesus The Son Of God

Jesus The Judge

Justified By Jesus

Alive With Jesus

Empowered By Jesus

Waiting For Jesus

With Jesus Forever

Living For Jesus Now

Starting Out With Jesus

Faith Well Founded

JESUS IN THE REVELATION

Visions That Encourage

Jesus Christ

Jesus Among The Churches

Jesus Our Exalted Redeemer

Jesus The Victor

Jesus The Savior

Jesus The King Of Kings And Lord Of Lords

Jesus The Bridegroom

Reading The Revelation

DIVINE HELP

The Helper

The Holy Spirit Is God

The Holy Spirit Makes Us Alive

The Holy Spirit Gives Us Confidence

The Holy Spirit Helps Us When We Pray

The Holy Spirit Glorifies Jesus

The Holy Spirit Is The Missionary Spirit

The Holy Spirit Fills Us With Hope

The Holy Spirit Enables Us To Serve

The Holy Spirit Works With Us To Lead Others To Faith

The Holy Spirit Transforms Us!

The Holy Spirit And The Believer

LAW AND GRACE

Response To Grace

I Am The Lord Your God

Love The Lord Your God

A Day To Rest And Reflect

Honor Your Parents

Murder And Adultery

Honesty And Contentment

THE BEST IS YET TO BE

Inspired By Hope

Nearly Home

The Encounter

A Heart On Fire

The Coming King

Responding To Doubters

Pressing On

Rejoicing In Hope

Ready To Die And Ready To Live

Looking Ahead

Mission Accomplished

Home!

AN INVITATION

Join Me On The Journey

Dedicated to Alison, my wife, life partner, fellow worker,

and encourager in ministry, and to our children and grandchildren.

In gratitude to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

to Billy Graham, whose preaching led me to faith, and to the inquirers and enthusiastic believers who peppered me with questions.

FOREWORD

Linton Smith was senior pastor in my church for seven years before he retired from full-time ministry. I encouraged him to write up his sermons as a book, because not only did I enjoy his sermons, but invariably I learned something new when I heard him preach, and I had attended Sunday services regularly for over 30 years. Linton is obviously a deep thinker and keen student of Scripture, and he prepares well for his sermons. He freely admits that he spends on average 10 hours for each sermon. But I feel that there is something more than thorough study, preparation, and critical evaluation of the text for the sermon.

As I reflected on what I learned each time from his sermons, it became clear to me that above and beyond an excellent exposition of the text was how he unfailingly connected the text to the central message of the gospel: God’s grace and how we should respond.

I have encouraged Linton to publish his sermons so that his insight can be shared more widely. I was delighted when he obliged, and even when he was still with my church, he completed writing up his sermons on the Ten Commandments. This has been extensively revised since his retirement and now becomes the section on ‘Law and Grace’. These sermons illustrate well the essence of what I learned from Linton’s sermons, connecting what can be ‘dos and don’ts’ from the Old Testament (and whatever excellent reasons to follow them) to simply responding to God’s grace intelligently and naturally.

I have gone through the chapter on the apostle Paul’s writing on life after death with my Bible study group. We learned much because of the systematic way in which Linton took us through Paul’s writings and his experiences (from his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus to his last known letter to Timothy). And yes, the best is yet to be for us who believe.

And just as the apostle Paul wrote his letters in response to issues and questions raised by believers, Linton shared with me that what he has preached and has now written is based on questions raised by members of his congregations over the years. As such the topics continue to be relevant, and Linton’s book is appropriately subtitled ‘One Pastor’s Journey of Discovery’.

I should add that Linton is not only known for his preaching, but in my church he was much loved and is still remembered as the pastor who took us on a journey of growth including building a new church building to accommodate double the congregation.

I commend Linton’s book to you and trust that in going through the book you will also journey through spiritual growth through a better understanding of God’s word and how to apply it in your daily lives.

Goen E. Ho

Emeritus Professor, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia

Member, Riverton Baptist Community Church, Perth, Australia

PREFACE

When I first believed in Jesus, my life was changed. Immediately I experienced peace with God and his presence and power in my life.

It soon became apparent to me that not all Christians shared my experience. Some did, but others seemed to focus on heaven as a distant hope and seemed to have little awareness of God here and now.

A picture formed in my mind. In the distance was a crystal-clear lake and in the foreground were people journeying toward it. A river fed by the lake was running by them. They were longing for the water of the lake and totally unaware it was right there next to them!

This picture has stayed with me over the years and given direction to my own life and my work as a pastor. My desire has been to see people believe in Jesus and then be empowered by the presence and power of his Spirit in their lives.

Our faith in Jesus is about heaven and immortality but far more—both now and then. We can have a taste of heaven now, and heaven itself will be far more than immortality! That is the subject of this book.

When I retired from full-time ministry, I did so because I no longer had the energy to meet the many challenges of the role, but I still wanted to be useful and was challenged by the prayer of the psalmist in Psalm 71:17-18. Thankful that God has taught him from his youth and grateful that he is still able to proclaim God’s wonderful works, he prays, So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come.

This book is the fruit of fifty years of ministry and is largely based on material written during those years. I hope it will partly answer that prayer.

Writing styles differ from section to section—all the way from revamped preaching notes to purpose written material. In the last chapter, I have paraphrased the Scriptures used. In the remainder, Scripture quotations are taken from the English Standard Version or the New International Version. Consistent with these translations, I have used the lowercase for the first letter of pronouns for God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

INTRODUCTION

Over the years, I have been greatly enriched by the people I have served. They have asked me questions that have sent me looking for answers and making new discoveries.

This book is about some of these discoveries. I begin with a statement that made a deep impression on me in my early days as a believer and then look at questions that have challenged me over the years.

The first question was raised by a teenager in a school where I was giving religious instruction: Why should I believe what you are telling me?

The question that follows relates to the book of the Revelation. What is it all about? Please help us to understand it. There are so many different views.

The next question was raised by people who had been influenced by the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements and relates to the Holy Spirit and his work in the lives of believers.

Next, I deal with questions about law and grace. Are believers expected to keep the law of Moses? Has grace put an end to the law? How can we keep the balance?

Finally, I deal with a question of my own. How did the apostle Paul persevere the way he did? What was his hope?

Over the years, I have faced many more questions, but I have chosen to focus on these few because they deal with matters relating to the inner dynamic of the Christian life—matters of faith, forgiveness, freedom, conscience, certainty, confidence, inner strength, motivation, and hope.

Seeking to answer these questions has enriched my own life. The answers given are by no means final answers, but my hope is that they will be helpful.

SET FREE TO LOVE

FREE!

It was 1959, and Billy Graham was coming to Australia. In my early teens, I had rebelled against my Baptist upbringing and by 1959 found myself trapped by behavior I had deliberately cultivated. I was desperate to break free and had made frequent attempts to do so—to no avail.

A change in the life of another teenager caught my attention. He claimed to have been ‘born again’, and I began to wonder if that was what I needed. Advertising for the Billy Graham Crusades caught my attention, and I decided I would hear what he had to say. It was difficult for me to travel to the city, so I settled on going to a school where the Crusade would be relayed by landline.

There in that school room my life was transformed.

At home that night I prayed. I felt that my life had been thoroughly cleansed, sensed that God really was my Father, and experienced a deep inner peace with him. Next morning I headed out to catch the school bus. Would I be different? Yes. To my amazement, relief, and joy, I was! The habits that had ensnared me had been broken. I was free!

The following year I attended school in the city. Just over half way into that year, I was taken to hospital with appendicitis. There I had the time to read the story of C. T. Studd, an English cricketer who became a pioneer missionary, and sensed a very strong call to be a minister in the Baptist Church. I decided there and then to work part time the following year and study the Bible.

During that time of study, I was gripped by the words of the apostle Paul to Timothy. He urged Timothy to stay in Ephesus so that he could charge certain men not to teach false doctrines. He explained, The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith (1 Tim. 1:5).

These words seemed to describe what I had experienced. I had believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and had entrusted myself to him. He had cleansed and renewed my conscience and purified my heart. I was sure that God loved me, and I had begun to love him—and the people around me.

Later, these words of the apostle gave direction to what I would do as a pastor and teacher. I would preach and teach about the Lord Jesus Christ so that people would believe in him, be cleansed and renewed in conscience, purified in heart, and experience the love of God and, in return, love him and the people around them.

In some churches I served, I began by preaching on these words. The revamped preaching notes that follow are based on notes from 2001.

THE AIM IS LOVE

The apostle Paul taught the believers in Ephesus for three years. Now, at least eight years later, Timothy is the pastor of the church. False teachers have made inroads. Paul urges Timothy to charge these people to stop teaching false doctrines.

He anticipates the question why and answers, "The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith" (1 Tim. 1:5).

The goal is love—and this love comes from or springs from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith.

We begin with A SINCERE FAITH

The problem with the false teachers was that their faith was not sincere. They had wandered away from a sincere faith, a good conscience, a pure heart, and love, and had turned to meaningless talk.

There are at least four marks of a sincere faith.

Sincere faith is always associated with repentance.

In Mark 1:15 we read that Jesus came into Galilee, saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.

King David is a good example of someone who repented. He confessed to God, Against you, you only, have I sinned (Ps. 51:4). He knew he had sinned against God. He was profoundly sorry and wanted to be forgiven. He was willing to change and asked for a clean heart.

Sincere faith believes something about Jesus.

In Romans 10:9 we are told, "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."

When we believe in a sincere way, we believe that Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead. We believe that he is the Son of God and are amazed that he would do this for us!

Sincere faith acknowledges and accepts the Lordship of Jesus.

The condition described in Romans 10:9, If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord involves far more than words. It involves an attitude like this: ‘Jesus, you are Lord. You are Lord of the universe, enthroned at the Father’s right hand! I will obey you. I entrust myself to you.’

I had made many efforts to believe. Finally, I entrusted myself to him. It was then that my life was transformed.

Sincere faith receives Jesus and all he offers.

In Romans 6:23 we read, The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

A gift can only be received!

Sincere faith always believes and receives. Smitten to the heart with sorrow over the way we have sinned against God, we believe that Jesus died and rose again. We acknowledge him as Lord, and with open arms receive him into our life.

Sincere faith leads to A GOOD CONSCIENCE.

When we sincerely believe in Jesus, he works a mighty change in our inner lives. He cleanses and renews our conscience—our sense of right and wrong, our self-judgment.

The letter to the Hebrews speaks of the way that the blood of animals in the Temple made people ceremonially clean and then says, How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God (Heb. 9:14).

Not just cleansed but also cleansed to serve the Living God with a renewed conscience.

The letter goes on to quote words from Jeremiah about the New Covenant. "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds" (Heb. 10:16, Jer. 31:33).

God writes his law in our hearts. He renews our conscience!

I recall how it was when I first believed. I felt clean! My conscience was alive and working!

Once renewed like that, what do we do? We hold on to faith and a good conscience just as the apostle Paul urged Timothy to do (1 Tim. 1:18-19). We inform our minds with Bible teaching. We respond to the promptings of conscience.

That in turn leads to A PURE HEART.

Jesus said, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (Matt. 5:8).

Our hearts, however, are not pure. Jesus also said, Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander (Matt. 15:19).

Our hearts need to be cleansed.

The Apostle Peter referred to the way God saved a group of Roman soldiers. He made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith (Acts 15:9).

God performs that miracle when we sincerely believe in Jesus. He cleanses our conscience and cleanses our heart.

From then on, as we listen to our renewed conscience and confess our sins, he forgives us and keeps our hearts clean. The Apostle John put it like this: If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 Jn. 1:8-9).

That then leads to LOVE.

A teacher of the law asked Jesus which was the most important of all God’s commandments. Jesus answered by quoting from Deuteronomy 6:5, telling him that the most important commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. (Mk. 12:30).

He then went on to quote from Leviticus 19:18, saying, The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’ (Mk. 12:31).

That is what God requires, but how do we live up to it?

Some do the best they can in their own strength and hope that will be enough. Many times people have said to me, ‘I do my best to do unto others as I would have them do for me. I’ll be okay won’t I?’

No! Our best is never good enough!

When we realize that, we are ready to hear the good news!

The good news is this! Jesus died for us and rose again. He is Lord; and when we sincerely believe in him, we are put right with God and set free. From that moment, we are part of his family and heaven bound—by grace alone!

There is more. When we sincerely believe, God cleanses and renews our conscience and purifies our hearts, and we begin to love God and our neighbors not to earn salvation but as a response to his amazing love!

Paul urged Timothy to stay in Ephesus and instruct certain people to give up their false teaching, vain discussions, and speculations, because the Christian life is not about such things, but about love that arises from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith (1 Tim. 1:5).

The number one need is sincere faith! That is where it all begins.

How do