From our heart back to hymnal,
hymn number 40. Number 40. And let's all stand
together. Great is thy faithfulness. Number
40. Great is Thy faithfulness, O
God my Father. There is no shadow of turning
with Thee. Thou changest not, thy compassions,
they fail not. As thou hast been, thou for ever
wilt be. Great is thy faithfulness, great
is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies
I see. All I have needed thy hand hath
provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord,
unto me. Summer and winter and springtime
and harvest Sun, moon and stars in their courses above Join with
all nature in manifold witness to thy great faithfulness, mercy
and love. Great is thy faithfulness, great
is thy faithfulness, morning by morning new mercies I see. I have needed thy and hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord,
unto me. Pardon for sin and a peace that
endureth Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide Strength
for today and bright hope for tomorrow Blessings all mine,
with ten thousand beside. Great is thy faithfulness, great
is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies
I see. All I have needed thy hand hath
provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord,
unto me. Please be seated. Good morning. Because he He is
faithful to us. He keeps us faithful to Him. We're going to be looking at
some verses in 2 Corinthians chapter 6. 2 Corinthians chapter
6. We'll let everybody get settled
in. Let's ask the Lord's blessings
on His Word. to our hearts. This matter of
worship is not something done in flesh. It's something done
by the power of the Spirit of God, enabling us to fellowship
with Him from the heart. This is a heart matter, and only
by His grace can we be brought in our hearts to his presence
to know him and to worship him. So we plead for his, his mercy
to that end. Let's ask him together. Our merciful heavenly father,
we're, we're comforted and hopeful in knowing that you have promised
that where two or three are gathered together in thy name, there you
are in the midst. You've promised to inhabit the
praise of your people. And you've said, Lord, that you
seek those who worship thee in spirit and in truth. Father, we thank you for the
revelation of the truth of Christ given in your word. We ask that
your Holy Spirit would enlighten the eyes of our understanding.
We ask, Father, that you would give us faith, enable us to set
our affections on things above where Christ is seated at the
right hand of God. Lord, protect us from just going
through some sort of religious ritual. Enable us, Lord, to enter
into thy presence, to know thy power, to experience thy grace
and thy mercy. For we ask it in Christ's name
and for His sake. Amen. I've titled this study in 2 Corinthians
chapter 6, The Life of the Children of God. The Apostle Paul seems to have
spent his whole ministry having to defend himself against those
who would say that he was a false prophet. We believe that God
called him and revealed to him the truth of the gospel. And
in Galatians chapter 6, He says, let no man trouble me anymore,
for I bear the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ in my body. Why would the Apostle Paul defend
himself so vehemently? Why does he defend himself here
in 2 Corinthians chapter 6? For this reason, He wants us
to believe that the message that he's declaring came from God. Not for his own benefit, but
for ours. Now there's no possible way that
I can prove to you that the message that the Apostle Paul preached
was from God. I can't even prove to you the
existence of God. That's a work of grace that happens
by the Spirit of God. But the means by which the Lord
convinces us of that truth is His Word. Of His own will, of
God's own will, begat He us with the Word of Truth. the means
by which the Lord gives faith. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
comes by the Word of God. So we are diligent and dedicated
to study the Word of God, verse by verse, believing that God
the Holy Spirit will use that in order to convince us. in order to convince us of who
he is and what he's accomplished for us. Now the defense that
Paul is giving is not his defense before God. His defense before
God is the same defense that every child of God has. We are
accepted before God in the Beloved. The only defense that we have
before God is the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We look to Him. We rely upon Him. We have no
other plea. We have no other defense. We
have no other proof that we can offer to God for the hope of
our salvation other than the glorious person and the finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ who put away our sin and who
intercedes on behalf of sinners. He's our only defense. So we
don't look to our works, we don't look to our circumstances, we
don't look to anything other than the Lord Jesus Christ for
our commendation before God. Paul is not recommending himself
to God, but he is pleading with the church to believe that God
had given him the message of the gospel and the gospels to
be believed because he is a faithful messenger of the gospel of God's
grace in Christ. And as he defends himself to
the church, as he presents evidence to the church that he is a faithful
gospel minister, he's saying to us, he's saying to us the
same thing he said in another place when he said, you follow
me as I follow after Christ. As he said in another place,
my experience is a pattern for every believer. And so that's
why I call this the life of the child of God, because Paul is
defining his own life in this world, and he's saying to us
that this is every believer's life. This is every believer's
life in this world. We begin in verse 3, giving no
offense in anything that the ministry be not blamed. He's saying, I don't want my
life to be inconsistent with the message that I'm preaching.
I don't want to blame God with a life that's inconsistent with
the message of the gospel. but in all things approving ourselves
as ministers of God in much patience." Now here's the evidence of faith.
Here's the evidence of faith. Hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man seeth, why does
he yet hope for it? But if he hopes for that which
he sees not, Therefore, with great patience waiteth he for
it. Here's a description of faith. Here's the evidence of faith.
My hope, my hope is in the glorious person of the Lord Jesus Christ
who accomplished my salvation. And I'm patiently waiting with
hopeful expectation for his return when I can be made like him and
see him as he is. This is the believer's life. It's a life of patience. It's
a life of waiting. Waiting on God. Some folks, by nature, have more
patience than others, and we've all experienced the loss of our
patience with our circumstances and with people. But that's not
what he's talking about here. He's talking about patiently
waiting for the fulfillment of the promises of God. Do you believe
God? Do you believe God? You're just
absolutely, totally convinced that what God has promised, he
is able to perform. That's what Abraham, that's what
scripture says about Abraham. And he's the father of the faithful.
And he believed that what God had promised, he was able to
do. And so we patiently wait for that which we see not, knowing
that our Lord is faithful to his promises. He cannot lie. That's my hope. That's our hope,
waiting on Him to fulfill everything that He's promised. And so He
says, as ministers of God in much patience and in afflictions. Now all of us have suffered afflictions
in this world. And we could say that unbelievers
suffer afflictions as well. What's the difference between
the afflictions that believers suffer and the afflictions that
unbelievers suffer? Believers know. They know the
source of those afflictions. They know that all things are
of God and that whatever the Lord has ordained for me is right
and good and necessary for my salvation. And they're able to
believe what God said, the light afflictions, the light afflictions
which are but for a moment worketh for us a far greater exceeding
weight of glory. And so again, we're back to faith,
we're back to patience. Paul says, patiently waiting
for him, and in this patient waiting we suffer afflictions,
but we know from whom these afflictions come, and we know what the purpose
of these afflictions are. They are necessary, and that's
what he goes on to say, look at the next word, in necessities. In necessities, oh Lord, why
am I suffering? It's necessary for you. It's
necessary for you. Faith believes that. Faith believes
that everything that comes into the life of the child of God
is necessary for their salvation. and they're able to rest. This
is the believers. Like Paul said, this is my experience. I'm telling you that I'm patiently
waiting. I'm suffering afflictions. These
afflictions are necessities and distresses. There's a lot of
narrow places that God has put. This word distresses means to
be put between a rock and a hard place. You ever been there? You
ever been there? God puts his people between a
rock and a hard place to give them no place else to turn. No
place else to turn. Coming to Christ is not a choice. It's what the heart does when
God Almighty shuts you up to no other place to go. If you've
got any other place to go, if you've got any other refuge,
If you can find refuge in your works, if you can find refuge
in your will, if you can find refuge anywhere else in this
world outside of Christ, that's where you will flee. But if the avenger of blood is
hot on your heels and you're guilty before God, you're going
to follow those road signs and get yourself you're gonna get
yourself to that city of refuge and stay behind the gates of
that city. It's the only safe place to be. And so he says that
God has put me in distresses. He's made these things to be
necessities in stripes, in stripes. Now we can't read that word stripes
without first thinking about the Lord Jesus Christ by whose
stripes we are healed. The stripes that he suffered
in his passionate death and crucifixion is the means by which God's justice
was satisfied. God looked at what the Lord Jesus
Christ suffered on Calvary's cross and he said, I'm satisfied. The work is finished. Sin's been
put away. Justice has been established.
God's pleased with the Lord Jesus Christ. And in this life, as
we become followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, we suffer stripes. Paul certainly suffered them.
The Lord has given us an opportunity to live in a period of time in
history when we don't have to worry about being beaten with
whips or burned at a stake. The stripes of men's tongues
sure do wound, don't they? They sure do wound. And if you
stand for Christ, people are going to say things about you. I'm just sure that Satan has
figured out over time that he can get more mileage out of the
whip of a tongue. in terms of shutting up believers
than he can get from the whip of persecution. The church has
been strongest when it's been under severe persecution. It's
been the strongest times in the history of the church. Oh, Lord,
how weak I am, how weak I am to cave in to the accusations
and the stripes of men's tongues. Lord, give me boldness, give
me grace to speak the truth and not to be concerned about the
opinions of men. In stripes, in imprisonments, Now the Lord Jesus Christ came
in order to set the captive free. He came to tear down the gates
of hell and to reach into the very pit of hell and bring forth
those who are held captive and make them captive to himself.
That's what he said. Remember when he asked Peter, whom do
you say that I am? And Peter said, thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God. And what did the Lord say
to Peter? Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
this to you. You didn't come to this conclusion
because you're a smart person. My Father, which is in heaven,
has made it known unto you and upon this rock." And that rock
wasn't Peter. That rock was the confession
that Peter just made about the Lord Jesus Christ being the rock. He's the cornerstone. He's the
rock on which we stand. He's the Christ, the Son of the
living God. And then the Lord said this,
He said, And the gates of hell shall not be able to prevail
against it. When the gospel of my grace is
preached, Satan's going to be defeated and God's people are
going to be delivered. That's an imprisonment that we
want to be set free from. not being able to see, not being
able to believe, not being able to love. Oh Lord, come into the
pits of hell and deliver my soul. Now the life of a child of God
might involve some other imprisonments as well. And the Lord has promised
to give to his people grace to bear under those troubles. Turn
with me to Acts chapter 16. Acts chapter 16. Paul and Silas are in Philippi and they're boldly preaching
the gospel, disregarding the threats of men until finally
a riot breaks out and they are arrested and thrown into prison
and beaten and chained to the walls of a Roman dungeon. And
what do we find them doing? Look at verse 25. And at midnight,
Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God, and the prisoners
heard them. The other prisoners heard them.
Lord, when I'm beaten, when I'm chained, Lord, give me the grace. to pray and to sing praises unto
you that it might be Paul's presenting himself now. He's going to go
on in the same chapter to say to the church, this is my life
and this is your life. Follow my example. And, and so,
you know, what a, what a, what an opportunity God has given
to his people to, to pray and to sing in times of trouble.
And look, and suddenly there was a great earthquake so that
the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all
the doors were open and everyone's bands were loosed. Lord, give
me the grace, give me the faith. When I'm in the midst of necessities,
when I'm between a rock and a hard place, when afflictions come,
when imprisonments come, to pray and to praise and to ask you,
Lord, to set me free. And that doesn't mean that he's
going to set you free from your circumstances. I'm going to make
a statement, and you can write this down, it's so true. To the
world, peace is the absence of conflict. To the child of God,
peace is the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not suggesting to you that
when God puts you in these troubles that he's going to deliver you
if you pray and praise him and the chains are going to fall
off of your circumstances, but they will fall off of your fear.
They will. Prisons will palaces be if Jesus
be there. Isn't that what we sing? Tedious
and tasteless. Oh, Lord. Give me the peace of
God that passes understanding. Enable me to look unto Jesus
who's the author and the finisher of my faith. To set my affections
on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of
God. The Lord has, in the past, put
many of his people in prison for the gospel. There are prisons that we experience
in this life that the Lord will meet us there. Oh Lord, give
me, give me grace to pray and to praise Thee in the midst of
prison that the chains might fall off and that other prisoners
will hear and see. So Paul's concern was for the
other prisoners. He's wanting their chains to
fall off. I want my chains to fall off.
I want your chains to fall off. And I know the Lord can do it. That's the believer's life. In stripes, verse 5, and imprisonments,
in tumults, being tossed about, Now the scripture says that we're
not to be tossed about by every wind of doctrine. Lord, teach
me the truth so that I'm not tossed to and fro with every
wild doctrine and lie that comes my way. Enable me to stand firm
in the truth. The Lord has put us through tumults
in this world. The way of the Lord, the scripture
says, is through the seas. Wasn't that glorious what we
saw in Mark chapter 5 last Sunday about the disciples on the Sea
of Galilee in the midst of that storm and the Lord bringing them
safely to the other side? He's put two molts in our way
in order for us to say, Lord, care us not that we perish. Oh
yes, I do care. Matter of fact, I've laid down
my life that you not perish. It all comes back to faith, doesn't
it? It all comes back to looking
to Christ. This matter of the gospel, it's
a heart issue. If there's any day of the year
when people become outwardly religious, I suppose today's
the day. And there's folks that go through
the ritual of being religious in order to try to earn favor
with God or prove something to other men. This gospel is a matter
of the heart. Lord, do a work of grace in my
heart. And I know that that I'm able
to deceive myself. And if you don't keep me, Lord,
I'll go about pretending to be something that I'm not. Turn
with me to 1 Timothy chapter four. 1 Timothy chapter four. Verse 8, for bodily exercise profiteth
little. Now that word little has to do
with time. If you're like me, every so often
you get on a health kick and you run or work out for a little
while and then it only lasts a while and you get tired and
you quit. And it takes about a week, takes
about a week to get back to where you started. In other words,
all the things that you did were of no benefit to you unless you
keep doing them. You've got to keep doing it.
It's pretty regular, don't you? You go about a week without working
out and you lose all the benefits of everything you did before
that. And the Lord's likening that. He says, bodily exercise
profiteth, but just a little while. But godliness, look what
he says, but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise
of the life that now is and that which is to come. What is godliness?
What is godliness? It's what the Lord meant when
he said, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness
and all these other things that be added unto you. It's looking
unto Jesus who is the author. It's trusting Christ. That's
what godliness is. And that can only be done in
the heart. It's a work of grace in the heart. When the Lord takes
out the heart of stone and puts in a heart of flesh, enables
us to cry out from the heart and worship Him from the heart. Now with that as an understanding,
I want to explain bodily exercise in the context of spiritual godliness. And that is that what we do in
the flesh in terms of our religious activities. So that when a person
comes to church, they are exercising bodily a religious practice. And it benefits them just about
as long as they're there. Just about as long as they're
there. If all your religion is done only physically, if it's
done only bodily, if it's not a work of grace in the heart,
it will be profitable to you only while you're doing it. So
that you, your study of the Bible, your prayer, your religious activities,
your coming into church, those are bodily exercises that profit
you but just a little while. But godliness, that's a work
of grace in the heart. How many folks are engaged in
religious bodily exercise and only enjoying the benefits of
that bodily exercise while they last? And then they write back
to where they were before. Why? Because a work of grace
hasn't been done in the heart. What I'm saying to you is, cry
with me. Cry with me for God to do a work
of grace in your heart. Lord, turn me and I will be turned. Cause me to come unto thee. Bid
me, Lord, to come unto thee. Lord, don't let me deceive myself
like the millions of people in this world who go through the
bodily exercise of religious rituals and religious habits
and receive no eternal benefit from any of it. God changes your heart. That'll
be a change that can't be reversed. And that'll be a benefit that
will be profitable in this life and in the life to come. Men look at the outward appearance. God looks at the heart. Men by
nature value the opinions of men more than the opinions of
God. And so they put on the outward
garb of religion. They wash the outside of the
cup. They whitewash the outside of
the tomb. But the cup is full of corruption
and the tomb is full of dead men's bones. And millions do
it. Millions do it. And you'll do
it. And I'll do it. If the Lord doesn't
show us a need for our hearts to be changed, Lord, change my
heart. Don't let me engage in a bodily
exercise of religion that lasts only for a moment. I need the
benefit of eternal life that lasts forever. And that's a work
that you're going to have to do. You see, here's the thing
about it. You can clean up the outside
of your life. You can make yourself look very
religious without the help of God. Without the help of God. You can talk the talk and walk
the walk. You can wear the right clothes and say the right things
and go to the right places and be outwardly impressive to men. without having a changed heart. Lord, change my heart. Don't let me deceive myself and
don't let me be caught up in trying to impress other men that
I deceive others, Lord. If you know the truth, the truth
will set you free. Is that your experience? Let's go back to our text for
just a moment. Verse 5, and stripes and imprisonments
and tumults and labors, laboring, laboring to enter into
His rest. Is that your labor? That's the
hardest thing you do, isn't it? The hardest thing you do is not
to do anything. To trust Christ alone for all
your salvation, and to not look anywhere but to Him, and to not
try to add to Him or take away from Him, that's a spiritual
work. You can't do that. That's a work
of grace in the heart. And that's what the scriptures
speak of in Hebrews chapter 4 when it talks about laboring to enter
into his rest. And when that labor's done, there
is a labor. There's a labor in preaching
the gospel. There's a labor in the ministry
of the gospel. And God's people delight in being
a part of it. Why? Because the Lord's done
a work of grace in their heart. Out of the heart flows the issues
of life. Don't try to fix the outside. The outside will take care of
itself when God does a work of grace in the heart. The life
will follow the heart. People try to fix up... all the
emphasis is on how to fix the heart, how to fix the life. And that's what most preaching
is today. Just trinkets of pop psychology mixed with a little
Bible and mixed with a little religious platitudes in order
to tell you how to fix problems in your life to look more like
a Christian. That's what religion is all about. I want my life to reflect Christ. I don't want to shame the gospel. I don't want to be a slave to
the passions of my flesh. I don't want any of that. But
for that to happen, you've got to do a work of grace in my heart. We preach to men's hearts. The Lord seeketh after those
who worship Him in spirit, by the power of God's Spirit, in
their spirit, and according to the truth of the gospel. All
of religion is all about just making the outside look good,
isn't it? And watchings, watching for Him,
waiting for Him, Paul's talking about sleepless nights here.
He's talking about his heart being burdened for the church
in Corinth. And if you're a child of God
and you've got unbelieving loved ones, you know something about
that burden, don't you? You know something about waking
up in the middle of the night and having such a heavy burden
for the souls of your children and grandchildren and crying
out to God to be merciful to them. That's what he's talking
about here. It's the work of grace in the
heart. Fastings. Denying the flesh its pleasures. That's a work of grace in the
heart. All things are of God. I'm not standing here telling
you, you know, you just need to discipline yourself a little
bit more and deny your fleshly pleasures. No. The Lord will do that. The Lord
will do that when He does a work of grace in our hearts. Let's take a break. Okay.