I'm going to start reading in chapter 4, verse 16, and go through chapter 5, verse 10. Our message this evening will focus on chapter 5, verses 6 through 10. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 16. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light and momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. As we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. The things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God. A house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling. If indeed, by putting it on, we may not be found naked. For while we were still in this tent, we groan, being burdened, not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the spirit as a guarantee So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage and would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we're at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. The word of the Lord is a light into our feet, a lamp into our path. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we bow in your presence and we do earnestly pray, we ask that your word might be our rule, that your spirit might be our teacher, and that your greater glory might be our supreme concern. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Well, if I asked you to give me a definition of fear, that might be something that would be hard for some of us to do, we might say, well, it means being afraid. Well, being afraid of what? Well, some of us might be afraid of the monsters that are surely under our bed. And some of us maybe are afraid of great evil. But a lot of us, really, our biggest fear is fear of the future. It's fear of the unknown. It's fear because we don't know what's going to happen and what life and existence is going to be like. We fear what we don't know and this fear can be paralyzing. A fear of the future, of what's going to happen, of what our existence will be like can be debilitating. It can fill our every thought and emotion and influence our actions. It can be paralyzing at times. And we are full of fear. However, as Christians, we should ask ourselves, should we be full of fear? Do we really need to be full of fear? I mean, we know what will happen in the future. When our Lord Jesus comes again, we know that we will be raised imperishable with resurrection bodies. We know what's going to happen. And yet sometimes, even with this knowledge, we live our lives like those who are afraid and have no idea about the future. And we are full of fear and trembling as we're focusing just on these earthly circumstances instead of looking to that resurrection glory that awaits us. Well, in our passage tonight, Paul reminds us of our future. He reminds us of our resurrection future. He reminds us that God the Holy Spirit has given us knowledge and assurance of our resurrection future so that we are enabled then to live a courageous and committed life in the present. This is really a one-sentence summary of what we want to learn this evening. Again, something like Paul reminds us that God the Holy Spirit has given us knowledge and assurance of our future resurrection that enables us to live a courageous and committed life in the presence, even in the midst of our trials. We have three headings tonight. Catechism review, confidence, and commitment. So as last time we were in 2 Corinthians we did this, we need to do this once again. We need to make sure that we do understand a few things before we look at our passage. We need to understand what happens at our death, the intermediate state, and what will happen when our Lord Jesus returns. You can find a summary of these things what the Bible teaches on this topic in the Westminster Shorter Catechism. Questions 37 and 38. I am going to read those. If you want to read along, you can. It's around page 970 in the back of the Trinity Psalter hymnal there. And we need to keep these things in mind as we go here. Question 37 asks us, what benefits do believers receive from Christ at death? So what happens when we die? The answer, the souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness and do immediately pass into glory and their bodies being still united to Christ do rest in their graves till the resurrection. So in question 37, this is a summary of what happens when we die. At death, the soul of the believer is separated from the body, and the soul is made perfect in holiness and with the Lord, but our body lies in the grave. Our body is buried, but it's not forgotten, as even our bodies remain united to Christ until the day of resurrection." This means that after death, at least for the believer, there's a period of time where our souls are not united with our bodies. We are with the Lord but we are in an intermediate state waiting for the resurrection. So then, what happens when Jesus comes again? This is question 38. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at the resurrection? The answer, at the resurrection, believers being raised up in glory shall openly be acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment and made perfectly blessed in the full enjoying of God to all eternity. So when our Lord Jesus returns, all believers will be raised up in glory. We will be resurrected. So all believers that are already with the Lord will be reunited with their resurrection bodies. And all believers that are here on earth at the time of the Lord's coming will be further clothed, as Paul said it previously when we looked at that. Further clothed means our earthly bodies will be transformed into a glorious resurrection body. On this day, there will also be, it's also a day of judgment. And on this day, all believers are declared not guilty. And not only are we declared not guilty, but we're declared righteous. We're vindicated because Jesus paid for all of our sins and he has given us his robes of righteousness. So after our resurrection and our vindication, We'll begin life in the new creation and we'll enjoy full union and communion with God and with each other forever and ever. This is a summary of what happens and what will happen. We need this in our minds as we continue along in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. So now let's look at verses 6 through 8. Here Paul teaches us that our knowledge and assurance of our resurrection future gives us confidence and courage to face our daily trials. He's continued to unpack what he said in chapter 4, verse 18. When we're in the midst of our daily afflictions, we're not to look to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient. That means, kids, that those things are temporary, but the things that are unseen are eternal. And Paul gives us two reasons for our confidence and our courage. The first reason for our courage is found in the first few words of verse six. So we are always of good courage. The so here is pointing back to what Paul just said in verses one through five. We can just paraphrase what he said this way. This is the reason for our courage. If our temporary decaying and this creation bodies die before Jesus comes again, we don't need to worry because we have a body made by the Spirit that will last forever that's designed to live in the new heavens and on the new earth. And this is the day that we're longing for. And our resurrection is guaranteed by Christ's resurrection from the dead. And the Spirit of God works this resurrection confidence then and assurance in our hearts even as we sit here this evening. This is ours. And now because of this glorious truth in verse 6, Paul can say, for this reason, because we know this, we are always of good courage. We're of good courage because we know what's coming no matter what happens to us now, and what's coming is glorious. The second reason we're of good courage in the midst of our trials is in verse 8. Paul says, yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. What's Paul saying here? He's saying something similar to what he said in Philippians chapter 1. verses 21 through 23 where he said this, for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means more fruitful labor for me. Yet which shall I choose, I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and to be with Christ, for that is far better. Paul knows that it is far better to have finished this race, to die and to go be in the presence of God, even waiting for the resurrection. But at the same time, even though our trials may result in death, we can be of good courage knowing that all death does is bring us into the presence of the Lord in a fuller way than we even are right now. So even if our current trials, violence done to us, cancers that kill us, old age, whatever it is, we need not be afraid because we know that something better awaits us. This certainty about our future enables us to be courageous in all kinds of trials and in all kinds of uncertainty about what will happen. So when you are afraid of the future, afraid of dying, full of doubt, Paul says in verse 6, we know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith and not by sight. Walking by faith and not by sight means that we remember our resurrection future. We know that it's ours and that now gives us courage to face our trials in the present. Walking by faith and not by sight means that we remember all of God's promises to us in the midst of our trials. Promises like Paul's words in 2 Timothy 1, verse 7, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. The psalmist tells us, Psalm 118, verse 6, the Lord is on my side. I will not fear. What can man do to me? The author of Hebrews, Hebrews 13, says, so we can confidently say, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear what can man do to me. See, we know the future that awaits us, and the Spirit of God has given us a guarantee of this. So when we think of our blessed future that is ours, And then we think of those that persecute us or that are causing us pain, or we think of our future trials. We think, what can man do to me? What can the world do to me? What can this cancer really do to me? Well, there's nothing it can do to me that doesn't result in something better, being more fully present with the Lord. What can sickness do to me? All sickness can do is get me to glory quicker. What can death do to us? Nothing. Nothing because Christ has conquered death. What can the devil do? More than nothing because he has been crushed by our Lord Jesus. Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. So we are of good courage and more than confident Because we know that we were dead in our trespasses and sins. And now we have been raised to new life in Jesus Christ and are a new creation. We know that the Spirit of God is working in us, renewing us day by day. We know that our old man is passing away and that we're starting to look more like our risen and resurrected Savior every single day. The resurrection power of the Holy Spirit is already at work in you. And the promise of your resurrection future then, and laying hold of that promise, causes us to be confident and courageous in the midst of any trial, any suffering, any grief that we might face. So yes, we are of good courage. It is resurrection courage. Our resurrection future calls us also and motivates us then to live a life of commitment to Christ in the present. And in verse nine we read, so whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. Now Paul's saying something very simple and it is also very profound here. He's saying that no matter what our mode of existence is, whether it's in the body, whether it's out of the body, whether it's here or whether it's in glory, our aim, our goal, and our purpose is to please the Lord. Our hope for the future, then, doesn't cause us to not care or to be aloof or unpractical in the present. I'm sure we've heard this quote before, he's so heavenly minded that he is of no earthly good. Well, that's not us as Christians. We have an inheritance that is guaranteed and waiting for us. But that doesn't mean that we just sit back now and do nothing and are not useful in the service of the Lord. No, our glorious future inheritance motivates us in the present all the more to serve and please the Lord. When we look at our resurrection future, we want to please Him because of what Christ has already done for us and because we know what's waiting for us. So if the Spirit of God has worked in us, then we desire to please the Lord even more than pleasing ourselves. Now this is hard because we know that we certainly feel like we don't do that very well. That our desire to please the Lord exceeds our desire to please ourselves. It is often not our aim to please the Lord. Oftentimes we want what we want, and we struggle with our own desires, constantly wanting to please ourselves instead of the Lord. I want to encourage you this evening. Christians take heart. Even though you struggle, The very fact that you just desire to please the Lord, that you want to please Him, even though you fall far short. Just the fact that you want to. That is evidence that the Spirit of God has worked in you. And over time, as the Spirit of God continues to work in us, That desire will surely shift over the years, and we will desire more and more to serve the Lord, and less and less to serve ourselves. One of the tools that the Holy Spirit uses to make this happen, as we've seen in 2 Corinthians, is our trials. And as we see God continuing to rescue us in the midst of our trials, our hearts will even more keep spilling over with gratitude. Every single trial we experience where we experience God's love and faithfulness will result in more love for Christ. The more we look to Christ and the more we think on what he's done for us in history through his death and resurrection, The more time we spend just delighting in Christ and enjoying Him, enjoy singing praise to Him, enjoy fellowshipping with God, enjoy just being with the body of Christ, the more we take comfort in those thoughts of our future resurrection, the more we enjoy God, the more faithful servants we will desire to be. I know that all of us here this evening, one of the reasons that we're here, I mean, a few of us, our parents made us come here, but even so, this can still be true of you. We're here because we desire more love for Christ. We desire God to work in us more than we desire to watch, let me think of which one it is, the AFC championship game tonight. We might love these things of the earth, but we love Christ more and we want him to work in us more. We desire more communion with God and with each other. That's why we are here, because it's our desire to serve him. And the way that he accomplishes his goal of increased desire to serve him, it's not a secret. We just take advantage of the opportunities we have to worship God, to meditate on his glory, to see his work in our life, and to enjoy him and enjoy being with the people of God. Just being here, enjoying each other. When you unite yourself to a local body of Christ and you regularly experience the means of grace, preaching sacraments and prayer on a regular basis, there's a transformation that the Spirit works in you and over time your heart becomes more and more transformed to what God loves and less to what you love. And your aim to please God becomes more and more true each passing week. Now Paul also gives us another aim, another motivation to help us desire and to please God. And it's this desire, this motivation, this is also what happens when Christ returns in verse 10. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. So when our Lord Jesus returns and we're raised from the dead, there's going to be a final judgment. Now Paul's not changing his mind here and saying that whether or not now you get to heaven is dependent on your works. That's not what he's saying here. One commentator describes what he's saying here, saying, it is not the loss of salvation, which cannot be lost. but the loss of commendation which is at stake, or the loss of heavenly rewards. As Christians, God has given us certain gifts, He's given us certain callings, and we've been saved in order to serve. Paul is talking about rewards for our faithful Christian service. He doesn't mention a lot on this because he already taught on it in depth in his last letter to the Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians 3, this is what Paul says. According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder, I laid a foundation and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds on it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become manifest for the day will disclose it because it will be revealed by fire and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built upon the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. So for the Christian, we are declared at the final judgment not guilty. We are righteous. But we're also still rewarded, each of us, for what we have done in the service of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now I know because we are so used to, and rightly so, that everything is of grace alone, and we can do nothing, nothing good of ourselves. That's still true. This is hard for us to understand. But God does reward us for our good works when our good works are the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Those good works, the fruit of the Holy Spirit, are worth being rewarded for. The Westminster Confession of Faith describes our good works in this way. mixed. It says, defiled and mixed with so much weakness and imperfection that they cannot endure the severity of God's judgment. So even our spirit wrought and best works, they're mixed with sin and mixed with impure motives. And we know this because as soon as we do something nice for someone and then we feel good about it, it quickly goes to, man, I'm a good guy. You know? I mean, we just can't help ourselves. Here's what the Confession of Faith says. Notwithstanding the persons of believers being accepted through Christ, their good works are also accepted in Him, not as though they were in the life wholly unblameable and unreprovable in God's sight, but that He, looking upon them in His Son, is pleased to accept and reward that which is sincere, although accompanied with many weaknesses and imperfections. See, the Lord Jesus takes our Holy Spirit-enabled and sincere efforts at doing good works, even though they're mixed with all of our own selfishness and whatnot, and He perfects them. So our good works then are rewarded as they are done as we're united to Christ, and they're rewarded as if Christ did them Himself. Even our rewards, you see, that we work for, that we'll receive at the final judgment, they're not something that we deserve and that we merited. They are earned, but they're fruits of the Spirit that are done in union with Christ, and so they're still works that are born of God's grace in us. It's good to be clear here when we talk about rewards and good works. You cannot earn God's favor. You cannot earn salvation by good works because apart from Jesus Christ, you don't have any. It's also not as if we're saved by God's grace alone and then we keep our salvation by doing good works. If this was the case, then no one would be saved because even the best work that you've ever done in your entire life is still stained by sin. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Only Christ's works survive the final judgment of God. The only reason that our works are judged to be righteous is because they are seen as being done by Jesus Christ himself. So Paul tells us then that we should not be idle, but our knowledge and confidence in our future resurrection should result in us desiring to please God and to be fully committed to Him in the present. We must pray that God would make this more and more the desire of our hearts. We must pray and ask the Holy Spirit that He would cause our aim to be to please God and not ourselves. And that's happening as we are being renewed day by day. At the beginning of the sermon, we summarized the message of these verses saying Paul reminds us that God the Holy Spirit has given us knowledge and assurance of our resurrection future. so that we are enabled to live a courageous and committed life in the midst of our present trials. See, everything's about the resurrection for Paul. Paul is resurrection obsessed, and we're called to have the same resurrection obsession. We are to view every trial in our life with our resurrection glasses on our face. How does this trial look when I remember the reality of the resurrection? Walking by faith and not by sight means that we look back to Christ's resurrection and His victory over sin and death, and at the same time, we're looking forward to our glorious resurrection future with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This helps us to put our trials in proper perspective and to see them for what they are. They're hard, but they're temporary. and they're a tool of the Holy Spirit, preparing us for that eternal weight of glory. Since we know this, and are guaranteed by the Spirit of God that this resurrection future awaits us, we can then be encouraged no matter what our trial may be, and God calls us to be committed to pleasing Him, knowing that what awaits us is glorious beyond comparison. Christians, we do not need to be afraid. Afraid of the unknown, afraid of the future, because we know the future. We know what awaits us. And it's a glorious resurrection in the new heavens and the new earth. Praise God. Let's pray. Our Lord and our God, may the truth of our resurrection future influence and inform how we view our current sorrows and our current trials. Lord, may our resurrection future lift up our hearts so that we can proclaim confidently with Job that I know that my Redeemer lives and that at last he will stand upon the earth and after my skin has thus been destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God. Amen.