Welcome to our program. Now,
today I'm going to be preaching from the book of 2 Corinthians,
chapter 6, if you'd like to follow along in your Bibles. The title
of my message is The Work of the Gospel. The Work of the Gospel. Now, when we speak of work, many
people are so confused about that issue when it comes to salvation.
And I said work singular, not works plural. There are works
plural, talking about the works that we do. save sinners do. But let me make that clear at
the outset here. There is no way at no time to
any degree or at any stage that salvation of sinners is based
on or conditioned on their works. What they do for God and for
others. Now should we work for God and
for others? Absolutely. But not in order
to be saved. We ought to do that because we
are saved. You see, because of, not in order
to, but because of. Works cannot save us. Our works
cannot make us holy. Our works do not make us righteous. Our works do not earn our reward. I know many people preach that
and that's offensive when I say it today, but it's so now. Works
are not the things that we use to earn God's blessing. Works
are the product of God's blessings. The Bible says, for we are His
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, not because
of good works, which God hath before ordained that we should
walk in them. So works are necessary and important
and valuable in salvation, but not in order to attain or maintain
salvation. but because of. And that establishes
the motive of works. It's not legal mercenary works
aimed at earning from God. It's the works of love. It's
a labor of love because we love God. And we love Him because
He first loved us, the scripture says. And it's the works of grace
and gratitude. We work because we're grateful.
Now Paul here is speaking of the work of the ministry of the
gospel. He had just spoken of how God
is reconciled to his people through the obedience unto death of Christ.
In verse 21, the heart of the gospel, For God hath made him
sin, Christ who knew no sin for us, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him. God is reconciled to his people
through the blood of the cross, Colossians 1 tells us. Now, it
is necessary then, as the result of the purpose of God and the
work of Christ on the cross, that sinners be reconciled to
God. Now that refers to the work of
the Holy Spirit in the new birth. Paul wrote, back up in 2 Corinthians
5, in verse 20, Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ. In
other words, we're not preaching by our own authority, but we're
under the authority of Christ as citizens of his kingdom. representing
him in our preaching, as though God did beseech by us. We pray
in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. And so as a result of
God's purpose and Christ's work on the cross, the gospel ministry
is to go out all over the world through his preachers. And his
church is the pillar and ground of truth. So Paul begins here
speaking of the work of the gospel. He says in verse 1 of chapter
6, he says, we then, as workers together with him, beseech you
also that you receive not the grace of God in vain. Now, whenever
we see a term like that, the grace of God in vain, there are
many people who automatically run to works religion and say,
well, see there, that means you can lose your salvation. That
is not what this is talking about. First of all, this is not, that
verse is not talking about salvation itself, it's talking about the
ministry of the gospel. Talking about saved people going
out and preaching the gospel. And what he's saying here is
that in this ministry, in the work of the gospel, in preaching
the gospel to the lost, in feeding the sheep of God with the truth,
We don't want to be found among those who render it ineffective
or absolutely worthless because of ourselves. Now let me say
this, the grace of God in salvation is never in vain. I used to hear
preachers say at what they call an invitation today. They would
say, did Christ die in vain for you? Now let me tell you this,
Christ did not die in vain for anybody. all for whom Christ
died shall be saved. But as to my way of working,
as to in myself, in the ministry of the gospel given to me, I
can sure render myself worthless and no count as far as a witness. And that's what Paul's talking
about here. He says we then as workers together, God's preachers
ought to be together, preaching the gospel of the glory of God.
Whenever you see God's preachers part in company, it's not of
God, it's of themselves. It's pride, it's reputation,
it's all kinds of things. But He says, we then as workers
together with Him, that is with Christ, beseech you also that
you receive not the grace of God in vain, the gifts of ministry,
the gift of preaching, the gift of prophecy, that is preaching
the Word of God as He reveals it to you, the gift of any ministry,
any of the gifts of ministry, that we've given, we're to be
good stewards of the grace of God. Now he says in parenthesis
here, verse 2, For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted,
and in the day of salvation have I succored or comforted thee.
Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Now that's a quotation from the
book of Isaiah, chapter 49, which speaking of the Messiah, is speaking
of the Father's help and comfort to the Messiah in His time of
trial and especially in His time of suffering on the cross. The
Savior, before He went to Jerusalem, He prayed to the Father in John
17, the high priestly prayer. And then in the Garden of Gethsemane,
He prayed under the agony of the weight and burden of the
suffering He was about to face. The Father and the Spirit and
His own deity bore him up under those sufferings, and even on
the cross, even unto death, and then in the resurrection of him
from the dead. The Father comforted him, and
he said, this is the accepted time. Now is the time. Christ
said, my time has come. Now what Paul was doing, he's
using that passage to show the ministers of the gospel, the
Church of Corinth, the urgency of preaching the gospel. of working
for the glory of God in Christ, the urgency of being together
in Him. This is not a time that we can
be lax and nonchalant with this ministry. This is not a time
when we should be divided and fighting and fussing. This is
not a time when we should not be good stewards. Now is the
accepted time, he says. Now is the day of salvation. Be ready, be an able and ready
minister of Christ. And he says in verse 3, giving
no offense in anything but that the ministry be not blamed. Don't
be an offensive person, is what he's saying. Because when you're
an offensive person, what do they do? They blame the ministry.
Well, at your church, they just think you can do anything this
way. You know, I've heard people say,
because we believe salvation by free, sovereign grace, not
conditioned on the sinner, but conditioned on Christ, the full,
complete forgiveness of all my sins, not based on my confession,
not based upon my promises to do better, not based upon my
doing better, but based totally upon the blood of Christ, my
right standing before God, based totally upon His righteousness
imputed, accounted, charged to me, not based upon my efforts
to obey the law. People say, well, if you believe
that, you can go out and sin as much as you want to. And that's
not the case, because there is the work of the Holy Spirit,
the grace of God in the heart, to give that saved sinner a desire
to obey God, to give that saved sinner a conviction and sorrow
over sin, a godly sorrow unto repentance. But you see, people
will accuse. Now, if they accuse you falsely,
that's one thing. But now, if a minister of God,
if a true believer, one who knows Christ, goes out here and just
abuses his liberty and his gifts to the point that they accuse
the ministry, that's wrong. That's wrong. So don't be offensive
so that the ministry... This is a gospel ministry. This
is a ministry of Christ and Him crucified. Paul said in Romans
1 16, the forgiveness of my sins by
the blood of Christ. I preach my justification before
God by the righteousness of Christ. And that's what I preach. And
then he says in verse 4, but in all things approving ourselves
as the ministers of God, and it's talking about commending
ourselves in the preaching of the gospel, he says in much patience,
be patient, that's hard. Sometimes I'm like the woman
who prayed to God, she said, Lord give me patience and give
it to me right now. You see, we're so impatient,
so little long-suffering. In afflictions, we're going to
be afflicted. The afflictions of this physical
body, the afflictions of our mind, in necessities, things
we need, in distresses, oh, and we get so down in trouble. And
most of the time, we make it worse. In stripes, that's when
he was punished for the sake of the gospel. That's talking
about being suffering for the gospel's sake. That suffering
Not just all common suffering, but the suffering that identifies
God's people with Christ. Christ suffered for his people
on the cross to pay for their sins. To establish righteousness
before God in order that God might be just to justify the
ungodly. Now his people suffer with him,
not to pay for their sins, and not to establish righteousness,
but because of the offense of the cross. Remember when Paul
said, don't be offensive. Well, that means in ourselves,
in our personalities, in our words, in our attitude, in our
actions. Don't be offensive to that one.
But now listen to me. The gospel is offensive to the
natural man. Christ said to Nicodemus, he
said, this is the condemnation, that light is coming to the world
and men love darkness and hateth the light because their deeds
were evil. You know the gospel of God's
grace in Christ, the salvation through His blood and righteousness
alone. You know what it does? It knocks the prop out from all
false religion and all idols. It exposes the false refuges
of all sinners who are not looking to Christ and Him crucified and
risen again alone. It shows us what we are. It says
there's none righteous, no not one, to be found among men in
themselves. There's none that understandeth.
They've all gone out of the way. There's none that seeketh after
God. There is none that doeth good, no not one. That's an offensive
message to self-righteous religious people. But my friend, it's a
message that you must hear and know and believe by the power
of the Holy Spirit. And so Paul, he was subject to
many stripes because he preached that message. And he goes on
in verse 5, in imprisonment. He was in prison for it. In fact,
when he wrote the letter, the prison epistles, he was in prison
at Rome. And then in tumults or in trouble,
in labors, talking about laboring hard, in watchings, literally
that means in lost sleep. You know, a lot of times you'll
lose sleep over thinking about these things. In fasting, that
is in going hungry. He says in verse six, by pureness,
by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost,
by love unfeigned, sincere love. These are all the gifts and graces
of the Spirit. He gives the pureness has to
do with a pure heart. You know what a pure heart is
in the Bible? The pure heart is not a sinlessly
perfect heart. If that were true, none of us
would have a pure heart. And as I said last week, we all
struggle in a warfare of the flesh and the spirit. The pure
heart is the heart cleansed by faith, cleansed by the blood
of Christ. It's the heart, the mind, the affections, and the
will that looks unto Christ for all of salvation, that looks
and settles and is assured that His blood is the complete payment
for all my sins, that His righteousness is my right standing completely
before a holy God. It's a heart that looks unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. And then this knowledge
is the knowledge of God in Christ, the knowledge of the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ. This long-suffering is the patience
that we have knowing that God suffers long with us. Kindness
is self-explanatory. Be kind. Be kind to one another. And it's all by the power of
the Holy Spirit. It's not within us by nature
to do these things. It's the Spirit that gives us
these gifts and these graces to desire to do these things
and convicts us when we fall short, as we all do. And he says,
by love unfeigned. That means sincere love, real
love, not just a fake love. You know, religion is good at
promoting fake love, but the grace of God does not promote
fake love. It's not the work of the gospel
to promote and encourage a false sham love. but it's a sincere
love and you know something love now let me tell you this about
love now love is not something you feel you may not feel like
it it's not in fact love has nothing to do true divine love
has nothing to do with the worthiness of the objects of that love love
is a choice you make and it's a choice you would never make
except God made it for you by the power of his spirit we love
him because he first loved us Now he says in verse 7, I want
you to listen to this verse. He says, by the word of truth,
by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right
hand and on the left. Now here's the foundation of
the work of the gospel. First of all, it's the word of
truth. The gospel is not a lie. The gospel is the truth. It's
the good news of how God saves sinners. And so when we as ministers
of the gospel, when we go beyond the scriptures to our own speculations,
we go beyond the word of truth, we go too far. That's why in
the book of 2 John, when he's talking about false preachers
coming in and trying to gain the support of people, he says,
you beware of them. He said, those who come to you,
transgressing or going too far, in the truth. In other words,
they go beyond it to make it a lie. They have not God. And
don't listen to them, and don't bid them Godspeed. You're not
to have religious fellowship with them. We preach the Word
of Truth, and the only way that we can preach the Word of Truth
is stick to this book. Stick to these scriptures. Now
I know we use words that aren't actually recorded in scripture,
but my friend, you better listen critically. Now listen to me
about that. You need to be a critical listener of any preacher, me
included. Listening critically does not
mean listening to find fault. There are people right now who
are listening to me. I'll guarantee you they're just
dying for me to mess up somewhere. And I know that. They're just
dying for me to make a statement that they can take out and use
and say, go out and say, see there, Bill Parker doesn't believe
this or doesn't preach this or he believes this or preaches
that. That's a wrong, that's an evil, wicked attitude. It's not of God. It's not by
the Spirit. It's not honoring to Christ.
What I mean in listening critically is listening with an ear to hear
the truth. Check it out with the scripture.
Like the noble Bereans. Remember in the book of Acts,
Paul spoke of the noble Bereans. They heard Paul preach. They
heard the others preach. And they went home and they searched
the scriptures to see if these things are true. No true preacher
of the gospel who's doing the work of the gospel will mind
you checking him out by the Word of Truth. Now, if you were listening
to Fine Fault, I'm going to tell you something. You're going to
find it. And I will mess up somewhere. And I'll hit a note that'll raise
a red flag in somebody's mind that they'll use, and they'll
use it. Let the pot shards of the earth strive with the pot
shards of the earth. But you listen to see if what
I'm telling you is true in this Word, in the Bible, the Word
of God. So it's by the word of truth
and then it's by the power of God. Now that's key. I couldn't
preach the truth to you except by the power of God. I wouldn't
even want to preach the truth to you except by the power of
God. The gospel is the power of God
and the salvation. Christ in 1 Corinthians 1 is
called the very power and wisdom of God. Preach Christ and him
crucified and risen again who is seated at the right hand of
the Father ever living to make intercession. for his people.
He says, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the
left, what do we preach in the word of truth? Our main message
is the righteousness of God in the gospel. How God can be just
to justify the ungodliness. And Satan will accuse me, but
his arrows of accusation will not fit, because who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who can condemn us? It's Christ
that died. Yea, rather He's risen again
and seated at the right hand of the Father. Every living to
make intercession for us. So, wherever you turn to the
right hand or the left, preach the gospel and the power of God.
Verse 8. He says, By honor and dishonor,
by evil report and good report, as deceivers and yet true. Now,
what Paul is speaking of here is how he's received in the world. Their son who received him and
other ministers of the gospel who do the work of the gospel,
they receive them honorably. Now, to receive them honorably
does not mean that they elevate the man or him as a person, but
they receive him honorably when they receive him as a true preacher
of the gospel. This man is sin of God. There
was a man sin of God, John the Baptist. That's giving honor
to John, not in his person, but because of the message that he's
preaching. That's really honoring Christ, not the man. And then
dishonor. There are some who spoke against
Paul. Paul deals with that in 2 Corinthians 10 and in other
places, and 11. He speaks of those who are after
his reputation. They cannot prove his message
untrue, so they go after him. I've experienced that, and every
true preacher has. You have people, they'll say,
you believe this, you believe that, when you don't believe
this or that. Or they'll say, well, something's missing. I've
heard that. Say, it's not what he's saying, it's what he's not
saying. And you ask them, they say, well, what is it he's not
saying? They can't tell you. See, all that is, is wicked,
wicked gossip. That's just planting a seed,
a poisonous seed of doubt. The poison of Asp is on their
lips, you see. And that's what Paul had to experience
in dishonor. It's not that he was a dishonorable
man, but he was accused. And he says, by evil report and
good report. There were some who reported
evil of Paul. They did it falsely. And there
were some who reported good things of Paul. That he preached the
gospel of Christ as deceivers and yet true. There are some
who said Paul was a deceiver, but he wasn't a deceiver. He
just preached Christ. And then there are others who
said the words of Paul are true because he's preaching the word.
He's preaching the gospel. Verse 10, he says, as sorrowful,
yet always rejoicing. There's sorrow and joy in every
life, isn't there? But I'll tell you something,
in the work of the gospel, there's much sorrow and there's much
joy. John, in the book of Revelation,
called it the bittersweet gospel. It's a bitterness because there
are so many who don't believe it. There are so many who are
adamant against it. There are so many who don't care.
But it's joyful because God will save his people from their sins. You think about the joy of preaching
Christ. Paul said, Rejoice in the Lord. Always, again, I say rejoice. The Gospel message, the work
of the Gospel is joy and peace in the Holy Spirit. And so he
says in verse 10, he goes on, Ask poor, yet making many rich. You know, our Lord was poor.
according to material things. But think about the riches of
the glory of salvation that was in Him. He is God incarnate. And when we preach the gospel,
many of these men preached in abject poverty. And yet they
made many rich. Now how did they make many rich?
Not by giving them money, but by preaching the gospel of a
great wealth of inheritance of salvation. When a sinner comes
to know Christ, that sinner is rich beyond imagination, blessed
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. He goes on, he says, verse 9,
he said, as unknown yet well known. In other words, Paul was
a nobody, yet among the people of God he was well known. As
dying and behold, we live. We're led as sheep as the slaughter,
dying every day, dying to the flesh, but we live in Christ
as chastened and not killed. God has his purpose for his people.
He punishes his people, not in order to pay for their sins,
but in order to correct them and admonish them as a loving
father. That's chastisement, but not killed. And then verse
10, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich,
as having nothing and yet possessing all things. In this world, we
really have nothing. Even a person who is rich in
material, they have nothing because it's going to vanish away. But
my friend, possessing all things. Now, how do we possess all things? Well, back over in the book of
Romans, chapter 8. Listen to what it says here.
He says in verse 28, he says, If we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom he called
them he also justified, and whom he justified them he also glorified. What shall we then say to these
things, if God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. Now that's
not all without exception. It's all without distinction.
How shall he not with him also freely give us all things? What's
he saying? You have Christ, you have it
all. All things in eternity, all blessings. all grace here,
all glory hereafter in Christ. And that's what Paul means. We
really have nothing on this earth. It's all going to vanish. You
may be healthy today, but it'll be gone tomorrow. You may be
rich today, it'll be gone tomorrow. But in Christ, there's an inheritance
that never vanishes away. Hope you enjoyed this message.
And if you'd like to get a copy of it, listen to the announcer
as he gives you the details. The title of this message is
The Work of the Gospel. And I hope you'll join us next
week for another message from God's Word.