All right, let's take our Bibles
and turn with me to the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. I'd like to look at verses 5
through 10 this morning. The Apostle Paul in the previous
chapter verse 18 said, while we look not at the things
which are seen, but at things which are not seen. The things
which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not
seen are eternal. Paul was saying we don't look
at the things of this world, things we can naturally see as
having any lasting significance because they're going to be burnt
up. God's going to destroy everything
that we're looking, everything that we can see is going to be
gone. But the things that are not seen,
those things that are eternal, those things that we see by faith. We truly see those things by
faith. And therefore our comfort and
peace. He said in verse 1 of chapter 5, For we know that if
our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building
of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. That's one of those unseen things. We know that we're living right
now in a earthly tent, a tabernacle. It's not substantial. A tent
is not a substantial dwelling place. It has no lasting foundation. And this tent that we're in,
Our soul is inside a body and it's just temporary. It's changing, it's going to
dissolve, it's going to die. But we know that if our earthly
house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we actually have a
building of God. It's a house. It's not made with men's hands
and it's eternal. It's not going to corrupt. It's not going to decay. It's
not going to go away. The Lord has promised that. In
my Father's house are many dwelling places, many mansions. He said,
if that wasn't so, I tell you, I'm not going to lie to you.
I'm telling you that this is the way it is. I'm telling you
that there's many dwelling places there. And Paul said in verse
2 of chapter 5 that we're confident of that heavenly mansion. We're
confident. He said, for in this we're groaning. In this body we're groaning. And we're earnestly desiring
to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven. Now, it's
not natural for man to desire to die. Man was created to live
forever, and there's so much that we don't know, we don't
understand about death, and we don't understand that dying,
so there's just some questions about it. There's a sense of
fearfulness about it, but even though we're not naturally made
to want to die, still there's a desire in a believer's heart
to be clothed upon with a house that's made in heaven. We don't
want to die, but we want to be with Him. That's something that's unseen.
We just can't figure it out. We've had some brethren that's
recently died. Two of them out of this congregation,
one out of another one. And right up until the time they
died, they were thinking the same thing. They didn't know
either. They died in the faith. I'm convinced
of that. And that desire to go on and
be with the Lord, It was something that they wanted, but they couldn't
explain it. Verse 3, Paul says, if so be
that being clothed, we should not be found naked. Paul says
that there's these things that we know and see by faith, they're
unseen to the natural eye, but we know that we're not going
to enter into the presence of the Lord being unclothed. We're
clothed right now. Clothed in a body. Right now. This is us. This is really us.
We're in a soul and we're clothed. And he said, now, being clothed, from verse 2,
in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our house
which is from heaven, clothed upon, if we want that, colon,
that being clothed we're not going to be found naked. We're
not going to be in the presence of God without a tabernacle. We're going to have a tabernacle. We don't know exactly what it
is, can't explain it, but we know that this temporal body
of flesh is going to be dissolved and when we leave this tabernacle
of dust, we're going to be clothed in the wedding garment Christ's
pure, spotless righteousness. We're going to be in a mansion
of God's building. It's going to be a house not
made with hands. It's going to be one that has
foundations. Those that die in the faith,
they're not going to be found walking around without a garment.
They're not going to be naked. It's going to be those garments
that are truly theirs by the grace of God as they're walking
by faith right now, continuing to look to the Lord who is their
righteousness, they're going to actually in that day see and
know something completely of that new house. And we don't
know what it's going to be, but we anxiously desire it because
the Lord has said it's so. And we believe Him. And He said
in verse 4, For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being
burdened. Not for that we would be unclothed. It's not that we're desiring. We're not burdened right now.
Yeah, we are burdened with sin, the presence of sin. We're burdened
with trials and tribulations of this world. But we're burdened,
not burdened to just die. That's not the burden. We don't
want to just die. That's not natural to us. But
what we're burdened about is that we would be clothed upon,
that mortality might be swallowed up of life. We want to be with
the Lord. That's what we want to be with
all of that which we don't understand. We can't perceive it with the
eyes of our natural sense, but we do believe it by faith, and
we long for it. There's an anxious anticipation
for it. So now, let's continue with our
passages for today, starting in verse five, and you know,
I'm gonna ask this question, what I've been talking about.
We're not just wanting to die, but we want to be clothed upon
with that which God has prepared, that's what we want. Now where
did that desire come from? How did we start thinking that
way? Well, verse 5 says, Now he that
hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given
unto us the earnest of His Spirit. Now, where does this thinking
come from? Well, it comes from God. The
Lord declares through the Apostle Paul that the things that we've
been considering, things that are unseen for now except by
faith, that it's God who has fashioned and prepared and made
us fit and desiring for that which He's prepared in Christ. And the Father who chose us in
Christ, Christ who redeemed us by His precious blood in the
Holy Spirit who regenerated and sealed and taught us and has
kept us until the day of salvation, God Himself. Father, Son, and
Spirit. It's God that has wrought this
thinking in us. So knowing that God has purposed
to save us from our sins, we know that He's going to finish
the work. He's prepared us. He's preparing
us. He's bringing us to Himself. And we're becoming more and more... the older a believer gets, As
he grows in grace, he begins to get more and more homesick. He wants to go home. You know,
isn't that amazing? People, they get older, and they
start talking about, I want to go home. I want to go home. You
know, there's something about when you get older, you want
to go home. You get tired, and you want to go. And a believer,
he wants to go home and God is preparing us for that. Philippians
1.6 says, being confident of this very thing, that he which
hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day
of Jesus Christ. Until the day the Lord takes
you home in death or until the Lord comes back the second time
and we are raised either being alive, found you know, in this
world alive or out of the grave. But he's going to perform this
work. He's going to perform it. He's
going to come. He's begun a good work and he's
going to perform it. He's going to finish it. And the assurance
that we have of him doing so is that he's given us his Holy
Spirit. This is the reason I can say
the assurance that we have. Why do we think this? Why do
we have this kind of thought? Well, it's because he has given
us the earnest of His Spirit. The Scripture says in Ephesians
1.13, In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after
that ye believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. We've got an earnest. God has
given us an earnest, a deposit of that which we shall have,
inherit, and he's going to, he's given us the Spirit of God. How does one know that they are
the possessors of the Spirit of God? How do you know that?
You believe God. Faith is the evidence of things
that are not seen. The substance of things hoped
for. Evidence of things not seen. And the only way that a man or
woman knows that they are the possessors of the Spirit of God
is they believe God. That's the only way that you
know. So the Spirit of God is our earnest. He, verse 5, that hath wrought
us for the selfsame thing as God, who hath given unto us the
earnest of the Spirit. Verse 6. Verse 7. We're always confident, knowing
that whilst we are at home in this body, we are absent from
the Lord, colon, for or because we walk by faith and not by sight. The reason that we're possessors
of this confidence right now, knowing that while we're here
in this body, we're walking by faith, not by sight, because
the Spirit of God, who the Lord has given unto us, has given
us a confidence. And you know, the Apostle states,
because God has ordained us to life eternal in Christ, and has
given us the earnest of His Spirit, that we know because now we walk
and believe by faith, that's the only way we know of the presence
of His Spirit, And then we're also and always confident that
we're going to enjoy this blessing. We know that. How do you know
it? God's taught me that. And I believe
him. So we're confident by faith that
this mortality is going to be swaddled up in immortality and
life. And we know again by faith that
while we're at home in this body, we're just sojourners, pilgrims
in this world. And we know that we're absent
from the glorious presence of God and therefore the full enjoyment
of his kingdom that he's prepared for us from before the foundation
of the world. We know that. We're just confident that this
is not our home. We're confident that we're We're
pilgrims here. We're confident that this is
not our eternal destiny. We know that. And we long for
it. We long to be in His presence.
We're walking right now by the earnest of God's Spirit, without
perfect faith, without perfect sight, but we're going to see
perfectly then. And we sit here and we think,
I long for that. I want to be with Him. Our lives are being conducted
totally by what we believe, by the eye of faith. But what we
do see by faith, we're seeing with anxious anticipation. Paul
says in verse 8, we're confident, I say, and willing rather, to
be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. We're confident in that which
the Lord has promised. We know that God, who cannot
lie, has told us that these things are so, and because of the God-given
confidence, we're willing to depart out of this world and
be present with Him, to see Him as He is and be like Him. And
Paul said that that desire, There's a desire to not die,
and there's a desire to be with the Lord. And Paul said, turn
to Philippians 1, verse 21. Philippians 1. Paul said that
that state of being, kind of betwixt and between. He said
that's a struggle. Philippians 1, 21. He says for
me, To live is Christ. I've heard people say Christ
ought to be the most important thing in your life. Paul didn't
say Christ was the most important thing in my life. He said for
me to live is Christ. And to die is gain. He said I
got, this is my situation. I live right now and my life
right now is Christ. And he said, if God takes me,
he said, that's just my game. But if I live in the flesh, this
is the fruit of my labor. If what I shall choose, I what? I don't know. I know not. For I am in a straight betwixt
the two. Having a desire to part and to
be with Christ, which is far better, nevertheless, to abide
in the flesh is more needful for you. Now that, you talk about
the true heart of a servant of Christ. Brother Henry said this,
those whose hearts and treasures are above, whose affection is
set upon things above, inwardly desire to depart from this strange
country and live above. They want to be with Him, and
desire also to be found faithful stewards now. I want to be with
the Lord, and I want to be faithful to what He's called me to do.
I want to be in His presence, and I want to be going about
being honorable and adorning the doctrine that He's taught
me. That's what I want to do. Paul said, I'm in a great strait
here. I want to be with Him, and I
want to be found faithful. Verse 9, back in 2 Corinthians
5. Wherefore, we labor that whether
present or absent, we may be accepted of him because of this
attitude that has been imparted to us in regeneration. That is, to be found faithful
stewards and be with the Lord. He said, because of that attitude,
we labor. We endeavor, we continue in the
calling of the Lord, doing that which He has providentially ordained
us to do. And God's people are willing
to spend and be spent for the cause of Christ. What are you
going to do? Well, as long as the Lord gives
me the ability to do it, the mind
to do it, The desire to do it keeps me, which he promised he
would. He said, I'm going to keep doing
what I'm doing until I can't do it anymore. Until I have nothing
else. Until I've done all that I can do. And we do so obediently
and we do willingly do that knowing that we are called to be servants
of the Most High God. Who are you? Paul. Paul said,
Paul. A servant of Jesus Christ. An
apostle. Called of God. In the Lord's
vineyard, submitting to the wonderful providence that He's sent toward
us, whether present or absent, whether we're alive or He calls
us home, we know that we shall be accepted of Him. And that acceptance of Him, what a statement of faith! Oh,
to be accepted of Him, to be found in Him, But Philippians
3, turn over there, we've read this so many times, but let's
look at it again. To be accepted of Him, that's the desire of
a believer. Philippians 3, 8. Yea, doubtless I count all things
but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord for whom I've suffered the loss of all things and do
count them but done that I may win Christ and be found in Him
not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which
is of God by faith, that I may know Him, the power of His resurrection,
the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His
death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection
of the dead." Paul says, oh, back in 2 Corinthians 5, that
I may be Accepted of him look at that last verse May be accepted
of him may be accepted of him may be accepted of him to look
at the next verse which I'm going to just touch tonight or today
But I'm going to I'm going to deal with this a little bit more
Lord willing the next service to be accepted of him for or
because We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,
that everyone may receive the things done in his body according
to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." Paul said,
oh, that I might be accepted of him because we know we're
going to stand before the judge of all the earth, the one to
whom all judgment's been committed, And we know that he shall do
right, for he is the righteous judge. All who stand before him without
him being their mediator and advocate are going to stand before
God and answer being responsible for every secret and open sin
that has ever been committed in their life. They're going
to answer for every one of them. And because every sin is committed
against an eternal God, the punishment, the just punishment for sin against
an eternal God is eternal death. That's the just sin. That's the just payment. That's
the just wage. You sin against a God that is
eternal, and the payment will be wrought out eternally. All who stand before God, whose
names have been written in the Book of Life, though, shall have
the Book of Life Himself, the Word of God Himself, to answer
for them as their Redeemer, Savior, their Advocate, their Mediator,
He shall answer for them who has put away their sin in his
own blood. They shall be answered for by
the judge himself, who shall say unto them in that day, enter
in to the kingdom prepared for you from before the foundation
of the world. The confidence of a believer
is that he believes God. And he casts himself upon the
mercy of God in Christ and he does it, ever does it. He that cometh to me I will in
no wise cast out. I can't tell you how many times
that verse of scripture comes to my mind. He that cometh to
me. How many times does a believer come to Christ? He always comes
to Christ. He's ever saying, Lord, like
that publican, those two men in the temple praying, God, be
merciful to me, a sinner. A sinner that comes to Christ,
comes to Christ always, till the Lord takes him home. ever
trusting the Lord, ever believing the Lord, ever awaiting the Lord.
He does it for the Lord's glory and does it for His eternal good.
I pray God bless this to our hearts. Amen.