Okay, as we saw in the first
sermon, the only way to really know the gospel is by a saving
experience of God's grace. And like the wounded man in the
story of the Good Samaritan, we need our God to come and pull
his precious truths into our heart. And while it's a painful process
in many ways, It's good to know that it always brings forth much
fruit in the grace of God. It's also by this internal work
of God that we're grown in faith. It's also by this saving work
of God that we're equipped to declare the gospel in sincerity
and in authority to others. So if the ward would allow, I'd
like us to look at exactly what this gospel is that we've learned
from him, especially how it compares to the lie of Satan. So I just want to go back to
our text first and read from 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 be brought
on my way toward Judea. When I therefore was thus minded,
did I use likeness? Or the things that I purpose,
do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should
be yea, yea, and nay, nay? But as God is true, our word
towards you was not yea and nay, 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 yea. for all the promises of God in
him again, and in him, amen, unto the glory of God by us.
Now he which establishes us with you in Christ and hath anointed
us is God, who hath also sealed us and given the earnest of the
Spirit into our hearts. Moreover, I call God for a record
upon my soul, that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth,
Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers
of your joy, for by faith we stand. So we'll sing a second
song and then we'll finish off. All right, in this second sermon,
I just want to look at the truth of God's gospel compared to the
lie of Satan. So we'll begin in 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 be brought
on my way toward Judea. Paul begins his verse by stating
his confidence. So the first thing we need to
do, and I think it'll serve as well as a summary of the first
part of the chapter, is to look back at our text and see where
this confidence lies, to see where it comes from. In verse one, Paul's authority is
from God. In verse 3, all mercy and all
gospel comfort comes directly from God. In verse 4, it's a
promise we will comfort others with the same comfort that we've
received. In verse 5, the consolation that
we receive is directly proportional to our sufferings. In verse 6,
this work of God also brings forth our salvation. Verse 7, all God-taught saints
will suffer and will receive this same consolation. Verse 9 and 10, this teaching
of God produces a faith in the saints in all the circumstances of our
lives, past, present and future. Verse 11, the saving work of
God is the source of all real prayer and praise in the church. Verse 12, this work of God is
also the source of all our joy because by the grace of God, Verse 13, this faithful witness
is confirmed by both the scriptures and by the Holy Spirit within
us. And verse 14, as the spirit within
us confirms the truth of God's witnesses, it causes a mutual
rejoicing in the church of God. In the rest of verse 15 and in
the 16, we see that this confidence of Paul's is the basis of his
plans to visit and encourage the church. And what I hope we
can see here is that once our God establishes a confidence
in his gospel within us, it actually begins to influence
all that we do. It changes our priorities. It causes us to consider both
the glory of God and the well-being of his church. It also influences
us to promote the furtherance of his gospel in this world. There's also a great encouragement
to all of us in these verses regarding the importance of meeting
together regularly and hearing the gospel afresh. Brothers and
sisters, we all, no matter how often we've heard the gospel
before, need to hear the gospel afresh. This is the manner of Exodus
16 and John 6, which by God's grace is new, fresh, and always
relevant to our current situation. Now remember that Paul writes
this based on the confidence of knowing inwardly that this
is both the provision and the purpose of God's much-loved church. So now that these things have
taken precedent in our lives, they become priorities. They're
no light matter anymore. Verse 17, when I therefore was
thus minded, did I use lightness? or the things that I purpose,
do I purpose according to the flesh that with me there would
be yay yay and nay nay? Do you see there's now a gravity
to all of this that we never knew before. These precious truths
have been impressed upon our souls by God the Holy Spirit
so that now they become prominent and influence all that we do. The lightness that Paul speaks
of reminds me of what evangelism, if you could call it that, was
like before the Lord told me the gospel. I'd concoct ways
that through clever manipulation and fast talking, I could compel
people to make a commitment to God. I thought that if they chose not
to commit, I'd walk away from these lost
souls thinking that I'd done a service to God, when in actual
fact all I'd done is serve myself and I'd serve Satan. It's no wonder that Ezekiel 36
speaks of us being ashamed of what we were before the Lord
saved us. You see, as much as I'd impress
those that were as lost souls, I was only acting according to
the flesh. I was declaring the same lie
that Satan used to deceive man in the garden. And why is it
a deception? Simply because it promises eternal
life and it delivers eternal damnation. As Paul says here,
if it's according to the flesh, it's yea and it's nay. What he
means is anything according to the flesh, it's uncertain, it's
unreliable because the flesh is weak. Even if our spirit's
willing, our flesh is weak. I remember speaking to Rob a
few weeks ago about some of these things. So often men make plans,
they have theories, and they look great on paper. And yet
when these theories are applied practically, there's a whole
heap of variables that they're subject to. These are variables
that didn't even occur to us. They're variables that we just
can't control. And so salvation's no different.
Satan's lie says it's simple. By our will and our knowledge
of good and evil, we can work our way into heaven. We can work
our way into the presence of a holy God. The two biggest problems with
that are one, we're spiritually dead. We don't have any idea
what true holiness is or how to achieve it. And the second
problem is that there's so many elements in this world that we
just can't control. And these are elements that God
has set against us, entering his presence by our own strength. He's made it impossible from
the start. Snow Wonder James Faithful gospel preaching simply
declares that salvation is of the Lord. Verse 18, but as God is true,
our word toward you was not yea and nay, for or because the Son
of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even
by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, he was not yea and nay, but in
him was yea. Look again at Paul's confidence.
Through his own saving experience of God, he's convinced that his
witness has come from God and it doesn't involve any of the
uncertainties of man's wisdom. Paul's witness has come by the
sovereign power and the eternal design of God himself. This is a work of God, not of
man. It's God's ministry, it's not
man's ministry, and this is why it's always a successful ministry. Paul's convinced that the salvation
of all God's chosen children is sure, it's certain, it's unchangeable,
and it's unstoppable. Paul is confident that the Gospel
declaration, which God alone embeds in the hearts of his witnesses,
is a message of done, not do, because it rests solely in the
finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's a work that
was finished from the foundation of the world. Verse 24, or because all the
promises of God in him are yea, and in him, amen, unto the glory
of God by us. Everything our God has ever spoken
is a promise. It's a promise because he's sovereign.
It's a promise because he can't lie. Our Lord Jesus Christ is
the word of God. So every word, every promise
that our God has ever spoken culminates in the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's the express image of our
God. It's here in the Lord that we
have union with our God. We're reconciled to and have
peace with our God in him. He is the everlasting covenant
of God's grace toward helpless sinners like ourselves. which
is why everything we declare in a faithful witness of God's
Gospel must have its fulfilment in the person and the work of
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why there's only one subject
in the Gospel – Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Our Lord Jesus
is a of all God's grace and His glory
is the purpose of all God's grace. It's this confidence that causes
Paul to write in Romans 11, of Him and through Him and to Him
are all things to whom be glory forever. Amen. I also want to talk about this
in Him, Amen. because this is something that Paul's already
referred to in our chapter. It's also a display of the God-taught
confidence of every saved saint of God. Amen is a word of agreement. It's a word which acknowledges
a truth, having been convinced by experience. And the amen here
in this text, it's actually the testimony of the church declaring
that our Lord Jesus Christ truly is the salvation of God. And
that's why Paul says, under the glory of God, by us. Verse 21. Now he which establishes
us with you in Christ and hath anointed us is God, who hath
also sealed us, of the Spirit in our hearts. And I guess this
is a, I guess a summation of the foundation of all Paul's
confidence. It's the foundation of the union
between faithful witnesses and those who truly receive his witness. It's the foundation of the union
between Christ and his church. And it's the foundation by which
Paul can speak with such authority. Brothers and sisters, the foundation
of all these things, it's God, isn't it? He's the foundation.
In a sense, what Paul's saying here is both the church and her
mission in this world are completely secure because it's all the work
of our great God, and it cannot fail. God has established his church
in his son, and he's appointed his witnesses in this world.
God seals his people by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and he then
becomes the faithful witness within us. Now that's amazing
grace, isn't it? Every single element of salvation,
every single facet of the ministry of God, and every single need
of the church have been provided for in our triune God. This is
where Paul's confidence his dealings with the church.
Verse 23. Moreover, I call God for a record
upon my soul that to spare you I came not as yet to Corinth.
Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers
of your joy, for by faith you stand. What Paul does, he does
before an audience of one, God himself. Paul's the servant of
the Most High God, and he serves by feeding and nurturing the
Church of God. So all Paul does is by God, and
all Paul does is for God's Church. What Paul's actually speaking
of here is a decision to delay his coming to the Corinthians,
because in his first letter to them, Paul had some strong words
of rebuke. he didn't want to cause them
any added grief. You can read more about it in
the next chapter, but the point here is Paul has a real heartfelt
love and concern for the Church of God. He's led by the Holy
Spirit in how he deals with them and he trusts, again this confidence
of verse 15, that God the Holy Spirit will give him the necessary
discernment to guide and to direct God's church in the love of Christ. See, it's not about dominion,
which is how the false teachers approach the churches. It's about
the mutual enhancement. It's about the mutual enhancement
of members of the same body. As Paul writes in Ephesians 4,
it's about each of our God-given gifts being used that we all
come in the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of
God, under a perfect man, under the measure of the stature of
the fullness of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children
tossed to and fro. There's that yea and nay gospel.
and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight
of men and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. But speaking the truth in love
may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ,
from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted
by that which every joint supplieth according to the effectual working
in the measure of every part maketh increase of the body under
the edifying of itself in love. And finally, Paul declares, for
or because by faith you stand. Now Paul's not talking about
faith in men. He's not talking about faith
in himself or faith in ourselves. He's not talking about faith
in other men like these false teachers who are pressuring the
church. He's speaking about faith in a God who, according to Romans
14, is able to make us stand. Basically, Paul's finishing this
chapter in the one true God, the Alpha
and Omega, the Author and Finisher, our Saviour and Substitute, the
Lord Jesus Christ. There have only ever been two
Gospels in the world, and both these Gospels were given to man Both these Gospels are contradictory
to one to another. So I'd like to finish by listing
some of the differences of these two Gospels. The two Gospels of Eden. One
was propagated by Satan. The other propagated by God.
One is a lie. The other is the truth. One is
temporal. One is eternal. One is passed on by man. The
other must be given by God. One has evolved throughout history,
refining its deception. The other has stood firm and
resisted all challenges. One relies solely on the strength
of man. the other solely on the strength
of God. One cries do, the other cries
don't. Oh, don't, sorry. One is of works, and the other
is of grace. One is condemned by scripture,
the other is confirmed by scripture. One leads to eternal condemnation,
and one leads to eternal life. One is bondage, the other is
freedom. One brings agony, the other rejoicing. And finally, one glorifies man
and one glorifies God. Now only one of these Gospels
is good news to men's souls. And eventually every one of us
will leave this earth and stand in the presence of a holy God
whose holiness is a consuming fire. When it's your turn to leave,
where will your confidence lie? We've seen where Paul's confidence
lies. Where will your confidence lie?
Which one of these gospels will you be trusting your immortal
souls to? May God give us all the grace
to trust all of our salvation into his hands. May he create
a faithful witness within us. and may he bring us into the
loving fellowship of his Church, in his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Heavenly Father, I thank you
that although it's a painful process, you reveal yourself
in and to your people. And I thank you that you continually
draw us to yourself. I praise you, Father, that this
is a work that will continue unstoppable in this world. And
I praise you, Heavenly Father, that it results in a union that
we could have no other way, a union between yourself and your people.
I just thank you that you give us the faith to trust this work
into the hands of your dear son, into the hands of your powerful
Holy Spirit, and I praise you, Heavenly Father, that the work
is a finished work from eternity. So I just ask, Heavenly Father,
that you would walk with us in our lives, that you would draw
near to us, and that you would strengthen us in our faith as
the various circumstances come along, and that we might see
and rejoice, Heavenly Father, that you continue to sustain
your church in this world, that we can continue to look at your
fingerprints and footprints and see these wonderful Ebeneezers
of your love and mercy towards your people. Pray again for the
safe travelling of our pastor and Lisa, and just ask you bring
them back safely to us. And I just, again, ask all things
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for your glory, Saint
Father. Amen.