Is "Nothing" the Final Word About You?

Father, we ask that you would gently and deeply pour out your Holy Spirit upon us as we think

upon your word. Father, we ask that your Holy Spirit would help us, would bring your word

and have your word touch our heart, the center of who we are, so that in our day-to-day life,

we might live in such a way that we bear much fruit for your glory. And this we ask in the

name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen. Please be seated.

So I was off last Sunday. I was at another church. I had a week off. And so two Sundays

ago was the last time that I was here preaching and leading the service. And I didn't know

two weeks ago that as I was doing the service that there were three people here waiting to

talk to me after the service. And they wanted to talk to me after the service because their

dad had died and they wanted me to do a funeral. In fact, they wanted me to do the funeral during

my holiday because I had a week of holiday. So it was Craig, the husband of Dodie. And I

knew Greg a little bit and I knew Dodie very well. So I said I would do the funeral. And so,

you know, you're preaching, you're doing this. Many of us have all maybe had, I mean, you know,

notices of death and stuff like that. And it always comes, almost always comes unexpected and

unbidden. This morning, just before the eight o'clock service, about five minutes before, I get a text on my

phone. And Dodie, whose husband had died just a week and a half, two weeks ago, she died at 3.30 this

morning. So I'll be doing a funeral probably on Wednesday, actually, for Dodie, who was a long,

fairly long time member of this church. We don't like to think about death. In fact, one of the

reasons that we have the curtain up today is because this is like a normal, I mean, not really a normal

household scene. For those of you who are young, most houses used to have ashtrays back in the old

days. Because so many people smoked. And it was considered polite, even if you were non-smoking,

that when smokers came that they could smoke in your house. And so I grew up in a house of non-smokers,

but we had an ashtray. And when smokers would come, we'd pull out the ashtray. And so they would have

an ashtray. So this is a bit of a dated type of a house. But, you know, it's in a sense, it's life,

right? It's where it sort of is very, makes it very conscious of where we live. And sometimes,

you know, the curtain here, being in front of the cross and everything, it can make us feel as if,

you know, on one hand, it's a good thing that we can sort of feel like we're in a bit of a holy place.

But it can also be something that it makes us not think of life as much. And having the curtain up

been looking at this living room thing, even if it's a bit dated, somebody told me that it's an

Anglican room because there's decanters of alcohol over there. But then another person told me it

can't be an Anglican room because there's no picture of the queen. So I don't know, maybe it's a lapsed

Anglican house or something like that. I don't know. Anyway, the fact of the matter is that every

single one of us in this room will die. Unless Jesus comes back, every one of us will die.

And in Canada, we don't like thinking about it. And in fact, there's lots of pressure to not even use

the word die when we're talking about different people who are dying. But we will all die. And how

we understand death and how we think about death makes a really big difference to how we live, at

least potentially. And the Bible text today that we're going to look at, because we're preaching

through the book of 2 Corinthians, is a very important and powerful text about death, death

for a Christian. So it would be a great help for me if you'd get your Bibles out and turn to 2 Corinthians

5. If you don't have a Bible, there's some Bibles over here and you can just get up and wander over

there and get your Bible. But if you could, actually, before we look at 2 Corinthians 5, let's look at

2 Corinthians 4, verses 17 and 18. They're the two verses before chapter 5. And here's what the text

2 Corinthians 4:17

says in 2 Corinthians 4, verses 17 and 18. Verse 17, you might remember two weeks ago that it was a

2 Corinthians 4:17

verse that we had up on the screen and we said it quite a few times because it's one of the most

beautiful verses in the Bible, I think. And it says this, for this light momentary affliction,

2 Corinthians 4, verse 17, for this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of

2 Corinthians 4:17

glory beyond all comparison. Isn't that just so beautiful? I'll just, I'll read it again. For this

light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,

as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. For the things that

are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. Now, just before we need to read

the next verse, verses like this have been very, very influential to many, many Christians throughout

the years. And it tends to create within Christians, whether we're aware of it or not, almost this

sense that when we die, we become more spiritual. In fact, we might become spiritual. We have echoes of

it in our culture, even if our culture isn't aware of the fact that when, like, if you probably went down

Rideau Street after this and asked people time after time what happens to you when you die, many,

many people will probably say, well, we either, that we go to a better place, that our spirits pass to a

better place. And many people don't realize that they're sort of having an echo and a shadow and a

memory of a Christian idea which has been, has been twisted and turned a bit, but it's in fact where

people get it from. And they also get it from some fundamental intuitions, which I'm going to talk about in a

moment. But many Christians, we tend to think of the fact that when we die, we just, we go to a better

place. We go to heaven. And it's a spiritual reality. And reading a text like this, it's very easy to see.

It says this, that we're being prepared for this eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, and

that we look to the things that are unseen, not the things that are seen. It's very easy to understand

this in a very, very spiritual sense. But Paul, the writer of this, immediately goes from giving this

view that makes it look like it's just going to be a type of spiritual reality that we head to.

He grounds it and helps us to understand that in fact,

it's not going to be spiritual in the way that we think of spiritual as being something non-physical,

that it's going to be a physical reality that we go to when we die in Christ. It goes like this.

Actually, I'll just start the last sentence of chapter four.

For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

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. Andrew, could you put up verse

one for me on the screen, please? Could you all say this verse with me together?

For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God,

not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. This passage is to teach you, if you could put up the

first point, Andrew, all of these verses which I just read are teaching us a very, very important

idea. God will resurrect me with a resurrected body to dwell in the new heaven and earth with him and

his people. I'm not saying he's going to do that to me because there's something special about me.

There's nothing special about me that's relevant to being resurrected. I, like all human beings,

are fallen and a rebel against God and have my only trust and confidence is that I have put my faith

and trust in Jesus and trusted in what he has accomplished for me in his, in the cross and in

his resurrection. I'm speaking here as a Christian that God will resurrect me with a resurrected body

to dwell in the new heaven and earth with him and his people. That's what the Bible's teaching.

You know, because if you go back, in fact, the Bible, Paul gives in these four verses three different

images that all communicate to us that there's going to be, in a sense, an embodied existence that

we're going to continue to have in the new heaven and the new earth. After Jesus comes and there's a

judging of the living and the dead and God in his sovereign power recreates the entire order and

we now live in a new heaven and a new earth. And there's three different images. The first image is

in verse one, 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. And some of your Bible translations might

not have the word destroyed, it might have the word dismantled. And the original word in the original

language has, it has to actually be destroyed, dismantled slash destroyed. They're both completely

good ways to understand what the original word says. And so we have this image that there's this

sense that the tents are transitory things, that they don't last very long, that they're far more

flimsy and weak and houses are something far more substantial. And on one hand, we know that,

that there is something weak about our bodies and our bodies, they do get dismantled, they do get

destroyed, they do come to an end. But this text is telling us that what God has done, and it's very

interesting, did you notice it says a house not made with hands? Not made by human effort.

Or human ingenuity, or just anything human. Me, and for good or for ill, part of how I am and how I

look, well, part of it is, I guess, the amount I exercise or don't exercise, how I eat, how I don't

eat, how I sleep, or how I don't sleep. In other words, the work of my hands. And more fundamentally,

a lot of how I am is completely and utterly the type of ancestors that I have, and how the DNA has

gotten mixed throughout the generations, giving me a different type of basic abilities and propensities

and weaknesses and strengths. Got my mom's, my dad's eyesight, my mom's asthma.

You know, my hairline is more and more and more looking like my mom's dad's as I get older.

It has nothing to do with anything I've done, but it's still all the work of our hands, right?

And so there's this image that Christians are like everybody else. We're jars of clay. We're earthen

vessels, and this me will be dismantled. It will be destroyed. There's no particular option about that.

But when we put our faith and trust in Jesus, what we have, and we know that we will have once this is

dismantled, is that God gives us something not made with hands.

And it's something that will last for all eternity. And then if you just go down to the next verse,

he gives you a different image, because he says the same thing three times with three slightly

different images, because it's a really important thing for us to get our minds around and to grasp.

I'll explain why it's important later on. But it's an important thing for us to grasp

that the physical and the body matters. And that, I mean, you know, if you think about it for a second,

you know, one of the reasons we know that God loves matter? He made a lot of it.

I mean, that's just so shocking how much matter he made.

How big the universe and the galaxy is. He loves matter.

And he made lots of it.

Look at verse 2.

For in this tent we groan, and longing to put on our heavenly dwelling.

If indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked.

And so, you know, it's once again the image, like the image that we die and then we just become

pure spirit. It's like we become more naked.

We become less us, because we really need clothes, especially in Ottawa in the winter.

But all the time we need clothes, and it's part of who we are to have some clothes.

And so rather than this image that what happens with death is that there becomes,

there's this type of diminishment, a nakedness that grows,

until we're just bare spirit.

The image here is that as if in death, and you're walking along, and death comes,

and we're going to see in a moment it swallows us up.

And as there's this image of something that comes and swallows us up,

it's not just an image of being swallowed.

It's what's actually happening is that God is putting something on us.

And rather than becoming diminished, we become more clothed, clothed by God.

Clothed not by human hands, but by God.

And the groaning here, which is being talked about, isn't the groaning you hear maybe when

I have to get up after not having slept very long, and then I have to go down the steps,

and you're sort of groaning because you're tired, and I'm groaning because maybe my joints

are a little bit sore in the morning when I've just woken up.

The closest analogy is if you're out later on after the service,

and you go somewhere with your friend or your kids or your husband or your wife,

and you decide to have some dessert, and it's a really fancy dessert place,

and the person that you're with, they take a fork of dessert or spoon, and they eat it.

They go, oh, oh, is that ever good?

And then they want to share it with you.

And then you take a bite of the dessert, and you go, oh, oh, is that ever good?

That's the type of groaning that the Bible's talking about.

It's a groaning of longing that what's going to happen after death for those of us who are in Christ.

That we'll see in a moment that God himself puts in his children

beginning to long and yearn to be with him where he dwells, face to face,

with resurrected bodies that are healed and whole as resurrected people,

so that our spirits are at one with our bodies,

and our bodies are at one with our mind and our heart and our spirit,

and our mind and our heart and our spirit and our bodies are at one with the created order,

and they are at one with our creator, and they are at one with each other.

Not that we all become the same, but at one in terms of that there's this basic harmony,

because as we all know right now, there's a fundamental disharmony in our world

that, you know, I want to be able to run and do certain things like I could when I was younger,

but I can't do that.

My spirit and my mind desire, but my body can't.

Where you want to be across somewhere and be able to be with your friend

in the far side of the country when they're going through something,

but your spirit or your mind wants to, but your body can't do it,

and we're at disharmony with each other, and we're at disharmony with God,

and there's this picture that there will come a day

when this earthly tent is destroyed or dismantled,

and we are in a building that is prepared.

Our body is something not made with human hands,

not a result of our genetics and our DNA,

not a result of whether we have cared for our body very well

or not cared for it very well,

not whether or not we have been granted spectacular genetics

or just the lottery of genetics has just really worked against us.

We will have this body not made with hands as resurrected.

And the third image here is,

for while we are, it's in verse 4.

Actually, could you put this up here, Andrew?

I'd like us to say it together.

Could you put it up?

Can we all say this together?

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.

Isn't that beautiful?

That's the third image.

The first image is a house.

The second image is of being clothed.

The third image is that we'll be swallowed.

And the language is of completely swallowed.

But what swallows us is life, more life.

It's as if when we die,

it looks as if death is swallowing us.

And death is swallowing us.

But something bigger, life, is swallowing us.

And that which is mortal is swallowed up by life.

Can we say it again?

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.

It's a very, very, very, very, very beautiful,

beautiful passage.

I can hear in my head,

as I say these things to you,

the voice of some of the people that I talk to

in the coffee shops.

One fellow,

well, actually several people that I talk to,

once they get comfortable,

you know, with me,

and they say,

you know, I'm a scientist,

or I'm just a simple guy,

simple gal,

I just observe what I see.

And you know, there's no evidence for any of this.

I mean, it's a very nice story, George,

and you told it very, very movingly.

But you know,

the evidence is,

is that when you die, that's it.

There's nothing.

You just die,

and then you're over.

It's over.

There's no evidence for anything like this.

It sounds very poetic,

and very beautiful,

and if it gives you some comfort,

and helps you live your life,

then I'm not,

I don't want to rain on your parade.

I don't want to depress you,

or anything like that.

I don't want to make you feel as if,

oh, dang,

all this stuff that I talk about on a Sunday morning

is just rubbish,

and maybe I should quit

if I have any type of integrity,

and I don't have a job,

and I'm,

you know,

I don't,

I can't afford to retire,

and all of that.

But you know,

they just say,

well, you know,

there's no evidence for this.

When I did the funeral

for Dodie's husband,

just,

I don't know what it is,

ten days ago,

nine days ago,

actually,

the funeral for,

if I do Dodie's funeral on Wednesday,

then it would have been,

on Wednesday,

it would have been two weeks earlier

that I did her husband's funeral,

and,

um,

I don't entirely know

where Craig was with things.

I know he had a,

a fair dose of skepticism.

I also know he was a really,

really fine man,

and he came to many church services,

and I don't know everything

there is to know about him.

I'm not making any comments.

But when I,

I went to his funeral,

I felt led to do a particular thing

when it came time for me

to share my word.

And,

uh,

I,

I did what I often do in funerals.

Um,

I said,

um,

I'm going to take a few minutes

in the service,

and I know that there are people here

who would describe themselves

as agnostics,

maybe some who describe themselves

as atheists,

and I know that there are people here,

probably,

who follow some of the great religions

that have been on the planet,

and probably some who are,

would describe themselves

as being more spiritual

rather than religious,

and are putting together,

you know,

a different way of being spiritual

and coming with meaning to life.

But I would just like to take a few moments

to share with you

what my hope is as a Christian,

what the Christian hope is.

And then I looked at Dodie,

and I said,

what Dodie and my hope

as Christians are,

as,

what Dodie's hope and mine

as Christians

is in the face of death.

And,

the Christian hope

in the face of death

isn't based on

just intuitions.

It isn't based on

just longings

or yearnings

for something better.

It isn't based

on an analysis

of the cycles

of the season.

It's not based

on

things like

butterflies

and, you know,

how they're

chrysalis

and all that type of stuff

and they become butterflies.

Nothing based,

not based on anything like that.

It's based on

the real defeat of death

in history

by Jesus.

Jonathan spoke

last Sunday

on 1 Corinthians 15

and that actually

was my text

at Craig's funeral.

And, you know,

it's very,

very interesting.

If you go

to the religion faculty

at Carleton

or University of Ottawa

or if you go

to the theology faculty

of St. Paul University,

which is very,

very,

very,

very,

very liberal,

they would probably

say in the theology

faculty there

that most of the things

in the New Testament

never happened

so they're quite

liberal.

But if you were

to do a survey

of scholars

over the last

100,

150 years,

you would find

several things

that they all

agree on.

They would all agree

that Jesus lived.

You know,

up until very recently,

part of Marx's dogma

was that they,

Jesus never lived,

but that was just

Marxist dogma.

It wasn't based

on any type

of historical stuff.

But most people

would agree,

most scholars

who studied these things

would agree

that Jesus lived.

There's also actually

almost complete

unanimity on the fact

that Jesus died

on the cross.

The only people

today fundamentally

who don't believe

that Jesus died

on the cross

are Muslims

and they don't believe

it because of

historical research.

They believe it

because the Quran,

written over 600 years

later,

actually spoken

by Muhammad

over 600 years

later,

but not actually

written until

about 150 years

after Muhammad.

So 750 years

after the historical

events,

it says that Jesus

didn't die on the cross.

But so apart

from Muslims,

people who study

the issue

historically

would agree

that Jesus lived.

They would agree

that Jesus died.

They'd also agree,

go to Bart Ehrman,

go to the most

skeptical scholars

that the early

Christians almost

immediately proclaimed

that Jesus had risen

from the dead.

Virtually all scholars

would accept

that that goes back

almost immediately

to 33 or 30 AD,

which is when Jesus

died upon the cross,

depending on how you

date it with new moons

and stuff like that.

It's probably one of

those two years.

But there's very little

doubt,

even amongst the most

liberal or skeptical

scholars,

that the proclamation

of Jesus having risen

from the dead

emerged almost

immediately.

And the fourth thing,

which isn't quite

unanimous,

but it's over

probably 75%

of scholars,

even skeptical

scholars,

is that the tomb

was empty

and that everybody

would say they've

never found the body.

And so that actually

is historical,

that he lived,

that he died,

that there's bodies

never been found.

And that almost

immediately,

the Christians

proclaimed that he

had risen from the

dead.

A fifth thing,

which could be added

historically,

is that the primary

witnesses of this,

all but one of them

died in some type

of exile or official

death by the state.

died in some type of

official execution

by the state,

and they died

proclaiming that

Jesus had risen

from the dead.

Now, of course,

atheists and skeptical

scholars,

they just leave it at

that.

They would just say,

these are the things

that happened,

but they can't

explain it.

I would say that,

in fact,

the original Christian

account perfectly

explains the data.

That the reason

early Christians

proclaimed that

Jesus had risen

from the dead,

and the reason

the Christian faith

grew in Jerusalem

so quickly,

and then spread,

was because,

in fact,

Jesus really did

rise from the dead.

that he really

did rise from

the dead.

That it's actually

true.

And if it's true

that he really,

really did

die upon the cross,

and he really,

really did

rise from the dead,

and that this,

contrary to my

skeptical friends,

isn't just me

having some type

of pious belief

or intuition,

but me actually

being able to look

at the historical

record and the data,

and you.

And in a sense,

my skeptical friends,

they come to the data

and history,

and at that point

in time,

their minds balk,

and they take a step

back.

They won't take

that further step,

because they would

say that any

explanation,

even if I don't

have one,

has to be more

probable than the

fact that Jesus

died.

And part of the

reason is that

if Jesus did die

and rise from the

dead after he had

predicted that he

would,

that it means the

universe is not at

all like we think.

because this,

this death and

resurrection starts

to have a particular

type of authority

because of the

context of Jesus'

teaching.

Now,

I say all of this

because,

go back,

can we say verse

four again?

Say verse four

again with me.

for while we were

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.

Andrew, could you

put up the next

point, please?

Death thought it

had swallowed

Jesus,

but Jesus

swallowed death.

death.

Death thought it

had swallowed

Jesus,

but Jesus

swallowed

death.

It's very

interesting,

if you go back

and you look at

the seven last

words of Jesus

on the cross

from the historical

records,

which we now call

the Gospels,

and you'll see

that the second

to last word

that Jesus says

on the cross

is it is

finished.

And then

shortly after

that,

the language

that he uses

and the verb

tenses are very

interesting.

The very final

word that he says

from the cross

is,

into your hands,

Father,

into your hands

I give my spirit.

And the thing

which is interesting

about that

in the text,

and it shocks

the Romans

who were

guarding the cross

and everything,

is the

type of imagery

and the language

of Jesus

is using

is very different

than how we

would normally

use,

talk about

our own death.

You see,

in a sense,

you could picture

that I'm living

my life every day,

I walk,

and day by day

I go,

and death,

that grim reaper,

is slowly

getting close

to me.

And at some

point in time,

I do it all

I can.

Maybe even

in those latter

days,

I become a

vegetarian.

I don't know,

Lord have mercy,

because that will

maybe give me

an extra few

months.

And then maybe

I'll even,

I had an uncle

who died,

and he was

Irish.

He loved a

good Irish

fry-up

breakfast.

Potato

scones,

all dipped

in bacon

fat and

fried,

with fried

tomatoes,

and fried

mushrooms,

and fried

eggs.

And you take

some of that

bacon fat,

and you pour

it on top

of the

eggs.

And he

became a

vegan at

the end

when he was

suffering with

cancer,

in the hope

that it would

let him live

a little bit

longer.

So maybe I

even become

a vegan.

But eventually,

no matter what

I've tried,

death comes

and swallows

me up.

It's inevitable.

But the

language and the

imagery of

Jesus' final

word about

the cross

implies that

death can't

just swallow

Jesus.

Jesus

enters

death.

And so

from the

outside,

you see

death

swallowing

Jesus.

But Jesus

has predicted

that he's

going to die

on the

cross.

In fact,

he says

that he

comes

specifically

to die

upon the

cross.

And after

he's done

his work

upon the

cross,

my God,

my God,

why hast

thou forsaken

me?

The eye

thirst,

it is

finished.

And he

enters

death.

And Christians

understand that

as he enters

death,

and death

appears to

swallow him,

but Jesus

then experiences

every single

thing there is

to experience

of death

with nothing

left over.

And he

emerges on

the far side

of death,

and he has

triumphed over

death,

and death

no longer

applies to

him or has

any hold

on him

because he

has completely

triumphed over

death.

And so we

see that it

looks as

if death

has swallowed

Jesus.

But on

Easter Sunday

and with the

resurrection

appearances,

we begin to

understand that

Jesus has

swallowed

death.

Can you

put the

scripture,

can you read

this with me

again?

Read verse

four with

me?

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.

Not because

there's something

special in

me, but

because when

I put my

hands in

the hands

of Jesus,

that he

would be

my savior

and that he

would be

my lord,

he takes

me,

because he

will cast

no one

away.

And as

he takes

me,

then he

who was

swallowed by

death,

but it

turns out

that ultimately

he swallowed

death himself.

Life

swallowed

death.

Death

is not

the final

word.

Nothing

is not

the final

word.

Love

and grace

and mercy

and justice

and life

and God

himself,

the Lord

Jesus Christ

is the

final word.

It

swallows

death.

Life

swallows

death.

And when

I am

in him

and he

is in

me,

and friends,

when he

is in

you and

you are

in him,

the day

of our

death is

the day

that we

are swallowed

by life.

Could you

put up the

third point,

Andrew?

Every human

being, I

think, has

that intimation

and intuition,

in fact,

well, I'll

say it,

love and

life are

stronger than

death because

Jesus is

stronger than

death.

Love and

life are

stronger than

death because

Jesus is

stronger than

death.

We all

have this

intuition.

I think

every human

being has

an intuition

in the face

of death

that there's

something wrong

with it,

there's

something not

right with

it.

Every human

being has,

I think,

some intuition

that love,

although it

seems to

lose to

death and

life seems

to lose to

death,

that there

must be

something about

love and

life that is

in fact stronger

and more

important than

death.

And all they

are for most

people are

intuitions.

They're intuitions

for us.

But our belief

in this isn't

based on

intuition.

intuition in

the context

of God

doing something

and revealing

something to

show that in

fact these

intuitions are

correct and

to call us to

call out to

God for

mercy.

Can you put

up the next

point,

Andrew?

Notice in

verse 5,

he who has

prepared us

for this very

thing that's

been swallowed

up by life,

this groaning

for something

more.

He who has

prepared us

for this very

thing is God

who has given

us the spirit

as a guarantee.

God grows a

longing in his

children to be

swallowed up by

life.

God grows a

longing in his

children to be

swallowed up by

life.

And some of

you might say,

I'd like to

have that longing,

George, I don't

know if I have

it.

I guess I have

two things to

say.

The first is

that you should

pray for it.

Like, make it

part of your

daily prayers.

Lord, I'm

afraid that

somehow death

is more

powerful, and

that hatred

is more

powerful, and

chaos is more

powerful, and

I'm afraid of

that, that

somehow it is.

It seems as

if in my job,

or in my

house, and

in my body,

those things

are more

powerful.

And I'd

love to have

this type of

longing, even

occasionally,

Father, I'd

love to have

this longing.

And so pray to

the Father about

that, and ask

him to begin to

grow within you

that which he's

promised through

his word, that

he'll grow a

longing for these

things in you.

Call out to him

in prayer.

But the other

thing that you

need to do is to

be gripped by the

gospel.

you see, the

longings and

the yearnings

come out of

an ever

greater sense

of what it

is that Jesus

did for us on

the cross.

As the cross

and his death

and erection

becomes more

real to our

hearts, these

longings and

yearnings become

in a sense more

natural as a

byproduct of it.

And so ask

that the Father

would help the

gospel to become

more real to you.

Think about Jesus

and his death

upon the cross.

Think about the

fact that he

knew every single

thing there is to

know about you

and still he loved

you so much and

loves you so much

that he would be

willing to die

upon the cross.

That in fact,

no matter how

much you might

feel in your life,

that nobody

loves you, the

fact of the

matter is, is

that from the

time you were

conceived, Jesus

has known you

and he has

loved you more

than you could

possibly imagine

and he loved you

so much that he

died for you on

the cross.

You are loved

beyond your

imagining in a

costly love that

took him to the

cross to die.

And faith in

Christ is in a

sense finally

stopping to run

from Jesus and

to turn to face

him and to put

down all the

things that we

trust in and all

of the things that

we think we

need to accomplish

and just saying,

Lord, have

mercy.

Take me as

your own.

I don't want to

run from you

anymore and I

don't want to

try to impress

you and I

don't even really

feel worthy, but

your word says

that you'll take

me and I want

to be yours.

I know that I

need you to be

my Savior and

my Lord.

And Jesus

turns no one

away.

In fact, if you

could put up the

next point,

Andrew, God

himself guarantees

my resurrection to

be with him.

Notice that in

verse 5?

He who has

prepared us for

this very thing

is God who has

given us the

spirit as a

guarantee.

You know, just

think about this

for a second.

If God ordered

a pizza, would

he be able to

pay for it?

Yeah.

He could pay for

a pizza.

If God called

up and says,

you know, I

won't give any

company credit,

sent me a

pizza, you

know he's

going to pay.

He's given

us this

guarantee.

And he's

proved this

guarantee by

the death and

resurrection of

his son.

My time is

almost up.

And I have

two more

things I want

to say.

I'm just

going to say

something very,

very briefly to

try to wrap it

up within a

couple of

minutes.

A couple of

weeks ago,

I don't like

telling stories

like this because

it makes me

look like I'm a

better guy than

I actually am.

I'm a very

strong introvert

and I was just

telling somebody

that when I fly

on the plane

occasionally I

have this

misfortune of

sitting beside

somebody on a

plane that

knows me.

And I'm not

making this up.

It happened to

me just in

August when I

had to fly to

Vancouver and I

ended up sitting

beside somebody I

knew and I

told them,

I'm really sorry

it's nothing

personal but I

don't talk to

people on

airplanes.

I really need

this introverted

quiet time to

get some work

done and so

I'm not going

to talk to

you.

They were

pretty shocked.

You know,

so I'm not one

of those guys

that goes on

the plane and

tries to

convert the

whole plane.

Anyway,

so just to

counterbalance

this story,

one of the

Starbucks I

go to

regularly,

there's this

mentally

handicapped

man who

started coming

with his

helper.

And he's

one of these

mentally handicapped

men,

he's probably

in his

50s,

and he

goes up to

people and

says hi to

them and

tries to

shake their

hand.

Now,

Canadians,

when a

mentally

bit

disheveled,

definitely

not well

coiffed,

mentally

handicapped

man comes

and thrusts

his hand

out to you,

a lot of

Canadians do

this,

right?

And then

some of

them,

they realize

when I'm

a Canadian,

I'm not

supposed to

do this,

and then

they sort

of take

his hand.

Anyway,

about a

month or

so ago,

a month and

a half ago,

he happened

to sit

beside me

and he

shook my

hand and

I shook

his hand

and I

asked him

his name,

told me

his name.

And so

then two

weeks later,

he comes

in the

restaurant and

as he's

walking by,

I stand

up,

put my

hand out

to him

and say

hi,

I'm going

to call

him Bob,

hi Bob.

and he

looks startled

and turns

around,

shakes my

hand and

smiles at

me and

he goes

off to

the seat

with his

helper.

After the

service,

after the,

at the

end of the,

as they were

leaving,

the helper

came up to

me and

said,

you don't

know how

much that

meant to

me,

that you

remembered

his name

and that

he initiated

a conversation

with him

because

everywhere he

goes,

he's

friendly,

just the

way he

is.

And most

Canadians

don't even

want to

talk to

him and

often when

they see

him coming

in another

time,

they try to

look another

way to make

sure he

doesn't shake

their hand.

You remembered

his name,

it meant a

lot to me.

And so then

we get

talking and

she says,

I notice

that you

often sit

there with

a Bible

and big

books,

like are

you a

pastor or

something like

that?

And I

say that I

am and

she has a

few things to

say about

me and my

type of

Anglican and

stuff like

that.

But then

she's leaving

and as

part of her

explanation as

to why she's

no longer an

Anglican and

she's spiritual,

she says,

you know,

it's all yin

and yang.

Like I'm a

spiritual person,

it's just a

matter of

accepting the

yin and

yang of

life.

And I

said to

her,

you don't

believe that,

do you?

And she

said,

no, I

really do.

I said,

no, you

don't believe

that.

You don't

believe that

love and

hatred are the

same,

that death

and life

are the

same.

You don't

believe that

it's just

the same

for me to

know Bob

and shake

his hand

as it would

be if I

came up

and punched

Bob.

You don't

believe that.

You're

working probably

for not very

much money

to spend

time with

guys like

Bob.

You don't

believe in

yin and

yang.

nothing.

This

entire text

is a

profound

refutation

of

Buddhism

and

Hinduism.

It's

profound

complete

and utter

denial of

all of

those things.

Those

religions,

what do

they tell

you?

Lose

your desire

and at

the end

you become

nothing.

And what

does the

Bible say?

Grow your

desire.

Grow your

desire for

life.

Grow your

desire for

love.

And at

the end

there is a

house not

made with

hands that

is yours in

heaven forever

in the new

heaven and

the new

earth.

That's what

you desire.

And in a

culture that

thinks that

after you

die you

just become

nothing,

whether it's a

Hindu or

Buddhist society

or whether

it's our

secular society,

death grows

in that

culture.

Death grows

because people

don't have any

value.

Because at

the end,

what does it

really matter?

You just

amuse yourself

until the

end.

And we

try to

amuse

ourselves

until the

end.

At the

same time

we have

these

intuitions

that love

does matter,

that life

does matter,

that goodness

does matter,

that we

are to live

on them,

that we

praise somebody

for remembering

a mentally

handicapped

man's name

and treating

him like a

person and

a person

of value

and not

as someone

who qualifies

for doctor

assisted suicide

or that if

you knew

that he was

going to be

like that

in the

womb,

that you

would have

him aborted.

Because this

teaching,

it grounds

the importance

of human

beings from

the moment

of their

conception

to the

moment of

their death.

People

matter to

God.

God.

And that's

what this

text is

teaching us.

And it's

teaching us

that if the

world is

telling you,

if your

family is

telling you,

if your

boss is

telling you

that you

are nothing,

nothing is

not the

final word

about you.

Put your

faith and

trust in

Jesus.

You matter

to him.

You matter

to God.

God.

God.

God.

God.

God.

God.

God.

God.

God.

You matter

to him.

You matter

to God.

And one of

the things

which is,

here just

brought up

the seventh

point,

not the

sixth one,

Andrew,

one of the

things which

is so

important

about this

text is

that the

more that

you know

that you

are loved

by Christ

and cannot

lose,

the more

courage you

have to

live and

to choose

life.

The more

that you

know that

you are

loved by

Christ

and cannot

lose.

Why can't

you lose?

Because it's

not my

hands or

yours that

are making

my body

in the

new heaven

and the

new earth.

My hands

have nothing

to do

with it.

God's

doing it.

It's

secure in

him.

My destiny

is secure

in the

hands of

Jesus.

Not my

hands,

but his.

His hands

that will

take me

still bear

the scars

of the

nails

that hung

him to

the cross.

Those are

the hands

that reached

down to

take me.

Died for

me.

I matter

to him.

Nothing is

not the

final word

about me.

Nothing is

not the

final word

of the

most handicapped

person,

the oldest

and weakest

person,

the poorest

person.

people

matter to

God.

And the

more that

you know

that you

are loved

by Christ

and cannot

lose,

the more

courage you

have to

live,

to choose

life,

to choose

love.

Please

stand.

Father,

you know

some people

here,

some of

us are

maybe

really

have been

struggling

coming in

here,

thinking like

we're

nothing,

thinking like

we're becoming

more invisible

as we get

older.

Father,

you know

maybe there

are some

people here

struggling with

cutting themselves

as a way to

try to maybe

deal with

their emotional

pain or

the chaos

in their