If you'd like to follow along,
please turn to the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 2. And I'm going to read verses
14 to 17. 2 Corinthians chapter 2. Now, thanks be unto God, which
always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest
the savor of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are
unto God a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved and in
them that perish. To the one we are the savor of
death unto death, and to the other, the saver of life unto
life. And who is sufficient for these
things? For we are not as many which
corrupt the word of God. But as of sincerity, but as of
God, in the sight of God, speak we in Christ." I'm going to speak today, try,
in particular of the gospel preacher,
because that is basically the direct context here. The real
McCoy, not a pretender, not a profaner, not people who preach a perversion
of the gospel. We'll get to them, because it's
at the last verse here. But I do want to make this clear
before I get started that when Paul uses the word we and when
he uses the word us, he's not using the royal we. We are not
amused. No. When he says we, he means
we. And when he says us, he means
us. When he says them, he means not we. That's the way it is. I mean, Paul wrote what he meant,
and he meant what he wrote. There is a sense, and I want
to make this clear from the beginning, that this is true of everyone
who speaks of Christ, whether publicly, from a pulpit, preaching
the gospel, or individually, whether you speak to friend or
foe. If you are speaking of Christ, and if you are proclaiming his
work, his will, his way. This does apply. Paul's not joking. This is serious business. Anyone, well, God hears and knows
when anyone speaks of his son. anywhere, anytime, anyone, in
every word. Now this is as true of witnessing
as it is of preaching on Sunday morning. Like I said, the main
context is preachers, but it's not to them alone. So I don't
wanna leave you guys off the hook, that's all. Because every
believer is a saver unto God in Christ. But he starts this passage, he
starts with, now thanks be unto God, which always causes us to
triumph in Christ. The gospel preacher always triumphs. That's what that means. First of all, thanks be to God.
Thanks be to God. Because the only way possible
for any man to triumph is because of God. We triumph thanks to God. When? Always. Are you sure? Yes, I'm sure. And even if I'm not, God's sure. Paul's writing under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit. Writing out God's breathing here The gospel preacher always Triumphs
very carefully very clearly in Christ in Christ Because the gospel preached is
always a triumph The truth the truth of Christ proclaimed aloud
verbally written down, however, is always a triumph. Because
what Paul read this morning, where Stephen preached to those
Jews, understand, he preached the absolute truth. He preached
their own history to them. He preached and told them about
Moses, Talked about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. And he talked about
them, their fathers, killing the prophets, just as you did
now. And what happened to them? They
stoned him. And he told them why they were
going to stone him when he did it. Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised
in heart and ears, you do Always resist the Holy Ghost. As your fathers did, so do you.
And I'm gonna tell you this, until God gets a hold of you,
that's all you will ever do. That's all that any man will
ever do, any woman will ever do, is resist the Holy Ghost,
resist God, because you don't know God. But our triumphs, because we
gotta watch out for the ego here. The gospel preacher does always
triumph, but the gospel preacher only triumphs in Christ. That's
what Paul wrote, and that's what Paul meant. You understand? The gospel preacher does not
triumph in life. That's not it. Now I know what
the preachers on TV say. I know what preachers on the
radio say. God wants you to be healthy, wealthy, and wise. This
book says something totally different than that. This book says, I
want you to know me. This book says, in this life,
ye shall have tribulation. What? You're going to have trouble.
You're going to have problems. And the gospel preacher's no
different there. I can say from personal experience,
I'm just as ignorant as anybody else about a lot of things. My
family life, my working life, that's not where the triumph
lies for the gospel preacher. The triumph lies in preaching
Christ. And he causes us to triumph. He always causes us to triumph. It's not like we can do it on
our own. That's what gospel preachers have to watch out for, because
you don't want to get puffed up. and think that, oh, I'm doing
this, because we're not. If there's any triumph, it's what? Thanks be unto God that always
causes us. He causes us, in spite of ourselves,
to triumph in Christ. Because here's the thing. Oh,
that's the title Paul's going to be. We always triumph. Here's
the thing. He causes us to triumph in Christ
and maketh manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every
place. You understand, if you're gonna
preach Christ, you're gonna have to preach his knowledge. I'm
not preaching man's knowledge. I'm not, by God's grace, I'm
not gonna preach my knowledge. I need to preach his knowledge.
And his knowledge has a definite and distinct and a very sweet
savor to the child of God. He makes manifest the savor of
his knowledge by us in every place because whenever Christ
is preached, there's a savor. There's a smell, that's what
it means, there's an odor. And it's a very, very pleasant
odor to some, to some. But here in this case, we'll
see it's a very, very pleasant odor to God, to God. Wherever Christ is preached,
there's a saver. And the knowledge of Christ is a victory in us, in us. The relating of that knowledge
in the preaching of the gospel by us triumphs every time. I just can't get over that. Because
the knowledge of Christ has a savor, a flavor all his own. If you understand, I don't know
if I can get this across exactly the way I want to, but if you
know the gospel, I think you'll know what I mean. Different gospel preachers preach
the same gospel in different manners. Now, I'm not talking
about the message, because there's only one message. There's only
one gospel. There's only one word of God. Their vocabularies differ. Their
diction, the way they pronounce words, may differ. Their syntax,
accents are different. And here's the thing, they can
even speak in different languages. And yet, it's the same message. It's the same Christ. Doesn't
matter whether it's in German doesn't matter whether it's in
English doesn't matter whether it's in Spanish If you're preaching
Christ, you're preaching the same message And we all triumph
in Christ and when it is translated to my ears I Recognize the gospel
of God's grace in the face of Jesus Christ no matter how it's
preached Paul went so far one time, he says, if Christ is preached
of strife and of enviance, nevertheless, I rejoice in that Christ is preached. You know why? Because if Christ
is preached, there's a triumph. Now there may be envy on one
part, there may be strife on another part, but the gospel
triumphs every time. Paul's not talking about preaching
a false gospel. He talked about that other places. And then he makes this one statement
here that just has always kind of boggled my mind. For we are
unto God a sweet saver of Christ in them that are saved and in
them that perish. We are, unto God, a sweet saver of Christ. That's just astounding to me.
That's amazing. That is the grace of God. That he can look at me, he can
look at you, a rotten, wretched sinner. Saved by the grace of God, yes. But still, what did Paul the
apostle himself say? In my flesh dwelleth no good
thing. And yet, we are a saver, a sweet
saver to God in Christ. A sweet saver of Christ. Because when God sees us, he
smells his son on us. He smells his son in us. Now they say smell is closely
associated with human memory, where you can smell something
and then you'll remember something that's appropriate. I smell fried
chicken I think of my mom or my grandma on Sundays. because
we had fried chicken every Sunday. Now we find out it's bad for
you, but I still like it. It doesn't matter. But that smell
of frying chicken still reminds me of that. You understand, when
God's smelling us, he's smelling his son. He's not smelling our
flesh. He's not smelling our sin. He's
smelling his son. We're unto God. a sweet savor
of Christ. And make no mistake about it,
God likes the smell of the gospel being preached. That might be
a funny statement, but that's what it is. God likes the smell
of the gospel being preached. And God likes the savor of those
who preach his gospel. The almighty God, the everlasting
Father, loves the gospel of his well-beloved son. He even loves it preached by
clay pots, earthen vessels. One sinner preaching to another
sinner. That's the way he wants it done.
He could have wrote it in the sky and had everybody be learned
to read it, be taught to read. It's not what he wanted to do. He is well pleased in his son. And he has a sweet, he smells
a sweet savor when we preach his son to other people. That's
just an amazing thing to me. But God likes the smell of the
gospel being preached. Think back to the burnt offering
in the Old Testament when it talks about the burnt offering.
One of the first things it says about it, it says, yes, it shall
be an atonement for you. But here's the thing, that whole
burnt offering goes up in flames to God. Every single bit of it. Nothing is wasted the fat the
blood the flesh. It's burnt on that offering and
It goes up what as a sweet savor unto God The Lord loves his son and The
Lord loves the gospel of his son to be proclaimed It says when we preach Christ
We're a sweet saver of Christ in them that are saved and in
them that perish. Because we preach Christ, God
smells Christ, Christ is preached. So that men will believe and
that men won't believe. This is the thing. that the world
wants to leave out. Because it also says, we are
a saver unto God, for we are unto God a sweet saver of Christ
in them that are saved and in them that perish. Not either way, both ways. I know it's kind of a subtle
point, but that's what it is. It's not either or, this is both
and. Because you understand, the potter has power over the
clay. To make one vessel unto honor
and to make another vessel unto dishonor. And the gospel preached is a
saver. In them that are saved and in
them that perish. Because what's that mean? The gospel is the same. Every time it's preached, it's
to be the same. It's the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ. who came to save his people from
their sins, who did save his people from their sins, and who
is now saving his people from their sins, bringing them in. And some will believe, and some
will not. Those that are saved and those
that perish do not change the savor, the savor, the smell of
Jesus Christ preached. He is the same yesterday and
today and forever. And we always triumph in Him. How do you mean? Well, it means
that his word shall not return unto him void. His gospel preached, a sweet
saver unto God, shall not return unto him void. Now what's that
mean? Well it means that that word
preached shall accomplish everything that he sent it forth to accomplish. And them that are saved, and
in them that perish. See, people think we make this
stuff up. It's right here in black and white. God's word is true is truth. God's word is always true, whether
men believe it or whether men hate it. And it's always a sweet savor
unto God. whether men believe it or whether men hate it. And we believers, speakers of
truth, are the saver. Verse 16 says, to the one, we're
the saver of death unto death, and to the other, the saver of
life unto life. And who is sufficient for these
things? To the one, the saver of death unto death, If you do
not believe Jesus is the Christ, you have no life. If you believe that Jesus is
the Christ, you have everlasting life. The saver of death unto
death, the saver of life unto life. You will not hear and believe
the words of life that Christ has spoken. The saver of life unto life is,
you will hear and believe the words of life that Christ has
spoken. The saver of death unto death
is, you will not hear and believe his gospel preachers. The saver
of life unto life, you will hear his gospel preachers. John talked about it. The saver of death unto death
is this, they don't understand life from
God. And those that believe, those
that are saved, do understand, to an extent, life from God. Because the believer is the only
one who knows the difference between life from God and his
own flesh, the spirit of God in his own flesh. The natural
man cannot understand the things of the spirit of God. Why? They're spiritually discerned. The spiritual man understands.
Not perfectly, sometimes not really consistently. But you
will hear, you will understand life from God. And guess what?
He'll put it in you to want to hear more. You understand? This is the savor
of life unto life. You don't get tired of the gospel,
Walter. You don't get tired of the gospel. Now maybe you're
crabby, maybe you're tired, maybe you're sleepy. You can't help
that. But you understand, I'm here because I want to be here.
This is where I come to preach. but also to hear that man over
there preach. Why? Because I want to hear the
gospel. I need the good news every day. And I like, Mason, I like the
savor of life unto life. If you know the light, you don't
want to hang out in darkness. Because we're the only ones who
know the light from the darkness. Because the others, those that
are death unto death, guess what? They're living in the darkness
that they think is light. Oh, but don't get cocky. Yes,
we are always triumph. We triumph in Christ. But here Paul asks it, who is
sufficient for these things? And the answer is not you. It's
not me. God is sufficient. Jesus Christ
is sufficient. And we do always triumph. We are a saver unto God because
Christ is the saver of righteousness. The gospel is his life. his sacrifice,
his offering unto God. It smells sweet to the father.
Understand, God is holy. And see, this is one of those
verses that for a long time, it really did bug me. He says,
be ye holy, for I am holy. Understand, that scared me. Because
Walter, even though I knew God had done something for me, I
was not holy. But then I found out I am holy
in Him. I am Him. He is my wisdom, and He is my
righteousness, and He is my sanctification, and He is my redemption. You
know why? God made Him, made me, in Christ. It's just, I used to worry about overcoming.
He that overcometh, Walter, you remember that? He that overcometh,
he that overcometh. Well, this is the victory that
overcometh the world, our faith. If he's given you faith, you
have overcome the world. And you are a sweet savor in
the nostrils of God because he looks at you and he smells his
son. Mm. So how is all this possible? It's the grace of God. But here's
one of the things Paul had to put in. He said, for we are not as many
which corrupt the word of God. But as of sincerity, but as of
God, in the sight of God speak we Christ in Christ Here's your
conclusion Here's the difference between the false preachers and
the gospel preachers between false witnesses and true witnesses
One we are not many I Know it seems a little strange
Paul starting with the negative, but he does that a lot But here's
the thing gospel preachers few They always have been all throughout
the scriptures There are always more liars than there are truth
speakers, and that's the way it's always been Look back well, I'm not going
to turn there, but I'll tell you first Kings 18 there were
450 prophets of Baal and one prophet of God, named
Elijah. Now, there might be other prophets
around, but you understand, that's about the right ratio. 450 prophets of Baal and one
prophet of God. You go to 1 Kings 22, and there
were about 400 other prophets, and there was one prophet of
the Lord, Micaiah, the one the king didn't wanna hear from,
Because he never prophesied anything good about me. No, he told the
truth. And guess what? The truth is
not always pleasant. We are not as many. And he uses
this word, who corrupt the word of God. That's what it is. You understand, false preachers,
false prophets, are not against the word of God verbally. They'll use it, but they corrupt
it. They corrupt it. They'll take
things out of context. They'll take half a verse and
build a doctrine on it. And if you watch them very carefully,
when you read some of their tracks or anything like this, you'll
see them. They'll quote the first part
of a verse, and then they'll leave out a little bit in the
middle, and then they'll quote the last part of the verse. Why? Because it changes the meaning
to what they want. But that word, corrupt, I looked
it up. Young's literal translation puts
it this way, for we are not as the many Adulterating the Word
of God That's what they're doing Understand there. It's not you
can't corrupt the word But you can lie about it and You can
lie about it in many many ways and trust me They do them all
the Greek word. I look this up though. I did
the Greek word This is derived from the Greek word translate
that translates to Huckster Now some of you young people may
not know what that means, okay? But a huckster, bare bones definition
is a salesman. That's what a huckster is. They
used to carry a little suitcase with legs underneath it back
in the 50s and the 60s, and they'd open up their suitcase and they'd
sell stuff on the sidewalk, they'd sell stuff door to door. Sometimes
they sold small items in a store. That was what a huckster was.
But a huckster also has a Secondary definition, a huckster
is also known for, and I wrote this down, serving biased interests. And they also use pushy and showy
tactics to make the sale. Now I'm going to tell you something.
If you want to, turn on your television to the TBN or whatever
else you want to, any religious channel, or any channel that's
early Sunday morning. I'm gonna tell you something,
somebody's putting on a show every channel almost. And that's
where this word comes from. They're corrupting the word of
God. They're trying to hoodwink you. We call it lying around here. Hermeneutical eisegesis. You
take something from the Word of God or you add something in.
That's what that means. We still call it lying. And that's
what they do. They adulterate. They're not
taking the pure Word of God for what it says. They're going to
add a little something in or they're going to take a little
something out. Either way, basically to hoodwink you into buying their
product. Paul warns about them saying
they will make merchandise of your souls. That's what they
want. They corrupt. A false preacher
is one who distorts, perverts, adds to, and or takes from the
word of God to sell you a false Christ. Now the second reason Well, there's
two reasons why they do this. Number one, I'll tell you this
as a fact, lying pays better. That's what it is. This is our
attack. They can make more money by corrupting
God's word than by speaking the truth and lying not. The second
reason they do this is because the true uncorrupted gospel of
Christ, a saver unto God, is offensive to man. To the Jews, to the religious,
it's a stumbling block and a rock of offense. To the Greeks or
the secular, the not religious, the gospel is foolishness. You understand, this is not widely
known, even in religious circles, whenever Christ preached People
left him every time, sometimes by the thousands. Why? Because he preached the truth,
a sweet savor in the nostrils of God, in an offense to man. Other times when he spoke, they
tried to kill him. Now, I don't know about you,
but when they decide to stone Christ, I consider that a rejection
of Jesus Christ. when they stoned Stephen, that
wasn't a rejection of Stephen, that was a rejection of Jesus
Christ. And you understand, that stoning of Stephen was a sweet
savor unto God. Jesus Christ was standing, I
see the Son of God standing, not seated at the right hand
of the Father, he was standing to receive one of his own, who
had just preached his gospel and told these people the absolute
truth and they believed not. Now there was a fella up there
by the name of Saul who come to believe later, but there,
you know, at that time, that message of Stephen and Stephen
himself in the stone, his death was a sweet savor unto God. The natural man, religious or
not, does not understand the things of the spirit of God.
That's what I said. What Paul said. And here's the
thing. They hated him without a cause. And if they hated him, they're
going to hate you. And guess what? That's a sweet
savor unto God. Savor of death unto death. Yes,
we're sinners, but not in God's sight. Believers are not sinners
in God's sight and His sight is the only sight that really
matters. I am a sinner in my flesh in my flesh dwells no good
thing But in my Lord Jesus Christ, I am a sweet saver unto God Hmm What's he say but as of God
in the sight of God? Speak we in Christ We preach
Christ's life. We preach Christ crucified. We
preach Christ resurrected. And we preach Christ ascended. We preach Christ saved his people. We preach Christ saving his people
from their sins. We preach Christ is our salvation. He is our wisdom. He is our righteousness,
our sanctification, our redemption. We preach the uncorrupted word
of God, Jesus Christ, the righteous. And we speak in the sight of
God. Now that's scary, but it's a sweet savor unto God. It's
a sweet savor unto God. Because don't worry, He is sufficient
for these things. Oh, I like that. Because He is
glorified in them that are saved, and He is glorified in them that
perish. And guess what? We always triumph
in Christ. In Christ. Our Heavenly Father,
We're thankful again for this time, this place. Most of all,
Lord, thankful for you overall, because without you,
we are nothing. We are but earthen vessels, broken
clay pots, old skins that can't hold new
wine. that you sent your son, our Lord
Jesus Christ, and he has done it all for us, and he is saving
us as we speak, and shall save us unto his day. In Christ's
name we pray, amen.