I direct you tonight for our
text, the words that we find at the end of 2 Corinthians,
Paul's epistle, his second epistle to the Corinthians, in chapter
13 and verse 4. 2 Corinthians 13, 4, For though he, Christ, was crucified through weakness
yet he liveth by the power of God for we also are weak in him
but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you and
to address what is spoken of here principally in the first
part of this particular verse where we read of Christ's weakness
and his power the weakness and the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'll just read the opening passage
so we see the text as it were in its context. Paul says, this
is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or
three witnesses shall every word be established. I told you before,
and foretell you as if I were present the second time, and
being absent now I write to them which heretofore have sinned,
and to all other, that if I come again I will not spare, since
ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, which to you, Lord, is
not weak, but is mighty in you. For though he was crucified through
weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are
weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God
towards you. Examine yourselves, whether you
be in the faith. Prove your own selves. Know ye
not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except
ye be reprobates. But I trust that ye shall know
that we are not reprobates." Paul then is asserting really
is his authority as an apostle. In verse 3 he says, Since ye
seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, which to you would is
not weak, but is mighty in you. They had been influenced by the
false teachers, false apostles had come amongst them. and how
they spoke ill of Paul and how they were dismissive of him. Back in chapter 10, for example,
in verse 10, for his letters say they are weighty and powerful
but his bodily presence is weak and his speech contemptible. and he acknowledges that in a
sense at the beginning of that chapter where he writes I pour
myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ who
in presence am base among you but being absent bowls towards
you now he needs in these letters to this church this highly gifted
church at Corinth. He needs to repeatedly remind
them of his authority as an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
asserted again here in the 11th chapter. In verse 5 he says, I suppose
I was not a wit behind the very chiefest apostles. But though
I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge, but we have been
truly made manifest among you in all things." Now, when we come to the closing
chapters, we see it there in Chapter 10, in Chapter 11, we
see it furthermore even in Chapter 12, is continually mentioning
this fact that they provoked him and he's having to say certain
things that he would not have said concerning himself in the
12th chapter of course he speaks of how he was so favored with
such a remarkable revelation he was caught up to the third
heavens and he saw unspeakable things And here in this 12th
chapter, what does he say at verse 10? I take pleasure in
infirmities, he says, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions,
in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I
strong. I am become a fool in glorying. Ye have compelled me, for I ought
to have been commended of you. For in nothing am I behind the
very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing. This is why, previous
to that, he's spoken, and he's spoken very carefully, he's not
made mention of himself, he's spoken in the third person, saying
he knew a man, he knew a man in Christ who was so favoured
with this remarkable sight of things in the very heavens of
God. He doesn't want to be always
speaking of himself. His great desire, of course,
is always to be directing them to the Lord Jesus Christ. In the very first epistle, there
in the opening two chapters, time and again he will say, I
determine not to know anything among you. Save Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. We preach Christ crucified. That was the message. He would
declare the person of the Lord Jesus. He would speak of that
great work that the Lord Jesus Christ had accomplished. And
I did not live to prove all that Christ is. I can do all things.
through Christ that strengthens me. This is why he can write
as he does here in chapter 12 and verse 10. When I am weak,
then am I strong. All that he is, he is by the
grace of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. For me, to live is Christ,
he says, and to die is gain. And so, this is the context that
we have this particular verse that I want to really concentrate
on for a while this evening. It's one in which Paul is having
to speak of himself and his authority while he was the one who had
first preached the gospel of Christ amongst the Corinthians
and saw the establishment of the church. And there they were
rejecting him. But it reminds him of Christ crucified through weakness. Yet,
says he, he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak
in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward
you." We will have that authority that they must recognize. It's
not vested in himself, in his own person, but in that office
that he occupies as an apostle of the Lord Jesus. But let us
come to the to the words of the text, as I said, to deal really
with these two things, Christ's weakness and Christ's power. And first of all, I want to say
something with regard to that power and that authority that
clearly belongs to the Lord Jesus. For though He was crucified through
weakness, Yet he liveth by the power of God, says Paul. Now, what is this weakness? What is this weakness that he
is speaking of? Well, it was not sinful weakness. It was not sinful weakness. In
fact, the word literally means without strength. It's the word
strength, the Greek word strength with the negative A or alpha
at the beginning of the words. Weakness is to be without strength. And what Paul is doing really
is making a contrast between Christ's weakness in crucifixion,
and then his exaltation, after he has accomplished that work
that the Father had given him to do. He speaks of weakness,
then he speaks of power. Though he was crucified through
weakness, without strength, yet he liveth by the power of God. And the word power here has the
idea of might. It's a word dunamis. It's a word,
I suppose, from which an English word like dynamo or even dynamite is rooted. It's a power, the
exceeding great power of God. And now that power of course
was demonstrated in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. He is crucified through weakness
but now he is declared to be the son of God with power according
to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead.
Says Paul there in the opening part of the epistle to the Romans. There's a contrast between Christ,
as we witness him upon the cross, where he's making the great sin-atoning
sacrifice, and then that's that follows. And what follows, of
course, is not only the resurrection, but also the ascension. Oh, there's
also the ascension. Remember the language that Paul
uses in Romans chapter 5 and verse 10, he says, if when we
were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his son,
much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. We
are reconciled by his death, he's crucified through weakness,
we're saved by his life, that is his mediatorial life. Now,
having accomplished that work, the Father has raised him from
the dead, he's declared, he's marked out as the Son of God,
he has all power, he has all authority in heaven and in earth,
and he is able to save to the uttermost all that come to God
by him. This is the contrast that's being
made here at the beginning then of this particular verse. the
contrast between Christ crucified and Christ risen and ascended
and exalted and reigning now in his mediatorial kingdom. But then we have to recognize
this, that even upon the cross even upon the cross Christ also
has authority. No man's taking his life. No
man's taking his life. Therefore doth my father love
me, he says, because I lay down my life that I might take it
again. No man taketh it from me. I have
power. It's a different word. It's not
that word dunamis. It's the word that really means
authority, exousia. I have authority. to lay it down
and I have authority or power to take it again this commandment
have I received of my father and so there even in all that
weakness that withholding of strength as it
were upon the cross he is the one who has authority he has
power and he has that power over men and over devils and now we
see it demonstrated in the gospel we read there in the 19th chapter
of John the account of the crucifixion and he says doesn't he to Pontius
Pilate that he could have no power at all against him, except
it were given him from above. He has no authority. The authority
that Pilate is exercising is that that comes from above, the
powers that be, they're ordained of God. But remember in the previous
chapter, there in John 18, where we read of them coming to arrest
Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane,
and it's quite an amazing portion of Scripture that we have recorded
there. Here is Judas coming with a band
from the chief priests and Pharisees. And we're told at verse 4, Jesus
therefore knowing all things that should come upon him went
forth and said unto them, Whom seek ye? They answered him, Jesus
of Nazareth. Jesus said unto them, I am he.
And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them. As soon
then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward and
fell to the ground. Then asked he them again, Whom
seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I have told you
that I am he. If therefore ye seek me, let
these go their way. that the saying might be fulfilled
which He spake of them which they gave us Me, I have lost
none." But as we said on other occasions, the remarkable thing
is what the Lord says each time when He answers the question. Whom seek He asks, they say Jesus
of Nazareth. and he says at verse 5, I am
he. And then he repeats it in verse
6. As soon as he had said unto them,
I am he, they went backwards and fell to the ground. And then we have that word repeated
again in verse 8, I have told you that I am he. but of course
each time as we've said previously the pronoun he is added in those
three verses five six and eight literally what he said to them
was simply I am he declares his deity he is Jehovah
Jehovah Jesus he is the eternal son of God no wonder As we read
in verse 6, as soon as he says, I am, they went backwards and
fell to the ground. Or they could not approach him,
they could not touch him, they fall away from him. They are
unable to take him. Clearly, he is one who here has
authority. He has authority over men, even
those who would come to arrest him. and he has authorities over
all the demons. He spoiled principalities and
powers and made a show of them openly, triumphing over them
in his cross we read in Colossians chapter 2. How he demonstrates
in something of his authority, something of his power even there
in that state of weakness and not only demonstrating but
also by his death what does he accomplish he could only die by a voluntary
sacrifice and by that sacrifice he accomplished the work that
the father had given him to do when those favoured disciples
are there on the Mount of Transfiguration and they see two talking with
Christ as they see through the veil of his humiliation they
see something of the glories of his deity as the eternal Son
of God and there is Moses representing law and Elijah representing prophets
and They speak of his decease, it
says. They speak of his decease which
he should accomplish. He accomplished his own decease. His life was not taken from him. His life was given. And given
by a voluntary act. We see it again in the passage
that we were reading there in that 19th chapter of John and
verse 13. He bowed his head and gave up
or delivered up the ghost. He makes his soul an offering
for sin. He pours out his soul unto death. He is that one who is making
the great sacrifice. and he's exercised with this
all through his ministry he's aware he begins that ministry
by being baptized by John in the river Jordan and there of
course he accepts that baptism of repentance as he identifies
himself with his people the ones who stand in need of repentance
he has no sin to repent of But there he is fulfilling all righteousness. And as he comes forth out of
the waters of baptism, the Father speaks from heaven and says,
This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. The Spirit
descends upon him in the form of a dove. All the persons of
the Godhead. And with that baptism he's beginning
his public ministry. As I said, he's aware all through
his ministry there's another baptism. I have a baptism to
be baptized with, he says, and how am I straightened till it
be accomplished? Oh, he will accomplish it. And
yet he's so exercising the very depth of his soul that the contemplation
is such a fearful baptism. He's going to be immersed in
awful sufferings. He's going to have to die that
cruel death of the cross. And yet, so determined to accomplish
all that work that He had so willingly undertaken in the eternal
covenant, My meat is to do the will of Him that hath sent me,
He says, and to finish His work. And we are familiar, aren't we,
with the words that He utters there in that 17th chapter of
John? I have glorified thee on the
earth he says to the father there in his high priestly prayer I
have glorified thee on the earth I have finished the work that
thou gavest me to do how remarkable when we consider who it is that
is making that great sin atoning sacrifice none other than the
eternal son of God Again, remember the words of
Paul writing in the opening chapter of 1 Corinthians. Here we're
in the last chapter of the second epistle to the Corinthians. But
there in the opening chapter of 1 Corinthians, he says, the
weakness of God is stronger than man. And we see it, of course. in the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ there upon the cross. He was crucified through weakness, that weakness associated with
all the humility that He manifest in His willingness to serve the
will of the Father in the outworking of the eternal covenant. All Christ as power and authority
there. But let us think further of the humility
of our Lord Jesus Christ here. As I said, this weakness literally
means without strength. And we sang just now in the words
of the hymn, The Strength of God is owned by all but who is
weakness knows how he humbled himself how he became obedient
unto death even the death of the cross at every step we see he is humbling
himself he humbles himself in the incarnation That's a wonderful act of humiliation
on the part of the eternal Son of God. And of course that's
stated so clearly when Paul writes in Philippians chapter 2, that
remarkable passage of Christology, the doctrine of
Christ. He speaks of him being in the form of God. who being
in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, but made himself of no reputation, took upon in the form of a servant,
and was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion
as a man, he humbles himself and becomes obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. He makes himself of no reputation. Now, that's a statement that
is in fact a rendering of a single words and the words literally
means to empty and often the modern versions do translate
it in that very fashion he emptied himself it's a a difficult passage of
scripture, but some would suggest, you see, that he emptied himself
of deity. Well, he never ceased to be anything
than what he is. He could never cease to be divine. He is always the Eternal Son
of God, and really the translators of the Authorized Version are
endeavoring to bring out the true meaning and the proper emphasis
of that word in that context. He made himself of no reputation,
took upon him the form of a servant. He lays aside all his glories. That's what he does there upon
the cross when he's crucified through weakness. and remember
how there on the cross he addresses God the Father how that expression is used in
scripture in reference to the Lord Jesus we find it in the
writings of Paul and of Peter We're familiar with those words
in the opening chapter of Ephesians. Ephesians 1 and verse 3. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. Paul speaks of the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Peter does the same, uses exactly
the same expression there in 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 3. and it's an interesting expression
that the Lord Jesus Christ is one who can look to God and speak
of him as his God and yet also speak to him as his father when
he uses that expression father it reminds us of course that
he is in fact that one who is the eternal son of God He is the Son of the Father in
truth and in love. No man hath seen God at any time,
the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father.
He hath declared Him. And therefore to address the
Father reminds us of that eternal relationship that He has with
the Father. Oh yes, those believers are the
adopted sons of God. But He is the Son of the Father
in truth and in love, the only begotten, the only begotten of
the Father, full of grace and truth. And John says there in
that first epistle, in chapter 2 and verse 23, Whosoever denieth
the Son, the same hath not the Father. but he that acknowledgeth
the Son hath the Father also. He is speaking then of the Father
in terms of that eternal relationship. Again in the second epistle of
John, whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine
of Christ hath not God. he that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ he hath both the father and the son he has the father
and the son the truth then of his eternal
sonship when he is spoken of in terms of that one who can
speak of the father blessed be the gods and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ. But when we think of Gods, and the Lord speaking in
that fashion of His Gods, upon the cross, My Gods, My God, He
cries, why hast thou forsaken Me? Isn't that something of His
felt weakness? that felt weakness of his human
nature, his sinless human nature. It's all part and parcel of his
sufferings. It's very much that. It's the
Lord Jesus crucified in weakness. The reality of that human nature. Obedient he must be, and obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. all that felt weakness
that the Lord knows and feels and it's that weakness of his
human nature in comparison really with the divine nature his deity and now we have to recognize
that as a man here upon the earth He's living that life of complete
and utter dependence upon the Holy Spirit. He lived a life of dependence.
How was the human nature conceived? The Holy Ghost shall come upon
thee, the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee. says the
angel to Mary, therefore also that holy thing that shall be
born of thee shall be called the Son of God. All his life
he is dependent upon the Spirit, the human nature conceived by
the Holy Spirit, but then as he lives his life as a man, as
he casts out demons, as he performs miracles, He says himself, if
I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then is the Kingdom of
God come among you. He cast out the demons by the
Spirit of God. Christ is the one who is sent
by the Father, and as He is sent, He's not only made of a woman,
He's made under the law. and he's subject to every precept
of that law of God and when he comes to die what is he doing?
he is suffering the curse of that law of God that law that
he had perfectly obeyed and kept and yet now suffering as a substitute
Christ has redeemed us says Paul from the curse of the law being
made a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone that
hangs on a tree. All the wonders of the life that
the Lord Jesus Christ lives and the life that He gives in dying.
Always living in dependence upon the Holy Spirit. And as he's
living that life of complete and utter dependence on the Spirit,
so he's also living that life of faith. He's trusting in God. He is the son of God, but in
a sense he is, as a man, that one who must be always looking
to God. Blessed be the God and Father. He's the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ, as well as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Why?
Because Christ is living that life of faith. And did they not
cast that in His face, there upon the cross at Calvary? Matthew
27, 43, He trusted in God, let Him deliver Him. Let him deliver him now if he
will have him, for he said, I am the Son of God. Or they cast
it into his teeth. He trusted in God, he did. He
lived that remarkable life, that life of faith. And so, living
the life of faith, he is that one who can also feel for his
people. He knows and feels all our sinless
weaknesses, doesn't he? Because we have not a high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
He was tempted in all points, like as we are, yet without sin.
All this is the wonder of what the Apostle is declaring here.
we have to feel something of our own weaknesses if we would
enter into what the apostle is saying he was crucified through
weakness yet he liveth by the power of God it is through the
cross that he comes to obtain the crown and rules and reigns
but how we have to come to that place
where we feel our own complete and utter weakness, our inability
our nothingness, that's what Paul was brought to as he says
there in that 12th chapter at the end of verse 11, though I
be nothing a cipher, a zero he rejoices then as the Apostle
even in the way in which these Corinthians
are so despising him because he is ever the more cast upon
the Lord Jesus Christ he says at the end of the text we also
are weak in him but we shall live with him by
the power of God towards you we will yet manifest to them
something of his authority as an apostle because he is so completely
and utterly cast upon the Lord Jesus Christ and he can do all
things through Christ the one who strengthens him. Presently we're going to observe
as a church that holy ordinance, the Lord's Supper And there,
of course, we have Christ set before us in all those awful
sufferings that he had to endure. Suffering, yes, at the hands
of men, but suffering primarily, of course, at the hands of God. And remember how, when Paul writes in that first epistle to the
Corinthians concerning the Lord's Supper. He speaks about in that
supper Christ is set before us. It's remarkable language that
Paul is using there. We often read that passage, it's
a familiar passage that we have at the end of chapter 11 in first
Corinthians. But how remarkable are those
words? Ye do show the Lord's death,
he says. It's the gospel in pictures. It's a showing. There's something
to behold. There's something to look upon. there's something to wonder at there at the Lord's table because
the whole of the gospel is set before us in such a vivid way
it's the Lord's own ordinance and it is a means of grace to
His people there we come to remember Him and to feed upon him, the
very one that the Apostle is speaking of here in this text
before us tonight, the one who was crucified through witness,
yet he liveth by the power of God. He is that one risen, exalted,
glorious in heaven, the one to whom all authority, all power
belongs. and all that we might be those
who knowing him rejoice in him just as the apostle is rejoicing
in him here where he has to recognize and acknowledge as we said at
the beginning his own weakness there was much that they could
despise about him and yet what authority his words are clothed
with because he truly is the Lord's, the Lord's Apostle. Though
he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of
God, he says, for we also are weak in him, or as the margin
says, with him, but we shall live with him by the power of
God's towards you. The Lord's Be pleased to bless
to us His Word and help us as we come now to observe that Holy
Supper. Amen.