Would you turn back to 2 Corinthians
chapter 2? Tonight I'm going to be speaking
from the book of Habakkuk chapter 2, no chapter 3, I'm sorry, verse
2 on Habakkuk's prayer for the midst of years. I have entitled the message for
this morning, the preacher and his message,
the preacher and his message. Presumably, we're all here to
hear a preacher. And I don't want to put too much
emphasis on the preacher. But I do want you to see and
I want me to see if I am God's preacher. And if I have God's
message, and if you're hearing God's message, the preacher and
his message. Now, beginning in verse 14 of
Second Corinthians, chapter two, and all the way through the end
of chapter six, Paul is speaking of the ministry, the gospel ministry. In verse 14, he says, now thanks
be unto God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ. Now, the first application of
that, he's talking about gospel preaching. Yes, every believer
triumphs in Christ, but he's talking about gospel preaching.
He says in verse 15, for we are unto God, a sweet savior of Christ
in them that are saved and in them that perish. Look in chapter
three, verses five and six, he says, not that we're sufficient
of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency
is of God who had made us able ministers of the New Testament,
not of the letter, but of the spirit. For the letter kills,
but the spirit gives life. Look in chapter four, verse one.
Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, Able ministers of the
New Testament, as we've received mercy, we faint not, we don't
lose heart, but we've renounced the hidden things of dishonesty,
not walking in craftiness, nor handling the Word of God deceitfully,
but by manifestation of the truth, committing ourselves to every
man's conscience in the sight of God. Look in chapter 5, verse
18. And all things are of God. who
hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given
to us the ministry of reconciliation. To wit, here's what it is, that
God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing
their trespasses unto them, and hath committed to us the word
of reconciliation. We're ambassadors for Christ,
he says in the next verse. As though God did beseech you
by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.
Look in chapter 6, verse 1, we then as workers together with
him, beseech you also that you receive not the grace of God
in vain, for he said, I've heard thee in 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. Give him no offense in anything
that the ministry be not blamed. So we see that his subject during
this time is the gospel ministry. Now, the preacher and his message. Turn back to our text. Verse 15. For we are unto God a sweet savor
of Christ. In them that are saved and in
them that perish. We are a sweet saver to him who
sent us with his message. Regardless of the results, whether
it's in them that are being saved or in them that are perishing,
we are a sweet saver to God. Now, the preacher is a man sent
of God with a message from God. That's what a preacher is. How
should they preach except they be sent? There was a man sent
of God whose name was John. A preacher is a man sent from
God with a message from God. Now, the preacher's responsibility
is to tell the truth. That's it. He has no ability
to convert people. He has no ability to make the
truth known. His only responsibility is to
tell the truth. He has no control over the results
of his message. And his purpose is to make manifest
the sweet savor of the knowledge of God. Look in verse 14 once
again. Now, thanks be unto God, which
always causes us to triumph in Christ and maketh manifest the
savor, the sweet smell of His knowledge by us in every place.
God makes Himself known through the preaching of the Word. Wouldn't
it be something if this morning The Lord makes Himself known
to somebody through what's going on right now. Wouldn't that be
a blessing? Pray that, believe me, even now, pray the Lord will
make Himself known to you, to others. Ask the Lord to make
Himself known. The only way we'll know Him is
if He makes Himself known. We can't know Him unless He makes
Himself known. And when He makes Himself known,
we know Him. There's nothing more glorious
than knowing the living God. Him knowing me, and me knowing
him. That's the preacher's purpose
to make manifest the savor, the sweet smell of his knowledge. Now, there are two types of hearers
who hear this message. Look at verse 15 once again. For we are unto God a sweet savor
of Christ in them that are saved and in them that perish. Now, here are the two types of
hearers. Them that are saved, and them that perish. Now, to the one who is perishing,
verse 16 says, to the one we are the saver of death, unto
death. Look back at verse 15 for just
a moment. For we are unto God the sweet
saver of Christ in them that are saved, and in them that perish.
Now, there's something I want to point out. In them that are
saved, Passive. That's passive. You're not active in this thing
of salvation. It's what God does for you. If you're saved, it
is all God's fault. Completely. It is all God's fault. You can't take the credit in
any way, in any degree. If you're saved, it's because
He saved you and He did it all. Don't you know that so? But this
is interesting where it speaks of those who are perishing. This
is not in the passage. What that tells me is that if
I'm damned, it's all my fault. I'm not damned because God refused
to save me. I perish because I sinned against
God. It's all my fault. Why do men perish? Because they
sinned against God. That's why. Well, it's because
God didn't elect them. No, that's not why men perish.
Men perish because of their sin against God. Because they received
not the love of the truth that they might be saved. Because
they neglect so great a salvation. Because they will not come to
Christ that they might have life. Because they refuse to repent
and give God the glory. Because they will not have this
man to reign over them. And to that one who's perishing,
the gospel message has the smell of death to it. What's the worst
smell there is? The smell of death. Oh, the stench
and the stink of death. That person who's perishing finds
the gospel message to smell bad, to be offensive. And that will
end up leading to their death, because if any man loved not
the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maranatha. Now, that
person finds the gospel offensive. It's the smell of death to them.
But there's another group that smells life in this message.
It's not a smell of death. It's not the stench of death,
but it's the smell of life. They find life in this message,
and they will have eternal life in believing those who are saved. Now, if you're saved, you've been
saved. Nothing can be added. It's already
done. Isn't that wonderful to know
that? It's already done. There's nothing for you to do.
It's already done. It's good when he said it is
finished. You were saved. Let me take it before this. When
he agreed to be your surety before time began, you were saved. That's wonderful. That means
there's nothing I need to do to add to this salvation or to
make it work. I will say, but it's also true. We're being saved. We're being
saved to them which are being saved. I'm being saved right
now. I'm looking to Christ right now, to them that are being saved,
the command of the Gospels to believe right now. I'm being
saved. And it's also true, I'm not saved
yet. Not yet. I'm still, as long as I have
this sinful flesh, as long as I have this evil thought, as
long as I got the flesh, I'm not plumb saved yet. I won't
be saved until I stand before God perfect. So how are all three
of those true? I don't know, but they are. They
are. I've been saved. I'm being saved,
and I'll yet be saved, because He made this promise, Thou shalt
call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. Now, to those who are being saved,
they see, they hear the gospel of how God saves. He saves on
purpose. He saves by the precious blood
of Christ. He saves by his own righteousness being given to
those who believe. They hear the gospel, and they
find this message, the savor of life unto life. Is this the
message of life to you? Now, let's go on reading. Verse
16, to the one, that one who's perishing, we are the savor of
death unto death, and to the other, the savor of life unto
life. And then he says, who's sufficient for these things? Who is sufficient for these things? No man by himself. Would that be an understatement?
No man is sufficient for these things unless God makes him sufficient
for these things. Look in chapter 3, verse 5. Paul
says, Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything. We can't even think. We can't
even think right. We're not sufficient of ourselves
to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God,
who has made us able ministers of the New Testament. Now, if
God's made me sufficient, if He's made me an able minister
of the New Testament, I'm sufficient for these things. That's what
Paul said. Paul's not saying nobody is sufficient
for these things, but the people that God has made sufficient,
they are sufficient. Now, back to verse 17. Who's sufficient for these things?
Well, I'll tell you who's not sufficient for these things,
he says in verse 17, for we are not as many which corrupt the
word of God. And notice, he says, we're not
as many. This is what most preachers do. Most. The great majority. I never will
forget reading one time where a man was talking about preachers.
And he said the profession that will have the greatest percentage
of its people in hell is preachers. I believe that. I believe that. We're not as many which corrupt. the Word of God. Now that word
corrupt is sell, hucksterize, use for personal gain. You corrupt the Word of God when
you use it for your advantage. That is corrupting the Word of
God. When you use the Word of God
to prove your point. When you use it for some kind
of personal gain. When you use it to try to convince
people that you're right. When you even tell the truth
when it can be to your advantage. That is corrupting, that's huckstering,
that's peddling the Word of God. If we come to the Word of God
To prove what we believe, we're wrong. We come to the Word of
God to find out what to believe. Now, that's our attitude toward
the Word of God. It's not to prove our point.
It's not to use it for some kind of personal gain. Let me give
you some examples of corrupting or hysterizing the Word of God.
John chapter 3 verse 16, what a precious, precious verse. For
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life. What a wonderful verse. Somebody
says, see, that proves that God loves everybody and Christ died
for everybody. Right there. That's called hucksterizing the
Word of God. That never says that God loves
all men without exception, nor does it say that Christ died
for all men without exception. I love what it says, but don't
take a verse of Scripture to prove your corrupt doctrine.
God loves the elect. Christ died for the elect. Whosoever will, let him take
the water of life freely. What a precious passage of Scripture.
Whosoever will. I'm so thankful for that. I love
the word whosoever. I'm one of them. Are you willing? Are you willing to take the water
of life freely? What a wonderful verse of Scripture. Whosoever
will let him take the water of life freely. Somebody says, hey,
that proves free will. It does not. That's hucksterizing
the word of God. Suffer the little children to
come to me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of
God. That proves infant baptism. What? That's the verse most people
use to teach the importance of infant baptism. I mean, the Lord
said, Suffer the little children to come to me. Whosoever believeth
and is baptized shall be saved. See, that proves you've got to
be baptized to be saved. Now, the devil, when he was tempting
Christ, What did he use? The scriptures. Is it not written? Is it not written? Is it not
written? He used the scriptures in seeking to tempt the Lord
Jesus Christ. And Paul says that one who's
a huckster, who uses the Bible, that's what he does. He uses
the Bible for his own personal gain. He uses God's word for
his own personal gain. That's corrupting the Word of
God. Turn with me for a moment to
2 Peter 3. 2 Peter 3. Verse 15. And account, 2 Peter
3.15, and account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation. Even as our beloved brother Paul,
I love the way Peter talks about Paul. He calls him our beloved
brother Paul. Also, according to the wisdom
given unto him, hath written unto you, as also in all his
epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some
things hard to be understood. which they that are unlearned
and unstable twist, as they do also the other scriptures. That's
what rest means. They twist, as they do also the
other scriptures. How? Unto their own destruction. Now, Paul says we're not as many
which corrupt, which hucksterize, which twist the Word of God.
We don't do that. No true creature will. Look in
2 Corinthians 4, verse 5. Paul says, for we preach not
ourselves. We don't preach to provide for
ourselves, and we don't preach to promote ourselves. We preach
not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord. That's who we preach,
Christ. God's anointed prophet, priest,
and king, Jesus, the Savior, the Lord, the absolute sovereign
of the universe. We preach Christ Jesus, the Lord,
and ourselves, your servants, for Jesus' sake. Now, back to
chapter 2. Paul gives what characterizes
a true gospel preacher. And if these things don't characterize
a man, he's not. a true gospel preacher. If this
doesn't characterize me, I'm not a true gospel preacher. He gives us four things. Let's
look at them together. Verse 17. For we are not as many which
corrupt, which hucksterize the word of God, but as of sincerity. But as of God. In the sight of God, speak we
in Christ as of sincerity. Don't you hate insincerity? When
you're dealing with someone and you know they're insincere, oh,
it's so, it's so nauseating. As of sincerity, the word actually
is purity. Pure. Desire the sincere milk
of the word. Desire the pure milk of the word. Singular. Sincere. Now, God's
preacher has sincerity of motive. God's glory. And not seeking
a hearing. God's glory. That's his motive. He has sincerity of purpose to
tell the truth. That's his agenda, to tell the
truth. Look over in 2 Corinthians chapter
4, verse 1. Therefore, seeing we have this
ministry, as we've received mercy, we thank not, we don't lose heart,
but we've renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking
in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but
by what? Manifestation of the truth. The
truth of who God is, the truth of who man is, the truth of who
Christ is, the truth of what he actually did. That's a man's
commendation. Sincerity in what we desire for
our ears. To know God. To be saved by His
grace. Sincerity or pureness of doctrine. The unleavened bread of sincerity
and truth. Speaking the truth in love. Now, here's the first thing that
characterizes somebody who's bringing the truth. Sincerity. sincerity. Next, he says in verse
17, but as of God. And that little word of has to
do with the origin. As of God, there is such a thing
as being of God, did not the Lord say he that is of God, heareth
God's words. You therefore hear them not because
you're not of God. Now, the true preacher is of
God. If I'm of God, that means he
sent me. That means he put me into the
ministry. That means God gave me his message
and gifted me to communicate it. There was a man sent of God
whose name was John. How should they preach except
they be what? Sent. It is impossible to preach
unless God sends you for that purpose. The true preacher's sufficiency
is this. He is of God. Salvation is of the Lord. Every
aspect of salvation is of the Lord. Remember that scripture,
please God, by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe that's of the Lord. The true preacher is of God. Now, thirdly, in our text, it
says first as of sincerity, but as of God, and next it says in
the sight of God. In the sight of God. Now, here's
the difference. between a God-called preacher
and a man-called preacher. There's really only one person
that the God-called preacher wants to please. Now, understand
me. I want you to be pleased with
what I'm saying. I really do. I want you to be
pleased with me. I'd be in line if I said I, you
know, was indifferent about something like that. I want you to believe
that I'm bringing God's message. But you know what? If you're
not pleased with me, but God is, that's okay. The only one I care about pleasing
is Him. If He's pleased and none of you
are, that's okay. That's okay. Let me say this
also. If he's not pleased, and every
one of you are pleased, that ain't good. There's only one
person we're concerned about pleasing. Him. Turn to Galatians chapter 1.
A few pages over, Galatians chapter 1. Paul says in verse six, I marvel
that you're so soon removed from him that called you into the
grace of Christ unto another gospel. Which is not another,
but there be some that trouble you and would pervert or change
the gospel of Christ, but the way or an angel from heaven preached
any other gospel unto you, then that which we preached unto you,
let him be Let him be damned is what that means. Let him be
sent to hell. Is Paul speaking in a harsh way when he says that?
No, he's speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Verse 9,
as we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any
other gospel unto you than that which you've received, let him
be accursed. Do I now persuade men or God? Or do I seek to please men? For
if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ. Now, there you go. There you
go. In the sight of God. Now, somebody may be thinking,
why is he putting such an emphasis on preaching and preachers right
now. Well, you know what a preacher
is? He's nothing. He's nothing. One of my favorite statements
I ever heard about preaching, Henry Mahan, he made this statement.
I love this. He said, some of you out there,
you're thinking I can do better than him. He said, I'm sure you
could. That's why I'm here and you're
there. I like that. But the point is, while a preacher
is nothing and preaching is simply a means, it's what God uses. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them to believe. We went to a funeral
in a church here in town recently, and I noticed that the pulpit
is in the corner of the church. It's in the corner. It's not
in the front, it's in the corner. And then they got some kind of something
else in the, you know, the thing where they take some kind of
religious something. But the point is, preaching over
here in the corner is not primary. It's not. It takes away from
the primacy of preaching. You know, there's something there's
something powerful about me not being able to figure this out.
But I got to hear a fool like me and I'm not going to be able
to figure it out unless God is pleased to make it known through
that fool preaching. There's something very powerful about
that. I mean, it's just it's hearing nothing for me to just
sit there and hear. Hear! Faith cometh by what? Hearing. And hearing by the Word
of God. So it's important for me to understand
the preacher and his message. But here's the best part of the
message. Here's the best part of the message. Look what Paul
says in verse 17. For we are not as many which
corrupt the Word of God, but as of sincerity But as of God,
in the sight of God, speak we in Christ. Not merely do we speak
about Christ, not merely do we speak of Christ, but we speak
in him. Notice the language. We speak
in the Lord Jesus Christ. John said, I was in the Spirit
on the Lord's Day. Look in 2 Corinthians 12. Verse 2, I knew a man in Christ above 14 years ago. Now whether
in the body I cannot tell, whether out of the body I cannot tell,
God knows. Such an one caught up to the third heaven. Now he's
talking about himself. When God taught him the gospel. How does Paul know the stuff
he knows? Because God taught him. But he said, I knew this
man in Christ, caught up into the third heaven. I knew such
a man, whether in the body or out of the body, I can't tell,
God knows, how that he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable
words, which is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such a one
will I glory, that one in Christ, but of myself I will not glory.
but in my infirmities, in my weakness, in my helplessness. Now, speaking in the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's where the authority and
the power of the message comes from. Speaking in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Speak we in Christ. Now, what
is the evidence that a man is speaking in Christ? Bring out
some evidence. A man that's speaking in Christ
speaks of Christ. That's the evidence. If I'm really
speaking in Christ, if this is a supernatural, powerful thing
that God uses, the true preaching of the gospel, if I'm speaking
in Christ, the evidence will be that I speak of Christ. the Lord Jesus Christ. And this
is what sets God's people's heart aflame in delight, His hearing
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if I speak of Christ, that
means I speak of the excellency and the glory of His person. He's the uncreated, eternal Son
of God He's man. He's the God-man. Oh, the glory
of His person. As God, He controls everything. He's the first cause behind everything.
He's the Lord. I speak of the glory of His person. I speak of the glory of His attributes. You speak of his sovereignty.
You speak of his justice. You speak of the love of his
heart, his willingness to receive sinners. He delights in saving
sinners. If you're a sinner, he delights
in saving you. If you're a sinner, he died for
you. I'm sure of it. Isn't that wonderful? I'm a sinner. That means he died
for me. We speak of the sureness of his
covenant. I love what David said on his
dying bed. Although my house be not so with
God, yet hath he made with me an everlasting covenant, one
that never had a beginning and will never have an end. Ordered
in all things and what? Sure. And this is covenant. It's all my salvation. Everything
that God requires of me is in the covenant. The covenant He
made with His Son. Salvation in Him. This is all
my salvation. It's all my desire. I don't desire
anything else. As God is my witness, the only
thing I desire is to be found in Christ. That's it. Nothing
else. We preach. and speak of the perfection
and sinlessness of His life. Jesus Christ never sinned. Now, somebody says, well, what
happened when He was made sin? I don't much know. I know He was made sin, and I
know He experienced Everything there is about sin with the exception
of the commission of it. He never sinned. And that perfect life, that law
keeping, that perfect faith, that righteousness is my personal
righteousness before God. We speak of the perfection of
his life. He never sinned. And we speak of the glorious
accomplishments of His death. When He bowed His mighty head
and said, It is finished, you know what? The salvation of all
of God's elect was accomplished. He went into that grave with
my sins, and he came out without my sins, and now I have no sin. That's the accomplishments of
his death. He actually wiped away, washed away sin. I have no sin. You know, I can't hear that enough.
His precious blood. When the Lord gives me grace
to believe that in Christ I have no sin, it just takes all the
stress off. There's nothing to worry about
because I have no sin. Sin perfect before God. His resurrection.
He was raised again for our justification. We speak of the glory of His
resurrection. When He was resurrected, all of God's people were justified. No sin. Without guilt. Perfectly righteous. Oh, we speak
of the glory of His resurrection. We speak of the glory of His
intercession. He said to Peter, Peter, I've
prayed for you. Anything else needed? If He prays
for you, if He mentions your name before the Father, what
else needs to be said? Oh, He's able to save them to
the uttermost. that come unto God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to maketh intercession for them." We speak of our completeness,
our perfection in Him. He hath made us accepted. He hath made us. Salvation is
what He makes. It's what He does. He hath made
us accepted. perfect in the Beloved. We speak of the sufficiency of
His love to motivate. You know, Paul said, The love
of Christ constraineth me. I'm so frustrated with my sin. It's ever before me. And I also
know this. His love constrains me. It keeps
me from doing what I most certainly would do. And it causes me to do and to not do. It constrains
me. It restrains me. It keeps me
from doing what I would do. It causes me to do what I wouldn't
do. The love of Christ constrains
me. That's all. That's the only restraint
I need. His love to me. Being kind, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake. That's the only reason He needed.
And that's the only reason you need to give yourself totally
to Him for His sake. You do what you do for Christ's
sake. His love. constrains us. And you know what? Here's the
kicker. Speaking of Christ, we don't
speak of anything else. Paul said, I determined not to
know anything among Save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Do you see such glory in Him
that you don't really want to hear anything else? Now, everything
that's connected with Him, you want to hear. But anything divorced
from Him, you don't have anything to do with it. Now, Heaven is seeing Him. Heaven is being like Him. That's heaven. Now, Paul says,
as of sincerity, as of God, in the sight of God, speak we in
Christ. There's the preacher. There's
his message. Now, if I've preached God's message,
you know what your responsibility is? To believe it. Right now. Don't wait. If the truth is told, what are
you supposed to do? You're supposed to believe the truth. You're
supposed to rely on the truth. God commands all men everywhere
to repent. Now, here's what God commands
you to do. God commands you to look only to the Lord Jesus Christ
right now as everything in your salvation. That's God's command
to you. Oh, for grace to obey the command. Let's pray.