Turn with me, if you would, to
2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Let's
read verses 12 and 13. For we commend not ourselves
again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf,
that you may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance
and not in heart. For whether we be beside ourselves,
it is to God, or whether we be sober, it is for your cause. Now he began by saying there
in verse 12, we commend not ourselves again unto you. We don't, we
don't commend ourselves again. Back in chapter three, verse
one, he said, do we begin again to commend ourselves or need
we as some others epistles of commendation to you? or letters
of commendation from you. Do we need diplomas and certificates? You know, men are trying to commend
themselves, prove themselves through their education. Do we
need these certificates and diplomas to prove that we have God's message? We're delivering God's message
from God's word. Verse two here in chapter three,
he said, you are our epistle. written in our hearts, known
and read of all men. The fact that God has used this
message to open your eyes and through this message caused you
to believe God. We didn't before walk through
this life, not believing God. And then all of a sudden God
brings the message to a sinner. God opens the sinner's eyes and
that sinner believes God. Didn't before. He does now. And it's clear. I see it. I believe
it. I bow to it. You believe this?
Yes. And you believe, you really believe
this? You see what this says about you? Yes. And you believe it? Yes. You
really see what this says about God? Yes. And you believe it? Yes. And you like it? Yes. Paul said that's all the
proof I need. That's all the proof you need.
You don't need a letter of commendation on these things, and I don't
need a letter of commendation on these things. You believe
God in everything that he has to say, not just in these lying,
vain promises that error gives of health, wealth, and happiness.
That's the catch. That's the hook, health, wealth,
and happiness. And the promise of, we stand
up and you know what we hook God's people with? The promise
of justice. The promise of judgment for sin,
the promise of wrath against all wickedness, and the promise
of a hiding place from it. That's what hooks the ears of
God's people. The promise of persecution and
tribulation because of that hiding place. The promise of having
to count this world loss that we might win Christ and be found
in him. The fact that God has caused
you through the message of truth to say amen to every bit of it. Everything he has to say in this
word, the fact that we truly believe God, Paul said, that's
all the proof I need. That's all the proof I need.
That's all the proof you need. And then he said here in second
Corinthians three, verse five, not that we are sufficient of
ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency
is of God. He said, the fact that I believe
God has called me and equipped me and sent me with his word.
He said, I don't take any credit for that. No credit. There is no sufficiency in any
of us. for any of these things. There
is no sufficiency in me to declare it. None. As soon as I get a
glimmer of a hint that there is sufficiency in me to declare
it, God will prove otherwise. He will. There is no sufficiency in you
to hear it. As soon as we get one little
thought welling up in our heart, well, you know, I'm a believer. I have strong faith. God will
prove otherwise. I'm not anything outside of the
hand and work and keeping power of God. There's no sufficiency
in either one of us. to believe these things. He said
at the end of verse 5, our sufficiency is of God. It's of God. If I'm going to
preach it, it has to be of God. If you're going to hear it, and
if I'm going to hear it, I'm listening right now to the Word,
then it has to be of God. And if we're all going to believe
it, it has to be of God. So he said back in chapter 5
now, back in chapter 5 verse 12, For we commend not ourselves
again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf. He said, I want to say again,
we're not trying to prove ourselves to you, but we are giving you
reason to glory in what you've heard. We're giving you good
reason to glory in what God has revealed to you through the message,
through the declaration of the truth. When the truth is declared,
two things happen. When the truth is declared, two
things happen. Number one, the truth is very
clearly revealed. Number two, error is very clearly
revealed. Does that line look straight
to you? Well, let's put a straight edge on it. It'll all be revealed. Isn't that right? Just put a
straight edge on it. The straight line will be revealed. The crooked
line will be revealed. And when we stand up and declare,
you know, we stand up and say, this is how you'll know the truth. And this is how you'll know the
lies. When you start hearing these things, recognize these
are the lies. This is how you'll know a true
God called man. And this is how you'll know a
false prophet. Here's the difference. When we
do that, I know that we're saying, I know I'm aware of the fact
that we're saying, I have the truth. I have God's message and this
other man doesn't. I know we're saying that, but
the apostle Paul said in doing so, we are not commending ourselves. We're not, we're just confirming
to all of us what we need to have confirmed to us. We need
to know, we need to know. So we can glory in the fact that
God has revealed himself to us. We need to know that. We need
to know that He has revealed His word to us and we do indeed
hold the truth. We need to know that. Verse 12
says, For we commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you
occasion to glory on our behalf that you may have somewhat to
answer them which glory in appearance and not in the heart. Now we're
going to come right back to that. I want to close this Bible study
with what he just said right there. Them which glory in appearance
and not in heart. Verse 13 says for whether we
be beside ourselves it is to God or whether we be sober it
is for your cause. Beside ourselves means mad, crazy. Whether we're crazy Paul was accused of being crazy
for what he preached and how dogmatically he preached it.
Accused of being crazy. Look with me over at Acts 26. Acts 26 verse 1 says, Then Agrippa
said unto Paul, Thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Then Paul
stretched forth the hand and answered for himself. I think
myself happy, King Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself this
day before thee touching all the things whereof I'm accused
of the Jews. especially because I know thee
to be expert in all customs and questions which are among the
Jews, wherefore I beseech thee to hear me patiently. My manner
of life from my youth, which was at the first among mine own
nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews. They all know me. They
know who I am. They know how I was. I'm well
known. Verse five, which knew me from
the beginning, If they would testify that after the most straightest
sect of our religion, I lived a Pharisee. What he's saying
is I thought I was a Pharisee. I thought I was a Pharisee, but
God came to me and he proved to me, I'm not a Pharisee, I'm
a sinner. Verse six, and now I stand and
am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our
fathers. What is the promise? A covenant
for sinners. That's the promise. Verse 7,
unto which promise our 12 tribes instantly serving God day and
night hope to come For which hope's sake, King Agrippa, I'm
accused of the Jews. This hope, this promise, this
covenant, this is what I'm accused of. Hoping in a promise from
God. Verse 8, Why should it be thought
a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead? Eternal
life in Christ. I verily thought with myself
that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus
of Nazareth. I was against him too. Which
things I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints did I
shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priest.
And when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them,
and I punished them oft in every synagogue. And compelled them
to blaspheme. I was thinking about Paul compelling
these dear saints to blaspheme against God's name. He did it
through torture. He tortured them. You hate that
man. Renounce his name. I want you
to say this. Say it. Awful. I compelled them to blaspheme. being exceedingly mad against
them, crazy against them. I was crazy over this. I persecuted
them even under strange cities, whereupon as I went to Damascus
with authority and commission from the chief priest, at midday,
O King, I saw in the way a light from heaven above the brightness
of the sun shining round about me and them which journeyed with
me. And when we were all fallen to
the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew
tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee
to kick against the pricks." What he's telling him is, I saw
that God was God for the first time. I saw that God was God. Verse 15, I said, Who art thou,
Lord? And He said, I am Jesus whom
thou persecutest. But rise and stand upon thy feet,
for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee
a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast
seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto
thee, delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles
unto whom I now send thee, to open their eyes and to turn them
from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God,
that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among
them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. Whereupon,
O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision, but
showed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout
all the coast of Judea, and then to the Gentiles that they should
repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. For
these causes the Jews caught me in the temple and went about
to kill me. Having therefore obtained help
of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small
and great, saying none of the things than those which the prophets
and Moses did say should come." What he's telling them is, all
I'm doing is repeating God's word. I go and I I quote God's
Word. I read, this is what Moses said. That's what we're doing. This
is what the Apostle Paul said. That's all I'm doing. Verse 23,
that Christ should suffer and that He should be the first that
should rise from the dead and should show light unto the people
and to the Gentiles. And as He thus spake for Himself,
Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself. Much learning doth make thee
mad. You're beside yourself. You are crazy. But he said, I'm
not mad, most noble Festus, but speak forth the words of truth
and soberness. For the king knoweth of these
things, before whom also I speak freely, for I'm persuaded that
none of these things are hidden from him, for this thing was
not done in a corner. King Agrippa, believest thou
the prophets? Do you believe God's word? He said, I know that thou believest. Then Agrippa said unto Paul,
almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. And Paul said,
I would to God that not only thou, but also all that hear
me this day. I, I say the same thing. I would
to God, if God would be willing, I would that not only you, he's
saying to King Agrippa, but every person that hears me this day,
we're both almost all together, such as I am, except these bonds. He said, I would to God that
he would open your eyes. and put you in the same place
he put me. He said, he just told him where
he put me. I was high on my horse and we
know how far he brought him down. He brought that physical blindness
to him. He put fear into him crying,
Lord, what he was saying is, please don't kill me. What must
I do to be saved? What would you have me to do?
And he said, oh, I pray God would do that for you. Oh, I pray God
would do that. I pray he'd put you in the same
position he put me in, except for these bonds. That's the only
thing I wish differently for you. This is what he says, and
this is what I would like for people to understand. Paul said,
by way of church, by way of church, through the
way of trying to obey what God has written in this word. That's
what he was doing when he was headed to Damascus. By the way
of being someone that others could respect and look up to
and envy for my zeal, For my moral character, for my outward
goodness, by way of every bit of that, I was running straight
into the mouth of hell. In all of my goodness that people
want to strive to be like, I was running straight into the mouth
of hell. But God, who is rich in mercy, slew me. That was his message. He said,
God killed that self righteous Pharisee and buried him with
Christ. And now I'm not hoping in the
good deeds for God that I see in myself. I'm hoping in the
same promise God made to Abraham, the same promise God made to
Isaac, the same promise God made to Jacob, the same promise God
made to Moses. mercy in the blood of a lamb. And they said, Paul, you're crazy. You are crazy. You're telling
me God is going to pass by the good people and he's going to
have mercy on the sinners. You're crazy. Do you see this
person? Wouldn't you like to be like
that person? Isn't that a fine example of
what God says He delights in? You're crazy. God is going to
pass by that person and have mercy on that person? You're
crazy. I'm sorry, you're crazy. Right
here in Acts 26 verse 25, He said, I'm not crazy, most noble
festus, but I'm speaking forth the words of truth and soberness. You know, we get really passionate. We get really passionate over
these things. And the reason is because we know how serious
it is. We know how serious this is.
This is life and death. This is God's word that will
eternally hold true. He said, Paul said to them, if
we're mad, we're mad under the direct commandment of God's word. We're mad to God in obedience
to his word. If that's what you call this,
then that's what I am. Don't don't go over there. But
in first Corinthians four, he said, we are fools for Christ's
sake. You know, I had a I had a career before this. Before
God called me to do this and you meet people, a lot of people,
sometimes you have a career where you meet a lot of people and. You know how it is, you have
people from the past and now with technology and the Internet
and social media, you want to look them up and see how so and
so is doing and all that kind of stuff. And I wonder all the
time if people are going to look me up. I wonder what he's up
to. I haven't seen that guy in 20
years. And then they find, this is what he's doing, and all I
got to do is click and hear what he has to say? And they're going
to listen to me and say, I can't believe he turned out this way.
He's crazy. He was not like that when I used
to know him. He was normal when I used to
know him. Do you hear what he's saying? He's crazy. You hear his message. It is nothing
like what everybody else is saying. He's crazy. You know what? If
that's the case, Paul kept saying, we're going to see it. I speak
as a fool. I speak as a fool. If that's the case, let me be
crazy. Let me be crazy to God, according to God's word. If that's
what it appears to be. This foolishness that men call
preaching the truth. Then let's be crazy. I know that
sounds strange and I believe you understand what I mean. I
don't want to. Paul said, we're not crazy. He said, we're not
most noble Festus. He said, I'm telling you the
sober truth right now. This is the sober truth. And
I pray God would open somebody's eyes to see it. We're fools for
Christ's sake, Paul said. But he said, if we're sober,
if we're clear, if we're deliberate, if we're dogmatic. Dogmatic. Well, there's no bending in what
you believe. There's no compromise in what
you believe. No, there's not. If God said it, then that's the
way I bend. If God didn't say it, that's
not the way I bend. He said, if we are sober over
these things, it's for your sake. It's for your sake. This is life
and death. Go with me back to our text.
I'm using up all my time. Second Corinthians five. Verse 12, for we commend not
ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on
our behalf, that you may have somewhat to answer them which
glory in appearance and not in heart. For whether we be beside
ourselves, it's to God, or whether we be sober, it's for your cause.
Them which glory in appearance and not in heart, because this
is life and death. because this is so serious, I
pray to God that He would allow me to not just glory in appearance. I pray that for myself. I pray
to God that He would not just let me glory in appearance, but
truly glory in the heart. I beg the Lord of that. I do.
Glory means joy and rejoice. joy and rejoice. Appearance means
the outward countenance. And this, this is sobering to
me. This is scary to me. Okay. Appearance means the outward
countenance. It means the face. It means the
external condition. It means the appearance one presents. It means the surface. That's
what it means. That's scary to me. Heart means
the soul. The center of physical and spiritual
life. The innermost depths of a man. Them which glory in appearance
and not in heart. Oh may God let us not be guilty
of that. Lord don't let me be guilty of
that. If I'm faking it. If I'm faking it, Lord, make
it real, whatever it takes. Make it real. David said, see
if there be any wicked way in me and remove it, please. This is too serious. This is
too sober. This is life and death. Lead
me in the way everlasting. That's what he said. Whatever
it takes. Go with me over to Luke 16. I'm going to wind this
up. Luke 16. Luke 16 verse 13, no man can
serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love
the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and mammon. And the Pharisees also who were
covetous heard all these things and they derided him. And he
said unto them, you are they which justify yourselves before
men, but God knoweth your hearts. For that which is highly esteemed
among men is abomination in the sight of God. The law and the
prophets were until John, since that time, were until John, since
that time the kingdom of God is preached and every man presseth
into it. Do you have, you got that margin
for every man? It says chapter 15 verse 1. That
says, then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners,
every man, all the sinners, for to hear him. And he said, they
will press into it. He told those Pharisees, you're
trying to impress other men, but God knows your hearts. He
said, the sinners are going to draw near to me. They're going
to press into it. How do we press into it? With
the heart. With the heart. You can't educate
somebody on how to press with the heart. The mind cannot press
the heart. God must press the heart. It
must be of God. If the heart is going to be pressed,
God must do it. Therefore, we cry, Lord, press
my heart. Please, press my heart. Please
do the work. Don't turn. 1 Corinthians 13
says, you know these verses, it says, though I speak with
the tongues of men and of angels, if I don't have love, I mean true love, if I don't
have love in the depths of the innermost being of this man,
I'm become a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And that's
the truth of your pastor. If I don't have love inside the
innermost being of this man, I'm just a tinkling cymbal. I'm
just a guy up here crashing. That's all I'm doing. And though
I have the gift of prophecy, how does he find these things? And understand all mysteries
and all knowledge, and though I have all faith. so that I could
remove mountains. If I don't have something going
on in the depths of my heart, something real, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods
to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned if
I don't have love, it profits me nothing. Now abideth faith,
hope, charity, these three, the greatest one of them is love. That's the greatest one, the
work that God does in the heart. Now we do still want to rejoice
in the appearance. It's very important that we rejoice
in the appearance. Saved sinners don't go around
with a sad countenance on their face. Happy is he that hath the
God of Jacob for his help. Isn't that right? But with that,
our prayer is that our Lord would fill each heart with His love. I sincerely pray that. Lord,
fill. Start the work in me. I can't
help it. I selfishly pray, Lord, start
the work in me. And fill this heart with love. and fill each heart with thy
love. May each soul be rekindled with
fire from above. Wouldn't we love that? That's
God's blessing. It's not material. It's not in
health. Oh, a man could be on his deathbed
for 30 years and be the most blessed man on earth. When God does that, when He truly
fills the heart with His love, those people cry, hallelujah,
thine the glory, hallelujah, amen. Amen. Lord, may He do that
for us. All right, you're dismissed.