Please remain standing for our scripture lesson out of 2 Corinthians 5, verses 1-5. He says, 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 are 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. Amen. Dear saints, you may be seated. We are in a new chapter, an exciting one, chapter 5, breaking into it. It's amazing. This chapter is really incredible. One of the wonderful ministry passages and chapters in all of scripture. This is going to be an exciting sermon, but let's pray and ask God's grace. Father, we thank you for your word. Thank you that it's applicable to us in this world and the world to come. We pray that you'll bless us abundantly in Jesus and give us the bread of life, Christ himself. As we're in these tents down here, may we be good stewards of them, occupy them, and use them for your glory. This we pray in Jesus' name, Amen. So dears, at the very outset, I want to explain the overall passage here from my perspective. I do believe that Paul's language of the quote, tent, is in reference to our currently occupied, fallen, and yet redeemed bodies. Remember, The bodies of redeemed elect churchmen are fallen, but they're already redeemed. They're just not glorified. Keep that in mind. And that Paul's use of the terms building, or house not made with hands, or heavenly dwelling, all of these phrases refer to these same bodies that we have now, but in their resurrected or glorified state. This text also may have application to what we sometimes call the intermediate state. the situation in which the saints who are in the church triumphant currently find themselves. They had redeemed risen souls, they're in heaven, and yet they have not received, they're still anticipating the great day of judgment, the great resurrection, general resurrection of the body, the intermediate state. So if I am correct, in this interpretation. It could be said that the Apostle Paul is outlining for us the three states of being of Christians, churchmen, redeemed people, the covenant of God, the Israel of God, the people of God. The three states of being. First, our quote being in this tent, verses 1, 2, and 4, i.e. in this life, so that's where we are. In this tent is in this life. Two, our dwelling in the quote building from God, verse 1a, if our quote earthly home is destroyed, is i.e. perhaps the intermediate state, And three, our residence in, quote, our heavenly dwelling, verse three, i.e., is our resurrected or glorified bodies in that state of the eternal state which we will be in. after the Day of Judgment. So in light of this, let's make it our goal this Lord's Day to persevere in Jesus while living in our tent of preparation. With this in mind, we're studying today 2 Corinthians 5, 1-5. Title of the sermon is, The Tent of Preparation. The doctrine, the tent of preparation gives way to the redeemed churchman's permanent dwelling. Now granted, this seems to be the main thrust of Paul's teaching here. It's not that the tent that you're in is bad. This isn't Gnostic teaching. It's not that the creation of God is bad. We know that all God's creation is good. All of it. It's just that something will be perfected that is this same body as resurrected on the last day and that is supremely best. That's the ultimate in terms of the situation of a body. Truly, we believers here on earth live in the tension between our groaning and our longing and, all the while, wanting to be good stewards of the opportunities we have while in this tent to glorify God here and now, where it is rough and tumble, hard and difficult, where all the struggles are. Now, for this, dears, we need a lot of help from God every day, every Sunday, all the time. We need his assistance. We cannot do this on our own. And we get that help in Christ, in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, using the written word of God, giving us the encouragement we need. And therefore, let us now grasp some biblical dynamics around why the tent of preparation gives way to the redeemed churchman's permanent dwelling. First, this was modeled in the tabernacle-temple transition in the Old Testament. Now here we have a wonderful Old Covenant example of this principle of moving from something good to something better. The tabernacle, which was set up in the wilderness wanderings, if you remember the history of Old Israel, Old Covenant Church, was finally staked down in Jerusalem during David's reign. So it went all around the wandering areas where the people had to go before all the rebels died in the wilderness. And then David's king, and they take the tabernacle and stake down the tent, just like you would if you went to a campsite, for instance. And the tabernacle which was set up in that wilderness and staked down was a movable one. It was deconstructible, if you will. It was a tent apparatus and it was replete with the Ark of the Covenant and the altar and all the utensils for animal and other sacrifices and offerings. So the priests had everything they needed. It was movable. It was like U-Haul, I mean moving things around all over the place until finally it ended up in Jerusalem. So in the 11th year of Solomon's reign, you'll remember David prepared all the items for the new temple to be built. Finally in the 11th year, that temple in Jerusalem was completed. And that temple then made the tabernacle obsolete. So it went from something movable to something more structured. Everything that had been kept in the tabernacle, including the ark with the three items of Moses' staff that had budded, the manna, a piece of manna, and the two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments, which we even read today, they were firmly and apparently ensconced forever in the temple. which of course was destroyed in 586 BC by the Babylonians. So what had essentially changed between the economy of the tabernacle and now of the temple? It was the position or the place of the church or people of God. They were now in the promised land. They were in the place that God had promised, and Joshua had led them in. So the tabernacle served in the wilderness, the temple serves in the promised land. The tent of preparation gives way to the redeemed churchman's permanent dwelling. This was modeled in the tabernacle-temple transition in the Old Testament, and it was perfected in Christ's incarnation ascension in the New Testament. Now John 1.14, that great passage we opened our service with today, our call to worship, referenced on your outline, literally says that Christ came here and tabernacled amongst us poor lost wretched sinners. The Son of God comes down here and wanders around on earth with us. Not that he was aimless or didn't know exactly what he was doing, but he did that for us, for our betterment. He was willing to go wherever we had to go in order to meet all of our needs and to fulfill all the prophecies of the Old Covenant. Then, on the other end of our Messiah's three-year strictly earthly ministry, he ascends up into heaven 40 days after the resurrection. And he is seated at the Father's right hand and crowned with glory and honor and given all authority over everything in heaven and on earth. All principality and power, every nation, every square inch of the globe, and everything that exists. And that's what happened. So in these vivid scriptural motifs, one from the Old Testament and one from the New, we may envision our own corporal or bodily sojourns in Jesus down here on earth as his church. Now let's do the exegesis of verses 1 to 5. and comprehend together how the Tent of Preparation serves each atoned for Christian. So instead of viewing this Tent of Preparation, these currently fallen redeemed bodies, as liabilities, We're going to seek to discern how they forward our growth and grace in our Lord Jesus Christ. And toward that end then, let us freshly discover how the tent of preparation serves each atoned for Christian. First, it is sufficient for us while we need it in this fallen world. 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. Now, granted, Paul is focusing here mostly on the exigency or the case of our going to our heavenly, quote, house in the event that we lose the one we possess down here. But I still, in this point, want to camp on His phrase, the tent that is our earthly home. After all, dears, think about this with me. Is this not where we really are today, all of us. Are we not in this tent that is our earthly home? Is this not where we hear, heard, received the gospel of grace? Were we not in this tent of our earthly home when the Holy Spirit came upon us in regenerating power and made us new creatures in Christ? Is this not where we have all our needs and where we get to exercise our faith in Jesus? Without a doubt, the answer to all those questions is yes. In my opinion, on the whole, Christians are too eager to deprecate their lives on earth. And often, correspondingly, they do not steward their fallen, redeemed bodies as well as we should while here on earth. And I'm sure all of us are somewhat guilty of that. Nowhere in the Holy Scripture, Old or New Testament, are we ever taught to deplore, decry, denigrate, disrespect our fallen, redeemed bodies. Instead, we are even to consider them, as per Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 3.16, temples of the Holy Spirit. Now all this is to say that Jesus Christ came here and expended his precious lifeblood to redeem not only our souls but these bodies as well that we currently possess and therefore let us be good keepers of them for the glory of Christ. How the tent of preparation serves each atoned for Christian It is sufficient for us while we need it in this fallen world, and it is insufficient for us in that it spurs us on to more glory in Christ. Verses 2 to 4. 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 are 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." Now we can sense here very clearly Paul's angst-filled passion, his great longing, to depart and be with Christ. He doesn't want to be unclothed, as he says, i.e. without a body. You know, that's what that means. Paul's saying, I don't want to be without a body. I don't want to be a disembodied spirit. Saying, I don't want to be unclothed, but rather he desires to be, quote, further clothed. which means that he's in his current body, not a new one, not a different one, his current body in its resurrected glorified state, which will only occur on the great last day of judgment for all the saints. And of course there's nothing wrong with this yearning, this longing. So if you dear saints sometimes are so exasperated with your struggles and trials and hardships and difficulties and sufferings and pains and aches and agony and frustrations, that's understandable. That's okay, too, in a certain way, in a certain realm, within certain boundaries, when it's massaged with the grace of God and the wonderful gospel and the sovereignty of God working in your life. There's nothing wrong with this yearning, especially as it motivates us on to more Christ-likeness, purer godliness, growing in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus, becoming holy like he is, only in grace. Now, in this sense, it may properly be said, theologically and biblically, that our current fallen redeemed tent bodies are, in this sense, a hindrance to our glorified perfection in Christ. That's true. Paul seems to be saying, because I'm still in this body, I can't quite yet reach that glorified perfection in Christ. And even says in Philippians how he has not yet achieved, but he stretches, he presses on for the high calling of the glory of God in Christ Jesus while yet in this tent body. It is okay in that sense. It is, in that sense, legitimately right for us to acknowledge this. that the fallen, redeemed tent body is something of a hindrance. And the reason for this, of course, as we all know from our own personal experiences so well, is the continuing influence of sin and the Fall and our still-abiding presence of flesh in our souls, that horrible resistance to Christ and the Gospel and all things good that would exalt us as good or holy or self-righteous. Now in glory, in heaven, all those things will be gone. Now before we leave this passage, these three verses, please notice the last words of verse 4, quoting Paul, so what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now what the Apostle means here is he's talking about the very last fully affected dimension of Christ's atonement of his elect and redeemed Church. You have all these dimensions, but you have not yet the resurrection of your already redeemed bodies, which will happen on the great last day of judgment. So it's a very interesting text, dears. I hope you're getting this. I know it's a little bit of intricate theology. But it's very practical and it's helpful. And the main thing that we need is to understand where we are now and what we need now is all provided for us in Christ. So we're looking at how the tent of preparation, that's what you're in, a tent of preparation, which we'll see in verse 5, serves you, atoned for Christians, it's sufficient while we need it in this fallen world. It's insufficient that it spurs us on to more glory in Christ. And finally, it is inhabited by the blessed Holy Spirit, giving us abundant hope. Verse 5. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee, prepared us. He who is pretent of preparation, that's what you're in. He who has prepared us is God. I think this is where we really need to live, and this is why I chose verse 5 as the key verse for this passage. In other words, sure, obviously, granted, no question about it. With the great apostle Paul, we all agree with him, going on to heaven would be preferred, no doubt. Even as Philippians 1.23 also very clearly states, but there's this world down here is where the action is. Now somebody might say, but I don't like the action. And that's a very understandable sentiment. You might say, but I don't like the action. But dears, this is where we get to make the difference. Do you know that you, the saints on earth, in the tent body, fallen and redeemed, can do things for God, your Father, Christ, the second person, and the power of the Spirit, that the saints in heaven cannot do? Lots of things. Patiently suffer, endure evil, endure persecution, Love when it's hard. Serve one another. Tell others about Jesus. Worship God even when we don't feel like it. Be part of a community that's blessed and loved by God and yet made up of imperfect sinners, saints like all of us, where we have to bear with one another in love, compassion, kindness, tenderness, Those saints above, they don't have those things to think about. Somebody might say, I don't like the action. That's understandable, but this is where it is. But what is the counterweight that puts us over the top, allows us like the soldiers in World War I to get out of the trenches and go up over the top? and go fight for Jesus that makes us willing to abide here, to stay in this tent of preparation for as long as God wants, as long as he calls us. Is it not the presence and power of the blessed Holy Spirit residing within us? The Spirit was given to us as a guarantee, as a down payment, as an assurance, as an absolute validation that all of God's promises to us are yes and amen in Jesus and 100% true. 2 Corinthians 1. Indeed, it's the power of the Spirit. What has God prepared us for here in verse 5? believe it or not, the bodily resurrection from what we just read in verse four. And how has he, God, prepared us? By giving us the Holy Spirit as, quote, a guarantee. A guarantee of what? That our bodies will be resurrected just as our souls already have been by the grace of God in Christ alone. Now here's how Paul explains the same truth in another passage, Romans 5.5, very famous. Hope does not put us to shame or disappoint us because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. So dears, we're going to do some application, but before we get into the formal section of it, just think of this opportunity we have here and now. It's just a little while, too. It's just a few days, a fleeting moment, a blip in the screen. Compared to eternity, it's nothing. Light momentary affliction, the eternal weight of glory, we saw that last week. It's just a little while. It doesn't negate or diminish the suffering, the hardship, the pain, the agony, the difficulty. It doesn't. But it's not going to last very long. Let's be good stewards of it. Now let's do some application and appreciate why the tent of preparation is properly valued by the church's forgiven saints. Remembering that we're not ascetics, we're not Gnostics, we're not those who think the body is bad. We believe, like Paul, that all things God created is good. And so we need to understand why we should value even the tent of preparation in which we're in. You know, I have this little illustration. Our fallen redeemed tent bodies are a little bit like large bottle rockets with long fuses and a canopy over it. We know that we're going to launch off into heaven, but it takes a while for the fire to reach the ignition before we finally do, doesn't it? And while that thing's burning down, that's where we want to be faithful. And by the way, dears, it doesn't matter how old we are, young, old, or somewhere in between. We just don't know what we have left. We really don't. No guarantees. Called upon to be faithful. In the meantime, as we're waiting for that fuse to burn down to the ignition, we live in this tent here with the unseen Christ, with Him, even as we long for, if you will, the mansion above, where we will see Christ. In both places we have Christ. In the church militant, right here, right now, in this place, on this day, in this convocated meeting, we have that same Christ with us right now. In the church militant and in the church triumphant. One church. They worship with us, we worship with them. So this should give us some theological context for our consideration, very important consideration, of why the tent of preparation is properly valued by the church's forgiven saints. First, because Jesus Christ himself assumed it for us. Now, dear saints, by far, this is the biggest reason we prize these earthly fallen tent bodies redeemed by God. Please understand that theologically, in the great event that we call the hypostatic union of Christ, the second person of the Godhead, with our humanity, where the second person became human forever, now both God and man, the divine human person who would now be called Jesus Christ, Jesus, the human, if you will, Christ, the second person from eternity, did not take on himself here a glorified body. Instead, he assumed a body just like yours, given to sickness, disease, deformity, defects, affliction from outside, just like yours, under the fall and its influences, all of them. except for sin, no sin. No original sin, no actual sin, but sin afflicted him plenty. Indeed, here are Paul's famous words from Galatians 4, 4 and 5, but when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. Dear saints, even if there was no other reason at all, for us to value these fallen tent bodies of ours down here which are seeming to go afraid on the edges and cracked up now and then and tear and have all kinds of problems, whatever. Even if there was no other reason, we are obliged to esteem these earthly redeemed fallen tent bodies solely on the basis of the fact that the Son of God himself took one on himself. became just like ours, except for sin. Now, is Jesus Christ still in the same body in which he was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary? And, is he in the same body in which he suffered and died for us as elect church on the cross of Calvary? The answer to that question is yes. He's in the exact same body. But granted now, even as our prayers have already intimated, He is glorified in heaven. His body has been glorified. He's the first fruits of the resurrection, meaning He's the first one. What we will experience on the Day of Judgment, He has already experienced for us. He's the forerunner, the first fruits. His body has been glorified just like ours who are in him will be as well. That's a big reason, dears, that's the biggest reason why you should be good stewards of your time on earth and the tent bodies God's given you. That's the biggest one. because Jesus Christ himself assumed it for us and it is the being sanctified temple of God. I alluded to this earlier and this is the second biggest reason we respect and honor these earthly tents. When we regenerate Christian churchmen say that our current bodies are being sanctified, We mean being sanctified in the sense of our becoming increasingly more like Christ, Lord's Day to Lord's Day. Again, that's 2 Corinthians 3.18 principle of beholding the glory of Christ and being transformed from glory to glory more into his image day by day, particularly Lord's Day to Lord's Day. But there is another New Testament use of the word sanctified that's interesting. And it incorporates the totality of our current standing with God and our justification, where we are already right now perfectly righteous before God, just as righteous and just before the Father as his own natural Son is. And in this sense, we're even said to be already not only sanctified, already, but glorified as well. So there is actually a biblical sense in which we can view the certainty of what will be in the present as if it applies to us already, giving us even more confidence for the struggles and hardships that we must face in this world. And I will give you two great quotation citations, one regarding Sanctification, 1 Corinthians 6.11, the other glorification, Romans 8.30. But here and now we're talking about our process of sanctification, our being more conformed into the image of Christ. But where does that happen, dears? Does that happen in a disembodied state or after you're dead and gone on somewhere else? No. In this life, it happens in these fallen, redeemed tent bodies. It is in these bodies that we profess our faith in Christ. Jesus died and rose for us in a body like ours. Let us trust him that his blood washes away all our sins. His resurrection has secured all of our full and complete justification. Beloved, the tent of preparation will, will give way to the building from God eternal in the heavens. It's a sure thing. Let us be thankful for that. It's okay to yearn and long for that. But let us be, while we're in these tent bodies, good stewards of them. In Jesus for now, let us occupy them as faith-filled ones, occupants of our tents of preparation. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the tent of preparation that you've given us and we all are appreciative of them and we all have a natural desire to preserve them and care for them, and that's a God-given intuition and innate instinct, and we're thankful for it, but we want to be good stewards of our time here, that as we look forward to an eternal state and glory, we're thankful for that, too. We'll give you praise for that, but for now, Lord, may we find ourselves being prepared for glory in Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen.