Thank you, Ruth. That song has always been a blessing
to me. I thank God. that the blood of
Jesus Christ, God's Son, reaches deeper than the stain is gone. Always have and always will. As she sang in that last verse,
there is a multitude before the throne of God and of the Lamb
that are evidence, proof of that glorious, glorious fact. His
blood reaches deeper than the stain has gone. Thank you. Thank you for asking me back. I think it was January. I was
supposed to be here and the weather prevented that. I was glad to
have another invitation. It's always a delight, like Brother
Rick said. I'm home. I'm home. I want to
take the opportunity to thank Shelby. Several months ago, last
year, she asked if I would help proofread Don's commentary on
Philippians, discovering Christ in Philippians. She sent me the
manuscript and I was delighted to have that opportunity. It's a blessed, blessed book.
One of the themes of that epistle, as you know, is joy. Rejoice
in the Lord, Paul says, and again I say rejoice, and Don's commentary
on that book is full of joy, full of joy. His very last chapter,
he concludes with these words, I can almost hear him. He said,
if you are one of God's own dear children whose heart the Lord
has renewed, take this promise of God, live upon it, rejoice,
and give thanks. My God shall supply all of your
need according to his riches in glory by Jesus Christ. And he most certainly will. Thank
you, Shelby. It's been a delight. I have the
hardback copy now. And I would encourage you to
get it if you don't. Would you turn back to 2 Corinthians 5?
2 Corinthians 5. This will be our subject. Just a few words from verse 8
in chapter 5. Present with the Lord. Present with the Lord. It seems each time I'm here that
I'm invited back to be with you every four or five months or
so. I look out and there's another empty place where a dear brother
or sister once sat. Brother Claus, I think, was the
last one. Dave Coleman, my dear, dear friend. Dave Coleman, my golfing buddy.
I remember when Amy called me, when God called Dave home a few
years ago. She said, Larry, my daddy is
now singing in heaven, singing in glory. And then, less than
a year after Dave went to be in the presence of the Lord,
Brother Don, your pastor, your faithful, faithful pastor, was
called home. And then after that, Brother
Lindsey Campbell, My, my, sometimes I sit and think, try to imagine
what they're doing now. Rex, you mentioned Joe Crabtree,
Bruce's dear wife, going to glory not long ago, one of Bruce's
members. Gail Poore, we were talking with
her on the phone, she said, I can just about hear Don's big voice
as Joe entered glory saying, Joe Crabtree, when did you get
here? Present with the Lord. In verse 1, here in 2 Corinthians
5, Paul says concerning this, being with Christ in glory upon
the death of a believer, he says, we know. We know that this is
so. Then in verse 6, he says, this
blessed knowledge, this knowing that the promises of God in Christ
or both yea and amen. These are certainties. This is
not a matter of speculation. This is not guesswork. This is
the promise of God to every one of his sheep. Christ prayed in
his high priestly prayer, Father, I will. This is the will of the
omnipotent God, I will. That all those whom you have
given me be with me where I am. James, present with the Lord. What a description of heaven.
What a glorious thing that must be to be in the very presence
of Jesus Christ. And Paul says, knowing this,
knowing that this is so, Paul says, this gives us confidence. This gives us confidence. And
then in verse 8 he says again, we are confident. I find that
very refreshing, don't you? Paul speaks with such certainty,
such assurance about this matter. It's just a delight to read it
again and again. And in light of this fact, in
light of another certainty, in light of the fact that our life
here is so very brief, I'll be 71 years old. Now, I know you
look up there and you think, that can't be so. Well, it be
so. In a couple of months I'll be 71 years old. And I think
one of the most astounding things about that is how fast it went
by. I look back and my, like the
scripture says, it's a vapor. It's a puff of smoke. And then
it's gone. In light of the fact that our
life here is so brief and that we have an eternity, an eternity
before us. and a judgment by an absolute
holy God, not the God of my imagination, but the just and holy God that
demands and will accept nothing less than perfection. That's
the God of judgment that will stand before. Should we not do? Should we not do what Peter exhorted
believers to do? Rather, brethren, give diligence
to make your calling and election sure. Make it sure, for if you
do these things, you shall never fall. In doing that, we will
be enabled by the grace of God, the same grace that was bestowed
upon the Apostle Paul. We can join him and say with
the same sweet confidence, I know whom I have believed. Wow. Now you may lay down tonight,
and the tears wet your pillow. with burdens and trials and heartache. Oh, but it doesn't change this
glorious fact. I know whom I have believed. And knowing Him, knowing who
He is, Jesus Christ, my great God and Savior, He deserves all
my trust. As someone as well said, I don't
always trust him as I should, but that doesn't make him any
less trustworthy. And Paul said, knowing whom I
believe, I'm persuaded. I'm persuaded that he's able. He's able. I'm not able. But
Paul says, Jesus Christ is able to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. You remember in the book of Joshua,
like Moses before him, Joshua too, the time had come for him
to leave this world. And he called the elders of Israel
around and he said, I want you to bear witness to this. I'm
going to remind you of something. And you know that this is so.
You know that of all the promises that God gave us concerning bringing
us into this land, giving us this place, providing our needs,
every promise that the Lord made to us, there has not been one
word of one promise that's failed. It's all came to pass. And our Joshua says to every
one of his sheep, every promise he's made to us shall come to
pass. We shall be one day by his grace
in the very presence with our dear departed loved ones that
have gone before us in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
psalmist very wisely in light of this said, Lord, make me to
know my end and the measure of my days that I may know how frail
I am. how frail I am, how soon, how
soon I may leave this world. Behold, you made my days as a
hand-breath, and my ages as nothing before thee. Verily, every man
at his best state is altogether vanity's sea-lot." Pause. Think about that. Don't let that
rush by. Think about that. When this vapor
is over, I'm going to be ushered into the presence of God Almighty. and face in eternity. David went
on to say, Lord, what wait I for? What wait I for? And he concluded
on this happy note, my hope is in thee, just as Paul wrote. Brother Henry Mahan wrote these
words concerning that verse from Psalm 39 and 4, Lord, make me
to know mine end. Henry said, when we, by God's
grace, are wise enough to face death, judgment and eternity,
things are seen in their proper light. All these fine ideas of
fame and fortune and friends and our so-called importance
melts like frost in the sun. Death reveals the truth, blows
away the chaff, shuts a man's mouth and opens the books. Death
takes no notice of what I thought, nor what others thought of me,
but only what God thinks, that I may win Christ and be found
in Him. What else matters? What else
matters? Look again, if you will, at verse
six here. Paul says, therefore we are always
confident knowing that while we are at home in this body,
we are absent from the Lord. Absent from the Lord. As long
as we live in this flesh, this body, as long as we are in this
world, we're not with Jesus Christ. In verse 1, Paul says living
in this body is like living in a tabernacle, a tent. Remember,
Paul was a tent maker by trade. A tent is designed to be only
a temporary dwelling. Who would want to live permanently
in a tent? That's what this body is. That's
what this life is. It's like a tent that will soon
wear out, and the stakes will be taken up, the ropes taken
down, and it'll be dissolved, Paul says in verse 1, dissolved. Remember what we read in John
chapter 1 concerning the Lord Jesus? John said, and the Word,
the eternal Word, the everlasting Word, God. was made flesh and
dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as the only
begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." That word
dwelt means tabernacled. It could very well have been
written, and the original would be written, the word was made
flesh and tabernacled amongst us. Jesus Christ was made like
unto his brethren when he came into this world. The tabernacle
among us for a little while, he said to his Father who sent
him, Sacrifices and offering thou wouldst not, but a body,
a body hast thou prepared me. As long as we're yet living in
this body, this earthly house, this tent, we can't be where
Christ is. Flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom of God. We can't be in two places at
once. Yes, the Lord is always with
His people, thank God, spiritually. He's always with His people while
we journey through this wilderness. He promises in His word again
and again, over and over. Remember when He appeared for
the last time on Mount Olivet to His disciples, with His disciples?
And He said, go into all the world. Here's your marching orders,
fellas. Go into all the world and preach
the gospel. That's it. Go into all the world
and preach the gospel. Teaching them to observe all
things whatsoever. I have commanded you and he gave
them this blessed promise Take this with you Don't forget this
and know I'm with you always even until the end of the world
Hebrews chapter 13 verse 5 let your conversation not just your
talk, your walk, the way you live, the way you conduct your
life. Let your conversation be without covetousness and be content
with such things as you have for He has said, I will never
leave you nor forsake you. I don't know the oldest here. I don't know who's served the
Lord longer, but I know this. From the youngest believer to
the oldest believer, there has never been a time that Jesus
Christ wasn't with you. That promise is always good. Every hour of every day, Christ
said, I will never Never leave you. Never, ever forsake you. No matter what. The soul that
to Jesus has leaned for repose, he will not, he will not desert
to expose. That soul, though all hail, should
endeavor to shake, he'll never, no never, no never forsake. Thank God for that. Our Savior
is always with his people by his spirit and by his grace. But what Paul is speaking of
here is that we're not, while we're in this flesh, with Jesus
Christ in a literal sense. We are, while in this tent, this
earthly house, not with our Lord. While we live in this tent, this
house made with hands. We are not yet with Christ in
that sense, in His very literal presence. This is one of those
eternal things. Paul says, we are to look for
by faith, and long for that time, long for that time when we shall
see him as he is. Wow, Bill, what about that? What
about that? Verse 18 of chapter four that
Rex read, 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 perishing, they're decaying. They're not
permanent. But the things which are not
seen, oh, those are the real things. Those are the lasting
things. They are eternal. And what we
will see, the chief among those will be this. We shall see Him. We shall see Him. My imagination won't reach that
far, Rex. I try, I think about when a dear
brother or sister is called to glory. I think about that moment
they close their eyes here, they open them, and they're beholding
the face of Jesus Christ himself or myself. What will that be? That brings us to verse 8. Paul
says, we're confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent
from the body and to be present with the Lord. Paul speaks there
of two great blessings, doesn't he? Absent from the body is the
first one, and then present with the Lord. You know sometimes
you receive a piece of mail and it's addressed to someone that
doesn't live at that address. Return to sender. They don't
live here. When a child of God leaves this
world, Goes back to be with God the Father, with the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's what Paul speaks of here.
Paul's words mean that when we no longer live in this worn out
tent, once it's taken down, everything about it will be taken down.
Everything about it will be gone. The sickness, the physical pain,
the mental, the emotional. Thank God all those things will
be done away with forever. Why? For the reason, the cause
of those things will no longer exist for a child of God, that
is sin. When God removes us from sin,
he removes sin from us. Oh, thank God for that. That
which Paul wrote in Romans 7, that downward spiral, that principle,
that law that was always with him, you know it well. Every child of God does. They
can identify with what Paul said. Oh, wretched man that I used
to be. That's not what Paul said. No,
Paul said, oh, wretched man that I am. At the very moment I penned
these words under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that doesn't
change this. I'm a wretched man. The things
that I want to do, the things that I want to do to glorify
God, to exalt His Son, I find something in me that wars against
that, that continually drags me down and Paul cries out, oh
wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me? And that is the genuine
experience every minute of every day of every true child of God. Is it not so? Now I'm very well
aware that There are multitudes of professing Christians that
don't have a clue what Paul's talking about there in Romans
7. That's not their experience.
One faithful pastor wrote this. He said, I'm sincerely afraid
that great multitudes of professing Christians are no more than that,
professing Christians. I'm fearful that they have done
no more than accepted someone's proposition and merely agreed
with a simple plan of salvation that at best can only produce
a false hope." That's exactly right. In such cases, the heart
hasn't been spittin' with conviction, and neither has there been a
development of godly sorrow, creating remorse and confession
of the hideousness of sin before the holy God. The modern concept
of soul winning has produced an easy-to-believe type of religion
that has populated churches with a mass number of poor, misguided
souls that are two-fold more the child of hell than they were
before. Brother Terry Worthen wrote that.
He went to glory Friday before last. As long as we're in this
flesh, it will never change. This battle will go on. Oh, why? That's why this blessed, blessed
truth that one day we'll be absent from this body, absent from this
flesh, absent from that struggle. Many years ago, before I even
moved here, when I was still living back in West Virginia,
One Saturday morning someone knocked on my door and introduced
himself as a Wesleyan pastor. I thought to myself, what do
you want? Some of my relatives sent him
to straighten me out. I was a believer, but they thought
I was just a half believer. a half-brother. So they sent
this Wesleyan preacher to straighten me out. And he sat down and he
said, I said, what can I do for you? He said, I'm here to tell
you what you need. I said, y'all, what's that? He
said, you need what I have. Rex, I said, what do you got?
He said, my old nature has been entirely eradicated. I said,
excuse me? He said, the old nature is gone. I'm entirely sanctified. I had
this second work of grace by which I'm entirely sanctified. The old nature is gone. If I
had to do over, I would have walked across the room, bowed
to him and said, how do you do? Because you're the first one
I've ever met. You're one of a kind. I've never
met anybody. I've never met any son of Adam
from Adam to the present day whose nature, sinful nature was
eradicated and his wasn't either. You know what he meant by that? You know what he meant by that?
His idea of sanctification, his idea of holiness was this. Touch
not. Taste not. Wear not. Smile not. Enjoy not. Always look like you're sucking
on a lemon. The more sour and miserable you
look, the more holy you are. That's not sanctification. That's
not sanctification. Paul answered that question in
Romans 7 when he cried out, who shall deliver me from the body
of this death? He answered that in the very
next verse, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. In 1 Corinthians 1 and 30 he
wrote, but of him, of God, are you in Christ Jesus? who of God
has made in us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption,
that according as it is written, he that glorious, let him glory
in the Lord. Look at the last verse here in
2 Corinthians 5 and 21. Paul said, for he, that is God,
hath made him, Jesus Christ, sin for us. With this certain
glorious result, Christ who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. The very righteousness of God
in Him. The other thing that Paul speaks
of here, not only being absent from the body, he says, but present
with the Lord. Oh, now I'm in deep water. If
I've struggled up to this point, what am I going to do now? Present
with the Lord. Paul says he would rather be
absent here below and to be present above with his Lord and Savior. That's what he said in Philippians
1. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart
and to be with Christ, which is far better, far, far better,
is what he wrote. Because Paul knew that the very
moment His life here was over. He would be in the presence of
his blessed Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the
Lord told the dying thief, didn't he, on the cross. That dying
man looked at the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord had opened his
heart. Oh, what an evidence of God's
sovereign grace. And he said, Lord, remember me.
Remember me. I'm ready to leave this world.
I'm leaving this world. I'm dying. Very soon, I'm going
to go out into eternity. Lord, would you remember me?
And what was true concerning the thief is true of you and
I. We're dying. We're dying men and women. Very
soon, we're going to leave this world. We're going to go out
into eternity and face a holy God. Oh, my soul. No wonder the
thief said, oh, remember me. Oh, don't forget me. Please remember
me. And the Lord answered, today
you'll be with me in purgatory. No, no, no. No, he didn't say
that, did he? That whole lie was invented by
the Catholic Church for the sole purpose of making money off of
poor, grieving, deceived souls who had lost a loved one. And
they invented that so if they would pay the priest, they would
pray him out of their so-called purgatory. I read one little
deity that said this, as soon as the coin in the coffer rings,
another soul from purgatory springs. Not so. No, the Lord Jesus Christ
told that dying thief this. Verily. Truthfully, truthfully,
count on it, live on it, die on it. Verily I say unto you,
today, today, you're going to be with me in paradise today. You're going to enter heaven
with me. I'm going back to the Father's house and I'm taking
you with me. And you're going to walk arm
in arm with me as a trophy of my mighty grace and my redeeming
work. Today you're going to be with
me. Oh, imagine that. With me in paradise. Your soul
won't sleep in the grave. Like with your body, like the
so-called Jehovah's Witnesses say, it won't float around in
purgatory for so much time. No, the day you're going to be
with me, the very moment a child of God closes his eyes to this
world and he opens them in that other world, he'll awake in the
presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. The bride must be with her bridegroom. In 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul said,
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning
them which are asleep, that you sorrow not, even as others which
have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus
died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus
will God bring with him. He'll bring them with him because
they're with him now. They're with him now. It's the
body that will be raised. It's the body that's in the grave.
Oh, but the spirit of the child of God is with the Lord Jesus
Christ now. He says, and then that we which
are alive and remain shall be changed and be caught up to meet
the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Present
with the Lord. What can that compare to? How
do you illustrate that? present with the Lord, whatever
else heaven may reveal to us. This will be the most glorious
revelation of all. We shall see him. We shall look
Mark in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, just as truly,
just as real, just as literal as I'm looking at you now. Job
said, I shall see him as he is, with these eyes. Not another,
for myself, I shall see Him, the King in His beauty. I remember
years ago, I was in the hospital to have surgery, and I'd never
been in the hospital before. I think I was 12 years old or
so. I wasn't even born in the hospital.
I was born at home, but my mother was there by my bed before they
took me down for surgery. She said, Larry, don't be afraid.
I was scared. She said, Larry, don't be afraid.
It'll be over before you know it. And when you wake up, I'm
going to be right here. Jesus Christ says to every one
of his own, every believing sinner, every chosen, redeemed sinner,
when you close your eyes, don't you be afraid. When you walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, as we're doing now,
don't be afraid. When you close your eyes and
you wake up, I'll be right here. That's why Paul says he would
rather be absent from the body than to be present with the Lord,
in glory with Christ himself. Every time I've visited a very
ill brother or sister in Christ, where I pastor and other places. Those who have suffered for a
good while, they've always said to me, Lurie, I want this to
be over. I'm tired. I want to go home. I want to go home. I'm tired
of the struggle. And usually it's not too long
after that The Lord comes to them and says, well now, you've
dwelt here long enough. You've suffered long enough.
It's time to come home. It's time to come with me to
the Father's house. Here's the last thing. Look at
verse 9 here in 2 Corinthians 5. Paul tells believers that having
this blessed hope, this promise from our great God and Savior,
wherefore we labor. that whether present or absent,
we may be accepted of Him. That's why the Lord spoke like
this. Labor not for that meat that will perish, but for that
meat, that bread, that shall endure to everlasting life. Strive,
the Lord said, strive, to enter in at the straight gate. No man
that doesn't deny himself and take up his cross and follow
me, He said, no man can be my disciple who doesn't. Oh, to
be accepted of Him, Paul said. While we live and when we die,
to be found in Him. Oh, to know Him. As I said at
the beginning, what else matters? What else will matter? To hear
Christ say, enter into the joy prepared for you from the foundation
of the world. Welcome home. Welcome home. In the last chapter, of Don's
book, Going Home, after beginning with this verse
from Isaiah 35. And the ransom of the Lord shall
return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon
their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Don wrote, what is
it that makes heaven such an excellent place? It is the soul-satisfying
vision of God that we have there in the person of His dear Son,
our Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ, in all His glory. There
we shall see God face to face. It is written, they shall see
His face. What could be more excellent and glorious? What
could be more rewarding and honoring? What could be more joyous and
satisfying? Here we see Christ dimly as through
a glass darkly. There we shall see him face to
face. What will the bride's thoughts
be when Christ first takes her in his arms? Who can imagine
such things? This is my beloved. He has brought
me into his banqueting house. His banner over me is love. You've heard the story, I'm sure,
about dear Fannie Crosby, who wrote so many of our good hymns.
You have many in your hymn book. As you know, she was blind. A
preacher visited her one day, and he said, I think it's sad.
I think it's sort of a shame that God blessed you with so
many gifts, so many talents, that he didn't grant you sight.
And she said, let me tell you something. If I had one prayer
to pray when I was born, it would be this, that God would have
made me blind. And that preacher scratched his
head and said, dude, what? Why would you say such a thing?
She said, because when I get to heaven, the first thing that
I'm going to see is the face of Jesus Christ. She wrote, someday my earthly
house shall fall. I cannot tell how soon it will
be, but this I know, my all in all, has now a place in heaven
for me. And I shall see, O child of God, recite the words
with me in your heart. And I shall see, face to face,
and tell the story saved by, I shall see him face to face,
and tell the story saved by grace. Let me close with these words
from Revelation chapter 7. Revelation 7 verse 13. And one of the elders answered,
saying unto me, What are these which are radiant white robes?
And whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou
knowest. And he said to me, These are
they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed
their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore,
are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night
in his temple. And he that sitteth on the throne
shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither
thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them, nor any
heat. For the Lamb which is in the
midst of the throne shall feed them. and shall leave them under
living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes. 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. Thus when the Christian pilgrim
views, by faith his mansion in the skies, the sight his fainting
strength renews and wins his speed to reach the prize, the
thought of home his spirit cheers, no more he grieves for troubles
past, nor any future trial he fears, so he may safe arrive
at last. Tis there, he says, I am to dwell
with Jesus in the realms of day. Then I shall bid my care's farewell,
and my Lord shall wipe all my tears away. What a day that will
be. God bless you, God bless you.
Been a delight to be with you this morning. Lord bless you.