and chapter four. Second Corinthians chapter four. Wonderful, wonderful chapter
in God's word, 18 verses. And we're not going to read it
all. We're not going to look at every verse, but we're going to just
look at some highlights in this chapter. And for the message this morning,
it would be, we would title the message blessings from another
world. Blessings from another world. Anything which has its origin
in this world must perish in this world. Did
you ever think about that? It is only that which has its
origin in eternity that can survive in eternity. Our hope for eternity, future,
rests in the wisdom and purpose of God Almighty from eternity
past. You see, this business of salvation
is not something we thought of or God thought of. after we got
in trouble and after we needed it. Oh no. Christ was the lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. This was on God's
agenda before he hung the stars. Calvary,
the crucifixion of our Lord, was no accident. It was no happenstance. It was decreed. It was determined. to pay for the sins of his people. Now, how blessed, how blessed
as God's children. And we find in this chapter,
we're given some things in this world that are not of this world
or from this world, but they're from heaven. I guess a lot of
people have the idea that if they could Everything anybody
would ever need is in this world if you could just find it and
afford it Lay your hands on it, but that's not the case God's
children this morning have some things not from this world Necessary
things and all these blessings we would begin in verse 1 with
the divine provision the divine provision and this surfaces in
verse 1 in the single word mercy. Therefore, seeing we have this
ministry, Paul says, as we have received mercy, we faint not. Anytime we come to that word
mercy, there is the acknowledgment of guilt. Mercy is for the guilty. Innocent
folks don't need mercy. They only need justice. But guilty
folks need mercy. And we have received mercy, the
divine provision of God's mercy. And with this statement, Paul
the Apostle is confessing that he's not perfect. He has not
been perfect. He is saying, I didn't get justice. I didn't get what I deserved,
I received mercy. He tells us other places in his
testimony, when I hated the name of Christ, and hated all who
preached Christ, and I was determined to put a stop to it, he said
right in the middle of that, I received mercy. When I wasn't looking for the
Lord, He came looking for me. I must testify the same this
morning. Apart from God's mercy, I would
not be here, I would not have a desire to be here, and neither
would you. I'd still be going the other
direction, running from God instead of looking for Him. Oh my! But bless His holy name, I am
where I am, you are where you are. I grew up in church. I grew up, to be honest, fighting
conviction. The Lord would deal with my heart,
and I'd do everything I could to get away from it. When the
preacher came to our house, I'd slip out the back door and go
to the woods because I was afraid the conversation would get serious,
and I didn't want to get serious. I avoided any time and situation. that I thought I might get hemmed
up and questioned about my soul. Now, I didn't want to go to hell.
Oh, no. But in my proud-hearted rebellion,
determined to run the other way, I was really determined to go
to hell. And if God had left me alone, that's what I would
have done or would yet do. And so it is with you. But God,
in mercy, in His time, in His way, changed my heart, changed
your heart. Brought me to cry, Lord, be merciful
to me, a sinner. How did it work? Well, look at
verse 6. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. God told us about Himself. God revealed
Himself. God manifested Himself in the
person of His dear Son, Jesus Christ. Now when I read that
verse, verse 6, I always think of Genesis chapter 1 and verse
2. And the earth was without form
and void. And darkness was upon the face
of the deep. Well, now that was me. That was
you. Without form and void. And there was darkness covered
the great deep of my soul and your soul. Our very inner being,
our very heart. Darkness, darkness, darkness. It would remain that way except
Genesis 1, 2, the next verse, Genesis 1, 3 said, and God said,
the earth never said anything. The
earth buried in the great deep in darkness never said, I believe
I'll get out of here. I believe I'll check and see
if there's any light anywhere. No, no, no. Buried in darkness. groomed. But God said, let there
be light. And there was light. That's what
happened to you. That's what happened to me. And
that's what Paul says here. God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness like yonder in the beginning, hath
shine in our hearts. How did he do it? In the person
of his Son. in His love to us and giving
His Son to take our place, to die in our stead, to pay for
our sin. Oh my, the Lord shined in our
hearts, showed us our guilty, sinful condition, hopeless without
God, and it brought great fear to our heart. I want to tell
you right now, anybody ever says to you, I've never been afraid
of going to hell. You mark it down, they're going.
Huh? The Holy Spirit of God comes
your way. It brings fear against the Holy God and His holy law. Brought me to cry, Lord, have
mercy. Pointed me to His Son, the light of His Son, Jesus Christ. Now this divine provision, this
mercy of God, is not of this world. It's from another world, from
heaven, the divine provision. A second thing, the divine power. What a blessing. Verse 7, For
we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency
of the power may be of God and not of us. I get kind of sick of these self-sustaining super-Christians. I do. No, it's
just a day-by-day thinking, surely if I make it
through today, I'll go down tomorrow. See, that's how God's people
live. because we know that the power
is not in us, that the sufficiency is of God and not of us. And he says here, earthen vessels. We have this treasure in earthen
vessels. Earthen vessels simply means
pottery, clay pitchers, clay pots. Some of us are crackpots,
they say, but it's clay pitchers, it's pottery. earthen vessels,
something breakable, something not too strong, something certainly
not permanent. It points to the weakness and
the failings of human flesh. You say, oh, I'm pretty bad,
but I'd never do like so-and-so. Hold on. You're breakable. There
may be a big rock headed your way right now. earthen vessels. It's in these earthen vessels,
clay pitchers, fleshly bodies, that God has deposited a treasure. We have this treasure in earthen
vessels. Now the treasure is Christ himself,
his gospel, his salvation, Something so imperishable in
these bodies so perishing. Something so eternal we possess
in a life here so temporal. There's no way we can lay claim
to the power of it being of ourselves. It's such a contrast. Such a
powerful gospel in such feeble persons as ourselves. But it's
so in order, Paul says, that the excellency of the power,
the perfection of it, be of God and not of us. The power by which we believe
in God and worship His Son and follow after Him, it's divine
power. I know there are times, I'm telling
you, our life is like a, our spiritual life is like a roller
coaster. I'm telling you, and I'll tell
you this pretty often, these folks are just on top of it all
the time. Stay away from me, I can get you down, I promise
you I can. One day you feel like, well,
you know, boy, God's been good to me. I'm really going to honor
Him. I want to do everything I can
to bring glory and honor to Him. I'm going to just praise Him
to everybody. There's times you feel like it.
But there's other times you feel like, well, I don't know. You know? But this is divine power that
keeps us. So very many have no desire. at all in their heart. Thank
God if you do. By nature, we don't have any
desire for God. But it is this divine power that
takes us beyond ourselves to sing praises, not to ourselves. You can find people singing praises
to themselves everywhere you go. But it is divine power that
puts in us a desire to sing praises not to ourselves, but to God,
to God. The name of Jesus Christ, the
gospel of Jesus Christ, this treasure, it's the most hated
name and message in all the world. Heard on the news this morning,
they're going to take this phrase out of the oath going to the Air Force.
Did any of y'all hear that? Huh? So help me God. You don't have to be in there.
You don't have to say that. In other words, they're saying
we don't want God's help. We're going to run things without
it. Well, not me. I want to say it
a thousand times a day. So help me God. Not as a carnal
phrase, idle phrase. But as a prayer, so help me God,
please, please. But it's a hated name. It's a
hated message. More effort has been made to
stop the preaching of the gospel, the name of Jesus Christ than
anything else in this world. But it's not stopped. It's not
stopped. Remember early in the book of
Acts, you ought to read the book of Acts often. They beat the
apostles. They imprisoned them. They threatened
them. They killed them. They said to
Peter and John there in those early chapters, do not preach
any more in this name. We don't mind you being religious.
We don't mind you joining our church. We don't mind you, you
know, we don't, we're for religion, but it's that name that gets
us. Don't preach any more in that name. We're still preaching in that
name. There's still power in that name. Divine power. Paul said Romans 1 16, for I
am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Why? Because for it
is the power of God. We're not the power, the gospel,
the message of Jesus Christ, the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believe that, to the Jew first and also to
the Greek. Peter said we're kept by this
power, kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation,
kept by him, motivated by him, strengthened by him. We're no
match this morning for our own flesh. We're no match for the
devil. We're no match for the world.
How do such earthen vessels as we survive? It's by the power
of God. The excellency of the power is
of God. A third blessing from another
world, divine preservation. Look in verse eight with me. Paul tells a little about his
experience. We are trouble on every side,
yet not distressed. We're perplexed, but not in despair.
Persecuted, but not forsaken. Cast down, but not destroyed.
Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus.
That the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. He said, trouble on every side.
That is, every way I turn, it's trouble. But we're not distressed. That word means not pressed for
room. We're not out of business. We're
not without hope, though there is trouble on every side. And
then he said persecuted. but not forsaken. God has not
turned his back. He did on his son. Remember,
he cried from the cross, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? Well, you can't say that. I can't
say that. He hadn't forsaken me. A lot
of people have. A lot of people have forsaken
you. But he will not forsake us. I
will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." Then he says, cast down,
but not destroyed. Down, but not out. People say, how are you doing?
Oh, I'm just all down and out. God's children are never out,
okay? Just sometimes down. We're preserved. Jude said preserved
in Jesus Christ. Kept. Kept. I heard a fellow say the other
day, we only live once. No, he's wrong. He's wrong. Then another blessing here, the
divine promise. Look in verse 14. Verse 14. knowing that he which raised
up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus and shall
present us with you. Reference to the resurrection
here. The divine promise of our being
raised up is on the basis that Christ our Lord was raised up.
As certain as he came out of the grave, so shall we. Paul
talked about this in the first epistle to these Corinthians,
the 15th chapter, you remember. He said, if Christ be not raised,
then there's no hope for us. We'll perish in our sins. But because he got up, we'll
get up. Did not he say, because I live,
you shall live also? Yes. Because death can't hold me,
it won't hold you. That's what he's saying. Here,
Paul says, knowing, knowing, not thinking, not hoping, but
knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus. shall raise
up us also by Jesus. Another wonderful blessing in
this chapter, dropping on down to verse 17, the divine perspective,
the divine perspective. And in this verse, Paul talks
about how he looks at sufferings, at trials, at troubles. It's
the divine perspective. Certainly this is a blessing
from another world. Not everybody has this, to view
things not as they appear presently, visibly, but as God says they
are. Look at this verse. For our light affliction, which
is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory. He talks about affliction. Well,
here's a man that certainly knew what affliction was. Turn with me a moment over to
the 11th chapter, a few pages over, the 11th chapter of this
same epistle, 2 Corinthians 11. And let's read his experience.
What does he mean by affliction? Did somebody make fun of him
or call him a bad name or something? Is that what he's talking about?
No. Let's see what he's talking about. Chapter 11, verse 23. Are they ministers of Christ?
I speak as a fool. I am more. In labors more abundant,
in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths
oft. Of the Jews five times received
I forty stripes, save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods,
once was I stoned. Thrice I suffered shipwreck,
A night and a day I have been in the deep. One time it was
24 hours before I was rescued. In journeyings often, in perils
of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen,
in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils
in the wilderness, in perils in the sea. in perils among false
brethren, in worryness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger
and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are
without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the
churches. It's a miracle this man is still
alive and talking. Stoned, beaten, left for dead,
imprisoned, shipwrecked, hungry, thirsty, cold. Now back here in chapter 4 and
verse 17, he calls this light affliction. for our light affliction. He suffered more than anybody
we know, except the Lord Jesus. And he calls it light affliction. Why? Because he's weighing the
suffering itself against the value of that suffering. It hurts. It's painful. My flesh says it's
unnecessary, but he says it worketh for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory. In other words, it's a good deal.
It's light in comparison to the outcome of it. Suffering is worth
more to us than we pay for it, is what he's saying. It's kind of like buying quarters
for a penny apiece and we cry over having to spend the penny
without counting the quarters. Suffering, affliction, it worketh
for us a far more exceeding, not temporal, but eternal weight
of glory. Paul is given this gift, this
blessing of being able to have a divine perspective concerning
affliction, concerning suffering. He said in Romans 8.18, that
for I reckon, that word reckon means I count, I assess, I consider. I reckon that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory which shall be revealed in us. No comparison, he says. Oh, this blessing. is to see
the value of sufferings and hardships as from God for our benefit. And when our flesh would say,
I don't want it. I don't want it. I'll just give up. I'll just
quit. I don't have to live like this. I don't have to put up
with this. This gift of a divine perspective. Knowing God is God, it says God
knows what He's doing. He's working all things according
to the counsel of His own will. He's working all things for our
good and His glory. In this divine perspective, verse
17, Paul says it's not only light affliction, but he says it's limited affliction.
He says, which is but for a moment. What? You say day in, day out, year
in, year out, I struggle, I suffer, trying to do right, trying to
treat people right, and I seem to get nowhere. Some preachers are saying, do
right and get rich. And you say, I'm doing right,
but I'm not getting rich. Some are saying, do right and
enjoy good health. And you say, I'm doing my best
to do right, and I live in pain most of the time. Will it ever
end? Is there no relief? Oh, yes. Paul says, it's but for a moment. Just a little while we're here
is all. Again he's comparing the few
years of affliction with the eternal glory hereafter. It's
a good deal. The divine perspective. Let me
give you one more and we'll go. The last verse, verse 18. What
a blessing this is. Divine perception. God's children
are given to see what this world cannot see. He says, while we
look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which
are not seen. For the things which are seen
are temporal, or temporary, but the things which are not seen
are eternal, never ending. seeing things which are not seen. Hebrews 11.27 said that Moses
endured, how? As seeing Him who is invisible. How do you see somebody who is
invisible? Only by faith. That's how we
see God. Hebrews 12.2, looking unto Jesus. the author and finisher of our
faith. A lot of people get in trouble
looking around instead of looking up. You'll sure get in trouble
looking down instead of looking up. You remember Simon Peter walked
on the water. Boy, don't be too rough on him.
He's the only one done it other than the Lord. But if you interviewed him and
said, When did you feel yourself going down? He would say, well it wasn't
when I had my eyes on my Lord. I wasn't going down then. It's when I took my eyes off of Him.
It's when I started looking at something else. Something somebody
else did. Something somebody else said.
When I got my eyes off Him. Can I say people looking at people
and people looking at things gives the devil a whole lot of
ammunition. We're to be looking at God and think about it. Nobody is
going to stand before the Lord and contend, well, I didn't do
as I should have because of him. I didn't do what I knew I should
have done because of her. No. That's not going to happen.
You and I, as God's children, have individual responsibility
to Him, to obey Him, to honor Him in our lives. Oh, for this perception in this
verse, for a spiritual 2020 vision to keep our eyes on the Lord. I read a story a few years ago.
Man was walking along one day, looking down, and he found the
$5 bill. That was a long, long time ago. It was an old book I was reading
out of. So I guess $5 was a lot more then than it is now. Found the $5 bill. He was so
thrilled, the story went on, that from then on, the rest of
his life, people watched him. He walked, looking down. Well, that's a big price to pay
not to see anything but the ground. It costs a lot more than it's
worth not to keep your eyes on the Lord. Remember Nehemiah the prophet,
it's been a long time since we preached or studied that book,
the blessed book of the Bible. Nehemiah was among the captives Babylon, the Persians had overthrown
Babylon, and Nehemiah was God's prophet, and he was the cupbearer
to the king of Persia. That is, he was the wine taster,
so nobody could poison the king. He was very trusted in the kingdom
of Persia. The king trusted him greatly.
And it was in Nehemiah's heart to return to Jerusalem and to
rebuild the walls of the city that Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed
earlier. And he obtained permission, and he led a delegation, went
to rebuild the walls. That was his purpose. It was
in his heart. It was his goal. It was in his
mind, day and night. And I can imagine on the way
he visualized the work and the progress and the finished product
And the one thing that he maybe had not counted on to hinder
the work, he knew there would be some people that would hinder,
but he mentioned something in Nehemiah 4.10, just in passing. He says, when we got there and
started to work, we found out, he said, there is much rubbish. A lot of trash, a lot of junk
in the way, a lot of stuff to be moved. In other words, the
job site is not clear and easily accessible to where we can just
get on with the building. No, there is much rubbish. And I say this morning, if God
gives you grace and heart to seek after Him and walk with
Him and follow Him, that was Nehemiah 14, if He gives you
that in spite of the world around you. It won't be easy, but we need
to understand there is much rubbish. Many people in many things are
opposed to you following God. We have to leave yesterday and
look beyond the rubbish. Look beyond the junk pile all
around us. I read another story about a
man years ago when traveling by train was a common thing,
and he had heard of the beauty of a certain state out Midwest
somewhere, and he determined he was going to take the money
and buy him a ticket and ride the train and go visit that state. And he rode the rail for hours
and hours and hours, two or three days. He was sleeping when the
train arrived, came to a stop. And the conductor announced,
we're in such and such state and town. And he named the state. And this fellow, he opened his
eyes. He was half asleep. And he glanced
out the window. And the train depot was right
beside a huge junkyard. And the first thing he saw was
junk cars and all kind of trash and debris everywhere. And he
thought to himself, this is not so beautiful after all. But then in just a moment, he
continued to wipe his eyes and was more awake was able to focus
and he looked beyond the junkyard and he saw a beautiful hillside,
green, cattle, a farmhouse in the distance, a little smoke
coming from the chimney. He thought that was most beautiful. That's just one of the hundreds
of beautiful sights that he saw while he was there. But it began,
it began by looking beyond the rubbish, looking beyond the junk
pile. We have to do that while we look
not at the things which are seen. There's a lot of ugly stuff in
this world, but if the things which are not seen, Well, the things which are seen
are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. I'll conclude with one other
little story. You children can get in on this. Where are you
at, Kenzie? Where are you at, Hunter? Where
are you at, Jesse? Some children went outside to
play and it had snowed. It was beautiful, white everywhere. They began to play around and
running around. They were fascinated with the
tracks in the snow. They could look back and see
exactly where they'd been. Fascinated with the tracks. And
one of them had the idea, there was a big field there that
they sometimes played in. One of them had the idea, let's
see who can walk straight. across that field, walked straight. So they started one at a time. And it was kind of funny and
they laughed. One would go off this way and then back this way
and curve back. And then when you got to the
end, they all laughed because it wasn't straight at all. They
all did that. Until finally, one child walked
perfectly straight, perfectly straight. all the way across
the field. And they were all amazed. How
did you do it? How did you do it? And the child
said, well, when I started back yonder, I looked at this tree
right here. Come on the side of the field.
And he said, I started walking and I never took my eyes off
this tree. And here I am. He walks straight. Looking unto Jesus. All life's journey is more important
than anything else in this journey. While we look not at the things
which are seen, they'll blind us. They'll deceive us. They'll
change our course. What a blessing is spiritual
perception, spiritual vision. But the things which are seen
are temporal. They're temporary. They won't
matter on out yonder in the long run. What will matter is the
eternal. The things which are not seen
are eternal. And Paul says, that's what we're
looking at. Thank God for these six blessings
from another world. Divine provision, the mercy of
God in shining his light into our hearts. Divine power to keep us, sustain us. Divine preservation
to keep us. Divine promise to assure us.
that this life is not all there is. The graveyard is not the
end. As our Lord got up, we'll get up. Divine perspective, seeing
affliction, troubles, trials as God's way of working for us
an eternal weight of glory. And then divine perception to
look beyond all the rubbish, to look beyond What these physical
eyes see and what these foolish minds can conceive and what these
foolish hearts can embrace and what foolish people say, but
to see Christ and pursue him only. Bless his Holy name. I thank God for these blessings
from another world. It's why I'm here. It's why you're
here. We bless his holy name for it.
Second Corinthians four, stand with me.