Beloved family and friends of Lucille Robley, when the Apostle Paul deals with this particular text here in 2 Corinthians 5, if you notice the first words that he says, for we know. That is the confidence that the believer has of knowing the truth in Jesus Christ. If you are outside of Jesus Christ, if you are not believing and trusting in Him at this moment in your life, You have no idea what's going to happen to you when you die. And believe me, death is coming. It's coming for each and every one of us. The scriptures are very clear about the number of our days are very short. Actually, the psalmist in Psalm 90 prays that the Lord would teach him to number his days so that he would have a heart of understanding, so that he would know how to live his life before the true and living God. Psalm 39 teaches us that our days are like a hand breath. They're very short. A hand breath in scripture is from your pinky to your thumb. That's about the duration of time. As James says, it's like a vapor. It appears for a little time and vanishes away. So it is with our life. So we need to be people who are instructed and who know the truth, and it's only found in God's word. You don't find what's going to happen to you after this life in any other resource except the word of the true and living God. He alone has declared it. And so this is what Paul says, for we know. And this is the comfort of the believer, of knowing the truth in Jesus Christ. We know this. We know that if this, our earthly house, this tent, he's using a metaphor. He speaks of the body as a tent, an earthly house. And he speaks in this way because it's temporary. It's actually what the Greek term means. It's a temporary habitation. I like to think of the nation Israel and as they dwelt in tents for so many years, wandering in the wilderness. That was not their eternal home. That was not the home that they were looking for, that has builder and its maker is God. Solid foundation. That's not what they were looking for. That was temporary dwelling. And it was meant just for that. To be able to be picked up, set down again, picked up again, and moved. Well, when he speaks about the habitation from heaven, he's talking about permanence. And this is what Christ refers to in John 14, that He goes and He prepares a place for us, a place of permanence, a place that will not be destroyed. Now, the reference here, notice, is our bodies. Our bodies are decaying. Our bodies are wearing out. And we all know it, we're all experiencing it at this moment in time. Every one of us are experiencing that fact, that the body is wearing out. So to know and to have confidence in the truth of God's word, that Christ has gone to prepare a place for his loved ones, for those whom he has redeemed, it's great comfort for the believer. to know that I'm not going to be in this particular body, this fallen body, this sin-cursed world in which we live forever. That's not going to be the permanent dwelling place of the people of God. We are on the highway to holiness. We are headed for the city of God. The building and maker is God, to a habitation where the body doesn't wear out. where we'll have this mortal, we'll put on immortality. The corruptible puts on incorruption. Death is swallowed up in life. Now, beloved, you've grown in this body. You struggle in this body. And we all do. And the older you get, the more struggles you have. You're going to find out that you had muscles and tendons and joints and things that you never knew you had until you get an older age. and you bend over to tie your shoe and your hip is out of joint. You're gonna realize at that point that this is all a result, a consequence of sin. You're looking at this casket here. It's a result of sin. Because of sin, we die. Because of sin, we get sick. Because of sin, we have cancer. Because of sin, we have wars. We have strife. We have difficulty and affliction and problems. And they are a constant thing in this life. Job even says that man born unto woman is born unto troubles. He is full of troubles. And it's one after another. Even as the sparks fly upward, so are the troubles of mankind. And you understand this. So Paul says for the believer, we are confident that if our earthly house, this tent, this body is destroyed, it's torn down. That's what it means. It's coming to nothing. We have a building from God. What a comfort. This is not my home I'm just passing through. This is not where my comfort is. This is not where my confidence is. It rests in Jesus Christ in the promise of God. We have a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, which means it's everlasting. We have a body that's coming for every believer that's going to be filled with glory, made and fashioned like unto the body of the Lord Jesus Christ that is everlasting, never wearing out, never dying, never diseased, no more glasses. No more of the things that we know in this life, because sin will be eradicated. And therefore, no more suffering and pain and sorrow. The sorrow of life. We've all had the sorrows. Some greater than others. And it seems it's one sorrow after another. And you look around, and you see family and friends in here. And you know, you're going to be at their funeral or they're going to be at your funeral. And there's going to be sorrow. And so the longing and the comfort we find is in the building which God has prepared for his people. And this is a reality because of the work of Jesus Christ alone. And so that makes the question of this. Are you trusting Jesus Christ? Many people are church members and they go and they hear about Jesus on Sundays. Some do, some maybe they don't in the place where they go. But hearing about Jesus is not knowing Jesus. And the question I have for you is do you know him? To know Him means to be in union with Him. It means to be united to Him. That's the only way that you can have the hope of the promise of a body that God has prepared by His Son, which is everlasting, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, and boy, do we groan. You go to the nursing home, and you hear the residents there, and you hear the groaning. And you visit with the elderly and you hear the groaning. And for you young people, you hear your parents and you hear the groans when they get up in the morning. But we're groaning. We earnestly desire to be clothed. Paul is writing to the church. Paul is writing to the promise to the believer. If you're an unbeliever, you're here this afternoon and you're not trusting Christ, this epistle is not for you. This is for those who are trusting in Jesus Christ. This is the comfort, the promise, the confidence that we have, that even though we've grown earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation from heaven, we've grown wanting, desiring that. But here's the problem. Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 15 that we're of the earth, we're earthy. So we have a desire to remain, to be with our family, our loved ones. And there is the struggle. You ever see somebody that's drowning, and how they fight to gasp for breath? We're of the earth, we're earthy. We want to live. Life is a precious gift. And so we struggle, and we fight to remain alive. Even to that last breath that's gasped. But we have a habitation from heaven, and so we're also heavenly. We're fashioned after the image of God. And so there is a tension while in this world, wanting to remain and be with loved ones, but yet also have an desire to depart and to be with Christ, as Paul said in Philippians 1, which is far better than being here and groaning in this body, in this sin-cursed world in which we live. But if we're here, the Lord still has a purpose for us. So even though we've grown and even though we long for the habitation to heaven, we have a purpose, we have a vocation, we have a commission to carry out while we're still on this earth. He goes on. He says, if indeed having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. And what he's talking about is the body being taken off. Man is created body and soul. We have an outward life, we have an inward life. And the outward life is an expression of what's going on in the heart. Even as you read in the Proverbs, the man thinks in his heart, so is he. How he lives and moves and has his being is an expression of what's going on in his soul, what he's thinking. And so, The apostle speaks about the body being put off and being naked of just being in the soul. Man is the body as respects his body. Man is his soul as respects his soul. And man is going to go into the ground in his body. A lot of people think you think with your brain. And yet the scripture says that man, when he dies, he goes on as a conscious existence. which means that the brain goes into the ground because it's a material aspect of man, but he continues on as a thinking entity. So there is more to thinking than just the human physical brain. It's in the mind, it's in the inner man, where the thinking is done. And there is an expression of that through the brain. But make no mistake, the brain will go into the ground. And so, we don't want to be found naked. Nobody wants to die. Nobody wants that breaking of the silver cord to be loosed, the soul to depart from the body. And that body breathes its last, and the soul departs. We struggle, we fight against that. If indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened." And we are burdened. Not because we want to be unclothed, but this is the desire for the believer. For the clothed. I would rather not die. It's not my choice. That's in God's providence. I'd rather be alive when Christ returns. And there will be people on this earth who are alive when Christ physically returns to this earth. And Paul makes mention of this in 1 Corinthians 15, that they will be changed instantly in the twinkling of an eye, which means the time it takes for light to refract off of the eye. They will be changed. I would rather have that than go through the experience of death. But it's the desire to be further clothed. The soul doesn't want to be unclothed. It wants to be immortality. That's what the desire is. For this mortal to put on immortality. No more ravages of disease of the body. No more death. That it be further clothed. Mortality swallowed up by life. Not as gobbled up by life. It reminds me of light and darkness. Life always conquers death. How do you know? Because Christ is life. We read that, John 14. He is the way, the truth, and the life. The definite article in the Greek text. The way, the truth, the life, which means the only way, the only truth, the only life. And he is life itself. In him is life. And he swallows up death. The death of Christ was the death of all death for his people. And so life always defeats death because Christ is life. And therefore light always dispels darkness. If it's dark in this worship area and the lights come on, the darkness flees. And so it is that the mortality is going to be swallowed up by immortality. That's the promise that God gives us in his word. Notice verse 5, He who has prepared us for this very thing is God. And notice the confidence that the believer has, that He has given us this assurance by the Holy Spirit who dwells in the believer. So it's the Spirit of God who is, Paul says in Ephesians 4, He is a down payment of the promise, the possessions that God has promised. So the Erebon, the down payment, the guarantee of this going to come to pass, is the Holy Spirit who testifies through the Word that this is true. And that's where the believer draws his confidence and his comfort. That was Lucille's comfort. I had an occasion to visit with her, oh, probably over the last six months, numerous times. And to have these talks with her about death, about dying, about going to be with the Lord, and asking those hard questions. You know the hard questions that most people don't want to ask? But they are the all-important questions. Who cares about your stocks and your bonds when you're laying on your deathbed? So I want to know when I'm talking to her. As a member of this congregation, and one whom I love, I want to know, where's your hope? Where's your comfort? Where's your confidence? She said one word, Jesus. And that's it. That's the hope, the comfort, and the confidence. And you can only have that hope, that comfort, and that confidence by the working of the Holy Spirit, who Paul says is the guarantee that this mortal will put on immortality. The Holy Spirit dwelling in the believer is the guarantee that all the benefits of Christ have accrued to his people. That is the guarantee. And He bears witness with our spirits, through the Word, that we are children of the living God, and we can have comfort and confidence and hope. Do you, this afternoon, have that comfort and confidence? If you do not, you need to cry out to the only wise God, the one who holds your breath in His very hands. Don't leave here this afternoon if you don't know that you're in the hand of Jesus Christ, that you've been redeemed by him and that he is your only comfort in life and in death. These things are eternal matters. You're not talking about a bank account. You're not talking about a change of job or moving to a different city or selling your home. You're talking about where you are going to dwell forever and ever and ever and ever. Is it going to be with God in the kingdom which righteousness dwells? Or will you be suffering the just judgment of God against your sin forever and ever and ever? And it's coming. And there's only two places where people go when they die, when they depart from this earth. They either go to heaven or to hell. Where will you be? Where will you show up? So the believer, verse 6, we are always confident. We have a great confidence, knowing. Having a knowing mind comes through the teaching of the Word of God, through the ministry of the Spirit. That is how we know. That is how we can be confident. And again, if you're not believing and trusting in Christ, this is all foreign to you. You don't get it. You don't understand how and why we believe the truth. It's because the Spirit, who is the guarantee, has convinced the soul of the truth of God's word and has created faith to believe this holy word. And so we know and we are always confident. Confidence is a bold courage. No one has the right to proclaim God's Word unless they boldly, confidently, and with courage believe the promises of God. I heard once Benjamin Franklin went to hear the preaching of George Whitefield. And one of Benjamin Franklin's friends said to him, why are you going to hear that guy? You don't believe the gospel. It was interesting, his response. He says, no, I don't, but he does. It was worth going to hear somebody with conviction who believed something. Do you believe? Knowing that while we're at home, while we're here in this body, we are absent from the Lord. So, Christ is in heaven. Christ has risen from the dead and has departed this earth and is now at the right hand of the Father. Somewhere in this universe, Christ sits ruling over all things for His honor and glory and the praise of His heavenly Father. And so, that is where He is. And while we were here, we are not physically with Him. But He's spiritually present with us through His Spirit. And we walk by faith. Many walk by sight today. What you can see, what you can feel. Many act just like animals. I didn't say you were animals. I said many act like animals. You live by your senses. What I can see, what I can hear, what I can taste, what I can touch, what I can smell. That's how the lower creation lives. We're not created to live that way. They are an aspect of the body, but we are rational creatures. And we are called to be thinking people and to reason. That's why in Isaiah 1, it says, come, let us reason together, to reason with the truth. So the believer walks by faith. He walks by trust. Walking by faith means by walking by the promises of God. Let God be true, and all men liars. Whether the whole world is against the Word of God, it doesn't matter. God is true, and mankind is wrong. And this is how faith walks. This is how faith believes. This is how faith lives. Believing the promise of God. If God says it, that settles it forever. It's not God said it, I believe it, that settles it. It's God said it, that settles it forever. Whether you believe it is of eternal consequence. But it's irrelevant whether or not it's the truth. Because God's Word is truth, whether you believe it or not. But faith walks by the promise of God, not by the things that it sees. So if the whole world is against us, it doesn't matter. Because Romans 8 tells us that if God before us, who could be against us? If the world says all there is is this life, it doesn't matter. Because we know there is an afterlife. We know that there is an eternity. And every man knows, because God has put eternity in every man's heart. He just simply denies the truth. And so, Paul concludes, and he says this, we are confident. I love that. To be confident. To know that you know, because of the working of the Spirit through the Word, in your heart. That you're in the hands of God. Christ has lived and died in your place, and you have life evermore. What a confidence to know that. To know that nothing can come upon me by chance, but all things are in the hands of my Heavenly Father. To know that I am immortal until God's purpose is done. Not man's purpose, God's purpose. When God is finished with us, you die. What a confidence to know that. And we are well pleased, rather, to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. That's the longing for the believer. To depart, as Paul says, and be with Christ. You can't even compare it to this life. This has nothing for me here. And the older you get, the less things that you want to be entangled with in this world. You desire to depart and to be with Christ. And the more you see the weirdness of this world, the rebellion of this world against the triune God, the silliness of this world, the stupidity of this world, the longer there is a desire to leave and be with the Lord and be in that kingdom where righteousness reigns. That's the longing and that's the hope of every believer. And that confidence comes through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I said it again, said it once, I'll say it again. Christ came into this world. He lived that perfect life, fulfilling all of the righteous demands of the law. He lived perfectly. Every jot and every tittle of the law, He lived it perfectly. He fulfilled all the righteous demands of God. And then He went to the cross. And He poured out His life unto death. And He was one who was damned in the place of His people, suffering second death, suffering an eternity on the cross for the souls of His people. He suffered the inexpressible anguish, pains and tears of the cross that His people might have life in that more abundantly. And He rose from the dead, which was a declaration from the Father that the Son's work was received by the Father. And that's the confidence of every believer. And he says, come, come to me, all you who are burdened and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Is your comfort and your hope in the only Savior, Jesus? I beg you today to be reconciled to God. Your hope is only in Jesus Christ. Amen. Shall we pray?