All right, let's take our Bibles
now and turn with me to the book of 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians chapter 1. I'd like to pick up where we
left off last time we were in 2 Corinthians. I'm going to actually
begin in chapter 1 verse 12 and go through verse 22. We read a portion of scripture
a moment ago that told us what had happened the first time that
Paul was preaching in Corinth. He was preaching the gospel.
And there were some that opposed him. They didn't believe the
gospel that he was preaching. Paul told him, he said, I've
had it. I've had it. I'm going to the
Gentiles. I'm leaving. And the Lord spoke
to him in a vision. And he said, Paul, I've got a
lot of people in this place. God's got an elect. And there's
many people here in Corinth. And the Lord, by mercy, grace,
power, settled Paul's heart down. The best of men, Brother Henry
said one time, I heard, are just men. They're men. And they're
all with like passions. And God settled him down, and
by the grace of God, the Lord kept him there in Corinth. Well, you remember when we were
considering Paul's desire back in the first book of Corinthians. Remember, Paul wanted to go to
Corinth, back to Corinth. It told him. He said, I've got
these plans. He said, I'm going to go to Corinth,
and then I plan to go to Macedonia. And then I planned to come back
to Corinth. But before he could go to Corinth, the Lord providentially
sent him to Macedonia. And you remember there was a
vision, and he saw in this vision, he saw a man dressed like Macedonian
come over and help us. And so Paul, being assured that
the Lord had called him to go to Macedonia, that's what he
did. And we realize the scripture
says that the lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing
thereof is of the Lord. We might plan something, but
I'll tell you what's going to happen, whatever the Lord purposes. That's what's going to happen.
Well, when Paul went, just kind of bringing you back up to where
we are tonight. When Paul went to Macedonia first,
instead of coming to Corinth, well, the same fellow troublemakers
that opposed him, or the same group of, now started saying,
you can't depend on Paul. Paul's word's no good, and if
his word's no good, then his gospel's no good. You just, you
know, he's not to be looked upon and trusted. Well, knowing that
there's always among the brethren, tares, the apostle Paul continued
doing exactly what he was sent to do to comfort and encourage
the sheep. That's what the Lord moved upon
Isaiah to write. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith the Lord. The Lord Jesus told Peter, remember
after Peter decided, I'm going back to fishing, I quit. I'm
just not going to do this anymore. It's an uphill battle and you're
just fighting and arguing and I'm done. But the Lord's faithful. And because the Lord is faithful,
God's people are kept by the power of God through faith, ready
to be revealed in the last time. Aren't you glad? I'm glad that
God keeps us. He brought Peter to himself there
on the seashore. And he asked him, Peter, lovest
thou me more than these? Three times the Lord asked him
that. The third time Peter was grieved. And he said, Lord, you
know I love you. He said, feed my sheep. This
is what God's people are called, God's preachers are called to
do. Feed the sheep of God. Well, knowing that Paul had purposed
come back to Corinth, but providentially sent somewhere else. He went
to Macedonia and then had to go to Ephesus. Wrote him a letter
and explained it to him, just told him. He said, I did purpose
to come. And now here he's writing this
letter to them and explaining to them what had happened. You know, he was sensitive to
them. He didn't want them to think that he didn't care, because
he did care. So picking up, knowing all of
that, here we are, we pick up now in verse 12. He said, for
our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our confidence, I'm sorry,
our conscience, testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity
and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace
of God, We have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly,
to you, Lord. He just told them in verse before,
verse 11, with them praying for him. He said, you're helping
us. You're in the ministry with us,
praying with us. And then he said, now I want
you to know something, that our rejoicing that we have. Our rejoicing is this, in the
testimony of our of our conscience. He said, my conscience is clear. I know I'm meant to come. The
Lord sent us somewhere else. But my conscience is clear. But
we have behaved in simplicity and godly sincerity. Before God,
he said, our motives were not self-seeking. But they were honest. as unto the Lord. We've done
that which the Lord has commanded us to do, and he was settled
in his heart. He said, I didn't treat you with
a spirit of double-mindedness, is what he was talking about.
In simplicity, godly sincerity, he said, I did not have a crafty
or deceitful attitude toward you. I was not acting like an
unregenerate one that was just doing what he was doing out of
a fleshly minded heart. But he said we were doing, I
was acting by the grace of God in this world, while I was in
this world, walking ahead in my conversation, my walk, in
this world, doing what I was doing because I truly believe
this is what the Lord led me to do. I'm telling you, when
you stand and make a stand and say, this is what I believe God
wants me to do. Someone that's not spiritually sensitive to
what you're saying is going to just, they'll argue and fuss
and find all kinds of fault. But I've had people ask me, I
had someone ask me one time, a question, wanted to know what
they were going to make a move. And they said, what do you think
about that? And I said, well, I only have
one question. All I want to know is this. What
do you believe the Lord wants you to do? Well, I believe this
is what God wants me to do. I said, well, if that's what
you believe God wants you to do and you're going to make a
move, well, then tell me when you're going to be at your house
and I'll help you pack. They were going to go from here and
they were going to go to another assembly to where a faithful
preacher was. I said, if you're going to go
from here and go where another preacher is, I'm with you there.
When you go back, I'll be right there. Paul said, this is what
we truly felt that the Lord had led us to do. We were settled
on it. In verse 13, he said, for we write none other things
unto you than what you read or acknowledge, and I trust you
shall acknowledge even to the end." He said, there was no other
meaning to what I wrote to you or what I said to you. You don't
have to worry or wonder that I'm saying one thing and really
meaning another. Paul said, no, what I said You
know to be true. I hope and pray that what you
heard from us, what he was saying, that you'll continue to acknowledge
it and believe that that's what we truly felt was God's will
for us and that you'll go to the end of your life believing
that. He knew that Not everybody in
that assembly was for him. There was some that was doing
all they could do to disrupt the unity of the brethren and
attempt to put a stain on his character. But Paul said in verse
14, He said, also ye have acknowledged us in part. What he was saying,
he said, I know that part of you have, is what he's saying.
Not all of you, but part. Also ye have acknowledged us
in part that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are ours in the
day of the Lord Jesus, though many of them were with him. He said, I know that part of
you or not, and you realize that we, as God's ministers, that
we're sincere in what we're doing. We're preachers of the gospel,
and we are, you're rejoicing because you know, you believe,
as I told you, that God sent me to you to preach the gospel
to you, and you are rejoicing. Because we truly believe that
you're gods, that the Lord has raised you up, given you a heart,
so we are rejoicing in each other, praising the Lord. Verse 15,
and in this confidence, I was minded to come unto you before,
that you might have a second benefit, and to pass by you into
Macedonia, and to come again out of Macedonia unto you, and
of you to be brought on my way toward Judea." He said, this
is what I planned. It's amazing to me how the Spirit
of God moved upon the Apostle Paul to give so much attention
to that fact concerning that trip and his plans. There was
much written. I mean, he's still dealing with
it. We dealt with it months ago in the first one. Now we're still
dealing with it. The thing is, Paul said, I want
you to understand. I want you to have some confidence
in what I'm saying if I'm telling you that this is what I believe,
this is what I believe is the right thing. So he said, we have
this confidence, confidence that we're mutually rejoicing in God's
mercy for each other. He said, I was minded to come
unto you before. before I went to Macedonia. I
was, that you might have a second benefit and to pass by you to
Macedonia and come again out of Macedonia unto you. The benefit
that they received the first time, the Lord had told him,
remember, the Lord said, Paul, I've got a lot of people there.
I've got some sheep there. I've got some elect there. And
he said, the benefit from the Lord to you through our first
visit was that the Lord called many of you out of darkness.
Think of how many are sitting here that Almighty God has been
pleased to save and call them out. What a benefit! But He said,
I wanted to come so you'd have a second benefit. What does He
mean by that? Well, coming back through that
you might be encouraged. I mean, we come together, and
I'm standing here proclaiming to you, and you're sitting here
listening, but you know, we're rejoicing in each other. You
say, well, I'm glad God sent a pastor here. Well, I'm glad
God sent some sheep here for us to fellowship with. and to
have some joy and some peace and some comfort. So he hoped
to come their way, visit them, go to Macedonia, finish his business
there, come back, hopefully let them accompany him. That was
the last part he said right there. in verse 16, he said, and to
pass by you into Macedonia and to come again out of Macedonia
unto you and of you to be brought on my way toward Judea. He said,
I was hoping after I came to you first, then go to Macedonia,
come back to you and fellowship with you. I was kind of hoping
that some of you could kind of go with me a little bit on my
trip to Judea. Maybe y'all could come with me
for a while on my journey and maybe we can have some fellowship
together. That's what he was saying. In verse 17, he said,
when I therefore was thus minded to do all that, when I told you
that first time, Did I use lightness? When I was originally planning
to come to you first, he said, did I come across that I was
doing something in a flippant way? Did I appear as though to
you that I was using a kind of intense that I really didn't
plan to come through with? I didn't come across like that,
did I? Or the things that I purpose,
do I purpose according to the flesh? He said, do you think
that I'm habitually planning my steps and being controlled
like those that have nothing to guide them but their own corrupt
nature? No. He said that with me there
should be yay, yay, and nay, nay. Do I speak out of both sides
of my mouth? You've known me long enough to
know something. I'll be the first. to want to
have fun with anybody. And just, you know, pick and
have fun. But when I step into this pulpit,
it's not a joke. It's not a joke. Paul said, do
you think that when I stand up and preach to you, or when I
tell you that this is what I truly believe the Lord wants me to
do, that I've got a burden, I've got to go, I meant to come to
you, but I've got to go to Macedonia first, because that's where God
told me to go. He said, do you think that I'm
just, you know, speaking with a forked tongue? You think I'm
just wanting to hear myself talk? He said, do you have no confidence
in what I say? Do I say yes when I mean no?
Or does my mouth say one thing and my true intent say another? Verse 18, but as God is true,
Our word toward you was not yea and nay. God Almighty is faithful and
true to His promises. Our word, our preaching is what
He's talking about. When I stood up to preach to
you, it was not yea and nay. He said it wasn't inconsistent. What I'm preaching. Paul was
declaring to the saints in Corinth, and this is what he said. He
said, others may accuse me of being inconsistent. Others may accuse me of not being
trustworthy. They may say that I promise one
thing and do another. That I'm one that breaks my promises
and therefore my word cannot be relied upon. And every gospel preacher, every
believer, every man, every woman, they're going to admit this.
I am a creature of the dust, yes I am. And I know this is
treasure. Paul said we have this treasure,
this gospel. What's it in? It's in an earthen
vessel. It's in a clay pot. And we admit it, and we'll be
the first to admit it. But the gospel, Paul was telling
the gospel that God taught me, and God taught you. He said,
though I realize that I'm a frail creature of dust. He said, the
gospel I preach, God is true. God is true. That's what he said.
God is true. Our word toward you was not inconsistent. Verse 19, for the Son of God,
Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and
Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yes."
Yes. As Christ Jesus, the one who
is same in nature with the Eternal Father and the Holy Spirit, He
who is the faithful and true Witness. His word, Paul says,
can be relied upon. He said, I may intend to do something
and God may change my direction. I may purpose to do something
and the Lord may send me somewhere else. But he said, I can tell
you this. You can depend on what God says.
Heaven and earth will pass away But He said, you write this down.
God's Word is true. God's Word is so. Look in verse 20. For all the
promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him, amen, so be it, under
the glory of God. All the promises of God. We would never plumb the depth
of all the promises of God. Let me ask you this. Is God going to have mercy on
whom He'll have mercy? Does God have an elect sheep
chosen before the foundation of the world? He said He does.
Now is His word yea and nay? Paul said all the promises of
God. Did the Lord Jesus Christ lay down His life for the sheep? His word is yea. Is everyone that the Father has
given unto the Son, has the Son been given power over all flesh,
over everything, to order all things after the counsel of God's
own will, to assure that every one that the Father has given
the Son shall come to the Son. Is that yea and nay or is it
yea? Yea. That's what he's saying. He said you may find fault with
the way God deals with me and moves me here. But he said you
can't find fault with God's Word. He's been faithfully honest. And he set forth his reasoning
and his explanation of why his purpose to come had changed. Because the Lord had changed
him. He said the Lord is the one that rules in rain. And he wanted this assembly to
know this was an accusation not against Paul. Paul was the one
they could get to. Paul said what they're doing
is they're calling into question God's authority and right to
do what He will with His own. That's what He's doing. And he
said they're trying to take it and spin this thing and twist
what is being done by God who is the sovereign. that moves
and speaks and raises up this country and abases this one. What they're doing is they're
calling Him into question. Paul said, I'm not going to stand
by and just say nothing. No. Find fault with me, I understand
that, he said. But find fault with God's Word?
No. He wanted them to understand. You know that song we sing, Here
I raise mine Ebenezer? I'm going to take a stand right
here on this. This is where I'm going to plant
my feet, right here. God is true. God is true. Paul says in verse 21, Now he
which establisheth us with you in Christ. Now who did that? The Father did that. He which
established us with you in Christ. Who put them all in Christ? The
Father did. Blessed be the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ who before the foundation of the world chose
in Christ. He which establisheth us with
you in Christ and hath anointed us is God. He said the one who has placed
us together, founded us together, established us in Christ, chose
us, redeemed us by Him, called us, eternally secured us in Christ,
is the Father. The one who has by His blessed
Holy Spirit. What did He do? He anointed us. You know, you remember when they
were anointed. They anointed Aaron and they
anointed David. When Samuel came, they anointed
all. It was a picture, a type of the
anointing, the setting apart, the establishing. This is God's
man. This is God's man. These are
God's people. This is God's way. This is God's
assembly. He which establisheth us with
you in Christ and anointed us, called us, set us apart, anointed
us. Paul said, I've been anointed,
I've been anointed to this office, consecrated and separated according
to His goodwill and pleasure. Paul said, I was called to be
an apostle. Paul said, I didn't call myself
to this office. God called me. Christ taught
me the gospel. God established me in the truth. God sent me to preach the gospel. He said it wasn't something that
I took lightly. He said again, don't find fault
with God. Paul's answer as being set apart
by God was a direct rebuke against those who accused him. of flippancy
and inconsistency. He said, God anointed me to do
this. He said, He who anointed me to the ministry is the faithful
and true God. Those He calls, I tell you what
they're made. They're made willing in the day
of His power to do just exactly what the Lord has called them
to do. Being anointed of God, being anointed of God to an office. whatever it is, whatever the
Lord's called any of us to do. Being anointed by God, made willing
in the day of God's power, being kept by the power of God through
faith, that being true, to be inconsistent and flippant with
what you say God's called you to do, just those two things
It's a contradiction. That's a contradiction of God's
promise to keep His people. He said, I'll keep them. I'll
keep them. Paul said, God anointed me to
this office. And what I'm accused of is being
flippant with it. And that's not consistent. That's not consistent with what
the Lord says. And so not only does the apostle
set forth the foundation, he said, to be chosen and anointed
and set apart to that office. Now he gives in verse 21, this
is where we're in. I mean, I'm sorry, verse 22.
This is where we're in for tonight. He said, the one that anointed
us is God, who has also sealed us and given the earnest of the
spirit in our hearts. Paul declares that his credentials
for reliability is established upon the ground that is much
more than his own will or his own ability or purpose could
handle. He says the one who set us apart
to the ministry is the one who has openly acknowledged his purpose
concerning us by putting His seal upon us and giving us His
Holy Spirit in our hearts as the guarantee and fulfillment
of His promise. Now, you know, when you take a seal, a notary
will take a seal. He's got a seal in his hand.
And you take a piece of paper, and you stick that seal, and
you stamp that thing right there. And you know what is gonna be
in that piece of paper? exactly the impression that's
on that seal. Whatever that seal is, that's
where that paper is going to take that. And that's the seal. That's the seal that he's talking
about right here. He said, Who hath also sealed
us has put his seal upon us. Now in regenerating grace, the
Spirit of God has revealed in these scriptures that there is
a seal that is put upon God's own. When the Lord gives a new
heart, when God crosses the path, the Holy Spirit crosses the path
of the object of God's mercy, under the preaching of the Gospel,
the Spirit of God, according to the Scriptures, He said, I'm
going to give you a new heart. A new mind. A new spirit. A new will. A new attitude. And
the Spirit of God is said to seal them. There's a seal that's
put upon them. A mark. That's seal. And the
impression of the Spirit of God is there. There's a mark on them. There's a mark. And it's an impression
that is made in the likeness of God's Spirit that wasn't there
before. And though the old man is still
there, and he's still found to harass the believer, and that
battle is still going on, that seal is there. It's there. How do you know it's there? Here's
the evidence of the seal. Now, there's love, and joy, and
peace, and long-suffering, and gentleness, and goodness, and
faith, and meekness, and temperance. Now the fruit of God's Spirit
is manifested. God's people love. They love the Lord because He
first loved them. And there's joy. There's joy
in the Holy Ghost. Joy and thankfulness. And there's
peace. Peace has been established before
God for them by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And there's
long suffering. Long suffering. toward others. As the Lord's been long suffering
to us, now there's that spirit, there's a seal that's there,
and the only way you know it's there is by the way it manifests
itself. That's the seal, Paul said. There's
gentleness, good faith, meekness, they bow to God's Word, temperance,
That blessed fruit of God's Spirit, which is the evidence of the
seal. There's a seal there. If that
notary would stamp in my Bible on that piece of paper, I can't
get it out now. That seal would be there. I could
take it and try to rub it out. I'll just tear the paper. The
seal won't come out. That's what Paul says. Who has sealed us. And given
the earnest, the down payment, the promise
of the Spirit of God in our hearts, and where those marks are found,
Paul said, there's the evidence of God's mercy toward His people. He told them, he said, listen, I love you. I want to come be with you. But
because the Lord ordered my steps another way, before I could get
to you, He said, it's not a reflection of anything upon you, or any
kind of feelings of animosity. He said, no, the Lord put me
here. And He said, everything I'm being accused of, He said,
it's not so. God has anointed me to preach
the gospel. God's sealed me. God's given
me, along with every one of His people. And He said, and now
we rejoice. one with another. Brethren love
brethren, don't they? They do. I pray the Lord bless
this to our heart and give us some understanding, settle our
hearts in Christ alone. Amen. Okay, Gary.