It is good to see Brother Inderjeet
here. I'm glad he's out of the hospital
and able to come. The Lord really does hear His
people when we call on Him. He really does answer His people. And He makes us willing to bow
to whatever His will is when we ask Him. We're thankful for
that. 2 Corinthians 12 now. Paul begins here in verse 13
and he says, What is it wherein you were inferior to other churches? And the Corinthians were not.
They were not inferior to other churches. Christ filleth all
in all. And He does not do anything wrong.
And so, he makes certain that all his churches have all things
necessary. Christ filleth all in all. Their pastor was not inferior
to any of the chief apostles. Paul was not inferior to any
of them. So they weren't inferior to any of the churches. They
had been given the very same gospel of Christ that all the
other churches had. They had been quickened and called
to faith in Christ and gifted with all the gifts and graces
of God like all other brethren had been. Paul had been given
the ability by Christ to do all the same miracles and to confirm
the gospel among them just like he did in other churches. Christ
filleth all in all. They were not inferior to any
other churches. But to add to their ingratitude, There was one way they did differ
from the other churches. And Paul says it's being inferior
to the other churches. Where were you inferior to other
churches? Accept it be this. He said, I myself was not burdensome
to you. Forgive me this wrong. While
all the poorer churches fully supported Paul so that he could
devote all his time to the Scriptures and to the preaching of the Word.
This wealthy church in Corinth would not. And when Paul discovered
they would not, Paul refused to take any money from them.
Why did he do that? Look at verse 14, there in the
middle. For I seek not yours, but you. I'm not seeking your money, I'm
seeking you. Verse 15, I will very gladly
spend and be spent for you, though the more abundantly I love you,
the less I be loved. And look at the very end of verse
19, We do all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying. This new spirit that Christ imparts
to each believer is the same Spirit that was in our Lord Jesus
Christ that makes Him willing to edify His people at His own
expense. The same Spirit, the very same
Spirit Christ has is the Spirit He imparts when He's formed in
His people. It's the Spirit that He imparts
to His people. That spirit wherein Christ was
willing to lay down His life for His people. Willing to do
all things to edify His people at His own expense. That's the
spirit He puts in His child. So as we look at Paul here, we're
going to consider Christ and the spirit that was in Christ.
Now first of all, Christ sought nothing from His people. Christ
sought nothing from His people. He came seeking His people. Paul says there, Behold, the
third time I am ready to come to you. Now you think about all
that the Corinthians had done to Paul. They had injured Paul
greatly. They had betrayed Paul by going
after these false preachers. And still Paul says, Behold,
I'm ready. to come to you a third time.
Paul came to them. They were able to stay at home
where they always lived. They were able to live amongst
their family, their friends. They were able to work their
jobs that they had and stay where they were and not be inconvenienced
with a move in any way. Paul picked up everything. He forsook all that. And he came
to them. And Paul risked his life. He
risked life and limb to bring the gospel to them. Look back
up at chapter 11, verse 24. Of the Jews, five times received
I forty stripes, save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods,
once I was stoned. He says, I suffered shipwreck
three times, a night and a day in the deep, all those dangers
in waters, and in robbers, and with countrymen, and by the heathen,
and in the city, the wilderness, the sea, false brethren, and
weariness and painfulness, and watchings often, and hunger and
thirst, and fastings often, and cold and nakedness. All these
things are things Paul suffered going to preach the gospel, coming
to where his people were to preach the gospel to them. You know, when I think about
Paul's suffering, as hard as I see the great length he suffered,
I have to think of this, that's nothing compared to what Christ
suffered to come to us. And he thought it not robbery
to be equal with God. That's high, brethren. That's
as high as you can get. That's in the throne of glory. To be one with God, to be God. And yet, Scripture says, he left
that glory. And he took upon him the form
of a servant. He made himself of no reputation.
took upon Him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness
of men. And once He made that stoop,
He made another stoop. He humbled Himself as a man and
became obedient to God even to the death of the cross. And He
didn't come to take anything from us. He came to give us everything.
And we did not treat Him with anything but but total hatred
when he was here. He's despised and rejected of
men. A man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not. And since Christ suffered like
that, brethren, Paul knew this, and you and I know this, that
we shall suffer in the cause of Christ. When I see what Paul had to go
through to go the lengths he went to, it just makes me want
to shut my mouth in murmuring. When I grew up, growing up we
drove a long ways to church. And I would get to murmuring
sometimes about it. And my grandfather, he would
say one simple statement. He would say, have we come as
far as Christ did? And that just shut me up. I get
on an airplane, you know, get up early in the morning sometimes
and go to an airport and all, you know, park and get on a bus
and then go over to the airport and get on the plane and, you
know, you get to thinking about all your travels and sometimes
it's snowing and all these different things. But brethren, I don't
have to get on a rickety old wooden ship that people had to
paddle. and face a hurricane to bring
the gospel in. But I get to sit in a nice comfortable
seat in an airplane and be there in just a few minutes. I don't
have to complain about anything. But we wouldn't want it any other
way, would we? You wouldn't want to live a life of ease seeing
as how your Savior suffered like He suffered. Christ said this,
remember the word that I said unto you, the servant is not
greater than his Lord, If they persecuted me, they'll also persecute
you. If they receive my word, they'll
receive your word. I don't want to live a life of
ease and have it easier than my Savior had it when He suffered
like He did for me. But Paul didn't come when He
came to them. He didn't come to lay a burden
on them. He didn't come to lay a burden on them. He said, verse
14, I will not be burdensome to you. Now it should not have
been a burden at all for these believers to support Paul seeing
that he went to such lengths to bring to them the unsearchable
riches of Christ. That shouldn't have been a burden
to them at all. But seeing it was, Paul saw that
to them it was. And so Paul didn't lay that burden
on them. He took it off of them completely.
preach Christ freely to them. Now, that Spirit came from Christ. Christ came to where we are and
took all the burden off His people. That's what He did. He removed
the burden of the curse of the law by being made a curse for
us. Isn't it so easy to say that
statement? It just takes a second to say
that statement. But you think about what is involved
in that statement. He redeemed us from the curse
of the law, Himself being made a curse for us. Everybody is so uptight about
saying that He made Him sin for us. He made Him a curse for us. He came and He removed the burden
of the bondage of our flesh so that we could actually believe
the gospel and have love in our hearts, to love one another.
He took that burden of this bondage and this flesh off of us so we
could believe. And when He did that, He made
us to see He had taken the burden of trying to fulfill the law
off of us. Because He came and fulfilled
the law completely for His people. So that now through faith, we
establish the whole law of God. Believing on Christ who established
it all for us. You see? Because He suffered
like He did, that burden is off of us, brethren. We'll never
suffer the judgment of God. You know, if you're righteous
before the law of God, past, present and future, the law can
never ever say anything to you. You don't have a thing to worry
about with the law. You know what a burden that is
to be taken off of His people? You do know it if you're a believer.
You know it. That's a huge burden off of us.
The love of Christ, the love that He gives His pastor for
His people, is that of a father to His children. That's the love
that Christ gives a pastor for the people to whom he ministers.
It's the love of a father to his children. He gives the same
love to those who are older in the faith toward those who are
younger in the faith. The love of a father to children.
Paul says there in verse 14, I seek not yours, but you. For
the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents
for the children. Where did he get that spirit?
Christ sought nothing His people could give Him. He sought nothing
His children could give Him. He came to give it all to us. And He came not seeking what
we could give Him. He came seeking us. God's elect. Those that God gave to Him before
the foundation of the world. He said, I came seeking the lost
sheep. That's who I come seeking. You
know, say a woman has a most valuable, valuable coin. It's
worth millions. And she loses that coin. And
she takes a light and she goes through her house and she looks
everywhere she can look in that house. She turns over everything
in that house, looks through all the drawers. She turns over,
looks under the bed, looks between the mattresses. She looks everywhere
she can look for that coin. until she's found it. And when
she's found it, then she has reason to rejoice. She calls
all her friends together and says, look, I found this coin
that was lost. Christ said, that's what it's
like for me to find one of my lost sheep. There's rejoicing
in heaven over one of my lost sheep. I'll put on my shoulder
and I'll bring them home. He said there is more rejoicing
over that one repentant child than there is over 99 that think
they need no repentance. Believer, repent. Turn from you,
turn from trust in this world, turn from this world and you
and your will and your works, turn from all of that and cast
all your care on this merciful and gracious Redeemer. Christ came to be our everlasting
Father. Now you think about why He's
called the everlasting Father. We were born of Adam by his corrupt
seed. But that relationship will end
when our flesh dies and goes back to the grave. Adam will
cease being our Father. Christ won't ever cease being
our Father. Because He makes us to be born of incorruptible
seed, the Word that lives and abides forever. And so He'll
ever be our lasting Father. That's what He came to do. He
came and when Sarah bore Abraham a son, Scripture says Abraham
gave Isaac everything he had. Christ gave us everything he
had. Scripture says we're joint heirs
with Christ. He laid up for us, didn't He?
He said, I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go to prepare
a place for you, I'm going to come again so that you'll be
where I am. He laid up what Scripture calls
salvation ready to be revealed. That means it's laid up, it's
done, it's finished, it's secure. Ready to be revealed. Ready. That's the Father laying up for
the children, and that's the Spirit and love that He puts
in the heart of believers. That's the spirit and love He
puts in the heart of His pastor. Look at 1 Thessalonians 2. 1 Thessalonians 2 and verse 5. Paul says, neither at any time
used we flattering words, as you know, nor a disguise to cover
up covetousness. God is witness. "...nor of men
sought we glory..." He's talking about monetary gain. "...neither
of you nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome
as the apostles of Christ, even when it was our just due," he's
saying. "...but we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth
her children, so being affectionately desirous of you." not yours,
of you. We were willing to have imparted
unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls,
because you were dear unto us. Look at verse 19. What is our
hope? What is our joy? What's our crown
of rejoicing? Are not even you in the presence
of our Lord Jesus Christ and His coming? For you are our glory
and our joy. You know, every child Christ
saves, robed in His righteousness, created anew in His righteousness,
in His holiness, every child He saves is the crown of rejoicing
to Christ. It's the glory of Christ. Every
child He saved. Every child He saved shows how
mighty He is to save. That's so. And even the good
works, He works in the believer. Those good works are not because
He needs us to give Him something. Those good works are so that
He might see By the works He works in His people, He might
see His own glory and the glory of His workmanship. You know,
if you were a carver, let's say, and you carved out some beautiful
sculpture, when you got through doing that, you'd step back and
look at it and admire your work. When He works anything good in
His people, Christ is just admiring His work. We're His glory. We're His crown of rejoicing,
brethren. And it's the same way for Paul. Paul didn't desire money from
them. You know what Paul desired? Paul
desired to see some sign of life in them. To see some love in
them. To see that his labor wasn't
in vain. He wanted to be able to step
back and look at them and say, the Lord did that through the
gospel I preached. Oh, it was worth it being shipwrecked.
It was worth it being whipped eight different times. It was
worthy to do all that because I see what Christ worked in His
child. But He wasn't seeing that in the Corinthians. He said this, ìNot because I
desire a gift, but I desire fruit that may abound to your count. Fruit that encourages me that
you have the life of Christ in you. Fruit that encourages me
that my labor is not in vain.î Thatís what heís talking about.
Then look at this too. Secondly, ìChrist loved His people
even when we did not love Him.î Christ loved His people even
when we didn't love Him. And that's the love He put in
Paul for His people. Look at 2 Corinthians 12, 15.
Paul says, I will very gladly spend and be spent for you. I'll very gladly spend and be
spent for you, though the more abundantly I love you, the less
I'll be loved. You consider that through Paul
preaching the gospel, You think about this now. Christ, through Paul preaching
the gospel to them, Christ gave these sinners at Corinth eternal
life. You know how badly some of us
have desired for our children to be saved. Through Paul's preaching, Christ
called out many of their children and gave them faith in Christ. Wouldn't that make you just be
so thankful and your heart would just be in love toward Him for
His work's sake? And yet, the more abundantly
Paul loved them, the less they loved Paul. And fact is, because that was
their heart toward Paul, it proved that in many of them, that was
their heart toward Christ. Christ said, what you've done
to my minister I've sent, you've done to me. What you've done
to my child that I'm dwelling in, that I've sent, that I believe,
that I brought to believe, you've done to me. And so have me and
you, every believer. And Christ is where Paul got
that Spirit. He loved His people even though
we did not love Him. Look at 1 John 4. Look at verse 10. Herein is love. Herein is love. This is true love right here. This is not the thing that worldly
men usually call love. This is true love right here.
Not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son
to be the propitiation for our sins. Now watch this. Beloved, if God so loved us,
if He loved us when we did not love Him, we ought also to love one another.
He is saying, when their love grows cold toward us. He loved
us when we didn't love Him, and if He loved us after that manner,
we ought to love our brethren after the same manner, even when
they don't love us. Doesn't the spirit of grace in
your heart, knowing how Christ overlooks your shortcomings and
forgives you of your sin, doesn't that make you want to... you make excuses for your brethren
when they trip and bumble something up, don't you? It makes you want
to... you look for the best in them.
You want to speak of them in a favorable light. You don't
want anybody speaking unkindly of them. That's what the love
does in your heart. You love them even though they're
not showing love to you. They must have had a bad day. Anything you can use to make
an excuse for them. Because you love them. You don't
want to lay anything to their charge. Christ doesn't lay anything
to your charge. And if we feel otherwise, Brethren, Christ knew our hearts
of enmity. Remember this now, if we feel
otherwise, if we feel like we're not going, well they didn't love,
they're not loving me like they ought to, I'm not going to be
nice to them. I'm not going to love them. Remember
this, Christ said this to us, I'll very gladly spend and be
spent for you though the more abundantly I love you the less
I'll be loved. That's what Christ could say
to us. Remember that. That's what's amazing to me.
Even though they did not love Paul in the face of Paul loving
them, he still said, I'll very gladly spend and be spent for
you. I'll very gladly do it. Free
justification cost us absolutely nothing because it cost Christ
everything. Justification is free to you
and me for one reason. It costs Christ everything. I had a teacher one time. She
didn't pull any punches. Whenever kids would be... I don't
know if they still do it, but sometimes kids got free lunch.
And whenever kids would be getting free lunch, that lady reminded
those kids every single morning, there's nothing in this life
free. Every single morning she reminded
them that. Well, our salvation is not free. It's free to us,
but it costs Christ everything. And that was when we did not
love Him. We did not love Him. You know
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, though He was rich, yet for your
sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might be
made rich. You know what I desire? I desire
for God to increase His love in me toward His people. That's
what I want. I feel like I have the love of
God for His people in my heart, but I want it more. Paul said
to the Thessalonians, grow in this grace, in love, more abundantly. This is the chief grace to make
our aim. is to love more abundantly. We
pray, Lord, increase, this is my prayer, Lord, increase my
love for your people. I might have told you this one
time, I had a friend that was in the church, the church I was
in, in Tennessee, and we were talking one night and he said
to me, you know, I think my problem is I just don't love the brethren. And it was not very long at all
that the world just opened up and swallowed him up. And I hadn't
seen him sin. If we don't love the brethren,
we don't have the love of God in our hearts. We don't love
God. I want to have such love in my heart that I'm ready to
spend and be spent. for His people. I want to be
exhausted of everything Christ has given me. All the substance
I have, if I have to spend everything I have, I want to be willing
to do that in love for my brethren. I think I would do it for my
children. Why would I do it for the children that God has given
me to minister to? They are more my children than
my own children. You will always be my brethren. Thirdly, I want that because
I see how Christ does everything to edify His people. Even when Christ sent us the
gospel, And He revealed to us the deceit of our own hearts.
As painful as that was to us, brethren, that was for our good.
That was for our edification, wasn't it? Paul says here, verse
16, But be it so, I did not burden you. Nevertheless, being crafty,
I caught you with guile. Paul is saying what the false
preachers were saying of him. This is what they were accusing
him of. They accused Paul of not taking money because he was
trying to take advantage of them some other way. That's what they
said. You see, with a Pharisee, you can't do right. He's going
to blame you. Paul didn't take money from them
because he was trying to help them, and the Pharisees blamed
him for not taking money from them. And if he had taken money
from them, then they would have said, see, he's just extorting
money out of you. But they said, he's just, he's being crafty.
That's what he's doing. He's got full of guile, they
said. Deceit is in his heart. But in a sense, Paul was crafty. He did catch the Corinthians
using deceit. He really did. They professed
to believe on Christ, but while they professed to believe on
Christ, they really had received these false preachers and started
listening to them. and giving them credit. And they
were doing that secretly. And Paul found out about it.
So he did, in a sense, catch them being deceitful. And yet
it was only for their edification. All these things he wrote to
them in this letter, and some of these things are pretty hard. But they needed it. Sometimes,
you know, you have some children that just melt from looking at
them. But you have some other children
that are just hard-headed and you've got to deal with them
in a more hard way than you deal with the other one. These Corinthians
were some hard-headed folks and they had to be dealt with harder.
But everything Paul said to them was for their edification. Not anything was done to harm
them. He speaks repeatedly about that,
you know, about the power that He's given as an apostle for
your edification, not for your destruction. And so that's what
He was using. Christ does nothing to fleece
His sheep. Christ does nothing to harm His
sheep. Everything He does for us is
for our edification. Verse 17, Paul said, Did I make
a gain of you by any of them whom I sent to you? Christ can
say that. Did I make a gain of you by any
preacher I've sent to you? Christ can say that. He sent
the preachers. Did I make a gain of you? I desired
Titus and with him I sent a brother. Did Titus make a gain of you?
Walked we not in the same spirit? Christ can say that of His preacher
and of His people. Walked we not in the same spirit? The same spirit. Every one of
us is born of one spirit. One spirit. The Spirit of Christ
is in every one of His people. We walk in the same Spirit with
Christ. Walk we not in the same steps?
And because that's true, this was the Spirit that was in Paul.
And Paul said again, thank ye that we excuse ourselves unto
you. See, Paul wasn't guilty of the things they were accusing
him of, so he wasn't trying to make an excuse for anything.
And he wasn't apologizing to them for anything because he
didn't have anything to apologize for. He said, ìDonít think weíre
excusing ourselves unto you. We speak before God in Christ.
We do all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying.î Thatís what
this is for. Itís so difficult for sinners,
for you and me, when we have to be corrected. Itís so difficult
for you and I to realize, ìThis is God in Christ correcting me.î
Isnít it? If we're His, He's going to get
the lesson across before it's over. But almost always in the
beginning, you know, you can hear the preacher preach and
preach the gospel and you just, that's from God. That's not of
man. I don't want to compliment Him.
I don't want to puff Him up. But the second that same preacher
has to correct somebody, no, that's not of God. He's just
trying to use His authority to run roughshod over me. No, that's
of God too. So God too. But they weren't
seeing that. Paul said, but we are. We speak
before God in Christ. We're doing all things dearly
beloved for you edifying. Christ only edifies His people
and He gave Paul the same spirit. Go over to 1 Corinthians 9.12. Christ only edifies His people
brethren and that's the spirit He gives to His ministers. Look at 1 Corinthians 9.12. He says, ìIf others be partakers
of this power over you, are not we rather?î Heís saying, ìDo
we not have a right to be supported monetarily from you?î Others
are doing it. These false preachers were doing
it. Paul said, ìNevertheless, we have not used this power,
but we suffer all things lest we should hinder the gospel of
Christ.î That was Paul's motive in everything he did. He didn't
want to be a hindrance to the gospel of Christ. Look down at
verse 19. He says, Though I be free from
all men. He wasn't a servant of any man.
He said, Yet I've made myself servant unto all that I might
gain the more. I don't want yours. I want you, Paul said. That's
why I've become a servant to all men. Look at verse 22. to
the weak became I as weak that I might gain the weak. Look at
this. I have made all things to all men that I might by all
means save some. And this I do for the gospel
sake that I might be a partaker thereof with you. You see that? Everything was for the gospel
sake. Everything was to remove himself out of the forefront
and out of the light and from their focus. to keep their focus
on Christ. If he had taken a dime from them,
they wouldn't have been able to focus on the gospel he preached
for accusing him of trying to fleece them. And so he said,
it's not worth it. It's just not worth it. He said
there in 1 Corinthians 10.33, I'm not seeking my own profit,
I'm seeking the profit of many that they might be saved. Brethren,
let that same spirit be in us. This is the Spirit of Christ.
This is the Spirit He puts in His people right here. To do
everything for the edification of our brethren. To love our
brethren even when they don't love us. To not seek anything
from them, but to lay up for them. To do all things for them. This is the Spirit of Christ,
and this is the Spirit He gives His people. This is why the Church
of Christ is a harmonious place, and why the Church of Christ
is like an oasis in this dry desert. When you finally find
where the Church of God is, and you come in, and you sit down,
and you rest under the sound of the Gospel, you found a peaceful
place. Because God's people see what
sinners we are and we're not trying to blame one another and
find something to accuse one another with. You know, we want
to serve one another. We want to edify one another
because we love one another. Because we see what Christ has
done for us and He put that love in our heart. This is like Paul
said here, I'm doing everything I do for your edification that
I might be a partaker of this gospel with you. And brethren,
that's why I'm preaching what I'm preaching to you. I don't
want yours. I want you. You that don't believe, I don't
want anything from you. I want you to believe on Christ. I want us to have this mutual
love for one another. I want us to be partakers of
this grace and this gospel of Christ together. You know what
I enjoy? I enjoy being able to talk with
my daughter about the gospel. That's a joy to me. She's my
sister in Christ before she's my daughter. And I can talk with
her now about the gospel. I love that. That's what I want
with you. I don't believe. So let the Spirit
be in us too, brethren, toward one another. Alright, let's stand
together. Father, we thank you that you've
been so gracious to your people. We thank You for giving us hearts
to be selfless and make us, Lord, to be more selfless. We see ourselves
as so selfish. Make us more selfless. Lord,
we thank You that You put us together and You bring Your people
in just according as they are supposed to be added. And Lord,
we pray that You would keep us loving one another. Keep us in
harmony with each other. Father, we pray that You will
continue to bless Your people through the Word. We're so thankful,
Lord, that You have. We're so thankful that You've
blessed Brother Inderjeet and let him come home from the hospital.
We're thankful, Lord, that You're blessing those that are falling
on hard times right now. We pray for Brother Mike Walker
who just got out of the hospital with heart trouble. Lord, we
pray for Brother Darvin and Sister Kathy, pray that You'll comfort
them, comfort that church there that's mourning with them. Lord,
whoever, wherever Your saints are that are troubled and we
don't know about it, we pray that You'd use us in any way. Spend us and make us to be spent
for them and whatever we can do to help them. And Lord, thank
You. We thank You for Christ. Thank
You for what You've given us in Him, given us everything needful. Ha, ha, we thank You, Lord. Forgive
us now of our sins. Forgive us of our murmuring.
Forgive us of thinking that we've done much or anything like that,
Lord. We haven't done anything. And
we thank You that Christ did it all. It's in His precious
name we pray. Amen.