Let us turn to God's Word and
turning to the second book the second epistle of Paul to the
Corinthians in chapter 6 and verse 9 a few weeks ago we
did consider the opening part of this verse in 2nd Corinthians
6 verse 9 as unknown and yet well known as dying and behold
we live as chastened and not killed." As I said a few weeks
ago we were looking at the opening words of the Apostle as he declares
concerning himself and remember we said he is a pattern to them
which would hereafter believe in the language that we find
there in first Timothy chapter one he says of himself as the
pattern believer as unknown and yet well-known and so we considered
those three different views of the child of God first of all
we have the the world's view as are known. John says, the world
knoweth us not because it knew Him not. It did not know the
Lord Jesus Christ though He came as the One who is the Creator
of the world, the Creator, the Sustainer of all things. He came unto His own and His
own received Him not. how the world is ignorant, ignorant
with regards to the Lord Jesus Christ, ignorant with regards
to the life of the children of God as unknown. But then we also considered God's
view and how striking is the contrast as unknown and yet well-known. And I remarked on the significance
of that little adjective, not just known, but well-known. How well the Lord knows His children,
the Lord knoweth them that are His, says the Apostle writing
to Timothy the Gain. Of course we are familiar with
the words of Romans chapter 8, that glorious golden chain in
which we see God's purpose from eternity to eternity, whom He
did foreknow. He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of His Son. Moreover, whom He did predestinate
them He also called, and whom He called them He also justified,
and whom He justified them He also glorified. And it all begins
with the fact that God well knows His children They are foreknown,
for He knows them, because He has set His eternal love upon
them, and having loved them, He has predestinated them to
salvation and to glory, as unknown, unknown by the world, and yet
well-known, well-known by God Himself. And then the third view,
I said, is that that the believer as of himself, And in a sense,
both of these statements are true, are they not? The believer
at times hardly knows himself. And yet at other times, the believer
knows himself only too well that his act is so paradoxical about
the life of the child of God. For we walk, Paul says, by faith
and not by science. Well, these are some of those
things that we were considering just a few weeks ago now. And
we consider, therefore, something of that paradox of the believer.
and his life and his experiences and yet I did say at the time
that behind what Paul is writing here in this particular chapter
behind it all lies those real physical experiences that Paul
had to pass through as he sought to exercise his ministry how
costly it was as he sought to be faithful in serving his gods
in the gospel. And now he declares something
of these things in these verses there at verse 4. He says it
was in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in
imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watchings, in fastings. All these were real. trials and
troubles that the Apostle has to pass through. And of course,
as we said then, he is defending himself, he's defending his ministry
against those false teachers who had crept in amongst the
Corinthians. He goes on later in chapter 11
to speak somewhat more of his experiences. Verse 24 there he
says of the Jews, five times received I forty stripes save
one, thrice was I beaten with rods. Once was I stoned, thrice
I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I've been in the deep,
in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers,
in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen in perils
in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the
sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness and painfulness,
in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often,
in cold and nakedness, all the variety of this man's experiences,
and they were very real experiences, physical trials and troubles
that he found himself having to pass through as he sought
to engage in that ministry that the Lord had given to him and
see how here in this ninth verse he uses these words dying as
dying he says and not killed He was on one occasion left for
dead as we read there in Acts chapter 14 when he was at Lystra. They drew him out of the town
and they stole him. In verse 19 of Acts 14 there
came Dither Telistra, certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium
who persuaded the people, and having stone-pulled, drew him
out of the city, supposing he had been dead. He was shipwrecked. Shipwrecked. We have the record
of that, do we not also, in Acts chapter 27, when he's making
that journey from Jerusalem to Rome, and that tremendous storm, and
even the mariners, experienced sailors, cannot in any sense
control the ship, they have let the vessel dry, they just committed
to the to the elements, and they are shipwrecked. In fact, as
we saw there in Chapter 11, he says thrice, I was shipwrecked,
three times. He's speaking then of things
that were so real in his own case. And yet, as I said on that
last occasion, he is principally here setting before us something
of the paradox of the life of the child of God. It's not just
his own natural life that he's speaking of, he's speaking of
spiritual things, he's a pattern to them which should hereafter
believe and it is the life of the Christian in verses 9 and
10 as unknown and yet well known as dying and behold we live as
chastened and not killed, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing,
as poor yet making many rich as having nothing and yet possessing
all things Well, this morning I want to concentrate your attention
for a little while on what he says at the end of this ninth
verse. The text is really found in these words, as dying and
behold we live, as chastened and not killed. To say something
then with regards to this experience of chastening. And it is a paradox,
is it not? when the child of God is chastened
and corrected by His heavenly Father. Whom the Lord loveth,
He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. We read the words earlier there
in Hebrews chapter 12. Those that are loved of God are
the very ones who are chastened. God afflicts His children. Now
isn't that a strange Paradox. Here is a mark of our sonship
that God comes along and discourages us. Well let us consider something
of the experience of chastening as we have it in these statements,
these parallel statements at the end of this 9th verse here
in 2nd Corinthians chapter 6. As dying and behold we live. as chastened and not killed. First of all, to say something
this morning with regards to the difficulties. The difficulties
of this way of chastening. What is it to chasten? Well,
it is to correct, of course. It's to discipline. It's to teach
someone by and through sufferings and chastening is that that is
usually associated with the raising of our children. Our children
come into this world of course and they look such innocent little
creatures when we see them as babes but we know that they are
the sinful offspring of sinful parents as sin has caused down
the generations from the fall of our first parents and our
children therefore as they grow have to be taught the difference
between right and wrong. And how we see this brought out
time and again in the wisdom literature of the Old Testament.
so different of course to the spirit of the day in which we're
living, in which it seems that chastening is that that's frowned
upon. You correct your children, if you practice any sort of corporal
punishment, that's very much frowned upon. And yet, how clear
God's word is, if we are those who really love our children,
we will see the wisdom of what God himself declares here on
the page of Holy Scripture. There are several verses or passages
we could refer to there in the book of Proverbs. For example
in chapter 3, Verse 11, my son, it says, despise
not the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary of his correction,
for whom the Lord loveth he correcteth, even as a father the son in whom
he delighteth. And clearly it is that passage
that the Apostle has in mind when he's writing there in Hebrews
chapter 12. He draws a comparison between
the good and the wise father. Because he delights in his son,
he chastens him, and so he says that we're not to despise God's
chastening. It's a part and parcel of his
fatherhood. But as I said, there are several
references again. There in Proverbs 13 and verse
24, He that spareth his rod hateth his son. but he that loveth him
chasteneth him betimes." Chasteneth him many times. Again in Proverbs
19.18, Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy
soul spare for his crying. Chastening then is associated
with afflicting someone in a physical sense, laying the rod upon them. it hurts to be chastened, to
be corrected and as I said it is that that is normally associated
with the discipline of children and interestingly here in the
text the word that we have rendered chastened as chastened and not
killed this particular verb is derived from the Greek word for
a child. It's derived from the noun for
a child. Literally, the word could be
rendered like this, to train a child. That's what chastening
is. It's the training of a child. And so we see something, do we
not, with regards to what it means in the experience of the
Christian when God comes and chastens us. It is a very humbling
experience, is it not? It is humbling when we have to
be treated as if we're little children. We like to imagine
that we're those who have grown in grace. We like to imagine
that we're those who have become mature in our Christianity. And yet how often the Lord has
to come and chasten us. And in that experience it is
so humbling. And yet it is that that is also
so necessary. Remember the teaching of the
Lord Jesus Himself, when He speaks of the very manner in which we
become a Christian. We have to be converted. We have
to be converted to become Christians, but what is conversion? Well,
the language of Christ there in Matthew 18, verse 2, Jesus
called a little child unto Him and set Him in the midst of them.
and said, Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted, and become
as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of
heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as his little
child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Here
is the paradox again. Who is the greatest in God's
kingdom? He who is but a little child. Oh, you see, Christianity
is such a humbling religion. And how necessary it should be
so, because so much pride is bound up in our sinful hearts.
It's bound up, is it not, in what happened there in the Garden
of Eden with our first parents. As we've said many a time, it
is unbelief that is the root of all sins. And it's unbelief
there in the heart of Adam and Eve as they transgress, as they
fall. But that unbelief is very much
bound up with pride. When the serpent comes as the
instrument of Satan to Eve, what does he say concerning, if she
will but partake of that forbidden fruit, ye shall be as God. Lord
you come now even take of this fruit of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil you'll be like God, you'll be God it's prime
and in order to be saved of course we have to be converted and we
have to become as little children if we're going to enter in at
that straight gate and walk in that narrow way of course John
time and again writing in his epistles speaks of believers
as little children the favorite term is it not with the Apostle,
the loved Apostle John writing there in the opening verse of the second
chapter of his first general epistle, my little children My
little children, He says, these things write unto you that ye
sin not. And if any man sin, we have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. He goes on, verse 12, I write
unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for
His name's sake. I write unto you, fathers, because
you have known Him that is from the beginning. I write unto you,
young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto
you, little children, because ye have known the Father." Oh
yes, he speaks also of fathers and young men, but he begins
with the little children, he ends with the little children.
It's a great phrase that John loves to return to time and again. Again, there at the end of the
epistle he says, my little children, keep yourselves from idols. It is a humbling experience,
if God is pleased to constantly be reminding us that we are but
little children. And we need to be reminded, do
we not? We need to be humbled before God. But this experience
of chastening it's not only that that is humbling in the experience
of the people of God it is also a hard experience and a bitter
experience we have parallel statements here in the end of this verse
and look at what the parallels are we live is equivalent to
not killed therefore chastened is equivalent to dying as I say these are parallel statements
as dying and behold we live as chastened and not killed to live is not to be killed to
be chastened to be chastened in a sense is to experience are
dying because when God chastens us it is in order to the destruction
of the old nature we have to be those you see who are to mortify
the deeds of the body and God teaches us the need of that there's
an interesting portion that we have in the book of Job concerning
chastening there in Job chapter 33 and the passage from verse 19 Job 33 verse 19 we read He is chastened also with pain
upon his bed and the multitude of his bones with strong pain
so that his life abhorreth bread, and his soul daint he meet, his
flesh is consumed away that it cannot be seen, and his bones
that were not seen stick out, yea, his soul draweth near unto
the grave, and his life to the destroyers." Now clearly here, this description
of chastening concerns a person who is in a serious state of
health here is a man you see who appears to be on his dying
bed there's no hope for him he is chastened it says with pain
upon his bed his soul draweth near unto the grave and his life
to the destroyers This chastening then is a hard
and a bitter experience. God deals with his people sometimes
in a very severe manner. There's no escaping that fact. If it's not bodily illness that
he visits upon us in the way of chastening, there are other
ways. God sometimes will visit us in
the way of chastening by bringing great trials into a family. And
maybe we're aware of some who've been in those circumstances. Tremendous trials have come into
the family circle. Or it might be, you see, that
God deals with us in the workplace, and there are terrible difficulties.
There are characters that are so hard to deal with in the place
where our lot is cast under the providence of God, these difficulties.
It's all part and parcel of God's dealings with us, is it not?
And if there are not those external trials and troubles that come
and serve as chastenings and corrections, sometimes there
are those inward spiritual trials. Now we have to struggle with
our old natures at times. And the apostle certainly felt
that. He recorded so plainly, does
he not, in the familiar words of Romans chapter 7. or the conflict
between the old nature and the new nature. And Paul, in his
agony, cries out, O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? There are spiritual trials, you
see, that can serve as the Lord's chasing. Sometimes the Lord hides
His face from us, does He not? When He deals with us because
of our sins. Our iniquities are those that cause him to hide
his face, and the heavens then see him as brass. Chastening is not only a humbling
experience, but it can be a hard and a bitter experience, like
and even unto a dying. And yet in all of these dealings,
in all these chastenings and corrections, we have to be careful
to observe the truth that there is nothing at all vindictive
in the way in which God is dealing with us. We're never to forget
this blessed truth that the Lord Jesus Christ is that one who
for his children has borne in his own person the wrath of God. There is nothing of God's wrath
when he comes to chasten us. Chastening is a mark of God's
love and God's affection. All the wrath of God has been
borne in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the propitiation
for our sins. that is plainly declared in Holy
Scripture. Here in His love, not that we
love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Now we've said it before, but
I say it again, how important that word is. I know it's a technical
word, propitiation. It's a theological word. But
we're not to be afraid of theological words in Holy Scripture. We're
to take God's Word serious. And here is the great beauty
of the authorized version. I don't think you find that word
propitiation in the modern versions. They don't like it. Because the
significance of that word propitiation is that it has to do with the
Godward aspect of our sin. There is of course a human aspect
to our sin, but there's also a Godward aspect. Now the human
aspect is this, when we sin we are found guilty before God and
that guilt of our sin has to be dealt with that guilt has
to be punished because God will by no means clear the guilty
God's justice is such that it demands that the price is paid
and that price of course the price of redemption is the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, it's Christ dying in the sinner's
room instead. It's Christ dying the just for
the unjust. And the word that's associated
with that human aspect of our sin and our guilt is the word
expiate. The sin is dealt with, it's punished. It's punished in the person of
another, Christ as the substitute. but then propitiation refers
to the Godward aspect because God, you see, is angry with the
wicked every day and that justice of God must be satisfied and
that wrath of God must be appeased and that's what the Lord Jesus
Christ has done He has satisfied the holy righteous justice of
God. And so, with regards to God's
dealings with His children, there is nothing of wrath. When God
comes to correct us and chasten us as those who are His own,
there's nothing of wrath in it. It's all love. Whom the Lord
loveth, He chasteneth. The psalmist says, the Lord hath
chastened me sore, but he hath not given me over unto death.
For it is the Lord Jesus Christ who has died, bearing the punishment
of our sins, if we are those who are the Lord's. Whom the
Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. of course several hymns that
we could have sung this morning that take up this blessed theme
one such is that 871 and there at verse 4 we have these words
for this correction render praise it is given thee for thy good
the lash is steeped beyond the lays and softened in his blood It's all softened in the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. So chastening be a humbling experience,
so chastening be a hard experience to endure. Oh thank God there's
nothing of wrath. It's all done in mercy and in
love. Well I think sought to define
in some way what this chastening is. I want in the second place
to say something with regards to the design, the design of
this chastening. Now God chastened his ancient
people Israel. He chastened them of course at
the time of the Babylonian captivity. They are not all Israel that
are of Israel. There in the Old Testament there's
always the doctrine of the remnant. The true spiritual Israel is
to be found as a very little remnant in the midst of ethnic
Israel. And at the time of the Babylonian
captivity, where was that true Israel? It was to be found in
those who were removed into exile. Those who were taken into captivity. What he's got doing there, he
is chastening his people. and so what does he say in the
ministry of his prophets and you can think of the prophet
Jeremiah who's ministering at the time of the Babylonian captivity
and this is what he says Jeremiah 29 11 I know the thoughts that
I think towards you thoughts of peace and not of evil to give
you unexpected end that's God's design when he comes to chastening
His children. He knows the thoughts, our thoughts
of peace. There's an expected end, there's
a good end that God has in view. We read it just now, did we not?
There in Hebrews 12 and verse 10, He for our profit that we
might be partakers of His holiness. Chastening is profitable, you
see. It's that we might be partakers of His holiness. And doesn't Paul go on to speak
of these things here in the context of our text this morning? As
dying and behold we live as chastened and not killed. What is God's
aim in all the chastenings of His children? Well, when we come
to the end of the chapter look at what he says verse 17
wherefore come out from among them Be ye separate, saith the
Lord, touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you and will
be a father unto you. And ye shall be my sons and daughters,
saith the Lord Almighty. Having therefore these promises,
dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness
of the flesh and spirit-perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. Oh, this is what God's objective
is when He chastens His children. It's to make them a holy people.
It's to make them a holy people. Remember how the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself speaks of it. He declares that He is the Vine. Part of those great I Am statements
that we have in John's Gospel. I am the Vine, He says. And he speaks of believers as
the branches. I am the vine, you are the branches.
My father is the husband. You know the language there in
John chapter 15, and he says, every branch that beareth fruit,
he purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit. What is the
purging? It's the cutting back of the branches of the vine to
make it more fruitful. It's the chastenings that God
visits upon His children. The Lord goes on and He says
this, Abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit
of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except
ye abide in me. What does God do with us? He
is constantly teaching us this. Our dependence, our complete
dependence, our right to dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh,
this is God's purpose in chastening us. To show us our great need,
our real need. And that need centers all together
in Christ. Look at what he says previously
here in chapter 4. Again he is speaking of course
of himself and his own ministry. There at verse 8 he says, 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. Then he comes to this, 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. What did he learn then? In all
his experiences he is learning this is dependence upon the Lord
Jesus Christ. And it wasn't only the experience
of a man like The Apostle Paul is the experience of the God.
Think of that good king, King Hezekiah. And how Hezekiah is there himself
at the very gate of death. Now all things seem to be against
him. You're familiar with the history
of Hezekiah. There in the southern kingdom
of Judah, the armies of Sennacherib, the host of the Assyrians have
poured all over the land and the cities have fallen and there
is the Assyrian general Rabshakei at the very gates of Jerusalem
and he's taunting the people. And there is poor Hezekiah shut
up in his own city. and they bring the message, the
letter as it were that comes from Sennacherib, the Assyrian
emperor to him and he takes the matter to the temple of the Lord
and spreads it before the Lord. Praise over these things. And
God grants a wonderful deliverance. Oh God removes the host of those
Assyrians Sennacherib has to return to his own country because
there's been some uprising and so the siege is relieved but
then the prophet comes and tells the king to set his house in
order, he's sick and he's not going to rise from his sick bed,
it's death and he's so sick he can't now go to the temple, he
can't spread the matter before the Lord in the house of the
Lord but he turns his face to the wall and he cries to his
God and before ever the Prophet has left the royal court God's
message comes is to return to King Hezekiah because God has
heard his prayer and God's going to add some 15 years to his life
he's going to live and not die but what does Hezekiah say in
the midst of all these things that great prayer of thanksgiving
in Isaiah 38 He says, O Lord, by these things men live, and
in all these things is the life of my Spirit. In all those things
that came upon him in his own person, in his kingdom, with
the host of the Assyrians against him, in all these things there's
spiritual life. You see, there's life in chastenings.
And we have it here in the text as dying and behold, We live. And again, let us observe the
language. That little word, behold, literally, see. As dying and
see, we live. Why in the midst of death, there
is life. That was the experience of King
Hezekiah, was it not? In the midst of death, you see,
the believer finds life in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15.31,
he says, we die daily. Oh, there's a daily dying in
the life of the Christian. We have to be dying to ourselves,
dying to this world. We have to discover constantly,
increasingly, that the Lord Jesus Christ is the believer's all
and in all. Again, look at the language of
Paul, the familiar words there in Galatians, Galatians chapter
2 and verse 20, he says, I am crucified with Christ. I am crucified
with Christ, nevertheless 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. All friends, to be able to take
up that language, And we can only take it up as the Lord is
dealing with us, you see, in the way of chastening, correcting
us, teaching us, teaching us our complete and our utter dependence
upon the Lord Jesus. But how important it is in all
of these things that there's that that exercise, that spiritual
exercise, we're not to imagine because our life is difficult
and because things seem to be going against us there's going
to be some sort of automatic blessing and profit in these
things, that's not the case is it? observe again that word behold
all we need to look and we need to learn The game, we read it
there in Hebrews 12, no chastening for the present seemeth to be
joyous but grievous. Nevertheless afterward it yieldeth
the peaceable fruit of righteousness. To whom? To whom? It says to them who are exercised
thereby. Are we exercised in our soul?
There are some people who think it's very important, and it is
important to exercise the body. they're concerned, they don't
want to be overweight and so forth, they want to have healthy
bodies, that's good and commendable but are we concerned to exercise
our souls? are we those who would be examining
ourselves, improving ourselves and knowing ourselves? are we
those who would be searching the word of God? meditating in
the scriptures considering the great doctrines that are unfolding
we referred just now to the significance of that word propitiation or
do we sometimes as we read God's word want to dig a little deeper
into God's word and try to understand the things that are written here or that we might be those friends
who are exercised it's then that we find that there's profit Oh, in the midst of all our own
weakness we're brought simply to cry to the Lord. What do we
know of being exercised in prayers to God, calling upon His name? Surely in prayer we'll learn
more and more our dependence upon Christ. How can we approach
God? If we know anything of our sinnership,
How can we ever take God's name upon our lips? Only as we come
imploring the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. How we have to
invoke that name time and time again as we pray to God. Dependence. Dependence upon Christ. This is God's design in all His
dealings, in all His chastenings. And then finally this morning,
this all must ultimately be to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. I've spoken of chastening, that's
a spiritual thing, a spiritual exercise. But remember, behind
what Paul is writing here lies his own experiences in the course
of his ministry. That's what he's speaking of.
He's defending himself, he's defending his ministry to these
Corinthians because of those false teachers. who crept in
and stolen their affections and turned them against Paul and
so he writes to them and he writes time and again of his ministry
in chapter 4 he says therefore seeing we have this ministry
as we have received mercy we faint not, but have renounced
the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor
handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth,
commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight
of God." Verse 5 he says, "...we preach not ourselves, but Christ
Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake."
We come to this 6th chapter, and again he's still speaking
of his ministry. He says, We then as workers together
with him beseech you also that you receive not the grace of
God in vain. For he saith, I have heard thee
in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored
thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. giving no offense in anything
that the ministry be not blamed, but in all things approving ourselves
as the ministers of God." He's speaking again, you see, of his
own ministry. And all of this, all of this
ministry that he seeks to exercise is only for the glory of the
Lord Jesus Christ. This is his great aim. all this
is his great objective that Christ might be glorified amongst these
Corinthians and so what does he say in verse
10 as sorrowful yet always rejoicing as poor yet making many rich
as having nothing and yet possessing all things all you Corinthians
our mouth is open unto you our heart is enlarged you are not
straightened in us but you are straightened in your own bowels
how He appeals to them He wants to see Christ glorified amongst
them for of Him and through Him and to Him are all things to
whom be glory forever and ever oh God grant that this might
be our great desire that to us Christ might be all and Christ
might be in all, that all the Lord's dealings with us might
teach us increasingly our utter dependence, and that we might
be those who desire only to give the glory to the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself. May the Lord bless to us His
Word today. Amen.