Alright, let's take our Bibles
now and turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 1. We'll begin our text in verse
12, so when you find your place, just put a marker there, hold
your place, and let me say a few things, kind of get us introduced
into our subject this morning. Back in 1 Corinthians 16, Paul
had promised to come and visit with these people and spend some
time with them. That was his heart's desire.
He was sincere in what he said. He was sincere in his promise.
He told them he was coming. But he subjects that promise.
If you'll read through 1 Corinthians 16, you'll see that he subjects
that promise with these words, if the Lord permit. Believers
ought to know that all of our plans and purposes are subject
to the will of God. We need to know that. We need
to be reminded of it on a daily basis. Over and over and over, both
our Lord and the apostles teach us that very thing. We're told, our Lord said, now
don't say you're going to go here And you're going to stay
two or three days, and we're going to buy this piece of property,
and then we're going to return on such and such a date, and
we're going to do that." He said, you say, if the Lord will, I'm
going to go here for a few days, and I'm going to buy this property.
We subject our plans and purposes. It's okay to make plans. I think
it's living life foolish if you don't make plans. You need to
make plans about what you're doing. In our economy, you have
to plan. Nobody has that kind of money
in their pocket to go around and do the things that are necessary
for college and all these things. We have to make long-term plans.
But the Bible teaches us in these plans to subject all of our plans
and purposes to the will of God, and especially when it comes
to the kingdom of God. Word of prayer, thy kingdom come.
What about that? Thy will be done. So in the coming
of His kingdom, in the calling out of His elect, in the establishing
of the kingdom of God in their heart, that's especially subject
to the will of God. This is God's redemptive will. But certain false apostles and
self-appointed preachers looked at this promise of Paul, and
then when Paul didn't come, and then quite a space in time went
by and Paul still hadn't come. And perhaps he sent word that
he wasn't coming. I don't know. The blanks aren't
filled in here. But these apostles, these false
apostles, these self-appointed preachers put Paul's promise
in a bad light. Satan's ministers recognized
an opportunity to destroy Paul's influence over this church as
God's Apostle. And they'd been at work for some
time before it ever fell on the Apostle's ears what was going
on in this church. And in answer to those accusations,
Paul now answers these wicked men. And that's what our lesson,
that's what this is all about this morning, verse 12. 2 Corinthians
1, verse 12. For our rejoicing is this, the
testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity, that is,
singleness of mind and heart, and godly sincerity, not with
fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation
in the world and more abundantly to you. Believers, and especially
preachers, are taught of God to live honest, sincere, and
upright lives before the Lord and before this world. Over and
over and over in the epistles, Paul tells the churches, tells
their pastors, tells their elders, be careful to maintain godliness. Be careful. Be careful. Live
your lives honestly. Live your lives sincerely. Don't live half-hearted lies.
He tells them in 2 Corinthians 4-2 that he had renounced. Now, he's working his way up
here out of the chapter that we're in now, and now he's going
to apply these things toward the ministry. And he tells them
here in 2 Corinthians 4, 2 that he had renounced the hidden things
of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the
Word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth,
commending ourselves, now listen to this, to every man's conscience
in the sight of God. Paul lives sincere and honest. He was an honest man before this
world. and before God. It's important how we live our
lives. Don't ever get the idea that
you live to yourself. No man liveth to himself, no
man dieth to himself. Whether we live or die, we are
the Lord's. We live everything you do in
your life as a professional believer cast a shadow upon the name of
Christ. So if you don't care about yourself,
you better give some care to that. It's important how we live
our lives. It's important because we no
longer live under ourselves, but under Him which loved us
and gave Himself for us. And it's not our name which we
bear about, but His. His name. Paul's reputation was
important to him because it's through him that the word of
this salvation was sent to these Gentile nations. Now, I say again,
it's important, especially for preachers, to live honest, sincere
lives before this world. Because this is the means that
God has chosen to call out His amendment out of this world. And I believe this is so for
every preacher who's sent of God. If he's God's preacher,
God's ambassador, It is through Him that the word of this salvation
is sent. And because this is so, everything
about Him is important, especially His reputation and His sincerity. Listen to this, verse 13. For
we write none other things unto you than what you read or acknowledge,
and I trust you shall acknowledge even to the end. Now Paul is
simply saying here There's no double meaning to what he's written. That's what these men were saying.
He writes one thing, but he goes and does something else. He says
one thing from the pulpit, but his life reflects something else.
He made you all these promises, but he don't care for you. He
don't care for you. And Paul said that's not so. He said, I don't write one thing
and do another. I don't preach and teach one
thing and live a life contrary. to what I preach." In short,
he's telling them that he's not a hypocrite. I'm not a hypocrite. Verse 14, "...as also you have
acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, even as
you also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus." Now, Paul
tells them that they did receive his gospel. He told, I think
it was the Galatian church, he told one time, he said, I bear
you witness, if I'd have asked you, you'd have plucked out your
eyes and given them to me. You believed that I was God's
ambassador. You believed that I had God's
message, and you received that message, and you rejoiced in
it. You rejoiced in it. And that's what Paul's telling
the Corinthians here. They did receive his gospel.
They did believe his testimony. And they embraced the Lord. And
they embraced Him as the Lord's ambassador. And that the same
was true on his part. He recognized them as God's elect. Just as he did the Thessalonians.
I know your election of God. He could have said the same thing
of the Corinthians. He recognized that. He recognized
the work of God in them. And he loved them. And he rejoiced
over them. Verse 15. And in this confidence
that is being persuaded that these men and women were called
of God, in this confidence, I minded to come unto you before. I was
minded to come when I first heard about this. That you might have
a second benefit. That you might be grounded. That
you might be rooted in the truth. That you might have additional
benefits. Spiritual blessings are imparted
to the church by the Spirit of God through the preaching of
the gospel. You know, my generation is totally ignorant of that.
Totally ignorant. They don't understand what the
preaching of the gospel is all about. They think we just get
up and try to stir up the people, try to get the people moving,
try to get some... That's why they get these evangelists
in every so often. They get up there, boy, and they
do a song and dance before the people get them pumped up, and
away they go. It lasts about a week. Then it's
gone. Then it's gone. But real spiritual
blessings are imparted to the church by the Spirit of God through
the preaching of the gospel. And this is the benefit of which
Paul is speaking here. Preachers are given to the church
for the edifying. That's what Paul said, these
ascension gifts. As the Lord ascended into glory
and took His place at the right hand of God, He gave gifts to
the church. He gave evangelists to them.
He gave apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastor-teachers.
And these preachers are given to the church, he said, for the
edification of the body of Christ. Till we all come in the unity
of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God. Paul said,
Because I had confidence that God used me to do a work in you,
I was minded to come to you again and bring you additional benefits. Verse 16, 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 toward Judea. That is our purpose
to come to you, to minister to you, then to leave you and to
go back into Macedonia and then come again and hopefully be sent
on my way where I'm headed down to Judea by your loving support
and by your gifts. And this is what preachers do.
What preachers do and what churches do who understand the significance
of the preaching of the gospel. Verse 17, when I therefore was
thus minded, did I use lightness? You think I was just flippant
when I said I was coming? When I talked about coming to
you and I'm talking about these benefits, you think I was lighthearted? You think I just didn't mean
what I was saying? I was just talking to fill the
air with words? Did I use lightness? Or the things
that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh? That
with me there should be yea, yea, and nay, nay? It's the work of Satan, the father
of all liars, to make men and women to believe that you can
only believe some of what God's preachers say. You can just believe some of
it. You can just believe some of it. And that's why men and
women think that there's nothing wrong with these preachers out
here telling lies. Well, they say a few good things.
Brother Mahan told me some 35 years ago, he said rat poison
is 99% good food. It's the 1% that kills the rat. If it wasn't good food, the rats
wouldn't eat it. They wouldn't eat it. A false
gospel has a lot of good things. Those men say a lot of good things.
I've listened to them on TV just to see what they're saying. And
they get up there and they talk about maintaining a godly life,
being honest, paying your bills, do this, do that. Good things. They say good things. The bad
part is when they tell you that you can, in doing these things,
become righteous before God. in doing these things and making
your decision that you put yourself into the kingdom of God. It's the little part. It's that
1% that kills the rats. This is what preachers do and
what churches do. And he said, I don't use likeness. And it's the work of Satan. in
these men and in those who believe them. It's just parts and pieces
that each man preach that you can believe. I'm going to tell
you something. God's preachers are not infallible. We're not infallible, and I don't
claim any kind of infallibility. But I tell you this, God's preachers
are honest. They're going to tell you the
truth. And there's only one way to tell you the truth, and that's
to tell you the truth. I can't hold back the truth because
I know it's going to hurt your feelings. Most of the time, when truth
comes, it hurts your feelings. Most of the time. And they need
to be hurt. They wouldn't be hurt at all if you had any understanding
of it. But it's these false conceptions
and the deceit of this world, and we think something is so
that's not so. And the truth comes, and it cuts
that out. It cuts that off, and you're
made to see what it is. Preachers are honest, and they
know the truth, and they preach the truth, and those who know
God acknowledge them. And this is what Paul's telling
them. He said, we're not iffy. That's what he's telling them
here. I'm not iffy. I don't write things that could
be yay-yay and things that are nay-nay. We don't preach one way and believe another. And we don't preach that iffy
way. And we don't live that way. We don't make promises that way.
Verse 18. But as God is true, our word
toward you was not yea and nay. Maybe it will, maybe it won't.
Maybe I'll come, maybe I won't. Maybe this is the gospel, maybe
it isn't. He said, that's not how I preach
to you. Verse 19, 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." Verse 20. For all the
promises of God in him are yea, and in him amen unto the glory
of God by us. Everything in Christ is yea. I said, yeah, in Him. Not in
you. In Him. In Him. There's nothing in Christ that
can fail. Nothing. There's nothing in Christ
that's subject to change. There's nothing in Christ that
can be taken away. Listen to this beautiful promise
our Lord makes in John chapter 6. This is so simple, and yet so
profound. Listen to this. All that the
Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me
I will in no wise cast out. It's all yay, isn't it? No nay
in that. Listen to this one, John 10,
verse 27. My sheep hear my voice. And I know them. And they follow
Me. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of My hand. My Father which gave them Me
is greater than all, and no man shall pluck them out of His hand.
I and My Father are one." Listen to this one, Matthew 1,
verse 21. This is talking about the young
maid Mary. And she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus, Joshua. For he shall save
his people from their sin. All the promises of God in him
are yea, and so be it. So be it. Paul said to the Galatian church
who were being made to doubt their salvation, made to think
that they needed to go back and begin to include parts and pieces
of the law, circumcision and different things, being led to
submit their salvation to the law and mix the free grace of
God with works. And Paul tells this church, he
said, now to Abraham and his seed, were the promises made. What promises? All the promises. All the promises. He saith not
unto seeds as of many, but as of one unto thy seed, which is
Christ. And this I say, that the covenant
that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law which
was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul that it
should make the promise of none effect. Why? Because all the
promises of God in him are yea and amen. That's why. We're sanctified, the Scripture
said, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. In him, Paul said, dwelleth all
the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and we're complete in him who
is the head of all principality and power. All the promises of
God, life and light and peace and reconciliation and blessing
and comfort and justification and sanctification and redemption,
all the promises of God in Christ Jesus are yea and amen. That's the way Paul preached.
He didn't have no iffy gospel. He pointed to Christ. And that's the way Silvainus
preached, and that's the way Timotheus preached, and that's
the way every God-called preacher preaches. He points men to Christ
because in Him, it's yea. It's yea. Oh, but preacher, you
don't know what kind of sinner I am. It don't matter what kind
of sinner you are. There's nothing in you to start
with. It's all in Him. And in Him,
it's yea. Not iffy. There's nothing iffy
in it. Christ has accomplished all things.
He satisfied God's justice. He exalted the law and made it
honorable. He manifest God's eternal love. He manifested God's mercy and
grace. And then He rose from the dead,
ascended up into glory, justified His church, and sat down at the
right hand of God, expecting till His enemies be made His
footstool. And this whole generation has
Jesus Christ with His hands crossed, wringing His hands, looking over
the balcony of glory, wondering if somebody's going to be lost.
He's seated. He's not pacing. He's not afraid. He's not nervous about it. He's
seated at the right hand of God, expecting till His enemies be
made His footstool. All the promises of God in Christ
are yea and amen. Believers don't preach an iffy
gospel. All for whom Christ died and
revived and reigns in glory for shall hear and believe and embrace
Him, and He shall raise Him up at the last day. That's what
He said. How much is He going to lose, Richard? Watch that
scripture. He's going to lose nothing. Isn't that what He said?
All that the Father hath given me I shall lose nothing. I'll
raise it up again at the last day. And we understand this.
And we see His glory. And we know whose providence
is being opened before us. Verse 21, Now He which establishes us with
you in Christ hath anointed us with God. That's who did the
work. God did it. I came to you and
I preached to you. He said, I did all these things.
But God is the one who did the establishing. God is the one
who works in the heart. Now watch this, verse 22, "...has
sealed us, and given us the earnestness of the Spirit in our hearts."
Do you believe that? Huh? Do you believe that? God has given you the earnest
of everlasting life. He's given it to you. He's given
you the earnest of His Spirit. If He hadn't given you the earnest
of His Spirit, you'd be dumber than a box of rocks when it comes
to the Word of God. Not just so. The man or woman who truly believes
this is sitting at the table ready to eat. He really did. I could see you light up when
I started talking about that singleness of heart in Christ.
Everything in Him is yea and amen. I tell you, those who understand
that, they sit at the table waiting for another meal. Don't you imagine
old Mephibosheth, I picture him sometimes in his soiled clothes
and they went and got him and he's nobody, he's not a threat. He was a relative of Saul and
he was to be put to death and all those things, but here he
is. He's not a threat. He's not anything. He's lame
on his feet. He can't do anything. He has
to be carried about everywhere he goes. And they bring him down
there to David, and he's thinking in his mind, this is it. This
is it. He's killed all the rest. He's
going to take me out of the way. And David said, my fibby chef,
I made a covenant with your daddy. I made a covenant with him. And
you're going to sit at my table until you die. And you're going
to eat at the king's table. Now, I'm telling you, people
who know this, they sit at the table. They sit at the table. That's where they want to be.
They don't want to be anywhere else. They want to be seated
at the table, ready to eat this gospel. This is the children's
bread. Children of God, have the earnest
of their inheritance the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of grace,
and the Spirit of Christ. Verse 23, Moreover, I call God
for a record upon my soul, that to spare you I came not as yet
to Corinth. Paul said, I didn't run right
over here when I first heard about it. If I had, I'd have
brought a rod. I'd have brought a rod. It would
have been with a rod of correction. He hoped rather by this letter
that a reformation in their thoughts and actions take place so that
when He did come, He could come in joy. Verse 24. Not for that we have dominion
over your faith, but are helpers of your joy, for by faith you
stand. Christ is the author and finisher
of our faith. He's the object of it, the basis
of it, and He's our confidence in it. No preacher can give faith
or withhold it. We're simply helpers, simply
instruments or means by which God uses to give and maintain
faith in them which believe.