I invite you this morning to
turn back with me to 2 Corinthians, this time chapter 5. My subject this morning and the
title of my message is absent from but present with. There is a reality that everybody
in this place needs to come to grips with. It is appointed unto
men once to die, but after that, the judgment. There is no certain age given
in the scripture concerning our death. We're simply told that
in Adam all die, all die. It is an accepted fact that men
and women of all ages die, die. Some right after conception.
My oldest daughter had several miscarriages, died. died before they were ever born. Some right after conception,
some in conception, some in their prime, and some in their old
age, but all die. All die. They die because of the sin of
our federal head, Adams. It says, There's sin entered
by one man and death by sin, and so death passed upon all
men. If you're wondering why all men
die, it's because of sin. Sin entered and death by sin. If there were no sin, there would
be no death. We had people in the church I
was raised in who professed that they reached a state of sinless
perfection. Had they attained to a sinless
perfection, they would not have died. If there were no sin, there'd
be no death. Death is the result of sin. And
the Scripture said, the soul that sinneth shall surely die. There's no possibility that man
is going to discover some way for fallen man to live forever. I still take Kathy over to the
hospital for MRIs and over to the cancer doctor, and there's
just tons of literature laying around in the waiting room to
read. Most of that literature is about
their new discoveries and their new cures and their new hope
and all of these things. But in all of these things, if
the truth be known, what they're looking for is something that'll
cure everything so that man can live forever. Man's not going
to live forever. He's not going to live forever
because death is appointed to men. It's an appointment. It's appointed to man. And it's
appointed by the sovereign God of glory, and we shall keep this
appointment. Now the question is, if a man
die, shall he live again? That's the question. There's
no question about whether or not you're going to die. You're
going to die. You're going to die. If death is the judgment of God
against sin, what's to become of me should I die? We're going to have to come to
grips with this because we're all going to die. Only a fool
would ignore this. We're going to have to come to
grips with it. Well, the scripture says, after that, the judgment. Now, let me tell you something
about this judgment. This judgment is not to determine
who shall be saved and who shall be damned. That was determined
a long time ago. That was determined a long time
ago. I want you to turn with me to
Romans chapter 5. I want you to read this for yourselves
out of God's holy word. Romans chapter 5. I quoted some of this to you
a few moments ago, but I want you to read it. Romans chapter
5, let's look at verse 12. Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men, for that all have sinned. It's not just the fact that Adam
sinned is the reason why God's going to kill us. God's going
to kill us because we're all sinners. We're all sinners. We're not going to be judged
for what Adam did. We're going to be judged for what we do.
But we do what we do because of our father Adam. We inherited
his nature, his fallen nature. I'm told here in verse 14 of
this same chapter that this death reigned from Adam to Moses, even
over them who had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's
transgression, who is a figure of him that was to come. That
is, Adam is a figure of Christ in that Adam was a federal head,
and Christ shall also be a federal head. Verse 14 is talking about Those
who have not sinned after the similitude, Adam had a commandment
from God, and he knowingly, willingly rejected that commandment and
did what he wanted to do. But everybody that died, this
death that reigned, everybody that died didn't do that same
thing. This is talking about, I believe, the mentally impaired.
It's talking about infants and small children. Disease and disaster and death
do not ignore the young. This world was full of children
when God destroyed it with a flood. It was covered with children.
God destroyed it with a flood. Sodom and Gomorrah was full of
children when God rained down fire and brimstone on them. You do not have to sin after
the similitude of Adam to deserve death. Now, there are several
verses here, but I want you to read carefully with me verse
18. This is one of the clearest verses
in the chapter. Romans 5, verse 18. Therefore,
as by the offense of one, judgment, came upon all men to condemnation. That is, mankind and Adam has
already been tried. He's already been convicted.
He's already been condemned. That's why my children and yours
and my children's children and yours will go astray as soon
as they be born speaking lies. We have a fallen, depraved nature
which is inherited from our father Adam. We are, Paul said, carnal,
sold under sin. This great apostle, this man
who wrote nearly half the New Testament, said this concerning
his flesh, his sinful flesh, that old nature that he inherited
from Adam. He said, in me, that is, in my
flesh, dwelleth no good thing. Now, there's no reason in the
flesh why I should have any apprehension about judgment, because in my
flesh dwelleth no good thing. And I'm telling you this, in
your flesh, if you're looking to your flesh, you're looking in an empty box. You're looking in a great black
hole without a bottom. There's nothing in your flesh
to justify you before holy God. Nothing whatsoever. We were tried,
we were judged, we were condemned, and we died in Adam. Verse 24, he calls himself this
over in Romans 7. Paul calls himself this. He said,
O wretched man that I am. Can you say that this morning?
Say it in truth. Say it from your heart. Can you
look to God where you sit and cry out in sincerity, O wretched
man that I am? Who shall deliver me? Now listen
to this. Here's another description of
it. Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Actually, if you read Romans
5 carefully, you'll see two prominent figures concerning all mankind
and how judgment came and how life is dispensed. Verse 18,
therefore, as by the offense of one, judgment came upon all
men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one,
the free gift came upon all men to justification of life. Verse
19, for as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by
the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Verse 20,
moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound. It
didn't fertilize the garden of sin, but what he's saying here
is that it abounded in that it made our sin, it made our flesh,
it made our rebellion against God. It abounded that knowledge. It brought that knowledge to
light. Paul said, I'd not known that
lust was a sin except it says thou shalt not lust. The law
judges us. The law brings hidden things
to light. But where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound. Where did sin abound? It abounded
in the hearts of men who thought they could keep the law. It abounded in men who were judged
by the law and exposed as sinners. How did grace abound? It abounded
in one man who honored and exalted the law, who did all that the
law demanded. He alone exalted the law, and
he alone is the end of the law for righteousness to every one
that believeth. Every man born of Adam's seed,
represented in Adam as their federal head, has the sentence
of death passed on him by his father Adam. And sin reigns in
him unto death. What are you saying, preacher?
I'm saying if everything stays as it is, if it continues as
it is, if grace is not extended, if God does not in mercy intervene,
that man will live out his days walking according to the course
of this world. He'll be He'll be a citizen. He'll be an average man in this
world, and he'll live out all his days according to their principles
and according to their philosophies and according to their hope.
He'll live out all his days according to the course of this world.
And in doing that, he'll live out his days according to the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now worketh in
the hearts of the disobedient. There's only one hope for fallen
sinners, and that is by the sovereign mercy and grace of God in Christ. God did not leave all men to
themselves. He chose a people in His Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ, whom He appointed as the federal head
and representative of a people. Read it in the Word of God. God
chose them in Christ to be blessed Out of this cursed race, out
of this fallen lump of humanity, by the same lump, isn't that
what he says over in Romans chapter 9? He made one vessel unto honor
and another unto dishonor. And if you read on in Romans
chapter 9, you'll find out that those vessels of honor were aforeprepared
unto glory. God chose a people. not by anything
that he saw in them, not in anything that he foresaw in them. He chose
that people for reasons known only to himself, found only in
himself. And he chose them in Christ to
be blessed. I was sitting in my study thinking, How is it that you come to know
these things? I just finished some conversations
with some loved ones on the phone who don't know Christ. And I
listened to them say a few words in this direction or that direction.
And I just thought to myself, how is it that you know these
things? It's by the grace of God. And
if you dig a little bit and you go back to the source, you're
going to find out that God chose a people in Christ to be blessed. What's that mean? Does that mean
they're going to be rich? Does that mean they're going
to be smarter than everybody else? What's that mean, blessed?
All spiritual blessings. That's what that means. All of
them. He's not going to withhold any of them from you. God chose
a man, Christ, to be blessed with all spiritual blessings,
all the blessings of grace and mercy, life and wisdom, redemption
and justification. Why would God do that? For the
glory of His name. And because God ordained these
things in Christ, He moved to create all things by His sovereign
mediator, and He gave into His hands, into the hands of Christ,
all things concerning His eternal purpose of grace. We trust in
Him who first trusted in Christ. And there was this in whom you
also trusted after you heard the word of truth, but God first
trusted in Him. What did God trust in him? Everything. Everything. What's being played out in the
history of creation is not the evolution of the world, but the
manifestation of the free grace of God in Christ. The sustaining
of creation, the ordering of providence, and the destruction
of this world is not in the hands of man. Men's hearts one day will fail
them worrying about the ozone. If there's an ozone, it's those
men who talk about the ozone. Zero. The sustaining of creation, the
ordering of providence, and the destruction of this world is
not in the hands of men, but in the hands of Jesus Christ
the Lord. This place is going nowhere until
he's done with everything trusted him by the Father. And then he'll
wind it up. He'll wind it up. It won't go
one more day. And the old zone won't have anything
to do with it. When God's elect have all been
called out, God shall, as He has before declared, come suddenly,
suddenly, without expectation, like a thief in the night. He's
going to come suddenly. But He's not going to come unseen
or secretly. But He's going to come in all
the glory of His Father's house. Suddenly, He's going to come.
And the heavens and the earth shall melt away, and its works
burned up as just useless garbage. All right, preacher. Let's just
say for argument's sake that what you're saying's so. How
can a fallen, condemned son of Adam have any idea if he's one of
God's elect. Now, it's one thing like the
Apostle Paul to look out and say, I know your election of
God, and talk about somebody else. But I'm not talking about
somebody else. I'm talking about you. What I
know ain't going to do you any good unless God makes you know.
And that's my question. How can a fallen, condemned son
of Adam determine if he's one of God's elect and that he's
been set apart for these spiritual blessings, and that in time he
shall be blessed. How does he know that? How can
he know that? Turn with me to 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2. Is there some way that a man
born blind, born deaf, in total ignorance, to know his election
of God? Absolutely. Absolutely. 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 13. Having stated clearly this world's ignorance and fall
under the influence of Antichrist and all of these things, having
stated all these things, talking about even the reprobate, whom God gave up. He gave them
over to strong delusion. He sent strong delusion that
they should believe a lie and be damned. And then he says in
verse 13, 2 Thessalonians 2, But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Now, are you listening? Are you reading this for yourself?
It's not something I'm saying. It's something God's saying. Verse 14, whereunto He called
them. No, that ain't what that says.
He called you by our Gospel. What did He call you to do? Listen
to this, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. He unveiled to your blind heart
the glory of God in the face of His Son. And you obtained
it. You obtained it because it was
given to you. You obtained it because He enabled
you to. And you obtained it because you
saw it, and understood it, and realized the importance of it,
and realized the beauty of it, and realized the glory of God's
grace in it, and you laid hold of it and embraced Him. And it
become yours. Huh? Isn't that what this is? The Pharisees said, we'd be children
of Abraham. Don't talk down to us. Don't
tell us about being sinners. We're not born of fornication.
We'd be Abraham's children. And I don't remember who told
him this, whether it was the Lord, or John the Baptist, or
who it was. But whichever it was, they turned and they said
to him, well, God could raise up sons to Abraham out of them
rocks. He could raise up sons to Abraham
out of those rocks. It's not a matter. You know,
when I preach God's eternal election, when I preach particular redemption,
when I preach those things to men, they shake their head and
they go out the door and they say, oh, that's just, he's crazy. That's not fair. How could that
be fair? How could that be just? How could that be righteous? It's not a matter. That man puts
God in a box. because he preaches the necessity
of gospel preaching and the new birth. He puts God in a box. I'm not trying to put God anywhere. It's not a matter of could. God
could raise up children out of those rocks to Abraham, but will
he? You see, that's what we've got
to find out. What did God will to do? What did God will to do? It's
not a matter of could. With God, all things are possible.
It's a matter of will. And the scripture says, now listen
to it, of his own will begat he us with the word of truth. That's how God decided to do
it, and that's how God does it. And the verses just before this
say that all these blessings, that comes down from the Father
of lights, with whom is no bearableness, neither shadow of turning." He's
not going to change. God's will remains the same.
He said, I'm God. Beside me, there is none else.
I declare the end from the beginning. Why? Because I'm unchangeable.
That's why. And because I'm sovereign, and
because I control everything in between. The Scripture said it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. And
David said God does as He pleases. He does it in heaven, He does
it in earth, He does it in all deep places because He's God. The sanctification of the Spirit
is how faith is given to God's elect. They hear. Blessed are your ears, for they
hear. Why didn't everybody hear? How
come them Sadducees and Pharisees didn't hear? How come when I
come in here, some of this congregation is hanging on every word and
the rest of them are counting the cracks in the ceiling or
whatever they're doing. I don't know what they're doing. Sanctification of the spirit
is how faith is given to God's elect. They hear. They submit. You try to get an old rebel sinner
to submit. You couldn't do it. I don't think
if you took a black snake whip to him, you could make him submit.
He ain't going to submit. That carnal mind is enmity against
God. It's not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can it be. He hates God. He'll do anything.
He'll crawl on broken glass. He'll go up steps. He'll beat
himself with a cat-of-nine-tails. He'll do anything else that you
tell him to do except what God tells him to do, and he ain't
going to do that. Ain't going to do that. They hear. They submit. And by the grace of God, they
understand. I'll tell you, first time I heard
this, I thought, that don't make any sense at all. Then God opened
my mind and heart to see it. And that makes perfect sense
to me. I understand it. I understand it. And I'll tell
you what else he enables them to do. Believe. Believe. Did you know that's God's gift?
That's the gift of God's grace for a man to believe. Looks like
if he read it in the Word of God, that'd be good enough. You can read it to him all day
long. Pharisees could quote it. They could tell you when a comma
wasn't in the right place or it wasn't punctuated right. They
could tell you. They transcribed this book by
hand. They knew it inside and out. But they wouldn't come to
Christ that they might have life. They believe. And I'm going to tell you something.
Election will be the sweetest doctrine you ever heard when
you understand something about your fall in Adam. It'll be the,
oh, my goodness. God did not leave us in Adam. But he chose to save some. By way of divine covenant union,
God chose us in Christ and made us one with him. And as our federal
head and representative, he took our place. Before the holy law
of God, he was made of a woman, made under the law. And this
grand and glorious one, who being in the form of God, who thought
it not robbery to be equal with God, made himself of no reputation,
took on him the form of a servant, Jehovah's servant, the one who
cannot say, took upon him the form of the servant, and was
made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself and become obedient unto death. even the death of the cross. The scripture said, it became
Him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing
many sons to glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect
through sufferings. He's not talking here about Christ
being made perfect in His nature. He was perfect before He ever
become a man. He was already perfect in nature
and equal with God, but to make himself a perfect Savior and
a perfect Redeemer. To be a perfect Savior and Redeemer,
he must obey God's law with a continual, unbroken, perfect obedience out
of pure love for God. And he did. To be a perfect Savior,
He must bear our sins and His own body on the tree and satisfy
to the fullest extent of God's glorious, perfect justice. He must satisfy that justice. And to be a perfect Savior, He
must become one with our nature. So He can be touched with the
feelings of our infirmities. You know, when you, I don't know
if you realize this even, but when you pray and you're, whatever it is you're experiencing
at the time, He can enter into it. He can enter into it. You're not praying to, Someone
who can't be touched with the feelings of your infirmities.
He knows he was a man. To be a perfect Savior, he must,
by his own hand, enable God to be just and justify all that
believe. And to be a perfect Savior, he
must, as our high priest, live forever. to ensure that we shall
never fall again. That's a perfect Savior. There are two things which content
and comfort dying sinners. I said all that to say this,
going back now to our text. There's two things which comfort
dying sinners, sinners tormented in this world, sinners traveling
through the wilderness of sin. These two things. The first,
Paul said, is seeing Him who is invisible. Seeing Him who
is invisible. Understanding who He is. What
He did. Why He must become a man. Why
He ascended back into glory. Understanding these things. Seeing
Him who is invisible and knowing the glory that shall follow. That will comfort you. no matter
what you're going through. What do dying sinners know by
the grace of God? Well, they know that these bodies
are fleshly tabernacles of dust. That's what we know. Do you know
that? I'll tell you, when I was young, I didn't know that. I
thought I was six foot tall and bulletproof. I didn't think anything
would kill me. I thought I could run around in the snow in my
gym shorts and it wouldn't hurt me one bit, and it did. We live in fleshly tabernacles
of dust. From dust thou was taken and
under dust thou shalt return. We live in what the scriptures
call a tabernacle, a tent, just a temporary house. It's a tent. We live in this tent, even though
we've been blessed with all spiritual blessings, because something
better awaits us. I tell you, if you really want
to know what that term means, you read the book of Hebrews.
That's the theme of Hebrews, something better. Something better. The tabernacle. It was a glorious
tent. Was it not? We studied it in
the book of Exodus. It was a glorious tent. God sanctified
that tent by His presence. He came into it. The Shekinah
glory of God glowed from the door of that tent. But it was
a tent because something better was already purposed. The tabernacle
did not continue once the temple was erected. They got rid of
the tent. And the temple did not continue, but when the real temple was
raised, They got rid of the old temple. And this body is called
a tent because its purpose is just temporary. Faith views death
like Israel of old viewed living in the desert in a tent. That's
exactly how faith views this life. It says, by faith, over
in Hebrews chapter 11, the faith chapter, listen to this. By faith,
Abraham sojourned in the land of promise, dwelling in tabernacles,
tents, with Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him, looking
all the while for a city with foundations, whose builder and
maker is God. I remember the first time Kathy
and I went camping. My oldest daughter was real young.
And we went out to Greenbow State Park up in Kentucky. And I bought
a new tent and we went out there and we stretched that thing out
on the grass and the sun was shining and the breeze was blowing.
It was just beautiful. And we had big visions of fishing
and camping and all the memories of my childhood came back to
me. And we went out there and we had one of the biggest gully
washers you've ever seen. And it washed us right out of
the tent. Sleeping bags, little cook stove,
everything went right out the door. We spent the rest of the night
in the car. And all the while I was out there,
I was thinking about my nice, warm, comfortable house and how
I'd love to be back in it. You understand what I'm saying
to you? We're living in a tent. It's leaky. It's prone to floods. It's prone to be moth-eaten.
It's prone to disease. It's prone to death. But if this thing be dissolved,
we have a building not made with hands eternal in the heaven. And a man who knows the truth
about God's judgment in Adam and the truth about this wicked
world might be forced to live a while in a tent, but he don't
find much comfort in it. He surely don't. Paul said in
verse 4 of 2 Corinthians 5, we groan being burdened. We groan in this tent, don't
we? We don't groan to be unclothed. I don't groan to be a disembodied
spirit without any covering. But I groan to be clothed upon
with this new house. We long for mortality to be swallowed
up in victory. Don't you long for that? You
that believe on Christ, don't you long for that? Mortality is an irritation to
a believer. It's irritating to him. He longs to be done with it,
to lay it aside. And then he tells us, now he
that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also
hath given to us the earnest of his Spirit. And 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. We're not just going to be disembodied
spirits with no dwelling place. Our Lord tells us that in His
Father's house are many mansions. You know that the word mansion
is only mentioned one time in all the Bible? Right here. Right here, that's the only place,
John 14, 2, that's the only place it's mentioned, the word mansion.
But in the original, it's mentioned twice. It's mentioned twice. The same word interpreted mansion
in verse 2 is used in verse 23, the same exact word in the original. And it's interpreted there as
abode. He said, if a man love me, he'll
keep my words, and my Father will love him, and he will come
unto him, and we will make our abode with him. Whatever this mansion is, it
has to do with the abiding, welcome, affectionate presence of God. The tabernacle of old was but
a tent, yet it served as a place where God would meet with men,
and He sanctified that place by His Spirit. And as He comes
to us through the Spirit of the living God and makes His abode
with us, so we shall in death go to Him and make our abode
with Him." We're not going to be separated by death. I go, our Lord said, to make
a place for you. And if I go, I'll come again. And I'll receive you unto myself
that where I am, there you may be also. And to seal our hope
in Christ, He's given to us the earnest of His Spirit. And as
I've told you so often, the presence of God's Spirit is to reveal
Christ in us, Christ to us, and Christ for us. The Spirit of
God, as the earnest of our inheritance, enables us to see our Savior
and Redeemer as He is and to rejoice in Him. I was talking
to Brother Paul Mahan this past week, and we were talking about
different things, and we got on the subject of standing up
here behind this pulpit and looking out, and what do you look for
when you look? I said, I'll tell you what I look for. I look for
the man who rejoices in Christ, who rejoices in Christ, whose
house are we if we continue in the rejoicing, in the rejoicing. And that man of God, he continues.
He rejoices, but he looks forward to another time when even greater
rejoicing is going to take place, when this body of sin is cast
aside And He has that house not built with hands, eternal in
the heavens. Now, I'm getting to the age where
I can feel some of these things that these older people have
been talking to me about for years. And now I'm experiencing. I know what sometimes I forget. Now, why did I go in that room
to get, you know? I'm experiencing these things.
And I'll tell you, as I get older, it makes me think more on what
I just preached to you. We long for that new home. Long
to be done with this world. And you young people, this is
an exhortation to you. You've got to deal with these
things. Putting them on the table ain't
going to get rid of them. You're going to have to deal
with them. And right now is the time. Somebody's here to teach
you. Somebody here is to tell you.
Somebody's here to show you in the word of God what these things
are. So when you come here, come to pay attention, come to learn.
Could be God will grant you the grace to see these things and
believe them. Could be.