Would you turn to the second
Corinthians chapter five? I've been preaching loosely through
second Corinthians, not every week, but I've been looking at
this passage of scripture for a long time, four or five weeks
reading over it and thinking about it. And this week, I've
had two friends. That I've known for a long time
die. A quick death, both of them had
heart attacks and died instantly. They woke up morning like you
or I did this morning, had no idea that this was their last
day upon earth. And I want us to consider what
happens when a believer dies. What happens when a believer
dies? Now, the one thing that sure
You and I are going to die. It's just sure what happens when
the believer dies now, the Apostle Paul was a man of great trials. He said in verse seven of chapter
four, we have this treasure of the gospel in earthen vessels,
jars of clay, that the excellency of the power may be of God and
not of us. We are troubled on every side,
yet not distressed. We are perplexed but not in despair,
persecuted but not forsaken, cast down but not destroyed,
always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus,
that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. Now, he had one trial after another,
and he has this blessed assurance in verse 1 of chapter For we
know. This is not speculation, this
is not a hypothesis, this is not an educated guess. We know. I love that language. We know. Not we hope so. We know. We know that if our earthly house
of this tabernacle were dissolved, destroyed and we died, We know
that we have a building of God and house, not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens. Upon death, we have a building
of God. Now, we will not yet be in our
resurrected bodies, we will not be disembodied spirits floating
around. We'll have some kind of house
not made with hands awaiting us in heaven before the resurrection. And I think that that's what
I don't understand this. I mean, this is I'm reading what the
Bible says. Lord said in my father's house
are many mansions, many dwelling places. And I go and prepare
a place for you. That's the promise of our Lord,
and that's the reason we know, because our Lord tells us that.
Now, in the parable, it's not a parable, it's an actual event,
I believe, of the rich man and Lazarus. We find out that there's
a place where the believer goes, Abraham's bosom, and there's
a place the unbeliever goes, hell or Hades, immediately after
they die. We'll not be in our resurrected
bodies yet, but we'll have some kind of dwelling place and the
resurrection will take place when Christ returns. But let
me talk just for a few moments about the death of the believer. There are three words in the
scripture that describe the death of the believer. First, blessed. Blessed. Blessed are the dead. The world doesn't look that way,
does it? are the dead that die in the
Lord. What a blessed, blessed blessing. Best day of your life, if you're
a believer, will be the day of your death. Best day of your
life. And then we read in the Psalms,
precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his It's
a precious event to the Lord. You have a hard time of imagining
Him even being aware of you, but when every believer enters
glory, it's precious to the Lord. And then Paul said in Philippians
121, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Gain. A blessing. Now we're all going to die and
every one of us have some fear of death. Some fear of the unknown. And there's really nothing wrong
with that. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 2. Verse 14, For as much then as
the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also himself
likewise took part of the same, that through death, through his
death, he might destroy him that had the power of death, that
is, the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were
all their lifetime subject to bondage or afraid of dying, afraid
of the things associated with death. Now, I hope that this
message will help remove some of that fear. Now, first, regarding
this thing of death, the Lord died. That's an amazing thing
to think about, that the Lord Jesus Christ, him who is life,
died. Now, why did he die? There's
only one reason for death. Sin. That's the only reason. The sins of God's elect became
his. He became guilty of them. And
God, the just God, punished him. That's why there's death. But
why was he raised from the dead? Because of who he is, he made
full satisfaction to God. God was satisfied. His justice
was satisfied. His law was satisfied. When Christ
was raised from the dead, God said, I'm satisfied with what
He did. Now, the reason hell is eternal
is because no mere man could ever satisfy the justice of God.
That's why hell keeps going on forever. Justice is never satisfied. But because of the excellency
of Christ's person, He was able to satisfy the very justice of
God. And he was raised from the dead. He went into death before us
and he comes back out and he says to us, it's all right. It's all right, I've been there.
You see, the Lord removed the reason for fear of death. Now, what is the one reason that
you what's the main reason you fear death? It's not just because
you don't know what's going to happen or you don't know anything
about the unknown. The main reason we fear death is because of S-I-N-C. That's the reason we fear death.
If you don't have any sin, if you have nothing that you're
going to have to give an account before God for, you're not afraid
of death. What makes us afraid of death is sin. But you know
what the Lord Jesus Christ did? He put away my sin. So it is no more. Now once in the end of the world
had he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
Did he do it? Oh, beloved, when he said it
is finished, the sins of all of God's elect were washed away
once for all. That's when my sin was put away. When Christ said it is finished,
when he died, my sin was put away. He satisfied God. I said this recently. The reason
that his body didn't decay was because the moment he died, complete
satisfaction was made. Now, the reason for fear is gone. There's nothing to fear. And
the Lord changed the character of physical death for the believer.
It's called sleep. That's the way the believer's
death is always described. It's described as sleep. He says,
Lazarus sleep and we'll go wake him up. And that's what he was
talking about in raising from the dead. Now, death is not the
end. Understand this. Death is not
the end. Death is the beginning. Upon death, we will go immediately
into this house, not made with hands, and we will be done with
sin. You know, I can't even imagine
what that means. To be done with sin. Now, he says in verse two. For
in this talking about this body. Paul called it in Romans chapter
seven, the body of this death. Oh, wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from this body of death? That's the language
of the apostle. For in this we groan. Unexpressed sorrow. In this body of flesh, while
we're living right now, even with the hope we have in Christ,
in this we groan. And there is so much sorrow in
this flesh. You know that as well as I do.
Sickness. Disease. Old age. mental and emotional problems,
conflict and hurt feelings in relationships, separation, isolation,
loneliness, and the big problem is the problem of sin. The problem
of sin. Paul said, I know that in me
that is in my flesh, that's the body he's speaking of, dwelleth
no good thing. Now, for in this body We groan,
we're sorrowful, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house,
which is from heaven. Now, I don't have any doubt that
he's talking about being clothed with the very righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we're clothed with the righteousness
of Christ now. I had his very righteousness, but I don't feel
it. As far as my experience goes,
I don't feel perfectly righteous. I am perfectly righteous. In
Christ, I am. But I don't feel it. But I'll
tell you what, when I go into glory, I'll feel it. I'll experience it. I'll experience
what it means to be utterly without sin and perfectly righteous. Now, for in this, we've grown
earnestly desiring to be clothed upon. with our house, which is from
heaven. We desire to be in heaven with
Christ. Now, I desire, I'm appreciative of life. I'm thankful for my
home, for my family, for my relationship with you. I'm appreciative of
life. And I enjoy life. I really do. I'm thankful. I'm
thankful for my relationships. I'm thankful for the people the
Lord has blessed me to know. What a blessing to have friends
like this. That being said, I want out of here. I do. I want out
of here. I want to get away from my sin.
I want to get away from the conflict that's involved. I want out of
here. You do too. You do too. But it's
not just because I want out of here. It's because I want to
see His face. That's why I want out of here.
I want to behold the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. David
said, ask for me. I'll behold thy face in righteousness. Not having my head down in shame,
but I'll behold his face in utter righteousness. I'll be satisfied
when I awake in thy likeness. Now, in this we groan. We're earnestly desiring to be
clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven. If so,
that being clothed, we shall not be found naked. Now that's
what we want. We want to be clothed. And that
clothing is the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to be clothed in him.
When he shall come with trumpet sound, O may I then in him be
found, dressed in his righteousness alone, false to stand before
God's holy throne. Now, that's our desire. We desire
to be clothed. The only I can say this with
honesty. My only desire is to be found
in Christ. That's it. Simply to have His
righteousness. Now say your desire, when God
looks in your heart, does He see someone who only wants to
be found in Christ? And when He looks in my heart,
that is what He sees, because that's all I want. I want to
be clothed with the Lord Jesus Christ. He says in verse 4, For we that are in this tabernacle,
this tent, this dwelling place, this body of ours, do groan. Once again, being burdened. Being pressed down. Being weighed down. The problems associated with
being a sinner. is a burden. I think of the burden
of feeling the guilt of sin. I think of the burden of the
fear of the unknown. I think of the burden of anxiety
regarding the future. The burden of living in this
sickened, cursed world with all the problems that are associated
with sin. The burden of conflict and misunderstanding with fellow
sinners. We've grown being It's a burden to be here, isn't
it? Now, it's a blessing. It's a blessing. Don't you love
being alive when the Lord enables you to simply trust Christ and
you have nothing else to fear? That's a blessing. It's also
true, that doesn't last very long, does it? Pretty soon you're
groaning and feeling burdened. It's a burden to be here. For in this we groan, being burdened. Not that we should be unclothed,
but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now, this mortal existence, subject
to decay and death. Oh, that it may be swallowed
up. I love that language. Swallowed up of life. Being with
Christ, beholding his glory, being just like him, being perfectly
conformed to his image, having his character with no more trouble,
no more tears, no more trials and no more sin, nothing but
pleasure beyond description. Can somebody remind me why we
want to stay here? Why? Mortality, swallowed up life,
life is not here. This is not life. This is this
is existence. But one of these days we're going
to understand. You know, when the Lord, remember when the Lord
said he talked about it's better to have one hand when you enter
into life, he called it life, than two hands to be cast into
hellfire and bring it down. But he said that's when you enter
into life. That is life. Verse five. Now, he that hath wrought us
for the selfsame thing as God, Now, what do you mean by this? Why is it that I earnestly desire
to get out of here and be in the Lord's presence? Well, most
people don't feel that way. Most people don't want to die.
Most people would be plumb happy to stay right here for eternity. And I had this desire to be out
of here. Well, you know why? God made
me that way. He that hath wrought us for this
is God. This is his work. It's his work
in us that causes us to be like that. Turn over to John chapter
17. This is the Lord's great high
priestly prayer for his people. He says in verse six. John chapter 17, verse six, I
have manifested thy name. unto the men which thou gavest
me out of the world. Thine they were, and thou gavest
them me, and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that
all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have
given unto them the words which thou gavest me, and they have
received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee,
and they have that thou didst send me." I do too. I believe
right with him. He says, I pray for them. I pray
not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, the
elect. For they are thine, and all mine
are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them, and
now I am no more in the world. I am leaving this place, just
like we desire, but these are in the world, and I come to Holy
Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given
me, that they may be one as we are. While I was with them in
the world, I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gavest
me I have kept, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition,
that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. And now come I to
thee, and these things I speak in the world, that they might
have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them thy word, and
the world This place they want to get out of, have hated them
because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. You see, my existence didn't
begin in this world. I've always been united to the
Lord Jesus Christ. I've always been one with him. And just as he is not of this
world, this is true of every believer. We are not of this
world. Now, he says, I pray not that
thou should take them out of the world, but thou that thou
should keep them from evil. They are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. Why is it that we want out of
here? in the city. Now, I look at John
Walton, he's ready to get married. He doesn't want to get out of
here. I realize that. You want to enjoy marriage life. I understand that. There's nothing
wrong with that. Y'all feel that way. I can wait
20, 30, 50 years before I die. I understand that. But still,
that being said, we still all want out of the world. Because
we want to be in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
want to be delivered from sin. And the reason we feel that way
is because he's made us that way. Turn back to Second Corinthians,
Chapter five, because you think about how many people are going
after this world with everything they've got, trying to get more
and more. This is a great desire. And yet you want out of here.
Why is that? Why is that? Well, here's why. Verse five.
Now, he that hath wrought us for this same thing, this desire
to be clothed upon, is God, who has also given unto us the earnest
of the Spirit, the down payment of the Spirit. The reason I know
I'll be in heaven is because I have the earnest. I've got
the Holy Spirit. Well, how do you know you have the Holy Spirit? Because
I believe the Gospel. Actually, I know I have the Holy Spirit.
I believe the Gospel. So I've been born of the Spirit.
I've got the earnest, the pledge, the down payment of eternal glory. And that is the possession of
every believer. And look what he says in verse
six. Therefore, we are always confident. Knowing that whilst
we are home in the body. We are absent from the Lord. Now, we're always confident because
salvation is God's work. There's my confidence. It's not
confidence in my flesh. It's not confident in my ability.
It's confidence that salvation is of the Lord. It really is
all by grace. And I have his spirit. Therefore,
we're confident. We're always confident knowing
that while we're in this body, we're absent from the immediate
presence of Christ for verse seven, for we walk by faith.
And not by sight. I can't see my justification. I believe it, though. I walk
by faith, not by sight. Look what he says in the last
two verses of chapter four. He 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, here's what we
look at, not at things which are seen, but at things which are not seen.
to the things which are seen and temporal, but the things
which are not seen are eternal. Now, I want to talk for a few
moments about our walk before we enter glory. We have a walk. Every believer has a walk. He's
called upon to walk that way. That's our life. Our life in
this world before we enter glory. We walk by faith. Let me give
you some other scriptures about our walk. 42 says we walk in
the steps of that faith of our father Abraham. Now, what was
the faith of our father Abraham? God said something to him and
he believed what he said. Is it that simple? Yes. God says,
Abraham, look at the stars. Can you count them? So shall
your seed be. And Abraham believes God. He had no evidence that what
God said was going to be true. He didn't have any children.
Sarah was already dead in her womb, but he believed God. We walk in that faith, believing
what God has said. In Romans 8-1, we read, There
is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Those who
are in Christ don't walk after the flesh. They walk after the
spirit. Now, what does that mean? Does
that mean when you're doing real well, you're kind of walking
in a spiritual manner and then you kind of go back down and
walk in the flesh and then when you start doing better, you start
walking in the spirit and kind of go in between one ear? Doesn't
mean that at all. If you have the Holy Spirit,
if you're a believer, you walk in the spirit, looking to the
Lord Jesus Christ That's what you do if you're a believer.
That is walking in the spirit. Walking in the flesh is to look
to your flesh in some way, as some reason, as to why God would
have anything to do with you. If you find anything in your
flesh, anything you do that you think would recommend you to
God's favor, you're walking in the flesh. To walk in the spirit
is to look to Christ only. Nothing more. Nothing less. and nothing else, looking to
him only. In Ephesians chapter 2, verse
10, we read that we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk
in them. Turn to Galatians chapter 6. Verse 16. And as many as walk according
to this rule. Here's the believers rule of
life. Here's the believers standard of measurement. You know, I've
heard people talk about, well, our rule of life is the law.
Well, here's what Paul tells us our rule of life is. As many
as walk according to this rule, peace be on them and mercy upon
the Israel of God. Well, what rule are you talking
about, Paul? Look in verse 14. Here's our rule of life. But
God forbid. That I should glory. Saving the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. I don't glory in my preaching.
I don't glory in the fact that I wrote the Bible and he wrote
14 books. I don't glory in the fact that God has used me more
than any other man. And Paul was the wise master
builder, wasn't he? I mean, Paul. Wow. I love Paul. But Paul said,
God forbid that I glory in any of that. The only thing I'm to
glory The only thing that I'm to have confidence in and rejoice
in and rest in and find assurance and comfort and safety in is
the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, what he accomplished on Calvary
Street. This is what I glory in. And
bless God, I do glory in this. When the Lord Jesus Christ said
it is finished, I was saved. That's what I glory in. And if you really believe that,
it'll affect your life like nothing else. It sure will. Look what he said. He said, by
whom the world is crucified under me. All the things that the world
finds so glamorous and glorious, I see it as worthless in light
of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, do you see such
glory in the cross that it makes the world lose its luster in
you? Oh, the cross of the Lord. And he also says, I'm crucified
to the world. The world doesn't like me either.
For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision avails anything,
your works nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as many
as walk according to this rule, peace be on them. Turn to Colossians
chapter 2. Now this is our walk. In this
world, before we enter glory, Colossians chapter 2, verse 6. And this is so important. May
God, the Holy Spirit, give us the grace to lay a hold of this.
As you have therefore received Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk
ye in him. Now, how'd you receive him? How'd you receive him? Now, I
know how I received the Lord Jesus Christ. I received him
as an empty-handed sinner with nothing to recommend me. I received
him in his freeness. I received him in his grace.
That's the way I received him. Now, as I received him, do I
graduate past that? Does it ever become different
for me? No. As I've received Christ Jesus, the Lord, in that
empty handed fashion as a sinner, needing his mercy. Thankful that
salvation was all of grace, that's the way I received him. Thankful
that his righteousness was the only righteousness. That's the
way I received him. Thankful that he shed blood, his complete,
sufficient atonement for my sin. That's how I received him. As
you receive Christ Jesus, the Lord. Walk in him. Walk lowly. Look in Ephesians chapter 4.
Turn back. Verse 1, I therefore, the prisoner
of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy. Walk worthy of the vocation or
the calling wherewith you are called with all lowliness, humility,
and meekness, believing that whatever God sends your way is
right and best because He's God, with long-suffering patience
because He's on the throne, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Now, that's
the worthy walk. Turn back to 2 Corinthians chapter
5. Paul repeats himself in verse
eight. We're confident and regarding
this thing of death. Regarding this thing of dying.
And we're talking about a time of being vulnerable and helpless.
I mean, when you're kind of like, there's one thing I like about
getting put to sleep. When you're being operated on,
you think this is what death is. You're so helpless. You're
so vulnerable. You're just in somebody else's
hands. Well, that's the way death is.
Here we die. But yet Paul says we're always confident. And he's
not just being like a little kid who says, I'm not scared
of anything. That's not what we're talking
about here. We're talking about a true and genuine confidence. Now,
what is it that would make someone always confident? I can tell
you. If the election of grace really
is unconditional. And God chooses me without any
reference to my works. If the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ really is sufficient to wash away all my sins. And because of his blood, I have
no sin. If God's grace really is saving,
irresistible and invincible, it's not an offer. It's not given
to me to use or reject. It's he uses me. I don't use
grace. Grace uses me. He saves me by
his grace. If salvation really is all by
the free, unmerited favor of God, and He causes His people
to persevere, I have confidence. There's my confidence. My confidence
is in Him. It's in Christ. He says we're
always confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from
the body and to be present with the Lord. Now what happens when
a believer dies? He's present with the Lord. Anything else? Lord, remember me when you come
in your kingdom. He said, Verily I say unto thee,
that this day Thou shalt be with me in paradise. Verse 9. What happens when a
believer dies? He's present with the Lord. I know people don't know what
to say about death, but people will be saying, well, they're
down there looking. Well, if they're in heaven, they're not looking
down here. They're not interested. I'll assure you, they're not
interested. Oh, they wouldn't. Why would they want to be looking
down here when they're beholding his face? They they they. But until they. Verse 9. Wherefore, we labor. Now that
word labor is actually this is our ambition. This is our goal. This is what we want more than
anything else. This is This is what we desire. Wherefore, we labor, that whether
present or absent, in the body or with him, here's all we want. We want to be accepted. And the
word is literally, well-pleasing. This is what I want. If I'm in
heaven, or if I'm here, I want to be well-pleasing. pleasing
to him. Now, I know, first of all, the
way I'm actually well pleasing to him is as I am in the Beloved. Ephesians 1, 6 says, He hath
made us accepted in the Beloved. And in the Beloved, I am well
pleasing to him. The Lord looks at me and He's
pleased. He's pleased with everything
about me in His Son. Do you remember when David committed
that great sin? Remember what the Lord said about
it? The thing David did displeased
the Lord. And that is what causes a believer
more trouble than anything else. The fact that what I have done
displeases the Lord. And I don't want to displease
the Lord. I want to please him. I want him to be pleased with
me. I want him to be pleased with my preaching. I want him
to hear my preaching and say, that's the truth. That's what
I have preached. I want him to be pleased with
my marriage. I want him to be pleased with
my job, what I do on the job. I want him to be pleased with
the way I conduct myself. Now, every believer is to be
ambitious about this. Don't you want the Lord to be
pleased with you? Because he sees you're somebody
who loves him, who loves him more than you love this world,
someone who desires likeness to him and to honor him and to
bring glory to him here on earth. Now, while we're here. Make this
your ambition. To be well, pleasing to him,
and the only way I know to start with something like that. As
I come into the Lord's presence and I know something about my
sinfulness and my propensity to sin and my weakness and my
intimacy, I say, Lord, here am I. Enable me by sovereign, irresistible,
invincible grace, grace that will not take no for an answer.
Enable me to be well-pleasing to you in everything that I do. May the Lord enable that to be
the ambition of every one of us. When you go to bed tonight,
believer, think, one of these days, I'm going
to wake up in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a
blessed thought. Let's pray.