Good job, Jerry. All right, go
back to 2 Corinthians. I told you once before that I
do not grab notes from other men, such as Spurgeon or whoever,
and just preach from their sermons. I have never done that. Nor do
I grab an old outline from a passage that we have looked at before,
and we have looked at every verse in the New Testament. But I always rework, you know,
if we're going to look at something we looked at before, I always
redo the whole thing. So it will be fresh to me, and
there's always something new that we learn. However, I received
a letter from my pastor this week, and in that letter he included
a several pages of notes that he had written on this passage. And he said, I have not preached
from this. This is a new message. And he said, I may not live to
preach it. So he said, you may want to deal with it. And I looked
at it and I said, I believe I will. I believe I will. So, and it
was a blessing to me to consider it. And I believe it will be
to you. Of course, even then, I didn't
just take it. But I am going to read you what
he said and with some additions. Verse 4 here in 2 Corinthians
6 is the subject and the title here in these verses. In this
sixth chapter, he says, in all things, approving ourselves. as the ministers of God, proving
ourselves as the ministers of God. And this is certainly applying
or applied to the apostles. Without a doubt, Paul is talking
about himself and the other apostles, as well as Silas and Timothy,
who were his constant companions. He mentions them by name. And
it certainly applies to all preachers of the gospel. It must, because
he says these things approve them as the true ministers of
God. Now, is that important? Well, our Lord said many false
prophets have gone out into the world. It behooves us to know
these things. so that we'll know who is the
true minister of God, and not all pray to the world. Right? And so these things are the qualifications,
if you will, the marks of approval, the stamps of approval upon the
true ministers of God. God has His ministers. He has
His true ministers. Not everyone that says they are.
As a matter of fact, it's most Most are not who say they are.
But it's who God commands and approves. And this is the way
that he approves them. And these things. Are you with
me? Is it important? Well, it certainly is. Paul told
Timothy to try the Spirit. Try. Put them to the test. And
this is how he'd do it. Right here. But I also want everyone
in here to use these things on yourself. These are exhortations
to all of us, because all of God's people are in the ministry. Different ministries, administrations,
Paul said in chapter 3, with the same Spirit. And we all minister
in one way or another unto the Lord. Huh? Sure we did. We're all, he said,
members of the same body, but ministers one of another. And
we serve the glory of God and we serve each other. So these
things are going to be applied to all of us in a way. Don't
just think about me or any preacher of the gospel, other preacher
of the gospel, but you're set. All right, we're going to look
at it, and as I said, I'm going to read to you what my pastor
wrote on these verses. All right, 2 Corinthians 6, verses
1 through 3. He says, We then, as workers
together with Christ, beseech you also, beseech you also, those
who read this. That's us. But you receive not
the grace of God in vain. Read on. Well, he said, I have
heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have
I succored thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Now, read verses 1 and 3 together. You saw how verse 2 was in parentheses. So read verses one and three
together. We then, as workers together with Christ, beseech
you also that you receive not the grace of God in vain, giving
no offense in anything that the ministry be not right. So all
of us are concerned, are we not? If we're concerned about the
glory of God, we don't want to dishonor God, do we? I certainly
don't want to. Brother Scott, one time years
ago, said, I don't want to make a fool out of myself up here.
He said, I sure don't want to make a fool out of God. Which
would mean me an honor. And you don't want that either,
do you? And wherever you work or whatever, you don't want to
dishonor God. You don't want to bring reproach upon Christ.
You want to honor your Lord, don't you? You don't want to
shame the Church of God and your families and so forth. So, he
said, now, we are workers together with Christ. Salvation is of
the Lord. This is his work. He said over
in 1 Corinthians 3, he said, now, I have planted, Apollos
is watered, but God giveth in. I'll read on. He says, neither
is he that planted anything. Neither he that watereth, but
God that gives the increase." We can preach all we will unless
the Spirit of God moves. Unless God has purposed to plant
that word in somebody's heart, it's of no effect, right? Oh,
God will be honored and glorified, but there'll be no increase,
no one saved. So he goes on to say, now, he
that planteth and he that watereth are one. Stay with me now. I've got to build an introduction
here. He said, we're laborers together.
He that planteth, he that watereth are one. They're in the same
service. It's the Lord's field. He said, we're laborers together
with God. But you're God's husbandry. You're
God's farm, if you will. You're God's, your hearts are
His soil. As our Lord talked about the
good soil, prepared soil that the seed fell on, good ground.
You're God's husband. You're God's family. It's His
work. But He says we are laborers together.
We don't get any glory at all. We don't take any glory. But
we're just laborers in the field. Me and you and you. So he says, now, we do this as
unto the Lord, and let the ministry be not blank. Give him no offense,
verse 3, in anything. Let the ministry be not blank. Let the gospel be not blank.
Let God's word not be blank. If it's going to be, if there's
going to be an offense, let it be the gospel. And the gospel is offensive to
the natural man. It's called the offense of the
cross, and the natural man hates it. I know what modern man is
saying. They love their false gospel,
which is not offensive to anybody. God loves everybody, and Jesus
died for everybody. What's offensive about that?
But now the gospel of God's sovereign electing grace is offensive to
the natural man who thinks he's worth saving. And I better get
off of that because I've got to kill me. So let it not be
us that's offensive, but rather the gospel. Right? I want to
give an offense in anything. Let the ministry, let the Word
be not blank. All right, but in all things,
he said, in all things, approving ourselves as ministers of God,
number one, in much patience, in much patience. And my pastor writes that we
need to bear and forbear with the shortcomings and infirmities
of others, remembering ourselves, remembering ourselves. And I
thought of 2 Timothy 2 in light of this. He says, the servant
of the Lord. Now, it doesn't just apply to
me, but all of us and whomever we deal with. Listen, the servant
of the Lord must not strive. That means argue, debate, contend
with, be contentious with. Do you need this? I have a hard
time talking to the average person about the truth because they
immediately find out they don't believe it and then they get
offended by it and then I want to punch them in the face. That's
not good. I'm confessing my faults to you.
I never had punched anybody in the face. I'm confessing my faults. Is anybody like that? But that's
no way to do it. The disciples were that way.
They said, Lord, let's call down fire from heaven. Remember that? These fellows over here, let's
call down fire. And the Lord said, you know not what manner
of spirits you are. He said, I didn't come to destroy
men, but to save them. And you don't know who are my
elect. You hated this gospel, didn't
you? Everybody in this room hated
this gospel when you first heard it. until God broke down the
enmity. Isn't that right? John, I'll
never forget the first time I met you. You were religious, weren't you?
You didn't know God, did you? Well, don't strive, he said. The servant of the Lord must
not strive, but be gentle unto all. I'm reading 2 Timothy. Apt to teach, or that is, ready
to teach. Not teach what John Calvin said,
not teach what Martin Luther said, not teach what John said. Right? All other words will fall
to the wayside. It will be of no effect. All
other men's words will be of no effect. God's Word. What? Patience. That's the last thing he says
there. The servant of the Lord must be patient. That's all he
hears. I need this worse than ever.
Patience. Proving ourselves in patience.
The next thing he says is proving ourselves in affliction. All
of God's people, my pastor is right, all go through trials
sent by our Father. And so let us, without murmuring,
set an example of faith. In other words, we say we believe
God is sovereign and all things are of the Lord, that all things
that come to pass are of his divine ordination. And if we
go through a trial, let's act like it. Let's approve ourselves
in these afflictions. He said to the Thessalonians,
he said, we know your election because our gospel came unto
you. Not in word only, but in power and the Holy Ghost, much
assurance, and you know what manner of man we were among you.
That's what he's saying. And he said, and you became followers
of us and followers of the Lord, having received the word in much
affliction. Believe this truth. Once you
begin to believe this truth, you yourself will be the object
of men's hatred and persecution. But don't strive. Be patient,
remembering the fact. All right? The next thing he
says, in patience, in affliction, in necessity. In necessity. Am I, Pastor, right? We look
to the Father to provide all our needs according to His riches
in glory. Paul said here in chapter 12,
this same epistle, he said, I take pleasure. Now this is strange
to most, but he says, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches,
in necessities, in persecution, in distresses for Christ's sake. We talked recently about how
God's people are not, most of God's people are not going to
be rich in this world. They're going to live dependent
on God. As Solomon prayed, Lord, keep
me. From David prayed, keep me from
riches, lest I forget you. I want to forget God. That's
what money is. We forget a lot of it. We're
all guilty of it. Money will cause us to think
on how we're going to spend it. And Paul said, though, I take
pleasure in firmities and approaches and necessities. Well, when I'm
weak, he said, I struggle. What do you mean, Paul? Well,
weak physically, weak emotionally, you depend upon someone else
to be your strength. In necessity, that is, you're
poor and needy. If you're poor and needy, you
need a handout. And that goes for everything.
That means physical, material, and especially spiritual. Blessed
are the poor. So, in necessity, we approve
ourselves by looking to our Lord to provide. Our Lord Himself,
as a man, was the greatest proof of faith, was He not? He never
provided Himself with anything. He depended on His Father. Did
the Lord, did God provide His name? Oh, yeah. In necessity. All right, let's
look at the next thing. I wrote this down here on this
thing, a necessity. It's one thing for us to worry
in private, and we all will. We all do. It's one thing to
worry in private. That's human. But don't do it
out loud. We have a testimony. Does that
make sense? Proving ourselves. As a minister, read on. And the
next thing, in distresses, in distresses, I've got to hurry.
In distresses, you know, a lot of things distress us. They do. And there's one thing
that will calm us in distress. Trust in our God. Faith in our
God. Distresses of mind and body and
so forth. And Psalm 37 says, Commit in
your way. roll your way under the law.
Trust in Him. He'll bring it back. All right,
look at verse 5. In stripes, we prove ourselves
by the persecution that we suffer. Now, the apostles literally were
beaten, were literally beaten for the truth's sake, in stripes. And my pastor writes, show courage
and a quiet confidence under harassment and persecution for
the sake of the gospel. Because it will come. Our Lord
said that. And I would love to ask, and I have asked some of
these modern religionists, does anybody hate you? And the answer is no. Who do they
hate? We very much count on him. He's
the man that's closest to the truth. That's a fact. That's a fact. He's the one,
you're the one, that other people will blackball, for the truth's
sake. But we commend ourselves in this
way. We approve ourselves in this way. And we may not receive
a lashing by the whip, but we get plenty of tongue lashings. I've received my share and you
will too." Read on. In imprisonment, Paul and Silas
were in prison often, weren't they? Peter? They're proving themselves. Did
they prove themselves as being true believers while they were
in prison? Do you remember in Acts 16 when
they were in prison, beaten within an inch of their life, thrown
up against the wall, and their bonds made fast? What'd they
do? Start praying. What God did?
Honored that. Broke their chains of sunder
and saved them. Started a whole church at Philippi. We're not going to be in prison
for the gospel. I don't think. I don't think. Many have. And I believe that
had we lived in that time, God would have given us the courage
to face that. But my pastor writes this, we
will never probably be in prison for the gospel, but prison is
a place where they put people they want, that they don't want,
unwanted, out of their presence. You may not be put in prison,
but you will be cast off as an undesirable. That's right. They cease to invite
and eat all their little functions. How about you? We don't worship
the same God. Well, I don't want to play a you card
at all. thing I've said that Barnard said. But anyway, he
said, approving ourselves by watching, or wait, read on, in
tumult. Tumult. Now, the truth will cause
a commotion. It always does. Tumult means
commotion and confusion and everywhere, And once again, things haven't
changed, men haven't changed, truth hasn't changed, God hasn't
changed, man's nature hasn't changed, nothing's changed. Christ
is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Back then, the prophets,
wherever they went, began to declare the true God, and men
hated them and killed them. The apostles came along, our
Lord came along, and declared the truth. He said, I am the
truth. I am the way, the truth, the life. No man comes unto the
Father but by me. The apostles came along, began
to declare that all over the land, you know, that there's
one way, one Lord, one thing. They killed him. They killed
him. And everywhere they went, every
time they preached, every time, it caused a tumult, an uproar,
because the truth tears down people's idols, kills their little
false god, tears their refuge out from under
them, tears down their religious playhouse, and makes everybody
come to the conclusion before they hear the truth that, I'm
lost. If what you're saying is so, I'm lost. If that god is
the true god, I don't have the right one. They come to that
conclusion. And it causes two mothers. And if it's by the mercy and
grace of God causes a tumult in somebody's heart to the point
that they begin to wrestle with the truth, that is a God wrestles
with them like Jacob and salvation has come down on you. Otherwise,
it'll come down on your head. Tumult. And it's safe to say that if
you are in a crowd and tell the truth that if the tumult's not
started, he hadn't said something right. Because this thing is black and
white. It's that different. Light and
dark. It's about a God who is God as opposed to one who wants
to be. That's the difference. About
a Jesus Christ that actually is a Savior of his people. I
mean an actual, effectual, eternal, sufficient Savior of his people. Not a wanna-be, not a try-to-be,
but a Savior. The difference between that one
and the one who wants to be everybody's Savior. And if I were preaching this
right now in the average place in town, it would be a tumult.
Wouldn't it? But what do you say of this thing?
That's right. Let God be true in every man
of life. Too much. And he goes on to say,
in labor. Labor. God's people, God's men
and His people are not lazy people. God doesn't bless laziness. Our
Lord Himself said, I must be about my Father's business. And
we all have a place of service, of labor, wherever we are, as
unto the Lord, for the truth's sake, for God's glory. The next
thing is, he says, in watching. You don't think I'm going to
get through this, do you? I'm going to try. In watching. And
see, this is cumulative. I preached last Wednesday 39
minutes, Sunday about 39 minutes, so I have at least 20 extra minutes. Just kidding. in watching. So we approve ourselves in watching,
guarding the pulpit. I'd rather cancel a service than
just have somebody up here to just say something. Absolutely. And I'd never let
anybody in this pulpit that I didn't think preach the Gospel. I never
will, never will. I very zealously guard this pulpit,
as should you, as should you, for anything to happen to me,
when something happens to me. And the assembly, we should guard
this assembly, said, mark them which cause strife and division
among you. Don't let them tear it up. And
our homes, we watch, guard our homes from error, doctrine, spirit,
attitude. And how do we watch? Our Lord
said, watching unto prayer. Watching unto prayer. That's
how we watch. Lord, open my eyes. Open my eyes. that I might watch. In fasting,
he says, in fasting, that is, self-denial, self-denial. We may not do without food, but
the other things we pass by in order to hear the word. Self-denial. Verse 6, by pureness, by pureness,
my pastor writes purity of doctrine. Our gospel truth is a pure word,
a pure word of God. And motive? Did you read with
me, as I read from 2 Corinthians 2, where he said, We are not
of many which corrupt the word of God, or that is, deal deceitfully
with the word of God, but as of sincerity, that is, from a
heart that's sincere, sincerely seeking the glory of God, seeking
the salvation of souls. as of God. That is, God didn't
seek you by, sent by God. In the sight of God. That is,
conscious of who it is, whose word it is that we preach. We
speak, we preach Christ. That's pure, pure motive. Pure faith, pure motive, pure
love, true love. Well, read on. By knowledge,
by knowledge, knowledge of the Scripture, Paul told young Timothy,
well, let me read what my pastor wrote for him. He said, a good
student, we approve ourselves by being a good student and a
good servant by studying the master's commandment. That's what it means to be a
disciple, a student in the school of Christ. And Paul told young
Timothy, he said, You studied to show yourself approved
of God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing
the word of truth. Look at the next time. He said, By longsuffering and
by kindness. Put those together. Not easily
provoked. The wrath of man, as we said
before, a servant of the Lord must not strive, neither may
nor yet, with whomever we deal with. But by long-suffering and
kindness, because the wrath of man does not work the righteousness
of God. The wrath of man. Now read on. He says, And by
the Holy Ghost, by the Holy Ghost, The Holy Ghost is called the
Spirit of what? Truth. Spirit of truth. How are we approved as ministers
of God by the Holy Ghost? How? The Holy Spirit, through
the preaching, takes the things of Christ and shows them. That's
how. Approved. Paul said there, I
read to you in Thessalonians, how that the word came, not in
word only, but in the Holy Ghost. Power. The Holy Ghost. And unfamed love, he says the
next time. Unfamed love. I love unfamed. Don't you hate people to tell
you they love you when you don't even know them and you know they
don't mean it? I'm sure those self-righteous
Pharisees went around telling everybody how much they loved
them. How they loved the Lord. Didn't they? Sure they did. Famed. Did they love the Lord? They killed the Lord. There's a man who used to attend
here and left because the gospel began to be preached here. And
I called him one day. He owns a trucking firm. Now
you know who he is. But I called him one day. I needed
him to haul something for me. And he answered it. He had this
little answering machine that says, this is such and such residence. At the end of it, he said, remember,
Jesus loves you, and so do we. And I wonder why. Love God. That's famed love. It sickens God, and it sickens
you. But now God's people truly do love one another. They don't say it all the time
because that cheapens it. But they show it. And they really
do. Unfeigned love. Read on. And by the word of truth, verse
7, this is the mark. By the word of truth, approved
by the truth we declare. Approved by the truth we declare. Paul said, I have not shunned
to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Truth without compromise. No matter who shows up to hear
it. Truth. Truth must be proclaimed. Never
pare it down. Read on. By the word of truth,
by the power of God, by the power of God. Paul said, Our gospel
came unto you not in word only, but in power. And we read there
in 2 Corinthians 4 where it says we have this treasure in earthen
vessels. And if you go down through, that
the excellency of the power might be of God. That it might be clearly
seen who are God's truth. You go down through the years
and see who God has used. whom he has given this treasure,
whom he has entrusted his gospel to. Not many mighty, not many noble,
not many wise are called, but God has chosen to base things,
things that are nothing, things that are not, to bring to naught
things that are. You see, you're calling. That's
your pastor's calling. A man with no college education,
no degrees to his name, no formal religious education, No natural
talents or gifts or ability. There are over 30 people, adults
in here, that first heard the gospel from this ignorant, uneducated
man. Now that's of God. After 17 years, I believe I can
say that safely. That's that we have this treasure
in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power might
be of God. That your faith not stand in the wisdom of man, but
in God. We take all of the apostles,
fishermen, common ordinary men, to make
it plain to all, this is of God. This is of God, by the power
of God. Read on. By honor, I'm sorry,
the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left.
And I'll not go there, but You know well, Ephesians 6, don't
you? Put on the whole armor of God. He says armor on the right
hand, armor on the left. The sword of the Spirit in the
right hand. The gospel is our offense. We're not merely defending
the truth. We're declaring it. As old Brother
Griswold said years ago, the gates of hell shall not stand. Gates don't go on the offensive.
You tear down gates. So the gospel is of both our
offense, the truth, the sword, and defense on the left hand,
a shield that defends us, defenders of the fact of freedom. By honor,
now here he says in these next few verses what the world will
think of you and do to you and what God says of you and God's
people say of you. It says, by honor and dishonor. By honor and dishonor. We will be honored and dishonored. Loved and hated. And my pastor writes, don't allow
the honor to exalt you. Every time someone in here thanks
me for a message, and I'm glad you do. You should. I thank you
for everything you do for me. Don't I? Even if it's a glass
of water. If you will and cook me a meal
and work hard on it, I thank you. I'll be the first and the
loudest to thank you. You don't want to. You need it. You need that encouragement,
don't you? It's your reasonable service, isn't it? And every
time someone says that to me, this scripture comes to my mind.
Every time. Though I preach the gospel, I
have nothing to glory in, for necessity is laid upon me. Yea,
woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. Every time. Every
time. I'm telling you the truth. That
word, that scripture comes to mind. One time a man met my pastor
at the back of the church one time and began to tell him thank
you and so forth, and a good message and all that. And he
said, then he said, oh, but I don't want to puff you up, though. And my pastor quickly said to
him, said, you don't have to worry about that. Now, you think about that. God won't
allow his men to be puffed up. It won't be. Well, I'll tell
you what John Bunyan said one time. A woman came up to him
after a service and said to him, said, Brother Bunyan, she said,
you have never been finer than you were today. And he quickly
said to her, I know, dear lady, the devil just told me that. That's the way it is. It will
quickly, or whoever exalts himself will be obeyed. God will not
allow you nor me to be buffed up ever. He'll quickly, I mean
quickly, bring you down in the dust with the most God-awful
thoughts and so forth and make you follow like Peter. Just like
Peter, huh? Everybody will forsake you, not
me. You're going to be the first. You don't have to worry about
that. But my pastor says don't allow
honor to exalt you and don't allow dishonor to shame you. Don't worry about that either. You don't seek the honor of men
anyway. Good God. Read on. He says by evil report
and good report. Some will condemn you as being
evil. Some will praise you. Some will lie on you. And they
have to. They did to our Lord, didn't
they? They had to drum up false witnesses. And they will. Because all men are liars. But
God's people. And good report. But it doesn't
matter. But one way or another. As deceivers,
per se, and yet true. There are people who actually
say that we believe in priests, doctrines of devils. One time in an article in the
newspaper, I just simply quoted passages of scripture. And a
woman wrote a letter to the editor with my name in it, saying how
I was twisting and perverting God's Word. And I didn't even
comment on it. I didn't even comment on it.
I just quoted it. And don't you think, Sammy, that
didn't bother me a little bit? It sure did. But who cares? You know you told the truth.
Huh? They call you a deceiver. They
called our Lord that he had a devil. They said of the holy, spotless
Son of God, he has a devil. Wisdom is justified of her children. That is, God's people know wisdom.
They know the truth from the false. As deceivers, and yet
true. You don't think I'm false. I
don't think you are. You don't think this gospel is
a doctrine of the devil, do you? No, it's a doctrine of Christ.
It's the truth. Read on. Verse 9. As unknown,
yet well known. There's a couple of giants. in the faith, in their 80s, and
they're going to die soon. So good. And the world doesn't care. Boy, here's a Timothy that studied
under one high esteem, an apostle Paul. It was unknown, yet well known.
Well known. Our Lord was in the world, and
the world knew Him not. There's the supreme example.
And He said, You're of the world, yet you're not known by them.
Read on. As dying, and behold, we live. Paul said, We're ready to die,
but willing to live. For me to live is Christ, he
said. To die is gain. I'm ready to part, he said. But
if necessary, I'll stay. I have a purpose. Die and behold,
we live. Read on. And behold, as chastened
and not killed. Chastened. God's people are not
punished by God. Get that out of your head. Things don't happen because God
is punishing you. Punishment is severe just a strict
justice for breaking the law. We're not under the law. We're
under grace. But it's not a curse. Preached
on Chastening. Clearly revealed to us that it
means instruction. Now there's some hard lessons.
Most lessons that we learn are painful ones, but it's not punishment. never have been. It's good. It's
good. Chasing, but we're not killed.
It's not going to kill us. He said in, I think it's First
Corinthians 10. Yeah. This light of religion. Oh, it works for us. A far more
exceedingly eternal way to build the redemptive. And he says,
as sorrowful, as sorrowful, and yet always rejoicing. God's people,
in this sense, are very sorrowful. Men and women acquainted with
sorrow. Men of sorrow, women of sorrow
are acquainted with grief. We sorrow over sin in ourselves more than anything
else. We sorrow over sin in the world.
It grieves us. It vexes the soul of God's righteous
people like a log. It vexes them. Nothing. We sorrow
over that. We sorrow over the blasphemy
in the world. We sorrow over unbelief. We want
our children to believe. They don't believe. We sorrow
over that. We want our spouses to believe.
Some of them don't believe. We sorrow over that. He wouldn't love him if he didn't
sorrow. But we don't sorrow as those
who have no hope. As long as the gospel's
being free, there's hope. Where is hope? What's your hope?
What was the hope for you? They said of me, I was hopeless. They said of me as a youngster,
he's hopeless. To a man, yeah, with a man it's
impossible. We sorrow over trials. We go through trials and afflictions. And you wouldn't be human. You
wouldn't love if you didn't sorrow. Yet, always rejoice. In what? In the Lord. Paul said that ten times. Rejoice in the Lord. And again
I say, rejoice in the Lord. Where was he when he wrote that?
In prison. At Philippi. No, no, at Rome. Anyway, we rejoice in the Lord,
always. Always rejoice in the Lord. We
always, under any circumstance, whatever it is, though we're
sorrowing, we can still rejoice in the Lord. Eli, when they came
to him, said, your boys are killed. Don't you know he's sorry? Those
are his only two children. His two sons were killed. Don't
you know he's sorry? Don't you know it broke his human
heart? And he rejoiced. He said, it's
the Lord. I can rejoice in knowing that the Lord did it. According
to His purpose. According to His infinite wisdom.
According to His infinite goodness. And it's all going to work out
for good. It's all for His glory. It's
all for my good. And I rejoice in the Lord. You don't have to
rejoice in the trial. You can. You can rejoice in the
Lord and knowing that He's the one that sent you. And the end
will turn out like that. See that? We rejoice in the Lord. And I read on. And he says in
verse 10, as poor, yet make him many rich. Oh my, our Lord, who was rich,
yet for our sakes became poor. Huh? He said, the Son of Man
hath not where to lay his head. What can he do for anybody, John? In Him are all things. All the
treasures of what? What are treasures? All right,
let's find out what rich is. Let's define what true riches
are. And then we'll see what He can do for us. Riches in glory. Our God shall
supply all your needs according to His riches in glory. As poor, yet making many rich. God's people, the church. And
this little church is a good example. Pretty good example
of the way it's been throughout the years. Church has been just
a poor lot of people. Yes, it has. Yes, it has. There were twelve disciples in
another room. What a poor and motley crew that was. Well, we'll
see what God will do with them. Poor. And you look at all the
You know, the extravagance of religion and all that around
them. Who's poor? Now, who's really poor and who's
rich? Making many rich, rich in the
faith. We don't promise men when they come here, we don't promise
them financial prosperity or freedom from financial debt. We promise them, though, according
to God's Word, that if they trust Christ and look to Christ, freedom
from the debt of sin, debt to the law. That is, if God Almighty frees
them from it. Oh, those are bogus
claims these men have. Well, read on. He says, "...has
having nothing, but possessing all things." And my pastor writes, He quotes
from 2 Peter 1, the knowledge of God and of the Lord Jesus,
these divine promises. His divine power has given unto
us all things. His divine power has given unto
us all things that pertain unto life and God. He's given us all
things. You're possessing all things. We got it all right here. What
else is, what do we need? Possessing all things. And eternal
life, life in God and life more abundantly. Give my pastor a break, goodness. Okay, stand with me. Our Lord, thank you for your
word. Thank you so much for this epistle that you wrote to the
Corinthians, yet it's to us, our children, to reveal things
belonging to us and our children. These things, whatsoever things
were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through
patience and comfort of the scripture might have hope. And our hope
truly is in Christ and Him alone. Thank you, Lord, for this ruler
that we can measure all things by, the line and the plummet.
Thank you, Lord. Open our eyes, open our ears,
give us discernment, cause us to hearken diligently unto Thee,
unto Thy Word. Listen, hear, and our souls shall
live. And we shall know the truth,
and it will set us free. Grant it, Lord. according to
thy word and according to thy glory. It's in Christ's name
we meet here tonight. Amen.