Sunday Sermon: The Surpassing Power of God (2 Corinthians 4:7-12)

WWUTT Podcast

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:15

You are listening to the teaching ministry of Gabrielle Hughes, pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas.

00:22

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday on this podcast, we feature 20 minutes of Bible study through a

00:27

New Testament book. On Thursday is our Old Testament study, and then we answer questions from listeners on Friday.

00:34

Each Sunday we are pleased to share our sermon series, presently going through the letters to the

00:39

Corinthians. This is the sermon that was preached last week from our pulpit. Here's Pastor Gabe.

00:45

Second Corinthians chapter four. This morning we'll be looking at verses seven through 12.

00:51

In honor of the word of the King, would you please stand? Second Corinthians four, beginning in verse seven.

00:58

The apostle Paul writing again to the church in Corinth, but we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

01:14

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed, perplexed, but not driven to despair, persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed, always carrying in the body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.

01:39

For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our mortal flesh.

01:52

So death is at work in us, but life in you. Let us pray.

01:59

Our Lord, as we come to these scriptures this morning, I pray that your spirit would give us eyes to see and ears to hear.

02:08

As Jesus shared with his disciples in Matthew chapter 13, to you it's been given to know the secrets of heaven, but there are others to whom these secrets have not yet been revealed.

02:21

And he who has ears, let him hear what is said from the word of Christ, what's been said through the prophets, what's been delivered to us by the apostles as well.

02:33

And this in reference to your Holy Spirit that fills the hearts of every believer, for it is the

02:38

Spirit who discerns spiritual things. How do we know what it is that God is saying to us if we do not have the

02:45

Spirit of God that illuminates these things to us? And so we pray that your spirit would help us understand, that we may see the light of the gospel as we talked about last week, and continue to apply that to our lives.

03:01

That we may know that though we are afflicted in all different kinds of ways, we are not crushed, though we are perplexed, we are not driven to despair.

03:14

But we know the Lord Christ who has overcome this world is with us, and in Christ we will be overcomers to the very end.

03:26

We ask for your strength, lift us up and encourage us in your word today.

03:33

In Jesus' name we pray, and all God's people said, amen. Thank you, you may be seated.

03:41

You probably know the story of the 300 Spartans. It is a classic tale, it's been told in history for almost 2 ,500 years, as the story occurred in 480

03:54

BC, the 300 Spartan soldiers that fought against the entire Persian army at Thermopylae.

04:02

And many different historians kind of argue it's about the size of the army that they fought.

04:07

Some say it was the entire might of the Persian army, which could have been as many as a million soldiers.

04:14

That's not unusual, we actually read accounts of such battles being fought even in the Old Testament, when a much smaller

04:20

Judean army would go against a much larger million -man army perhaps from Egypt or from somewhere else.

04:28

And so it's not terribly unusual that the Spartans may have faced a Persian army of such size, as such an army is even talked about in Scripture.

04:36

But other historians argue that it may have just been 100 ,000, 150 ,000, or somewhere around a quarter of a million.

04:43

That's still a massive army for 300 soldiers to take on. So there at the pass at Thermopylae, the

04:51

Spartan army attempted to hold off the Persians from invading Greece.

04:57

Now there actually were more than 300 Spartans. There were only 300

05:03

Spartans, but there were 700 from Thespiae that were fighting with them. But still, you're talking about 1 ,000 soldiers going up against about a quarter of a million soldiers, those are still insurmountable odds.

05:16

And though the Spartans did quite well, considering the odds, they still lost.

05:22

They still died at the hands of the Persians there at Thermopylae. It's such a famous story that it's been made into a film, not once but twice.

05:30

The first movie was back in 1962. That one's a little bit more appropriate movie, the 2007 version that came out a little over a decade ago.

05:39

I don't recommend you watch that one. That movie was based off of a comic book that was written by Frank Miller.

05:46

So even now, 2 ,500 years later, we are still talking about the great battle at Thermopylae involving 300

05:53

Spartans. It's amazing to me that we talk about that battle and not the one that we read about in Judges chapter 7.

06:03

Why is that one more fascinating? Because you had 300 Jews that were going up against a massive army of Midians and none of Gideon's army died.

06:18

They actually won all of their battles. That one's more impressive. But history seems to love the story of the 300

06:26

Spartans. This one took place almost 1 ,000 years before the Spartans.

06:32

We read about it in Judges chapter 7. Many of you probably know of Gideon. The most famous story related to Gideon is

06:39

Gideon's what? He did something to know the sign of God was with him to go and fight in this battle.

06:46

What was it? He laid out a fleece, right? So you know, Gideon's fleece. That's the most famous story related to Gideon.

06:55

God was going to have him go up against the Midians and deliver the persecution of his people out of their hands.

07:03

But Gideon wanted to know if God was really with him in this battle, so he wanted a sign.

07:08

He laid out a fleece and said, God, if you are really with me in this, let the fleece be wet with dew and let the rest of the ground be dry around it.

07:16

And then the next morning, the fleece was soaking wet. He rang it out into a bowl, but the rest of the ground was dry.

07:22

Then Gideon goes, oh, silly me. Of course the fleece is going to be wet. It's a fleece. It absorbs water.

07:28

So let it be the other way around this time. Let the fleece be dry and the rest of the ground around it be wet with dew.

07:35

And then the next morning, so it was, and Gideon knew that God was with him to fight in this battle. Now, Gideon was not a brave man.

07:41

He was actually a coward. And so he was trying to find excuses to not have to fight this battle.

07:47

But nonetheless, Gideon was the judge whom God had appointed to be the deliverer for Israel.

07:54

In chapter 7, we read, Jerubbael, that is Gideon. He was given that name because he had torn down an altar to Baal.

08:03

And all the people who were with him rose early and encamped beside the spring of Herod.

08:09

And the camp of Midian was north of them by the hill of Morah in the valley.

08:16

The Lord said to Gideon, the people with you are too many. There are too many for me to give the

08:24

Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, my own hand has saved me.

08:35

So the point here is God wants to show through meager army that it was

08:40

God's mighty hand that saved them. Not the mighty hand of a man, not the might of Israel, but it was

08:46

God's might that delivered Israel out of the hand of the Midianites. Praise be to God, not praise be to the might of man.

08:55

So God is saying, your army is still too big. For he knew the hearts of the Israelites.

09:01

They had fallen from God, which was exactly why God sent the Midians to persecute them.

09:09

And so with their hearts still so hardened against the Lord, God said, you must reduce your ranks.

09:15

Your numbers need to be smaller. When the small army defeats the Midianites, you will know that it was

09:20

God that delivered them into your hand and not the might of you. So God goes on in verse 3 to say, now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from Mount Gilead.

09:37

Then 22 ,000 people returned and 10 ,000 remained.

09:42

So now Gideon has an army of 10 ,000. But the Lord said to Gideon, the people are still too many.

09:50

Take them down to the water and I will test them for you there. And anyone of whom I say to you, this one shall go with you, shall go with you.

09:58

And anyone of whom I say to you, this one shall not go with you, shall not go. So he brought the people down to the water.

10:06

And the Lord said to Gideon, everyone who laps the water with his tongue as a dog laps, you shall set by himself.

10:15

Likewise, everyone who kneels down to drink. And the number of those who lapped, putting their hands to their mouths, was 300 men.

10:26

But all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water. And the Lord said to Gideon, with the 300 men who lapped,

10:33

I will save you and give the Midianites into your hand and let all the others go, every man to his home.

10:39

So the people took provisions in their hands and their trumpets, and he sent all the rest of Israel, every man to his tent, but returned the 300 men, and the camp of Midian was below him in the valley.

10:52

So here God has whittled down this army that was previously 32 ,000 people to 10 ,000, and then whittled it down even more to 300 men, 300, 300

11:07

Israelites, with Gideon going up against the much more powerful and much more technologically advanced, even when it came to the weaponry they had,

11:16

Midianites. That same night, the Lord said to him, Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand.

11:26

But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant, and you shall hear what they say, and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp.

11:38

So he went down with Purah his servant to the outpost of the armed men who were in the camp.

11:43

Now remember, I said Gideon was not a brave man. That's an indicator there that he wasn't brave. So God said,

11:49

Go down into the camp, I've already given them into your hand, but if you're afraid, go down with Purah.

11:56

So what do we read next? Gideon went down with Purah. Verse 12, And the Midianites and the

12:01

Amalekites and all the people of the east lay along the valley like locusts in abundance, and their camels were without number as the sand that is on the seashore in abundance.

12:12

How large was this army? You couldn't even count their camels. That's how big this army was, a combination of the

12:20

Midianites and the Amalekites who had been persecuting the Israelites for years. They cried out to the

12:26

Lord for deliverance. God gave them a judge, that is Gideon. He gave him an army and reduced it even down to 300 people who were going to go against this army of hundreds of thousands.

12:39

When Gideon came, behold, a man was telling a dream to his comrade. And he said,

12:46

Behold, I dreamed a dream. And behold, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian and came to the tent and struck it so that it fell and turned it upside down so that the tent lay flat.

12:58

And his comrade answered, This is no other than the sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, a man of Israel.

13:06

God has given into his hand Midian and all the camp. And as soon as Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, he worshipped.

13:17

And he returned to the camp of Israel and said, Arise, for the Lord has given the host of Midian into your hand.

13:23

And he divided the 300 men into three companies and put trumpets into the hands of all of them and empty jars with torches inside the jars.

13:35

And he said to them, Look at me and do likewise. When I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do.

13:44

When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then blow the trumpets also on every side of all the camp and shout for the

13:55

Lord and for Gideon. So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch.

14:05

And they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands.

14:10

Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke their jars. They held in their left hands the torches and in their right hands the trumpets to blow.

14:19

And they cried out, A sword for the Lord and a sword for Gideon. Every man stood in his place around the camp and all the army ran.

14:28

They cried out and fled. When they blew the 300 trumpets, the Lord set every man's sword against his comrade and against all the army.

14:35

And the men of Israel were called out from Naphtali and from Asher and from all Manasseh.

14:40

And they pursued after Midian. Three hundred men defeated an army of hundreds of thousands because the

14:50

Lord caused confusion in their hearts and they raised up swords against each other and killed one another.

14:56

Three hundred men and they did not lose a single life. But why do we talk about 300

15:03

Spartans instead of the 300 Israelites who not only won at this battle but went on to defeat the

15:08

Midianites further and also struck down Ziba and Zalmunna who were the leaders of the

15:14

Midianite army? The reason we don't talk about this battle so triumphantly as we talk about the 300

15:20

Spartans is because credit here goes to God. We seem to be more content with talking about men who are of themselves who were struck down by the swords and were not successful as long as we don't have to give credit to God.

15:34

All the credit went to the Lord. The Lord said, I am going to shrink your army so that you will know that I'm the one who delivered the

15:41

Midianites into your hands. Nonetheless, Gideon didn't exactly learn the lesson.

15:51

Of the judges that we have listed in the book of Judges, they're always described as a person who believed in God and obeyed

16:01

Him. This is a person that God sent to the Israelites to offer them relief from the oppression that they were receiving at the hands of an enemy.

16:10

But these men and woman, considering Deborah was a judge as well, they were not totally righteous for there's always some sort of weakness about those particular judges that is described.

16:24

And for Gideon, the weakness of course was cowardice, but even more than that, he did get a little big headed because of his success against the

16:32

Midianites. And instead of giving God all the glory, he decided to take some glory for himself.

16:40

In verse 22, the men of Israel said to Gideon, rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.

16:49

Gideon said to them, I will not rule over you and my son will not rule over you. The Lord will rule over you.

16:56

And Gideon said to them, let me make a request of you. Every one of you give me the earrings from his spoil for they had golden earrings because they were

17:05

Ishmaelites. And they answered, we will willingly give them.

17:10

And they spread a cloak and every man threw in it the earrings of his spoil. And the weight of the golden earrings that was requested was 1700 shekels of gold.

17:21

Besides the crescent ornaments and the pendants and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian and besides the collars that were around the necks of their camels.

17:29

And Gideon made an ephod of it and he put it in his city in Aphra and all

17:35

Israel whored after it there. And it became a snare to Gideon and to his family.

17:41

So Midian was subdued before the people of Israel and they raised their heads no more and the land had rest for 40 years in the days of Gideon.

17:51

What was Gideon's pride there? Indeed, they wanted to make him a king but he says, I do not rule over you, the

17:57

Lord rules over you. Still, Gideon wanted to take a little bit of glory for himself so he made an ephod.

18:02

Who wore the ephod? The chief priest. And so Gideon wanted to make of himself a priest.

18:09

He wanted to exalt himself as a high priest even though it was not his position and he was not ordained by God to hold that spot.

18:18

And again, it became kind of a source of division for the rest of Israel even though there was deliverance from the hands of the

18:25

Midianites, still they were divided. The reason Gideon didn't want to become a king probably wasn't because he was so noble to say, no, the

18:33

Lord is your king. Again, it was probably because Gideon was a coward and he knew just as he struck down the king of Midian, so somebody else might come along and strike him down.

18:43

So instead of being your king, I'll be your high priest, which was not his position to hold.

18:50

So the credit, the glory was supposed to go to God, but Gideon still got a little puffed up, a little big on himself.

19:03

Here in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, the apostle Paul is saying that we have treasures in jars of clay, and the point

19:12

Paul is making by describing not just himself and his fellow missionary brethren that way, but describing all of us that way, the point is that we're not anything great.

19:27

We have a treasure in jars of clay. Why? To show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

19:40

We're but vessels that have been made by the hands of the potter.

19:46

We're nothing but clay and dust, maybe a little bit of mortar, maybe some color, maybe some paint, but we're nothing.

19:53

We've been made. We've been handmade. It is God who is great. If there's any power in us, it's not from us.

20:02

It is from God. And we are jars of clay to show the surpassing power of God.

20:11

That was the reason why God reduced the Israelite army to just 300 men to go against the

20:16

Midianites so that all of the other nations around as well as Israel would see and recognize the power of God working through Gideon and his army.

20:27

And yet even Gideon missed the point and became a little bit full of himself. But Paul reminds the

20:34

Corinthians that we're nothing and God is everything. In Lamentations 4 -2, we read that we are earthen pots.

20:43

We're the work of the potter's hands. And it may be that reference exactly that Paul uses when he refers to us as pots, as jars of clay.

20:58

We are vessels that hold within ourselves the surpassing power of God.

21:09

Surpassing power, meaning all things considered that it cannot be contained. So we are vessels that have the surpassing power of God in us, but we can't not contain that power.

21:20

It is even greater than us. As we start here in 2 Corinthians 4 -7 with Paul saying we have this treasure in jars of clay, what is the treasure that we're talking about?

21:31

It is the gospel that we had just discussed in the verse previous. The verse that we concluded with last week.

21:37

2 Corinthians 4 -6, For God who said, let light shine out of darkness, has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

21:50

And the message of the good news of the gospel of Christ we carry with us. It is that message that has brought us from death to life.

21:59

As we concluded last week, I said the same power that God used to bring all of creation into existence is the very same power that brought you from death to life.

22:11

God spoke into all of creation. Sorry. He spoke into nothing and brought about all of creation.

22:18

He spoke into nothing and said, let there be light. And there was light.

22:24

He said it and it came to be. The voice of the creator so powerful that if he commands something to exist, it comes into existence.

22:33

You don't have that power. You can't bring anything to existence by that power.

22:39

Charlie, when you go to repair an air conditioner, can you just look at the air conditioner and say, let it be repaired. Doesn't work that way.

22:47

Dave, when you go to your desk work, I still really have no idea what it is that you do. But when you sit, when you sit at your desk and you say, let it be done.

22:55

Is it done? No. None of us can declare the finishing work of our own hands, but God can declare his finishing work by his own words.

23:08

And the power that he used to bring things into existence is the power that he used to bring you out of darkness and into his marvelous light.

23:17

We who were all once sons of darkness as described in Ephesians chapter two, we were sons and daughters of darkness following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is at work in all of the sons of disobedience in whom we once lived and walked following the passions of the flesh.

23:41

But in Ephesians chapter two verse four, we read, but God who is rich in mercy brought us to life by the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

23:56

The apostle Peter says that you've been brought out of darkness and into his marvelous light. You who were once dead in your sins and your trespasses,

24:06

God has brought to life by the declaration of the gospel.

24:13

I concluded last week also with Romans 10 17, faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.

24:21

You don't come to faith in God to believe in God, except that you heard the word of Christ and then you turn from sin and you believed in Jesus and you followed him because the gospel said, do it.

24:34

And the Holy Spirit worked in your heart to believe it. And you turned and you followed.

24:40

And this credit belongs to whom? God. It is entirely

24:46

God's. It is not yours. Though there have been heretics throughout the history of the church that have tried to come forward and say that you have something to do with your salvation.

24:58

This was the whole Pelagian controversy during the days of Augustine in which he wrote against a man named

25:05

Pelagius who declared that you have the ability and the power in yourself to affect your own salvation.

25:14

Referred to as the Pelagian heresy. Mankind is basically good. We've just been infected with some kind of evil, but you have the goodness in you to follow

25:24

God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. No, you do not. Romans chapter 3 is clear on this point.

25:31

No one seeks for God. No one does it. And if it was not for God intervening in the path of destruction that you were on, you would have followed that path all the way to your death.

25:46

As absurd as that road looked and everything around you looked and you even saw that the end of that path tumbled over a precipice into deep darkness, still you walked down it because that's your nature, to walk away from God and follow after the passions of your own flesh.

26:04

Why is it we follow stories about 300 Spartans that were struck down by the enemy instead of awed by the power of God through Gideon and his men?

26:14

Because we love ourselves instead of loving God and his word.

26:22

It is following after the passions of the flesh that will lead us to our destruction, but God did not leave us in that trajectory.

26:31

He intervened by the power of his Holy Spirit, by the declaration of the gospel.

26:37

And if you have believed the gospel, you have repented from the direction that you were going.

26:43

The word repent means to turn around. You were going one direction, you turned around and went the other way.

26:50

You were walking away from God when you heard the gospel, when you heard from the word of God that the wages of sin is death and you must repent and follow

27:00

Christ in order to be saved. Then it was by the power of that message and that word that you turned from the direction that you were going and you started going toward God instead of away from him through the message of the gospel of Christ.

27:15

And this is all entirely the work of God. It has been declared by the

27:21

Father. It has been effected by the Son. And it has been placed upon your heart by the

27:31

Holy Spirit. All of this is the gracious work of God to show his surpassing power, not ours.

27:44

We have no power. We're just jars of clay. We're just pots. We've been made by the hands of the potter.

27:52

But we have this treasure within us, the treasure of the gospel, to show his surpassing power and not ours.

28:01

And the practical implications of that, I hope, are implied. That as you struggle through the situations that you go through in life, the details, work, family, relationships, friends, paying bills, retiring, or just the existential questions, is this all there is in life?

28:28

What's the meaning of life? Where am I going? Who am I? What is my place in the universe? The answers to all of these questions are found in Christ.

28:37

And the practical implications of the gospel are these, that though we are nothing but pots that will eventually waste away and turn into the dust from which we were formed, if the surpassing power of the gospel is within us, we have the promise of deliverance, and that the grave is not our final resting place, and that the struggles that we go through in this world are not eternal.

29:04

Even they are wasting away. They will waste away like the pots that we are. But it is the surpassing eternal power of the gospel that is within us, the promise of God and his

29:17

Son, Christ Jesus, that we will be delivered out of our mortal plight and given immortality in Christ.

29:25

The promise that we have been forgiven of our sins. We who have repented and have asked

29:31

God for grace. He has poured it out upon us lavishly through his

29:37

Son, Jesus Christ. And in that promise, we have been told that we will receive eternal life.

29:46

So in the vessels that we are, in the pots that we are, there is evidence of death.

29:54

Because we know that a pot is nothing, it's wasting away, it's just going to turn back into dust. But inside of us is immortality in Jesus Christ.

30:02

And so as Paul talks about later on in this particular section, death is at work in us but life in you.

30:09

We who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our mortal flesh.

30:17

There's an evidence of mortality, of death that is coming, but the immortality is in the gospel of Christ that we have heard and believe and proclaim.

30:26

Paul says in verse 8, we are afflicted in every way but we are not crushed.

30:36

I think that goes so well with this picture of being a treasure in jars of clay.

30:43

Easy to crush a jar, easy to break a jar. You could carry it, you could drop it, it would be instantly crushed.

30:52

You put enough stress on it, you put enough pressure on it, you hit it hard enough suddenly and the jar cracks, it breaks, it crumbles away into nothing.

31:02

We know that jars are fragile. It's why you tell your child when they're carrying a glass object to be careful as they carry it.

31:10

You're not as concerned about the way they carry it when they're walking on the carpet, but once they go from carpet to hard floor, now you're concerned about your child's footsteps and what might happen to the glass object that they are holding.

31:21

We know how easy glass breaks. And here we are being described as jars of clay.

31:28

And so with enough pressure or with sudden impact, we know that we would be easily broken.

31:36

But Paul says though we are afflicted in every way, we aren't crushed.

31:45

Because though we might be earthen vessels on the outside, inside we are a heavenly treasure safe in the arms of God the

31:53

Father. Paul said at the beginning of this letter that God is a

32:01

God of comfort who comforts us in all our afflictions, no matter what those afflictions might be, great or small, emotional or physical.

32:12

As I am preaching to you this morning, my dad is in the hospital for the second time in two months with diverticulitis.

32:22

It has stricken him with a violent illness. Yesterday when

32:29

I was talking to him on the phone, he said to me, well, this wasn't as bad as last time. I said, well, good,

32:35

I'm glad it wasn't as bad as last time, but you're still not getting out of the hospital until Monday. He said, no, they're running a few more tests on me and then they'll let me go on Monday.

32:46

And I said, so you didn't get as sick as you did last time? He said, no, no, I didn't feel as sick as I was. Then as he was telling me the story of everything that happened, transpiring to mom bringing him to the hospital, he started talking about how he was getting sick, throwing up, stuff like that, and I said, hang on a second,

33:00

I thought you said it wasn't as bad as last time. He goes, no, it wasn't. I still threw up everything that was in my body, but it wasn't as bad as last time.

33:09

So it must have been really, really bad the first time. But as we go through these kinds of afflictions in our bodies, constantly reminded through illness and injury and other such things that were mortal and our bodies are wasting away and eventually they're going to be of no use to us whatsoever.

33:27

And it doesn't matter how strong your will is. You tell a person who's sick and feeling like on their deathbed, well, you just have to will yourself to get up.

33:38

You just have to have the will and you will have a way. Where there's a will, there's a way. If they had the will, they'd reach up and smack you.

33:46

That's what they would do. Our wills simply cannot overcome the futility that we experience in our bodies, creation that is being cursed because of sin.

34:01

We are jars of clay. We're wasting away. We're experiencing weakness day by day.

34:12

But again, all this to show that the credit doesn't belong to us. The glory belongs to God.

34:18

That we would never feel so high and mighty on ourselves to think that we had something to do with our success or our deliverance or our salvation.

34:27

But all of the glory goes to God. Reminding you again of something that Paul said in 2

34:33

Corinthians 1, 8, and 9. We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction that we experienced in Asia.

34:42

For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself.

34:47

Indeed, we felt like we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead.

35:00

So even as you suffer emotionally or physically, even as you experience those kinds of things in this world, are you being reminded that God is a

35:12

God who raises the dead and that the promise of your deliverance is in Christ?

35:18

The Apostle Paul said in Romans chapter 5, as much as we've been saved by the death of Christ, so we are also being saved by his life.

35:32

Jesus lived sinlessly and you have not. He lived sinlessly as your representative.

35:41

He kept the law and the prophets where you couldn't do those things. And then as your representative went to the cross and died on your behalf, his blood spilled for your sins so that all who believe in Jesus will have their sins forgiven and will receive his eternal life.

36:02

Christ came back from the grave conquering death so that all who would believe in him would have his eternal life.

36:10

The Apostle Paul said to the Galatians, for I've been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives within me.

36:18

The old man, the old woman has been put to death, has been put away, and now it is Christ who lives within us.

36:26

But just as Christ walked this earth sinlessly, again, which you have not done, but Jesus did it, even as he walked this earth sinlessly, he still struggled.

36:36

He still suffered in his flesh. He experienced hunger. He grew weary and slept.

36:44

He knew what it was like to be brokenhearted. He knew what it was like to experience such physical affliction that you may never experience.

36:54

But most of all, something that Jesus experienced that you will not have to experience if you believe in Christ, Jesus experienced the wrath of God.

37:06

He took it on the cross when he died for you so that if you turn from your sin, you repent from that trajectory in which you're following your own way, and instead you follow

37:19

Jesus Christ. You will not perish, but you will have everlasting life.

37:27

And then when we go through these afflictions, we are not crushed, for we know the surpassing power that is within us is not something of ourselves.

37:36

It is from God. I was listening to Al Mohler earlier this week, and Al Mohler made the comment that we are completely powerless to change ourselves.

37:50

He said the self -esteem gospel and the self -help gospel dies in the mirror because we are completely powerless to change anything within ourselves.

38:10

You might be able to change some habits. You might be able to improve certain behaviors and this, that, or the other.

38:19

You might even be able to do some physical training and improve your physical body, enact some disciplines, and be a more moralistic person.

38:28

But you are completely powerless to change the inner man or the inner woman.

38:35

You cannot change that, but Christ can. And as Dr. Mohler concluded,

38:42

Christ does. It is the power of the gospel within us that changes us from sons and daughters that followed the prince of the power of the air to sons and daughters of God who follow

38:57

Christ. We are afflicted in every way, but we're not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair.

39:06

My friends, the answers that we have to everything are right here in the Bible. Jesus described in Colossians chapter 1, he described the words of God, the words of Christ, as being all the treasures of mystery and knowledge we find in Christ Jesus.

39:25

Everything you could ever want to know, you find in Christ. And Paul said this to a people who were being led astray by false philosophies.

39:34

He was saying, don't be led astray by those philosophies. You have everything that you need to know in Christ.

39:40

But even though we have all the answers that we could ever need to know right here in the pages of Scripture, that doesn't mean that you're going to understand everything.

39:50

And there are things, even in theology, that quite frankly, you're going to be confused by. Part of my role as a pastor is to answer your theological questions.

40:01

But some of you have experienced this. Sometimes you'll ask me a question in which I'll respond, I don't know.

40:08

Let me go back and study that and see if I can come up with a better answer for you than that. We're simply not going to know everything.

40:15

And there are things, even when it comes to how God works and what he is doing, that are going to perplex us.

40:22

But Paul says, but we're not driven to despair. And one of the ways that we might not be driven to despair is because we know the end of the story.

40:32

You can go to Revelation chapter 21, and you can read what John saw at the very end of all things.

40:41

I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.

40:47

The sea was no more. I saw a holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband.

40:56

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.

41:05

He will dwell with them. And they will be his people.

41:12

And God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more.

41:23

Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.

41:34

Paul describes the things that we go through in this world, this is coming up toward the end of chapter 4, as a light, momentary affliction.

41:45

It may seem like the world to you now, but it is a light, momentary affliction.

41:54

Emily, good news, this pregnancy will come to an end. It is a light, momentary affliction.

42:01

Then she'll get to experience the joy of holding a brand new baby in her arms. So likewise, folks,

42:09

Paul describes all of creation as groaning, as in the throes of birth pains in Romans chapter 8.

42:19

But then we will all be delivered on that day that Christ Jesus comes, and we will be made new.

42:24

Our lowly bodies transformed to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him to subject all things to himself.

42:33

And knowing this truth, we may be perplexed, but we're not driven to despair. Persecuted but not forsaken, our sister

42:42

Joy has experienced some of that as she has been ministering in the Philippines. So may we continue to lift her up in prayer as she answers this call of God to preach the gospel to a people that must hear it.

42:57

We are struck down, but we are not destroyed. Always carrying in the body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.

43:07

For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our mortal flesh.

43:17

So death is at work in us, but life in you. Now, much of this that Paul mentions here in the closing verses of this section that we've looked at today, this is autobiographical.

43:28

This is Paul saying, we've experienced things that you will not have to experience, and that is to your benefit.

43:34

We suffer, you benefit. And praise God for that.

43:41

But know, even though we read these things autobiographically, that just as Paul was delivered from the things that he struggled through into the eternal kingdom of God, if God's going to deliver

43:52

Paul, he will most certainly deliver you. And we have the promise of eternal life in the wonder of the gospel.

44:03

I want to conclude with this. I try to be very careful as a parent about how

44:09

I talk to my children about fear. It's not too uncommon, and you as parents have experienced this before, that when you put your child to bed and you turn the lights out, they're afraid, right?

44:22

They're scared of something. I'm scared of the dark. I'm scared of a monster under my bed. I'm scared there's somebody in the closet.

44:29

For my son, who loves comic books and superheroes, when he was even a couple of years younger than he is now, he was afraid of the bad guys that were going to come and were going to take over our home.

44:40

Now, as a parent responding to some of these things, you want to be able to say, well, son, there are not any bad guys.

44:46

You know, there aren't the alien creatures that Iron Man had to fight. They're not going to come into your bedroom, okay? You want to respond that way, but at the same time,

44:54

I don't want to communicate to my children that everything's going to be okay when it might not be.

45:01

I think that children have a healthy sense of fear sometimes to know that this world is not all together, and sometimes people can just be really evil.

45:13

And so what I want to teach my children is not everything will be okay when everything won't be and then something happens and my child is left thinking, well, mom and dad told me everything was going to be all right.

45:26

And I'm not talking about invaders coming into your home at night. I'm just talking about anything in general. When your child is afraid, but you respond with, oh, it's going to be okay.

45:33

There's nothing to be worried about. There's nothing to be scared of. Everything is going to be fine. Know your child probably has a firmer grip on reality than you do, that everything is not all right.

45:46

And at any moment's notice, everything could go haywire, which is why what we need is not a healthy sense of self -esteem.

45:58

What we need is not somebody preaching us a gospel of cupcakes and rainbows and unicorns and everything's going to be all right.

46:07

What we need to be reminded of is the words that Jesus said to his disciples.

46:14

In this world, you will have trouble, but take heart. I've overcome the world.

46:24

So whatever comes our way in this fallen world, we rely fully upon Christ because the surpassing power belongs to him, not us.

50:22

Thank you for listening to our weekly sermon presented by First Southern Baptist Church of Junction City, Kansas.

50:28

For more information about our church, visit fsbcjc .org.

50:33

On behalf of our church family, my name is Becky, inviting you to join us again this week, Growing Together in Christ, when we understand the text.