verses found in the book of 2
Corinthians chapter 2. beginning with verse 12, where
the Apostle Paul said, furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach
Christ's gospel, and a door was opened unto me of the Lord, he
said, I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus my
brother, but taking my leave of them, I went from thence unto
Macedonia. Now in opening up these thoughts
here, we see where the Apostle Paul was about the business. He was a chosen servant of God. He was called of God to preach
the gospel. And so he said, when I came to
Troas to preach Christ's gospel, there was a door that was opened
to me of the Lord. The Lord opened a door. In the
book of 1st Corinthians chapter 16 and verse 9 it speaks of a
great door that was effectually opened unto Paul, but he said
he had many adversaries. Now in speaking of this open
door, he was talking about the liberty that the Lord gave him
to preach the gospel. And what an amazing thing it
is, even when we have those around us that we know are adversaries
against the things of God and the truth of God, how wonderful
it is when the Lord gives us an open door. and enables us
to speak, gives us the liberty to bring the gospel message and
to proclaim the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now
in verse 14 he says, Now thanks be unto God, which always causes
us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of
his knowledge by us in every place. What a wonderful statement
for Paul to make. Paul is here speaking on the
behalf of himself and his brethren, the apostles, and this is also
true concerning all those who are called of God and are put
into the Lord's vineyard to preach the gospel. They are always called
to triumph in the Lord Jesus Christ. They have a victory.
Those that are preaching the gospel, the true gospel of the
Lord Jesus have a great victory. They triumph every time they
preach. Now picture, if you will, Paul
the aged, the man who had been beaten five times with forty
stripes save one, who had been dragged, you remember one occasion,
for dead, a man of many afflictions who had passed through seas of
persecution. Think of him saying at the close
of his ministry, Now thanks be unto God, which always causes
us to triumph in Jesus Christ. To triumph when shipwrecked,
to triumph when scourged, to triumph in the stocks, to triumph
under the stoves, to triumph amidst the hiss of the world.
to triumph when he was driven from the city and when he shook
the dust off of his feet, to triumph at all times through
Jesus Christ. How blessed for preachers to
be able to say this. But beloved, for Paul to say
this is one thing, and for us to say it is another. The Apostle
Paul you know, was a man who had all of these afflictions
and all of this trouble and all of this persecution for the gospel's
sake. And we've had very little suffering,
very little persecution, very little trial for preaching what
we believe and for preaching the plain gospel of redeeming
grace. But nevertheless, he being trampled
on and tried, and for him being distressed, yet he says, I'll
always triumph to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the first thing I
want to point out to you after having made that statement that
preachers, true preachers of the gospel are always made to
triumph in Christ, that they may manifest the savor or the
fragrance of His knowledge in every place. The Lord is pleased
as He opens doors for His servants and as He gives them the message
of pure grace He is pleased to make known unto the world, to
manifest that fragrance of the knowledge of Christ in every
place by these preachers. Now this is what happens when
a preacher comes and opens the book and begins to speak of the
Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. That he is, as it were, he opens
the alabaster box of ointment and the fragrance of Jesus Christ
fills the room and everybody can begin to smell the wonderful
fragrance of the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. You might remember that in the
book of Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 2 Paul said, and walk in
love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for
us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor. The Lord Jesus Christ offered
himself as a sacrifice to God in order that God might be able
to smell the sweet perfume and fragrance of His life of obedience,
His life of dedication to that cause and purpose for which He
came into this world, that He might bring in everlasting righteousness
and bring in redemption, that He might save His people from
their sin. And so the reason Why, when we
speak of God and the truth of God and preach the gospel, that
men have this savor or fragrance of His knowledge in every place
is because Christ, because of Christ, and because He was that
sweet-smelling savor unto God. And we rejoice that our Lord
Jesus Christ has offered a sacrifice that smells wonderful in the
nostrils of God, and that God has accepted it on our behalf. Are you not thankful this morning
that God has accepted the sacrifice that His Son has made on your
behalf? Are you not praising Him from
your heart? God has accepted Him in my place. He stood as my substitute. He
stood in my room. He stood for me when He was in
this world, living out a life of righteousness. And when He
was dying and suffering the penalty of sin, He was standing in my
place. And His offering was a sweet
smell in the nostrils of God. Now, He goes on to say in verse
15, For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ. in them that
are saved and in them that perish. Now the apostle here is making
a statement that may be rather difficult for you to understand. He's saying that we are unto
God a sweet saver of Christ. Talking about preachers when
they preach, apostles when they preach. Now beloved, a thing
is really what it is unto God. That's what it is. And he says
here, we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ. In other words,
when we're preaching, we also are, as it were, scattering about
the fragrance of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is in them that
are saved, and how glorious that is, that God has saved a people
from their sin by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the
cross. And so in them that are saved,
this is the sweet Savior of Christ, and in them that perish also.
In them that perish. Now, although the gospel is a
sweet savor in every place, yet it produces different effects
in different persons. And we're to understand this.
Notice the next verse. To the one, he says, we are the
savor of death unto death, and to the other, the savor of life
unto life. and who is sufficient for these
things. So we see that the one gospel
is a savor of life to some men that hear it and it's a savor
or it is a smell of death unto others that hear the same gospel. Now the same sun that hardens
the clay also can melt the wax. The same medicine that might
heal one can cause a reaction in another and maybe cause death. And so the gospel has these two
effects. But we're not to blame the gospel
for this. Because the gospel is the saver
of spiritual death unto eternal death in some, and it's not the
fault of the gospel. Beloved, it is the fact that
men and women reject the gospel. They will not believe the gospel.
They will not accept the gospel into their heart, into their
soul. Therefore, the gospel hardens
them and the gospel, you see, becomes a savor of death unto
them. Now all men are spiritually dead
outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. So then we have spiritual death. And when a man rejects the plain
gospel of redeeming grace, that individual has then added unto
that eternal death, eternal death, eternal suffering in the lake
of fire. But now it is only death unto
death that those who hate and despise the gospel, those who
scoff at it and will not receive its saving message. Now many
men are hardened in their sin by hearing the gospel. Many are
hardened in their sin. Now I want you to think on this
a little bit with me. The gospel will make hell hotter
to some men than it otherwise would have been. Now the greater
the mercy that is abused, the greater the condemnation when
it comes. Now hear that again, the greater
the mercy that is abused, the greater the condemnation. I'm
saying that hell is going to be hotter for some men because
they refuse to receive the gospel of God's grace. All men would
go to hell if it were not for the glorious gospel of Christ. The grace of God reclaims a multitude
that no man can number, who shall be saved in the Lord with an
everlasting salvation. But my friend, there are some
to whom the gospel is a smell of death unto eternal death. Now all throughout the word of
God, this principle is given. The Bible says, and to whomsoever
much is given shall much be required. If you hear the gospel, the wondrous
story of the grace of Christ, how that he laid down his life,
how that he suffered the agonies, the awful agonies of the cross. And the gospel, my friend, is
the most momentous fact in the history of man, and when a man
rejects that gospel, the story of the love of God in Christ
Jesus, and when he refuses to accept that amazing grace and
the story of God's redemptive mercy, when he refuses to do
that, then, my friend, he is abusing a great, a great and
glorious, the greatest and the most glorious truth ever spoken
to men. Now, Jesus said in another place,
if I had not come and spoken unto them, they would have had
no sin. And so when the gospel is proclaimed,
and we speak to men and women as they stand in their lust and
sin, and we tell them what will be the end of their sin, and
if they die in their sin, they'll perish, and sometimes they get
mad about it. They get plum mad about it. They
don't want to be told that they're going to die and go to hell because
of their sin. They don't want to be told that.
But my friend, it will harden some, but it will also save others. But this principle, Jesus said,
if I hadn't come and spoken, But He did come and He did speak,
and therefore they had sin. And the scripture says in Matthew
chapter 11, if you want to hold your finger here in 2 Corinthians
and turn over there with me, I'd like for you to do that.
I'd like to read just a few scriptures here, briefly. Beginning with
verse 20 of Matthew 11. Then began He, that is Christ,
to upgrade the cities wherein most of His mighty works were
done, because they repented not. Woe unto thee, Charazin! Woe
unto thee, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which
were done in you had been done in Tar and Sidon, they would
have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you,
it shall be more tolerable for Tar and Sidon at the day of judgment
than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art
exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell for if the
mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in
Sodom of all places it would have remained until this day.
He says there would have never been this great smoke went up
over Sodom when God said and rained fire out of heaven on
that city. It would have never happened
if they would have had the same mighty works done before them
that was done in the city of Capernaum. He said it would have
remained until this day, but I say unto you that it shall
be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment
than for thee. I'm telling you it compounds
your condemnation when you hear over and over again the message
of grace and love and mercy in the gospel and will not receive
it. And then the Bible says, he that
despised Moses' law died without mercy before two or three witnesses. And so you see, all through the
Word of God, it's compounded, it keeps on compounding. If a man hears the gospel and
does not believe it, then he shall perish. Now the gospel
comes to men and women like light from heaven. It comes down like
light. from heaven. And there's a poem
that reads like this. How they deserve the deepest
hell that slight the joys above. What chains of vengeance must
they feel who laugh at sovereign love? It will increase your condemnation. This is a terrible thought. The
gospel is the savor of death unto death. How many of you here
this morning is this so toward? You're hearing God's Word now.
Are you to be damned by it? Are you to be hardened by it?
Are you to be calloused by it? Do you become reckless because
of the Gospel that you hear? My friend, listen, in John chapter
1, verse 4 and 5, it reads like this, In Him was life, and the
life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness,
and the darkness comprehended it not. that darkness could not
understand how that this man from heaven was the light of
God, how that he was the life of God in himself. John 3 and
18 says, He that believeth on the Son is not condemned, but
he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not
believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this
is the condemnation that light is come into the world, and men
love darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh
to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that
doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be manifest,
that they are wrought in God." And so my friend, when we say
these words that Sometimes the gospel is a fragrance, a smell
of death unto death, how horrible it is, how horrible it is, but
it's a truth that we must face. But blessed be God, the gospel
has a second power. Besides being death unto death,
it is a savor of life unto life. Some of us can speak, and if
we were allowed to this morning, of the gospel as being a savor
of life to us. The day came, my friend, when
we were lost in sin that the gospel smelled of life. We smell life! in the story of
the cross, in the story of the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We can look back to when we were
dead in trespasses and in sins. Have you forgotten when you were
alienated from God, when you had not the life of God in you,
when you had no hope and you was without God in the world?
Have you forgot that? In vain at that time all Sinai's
thunderings, in vain the efforts of every preacher that tried
to wake us up, that every preacher that tried to alarm us or to
warn us, we slept on in the bondage of sin. Not even an angel could
have aroused us in that time, but there came also another hour
And that hour was when we savingly heard the voice of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the voice of mercy. And do you remember the words
of this song? Long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin
and nature's night. Thine eye diffused a quickening
ray. I woke the dungeon flame with
light. My chains fell off. My heart
was free. I rose and went forth and followed
Thee. Hallelujah. The gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ is the smell of life unto life. The smell of life unto life.
I would to God that all of you that are here this morning hearing
me, that you could smell it. That you could smell that fragrance
of life in the person, God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and
believe on Him. Oh, that hour of all hours was
the sweetest hour we ever experienced on the top side of God's green
earth. When the great transaction is
done and I'm my Lord's and he is mine. Hallelujah. What a day
what a day Well, there was a woman one time who'd been deaf for
50 years Spurgeon told about her and one day she was sitting
out on her front porch. She was deaf blind And all of
a sudden, of course, there was a bunch of horses and carriages
going up and down the cobblestone road. And directly she began
to say, well, I hear music. I hear music. And somebody standing
nearby said, well, there's no music. That's just the sound
of the horses and the wagons coming up and down the road.
Well, beloved, it was music to her because it's the first thing
that she ever heard. And hallelujah, when we begin,
when the Lord opens our ears, and we begin to hear the glorious
message of the love of God in the person of God's Son, when
we begin to hear about how He takes sin, and how He pardons
it, and how He forgives it, and how He takes sin and casts it
behind His back, As far as the East is from the West, never
to remember it against us anymore. When we begin to hear how he
blots out all of our past as with a thick cloud, and will
not, will not charge us anymore with iniquity. Oh, it's just
like that woman whose ears were suddenly opened and she thought
she was hearing music. When my ears were opened and
I began to hear the promises of the Word of God and the glorious
message of free grace. My, how wonderful. What peaceful
hours I then enjoyed. How sweet their memory still,
the poet said, when first it was a savior of life to our souls,
a savor of life, a smell of life to our soul. Now, beloved, if
ever, listen, I want you to get this, and I won't keep you long,
I promise. Note, if it ever has been a savor
of life to you, if you ever smell life in the gospel, And if you
ever experienced it, my friend, it will never, never, never be
death to you. It never will be. It will only
be the saver of life unto life. Life unto life. Now the Armenians
will tell you that the gospel can be a saver of life unto death. That's what they tell us. They
tell us that a man may receive spiritual life and yet he may
die eternally. That a man can be forgiven of
his sin, justified, and yet end up being punished for his sin. But beloved, this says he's a
saver of life unto life, not life unto death. There's no way
it will ever be life unto death. Now listen to me, this is to
say a man may be forgiven and yet be punished afterwards? No,
no, no. They say a man may be born of
God and yet die eternally, may be loved of God today and yet
God hate him tomorrow and God sends him to hell even after
he smelled the fragrance of life in the gospel of God's grace.
Well, let everybody believe that that wants to believe it. No,
no, no. This is a false doctrine. It's
not true. He is the saver of life unto
life. And those that are saved are
saved eternally. It's a savior of spirit life
here, and it's a savior of glory life hereafter. And we need to
believe that. We need to receive the comfort
of that. The Master said, I've given my sheep eternal life,
and they shall never, never perish. John 6 and 37 says, all that
the Father giveth me shall come to me. They that come to me,
they that come to me, they that come to me, I will not cast out. I'll never cast them out. I won't
do it. The Lord, we have the word of
God for that. He said, I will not cast you
out. It'll never be the savor. It'll never be the smell of life
and then death. It's the smell of life and life
in the hereafter. Glory to God. I believe a few
doctrines are more vital than that of the perseverance of the
saints. For if ever one child of God did perish, or if I knew
it were possible that one could, I would conclude at once that
I must. And I suppose each of you would
do the same. And then where is the joy? Where
is the happiness of the gospel? Where is the good news of the
gospel if it could ever be life unto death? Life unto death. That glory be to God, it's life
unto life! And so therefore, there's great
happiness in my soul. I'm eternally saved. If any sheep
of Christ could fall away, my fickle, feeble soul, alas, would
fall a thousand times a day. And I'll only stand because my
Master stands, and because of the promise of His Word. My friend,
before we were converted, we were on judgment ground, and
the wrath of God abided upon our lives, upon our poor souls. But after we were redeemed, we're
on different ground. We're on different ground. We're
on the grounds of imputed righteousness. We're on the grounds of being
accepted in the Beloved One. that one whose sacrifice was
a sweet-smelling savor in the nostrils of his father. So beloved,
once in Christ, in Christ forever, nothing from His love can sever
it. Nothing from His love can sever
it. Have you ever smelled life in Christ? Then glory to God. It is the savor not only of life
and the life in this world, but of life unto life everlasting,
life eternal, eternal in the glory land. The Lord will give
grace and glory. He gives grace, grace, It's glory
in the bud. It's glory in the seed, if you
please. And God is going to give grace
and glory. He'll give it. He'll give it
both. He gives you grace to save you, and then He gives you eternal
glory as a gift. As a gift. Now the last thing
I want to make mention of here this morning is this. The preacher
is not responsible for his success. He's not. The Word of God here
plainly says that we're more than... He says He always causes
us to triumph in Christ. And so we have a victory. Now,
God knows those in whom the gospel is death unto death, or it's
a savor of death unto death. But it has an effect. That's
what I'm trying to tell you. The gospel has an effect. And
you say, Preacher, I don't like that. Well, my friend, listen. You say, I'll not listen anymore.
I'll never listen. I'll not hear the gospel anymore.
But, my friend, you have heard it. You've already heard it. And therefore you can't get out
of it that easy by saying, I won't come back, I won't come back.
You've already heard the gospel, therefore you're responsible
to God to believe it and to trust and to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. If the gospel does not save you,
better that you had never been born. If the gospel is not the
saver of life unto life unto your poor soul. Now the preacher
then is not responsible. Now the preacher is responsible
to make sure that what he preaches is the gospel. Now we're not
here to talk about morality and preach morality to anyone. We can preach morality until
there's not another moral person left in this church building.
But my friend, our business is to preach the pure, unadulterated
message of the gospel of God's grace in Christ. Free grace in
the beloved one, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's our purpose and
that's what we're to do. And we're to see to it that our
message is the gospel. And not to be preaching something
else. Because something else, there's
no guarantee that there'll be any results if you preach something
else. Somebody said, I like prophecy.
Somebody said, well, I like these things concerning eschatology. I like for preachers, you know,
to get up and speculate about eternity and speculate about
end times and so on. Well, my friend, the gospel is
what we're to preach, and when you preach the gospel, you always
have a victory. Always have a victory. Say, I'm
going to rob the preacher of his victory. You're not going
to rob me of my victory. I'm always made to triumph. The
gospel will have its effect. Some will be hardened and die
eternally. Others will be saved with a glorious
salvation in the person of Jesus Christ. And so we're unto God
a sweet Savior of Christ, as well in them that perish as we
are those that are saved. We're ambassadors for Christ.
That's what we are. Now when an ambassador goes from
one nation to another, he goes, and if those two nations are
about to go to war with each other, he goes and he spells
out terms of peace between his government and this other government,
and that's what we're about. We're here to tell you terms
of peace. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God. All things are of God, who hath
reconciled us unto Himself by Jesus Christ. God laid on Jesus
Christ the sins of His people. He laid it on Him. He paid for
them. God accepted the sacrifice that
He made. And you, if you're going to be
reconciled to God, must believe on His Son. and trust his son
everlastingly for full salvation. We are the ambassadors for Christ.
Be ye reconciled to God. That's our message. But let's
say that the ambassador, when he goes back to his country,
the king would say, well, how did it go? And he says, it didn't
go very well. It didn't go very well. Not the
fault of the ambassador. He spelled out the terms of the
peace. And it's not my fault if you don't believe the gospel
if I preach the gospel to you. It's not my fault. That's between
you and God. If it hardens you, then my friend,
may God soon break your heart ere it's too late. Now, I want
you to know this, that as he goes on to say here, Paul knew
it was a solemn thing for a man to be in this position. where
he could preach the gospel that had one effect on one class of
people and another effect on another class of people. That's
a solemn thing. And he said, who is sufficient
for such a thing? Who is sufficient? Who is sufficient? Where is the man that is sufficient
for such a great work as this? To preach this gospel that smells
of death to some and life to others. Who is sufficient? No
man in it of himself. Paul trembled every time he got
up to preach. Trembled! He said, I was with you in fear
and much trembling. And any man sent of God, called
of God, endued with power from on high, any man will stand and
tremble if he has this solemn obligation upon him when he knows
that he's preaching to men and women who will live for all eternity
somewhere. And he knows that some are going
to hell and some will everlastingly be saved. Who is sufficient for
these things? You pray for me. You pray for
these brethren that stand up and attempt to preach the gospel
because this, my friend, is solemn, solemn work. Do you believe the
gospel? Do you believe it? Are you able
this morning to believe the gospel? Now, I want to read just a couple
of verses and I'm finished. Out of the Gospel of John, chapter
9. I just want to show you something
here. The Lord Jesus had healed this
blind man, and the Pharisees kicked him out of the temple,
and Jesus heard that they'd cast him out, and so when he found
him, he asked him this question. He said, Dost thou believe on
the Son of God? And the man answered and said,
Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus said
to him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with
thee. And he said, Lord, I believe. I believe. And he worshipped
him. He worshipped him. And so this
morning, the question goes out at the end of this sobering message,
Dost thou believe on the Son of God? That's the question the
Lord Jesus made to this man. Dost thou believe on the Son
of God? The difference between you being
hardened unto death, eternal death, and you being saved with
an everlasting salvation in the Lord is believing on the Lord
Jesus Christ and confessing Him. I believe, he said. I believe. We had a young lady here last
Sunday morning who spoke at the end of the meeting. I believe.
I believe. I'll tell you that's the difference
between salvation and damnation. Between hell and heaven, I believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Confess it if you do. Confess
it! Who is He, Lord, that I might believe on Him? You found out
who He is? He's the Son of the Living God.
He's the Savior that God sent into the world. My friend, believe
on Him and give testimony to His salvation this morning. Could
we have a hymn, Mike?