 Our sermon title this morning is Living with Confidence and Dying. Living with Confidence and Dying is part two. We're working through this text, 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verses 1 through 5. And once again now as we turn to this text, 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verses 1 through 5, and we turn back to the words of the Apostle Paul, we're in the context of one of the most helpful and encouraging descriptions of Christian ministry in all of the New Testament. As you know, Paul's ministry in Corinth has come under attack. Paul has been relentlessly slandered. His teaching, his message, his character, his integrity, his apostolic authority, all being impugned. The false teachers, those wolves that crept in among the flock after Paul's departure appear to be now gaining influence among the people. The circumstances in Corinth have pressed Paul into a reluctant but necessary defense of his ministry. So he writes this defense to reassure and to encourage believers in the church at Corinth, right? His opponents in Corinth say that Paul suffers too much to be an apostle, a genuine apostle blessed by God. He suffers too much to have a ministry that is blessed by God. Paul says that suffering for Christ is an identifying mark. It's a validating mark of a genuine servant of Christ, a genuine ministry approved by God. The false teachers in Corinth say that his message is rejected because it's not true. Paul says that we are the fragrance of life among those who are being saved, but the fragrance of death among those who are perishing. The false teachers say that you have to keep the old covenant law, circumcision, the calendar, the feast days. You have to keep the old covenant law to be truly saved. But Paul says that all that the law can do is condemn you. It's the spirit that gives life and with that condemns, commends new covenant ministry. And with every explanation, with every point that Paul makes, he is pouring reinforced concrete, if you will, into a biblical foundation for Christian ministry. If you've been born again of God's spirit, once dead in trespasses and sins, now made alive together with Christ, if you have turned from your sin, put your faith and trust in Christ alone, if you are truly saved, then you are saved into ministry for the Lord Jesus Christ. You are saved into ministry for the Lord Jesus Christ. If you are a partaker of the new covenant, as all Christians are, then you have been called into new covenant ministry. You have been called to preach a new covenant gospel. If you've been saved through the gospel, then you've been given that gospel to preach. Ephesians chapter four, verse 11, Paul says that God himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry. Every Christian here is a saint. Every Christian is a saint. Everyone in the church has been called to the work of the ministry. That ministry, that responsibility can't be outsourced. It can't be delegated or reassigned. It's not relegated to an elite class, a clergy class, or seminary professors in some ivory tower, right? We are all in ministry. You're not watching the game from the stands. You're down on the field, moving the ball, running plays, right? And you can't sit the bench. You're in the game, so to speak. It's Paul's responsibility through this letter, and it's our responsibility, as pastors and teachers in this church, to equip you, to equip the saints, and to prepare you for the work of the ministry. We all are in ministry together. We all do the work. That work of the ministry is twofold. Preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to the lost so that lost people can be saved and ministering the gospel to one another in the church so that the saints can be built up, sanctified, and persevere to the end. Ministry work is twofold. It's a twofold work. In chapter 5, look at chapter 5. Look down at verse 19. In verse 19, God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing or crediting their trespasses to them, and he has committed to us, to you and I, brother and sister, he has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, verse 20, we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were pleading through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf be reconciled to God. We are to, as ambassadors for Christ, we are to preach the word of reconciliation. We're to preach the gospel in hopes that lost sinners would be reconciled to God. If you're a Christian, you're to go into this world and to preach reconciliation. You're to preach terms of peace to those who are enemies of God by their wicked works. Against the message of cowards and compromisers today, you're to preach the Bible. You're to preach what the Bible says. You're to preach that God is angry with the wicked every day. That's what the Bible teaches, right? Not that necessarily that God loves you and is a wonderful plan for your life. That's true if you're one of his. But God is angry with the wicked every day and you are enemies of God by your wicked works. He has appointed a day on which he will judge the world, a day on which they, that lost person, will face Almighty God in judgment and give an account for their sin. Although they will fight tooth and nail to proclaim their own goodness, by God's holy standard, they are adulterers, they are liars, they are idolaters, they are blasphemers, they are thieves. And the only way possible, the only way possible that they can have peace with God and escape the fires of hell is to forsake their life of sin and to entrust themselves, holy, heart, soul, mind, and strength to Jesus Christ, the crucified Son of God. There is salvation in no other, no other religion, no other figure, no other man, no other works. Apart from faith alone in Christ alone, all their good works are as a filthy rag to God. That's not a palatable message today, is it? Do you preach that message to a lost person? Things get tough, right? Regarding our ministry responsibilities, in the church, Peter says, you have a gift, minister it to one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. As the Lord laid down his life for us, we are to arm ourselves with the same mind and lay our lives down for our brothers and sisters in the church. We are to meet needs, we're to pray for one another, exhort one another, instruct one another, rebuke one another, correct one another, encourage one another, love one another, sacrifice for one another, bear one another's burdens. We are to minister the word of God to one another. We know, we know that when we faithfully engage in that twofold ministry, when we faithfully fulfill our responsibility to do those two things, preach the gospel to the lost and minister the gospel to the Lord's people, then life as we know it is going to get tough. There's a lot to be done and precious little time to do it. We know, we know through the Lord himself that our message is going to be opposed, don't we? It's going to be opposed. Jesus said in John chapter 7 verse 7, the world hates me because I testify of it that its works are evil. The Lord goes on to teach his disciples in John chapter 15 in the upper room. If the world hates me, it's going to hate you too. A servant is not greater than his master. The Lord said, all of this just prior to his crucifixion where he laid down his life so that you and I could be saved. Now as his faithful slaves, we are commissioned with that work to lay down our lives in his cause. That's a high calling. It's a high calling and we know that we're weak, right? We know that we're weak. Chapter 4 verse 7, we've been given this gospel treasure in frail, earthly, common clay pots, earthen vessels. We know that apart from him we can do nothing. Chapter 4 verse 8, we know that Christians are often hard pressed, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down. We know that if you preach a message that this world loves, then this lost world will flock to that message. There are churches preaching peace, peace. When there is no peace of the wicked, says our God, they're preaching peace, peace, and the world flocks to those churches so-called to hear that message, to have their ears tickled. But if you preach the Bible, then lost people will hate it until the Lord opens their eyes, until the Lord unstopps their ears, until the Lord lifts the veil, lost people will hate it. We are a fragrance of death to those who are perishing. A veil lies over their heart, over their mind. The veil is lifted only in Christ. And we know, we know that in this context, right, in this context, that the temptation we face is the temptation to ride the bench, to retreat, fearing the rejection, fearing the response, not willing to sacrifice our own preferences, not willing to sacrifice our comforts. We know that worldliness, worldliness will keep us from the first works that evidence a love for the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that a love for money, a love for leisure, or comfort, or ease, or simply living life for ourselves may eclipse our love for Christ and our love for His cause. It's too easy to be a spectator. It's too easy to sit on the sidelines. But we also know, don't we? We also know the Bible clearly teaches that we are not our own. The Bible calls us, if you're in Christ, calls us a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ, a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have been bought at a price. Having been bought at such a high price, we are to deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, and follow the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where Paul's letter here is so instructive to us. So helpful. I think it puts in perspective the high commitment necessary for such a high calling in Christ. We have a high calling in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is not something you do on a Sunday, right? We're not weekend quarterbacking around here. This is hard work. It requires high commitment, and we are to give all. We are to arm ourselves with the same mind that the Lord Jesus Christ had in giving His all to secure the elect of God. The ministry described in these verses, chapter five verses one through five and prior verses that we've already covered is the ministry that we've been called to, not only the difficulty, not only the suffering, but the work, the labor. In the midst of that sanctifying difficulty, it's also all the blessings, all the grace, all the strength, all the motivation described in these verses are also ours. They're ours too. If we will simply step out in faith in Christ and serve Him in the work. Because we also know, don't we? We also know with Paul, chapter two verse 14, that God always leads us in triumph in Christ. We do not lose heart. We don't shrink back because, chapter four verse 12, we know that as death works in us, as we die to self, as we die to personal preferences, as we are delivered to affliction, delivered to hardship and suffering and persecution, life is working in the people of God. We know that our death leads to life. It's a means through which God gives life. It's a means through which life is working in His people, the Spirit giving life, the Spirit edifying the saints, the Spirit building up the saints, maturing the saints and preserving them. Chapter four verse 16, we know that we're being renewed day by day. What a grace of God, right? Chapter four verse 17, we know that the affliction we face in this life is light and momentary compared with the exceeding weight of glory waiting for us in the light to come. In chapter five verse one, we know that when we die, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. If you and I find our satisfaction, our joy in this life only, right? If we chase lasting joy in the things of this world, if our hearts and minds become preoccupied or bogged down with the temporal needs or temporal realities of this life, this world, then we will never find true joy in serving Him. Evangelism will be nothing more than a duty. Those means of grace that God intends to use as a means to conform you into Christ's image will be heartless, mindless rituals, mere duties that you take no delight in and you're nothing more than a hypocritical legalist. Church will be nothing more than an activity that you add to the end of your week, just something you do on Sunday because it's the right thing, you think it's the right thing to do, right? Paul teaches us here that faithfulness, that sustained joy in the ministry is fueled by faith in Christ and hope of future glory. Paul says, fix your gaze then, not on the things which are seen, the things of this world are temporary, the things of this world are passing away. Fix your gaze upon things unseen, eternal in the heavens. Live life now against the glorious backdrop of that life which is to come. That's glorious motivation, right? We keep our eyes fixed on eternal and unseen things. It gives us the fuel through His Spirit. He gives us the strength, the supply, the sufficiency to press forward in the work, looking forward to what comes ahead. Paul gives us an example of his right perspective in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 1 through 5. Keep your eyes, Paul says, on the pride of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus, that even if we should die in the cause of Christ, we know that God has provided us a glorious blessing, eternal in the heavens, which will never fade away. We have a glorious blessing awaiting us. Paul expresses, it's even here now, right? We have verse 5, a pledge of God's Spirit. The Spirit of God is a guarantee of future inheritance. It's heaven, if you will, pressing into this life, showing us what awaits, a guarantee of what awaits. Hallelujah. Paul expresses this unwavering confidence in those promises in three ways from our texts. These are in your worship folder. First, he is confident in the face of death, verse 1. Secondly, he is confident in the hope of glory, verses 2 through 4. And thirdly, he is confident in the promises of God, verse 5. Now last week, we looked at Paul's confidence in the face of death, point 1 and verse 1 where verse 1 reads, for we know, that's the confidence, right? Paul is expressing confidence. We know, we know that if our earthly house, this temporal, mortal, dying, perishing body, this tent, we know that if our earthly house, this tent is destroyed. In other words, if we die, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. And we noted that in the contrast here, Paul is making a distinction between our earthly temporary bodies and our God given immortal and enduring glorified bodies that we'll have in heaven. Our earthly bodies described as a temporary and structurally weak tent, something that will not withstand the winds and the waters and the waves of tempest. Tents easily going to come down. Our glorified bodies described here as a building, a house made by God eternal in the heavens. Our earthly bodies like that tabernacle, the Israelites set up in the wilderness to make camp. Like the same tabernacle that they tore down whenever it was time to break camp. Paul says, essentially here in verse 1, I am not going to live like this tent. I'm not going to live life in this tent. This life, this world is not all that there is. I'm not going to live in such a way that when my comfort, my pleasure, my leisure, or even my life is in danger for the cause of Christ that I tuck my tail between my legs and run right back to the bench, back to the sidelines. Also, I'm not going to live my life that way. Even if I die, I know that we have a building from God, a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. My treasure, Paul says, my hope, my future, my home is in heaven. Now, Paul expresses a certainty here in verse 1, that when we die, there will be a resurrection from the dead. And when we are raised from the dead, we received glorified, a glorified resurrected body. We may die, right, but we serve God who raises the dead. We can find proof of this or evidence for this, for such a promise, from two sources. One, Jesus Christ himself raised from the dead. The Bible says that He is the first fruits of all those who would be raised in Him. We will be raised just as He was raised. You put faith and trust in Christ. You can have hope in the resurrection from the dead at the end of the age. Secondly, in verse 5, God has given us the Holy Spirit as a pledge or as a guarantee, a promise. It's a pledge, a guarantee of that future hope. We'll talk about that more in a moment. Next, first, Paul has confidence in the face of death, verse 1. Next, Paul expresses confidence in the hope of glory, verses 2 through 4. Paul says this in verse 2. For in this, we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation, which is from heaven. If indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Consider with me from verses 2 through 4 that Paul's confidence is fueled or driven by three truths from our text. One, what is present, two, what is promised, three, what is purposed. Paul's confidence fueled by these truths, what is present, what is promised, and what is purposed. First, what is present? Look at verse 2. Paul's present condition. For in this, in what? In what is Paul referring to there? In his earthly body, right? For in this, in this earthly body, we groan, we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation, which is from heaven. There is an ongoing continuous groaning. That's a present active verb. It's continuous. It's ongoing. There's an ongoing groaning associated with this present temporary earthly body, this earthly life. That groaning, verse 2, produces an earnest desire, a fervent desire to be free from it and to be further clothed with our habitation, which is from heaven. Verse 4 is essentially a restatement there, verse 2. Verse 4, for we who are in this tent groan being burdened, word for burden there is bereo. It means to be weighed down under a great load. Our earthly existence, our earthly frame, so to speak, is a great burden. We suffer, if you will, under a great load, we are groaning earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation, which is from heaven. That burden also produces that great desire and earnest desire to be further clothed. Here's what Paul is saying. Paul is saying that he is entirely and wholly, H-O-L-Y, dissatisfied with his present condition. He's wholly dissatisfied. He expresses a wholly dissatisfaction with his present condition. Paul is well aware that the outward man is perishing. That's verse 16. That the outward man is wasting away, rotting. That it's been given to corruption. The physical effects of sin taking its deadly toll, such that our bodies are rotting away in corruption. We know that, don't we? Our bodies are often diseased, sick. Our joints wear out. You get up and it's snap, crackle, pop. You're walking up the stairs and sound like a board game. No matter how hard you may work to prevent it, your body will wear out and die. It's going to wear out and die. We groan, don't we? We groan with an earnest desire to be free from the rot and clothed with our habitation from heaven. Paul says, in Romans chapter 8, verse 19, that even the creation is subjected to futility because of man's sin. Even the creation groans in labors and birth pains. He's eagerly waiting for the revealing of the sons of God. Paul says he always carries about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ, verse 10. And he's faced severe persecution. He's been beaten, stoned and left for dead, three days floating around in the ocean alone, left for dead, hunger and thirst. He faces the mental and emotional strain of concern for all the churches. But there's a sense here, isn't it? Isn't there? There's a sense in which this groaning goes well beyond merely physical aches and pains, right? Paul, in addition to physical aches and pains, has his own sin in the flesh to deal with. That doesn't mean that our physical bodies, right, that this flesh in and of itself is inherently evil, but our flesh has been corrupted by our evil. God created the first physical body in Genesis chapter 1. And in chapter 1, verse 31, God says that it was very good. But when Adam fell, sin entered the world and death through sin. And now Paul can speak of a sinful law or a sinful principle at work in sinful passions aroused by the law that bear fruit to death, such that Paul cries out in Romans 7, oh wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death. I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. In all of it, Paul longs to be free of that. If you're a Christian, don't you long with Paul to be free from that, to be free from sin? The corruption that is in our flesh because of sin? And Paul longs for that life in heaven, rather than this life. He longs for the life in heaven, rather than this life in this earthly, temporary, and sin-corrupted tent. Far too often, far too often, and lending much to our groaning in the Lord, this body is given over as a member, or its member is given over to unrighteousness. Turn back with me to Romans chapter 6. Romans chapter 6. So again, I think what Paul's referring to in 1 Corinthians chapter 5 is more than just physical aches and pains. It's the groaning under the weight of sin and the flesh, under the weight of our sin-corrupted bodies, that law or principle at work in us bearing fruit to death when we give into it. This body given over as an instrument of unrighteousness. Look at Romans chapter 6 and drop down to verse 12. Verse 12. Therefore, Paul says, do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey it, and it's less. Do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law, but under grace? Certainly not. Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one slave whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness. But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart, that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. And listen, anyone who earnestly battles sin and the flesh knows what it means to groan with Paul. If you're a genuine Christian, you hunger and you thirst for righteousness, and you're hungering and you're thirsting for righteousness, in your desire, your fervent desire to be holy as he is holy, you groan in your battle with sin. We desire to be clothed from heaven with a glorified body, right free from this body of death. If you're a Christian, you know exactly what Paul's referring to in Romans 6 and you groan, you groan. If you don't groan, if that's foreign to you, if that makes no sense to you, and you're comfortable in your flesh, you're content in your sin, you are a friend of this world, you're giving yourself over. You don't yet know how to be ashamed. You've not come to repentance. You don't have a new heart in Christ. Christian battles and wages war against the flesh, against sin. Look at 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians chapter 6, 1 Corinthians chapter 6, 1 Corinthians chapter 6, look at verse 15, 15, do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not. Or do you not know that he who has joined it to a harlot is one body with her? For the two, he says, shall become one flesh. But he who has joined to the Lord is one spirit with him. Verse 18, flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are gods. They belong to God. Anyone who in the strength of the spirit fights against sin knows what it is to grown. The one who sees the commands of God and battles, he is embattled at war within himself over that sin to flee that sin and to be rid of it forever, who fights and fights and fights and too often fails and goes back to the Lord again and again. Lord, please forgive me. Lord, please forgive me again. And Jesus Christ, the righteous who is faithful and just to forgive you when you confess your sins before him. And you go back and you go back. That is cause for groaning in this life, isn't it? Don't you want to be free from that body of death? Don't you want to be free from that fight? Right? That's freedom, brother and sister. That freedom is coming. It's coming. Put your faith and trust in him. You know what it is. You know what it is to cry out o wretched man that I am. You know what it is to earnestly desire to be clothed with our habitation from heaven. This is the sorrow over sin, the mourning over sin. This is a battle over sin that marks every true Christian. Why wouldn't it be so? Right? Why wouldn't that be the case? We've been given a new heart in Christ. Have you been born again? You have a new heart in Christ. You've been made a new creation. You have been indwelt with his spirit, indwelt with his spirit. Can you not say that you hate sin? Given a new nature in Christ, can you not say that you hate sin and hunger and thirst for righteousness? The Christian longs with an earnest desire to be free from that body of death and to be clothed on high with our habitation, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, to be free from temptation, right? To worship God unfettered by this life, unfettered by sin, unfettered by the flesh, but empowered through a new glorified body made by God in the heavens for his everlasting praise and worship, right? Well, we are in the tent of this earthly body, the Christian with eyes fixed on unseen and eternal things, eternal in the heavens, will groan with a holy groaning. They'll groan with a fervent desire for the things of heaven. If we're looking to heaven in hope of God's promise, right? And we maintain our eyes fixed on those things, and we won't be fixated on the life of here now. We won't be fixated, inordinately fixated on temporal things. Retirement here is not the goal, right? Your rest is not in retirement at age 65 when you get to pull your 401k and stop working. That's not, that's not the goal. Leisure here is not the goal. I finish the day. I just want to go home and sit on the couch and watch TV for four hours, right? That's not the goal. That's not the goal. We don't long for the things of this life. We don't long for the comfort and ease of this life. We don't form an adulterous and idolatrous and a blasphemous friendship with this world, right? We are exiles, pilgrims, sojourners, workers, laborers and lords vineyard, and this land is not our home. Our treasure, our hope, our desire is there in the life to come. And so we groan, and so we groan a holy groaning in this life with an earnest desire for the life that is to come. Can you say with Paul this morning that you groan, as he does, do you groan? Or have you been too comfortable with your sin? Do you groan? Are you too comfortable with this life? Paul says in verse 8, we are confident, yes, well pleased, rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Would you say this morning that maybe you are well pleased, rather to be present in this body and absent from the Lord? The earnest desire of the Christian is to be with him. This is the perspective, right? This is the perspective of the one who will sacrifice the comforts of this life to serve the cause of Christ in anticipation of the life which is to come. This perspective is what fuels and drives Christian service. And that not without, right? Or apart from the work of his spirit. It's the spirit who enlightens our understanding so that we see these heavenly realities. We're going to be faithful in Christian ministry. We must cultivate this perspective. And if you're not groaning with Paul with a desire for the next life, then you're too content with this one. One who is too content with this life, too content with this body, too content with the pleasures of this world won't be willing to sacrifice for the comforts. Won't be willing to sacrifice the comforts of this life to preach the gospel and to serve the bodies we've been called to. So from Paul's perspective, we looked at what is present. Next, consider with me with Paul what is promised, what is promise. Verse 2, for in this we groan, earnestly desire to be closed with our habitation, which is from heaven. If indeed having been closed, we shall not be found naked. What is promised by God is our habitation from heaven, our resurrected and glorified body. Paul refers to it in verse one as a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Here Paul refers to embodiment as being closed rather than disembodied or naked. Does that make sense? The contrast is set up here. In other words, you and I were not created, nor are we intended to be disembodied spirits. The design of God is that you, being a person, are made up of body and spirit, joined together and not to spend an eternity separated. You were designed, created by God, to be embodied. Verse eight, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. But that doesn't mean that we are meant to be bodyless, right? Nor does it mean that Paul simply saw in death a way to escape this body. Paul looked forward to being further closed, right? Paul longed for the promised glorified body. Verse three, we don't want to be naked. We want to be found naked. Verse four, for we who are in this tent groan being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further closed. The person, who you are, is made up of both body and spirit. Now, that being said, there's a period of time referred to by theologians as the intermediate state. It's an intermediate state when we are temporarily unclothed, right? Temporarily naked, so to speak. That's not our normal state. That's not what is promised, right? That's not what is promised. When we die, our physical bodies go back to the dust, like Moses said. We looked at that text last week. And our spirit or our soul, synonyms for the same thing, our soul immediately goes to be with the Lord in heaven. Verse eight, to be absent from the body this earthly tent is to be present with the Lord. Our glorified bodies are not given to us until the end of the age when the Lord Jesus Christ comes back. So in the resurrection, at the end of the age when the Lord Jesus Christ comes back, God raises our body in the resurrection and we are given a glorified body like the Lord's. That glorified body designed by God to last forever. It will never grow old, never become sick, never contract some disease, right? We'll never die. Now, this is the hope of Job. In Job chapter 19, verse 25, listen to Job. Job says, for I know, sounds familiar, doesn't it? Job with confidence, right? I know, I know that my Redeemer lives and he shall stand at last on the earth. And after my skin is destroyed, this I know that in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself and my eyes shall behold and not another how my heart yearns within me. Job might say with Paul how I groaned, right? Jesus says in John chapter 5, verse 28, the Lord says, the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear his voice. All who are in the graves will hear his voice and will come forth. Those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation, right? When the Lord comes back, the dead in Christ will be raised and given glorified bodies, glorified bodies that are fixed by God to enjoy the blessings, to enjoy the pleasures of everlasting life, right? Revelation 20 calls this the first resurrection. But John chapter 5, the Lord also refers to another resurrection, a resurrection there of condemnation, a resurrection of condemnation. When all those who die apart from Christ, the wicked, they are also raised and also in the resurrection given bodies suited by God to endure the torments of hell forever, to endure the fires of hell and to never be consumed. A body fit to suffer. Revelation 20 refers to this as the second resurrection. Blessed are those who take part in the first resurrection. That time that you spend after death, awaiting the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, awaiting your resurrection body, that time is called the intermediate state. It's a time where we are unclothed, a time where we're without a body. Paul refers to it here in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 as nakedness. Now what is promised by God is a body like the Lord's glorified body. Look at Philippians chapter 3. What is promised is a glorious body like the Lord's glorified body. Philippians chapter 3, look at verse 17. Paul says, brethren, join in following my example and note those who so walk as you have us for a pattern. For many walk of whom I've told you often and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly and whose glory is in their shame. That would describe a person who more fixated on this life than that which is to come. Their God is their belly, satisfying their own self-indulgent lusts. Glory is in their shame. They do sinful things. They're not ashamed by those sinful things. They count them as virtues or they count them as glory. Who set their mind at verse 19 on earthly things rather than fixing their gaze on eternal and unseen things. For, for, why should we follow Paul's example and verse 8 count all things lost for Christ? Why should we press forward in service to Christ? Verse 14, because, verse 20, our citizenship is in heaven from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, groaning with an earnest desire, right? We eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to his glorious body according to the working by which he is able even to subdue all things to himself. Look with me at 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, great text on the resurrection of the body. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Look at verse 39. 1 Corinthians 15, 39. Paul's explaining the difference between our earthly and our glorified body, right? Verse 39, all flesh, not the same flesh. There's one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another fish, another fish and another of birds. In other words, don't find it strange that we're talking about another kind of flesh that will be given in glorification, right? Another kind of body that you'll receive. There are other kinds of flesh. There are also, verse 40, celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies. But the glory of the celestial is one and the glory of the terrestrial is another. For there is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, another glory of the stars. For one star differs from another star in glory. Verse 42. So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption. That's our earthly body, this tent. It is raised in, in corruption. That's our habitation in heaven. The house not made with hands. Our glorified bodies. Verse 43. It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power. It is sown a natural body. It is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is a spirit. It doesn't mean that you're going to be spirit. He's referring to a physical body. But it is a heavenly, a spiritual body in the sense that it's made by God, eternal in the heavens, right? Verse 45. And so it is written, the first man Adam became a light, a living being. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, spiritual is not first, but the natural. And afterward, the spiritual, the first man was of the earth, made of dust. The second man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust. And as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have born the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly man. I say this, verse 50, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep. In other words, we shall not all die physically, right? There may be those who remain in our life at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet. The trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on, it sounds like the clothing image, doesn't it? In 2 Corinthians chapter five, verses two and three there, put on, we must put on in corruption. Here, the word to put on is enduo, enduo, to put it on. You put it on like a garment, right? You put it on like a jacket, like a coat, so to speak. The word in 2 Corinthians chapter five verses two and three is enduo, enduo. You put it on over, you put it on over. It's as if Paul is saying that our lowly bodies resurrected in the last day will be trans, those bodies themselves, that material transformed as if a new body is being put on over the old, right? We put on incorruption. This mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. Now we see that purpose, lastly there, death swallowed up in victory. We see that purpose in verse four back in 2 Corinthians chapter five. We looked at what is present. We looked at what is promised. Thirdly, what is purposed? What is purposed? Verse four, for we who are in this tent grown being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that so that mortality may be swallowed up by life, that mortality may be swallowed up by life, that the corruption is sin. Is finally done away with that the body of death is gloriously transformed into the likeness of the body, the glorified body, excuse me, of our Lord, our heart and minds unfettered by sin, entirely devoted to the worship of God, entirely devoted to the service of the Lord, right? An everlasting body that never gives out, suited all five senses perfectly functioning, suited for the praise of God and for the enjoyments of heaven. And as we enjoy heaven, it's a praise of God, right? Confidence in the face of death, confidence in the hope of glory. Lastly, Paul has confidence in the promises of God. Second Corinthians chapter five, verse five. Now he who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the spirit as a guarantee. Paul here in verse five, with great faith, great confidence in the promises of God, speaks of God's preparation and God's pledge, God's preparation and God's pledge. Verse five, he who has prepared us for this very thing is God. God's saving purpose, God's saving work, doesn't end at conversion, right? Justification leads to sanctification, leads to glorification. We are saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved. Romans chapter eight, verse 28. We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God to those who are the called according to his purpose, for whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. That's sanctification and glorification, right? That he might be the first born among many brethren, moreover, whom he predestined, these he also called, whom he called, these he also justified, and whom he justified, these he also glorified. The preparation, he who has prepared us for this very thing, this glorification is God. Lastly, the pledge. This one, he who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the spirit as a guarantee, a guarantee, an arabon. It means a pledge, an installment, if you will, a deposit. The evidence of our future resurrection, the evidence of our future inheritance, the evidence of eternal blessings in Christ is the gift of the spirit in this life. God in giving us the spirit proves, evidences that he is faithful to his promises. Do you want to guarantee? Do you want to guarantee? Look to the spirit of God. Look to the spirit of God. He, God, has given us the third member of the trinity to indwell his people forever for eternity. And the evidence of that, the proof of that is that in this life, while we are still battling this corrupt flesh, the spirit of God indwells us as a pledge of his indwelling presence forever in heaven. We have that eternal life bursting into this life, God indwelling his people in this life, proving to them as a pledge that he will certainly raise us and indwell us forever in heaven. He will indwell you forever without measure. He is the installment, if you will, of what you will be blessed to experience forever. Romans chapter 8, verse 11. But if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you. Therefore, brother, sister, you can be certain. You can be certain. Look to God's spirit. If your earthly tent is destroyed in service to Christ, if your earthly tent is destroyed, you can rest assured that you have a building from God, a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. It may be that you and I are not called upon to die for the cause of Christ as Paul was, right? Maybe that you and I don't face that same level of persecution. It may be that you and I do, but we are certainly called to die to ourselves daily, aren't we? We're to pour ourselves out for the cause of Christ, pour ourselves out on the service and sacrifice of another's faith, our brothers and sisters. And there is work to be done, right? We have work to do. There are people who need the gospel, lost people who won't hear unless a preacher is sent. You, brother, you sister, are that preacher. Go preach the gospel. There is work to be done. If you think to yourself, man, you know, I've long day at work and I just have a, you know, this time that night that I'm going to spend for myself, right? After a long week at work, I just need Saturday to do the things that I need to do. I got so much to do around the house, so much to do in the yard, so much to do, you know, think to yourself, I've spent my entire day with the kids, right? Now I just want to take a break. I want to sit down. But I think we need to examine our perspective on those things. Honestly, with a clear conscience before God, and then with a clear conscience before God, make a determination. Do we have the right perspective? If we don't have the right perspective of the stewardship that we have with our time in this life, then we need to change our perspective. We need to cultivate the perspective of Paul here in this text. We need to fix our gaze upon unseen and eternal things, right? That Paul says will fuel and drive our service to Christ. Even if it means our death, certainly it means the dying to ourselves, right? Certainly it means denying earthly pleasures, denying earthly comforts. How else do you experience what Luke is referring to when he speaks of that, when the Lord says, take up your cross, right? Deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow him. What does that look like? We have glorious promises here from Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, 1 through 5. Glorious promises. Let's fix our eyes on them and serve him, right? A bounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that our labor in the Lord is never in vain. Amen.