Now we've come here to the close
of Paul's second epistle to the Corinthians. I don't know if
you're like me, but when I write a letter, you know, there's the
closing, the last paragraph or so, you know, of your letter
is just kind of space filler. Just, you know, the last little
odds and ends of your thoughts or whatever, you know, just trying
to find a way to kind of close the letter, you know, be done
with it. But that's not the case here. This, this is a letter
from the apostle Paul, but this is, Divinely inspired. This is the word of God. There's
no wasted words here in this. While this is Paul's closing
to the letter, it is very rich, very full of instruction and
blessing. I thought about splitting it into two weeks, not try to
cover this all in one sitting, but I think we can do that. But
it's very, very good. So. Verse one here, chapter 13,
Paul says, This is the third time I'm coming to you in the
mouth of two or three witnesses, shall every word be established.
Now this is the third time I'm coming to you. He came once there
in person and preached to them. And then he came in the form
of a letter these two other times. And he points to the law concerning
witnesses, the law of Moses. Let every word be established
by the mouth of two or three witnesses. Now Paul has been
forced to defend himself. That's why he's calling these
witnesses. He's been forced to defend himself against these
false prophets. So he calls on these two or three
witnesses. You know, he could have called, Silas, Barnabas
and Peter and Timothy and Titus and these men that came there
as well. But most people think what he's referring to is his
personal visit where he came there and preached and his two
epistles. Those are the three witnesses.
And from those three witnesses, the Corinthians should have known
the gospel that Paul preached. They should have known his apostleship.
His apostleship was not under question. They should have known
his love for them, the kind of man that Paul was. And they should
know better than to believe these accusations that have been brought
against Paul. And we would be wise to remember
this rule and things that we face today. You know, if two
or three brethren tell us the same story that they were eyewitnesses
to, then we're to believe it just as much as if we saw it
ourselves. But when just one person is telling us a story,
We'd be wise if we can to verify that story with someone else
before we go all off, you know, half caught believing what they're
saying. We're just, you know, better off if we can to follow
the word of the God here and verify these things by the mouth
of two or three witnesses. It'd probably keep us from making
a fool of ourselves if it would. He goes on here in verse two
and he says, I told you before and foretell you as if I were
present the second time. And being absent now, I write
to them, which heretofore have sinned, and to all other, that
if I come again, I will not spare." Now you remember that first epistle
that Paul wrote. He covered a long laundry list
of doctrinal errors and errors of conduct that the people had
fallen into. There were divisions and strifes
in the church. They tolerated false preachers.
There's fornication going on. They were taking one another
to court, to law. There was divorce in the church.
There's misuse of the gifts of the spirit. There's misuse of
the Lord's table. Just on and on and on. Paul wrote
to them, warned them, now you correct these matters, these
matters, these things ought not be going on in God's church.
And it seems like from, you know, we read through the second epistle
that some of these things were corrected, but apparently not
all of them had been corrected yet. And Paul's writing a second
time. And here he's very pointedly
referring to the guilty parties, those who hear the four of sin.
He's giving them a warning. He will use the rod to correct
these matters if they're not corrected before he gets there.
This is the apostolic authority Paul could use if he came there.
That's not the kind of authority we could use if we went there,
but this is the authority that Paul would use if he came there.
But it's interesting. He didn't rush right down there
and display his power and authority, did he? Most people think Paul
waited on purpose. He didn't go to Corinth right
away after he wrote that first epistle because he didn't want
to be harsh when he came. He didn't want to be forced to
use that rod. He wanted his visit to be pleasant
when he got there. He wanted that visit to be a
time of worship and fellowship. So he just waited and gave them
time to take care of these issues themselves before he came. Because
every believer hates conflict and strife and Things like that,
you know, that come up. And we love peace and unity.
And Paul's no different. He wanted a peaceful visit with
unity and fellowship. And that's good instruction for
us. You know, don't write off a brother
too quickly now. If there's a problem, go to them.
Talk to them about it. You know, if it's not corrected,
well, don't write them off. Go to them again. If it's not
corrected, go to them a third time. Don't write them off too
quickly. Just be a little patient with
them. Now go to them carefully. Don't go to them just all full
of yourself, you know, like you've got all the answers. Go to them
carefully and prayerfully, but keep going to them and talk to
them about these things and try to get this matter resolved and
give them space to get this matter corrected. Because I'm telling
you, none of us are perfect. We're far from it. So just give
them a little space, you know, maybe, maybe be patient with
them. Maybe it'll work out. The Lord's
patient with us, isn't he? Oh, he how he forbears with us.
But now there's a warning here. As much as the Lord forbears,
as patient as he is with sinners, one day that forbearance and
patience is going to come to an end. It's going to be the
day of reckoning, the day of judgment. And that's what Paul's
telling. Now, I've waited, but if I come again, that day of
patience and waiting is over. Then it'll be the day of reckoning.
So give you time to get your house in order here. Now, verse
three, he says, since you seek proof. of Christ speaking in
me, which to you, word is not weak, but is mighty in you."
Now, this is a shame. False prophets have been able
to come in, make the people in the church question, not just
Paul's apostleship. You know, they say, he wasn't
one of the original twelve. He's not a genuine apostle. Not
only did they question that, now they're questioning, well,
maybe Paul's not speaking for God at all. Maybe he's not preaching
the gospel at all. Now, I'm confident of this. Paul's
message did not match the message of these false prophets. Those
two messages did not jive. They didn't meet together. I
promise you the law or works in some form or another was mixed
in with the message of those false prophets. And from what
we read was going on, these false prophets are saying, see, Paul's
not preaching the gospel because his message doesn't match my
message. Well, wait a minute. That's just assuming you're the
one preaching the gospel. How is it that we determine if
a man's preaching the gospel? Is it by comparing him to what
another man says? Absolutely not. It's by comparing
what he says to God's word. I told someone this week that,
you know, they said, I don't understand the Bible. They don't
live around here. I told them to come here. They're
looking for a place to go to church. And I told him, you get a Bible,
you buy a Bible, and you go sit and listen, and you see if what
that man says matches this word. And even if you don't understand
everything here, you'll get a pretty good idea if what he's saying
matches God's word. That's how we tell if somebody's
preaching the gospel, if what he's saying matches with God's
word. And those Corinthian believers
should never have fallen for that line of reasoning. They
heard the apostle Paul preach for almost two years. The gospel
that Paul preached came to them in power. The gospel that Paul
preached was the power of God and the salvation for them. And
people who have been given God-given faith in Christ, they're living
proof that a man's preaching the gospel. Isn't that what Paul
said a few chapters ago? He says, I don't need a letter
of recommendation. You're my living epistle. You're my living
letter of recommendation for my ministry. You're the proof
that I'm preaching the gospel because you have genuine faith
in Christ. God gave you, the Lord saved
you through the gospel that I preached. So they never should have fallen
for this. This gospel that Paul preached came to them in power.
So he goes on in verse four, he says, for though he was crucified
through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also
are weak in him. But we shall live with him by
the power of God towards you. Now one thing we know, the Lord
Jesus Christ was not weak. He is the mighty conqueror. Only Christ has the power to
forgive sins. He told people your sins are
forgiven. Only Christ can do that. Because there's power in
his blood to cleanse us from all of our filthiness and wretchedness. There's power in his imputed
righteousness. to make us accepted with the
Father. There's power in the call of the Spirit. The call
of God's Spirit is invincible. It's so powerful you cannot resist
it. My sheep shall hear my voice. They shall come to me. They shall
follow me. There shall be one fold and one
shepherd because there's power in the call of the Spirit. Christ
has the power to keep His people from falling. and to present
us faultless before the throne of God. He has all power in heaven,
earth, and hell. And if anything exists anywhere
that has more power than Christ, we're in trouble. We're an absolute
mess. But there's not. He has all power. Yet, our Lord did appear for
a time in weakness, didn't He? He appeared in the likeness of
sinful flesh. He came and was subject to the
weaknesses of this flesh, except for sin. He grew tired. He grew hungry. He was thirsty.
He felt pain. He felt sorrow. He felt emotion.
And men thought he suffered and died in weakness. They thought
he was dying because he couldn't prevent it. Far from true. Now, he did die in his human
flesh, but he didn't die in weakness. He died in power. That mob that
came and took him, they had no power over him. All he had to
do was step out and say his name. I am. And they all fell over
backwards. He had to help them up. Pilate
thought he was in control of the situation. He found out he
wasn't in control at all. He tried to stop it and he couldn't
do it. Christ was in control. And that whole crucifixion wasn't
stopped, not because it was Pilate's will, because it was Christ's
will. He went to die willingly. Even when our Lord was suffering,
at the height of His physical suffering, He provided for His
mother. He said, woman, behold your son.
He told John, behold your mother. Provided for her. John took her
into his home that very hour. Provided for her. At the height
of His suffering, at the height of what men thought was His weakest
moment, He saved that thief on the cross who earlier had been
railing on Him, blaspheming Him. Nailed to that cross in agony,
he gave that man life. He gave him a new nature that
made him say, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.
Changed him completely. He died in power, accomplishing
his will, putting away the sins of his people. When he died,
that wasn't a show of weakness. That was a show of power. He
was leading captivity captive. He was spoiling principalities
in power. Yet he died. That body died,
lay in a tomb for three days. But he was raised again in power.
Look at Romans chapter one. In power. Romans one, verse three. This gospel is concerning God's
son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, which is made of the seed of
David, according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of
God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection
from the dead. He was raised from the dead in
power. And this gospel of Christ is
powerful. The message we preach is powerful
because the message is Christ. Look over at verse 16 there in
chapter 1 of Romans. For I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation that to
everyone that believes. the Jew first and also to the
Greek. This gospel has the power. This is the only gospel that
has the power to give a dead sinner life. Give them a brand
new life, a new spirit, a new heart. Now, people in the same
vein thought that the Apostle Paul and the other apostles and
preachers, you know, they were weak and contemptible. Now, they
weren't powerful in the world, I grant you. You know, they bore
reproaches for the gospel's sake. Not many people listened to him.
They didn't have a great big following. They weren't influential
in the world. But I'm telling you the truth.
God's servant has power. Not in ourselves. Our power is
in the message. The message of Christ is our
power. This treasure, this power is
put in clay pots that the excellency of the power may be of God and
not of us. Weak men preach a mighty gospel. Weak men declare a mighty, victorious
Savior. And the power of the gospel is
not found in the vessel who brings it to you. The power of the gospel
is in itself. And Christ arose from the grave
by the power of God. And Paul says we live by that
same power. By the same power of God that
resurrected Christ from the grave. Now verse 5. Examine yourselves. whether you be in the faith.
Prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves,
how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? Now,
instead of time, this is what Paul's telling you, instead of
spending all your time examining others, examining me, examine
yourselves. Now, we're told in Scripture
to try the spirits, whether they're of God. We are to judge whether
a man's preaching the gospel or he's not, whether he's a true
servant of God or he's not. We're told to do that. But when
we do that, let's not get so caught up judging everybody else
that we forget to examine ourselves. What did Paul say in 1 Corinthians
when he was talking about the Lord's table? Let a man examine
himself. And so let him eat of that bread
and drink of that cup. Look over 2 Peter chapter 1.
Examine yourself. In 2 Peter 1 verse 10, Wherefore the rather, brethren,
give diligence to make your calling and election sure. For if you
do these things, you shall never fall. For so an entrant shall
be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Give diligence, brethren,
to examine yourselves and make your calling and election sure.
Now that sounds like a scary thing. To be told, for a sinner,
to be told, examine yourselves. Well, I can tell you right now,
if I examine myself, I'm not going to find anything I like.
When we examine ourselves, what are we looking for? We're not
looking for any good in us. Because I don't care how long
you look, you're never going to find any good in you. That's
not what we're looking for when we examine ourselves. When we
examine ourselves, we're not looking for our own shortcomings
and our own weaknesses and our own sin. That's abundant. You
don't have to examine yourself to find that. That's right on
the surface. What is it we're looking for when we're told to
examine ourselves? Well, first, I'm looking to see,
do I have a heart that's broken over sin? And not over sin in
general. My sin. Do I have a heart that's
broken over my sin? That'd be a good thing to find.
Because a broken and a contrite heart is of God. God made that
heart if it's broken. in mourning over my sin. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned. Not David, not you, not somebody
else. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. Do I have a heart
that's broken over sin that is what I am? Not just what I've
done, but what I am. A heart that's broken because
I'm guilty. Guilty of original sin in Adam
and guilty of a constant flow of sin ever since the moment
I was conceived, broken over sin. Second, when I examine myself,
do I see my own inability? When I examine myself, do I see
myself as nothing? Can I genuinely say that John
the Baptist, I'm nothing? He must increase and I must decrease. Even after the Lord saved me,
do I see myself as nothing? Come on, even after the Lord
saved me, not just before, not just when I was an unregenerate
man, even right now do I see my own inability. I'm nothing.
Can I say with the Apostle Paul, I know that in my flesh, that
is, that in me, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Do I see that
when I examine myself? Third, when I examine myself,
do I find that I hunger and thirst? after the righteousness of Christ.
You know, when I recognize my own inability and I see my heart
broken over sin, do I try to find something I can do better,
that I can be a better acting, you know, little boy? Or do I
find that I hunger and thirst after the righteousness of Christ,
just like the heart pants after the water brook? Will anything
satisfy me but the Lord Jesus Christ? That's what I'm looking
for when I examine myself. Will anything satisfy me but
His blood and His righteousness? Fourth, when I examine myself,
do I find that I have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? That's
what Paul says. Examine yourselves whether you
be in the faith. Do I have faith in Christ? Not
am I in the right doctrine. Not do I have all the right catechisms. Not do I have all the terminology
down. Do I have faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ, complete and utter dependence on Him? Fifth, when I examine
myself, do I find that I have come to the Lord Jesus Christ? And not just once, like Peter
said, to whom coming. Do I find that every day I come
to Him? I keep coming to Him. I've cast
all of my soul, all of my hope on Him. That's what I'm looking
for when I examine myself to see if I'm in the faith. Well,
now, what do we use to examine ourselves with? You know, is
it my feelings? Well, I feel pretty good today.
I think I got, you know. No. We examine ourselves by the
Word of God. What is it that God says about
us? When I say, do I have faith in Christ? Do I believe? Do I
trust? Do I love the Christ of this
book? sovereign, sufficient Savior
of sinners, that there's no salvation but what's found in Him. Is that
the faith that I have? And does that Christ, that sovereign,
sufficient Savior, that Christ, does He dwell in your heart?
Now, this is an undeniable fact. If Christ dwells in your heart,
you know it. You can't help but know it. If
God's made you a new creature, you know it. If you've been born
again, you have life, you know it. If the love of God is shed
abroad in your heart, you know it. Now, I may not know it because
I can't see your heart, but you know it. You just do. See, when
we examine ourselves, we're not looking for perfection, are we?
We're looking for Christ. We're looking for faith in Him.
And it's important. to examine ourselves. And this
is important instruction because this matter of salvation, this
matter of faith, is too important to be wrong. Paul says, you examine
yourself. You know if Jesus Christ is in
you, except you'd be reprobates. Well, that word reprobate means
a counterfeit, like a counterfeit silver coin. Boy, that might
look good. It's an awful close, you know,
replication of the original. But if you examine it, there's
no value to it. There's no substance to it. There's
no silver in it. It's a counterfeit. And there
are counterfeit faiths, faiths that might try to act like genuine
faith or look like genuine faith, but they're not. It's a counterfeit.
If you examine them, you'll find there's no substance there. And
I want to examine my faith to see if Christ is my all and in
all. And if he's not, if Christ is
not my all in all, then what I've professed as faith is just
that, a profession. It's a counterfeit. There's no
value there if Christ is not the subject, the object of my
faith. So here's why Paul says this
to the church at Corinth. He trusted that they would examine
themselves. And when they did, that they'd
find genuine faith in Christ. Now, where'd they get that faith?
Where'd that faith come from? Well, faith comes by hearing
and hearing by the Word of God, doesn't it? Where'd they first
hear the Gospel? From the Apostle Paul. He's the
one who first preached Christ to them. Well, I promise you
this, if they found genuine faith, they didn't get that faith from
a lie. God doesn't save His people with a lie. What'd James say? Of His own will begat He us with
what? The Word of Truth. God doesn't
save his people with lies, with the word of truth. Well, then
if they find genuine faith, they have to know Paul's no counterfeit. He's no reprobate. He's the one. Sin of God with the message of
God for the people of God. That's what he says in verse
six. But I trust that ye shall know that we're not reprobates.
Now I pray to God that you would do no evil. Not that we should
appear approved. but that ye should do that which
is honest, though we be as reprobates." Now, Paul hoped that they would
know that he was no counterfeit, that he was no hypocrite, because
they'd received genuine faith in Christ from his preaching.
But more importantly, what was most important to Paul is that
they would believe the Word of God, that they'd believe and
love the Lord Jesus Christ, that they would walk after the Spirit
of God. The most important thing to Paul was that they would have
genuine faith in Christ, not that they would acknowledge him
as God's servant. You see that? It'd be all right with him if
they thought that Paul's rejection of God as long as they had faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. The point to God's servant is
not that you think I'm so great or that you'll follow me or that
you'll support me. The point is that you know and
love and follow the Lord Jesus Christ. No false prophet will
say that. The thing that the false prophet
cares about the most is that you do follow me and support
me. That's not what was most important
to Paul. I don't really care what you think about me as long
as you know God and have faith in Christ. But no matter what
you think of me or what you think of any preacher This gospel is
no counterfeit. There is no other savior other
than the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no other righteousness
other than the righteousness of Christ. There's no other blood
other than the blood of Christ. There's no other hope than the
Lord Jesus Christ. So you go to him and you stay
there. You stay in him. Now, verse eight,
Paul says, for we can do nothing against the truth, but for the
truth. Now the gospel is the truth. Well, don't fight against it.
And don't try to understand everything there is to know about the gospel
before you decide whether or not you're going to believe it
or not. Just believe it. Just believe Christ. And I know
it's impossible to believe. So pray for faith to believe.
Pray that God will give you faith to believe. It's just no believer
would want to change the truth. We love the truth. Then walk
in it. Walk in this truth. It's the
truth that sets you free, isn't it? Then walk in it. Now, one
of the important truths that the gospel teaches us is that
God is sovereign. And it's God's will to save His
elect through the sacrifice of His Son. That will is going to
be accomplished. Those people are going to be
called to faith and repentance in Christ. And all the forces
of men and Satan and hell all put together cannot change or
defeat God's purpose. And that includes what was going
on in Corinth in Paul's day. And that includes everything
that's happening in our lives today. Whatever it is you see
happening in our world today, none of that is going to affect
God's purpose in the salvation of his people. Not a whit it's
not going to. And if we walk in obedience,
that's good. And that'll accomplish God's
will and God's purpose. And if we walk in disobedience,
that's going to accomplish God's will and God's purpose too. Now
that does not excuse our disobedience, does it? All that means is our
disobedience is not going to alter God's purpose. And John
preached it Wednesday night. Judas Iscariot walked in disobedience,
betrayed the Lord of glory. Didn't change God's purpose a
bit, did it? Not one bit, but it didn't excuse Judas. Woe be
unto him by whom the offense cometh. So verse 9, Paul says,
for we're glad when we are weak and ye are strong. And this also
we wish even your perfection. You know, more than anything,
Paul wanted people to know Christ, to have faith in Christ. He said,
brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that
they might be saved. He said, I could wish myself
accursed for my brethren, according to the flesh, those Jews. Now,
that's a burden for souls. If you could wish yourself accursed
from Christ. Well, if you're willing to be
accursed, then you're willing to be weak so that the power
of Christ would rest on you. And if the power of Christ rests
on you, then your preaching is going to be in the power of the
spirit. And that's the only way people
are going to be saved, is if we preach in the power of the
Spirit. I don't care how loud we yell and how much of a show
we make, nobody's going to be saved unless our preaching is
in the power of the Spirit. And what Paul prayed for these
Corinthians is what every one of us ought to be praying for
ourselves. That we grow in grace. That we
grow in faith and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. That we
become mature believers. And this word perfect that Paul
uses here has to do with a straightening, with a restoration, just like
you're setting a broken bone. Paul says, now you restore the
fellowship and love and unity of the brethren there. In verse
10, he says, therefore, I write these things being absent, lest
being present, I should use sharpness according to the power, which
the Lord has given to me to edification and not to destruction. You know,
Paul wrote this letter so the Corinthian church would correct
these errors they let develop among them. And he wanted those
things corrected before he got there. He didn't want to have
to use the rod to correct these things. Paul had a heart to help
people, to preach Christ to people and to build them up in Christ,
not to destroy them with the rod of power. Now, verse 11,
he says, finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect. Be of good comfort. Be of one mind. Live in peace
and the God of love and peace shall be with you. Greet one
another with a holy kiss. All the saints salute you. The
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion
of the Holy Ghost be with you all. Amen. Now in Paul's benediction,
he gives us some words to live by. He encourages believers to
be mature. Be restored. Grow up a little
bit. Grow past being like a child
that constantly needs to be corrected and rebuked. Grow up a little
bit and be of good comfort in trials. They're coming. So be
of good comfort in these trials. And don't just say this is a,
you know, a thing we say or some doctrinal thing we believe. Truly
believe in your heart that these trials have come from our Heavenly
Father for God's glory and for our good, for our learning. Then
he says, be united together in heart and mind. You encourage
one another, exhort one another, comfort one another, live peaceably
with each other. Be united and loving. Just greet
one another with genuine love and fellowship. Show that love
that you have for one another openly, just like God showed
his love for you openly. Then he shows us that believers,
this is a comfort that we can take with Believers have fellowship
with the whole Trinity of God. He says there in verse 14, the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. God the Son, may
His grace be with you. He's the fountain of all grace.
You have fellowship with Him. Go to Him for more grace. We
need daily grace, don't we? Well, here's where it's found.
And you have fellowship with Him if you're a believer with
God the Son. Then he says, and the love of God, love of God
the Father be with you. We're children of God. We have the eternal, unchangeable
love of God the Father. That will comfort and encourage
God's people. I don't care where you are. I
don't care what situation you find yourself in. That situation
is not going to change God's love for you. It's eternal. It's
unchangeable. He says, May the communion of
the Holy Ghost be with you all. We have communion with God the
Spirit, showing us Christ, giving us life and leading us into all
truth. We have communion, Father, Son
and Holy Spirit. That's more wonderful than the
human mind can begin to comprehend, isn't it? All right. Well, Lord
bless you and Lord willing, next week, I think we're going to
start a study in the book of Titus.