At hymn, I'm always reminded
of the scripture, first of all, which speaks of being under his
wings, and also a story that I read a number of years ago.
The scripture is found in Psalm 57, Be merciful unto me, O God,
be merciful unto me, for my soul trusteth in thee. Yea, in the
shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge until these calamities
be overpassed. I think of that scripture, being
under his wings, and then I think of the story that I read, which
happened in the Midwest part of our country years ago. A tornado came, and it came through
a farm area. And there was a hen out in the
hen yard, the chicken yard, whatever. And she called those chicks under
her wings. And that tornado came by and
picked her up and took her several miles and dropped her, deposited
her somewhere. Of course, she was dead. But
those chicks were still under her wings. even through the tornado,
and how safe you and I are under the wings of our Father. Underneath
are the everlasting arms. Let's turn back now, if you will,
to 2 Corinthians chapter 13. One of the bad things about having
a An older pastor is, we remember a lot of things. And we have
to be careful we don't take up our time with things like that.
2 Corinthians chapter 13. The last time that we studied
from this book was of course two weeks ago. And we were looking
in chapter 12. And we saw how it is that the
Apostle Paul mentioned that he feared that he feared, if you
notice back in chapter 11 verse 20, he said, for I fear lest
when I come I shall not find you such as I would. He had a
fear that when he came to visit this church at Corinth he would
not find them like he would have liked to have found them. And
I said at that time, I'm convinced the way he would have liked to
have found them is the way every pastor would like every church
to be, and that is of the same mind, everyone of the same mind. And if you look over to Philippians
chapter two, this is set forth to us to this church, Philippians
chapter two, He says, if there be therefore
any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship
of the Spirit, if any vows and mercies, fulfill ye my joy. This would be my joy as an apostle,
as a pastor, that you be like-minded, having the same love of one accord,
of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife
or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other
better than themselves. Look not every man on his own
things, but every man also on the things of others. One of
our problems is we're all self-centered. Self-centered, self-sufficient,
self-reliant, all of those things that do not help us in our spiritual
life. We need to be dependent upon
Christ for everything, for all our strength. He is our strength.
He must be our strength. And the apostle goes on, let
this man be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being
in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of
a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross." So Paul, he feared that
he would not find them as he would like to find them. And
I said, again, He would have liked to have found them of one
mind, the way every pastor would love his church to be, always
to be of one mind. And I'm thankful for this church,
for the fellowship that we have and the unity which we have.
But he feared that when he came to this church, there would be
debates. And by debates, this would mean
that there were still of factions in the church, some saying they
were of Paul, some of Apollos, some of Peter, and so forth and
so on. And not being like-minded, not
being of one mind, not having that unity of spirit that is
essential. And this would not be pleasing.
It would not be a pleasing experience for Paul or for them. And if
you look back to 2 Corinthians chapter 1, at the very beginning
of this letter, He told them that this is one of the reasons
he had not come as of yet to visit them. In 1 Corinthians
1 and verse 23, he said, moreover, I call God for a record upon
my soul, that to spare you, I came not as yet unto Corinth. He felt like if he came, he would
not find them as he liked. And he would be humbled among
them. In other words, he would have
to deal harshly with them, and he was going to do it. And that
would not be a pleasing experience for him as an apostle or for
them as believers in the church there at Corinth. Now, in looking
at this last chapter tonight, I want to divide our thoughts
into three parts. And the first division is this.
Paul declares that if that if he came, the issue would be settled. He declares that if he came to
Corinth, the issue would be settled. What am I calling an issue here?
His apostleship. his apostleship. The design of
the false teachers who had come among the Corinthians was to
call his apostleship into question. And what was so damaging about
that is, if they could show that he was not a legitimate apostle,
that would mean that his gospel was not the legitimate gospel. And that's what they wanted to
do. That was their bottom line, their intention, the false preachers,
They preached a gospel which was a mixture of works and grace. And to undermine that message
which Paul preached, which was a message of grace, 100%, pure,
sovereign grace. For by grace are you saved through
faith. I mean, he says that over and
over again in his letters. He teaches the same thing, but
they They would undermine his apostleship, and in turn, that
would undermine the gospel which he preached unto them. The gospel
of the grace of God. And it gives some credence to
their message. A gospel, a message which mixed
works and grace together. And you remember in Romans, he
tells us that's an impossibility. If it's of works, then it's of
works. If it's of grace, then it's of grace. But it's not both,
works and grace. It cannot be. I gave the example
in the message Sunday morning. Let me remind us of this, but
the gospel is good news. And anytime you mix works with
the so-called gospel, it's no longer good news. Because if
it depends upon something that we must do, if it is not totally
dependent upon the purpose and will and sacrifice and the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ, then how could anyone ever receive
it as good news or have any real assurance? And I mentioned in
the message Sunday morning, that message when those 11 brothers
When they left Joseph, I won't go through that story again,
but when they found out Joseph was alive and they were going
back to tell their father, don't you know they had a spring in
their step? They had some good news, good news that they knew
that their father would rejoice in hearing. He had grieved, he
had refused to be comforted ever since Joseph had disappeared. He supposed he'd been Slaughtered
by a wild beast and they were going back to tell him he's not
dead He's alive and that's the gospel. Isn't it that Christ?
He's not dead Yes, he died in the stead of sinners, but he's
alive We have victory in Christ because he conquered sin and
death and hell and all of our enemies and We sang that hymn
just a few moments ago, Victory in Jesus. That's where the victory
is, isn't it? It's in him. It's all in him. Well, let's look at these verses,
these first six verses. Verse one, this is the third
time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three
witnesses shall every word be established. Now what does he
mean here by saying this is the third time I am coming to you?
Well, if you check the various commentators, you will find there
are many suggested answers. But I think the very best answer
is that he had been with them once, recorded in Acts chapter
18, when he preached the gospel there the first time. And then
when he wrote the first letter, he was with them a second time. And now he's writing the second
letter, he would be with them the third time. Because you notice
in verse 2, he said, I told you before and foretell you as if
I were present with you. This is the third time I'm coming
to you. First in person, he came bringing
the gospel to them. And then second, when he wrote
the first letter, and now this is the third time that he is
coming to them. And as far as is this being established
in the mouth of two or three witnesses. I believe he has reference
to our Lord's words in Matthew chapter 18. Let me read these
to us. In Matthew chapter 18 and verses
15 and 16, our Lord told us what we are to do if there's a problem
or a difficult situation. Matthew 18 and verse 15. Moreover, if thy brother shall
trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between you
and him alone. You go to him personally, you
tell him if he's trespassed against you. If he shall hear thee, thou
hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee,
then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two
or three witnesses every word may be established. The gospel
that the Apostle Paul preached, his doctrine, and the way that
he exhorted believers to live had all been established in these
three visits. His visit in person, his first
letter, now this letter, and those who had heard him preach
and read the letters, they knew this was established in the mouth
of two or three witnesses, much more witnesses actually. Verse
2, I told you before and foretell you as if I were present the
second time and being absent now write to them which heretofore
have sinned and to all other that if I come again I will not
spare. He had faithfully faithfully
dealt in his first letter with those problems. I forget how
many problems are mentioned. You know, the man who's living
in incest. There's a question of taking
each other to law. There was a question over certain
meats, whether they should eat this or that, and all of those
subjects he had dealt with. He had faithfully dealt with
them in the first letter, with all of those problems in the
church, and he had warned them correct these problems, deal
with these problems. As far as that man living in
incest, you remember he said, you come together and when my
spirit is with you, then you deal with that man, you turn
him over to Satan. And Paul now says, now if those
things haven't been corrected and I come, I'm not going to
spare. He, and I've told us this several times, you know this,
But an apostle had authority that a minister like myself does
not have. Those apostles of the Lord Jesus
Christ, they had authority for him to write to the church and
say, you turn that man over to Satan. That the body may be destroyed
and the soul be saved, yes. But a pastor today doesn't have
that kind of authority. There was certain signs of an
apostle And he said, if I come and these issues have not been
settled in the way they should be settled, then I'm not going
to spare. I'm not. I'm going to deal with
them. And Paul knew that that was going to be a very uncomfortable
situation. It'd be uncomfortable for him. No preacher wants to have to
do something like that. and be uncomfortable to the person
who was in the wrong and to everybody else that is associated with
it. Now verses three and four, he
says, since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, which
to you, word, is not weak, but is mighty in you, For though
he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of
God. For we also are weak in him,
but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you.
They questioned his apostleship because the false teacher said,
he's weak. He's a weak guy. And I think
this primarily had reference to his physical being, that he
was somewhat weak. I believe it pertained to his
bodily appearance. But the Corinthians, what Paul
is saying is here, you of all people, you of all people who
were converted under my ministry should have known better. The
gospel of Christ that I preached, it came to you in power. Yes,
they say I'm weak, bodily weak, have an appearance of weakness,
but you of all people should know and be able to testify that
His message is not weak, His message is the power of God unto
salvation, unto us, unto us who have believed, as the Scripture
says. And yes, He said on the cross,
to an outward appearance to the world, it looked like the Lord
Jesus Christ was hanging there in weakness, as if against His
will He was being crucified. Nothing could have been farther
from the truth. He gave himself. No man taketh
my life from me, but I lay it down of myself. But yes, it appeared
outwardly he was being crucified in weakness to the world. The apostles, they appeared weak. In one place he said, I believe
that God has made us apostles to the offscouring of the world. And I think that means, you know,
like when you're washing dishes, you know, and you're scouring
the pots and pans, that refuge is just pitch out there, you
know, as dirty water or whatever. Paul said that's the way it appears
that God has made us apostles before the world. We appear to
be weak, but God is using us. The power of God is upon us. especially the power of God's
grace because so many people were converted in that first
century. When you read the history of
the church, I know it's hard for us today to really enter
into this maybe, but when you read when the Lord Jesus Christ
ascended back to the Father there was a hundred and twenty believers
in that upper room. After the day of Pentecost and
the Holy Spirit came upon upon his church, and the apostles
went out, and not only them, but ministers went forth preaching
the gospel. In just a few years, history
tells us that temples that had been dedicated to false gods,
pagan gods, were turned into temples where Christians worshipped.
They emptied the temples. God did. He emptied the temples
of those pagan religions through the ministry of what to the world
appeared to be weakness, to show that the power was not in the
instrument, but in the hand that wielded the instrument, in God. Verses 5 and 6, he says, examine
yourselves, whether you be in the faith. Prove your own selves.
Know you not your own selves? Now that Jesus Christ is in you,
except you be reprobates, But I trust that you shall know that
we are not reprobates." When he says, prove yourselves, whether
you be in the faith, and this will testify, the very fact that
you are believers, that you are saved, that you're in the faith,
will testify to the fact of my message, of the gospel that I
preached. Because you believed the gospel
when I brought it among you. This will show that Christ spoke
in him because it was by his ministry that they were in the
faith. If you look back to 1 Corinthians
chapter 4 and verse 15, let me just read this for you. He said,
For though you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have
you not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus I have begotten
you through the gospel. I mean, there may have been some
churches in the world at that time, I know there were, where
Paul had never preached. They had not been saved under
his ministry. But to a church like Corinth,
the very fact that they were saved was proof positive that
the gospel that Paul preached was the true gospel. And that's
what he's telling them to do. Examine yourselves and see if
you be in the faith. If you're in the faith, how did
you come to the faith? Through the preaching of the
gospel. Now listen. Leaving the Corinthians
for a few minutes, this is always a good thing for all of us to
do. Examine yourselves. Know you're
not your own self. Know that Jesus Christ is in
you. except you be reprobates. It's always a good thing for
God's children, for all of us, to examine ourselves. But let me say this. In examining
ourselves, there's a right way and there's a wrong way. And
the truth of the matter is, most of the time, we go the wrong
way. There's a right way to examine
ourselves and there's a wrong way. And I'm going to quote Robert
Hawker on this. He said, the only caution to
be observed in doing this is to form our conclusions by the
Lord's standard and not our own. Most are apt to err in their
calculations for want of attending to this grand distinction. Our
safety is in Christ, not in ourselves. And hence I draw my conclusions
of happiness in the Spirit's testimony from what I am to Christ
and what Christ is to me, and not to what I feel of those things. It may be at times from various
causes my joys in those things are not at hand. But the things
themselves are the same. Therefore, the unerring standard
in proving ourselves is God's manifestation of his love for
his people in Christ and not their sense of that love. There
will be, there must be, a continual fluctuation between hope and
fear while men are looking to somewhat within. instead of always
looking off self unto Christ. It is his putting away sin by
the sacrifice of himself which is the sole cause of our salvation. Our apprehension of him and his
finished work by faith is the effect. While believers prove
themselves by this standard, They never fail to discover the
state of grace in which they stand and rejoice in hope of
the glory of God. I know that's a long quotation,
but you understood. As long as we look, we examine
ourselves as this verse tells us to do, there's a right way
and there's a wrong way. The wrong way is to look within. The right way is to look to Christ,
always to Christ. who he is and what he's done
and the fact that in him we are accepted. Accepted in the beloved. All right, here's the second
part of the message. So Paul, he said this issue is
going to be decided. If I come, it's going to be decided.
Second, Paul desired that his power as an apostle be for edification
and not destruction. That's what I said just a moment
ago. He had, as an apostle, he had extraordinary power, gifts,
signs, and wonders which were wrought by the apostles. But
Paul knew that this power that was given to him, it wasn't given
to him to destroy. It was given to him to edify.
You know, it's a whole lot easier to run people off, as someone
said, than it is to minister to people and for them to continue
to come and hear the gospel. It's easy for a preacher to get
out of chart and get up and say things that he shouldn't say,
and make people mad, offend people, and people get mad and leave.
That's easy to do. But that's not the desire of
a pastor. And Paul, he had power. He could settle that issue. But
he knew that the power that was given to him, as far as he was
concerned, was not to destroy people. It was to build people
up, to edify people. Notice in verse seven. Now, I
pray to God that you do no evil. Not that we should appear approved. I'm not praying this so that
we would appear approved. That's not the reason I'm asking
God in prayer that you do no evil, but that you should do
that which is honest, though we be as reprobates, though we
be thought to be reprobates. My prayer to God for you is that
you do no evil. Matthew Henry made this comment
on that statement. Now pray to God that you do no
evil. This is the most desirable thing
we can ask of God, both for ourselves and our friends, to be kept from
sin. that we and they may do no evil. And it is most needful that we
often pray to God for this grace to keep us, because without this,
we cannot keep ourselves. Isn't that a wonderful truth
and wonderful statement? This is the most desirable thing
we can ask of God for ourselves and for our friends. That we
do no evil. That God keep us from evil. Because we recognize if he doesn't
keep us, we're not gonna be kept. That's for sure. And there's
a reason. There's a reason in our Lord's
model prayer that he said, you pray like this. lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. There's a reason
he told us to pray like that, isn't there? There is an evil
one, Satan, and he would love nothing better than to destroy
your testimony and to ruin your life before other people, and
mine too, I know that. We pray, pray for ourselves,
pray for others that we do no evil. He did not ask this that
he might be approved as an apostle, but it was for God's glory. Even
if it meant that he be considered a reprobate. Do that which is
honest, he said. Do no evil and do that which
is honest. For we can do nothing against
the truth, but for the truth. His power as an apostle would
not be used against the truth, against honesty, but it would
be used for the truth. And then verses 9 and 10. For
we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. This also
we wish even your perfection, that therefore I write these
things being absent, lest being present. I should use sharpness
according to the power which the Lord hath given me. Here
it is again. Paul knew as an apostle he had
power, but as he said, it was given to me to edification and
not to destruction. He desired their perfection,
that is their sincerity, and that's the reason he wrote as
he did. And when he came, he would not need to use sharpness
if they received the message. Now the last part of this letter,
verses 11 through 14, we see three things. First of all, there's
an exhortation to the church. Be perfect, be of good comfort,
be of one mind, and live together in peace. To be perfect as a
church is to be knit together in love. That's the first thing. Second thing, there's a promise. First, there's an exhortation
to the church. Second, there's a promise to
the church, the presence of God. The God of love and peace. And the God of love and peace
shall be with you. Isn't that a wonderful promise? I've been impressed, it seems
like lately, more than ever before on the number of promises that
we are given in the scripture. And we only defraud ourselves
by not claiming these promises. They're here for God's children. And like I think Mr. Spurgeon
said one time about a promise, when God opens a well for one
believer, unless he tells us this is only for this person,
we're all free to drink from it. We're all free to drink from
the promise, wherever it's found, in the Word of God. And then
thirdly, there's this benediction for the church the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of
the Holy Ghost be with you all. What a benediction, what a dismissal
to his epistle. And I challenge you, every letter,
you know, you begin with Romans, first, second Corinthians, go
through all these letters that Paul wrote, and you look at close
to the end, usually almost at the very end, And what you're
going to find is his signature. He's not going to write the Apostle
Paul, but what he is going to write, the grace of God be with
you. You're going to find he signs
off every letter speaking of the grace of God. Let's sing
a verse or two of a hymn. I pray that the Lord bless these
words to those of us here tonight.