May it please Almighty God to
bless us together this evening as we meditate in His Holy Word.
Let's turn to the second epistle of Paul to the Corinthians. And
first of all in chapter 2, and reading verses 14, 15, and 16.
Then chapter 3, and reading verse 5. So, chapter 2, and reading
verses 14, 15, and 16. Now thanks be unto God, which
always causes us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the
savour of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto
God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved and in
them that perish, to the one we are the savour of death unto
death, and to the other the savour of life, unto life. And who is sufficient for these
things? And then chapter 3 and verse
5, where we read, not that we are sufficient of ourselves to
think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. Well, it's important for us to
recognise what God does and what God has done. And so the apostle
in this Epistle to the Corinthians instructs us in many things He
does direct us in verse 14 Great truth now. Thanks be unto God
which always Causes us to triumph in Christ. That's a great statement,
isn't it? how wonderful it is and how good
it is therefore if we come in and like the Apostle says, now
thanks be unto God. And again, so often I recognize
that we fail to thank God for what he's done, for what he's
doing, and for our hope in him for all our future. This is the
great God who has created the whole universe, and yet that
God who condescends to look down upon us condescends to hear our
prayers and it causes us to triumph in Christ. We don't triumph because
of our own ability, because of our own skills. We're sinners,
we're foolish, but what a great blessing it is to be able to
come and give thanks unto God, which always, God doesn't fail. You and I fail. We are poor examples. So often, left to ourselves,
we fall and fade, as it were. But here we have this statement,
thanks be to God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ. There's the glorious and blessed
secret. If we are in Christ, my friends,
if we're out of Christ, We will not triumph, we'll fail, we'll
be a miserable failure, but what a blessing it is if by the grace
of God you and I are in Christ Jesus. what a mercy that is to
be found there not because we've got there ourselves but it's
through what God has done for us and so it's important is it
not to look into our hearts and find there we hope the evidence
of God's great and glorious work within that work which has brought
us to a condition of want A condition where we need the Saviour. A condition where we've cried
out for mercy. He causes us then to triumph
in Christ. And what a blessing that is.
And how relevant it is and how important it is that all of us
need to know that we are in Christ. We're not out of Christ, we're
in Christ. Because only those who are in
Christ will at last get safe home to glory. And therefore
it's not a surprise, is it, that the Apostle says then, now thanks
be unto God. And I hope that we all, we all
can come and thank our God for his great and glorious work in
our hearts. it's a work which you and I can't
put there we can't put grace into our hearts but God can and
God does and we should be thankful for it therefore if we have the
evidence of it what it does is it produces a change in our life
a change in our motives a change in our desires it changes us
from just seeking after self to seeking after that knowledge
of God. That knowledge of God, my friends,
is more precious than gold because it brings with it an eternal
inheritance. The fourth chapter tells us that
we have this treasure in earthen vessels. We're just earthen vessels. But what a blessing if we contain
this great and vital knowledge of Christ in you, the hope of
glory. Let us not try and evade that
position. Let us not try and think that
somehow there's a different way. There's only one way, and that's
to be found in Christ. And if we are found in Christ,
there will be a gracious and wonderful outworking for the
honour and glory of God. And it will be this, who maketh
manifest the savour of the knowledge by us in every place. There will be a savour of Christ. We will show forth His honour
and His glory. Our lives will demonstrate that
He has looked upon us, that He has loved us. It will give us
a right attitude. It will set our hearts and affections,
therefore, on things above. What a change that is, from just
looking to ourselves, just seeking our own natural good on the things
of this earth. to turn us to the things of God
and desire those eternal blessings, the eternal knowledge of the
Saviour, to recognise that He is that One who has given His
life so that we might possess life. Well, what a wonderful
blessing and what a wonderful knowledge this is. How important
it is to have this knowledge. You know, we often crave after
natural knowledge. Nothing wrong in that in one
sense. And especially when we're young and at school or university
and learning and seeking after knowledge, nothing wrong in that.
But my friends, the great attitude is, do we put that first? Does that have the priority?
Or does the blessings of God to our soul be the important
issues? As the hymn writer says, to know
my Jesus crucified by far excels all things beside. And that may be a statement which
is hard for us to really fully understand. But it is very true. And what a mercy it is when the
Lord Jesus comes and reveals himself unto us as he does not
unto the world. He shows us that in him is salvation. Out of him there is no salvation. and how blessed it is to meditate
upon these things and the wonderful triumph it brings now thanks
be unto God which always causes us to triumph in Christ you see
the truth is there are no failures with Christ Christ has no failures
and what a blessing therefore if we are in Christ and therefore
triumph in Christ. And because of that, it makes
manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. It's evident that we are a true
follower of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. What a blessing
if men and women, boys and girls take knowledge of us that we
have been with Jesus and have learned of Him. Oh how amazing
really that is to think that God should come and bless us
with His presence and bless us with that closeness to himself
so that there is that wonderful savour of the Redeemer which
rests in our hearts and affects what we think, what we say and
what we do. well what a great blessing that
would be in our lives and in those we're mixed with if that
is true with us and so the apostle goes on and tells us for we are
unto God a sweet savour of Christ a sweet savour of Christ in them
that are saved in them that perish. What a mercy, my friends, tonight,
if you and I show forth that glorious, sweet savour of Christ. What does it do? Well, it shows
what He's done. What He's done for our souls. It shows how He's called us out
to darkness, the darkness of this world. into the glorious
light of the gospel. And my friends, it is a sweet
savour of Christ. That's what we are. If we are
those who have been blessed by the Holy Spirit, we are unto
God then, a sweet savour of Christ. Well, it's good, isn't it, to
just ponder that. Christ in you, Christ in me,
the hope of glory. Without Christ, there's no hope
of glory. How important it is that we are
in Christ. And there is therefore that hope
of glory. Because if we are in Christ,
we shall be looking forward to that day when we shall be in
glory. What a mercy it is to think that
our life is hid in Christ. Well, my friends, that's not
of the flesh, is it? You see, our flesh is of the
earth, earthy. Our flesh cleaves to the things
of time. But what a blessing if we possess
this great and glorious favor of God that we possess the gift
of eternal life, the evidence that we are indeed saved. What a mercy, what a blessing,
for we are unto God a sweet saver. Yes, you remember when the Israelites came out
of the ark they'd been there for a year or so and the flood
had gone down so the Lord told Noah they could come out of the
ark and they what do they do? what do they do? first thing
they were commanded to do was to offer up a sacrifice unto
God and we're told that sacrifice was a sweet savour unto God. And what did it really represent? It represented none less than
our great and glorious Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so today, if our life, if
we are in Christ, therefore there is that glorious savour of Christ,
which rises to heaven. What a mercy in our poor lives
if this is so. And we should desire that it
is so. We should desire that our lives
do bring honour and glory to God. That's our purpose in life. Our purpose in life is not to
go around pleasing ourselves, doing everything which is satisfying
to the flesh. The flesh dies, the soul lives
forever. How important therefore that
we are a sweet savour to God. A sweet savour, a great blessing
if that is so, and its manifest to triumph in Christ and maketh
manifest this savour. because through this savour God
is honoured and glorified and it shows forth his amazing love. It shows forth his wonderful
grace and mercy to unworthy sinners and we rejoice therefore and
we give thanks for what God has done for unworthy sinners. What a mercy when God brings
us to that place to rejoice indeed in what Christ has done. We look
out of ourselves. We look out of ourselves, we
realise that we cannot save ourselves. But we are saved through the
precious blood of Christ. Indeed, redeemed with the precious
blood of Christ. And what does this do? This is
a sweet savour to God. And what does it do? It brings
honour and glory unto Him. So how important it is therefore
that this is true. And that we are then unto God
this sweet savour of Christ. It doesn't say about anything
else. A sweet savour of Christ. Well, do our lives show forth
what Christ has done for us? His great and wonderful love
in coming into this world and giving his life for utterly unworthy
sinners. is that where we stand, in that
place, a sinner before God, needing His mercy, needing His grace,
knowing and blessed with His love. What does it do? It brings honour and glory to
God and therefore that testimony and that experience and that
evidence in our lives therefore is a sweet savour to God. And he would indeed grant us
continuing that grace to walk in his ways, to follow his great
and glorious example. What an example we have before
us in the Saviour, as we trace out his life on this earth. It was willing, wasn't he, to
just lead that humble existence for those 30 years. No doubt
worked for his father as a carpenter and wasn't revealed who he was
until that great time when he came to John the Baptist and
John the Baptist was able to declare those glorious words,
behold, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. If God has given you and me grace
to behold the Lamb of God, that will bring honour and glory to
his great and holy name, a demonstration of his love to us and our love
in return to him. So that we come and have to say,
what a saviour, what a God that should have condescended to leave
his place in glory, leave his place by his father's side, to
come into this sinful world, to save a sinner like me. Well, may such a realisation
truly touch our hearts. and realise the kindness and
the greatness and the blessing of Almighty God. And so then
you see this brings this truth that we are then saved and because
of that we therefore are a sweet saver of Christ, of his finished
work. It's evident in our lives as
we go about day by day in this world We're not our own, we're
bought with a price. I often think that's a very wonderful
statement. When God shows to us, no longer
are we our own. When the Lord comes and converts
us and changes us, we're no longer our own. We're bought with a
price. And we're therefore on the earth,
to serve Almighty God. We're on this earth to be a sweet
savour of Christ, to set forth his amazing love in saving our
souls. Well, my friends, it's a great
blessing, isn't it? You think, think of the billions
of people in this world who know nothing of Christ, No, nothing
of Almighty God, the Father, nothing of the Holy Spirit's
work. And yet to think that here we
are, a little company of unworthy sinners. What a blessing if Christ has
been revealed to us as our Saviour. and that we have been able indeed
to testify of his love toward us and that is a great and wonderful
savour and how acceptable that is to our Father in heaven. For we are unto God a sweet savour
of Christ in them that are saved, and in them that perish. To the
one we are the saver of death unto death, and the other the
saver of life unto life. Well, my friends, tonight are
we the saver of life unto life. Great blessing if we are. a great
blessing if God has made known to us that He has come into this
world He has died that sin atoning death in order to redeem our
souls and as the Apostle Paul goes on to say and who is sufficient
for these things? who is sufficient for these things? Well, my friends, in and of ourselves,
we're not. But our sufficiency is of God,
as this fifth verse in the next chapter tells us. Not that we
are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves,
but our sufficiency is of God. And God sufficiently is totally
adequate. to bring forth that sweet smell
of His work in our souls. That acceptable sacrifice that
has been made by our Saviour to redeem our souls, what a blessing
it is, and how precious and real it is. And can we truly rejoice
in it? Well, I hope we can. I hope we can thank God for His
love and mercy toward us. It would be a great blessing
if it is so. You know, the apostle tells us,
didn't he, about this, having our treasure in earthen vessels. We're just a poor sinner. Just
a poor sinner. Why should God have looked upon
us? Why should God have looked upon
you? Why should he have looked upon me? Well, just because he
loved us in eternity past. What a glorious gospel we have.
How unworthy we are. to do as John said, to behold
the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. But by
faith we all need to behold that Lamb of God and to realise what
was involved in His sacrifice. Takes us back, doesn't it, to
the Old Testament and the Passover, the necessity of that slain lamb
and the bloodshed placed in a doorpost in a lintel and the only safety
was to be under the blood. And today, my friends, The only
safety is under the blood of the Lamb of God, Lord Jesus Christ,
to have that wonderful evidence made over to us that we are complete
in Him. And we can indeed rejoice in
what he has done. Well we read together this third
chapter in the second epistle of Corinthians and we read for
even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect
by reason of the glory that excelleth. And the glory that excelleth
shines forth in the finished work of the Saviour. How humbling
it is to think that we have an interest in that. For if that
which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth
is glorious. Seeing then that we have such
hope, we use great plainness of speech. It is a hope It's
a blessed hope because it directs us to the great gift of eternal
life. And how important for us to know
that we are amongst those who do inherit that great gift of
eternal life. And we shall, if by the grace
of God we are indeed in Christ and in Christ eternally. Well, as this fifth verse in
this third chapter tells us, not that we are sufficient of
ourselves to think anything as of ourselves. We must never look
to ourselves. We must never think that our
life is worthy of any acknowledgement, because we're told sin is mixed
with all we do. All we do, my friends, is sin
mixed with it. And therefore, how we need to
be cleansed, how we need to be washed, And we need to be washed
in the precious blood of the Lamb. And to know the wonder
of that, the cleansing power. There's no power outside the
blood of Christ. But my friends, there is power
in the blood. Power to cleanse. Oh, what a
mercy. What a blessing, then, to realise
this. and to recognise we're not sufficient
of ourselves. It's a good lesson to learn,
and all true believers learn that. They have to turn away
from themselves. They can't rest on what they've
done. They can only rest upon what
Christ has done. So, on this Lord's Day evening,
are you resting? Are you resting in what you've
done? Are you resting on your good
works? Are you resting on your Bible reading? Are you resting
on coming to chapel? Are you resting on doing good
deeds? All those things are good in
themselves. But my friends, we want to be
resting on that which is far more important. And that resting
is quite simply to be found resting on the precious blood of Christ. That means to be resting on his
atoning death. Resting on what he's done to
redeem our soul. God knows your heart. He knows
my heart. It's not something which is just
a vain hope. It's a solid foundation. It's
a scriptural foundation. or that you and I may be found
there resting then on this finished work of Christ and then to realise
that through that we're not resting on our sufficiency what we are
resting on is this our sufficiency is of God the Saviour's death was totally
adequate to take away all sin every sin to be washed therefore
in the blood of the Lamb. How relevant, how important,
how necessary. What a wonderful truth it is
and how good and important that as the Lord has graciously given
us such a truth in His Word and to tell us and to teach us and
to instruct us so that we rejoice in what the Lord has recorded
for our encouragement, for our blessing. You know, this third
chapter goes on as we read together. For if that which is done away
was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.
Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness
of speech, and not as Moses, which put a veil over his face,
that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end
of that which is abolished, but their minds were blinded. I wonder if our eyes have been
blinded, We haven't seen the glory of that atonement made
by the Saviour. We haven't seen the glory of
the blood of Christ. We haven't come to that position
where we recognise, as the hymn writer said, it's precious blood,
it's vital blood. Apostle Peter tells us, didn't
he, redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. The cost of
that blood was the death of the Saviour, the cost of your and
my salvation. was the death of the Saviour. So that we may come and say,
my hope, my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood
and righteousness. I wonder whether that great and
wonderful truth has been made over to you and me, whether we're
resting, resting our soul upon the finished work of Christ,
we're resting on that which we've done. The Apostle says, not at
works, lest any man should post. We cannot rest on our works. But what a mercy to indeed rest
upon that precious blood of Christ and the Apostle goes on and says
but even this day when Moses is read the veil is upon their
hearts still we see the Jewish nation haven't come to the light
they're still struggling in that darkness they're still looking
for the Messiah and fail to realize that the great and glorious Messiah
has come and has given us his word and has spoken to us through
his word. And yet he tells us here, nevertheless,
when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that spirit.
And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. That means there's gospel liberty. And one of the great blessings
of this liberty, when you and I are brought to see our need
of a Saviour, because of our sin, our hopeless condition,
and are directed to that finished work, it brings into our hearts
of that gracious and wonderful relief, to think that we're clean,
just God, I'm clean, because of what Christ has done. And what do we do? But we all,
with open face beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the
Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even
as by the Spirit of the Lord. Well, have we, do we know that
change in our life? We were dead. We were blind. And then to be made alive, and
to see. And also, we were deaf, to have
our ears unstopped, to hear the truths of the glorious Gospel,
it's all of grace it's all of grace free unmerited favour because
of the love of God which he had toward us which began in eternity past
you and I can't understand that great truth but how wonderful
it is and what a mercy therefore if we have the evidence of it
and because of this In our lives, we are then a sweet savour to
God. It's very humbling, isn't it,
to think of that? If we look at ourselves, we see a sinful
mass, and we wonder, perhaps we cry out, can ever God dwell
here? Well, through His grace. He does. Through His mercy, He does. And through His love. And we
are on this earth, therefore, to show forth His praise. And in so doing, we are then
a sweet savour in Christ, in them that are saved. It's a great
mercy, isn't it? To be saved from the wrath to
come. There are many who are not saved.
Many go on blindly and fall into that terrible pit of hell. What a mercy if God has revealed
himself to us, shown us the way of salvation, shown us the preciousness
of the Saviour. directed us to that shed blood
that was shed upon that cross at Calvary. Well, we're not sufficient
of ourselves, but we can bless God that the Saviour is sufficient. God is sufficient. Again, the
previous verses in this third chapter tell us, for as much
as ye are manifestly declared be the epistle of Christ, ministered
by us, written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living
God, not in tables of stone, but in the fleshy tables of the
heart. What a mercy, if that's true
of you and me. written in our heart by the finger
of God and such trust have we through Christ to Godward, a
trust in his mercy, a trust in his grace, a trust in his love. My friends, as this is so, we
can go on our way rejoicing, thankful therefore to believe
that because of those blessings we are Amazing as it may sound,
a sweet savour to God. How humbling and yet how wonderful,
for we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ in them that are saved. Well, may we come and say truly
to God, be the glory and tonight have the evidence that he is
sufficient for us, utterly sufficient. What a sufficient God we have,
nothing lacking. And so can we come tonight and
praise God for it and be very thankful as the 14th verse started. Now, thanks be unto God, which
always causes us to triumph in Christ. Well, I hope and pray
that's true of every one of us. that we can come like the Apostle,
and because of his love and mercy toward us, in blessing us with
this spiritual experience of spiritual life, that we as such
bring that blessing of a sweet savour to God. and therefore
we can come tonight and give thanks. Thanks unto God for his
free grace. Thanks unto God for his wonderful
love and mercy toward us, so undeserving as we are. Well,
tonight, may we then, if that is the case, go on our way rejoicing
and praising God for his wonderful gift. Amen.