Okay, we're beginning in the
5th chapter of 2 Corinthians. 5th chapter of 2 Corinthians. And of course, Paul is continuing
his thoughts here He said, but our light, beginning in verse
17 of chapter 4, says, For our light affliction, which is but
for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal
weight of glory. 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, but the things which are not
seen are eternal. 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. For in this we groan, that is,
in the earthly house of this tabernacle, 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. 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
hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the
terror of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest
unto God, and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences. For we commend not ourselves
again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf.
that ye may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance
and not in heart. For whether we be beside ourselves,
it is to God, or whether we be sober, it is for your cause. For the love of Christ constraineth
us, because we thus judge that if one died for all, then we
are all dead. And that he died for all, that
they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto
him which died for them. and rose again. Wherefore henceforth
know we no man after the flesh. Yea, though we have known Christ
after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. Therefore
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are
passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. And all things are of God, who
hath reconciled us unto himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given
to us the ministry of reconciliation, to wit that God was in Christ
reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses
unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you
in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For it made Him to be
sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Now, Paul covers a lot of ground
in this passage of Scripture. And there are some difficult
verses in this chapter that we need to look at. And as he said
over here in the beginning of the fourth chapter, we have renounced
the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor
handling the Word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth. And so it is that however we
approach the Scriptures, we have to approach it in that fashion
without any consideration to trying to conform the Scriptures
to what we want them to say or what we think would be more pleasing
in the eyes and ears of men. But we do know this, and that
is that whatever the Scripture says in one place, It can be
supported in all places. And you can't pick and choose
a verse out of the Scripture somewhere and say, well, this
is what it says here, when it's not in context and in concert
with the rest of Scripture. So the Scriptures are one Word
because they come from one source. And the Lord is not telling us
one thing over here and one thing over there. Just like Brother
Al pointed out this morning about the giving of the Passover. The giving of the Passover wasn't
for the Passover. I mean, that wasn't the point.
The point was not so that people would celebrate the deliverance
of Israel from Egypt forever, but it was pointing the picture
to the great Deliverer who would come, and that Passover that
we rejoice in. And so if a man doesn't see the
whole picture, he can't really see the picture, can he? Because
the Jews, they couldn't see what we see by the grace of God. It
wasn't given unto them to see. Now we look at the Passover,
and this is clear as a bell to us. I mean, just like you pointed
out there in those Scriptures, you can see Christ at every turn
in that passage of Scripture. But there's a veil upon the eyes
of those that aren't given to see that, and that's the only
thing they see in it. is that the Lord delivered the
nation of Israel out of Egypt, and that's the reason they do
that. So we know that the whole Scripture was given for the glory
of Christ, and so that whatever we look at the Scriptures, if
we come away with any view that would not give all the glory
to Christ, then we've got the wrong view. It doesn't make any
difference. What we think the Bible might say, if we do not
come away giving glory to Christ, then we've missed what the point
is, because when the Spirit of God has come, the Lord said,
He would speak of Christ and He would glorify Him. So whatever
it is that we might say or know or do or whatever, If it does
not come back to the magnification and glorification of Jesus Christ,
then it cannot be what is the truth. Of course, Paul goes right into
this chapter talking about the earthly house of this tabernacle
were dissolved. If it were, that is, if these
bodies died, this is the earthly house of this tabernacle. That
is all that we are. You know, a tabernacle is a temporary
dwelling place. The Lord gave the children of
Israel designed to build the tabernacle in the wilderness. Why? Because they had to pick
it up and move it. And it was a temporary thing.
I mean, it had an eternal significance, but it was nonetheless, as a
tabernacle of its own, it was a temporary thing, and they moved
it from place to place. And so it is that we must understand
what we are, is that we are souls who have a body. We're not bodies
that have a soul. Now you'll hear people say, well,
you know, he has a soul. No, you don't have a soul, you
are a soul. I mean, the Lord created man
and breathed into him and he became a living soul. And that soul has been given
an earthly tabernacle to dwell in in the present time. That
soul that the Lord created is not the earthly tabernacle. So
that we have a temporary dwelling place in the present time, that's
what Paul says. He says, well, we know that if
our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, that is, if something
happens to our body, it doesn't really matter in the long term
matters because of the fact that we have a building of God. A house not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens. That is, the Lord has prepared
us to dwell without an earthly tabernacle. Because this tabernacle
that we see now, it is going to pass away. It is going to
go back to the dust. Now, the Scripture does tell
us that the Lord There is going to be a resurrection and that
we shall be raised and we shall inhabit a body, but it is a heavenly
body, a spiritual body. It is not a carnal body. It is
not a body that is susceptible to decay. It is not susceptible
to all the heartaches and troubles of this world brought on by sin. But rather, it is a house not
made with hands eternal in the heavens. That is, it came from
heaven and it is not of the earth. See, this body was made of the
earth, was it not? I mean, the Lord fashioned our
bodies of the earth. But we have a house that is not
made with hands, eternal in the heavens. This is given to us.
And for in this tabernacle, that is the present one, we groan,
earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is
from heaven." That is, we desire to be rid of these bodies. And
the older you get, and the more aches and pains that you have,
the more aware you become of that very thing. You know, especially
those who have been given a hope in Christ and an expectation
beyond this present world that we desire to be clothed upon
with our house which is from heaven. If so, that being clothed,
we shall not be found naked. I mean, that is our desire. Paul said, Oh, that I might know
Him and the power of His resurrection, being not conformed to this world,
but to Christ. And he said, I count not myself
to have apprehended. He says, I haven't made it yet.
He says, I have not yet put off this body. He said, but I press
to the mark for the prize of the high calling of Christ. And
so we desire to be clothed. We do not want to be found naked
in the day when the Lord comes to judge the quick and the dead,
but we want to be clothed with the righteousness of Christ.
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 we don't desire just to die. You know, people say, well, you've
got a death wish. All you talk about is dying.
No, when we talk about dying and we talk about the passing
from this world and we're made mindful of the shortness of our
lives and the temporary nature of all that we are and have,
it's not that we just desire to die. But we know that through
death we put off this earthly tabernacle. And so it is that
which we would gain that we desire, not that which we are going to
lose. For we that are in this tabernacle
do groan being burdened, not for that we would be unclothed.
We don't want to just die, but we want to be clothed upon with
the righteousness of Christ. See, those that live want to
live. I mean, this is evident in the
natural realm. A man, he wants to live as long
as he can live. I mean, he wants one more breath,
you know. He's desiring to take that other
breath. And so it is that as the natural man desires to live,
so the spiritual man wants to live also. But he doesn't want
to just live in some carnal existence. Now most people's idea of heaven
is some place where they can do what they've always done in
the earth. I mean, you know, the Muslim
view of heaven, the Jehovah's Witnesses view of heaven is just
like you're just going to enjoy things in a carnal way just like
you always have. Well, that's not the thing we
desire. We don't just desire to be clothed in some fashion. We want to be clothed upon with
that heavenly body. We want to be clothed upon with
that which is given to us so that mortality might be swallowed
up by life. See, carnality is going to be
swallowed up by death, but immortality will be swallowed up by life.
That is, mortality, our mortality, will be swallowed up by true
life. Now, He that hath wrought us
for the selfsame thing is God, who hath also given us the earnestness
of the Spirit. Now, the Lord made His people
in that fashion. He fashioned us First off, He
subjected us to vanity. When He created us, He put us
in a world in an earthly body that would pass away. But He
made us for that purpose. He did that on purpose. It didn't
just happen. It wasn't like, well, I've got
to do this in order to do that. No, He desired to do that. He
put us in an earthly body, and He put us there, and here we
are. And He wrote us for the same
thing. which was not to dwell forever
in these bodies. Now, some people say, well, the
Lord, you know, His intention when He created Adam was for
Adam to just live forever. Well, that's just a bunch of
baloney. I mean, the Lord, when He created Adam, He designed
Adam to live 930 years. And that's exactly how I think
it was 930 years, somewhere around that, in round figures. And when
that time came, that was the end of Adam. Now, did that take
the Lord by surprise? No, He designed Adam to live
930 years. Now, He probably didn't design
you to live 930 years. But you might. I mean, I don't
know. If the Lord wanted to make you live 930 years, He could. But the whole point of what I'm
saying is, the Lord designed man for the purpose that He made
him for, And He will live as long as He determines that He
will live, but those whom He loves in Christ, those who are
in Christ, according to what the Scripture teaches us, He
has designed them not simply just to live in these bodies
and then one day die, but He has designed that they live forever. And that's what the people of
God desire. We want to be clothed upon with
immortality. We want life. See, only a man
who's alive can want to live. You can go out there to the graveyard
and there's not a man out there that wants to live. I mean, you
can interview them all. They won't even answer you. They won't say anything. because
they are dead, are they not? And the dead, a dead man does
not have life, but the man who has been made alive, he has life
and he wants to live. And so it is. That is what Paul
is talking about here. Therefore, we are confident,
knowing that, while I got ahead of myself. Now, he that hath
wrought us for the selfsame thing as God, who hath also given us
the earnest of the Spirit. Now, the Lord did not just take
some people and say, I'm going to make this man live forever,
and then he's just going to be in the world and have no thought
whatsoever of the things of God, and he's going to die one day,
and he's going to wake up in heaven. Now that's what people
a lot of times will say to you when you mention that the Scripture
speaks of an election of grace. that some people are chosen in
Christ. So you're talking about just
some people, you know, one man's off over here and he's serving
God, and he wakes up after he dies and finds out he wasn't
one of the elect, and then one of these guys over here, he's
just had no regard to the things of God, and he wakes up one day
and finds out that he is. No, that's foolish. That's not
what the Lord has done. But for the Lord has given a
foretaste of those things which we desire to those whom He has
given a desire for them. The Lord doesn't give a man a
desire for spiritual things to tease him. He doesn't give him
a delight in Christ to one day disappoint him, does He? No,
it's what He is saying here. that he that hath wrought us
for the selfsame thing, who hath also given to us the earnest
of the Spirit, he hath sent his Spirit into our hearts, crying,
Abba, Father. And we desire to know him. We
desire to walk with him. We desire to see him. We desire
to do the things that he has said. Now we know this is an
imperfect thing. Why? Because we've grown yet
in these tabernacles and this place in which we dwell It's
concretely opposed to everything that the Lord works in us through the Spirit
of God to desire. Paul said, the good that I would
not, that's what I find myself, I don't do that. And that which
I want to do, I can't do. And he said, I'm in a conflict
all the time. The flesh lusteth against the
Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and I cannot do the
things that I would. And so it is, but it is the earnest
of the Spirit that brings that desire about. Because you see,
the man who is without the earnest of the Spirit, he has no desire
after the things of God. He is satisfied. He's content. He's ready to live
out his life and he thinks you're crazy and wasting your time and
all of that. And he's not interested in hearing
the gospel. He's not interested in the things
of God. He's just going on his way. Why?
Because he's dead. He doesn't have this. He's not
wrought for this self-same thing. He does not have the earnest
of the Spirit. But you see, the Lord gives that
earnest. And an earnest is like a down
payment. It's like putting down a binder
on a piece of property. I mean, you know, if somebody
comes, how many times has somebody said to you if you were selling
a car or something, they say, man, I want to buy that. I just
got to come up with the money. I'll come, I'll see you next
week and I'll have the money, you know, for the car. You know
what? You probably won't ever see them again. But you know,
if a guy reaches in his pocket and he gives you half of the
money, you can be pretty sure that he's going to come back
and get the car, isn't he? Well, that's what the earnest
of the Spirit is. The Lord has given us a guarantee. He's given us a binder. He said, I'll send my Spirit
to dwell in you for a temporary time until such time as I come
back to get you. And He says, I don't want you
to leave you comfortless. He says, I want for you to know
that these things are so. And so it is that the Lord gives
to His people the earnest of the Spirit. He works in them,
both the will and the do of His good pleasure. He causes them
to delight in the things of God. And it is that work which only
He can bring to pass, because surely a man by himself is not
going to be that way, is he? Therefore, we are always confident,
knowing that whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent
from the Lord. Now, we know that, do we not? Paul said this is something that
we are confident in. As long as we are living in this
world, we are not in the presence of the Lord. Now, in the strictest
sense of the word, that is, free from the restrictions of this
world. Now, in the earnest of the Spirit,
we do have the blessings of the Lord, but we are not in His presence
in that manner. Knowing that whilst we are at
home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by
faith and not by sight. If somebody said to you today,
prove that you are a child of God, How could you do it? You'd be hard pressed, wouldn't
you? Because you look at your own
weakness in this tabernacle in which you've grown and you say,
well, there ain't no way I could be one of the children of God.
I mean, how could it be? But yet there's something that
the Lord has put within us. Whereas Spirit testifies with
our spirit and we desire the things of God and we say, you
know, even though I don't see much evidence of the fact that
I am one of God's children, I am hungering to be one. I don't
want to be left out. I want to be numbered among God's
people. I want to be found among those
who are praising His name. For we walk by faith, not by
sight. You can't climb a ladder up into
heaven and read your name written in the Lamb's Book of Life. You
can't do it. But by the grace of God, He does
testify through His Spirit. In greater or lesser measure,
according to the good pleasure of His will, as He gives to every
man the measure of faith, He does testify to us and give us
sweet reminders of His love to us. One of the ways that he does
that is just what Brother Al was talking about this morning.
It's whenever he's given us a supper to partake of. And it's just
a memorial feast. But you know, for those who believe
in Christ, it's a precious thing, is it not? To be reminded of
that which Christ did. Now, religious men go through
the motions. They just do it because it's
just supposed to be done. Because they say, well, this
is what the church does, so we'll go through the motions and do
it. But see, those who have been given the earnest of the Spirit,
they desire to do this because they believe what this represents.
And they say, I want part of that. I want to be found worshipping
this One who gave Himself for sinners. And that is the earnest
of the Spirit. And we walk by faith, not by
sight, because we can't see our name written in the book of life,
but we believe that it is because the Lord has given us the earnest
of the Spirit. And He has testified to us that
He will not leave us nor forsake us, but He will do those things
that He said. We are confident, I say, and
willing. rather to be absent from the
body and to be present with the Lord. Now again, I don't know
anybody that is looking forward to dying, but you know, for the
children of God who have grown in this earthly tabernacle, we
do desire to be in the presence of the Lord. We desire to see
those things that He has taught us. and to behold them and to
rejoice in them. And we are 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
for Him. Now, do you know of anybody who
is a true child of God, do you believe that there would be someone
whom the Lord has given the earnest of the Spirit, the working of
the Spirit, who would have no desire whatsoever to walk in
a manner acceptable in the Lord's sight? I mean, does that seem
like something the Scripture would teach? that someone would
say, don't come to me with that Bible stuff. I mean, oh yeah,
I believe the Gospel and I love Christ and all that, but I don't
care anything about what the Lord said. I mean, could that
be? I mean, not according to what
the Scripture says it couldn't. And so you see, that's exactly
what he says here. We labor. Whether present or
absent, we may be accepted of Him. I want to be accepted in
the presence of the Lord. Now what he's saying, and of
course, we're not going to have time to get into this, because
this is the passage where a lot of people go shipwrecked and
they try to twist the Scripture into saying something that it
absolutely doesn't say. Because if it says what they
say it says, then what we believe, we can throw it out the window,
it don't mean anything. But we do desire to be accepted
of the Lord. Now, we do not expect that we
can do anything that will be accepted of the Lord, that is,
in the sense that we're going to bring something to Him and
He's going to say, okay, well, I'll accept that. No, where is
our acceptance found? It's in Christ. I mean, the only
acceptance I'm hoping for or expecting will be found in Christ. See, it's not that I'm going
to bring, well, the Lord saw what I did for those brethren
down there in Tortola, and He's going to say, well, you did a
good job, and He's going to pat me on the back. No, brethren,
that's not it at all. The thing that we desire to be
accepted is to be accepted in Christ, because we know that
there is no other standard or measure whereby a man could find
any sort of acceptance with the Lord except in Christ. And that
is what God's people desire, and that is what the earnest
of the Spirit brings about in us, is a desire to be found accepted
in the Beloved. And we labor. I mean, we desire
it. We want it. We're searching after
it. That's what Paul said, I press
to the mark. I want to be found among God's
people. I know there's not a thing in
the world I can do to cause it to happen, but I want to be found
there. See, that's the place we're moving toward.