Turn with me, if you would, to
2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians 5. Now the Apostle
Paul ended chapter 4. by saying in verse 16, this is
how he closed out chapter 4, verse 16 he said, For which cause
we faint not, though our outward man perish, yet the inward man
is renewed day by day. Even though our outward man is
perishing, and he is, isn't he? Our inward man is renewed day
by day. Verse 17, For our light affliction
which is but for a moment, and I'd be the first to acknowledge
we live in a hard world, this is a hard life, but every single
time we enter into eternity. Eternity. Buddy, this is a light
affliction. And it's just for a moment, and
verse 17 says, it worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal
weight of glory. While we look not at the things
which are seen, and we don't, do we? Not with our eyes of faith. We don't look at the things which
are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things
which are seen are temporary, temporal. But the things which
are not seen are eternal. Now let's read the first nine
verses of chapter five. For we know 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. For in this we groan earnestly
desiring to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven. If so be that being clothed,
we shall not be found naked. 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.
Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who
also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore, we
are always confident, knowing that whilst we are at home in
the body, we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith,
not by sight. We are confident, I say, and
willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with
the Lord. Wherefore, we labor that whether
present or absent, we may be accepted of him. All right, now,
in order to explain this, I understand I'm starting with quite a few
verses. In order to explain this, let me show you what Peter said
in 1 Peter 1. Turn over there with me to 1
Peter 1. 1 Peter 1 verse 3 says, Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according
to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance
incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away reserved
in heaven for you. If you are a child of God. There
is something reserved in heaven for you. That's exciting. If you are a
child of God. There is something reserved in
heaven for you. Verse five says, you who are
kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to
be revealed in the last time. Every child of God who has been
kept by the power of God has an inheritance, incorruptible,
undefiled, one that cannot fade away It is reserved in heaven,
ready to be revealed in the last time. Now what that means is
we haven't laid hands on it yet. That's what it means. It's reserved
for us. It's ready to be revealed to
us, but we won't physically lay hands on it until we're there
with our Lord. All right? Now, what is it that
our Lord has waiting for us, reserved in heaven for us? Go
back to the text. 2 Corinthians 5. Verse 1 says, For we know that
if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we
have an building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal
in the heavens. We are souls. Alright? We are not bodies. We are souls. We just live in
bodies. That's all we do. We just live
in bodies. I've given you this illustration many times, but
I can't think of a better way to get our minds around this.
This is the best way I know to do it. Okay? I'm a person. I'm a character. You know me. You know how I am. I have thoughts about things.
I have feelings about things. I'm me, right? I'm me. If you were to cut off my arm,
I am still me. I still have my same thoughts.
I still have my same feelings. I'm still me. And you cut off
this arm, I'm still me. and you cut off both legs and
you literally cut off every piece of my body that you could and
it would still function. My heart would still beat and
I could still function in this earth. I would still be me. We are souls and not bodies. My soul is moving this body,
animating this body. Okay? We are souls and not bodies. Now the time is going to come
when the earthly house that we right now live in, it's going
to have to be dissolved. It is appointed unto man for
his earthly house to be dissolved. That's appointed. All men and
women. But for God's people, As soon
as their earthly house is dissolved, their soul goes right back to
God who gave it. Isn't that what the scripture
says? It immediately goes right back to the God who gave it,
and it enters into a building, a tabernacle, a house that is
incorruptible, undefiled, and fadeth not away." Is that
not glorious? Is that not exciting? It cannot
fade away. Go with me over to John 14. John
14. Verse one says, let not your
heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. In my father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. What does he mean? Many mansions. He's talking about the new house
reserved in heaven for each one of his people. He said, a body
hast thou prepared me. Isn't that right? He said, I'm
going to prepare one for you. As soon as this tabernacle And
the word tabernacle means tent. If you look it up, it means tent.
As soon as this tent is dissolved, we immediately step into and
start enjoying the mansion that Christ has built for us. Now,
I love how he made this comparison. He calls this body a tent. And he called the body that's
reserved for us in heaven a mansion. A year ago June, a little over,
you know, almost a year and a half ago, a year ago June, Hannah
and I and the girls went camping for two nights. The girls were
sleeping with Pawpaw and me, Mom, in the camper. Hannah and
I were sleeping in a tent outside. We were supposed to sleep in
a tent for two nights. We made it one night and made
it is loosely. All right, one night. That's all I could stand. It
was absolutely awful. I mean, it was awful. I am serious. It was so bad. It was so miserable. I did not sleep that night. And
I could give you so many reasons why. It wasn't just one reason
why. So many reasons why. The whole time I was laying there
thinking, I kept looking at my phone to see what time it is,
and I think, you are kidding me. At first it was like, surely
we're done, and it's 12.45 in the morning. And then you lay
there, and you lay there, and you're not sleeping. And time
creeps by. I was as they that watch for
the morning, just begging, surely, come on. But all I could think
about was my house. I was thinking, what am I doing
out here? It's not that I didn't want to be camping, you know,
and it's not that I didn't want to be with everybody else. I
just kept thinking, I have a house. What am I? I paid for this. I
paid money for this. I have a nice, beautiful, solid,
comfortable, cozy, warm house, and I'm out here sleeping on
gravel. Literally, they made these pads
to park the campers, and it's a gravel area, and my mattress
deflated, and I'm heavier than Hannah, so she's up, you know,
two inches. I'm on the gravel. And it was miserable, and I'm
thinking, I'm out here on this gravel. I just want out of this
tent. That's all I kept saying. If
it would just become morning, then I could get up. I just want
out of this tent. That's what I want. Out of this
tent. Alright, go with me back to the
text. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 1 says, For we know 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. For in this we groan, earnestly
desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven."
How much longer do I have to be here in this tent? How much
longer? This is exactly what the Apostle
Paul was saying in Romans 7. He said, O wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Please
deliver me from the body of this death. I'm so ready to be rid
of it. Verse 2 says, For in this we groan, earnestly desiring
to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven. If so be
that being clothed, we shall not be found naked. This house
that Christ has built, this mansion He calls it, that He's prepared,
it is the robe of His righteousness. That's what it physically is.
It is the same, perfect, spotless robe that he wears. We're going to be clothed on
with this new house. David said in Psalm 17 verse
15, I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. I'm so ready. That same righteousness
that Christ wears, we just want to look like him. We just want
to step into the purity that He's reserving for us. He has
all of this spotless purity reserved for us to put on. He earned it. He gave it. And we desire to
experience it. We're ready to experience it.
Verse 3 says, If so be that being clothed, we shall not be found
naked. For we that are in this tabernacle
do groan, being burdened, Not for that we would be unclothed. Here's one thing that is very
important to understand. God's people don't just desire
to be unclothed. They don't just desire to be
rid of this house. When you speak of these things,
others think, why do you want to die? Why do you just want
to die? I just can't wait to die. Won't
that be great? Let's all just die. That's not it at all. That's not the point at all.
to say that we are ready to be rid of this body and the life
that is lived on this earth is the exact opposite of saying
we're ready to die. Paul said, who's going to rid
me of the body of this death? No child of God wants to die. No child of God. Not one child
of God wants to die. Verse 4 says, For we that are
in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened, not for that
we would be unclothed, but clothed upon that mortality. That word means death. You've
heard of the mortality rate. That's the death rate. That mortality,
death, might be swallowed up of life. Death is just completely
swallowed up of life. The reason we groan and desire
to leave this body of corruption and step into our eternal body
of incorruption is because we are ready to live. We are so
ready to live. Go with me to Philippians 1. Philippians 1 verse 21 says,
For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live
in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor. Yet what I shall
choose I know not, for I am in a strait betwixt two. having
a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better.
Nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. The apostle Paul was called up
to the third heaven. He saw life. He saw what incorruption
looks like. And he said, I'm so torn. I'm
so torn. He said, I love you. I do, and
I know that I need to be here for you. I need to deliver God's
word to you, and I want to be here to do that, but I'm ready
to go. I'm ready. I saw what a man's mouth can't
utter, and I'm ready. God's people are not morbid.
They're not morbid, not at all. No desire for death at all. Ready
for life. Go back to the text, 2 Corinthians
5. Verse 1 says, 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.
For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with
our house which is from heaven. If so be that being clothed,
we shall not be found naked. 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.
Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who
also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit, the down payment,
the promise of His Spirit. Just listen to this. You know
these verses. This is 1 John 3, verses 1 to
3. John said, Beloved, he said,
Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us.
that we should be called the sons of God, therefore the world
knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we
the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall
be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like
him, for we shall see him as he is. And then he said, And
every man that hath this hope in him, purifies himself even
as he is pure. Every man or woman that has this
hope, this particular hope of being chosen of God, chosen to
receive the inheritance, bought by Christ, redeemed, made pure,
made worthy by Christ to receive the inheritance. Every soul whose
hope is in the fact that it's of Him, by Him, through Him,
to Him. Every soul that has this hope
freely given, then that is the promise, that's the earnest of
God that the inheritance is to you. That's the earnest of the
Spirit. So 2 Corinthians 5 verse 6 says,
therefore, We are always confident, knowing that whilst we are at
home in the body, we're absent from the Lord. For we walk by
faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and
willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with
the Lord. Faith is looking to Christ. Faith
is looking to Christ, and God's people do. We walk through this
life looking to Christ. That's what we do. We look to
Christ. We talk to him in prayer. We worship a person, don't we?
We talk to him in prayer. We think on him. We worship him. We wait on him. We follow him. We love him. We study him. Don't we want to know more of
him? We desire to be like Him. We desire to be with Him. We
know that through the earnest of His Spirit, we are with Him
and He's with us. He said, I'll never leave you.
I'll never forsake you. But we also know that He is right
now seated in the heavens. Isn't that where He physically
is? As long as we are in this body on earth, We're spiritually
with him, but we're physically absent. And we're confident through the
earnest of his spirit, through his spirit. Speaking to us and
revealing this to us that to be absent from this body. Is to be immediately present
with the Lord. And, um. When I was first studying
this, I thought about telling you all, and I didn't. I was
going to title it, Your Funeral Message. I just wanted you to
go ahead and hear your funeral message. So you could know what's
going to be, if I'm still alive, if the Lord takes you before
me, and if He takes me, would somebody preach this chapter
right here? This is your funeral message.
To be absent from this body is to be immediately present with
the Lord. He told that thief on the cross,
today you're going to be with me in paradise. Today. Today. You think about our dear loved
ones, our believers who've been called of God and confessed Christ.
There they are, they lay there and we love them and we sorrow,
not as those who have no hope. But what has happened, what we
witness in that moment is death has been swallowed up of life. Swallowed up. And verse 9 says right here,
2nd Corinthians 5 9 says, Wherefore, because of all this, we labor. That whether present or absent,
we may be accepted of him. Now, does that mean that we work
our way into his acceptance? No, it does not. Absolutely not,
but I will tell you that I want to encourage every soul here
to labor. I want to encourage every soul
here to labor. Now, what do I mean by that?
We're going to close with this. Go over to Philippians 3. Philippians 3 verse 4, though
I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man
thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh,
I more. Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of
the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews is touching the
law of Pharisee. Concerning zeal, persecuting
the church. Touching the righteousness which
is in the law, blameless. But what things were gained to
me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless I count
all things loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do
count them but dung, 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, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship
of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death, if
by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead."
Now what was Paul's labor? What was his labor? His labor
was to throw away all of his works, count them all dung, throw
every single one of them away. He labored to count them all
dung that he may know him. Here's what we need to labor
at. I want to know him. I want to
know him. I don't want to know how a sinner
is saved and not be a saved sinner. I remember the first time I heard
that, I didn't understand what that meant. I believe I do now. I must know him. I must know
him. I must come to know him. I must
not come to know what Calvinism is. I must know him. I must know
Him. I need to know that I have experienced
the fellowship of His suffering. I need to know that I experienced
the fellowship of His death and the fellowship of His resurrection.
I must know Him. I need to know Him. I can't leave this earth without
knowing Him. Paul said, I labor in that. Just a few more verses
down, he said, press toward the mark. Press toward the mark. And he said, if I have that,
I'm going to be accepted of him. That's what he said. I labor
to be accepted of him. If he gives me that ability to
throw away my works, I need him. I need his death, I need his
burial and his resurrection. He said if I have that, I will
be accepted of him, accepted in his blood. And if I'm accepted
in the beloved, then I'm going to receive the inheritance. We
all will. And until that time comes, until
we physically receive what He has wrought for us and He has
reserved for us, we'll just keep on groaning. All right? We'll
just keep on groaning. The Lord will be with us, but
we'll groan for it. And the Word will comfort us,
and the Spirit will teach us, and we'll just keep groaning
for it until we finally receive it in glory. All right. You're dismissed.