Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us. The message today will be taken
from the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 2. 2 Corinthians chapter
2, beginning with verse 14. And the title of the message
is, A Matter of Life and Death. A Matter of Life and Death, 2
Corinthians chapter 2, and verse 14. Before we get started in
the message, let me just say a word, once again, about Reign
of Grace Media Ministries, Reign of Grace Ministry. This ministry,
which presents this television ministry to you, is a ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia, where I am
the pastor. And any of you within our viewing
area, you have several opportunities not only uh... to hear this program
but to tune into our worship services on live streaming on
the internet at our you can go to our website at www.rofrofgrace.com
and you can link to it we have a sunday morning worship service
where we have a bible study at ten o'clock and a main worship
service at 11 o'clock and you can watch those services live. But also we certainly invite
you to come and visit us at Eager Avenue Grace Church. We're located
at 1102 Eager Drive in Albany, Georgia. And we invite you to
come to those services. And those of you who watch the
program and those of you who watch the live stream, we'd love
to hear from you just to know who you are and to get to know
you. But I just wanted to put that in to help you to understand
what this is all about. This is an evangelistic program.
It's also a program that's dedicated to the edification of God's people. And I hope that you'll study
the scriptures. Now getting back to the scriptures in 2 Corinthians
chapter two, the apostle Paul, the whole book of 2 Corinthians
is a beautiful description and presentation of the glorious
ministry of the gospel of God's grace in Christ Jesus. This,
the ministry that Paul speaks of, the Apostle Paul, whom God
had called especially to be an evangelist and an apostle to
the Gentiles, a missionary who went out and preached the gospel
of Jesus Christ. He had said back in 1 Corinthians
that he strived not to know anything among them, but Jesus Christ
and him crucified. Paul's ministry was not about
promoting himself. It was not about just running
up numbers. It was about the glory of God
in Jesus Christ. He describes it over in 2 Corinthians
4, in verse six, as the glory of God revealed in the face of
Jesus Christ. In 2 Corinthians 3, the chapter
following this one, where our text is, He talks about that
glorious ministry. It's the ministry of life as
opposed to the law, which is the ministry of death. It's the
ministry of the spirit as opposed to the law as a ministry of physical
things. And he says this, he says it's
the ministry of righteousness, not the ministry of condemnation.
But here he describes at the end of chapter two, beginning
at verse 14, the seriousness of preaching the gospel. Now
the gospel is the good news of how God saves sinners. And the gospel always begins
with God. It always begins with who God
is. I'm afraid that there's so many people today in churches
who claim to be preaching and believing the gospel, But the
message is all about them and not about God, not about Christ,
but it's all about them. It focuses on them too much.
Now, don't get me wrong. The gospel has to do with salvation
for sinners. It's a message for sinners. And it's a glorious message.
It speaks of blessing and the grace of God and the benefits
of salvation. But it's not centered on man.
It's all centered on Jesus Christ and Him crucified and raised
from the dead. The gospel includes, for example,
the facts of history, that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is
the second person of the Trinity, co-eternal and equal with the
Father and the Spirit in every attribute of His nature, that
He came to this earth, became incarnate, and that means he
was conceived in the womb of the virgin by the Holy Spirit
and that he was born on a given day. I don't know what day, but
it was a beautiful day because that's when the Savior came.
And he was born and that as the substitute and surety of his
people, he obeyed the law perfectly and went to the cross of Calvary
as their surety and substitute, having the sins of his people
who are called God's elect in the scripture, his sheep, that's
what he called them in John chapter 10, his church, and having their
sins charged, accounted, imputed to him. That's what that means.
He took the debt of their sins. See, sin is running up a debt,
a debt to God's law and justice. and He took those sins and died
for them on the cross of Calvary. He paid that debt in full and
established righteousness for His people. And that righteousness
is that which God has imputed to every one of His people. Christ
was charged with the sins of His people. His people were charged
with the righteousness of Christ. And it's called the righteousness
of God. Paul said in Romans 1.16, he's not ashamed of the gospel.
It's the power of God and the salvation. He said in verse 17,
therein is the righteousness of God revealed. And that's a
beautiful message for sinners. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, but the gospel begins with God. God is a holy
God. God is a just God and He must
punish sin. So then how can God? How can
he be true to himself as God and still save sinners like us? How can he forgive us and still
be just? He must be a just God and a savior.
Well, the answer is through Jesus Christ. And all for whom Christ
lived and died, was buried and rose again, they will be brought
to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why the gospel message
issues forth the command. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
and you shall be saved. Believe what? Believe that Christ
fulfilled all righteousness. Now, Paul writes in 2 Corinthians
2.14, he says, Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth
us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of
his knowledge by us in every place, For we are made unto God,
this is verse 15, for we are made unto God a sweet savor of
Christ. Now listen to this, in them that
are saved and in them that perish. Now that's an astounding statement. And here's what he's saying.
And I'll tell you what, it's like a lot of the scripture.
If you really understand what it's saying, it'll turn your
thinking upside down. Because we have a tendency, now
here's the way we think naturally. A preacher goes out to preach.
And let's say he preaches the true gospel. And nobody believes
it. Let's say he preaches to 10,000
people. And out of that 10,000, nobody
believes it. Now let me ask you a question.
Is there victory in that ministry? Was he a success? Nobody believed
it. Well, the Word of God through
the Apostle Paul here says, yes, he triumphed in Christ, even
in them that perish. You say, well, I can't figure
that out. Well, my friend, that's why the gospel is by revelation
of God. That's why God says, my thoughts
aren't your thoughts. My ways aren't your ways. Yes,
and I'll tell you a preacher who, the name of a preacher who's
like that, his name was Noah. Noah preached the gospel while
he was building the ark for 120 years. And nobody came to believe
it. Somebody said, well, his family
did. Well, we don't know that. They got in the ark with him.
But it doesn't talk, it doesn't say anything about anybody coming
to a saving knowledge of Christ and their Noah's preaching. But
Noah was victorious. He triumphed. He had a successful
ministry. The problem that if we don't,
if our thinking is not brought in submission to the Word of
God, here's what happens. A preacher goes out to preach,
nobody believes it, and therefore what does he do? He changes his
message or his ministry in order to appeal to people, and that's
where false gospels come from. That gives rise to false ways. That's why you have so many false
churches. and they may be filled with multitudes
of people. It's because the message is false.
It appeals to the natural man. But then another preacher comes
along and he preaches and like Peter at Pentecost, 3,000 believe. Well, he's successful too. Well,
here's what Paul's saying, thanks be to God, that whenever we preach
the gospel, whenever we preach Christ, Whenever we talk about
how God can be just and justify the ungodly, whenever we preach
the righteousness of God in Christ, imputed as the only ground of
salvation, the only hope for sinners, whenever we preach His
blood, as the complete and final payment for all the sins of his
people, we triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest, he says
in verse 40, the savor of his knowledge by us in every place. We're preaching the word of God.
You see, I'm confident, whether you believe it or not, and listen
to me now, I pray and hope that you believe it. I wish everybody
would believe this message of grace, the gospel. But here's
the fact of the matter. Whether you believe it or not,
it's still the Word of God. It still glorifies Him and exalts
Christ and puts us in the dust where we belong. And read verse
15 again. For we are unto God a sweet savor
of Christ, Now, that sweet savor, the reference there is like the
incense that goes up. Remember back in the tabernacle,
the altar of incense, they bring fire from off the brazen altar,
which pictures the death of Christ. the blood of Christ, the righteousness
of Christ, the merits of his obedience unto death. And they
put that in the altar of incense and that smoke would go up and
that was indicative of the prayers and the obedience, the sacrifices
of God's people accepted by God because of the merits of Christ.
And that's what he's talking about here. We're a sweet savor
of Christ. When we preach Christ, It smells
sweet to God. And because it honors him, it
glorifies God. He said, this is my beloved son
in whom I'm well pleased, hear ye him. So here's the fact of
the matter. He says, in them that are saved,
boy, and listen, the gospel is a sweet smelling savor to those
who are saved, those who believe it. You know why? Because they
know their sinfulness, their depravity. They know the impossibility
of salvation based upon anything they do or try to do. They know that they need a righteousness
they cannot produce in order for God to justify them, to declare
us not guilty and righteous in His sight. And when they hear
about one that God is pleased with, that smells sweet to God. Well,
it smells sweet to them too. But in them that perish. Now
the gospel message certainly is not sweet smelling, as you
would say, to them that perish. That's an unbeliever. Paul wrote
about that in 1 Corinthians 1, when he talked about that the
preaching of the cross is foolishness to them that are perishing. but
it's the wisdom of God to them who are being saved. It's not
a sweet smelling savor to the perishing, but it still is to
God. Whether you believe it or not,
whether you're saved or whether you're perishing, it's a sweet
smelling savor unto God. You see, the point is, is it's
all about the honor and glory and majesty of God in Christ. And that's why if you're sitting
in a church where the gospel is not preached, where the gospel
in its purity that honors and glorifies God in Christ, it's
not pleasing to God. And there is no salvation there.
It's a false gospel. Well, listen to what he says
in verse 16. He says, to the one we are the
saver of death unto death. This is a matter of life and
death, folks. to the one we're the saver of death unto death.
Now, who are we the saver of death unto death? To them that
are perishing. He says, and to the other, the saver of life
unto life. Now, to whom are we the saver
of life unto life? To them that are saved. And so,
given the seriousness of this, given the magnitude of what we
who preach the gospel are doing, Paul writes, and who is sufficient
for these things? Who's sufficient? And I'll tell
you right now, I'm not sufficient. This message of God's grace is
so amazing. It is such a unique message that
no human being could have come up with this. That's what separates
true Christianity from all false religions. that salvation is
totally 100% by the grace of God, not conditioned on you and
me, but conditioned on Christ. You see, the moment the preacher
tells you that salvation is conditioned on you, he's not preaching this
message. You say, but aren't we supposed
to believe? Can we be saved without believing?
No, but believing faith is not the condition you must meet in
order to be saved. Faith is the fruit of what Christ
accomplished on Calvary. The Bible says in Ephesians 2,
8, 9, that you're saved by grace through faith, that not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
Who's sufficient for these things? Verse 17, he says, for we are
not as many which corrupt. You might have in your concordance,
the words deal deceitfully with. You remember what I told you,
a preacher gets up to preach and nobody believes it. So what
does he do? He changes his message. Paul
says, I don't change my message. I don't corrupt the word of God,
for we are not as many which corrupt the word of God, but
as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, speak we,
he says, in Christ. And if we're preaching the gospel,
we are speaking in Christ, but literally of Christ. I'm telling
you about Christ Jesus. Somebody might criticize, well,
why don't you talk about what we can do? Well, I don't spend
a lot of time talking about what we can do, because that's not
a very pleasant subject. But I'm gonna tell you what Christ
not only can do, but did do. Who is Jesus Christ? He's God
in human flesh. Why did he have to be God-man?
That's what the scripture says, God manifesting, because that's
the kind of person it takes to save sinners like us. Do you
realize that this matter of life and death, that's what this is. Why did Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, have to come and do what he did? Well, it's because we
fell in Adam unto sin and death. You see that? Savor of death
unto death? Death unto death? What does that
mean? Well, death comes in many forms. We can talk about death in many
ways. For example, we could talk about legal death. Now, what
is legal death? Well, legal death is condemnation. It's like a death sentence. It's
like standing before a judge. and you've committed a crime
and you're guilty and the judge sentences you to death. That's what the Bible calls condemnation. That's why the gospel is not
the ministry of condemnation, it's the ministry of righteousness. And so by nature, we fell in
Adam under condemnation as to the covenant of works. In other
words, If God judges me or you based on our works, our efforts,
our attempts to obey or anything that proceeds from us, what will
the sentence be? Condemned, that's legal death.
That's what we deserve. Do you understand? And I pray
that the Lord seals this on my mind and heart. Do you understand
that we as sinners, fallen, ruined in Adam, do not deserve the least
of God's favor or the least of God's blessings? And I tell the
congregation here in Eager Avenue all the time, I said, that includes
the next breath you take. You don't deserve that. I don't
deserve it because the wages of sin is death. Have you ever
quoted that verse? What does it mean? You see, that's
the problem today. People have what I call bumper
sticker religion. They have different quaint sayings
and quotes, but they never really stop to try to understand the
reality of these things. When the Bible says the wages
of sin is death, what it's talking about is the only thing that
we can earn is death. We don't deserve salvation. We cannot earn salvation. We're
condemned. That's death. That's death. Now, yes, the gift of God is
eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. But notice, there's
a wage. That's death. There's a gift. That's Christ. Eternal life in
Christ. It's a gift. Somebody says, well,
but you have to receive the gift. Well, the Bible tells us that
all for whom Christ died will receive it. That's what the scripture
teaches. You say, well, if I have my own
free will, choose not to receive it, that's right. The fact of
what that does, it proves that your will's not free because
you're in bonded sin. That brings me to the next point
of death, spiritual death. Spiritual death. Not only did
we fall in Adam, ruination, into sin and death, but we're born
dead in trespasses and sins. Doesn't the scripture say that?
Didn't Paul write to the believers at Ephesus in Ephesians 2 and
verse 1, and he talked about how they'd been quickened? They've
been given life. That's another way of saying
born again. What did Christ say? You must
be born again or you cannot see. Why is that? Your eyes are spiritually
dead before you're born again. You cannot enter the kingdom
of God. Spiritual death, Paul wrote in
Ephesians 2.1, you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and
sin. Spiritual death, what is spiritual
death? Romans 3 and verses 10 and those verses following explains
it. You read that sometime, I quote
it here all the time. It says there's none righteous,
no not one. We're not born righteous, we're
born spiritually dead. We cannot work a righteousness.
Our best efforts to obey the law will not make us righteous
before God. By deeds of law shall no flesh
be justified in God's sight. By deeds of law shall no flesh
be made righteous. And here's the thing that people
don't want to hear. And it just proves the point. By nature,
we do not desire or want righteousness, salvation, God's way. We want it our own way. That's
why you have so many different ways of salvation, even among
those who call themselves Christian. What is God's way? God's way
is by His sovereign grace through Jesus Christ alone, based on
His blood alone. Not His blood plus your baptism,
not His blood even plus your faith. His blood, His righteousness
is the provision of faith. So that's spiritual death. And
then there's physical death. And what's the remedy for that?
The resurrection from the dead. Well, Christ is life unto life. Christ is the remedy for legal
death. And what is that? Christ took
my death on the cross, died the death that I earned and deserved,
and gave me his righteousness so that I can say, there is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ, who walk not after
the flesh, but after the spirit. How do I know that Christ died
for me? How can you know that Christ
died for you? Here's how you know. Do you believe
in him? Do you profess him? Do you cling
to him? Do you submit to his righteousness? God's way of salvation, not your
own. You see, people, they think of
salvation in so many different ways that are unscriptural. And
it usually has to do with experiences, dreams and visions and opinions
of men. What does the Bible say? He says,
to those who are saved, we're the saver of life unto life.
Do you love to hear Christ preached? Do you love to hear Christ exalted? Do you love to hear his righteousness
preached? Or do you want to hear about
you? Do you want to hear about your friends and your family?
You want somebody to stand in a pulpit and brag on you, do
you like that? That's the flesh. Or do you love to hear somebody
brag on your Savior? Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. Christ is the remedy for spiritual
death. Out of Christ's righteousness
comes spiritual life in the new birth. Why are some sinners quickened? Because Christ died for them,
was buried, and rose the third day. Romans 8.10 says that this
body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit, Holy Spirit,
is life because of righteousness. The Holy Spirit comes forth from
Christ to impart spiritual life to dead sinners. The new birth
is literally a resurrection from the dead, spiritually. And it's described in the Scriptures.
and He's the remedy, and He's the remedy for physical death
too, the resurrection of the dead. Well, these are matters
of life and death, and I hope you'll join us next week for
another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, Write us
at 1-1-0-2 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia 3-1-7-0-7. Contact us
by phone at 229-432-6969 or email us through our website at www.theletterofgrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.