Paul said, therefore seeing,
we have this ministry. We have this ministry. We have a ministry. Now before
I look at this chapter here, I must refer briefly to some
statements Paul made back in the preceding chapters. In 2
Corinthians 2, Let's go back just a couple of chapters. And
he says in verse 14 of 2 Corinthians 2, you know, you hear people say
when a pastor preaches, and I'm not talking about every pastor,
every preacher, I'm talking about men saved by the power of God,
redeemed by the grace of God. called by the Spirit of God,
given the message of the grace of God, gifted and equipped with
the ability and power to preach it, preaching in the power of
the Holy Spirit. That's what I'm talking about.
God's servants. God's servants. And you hear
people say when a preacher preaches, well, nothing happened. Something
always happens. God said, and I read this this
morning, as the rain comes down from heaven, and the snow, and
returns not thither, but accomplishes what it is sent to accomplish,
it waters the soil and brings forth fruits to feed the people,
so shall my word be that goeth forth from my mouth It shall
not return void. It can't bounce off and accomplish
nothing. It cannot. If God sent it, if
it's God's Word, it'll accomplish God's purpose. Now, it may save
a man, it may add to his condemnation, but it never goes back void if
He sent it. Alright? If He sends a message,
somebody's going to hear it. And somebody's going to not hear
it. But if he sends it, that's what
he says here in 2 Corinthians 2. Now look at it. Now, verse
14. Thanks be unto God, which always,
not sometimes, always causes us to triumph in Christ. We're always triumphant. His
purpose always is accomplished. and maketh manifest the savour."
Now that word is not saviour. That's savour. That word is fragrance. Smell. Odour. God makes manifest
by us the fragrance of His knowledge by us in every place. Now listen.
For we are under God. We're His servants. We're not
the servants of men. We're God's servants. He sent
us. It's His message. We're His servants. And we are a sweet fragrance
of Christ. When I stand here and preach
the Savior, when I preach Christ, doesn't it smell good? Doesn't
it sweet? It's like opening an alabaster
box. You know, when that woman opened
that alabaster box of precious ointment, and anointed the feet
of our Lord, the Scripture says, the odor filled the whole place. When she opened that box and
poured that precious perfume on His feet, everybody smelled
it. Now to some people, it was a
sweet smell. But old Judas over there said,
why did you waste all that? Why didn't you sell it? and give
it to the poor instead of wasting it on him. He smelled it, didn't
like it. Everybody else that was there
smelled it and loved it. And wished they had something
to put on his feet. That's right. So, when we open
this gospel and open this box of precious treasure from God,
it's a sweet savor. In them that are saved, But it's
also a fragrance in them that perish. To the one, those that
perish, it's the fragrance of death upon death. When's he going
to get through? Is that all he's got to talk
about is Christ? He said the same thing last Sunday. He's going to say the same thing
next Sunday too. And it will smell just as sweet.
But these fellows, Now if it's death upon death, they don't
enjoy it. But to the other, it's the savor
of life unto life. See that? Paul said, we never
fail. We got dynamite. The gospel,
the word, the gospel is the... Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel, it's the power of God. You know what that word
is? And Paul, you fool with a lot of this. It's dynamite. It's
dunamis. The gospel is the dynamite of
God unto salvation to those that believe. But to those who don't
believe, it's destructive. It destroys them. Now dynamite
can be used for two purposes. It can, as you work for years,
it can bring down hillsides and raise up valleys and build railroads.
When you go in to build a railroad, you've got to use dynamite. You've
got to bring the high places down and the low places up. That's
what I read in Isaiah 40. Every hill shall be brought down
and every valley exalted, and the way made smooth and level.
So dynamite's good. But out in Oklahoma City, it
killed everybody. Bad. Bad. See what I'm saying? This is
dynamite. This is the power of God. This
gospel, this gospel can save a man's soul. This gospel can
make a man whole. This gospel can give a man life. But this gospel will sit in judgment
on him in that great day and damn him. And you know what Paul
says then? Verse 16, the last line, Who
is sufficient for these things? What man among us? You see what
he's saying, Jim, John? Who's sufficient, Bob? Who's
sufficient for this thing? Rod? Elders? Cecil? It's a great responsibility.
Who's sufficient? Well, I'm not. You're not. But
thank God, look down here at chapter 3, verse 5, and Paul
admitted he wasn't either. In verse 5 of Chapter 3, he said,
not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything of
ourselves. We don't have any sufficiency.
Don't have any natural wisdom. If you have any, you have to
get rid of it. Oh, he ought to be a preacher. He's got so many
natural gifts. He'll have to get rid of all
of them if he's going to be God's preacher. He's so smart, he'll
have to become a fool, for Christ's sake. God doesn't use our smarts. He uses His wisdom. And we're
not sufficient to think anything of ourselves. He said, my thoughts
aren't yours and my ways aren't yours. You forsake your thoughts
and your ways. And then, look, our sufficiency
is of God. I'm thankful for that. Thankful for that. I'm thankful for that. And in verse 6, he said, watch
this, Our sufficiency is of God, who also, God, hath made us. God makes ministers. You waste
your time sending them to seminaries to make a preacher. They'll make
a mess out of him. God makes preachers. God calls
them, God empowers them, and God gives them gifts, and God
gives them knowledge, and God gives them ability, and God makes
them able ministers. They're able. He makes them able
ministers of the New Testament, of the New Covenant, of the grace
of God in Christ Jesus. He made us ministers of the New
Covenant. Not of the letter of the law.
We don't preach. We don't preach a message of
works, and deeds, and duties, and the Levitical law, and the
Sabbath days, and tithing, and the sacrifices, and the form
of religion. We're not preaching the letter
of the law, but the Spirit, a new heart, a new nature, a relationship
with Christ. A new creature. God writes His
law on the heart, not on tables of stone. You know, Moses came down from
the mountain with that Ten Commandments on stone. People were dancing
around that golden calf and he got so angry he dashed them to
pieces. Sometime later, the Lord ordained
the tabernacle and the priesthood, and the holy of holies, and the
mercy seat. And he told Moses, he said, get
two tables of stone and bring them up to the mountain. And
I'm going to write the law on these tables of stone. But Moses,
after I write them, you take the tables of stone and put them
under the mercy seat in the ark. He took the law out of Moses'
hand and put it under the blood of Christ. Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad that the law
is under the mercy seat? And on the mercy seat is the
blood of Christ. So I'm not preaching the letter
of the law. It kills. That's what Paul said
over here. What was it? Romans 7. You don't
need to turn to it. Let me just read it to you. In
Romans 7, he said, I was alive without the law once. I thought
I kept it. The Levitical law, the civil
law, the ceremonial law, all these laws, even the moral law.
But when the commandment came in the hands of the Holy Spirit,
sin revived and I died. And listen, and the commandment
which was ordained to life, when God said, Adam, do this and live,
I found to be unto death. It killed me. If I stand up here
every service and give you things to do, there's only one thing
I'll do to you, and that's kill you. I'll kill you spiritually. Because you can't do it. Just
can't do it. But we're not ministers of the
letter, but the Spirit. The letter kills, but the Spirit
of God gives life. The blood of Christ gives life.
That's our message. That's our message. All right,
chapter 4. Now you see why I had to do that.
So he says, our ministry is the ministry of the new covenant
in Christ, God's sovereign grace in Christ Jesus. The Spirit of
God writes God's laws and commandments on the heart, and we do what
we do because we love Him. We do what we do not for reward,
not out of fear, not to keep out of hell, not to get a crown
in heaven. We do it because we love Christ. The law of Christ is our rule
of life, the royal law, the king's law written on the heart. Justification
and righteousness in Christ. Therefore seeing, Paul said,
we have this ministry. As we have received mercy, we
think not. We don't think. We don't quit. We get discouraged. We'll see
that in a few moments. Because of difficulties, because
of trials, because of disappointment, because of harassment, we get
discouraged. But we don't quit. Why don't
we quit? We receive mercy. As we have received mercy, we
faint not, we don't quit. God's mercy supplies our needs. And we persevere by His grace. Without Him, we perish. Without
Him, we can do nothing. Hated without a cause, but He
gives us strength. And then he says in verse 2,
and this is what every true minister can say, we have renounced the
hidden things of dishonesty. Now every minister can't say
that because there's so much dishonesty in the ministry. But
Paul is saying we don't speak, we don't preach one thing in
private and another thing publicly. Our motives and our manners and
our methods are honest before God and before the people. We're not dishonest. We don't
covet men's money, we don't covet Their praise, we don't covet
anything that they have. We covet them for Christ. But we don't deal in dishonesty.
And listen, we don't walk in craftiness. We don't practice
trickery and cunning. We don't use people. A true minister
of God does not use people for his gain and for his own glory. He doesn't
use people. And then he said, we don't handle
the Word of God deceitfully. How is this? How do you handle
the Word of God deceitfully? Well, I'll tell you how it's
handled deceitfully. You try to mix works and grace.
You try to mix the grace of God with works. That's deceitful. It's twisting the Word of God
to prove my point. I honestly, when I prepare a
message, and preach a message. I sit there and I look at the
Scripture and I pray, Lord, I don't want to prove my point to these
people. I don't want to prove Baptist
doctrine or any other kind of doctrine. I want to tell them
what you're saying here. You do that. You elders do. Show
me what you're saying so I can show them what you're saying.
Tell me what this Scripture is teaching. I don't want to twist
the Word of God and handle it deceitfully. I don't want to
keep back anything profitable to the people. That's what Paul
said. Turn with me to Acts 20. You
know, when he was about to depart from the elders there at Antioch,
the elders, they were from Ephesus, I think, but they were here at
Antioch, I believe, when he preached this in Acts chapter 20. But
he made several statements here. He had never preached to these
people again. They'd never see his face again. Paul was going
to Rome to die. And he knew it and they knew
it. This was the last message. And he says in Acts 20 verse
20, And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you,
but I've showed you and taught you publicly And from house to
house, testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks,
repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
And then in verse 27, listen, he says this, For I have not
shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. And then in verse 33, he says,
I have coveted no man's silver, gold, or apparel. Now that's what Paul… I'm not
dishonest, and I'm not walking in trickery and craftiness, and
I'm not handling the Word of God deceitfully, not seeking. I don't want to be deceived,
and I don't want to deceive. But by manifestation of the truth,
preaching the truth as it is in Christ, the truth is Christ. Christ said, I'm the truth. A
man can preach truths and not preach the truth. A man can say things that are
true and not preach the truth. The truth is Christ. That's the
reason Paul kept saying, we preach Christ and Him crucified. God
forbid that I should glory save in the cross of Christ. I'm determined
not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We have visitors here tonight
from different places. One dear friend from Maryland. And here this congregation, you
look at it here. I've been standing here in this
pulpit over 40 years. 40 years. Sunday morning, Sunday
night, Wednesday night. And I'm preaching the same thing
now. I preach back yonder. And here they are, come out to
hear it for the 5,000th time. Rejoicing in it Christ He's our
message. He's our ministry. He's our motive
He's our master. He's our gospel. He's our hope. He's my life Tell him one more
time Who he is altogether lovely Altogether and never weary of
it How do you find something new
to preach? Preach after all these years. You don't even look for
anything new. Tell me the old, old story, for
I forget so soon. The early dew of morning has
faded away at noon. Need another dew, don't we? Ah,
my. Preaching it plain. Back in chapter
3, verse 12. Paul said, seeing then that we
have such hope, we use great plainness of speech. Great plainness of speech. A
man's ministry ought to be identified by simplicity. The simplicity
of Christ and plainness. If men don't believe what we
preach, at least we can preach it so they can understand. That's
what we preach. And this is all the recommendation
a minister needs in the sight of God. Right there. Alright, verse 3. But our gospel
is hid. All men do not have faith. And
I know sometimes people go away from the service saying, I just
don't understand why they can't see that. It's so plain, it's so clear. He hath made Christ to be sin
for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Isn't that plain? It is to me
and to you. Why? We got eyes. Look at that
sunset. Oh, it's beautiful. Show a blind
man that sunset. What sunset? He sees nothing
beautiful. He can't see. And this is what
it says, if our gospel be hid, if our gospel be obscured, if
our gospel be veiled, if our gospel is not exciting, if our
gospel doesn't bless, it's hid to them who do not see it, who
do not understand it. All they see on that cross is
a Jew, 33 and a half years old, who stirred up a lot of opposition
and hatred. And they took him out there and
nailed him to a cross and laughed at him while he died. And even
God turned His back on him. But when I see that man on that
cross, I see God in Christ. I see the wisdom of God. I see
the love of God. I see the justice of God. I see
the grace of God. I see the mercy of God. I see
the Messiah. Fulfilling the smitten rock.
Fulfilling the brazen serpent. Fulfilling the Passover lamb.
Fulfilling every lamb slain in that Old Testament. Fulfilling
the priest who went into the Holy of Holies with the blood.
I see! How come you see? The Son of God hath come. and
given us understanding that we may know Him that is true, and
we're in Him that is true. And this is the true God, and
this is eternal life. But our Gospels head to them
that are lost. They're lost by birth in Adam.
They're lost by sin. They're lost, they're natural
men. He said if the princes of this world had known who He was,
they never would have crucified Him. But eye hath not seen, and
ear hath not heard, neither hath it entered the heart of a natural
man the things God hath prepared for them that love him, but he
hath revealed them to us by Spirit." Taught of God. No man can come
to me except my Father draw him. And he that is taught of God
cometh to me, as it is written in the prophets, and they shall
all be taught of God. And he that hath learned of the
Father, he comes a running." He learns of the Father. Oh,
yes. Verse 4 says, the God of this world, Satan, hath blinded
their minds. He did it in the garden. He tempted
Eve. Adam wasn't tempted. He wasn't
deceived. He went in with his eyes wide open. He knew exactly
what he was doing. Eve was deceived, but not Adam. Scripture says that. He sided
with his wife against God, went in with his eyes wide open. And
Satan, Satan blinded him, blinded him. Them that believe not, lest
the glorious light, lest the light of the glorious gospel,
that's the gospel of God's glory in Christ, whose the image of
God should shine unto them. It's not just religion. It's the gospel of the glory
of God. Why is it called the glorious
gospel of Christ? The gospel of the glory of Christ?
Because Christ gets all the glory. In its origination, in its execution,
in its application, in its sustaining power, in its ultimate perfection,
He gets all the glory. It's the gospel of His glory.
If you want to know whether or not a man is preaching the gospel,
who gets the glory? Listen to them. Listen to them
when they preach. Listen carefully. And ask this
question, in His message, who gets the glory? Is it man or
is it God? Who gets the glory? And if God
gets all the glory, that message is of God. Because the gospel
is the gospel of His glory. That's right. And Paul says in
verse 5, we don't preach ourselves. We don't preach ourselves. We
don't preach our opinions. We don't preach our philosophy.
You see, if we preach ourselves and our opinions and our philosophy,
the natural man understands us. He understands our thoughts because
they're his thoughts. He understands our opinion because
it's his opinion. He understands our philosophy.
And when we preach ourselves, the natural man understands us,
and the natural man loves works, he loves philosophy, he loves
morality, he loves for you to tell him something to do in order
to appease God, in order to find favor with God. Well, tell me
what to do. That's what the rich young ruler said. Master, tell
me some good thing to do to inherit eternal life. That's what he
wanted to do. He wanted something to do. And
the natural man understands that. Now, if you'll do this, God will
do that. And God's done all He can do. It's up to you. Now,
you take the first step and He'll meet you. They love that sort
of thing. Love it. That's not the gospel. That's not the gospel. We preach
not ourselves. Well, who do we preach? Notice
I didn't say what do we preach. If we preach ourselves, it's
a what. We preach not ourselves, we preach, listen, Christ Jesus
the Lord. Christ Messiah, Jesus man, the
Lord God. Christ Jesus the Lord. Son of
God and God the Son. We preach Him. It's a whom. Notice the Apostle Paul didn't
say, I know what I believe. He didn't say, I know when I
believe. He said, I know whom. He didn't even say, I know in
whom. Martin Luther said, don't let a preposition come between
you and Him. I know whom I have believed. And we preach Christ Jesus the
Lord. Who He is? Their God of their God, who became
a man. What did He do? Came down here
as our representative, the second Adam, just two men. God made two men. The rest of
them came from the loins of men. He made one man in the garden
called Adam. And every human being in this world of every
race and every tribe and kindred can trace his roots right back
to that one man. Everybody. Born of a natural
man. But this second Adam, God made
him a body. No man contributed anything to
his birth. He was born of a virgin. born
without sin, the Spirit of God came upon His mother. He's not
the seed of man, He's the seed of woman. And everybody that
came from that first man is in Him, of Him, from Him, and related
to Him, and died in Him. That's right. Naturally. Fleshly. Dead. Spiritually dead. And every man that God gave to
that second Adam, In Him, from Him, by Him, related to Him. The elect, His sheep, His church,
His people. He came down here as their second
Adam. In the first Adam, we died. In
the second Adam, we were made alive. That life I lost in Adam
was restored. He restored my soul in Christ. Christ came down here as a man
and did for me what I couldn't do. God demanded it, commanded
it, required it. Christ did it for every one of
His people, kept this law holy and perfect, giving us a righteousness. Then He went to that cross and
paid every debt we owed. I owed a debt I couldn't pay.
He paid a debt He didn't owe and paid it in full. That's what
He did. Why did He do that? That God
may be God and save yourself. See, God's not going to save
anybody at the expense of His holiness. God's not going to
cease to be holy to take you and me to heaven. What God's
going to do is make us holy. Old John Jasper, who pastored
up in Richmond, Virginia, many years ago, somebody came to him
and said, John Jasper, when you get to heaven, you plan on going
to heaven? He said, yes, sir. They said, when you get to heaven,
and they ask you, what right you got to be here? What you
going to say? He said, I'm going to say I ain't
got no right to be here at all. I'm here not on my rights, but
on the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's my hope. He made us holy. He made us holy. Holy, harmless, and undefiled
like our Lord. Where is He now? This Jesus you
preach, where is He now? He's at the right hand of God.
As our advocate, as our representative, as our forerunner, He's already
entered in and taken the land in our place. And we're already... This preacher used to say, if
you're sure for heaven as if you're already there, raise your
hand. What do you mean, as if I was already there? If you're
God's sheep, you are there in Christ. That's what it says. Our forerunner hath entered in
within the veil. He's accepted. He's sat down.
And we're seated with Him in the heavens. Boy, what a ministry
we have. Isn't that good news? I'd love
to tell the whole world about that. He said he wouldn't hear
you. Well, I'd sure love to tell them.
I'd love to open that box and somebody might smell it. Somebody
might. And this is what happened, verse
6, for God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness. Out there in the beginning, God
created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was without form,
and void, and darkness was upon the deep. And that describes
us in sin and Adam without form, and void, and darkness, and death. The Spirit of God came upon that
water, and God said, let there be light. Oh, I tell you, I preached
a time or two when somebody saw the light. Oh, what's-his-name
used to sing, I saw the light, I saw the light. I don't know
whether he did or not, but I did. And this is the way I saw it.
God commanded the light to shine out of darkness. And preachers
can use all the persuasion they want to and walk up and down
the aisle and pull people down the aisle and get them down to
the front and do all these things. Can't save a soul. It takes God
to save a soul. It takes God to open the eyes
of a man. It takes God to open his ears.
It takes God to open his heart. It takes God to do this. Listen,
God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined
in our hearts To give the light of the who? The knowledge of
the glory of God. Where? In the face of Christ
Jesus. That's what happens. If any man
be in Christ. In Christ. Not in the church. Not in the pool. Not on the road. Not in the pew. Not in the pulpit. In Christ. He's a new creature. Because God opened His eyes. And He'll never be the same,
because these old things just fade away. And all things become
new. And He gives the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God. And He says in verse 7, I want
you to see a couple of more things. But we have this treasure. What
is a treasure? Riches. And this gospel, oh,
the riches of Christ. Moses esteemed the riches of
Christ greater than the treasures of Egypt. It's the rich truth
in Christ. It's the rich blessings in Christ. It's the rich inheritance in
Christ. It's the rich promises in Christ. But we have this treasure in
earthen vessels, in a clay pot. flesh, both minister and congregation,
we have this glorious gospel of the glory of God in this clay
pot. And there's a reason for that,
listen, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not
of us. That's right. Well, who are you, preacher?
Nobody. Paul said nothing. We're nothing. What do you know? Nothing of
myself. What can you do? Nothing. But
I know what He can do. And the excellence of the power
is not of us, it's of God. And when Paul said, you received
my message, you received it as the Word of God working effectually
in you, not the Word of man. And I'll tell you this, Remember,
God makes the most unlikely, the most unlikely vessel his
vessel. Both in the pulpit and the pew. God makes the most unlikely vessel
his vessel. The most unworthy. Why? That he might get all the
glory. That's what he said. He said
over here, let me read it to you. For you see your calling,
brethren? Not many mighty, not many wise,
not many noble are called. But God has chosen those that
the world calls foolish to confound the wise. And God hath chosen
the weak things of the world to compound the things which
are mighty, and God hath chosen the base things, and the things
which are despised hath God chosen, and the things that are not to bring to naught the things
that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence." He's
not going to have it. He's not going to tolerate it.
He's not going to put up with it. Pride and grace are incomparable. They cannot live in the same
heart. According as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord." Now this is important. Verse 9, and this describes you
and me. Listen to it, verse 9. The road
we walk through this world is not easy. And we can expect it to remain
this way as long as we're here, until we're made like Him. In the world you shall have tribulation
and trial. It's a tough road. I'm glad the
Lord said three score and ten, because I don't believe I could
stand it too much longer. Don't you? And that's what Paul said here.
He says in verse 8, he said we're troubled on every
side. Trouble in the flesh, trouble
in the heart, trouble in the mind. Trouble. Yet, we're not distressed. We do have peace. We have His
love. We have His promises. We have
access to His throne. We have His Word. We're troubled,
but we're not distressed. And He says, we're perplexed.
What does that word mean? It means uncertain, full of doubts. Why do these things happen? What's the purpose of God in
this? What is the purpose of God in this? You ever ask that?
Why is this happening? What good can possibly come out
of this? How can God's glory and my good be accomplished by
this? I'm perplexed, but I'm not in
despair. I'm not altogether without help
and support. The Lord is my helper. I'll not
fear what man can do. He'll help me. He said, I'll
never leave you. I'll never forsake you. I'm with
you always, even to the end of the world. Cast your care on
Him. He cares for you. But don't you
ask why? You're not real if you don't. And you're not honest if you
don't. Job did. Yes, what David did, the whole
73rd and 74th Psalm, isn't it Cecil? He's asking why. Why do
the wicked prosper and your people have a full cup wrung out to
them? Why do the wicked's eyes stand out in fatness and riches
and have all that the world could give while your people hurt and
moan and are weary and are chastised? Why? Well, we're perplexed, but
we're not and despair. He's my helper. And we're persecuted. Persecuted by the world, persecuted
by religious people. For our gospel. We're persecuted for our confidence
in His glory and sovereignty. People ridicule that which is
precious to us. I preached a sermon one time
in this city, in a church, on the effectual sacrifice of Christ. And the pastor got up and said,
a little later, he said, well, I'll tell you, he said, if Jesus
Christ only died for the elect, He ain't no Savior of mine. I tell you, folks don't like
this gospel of grace. And we're persecuted. Charles
Spurgeon wrote this one time. He said in that great city of
London where he preached for 35 years, 38 years, he said,
scarcely a preacher in the city of London will have anything
to do with me because they hate my message. Persecuted by religious people. But wait a minute. But not forsaken. Forsaken of
men, but not of the Lord. Disowned by men, but not by God. David said, when my mother and
father forsake me, the Lord will take me up. You can't even imagine
such a thing, can you? Mom and Dad, how they loved you. If they ever did, He still loves
you. And listen, cast down. And somebody
said, the clay pot, when it's cast down, cast to the ground,
thrown out, deserted, seemingly forgotten, disowned of men, dashed
to pieces, cast down, but not destroyed. We live by the power
of our Redeemer. We are immortal in Christ until
He takes us home. We may be cast out and cast down,
but we are not destroyed. And I'll close with this. Whatever
my state, whatever my condition, whatever my lot, I always have
a but not, but not. Troubled, but not distressed.
Perplexed, but not in despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken.
Cast down, but not destroyed. Not destroyed. God will use all
these things. In verse 10, He says, we apostles. He's talking about the apostles
here. He speaks of the suffering and afflictions of the apostles,
God's preachers. bearing about in the body the
dying of the Lord Jesus Christ, that the life also of Jesus may
be manifest in our body. For we which live are always
delivered unto death for Jesus' sake." Talking about the apostles,
the preachers of the gospel. "...that the life also of Jesus
might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then, death
worketh in us, but life in you."