Turn with me, if you would, to
2 Corinthians chapter 13. 2 Corinthians chapter 13. We are about to close out our
study of 2nd Corinthians starting the last chapter this morning. And the Apostle Paul says in
verse 1. This is the third time. I am
coming to you. He came to them once in person. And we've read about that in
Acts chapter 18. That's where he physically went to Corinth. And it was there in Corinth that
the Jews, when he first started preaching and traveling, he went
to the Jews. Salvation is unto the Jews. And
he went to the Jews. And it was at Corinth that the
Jews rejected him and he finally said, that's it. I'm going to
the Gentiles. And the whole reason we are gathered
here right now as Gentiles is because God allowed that to happen.
And that's a prime example of what we're gonna see at the end
of this, how man can mean whatever he wants to mean for whatever
reason. You meant it for evil, God means it for good. God is
sovereignly in control of every single thing, every single thing. And so his intention was to leave. He said, I'm going to the Gentiles.
I'm gonna bring this gospel message to the Gentiles. And his intention
was to leave. And the Lord spoke to him in
a vision and said, don't leave, stay with them. This is what
the Lord said to him. He said, I have much people in
this city. And that's a wonderful thing
to hear. And I pray it might be said about this city. I have
much people in this city. Well, Paul stayed and he preached
to him for a year and six months. A year and a half, it says. And
that was the first time he came to them. The second time he came
to them was in a letter. 1 Corinthians, the letter of
1 Corinthians. The third time was in a letter. 2 Corinthians, the one we've
been studying. And he says in verse 1, this
is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or
three witnesses shall every word be established. He said, you've
heard the same witness from God three times. This is the third
time I'm coming to you. And in the mouth of two or three
witnesses shall everything be established. And he said, you've
now heard it at the mouth of three witnesses. Let it be established. This is how he's closing out
his letter to them. Let it be established. Now, if
it is not at the mouth of two or three witnesses, Let's not
let it be established. If it is not at the mouth of
two or three witnesses, we would be wise to just wait. Just wait. Wait on the Lord. Wait and see. Just because somebody
says something, that does not mean it's so. People like to
say things and say, well, that's just a fact. Well, it may or
may not be a fact. Just wait. Just wait. Let's not
jump to conclusions. and believe something to be a
matter of fact until we hear it at the mouth of two or three
witnesses. That was our Lord's way. Our Lord acknowledged that
to be the proper way, even including himself, concerning his own self. Look with me at John chapter
5. John chapter 5 verse 31. Our Lord said, if I bear witness
of myself, my witness is not true. And you will find that
to be so in almost every case. When someone bears witness of
themselves, usually it's not true. When they say, oh, I can't
do that. I'm the worst at that. You don't
want me to do that. Usually that's not true. And when they say,
I'm the best at this, you need to listen to me on this. Usually
that's not true. And our Lord said, if I bear witness of myself,
my witness is not true. There is another that beareth
witness of me. And I know that the witness which
he witnesses of me is true. You sent unto John and he bear
witness unto the truth. But I receive not testimony from
man, but these things I say that you might be saved. He was a
burning and a shining light, and you were willing for a season
to rejoice in his light. But I have greater witness than
that of John, for the works which the Father hath given me to finish,
the same works that I do bear witness of me that the Father
hath sent me. and the father himself which
hath sent me hath borne witness of me. You've neither heard his
voice at any time nor seen his shape and you have not his word
abiding in you for whom he hath sent him you believe not. Search the scriptures for in
them you think you have eternal life and they are they which
testify of me. He said John bore witness of
me The works that my father gave me to do, they've borne witness
of me. He said, if you don't believe me, just believe the
works I've done. And he said the father himself hath borne
witness of me. Now look with me at 1st John,
chapter 5. 1st John, chapter 5. Verse 7, For there are three that bear
record in heaven, the Father, the Word which is Christ, and
the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. And there are three
that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, the Spirit bears witness
to God's people, the Spirit bears witness to our spirit that we're
the sons of God. The spirit bears witness, and
the water and the blood that flowed from his side, that cleansing
water, redeeming blood, these agree in one. If we receive the witness of
men, the witness of God is greater. For this is the witness of God,
which he hath testified of his son, He that believeth on the
Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not
God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that
God gave of his Son. And this is the record that God
hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life. And he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life. There are enough witnesses for
that to be established. Let that be established. He that
hath the Son hath life. And he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life. Witness upon witness upon witness. That is God's way and it needs
to be ours. Don't turn over there but in
Matthew 18 the Lord said If there's an offense between two brethren,
if two brethren become at odds with each other, they need to
come together and they need to reconcile. But they need to bring
one or two brethren with them. that at the mouth of two or three
witnesses, every word may be established. So that's just good
for us to learn and know. It's always a good idea. That's
just a wise way to handle things at the mouth of two or three
witnesses. All right, go back with me to
second Corinthians 13. Verse two, he said, I told you
before when he came to them that first time. And he said, I foretell
you or foretold you in my first letter as if I were present the second
time. And being absent now here in this second letter, I write
to them which heretofore have sinned and to all other that
if I come again, I will not spare. He keeps bringing this up. He
keeps bringing this up. This must be important. It's
almost like he brings this up in every chapter. We keep going
through this and he keeps bringing it back up and he keeps bringing
it back up. These errors, these sins that they were committing.
And every time I come to it, I study through this and I come
to it and this is what I say every time. We've already covered
this. Let's move on. Let's just skip
that and move on. But then it hits me every time
there's a reason why God has put it in here over and over
and over. It's because we need to hear. God's people need to hear this. They need to be reminded of this.
Paul told them three times from the authority of God, on the
authority of God, he's speaking on behalf of God Almighty, Three
times, He said, I've come to you saying, stop the rebellion. Stop the rebellion. All of the
open rebellious sin. Stop all that rebellion. Now,
all have sinned. All have sinned. There's not
a soul in this room that has not sinned and is not a continual
sinner in the flesh. All have sinned. But we know
when a root of bitterness has sprung up in us. We know when
a special root of bitterness has sprung up in us. We know
when rebellion against God's Word to us. We hear it. We read it. We don't like it.
It's rubbing us the wrong way. We know when that is so great
that it starts producing a hindrance in his church. To the point that
it starts not only affecting us, but everybody around us.
That's one thing if I'm affecting myself. But it's another thing
when I start affecting everybody around me. The influence of what
we're doing. Everything we do influences somebody. I want to tell our kids, everything
you do influences the younger kids. They're looking to you. Young men, everything we do influences
those just below us. Aged men, everything you do influences
us young men. Everything we do, the spirit
of what we're doing, the spirit that we're doing it in. If I
become what detracts men from Christ, if I become the distraction
of worship, then I need to be prepared for God to deal with
me. And He will. He will. He will not allow a
stumbling block to stay between him and his people. He just won't
do it. This Corinth right here, this
was a example church in many ways. This was a divided congregation. And you know, one of the things
that causes me to say this is I don't ever want us to follow
in their footsteps. I just don't. Some places become
divided congregations. It's heartbreaking. It's absolutely
heartbreaking. I want love to grow here. I want
unity to grow here. And when it happens, it's just
terrible. But Corinth promoted division. Corinth wanted division. I don't want you having anything
to do with him. Don't have anything to do with
him. Do not speak to her. Don't talk to her. Corinth promoted
false teaching. We talk about all these false
teachers that came in and seduced them, and they wanted it. They promoted false teaching. They taught each other. They
instilled in each other things that go directly against God's
Word. And they did it in the name of
free grace. They did it in the name of liberty in Christ. Well, I have liberty in Christ.
I can do that if I want to. They were suing each other. That's one of the things he dealt
with in the first letter. They were all suing each other.
Don't sue each other. Don't sue each other. Don't sue
anybody. If You come to my house and steal everything in my house.
What I need to do is be defrauded. That's what God tells me to do. Be defrauded. If those things
are taken from you, be defrauded. You can have everything in my
house. I hope you loved it. But that's what I need to do. Don't
sue him. Be defrauded. God allows these things to happen
to us. And Paul said three times, this is what he's telling them,
three times now the message, and this has been his message
when he came, when he wrote the first letter, when he wrote the
second letter. Three times he said the message of grace. He has pointed out the error
and then covered it with grace every time, every time. Three
times the message of love, He's pointed out the division and
the hard feelings and all the errors and then he smothered
it with love. Three times the message of forgiveness. This is where we have the verse,
forgive as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you. That message
of grace, God's true giving grace. given his son love giving his
son forgiveness giving his son he said three times that has
come and now he says grace and love and forgiveness needs to
be established in us it has come to us may it be established in
us And he said, if I come again and I see that it's not established
grace and love and forgiveness and joy, he said, I will not
spare. But Paul is not being harsh with
them. He is not being harsh with them.
He told them when we started, I don't know how long ago it
was that we started this, but we looked at it immediately.
He told him in chapter one. He said, I'm writing this letter
to you because I want to spare. That's the reason. Let me show
that to you. Go over to chapter 1. 2 Corinthians 1. Verse 23. Moreover, I call God for a record
upon my soul that to spare you, I came not as yet unto Corinth. He said, I would have come in
person. I would have gladly come in person. But I know that these
things are still going on. And he said, I wanted to spare
you. I just wanted to give you the word of God one more time.
Let me just send the word of God one more time. Verse 24,
not for that we have dominion over your faith. but are helpers
of your joy for by faith you stand. He said, I'm not trying
to rule over you. I'm not trying to rule over you.
None of God's true messengers are. He said, I'm just trying
to be faithful to God's word. That's all God's messenger wants
to do. Be faithful to God's word. Just
be faithful to what he's written for his glory, for our good. All right. Go back to second
Corinthians 13. Verse two, he said, I told you
before and foretell you is 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 you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, which to you
word 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 toward you. They kept accusing Paul of being
weak. They kept accusing that man of being weak. They said
he can't be God's man. Look how weak he is. He's so
weak. Paul's response to them was,
that's exactly right. I am weak. I'm weak. That's what he kept telling them.
I'm weak. But this message is not. I am weak. But this message is not. This
message is the power of God unto salvation. That's the truth. That's the truth. His work on
the cross was the power of God unto salvation. Every soul in
him is going to live by the power of God unto salvation. Every single soul. Verse four,
he said, for though he was crucified through weakness, though he sorrowed
unto death, Though he was nearly beaten to the point of death,
whenever they would crucify men, most of the time they didn't
make it to the cross. They died in the beating before
the cross. Usually that's what happened.
And our Lord was so beaten and so marred, as the man, as our
substitute, as us, he was so weakened He said, I'm sorrowing
even in death. He finally said, I can't even
finish carrying the cross up to the top. They had to lay hold
of one Simon to finish carrying that cross up. And though they put nails in
him, and though they spit on him, this is God. This is the
power of God. In that man is the power of God. And though they mocked him all
the way up to that moment when he gave up the ghost, though
he died, though they buried him, he is risen. He was raised by the power of
God. He lives by the power of God. He lives in the power of Himself,
God Himself. And we also are weak in Him. Do you want to know a good description
of God's people? God's sheep? Weak. In every way, shape, and form. Weak. We are weak in Him. And we were weak with Him. We
suffered with Him. Died in Him. But we're going
to live with Him. By the power of God, the same
power that raised him will raise us. We preach the power of God. This message comes in the power
of God. In their question of, they continually
ask, is this God's man? The Corinthians, is Paul God's
man? They kept asking it over and
over again, is this God's man? What Paul was telling them was,
stop looking to the man. Stop looking to the man. And
I love this. This is supposed to be halfway
through our Bible study. This is going to round us out.
We'll save the rest for later. But I love this. The power and
all the authority is in the message. It's in the message itself. When it comes to us individually
as believers, when we look to ourselves, all right, I wake
up on Sunday morning and I look to my notes and I look to my mind to see
if I've got my mind around them. I look to my heart to see if
my heart is right. I look to my stance. When we
look to ourselves, all we will ever see is weakness. When I
look at these notes, when all I'm doing is looking at these
notes, usually I don't see it. When I'm looking, is this going
to really feed God's people? I don't know. I just don't know.
I really don't know. I'm just not sure. Do I have
my mind around what I'm going to say? I don't know. I don't
know, that's why I'm pacing in the foyer. Is my heart ready
to do this? I don't think so. All we're going to find is weakness,
weakness, weakness. There is no power in us, but
thank God the power is toward us. The power is of Him, and it's
of the message of His Word. I am so thankful to God for that.
Now, if I was in religion, the power would have to be in me,
or I'd have a high turnover rate in the congregation. I'd have
to keep you. But we're not in religion. We're
in the power of God. And I'm so grateful for this.
The power is of the gospel. The power is in the gospel. It's not in the man who preaches
it. It has never been in the man
who preaches it. It was never in Charles Spurgeon. It was never in Martin Luther.
It was never in Saul of Tarsus. It has never been in the man
who preaches it and it will never be in the man who preaches it. It's in the gospel itself. Any man that God decides you're
the one who's going to stand up and declare what I have done
for sinners through the death of my own son. God can take one
word and slay a heart with it. God can take one word and feed
a soul with it. It's in the gospel. All the might
is of God and it's not of man at all. Every time I preach this,
I am so afraid. I live a life of fear. That's my life. That's my life. I live a life of fear and worry. And it's because I have to stand
up and do it again. Sometimes I get finished with
the Bible study and I think, do we really have to do it again?
Get finished with Sunday morning and think, do we really have
to do it again? Not that I don't want to preach God's true and
living gospel. But it's just so, so, so fearful. So fearful. And I stand up in
this pulpit in such personal weakness. Every time I do it,
I'm a little less confident than the time before. When I first
started, I was ready to go. And I used to think, how could
a man say, well, I'd just rather you do it? I think I'd rather
you do it. The only confidence that I have
in this flesh is if God leaves me to myself, this flesh will
fall flat on its face and this flesh will try to glorify itself
and not God. That's the only confidence I
have. And knowing that, how do you
stand up and do it again? How am I going to be able to
do this all the way to the end? How can I keep going all the
way to the end? Where am I going to find the
strength to stand it up and do it one more time? It's right
here. Knowing. Knowing in that moment
of weakness. When the Apostle Paul said, when
I'm weak, I'm strong. It's because when I get to that
place where I cry, Lord, I'm so weak. The best thing that
would ever happen to me is for me to just faint right now. God
says to the heart, the power is in the word itself. It's in
the message itself. It's not in you. Stop looking
to you. And you start looking to my ability.
You start looking to my son. You start looking to my word.
You start looking to my spirit. You start looking to my will.
You start looking to my purpose and preach the gospel. And with
that, I can stand up one more time and say, let's open the
Word. And Paul told them, and if I
had budgeted my time better, I would have shown you, he said,
even though all these false teachers are lying on me and telling you
that all of us apostles are reprobates, I trust that God, I'm going to
tell you the truth, and I trust that God will convince your heart
we're not reprobates. And this is the truth and it's
all going to be okay. God is sovereign over all these
things. So, well, next time we'll pick up where we left off. All
right, you're dismissed.