If you would open your Bibles
back to 2 Corinthians chapter 6. 2 Corinthians 6. And I'm going to re-read verses
8 through 10. 2 Corinthians 6 verses 8 through
10. Now in these three verses we
have a list of contrasts. So look at this. Verse 8. and
dishonor, by evil report and good report, as deceivers and
yet true, 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. A contrast is two words or phrases
that mean different things. A few examples of those are words
that contrast are alone and together or single and married. Most of you have known Lauren
for a long time and Lauren has always been classified as single. One person came along, one man,
and he's the only reason now that we call her married. It's
important to know that oftentimes one person can be the only difference
between two things that are very, very different. Let me give you
a list that describes me and you. I'm just going to use these
three verses, and I'm going to list words that describe you
and I. Dishonorable. evil, deceivers,
unknown or ignored, dying, sorrowful, poor, and having nothing. This sounds like a pretty harsh
description, but by nature we're much worse than this. Now let
me give you another list of words that describes me and you as
well. Using these same three verses,
these words describe a child of God. Honorable, good, true,
well-known, alive, rejoicing, rich, and possessing all things. Now, how can I call you so many
things that seem to contradict one another? What's the difference
between these two lists? There is one clear difference
between the bad and the good. There's one clear difference
between those full of sorrow and those who rejoice. And there's
one clear difference between the dead and the living, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Every child of God knows that
the first list describes them very well. But the elect of God
can rejoice because being found in the Lord is all the difference
in the world. I'm going to spend a few minutes
on each of these contrasts to explain, illustrate, or use scripture
to show that the difference alone, I'm sorry, that the difference
is Christ alone. So the first one is by honor
and dishonor. Now I have done many things in
my life to dishonor my family and friends. And I thought for
a few moments about giving an example of this, if I could come
up with a good one. But as people came in my head
one by one, I did not struggle to find multiple examples of
dishonoring them. And I'm a little too embarrassed
to tell on myself. as well as I'm fearful that if
I do tell something like this, that you may not listen to another
word I say. So instead, I'm going to use
a few examples in Scripture, and there are so many. We have
Zacchaeus, who was an infamous man, or a dishonorable man who
had such a poor reputation, spending his whole life extorting and
taking money from all of the people around him. We have Lot,
who was a man who constantly did horrible things, from wanting
to stay in Sodom, though the Lord had told him to leave. He
offered his daughters to satisfy an angry mob, and even laid with
them. And Peter, he denied he even knew who the Lord was three
times. Or David, who committed adultery, and then tried to have
that man killed, and ultimately did, when he wouldn't go about
on his word. Now all these things with these
men, how could these men or you and I have honor? Only through
Christ could they have honor, or as the word is usually translated,
glory. How could these men or you or
I find honor and glory? Turn over to Hebrews chapter
2. Hebrews chapter 2. How could any man or woman so
dishonorable, full of sin, find honor and glory? Hebrews 2 verse
7. Thou madest him a little lower
than the angels. Thou crowns him with glory and
honor and did set him over the works of thy hands. Thou has
put all things in subjection under his feet for in that he
put all in subjection under him. He left nothing that is not put
under Him. But now we see not yet all things
put under Him, but we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than
the angels for the suffering and death, crowned with glory
and honor, that He, by the grace of God, should taste death for
every man or every son, for it became Him for whom are all things,
and by whom are all things, and bringing many sons unto glory,
to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings."
Look over at Hebrews 13. Hebrews 13 verse 20. Again, how
could these men or women, or you or I, find honor and glory?
Hebrews 13 verse 20. Now the God of peace that brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of
the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant, making
you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you
that which is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ
to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. The only way for
anyone to have honor and glory is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now the second contrast is evil report and good report. Turn
to Luke 18. This is a very well-known story of two men. Luke 18, the
Pharisee and the Publican. Our contrast is evil report and
good report. Luke 18, verse 10. Two men went
up into the temple to pray the one a Pharisee and the other
a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I am not as other men
are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast
twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess, and the
publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as
his eyes unto heaven. but smote upon his breast, saying,
God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, this man went down
to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone
that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth
himself shall be exalted. The Pharisee gave a good report
of himself and he was given an evil report from the Lord. The
publican gave an evil report of himself and he was given a
good report. Anybody and everybody who tries
to give a good report of themselves will be found wanting. On Judgment
Day, there is only one who will be given a good report And I
pray that's where you and I will be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. The next contrast is as deceivers
and yet true. A deceiver is an imposter. Someone posing to be who they're
not. Turn with me to 2 John. 2 John. We see imposters all the time
in movies and cartoons and things where someone puts on a mask
and everybody can't recognize who they are. They're trying
to be somebody different or they're trying not to be who they are.
2 John verse 7 gives a sobering definition of a deceiver or imposter. For many deceivers are entered
into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ has come in
the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Everybody, including me, tries
so hard to find the good in themselves. Most often we do it by looking
at the weaknesses of others and telling ourselves things such
as, I'm not that bad, or I wouldn't have done that. Turn to 1 John
1, a couple pages over. An example of this might be if
I overhear someone yelling at someone else and then I get in
the car with my wife and I say, I can't believe they did that. Did you hear the way they reacted
to that? I deceived myself in thinking I wouldn't have acted
like that or that I wouldn't have done it much worse than
that. Look at 1 John 1 verse 8. If we say that we have no
sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. And I
read this verse to make the point, most of us have given up on this
argument. We know we sin, but in Isaiah
64, 6 it says, but we are all as an unclean thing, and all
our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. And if I'm being honest,
I think of myself somewhere in between those two. I sin, but
there's some good in there too. I'm simply deceiving myself and
if I'm that way to myself, how can I not be just completely
deceiving you? We spend most of our time trying
to convince others that we're not as bad as we actually are. And the rest of the time that
we're trying to convince ourselves that others are worse than us.
The only way I can find truth is from the Lord. Turn to 1 John
5. 1 John 5 verse 20. And we know that the Son of God
is come and hath given us an understanding, that we may know
Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in
His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal
life. He is the only place in the entire
world that we can find any truth. The next contrast as unknown
and yet well known. Let me tell you a story of a
few months back when my wife and I were with Finley in Target.
We were shopping and we were going down an aisle and I looked
over when we were going down an aisle and Tracy was in front
of me and saw a young lady that had come into my office a while
back. She was a client of mine. And
I saw her and just kind of being in a good mood, I just said,
Samantha, hey, how you doing? And she kind of glanced my way
and put her head down and didn't really acknowledge me at all.
And I thought to myself, well, what happened? And I thought,
well, you know, she may not recognize me. Or she may just think I'm
by myself, and there's no telling what she's thinking. So I caught
up with Tracy and just kind of let it go. And a few hours later
and a few minutes later, she turned and came down the aisle
that we were down. And I turned right back again and looked right
at her and said, Samantha, how are you doing? And she ignored
me, didn't look at me. And it was obvious at this point.
She heard me. I was 10 feet away. It didn't matter that I knew
who she was It didn't matter that I had talked to her six
or eight times before in the past. And just two weeks ago,
she'd sat in my office for 20 minutes with her daughter. She
told me her address, her phone number, her date of birth, her
social security number, and every piece of information I asked
her for. I even saved her a bunch of money, too, and she was very
happy about it. But all this didn't matter because she didn't
know me. Turn to John chapter 17. On Judgment Day, it will not
be enough to know His name, know facts about Him, or that you
did something in His name or something for Him. In Matthew
7, I'll read it to you, it says, Many will say to me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name
have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful
works? And then will I profess unto
them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity." In John 17, three things are shown to us here.
In verses 1 through 3, we first have to be shown who he is. It's
not enough to know his name, about him, and those things.
We first have to be shown truly who he is. Look at verse 1 through
3. These words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven
and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son, that thy
son also may glorify thee. As thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that
they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
Thou hast sent. We first have to be shown who
He is, and then second, we have to be made to know Him. Not just who He is, but made
to know Him. Look in verse 7. Now they have known that all
things whatsoever Thou hast given Me are of Thee. For I have given
unto them the words which Thou gavest Me, and they have received
them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they
have believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them, I pray
not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for
they are thine, and all mine are thine, and thine are mine,
and I am glorified in them." We first have to be shown who
he is. We have to be made known Him, made to know Him, but most
importantly, we must be well known by Him. Look in verse 22. Remember our contrast is as unknown
yet well known. Verse 22, and the glory which
thou gavest me I have given them, that they may be one, even as
we are one. I in them, and thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that
thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. Father,
I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where
I am, that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given
me, For thou lovest me before the foundation of the world.
O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee, but I have
known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I
have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it, that the
love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. It doesn't matter how well you
think you know him, It doesn't matter the amount of knowledge
that you have or the verses that you've got memorized. The only
way this relationship will ever start is if He has chosen you
first. Our knowledge can be summed up
in 1 Corinthians 13, 12. For now we see it through a glass
darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then
shall I know even as also I am known. Until we see Him face
to face, We won't know how well known a child of God is. We can't
understand that, but it's a glorious thought to be known of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The next contrast, as dying and
behold we live. For this one, let's look at a
miracle performed by the Lord. Turn to Mark 5. Mark chapter 5. Mark 5 verse 22, And behold, there cometh one
of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name. And when he saw
him, he fell at his feet, and besought him greatly, saying,
My little daughter lieth at the point of death. I pray thee,
come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed, and she
shall live. In Luke, these same two verses
are said, And behold, there came a man Jairus, and he was a ruler
of the synagogue, and he fell down at Jesus' feet, and besought
him that he would come into his house. For he had only one daughter,
about twelve years of age, and she lay a dying." Now look at
verse 35 and the rest of the story. While he yet spake, there
came from the ruler from Jairus' house certain which said, Thy
daughter is dead. Why troublest thou the Master
any further? As soon as Jesus heard the word
that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be
not afraid, only believe. And he suffered no man to follow
him, save Peter, and James, and John the brother of James. And
he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth
the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly. And when
he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado and
weep? The damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn.
But when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and
the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and
entered in where the damsel was lying. And he took the damsel
by the hand and said unto her, Talitha, cue me, which is being
interpreted, damsel, I say unto thee, arrive. And straightway
the damsel arose and walked, for she was of the age of 12
years, and they were astonished with a great astonishment. And
he charged them straightly that no man should know it and commanded
that something should be given her to eat. This story talks
about physical life and death, but is very applicable to spiritual
life and death. There is a great divide between
heaven and hell, but the difference is very simple. Those who are
found in Christ have eternal life. Those who are not in him
are sentenced to eternal damnation and death. The next is as chastened and
not killed. The children of God are told
that they will be chastened. And though we know it's coming,
we often worry what's going to happen next. I know of some people
that have endured more trials than most of us put together.
Then others who have endured an individual trial that we would
never wish to fall upon anyone we know. And then there are others
like myself who haven't had to go through that many trials yet. But every child of God is chastened,
and for one reason. Turn to 1 Corinthians 11, verse
32. 1 Corinthians 11, verse 32. Every child of God is chastened,
and for one reason. Verse 32. But when we are judged,
we are chastened of the Lord. that we should not be condemned
with the world. Psalm 118.18 says, The Lord hath
chastened me sore, but he hath not given me over unto death. Turn to Hebrews 12. We are chastened of the Lord that
we should not be condemned with the world. Hebrews 12.10 For they verily for a few days
chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for our prophet,
the Lord chastened us for our prophet, that we might be partakers
of his holiness. Now no chastening for this, for
the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward
it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which
are exercised thereby. Wherefore, lift up the hands
which hang down and the feeble knees, and make straight paths
for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the
way, but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men and
holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." And then
turn to verse 22, the same chapter. that ye are come unto Mount Zion,
and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly
and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven,
and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men
made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant,
and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than
that of Abel. The Lord Jesus Christ chasteneth
his children, but not unto death. He chasteneth his children unto
eternal life. As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. This might be the easiest of
all the contrasts for me, because I feel it so much and on a daily
basis. When I think of my sin, I'm very
troubled. When I think of His holiness,
I rejoice. When I think about my frailty
and my weakness, I become depressed. But His power and authority gives
me reason to celebrate. When I think about deserving
eternal damnation, I am full of sorrow. But then the thought
of unconditional election and salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ
makes me to glory in Him. This can be applied to His death
on the cross. Look at John 16. John 16. Our contrast is as sorrowful,
yet always rejoicing. John 16, verse 20. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice.
And you shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into
joy. A woman, when she is in travail,
hath sorrow, because her hour is come. But as soon as she is
delivered of the child, she will remember no more the anguish
for joy that a man is born into the world. And ye know, therefore,
have sorrow, and ye now, therefore, have sorrow. But I will see you
again, and your heart shall rejoice, And your joy no man taketh from
you. And look at verse 33, end of
the same chapter. These things I have spoken unto
you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall
have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. This contrast of sorrowful yet
always rejoicing can be summed up upon which way we're looking.
If we look to this world and look to ourselves, it's nothing
but sorrow and travail. But if we look to the Lord, if
we look to Him and through the scriptures, we will always be
rejoicing. One more scripture for this,
Luke 15. Luke chapter 15, verse 3. As sorrowful yet always rejoicing,
Luke 15, 3, And he spake this parable unto them, saying, What
man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them,
doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go
after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath
found it, he laith it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when
he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors, saying
unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was
lost. I say unto you that likewise
joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than
over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance. There
will be a day where every child of God is simply rejoicing. That's all we'll be doing. No
more sorrow, just always rejoicing. As poor yet making many rich, The word poor here isn't the
word that we would normally use or that we think of. If I said
someone is poor, we would think that they don't have much. They
have less than most people. You know, they're barely getting
by. But this word poor means something different. The definition
of this one is a person who only obtains his living by begging. A person who has no ability,
no way to get anything. They are completely dependent
upon others. Let's look at an example of a
poor man in Mark 10. This man is one of my favorites,
and I think a lot of that is because I want to do exactly
what he did. Mark 10, verse 46. And they came to Jericho, and
as the Lord went out of Jericho with his disciples, and a great
number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the
highway side begging. This is a man who was poor in
this sense of the word. And when he heard that it was
Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, thou
son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that he
should hold his peace, but he cried the more a great deal,
Thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still,
and commanded him to be called. And they called the blind man,
saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise, he calleth thee. And he,
casting away his garment, rose and came to Jesus, And Jesus
answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto
thee? The blind man said unto him,
Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him,
Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he
received his sight and followed Jesus in the way. The word rich
here in our text doesn't have anything to do with money. It's
talking more about more important things, like being rich in love,
or rich in grace, rich in faith. Bartimaeus here knew he was a
poor beggar, but he also realized, much more importantly, the only
person who could truly help him was the Lord Jesus Christ. I
hope that you know, and I hope that I know, that we're just
blind beggars. And if you don't think so, if
you don't think you're a blind beggar, I've got bad news for
you. Turn over to Luke 4. Luke 4 verse 18. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. Same word, to the beggars. those
who can't get it on their own. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight
to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach
the acceptable year of the Lord." Now look at Luke 7, a couple
pages over, verse 22. Then Jesus answered, answering
said unto them, Go your way. and tell John what things ye
have seen and heard, how that the blind see, the lame walk,
the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised,
and to the poor the gospel is preached. And blessed is he whosoever
shall not be offended in me." Christ came to preach to those
who were unable to help themselves. I only hope The only hope that I have to
be rich in love, rich in grace, and rich in faith is that the
Lord Jesus Christ preaches the gospel to me and makes me rich. In Colossians 127, to whom God
would make known, that is, the riches of the glory of this mystery
among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Riches is Christ in you, the
hope of glory. And the last contrast is as having
nothing, yet possessing all things. At this point in the message,
hopefully, I have made it abundantly clear that apart from Christ,
we are nothing and have nothing. Let's read one last portion of
scripture that tells the beggar all things are found in Christ.
2 Peter chapter 1. Many of these contrasts have
told us of us having nothing yet possessing all things. 2
Peter 1 verse 1. Simon Peter, a servant and an
apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious
faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Grace and peace be multiplied
unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. According as his divine power
hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness,
through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory
and virtue. He has given us all things that
pertain unto life and godliness, whereby are given unto us exceeding
great and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers
of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is
in the world through lust. He has made great and precious
promises to his children, and he is the only way to escape
the corruption that is in the world. Verse 5, and besides this,
not just all this, but besides this, giving all diligence, adding
to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge
temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience, godliness,
and to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, charity,
or love. For if these things be in you,
if these things are in you and abound, they make you that ye
shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord
Jesus Christ." Look over verse 11. an entrance shall be ministered
unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. One of the greatest things that
I've been taught is that apart from Christ I have absolutely
nothing, but that in the Lord Jesus Christ I possess all things.