The Sympathy of God

I want to look with you in 2 Corinthians. I'm going to look at a few verses spread through several chapters, but I'm going to pick up a couple of verses in chapter one, first of all, 2 Corinthians chapter one. Really what I'm doing is picking up a thread and taking it through chapter one and chapter four and into chapter five.

2 Corinthians chapter one, verse eight says, For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble, which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength. So in chapter one, we had the, you know, the pressure of very severe circumstances, leading him to despair, even of, even of life, he says, and then verse nine, very significant phrase, but we had the sentence of death in ourselves. So then 2 Corinthians chapter four.

Now, in 2 Corinthians chapter four, there's a lot of verses here I'd like to read. I'm just going to kind of refresh your mind on some of them. Verse six says, For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, not of us. Then there's a series of expressions relating to, again, this distress and pressure, infliction upon him, troubled, perplexed, persecuted, cast down, and so on. And then there's this repeated references to death again.

Verse 10, Always bearing about in the body the dying, literally the putting to death of the Lord Jesus, the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you.

And he mentions the same spirit of faith. I believed and therefore have I spoken. We also believe and therefore speak, knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus and shall present us with you.

Now verse 16, he says, For which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal way to glory. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Now in chapter five, I want to try to look at first seven or eight verses possibly. So we'll just read them together and then make the connections. For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

For in this we groan, 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 or this tent do groan, being burdened, not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.

Now he that has wrought us for the selfsame thing as God, who also has given unto us the earnest of the spirit. Therefore 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, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

Wherefore we labour that whether present or absent we may be accepted of him and well-pleasing to him. And then he makes reference to the judgment seat of Christ. So going back to chapter one, I was tempted to spend the first message on chapter one because I've very much appreciated some of the teaching that is given in this.

First half of second Corinthians chapter one really is emphasizing the sympathy of God toward us. He's called the God of all comfort and father of mercies and up to verse 11 is really that emphasis on God and his sympathizing character in the circumstances of life that they're found in. And so I'm picking up that thread from this section and tracing it through into chapter five.

Tomorrow night Lord willing I will be picking up thread that's found in the second half of chapter one and then taking it through as well more on the sincerity of God, God of truth that ultimately ends in the at the judgment seat of Christ as far as the teaching that's given. So what do we have emphasized here then? Well in chapter one he's reminding them, he's drawing them really close to himself because you remember the first epistle was very severe and there was a lot of stress you might say in writing first Corinthians. A lot of things to confront and so in second Corinthians he's seeking to to bring them closer to himself to to heal the friction to alleviate the conflict that that has arisen through his first epistle and the issues that were there.

So part of the part of this is by just expressing to them his own his own pressures troubles that he that he endured. He refers especially to the trouble that came to them in Asia which possibly was referring to Ephesus. But he uses strong language pressed out of measure above strength insomuch that we despaired even life.

Now these are very very powerful expressions so there was both outward pressure but there was also inward anguish and those two things together was really brought him to the point of death itself. Now of course this is this is developed a lot more in chapter four and in chapter six again there's more emphasis on it and so Paul was going through some pretty extreme circumstances but I just wanted to draw attention to verse nine and ten because even though our circumstances may not be anywhere near as extreme as what Paul was going through and may not be for the same causes that he was going through he was going through it as cost of his faithfulness and serving the Lord. Verse nine verse nine is applicable to every one of us and the reality is every one of us are living our present life with the sentence of death on us.

Now we hear that expression death role and think of how tragic it must be for people who are living their existence with this doom of the death sentence hanging over them and it's hard for us to relate to people like that and yet the simple reality is we all are moving day by day towards a moment of death naturally speaking and and so Paul as he has been facing an extreme experience in his life that brought him to the door of death he said but we had the sentence of death in ourselves. In other words he'd already come to terms with this and so we're going to see this synthesized in chapter four a little bit more again where there's both an inward attitude and then there's also outward circumstances that that confront us but with that inward attitude that he says here in verse nine is we had this sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead so in other words he'd come to this place in his in his own spiritual framework of thinking that he was basically saying I'm I'm going to die I'm going to have to die I'm ready to die I'm willing to die and I cannot control the circumstances of my life I cannot protect myself from this prospect I cannot so manage my life that I will never have to face this so he had accepted this sentence of death within himself and in doing so he had he had adopted this framework of not placing his confidence or his well-being of life within himself so it leads to this emphasis that is brought up so powerfully in chapter four is that all of present life is temporary it's all subject to to loss and it's just that we spend most of our life just being basically oblivious to this because it's not we're not in circumstances where it's staring us right in the face and so our trust then we're called to this whatever our outward circumstances may be we are called to put our trust in the God who raises the dead and so in chapter one he's not really looking at resurrection in the context that much he's looking at present protection and and he talks about in verse 10 who delivered us from so great a death and does deliver us in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us so here's a fine balance in personal and spiritual thinking he wasn't just fatalistic about life and he didn't refuse to enjoy life because we're going to die anyway so what's the point of doing anything what's the point of enjoying anything what's the point of cultivating relationships what's the point of family and all the rest of it he he was in touch with his own feelings he was in touch with his own emotions and so he could appreciate that while he was in this extreme distress it was worthwhile praying to God because God is the one who can deliver us and we it's suitable for us to pray for his help if we're in we've got health problems it's suitable to pray for his strengthening or his his healing from it or we're getting over our sickness or whatever it may be but our trust must ultimately be in the God who who can deliver us and he does deliver us over and over through life but there comes a time when he's not going to deliver us from our circumstances he's not going to deliver us from health issues and we are going to go through this unless the Lord comes first and yet our trust is to be in him so this is kind of the the emphasis that I see brought out here so there's the sympathy of God in our present circumstances and this God draws close to us as our father father of mercies the God of all comfort and he does he does deliver us but ultimately we rest in his sovereign power and faithfulness that he is preparing something even greater for us so verse 11 then also is an important facet of this he says you also helping together by prayer for us and that was relating to his deliverance in the circumstances and so again this helps to balance the tendency that we might have towards fatalism and thinking about prayer and suffering and so on circumstances whether personal or among the believers or national or international so just that's just kind of the thread that I wanted to pick up in chapter one and then to bring over into chapter four on our to chapter five and so in chapter four there's quite a number of verses here I'm not going to go verse by verse through it but as you see this emphasis on one hand and I'm not really focusing on this tonight at all but on one hand there's a wonderful ministry that he has been entrusted with that's chapter three and in the beginning of chapter four that is the ministry of the new covenant it's a ministry that is going to result in in righteousness eternal life glory where we are actually fitted for that presence of God forever and ever and so there is this wonderful glory of this treasure of the of the glory of God that we are going to know and experience and this glory of God is communicated to us in the face of Jesus Christ not only is Christ the revelation of God to us he's also the avenue by which this grace of God that's become part of our lives is going to lift us out of our corruption out of the bondage both physically and morally and bring us into perfect harmony with God and corresponding to God in glory and so right now we're in this paradox having this eternal treasure of glory that is infinite in value that we carry within us and yet it's being carried in a vessel that's just a clay pot earthen vessels and so we have the treasure and we have the vessel and there's a strong contrast being drawn between it so he says God is allowing us to experience our weakness he brings us through but he makes it obvious that it's his strength bringing us through and not merely our own power or capability that is involved and so there's both an aspect of testimony for the Lord Jesus in these words he refers to the death of Lord Jesus dying of the Lord Jesus and verse 10 I would suggest is primarily an inward attitude that I am willing to die I accept the reality of his death as bringing me into salvation Christ had to die for me bring me salvation now again this is this is climax in chapter 5 which hopefully we'll get to on the on the third night the love of Christ one died for all but Paul has absorbed the greatness of this reality and even as Christ died for me I'm saying I'm willing to die for Christ I'm going to take that same attitude of to fulfill the work of God to bring this ministry to others I am going to be willing to suffer and even to the point of death even as Christ himself did so there's the inward attitude in verse 10 there's the upward circumstances because we who live are always always delivered unto death for Jesus name I would suggest that's God's handling of our circumstances and especially in particular calls on circumstances where he was he was liable to die he was put in in hazardous conditions he was brought to the point of death repeatedly as he mentions in other places so then verse 12 then gives us this this paradox that he says so then death is working in us but life in you so while he's saying while I am in a dying condition and I'm subject to death I could be put to death at any time or I could die from my own health problems whatever it may be death is working in me I'm going towards death but I am carrying ministry of life and bringing eternal life to you so there's that wonderful paradox that is being mentioned then verse 14 again he refers to to resurrection knowing he who raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus and shall present us with you so he's he's got this confidence because his focus is on Christ who has gone through death he's risen from the dead Paul is serving a risen Savior a risen Lord he knows that he may have to go through death stand there with Christ he's not afraid of that prospect so verse 16 then he emphasizes for which cause we think not but though our outward men perish even though this is this is a reality that that he faced and which seems in our normal everyday uh just just way of life that we have it's so hard for us to to really wrestle with this and come to terms with this in some kind of a definitive way because I'm not fainting I'm not losing heart I'm not becoming discouraged I'm not depressed though our outward men perish even if even if this is my portion that I have to go into death itself even though my body is declining becoming weaker and less capable now than it was before he says yet the inward man is renewed day by day so we have this inward power inward life that is that is not diminishing is not dying down but is instead moving towards greater and greater things renewed day by day now verse 17 and 18 verse 17 I'm just going to just say one or two things about it because it really fits with what I want to touch on tomorrow night the fact that there is a very very important connection between the present and future that is that everything that we go through today in our present experience will actually be working for our benefit in the future that's what he's insisting on here our light affliction which is momentary it's actually working for us not against us it's working for us and producing far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory in other words the very things that naturally are against us and naturally would dishearten us and make us give up on life can actually be channeled through which instrument by which we are brought to greater glory in his presence forever and ever and so that's an amazing amazing reality to to contemplate and that certainly links with the judgment seat of christ verse 10 of chapter 5 and so tonight I'm just just kind of tracing the physical in contrast to the spiritual physical moving towards death and the challenge that this is for our faith to face it head-on to acknowledge it and not try to deny it but to to work through it in our own minds and deal with it so verse 18 in a chapter of chapter he says while we look not at the things which are seen but at the things for the things which are seen are temporal things which are not seen are eternal now this is going to be picked up again in chapter 5 in a lot more detail so we'll just kind of go into that now chapter 5 and verse 1 he says for we know I've been really enjoying some of the thoughts in this chapter recently and it's something that we can come back to over and over again and and it's just there's such wonderful wonderful truths that are given to us here so the first 10 verses of this chapter are really giving to us our prospect then our presentation in the presence of Christ so physical he says here it comes to its to its crisis point but we know that if our earthly house this tabernacle of this tent were dissolved we have a building of God a house not made with hands eternal in heaven now I'm just going to pick away at this verse uh looking at the different phrases in it and thoughts in it and try to encourage and strengthen your hearts as well as my own is to look at it first of all he says oh we know so on what basis can we know and do we know well the very first thing is we have come to know the living God there's one thing that has been impressing me amazingly as I go through second Corinthians is is this this book is about the character of God I mentioned already in the first half of chapter one it's the sympathy of God that's emphasized he's so tender to us he's our father he's the father of mercies he's the source of compassion and care he's faithful to us he's genuine he's sincere the second half of chapter one is all about the sincerity of God so there's some wonderful things in that half of the chapter and so he says we know we have come to know the living God as the one who is our tender-hearted father but also as the father of glory he's the God of eternity he's the author of the universe he's the author of life so with such a God with such a father there's no hindrance to his ability to do what he says he's going to do and so we can come to know this with with a very strong assurance we know the living God we know his character we have believed what he has revealed of course it's the bible the scriptures are that that reported revelation of the living God's communications to mankind so we have believed the scriptures we have rested upon the truth that he has given but not only that we have understood the significance of the death and resurrection of Jesus we have something I put it this way better than we have something we have someone who has gone ahead of us someone who came from God who who manifested the credentials of being God manifested flesh but he's also genuinely man and as a man he died that death was was brutally real but he also rose from the dead and he was demonstrated to be alive he was vindicated in resurrection he was received up into glory and it was born witness to so it's a historical fact and reality so these things together give to us this this conscious knowledge that we can speak with assurance we know then you notice that there's a little if in there we know that if earthly house of this tent were dissolved now why does he say if why doesn't he just say for we know that when our earthly house for this tabernacle is dissolved we have a building of God but that's that would not be a true statement as we learn in the next few verses why is it an if it's an if because there is a possibility that death itself could be bypassed so he's saying even if death takes place and this body that I am presently in is broken down it's destroyed the word dissolved is really a strong word that means to to be to be destroyed to be thrown down to be utterly destroyed but to just to draw attention then we have a God who is capable of doing this we have a God who can speak with absolute authority certainty and so we can claim this and we can cling to this in contrast to human philosophy and even scientific research there is nothing from the human standpoint that can look to the future and declare knowledge of the future or knowledge of the unseen realm with absolute certainty we would not to do this so the emphasis then shifts to our earthly house this tabernacle now the word tabernacle is just the word tent and as we know very well uh especially this kind of weather I'd far rather be in a house than in a tent tenting is fine under certain circumstances certain ideal circumstances but I I really can't hardly imagine what it would be like living in a tent all the time I mean nothing more than a tent a tent is a temporary dwelling in contrast with the idea of a permanent house yeah it's interesting that this this almost contradictory expressions are used earthly house of this tent I want to just remind you of the emphasis here just like in chapter four of this earthen vessel here an earthly house what what is this really reminding us of well the first thing it reminds us of by being called earthly is its limitations it's limited to earth I mean we haven't even learned to fly except by using machines we're very very limited to our sphere of existence it also reminds us of the limits of strength and capacity and our dependence upon the earthly environment I mean we need air continually we need water continually we need food that's found in the vegetation and animal life around us we need to be continually supplied with a source of life outside of ourselves so we're really very very fragile we're very very limited and and and so dependent upon outside ourselves for our existence that's that's our present circumstance so the other part of this of this phrase would just remind us that the tent is not all that we are there is this tendency sadly while we are here in this visible realm bound by the physical visible and and it seems to take precedence and there's a lot of aspects of the world that that are a problem of the physical being valued more than the spiritual so this phrase here reminds us that the house or the tent is not the ultimate thing it's what's inside that is the greater thing the more important thing and so there's this marvelous interrelationship between the physical and spiritual we are conscious of and even though the world has such a vague vague idea of the value of the spiritual realm the spiritual is is really the essence of our reality and the physical as we know from genesis by god's creative act the physical was intended to be the servant spiritual the physical was intended to be the manifestation of the spiritual so this is one of the tragedies that sin has brought into our existence is that it has subverted our beings to place the physical as being the most important physical as being worshiped and served instead of this spiritual instead of being god-centered we are self-centered so on and so he's saying here that this condition that we find ourselves in with this earthly limited restricted fragile tent that word is all that's broken down and destroyed without any without any recovery and whenever i i think of this verse and ponder it i'm reminded of kind of a little bit of a humorous experience that we had in the early part of the work there it wasn't humorous at the time at all but when uh murray pratt and myself and an older preacher mr ken moore went up to capuscasing the first year that we went up there with it the gospel tent 1979 we had this old tent it was an old army tent i think apparently that had been bought and used by my brother david and murray when they first started out preaching and they'd used it for a few years and but what we didn't know was that it was at the end of its useful life and the tent was put up and we basically got everything together we did a little bit of door-to-door visiting and then that saturday murray and his wife and becky and i we headed back home to our homes about three hours away and mr moore stayed by the tent it was trailered by the tent in order to just protect it and anyway there was a big storm came up and uh just the tent was just shattered from one end to the other it just it tore apart at every scene it was just in strips so he called us and told us that the tent was down and so we said oh we'll we'll we'll turn around and head back and put it up it's just you know there's no use it's it's finished it's done for and we could hardly believe it but we had no recourse we had to get a completely new tent fortunately there was an assembly down in newberry i think that had a tent that we were able to borrow and uh start the tent meeting so that was quite a start to working campus casing you wondered who was for us and who was against us at that point but but uh so here's this fragile vulnerable tent that we live in today paul is saying even if this this happens that this is destroyed i know we know we have a building of god a house not made of hands now there's a few other descriptions of this given in other places but what i've just really enjoyed about this reality that's given to us here is is that this is the body that you are going to have that i'm going to have for the eternal unfolding ages is a custom made body that god has will create for us individually so it's that's an amazing thing that he is not going to make our existence dependent on anything else or anyone else for our life and existence it's going to be provided fashioned made directly not made with hands it's interesting that that this is a reflection back on creation but with something even greater than the first creation this is something that is going to be for eternal for eternal use so there's no possibility of failure there's no possibility of defect through human instrumentality you think of all the tragic flaws that have occurred through through something defective in in the parents you think what sin has caused the damage the curse that it has brought upon the creation and the accumulating genetic disorders and the accidents the breakdown physically and so on that's that's going on and on and accumulating from generation to generation but when you think about this phrase it says we have and and if you if we did not have any other context than just verse one you could assume that god already has made this body for us that it's that it's like like on a coat rack with a in heaven that's not quite the case it's not made yet but it's going to be and that's what we learn in the next few verses so but just to appreciate this reality eternal in the heavens so it's going to be so unlimited it's not going to be bound by earth it's not going to be dependent upon earth's ecosystem it's not going to be dependent upon the oxygen not dependent upon the water and the vegetation and so we're going to be unlimited in our sphere of service and existence and of course the power of that life is going to be spiritual rather than physical and this is just an amazing thing to think that this is our future we were destined because of what it helped we were under his judgment he has reconciled us to himself he not only has so mercifully cut off that awful destiny of eternal judgment but he has brought us into a relationship with himself not only we can know him within our own spirits and enjoy him and worship him in our hearts in our minds we will be in vessels of glory and will finally correspond to this great treasure which he has granted through his grace and his power to be within us so in verse two and three well verse two to four especially we see this this idea of a groaning as for in this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed upon our house which is from heaven so he's expressing here the ultimate desire and ultimate goal that there is for us now just as romans 8 does i would suggest that in these verses you can see elements of two things groaning associated with the burden that's mentioned in verse four we've grown being burdened so i would suggest that relates to the suffering the the limitations anguish you see groaning groaning signifies something that's very deep within us something that can't be expressed and uttered clearly it can be a groaning out of anguish out of mental pain or it can be physical pain or it can be something that it seems so opposite of that it can be an intense longing of desire or something that is hoped for romans 8 brings both of those aspects and i would suggest that that's also here in verse two it seems to be the anticipation this earnestly desiring all this is he's he's had that glimpse being caught up into paradise of being in that realm and so he's he he has an idea an awareness of just how glorious how wonderful beautiful this body of glory is going to be and so even this should be a help to us to balance our own preoccupation in our natural realm with our own selves our own physical bodies and our present condition yes it's suitable for us to try to be a good steward of our body to try to be healthy try to keep ourselves looking decent and respectable as much as we can but this is not what we're left with for eternity god has prepared for us he is preparing for us to be in vessels of glory that are beautiful beyond any kind of expression or understanding here so we have this prospect so paul he says i'm groaning within myself with the desire to be in this house which is from heaven then there's this introduction of verse three if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked and so this introduces the thought that will be picked up again in verse six to eight that is that between now when we're in this tent with all its limitations this earthly house of this tent and this building of god this eternal house in the heavens between these two things there's the possibility of being an intermediate state that of course as we know from other passages as well is if as believers we die our body is broken down it's gone destroyed and we leave this body we move into the sphere of the presence of the lord we're with the lord as it says in verse eight at home with the lord absent from the body and so that is a condition that he described in verse three as being naked or unclothed and so it's interesting that again this emphasizes the fact that god has an eternal purpose for us as physical beings as well as spiritual beings we carry a dignity we carry a calling from god to be the image bearers he is spirit he is invisible we are physical and visible beings and so god has never abandoned that that aim that goal that he is going to be glorified he is going to be known and revealed in the universe in and through us as his people of course the lord jesus himself is going to be the ultimate expression of the glory of god but we as the bride together with him will share in the glory of god as revelation chapter 21 says of new jerusalem having the glory of god so we are going to be clothed with glory we're going to be glorious beings both individually and collectively as the bride and so this present or this intermediate state that he's anticipating here is better than now but it's not the ultimate so that is what he's saying so verse five just to touch on some of the linking things that he says here now he who has wrought us for the self-same thing is god god has made us for this this is what god has had in his heart for us to be for him then it says who also has given unto us the earnest of the spirit now this is taken up in a few other passages as well and the basic emphasis is is that the holy spirit given to us at the moment of salvation has sealed us for god now that's chapter one i didn't refer to that i could link that with it but but um god has in his faithfulness he has made great promises to us and he has sealed those promises by imparting the holy spirit to involves but the holy spirit not only is the pledge the guarantee that we can never never never be lost to god it's not only the pledge of never being lost it's the pledge of perfection it's the pledge of the completing and that's the idea of the earnest here earnest is the is the pledge of what the future is going to be so it's holy the holy spirit is his guarantee pledge of the completeness of the fullness of redemption and i think if we link together romans chapter eight again where we have that wonderful verse that speaks about the spirit of god indwelling us groaning that's an amazing thing to think of the spirit of god he intercedes for us and he has this same intensity the same divine yearning to bring us to what he really has for us and so it should implant within us that just a tremendous joy and confidence to know that even now even while we're still in these bodies that are limited that are weak and weakening and and decaying perishing as all these expressions brought together give us yet we are possessors of eternal life and eternal perfection is going to be our portion so verse four says again that mortality might be swollen up with life so that's the purpose that the spirit of god is introduced here for then verse six says therefore we are always confident again knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the from the lord for we walk by faith and by sight so i think it's a good thing for us just to not only to admire the apostle paul and the depth of his spirituality and the foundation of his spirituality the strength of the spirituality but also just to challenge our own framework of thinking and to ask ourselves what kind of confidence do i carry within me day by day do i do i have this this steady confidence we are all these confidences knowing while we're at home in the body present body absent from the lord of words what paul's saying here is that his true point of reference to what he really calls home is actually the lord himself in the lord's presence while we're at home in the body presently we're actually absent from the lord and he says for we walk by faith and not by sight my connection to the lord and again i i wish i could say this honestly myself that my connection my personal connection to the lord is stronger than my personal connection to my own home my own personal relationships my own body my own physical existence here in this world i am more at home in the lord's presence than i am in my circumstances in life that's really what he's saying true reference point is now there's a lot that we could say about what it means to walk by faith in contrast to walk by sight but it's governed by the presence of god it's governed by the revelation of god principles of god presence of god governed paul's thinking his behavior his pursuit of life these unseen realities that belong to the spiritual realm so when he says for we walk by faith and not by sight he is saying that it is what i have received from god what i in relationship to god that's that's what determines my life that determines my my action my activities and my behavior of course verse i think verse nine would fit with this as well on one hand paul was willing to risk his life he was willing to risk that physical existence he was willing to suffer hardship deprivation in order that others might hear the gospel and be saved his longing supreme longing was to was to be well pleasing to the lord in the consciousness that one day we're going to stand before him we're going to be in his presence we're going to serve in his presence forever it also would certainly teach us to turn away from anything of sin and it's incompatible with god's principles of his presence and also as this passage has brought us to this crucial point it should instill within us a deep confidence in the face of death we're not afraid to die because we know that all that death can do to us is simply take us through the curtain into his presence of course walking by sight in contrast would be basically living for this life living for this world living according to the principles of the world the values of the world placing our our emphasis our interest and our concern for the present rather than the future that is ahead for us so verse 80 says we are confident to say and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the lord now these phrases at home absent absent present actually the same word being used in every case just with the opposite prefix on it one is in in home home out of home at home away from home present absent so we are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the lord so even though his he has already expressed his ultimate desire and yearning for is this glorious body of perfection the power will be is forever and ever yet even contemplating the possibility of dying to far far rather be absent from the body now of this body and to be at home with the lord we have to admit that we're very much hindered by what we call time and sense and it seems to so often distract us and drown out his voice in his presence it's critical to think that we are going to be in his presence and that presence will never be taken from us again now I'm just going to go as a prayer and we'll pick up sort of where we left off maybe start looking at verse 9 we're going tomorrow night our father we draw near we confess that we can speak of these things because we know about them but we long that it might become to us a stabilizing strengthening foundation for our lives that we might live and walk in a sense of peacefulness and a sense of joy day by day as we go through life that we might be able to accept the circumstances that affect our lives and though we acknowledge we have responsibility to try to do the best that we can in our circumstances we know that ultimately we carry the death sentence upon ourselves we pray that we might learn this deep truth to to have our trust our our utmost confidence our ultimate confidence placed upon the living god the god who knows all about death that has power over all that it has done to us and to the creation power of the one who is able to raise the dead we believe this we believe your word we believe that you raised the lord jesus out of death and that you have brought him into your presence the glorified manhood the body that will never be destroyed cannot be affected cannot decay we look forward to the triumph of this in our experience as well we also know that day by day beloved saints are dying suffering leading to death we think of it as tragic when it's a person we think of it as inevitable when it's an older person and yet none of it is truly natural it's because of sin and its destructive impact upon the earth and the corresponding curse that has been placed upon the creation we acknowledge this humbly and we would look confidently that we are in your hand whatever our future may be whatever our days may be before that future comes we trust in you we acknowledge your glory and your goodness in our savior's precious name amen