2nd Corinthians, chapter 6. 2nd Corinthians, chapter 6. The title of the message is found
in the first verse. I'm calling this message, The
Workers Together With Him. Workers Together With Him. Paul
says, in verse 1, we then as workers together with him. Some
people believe that Paul is primarily addressing the elders and the
pastors and the missionaries in this sixth chapter. But while
I'm sure there's a special reference to pastors and elders and missionaries
and those who preach the gospel, I believe he's referring here,
along with them, to all believers. You see, the ministry of the
gospel of Christ is a work of every believer, not just pastors
and preachers and missionaries, but every believer is engaged
in the ministry of the gospel, every believer, whether preaching
or teaching or praying or witnessing or giving or helping or encouraging,
whatever, singing, playing the instruments, serving in other
capacities. We're all in the ministry. We're
laborers together with Christ. Over here in Philippians chapter
4, let me show you a couple of scriptures that will enforce
what I'm saying here. In Philippians chapter 4, verse
3, Paul calls attention to some
people that were his fellow helpers in Philippians 4 or 3. I entreat
thee also, true yoke fellow, help those women which labored
with me in the gospel. Now I know they weren't preachers,
these women weren't. I know they weren't missionaries. I know that they served and labored
with Paul in the gospel. Some way, didn't that's what
he said? fellow laborers with me in the gospel. So Paul included
them in his ministry with Clement also and other my fellow laborers
whose names are in the book of life. He had a lot of helpers
in this ministry. Turn to the book of Romans chapter
16. Let me show you. I can't pronounce
all these names. But he commends women and men
in the almost entire 16th chapter of Romans. He talks about all
these people in the churches that labored with him in the
gospel. He says in verse 1, I commend unto you Phoebe, our sister,
which is a servant of the church at Tinchina. that you receive
her and the Lord has become a saint, that you assist her in whatsoever
business she has need of you. She hath been a succor, a helper
of many, of myself also." This is the Apostle. Great Priscilla
and Aquila, my helpers in Christ, who have, listen, for my life
laid down their own necks. unto whom not only I give thanks,
but also all the churches of the Gentiles are thankful for
these women and these men who were not writers or preachers
or pastors or bishops or elders. Verse 5, likewise greet the church
that's in their house. These people had churches in
their homes because they didn't have buildings like we have in
most of these places. Salute my well-beloved Epiphanetus,
who is the firstfruits of Archaea under Christ. Greet Mary, who
bestowed much labor on us. Salute Adonakis and Junius, my
kinsmen, my fellow prisoners, who are of note among the apostles,
who also were in Christ Jesus before me. They were saved before
God saved me, laboring in the gospel. Then he names more down
in verse 12. This is interesting here. Tryphena
and Tryphosa. They must have been Twins, don't
you reckon? If y'all ever had Twins, that's a good name there.
Tryphena and Tryphosa. But they labored in the Lord.
And salute the beloved Perseus, which labored much in the Lord.
I love this 13th verse. Salute Rufus, chosen in the Lord,
and his mother, and my mother too. Isn't that sweet? this man
has a heart for people who helped him in the ministry and he gives
the credit to them so I believe when he talks in back to my text
in 2nd Corinthians 6 that he's not just talking about preachers
pastors because every believer is engaged in the ministry of
the gospel everyone here every believer and we're not in competition
He says, we are workers together. We're workers together. We're
not in competition. We're in unity with one common
goal, the glory of God and the salvation of his elect. That's
our common goal. That's the goal and the aim and
the desire of everybody here, this pastor and everyone engaged
in this ministry. That's what Paul says over in
2 Timothy. talking about his imprisonment,
he said in 2 Timothy 2.9, I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even
under bonds, but the word of God is not bound. Therefore I
endure all things, this is why I endure these things, for the
elect's sake, that they may also obtain the salvation which is
in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. That's our common goal.
Our desire and our aim is to glorify God and preach the gospel
to his people. And he says here we're workers,
we then as workers together with him. Our Lord, I'm just an under-shepherd. He's the shepherd. You and those
who labor in the Lord, we're under-shepherds. He's the good
shepherd. He's the chief shepherd. He's the great shepherd. He's
the master. We're all servants. One servant
is not above another servant. We're all servants and laborers
together with Him. His servants. Let's turn to 1
Corinthians chapter 3. I read a portion of this this
morning, but I want to read a little further tonight. In 1 Corinthians
3, beginning with verse verse 5-4. While one said, I'm of Paul,
Paul's my favorite preacher. Another says, I'm of Apollos.
And he said, who then is Paul? Who is Apollos? We're just ministers
by whom people believe. Even as the Lord gave to every
man. I've planted Apollos' water. God gave the inquiries. We're
not in competition. We do what we're called upon
to do, what our hands find to do. We do, but God gives, God
blesses the seed and makes it to grow. So neither is he, then
neither is he that planteth anything, nor he that watereth. God is
everything. God gives us the increase. And
what's this? Now, he that planteth, he that
watereth, he that witnesseth, he that prayeth, he that singeth,
he that teacheth, he that preacheth, they're one, and not in competition. And every man shall receive his
own reward according to his own labor, for we're laborers together
with God. You're God's husbandry. You're
God's temple. So according to the grace of
God which is given to me as a wise master builder, I have laid the
foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take
heed how he buildeth. So every believers in the ministry
of the gospel, we're not in competition. The labor is together. We have
one common goal, the glory of our God and the salvation of
his elect. And we're workers together with him. We're servants. He's the master. He's the chief
shepherd. And there is a ministerial part
God is the husbandman, God is the farmer, God owns the land,
God makes the crops to grow. But there is their means. There is ministering, there's
worship, there's praying, there's preaching, there's teaching.
Making the gospel available to all men. Now, turn to Acts chapter
1. This is what our Lord said to
his apostles. Salvation is of the Lord, it's
God who quickens. God who calls, God who draws,
God who teaches, God who convicts, God who saves. But in Acts chapter
1, verse 8, he says to the apostles, you shall receive power after
the Holy Ghost has come upon you and you'll be witnesses. You'll be witnesses unto me in
Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, to the uttermost parts of the
earth. You're witnesses. Witnesses of the gospel. Every
believer is a witness of the gospel of Christ. Wherever he
is, is where God has placed him and sent him to exalt Christ. And then he said to him in Mark
chapter 16, he says, Go ye into all the world. Preach the gospel
to every creature. You preach the gospel. How are they going to call on
him in whom they do not believe? How are they going to believe
in him of whom they've not heard? How are they going to hear without
a preacher? How are they going to preach
without God sending them? And in Ephesians 4, I want you
to look at this scripture, Ephesians chapter 4. If God that gives
the increase, I know that as well as I know anything in the
scripture, salvations of the Lord. But God does not work apart
from me. He uses those whom he sends,
he uses preachers. He sends them to preach the gospel.
Every man is going to hear the gospel from a man. And he says
here in Ephesians 4, when our Lord, now verse 9, Ephesians
4, listen, now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended? First into the lower parts of
the earth, Christ came down. and was formed in the womb of
a virgin. That's what he's talking about.
You find that over in the book of Psalms. He talks about the
lowest parts. That's where he was formed, in
the womb of a virgin. He that ascended is he that descended. And he, verse 10, he that descended
is the same that when he was born of the virgin, lived his
life as our representative, Our righteousness died on the cross,
was buried, and rose again. He ascended back to the Father.
Our Lord Jesus Christ came and redeemed us. He's named Jesus. He'll save His people from their
sin. He came into the world to save sinners. He's about to father's
business. He's had it finished. He died.
He was buried. He rose again. He ascended back to the Father.
Read on now. And He that ascendeth up far
above the heavens, that He might fulfill all things. He did, he
fulfilled all things. And he gave, he gave some apostles,
there were 12 of them, Paul was number 12, some prophets, some
missionaries, that's an evangelist, a missionary, and some pastors
and teachers. What's this for? Salvation of
the Lord, God draws me in, God says, yes, but he uses apostles
and prophets and pastors and teachers and missionaries and
witnesses to take the gospel to people. And he gave these
people for the perfecting, the maturity of the saints, for the
work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.
What's the body of Christ? It's the church. Till we all
come in the unity of faith. And in the knowledge of the Son
of God, that's how we're going to come to faith. And the faith
comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. And the Word
of God comes from the lips of a man. Do we come to a knowledge of
the Son of God and to a mature man to measure the statures of
Christ, the fullness of Christ, that we'd be no more children,
tossed to and fro, cared about with every wind of doctrine,
with the slightest knee and and cunning craftiness, whereby they
lie in wait to deceive." God is not going to leave his sheep
in the hands of false shepherds to be abused and misused and
deceived. He is going to put them in the
hands of faithful shepherds, faithful brethren, faithful elders,
faithful women and men who know the gospel, who dare to stand
by and say, this is the way. He is not going to leave us.
to be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine blowing through
the trees. Everybody makes up something
to get a bunch of people to follow it. He's going to put in the
church faithful women, teachers, that teach the children, that
teach the young women, that set an example, that walk in faith,
that stay true to the Word, that keep out little ones, and men
to stand and pastors to lead. Everybody's in the ministry.
We are laborers together with him, with him. So back to my text. Don't take
the ministry lightly now. Don't take it lightly. It's not
to be, he says here in 2 Corinthians 6, look back, we then, every
believer, are workers, as workers together with Christ. We beseech
you, we beseech you. Don't take our ministry lightly.
Now, we beseech you that don't you receive the grace of God
in vain. Don't take our ministry lightly. It's his ministry. Back there
in chapter 5, just above that, he says in verse 18, All things
are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ.
And he's given us, given to us, given to this church, to you
and me. of reconciliation. What is it? Namely. The word to wit is that
is to say, or namely. Here it is. This is our ministry.
God was in Christ. Jesus Christ is God. God was
in Christ. And by his obedience and by his
death, he was reconciling the world to himself. People of every
tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue, not imputing, charging their
trespasses to them, but to himself. He paid for them. He took them
in his own body on the tree. And God has committed to us this
word, this message, this ministry. Now then, we are literally ambassadors
for Christ. Christ is not going to come down
here and preach to you tonight. In the flesh. He's going to send
his preacher. That's what I'm talking about.
He's not going to come down and teach you Sunday School class.
You're going to teach him. And they're going to hear Christ
when they hear you. He that heareth you, heareth me, Christ said.
He that rejected you, rejected me. We're ambassadors for Christ
as though God Almighty Himself did beseech you by us. We pray
you. We beseech you in Christ's stead. Be ye reconciled to God. Submit. Surrender. Worship God. Exalt Christ, believe the word.
It's the only message you're going to hear. That's right,
it's got to come from a man. All right, back to the text,
2 Corinthians 6, verse 2. He said, who said? Well, this is a quotation from
Isaiah 49. Want to look at it? This is a quotation from Isaiah
49. Here's what he said, I have heard
of thee in a time excepted. I have heard thee. I have heard
thee. I have heard thee. Now who's speaking and who do
you hear? Not me. Turn to Isaiah 49, let's see
who he is and whom he heard. He said, I've heard thee. Now
here's where Paul, he's quoting this scripture right here, Isaiah
49 verse 7. Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer
of Israel, and his Holy One, God and his Holy One. To him whom man despises, to
him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers, kings shall
see and arise, princes also shall worship, because the Lord that
is faithful and the Holy One of Israel, he shall choose thee.
Thus saith the Lord God. In an acceptable time have I
heard thee. In a day of salvation have I
helped thee. This is the Father speaking about
Christ. I have helped thee. I will preserve thee. I will
give thee for covenant of the people to establish the earth
to cause to inherit the desolate heritage that thou mayest say
to the prisoner, you're free, go forth. To them that are in
darkness, show yourself. They shall feed in the ways,
and their pasture shall be in all high places. They shall not
hunger nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor the sun smite them.
For he that hath mercy on them shall lead them. Even by the
springs of living water shall he guide them. And I will make
all my mountains away, and my highways shall be exalted. Behold,
these shall come from far, and lo, these from the north, from
the west, and these from the land of Shinem. Sing, O heavens,
and be joyful, O earth. Break forth into singing, O mountains. For the Lord hath comforted his
people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted." That's what Paul's
quote is. The Lord God of heaven said to
Christ, his anointing, his redeemer, I've heard you. I've heard you. In an accepted time, And in the
day of salvation have I helped you? Behold, now is accepted
time, today now is the day of salvation. The Father said to
the Son, our Mediator, our Representative, our Intercessor, the Father hath
heard him speak on our behalf." The Father says, I've heard him,
I've heard him. When did he hear him? Well, he
heard him way back yonder in the council halls of eternity.
You know he's the lamb slain before the foundation of the
world, don't you? You know he's the surety of the everlasting
covenant, don't you? You know he's the mediator of
that covenant and the high priest in sacrifice. So he stood for
us before we ever stood. He said, Father, I have manifested
thy name unto the men you gave me out of the world. Thine the
word, thou gavest to me. I manifested thy name to them,
I manifested your word to them, and while I was with them, I
kept them. Now I pray for them. I pray for them. He said, I've
heard him. The Father heard him. I pray
for these whom thou hast given me. I pray not for the world.
I pray for those whom you've given me. And Father, I will.
No man ever, no creature ever prayed to the Father and said,
I will. You better not do it, and I better not do it. When
we pray to the Father, we say, Thy will, not my will. But Christ is our high priest.
Now, as our substitute, he prays, not why I will, but thy will
be done. But as our high priest, he says, Father, I will, this
is my will, that those whom you gave me be with me where I am. You're on good ground if you're
included in that prayer. Because he said, I always ask
those things that please my Father. Father heard him. He heard him
in eternity past. He heard him in the Garden of
Gethsemane. He heard him as our great high priest. And he heard
him on that cross when he said, Father, forgive them. They know not what to do. The
preacher, wasn't he talking about those people who crucified him?
Yep. with those people. My sins nailed
him there. Oh, they forgive them. They know
not what to do. I heard him. He said, I've heard
you. I've heard you. And he's heard
him on behalf of those for whom he prayed. And I'll tell you
this, if you'll turn to Romans 8, he hears him at this very
moment at his right hand. Listen to Romans 8, 34. Who's
he that condemns? Who can condemn the church, the
body of Christ, the elect of Christ? Who can condemn us? It's
Christ that died. Yea, rather that it's risen again,
who's even at the right hand of God, who does what? Who also
makes intercession for us. I've heard you. I've heard you. Oh, that's powerful. He said,
I've heard you. I've heard you, now look at this,
in a time accepted, in a day. I don't know how to estimate
or consider time and days in regard to God. There's no time with God. In
regard to God Almighty, time, there is no time with God. He's
the ever-present one. I am, I was, I always will be. But he's talking here about a
time in relation to us. In relation to us. Almighty God
has in the fullness of time accomplished something. Let's see what it
is. Over here in Galatians 4. In time. In the fullness of time. He said Galatians 4 verse 4.
Now, when the fullness of time was come. a time decreed by God. He said this is an accepted time.
Accepted. Who accepted it? He did. Who
ordained it? He did. It's a time he accepted. It's a day he set. All right.
In the fullness, when the fullness of time was come, God sent his
Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that
were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because you are sons, God
has set forth the Spirit of his Son into your heart, crying,
Abba, Father." Well, he said, in a time accepted that God ordained,
and God put in this vast eternity a time, approved of God, accepted
of God, ordained of God, there's a time. And it's a day. And he said, I have heard you. And I have helped you. And behold,
now is that time." Right now. Paul said, now is that time.
Now is that accepted time. Now is that day of salvation.
How do I know it's now? I'll tell you why I know it's
now. Number one, it's the day of grace, not judgment. Secondly, because our Lord has
come and died and risen and ascended and sent his messengers. Thirdly,
because the gospel now rings in my ears and in your ears.
This has got to be that time, that time frame that God set
in all the vast eternity to redeem a people. This is the time, and
I'm in it. I'm right in the middle of it.
It's the day of grace. It's the day Christ has risen.
The gospel rings in my ears, and it's still time with me.
It may not be tomorrow. But I'm here now. You're here
now. That's the reason he said, while it's called today. While
it's called today. Harden not your heart, as they
did over there. And God said, they'll not enter
into my rest. He cast them out. While it's today. It is today. It is. Now is accepted time.
This is the day of salvation. For some. Which is time to go
move on. The lot whom I have known are
gone, and they didn't hear. They didn't believe. They didn't
trust. And that day's passed, but there
is for you and me an accepted time to have salvation. And the Father says, I've heard
Him on your behalf. Now, will you hear Him? Turn to Hebrews, let me read
that, Hebrews 3. Hebrews chapter 3. Now listen to this, Hebrews
chapter 3 begins with verse 7. Hebrews 3, 7. Therefore, as the
Holy Ghost say it today, if you'll hear his voice, now the Father
heard him on behalf of somebody. These somebodies must hear His
voice. The Father who spake to the prophets, the people by the
prophets have spoken to us by His Son. Are we going to hear
Him? If you hear His voice, don't
harden your heart now. Pride and tradition and religious
arrogance. Oh, how sad it is. in the propagation in the day
of the temptation in the wilderness your father tempted me and proved
me and saw my work forty years and I've grieved with that outfit
that generation I said they do always air in their hearts they
got heart trouble rebellious heart divided hearts evil heart
deceitful heart they're not knowing my ways and didn't try to learn
them so I swear in my wrath I'll close the book on them and they'll
die and their carcasses will be buried in the wilderness.
Time frame. No time with God, but there is
with you and me. And God made the time, set the
time, accepted the time, and been pleased to speak to us in
that day of salvation with his ministers. What an awful, awesome
responsibility. So, verse 3, giving no offense
in anything that the minister be not blamed. Now, let us who
are workers together with him live and conduct ourselves so
that though our gospel is offensive, we won't be offensive. There's
a difference. Let us live and conduct ourselves
so that we are not an offense to people and a stumbling block
to those who are honestly seeking the truth. I know the gospel
is offensive. We got a letter from a person
who ordered a tape, and this person wanted another person
to hear the gospel, but said, now he's a very highly educated
person, so be careful, don't send anything, it'll offend him.
Oh, that's sad, isn't it? The gospel
is offensive. I wouldn't offend him myself,
but if a gospel does, I can't help it. A natural man receiveth
not the things of God, They're foolishness to it. They're offensive
to it. Depravity offends his dignity.
Revelation offends his wisdom. Simplicity offends his intellect.
Atonement offends his pride. Grace offends his ego. You can
offend him no matter what you preach, having to do with grace
and Christ. Don't offend him by your conduct.
I watched television news the other night, and there's a preacher
out in Indiana, I believe, that has a big outfit, a big outfit,
works a lot of people, big staff, I guess school teachers and all
these, and he refused to pay, refused to pay tax to the government.
He refused to pay tax to the government. He owes the government
$6 million, and he's demanding that the government Not tax him
because he belongs to God. Now that's offensive. That's
offensive to me and anybody with good sense. If we've got a business going
here, we need to pay taxes on social security taxes and other
taxes, payroll taxes and all these things on the people who
work. And he has brought disgrace on the gospel. That's right.
He's brought disgrace on religion. He's wheeled him out there and
put him in an amulet, you know, on a bed, praying for these people
that, you know, God had forgiven for persecuting him. He's being
persecuted not for the gospel, but for his own contrariness
and stupidity. That's exactly what it is. And
that's what he's talking about here. The gospel will offend.
You know, they ask our Lord that, is it right to pay taxes to Caesar?
He said, do you have a coin? The woman said, yeah. He said,
whose inscription is on that coin? They said Caesar's. He
said, you render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and
to God the things that are God's. And we're going to do that here.
We're going to stay within the bounds of the law. We're going
to conduct ourselves in an honest way of integrity and honesty
and kindness. In verse 4, listen, in all things
conducting yourselves approving is conducting ourselves as the
ministers of God. Conducting ourselves as the ministers
of God in such a way we will not offend people and be a stumbling
block to people. And I'm going to take a few minutes
and go over these words that he uses here. I want you to keep
your eyes on the Scripture and just let me comment on these
words. And I won't keep you long. But in verse 4, you understand
what I'm talking about? in our lives and where we touch
other people. Let's be as honest and faithful
and men and women of integrity and kindness and all these things.
Just don't have them leave the gospel because of us. All right,
here's what he says now. Impatience. You've got to remember
there's quite a number of them. Let me stay with it. Impatience.
What's this? With the shortcomings and infirmities
of other people. Let's be patient. They are people. In afflictions, those are trials
sent by our Father upon us, into our lives, and let's bear up
under them without murmuring and complaining and be a good
example to others who have to go through afflictions. In necessities,
looking to and depending on our Father to supply our needs. We're
not going to beg. God's not a beggar. My God will
supply all your need according to his riches in Christ Jesus.
Let's don't disgrace our God by begging for people out here
to send us money. We depend only in distresses. That's of mind and body. Commit
thy way unto the Lord. Trust him. He'll bring it to
pass. Rest in the Lord. We're going to have some times
of distress. Like Paul, I read a while ago, he said, I'm distressed,
but I'm not destroyed. I'm cast down, I'm not destroyed.
I'm perplexed, but I'm not deserted. We'll go through distresses.
In stripes, under harassment for the gospel, persecution. Lead a quiet peace of a life,
even when men harass you and persecute you for what you believe.
In imprisonment, Well, we'll probably never be put in prison
for what we're preaching, but you know what a prison is? A
prison is a way that men separate the unwanted from their company.
Now, you might be in prison that way. They'll separate themselves
from you because of what you believe. That same thing is putting
you in prison. Separates you from my company.
In two months, these are little things you go through all the
time. Conflicts at work, little spats, disagreements, opposition. These can be two months. That's
right. Let's conduct ourselves in these
two months. In labors. God does not own or
bless laziness. We're laborers together with
God. We work. I must be about my father's business.
That's what my Lord said when he was 12 years old, isn't he?
Laborers. In watchings. Guarding the pulpit,
guarding the assembly, guarding our homes from error, from error
of doctrine or spirit. Let's be watchful. Always watching. What's next? If you permit this
or permit that, what's next? In fasting, devotion, meditation,
private prayer, spend a lot of time alone with God. You can
talk to me and about God if you talk to God about me. By pureness,
pureness in doctrine, pureness in life, pureness of motive,
and pureness of heart. Christ said my doctrine is not
mine, it's his that sent me. I've got no right to contaminate
it or dilute it. By pureness, by knowledge, Study
to show thyself approved to God, approved of God, a workman that
needeth not be ashamed. Study the Scriptures. Come to
know the Word of God. By longsuffering and kindness,
not angry, easily provoked, cultivate a kind and gentle temperament
toward all men. The wrath of man does not work
the righteousness of God. Be longsuffering, patient, and
kind. By the Holy Ghost, It's the spirit
of the living God that makes our gospel effectual, makes our
witness effectual. By love unfeigned, sincere love. What's the word unfeigned mean?
It means without hypocrisy. Genuine love. And by the word
of truth. Here's two things that go together,
by love and truth. Love without hypocrisy, truth
without compromise. Love without hypocrisy and truth
without compromise. That's what a pulpit ought to
be noted for. Paul said, I kept back nothing
profitable to you. I have not shunned or declared
to you all the counsel of God. I am free from the blood of all
men. By the power of God accompanying our preaching, Paul said, my
gospel didn't come to you in word only, it came to you in
power, the power of God. that your faith should not stand
in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. By the armor
of righteousness, take unto yourself the whole armor of God, in Ephesians
4, verse 16, faith and all the armor of God. Now, there seems
to be a change here, right here at verse 8, there seems to be
a change of direction here. And he says something else here,
that the people of God must expect to meet with many different attitudes
and circumstances and conditions in this world, and he changes
here now. And he says, you're going to
meet with two things here, a series of twos. He said you're going
to meet with honor and dishonor. You'll be loved and hated, both.
Now don't allow the honor to make you proud, and don't allow
the hatred to make you despair or to embitter you. You're going
to meet with both. Let's conduct ourselves as ministers
of God. There used to be a poem we learned
when we were very young. If, you remember, you're thinking
about that same, he said something like this, if you can walk with
crowds and not lose your virtue, or walk with kings and not lose
the common touch, Both ways, crowds and kings. Don't lose your virtue. Don't
be bitter. Kings, don't be proud. Honor
and dishonor. Watch this now. By evil report
and good report, some are going to condemn you. That's an evil
report. They're going to condemn what you preach, what you believe,
what you love. Some are going to tell the truth.
Evil report, some will condemn you and some will praise you.
Some will lie on you and some will tell the truth. But you'll
meet with both as the minister of Christ. And thirdly, as deceivers. And yet, truth. You know you're
telling the truth. The people called you a deceiver.
A deceiver of men. You know you're telling the truth.
You know it's the truth of God and the truth of the gospel.
It's the truth of Christ. They called our Lord a devil.
That's exactly right. They said he's casting out demons
by the spirit of Beelzebub. He has a devil. Don't listen.
He's got a devil. Nobody can say anything about
you that hasn't been said about him. So you'll be called a deceiver,
but you know one thing. You're not a deceiver. You're
true. And watch verse 9. As unknown,
unrecognized, And yet, well known. What's that mean? Those who believe,
love God, love His Word, teach the truth. They're relatively
unknown and unrecognized by most people. But yet, they're well
known in heaven. Real well known in glory. Rejoice
not, our Lord said, that the devil is a subject to you. Rejoice that your names are written
in heaven. Your angel appears before the throne of God. Your
Savior intercedes for you. You're known in heaven. Unknown
here, well known. As dying, and behold, we'll never
die. We live. As chastened, corrected
by God, disciplined by our Lord, yet not killed. Not given over
to death. He chastens us. He corrects us. He disciplines us like we do
our children, or ought to do our children. But we're not giving
over to death. Whom the Lord loves, He's chasing
us. Look at verse 10. As sorrowful? Yes, sir, and always
rejoicing. Both? Yes. Paul said over there
in Romans, he said, verse 9, listen to this. Chapter 9, verse
1. I have great happiness and continual
sorrow in my heart. Over my brethren, according to
the flesh, I could wish myself a curse from Christ for my brethren,
my kinsmen. Continual sorrow. As sorrowful,
yet rejoicing. Yet Paul was the one who said
ten times in the book of Philippians, rejoicing the Lord. Ten times. I'm content in whatsoever state
I am, yet I'm sorrowful. Look at the next one, as poor?
It's generally the lot of God's people to be poor in this world.
Don't covet riches. They're deceitful. You know,
affluence is an enemy of spiritual things. Don't covet that. Do
what the wise man Solomon said, Lord, don't give me riches lest
I forget thee. But don't give me poverty lest
I steal. Give me what's convenient for
me. And he will. Because we're poor in the things
of this world, and yet making many rich. Poor. Yet we've been the instrument. You folks have been the instrument
of making many people out there heirs of God, and joint heirs
of Christ Jesus. They've heard the gospel that
you've set out and preached. And they're rich. You're poor, but you've made
many rich. That's right. When a person comes
to know Christ, he has an inheritance reserved in heaven. Rich, oh,
beyond expression. As having nothing, really, having
nothing. That's right. I came into the
world naked. I'm going to leave here that
way. How much did he leave? All he had. I know what everybody's
going to leave, everything. Came in here naked, and yet I
possess all things. I possess all things. Richest man in Iceland, but I
have nothing. Yeah, I possess all things. Turn
to 2 Peter and I'll let you go home. 2 Peter chapter 1. 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 2 and 3. Let's read verse 1, 2 and 3. Simon
Peter, a servant and 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 Christ our
Lord. according as his divine power hath given to us all things,"
watch this now, "...that pertain to life, life eternal, and godliness."
I've got everything that pertains to life and godliness. You talk
about having nothing materially, physically that'll last, but
I've got all things. I've got everything pertaining
to life and godliness. Where'd I get it? Where'd it
come? What's the source? Through the knowledge of Him that had
called us to glory and to virtue. What a ministry that you and
I have and all believers. I hope that's a blessing to you.
It's just the outpouring expression of my heart and thanksgiving
to God for you, for every person here, for the Priscilla's and
the Aquila's and the Phoebus and all the rest of them. servants,
workers together with him.