With Christ | 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 | Sermon by Colin Smith

well we've been learning in this series that whatever the timing of a person's death and whatever the circumstances that bring that about at the end of the day every person dies in one of two ways and that this is the thing that ultimately matters are either according to the Bible you die in your sins or you die in the Lord and we have seen over these last two weeks that there is an incalculable difference between these two things now today as we continue our series moving on in what it means to look to the future life what is your future life we're going to ask three questions it's important for us to have clarity about this first what is death we've spoken for two weeks about the experience of death what actually is it we're going to seek to answer that question from the Bible today second as we've talked about going into death what lies beyond death what lies immediately beyond death um all of us have loved ones who have gone into death what are they experiencing now that's a great question and when that moment comes for you what will lie immediately the other side of you closing your eyes in death then we're going to ask a third question today and it's simply this how can a believer face death with confidence whenever it comes however it comes for you you if you're in Jesus Christ how will you be able to face this greatest moment of your experience to this point with confidence and with courage as Paul speaks about that in the scripture that has been read now it will be referring to many scriptures today but the primary one is 2nd Corinthians in chapter 5 and so I do hope that you will open your Bible there let's begin with this first question then what is death and I want to offer to you the simple definition that death is the temporary separate of the soul and the body that is what it is it is the temporary separating of the soul from the body this goes to the heart of who you are as a human person and it's very important and appropriate on this sanctity of human life weekend when God created Adam what did he do he made a corpse could be chemically analyzed what was in that corpse as your body could be chemically analyzed but then God did something else you remember Genesis 2:7 he breathed into the corpse the breath of life and Adam became the Bible says a living being now that is exactly how God has made you he has made a unique body and he has made a unique soul and he has joined the two together in you you are a body soul Union uniquely and wonderfully created by God now what is death death then is the separating of what God has joined together in you and that is why death is such a fearful thing for us it is the undoing of our nature it is the severing of what God has tied together at the very core of your nature making you a man or a woman it is the dismantling of the very work of God the the tearing apart of what God has joined together and that is why the Bible describes death as an enemy that is why Jesus wept when he saw its effect that is why he was outraged when he stared death in the face and that is why he came into the world to destroy this enemy but you know that the Bible tells us that death is the last enemy to be destroyed and until Christ comes all of us go through it all of us go through it death is the last effect of sin and it is the surest evidence that there's deadly diseases in all of us nothing proves more clearly that all of sir sinners the wages of sin is death and if you should be it visitation service were my body lies in a casket you should say when you look at it well there you are he was a sinner too as if you didn't know that already it's the final evidences and nothing shows more clearly than eat that every one of us first of a Savior that should be evident in life if it's not evident in life - you should certainly be evident in death look at the helplessness of that corpse lying there where's the strength of this man and this woman now well I'm a sinner who needs a Savior death makes these things painfully painfully obvious no the the Bible uses many pictures to try and help us think about what this is like who we are and what death is as the undoing of our very nature in the book of Ecclesiastes Solomon puts it like this he says remember God before the silver cord is severed you see what Solomon's saying he said you could think of it like this it's almost as if there's a silver cord that ties your soul to your body you're a body soul Union that is how God has made you but one day and you do not know when this will be the silver cord is going to be cut it's going to be severed and you need to remember God before that happens because one day the life of your soul is going to leave your body and at that point your body will be lifeless and it will be like a glove puppet when the hand is taken it just lies that it has no life in it I was trying to think of a an analogy of this and I was thinking about soldiers field so you think about soldiers field or any other great stadium but let's think about soldiers field here in Chicago on match day the whole place is full of life and you go there the Bears are on the field and the they're packing the stance the whole place is alive soldiers field was made for this but suppose that you were to go down into Chicago and you were to take a tour of the stadium during the week you go in and what do you see the stands are all empty not a soul is on the field of play there's a strange quiet that's around the whole place except for the noise of the cars and the city out sight you walk around you still feel a sense of awe why do you feel a sense of awe because of the great things that have happened there and the great things that will happen that in the future but now it rests silent the fans that are the life of the stadium are not there and without that life well it's just an empty shell and there's something unnatural about it you think this stadium was meant to be filled with life not empty and quiet and echoing like this the stadium was made for the fans the fans are for the stadium and neither of them can fulfill their their full function unless they are together now it's kind of like that with the body in the soul you see the soul brings life to the body as the fans bring life to the stadium they belong together they are made for each other and when a person dies and you go to the visitation and you see their body what are you looking at you're looking at the stadium without the fans you're looking at the shell of the person that you loved you have a sense of all because of what has been in the past and because of what will be in the future but the soul has gone and the spirit has departed now in this definition I want you to notice the word temporary and let me just emphasize that for a moment death is the 10 a separating of the soul from the body and I used the word temporary because the Bible teaches the resurrection of the body Jesus rules and though a body may have been laid in a grave and decomposed over a thousand or two thousand years at the resurrection Christ who created human bodies from the dust will recreate by his almighty creative power this will happen when Jesus Christ returns in glory look at that next time God willing Christ will clothe your spirit with a body that is adapted to everlasting life it will be a body that cannot experience pain or sickness or aging or death or decay great theologian by the name of a a Hajj puts it like this then he says death is precisely defined as the suspension of the personal union between the soul and the body he doesn't say it's the ending you see it's not the ending it's the suspension of the Union that God has created between your soul and your body and the resurrection is the great hope of the Christian believer and this will happen as you folks know when Jesus Christ returns in power and and glory but until that day when a believer dies the believers body is buried or it may be cremated or it may be lost at sea and their spirit is there in the presence of Jesus separated from the body now that brings us then to this second very important question what then happens to a believer after death if death is the temporary suspension of the union between your soul and your body suspended until the day when Christ returns the future day when the great resurrection will be the gift of Christ to all his people what happens to the believer immediately after death what will that be for you if and then what well I want to offer three answers from the Bible to that question today here's the first after death believers are at home with the Lord and thinking especially of second Corinthians chapter five and verse eight but let's begin at verse 1 Paul says there we know that if this tent which is our earthly home is destroyed we have a building from God a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens now this is fascinating because remember Paul was a tent maker he knew everything there was to know about tent and he uses this analogy of the body being like a tent in which you live and of course Paul knows well a tent is a very flimsy structure it's not a structure that's going to last forever and he says no think of it like this you live your life here in this body that's like a tent and one did the ropes are going to be slackened one day the tent pegs are going to be pulled one day the canvas is going to be a rolled up now what happens then that's the question in this chapter and he says we know that if this tent which is our earthly home is destroyed we have a building from God a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens so you see what he's saying I I live in this tent that's how he's describing the body and he says it is my home but here's what I'm holding on to that if this tent is destroyed I'm not going to become homeless without the tent I will find that I have a home to which I will go now what is the home some folks think that this is a reference to the resurrection body that when the body dies God will give a new body at the resurrection and this is what Paul is referring to that is wonderfully true the resurrection body we'll look at it next week but I don't think it's what Paul is saying here he's talking here about what happens immediately after death and I think for many of us that will be the primary question in which we're interested someone who you love dies and you know that there's a great day of the Resurrection coming but you do not know when Jesus Christ will return so you come and you say pastor where is she now what is the life like for her now I know there'll be a resurrection in the future but what about now and when when I die what will be that next moment a nanosecond after I close my eyes that's the question in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 so what's Paul saying he's not saying that the resurrection body which which will be given in the future is going to be the immediate residence he's saying this no the home into which you move when you die is heaven itself it's heaven itself heaven he is saying will be the immediate conscious joyful experience of every believer at the point of death well the resurrection body will come when Jesus Christ returns in power and glory but that's the longer-term future what's immediately ahead is this Paul is saying my life doesn't end where the tent is destroyed when I move out of this tent I'm going to move into the house an eternal house in heaven prepared for me that is not made with human hands so he's using this picture and it's a very helpful one he says think of it this way death for a Christian is like moving house that's what it's like and it's not like downsizing because think of what he's saying it's moving from a 10 it's into a home that is a big upgrade folks isn't it a big upgrade he says here I am and in this world this is if I'm living in this flimsy tent it can't last and in fact he says in verse 2 in this tent we groan living in the tent I've got a deal with sin and temptation and sickness and suffering and depression and fear and all the rest of it but one day that will be gone one day I'll be out of the tent and when I move out of the tent I'm going to move into the home that Christ has prepared for me life in the house is going to be better than life in the tent that's his point so death for a Christian to use another word that's familiar in a different context is a kind of homecoming it's coming back to the place you belong it's coming to Christ to whom you belong and that is why he says in verse 6 - while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord and he said we would rather be away from the body verse 8 and at home with the Lord that's the first answer to the question what happens immediately after death for a believer immediately after death the believer is at home with the Lord second Corinthians chapter five and verse eight second answer because that's only the beginning after death believers consciously enjoy the life of heaven now this is wonderful and it's very important to get hold of it after death believers consciously enjoy the life of heaven now let me underline two words here the first is consciously and the second is enjoy consciously some Christians become confused here because the Bible refers often to death as falling asleep you remember that Paul says for example we don't want you to be uninformed there's about those who fallen asleep it's a way in which the Bible speaks about death when Lazarus died in John chapter 11 our Lord Jesus says our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep it's a very wonderful way in which the Bible refers to this reality of death now because the Bible refers to falling asleep some Christians have suggested that when the body dies the soul of the believer sort of goes into hibernation goes into a kind of sleep so that the next conscious moment for that believer would be the moment when Jesus Christ appears in power and in glory now I have to tell you and you may have heard this it's called soul sleep I cannot for the life of me square this with the teaching of the Bible the soul of the believer as we're seeing here today consciously enjoys the presence of Jesus and that is huge for the Christian hope and so I want it to be very clear in your mind and in your heart to be away from the body we've just seen in second Corinthians is to be at home with the Lord and Paul says Philippians chapter 1 and verse 23 that that is far better far better now think about this with me I don't think that the Apostle Paul is the kind of guy who would have thought that going to sleep for 2,000 years was far better than all of the adventures of living for Christ in this world I don't think that he would have thought that two millennia of a siesta was something to get incredibly excited about why does he say that being with the Lord is far better because it's not soul sleep because it's the conscious enjoyment of the presence of Jesus and that's why he says it's gain it's gain sleep is less than the joys of the Christian life here game means the conscious enjoyment of the immediate presence of Jesus Christ in heaven that's the thing that qualifies as being better by far so when the Bible refers to Christians having died being asleep the sleeping always remember this refers to the body not to the soul Calvin says this very clearly the reference is not to the soul but to the body for the body rests in the tomb as on a bed until God raises the person up but not the soul not the soul now the truth that confirms this most clearly and I commend this to you is really in verse 5 where we read these words he who has prepared us for this very thing that is for death is God who has given us the spirit as a guarantee now just think this through with me when you become a Christian the Holy Spirit of God comes to you he gives you life he is with you and he is in you and the life that he gives you is an eternal life the Holy Spirit gives life to your spirit and becomes bonded to you in this marvelous union which is by faith now when you die your soul your spirit leaves your body but the Holy Spirit will never never never leave you how could he it is his pledge for time and eternity and the Holy Spirit does not take the blood-bought children of Jesus Christ down into unconsciousness the Holy Spirit takes us into the very purpose for which he was given to bring us into the presence of our Savior with great joy he is the Spirit of the Living God and if the Spirit of the Living God is in you then it you share in the very life of God in the immediate presence of Christ your savior writing in his book about death Brian Stiller says the single most important indicator that we continue to live with consciousness during the transitional period that is between death and between the resurrection which is still to come is the indwelling life of the Spirit and Richard Baxter who writes so wonderfully about this as this marvelous phrase he quotes the dying words of Stephen Lord Jesus receive my spirit and then he says if the Lord receives the spirit it is neither asleep nor is it dead not is it annihilated but it is where he is and it beholds his glory conscious enjoyment of the immediate presence of Jesus Christ that's why it's better by far and now I want just to underline this word enjoy and let me see this as as plainly as I can Christian listen there is nothing anywhere in any place in the Bible to suggest that your soul will endure a long process of suffering after death I know many Christians believe this they've been told it and I'm telling you you should search the Bible on this there is nothing in the Bible anywhere to suggest that your soul will endure a long process of suffering after death if you belong to Jesus Christ why because all the preparation that will ever be needed for you to enter into the full glory of heaven has been made by your Savior on the cross that's an amen moment by the way isn't it it is to be away from the body is not to begin a long process of rehabilitation to be away from the body is what did we just hear from Corinthians to be at home with the Lord now your loved ones therefore who have died in Christ have a richer deeper more joyful conscious experience of Jesus shared with the angels in heaven than anything that is possible for any one of us here in this world their position is better by far than yours and they would never never come back if they had the opportunity to do so the friend of mine put it no Christian has ever died ever regretted it and neither will you now having tried to make these things clear let's come to a very practical question you may say and I'd agree with you on this I find it very difficult to imagine life without a body how many of us have said that or thought that ëifí I find it very difficult to I find it very difficult to even imagine a life without the body and we know that the resurrection body will come when Jesus returns but we're talking about immediately after death a nanosecond after you close your eyes and under your bodies in the grave here and you're with Christ your soul but the resurrection of your body is not yet come so you will ask this question and I've asked this question I can't begin to imagine life without a body I mean you think about everything you experience in this world everything that you experience we experience through the body what do you enjoy in life while I enjoy walking and running and cycling and travelling and listening to music on my ipod and and seeing new places I enjoy eating I enjoy building I enjoy sport I mean all of these things you do through the body none of them can be done without the body right so how is it possible to have any sort of life let alone a richer fuller life without the body and I think that question is at the core of why many Christians really struggle to think that they're going to really be better off in heaven and we don't really believe it well let me say to you one thing that might help just think about this angels are souls or spirits without bodies and yet we know from Scripture that they live a full conscious joyful wonderful purposeful life in the presence of Jesus angels do not have eyes they don't have bodies their spirits and yet Jesus says they always behold the glory the face of their father in heaven they don't have bodies don't have eyeballs don't have retinas but Jesus says these angels the angelic spirits they always behold the glory the face of the Father angels do not have larynx throats and yet at Christmas we sing of how they appear and communicate in language peace on earth there is a seeing that does not depend on having eyes there is a hearing that does not depend on ears there is a singing that does not depend on vocal cords that is a serving that does not depend on hands there is a moving that does not depend on feet thinking about the angels helps me at least to begin to think about the life of believers whose souls but not bodies are in heaven angels have active enquiring Minds Peter tells us that they long to look more fully into the redeeming grace of God in the gospel and so will we with adoration and worship in the presence of Jesus angels were told rejoice over one sinner who repents and so will we I believe in the joy of the presence of Jesus by the way if you have a loved one in heaven and you come to Jesus Christ in faith today and repentance today I am very confident that God will make sure that they share in the joy that will be involving all of the Angels over your salvation today I do not think I do not think that our loved ones in Christ are taken up with observing our lives here they have far more interesting things to occupy themselves in the glory of Christ there but I'll tell you this when good news of eternal consequences announced in heaven so that angels rejoice do you not think God would find a way of communicating that to those who have prayed for you and who love you after death believers consciously enjoy the life of heaven again Richard Baxter beautiful comment about the souls of believers at death he says this angels will be their convoy Christ will be their company heaven will be their home and God Himself will be their happiness that's what you got to look forward to the other side of closing your eyes and it's glorious third answer third answer what happens after death what's going to happen to you what happens to a loved one who's in Christ immediately after death well here's the third part of the answer after death believers anticipate the resurrection in other words even in the presence of Christ there is for those who are already there with great joy something that they still look forward to and I'd like to show you that particularly from revelation in chapter 6 you may like to turn there just for a moment it's an often-overlooked little reference of scripture that i think is of great significance revelation in chapter 6 while you're turning there a few years ago Val Savage who some of you will remember with great affection a member of our congregation here was diagnosed with a terminal cancer and has for the last years been with the Lord when she received her diagnosis and was told that she had a short time to live she wrote to Steve Brady who is a pastor and a Bible College principal in England and the reason she did that was that this man had spent a number of years of his life doing doctoral research on what the script see in relation to the soul and the intermediate state and the resurrection and these things that are before us today and so here's this dear lady and she asks this learned man who spent years doing a doctorate studying the scriptures on these things she writes the most basic practical question I know Steve you've been studying these things you've got a doctorate in it you've been looking at them in the Bible for years it's been the focus of your great attention I've just been told that I have only a very short time to live I have a terminal cancer I have a few questions I want to ask you what should I expect what's it going to be like for me what have you found in all your studies in the Bible pastor Steve wrote her a truly moving and wonderful wonderful letter which she then shared with me and he drew her attention to Revelation chapter 6 and verse 9 and 10 along with a number of other passages in what he wrote I want you just to look at what's here and to see its significance John looks into heaven and and he says I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had born so he sees in the presence of God Souls souls of believers that's what we're talking about today and what's happening with them they cried out with a loud voice o Sovereign Lord holy and true how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth that's Revelation chapter 6 and verse 10 Steve then in his letter made these observations that I quote what do the righteous do while they wait for the Lord's return one they worship they are before God's throne and so will you two they wonder they do not have all their questions answered yet they ask how long like us they have to be patient for some things to become clear so don't worry if you don't get it all sorted out now that's very helpful three they wait although they are perfectly happy the spirits in heaven are still waiting for that great reunion when in the resurrection glory we shall shine and we're going to look at that god willing next week then he adds this interesting comment this presupposes some kind of time even in the intermediate state time without tyranny but time nevertheless these souls have a past that they remember a present that they enjoy and a future to which they hasten how long and as we anticipate the day of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ they anticipate the glory that is yet to be theirs and ours together with us so understand this our loved ones in Christ enjoy a life that is far better that's Philippians 1 and verse 23 far better but even far better is not yet best best the ultimate completion of all that God has for us in Jesus Christ a weeds the day when he will come in power and glory and we'll look at that together as I said next week the resurrection until then what happens to a believer what will happen to you if you're in Christ at the point of death after death believers are home with the Lord we consciously enjoy the life of heaven and we anticipate what is yet to be in the glories of the resurrection now I've might one more question much more briefly but it is perhaps the most important of all and it's simply this question how can I believe her faced death with confidence we talked about death what it is we talked about what will happen the other side of it how can a believer face death with confidence now notice what Paul says in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 6 he says we are always of good courage and he's talking about the context of death here I read that I think oh I would like that to be true of me wouldn't you like that to be true of you when you come to that moment wouldn't you like to say I'm of good courage we all have to face our fears in life we're all going to have to face our fears and death I want to be able to say I'm of good courage Paul how do you do that how do you face your fears in death with good courage well look at why just in the immediate previous verse he says this it's wonderful I'd never seen this quite so clearly before he says verse 5 he who has prepared us for this very thing is God see what he's saying come to the moment of death here's what you need to know God is the one who has been preparing you for this very thing they said the words he uses he's been working on you he's been working in you everything he's been doing in your life has been leading up to this moment and we talked about preparing for death and that's very important but here's something far more wonderful and far more important Paul says here's what will give you courage in the face of death that God has been preparing you for this very thing and he began preparing you for this very thing back in eternity before you were ever born before the creation of the world he said his love on you that was the beginning of the preparation and when he sent his son into the world born and that first Christmas he was preparing the way for you and when Jesus hung on the cross what was all that boaty was bearing your sins Christian so taking them into his death so that you would not take them into yours so that you'd be prepared you wouldn't be in your sins and then he sent his spirit and he awakened your heart and he gave you a love for Christ and he began to turn you around in repentance and then he continued to work through the joys and the sorrows of your life what has God been doing in your life all these years here is what Paul says look Christian he is preparing you for this very thing it's all leading up to this and when the moment of your death comes nothing will be left to chance God in Jesus Christ has prepared a place for you and Christ by His Holy Spirit has prepared you for the place love that phrase underline it the one who prepares you for this very thing is God and if God prepares me for this very thing that is a reason for courage there is a reason for confidence that is the whole point that he's saying I'll end with this it's moving to me still pastor Steve writing to a dear friend of his as well as of mine and the letter I referred to earlier a believer who knew she only had a very short time to live before crossing the valley of death and entering the presence of Jesus and I'll read the closing of his letter all that said I desire more than anything else for you simply to be assured that no one and nothing anywhere or at any time will ever be able to separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord he says Katherine booth the wife of William Booth the founder of the Salvation Army as she was dying aged 60 cents her final message to the army this is what she said the waters are rising but so am i I am NOT going under I am going over you are not going under but over and by God's grace we shall meet on the other side where all will be well forever with loads of love my sympathy and my prayers I commit you afresh to him who has the keys of death and he'll accordingly until he puts the key in the lock of the door of your Testament you will be here and when he does open the door he the risen conquering Lord Jesus your Savior will be the first one you will see let's pray together father seal into our hearts all that is ours in Christ in life and death and eternity and for anyone who is not yet in Christ through repentance and faith let them fly to the Savior this moment and delay no longer for Jesus sake we ask these things and everyone said

Channel: Unlocking the Bible

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Keywords: unlocking the bible, colin smith, sermon, john stott, with, Christ, Corinthians, Bible, teaching, jesus Christ, afterlife, Christians, heaven, hell, what is death, dying, union, in, heavens

Id: -SXTvna4r68

Length: 43min 5sec (2585 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 02 2012