the fifth chapter of 2 Corinthians. The believer's life on this earth
is filled with many and sometimes great trials. I think about Brother Tom Harding
last Saturday. He stood there in front of the
church and saw a car run down his little boy. I imagine that's
one of the most terrible experiences that I can imagine, watching
the little fellow struck by a car and fly up on the hood. And there are so many times of
suffering and trial, but the two things that support us during
these times, two, many things, but these two especially, two
especially. Number one is knowing that whatever
the trial, whatever the experience, that the will and purpose of
our God is being served. In other words, the trial, whatever
it may be, the experience, is ordained of God. And it's for
our good, and it's for his glory. The scripture says the steps
of a righteous man are ordered by the Lord. Each step is in
the purpose and will of our Father. After Joseph had been through
those agonizing years, agonizing years, and his brethren who were
responsible, humanly speaking, for these unhappy years stood
before him. He had the grace and understanding
to be able to say to them, what you did to me, you meant for
evil, but God meant it for good. And that's, we lay hold of that
and we cling to that and that gives us the strength we need
and the grace we need. to go through what God has ordained
for us to go through, and knowing that all of these things will
work together for our eternal good. And then the second thing,
and this is my subject tonight, the second thing that supports
us during these difficult times is to be able, by His grace,
to look beyond this to look beyond this world to
that glory which God has prepared for them that love him, to look
beyond the trial. Like in chapter 4, it ends this
way, 2 Corinthians 4, verse 17. For our life affliction, whatever
it may be, which is but for a worketh for us a far more exceeding eternal
weight of glory, while we look not at these things which are
seen, but we look beyond this world at the things which are
not seen. For the things which are seen
and felt and experienced on this earth are temporal, just for
a while. But the things which are not
seen by these natural eyes. They're seen by eyes of faith.
They are eternal. And so we look beyond this world. We look beyond this day and beyond
this particular experience. We look beyond this world to
that glory which God has prepared for them that love him. And that's
what chapter 5 is. Chapter 5, and that's our subject
tonight in our Bible studies, chapter 5. Chapter 5 looks beyond
this world, and it's a summary. This whole chapter is a summary
of our confidence and our hope in Christ. And Paul not only
states what he believes, he tells you why he believes it. And Paul,
in this chapter, not only does he confidently declare our hope
of eternal joy and eternal glory, But he declares the foundation
for that hope. Be able to give a reason to every
man that asks you an answer for the hope that you have, and he
gives the reason. All right, let's look at it.
Let's look at verse 1, see if we can cover this chapter tonight.
For we know, and Ronnie stopped there when he was reading, and
he hadn't read my notes, I know. I stopped there, too. There's
some things we know. And here they are, that if our
earthly house, I know that this body in which I'm living is an
earthly house. It's an earthly house. God made
it from the dust, and its destination is the dust. That's what he said
in Genesis chapter 3. Don't turn to it. You remember,
he said to Adam, he said, by the sweat of your brow, you're
going to eat bread. And the ground is going to, when you plow it
and plant your seeds, it's going to produce thorns and briars.
For out of it were you taken, and back to it will you go. This
is an earthy, earthy, not only earthly, it's an earthy house. And the second thing we know
is this body is a tent, the earthly house of this tabernacle. A tabernacle
is a tent. Why is the body called a tent?
Because of its frailty. Brother Ed Ballard had heart
surgery this morning, and the report that I received from Carol
this afternoon is he's doing real well. He had three bypasses,
and he's doing real well. The doctor said the operation
was very fine. But some of the men said he's
the last fellow in this church, I would have believed. would
have a heart problem. He's a picture of hell. Well,
pictures are deceiving. This is a tent. It's frail. No matter how it looks, it's
still a tent, and it's frail. I'll tell you another reason
why it's called a tent, because of its frailty and because of
its short existence. There are houses over in Europe
that are 2,000 years old, but there ain't no tents over there
2,000 years old. That's right. And this is a tent. I don't live in a stone house. I live in a tent, and so do you.
And it'll wear out. It's wearing out. It'll be folded
up. And what do you do with an old tent shot full of holes and
rotten and the canvas is no good? You throw it away. It's not good
for anything. But now we have, what's it? We have. We have a building of
God. A house not made with hands,
eternal in the heaven. Now, the third thing we know,
this spirit is going to leave this tent. It's going to return
to God who gave it. And when it leaves this tent,
we know this, we have in heaven a house. It's a habitation. It's a dwelling place. It's not
made with hands. It's eternal. And I believe this
is what the Lord Jesus is talking about When he said in John 14,
let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God? Sure you
do. Well, now, you believe in me. In my Father's house are
many dwelling places. We have a dwelling place, a habitation,
a place, because he went on and said, I go to prepare a place
for you. is folded up tonight and laid
aside, I have a dwelling place already prepared, reserved in
heaven for me. That's right. And I'll move in.
And it's eternal. It's eternal. Eternal in the
heavens. All right. Now, in this, verse
2, there are two things here that are evident in verse 2.
In this tent we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed
upon with our house which is from heaven. In this tent, it
leaks when it rains. The wind comes right through
it. Not much protection from the
wind and the rain and the storms and the flood. And I groan in
this tent. I groan under the burdens of
this life, you do, and the nature of foolishness and corruption
within me. And I groan because of the unbelief
around me. And you do too. We groan in this
tent. But the second thing here, we
long to be free. We earnestly, earnestly desire
to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven. The believer
groans in this tent and longs to be free from this body of
sin and be made like Christ. Every time he mentions this,
and he mentions it two times especially in this chapter, notice
Paul does not just long to put off the flesh. He's just not
longing for death. He's longing to be like Christ,
you see. He wants to be absent from the
body and be present with the Lord. It's not just a desire
to die, it's not just a desire to be through with pain and suffering
and tears and sorrow and these things, but we want to be like
Christ. That's what we desire. We've
grown and we desire to be free in order to be like him. Now
look at verse 3. If so be that being clothed in
that house which is from heaven, Being clothed in that robe of
his righteousness, being clothed in his spotless holiness, will
not be found naked. That's how Adam was found in
the garden, naked. You remember? That's the first
thing he realized when he sinned. I'm naked. I'm naked. He couldn't stand. He hid from
God. He hid from God because he was
naked. Turn to Matthew. Chapter 22,
just a minute. I want you to look at this. I
read this in connection with that verse. Matthew 22. That
verse says, We groan in this tabernacle, and we earnestly
desire to put off this tabernacle, and be in our house, which is
from heaven, that we may not be found, shall not be found
naked. Here's a fellow that was found
naked in Matthew 22, verse 11. And when the king came in, To
see the guest, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment."
And I'll tell you, if you don't have on the righteousness of
Christ, you might as well be naked. That's what it is. Whatever you have on, it's unacceptable. It won't cover your nakedness.
Whatever you have on, it won't cover your sin from the sight
of God. It may look good to us. It may
look good to those around us. They may not know the difference
by just looking at us. But when he came in, when the
king came in, he was naked. He was naked. And the king said,
Priam, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?
All who come to the wedding of the son are dressed alike in
his righteousness. And he was speechless. He was
naked. And the king said to the servants, bind him hand and foot,
take him away, cast him into outer darkness, there should
be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So we groan in this tabernacle
and we desire to put it off that we might be clothed upon with
immortality, clothed upon with the righteousness of Christ,
clothed in his beauty that we'd never be found naked. Again, Paul emphasizes the fact
that it is not just a desire to cease to exist, but it is
our joy and rejoicing and blessed hope to be like Christ, for we,
verse 4, that are in this tent, we do groan, being burdened.
Oh, the burdens! Not for that we would be unclothed. We just don't want to die. We're
not just interested in ceasing to exist and ceasing to live
in God's kingdom and universe. But death is to be desired because,
listen, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. That's
why. Paul said it's not that I desire
to just die or cease to exist or get away from my troubles.
But he said death is desired because in death mortality and
weakness and shame and corruption are all swallowed up in life.
Turn over to 1 Corinthians 15. This just reads so good right
here after you read that verse. That mortality, mortality might
be swallowed up of life. in 1 Corinthians 15. Listen. Verse 51, 1 Corinthians 15. Behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep. There are going to be some folks
still alive when the Lord Jesus comes back. But I tell you this,
we are going to all be changed Everybody's going to be changed.
Listen, "...in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, at the last trump,
for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised
incorruptible." And we'll be changed, for this corruptible
must put on incorruption. That's what we're looking for.
And this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall
have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on
immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
Death is swallowed up in victory." No more death, no more trials,
no more sorrow, no more pain, no more darkness, no more. How can you be so sure? All right,
back to my text. Verse 5, Now he that hath wrought
us, he that hath chosen us, and called us, and redeemed us, and
justified us, and loved us, that's what he prepared us for. Listen,
for he that hath wrought us, For the self-same thing is God.
That's the reason God sent Christ into the world, that death might
be swallowed up in victory and in life. We're sure of this hope
because it's God himself who purposed it, who planned it,
who chose us, who called us, who redeemed us for his glory. Scripture says, for whom he did
foreknow, he did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of his Son, that he might be the firstborn
among many brethren. And whom he did predestinate,
he called. And whom he called, he justified.
And whom he justified, he glorified. So Paul said, when I lay aside
this tent, I'm going to be clothed upon with immortality and made
in the likeness of his Son because that's why God saved me. That's
why God chose me. He that wrought us, he that hath
wrought us for this same purpose is God. And look at the next line. And
he hath given to us the pledge of his Spirit. He had put within us his Holy
Spirit. He gave us his Holy Spirit. Look
at Ephesians 1, Ephesians 1, verse 13. Read this with me,
Ephesians 1, verse 13. In whom you also trusted, after
that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
in whom also, after that you believed, you were sealed with
that Holy Spirit of promise. which is the earnest, the pledge
of our inheritance unto the redemption of that purchased possession."
You see now what he's saying over here in 2 Corinthians 5,
verse 5? My hope and confidence in mortality
being swallowed up of life is that's the reason God saved me.
He that wrought me for that selfsame thing is God, and he hath also
given me the earnest. Did you just read that? The pledge
of his spirit. His spirit beareth witness with
our spirit. We are sons of God. We are going to be like Christ.
God put his spirit within you as a pledge of that promised
eternal life which God promised, who cannot lie. All right, verse
6. We're always confident, we know
this, that while we're at home in this body, we're absent from
the Lord. What's he saying? He's saying this, listen, we
know that as long as I'm living in this tent and with sojournery
in this world, that I'm absent from that glorious presence of
my Lord and that full enjoyment of his kingdom. Now I'm not absent
from the general presence of the Lord. He's everywhere, thank
God. David said, if I ascend into
heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in the grave,
thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there thy hand
shall hold me. If I say the darkness will hide
me from God, even the darkness is light unto thee. So I'm never
absent from the general presence of God. But I'm absent from the glorious,
wonderful, kingdom and glory of God in heaven. And I got to
die to get that. We used to have an old country
song, I'll never get out of this world alive. Well, that's sure
a truth, isn't it? That's the truth. That's the
way out. And that's the way in. That's that passageway we go
through. Got to be. Got to be. So we know that we're confident.
While we're at home in this body, We're not absent from his general
presence, but we're absent from that glorious presence that Paul
visited that time and came back and said, I can't tell you what
I heard. That's glory. All right, verse 7. For we walk
by faith, not by sight. Faith is the way we walk. It's
the way we live, the way we walk through this world. This is what
interests us. This is what motivates us. This
is what comforts us. This is what we're interested
in, to know Christ, to win Christ, to have his righteousness, to
finish this life in faith, to enter the glory of our Lord.
That's our life. That's what interests us. That's what motivates us. That's
what comforts us. Turn to Colossians 3, and let
me show you what Paul says over here. Even here, that's our interest,
primarily. I know everybody has to work,
support their families and raise their children, go to school
and get an education, get a job and work, and you have to live
in this world. And we do live here, but we walk
not by sight, but by faith. We walk through this world with
our affection on things above, our interest, our greater desire
is to be with him. That's what Colossians 3 says.
If you be risen with Christ, then seek those things which
are above. That's what we seek. Where Christ sitteth on the right
hand of God and set your affection, set your mind on things above,
not on things of this earth. See what he's saying? You're
dead, your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our
life, that's what verse 7 is saying. We walk by faith, not
by sight. And then verse 8, two interesting
words in verse 8. These two words are very interesting
here, just two words. They're this. They're these.
Listen. We are confident. Confident. And the second word
is willing. Confident and willing. Now, how
does he use them? Well, number one, he says we're
confident. Confident in what? Well, we're not confident in
this flesh. We're not confident in ourselves at all. We have
no confidence in the flesh. But our confidence is in him.
We're confident in him, in his word, in his promises, in the
fact that Paul said, being confident in this, that he that hath begun
a good work in you will complete it, finish it in the day of Jesus
Christ. We're confident. So that's what he's talking about
here. We're confident of this hope in Christ. We're confident
of God's promise. And secondly, and we're willing,
we're willing whenever God calls us to be absent from this body
and to be present with the Lord. I'm confident that the way of
salvation is Christ. I'm confident that the promise
of eternal life is certain, that God is able to perform all that
he promised. I'm confident, not in myself,
not even in my faith. I'm confident in the object of
my faith. And therefore, being confident, I'm willing. See what he's saying? Therefore, having no confidence
in this flesh, but total, complete confidence in Christ, in his
promise, in his blood, in his righteousness, in his words,
confident, in his gospel, I'm confident. And that makes me
willing when the time comes, when God comes. Let's see what
Paul said in Philippians 1 about that. This is necessary to read
right here. This is necessary. I'm confident. A lot of preachers may hymn and
howl and backtrack and crawl dead, as we used to say, but
not this one. I'm confident that my gospel
is the gospel. I'm confident that the gospel
that I'm preaching is God's gospel, and it saves. And I'm willing
then to base my hope on him. I'm willing. I'm willing to go
when he calls. All right, Philippians 1, verse
21. For me to live is Christ, and
to die is gain. I'm confident of that. But if
I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor, yet what
I shall choose I know not. For I'm in a strait betwixt the
two. I have a desire to depart and
be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless, to abide
in the flesh is more needful for you. And having this confidence,
I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your
furtherance and joy of faith." That's all right. See what he's
saying? I'm confident in him, in his
word, in his promise, in his gospel. in the foundation on
which we stand, Christ alone, but willing, whatever he says,
to be absent of the body, to be present with the Lord, or
willing to stay for whatever purpose he sees fit. All right,
verse 9. Wherefore, we labor, that whether
present or absent, we may be accepted of him. We labor. Now, brethren of mine, how do
you connect this laboring and resting. You preach on resting
Christ, lying in his arms, trusting,
yet labor. Let's go to Hebrews 4 just a
minute. Hebrews chapter 4. Hebrews chapter 4. And look at
this verse here. Hebrews chapter 4, verse 9 through
11. All right. There remaineth therefore
a rest. to the people of God. For he
that is entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own
works as God did from his." Now, we're talking about the Father
and the Son here. Verse 10 says, "...for Christ,"
that's who he is, "...that is entered into his rest, he also
has ceased from his own works as God did from his." Now, listen
to me a minute. Christ has entered his rest.
His rest. He earned it. He purchased it. He paid for it. He finished the
work the Father gave him to do and sat down. His rest is there's
nothing else to do. And that's why it says as God
did from his, God created the world. The scripture says day
one, day two, day three, day four, day five, day six, God
said it's good. On the seventh day, he rested. God is always active, God is
always in providence and in purpose and in salvation, but the work
is finished. And Christ our Lord finished
his work. Now he says, verse 11, let us
therefore labor, let us labor to enter into that rest, lest
any man fall after the same example of unbelief. What's that word
labor mean? do religious works and all these
different things in order to find acceptance with God. No,
here's the word. Be sincere and zealous and strive
to trust Christ alone. And I'm telling you this, that's
difficult for the flesh. That takes labor. You see what
I'm saying? That takes determination. That takes commitment. That takes
a zeal. That takes a striving not to
look to anything else but to him. Try to rest in him. That's what it's talking about.
So there, verse 9, wherefore we strive, we labor, we're zealous,
we're committed, that whether we're present or absent, we may
be accepted in the Beloved, in Christ. And what I'm saying is
this. All the preachers of the world
give people things to do in order to find acceptance with God.
And the majority of this world, that's what they want. Tell me
something to do. Tell me something to do. That's
what the flesh wants to do. It wants to earn life, merit
life as a reward. But the Word of God tells us
And that's what they came to Christ. They said, what shall
we do that we may work the works of God? He said, this is the
work of God that you believe. And that's pretty hard for this
old flesh to do. Just believe. Just rest. Just do it. Just rest. All right. All right,
verse 10. Now, for we must all appear before
the judgment seat of Christ. that everyone may receive the
things done in his body according to that which he hath done, whether
it be good or bad." Now listen to me a minute. I don't know
much about the judgment, nor does anyone else. Nobody here
has ever been there, nor anyone else. But I'll tell you what
I do know about the judgment. This is what I do absolutely
know, and you do too. When I tell you, you'll say,
that's right. First of all, judgment is for everybody. It's appointed
unto men once to die after that judgment. Isn't that true? Judgment's
for everybody. That's right. Secondly, judgment
is committed to the Son. John 5, verse 22 says, The Father
judgeth no man. He had committed all judgment
to the Son, Christ. We appear before the judgment
seat of Christ. All judgment is relative to the
Son. It has to do with the Son, whether
He's your surety or not, whether He's your mediator or not, whether
He's your priest or not. But all judgment has something
to do with the Son and is relative to the Son. Let me show you that
in Acts 17. Look at Acts 17. This will give
every believer here the greatest confidence and hope, as you read.
Act 1731, because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge
the world in righteousness by that man, Christ Jesus, whom
he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all
men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. Judgment, end-time
judgment, has to do with Christ. It's in relation to Christ. Now,
how's that? Well, those who do not know him
and do not have Christ as their surety and mediator will stand
alone. And I'll read you something that
the Bible says about them, too. You just don't turn to this.
Let me turn and read it to you. What the Bible says about those
people who have no mediator, who have no advocate, who have
no intercessor, who have no lamb, It says over here in Revelation,
And the kings of this earth, and the great men, and the rich
men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and the bondmen,
and the free men, hid themselves in the dens, in the rocks of
the mountains. And they said to the mountains
and rocks, Follow us, and hide us from the face of him that
sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. That's
Christ. For the great day of his wrath
is come, who is able to stand? Nobody. If thou, Lord, shouldst
mark iniquities, who would stand? Nobody. But the believer is tickled
to death that Christ is on the throne. The believer is tickled
to death that all judgment relates to the Son. Because the believer
knows there is therefore no judgment to them who are in Christ Jesus.
That's right. Who shall anything to the charge
of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn me? Christ died. The one on the throne
left me and died for me. And he was buried and rose again.
and is at the right hand of God interceding for me. So judgment?
No problem. Not for a believer. But it is. You remember that
sermon you heard one time, Brother Ronnie Lewis, about the strange
prayer meeting? You remember telling me about
that? He heard a sermon on that, Romans, or Revelation 6, about
the, he said, strange prayer meeting? People prayed not to
God, but to the mountains. They pray not for life, but death.
They pray not to see the Lord, but to be hidden from him. That is a strange prayer meeting,
isn't it? That's the kind of prayer meetings you have and
you don't have an advocate. You don't have a Savior. And so therefore, verse 11, knowing
therefore the terror of the Lord, the wrath of the Lamb, we persuade
men. We preach to them. That's the
reason I'm doing what I'm doing. I know the terror of the Lord.
I know his grace in Christ, but I know his terror. It's a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of a living God. Sinning against law is one thing,
but we men today have sinned against love, grace, mercy, which
is evident in Christ. Therefore we preach and urge
men to look to Christ. Now watch this. Knowing therefore
the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. But we're made manifest
unto God. God knows our hearts. God knows
our hearts. He knows our sincerity. And He
said, I trust you do too. I trust also we're made manifest
in your conscience. He said, God knows that I'm preaching
for His glory and the good of His people. And He said, I trust
that you know that, that that's been made manifest to you. See
that? For he said in verse 12, I commend
not myself again unto you. I'm not commending myself to
you. I'm not defending myself before you, he said. I'm not
defending my motive or my ministry to you because you know us. Paul said, you know us. But what
I'm doing is giving you occasion to glory on our behalf, to rejoice
in this ministry. and also that you may have somewhat
to answer them that glory in appearance and not in heart."
In other words, he says this, people out yonder in religion,
they glory in appearance, they glory in outward show, they glory
in intellect, they glory in human wisdom, they glory in religious
exercises, they glory in form and ceremony, and not in heart. They don't know anything about
heart faith and heart conviction and heart repentance and heart
conversion and heart love and heart worship. They look on the
outward flesh. So he said, when you're out there
among them, I'm writing these things to you, not to convince
you of it, because you know the same gospel I know. You know
the same Lord I know. You know that salvation is a
heart work, not an outward show. for the eyes of men, not pray
to be seen of men, give our gifts to be seen of men, brag on you,
you know. I used to get a preacher's bulletin.
He listed everybody and how much they gave and all that sort of
thing, bragging on the flesh, glory in appearance and not in
heart. But he said, I'm telling you
these things so you'll have something to say to these folks. See what
he said? Something to say to them. Something
to say to them in defense of what we preach. Verse 13, for
he says, whether we be beside ourselves, it's to God, whether
we be sober, it's for your cause. Paul, listen, here's what he's
saying here. In Paul's great zeal and commitment
to the gospel of sovereign grace in Christ, it led many of his
enemies to call him a fanatic. He's a fanatic. Paul's radical.
They call him a madman. beside himself. He's beside himself. He's mad. That's what that ruler
said. You're a madman. You're a madman. But he says this, I am what I
am by the grace of God, and it's for the glory of God. But he
says this, whether I'm mad, it's to God. Or whether I'm sober,
serious, It's for your cause and for his
glory. For the love of Christ constraineth
us, all ministers of Christ and all the elect of Christ, under
the sweetest, strongest constraint to do what we do and give what
we give and go where we go. What is it? It's the love of
Christ. It's the love of Christ that constrains us and motivates
us and restrains us. Because we've just judged, if
one died for all, then we were all dead. Listen to this. Paul said, I'm motivated, I'm
constrained by his love for me. Not a fear of hell. That's not
why I'm preaching. Not a desire for reward. He said,
you know better than that. It's not to build a following.
He condemned those fellas. It's not for gain and personal
glory. It's because he loved me and
died for me. That's why. And I judge, if he
died, if one died for all, then all of them were dead, and he
died for all, that we should not live henceforth unto ourselves,
but unto him who loved us, died for us, and rose again. I need
to give you this. I know when you read this verse
16, you wonder what he's talking about. Wherefore, henceforth, know we
no man after the flesh. The word no here, and you can
write this in your margin, the word no here is esteem, or approve,
or regard highly. Paul is saying, I regard highly
and esteem no man in the flesh, strictly from a human point of
view. See that? esteem, regard highly, approved
of no man after the flesh. It doesn't matter if he's a descendant
of Abraham. It doesn't matter if he's an
intellect. It doesn't matter if he's the most gifted man,
or talented man, or richest man, or strongest man, or weakest
man. Christ has taken away these distinctives
of the flesh, and he has brought us into one family. We're one
in Christ. The weak and the strong, the
rich and the poor. I know no man after the flesh.
Cater to no man after the flesh. Now wait a minute. He said, yet
though we have known Christ that way one time, Christ our Lord
was once a man, yes sir, in this flesh, made of a woman. He made in the likeness of sinful
flesh. in the habit, in the form of a servant. He walked this
earth. And Paul said, I esteemed him above all. I esteemed him. I knew him. And
I honored him and approved him and esteemed him and regarded
him highly because as the representative man, he was the only perfect
man. I knew him after the flesh. But
now I don't know him that way anymore. No more. He's now our exalted Lord. He's
now glorified flesh. He's not tempted and tried in
all points right now. He's above all. So we don't make
images of Christ and pictures of Christ as a man and worship
Christ that way we worship him in spirit and truth. Henceforth
know we him that way no more. There was a man, and Pilate could
say to the whole world, The man. But he couldn't point
to any man walking this earth and say, the man. No, sir. But if any man be in Christ,
verse 17, he's a new creature. He's a new creation. If any man
be where? In the church? No, in Christ.
In religion? No, in Christ. In Christ by elective
grace? In Christ by covenant mercy?
in Christ by love, in Christ by death, in Christ by faith.
He's a new creation. He's a new creation. God doesn't
reform the old man or remake the old man. He creates a new
man. The new man in Christ. And that new man, old things
have passed away. What are those old things? Well,
that old way of life that loved darkness and hated light. that
old legal religious righteousness, Paul knew something about that,
that old desire for honor and human glory, those old foolish
thoughts of God and self and heaven, those foolish religious
meritorious thoughts, those old companions and our ideas of happiness
on this earth, those old things are gone and behold all things
have become new. We have a new nature, a new name,
a new family, a new and living way unto the holiest, a new commandment
love, a new song, even praise to our God, a new title to heaven,
and a new earth, where absolutely nothing of the flesh is retained. For God said, Behold, I make
all things new. And verse 18, And all these things
are of God. And they are ours because he
hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. Young people,
old people, mothers and dads, he hath reconciled us by Jesus
Christ. And hath given to us this ministry
of reconciliation. Namely, here's the ministry of
reconciliation with God. That God was in Christ. Christ
is God. Reconciling the world to himself,
not imputing, charging, reckoning our trespasses unto us, but he
laid them on Christ. And he had committed to us this
gospel of reconciliation. Now then, we're ambassadors for
Christ, as though God did beseech you by us. We pray to you in
Christ's name, be reconciled to God. Lay down your shotgun. Put up your sword. Surrender. You'd be reconciled to God. You
see, that happens every time God saves a sinner. See, God
was reconciled to us in Christ. The wrath put away. Sin paid
for. We were still rebels. The Apostle
Paul was still putting folks in prison. He hated the gospel.
But God didn't hate him. He loved him. God wasn't angry with Saul of
Tarsus. Already reconciled him. Now Saul, you be reconciled to
God. Put up your shotgun. Lay down your sword. Surrender. Be reconciled to God. Submit. Oh, and here's the basis. The
Father hath made him the Son to be sin for us. He knew no
sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. All right, may God help us to
look beyond this world and be comforted.