If you will, turn back in your
Bibles tonight to 2 Corinthians chapter 2. It has been two weeks since we
studied from this chapter, and I thought it would be good to
read the whole chapter at the beginning of the service just
now. We ended Last time with the Apostle Paul making this
statement in verse 11, for we are not ignorant of his devices. That is the devices of Satan. We're not ignorant of his devices,
how he tries to cause division and how he discourages and sometimes
would destroy, all the time would destroy. the people of God in
the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. This chapter, you notice,
it begins with Paul revealing why it was that he had not as
yet visited the city of Carth, or this church in the city of
Carth, for the second time. I think as we read and study
through 2 Corinthians, we see things about the Apostle Paul
that we do not see in any other part of the Word of God. We see
more of him personally in this second letter. But we know that
he had written the first letter and he closed that letter telling
them that he would visit them, he would come unto them if the
Lord will. Now false teachers, of course,
had come into this church as they always do. Whenever there's
a vacuum, you may be sure, when a minister of God, when a preacher
of the Lord Jesus Christ, a true preacher of God is taken away,
there's always those who will come in and try to destroy the
sheep. They're false preachers, of course. False teachers had come into
this church at Corinth, and they had latched on that statement
that the apostle gave them, that he would come to them, and seeing
that he had not yet come to them, they used that to reproach him
and to undermine his ministry among them. And they accused
him of being a man who preached yea and nay. He said he would
come, but he didn't come. And if he is that way in his
conduct, then he's that way in his message as well. He preaches
yea and nay. But by that, they meant his preaching
was uncertain. Sometimes he said one thing and
sometimes he said another. But the Apostle Paul makes it
clear that he preached Christ. He preached Christ and Him crucified. And that all the promises of
God, all of them, not most of them, all of the promises of
God are in Christ and they are all yea and amen. There's no uncertainty at all
in the message of Christ and in the message that the Apostle
Paul had preached among these Corinthians. He would not visit
them. If you look in verse 1, he said,
I determined this with myself. Here's the reason that I have
not yet visited you. I determined this with myself
that I would not come again to you in heaviness. In other words,
before he visited them again, he would hear from them. He would hear how they had responded
under that first letter that he had sent to them. Then in
verses five through 11 of this chapter, the second chapter,
we see how that they had dealt with the man who was guilty of
incest. Remember in his first letter,
he told them what they needed to do. And we see that they had
done this, and this man had repented, but now it seems that the church
has gone to the other extreme. Here's a man who was sorry for
his sin, who had repented of his sin, and they were not receiving
him back into fellowship and love as they should. And that's
what Paul means. We're not ignorant of Satan's
devices. He will do his best to cause
division and strife among the people of God, and to discourage
a believer. He will do his best to discourage
a believer. Here this man is, and yes he
fell into sin, yes he's guilty, but he's repented and now he
needs to be received back as a brother into fellowship. And if you fail to do that, then
he may be overwhelmed with sorrow. And that would be one of the
devices that Satan uses to discourage and to destroy those of the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now from verse 12, we begin where
the apostle, he just seems to forget about that, the fact that
he had said that he had determined he would not come to them until
He had heard from them. But he doesn't mention until
you look in chapter 7, 2 Corinthians chapter 7, from verse 12 of chapter
2 to chapter 7 verses 5 through 7. We have what Matthew Henry
called a long digression to give the Corinthians an account of
his travels and labors for the furtherance of the gospel. But
in chapter 7, verse 5, he tells us that, yes, he did hear from
them through Titus, or hear about them through Titus. For when
we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest. Now think
about this. This great apostle, the Apostle
Paul, he's confessing that when he first came into Macedonia,
and we'll see more of this in just a moment, but he said, I
had no rest. I had no rest. But we were troubled on every
side. And he makes it clear the thing
that troubled him, the thing that caused him not to have any
rest was his concern. over this church at Corinth,
and how they had received that first letter. For when we were
come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled
on every side. Without were fighting, within
were fears. Nevertheless God that comforted
those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus. Now what was it that comforted
him so much by Titus' coming. Titus had come from the church
at Corinth, bringing him news. And not by his coming only, but
by the consolation wherewith he was comforted in you, when
he told us your earnest desire, your mourning, your fervent mind
toward me, so that I rejoiced the more. Now we're going to
look at these verses 12 through 17 in chapter 2 tonight. And
we're dividing that into three parts. First of all, Paul's demonstration
of his care for the Corinthians. Verses 12 and 13, he said, Furthermore,
when I came to Troas to preach Christ's gospel, and a door was
opened unto me of the Lord, I had no rest in my spirit, because
I found not Titus my brother. But taking my leave of them,
I went from thence into Macedonia. Paul would not come directly
to Corinth, But he set out on what we call one of his missionary
trips, one of his missionary journeys. And the first place
he mentions that he came to was Troas. And he hoped to meet Titus
here in Troas. And the thing about meeting Titus
was Titus would bring a report concerning the church at Corinth. And this was all important to
the Apostle Paul. He first came to Troas, trusting
to meet Titus and to hear of the church at Corinth. The thing
he wanted to know was this, how did they receive that first letter?
What was their reaction from the letter that I wrote to them,
the first letter of Corinthians? Charles Hodge, in his commentary
on 2 Corinthians, wrote this. He said, and I quote, it seems
that he regarded this as a turning point in the history of that
church. If they submitted to his authority
and corrected the abuses which he had pointed out, and especially
if they excommunicated the member guilty of the unheard of offense
so often referred to in this chapter. Then he had hopes for
their stability in faith and progress in holiness. But if
they refused to regard his injunctions and persisted in the course on
which they had entered, then he foresaw their speedy destruction. It seems that Paul thought that
the future of this church hinged, if I might say that word, it
hinged on how they received his letter and how they corrected
those things in the church, those errors. And remember, there were
several of them, beginning with the divisions. There were several
errors in the church at Corinth. And he tells them that when he
came, he would not come directly to Carth because he wanted to
hear. He wanted to hear first about
them and how they had reacted, what their reaction was to that
letter. And so he came to Troas. But
now you notice he tells us in verse 12, when he came to Troas
to preach Christ's gospel, Now it didn't matter, it didn't matter
where Paul went, he was going to be preaching the gospel. That
was a given, that was just certain. God had called him to preach
the gospel and that was his work, that was his life. And when he
came to Troas, he tells us, he came there to preach the gospel
and God opened the door. A door, he says, a door was opened
unto me of the Lord. What does that mean, a door was
opened unto him? It means that God blessed his
ministry here, that people were coming to hear him preach, that
God was saving sinners, that he was preaching with liberty
and power. God opened the door. And the
thought that comes to my mind is this, the same Lord who must
open the heart of an individual to receive the word, to receive
the gospel. Remember the sower goes out to
sow, but why is that good ground? Who made that ground good into
which the seed falls and brings forth life and brings forth fruit? Well, you know that all men by
nature, none of us have a good heart. We have a hard heart by
nature. And so it's God, the same Lord
who opens the heart to receive the Word of God, just like He
opened Lydia's heart in Philippi that she attended unto the things
which were spoken by the Apostle Paul. So the same Lord who opens
the heart of those who hear and receive the Gospel, He's the
same Lord who opens the door, an effectual door in preaching. the gospel, giving power to the
one who preaches, and liberty in proclaiming the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said, God, the Lord opened
a door unto me here. This was not every place, and
we know that. Not every place where Paul went
did the Lord open a door. Sometimes they ran him out of
town. But in Troas, he tells us the
Lord opened a door here. And what I've said as the heading
of this is Paul's demonstration of his care for the Corinthians.
How has it demonstrated his care for these Corinthians? Because
he leaves Troas. Even though the Lord had opened
a door there, he leaves Troas and goes into Macedonia. Now
why would he do that? Why would he leave this place
where the Lord had opened this door and was blessing the preaching
of the gospel? Why would he leave here and go
into Macedonia? Because Titus would come to him. He would meet Titus on his trip
from Corinth through Macedonia. And he was so concerned for this
church in Corinth that he left this place and went to Macedonia
to speed up, if I might use that word, to speed up hearing about
the reaction of the church at Corinth to his first letter. John Calvin made this comment
to those who would question Paul. who would question why it is
that he would leave this place. Why would he leave Troas when
the Lord had opened a door there? Well, John Calvin, after saying
it is obviously right that he should hold in special affection
a church that his own ministry had founded. That's just obvious. And Paul was the one who took
the gospel to Corinth. And God raised up a church there.
And every pastor, every preacher loves God's people and loves
the various churches, but every pastor has a special love for
the church that God has used him to raise up. That's just
so. And Calvin said that, that's
obvious. But then he went on to say this,
It is not likely, it's not likely that he stirred an inch. That's
what Calvin said. It's not likely that he stirred
an inch from Troas till he had provided a substitute to take
advantage of the open door in his place. And I'm sure that
is true. He did leave, and he left because
he wanted to hear. He wanted to meet Titus. And
this shows his affection. He demonstrates his love and
his care for this church when he tells them that he left this
place where the Lord had opened this door for him. And he went
on into Macedonia because he knew he would hear faster from
Titus. Now the second thing I want to
point out is Paul's thanksgiving to God in verses 14 through 16.
He says, Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph
in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by
us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet saver
of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish. To the
one we are the saver of death unto death, and to the other
the saver of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these
things? Now Paul, he does not tell us
what he heard from Titus. We jumped ahead. We went to chapter
7 a few minutes ago and we saw that he met Titus. But in this
place, he just starts thanking God, offering thanksgiving to
God for the ministry that God had given him. In beginning what
he now says about his ministry with thanksgiving unto God, he
acknowledges that all the glory, not most of the glory, not 99%
of the glory, but that all the glory for His ministry, that
is the Apostle Paul's ministry, belongs to God. That God, had
it not been for the Lord's blessing, then His words, His preaching,
would go about as far as the end of the pulpit, you know,
and they'd just fall to the ground. Without God's blessing upon the
preaching of His word, there is no blessing. And Paul knew
that, and Paul confesses and gives thanks unto God. Thanksgiving,
he says, but thanks be unto God. He acknowledged that all, all
the glory belonged to God. Paul was a man who was used,
and yes, he was greatly used as an apostle, as a missionary
preaching the gospel. He ministered in many places
and many churches were raised up under his ministry, but all
the glory and all the praise was not to be given to the Apostle
Paul. Paul acknowledged that. God will
not share his glory with another. And every man who preaches the
gospel is well aware of the fact that if he is used For the good
of God's people, all the glory belongs unto the Lord. Not to
the man, but unto him, unto God. Now there are two subjects in
these verses that I want to emphasize tonight. First, God always causes
us to triumph in Christ. Do you see that? He said, Now
thanks be unto God, which always, always, not most of the time,
no, no, God always causeth us to triumph in Christ. Now clearly Paul here is speaking
of ministers of the gospel. But what he says in that statement
is true of all of God's people. It's true of you. If you are
one of his children tonight, this is true of you. God always,
God always causes his people to triumph in Christ. Those of us who are in Christ,
We are always triumphant. Or as he says in Romans chapter
8, we are more than conquerors. There's no, he doesn't say part
of the family of God or most of the family, no. All the family
of God. All the children of God. He always
causes us to triumph in Christ. All of the people of God. We
are all more than conquerors. through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Our victory, our triumph, now listen to me, is not circumstantial. Our victory, our triumph, is
not circumstantial. It is relational. It's relational. It is because of our relation
to Christ. Being in Christ. We are all more
than conquerors. We always triumph in Christ. Now, see if I'm not correct in
this. Most of us think that victory
is getting out of an impossible situation. We see ourselves or
we find ourselves in what we consider to be an impossible
situation. And so we think victory, victory
means being more than a conqueror, means always triumphing in Christ,
means that we somehow get out of that situation. But that's
not so. That's not so. Look over back
to Romans chapter 8 in the passage where Paul declares that we are
more than conquerors in Christ. Think about this. For a child
of God, for any child of God, for a child of God to be ultimately
defeated He would have to be separated from Christ's love. And that's just not going to
happen. For any child of God to be ultimately
defeated, he would have to be separated from Christ's love,
and that's not going to take place. That's just not going
to happen. Here in chapter 8 of Romans,
verse 35, he said, Who shall separate us From the love of
Christ shall tribulation. You're in tribulation. That doesn't
separate you from the love of Christ. And you are a conqueror. Why? Because of your relationship
to Christ. We think, well, we're victorious
if we get out of the tribulation. No, in the tribulation. In the
tribulation. In the distress. Whatever it
is. We are more than conquerors.
Why? Because we are in Christ, our
relationship to Christ. Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword
as it is written, now look at this, for thy sake we are killed
all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for
the slaughter. Here's a person who is led like
a sheep to the slaughter, to be martyred, to be burned at
the stake, whatever. Even in that, more than conquerors. How's that possible? Because
of our relationship to Christ. In all these things, notice,
Verse 37, And all these things we are more than conquerors through
him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the
love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. For any child
of God to be ultimately defeated, he would have to be separated
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. And that's just
something that will never take place. So back in our text, all
of God's children, he causes us always to triumph in Christ. And we should see ourselves,
we should think of ourselves not as defeated, no, but as more
than conquerors because of our relationship to Christ. We always, as he says, we always
triumph in Christ. Now the second thing I want to
point out is the gospel of Christ is always a sweet savor. Always. The gospel of Christ
is always a sweet savor. In the Song of Solomon, and I
think Bill, you referred to this a moment ago about the name of
Christ. All that thrills my soul is Jesus,
the name of Christ. In the Song of Solomon, in the
first chapter, it says, Because of the savor of thy good ointments,
thy name, thy name, thy person, the person of Christ, is as ointment
poured forth. It's Like this, when the gospel
is preached, it's like opening a box. If we had a box that was
sealed, seal-proof, and there was a fragrance in that box that
was so beautiful, the fragrance, the savor, and we opened up that
box and that fragrance would come out and fill the room. That's the picture here. The
gospel of Jesus Christ is always, always a sweet savor. Smells good. Tastes good. Thrills the heart. Always. It's a savor of life unto life
unto those who believe. But the same gospel... The same
gospel is a savor of death unto death unto those who do not believe. But the gospel is always a sweet
savor. Always. To God's, both to the
saved and to the lost. And the Apostle Paul asked that
question. Who is sufficient for these things?
Knowing that when we preach the gospel, there are those who hear
the gospel, And it is to them a sweet savor of life unto life,
and they rejoice in it. And there are others who hear
the same gospel, the same message, and it doesn't interest them
at all, has no appeal to them at all. It's a savor of death
unto death unto them. And the gospel is well-pleasing. Think about this. The gospel
is well-pleasing to God whether men receive it or reject it. It's well-pleasing to God, the
gospel. In this, you and I, we see the
importance of preaching the gospel. John Gill, and a lot of times
people think that John Gill was a hyper-Calvinist. John Gill
was a Calvinist, period. He was not a hyper-Calvinist.
A hyper-Calvinist is someone, in my opinion, who thinks, well,
God has chosen a people and they're going to be saved no matter what.
Well, they're going to be saved no matter what, but that what
includes hearing the gospel and believing the gospel. And John
Gill made this comment on this verse of Scripture. He said,
the gospel preached by Christ's faithful ministers is the means
of quickening souls and giving them spiritual life, and of supporting
and maintaining that life, and of nourishing them up unto eternal
life, and so becomes a saver of life, spiritual unto life
eternal. Did you notice he said that the
gospel is the means of giving spiritual life? We've got to
hear. You cannot come back from a place
you have not been. And you cannot believe in a person
of whom you have not heard. The gospel is the means of giving
life. But this life that we are given,
it needs to be supported. It needs to be maintained. And
what is it that supports and maintains this spiritual life? It's the gospel. It's the gospel. We never tire. We never grow
weary of hearing the gospel. And we never come to the place
where we do not need to hear the gospel, the message of Jesus
Christ. Now, let me close with this last
point. Paul's description here of a
true minister in verse 17. He said, 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. You notice he said
we are not as many. There are many false teachers. John said it like this. Beloved,
believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, for there are
many false prophets gone out into the world. Paul said, we're
not like the many who corrupt the word of God. A true minister
of the gospel, two things about a true minister in this verse.
He must not corrupt the word of God. Now, this word that is
translated here corrupt comes from a word which means a huckster. A preacher is not a huckster. What's a huckster? Well, you
remember in those old movies we used to see, and I suppose
it was true, a man would come into town in a wagon and he'd
be selling some kind of drink, you know, it'd cure everything.
No matter what you had, what kind of sickness you had, what
kind of hells you had, you know, you buy this bottle of this miracle
stuff and drink it and he'd sell that stuff and he'd be gone.
He'd be gone out of town. It was whatever it was. He was
just a huckster. He was a deceiver. And to corrupt
the Word of God means to adulterate the Word of God. It means to
add to, add to the Word of God. Your picture is of a man selling
wine. And so that he has, let's say,
a barrel of wine. It only has so many gallons in
there, but you add some water, put some water in the wine as
you pull it out of there, and my, you can make a whole lot
more money. You adulterate the wine. You cut the wine with water. I remember years ago reading
of that. He was a famous man back in the
history of Texas. He had a, had the contract to
sell milk to an orphanage in San Antonio. And he would, he
would bring that milk. And now they said this, that
sometimes you could see the men are swimming in the milk. He
brought the milk all right, but along the way, he stopped by
the river and put some water in there, you know, so that he
was selling more milk than what he really, he adulterated the
milk, that's what I'm saying. And men take the word of God
and they adulterate, they corrupt the word of God by adding lies
to the truth, to the pure milk of the word of God. That's a
false teacher who will do that. And once you begin to add, You know, there's some rough
edges. There's some sharp edges on the gospel, in the gospel.
And what men try to do is take their file out, like Brother
Barnard used to say, and smooth off those rough edges, those
sharp edges. Don't mention election. Don't
mention the sovereignty of God. Don't mention any of these things
that are so offensive to the natural man. Make it smooth,
make it palatable, so that it is received by everyone. That's to adulterate the Word
of God, to add to the pure Word of God. And number two, a minister
of the gospel, he must not add, he must not adulterate the Word
of God, and he must be sincere. He must be sincere as in the
sight of God. A preacher must recognize that
every time he stands to preach, people may be watching him, they
may go to sleep, but I tell you, God is always watching. We always preach in the sight
of God. I pray that the Lord would bless
these words to all of us here tonight and I think we should
sing another verse or two of a hymn and go away rejoicing,
rejoicing in Christ.