Until That Day
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2 Corinthians 5
2 Corinthians 5
Welcome
1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
Prayer
Announcements...
Stand with me this morning, Jerry, what are we signing this morning?
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Good morning again my dear friends!
Marci and I rejoice with you today as we worship. We were blessed with a very nice vacation, it was good to get away and have nothing to do…
And thank you for coming out and supporting Bro. Tommy, He said he felt very comfortable coming and sharing the Word of God with you.
Today I want to tell you, and I think you would agree that we are at a crucial point in the life of our nation. We have seen the evil acts of the devil first hand, the murder of Charlie Kirk is the most evil thing I have witnessed in my life time.
Darkness, the devil and his minions are pushing, fighting, I think unlike never before, and do you know why? They do not want to see people come to Jesus.
No… they want to drag you and your children to hell.
But have you noticed what has happened? Our nation we have seen people returning, coming to church, coming to God..
Revival is happening in our land, and it is our obligation to keep on, keeping on...
So in the midst of all that is happening, what can we do as the church?
Take your Bibles, and lets go to 2 Corinthians 5.
If you do not have a Bible, there is one on the back of the pew. But, hear me… Bring your Bibles to church… If you do not have one, we will make sure you have one.
Now this morning we are going to consider several thoughts, but the overall theme is this… Until that Day...
Until the day that we see Jesus, what will we do and how will we live?
So lets begin with this thought…
1 Heaven Awaits Us.…
We know my dear friends that heaven is the future home of the child of God. We know this because Jesus told us so, remember the night before His crucifixion?
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
So heaven my friends is the future home of the redeemed. And here Paul is testifying to this truth, and with detail.. Look with me at verse 1… 2 Cor 5:1
1 For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
Look with me, the key word here I want you to pay attention to is “tent.”
The word “tent” here isn’t just a temporary shelter that we use when camping. Here, the meaning is much richer. It speaks to the life and the veil of flesh, our physical body that we have in this life. And if this life be destroyed, if this life comes to an end.… well, friends its not the end.
Why?
If you are in Christ, you have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
Praise the Lord....
If you are in Christ you have a heavenly dwelling place,
And listen - when we are talking about a heavenly dwelling place, there is a couple things we are saying here.
First off remember, Paul has said if the tent, of our earthly dwelling is dissolved.. we have a “...building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”
The building from God is our resurrected body… In I Cor 15, we are told that Jesus died, buried and rose again. And He is the first fruits of the resurrection.
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.
Just as Jesus was resurrected in a glorified body, so we will receive a glorified body as well.
But secondly, we have not only a body, but a dwelling place, the city of God… there is the place were we, in our glorified body will dwell with the living God.
This is where we will one day be my friends, at the resurrection we will find ourselves with the Lord, in a brand new body.
Do you realize, do you really understand what awaits you in Christ Jesus...???
But listen friends, we are not there yet, we are not in that city and we certainly are not made perfect… How do I know this, we are still here. We still inhabit this veil of flesh, we are on good ole planet earth. But if you know Jesus Christ as your Savior today, We, you and I are in Christ today, and there is proof..
And while we are not there yet, we still yearn, long for our new home.
Verses 2-4 2 Cor 5:2-4
2 For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, 3 if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. 4 For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
We long for, we desire heaven, we long for the day when death will be no more, but until that day please know you can rest in, find comfort in who you are, you are a child of God.
And we have proof, you have proof, and listen, Proof is a good thing....
2 The Holy Spirit is our Guarantee...
You know for us here, guarantees are a good thing! We like them. You know why we like guarantees so well?
A guarantee tell us that something is a sure thing, it is like a promise, it will work, it will do what’s expected, or accomplish.
The guarantee brings us peace of mind!
So lets go back to our text...
5 He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
Do you see what Paul is saying here?
He says, God the Father who has prepared us, walked along side of mankind and upon seeing our need gave not only a Savior, but as we turned and walked with Christ, He has also given unto us His Holy Spirit.
Now consider this. God poured the Spirit into believers lives as a surety for the promise of what awaited them.
He is the agent of God who is at work in us, convicting us, teaching us, illuminating the Word of God for us for the purpose of helping us be made more and more each day into the image of the Son.
And with each passing day, whether the time is easy or difficult, light or weighted down with burdens, we have the confidence that no matter our state. The Holy Spirit bears witness with our Spirit that we are the children of God.
Glory to God...
So my friends, the Holy Spirit in us is like a token of the splendor of the good things to come..
And as this guarantee, the Holy Spirit isn’t something that can be enjoyed with Salvation and then lost, or cast aside.
Heavens No! Consider the writer of Hebrews in Heb 6:4-5, where by he reminds us that it is impossible for those who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have been enlightened to enjoy anything other than the promise that awaits them.
Friends, until that day, know and hold fast to the truth that not only does heaven await us, and, rejoice that the Holy Spirit resides in us
But what else can we do until that day?
3 Walk by Faith...
Man, faith is difficult thing, let me explain.
At times we exercise faith, our trust so easily, we go and do and perhaps really do not even give a lot of thought about it.
But at other timers, we wrestle, we struggle with the idea of walking by faith… Listen to what Paul says here...
Look back at verses 5-7 2 Cor 5:6-7
6 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight.
What is he telling us here? Well, he is telling us that “until that day”, the day he ( and therefore we) cross over and see Jesus, or the Lord returns and if we are still present in this life, we will be changed in a instant.
Paul says my hope is sure in the promise of the resurrection.
So he illustrates this by saying that while present in this life, we are at home in the body and we are away from the Lord. We walk by faith, not by sight as we move toward the day when we see Jesus.
So lets ask another question, what does it mean to walk by faith?
Well, what is faith my friends? The best place to seek a definition is of course in the Scriptures. Listen to Hebrews 11:1.
1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Walking by faith Paul knows he can abandon self, he can give himself entirely to the mission for which Jesus called him, He could do this because he knew God will not abandon him, even in death
Paul knew the Lord had a glorious future for him. So He fixes his eyes on the eternal, on the unseen and will trust Christ for each day.
And listen friends, what we experience each day, no matter what it appears to look like, we cannot judge life by those outward appearances. We may suffer, we may experience weakness, we may walk close to near death experiences like Paul…
We cannot judge life by those things, the walking by sight cannot determine our success or life. Instead walk by faith, keeping our eyes on the unseen eternal realities.
He was faithful for us, we can we faithful for Him and he will take care of us in the end..
Even if death comes, we have not failed...Faith is the trust of what awaits each of us in Christ...
Paul was told if he kept going toward Rome he would go in chains, that was prophesied to him, but this was where God was leading him… So he went forward trusting God.
And I think of him on Mars hill, at the statue of the unknown God and proclaiming Jesus to those who would listen that day...
Faith requires we continue regardless of what the outward appearance seems to represent… God will take care of us as we live for Him.
I love Paul’s words in 2 Tim 1:12
12 which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.
Wow… do you think Paul had faith? Yes..
Do you have faith until that day..
I know we struggle with faith, but listen you have heard me say, we trust God with the unseen, that day, our salvation. Man, the eternal we trust God. But we struggle with the day to day...
You think it would be the opposite.
So what can we do… Ask the Father to increase our faith, to help us be able to walk with and trust him at every turn, being obedient to Him.
Have faith
Now my last thought..
4 Make It Your Aim to Please God...
You know at the end of our days, I think all of us hope there will be good things said of them, kind words of love, admiration and hope.
Please understand, we are not looking for something to boast in one last time, we are not looking to stroke our feathers and show off, no… We hope we have done well with the time we were given.
Lets go back to the Word, and look at verses 8-10 2 Cor 5:8-10
8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
Do you see Paul’s heart there?
Above all else, Paul said he make it our aim to please him, the Lord.
There is a deep significance here friends, at the end of his days, Paul knew that he hoped that his life was positive, that he had achieved all the Lord desired of Him.
Listen, hear this, that’s all that matters at the end of our days. That we have lived in such a way, that we have pleased the Lord Jesus.
Paul knew his actions, the good and bad, His actions or even the lack of action would have consequences, and he wanted all he did to be found in a positive way.
His desire was to be found pleasing.. And look why, verse 10.
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
Now, I know many of you have heard me speak about this verse in times past. And I continue too, why? It is so important.
Like Paul, what he did or did not do would be weighed in the scales of the Lord’s justice.
Paul desired a faithful outcome…
And we do too, at the end of days, even though we are His, we have enjoyed the salvation of the Lord.. But like the parable of the talents we have to given an accounting of our efforts, our faithfulness, our words or the lack of these things at times.
We are responsible before the Lord. Responsible means we have to provide an answer for the things under our watch, under our care.
There are moral things, that we cannot be indifferent too any longer in this life… At times, in great love we must tell the truth. Sexual immorality is wrong..
God designed for men and women to wait till marriage before sharing their lives fully with another, but we have polluted that friends.
We have told generation after generation oh go and do, feel good about it… as long as you are happy.
But then when they feel empty, what do we tell them?
How about we tell those we care about, waiting is ok, God has designed you for better than what the world promotes.. His plans for you involve life and a future...
We need to stand and remind the world, Homosexuality is wrong, God has pronounced this in His word and it has not changed.
This is of the devil, is causes people to fall away into a sin that makes it difficult to recover from… They can, but its hard to give up..
What about Abortion? Is it wrong Yes, its wrong, its murder, life begins at the moment of conception and that life, no matter how it got here belongs to God for that life is made in the image of God.
I think doctors, nurses and others will stand before God for this crime. Is it forgivable, Yes… But it weighs a heavy tow on the life of men and women...
How we treat others matters...
Listen there is much we could talk about, All of these things matter in the scope of our days and we have to live in a way that is pleasing to Him.
Why? Because we don’t want to hear, you failed.. You could have done better, influenced better, but you didn’t.
I want to hear well done good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord...
My friends, walking with the Lord Jesus requires for us to place our life, our mind, our thoughts under His Lordship..
And at times we wrestle with some of these topics, but know this, if you seek the Lord, you will know what is good and acceptable to him.
Now what you feel is right, you will know what is right for the Lord will redirect us back to His word and will teach us what is good, acceptable and pleasing to the Lord.
Until that day… strive to be found faithful to the Lord.
