Through the Bible - 2 Corinthians

Lord, as we just sang, we will praise You because You have our hearts. Your Word says that we love You because You first loved us. I pray that You would help us to be mindful of that and to remember how great Your love is towards us. It is not merely that You said it; even though You told us in the Old Testament that You have loved us with an everlasting love, You have shown us Your love through the death of Your Son. You demonstrated Your love towards us, that even while we were Your enemies, You died for us.

As we look into this passage tonight in 2 Corinthians, I pray that You would remind us once again of just how awesome Your grace is and how awesome Your love is that You poured out upon us. Fix our hearts and our minds upon You now, Lord, and speak to us, we pray, for it is in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

This letter—how many of you read through 2 Corinthians this last week or just recently? Several of you have. In going through this letter, I have to admit it was one of those distracting weeks. Maybe you can relate, with all that was going on at a national level, several things happening here at the church, and then just things within my family. I can say that it has been one of those weeks where it has been hard to focus.

I was telling Josh earlier that every time I focused on this passage and started to read through 2 Corinthians, something else would grab my attention. I would find myself thinking about this or going down some other rabbit trail, whatever it may be. It has been a tough time getting into the Word. However, this passage of Scripture is filled with some awesome truths from God.

As I read through it, one of the key things that really stuck out to me—and I would call it the title of the book of 2 Corinthians—is The Passion of Paul. This book, perhaps more than any of his other letters, presents his passion in such a way that...

You can't overlook the emotion and passion Paul had for the church and the group of believers in Corinth. The Greek-minded converts of the city placed great stock in the strengths and gifts of individuals. They were very focused on the personalities of people who came through, whether they were great orators like Apollos, or miracle workers like Cephas, also known as Peter. We also see the intelligence of the men who came in after Paul's ministry, often referred to as the Judaizers.

You may remember that this group of people from Israel, specifically Jerusalem, followed Paul's ministry. They appeared to believe in the gospel of Christ, but immediately after Paul would plant a church, they would come in and disrupt the sincere, free grace of God with works. They would insist that if you really wanted to follow God and be one of His children, you needed to be circumcised, observe the feast days, or adhere to various other requirements. Paul constantly fought against this group throughout his ministry.

It wasn't an open fight; he never physically confronted them. However, as I read through the Scriptures, I sense that Paul was the kind of guy who would have been ready to throw down if necessary. Despite this, it is clear that he was greatly affected by their actions. From the beginning of his ministry in Damascus to the end in Rome, these men who followed him and tried to undermine the truth of God and the gospel he preached deeply wounded his heart.

In my opinion, when Paul speaks of his thorn in the flesh in 2 Corinthians, he is partially referring to this group of people who followed him and devastated his ministry. It may have also been some sort of physical infirmity, which is certainly a possibility. However, I believe there is a strong chance that he was referring to these men who appeared very intelligent.

After Paul planted the church in Corinth and moved on, Apollos came in. He was an excellent speaker, and while I could make a reference to our new president, I will refrain. Following Apollos, Peter also visited Corinth, and it seems he performed some miracles while he was there.

There were some people who were drawn to Apollos' ability to speak, while others were attracted to Peter's ability to perform miracles. A larger group seemed to be drawn to the intelligence of the Judaizers who came through. As you read through the book of 2 Corinthians, it's important to note that although this is the second letter to the church at Corinth in our Bibles, it is very likely the fourth letter that Paul wrote to this church.

In 1 Corinthians 5:9, Paul refers to a previous letter that he had sent to them. This letter was challenging them on some issues, and they sent him some questions. Additionally, news came to Paul about things happening in the city of Corinth. Consequently, he wrote 1 Corinthians, which is probably his second letter to them. It appears that Paul then visited them for a time, where he challenged them and openly rebuked some of the issues occurring there. After he left, he received news that things had not changed, and it seems he sent a third letter that was quite harsh, a letter that strongly addressed these people. Now, this is his fourth letter being written to this church.

As you read through 2 Corinthians, it is interesting to note that the people had come to view Paul as a sort of strange dichotomy, as though there were two different Pauls. They perceived him as having some sort of multiple personality disorder. When he came to them, he was not the fiery, impassioned Paul they saw in the letters. Instead, he came with much trembling, tears, and the demeanor of a brokenhearted, compassionate father. Yet, when he wrote to them, it was with power and strength. This led to confusion among the Corinthian church, as they thought, "Wait a minute, Paul, when he comes here, he's just this gentle, quiet, tear-filled man. Yet when he writes to us, he's like a flame of fire."

There was a group of people who seemed to want Paul to be that way when he was in their presence. However, he refers in this letter and in 1 Corinthians to this whole situation, stating that he doesn't think they truly want him to be that way when he comes to them. They want him to come in gentleness and meekness.

As you read through this letter, you can really see Paul's passion for this church. The Corinthian church, as I mentioned last week, was centered right in the middle of affluent carnality. If you look at Corinth on the maps in the back of your Bible, you'll notice that this part of what you might call Macedonia comes down.

It gets very narrow between the two coasts of Corinth. It was a port city where merchants brought all of their wares to the east or west coast. Slaves would actually roll these ships on great logs across that little stretch of land, that isthmus. They would get them across, kind of like a Panama Canal without a canal.

Today, if you visit Corinth, there is actually a canal there; they dug a canal through. However, during the time that Paul visited, it was a city that functioned as a major port, and everything funneled through Corinth. There was a lot of money there, and it was greatly affluent.

On top of the affluence of Corinth, there was a great deal of carnality, which often accompanies wealth. We see this in many places where capitalism has greatly taken off. This is not a criticism of capitalism, but the fact is that many times when people become merchants, they drift toward carnality. We see this with the children of Israel. When they were led away into Babylon as captives, they became merchants, bankers, lawyers, and doctors. Before that, they were primarily sheep herders and farmers. After Babylon, they transformed into bank owners and Hollywood production crews.

When the people of Corinth received so much money, the city became very carnal. The church that Paul planted there was surrounded and enticed by the search for knowledge and sensuality. As I mentioned last week while going through 1 Corinthians, the people, influenced by their Greek culture, sought knowledge, understanding, and wisdom.

Remember, just before he came to Corinth, Paul had gone to Athens. There, he visited Mars Hill and engaged with the philosophers of the day. In Acts chapter 17, we see that Paul was a very intelligent man who understood the poets and philosophers of his time. He was able to converse with these men, and they acknowledged his intelligence by saying they would hear him again on the matter.

However, when Paul arrived in Corinth, it was almost as if he checked his intelligence at the gate. He did not enter with human wisdom; instead, he came in with meekness, trembling, and fear, relying on the power of God through the preaching of the gospel of Christ. This was a church that was actively seeking knowledge and looking for someone intelligent to come through.

That's why they gravitated towards the Greek Christians in Corinth. They gravitated towards Apollos and these Judaizers. The Jewish group of people in Corinth gravitated towards Peter because the Jews require a sign, while the Greeks seek after knowledge. There was a split, a division in the church there in Corinth. This group of people had become factious and had formed factions. As I read through 1 and 2 Corinthians, it greatly frustrated Paul. You can see his frustration as he tries to call them back to the truth of the simplicity of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In that context, I think this book holds great application for the church in California in 2008. I mentioned last week that 1 and 2 Corinthians could be called 1 and 2 Californians. God is speaking to a culture that is similar to ours, and we should recognize our Greek influence in our own Western culture. We are an affluent people, especially in California, and Southern California most specifically. Because of this affluence, carnality has come through.

As you look at the sway that people are leaning towards in our little area of Southern California, they are constantly seeking knowledge and sensuality. Those are the big things. The church at Corinth was very similar to the church we find here in Southern California today. There are many people who say they believe in God, but there is a real lack of power in their lives. Has God really changed them?

As I mentioned last Sunday morning while going through 1 Kings 18 in the Sunday services, the people in America today do not need another redefinition of the Christian faith and the gospel. They need a demonstration of the Christian faith and the gospel. This is exactly what Corinth needed, and it is what the body of Christ here in America needs today as well: a demonstration of God's power and strength in my life and in your life.

How has the gospel transformed us? How has it changed you? How has it changed me? Paul, as he writes to this church, singles this out as a key component of the Christian faith. We should be separate, sanctified, and consecrated, apart from the rest of the world. People should be able to look at us and say, "They're different."

I have to be honest with you. I think all that has happened over the last six months, as it relates to this whole Proposition 8, has made me, as a pastor, very thankful.

Because it has started to make a very clear delineation between the church and the world, you're either on one side or you're on the other. We need to make sure that we're on the right side as it relates to the Word of God in this whole situation in our nation. It's going to get worse.

One of the things I was thinking about as I was reading several articles today on the news, particularly regarding Prop 8 and a lot of the events happening in California with the protesters, is that they are trying to push this back into the courts once again, which is normal. That's exactly what we would expect to happen. However, as I look at this, it's very clear to me that we are moving towards a time of persecution for the church in California and in our nation. There is a shifting demographic that looks at the church and says, "All right, you guys are hate-filled and intolerant, and we just don't want to be like that." Not in this century, not at this advanced stage of our civilization.

During the time that Paul was ministering in the Roman Empire, Rome thought it had become very advanced. In reality, they had just de-evolved. They had become carnal and wicked, and they were on the decline. Our nation and our world think that we are very advanced and at a phenomenal stage of civilization. I read a very interesting and peculiar article a few weeks ago about a group of scientists who believe that human evolution has halted because we have come to the pinnacle. I find that sad. After millions and billions of years, we've come to the pinnacle. This is it. I'm sorry to break it to you, but this is it. We have reached the pinnacle of success as a race, and that’s a bit disappointing.

Corinth was one of those same carnal places that believed they had arrived on many levels. The church at Corinth, having allowed the world to influence and invade them, felt they were at the crux of Christianity, that they had arrived. Paul writes to this church with great passion. It is a powerful display of his humility. He could say, "I am a Hebrew of the Hebrews," or "I am an apostle," and show his apostleship. But that would be folly; it would be foolishness. Instead, he chooses to boast in the cross of Christ.

I'm going to boast in my infirmities because, in my infirmities, the power of God comes forth stronger. In one sense, it's as if Paul sticks himself on the furthest part of a branch. Either he's going to fall flat on his face and be devastated, or it's just going to be the Lord who sustains him. I think that that's what we, as the body of Christ, need to do as well. We need to put ourselves so far out there on the edge that it's going to be God or it's going to be nothing. Either He is going to come through and be shown to be powerful, or we're going to fall flat on our faces. That's what faith is all about.

It's in this book that we read that we walk by faith and not by sight. The church, for too long, myself included, has walked by sight and not by faith. We've relied on our own understanding, our own wisdom, our own bank accounts, or whatever it is. We've said that we can handle this, and we've just kind of minused God out of the whole equation. I've mentioned before that A.W. Tozer said that if the Holy Spirit was removed from the church in the book of Acts, then 90% of what they did would come to a slamming halt. Today, if the Holy Spirit was removed from the church, we probably wouldn't even skip a beat. We wouldn't even realize that anything had happened, and that's a sad, sad thing.

Here, Paul kind of forces himself out on the very edge as a spectacle to the world and to the church at Corinth. He shows by his weakness that it is only Christ. One of my favorite verses, one that I committed to memory several years ago, comes from this passage in 2 Corinthians 3, where Paul says in verse 5, "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God." You should memorize that too and constantly turn back to it because we are so tempted to trust in our own strength, our own abilities, and our own wisdom.

If it weren't for God, there would be no point to show up. There would be no point to wake up if it weren't for God. Our sufficiency is of God, who has also made us able ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit, for the letter kills, and the Spirit gives life. Underline that in your Bibles at the very end of verse 6: "The Spirit gives life." You see, the church has relied on great music.

They've relied on lights, smoke, stages, and all kinds of great things, thinking that this is going to give life. This will bring life, but it doesn't. It brings an appearance of life, but ultimately it leads to death. I believe that there was a group in Corinth that sided with the Judaizers because it appeared to be intelligent. It seemed powerful and good, and it kind of separated them from everybody else. That's what intelligence, quote-unquote, tends to do; it sets you aside as though you're elite, while everybody else doesn't quite understand or know. Yet, in reality, it's just an appearance of life.

Here, Paul says the Spirit gives life, and the Spirit is completely about faith. It's not by sight; it's by faith. We have to completely and wholeheartedly lean upon God, or we have nothing. We are not sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being of ourselves. Our sufficiency is of God, and He is the one who gives us the ability, by His Spirit, to fulfill the ministry—the ministry of the Gospel, the new covenant. As Jesus says, "This is the new covenant in my blood." He is the one who brings forth life by His death on the cross.

We are able ministers by the work that God has done in us of the new covenant, not of the letter of the law, because the letter kills, and that is the purpose of the letter. It is to bring you and me face to face with death—the conviction of sin, where we recognize that the wages of sin is death. That's the whole point of the law. There are those who are very intelligent in trying to present the law, but they never present Christ. If you present only the law, you find you have a whole dead church.

If you look at the times in church history when the church has leaned upon and focused on the law and legalism, it was a dead church. But when the church fixes its focus on the end of the law, which is Christ, then there is life, because the Spirit gives life. I would challenge you to commit that verse to memory. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 5, "We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Christ's sake." We don't preach ourselves. The gospel that we bring is not our gospel at all; it's His gospel. It's the gospel of God, as Romans chapter 1 says. We are to preach the gospel of God. Now, that doesn't mean that we disregard the fact that God, by His gospel...

By His power, He has rejuvenated us. He has given us a new life in Christ; we are a new creation, as we will see in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. There is an aspect to the preaching of the gospel that is testimony, but it is a precursor to the truth of the gospel, and we shouldn't linger on it very long.

I love that song by Keith Green, where he talks about the testimony. I appreciate the part of the testimony when you get past all the stuff talking about yourself and focus on God, on Christ, because that's the point of it. He is the one who has brought life. He is the one who has brought about transformation in our lives and given us new life. Therefore, we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord.

In reading that, I have to think: What is it that I've been preaching? What is it that I've been saying? Am I putting forth myself? If you put forth yourself, it will be a stumbling block for people to get to Christ because we are carnal. At the end of the day, we are fleshly. If you exalt yourself in the preaching of the gospel, people will always get tripped up because you are not perfect. You will always be a stumbling block to people in bringing them to Christ.

We constantly have to be pointing people beyond ourselves to Christ. We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves, your servants. Just as Jesus told His disciples, "He who desires to be great must become the servant of all." It is so difficult for us to be servants, isn't it? Especially in a culture and society here in America, where we expect others to treat us to good things. We expect others to serve and wait upon us.

To make ourselves the lesser, as Christ is our example in doing so, is challenging. In John chapter 13, He visibly demonstrated this for His disciples by washing their feet. Philippians chapter 2, which is the prime focus of John chapter 13, tells us that He was there in heaven as God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation and became a servant. He made Himself a humble, meek servant, even to the point of death, the death of the cross.

We are to be those who are servants for Christ's sake, not just so that we can be exalted in the day of Christ Jesus, but for His sake. We want Him to be lifted up. He is our Master; we are His servants, and therefore the servants of all. The most difficult thing about being a servant is when people start to treat you like a servant. That's when you really realize how hard it is.

For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness...

Has shined in our hearts to give the light, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Again, notice what he says there: God commanded light to shine in my heart and in your heart. But ultimately, that light comes from the face of Jesus Christ. He is the light. John chapter 1 makes that very clear. I am not the light; you are not the light. We are the reflections of His light.

To be the reflections of His light is just like the moon that lights the night sky. The moon has no light in and of itself; it is just a great and awesome reflector. It does a very good job of reflecting the light of the sun. You and I need to be reflectors, reflecting the light of the sun. The only time that the moon has a problem is when the earth, the world, gets in the way, and then it becomes dark. That was the problem in Corinth as well. This church had allowed the world to get in the way. Sometimes it wasn't the carnality of the world; sometimes it was the worldly spirituality. These other individuals who came in got so focused on men in this world that they lost the ability to shine the light of Christ.

You and I need to be those reflectors of the light of Christ. In verse 7, we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. We are vessels containing His treasure. It's not our treasure; it's His treasure. We are to carry that treasure into this world.

We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Cast down, but not destroyed. Paul, in this letter, is more autobiographical than any other letter that he wrote. He talks a lot about the difficulties that he went through, the distress, the persecution, and the hard times that he faced.

You need to recognize that when Paul wrote 2 Corinthians, he wrote it from Philippi in about 56-57 AD, after he had gone to Ephesus. Remember, Paul had spent close to two years in Ephesus. While he was there, the people started to come to the Lord and turn away from their idols. Ephesus was a place involved in building these little silver idols, and all the silversmiths got together and wanted to kill Paul. They wanted to run him out of town.

When Paul talks about being troubled, distressed, perplexed, in despair, persecuted, and destroyed, all of this took place during the two years he spent in Ephesus. Eventually, he was run out of town and went down to Philippi. It was in the midst of that distress in Ephesus that he kept receiving word from Corinth. The church in Corinth, which he had essentially fathered, had completely turned on him. They no longer wanted anything to do with Paul; they thought he was nothing. They didn't even consider him an apostle and wondered if he had any power at all.

Here is Paul, distressed and persecuted in Ephesus, perplexed and going through great difficulty as he receives news from Corinth. He then ends up in Philippi, which was a great encouragement to him because Philippi was one of the strongest churches that Paul ever built. I find it interesting that the two churches where Paul spent the most time, Corinth and Ephesus, had the most problems. In contrast, the two churches where he spent the least time, Thessalonica and Philippi, were the strongest throughout all the time he ministered, which is curious.

While in Philippi, in Macedonia, Paul wrote a letter to the church at Corinth. In this letter, he speaks of his difficulties—being troubled, distressed, persecuted, perplexed, and cast down—always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus. He explains that the life of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. Paul states that it is acceptable for him to go through all these things for their sakes because then the cross of Christ is on display.

I believe that God desires to do the same thing in my life and in yours, but it is never an easy process. God has to get us out of the way so that we can display Christ. Alan Redpath, a great man of God, used to say that God reduces a man to the minimum and then pours into him the maximum so that he can use him for His glory. God is always in the process of reducing you and me to the minimum.

If you read the stories of those in the Old Testament, particularly the patriarchs, you will see this process. The life of Jacob comes to mind; God had to reduce that man to the minimum before he could change his name to Israel and use him as one of the fathers of the nation of Israel. It is interesting to note that before he was Paul, he was Saul. The name Saul means "one that is desired," while Paul means "little." In this name change, we see an actual transformation taking place. Following the book of Acts, we can observe when he...

Changed his name to Paul because it was at the very beginning of his first missionary journey that he no longer went by Saul. There's no real direct point, except it seems to have happened when he was on the island of Cyprus during that journey. They stopped calling him Saul in the Book of Acts, and now he is Paul. One who is desired was brought down to one who is little. In that name change, a heart transformation took place as well.

In the Book of 2 Corinthians and also in the Book of Philippians, Paul had a long list of distinguished things that he could refer to. He could say, "I'm a Hebrew of the Hebrews. I'm from the tribe of Benjamin." The list goes on: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, according to the law blameless, a Pharisee. Yet, he didn't rely upon those things at all. Instead, he boasted in his infirmities and in the cross of Christ because it was there, in his weakness, that the cross of Christ was exalted.

Paul always bore about in his body the dying of the Lord Jesus so that His life might also be made manifest in our body. For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake. Why? That the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then, death works in us, but life in you. He said, "I'm dying every single day. I'm going through great difficulty, persecution, and distress, but it's so that you might see Christ high and lifted up."

In 2 Corinthians chapter 5, Paul gives a discourse that is really key to the church at Calvary Chapel. It's one that you've heard a lot from not just this Calvary Chapel but also on K-Wave quite a bit. In 2 Corinthians chapter 5, he says in verse 17, "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away; behold, all things are become new." I believe that Paul was especially thankful for that truth, as should we be.

But remember Paul's testimony. Remember where he came from. When Paul came to the knowledge of the truth, he was on his way with letters from the chief priest to bring back bound anyone he found following Christ in Damascus. He had presided over the death of Stephen, the stoning of Stephen. He had gone around Jerusalem making havoc.

Of the church and carrying people bound to jail because of the cross of Christ, he had caused people to deny the Lord. When he says, "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation; all things have passed away; behold, all things become new," I’m sure that was such a great joy for Paul to know the grace of God in that.

All things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. To wit, God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them. He has committed unto us the word of reconciliation, bringing people back to Christ. We are going out into this world, a world that has rejected God, turned away from God, and is in rebellion against Him, to bring them back to Him.

We have that ministry of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God does beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ's stead: be reconciled to God. Why? For He has made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. I think I probably quote that verse more than any other verse: 2 Corinthians 5:20, that God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to become sin for you and me. He didn't just take sin upon Himself; He Himself became sin, and God poured out upon Him the punishment for sin. Why? That you and I might receive His righteousness as we are in Christ.

He says, "We then, as workers together" (chapter 6, verse 1) with Him, beseech you that you receive not the grace of God in vain. I find that very interesting that there are some who receive the grace of God in vain. They are the ones who, like in Romans chapter 6, where it says, "What shall we say then? Shall we sin that grace may abound?" Paul says, "God forbid! How shall we, who have died to sin, live any longer therein?"

There are those who take the grace of God and use it as a license for sin, and they have received the grace of God in vain. They do not recognize what it is that God has done for them or what it is that He has given to them. Paul encourages and exhorts this church: do not receive the grace of God in vain. I would say the same thing to you as well.

Don't receive the grace of God in vain. He did so much for you and me so that we could be reconciled to God and have a new relationship with Him.

Now, Paul says some very interesting things in chapter 7. In verse 8, he states, "For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent." Paul had sent them a letter that had been a great challenge to them. This is probably his third letter, a reference to the third letter he sent to them—not 1st Corinthians and not 2nd Corinthians, because 1st Corinthians is actually 2nd Corinthians, and 2nd Corinthians is actually 4th Corinthians. If you understand that, then you're tracking pretty well.

Paul writes his third letter to them, and it was a great challenge. He spoke with extreme boldness in this letter. He acknowledges that he made them sorry with his words, but he does not regret it. He is not sorry that he upset, offended, or hurt them, perhaps in the flesh, because of the things he said.

I want you to take careful note of that, especially as we approach the holiday season. Every single one of us, myself included, has family members who do not know the Lord. When we are around those family members, sometimes we are fearful to speak. We may be afraid to share what the Scriptures say because we think it might offend them or hurt them in some way. However, they need to repent; they need to come to the knowledge of the truth. How are they going to know that they need to repent unless we make it very clear that there is a righteous standard to which they must hold themselves on the day of Christ Jesus?

Paul continues, saying, "I spoke to you some hard words, and it hurt your feelings. You probably didn't like it, and I made you sorry or made you grieve, but I am not sorrowful for that. I do not repent for that."

In verse 9, he says, "Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance." He rejoices not because he hurt them, but because those strong words stirred them to repent. Their sorrow led to repentance, for they were made sorry in a godly manner. This was so they might receive damage from us in nothing.

In verse 10, he explains, "Godly sorrow works repentance unto salvation, not to be repented of, but the sorrow of this world works death." Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation. This is an interesting progression: godly sorrow brings repentance.

That leads to salvation, and that is not to be repented of. However, the sorrow of this world leads to death. There are some people who are sorry for something they said or did, but they never find a place for repentance. I think of Esau. Hebrews chapter 12 speaks about that profane, immoral man Esau, who sold his birthright for a bit of food—a bowl of beans. In reality, he sold his birthright, the position that he had, for a meal. He looked at it as a light thing and took it very flippantly, disregarding that which God had given and set before him.

When he found out what that meant—that he wasn't going to get a double portion of the inheritance—he became very sorrowful and cried a lot. Yet, he never repented; he refused to repent, although he sought the inheritance bitterly with tears. There is a sorrow of this world that leads to death, but there is a godly sorrow brought about through the law of God.

I encourage you to read in Matthew chapter 5, particularly the first several verses, where we find the Beatitudes. It says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." The law of God, the Word of God, and the preaching of the gospel bring a sinner to the recognition that they are poor in spirit. It continues, "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." This is that godly sorrow. The preaching of the gospel brings a person to recognize the depravity of their soul and their poverty of spirit, leading them to weep and mourn over it.

As you'll remember when we get to the book of James, he says in chapter 5 to the rich and to those who have departed from God, "Weep, lament, and mourn." He emphasizes the need to come to that place of godly sorrow that brings about repentance. For behold, the selfsame thing that you sorrowed after in a godly manner wrought carefulness in you. When you come to Christ through the sorrow of the soul, it begins to build godly character in you. Paul goes on to explain some of those things that it brought about. Another great verse that I really like in this passage of Scripture is found in chapter 12, verse 7.

After he has spent almost the entire chapter 11 boasting about who he was, he speaks of it as folly and foolishness. He says, "Let me be a fool for a moment. Let me bring about great folly, and I'm going to talk about how great I am." He was doing this in a very sarcastic way because that's what the people at Corinth had begun to do; they had boasted in who they were. Chapter 11 is filled with Paul boasting about who he was in a bold way to try and show them how stupid it looks and how foolish it is before God.

Then he says in verse 7 of chapter 12, "Lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelation that was given to me, a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, was given lest I should be exalted above measure." Just before that, he speaks about a very interesting event. He talks about a man he knew 14 years ago, whether in the body or out of the body, he does not know. This man was caught up into the third heaven and heard things and saw things that cannot be uttered.

There has been a lot of commentary on this throughout the centuries. Is Paul speaking about himself, or is he speaking about somebody else? I believe that it's very clear from the context as he goes on that he is talking about himself. There is a possibility that this took place when Paul was in Lystra, where he had been stoned. They dragged him outside the city and tried to kill him. The disciples that were with him thought he was dead. However, afterwards, he got up and pressed on in the ministry that God had called him to.

Some believe that Paul had some sort of near-death experience. Whatever the case, he had some sort of revelation that he was caught up into heaven and saw and heard things. I find it very interesting that he says in verse 4 of chapter 12, "I heard unspeakable words." Sometimes we think about the sights of heaven and what it will be like when we get there, but there are sounds of heaven that will blow our minds. Paul says he cannot even speak of the things that he heard.

But lest he should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelation, he received a revelation of Jesus Christ, just like John on Patmos. However, John on Patmos was told by God to go and speak this, while Paul, when he received this revelation, was told he could not talk about it. He said, "Lest I be exalted above measure because of the abundance of the revelation that was given to me, a thorn in the flesh was given, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure."

Some people believe that this was a physical condition; maybe it was Paul's diminishing eyesight. There is a lot of evidence.

To support the idea that he had problems with his eyes as he got older, some people believe that he sustained injuries when he was stoned outside of Lystra. These continuing injuries were what he was facing. Others say, as I mentioned earlier, that the messenger of Satan who buffeted him were the Judaizers who followed his ministry and tried to tear apart everything that Paul ever tried to build.

Whatever the case, God had given him some sort of thorn in his flesh that was to buffet him, lest he should be exalted above measure. Three times he says, "I sought the Lord that it might depart from me," that he might remove it. And He said unto me, "My grace is sufficient for you, and my strength is made perfect in weakness."

My grace is sufficient. There's that word "sufficient" again. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of Christ. His grace is sufficient for us. We are so tempted in this life to complain and murmur about the hand we’re dealt or the lot we receive. We go through things and difficulties that everybody faces. The sun shines on the just and the unjust; the rain falls on the just and the unjust.

Sometimes we face difficulties, and we just whine and complain without recognizing that God has given us the grace sufficient to face everything that we will encounter. Remember that it is in this book that we read that the difficulties, the things we face in this world, are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us. If we can see through the difficulty here, the trials here, to the splendor of heaven, we can face anything.

Moreover, if we can recognize that the grace God has given to us is sufficient for everything we need, do we really take God seriously in that? His grace is sufficient for all of our needs if we rely upon Him. My strength is made perfect in your weakness. Don't you want to know experientially the strength of God? How many of you want to know the strength of God?

It's going to come through weakness. It will only come as you go through difficulty, trial, tribulation, or persecution. Whatever it is, when you're at the end of yourself is when you find the beginning of God's strength. God will allow us to reach the end of ourselves to get us to that place where we experience the greatness of His strength. His strength is made perfect in our weakness.

Most gladly, therefore, as a result of that, he said, "I will gladly glory in my infirmities." I look forward to that.

To my infirmities, in one translation it says I welcome them as friends. Why? If it's going to be God's strength made perfect to me in weakness, then I'd rather be weak than strong. He says, "I glory in those infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me." Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities. What kind of nut job is this guy? Well, he understood something of the power and the greatness of the strength of God. He said, "I therefore take pleasure in infirmities and reproaches and necessities and persecutions and distresses."

Why? For his own sake? No, for Christ's sake. His flesh didn't like it; he didn't enjoy when he was beaten. He didn't enjoy being shipwrecked, hungry, distressed, persecuted, or defamed. But for Christ's sake, that the cross of Christ may go forth, for when I am weak, then I am strong.

I have become a fool in glorying, and you have compelled me, for I ought to have been commended by you. In nothing am I behind the very chiefest of the apostles, though I be nothing. Truly, the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience and signs and wonders and mighty deeds. I kind of wonder what he's actually speaking of there when he says the signs of an apostle. I've looked at several different commentaries on that, and I don't know that I've seen anything that really seems to fit.

But he says, "When I came to you, the signs of an apostle were wrought among you." Notice what he says down when we get to verse 15: "I will very gladly spend and be spent for you, though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved." This is the heart of not a teacher; this is the heart not of one who's a tent maker. This is the heart of a father, of a pastor, and this is really the heart of Christ.

He says, "The more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved." He was willing to tell them the difficult things out of love. He would speak to them the truth, even though they didn't want to hear it. Even though it hurts sometimes to tell them the truth, he was willing to discipline them, chastise them with the Word of God because he loved them, even to the point where they would say, "I don't want to hear from that guy. I don't want to see that guy. He angers me; he upsets me." But he loved them so much that he was willing to be put outside.

Of them, where they say, "We don't want to be around that guy Paul," he responds, "I will very gladly spend and be spent for you. Though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved." He wanted to see Christ be formed in them.

We are going to be in the book of Galatians next week, and we will see very similar words as Paul addresses this church. He questions the church at Galatia, saying, "I am fearful lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain." Yet, he goes on to say, "But I will labor again until Christ be formed in you." These are passionate, emotional words, and that is why I call this letter the passion of Paul. You really see his passion for this church and for the body that was built and established there in the city of Corinth.

One last thing before we finish up tonight: turn to chapter 7, 2 Corinthians 7:1. I mentioned earlier that this church had divisions among them. They had become carnal, with one group saying, "I am of Paul," another group saying, "I am of Apollos," and another group saying, "I am of Jesus." They were probably the ones that the Judaizers had come to.

Paul says here in 2 Corinthians 7:1, "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all the filthiness of the flesh and the spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." There are things within the church that, when we get divided into little groups, lead to bickering and murmuring. Bitterness springs up among us, and there is all kinds of carnality within the church. It may have the appearance of Christianity, but the world looks at it and sees hypocrisy.

He says we have received great and precious promises from God. All the promises of God are in Him, "Yes," and in Him, "Amen," as this book, 2 Corinthians, states. Having received, therefore, these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves. Let us sanctify ourselves. Let us set ourselves apart unto God, away from all the filthiness of the flesh and the spirit, because there are things that are contrary to God that are presented as spiritual things. God says, "I want you to come out."

From among them be separate. In verse 17 of chapter 6, it says, "Wherefore come out from among them and be separate, saith the Lord, and touch not an unclean thing, and I will receive you." God desires to receive us as a consecrated vessel wholly unto Him. We are the temple of the living God.

2 Corinthians 6 says, in fact, I probably should just back up and read the whole passage. 2 Corinthians 6, verse 14: "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers; for what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what concord has Christ with Belial? And what part has a believer with an infidel? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God, as God has said, 'I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.' Wherefore come out, be separate, be consecrated to the Lord."

This is the word that God would speak to a church that was filled with affluent carnality nearly 2,000 years ago, and the word is the same to you and me here in the state of California, in the body of Christ, in the year 2008. God says, "You are the temple of the living God. Don't be unequally yoked with all the other things of this world. Come out from among them, and I will receive you, saith the Lord. I will be a Father unto you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."

Having therefore these precious promises, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and the spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. I truly believe that this is the word that God has for the church in America. God calls to us with that still small voice, saying, "This is the way; walk ye in it."

If the church rejects it, if the church doesn't listen, then He begins to chasten His church. Because whom the Lord loves, He chastens and scourges every son that He receives. If you are without chastening, if you are without discipline, then you are not a true child.

So God has begun, I believe, in our nation to chasten us. We have seen those things throughout my life, one after another come, and God is seeking to speak to us, saying, "Church, come out from among them." The dividing line is becoming clearer.

The line has been drawn in the sand, and that dividing line is going to become more and more clear. You are going to see those who will push to one side of it and say, "No, I'm going to go off to the left," while there will be another group that pushes off to the right. But God says, "This is the way; walk ye in it."

In every generation of the church, there is always a right and a left, but God has a narrow path in the middle. He said to Joshua thousands of years ago, "Here’s the way; do not turn from the right hand or to the left. You shall meditate therein day and night that you may observe to do everything that I have commanded you." And lo, I am with you always. Every place that the sole of your foot touches, I have given unto you.

But have I not commanded you to be strong and courageous? I will be with you, but be strong and courageous and do not turn to the left or the right. May the Lord help us as the body of Christ here to stand strong on the Word of God. I stand alone on the Word of God, the B-I-B-L-E. Amen.

Let’s stand and pray. If you don’t know that song, you should probably get involved in children's ministry.

Father, thank you for your Word. Thank you for the truth of it. Lord, I thank you for the heart of Pastor Paul and for the passion he had to see those to whom he preached the gospel stand strong, complete in You. That is my heart, and I know it is the heart of the other pastors on the staff of this church. Lord, we desire to see the body here standing strong upon Your Word, complete in You.

We know that this is Your desire; You have no greater joy than to see that Your children walk in the truth. I pray that You would help us this week, by Your Spirit, to walk in the truth, trusting in You, and to be outspoken, bold, and clear in the proclamation of the gospel of truth, for it is Your power unto salvation.

Lord, use us as earthen vessels to carry this treasure into a dark and dying world. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

Moves from the beginning to be bold through the Gospel of Truth and to be free. People love you. Thank you.