If you would open your Bibles
to 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians chapter 6. 2 Corinthians chapter 6. We're going to read the first 10 verses
of 2 Corinthians chapter 6. We then, as workers together
with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God
in vain. For he saith, I have heard thee
in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored
thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day
of salvation. giving no offense in anything
that the ministry be not blamed, but in all things approving ourselves
as the ministers of God in much patience, in afflictions, in
necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in
tumults, in labors, in watchings, in fastings, by pureness, by
knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost,
by love unfeigned, by the word of truth, by the power of God,
by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the
left, and listen to these next three verses, by honor and dishonor,
by evil report and good report, as deceivers and yet true, as
unknown and yet well-known, as dying and behold we live, as
chastened and not killed, as sorrowful yet all the way rejoicing,
as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing and yet possessing
all things." In these three verses, we have a list of contrasts,
of phrases that mean different things. And a few examples of
contrasts, simple ones that we would know, are tonight Dwayne
was the first one in the study back there and when he went in,
he was alone. Rick was the next person to go
in there and Dwayne was no longer alone. They were there together.
Alone and together. Michelle, her entire life, when
asked on paperwork for different things, has answered a question
of marital status single. It won't be long before she's
married to Tony and she will then write married. Tony is the
difference between her being single and married. And then
another one. In the Old Testament, Abraham's
wife Sarah was barren. She could not have a child. But
the Lord made a promise to her, and she then was no longer barren,
but she would be with child. The Lord was the difference between
her being barren and with child." Now it's important to know that
oftentimes one person can be the only difference between two
things that are very different from each other. Let me give
you a list that describes you and me using just words from
these three verses. You and I are dishonorable, evil,
deceivers, unknown or ignored, dying, sorrowful, poor, and having
nothing. This sounds like a harsh description
of us, but by nature we're much worse than that. Now let me give
you another list describing you and me using those same three
verses. These are words describing you
and me again. Honorable, good, true, well-known, alive, rejoicing,
rich, and possessing all things. Now how can I call you so many
things that seem to contradict one another? What's the difference
between these two lists? There is one clear difference
between the bad and the good, those full of sorrow and those
that are rejoicing, and the dead and the living. The one clear
difference is the Lord Jesus Christ. Every child of God knows
that this first list describes them well. But the elect of God
can rejoice because being found in the Lord is all the difference
in the world. And I'm going to spend a few
minutes on each of these contradictions, each of these phrases, to explain,
illustrate, or use Scripture to try to show that the difference
is Christ alone. The first is by honor and dishonor. I have done many things in my
life to dishonor different family members or friends, and I thought
when I was studying for a few moments about giving an example
of this, if I could come up with a good one, but as I thought
more and more about the people who would be hearing me, I never
struggled to find multiple situations where I had been dishonorable
to them. And I am too embarrassed to tell
on myself, and I also fear that you may not listen to another
word I say. Instead, I'll use a few examples of the Scriptures
of people that we know that did very dishonorable things. Aaron
this morning talked about Zacchaeus, an infamous man who had a poor
reputation. of spending his entire life taking
advantage and extorting those people that were in the same
position as he. Lot was a man who constantly
did horrible things. From wanting to stay in Sodom
though the Lord told him to leave, from trying to offer his daughters
to an angry mob to appease them, to then laying with those same
daughters. And what about Peter? who denied he even knew the Lord
three times after saying he would never do such a thing. How could
these men have honor? Only through Christ could they
have honor, or as the word is usually translated, glory. How
could these men, or maybe better yet, you or I, find honor and
glory? Look at Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2 verse 7, Thou madest him a little lower
than the angels. Thou crown'st him with glory
and honor, and did set him over the works of thy hands. Thou
hast put all things in subjection under his feet, for in that he
put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put
under him. But now we see, not yet all things put under Him,
but we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels
for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that He,
by the grace of God, should taste death for every man. For it became
Him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in
bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their
salvation perfect through sufferings." Turn a few pages over to Hebrews
13. How could these men, or Uriah,
find honor and glory? Hebrews 13 verse 20. Now the
God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus,
that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting
covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will,
working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight through
Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. The only way you or I can ever
find honor or glory is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now next we
have by evil report and good report. Look at Luke 18. A story we know so well, yet so often I find myself not
sure which of these two I act like more often. Luke 18 verse
10. Two men went up into the temple
to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a publican. The Pharisee
stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank Thee that I am not
as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as
this publican. I fast twice in the week. I give
tithes of all that I possess. He's giving a good report of
himself. Verse 13, "...and the publican, standing afar off,
would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote
upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner."
He's giving an evil report of himself. In verse 14, I tell
you, this man, the publican, went down to his house justified
rather than the other. For everyone that exalteth himself
shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. The man who went in and gave
a good report of himself left with an evil report from the
Lord. And the man who gave an evil report of himself left justified
with a good report. Turn to Philippians 3. Philippians 3 verse 7. But what things were gained to
me, those I counted lost for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I
count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss
of all things, and do count them but dung that I may win Christ. and be found in him, not having
mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which
is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of
God by faith, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection,
and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his
death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection
of the dead." Paul says here, I count all these things that
someone might give me a good report of as done. It's useless
to me. And if we want to be found in
the Lord, we have to realize that we have nothing but an evil
report. The only way our report will ever be good in any way
is through the Lord Jesus Christ. As deceivers and yet true, A
deceiver here is an imposter. Someone who is posing to be who
they are not. Turn to 2 John. 2 John. A deceiver or an imposter. This verse gives us a sobering
definition of what a deceiver is. 2 John 7. For many deceivers are entered
into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ has come in
the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Everybody,
including me, tries so hard to find the good in themselves.
And most often we do it by looking at others and trying to find
things in them and saying things such as, I'm not that bad. Or,
I wouldn't have done something like that if I were in their
situation. Turn over to 1 John 1. We try our hardest to convince
ourselves. 1 John 1, verse 8. If we say that we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Now, I'd
be willing to bet most of us in here have given up that argument
that we have no sin. If you continue to come to this
service here in this church, it's really hard to believe you
don't have any sin. But in Isaiah 64, 6 it says, But we are all
as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags. If I'm being honest, I think
of myself somewhere in between those two. I'm not naive enough
to think, or maybe it's just because I don't think I convince
anybody that I don't have sin. But I also would struggle to
admit in a moment of honesty that I really think that everything
of mine is a filthy rag, that I'm worthless and I've got nothing. And I'm just simply deceiving
myself by saying that. And if I'm that way to myself
and about me, how could I not be deceiving you completely?
The only way I can find the truth is from the Lord. Turn to 1 John
5. Verse 20, 1 John 5, 20. that the Son of God is come,
and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is
true, and we are in Him that is true. Even in His Son, Jesus
Christ, this is the true God and eternal life." We have to
be given an understanding of who we are, and the only way
we will have any truth, and the only way we will understand anything,
is we are in Him that is true. in his son Jesus Christ. The
next is as unknown and yet well-known. Let me give you a story. Tracy
and I, a few months back, were in Target. We were walking around. Finley was with us and we were
shopping and we were going down an aisle and I looked down and
saw a young lady that I've had in my office a few times. that
I have her insurance and she's been in my office probably six
or eight times over the last few years and I saw her and just
immediately my reaction for whatever reason was just I immediately
said Samantha hey and she didn't look up and I hesitated for a
second I thought she didn't hear me And she was there with a friend
and her two kids. And so I said, hey, Samantha.
And I was probably about 15 feet away from her. Very obviously,
I quickly realized she wasn't answering me. And she heard me
say it. So I thought to myself, well, maybe I've got the wrong
person. So I just walked away thinking
this is going to be more embarrassing for me if I keep doing this.
And so we, about 10 or 15 minutes later, we were in another part
of the store and she came around a corner and almost bumped into
me. And I thought, you know, we'll try it again. And I said,
how are you doing? And she just kept walking. And
the person next to her looked at me, both her kids looked at
me, and I could tell the one daughter who I'd met before recognized
me. Like, she didn't know who I was,
but she could see me. So, she walked, kept on going, and didn't
look at me. And it was a little bit of a, of a little bit of
an ego bust to me that she just was totally ignoring me. And
so, she either didn't truly know me, But more likely she was ignoring
me and didn't want to say hi to me or didn't want the person
she was with to know who I was. And it didn't matter that I knew
who she was. It didn't matter that I've talked
to her multiple times before. It didn't matter that she'd been
in my office that many times. It didn't matter that two weeks
ago she was there. It didn't matter that she had told me so
much about her, told me her name, her date of birth, her social
security number, where she lives, her email address, everything.
She told me all of it. All of this didn't matter because
she didn't know me or didn't want to know me. Turn to John
17. On Judgment Day, it will not
be enough to know His name. It won't be enough to know facts
about Him. It won't be enough that you can
quote Scripture. And it won't be enough to say
that you did something for Him. In verse 1-3, we first have to
be shown who He is. These words spake Jesus, and
lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is
come. Glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son
also may glorify Thee. As Thou hast given Him power
over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many
as Thou hast given Him. And this is life eternal, that
they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
Thou hast sent." Go down to verse 7. We also have to be made to
know Him. Now they have known that all
things whatsoever Thou hast given Me are of Thee. For I have given
unto them the words which Thou gavest Me, and they have received
them, and have known surely that I came out from Thee, and they
have believed that Thou didst send Me. I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which Thou hast given Me, for they are Thine, and all
Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine, and I am glorified in them. And if we go down to verse 22,
we most importantly, we must be well known of Him, well known
by Him. Look in verse 22. And the glory
which Thou gavest me, I have given them, that they may be
one, even as we are one, I in them and Thou in me, that they
may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that
thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. Father,
I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where
I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me,
for thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. O righteous
Father, the world hath not known thee, But I have known thee,
and these have known that thou hast sent me. For I have declared
unto them thy name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith
thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them." It doesn't
matter how well you think you know Him. It doesn't matter the
amount of knowledge you have. With the verses you've memorized,
the only way this relationship will start is if He has chosen
you first. Our knowledge is summed up in
1 Corinthians 13, 12, For now we see through a glass darkly,
But then face to face, now I know in part, but then shall I know
even as also I am known." Until we see Him face to face, we won't
know how well known a child of God is. But it is a glorious
thought to think of being known of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our next contrast is as dying,
and behold, we live. To look at this one, let's simply
look at a miracle performed by the Lord. Turn to Mark chapter
5. Mark 5. I'm first going to read two verses
from Luke's account. And behold, there came a man
named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue. And he fell
down at Jesus' feet, and besought him that he would come into his
house. For he had only one daughter, about twelve years of age, and
she lay a dying. But as he went, the people thronged
him. Now in Mark 5, Verse 22, And behold, there cometh one
of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name. And when he saw
him, he fell at his feet, and besought him greatly, saying,
My little daughter lieth at the point of death. Or in the other
account, says, She's dying. I pray thee, come and lay thy
hands on her, that she may be healed, and she shall live. Jairus knew He says, My daughter
is dying. And then He says, Lord, if you
come, she'll live. He knew the only difference between
her dying and her living was the Lord. Now let's look at the
rest of it. Verse 35. While He yet spake, there came
from the ruler of the synagogue's house certain which said, Thy
daughter is dead. Why troublest thou the Master
any further? He had a servant or a messenger
come from his house and say, Your daughter has died. No need
to trouble the master anymore. As soon as Jesus heard, the word
that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be
not afraid, only believe. And he suffered no man to follow
him, save Peter, and James, and John the brother of James. And
he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth
the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly. And when
he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and
weep? The damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn,
but when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and
the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and
entered in where the damsel was lying. All these people that
laughed, they didn't believe he was the difference between
dying or dead and alive. And he took the damsel by the
hand and said unto her, Talatha Kumai, which is being interpreted,
damsel, I say unto thee, arise. and straightway the damsel arose
and walked. For she was of the age of twelve
years, and they were astonished with a great astonishment. And
he charged them straightly that no man should know it, and commanded
that something should be given her to eat." The Lord showed
all these people that not just is He the difference between
dying and being alive, but He's the difference between being
dead and alive. This story talks about physical
life and death. but it's applicable to spiritual
life and death. There is a great divide between
heaven and hell, but the difference between the two is very simple.
Those who are found in the Lord Jesus Christ have eternal life. Those who are not found in Him
are sentenced to eternal damnation. As chastened and not killed, The children of God are told
throughout the Scripture that they will be chastened. And though
we know it's coming, we often worry what's going to happen
next. And just in this room alone, there have been people who have
had enough trials that many of us could combine ours, and it
wouldn't be as many. There are others who've had individual
trials that most of us would consider worse than death. And
then there are others like myself who haven't had to go through
as many trials. And then there are others that
we don't think about often that are going through trials that
no one else knows about. But every child of God is chastened. And we are all chastened for
one reason. Turn to 1 Corinthians 11. No child of God is immune from
being chastened. 1 Corinthians 11 verse 32, But when we are judged, we are
chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with
the world. Psalm 118 verse 18 says, "...the
Lord hath chastened me sore, but He hath not given me over
unto death." The only reason a child of God is chastened is
so that we should not be condemned with the world. Look at Hebrews
12. Verse 10, Hebrews 12.10, For
they verily for a few days chasten us after their own pleasure.
Those of the world will try to chasten after their own pleasure,
but He for profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening for the present
seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward, it yieldeth
the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised
thereby. Now, in verse 11 again, now no
chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless,
afterward, chastening yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness
unto them which are exercised thereby." Going down to verse
22. This is continuing the same thought.
But ye, those who were chastened, those he chastened, are come
unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general
assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven,
and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men
made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant,
and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than
that of Abel. The Lord Jesus Christ chasteneth
his children, but it's not unto death, it's unto eternal life." Our next contrast is as sorrowful,
yet always rejoicing. This might be the easiest of
all the contrasts for me, because I feel it so much. I constantly
feel like I'm in this back-and-forth sorrowful and rejoicing. When
I think of my sin, I'm very troubled. When I think of the Lord's holiness,
I rejoice. When I think about my frailty
and weakness, I'm depressed. But His power, His authority,
and strength gives me reason to celebrate. When I think about
deserving eternal damnation, I am full of sorrow. But then
the thought of unconditional election and salvation in the
Lord Jesus Christ gives me hope and makes me glory in Him. This
can also be applied to His death on the cross. Look at John 16.
John 16 verse 20. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice.
And ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into
joy. A woman, when she is in travail,
hath sorrow, because her hour is come. But as soon as she is
delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy
that a man is born into the world. And ye now therefore have sorrow,
but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and
your joy no man taketh from you." There are many that rejoiced
at the death of the Lord, but then they were sorrowful when
He was risen from the grave. And then there were others who
were sorrowful when He died, but rejoiced when He was risen.
In Luke 15, let me read a few verses. And He spake this parable
unto them, saying, What man of you having a hundred sheep, if
he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in
the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he
find it? Remember, this is sorrowful,
yet always rejoicing. And when he hath found it, that
one sheep, he laith it on his shoulders rejoicing. And when
he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors, saying
unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was
lost. I say unto you that likewise
joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than
over ninety and nine just persons who need no repentance. those that are found in the Lord
will be the only ones rejoicing in the end. As poor yet making many rich, The word poor here, it's important
to define this because when we think of poor, we think of someone
who doesn't have very much. Someone who has less than me
or below the average. And there's a total different
word used in the scripture for that poor. And that means, and
that definition would be, a person who is described who has to labor
or work for their food, for their bread to eat. This word poor
defines a different type of person. This term poor means one who
only obtains his living and his life is completely dependent
upon begging. Let's look at an example in Mark
10. Mark chapter 10. We all love this story. Verse 46, Mark 10, 46. Blind
Bartimaeus. And they came to Jericho, and
as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number
of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the
highway side begging, completely dependent on anyone to give him
something. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth,
he began to cry out and say, Jesus, Thou Son of David, have
mercy on me. And many charged him that he
should hold his peace, but he cried the more a great deal,
Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still,
and commanded him to be called. And they called the blind man,
saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise, he calleth thee. And he,
casting away his garment, rose and came to Jesus. And Jesus
answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto
thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive
my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy
way, thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received
his sight, and followed Jesus in the way." The word rich in
our text doesn't have anything to do with money. It's talking
about more important things, like being rich in love, or rich
in grace, or rich in faith. Barnabas knew he was a poor beggar. But he also realized, when he
was told who was coming by, who the only person who could truly
help him was coming by. The Lord Jesus Christ was the
only one who could make him no longer a beggar. I hope you know
that you are a blind beggar. And if you don't think you are,
I've got some bad news for you. Turn to Luke chapter 4. Luke 4.18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me, because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor. This poor here is the one we're
talking about, the helpless beggar. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight
to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach
the acceptable year of the Lord. Turn over a couple pages to Luke
7. Verse 22, Then Jesus answering said unto
them, Go your way, and tell John what things you have seen and
heard, how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are
cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, And to the poor,
the beggars, the gospel is preached. And blessed is he whosoever shall
not be offended in me." Christ came to preach to those who are
unable to help themselves. If you don't think you're a beggar
and you think you can get by on your own, He's not come for
you. And in Colossians 1 verse 27,
it says, To whom God would make known what is the riches of the
glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in
you, the hope of glory. If you want riches, you want
the riches of the glory of the mystery among the Gentiles. It's
Christ in you. He is the hope of glory. And then finally, as having nothing,
yet possessing all things." At this point in the message, hopefully,
I have made it abundantly clear that apart from Christ, we are
and have nothing. We're beggars. We're sinners.
Everything we have is filthy rags. And let's read one last
portion of Scripture that tells the beggar all things are found
in Christ. Look in 2 Peter. 2 Peter chapter 1. If you're a beggar and you're
found in Christ, starting with verse 1, we'll see so many things
that we have. Simon Peter, a servant and an
apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious
faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus
Christ, grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge
of God and of Jesus our Lord, according as His divine power
hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness,
through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory
and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious
promises, that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature,
having escaped the corruption that is in the world through
lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith
virtue, and to virtue, knowledge, and to knowledge, temperance,
and to temperance, patience, and to patience, godliness, and
to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, charity.
For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that
ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of
our Lord Jesus Christ." And then read in verse 11, For so an entrance
shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting
kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. If on that day
a sinner is found in the Lord Jesus Christ, it's an entrance
shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting
kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. If we're found
in the Lord, we will possess all things that we need. Let's bow our heads and pray.