Welcome to our program. Now today
I'm going to be preaching from the book of 2nd Corinthians,
the New Testament epistle of 2nd Corinthians chapter 5. And
the title of the message is Clothed in Glory. Clothed in Glory. Now the Apostle Paul had been
talking about the trouble and persecution that he and other
believers, other ministers of the gospel, were subject to in
the world as they went throughout the regions preaching the gospel
of God's grace in Christ. The good news of salvation, how
God saves sinners based on the one work, the finished work of
the Lord Jesus Christ without the works of sinners being involved
as to attaining or maintaining salvation. The message of grace
is a message that is hated by the world. Christ told his disciples
in John chapter 15, he said, marvel not if the world hate
you. It hated me before it hated you,
he said. He went on to tell them, he said
that when you preach the gospel, you expose the idolatry, unbelief,
the false refuges of self-righteous sinners. In other words, the
preaching of the truth of Christ and Him crucified, salvation
by His blood and His righteousness alone, destroys every other refuge
that men trust in for their salvation. It exposes them for what they
are. And Christ told His disciples
in John 15, it removes the cloak of sin. You see, religion, man's
religion, works religion, self-righteous religion, legalism, puts a cloak
over the sinfulness of man, the sins of man, a cloak of outward
appearance, a cloak of works, religion, but the gospel makes
a sinner honest when the Holy Spirit brings that sinner to
conviction, honest about who he is and what he is, a sinner,
and nothing but sin. and the fact that salvation cannot
come by our best efforts to keep the law. And so when Paul preached
that message, and when we preach it today, sinners are turned
off by it. They hate the gospel because
it will not allow them to have pride in themselves, in their
flesh, in their works. And so he was talking about how
he suffers for the gospel, how others suffer for the gospel. But he says in verse 17 of 2
Corinthians 4, he says, "...for our light affliction, which is
but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal
weight of glory." The sufferings of this present time, Paul wrote
in Romans chapter 8, are not even to be compared with the
glory that is to come for all who die in the Lord Jesus Christ,
all who suffer for His sake, for His namesake, all who will
be in heaven. And He calls this suffering in
this earth a light affliction. And He says there's a far more
exceeding and eternal weight of glory. And He says in verse
18 of chapter 4, 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, they're earthly and temporary, but the things
which are not seen are eternal. In other words, our lives are
guided and motivated. Our objectives have nothing to
do with the things we experience on this earth that are temporary.
Whatever we go through, whether it's a moment of joy or whether
it's a moment of pain, suffering, persecution for righteousness
sake, for Christ's sake, whatever we go through, it's only for
a moment. But the eternal weight of glory
is something to behold. Now, we don't see it right now.
So, therefore, we look at the things that are seen. We look
at these temporal things, these earthly things. But we, our lives
are motivated and guided by the things that are not seen. He
says this over in chapter 5 in verse 7, when he says, we walk
by faith, not by sight. Now to walk by faith doesn't
simply mean to walk in a way of believing anything, or believing
something, or desiring something. It means to walk by the Word
of God. Whatever God says, that's what we believe, and our lives
are guided by that. And therefore he begins in chapter
5 to talk about glory, final glory in heaven. And that's what
I want to talk to you about, being clothed in glory. Now he
says in verse 1, he 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. Now that verse
of scripture is commonly read at funerals. And it certainly
should be read. It's one that should be commonly
read in the funeral of a believer, one who believes in the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's not applied to unbelievers.
This is not speaking about those who die in unbelief, those who
die without Christ. My friend, to die without Christ
is a death that is so horrible we cannot describe it. Now we
may see a person die peacefully who doesn't believe, but what
I'm talking about is the death and what comes after. One man
said one time that we have a life to live, a death to die, a judgment
to face, and an eternity to spend. Next week I'm going to talk about
judgment. But you see that death of a believer is a rest, it's
a sleep, it's dying in the Lord. The Bible says precious in the
sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Blessed are those
who die in the Lord. Now what he's saying here in
verse 1 is this, this earthly house, this tabernacle, this
tent, you know a tent is a temporary dwelling. And he's referring
to this human physical body as an earthly house, a tabernacle,
a tent. And this earthly house, this
tabernacle, is going to be dissolved. This physical body is dying. I'll show you in just a moment
in Romans chapter 8, but Paul said the body is dead because
of sin. In other words, the physical
ailments and sicknesses and age that deteriorate this body is
the consequence of sin. And so this body has to be dissolved. But he said that's not the end
of things for believers. That's not the purpose of the
death of believers. He says that those who die in
Christ, now listen to me very carefully here, those who believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ, who rest their whole salvation in
Him, who are washed in His blood and already clothed in His righteousness,
that is, they are saved and justified before God, By His grace and
mercy in the Lord Jesus Christ, those who die in Christ, they
have a building of God. In other words, there's another
building. Now, you notice how he calls this physical body that's
dying, he calls it a tabernacle, a tent, which is a temporary
dwelling. But he calls the eternal glorified
body, and that's what he's speaking of, the new body, we'll see that
in just a moment, he calls it a building of God. A tent is
a temporary dwelling. A building is a permanent dwelling. And so this is a building. Now
it's not a building that is made with the hands of men. And that
is indicative not only of our glorified body, the believer's
glorified body, When the Lord comes back with His saints and
the dead in Christ are raised again, we'll have a new body,
a glorified body, not made with hands. It's not the work of men,
but it's the building of God. It's the total work of God. And
that is indicative of the whole of salvation. Salvation is of
the Lord. It's not of man. Salvation is
the work of God in Christ, not the work or by the works of men.
The Bible says, for by grace are you saved, through faith,
and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, the
believing center, now and forever, even in glory, in a glorified
incorruptible body, spiritual body, which we don't know a whole
lot about, but we know it's going to be great. We know it's going
to be no pain, no sorrow, no sickness, no tears, no aging. It's a perfect, eternal body. And so those who exist in that
body, their whole salvation is of the Lord, not by the works
of men. Christ is our hope and our salvation
for salvation here and forever. As one of the old preachers used
to say in his writings, he'd say, in Christ we have all grace
here and all glory hereafter. So Paul is saying here, and he's
comforting these believers who are going through trials and
persecutions. These believers, some who are
growing old, who are dying, some have experienced death in their
families. Here's what he's saying, he's comforting them. This earthly
house, or this earthly tent, must be dissolved. This is a
temporary dwelling. But don't despair when those
who die in the Lord are resurrected again. There's a glorified body,
a building of God, an eternal body in the heavens. Now verse
2 says this, he says, For in this we groan, earnestly desiring
to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven. What he's
saying there is that in this earthly body, This body that
is dead because of sin, with all the pain and the suffering
and the trouble, and it doesn't get any better as we get older.
Many of you may have experienced that already. Your body begins
to deteriorate and you go through pain and suffering. And then
he's talking about also the persecutions of the world against the gospel,
against the truth of grace, salvation by grace. And he says, in this
body we groan. Now, we grown, we earnestly desire
something better, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house,
which is from heaven. I believe that what Paul was
describing here is what we might refer to as dying grace. You
know, when you're young, you think you're going to live forever.
You have nothing to fear. As one old preacher said, you've
got the world by the tail on the downhill slide. You don't
have the aches and pains of age. We know that young people do
die, usually by what we call accidents, but they also get
sick too. But those things are usually,
pains and sorrows are usually associated with age. And I believe
that a believer now, and understand this now, this is not to be applied
to those who die without Christ. die without grace, die without
faith. This is the comfort of Christ's
sheep, the comfort of His church. And that's why I urge you, believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Come to Him and rest in Him.
He's the only hope that we have in death and in eternity, in
death and in judgment and in eternity. But you see, those
things, these pains and sorrows are mainly associated with age. But I believe that as a believer
grows older, he grows physically older, his body deteriorates,
or her body. He also grows in grace and in
knowledge. And the Lord gives that believer,
as they grow, a desire, an ever-burning desire, even a more earnest desire
to go home, to be with Him. And that's called dying grace.
He says in verse 3, If so be that being clothed, we shall
not be found naked. Now, when he says that being
clothed, he's talking about the glorified body. In other words,
this life is not the end. Death is not the end. We're going
to stand before God and spend eternity somewhere. The believer
is going to stand before God at judgment, having already been
clothed in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. In
other words, before God's law and justice, the believer will
not be found naked and guilty and deserving of wrath. He'll
be in Christ. You see, we put on Christ. Christ
is our righteousness. Christ, later on in 2 Corinthians
5, Paul's going to talk about how Christ was made sin for His
people, for us. Christ who knew no sin. In other
words, the sins of God's elect, His church, Christ's sheep, were
laid to the charge and the account of the Lord Jesus Christ. You
could say in this way, he was clothed with our sins. And therefore
he died under the justice of God for his sheep. He said, I
laid down my life for the sheep. It was for our transgressions
that he was bruised unto death, Isaiah 53 says. Now he did all
that to satisfy the justice of God and pay our debt in full
in order that we might put on his righteousness, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. So that as our sins,
the sins of his sheep now, not all without exception, but the
sins of his people, his church that he gave his life for, he
purchased his church with his own precious blood. The sins
of his sheep were laid to his account, but his righteousness
is laid to our account. And therefore, when we stand
before God at judgment, we'll stand there clothed not in works
of our own, but in the precious blood and righteousness of Christ.
So we won't be found naked that way, but it goes on. You see, the blessings keep coming
here. Also, when we enter glory, when we're resurrected at the
end, we'll be clothed with a new body. Now, it'll be a spiritual
body. And to be honest with you, I
have to stop where the scripture stops there. We can know something
about that glorified body. We see it in Christ himself after
his resurrection. But I know this, it'll be a perfect
body. It'll be a resurrected body.
It'll be a spiritual body. It'll be a body that doesn't
suffer aging and pain. The effects and consequences
of sin will be gone. We won't be found naked. Now
that's what Paul is talking about over here in 1 Corinthians 15.
He says in 1 Corinthians 15, in verse 50, now listen to his
words here. He's talking about the resurrection,
the necessity of the resurrection. Christ was, He died, He was buried,
He rose again the third day. He did it as the representative
and substitute and surety of His people. Therefore, even though
we die physically and we'll be buried, we'll be resurrected
at the end. And he says in verse 15, Now
this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the
kingdom of God, this physical body. Neither doth corruption
inherit incorruption. This corruptible body that you
see before you cannot inherit incorruption. He says, Behold,
I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed. There'll be some believers who
will be alive when Christ comes again. Now, they'll suffer the
equivalent of death because he says, we shall all be changed.
And he says how? Verse 52. In a moment, in the
twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall
sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible. That's
the new body. And he says, and we shall be
changed, for this corruptible must put on incorruption. You see, he said over there,
we won't be found naked. Well, here in verse 53 of 1 Corinthians
15, he says, This corruptible must put on incorruption, and
this mortal must put on immortality. So, when 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. He's quoting here from the book
of Isaiah. Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where
is thy sting? And he says, O grave, where is
thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and
the strength of sin is the law. The law only condemns unto death
where sin is charged, and the sting of death is sin. Well, Christ took care of that
on the cross for his people. He took the sting of death upon
himself. and therefore death cannot sting
us." Now, we'll die physically, but he goes on to say, "...but
thanks be to God, which giveth us victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ." You see that? Over here in Romans chapter 8,
he tells us that in verse 10, he says, "...and if Christ be
in you," that is, if you've been born again by the Spirit and
Christ dwells within you by His Spirit and His Word, "...the
body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life." because
of righteousness. So how do I know we who die in
Christ will be clothed and not be found naked? Because Christ
took care of the issue of sin against us on the cross and he
gave us his righteousness, therefore we'll have a new body. Now he
says in verse 4, he says, for we that are, 2 Corinthians 5,
he says, 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. Our groaning and earnest desire
to be in glory is not that we be found naked, but that we be
found clothed in glory. Clothed in glory with immortality. Because mortality, that's death,
was swallowed up of life. How? By the Lord Jesus Christ. He is my life. He said, I am
the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. There is no eternal life in glory
without Christ. And then he says in verse 5,
Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who
also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. What he's saying
here is this. He's talking about the new birth
here. He says, He that hath wrought, that is, worked us or created
us for the selfsame thing is God. He's going to say later
on, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creation, a new creature. Again, Paul wrote that over in
Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 10. I quoted it a while ago. He said, For we are his workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus unto good works. which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in them." And what he's saying
here is that this work, this work of a sinner saved by the
grace of God, this work of a sinner glorified in heaven, is the work
of God. He created his people, Christ
did, to glorify them. And he says the assurance of
that is the earnest of the Spirit. Now an earnest, like earnest
money or like a down payment, The new birth, which is necessary
in salvation, which is the fruit and result of the work of Christ
on the cross, is the down payment, the earnest of the Spirit of
God, that we who are born again will surely be glorified with
Him. We'll have a new body. We'll
occupy the new heavens and the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. So, the new birth. Now, what
is the new birth? That's regeneration. That's the
giving of life, spiritual life and knowledge. That's the new
heart. That's the resurrection from
the dead spiritually within the heart of a sinner. And that's
Christ coming in to dwell by His Spirit and by His Word. It's
where He convicts us of sin and drives us to Christ for salvation,
for eternal life, for righteousness and glory. And that is the down
payment of our glorification. So he says in verse 6, Therefore
we are always confident, knowing that whilst we are at home in
the body, we are absent from the Lord. Our position here on
earth, we're not absent from the Lord spiritually. He's everywhere
and He dwells within His people, but we're not yet glorified.
There's a song that says, I shall see Him face to face. You see,
David said, I'll be satisfied when I am raised in thy likeness,
when I'm just exactly like Christ, perfectly conformed to him. And
while we're in this body, that has yet to come. We will be glorified. And so he says, for we walk by
faith, not by sight. All of this confidence and comfort
and assurance that the apostle gives to the people of God is
not based upon things that we see in this world or in ourselves. Now, we've been given the earnest
of the Spirit, but let me tell you something. We would not know
the presence of the Holy Spirit except by the Word of God. And
I'll prove that to you. There are many people today who
will tell you that they are spiritual people or that they are doing
what they're doing by the Spirit. There are many people who say
that they're under conviction of the Spirit. And they have
all kinds of weird ideas about what that is. It could be emotionalism. It could be excitement in religion. It could be tears of remorse
and promises to do better. But let me tell you something.
The only way we know for sure the presence and the powerful
sovereign work of the Holy Spirit within is this, do we look to,
rest in, and plead the blood and righteousness of Christ alone? When I'm convicted of my sin,
where do I find relief and help? Do I find it in my works, in
my baptism, in my church going, in my tithing, or do I find it
in Christ alone? That's what the scripture says.
Therefore, we walk by faith, by what the Word of God says,
not by sight. In verse 8, he says, we are confident,
I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to
be present with the Lord. We're confident, he says, we
have an assurance that when we die in the Lord, when we go to
be with Christ, that we will be resurrected unto glory. and
this corruptible will put on incorruption. The issue of salvation
is the glory of God in Christ. The ultimate end of salvation
is that Christ will be glorified in making his people like him. The Bible says God predestinated
us to be conformed to the image of Christ. And as we grow in
grace here on earth, we hope that we grow in grace and in
knowledge of Christ. But we cannot be fully satisfied
with ourselves. Now we are fully satisfied with
Christ, but we cannot be fully satisfied with ourselves until
we, as David said, awake in his likeness. and we put on this
glory that He has made for us. Glorified bodies, perfect, without
pain, without sorrow, without death. Why? Because of the Lord
Jesus Christ and Him alone. Well, I hope that message has
been helpful to your understanding of the Scriptures. And if you'd
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Clothed in Glory. And I hope you'll join us next
week for another message from God's Word.