Now, you remember at the end
of Paul's first epistle to the Corinthian church, he told them
that he was planning on coming to spend some time with them.
And here it is a year later. Paul hadn't showed up. The Lord
had prevented Paul, for whatever reason, from coming to Corinth.
But Paul's teachers there in the town were lying on Paul,
using this instance to cast doubt on Paul, and worse yet, to cast
doubt on his message. So that they were doing that
so that they could change the attitude of people and they could
take the place of Paul in the hearts of the people. And, you
know, we should, I'm continually surprised at people and we shouldn't
be, should not be surprised at what people do or what people
say, because people do say anything. Even believers will do that,
won't they? It's just, you know, we're still in this flesh. We'll
do anything. But especially unsaved people,
false prophets. Don't be surprised. They'll do
and say anything. And in these verses, beginning
in verse 12 of 2 Corinthians 1, Paul deals with this matter
that's going on. He says, For our rejoicing is
this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly
sincerity, Not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we've
had our conversation in the world and more abundantly to you word.
Now, Paul says he can rejoice. You know, he's not rejoicing
before God. He's rejoicing before me that
he has a clear conscience that what they were accusing him of
was not true. He can rejoice before them. You
know, in that way, he had a clear conscience. And anyone who knew
Paul and watched the way he conducted himself among them would know
these things they're accusing him of, of being dishonest, is
not true. Well, how did Paul conduct himself?
Well, he says first, with simplicity, honesty. He wasn't double-minded. He didn't speak with fork and
tongue. He truly meant what he said. Simplicity. Secondly, he
conducted himself with sincerity. And the best way I can describe
what that word means is the opposite of hypocrisy. Sincerity. He was
sincere. He had pure motives that were
out there for everybody to see. They knew people would know his
motives were for them to know Christ, to hear the Gospel and
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And thirdly, he conducted himself
not in fleshly wisdom. He didn't conduct himself in
the way you conduct yourself out in the world to get things
done the way you have to do to get things done in the world,
in the flesh, he conducted himself in the grace of God. And Paul
said, that's how I conduct myself everywhere in the world, but
more towards you, more in the church. This is the way we conduct
ourselves as believers, with simplicity, sincerity, and in
the grace of God. So verse 13, he goes on, he says,
for we write none other things unto you than what you read or
acknowledge. And I trust you shall acknowledge
even to the end. Well, what Paul means here is
there's no double meaning in what we write or the things that
we say. You know, the best way, I firmly believe this, the best
way to communicate with people is tell them exactly what you
mean. You know, I work with people
and they don't say what they mean and they kind of leave it
to you to figure out, well, what is it that they really mean?
If you want somebody to know what you mean, tell them. Exactly
what you mean. And I appreciate that. Even if
I disagree with what somebody's saying, at least I understand
what they mean, where they're coming from. And Paul was a plain
spoken man. He was plain spoken in the scriptures. You know, you read his letters.
He's a plain spoken man. You can't really misunderstand
or confuse what Paul means. He's plain spoken. And God's
servants ought to be that way. Plain spoken. Because we want
people to understand exactly what it is we're saying. Exactly
what the Scriptures say. We want people to believe Christ. And the way to do that is to
be plain spoken. And Paul says, you've believed
that. And I hope that you'll continue to believe it to the
end. Now verse 14, As also ye have acknowledged us in part,
that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are ours in the day
of the Lord Jesus. Now, part of you, Paul says,
part of you have acknowledged us as sincere servants. Part
of you have acknowledged the gospel that we preach is the
gospel of God. But just a part. And that's the
way it will always be. It's just a part. In any large
group of people, it's just a part to have God given faith. It's
just a part that believe because God's reserved unto himself a
remnant. It's always just a part. That
disappoints us, I know, but that's so. But the part who believes
God, they rejoice. They rejoice, as Paul says, in
us. And our rejoicing is not in men. When he says they rejoice
in us, it means that they thank God for the men God sent to preach
the gospel to them. We thank God. We can rejoice
in them. And Paul speaks for every pastor,
every servant of God. And he says, we rejoice in you.
We thank God that he gave you faith. We thank God that you
have come to Christ and believe him and cling to him. We rejoice.
And isn't that just a blessing when a group of people can meet
together and they can rejoice, they can rejoice in their pastor
and the message that he preaches and we can be a blessing to him
so that he can rejoice in us. That's a blessing. That's just
a blessed privilege. And it's heartbreaking. When
over the course of time it's revealed, that's not the case.
It's just heartbreaking. It's heartbreaking to us. It's
so much more so heartbreaking to our pastor. There's so much
effort and time and prayer and just pouring of your heart into
study and preaching the gospel. You want the message, the message
of Christ to be a blessing to people. It's just, it's such
a burden. And that's why it's so heartbreaking
when you come to realize that that preaching has been in vain.
It's heartbreaking because if that preaching has been in vain,
there's no other hope. If this gospel doesn't save you,
you'll never be saved. If this gospel, the message of
Christ, does not bless you, you'll never be blessed. Because the
blessings in Christ, salvation is in Christ. And we'll see more
of that in a minute. If Christ, the message of Christ, doesn't
save you, nothing will. And that's what's heartbreaking.
But to those who believe, we rejoice. We rejoice in one another
and thank God for His mercy and grace to us. Now, verse 15, Paul
says, And in this confidence, I was minded to come unto you
before that you might have a second benefit and to pass by you into
Macedonia and to come again out of Macedonia unto you and of
you to be brought on my way towards Judea." Now, Paul says, I was
confident in your love for me and in your love for Christ.
And I was determined to come visit you so you'd have a second
benefit. Now, what's he mean there, a
second benefit? Well, if there's a second benefit, there had to
be a first benefit, wasn't there? Well, the first one, the first
benefit was on Paul's first visit. When he came and preached there,
God saved him. God revealed Himself to them
and He saved them. That's the first benefit. Now
Paul wants to come back so they'll have a second benefit. And the
second benefit is an establishment in that grace, an establishment
in the Word, a growth in grace and in knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And Paul planned to come visit
them for that reason. That was his desire, to see them
grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ. But for whatever reason,
the Lord had detained him and he hadn't come yet. And people
were casting aspersions on Paul, saying, he lied to you when he
planned to come. Now, verse 17, when I therefore was thus minded,
did I use likeness or the things that I purpose? Do I purpose
according to the flesh? That with me there should be
yea, yea and nay, nay. Now, Paul says, did I make these
plans lightly? Do I plan to come to you and
preach the unsearchable riches of the Lord Jesus Christ lightly? Would I ever treat that lightly?
Next week, I'm going to go to Pikeville and preach. Do I use
lightness in planning that? Of course not. And Paul says,
I didn't use likeness when I told you I planned to come visit.
If you remember, Paul said, I'm planning to come spend the winter
with you if the Lord permit. I didn't use likeness. And do
you think that I was just deceiving you? You believe these fellas?
That you'd think I was trying to deceive you for some gain
for my flesh? What would it profit me? to deceive
you. I wasn't trying to deceive you.
You think I just plan it only on planning on coming unless
I got a better offer? Well, you know, I'll be there
unless I get a better offer from somebody nicer. Of course not. You know, I wonder, I hear these
people heard that Paul is being dishonest with them. Did they
ever know him to be dishonest before? And here is the key to
what Paul is saying and why this is so important. Do you think
when I say yes, Did I mean no? Do you think that I don't say
what I mean? And for a preacher, this is very,
very important to be honest in all things so that people can
believe his message. He may be held to a higher standard,
but that's the deal. Important to be honest in all
things so that people can believe his message. And this is a very
good reason Paul's defending his honesty here. Because they're
saying, well, you know, Paul lied about planning to come to
Corinth, and he's lying about the gospel too. So he says in
verse 18, But as God is true, our word towards you is not yea
and nay. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ,
who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and
Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea. Now when
Paul says yea and nay, That's a phrase that they used to mean,
well, I say yes when I really mean no. Or I say yes, but it
might be no. I really can't tell for sure,
but I'm just going to say yes. Paul says that's not the way
we conducted ourselves. That's certainly not the way
we preach to you. Not yea and nay, but yea. Paul says not only was my preaching
not yea and nay, But none of God's servants that came and
preached this gospel to you, none of them preached to you
yea and nay. Sylvanus and Timothy and Paul,
they all preached the same message. And if somebody is preaching
to you yea and nay, then they're not God's servants because the
gospel is not yea and nay. It's not yes when I mean no.
There's no maybe with the gospel. The gospel is yea. The gospel is yes. Because what's
the gospel? It's the word of God. And when
God says something, he means it. What God says is truth. It's not just true. It is truth. God does not say yes when he
means no. God Almighty doesn't say yes
and it just might be no because he can't tell for sure. God knows
because he's ordained it to be so. The gospel is yes, and every
truth of the gospel is yay, is yes. It's truth. The gospel declares
God sovereignly chose a people to save before the foundation
of the world. Those people shall be saved. That's yay. There's
not a maybe there. It's yay. The father elected
them. The Son came in time to redeem
them with the shedding of His blood, and the Spirit comes to
every one of them and regenerates them, gives them life. And every
last one of them, every one of them, shall be called to faith
and repentance and ultimate glorification with Christ. That's yea. The Gospel declares that Christ
is the only Savior of sinners. He saves His people. That's yea. It's not. Well, he might be able
to save him if he can or if they'll let him or, you know, there might
be another way of salvation. And if that doesn't work, Christ
will be the fallback plan. No, Christ is the only way of
salvation. And since salvation is found
in the Lord Jesus Christ, the gospel commands come to him and
be saved. You come to him. You come to
him as a mercy beggar and he'll save you. He's not obligated
to. We're not saying He has to. But
I'm saying on the authority of God's Word, you come to Him.
You'll find salvation because all salvation is in Him. And
that's not a maybe. He shall save His people from
their sins. That's what the angel said. You
call His name Jesus. He shall save His people from
their sins. That's yea. That's yes and amen. Now, this yea and nay preaching
goes like this. Christ died for everyone. But
some people are still going to go to hell anyway. That's yea
and nay. Yea and nay is, well, all men
are savable, but they all won't be saved. Well, that's yea and
nay. Yea and nay is telling folks,
well, you're justified by faith. It's by grace. But you keep your
salvation by keeping certain laws. And it's not all the laws
in God's book. It's just the ones we're going
to go through here and pick out that seem important to us. You do those
things and you keep your salvation. That's yea and nay. Salvation
is either of grace or it's not. You know, yea and nay preaching
is telling someone, well, you can lose your salvation by falling
away from Christ if you just stay backslidden long enough.
All those doctrines are yea and nay. They're uncertain for one
reason. They're based on the will of
man, not on the will of God. These things are not based on
the power of God, on the grace of God, on the mercy of God,
on the love of God. They're based on the will of
man. And the gospel is certain. It's yea, because it depends
entirely on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what Paul tells us in
verse 20. For all the promises of God in
him are yea, And in him, amen unto the glory of God by us.
Now, people are sinful, aren't we? No question about it. And
people make mistakes. And that applies even to believers,
doesn't it? We are in this flesh. We make mistakes. We sin just
every second. And this applies to God's servants,
too. They make mistakes. And even though men make mistakes,
say things that they don't end up doing or that they can't do
for whatever reason, like what happened here to the Apostle
Paul. The promises of God that they preach will stand firm. One of the old writers said this,
I read this this week, bad men are false and good men are fickle. And good men, you know, are men
who have been saved by God's grace. Even good men are fickle
and you never know what they're going to do. Bad men are false,
good men are fickle. But God is true. God is true. And you can't judge the gospel
solely based on the men who preach it because they're fickle. They're
still sinners. You have to judge the gospel
based on the subject of the gospel. And if the gospel, the subject
of man's message is the Lord Jesus Christ, then it's true
because all the promises of God in him are yea. And amen, it's
true. Now, all the promises of God
are true, aren't they? Has God ever made a promise that
has been not true? All the promises of God are made
by God who cannot lie. They're true. You know, Psalm
136, 26 times the psalmist says, His mercy endureth forever. Well, in Christ, mercy and truth
are met together. His truth endureth forever too,
doesn't it? All his promises are yea. Just
look back over the course of history. God told Adam, Adam,
you eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil. You shall surely die. Adam ate of the fruit. Where
is he? He's dead. Just like God said. God told
Noah, Noah, you build an ark because I'm going to flood this
earth and I'm going to kill everything on this earth that's not in that
ark. It took a long time. One day God shut that door and
the rain started falling. His promises are true. God told
Abraham, Abraham, I'm going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham
interceded for him, didn't he? Lot was delivered. Sodom and
Gomorrah were destroyed. And one day God's going to judge
this world in righteousness. Now, I know it hadn't happened
yet. You think this was going to be the first promise of God
that didn't happen? Of course not. But in this verse specifically,
Paul's talking to God's people, to believers. God's made promises
to you who believe God, and those promises are sure, every one
of them, because they're in Christ. They're based on the merit of
Christ. They're based on the righteousness of Christ. They're
based on the sacrifice of Christ. They're based on God's son, the
Lord Jesus Christ, who's the same yesterday, today and forever. They're sure, they're yea and
amen because they're in him. God's promised in his word to
send a savior for sinners. What did he tell Adam right after
the fall in the garden? seed of woman shall come and
crush the serpent's head. Just exactly what he did. When
God told Noah, Noah, I'm going to flood the earth. But there's
a place of safety. There's a safe place of refuge. And it's in the ark, which is
a picture of Christ. The promise of life was found
in the ark, just like all the promises of God. The promise
of life is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. God told Abraham,
that old man that didn't have a son, didn't have a daughter,
didn't have any descendants, I'm going to make of thee a great
nation. Count the stars if you can. So shall thy seed be. Abraham, every nation of the
earth is going to be blessed in thee. In Isaac shall thy seed
be called. Look over at Galatians chapter
3. This was the promise of God to a man as good as dead. Now to Abraham and his seed were the
promises made. He saith not unto seeds as of
many, but as of one, and to thy seed which is Christ. In this
I say that the covenant, this promise of God that was confirmed
before of God in Christ, the law which is four hundred and
thirty years after, cannot disannul that it should make the promise
of none effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, It is no more
promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise. That promise was
yea and amen. God promised Abraham, Abraham,
your seed, your descendants are going to have it this land, the
land of Canaan. Generations later, Moses was
sitting on the backside of a mountain. God appeared to him in a bush
burning that wasn't consumed, and he said, Moses, Take your
shepherd's staff, go down to Egypt, appear before the most
powerful man on the face of this planet and tell him, let my people
go. And with that rod, that staff, you're going to lead my people
out. Why did God tell Moses to do that? He's keeping his promise
to Abraham that your descendants are going to inhabit this land.
And they did. David, the man after God's own
heart, found every promise of God. to be yay and amen. Look at 2 Samuel chapter 23.
And every child of God is going to find the exact same truth.
2 Samuel 23. Now these be the last
words of David. David, the son of Jesse, said,
The man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God
of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said, The Spirit of
the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. The God
of Israel said, The rock of Israel spake to me. He that ruleth over
men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And he should be
as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning
without clouds, as the tender grass, springing out of the earth
by clear shining after rain, and although my house be not
so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things and sure. For this, this promise of God,
this covenant of God, is all my salvation and all my desire,
although he make it not to grow." David says it may not look like
much now, but it's sure. It's ordered in all things and
it's sure because it's in Christ. And this is all my salvation.
Look over at Hebrews chapter 10. God's promised his people. Forgiveness of sins. Hebrews 10, verse 16, and this
is the covenant, this is the promise that I will make with
them after those days, saith the Lord, I'll put my laws into
their hearts. And in their minds will I write
them. And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." That's
a promise. It's sure. It's yea and amen. It's yea and amen in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Because our sins were imputed
to Him at Calvary. And He put them away with the
shedding of His blood. And our sins are gone. And these
are eternal promises. Promises that were made to us
before the world began. What did God tell Jacob? Jacob,
a man his own family could hardly love him. Jacob, I've loved thee
with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. This is an eternal promise. And
they're promises that are made to sinners, made to the heathen. Look over at Isaiah 65. These promises are made to heathen.
You know, it's one thing for me to make a promise to my daughter. She's a pretty good egg. I love
her. I mean, she's a dandy kid. It's another altogether to make
a promise to a rebel. I mean, a rebel. A rebel as bad as you and me.
That's who God made these promises to. Look in Isaiah 65. Verse 1, I am sought of them
that ask not for me. I'm found of them that sought
me not. I said, behold me, behold me
into a nation that was not called by my name. I'm sought of them
that didn't ask for me. I'm found of them that didn't
seek me. Then how do we find Him? He found
us. He comes to His people and He
finds us. I seek Him now, only because
He found me first. He's given us the promise of
eternal glory. Look over in John 14. God's going
to save his people. He's not going to leave them
here. He's promised us eternal glory. John 14, verse 3. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that
where I am, there ye may be also." Now that promise is yea and amen. And in the darkest of days, you
can hang on to that promise. I will come again and receive
you unto myself that where I am, there ye may be also. Where else would you want to
be? But with Him where He is. And we have that promise. We
have the promise of his return. And what did Peter say about
the promise of his return? He's not slack concerning his
promise. It's yay and amen. And when he
comes, we'll have the victory. Look over to Isaiah 25. We'll have the victory. Isaiah 25, verse 8. He will swallow up death in victory,
and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces, and
the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the
earth, for the Lord hath spoken it." See, it's true because He's
spoken it. The Lord has spoken it. And it should be said in
that day, lo, this is our God. We've waited on Him. We've waited
on Him. He promises He's coming, so we've
waited on Him. And He will save us. This is
the Lord. We've waited on Him. We will
be glad and rejoice in His salvation. And when He comes, we'll have
the victory. Now look over at John chapter
3. This salvation, this promise of God, this salvation is based
entirely on the Lord Jesus Christ. On His doing, on His dying, on
His righteousness, on His shed blood. John chapter 3, verse
14. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
And whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal
life." It's not that you might have. You have eternal life. Why? Because Christ was lifted
up as our sacrifice. See, it's based entirely on Him.
These promises are yea and amen because they're based on the
Lord Jesus Christ. And we've been given more promises
in Christ than we've got time to go over this morning or in
this lifetime. But let me talk about just a
couple more before I quit. The Lord's promised His people
His presence. As He ascended back to glory,
He told His disciples, Lo, I am with you always, even unto the
end. Paul told us in Hebrews, He'll
not leave. He'll never leave nor forsake
his people. We have his presence. We have
the promises of comfort in times of trial. Now we're promised
trial in this life. All of God's children are, but
we're promised in those times comfort. In Deuteronomy 33 verse
27, the eternal God is thy refuge and underneath are the everlasting
arms. It's those arms of our Savior
that comforts us, that protects us in times of trial. In Psalm
55, verse 22, David says, Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and
he shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous
to be moved. You're not going to be moved
away from him. In Psalm 91, verse 10, David says, Ye that love
the Lord hate evil. He preserveth the souls of his
saints. He delivereth them out of the
hand of the wicked. Isaiah 43, turn over there, Isaiah
43 verse 1. But now thus saith the Lord that
created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear
not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name,
and thou art mine. Now, when thou passest through
the waters, I will be with thee. And through the rivers, they
shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shall not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel,
thy Savior." That's the comfort we have from his presence. And these promises of God are
yea and amen. They're sure. And that's why
we can stand so completely, surely, confidently on the promises of
God. Standing on the promises of God.
Now, quickly, back in our text, verse 21. Now, He who establishes
us with you in Christ and hath anointed us is God, who hath
also sealed us and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our
hearts. Now, these promises of God, the
Father made them. He elected us in Christ. He put
us in Christ and the Father is the one who establishes us in
Christ. The Son came and purchased all the promises of God with
his blood. He ratified the covenant in his
blood. And the Spirit comes and confirms
the promises of God. The whole Godhead is tied up
in this matter. The Holy Spirit is the earnest
that's given of all the promises of God. Now, the earnest is what's
given to secure the covenant. It's given as part of the payment
of the covenant. And the earnest is never returned. If you've been given the earnest
of the Holy Spirit, you can never lose it. Because it's never returned. The earnest is never returned
and the Holy Spirit is the earnest. He is the royal seal that ratifies
the covenant. The Holy Spirit comes and gives
eternal life. Right now, if you're a believer,
you have eternal life at this very moment. But that's just
the earnest, isn't it? It's the earnest of everlasting
life that we'll have in glory. The Holy Spirit comes and illuminates
God's people. Well, that's just the earnest.
You have light. That's just the earnest of everlasting life that
we'll have one day. The Holy Spirit comes and comforts
God's people. He's the Comforter, that's his
name. Well, that's just the earnest, as comforting as that is to our
hearts now, that's just the earnest of everlasting comfort that we'll
have one day. When we just read about how we
have the victory, when every tear will be wiped away, there'll
be no more sorrow and no more pain and we shall be comforted. And we have the earnest of that
right now. And those things, all those promises
of God, Amen. All right. Lord bless you.