2 Corinthians, and we are going to be looking
in chapter 6. I want to read the last two verses
of chapter 5 as we begin looking at chapter 6. This is a continuation
of Paul's declaration here to the Corinthians. And he says,
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, or representatives.
As though God did beseech you by us, we pray you, or we beseech
you, we beg you, in Christ's stead, in his behalf, be ye reconciled
to God. For he hath made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Now that last verse there, verse
21, is the basis upon which all of the gospel that we preach
rests in. If that verse right there is
not true, then we do not have anything to stand on, and we
are barking up the wrong tree. But if this verse be true, then
the gospel of grace is going to be magnified whenever Christ
is preached, because this is what we contend for. For He hath
made Him to be sin for us, the substitutionary work of Christ. We sang about it a moment ago
in one of those songs about Him being the surety. Someone, if
you go to the bank and maybe you're trying to establish credit
or you haven't had good credit in the past or whatever, and
you don't have a lot of collateral, but you have someone who's willing
to co-sign on a note for you, they become your surety. To the
bank, they are your surety. In other words, in reality, the
bank doesn't care whether you pay them the money back or not.
Because they know that they are going to get the money from the
surety. They are going to get the money from the one who stood
good for you. And so that is why, you know,
in the book of Proverbs, Solomon warns against becoming a surety
for another man's debt. He said, you better not do it.
But you see, the Lord Jesus Christ, He did do it. He became maturity
for that which we could not pay. We used to sing a song every
now and then. He paid a debt he did not owe. I owed a debt I could not pay. And so that is what Paul is talking
about here. He said, He hath made Him to
be sin for us. He took our debt upon Him. He became sin. He who was righteous,
who had no sin, He took our sin unto Himself. He became sin.
Now we know it is not talking about He was painted in His character
in any way because He was as pure when He took upon Himself
our sin as He was before He did. But He took it upon Himself because
He could take it upon Himself. And He did do so. And He hath
made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin. He had no sin and
He became our righteousness that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. And if we carry that out to the
same logical thought that He sets forth as Christ became sin
for us who knew no sin, we became the righteousness of Christ who
had no righteousness. So you see, both of those things
are true. Christ had no sin, but He became our sin. We had
no righteousness, and we became His. Now that's a glorious thing. He made us to be righteous. And
that's really the basis of all that we preach when we preach
the gospel of grace. And if you take that aspect out
of the preaching of the gospel, then you really have no gospel
at all. When you go out here and you
tell people that Jesus Christ died in some general fashion,
He didn't actually pay for anybody's sin completely because the view
that we hear quite readily is that unless you do something,
everything Christ did was for naught. Now, dear brethren, that's
not what Paul said here. He says, He became sin for us
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him." Now, he carried that out. It's something that's
been done. That's a finished work. When
he said it was finished, he meant that he had carried it out. The
book of Hebrews says that he obtained eternal redemption. He got it in his hand. Now, if
he did that for every single human being on the face of the
earth, then I'll guarantee you one thing. Every single human
being on the face of the earth is redeemed. Now, because he
got redemption, he accomplished exactly what it is he went to
the cross to do. Now, we know what the Scripture
speaks about when it says that he died for his people. He came to save his people from
their sins, and that is exactly what he did. Now, he has a people. He has had a people. When He
created the world and He put Adam in the world, He had a people. You could not see them. Nobody
knew who they were. The angels could not see them.
I mean, the angels could not see Adam before the Lord created
him, could they? The Lord created Adam, and then
He made us in Adam. He created us in Adam. We became
the sons of Adam. We were born into the world.
But we were born into the world as the sons of God. Now, it didn't
appear that we were, because we wouldn't let the whip deafen
anybody else. But in such times as it pleased
the Lord, He sent His Spirit into our hearts. And He caused
us to be born again. And He sent the Spirit of His
Son into our hearts to find our Father. Now that is a miraculous
work. Now it is not anything of the
creature that performed that, is it? There is not a thing in
the world that a creature could have ever done that would have
caused that to occur. But by the grace of God, according
to His mercy, He saved us. When it pleased Him, He called
us by His grace. And all of that is wrapped up
in what he says here that He became sin for us that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. And he is talking
about the sons of God. That is who Paul is speaking
to here. He says, we then as workers together. The Scripture here in the King
James Version, it says, with Him, but you notice that that's
in italics. Now that doesn't mean it shouldn't
be in there, but you can read that, we became workers together. Now the fault is, and I believe
it's not anything wrong with putting with Him, because we
are made workers together with Him. Now we're not workers together
in Him in that we help Him perform that, But we are workers together
with Him because He sent us into the world, Paul says, as workers
with Him. Now, I certainly wouldn't want
to go to work without Him, would you? I mean, any work that we
might perform, if it be not with Him, it's of no use. That's for
sure. And so we are workers together
with Him. But make no mistake that He is
the One performs the work. We then, as workers together
with Him, and He is speaking about Himself here in a measure
as one who is an apostle that has been sent to them with the
ministry that the Lord gave Him. We then, as workers together
with Him, beseech you also that you receive not the grace of
God in vain. Now is it possible for a man
to receive the grace of God in vain? You remember we had talked
some time back about believing in vain. And the same thought
is what Paul is carrying on here. Now, some have taken that to
mean that a person could receive the grace of God and then it
wouldn't do them any good, because they didn't do something. That's
not what he's saying here. He's saying you have received
the grace of God in vain if you don't declare what it is that
I just told you here. In other words, it is a vain,
it is an empty, it is a message that you have not understood
if you do not declare the ministry of reconciliation. Which is what? That God was in Christ, reconciling
the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. You
see, that is the ministry of reconciliation. We have been
sent forth into the world to declare, he says, a message that
points to Christ, a message that declares Christ to be the Savior
of sinners. And this is the message that
you have been given unless you have misunderstood what you are
supposed to preach. So you see, it is not that a
man could receive the grace of God in vain, but he is simply
using that as an illustration to point out that this is the
message. And any other message is not
the message which is true. It is that which is vain. Just
like if a man did not believe in the resurrection of Christ,
and did not preach that, and did not declare that, and did
not hold on to it, then he would receive the grace of God in vain,
would he not? Because he would not have the
grace of God. He would not have the truth of
God. He would not understand that which the Lord has sent
forth. So he said, we then, as workers
together with him, beseech you also that ye don't misunderstand
this. We want you to understand this.
We want you to know that Christ is the Savior of sinners. We
want you to be reconciled unto God. We don't want to tell you
something is wrong. We don't want to give you the
impression that you can somehow by your own effort come into
the presence of God and make yourself acceptable unto Him.
We don't want you to have a vain or empty profession of faith. We want it to be this. And he
says this is the truth. For he said, I have heard thee,
and he is speaking of the Lord. He said, For he saith, I have
heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have
I suffered thee, or have I fed thee. The literal meaning of
that is I have suckled thee at your breast. So as an infant. as one who didn't have any power
to even get his own food. I mean, what can an infant do
laying in a crib or in a bassinet or wherever you might put him?
If somebody didn't pick him up and feed him, what would he do?
He'd die. Because he has no means whereby
to get his own food. So the Lord said, I have heard
thee in the time accepted. I heard your cry. He said, I
heard you when you We are hungry. And he said, in such a day as
that I have fed thee. And in the day of salvation have
I suffered thee. I have given you what you needed.
Behold, today is the day of salvation, he goes on to say. And in the
day of salvation have I suffered thee. Behold, now is the accepted
time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Because why do we say now is
the day of salvation? I mean, was yesterday not the
day of salvation? Is tomorrow not the day of salvation? Now, you know, some preachers
have used this kind of concept, and they say, the Lord's given
you the opportunity to be saved today. Now, you better take this
opportunity because you might walk out of here and get run
over by a train, and that'll be your last opportunity, and
bingo, you're done for. That's not what he said. He said
this is the day of salvation when the Lord Jesus came into
the world and He became sin for us who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. That is the day of
salvation, dear brethren. Now in the time when it pleased
the Lord, He does indeed call His people to partake of that
which Christ has done, and that for them. is the day of salvation. Paul, when he was on the road
to Damascus, was not that the day of salvation for him? Well,
sure it was. Was not the time when you walked
in ignorance and darkness and the Lord caused you to see the
light of Christ, was that not the day of salvation? Well, sure
it was. I mean, the Lord is pleased to
draw His people out of darkness and into the light. And so that
they who were blind can now see. So He said, I have heard thee
in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I suffered
thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. This is the day of salvation.
Dear brethren, we live in the blessed day of salvation. Now, the children of Israel,
when they were walking under the law in these days, it was
not the day of salvation for them, was it? Because these things
were not made clear. Now, the Lord still had His people
and He still brought His people unto Himself in His own way and
time and according to His purpose. And every one of those were saved
by that which Christ performed in the day of salvation. But
you see, they did not see what we see. Behold, now is the day
of salvation. We can declare to men This is
the day of salvation. This is the time that we live
in when Christ has come into the world. The world knows of
but two times, or the Scripture knows of but two times, the former
times and the latter days. And the latter days are the day
of salvation. The former times were those times
that led up to the day of salvation. And we live in that day. We've
seen Christ. He's come. The angels appeared
to the shepherds on the hillside and said, Behold, I bring you
great tidings of great joy, for today is born unto you a Savior. Oh, dear brethren, it is a glorious
day. The angel appeared to Joseph and he said, That Mary shall
bring forth a child, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. For he shall save his people
from their sins." That is the day of salvation. And dear brethren,
we are not waiting for the day of salvation. We are not hoping
that tomorrow will be the day of salvation. We are declaring
that Christ has come now. He is the Savior. And it is the
day of salvation. And the message we declare tomorrow
is going to be the same message we declare today. Because it
is the day of salvation. Behold, now is the day of salvation,
giving no offense in anything that the ministry be not blamed,
but in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God in much
patience, in affliction, in necessities, in distresses, in strikes, in
imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watchings, in fastings,
by pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness,
by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, by the word of truth, by the
power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand
and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and
good report, as deceivers and yet true. as unknown and yet
well known, as dying and behold we live, as chastened and not
killed, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making
many rich, as having nothing and yet possessing all things."
Now that covers just about everything I could think of that you might
run into. I mean, he pretty much covered
the whole deal, didn't he? And he shows some contrast there.
He says, "...as sorrowful and yet rejoicing, as poor and yet
possessing all things." Because you see, the way that the Lord
of Glory has called the people of God unto is a way that makes
no sense to the world. Now, the world looks at the work
of salvation And they say, well now if God blessed you, you are
going to receive all these blessings. And you need to pray for a blessing
tonight. You know, reach forth your hand
and you are going to get a blessing tonight. And it is going to be
something you are going to see. Tomorrow you are going to get
a check in the mail or you are going to have this or this out
of the other. But dear brethren, the blessings
of God to God's people are those things that the world doesn't
know anything about. The religious world doesn't know
anything about. We're not expecting the blessing
in a carnal way because carnal blessings, guess what? They're
gone. The blessings that God gives
to His people are not those things that fade away. And Paul said,
whether I was rich or whether I was poor, I have all things. It doesn't make any difference
what position I'm in. And so he says here, giving no
offense in anything that the ministry be not blamed, because
he says the Lord has given us this ministry of reconciliation. We've been sent forth to preach
this gospel. Now, there's not a thing in the world
wrong with feeding the poor. Feeding the poor is a good thing.
And anybody that is moved to feed the poor, I'm talking about
in a physical way, that's a good thing. I wouldn't ever oppose
anybody wanting to do that. To somebody that wants to stand
for moral causes, that's a good thing. Not anything wrong with
that. Not anything wrong with standing
up and being counted as being Desires of seeing good things
done in the earth. There's nothing in the world
wrong with that. But Paul said that wasn't what we were sent
to do. He said, I'm not interested in
pursuing those things. Because he said, I've got one
thing in mind. And he said, it is to preach the gospel of Jesus
Christ. Because I don't want to give
offense in anything. I don't want there to be an occasion
where somebody might say, well, you're mixing Christ with works. I don't want to do that, he said.
He said, I want to preach Christ. I want to preach the Word of
Reconciliation, giving no offense in anything that the ministry
be not blamed. We don't want people coming along
saying, well, you know, I wasn't sure exactly what it was that
you were saying. Now, they're not going to understand
what you're saying, but we don't want to give people the idea
that they can do something in order to obtain the righteousness
of God, do we? Now, we want them to understand
that Christ has set forth His own righteousness in the earth
and that He's the Savior of sinners. And that is the Word that we've
been sent to preach, to tell men, Christ has done it all.
Now, all men are not going to receive that. All men are not
going to be made happy by it. But I'll tell you who will be.
The man that knows himself to not be able to do one thing to
gain anything before God, he's going to be happy when he hears
that Christ has done it all, that he's the Savior of sinners.
And if a man knows himself to be a sinner, where else would
he run but to Him who has all righteousness? Who is that One
who has paid the price for sinners? And so that's the gospel we've
been sent to preach. We've not been sent into the
world to try to determine who the elect are, or to tell folks
that we know who the elect are, have we? We've been sent into
the world to declare what Christ has done. and to declare to the
world that Jesus Christ is the Savior of sinners, that He has
accomplished the work that He came to do, and that He saves
such as be of a broken and contrite heart. He saves men that call
upon His name. He saves those that desire His
way. He is that one. And if a man
trembles in fear before Him, He is that one who takes away
fear. And so He is. This is our desire that we give
no offense in anything that the minister be not blamed, but in
all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, or that
is, proving ourselves, setting forth, manifesting, not letting
anything interfere. We don't want to be sidetracked
with issues of one kind or another. There's a lot of issues that
are important. You know, it's not that I don't
think there's a lot of issues that are important, but I have
people... You know, one thing that I don't
like here to do is perform weddings. Now, I've told you all this before,
and that doesn't mean that I wouldn't ever perform a wedding, and I
have performed some. But the Lord didn't send me into
the world to perform wedding. I had a fellow get mad at me
the other day, come in the store and ask me if I'd marry him.
He wanted me to marry him and this woman. And I don't really
know the guy. I mean, I do know him, but I
don't know him, you know what I mean? And so he said, well,
aren't you a preacher? I said, well, of a sort, I guess. I mean, some people might think
so, I said, the Lord didn't send me to marry for hoops. And he
kind of got, he didn't think, he just figured, well, if a fellow
is a preacher, that was what he was supposed to do. You see, these things are just
side issues. There are things that concern
the flesh, and we don't desire to get involved in those things,
those side issues, because our purpose is to declare the glory
of Christ. In all things, approving ourselves
as the ministers of God in much patience. Patience, that's a hard thing,
isn't it? I mean, the flesh can't be patient. God alone can make us patient
because the most patient person on earth has a limit to their
patience. Is that not true? I mean, you
know, even the most gentle person on earth can reach the end of
how far they can be patient. But you see, patience, our patience
is waiting on the Lord. We're waiting upon Him. And so
Paul says, we don't want to be trying to run ahead and be anxious,
but in patience as the ministers of God, in much patience, in
afflictions, in necessities and distresses. We're not going to
complain about things that happen to us. Did Paul ever complain? He said, you know those people,
I went down there to Ephesus and they beat me up and all that. No, he never complained. He just
figured it was part of the job. That's one of the things today,
on a side note, people go to work for somebody and whoever
has hired them says, well, I want you to do this. And they say,
oh, well, I didn't know I was going to have to do that. As
if to say, well, I just thought you were just going to give me
a check and I wasn't going to have to do anything. You know,
there's afflictions that come along with it. Paul told Timothy,
he said, endure hardness as a good soldier of Christ. He said, you
know, you're going to have to endure some afflictions because
any man who will live godly in Christ Jesus is going to suffer
persecution. Paul said, I've been in afflictions,
in necessities, I've had to do without. Now I think that's a
lot of what's, you know, some of the ills of our society today
is people don't know how to do without. And the younger generation
especially. I mean, we've lived in a time
of plenty so long in this country that people think if you don't
have two cars and a color TV in every room that you're kind
of You know, you're deprived. I mean, especially if you don't
have a cell phone. I mean, if you don't have a cell
phone, you're really deprived. But you see, Paul said, it didn't
matter to me if I was deprived. If I went hungry or whatever,
he said, my point and my purpose was to preach the gospel of Jesus
Christ regardless of what happened. In necessities, in distresses,
in stripes, he was beaten numerous times. Why was he beaten? Because he did something wrong?
No, he was doing something right. But he was beaten. Now, did he
go to the Supreme Court? and bring some kind of a suit
against the government because they beat him for preaching the
gospel? Well, we know those things didn't
exist in that day, but if Paul was in this day, do you think
he'd be spending his time trying to get the government straightened
out? No. He'd just go on. He said, I got beat. But I said,
praise God, I got beat for the name of Christ. in stripes, in
imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watchings, in fastings. You know, you read these things
that Paul is speaking about here, and it causes us to reflect upon
how meager our own consideration of being ministers of reconciliation. Now, we have not all been called
to be preachers. of reconciliation, but we have
all been called to be ministers of it. See, all of God's people
have the ministry of reconciliation given to them. Not everybody
has been given the calling of preaching that in a vocal way,
but all of God's people have been sent into the earth with
the ministry of reconciliation because we all and hear and love
the same truth, do we not? And we have no other message
that we would desire to be brought to men but this message that
Paul spoke of here. So we are all together as the
people of God, whatever the calling we have, called into these labors. He says in labors, in working.
It's not easy. It's not easy. Sometimes, you
know, the Lord would cause us to have to do without and to
work hard in watchings. That is, in fasting, that means
sleeplessness. Laying awake at night worrying. No, laying awake concerned about
the things of God. Paul said, I've spent sleepless
nights in fastings. Now, fasting is a thing. You know, some people, they kind
of make this out to be like a religious activity that a man can be proud
of. Now, I believe the Scripture
speaks about fasting. He's not speaking about it here
from a health standpoint. Some tell us that there are some
health benefits in fasting. But there is prayer and fasting
that's been given to the people of God. And the Lord, He does
call His people to prayer and fasting. He said that when the
bridegroom was gone, that His people would fast and pray. Now,
I'm not setting forth any standard to you to tell you you ought
to fast this often and you need to do it like this or that or
the other. But I'm just saying, Paul is speaking about here being
serious enough about the things of God, by the grace of God,
that he did fast and pray. He's been there. He's not saying
that to boast of it. Now, a lot of people want to
tell you, oh, well, I fasted for three days. What did the Lord say? He said,
when you fast, wash your face so that men don't even know what
you're doing. You're not supposed to be going around telling people
what you're doing. But if the Lord lays that on
your heart, if He lays a burden on your heart, dear brother,
it is that which is a good thing. We never would tell somebody
that they need to disregard such a thing. Paul said he was in
fastings. By pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness.
Pureness and knowledge. Pureness is desiring to be cleansed from the ways of
the world, is it not? To come back from things. I mean, not to look at things
that you can't erase from your mind, You know, the Lord would have
us to be pure of heart, pure of mind. Now we can't perform,
and I'm not talking about performing these things in the power of
the flesh, but I'm saying being mindful that what we're called
to be is to be people of a pure mind and a pure heart by knowledge. No excuse for a man who can read
not have some knowledge, is there? I mean, can a man sit back and
say, well, you know, I don't ever read the Bible because I
don't understand it. Well, that might be why you don't
understand it. Now, you can't take the Bible
up and read it and become knowledgeable of it in and of itself, but it
is by the work of the Spirit of God that He does move in the
people of God, does He not? To read the Word of God, and
so that the Word of God is precious in their mind, and by that manifestation
of the work of His Spirit in them, are they not profited by
it? Of course they are. You know, there are a lot of
things we do not have knowledge of. I know far less now than I used
to. I mean, you know, when I was
25 years old, I figured I knew just about everything there was
to know. But the older I have got, the more I know. I hardly know nothing. But I
am not without knowledge. And by the grace of God, I don't
believe any of God's people have any excuse for being without
knowledge, you know, of the things of God. By pureness, by knowledge,
by long-suffering, by kindness. Are these not marks of the children
of God? Long-suffering and kindness.
I mean, do you think Paul was short-tempered? I don't find any indication of
it. He did not forcefully say some
of the things that he did, but he didn't do it because he was
just personally aggravated. He did it because his heart yearned
for the benefit of those to whom he ministered. But he said, by
long-suffering, by kindness, Is that not one of the fruits
of the Spirit? Gentleness, kindness, meekness, temperance. These are
the things that God has called His people to by the Holy Ghost,
by love unfeigned. And we are counseled in the Scriptures
to love the brethren with a pure heart fervently, with love unfeigned. You know, we don't pat one another
on the back and say, Brother, I love you, and then go somewhere
and talk bad about one another, or wish ill will upon one another
in some fashion or other. But you see, love unfeigned,
love that isn't fake, love that's true, love that is manifested. Is that not what we desire? Now,
I'd be lying to you today If I was to tell you, when I want
you to go on out there and do it, and I expected that you had
the power to do it, you don't. You can't love anybody for one
minute, apart from the grace of God. But we do exhort one
another to love one another, do we not? I mean, does not the
Scripture full of it? And does not the Spirit of God
cause us to desire to love one another? Well, sure it does. I mean, if a man John said, if
a man doesn't love the brethren, then the love of God is not in
him. Oh, I want the love of God to be in me. I want to have a
heart that causes me to love the people of God. And I know
that it can only come from one place, and that will be by the
work of His Spirit in me. By the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned. Now, we're going to have to stop
there. But you know, all of these things, as Paul describes these
things here, and you could spend hours sitting here just contemplating
each one of these things that he's talking about here and all
the ramifications of it, and we're not able to do that. But when we read these things,
The Spirit of God, I believe, works in us to cause us to desire
those things. I mean, when you read about the
Apostle Paul, does the Spirit of God not cause you to desire
to be like him? Now, he is not our example. Christ is our example. But you
see, what do we see? We see Christ at work in him.
And we desire that these things be fulfilled. at work in us.
And only as He does that will it occur. May the Lord help us.