2nd Corinthians – Godly Social Order

Total Salvation

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Godly Social Order

Lesson: 8-25

Genre: Talk

Track: 8

Dictation Name: RR4165A

Location/Venue:

Year: 1998-2000

[Mark Rushdoony] Praise ye the Lord, Praise God in His sanctuary, praise Him for His mighty acts, praise Him for His excellent greatness. Let everything that hath breath, praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. let us pray.

Our most good and gracious God and heavenly Father, it is a privilege for us to meet together in your name. We thank you for your so great salvation which brings us here together to worship you, in thanksgiving for the salvation that your son provides us through His blood. We ask for grace that we might be renewed this Lords day, and in its rest that we might renew our assurance, that you care for us better than we care for ourselves. We pray that you would encourage us in your service, we pray that you would draw us ever nearer to you in faithful obedience to your holy word. We pray that you would encourage all those who gather together in your name. We pray that you would draw them ever closer to obedience and faithfulness. We pray that we would see revival in our time, and turn to your word as the authoritative law word. We pray that you would encourage us in this day and in this service. We ask this in Christ our saviors name, amen.

[R. J. Rushdoony] Our scripture is 2nd Corinthians 5:1-10. Our subject, Total Salvation. 2 Corinthians 5:1-10, Total Salvation.

“5 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:

3 If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.

4 For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.

5 Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.

6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:

7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)

8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

9 Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.

10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”

These verses are very important in that Paul is speaking to church members, who have certain ideas about what heaven is like, and what life in Christ apart from heaven is like. They are ideas that have been common enough in the church for a long time, and usually wrong. To explain, I realized quite clearly when I went to the Indian reservation a good many years ago, how strange the ideas of the Indians were, where the Bible and Christianity were concerned. First of all, they did not doubt the truth of the Bible. They were sure that the God of the Bible created all things, they didn’t doubt the miracles; what they balked at was the idea of surrendering themselves to Jesus Christ as Lord and savior. Their attitude was summed up in a statement I heard again and again: “Oh I believe what the Bible says, but I am too young to give up the world and live just in terms of heaven.” That was their attitude, that the Christian life called for too much sacrifice, and that it was better to enjoy life here and now, to enjoy sin as it were, and then at the last when you saw you were near death, to believe. To accept Christ as Lord. Of course they never did.

Now, their basic idea was that life in Christ was one of hardship and sacrifice, and life apart from Christ was one of being able to enjoy life. Of course, they had none of the happiness they supposedly had, they were very miserable most of the time. The Christians were a joyful, contented, and successful group on the reservation. The non-Christians were a sorry lot. Well, that attitude, to a great extent we find in the world around us. And we find it in the church as well. A great many church men feel that it is a big deal that: “I surrendered myself to Jesus, now He had better make sure He gives me what I want.” They want life on their terms.

Well, a world that is fallen and sinful is not going to be on our terms, it is going to be a long, hard struggle to bring it into captivity to Christ, where it will serve Christ on His terms.

Now this is what Paul is dealing with, with the Corinthians. They believe, but they also want things on their terms. They believe, and they figure that they ought to have a privileged status with God and Christ. Because: “After all, look what I have given up.” What they have given up is sin and death, no big deal. But this is the attitude. As I say, I found it very clearly among the Indians. Very bluntly, plainly stated.

But I realized very quickly they were expressing what most people, in and out of the church believe. Paul addresses this perspective, and he says in verse 1: “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” ‘Let us begin with this fact,’ he says. ‘We have an eternal life that follows this short and limited life.’ And it is short. I am not more than a week shy of 83, and yet it doesn’t seem that long ago when I was 5, or 6, or 7 or 20 or 30, that life was very short, and I don’t think I have been around very long; and yet my life is nearly over.

So Paul reminds them: ‘We know that if our bodies, our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have an eternal body not made with hands. One in which no human being has any part, as our parents did in our birth. And this eternal life and body is for all eternity.

“For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:” Those of us who know how true and great Gods promises are, not that we want to die, but we also long for the total freedom that comes with eternity. Freedom from sin and death, freedom from the limitations of this world. So we know that there is a greater life ahead, but this is a place of testing and trial,’ and we shall have that’ he says, “If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.”

Being clothed with the righteousness of Christ, we are not found naked when our end comes. Instead, all the troubles and infirmities of this world which afflict all men, especially men outside of Christ, because inwardly they are dead, with a fearfulness that is tremendous.

“For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened:” we find this life difficult. We find the troubles, the ills, difficult. We are burdened, and we do groan at times at all that we have to undergo. But not that we should be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up with life. Our grief and our troubles and our anxiety in this life are not that we regret being in Christ, but we want the fullness of life in Him. We want the eternal joy of a world without sin and death.

“Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.” It is God who has planned and prepared eternal life for us, and has given us the longing for life in which we are free from sin and death, free to serve Him forever. So that, we rejoice. We know that we that are in this body are burdened, and that we will be clothed upon with eternal life.

“And it is God who hath wrought this, and God who hath given us also the earnest of His Spirit.” The earnest here means the promise, but more than that; the down payment of His Spirit. The Holy Spirit speaks to us, reminds us that there is more to life than the burdens we have here. The Spirit also gives us the strength to live day by day, and to enjoy what we can in this life. “For,” he says, “We are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord.” That doesn’t meant that being in the body is bad, but it just means that the fullness of life, the fullness of God’s blessing, the fullness of His grace and mercy, and all that life in Christ means, we don’t fully appreciate or experience in this world. For we walk by faith, not by sight.

Here and now, there is much that we know is true, we know God has promised, and we walk by faith in the confidence that Gods word is true, and all His promises to us in Christ are yea and amen. So, even though we are in this body, and we are a part of a fallen world, we walk by faith. We know that there is more than the world imagines. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and be present with the Lord.

We have a confidence that our faith is true. It is more true than what the world presents to us as truth, by far. The world can only give us a surface view of thing. But our faith gives us the truth; so that we are present with the Lord. Here and now we live in the body, but we can still be absent from the body in that we walk by faith. And we know that there is more to life than this, more to life than our ailments, more to life than the death which will in due time overtake us. There is a Lord and the glory of eternal life.

“So,” he says, “we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.” We so labor that here and now we may be accepted as the Lords, even as we shall be in eternity.

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” We are always to remember, Paul tells them, ‘there is more to this life than our present bodies and our present experiences. We have the glory of eternity. Everyone will receive the things that he has done in his body, he will be rewarded according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.’

So Paul encourages the saints. He says: ‘Don’t regard this life because it has troubles, and very very tragic experience that we all undergo.’ And Paul certainly had his share of them. ‘Remember, there is a reward for all of this. And this life is a short one compared to eternity. And the reality is not the life here and now, but the eternal life.’

As I said when I began, the Indians for the most part believed the Bible to be true, in fact they could report on stories that paralleled a great deal in Genesis 1-11, concerning creation. There are stories about creation, and about the flood, and more, rather absurd ones, exaggerated ones, but they did believe them. And they recognized that the Bible had a clearer and more believable account of the same things. So they were ready to recognize the truth of the Bible. All of them, most pagan, wanted a Christian burial although they were not Christian. But they were unwilling to say that: “Here and now I am on trial, and therefore I must not put God to the test, God is putting me to the test.”

And this is what people from the Corinthians to the present have often done. They believe in God, they believe in Christ, they believe that there is a life after death, that there is a heaven, but; these are things that God ought to give them somehow, and they feel they are entitle to because they are in their own eyes good people, and they sit back and they expect God to do for them, not they for God.

It is not in them to say as one of the saints of old did: “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” That was the faith that marked Paul. He rejoiced in God and in Christ, and in all the promises that were yea and amen. He rejoiced that there was a building of God, a house not made of hands, eternal in the heavens, waiting for him.

Well, he wanted the Corinthians to know that life in Christ is not a sacrifice on your part, not something you are doing for God, a favor for Him, and therefore He owes you everything, but a privilege. And to recognize that it is a privilege, it is of grace. It means that you will serve Him with all your heart, mind, and being, and that you will indeed recognize that you live here, a better life than the ungodly, because it is a redeemed life, and an eternal life in Christ.

Thus Paul warns the Corinthians. ‘You are viewing things from the wrong perspective. You are not doing God a favor by believing in Him. Jesus Christ doesn’t sit up there and put another chalk mark on the blackboard, and say: “Oh good, John Doe has decided in favor of me!” Not at all. You thank god for His grace to you, in Jesus Christ.’

Let us pray. We thank Thee our Father, for this Thy word. We thank Thee that we are the privileged people of Thy grace, of Thy predestinating care. Teach us to rejoice day by day, in all Thy mercies, in the certainty of Thy word. Now give us grace, to go forth giving thanks unto Thee. In Christ’s name, amen.

Are there any questions about our lesson? Yes.

[Audience Member] How can we understand the account that believers have to give on judgement day for the things done in their body?

[Rushdoony] Yes, things done in the body means things done in this life. And on Judgment Day, while it is beyond our capacity to understand, we shall all be judged, we shall know the judgment is true, we shall see the whole of our life and know the extent of our sin, and the extent of God’s grace and mercy to us, and then God will blot out all remembrance of our sins from our minds and from His own. And we shall share in eternal life with Him. It is a creation in which we shall serve him, we don’t know how that service is, but we are plainly told that we shall serve Him.

Yes?

[Audience Member] Job said: “gird up thy loins.”

[Rushdoony] What?

[Audience Member] Job said: “gird up thy loins.” God gave him strength to speak.

[Rushdoony] Yes.

[Audience Member] So it all comes from God.

[Rushdoony] It all comes from God. Yes?

[Audience Member] Yes, Rush, when in some churches they are very much told that they will be saved by their works…

[Rushdoony] What was that? Some churches?

[Audience Member] We will be saved by our good deeds, by our works…

[Rushdoony] No we will be saved by God’s grace through Christ, but we are rewarded according to our works. So that as Paul says at one point, some will be rewarded as it were with gold, others with silver, others as it were with favor. So there will be degrees of status in the eternal world.

Any other questions or comments? Well, if not, let us conclude with prayer.

Our Lord and our God we give thanks unto Thee for this Thy word. We thank Thee that both in time and in eternity we live, move, and have our being in Thee. Give us grace to accept the evils and troubles that beset us, knowing that they are a training ground for our eternal place in the heavens in Thy kingdom and thy service. Make us ever joyful in Thee. Keep us ever mindful that we are a privileged people, and to know that while the world could hurt us, it cannot move one step beyond Thy providential purpose. And Thy hand is always there to limit the ungodly.

And now go in peace, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, bless you and keep you, guide and protect you, this day and always, amen.