Verse 1 of 2nd Corinthians chapter
6 we then as workers together with him Beseech you also That
you receive not the grace of God in vain Now we always look at the context
every time we Begin a study in the word and The context of this,
just sort of the last verse of chapter
five and verse one are really key to the thought that I want
to bring out tonight to us. There is reconciliation with
God. That's the message of the end of chapter
five. They're in the context of us
being ambassadors for Christ remember that in chapter 5. We're
ambassadors with this message Reconciliation to God by him
imputing not our trespasses Unto us but laying them upon his own
son And then it says we then as workers
I That's the thought. This is our work. This is what
we do. This is, as believers in this
world, this is paramount for all of us, not just preachers.
For all of us. What's more important? If the
whole point of this world is the next one, then what are we to be doing
in this world? God gives us a wife if he gives
us children if he gives us friends in this world we have People that we love in this world
He gives us a church to be part of a family in him in the gospel You see the juxtaposition of
these two verses God was in Christ reconciling sinners to himself
and on the basis of Christ and what he accomplished on Calvary
for us. We then go to work. We go to work. Workers together,
and this is such a, and really, it's not only the
juxtaposition of the message that we have and how beautiful
and glorious it is, but it's, this verse one also with verse
two. It's not only a glorious message
of Christ and reconciliation with God for sinners, for sinners,
that's a big deal for sinners. If we're kind of just, you know,
doing the best we can, our good outweighs our bad, then, you
know, reconciliation is like, oh, okay, yeah, that's cool.
But if you're a sinner, If you're before God in the filthy
rags of your horrible, self-righteous pride and rebellion against God,
if the weight of his wrath is upon your shoulders and you know
you deserve it, you know it'd be right if he put you in hell. But there's a word of reconciliation,
a message that he sends ambassadors to deliver. ambassadors come
from the king to the people with a message. And that message is
reconciliation with God by Christ. But also verse two, it's not
just a glorious message, but it's an urgent one. It's an urgent
one. We then as workers, you see the thought here. The ministry that he's given
us, he's given us the ministry of reconciliation, and it's an
urgent one, verse two of chapter six, isn't it? There's a now
to it. So it's glorious, it's urgent,
and we're to be about that business. A message from the king, be ye
reconciled to God, stand before God in Christ without sin because
of what he did. on the cross. We're workers together. The words with him are not in
the original language of this verse. With him, you see that
they're in italics. And they're not necessary. They're
not in the original text because though it's true that we are
yoked with Christ in this, he's made us stewards of his grace. Workers together with him and
I think the reason that that They inserted with him there
is because of verse 20 of chapter 5 That we are ambassadors of
Jesus Christ and so We beseech you in Christ's dead
be you reconciled to God so they they put those words in there,
but we're also workers together with one another. That's all
through the scriptures of the New Testament, isn't it? Fellow
laborers in the gospel, Paul called many. And so we're to consider both.
To be included by God in anything that he does is great grace.
It's a great privilege and honor. You know, religion's always talking
about we want to do something for God, but I don't think they
know what God's doing. That's a problem, isn't it? You
need to know what he's up to if you're gonna do something
for the Lord. We have this message that we
have to deliver and they're not doing it. They're not talking
about sin not imputed because of what Christ did. They're talking
about chances and opportunities and decisions to make. That's
not the gospel. The gospel is what Christ accomplished
on Calvary. He puts sins away by the sacrifice
of Himself. So those words with Him, great,
good. Thank God for that. But also,
He's made us workers together. You know, He's always done that.
He's sent His disciples out two by two. We're not alone in this. And there's no reason not to
understand this both ways, since both are scriptural, with Him
and with one another. I wanna stress the word workers.
If your involvement in the ministry, and I wanna bring this home to
us tonight and not just preach doctrine, but I want us to see
this in our own hearts and lives and understand that God is speaking
to each one of us. Workers, if your involvement
in the ministry is not a labor, then you need to understand that
it could be. could be and We need to we need to I think some
teaching on that even if you don't have any talent or gift
at all Which I don't believe for a second. I believe that
God gifts all of his people With gifts that he gives gifts
of the Spirit and that's scriptural but but still I In God's church,
if you forget about that for a second, we see in the New Testament
how there is in the church of God, among the people of God,
a striving, an endeavoring, a laboring, a keeping, a bearing of burdens,
a bearing of fruit. And I thought about that today. You know, if you know a little
bit about gardening, you know that it takes most of the energy of
a plant to bear fruit. And we're told in no uncertain terms that
we are to abide in Christ. If we abide in Christ, we will
bear much fruit. The energy with which we bear
fruit doesn't come from the flesh, but it does flow through us.
We are to bear fruit, he said. because we abide in the vine.
We're the branches and we from his power and ability, we're to bear
fruit. And so we draw upon Christ, workers. Consider this also. And again,
I wanted to bring this home to us particularly It's very possible
that you can't fix stuff or lift heavy things. And maybe you're
laboring in the ministry. You being a worker in the ministry
is more spiritual than physical. There's nothing wrong with that
at all. But think about this. If something needs to be done
in the church and we have to buy some two by eights or we
have to buy some drywall or whatever, some paint, and you give 50 bucks
to the church, you just labored in the ministry. You earned that
money somehow. It may have been far from here,
but the labor that you did that earned that money, you just put
it into the ministry of the Lord. Unless you found that 50 under
a rock, you just worked for Christ. You just did something in his
ministry. And none of this is grievous
labor, but it's a joy in it. We don't labor under a yoke of
bondage. We're free from the law. We don't
do anything for Christ in order to be accepted of Him and of
God. He is our acceptance with God.
And so it's just free and joyful, isn't it? It's cheerful giving
of time and effort and resources. And you know the scripture says
God loves that? 2 Corinthians 9, seven, he loves
a cheerful giver. And there are many ways to give.
You know why he loves it? Because he's the one that causes
it. When he made the universe and he made the earth and he
made the firmament and he separated the land from the water and all
that, it says on these days that he did these things, he declared,
it's good, that's good. What he did. That's how it is
in us. He does things to us and he says,
that's good. That's good. It's good because he did it.
He made us that way. He gave that grace. He causes
it and he loves it. Just like he loves all of his
creation, all of his works. And for us, it's a yoke that's
easy and it's a burden that's very, very light. What a privilege
and an honor, and may we always count it so. You see how you
just can't, you can never say there's nothing I can do in the
ministry because you're doing it every day. And we ought to
always be mindful of that. And then I want to stress the
word together. You know, there are numerous, numerous
calls to unity in the scriptures, in the New Testament letters
to the churches, many, many calls to unity, and this is why. Together,
there's work to be done. It's because there's a cause.
There's a cause. There's an object in mind. There's
a ministry given. There's work to do. And that's
why, and it's together work. It's together work. That's why
the calls for unity, for the glory of Christ And in the service
of his ministry, there are many things to be done. And we've
talked about this so many times, but I think it's good to remind
us a lot. If it's cleaning or repairing
something or cooking or pulling weeds and painting and mowing
grass, I have one of the most precious pictures that I have. It's of Mark Daniel out here
on his knees pulling weeds out of that garden right there. on
a work day that we had. And it's one of the most precious
things I've ever seen in my life. And there's so much in there. There's
so much, so many ways to love this ministry indeed,
not just in word. To love the privilege of honoring
the Lord Jesus Christ. But all of it is together work.
It's to be done with everyone in mind. And there's gotta be
leadership. And there's got to be service.
There's cooperation, there's helping. We've talked about it
all, and like I say, and I started to just skip over this, but let's
remind ourselves tonight, we, together, is all of that, picking up a
piece of trash off the floor, washing dishes, together is taking
the trash to the dump. Some of you have been kind to
do that. They won't, for some reason, let me in over there.
I'm persona non grata at the dump now. The dump Nazi down
there is like, he's driving a hard ship. But everything. Let me go the other way, though,
and say, you know, if you come up here and you paint the walls
in here bright pink, that's not together work. That's not, not
everybody benefits from that. You see what I'm saying? Picking
up a piece of trash off the floor, that's, that's everybody benefits
from that. But, you know, and you'd be surprised. I've been on the front row for
a long time, a long time, long before I came here. And there's
a spirit of wanting to be a help, and then there's a spirit that's
not that. Let me just put it that way.
And all of you know exactly what I'm talking about. And I'm so
thankful here that everybody, it's just like, I've had to tell y'all before
conferences, be sure and let me know what you're gonna do
because somebody else will probably be doing the same thing if you
don't let me know and then I'll kind of direct things. But because everybody's just
so willing to do what needs to be done or give what needs to
be given. And I say this more for other
pastors. I think I've told you that before.
Given your pastor grief, I hear about this a lot, given your
pastor grief over decisions that he doesn't have any choice but
to make, that's not together work. And I've got names in mind
and I'm not going to give them to you because it's just, like
I say, that's for elsewhere. There's no disagreement, at least
outwardly, in together work. That's the point I'm trying to
make. There's no fussing in together work. Taking upon yourself decisions
that are not yours to make, that's not together work. And so, again,
that's not for y'all so much, but workers together most importantly
means we're doing the same thing. Even if you're doing something
completely, you may clean a bathroom, I might pull some weeds, but we're doing exactly the same
thing. Exactly the same thing. What is that? We're both seeing
to it that sinners hear of the Savior who made reconciliation
for sinners by taking their place on Calvary. That's what we're
doing. That's what it is. If this place is a mess and it's
run down and we clearly don't give a hoot about it, that's
dishonoring to the Lord and you know it and I know it. And anybody
that comes here will know it. And so we're all doing the same
thing. We're doing the same thing. It's
the love of Christ that constraineth us. It constrains one person to paint
a handrail or somebody else to give a hundred bucks in the box
or whatever, to vacuum a floor, to help a brother and sister
with something at their home even. That's workers together,
together in the ministry. Our Lord has given us, yeah,
he said two things that are uppermost in my heart, and I hope they
always are. He's told us to go preach. That's
preeminent, isn't it? To go preach. But he also said
this, if you've done it unto one of the least of these, my
brethren, you've done it unto me. He said to Simon, feed my
sheep. If you love me, feed my sheep.
His glory, His ministry, His church, His gospel, His people,
in all of what we do, one thing is needful, no matter how menial
or seemingly insignificant it is. And when we're doing what
we're doing right now, this very second, what we're doing right
now, all of the other stuff we do
is for this, is for this right here. And there's an urgency
to this message now. Let's talk about that a little
while, and I'll be brief tonight. There's an urgency and therefore
a necessity of being diligent in this work, of being faithful
in this ministry, because look at what he said. Verse two, for
he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day
of salvation have I secured thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. And I don't wanna confuse this,
but I do need to point out that the first part of this verse,
he saith, I have heard thee in an accepted time and in the day
of salvation have I secured thee. Those are words spoken in the
Old Testament to Christ, the father is speaking to Christ
when he said that. In God's appointed day of salvation,
he sent his son into this world and Christ came and interceded
for his people in the garden of Gethsemane and
on the cross. And that's the day of salvation.
The Lord Jesus Christ atoned for our sins on Calvary. And the Lord said, ask of me and
I'll give you the heathen for that inheritance. And what did
he say? He asked for us, didn't he? He said, those that you've
given me, I pray that they'll be with me. I pray, and God said,
I've heard you. I've heard you in the appointed
time. And that's our salvation, literally,
Christ. In the last part of the verse
is Paul applying that same authority of God in his ordaining grace
to the now in which we find ourselves this evening. He's saying that
accepted time, that time of salvation, For you, it's right now. It's
right now. The atonement that Christ made
for his elect in that day imposes a now on us. Not to do something in order
to be saved, but to realize that there is no tomorrow when it
comes to the gospel. There literally is no tomorrow.
And tomorrow there won't be any tomorrow. I hope that's not confusing,
but it's always now, isn't it? Right now, there's no tomorrow.
And tomorrow, there won't be any tomorrow then either. The acceptance in this verse
is not you accepting Christ, it's God's accepted time. It's
God doing what he said he'd do, and he's doing it in the time
that he's appointed that it should be done. Listen to what Felix,
you remember this. Felix said to Paul in Acts 24,
25, as Paul reasoned of righteousness. That's it, isn't it? It's a matter of righteousness.
This thing of salvation is a matter of righteousness. You don't have
it and God demands it. And righteousness without the
law is the gospel. Righteousness without the deeds
of the law. Because Christ being set forth
a propitiation for our sin. we can have righteousness in
him and be the very righteousness of God in him without the deeds
of the law. So he reasoned of righteousness,
of temperance, and judgment to come. God said, if you don't
warn him, I'll hold you responsible for it. Got to do it. Got to do it. There's a reckoning
in there. Felix trembled and answered,
go thy way for this time. When I have a convenient season,
I will call for thee. And I want to repeat part of
that. Listen to what he said. He trembled and he said this
to Paul, go thy way for this time. That's the time God accepts
right there. And Felix did not. Felix wasn't
interested in that. This time for Felix was almost
certainly the last time. I don't know that for sure, but
I don't know. I probably shouldn't even say
that. We're not given any information about it. And it's tempting to
say that we would know about it if the Lord saved him. Not
necessarily. So we don't know that. But it
might've been, it might've been it. For this time, go away. That's exactly when you don't
wanna say that is right now. Salvation doesn't happen on your
time. I've actually heard people say to me, and people have told
me that they've said it to them. When I get, I guess once I've
sown my wild oats, I'll get right with God. It don't work like
that. That's what you call spitting
in Christ's face. That's what you call that. The time of salvation is always
now. There's reconciliation with God,
a glorious word. Atonement and God by imputation
dealing with sin in such a way that we have none in Christ bears
it all and puts it away Puts it away Now that's an eternal
work of salvation wrought by God for his people And as ambassadors
of Jesus Christ we beseech sinners right now Be you reconciled to
God by the death of his son Want to close just by reading
Isaiah chapter 1 let's turn there together Just first 20 verses of Isaiah
chapter 1 Regarding this thing of now and hence and not just
the urgency of it, but how beautiful it is Seeing our condition before
God that God would give us a now That he would say this that this
would be his command don't Don't flounder in your sins anymore.
Don't labor for that which is not bread anymore. Come now,
come now. Isaiah chapter one, verse one.
This is our condition now, the vision of Isaiah, the son of
Amos, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days
of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Hear, O heavens, and give ear,
O earth, for the Lord hath spoken. I have nourished and brought
up children, and they've rebelled against me. Now, this is every
man by nature. This was the condition of Israel,
the most privileged outwardly people on God's earth, as far
as they had the law and the prophets. They were privileged much every
way. but they rebelled against me. And you listen to the depth
of that rebellion. The ox knoweth his owner, and
the ass his master's crib, but Israel doth not know, my people
doth not consider. That's pretty bad, and we're
worse than an ox before God. Even an ox in some sense appreciates
the hay and the shelter. Look at verse four. Ah, sinful
nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children
that are corruptors. They have forsaken the Lord.
They have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger. They are
gone away backward. Why should you be stricken anymore?
You will revolt more and more, the whole head is sick. That's
our mind, our thinking is sick. And the whole heart, faint. Our
desires, our will, our passions are evil also. From the sole of the
foot, even unto the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds
and bruises and putrefied sores, they have not been closed. Neither
bound up, neither mollified with ointment. What was the first
thing that the good Samaritan did? He bound up the wounds,
didn't he? He binds our wounds. Your country
is desolate, your cities are burned with fire, your land,
strangers devoured in your presence, and it is desolate as overthrown
by strangers. And the daughter of Zion is left
as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers,
as a besieged city. Except the Lord of hosts had
left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom
and we should have been like unto Gomorrah, such a vile and
wretched place that God would have burned it up from heaven,
except for something he did. He left a remnant there. He left
a remnant according to the election of grace, Verse 10, hear the
word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom, give ear unto the law
of our God, you people of Gomorrah. They didn't receive the punishment
that Sodom and Gomorrah did, but they're just exactly as evil
as they were. That's why he says they would
have been like Sodom and Gomorrah in the sense of fire and wrath
and going straight to hell. But as far as they're evil, They
are Sodom and Gomorrah. All we, like sheep, have gone
astray. To what purpose is the multitude
of your sacrifices unto me? You're gonna deny God and you're
gonna go to church and sing, oh, how I love Jesus? Your religion, what's the point
of that, sayeth the Lord, your outward religion? You're laden
with iniquity. You're vile and wretched. You're not in Christ. You're
in yourself. You're in your flesh. You're
sinful before God. You're making sacrifices, but
you haven't bowed to the one sacrifice for sins. I'm full
of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts, and
I delight not in the blood of bullocks or of lambs or of eagles.
The only reason he accepted the blood of those animals was by
faith in Christ. By faith, Abel offered the more
excellent sacrifice. It was just a sheep that he killed,
but he did it looking to the lamb of God that takes away seed. And God had regard unto him and
his offering. Verse 12, when you come to appear
before me, who hath required this at your hand to tread my
courts? What business do you have? No man cometh unto the
Father but by Christ. You've got no business doing
that. I don't care about your oblations, your incense, your
sacrifices and all that, they mean nothing to me. You come
in Christ or you don't come before me. That's pretty plain, isn't
it? Bring no more vain oblations.
Incense is an abomination unto me. The new moons and Sabbaths,
the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with. It is iniquity, even
the solemn meeting. Maybe you're thinking, well,
those are things that God ordained. Not without faith in Christ,
he didn't. Well, I go to church every Sunday. What are you doing
there? What business do you have there?
Do you have a right to appear before God in His presence? By God's grace, we come in the
name of the Son of God. Otherwise, come and listen, come
and hear, come and learn, but don't think for a second that
you're accepted with God apart from His Son. I don't care how
religious you are. Even the solemn meeting, your
new moons and your appointed feasts, my soul hateth. They
are a trouble unto me, I am weary to bear them. And when you spread
forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you. Yea, when you make many prayers,
I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. Here's God's wash you. Make you
clean, put away the evil of your doings before my eyes. Cease
to do evil. Well, we're religious, we're
coming to church, we offer sacrifice, we do all of that. What do you
mean, wash you, make you clean? Religious observances aren't
gonna do it. Who are these that are arrayed
in white? Who are these who have made themselves clean? They've washed their robes in
the blood of the Lamb. That's who. Learn to do well. Seek judgment,
relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the
widow, have a heart. Don't be the wretch that you
are. Don't be the proud self-righteous fool that you are by nature. How does that work? Come now. and let us reason together, saith
the Lord. And that's reasoning with God
is not, you know, him giving his, you know, teaching and then
us giving our opinion. The reason with God is to shut
up and hear what God says. Though your sins be a scarlet,
and they were, he said, I hate, I hate you and everything you
do. But though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow. It says come now. Who's that? The ones that come he doesn't
hate, but who are they? Are they the ones that separated
themselves from everybody else by doing better? No. All that
the Father giveth me shall come to me. Come right now. and him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. That's how they come. Given to
the father in eternity, redeemed by the precious blood of the
lamb slain from the foundation of the world, and God says come
and they come. Just like the prophet said, Lord,
you turn us and we'll return. You command us, you say, be not
faithless, but believing. And we're at your feet saying,
my Lord and my God. That's what happens here. That's
why it's urgent. That's why it's a labor that
must be taken with the utmost sincerity and devotion. Come
now and let us read your sins. They're gonna be as scarlet now.
And they are as scarlet, but they'll be made as white as snow.
How? By coming to Christ, coming to
be. He that believeth on me shall
not perish, but have everlasting life. Though they be red like
crimson, they shall be as wool. If you be willing and obedient,
you shall eat the good of the land. What does the scripture
say about our will? Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. When he says come, sinners come. That centurion knew that, didn't
he? He said, I say to one, come, and he comes. I say to one, go,
and he goes. And I know this about you, all
you have to do is say the word and it's done. Come now. But if you refuse and rebel,
that's us by nature, you shall be devoured with a sword. for
the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. So you see the urgency, you
see the glorious nature of it, that he would even say to us
at all, we don't have the appreciation for God that an ox has for a
farmer. Why would he even call us at
all? I don't know, but he does, I know that. And he does it right
now, now, now. May he give us grace to give
that everything we have. What are you saving it for, you
know? What are you reserving anything
for? The vanity of this world? And don't think I'm calling working
and all that vanity. If you're doing that for the
Lord, that's wonderful. If you're doing that to give,
it's more blessed to give than it is to receive. If you're doing
that thanking Him, the plowing of the wicked is sin, but the
plowing of the righteous is worship. By God's grace, it's worship.
What an honor. What an honor, amen, let's pray.