2 Corinthians chapter number 1 here. I'm going to be starting a Bible study through 2 Corinthians
on Wednesday nights. I'm just starting it early. Tonight Wednesday's sermon was a little
more like a Sunday sermon. And so tonight you're getting a Wednesday sermon on Sunday.
So if you never come on Wednesday nights, then you're getting to see what Wednesday
night sermons are like, where we go through the Bible verse by verse. So I'll jump into
chapter 2 this Wednesday and then chapter 3 next Wednesday, God willing, and keep on
going through this book. But this is a wonderful book in the New Testament. It's interesting
how Paul wrote so much to the church at Corinth because he wrote these two long books. I mean
he wrote 16 chapters in 1 Corinthians and 13 chapters in 2 Corinthians. So this church
was obviously pretty important to him to write that much to them. He says at the beginning
here in verse 1, Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God and Timothy our
brother unto the church of God which is at Corinth with all the saints which are in all
Achaia. Now Achaia is southern Greece. In the Bible you read about Macedonia and Achaia
and those two places collectively make up what we would know today as the country of
Greece. And of course most of the books in the New Testament are written two places in
Greece or in Turkey or Asia Minor. And so that's why this doctrine is so silly that
says that the New Testament wasn't written in Greek. This is a trendy new doctrine that's
just come out. I had never heard of this until recently. But now people are trying to say
that the New Testament was originally written in Hebrew or Aramaic and we got to get back
to the Hebrew roots of Christianity and all this stuff. Folks it makes no sense because
if you look at the books and who they're written to, they're written to the church at Corinth.
That's a city in Greece. And if you look at the other places, Galatia, Asia Minor, Ephesus,
Asia Minor, Colossae, Philippi, Macedonia, all these different places. They're either
in Achaia or Macedonia or what the Bible calls Asia which we know today as modern day Turkey,
Asia Minor. Back then it was a totally Greek speaking place. And remember when John wrote
Revelation it was to the seven churches in Asia. And we see Luke writing the Gospel of
Luke to his friend Theophilus. And then the book of Acts is written to Theophilus. And
when you read about the apostles and they talk about their friends and fellow helpers,
whether it's John or Paul talking, they both talk about people with Greek names. They talk
about guys like Demetrius, Marcus, Aristarchus, Lucas. These are not Jewish names or Hebrew
names. They are Greek names. So the New Testament is a book predominantly written to Greek speaking
people because that was the main language at the time. If the Bible were being written
today it would be written in English because that's the language that most people speak.
And Greek was the main language at the time of Christ that was the lingua franca and so
it was a way for the Gospel and the Word of God to go out into all languages by going
out in Greek and then it could be translated from Greek immediately into other people's
languages. So Corinth is in Achaea and he's saying here this letter is for you at Corinth
but he wanted it to be read to everybody in the whole region of Achaea. And so obviously
the letters in the Bible, they're not just written to their intended recipient. They're
also just open letters. So just because the letters to Timothy or Titus or Philemon, it's
to all of us, right? And the letter to the Corinthians is for all of us to read and profit
from but obviously it specifically deals with the church at Corinth more than anything else.
So it says in verse 2, Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord
Jesus Christ. Blessed be God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies
and the God of all comforts. So we see that throughout the New Testament, the Bible differentiates
between God the Father and Jesus. God the Father and Jesus are not the same person.
We believe in the Trinity here. The Trinity is the teaching that there are three persons,
one God. You've got the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. These three are one. So we
do believe in the deity of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is God. He's fully God. He's
co-eternal, co-equal with God the Father but they're not the same person. They are distinct
one from another. That's why Jesus said, I came not to do my own will but the will of
him that sent me. He said, I don't bear record of myself. If I bear record of myself, my
record's not true. He that sent me bears record of me and I bear record of myself. It's written
in your law the testimony of two men is true. There's me and there's the Father. So there
you go. It's pretty clear. The word even in the Bible is often referring to something
more specific. So when it says blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
he's telling us I'm talking to you about God and more specifically I'm talking to you about
God the Father because I'm talking to you about God even the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Sort of like in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 when it talks about Jesus delivering up
the kingdom to the Father and it says he'll deliver it up to God even the Father. So the
even there is telling you specifically where, okay. It'd be like if I said I'm going to
Arizona even unto Tempe, right. I'm basically getting more specific. So and again if anything
that just proves even more strongly the deity of Christ that when he says God sometimes
he has to get more specific like, you know, he's going to deliver the kingdom to God even
the Father. Why? Because the Son is also God and the Holy Spirit is also God. And so from
beginning to end, 2 Corinthians affirms the doctrine of the Trinity. In fact, there's
a great verse on the Trinity if you flip to the very end of 2 Corinthians chapter 13.
The last verse of 2 Corinthians 13 is a good verse on the Trinity because it says in verse
14, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy
Ghost be with you all. Amen. So right there you have all three mentioned there. You have
Jesus, you have God which is referring to the Father and you have the Holy Ghost all
mentioned in one verse. So it's not just 1 John 5, 7. It's not just Matthew 28. There
are multitudes of places throughout the New Testament that put those three together as
we see there in 2 Corinthians. So back to chapter 1, it says in verse 3, blessed be
God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort
who comforteth us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in
any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. Now, this is a great
verse about why we go through some of the sufferings that we go through in our life.
And we're all going to go through suffering in our life. We're all going to go through
things that are painful and things that are harmful to us. And sometimes we don't understand
why. But the Bible tells us in verse 5, for as the sufferings of Christ abound in us,
so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. And whether we be afflicted, it is for your
consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which
we also suffer, or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.
Now I know that's a little bit of a mouthful. And sometimes it's easy to read stuff like
this and just kind of for it to go over your head because the language here is a little
bit tough, right? And it's kind of a complex sentence here. But if you actually stop and
pay attention and read what this is saying, it's a very deep, profound, important truth
about our lives that will help make sense of why we go through some of the suffering
and trouble and trials in our lives. Why is it that we go through those things? Well,
the Bible says that the reason why we're afflicted at the beginning of verse 6 is for your consolation
and salvation. He's saying this, look, God allowed me to go through trials, troubles,
tribulations, afflictions so that I would know what it's like to go through pain and
suffering. That way when you're going through pain and suffering, I'll be able to relate
to you and I can take the same comfort that God comforted me with and I can turn around
and comfort you. Now if you never went through anything hard in your life, you're going to
have a hard time relating to people who have. If you've never been sick, if you just had
a perfect body with perfect health and you've never experienced illness, pain, suffering,
going to the hospital and things like that, you're not going to be as good at comforting
someone who's going through those things as the one who's been through it. God got them
through it. They leaned on the Lord. They took comfort and strength from the Lord. They're
going to be able to help you out better because they've been there. They've been through it,
right? They can relate to you. You know, if somebody has never been through financial
problems, sometimes it's easy for them to get an attitude of, oh, anybody who's ever
having financial problems must just be lazy. Oh, you don't have enough money, you're struggling
financially, you must just be lazy or an idiot or something. But that's not really true because
there are times when you are working hard and you are giving it your best and you still
have trouble making ends meet, right? I mean, look, who's ever been there? You were working
hard but you struggled to make ends meet financially. Hey, folks, it's out there, okay? I can remember
times in my life when I was working my hardest, doing my best, praying to the Lord, going
to work every day and still struggling financially to make ends meet because sometimes things
just don't work out financially. It's just hard to get the right job or whatever, okay?
So if you've been through that and experienced that, it keeps you humble and then when you
see other people struggling, you can say, okay, I've been there, I've gone through that,
whereas the person who's never struggled financially, you can see how they could get prideful, right?
Saying, well, you must just be a complete idiot because I've always had, you know, plenty
of money. Just go to work, amen? And look, there's truth to both of those things, okay?
When you see people who are just perennially not able to make it financially, often it
is because they're lazy or they're not putting forth the effort. You know, when you see people
that are out on the streets because of drugs and alcohol, you know, at that point it is
their fault, okay? You know, because they keep taking the drugs, they keep getting drunk
and sometimes you have to just let those people hit rock bottom so that they can actually
figure out that they need to start going to work and make something of themselves. But
at the same time, even good people on the other side of that coin, good people who work
hard can fall on hard times and struggle and scrape by and have a bad time financially,
okay? Look, you're going to go through things with your health, you're going to go through
things with your finances, you're going to go through things in your marriage where you
go through a low point in your marriage. Maybe you have a lot of strife and fussing and fighting
in your marriage, okay? And those things happen. You go through a low point in your marriage.
That's pretty normal, okay? Most people have been through that. I'm not going to ask for
a raise of hands. But most people have been through that. Now look, you can see how, let's
say a guy just never had any problems with his wife and everything was just perfect and
they never said a crossword. And I've heard some people claim this, you know, that they've
just never had a crossword with their spouse, we've never raised our voices, you know, we
never had a fight. And I'm skeptical of that, okay? But I have had some people claim that
to me. But you know what? I'll sit here right now and tell you, hey, there have been times
when my wife and I didn't get along. There have been times where we struggled in our
marriage or went through difficult patches and because I've been through things like
that, I can get up and say, hey, there's light at the end of the tunnel because after
I went through times like that with my wife, there were times when things were great and
where our marriage was better than ever. You know, our marriage was better than ever 10
years in, okay? Marriage can get better. You can get through the difficult patches. Weeping
may endure for the night but joy cometh in the morning. And you know what? At the time,
it's never fun going through marriage problems but why did God allow you to go through it
so that you can help other people and when they tell you that they're having a problem
or when you see a problem, you can actually step in and help them out instead of just
having an attitude of like, well, didn't you read Ephesians 5? I mean, husbands love your
wives. Just do it. I mean, submit to your husband. Any questions? You know, what's the
problem here? Because folks, it's not always that easy because we're sinners. You're a
sinner. Your spouse is a sinner. Okay, there are going to be problems and difficulty. So
you say, why is God doing this to me? Why is he doing this and allowing me to physically
suffer and he allowed me to end up going to the hospital or he allowed my finances to
crash and burn? Why is he allowing me to have these marriage problems or problems in this
area of life, problems in that area of life? You know, part of it is because God might
be putting you through these trials and afflictions so that he can get you through it, build your
faith, build your experience. You can learn patience. You can learn how to go through
hard times so that down the road, you're going to help someone who's going through hard times.
But if you had been so sheltered and lived in this perfect bubble and you've never experienced
those things, you're not going to be able to help people as much. And that's what Paul
is saying. Paul is saying that he went through hard things so that he could help other people.
And as the suffering abounds, the comfort abounds. And he uses these different words
here. He uses the word tribulation in verse 4. Then a little bit later, he uses the word
trouble. A little bit later, he uses the word sufferings. And then a little bit later, he
uses the word afflicted. Okay? So we're talking about troubles, tribulations, afflictions
and suffering. Why do they happen? Why does God allow us to go through them? To make us
a better person, to strengthen our faith, to give us experience that we can use to help
other people when they're going through those things so that we can empathize with them.
And this is one of the most important attributes we can have in our lives, empathy for other
people. What does that mean? It means that we can feel what they feel. We go through
it with them. What does the Bible say? Rejoice with them that rejoice and weep with them
that weep. That's empathy, right? Where we can put ourselves in other people's shoes
and understand what they're going through. That's what the Bible's talking about here.
So it says in verse 4, who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to
comfort them which are in any trouble, right? Hey, he comforts us so that we can turn around
and comfort someone else. By the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as
the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounded by Christ. Look,
the more problems we have, the more God has to help us. And then the more God helps us,
that's something that we can use to help other people. Whether we be afflicted, verse 6,
it's for your consolation and salvation. He's saying, look, when Timothy and I are afflicted,
it's for you Corinthians, so that you can receive consolation and salvation, which is
effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or whether we be comforted
is for your consolation and salvation. You know what I'm constantly telling people when
they talk about going through hard times is that I say to them, there's no temptation
taking you but such is this common demand. You're not the only one going through this.
Lots of other people are going through the same things. And even when you're going through
something that seems like a very radical trial, you seem like you're going through something
really extreme. I promise you there are millions of other people going through the same thing.
I don't care what it is. Oh, you don't understand what it's like. Yes, I do. And so do millions
of other people because people all over the world are going through the same things. And
the Bible even says that the sufferings in you are being accomplished also in your brethren
that are in the world. People out in the world, people in church. Look, people in church go
through problems. People outside the church in the world go through problems. Everybody
goes through problems. Oh, you know, you don't understand what I'm going through in my marriage.
How do you know? You don't understand what I'm going through physically. I've been through
stuff physically. You don't understand what I'm going through financially. You know what?
Maybe I don't understand your exact issue, but somebody does. I mean, in a church this
size, people have been through pretty much everything. If we're to add up all of our
collective suffering, collective experiences of physical pain, emotional pain, relationship
problems, money problems, health problems, I guarantee we'd probably cover all the bases
in this room tonight. Okay? And when you can see someone else go through exactly what you've
gone through and survive and make it out the other side and they still love God and they're
still serving God, you know what? That encourages you and that person can help comfort you and
help pull you through and you can lean on a person like that. So that's part of the
reason why bad things happen to us is so that we can help other people. The Bible says in
verse 7, and our hope of you is steadfast knowing that as you are partakers of the sufferings,
so shall ye be also of the consolation. Look, we're not just suffering for the sake of suffering.
We're suffering so that God can console us and comfort us and get us through it and then
we can use that experience to help other people. Look at verse 8. For we would not, brethren,
have you ignorant of our trouble, which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of
measure above strength. What's he saying? He's saying, look, we had so much pressure
on us. We were pressed above measure, he said, above strength. What's he saying there? He's
saying, it was too much. It was beyond what we could handle. It was too much. And he says,
we despaired even of life. He said, look, we were in such a bad place, things were going
so bad, it pushed us beyond our limits. I mean, we were done. And we despaired even
of life. You know what that means? He's saying, we wish we were dead. We despaired even of
life. We're just like, I don't even want to go on living anymore. It's so bad. I don't
even want to continue living. Look, how many times did people feel that way in the Bible?
What about when Elijah just wanted God to just take him home? What about when Jonah
said it's better for me to die than to live? Men of God, great men of God, like Elijah,
Jonah and others despaired of life. The apostle Paul, Timothy, they despaired of life. They
were just ready to throw in the towel and just give up and just say, we're done. He
said in verse 9, but we had the sentence of death in ourselves. A death sentence. He said,
it was like a death sentence. We're doomed. We're dead. Game over. Insert coin, we're
done. It's over. And look, I'm sure that there are people in New York who felt that way before
where they just said, this is it. I have reached the end of the line. I've reached the end
of my rope. He said, we had the sentence of death in ourselves. Why? That we should not
trust in ourselves but in God which raised us today. You know why God pushed him above
strength so that he would have to realize that he can't do it on his own and God had
to pull him through. Why was he out of measure, beyond strength, so that God would have to
step in? Why did he allow him to get to the point of death where he's got the death sentence,
the sentence of death in ourselves. We're despaired even of life. Just kill me now God.
Why? You say, why would God do that to his children? God's so cruel. No. God brings us
to that point in our lives and it causes us to trust not in ourselves but in him. And
it humbles us and allows us to go to another level spiritually. And that's what happened
in the apostle Paul's life. And it wasn't like God just wasn't paying attention. Things
got really bad and then all of a sudden like, oh whoa, let me help you out there. Let me
get you out of that jam. Look, God allowed those bad things to happen on purpose so that
he could step in. It was all a plan from the beginning that Paul would go through these
horrible things in Asia and that God would just push him beyond his limits and he would
learn not to trust in himself. You know, it could have been easy for the apostle Paul
to get prideful or puffed up just because he's such an important person in the Bible.
Through the abundance of revelations that were given to him where he's just writing
so much scripture and he's being used greatly by God, he's doing more than all the other
levels. So God had to teach him and humble him and get him to understand that he can't
trust in himself. He's got to trust in God. Look at verse number 10. Who delivered us
from so great a death. I mean, they thought they were dead, right? But he delivered them
from so great a death and doth deliver. He continues to deliver. In whom we trust that
he will yet deliver us. Ye also helping together by prayer for us that for the gift bestowed
upon us by the means of many persons, thanks may be given by many on our behalf. And again,
I think that part of the reason why maybe 2 Corinthians does not appeal to some people
is because it is a little bit of a tough book as far as the language. It's at a higher reading
level than some of the other books in the Bible. You know, it's harder to read than
the Gospel of John or something, right? But if you stop and pay attention to these verses,
they contain some very profound truths. So let's slow down and read this verse because
this verse is kind of a tongue twister, okay? Ye also helping together by prayer for us
that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons, thanks may be given
by many on our behalf. You say, what did that just mean? What did he just say here? Well,
let me help explain this to you. What he's saying is that when a lot of people are praying
for you, right? Ye also helping together by prayer for us, right? So it's not just us
praying. It's not just me and Timothy that have been praying, but you guys are all praying
too. Everybody in Corinth and Achaea that's praying for us. He's saying that a lot of
people are praying that for the gift bestowed upon us, right? That's what God's going to
step in and do as a result of prayer. Like, so we pray to God and then God's going to
deliver the help that we need, right? That's the gift. It says that for the gift bestowed
upon us by the means of many persons, that's the many people that are praying, so a whole
bunch of people are praying, and then God basically delivers that answer to prayer by
the means of all those tons of people that were praying. He says, thanks may be given
by many on our behalf. So what he's saying is a whole bunch of people are praying, and
then when the prayer is answered, a whole bunch of people are thankful and rejoicing
for that answer to prayer, you know? And so when you dig into this stuff, it's actually
some very profound truths in this book, but you have to really slow down because the sentence
structure is a little bit difficult. And you say, well, that darn King James version, you
know, that's the problem. Well, guess what? If you read this in the original language,
it's just as complicated as it is here. You know, what's funny is people talk about how
the King James is just so hard to understand. You know, sometimes it's just that the Bible's
hard to understand. There are some parts of the Bible that are easy to understand and
some parts of the Bible that are hard to understand. And when you're reading the King James, there
are some parts that are easy, some parts that are hard. Guess what? Because that's what
the original is like. And so it's no different. If you go to learn Greek, you know what they'll
tell you when you're learning Greek? They'll tell you, oh, start in the Gospel of John.
That's the easiest. Isn't that the same thing they tell you in English? And they'll say,
oh, you know, the book of Hebrews is rough in the Greek. Well, guess what? The book of
Hebrews is rough in English. And what happens is if you look up the passages in the King
James that are a little bit difficult or confusing or hard, if you look them up in the original
language, guess what? They're difficult, confusing, and hard in the original language. And all
they did was just translate that into English. Apple for apple, it is what it is. Some parts
of the Bible just take a little more work to interpret. That's all. You know, John chapter
1 is going to be easy in any language. What the modern versions will do, though, they'll
come to something hard like this, and what they'll do is they'll dumb it down. They'll
dumb it down. Sometimes something will be ambiguous, meaning it could have more than
one meaning. We're not sure how to interpret it sometimes. Well, you go back to the original,
it's ambiguous in the original. What the NIV or modern versions will do is they'll just
pick one and just make it say that. And then you're like, wow, I can understand this. Yeah,
except that that's not what it said in the original. The King James is faithfully reproducing
what the Apostle Paul is saying here. It's faithfully translating it into the English
language. And so there are going to be some parts that are difficult and tough because
I love the fact that the Bible has easy parts and hard parts. It's sort of like if you go
to a ski resort. You got the bunny slope and then you got the green circles, the blue squares,
the black diamond, and the double black diamond. Now, what if you went to a ski resort and
it was all black diamond? All they have is black diamond. You know, an expert would go
there and say, man, this place rules. This is the best ski resort. So many great slopes.
I'm loving it. I'm having a great time. But you know what? It would exclude most skiers
that aren't to that level yet. Or if you had a ski resort that was just all green, an experienced
skier is going to go there and be bored out of his mind. Say like, you know, where's the
good stuff? Okay. So the Bible is like a well-balanced ski resort, okay, because it's
got slopes for the beginners. Genesis 1, you know, the book of John, the book of Genesis,
right? Those are like your bunny slope, spiritually. And they're still a great run, you know. And
then you got your more difficult books, your second Corinthians, book of Hebrews, right?
And then you get into the more advanced stuff like Ezekiel or Daniel. But even Daniel has
a bunny slope in there, right? Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 are kind of the bunny slope.
And then you start getting a black diamond. By the time you get to Chapter 11, it's a
double black diamond, right? So the Bible is a book you can take with you your whole
life. You know, when you're a little five-year-old boy, six-year-old boy, seven-year-old boy,
you can love the Bible. And then when you're grown up and you're intelligent and you've
studied, you're not bored by the Bible because there's still so much there. So the Bible
is at different levels. And the second Corinthians is a tougher book. But that's why you have
a pastor to help explain it to you and help you understand it. And also if you just slow
down and really take your time, you'd see the same things I'm showing you. Look at verse
number 12. For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity
and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation
in the world and more abundantly to you-ward. For we write none other things unto you than
that which ye, excuse me, than what ye read or acknowledge, and I trust ye shall acknowledge
even to the end. As also you've acknowledged us in part that we are your rejoicing even
as ye also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus. And in this confidence I was minded
to come unto you before that ye might have a second benefit, and to pass by you into
Macedonia, and to come again out of Macedonia unto you, and of you to be brought on my way
toward Judea. When I therefore was thus minded, did I use lightness? Or the things that I
purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh? That with me there should be yea, yea, and
nay, nay? Now let me explain this a little bit here. What he's saying here in verses
13 and 14, we write none other things unto you than what ye read or acknowledge. Verse
13, I trust ye shall acknowledge even to the end, as also you've acknowledged us in part
that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus. The
thing about the Corinthians is that not all of the Corinthians have the proper respect
for the Apostle Paul, and some people are skeptical of his preaching, and they're skeptical
of whether he's a man of God. And he's going to deal with this later in the book of 2 Corinthians.
That's why he's saying, you know, you've acknowledged us in part, okay? Because there were some
people in the church that did not accept the Apostle Paul or had doubts about the Apostle
Paul, and he's reiterating to them throughout this that, you know, he is an Apostle, he's
called by God, and he doesn't make any apologies for the fact that God has given him authority,
and he even says later in the book of 2 Corinthians, you know, I should probably talk more about
the authority, but it's not for your destruction, it's for your edification. I'm here to serve
you, I'm here to help you, but you know what? I'm going to come crack some heads if necessary.
You want me to come to you in love, or you want me to come to you with a rod? That's
what he says later in the book. So some of the people here, even though they've acknowledged
a lot of the things that he's taught, they've acknowledged the things that he's written,
and they've acknowledged them in part, there's a division in the church where there are some
people that are not acknowledging the Apostle Paul as a man of God. And he says that, you
know, you guys are our rejoicing, we want to be encouraged and rejoice when we see you,
we don't want to come to you with a rod and have to crack heads, we want to have sweet
fellowship when we come. And so he says, in this confidence, verse 15, I was minded to
come unto you before that you might have a second benefit. He said, look, I have confidence
that when I show up, you guys aren't going to throw me out of the church, basically.
He said, you know, when I show up, you guys are going to listen to what I have to say,
the good faction's going to prevail, because remember, this is a church that had division
among themselves. Paul dealt with that a lot in 1 Corinthians. He's saying, the good people
are going to prevail, I'm going to show up, you know, it's going to be a time of rejoicing,
I'm going to rejoice in you, you're going to rejoice in me, hopefully it doesn't get
ugly. But he says that he purposed to come unto them and to go through Achaia on his
way to Macedonia and then come back through Achaia on his way back from Macedonia on his
way to Judea. But look at verse 17. When I therefore was thus minded, did I use lightness?
Or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there
should be yea, yea, and nay, nay? What's he mean there? Well, when Paul purposed to do
something, he didn't do it with lightness. What does that mean, lightness? If I do something
lightly, it means that my heart's not really in it and I'm not dedicated to it. It'd be
like if I said, yeah, you know, I think I'd like to do some missions to Guyana, right?
But then as soon as the first obstacle comes to that, I just kind of throw in the towel,
right? That would be me purposing to do something lightly. Or it would be like if I said, you
know, I'm going to start a church in Tempe, Arizona, and then I got out here and let's
say six months in, things aren't going very well, and I just say, well, forget it, this
isn't really working. This isn't really going well. That would be if I had purposed to do
it lightly. I'm not dedicated. I'm not in it to win it. I'm not all in. Okay. Now, look,
sometimes we do get all in for something and it still doesn't work out. God has other plans.
God closes the door. But when we make plans to serve God, we shouldn't use lightness.
We should be serious about something. We should be dedicated. Don't use lightness like, well,
I think I'll try church. I think I'll try soul winning. Forget the trial. Just get in.
Just don't do it lightly. Be serious. Be dedicated. And especially if you're going to do something
big like starting a church or being a pastor, don't use lightness. I mean, if you're going
to be a pastor, the last thing we need is somebody to go start a church and then bail
after a few months or take over an existing church and then just say, oh, these people,
I give up. You got to fight tooth and nail. If you purpose in your heart to do something
for God, you've got to be dedicated. You got to push yourself. When we made a goal of knocking
every door on all the Indian reservations, that's a pretty big goal. And we didn't know
exactly how it's going to go. But we didn't use lightness. So if we run into obstacles,
we're not just going to quit at the drop of a hat. We're just going to keep trying to
push through obstacles. But some people, they'll purpose to do something for the Lord.
And then as soon as there's an obstacle, they just say, oh, God closed the door. You know,
you can't expect everything to be easy. You know, when we do missions to foreign countries,
there are going to be setbacks. There are going to be obstacles. We've run into some
setbacks in Guyana with the missions that we've done down there. But guess what? We're
not going to stop. And in fact, things are going better in Guyana. We're going to be
doing more in Guyana this year than we've ever done before. I think this is going to
be the best year for Guyana missions when we go down there in August and do a whole
bunch of soul winning. We're on the radio every day now. For the last month and a half,
we've been on the radio every day. And it's going all over the country, out on the radio,
the preaching of God's word. So there are a lot of great things going on down there.
We don't want to just let a little obstacle or a little opposition, you know, make us
throw in the towel in any area of life. So when you purpose to do something, don't use
lightness. And he says, I'm not purposing to do these things according to the flesh.
I understand that I'm going to need God's help. So I understand that there are going
to be problems and God's going to have to get me through those problems. And he says,
it's not going to be yay yay and nay nay. You say, what does that mean? He said, I don't
purpose them according to the flesh that with me there should be yay yay and nay nay. But
as God is true, our word toward you was not yay and nay. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ,
who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, verse 19, was
not yay and nay, but in him was yay. For all the promises of God in him are yay, and in
him, amen, unto the glory of God. It's not yay and nay, it's just all yay. He's saying,
look, if I said I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it. If I have a plan and a
mission and I believe God wants me to go to Macedonia and I believe God wants me to preach
in Achaia and I believe God wants me to go on this missions trip, he's saying, look,
it's not like, well, we'll see. He said, no, I'll be there. I'm going to do everything
in my power, even beyond my power. I'm going to rely on God. I'm not doing it in the flesh.
I have purposed to go on a missions trip through Achaia and Macedonia. These people
need the gospel. This is what God has called me to do. Remember, Paul had received that
Macedonian call where he had a vision and the Lord revealed to him that he needed to
go to Macedonia and preach. He's saying, look, I purposed in my heart to do it and I didn't
use lightness. I'm not doing it in the flesh. I'm going to win. I'm going to succeed. He's
saying, it's going to be yay and it's going to be amen. It's not going to be a no. It's
not going to be negative. You know, when I think of the word purpose, I think of probably
the most famous Bible story that involves that word, Daniel chapter one, where Daniel
purposed in his heart that he was not going to defile himself with the king's meat nor
with the portion of wine which he drank. And you know, Daniel didn't use lightness. He
didn't say, well, I'm going to tell the king that I can't eat this meat or drink this wine,
but if he makes me do it, I'm just going to do it. No, he was, he was dedicated that
he is not going to defile himself. Right? And so that's the kind of dedication that
we need to have for the Lord. We need to purpose things in our heart. Hey, look, if you purpose
that you're going to be faithful to church, don't use lightness. If you purpose that you're
going to be a dedicated soul winner, don't use lightness. Well, I'll be a soul winner
as long as nothing else gets in my way. Well, guess what? Things are going to get in your
way. Oh, yeah, I'll, I'll get out on one of these missions trips or one of these trips
to the Indians. I'll get out there if I have nothing else going on. Well, at that point,
you're going to have stuff going on all the time. You know, what I find is that I end
up going on the trips to the Indians or the missionary trips that I go on or sowing expeditions
that I go on. I end up going on the ones that I mark my calendar and I purpose I'm going
that day. And things come up to try to stop me and I'm having to shift other things around
to move things around because I'm like, I'm going on this trip. Those are the ones I end
up going on. And the ones where I say to myself, you know, if I have time, I'll go. You just
never end up making it, folks. Why? Because there's always going to be things that come
up. So if you want a purpose to, let's say, read your Bible this year, which is a great
thing to purpose in your heart, right? I'm going to read the Bible cover to cover in
2019. Don't use lightness. Don't say, well, unless I get too busy and tied up. No, no,
it's got to be do or die. You know, I mean, you got that 15, 20 minutes a day, folks,
to read your Bible cover to cover this year. It only takes 15, 20 minutes. You got to just
make it a priority, set an alarm and just make it the most important thing. If you make
it the most important thing, you'll get it done. And the apostle Paul is saying, look,
when I therefore was thus minded, when I was therefore how minded to go to Macedonia to
come back through Akia, to give you guys a second blessing, to come and preach for
you guys, I didn't use lightness. I put it on my calendar. I set it in stone. I'm going
to be there. And no matter what persecutions or bad things happen, I was going. I made
it a priority. And so when we have something good to do for the Lord, we need to have the
same attitude, the yay and amen attitude, not the light attitude. Lightness, the word
that we would use maybe today would be flippancy, right? Just being flippant about it. Like,
ah, whatever. See, kind of see how it turns out. And look, obviously there are some things
in life where we are flippant about them. It's okay to be flippant about certain things.
But other things that we need to just lock in and say, we're going to do it. We're dedicated.
It's what God wants us to do. It says in verse 21, now he which stablish with us with you
in Christ and hath anointed us is God who hath also sealed us and given the earnest
of the spirit in our hearts. Now what does the earnest mean? Earnest is like a down payment,
right? When you buy a house, you put down some earnest money. And what that means is
that you're serious about buying the house. You're not making an offer. And then they
accept the offer and you're like, oh, I changed my mind. Right? All right, I'll pay 150,000
for this house. And then the seller's like, great, let's do it. Oh, changed my mind. You
know, who's ever played that game Settlers of Catan, the board game? Who knows what I'm
talking about? There's like four people in the whole lot. It's a great game, right? Yeah.
So you know, nobody's going to understand this illustration. Well, in the game, there's
a certain someone that I played this game with who in the game you can make trades.
You kind of make deals and you trade resources. And there's a certain somebody, I'm not going
to mention any names, but if he hears this sermon, well, you know, so be it. But anyway,
where he'll say like, hey, I'll trade you two of these for one of those. And you'll
be like, okay. And he's just like, ah, I changed my mind. And you're like, what? He'll just
kind of just psychologically wear you down and mess with you. But what's the Bible saying
here? The earnest of our salvation is the Holy Spirit. It'd be like if somebody puts
an offer on a house, they put down earnest money. And what that means is that they're
going to stand by their offer. I'm offering you 150 thou. And if you guys accept it, I'm
buying the house. And the proof of that is that here's $1,000. Here's $1,000 of earnest
money to show you that this is not just a fake trade or a fake offer. I'm serious about
the fact that I'm going to buy this house if we can come to an agreement here, right?
So when the Bible says we have the earnest of the Spirit, what the Bible's saying is
that the Holy Spirit is what God gave us now to show us that he's not going to back out
of the deal. He's not going to back out. And it's the proof of the fact that we're eternally
saved and that we can't lose our salvation. The Bible says elsewhere in much clearer language
than in this verse, it says that we're sealed by the Holy Ghost unto the day of redemption.
He which hath begun a good work in us will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
He said I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. No man can pluck you out of my hand.
Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. So many
verses over and over again teach us that we have eternal life. And the Bible says we have
the first fruits of the Spirit. That's the down payment. That's the first stage of our
salvation is the Spirit and that's the guarantee that our body is someday going to be saved
as well in the resurrection or at the rapture. Our body will be saved. How can we trust that
God is going to raise us from the dead someday and that God is going to give us a brand new
glorified body? Well we already have the down payment. We already have the earnest. He's
already shown us that he's serious because he gave us the earnest of the Spirit. He has
sealed us. So we are saved and we are sealed and that makes us secure. We have eternal
security. He has sealed us and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. Moreover
I call God for a record upon my soul that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth.
What he's saying here is, look, when I purposed, remember a little bit earlier, he said, when
I purposed to come to you and go to Macedonia and come to Achaea, man, I didn't use lightness.
Now why is he telling them that? Because they're wondering, why aren't you here yet? Where
are you buddy? And he said, look, I didn't use lightness. When I said I'm coming to you
guys I wasn't just blowing off my mouth. Hey, you know, come see you guys sometime. Let's
get together sometime, right? We'll have to do that someday. It wasn't just a light thing
of, yeah, let's have dinner sometime. And you're really thinking, like, I'm not going
to do that ever. Don't people sometimes do that just to be polite? So Paul is saying,
look, when I said I'm coming to Macedonia and Achaea I wasn't just blowing off my mouth.
Yeah, one of these days I'll have to get down there. He's like, done with those idiots.
He's saying, look, I didn't use lightness. Let me tell you why it's taken me a long time
to get there. Let me tell you why I'm not there yet. He says, I call God for a record
upon my soul. What's he saying? He's saying, look, I'm telling the truth right now. Because
people are skeptical that he's telling the truth. But he says, God is my record. I call
God for a record upon my soul that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth. He's saying,
look, let me tell you the real reason why I have delayed my visit. It wasn't because
I was using lightness when I said I was coming. I'll tell you why. It's because I want to
send you this letter first so that you can get your act together so that when I come
I don't have to crack heads when I get there. He's saying, look, I don't want to come with
a rod. I want to come with love. And later in the book he gets even more, I mean, he's
just warming up in chapter one. Later in the book he's like, you know what? He said, you
know, I'm coming there. And he said, you know, I'm coming with a rod if that's what
it takes. And you know what? He said, we're going to figure, and I'm paraphrasing later
in the book, but he basically says, you know, all these people that are blowing off their
mouths about me, we're going to see how tough those people really are when I actually show
up. Because they think I'm a paper tiger is what the apostle Paul is basically saying.
And they say, oh, he's so mighty in his letters, but his presence is weak. He's like, you know
what? I'll show you what my presence is like. I'm no paper tiger. I'm going to come there
and I'm going to crack heads and you're going to be sorry. So he's saying, look, the reason
why I'm not coming is to spare you. I want you guys to have a chance to straighten things
out and fix things before I get there. I'm sending you this letter and I'm warning you
that when I come, I'm not going to take any garbage. So get your act together, get these
bozos in line or get them out or whatever. Because when I show up, I want to rejoice.
I want to do it in love. I want to be your friend. But if I have to come in a clean house,
I'm ready to come in a clean house is what he's saying here. And he's saying, look, I
didn't come to a kayi yet because I was trying to spare you. I'm, I'm basically giving you
guys a chance to get right so that I don't have to chase in you and chastise you and
fight you. Moreover, I call God for a record upon my soul that to spare you, I came not
as yet unto Corinth. Not that we have, not that we have domination over your faith, but
are helpers of your joy for by faith ye stand. And then look at the first verse of chapter
2, but I determined this with myself that I would not come again to you in heaviness.
Look, he said, look, I don't want to come to you and it'd be a big doom and gloom and
a downer and everybody's mad and everybody's getting in trouble. He said, look, I wanted
to come to you and have a happy reunion and we could rejoice together in Christ, but you
got to get your act together. And he says here, it's not that we have domination over
your faith, but are helpers of your joy for by faith ye stand. Now look, strong leadership
is often accused of trying to dominate or trying to be some kind of a tyrant or a dictator
or a megalomaniac or something like that. But Paul's saying here, you know, it's not
that we have domination over your faith. It's not that I'm just coming there because I
like to be in charge and I just want to throw my weight around. He's saying, look, I know
that it's for your profit and for your joy that you guys straighten things out. I'm trying
to help you. You know, when a preacher gets up and preaches the word of God right and
he preaches hard, he's doing it for your benefit. He's not just getting up and yelling
because he likes to yell. He's not just getting up and screaming and rebuking because he just
enjoys flogging you verbally. That's not what's going on, folks. A godly preacher, and look,
there are preachers who are like that, where they are just kind of beating up on the flock.
Look, the right kind of preaching, when it's hard preaching, is trying to help people.
You know, if they get up and scream about alcohol or drugs or gambling or fornication,
it's because they know that that stuff's going to ruin your life and they're trying to help
you. Just like a parent who disciplines their child. Are there some parents who just throw
things at their kids and yell at them and slap them around for the wrong reasons? Of
course. But you know what? A godly parent, when they give their child a spanking, it's
because they want their child to grow up and be a godly person, right? I mean, think about
it. Like, if I spank my kids, it's not just because I just enjoy spanking my kids. In
fact, most parents hate spanking their kids. And in fact, we'd all be happy if we never
had to spank our kids ever again. Because it's not a fun thing to do. And that's why
a lot of lazy parents don't spank their kids. They're too lazy to do it. Because it is hard
work and it is unpleasant. But the reason we do it is that we know that if we don't,
they're going to grow up and be wicked. They're going to grow up and be criminals. It's not
that we just want to see them suffer. We're not trying to take vengeance on our kids.
It doesn't give us joy to see them suffer. We're trying to save them suffering, folks.
Because we know that if they get a little bit of pain on their bottom right now from
the spanking, it's going to save them a much greater pain when they're in the gutter, drunk
somewhere, when they're in jail, when they get the DUI, when their spouse leaves them.
All these horrible things that are going to be spared are worth that little stinging sensation
of the spanking. We know that it's better to spank them when they're young than that
they become a teenager and they haven't been disciplined and they haven't been raised right
and then they're out doing what? Taking drugs, getting a disease, getting hurt, getting in
a drunken car accident. We're trying to save them. We're trying to spare them. We're trying
to help them. And the apostle Paul is saying, look, it's not that I just want to dominate
your faith. I'm doing this for your own good. I'm trying to fix things. And you know what?
A great leader is not a self-serving leader. And even if he does have to come in and be
a dictator and lay down the law and rule with a rod of iron, he's doing it for the benefit
of the people. He's a benevolent dictator. You know, Jesus Christ is going to come one
day and rule this earth with a rod of iron. But is he going to be just sitting there eating
grapes and having people fanning him and just enjoying all the power? No, Jesus is the one
who washed the disciples' feet. Jesus is going to be ruling with a rod of iron for the benefit
of this world. And so don't confuse strong leadership with, oh, he's just trying to dominate
us or whatever. Look, there are people today that just hate authority. They hate any kind
of authority. And they're constantly cutting on pastors who are strong leaders. But you
know what? As a pastor, you have to be a strong leader or things will descend into chaos.
That's just the fact of the matter. You know, you say, you know, why are you so heavy-handed?
Or why was Pastor Jonathan Shelley so heavy-handed last week at steadfast? Or why were you so
heavy-handed? You know why we were heavy-handed is because that's what it took to get the
job done. You know, and that's what kept the church together. That's what purged out the
bad element, took out the trash, kept the church on track. You needed that strong leadership.
Somebody had to come in and crack some heads. You know, and when a church has sin and issues
and wrong things going on, you can't go in with kid gloves. You got to go in and be ready
to use the rod and crack some heads and get things done. And you know what? Of course
you're going to be accused of trying to dominate. You know, Pastor Anderson had no right to
come in there and take over. And they say it was a hostile takeover of Steadfast Baptist
Church. That's the word I've been seeing. Now, I'm not an expert on the business world,
but I'm pretty sure a hostile takeover is a business term for when one corporation kind
of comes in and takes over another corporation, something like that. Is that what that is?
Who here has a really firm grasp of that term hostile takeover and can explain it to me?
Okay, so he said that a hostile takeover, he's an accountant, and he said that a hostile
takeover is when, you know, one company will come in and buy up all the stock of another
company and regardless of what they want, they'll buy up the stock, seize the power,
and then put in their own board of directors, get rid of, you know, the existing leadership,
put in their own, and they call it a hostile takeover. Okay, so that's what people were
trying to say that I did. You know, because the church called me in and said, Mrs. Romero,
can you help us? Donnie Romero, come help us. You know, do you want me to come preach,
Donnie Romero? Yes, please, come out. And then I get there and the whole church is saying,
help us, we need your help. Hey, I'm ready to leave in eight, do you guys want me to
take off? No, please stay, help us. That's not a hostile takeover. If the board of directors
of the company is begging for this other company to help them out, that's not a hostile takeover.
Okay, but who is it that's making these accusations? A bunch of online bozos, because, you know
what, nobody who was physically there said that. I mean, we were there, we were physically
there, nobody physically there said that. Everybody was saying, thank you for your help.
Thank you so much for helping. Now, when I was there, I didn't just walk in and just
say, okay, let's just do whatever people want, let's just get everybody's vote and just whatever
you guys want to do, we're going to do it. You know, I came in and I exercised leadership
and I said, look, here's where we're at, here's what's going on, let me explain it to you
guys, okay, I've had experience with this, okay, I have wisdom and experience from the
word of God, let me lay out a path here, you know, I want to listen to your feedback, I
want to hear your objections or hear your issues, but I'm laying out a plan here, this
is what I believe God wants to happen. And I gave a clear directive, I gave a clear pathway,
I gave clear leadership, okay, and they ended up taking my advice and everything went well
and they lived happily ever after. I'm not saying things are going to be perfect because
look, when bad things have gone into church, obviously, you know, there's going to be a
process of fixing things and cleaning things up and making things better. But I think they're
off to an excellent start. And, you know, yeah, I came in there and I was ready to crack
some heads of bad people. Why? Because whenever there's a void of leadership, bad people come
out of the woodwork, okay? So you can't just have, you can't just come in all soft and
come in with no plan, just, I don't know, guys, what do you guys think we should do?
I don't know. No, you've got to come in and say, hey, I've got a plan, here's the plan
and here's why, and be able to defend that plan and explain that plan and preach that
and teach it from the Word of God, listen to what the people have to say and pass judgment.
And then, you know what, there are going to be some casualties in the process. Why? Because
there are going to be bad people and they show their true colors in battle in times
like this. Look, we had some bozos in our church show their true colors in the last
week and, you know what, that's a good thing. And it happens at times like this, okay? So
you've got to be ready to crack some heads. Look, the Apostle Paul's ready to crack some
heads in this chapter. He said, look, I'm not coming yet because I'm sparing you, buddy.
You better be afraid because I'm coming for you. And I've got a big rod and it's either
the rod or love and I'm going to beat you, you know what I mean? And obviously he's not
going to physically beat them with a rod, but he's basically saying, you know, metaphorically,
I'm going to come in there and I'm going to whip up on you guys that are bogus, is
what he's saying in this book. And it's not just because he's just so domineering, you
know what it is? It's because he loves them and he's coming in there for their joy, for
their profit, for their edification. And look, what was my motive for going out to steadfast?
My motive was to help. My motive was help save the Romero's marriage and help save the
church and help save the other church plants. That was the mission. And what did I gain
from it? I gained an infirmity in my leg that has made me very ill and caused me to be limping
around for the last few weeks. You know, I gained stress, headaches and physical infirmity.
That's what I gained from it. Okay. And I also gained a lot of experience and wisdom
because I learned a lot. But the point is that, you know, leadership sometimes has to
be strict or has to discipline or has to come down hard on people. But it should be from
the right motive of helping people. So don't ever just see a strong leader and just assume,
oh, he's just this, you know, uh, uh, prideful dictator. No, it's just being a, it's just being
a leader folks. And you know what? That's the same thing. There's nothing new under the sun.
That's what they said about Paul. How dare he come in here and tell us how it is and whatever.
Well, he had every right to come in there and tell them he's preaching the word of God. Yeah.
He was a messenger from God, you know, and thankfully I believe that they got things
right. And there's a lot more great stuff. I hope you'll stick with the series through
second Corinthians. Lot of great stuff in this book. It's a, it's a wonderful book,
even though it's a little bit difficult. Once you dig into it, it's really a good book. So
we'll continue on Wednesday night with chapter two. Let's buy our, it's never word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for this book, Lord, and for the apostle Paul, Lord. And I
know that there are a lot of people out there that, that, uh, they're always wanting to cut
on leadership and they want to cut on pastors and, and cut on parents and cut on the boss and,
and cut down everybody who leads Lord. But Lord, I pray that you would help me to lead and be a
strong leader, help me to be a loving leader that does what's best for other people, not what's best
for myself, Lord. And I pray that you would bless our church and help us to have joy and peace and
unity, Lord. And we thank you for your word that can guide us and give us, uh, wisdom and examples
during hard times. And we just pray that you would just bless us as we go our separate ways this
week. Lord, I pray that you would heal my leg so that I could continue to serve you and, and not
be slowed down by this in Jesus name. I pray. Amen.