Let us turn to God's word and
turning to 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 and the text I want us to consider
is found in verses 10 and 11 in 2nd Corinthians 4 10 and 11
always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life also of Jesus might
be made manifest in our mortal rather manifest in our body for
we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus sake that
the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal
flesh you'll observe it's the same truth really in both of
these verses that we have set before us and
it really amounts to that death that comes before life that death
that comes before life and I want us to try to consider the two
parts then of the text in the first place the deliverance to
death and then in the second place the manifestation of life,
always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus,
that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus'
sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our
mortal flesh." The theme then is death before life. And we have to observe here that
there is certainly a difference between grace and nature. Because
with the latter we would say that death follows life. But
with the former, with grace, death is experienced first. We see that quite clearly here
at the beginning of verse 10. always bearing about in the body
the dying of the Lord Jesus, and then again at the beginning
of verse 11, we which live are always delivered unto death for
Jesus' sake. Now, when we come to this portion
of Scripture, we have to recognize the fact that in some ways Paul
is certainly speaking of something of his own experiences. it's the experiences of Paul
that are very much in the background as we see in the previous verses
he says there that verse 8 we are troubled on every side yet
not distressed we are perplexed but not in despair persecuted
but not forsaken cast down but not destroyed and then we come
to the words that I've read for our text this evening he's writing
to these Corinthians but he is remembering something of his
own experiences and certainly we know that when he was at Ephesus recorded in Acts chapter 19 he
experienced such persecutions that were like
unto death there at Ephesus he was engaged in the ministry of
the gospel part of his apostolic labors as he is the great apostle
to the gentiles and remember there was that man Demetrius
the silversmith And when Paul writes to these Corinthians,
he is reminding them even of things that had happened when
he was there. If we go back, for example, to
what he says in the opening chapter of the Epistle. Verse 8, We would not, brethren,
have you ignorant of our troubles which came to us in Asia, that
is, in Asia Minor, He's writing to the Church of Corinth, Corinth in Achaia, the southern part
of Greece, but he's referring to things that had occurred previously
when he was in what we would call Turkey, Achaemina, as it's
referred to here in the New Testament. And so, having gone from Achaemina
over into Achaia into that southern part of Greece and preached at
Corinth. He's now writing to the Corinthians
and he reminds them. We would not, brethren, have
you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, where Ephesus
was, that we were oppressed out of measure, above strength, in
so much that we despaired even of life. But we had the sentence
of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves,
but in God which raised the dead. who delivered us from so great
a death and doth deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver
us and as I was saying it was persecution that arose from the
activity of that silversmith called Demetrius who was a great
uproar and Paul and his associates were at the center of it and
they were in great danger of being killed and you can read
of it there in in Acts 19 at verse 23 following and the whole
city was in such a such an uproar and there were those of Paul's
company who were likely to lose their lives it would seem because
of the opposition This man called Gaius and another called Aristarchus. Verse 29 in Acts 19, the whole
city filled with confusion. And they called Gaius and Aristarchus,
men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in trouble. And they rushed with
one accord into the theater, and when Paul would have entered
in unto the people, the disciples suffered him not. And certain
of the chief of Asia, A Shemina, which were his friends, sent
unto him desiring him that he would not adventure himself into
the theatre, because they could see the danger that might well
result from his seeking in any way to interfere with what was
going on. This was his experience then,
and he writes of these things here in this particular chapter,
this fourth chapter of 2nd Corinthians. If we go back to the first epistle,
he also makes mention of it there at the end in chapter 15. He
writes these words, if after the manner of men I have fought
with beasts at Ephesus. It obviously made some impression
upon his mind, the intensity of the opposition. and the threat
that was there to his very existence. Again, later in this second episode
of the Corinthians, in chapter 11 and verse 23, he speaks of
being in death's aft. In death's aft. You see how he's writing then,
out of his own experiences. Always bearing about in the body
the dying of the Lord Jesus. We which live, that is live spiritually,
are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake. It was a tremendous cost, as
he sought to exercise that ministry that he received from the Lord. And it wasn't just at Ephesus,
there in Asia Minor. There were other places also.
In Acts 14 and verse 19 we read of him at Lystra, How they took
him out of the city and they stoned him and they left him
for dead. He was stoned and he was left for dead. All his experiences time and
again. Experiences that he had in Greece
also. Greece, made up of those two
regions, Achaia in the south and Macedonia in the north. And what does he say here in
chapter 7? Verse 5, When we were come into
Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every
side. Without were fightings, within
were fears. Well, this this man found that
his constant experience was one in which he always seemed near
to death within a hand's breadth of coming to the end of his life
and he's defending himself in these Corinthian epistles because
of those false teachers who had crept in amongst the Corinthians
and and stolen them really and persuaded them against the apostle
and he has to defend himself, he has to defend his ministry
and all that that ministry cost him and later in chapter 11 for
example he speaks much concerning his ministry and compares himself with those
false teachers there at verse 23 in the 11th chapter Are they
ministers of Christ? He asks. That's what they claim
to be. They were false teachers. Are
they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more
in labours, more abundant in stripes above measure, in prisons
more frequent in deaths. Of the Jews five times received
I forty stripes, save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods.
Once I was stoned at Lystra. Thrice I suffered shipwreck.
A night and a day I've been in the sea, in journeys, often in
perils of waters, in perils of rubbers, in perils by mine own
countrymen, in perils by the heathen, and so he goes on. So
he goes on. He doesn't want to do this, but
it's necessary because he has to establish the fact that his
ministry is a God-appointed ministry. He has to answer the false teachers. And so here what does he say?
Verse 9, we have the sentence of death in ourselves. We have the sentence of death
in ourselves. That's back in chapter 1 and
verse 9. Now, we recognize of course the
fact that there is an appointed time to die. The time would come when the
apostles' appointed time arrived. He says, doesn't he, to the Hebrews,
it is appointed unto men once to die. He's aware of that. To everything
there is a season, a time to every purpose under heaven. The
time to be born. time to die. You're familiar
with the words of the preacher there in Ecclesiastes 3. But when we come to the words
of our text it's not so much his physical sufferings and our
nearly would come to death many a time but we are really to understand
these verses in terms of his spiritual experience as a child
of God, those things that he feels inwardly, in the very depths
of his being, those things that he feels in his soul, he speaks
of a persuasion. That's what we have really in
that opening chapter of verse 9, the sentence or the persuasion. of death in ourselves the persuasion, the answer the
answer of death in ourselves and he goes on in that opening
chapter in the 10th verse to refer to it as so great a death
it's so great a death that he is speaking of there we have
the sentence the persuasion, the answer of death in ourselves
that we should not trust in ourselves but in God which raises the dead
who delivered us from so great a death. What is the greater
death? It's not these physical experiences
that we've sought to remind you of recorded throughout the Acts
of the Apostles. That greater death was the death
that comes because of sin. and he had such a sense of what
he was as a sinner he was once a pharisee and when he was a
pharisee he thought he imagined he was spiritually alive he thought he was the most religious
man and considered himself to be righteous touching the righteousness
which is of the Lord he said he was blameless there writing
to the Philippians He didn't understand. But then
the commandment came, didn't it? As he says in Romans chapter
7, and the commandment slew him. And he was dead. He was not spiritually
alive. And this is what he is writing
of here, a deliverance to death. Always bearing about in the body
the dying of the Lord Jesus. for we which live are always
delivered unto death for Jesus' sake and I want to observe with
you two things with regards to this deliverance to death a spiritual
death what does it involve? two things it involves the conviction
of sin but it also involves a conflict with sin those two things First
of all, there is that conviction. And isn't it a fact that the
first sign of spiritual life in the soul is that sense of
sin? When the Lord begins with us,
does he not show us what we are, we which live? We who are spiritually alive
are always delivered unto death. for Jesus' sake. Or what are
we by nature? We are those who are dead in
trespasses and sins. We're all familiar I'm sure with
the words of the Apostle there in Ephesians 2. You are the quickened
who were dead in trespasses and sins wherein in time past ye
walked according to the course of this world according to the
prince of the power of the air the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience among whom also we all had our
conversation in times past in the lust of our flesh fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature
the children of wrath even as others but God who is rich in
mercy and so he goes on what does God do in the richness of
his mercy He brings new life into the soul of that person
who is dead in his sins. New life from Him we must receive,
before for sin we rightly grieve. This is where it begins. There
must be some measure of that conviction, that realization
of what we are, that we're sinners. That's the ministration of the
Lord of God, we know that. what thing soever the law saith
it saith to them who are under the law that every mouth may
be stopped and all the world become guilty before God and
isn't that what the apostle has been speaking of here in the
previous chapter the ministration of the law and he's contrasting
the two testaments as it were contrasting the law of the old
and the gospel the New Testament and his desire to be an able
minister of that New Testament and he speaks of the ministration
of death there in chapter 3 at verse 7 the ministration of death
written and engraved in stones was glorious so that the children
of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for
the glory of his countenance which glory was to be done away
or there was a glory in the law. There is a glory in the law.
There's nothing wrong with the law. The law is holy. The commandment is holy and just
and good. It's God's law. But what is a
ministry of the law? It's not to bring salvation.
It brings that conviction of sin. It pronounces death in the
soul of the poor sinner. It's a ministry of condemnation. as well as the ministration of
death. It shows two things and it's
contrasting there that ministration of the law with the ministration
of the gospel which is the ministration of the spirit and the ministration
of righteousness and it's more glorious, he says, than the law. All the ministry of the law then
is to show us what we are to bring that conviction of soul and to make us to feel that we
cannot. We cannot measure up to what God's law requires. And why can we not do it? Because
of what we are. We are sinners in our very natures.
We are those who are alienated from God. The carnal mind is
not subject to the law of God, says Paul, neither indeed can
believe. Oh, the sinner hates the Lord
of God. He finds that He does nothing
really but condemn him. It makes him feel what he is.
As a sinner, his impotence, his unbelief, the impossibility of
faith. Again, Paul says, doesn't he,
to the Galatians, before faith came, we were kept under the
law. Shut up! Shut up to the faith which would
afterward be revealed. And how How he and the Psalmist
feels it there in the 88th Psalm, I am shut up, he says, and I
cannot come forth. And yet this is where God begins. He brings that conviction into
the soul of the sinner. And the believer is brought face
to face with his unbelief, and he has to believe what he is,
he's an unbeliever. They believe that they cannot
believe, said Ralph Erskine. That's where God begins with
us. He turns the man to destruction. He turns the man so that he comes
to the end of himself. And he can't believe. And he
wants to believe. But he's been delivered over
to death. Or could I but believe, then all would easy be, I would
but cannot. Lord relieve, my help must come
from Thee, the cry of dear John Newton. There is then this deliverance
over to death, the conviction of our sins, the sense of our
impotence and our utter inability, no hope in self. no hope in self
or what does he say there in verse 9 of that opening chapter
we had the sentence the persuasion the answer of death in ourselves
that we should not trust in ourselves or which in order that we're
not trusting now in in ourselves but we're trusting in God which
rises to death. There is then this deliverance over to death
wherein there is the conviction of sin but at the same time there's
also something else, there's a conflict there's a conflict
with this sin always delivered unto death it
says here in verse 11, we which live are always delivered on
to death there is that that sense of our sinnership at the beginning
there's a conviction of sin but it doesn't go away in a sense
because we're always being delivered on to death there's a constant
warfare there's a continual conflict with sin and all for Jesus' sake, that's
what it says. All were delivered unto Jesus
for Jesus' sake. What does happen is this, that
the faith in Christ is being tried
and tested. And the more we're in that trial
and that testing, the more we feel our need of Christ, the
more we're having to conflict with our old nature, the more
we see our need of Christ. Isn't that what Paul is saying
really throughout that seventh chapter of Romans? He's learning, he's complete,
he's utter dependence upon Christ because of what he's feeling
in himself. He has a new nature, yes. He's
alive spiritually, but he still has his old nature. And The one
is contrary to the other. The good I would, I do not. The
evil that I would, not that I do. The flesh is lusting against
the spirit. The spirit is lusting against
the flesh. And you cannot do the thing that you would, he
says in the Galatian epistle. And it's what God has purposed.
There at the end of Philippians 1, unto you it is given in the
behalf of Christ not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer
for His sake. All that faith is given, it's
a precious gift of God, but it doesn't come alone, does it?
That's what Paul says there in that 29th verse, the end of Philippians
1, unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to
believe, but also to suffer for His sake. And the Lord Jesus himself tells
us, in the world ye shall have tribulation. But be of good cheer, I have
overcome the world. The believer is continually living
then this life in which he is conflicting with himself, with
his own nature. But his real self is not that
old man of sin his real self is that new man of grace and
I find it most striking really the way in which Paul concludes
that seventh chapter of Romans the last verse he says I thank
God through Jesus Christ our Lord It's all for the sake of
Jesus that we might learn our complete and utter dependence
upon Him. I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. And mark what he says, So then
with the mind I myself serve the Lord of God, but with the
flesh the Lord of sin. With the mind, that's the new
man, that's the new man of grace, serving God, But then the flesh,
that's the old man, the old man of sin, serving the Lord of sin. But look at what he says. So
then with the mind, he doesn't just say I serve, he says I myself. It's emphatic. The new man. This is the real Paul. This is
the real me. With the mind, I myself serve
the Lord of God. He's not a split personality.
Some would just dismiss it. You say, oh, I say he's some
sort of schizophrenic. He has a split personality. That's
not what he's saying. He's speaking of spiritual things.
He has a new nature. Always a partaker of the divine
nature. But he still has that old nature
and there's conflict. always bearing about in the body
the dying of the Lord Jesus, for we which live are always
delivered unto death for Jesus' sake. There is a deliverance
into death where we have to learn what we are as sinners, which
we are awakened, no longer dead in trespasses and sins, and yet
awakened to feel what we are. and to feel the awfulness of
our sin and the sin of unbelief and the impossibility of faith
but then also here there is that that is the positive there is
a manifestation of life and this is the purpose of the
experiences that I've just sought to outline in some measure because
he then introduces the second clause in each of the verses
verse 10 that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest
in our body and again that the life also of Jesus might be made
manifest in our mortal flesh and The force really of the language
that he is using here is this, it's in order that, it's purposive. It's in order that the life also
of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. It's all in order
that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal
flesh. there is this constant need of
deliverances this is the believer's continual
experience he is always being delivered and doesn't it say
that again in the opening chapter? the sentence of death, yes, in
verse 9 and that sentence of death in ourselves that we shouldn't
trust in ourselves but in God, the one who raises the dead,
verse 10, who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver,
in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us. Oh, there's deliverance here,
past, present, future. He doth, he delivered, he does
deliver, and He will yet deliver us. It's the constant experience
of the people of God. What does the psalmist say? Oh
God, command deliverances for Jacob. Oh God's Jacob, God's Israel.
And remember Jacob becomes Israel there in Genesis 32. at Peniel and Jacob Israel continually
needs to be delivered command deliverances Psalm 44 and verse
4 command deliverances for Jacob and we need deliverances you
do I do continually again the Psalmist Psalm 34, 19. Many are the afflictions of the
righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. You won't
avoid afflictions. Many are the afflictions of the
righteous. Who are the righteous? They're
the justified ones. They're those who are in Christ. They have His righteousness upon
them. And yet, they know affliction. And the Lord will watch over
them and deliver them. And you do it time after time
after time. It's a continual experience. They also are the people who
need God's chastenings, aren't they? Whom the Lord loves, He
chasteneth. and scourgeth every son whom
he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God
dealeth with you as with sons. What son is he whom the Father
chasteneth not?" If we're the Lord, we'll need correcting. We have that all nature. We cannot
say what the Lord said, the Prince of this world cometh and hath
nothing in me. He was altogether free from every
taint of sin, wasn't he? No original sin there. What was
conceived in Mary's womb, that holy thing, which shall be called
the Son of God. What was united to the eternal
Son of God, that holy thing, that's His human nature, His
human body, His human soul, He was whole of it. He was free
from every taint. of sin in living he was wholeness,
he was harmless, he was undefiled, he was separate from sinners.
He only could say, the prince of this world cometh and that
nothing can be. That didn't mean that he knew
nothing of temptations. He was tempted in all points,
like as we are, yet without sin. And as we've said before, in
many ways his temptations were more intensive than any other.
Satan would bring the whole artillery of his temptations to bear upon
the person of the Lord Jesus and all to no avail. How sorely he was tempted. When
he comes to the end he says to his disciples, ye are they which
have continued with me in my temptations. His life was one
scene of temptations. I know after his baptising when
he's led of the spirit into the wilderness he's tempted there
of Satan but that's not the end we read how the devil left him
for a season just for a season but really his life was made
up of temptations he was tempted in all points
like as we are yet without sin But when Satan comes to us, we
do fall, we do sin. And the Lord needs to take us
in hand. The Lord will come and He will correct us. No chastening for the present
seemeth to be joyous, but grievous, says Paul, nevertheless afterward. It yieldeth the peaceable fruit
of righteousness to them who exercise thereby. That's the
important thing, isn't it? That we're exercised. Spiritual
exercise in our souls when the Lord deals with us. We don't just live passive lives,
I trust. There's something of the blessed
activity of that saving faith in our souls. But we know that we We need the
Lord to come and to deliver us. We need fresh manifestations
of that life of God in our souls. And we cannot keep our own souls
alive, can we? We can't do it. The Lord must
communicate spiritual life to us. And that's what the Lord
does. Real religion in that sense is
experimental. It's an experience. It's the
experience continually of the grace of God. What does that
godly king Ezekiel say in the midst of all his troubles? And
that man knew so troubles. He was king there in Jerusalem
when the Assyrians came under Sennacherib and they come right
the way through the northern kingdom of Israel and destroyed
the northern kingdom, scattered the people. They come into Judah,
the walled city that's fallen, they're there at the very gates
of Jerusalem. Jerusalem's under siege. And
then the Prophet comes, doesn't he, and tells the man to set
his house in order. He's not going to live, he's
going to die. And remember how he turns his
face to the wall. And he prays, and he cries, and
he calls upon his God. and the God delivers him from
the Assyrians, and extends his life 15 years. Remarkable really,
and what does he say in his great prayer of thanksgiving there
in Isaiah 38? Oh Lord, by these things men
live. By all these bitter experiences,
by all this being delivered over to death, by these things men
live. In all these things is the life
of my spirit. It puts some metal into the man's
soul. That's what the Lord does with
us. That's what the Lord does with us when he comes with his
corrections, his chastenings. Bitter, bitter trials are useful. Why? Because they are there to
cause us to be more and more cast upon the Lord Jesus. Is that what happens with us? We have to examine ourselves
and prove ourselves and know ourselves. So what happens? Are
we, by these experiences, being cast more and more upon the Lord? Always bearing about in the body
the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might
be made manifest in our body. We which live are always delivered
unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might
be made manifest in our mortal flesh. We think of those great
words, I'm sure you're familiar with them, those words of Galatians
2.20, Paul's testimony, I am crucified. Oh, I am crucified with Christ.
Nevertheless, he says, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by
the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for
me. What a testimony. He's simply
saying all his life, all his spiritual life comes from one
source and one source alone. It comes only from the Lord Jesus
Christ. But what does Christ say? Remember His words, we have them
there in the Gospel, in John chapter 5, verse 21, As the Father raiseth
up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom
He will. Then again, verse 25, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the
dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that
hear shall live. It's only in the Lord Jesus Christ
that we can find any true life, any spiritual life. But how does
the Lord manifest that life in us? First of all, He delivers
us over to death. The conviction of sin, the conflict
with sin. He delivers us over to death
in order that we might learn more and more what the life of
faith is. and as we've said many a time
what is that life of faith? it's a life that centers in the
only object of faith it's that continual looking unto Jesus
looking only unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith or
the Lord then grant that we might know something of this experience
that that death that comes before life but ought to know what it
is to have that life established in our souls by the grace of
God and to live in complete and utter dependence upon the Lord
Christ. May the Lord bless to us His
word.