We're going to be looking over
here in 2 Corinthians. And we began there in chapter
7 last week and looking at the, as it related, actually, of course
there are no chapter breaks in the original scriptures. These things were added in order
in some ways to make this easier to read and to find various references
and what not. But it seems pretty obvious that verse 1 of chapter 7 is actually,
in my thinking, would be just a continuation of Paul's thought
that he speaks there at the end of chapter 6 And of course, we
talked about that some last week. Because what he's speaking about
here, he says, having these promises. Well, what were the promises?
And the promise was, ye are the temple of the living God. As
God has said, I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I
will be their God, and they shall be my people. So it's necessary
that we understand what the promise is, in order that we might have
a full understanding of what the exhortation is. Now a lot
of times people take this first verse of chapter 7 and they kind
of disregard everything that is said leading up to this and
they kind of make this more or less stand on its own and make
it to be as though He is telling them to do something which He
has told them over and over again that they do not have any power
to do. For He says, "...therefore having
these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from
all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in
the fear of God." Now how is it possible that you can take,
as the Scripture says, how can you make a clean thing out of
an unclean thing? can't be done. And you can't
begin in the Spirit and then perfect it in the flesh. And
so what he's talking about here is not a work of the flesh, but
rather it is that he is exhorting the sons of God to be reminded
of what these promises are so that we might realize that the
only way we are going to be perfected is in Christ. Now, if we cleanse
ourselves, if we can cleanse ourselves from the filthiness
of the flesh, then why don't we? I mean, you know, sometimes,
and I received an email from a fellow that writes on and sends out stuff, and I happen
to be on his mailing list, so I get his emails. And his thought
process is that this is like an activity of the flesh. We
need to go out here and be cleansing ourselves. You know, whatever
unclean thing that we are partaking of, we need to quit it. The problem
is everything that is in this world is unclean. There is nothing
that is clean before God. And so the Lord is not interested
in partial cleanliness. And as He told the Pharisees,
He said, you make white the outside of the sepulchre, but He said,
inside are dead men's bones. He said, The effort needs to be concerned
with what's inside rather than what's on the outside. And so
it is that there's all sorts of ideas that people come up
with of what people ought to do in order to be able to be
cleansing themselves. They need to abstain from this
and abstain from that and don't do this, touch not, taste not,
handle not, be clean. You know, I never would ever
oppose somebody who proposes to the people of God that we
ought to avoid the excesses of the flesh, or that these are
not the things that we pursue. Now, this particular gentleman,
one of his things that he was really coming down on was that
he pointed out that he had preached to this group of women, and he
told them that they needed to quit wearing makeup. And of course, what he did was
he went to what Paul says, you know, a godly woman, let not
her outward adorning be that of plaited hair and makeup and
beauty and all of those things that women do. Now what Paul
was saying there is a true thing. You know, that's not our main
concern. That's not the thing that we are to pursue after.
But Paul wasn't writing to women saying to them, don't braid your
hair. He just said, don't let that
be the thing that you think is the thing that makes you beautiful.
Because what makes you beautiful is the work of God within you. Let it be the hidden man of the
heart, not these outward things. And so that's the gist of what
Paul is saying here, because he doesn't say one thing in one
place and one in another. So what he is saying to them
is, having therefore these promises, what? That the Lord said, I will
be your people. Having therefore these promises,
let us cleanse ourselves. Well, how do we cleanse ourselves?
I believe John says it pretty plainly. If you look over in
1 John 1, here is how we cleanse ourselves. If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and what? To cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. Now, that's the cleansing that
I want. Because you know, if I was a
woman, I guess there are things that are analogous to men in
this realm, but just say if I was a woman, and I quit wearing makeup, what would that be? I mean, whether
I wore it or whether I didn't wear it, what would it be? Would
I be any more clean because I didn't wear it than if I did wear it?
You know, those are things that are just things of the flesh. Now, obviously, you know, I believe
the Spirit of God teaches us that we are to be mindful. There is a warfare between that
man which is spiritual and that man which is of the flesh. And
we certainly are not caused nor called by the Spirit of God to
run after and embrace the things of this world and the things
of this flesh. In fact, the Scripture says,
if any man loves the things of this world, the love of the Father
is not in him. So there is that aspect of the
work of the Spirit of God in us. But when it comes to cleansing
ourselves before God, we can't do it by fasting and praying
and outward things, but by confessing our faults unto the Lord, confessing
our sins. And then there will a cleansing
take place. It's the cleansing. which only
operates by the Spirit of God. So may the Lord help us and that
we might see that the filthiness of flesh and spirit perfecting
holiness in the fear of God. Now how would we perfect holiness
if it was not that He did perfect it in us and that He wrought
it in us? And so we exhort the sons of
God. This is not something we would
ignore or that we would have no concern about. But we would
certainly not want people to be running a rabbit down a hole
where there is no rabbit. You know, you can chase a rabbit
down a hole and the hole is going to get so small pretty soon where
you won't be able to go down in there. The rabbit will still
be down there and you won't be any closer to getting him than
you were to start with. And so it is. that if you approach
perfecting yourself in the flesh and spirit as though it is an
operation that you can perform, then you've chased the rabbit
down the wrong hole and you're not going to arrive there. So
our concern is indeed, and I believe this is the truth, that the Lord
works in His people to cause them to desire to be cleansed
from the filthiness of the flesh and spirit, does He not? I mean,
do we want to be profligate people? Do we want to be running off
and disobeying the things of God and just disregarding those
things of truth that He has taught us? Of course not. If the Spirit
of God works in us, that is His promise. Having, therefore, these
promises, let us press on. Same things, what He says to
the Philippians, press to the mark for the prize of the high
calling of Christ. I think that is the work of God
in us. And that is the exhortation that
we give. And then He moves on. He says, receive us. We have
wronged no man. We have corrupted no man. We
have defrauded no man." Now, he's basically coming to the
Corinthians here, talking to them about listening to those
things that he's saying. He's saying to them, in essence,
pay attention to what we've said. Have we ever sought to turn you
aside in the past? I mean, has that been our desire
to trip you up? We've wronged no man. We've never
done something knowingly against you. We've wronged no man. We've
corrupted no man. We've not corrupted the Word
of God or spoke deceitfully to you. We've not tried to turn
you aside from following after Christ. somebody says or does, when it
all boils down to the end of what we are exhorting one another
to, it is that we are exhorting one another to seek the Lord.
We're exhorting one another to follow Christ. We're exhorting
one another to exalt His name. That is that which we desire. And so we've corrupted no man. We've not turned men aside. We've
defrauded no man, he said. Now that has, I believe, basically
has to do with the matter of money. He said we've not taken
anybody's money. That would be a thing that would
be hard for the vast majority of those that go forth into the
world as so-called preachers to be able to say. Because when
you listen to most of the preaching today, you're going to hear something
about, well, you know, you all need to help us, support us. Do something. Now, you know,
the Lord has given us money to use for the things that He calls
to be important to us. And that's what there to be for. And, you know, if we have a hunger
and a thirst to see the gospel disseminated, As the Lord has
told us to disseminate it into the world, then in a practical
sense, there is a monetary aspect of that. Just like when we put
the broadcast on the radio. Now, as the Lord does not go
out of business, have we quit putting that on the radio? No. But He has moved upon the hearts
of people give money to that end. But Paul said, I didn't
come asking you for money. He said, I haven't taken your
money. He said, I labored with my own
hands providing such things as we stood in need of and those
with me. He says, I've never asked you
for money. I have defrauded no man." And
he says, I speak this not to condemn you. In other words,
I am not coming to you and saying that you are mistreating me in
any way, or am I coming to you with these exhortations as though
I think that you are less than what you should be. But he says,
I have said before that you are in our hearts to die and live
with you. I am concerned about you. He
said, that's the only reason I'm saying anything. And dear
brethren, there's no other reason that we are to preach except
the glory of God and the benefit of the saints. That's the reason
we preach, is so that Christ might be magnified and the people
of God might be built up in the most holy faith. And so he says,
great is my boldness of speech towards you because of that reason. He says, I didn't come to you
timidly saying, well, now, you all need to think about this,
and maybe if you decide to do this, you need to do it. No,
He came to them, He told them what the truth was as it had
been delivered to Him. And He said, I came to you in
a boldness of speech, because what did He come preaching? He
already told them at the start of the book, didn't He? He says,
I am determined to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. And he said, I have come boldly
telling you the gospel of Christ. Great is my boldness of speech
toward you. Great is my glorying of you. He says, in a measure, I am proud
of you. He says, I am happy to be associated
with you. He said, you are precious to
me like a father is proud of his children. He said, great
is my glory to you. I am filled with comfort. I am
exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation. And of course, this
is what he just got through saying there in chapter 6. as he talked about all those
different things, and stripes, imprisonments, and tumults, labors,
washings, fastings. He says all these things. He
says, in the midst of all of our tribulation, I am joyful.
I have not come and I have not told you these things so that
you would say, oh, he has suffered so much, let us do something
good for him. That is not the point. He says,
I have suffered these things gladly. I am exceeding joyful
in all our tribulation. They are not a detriment in our
mind, but they are our glory and our rejoicing. For when we
were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest. Now, Macedonia
is the region that is just north of Corinth. And on Paul's first
journey, he came down through Macedonia and into Corinth. And so he says here, For when
we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest. If you
look at a map, you can see that. I'm not trying to impress you
with knowledge, but you can take a map and look. And Macedonia
is where Philippi and Ephesus or in Macedonia. And so Paul,
on his journey, he came through Macedonia. Why? Because the Lord
appeared to him in a dream. Remember? And he said, come over.
There was a man standing and he said, come over and help us.
And so he did. He went into Macedonia at the
direction of the Lord. So he says, when we were coming
to Macedonia, our flesh had no rest. You know, I think a lot
of times I think of the Apostle Paul going along and he was just
having a big time, you know, going from one place to the next.
But he said, we didn't know if we were going to live from one
day to the next. Because you see, people didn't
like what he was saying. I mean, the natural man does
not like the Gospel of Christ. Now, they like religion, and
of course we live in a religious society, here in the South, and
people say they love the gospel, until you start telling them
what the gospel is. And then they don't like it so
much, you know. They don't want to be disturbed
by it. They say, that can't be true. Can't be true. But he said, our
flesh had no rest. We were troubled on every side. We didn't have no place of comfort.
Without were fighting, within were fears." He said, they were
fighting against us on the outside, and here we are on the inside
within. He said, we are afraid from one
day to the next. I mean, when Paul said he was
ready to die, he was, but he was not looking forward to it
in the sense of the daily grind. You know, it is one thing to
say, you know, I am willing to go over here and die, But then
it's another thing when that's staring you right in the face
and you see it right now. I mean, that's a different thing.
And so there is that fear, the natural fear of death that's
in every man. That's not an unusual thing. I mean, it's not a thing that
the Spirit of God can't overcome, but it is a natural thing. He
said, without were fightings and within were fears. We had
trouble on every hand. in ourselves and outside. Nevertheless,
God that comforted those that are cast down, comforted us by
the coming of Titus. Now, you know, the Lord has put
us in this world, and it is a blessed thing when He brings us into
fellowship with brethren. It is an encouraging thing. You
know, sometimes we can be kind about it at the end of our road, and the Lord will send a brother
to encourage us and to help us, to give us a kind word. You know,
as I spoke to you here a while back about this brother that
has been contributing some money towards the radio, Now for a
long time, you know, it just seemed like, well, you know,
maybe this is just a, we're just whistling out here in the wind
and nobody's even hearing this. But the Lord knows who's hearing
it. And you know, it's a great encouragement
when the Lord sends somebody to you with an encouraging word. And that's exactly what he's
speaking about with Titus. The Lord comforted him. He said,
when there was fighting without and fear within, and we were
just about at the end of our rope, and we said, well, we're
just going to give up. And the Lord sent Titus. The
Lord knew exactly what Paul needed. And he was comforted, and not
by his coming only, but by the consolation wherewith he was
comforted in you when he told us your earnest desire, your
mourning, your fervent mind toward me, so that I rejoiced the more. Because you see, he had become,
and of course he is speaking of it at a later time when he
had been to Corinth, and now he was back in Macedonia. He had delivered a pretty stinging
rebuke to them in his first letter to them. And it was like an encouraging
thing when Titus came to him and told him that you, meaning
the Corinthians, you spoke fondly of him. And he was encouraged
by that. And not by His coming only, we
were not comforted simply because He came, but by the consolation
wherewith He was comforted in you when He told us your earnest
desire and your mourning. What were they mourning? The
sin that Paul had rebuked them for about this young man in the
church. that they needed to deal with.
And he said, "...your fervent mind toward me, so that I rejoice
the more." Because you listened to what I had to say. You said,
hey, this is a good thing that Paul has told us, so that I rejoiced. For though I made you sorry with
a letter, I do not repent. You know, sometimes the Word
of God brings sorrow. Now, I know that the concept
that a lot of people have is that we're just supposed to be
joyous all the time. I mean, just full of joy. But
that's not really the way it is. Now, when Peter denied the
Lord, and he wasn't full of joy, was
he? And when the Lord confronted
him about it, he still wasn't filled with joy, was he? because
it was a thing that hurt him when he realized what he had
done. And so it is that the Word of God does sometimes bring mourning. And he says, though I made you
sorry with the letter, I am not sorry that I did so, because
it was a needful thing. And so sometimes a rebuke and
exhortation is a necessary thing, and Paul was faithful to do so.
He says, I'm not sorry. He said, though I did repent,
for I perceived that the same epistle hath made you sorry,
though it were but for a season. He says, I'm not sorry that I
told you, but I was sorry that I hurt your feelings. You know,
that's kind of a strange thing, isn't it? He wasn't sorry that
he told them the truth, but he wasn't happy that it caused them
sorrow. in the sense that he rejoiced
in seeing them sad. He wanted to see them rejoicing,
but he knew they couldn't rejoice as long as this situation was
untaken care of. He said, for though I made you
sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent.
I was sorry in myself because I thought, man, maybe I've been
too hard on them. Though I made you sorry, though
it were for a season, Now listen to what he says. He says, Now
I rejoice, not that you were made sorry. I take no delight
in the fact that I raped you over the cold. You know, whenever
I was growing up, one of the things that people used to like
to do or like to say was sometimes they liked for the preacher to
step on toes. They'd say, boy, he's really
stepping on some toes today. But now they were glad as long
as he was stepping on other people's toes. They saw a bunch of toes that
needed to be stepped on and they said, boy, he's stepping on them
now. And because we don't like these things to be brought home
to us, do we? Nobody likes that. It is going
to make us mourn when these things... But he says, I rejoice not that
you were made sorry. I didn't take any delight in
coming in here and being the cause of sorrow. But he said,
I am rejoicing that ye sorrowed to repentance. for you were made
sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us
in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance
to salvation not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world
worketh death." And so he says, I'm glad, not that you were made
sorry per se, but that this brought you to repentance. Now, repentance,
is not saying you are sorry. Now all of these politicians
or these people in these high profile places, when they get
caught with a hand in the cookie jar, what is the first thing
they do? Is they come on the TV or the
radio or whatever and they are all so contrite, you know, and
say, oh, I am sorry I did these things. Well, in reality, in
many of the cases with these kind of people, they just realize
the ramifications of what they've done and how it's going to affect
their pocketbooks and their popularity and things, and they want to
get all that straightened out as quick as they can, and so
that's the way to do it. Well, there is a... I mean, I'd
rather a fellow tell me he was sorry than not tell me he's sorry,
but I'd a whole lot rather he'd actually be sorry. if he has
done something in great offense than just to say it. Now, I rejoice
not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance,
for ye were made sorry after a godly matter. Because what
is repentance? It is not just saying you are
sorry, but it is by the grace of God to turn from that which
made you sorry and to recognize it. and to desire to walk no
more in it, to turn. That is basically what repentance
means, to turn around. For you were made sorry after
a godly manner that you might receive damage by us in nothing. Because this was the work of
God in you, He said this did not damage you at all, even though
we did damage you in the external sense. But it was actually the
work of God. We didn't damage you at all because
godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented
of. The sorrow of the world worketh
death. You see, when a man is repentant, it will drive him
to the feet of Christ. I mean, that's what true repentance
is. It's turning from our way to the way of Christ. It's not
just reforming our outward way. But it is falling on our faces
before God like David did when he said, Against thee and thee
only have I sinned and done this great evil in thy sight. It is
recognizing that what we have done is an offense unto God.
Now, David offended a lot of people in what he did, did he
not? He offended the whole nation
of Israel. He offended Bathsheba. He offended your eye. He offended many people. But the one thing that broke
his heart and brought him to repentance was not all of that.
See, the natural man can be sorry. I mean, a drunkard, when he sobers
up, he can be sorry that he beat his wife. But that's not a godly
sorrow. That's just a natural remorse.
But you see, When a man as David is repentant, it drives him to
the feet of the Lord, and he confesses his sin to God. He
confesses that it's against the Lord that this offense has taken
place. And that's in a different realm.
That's not just these external things that pass away. I mean,
we don't have any right to not forgive our brethren who say
to us, I'm sorry, do we? Because that's as much as we
can expect in this world. Now that's not in itself true
repentance, but it's when a man recognizes that what he is before
God and that his giving of offense to his brethren is actually an
offense unto the Lord. And that's the place of true
repentance. You see, when a man recognizes those things and he's
called to seek the Lord, to cleanse him, and he says, oh Lord, I'm
not what I need to be. Help me. For godly sorrow worketh
repentance to salvation not to be repented of. There's no need
to be sorrowful for being sorry if it's true repentance. There's
nothing but joy in that. The sorrow of the world worketh
death because of several reasons. One is because men think that
because they've said they're sorry, that that solves the problem. See, that's what most people
think. Oh, well, you know, I'm going
to tell the Lord that I should have done better, but I've always
tried to do what the right thing was. There's no sorrow, godly
sorrow in that. The sorrow of the world works
death, but for behold, this selfsame thing that ye sorrowed after
a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you! Yea, what
clearing of yourselves! Yea, what indignation! What fear! What vehement desire! What zeal! What revenge! In all these things
ye have approved yourselves to be clear in the matter." Now
what happened to Job at the end of the book? I mean, didn't he
soar after a godly sword? Wasn't he made careful? He said,
you know, I've been talking all this big talk to all these guys,
and I've actually been speaking the truth, but he said, I didn't
even know what I was talking about, even though I was straightening
them out and I knew more than they did. The Lord said, these
guys, they don't know nothing. But he said, Job, I want to tell
you something. He said, you don't know anything
either. He said, where were you when I laid the foundations of
the earth? And you know, the Lord brought Job to a place of
repentance, did He not? And this was godly repentance.
Because he sorrowed after a godly sorrow, he said, I hate myself. He said, I've heard of thee by
the hearing of the ear. But he said, now. by your grace
and your mercy, now mine eye seeth thee." Because how can
a man see God except he reveal himself to Him? Doesn't Scripture
say, no man hath seen God at any time? Yet Job said, mine eye seeth
thee. What did he mean? What he meant,
he had the revelation that God was really God. And this has
an effect on him. See, when a man is brought to
a place of knowing who God is, it's going to have an effect
on him. And it's going to cause him to be careful of what he
says. You know, a lot of people, religious
people, They just go around and talk about God and serving God
and doing all these things. I mean, you can listen and we
even find ourselves doing this, oh, we are serving God. We just
want to serve God. Well, let me ask you a question. In all reality, if you had to
stand before God face to face and say, Lord, I have served
you, would you say that? I don't believe you'd say it.
I believe you'd be ashamed to say it. Because you'd know how
pitiful it was. You see, that's brought carefulness
in what you think and what you say. What clearing of yourselves. I mean, you want to be free from
this thing. You desire holiness in the inward
part. I mean, it's not some external
thing, but it's the inward man. Peter thought, did he not, when
he came to the Lord and he asked about forgiveness, he was being
pretty magnanimous, wasn't he? He said, Lord, should we forgive
them seven times? And he was going to be pretty
satisfied with that, because he figured the Lord was going
to say, well, Peter, I'm telling you what, if you forgive them
seven times, You've really done something. But what did the Lord
say? He said, I tell you, until 70
times 70, there's no end to it. And He would demonstrate there
the mercy of God in the forgiveness of His people. But oh, what clearing
of yourselves! What indignation! What did Job say? Man, I hate
myself. I hate myself for even thinking
that I knew something about the Lord. What indignation, yea,
what fear! Boy, can you think of what must
have been going through Job's mind when the Lord said to him,
Job, sit down here, because I am going to tell you something.
Where were you? And then, you know, I've often
pictured Job. I forget now, I've seen a picture
one time of a guy, he's sitting in front of this loud stereo,
and his hair is blown back, and it's just standing out, and his
eyes are pushed back in his head, and he's holding on for dear
life. And I often think of that picture
when I think about Job, when the Lord confronted him, because
he was overwhelmed. with what it was. He was in fear
for himself. He had been talking all this
big talk about what the Lord was going to do and this, that
and the other, and he didn't know what the Lord was going
to do, did he? He didn't know the Lord was just
going to snuff him out in a heartbeat. He didn't know. He was in fear.
Yea, what vehement desire! What zeal! What revenge? You know, that intense desire
to be found pleasing in the sight of God, that's what's involved
in repentance. It's not about making people
happy because we said we're sorry. You know, a lot of people, they've
made a big deal, and I'm not approving or disapproving. You
know, it is what it is. They made a big thing about,
well, Trump never has said he was sorry. What if he did? I mean, what
would that change? That wouldn't make any difference
about anything. But people think that it does. But it's not revenge in the heart. Revenge, that's a strong word.
What's the revenge against? There's revenge against ourselves.
How could we do such a thing? How stupid could we be? In all these things, ye have
approved yourselves to be clear in the matter. You've demonstrated,
he said, that the things that I taught you and told you in
this letter were true. And you've demonstrated that
you have walked in obedience in this matter. Wherefore, though
I wrote unto you, I did it not for his cause that had done the
wrong, nor for his cause that suffered wrong, but that our
care for you in the sight of God might appear to you." He
says, I didn't even come telling you this primarily to straighten
this out. That wasn't my point. But he
said, I wanted you to know that I cared enough about you to point
these things out to you. That's strong language, is it
not? I mean, that's showing how much He cared for these brethren,
that He would confront them with this matter. Therefore, we were comforted
in your comfort, yea, and exceeding the more joyed for the joy of
Titus, because his spirit was refreshed by you all. He said
when Titus came, he was refreshed because he saw a renewed vigor
because of this repentance that was brought about in you by the
work of the Spirit of God, true repentance. And he was rejoicing. Now the Scripture says that the
angels in heaven rejoice over one sinner that repented. And
this is an illustration of that very same joy that Titus rejoiced. He was joyous to know that they
had repented of these things. Not for his sake, but he was
just an observer. He said, man, this is a glorious
thing. This is evidence of the work of God. You know, if a man
falls down on his face before God, confessing his sin and giving
glory to Christ, is that not reason to rejoice? I mean, sure
it would be. And so this is exactly what he
is saying here, that it was, therefore we were comforted in
your comfort, and exceeding the more joy for the joy of Titus,
because his spirit was refreshed by you all. For if I have boasted
anything to him of you, I am not ashamed. He said, I've bragged
on you. And he said, I'm not ashamed
of it a bit because you've demonstrated by the grace of God that these
things are true. But as we speak all things to
you in truth, even so our boasting which I made before Titus is
found to be a truth. He said, the Lord has shown these
things to be real. We're not trying to build a religious
following. Paul said, if I wanted to be
a religious leader, I would have done things a lot different.
But he said, the only thing I care about is your benefit. And he
said, this is a glorious thing because it is the evident working
of God. And his inward affection is more
abundant toward you, whilst he remembered the obedience of you
all, how with fear and trembling ye received him. I rejoice therefore
that I have confidence in you in all things." Now, Paul's love
to the Corinthians is pretty evident, and I think that he
had the feeling in his mind that he had been pretty hard on them,
and maybe he had been. But he didn't want them to think
that he didn't hold them in high esteem. He wanted them to realize
that he did love them, even though he raked them over the coals,
and even though he brought them to a place of sorrow. Yet now
he desires to build them up. Now this is, and I've been reading
in the book of Job some, This is the error of Job's friends. It's not that Job's friends didn't
say a lot of things that were true. I mean, there's a lot of things
that they said as they were talking to Job that were true. You can't
say they weren't. I mean, the triumphing of the
wicked is short like it's in the Grace Gazette this week.
I mean, that's a true thing, isn't it? But the thing was that
his so-called friends, as he called them, physicians of no
value, miserable comforters, he said, is that they didn't
bring any comfort to him. They didn't say, Joe, we're here
for you. We want to support you. We know
that the Lord has brought these things on you. And we don't know
the whole purpose, but we know it's for your benefit. They could
have said that, couldn't they? They could have said, Job, we
know that all things work together for good to them that love God,
and what we call according to His purpose. Well, what did they
do? They said, well now, Job, old buddy, there's got to be
some hidden thing in your life somewhere that has caused these
heartaches to come upon you. Because a hypocrite, he won't
last. You know, these things are going
to come on to hypocrites. And so on. And so they didn't
bring any comfort to him. But you see, Paul here, that's
his whole purpose, is to comfort them. He's not trying to make
them feel bad. Or saying, yep, see that? I told
you if you didn't straighten up, God was going to get you.
If you didn't do right, do this and do that. No, he says, I came
for one thing. And that's to build you up in
the most holy faith. And by the grace of God, it's
been demonstrated to me that these things, by His grace, have
taken place. He says, and I'm happy for you.
He says, I rejoice. See, your rejoicing is my rejoicing. He says, that's the only thing
I'm interested in is your benefit. And what a glorious thing it
is when the Lord calls His brethren to desire that very same thing
for one another. One another's benefit. We have
no desire, no ulterior motive. We're not trying to get people
to conform to our way of thinking, but we're desiring that God's
people be built up in the most holy faith, walking in strength,
not in weakness, but giving Christ glory. and rejoicing in Him daily.