I pray all these things in Jesus' name, Amen.
Amen.
All right, we're in 2 Corinthians chapter five,
and there's a lot to unpack in this,
so I just wanna go ahead and get started right now,
but I'm gonna pray real quick.
So, Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, so much
for this Bible study that we could do tonight together.
Lord, I pray that we'd just focus on your word
for the next hour, Lord,
and that we would just kind of forget about all the things
that we have to worry about in our lives,
and that we would just focus on you
for just a little bit tonight.
I pray that you'd recharge our batteries,
and that you would just help us to understand
what the Bible says tonight to us,
and pray that you fill me with your spirit and power.
In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
All right, 2 Corinthians chapter number five,
the Bible reads in verse number one, it says,
"'For we know that if our earthly house
"'of this tabernacle were dissolved,
"'we have a building of God,
"'and house not made with hands eternal in the heavens.'"
So, this is immediately just talking about
the difference between an earthly house and a tabernacle.
So, what does that mean to us?
Well, you know, basically what it's alluding to here
is that our body, while we're here on this earth,
is a temporary thing, okay?
Just like going camping.
If you go camping, you know,
it's a temporary thing, isn't it?
You know, most people, there's people
that have lived in tents around the world
for their whole lives.
Obviously, they're not in the kind of tents
that we would camp in, but there's a lot of people,
you know, even in the Bible times,
that they just lived in tents.
The tabernacle of the congregation was a giant tent,
basically, that they unpacked and packed
over and over again.
And the picture that God's given us here
is that a tabernacle is a temporary thing.
So, and so, but it says if our earthly house,
so this is talking about the earthly house
of this tabernacle, we know that if it's dissolved,
we have a building of God and house not made with hands
eternal in the heavens.
So, we have an eternal body to look forward to someday.
And it's, you know, he's using these terms
like house and tabernacle to help us understand
because, obviously, we are the temple of the Holy Ghost.
You know, we are a building.
And Jesus Christ, you know, talked about this a lot.
We're gonna go through a lot of scripture on this.
But it says, for this we groan, earnestly desiring
to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven.
So, at some point, we're gonna get, you know,
and obviously that's when the rapture happens,
we're gonna get a glorified body that cannot die.
It says it's eternal from heaven.
It's made by God.
It's not made with hands.
It's not something that we build.
It's something that God's gonna build for us.
And this tabernacle on earth is a temporary thing.
But we will have something a lot more permanent.
So, that's why it's kind of given that picture of the house
because a house is more of a permanent dwelling place, right?
So, it says, if so be that being clothed
we shall not be found naked.
And so, I found this term very interesting
and it immediately made me think
about Genesis chapter number three.
Go ahead and turn to Genesis chapter number three.
Because we won't be found naked
once we have this earthly, or this, excuse me,
eternal house not made with hands,
this permanent body that we're gonna be in for all eternity.
I mean, just think about that.
We're gonna have a body that, it's gonna be different.
But, I mean, people always say,
well, are we gonna be the same?
Well, I don't really know what we're gonna be like.
And obviously, I think that we will look similar.
There's people that have come back
and Jesus, when he came back,
he obviously can change the way he looks.
But, when people see him, they know it's Jesus
as long as he allows them to see that, right?
So, but it's talking about if so being clothed
we shall not be found naked.
Now, if you think about it,
the first time someone realized they're naked
was in Genesis chapter number three.
That's Adam and Eve.
Look at verse number six.
It says, and when the women saw
that the tree was good for food
and that it was pleasant to the eyes,
and a tree to be desired to make one wise,
she took of the fruit thereof and did eat
and gave also unto her husband with her and he did eat.
Remember, the Lord said that they would know good and evil
if they ate of that tree
and that they would surely die, right?
So, this is where the mankind fell
is here in Genesis chapter number three.
And it says, in the eyes of them both were opened,
they knew that they were naked
and they sowed fig leaves together
and made themselves aprons.
So, they didn't realize that they were naked
until after they broke the commandment
and put themselves and made themselves sinners
by disobeying the commandment of the Lord.
And it says in verse eight,
and they heard the voice of the Lord
walking in the garden in the cool of the day
and Adam and his wife hid themselves
from the presence of the Lord God
amongst the trees of the garden
and the Lord God called unto Adam
and said unto him, where art thou?
And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden
and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself.
So, Adam's saying he was afraid
but didn't he make an outfit out of fig leaves?
He made an apron or whatever of fig leaves.
So, obviously he still wasn't feeling completely covered.
And you know why?
It's because, so mankind had not sinned at that point
and so they were righteous because they were not,
you know, they hadn't sinned.
But once they fell, they became sinful
and so then they became naked in the eyes of God
and obviously they probably literally were naked
and they realized that and before that they were innocent
and didn't even think about stuff like that.
It's kind of like how little kids are when they first,
you know, until they get to a certain age,
they'll run around naked and it's not a big deal to them
because in their innocence,
they don't see themselves as naked.
But then they get to a certain age where they're just like,
they start to cover up and stuff like that
which is probably around the time when they start realizing
or can realize that they're sinful
because obviously Adam and Eve realized this at a certain,
you know, as soon as they ate that fruit,
they realized that they were naked.
So, and so, let's see, where am I at?
Verse number 11, and he said,
who told thee that thou wast naked?
Hast thou eaten of the tree?
Where have I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
So, here we have the first, the story where, you know,
Adam and Eve realized that they're naked
but in verse three of our text it says,
if so, that being clothed, we shall not be found naked.
So, what are we gonna be clothed with?
You know, what is this talking about?
Well, in Revelation chapter, go ahead and turn over
to Revelation chapter 19.
Actually, you know, turn to Isaiah chapter 61,
then we'll go to Revelation 19.
But Isaiah 61, you know, we are not clothed,
we cannot be clothed with our own righteousness
because we are sinful people.
And so, but the righteousness of Christ is what clothes us.
The righteousness of Christ is what God sees
when he looks down upon us.
He doesn't see a sinful, you know,
person that's fallen, that he sees the blood of Christ
covering all your sins, and it covers you, right?
It's a covering.
But isn't it funny how something that blood is looked upon
as something that's beautiful and sinless
and will cover you?
Look at Isaiah 61 verse 10, it says,
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord with my soul,
shall be joyful in my God.
For he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation,
he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness.
So God covers us, once we're saved, God covers us.
It says the garments of salvation,
he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness.
But see, it's not our own righteousness,
it's God's righteousness that we're clothed with.
It says as a bridegroom decketh herself with ornaments
and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.
So once you get saved, you get re-clothed.
But on this earth, we're still in our earthly tabernacle,
and so we're not completely perfect yet.
So once we get that glorified body,
then we'll be sinless forevermore.
We're not gonna, there's no sin
that's gonna dwell inside of our body.
So, but the body cannot be redeemed
in the fact that our earthly bodies,
they can't be reformed, they can't be fixed.
Their sin dwells within our mortal bodies,
and so we have to wait till the time
when God actually gives us that body that cannot die,
and that's the house that it's talking about there.
So Revelation 19, verse six,
let's turn over there to Revelation 19, verse six.
Revelation 19, verse six, the Bible says,
and I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude
and as the voice of many waters,
as the voice of mighty thundering,
saying, Alleluia, the Lord God omnipotent, reigneth.
Let us be glad, rejoice, and give honor to him,
for the marriage of the Lamb is come,
and his wife hath made herself ready,
and to her was granted that she should
be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white,
for the fine linen is what?
The righteousness of the saints.
So it's granted that we should be arrayed in fine linen.
So when does this take place?
Is this after the rapture?
Yeah, and so we're gonna have this clean, white linen,
and it says, for the fine linen
is the righteousness of the saints.
What are we gonna be clothed in when we come back
with the Lord Jesus Christ in Revelation chapter 19?
We're gonna be clothed with the righteousness
that is from Christ.
We'll be in clean, and we're gonna be dressed in white,
and it's funny because you picture white clothes,
the picture of white, really bright white clothes,
is a picture of being sinless.
And so blood makes us look like we're dressed
in white and sinless.
So we'll look at verse number 13,
just skip down to the bottom there.
It says, and he was clothed,
so Christ is gonna be clothed in something different
when he comes back.
He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood,
and his name is called the word of God.
So when Christ comes back to destroy the beast
and his army and throw Satan in hell for a thousand years,
he's gonna be wearing a different colored outfit.
He's gonna be wearing a coat because a vesture
is like your coat dipped in blood.
I kind of went over that when I talked about that sermon
about Joseph, how his garment was dipped in blood,
and that pictured the Lord Jesus Christ.
But look what it says about us, though, in verse 14.
It says, and the armies which were in heaven
followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen,
white and clean.
And what is that picture again?
The righteousness of the saints.
But that righteousness that we get is from God.
See, this is where all the rest of the world
gets things wrong, including, quote unquote,
so-called Christianity, is a lot of people think
that they're gonna work their own way to heaven.
We talked to a guy that was a Muslim on Sunday,
and it was really sad because he just couldn't get
what we were, you know, he was listening,
but he just couldn't understand how it's not
our own works that get us there.
When people say that kind of stuff,
I was just like, that's what every religion
in the world teaches, besides Christianity.
We're not saying we can get in with our own righteousness.
It's God's righteousness that gets us in.
And it's God's righteousness that clothes us
so that we're not found naked.
When the Bible talks about us being naked,
that's a clue for us to go back to Genesis chapter three
and find out what that's talking about.
Spiritually, we're naked.
Spiritually, because what happens when you're naked?
You're ashamed, aren't you?
So you're not gonna be all, you know,
nobody walks around naked.
Why?
Because it's shameful, isn't it?
You know, I know some people don't understand that,
and people will just wear stuff that they don't realize
they're naked or they don't care.
But you know, most normal people wear clothes.
You know, if you come to church,
everybody here's wearing clothes, you know, praise God.
But you do that because it's a shame
to be found naked, isn't it?
And Adam and Eve were ashamed of what they did,
and they hid themselves from God.
Isn't that what we do too,
when we're ashamed of things we've done?
Don't you try to, I mean, it's so weird though,
but when you find stories like this,
like Jonah tried to run away from the presence of the Lord,
it's like, God's everywhere.
You're not gonna escape the presence of the Lord.
Hiding behind a tree, Adam,
is not gonna help you hide from God.
You know, when he asked him, where are you?
Do you think God knew where he was?
Of course he did.
God knows everything.
So, you know, it's just kind of silly
for us to hide that way.
You know, and basically they're hiding the fact
that they've sinned against God,
and that was, you know,
and they realized that they were naked.
So there's a spiritual application.
There's a literal application to this.
You know, literally being naked,
but also spiritually being found naked.
And that's what the Bible's talking about.
So we have to be clothed with the righteousness of Christ
in order to be not found naked.
Otherwise, you're still naked, right?
So let's go back to our text in verse number four.
We're gonna be flipping back and forth there.
And like I said, we're gonna go through
a lot of scripture tonight, so,
because there's just a lot of concepts here.
So hopefully I can get through the whole thing.
I'll try to go as fast as I can here.
Verse number four in our text says,
For we that are in this tabernacle
do groan, being burdened,
not for that we would be unclothed,
but clothed upon that mortality
might be swallowed up of life.
So, we are in this tabernacle.
We groan.
You know, every day I get up, I groan.
Because I'm tired, I'm getting older.
You know, the older you get,
the more aches and pains you get.
And we just, you know, at some point,
don't you ever feel like, you know,
it'd be a lot easier just to be in heaven right now?
Wouldn't it be easier that we, you know,
we don't have to go through all the stuff
that we go through and all the trials and tribulations
and hard times.
And when you're going through a hard time,
sometimes it seems like that might be the better option.
And it is the better option,
but God left us here for a reason.
And he wants us to work for him.
And I'll get into that more as we go through here.
But turn to First Corinthians chapter 15 verse 53.
So this verse number four says,
But clothed upon that mortality
might be swallowed up of life.
So this tabernacle groans,
we want to have this body that we're supposed to have.
We want to have this closeness with Christ.
And in order for that to happen,
we're mortal right now.
Our bodies are mortal.
Our bodies are going to die at some point.
But this must, this swallowing up must take place.
This swallowing up of life.
That's a good thing to be swallowed up of life.
Being swallowed up by death would be bad, wouldn't it?
But being swallowed up by life is good.
Looking for, and I believe it's referring back
to First Corinthians chapter 15.
Look at what it says in verse 53.
For this corruptible must put on incorruption.
So we're corruptible right now.
Our bodies are corruptible.
They get old, they wear out, they get damaged.
You know, sometimes, you know, you stub your toe
and that toe's never right for the rest of your life.
Whatever, that kind of stuff happens.
But, you know, we're going to at some point
get a body that when you stub your toe,
it's not going to hurt.
It's not going to be the same.
So maybe you're just not capable of stubbing your toe.
I don't know.
That's some deep stuff to think about.
But it says this corruptible must put on incorruption.
And this mortal must put on immortality.
So we have to put on immortality.
And once we put on that immortality,
we are going to be clothed.
We'll not be found naked, right?
Look what it says, so verse 54.
So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption
and this mortal shall have put on immortality,
then shall be brought to pass a saying that is written,
death is swallowed up in victory.
Oh death, where is thy sting?
Oh grave, where is thy victory?
So we will have immortality at some point.
That's a weird concept to think about.
But it's just, that's just the way it is, you know.
Sometimes I think that we, you know, we say things
and we're like, we talk about things in church.
But I mean, to really just think about
what immortality is going to be like,
it's something that's really,
it's a deep thing to think about.
Because I mean, what are we going to be doing
for all eternity?
Because eternity is a long time.
You know, you wait at the doctor's office to get in
and it feels like eternity, doesn't it, sometimes.
It's like, if you're one minute late,
they cancel your appointment.
Like, oh no, you're going to have to reschedule.
But you go in there and you check in 15 minutes early
and you're like waiting for 45 minutes or something.
It's like, well, why doesn't it work the other way?
You know, why don't I get this visit for free?
But it does, you know, we wait for things.
Like kids are really impatient and they,
you know, when are we going to do this?
When are we going to go to the park, mommy?
You know, and we get impatient
and we think things take forever.
But really that's not even anywhere near
what forever is really like.
I mean, forever is a long time.
It's eternity.
So just to think about those kinds of things
are mind-boggling concepts.
Like, what are we going to be doing?
You know, I don't know what we're going to be doing.
But I know it's not going to be boring.
I know it's not going to be lame.
God wouldn't be saying how great heaven is
if it was going to be boring.
So I don't think it's going to be boring at all.
We're not going to be playing harps with Tweety and Sylvester
up in the clouds or whatever.
I mean, maybe will be, but not for all eternity.
That's not the only thing that you're going to be doing.
You're definitely not going to be wearing a dress
if you're a dude.
Anyway, so the tabernacle it's talking about
in Second Corinthians chapter five
is the temporary structure in which we live in,
which is our earthly bodies.
And the house that it's talking about
is the permanent body that we're going to have,
the permanent body that God is going to give us
that lasts forever.
And a hand can't make that.
You think about how the temple or the altar,
tools were not supposed to be put upon it
because it's supposed to represent something,
because the pattern that was showed to Moses
is something that actually exists in heaven.
And so God made that,
and I doubt he had a construction crew do that.
He probably just spoke that stuff into existence.
He made that stuff by himself,
but it wasn't made by any man's hands.
It was made by the Lord.
So just like that earthly tabernacle
that went through the wilderness, it was temporary.
It's not there anymore.
It's not in a museum anywhere.
Indiana Jones didn't find it and put it in a museum.
It's gone, isn't it?
It's temporary.
Just like any tent that you have to go camping with,
they only last for so long,
and then they wear out and they fade away.
And houses, like I said, are more permanent,
so it's that picture of the permanence.
You get a house, after you've been in a tent
for like a week out in the woods,
you're like, ah, yes, the house.
It's a lot more comforting than being outside
in a tent, isn't it?
Especially if it's cold out or raining.
So let's turn to John chapter 14.
And Christ referred to himself,
and the Bible refers to us and talks about houses
and mansions and all these different things.
And John chapter 14 verse one says,
"'Let not your heart be troubled.
"'You believe in God, believe also in Me.
"'In My Father's house are many mansions.
"'If it were not so, I would have told you.
"'I go to prepare a place for you.
"'And if I go and prepare a place for you,
"'I will come again and receive you unto Myself,
"'that where I am, there ye may be also.'"
So Christ is talking about, at some point,
we're gonna see these mansions in heaven.
Now I know, and I'm not trying to throw shade
on Pastor Jimenez at all,
but I know he preached out of this
that the mansions represent our bodies,
and he very well might be right about that.
I mean, I still am holding out
for the MTV Cribs house that I want,
but with the slide that goes into the lagoon
and all that stuff.
And he kind of shattered that image for me a little bit.
And the aug of Beit She'an bed that I wanted,
I've always thought, well, it'd be cool.
In this life, we have things that are temporary,
but it'd be nice to have a permanent structure
that you like, you can just kind of change
however you want it, maybe just redo it.
And with an eternal body that never gets tired,
I mean, you could build some stuff up pretty quick, right?
Have your eternal bodied friends come over,
hey, what are you doing?
What kind of building project you got going on?
Let's make a new slide.
This one's gonna go upside down, and you know, anyway.
I could see that happening, right?
Pastor Jimenez kind of just shattered that image for me.
But in this text, though, right here,
what it's saying,
in my Father's house are many mansions.
Now, mansions are like fancy houses, right?
And so, thinking about an eternal body,
that's a fancy building to live in, right?
It's something that is better
than just like a regular house, isn't it?
It says, if it were not so, I would have told you.
But then it says, I go to prepare a place for you.
So a place, you know,
he's talking about a place in heaven, right?
And so I'm not totally disagreeing with Pastor Jimenez,
but I think that it might be both.
You know, I think that, you know,
when Daniel is told that he's gonna be in his lot
at the end of days, what's it talking about?
You know, he's gonna have his own spread.
He's gonna have his own place.
So I think that we'll have some kind of place that's ours.
Obviously, the New Jerusalem is gonna be a city
that we're all going to be able to live in.
But it says, in my father's house are many mansions.
If it were not so, I would have told you,
I go to prepare a place for you.
So a place is not necessarily your permanent body,
but it says, I will come again and receive you unto myself,
that where I am, there ye may be also.
So this place he's talking about preparing
is where? In heaven.
So, but then it also, in 2 Corinthians chapter five,
talks about this house that we're gonna get
not made with hands.
And so I see the connection there.
I definitely agree that that's definitely what it's,
you know, it's talking about our permanent structure,
our house, and so I'm not like disagreeing
with him about that.
I'm just, I think that it's possible that it's just both.
You know, we're gonna get a permanent residence
and also probably that, well obviously for sure,
a permanent body.
Let's look at Revelation chapter 21 verse one.
So I just, you know, I'm just holding on to the fact
that I might have that permanent dwelling.
But hey, even if I don't, I still got an eternal body
that can never die or get sick or get hurt,
dandruff, BO, any of that stuff, right?
Revelation chapter 21 verse one says,
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth,
for the first heaven and the first earth
were passed away and there was no more sea.
And I, John, saw the holy city,
New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
It's talking about this city, New Jerusalem,
that is gonna come down from heaven, right?
It says, And I heard a great voice out of heaven,
saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men.
So the tabernacle of God is going to be,
he's gonna dwell with us, he's gonna live with us.
It says, And he will dwell with them,
and they shall be his people,
and God himself shall be with them and be their God.
So it's interesting that it uses the word tabernacle.
The tabernacle of God, the dwelling place of God,
is going to be with men.
But think about this, it is a city,
it's a literal city that's going to be coming down
prepared by God.
Jesus said, I go to prepare a place for you.
Now, how long was it gonna take Jesus
to prepare a place for us?
Do you think he's been working on it for 2,000 years?
He's just, you know, he's the carpenter's son,
so he's just like digging everything,
he's making all the cabinets in every house or something.
I don't think that that's necessarily the case.
He can just snap his fingers and everything,
he's put together.
But it does say, I go to prepare a place for you.
So, you know, it is obviously this great city,
I believe that it's talking about,
but also the fact that God is gonna be dwelling with us,
you know, I just find that that's very interesting
because, you know, I believe, like I said,
it's a place, but it's also gonna be
a permanent dwelling for us.
Obviously, it's talking about that
in 2 Corinthians 5.
Now, turn to John 2, verse 18.
John 2, verse 18.
Jesus referred to himself as a temple.
So, you know, this is something that God regularly uses
in various different parts of the Bible.
Look at John 2, verse 18, it says,
then answered the Jews and said unto him,
what signs showest thou unto us,
seeing that thou doest these things?
Jesus answered and said unto them,
destroy this temple and I will raise it up.
So, then said the Jews, 40 and six years
was the temple and building,
and wilt thou rear it up in three days?
But he spake of the temple of his body.
So, obviously, God does use those words to describe.
And so, I believe that Pastor Mendez is right,
that we are gonna have the permanent house
that he's gonna give us.
It's gonna be a brand new body that can't die
and can't, you know, it's gonna be eternal.
But then you can't really escape the wording of
I go to prepare a place for you.
I mean, a place is not,
I think it's definitely talking about
he's preparing heaven for us.
You know, and then it talks about this city coming down.
The city is not metaphorical.
It's a literal city, right?
It gives us the dimensions in the Bible.
So, I'm not trying to burst anybody's bubble.
I'm not trying to disagree with my friend
and I think Pastor Mendez laid out a great sermon.
He's preached about it a couple times.
I think his sermons are spot on.
But I also think that there is still a place, okay?
So, I don't wanna dash anybody's dreams or hopes
because just getting the body would be good enough.
Look at verse 22, where you're at in John 2, 22.
It says, therefore, he was risen from the dead.
His disciples remembered that he had said unto them
and they believed the scripture
and the word which Jesus had said.
So, they got that, you know, Jesus is talking about,
you know, these false prophets or false accusers come
when Jesus is captured and they say that
he said he was gonna destroy the temple, you know,
and he was gonna raise it up in three days.
But he wasn't talking about that temple.
But isn't it funny that a temple pictures
a permanent dwelling place of God.
You know, in the tabernacle in the wilderness,
that was temporary.
But David wanted to build him a more permanent building.
So, it's just interesting how the Bible refers to us
as houses and temples.
Because what are we housing?
What's inside your house right now?
It's your spirit, it's your soul, right?
So, inside of you is whatever makes you you.
You know, you're a unique person.
Each person has their own unique qualities about themselves.
Nobody is exactly the same.
You might have a doppelganger that looks a lot like you
in the world somewhere.
You know, and we love when we find those doppelgangers.
We like to show our friends,
hey, this person looks just like you.
And it's funny.
But, you know, nobody really is just like you.
So, you are special.
You know, and I know that, you know,
I'm not trying to get all like consolation
where everybody gets a trophy or something.
But you are special.
Each and every person is special.
And that's why I believe God tells us
the very hairs of our head are numbered.
Because each person is special to God.
If you're saved and you're one of his children,
you're special.
So, again, I personally believe that it's talking about,
obviously, spiritual houses and literal houses
and property in heaven.
I think it's both.
But that's just my humble opinion.
Let's look back at verse number five in our text.
It says, now he that hath wrought us the same thing
is God, who also hath given unto us
the earnest of the Spirit.
So now it's changing gears here
in talking about this down payment.
But it's kind of interesting, too,
that the term earnest money
obviously probably comes from the Holy Spirit
giving the down, you know,
because that's basically what it is.
God, when he saves you,
he gives you the earnest of the Spirit.
He gives you a down payment on the house, right?
So we have a future promise of a permanent body
that can't die.
And God gives us the down payment,
just like if you buy a house.
Who's bought a house in here before?
If you buy a house, you have to give up the earnest money.
The earnest money is to prove that you're willing to,
that you're, it's,
well, let me just tell you the definition.
Earnest money is a deposit made to a seller,
often in real estate transactions,
that shows the buyer good faith in a transaction.
So what's the transaction that's taking place with us?
Well, you know, Christ bought us.
He redeemed us.
He redeemed our mortal bodies,
and he's gonna give us, you know,
this everlasting body.
And to show his good faith that he has saved us,
and that the promises are ours,
he gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit.
It's the down payment of the Spirit of God.
And obviously, that Spirit cannot leave you.
It's a permanent thing.
But we get that down payment, and it says,
now he that hath wrought us the self,
same thing is God,
who hath also given us the earnest of the Spirit.
So God is the one that, you know,
wrought means that he brought it forth.
He's the one that made it happen.
And so when he gives us that earnest of the Spirit,
it's, he's paying the down payment on us,
and we get that good faith
that the transaction has been made.
So, and if people don't have the Spirit of God,
then they're none of his.
That's what the Bible teaches.
So look at Ephesians chapter one, verse 12,
and this concept is taught in Ephesians one, verse 12,
by the Apostle Paul, also talking about the Holy Spirit.
So Ephesians chapter one, verse 12 says,
that we should be to the praise of his glory
who first trusted in Christ,
and whom he also trusted,
after that ye have heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation,
in whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed
with that Holy Spirit of promise,
which is the earnest of our inheritance
unto the redemption of the purchased possession
unto the praise of his glory.
That's a great, those are some great scriptures right there.
And basically it's bringing that concept,
the earnest of our inheritance.
We have an inheritance coming to us.
You know, some of us, you know, are poor in this world,
right, but we actually have the riches
of the kingdom of God waiting for us when we get to heaven.
And the down payment is the Holy Spirit of promise,
which is the earnest of our inheritance,
until the redemption of the purchased possession.
So there's gonna be a time
when we get the purchased possession,
you know, the redemption of, you know, all mankind,
every animal on the planet is groaning
and waiting for these,
this new heaven and new earth to be formed.
You know, right now all animals
just try to kill each other, don't they?
I mean, we have little bunny rabbits
that live in our backyard and, you know, they're nice.
You know, now that our dogs are all gone,
like the rabbits have moved in, right?
But there's cats that live in the neighborhood
and one time, not to, I'm sorry, kids and girls,
but this rabbit is, you know,
rabbits scream when they're being killed.
It's kind of horrifying.
But this cat just like kills one of the rabbits
in our backyard and I'm just like, man,
can't we all just get along?
You know?
You know, most of the times cats don't,
you know, like regular house cats,
they don't eat what they kill.
But why do they kill?
It's just, it's a part of the curse.
You know, it's part of the curse
and all the animals in the world
are waiting for the redemption to happen also.
They're like, they're sick of it too.
They really are.
I mean, it's a rough world that we live in,
but someday the redemption of the purchase possession,
we're gonna get the inheritance that we were promised.
And we don't even have to do anything to get it.
We just have to believe on the Son of God
and then we're in.
We're sons.
We're daughters.
I mean, that's pretty cool.
God's very great.
Look at back at our text in verse number six,
it says, therefore we are always confident
knowing that whilst we were at home in the body,
we are absent from the Lord.
So while we're at home in the body,
we are absent from the Lord.
Anybody hung out with the Lord lately?
Like physically?
No.
That's because he's in heaven, all right?
And so while we're here in the body on this earth,
we are absent from the Lord.
It says, for we walk by faith, not by sight.
That's how every person on this planet,
we have to walk by faith.
We have to believe by faith.
God doesn't appear to you.
The Old Testament, God appeared to people.
He doesn't do that now.
When Thomas, he was gone when the Lord Jesus came
and showed himself to the disciples alive.
And when he finally saw the Lord,
the Lord said, blessed, you have seen and you believe.
Blessed are they that have not seen and yet believe.
And so to me, God just wants us to have faith
and absolutely, the only way that we can even be saved
is by faith.
That's what the Bible teaches.
We have to walk by faith because we don't see these things.
So we have to just hope in faith that this stuff is real.
And obviously, if you have the Holy Spirit of God,
you know that the Bible's true.
You know, you just look at the world in general
and just see the hatred that people have for Christianity.
You know, if somebody does all this bad stuff to Christians,
nobody even bats an eye, but some Muslim gets accosted
and the whole media goes crazy over it.
And it's like, they're hypocrites.
You know, Muslims like to throw homos off of buildings
and kill them.
But yet they still stick up for them, don't they?
Muslims make women wear those hijabs or whatever,
where they cover their whole face.
They can't even, all they have is like little slits
for their eyes.
You know, they look like Cobra Commander or whatever.
But you don't see, you know, but we just say,
well, you know, we believe ladies should be wearing dresses.
Like, I can't believe that you're against women's rights
and all this other stuff.
It's like, hey, you're sticking up for the Muslim
that believes that they should be wearing
like a black sheet all day.
They hate homos too.
They actually kill them.
We don't kill them.
They kill them.
Isn't that funny how people are?
I mean, but that's just the way the world is.
So anyway, verse number eight says,
we are confident, I say, and willing rather
to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
So the Bible teaches that, you know, once you die,
if you're saved, you go right to heaven.
You're with the Lord immediately.
If you are headed for hell, then you go straight to hell.
The rich man lift up his eyes in hell,
being in torments, right?
So he, you know, he had his good things in life,
but ultimately these people are just living
their best life now.
This is their best life now.
That's all they have.
And so they get to get away with things
that we don't get to get away with.
And they get to do things that we don't get to do.
But ultimately, we're gonna be comforted
and they're not going to be.
Which obviously I don't want anybody to go to hell,
but you know, just people are going to hell by the droves.
Hell hath enlarged itself, right?
So we are absent from the body or present with the Lord.
So you know, it's like, well then why don't we all
just kill ourselves and go to heaven?
Well, because God left us to do something.
And obviously killing yourself is a sin,
so you shouldn't do that.
But you know, sometimes like I said earlier,
it would be nice to just not have to go through problems
and wouldn't it be just easier to go to heaven?
It would be.
Wouldn't it be nicer to just be in heaven?
It would be, wouldn't it?
Wouldn't it be nice to just be with our Savior right now?
It would be.
But see, He is the one that's the boss.
He wants us to do stuff because He's not here.
And so He left us here to take care of the vineyard.
So look at Philippians chapter one, verse 21.
Philippians chapter one, verse 21.
The Bible says in Philippians one, verse 21, it says,
for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.
But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor.
Yet what I shall choose I want not.
For I am in a strait betwixt two,
having a desire to depart and to be with Christ,
which is far better.
So the Apostle Paul is saying, without a doubt,
I'm in a strait.
You know, I wanna do what God wants me to do,
but at the same time, to be with Christ is a lot better.
And that's why I'm saying it'd be a lot easier
for us to just all die and go to heaven,
you know, than to have to go through
what we go through in this life.
But that's not what God's called us to do.
So that's, you know, it's a thought, a struggle,
and I'm sure with Paul, it was even worse,
because I mean, he's walking into towns
and not knowing what's gonna happen to him
from town to town.
Whether they're gonna worship him as a god,
or they're gonna get saved,
or they're gonna try to beat him to death.
You know, he just doesn't know.
So I mean, it's a lot worse for the Apostle Paul,
so I can see where it'd be like,
I'm in a strait betwixt two, you know.
I mean, I don't really wanna catch another beating.
I don't really wanna go and get shipwrecked or whatever,
a bit by a snake or whatever.
He just, you know, he had a lot more to deal with than we do
and he said, hey, it's far better to be with Christ.
Nevertheless, to abide in the flesh
is more needful for you.
And so that would be my answer too,
is that, you know, it's more needful for other people
that we abide in the flesh
because nobody's gonna get saved
if we don't abide in the flesh
and do what God wants us to do.
If we don't bring forth the harvest,
if we don't go out and reap the harvest that he's,
you know, he said that the fields are white
and ready to harvest.
You know, but the laborers are few.
So the very few that are doing it,
hey, those people are necessary, they're needed.
And so, yeah, being in heaven with Christ
is a lot better than being in this place
where we have to deal with all the stuff
and all the sodomy and all the filth
and all the, you know, just all this wickedness
that goes on, the hypocrisy of our government leaders,
the hypocrisy of the news and all this media
that's just constantly trying to lie to us
and they're total hypocrites.
It'd be a lot easier to be with Christ, wouldn't it?
But, you know, nevertheless, to abide in the flesh
is more needful for you.
The apostle Paul, you know, had he just said,
you know what, I'm just gonna end it all, you know,
let me die with the Philistines or whatever,
and he just allowed himself to be killed or killed himself,
he would have had a lot better life in heaven,
but you know what?
It wouldn't have been a lot better of life
for all the Gentiles that needed to be saved.
And he turned the world upside down.
He went and planted churches
and all these different places.
It was more needful for him to be here in the flesh.
Look at verse nine back in our text, it says,
Wherefore we labor that whether present or absent
we may be accepted of him.
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,
that everyone may receive the things done in his body
according to that which he hath done,
whether it be good or bad.
So what is this talking about?
You know, I've heard Christian preachers and pastors,
even independent Baptist pastors preach
that, you know, we're gonna get some kind of judgment
as far as like condemnation of some sort,
like we're gonna get, you know,
the jumbotron's gonna play
and it's gonna show all the bad things
you did as a Christian.
All the times you failed.
And it's like, I don't know where they got this from,
but that's just not true.
The judgment seat of Christ is the things that we receive
for the things that we do in our body.
Now, if we do bad, it says if we do good or bad,
people will take that and they'll act like
we're gonna be condemned for the things that we do.
Just like people saying, you know,
every idle word that a man shall speak,
they'll give an account thereof in the day of judgment.
That's not talking about saved people.
You're not gonna be held responsible
for any sin that you've done.
If you're saved, you're not held responsible.
What it's talking about here
is what have you done for the Lord in your body?
Was it good or was it bad?
Did you do things for the Lord
or did you not do things for the Lord?
Now, this is spoken of in 1 Corinthians 3,
so hold your finger there,
turn to 1 Corinthians 3.
It explains this a little bit better for us
so we can understand it.
But you know, I can see how an unsaved person would say,
well, you know, we're gonna appear before the judgment seat,
but the judgment is the things that we've done
in our bodies after salvation.
The things that we've done, whether it's good or bad.
Now, look at 1 Corinthians 3, verse 11, it says,
for other foundation can no man lay,
then that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
So number one, when we're doing good works,
the foundation is Christ.
So everything we do has to be built upon the foundation
that he laid for us.
And so if it's not anything to do
with what Christ laid down for us,
then it might just be something
that is not really necessary or needed
or it might not be a permanent thing
that sticks with you as a reward.
It could be wood, hay, or stubble.
Look what it says in verse 12, it says,
now if any man build upon this foundation
gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble,
every man's work shall be made manifest.
That means shown, right?
For the day shall declare it
because it shall be revealed by fire.
I don't know how this works, but you know,
whatever the works are, I don't know how,
like I said, I don't know how it works,
but it's talking about being revealed by fire
and the fire shall try every man's work
of what sort it is, whether it's good, whether it's bad.
Is it built upon the foundation of Christ?
Is it gardening for Jesus or whatever?
There's all kinds of ministries
that really don't have a permanent or eternal,
it just doesn't mean anything.
Playing basketball for Jesus or whatever.
I mean, there's just all kinds of things
that people say are for Jesus or for God,
but in reality, there's no real permanent reward for it.
You're seeing those muscle man guys that travel around
and they do all these feats of strength
and they're like a Christian.
You know what I'm talking about?
Like they're bodybuilder Christians or whatever
and they come to churches and they're like,
show you all these amazing things.
You know what I'm talking about?
I mean, I guess if they're getting people saved
with their muscles or whatever, then cool,
but it's not really something I would consider
like a permanent, if they're not getting people saved,
they're just showing you how strong they are or whatever,
that's what hands stubble, it means nothing.
Unless it's something that's eternal,
it's not gonna matter because it's revealed by fire.
So whatever it is, your rate, comfort, gospel tract
handing out, you might be doing ignorance,
but it still means nothing.
Did God say go out and hand out gospel tracts?
Is that what he said to do?
No, he said to go out and preach the gospel,
not hand someone a fake million dollar bill
that has the false gospel on it.
You know, there's lots of things in this world
that are wood, hay, and stubble
and God is going to try those things by fire.
And it says, if any man's work shall abide, verse 14,
which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
So what's it talking about?
The rewards that we get, okay?
If you build upon the foundation, which is Christ.
Salvations would be that thing.
And I personally don't believe that you can lose rewards
of people you got saved because it's eternal.
When we go up to heaven, we're gonna see them.
It's not like God's gonna say,
well, I'm taking this reward away from you
so you really didn't get that person saved.
That's not, I don't agree with that.
I don't think that that's true.
Now we can suffer loss, though.
Look what it says in verse 15, it says,
if any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss,
but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.
So the loss that people suffer,
to me, this person has done nothing for God.
He's done nothing that's a permanent thing.
It's wood, hay, stubble.
It's not gold, silver, and precious stones.
Gold, silver, and precious stones
can take a blast from fire and still be there.
But you know what won't?
Wood, hay, and stubble.
Things that mean nothing to God,
things that he didn't ask you to do.
The ministry that people come up with,
I'm a missionary to the overnight workers
at Walmart or whatever.
It's like, well, send me your missionary letter, okay?
I talked to somebody one time on break.
I mean, people just, you know,
these missionaries that just go in other countries
and they can't even preach the gospel.
Do you think that's wood, hay, and stubble?
If you're not getting people saved, it's wood, hay, and stubble.
If you're a missionary and you don't get people saved,
you know, your works are gonna be burnt up in the fire.
It's just that simple.
So, but the person that is doing work,
the person whose work abides, you know,
it's precious gold for God.
It's precious jewels for God
when someone gets saved, isn't it?
Or when you give something out of the kindness of your heart
to help somebody that's poor, not some derelict.
I'm talking about someone that actually needs help,
that actually, you know, those types of things,
you can get a permanent reward for that,
and it's not wood, hay, or stubble.
So the judgment seat of Christ is not some place
where he whips the Christians, you know,
right before he gives them their permanent bodies
for the things that they did in their body.
That's not, that's just impossible.
You know, he's removed our sins
as far as the east is from the west.
So we will not be judged or condemned
for sins that we've done in our body
because we're covered by the blood of Christ.
That doesn't even make sense.
That's what unsaved people believe.
That's what Pentecostals believe.
They believe you can lose your salvation.
So, and Hebrews 12, 29 says,
for our God is a consuming fire.
So he's gonna try everything by fire.
It'll be an interesting judgment seat.
You know, I don't know if we're gonna be able to see
what other people failed at or something.
I mean, I don't even know if that's how God's gonna do it.
I don't know what the judgment seat of Christ
is gonna be like necessarily,
but to me, I don't think it's just there,
he's just there to humiliate every person
that didn't do any works for God.
It says they still, you know, they'll suffer loss,
but they'll be saved, yet so as by fire.
So I don't think that it's gonna be some place
where everybody's humiliated
for the things that they did wrong.
Because then God would be lying
and saying he didn't hold us,
you know, that he's holding our sins against us.
Verse 11 back in our text says,
knowing therefore the terror of the Lord,
we persuade men, but we are made manifest unto God,
and I trust also are made manifest in your presence.
So, God can be a terrifying God to those people
that are going to hell.
And knowing the terror that God's gonna put people through,
you know, in hell for all eternity,
or in judgment on this earth,
you know, we should persuade men.
That's what Paul's saying, hey,
knowing the terror of the Lord,
knowing what God's gonna do to the ungodly,
we need to persuade people to be saved.
But we are made manifest to God,
and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.
Look at verse 12,
for we commend not ourselves again unto you,
but give you an occasion to glory on our behalf,
that you may have somewhat to answer them,
which glory in appearance and not in heart.
So there's those people that, you know,
they look good, they dress good,
they, you know, they seem like the perfect Christians,
but in reality they're just glorying in appearance
and not in their heart.
So there's people that dress bad
and have their hair messed up or whatever,
and, you know, they have got, you know,
they're showing works in their heart.
You know, God sees their heart,
and he sees, you know, he sees everything about us.
We are naked unto God.
Our lives are naked.
Everything is laid bare to him.
He can see everything.
He can see everything in our heart.
And, you know, you can put lipstick on a pig,
but it's still a pig, isn't it?
You know, you can put a jewel in its snout.
It's still an ugly pig, okay?
So we can look as good as we want,
but, you know, God doesn't look at things
the way that we look at things.
God doesn't look on the outward appearance.
God looks on the heart.
And so, you know, there's people in Christianity
that, you know, they give a good show,
but in their heart they're not really doing
how they look on the outside.
That's why he condemned the Pharisees for doing that.
Verse number 13, for whether we be beside ourselves,
it is to God, or whether we be sober,
it is for your cause, for the love of Christ
constraineth us, because we thus judge
that if one died for all, then we're all dead.
So this term, the love of Christ constraineth us.
What does that mean?
Well, constrain means to compel or force
someone to follow a particular course of action.
So the love of Christ, the fact that Christ loves us
and he loves the world and wants them to be saved,
he's saying that that constrains us,
that compels us, it forces us into action.
Because when you look out and you see a lost world,
you know, if you're going soul-wanting
and you don't care about anybody's door that you knock on
and you're just doing it just because it's something
that we do as a church or something,
hey, why don't you just let the love of Christ
constrain you while you're at the door?
Why don't you give it all you got?
Why don't you show a little passion
when you're at their door?
You know, and I'm not saying necessarily
beg someone to save, but I would beg someone to be saved.
You know, last week I was on the verge of it.
You know, I talked to a Pentecostal who didn't believe,
you know, he believed that your works,
or that you could lose your salvation.
He believed you could lose your salvation.
I just told him multiple verses, showed him multiple.
He wouldn't let us show him anything,
but he's like, I'm not gonna argue.
He was almost like a Mormon or something.
I don't wanna argue with you, you know, but you're wrong.
It's like, no, you're wrong.
I've told you multiple verses, and it's just sad.
But, you know, because of Christ's love, it constrains us.
It should compel us.
It should force us to care about other people
because, hey, the love of Christ happened to us, didn't it?
So don't you want other people to have that love?
Don't you want other people to experience that love?
I do.
Verse 15, and that he died for all,
and that they which live should not henceforth
live unto themselves, but unto him
which died for them and rose again.
So the Bible's saying that we shouldn't live unto ourselves.
Once you're saved, we should live unto him.
Now, I've said this before just recently,
that we get accused of just, you know,
we feel like our soul winning is enough
to cover all the sins that we just live and sin.
You know, churches like ours, we just live,
everybody just lives in sin, and we're just okay with it
because we go soul winning, which is super ridiculous.
We preach against sin harder than any church that,
I mean, there's churches all across town.
I guarantee you they're not preaching art against sin
like this church is.
Guaranteed.
It's guaranteed.
So, let me just say this.
I believe that we should do good works.
I believe that we should live unto Christ.
I believe that we should live for Christ,
and I never said anything different than that.
I haven't said, oh, just go ahead and keep on sinning
because when you go soul winning,
it's gonna cover a multitude of sins.
I hate when people just make up lies
and straw men like that.
It really irritates me because it's just not true.
You know, we do believe that.
And, you know, just taking that example
from soul winning last week, you know,
we're sitting there telling this guy it's free.
You don't have to do anything to earn it.
You don't have anything, and it's like,
he's like, well, yeah, you do.
It's like, he's acting like, the guy was acting like,
you know, we just act like you can do whatever you want,
which you can, but you're gonna get punished for it.
But it's like, we're literally at the guy's door,
knocking his door.
How many Baptists are knocking doors in this town?
How many people are coming to people's house?
Do you really think that I feel like
I could do whatever I want?
No, I don't.
The love of God constrains us
to go and preach the gospel to people,
and I don't think that I can just do whatever I want.
I don't teach that, I don't do that.
I believe that we should be holy unto the Lord,
and that we should serve him with all of our hearts,
with all of our minds and all of our soul.
Obviously, nobody's perfect,
but to sit there and just make a blanket statement like that
that, you know, there's just these people out there,
you know, these churches out there,
that just say you can do whatever you want.
As long as you go soul winning,
I've never taught that.
Nobody that's ever preached in our church has taught that.
Nobody in our church, excuse me, has taught that.
It's ridiculous, it's retarded.
Turn to Romans chapter 12, verse one.
We believe that you should live unto the Lord.
When we go soul winning, we're living for the Lord.
Because what I tell people is like,
hey, I could be at home watching the NFC Championship game.
I could be, I like watching football.
I do.
But you know what, the love of God constrains me
to say, you know what, I don't care about that game
as much as I care about going and serving the Lord
on a Sunday.
I could go home and take a nap
and watch the football game if I wanted to.
I used to do it, on Sunday.
I'm saying I'd go home and take a nap
and I'd watch the football game.
But you know what, that's not the most important thing.
The love of God constrains us to do these things.
And we believe at this church that you should
have good works, you should live a good life,
you should care about other people.
Look at Romans 12, one, it says,
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
that you present your bodies a living sacrifice,
holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
It's reasonable.
It's reasonable to serve God because he saved us, isn't it?
That's what the Bible says.
Your body should be a living sacrifice.
You know, in the Old Testament, they would bring a lamb,
a perfect lamb, and sacrifice that lamb.
They were supposed to bring a sacrifice
that was acceptable to God.
It wasn't supposed to be a blind lamb
or had spots of any kind.
It was supposed to be white, perfect, acceptable.
It was an acceptable sacrifice.
But we're supposed to, in the New Testament,
we're supposed to present our bodies as a living sacrifice.
And so that means that we're working for God.
We wanna do what God wants us to do.
And it says, and be not conformed to this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind
that you may prove what is that good
and acceptable and perfect will of God.
So that's what we believe in this church.
That's what I teach at this church.
I don't teach that we should just do whatever we want
because when you go soul,
one of you just covers all your sins.
But you know what the Bible does say?
The Bible does say that love covers a multitude of sins.
So the Bible does say that.
So what do you think it's talking about there?
It does, you know, if we show love,
God's gonna show love to us.
If we show mercy to people, God's gonna show mercy to us.
It's not that complicated.
And everybody's sinful,
so you know if God gives us a little bit of mercy
because we're being merciful to someone else, so be it.
But I don't think anybody in this church just goes,
you know what, I'm just gonna live like the devil this week
and then on Sunday I'm gonna cover all my sins up
by soul winning.
That's ridiculous.
Nobody thinks that way.
And if you do, then I don't know what to say.
That's just ridiculous.
But anyway, back in our text in verse 16 it says,
wherefore henceforth, excuse me,
know we no man after the flesh,
yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh,
ye now henceforth know we him no more.
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature.
Old things are passed away,
behold, all things are become new.
Here's another twisted scripture that people like to do.
They like to say, well, if you are saved,
you're a new creature, all things are become new,
and you're not gonna sin like you did before.
If you, you know, I quit smoking the day I got saved
and I never looked at anything I wasn't supposed to look at.
You know, that's what preachers that are liars say.
That's what people that are liars say.
You know, obviously a lot of people in here
have changed on a lot of different things that they do,
but that's a gradual process that you get
through the word of God, through sanctification,
separation, you start going to church and you start saying,
well, maybe I should dress a little bit better.
Maybe I shouldn't be showing my thighs
so every guy can see.
Maybe I shouldn't be wearing a low cut shirt.
Maybe as a guy I shouldn't be wearing shorts and a tank top
to show off the gun show or whatever when I come to church.
You know, eventually, you know, little by little,
God works on you and changes things about you.
And obviously that's a carnal thing,
but, you know, we read in the Bible and he says,
don't do this, and we're like,
maybe I should stop doing that.
That's what happens, but the new creature
it's talking about is the saved man.
The new creature is the saved part of you
and then your flesh is a totally completely different thing.
Your flesh, like I said, cannot be redeemed
until Christ comes back and changes your body
into a permanent house, right?
So there's a new man and there's an old man.
The Bible talks about the old man.
It talks about the new man.
It talks about how we should live our lives,
how we can walk in that new man
and how we shouldn't walk in the old man.
But the old man is always there.
Your flesh is the old man.
Your spirit is renewed.
It's been saved.
It's a new creature.
All things have become new.
That's true, but here's what people teach.
They teach, well, if you don't have works,
then you're not really saved.
If you don't show yourself in these works,
then we don't know if you're, you know,
and if you fall away or if you, you know,
quit coming to church, you're not really saved.
That's not what the Bible's teaching here.
It says if you be in Christ, you're a new creature.
Old things have passed away.
Behold, all things have become new.
Now, Romans chapter four says,
if you wanna turn there you can in Romans chapter four,
verse number four says,
now to him that worketh is the reward
not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
But to him that worketh not,
but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness.
Even as David also described the blessedness
of the man unto whom God imputeth
righteousness without works.
So he imputes righteousness without works.
Isn't that what it says?
So you could literally be saved
and never do any good thing for your whole life,
but you're still saved.
You're righteous without any works.
Saying blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven
and whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
You know what?
Once you get saved, he doesn't impute any more sin to you.
And so we have a new man that can't sin.
And I don't have time to go into all the scripture,
but you know, Remy hasn't sinned
since he was six years old.
He got saved when he was six.
He hasn't sinned since then.
But you're like, I've seen Remy sin.
I've heard Remy sin.
That's not him.
That's the new man doesn't sin.
The flesh sins.
The flesh is something that we battle with
and we'll struggle with till the day we die.
Now can you get victory over sin?
Absolutely.
But are you gonna get victory over every single sin
in your life in the flesh?
No.
And the Bible doesn't teach that you can.
But these types of preachers are just like,
you have to be holy, if you don't.
Here's a clue that you're dealing with an unsaved person.
If someone is a drunk and they get saved,
can that person be saved if they continue to be a drunk?
If that preacher says no,
then they don't believe the right salvation.
Because yes, you absolutely can get saved
and continue to be a drunk for the rest of your life
and you're still going to heaven.
You know why?
Because the work of the flesh is drunkenness.
But that man is a new creature in Christ Jesus.
He's a new man.
The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.
We can want to will, want to serve Christ
with all of our heart, with all of our mind,
with all of our soul, with all of our strength.
But we have a battle going on inside of us every single day
that's why you have to put on the Lord Jesus Christ
and not make provision for the flesh.
The Bible teaches us that we should pick up our cross daily
and follow after him.
You know why?
Because we need to.
Because we failed yesterday in some way, shape or form.
Morning by morning, new mercies we see.
Every day is a new day for us.
It's a clean slate.
You know, can you get better?
Can you get right with God in the morning
and seek him first in the morning,
seek him first in the kingdom of God
and his righteousness and all these things
should be added unto you?
Why do we have to do that every day?
Because we fail at some point every single day.
Amen.
Ephesians 4, 22 says that you put off concerning
the former conversation the old man
which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust
and be renewed in the spirit of your mind
and that you put on the new man
which after God is created in righteousness
and true holiness.
So the new man is something we have to put on.
We have to work at renewing the spirit of our mind
and it's not just something that's easy to do.
You know, it's a struggle every single day.
The Bible says in Romans 8, seven
because the carnal mind is enmity against God
for it is not subject to the law of God
neither indeed can be.
The carnal mind, the flesh cannot be subject unto God
and so we can't reform the flesh.
The flesh is always gonna wanna do something.
I'm not giving you an excuse to sin
because obviously we don't have excuses to sin
but it's just a fact that we're going to, okay?
Galatians 5, 16 says, this I say then walk in the spirit
and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
So how do we not walk in the lust of the flesh?
Well, we walk in the spirit.
Galatians 5, 17 says, for the flesh lusteth
against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh
and these are contrary, the one to the other
so that you cannot do the things that you would.
You cannot do the things that you would.
The flesh lusteth against the spirit,
the spirit against the flesh.
That's what I'm talking about.
It's a battle that goes on every single day of your life
and your flesh wants to take control.
It wants to win the battle against your spirit
and so how do you decide, how do you get out of that?
Well, you gotta feed one more than you feed the other.
You gotta feed and you don't wanna feed
the lust of the flesh because God's just gonna destroy you
and he's gonna punish you for that.
You're like, well, I thought that God forgives us
for everything.
Yeah, but in this life, he's still gonna chastise
that unregenerate body that wants to sin.
So the old man, you know, if you're thinking
about the old man as worldly, the things of the world,
the lust of the eyes and all those different things,
that's what the old man is.
You feed that old man, you feed him that worldly food,
then that old man's gonna win the battle.
The flesh is gonna win the battle.
If you're feeding your flesh,
if you're feeding the lust of your flesh,
the flesh is gonna win.
But the new man, if you feed him that spiritual food,
that Bible, and then you do spiritual things
like singing under the Lord, prayer,
soul-winding, those types of things,
when you're doing the things that the new man loves,
then the new man's gonna win that battle.
But you're never gonna completely destroy the flesh
until Christ gives us that new body,
that house made without hands in heaven
that he's gonna give us one day.
Romans chapter, I don't have time for this,
but if you just wanna read more about this,
I'll just read a couple verses here in Romans 7.
It says, for I delight, this is the Apostle Paul talking,
for I delight in the law of God after the inward man,
but I see another law in my members
warring against the law of my mind,
and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin
which is in my members.
O wretched man that I am,
who shall deliver me from this body of death?
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord,
so then with the mind I myself serve the law of God,
but with the flesh the law of sin.
So the Apostle Paul is admitting to us,
and in this passage he says,
but I am carnal, sold under sin.
The Apostle Paul, arguably one of the greatest Christian
in the New Testament besides, of course,
John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus Christ,
but he's a great man of God.
And he's saying, I'm carnal.
I'm a wretched man.
The things that I would like to do, I don't do.
The things that I wanna do, I do them not.
He's saying to us that he has a battle too.
It's not just, these people that are ultra spiritual
and say, well I don't see how you can say
the word piss from the pulp if that's a bad word
or whatever.
It's like you are straining at a gnat
and swallowing a camel.
You think you're, God hates the fact
when people just are ultra spiritual and hyper spiritual
and think that they're better than everybody else.
It's sickening to them.
It's like smoking his nose, right?
So, but should we change?
Do you change when you get saved?
Well, not everybody changes like everybody else.
It just depends on what you're feeding.
Are you feeding the new man or are you feeding the old man?
And some people just might not ever even go to church.
Some people might not actually get into a church
that's King James only or that has programs
like soloing or these types of things.
Maybe they go to their parents' church
that sucks for the rest of their life
and they're not gonna be as spiritual or whatever
but they're still saved.
But should we change?
Absolutely we should change.
We should try to reform the flesh as best as we can.
We should try to get victory over sin as best as we can
but that's only gonna be gotten through the Spirit of God.
You know, in Ephesians 2 10 it says,
for we are as a workmanship created in Christ Jesus
unto good works.
Do I think that we should do good works?
Absolutely, the Bible says we're created
in Christ Jesus unto good works
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
We should but the lying hypocrite will say,
well, you have to or you're not really saved.
No, it says we should but not everybody does, do they?
Verse 18 in our text says,
and all things are of God who hath reconciled us
unto himself by Christ Jesus
and have given us the ministry of reconciliation.
And I just realized that it's time for me to stop
but what I'll do is I'll just cover this last few verses
next week because this is something
that I really think is important to preach.
I'm definitely over my time.
I realize people gotta go to work, including me.
So anyway, we'll close here and then next week
we'll pick up in verse number 18 and we'll cover that
and hopefully the rest of the next chapter.
Alright, let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, so much
for this great passage of scripture,
Lord, there's so much in it.
I pray that, Lord, you'd help us, Lord,
to realize that we need to walk in the new man.
Lord, help us to put on the Lord Jesus Christ every day
and not make provision for the flesh.
Lord, we know that that is not gonna make
for the best life here on this earth.
Pray that you'd help us.
Lord, help us to just get victory over the sins
in our life that we are committing.
Lord, and I just pray that you'd help us
to just continue to walk after you, Lord.
Lord, nobody in this room would quit
and that's the most important thing, that we don't quit
and that we just keep pressing on towards the mark
of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.