" Resurrection Assurance: The "Glorification Stage" of the Salvation Process"
I. Assurance of Being Resurrected The Glorification of Salvation (verses 1-8)
A. If this earthly tabernacle is dissolved; decayed or is destroyed;
God has given us a “glorified body” that’s eternal and design for heaven (vs.1)
Note: This proves that we (the saints) have the assurance of eternal life; and when it’s time to separate from this earthly body, God has a “soulish” body that never dies for each and every one of us. That glorified body is our permanent clothing for our eternal home in heaven. Our glorified body will never have to deal with sin, Satan, suffering or death ever again. For this reason, we don’t ever have to get weary while we are doing our work in the ministry in whatever capacity God has set us to do.
B. We “groan” in this body (physical) desiring to be in our heavenly body (vs. 2-5)
We are subjected to so many trials and afflictions in the present body. This body is subjected to so many pains and to so much suffering, as to make us earnestly desire to be invested with that body which shall be free from all susceptibility to suffering. As we mature in the faith, we have a greater desire to go home to live with Jesus then to stay here in this temporary home.
C. God has already prepared our new home for us. (John 14:1-6) and sealed us with the Holy Spirit as a "guaranteed promise".
Important: God is a Trinity and He made man the same way.
1.Man is a “tricodomy (trinity) being. Man is made of a spirit, a soul and a body. The “soul” (psyche) is the more important part, and the body constituted its mere habitation or dwelling. Yet a body was essential to the idea of the complete man; and since the body is frail and dying, Paul looked forward to a union with that body that was eternal in the heavens, as a more desirable and perfect habitation of a man’s soul.
2. It means that in that future state, the soul will not be naked; that is, destitute of any body, or covering. The present body will be laid aside. It will return to corruption, and the disembodied Spirit will ascend to God and to heaven. It will be disencumbered of the body with which it has been so long clothed. But we are not thence to infer that it will be destitute of a body; that it will remain a naked soul. It will be clothed there in its appropriate glorified body; and will have an appropriate habitation there.
II. Living in confidence ( At Home, yet not at Home ) (verses 6-8)
A. Our soul is still housed in this physical body (temporary home)
B. Absent from our heavenly home (with the Lord)
C. Walking by faith, not by sight, that is, we live our lives in the Christian faith based on our heavenly future. We live in expectant of the promise Jesus made to us.
D. Living in confidence
1. Preferring to die to be home with the Lord, rather to live in a world of sin.
2. Living with the Lord eternally is far better.
3. We can live and do the work of the ministry in this world confidently knowing that when our work is finished, we will go home to a far greater place prepared for us by God.
III. The Judgment Seat of Christ` There are 5 Judgment Seats. (verse 9-11)
1. 1ST Judgment – at the Cross for Sin (Jesus condemned sin in the flesh) [Isaiah 53:6 John 5:24]
2. 2nd Judgment – In the Air [2 Corinthians 5:10, Romans 14:10, 1 Corinthians 3:10-15] at the judgment seat of Christ- for our works as saints.
3. 3rd Judgment – The Jews as a Nation on the earth (The Great Tribulation Period) because of their rejection of Jesus as Messiah {Ezekiel 20:34-38; chapter 22:19-22; Jeremiah 30:4-7; Daniel 12:1; Matthew 24:21}
4. 4th Judgment – On Mount Olivet-of the Nations- Matthew 25:31-46for the way they treated the Jews during the Great Tribulation Period They will be classified as either” sheep nations” or “goat nations”
5. 5th Judgment- At the Great White Throne Judgment sSeat-The wicked dead (unsaved) fallen angels Revelation 20:11-13
Paul intimates to the Corinthian Church:
A. Regardless of our present “home” state, we must please God. (vs. 9)
B. We all must be judged- (vs.10)
C. The Saints will be judged at the Judgment seat of Christ for their eternal rewards based on their works and motive for the works.the saint's works will fal into 6 classes, 3 that are accepted, 3 that are rejected. The 3 acceptedclasses of works are gold, silver and bronze. the 3 classes of rejected works are wood, hay, ans stubble.
Every man shall receive an appropriate reward for the actions of this life. Observe here:
(1) Based on the works done in or through the body; not which the body itself has done. It is the mind, the man that has lived in the body, and acted by the things he rationed in his mind to do., that is to be judged.
(2) All deeds done in this life; will be judged. All beyond the grave is either reward or punishment; it is not probation. The destiny is to be settled forever by what is done in this world of probation. As we commonly say: This is the "dressing up room" down here. You got to go to Heaven from down here!
(3) Everything that you do in the physical body will be judged.; This includes all the thoughts, plans, purposes, every word spoken, as well as for all the outward actions of the man.Everything thought or done must be accounted for, and man will give an account for all.
D. Knowing how terrible God’s judgment will be for the unsaved, we persuade men- compel people to come to Christ-
Knowing how much the Lord is to be feared; what an object of terror and alarm it will be to stand at the judgment-seat; how fearful and awful will be the consequences of the trial of that day. The Lord Jesus will be an object of terror and alarm, or it will be a subject inspiring terror and alarm to stand there on that day, because:
(1) He has all power, and is appointed unto HIM to execute judgment;
(2) Because all must there give a strict and impartial account of all that they have done;God alone is impartial
(3) Because the wrath of God will be shown in the condemnation of the guilty. According to Barnes Notes Commentary "It will be a day of awful wailing and alarm when all the living and the dead shall be arraigned on trial with reference to their eternal destiny; and when countless hosts of the guilty and impenitent shall be thrust down to an eternal hell. Who can describe the amazing terror of the scene? Who can fancy the horrors of the hosts of the guilty and the wretched who shall then hear that their doom is to be fixed forever in a world of unspeakable woe? The influence of the knowledge of the terror of the Lord on the mind of the apostle seems to have been two-fold; first, an apprehension of it as a personal concern, and a desire to escape it, which led him to constant self-denial and toil; and secondly, a desire to save others from being overwhelmed in the wrath of that dreadful day."
E. God knows us and we hope you know what we are about too.
IV. Be Reconciled to God (verses 12-15)
A. We have no need to vindicate ourselves to you again because we feel you will vindicate our integrity to those false teachers who slander our name and question our integrity. (vs.12)
B. Whether it appears by others that we are overzealous or besides ourselves- we have a sincere zeal for God and the ministry- or whether we are seen as having sound minds, it for your benefit. (vs.13)
C. The Love of Christ constrains us. (vs.14)
Christ so loved the world as to give himself for it. His love for the world was a demonstration that people were dead in sins. And we, being urged by the same love, are prompted to like acts of zeal and self-denial to save the world from ruin.
D.Christ died for all. (vs.15)
1. Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. (Everybody)
2. If we are truly HIS, we now live for HIM, nor for ourselves.
V. From Now on…”How we will view people” (Christians) (verses 16-19)
A. Know no man after “the flesh”- we will not judge, associate with, or focus on a man’s possessions, his nationality, social status, financial portfolio, etc. We will focus on where they are spiritually. (Whether saved or loss) (vs.16)
B. If any man is in Christ (saved), they are a new creation (spiritually) (vs. 17)
Christ has given them a brand new life with a brand new start.
C. All things are of God: God orchestrated the salvation process, the calling in the Gospel ministry and the saved person should feel an obligation to deny themselves, take up the cross and follow Jesus, then in becoming a witness, tell the world about Jesus and what HE did for them. (vs.18)
VI. We are Ambassadors (verses 20-21)
A. God pleads to man through us the way of salvation. (vs.20)
B. Be reconciled to God, through Jesus Christ.
C. Jesus was made sin for us (on the cross) that we might be made the righteousness of HIM. (vs.21)