Turn with me, if you would, to
2 Corinthians 1. 2 Corinthians chapter 1, I believe
you'll see what I mean whenever I say that the verses we're about
to look at, we're going to finish out this chapter, and the verses
that we're about to look at, it's almost like there's a part
1 and a part 2. Okay, like we're going to deal
with this subject and then that subject. They go together hand-in-hand.
There kind of is a part 1 and a part 2. But they go together
hand-in-hand. Because of part 1, the apostle
resolves part 2. Alright? And I mentioned to you
last Sunday morning that one of the reasons Paul wrote this
second letter to the Corinthians was because he told them he was
going to come back through to see them on his way to Macedonia. And he said he was going to come
back through on his way out of Macedonia. He said, I might winter with
you. And he didn't come. He hasn't come yet. And the false
prophets were using that as an excuse to tell the people he's
a liar. He's a liar. He lies to us. Everything
he says is a lie. Don't believe this man. Don't
listen to this man. So he's writing this letter to
tell them, I'm not lying to you. He said last week we looked at
it. My yay was not nay. I didn't say one thing to you
intending to do something else. And we're going to look at the
last four verses, 21 to 24, but I want to begin with this second
part. Let's look at verse 23. He said, I call God for a record upon
my soul that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth. He is explaining to them why
he hasn't come yet. He said I call God for a record
upon my soul that to spare you I haven't come back yet. I said
I would come back if it's the Lord's will. I desire to come
back. But after much prayer, after
seeking the Lord's will, the Lord has hindered me from coming
by making me feel led in the heart not to come back yet. I
don't feel led yet to come back. And he said, I call God for a
record upon my soul. I'm not lying to you. God can
look at my own soul. And Paul is speaking the word
of God. We know he's not lying. But after prayer and seeking
His will, I just don't feel led to come yet. I think it's best
to give it some time. That's what he's saying. Let's
just give it some time. Verse 23, Moreover, I call God
for a record upon my soul, that to spare you I came not as yet,
unto Corinth. Now the reason he said to spare
you is because do you see the center reference for that where
it says to spare you? First Corinthians chapter 4. Turn with me over there. First Corinthians chapter 4. I'll remind us again The church
in Corinth was a mess. It was an absolute mess. So full of sin, so full of pride,
so full of wickedness. And any one of us could say,
well, who isn't? And that's right. That's right. Who isn't so full of sin, so
full of pride, so full of wickedness? Well, who isn't? That's the truth
of man, isn't it? That's the truth of the flesh.
That's all you can say about the flesh. But the problem is
here in first Corinthians four, he kept telling them, here's
the problem. You're puffed up over it. That's
what he kept saying over and over again. You're puffed up
over it. You are loving it. You're arrogantly reveling in
it. There is no sorrow. Where's the sorrow over sin?
There is no repentance, no repentance, no humility. And he said in verse 21, if I
come back to you and you're still like this, he said, I'm coming
with a rod. The rod of the word of God, verse
21, he said, what will ye? Shall I come unto you with a
rod? Is that what you want? or in
love and in the spirit of meekness? Which would you prefer?" That's
what he's asking them. Which would you prefer, the rod
or the spirit of love and meekness? I would so much rather, he's
telling them, come in love. I would so much rather come in
love and in the spirit of meekness. And he's telling them in our
text, after much prayer, you know, I've prayed about this,
I've sought God's will over this, and I felt it best to let the
word and let patience have its perfect work. I preached God's
word to you and it stung. What's the best thing for me
to do right now? Walk away. Leave it alone. Let God move
in whatever way God wants to move. Get out of the way. Preach
God's word and leave it in His hands. Preach God's Word and
leave it in His hands. I felt best to wait on the Lord.
That is always the right answer. That is always the right answer. Wait on the Lord. Stay on Christ
crucified. If we don't know what to do at
this exact moment in time, here's the answer. Stay on Christ crucified
and wait on the Lord. Leave everything else in His
hands. What will fix every problem? The answer is Jesus Christ crucified. That's the answer. What will fix every single problem? Preach Christ. Preach. The Lord will deal with His people. The Spirit of God, if He did
all this for us, He can keep on doing it. He which has begun
a good work in us, he's going to perform it all the way till
the day that we see the face of Jesus Christ. Preach the Word. Preach Christ and then leave
every bit of it in God's hands. Preach the Word. Preach the Word.
That's what Paul told Timothy. Preach the Word. I used to wonder
all the time when I first started preaching, what do you say? What do you stand up there and
say? You know, I understand the doctrine, but how do you turn
that into a half hour or 45 minutes? What do you say? All right, and
I just said that. And then I'm going to step right
up here. Now what do I say? Normally I'll
come back in a few hours. Now what do I say? We're going
to come back Wednesday night. Some of you guys are going to
drive long distances. What do I say? You know what
Paul told Timothy? Preach the Word. Get in a chapter, start at verse
1, and after you're done with verse 1, go to verse 2. Whatever it says, preach it.
And if it stings, preach it. And if it comforts, preach it. And if it blesses, preach it. Preach the Word. Then what do
I do? Walk away and leave it in God's hands. Leave it in God's
hands. Go with me back over to the text,
2 Corinthians 1. I want to finish what he's saying
right here and then we'll look at verses 21 and 22. Verse 23, he said, Moreover,
I call God for a record upon my soul, that to spare you I
came not as yet unto Corinth. 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 coming to spare you this rod because
it's just too soon. I'm just going to wait, just
see how the Lord handles this. I'm not coming to spare you this
rod, but he's saying, You don't answer to me. That's what he's
telling them. You don't answer to me. I am
not your authority. I am not your authority. I don't
have dominion over your faith. I don't have dominion over your
faith. I've just been called of God. This is what Paul is
saying. This is what every true preacher says. I've just been
called of God to be a helper of your joy. That's all. A helper of your joy in pointing
you to Christ. That's all I've been called to
do is help your joy in pointing you to Christ. And that's all
I want to do. It's all I'm trying to do. That's
all I want to do. I'm not trying to be a Lord over
God's heritage. There's one place you don't want
to be, and there's one place I don't want you to be, and it's
under that. I'm not trying to put anybody
under this thumb. Nobody. Just trying to point
you to Christ. Just trying to point you to Christ. He said, by faith you stand. What is faith? Looking to Christ. Coming to Christ. Believing on
Christ. He said that's it. That's it. And preaching this word, that's
all it'll do. That's all it'll do is it'll
point a man to Christ. Christ is that way. He'll run
with all of his might that way. And this word will... And then
he'll run, he'll overcorrect. Okay, I was wrong, I see I was
wrong, but he'll overcorrect and run with all his might that
way. And this word of God goes... And this word will continually
point a man to Christ. Isn't that wonderful? Lord, stop
me. Stop me. Point me. Look with
me at 1 Peter chapter 5. 1 Peter 5 verse 1, it says, the
elders which are among you, I exhort who also am an elder, Paul saying
I'm including myself in this, and a witness of the sufferings
of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. Verse 2, he said, feed the flock
of God which is among you. When I was reading this, that
just hit me like a ton of bricks. He didn't say, you go around
and you whip all the other flock of God that I've put in all these
other places. He said, you feed the flock of God that I've put
right there with you. Feed the flock of God which is
among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint. Have that attitude where you're
going to have to be forced into it. This is just misery. He said,
do it willingly. Not for filthy lucre. A man would
be literally out of his mind to become a true gospel preacher
for money. Don't do it for filthy lucre.
Do it of a ready mind. And I'm going to tell you this.
I've learned this from experience. If a man's willing to do it for
free, he won't ever have to worry about money. If he's willing
to do it for free, he won't have to worry about it. Verse 3, neither
as being lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock. Just be an example to the flock.
That's what he said. And when the chief shepherd shall
appear, you shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away."
That's not saying those preachers are special, it's saying you'll
get one just like every other saint of God will get one. All of you will be taking them
off, casting them at the throne. Verse 5, likewise ye younger
submit yourselves unto the elder. Younger in age, younger in faith. Submit yourselves to the elders.
That's how we ought to be in the congregation of God. Yea,
all of you be subject one to another. And this is the only
way that God's children can be subject one to another. He said,
be clothed with humility. Wrap up in it. Just get all up
inside humility. For God resisteth the proud and
he gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore,
under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due
time, casting all your care upon Him. Don't go cast it to everybody
else under the sun. Cast all of it on Him, for He
careth for you. He said in verse 8, Be sober. Be sharp. Be on guard. He said, be vigilant because
your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about
seeking whom he may devour. I'm going to tell you the absolute
truth right now. Your adversary. The moment you
received the faith of Jesus Christ and the moment God Almighty caused
you to say, I believe, you became public enemy number one on the
adversary's list. And that adversary wants one
thing, for you to stop trusting Christ. And that adversary will
entice That adversary will do everything within his earthly
power. He's called the little g God
of this world. He'll offer you the world if
you will just turn your eyes off of Christ. And he is walking
through Kingsport Sovereign Grace seeking whom he may devour. I
promise. He did it in all through the
Old Testament. He did it to Job. God said there's
no man on earth like Job. Didn't he? Perfect, upright.
He did it to Job. He did it in the twelve apostles
who walked with God Himself. He looked at Peter and he said,
Get behind me, Satan. Be sober. Be vigilant. Be vigilant. Be vigilant. Verse 9, he said,
Whom resist? How do you resist a being that
you are completely incapable of resisting? Look at verse 9.
Whom resist steadfast in the faith. What's faith? Look to
Christ. Just look to Christ. Look to
Christ. Just keep your eyes on Christ.
The Lord rebuked thee, isn't that right? Knowing that the
same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in
the world, he said in verse 10, but the God of all grace who
have called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after
that you have suffered a while, he'll make you perfect and he'll
establish you and strengthen you and settle you to him be
glory and dominion. Forever and ever, amen. That's what Paul is telling the
Corinthians. He's not just trying to be the
man with the whip, you know. Buddy, I'm gonna get in there
and I'm gonna whip these goats in shape. He's telling them,
look to Christ. He's saying, you don't answer
to me. You do not answer to me. You answer to Jesus Christ, your
God. But he's given us his word. We're
just declaring His Word, and He's called me to be a helper
in the instruction and the joy of it. And Paul said, that's
where I'm going to leave it. Leave it right there. If the
Lord wills, if the Lord wills, we're going to preach His Word.
We're going to preach Christ in His Word, and then we're going
to leave everything in His hands. Everything. Now go with me back
to the text, 2 Corinthians 1. All of that is coming off of
him saying in verse 21, Now he which establisheth us
with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God, who hath
also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our
hearts. He just declared the work of
God the Father God the Son, and God the Spirit. That is the outline
of this entire book. The work of God the Father, God
the Son, and God the Spirit. Now I don't want this to just
be educational, but I believe we could more so understand something
in what he's saying right here. There is a doctrinal outline,
and it is credited to John Calvin. The five points of Calvinism. Total depravity. Unconditional
election. Limited atonement. Irresistible
grace. Perseverance of the saints. Tulip. It's called tulip. Total. Unconditional. Limited. Tulip. Alright. Somebody
used to say, and I want to say this, I hold to those. I preach
those. Total depravity, unconditional
election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, perseverance
of the saints. Somebody used to say, tulip or terminate. Either you preach tulip or don't
preach at all. I do. I hold to those five points,
but here's the fact of the matter. John Calvin didn't come up with
them. I love the man. And I'm not trying
to disrespect the man. I thank God for the man. But
John Calvin did not come up with them. God the Trinity did. All TULIP does is it declares
the work of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. That's all TULIP does. That is
all it does. Now, those are the middle three. points in TULIP. The first one
is the reason for their work. And the last one is the result
of their work. Does that make sense? What was
the cause? What was the reason for the work
of God the Father, Son, and Spirit? The reason was man is totally
depraved. That's the whole reason. Depraved
means morally corrupt. It means wicked, sinful, and
vile. That's all that man is. That's all you can say about
man. There is no hope for man because he is totally depraved. Man is absolutely incapable of
doing anything that God can find favor in. Anything. Not one thing. So God the Father, God the Son,
And God the Spirit collectively did a work for man. What was
the result of their work? That vile, wicked sinner became
a brand new creature. The end result was a brand new
creation. He was brought from the clutches
of the adversary sitting on a dung heap all the way up to the liberty
in Christ seated in him on his throne. What a work. What a work. Totally spotless,
pure, nothing but wounds, bruises, and putrefying sores to totally
spotless, pure, and holy. What a work. Totally preserved. Total depravity to totally preserved.
Completely preserved. Now, what did God do to accomplish
it? Verse 21 says, Now He which establisheth us with you in Christ. God the Father chose a people.
He established us with you in Christ. He held an election. It was unconditional because
every single sinner was in the same lump. There was only one
lump. It had to be unconditional. On
our part, it had to be. Every single one of them was
totally depraved. God chose to save some in Christ. And then He gave every single
one that He chose to Christ. Every soul that Christ received
from His Father, Christ anointed with an atonement. The word atonement means the
repairing or reconciliation of an offense. What did it take to repair or
reconcile a sinner's offense? God's law said blood. That's what it takes. It's blood
that makes an atonement for the soul. So Christ anointed His
Father's elect with His own blood. Not one drop of that blood was
wasted. Could you imagine wasting one
drop of the blood of Jesus Christ? That atonement was not made for
any soul that the Father didn't choose. Not one drop of blood
was shed for a soul that's in hell. That would be wasted blood,
that would be wasted mercy, wasted grace. It does not exist, it
cannot exist. So it was limited only to those
elect. Alright, now as time goes on,
here we are. As time goes on, God the Spirit
comes to each one of those chosen, atoned for sinners. And he notifies
them of what God the Father did and what God the Son did. And he gives that sinner faith
to believe the notification. That's the work of the Spirit. And that faith believes that
this work that God has collectively performed, those middle three
points, that work is done. That's what the faith believes.
The work is done. It's not optional. It's done.
Have you ever heard somebody stand up and say, now Christ
died, you know, and he shed his blood for you and he wants to
save you. Now, come on now. the true faith of God recognizes
and believes that it's not optional. It's not optional. You don't
have the option of being saved this morning. It's not on the
table. It's not an option. It's done. It's absolutely done. The grace that God has performed
is irresistible grace. It's done. It's not mine to take
it to my table or reject it from my table. It's done. Completely
done. All right, verse 21 says, Now
he which establisheth us with you in Christ, that's God the
Father, and hath anointed us, that's God the Son, is God the
triune God. who hath also sealed us and given
the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts." That's God the Spirit.
God the Trinity, He did all this for us and that's why He says,
therefore, because of all that, that's why He said in verse 24,
I'm not trying to have dominion over your faith. I'm not trying
to do anything but be a helper of your joy. The only joy there
is, is in the work of God the Father, God the Son, and God
the Spirit. That's the only true joy there is. And he's telling
the Corinthians and he's telling us, Let's bow to it. Let's bow to them. God the Father,
God the Son, God the Spirit. Let's honor them because of their
gift to us. Just like he said in 1 Corinthians
4, let's dwell together in love and in the spirit of meekness.
That's the reason. Okay, you're dismissed.