We've talked about it before.
The thought of dying is terrifying to many. Many are terrified of
death because of the unknown. But that's not the case with
a believing child of God. You see, the great unknown that
follows death has been made known to God's people. And that by
divine revelation, death brings no unknown. The believer knows
what death brings. Do you ever think about death?
Do you ever wonder about what death brings? What comes after
death? What follows death? Well, you
don't have to wonder. Because God tells us very plainly in
Hebrews 9, verse 27. It's recorded in this book. You
don't have to turn there. Just one short verse. And it's
appointed unto men once to die. But after this, the judgment.
We see that death is appointed and it's God that appoints it.
And we see the judgment is coming. This is something that comes
for every man and woman. That's death and that's judgment. And I know that it's not a comfortable
thing to talk about. It's not a pleasant subject to
discuss. Does it scare you? Does death
scare you? Does it terrify you? Does it
concern you at all or do you just choose not to think about
it? Now the child of God cannot just ignore that question. He's got to think about it because
the Scriptures teach God's people to number their days. We have
to think about it. Psalm 90 verse 12. They learn that man is born a
woman and is of few days, the Scripture says. And those days
are what? Full of trouble. That's what
we talked about in the first hour. Man's days are determined. God controls the number of his
months. God appoints men and women's
bounds. The Scripture says so they cannot
pass. Our days are numbered. You're
not going to live one minute past what God has determined. It's appointed by God when we're
born, and it's appointed by God when we die. And that's just
the way it is. And after that, that being death,
The judgment. Does that word scare you? Turn
with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 5 if you would please. 2 Corinthians
chapter 5. And while you're turning let
me say that that is what the Apostle Paul is talking about
in this part of his second letter to the group of believers at
Corinth. And this is also, these things
were written for us. This is for us also. 2 Corinthians
chapter 5. In verse 1, Paul writing to believers
tells them with certainty. He said, that if our earthly
house of this tabernacle, he's speaking of this flesh, this
body in which we dwell. Paul likens it to a tent, tabernacle,
temporary dwelling place, a residence that's not going to last long.
Isn't that the truth? My tent is showing some wear
and tear. How about yours? Most of us my
age and older falling apart, and it's not funny. I see some
of you younger ones smiling. It's not funny. And if you live
long enough, your day's coming. I wish I had a dollar for every
time my mother told me that, don't you? Your day's coming.
I'm afraid it's coming. We're dissolving. Isn't that
what he said? For we know that if our earthly
house of this tabernacle were dissolved, I was talking to Mike
Bartram the other day. Mike's the song leader there
at Hurricane Road Grace Church in Ashland. And he was Henry,
Brother Henry's song leader for almost 40 years. And he said,
Brother David, you know what you call an old snowman? And
I said, no, what? He said, water. That's what I
feel like sometimes. I've just dissolved into water. Again verse 1, For we know that
if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we
have a building of God. Do you see that? Who does? The child of God does. We have
a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens. Do you have any interest in that? That building of God? Oh, the
believer, the child of God, the safe center, trusting in Christ. When the appointed time of God
comes for him or her to die, they'll know that they have a
building of God, a dwelling place, a place of safety, and a place
of security. It's a building of God. It's
not made with man's hands. It's eternal. That moves me. Believer, we've got a building
of God that's not made with hands. It's eternal in the heavens.
Not material mansions, as we discussed again in the first
hour, but eternal dwelling places. Oh, I pray that the Holy Spirit
enable us to get a hold of this. And that's why Paul adds here
in verse 2, he said, for in this we groan, meaning in this body. We groan in this body. We groan,
we weep, we moan, we sob, earnestly zarring to be what? Look at it. Clothed upon with our house which
is from heaven. Now when I first read that, I
thought to myself, what does that mean? And I think you want
to know what it means too. Can you be clothed with a house?
The answer, only if Christ is your dwelling place. You see,
friends, this is speaking of Christ's perfect righteousness. You can put His perfect righteousness
on. And the phrase here, to be clothed
upon, means just that, to be covered with a garment. Oh, there
is no garment that covers us and makes us holy, spotless,
without blame. No covering like that of Christ's
perfect righteousness. We're covered by Him. He is our
righteousness and He's our dwelling place. And that should give you
great comfort. We are clothed upon with our
house which is from heaven. It's in Christ that we abide. Verse 3, if so be that being
clothed, clothed with the righteous covenant of the Lord Jesus, We
shall not be found naked. Now hear me on this, if you're
clothed in the righteousness of Christ, then you can have
boldness in the day of judgment because the scripture says, as
He is, so are ye in this world. And that's the key. That's the
key to understanding the judgment of God. For the elect of God,
there's no judgment because there's no sin. Now did you hear what
I said? There is therefore now, right
now, no condemnation to them which are what? In Christ Jesus. Who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. Child of God, if you're in Christ,
if you're trusting in His perfect work of righteousness, there's
no condemnation that can come to you. No sir. Verse 4, for we that are in this
tabernacle do groan being burdened. Not for that we would be unclothed. Not that we just simply desire
to leave this place. Not that we just simply desire
to leave this life. But that we have a great desire
to go somewhere else. That we have a great desire to
be with someone else. And that being the Lord Jesus.
Heaven is heaven because Christ is there. Don't you wish folks
understood that? It's this tabernacle plagued
with sin that within we groan. It's this earthly tent that's
ragged and worn. We're burdened. Burdened over
our sin. And we so desire to be clothed
upon. Clothed with Christ, our perfect
righteousness. Why is this our great desire? He tells us right here that mortality
might be swallowed up with life. That's only accomplished, friends,
when sin's put away. You hath He quickened who were
dead and what? Trespasses and sin. Your sin's
got to be put away. Paul desired to depart to be
with Christ. He said to be with Christ is
far better. Isn't that what he said? It wasn't
that Paul simply wanted to leave. He wanted to depart to be with
Christ. This is the reason the child
of God, the new man, the new creation says to be with Christ
is far, far better. And it is. Look at verse 5. Now, he that wrought... Oh, there's
a good word. He that wrought us for the self-same
thing is God. The word rod here, very important
word. In the Greek it means to accomplish.
It means to fashion, to form, and to finish. That sounds a
whole lot to me like the potter in the clay. The clay is in the
potter's hand and it's the potter that fashions and forms and finishes
the clay. And he makes one vessel into
honor and another into dishonor. The scripture says that he made
one vessel into honor and it seemed good to the potter to
make it. You see, that's the key right
there. The Lord has mercy on whom he'll have mercy. And he
has compassion on whom he'll have compassion. And whom he
will, he hath. We're the clay, thou art the
potter, and we are the work of thy hand, Isaiah 64. It's God who has predestinated
us for the selfsame thing. What is he talking about? What
thing? Our redemption. Our salvation. That our mortality
will be swallowed up with eternal life. Oh, if that don't float your
boat, you're dead. It's just so. Verse 5, "...who also hath
given unto us the earnest of the Spirit." Isn't it amazing?
God has given us an earnest security deposit. A promise, a pledge,
a covenant in His earnest. Here is the giving of the Spirit.
Verse 6, "...therefore this is why we are always confident Knowing
that. Now listen, you can't be confident
about something you don't know for certain. And you can't be
unsure about something that you know is certain. Paul says, knowing
this. Do you know this? Has God revealed
it to you? Knowing this, that while we are
at home in the body, we're absent from the Lord. Paul said in another
place, as I mentioned, for me to live is Christ and to die
is gain. Have you ever noticed the phrasing
of that? He said for to me to live or
in order for me to live. There's no other way for us to
live. To live is Christ. And to die is gain. It's not
talking about some choice the sinner makes. It's not for us
to choose and say, oh, okay, I want to live, so I choose Christ. It doesn't work that way. Salvation
is us seeing. And salvation is us knowing that
we must have Christ. In order for me to live, I've
got to have Him. In order for us to have everlasting
life is Christ. And Him is the only way God will
accept me. Now look at verse 7. For we walk
by faith, not by sight. Faith in Christ. The faith of
Christ. It was His faith that saved us.
Salvation is having confidence in Him, not in us. Not in us. This is a broken record up here,
folks. Faith is the evidence of things not seen. Faith is
the confidence of those things. We're confident that we had these
things because of who it is that promised them. You can't rejoice
in the salvation of God if you don't know who it is that provided
it for you. It's God. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that saved. It's God
that justified. Everything's alright between
you and God, if that's the case. Isn't that what Paul says here
in verse 8? He said, we're confident. Are
you confident? I don't mean in yourself, but
are you confident in God? Are you confident in Christ? Here in verse 8, Paul says, we're
confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the
body than to be present with the Lord. A confident and faithful
child of God would rather be absent from the body as to be
with their Lord and Savior. It means that when our time comes,
that appointed time of death, that time appointed by God, we're
going to be glad to leave this body. The believer is. the Spirit within that's conformed
to the image of Christ with. That man would be glad to be
leaving that body of death, because to be absent from that body is
to be present with the Lord. Why wouldn't he? Why wouldn't
we? Do you want to be present with
the Lord? then there's good reason to think that you have life because
no one wants to that God hadn't already done a work of grace
in their heart. Verse 9, Wherefore, this is why,
that whether present or absent, whether here in the flesh or
with Christ in glory, here's the issue, look at it, we may
be accepted of Him. That's the issue. Are you accepted of Him? Salvation
has never been about sinners accepting Jesus. I heard that
all my life. Once you accept Jesus as your
personal Savior, what good is that going to do? Are we saying
that we must align our will with God's will in order to be saved?
Verse 9, Wherefore we labor, the margin there means endeavor,
with great effort we strive, whether present or absent, that
we may be accepted of Him. That's all that matters. Am I
accepted in Christ? Am I accepted in the Beloved? That's the difference between
life and death. Being accepted in Christ, the
Beloved. And Paul said, to the praise
and the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted. That's the only way we'll ever
be. He made us accepted in the Beloved, in Christ. And you know
who the Beloved is. Now look at verse 10. Here's
where we see something of judgment. Remember, this chapter's first
talking about death, and then here in verse 10 it talks about
what follows. What follows? Judgment. The judgment. Verse 10, for we
must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. that everyone
may receive the things done in his body. According to that,
he had done, whether it be good or bad. So first we see that
we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. How
many of us? All of us. Every single one of us. Every
man. Every woman. Every body. Every born. All must
appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Secondly, we see who
will be the judge. This is the judgment seat of
Christ. It's proper and fitting that
men should be judged by men. And Christ, who was once judged
by men, on this day is going to be the judge of men. And He
will by no means clear the guilty, and He'll by no means condemn
the innocent. Did you hear what I said? God's
justice won't allow Him to excuse the guilty, but neither will
His justice allow Him to convict the innocent. And that's why
God's people love the holy justice of God. This is the judgment seat of
Christ, because Christ is the issue. Your eternal judgment
or redemption depends on what you think of Him. Isn't that
what He said? What think you of Christ? Whose Son is He? Thirdly,
what will be the rule of judgment on this day? Well, the text says
that everyone may receive the things done in His body. Oh my! According to that He hath
done. whether it be good or bad. Now I'd have you to notice that
the word appear here, we must all appear before the judgment
seat of Christ. That little word appear is very
important in understanding this text. The word appear means to
make manifest. In 1 Corinthians, stick your
marker here and turn back to 1 Corinthians 4, verse 5 with
me. Let me show you this since we're
so close. Hold your place in 2 Corinthians, but look at 1
Corinthians 4, verse 5. Paul wrote here, Therefore judge
nothing before the time until the Lord come, who both will
bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest
the counsels of the hearts. Where does God bring to light
the hidden things of darkness within us? Where does God manifest
the evil counsels of our heart that are deceitful above all
things and desperately wicked? Where will all these things be
manifest? At the judgment seat of Christ.
Listen to this verse, Hebrews 4.13. Neither is there any creature
that is not manifest in His sight, but all things are naked and
opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." Now, did
you hear how God describes this one? At the judgment seat of
Christ, every creature will be made manifest in God's sight,
for all things are naked and open unto Him. God sees everything. You can't hide anything from
God. Do we really think we can? No, sir, we can't. things, everything,
all things, naked and open, unto the eyes of the One," now listen,
"...with whom we have to do." You're going to have to deal
with Him. He's the One with whom we have to do. You're going to
have to deal with Christ. This is His judgment seat. God
has committed all judgment to the Son. You're going to have
to deal with Christ. You're going to have to deal
with Him now in mercy and grace, or you're going to have to deal
with Him then in judgment. Now in love and peace. Then in
wrath and justice. For we must all appear, all be
made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone
may receive the things." Now, notice that the word done here
in this verse is italicized, and so is the word his. We know
what that means. It means they were added to make
the verse read better. So we could read this verse this
way. Look at it. For we must all be
made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ, that Everyone
may receive the things in body. Now what could that be talking
about? You know. Talking about sin. What are the
things in the body? It's talking about sin. We sin
because we're sinners. Sin is what we do. Because sin
is what we are. Sin is what is in us. It's sin
that determines what comes out of us. Isn't that right? That's
what the Scriptures teach for how the heart precedes evil thoughts,
murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things that defile
a man. Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man, but
the things that come out of the mouth. This defileth a man, and
it's out of the abundance of the heart, friends, that the
mouth speaks. When something blurts out of
us, it's only because of what's in us. At the judgment seat of
Christ, it is sin that will be revealed. It's sin that will
be evidenced. And it's sin that will be judged.
And in this verse, verse 10, we're told that many in religion
today, or we see that many in religion today base their belief
there are differing rewards in heaven. Do you know this is one
of the most common scriptures used to prove what men think
to be rewards in heaven? Many who believe in rewards in
heaven think that here at the judgment seat of Christ, the
believer won't be judged for his sins. Christ took care of
them. But many believe that this is proof that they will be rewarded
in direct in proportion to their personal obedience and their
faithfulness while on earth. And you know folks who believe
that way, and so do I. It's the most ridiculous thing
I ever heard. From Matthew 9, the rich young
ruler came to the Lord wanting to know what good thing he must
do in order to be saved. You remember what the Lord said?
He said, well, don't commit murder, and don't commit adultery, and
don't steal, and don't lie, don't bear false witness. Honor your
father and your mother. Love your neighbor as yourself. And you remember what that young
man said? He said, all these I've done for my youth. That's like saying I've always
been a Christian. It's just a little too long.
It's a little too long. The Lord said, well, good ain't
good enough. If thou would be perfect. You
have to be perfect. That's what you've got to be.
And you can't be perfect not by a work of your own hand, but
if you would be perfect, he said, go and sell all and give it to
the poor. And you shall have treasures
in heaven and come and follow me. And the young man went away
sorrowful. He had great possessions. And
they meant more to him than Christ did. Do you have things that
mean more to you than Christ? The Lord said, it's easier for
a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a
rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And then they all asked,
who then can be saved? You remember what the Lord said?
He told them the truth. He told them the gospel. He said,
with men, it's impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. You know what that means? That
means salvations of the Lord. It was then that Peter said to
the Lord Jesus, we've forsaken all, we follow Thee, what shall
we have? Therefore, in other words, what's
in this for us? And it was then that the Lord
told them that parable of the laborers in the vineyard. You
remember that parable? God is a debtor to no man, friends. The lord of the vineyard went
out at 6 a.m. in the morning to hire laborers.
You remember the story? He entered into a contract with
those that he first met, and they agreed on their pay. And
that was a penny for a day. Then about 9 o'clock, he saw
others standing idle in the marketplace, and he hired them also. And he
told them, whatever's right, I'll pay you. Then at noon and
again at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, he did the same thing. Then about
five o'clock, just an hour or so before quitting time, he found
others and he hired them and he told them the same thing.
He said, whatever's right, whatsoever's right, that you will receive. I'll do right by it. And at the
end of the day, the lord of the vineyard called forth those whom
he had hired last. Remember, he gave them a penny.
But when those whom he had hired first came, we're told that they
supposed Boy, that gets us in trouble, doesn't it? We suppose
way too much. They suppose that they should
have received more. More. Men and women today make
the same supposition. You tell them that God has a
right to do what He will with His own, and they'll say, that's
not fair. It's not fair. The Lord said,
is thine eye evil because I'm good? This isn't talking about rewards
in heaven. This is talking about justification. This is talking
about evidence of our salvation. Friends, faith without works
is dead being alone. Good works are the evidence of
Christ in us. Someone who believed in rewards
told Brother Winford Cavanaugh one time, He said, well, Winford,
I know you're a born-again Christian and no doubt you'll make it to
heaven, but you're probably going to serve those like me who have
gone the extra mile for Jesus on earth. People say the most
ridiculous things because they don't know God. They don't know
the Scriptures. And Brother Winford simply asked,
he said, well, will Christ be there? And the Philistines said, well,
of course He'll be there. And Winford said, well, then
that'll be all right then. That'll be all right. As long
as Christ is there and as long as I'm there, that's all right. That's going to be OK. Men and
women have no interest in Christ, let's be honest. And they have not His righteousness
because of it. all give an account one day and
stand responsible for every work done in their body. That's what
this says. Let me give you the gospel. If
I stand before God Almighty, it'll be in Christ's perfect
righteousness and not by any work at all that I did. And on
that day when I stand before my Creator, having believed and
having trusted Christ to put my sin away, to pay for every
single sin, satisfy God's justice against all my sin, when I stand
to give an account of the things done in this body, I'm telling
you it is then that my Savior, my Mediator, the Man, Christ
Jesus, will stand and plead my cause and my case for me. And
it will be Christ who stands to give an account to the law
and the justice of God of the things done in His body. What was done to Him? He was
wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon Him. And it was by His
stripes that His elect are He. And when the believer stands
before the judgment seat of Christ, I will not be judged by the law
and justice of God. No sir. Because the law and justice
of God no longer has any claim on one that's innocent. A believer's sins have been judged
and put away in our Lord's sacrifice for us at Calvary. Now is that
not the best news you've ever heard? A reward is a recognition
for one's service, for one's effort or achievements. And if
that's so, and it is, then Christ has to be our reward. Don't you
see that? He's our reward. For we're saved
by His effort and by His achievements, not ours. It's His righteousness
imputed to us that makes us righteous before God. Not by works of righteousness
we've done. May God enable you, dear one,
to believe and trust in Christ for the perfect righteousness
and holiness that God requires of you. He requires it of every
single one of us. And truly, there's no other way
to stand before the judgment seat of Christ, perfectly righteous,
holy, and just. Only in Christ. So let me ask
you one last time this morning. What think ye of Him? What do
you think of Christ? Is He your everything or does
He mean nothing to you? Oh, may God show you that He
is everything.