Turn with me, if you would, to
2 Corinthians 12. 2 Corinthians 12. What the Apostle Paul is saying right here in these verses,
I believe, Is very difficult. And I believe
it's very sad. I've gone over this and gone
over this and gone over this and gone over this. And. It's very sad to me. And. I pray that the Lord will show
us the glory of it, because what he is saying in this is wonderful. What he is getting at in all
of this is glorious. It is truly wonderful. But I want to give a recap of
some of the things that he's said throughout both of these
letters to the Corinthians. A few years ago, we studied the
book of 1 Corinthians. And throughout this last year,
we've been going through 2 Corinthians. We're almost finished with it.
And we have seen that the letters to the Corinthians, specifically
to that local assembly, Paul had to write some things to them
because there were a lot of problems. There were a lot of problems
in the congregation. Things were taking place that
should not take place in God's church. Just should not be. Many times he had to sharply
rebuke them. And it's easy for us to see the
things that they were doing and the things he said to them and
for us to look at that congregation and say, man, what a mess. Absolute
mess. But here's the truth of the matter.
Wherever the flesh is. Error will be. Wherever flesh
is, problems will be. Sin will be there. No congregation is exempt from
it. No congregation is. Thank God,
in the end, he will overrule for all of his people. In the
end, after it's all over, he will overrule. Paul told Timothy,
Preach the Word. Preach the Word. Just go line
upon line, verse upon verse, say out loud what God has written. Just openly say what God has
written and God and His Spirit and His Word will reprove, that
means convict, You just openly say what God has written. It'll
convict. It will rebuke. That means correct. And it will exhort. That means
console, encourage, and lift up every one of God's children. Just preach the word. Just keep
preaching the word. Now, we have seen through the
Apostle Paul what he wrote, how God dealt with them. on the issue of division. That
was the first one. In 1 Corinthians, that's the
very first thing that he had to talk about right out of the
gate. Division. They all had their favorite preachers.
You remember that. Some say, well, I'm of Apollos.
And some say, I'm of Cephas. And they had their favorite preachers.
They had their favorite believers. If they didn't like somebody,
they cut them off. Paul said, brethren, these things
can't be. There's no division in God's church. There's no division
in the body of Christ. There is no division in this
body. None. It just cannot be. He continually
had to deal with them on the issue of fornication. You remember
that? It kept coming up. And it kept
coming up. Kept coming up. Sleeping together
outside of marriage. It was just as rampant back then
as it is today. It is rampant today. Believers
in the church God's people they thought It's okay It's okay,
it's just sin that's all it is I'm a sinner Christ came to save
sinners No big deal Paul said it cannot be it cannot be God
is not going to allow a sinner to to look him right in the eyes,
the eyes of his word. See it point blank in the word
and just keep spitting at him and just keep mocking him. God's
not going to have it. He's not going to put up with
it. He had to deal with them on the issue of their giving.
And the only reason I bring these things up, especially that one,
that's the one I like to stay away from. But I can't. Paul couldn't. We couldn't. The
only reason I bring them up is because he's about to talk about
it. He's about to deal with it. And
he told them that they were not a giving church. They were not
givers. And I am so thankful. Every time this comes up, I'm
so grateful for the giving heart that the Lord has given this
congregation and all the congregations around us. When I first came
here, all the congregations around us supported this ministry. It blessed my heart. I thank
God for the fact that they were a giving congregation. Such a
blessing. But the Corinthians were not
givers. And Paul didn't take anything
from them. Nothing. Never did any of the
men take anything from the Corinthians. They were probably the richest
congregation in the region, but they didn't have that heart to
give. And so Paul said, if that's the case, I don't have the heart
to receive. I'll receive the things I need
from the Macedonians. They were the poorest congregations
in the region. He said, I'll take it from the
poorest ones assembled because God has done a work on their
heart and they are giving their all. They're giving their all.
And Paul knew that God's not going to let them suffer from
that. They're not going to be able to out give their God. And
Paul said to the Corinthians, that's what God lays on the heart.
They love and they give to God, just like we love and give to
our children. We're not giving to the church.
God's people don't give to the church. We're not giving to the
preacher. We're giving to God. We're just
saying thank you for everything you've given me. You have given
me your son. You gave me your son. You gave
me the blood of your own son. You have given me salvation. You have given me redemption. Complete, total reinstatement. Redemption with God. You've given
me eternity. Eternity. You may be like me. I'd love to get my house paid
off. Because then I'm going to, you
know, be able to take my ease in my own mind, you know. Not
have to worry about it. God's given us an eternity, a
free provided eternity. Eternal life and eternal inheritance. He has given all of us homes
here. If we have a home, The Lord gave
it to us. He gave us clothes. He's given
us food. Lord, you've given all, and I
just want to say thank you. That's all. God's people give
as God has given to them. They forgive. Paul dealt with
the Corinthians on that. Forgive, forgive as God, for
Christ's sake, has forgiven you. But he told them, be givers. Not to me. He told him over and
over again, not to me. Don't give it to me. Just give
it to somebody. I say the same thing. I honestly say the same
thing. You don't have to give here. You don't have to give
to this congregation. Just give it to somebody. Paul
had to deal with them continually breaking the laws of the land.
They were breaking the law. Peter dealt with the same thing.
We're going through first Peter. We'll all see when we get to
it. We're about to come to it. Peter said the exact same thing
Paul did. All of God's messengers deliver
the same message to all of his people. Be law-abiding. Be law-abiding
citizens. Just because we're redeemed,
does that mean we're lawbreakers? God forbid. God forbid. The common warning, not just
from Paul to the Corinthians, But from all the apostles to
all the churches was stop listening to false prophets. He told the
Corinthians that. He told the Galatians that. He
told all of them that. Stop listening to false prophets.
Our Lord said, you'll know them by their fruit. Let them say
what they want to say, but you'll know them by their fruit. All
right. Now, with all of that being said,
all of those things being said, let's read down through these
verses. And we're going to see what Paul says to the Corinthians. And then we're going to see what
he is saying to the Corinthians, meaning what he's getting at
in all of this. And then let's see the gospel
in it. All right. Verse 12, 2 Corinthians 12, verse
12 says, Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you
in all patience, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds. He
said, the fact that I am writing the truth has been proven to
you. He's writing this letter to him.
And the fact that it's the truth has been proven to you. This
is the word of God. And we say the same thing today
by what is written. God confirmed what Paul was writing
with signs and wonders. And God now confirms what we
are preaching by the word that was written with signs and wonders. This is how you can know if somebody's
telling you the truth or not. He'll tell you what is written
in this word. Only what is written in this
word and all of what is written in this word. Verse 13 says,
For what is it wherein you were inferior to other churches, except
it be that I myself was not burdensome to you? Forgive me this wrong."
He said the only thing that made you inferior to the other churches
was you didn't give. You did not give to support God's
ministry. And he says just like he did
in the last chapter, If I have offended you in not taking anything
from you, forgive me. Forgive me this wrong. He didn't
do that. He didn't do anything wrong to
them by not taking. But he continually told them,
he wrote in here, don't be an offense. That's another thing
he kept dealing with. Don't be an offense. Don't be an offense. Don't be an offense. So he said,
if I've offended you, please forgive me. Verse 14, behold,
the third time I am ready to come to you and I will not be
burdensome to you. I'm not going to take anything
from you. For I seek not yours, but you. For the children ought
not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.
And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you, though
the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. Now it is
very sad. It is very, very, very sad. But this is a common occurrence
among believers. We would love to believe that
we are all truly Christ-like right now. But we are still sinners. And it's a very common occurrence.
This flesh will ruin everything. It will. It will. At some point,
we will all disappoint each other. We will all disappoint each other. That crushes me. That just crushes me. I don't want to disappoint you.
I don't. I do not want to disappoint you,
but I know at some point my sin will get the best of me. This old man right here will
rear up. He will. An offense will take
place. Sometimes they're very difficult
to get over. Sometimes people offend each
other and it is very, very difficult to get over. Believers end up
growing colder and colder toward each other. They just grow farther
and farther apart. It's one of the saddest things
I know of. It is so, so sad. Let's beg God. Let's pray. Let's actively right
now start praying for God to help us in it. Let's beg the
Lord to help us through it. Let's pray that if it happens,
and if we've been around the truth and the gospel and people
long enough, it is already proven to us that it happens. Let's
beg the Lord, if it happens here, please, revive us again. Please, deal with this flesh.
Deal with me. and revive us again. Fill each
heart with Thy love. Make each soul rekindled. Rekindle us. Rekindle us back
to that time when the love of Christ reigned between us. Rekindle that fire and that love
from above. Brotherly love is priceless. Sophie asked me yesterday, we
were driving down John B. Dennis, and she saw priceless
foods. And she said, why does it say
priceless foods? Because she saw something in
a movie and the guy said, talking about a gym, and he said, it's
priceless. She said, why does that say priceless
foods? And I had to explain the difference in what they were
saying. Brotherly love is priceless. You can't, I don't care, I don't
care how much money these men have who were on the Forbes list.
I don't care how much money it is. Would I take all of that
money to be severed from my brethren? Would you? It is priceless. It's priceless. It's precious. Nothing is worth losing it for. Nothing. May the Lord protect
it. Oh, Lord, protect it here. The
end of verse 15, he said, the less I be loved, Verse 16, but
be it so, I did not burden you. Nevertheless, being crafty, I
caught you with guile. He said, I didn't take anything
from you, but I caught you accusing me of it. I caught you accusing
me of being in it for the money. And this just hits, it just hits
home to me so much. I just, I don't want this. I
don't want, I'm thankful he wrote it because it scares me to death. Lord, please, please retain the
love. Please let my flesh not do anything
that gives reason for things like this. Help me, please help
me. Verse 17, He said, Did I make
a gain of you by any of them whom I sent unto you? Did I tell
any of those men to take up a collection and bring it back to me? Verse
18, I desired Titus, and with him I sent a brother. Did Titus
make a gain of you? Walked we not in the same spirit?
Walked we not in the same steps? Again, think ye that we excuse
ourselves unto you? Do you think I'm trying to make
an excuse over all this? He said, we speak before God
in Christ. We're speaking in the eyes and
ears of the Almighty God. But we do all things, dearly
beloved, for your edifying. We're saying every bit of this
for your benefit. This is all for your benefit
before God. Verse 24, I fear lest when I
come, I shall not find you such as I would. When I come, I'm
afraid I won't see what I'm hoping to see. He went on to say in
that I shall be found unto you such as you would not. I'm afraid
that I'm going to have to say things that you don't want me
to say. Verse 20, lest there be This is what I'm afraid I'm
going to find. Debates. Just debating and debating. People love debating. That's
contention, arguing. Envyings. Jealousy. Jealousy
is just a bad thing. Wraths. That's anger and hatred
inside. Stripes. Fighting, that wrath
inside brings fighting on the outside. Backbitings, tearing
each other down. Whisperings, secrets, secretly
stirring up trouble. Swellings, tumults, that's commotion,
instability, confusion. Swelling is pride. Verse 21,
and lest when I come again, my God will humble me among you.
He said, if I come and see all that, it's going to bring me
into such a depression. And that I shall bewail many
which have sinned already. I'm going to cry. I'm going to
grieve. I'm going to Mourn over this because I'll see that there's
no repentance. That's what he ended up saying
have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and the lasciviousness
that's the lust and the shamelessness and filthiness Which they have
committed now after that I wrote in my notes Wow I mean, that's just tough. That's
tough. That's tough. That's what He said to them.
This is why. That's what He said to them.
This is why. He said, I'm saying this to you
because... I'm saying this to you because. The middle of verse 14 says,
I seek not yours, but you. I'm for you. I am for you. I am being honest. These difficult things that nobody
wants to talk about, nobody wants to go there. I'm being honest. I'm telling you the truth because
I want you to humbly bow the knee to the almighty God. I want you to follow Christ. I don't want anything from you.
That's what he's telling them. I don't want anything from you. I just want to be a fellow heir
with you. That's all I want. I just want
us to be brothers and sisters in our Savior for all eternity. That's all I want. That is all
I want. So he said in verse 15, I will
very gladly spend and be spent. For you. By God's grace, I'll labor with
all my might to preach God's word to you. Until I can't preach
it anymore. I will spend, this is what Paul
is saying, I will spend, I will spend, I'll spend until I can't
spend anymore, until I'm spent. He's saying my love is so sincere,
I don't need anything from you. I don't need anything from you.
God will supply all my need. And if he will enable me to do
so, if he will keep it in my heart to do so, I'll spend everything
I have and everything that I am to preach the gospel to you for
the sake of your soul. Do you see in verse 15, the margin
for you? It says your souls for the sake
of your souls. I seek not yours, but you. You, I'm seeking the good of
your souls. If we will hear that, I seek
not yours, but you. If we will hear that with our
spiritual ears, if we will, for just a minute, put our spiritual
ears on, we will hear the gospel. Listen to the voice of our Savior
as He speaks to His Beloved. Listen to the Lord Jesus Christ.
He says, I seek not yours, but you. The good news of the Gospel is
that our Lord Jesus Christ seeks nothing from us. Nothing from us. In order to
belong to Him, He requires nothing from us. We didn't want to give
it anyway. We were not givers. We were completely
taken in all of these fleshly lusts, both from a spiritual
sense and a physical sense. Does all of these things not
go straight to the heart and slay us? But He says to us, I
seek not yours, I don't seek anything from you. Nothing. There is nothing we could give
to him to earn his favor and his love. Paul told him, in spite
of all that stuff, I'm for you. I love you. You accused me of
being in this for the money, for gain. He said, I love you.
I'm for you. Oh, against the God that ruled
the sky, we fought with hand up, lifted high. Father, forgive
them. They don't know what they're
doing. I don't seek anything from you to earn my favor and
my love. Nothing that we have, nothing
that we are, nothing in us, nothing on us, nothing in our hand we
could bring, but thank God He did not seek ours. He sought
us in our empty condition. in our worthless condition. In our vile, wrong, rebellious,
sinful, selfish condition, He came to seek and to save that
which was empty, and that which was worthless, and that which
was vile, and that which was selfish. Lost. Ruined. And when He found us,
He laid us on His shoulders And He carried us home, crying, Rejoice
with me, I found my sheep. That was lost, ruined, worthless. And then He gave to us. And then
He gave to us. And then He gave to us. And He
required nothing in return. He gave till He was spent. He gave His life. He gave His
life till His life was spent. He gave His blood till His blood
was spent. He gave His inheritance all on
us. All on us. He required nothing
in return but to believe on Him, love Him, and love His people. Believe on Him, love Him, and
love His people. Do you know what a true child
of God says in return? You know what a true child of
God says in return? Number one, He says, that's my
reasonable service. That's the first thing He says.
Not only is that my reasonable service, that's all my desire. To believe Him, to love Him,
to love His people, that's all my desire. But in addition to
that, God's people say in return, because He sought not ours, But
us, we say in return, the exact same thing. Lord, we seek not
yours, but you. Lord, we don't need golden streets. Do any of you need golden streets?
In order to be happy in heaven, do you need golden streets? You
need mansions. Lord, we don't need any of that. We don't need riches. We don't
need anything. We need you. We seek not yours. We seek you. That is the gospel
of Christ to a sinner. I seek not yours, but you. That
is a sinner's response to Christ. I seek not yours, but you. And that's the heart of all of
God's people to each other. We seek not yours, but you. May the Lord cause that to grow,
and may He do something in us that causes us to mean it. Believe
it and mean it. May He make it so. Alright, you're
dismissed.