The Christians Certitude
2 Corinthians 5:1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:
3 If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.
4 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.
5 Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.
6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:
7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
9 Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.
Introduction:
I. Our Dissolution
a. The certainty we have – death “if your tent is broken up”
Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
The Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, has an exhibit of unique epitaphs. Give a few. Near Uniontown, Pennsylvania there’s a gravestone that reads, “Here lies the body of Jonathan Blake. He stepped on the gas instead of the brake.” Boot Hill Cemetery in Tombstone, Arizona, has an epitaph that reads: “Here lies Lester Moore; Four slugs from a .44; No Les, no Moore.” There’s a minister’s tombstone that reads: “Gone to another meeting.” Sympathize with that! A New England tombstone carries this epitaph of a woman who evidently was a big talker: “Beneath this sod lies Arabella Young, who on the 26th of May began to hold her tongue.” My all time favorite is one from a cemetery near Wetumpka, Alabama: “Beneath this sod and beneath these trees lies the remains of Solomon Peas. Peas is not here, only the Pod. Peas shelled out and went home to God.”
b. The comfort we have
I named this message “The Christian’s Certitude” for a very good reason. Life is filled with so many variables; so many things that are uncertain but for the Christian there are some certitudes and we find one in our text that should be a comfort to all believers. Not only is there comfort in knowing where we will go when we die but we are comforted in the knowledge that our loved ones who have passed in the Lord are already in the presence of Jesus awaiting our arrival.
c. The clothing we have – we have a desire to move into this new home v. 2
Eternity Clothes
Norma Lauby, of La Mesa, California, was browsing in the ladies’ department one day with her son who was just learning to read. Trying to read all the signs he could, he came upon one in the maternity department. “Look, Mom!” he said excitedly as he pointed at the sign. “They’re even making clothes for eternity now!” (Norma Lauby, La Mesa, CA, “Heart to Heart,” Today’s Christian Woman)
Well, I doubt that the department store chains are making clothes for eternity, but God is. Through faith in Jesus Christ, God has provided just the right clothes for eternity, and He wants us to start wearing them today.
From a sermon by C. Philip Green, Eternity Clothes, 6/26/2010
II. Our Dwelling
a. It’s contrast – tent vs building
Paul knew something of tabernacles and tents. He was familiar with the tabernacle in Exodus and he was a tentmaker by trade so these would be very familiar metaphors. That is to say, the first outstanding difference which arises before the Apostle as blessed and glorious, is the contrast between the fragile dwelling-place, with its thin canvas, its bending poles, its certain removal someday, and the permanence of that which is not a ‘tent,’ but a ‘building’ which is ‘eternal.’ Involved in that is the thought that all the limitations and weaknesses which are necessarily associated with the perishableness of the present abode are at an end forever. No more fatigue, no more working beyond the measure of power, no more need for recuperation and repose; no more dread of sickness and weakness; no more possibility of decay, ‘It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption’-neither ‘can they die anymore.’ Enough for us that the contrast between the Bedouin tent-which is folded up and carried away and the stately mansion reared for eternity, is the contrast between the organ of the spirit in which we now dwell and that which shall be ours.
b. It’s construction – the master builder
In my Father's house are many mansions
This he says to draw off their minds from an earthly kingdom to an heavenly one; to point out the place to them whither he was going, and to support them with the views and hopes of glory under all their troubles. By his "Father's house" is meant heaven; see ( 2 Corinthians 5:1 ) ; which is of his Father's building, where he has, and will have all his family. This Christ says partly to reconcile the minds of his disciples to his departure from them, and partly to strengthen their hope of following him thither; since it was his Father's, and their Father's house whither he was going, and in which "are many mansions"; abiding or dwelling places; mansions of love, peace, joy, and rest, which always remain: and there are "many" of them, which does not design different degrees of glory; for since the saints are all loved with the same love, bought with the same price, justified with the same righteousness, and are equally the sons of God, their glory will be the same. But, it denotes fulness and sufficiency of room for all his people; for the many ordained to eternal life, for whom Christ gave his life a ransom, and whose blood is shed for the remission of their sins, whose sins he bore, and whom he justifies by his knowledge; who receive him by faith, and are the many sons he will bring to glory. And this is said for the comfort of the disciples who might be assured from hence, that there would be room not only for himself and Peter, whom he had promised should follow him hereafter, but for them all. Very agreeable to this way of speaking are many things in the Jewish writings:
``says R. Isaack F15, how many (Nyrwdm le Nyrwdm) , "mansions upon mansions", are there for the righteous in that world? and the uppermost mansion of them all is the love of their Lord.''
Moreover, they say F16, that
``in the world to come every righteous man shall have (rwdm) , "a mansion", to himself.''
Sometimes they F17 speak of "seven mansions" (a number of perfection) being prepared for the righteous in the other world, though entirely ignorant of the person by whom these mansions are prepared: who here says, if it were not so, I, would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you.
This expresses the certainty of it, that his Father had a house, and in it were many mansions, room enough for all his people, or he would have informed them otherwise, who must needs know the truth of these things, since he came from thence; and who never deceives with vain hopes of glory; and whatever he says is truth, and to be depended on; everything he here delivers; both what he said before, and also what follows: "I go to prepare a place for you"; heaven is a kingdom prepared by the Father for his saints, from the foundation of the world; and again, by the presence and intercession of Christ, who is gone before, and is as a forerunner entered into it, and has took possession of it in the name of his people; and by his own appearance there for them with his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice, he is, as it were, fitting up these mansions for their reception, whilst they are by his Spirit and grace fitting and preparing for the enjoyment of them.
c. It’s certitude – the earnest of the Spirit is the down payment or deposit that God gives us that what He has promised will be delivered. v. 5
III. Our Destiny
a. Its duration - eternal
4 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.
LAND OF THE DYING
When John Owen, the great Puritan, lay on his deathbed his secretary wrote (in his name) to a friend, "I am still in the land of the living."
"Stop," said Owen. "Change that and say, 'I am yet in the land of the dying, but I hope soon to be in the land of the living.'"
(Death, John M. Drescher, In Pulpit Digest Summer 1985. From a sermon by Gene Escoe, Funeral for a Christian man, 2/5/2011)
b. Its destination – heaven
“Some call it heaven, I call it home…”
c. Its distinction – This a promise to believers only. To be absent from the body “is” to be present with the Lord.
Voltaire, one of history’s best known atheists, often stated that “by the time I’m buried, the Bible will be non--existent.”
His last words were: “I am abandoned by God and man; I shall die and go to hell alone.”
His condition had become so terrible that his associates were afraid to approach his bedside, and as he passed away, his nurse said that for all of the wealth in Europe, she would never watch another infidel die.
A few years after he died the Geneva Bible Society purchased Voltaire’s home and turned it into a print shop to print Bibles.
In contrast, Dietrich Bonhoffer, German theologian, standing in front of a firing squad during World
War 2, for speaking out against Nazism, “This may seem to be the end for me, but it is just the beginning.”
The death of a child of God is much different than the death of one who is lost and does not know Christ as their Savior. There is no hope in this world without Him.
Conclusion: The Bible teaches that the human spirit, upon departing the body, goes immediately into the presence of God for either His commendation or condemnation. This is what Jesus taught this when He gave the parable of the wicked in Hell crying out to Abraham for refreshment:
“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish (Luke 16:19-25 ESV).
“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints” (Psalm 116:15
This leaves us all with two all important questions.
1. Where did my loved ones go when they passed from this life?
2. Where am I going? If you are a Christian the answer is clear. If you die without Christ the answer is equally clear.
In real estate there is a principle there we can learn from. The most important thing is location, location, location!
