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Listen to Rick Beaudry, Pastor of Calvary Chapel Bremerton, teach the Word of God cover to cover, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse. Be edified and built up in your faith with solid Bible teaching. New episodes on Mondays in the Pacific Standard Timezone.
Second Corinthians chapter five verses one through 10. Second Corinthians chapter five verses one through 10.
Would you please stand with me as we read God's holy word together? For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
For For in this, we groan earnestly, desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven.
If so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked. 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.
Now he that has wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also has given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore, we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord.
For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent in the body and to be present with the Lord. 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 has done, whether it be good or bad.
Father, we thank you for your holy word. And Lord, all of us face face, death. It's appointed that all men wants to die and then the judgment. And Lord, for the Christian, to be absent of the body is to be present with the Lord.
For the Christian, Lord, it's a day that we move out of this old body that's wearing out, that's painful, that suffers. And, lord, we get our new glorified body where there's no more sorrow, no more pain, no more sickness.
And, lord, as we lose a loved one, somebody that goes before us, lord, we sorrow. It grieves us. It hurts us. We're not with them anymore. But, lord, we know as believers, that we sorrow, but not as those who have no hope.
We have the hope of the resurrection. And Jesus being the first fruits of that resurrection, Lord, as Paul here is describing this new glorified body that awaits us, Lord, this house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
Lord, we yearn. We yearn with him. It's it's like it it might be better for me to be here a period of time longer to minister, but, Lord, if you decide to take us home, that's better.
And heaven is much, much better. So, Lord, I pray that we would view it that way, that we wouldn't be stalling and being so in love with this world that that, we say, lord, don't come back.
Not yet. Not yet. Let us have a healthy view, a healthy understanding, lord, of the times in which we're living. And Lord, we're gonna all die right on time, the time that you've appointed.
And I pray that our life means something, that our lives would bear much fruit for your kingdom and your glory, Lord. That we'd hear you say, well done, thou good and faithful servants. You've been faithful over a few things.
I'm gonna make you ruler over much. That's the desire of our heart, lord. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Would you please be seated? This past week, I don't know if you heard, but there were 70 Christians beheaded in The Congo.
And, simply for being Christians, they were surrounded. They got 20 of them. Then they came back, surrounded the village, the area, grabbed another 50 of them, took them to a church, and, these guys, beheaded them.
They're, derivative of the terrorist group ISIS. Now with USAID, with the help of Elon Musk, one of the things we learned recently is that USAID, which is USAID for Islamic development, one of the acronyms for that.
And we found out that ISIS, Boko Haram, and Al Qaeda were all funded by USAID.
Did you know that? The Obama administration, when you saw these nut jobs in white tennis shoes, white Toyota pickup trucks, and they're all cruising down the road like they're an indigenous group of terrorists, you know, gonna go after.
Where'd they go? His Arab Spring. He designed the Arab Spring for these Islamic terrorists funded by The US to wipe out Syrian Christians, Egyptian, and all those in Iraq and that whole general area, their churches and everything.
The Boko Haram was primarily in the area of Africa and, Al Qaeda also, and so, in these areas.
Funded funded by your tax dollars. A Christian nation funding terrorist groups to destabilize regions for what purpose? What purpose? What purpose could there be to destabilize these regions? Maybe it's the minerals.
Right? Maybe it's the natural resources. We don't know, but it seems the globalists really want all the natural resources they can get their hands on. 200 were martyred in Africa, in this general region in The Congo in this past year.
355 last year. And, two years ago, they had 261. So, I hope president Trump, you know, does something to actually defund him, but also to, stop this from happening.
You don't hear of Christian groups, churches, going into these regions, slaughtering people that believe in Islam. You you never hear that, you know? Shouldn't happen, doesn't happen. The Martyr's Hope.
In addition to the Apostle Paul, eleven of the 12 apostles died violent deaths of martyrdom. John the Beloved, they tried to boil him in oil and he died, on the island of Patmos of old age where he wrote the apocalypse.
He wrote the gospel of John. He wrote first, second, and third epistle of John, and he wrote the apocalypse, the book of Revelation, the revealing of Jesus Christ on the island of Patmos.
And, he died at close to a hundred years of age is what happened. You can check this out in Fox's book of martyrs, records the deaths of the 11 along with Paul who was eventually executed by Nero.
Paul knew in second Corinthians chapter four the time of his departure, which means of breaking down a tent.
His body was a temporary body. The time of his departure was at hand. He was he was gonna die the death of martyrdom and everyone forsook him. You know, only Luke was with me, but the Lord stood with me.
And, the Lord Jesus there just as he was at crunch time for Stephen. And, and so Paul has perspective that suffering in in relationship to eternity. He described it last week as this light affliction, which is but for a moment.
It's working a far more eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
So Paul can see in the spiritual realm that it's better, much, much better for him to die and go be with Jesus than it is to remain being beat up.
But he says it's more profitable for you that I remain to the church of Philippi because I can continue to, minister, you know, unto you.
So the inevitability of death was absolute apart from the rapture. His condition was terminal just as ours, and, we're all gonna die, but we're not gonna die hopeless.
What are you willing to risk for the kingdom of God? Jesus said, you're gonna be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the world.
That word witness speaks of martyr. In the Greek, it's martyrs, a martyr. You're no longer living. Every man that seeks to save his life is gonna lose his life. And that's what the whole purpose driven thing is about, is about you.
The easy believe ism, the name it and claim it, the blab it and grab it, your best life now is about you. But Jesus said if except you lose your life, you're not gonna find your life. Your true life is life of the spirit.
If you're obsessed with yourself, and that's what going to church is, is to get a, you know, a therapeutic, you know, clap and and motivational speaking, it's just an appeal to your flesh, to your senses.
You need to hear from the Lord. Paul Paul didn't need that kind of psychobabble and psychology to motivate him and keep him going. What kept him going was when the Lord apprehended him on the road to Damascus.
He could never get that out of his heart and mind. Have you forgotten the day that you were saved? What are you willing to risk? What are you willing to invest in the kingdom of God?
What the Lord wants from you is your heart. He just wants you. He wants your whole heart, not half heart. He just wants your whole heart. He wants you to live your life in such a way that you say, Lord, I want to please you.
I want my life to be pleasing unto you. That's it. Have you come to that place? Are you living that life of taking your cross up daily and following him?
If today was your last day upon the planet, you know, Chuck Missler used to say, it's much easier to die for the Lord than to live for the Lord, you know, especially when you're under this kind of persecution.
So what is the secret of the martyr's hope? Why no fear of death? They would threaten to beat them, kill them, incarcerate them, and the Lord would open the door for them, and they'd go right back into the temple proclaiming the gospel.
You can't stop those kind of people. They're turning the world upside down.
They no longer fear death because Jesus spent forty days with him in his new glorified body. They saw him. They saw the scars in his in his hands and his feet and in the side, and he's alive and he's going through walls and stuff.
They didn't fear death anymore. They didn't fear it. So no matter what kind of threats people could make, They didn't fear. They walked by faith.
They didn't fear COVID. They weren't gonna let their whole life be shut down during a disease where ninety nine point nine percent of the people survive this flu. They had more faith than that. They would never shut their church down.
We'll take our chances. Only one percent of the people are dying from this thing. Oh, you mean remdesivir? Oh, you mean ventilators? Oh, yeah. There you go. You mean the people that weren't vaccinated have a one percent chance to live.
You know? The ones vaccinated far far greater genocide. Are you gonna be where next time? Are you ready for the next one? Are you ready for the so called bird flu that jumps to cows, that jumps to all your food protein sources?
Are you ready to give in and and eat crickets and bugs for Bill Gates? Not me. I'd rather die. No fear of death. Philippians one twenty three, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better.
Far better. Heaven is better. Joel Osteen says, your best life now. No. This is the worst it's ever gonna be for you as a Christian. It's the best it's ever gonna be for the worldly person, the unbeliever.
This is the best they'll ever get. It's their best life now. Who's he talking to when he says your best life now? Write these books and people love it. For you and I as a Christian, man, the best is yet to come.
When we do a potluck, you're reminded of the lady that was told to hold on to her fork. And why should I hold on to my fork? Because you've just eaten all this food and they always say, hey, the best is yet to come.
So this woman wanted to be buried in her coffin with the fork in her hand. The best is yet to come. So the martyr's hope is knowing eternity is better. Number one, three ways it's better. Eternity is better.
A better residence. Do you like your body? Is your body like you? Is your body cooperating? How old are you? What ailments do you have? What things are going on? Don't tell me. We as old people well, you as old people.
I'm not old yet. I'm in denial. One of the favorite topics is what pills you're taking, what procedures you just had, how many times you've been to the doctor, all those kind of things to pamper this body.
No man yet ever hated his own body, but nourishes and cherishes it.
That's why Paul in Ephesians five says, husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church. Right? Love your wives as your own bodies, you guys, because when I get sick, the whole world's gotta hear about it.
Right? Because I'm the center of the universe as a man. Women, they get sick and they just keep working, you know, sweating and fevers, the whole thing. They gotta take care of everybody.
So this whole idea of low self esteem, no. That's the problem is you're you're obsessed with self. Your problem is not a low self esteem. You're obsessed. Just get an owie and watch how obsessed you are trying to stop the bleeding.
You know? And that's what Paul's saying. Love your wives that way, guys. Love your wives in such a way. And, but the psychology that's crept into the church because it's all man centered existential humanism, it's it's about me.
Hey, guys. You want a wife that's submissive? Then love her like Christ loved the church. Lay down your life for her, you know, be dead and allow Christ to live, you know, through you.
So a better residence. For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, so Paul's hope was based upon what he knew to be true.
We know this, not speculation. We're not thinking that we can go to Neuralink and put a chip in our head and and, take some mRNA vaccine, change the DNA.
And as Jared Kushner and Noah Yuval Harari have stated and boasted, we're gonna live forever. We're gonna find out how to make these bodies as we merge with, you know, like they like to use our terms.
We talk about a transformation, body and soul, the body, soul, and spirit being born again. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creation.
The old things have passed away. All things have become new. They take our terms transhumanism. Well, why don't we start with Elon first? Let's put something in your brain or Bill Gates' brain first. You know? Who wants to volunteer?
I don't wanna volunteer. I don't trust these guys. I trust the lord that he's gonna transform this old body into a new glorified body. I trust the lord that he says appoint an all men once to die and then the judgment.
He there's a day appointed. All these pretenders throughout history, whether it's Voltaire or any of them who were antagonistic toward god, they were tormented on the day of their death.
Tormented by demons tormenting them and such, knowing they're gonna die. Some would try well, they're younger and healthy.
Try to say, oh, no. We evolved. We evolved. There is no god, and I'm an atheist and all that. And even though there's no evidence thereof, it's a belief system, it's a religious system, they'll continue to run that way.
Why? Because they have a conscience, and they know they're guilty, and they know there's a day of judgment, and they wanna try to set aside that day of a judgment with denial that, hey, you just ceased to exist.
Well, how do you know? Destroy this temple in three days, I'll raise it up.
That's what how Jesus proved that he's the way, the truth, and the life. You want somebody to follow you, Elon? Then you be crucified, buried, raise yourself from the dead three days later.
And then maybe some people, will follow you. The Antichrist is gonna have a display of lying signs and wonders that make people believe that he's dead and he could raise himself from the dead during the tribulation period.
I'm not gonna be there. You're not gonna be there. So Paul's confidence is in God keeping his word. He was willing to die for what he believed in.
Are you willing to die for which you believe in? If you don't know God, your hope of eternity is at best wishful thinking. Do you know God? Christianity's relationship. Ignorant speculation, unfounded dreams, and warm fuzzy feelings.
You've been spending too much time on social media. You're delusional. You've been watching these guys on YouTube speculate, tear down systematic doctrine, systematic teaching, theology.
Tear it down with speculative pie in the sky, I think so's. No scripture to back it up. No chain of scriptures. No hermeneutic. Nothing to back it up. Just simply their opinion.
So many people in this time of deception fallen astray. And I just love that pastor Chuck, no matter what wind of doctrine would come through, he'd stay steady Freddie, just right down the middle teaching the word of God.
Any questions I would have, any kinda leanings, but we didn't have social media to mess us up back then either. You know?
We had television and movies that could skew your the way that you think. But as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. So the important thing is to get the word of God in your heart. Get to know God through the study of his word.
That's the most important. The amount of time you spend on your phone, your screen time, what percentage of that time, if you were to compare, are you spending in God's word to get to know God?
And listening to bible studies while you drive, and while you walk, and go to the gym, or cook, or whatever it may be.
How much of the word of God are you getting into your life that you can refute, and the holy spirit can help and lead and guide you into all truth no matter what, what's being said?
So your eternal destiny is not something to gamble with. God wants you to know, k n o w, not just a cumulative knowledge. You say that there is one god, you do well.
The demons also believe and tremble. That's an intellectual consent. The demons know their destiny. Jesus, we know who you are. Have you come to torment us before our time? What's your what's your knowledge?
What kind of knowledge? You know, of god or do or do you know him intimately? If you know him, then you're gonna be able to die for him. It's real difficult to follow someone or die for someone that you don't know. You can't trust him.
He wants to give you assurance, the confidence of eternal life with him. Now in John seventeen three, Jesus in his prayer, he said, this is eternal life that they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
That that's that's eternal life that you would know God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, the Trinity.
Do you know him? One God and three persons. Does he know you? Do you have hope? Or you're gonna hear one day, away from me, I never knew you. You that practice iniquity, Matthew seven. For we know verse three or excuse me, verse one.
For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we know that this earthly house, this tabernacle, this tent, this temporary residence, If it were dissolved, which means to be taken down, destroyed, this body is only temporary.
We have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
We have an eternal residence awaits us in heaven. A new body, much better, much much better if we think in terms of the body that Jesus raised himself that he was in when he raised himself from the dead because he's the God man.
He's fully god, fully man. He knows what it is to be a human being.
And he knows what it is to be tempted in all points like we and yet not sin. He knows what it is to not eat for forty days and the devil to tempt him with food. Man, I very seldom can win that battle with food.
I'll tell you, food's winning. It's hard. Chocolate, that kind of stuff, it's hard. And Jesus hadn't eaten in forty days. And the devil's tempting him, you know. Hey, use the free exercise of your deity to turn these stones into bread.
You have a right, man. God made you this way. You've been made this way. You got these instincts, you know. Give in to them. It is written, Jesus always went back to the word of God to counteract the lies of the wicked one.
It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds in the mouth of God. And you and I, as we know God's word, we can refute. We can resist. We can win. We can not give the devil permission.
The devil needs permission. And we just say no. We were with our grandson the other day and and, driving with him and all, and he began to describe some of his new friends and places they go and that sort of thing.
And we said, honey, the number one most important thing that you need to learn is the word, no.
You need to learn the word, no. Your teenagers are gonna be tempted. They're gonna be tempted in the youth group. They're gonna be tempted by their peers.
They have such a huge desire to be loved and accepted and have friends. And we made the mistake with our older daughter to not understand this. We taught her to say no, but we greatly underestimated the power of that peer pressure.
And our second daughter, Britney, she, she knew the word no. You and I need to learn the word no and live the word no to the temptation and the times in which we're living.
We don't wanna give in. We know god. How could I do this great evil against God? Joseph said when tempted by Potiphar's wife. David said against thee and thee only have I sinned, when he sinned with Bathsheba.
Honor God in that relationship with him. An eternal resident awaits us in heaven. How did Paul know this to be true? The hope was based upon the resurrection of Jesus, the first fruits.
No wishful thinking. You can fact check it. Irrefutable evidence. In first Corinthians fifteen fourteen, if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain and our faith is also vain. Ye and we are found false witnesses.
So it's based upon the resurrection Jesus, the apostle Paul seeing the resurrected Christ. We, looking back by faith, the evidence. So we have more than two people with evidence that they saw the risen Christ.
They're willing to die for that faith, that proclamation of faith. But more importantly, Peter said we have the more sure word of prophecy, pointing future that he would die and that he would return and the whole thing.
And so, we see the bible lining up harmonized that he would be cut off according to Daniel nine twenty five through 26, that in his first coming, he'd be cut off.
We see in Psalm 22 prophetically that he'd be on the cross, and he'd say, my god, my god, why has thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from my roar? And we hear him on the cross saying those exact words.
We see him in Isaiah 52 and Isaiah 53, the description of the crucifixion. His face, his visage, so marred, more than any man, more than the sons of men. We see in Isaiah 50, his back would be like furrows.
His beard would be pulled out, stripped of his beard. He'd be beaten with rods. He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from him.
When the shepherd was smitten, the sheep scattered. We have seven hundred years before this happens to let us know that God's eternal, that he saw it happening before it happened and warned us and told it was gonna happen.
Psalm 22 written a thousand years before Jesus would come on the scene. He's the only one the only one that could fit that picture. Over 300 prophecies fulfilled in his first coming. And prophecies are are the tachometer.
I come quickly. The tack is is is maxing. It's getting to the red zone. How quickly the birth pangs are coming. The labor pains of of his soon return. We're students of prophecy. We look back at prophecy.
We know. But also in a courtroom of law, not in a science room where we can observe it and postulate and all that, but in a courtroom of law, based upon eyewitness testimony, who would be willing to knowingly die for a lie?
We know many in Muslims, Islam, in believing there's 70 virgins waiting for them, there'll be a human bomb, but they're deceived. These guys would have to say, hey.
In their minds, we did hide the body. We grabbed the body and we hid it. He's really not resurrected, but we wanna go around and make people Christians. Why? What motive? If he's a dead savior, your preaching's vain. Move on.
The greatest instinct you have is self preservation, But these guys, after the resurrection, after seeing him as he walked for forty days and be seen of over 500 people and seen several times by his own disciples, they never feared death again.
They were changed men, especially after they received the Holy Spirit, within their hearts. And, they were messed up beforehand. They couldn't even connect the dots.
They were they were they just didn't understand the messiah that'd be cut off. They'd be crucified. They, in their mind, were thinking it's a messianic age, the golden age of of Jesus overthrowing the Romans.
They never saw the church age. They never saw that the Jews would reject, that blindness in part would happen unto Israel until the fullness of the gentiles become in.
And always to the Jew first and then to the gentile, the gospel goes forth, the power of God unto salvation.
But it was a mystery once hid, now revealed. Presently, we still are in this church age. But I love the way he says, a wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign.
There's no sign gonna be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah, as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish. So he's validating for all the speck people that refute in colleges the story of Jonah.
He's validating the story of Jonah. As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of great fish, so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
He challenged his enemy, destroy this temple. In three days, I'll raise it up. His enemy said, hey, this deceiver said that after three days, he'd raise himself up.
So we better put a quaternion of soldiers to guard that stone at the tomb that he's in of Joseph of Arimathea and put a Roman seal upon it unless these disciples steal the body they did us a favor.
No way those disciples could overthrow those Romans. Throw away that 2,000 pound stone uphill and grab Jesus out of there.
He didn't swoon. It wasn't so cold in there that he resuscitated. No. He's dead. The centurion took the spear and put it in the pericardium. Blood and water came out, dead, and raised himself from the dead.
Throughout all of history, nobody's been able to duplicate to do that. So that's why we follow Jesus. That's why our hope is not a dead hope. It's not a hope in globalists or technocrats.
Our hope is a living hope, a lively hope, and a resurrected savior who's coming again. That's why that's why Paul's willing to die. He said, hey, it's more profitable for me to remain for you.
But, you know, if the Lord wanna take me home now, it's better. Heaven's better. Heaven's not less. So when we talk about, hey. Well, you know, I'm married, and I really love my wife.
And I've been married to her forty four years. And, you know, it says, tell death do us part. And, you know, whose wife is she gonna be? And you you they're like the angels. They neither marry nor are given in marriage in heaven.
So we think, oh, man. I love her. I don't I don't wanna be separated from her in heaven. Check this out. Heaven is better. What you and I perceive is this really close knit relationship we call marriage, heaven's not less.
Heaven's better. I'm gonna know Cathy better than I know her now. I'm gonna I'm gonna be more intimate and in love with her in heaven than I am now. It's not less, it's better.
Heaven is better. And I'm kinda grooming her. I'm kinda getting her ready to see if Jesus will perform the wedding ceremony there in Jerusalem during the millennium, because I'd like to marry her again, you know, if she's willing.
She tells me, nope. Till death do us part, man. But she tells me she loves me. Self preservation is instinctive. In John fourteen one, Jesus said, let not your heart be troubled. Why would they have a troubled heart?
Because he'd been preempting. He'd been letting them know that he'd be leaving soon. He'd be crucified that the the religious leaders and the Gentiles would grab hold of him, and they can't comprehend that.
So he's saying, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house, the father's house, there are many mansions. The word mansion speaks of dwelling places.
Now is it the room addition that you put on the Jewish style wedding that the son, the groom, would put adjacent to the father's house for the fetching of Matthew 25 to go for his bride at any moment, the betrothal, the fetching, the ceremony in heaven, and then the marriage suffer, the four parts of the Jewish wedding, or it could be.
He's speaking in your new glorified body. In my father's house are many mansions. New glorified body. At the rapture, the moment, the twinkling of an eye, you got your new body.
And where are you going? As you got that new body, you're gathered with the dead in Christ. Your eyes first, and we as your alive and man should be caught up together with them in the clouds, and so shall we ever be with him.
Right? To meet the Lord in the air. So you're going to the father's house. You're on your way to the father's house. Location, location, location. Pray always that you'd be able to escape these things and stand before the son of man.
Right? Location. So you're there and you got your new glorified body and maybe may maybe a a mansion. Some people say, oh, I'm I'm gonna have a big house, a big, big house and play football and all that.
Newsboys. Got news for you. No. But a new body. A new glorified body. So when my father saw that many men, so it weren't so I tell you.
I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I'll come again, receive you unto myself that where I am, location, location, there you may be also. Where is Jesus?
He's in heaven. He's seated at the right hand of his father. He's gone to prepare a place for you and I, a new glorified body for each of us. Now there's another aspect of this. This is a very, very difficult, passage. I've passed over.
I've crossed over all the way to the end result, which is Jesus being the first fruits of the resurrection. I've crossed all the way over to your new glorified body, but I left something in between there that we're gonna get to here.
Think about it. God dwelling with men, Jesus promised the martyrs knew this hope that they have, to be asked from the body to be present with the Lord.
Verse two, for this we groan earnestly, desiring to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven. So death is just a changing of clothes, much better clothes.
Verse three, if so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked. So clothed in righteousness, no fig leaves like Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve, many feel were once clothed with light.
And then when Adam and Eve sinned, they saw their nakedness. So they tried to cover their nakedness, their sinfulness with religion by fashioning with their own works to cover their sin.
Do you try to cover your sin with good works? Do you try to cover your sin with working your way to heaven to assuage your guilt?
Or have you received your salvation by grace through faith alone, and your works, the good things you do are an expression of gratitude for God saving you? That's the way it should be, of thankfulness, of worship, your act of worship.
Lord, I wanna give back unto you. I wanna express my thankfulness in in worshiping of you. So they don't wanna be found naked. We've got a robe of righteousness that we're wearing now.
For we that are in this tabernacle, this temporary body, this tent, do groan, being burdened, especially when we're sick. Being burdened. Not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life.
So no fear of death, but there's an interim period there. We don't believe in soul sleep. We don't believe that when you as a Christian die, you just sleep till the rapture because it's the dead in Christ that rise first.
Jesus is the first fruits of the resurrection. It speaks of a military sequential order. So he's the first.
The next in sequential order is the church. The dead in Christ is a phrase for the church age. From Pentecost, or when Jesus breathed onto the disciples, said, receive you the holy spirit, to the point in time of the rapture.
That's the church age. The dead in Christ rise first. At the rapture, then we which are alive remain shall be caught up, together in the clouds, meet the lord in the air, so shall however be with the lord.
But in first Corinthians fifteen fifty two, this corruption puts on incorruption. This mortal puts on immortality. And how fast does it happens?
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. The last trump. Very quickly, now. What kind of body do you have when you're in heaven if you die right now? Do you have your resurrected body, the glorified body already?
Because the rapture hasn't happened yet. We're thinking in terms of linear time. You're in eternity. Did it already happen? Did everything already happen and you're in eternity, so you already have your new glorified body?
We know you're not an unembodied spirit. You're not a ghost. Right? You don't wanna be. He just said that. We don't wanna be unclothed. So there may be an intermediate body that he's speaking of.
Lot of commentators juggle around here, but an intermediate body. So if I look at Luke 16, and I see Jesus speaking of a rich man who died, and Lazarus that died, and I see a place called Sheol in the Hebrew, Hades in the Greek.
I see the thief on the cross, Jesus telling him, this day would be with me in paradise. I see a double compartment, a holding compartment where the Old Testament saints, those who believe we got four types of saints. Right?
We got Old Testament saints. We got New Testament saints, who's the church. We've got the tribulation saints, the seven year tribulation, numerable multitude in Revelation six and seven, and we have the saints, the New Orleans saints.
No. We have the saints in the millennium. In the millennium. So four types of saints. You have to differentiate. Your your your eschatology is skewed if you mix it all together.
Where's the place of Israel? Where's the place of the church? Where's the place of the millennium? Dispensationally, God acts according to an administration concerning time.
The time, church what time are you in? The church age. So if you die now as part of the church, not the old testament, John the Baptist was the last and the greatest of the old testament.
Right? In this church age, what happens? Some feel you have an intermediate body awaiting the rapture. So in Luke 16, you see father Abraham.
He's not a ghost. You see Lazarus. He's not a ghost. He's a man. You see the rich man on the other side, the gulf, in a place of torment, a holding compartment awaiting for the for the godly, for the saints, the old testament.
They're awaiting the death, the burial, the resurrection of Jesus. He did ascended in Ephesians four, Jesus, first descended to the lower parts of the earth. And Peter tells us that he preached deliverance to the captives.
He didn't preach giving them purgatory a second chance. He preached victory. It was a herald. It wasn't a preaching of the gospel. It was a proclamation of victory to all the rich men and all those people chained, awaiting what?
The great white throne judgment. Revelation chapter 20 verse 11. They also have a body, and that rich man said, send Lazarus over to touch my tongue because I'm in grievous torment. So he's not a ghost.
This guy's in a body, but yet his natural body, from dust to dust, it's going back to the dust. But the soul has a body. The demons didn't want to be unembodied spirits. That's why they asked Jesus, can we go into those pigs?
The first instance in the bible of deviled ham as they went over, you know, the cliff. I know you've heard it before. Still funny. But they didn't wanna be unembodied spirits, did they?
So how do we build a case here? It's hard. You you you don't have a whole lot of information. Jesus said he's the God of the living, not of the dead. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they're alive.
And so we we, look at it as what Paul is saying here is there's intermediate body. You're clothed. It's a robe. It's temporary. Matthew twenty two thirty one, he's the God of the living, not of the dead.
We see Elijah and Moses on the Mount Of Transfiguration. They weren't ghosts. They could see them in their bodies. After the resurrection, many of these old testament saints that were in their bodies walked around Jerusalem.
Right? And, and some even wanna refer to the witch of Endor as, the Lord pulled the curtain back and allowed Saul to see Samuel.
Samuel, the prophet. What are you bugging me for? And so it could very well be, or as I've heard, John Corson and some other pastors say, and particularly Chuck Missler, we think in terms of linear time.
But what about eternity? Isn't it a tale already told? Aren't we there to be asked of the body to be present with the Lord? Couldn't I already be in my new glorified body because I'm in eternity?
Maybe. Does that hurt your head a little bit? But down here, it's linear. So a little food for thought. Not that we'd be unclosed. So what we can reject is we're not just spirits.
We're not just ghosts. We go from this body into another body, could be an intermediate body awaiting the rapture, or it could be already we've got that new glorified body, and we're so stoked that we do.
Clothed in righteousness. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened, not for that which we would be, unclothed, but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life.
So no fear of death. This corruption must put on incorruption. This mortal put on immortality. And so we're at the hospital, and we're with people we love, and they're being just devastated by cancer.
They're being devastated by disease. And we've had the privilege and the blessing of being with them for eighty nine years, ninety years, ninety two, ninety three, or even maybe our seven year old daughter.
And we're like, lord, I need more time. I need more time. And we ask the lord to give the doctors wisdom and to use their technology, medical technology, and the nurses, and the and the meds, and all of it.
We ask for a miracle. We ask for Jesus, the great physician, to heal. That's what we want. And the Lord graciously uses medical science and and prayer and medicinal means and all, miracles.
It's all he's the same yesterday, today, and forever. These are healers. And we praise the Lord and thank the Lord for some more time with those we love.
Can I suggest to you that in some cases, that epitomizes our selfishness? We don't wanna be separated. Death is separation. We don't wanna be separated from them.
But if we looked at them, especially the ones in their nineties. Right? Not that we're gonna do euthanasia. Not that we're gonna say your life's over and they're gonna cut you off. The D O G E is cutting you out, man.
Don't think euthanasia is not in Europe already, The UK, the insurance companies and such determining whether a person should get the medical help they need to prolong their life to continue. Don't think that's not here already.
But in some cases, we see our loved one just riddled in this battle, this fight with cancer, And we know at that moment, because they're a believer, that millisecond, they're gonna have their new glorified body.
No more sorrow, no more pain, no need of morphine or anything else.
And we sorrow. It hurts. We grieve. But not as those who have no hope. We have the hope of the resurrection. The unbeliever goes through the same struggle but with no answers, with no hope, with no comfort of the holy spirit.
They have to deal That's why I've said, when I do funerals, the unbelievers can't wait to get to the bar. They can't wait to they've already been drinking. They can't get to wait to get drinking again.
They gotta they gotta try and numb their mind of the pain they're experiencing. God purposely makes it painful so that they'll come to Christ. He's not willing that any would perish, but all would come to repentance.
He says, turn ye, turn ye, for why would you die? Death is separation from God. Why would you die in your sins and be separated from the true living God? He's got a new body waiting for you. He's got a new home for you, that of heaven.
The streets are paved with gold. You'll never and you'll see your loved ones, a great reunion with your grandma, your mom, your dad, those that have gone before you, those that that poured Jesus into your lives.
That's why as parents, the most paramount, the most important job that we have is to train our children in nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Make sure they're saved with all of your will, with everything you can do to sow the seeds and water those seeds. Ultimately, it's their decision. There's no grandchildren in heaven. Everybody comes first generational.
The manna that came down from heaven, each person goes out and grabs hold of Jesus. You don't go grab Jesus for your grandkids. But you can sure make them thirsty. You can sure make them hungry, can't you?
And God's made them in such a way during their formative years, they're very very curious. They're like sponges. But the world spends its time destroying that innate faith that God has blessed them with.
Telling them that they just evolved. That they may not be a boy. They may not be a girl. They may not be human. Confusing the minds of these children.
That's not who we're about. The martyr's hope is knowing eternity is better, a better resident. Secondly, a better relationship. Now he that has wrought us for the self same thing is God, who also has given us the earnest of the spirit.
It's God's purpose that I know him. God wants me to know him. He chose me. He saved me. He's the author and the finisher of my salvation. It's his idea, his plan, his purpose. Those he foreknew, he predestined.
Those he foreknew and predestined, he called. I've been invited. I didn't save myself. Jesus said, you didn't choose me, but I chose you. He said, let let Saul of Tarsus know that he's a chosen vessel unto me.
Show him what things he must suffer for my namesake. It's by grace through faith alone. And even that that faith is a gift from God that he gives you and I, that measure of faith.
It's his idea, his plan, his purpose. And the question comes back, why me? Why would God save me? Why would God die for me? Why would go to the cross for me? Who am I? I'm undeserving. He's given me the earnest down payment.
He's given me the holy spirit to mark me out to assure no matter what difficulty I go through that I've been marked out, that I have the ring. I'm betrothed to the groom, to Jesus. I'm the bride of Christ.
And no matter what the devil or anybody else might wanna do, if they decide to kill me, to martyr me, I'm gonna be as the bride of Christ with Jesus in the twinkling of an eye. So we ask on the body to be present with the Lord.
But again, why me? Why would I don't know if you value your Christianity. I don't know if you value that Jesus was sold to you in such a way that he's just the start. He's the beginning of your best life now.
How does that work in the first century church? How does that work with the Boko Haram running around, the ISIS running around? How did these 70 martyrs last week, the week before, how did they experience their best life now?
What did they sign up for? They knew the cost. They knew their lives were in jeopardy. They knew that if they compromised and followed the Islamic faith, that they'd be secure in that region.
Secure at least from these guys that had the upper hand having the weapons and such and the green light from the governments that that are allowing this genocide, this destruction of people simply because they believe in Jesus Christ.
How's Jesus such a threat to these people? If Jesus isn't resurrected from the dead, what do you got to worry about?
Oh, but he is resurrected from the dead. You know it to be true. You don't want that truth to get out. You're purveyors of a religious system that has an ideology to kill people if they don't submit to you, submission, or pay the tax.
There was a time in second Samuel chapter nine that David was just overwhelmed with God's grace in his life.
He'd come through a hard time of running from King Saul for ten years. He slew his giants and and Saul has killed his thousands. David has tens of thousands. He's a hero, and and he's he's, finally, taken the the the kingdom.
He's the king now. And, and he's wanting in terms of Jonathan. Jonathan was his best friend. And Jonathan should have been the king, would have been the king, but Jonathan died in battle.
Saul died in battle. David won. David won the kingdom. God tore the kingdom from Saul. Why? Because Saul was a man pleaser. Don't ever put pressure on me to be a man pleaser.
That's the worst thing you could do to me is to get me to conform to whatever kind of manipulation to try and get your way. And don't think it doesn't happen in churches. It's always happening. Pray that I would be a Jesus pleaser.
No matter what pressure comes upon Kathy and I, that we will continue to seek, to please, to bring pleasure to Jesus. King Saul was a man pleaser. Samuel came and says, what's the bleeding of the sheep in my ears?
You're to kill it all. Egg, egg, all of it. Oh, but for the people's sake, I kept some of the spoil. Now he's gonna make it religious so that we could make some offerings unto god.
Obedience is better than sacrifice. The kingdom's torn from you. So David gets the kingdom. He's a man after God's own heart. Not a perfect guy, but a man of faith, a psalmist, a a warrior.
His hands are too bloody to build the temple, but God's gonna build him a dynasty. But at this point, at this juncture, David wants to express gratitude toward the house of Saul, particularly Jonathan.
So he asked his his counselors, hey. Is there anybody left of the house of Saul that I could show a thankfulness because of his love for Jonathan.
Their hearts were knit as brothers. So much so that when David got the kingdom, Jonathan and him were archers. That he made it part of the law that the children growing up would all learn archery.
And Jonathan was just in the flow. He was in the flow. He wasn't gonna try and take the kingdom from David when he knew that Samuel the prophet had given it to David, that the Lord had given it to David, Samuel let it be known.
So he asked, is there anybody left? And his counselor said, yeah. There's one. His name's Mephibosheth. Second Samuel chapter nine. Well, I wanna show him a kindness. Well, he's layman his feet.
He's a cripple. Are you a cripple? Are you a crackpot? You're lame in the head. What do you deserve? If you got justice, if you got what you deserve before a just and a holy God, what could you demand God to do on your behalf?
Could you demand salvation? Could you demand because you're so good, such a prize that he'd pay for all your sins?
Do you have enough money to pay for your sins? Do you have enough money, enough gold to pay for your brother's sins? A relative's sins? Anybody's sins? No.
The wages of sin is death. You deserve eternal separation from God. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Salvation is a gift. Why me? So Ziba, they go and they get Ziba. Ziba is a servant unto Mephibosheth.
Mephibosheth's fields and such and his land and such was cultivated by Ziba and his 15 sons and 20 some servants that he had. They came and said, yeah, there's one. Jonathan has a son, but he's lame at his feet.
He's a cripple. And David said, go get him. Bring him here. And he said, Mephibosheth, I'm gonna restore to you. We've done a Doge audit. And all this land that belongs to you, we're gonna restore it to you.
And we're gonna store it to you and your family. And you are gonna have Ziba with his boys and his servants cultivate that and bring the proceeds of this fruit year by year to you.
But you, Mephibosheth, are gonna eat at the king's table. What a great name for a buffet, the king's table. Right? You're gonna eat at my table year by year. And you know, Mephibosheth's response, The why me?
Why me? Why would you do this for such a dead dog? Second Samuel nine verse eight. For such a dead dog as me. Are you a prize? Do you have a gratitude, a gratefulness, a sense of awe that God would save you?
You can eat at my table continually. Speaks of grace. This God that saved us has given the earnest of his spirit, the down payment, a guarantee of more to follow. This engagement ring, he sealed us, he's marked us.
The devil, nobody can separate you and I from the love of God that's in Christ Jesus, Romans eight. Neither height nor depth nor principality nor power nor things present nor things to come.
The Lord's not gonna change his mind concerning you. Being confident of this very thing that he that begun this good work in you, maybe you've been a Christian thirty years.
Maybe you're growing weary in well doing. It hasn't worked out the way that you thought. You're not as in love with him as you once were in that honeymoon experience when he put that ring on your finger. It's cold.
It's a cold love. It's a duty love. And sometimes that's a season that we experience in marriage, and we come back to our first love and we cultivate that love and the Lord fans the flame and we're more in love than we ever were.
That's our relationship with Jesus. We don't wanna be the frozen chosen away. You know? We We don't wanna be those that are lukewarm and different, you know, to Jesus.
We wanna be on fire. Fervent love. On fire love. He's marked us out. Death ushers in greater intimacy, a better relationship. The fullness of the promise is delivered.
He says, verse six, therefore, we are always confident knowing that while we're at home in this body, we're absent from the lord. This body's wearing out. Go to the gym all you want. This body's wearing out.
You can slow the aging process down with eating well and sleeping and and, and exercise. No doubt. But, you're still gonna die. Psalm twenty seven four, David said, one thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after.
One thing, one goal, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life and behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.
This place is beautiful, but the face of Jesus, the splendor of his kingdom, being with him face to face is far more beautiful. For we walk by faith, not by sight.
Verse seven. I haven't seen it. I don't know it. I haven't been caught up to heaven. I don't have a vision that I can write a book about. I don't have a YouTube program to tell you what heaven's like because I died and I went there.
I walk by faith, not by sight. First Corinthians thirteen twelve. For now, now, we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face, greater intimacy.
Now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known. A better relationship. Verse eight. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
Are you confident? Are you yearning for that day of the rapture? A whole lot of people don't want the rapture. They don't like the teaching on the rapture. The pastor doesn't teach the rapture.
It's doom and gloom. I wanna go through the tribulation period. I wanna show you what a stud I am, and I'm a I'm a real strong Christian. You guys are escape artists. Yeah. No doubt. I don't like pain.
If he wants to rescue his bride from a time that the world has never seen or will ever see again, where all these guys that act like they're so strong, their hearts are failing them for fear, his wrath being poured out.
I see his wrath at the cross of Calvary, sufficient to pay for my sins, to justify me. Just as if I've never sinned, he poured out his wrath on his son so that I don't have to face his wrath as his bride.
No. I'm thankful. I'm waiting, looking up, knowing my redemption's drawing. I when you see these things begin to come to pass, then look up knowing, what do you know, my redemption's draw us nigh.
The groom's coming for me. I've got my oil. I've got my lamp. My lamp's burning. And I'm watching out the window. I'm like the the father looking for the prodigal, yet it's me, the prodigal, looking for the groom.
I've got the ring. I've got the wedding garment. Everything's ready. Have you fallen asleep? Today is the day of salvation. What if he were to come today? The imminent return of Jesus Christ at any moment.
There's no prophecy. Nothing needs to be fulfilled for him to come. We have the advantage at the end of the age to see the beast system developing, the one world global monetary system of Revelation thirteen sixteen through 18.
No man would be able to buy or sell without a mark on his right hand or his forehead, a digital currency.
You know that. The world knows that. But as a Christian, don't tell me about that. That's doom and gloom. I've got plans, man. I've got plans. Do any of those plans have a car accident where you lose your loved one?
You can avoid all that by being raptured because life brings good and evil. So what if you could get your children in heaven before they become teenagers? What if you could do that? And you knew they were secure.
You knew they weren't gonna meet that terrible guy or that terrible girl that take them down, all that you invested, all that you poured into them. And for a crust of bread, they're they're reduced to nothing.
We're willing confident, saying willing rather to be absent of the body and to be present with the lord. Paul was willing to be with Jesus, which is far better. No fear of death.
He says in acts twenty one thirteen, I'm ready not to be bound only, but also to die and at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. So Paul's gonna go back into Jerusalem, and Agabus, the the prophet says, give me your belt.
And he grabs his belt and binds himself up. The guy that owns his belt is gonna be bound. Bound. And Paul's like, quit crying. Give me give me that hanky.
I'm not only willing to be bound, I'm willing to die. They didn't understand that. He had an unction. He had a desire to go there to try and reach the Jews, his countrymen. He he couldn't get through to him. It was frustrating to Paul.
But he had to try, And he's willing to die. He said to the church of Rome that he's willing to have his name blotted out. Just as Moses said, my name blotted out that you forgive these. The martyr's hope is knowing eternity is better.
A better residence, a better relationship. And thirdly and finally, a better reward. Verse nine, wherefore we labor, that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. Labor means to esteem as an honor accepted.
Paul considered it a privilege and honor to serve the Lord, to be a bondservant, to have that ring put in his ear, that awe at the at the post in the temple where the priest would would, say, hey.
This this guy was a slave, but I've redeemed him, you know, with my blood. And so the servant if a servant has to work seven years off of a debt, at the end of that seven years, he'd be free.
But if he really loved his master, he could appeal and ask to become a bondservant, That he'd willingly serve that master who is taking such great care of him and to express that gratitude and express that that that respect that he had for his master.
They put a ring and a patch on his eye and he'd be a pirate. No. He'd just have the ring. The kids understand. So the privilege, the honor of serving the Lord.
He just wanted to be well pleasing to God and give no occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme God's name. Are we gonna finish well? Or are we gonna give occasion at the last quarter?
The last ten minutes of our life, the last ten years of our life, are we going to blow it? It's so interesting the way the devil goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.
It's so interesting how patient the devil is. David was in his midlife crisis years, about 50 years old, totally successful, but blind to his own arrogance.
And at a time when kings go out to battle, David's idle, and he sees Bathsheba. Oh, the devil knows how to tempt. The devil knows he studied you. He knows the areas of your life that you're weak in.
David had a weakness for beautiful women. And Bathsheba, she's she's not up there just as Eve is looking at the forbidden fruit. The forbidden fruit didn't have worms coming out of it.
It was appealing to the eye. One to make one wise. He's looking over at Bathsheba. I don't think she had a big weight problem, you know? I don't I don't think she was bald, you know? I think she had a beautiful head of hair.
I don't know. I'm gonna stop before I sin. But anyway, enticing. Enticing. A honey pot. The one the devil with the blue dress on. You know? And, so many so many men and women, Christian marriages, they're almost home.
They're almost home. They're almost there. And at midlife, they've they've succeeded. They've been blessed with so much, raised the kids and all those things and stupidity takes over.
And they wind up at the end of their life blowing the whole witness, the whole testimony that they once had. So the martyr, the witness of Jesus Christ, his life was not his own. He had taken up his cross.
In Philippians two verse 20, I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life that I now live, I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
Paul reckoned his old man dead. That old Saul of Tarsus was dead. He was buried. He was crucified already. He was living the newness of life with Christ living through him. For he must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.
So this judgment seat of Christ is b h e m a in the Greek. It's the bema seat, judgment of Christ. It's not the judgment of the great white throne in Revelation 20 verse 11 for the wicked dead, who are gonna be bodily resurrected.
It's not the judgment that the angels are gonna receive as the angels are judged. Paul said in first Corinthians six, know you not that you're gonna one day judge angels.
It's not the judgment that the Gentiles are gonna receive in Matthew 25, where Jesus separates the sheep from the goats of how they treated the nation of Israel, whether good or bad. That's another judgment.
This is an award ceremony. This is the Olympic the Olympics, if you will. So you have the fetching, you have the betrothal and the fetching, and then we we go to heaven, the place that Jesus prepared, and there's the wedding ceremony.
At the wedding ceremony in heaven there, at the father's house, he lavishes upon the bride these gifts.
And you're gonna all stand before we are all gonna stand before the bema seat of Christ and give account, basically, or be rewarded whether good or bad.
Everything that's wood, hay, and stubble is gonna go through the fire of scrutiny, of judgment, and can be burned up as wood, hay, and stubble. That which is precious, that which is for the glory of God.
You're even gonna be judged for what sort it is, wood, hay, and stubble, but also the motive behind it. Don't let your left hand know what your right hand's doing when you when you, fast, you know, put some oil on your face.
Don't be doing these things to be seen of men. Don't be going and giving and tooting the horn, let everybody know which you gave, you know, at the treasury. When you pray, find a prayer closet, do it quietly.
Your father who sees in secret shall reward thee openly. So if you are doing things to be seen of men, you already have your reward. So when you're there, it's what you do for Jesus that you're rewarded for.
And that's the emphasis, your your expression of worship. Now, he doesn't need anything from you, but you need to express your gratitude through service, time, talent, treasure.
However however way may be in in Matthew 25 where he judges the investment he's made in our lives, and and we reinvest in the lives of others, and we bear fruit for his kingdom and for his glory.
And that's the Bema seat judgment that, that's coming.
So for rewards, our sins were already judged at the cross of Calvary, so there's now therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit.
You and I still sin. If we say we have no sin, we're a liar, and the truth isn't in us.
If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. So the Christian, you and I, when we sin, we simply keep a short account.
We don't cover our sin, hide our sin, justify our sin. There's no fearful looking to a judgment at the great white throne judgment. It's already been dealt with, but it could interfere.
It does interfere with our fellowship with God, our vertical relationship with God. So we agree with the holy spirit. Hey, I sinned. Did I lose my salvation? Do I need to go forward again?
No. He's smitten once. One time, he's smitten. You don't go to mass and he get keeps getting hit, keeps getting smitten, keeps getting no. He's smitten once. It's impossible the blood of bulls or bullocks could take away sin.
That's the kaphar. That's the atonement, great day of atonement. The atonement, that's the covering of your sin until John the Baptist gets it. Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
By grace through faith, as you trust in him, your sins, past, present, future, are wiped away and no remembrance thereof. He's taken your sins, cast them east to the west, remembers them no more.
He's cast them in the bottom of the sea, and Corrie ten Boom puts a sign up, and no fishing. So we in our relationships, we don't delve, we don't dig up past sins of people we love who wronged us.
It's gone. It's not there. That's not the work of the holy spirit. That's the work of the devil in Revelation 12 being the accuser of the brethren.
The accusation that comes forth from our mouth, the condemnation, is not of the Lord. And so we have an unconditional love, the power of the Holy Spirit to love and forgive.
And, and as the Lord moves and works by the power of his Holy Spirit, hopefully, you're a husband that knows enough by now to say you're sorry. Just say you're sorry. Get it over with. You don't wanna keep sleeping on the couch anyway.
Just say you're sorry. Take the wrong. You will not win. You will not win. Say, I'm sorry. And then if you really aren't getting anywhere, say, I'm not only sorry, but I'm sorry I'm so stupid too.
You know? Go as far as you need to go because it's your fault. It's always your fault. Take the hit. When I was a young husband, guy, it was so important in my insecurity to be right.
And, that has nothing to do with it. It's about love. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. So Paul lived knowing that there was a day of reckoning, a day of judgment.
So this judgment was not the judgment of the nations nor of Israel, as we said. It's the Bema seat judgment for the believer. In Matthew sixteen twenty seven, he talked about how he's going to judge.
So this judgment was for reward. And, who knows what kind of rewards we're gonna get. That everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that which he has done whether good or bad.
Paul was conscious of this future reward. Was this motivating him? Why do you wanna be there standing in heaven with the most crowns, the most rewards of everyone?
Hey, look at me. I prayed the longest. Look at this. I gave the most. I think you're missing the point. Have you ever been to a birthday party, invited to a birthday party, and you came without a card or a present?
That's a weird feeling, You don't wanna show up and meet Jesus face to face and not have something to lay at his feet. You wanna be able to lay your crown of rejoicing that you received as a result of not whining during trials.
That you're a worshiper and the Lord recognized you as a worshiper, that you weren't a complainer, that you didn't charge him foolishly.
That when push came to shove you with Job, said, Naked came out into the world. Naked, I'm a go. The Lord giveth the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. You're gonna get a crown of rejoicing.
Others of you, you're poor. You lived a life of poverty. Foxes have holes. Birds there have nests. Son of man has nowhere to lay his head. You didn't have the good clothes, the good cars, the good homes, the good stuff.
He's gonna give you a crown of glory. Others of you, your whole life was a fight, a fight for truth, a fight for the word of God, earnestly contending for the faith, fighting the good fight of faith, warning people.
You weren't very popular. You didn't tell the people what they wanted to hear.
You're gonna get the crown of righteousness. You stood for righteousness. You stood for what's right. You're like John the Baptist. You told King Herod that, hey, taking your brother Philip's wife is illicit.
It's wrong. You might have lost your head for it, but you got a new head. You got a crown, a crown of righteousness. Others of you are gonna be like the 70 in The Congo. You're gonna die the death of a martyr.
If the persecution increases, if the antisemitism increases, if the rapture is delayed, if we face real persecution like those in Iran and China and Africa and other parts of the world, it may be that you have the privilege or the blessing of receiving the crown of life, the martyr's crown.
James one verse two, Revelation 12, two verse 10. Now Paul says this is first Corinthians nine, it's an incorruptible crown that fades not away.
The world works for crowns that fade away. The Olympian would go and get a wreath on his head that was just celery. And that celery in a few days just perishes like a salad.
Gone. Wilted. But you have an incorruptible crown that faded not away. And you get these crowns because Jesus wore a crown of thorns. And because of that crown of thorns, he's gonna lavish love upon you, gifts upon you.
And you, in Revelation four verse ten and eleven, with the four and twenty elders, when you see Jesus in heaven, you're not coming to a celebration without a gift, without something to give.
The four and twenty elders take off their crowns and they lay them at the feet of Jesus. You're gonna take off your crown and you're gonna lay it at the feet of Jesus or them at the feet of Jesus.
And you're gonna sing with the four and twenty elders. Thou art worthy, oh Lord, to receive glory, honor, and power. For thou has created all things and for thy pleasure Why are you living?
You're living to please Jesus. And for thy pleasure, you're fulfilling God's purpose for your life was to bring him pleasure. And for thy pleasure, they are and were created. And it's your faith that's imputed to you for righteousness.
Without faith, it's impossible to please. There you go. Pleasure. Without faith, it's impossible to please God for they that come to must believe that he is. And he's a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.
It's by faith, by faith, by faith, by faith, by faith. He edits out all our failures. You're in the hall of faith because you choose to believe in the crucible at crunch time when things aren't going right.
You choose to continue, not just believe, but to continue to believe. Have you given your life to Jesus? Are you his witness, his martyr?
Is he your hope? The martyr's hope? A better residence? Is that what you yearn for? A better body? A better eternal body, a better residence? A better relationship? That you see them face to face and know even as you are known?
A better reward. What's the world have to offer? What are the globalist trillionaire is gonna receive? What do they receive in this life? These three score in ten years and ten more by reason of Stank. These eighty years that they get.
How much of it do they get to take to heaven? Zero. Naked, you come in. Naked, you're going. But for you and I, there's a hope that on the other side, that the Lord has incorruptible crowns that fade not away.
The Lord has a plan and a purpose for us that leads into the millennium and on into eternity as we still get to serve him.
Do you long to hear Jesus say, well done, thou good and faithful servants? You've been faithful over a few things.
You've been a faithful mom. You've been a faithful father going into the shipyard banger key port. You've been faithful getting up at dark 30 and working these forty years there. You've been faithful as a single mom, a single dad.
You've been faithful no matter what life has thrown at you through sickness. You've been sick most of your life. But you've been faithful. You've been faithful over a few things. I'm gonna make you ruler over much.
Enter into the joy of the Lord prepared for you before the foundation of the earth. That's God's intention. That's his desire. What's your hope? Who do you hope in? What motivates you? What are you willing to risk? Are you his martyr?
Father, thank you. Thank you for your love, Lord. Thank you for the assurance of salvation that each of us has, Lord. Thank you for how clear at this moment it is who we are and what your plan and purpose is for our lives.
Simply to believe, to trust, to serve, to live lives that are pleasing unto you. To seek first the kingdom of God and your righteousness knowing that all these other things will be added unto us.
That which we need, that which we don't need. We're all gonna die right on time. And, Lord, we pray that you would embolden us, give us the courage to stand for truth, to stand for righteousness, to stand up for you, Lord.
We thank you, Lord, for the martyrs that have gone before us, who didn't blaspheme, who didn't capitulate, who didn't say, Allah Akbar, who refused to bow the knee to Caesar, who continued to proclaim Jesus as Lord.
Thank you for that cloud of witnesses, Lord, that has gone before us. The examples of many whose faith didn't fail.
Thank you, Lord, that you're interceding and praying for us that our faith fail not. Lord, may our lives be fruitful that bring you glory and honor that we might one day hear you say, Lord, well done.
Well done. In Jesus' name, we pray. Is there anybody here you don't know Jesus as your Lord and savior, but you want to? God's tugging on your heart. Today's your day. A day of salvation.
Anyone here? God's pleading, why would you die in your sins? Why would you go to hell? Hell was prepared for the devil and the fallen angels, not for you. God has prepared a new body. He's prepared the splendor of heaven.
He's prepared so much for you, none of which the devil nor the world can provide for you. The devil's come to steal, to kill, and to destroy you, to ruin everything about you, to steal your soul, to take your soul to hell.
Jesus said, he's come that you might have life, that you might have it more abundantly, the life of the spirit, eternal life, quantity and quality.
Anyone here this morning, you want your sins forgiven, you're turning from your sins. Jesus has already died for all your sins. He's already paid for them all. He's waiting for you to respond in faith.
Anyone here this morning wanting to respond in faith? Just lift your hand up. We wanna lead you in prayer. The bible says there's rejoicing in heaven among the angels when just one sinner repents.
Repent means to turn from your sin, turn from your lifestyle, and cry out to God, God, be merciful to me a sinner. Anyone this morning? Father, thank you.
Thank you for your love. Thank you for your goodness. Thank you for the security that we sense the assurance of salvation that nobody can pluck us out of your hand. So bless, we pray now. In Jesus' name as we partake of communion, amen.