Good evening. Turn with me to
2 Corinthians chapter 4, if you would. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, and let's
read there, beginning in verse, well, let me just read verse
1, and then we'll jump down to verse 7. Since we have this ministry,
as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. And then down
to verse seven. But we have this treasure in
earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and
not of us. We are hard pressed on every
side, yet not crushed. We are perplexed, but not in
despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Struck down. but not destroyed,
always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus,
that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered
to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be
manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death is working in us,
but life in you. And since we have the same spirit
of faith according to what is written, I believed and therefore
I spoke, we also believe and therefore speak, knowing that
he who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus
and will present us with you. For all things are for your sakes
that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving
to abound to the glory of God. Now, there is a lot in this passage,
and I wanna focus on what we find there in verse 10, where
the Apostle Paul, describing his ministry and his life, says,
always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus,
that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. Now, I would have to say this passage
is one of the most humbling passages for any preacher of the gospel.
Anyone called into the ministry, if you think anything of yourself,
just go ahead and read this description that Paul gives of his ministry
and that'll tell you something. But let's look at this and, you
know, we know that the Apostle Paul was a man of remarkable
abilities, a man of towering intellect, of incredible fortitude,
enormous courage, and unfailing perseverance. So when we hear
him write to these saints at Corinth about his circumstances,
and he uses phrases like death working in us, we know that the
sufferings that he was facing, that he was experiencing, were
far from insignificant. Just turn back to chapter one,
just a few pages there, and look there in verse eight where he
says, in the introduction to this letter, to the saints there,
he says, for we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of
our trouble which came to us in Asia, for we were burdened
beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of
life. Yes, we had the sentence of death
in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God
who raises the dead. Who did he trust in, in all of
this? Facing all of these circumstances
that were so trying, who does he trust in? He trusts in God,
and how does he describe God? The God who raises the dead. The God who gives life to the
dead. That's what the focus of his
trust was in, in all of this. That's what he concluded. Now,
turn back to chapter four, And listen now again to the language
that Paul uses as he speaks about the circumstances which have
come upon him in the ministry of the gospel, particularly in
reference we know here is in reference to the spiritual conflict
he was facing in the churches of Galatia and Corinth. These were churches that had
serious problems as we know. And in verse nine, look at what
he says. He says, we are hard pressed
on every side. He says, we're perplexed, persecuted,
struck down. Not only pressed, he says, hard
pressed on every side to such a degree that he's perplexed. He's not, and this is remarkable
for the Apostle Paul to say, perplexed, not sure of what to
do. Not only persecuted by his enemies,
but struck down. This is strong language. It communicates
the magnitude of the sufferings that Paul was undergoing. Not
only Paul, but others who were with him. And the picture that
came to my mind as I considered these things was a majestic buck
with this crown of antlers and pursued and surrounded by a snarling
pack of dogs. his flanks torn and bleeding,
the dogs surrounding and running in from different directions,
tearing at this buck to bring him down and destroy him. And
for a moment, you've probably seen pictures of these things,
for a moment you think he's going down, but no, no, the buck stands
resolute and gloriously battles on. Well, that's the picture
I have, that's the description that Paul's giving of himself. He too, in that situation, he
too stands resolute. Over against the distressing
circumstances that he's given of hopelessness, seeming hopelessness,
he gives a powerful response of persevering faith and resilience
in the face of all of this. As he's assailed by these terrible
events and these terrible enemies. Yes, hard pressed. Now listen.
So he's given that, but listen to what he says. Hard pressed
on every side, yet not crushed. Perplexed and confused by the
situation, but not in despair. Persecuted by his enemies and
those who seek his harm, but not forsaken. Struck down in
the conflict, struck down. but not destroyed. You get a
sense of the seriousness of what Paul is facing, what he's writing
about here. But what's even more astonishing
really to me is that these times and circumstances were not unique
to the ministry of the Apostle Paul, were they? This is the
pattern that he experienced in his ministry. So often his life
was in grave danger and under serious threat. He speaks of
this towards the end of this letter to the Corinthians in
chapter 11, you know it. Let me just read a portion of
that. He says, in stripes above measure,
in prisons more frequently, in deaths often, from the Jews five
times I received 40 stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten
with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times
I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I have been
in the deep. In journeys often. In perils of waters. In perils
of robbers. In perils of my own countrymen. In perils of the Gentiles. In
perils in the city. In perils in the wilderness.
In perils in the sea. in perils among false brethren. So many times, you know, it seemed
that he would perish. He says in deaths often, but
each time How does he present himself? Each time he rises again
to continue on in the ministry of the gospel. Look in verse 10. Here we have
a truly remarkable statement from Paul and how he views these
life circumstances that he not only faces, but in a sense, his
life. Listen to what he says. Verse
10, always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord
Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our
body. For we who live are always delivered
to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be
manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death is working in us,
but life in you. There's a lot there, but we'll
just look at some of these things. How does Paul see his life and
the circumstances? He sees them as a metaphor of
the gospel. Do you see that? Well, I hope
to show it to you. What he's saying is the gospel
is preached even through the life that he lives in the face
of these circumstances. His life manifested Christ. and
his work of redemption for perishing sinners. Just as Christ suffered
and died and rose again that we might be saved by his life,
so too Paul suffers, figuratively dies, and yet rises again to
live on for the sake of the Lord's people. And Paul tells us he
sees this being continuously worked out in his life. Listen
to what he says. Always carrying about in this
body the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. Always delivered to death,
see? Yet what? Always delivered to
death, yet what? Always rising again to life that
the life of Jesus also may be manifested, shown forth, portrayed
in this mortal flesh. Now, this is a minister of the
gospel, isn't it? This is a minister of the gospel.
This is how he views his life. Paul is telling us that the circumstances
of his life and his conduct in the midst of these circumstances
manifest both the dying of the Lord Jesus and they manifest
the life of the Lord Jesus. His being delivered to death
for Jesus' sake is for what purpose? That the life of Jesus would
be manifested in his body. In that power of God, in raising
him as it were out of these circumstances, in being in many deaths often,
and yet the Lord delivers him out of those to continue on in
life in the ministry of the gospel. The life that Paul lived, he's
telling us, the life that he lived manifested Christ and his
salvation. Even his life was a preached
message of the redemptive work of Christ
in which life springs forth from death. Look there in verse 12,
what does Paul say? So then death in us, See that
in verse 12? So then death is working in us,
for what purpose? But life in you, he tells these
saints there at Corinth. Well, what is the reason that
Paul attributes to the circumstances in which he finds himself? And
in these dire straits that he's experiencing in the ministry
of the gospel, Well, he gives that to us in verse seven. What
does he say? But we have this treasure in
earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and
not of us. Now, Paul continuously rejoiced
in this truth. We have this great treasure of
the glorious gospel of God's grace put into earthen vessels
for the specific purpose that they would show forth the excellency
of the power is of God and not of us. Rather than detracting
from this glorious gospel, the fact that they're put into earthen
vessels serves to magnify, what could we say, the perfect weakness
of the earthen vessel magnifies the excellency as being the power
of God. Now it's difficult to overstate
this truth. Paul saw this as the keystone
of the ministry of grace, and we find it a perpetual theme
throughout all the scriptures. Just turn back to 1 Corinthians
for a moment, 1 Corinthians chapter two. In 1 Corinthians chapter two,
beginning in verse one there, Paul writes, and I, brethren,
when I came to you did not come with excellency of speech or
of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined
not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. Why? Why? Because Jesus Christ
and him crucified is the excellency of the power of God. This is
the exceeding greatness of his power, isn't it? Now look in
verse three. And I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in
much trembling. And my speech and my preaching
were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in the demonstration
of the spirit and of power. that your faith should not be
in the wisdom of men but in the power of God." See, Paul saw
this as a key to the ministry of the gospel of grace, didn't
he? That the excellency would be of the power of God in every
sense. And this brings us then to the
next question, how is Paul? He's a man just like you and
me, he is. It's hard to believe that when
you read the word, but it's true. He's an earthen vessel, as he
said. He's just like you and me. How
is Paul, this weak earthen vessel, able to endure and live such
a life and continue on in the ministry of the gospel? It's
incredible, isn't it, that that would be the case? Well, we know it's because our
faith is not in the power of men, is it, but in the power
of God. Turn back to 2 Corinthians chapter
4 and look there in verse 13 now. Paul is going to address
this. because this faith that he had
facing these circumstances in the ministry was not his power,
not his faith. This was a faith that springs
forth from the power of God. And so he's going to speak about
that. Look in verse 13, and since we
have the same spirit of faith according to what is written,
I believed and therefore I spoke, we also believe and therefore
speak, knowing that he who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise
us up with Jesus and will present us with you. Now, Paul, how did
he describe his situation? He's hard pressed but not crushed.
struck down but not destroyed, always dying but still living.
Why? What's he saying? Because of
the power of the Spirit of God working in him through faith. That's why. That's the only reason.
He lives on in this ministry, preaching the gospel of God's
grace for this reason alone. The spirit of faith is working
in him and he cannot help but speak. This is the fountainhead of his
strength, his courage, his perseverance, his faithfulness. He believes
the gospel. He believes the gospel. This
is what gives him such confidence to go forward in the face of
all that he faces. Now, this speaks to me as a minister
of the gospel, but this speaks to every one of the Lord's children,
doesn't it? Everyone who is of faith. He believes the gospel. He says,
we also believe and therefore speak knowing that he who raised
up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus and will present
us with you. Without this firmness of faith,
Paul, what would have happened? He would have long ago fallen
under the weight of everything that was against him. And he
would have ceased preaching the glorious gospel. But what does he say? I know,
I know, says Paul with deep certainty of faith in writing to Timothy. You remember? I know whom I have
believed. And because of this faith, Paul
will never let go. He'll never give up, never turn
back from the ministry. It doesn't matter what trials
of faith mount up against him. This is what he's saying. The
whole world and the trials of life may come against him. But
what's the answer to that? Paul believes in God. Paul believes in God who gives
life to the dead. And in the power of this faith,
he may be struck down, but not destroyed. Always rising up again
and again in the ministry of the gospel. We saw earlier the account that
he gives of this in 2 Corinthians 11, where we read of those stripes,
the imprisonments, the deaths often, the beatings, the stonings,
the shipwrecks, and go down through all those perils. And you know
what? This is how he concludes that
list. This is how he concludes. This
is what he determines to be, of all of these things, the greatest
concern to him. He says, besides the other things,
it doesn't matter. I've given you a list of all
these things. Well, there's a whole bunch more. Besides these other
things, what comes upon me daily? What's my greatest burden? My
deep concern for all the churches. Now there's a picture of the
gospel too, isn't it? He's willing to die, willing
to suffer for who? For the church. This is what
is the greatest burden to him in the midst of all of these
sufferings. Here, what does he say? With that in
mind, Think of this. Think of what
he said. So then death is working in us. Yeah, death is working
in us, Paul says. But in you, what? What's working
in you? But life in you, he tells these
Corinthians. But above even this. What is
the driving desire that moves the heart and soul of the Apostle
Paul? What is it that surpasses all other concerns for the Apostle
in the ministry that he's received from the Lord Jesus Christ? Look
there in verse 15. He says, for all things are for
your sakes. There again, his concern for
the church. For all things are for your sakes that grace, having
spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound
to the glory of God. There was Paul's driving force.
Everything that I've spoken about in terms of Paul is driven above
all for the glory of God. And again, I'm so thankful for
a pastor who manifests that to us. every week. Isn't that true? That the ministry of the gospel
is for the glory of God. I need to be reminded of that
continuously and so do you. I know you do. We're so prone
to be thinking of ourselves, but Paul doesn't, does he? This
is what matters to him. Well, because of this faith in
Christ, Paul says, he can't do anything else but preach Christ. And he quotes from David, and
that's from Psalm 116, right? And he quotes from David to drive
home this point. This is what, in verse 13, what
did he say? He says, and since we have the
same spirit of faith, according to what is written, I believed
and therefore I spoke, we also believe and therefore speak.
So Paul is saying, just as David believed, that's his quote of
David, just as David believed, and what did David say? I believed
and therefore I spoke, same reason. Paul's saying, well, it's exactly
the same for me. Why did David speak? Because
he believed. Well, why do I speak? Because
I believe. What's he telling us? He has the same David, King David
had the same spirit that he has. Now we take that for granted,
but there's a lot of biblical. A lot of error out there, which
teaches things were different in the old covenant in terms
of faith and salvation and lots of nonsense. But how does Paul
view it? Does he view his faith in any
way different than the faith of King David? Not at all. The
same spirit of faith is how he viewed it. Why is that? It's because there's only one
living fountain of faith. And that one is the Holy Spirit,
isn't it? Nowhere else, nowhere else are
you going to find faith unless it's wrought in your heart by
the Holy Spirit of God. Clearly in Paul's mind, these
two things are inseparably linked, so he refers to the spirit of
God as what? The spirit of faith. No spirit, no faith. No faith,
no spirit. It's that simple. We could say, read this morning,
I referenced 1 John where that well-known verse, he who has
the son has life, he who does not have the son of God does
not have life. Well, we could say in the same
way, he who has the spirit has faith. He who does not have the
spirit does not have faith. That's what Paul's saying. We
have the same spirit of faith and not only Not only do we share
the same spirit, but we share the same faith. All saints have
like precious faith. And it may be the faith of Abel
at the dawn of history, or it may be the faith of the soul
saved on the very last day of the earth, just before the trumpet
sounds. when the Lord is revealed with
his mighty angels from heaven. It may be the faith of Paul,
a Hebrew of Hebrews. It may be the faith of a Syrophoenician
Gentile. It may be the little faith of
the man who said, I believe, Lord, help my unbelief. Or the great faith of Abraham.
It doesn't matter. If there's any faith at all,
It has as its source and its power, the Holy Spirit. You know, there are so many great
things that this passage teaches us, but here is just one more
point, and I think it's important. The saints of the Old Testament
had far less knowledge of the gospel than the saints of the
new. We know that. The revelation of the gospel
and the Old Testament was marked by incompleteness, by the dimness
of types and shadows of those good things to come, the good
things of the gospel. In contrast to this, the revelation
of the gospel with the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ was
so magnificent and full of glory. However, It's the faith of the
Old Testament saints that is given to us as the pattern of
all who believe, not the saints of the New Testament. Isn't that
amazing? Why would the Lord who works
all things according to the counsel of his own will choose to reveal
great faith in this way? Well, surely the answer is the
same as Paul speaks of there in 1 Corinthians. He says that
your faith might be in the demonstration of the Spirit and of the power
of God. Not even that it would be in
the demonstration of knowledge or revelation. Do you see that?
In speaking with someone recently, I mentioned how I'm often just
put to shame by the great faith of many of the saints in Papua
New Guinea who, comparatively speaking, have little knowledge
and yet have great faith in Christ. Let me read you something which
speaks directly to this by a faithful father of the faith, B.B. Warfield. Listen now. Knowledge
and faith stand in relationship to one another but are not the
measure of one another. If there can be no faith where
there is no knowledge, and that's true, there can be no faith where
there is no knowledge. On the other hand, it is equally
true that the realm of dim knowledge is often the region of strong
faith. For when we walk by faith, by
sight, faith has no place. No, he who believes in Jesus
whom he has seen must yield in point to the heroism of faith
and the blessedness promised to it to him who having not seen
yet has believed. Those great men of God of old
not being weak in faith believed in the twilight of revelation
and waxing strong died in faith and we could wish for nothing
higher for ourselves. than that we might be like them
in their faithful faith. Well, given that, in closing,
let's consider the spirit of faith working in the father of
all who believe. Who's that? Abraham. Abraham. Romans 4, turn there, and we'll
just, Romans chapter four. And I think
as pretty much all of us here know, Abraham was an old man
when he heard the gospel. How did he hear it? I love this. How did he hear it? God preached
it to him. The scriptures foreseeing that
God would justify the nations through faith preached the gospel
to Abraham. What scriptures were they? Those
were the scriptures of God coming to Abraham and giving him that
glorious promise. God preached the gospel to Abraham
and Abraham received the promise that he would be, the promise
that the savior of the world would be his own direct descendant. He would be a son of Abraham.
And look there in verse 17 of Romans 4, where we read about this. He
says, 17, he says, he's continuing on. He says, as it is written, I
have made you a father of many nations in the presence of him
whom he believed, God, Now notice, I think it's interesting too.
Here is exactly what Paul said. God who gives life to the dead. That's the God that he believes
in. God who gives life to the dead
and calls those things which do not exist as though they did.
Who contrary to hope, in hope believes so that he became the
father of many nations according to what was spoken, so shall
your descendants be. And not being weak in faith, You see two there. He doesn't say, what he could
have said, what the scriptures could have said is an Abraham
with great faith. But see, he's emphasizing not
being weak in faith, to emphasize the greatness of the faith of
Abraham, the father of the faithful. Not being weak in faith, he did
not consider his own body, already dead since he was about 100 years
old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb. He did not waver at the
promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith,
and there it is, giving glory to God. and being fully convinced
that what he had promised he was able also to perform, and
therefore it was accounted to him for righteousness." All right,
well, that's quite a testimony of the father of all those who
believe, isn't it? Now here is great faith, this
Old Testament saint. And as we know, in the fullness
of time, Sarah conceived and bore the promised son, Isaac. Now, let me pause for a minute
because I think that often we, in reading of Abraham and the
story and reading these texts, we, I know I do, tend to focus
on that natural love and care and heart of the father for the
son and that's all there. That's all there. especially
an only son, especially a son of miraculous giving, all of these things. But what we tend to forget is
Isaac grew, the son grew before his eyes. What was represented
before the eyes of Abraham and Sarah every day? What was represented was salvation,
wasn't it? God had told him, in your seed,
in the seed of this child, Isaac, would come the Savior, not only
for you, but for the whole world. So this is what Abraham has in
his mind. Do you see that? Abraham has
in his mind here, a hope is based upon that, aside from all these
natural things. And so as you know, what happens?
When Isaac had grown to be a young man, the Lord spoke again to
Abraham. And what did he tell him? Take
your son, your only son, whom you love, and go to the land
of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering. on one of
the mountains of which I shall tell you. What is Abraham gonna do? Well,
you know the story, don't you? He rose early in the morning.
That's all, nothing else. He rose early in the morning,
took his son, traveled three days to the place which God had
told him, and he took the wood of the burnt offering, he laid
it on Isaac, his son took the fire, and the knife, and the
two of them went up the mountain together. And when his son Isaac
asked him, where is the lamb for the burnt offering, Abraham
answered, my son, God will provide for himself the lamb. Did Abraham
believe that? He absolutely did. Abraham built an altar there
and placed the wood in order and he bound his son, he laid
him upon the altar, he stretched out his hand and took the knife
to slay his son, to offer him on that altar. Now, again, how
is it possible for Abraham to have such great faith? Well, we know it's because of
that same spirit of faith, isn't it? That same spirit of faith
in David, that same spirit of faith in Paul, it's the same
spirit of faith working in him. He believed God. He believed
God. But what exactly did he believe? Think about this now, what is
it exactly that he believed when the Lord came again to him and
told him, this son, this promised son, whom I have told you all
nations will be blessed through the line of this son, now take
him and offer him upon the mountain. Now what exactly did Abraham
believe when he rose early that morning and took his son? Well,
we don't have to speculate. In Hebrews 11, let me just read
that to you. By faith, Abraham, when he was
tested, offered up Isaac. You see even how the language
of the scripture is. Well, he didn't really offer
up Isaac, did he? Well, he didn't, but yes, he
did. Yes, he did. And he who had received the promises
offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, in
Isaac your seed shall be called. And here it is concluding, what
did he think? What did he think? Concluding
that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from
which he also received him in a figurative sense. Do you see
that? Why? Because he believed the gospel. Do you see that? He believed
the gospel. God had told him that through
this son, the Savior would come. Isn't that right? All right.
He believed that. So now God comes and he tells
me to take this son. I know this is through this son
that the Savior is going to come. Now God tells me, take this son
and offer him on the mountain. All right. Well, if I do that,
if that's what God tells me to do, I'm going to do it because
if I do, I know God's going to raise him up from the dead because
he promised me. That's the faith of Abraham.
That's the faith of the father of all those who believe. God had preached the gospel to
Abraham and he knew. Abraham knew salvation for himself
and for you and I. Think about that, for you and
me. This is what we're talking about here. Abraham knew that
salvation for the nations would come through this son. He believed
that, he believed it with all his heart. Well, there did come a day, didn't
there? There did come a day when the
promised seed, the son of Abraham, did go up that mountain. He went
up with his eternal father. The father and the only begotten
son of God went together. Here was the lamb provided by
God. And there on Mount Calvary, the
Lord made his soul an offering for sin. Abraham saw this day. I believe he saw this day, the
day he took his son up the mountain. And Jesus himself, as you know,
said, Abraham saw my day and was glad. I'm glad. Aren't you? Amen.