We'll be looking in 2 Corinthians. Last week we had looked at some
verses here that often cause great consternation among the
sons of God, and most times, in my estimation, are twisted
from the meaning that Paul sets forth. And we are going to read some
of those verses again and then perhaps go a little further in
the chapter. It says, and Paul begins in verse
9, chapter 5 of 2 Corinthians, Wherefore we labor, that whether
present or absent, we may be accepted of him. For we must
all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one
may receive the things done in his body according to that he
hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the
terror of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest
unto God, and I trust also we are made manifest in your consciences. For we commend not ourselves
again to you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf. that
ye may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance
and not in heart. For whether we be beside ourselves,
it is to God, or whether we be sober, it is for your cause. For the love of Christ constraineth
us, because we thus judge that if one died for all, then we
are all dead. And that he died for all, that
they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto
him which died for them, and rose again. Wherefore henceforth
know we no man after the flesh, yea, though we have known Christ
after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. Therefore
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things are
passed away, behold, all things are become new. And all things
are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ,
and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation, to wit that
God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing
their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word
of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ. As though God did beseech you
by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, 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, throughout this passage
of Scripture, It seems evident to me that Paul is making a comparison
here between serving Christ in the flesh, that is, in the outward
man, that is, in that which can be seen of men, and that which
is in the heart. Now, we hope that that is the
same, and Paul is building the case here that it is the same,
but that it is different, because there are things that are seen
of men that are done that can't be seen of men, those workings
of God in the heart of a man that can't be seen, but then
there are those workings of God in the heart of men that can
be seen. And so it is for the reason Paul
says the purpose for serving Christ is so that it might be
seen of God and not seen of men, even though it is in the men
seeing it that they are blessed thereby. And so when he builds
this case and he speaks about we must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ, and we talked about that last week,
as being something which is a present tense matter. We must appear
before the judgment seat of Christ. That is, He is saying, we do
the things that we do not to be seen of men, but because of
that which Christ has wrought in us, and our desire is to be
accepted in His sight, not in the sight of men. And so that's
the whole issue that he's saying here. And knowing therefore,
he says, the terror of the Lord. Now what that means there, that
word terror is the phobos. Now we get our English word phobia
from that. And so it means the fear. Knowing
therefore the fear of the Lord. We have the fear of the Lord.
Paul said that is the reason why we desire to be accepted
of Him, because we fear Him. Not that we cower in the corner
as those who have been beaten with many strikes, and whenever
the door opens, you know, we cower down and we are fearful
in that sense. Now, any man who knows who God
is should be aware of such fear. because the Lord is able to destroy
men in a moment. But that is not the fear that
the Lord desires or that the Lord does work in His people. It is not that cowering fear,
but rather it is a fear of great respect and homage when He is
there, when we know that we are in the presence of the Lord,
We are humbled before Him. And so Paul says, knowing who
the Lord is, and knowing the fear of the Lord, that is, we
are those who fear the Lord, then we desire to persuade men,
that is, we give testimony unto men. Now has he been talking
about giving testimony unto men? Now a lot of people place a lot
of emphasis on giving testimony to men with our lips. And there
is certainly nothing wrong with testifying with your lips. Let the redeemed of the Lord
say so. But the greater testimony of
the sons of God in this world is not what they go around telling
folks. Now you can plaster a scripture
on your t-shirt and walk around, and that is a form of testimony. But I have seen people, Scripture
verses on their hats and on their shirts, and they go around and
they testify with that Scripture on their back, but what comes
out of their lips is something different. In fact, what comes
out of their life is something different. Now, is that a testimony? No, it's not actually. And what
Paul is speaking about here is not a testimony that we go around
glibly telling people that we are children of God, but rather
he says those things we are going forth as the Lord has wrought
in us this ministry is that we would persuade men, that is,
we would set forth before men the truth of God, not simply
with our lips. But being that which God has
wrought in us, because we fear the Lord. You find a man that fears the
Lord, and you don't have to tell him to watch his mouth, do you?
And the things that come out of it. And the places that he
goes. And the things that he does.
I mean, when a man fears God, and he has respect unto the Lord's
commandments, then that has an effect on the man, does it not?
And so that's what Paul's saying here. He said, knowing therefore
the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. We're not out here trying
to argue men. Now some people take this to
say, well, you know, we know who the Lord is and that He's
this judge that's going to come and judge everybody, so we're
out here trying to persuade men to become His followers. That's
not what he's saying here. Now, I'm not saying we have not
been sent into the world to declare those things. Most assuredly,
we have been, but that's not what Paul is talking about here.
He says, knowing the terror of the Lord, that is, knowing that
we are acquainted with the fear of God, we persuade men and we
are made manifest unto God, that is, those things that that we
labor to be accepted in, we labor to be accepted unto Him and not
unto men, so that men might see us. And I trust also, or may
manifest to your conscience, that you see that we serve the
Lord not so you will pat us on the back. Now, you know, some
people serve the Lord for a pat on the back. And they get upset
if somebody doesn't recognize all the work that they did. and
they want to be remembered. Well, he was a great servant
of God. Paul said, I hope that what I am doing is manifest in
your conscience, but not so you will pat me on the back, but
so that you will know that this is the work of God and it is
done because of a fear of God and not a desire to be approved
of men. For we commend not ourselves
again to you. We didn't come telling you these
things so you'd pat us on the back. But to give you an occasion
to glory on our behalf, to rejoice that God has wrought in us this
work. I mean, isn't that a glorious
thing to see the hand of the Lord working? I mean, to see
God moving in people? I mean, isn't that a glorious
thing? Well, sure it is. Not just to see somebody talking
about it, but to see the evidence of it. To see a man humbled before
God. To see a man walking in fear
before the Lord. Is that not a glorious thing
to the sons of God? And that is what Paul is speaking
about here. He said, but to give you occasion to glory on our
behalf. that ye may have somewhat to
answer them with glory in appearance and not in heart." See, there's
always been, even in Paul's days, those that gloried in appearance
and not in heart. Those that came preaching in
order to get them a following. To get people to, you know, build
up their reputation. And all of those things so that
they might be seen of men. He said, I want you to have a
contrast here so that you will know that there is a difference
between those that glory in appearance and not in the heart. Those that
desire some external thing, some accolade of men or whatever,
and not in the heart. For whether we be beside ourselves,
it is to God. Now this is interesting. That
terminology, whether we be beside ourselves, it literally means
to be drunk, to stagger. He said, whether we be staggering
or whether it is to God. He said, our drunkenness is before
God. Now, he's not talking about drunkenness
caused by alcohol, but he's talking about Drunkenness in the Spirit,
is he not? He said, if people think we're
crazy, we're just crazy before God. He said, we don't care. All we're interested in is being
found accepted of Him. We want to be crazy in the sight
of men, but it is to God, or whether we be sober. He says,
if we're walking as those who are not under the influence of
something. Be not drunk with wine, he said.
but be filled with the Spirit. And he said, we don't want to
be found to be those who are considered to be crazy before
men for the sake of men's sake. He says, we're crazy. If men
judge us to be crazy, it's because we're servants of God. But we'll
be sober. It is for your cause. That is,
when you see us speaking of the things of God, We do it for your
sake, however it is. If men think we're crazy or if
they think we're sober, it doesn't matter. We desire to serve you
and to serve God. For it says, the love of Christ
constrains us. Now isn't this what it is that
constrains the sons of God? Now, a lot of people think that
those who are born again by the Spirit of God need some kind
of a fence put around them. And so men come up with all kinds
of fences to put around men. They come up with various rules
and things that they say, well now, you've got to abide by this. You've got to be like this. You've
got to wear this kind of clothes. You've got to wear your hair
in a certain way. And you've got to act a certain way around
these people and do this and do that. Now, a lot of people
say, well, you know, the children of God still need the Ten Commandments
laid on them. We need to bring the law up every
day and beat people over the head with it and say, now you've
got to do this. Now, the law of God is a glorious
thing, is it not? I mean, the Ten Commandments
is a lovely document. But the only thing that the law
in the letter of it can ever do for a man is condemn him.
And so we have been set free from the law in that respect.
The law cannot condemn the sons of God. And the law is not the
rule of life for the children of God, because the Spirit of
God that works within us constrains His people. Now, you know, that's
not a... If we were perfect, that is,
if we were not men of the flesh, then indeed that would be a perfect
realm in which we lived and we would at all times and in all
manners follow the way of the Lord. But you see, the children
of God, even when they are walking in the flesh, Contrary to those
things that they are taught, they are nonetheless constrained
by the Spirit of God. Now, it may not appear to be
that way from time to time, but I am telling you this, if a man
belongs to the Lord, the Lord is constraining him, is He not?
Because if the Lord's constraint is taken off of one of His children,
they will destroy themselves, will they not? I mean, they'll
pursue after the flesh until they are destroyed. But you see,
the love of Christ constrains us. It is the love of Christ
that keeps us from falling. That's the only thing it does.
I mean, every one of us in here will deny the faith tomorrow
and walk down the road and won't think any more about it, if left
to ourselves, if left to this old fleshly man. We'll depart
from the things of God, but the love of Christ constrains us.
In that respect. But Paul is speaking about something
a little more closer to home here. He said the love of Christ
constrains us. We are not kept in by rules and
regulations. We are not kept in by, we don't
have to get up and read the Bible where it says you need to love
your neighbor as yourself. See, I don't need to read that
in order to know that that is true to us. I don't have to read
that every morning to know that I need to love my neighbors myself.
Why? Because the Spirit of God has
constrained me. He's shown me. And we're constrained
by the love of Christ. You see, the strongest power
to cause God's people to walk in paths of righteousness is
the love of Christ. That's why we do what we're doing
here this morning, remembering His death and He comes again.
Why? Because we know that the love of Christ constrains us.
Because when we partake of these things and remember the broken
body and the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, we're constrained,
are we not? Are we not constrained to worship
Him? Are we not constrained to fall
on our faces and say, O Lord, make me in the image of Christ,
cause me to walk in a fashion that would be honorable unto
You? Is that not the work of the Spirit of God? Is that not
what Paul is talking about here? For the love of Christ constraineth
us. It sets a fence about us. It
holds us in, and we are glad. You know, if a man is a rebel
and he's wanting to get out, he's kicking against the pricks.
Paul was kicking against the pricks. The Lord loved him, and
the Lord was bringing him unto Himself, and Paul was trying
to get out. But you see, when the Lord showed
Paul the truth, and He made Paul no longer a rebel against the
things of God, He was glad that he was constrained, that he was
held in, was he not? He was glad for the working of
the conscience, the working of the Spirit of God in his conscience
to constrain him to the things of God. Because we thus judge
that if one died for all, then we're all dead. Now here's a
good speaking about what Brother Al was talking about there this
morning, that all doesn't always mean all. Now if this means all,
in the sense in which a lot of people think that it means all,
then it means more than they want it to mean. If it's going
to be all, if Christ died for all, then if Christ accomplished
anything with His death, All would be saved, would they
not? I mean, unless you say that,
well, the work of Christ wasn't enough and you've got to add
something to it. So it certainly does not mean
that Christ died for all men here. But it's simply the meaning
of Paul speaking to believers. He said, we know that if Christ
died for all of us, then all of us were dead. That is, in
the sense in which Christ is our life, then if we live in
Him, we also died in Him, so that we are not ourselves. You
see, we are not our own. We are bought with a price. And
that is what we come to remember here this morning, is that Christ
purchased us with His own blood on Calvary's cross, so that we
are not our own. We are bought with a price. If one died for all, then we're
all dead. And that he died for all, that they which live should
not henceforth live to themselves. If we died in Christ, then we
also are going to live in Christ. In other words, our life and
our death are both in Christ. Praise God. I mean, that's the
glorious thing as we consider. But unto him which died for them
and rose again. Wherefore henceforth know we
no man after the flesh, That is, we are not walking after
the flesh, is essentially what he is saying, though we have
known Christ after the flesh. He said we knew Him when He walked
among us. Now, of course, Paul, speaking
here, he never walked with the disciples when the Lord walked
upon the earth, but he did indeed know Christ after the flesh because
Christ met with him, did He not? And he saw Him. He says, I was
as a man born out of due time. So we know that he did know Him
after the flesh. He was a witness of the resurrected
Christ. He did know Him. But he said,
though we have known Him. But he is not speaking about
that particularly, about walking in His body. But he is talking
about just exactly what he has been talking about. He says,
we do not serve Christ in the flesh. That is, our service to
Him is not for the flesh sake, so that we can see one another
and we can say these things in a fleshly way. But rather, he
said, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth
know we Him no more. So how do we know Him? Here he
says, and Brother Al read this passage a while ago, Therefore,
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are
passed away. Behold, all things are become
new." You see, things are not just like they've always been,
he said, because the Spirit of God constraineth us. We've been
made new creatures in Christ. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. Wherein, at one time, we walked
in a religious way, and Paul could testify this. He said,
we walked in service to God, supposedly, but we did it in
an outward way, so that we might be pleasing in the eyes of men.
We did it according to the strictures of the law. But now we are constrained
by Christ, because we have been made new creatures. He says,
old things are passed away. the desire to serve Christ in
the flesh, that is, to serve Christ in a way that would be
pleasing to men. He said, that's passed away.
We don't desire that anymore. See, the spiritual man is not
satisfied with religion. Now, plenty of folks are. I mean, if I can just get to
church on Sunday, you know, they paid their due, They've done
their thing, they feel good for the rest of the week because
they met that criteria. And you know, they might even
show up for prayer meeting. I mean, if they're really feeling
spiritual that week, you know, they might do those things. But
Paul said, we're new creatures. He said, we're not serving Christ
after the flesh. We're not desiring things in
the outward form, but we desire. Those things have become new
to us. And all things are of God who
has reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ and has given
to us the ministry of reconciliation. He has reconciled us to Himself. Now, you know, reconciling is
an accounting term. And everybody that's had a checking
account has had to reconcile their checking account. Now what
you do when you reconcile your checking account is you take
what you believe the checks you have written, and then you look
at the statement that the bank sends you, and it says you've
written this many checks. Now, let me ask you a question. In all the years, that you have
reconciled your account to the bank's accounting, how many times
have you found out that your accounting was right and theirs
was wrong? Now, I'm not saying it doesn't
happen. And it probably used to happen more when it was all
done by human recording than it is now, but with computers
and stuff right now, I can just about guarantee you when you
discover some error in the bank's thing and you're going to reconcile
it, guess what? The bank was right, weren't they? And guess what? You became reconciled. to what the bank said. Now that's
a good picture of what it is right here. Christ has reconciled
us to Himself in that same way. Because you see, the accounting
of the flesh, we say, there's no way that we could be accepted
inside of God. But He said here it is. Here's the statement. The statement
says that every bill that you owe has been paid. The statement
says that your account is full to overflowing. And dear brethren,
we come today to remember that which the Lord reconciled
our account with. He did it with his own blood.
He paid the price. And he recorded it. And if you
ever decide or you ever get to thinking that your accounting
is right, you need to go back to the statement. And you need
to look at it. And that's what Paul said. We've
been sent with the ministry of reconciliation. You see, we want
God's people to look at the statement. Don't look at your addition,
because your addition doesn't add up. There is an error somewhere
if you don't come up to the place where you agree with what Christ
says. What Christ said is true. And
He demonstrated it. And He has given us this supper
that we might be reminded that His statement is true, that He
paid the price. in the account is forever reconciled.