Do you walk by faith or by sight?
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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 in 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.
4. 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
It is sad that we are here for the burial of one of us – beloved Keller. It
is a great loss for us all. But on the other hand it is a great gain for her
because she lived this life in view of eternity. She knew that one day
she would be gone forever from this world. And so she lived as one
who will soon or later meet with her God
Listen to some of the things that she said, “whether the Lord heals me
of cancer or not, the Lord is on His throne”, “God is in control!” this is
walking by faith. This is refusing to live by what you see but by what is
eternal. She could have chose to curse God because of pain – but
because of her faith, she thanked God – this is faith. What our eyes see
are the pleasures that this world has to offer that are temporal, things
that we outlive (4:18). We enjoy food and drinking, but we know that
soon we will be where there is no eating and drinking.
The purpose of my preaching today is to remind you of what you need
more than anything else – you need FAITH to live by. Faith in Christ
Jesus in whom there is life – life everlasting, in whom there is joy – the
sovereign joy for all who trust in Him. This is because Christ is the one
who has loved us with an everlasting love, which is shown in that He
died for all who trust in Him so that all may live. Why did Christ do
this? It is in verse 15, He died for all, that those who live might no longer
live for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised. I
want to very clearly point out why you need this faith, how you may
have and the effect of this sort of faith in your life. Look at the passage:
1. Why you must live by faith?
A. Because of the sort of bodies we have
1) Our bodies are temporary “tent ... that will be destroyed” (v.1)
2) Our bodies suffer, “in this tent we groan” (vv.2, 4)
3) Our bodies are burdened, “we groan being burdened” (v.4)
4) Our bodies carry death, they are “mortal” (v.4)
B. Because of God’s eternal purposes for us
God’s eternal purpose for everyone person is that they may live to
glorify and please Him. Sadly no one is able to please God –except
Jesus Christ. It is of Christ only whom God the Father said that He was
well pleased.
There is something that you need to know about the purpose of God
for you – you have one day to stand before Christ – everyone will
appear before the Judgment seat of Christ.
Do you really live as a person who will give an account of ALL you
have done before God? Every word, every thought, every desire, every
deed will be weighed by Jesus Christ. It is Jesus who will be the Judge
and He is the same one I am commending to you that you may trust
Him in time when He is the Saviour before you meet Him as the Judge.
May be you say that you do not have a case to answer ... how about
your lies and your gossip? How about your covetousness and greed?
How about the fact that you have not loved God with the whole of your
heart, soul, mind and strength? Will you really tell God that you have
2 DO YOU WALK BY FAITH OR BY SIGHT?
loved your neighbor as yourself? This will be a blatant lie and no one
can defend himself before God with lies.
God has said in His word that, we must all appear before the Judgment
seat of Christ. And when we will appear, each one may receive what is
due for what He has done in the body, whether good or evil.
My friend I want to assure you that there is no one who has done good
enough to please God, except Christ and this is why He is the only hope
you have in all eternity.
2. How can we walk by faith?
a) We walk by faith by longing for heaven, “longing to put on our
heavenly dwelling”. Do you desire to go to heaven? Why? Is it to see
the city of gold? Or is to see the angels? Heaven is good and the
most excellent place to be in because of only one thing – there will
be God. Those who will be there will live with God – those who die
in Christ have the privilege of going before us to be with the Lord.
Keller is gone to be with the Lord, because she trusted in Christ. Do
you long for a time when this will be true of you?
b) By having Christ as the object of our faith -‐ we are to live for Christ
(v.15), We are to be in Christ in order to be a new creation, because
the old pass away (v.17); in Christ we are reconciled to God having
been His enemies because of sin (v.18). It is only in being Christ
that God does not count our transgressions against us (v.19); it is
ONLY in Christ that we become the righteousness of God, because
for our sake God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us so that
we might become the righteousness of God (v.21)
c) By being prepared by God Himself – No one can save himself from
his sins. All including you need God to work in you so that you may
be able to live the sort of life that would please God. Without the
working of God you will remain in your sins and such who remain
in sins have no God, have no hope and have nothing except hell,
and fire, and darkness and gnashing of teeth forever. I implore you
plead with the Lord for His mercy; ask Him for the forgiveness of
your sins through His Son Jesus Christ. If only God could come into
your life everything else would be changed and you would become
a New Creation. You would belong to God in a very special way.
You would be at peace with God just as His Son or daughter.
d) By being controlled by the Spirit of God
For those who are in Christ, one thing is needed of you – to walk by
faith. It means that you are totally controlled by the Holy Spirit so that
you do not gratify the desires of the flesh. Instead of obeying the
demands of the body for more and more of sins, you yield to the Spirit
of God who makes you to desire what is holy, what is true, honorable,
just, pure, lovely, commendable, what is excellent and what is worthy
of praise (Phil 4:8-‐9).
3. What is the result of walking by faith?
1. You will fear nothing, including death “We are of good courage”
The message of the gospel makes us Christians know and appreciate
death because the truth for every believer is that while we are here on
earth, in this body, we are at a great disadvantage of being absent and
away from the Lord (v.6). Because we would rather be absent from the
body so that we may be present with the Lord. It is only the Christians
who have no fear of death. We are of good courage fearing neither
death, nor demons, nor anything in the entire world because nothing
can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
2. We make it our ambition to please the Lord please the Lord
What is your aim in life? Is it to own large tracts of land and build
beautiful houses? Is it to own the latest cars and be the counted as the
richest person? Or is popularity? No I think is to be the counted as the
most educated person on earth! Well these things are good but will
last and will not give you eternal joy. All the world put together would
not be as valuable as your soul (Matt. 16:26). It is only when you make
it your ambition, first priority to please the Lord that your life will find
meaning for which God created you.
The result of the life of faith in Christ is that you do exactly what God
created you for – to please him. You can only please God with one
thing here on earth – FAITH (Heb. 11:6). If you will not brush this
message, if you will heed the message of the cross and plead that the
Lord may be merciful to you, I assure that you will be SAVED.
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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 in 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.
4. 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
It is sad that we are here for the burial of one of us – beloved Keller. It
is a great loss for us all. But on the other hand it is a great gain for her
because she lived this life in view of eternity. She knew that one day
she would be gone forever from this world. And so she lived as one
who will soon or later meet with her God
Listen to some of the things that she said, “whether the Lord heals me
of cancer or not, the Lord is on His throne”, “God is in control!” this is
walking by faith. This is refusing to live by what you see but by what is
eternal. She could have chose to curse God because of pain – but
because of her faith, she thanked God – this is faith. What our eyes see
are the pleasures that this world has to offer that are temporal, things
that we outlive (4:18). We enjoy food and drinking, but we know that
soon we will be where there is no eating and drinking.
The purpose of my preaching today is to remind you of what you need
more than anything else – you need FAITH to live by. Faith in Christ
Jesus in whom there is life – life everlasting, in whom there is joy – the
sovereign joy for all who trust in Him. This is because Christ is the one
who has loved us with an everlasting love, which is shown in that He
died for all who trust in Him so that all may live. Why did Christ do
this? It is in verse 15, He died for all, that those who live might no longer
live for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised. I
want to very clearly point out why you need this faith, how you may
have and the effect of this sort of faith in your life. Look at the passage:
1. Why you must live by faith?
A. Because of the sort of bodies we have
1) Our bodies are temporary “tent ... that will be destroyed” (v.1)
2) Our bodies suffer, “in this tent we groan” (vv.2, 4)
3) Our bodies are burdened, “we groan being burdened” (v.4)
4) Our bodies carry death, they are “mortal” (v.4)
B. Because of God’s eternal purposes for us
God’s eternal purpose for everyone person is that they may live to
glorify and please Him. Sadly no one is able to please God –except
Jesus Christ. It is of Christ only whom God the Father said that He was
well pleased.
There is something that you need to know about the purpose of God
for you – you have one day to stand before Christ – everyone will
appear before the Judgment seat of Christ.
Do you really live as a person who will give an account of ALL you
have done before God? Every word, every thought, every desire, every
deed will be weighed by Jesus Christ. It is Jesus who will be the Judge
and He is the same one I am commending to you that you may trust
Him in time when He is the Saviour before you meet Him as the Judge.
May be you say that you do not have a case to answer ... how about
your lies and your gossip? How about your covetousness and greed?
How about the fact that you have not loved God with the whole of your
heart, soul, mind and strength? Will you really tell God that you have
2 DO YOU WALK BY FAITH OR BY SIGHT?
loved your neighbor as yourself? This will be a blatant lie and no one
can defend himself before God with lies.
God has said in His word that, we must all appear before the Judgment
seat of Christ. And when we will appear, each one may receive what is
due for what He has done in the body, whether good or evil.
My friend I want to assure you that there is no one who has done good
enough to please God, except Christ and this is why He is the only hope
you have in all eternity.
2. How can we walk by faith?
a) We walk by faith by longing for heaven, “longing to put on our
heavenly dwelling”. Do you desire to go to heaven? Why? Is it to see
the city of gold? Or is to see the angels? Heaven is good and the
most excellent place to be in because of only one thing – there will
be God. Those who will be there will live with God – those who die
in Christ have the privilege of going before us to be with the Lord.
Keller is gone to be with the Lord, because she trusted in Christ. Do
you long for a time when this will be true of you?
b) By having Christ as the object of our faith -‐ we are to live for Christ
(v.15), We are to be in Christ in order to be a new creation, because
the old pass away (v.17); in Christ we are reconciled to God having
been His enemies because of sin (v.18). It is only in being Christ
that God does not count our transgressions against us (v.19); it is
ONLY in Christ that we become the righteousness of God, because
for our sake God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us so that
we might become the righteousness of God (v.21)
c) By being prepared by God Himself – No one can save himself from
his sins. All including you need God to work in you so that you may
be able to live the sort of life that would please God. Without the
working of God you will remain in your sins and such who remain
in sins have no God, have no hope and have nothing except hell,
and fire, and darkness and gnashing of teeth forever. I implore you
plead with the Lord for His mercy; ask Him for the forgiveness of
your sins through His Son Jesus Christ. If only God could come into
your life everything else would be changed and you would become
a New Creation. You would belong to God in a very special way.
You would be at peace with God just as His Son or daughter.
d) By being controlled by the Spirit of God
For those who are in Christ, one thing is needed of you – to walk by
faith. It means that you are totally controlled by the Holy Spirit so that
you do not gratify the desires of the flesh. Instead of obeying the
demands of the body for more and more of sins, you yield to the Spirit
of God who makes you to desire what is holy, what is true, honorable,
just, pure, lovely, commendable, what is excellent and what is worthy
of praise (Phil 4:8-‐9).
3. What is the result of walking by faith?
1. You will fear nothing, including death “We are of good courage”
The message of the gospel makes us Christians know and appreciate
death because the truth for every believer is that while we are here on
earth, in this body, we are at a great disadvantage of being absent and
away from the Lord (v.6). Because we would rather be absent from the
body so that we may be present with the Lord. It is only the Christians
who have no fear of death. We are of good courage fearing neither
death, nor demons, nor anything in the entire world because nothing
can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
2. We make it our ambition to please the Lord please the Lord
What is your aim in life? Is it to own large tracts of land and build
beautiful houses? Is it to own the latest cars and be the counted as the
richest person? Or is popularity? No I think is to be the counted as the
most educated person on earth! Well these things are good but will
last and will not give you eternal joy. All the world put together would
not be as valuable as your soul (Matt. 16:26). It is only when you make
it your ambition, first priority to please the Lord that your life will find
meaning for which God created you.
The result of the life of faith in Christ is that you do exactly what God
created you for – to please him. You can only please God with one
thing here on earth – FAITH (Heb. 11:6). If you will not brush this
message, if you will heed the message of the cross and plead that the
Lord may be merciful to you, I assure that you will be SAVED.
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