Graham continued the 2 Corinthian series this morning from 2 Cor 5:6

 

 2 Corinthians Part 11 [23:44m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 Sermon 2 Corinthians 5:6-10

1) Confidence (verse 6 & 8)
(a) In what?
Verse 6, “Therefore we are always confident..”
Verse 8, “We are confident, I say..”

The intermediate state, the place we go to until we receive our resurrection body, is preferable to our present state.

(b) Why so confident?
If we track back through the letter we see: forgiveness 2:5ff, the New Covenant 2:12ff (esp 2:14), the work of God’s Spirit 3:3 & 5:5, treasures in jars of clay 4:1ff, the real verses the shadow of what is to come 5:1-6.

(c) How to increase our confidence
Know the scriptures! I see no other substitute as a means of receiving sound revelation concerning the truth.

2) Pleasing the Lord (judgement seat)
“Appear.” Or “be manifest” as we really are. Salvation is not of works (Ephesians 2:3-9) but works should follow.

See Eph 2:10, James 2:14-24.

See Philippians 3:7-14
But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.
What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ— the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.
I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last for ever.
Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

3) New Creation 5 (verses 14-17)
Back to my first point again, “confidence.” I see the expression of the invisible realm in the fact of my new creation.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 17th, 2008 at 3:00 pm and is filed under Mp3s, Sermons. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.