Now we'll open our Bibles again
to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. I'll be speaking from this same
chapter tonight. The Lord willing, this morning
we're going to look at the first nine verses, and then tonight
the remaining verses in the chapter. the time of the message is present
or absent, accepted in him. Present or absent, accepted in
him. Now there are two things, two
outstanding things that support and comfort believers who are
in the furnace of affliction. And also these same two things
comfort and support believers who are getting older and whose
days are numbered on this earth, who are considering departure
from this earth in not too many days hence. As the Apostle Paul who said,
I am now ready to be offered the time of my departure is at
hand. I fought a good fight, I kept
the faith, I finished my course. And these two things are of special
meaning and strength and support and comfort for those two classes
of people who are going through great trouble and who anticipate
a soon home going. And they're found in chapter
4. Now I deal more thoroughly with this on Wednesday night,
because I'm going to preach the rest of chapter 4. We started
last Wednesday, and we'll finish up next Wednesday. But here are
the two things, two things. Number one is found in verse
15 of chapter 4. For all things are for your sakes.
Now I'm talking to believers. talking to believers, people
who know Christ, who love Christ. Whomever, whether you're in trouble
or not in trouble, whether you're old or young, all things are
for your sakes. That the abundant grace might,
through the thanksgiving of many, increase, excel, redound to the
glory of God. Everything is for your sake.
All things. Now we know all things are of
God, that's what scripture says, all things are of God. And all
these things are for the sake of his elect. What are these
things? What? Creation. The creation. The covenant of grace. The everlasting
covenant of grace is for your sake. The incarnation of Christ,
God sent his son into the world for your sake. the life and death
of the Son of God, the perfect righteousness of Christ, the
sin offering of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, the ascension of Christ,
the prophets, the apostles, the reformers, the preachers, the
ministers of God, all are for your sakes. What do I mean by
that? I mean this, turn to Romans 8,
28. This is what we're talking about,
all these things are for your sakes. for your sakes. Romans 8.28 says, And we know
that all things, all things of God, all things for your sakes,
and all these things are working together, not just work, but
are working together for good to whom? Not the whole world,
to those who love God. to them who called according
to his purpose. All these things, from beginning
to eternity, and everything that God Almighty has been pleased
to do, is for your sake, for the sake of the Church, for the
sake of Zion, for the sake of believers. All for your sake,
who loved God, who called according to his purpose. Turn to 1 Corinthians
3. 1 Corinthians 3, and Paul says
the same thing here. 1 Corinthians 3, verse 21. Listen. 1 Corinthians 3, verse 21. Therefore
let no man glory in men, for all things are yours. Why
should you be afraid of men? Why should you glory in men?
Why should you cater and compromise and cower before this world?
All things are yours. God didn't create the world for
the unbelieving world. He didn't send Christ for unbelievers.
He didn't make a covenant of mercy for unbelievers. He did
it for you. All things are yours. Listen. Whether it's power, or
powers, or people, or the world, or life, or death, or things
present, or things to come, they're all yours. It's like a mother or a daddy
who get married and they got children on the way and they
start preparing for their children, for their family. You don't build
a house to house the world. You don't plant a garden to feed
the world. You don't fix up a bedroom and
a nursery and these things to take care of a baby in the world.
It's for my family. That's why I'm doing these things.
For your sake. And Christ is God's. You see
what it says? I want to comfort you and me
and support us in our trouble. These things are for your sakes.
I don't care what it is. All things are of God. You know
anything that is not of God? Why don't you stand up and run
down this aisle without God? I challenge you. Take your next
breath without God. Raise your hand without God.
All things are of God. And all things are for your sakes,
for the Church, for Zion, for the people of God. That's as
clear as it can be made. All things are yours. Now, here's
the other support. It's verse 18. Verse 15 says,
All things are for your sakes. All things work together for
good to them who love God with it, as he called according to
his purpose. Why we look not at things which
are seen, but we look at the things that are not seen. For
all the things that are seen with these human natural eyes,
look around you, everything you see is temporary. Stars, moon, sun will pass away. Heavens pass away. Earth will
melt with the fervent heat. Everything is temporary. your
children, your wife, your relationships on this earth, all temporary. Everything you see. But the things
that you're not seeing are eternal. And believers are comforted and
supported and strengthened, not by what they see with these natural
eyes, but what is not seen with the natural eye, but is seen
with the spiritual eye. That's right. We look beyond
this world with its sorrows and trials and materialism. We look
beyond this world. We look to the glory, happiness
and joy which our Lord said he has prepared for them that love
him. We not only look to those things,
but we see them. You mean, preacher, you see what
is not seen? Yes, sir. You see what's invisible? Yes, sir. Can you make good on
that with a scripture? Yes, sir. Turn to Hebrews 11. I can make good on that with
a scripture. I see what's invisible, I see what's not seen, I see
what is not yet revealed. But we'll be certain as God reigns. Hebrews 11. These all died in faith, not
having received the promises, not having seen Christ in the
flesh, dying on the cross, but having seen them afar off. They
saw him. Abraham saw my day, Christ said. Old Abraham, not with his eyes,
but with our faith, he saw the Redeemer. He saw my day and rejoiced. Moses wrote of me, he saw my
day. And they saw these things afar
off, and they were persuaded of them, and they embraced them,
and they confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims of
this earth. Turn to verse 27, that same chapter. Here he is talking about Moses. Abraham saw Midian. Now look
at Moses, Hebrews 11. By faith he forsook Egypt, not
fearing the wrath of the king, for he endeared as seeing him
who is invisible. He saw that the reproach of Christ
was greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. Things seen are temporal,
don't dwell on them. Things not seen with the natural
eye are eternal. Think on these things. But what
are these things not seen? Paul said we look at the things
which are not seen. Well, in chapter 5 now, we see
these things that are not seen. We see what we see in chapter
5. We see what we see by faith.
We see what we see in God's promises in our Lord Jesus Christ. We
see him that is revealed here, him and his purpose and his will,
who is invisible. So let's look at chapter 5. Verse
1 says, For we know, this is what we know. Because we've seen
it with eyes of faith. This is what I know. I know it
is our earthly house of this tabernacle. Now that's the first
thing. I know that this house I'm living in is an earthly house.
It's an earthly house. It was made from the earth. It's
supported by the things of the earth. And it'll one day return
to the earth from which it came. I live in an earthly house. I
know that. Secondly, he said, it's an earthly
house of a tabernacle. The word tabernacle is a moving
house. No foundations. A tent has no
foundations. It's a moving house. It's the
same thing that Abraham and Jacob and Isaac lived in in the wilderness. Temporary, made for time, and
certain to be demolished. But listen, we have, we know
that when this earthly house of this moving house, this moving
tabernacle is desired, we already have a building, a building of
God, a dwelling place. That's what our Lord talked about
in John 14. In my Father's house are many
dwelling places. But this is a building, this
is a building of God. This is a building which has
foundations, whose builder and maker is God. And we already
have it. We have a building of God, a
house with foundations, not made with hands, it's permanent, it's
eternal, it's in heaven. And we have a title to it. Our
title to that mansion to that dwelling place, to that house,
is the righteousness of Christ. That's our title. We're entitled
to glory by his righteousness. Second, we have a guarantee of
it. Our surety, our forerunner, is at the right hand of God,
seated. And we're seated in him. We have
an earnest, and that is the Spirit of God that dwells in us. And
we have a promise of it. God who cannot lie. Promise eternal
life to us. This is what Peter is talking
about in 2 Peter. Turn to 2 Peter chapter 2. Talking
about putting off his tabernacle. In 2 Peter chapter 2, chapter
1, verse 13. The apostle Peter is talking
about what I'm talking about this morning. 2 Peter 1, verse
13. He's talking about reminding
people of the things of God. He says in verse 13, Yes, I think
it meet, as long as I'm in this tabernacle, this earthly house
with no foundation, this moving tent, as long as I'm in this
tabernacle to stir you up, by putting you in remembrance, knowing
that shortly, shortly, I must put off this tabernacle, this,
my tabernacle. Even as our Lord Jesus Christ
has shown me, I'm going to put this off. We'll keep reminding
you of these things, and I shortly must put off this tabernacle.
But we have a building, permanent, eternal, a building which has
foundations, a house not made with hands. eternal in the heavens. We know that. We're certain of
that. We see that. Secondly, verse
2. These verses describe and declare
a condition. A condition we're in. This is
the condition we're in. He says, for in this tabernacle,
in this tent, this temporary dwelling, we've grown There are two words, we groan
and we desire. We groan and we desire. Look
at verse 4. We that are in this tabernacle
be groaned. There it is again, be groaned,
be embittered. Not that we would be unclothed, but we desire to
be clothed upon with mortality. That mortality might be swatted
up with life. We groan. The whole creation
groan. Everything that's been affected
by sin groans. Turn to Romans 8 and listen to
Paul talk about the consequences of sin on the whole creation.
We groan. We're not talking about groaning
under pain, especially, though we do. But we groan over the
sin that's in us. We groan over the sin and evil
that's about us. We groan over the ignorance and
false religion that's rampant in our day. We groan over our
friends and our families and their trials and struggles. We
groan when we get old and sick and tired. This whole life is
a period of groaning. And the whole creation groans
under the influence of sin. Listen to Romans chapter 8 verse
22. We know the whole creation groaneth,
every creature groaneth and travaileth in pain to gather into one. Not
only they, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of
the Spirit, who have an understanding of the gospel. We have a hope
of eternal life, even we ourselves grow within ourselves, waiting
expectantly for the adoption, namely the redemption of our
bodies. We grow. I look back at my text, those two
words, verse 2, in this body, in this tabernacle, we grow. Don't expect any other results. It's going to be a life of groaning,
and sorrow, and suffering. We groan earnest in desiring
to be clothed to be born with our house from heaven. Verse
4, For we that are in this tabernacle be groaned being burdened. Now,
not that we would be unclothed. Now here's what he's saying,
listen. Not that we would be unclothed.
We're not just desiring death. We're not just desiring. That's
against your nature, just to want to die. That's not what
we desire, just death. We're not desiring to be stripped,
to be unclothed, to cease to exist, to get rid of all of our
personality and person. What we're groaning under and
desiring is to be clothed upon. Not just to be stripped, but
to be clothed. Not just to be naked, but to
be clothed. Not just to be unclothed, but
clothed upon. With what? With what? With this house. Which we've been talking about.
Clothed upon. Now what is it? We don't desire
just to die. We don't desire just to be stripped
and unclothed, cease to exist. We desire to be clothed upon
with our house, which is from heaven. And I'll tell you what
it is. First of all, I want you to look at these scriptures.
Romans 8. This is it. Romans 8. We desire to be clothed upon
with what? His image. Romans 8, verse 29. Look at it. For whom he did foreknow,
he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son. That's
what we desire. That we groan, because we are
not conformed to his image. We are not perfect. We are not
pure. We are not holy. We wrestle with
sin. We desire not just to die, not
just to be rid of sin, but to be clothed upon with his image,
conformed to the image of his Son. That's what it is. That's what we desire. Let me
just turn over here quickly and read this to you in Isaiah 61,
verse 10. Listen. Listen to Isaiah here. in the Lord. My soul shall be
joyful in my God, for he hath clothed me with the garments
of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of his righteousness. As a bridegroom dinketh himself
with ornaments, and as a bride adorned herself with her jewels,
clothed in his righteousness." Oh, my, my, my. His image. That's what John said, beloved,
Behold, that manner of love God has bestowed upon us, that we
should be called sons of God, and it does not yet appear what
we shall be, but we know when he shall appear, we'll see him
and be just like him. We've grown. Who wouldn't? Who wouldn't grow? Who has seen
what lies ahead? And he groaned, not just to die,
not just to be done with this act, not just to be unclothed,
but clothed in his image, in his righteousness. Here's another
thing, he used to be clothed in his glory. John 17, listen
to this. John 17, and this is the hope
of every believer here, John 17, our Lord praying for his
church, he said, Verse 22 of John 17, The glory
which thou gavest me, I have given them, that they may be
one as we are. Think about that. I in them,
and thou in me, that they may be perfect in one. And the world may know that you
sent me, and you love them just exactly as you love me. Old John saw a multitude which
no man could number, out of every tribe, kindred, nation, tongue
unto heaven, before the throne with palm leaves and palms of
victory clothed in white robes. And he said, Here are these!
Which came they? The elder said, You know. He
said, I know. These are they that came out
of great tribulation and washed their robes and made them white,
spotlessly white. in the blood of the Lamb. We've
grown. Not that we would be unclothed,
but clothed upon. With what? His image, his likeness,
his glory, and something else. Immortal life. Turn to 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians
15. Immortal life. Oh, think about this now, in
1 Corinthians 15, verse 53. For this corruptible was put on incorruption,
and this mortal, immortality. When this corruptible shall put
on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality, then
shall be brought to pass the same death. Swallow up in victory. O grave, where is your sting? Death, where is your sting? Grave,
where is your victory? The sting of death is sin, the
strength of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who giveth us
the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. So this we know. This old earthly house came from
the earth, it's supported by the earth, and it'll go I'm walking and living and I'm
moving, it's a tabernacle, got to come down. And in this we
grow, got a lot of holes in it, weather comes in and out, a lot
of problems. And we grow, not that we would
just die, not that we'd be unclothed, but that we might be clothed
upon with his likeness, his image, his righteousness, his glory,
and immortality. never die, never cry, never hurt,
never suffer, just like our Lord. Well, the next thing that's fine. We know that this is God's ultimate
and eternal plan. For he says now, he that hath
wrought us, he that hath saved us, he that hath chosen us, He
who had predestinated us, He who called us, He who died for
us, He who receives for us, He who keeps us for the same purpose. That's it. For the same purpose. Self-same thing is God. It's
God who predestinated us to be like His Son, and we're going
to be like His Son. It's God who sent his son into the world
to die for our sins, and how should he not with him freely
give us what he purchased? It's God who called us, we're
called of God, called with a holy heavenly calling to faith in
Christ, faith to gift of God. He gave it to me. And he that
hath begun a good work in you, you finish it in the day of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Turn to Acts 13, verse 48. You see what he's saying, man?
He that hath wrought us, he that hath saved us, he that hath called
us, by this same thing, that we might be clothed upon with
his image, with his righteousness, with his glory, it's gone. And he's given us to earnest
the pledge of his Spirit. Look at Acts 13, verse 48. And when the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad and glorified the Word of the
Lord. And as many as were ordained to eternal life, they believed. Turn to 1 Thessalonians 5. 1
Thessalonians 5, verse 9. For God hath not appointed us
to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. God
has appointed that. He that hath wrought us for this
selfsame thing is God. Look at verse 25, verse 24. Faithful as he that called you,
you also will do it. He'll make you like Christ. That's God's purpose. From everlasting God has ordained
a people to glory and immortality. He calls them vessels of mercy.
He formed their bodies in creation. He chose them in Christ Jesus. He gave them righteousness and
life in regeneration. He'll give them a glorified body
in resurrection. He has given them his Spirit
as their earnest. Let me show you that back one
page in 2 Corinthians 1. Verse 20. My friends, all the
promises of God in Christ are yes. All the promises of God in Christ
are amen, so be it, unto the glory of God. Now he who establisheth
us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God, who hath
also sealed us, and given us the earnest of the Spirit in
our hearts. There it is. We know that. We've seen that. Therefore, we are always confident. Should believers have full assurance and full confidence in God, should
believers have complete rest and peace about eternity? I believe so. That's what Paul
is saying here. Because of what I've said before,
he said, therefore we're always confident. Confident. Because God cannot lie. He's
given his Son to be our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. Therefore we're confident. Because
God called us to Christ and gave us faith in Christ. miraculous
grace, mercy, we're confident. Because God has given us the
earnest of his spirit, his spirit bears witness to our spirit that
we're sons of God. Because God has appointed and
ordained and formed us for immortality in Christ Jesus, then we're confident,
always confident, knowing that while we're in this
body, we're absent from him. And when we're absent from this
body, we're present with him. To be absent from the body is
to be present with Christ. We're not absent from his general
presence, we're not absent from his spiritual presence, we're
absent from that eternal country to which we look and to which
we go. While we're at home in this body, we're absent from
the Lord. We're like Abraham, sojourning
in the wilderness, looking for a city. For we walk, look at
verse 7, we walk by faith, not by sight. But faith not blind. There's something of sight in
faith. And William Puritan wrote this,
he says we walk by faith, we live by faith, not by sight. But faith is the eye of the soul
whereby we look to Christ for righteousness, peace, and pardon.
Faith is the hand by which we reach out to Christ and receive
the gift of life and every provision of his love. Faith is the foot
by which we run to Christ as the prodigal ran home to his
father. It's the foot by which we walk
with God as Enoch of old. Faith is the ear by which we
hear his words, his words of promise, his words of instruction,
his words of rebuke, his words of comfort. And faith is the
heart that's filled with love and gratitude and thanksgiving
and faith for him who's altogether lovely. Faith not blind, it sees. And then verse 8, and we're confident. We're confident. Confident of
our Lord's mercies and grace. Confident in our Lord's person
and work. Confident in our Lord's promises.
Confident in our Lord's power that he's able to do all that
he said. And because we're confident,
listen, we're willing. We're willing. to be absent from
this body and to be present with the Lord. Our confidence gives
us a willingness to be absent from this body and to be present
with our Lord. That's what Paul said over in
Philippians 1. Let me turn over there and read
just a portion of Philippians 1. This confidence makes us willing
to be absent from the body to be present with the Lord. Listen.
According to my earnest expectation and my hope, according to that,
that I have nothing I shall be ashamed. That's what it's based
on. But that with all boldness as
always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether
it be by life or death. For to me to live is Christ,
and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this
is the fruit of my labor. Yet what I shall choose I know
not. For I am in a strength betwixt
two. I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which
is far better. Nevertheless, to abide in the
flesh is more needful for you. So having this confidence, my
hope in Christ, your hope in Christ, we're willing to be absent
from the body and to be present with the Lord. But, look at verse
9, this is my closing verse. Wherefore we labor, and that
word labor is endeavor, not through our works, we cease from our
labor and enter into his rest. as our Lord Jesus ceased from
his work on the cross and sat down at the right hand of God,
finished all that he came to do. So we cease from our labors
and enter into this rest, but this word labor here means we
endeavor. We strive, we study actively
by worship, worshiping him, actively by praising him, actively by
reading his word, passively by submitting to his will, passively
by resting in him, passively by committing all things to him,
but we labor, whether present in this body or absent with the
Lord, we may be accepted of him. Nothing is said here about our
accepting him, it's his accepting us. This is what we endeavor,
this is what we labor, this is what we strive, this is where
we study, actively and passively, worshiping him and seeking him
and studying his way, that we may be accepted of him. Whether
I'm here or with him, God may be accepted of him. Welcome in
and out, blessed unto the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world. You didn't prepare it, I did.
welcome, I accept you in the beloved. Now bear with that confidence,
that's just, if you believe God's word, if you believe the gospel,
if you believe Christ, these words are not meant to scare
you and upset you, they are meant to comfort you. I know I live
in an earthly house, a tavern And I desire, I've grown, I desire
to be absent from the body and be present with the Lord. I'm
confident, not in what I've done, but what he has done. This is
the reason God called us, to be like Christ. This is the reason
God saved us. This is the reason he gave his
Son to die for us, that we might be like him. It's our good hope.