The Sympathy of God — Bruce Rodgers

The Thread of Suffering Through 2 Corinthians

So I want to look with you in 2 Corinthians. I'm going to look at a few verses spread through several chapters, but I'm going to pick up a couple of verses in chapter one, first of all, 2 Corinthians chapter one.

Really what I'm doing is picking up a thread and taking it through chapter one and chapter four and into chapter five. The 2 Corinthians chapter one, verse eight says, for we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble, which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength.

So in chapter one, we had the, you know, the pressure of very severe circumstances leading him to despair even of life, he says. And then verse nine, very significant phrase, but we had the sentence of death in ourselves.

The Treasure in Earthen Vessels

So then 2 Corinthians chapter four. Now, in 2 Corinthians chapter four, there's a lot of verses here I'd like to read. I'm just going to kind of refresh your mind on some of them. Verse six says, for God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. And then there's a series of expressions relating to, again, the stress and pressure and affliction upon him, troubled, perplexed, persecuted, cast down, and so on.

And then there's this repeated references to death again. Verse 10, always bearing about in the body the dying, literally the putting to death of the Lord Jesus, the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you. And he mentions the same spirit of faith.

I believed and therefore have I spoken. We also believe and therefore speak, knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus and shall present us with you. Now, verse 16, he says, for which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal way to glory. 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.

The Heavenly House and Presence With the Lord

Now in chapter five, I want to try to look at first seven or eight verses possibly. So we'll just read them together and then make the connections. 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 tent do groan, being burdened, not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.

And he that has wrought us for the selfsame thing as God, who also has given unto us the earnest of the spirit. Therefore, we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight.

We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore, we labor that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him, well-pleasing to him.

And then he makes reference to the judgment seat of Christ. So going back to chapter one, I was tempted to spend the first message on chapter one, as I've very much appreciated some of the teaching that is given in this.

First half of 2 Corinthians chapter one really is emphasizing the sympathy of God toward us. He's called the God of all comfort and father of mercies. And up to verse 11 is really that emphasis on God and his sympathizing character in the circumstances of life that we're found in.

And so I'm picking up that thread from this section and tracing it through into chapter five. Tomorrow night, Lord willing, I will be picking up a thread that's found in the second half of chapter one and then taking it through as well, more on the sincerity of God and the God of truth that ultimately ends at the judgment seat of Christ as far as the teaching that's given.

Paul’s Suffering and the Sentence of Death

So what do we have emphasized here then? Well, in chapter one, he's reminding them, he's drawing them really close to himself because you remember the first epistle was very severe and there was a lot of stress, you might say, in writing 1 Corinthians, a lot of things to confront.

And so in 2 Corinthians, he's seeking to bring them closer to himself, to heal the friction, to alleviate the conflict that has arisen through his first epistle and the issues that were there. So part of this is by just expressing to them his own pressures, troubles that he endured.

And he refers especially to the trouble that came to them in Asia, which possibly was referring to Ephesus. But he used a strong language, pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even life.

Now, these are very, very powerful expressions. So there was both outward pressure, but there was also inward anguish. And those two things together really brought him to the point of death itself. Now, of course, this is developed a lot more in chapter four, and in chapter six again, there's more emphasis on it.

And so Paul was going through some pretty extreme circumstances. But I just wanted to draw attention to verse nine and 10, because even though our circumstances may not be anywhere near as extreme as what Paul was going through, and it may not be for the same causes that he was going through, he was going through it as cost of his faithfulness in serving the Lord.

But verse nine is applicable to every one of us. And the reality is, every one of us are living our present life with a sentence of death on us. And we hear that expression, death roll, and we think of how tragic it must be for people who are living their existence with this doom of the death sentence hanging over them.

And it's hard for us to relate to people like that. And yet, the simple reality is, we all are moving day by day towards a moment of death, naturally speaking. And so Paul, as he has been facing an extreme experience in his life that brought him to the door of death, he said, but we had the sentence of death in ourselves.

In other words, he had already come to terms with this. And so we're gonna see this synthesized in chapter four a little bit more again, where there's both an inward attitude, and then there's also outward circumstances that confront us.

But with that inward attitude that he says here in verse nine is, we had this sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead. So in other words, he'd come to this place in his own spiritual framework of thinking, that he was basically saying, I'm gonna die.

I'm gonna have to die. I'm ready to die. I'm willing to die. And I cannot control the circumstances of my life. I cannot protect myself from this prospect. I cannot so manage my life that I will never have to face this.

So he had accepted this sentence of death within himself. And in doing so, he had adopted this framework of not placing his confidence for his well-being of life within himself. And so it leads to this emphasis that is brought up so powerfully in chapter four, is that all of present life is temporary.

It's all subject to loss. And it's just that we spend most of our life just being basically oblivious to this, because we're not in circumstances where it's staring us right in the face. And so our trust then, we're called to this, whatever our outward circumstances may be, we are called to put our trust in the God who raises the dead.

And so in chapter one, he's not really looking at resurrection in the context that much. He's looking at present protection. And he talks about in verse 10, who delivered us from so great a death and does deliver us in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us.

So here's a fine balance in personal and spiritual thinking. He wasn't just fatalistic about life. And he didn't refuse to enjoy life because we're going to die anyway. So what's the point of doing anything?

What's the point of enjoying anything? What's the point of cultivating relationships? What's the point of family and all the rest of it? He was in touch with his own feelings. He was in touch with his own emotions.

And so he could appreciate that while he was in this extreme distress, it was worthwhile praying to God. Because God is the one who can deliver us. And it's suitable for us to pray for his health. If we're in, we've got health problems, it's suitable to pray for his strengthening, for his healing from it, or getting over our sickness, whatever it may be.

But our trust must ultimately be in the God who can deliver us. And he does deliver us over and over through life. But there comes a time when he's not going to deliver us from our circumstances. He's not going to deliver us from health issues.

And we are going to go through this unless the Lord comes first. And yet our trust is to be in him. So this is kind of the emphasis that I see brought out here. So there's the sympathy of God in our present circumstances.

And this God draws close to us as our father, the father of mercy, the God of all comfort. And he does deliver us. But ultimately we rest in his sovereign power and faithfulness that he is preparing something even greater for us.

So verse 11 then also is an important facet of this. He says, you also helping together by prayer for us. And that was relating to his deliverance and his circumstances. So again, this helps to balance the tendency that we might have towards fatalism and thinking about prayer and suffering and so on.

Circumstances, whether it's personal or among the believers or national or international. So that's just kind of the thread that I wanted to pick up in chapter one and then to bring over into chapter four on the way to chapter five.

The Ministry of the New Covenant and the Paradox of Death

And so in chapter four, there's quite a number of verses here. I'm not gonna go verse by verse through it. But as you see this emphasis, on one hand, and I'm not really focusing on this tonight at all, but on one hand, there's a wonderful ministry that he has been entrusted with.

That's chapter three and then beginning of chapter four. That is the ministry of the new covenant. It's a ministry that is going to result in righteousness, eternal life, glory, where we are actually fitted for that presence of God forever and ever.

And so there's this wonderful glory of this treasure of the glory of God that we are going to know and experience. And this glory of God is communicated to us in the face of Jesus Christ. Not only is Christ the revelation of God to us, he's also the avenue by which this race of God that's become part of our lives is going to lift us out of our corruption, out of the bondage, both physically and morally, and bring us into perfect harmony with God and corresponding to God in glory.

And so right now we're in this paradox of having this eternal treasure of glory that is infinite in value that we carry within us, and yet it's being carried in a vessel that's just a clay pot, earthen vessels.

And so we have the treasure and we have the vessel, and there's a strong contrast being drawn between it. And so he says, God is allowing us to experience our weakness. He brings us through, but he makes it obvious that it's his strength bringing us through, and not merely our own power or capability that is involved.

And so there's both an aspect of testimony for the Lord Jesus in these words. He refers to the death of the Lord Jesus, dying of the Lord Jesus. And verse 10, I would suggest, is primarily an inward attitude that I am willing to die.

I accept the reality of his death as bringing me into salvation. Christ had to die for me to bring me salvation. Now again, this is climax in chapter five, which hopefully we'll get to on the third night.

The love of Christ, one died for all. The pole has absorbed the greatness of this reality. And even as Christ died for me, I'm saying, I'm willing to die for Christ. I'm gonna take that same attitude of to fulfill the work of God, to bring this ministry to others.

I am going to be willing to suffer even to the point of death, even as Christ himself did. So there's the inward attitude in verse 10, there's the outward circumstances, as we who live are always, always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake.

I would suggest that's God's handling of our circumstances, and especially in particular, Paul's own circumstances where he was liable to die. He was put in hazardous conditions. He was brought to the point of death repeatedly, as he mentions in other places.

So then verse 12 then gives us this paradox that he says, so then death is working in us, but life in you. So while he's saying, while I am in a dying condition, and I'm subject to death, I could be put to death at any time, or I could die from my own health problems, whatever it may be, death is working in me.

I'm going towards death, but I am carrying a ministry of life, and I'm bringing eternal life to you. So there's that wonderful paradox that is being mentioned. Then verse 14, again, he refers to resurrection, knowing he who raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with him.

So he's got this confidence because his focus is on Christ, who has gone through death, risen from the dead, Paul is serving a risen Savior, a risen Lord. He knows that he may have to go through death, stand there with Christ, but he's not afraid of that prospect.

So verse 16, then he emphasizes, for which cause we think not, but though our outward man perish, even though this is a reality that he faced, which seems in our normal, everyday way of life that we have, it's so hard for us to really wrestle with this and come to terms with this in some kind of a definitive way, because I'm not fainting.

I'm not losing heart. I'm not becoming discouraged. I'm not depressed. Though our outward man perish, even if this is my portion that I have to go into death itself, even though my body is declining, becoming weaker and less capable now than it was before, he says, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

So we have this inward power, inward life that is not diminishing, is not dying down, but is instead moving towards greater and greater things, renewed day by day. Now, verse 17 and 18, verse 17, I'm just gonna just say one or two things about it, because it really fits with what I want to touch on tomorrow night.

The fact that there is a very, very important connection between the present and the future. That is that everything that we go through today in our present experience will actually be working for our benefit in the future.

That's what he's insisting on here, our light affliction, which is momentary. It's actually working for us, not against us. It's working for us and producing far more exceeding and eternal rate of glory.

In other words, the very things that naturally are against us and naturally would dishearten us and make us give up on life, can actually be channeled through which, instrument by which we are brought to greater glory in his presence forever and ever.

So that's an amazing, amazing reality to contemplate. And that certainly links with the judgment seat of Christ. Verse 10 of chapter five. So tonight, I'm just kind of tracing the physical in contrast to the spiritual, physical moving towards death and the challenge that this is for our faith, to face it head on, to acknowledge it, not try to deny it, but to work through it in our own minds and deal with it.

So verse 18 in the chapter, he says, 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, things which are not seen are eternal.

Knowing the Living God and the Promise of Resurrection

Now, this is gonna be picked up again in chapter five, in a lot more detail. So we'll just kind of go into that now, chapter five, verse one. He says, for we know. I've been really enjoying some of the thoughts in this chapter recently.

And it's something that we can come back to over and over again. And it's just such wonderful, wonderful truths that are given to us here. So the first 10 verses of this chapter are really giving to us our prospect, then our presentation in the presence of Christ.

So physical, he says here, it comes to its crisis point, for we know that if our earthly house, this tabernacle, this tent were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands eternal in heaven.

Now, I'm just gonna pick away at this verse, looking at the different phrases in it and thoughts in it and try to encourage and strengthen your hearts as well as my own is to look at it. First of all, he says, for we know.

So on what basis can we know and do we know? Well, the very first thing is, we have come to know the living God. There's one thing that has been impressing me, amazing me as I go through second Corinthians is this book is about the character of God.

I mentioned already in the first half of chapter one, it's the sympathy of God that's emphasized. He's so tender to us, he's our father, he's the father of mercies, he's the source of compassion and care.

He's faithful to us, he's genuine, he's sincere. The second half of chapter one is all about the sincerity of God. So there's some wonderful things in that half of the chapter. So he says, we know, we have come to know the living God as the one who is our tender hearted father, but also as the father of glory.

He's the God of eternity, he's the author of the universe, he's the author of life. So with such a God, with such a father, there's no hindrance to his ability to do what he says he's gonna do. And so we can come to know this with a very strong assurance.

We know the living God, we know his character. We have believed what he has revealed. Of course, it's the Bible, the scriptures are that reported revelation of the living God's communications to mankind.

So we have believed the scriptures, we have rested upon the truth that he has given. And not only that, we have understood the significance of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. We have something, I put it this way, better than we have something, we have someone who has gone ahead of us.

Someone who came from God, who manifested the credentials of being God manifested flesh. He's also genuinely man. And as a man, he died. That death was brutally real. He also rose from the dead and he was demonstrated to be alive.

He was vindicated in resurrection. He was received up into glory and it was born witness to. So it's a historical fact and reality. So these things together give to us this conscious knowledge that we can speak with assurance, we know.

Then you notice that there's a little if in there. We know that if earthly house of this tent were dissolved. Now, why does he say, if? Why doesn't he just say, for we know that when our earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved, we have a building of God.

Well, that would not be a true statement as we learn in the next few verses. Why is it an if? It's an if because there is a possibility that death itself could be bypassed. So he's saying, even if death takes place and this body that I am presently in is broken down, it's destroyed, the word dissolved is really a strong word that means to be destroyed, to be thrown down, to be utterly destroyed.

But just to draw attention then, we have a God who is capable of doing this. We have a God who can speak with absolute authority, certainty. And so we can claim this and we can cling to this in contrast to human philosophy and even scientific research.

There's nothing from the human standpoint that can look to the future and declare knowledge of the future or knowledge of the unseen realm with absolute certainty, we would not do this. So the emphasis then shifts to our earthly house, this tabernacle.

Now, the word tabernacle is just the word tent. And as we know very well, especially in this kind of weather, I'd rather be in a house than in a tent. Tenting is fine under certain circumstances, certain ideal circumstances.

But I really can't hardly imagine what it would be like living in a tent all the time. I mean, nothing more than a tent. A tent is a temporary dwelling in contrast with the idea of a permanent house. It's interesting that this almost contradictory expressions are used, earthly house of this tent.

I want to just remind you of the emphasis here, just like in chapter four of this earthen vessel. Here, an earthly house. What is this really reminding us of? Well, the first thing it reminds us of by being called earthly is its limitations.

It's limited to earth. I mean, we haven't even learned to fly except by using machines. We're very, very limited to our sphere of existence. It also reminds us of the limits of strength and capacity and our dependence upon the earthly environment.

I mean, we need air. Continually, we need water. Continually, we need food that's found in the vegetation and animal life around us. We need to be continually supplied with a source of life outside of ourselves.

So we're really very, very fragile. We're very, very limited and so dependent upon outside ourselves. For our existence, that's our present circumstance. So the other part of this phrase would just remind us that the tent is not all that we are.

And there is this tendency, sadly, while we are here in this visible realm, bound by the physical, the visible, and it seems to take precedence. And there's a lot of aspects of the world that are a problem of the physical being valued more than the spiritual.

So this phrase here reminds us that the house or the tent is not the ultimate thing. It's what's inside that is the greater thing, the more important thing. And so there's this marvelous interrelationship between the physical and spiritual that we are conscious of.

And even though the world has such a vague, vague idea of the value of the spiritual realm, the spiritual is really the essence of our reality. And the physical, as we know from Genesis, by God's creative act, the physical was intended to be the servant of the spiritual.

The physical was intended to be the manifestation of the spiritual. So this is one of the tragedies that sin has brought into our existence, is that it has subverted our beings to place the physical as being the most important, the physical as being worshiped and served instead of the spiritual, instead of being God-centered, we are self-centered, so on.

So he's saying here that this condition that we find ourselves in with this earthly, limited, restricted, fragile tent, that we're dissolved. That's broken down and destroyed without any recovery. Whenever I think of this verse and ponder it, I'm reminded of a little bit of a humorous experience that we had up in Kapuskasing in the early part of the work there.

It wasn't humorous at the time at all, but when Murray Pratt and myself and an older preacher, Mr. Ken Moore, went up to Kapuskasing, the first year that we went up there with the gospel tent, 1979, we had this old tent.

It was an old army tent, I think, apparently, that had been bought and used by my brother David and Murray when they first started out preaching. And they'd used it for a few years. And what we didn't know was that it was at the end of its useful life.

And the tent was put up, and we basically got everything together. We did a little bit of door-to-door visiting. And then that Saturday, Murray and his wife and Becky and I, we headed back home to our homes, about three hours away.

And Mr. Moore stayed by the tent, was trailered by the tent in order to protect it. And anyway, there was a big storm came up, and the tent was just shattered from one end to the other. It just, it tore apart at every seam.

It was just in strips. So he called us and told us that the tent was down. And so we said, oh, we'll turn around and head back and put it up. He says, there's no use, it's finished, it's done for. And we could hardly believe it, but we had no recourse.

We had to get a completely new tent. Fortunately, there was an assembly down in Newbury, I think, that had a tent that we were able to borrow and start the tent meeting. So that was quite a start to work in campus casing.

We wondered who was for us and who was against us at that point. So here's this fragile, vulnerable tent that we live in today. Paul is saying, even if this happens, that this is destroyed, I know, we know, we have a building of God, a house not made of tent.

The Resurrection Body and the Image of God

Now, there's a few other descriptions of this given in other places, but what I've just really enjoyed about this reality that's given to us here is that this is the body that you are going to have, that I'm going to have for the eternal unfolding ages, is a custom made body that God will create for us individually.

Now, that's an amazing thing, that he is not going to make our existence dependent on anything else or anyone else for our life and existence. It's going to be provided, fashioned, made directly, not made with hands.

It's interesting that this is a reflection back on creation, but with something even greater than the first creation. This is something that is going to be for eternal, for eternal use. So there's no possibility of failure.

There's no possibility of defect through human instrumentality. You think of all the tragic flaws that have occurred through something defective in the parents. You think of what sin has caused, the damage, the curse that it has brought upon the creation, and the accumulating genetic disorders and the accidents, the breakdown physically and so on, that's going on and on and accumulating from generation to generation.

But when you think about this phrase, it says we have, and if we did not have any other context than just verse one, you could assume that God already has made this body for us, that it's like on a coat rack with a bunch of coats, a suit coats on hangers waiting there for us in heaven.

That's not quite the case. It's not made yet, but it's going to be. And that's what we learn in the next few verses. So, but just to appreciate this reality, eternal in the heavens. So it's going to be so unlimited.

It's not going to be bound by earth. It's not going to be dependent upon earth's ecosystem. It's not going to be dependent upon the oxygen, not dependent upon the water and the vegetation. And so we are going to be unlimited in our sphere of service and existence.

And of course, the power of that life is going to be spiritual rather than physical. And this is just an amazing thing to think that this is our future. We were destined because of spin to go to hell.

We were under his judgment. He has reconciled us to himself. He not only has so mercifully cut off that awful destiny of eternal judgment, but he has brought us into a relationship with himself. Not only we can know him within our own spirits and enjoy him and worship him in our hearts, in our minds, we will be in vessels of glory.

We'll finally correspond to this great treasure which he has granted to his grace and power to be within us. So in verse two and three, well, verse two to four, especially we see this idea of a groaning.

It's for in this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed upon our house, which is from heaven. So he's expressing here the ultimate desire and ultimate goal that there is for us. Now, just as Romans eight does, I would suggest that in these verses, you can see elements of two things.

Groaning associated with the burden that's mentioned in verse four. We groan being burdened. So I would suggest that relates to the suffering, the limitations, anguish. You see, groaning signifies something that's very deep within us.

Something that can't be expressed and uttered clearly. It can be a groaning out of anguish, out of mental pain, or it can be physical pain, or it can be something that seems so opposite of that. It can be an intense longing or desire or something that is hoped for.

Romans eight brings both of those aspects. And I would suggest that that's also here. In verse two, it seems to be the anticipation, this earnestly desiring. Paul, he's had that glimpse being caught up into paradise, being in that realm.

And so he has an idea and awareness of just how glorious, how wonderful, how beautiful this body of glory is going to be. And so even this should be a help to us to balance our own preoccupation in our natural realm with our own selves, our own physical bodies and our present condition.

Yes, it's suitable for us to try to be a good steward of our body, to try to be healthy, try to keep ourselves looking decent and respectable as much as we can. But this is not what we're left with for eternity.

God has prepared for us. He is preparing for us to be in vessels of glory that are beautiful beyond any kind of expression or understanding here. So we have this prospect. Paul, he says, I'm groaning within myself with the desire to be in this house, which is from heaven.

Then there's this introduction of verse three. If so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked. And so this introduces the thought that will be picked up again in verse six to eight. That is that between now, when we're in this tent with all its limitations, this earthly house of this tent and this building of God, this eternal house in the heavens, between these two things, there's a possibility of it being an intermediate state.

That of course, as we know from other passages as well, is if as believers we die, our body is broken down, it's gone, it's destroyed, and we leave this body, we move into the sphere of the presence of the Lord, we're with the Lord, as it says in verse eight, at home with the Lord, absent from the body.

And so that is a condition that he described in verse three as being naked or unclothed. And so it's interesting that, again, this emphasizes the fact that God has an eternal purpose for us as physical beings, as well as spiritual beings.

We carry a dignity, we carry a calling from God to be the image bearers. He is spirit, he is invisible. We are physical, invisible beings. And so God has never abandoned that aim, that goal, that he is going to be glorified, he is going to be known and revealed in the universe, in and through us as his people.

Of course, the Lord Jesus himself is going to be the ultimate expression of the glory of God. But we, as the bride together with him, will share in the glory of God, as Revelation 21 says of New Jerusalem, having the glory of God.

So we are going to be clothed with glory. We're going to be glorious beings, both individually and collectively as the bride. So this present, or this intermediate state that he's anticipating here is better than now, but it's not the ultimate, so that is what he's saying.

The Spirit as the Earnest of Future Perfection

So verse five, just to touch on some of the linking things that he says here, now he who has wrought us for the selfsame thing is God. God has made us for this. This is what God has had in his heart for us to be for him.

Then it says, who also has given unto us the earnest of the spirit. Now this is taken up in a few other passages as well. And the basic emphasis is that the Holy Spirit given to us at the moment of salvation has sealed us for God.

Now that's chapter one, I didn't refer to that. I could link that with it, but God has in his faithfulness, he has made great promises to us, and he has sealed those promises by imparting the Holy Spirit to involve us.

But the Holy Spirit not only is the pledge, the guarantee that we can never, never, never be lost to God but it's not only the pledge of never being lost, it's the pledge of perfection. It's the pledge of the completing, and that's the idea of the earnest here.

Earnest is the pledge of what the future is going to be. The Holy Spirit is his guarantee, pledge, of the completeness of the fullness of redemption. And I think if we link together Romans chapter eight again, where we have that wonderful verse that speaks about the spirit of God indwelling us, groaning, that's an amazing thing to think of.

Spirit of God, he intercedes for us, and he has this same intensity, this same divine yearning to bring us to what he really has for us. So it should implant within us that just a tremendous joy and confidence to know that even now, even while we're still in these bodies that are limited, that are weak and weakening and decaying, perishing as all these expressions brought together give us, yet we are possessors of eternal life, and eternal perfection is going to be our portion.

So verse four says again, that mortality might be swallowed up with life. That's the purpose that the spirit of God is introduced here for. Then verse six says, therefore, we are always confident. Again, knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord, for we walk by faith and not.

So I think it's a good thing for us just to not only to admire the Apostle Paul and the depth of his spirituality, and the foundation of his spirituality, the strength of his spirituality, but also just to challenge our own framework of thinking and to ask ourselves, what kind of confidence do I carry within me day by day?