All right. Let's take our Bibles
and turn to the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter
5. I'd like to look at the first
four verses of this blessed book. And before I look at those first
four verses in chapter 5, I want to kind of reiterate something
that the Spirit of God moved upon the Apostle Paul to say,
to write, to pen, out of chapter 4 in 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians 4, verse 17. The
Apostle Paul says, For our light affliction, which is but for
a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight
of glory. We need to hear. We need to hear
again what God has to say concerning His love for us, His people,
in our present sufferings, chastisements, afflictions, tribulations. The
Lord has set forth that these afflictions are light. Light. So often we consider these troubles,
trials, to be grievous. And Paul the Apostle says they
are grievous for the moment, while we're going through them.
But compared to that which our Lord suffered, compared to that
which we all deserved as being found in Adam's fallen race,
these afflictions are light. compared to the judgment of God? To leave this world without a
substitute? Without a mediator, an advocate? These things that we go through,
they're light. Paul says they're but for a moment. They're just a slight distress
for a passing hour. That's all they are. And the
scripture says, they worketh for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory. What are they doing for us? What
are they working for us, this eternal weight of glory? Well,
I tell you, the first thing they're doing is they're weaning us from
this world. We're starting to see that this world has no promise
of rest, peace, comfort, These are the means by which God causes
us to look to Him for consolation, for comfort, for support in our
trials. And it causes these trials, these
light afflictions, causes us to contemplate the glories of
heaven, what it would be to be with Him. Contrary to the tainted
thoughts of our old man, the afflictions that the Lord is
pleased to send are actually the ways that the Lord is removing
our love for the dross, for that old man, the effects of that
old man that are within. Listen, out of Isaiah 48.10,
Behold, I have refined thee, that is, I have purged you, but
not with silver, I've chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. That's how the Lord purges us.
He said, I chose you. I blessed you. I gave you my
blessing to put you through the furnace of affliction. So the apostle is moved to remind
us for the reasons, for our light afflictions, just to cause us
to remember that these things that we're looking at, these
temporal things, They're but for a moment, and they work for
us an exceeding weight of glory. And then he said in verse 18,
while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things
which are not seen. For the things which are seen
are temporal. The things which are not seen are eternal. Everything that we're able to
look at right now with our eyes and see is temporal. It's just,
just here for a little while. Our life is but a vapor. Everything that we're looking
at outside, it's gonna be burned up. God's gonna burn every bit
of this up. The heavens, every bit of it,
all gonna be burned up. And we need to remember that
what we're looking at is just here for a little while. We need
to have our attention turned away from the things of this
world and contemplate those things that are not seen, those eternal
things, the glories of heaven, that which the Lord has prepared
for those that love Him. Today, I want us to consider
those things that are not seen by the natural eye, but those
things that are surely seen by faith. The Spirit of God is moved
upon the Apostle Paul to write unto God's people concerning
that which shall be immediately when God's people die. What happens? What do we know? We need some
comfort here. We need some comfort in a very
weighty matter, and the only comfort that we're going to get
is going to be found in the Word of God. Speculation everybody's
got. Everybody's got an opinion. I'll tell you what I think it's
going to be like. Well, the only thing that matters
is what does God say? What sayeth the Scriptures? And
so therefore, we're going to look today for some comfort for
those who have cast themselves upon the mercy of God. Now, if
a person is an unbeliever, if they've never trusted the Lord
Jesus Christ, they see no beauty in Him, I'm gonna tell you right
now, I don't have any comfort whatsoever for you. I've none.
I've none. What are you gonna tell somebody?
What do you tell somebody? There's been times that I've
been asked to to preach funerals for unbelievers. What can I say? What can you
say to one that doesn't know the Lord? You know what happened. If a
person left this world without Christ, the Lord told a story
of a rich man in Lazarus. A rich man that fared sumptuously
every day and he died. And immediately he lifted up
his eyes out of hell. Now what kind of comfort can
I give someone that doesn't know Christ? These scriptures are
written to God's people. And I have something to say to
God's people out of these scriptures about what happens to those that
leave this world Die in the faith. There's only two ways to die. It's to die without hope or to
die in the faith. Scripture declares in that great
day of judgment, the Lord is going to separate the sheep from
the goats. He's going to put the sheep on his right hand.
He's going to say unto them, come ye blessed to my Father.
Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world, Matthew 25, 34. But for those that are found
without Christ, Those goats on the left. He's going to say unto
them, depart from me, you cursed into everlasting fire, prepared
for the devil and his angels. Now that's going to be on the
day of judgment. And on that day, God's people
are all going to be resurrected, they're going to be standing
before God, They'll be ready to enter into glory. But the Spirit of God has moved
upon the Apostle Paul to write a very, very enlightening, comforting
passage of Scripture of which I'm going to only deal with the
first four verses today. And starting in verse 1 of 2
Corinthians 5, he says this, that if our earthly house of
this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God. And house, not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens. Now, right now, every person
that's born in Adam has a soul. And that soul is the real you. Now in regenerating grace, God
Almighty gives a man a new mind, a new heart, a new spirit. He creates a new man because
everybody is born with an old man. But there is every person
is a living soul. The soul was never made to die. It's a living soul. It's going
to live forever. It's going to live somewhere. It's going to
live heaven or hell. But right now, every soul, you
know, we talk about that we're a person and in that person is
a living soul. No, that's kind of backwards. There's a living soul that has
a house. It has a house. The real me is
the inside me that's alive. And that tabernacle, we know
that if our earthly house, this tabernacle, we have an earthly
body, it's a tabernacle, that's what it says, it's a temporary dwelling place that's made out
of dust. This is what this body is made
out of. Can you imagine? God took dust and made a body. Made a body out of dirt. And
that earthly body is made from dust. It's going to return to
the dust. It's a tabernacle. This tabernacle. What do you mean? It's a hut.
It's just a hut. It's a tent. And it's temporary. It has no foundation to it. You know, you go out and go camping
and you get all your stuff and you've got a tent with you and
you just throw it up somewhere. It's a movable thing. It's a
temporary, movable thing. You look at a tent and you say,
well, where's the foundation to it? Well, it ain't got no
foundation. It's just a tent. It's just thrown up for just
a little bit and there's nothing permanent about it. You can take
it up, take it down, move it. Go over here, we'll go over here
tomorrow or something like that. Paul says this earthly house
that we're in, this tabernacle, If it's dissolved, when the Lord
is pleased to call a soul unto Himself, this temporary hut that
we're living in right now is going to be dissolved. It's going
to die. It's going to go to nothing.
It's going to go back to the dirt. Our spirit, that soul, is going
to return unto the Lord which gave it. Now, the Spirit of God
moved upon the Apostle Paul to talk about this earthly house,
this tabernacle. If it is dissolved, he said,
we know that if our earthly house or this tabernacle were dissolved,
we have a building of God. A house, not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens. Paul has been taught and moved
upon the Spirit of God to say that when our soul leaves this
body, immediately we have a house. Now this is a house. This is
a house. This is a tabernacle. This is
a place that we're staying. This is where we're living for
right now while we're on this earth. And when our soul leaves
this tabernacle, we have right then, immediately, a house, an
eternal house. You know, when the Lord was asked
by the repentant thief on that day of his crucifixion, that
thief said, Lord, will you remember me when you enter into your kingdom? He said, Verily I say unto thee,
Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. Now, before I go any
further, I'm going to tell you that the scripture is silent
on many of the details concerning this house, this building of
God, this house. that's not made with hands, that's
eternal in the heavens. It's silent on a lot of details. But we do have a few things and
that's what I'm going to deal with is exactly what scripture
says and go no further. But I know that immediately when
we die that this house, this building of God that we have,
it's not temporary. like the tabernacle that we're
living in now. It's not temporary. Here's what scripture says. It's
eternal in the heavens. It's a place that never ends. And as we contemplate this building,
we're made to wonder about a few things. You know, at first, you
can say, well, OK, yeah, well, I'm going to bring a couple of
things out and then let's just muse upon some things. It's a
building that's not made with hands. Man's hands. Man had nothing to do with this
building. And we know from the scriptures that in the day of
the Lord's second coming, there's going to be a glorious resurrection
of God's people who have died in the faith. Now we know that.
We know, just hold your place right there. Turn back over to
1 Corinthians 15. Now, in the day of the Lord's
second coming, this is what the scripture says is going to happen.
1 Corinthians 15, look at verse 41 to 44. The apostle Paul is
moved to say there is one glory of the sun, another glory of
the moon, another glory of the stars, one star differeth from
another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of
the dead. Now he's talking about this body.
Now we're living in a tent right now. This is a temporal tent.
This is dust, gonna return to dust. And when we die, this body
is gonna be put in the ground. It's gonna be buried. All right,
verse 42. So also is the resurrection of
the dead. It's sown in corruption. It's raised in incorruption.
It's sown in dishonor. It's raised in glory. It's sown
in weakness. It's raised in power. It's sown
a natural body. It is raised a spiritual body.
There is a natural body and there's a spiritual body. Now, look at
verse 51 to 54. Behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep, that Paul said, all believers are
not going to die physically on this earth, but we shall all
be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound,
the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put
on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So then
this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal
shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass
the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory."
So, here's what I can tell you. In the day of His second coming, this body, this tent, this hut,
this tabernacle, this temporal thing, is going to die. It's going to be put in the ground.
Dust will go back to dust. And the day of our Lord's second
coming, we're going to be reunited with that body. And it's going
to be changed. It was sown in corruption. It's
going to be raised in incorruption. It was sown mortal. It will be
raised immortal. We're going to have another body. We're going to have a body. in
the day of our Lord's second coming. That's what Paul is setting
forth there. But, knowing that in the resurrection,
we're going to possess a glorified body made like unto His. We're going to have a body, we're
going to see Him, we're going to be like Him. We're going to
see Him as He is. So knowing that in the second
coming, There's going to be a resurrection of these bodies. They're going
to be raised to incorruption. A body, just like a body. Alright,
the question would be then, what does the scripture say concerning
our existence between the time of our death and the second coming? Well, hold your place in 2 Corinthians
5. Turn back with me to John 14.
John chapter 14. John 14. Our Lord speaking. He's been talking to his disciples.
He just told Peter. He said, when Peter said, Lord, why can't
I follow you now? The Lord told him in verse 36
of John 13. He said, whether I go, thou canst
not follow me now. but thou shalt follow me afterwards.
Verse 37, Peter said of him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee
now? I'll lay down my life for thy
sake. And Jesus answered, wilt thou lay down thy life for my
sake? Verily I say unto thee, the cock shall not crow till
thou hast denied me thrice. And then the Lord told Peter,
if he was not talking to also all of his disciples, he said,
let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. Now listen to the words of our
Lord. In my Father's house are many mansions. That is, there's
many places of one's dwelling, is what it means. That's the
definition, dwelling places. He said, if it were not so, I
would have told you. He said, I'm not going to leave
you in the dark on this. I'm telling you that in my Father's
house, there's many dwelling places of God's people that die
in the faith. He said, I go to prepare a place
for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that
where I am, there ye may be also. He said, I go to prepare a place
for you. He's going to go. There was some
preparation that needed to be made. He was going to have to go to
the cross. He was going to have to die being made sin, put away
our guilt, cast our sins as far as the east is from the west.
He's going to have to die, the wages of sin, Him being made
what we are. He had as our absolute substitute. He bore the guilt of God's people.
All of our sins were made His. And God spewed out upon him in
absolute justice the totality of wrath that was due all the
sins and guilts of God's people because that's what he made to
be his. And he died. The wages of sin
was death and our debt was paid. He said, I'm going to prepare
a place for you. Our sin debt had to be taken care of. And
He was raised for or because of our eternal justification. God had eternally justified us
and declared us in Christ to be without guilt in Him. And so He was raised for or because
of our justification. And He ascended into heaven. Now, what he did was he said,
I'm going to prepare a place for you. Someone might ask, well,
what did he do? He went to prepare a place for
us. That's one of those mysteries
that I was just talking about just a few minutes ago, how much
we really knew. So the Apostle Paul, who had
been a witness. Look over with me to 2 Corinthians
chapter 12. Now this place that the Lord
told the thief. Now think about this. That thief
that was on the cross with the Lord. Now that thief was told
by the Lord. He said, Lord would you remember
me you enter into your kingdom.
Now, the Lord told that thief, he said, verily, verily, I say
unto thee, today, you will be with me in paradise, paradise. Now, let me ask you a question. That thief that died in the faith,
the Lord expressed that that thief was gonna be with him in
paradise. So you know the thief was a believer. That thief that
died in the faith, having been buried, has the second
coming of Christ come yet? Concerning that thief or any
of the others that has died in the faith? No. Second coming
hadn't come yet. But the Lord told that thief,
He said, today you're going to be with me in paradise. All right,
now look at knowing that, knowing that, that that thief immediately,
when he died, he was with the Lord in paradise. Where was he? All right, 2 Corinthians chapter
12, look at verse 2. Paul said, I knew a man in Christ
about 14 years ago, whether in body I cannot tell, whether out
of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth. Such in one caught up
to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, whether
in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell, God knoweth, how
he was caught up into paradise. He was in the very place where
the Lord told that thief he would be with him, with the Lord. And
this is where everyone that has ever died in the faith is right
now. This is where they are. They're
in that, they're in that, Well, back in our text, I'm going to
continue to read out of 2 Corinthians 12, but Paul says, we know that
if our earthly house, if this tabernacle were dissolved, okay,
that thief's tabernacle was dissolved. He died that day. All that have
died in the faith. We have a building of God and
house, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Where is it?
It's in paradise, that's where the Lord told the thief he was
gonna be. Back in 2 Corinthians 12, he said, verse four, how
that he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words,
which is not lawful, which is not possible for a man to utter. Of such in one will I glory,
yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities. But
though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool, for I
will say the truth, But now forbear, lest any man should think of
me above, that which he seeth me to be, or that he hearth of
me." Paul said, I heard some things, and I heard some things,
having been a witness. Whether I was in the body or
out of the body, Paul said, I don't know. God knows. But he said,
I heard some things in paradise that I don't even know how to
say. I don't even know how to say them. I can't express them. It's not possible for me to say. So what do we know about when
a believer dies in the faith? Before the time of the second
coming, when he'll be reunited with this body, what does the
scripture say? 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. The scriptures declare that Abraham
looked for a city which hath foundation, not like this tent
that don't, whose builder and maker was God. So this is what
we know. We have at the time of our departure from this world
a building of God. We won't be floating aimlessly
around. It's a dwelling place prepared
for us by the Lord Jesus Christ that where He is, that where
He is, there we may be also. And it's eternal. It's eternal. And that's what's been revealed
and that's what's enough. Back in 2 Corinthians 5 verse
2. For in this, in this, tabernacle of our present earthly body.
Paul says we've grown. We're looking for a city too,
like Abraham that had foundations. We're seeing those things that
are invisible and eternal. By faith, how much do we know
about that house not made with hands? Well, we don't know much. We see through a glass darkly.
We know in part and we prophesy in part, but we know. You ask a believer, you believe
that when you die, this earthly body, before there's a resurrected
body, before that time that the scripture, if we say, well, it's
a resurrected body, well, then that's not going to be consistent
with the scriptures. It's not going to be consistent with what
scripture sets forth concerning at the time of the Lord's second
coming. that these bodies would be raised. It would be inconsistent
if you said we left this earth right now and we had a resurrected
body. Something ain't going to add
up. So what do you know? Well, we know that we have a
house, a building of God. A house not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens. And we're groaning. We're groaning. This body is groaning right now
just like the earth is groaning. waiting for the resurrection,
God's people. David said concerning, he said,
ask for me, Psalm 17, 15, ask for me, I will behold thy face
in righteousness and I shall be satisfied when I awake in
thy likeness. God's people, scripture says
in verse 2, we're groaning, we are groaning, earnestly desiring
to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven with our
dwelling place, which is from heaven. God's people are not
desiring to die merely to escape trials and tribulations and burdens
of this life, but their desire is to enter into the eternal
joys of being with the Lord. Being with Him, Paul declared
in Philippians 1.21, for me to live is Christ, but to die is
gain. To die, I gained it all. To die, to leave this world,
I've got everything. Christ is the giver of life to
His people. He's the sum and substance of
their life while they're on this earth, and He's the hope of life
eternal to them. But to be released from this
tabernacle of sin into His presence, to see Him as He is, to be like
Him, be with Him, Paul said to die is gain. The reason of our
groaning now is that we're earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with
our house, which is from heaven. Then he said in verse 3, if so
be, or that is, that by putting on this house of God's provision,
if so be, being clothed, we shall not be found naked. You know, death is going to strip
us of the clothing of this flesh. and the temporal comforts of
this present life. We're going to be stripped also
from all the present troubles. But here's the thing, if we leave,
no no no, when we leave, when we leave this tabernacle, according
to verse 3, Paul says, if so be that being clothed, that is
immediately in death. We're going to be clothed. and
we're not going to be without a dwelling place, is what he's
saying. We're not going to be without a house. Someone says,
well tell me what? I can't tell you what it is.
I don't know what it is. But I know it is. I know it is. I know that there's going to
be a resurrection of the body and this body is going to be
changed and we're going to be united. I know that. But what
about between now and then? Paul said we're not going to
be naked. I can tell you that. We're not going to be floating
aimlessly just out there in the nebulous of, you know, no. Death will strip us of a lot
of things, but not a dwelling place. We won't be found without
a place of dwelling. We're not going to be in an unclothed
existence. Whatever shall be the house of
our soul, It's going to be God's glorious building. It's going
to be in the presence of the Lord Jesus. It's going to be
eternal in the heavens. And it's not made by man's hands.
It's made by God's. And then this last verse for
today will end here. Verse 4. For we that are in this
tabernacle do groan, being burdened. Not for that we would be unclothed,
but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. He's continuing what he started
in verse 2. He reiterates in this tabernacle
that we're in right now, and you know this is really the effects
of God growing His people in grace. They know this life is
temporal. They know that. And they're groaning. They're groaning. They're in
a body that they're groaning. And Paul said in Romans 7, 24,
O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body
of this death? This corrupted tent of a body
is waiting to the new man. And his mind, that new man's
mind is looking to, by faith, those things that are eternal.
And Paul's saying in that last verse, it's not that we desire
to be unclothed. It's not that we just want to
die. But we want to be clothed upon. We want to be wrapped within
that which God provides for His people, swallowed up in life.
He said, our true desire in leaving this world is to be with Him. Be where He is. I'll just reiterate
something very quickly and then I'll close. These things are great mysteries.
Great mysteries. But they're glorious mysteries.
They're glorious. It gives God's people some comfort. Because they're thinking. My
Lord has said, I'm not going to leave you. I'm not going to
forsake you. I'm going to take care of you.
And whatever He has provided will be absolutely the best. What would we not give to our
children? If we had the capability, if
money, power, No issues, no issues. What would you give them? The
best for them. If you had the mind to know what
is the best for my children, what's the best for them, you'd
give them the best that you knew to give, had the power to give. That's what God's done. Eye hath
not seen, ear hath not heard, neither hath entered into the
heart of man. what God has prepared for those
that love Him. I pray God bless these words
to our heart for Christ's sake, until we meet again this next
time and continue on in this blessed book. Amen.