6-7-23 - 3 Benefits of Death For The Believer

You have your Bibles tonight. We're going to go to Second Corinthians.

Super excited to jump into this text tonight. So when you find your place, you could stand in honor of God's glorious word. Second Corinthians chapter number five this evening. We're going to read verse number one down to verse number eight.

Paul writes here in Second Corinthians chapter five, verse number one. For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God and 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. Verse three, if so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened, not that we should be unclothed, but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for the self same thing is God who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore, we are always confident knowing that while we are at home in the body, we're absent from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight.

If you'd read verse eight with me, we are confident, I say and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Father, we thank you for the glory of your word, the joy that it brings to us. Thank you for the dear church family that you've brought together this evening, both in person and those that are joining us online. I pray that your word would not return void. May it accomplish everything you sent it to do. And I pray that the Holy Spirit would guide your servant's lips tonight to teach and preach your word for the glory of God in the advancement of the gospel.

Lord, we rejoice in the grapefruit from Sunday. May you continue to do exceeding abundantly. Above all, we ask her thank according to working of your mighty power. In Jesus name, we pray this and all God's people said, then you may be seated. I did want to mention that if you were in the early service Sunday, Tim Lee preached a totally different sermon, the second service. So raise your hand if you were in the early service. So raise your hand if you did not know that. Okay, so he gave his testimony in the second service.

So you'll be able to you'll be able to catch up on that. So I just meant to say that he was planning on preaching the same sermon, but he said, Who's heard me before? And about 25% of the crowd raised their hand. He's like, Who's not heard me before? And he said, Well, then I'm going to do something different. Turn to Revelation 12.

So he he rerouted that whole thing. And so so you'll be able to catch up on his testimony, which is a blessing. But tonight we're going to be looking at second Corinthians chapter five.

And looking at a message of entitled three benefits of death to the believer. You know, the older I get, the more the reality that life is a faper. I remember my grandmother telling me as a teenager, I distinctly could take you to the place sitting on a couch. My grandmother's probably 66 at the time. And she said, I know you think I'm old. And I was thinking you are just so old.

I was thinking this. I mean, I distinctly remember this. I was about 17 years old. And she's like, you know, you know, you think I'm old, but before you know, you're going to be here.

Life is so fast. And she said things like this. I remember when I was your age. And I remember thinking, how on earth could you remember that long ago?

I'm being real honest. I understand things different now at 42. But she, she back then I thought, Grandma, you're just so I didn't tell her that.

But I thought you're just so you're aged, you know. But, but as the years have passed, you know, those those little baby girls that I held in my arms, I now see graduating and soon, my oldest to be married, I'll probably end up becoming more emotional as life goes on, you know, be weepy preacher, Josh. But I feel the weight of those words coming to pass. I you know, when you see also, you know, I've seen several of my classmates who've passed away, I began to see your parents aging and, and, and, you know, with the passing of time inevitably comes the passing of loved ones, people that you cherish, you care for. And no matter who you are, you're going to face death. All of us have had our faces marked with tears with pain, the grief.

Even Jesus wept at the tomb of his dear friend Lazarus. Life can be extremely painful. Sometimes the Bible speaks how death holds the unsaved man in the bondage of fear throughout their life. You know, death is enslaving, it captivates people, produces fear, dread and even torment to the atheist death cast you into what they call the eternal nothingness. But for the believer death takes for it takes us from the bondage of this life to the bliss and freedom of the eternal life from the present pain to future glory. From this temporary weakness to eternal power and the new life death doesn't end life for the believer.

In all actuality, death actually begins life for us. And tonight I want to look at the words of Paul here as he gives us a biblical perspective on death. And I believe this is something that we could use as our church has seen many loved ones pass away. Our dear brother John King went home to be with the Lord in January, Juanita Orting in March, Paul Brown Jr. in April, Charles Savage in April. We had a memorial service. Many of you probably wouldn't be familiar, but just last month for a little baby in our church who was 18 weeks old and child was lost.

And so we had a little funeral with the memorial service with her parents here in May and then Diana and Ida for passed away just the end of May. And you know, life is fragile. It's fleeting.

It's a precious thing. And though we mourn for the passing of our loved ones, the word of God doesn't leave us in a place of hopelessness. And so we can come to the word of God. We can find peace. We can find assurance. We can find truth.

We can find rock foundation for us to be held up upon. And so in this passage, I want to I want to show you three wonderful truths that will help define death for us in a biblical way as we see three benefits of death to the believer. And the first benefit will be a little bit of an extension of the sermon will be tonight on this first point. But death will bring us into the fullness of God's promise. And that's in verse number one down to verse number four. And I call this being taken from the groaning of life to the glories of the next life, from earthly poverty to eternal provision from temporary desert of this life to the eternal promised land.

If you would, Paul says in verse number one for we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God and house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. Paul had just been describing the present distress he had been facing for preaching Christ that he was often near unto death. Back in chapter one of Second Corinthians verse eight, he says, For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble, which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure above strength and so much that we despaired even of life. We had the sentence of death in ourselves. We that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God, which raises the dead who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver. And so he was in a place where death was impending upon him.

The pressure of that reality. Verse 16 of Chapter four, he says, For which cause we faint not, but there were outward man perish at the inward man is renewed day by day. He saw his his external man is being perishing in verse 11 through eight through 11 of Chapter four. He talks about being troubled on every side, being persecuted. He said, We're in verse 10. We're always bearing about the dying of the Lord. Verse 11, he says, We're always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake. So death was just constantly in front of him, not in a not in a exaggerated way, but in a real way. He was facing it, and he had faced being beaten, persecuted, stoned. He had faced imprisonment, shipwrecks. Verse 17.

And look how he refers to it, he says. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment. And we saw that last time that we need to have a perspective on on trials that we see that the traumatic experiences that we face in life are really just light afflictions there. They're just so small and in the realm of eternity in verse 18. While we look not at the things which are seen, but of the things which are not seen, the things which are seen are temporal. The things that are not seen are eternal. So that's how he ends Chapter four talking about the reality of death, the reality of suffering for Christ, that these things are verse 16. He says, Don't faint over these. They're light afflictions.

They're just for a moment that temporary. And so in the eternal perspective, Paul highlights how this applies to our bodies. Notice how he describes the physical body that we currently have. Verse number one, he says, For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle, the word tabernacle is just the word for tent. If this tent word were dissolved, you know, Paul was a tent maker by trade. He he knew what a tent was. He made a living off making tents. Anybody stayed in a tent in the last week? Who? Who thought it would be a good idea to stay in a tent sometime over the last decade? Found out that's not a good idea.

Okay. I remember when my kids were little, I said, you know, we set a tent up on the back porch. It's kind of kind of a neat thought, you know, we're gonna look up at the stars had a little opening at the top, you know, next thing you know, the kids are smashed on you. The humidity's incredible. You know, you don't know if one of the little ones is you're an egg on your head or not, or if that's just the moisture and the dew or what? Totally uncomfortable.

It's totally quiet. I'm used to a fan crickets are nice, but I need a fan. I need some noise.

Anybody know what I'm talking about? Seems like a good idea. I'm like 20 feet away from air conditioned soft cushion. I don't want to turn my man card in too soon. My wife will think less of me. I got these girls, you know, I don't want to leave them out here all night.

They wanted to stay out here. Now I got to protect them. You know, I got to be I think we did that just a couple times. Maybe just once.

Got to be honest. Man, you know, but tents are just temporary, aren't they? I mean, we don't you don't want to stay in a tent forever. Maybe a maybe a night but not a week or a month in the Old Testament. It's interesting because you see that God met with them in a tent of dwelling he the tabernacle that he dwelt in while they wandered through the wilderness all that time was a tent.

It was temporary. It was a place that God would stay in. In essence, his Shekinah glory would come down and sit on the mercy seat. And in the New Testament, in Hebrews Chapter nine, verse 11 speaks of how the Old Testament tent where God dwelt. But in the New Testament, God chose a body to dwell in. Hebrews 9 11 says, But Christ becoming a high priest of good things to come by a greater, more perfect tabernacle or tent not made with hands, that is to say not of this building. Verse 24 of Hebrews nine says for Christ is not entered into the holy place made with hands which are the figure of the true but into heaven itself to appear in the presence of God for us. You need to understand that earthly tabernacle or tent that was in the wilderness traveling around.

That was a picture of what's actually in heaven. Just as the Old Testament was a physical tent God dwelled in. So the New Testament of the body of the believer is a physical tent. The Lord now dwells in.

He dwells in us now. But just as the Old Testament tent was temporary, so our body is temporary in nature. One day it will be dissolved so that we might come into God's eternal presence with a new body created for such a place.

Now, verse one gives us four distinctions of the body. He says it is a tent. It is a house that God will give us, not a tent. He says in verse number one for we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God. There's a big difference between staying in a tent and staying in a building.

There is a one one is temporary, the other is lasting. And so as humans, we put so much value on the tent. We put creams on the tent. We feed the tent too much. We get so worried about the tents dissolving. We just want the tent to last.

And God says it's dissolving. It's temporary. It's not a house.

It's not permanent. Secondly, it's not made with human hands. The eternal body that God will give us is not made with human hands. As the author of life, God gave mankind the ability to procreate, to have offspring, to give birth to physical tents, if you would. But the eternal home and dwelling is only constructed by the hands of God. Thirdly, the tent of our flesh is a temporary dwelling. But God declares here that the heavenly dwelling, he says, is eternal in the heavens.

It's going to last forever. And then finally, the physical body was created for earth. It was created for the terrestrial, but the others created for the heavens. It's created for heaven. You have your Bible, flip back since you have your Bible.

I don't want to say if. Since you have your Bible, 1 Corinthians 15, flip back a few pages. I want to show you in 1 Corinthians 15 where Paul describes this. This is the most detailed description of the believer's resurrected body in scripture. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 36 through 49. And he illustrates our future resurrection from the plant world in verse 36 through verse 38. You need to know the context that there were people at Corinth that were teaching that the resurrection had already passed, that they missed the resurrection.

And Paul rebukes that. And it's good that there was this heresy because it allowed us to have 1 Corinthians 15, which is the greatest chapter on the resurrection in the Bible. So he says in verse... We'll start in verse 35, 1 Corinthians 15, 35, he says, but some man will say, how are the dead raised up and with what body do they come? Thou fool.

Greek morass, you moron. That which thou sowest is not made alive or quick and accept it, die. And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain. It may chance of wheat or of some other grain, but God giveth it a body as it had pleased him into every seed his own body. So the first thing we see here is there are three ways the resurrection resembles the planting and growing of crops. The first thing is the original form of that crop dies. He says in verse 36, that which is sown is not made alive except it dies. When a seed is planted into the ground, it goes through a decomposing process.

The form changes. It must happen for that plant to be birthed. John 12, 24, Jesus likens this unto himself. He says, verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone. But if it die, it brings forth much fruit. He said this the last week of his life before his crucifixion. Jesus was going to die, but what a harvest he would bring. So Jesus died and the old had to cease before the new would come. Secondly, the original form of the seed is changed after entering the earth to be something different when it rises.

It changes in the plan. We're given this plant illustration that Paul's talking to us about. Verse 37, he says, that which is so is thou, so is not that body that shall be, but bare grain. You're just putting that little bare seed in the ground. By chance, it'll turn into weed or some other grain. And we're so used to this, but how amazing to take seeds that are so small and normal to people. And you can take that plant and put it inside of the ground and it dies and it begins to produce whatever plant tree crop that that it was designed to be. I mean, engineered inside of that little seed is all the information that is needed to allow that plant to know the roots need to grow down. The leaves grow up, produce fruit on the ends. This is the type of fruit. These are the patterns. This is how you'll have a continuation of of other plants after you and producing further crop so forth.

It knows to do all of that. It's inside of that little seed, this little brain of that. Just a picture of how incredible this is.

We have a picture of a sequoia seed that we can put up here. So see, that's a palm of a hand. See that little thing in the middle? That's that's the side is of a flake of oatmeal.

That's the size of a flake of oatmeal. And then the next picture is that little piece putting to the ground and grown up. Did anybody expect that little seed to go into the ground and produce that? In the same sense, when somebody says, how are the dead raised and what body do they come? He's like, you're a moron. He's like, take a seed, put it into the ground.

Did you ever think that would happen? Oh, oh, I know moron sounds strong. It's just the Greek word moros. I don't know.

It's doubtful. You could say whichever word. Just to give you some statistics on a sequoia tree, they can grow up to two hundred and seventy nine feet high, twenty six feet in diameter. Their bark, the bark can be three feet thick. I'm a fisherman, so, you know. Is that right, Chris? It's like this. It's like this. I've been fishing recently. They can live up to thirty five hundred years. Is that incredible?

I mean, they have a picture of these things where people are driving cars through them. When Jesus Christ went into the ground, the body he was raised into was radically different than the body that he came out of the ground. In his earthly body, he got tired, sleepy, hungry, fatigue, thirsty. Jesus was literally like the seed walking around the earth. You understand?

You're just a seed. He got hungry, he got tired. But then when he resurrected, he appeared in a glorious form. Revelation Chapter one, Chapter 19 says his appearance is so overwhelming. Chapter 20 says even the heavens and earth flee from his face. It's how glorious he is. It's interesting that after his resurrection, no one recognized him until he revealed his identity to them. But once he revealed himself, they they knew it was him.

Just as plants go through a radical transformation, so we too will go through a radical transformation from an earthly shell to a heavenly body. You need to know that's coming. Don't be discouraged because you're a little seed.

We can look pretty pathetic sometimes, can't we? I sat down with somebody today and they did the same thing I do. You go to get up and you're like, you ever notice the order each year you get louder? I told him, I said, I met with your son earlier today. He didn't make any noise.

He's like, yeah, he's just a young 20 year old. And thirdly, the final form has a continuation of the original form. He says in verse 38 of 1st Corinthians 15, but God giveth it a body as it has pleased him to every seed, his own body. All tomato seeds produce tomatoes.

All grass seeds produce grass. The final form has changed dramatically, but it carries the identity of the seed. Though our final resurrection form will be amazingly different, it will still be our bodies. Paul's point here is why would it be hard to accept the resurrection?

The same thing happens millions and billions of times every day in the plant world. Secondly, Paul gives a series of comparisons of the different kinds of flesh and bodies there are. Look at verse 39. He said all flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of animals, another of beast, another of fishes, another of birds. There are also celestial bodies and bodies terrestrial, but the glory of the celestial is one and that just means heavenly and the glory of the terrestrial earthly is another. There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, another glory of the stars for one star different from one another in glory. So also is a resurrection of the dead. You know, there's really almost an innumerable amount of ways you can put amino acids together and how that all interacts.

It's just incredible. And he goes on to say, just as there are differences in the types of bodies on earth, so there is a vast difference between our resurrected body and our physical body. You will be radically different, not perhaps as much as in appearance as in glory.

You know, stars differ from each other and color and brightness, and there's almost an infinite degree of that. And in the same way that will happen in us. He continues the contrast in verse 42 through 44 because he says again in verse 39 through 42, first part of that, you know, a fish has different skin as a bird has feathers as a human has our skin and all of these things are different, but it's what our covering is.

So your covering will be, your bodies will be very different. Another contrast in verse 42, he says, so also is a resurrection of dead. It is sown in corruption. That's talking about the decaying process is raised in incorruption, is sown in dishonor. And I'll explain all this in just a moment. It's raised in glory.

It's sown and weakness raised in power. So in a natural body raised a spiritual body, he says, there is a natural body and there is a spiritual body. Now, sometimes people ask the question in my new body, will people recognize me? And you just need to know, yes, they will in heaven.

Like you will know one another. You're not going to get there and be some entity that doesn't remember anything that ever happened on earth. Um, I believe that people in heaven are extremely interested in what's going on on earth. I've had pastors say, oh, people in heaven have no idea what's going on on earth. And then I said, well, why are the souls who are beheaded for the cause of Christ under the altar of God crying out day and night, Lord, how long until you avenge us upon those who beheaded us for the cause of Christ? They knew the vengeance had not come forth and they knew what had happened to them on the earth.

Uh, but we'll know each other. I mean, uh, Jesus said in Matthew eight 11 I say to you that many shall come from the east and west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. Clearly indicating people are known in heaven as they were known on earth.

Um, Moses and Elijah were identified. Uh, I could go on and on. I could give you many, many examples of that.

I've done that in the past. Uh, so just, just know the Bible teaches that reality. You know, the Bible even says and teaches in the book of Hebrews that pastors will give an account of their people in heaven. Well, how will that happen if you didn't know? So, uh, now what are the changes our bodies go through from being earthly to heavenly?

Like what are some changes that you will go through like this? This is going to happen. Verse 42 it says, you're sown in corruption. You're raising in corruption.

The word corruption talks about that which is perishable. You ever go to the Amish store? Who goes to the Amish store at some rate? Okay.

When you walk in an Amish store, what's the first thing you notice? Yeah. You're like, you know, you know, cutting out carbs. I just want to go in here and get some lunch meat, cutting out carbs. Next week I'm going to cut some of this stuff out.

We're really going to hit it hard next week. Man, you get that bread and then, um, you put some cheese, you know, I used to go in all the details, but uh, I'm not going to share my sins with you. Um, but that bread, if not frozen or it will go bad very quick.

Now you, you go down the road, you buy their bread. I mean, you could seem like you can keep that stuff for weeks on end, right? It's like, ah, yes, it's no mold yet.

You know, it's a, they're preservatives and stuff. Uh, so, so we have this, this law of entropy affects everything. Everything just decays, wears out, goes from good to bad, bad to worse.

Uh, one day, you know, Psalms one to three 14 says this of goddess as for, he knows our frame. He remembers we are dust. Our days are as grass is the flower of the field.

We watershed, the wind passed over and it's gone. The place or oven shall know it no more, but it's, it's, so it's sewn in this corruptible process of dying and you need to understand this. Death is what will give you is, is what will, you know, death doesn't give it to you, but, but Christ is designed that the great enemy of death becomes the doorway that ushers you into that blissful eternity. So as you're getting older, there should be some sense of excitement growing. You should be like, man, I'm, it's, it's not like old deaths coming.

Should be like, I'm getting pretty close to heaven now. You know, some of y'all are rounding forth third base. You know what I'm saying?

Somebody rounding forth and you're circling back. No, don't write me a letter. Don't get all sensitive. I am. All right, so we're sewn in corruption.

You just need to know this, but you're going to be raised in encryption. This speaks of the imperishable state that our new body will be in. You will have a body that never changes from good to bad. You will never be able to blow your back out. You will never lift anything that hurts you. You, you will never have teeth that need worked on. You will never have a headache.

You will never have allergies. Yes. I mean, this is going to be a body that can never get worse. Look at verse 53 in this same chapter. He says, for this corruptible must put on in corruption. This mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on in corruption 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. Death, where's I staying? He begins to boast against death. And so you're going to have a perfect body, sinless, pure, perfect, no corruption. Luke 20 verse 35. Jesus says, but they, which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world in the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage. Neither can they die anymore. Is that going to be the day?

It's going to be a great day, isn't it? So, so that's the first change. Secondly, verse 43 of first Corinthians 15 says you're sown in dishonor, but you're raised in glory.

This section change has to do with your value and potential. You're sown in dishonor. When you know, when a person dies, their body was originally created to be perfect and sinless.

It's been tainted by sin. We were made to reflect the glory of God, but you know, the order we get age humbles us, doesn't it? And some of us guys, I think struggle with this and well, maybe it works both ways too. I think women may struggle with it as well.

Maybe at the same level, I don't know. But, um, but sometimes guys will hurt themselves because they, they want to still lift that thing. They will still want to do that thing.

They, they, their pride causes them to sometimes get injured. You know, I was hoping a guy a while back lift up this thing into the baggage. I was, I'll get that. He's like, no, I can get it. I can get it.

I'm like, why? Like, you know, fast forward me 30 years, I'll be the same way. Get back, get back.

I'll get this thing. But we still want to, we still want to do some of that stuff. But, but we, we lose our eyesight. Who, who, who used to have great close vision? Now you wear eyeglasses.

Yeah. You're like, man, why can't I read? Ask somebody reader like, my eyes are fine. Like I can't even see that far.

I got great foresight. So they, uh, eyes go bad. Our bodies begin to, I don't need to go into all the details of what happens. Do I, I mean, it's, it just kind of, it kind of fades. Things wear down, wear out, fall out. So it's, it's in, in, in, in the way, the way it kind of works is when you're born, you have to constantly be cared for.

You have children you care for, but then you, you kind of revert back to where then you have to be cared for again. And, um, and so you're sown in this, this, this, this weakness, but then you're raised in glory. Someone may look weak, small, frail when they lay in a casket, but I can tell you that will not be the image that you will see of them in heaven. You're, you're seeing the little Sequoia seed. Look how frail that body is. Look how frail they mock Jesus on the cross. All you, all you're just looking at the seed friend.

You have no idea what came out of that, that grave. And so verse 43 says it's sown in weakness and it's raised in power. Um, again, the weakness, the frailty, but it's raised in power. Martin Luther, uh, the reformer.

Whenever I say Martin Luther, just know I've, I'm not speaking of Martin Luther King. This is Martin Luther, the reformer as weak as the human body of the believer is now without all power and ability when it lies in the grave, just so strong will it eventually become when the time arrives so that not a thing will be impossible for it if it has a mind for it. It will be so light and agile that an instant it can float here below or on earth or above in heaven. You know, in the eternal state you will not be bound to this earth. You will not be bound to some new heaven and new earth. You, you will have glory that you and I don't understand on this side of heaven.

We don't understand it. Oh, how great verse 42 it says it is sown a natural body, but it's raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body. There is a spiritual body.

The fourth contrast is in the fear of our existence. The natural body. We have a body that's limited to the physical world. It's made for life on earth.

The spiritual body we receive as a new body that is made for heaven and the glory beyond anything that we can conceive. I mean, what a caterpillar ever imagined what it would be like to fly. No one would imagine if they ever saw a caterpillar, if they'd never seen that change into a chrysalis, go in there, liquefy, do whatever it does and then come out as a caterpillar.

Nobody ever would believe that would happen. And those are just small examples. How overwhelming the changes in the physical world, how incredible the differences and he's saying, do you, that is such a small comparison to what's going to happen to you forever and you're worried because your back hurts and you're getting older and your 95 year old loved one passed or so. You know, we, we, we, we, we, there should be a sense of joy of saying, man, praise God. Like that's like we, as we get older, we should not be afraid of death.

We should say it's somewhat of a friend that welcomes me home. The fourth contrast Paul gives us is the prototype of the believer. Look what he says in verse 45. He says, and so it is written, the first Adam was made a living soul, wasn't he? And the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Adam could procreate physical beings. Jesus pro creates eternal beings, spiritual life, how be it that was not first, which was spiritual, but that which was natural and afterward it was spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy. The second man is the Lord from heaven as is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy and as the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. As we have borne the image of Adam or the earthy, we shall bear the image of the what is that?

Is that good news? Anybody want to reflect heavenly glory in your eternal existence is that is that give us better news than Fox or CNN or MSNBC for heaven's sake. Just as our earthly body reflected Adam, so our resurrected body will resemble the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians three tells us this. Paul says for our conversation, the word there can be translated. Our citizenship is in heaven from whence also we look for the savior of the Lord Jesus Christ who will change our, what's he called our body?

Yeah, so you may, you may be that is, is, uh, Tim Lee said the best looking person in the room. You may be the richest, you may be the most well known, whatever, but our bodies are vile and he'll change that vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, like his glorious body. I mean, if, if, if, if he would take the lowest of the heavenly beings and say, we're going to make your body like the least in heaven, we would be like, God, that is a reward beyond anything I could ever have asked. If you were to make me as the lowest being of heaven, that would, in the image of that would be the most glorious blessing of eternity. But to say, I will make you and change you that your body will be fashioned like the glorious body of the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That's the body that I'm going to fashion yours like, you know, it's one thing to have a little beetle shop that's making little cars, the beetles, you know, the little beetle cars. To me, I just, I'm probably going to offend somebody. I could just not drive that.

So it couldn't fit real well. If you made fun of it just would not be a good thing. So, and then you have over here like some awesome vehicle, you know, Corvette, you know, or really fast Corvette or big truck or something. And it's like, you know, which one do you want to be made like? It's like, yeah, I really don't want to be a, you know, my, my first vehicle was a Chevy spectrum. Anybody know what a Chevy spectrum is? The moans can tell you it's a vile body. So the vile body of the Chevy spectrum, you know what I'm talking about?

Yeah. It ran on like one cylinder, you know, I had to get down and kick going uphill sometimes. I got pulled over once. I was proud. I was like, you mean I broke the speed limit?

Like phenomenal. I was like this downhill back wind. I was like, you got to give me some money for this, sir.

I deserve a reward, a ticket or something. We, we, we are in the line of Christ's body is what, what he's going to fashion us like unto. It's just, I don't think that we think about this enough. First Corinthians, first John three two says, beloved, now are we the sons of God and it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him. We're going to be like him now. Now look back to chapter five verse two, chapter five verse two, second Corinthians five. Notice the response of Paul having known this future glory like a caterpillar longing to shed its chrysalis and fly. So Paul longed to put off the body of flesh so he might step into the body. God prepared for the believer.

So look what he says in verse number two. For in this we what grown earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with the house which is from heaven. I mean, what are you going to most enjoy when you get there? What struggles will you most be thankful that you no longer have to endure? What, what, what, what thoughts are you going to be glad like I never have to worry about those thoughts again, those actions again, those temptations again.

What wrong words maybe you struggle saying is like I never have to worry about saying that again. What societal pressures and sins will you be glad never to hear again? What, what cultural perversions, what evil acts, murders, abuses, hate, injustice, crimes will you be thankful never to hear of again? What physical limitations will you be glad to depose of? What, what body ailment will you be like? You'll be touching your toes like this is, you know, what, what, what will you be like?

I'm just so glad that's gone. What spiritual limitations being able to, to learn and grow and study and things and not have to worry about the limitations of the fatigue of the mind. MacArthur said for all death comes like an utterly unsympathetic landlord waving an eviction notice, but that eviction merely releases the believer from a wretched earthly neighborhood to an infinitely grand and glorious dwelling and a heavenly neighborhood. I mean, we, we, we're living in a slum if you would, in this tent of this world and God's going to bring us into the glorious glories of his heaven. Verse three says, if so that being clothed, we shall not be found naked. Now the Bible makes clear that when a believer dies, they immediately go into the presence of God.

I'm going to share some things with you that you may not have thought of before and you need to know this. The Bible teaches that when you die, you immediately go into the presence of God. That's why verse eight says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. The Bible also makes clear that this glorified new body does not come the moment you die. It comes at the resurrection. And when does the resurrection happen? The resurrection happens at the rapture. First Thessalonians four verse 13 says this.

You can hold your place and turn there if you want. If you're not familiar with this passage, it'll be up on the screen. Do you need to know this verse Thessalonians four 13 says this, but I would not have you to be ignorant brethren concerning them which are asleep. Now the word asleep here is a euphemism for believers who are dead.

They're not like unconscious. They're, they're, they're, they're just Christians who've died. He says that you sorrow not even as others which have no hope.

Believers don't have to sorrow in an uncontrollable way for long extended periods of time because they have hope. Verse 14 for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God, what will they do? So where are those departed spirits at? They're with the Lord because he's going to bring them with him, isn't he? So believers spirits are with the Lord. They do not have a resurrected body yet. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord that we which are alive remain under the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall do what now? Why will they rise first? Because the Lord's bringing the spirits with him, but the resurrected by their body still in the grave and he's going to conform that earthly tent into a glorified body just like he did with his own body when he raised from the dead. People say, are they?

So why did they come out of the ground? Their spirits are with the Lord. He's going to bring them with them and he's going to raise them first. And then verse 17 we which are alive and remain shall be caught up.

That's our pod. So is the Greek word, but it's the catching away the where we get the word rapture from. We shall be raptured up or caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord.

And what does that truth produced in us? It says in verse 18 wherefore comfort one another with these words. What comfort does it bring that you're going to see your loved ones?

You will know them. If you didn't know them, there would be no comfort and that you're going to be resurrected. Now in second Corinthians five three to be naked is to have a spirit without a resurrected body. It's it's what theologians called the intermediate state. So it's the person who is dead between after Jesus Christ resurrected from that time.

All the New Testament saints till now are in heaven but not in their glorified body yet. Paul is saying we don't just want to put off the body we have. We want to have the resurrected body. Now you need to also know this and that day among the Greeks and Romans, they saw matter as evil and the spirit as good. And their goal ultimately was to just put off the body and become a disembodied spirit.

And that was not what Paul was talking about. That is why he says it's not that we want to be found naked, but we want to be found clothed with a new body. Augustine, the great early church theologian said we are burdened with the corruptible body.

But knowing that the cause of this burdensome is not the nature of the substance of the body, but it is corruption. We do not desire to be deprived of the body, but to be clothed with its immortality. Paul was not looking for release of the earthly body, but to receive the resurrection body.

You know, it would be like this. Paul's first choice was to be in heaven with the Lord in his resurrected body. His second choice was to be with the Lord away from Earth. And the third choice was to remain on Earth in his body.

That was kind of his three choices. Now you need to understand, Paul believed that he was going to see, he thought that in hopeful that he would see the rapture in his day. That's why he says in verse five, look at verse chapter five, verse one, for we know that if our earthly house verse two, for in this we groan, verse three, if so be that being clothed, we shall not be found. Verse four, for we that are dead. If you go into all these patterns, there's 25 wheeze in the first 15 verses of this chapter. Now don't go through and count them all.

You can do that later. So, but he's including himself and he's, he's, he's longing for that and all the New Testament saints were longing. They, they believe the rapture could happen at any moment as it can now. And so Christian, are you longing for that future resurrected body? If not, have you become too content in your earthly tent?

This temporary dwelling place, you're wanting a permanent tent to be your dwelling place. It should be a longing for this heavenly, heavenly body. Secondly, I told you that first point was going to go long.

This last couple will be shorter. Secondly, death will bring us into the fullness of God's purpose. Look at verse five.

This is so good. Now he that has wrought us or you could say he that has prepared us for the self. Same thing is God who also have given unto us the earnest or the down payment, the Arab on of the spirit. People can often ask, what is my purpose in life? Perhaps the better question is what is God's purpose for me for all of eternity?

Better, right? So what's my purpose in life? No, what's, what's my purpose forever? You were made for eternity. God's plan is not simply for you to have this vapor length lifetime and do something here. Rather, God has an eternal purpose for you.

This is just a blink friends. His design is forever for you. Second Timothy one nine says who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose.

When did this purpose start? According as Ephesians one four says, according as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holding without blame before him and love. Are you holding without blame? Answer is not on your own, but in salvation he made you that way. He eternally purposed for you to be saved, sanctified and conform to Christ.

This is Romans eight 28 and we know all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. You're the called and he called you according to his purpose. Jesus says, whom the father has given to me shall come to me. All that the father has given to me shall come to me. And then he says, and he that cometh to me, I shall have no wise cast out. I'm going to save.

I'm going to save those that have been purposed and the door is open for all. Romans eight 28 goes on in verse 29 says, for whom he did for no. What did he do? He predestinated you. Predestinate means to choose and determine before it happens. Predetermination to be conformed to the image of Christ.

Why? Because that's what you're going to be forever. It was marred in the garden. It will be forever realized at the resurrection that he might be the first for born among many brethren. So moreover, whom he predestinated, he called them whom he called the saved or he justified and whom he justified them. He also did what glorified.

You will be glorified. You know what his eternal purpose is that you will be glorified. God has a plan for you here, but it's just a fraction of that.

Do you understand that? Like you're living a fraction of his purpose here. No matter how many books you wrote, no matter how many sermons you preached, no matter how much work you did, it's just a tiny little fraction of what God has in store and his purpose eternally for you. It doesn't stop at death. The glory of eternity awaits you in a body that can live for God at the fullness with joy and his presence unceasing, no hindrance, no, no calling and sick, not even have to be tired.

You're just joyful livings as kings and priests of God and eternal heavens with a body that only enjoys the bliss of God to know as you are known, it's going to be beyond human understanding. So who cares what they have in Hollywood? What are you jealous of?

What did they have? They have a bigger yard than you have. I'm thankful that I would have a small yard that I wouldn't have to mow at all, right? So how do we know this is coming? Verse five, who also has given us the earnest of his spirit. So not only does he say, I'm going to give my son to die for you, then I'm going to conform you to the image of my son. And just to let you know this is going to happen, I'm going to give you the Holy Spirit to dwell within you. You need more assurance than that. He's our down payment.

This is the first installment. This is a guarantee. The indwelling Holy Spirit is the guarantee of God that the future promise is coming. That's why he says in verse one for we know we know it's guaranteed.

This is no one will pluck you out of my hand. Romans eight tells us nothing can separate us from God. We're sealed forever. If you could lose your salvation, it's not you that failed. It's God that failed. Jesus said, all that the father has given to me shall come to me and of them I've lost nothing. If he lost any than Jesus failed. If you believe you could lose your salvation, you believe Jesus can fail. That's a fact because you don't, you think you keep yourself saved.

Really? You ever read first Peter one five who were kept by the power of God? Jude 24 now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.

Anybody glad that he's able to present us faultless because on our own we'd have some faults. So, so death will bring the fullness of God's purpose in your life thirdly and will be done. Death will bring us into the fullness of God's presence. He says in verse six, therefore we are always confident knowing that while we are at home in the body, we're absent from the Lord for we walk by faith, not by side.

We are confident. I say willing rather to be absent from the body to be present with the Lord. Here, Paul highlights the greatest of all of his expectations of heaven beyond the freedom from sin, beyond the pain of the flesh, beyond the center of the world, the hatred of the opposition he faced above everything he's just wanted to be in the fullness of Christ's presence. It was not that Paul did not love the people he was with.

It's just that he loved Jesus more. Philippians 1 21 tells us this. He says, for me to live is Christ. I'm going to live for Jesus if I'm living, but to die it's just gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor, but what I shall choose, I would not.

I don't know which one I will choose for I'm going to straight with two x two. This is a battle for me, he says, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better. I just want to die and be with Christ. Verse 24, nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. And I confess, I feel that way. I want to be on earth for two reasons, for my family and for this church and for the advancement of the gospel. I don't need anything else on the earth. I've seen enough. If it wasn't for you guys and my family and the ministries, I'd be like, Lord, just let me die now.

Why do I want to be a caterpillar? Right? People like you, that's crazy talk.

Is it? Well, you must be living in your tent too long, friend. You understand there's an air conditioned building of God in the heavens and you're staying your tent all you want. Hang on to that tent. I've read too much. I've studied too far. I know what it says. Like I want that. That's so much better. But we have that for eternity, so let's be content here and faithful here while we have it, right? Let's try to get as many tent dwellers to the eternal dwellers as we can.