Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Amen. Why don't we stand this morning we're going to go to the Lord in prayer. So Father, as we lift our hands before you, we want to lay aside every burden.
[00:00:09] I know that we all carry things and so we're just going to lay them down at your feet right now we're not going to focus in on them. That's one of our great temptations to be locked in how we're going to solve this problem.
[00:00:20] But right now Father, our eyes are on you. And your word says in our we're reminded in your word it says that we're to cast our cares on you because you care for us, that you are the burden bearer. And so we're going to cast our burdens on you today.
[00:00:36] We're going to allow you to carry them Lord, and we're going to allow your spirit to speak into our spirits today that you're going to strengthen us, you're going to encourage us and challenge us. And we thank you for that Father, in Jesus name and God's people said amen. You may be seated. I'm going to have you turn in your Bibles again to a series that we're doing on Second Corinthians and it's chapter 5 verses 1 to 10 and I've entitled this message between death and what actually happens.
[00:01:09] It's very interesting. CS Lewis in his book the Problem of Pain says some say that death ought not to be final, that there ought to be second chance.
[00:01:19] I believe that if a million chances were likely to do good they would be given.
[00:01:25] But a master or teacher often knows when boys and parents do not know that it's really useless to send a boy in for a certain examination. Again finality must come sometimes and it does not require a very robust faith to believe that omniscience or the all knowing God knows when. So what Lewis is really saying is simply this, that God when he calls people, when he calls them away from this planet, he's given people ample opportunity to respond to him. And you know, a lot of times we don't believe that. But let me just point out something to us the Bible says very clearly that every human being is without excuse. It's found in the book of Romans. And you say why are people without excuse of not being able to somehow come to know who God is? Well the scriptures teach very clearly that the creation of our world is making a declaration that there has to be a Creator.
[00:02:21] Now I know that we're being taught and educated, you know, very sophisticatedly that we Are all, you know, this all came about naturally that there is no God. And a lot of people want to believe that because, you know, they don't want to be submitted to a God that they have to be accountable to. But let me just point out one important little truth.
[00:02:44] When you're a naturalist, you have to believe that life originated from non life.
[00:02:51] But we all know that life begets life. And so when we think about God, God is outside the circle in which we're living in the sphere in which we're living in. And God is the first cause that created life to begin to happen in our world. And you know, all of the studies, and I think it's very interesting today that many of the scientists, when they start talking about intelligent design, just using those terms, how many are beginning to pick up that suggests a personal God, because intelligence means that you're making decisions. And that's what speaking of being a person is. And so we serve a personal God. That's amazing to me. And this personal God created our world, and it's a very complex world, by the way.
[00:03:37] You know, the fact that you and I are living in a system that sustains human life is amazing to me. It just goes to show you that someone designed this so that human beings could live on this planet. We're going to continue to talk about not just living on the planet, what happens when we die, when we physically die. And especially as a believer, Linda Belville writes, there was the same ambivalence towards death in Paul's time. You know, there's a question. A lot of questions arise. Some view death positively as a release of the immortal soul from a mortal body which they were entombed in, while others looked on death as life's end. So in other words, the Greek philosophers saw the soul in a very Platonic sort of way. They saw that the natural world, the material world, they considered to be the problem. It was evil in their minds. And so when the essence of who they were, their soul departed from their body, that they were being released from this evil.
[00:04:37] But yet the Bible doesn't teach that either. Because in the beginning, God said he created the heavens and the earth. And when he framed everything in Genesis chapter one, he said, behold, all things are good. So we know that material things are good, including our human earthly bodies. They're considered good. Isn't that amazing? And yet we say to ourselves, well, then why is it that our world is decaying? Why is it that our bodies are falling apart and decaying? That's a great question. And the answer is real simple.
[00:05:05] Sin came into our world and it brought death and decay into this world. So we need to understand that even though the body is considered good by God, the earthly body that we have right now is in the state of decay because of sin. So those are answering some of those questions. She goes on to say, here, then there's other people in our society today. They feel like once you're dead, that's it.
[00:05:28] There's no existence apart from this earthly existence.
[00:05:31] So another Greek philosophy kicks in here, and their attitude is, let's party, enjoy all you can for as long as you can, because you've only got a little bit of time. And then everything comes to an end.
[00:05:44] Unfortunately for those people, they're going to find out the party is not going to end.
[00:05:48] It's going to be addressed when they stand before Almighty God one day in eternity. But let's continue on and see, she says here.
[00:05:57] Paul, however, puts forth a very different expectation for the Christian. Excuse me. In Second Corinthians 5, verses 1 to 10, there is the certainty of physical resurrection and transformation. That's good news.
[00:06:13] The confidence that death begins a journey in the realm of sight. In other words, you and I, right now are living by faith.
[00:06:22] But there's a moment coming. We will no longer need faith. We will actually see what we have hoped for by faith. It'll be really amazing. That's what Linda is writing here in her commentary. She goes on to say, the assurance that death places us in the presence of Christ, all of this is confirmed by the deposit of the Spirit within us, guaranteeing what is to come. So the very fact that God's Holy Spirit, when we receive Jesus comes into our life, that is a guarantee, a promise that God is going to do everything. He's telling us about our future.
[00:07:01] And that's pretty exciting. This is almost like you're going to buy a house. How many know that when you buy a house, you put a deposit down? You're basically saying, I'm committing myself to doing this, and the deposit is a guarantee that eventually I will pay the remainder of this fund. Now, I know we usually go to the bank to get the rest of it, but at that point, when the bank takes and gives us the money that we're borrowing, we actually pay the person who owns the house. Right? That's how it works. That's a deposit. And so we need to be assured today. And God does make a great assurance. The fact that we have his presence in our life, what he's about to do is going to be absolutely exciting, and we're going to look at that today. You know, there is a lot of speculation and controversy between the moment we die and the time when Jesus comes again.
[00:07:51] Actually, theologians call this the intermediate state, and we rarely talk about it. But today I'm going to discuss it with us in writing earlier to the Corinthian Church, Paul lays out the teaching regarding the resurrection in quite great detail in First Corinthians 15. And he also describes the difference between our earthly bodies and our eternal spiritual bodies. He goes into that. He begins to describe this because they were having a hard time processing it. You know, I'm so thankful for the Corinthians. They were so messed up.
[00:08:28] And you say, well, why are you thankful for them? Because they actually garnered a lot of information for us because Paul was writing to straighten them out. And, you know, sometimes we look at problems in a negative way. I'm going to say sometimes problems are. Are an opportunity to learn. Problems sometimes are a means for you and I to grow spiritually. Sometimes problems come into our lives and they become a refining in our lives. So there's so many. There's an upside to even the downside. And a lot of times all we can see is the problem. When we get bummed out and we're emotionally down and we only think about the problem. You know, sometimes we gotta stop asking, why is it happening? And maybe we need to change that to say, what can I learn from this? And how can I grow from this experience? And how can I not make the same mistakes over and over again? Those are better questions. But let's take a look at what Paul says to the Corinthians in chapter 15. He said, so will it be with the resurrection of the dead, the body that is sown is perishable and it is raised imperishable.
[00:09:30] So what is he saying? That we're actually sown, in a sense, just like a seed is going into the ground, it's actually the death of that. You know, the seed is. You can say, what's the beginning? Yes, but it's also the fruit of the plant. And then eventually the seeds, you know, come up from that plant. And then when they're sown, when the seed is sown in the ground, it actually produces a plant. So he's basically telling us something has to happen. And we need to understand that God wants to do something about changing even our earthly body. Here. It's sown in dishonor, it's raised in glory. It's sown in weakness. It's raised in power. Aren't you glad you know? Because I've been around people when they're dying, and sometimes they're pretty weak.
[00:10:14] Eventually their bodies give out. But you know what God says. Yeah. Well, it was sown in weakness, but it's going to be raised in power. It's sown a natural body, but it's going to be raised a spiritual body.
[00:10:26] And if there's a natural body, there's also a spiritual body. I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
[00:10:36] Nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I'm going to tell you a mystery. We'll not all sleep. In other words, we're not all going to die here.
[00:10:49] As a Christian, we're not going to all sleep. We're going to actually die. Not going to all die, but we'll all be changed. That's powerful. He says, in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable.
[00:11:08] We will be changed. So when Jesus comes back, two things are going to happen. The people who had preceded us in death, that are believers, they're going to be raised and we're going to be changed, and we're all going to be given imperishable bodies. We're going to look at that in more detail. That's pretty exciting, you know, he goes on to say, for the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, the mortal with immortality.
[00:11:36] When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true. This is the moment when this statement will come true. Death has been swallowed up in victory. You know, we can't say that right now. We still see people dying. But there's a moment coming when we're going to see that death itself will come to an end. Anybody going to rejoice over that? That's an enemy, big enemy of humanity. It's going to all come to an end.
[00:12:04] You know, at first, the early church assumed, you know, and rightfully so. I mean, they'd walked with Jesus, they'd seen his crucifixion, they'd seen his resurrection. They had appeared to 500 people at one time.
[00:12:16] And Jesus now is ascending into heaven. Angels are telling these guys, just the way you saw Jesus leave, he's going to come back. And I have a feeling they thought it was going to happen soon.
[00:12:27] They were probably thinking any day, any week. But you know, after a while, days went by, weeks went by, months went by, years went by, and Jesus hadn't come back yet.
[00:12:40] And a new problem arose. Many of their own believing company people started to physically die. It created a problem. What's going to happen to these people now before this all happens?
[00:12:56] Like, where do these people go when they die?
[00:13:00] What's going to happen to them? And so Paul writes another letter to a different church in Thessalonica. And he says this. Brothers and sisters, we don't want you to be uninformed. I'm so glad he's going to instruct us here about those who sleep in death so that you will not grieve like the rest of mankind who have no hope for we believe that Jesus died and rose again and that we who are still alive and who are left until the coming of the Lord will certainly not precede or go before those who have fallen asleep. In other words, the people who have died in faith, they're going to rise first.
[00:13:41] That's what he's telling us here.
[00:13:45] He says, for the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel, with the trumpet call of God and the dead in Christ.
[00:13:54] The people who are believers dead in Christ will rise first. And after that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
[00:14:05] And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore, encourage one another with these words. So what is Paul telling us? He's saying, hey, be encouraged. These people, they're going to rise again. They're going to come, their bodies are going to rise.
[00:14:21] That's the point. Their bodies are going to rise. Remember that thought because I'm going to bring us back to this thought here in a little bit. But you know, this now triggers another question. So what happens to those believers who physically die before Jesus returns? And by the way, as I've already said, this was a deep concern and there was a lot of confusion in that hour, but I'm going to even argue there's a lot of confusion today.
[00:14:44] People are still confused what happens to these people. And so I'm going to say something here.
[00:14:50] I think there's always been a fascination with the afterlife. How many say that's true? I mean, you know, we have people that have, what do you call those near death experiences or people who have died and come back to life again and they share some of their story I mean, I had a man tell me an amazing story when I was in Germany about that very thing. So we hear about these things, but we're still confused what really happens. And as I said, the theologians call this the intermediate state. And I said this earlier. This is going to be an atypical sermon. You go, what does that mean, Pastor? It's not my normal sermon because I'm going to do something I've never done before or I can remember doing. I'm going to have two points of the sermon, and the first point is not the actual text, but the actual text will speak to these issues. Okay, so this is a little bit different. You say, well, why are you doing this? Because I want to examine three false views of the intermediate state that a lot of people think are correct, but they're not. And I want to show you from Scripture why these three views are wrong. And then I want to bring you to a biblical view and show you what actually happens. Okay, so one of the ideas today that's gaining traction in our Western culture is the idea of reincarnation.
[00:16:10] And I'll tell you what's going on here. So I want you to understand that new age is not new. It's old age stuff. It's Hinduism. It's been repackaged and brought to North America. You need to understand that. And the only reason I'm bringing this one up is because one day I ran into somebody and they said, pastor, in my former life, that twigs something in my mind. I'm going, okay, this person is actually telling me that they think they've lived before.
[00:16:38] And that's reincarnation, folks.
[00:16:41] There's a little problem with having that as an understanding because that's really what Hinduism is all about. And let me explain a little bit, because I've been to India now, what, 12 times? So I have a little feeling for what's going on. And Hinduism is really pantheism. And you go, what's pantheism? They believe that everything is God and God is everything, and that God is within the system. When, as you and I, as Christians and you know, theists and Jewish people and even Muslim people, they believe God's outside the system. He's the creator of the world. So it's a totally different viewpoint. And in reincarnation, they believe this. They believe that you have to live a good moral life.
[00:17:18] And if you do, when you die, when you come back again, that's their teaching, that if you've lived a good life, you'll have. You'll be at a better state.
[00:17:26] So maybe let's say you were, you know, a person in the low caste because they have a social dynamic, a social economic system called caste system. If you were at a very low caste and you behaved really good, maybe when you died and come back next time, you'll be in a higher level caste and your next life will be better than the last life. So everybody's stuck in a certain level, you know, or if you've been really bad, you could come back as, you know, a creature, you know, like a fly, a mosquito, who knows, you know, so nobody wants to kill anything in India because you could be wiping out somebody. So, you know, they don't mess with this stuff. Okay, now some of us here, some of you are laughing, but you know, listen, if that's all you've been taught, you believe it, isn't that true? It's true.
[00:18:14] But listen to me carefully. The Bible has something that speaks directly to that. In Hebrews, chapter 9, verse 27, it says, just as people are destined to die, how many times?
[00:18:24] One time, you're not dying a whole bunch one time. And after that you're going to face judgment. So Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many, and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin like he did the first time, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. So you and I are waiting for Christ's return. That's the whole message of Christianity here.
[00:18:46] So if we only have one life, we. We have to prepare in order to be ready not for another life, but for all of eternity. This life is extremely critical. We get it right that we address things in our lives that we learn from our mistakes. Okay, now let's look at another concept. This one you may be familiar with. It's called Purgatory.
[00:19:12] So if you grew up in a Roman Catholic background or if you grew up in a Greek Orthodox background, they believe in purgatory.
[00:19:19] And, you know, I'm not here to mock it. I'm just here to explain it and then to explain why I think this is a problematic understanding. So in this teaching, people are taught that those who believe in God that, you know, are, you know, they haven't really. They still got some issues. They got some purification issues. They end up in purgatory. So these are people that are believers, but they end up in purgatory.
[00:19:45] And this is the time between when they've died and when Christ comes back. So they're staying in the state of purgatory and everybody in purgatory will eventually get out of purgatory.
[00:19:56] Okay, so this is in their mind. So I'm going to quote from some Catholic theologians here. Okay, so here's a catechism of the Catholic Church, and it defines purgatory as a purification as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven. So what they're saying is, you know, people that are believers are still not holy enough in order to enter heaven because they're thinking, you know, simply, this is the people who die in God's grace and friendship, but still are imperfectly purified.
[00:20:29] That's the teaching I'm quoting from their own catechism. It notes that this final purification of the elect is entirely different from the punishment of the damned.
[00:20:41] So they're not saying this is going to hell. This is purgatory.
[00:20:44] They claim that purification is necessary because, as Scripture teaches, nothing unclean will enter the presence of God in heaven. Now, they got that right. Nothing unclean is going to enter into the presence of God. Everybody that comes into heaven will be clean. It's just that their understanding of how people get cleaned is not biblical. And I'm going to explain this to you. So John Hardin is a Jesuit priest. So he's a theologian. And this is what he says. I'm going to quote him. Okay? So I'm not just. This is not my idea. John is explaining this. He says, when we speak of the souls of the just in purgatory, we're referring to those that leave the body in the state of sanctifying grace. These are believers and are therefore destined by right to enter heaven. Their particular judgment was favorable, although conditional, providing that they are first clans to appear before God.
[00:21:36] But the condition is always fulfilled. The poor souls in purgatory still have the stains of sin within them.
[00:21:44] This means two things. First, it means that the souls have not yet paid the temporal penalty due even for now. They classify sins into two groups. Venal sins, which are more minor sins, or for mortal sins, whose guilt was forgiven before death. In other words, these are the guys were forgiven by a priest at the end of their lives.
[00:22:02] It may also mean the venal sins themselves were not forgiven either as to guilt or punishment before death. And it is not certain whether the guilt of venal sins is strictly speaking, remitted after death and if so, how the remission takes place. That sounds a little confusing, but let me explain it to you real simple. He's basically saying here, when you sin, you're not totally cleansed. You go to purgatory.
[00:22:30] But we don't know how you really get cleansed in purgatory.
[00:22:33] Does everybody follow that line of thinking? That's the way they're explaining it. I'm not explaining it. This is John Hardin. Okay? He goes on, we should also distinguish between the expiatory punishments that the poor souls in purgatory pay and the penalties of satisfactions which souls in the state of grace pay before death.
[00:22:54] Well, wait a minute. Now he's explaining that you can pay for your sins before you die, whereas before death, the soul can cleanse itself by freely choosing to suffer for its sins.
[00:23:10] Wait a minute.
[00:23:11] You're telling me that how a person cleanses themselves is through suffering their own personal suffering? Now, I'm going to pause here and just say something. Now, you could probably quote and I thought about this First Peter, chapter four, verses one and two. And it says, you know, Peter writes, and he says, you know, after you have suffered a while, you know, you'll actually be set free from sin.
[00:23:33] But I don't think it's about purgatory. I think what this statement simply means is this. How many know what I'm talking about when I say this? If you suffer enough because of your sin, you start to realize, I got to change.
[00:23:47] And if you suffer enough, you make a decision, I'm going to change. I'm tired of this. I'm tired of what's happening to me. And I make a decision to change my mind. I repent. I ask God to forgive me.
[00:23:59] Now, let me just close with this statement. We're going to get to explaining why this is problematic. We are not certain whether purgatory is a place or a space in which souls are cleansed. Wait a minute. You're telling me it's for purification, but he's saying, we don't know how this is going to happen. The Church has never given a definitive answer to the question. The important thing to understand is that it's a state or condition which souls undergo purification.
[00:24:26] Hmm.
[00:24:27] You know what? There is absolutely no biblical support for this doctrine.
[00:24:32] And the appeal that is made is based on the apocrypha. So let's pause there for a minute and go, what's the apocrypha, Pastor?
[00:24:41] These are writings that were never considered canonical by two communities. Number one, the Jewish community never considered the Apocrypha canonical. You say, what does that mean? As authoritative or inspired by God? These are religious writings, and they have historical backgrounds. And some of them, they're not necessarily bad writings, and you can learn moral lessons from them. But the lessons learned in the apocrypha can easily be found in other parts of the Bible. There's no necessary need to go there. And number two in the apocrypha, there's some parts that are quite fanciful, to be really honest with you. I've read it, you know, remember I had to go to seminary. You have to read all this stuff. And you know, I went.
[00:25:21] I was trained in all this stuff, so I understand this, but it's problematic and I'll tell you why. The actual text is actually found in 2 Maccabees 1243-45, where prayers are being said for soldiers who had been killed against people who were trying to destroy the Jewish worship and subjugate the Jewish people under a salicidal rule.
[00:25:45] What this teacher is teaching expresses is that people need to be purified and must suffer for their sins, but not eternally. What this teaching is doing in essence is negating the total sufficiency of Christ's sacrificial death for all sin. They're basically saying, well, what Jesus did isn't enough. You got to suffer too. Wait a minute.
[00:26:05] Jesus death is substitutionary. And I'm going to use another fancy word. It's a theological word. Efficacious. You go, what's that mean?
[00:26:13] Effective.
[00:26:15] You don't have to go beyond what Jesus did, okay? He did it. He paid the price. Guys, you and I don't suffer for our sins. I mean, we could argue and say, well, yeah, but there's consequences to sin. I say, yeah, that's true, but you don't suffer for that after you're dead.
[00:26:31] There's no purgatory. And I'm going to show you why there's no purgatory in a minute. Okay, so.
[00:26:40] So human suffering does not cleanse a person from their sins. Only Jesus death as a substitute can actually cleanse us from our sins. And as I've already said, suffering can cause us to reconsider our behavior in this life and stop sinning. But only Jesus can forgive and cleanse us from our sin. And John says it this way, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins. And what purify?
[00:27:10] You and I aren't going to purify us ourselves.
[00:27:14] Christ is the one that purifies us from all unrighteousness or all that's not right with us. You know, I am so thankful. This is actually greatly encouraging to me.
[00:27:23] Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. Isn't that beautiful? You know, you can't add to What Jesus did. You know, if you try to add to what Jesus did, you're actually diminishing what Jesus did. You're negating, you're minusing. Don't do that. We are trusting implicitly in what Jesus did. So in a sense, they're teaching, I think, the insufficiency of the sacrifice for Christ, for sin, and its application to our lives. The question we need to ask is, what happened to the thief who died on the cross beside Jesus in his repentant statement found in Luke's gospel? And he said, but the other criminal, the one that they were both mocking him. But eventually this man repented and he's rebuking the other thief. And he says to him, don't you fear God since you're under the same sentence?
[00:28:13] We're punished justly for we're getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong. Speaking of Jesus, excuse me. And then he said, jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus answered him and said, truly, I tell you, today you will be with me in purgatory.
[00:28:32] No, it doesn't say that.
[00:28:34] You will be with me in paradise.
[00:28:37] Now, paradise is a synonym for in God's presence.
[00:28:43] So this thief on the cross, if anybody needed a little purification, it would have been this dude, because all he did was hang on a cross. He was suffering for his sins. But when Jesus forgave him, Jesus said, yeah, you can come with me right now. And, you know, I was listening to a little message about three minutes long where Alistair Biggs is basically saying, you know, fictitiously brings up this guy, he's coming into heaven. They go, well, why? Why should we let you in? And all he. His final answer is, I have no idea. But the guy in the middle cross told me I could come.
[00:29:18] And I like that answer. And so you and I can come before Almighty God and say, yeah, I know I'm not worthy. I don't deserve this. But thank God you said if I confess my sins, you said you would be faithful to forgive me and cleanse me. And now I can come.
[00:29:34] Isn't that beautiful?
[00:29:36] That should be so encouraging. So, so much for purgatory as far as I'm concerned. Let's move on to the third false view, and that's called soul sleep. You go, what's that, Pastor? Well, there's an idea that when people die, they just go to sleep and they never wake up until Jesus comes back again. So in a sense, Soul sleep really teaches that when a Christian dies, let's say you died in the second century. Well, you're going to be sleeping for 1800 years, and then all of a sudden, boom, you wake up because Jesus is coming back. He's going to give you your new body.
[00:30:10] That soul sleep idea, is that what the Bible teaches? And there's groups out there that teach this. By the way, Wayne Gruden, who's a theologian, he says the fact that souls of believers go immediately into God's presence also means that the doctrine of soul sleep is incorrect.
[00:30:27] This doctrine teaches that when believers die, they go into a state of unconscious existence, and the next thing that they're conscious of will be when Jesus returns and raises them to eternal life.
[00:30:38] Now, support for this doctrine of soul sleep has generally been found. They quote scriptures to support it, and it's used, you know, and talks about the state of death, asleep or falling asleep.
[00:30:51] There's a whole bunch of scriptures here, but let me just point out. But when scripture represents death asleep, it's simply a metaphorical way or an expression used to indicate that death is only temporary for Christians, just as sleep is temporary. Okay, so we're using.
[00:31:08] I say it this way, it's really a euphemism. It's a figure of speech that is speaking of the believer who have died in Christ.
[00:31:17] This does not mean that they're asleep until Jesus comes again.
[00:31:22] There's a big difference. Okay, so those are the three, I think, false view of the intermediate state. So the question is, then, what happens when believers die before the second coming of Jesus? That's a great question. I think we all want to know.
[00:31:36] It's a question that Paul answers in a number of different letters. I mentioned a few of them. But the greatest explanation, I think is given to the Christian Corinthian Church. That's why I like those guys so much.
[00:31:46] They needed a lot of correction, and it gives us information.
[00:31:49] So. But I think it also leaves us with a few questions he's not going to answer everyone. So here's what we're going to look at as we look at these texts. Our earthly bodies, number one, are temporary. And Paul begins to describe our earthly bodies as a tent. Now, this is amazing. He's a tent maker. But he uses this incredible analogy here in Second Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 1 and 2. For we know that if the earthly tent we in how many know a tent is kind of a temporary dwelling.
[00:32:17] We have a building from God, he says is destroyed. We have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.
[00:32:26] Meanwhile, we groan Longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling. Colin Cruz says this Paul does not use here the usual word for tent, which is skene, which is found extensively.
[00:32:41] Now, when you see lxx, I'm just going to help you out. That's called the Septuagint. And the Septuagint is actually the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, okay?
[00:32:50] He says it's used there 366 times and 20 times in the New Testament. Rather, when Paul uses this term here in Second Corinthians, he's using the word skinnos, which is found only once in the Septuagint, where it is figuratively used to refer to the human body.
[00:33:08] So he's using this as the human body, the tent.
[00:33:11] Your earthly human body is a tent. It's temporary.
[00:33:17] Now, our heavenly body, oh, this is good. This is good news, is eternal. You know, the other day we bought a refrigerator. This is, you know, and it's too funny because the guy delivering the refrigerator said to me, he goes, yeah, these only last about seven years and some of them have only made it three. This is the new one.
[00:33:36] I'm going, this is really getting temporary, you know, I'm not that. I'm praying right now. I said, lord, could you just exceed that limitation? You know, you follow what I'm saying? But the bad news is you got a temporary body. The good news is God's going to give you a new one and it's going to be an eternal body. And you know what I like about the eternal body?
[00:33:56] It has an eternal guarantee it's never going to break down.
[00:34:01] How many like that, you know, so we're all grateful when they can help us out here on Earth, you know, and they give you replaceable parts, but eventually your body's going to wear down. It doesn't matter how many replaceable parts, eventually you're going to run out of steam.
[00:34:15] And the good news is you're going to get a brand new body. And I love the way God frames it. He said we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven. So he compares our eternal body to a house versus a tent. One's going to be long lasting, the other one, it's eternal and it's not built by human hand. You see, our earthly bodies were conceived by, you know, humanity. But our heavenly body, God is the one that's making it.
[00:34:44] And by the way, God doesn't make bad stuff.
[00:34:48] He can put a guarantee on it, it's going to last forever.
[00:34:51] That's good news. I like that.
[00:34:53] So Then he goes on to say, here, you know, here's some more bad news.
[00:35:00] As we age, our earthly bodies break down.
[00:35:04] It really starts happening. And, you know, it's tough because, you know, a lot of my friends are in my age group, and the other day we were somewhere. I can't even remember this thing. But the whole conversation centered around everybody's problems, physical breakdowns and all the rest of it. And one of the guys today here said, you know, when seniors get together, they have an organ recital.
[00:35:37] I said, yeah, that's about right. And it was really amazing. I was just going, you know, aches and pains, everything. Every. The last surgery, the coming surgery, this and that. I'm just going, my goodness.
[00:35:49] It was a little. For me, it was a bit depressing. I'm just being honest, you know. Can we talk about something that's a little more uplifting? Because I know this body is going to break down, but let's move past that for a conversational piece.
[00:36:02] Right?
[00:36:03] Bad news is they're going to break down.
[00:36:06] Says, meanwhile, we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling or our heavenly bodies. Right, because we are clothed. Because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. So I said to myself, well, what are they talking about, not be found naked? I think Linda Belville has an idea. She says to be found naked then would be to experience God's judgment and not to be free.
[00:36:27] It's not to just be free from our bodily existence, which many Greeks and Corinthians expected. You know, they saw the body, I've already said, as negative. So when they died, they saw it as a good thing that their soul would finally disappear from this evil body. That's, you know, all these problems, they're gone. This is now deliverance. And. But he's. But what she's saying is. No, no, no, no, that's not what it's talking about. It's basically that we actually are going to not experience God's judgment for our sin. We're going to get an eternal body.
[00:37:02] Then she goes on, we read, for while we are in this tent, we groan in our burden because we do not wish to be unclothed, but to be clothed instead with our he dwelling so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
[00:37:16] So why does Paul repeat himself something? Paul's recent close encounter with death, which he related in chapter 1, verses 8 to 11, forced him to come to terms with the possibility that he would not be alive when Christ returned, and in turn raises the question of the state of the believer between death and resurrection. Now, I think one of the things that happen in our lives to prepare us for eternity, that our body starts wearing down.
[00:37:43] Actually, this is a blessing, you know, because, you know, if we could stay youthful and continue on in our 20s and 30s and we never have to give a thought about anything, I think we wouldn't mature properly, you know. You know what this life is all about, guys. It's a preparation for eternity.
[00:37:59] And a lot of us, we haven't figured this out yet. We're still living as if it's all about this life when it's in reality preparing us for what's about to happen. And we need to understand that also, I think what happens when our body starts to break down and we can see that our life is coming closer to the end, our minds start changing and we start thinking about eternal things. And one of the things that starts happening as we're maturing is that our desire for God himself increases.
[00:38:32] That's a beautiful thing. So we can tell how mature we are basically on our focus. And if our focus is only this life and we don't focus on God and we don't focus on eternity, you know, it's because we're still locked into this worldview. We're just really locked in. Craig Keener says Paul's ultimate desire is not death per se, which is being unclothed. Rather, his goal is to be clothed with this resurrection body. Paul wants to conclude his mortality not with death, but with mortality being transformed into immortality by the greater power of God's divine life. That's what he wants. But it is the certain hope of the resurrection body which he now has that gives him courage to face death for the sake of the ministry of life.
[00:39:17] So what is he saying? Paul is prepared to die because he recognizes that this earthly life is very limited anyways, and he's prepared to sacrifice himself for the good of other people. People. And, you know, it's interesting, while we're living in North America, we have a very good life in North America. There's people that are believers in other parts of the world. Like, you know, it's interesting. Iran right now, anybody following what's going on? 35,000 people have been killed.
[00:39:43] That's the estimates right now. And many of them are believers. You may not know that, but I got a text from someone and said they were, they were missionaries and they brought the gospel to these people. And these people in Iran said, thank you so much for giving your life to bring the good news to us. And we want you to know that we probably will not see you again until the other side, because we're preparing right now to be martyred.
[00:40:12] They know that they have a whole different mindset now.
[00:40:17] We're sitting there listening to this and going, that's not even where we're living. But that's the ultimate reality, and they're prepared for that.
[00:40:24] Here's the other thing we need to know.
[00:40:27] There's an experience that guarantees what we're talking about is true life as we now are living. It is not our ultimate destination.
[00:40:37] Paul says, now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing us what is to come. So here's what you need to know. The very fact that when you give your life to Christ, God's spirit came inside of you, that's the down payment. That's the guarantee. God says, because I gave you that, you can be assured that what I'm about to give you is what I'm promising. You're going to have a heavenly body. You're going to live forever.
[00:41:02] You have eternal life.
[00:41:05] So where do we. So where are we after we die, before Jesus return? That was the fundamental question. And I've had people ask me that. You know, I've been around people and someone they love is dying, and somebody will say, well, what happens to them now, Pastor, it's a great question. And here's the answer. You know, Therefore, we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body, this earthly body, we are away from the Lord. In other words, there's a disconnect, for we live by faith and not by sight.
[00:41:39] I want to just make a declaration. There's a day coming where you're going to live by sight.
[00:41:44] You're going to actually see everything that God promised become reality. You won't need faith then. You'll experience it.
[00:41:51] Right now, we're living by faith. Listen to what he says then. But we are confident. I say, and I would prefer to be away from this earthly body. I'm adding that in. But that's what he's talking about. And be at home with the Lord.
[00:42:04] That's Paul's desire. And listen how he says it here in the book of Philippians. He says.
[00:42:10] He says, for me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
[00:42:16] So Paul is now telling you his motivation. The reason why I'm living is to honor and glorify Christ.
[00:42:23] And he says, and if I'm to go on Living in the body. This will mean fruitful labor for me.
[00:42:31] And yet what shall I choose? I do not know. I'm torn between two things. Basically, what is it? I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is by far way better.
[00:42:43] But it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. In other words, the only reason I'm hanging out here, I'd rather be in heaven. But I'm hanging out here because it's for your benefit that I'm here to help you.
[00:42:54] That's Paul's.
[00:42:56] He's conflicted with that. So now he's basically pointing us. And this is where we're going to close with these two ideas. One, our purpose for living, it's to please God.
[00:43:06] And that's what it should be, he says. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we're at home in the body or away from it. And as we mature in our relationship with God, we move away from living a life of self centered, pleasing myself and spiritual maturity means I'm turning my back on that. And I'm moving more and more to live to please God. And how do I do that? I live to help other people. I'm living to please God. It's not about my life anymore. It's about honoring God. It's about bringing glory to God. It's about others. I'm moving away from that focus as this life is all about me. It's what I want to do. It's my will. No, you move away from all of that. You're going, God, I want to please you. I want your will to come. I want your kingdom to come. I want to be a part of what you want to see happen. And then we live. Because when we get to that place, when God himself becomes our greatest joy, isn't that neat?
[00:44:01] We get to that place. It's a journey. But we're going to get to the place where we finally say, God, you are the greatest joy.
[00:44:08] God's my great delight.
[00:44:10] As I've matured and grown with God, I'm going more and more. I desire more of God. It's like I want to do what God wants. That's all that matters. He's my great delight. I have other delights in life, but he's the greatest delight. And then our accountability before God. And I'm going to close with this last thought in verse 10. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. That each of us may receive what is done us is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
[00:44:41] Some of us don't realize this, but we will never be judged for our sins if we come to Christ.
[00:44:47] He's taken those sins away. He's cleansed us, he's purified us. Good news.
[00:44:52] But God will judge us. And he says it right here. Who is he talking to? For we must all. He's writing to Christians so that each of us may receive what is due us, whether good or bad. Now, that word bad is an interesting word.
[00:45:06] It just simply means. It could mean bad. The Greek word translated there could be evil, but it also could be translated worthless.
[00:45:14] And knowing that Jesus has addressed the sin issues, maybe this is an evaluation of how you and I are spending our lives.
[00:45:22] What are we doing with our lives, you know? And Paul says no other foundation can be laid other than that which has already been laid, which is Jesus Christ.
[00:45:32] If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or stubble, he's talking about building materials.
[00:45:39] Some are very costly, and some of them have permanency or more durability. And the others are more open to loss.
[00:45:48] Their work will be shown for what it is. Because the day, the day, anytime you see that word, the day, it's a day of judgment, will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire. And the fire will test the quality of each person's work.
[00:46:02] And if what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. And if it is burnt up, the builder will suffer loss, but yet will be saved, even though only as one escaping the flames. What is God saying here?
[00:46:14] He's basically saying, yes, you are saved.
[00:46:17] But, you know, for some people, because they didn't live or their lives really reflected wood, hay and stubble, when their work will be set on fire, how many know it's going to be destroyed? It's going to have no eternal value.
[00:46:34] And other people, it's going to be gold, silver, and costly stones. In other words, their life was given to advance God's kingdom. It was given to bring glory to God. It was given to please God. It was given to serve humanity.
[00:46:50] Because, you know, it's easy for me to say I'm serving God, but I'm ignoring people. You can't say that you serve God by serving people.
[00:47:00] You love God by loving people.
[00:47:03] That's the measure of it. So I'm going to have a stand as we close today, and I want to pray because this is not only to instruct us and give us an understanding and encourage us. I hope you're encouraged. I'm Encouraged.
[00:47:17] I'm encouraged that Jesus died for me. I'm encouraged that he cleansed me from my sin. I'm encouraged that there is no purgatory. I don't have to be purified.
[00:47:27] Christ sacrifice purifies us.
[00:47:30] But I am challenged by this last part. I will stand before him and give an account for the deeds done in my body, whether they are good or without value.
[00:47:42] We will be rewarded, folks.
[00:47:44] And some people won't have much because they've lived, unfortunately, an immature state.
[00:47:51] God's challenging us.
[00:47:53] What is God asking you to do? You know, when people, you know, I just did a membership class yesterday and I said, in this church, I challenge people to move from being spectators to participators. And I'm doing that on purpose because I want you to get powerful heavenly, eternal rewards that you and I cooperate together. So we're building up the body of Christ together and we're impacting the world around us. And our church is actually impacting globally now, folks, you don't maybe realize to the extent, neither do I, only in heaven, when we're going to find out the extent to which we impacted not just central Alberta, but I'm talking about the entire world. We've affected and impacted people living in many, many different countries right now. You'd be shocked.
[00:48:40] But we're seeing it on stream, we're seeing it on the missions that we've supported. We're seeing it in many different ways.
[00:48:47] So I'm going to pray for us today that we will move past just, you know. Well, I know what the truth is. Yeah, but are you doing it?
[00:48:56] There's a big gulf in a lot of Christians life between knowing something and doing it. And I'll warn you, if you're not doing it, it's not going to do you any good. That's what brings change in your life. It's the people who do what God says, not the people who just hear what God says.
[00:49:11] People who hear, they don't change, they're in trouble. So Lord, I pray today, I pray that you would help us understand what you've come to do for us. What an amazing thing, that you died a sacrificial, substitutionary, efficacious sacrifice on our behalf.
[00:49:30] Not only did you forgive us, you cleansed us, but now, Lord, you're challenging us to hit our lives right in alignment with you, that we're living not just for ourselves, not just for the four people in our family or the five or the six or the handful, but that you're helping us Lord live a life to please you by serving others.
[00:49:54] And we thank you for that. In Jesus name, amen. God bless you as you go.
