For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; (15) and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. (16) Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. (17) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

The second letter to the Corinthians was written by the apostle Paul. He brings before us in a clear, definite way the reason for the death of our Lord; bearing the judgment that sinners deserve in order that they may be delivered from judgment and that the believers may be a new creation. Mankind as a whole was under the sentence of death that came in with the fall of the first man. Adam deliberately disobeyed the command of God and fell under the sentence of death – as all men were represented in him, so all mankind then were in the place of death. If Christ died for all, then all were dead. Those who put their trust in Him were/are possessors of eternal life through faith. As new creations we now look at the world through different eyes from those we used when we belonged to it. In this new creation “old things have passed away and behold, all things become new.”

There is a great deal of evil in this universe but it all belongs to the old creation – in the new creation all things are of God. In Christ all our sins are forgiven – God looks upon us as though we had never sinned at all. Christ did not come to charge man’s sins against him but to pay man’s debt. The old creature is under the curse and the new creature is such as God can approve. The change must be in the hearts and lives of the believer. The old creation was a child of Satan and in faith in Christ the new creation is a child of God. Formerly, in spiritual death, man lived for this world alone, but now he/she, in faith, has God and looks at things not seen but things that are eternal – not just mended but new made. Christ did die for the sins of the whole world, not just the elect, but that doesn’t mean every man ever born is going to receive Him. Believers are set free from the power of the old selfish life. In Christ the old man is gone.

Regeneration is a change of our entire nature from top to bottom and the renewal by the Holy Spirit of all our senses and in all respects. If all had not been guilty and spiritually dead, there would have been no need for Christ’s sacrificial death. As always there is a perfect quote from c.s.Lewis: Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true , of Infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.”

So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. (7) For we walk by faith, not by sight. (8) We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. (9) Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. (10) For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

The second letter to the Corinthians was written by the apostle Paul. In our verses today, Paul makes it clear that there is the inside man and the outward or physical man that we see. The inward man dwells in our bodies and this man we cannot see except for behaviors. Our earthly house (body) is dissolving and every passing year brings us closer to the time when the faithful shall see the face of Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. Every passing year means less conflict with the world with no possibility of failure for the faithful. As the outward man perishes the inner man is renewed. But the faithful do not enter the new glorified resurrected body the moment we die – we will leave the body and our pure spirits enter into the presence of the Lord. Linked with all this teaching is the judgment seat of Jesus Christ – for the faithful there is no more judgment in Christ and no more judgment in the sense of condemnation. Thus the believer has no more fear of death for he/she knows what awaits them.

Nowhere in Scripture is it taught that the disembodied spirits of the redeemed are to be clothed with a glorified body before the resurrection takes place. Paul is contrasting the present with the glory of the future. The evidence of this glory is the indwelling Spirit who has made the bodies of the believer His temple. When we die we will not be alone because we will be with Jesus forever. We are going from the land of the dying to the land of the living. We are saved from the penalty and the power of sin – we are saved from the presence of sin. Paul longed to be at home with the Lord; he didn’t believe in annihilation , soul sleep or purgatory but instead when a Christian dies he/she enters the presence of the Lord. If we have believed in Christ in this life we have been saved. Out eternal life is not at stake at the judgment seat – we stand before the Lord alone where we are judged for things done through the body and are rewarded for our deeds in the body. Though forgiven in Christ, in faith, we still face the scrutiny of the Lord directed toward our service as believers for Him. The unbelievers face the ultimate judgment of the great white throne at which the lost will appear.

The Christian conquers fear of death and dying; the believer begins to live in eternity and stops living for the temporary. Physical death is nothing to the believer – no more crying, no more dying. Trusting God in death causes us to trust God in life and live by faith. I’m closing with verses from Paul’s last letter to Timothy (2Timothy, 4: 6-8), for Paul knew his time of death was near. “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. (7) I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. (8) Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.” So today is the day of responsibility and opportunity.

And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak, (14) knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you. (15) For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God. (16) Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. (17) For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, (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. (5:1) 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.

The second letter to the Corinthians was written by the apostle Paul. He was fully convinced of the truth of the Christian religion and that the deliverance of the faithful is from God in Christ – that as the body of Christ was raised from the dead by the power of the Father, so shall our bodies be raised from the dead. The spirit of faith is the human spirit in fellowship with the divine.

The outward man/the physical man is perishable – how well we know that. The inward man is the spirit, the soul, the real man reborn by the power of the Spirit. As the physical man diminishes, the inward man increases. Paul contrasts affliction as “light affliction” but of the glory to come as a “weight of glory” – the overwhelming nature of future glory. Things that are seen are all the incidents and circumstances of this present life. Things that are not seen are objects of faith; immortality, eternal life – these things are not subject to time limits and we are urged to give our minds to things which are eternal. Look at things not seen; things which are seen are temporary but those things not seen are the real things.

c.s.Lewis delivered a beautiful sermon at Oxford College in 1941 – the war years in England. “It is written that we shall “stand before”Him, shall appear, shall be Inspected. The promise of glory is the promise, almost incredible and only possible by the work of Christ, that some of us, that any of us who really chooses, shall actually survive that examination, shall find approval, shall please God. To please God…….to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness…..to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a son – it seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain. But so it is.”

nature of future glo

But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. (12) Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood. He entered the most holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. (13) For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, , sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, (14)how much more shall the blood of Christ , who through the eternal Spirit offered offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (15) And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

The author of the letter to the Hebrews is unknown. Our verses today are addressed to Jewish Christians who were experiencing social and physical persecutions from both Jews and Gentiles. They needed renewal of conscience and exhortation to persevere in their Christian faith. Their reluctance in the face of persecution to sever their last ties with a religion that was ineffectual but was protected by Roman law was potentially spiritually fatal. The Old Covenant sacrificial system was temporary and an imperfect way of pointing to Christ. The old system provided limited access to God with limited and external regulations for the body; temporary because it had to be repeated annually. The Old Covenant had a sanctuary and a ritual – a defective ritual.

The author then goes on to prepare us for the significance of a new sacrifice. All find their completion in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible declares that God has provided a remedy for guilt and sin in the redemptive work of Christ Jesus. Christ provides complete access to God and redemption /salvation through the voluntary shedding of His blood. He secured our redemption on the cross once for all. The author is showing the complete supremacy and finality of the blood of Christ over the old system. The penalty for sin has been paid and there is nothing that can be added to what Christ did. Our Lord has come through the heavenly tabernacle and has become the High Priest of good things that have come. He was in His slaying the sacrifice of God, voluntarily accomplished by Him once and for all having obtained eternal redemption for us. He represents the ones who believe in Him – for His elect people. This is the center of the Divine plan, the purchase by sacrifice,

Israel’s redemption was a yearly redemption. The sacrifices of the of the Old Covenant were ineffectual. The old system provided limited access to God. In strong contrast Christ made an offering that secures a redemption for the faithful, valid for all eternity and with complete access to God.

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15) For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out , “Abba, Father”. (16) The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, (17) and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

The letter to the Romans was written by the apostle Paul to the Christians in Rome. Our verses today address the assurance of salvation. Some think they are saved when in reality they are not – no one who is living according to the flesh (world) kills his/her sin on a heart level; meaning they control sin so they can look good to others but do so out of pride, not to please God. If the believer’s faith is genuine then they are reborn in Christ and new life always manifests itself in changed thinking and behavior. God has changed their hearts. It is the indwelling Spirit’s activity that is the cause of the believer’s activity which is evidence that they are children of God. The faithful have been adopted into God’s family as his chosen heirs. There is in the faithful a similarity of disposition, character or nature because believers reflect the character of their Father because they share His nature and have, in Christ, access to His presence.

The Spirit is leading and guiding our lives in faith in Christ. The Spirit confirms the gospel promises to the faithful through His inner witness – our inner witness that we are God’s child. Believers are God’s children and His heirs by adoption. The adopted individual was regarded as a new person beginning a new life. God’s children enjoy security and intimacy with Him. (Abba was the familiar expression of intimacy used by Jewish children to address their fathers.) In the first verse of Romans chapter 8 – “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh , but according to the Spirit.” They are free from the law of sin and death, not just a freedom from divine condemnation. The mind of the flesh is death but the mind of the Spirit is peace and life. As many as are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. The Spirit we have received in faith is not the spirit of bondage to fear and doubt but is the gracious Spirit of adoption. How to live in and by the Spirit is the single most important lesson a believer can ever learn. For many people the view of Christian life is just a list of dos and don’ts. God has given us something better than rules, better than a formula, better than experience. God has given us the Holy Spirit and that is the secret of living the Christian life.

My favorite, C.s. Lewis wrote “It is quite right that you should feel that ‘something terrific’ has happened to you (it has) and be all ‘all glowy.’ Accept these sensations with thankfulness as birthday cards from God, but remember that they are only greetings, not the real gift. I mean, it is not the sensations that are the real thing. The real thing is the gift of the Holy Spirit which can’t usually be – perhaps not ever – experienced as a sensation or emotion. The sensations are merely the response of your nervous system. Don’t depend on them. Otherwise when they go and you are once more emotionally flat (as you certainly will be quite soon), you might think the real thing had gone too. But it won’t. It will be there when you can’t feel it. May even be most operative when you can feel it least.”