2 Corinthians 4.16 through 5.9, hear the word of God. Therefore, we do not lose heart, even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. for our light affliction is but for a moment, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this, grown, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation, which is from heaven. If indeed having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent grown, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now, he who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee, so that we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well-pleased, rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Therefore, we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well-pleasing to him. Let's pray and ask God to bless his word to us this evening. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this portion of your inspired, inerrant, infallible word. We pray that by your Holy Spirit, you would help us to understand it and that you would apply it to our hearts and lives for your glory. In Jesus' name, amen. The cosmos, We were told on a television series a couple of decades ago, I guess, is all that is or all that ever was or is or ever will be. From the same worldview position, on what constitutes reality came this kind of description in children's books about the cycle of life. The leaf hangs on the tree in the fall, and it's hanging there, not wanting to let go. And finally, the wind blows harder, the leaf falls to the ground. It dies, decays, and becomes part of the enriching nutrients of the soil to help give birth to a seed that grows into a new tree that has new leaves. And the application made to children was, that's okay, that's what death's like, it's okay, it's a part of the natural cycle of things. But somehow we know that's not true. Somehow we know that there is more than that. Scripture tells us that there are things that we know that go beyond that. Turn for a second to Psalm 19. Beginning with the first verse, the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows his handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. This is what we refer to as natural or general revelation. General because it's not the special revelation of the scriptures. Natural because it is not the supernatural revelation of the scriptures either. It is instead a reflection of the very nature of things from which we read indeed truth. How much truth? Enough? No, not enough. Not enough for salvation at least, but enough to hold us accountable and leave us inexcusable for not knowing and loving and worshiping God and seeking to please him. In Romans chapter one, We read in verse 19, what may be known of God is manifest in them, it's talking about in people that he's created, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made. clearly seen, understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. In the same chapter, verse 28 says, and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, it having said in the verses that we read a few minutes ago that they had such knowledge of God. Even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind to do those things which are not fitting. And then there's a description in verses 29 and 30 and 31 of all sorts of sins. And then verse 32 says, who knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them. So this is asserting that there is a knowledge that all men have of the reality of the God, of the necessity to worship Him and glorify Him, referred to in verse 21, which we didn't read, of the necessity to obey Him of the fact that from him came judgment of those who disobeyed and that they were indeed worthy and deserving of death for their practices. So that there is a general revelation, part of this in terms of the morality that they should know is sometimes termed natural law. by which the Gentiles themselves not having the revelation of the scriptures. Verse 14 says, for when the Gentiles who do not have the law by nature do the things in the law, These, although not having the law, are a law to themselves who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness in between themselves their thoughts, accusing or else excusing them. So these passages that I have put before us teach us and remind us that there are things that even the non-Christian knows about reality that is outside of and beyond physical reality and our experience of physical things. That God is real, that there is a real justice from him, that God is eternal. All of those kinds of things that we were seeing go beyond Materialism is a worldview which says that all that exists is the material things of the cosmos. They include things that you can see through the telescope or things you can see through a microscope as well as those things which don't require either to see them, but nothing else. And no, the Bible says we know better. They know better than that. So there is something more. And it is that something more that is behind so much of the scriptures and is behind our text tonight. Now, a large part of our text tonight is given over to the prospect of death. In Paul's case, likely the prospect of death by persecution and execution. And personally, if I were a leaf, I wouldn't regard the prospects as being very good in terms of, hey, one day, you're gonna decay and you'll be part of the nourishment and sustenance of some seed and some other tree and some other leaf one day. Whoopee. Wouldn't that be exciting? The Bible gives a different idea of how we approach death. and Paul is referring to that here, but understand that underneath that approach is the idea that there is more to reality than just the physical universe. He refers in verse 16 to the difference between our outward man and our inward man. Therefore, we do not lose heart, even though our outward man is perishing, the physical body. Yet the inward man is being renewed day by day, and that's a reference to the soul. Now, yes, there are claims that when people have died, the certain scales present a slight loss of mass. And so the claim there is the soul's real because it has mass. But this is a different idea of that. The outward man indeed, inward man indeed is our soul. It's being renewed day by day. Paul refers to our afflictions as our light affliction. which is but for a moment. And he's saying that even though it may last for quite a long time in earthly ways of counting time, but it says that light affliction is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. So he's contrasting the temporary state of physical matter and reality with an eternal reality as well that the soul is involved with. So this goes beyond what we were seeing in Psalm 19 and Romans one and as well on into chapter two. Because it tells us that there is more than even built in to his own nature being in the image of God and more than what is observable through the universe There is an eternity and there are eternal realities that are weightier. That they are eternal compared to that which is temporary. Look at verse 18. While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. Now what we're talking about here is the idea of worldview, of philosophy of life. And we're saying that that philosophy of life that in dealing with reality says reality is limited to physical matter, that which is made up of molecules and subatomic particles, that that idea of reality is part of an incorrect and materialistic worldview. And that while we are facing death and affliction and maybe persecution, we don't look at those things that are seen because they're only temporary, but we look at things that are not seen, for they are eternal. A Christian worldview. then has a different view of reality altogether from a materialistic worldview that is so common. It's not exclusive. There are new age type of worldviews and other things like that. Some of those are partly a rebellion against mechanistic, materialistic views of reality. Some of those are a reflection of the fact that yes, we know there is more. Some of those, and here's what's partly interesting about it. While there is a sense, that all mankind have of the reality of God, of the reality of eternity and of punishment, of the reality that there's something more, apart from special revelation, from God's revelation in scripture as opposed to his revelation in the creation itself, apart from that, we don't have the explanation for those things. So people come up with explanations like those of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader of the force. Close your eyes, Luke. Use the force. The idea is simply that there's something more, that something more than man's technology and man's ability But even that implies the recognition that there is not only that which is eternal and good, meaning God, but there seems to be that which is eternal and bad. Because a movie like that had the conception of a dualism, an ultimate good and an ultimate evil both combined in one force. And so there was a good side of the force and a bad side of the force, and of course, like good and white witches as opposed to bad and black witches would only be sought the good side. And that's not the way it is. It's a hypothesis. All sorts of hypotheses are made. And sometimes those are put in the forms of things that we can carve on a totem pole. But we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. Because the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. And so chapter five begins to talk about our earthly house, this tent. It's talking about our body. If that's destroyed, We have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Earthly body, earthly house. Heavenly house, a building from God. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven. that which is eternal, that which comes from a place we've not seen in our telescopes or microscopes, but that which is from heaven, a house eternal in the heavens, not visible. Verse five, Well, I'll refer briefly to verses three and four. Indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked, for we who are in this tent, grown, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. You see, a materialistic worldview thinks of mortality as being swallowed up by death. But for Christianity, mortality, which is dying, is swallowed up not by death, but by life, and by eternal life. Have you been to a funeral in which you've observed somebody go up to heaven? No. What do you see? You see their body, you see the casket closed, lowered into the ground, and we know that the body decays there, but not the soul. But you can't see the soul. We know these things by God's special revelation, especially in scripture, and not by what we call natural revelation. Verse five says, now he who has prepared us for this very thing, having our mortality swallowed up by life, not death, is God who also has given us the spirit as a guarantee or as an earnest payment. A down payment, that kind of thing. What Paul is saying is here that the Holy Spirit is given to believers in this life. And you can't see the Holy Spirit. So that, verse six says, so we are always confident. Go back to verse 16 in chapter four. Therefore we do not lose heart. Here, so we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well-pleased rather, to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. To be present somewhere else. To be present somewhere that's invisible. to ourselves and our souls to, at that time, not be visible. And really, the key verse in all of this, along with verse 18 of chapter four, but crisper and more succinct, is verse seven, for we walk by faith, not by sight. In some ways, that's the very heart of a Christian worldview. Now, yes, that Christian worldview is fleshed out in terms of what it is we believe when we walk by faith, and the whole scriptures unfold that, but it's a different approach to life than the rest of the world takes. The rest of the world either walks by sight or walks by superstition and imagination, and Christians walk by faith, not by sight, and also not by our own imaginations or superstitions. It makes a difference between losing heart and being confident. It makes a difference in how we approach death not as something that is ultimately ending, mortality being swallowed up by death, but as ultimately enduring mortality being swallowed up by life. You know, you could even get the non-Christian to agree with this statement. If you want to be practical and to be wise in the way that you live, live in accord with reality. But they have a different view of reality. But the statement is true. The reality that is real includes that which is eternal and heavenly, that which is invisible. We haven't seen God. Scripture say no man has seen God at any time. We haven't seen heaven. We haven't seen the devil or demons or angels, most of us for that matter. But they are real. How do we know those things are real? Because the scriptures testify to us of those things. Faith is the realm of the revealed unseen. Turn to, keep your finger here, but turn to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11 is known as the chapter that records for us the role of the heroes of the faith. and they are listed, but it is not for the sake of listing them, but for showing us faith in practice, or practical, wise, Christian living in the light of real reality, as opposed from merely physical reality. Verse one of Hebrews chapter 11, now faith is a substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. And there are debates over both the translation of the word substance and the translation of the word evidence, but the general idea is that faith is about the reality of an unseen realm. and all that relates to that. Verse three, by faith we understand that the world's reframed by the word of God so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. The things which are seen in the universe are not made up of the elements of a supremely heavy molecule being unstable, exploding in a big bang, and sending matter spread throughout the universe. We, by faith, understand that the worlds were not framed by that sort of thing, but by the word of God. Look at verse seven. By the way, that beginning time is not something that people have seen at all. Not the materialist nor the Christian. So whatever view they hold, interestingly, they hold on a faith as well. But part of the difference is that our faith grounded in the teachings of scripture is solid and theirs is empty. Verse seven, by faith Noah being divinely warned of things not seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. so that unseen things, in this case unseen because future, were part of his worldview once God revealed them to him, and he lived life practically following the truth and the assumption of the truth of those things that God revealed about a coming flood, an ark which could save him and his household and animals on the earth from the coming flood. Verse 13, talking about Abraham and his descendants. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off. not really seeing them with the eyes, obviously, but having accepted the revelation of them, were assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. Verse 27, we read about Moses, by faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king that was visible, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. The Christian cannot live a life based on a non-Christian worldview. That's why Paul says in Romans 12 to be not conformed to this world but be transformed, how? By the renewing of your mind. By learning to accept and believe the things that the scripture teaches. There is the wisdom that Proverbs as a book of wisdom teaches. There is a reality that goes beyond the physical material universe. It's not smart to live a life that ignores the reality of Satan. He's like a lion. going about seeking who he may devour. He is a deceiver. And we are to arm ourselves against him with the whole armor of God. For our enemies are not flesh and blood, but principalities and powers. spiritual rather than physical realities. And God, and God's Spirit, and heaven and hell, all of these things are invisible and eternal realities of a spiritual rather than a physical nature. but we see throughout the scripture that there is not this hard line of partition that entirely separates the physical realm from the spiritual realm, but there are indeed ways that there is communication between the two, influence from one to the other, And the path of Christian living for the Christian is founded on walking by faith, believing everything that the Word of God teaches, all of the realities about our sin, and the condemnation that our sin deserves. The realities taught in scripture about salvation for people who deserve that condemnation from a holy and just God, but a salvation that comes through Jesus Christ and from God the Father. and is applied by the Holy Spirit, whom we don't see. Yes, Christ was visible when he walked here on earth, but he's not now, and none of us have seen him. He is in heaven at the right hand of God, and we can't see that place. We, according to scripture, are seated in the heavenlies with Christ Jesus, according to the book of Ephesians. We don't see it, but it's true. We don't see the reality of eternal life that 2 Corinthians is talking about in our text tonight in chapters four and five, but it's true. It shapes how we live and how we face death. Do you live and walk by faith, not by sight? Too much of the time, we must all confess that we walk by sight, that we look at the things around us, that we look at the things threatened. We fear those things. not realizing, not remembering, not considering that those things are but for a moment, and are working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Romans 8.28, a verse that is among the most comforting, I think, of all the verses in Scripture. depends on this idea, verse 28 in Romans 8. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose. And when we face those things that don't seem to be good, and our sight and our vision does not prove and show that they are good, we sometimes tend to lose heart rather than to be confident. And what makes a difference is faith. Why do we believe that all things work together for good to us? One reason only. And it's not experience. God says it. God's Word teaches that. So that what I want you to be recognizing tonight is that in regard to the facing of death, and in regard to facing anything else in life, anything troubling we might face, we can instead be confident through God and the teachings and promises of his word, and we must walk day by day, moment by moment, by faith, not by sight. But we see things, and still, no. We don't walk by sight, but we see those things, they're real. Yes, they're real, but so are the things we don't see, that God tells us about, that his word reveals and unfolds for us. Our relationship with Jesus Christ, whom we don't see, the Holy Spirit whom we, who indwells us but we don't see. Those things are real. The forgiveness that has been purchased for us, it's real. The promise of eternal life and a city made without hands also referred to in Hebrews chapter 11 as a dwelling place for believers, referred to as well here in 2 Corinthians 5. Not seen, but real. You walk by sight. you will lose heart. I can't hold on to the tree any longer. I'm going to fall down and decay. Oh, but it's okay. I'll be part of another tree one day. No. No. We don't have to hang on, hold on. It doesn't depend on us. It depends on God. We walk by faith. We believe in eternity and eternal life. We believe in Jesus Christ and salvation through him and the forgiveness of sins. We believe those things by faith. We walk day by day, moment by moment, by faith. That's what Paul says. That's what the scripture says. That's practical Christian living. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. and that it reveals to us those things that we would not know otherwise, and gives to us things that we believe by faith that allow us to see, if only distantly, our Christian hope, the promises, a promised homeland, a promised kingdom, a promised return of Jesus Christ, promised victory, victory over death, mortality being swallowed up not by death but by life. Father, help us to believe. Help us to believe that there's so much revealed in your word about true reality that we will study your word to know more about practical living in the world in which we live, for the world in which we live is not just a material world. You are involved. We ourselves as believers, have our home and our seat in heaven. Help us to have the faith and walk in the faith that makes us confident rather than losing heart. We pray for your glory and through Jesus Christ, your son, amen.