Reading
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
168.
00:05:50
2nd Corinthians.
2nd Corinthians chapter 5.
For we know that if our earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God and house not made with hands eternal in the heavens.
For this we grow earnestly, desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven, if so be that being clothed.
We shall not be found naked.
For we that are in this Tabernacle do grow, being burdened not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrong for the self, same thing is God, who also has given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.
Therefore we are always confident, knowing that whilst we are holding the body, we are absent from the Lord before we walk by faith.
Not by sight we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord, Wherefore we labor that whether present or absent.
We may be accepted of him.
We've been occupied with that which.
The Apostle experienced in suffering.
Here we have a time when suffering is all over.
The.
There is a time you know when these things will end.
There's a certain emphasis on that word, no.
The different words used.
For that.
In the original, I don't know those words myself, but I understand that there are words which have to do with the temporal things we speak of, that we know. But then there is a thought in connection with that expression, no?
That has to do with.
Knowing things in a spiritual sense.
For instance, there's no such thing as knowing anything in a spiritual sense unless there has been.
A correction.
It starts with repentance.
There's no life unless there's repentance.
Acceptance doesn't give life. There's no life outside of the competence.
But when you get disciplined exercise of soul, there's evidence of a new life.
And that's what really knowing is, in a spiritual sense.
It's the experience of a wise man that has been disciplined and exercised.
That's really what no means. You get it in the second verse of the Book of Proverbs.
A man doesn't know anything in spiritual things.
Unless his conscience has been exercised, unless he vows to the truth. Because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and the beginning of wisdom, and there's no such thing as knowing in the sense we have it here without this.
00:10:14
Isn't it nice that we have something that's positive then that we could say we know?
It's a wonderful thing to realize that having come to the Lord Jesus, we have the truth. We are in the truth. 1St Corinthians 2. The last verse says that we have the mind of Christ and so the we knows of Scripture are so precious and wondrous. The natural man cannot say that he doesn't really know because he doesn't have the truth, the one who is the truth. And here we we have a statement which is common knowledge amongst the redeemed of the Lord.
We know that if our earthly House of this Tabernacle, this body in which we now dwell, is dissolved, we have a building of God and house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. God has prepared a new body for us. And soon we're going to put off this body and put on that which is heaven, that new body, and how wondrous that will be. I was thinking the the statements of the Apostle.
When he looked at his afflictions and all that he went through, and if we read them in the 11Th chapter of this very epistle, we will see a catalogue of suffering, the like of which has never been experienced before, how he suffered when he was converted. The Lord Jesus said, I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake. And so he suffered as none other did.
But he calls it our life affliction, which is but for a moment what? That's because he had the glory before him, and he was looking onto that day, which will soon dawn for every one of us, when we'll trade this veil of tears for the mansions of light above. And when we see our blessed Savior face to face, then every tear we shed here, every sorrow, every pang that we have felt.
Will be worth it all when the gaze upon the face of the wife that has loved us, she.
There's a lot of those in the New Testament, especially in the Pistols of John, but they're all based on things that have been revealed to us by the Spirit. The work is done and we have these promises now that are sure. I was thinking in Hebrews 11, in verse 13, those that had that assurance in their soul, they were persuaded and they embraced the promises of heavenly.
But they didn't know.
Like we do it. Isn't it wonderful that they had such assurance? It says These all tied in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, were persuaded of them, embraced them, and confessed. They were strangers and pilgrims on earth. They had a city heavenly, and they were looking forward to it.
But we haven't revealed we know, and it's wonderful to have that word K10 O'Donnell the way we have it.
Now, oh, it's far different from the Old Testament faith. And yet their faith is something to marvel Elizabeth when they leave.
It's a Tabernacle house, isn't it?
Nothing permanent here, but there there is that which is ahead, which is currently there.
It's the Tabernacle House now because it's it's.
It has an insecure thought. But that was his head. A house which is here from heaven. That's still, isn't it, The glory there and that which is permanent. It doesn't say that we know that when it is dissolved. It says we know that if, if, if, that little word, if is very important because it may not be dissolved. None of our bodies may be dissolved. We might be caught up to meet the Lord.
So that would allow for that, wouldn't it?
Gives as many things, doesn't it, as to the child of God.
Says we know.
And it says as well we have, it says we've grown, it says we are always confident.
00:15:03
How many things we have by revelation. And we have an understanding of these things and they mean something to us. But there's also the experience that goes with it. We know we have, but we grown.
And we are confident we experience things that affect us in this life. So we grow, but it's only in anticipation of what is ahead. We have something before us, something that is very real to us and we live in the anticipation of that day when we're going to have all that is ours through the sacrifice.
Lord Jesus.
And we sorrow enough as others which have no hope. There's there's a deep experience in the life that is not without hope.
But a little What is the house then, if you speak of the Tabernacle?
You have a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
That's that's glory, isn't it?
Permanency. That's where we're going to abide.
The writers in the Old Testament.
They they often didn't really know what they were writing.
But in the New Testament, writers always wrote from experience.
And if you see and look on the chapter one and see the pressures that were put on call.
We can't read them all but then.
University for we would not rather have you ignorant.
Of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of major above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of light. Well, these things Paul was facing.
And.
In view of that he was, he came out with such a statement that if that man be the end of their life, end of his life, well.
He has the, the.
Home above.
And I think these things mean so much more.
When when pressure, as it were here, gives us to fall back on the on the Lord for support and for encouragement and for comfort.
And I believe it's true of any of us that.
It's one thing to say these things, but it's quite another to come into such pressure and to be able to say words like these.
There was no doubt in the apostles mind when he was taken to prison.
He was beaten and.
Thrust into prison, And he might have said, well, I must not have heard right when that man from Macedonia called. Here we are in prison, our backs are bleeding and our feet are in stocks. But you know what he he did?
He was in the good of this verse, and so he prayed and sang praises to God.
Not after the earthquake came, but before the earthquake came. He had the delivers before Deliverance really came and I believe as we enjoy verses like this.
To have that deliverance, we might say.
In the face of such trouble as Paul had.
Like it really gives some life to it, doesn't it?
Could we say that the Tabernacle simply tells us the kind of a house that we have at the moment? It's a temporary house, and if we connected with the last chapter, regardless of what might come on up here?
00:20:09
There is a time coming when we will be with Christ and glory. We have an eternal house and looking forward to eternal things. Mentioned the 11Th of Hebrews and we find there towards the end of the chapter those that gain victories.
But we also find some that apparently had no victory down here. Nothing but persecution.
But all earth life which awaits each one of them, regardless of what might take place here, and we'll be with Christ and glory there is the eternal reward. But we're also promised a hundredfold here in this life for those that are black left things for Christ.
That passage you referred to in Hebrews 11 Chapter, they aren't yet made perfect, are they? And so they have to wait till what is said in the 12Th chapter, when everything is ordered according the way it will be in the millennial day when the spirits of just men then are made perfect. That is, they will receive that house, not any longer a Tabernacle.
They will receive that house that is permanent.
The question has come up, I think, with some. During the meetings about the resurrection, we had the resurrection mentioned in our chapter previous chapter.
And the Rapture?
There are three parts to the first resurrection, Christ the first fruits, afterwards they that are coming.
His that is coming.
And then the martyrs.
Now the Old Testament Saints.
Will not be with the martyrs, the Old Testament Saints.
Will be raptured with the Saints of the church. They don't have a place with the martyrs. There may be martyrs in the Old Testament, no doubt, but we're speaking in general now, the Old Testament Saints, so that in those three parts Christ is the first fruits, then the Church with all the Old Testament Saints.
All except the martyrs would take it will be raised in the rapture. Then later all of the martyrs will be raised together. So you have the three parts to the first resurrection.
The last two verses of Hebrews 11, which I'll read, doesn't that indicate what you were just saying? And these all having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise. This is the Old Testament Saints, God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. So doesn't that imply that when we're made perfect, they will be made perfect with us?
Yes, and then just read in Romans 8 another verse that goes with it.
And that gives the whole picture.
Romans 8 and verse.
19.
For the earnest expectation of the creature waited for the manifestation of the sons of God.
How far should I read?
That's the whole.
The whole picture where Christ and the Church comes forth in manifestation.
The whole creation waits for that moment. There won't be any change in the creation. In the eighth of Romans we have the full deliverance, not only of the believer in the 7th chapter.
And 8th But we have the whole creation delivered, but not until the sons of God are manifested with Christ. The sons of God are the church, so the whole creation waits for that moment.
Oh, brethren, what a place the church has with Christ. And that isn't all that. That is the manifestation in the millennial day. Then you go on to that eternal state where Christ is the center and the Son of all things in the whole universe, and the church will be with him in it.
00:25:03
Brother, indeed. Did you clarify about the martyrs? What martyrs do you need? Steven was a martyr, but he's part of the Church.
Well, there are martyrs of another day who are a special group. You get them in the 6th chapter Revelation, you get them in the perhaps in the 15th, you get them mentioned also in the 11Th chapter and you got them mentioned in the 20th chapter.
But I believe that you'll find, if you will search it carefully, that all of these martyrs will be raised together with those of the 11Th chapter, and that'll be the end of the first resurrection. Now Christ is the first Bruce, but then we have the Rapture in the 4th chapter of first Thessalonians.
That is those who will be martyred after the church has taken to death. Now there are special martyrs mentioned in connection with tribulation days. There have always been martyrs, but I believe there's a special group that has spoken of as the martyrs.
The manifestation of the sons of God.
I think that's an important point that you bring out. There is the manifestation of the sons of God. It's somewhat isn't it Like John when he says it does not yet appear what we shall be. That is, we are not now being manifested in that way as the sons of God. What comes out now in believers is what is moral and spiritual.
Are you seeing that we we are already connected with the what is going to be publicly manifested in the Kingdom? The day of manifestation is future but we are already connected morally and spiritually with the that which is going to be manifested publicly. So I I mentioned this once and I repeat it because there are many who have are trying to bring in.
The physical healing in connection with the work of atonement. But it's only in the time of the manifestation of the sons of God that our bodies are going to be free from the effects of sin. Morally and spiritually we are delivered Now from all of the effects of sin we are we are as free from it as we will ever be. But as to our bodies, we are.
Still a part of a a fallen creation.
And so the IT would be out of order is what I'm trying to point out, for God to relieve his people, as it were, from the common afflictions of the human body. If He relieved us of it, it would be as it were, manifesting us before the time of manifestation. And so, as our brothers point out that verse in Romans, the whole creation waits for deliverance in a physical sense.
And so we wait as well. It would be putting us, it would be putting us ahead of the times in that sense if God relieved us from the physical afflictions of the body. I'm not saying that he doesn't heal, but I mean as far as being in connection with the atonement, because there are those that try to to ensnare the people of God in believing that that healing of the body is a part of the work of atonement. Don't you believe, brother Johnson, that Matthew 8 and.
16.
And 17 answers the question that has come up in that respect.
Throughout Christendom, with all this, healing has come in.
Matthew 8 verses 1617.
It refers back to the 53rd of Isaiah, and oftentimes because you do have the work of Christ, they're mentioned, they associate the healing with it, which is wrong. This, this is the fulfillment of that particular part of the 53rd of Isaiah that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by Isaias, the prophet saying himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses.
00:30:00
You see?
When the Lord was here during his lifetime, he healed.
Well, that's the fulfillment of that part of Isaiah 53 and that's not connected with the Atonement.
Later on, he died on the cross. For our sins, that's atonement. We mustn't mix the two. But what's going on in the world today is they're mixing this passage.
That he bore our infirmities with with the thought of atonement. That's not true. He was here when he went through this world as a as a man healing. That he fulfilled this particular part of the prophecy that was spoken of him. Is that right?
There one has said, he bear in his spirit what he took away by his power. He felt all, didn't he? He didn't just heal automatically, but everything that he everyone that he healed. He felt the ravages of sin. He was the man of sorrows and equated with grief.
That why he wept at the graveside of Lazarus, we can say felt effects.
I'd like to ask a question.
Why is there so much?
Talking, you know, about the church going through the tribulation.
What advantage is there? What advantage do people get by saying that the church will go through the Tribulation and?
Really. Why are they seeing it?
Well, largely so a man can write a book and make a lot of money out of it.
I agree. That's very, very good statement, Brother Lundy. You'll find a great many books on prophecy today. I was given one the other day that that is asked to correct it and there wasn't a thing you do but say the whole thing was wrong because he started on the wrong basis. And when you have seminaries, you'll have men who will teach the same thing because they've been through the seminary. There's only one seminary that we have in Scripture, and that's in Timothy.
Those things which thou has heard of me among many witnesses.
The same.
Timothy.
Commits out of faithful men who shall be able to strut also. That's the only one we have. And when you have a system set up, those who are going to be paid to teach from that system will have to teach what they're taught. It's sad, it's very sad. But his church will not go through the detribulation.
We may have tribulation, and let's not. Let's not think that perhaps the Lord might might allow us to pass through trial, but that isn't the great tribulation. If He does, it's because of our state, brethren that He may allow us to be tried and tested. Because when He comes, He wants us to be in the right spirit. He wants us to be separated from the things down here.
He doesn't want us to be all taken up with the earth dwellers because all those who are left behind, who have made the profession of Christianity when the rapture comes, will be called earth dwellers because they loved earth more than heaven.
Lord Jesus told his disciples that in the upper room, didn't he? In the world ye shall have tribulation. So while we're in the world, we could very well have the tribulation.
You mentioned that is the only thing doesn't bring apart the need of the reading meetings amongst other things. That's just it. And then we were, I was talking with the two brothers here at between the meetings we referred to that verse in.
Well, turn aside just a moment to 2nd King's 4.
I believe it's important.
These truths don't always come out, but there's no reason why we shouldn't notice them.
Second King's four, the 1St.
7 verses are a picture of the assembly.
In tight and I just want to call attention to the end of the fourth verse, and thou shalt set aside that which is full.
The assembly is responsible to recognize those that God has raised up in the assembly, both for teaching and service.
00:35:10
And we do not look on the outward appearance. We look at the grace that God has given to a brother.
If it be that, or even to a sister in a service that she might render, as you notice in Romans there was a sister who had a service. We have to recognize this. It's a responsibility of the assembly to set aside that which is full. We must recognize because as the older ones go on, if we're left here, there will be those who will have to take over and we should recognize this principle.
The same.
Delta quote that verse again, and faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. That's the point. There's a responsibility there with Timothy and also with the assembly, to recognize to set aside that which is full. That's really the principle of the seminary.
Connecting with Brother Clausen's comment, let's just read Revelation 20 verse 4.
And I hope the brethren will correct these thoughts. If they're not correct, that I believe I have the right thought. In Revelation 20, verse four, we have three classes, he says. This is after Satan is bound for 1000 years and I saw Thrones.
And they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them. That's the first class.
And Levi saw out and the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus.
And for the word of God, that's the second class mentioned in Revelation chapter 6. And those which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands. That's the third class mentioned in Revelation 13. And they that would be the second two classes lived and reigned with Christ 1000 years.
Is that the right thought? My thought is that the first class.
Is the same as those mentioned in Revelation 1914. The armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses. That would be us that come back with him. And then there are the tribulation Saints. We've already been raised, We've already taken part in the first resurrection before the tribulation period and then at the end of the tribulation period, these two classes of martyrs that you were talking about are raised. They lived.
They're raised and then they reign with Christ 1000 years. If that's not correct, please correct it.
Well.
They're all going to rain, aren't they? They're all going to rain. The church will be caught up first.
But if you'll notice carefully in the 19th chapter.
That the martyrs are mentioned there.
And so.
The difficulty comes in these two chapters is trying to place them one after the other, which isn't true.
The spirit of God is using the heavenly side of things and then the earthly, but they occur at the same time and if we don't see that, it becomes a difficulty. Now I don't want to go into this subject too far because it takes too long and it's it's not really our subject, but the point is that all the martyrs will live and reign with Christ.
When he comes forth.
Riding on a White Horse.
They'll all live and reign with Christ.
There's a verse in Luke's gospel in connection with his coming forth and his prophetic.
It's in the 19 chapter of Luke.
And it says peace in heaven.
Peace in heaven. Now that's the only place you get that verse that I know of.
And it's when the Lord comes riding into Jerusalem.
Now the point is this. When the Lord Jesus leaves, shall we say heaven to come to earth to set things right? There's already peace in heaven.
00:40:04
That is, everything has been set in order.
So there will be nothing left to set in order in heaven when the Lord Jesus finally comes riding on a White Horse.
Because he is coming to set things right on earth, and so they announce it. It's prophetic, but they announce peace in heaven as he comes writing from the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem.
So we say they're a simple picture of the whole thing. First, the heavens are set in the order that they will be for that day. Then he comes to set the earth in order. But when he comes, he's going to have all those who have a heavenly portion with Him. When He comes, they'll live and reign with Christ for 1000 years.
Connection with the Church and the tribulation. I believe there would be another reason.
That this is put forth rather not only the ulterior motives of men to make money, but in Luke 12.
Verse 45.
Luke 1245.
But, and if that servant say in his heart, my Lord delayeth his coming, and shall begin to beat the manservants and maidservants, and to eat and drink, and to be drunk.
Well.
To say that the church must go through the tribulation postpones the Lord's coming, doesn't it? Because that's a period of years so the Lord can't come. Then if we had to go through the tribulation, well this, these, this verse shows what would take place and what takes place among those who say my Lord Delayeth is coming.
Wouldn't there be the enemy behind that whole thing? To spoil the testimony and to make folks forget the Lord's coming? And then we start to pick on each other, and then to sink to the level of the world, to eat and to drink and to be drunk.
Well, this is the enemy's motive, no doubt, and the men have motives in it too. But the enemy has a mode of sickness motive too, taking our mind off the the closeness of the Lord's return, putting something in between in connection with.
Your question whether perhaps the 10th verse of Revelation 3 May help also, because thou has kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee.
That's the assembly.
From or out of the hour of temptation.
Shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth.
Now the assembly will be in the heavens when those trials come, and they'll come upon those that dwell upon the earth. That is the company that has heard the gospel of the grace of God and rejected it. They are dwellers upon the earth. That's the way. They're clasped here as dwellers upon the earth. But the church will already be in the heavens and will not pass through the great tribulation.
Now in our chapter.
There are so many precious things here that.
In the second verse in connection with this House that we're going to receive.
We have a groaning.
It's the earnest of the Spirit, brethren.
The earnest of the spirit. The earnest of the spirit has to do with the deep feelings.
A man's spirit.
That new nature that we have.
There are deeper things connected with the assembly than with any other company. Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
Those have to do with the deep things of God.
And there's no other company that enters in these things but the assembly.
They're connected directly. We're connected directly with the Lord Jesus. We're connected directly with the Father's house.
These are things that are so marvelous it's hard to speak of them. They're so precious.
That we have been brought into such blessings.
And as we've had in these meetings, what manner of persons ought we to be? As we think of these things, we also have the the earnest of the Spirit.
00:45:12
And that's the groaning that's mentioned here. The spirit helpeth our infirmities in the eighth of Romans.
We don't know what we should pray for.
We don't know what we should pray for as we are.
But we are guided according to.
What's of God?
Because the Holy Spirit is God, and He dwells within each believer, so that we have the groanings here, desire to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven. Now it's true we'll all be in the Father's house, but this is not that we have each individually a house.
These bodies that we possess now will be changed, and the happy thing about it is that there be changed to be like His glorious body.
To be just like Christ, all in a day that will be.
What a change to be like Christ.
What prompted this desire? Was that what prompted the desire?
The spirit that dwells within.
Thinking of rolling 8 and 23, not only they but ourselves also which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves grown within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to which the redemption of our body.
Doesn't this give us our present hope? That's not going through the tribulation, but waiting for the redemption of our bodies.
Barry spoken up in spirit. He's spoken of as the first fruits, having the first fruits of the spirit, and I would connect that with James, one where we read that his own will be getting us with the word of truth, that we might be a sort of first fruits of his creatures.
So that we are, we are not first fruits as to our bodies, but the Spirit is given to us, and in a spiritual way we're first fruits of His creatures that is we we come in into the good and blessing and a moral and spiritual way of what is going to be manifested when the Kingdom is established. And I have thought of this, that the characteristic of the Kingdom.
Is everything being subject to the Lord, The Lord alone exalted in that day, and the lofty looks of man brought load. That's really the the chief characteristic of the Kingdom is everything is brought into subjection to God and to the Lord Jesus Christ. The will of man is put down, and that's what I believe he means when he says we are first fruits.
That is, God would have in His people today, He would have displayed in His people today what's going to be displayed universally and publicly in the coming Kingdom. And the Spirit has been given to us for that reason. We have the first fruits of the Spirit, so that.
The Morally and spiritually we're connected with the world to come. Not this world, but the world to come.
What we have in Romans as to the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of God, is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Suppose that's true all through. Is it not the different ages morally, but in that coming scene of glory it will be the same, that is, righteousness is going to dwell.
Peace will be there.
And there will be joy in the Holy Ghost in those eternal ages. Is that the thought of the Kingdom of God?
I believe so. And we that we're in that Kingdom morally now, it's going to be publicly and universally manifested in an outward way, but at the present time we're we're associated with it in a moral way.
And these are the things that should characterize us now.
It's a sort of, I think, that first fruits of his spirit. We know, of course, that the first fruits of the harvest.
Is a sample, isn't it? Of what is to come. And so God would have in the believer a sample of what he's going to be.
Universally brought out in the coming days, produced.
00:50:03
Explain the difference between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of heaven.
Well, I everyone seems to have their own definitions of these things, but to my mind, the Kingdom of God is the is the broadest expression and in the largest sense refers to the to the.
The dominion of God throughout the whole universe, even that spoken of, is the Kingdom of God. But at the present time I take it the expression the Kingdom of God refers to the the moral aspect of the Kingdom into which.
Which we have to do with, as was just mentioned in Romans, Kingdom of God is a righteousness, peace and joy. You couldn't say that in the Kingdom of heaven, the Kingdom of heaven, I take it as being the an expression that refers to the seat of authority, the Lord Jesus having gone back into heaven, that the seat of authority of the Kingdom is in heaven.
Yes, the Kingdom of the heavens should never be connected with the thought of the Kingdom of the Son of Man. The Kingdom, the Son of Man, is a Kingdom that the Lord Jesus will have on the earth in administration here in the coming day over the earthly people.
The Kingdom of the heavens is the aspect of the heavens that our brothers just said.
Where the heavens are in view, we belong to the heavens. We're down here.
But the ultimate is we'll be in the heavens. We do not belong to the Kingdom of the Son of Man on earth. That's the Jew and the nations, but the present aspect of that Kingdom of the heavens.
Who is when the king is absent and his subjects are down here?
But with allegiance to the one who is absent until he comes back to take us home. Then we will be in the Kingdom of the Father, as we have in the 13th chapter of Matthew. There you have the two kingdoms mentioned, the Kingdom of the Son of Man in his earthly dominion, and the Kingdom of the Father. That'll be the heavenly department of the Kingdom.
So now the Kingdom of the heavens do not associate it with the dominion, earthly dominion, because it's the Kingdom of the heavens. It's the Lord Jesus of course connected with it, but it's a heavenly Kingdom. But it's still down here. The subjects are down here, and the day is coming when we'll all be taken up, and then it'll be the Kingdom of the Father.
Will shine forth in the Kingdom of the Father.
With the Lord Jesus.
The third verse here.
Is so being clothed, we shall not be found naked. Now that's the way that Adam was found in the garden. He had no covering before God.
And all those who have rejected the gospel of the grace of God in that day are going to be found without a covering.
Because they have rejected the only way of salvation, and that is through the finished work, the precious blood of the Lord Jesus, they'll be found naked without a covering before God. I think we see here too, as you mentioned, that I think it's important to distinguish the three.
You might say conditions brought before us.
In verse three, as our brother is mentioned, there is a condition of being found naked that of course does not apply to a believer. We will never be found naked Before God exposed to his judgment. This would speak of one who is lost and he is going to be exposed to the judgment of God. But in verse in verse two we have the condition of being clothed upon with our house which is from heaven.
Well, this refers to that resurrection body.
On the body that we will have the body of glory. Maybe not resurrection, because some of us will be alive and remaining when the Lord comes and mortality is swallowed up of life, but we all have glorified bodies. When the Lord Jesus comes again, the dead in Christ rise first, then we venture alive and remain are caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air, and then that we receive those glorified bodies that include upon.
00:55:00
With our house from heaven.
But in verse four he mentions an condition there being unclothed.
I think the condition of unclothed is not the same as naked. It refers, I believe, to the believer who has departed to be with Christ. Those who have gone to be with Christ have not yet received their bodies of glory.
They their hope has not been fulfilled. We know that it's to be with Christ is far better, and even the apostle was willing to be rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord.
But the final hope of the believer to be have a body fashioned like unto the body of glory of the Lord, and to be clothed upon to that house from heaven they steal a wheat farm. They are in the in an unclothed state, in that sense that they do not yet have their glorified bodies. So we have, we might say, really poor conditions. We have those of us who are still here in this earthly house.
Of this Tabernacle, And in this Tabernacle we've grown. Now it might be that this Tabernacle or this earthly house be dissolved. And if it is so, we would be in the unclothed state. We would not yet be clothed to fall with our body from heaven until the Lord comes. And when the Lord comes, and we are clothed upon with that house, that house that is not made with hands eternal in the heavens. But we will never, we will never be found naked before God.
Those are only beyond who saved money, yes, but.
To refer to Genesis, doesn't it? When Adam and Eve had sinned even though they had made themselves?
They still considered themselves naked until the animal was slain, so to refer to those that have no sacrifice wouldn't.
Why does it come in here at this point?
Consciousness.
We have the fear of ever being found naked. I believe that's an important thing for a believer. When you're in your sins, you are naked before God you fall exposed. I think it's brought in here for assurance we'll never have that situation.
He may be preparing their hearts for verse 10, also the full manifestation.
With one who's passed out of this world without Christ, he's in that state.
So he's he'll never have, he'll never be clothed before God. He's he's in that position where he has no covering before God.
That the believer this is, use that word death instead of mortality here, but clothed upon that death might be swallowed up of life.
Life is so great.
It's so great.
That death is swallowed.
I'm thinking too.
All that we've had here in these verses that even down to the end of where we read that.
What the apostle was, he was he was really going through. He had been going through persecution and in the body and the need. He had that assurance because he was looking at things, not seeing that those things that were eternal and this gave him that confidence. But I was thinking too, how do any of us know, How do we know that these things are so? How do we enter into them?
Because we are more clever than our neighbor or so on. No, the only way we'll know them is because we believe it. Faith is the principle of it. That's how we know that we have a a divine guest within us. How do we know we're going to glory? Because we believe it. The Word of God tells us so. How do we know that the Lord Jesus is coming? Faith takes hold of this.
I've enjoyed that. Just simple thought.
As I read, sit and read the word and meditate upon it and say, Now, how do I know this? Because I believe it. It's the word of the it's the living word of the living God. And He's given us that assurance. Not only so not only do we have the Word in our hands, but we have the Divine guest within that assures us of the truth of that word. So it just seems as we read, as we read more.
01:00:17
One word answers it all.
Faith that God has given us to believe.
Confirm the brother little beautifully and 1St Thessalonians 2 and 13.
1St Thessalonians 2 and 13.
For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because when you receive the word of God, which he heard of us, he received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the word of God. Now this part which effectually workers also in use.
It works when we believe it. I was not talking about salvation, that this is the act of believing the power of the Word of God. This confirms it all to us.
And the cost and you had a fresh a moment ago that you skipped over. Well, I just wanted to find this first comes in, he's talking so beautifully and all of a sudden he comes in with the if which versus this, now the third verse.
Is it that to exercise the Corinthians? And maybe some of them weren't really saying. Is that the reason?
Yeah, because there could be those in the assembly and not be saved.
And so we need these things to reach the conscience, do we not? One could even be breaking bread, and not really be clothed and still like the naked before God. And what an awful thing to think of those that would thus be sitting at the table of the Lord and taking that place and still be naked.
We could be in the church at Corinth, but they couldn't be in the Assembly of God.
In the body of Christ and that says they couldn't be in the body of Christ to throw them safe. They could be in the church at Corinth because there were those in Torrance. No doubt that that we're not believers. False apostles were spoken of later.
And so on.
But in the true body of Christ, there's nothing but that which is of God, the work of God. Though we mustn't confuse the two. There is such a thing as the testimony on earth, and we trust that it's, it's true, a clean man in a clean place. But it may be found out that there's an unclean man in a clean place. And that's where discipline comes in.
So we have now he that hath brought us for the self. Same thing is God. Oh how comforting this is. It's God Himself. These are the councils of God that are being brought out now and manifested through the teaching of the Apostle Paul, the councils of God himself.
Those things that were were spoken of in connection with the volume of the book.
The 40th Psalm in the 10th chapter of Hebrews. The Councils of God, all concerning the Lord Jesus as a man.
And his completing the counsels of God as a man. Well, here are the results of them.
Who also have given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Is it a question now of the fact that possibly down here we may be laid away in a grave? Yes.
And it happens every day.
But what about it?
Well, the believer has one hope. Ephesians 41 hope.
And that's the person of Christ himself, and whether in the body or out of the body, it doesn't affect the hope one bit.
01:05:05
It's it's interesting to notice that verse in the 139th Psalm, I am still with thee.
I'm still with thee, even after going into death. I'm still with thee. Not in resurrection. I'll be with thee again. I'm still with thee. You'll never leave you nor forsake you. Pass through death. Whatever it is, He's there with you. And never leave the believer once.
He that is in you, and shall be with you.
So always be the Spirit of God will always be with and in the belief forever.
Sometimes get the mistaken thought I did, at least.
When, if that came, I would be faced with this and and he would, as it were, meet me on the other side.
But that is not so. He is with us all the way through.
And everyone's he doesn't. He doesn't just leave us, as it were, to go through this article itself and then meet us on the other side. He's with us all the way, isn't he? Yeah. Underneath the eternal God is our refuge. And underneath.
Are the Everlasting Arms? Will they ever be dropped? No.
Will they ever weaken? Never. This is our portion, isn't it? That's even now. I think that some of us were speaking after dinner today and if we were to thinking, if we were to characterize the letters, give thought to the character of the meetings that we've had here, it would be now would be the worst.
And how important that is for us to get this now while we wait that coming or and watching also expectantly as our brother is going.
Think of those that have passed through death as the child of God. And we know that those of us living at the coming of the Lord Jesus what an experience that will be when the Lord gives that shout for those of us that are living.
But you think that perhaps those that have gone on before, are they going to experience something even greater?
Or they would surpass the.
Experience of a child of God who is living when the Lord comes.
A demonstration of power that's has been seen in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus that you'll be experienced for those who have passed from this scene.
Dead in Christ shall rise first.
You find that the Lord Jesus was always found with those who had a need. That's a principle with him. So the dead in Christ shall rise first.
So that.
We see the.
The tenderness of the Lord Jesus in connection with everything that he does.
He's going to notice those were in their graves first, then those who are alive and remain should be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air. But ask for any special experience. Is it raising from out from among the dead? That's what you mean? But we shall all be changed. And it's the same power that that raised Christ from the dead, the apostle says.
In 14, first of the previous chapter, knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus.
To raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us.
With you, the Apostle knew that it used to be martyred.
And he said he puts it in this way.
Would you make a comment on Philippians 1?
23.
For I am in a street, 3 tricks two, having the desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better.
Philippians one and 23.
Well, the apostle says for me to live his Christ and to die his King, and he has a decision to make, to make.
01:10:07
The the Emperor thought he was making the decision, but he wasn't. Paul was making the decision.
Paul had was in control of the situation because he had a work to do.
And he says.
If I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor. Yet what I shall choose I want not. For I'm as straight at Twix 2, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you, and having this confidence, I'm making my decision. In other words, not Nero. I am. I know.
That I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith, that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again.
Well, the Apostle was martyred.
Later on, but it was at the end of his course. His course wasn't finished here and so he makes this decision.
Under the direction, of course, of the Spirit of God.
Is his personal?
Choice, you might say, would be to be with Christ, wouldn't you? But he thought of the of the Philippians and his service for them. And I suppose that I thought in this verse he says to depart and be with Christ, which is a little different from what we have, I think, in 2nd Corinthians 5.
Because his desire to depart in Philippians is to be with Christ. He wanted to be with Christ, not so much because of.
The pressures of the pathway or anything but his desire to be with Christ. But in the. In the chapter that we have here the.
The desire to be clothed upon is connected with the fact that in this Tabernacle in verse four, we've grown being burdened.
In other words, it seems to be connected here with the thought of the Great.
Relief or contract, when we are taken out of this scene entirely, where we have pressure and and trials and afflictions and tribulations. That's the way I take it when you say, but in Philippians, it's more his desire to be with the person of Christ. He wanted to be there with Christ, but he still had a service to do down here.
And in the Philippians, I believe it's.
It's the person that's before him to be like him in every way, and that was his desire.
Later on in Second Timothy 4.
Verse six and seven for I am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course.
Thank you.
So the time came when there was no more work for him to do down here.
Fought the good fight. He had finished the course and he had kept the face to leave for it to remain any longer.
Wasn't able to carry out his executing.
Faith is the gift of God. The apostle had tremendous faith.
He he knew when his course was finished. It wasn't finished in the passage in Philippines. He knew when his course was finished.
And it wasn't just that his life was finished, it was that part of it which had been committed to him as a dispensation from God. And this is a very solemn thing, because you and I, each one have that in a certain measure.
It doesn't matter whether it's a brother or a sister.
He applied to every man his work that we should be deeply exercised. What that work is that he's given us to do, it may not be an outward thing that others see at all.
Usually isn't, but it's just as much just as important. Whatever it may be, and how small a thing you may think it is, if God has appointed it for you and your life, that's that's the course, and it's nice to be able to finish it with joy.
01:15:20
Knowing that it's been appointed as your course, this is an important line of scripture that you get in Philippians. Particularly the word salvation is used in connection with it in Philippians.
Not the salvation of the soul, the salvation in the pathway to complete the course.
Still running the race in Philippians? Isn't it just thinking of these verses in the third chapter of Philippians?
Verse 10 He says that I may know him.
Though we know that He knew the Lord for some time as His savior and His Lord, but His desire was increasing, wasn't it? I might know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering being made conformable unto His death, if by any means I might attain an resurrection of the dead.
He was willing to go all the way.
We're reminded here that we walk by faith, not by sight. It's too easy to walk by sight. That's the natural thing.
But we walk by faith now. When it's we speak of faith, we speak of the word of God. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. And if we if we want to test what we think we should do, we must test it by a principle or principles of the Word of God.
Not just some isolated verse, but the principles that we have learned from the word of God.
Gives us our pathway.
And we may not have one even 1 definite verse and say, well, I know because of this verse. But we gather from various verses, various passages or general teaching of Scripture what our pathway should be. To be conversive with Scripture is the way to know our pathway as we bow in prayer and waiting upon God as to the truth He's given us.
And that's the way we get Wisdom, because we don't have wisdom. Naturally, wisdom was here before creation.
And we can receive it only from God.
Because.
It comes from him, from him alone. If we get it on our knees, that's where we get wisdom. But we apply that wisdom to the knowledge that we have from Scripture and that gives us understanding, and understanding is the wellspring of life.
We walk by faith and there is the trial of faith, isn't there? And I've there's a verse, I think it's in Psalm 105.
That I'd like to connect with that thought of you say, As you say, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. It's the it's the Word of God that our faith lays hold upon.
But there's times when that faith is tried. I was thinking of a statement here in connection with Joseph.
In verse.
19.
Psalm 105 Until the time that his word came, the word of the Lord tried him.
I suppose it has reference to the time when Joseph was in prison, as the context would show. And God had made known to Joseph that in those visions or dreams that his brethren would do a business to him. And he speaks of the sun and the moon and the stars doing a piece that's doing. In other words, the word of the Lord had indicated a place of power and a place of honor for Joseph, and here he is.
Now in the imprisonment, the word of the Lord tried him. Well, sometimes we.
The Lord will try. We have trials as to what we learn from Scripture. God shows us something in the Word. As our brother said, it doesn't necessarily have to be a black and white scripture, but He has shown us something of His ways in Scripture and of His thoughts and principles that He would have us to be governed by.
01:20:11
But we find that when we seek to carry these out and walk according to them, that maybe things do not turn out as well as we had thought, and we have difficulties in trials. I thought of this. The word of the Lord tried him. It may be that we we are brought into trials in regard to what we have learned from Scripture, and so we walk by faith. It may not look like, it may not look as if.
Things are.
Are turning out right, I suppose that Joseph he could have said, well, what am I doing in this prison when God made known to him the place he would occupy? But of course we know eventually he was brought into a place of honor and power. The word of the Lord tried him, and we may be tried in the same way. We say that we we received from Scripture a pathway of separation, and we undertake it. But perhaps there are trials in the way, and we have.
A difficult.
Well, we don't want to give up what we have received by faith in the word of God because they're trials.
You know, this last verse that we have says, wherefore we labor or endeavor that whether present or absent, we may be accepted or rather acceptable to him.
Now that's connected with what the last passage we had.
The Walking by faith.
Not my sight.
It's a question of being acceptable to him.
But we do not set our course and then try to find a scripture that supports it.
That's not walking acceptable to him.
To set our course of what we want to do and then try to find scripture to support it, we get into the presence of God, like the Apostle Paul says. Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?
When Elijah.
Was down by the brook.
And appointed of God to hide himself There the brook dried up.
The Ravens had fed him. Now he asked nothing but God, and so he waits. He doesn't set his course. He just waits.
And then the Lord speaks to him, and he instructs him.
Into something that is more trying than he had before. He's to go to a certain widow's house, and when he gets there, she has only one handful of meal and a barrel of little oil and a cruise. She and she's going to make one cake for herself and her son and she's going to die. That was God's appointment for the prophet. What do you say? Isn't that terrible? Do you think that Elijah would have chosen that?
Never. But he went by the word of the Lord, and he and she and her son live for 3 1/2 years on that handful of meal in a barrel and a little oil Mccrims. Why? Because God had appointed it, that's why. It was a very humbling thing to have to be fed by a widow who had nothing to eat herself for a son. But still, it was Gobb's appointment, and it's in the divine record of faith.
Now.
If Elijah had said I'm going to choose my way, everything is, Brooks dried up.
My food is gone. I'm going to make my way now. He wouldn't have had the mind of God, and we'd never had those lovely types of Christ that we have in the ministry of Elijah. And So what we need to know is from this passage, wherefore we endeavor that, whether present or absent, we may be acceptable to him. Why? Because there's a day coming when God is going to judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to Paul's gospel.
I see the word in the eighth verse speaks about absent and present. Is that the same thought in the ninth verse, the present or absent?
I take it to be so.
01:25:00
In Philippians one and 10 you have the day of Christ mentioned, and also in Philippians 2 and 16. Did you connect that with the President's birth before his ninth verse, all done in view of the upcoming day of manifestation?
Well, the day of Christ is the day when Christ will have everything his own way.
The Father will see to it that he has everything his own way.
The Day of the Lord has more connection with the earth than the coming.
Trials of the earth and the setting up of the Kingdom and the millennial Kingdom. But the day of Christ has more to do with with His position and when He has his own way, has his bride with him, and everything is in order in connection with his side of things. And I believe it's more heavenly side, although I'm sure it affects the earth.
How about 1:48?
On my night and morning I was since I were completely.
Down to work like that last night.
That we are still still in our sea.
01:30:02
There is the Lord of the Wise.
My heart will scratch his heart.
Save your problem.