“For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
“So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” (2 Corinthians 5:1-10 ESV)
I am 74 years of age, and I feel every bit of it, too. The longer that I live, the harder things become to do, even small tasks. I wear out much faster than I used to, and my mind is not nearly as sharp as it once was. I am definitely at that point to where I don’t want to have to learn anything new in the area of technology, but I will if I am required. Yet I am still working full-time for the Lord in the ministry to which he called me twenty years ago, and I will continue to do so, by the grace of God, and in his strength, until he tells me that my work on earth is finished.
But I can tell you that I am definitely in line with Paul here. I, too, groan in this earthly body of mine, and I, too, long to put on my heavenly dwelling. For I do long for the day when all my trials and troubles will be over and I will be with my Lord for eternity. All my tears will then be wiped away, and sorrow will be no more. I will be in a place where evil cannot exist, and the thought of that is glorious! But the best part of it all is that I will be with Jesus, and I will see him face to face.
Now, how am I assured of all of this? Well, first of all the Scriptures teach us that if any of us want to come after Christ, we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin and to self), and follow (obey) our Lord Jesus. For if we hold on to our old lives of living for self and in sin, we will lose them for eternity. But if for the sake of Jesus we deny self, die daily to sin, and follow him in obedience, in practice (not necessarily in absolute perfection), then we have the hope of salvation from sin and eternal life with God promised to us, as long as we continue in that faith until the end.
[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Pet 2:24]
So, for us to claim heaven as our eternal destiny we must have been crucified with Christ in death to sin, and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. And now we must be walking (in conduct, in practice) in righteousness and holiness, and in obedience to our Lord and to his New Covenant commands and no longer in sin. For if sin is what we obey, it leads to death. But if we obey obedience, its end is eternal life with God.
Nonetheless, if all you have done is just profess faith in Jesus Christ but then you have continued to go your own way, and to live life however you want, and if sin is still your practice, i.e. if you keep going back to the same sins over again without genuine repentance, then, according to the Scriptures, you do not have Jesus as your Savior and Lord, and heaven is not your eternal destiny. And many will hear Jesus say to them, “I never knew you! Depart from me you workers of lawlessness,” because they did not obey the Lord but they chose their own path, instead.
So, walking by faith is not just going through the motions of religious practice. For “faith” is divine persuasion, and it comes from God, and not from ourselves, and it is evidenced by our walks of obedience to our Lord in holy living and in going where he sends us, and in saying what he gives us to say, and in doing what he commands us to do. For why did so many of the Israelites not get to go into the Promised Land? It was because of their unbelief (disobedience), for genuine faith = obedience to the Lord.
[Hebrews 12:1-2; Ephesians 2:8-10; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; Hebrews 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Romans 6:1-23]
And I love this part! “So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.” Amen! This is what we should aim for. For we are not saved just so that when we die we get to go to heaven. We are saved from our sins so that we will no longer live in sin and so that we will now live to please God in all that we are and do and say. For.. and please pay close attention to these words..
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” (2 Corinthians 5:10 ESV)
We are all going to stand before our Lord one day and he is going to judge us according to what we have done, according to our works. And if we have walked in obedience to his commands in holy living, and no longer in sin, then we will receive salvation from sin and eternal life with God. But if we continued in deliberate and habitual and premeditated sin against our Lord, and against other humans, and we did not walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, then we will die. We will not inherit eternal life with God.
[1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10; Rom 2:6-8; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10]
Near the Cross
Hymn lyrics by Fanny J. Crosby, 1869
Music by William H. Doane, 1869
Jesus, keep me near the cross;
There a precious fountain,
Free to all, a healing stream,
Flows from Calvary's mountain.
Near the cross, a trembling soul,
Love and mercy found me;
There the bright and morning star
Sheds its beams around me.
Near the cross! O Lamb of God,
Bring its scenes before me;
Help me walk from day to day
With its shadow o'er me.
Near the cross I'll watch and wait,
Hoping, trusting ever,
Till I reach the golden strand
Just beyond the river.
In the cross, in the cross,
Be my glory ever,
Till my raptured soul shall find
Rest beyond the river.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5gong-PNmY
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