2 Corinthians chapter 10. And we'll begin reading chapter 10
by reading verse 15 of chapter 9, because
I can think of no better way to begin than the way Paul ended
his line of thought there in that last chapter. Thanks be
unto God for his unspeakable gift. Now I, Paul, myself, beseech
you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am
base among you, but being absent, am bold toward you. But I beseech
you that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence
wherein I think to be bold against some. Which think of us as if
we walked according to the flesh. For though we walk in the flesh,
we do not war after the flesh or according to the flesh. For
the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but are mighty through
God to the pulling down of strongholds. casting down imaginations and
every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge
of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience
of Christ, and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience when
your obedience is fulfilled. Do you look on things after the
outward appearance? If any man trusts to himself
that he is Christ, let him of himself think this again, that
as he is Christ, even so are we Christ. For though I should
boast somewhat more of our authority which the Lord hath given us
for edification, and not for your destruction, I should not
be ashamed, that I may not seem as if I would terrify you by
letters, For his letters say they are weighty and powerful,
but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.
Let such in one think this, that such as we are in word by letters
when we are absent, such will we be also indeed when we are
present. For we dare not make ourselves
of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves.
But they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing
themselves among themselves, are not wise. But we will not
boast of things without our measure, but according to the measure
of the rule which God hath distributed to us, a measure to reach even
unto you. For we stretch not ourselves
beyond our measure, as though we reach not unto you, for we
are coming as far as to you also in preaching the gospel of Christ.
Not boasting of things without our measure, that is, of other
men's labors, But having hope, when your faith is increased,
that we shall be enlarged by you according to our rule abundantly,
to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast
in another man's line of things made ready to our hand. But he
that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. For not he that
commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth. Now, if we were to sum up this
chapter, I believe it would be summed up in those last two verses. And this is the thing that Paul
is setting forth here. He that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. For it is not he that commendeth
himself approved, but whom the Lord commended. And that's basically
what he's saying to them throughout this chapter. Now, he begins speaking to them
and letting them know that his hope and his demeanor in dealing
with them is in a measure of meekness, not pride. He didn't
come boasting to them that he was the greatest preacher that
ever lived and he was going to straighten them out or anything.
But he said, I want to come to you in meekness and gentleness.
I beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who
in presence and base among you, but being absent and bold towards
you. He said, when I'm in your midst,
it's different than when I'm away from you. And he said, some
of you have taken that, and I'm kind of skipping ahead, but this
is what he ultimately is getting at. He said, some of you have
thought that because I acted in a humble manner among you
when I was there and I didn't rail on you or rake you over
the coals or whatever, that I was weak and that I didn't have any
power or whatever. But he said, I beseech you that
I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence wherewith
I think to be bold against some. In other words, he says, I don't
want to come to you and rake you over the coals. But he said,
there are some problems in your midst. And he said, some of you,
and he's not talking to all of them because he's pointing out
the fact that there are some among them who murmur, just like
you were talking about the children of Israel, there are some who
say, yeah, oh Paul, we don't need to be listening to him.
Because there were some in all of these churches, and I don't
know that this was specifically the issue he is dealing with
here, but he said in the book of Romans, he said some have
falsely represented us as saying that we are preaching that you
should sin that grace may abound." And he said, God forbid. He said,
these are rumors and things that are set forth to undermine the
things that we're saying. He said, we never said that.
And he said, God forbid that it should be so. But Paul was
continually, as probably the other apostles were as well,
dealing with these murmurers and those false brethren sent
in privately to spy out our liberty in Christ, who were sowing seeds
of discord among the brethren, who were trying to undermine
the authority of those such as Paul and the other apostles who
came preaching the Word of God. And one of the ways they did
that was by saying, well, Paul is not really a true apostle.
I mean, he wasn't with the Lord whenever The Lord was on the
earth like Peter and James and John, and there was doubts cast. So we've read in his former letters
how he pointed out to them that he was as the one born out of
due time, and that the Lord did teach him directly, and that
he was behind none of the apostles. But he said, some of you, some
among the church there, He said, are doubting this and they're
spreading lies and rumors and things that are not true. And
he said, I don't want to come to you in a harsh manner, but
he says, I'm able to do it if I have to. He said, but I beseech
you that I may not be bold when I am in present with that confidence
wherewith I think to be bold against some which think of us
as if we walked according to the flesh. He said, some are
saying that we are just trying to get a following, that we are
trying to get something from you, that we are just doing this
to feather our own nest. He said, that makes me angry.
But he says, I don't want to come to you in that light. He
said, but I'm thinking about it. He said, it's not that I
don't have that in my mind, the back of my mind, because he said,
some say that we walk according to the flesh, but though we walk
in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. And he's going to
point out something here. He said, because when the Word
of God is spoken, it says, it is mighty, it is powerful, and
it accomplishes the thing that he desires for it to do. For
the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but are mighty through
God to the pulling down of strongholds. casting down imaginations and
every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge
of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience
of Christ, and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience when
your obedience is fulfilled." So he is saying there that we
are not coming just to to argue with people. We are not coming
to try to prove something to people. The weapons of our warfare
are not carnal. We are not carnally trying to
teach you the things of God. He said we are coming in the
power of God. He said we are coming speaking
the truth of God. And he said this is a more powerful
truth than the grandest orator that ever stood before men, the
greatest reasoner. Because you get somebody, you
know, that can come and just convince people of something.
Well, when he's gone and those things kind of fade from their
mind, guess what? They don't know where they're
standing. But he said, when the things that we've been sent to
preach, when the Lord takes those words which are mighty in the
hand of the Lord, to the pulling down of strongholds and casting
down imaginations, that is the thoughts of men, the ways of
men. Now men have great imaginations and in the area of religion there
is a multitude of imaginations. Men have imagined all sorts of
things. Brother Al was talking about some of them this morning,
about how God blesses men. It is in the imagination. That
sounds good and men want to believe it. that God just means to bless
you and help you. And if you'll just do for Him,
He'll do for you. You know, if you give Him your
money, He'll give you money. And He'll bless you with health
and everything will be fine and this will be great. And that
sounds good to men, but that's all carnal, is it not? Because
these things pass away. It doesn't make a difference
how wealthy you become in this world or how healthy you are.
You might live to be 120 years old. But guess what? It's going to pass away. Everything
you have, everything you see, everything you are is of no value
ultimately. It's not going to be of any use.
He said, we're not interested in operating in that realm. We're not fighting carnal wars. We're not trying to prove these
things to you in a carnal sense. But he says, our purpose is to
cast down imagination. And every high thing that exalted
itself against God. He says our purpose is to preach
the truth of God that you might be humbled before Him. That you
might basically grovel in the dust before Him and say Christ
is the One. He's the only One. I think of
this when I read this passage of Scripture. I think about what
happened on Mount Carmel. when Elijah came there and he
had the house of Israel. A lot of the people were there.
Of course, you had these priests of Baal and they did all their
things. All day they cried and cut themselves
and all this. And Elijah, he was sitting over
there on a rock picking his teeth. And he said, well, what's wrong?
He said, where's Baal at? He said, has he gone somewhere? I mean, he mocked them. And of
course, then the Scripture says that they just went the louder. You know, like this, going on,
carrying on. And then Elijah, when they're
all through and they say, well, I guess he's not going to do
anything, then Elijah, he had them to pour all that water on
there and fill up the ditch around this thing. And then he just... Quietly said to the Lord, Lord,
you know, if you... Now think about this. Now Elijah
was a great prophet, but now Elijah didn't know exactly any
more about what the Lord was going to do than anybody else
did, did he? I mean, he didn't know it. Now
he believed God was going to do something, but he didn't know.
He thought, well, maybe, you know, this might not turn out.
He said, Lord, I know that you heard me. And the Lord answered by fire.
And then the people all said, The Lord, He is the God. The Lord, He is the God. Jehovah
is the God. And of course then they ran the
prophets down of Baal. But they cast down the imagination. Every high thing that exalted
itself against God was cast down that day, and the Lord alone
was glorified. And that's what we're preaching.
That's what we desire. That's what Paul said he wanted.
He didn't come wanting to lift himself up in the eyes of men,
but rather to exalt Christ. He didn't want to exalt the Corinthians. See, a lot of times, Preachers
like to soothe people and pat people on the head and rub their
tummy and make them feel good. And then they go away and they
think they've done the people well. But Paul said, I'm not
interested in patting your head and rubbing your tummy. He said,
I'm wanting the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to be exalted and
you to be humbled before Him. even as I desire it for myself."
You see, that's the whole purpose of our preaching. Casting down
every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge
of God and bringing into captivity every thought, every thought
to the obedience of Christ. I mean, every thought. When we consider the work and
ways of Christ, is not every thought to be centered there?
I mean, what is it that you could do to gain one iota of favor
with God that is not given to you in Christ? He is that One
who is worthy of all praise. And he said, and having a readiness
to revenge all disobedience, that is, we want to set the record
straight. We want you to walk in the right
way. In other words, we are going
to point out the things. that you're not walking in correctly,
as he had already done, as he pointed out to them, this man
who was in sin among them. And he said, any of you that
are walking, thinking yourself to be something when you're nothing,
he said, we want it brought out in the open so that you might
fulfill the obedience. Do you look on things after the
outward appearance? I mean, is that what you want?
For men to think that you're a great Christian? I mean, is
that what you live your life for? Now that sounds like a good
plan, doesn't it? That you'd go out in the community
and people would... So when you die and they go to
your funeral, if you've got enough people that know you and care
enough about you to go, and they come and you want them to... Are you thinking and wondering
and hoping they'll say, well, you know, he was a good Christian. Paul said, that's not what you're
looking for. That's not what we're looking
for. Oh, that the name of Christ might
be exalted. Even when we die, that men might
not even think on us, but that they might think on Him. Because
He's the one worthy of praise. Did He not make us? Did He not
love us? Did He not care for us? Did He
not keep us? And so we are not desirous of
having an outward appearance for men's sake, but oh, that
the glory of God might be seen. If any man trusts to himself
that he is Christ, let him of himself think this again, that
as he is Christ, so are we Christ. He said if a man thinks himself
to be a follower of Christ, That's not a bad thing. That's a good
thing. But don't get puffed up in it. See, what happens is a lot of
times people get to thinking, well, you know, I'm a Christian
and anybody that is a Christian is going to be just like me.
Isn't that the way we get sometimes? How we get to thinking? He said,
it is not about what you are. Do you think on things after
the outward appearance? If any man trusts that he is
Christ, let him think of this again. Stop and think about it. Because if you are of Christ,
so are we of Christ. The Lord has called us by His
grace. And He gives every man the measure
of faith according as he sees fit to do it. For I, though I
should boast somewhat more of our authority which the Lord
hath given us for your edification, and not for your destruction,
I should not be ashamed." He said, we are not greater than
you in Christ, but keep this in mind, we are not less than
you in Christ either, and the Lord has given us the truth of
God for your edification, to build you up. So don't discount
what we are saying, because you have a low opinion of us." He
said, because it doesn't make any difference what opinion you
have of us. He said, the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal. We come to you speaking by the
Word of God. Hear Him. If you don't hear us,
that's one thing. But he said, be sure that you
are hearing the Word of God, that you're listening for the
Lord and you're not just saying, well, He couldn't tell me anything.
I couldn't learn anything from Him. You know, the Lord can teach
you things in places and from things that you don't ever think
He could. And He will. And He'll often humble you in
the dust when you realize that you learned something in a fashion
that you didn't think you could learn anything because you figured
you already knew something. Brethren, we don't know anything
except what He shows us. And it's according to His mercy
that He shows us anything. And Paul said, I should boast
somewhat more of our authority which the Lord has given us for
your benefit, not for your destruction, and I should not be ashamed.
He says, I am not ashamed of what the Lord has taught me and
what He has given me, that I may not seem as if I would terrify
you by letters. That's not my purpose. I'm not
trying to terrify you. For His letters say they are
weighty and powerful, but His bodily presence is weak and His
speech contemptible. You don't need to be thinking
of things like that. Of course, whether I come and speak to you
or whether I send you a letter, it doesn't make a difference.
If the things that we're telling you are true, you need to listen
to them. I mean, because he said, and he says in another place,
speaking about that he wasn't as great an orator as perhaps
some. You know, he's not able to speak
in great swelling words. And a lot of times, see, men
in the flesh, they hear somebody that's just a great preacher. I remember when I was growing
up, they used to always want to get a great preacher in. Somebody
who could really shell the corn. I mean, somebody who could keep
people interested, and he could tell jokes, and he could get
people, you know, he'd just get crowds to come. We'd have a big
preacher to come in. Paul said, I am not interested
in being a big preacher. He says, I just want to come
preaching the truth of God. And he says, I believe that God
has given me the truth. And whether I come to you in
a letter or whether I come to you in person, he said, the truth
is the truth. And if Christ is exalted, that
is all we should be concerned about. For we dare not make ourselves
of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves. Now that's pretty good advice,
is it not? That we don't want to compare
ourselves among ourselves. Now you know, most Christians
spend more time comparing themselves among themselves than they do
comparing themselves to Christ. Because when you compare yourself
to Christ, you know what? You don't have any place to glory,
do you? Now, you can look around you at this one and that one
and all this, and you can say, well, I'm way more faithful than
him. I mean, look at what he's doing. You're foolish. It's foolish to compare yourselves
among themselves. We dare not make ourselves of
the number or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves.
And what he's primarily speaking about here is he's talking about
some, perhaps, that are coming to you teaching you things. And
they're saying, we are greater teachers than so-and-so. They
say, we don't want to compare ourselves among those that compare
themselves to others. You know, our theology is more
pure than theirs and so we know more than they do and we're smarter. No, brethren, the only thing
that we are desirous of is that Christ is exalted. That's our
goal. It's not to be great preachers.
It's not to be those that compare themselves among themselves and
measure themselves by themselves, because to do so is not wise,
because we've got one measuring stick. Every child of God has
one measuring stick, and it's the plumb line that the Lord
has put in the earth, and it's the plumb line of Jesus Christ.
And you compare yourself to Him, And then you'll know how well
you... what kind of a... how you're doing. You know, if
you want to know how righteous you are, look at Christ. And
you'll find out pretty quick that you don't measure up very
well. And so we don't compare ourselves among ourselves. But
we will not boast of things without our measure, but according to
the measure of the rule which God hath distributed to us, a
measure to reach unto you." Again, he's saying we're not concerned
with what some other preachers are saying or doing. Now, he's
not saying it's alright for somebody to come telling you a lie, because
he says in another place, if any man comes and preaches not
the same gospel that I'm preaching to you, let him be accursed.
So he wasn't saying anything's okay. He just said, my concern
is not with what somebody else is coming to tell you. But he
says, I'm not interested in building off of them. But he says, I'm
interested in coming to you with the truth of God according to
the measure of the rule which God hath given to us. See, I
can't perform your ministry. You can't perform mine. Every
joint supplies that for the body which the Lord has given to each
individual part. And every part of the body is
important, but every part of the body is not the same. There's
toes and fingers and hands, ears. I mean, there's all kinds of
parts of the body, and all the parts of the body go together
to make the body strong. And Paul said, you know, we want
to be found faithful in the measure that's been given to us to reach
even to you. For we stretch not ourselves
beyond our measure, as though we reach not to you, for we are
come as far to you as preaching the gospel of Christ." I mean,
the Lord sent us to you. And we're not going to ignore
you because somebody else may criticize us or because somebody
else may doubt that we're coming for the right reason. He said
it doesn't make any difference to us. He says, we are come as
far as to you also in preaching the gospel of Christ. You know
it. Not boasting of things without
our measure, that is, of other men's labors, but having hope
when your faith is increased that we shall be enlarged by
you according to our rule abundantly." We want to see the fruits of
our labor in you, not because we want to get the benefit that
somebody else has performed, but what the Lord has given us
to give to you that those things might be. Good. Now, he says,
to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you and not to boast in
another man's line of things made ready to our hand. So what
he's saying there is that he wants to go forth preaching the
gospel, not going places where other men have been and coming
in after they've done all the work and saying, you know, getting
some benefit out of that. But he is saying, I want to go
and preach the gospel in regions beyond you, not boasting in another
man's line of things, which is already made ready to our hand.
But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. For not he
that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commended. Now that sums it up pretty well. There is no place to glory among
men. One man can't boast of his gift,
and another man can't boast in another man's gift. But we are
to boast in Christ. Give Him glory. Let Him glory
in the Lord. You know, we don't glory in something
we've done. Well, we've got a radio ministry.
Well, pat us on the back. I mean, we're really doing it.
You know, we're really doing something. No. If the Lord sent
us to do something, do it. And give Him the glory. And glorify
Him. For not He that commendeth themselves
approved, but whom the Lord commended. I mean, we can all be happy with
what ministry we might be undertaking, And we can be satisfied with
it. Well, we're doing enough. Well, that's foolish. For not
he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commended.
So whose commendation are you looking for? Are you wanting somebody to pat you on the back
and say you're doing a good job? Are you waiting to do something
so that you can be seen of men? See, a lot of people don't do
something unless somebody knows about it. It would be a terrible
thing, wouldn't it, to do some great work and nobody would even
know you did it. I mean, that would be terrible. I mean, that's the way we look
at things in the flesh. I mean, like, you know, if somebody
does some, and I'll put this in a fleshly thing, if somebody
does some great community service, You know, they kind of think
it would just be right if they had a bridge named after them
or something. I mean, you've got to have something.
I mean, you can't just go out here and do good things and just
not get no benefit out of it, can you? Paul said, it's not
who gets commended among men. I dare say this, that the most
faithful of God's people are those who you'll never know
what they did if they did anything. Huh? Because they didn't go about
doing what they were doing to be seen of men. They went about
doing what they were doing for the glory of Christ. And if we believe that Christ
is our righteousness, then I can think of no higher calling than
to seek and walk in the light that He has given us. and to
seek by His grace to walk in the faith, the measure of faith
that He has given us, that we might not commend ourselves and
our mind thinking what great things we've done, but just daily,
day by day, desiring that He would get glory from all that
we say, all that we do, all that we think, And every interaction
that we have with other men would be for that end. May the Lord
give us grace to do so.