2 Corinthians 5:1

For 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. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven. If so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened, not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up by life.

Now he that has wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also has given us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore, we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith and not by sight. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

Let's pray. Father, as we now look into your word, as we have worshipped you in song, now we worship you through the studying of the Scriptures. We do pray that you would open our minds and our hearts that we would receive from you, that we would understand the things that we have here in 1 Corinthians, and that we would see how they correlate to our lives and how they apply to us here in 2012.

Lord, we thank you that we are united with you because of the work that you accomplished there on the cross. We ask, Lord, that you would use us to be bright, shining lights wherever you would carry us in this world, whether it's right here in our own community in North County or if it's to the uttermost parts, Lord, nations far from here. Shine brightly through us, your church, we pray. We ask this in Jesus' name, and all God's people agreed, saying, Amen.

You can be seated. Just before Jesus was betrayed by Judas, in the Gospel of John, he is seen praying to the Father.

In John chapter 17, Jesus is praying for us, His church. Many times, the passage that we see in Matthew chapter 6 or Luke chapter 11 is referred to as the Lord's Prayer: "Our Father who art in heaven." However, that is actually the disciples' prayer, the prayer that we, His followers, are called to pray. If you want to see how Jesus prayed and what He actually prayed, you turn to John 17 and consider that whole beautiful passage of Him coming before the Father on behalf of us.

In John 17, verse 3, Jesus prayed, "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." This is eternal life, and this is what we are about: life in Christ, knowing Him. We want to know Him in the power of His resurrection and in the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death. But we want to know Him in a way that allows us to experience a relationship with Him, not just to know a whole bunch of truths about God.

You can learn a lot about God by studying the 66 books of the Bible, but we want more than just knowledge about Him; we want to actually know Him. In Christ, that is what we have been given the opportunity to have: the opportunity to know God. This really is one of the primary reasons why we exist here as a church: to know Him in Christ Jesus because of what Jesus did on the cross.

Furthermore, we want to grow in Him. Peter said in 2 Peter 3, verse 18, "But grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and forever. Amen." When we gather here on a Sunday morning or a Sunday evening, we are coming together to know God and the power of His resurrection, the fellowship of His suffering, and to worship Him both in song and in the Scriptures.

We are also gathering together to grow in Him, to grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We want to see Him for who He is so that we can go and make Him known. Those three things are what we endeavor to do: we want to know, grow, and go into our community, here throughout North County and wherever the Lord would take us.

God has given us opportunities throughout the many years of our existence as a church to go to all kinds of different places, in different countries and states, to make Him known and to grow more fully in Him as we serve alongside one another in Christ. We have gone to places like Russia, Belarus, the Philippines, and Ukraine. We have traveled to Belize, Peru, Africa, and so many other locations where God has opened doors for us. He continues to open wonderful doors, with new things happening in China. We are excited to see how the Lord will use us because He has given us a commission to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations.

We seek to fulfill this mission not just as pastors, elders, and leaders of this church, but as everyone who is a part of this body. If you are a believer in Christ, you have been called to know Him, to grow in Him, and to carry the glorious gospel wherever He leads you. This may be in a corporate environment, on a construction site, or on a college or university campus. Wherever it may be, that is what we are about: bringing this glorious gospel to people.

In the passage we have before us in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, we are given one of the reasons why we do this. We will see it more next week when we get into verse 9, but let’s briefly look forward at verse 9. "Wherefore we labor." Because of all this, we work.

There are many people in this world doing good things and nice acts of service because they are trying to get something from God. They are trying to inherit eternal life or reach some level of perfection or nirvana. Therefore, they do good works, give money, and expend their energies sacrificially. People who are not Christians do that, and some who call themselves Christians do it as well, hoping to gain favor with God.

However, what we see in this passage is completely the opposite. We labor because of what God has done for us. Look at it with me, if you would, in verse 1 of chapter 5. What great confidence Paul speaks with here.

For we know. He speaks with sincere confidence that he has an absolute understanding of something that God has established and done—a work that God has wrought and made. We know that if our earthly house, this tabernacle, this body, many times in the Bible, our fleshly physical bodies are referred to as a tent or a tabernacle. It's just a temporary dwelling place. This is not our home. Amen?

As time goes by, everybody experiences this who owns a home. You see that when you buy the home and maybe you fix it all up, or you buy a brand new home and everything is right where it should be and perfect. Then, over time, things don't stay that way. It's just the reality of being a homeowner, right? You have to expend more money than just your mortgage to keep that thing working—the plumbing up and running, the roof from leaking, the HVAC unit going year after year. You want to make sure that you're investing money to keep that thing going and established because it's an investment.

In a very similar fashion, this body, when it first starts out, is nice and new, and everything seems to work really well. But as time goes by, things don't just work quite as well, do they? Joints start to go out. The plumbing starts to go out. The climate control doesn't work quite as well. It just doesn't work quite as well. Depending on how hardly you've used this tent, it might decay a little bit more quickly. Some of you were here this morning. You know that before you were a Christian, you lived a very hard life. So, you have some things falling apart a little bit more than maybe other people your age.

We recognize that this earthly tent is fading. It's failing. Paul calls it in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, corruption, mortality. It's decaying. It's falling apart. But here in chapter 5 of 2 Corinthians, he speaks with bold confidence when he says, "We know." This is absolute assurance, not a wishful thinking kind of hope. We know that if this earthly house, this tabernacle is dissolved, we have something greater. We have a building of God, a house not made with hands that is eternal in the heavens.

Long-lasting confidence is essential. The confidence with which Paul speaks is a confidence that I hope you have today. It is my prayer and my hope that every single person sitting in this room possesses this kind of confidence. However, I know that may not be the case. With a gathering this large, it is very likely that some here today do not have that confidence. They may not be certain that when this life dissolves, something greater is waiting for them.

We must ask the question: If you don't have that confidence, why don't you have it? Have you placed your faith in Christ for salvation? Do you trust that His finished work on the cross is sufficient to justify you, to rescue you from damnation, and to save you from your sins? Or are you trusting in your own works of righteousness? Are you still laboring, as we see in verse 9, trying to gain that certainty? You might be walking through life saying, "Well, I really hope I make it." You may think, "I know there are some people who will, like Billy Graham, but I don't know about myself. I'm really hoping that I am good enough."

The truth is, you'll never be good enough. You will never succeed at being completely righteous and abiding by God's holy, righteous law. We have been examining this quite a bit in 2 Corinthians so far. There is no possible way that we could ever be sufficient in and of ourselves. The law is so weighty and so great that it is impossible for man to keep it.

You may wonder, why would God even give us the law if He knew it was impossible for us to keep? He did not give it to us so that we would keep it to make us righteous. He gave it to us to show us that we are imperfect. Without the law, many of us would say, "Well, I’m a pretty good person." That is exactly what we do until we are confronted with the realities of the law. Paul even says in the book of Romans that he did not know he was a sinner until he read the law that said, "Thou shalt not covet." In that moment, he was confronted with the realization that he did not measure up to the holy, righteous requirement of God's law.

We are not judged by other people. We are not judged by our ability to keep the law. We are judged by the perfect, righteous character of God, and our lives are measured against that standard.

And so Paul would say in Galatians 2, verse 16, "Man is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Christ Jesus. For by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified." There is no way to be made righteous by the keeping of the law. As I've said several times over the last several weeks, God has set this standard of His law that is so high that it's completely unreachable for us to show us that we need Him.

This confident assurance that Paul has is important. We know that if our earthly house, this tabernacle, is dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. This confident hope only comes from Christ, and it is essential for an abundant life of joy. If you want to experience the abundant life that Jesus spoke of in John chapter 10, where He said, "I have come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly," then it is only found when we have this hope-filled confidence.

Like that of Abraham, the father of our faith—not Abraham Lincoln, but Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation and also the father of all those who believe upon God. Turn in your Bibles from 2 Corinthians to the right to the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 11. Some of you who have been around the Bible for a while know that Hebrews chapter 11 is something like a hall of fame; we call it the hall of faith. It is a passage that lists a whole bunch of names of great men and women of faith who honored God in their faith towards Him.

One of the men noted here is Abraham in chapter 11, verse 8. Hebrews 11, verse 8 begins with those first two words: "By faith." I'm grateful that it doesn't say "by good works." By faith, Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should afterward receive for an inheritance, obeyed and went out, not knowing where he went.

Look at verse 9: "By faith." He sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles and tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For why did he do this? He looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

He looked for something greater. He looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Through faith, also Sarah, his wife, received strength to conceive seed and was delivered of a child when she was past age because she judged Him faithful who had promised. Note that. Underline that in verse 11. She judged Him, God, faithful who had made the promise. It wasn't her faithfulness; it was His faithfulness.

Therefore, sprang there even of one as good as dead so many as the stars of the sky in multitude and as the sand which is by the seashore, innumerable. These all died in faith, having not received earthly promises, but having seen them afar off, were persuaded of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.

And truly, if they had been mindful of the country from whence they came out of, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Wherefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared for them a city. They were looking for something greater than just an earthly existence or an earthly promise. They were looking for this house not made with hands that Paul speaks of, that is eternal in the heavens.

This body that God has prepared for those who have put their confidence, their trust in Him for salvation—not in their own works, but in Him. They have judged Him faithful who has given the promise. If we have this hope, then trials and tribulations, death, or any such woeful thing that could touch us in this life is greeted with a joyful reminder of what is to come.

Every single person on this planet experiences trials and tribulations and difficulties. Everybody goes through hard times, but only the Christian goes through those things with the reminder that this is not all there is. They embrace those things, not loving the trial, but joyfully being reminded by the trial that this is the worst that it will ever be, and God has something far greater prepared for you and me.

In Romans 8, verse 18, Paul says, "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present age are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us."

Now, this is not spoken from a guy who lived in a plush mansion and had a whole bunch of great things, who had the nicest chariot in Tarsus. This is spoken from a guy who was beaten, who was whipped, who was imprisoned, who was shipwrecked, and who went through all kinds of different persecutions. In the midst of this, he says, "I reckon I've decided that the sufferings of this present world are not worthy to be compared with the glory that God has prepared for those who trust in Him." What a different mindset than what we see in this world.

Such trials, tribulations, distresses, persecution, famine, and nakedness touch people who are believers and non-believers alike. When they come into the life of a non-believer, whose whole hope is this life and who treasures this earthly existence, they are devastated. They are devastated when they receive the call or are told by the doctor that it’s cancer. They are devastated when confronted with the loss of a loved one or a close friend. They are devastated when they lose their home, lose their job, or go through persecution. Whatever it may be, when they are confronted with these challenges, their hope is this life, and they treasure this existence.

They will invest tons of money in beautifying this life, making it all plastic so that it just spends a lot more time decaying when it’s buried. The unbeliever, who does not have this confident assurance that Paul speaks of here, endures trial, distress, tribulation, and all those things, and they are rightly devastated. They should be devastated because their whole hope, their whole treasure, is this life. When this starts to fall apart, they become depressed.

I think we see that perfectly illustrated in 21st-century American culture. Multitudes and multitudes of people are distressed and depressed because all the things they hoped in are failing. The economy has failed. Their job, which they expected to work at for many years and somehow build a retirement, has failed. Their house, in which they had invested so much money, has declined in value.

Everything has fallen apart. As a result, there are more people depressed in our nation than perhaps at any other time in our history. Everything seems to have just crumbled. What do we do? How do we deal with these issues? How do we fix this? There are so many people trying to figure out how to fix this so that we feel more comfortable and happier.

It is a political campaign season, and we are looking to politicians right now. We are weighing them all out and judging them to try and determine if we give them a chance, will they make us happy? The truth is, they won't. In fact, they will all fail—every one of them, Republican and Democrat alike. They are all going to fail to make you happy because happiness cannot be found in this life. If you treasure this life and this temporary existence, you are going to be sorely disappointed.

Peter tells us in his second and last letter that everything is going to burn with a fiery heat. It will be consumed and go up in smoke. If you treasure this world and the things in it, you will be distraught, depressed, and heartbroken when what you treasure begins to fail. However, if you treasure and hope in the things that are eternal, the things that are not seen, and walk by faith and not by sight, what an awesome witness that is to a world consumed with this life.

When you are experiencing the same trials as your co-worker, yet you receive them with joy—not because you enjoy the trial, because I have never met anyone who enjoys a trial. If you say that you do, you are just lying or trying to be super spiritual. It is a farce when people say, "Oh, I love this." No, you don't.

However, you can find joy in that trial when you are reminded that God has something greater. The sufferings of this present world are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. There is an exhortation to not waste your trial, as I mentioned several weeks ago. Don't waste the trial by being all broken up about it. Instead, embrace it and recognize that God has something great for His glory in the midst of it.

This perspective sets us more steadfastly on heaven to the point where we can say, "I'm looking forward to getting out of here." Not that I am working in such a way to try and make that happen quickly, but rather with a hopeful anticipation.

But I am more set on heaven than I was when I first began to follow the Lord. That is an awesome witness to this world because they just can't understand it. They think that you're faking. They are going to question you when you have sincere joy in the midst of a trial. They will say, "Come on, this can't be real." This gives an awesome opportunity to direct people back to the Lord.

Paul says in Colossians 3, verses 1 and 2, "If then you be risen with Christ." He is speaking to the Christian, the person who has received the righteousness of Christ and been raised to newness of life. Then seek those things that are above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God. Set your affection, your heart, upon those things above, not on the things of the earth.

Why does Paul give that exhortation? He gives it because if we, as Christians, set our affections on the things of this earth, we are going to be disappointed. When we say to people that we are Christians, it does not bring a good witness to our God, who is an awesome, good, and loving Father.

We just saw in Hebrews chapter 11, the very last verse that we read, verse 16. The author of the book of Hebrews said, "Those who declare such things reveal that they are seeking an eternal kingdom, and God is not ashamed to be called their God." What is the implication of that? There are some with whom God is ashamed when they say, "I'm a Christian." Why? Because their focal point, their treasure, is here upon the earth, and they are constantly devastated because it is all falling apart and breaking. This brings a terrible witness to our God and Savior.

In the midst of the trial that everybody else is facing, we also are so broken and blue that we can't even look up. All the while, we are saying, "Well, I'm a Christian." They respond, "Don't you believe you're going to heaven?" We say, "Yeah, I believe that, but man, this life is terrible." Oh, my. Eeyore Christians.

The Apostle John gave this exhortation in 1 John chapter 2: "Love not the world." The word for love there is the Greek word agape, which conveys the idea of being completely absorbed with and embracing this. "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him." This is 1 John 2:15.

It's scripture. For all that is in the world, John says, is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. It is not of the Father, but it is of the world. The world is passing away, and the desire thereof. But he that does the will of God abides forever. So, don't be in love with the world. Set your affections upon things above.

Paul says here in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 1, "For we know that if this earthly house, this tabernacle is dissolved," and we all know that it's failing. How many of you can identify with this reality that this body is kind of falling apart? We have absolute certainty of a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this, we groan. I love that. How many of you would agree? Yes, in this, I'm groaning, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven. Our desire is to be in heaven, clothed upon with this new body that's not going to break down.

The result of our belief and our focus upon God in heaven, setting our affections upon Him, is that we kind of sigh, groaning in the midst of this world, longing for heaven. God develops in us, as time goes on, more and more of a longing for eternity. It should be that way. Now, we are looking forward to being clothed with this new body that God has prepared for us. This new tent, if you will. This flesh is our earthly tent or tabernacle, and one day this flesh is going to dissolve, and it's going to be done away with.

But this is not all that we are. There's something more to us than just what we see on the outside. There's more than meets the eye, and we're going to transform one day into something different. The real you is that soul that God has given only to humanity. Humanity is the highest form of God's creation. In Genesis chapter 2, it says, "God breathed into man the breath of life, and he became a living soul." He's different than animals. We are not just the highest form of animal, as our secular world would have us believe today. As our kids are being taught in school, that's the belief, that's the worldview under which we live today: that you're just the highest form of animal.

Your purpose is defined by you. Whatever it may be, you've got to try to find meaning and purpose because there's no intrinsic value to who you are. That's depressing. Why do you think kids go on rampages, killing people mindlessly? Because they're just taught that they're animals. That's what animals do: survival of the fittest. But there's something more, something greater.

We are going to receive a new body. This soul, which is really who we are, is going to depart from this tent one day. It's not just going to be unclothed and joined together with all the souls of existence, as some of the Eastern mystical religions would have us believe—that one day we're all going to be absorbed back together. No, that's not what the Bible teaches. That's not what God, who created all things, has declared.

Turn back to 1 Corinthians 15 briefly. In 1 Corinthians 15, verse 42, Paul gives this great revelation from God. He writes, "So also is the resurrection of the dead." What's the "it"? The body. It is sown in corruption; it's laid in the ground in corruption. It is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

So, there are two different bodies for us: the earthly body that God has created. He made it; we did not make ourselves. He created us, but in Christ, He has made a new creation for us—a new body.

Skip on down to verse 50 of 1 Corinthians 15. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. This body, this tent, cannot go into that kingdom, the kingdom of God. It's perfect for the earthly kingdom, but it's not fit for the kingdom of God. Neither does corruption inherit incorruption.

Behold, I show you a mystery. Yes, this is mysterious. This is far out. This is awesome stuff, but it's something God has revealed to us. I show you a mystery: we shall not all sleep; we shall not all die, but we shall be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.

Last trump, for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible. We shall be changed, transformed—metamorpho in the Greek. This corruptible must put on incorruption, 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."

We are eagerly waiting for the day when we shall receive this great spiritual body. We're looking forward to it. Every trial or difficulty that we face in this life only inspires us more to desire that. Look forward to it.

Look at chapter 5 of 2 Corinthians, verse 4. Actually, I skipped a verse—verse 3. "If so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked." For we that are in this tabernacle do groan. As we are in this earthly body, as time goes on, we groan more and more, don't we? I mean, when you wake up in the morning, do you not go, "Oh"? You get out of bed, and the first 20 steps you take in the morning sound like a bag of chips being crushed. It wasn't always like that.

As you're creaking, you're going, "Oh," being burdened. Verse 4 states, "Not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up by life." Living in this earthly tent, we groan because we're burdened in this sinful, fallen world and flesh, right? Our groaning is not merely that we would be unclothed, that we'd just be out of here. We don't just want to die. That's not what we're groaning for.

We're groaning for something beyond death—not that we'd be unclothed and just die, but that we would be clothed, brought into a new life. That's what we're looking forward to and hoping for.

The unbeliever, the person who does not know God or have the hope that we have beyond this life, when they wake up in the morning and they creak and crack and groan, they try every medical possible thing they can find to make it so they don't creak and crack and groan anymore because they're not looking forward to death.

They don't want to die. They like this life. They treasure this life. And yes, we love life. We treasure this life. We should. God created this life, and we should enjoy what He's given us here.

But as we creak and groan, it inspires a greater desire for being with the Lord, right? This desire that we have is not some sort of suicidal depression wherein we are grossly longing for death. That's not what we're looking forward to. We are looking forward to this great, full, and abundant life that we shall have with the Lord. He says it there: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up by life. I love that—that this mortal flesh would be swallowed up by life.

You think you're living now? Well, this is nothing in comparison to the life that God has prepared for us. That will be living—true living. Physical death is just escaping this tent that burdens us and gives us the opportunity to step into a life that is far greater: abundant life, fully for eternity.

Now, we didn't make this up. Look at verse 5. He that has wrought for us the self-same thing is God, who has also given unto us the earnest of His Spirit. So, God is the one who has performed this. This glorious reality is a reality because God made it so. He has created this new abundant life for us. He created earthly life, but He has also created heavenly life. He has made the way open whereby we can come into it. God has ordained this.

We are assured of this glorious truth by the abiding presence of God's Holy Spirit. He has given us a down payment, if you will, a guarantee to prove that He will accomplish this work that He said He would bring to pass. Twice in 1 Corinthians, Paul reminds us that we Christians are the dwelling place of God's Spirit, the temple of God.

Turn back to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 16. 1 Corinthians 3.

Verse 16 states, "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" This means you are the temple of the Spirit of God. If you turn a few chapters to the right, to chapter 6 of 1 Corinthians, verse 19 asks, "What? Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own?"

Paul is reminding the church at Corinth of something they knew, or should have known, because he had apparently taught this to them when he was with them. He says, "Don't you remember what I said to you? You're the temple of the Holy Spirit. God dwells in you. He has given you His presence."

This reality is only possible under the New Covenant. Under the Old Covenant, sinful man could only approach God's veiled presence at a physical earthly temple or tabernacle. Even when he came in contact with the presence of God, it was behind a veil; he couldn't come and appear before God.

However, following the resurrection of Jesus Christ, He appeared to His disciples. In John chapter 20, verse 22, it says, "He breathed on them." He then said, "Receive ye the Holy Spirit." The Spirit of God came to indwell His disciples who had placed their confidence, trust, and faith in Jesus. Jesus had died on the cross, atoning for their sins and ours, and now made it possible for God's connection with man to no longer be just at an earthly temple through a veil. The veil was torn from top to bottom, and now He indwells us.

God indwells us, and the presence He has imparted to us, His Holy Spirit, is the abiding reminder that God will make good on His Word. He is faithful who promised. Jesus said to His disciples, "Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions. Were it not so, I would not have told you I'd go to prepare a place for you."

What is the place He is preparing for us in heaven? He is preparing that heavenly body for us. And we walk by faith, not by sight.

We're believing that. We're trusting that. We're hopeful. And it's an absolute certainty. It's not wishful thinking, like, "Well, I really hope it happens, but I don't know." We often make excuses, saying, "If I just had coffee, then I'd be a good person." But the truth is, even with coffee, we can still be wicked. We will not inherit the kingdom of God because of our own works. He has accomplished the work and given us His indwelling Holy Spirit as a continual reminder that God will fulfill His promise after this life.

Paul says as much in the book of Ephesians. In Ephesians 1, verses 13-14, it states, "In whom, Jesus, you trusted after you heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation. In whom also after you believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory."

So, you heard the gospel and put your confidence, your trust in Jesus Christ for your salvation. You are saved not because of your own works, but because of what He has done. Now that you have put your faith in Him, He has done something in us. He has given us the guarantee that He will fulfill His promise by giving us His Holy Spirit.

Paul said in Romans 8, verse 15, "For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. If we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God. We inherit Him. He has given us this abiding presence of His Holy Spirit as a continual reminder that He will make good on the promise He made.

We can speak with absolute assurance, like Paul does here, and say, "For we know that if our earthly house, this tabernacle, is dissolved, if we lose this life, then we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, which is eternal in the heavens." We are groaning for that and looking forward to it. Paul would say in the book of Philippians, "I don't know what I would choose. To stay here and remain is good for you, but I would love to be with the Lord."

In Philippians chapter 1, we continue on to 2 Corinthians 5, verse 6. Therefore, because of this, because of what God has done, we are always confident. You see, if you are basing your relationship with God upon your good works and the keeping of the law under the Old Covenant, you will not have this confidence. You might say, "I really hope I make it. I'm not as good as Pastor Josh, but I really hope I make it." What is the basis of that hope? The basis is your own good works and not the finished work of Jesus Christ.

But Paul says that if we put our confidence in the finished work of Jesus Christ on our behalf, there on the cross, we can be assured that we are always confident. We know that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. When we are here on earth, we are not in His full presence. We are hindered by this body, for we walk by faith and not by sight. Yet, we are confident. In verse 8, I say that I would rather be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

We are not sufficient of ourselves to think anything as being of ourselves, as stated in 2 Corinthians 3, verse 5. We cannot keep the law; we cannot meet God's righteous requirement in the law in such a way that would make us ready for heaven. That is what the law reveals: it is impossible for us to be made right by the works of the law. No flesh shall be justified therein.

God, knowing this, established His law for the purpose of revealing this to us. He did not establish His law so that we would keep it to be made perfect. He knew it would not work for us, but He wanted us to understand that it would not work for us. At the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. He came to show that He is the only way by which we can be made righteous.

The absolute certainty of eternity only comes in Christ. There is no other religion, no other worldview in this world that provides absolute certainty for life beyond the grave other than Christianity. Christianity is the only one. That is why we can confidently say, without being arrogant or narrow-minded, that He is the only way. Show me another path. Show me another religion: Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam.

None of them give anybody confident assurance that when I die, I'm going to be instantly with the Lord. I have something waiting for me beyond this life—only Christ. So why is it arrogant for us to say He’s the only way? It’s just a statement of fact. Get it through your head. I’m not arrogant in saying it; Jesus said it. I’m just quoting Him. You want to call Him arrogant? You’ll have a chance to stand before Him, and I don’t think you’re going to want to say, “You’re pretty arrogant.” No, at that moment, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess, and you will just say, “Yep, you’re right. You’re Lord.” So say it now. Come to the recognition of it now.

We’re not sufficient of ourselves to think anything as being of ourselves. God is the only one who makes us sufficient by the work of His grace, not by our works of righteousness. Therefore, we can always be confident knowing that while we’re in this earthly mortal body, we’re not bodily with the Lord. We’re walking by faith, not by sight, but we are confident and even desirous of being out of these mortal bodies—not in such a way that we’re willing to hurt these bodies, because these are the image of God. God created us in His image, so we don’t wound them or hurt them in any way because we want to glorify Him with them.

In the midst of this life, we are looking forward to heaven, looking forward to being heirs of righteousness, heirs of God, and being in His presence for eternity. Why? Because of God’s promise. The presence of His Spirit reminds us that these things are true. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord—instantly. There is no soul sleep, no disembodied spirit. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

So when one of our family members, one of our friends, or one of our brothers or sisters in Christ dies, yes, we are sorrowful that we won’t get to see them here next week. But we sorrow not as those who have no hope. Why? Because we know that they’re instantly with the Lord. And when I die, I will be instantly with the Lord. Even if it is the most painful death possible, the sufferings of this present life are not worthy to be compared.

With the glory that shall be revealed in us, we step through death into newness of life. Paul, in 2 Corinthians, speaks about a man he knew fourteen years ago, whether in the body or out of the body, he does not know. This man was caught up in the third heaven and saw and heard things that cannot be uttered. He experienced, by revelation of God, what we will experience when we step into eternity and out of this existence. He says he saw and heard things that cannot be uttered, and it was phenomenal.

We look forward to that. We sigh when we observe this life and the wickedness we see on the nightly news or what is called entertainment today. We groan because of the fallenness of this world, and we should be inspired to look forward to what is to come. We have complete confidence in Christ, who has finished the work, because we are not sufficient in ourselves to think anything as being of ourselves.

The question we end with must be this: Do you have this confidence? Can you speak with the same confidence that Paul does here, knowing that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord? We know that if this earthly body dies or dissolves, we have a building from God, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. We are groaning, desiring to be clothed with that heavenly body.

Do you have the confidence to say, "I know for certain that if I died when I walked out these doors and some space junk fell from heaven"—probably not going to happen, but it could—"and I was done, we would all gather around and say, 'Man, that's sad,' and we would pray"? Do you have absolute certainty that if that happened, you would be with the Lord? I guarantee you, it changes everything about the way you live this life. Everything.

If you don't have that confidence, then your treasure will be this life. When things start to fail in this life, you will be troubled. Do you have this confidence? This confidence is only found in Christ. He has made a way that you and I cannot make on our own.

Now, if you do have this confidence and you are connected to God because of the cross of Christ and what God did on your behalf, then our job, in just a few minutes when we go out these doors, is to go into this world because we know Him.

Because we're growing in Him, we are called to make Him known. We need to let people know who are disconnected from God because of death and sin that they can come into connection with God through the cross of Christ, based on what Jesus did on their behalf and not on their own works. This is the gospel. This is the good news. Some will say it's narrow, and some will say we're arrogant, but it's the truth. We stand upon the truth, and may God's word and truth be manifested in the way that we live. Amen?

Let's stand and pray. I invite all the pastors and elders to come forward at this time. Father, we need Your grace every minute of this life. We thank You that Your mercies are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness. We thank You that it is by Your grace that we are saved, and it is by Your grace that we live continually, day in and day out. God, manifest Your glory in us as we enjoy Your grace, and extend Your glory through us in our workplaces, at school, in our neighborhoods, wherever we are. Help us to connect people with You.

If you don't have this confidence today—the confident assurance that if you died because of space junk falling upon you, you would be with the Lord instantly—know that to be absent from this body is to be present with Him. If you do not have that confidence, God desires that you would know with certainty. This assurance is not based on your works, but on the finished work that He accomplished on the cross. He has made a way for you to come into Him and into this confidence.

The law brings the recognition that you have sinned, that you have fallen short of God's glory, and that you will never, in your own strength, be able to glorify Him. But the gospel brings to light life and immortality because of the work that Jesus has done on our behalf.

So, if you do not have this confidence and you want to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you will be with the Lord when you are absent from this life and this body, I ask you right now, wherever you are—people's eyes are closed, they are not watching you—step out from where you are and come down here to the front. Pastors and elders are here to pray with and for you, to share with you more clearly the gospel. If that's you, and you don't have that confidence but want to know for certain, you can have confidence and steadfast assurance, not wishful thinking. Step out from where you are and come down. We sang today...

Christ is risen from the dead, trampling over death by His death. Come awake and rise up from the grave. Perhaps you believe in God, but you have been trusting in your own works, and you find yourself more often than not saying, "Well, I really hope I make it." Jesus finished the work. Don't try to perfect it in your own strength; you'll never be able to do it. Christ died for us according to the Scriptures, was buried, and rose again according to the Scriptures so that we could have newness of life.

If you have put your trust in Him but find yourself struggling with confidence, come and pray with one of these pastors right now.

Father, we glorify You for the work that You are doing. We thank You for the way that You have revealed Yourself to us and desire to do so through us. I pray for my brothers and sisters here that as we prepare to go from this place, God, You would enable us by Your abiding presence and by Your grace to be witnesses of You. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.