Naked Before God

At that time of the year, a lot of people will be traveling here in the next couple of weeks. And they're going from place to place for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but good to see all of you here this morning. We're going to go back to 2 Corinthians.

2 Corinthians again, continuing our walk through 2 Corinthians. And I left off last time with the idea of looking at the things which you cannot see. End of chapter 4, verse 18 talks about, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.

And this song says it well. The last verse, it says, let goods and kindred go. This mortal life also, the body they may kill.

God's truth abideth still. His kingdom is forever. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.

For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. And now we're going to talk about something this morning that's seen. And I can see a lot of them here today.

And that is our physical body, our physical side of who we are and our bodies. We can see them. And a lot of people are very concerned about the physical side of life.

And you have all these places to lift weights and make yourself big and strong. You have all these places where oftentimes the ladies go to get tans or get their nails done or get their toenails done or get their makeup or all these things that focus on the things which are seen. And that's not what we're to look at, amen? Looking not at the things which are seen, but rather at the things which are unseen.

And so our hearts ought to be preoccupied with that which we cannot see. And that is the human heart, the affections of the heart, the spirit within us, our minds, our thoughts, the things that as you look at me here this morning, you cannot see my thoughts. You cannot see my affections.

They sometimes manifest themselves in how I live my life. But the things which we cannot see, those are the things that are eternal. And everything that cannot be seen is going to go on forever.

Everything that can be seen is going to burn up. It's going to be gone. It's going to see.

It's going to dissolve. And so why spend your time focusing on that which is going to get dissolved? Why not focus on that which is going to remain forever? And so jumping in here to 2 Corinthians. Thank you, James, for the water.

2 Corinthians, chapter number 5. I'm only going to read down through the first four verses. That's all the farther we're going to go here this morning. There's a lot here.

And I trimmed it down to fit into 45 minutes here or an hour. But chapter 5, verse 1 talks about this physical body. And so I want to start reading here in verse number 1. For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven. If so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle or this body do groan, being burdened.

Not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Why don't we just stop here and invite the Lord to help us this morning. Heavenly Father, we acknowledge you again this morning in all of our ways.

And Lord, we do love your word. That's why we're here. We want to honor you and serve you and worship you and do that which is pleasing in your sight.

And Lord, may you instruct us out of the eternal word of God that we might better understand your ways, to know your ways, to know who you are, to know how you function. And so Lord, I submit myself here to you. May you use me here as a vessel and to honor, to edify the saints, to build them up in the things that be of God.

So bless us as we gather here and minister one to another. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Well, in those four verses, there's a lot of groaning. There's a lot of groaning there in these first four verses. Verse 2 says, for in this we groan.

Earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven. Verse 4, for we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened. I don't know about you, but I feel like, you know, when Paul wrote this, that he did groan within himself.

He didn't like the fact that he was stuck in this earthly body. He was longing for a different tabernacle. He was longing for a different house.

And I'd like to ask you that question this morning. How do you feel about your house? How do you feel as a converted believer living in this vile body, living in this house that is going to be dissolved? Do you also feel the same way he does? Do you find yourself day by day groaning? Groaning, Lord, deliver me from this tabernacle. Deliver me from this house.

Paul said in Romans chapter 7, oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? This body of death, this physical body. Paul called it a vile body in Philippians chapter 2. And it's something where his soul, which he had a converted soul, his soul was desirous of living and being perfect in the sight of the Lord. And yet, as he walked through life, he carried around a heavy, burdensome, physical body.

Anybody know what I'm talking about here this morning? This body, this body which is full of infirmity. And as redeemed souls, we live inside a vile body. We live inside a body that is in the process of dissolving and coming to naught.

And some of you are experiencing, I'm experiencing more and more, that this body is starting to break down. That there are problems with the body as we get older. And things become more and more difficult.

And the soul and the spirit, as we learned last time, though the outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. And the inward man is groaning. It's almost like this is not right.

That I, this living soul, this quickening spirit, have to dwell inside of this body that is corrupt and is corrupting and is going to dissolve. Groaning under the weight of it. I thought of 2 Peter chapter 2 there, when Lot, he lived in Sodom.

It said Lot had a righteous soul. And it says he was vexed day by day with the Sodomites, with those who were in Sodom. He should have got out of town, but he stayed there in Sodom.

And he was vexed, living in Sodom. And here we are living in a world that's corrupt. We're living in a body that's corrupt.

And these things ought to cause us to groan. Groan about this world that's living in sin. Groan about this body, which is full of infirmity and temptation.

I think that's what the Bible means when it says Jesus was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. You think about the Lord, talked about his joy, but he was a man of sorrows. He looked around and he was sorrowful as he saw the humanity the way it was.

And it caused him much grief to see the sin and the iniquity that was all around him. And of course, that's the way we are. We're living in a fallen world inside of a fallen body.

And so there's a lot of mourning. There should be a lot of mourning. We ought to be a man of sorrow, acquainted with grief.

Lord. And that ought to drive us to pray for people. Amen.

Lord, this is a bad place. Lord, these people need help. Lord, I need help.

Lord. And groaning within ourselves. That's what the Bible means in Matthew chapter five.

Blessed are they that mourn. Blessed are they that mourn. Blessed are they who inside of themselves, their soul and their heart is mourning over this world, over this physical body that they're trapped in.

Blessed are they that mourn. Lord, my body is full of infirmity. Lord, I see my weakness.

Lord, these temptations. And Lord, all around me there is wickedness. Blessed are they that mourn.

Let me just say something here this morning. I've shared this before, but if you're not mourning, there's a problem in your heart. If you're not mourning in this society that we live in, if you're not mourning because of this vile body that you're in, then you must be enjoying it.

You must love this present world. You must love the sensual desires of your body and your flesh. You must be living after the flesh and the pleasures of the flesh.

Because if you're a redeemed child of God, you ought to be groaning in the situation that we are in. And groaning and mourning is a good sign because it's manifesting a redeemed soul, or may I say a soul that is seeking for redemption. Amen.

A soul that is seeking, like the prodigal son who's down there eating the husk of the swine to eat. And many people were enjoying that perhaps, but he was wanting something better. And it caused him great grief and mourning when he thought about the situation he was in.

I mean, I know a lot. I used to be this way. A lot of my friends go down to the bars and get drunk.

It's just carrying on, just loving it and having fun. And no mourning, no grieving over it. It's just, it's party life.

Well, that ought not to be the situation here. I've shared this with you before, but it's worth repeating, especially for the young people. I actually had the children's lesson here.

But you know, the difference between a pig and a lamb. A pig, the Bible says in 2 Peter, a pig wallows in, in the muck and the dirt. And a dog returns.

I've seen this before. It's just disgusting. A dog will vomit and then a few minutes later come back and love to eat it and lick it up.

And Peter talks about a dog returning to his vomit and a sow wallowing in the mire. That's an unconverted soul who enjoys these things. Amen.

Very clear. And if you're a sow, if you're a dog, you're going to enjoy sin. You're going to wallow in it.

You're going to love it. But whenever a lamb gets involved in the dirt and falls into the dirt, it immediately wants to get clean. That ought to be our heart.

As children of God, our nature. I don't like this. I don't like these things that I'm involved in.

I've got to get right. I've got to get my heart clean. And there's always a pursuit for holiness and clarity and cleanliness and forgiveness.

And so we're mourning, in a sense, our condition. Remember 1 Corinthians 5. I thought about 1 Corinthians 5 when the man was involved in fornication. And I shared this about two months ago.

It says, it is reported commonly that there is fornication among you in the church at Corinth. And such fornication is not so much as named among the Gentiles that one should have his father's wife and you are puffed up and if not rather mourned. You know, what's wrong with you people? You claim to be in the church and there's ungodliness going on in the church and you're glorying in it.

You're puffed up. Instead of, you should be mourning, grieving over what's going on in the church. I tell you, that's how you can tell where churches are going the wrong direction.

Sin can go on in the church. All kinds of sin and there's no mourning. No grieving.

Grieving. And so the Lord, He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with that kind of a grief. Not because, well, He did.

He was, the Bible says He was made in the likeness of a sinful flesh. He did take upon Himself our flesh. So He understood our infirmity, it says in the book of Hebrews.

He was tempted in all points like as we are. So He knows what it's like to walk around in your body. Look with me to Romans chapter eight.

I'm gonna turn to a couple of passages here this morning. Romans chapter eight. Romans eight verse 22.

Saint Paul here is writing, of course this is inspired by the Spirit of God. In Romans eight 22 says, "'For we know that the whole creation is groaning "'and travailing in pain together until now. "'And not only they but ourselves also "'which have the first fruits of the Spirit, "'those who are truly born again, "'even we ourselves groan within ourselves, "'waiting for the adoption to wit, "'the redemption of our body.'" So this groaning is waiting for something.

It's waiting for the redemption of the body. It's waiting for this body to be changed into an eternal glorious body. And so we are groaning and it even says the whole creation is groaning.

You know, when man sinned, God cursed everything. He cursed the ground. He cursed everything.

And the animals and humanity all are under this curse. And this curse is bringing a groaning all over the place. That's why we have earthquakes, by the way.

The ground is groaning because of the curse of man. It's why we have these waves, the sea and the waves roaring and tsunamis. We have these things because the ground is unsettled and creation is unsettled and all kinds of disturbances are happening because creation is groaning just like we are.

And again, I just wanna remind you, one of the differences between a Christian and non-Christian is a Christian is groaning and non-Christian is delighting in it. But the creation as we know it, God has cursed it and it groans. And because verse 23 says we have the Spirit, the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves.

And here's what we're waiting for, the adoption to wit, the redemption of our body. And don't think it's strange that you're groaning in your condition, whatever that may be, it's normal. Because the heart ought to be saying, I want something better than this situation that I'm in.

I want to be free from this body of death. I want to be free from constantly warring the Spirit against the flesh, lusting against each other. And that's just normal, you're not unusual if you feel that way.

But notice something else here, jump down to verse 26 of Romans 8. Likewise, the Spirit also helps our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself makes intercessions for us with groanings, which cannot be uttered. Boy, if you ever find yourself groaning, it may be the Spirit of God just groaning in you, just like, Lord. And the Spirit of God in us also is groaning.

Can you imagine the Holy One, the Spirit of God, also inside this temple, this body, groaning and crying out and praying, it says to us, and interceding for our infirmities. Praise God for that. I don't know how many times I've been delivered from bad things because of the Spirit of God's praying.

Lead us not in temptation, but deliver us from evil. Don't you think the Spirit of God's praying that on a regular basis? Lead them not into temptation, but deliver us, Lord, from evil. Now, I just wanna remind you here that there's nothing you're gonna do to better that flesh that you have.

The Bible doesn't say to decorate it or put a little perfume on it, make it smell better. It doesn't say to, you know, to try to amend it. There's nothing you can do to it.

All the Bible says is to crucify it, crucify the flesh and the affections thereof. It says to mortify your members which are upon the earth. Put it to death.

That's the only thing you can do. There's no amending. You're gonna get a new one someday.

That's what you're looking forward to. We're getting a new one, and that's what 2 Corinthians here, let's go back there in 2 Corinthians 5, it's talking about, 2 Corinthians 5, verse one, says, for we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, and that's what's going to happen to this body, happens to everybody. They put them in the grave, and the body begins to deteriorate and to dissolve.

We have a building of God on house, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. God is preparing in the heavens, an eternal house for every one of his children. For in this, we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house, which is in heaven.

Now, the Lord has prepared two places for us, or two houses for us. I think of that city that Jesus went to build. I go and prepare a place for you.

And this city that Abraham was longing for, it's Hebrews 11, says he was looking for a city whose builder and maker was God, and we see that city coming down out of heaven, new Jerusalem coming down for humanity, saved humanity to dwell in. But the Lord is also preparing a body for each one of us. He's preparing us a body, and he is going to bring that body with him.

A lot of people get confused about that. When a person dies, his soul goes to be with the Lord. When the Lord returns, those souls come with him, and they're going to be reunited with their new bodies, and they're going to be changed.

We'll see that here in just a minute. But a new body is coming down, and at the resurrection, you're going to get this eternal house, which is coming down from heaven. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 15, just a few pages back here.

In verse number 50, we're going to read here. I'm going to have you turn to a number of places. 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 50.

This is a whole chapter on the resurrection, and in verse number 50, it says, now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Either way, there is a coming kingdom. You say, I got flesh and blood on me right now.

That means I can't inherit the kingdom of God. No, I'm in the kingdom of God right now. I'm in the kingdom of God.

The kingdom of God is within me. It starts internally. It starts in my heart.

I am born again. I am born of the spirit of God. But you know, there's a future kingdom out there, and that kingdom will not be inherited in these bodies.

Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery.

Here's something that's never been revealed before. That's what a mystery is. Something that Paul is opening up right now.

We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinking of an eye at the last trump. For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

And so here is a very good example in the Scriptures of this moving from an old, this old tabernacle into this new tabernacle, this eternal tabernacle. The body is going to be changed. Verse 51, behold, I show you a mystery.

We shall not all sleep. We're not all going to die. 1 Thessalonians chapter four says, when the Lord comes, there'll be some of his children still living.

And the dead will rise first, and we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together to meet them in the clouds, in the air. And so some will be alive. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.

I saw this on a Baptist nursery one day. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. I thought that was pretty appropriate.

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, that's what's going to happen. Our bodies are going to change from this old corruptible to this incorruptible, from this temporal to this eternal at the last trumpet. For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

Changed. Now, changed to what? It's one thing to be changed, another thing to know what you're going to be changed into. I don't believe in the old reincarnation philosophy that, well, you die human, you get changed into a tiger, or you get changed into a fly, or you get changed into a bumblebee, or something like that.

We ought to know what we're going to be changed into. Well, the Bible tells us what we're going to be changed into. Listen to me as I read here in Philippians chapter three.

For our conversation is in heaven. For thence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body. There you go.

It's going to be changed. And this vile body is going to be fashioned like unto his glorious body. It's interesting, if you go back there to 2 Corinthians, it says that it's not going to be changed by hands.

You know, when Adam was made, the first man, he was made by hands. God took him, took the dust, and fashioned him. But you notice everything else in creation was changed by his word, or was created by his word.

And God said, let there be light, and there was light. And God said, let there be seas, and there were seas. And God said, let there be animals, and there was animals.

And God didn't say, let there be man, and there was man. He said, no, I'm going to make man out of my hands. He made the woman with his hands.

But you know, this new man is going to be created by the word of God. He's descending from heaven with a shout, and he's going to change us with his word. And by the way, that's what has always changed us.

You know, we're born again by his word. We are sanctified by his word, and we're going to be changed into his likeness by his word. He's going to speak the word, and you're going to change.

You who are a worm, and I'm a worm, are going to be changed into a butterfly, amen. Metamorphosis. We who are stuck to this earth, and crawling around these slimy creatures, are going to fly and be butterflies.

I like that idea. Changed into his likeness. Now look at 2 Corinthians 1, excuse me, 2 Corinthians chapter five again, in verse number two, it says this, "'For in this we groan, "'earnestly desiring to be clothed "'upon with our house, which is from heaven.'" Earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with a new body.

And then verse number three, and this is an interesting verse. "'If so be that being clothed, "'we shall not be found naked.'" Wow, what does that mean? This is a difficult passage here. "'If so be that being clothed, "'we shall not be found naked.'" So here Paul says in verse two, "'We earnestly desire to be clothed.

"'I earnestly desire for a new body. "'That earnest desire is a good desire, "'if in getting this new body, "'I find that I am naked. "'If so be that being clothed.'" Clothed with what? Well, verse two says, "'Clothed with our house from heaven.

"'If so be that being clothed, "'we should not be found naked.'" Clothed with a new body. And yet naked at the same time. Can a child of God be naked? Can a child of God be naked? That's interesting.

We could spend a lot of time on this. Maybe you can think about it. We can have some discussion here during the lunchtime.

You know, when God made Adam and Eve, they were naked in the garden. And the Bible says, I got the verse here, and they were both naked, the man and his wife, and they were not ashamed. And so God made man and woman, they walked around, they were naked, and they were not ashamed.

Yet after they ate of the knowledge of the tree of good and evil, they sinned, they were ashamed of their nakedness. And I'll just throw this in here, we ought to be ashamed of nakedness too, amen? We ought to be ashamed of it. They were ashamed of their nakedness.

They had the understanding of the knowledge of good and evil. And so they understood that the condition in their sinful state, this nakedness is sinful, it's wrong. By the way, when Adam and Eve felt that way, it's not when they had no clothes on, it's when they had the leaves on.

They made their leaves a bathing suit, basically. They had something on. So after putting on the fig leaves, God comes and Adam says, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked.

No, you're not naked, Adam, you've got this little fig thing on, and you got something on up here, maybe you're not naked. Oh, yes, I feel naked in the presence of God, and I hid myself. You know, these people would say, well, I got a swimming suit on, I'm not naked.

Well, from God's perspective, you're naked, amen? It's not enough. This is not a modesty sermon, but I thought I'd throw that in. Here's something interesting though.

It's interesting, this to me, is that when we get our new body, you say, does it go back to the Garden of Eden when everybody's walking around naked? No. You know, when Jesus got his new body, it was fully clothed. Wonder why that is.

Can I throw out an idea? You know, in the garden there, when Adam and Eve went and took the tree of the knowledge of the good and evil, when they took that fruit, it was a condition that would never change. It was an eternal condition. It wasn't something that's, oh, you made a mistake, we'll just change things around, turn it around.

It was eternal. They ate the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and that was an eternal mistake. That's why after they did that, the Lord put flaming angels in front of the tree of life, lest they make another eternal mistake and stay in this condition eternally.

Do you know, I believe this, that we'll always have throughout eternity the knowledge of good and evil. We'll always have that. We can't just get that out of us because Adam and Eve did that.

And that's my understanding or my view of that. And that's why in eternity, when you see those in eternity, they are not naked. You say, well, let's go back to the way it was.

You never go back to the way it was. When you see those in eternity, when Jesus came and He showed His glorified body, the Bible says He was clothed. Clothed from His neck to His toes.

And even His reign, when it says, it's shown as the light. So Jesus, when He was resurrected, and by the way, we will be like His. We will have the same body He did.

His body was clothed at the Mount of Transfiguration when the disciples went up to the mount and they met there with the Lord. It says He was shown, He was transfigured before them and His reign meant shown as the light. That's just something to think about.

Can we ever go back to innocence? I don't think we can. Naked. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 3 says, if so be that being clothed with His new body, we shall not be found naked.

It appears that some may have a new body, but no clothes. This is interesting. And I threw this out.

What would that cause? Well, if you're, let's say you're in a situation and you don't have any clothes and someone abruptly comes in, is that a shameful thing? Yes, it's shame. You feel shame. Shame because you've been found naked.

Look at verse 3. If so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked. And that word found refers to the second coming of Christ, that we would be found in Him with peace and without fault and blameless when He appears. Is it possible that people who have been clothed in a new body could be naked before Him? Well, if that's the case then the Bible should talk about it or give us some way to interpret.

1 John 2, verse 28 says this, and now little children abide in Him that when He shall appear, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. Now, do you realize that when Jesus comes and there's a resurrection, the caution is here is that when that happens, that you'll have confidence, confidence before Him and not be ashamed at His coming. Now, that's written to the children of God.

It's not written to the unconverted. It's written to those who claim to be children of God that you would have confidence. So abide in Him.

Believe on the Lord Jesus. Walk with Him that when He comes, you know how it is, children, maybe you're doing something that's not right and doing something your parents tell you not to do and all of a sudden your parents walk in the door. You got your hand in the cookie jar and you're ashamed.

What would make you ashamed before Him at His coming? Nakedness. Remember when Peter was in the boat and he was out there fishing that night, that day and saw Jesus on the shore and the Bible says that Peter was naked. What'd he do? Grabbed a coat, wrapped himself in a coat and threw himself in the water.

He was ashamed. So nakedness. I wanna talk a little bit about nakedness.

I think it's a good subject for us. It's a good subject for me that when the Lord comes that we would not be found naked, ashamed before Him. Let's look at a couple of verses here because the Bible talks about this.

Turn to Revelation chapter three. And I will say, this is a difficult subject. Maybe some of you can give some insight here.

There's a couple of people who were found naked and there's a couple of reasons why you would be found naked when the Lord comes. In Revelation chapter three, I'm gonna have you look at a couple of verses here. In verse 14, you know this account.

It's a very familiar one. And unto the angel of the church of Laodiceans write, by the way, this is the last church age, which I believe is the church age that's gonna see the Lord Jesus come. The seventh church.

These things saith the amen, the faithful and the true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. I know thy works that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would that thou were cold or hot.

So then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold or hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. It's disgusting. It's a Christianity that doesn't bless me.

Give me hot water, give me cold water, but lukewarm water is blah. How many of you like lukewarm water? Anybody? How many of you make coffee in lukewarm water? Or on a hot day, you just, give me that lukewarm bottle of water. Nobody likes lukewarm.

Verse 17, because thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. Here's the attitude of the church. We got so much.

We drive nice cars. We live in nice houses. We got nice church buildings.

We have so much. We don't really need the Lord. And knowest not that thou art, now notice these adjectives, wretched and miserable and poor and blind.

And here's our word and naked, naked. Now here's Jesus writing to the church. I believe this is a church.

One of the reasons why I believe it's the children of God, because in verse 19, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Hebrews says that God chastens his children. He doesn't chasten the unbelievers.

I chasten my children. If you be without chastisement, you're bastards and not sons. So he's talking to the church and he's saying that the church is wretched, wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.

Now, how many of you would want to be in that condition when the Lord comes, naked? If you're naked, I'm ashamed. I want to cover myself. Don't be ashamed before him at his coming.

Now let's keep reading because the Lord gives some counsel here in verse 18. I counsel thee to buy of me gold, tried in the fire that thou mayest be rich. Go for true riches.

Friends, don't go for the money. Don't go for the possessions. Don't go for all those things.

Go for the true riches. And the true riches come by going through the fire. Be willing to be reproached and be willing to be persecuted.

The Bible says, blessed are you that are persecuted for great is your reward in heaven. Amen. That's the riches that you want.

I counsel you to buy of me gold, tried in the fire that thou mayest be rich and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed. Now, what is the Lord asking the church for here? White raiment that you might be clothed and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear. It's right down our road here.

I'm coming. You don't want the shame of your nakedness to appear. What is this white raiment? How can we buy white raiment and cover ourselves? By the way, it's something we buy of Him.

I counsel you to buy of me gold, tried in the fire that thou mayest be rich and buy of me white raiment that thou mayest be clothed and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear. So buy some white raiment. Let's all go out and buy some white raiment.

Now, we think of white raiment as faith in Jesus Christ and that's true. Clothed in the righteousness of Christ. But it also includes, also includes the power of a holy and a righteous life.

Amen. You can't separate. It's like two sides of a quarter, a heads and a tails.

You cannot separate faith in Jesus Christ outside of works in obedience. And the Bible teaches us over and over again that obedience is a by-product of true faith. Faith without works is dead.

I'd be awful to stand there before the Lord and He's coming and you've got dead faith. Dead. If your faith won't move you to get off the couch to serve the Lord, it won't move you to heaven.

Will it? Not at all. I counsel thee to buy of me white raiment. I can produce in you the power and the holy life.

Why don't you get that from me? God is able to work in you both the will and the do of His good pleasure. Get that from me. It's not something you can buy.

It's something you can give. You can get it from me. Buy it from me without milk, without price.

I have it for you. So you're playing with fire if you're saying, well, I'm a Christian. I'm just gonna go and live the way I want to.

Gotta be careful with that one. Amen. White raiment.

This is a life of obedience. Same book. I'll read to you Revelation 19.

It talks about this raiment. Revelation 19, verse seven. Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to Him for the marriage of the land has come and His wife has made herself ready.

And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. For the fine linen, listen to this, the fine linen is the righteousness of, anybody know what the next word is? What? Saints. Notice it doesn't say the righteousness of Jesus.

And yes, I know the righteousness of Jesus gives us a white robe, but you can't have a white robe without the righteousness of saints. This white robe is called the righteousness of the saints. And yes, only the righteousness of Christ can produce a righteousness of the saints.

That means to walk in the Spirit and will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. I'm gonna keep reading a few verses. I'll ask you to turn here in just a minute.

But John, who wrote the revelation, also wrote this. In John chapter two, verse 28, and now little children abide in Him that when He shall appear, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. And the next verse says, if you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of Him.

There you go. Don't be ashamed before Him at His coming because if you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone that does righteousness is born of Him, the righteousness of the saints. Yes, I'm freely given the righteousness of Christ, forgiveness of sins, but I'm also freely given the power of the Holy Spirit to live a righteous life.

We cannot separate faith in Christ from a righteous life. I'll stay in the same book. I'll keep reading here a little bit later on.

And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins and in Him is no sin. Whosoever abides in Him, sinneth not. Whosoever sinneth hath not seen Him, neither known Him.

Little children, let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is righteous. He that doeth righteousness is righteous.

In other words, you cannot say that you're righteous by faith in Jesus and not do righteously. He that doeth righteousness is righteous even as He is righteous. He that commit a sin is of the devil.

So here you are, oh, the Lord is coming and you've got a new body. He's raising you and that body is clothed with an obedient life, a righteous life. Amen to that? What other reason would you be ashamed? I mean, the Lord's coming and you know, your hand's in the cookie jar and you're living in sin and you're going your own way and oh, oh, oh, Lord, I'm ashamed.

Listen to this. Little children, let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is righteous even as He is righteous.

There's a couple of righteousnesses in there. Now there's a man here that I thought about who was deceived. Turn with me to Matthew 22.

Here's a man who doesn't have a cloak on, a garment. Matthew 22, starting in verse number nine. There's going to be a lot of people like this, I believe.

And I don't want to be one. Let's none of us be one like this. The Lord is talking here a parable about a king and having a marriage for his son, went to the Jewish people and they rejected the king, made light of him and the king said, hey, just go out and get all the people.

I don't care, good and bad and Gentile heathen and bring them into this feast. Verse 10 of Matthew 22. So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all as many as they found, both good and bad.

And the wedding was furnished with guests. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment. Oh, he's naked.

Uh-oh. And he said unto him, friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? This is a picture of the Lord Jesus, his return. How did you get into this group and not have on the proper clothing? Now, it doesn't say here that everybody pointed and said, hey, you don't have any clothes on or you're naked.

Or he didn't look down and say, I don't have any clothes, am I allowed to be in here? Because look what happens. It says, when the Lord said this to him, how comest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. I had no idea.

No idea. Speechless. You know, there'll be many people like that when the Lord comes.

They don't have anything on. Speechless, what am I gonna do? Well, look what happens here. Verse 13, then said the king to the servants, bind him hand and foot and take him away and cast him into outer darkness.

There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Amen, you wanna make sure you have on a wedding garment, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and demonstrate the reality of that faith by living a holy and a godly life. I'm gonna read one more verse here back to Revelation.

You might as well turn there. This is the last one we'll look at. Revelation chapter 17.

Revelation chapter 17, verse 15. By the way, the Bible says this over and over again. Show your faith by your works.

Faith without works, it's not gonna make it. It's not a garment that'll make it in the end. Revelation 17, verse 15, speaking about the coming of Christ.

Revelation 17, verse 15. No, that's not it. It's a, hold on a second here.

Revelation 16, I'm sorry, Revelation 16, 15. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watches and keepeth his garments lest he walk naked and they see his shame.

Two things, I'm coming. Blessed is he that watches. Are you watching? Be alert.

Be alert. Blessed is he that watches and keeps his garments. Are you guarding your garments? Are you holding fast? Are you maintaining your garments? That's what that word means, to maintain your garments, to maintain a life of righteousness.

Keep his garments lest he walk naked. Now that could be not true faith in Jesus. And they see his shame.

Ah, you're naked. You're naked. You're naked.

Now shame may come like this man who was speechless. Can you imagine being in this great crowd of people and everybody's celebrating this thing and then the king comes in and says, hey you, you, how did you get in here? How did you get in here? I don't know, I'm speechless. He's ashamed, everybody's looking at him.

He's ashamed, cast out. Some people are gonna be deceived. Other people are just going to have a false faith.

They're not going to truly have Jesus Christ in them and they're not going to have a life of obedience. Now I know there's a very fine line here and I know there's sometimes like we're gonna see in the, by the way, the passage goes on here in 2 Corinthians. It talks about the judgment of Christ, the judgment seat of Christ.

And yes, there are people who are going to get in by the hair of their teeth. Their works are gonna be burned up, yet they themselves will be saved. And I think Lot and Lot's wife are just a classic example.

Both of them come out of Sodom. They're both carnal in many ways. And here they run out of Sodom, running from judgment.

And Lot escapes and survives and she is turned into a pillar of salt. Boy, how close is that? One makes it, one doesn't. So the Bible tells us on different occasions to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

Amen. It also says to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you shall never fall.

What's these things? Add to your faith, virtue, and to virtue, knowledge, and to knowledge, temperance, and to temperance, godliness. And all these things grow up. Be a righteous man, be a righteous woman.

And you know, here's Lot. I think Lot, I've said this before, but Lot's standing out there in this cave with his two daughters. And I think he's ashamed.

Got nothing. Everything's burned up, he's got nothing. Ashamed that he lived the way he lived.

Ashamed that he pitched his tent towards Sodom and thought about having his business and his money and he was going after the green grass of Sodom for all the wrong reasons. Now he's ashamed. What am I, what did I do that for? So we're gonna get a new body, thank God for that.

But make sure, as Paul writes here, that if so be it being clothed with this new body, you shall not be found naked. Verse four says, for we that are in this tabernacle do groan being burdened. Not for that we would be unclothed.

Nobody wants to be in disembodied spirit, but clothed upon. Even the devils, the Bible says, they're here looking for a house, someplace to dwell, but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life. And we'll talk about that some next time.

And we'll get into this judgment seat of Christ that's coming when the Lord returns. So let's look forward and earnestly desire a new body, but let's remember that that body has clothes on it, that we're not found naked before him. May the Lord help us.

And some of you here this morning, you know, you have a passionate faith. Is that faith changing your life? Or are you just kind of floating along? Floating along. Oh, when the signs of Jesus return, when they come, then I'll get serious.

Well, it's not a good idea. God is not mocked. Whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap.

And so let's be diligent. Get our hearts in a proper place for his return. Let's pray.

Maybe it's a good day to go to our knees here and have a word of prayer. Brother John, would you have a word of prayer? And maybe Brother Chris, and then I'll close.