Good morning. We're going to be continuing
our study this morning in 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter
4. Mary Ann, did you all move your
mom yet today? Terry, as you know, had surgery. Thursday? Tuesday. Tuesday. And the surgery went well. She's
in the hospital now and going to be transferred today back
to the rehab center. She's very, very weak and just
very, very frail. So I want to pray for her and
for Rich and Marianne and Jerry and the girls as they minister
to her. Also, Daryl and Joyce were leaving
yesterday to go back to Tennessee and they were headed up Highway
95 and Daryl got sick and they had to stop at Flagler and Daryl
is in the hospital at Flagler. Had a high fever and they think
they've determined it to be a bladder infection, but I talked to Joyce
this morning and he still has a fever. And so I assured her
that we would be in prayer for him. They're running some tests
to make sure there's no infection in the blood. That's where they are. And we've
been rejoicing with our brethren over in Sarasota. They are watching
now, as they do every Sunday morning and every Wednesday night,
and have been over there a few times. We're going to go back
this Friday. If anybody would like to go,
you can talk to me and figure out when, what time, and where
we're leaving from. And then starting the following
Sunday, We'll be meeting every Sunday evening with them over
there. would drive over on Sunday afternoon
and have services every Sunday night. And they're very excited
about it as we are. So remember to pray for them
and for me as we take that opportunity on. All right, let's ask the
Lord to bless His word to our hearts this morning. Let's pray
together. Our Heavenly Father, we are so
very thankful to be able to come to this place and declare from
our hearts what you have revealed to us, that thou alone art holy. Truly, as we just sang, holy,
holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth truly
are filled with your glory. We ask, Lord, that you would
be pleased now to show forth your glory and your grace to
the hearts of your people. You've promised that where two
or three are gathered together in thy name, there you are in
the midst. And you've promised, Lord, to
inhabit the praise of your people, to feed the hungry, to give sight
to the blind, to cause the crippled to walk and the dead to be made
alive. Lord, we fit all those categories
and we ask, Lord, that you'd be merciful toward us. We ask,
Lord, that you would enable us now in this first hour to set
our affections on Christ, to set aside those things of this
world that would so easily distract us. cause us Lord to have an
affection for the Lord Jesus Christ and to long for that day
when we will see him as he is and be made like him. Father
we do pray for Terry and we ask Lord that you would continue
to protect her from the the pain that she once had, and Lord,
we're just so thankful that she's not experiencing that now, and
we thank you for that mercy. We pray that you would continue
to give that to her. And for the family, Lord, as
they wait on her and wait on you, Lord, that you would just
give faith and peace and encouragement and hope and confidence in your
sovereign purpose in all things. Pray for Daryl and ask Lord that
you would give the nurses and doctors that minister to him
the knowledge they need to treat him well and Lord that you would
give to he and to Joyce the faith to know that thou alone art the
great physician. Lord that they as we all are
in your hands. Pray for your mercy towards them.
Father we pray for our brethren in Sarasota and we thank you
Lord for the for the desire that you put in their hearts to have
a witness there in that part of our state and Lord for the
place now to meet and we pray Lord that your sheep would gather
together and Lord you'd be pleased to call out an assembly and provide
for that place a testimony of your grace in the finished work
of Christ. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. You have your Bibles open with
me to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. I want to introduce this Bible
study with a question. I want to ask you if you are
longing for the Lord Jesus Christ to come right now. Would it be OK with you? Would
it not just be OK with you, but would you be able to rejoice
if the Lord came right now, before we finish this service? Somebody
might be thinking, well, I have children and loved ones that
don't know Him, and I'm burdened for them. Put that aside for
now. The Lord will provide in His time for that. I'm just saying
for you, for you. Is there anything left in this
world that would keep you from longing to be with Christ? Now I know there are different
motivations for wanting to go home and be with the Lord. Sometimes
things become so difficult in this life that you just want
some relief. And that's an experience that
we all have. But that in and of itself is
not the motivation I'm talking about. There are times when you think,
well, I just want to be in a better place. That's not what I'm talking
about. I'm talking about the fact that
we look through a glass dimly now, but then face to face to
see Christ in His splendor and in His glory and to be made like
Him, to experience His presence That's the longing of the believer's
heart. When the believer thinks about
that, he rejoices in the truth of that, and in the reality of
that, in the anticipation of that. He doesn't think, well,
I've got things I want to do in this world before I go home.
No, no. No, the bucket list goes out
the window. It's, oh, to be with Christ. We see a glimpse of Him now,
but Christ in us is our hope of glory. And to be made like
Him and to see Him without any hindrances of our sin or of our
flesh, what is there in this world to compare to that? The
believer is anxious to jettison everything that that he has in
this world for that experience. Is that true of you? Is that
true of you? I hope it is. I hope it is and
if it's not I pray the Lord would make it true for each of us. In verse 17 of chapter 3 in 2nd
Corinthians Paul says, for our light affliction,
which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding,
and you see the word and is just in italics, just leave it out,
like most of the time, an italicized word, just leave it out, it gives
much better meaning. He's not talking about an exceeding
and eternal weight of glory, but an exceeding eternal weight
of glory. All beyond our comprehension,
it does not yet appear what we shall be. But we know that when
we shall see him as he is, we'll be made like him. It's not entered
into the imagination of man, the things that he's prepared
for us. But oh, the hope and the faith of believing what he's
told us is enough to keep the heart warm and excited about
that time when we'll see him. I had a conversation with somebody
just the other night and I told him, you know, I preached two
Sundays ago in Lexington and Don Fortner asked his 12-year-old
grandson, who preached for you all this morning, and his 12-year-old
grandson said, I don't know, Granddad, some old man with gray
hair. And I was telling that to somebody
the other night, and they were trying to comfort me. They were
saying, oh, well, you're not that old. And I thought, no, I'm looking
forward to getting older. I really am. And I'm looking
forward to that time. And if the Lord came right now
and took me home, it'd be just fine with me. It'd be wonderful.
It wouldn't be just fine, it'd be wonderful. They couldn't understand,
but it's true. It's true. Paul compared to you
and me, and compared to most people that have ever lived,
his afflictions were not light. His afflictions were not light.
He was materially poor. He had to work as a tent maker
just in order to make ends meet. He lets us know that there were
times when he was without food and without clothing. left naked
and destitute in this world. His body was weak and sickly. The Apostle Paul was homeless. He was homeless. Any of us here
homeless? He was. He was pursued and surrounded
by cruel enemies. He was repeatedly beaten for
the gospel's sake, stoned, imprisoned, shipwrecked, and robbed. He was counted as the offscouring
of the earth, constantly harassed by anxieties and cares, and the
opposition of false teachers which came in behind him and
threatened to take his work that he had poured his whole life
and soul into, the planting of gospel churches and turn them
into apostate churches for which he bore in his heart great burden
for. His afflictions were not light. He is not making this statement
that we just read in verse 17 as a denial of the facts. He doesn't have some sort of
stoic attitude of indifference towards the troubles of life.
Well, what will be, will be. No, he's not saying that at all.
His afflictions were of great trouble. Turn to me to 2 Corinthians
chapter 1. 2nd Corinthians chapter 1, back
just a couple of pages to verse 8. And here's what he says
about these afflictions in verse 8. He 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,
insomuch that we despaired of life. It was so overwhelming
the troubles that we experienced that we thought we were going
to die. Does that sound like light afflictions to you? Turn
with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 4. 1 Corinthians chapter 4, verse
9. For I think that God hath set
us forth the apostles first, as it were appointed to death.
For we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and
to men. We are fools for Christ's sake.
But you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are honorable, but we are
despised. Even unto this present hour we
both hunger and thirst and are naked and buffeted and have no
certain dwelling place." He went without food and water and clothing
and was homeless. That sound like an affliction? Verse 12, and we labor, working
with our hands, being reviled, we bless, being persecuted, we
suffer it, being defamed, we entreat, we are made as the filth
of the world and are the offscouring of all things unto this day. That sound like light affliction
to you? Sounds like a life of great suffering
to me. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians
chapter 11. Verse 23. Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more. In laborers, more abundant. In stripes, above measure. He's talking about being flogged.
Exactly what happened to our Lord just before he was crucified.
With a cat of nine tails. With strips of leather and chunks
of sharpened bone on the end of that leather to cut into the
flesh. That's what he went through. In prison, more frequent. In
deaths, oft. Often despairing of life on the
verge of dying. Of the Jews, five times received
die, forty stripes, save one. The penalty was forty stripes,
but just in case they lost count, they didn't want to go over forty,
they stopped at thirty-nine. Thrice was I beaten with rods.
Once was I stoned. Thrice I suffered shipwreck.
A night and a day I have been in the deep, in journeyings often,
in perils of water, in perils of robbers, in perils by my own
countrymen, in perils by heathen, in perils in the city, in perils
in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false
brethren, in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger
and thirst, in fasting often, in cold and nakedness. Besides
these things without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care
of the churches." Fearing that his labor had been
in vain, fearing that those who had professed Christ really didn't
know the Lord, fearing that men were going to die and go to hell. That sound like light affliction
to you? How does that compare? It's almost
embarrassing, isn't it, when we think about the afflictions
that we suffer in this life compared to that? Compared to other generations
of believers that have been burned at the stake for the gospel,
that have suffered similar circumstances in different periods. I'm not
wanting more affliction. I'm not asking for the Lord to,
I'm thankful that we live in a time of peace. I'm thankful
for the freedom that we have to gather together in worship
without the fear of reprisal. I'm thankful that we're not being
pursued and killed. And yet we whine, don't we? We whine and we fret and we fear
over what we perceive to be our afflictions. And I'm not suggesting
that we don't have afflictions. We do. There are some great afflictions
in this life. There are those who deal with
chronic illnesses. There are believers that lose
loved ones and children. There are believers that suffer
with depression and serious mental issues. There are just lots of
afflictions in this world, not the least of which is our own
sin, the things we bring upon ourselves. So, how do we look at our afflictions? Go back with me to our text in
2 Corinthians. Paul felt, he felt the full force
of those rods and those whips. He knew what it was to be naked
and hungry and thirsty. He knew what it was to be, what
it was to be like to be homeless. He knew what it was to be like
to be pursued and to have men hate him. He wasn't suggesting
that, well, we just both grin and bear it, just shrug it off. They were not light in that they
gave him little pain or little trouble. The Bible does not teach
in any place that pain is not pain. Or that bereavement is
not sorrow. If you lose a child or a loved
one, you're going to experience bereavement. It's going to be
a great sorrow to you. It's going to be an affliction. No, he's not saying that at all.
He's saying that the afflictions of this life have to be viewed
in light of the eternal weight of glory and compared to that
they are insignificant. Compared to that they are insignificant. Now I know some of you all use
Facebook and I'm not making a a blanket statement about Facebook that
applies to every person in every circumstances, but you know what
Facebook is all about, don't you? It's comparing yourself
to other people. Generally speaking, that's what
it's all about. I'm going to look up all these other people,
and I'm going to compare my, and I'm going to see how my life
measures up to other people's lives. And putting out information
about yourself for the world to see, you know, you don't tell
them the bad stuff, you just tell them the good stuff, don't
you? You tell them your accomplishments. But men in our culture are consumed
with comparing themselves with one another to see how they measure
up. What he's saying is, compare
your afflictions to the hope of glory that you have in Christ,
and you'll find them to be insignificant. For our light affliction, which
is but for a moment, it worketh for us These afflictions have
been ordained of God in order to cause us to set our affections
on Christ. To look to Him. To believe that
He has accomplished our salvation. And that He is our hope of glory. a far more exceeding eternal
weight of glory. Here's our hope, isn't it? Here's
our hope. Paul had suffered from the time
of his conversion to the time of his martyrdom, and he had
suffered greatly. But looking to the hope of his
salvation, He calls all of his sufferings a light affliction. A light affliction. compared to where I'm going and
who I'm going to be with and what I'm going to be made like
and who I'm going to see for all eternity. What great weight.
You see, he uses the word weight in relationship to light. He's
saying the afflictions are light and the exceeding glory that
we're going to experience in Christ is of great weight. It's of eternal weight. It's
of infinite weight. Verse 18, Why we look not at
the things which are seen. Now, don't confuse the word while
with the word because. Don't think that the afflictions
become light because We look at the things which are not seen,
or we look at the things, yeah, which are not seen rather than
things that are seen. In other words, God's not rewarding
us because of something we do. When he gives us hope in Christ,
then he causes us to not look at the things which are seen.
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."
Temporal. I was preaching somewhere and somebody
said, what's that word temporal mean? Well, you know what it
is. It's temporary. It's just a short time. It's just a little
brief time. And that's what God says about
this life. This life is a vapor. It's like a flower. It blooms
and then it fades away. It's like, tell them they're
grass. Isn't that what the Lord said? He said, comfort ye, comfort
ye my people. Lord, where do I start? Isaiah
asked the Lord, what do I tell them? Tell them they're grass. Tell them they're going to be
mowed down soon. Tell them that this life is not their life.
Tell them that this world is not their home. Tell them it's
just a flash in the pan. It's just a brief time. That'll encourage them. That'll
comfort them. And regardless of what they might have to suffer
in this life, if they set their affections on the eternal, on
the things that are not seen, then the things which are seen
will be bearable, whatever they are. And not only bearable, not
only bearable, but they'll actually be able to rejoice in them. Did
not James say, count it all joy? When you fall into divers temptations,
knowing that the trying of your faith work at patience, and patience
when it is complete, makes you perfect and entire, lacking and
wanting nothing. How can we be perfect and entire,
lacking and wanting nothing? Looking to Christ. Setting our
affections on things above. Knowing that in the person of
our substitute, that we are represented before God perfect in Christ. Perfect righteousness. All of
God's justice has been satisfied. God is pleased. He's satisfied.
We're perfect. And it's the afflictions. David
said, before I was afflicted, I went astray. I went astray,
but now, now I've been brought by my afflictions back into thy
presence. That's the reason for, you know,
we, I don't know if I mentioned this last Sunday or last Wednesday
night, I know I repeat myself a lot, you forgive me for that,
but I heard a quote recently, if we had the power of God, we
would change everything. If we had the wisdom of God,
we'd change nothing. And that's true. If all you had
was the power of God, you would change everything in your life. Everything. To one degree or
another, wouldn't you? But if you had the wisdom of
God, you'd change nothing. Oh, to be content. to believe
by faith that God has us right where we're supposed to be and
that whatever afflictions are there are working in look at
verse 18 or verse 17 I'm sorry which is
but for a moment working for us you see that in the middle
of verse 17 working for us these afflictions are necessities they
are working for us a far more exceeding weight of glory God won't put on you more than
you can bear. If that's true, you'll never need Him. You'll
never need Him. You'll never look to Him. You'll
never come to Him. You'll die in your sins and you'll
spend eternity separated from God in a devil's hell if God
never puts more on you than you can bear. If He puts your sin on you, you'll
have an affliction you cannot bear. Look at chapter 5 verse 1. For we know that if our earthly
house of this tabernacle were dissolved. What's he talking
about? Don't you love the way the scripture
describes the dying of a child of God? The Lord said if you
believe in me you shall never die. God doesn't speak to believers
as if they're dying. He talks about them going to
sleep, and now He says, the earthly tabernacle dissolves. It just
goes into the grave, and the dust returns to dust. But we're
not dead. We're not dead. That's what eternal
life's all about. We have a building of God, a
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, a new body. A
body that's just like the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Without
sin. Perfect in Christ. In His presence. Rejoicing in His glory. Setting our eyes on that One
whom has... He's revealed just glimpses of
Himself, but enough of Himself to cause us to have a taste of
His grace and want more of it. For in this we groan. And there's my question that
I asked you at the beginning. Are you groaning in anticipation
of going to be with the Lord? Does your flesh groan in this
life? Do you look at this world and think, what is there here?
What's it all about? If this is all there is, hey,
eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you shall die. You know,
I remember back in religion people used to say, well, even if there
wasn't life after death, I'd want to live my life for Jesus. It's not what the Bible says.
The Bible says if there's no life to look forward to, if there's
no life in Christ, if there's no eternal weight of glory, if
there's no hope of being made like Him and seeing Him in all
this splendor, living in heaven with Christ for all eternity,
If that's not true, then just eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow
you shall die. We are of all men most miserable. We're fools to be here. Let's
just go and indulge ourselves in the world and take it all
in because it's going to be over when it's over. You might as
well grab for all the gusto you can get. But it's not, is it? It's not. No. We groan. We groan earnestly desiring to
be clothed upon with a house which is from heaven. If so,
that being clothed, we shall not be found naked. We're not
going to be naked before God. We're going to be clothed in
a new body. The righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. For we that are in this tabernacle
do groan. He's talking about we. Do you
fit into that we? Does the thought of death scare
you? Or are you excited about it?
I was talking to a brother about this recently and he said, he
said, Brother Greg, he said, I'm just preoccupied with it.
I can't stop thinking about it. What a wonderful thing to be
preoccupied with. For we that are in this tabernacle,
we do groan, being burdened. Not for that which we would be
unclothed. We're not burdened about the
experience of dying. There may be some feelings of
uncertainty about that experience. We're not looking forward to
that. We're not hurrying that moment. We do what we can to
protect and preserve our lives the best we can. but clothed upon. That's what
we're looking forward to. For that moment after we take
our last breath. And that makes the affliction
of death bearable, doesn't it? That makes the valley of the
shadow of death no evil. I fear no evil. Fear no evil,
however difficult it might be, whatever God may take me through
in order to dissolve this earthly tabernacle, it'll be worth it. We have no evil to fear because
of what the Lord said, let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in me. For in my Father's house
are many dwelling places, many mansions. If it were not so,
I would have told you. I go and prepare a place for
you. A place for you. People talk
about, well, we're going to go to a better place. No. Yeah,
well, it is going to be a much better place, but that's not
the goal. I go and prepare a place for
you so that where I am, there you may be also. It's the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ that makes that place so glorious. Can you relate to this passage?
Can you put yourself in the we? But clothed that mortality, that's
what we are now, we're mortal beings, might be swallowed up
with life. The mortal is going to be made
immortal. We're not... This is God's Word. We're not pie-in-the-sky, by-and-by,
wide-eyed radicals with some sort of unrealistic view. No,
this is what God says. This is our hope. For he that hath wrought us for
the same thing is God. If God's made us in Christ, then
God did it. And He has given to us the earnest
of His Spirit. It's the Holy Spirit of God that
causes us to have this longing desire. This longing desire,
the Holy Spirit of God. If you don't have that desire
right now, I would admonish you, plead with
you, encourage you, ask God to give you his Holy Spirit. Because if he gives you the Holy
Spirit, you'll be one of those we's. Alright, let's take a break.