Let us turn in our Bibles tonight
to 2 Corinthians chapter 2. This evening we are looking at
the first 11 verses in this chapter. 2 Corinthians chapter 2. But I determined this with myself,
that I would not come again to you in heaviness, For if I make
you sorry, who is he then that maketh me glad, but the same
which is made sorry by me? And I wrote this same unto you,
lest when I came, I should have sorrow from them of whom I ought
to rejoice, having confidence in you all that my joy is the
joy of you all. For out of much affliction and
anguish of heart, I wrote unto you with many tears. not that
you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which
I have more abundantly unto you. But if any have caused grief,
he hath not grieved me, but in part, that I may not overcharge
you all. Sufficient to such a man is this
punishment which was inflicted of many, so that contrarywise
ye ought rather to forgive him and comfort him lest perhaps
such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. Wherefore
I beseech you that you would confirm your love toward him.
For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of
you, whether you be obedient in all things. To whom you forgive
anything, I forgive also. For if I forgave anything to
whom I forgave it for your sakes, forgave I it in the person of
Christ. Lest Satan should get an advantage
of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices. We saw last week
that as the scriptures were divided, that chapter ends with an oath. If you notice in verse 23 of
chapter one, the apostle said, moreover, I call God for a witness
upon my soul, that to spare you, I came not as yet unto Corinth. What is the purpose of an oath? You know, there are those, have
been those, and are those who have taken the Lord's words in
the Sermon on the Mount to mean that believers should never take
an oath. His words there are, swear not
at all, neither by heaven, for it is God's throne, nor by the
earth, for it is God's footstool. But clearly, the Lord Jesus Christ
was not teaching that believers should never take an oath, that
believers should never swear to their testimony. Now, what
he was saying, of course, is that believers, our speech, we
should let our yea be yea and our nay be nay. And there's no
need for trivial swearing. oath taking over trivial matters. We've all known people, I'm sure,
who couldn't talk long before they said, well, I'll swear on
a stack of Bibles or something like that. Those things like
that, God's children should never do. We don't need to do those
things. When we say yes, then our word
should be yes. And when we say no, then our
word should be no. But there are matters of importance,
extreme importance, in which an oath is called for. John Calvin
said we should always remember that the purpose of an oath is
to promote God's glory and help our neighbors in a just cause. This was a matter of extreme,
extreme importance with the Apostle Paul. because they doubted his
trustworthiness. And so he takes an oath. He calls
God as his record upon his soul, that the reason that he had not
yet come to Corinth was to spare them. Remember in Hebrews chapter
six, we read, for men verily swear by the greater, That's
what's so amazing in that passage of scripture that God took an
oath. And because there's none greater
than God, he took an oath. He swore by himself. But the
scriptures there says, for men verily swear by the greater.
When you go into a court of law and you must testify, Then you
put your hand upon a Bible and you swear that the testimony
that you are giving is true. And that, as Scripture goes on
to say, and an oath is to them an end of all strife. When you
swear on a Bible to your statement, that should be true. You're not guilty of perjury.
You tell the truth. Well, Paul's oath should end
all controversy and debate as to why he had not as yet come
to Corinth. After saying that he would, in
his first letters, telling them that he would visit them, but
he did also say, if the Lord permit. But this oath, this should
put an end to all controversy, all debate, all questioning,
the reason the Apostle Paul had not yet come to Corinth. as he
said, was to spare them. Notice the text. Moreover, I
call God for a record upon my soul that to spare you, to spare
you, I came not as yet unto Corinth. Now, in looking at these verses
tonight, I want to divide the message into two parts. First,
You notice in verse 1, Paul says of chapter 2 of verse 1, But
I determined this with myself. In other words, he came to this
determination. He made up his mind, as we would
say. He made up his mind why he would
not come to Carth, and it was to spare them, but to help He
gives us in these verses of Scripture, I believe, three things that
helped him to come to this determination. This determination not to come
to Carth as of yet. First of all, we notice in verse
1, he determined not to come to them, to spare them, and his
determination was made up of the fact that he would not come
again in heaviness. But I determined this with myself,
that I would not come again to you in heaviness." Now, some
writers believe that the Apostle Paul had made a trip to Corinth,
of which we are not informed. It's not recorded in the Book
of Acts. But that's all supposition. It
may be so, we do not know. But I'm taking the position that
when he said, come again, that he came to them the first time
when he wrote the letter, the letter of 1 Corinthians. That's
the way that he came to them the first time. And they were
reproved. He came to them in heaviness,
which is sadness, is what the word heaviness here means. He
came to them in sadness. In other words, He made them
sad by His letter, because He reproved them. Remember, He begins
that letter, and I don't need to go through all of this, but
you know, there were divisions. There were divisions in the church
at Corinth, and that just wasn't to be. That just wasn't right,
and He reproved them for that. And one said, I'm of Peter, and
one said, I'm of Apollos, and another group said, I'm of Paul.
Is Paul crucified for you? Was Peter crucified for you or
Apollos? Were you baptized in my name
or in the name of Peter? Of course not. There should always
be unity among God's children in a church. And where there's
unity, that's where God The Scripture says, sends the blessing. He
reproved them. He came to them in heaviness,
reproving them for the divisions which existed in their church.
And then for that man who was living in incest, and they suffered
him to do that. And then some were going to law
with others. They were taking a brother to
law, and that before the world before unjust judges? Can you
imagine that? A Christian taking another Christian
to law and having that issue settled by a lost man? Can't
someone in the church, Paul said, even the least esteemed in the
church, isn't there someone there that could make a decision and
settle that? And you would rather suffer wrong
than to go before the world with such a testimony, bring such
a reproach upon Christ? You know, being a believer, a
child of God, brings responsibility, doesn't it? Being a member of
a church brings responsibility upon us. And we should be concerned
always about the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ and His
gospel. That should be a great concern
among God's children. And then, of course, he went
on to deal with offending weaker brothers. Some of them were eating
things which they knew had been offered to idols. And a man had
a weak conscience, and he just felt like if he ate anything
that had been offered in sacrifice to an idol that it was sin, it
shouldn't be done, and yet you go ahead and do it anyway. Go
ahead and do it anyway. He said, I came to you in heaviness. And then, also look over a few
pages back to 1 Corinthians 15. There was actually some in this
church who denied the resurrection. Should anyone be a part of a
local church, of a church of the Lord Jesus Christ that denies
the resurrection? No more so than one should be
a part who denies the crucifixion, the death of Christ. Look in
1 Corinthians 15 and verse 12, he said, now if Christ be preached
that he rose from the dead, now notice this, how say some among
you? People out in the world, they
can deny the resurrection, that's one thing. But how is it that
some among you, You suffer some among you to deny the resurrection
of the dead. Now, in these matters where Paul
dealt with them have produced sorrow or heaviness. And he said,
I determined this with myself that I would not come again to
you in heaviness. And we might say, I might put
some words in Paul's mouth here, if you doubt what I have just
said, if you doubt what I've just said, well then listen to
verse two. For if I make you sorry, No one
willingly brings sorrow upon himself. But that is exactly
what Paul said I would have done if I came among you before you
dealt with these matters. He had pointed them out and now
he gave them opportunity and time to deal with these matters. If he came to them before they
dealt with these matters, then he would come again in heaviness. And as he says here, for if I
make you sorry, who is he then that maketh me glad? No one,
as I said, no one willingly brings sorrow upon himself. But that
is exactly, Paul says, what I would have done if I came among you
again in heaviness. In verse three, he would have
them know that the first letter that produced such sadness in
them was not written to cause them grief. Paul was greatly
burdened, no doubt, over what he heard and what he knew was
transpiring in the church at Corinth. But he didn't write
the letter just to relieve himself of the burden, putting it upon
them. That was never his intention. That was not his main motive.
He wrote it because he loved them. He loved this congregation. Notice in verse 3, And I wrote
this same unto you, lest when I came I should have sorrow from
them of whom I ought to rejoice, having confidence in you all,
that my joy is the joy of you all. The second thing, explanation
I believe that helped him come to this determination was, He
would have them know that he wrote the first letter out of
his abundant love for them. And he says as much in verse
four, for out of much affliction and anguish of heart, I wrote
unto you with many tears, not that you should be grieved, that
was not my purpose, but that you might know the love which
I have more abundantly unto you. In his letter, in his letter,
he sounded extremely harsh. And do you know, I've had experience
in this, I'm sure many of you have as well. When you write
a letter, when you put something in a letter and send it to someone,
and they cannot hear your voice, and they cannot see the expression
on your face, sometimes the same thing that you could say against the same thing writing
comes out a different way. The person perceives your meaning
in a very different way. That's the reason as a pastor,
preachers, we often have cautioned one another, sleep on it. The
first inclination is write a letter, you know, settle this thing.
No, sleep on it. Sleep on it. Because many times
the letter sounds so harsh. And that's the way Paul knew
that his letter had sounded to them. It had sounded harsh. but
he wanted them to know that it was his intense love and concern
for them that had motivated him. And notice he says, which I have
more abundantly unto you. The church at Carth, and I don't
know how to to say this, but all of the churches, I know he
felt the burden of all the churches, he said, but this church at Carth
evidently had a very, very special place in his heart. As the congregation
that a man pastors always should have a special place in his heart. Someone told me something recently
about something or other I don't want to mention, but they said,
don't worry about it. I said, that's because you're
not the pastor. If you were the pastor, you'd be concerned. It's
easy for you to say that. Forget about it. Don't worry
about it. But as a pastor, it's a little bit different. And the
Apostle Paul had great love for this church, and he had written
the letter. It sounded harsh to them, He
wanted them to know that it was with many tears that he had written
the letter. And in this, you know, Robert
Hawker, I looked at his comments on this passage of scripture,
and he pretty well just skipped over it and said Paul was dealing
with some personal things here. But he was dealing with some
personal things, but we learned from this. And as one writer
pointed out, we learn the spirit in which reproofs and admonitions
should be administered, not harshly, but in love with compassion. As Paul wrote to the church at
Galatia, and he said, brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault,
you which are spiritual restore such in one in the spirit of
meekness. Considering thyself, lest thou
be tempted. And the third thing that helped
Paul to determine not to come to Corinth as of yet, we see
in verse five. He would make them aware that
he shared in their grief, but if any have caused grief, he
hath not grieved me, but in part, that I may not overcharge you
all. You and I, he says, we both share
in the same sorrow. Don't think my letter to be the
cause of your sorrow. They were in sorrow as they read
his letter, but Paul points out, don't blame your sorrow on my
letter. Let's look at the cause. Let's
look at the cause. And the cause isn't my letter.
The cause is because of that one person out He mentions one
thing in particular that had caused them grief and caused
him grief. Don't blame all your grief upon
me, Paul says, but you and I, we both have shared in the same
grief and that grief was caused by one individual. Now he doesn't
name this person, but everyone that I've read, or my thoughts
as well, he has reference to that man who was living in incest. Look with me, if you will, back
to 1 Corinthians chapter 5. Some people believe that this
man was a leader in the church. This man was one of their teachers,
preachers there in the church at Corinth. 1 Corinthians 5. It is reported commonly that
there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not
so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's
wife. And you are puffed up and have
not rather mourn that he that hath done this deed might be
taken away from among you. For I verily as absent in body
but present in spirit have judged already as though I were present
concerning him that hath done this deed. In the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, and my spirit
with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such an one
unto Satan, for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit
may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your glory is not
good, know you not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump."
Now, as I said, generally it's agreed that the one who had caused
this grief wasn't Paul's letter. What caused Paul to write the
letter? This man who was living in incest. He had grieved Paul
and only in part. If you notice back in the text
tonight, 2 Corinthians 1 and verse 5, where he said, but if
any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part. And I believe what Paul is saying
here is this, this particular individual, he caused me grief,
but only part of the grief. And the other part of the grief
was the Corinthians themselves, because they had allowed this
man to continue there as he lived in incest and to function in
this church. As I said, many people believed
that he was a leader in the church. And Paul said, you're puffed
up. In other words, you're proud. You're proud, and some say that
they were proud of the grace that they believed in, that we
believe in grace so strongly that we will allow a man like
this to be a member, to be a part of our congregation, because
after all, by grace are we saved through faith. Paul said, you're
puffed up. and rather should have mourned. Now, the second part of the message,
Paul instructs them about forgiveness. And notice he says, lest Satan
gain an advantage over us. Verses 6 through 11. It seems
that part of human nature is to go to an extreme. the pendulum. It swings this way and then it
swings all the other way back. And usually we're over here all
the way or we're over here all the way. And they were extreme,
first of all, in their position of tolerating this man. They
were extreme that they were not mourning over this fact and dealing
with this person. But then after they dealt with
him, and this man repented, then here they are over on the other
extreme with no forgiveness, with not receiving this man back
upon his repentance. And we know from church history
that the visible church, soon after the days of the Apostle,
turned away from the Apostle's teaching here about forgiving
a member who has fallen. They came up with rules that
would take a man sometimes three years, sometimes seven years. I remember reading in church
history different rules. A man who had fallen into some
sin and the church had dealt with him. He repented, then he'd
have to come into the congregation and for six months he could only
kneel. That's all he could do. And then
maybe for the next six months he had to stand up through the
whole service. Rules and regulations completely
different from what the Apostle Paul here is telling this church
to do. Notice he says, Sufficient to
such a man is this punishment which was inflicted by many. Paul had written to the church
and told them what they needed to do, or what they should do,
and it appears they did it. Now, the purpose of church discipline
is not to put a man out, it's not to turn a man out. The purpose
of church discipline is to make the person aware of his sin and
for him to repent of the sin. The responsibility now falls
upon the church to forgive this man. Yes, they dealt with him,
he repented, and now their responsibility was to forgive him, to receive
him, to show him their love. And Paul says, if you fail to
do this, then this particular man, he may be swallowed up with
overmuch sorrow. Verse 7. So that contrary wise,
you ought rather to forgive him and comfort him, lest perhaps
such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. What he needs now, Paul says,
his comfort. He doesn't need to be continued
in reproving him. to continue to treat him harshly,
that's not discipline, that's abuse. The church must be cautious
of falling into the sin of self-righteousness and not truly forgiving from
the heart a believer, a child of God who repents. Now I just
know this is so from the Word of God. That when a person sins,
when a person falls, there has to be a way for that person to
find forgiveness. There has to be a way. And there
is a way. God's way. And it is to confess
that sin, to repent of that sin. And once that is done, then forgiveness
is to take place. And to not forgive a person,
to not love that person, and receive that person as a brother
in Christ, as we should, is wrong. It's wrong. Now, you notice Paul,
he ends this passage with, lest Satan should get an advantage
of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices. I remember reading
many, many years ago, Thomas Brooks, I believe was the author,
the Puritan of Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices. And
he has many remedies, and Satan has many devices. But I think
the thing here that Paul is concerned about, he said, lest Satan should
get an advantage of us, I believe it's twofold. First of all, If
they did not forgive this man and receive this man back into
fellowship and love him as they should, then Satan would get
an advantage of them. In other words, people would
say, and Satan would instigate this, of course, ah, you see
how hard those people are. You see how mean-spirited those
people are. Here's a man who made a mistake,
who fell into sin, and they won't forgive him. They won't receive
him back. You know, when we come into this
world, the scripture says we are born with a stony heart. And a stony heart is a hard heart,
isn't it? A hard heart. But one of the
promises of the new covenant is God gives us a new heart. And it is called a heart tender
heart. It's a kind heart. As Paul told
the Ephesians, be ye kind, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as
God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Satan can get an advantage
over us, Paul said. People in the world will look
at this church and say, boy, those people are hard-nosed people.
Those people don't care. They don't love people. And a
second thing, the advantage of disunity in the church at Corinth. Because if some forgave the man
and others didn't, then there would be disunity. And the truth
is, they should all forgive this man and unity be restored in
the church. In looking at these verses of
scripture, I want to mention something here. In this letter, he wanted to
accomplish different things in writing that first letter. You
notice in verse four, he tells us he wrote the letter, verse
four, for out of much affliction and anguish of heart, I wrote
unto you with many tears. Not that you should be grieved,
but that you might know the love. Here was my purpose in writing.
Out of love. That you might know the love.
But then notice in verse 9, he said, For to this end also did
I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether you be
obedient in all things. To prove their obedience, he
said, I wrote this letter. And then, later in this letter,
in chapter 7, he tells us that he wrote the letter to bring
them to repentance. Now, all of these things, these
reasons he gives for writing this letter, they are all compatible. Now, one should think, well,
he said one thing and then he said something else. No, they're
all compatible. And this reminded me of a friend
of mine who told told me an experience that he had, a pastor. He put
an article in the local newspaper about sola, sola scripture, sola
Christ, sola faith, and sola grace. You know the word sola
means only. I've heard this was the watchword
of the Protestant Reformation, sola, sola. soul of scripture,
soul of Christ, soul of faith, and soul of grace. Well, after
he put that article in the newspaper, he was driving one day and he
heard a local preacher on the radio and he was just making
fun of his article. He was ridiculing my friend for
this article. He did it something like this.
Well, he says it's only Scripture, soul of Scripture, but then he
says it's soul of Christ. Well, what is it? Then he says
it's soul of grace. What is it? Soul of grace, soul
of Christ, soul of faith, soul of Scripture. And my friend,
he got so mad, he headed for the radio station. Thank the
Lord someone was with him who cautioned him that wouldn't be
a good thing to do. But all of those things are compatible,
right? Solo scripture, only scripture. We receive the message, the truth,
that which we believe and that which we practice from the scripture. Not from church traditions, not
from creeds or anything like that, only from the scripture.
And salvation is only in Christ, Christ plus nothing, nada. And Christ is received only by
faith, not by baptism, not by any other thing that we might
do. And we are saved only by grace. These four things are certainly
compatible and certainly reveal the truth of the word of God.
Paul, he gave, he gives three different reasons for writing
this letter, but they're all compatible. His love, his love,
first of all, to prove their obedience and then to bring them
to repentance. Well, I trust and pray the Lord
would bless these words to us this evening and the truth that
God has given us here may serve us as we seek to serve Him. Let's
take our hymn books and we'll sing a hymn before we are dismissed.