Living with Eternity in Mind

2 Corinthians chapter 5. I'll read verses 1-10 in your hearing. Please stand together with me for this reading from God's Holy Word.

Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven not built by human hands. Meanwhile, we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked.

For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed, but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose, and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. Therefore, we are always confident, and know that as long as we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord.

We live by faith, and not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please Him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him, for the things done well in the body, whether good or bad. Well, good morning again, and it's a privilege indeed to be here.

I'd like to thank this church very, very much indeed, for all your fellowship with us in the work of the gospel in the Philippines. I think many of you know why, how Christian Compassion Ministries began.

We received a check back, I think it was 1993, to help the poor and needy. And that came from a church in Bremen, Indiana.

And that, of course, is this church. And we didn't know what to do with it. That was our thing. We prayed about it. We had the money for well over a year.

And as we prayed about it and sought the Lord, He led us to begin the work which we call Christian Compassion Ministries. It started very small. It was just a few children in a small apartment to the back of our church.

G-Boy, in that picture, if you were here this morning, was one of those children we picked up on the streets back in those days. Well, it has increased far beyond all that we imagined it would be.

But we thank God for all the responsibility and for all the things that He's done and for all the people we're able to help. And we thank God, too, for the many opportunities we have of proclaiming the gospel to a large number of people each week.

And sometimes we must be able to reach regularly about 300 people a week because of CCM and those we have contact with. But again, as I said earlier, we ask you to pray that we'll see many more come to know Christ because most of them all think that they're already Christians and have real need.

Well, thank you again for all your fellowship in the work of the gospel. It's much appreciated. And you probably know, most of you, that Stan Heaney looks after the finances here in America, receives it and passes it through your church to the Philippines.

And Cindy Scott is looking after the education assistance program. And we're grateful for all their help that they give to us and for your fellowship with us. Well, thank you.

Well, it's my privilege to seek to preach the word of God to you this morning. And if you have your Bibles, again, open it up at 2 Corinthians chapter 5. I'm afraid I don't have the NIV in front of me.

I've got the New American Standard Bible and that's what I'll be quoting from. And I hope it's not too off-putting. But this chapter I remember particularly because I had the privilege of hearing Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones speak on this chapter or this passage which we read together earlier.

This was probably back in 1971 or 72. He'd been quite sick with cancer and had an operation. And he'd been away from his, well, he'd resigned already from his church.

And he was back at what's called the Westminster Fraternal. It was a fraternal of about 120 pastors who met in London on the first Monday of every month.

And I had the privilege of being there with our dear friend Gordon Hawkins. And he took me along and Dr. Lloyd-Jones came and he said, This morning, brethren, I want to preach to you.

And he preached from this because he said, here he had very much facing death. And here he'd met and seen this chapter. And it had become very, very precious to him.

And he said, here he's going to be a church in Tondo.

For those of you who were here earlier, a little church down in Tondo, which we've taken back over because of oversight. And I was there because as I preached on the Lord's Day morning, I wasn't to know that one of the members of the congregation would soon be in the presence of God.

She's a young girl of 12 years of age. Her mother, 32, with six children. This was her second daughter. The next, that evening, she was feeling sick. Next day, she had a high temperature taken to the hospital.

And it was said that she had dengue fever. And this was a very virulent form of dengue. Hemorrhagic fever, that sort of thing. And she started internal bleeding.

Much blood was, she had much blood on transfusion and every other way. But they could not save her. And on the Friday, she died with brain seizures.

And it was very sad. A young mother, 32, losing a daughter at 12. But as I went to see her, the mother, she told me of the conversations she'd had with her daughter.

And she believed that her daughter truly was the Lord Jesus. And so we rejoiced as I took service in the funeral parlor that evening. We were able to say, we believe this little girl is with the Lord Jesus Christ.

And this is it. Translated from this world into the next world. And we are always like this, aren't we? We always realize, and we should realize, we often put down roots so much here.

That we begin, don't think that we are just passing through this world. As the writer of the Hebrews says in chapter 10, verse 25.

We're not forsaking our assembling together, as is the habit of some. But encouraging one another. And all the more, as you see the day drawing near. And what day is that that's drawing near?

The return of the Lord Jesus? But the day when we will be in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. That day is drawing nearer for each and every one of us who are a believer.

And those who are not believers. Because we will all give account of ourselves unto him. Well, this morning I want to look at this passage briefly. The trials of life.

This is what I would like to start with. Because he starts in this way. In this chapter he mentions these things. Look at verse 4. He says, for indeed while we are in this tent, we groan.

Being burdened. Because we do not want to be unclothed. But to be clothed. So that this, what is mortal, will be swallowed up by life. So we're groaning here.

And some of this groan is because of the trials. Because of the difficulties. Because of the problems. Back in chapter 4, he's spoken of this in verse 8 and 9. He says, we are afflicted in every way.

That was Paul's life. As a missionary, as he went around preaching and teaching the word of God. But he says, we're afflicted in every way. But we're not crushed. Perplexed, he says.

But not despairing. Persecuted. But not forsaken. Struck down. But not destroyed. And that is it.

We might go through many trials in life. And what trials you go through, I don't know. But you are sure that in this life, all of us will go through trials at some time or other.

Perplexed. But first, and Paul was persecuted. Oh yes, constantly persecuted. Often violently. Imprisoned at Philippi. The Jews were always out to get him.

His fellow country. He was struck down. Remember how he was stoned on his first missionary journey. And left for dead. Well, none of us have experienced that. But here it is.

And he says right at the end, does he not, of chapter 4. Remember, there's no chapter headings here. And it flows in. He says in verse 17. For momentary light affliction.

That's how he calls it. All the things he's been through. Momentary light affliction. is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.

Life indeed is full of trials. If you haven't been through very many yet, I'm sure that will happen. But nothing like the Apostle Paul, of course. I'm sure many in this church have been through trials already.

Some of you quite severe, possibly. We go through trials as individuals. And we go through trials as family. Sickness. This year, I seem to have gone through one after the other of different things, which are sickness.

Nothing greatly severe, like some of our dear friends. But we go through that. There are great problems, of course. Sometimes lack of money. I mean, there is this.

There are many things we would like, what we want to do. And there are things in the family and the problems. You've got to pay for an education of a child and other things. And some have great difficulties struggling.

And particularly in the Philippines, people struggle financially greatly. Although many things are much cheaper. Some things are much more expensive. And people have very little money.

We know this in our congregation. And this is a great problem. Trials. And sometimes it may be the very, have we got work? And a person might be facing the closure of their factory or their place where they work.

I was here just on the radio this week, down in Texas, of a factory closing and moving into Mexico. Obviously, where labor would be cheaper. And so what is happening?

People are being put out of work. And this is what happens. A family doesn't understand these things sometimes. And what happens is the children are affected. And then, of course, if we are Christians, sometimes our loved ones don't understand us.

Perhaps a husband or a wife who are not Christians. And they see us. And there are certain things we will not do. There are certain things we're different. And we don't have that relationship with them.

What we would love to have in Christ be one in the Lord Jesus. And others, of course, there's children whose parents are not sympathetic towards their faith. There are various things within a family, even splits within a family, because of faith in Jesus Christ.

And these are trials. These are problems. And then, of course, sometimes you might be in a place of work where you're ridiculed for your faith. Because you won't do certain things.

I remember a man in the Philippines. He was a carpenter. Nobody wanted to work with him. Why? Because when they're working as a carpenter, so often they would stop and they would sharpen their, you know, they would get their little file out and sharpen up their saw and do their various things.

And slow down. Make the work last longer. That would be the thing. And this man, and he's got a lovely name. His name is Moses. And he became a Christian.

And he worked. And as we are to work in Scripture. Nobody wanted to work with him. It was difficult. Because they didn't want to work with him. And that's hard, you know. Because he worked.

He would work the time he was allotted to work. And that's right as a believer. And nobody wanted to work with him because they were groaning about him. You should slow down.

Let this job last much longer. Ridiculed loss. And then, of course, we go through trials when we lose loved ones. Death comes.

Takes a dear one away from us. A child like just the other week. Husband. A wife. Parents. Yes. These are trials which we go through.

And all of us are getting older. And if you don't realize it, look in the mirror. We are. And we're, as we get older, we lose strength.

We lose many things. We change. Change. Change. I was on the phone just yesterday with a friend of mine who lives in Canada. We were at school together. We worked in the Philippines together as missionaries.

And interestingly enough, he's had some of the same sicknesses I've had at our age. Yes. we're getting older this body's wearing out and we're getting ready for this new body what we speak of here in the glory yes trials but there's also spiritual trials we go through not just the physical ones not the material ones many physical trials and often we're there's some of those besetting sins you know the sin i'm sure almost all of us have them there's a sin something in our life which seems to come back again and the devil tempts us and it seems that we fall again into the same thing that we fell into before and we battle with it and we think we've got the victory and the lord shows us our weakness and we're out of need for depending upon him and we we battle with problems like this and then sometimes we despair of seemingly we're not growing spiritually we're not growing in holiness as we should be and doubts and fears come invade us and of course satan comes around and whispers in our ears and he says look at you now what you do you call yourself a christian look at this and we do we get discouraged some of us more than others our very personalities cause us this way to be like this yes we have all these various things well dear friends this is what he does we there's a groaning in this life and if you know nothing about groaning i i assure you that there is and there will be as we come to this but paul thinks then of his life as like a tent and i think we've got to realize that although some of you go camping you take tents tents now you don't go and live in the campground the whole year round i suspect in a tent it's not so good in winter time i tell you when the snow comes this is it a tent is a temporary shelter it's something which is not permanent and paul is talking about a tent for we know that if the earthly tent he says which is our house this house the place we live in now and that is what it is this body now is a tent it's not permanent it's here for a while remember paul was a leather worker and the tents in those days were made more out of leather the hides of animals sewn together and so this is it it's a vulnerable this tent it's temporary it's not permanent but what if it is torn down well at my age i've had lots of friends this last couple of years who are no longer here i've written quite a number of condolence letters to wives or to husbands who've lost a wife yes we are coming and we are slowly friends are leaving us christian friends are passing on into the presence of christ this tent is being torn down recently i i never knew the man but i was very much challenged because i knew of him and had prayed for him he was an italian you may have known of him franco maggiotto he'd wrestled with cancer for quite a long time a pastor and in a his hospital bed every lord's day he would get out of his hospital bed be released from the hospital he would go to his church and he would preach and then after the service he would go back to his hospital room faithful right up until the end and now the tent has been torn down and he's gone into the presence of his lord whom he loved and served faithfully all his life oh yes and paul calls this even all these things we've grown over a man with cancer dying in a hospital bed momentary light affliction he's comparing it all whatever it is whatever is getting us down now

whatever is thrusting in upon us whatever we're groaning about whatever the problems are it's light affliction compared to the glory that awaits us dear christian an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparisons says paul can't compare it yes the trials of life and we often see those and are taken up with them but don't let us be don't let satan get us so discouraged with those things realize and look like paul is looking here in this chapter the glory that awaits us then so he compares this life with what is to become for the believer in christ there is another house another home he's saying which awaits for us in verse one we have a building from god not made with hands it's eternal building in the heavens eternal without end with god there is a continuity of course between this life and the next but for us so often we're so taken up with this life it's so real of course it is it is real but really we tend to think of the future as shadowy that's something we don't see but in actual fact this is the shadows this life now we're in the shadows we're in the the thing that's just all twirling around we do not we do live in the shadows now but the life to come is the reality that is where we are because it's a life that is eternal a life with the presence of our lord jesus christ in glory a wonderful life so he says this indeed in this house verse two we grow long to be clothed one our dwelling from heaven he changes this picture he's got now it's like clothing we're putting it on what is it we therefore should have this expectation as christians of the glory that awaits us it should be a great encouragement to us it should be something we look forward to not that we we just want to get out of this life want to do away with all our responsibilities and everything else but it's something that should help us each day as we go through life we've got a glory we've got a place we're going this world is not my home i'm just a traveling through we're looking to the lord yes when we will not be he says found naked we'll be clothed upon so paul is not just wanting to give up and die he's not wanting to do that he's looking forward to that future but here it is what is mortal will be swallowed up by life he can say in verse four that's what happens and some have seen this in verse four a picture of a fish you've got this little fish swimming along like this you see it's a little thing this is this and suddenly this great fish go this little one's gone it's engulfed and it's gone and this life is like this little tiny fish here but the great fish comes and this is swallowed up in something which is much vaster much greater and this is it is what's going to happen to us now the bible doesn't tell us what happens at death it doesn't really say very much at all about the intermediate life as out of the flesh at all there's not much of that we do not know about the immediate state yet it speaks indeed does it not of the of the christian going into the presence of christ that's what we see remember the thief on the cross the lord says today

you will be with me in paradise what it all means it's all we don't really fully understand today you will be with me in paradise we think of paul like great statements of paul in chapter one of philippians for me to live is christ to die is gain but if i am to live on in the flesh this will mean faithful labor for me i do not know what is to choose but i'm hard pressed from both directions having the desire to depart and be with christ why for that is very much better who wants to be with christ to die is gain we so often look at death as the fearful enemy and everything else it was an enemy but christ has drawn the sting christ has been through and passed through death and so for us to pass through the veil of the shadow of death we shall fear no evil why because he is with us those are the promises of the word of god and we know also too do we not very clearly here in scripture that there is a new body a body without the pain a body without all the deformities and all the other things and that that get us down in this body we have a new body spiritual body like unto christ's glorious body the resurrection of body and it says is it not back in chapter 4 again in this same context verse 14 knowing that he who raised the lord jesus will raise us also with jesus and will present us with you that's what paul can say so god is preparing for us for a new home he's doing this by his spirit verse 5 now he who prepared for this very us this very purpose is god who gave us the spirit as a pledge as a guarantor as a down payment this is what it is he's given us his holy spirit the spirit is given to us it's the it's the certainty he indwells his people he's with us and we know that this by having been given the spirit that we are certain that we will be with him oh yes this is what it is this word well pledge in my version guarantee in others

I believe in yours it was down payment this sort of thing the first payment the word today actually in greek is used for an engagement ring an engagement ring the promise that we are to be going to get married the promise that this young man makes to the lady as he gives this ring to her that he wants her to be his wife we've been given the spirit the holy spirit to us as christians this guarantor this promise that we belong to the lord we are his we are the bride of the lord jesus christ this is it the church to take us to be with himself and we will be with him forevermore in glory but it's one place at a time this is what it is in verse 6 he says therefore being always of good courage and knowing that while we are at home in the body here we are absent from the lord yes he refers to being absent from the lord and then he goes on in verse 8 verse 8 we are of good courage i say and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the lord now what i would like to just draw attention to here is this what he's talking about is not a home that we go to a geographical location it's not just heaven it's not if you take in terms of wanting to go on vacation to hawaii and looking forward to the beaches and everything else no this home is where christ is it's the children looking forward to coming home and seeing their parents coming back from that long time away and seeing the people whom they love and wanting to be with that person yes that's what it is it's to be with christ to be with the lord jesus not a place as such as we're thinking in terms of that's the importance it's to be with the lord the lord jesus christ he wants to be at home with the lord well aziz the trials of life the glory that awaits us with the lord jesus christ well what about our present life what does this mean for you and i now well first our life must be a life of faith here it is verse 7 for we walk by faith and not by sight that's what we're called to we're not there yet in the glory in the age to come we shall be at home with the lord we shall see him but now we do not see him literally we see him by faith and we must live by faith in the precious promises of the word of god we must live by faith in our lord jesus christ and in the promises of the gospel the truth of the gospel and the problem is many people today want to see things and so we have that greatly in the philippines they want to see miracles they want to see power they want to see things they want to go and see lots of things which will affect them physically or see things that are physical but we walk by faith not by sight says the scripture you see here and so what are we to do well one of the things we seek to strengthen by the grace of god this faith we're to grow in faith we're to be stronger in faith and god has given us what we call the means

of grace we have the word of god we're to use the word of god and this this scripture must be precious to us and must be important to us and we must pray over it and know it i've always been encouraged here to know that you do learn verses of scripture of my heart it's it's been something which has been encouragement to me and a challenge as well that you do here because the word of god is vital god has given us his word to strengthen us it's the the food for the body is it not it's the milk for the child growing and here it is the word of god prayer these we can come to the lord and if we neglect to meet with him we if you don't talk to your wife for a week what happens i don't know what you would think and so this what do we do we we are prayer is talking to the lord and being with him and the means of grace the means of grace which we have in each other in the church of coming together and being together and encouraging and helping each other we do all these things together yes we walk by faith strengthening each other the state of the meetings of the church the instruction of the word of god the ministry of your pastors to you all of this are very vital important for us in our growth in grace and in the strengthening and establishing of our faith and we need it and if we neglect it we neglect and we do our spiritual lives yes our life must be a life of faith that's the first thing the second thing is we are to be encouraged we're to be encouraged verse 6

I'm not sure therefore being always of good courage if anybody's got a new King James it does say confident and the King James did but it's good courage being always of good courage and knowing that while we're at home in the body we're absent from the Lord and again in verse 8 it says this we are of good courage we're encouraged we're confident we look forward with a certain hope that is we now by grace what we've experienced what have we got should be encouraged as Christians our sins have been forgiven we have new life in Jesus Christ we're not under the judgment of God we have been adopted into his family and I know what there's something of this because of our ministry Christian compassion ministries we have a girl living in our home we have foster parents for one of the girls she doesn't know where her mother is she was given by her grandmother to an auntie who basically abandoned her and she ended up on the street she was for a while she was eating out of garbage cans

I mean this is it and who where does she belong to where is she what is it but surely this is it she's now in our home we're looking after her I love her dearly and this is it and God has loved us he sent his son to die for us Christians and what do we deserve any of that nothing but how good and gracious he is to us and we should be encouraged some of us have that temperament we always see the black side we always see the down side we always get down and we go yes it's all sort of you know it's all big clouds around our heads and everything else and it seems to be always pouring rain and it seems to be freezing cold where we are some of us have that disposition but dear friends we're to look up we're to be encouraged we're to remember who we are I don't know if any of you have ever read this you can find it often in second hand bookshops in the

UK it's a story of a Christian man who lived in Cornwall a man called Billy Bray he was an old tin miner and he was converted in a dramatic form he used to work underground in the tin mines back in the early 19th century but Billy Bray he would say you can lock me in a barrel but I'd still shout out glory hallelujah through the bunghole he said you know he was he was full of joy and rejoicing and this is it he was encouraged even though he had a very hard life and this is this is it we need to to look like that you see we need to be encouraged oh okay we go through trials some of you may have been to the doctor and he says you've I hate to tell you but you've got to go for treatment you've got to have an operation you've got to go for chemotherapy you've got a shock and the great thing and the pain and the physical pain

I know some of you must have been through I'm sure in these ways and we do go through but even in all of this there's the encouragement in Christ that this is not permanent it's not always and Christ knows and understands and surely too we have the people of God with us and we've got people who are praying for us be encouraged and you see this is it that we have this responsibility to each other and you know all those one another verses in the New Testament they're so important and that means not that those people have to do that to me but I am to do that to them I am to be concerned for others one another as we help each other I am not sure if you have also read the second part of Pilgrim's Progress sometimes in that wonderful book of John Bunyan when they produce it they only produce the first part the first part is the story of Pilgrim Christian on his way to the celestial city but there is a second part which is about

Christiana his wife and as she goes along with some of her neighbors and others and different ones who join with the pastor and it's the church going together helping each other as they're on the way to the celestial city and that is it God doesn't keep us we're not saved and put in isolation usually although occasionally there is in a Muslim land or something but normally expecting and the purpose of God for us is to place us in a church where we're nourished and helped and encouraged and we are to be an encouragement to others and that's what we're here to do dear friends and may this church be a church that truly encourages each other here it doesn't despise the weak or the fearful because some do struggle with life some do constantly seem to get down but please if we are that type of person and you know it seems that sometimes the Lord gives us a few of those people in our churches and I'm sure your pastors will perhaps admit it as well

I've had a lady she seemed to be foamy even at two o'clock in the morning because she got so many problems you know and you wake out of a deep sleep and she needs help and a counsel even over the phone there are the Lord sometimes gives us some desperate people like that who can never seem to look and we're constantly trying to encourage them but we need to look at ourselves what type of person are we are we the one person always want people to take an interest in me no we're to be those also who take an interest in others and a concern for other people but we also struggle with sin do we not sometimes we go down under it and we fail and we sin what does it say if anyone taken in a fault you are spiritual brethren encourage such a one restore such a one in a spirit of humility that's what we are to do we're to help each other we're not just to judge a brother or sister who's fallen into sin okay we're to speak to them and perhaps the church discipline needs to be taking place in certain aspects but it's not just to condemn it's to bring back it's to restore it's to help that one come back one of the great means of grace surely is even church discipline one of the privileges the privileges of children growing up in a

Christian home is that they're disciplined and they should be they need discipline but we need discipline as well we've got children who come off the streets who know nothing of discipline and they don't want discipline and some of them will only come for a couple of weeks in our children's homes and then they run off because they don't want any discipline one of the privileges of a home is the discipline that we receive one of the privileges of a church but the third thing I want to say is this we should have it as our aim our ambition to please him in verse 9 therefore also we have as our ambition whether at home or absent to be pleasing to him our ambitions can be very self-centered can it not be selfish even my own happiness what I want my personal gain my job what I'd like to have I'd like to this I'd like that and I want this sometimes we're governed by even greed we think of the moment we think of what we want and you see this in many children it's what they want and that comes first so often yes and it can be so much in adults what is most important to us and there's a question always to ask for you and I what is important in my life and this is what it should be to be pleasing to him that I want to please the

Lord Jesus and this verse has always been a great challenge to me we have as our ambition our aim in life says Paul to be pleasing to the Lord Jesus that's what we're to be so what is it for you and I remember the shorter catechism what is it that we glorify God whether you eat or drink or whatever you do do all to the glory of God it also says in scripture but the shorter catechism chief end of man to glorify God and that is it to be pleasing to him that's what we do glorify him to please him whether we eat or drink we glorify him that's what we're to do to please Christ and to please him by obeying him by honouring him by serving him to live for him in our homes in our families in our jobs in our schools wherever we might be we go as ambassadors for Christ we seek to please him who is our

Lord we represent him wherever we are and we are to please him we're not to do what just pleases me what would Christ have me do how should I live for him in this situation and so our money our time our bodies are to be for the Lord Jesus Christ that is what we're to be and that's to govern us to be pleasing to him when we wake in the morning I remember reading in a biography of this man he woke up in the morning and every morning he says this bed is the altar and I am the sacrifice and I give myself to you for this day Lord to lead me and to use me as you will and that surely is it isn't it this day is for Christ oh yes I go and do my job for the Lord Jesus Christ and I work the best work I can do for Christ and I deal with people my neighbors or somebody else somebody who's very irritating and irresponsible

I deal with them as Christ would seek to deal with them oh Lord help me to do that because I'm so irritable so many times oh control my temper help me to do better help me to think in a right way keep me from a different things so how do I deal with problems how do I please him may this church and each of us here seek to honor Christ to worship him to please him may everything we do be governed by him and his word in formal gatherings as well as the meetings for worship and our witness to the world but the last thing before I close there's another thing here it says this in verse 10 for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may be a recompense for his deeds in the body according to what he has done whether good or bad this is a fourth thing we live pleasing to him but we are also to give account to him we stand before the judgment seat of

Christ that doesn't just refer to Christians it refers to all of us every single one of us will give account that is a very very important statement because I wonder how many here truly are ready to give account before the judgment seat of Christ some of you I'm sure are not some of you young people some of you children some of you older people with grey hair still are you truly belong to the Lord Jesus Christ do you know your sins are forgiven do you rejoice this morning do you want to please him do you want to live for Christ and if you can if in your heart you know you don't belong to him oh even today today is the day of salvation because Christ always stands ready to forgive those who truly will repent of their sin and turn unto him Lord

Jesus is full of mercy and full of grace but we ought to stand before the judgment seat this life isn't everything we're just passing through it it's only temporary it's only a tent which is soon to be torn down and what will we do in the presence of Christ because nothing is hidden he knows everything all our secret thoughts everything we've done we hang our just our heads in shame but what is our hope our hope surely should only be in the righteousness of Jesus Christ that old hymn that sings nothing in my hands I bring simply to thy cross I cling nothing we don't bring anything into his presence but all our failure all our sinfulness all the things we've done in the past and everything else but if we're

Christians they've been wiped clean the sin has been forgiven and he says and welcomes us into his presence well done good and faithful servant enter into the joy of your Lord and oh what words we don't deserve them but what words for the true Christian but if you're not a Christian what will he say depart from me for I never knew you oh dear friends never knew you but you've heard the gospel again and again some of you but you've never turned in repentance unto him repent and believe in Jesus Christ and hear the words well done good and faithful servant enter into the joy of your Lord let us lead lives pleasing unto him let us pray our gracious and eternal

God we thank you for your word make it precious to each one of us this morning search our hearts and try us and see if there's any wicked way in us Lord and lead us in the way everlasting cleanse us from our sins wash us make us clean and help us truly Lord to desire to live lives that are pleasing unto you as we wait here now as we move forward in this tent which will soon to be torn down Lord that we will see you face to face I know it may be that we'll all each and every one of us tell us a story saved by grace bless you our God we thank you for your word we thank you in Jesus name Amen