WWUTT 1656 The Aroma of the Knoweldge of Christ (2 Corinthians 2:12-17)

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2 Corinthians 2 14 says thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and manifests through us the aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place when we understand the text.

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This is when we understand the text studying God's Word to reach all the riches of full assurance in Christ.

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Thank you for subscribing and if this is ministered to you please let others know about our program. Here once again is

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Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you Becky we come back to our study of 2nd Corinthians still in chapter 2.

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We've got a portion to finish up there verses 12 to 17 and that's where I'm gonna put most of my focus today but to keep things in context let's go back to verse 1.

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I'm reading out of the Legacy Standard Bible. This is the Word of the Lord through the Apostle Paul writing to the church in Corinth.

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But I determined this for my own sake that I would not come to you again in sorrow for if I cause you sorrow who then makes me glad but the one whom

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I made sorrowful and this is the very thing I wrote you so that when I came

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I would not have sorrow from those who ought to make me rejoice having confidence in you all that my joy would be the joy of you all for out of much affliction and anguish of heart

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I wrote to you with many tears not so that you would be made sorrowful but that you might know the love which

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I have abundantly for you but if any has caused me sorrow he has caused sorrow not to me but in some degree in order not to say too much to all of you sufficient for such a one is this punishment which was inflicted by the majority so that on the contrary you should rather graciously forgive and comfort him lest such a one be swallowed up by excessive sorrow therefore

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I encourage you to reaffirm your love for him for to this end also

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I wrote so that I might know your proven character whether you are obedient in all things but one whom you graciously forgive anything

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I graciously forgive also for indeed what I have graciously forgiven if I have graciously forgiven anything

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I did it for your sakes in the presence of Christ so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan for we are not ignorant of his schemes now when

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I came to Troas for the gospel of Christ and when a door was open for me in the

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Lord I had no rest in my spirit not finding Titus my brother but saying farewell to them

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I went on to Macedonia but thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and manifests through us the aroma of the knowledge of him in every place for we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing to the one an aroma from death to death to the other an aroma from life to life and who is sufficient for these things for we are not like many peddling the

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Word of God but as from sincerity but as from God in the sight of God we speak in Christ so coming back once again at the very beginning of this chapter it was necessary to read this again because of some things

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Paul says about looking for Titus and not being able to find him when he went to Troas this goes back to the start of the chapter where Paul had said he had written this tearful letter to the

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Corinthians and would not come to them while they were in sorrow over this letter that he had sent because if he came to them it would just compound their sorrow and then he would feel sorrowful because they're filled with sorrow rather he wanted to experience joy from them they needed to be in this time of lament they needed to feel convicted over their sin so that they would repent of it and come back to righteousness and rejoice in the

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Lord so that when Paul comes to them they would all rejoice together and he mentions in verse 4 this tearful letter that he had sent for out of much affliction and anguish of heart

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I wrote to you with many tears he wasn't writing this tearful letter to them going haha this will show them and now

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I'll feel better about myself because I've made the Corinthians feel bad and he goes on to say not so that you would be made sorrowful but so that you might know the love which

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I have abundantly for you I didn't write this to you to make you feel bad I wrote it so that you would know the love

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I have for you that you would recognize your sin and you would repent of it and you would continue to walk after Christ now there was this guy that was among the

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Corinthians who did not want to listen to the Apostle Paul we talked about this last week when we were in chapter 2 and as Paul said to the

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Corinthians in 2nd Corinthians 3 if there is anyone who will not listen to what we say in this letter take note of that person and have nothing to do with him so if a person is rejecting a letter that is written by an apostle to a church it's the same as if he is rejecting the word of Christ itself or himself either way the word itself they're rejecting a word that came from God because Christ had assigned the

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Apostles to be his mouthpiece to go out with his word and whatever an apostle taught to the church he was teaching under the authority of Jesus Christ so to reject the word of an apostle is to reject the word of Christ therefore you have this guy in Corinth who has done that very thing and so he's been punished for that because he would not listen to Paul because he would not receive the word of an apostle he gets put under church discipline and he gets removed from the church he's been removed by the majority as Paul says in verse 6 now in verse 5 he says if he has caused any sorrow he's caused it to you not to me indeed this man has rejected

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Paul's word as the word of an apostle of Christ but this has caused sorrow to the

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Corinthians it's not that it's caused sorrow to Paul so it's not like now

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Paul feels better about it because you got that guy out of the church instead what Paul says is now you should graciously forgive him if you've forgiven him of anything that I've also forgiven him so test this man see if he is sorrowful over what he has done and if he is filled with sorrow over this and Paul seems to indicate here that he is so even

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Paul knows this man regrets what it is that he's done so restore him back to the church

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I encourage you to reaffirm your love for him he says in verse 8 as Paul is reaffirming his love for the

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Corinthians for to this and also I wrote so that I might know your proven character whether you are an obedient in all things so as Paul had rebuked the

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Corinthians over their sinful things and they've been obedient according to what Paul has said to them now he knows they are genuine in Christ because they've listened to this they've been convicted by it and they're determining to walk in obedience well so it is with this man so as Paul has extended this this forgiveness toward the

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Corinthians so the Corinthians need to do with a member of their own church but one whom you graciously forgive anything

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Paul says in verse 10 I graciously forgive for indeed what I have graciously forgiven if I have graciously forgiven anything

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I did it for your sakes in the presence of Christ so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan for we are not ignorant of his schemes it's in Ephesians chapter 4 where Paul says do not let the

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Sun go down on your anger and give the devil a foothold now we often use that verse to talk about marriage right don't go to bed angry with one another resolve your differences and and and that way you know you keep your marriage together that's often the way that verse is applied but remember that Paul is writing to a church so he's talking to a church here there is a time in which it's good to be angry if we're angry at the right things and we handle that anger in a way that is in submission to Christ the

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Holy Spirit who is within us the Word of God that has been given to us which is the Bible if we are in submission to those things like we're not in submission to our feelings we're not being governed by our feelings we're not being tossed to and fro by our shifting emotions okay but even our emotions are in subjection in obedience to the

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Word of Christ and if that's the case then there is a time in which anger is right can be justified it is holy it is a righteous anger we read about God having a righteous anger like in Psalm 711 where it says that he is a righteous judge who feels indignation every day

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God is certainly not doing or feeling anything evil because he would be angry at us for our sin so likewise we can be angry in such a way that is righteous and holy as it says in Ephesians 4 be angry and do not sin do not let the

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Sun go down on your anger and give the devil an opportunity so again as Paul is writing that to a church there's going to be occasions when it is right it's justified for a church to be angry at sin and to deal with that but not to let the anger turn into bitterness and wrath or malice and deceit and all that kind of thing so that would give the devil an opportunity here

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Paul is saying the same kind of a thing to the Corinthians where he says to them that we do not let

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Satan have any advantage we are not ignorant of his schemes so you've had a man among you who has sinned you have dealt with that through church discipline the majority even ruled upon it but now you need to restore him and forgive him so that there's no bitterness that wells up in you and also so that this man would not be burdened by excessive sorrow is what

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Paul has said there we're not we're not ignorant of the devil schemes he wants us to be divided but here we have disciplined so that one may repent and we can be unified in the grace of God can be demonstrated among us in in how he has forgiven and restored us so restore this man to your congregation to your assembly and that's what that's what that's in reference to in 2nd

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Corinthians 2 as I said at the beginning of this study in 2nd Corinthians often in this section about this guy that's that is lamenting over his sin it's in reference to the guy that had to be put out of the church in 1st

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Corinthians 5 but that's not the case apparently what had happened there in 1st Corinthians 5 that man was wicked and we don't have anything about him repenting or being restored to the church he was just evil sleeping with his mother's sleeping with his father's wife his stepmother in other words and so Paul says purge the evil person from among you there's nothing about that man that was godly at all he called himself a brother but he was not really a

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Christian so we don't see the story of that man being restored because he probably wasn't restored that should be our conclusion there so continuing on with this as we look into this next section verses 12 to 17

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Paul says now when I came to Troas for the gospel of Christ and when a door was open for me in the

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Lord I had no rest for my spirit not finding Titus my brother but saying farewell to them

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I went on to Macedonia okay so what's Paul referring to here well he sent this tearful letter to the

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Corinthians via Titus Titus is the one that has gone to Corinth with this tearful letter letter

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C as we refer to it it's a letter that was written between 1st Corinthians and 2nd Corinthians Titus delivered the tearful letter to Corinth and then when

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Paul came to Troas with an opportunity to share the gospel that's what he means there when he says a door was open for me in the

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Lord so he's there at Troas to share the gospel and when he comes there the arrangement was that Titus would meet him there and Titus didn't show up so Paul is getting concerned here

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I expected Titus to be here that means something's not going well in Corinth he was already troubled in his spirit by some of the things that he knew that that he had to address was happening there at the church in Corinth he was already troubled over that Titus is sent with this tearful letter

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Paul goes to Troas the arrangement was that Titus is gonna show up there at Troas and let

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Paul know that the letter was well received but Titus isn't there and so Paul says in verse 13

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I had no rest in my spirit not finding Titus my brother but I had to say farewell to them those whom

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Paul was with there at Troas and he went on to Macedonia now we're gonna hear later on about Paul meeting up with Titus in chapter 7 he talks about that and then he's comforted by the news that Titus has to bring to him and and Titus also being comforted by the way that he witnessed the

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Corinthians receiving Paul's tearful letter so we'll get to that a little bit later on in the meantime we cover this this final portion here of chapter 2 verse 14 but thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and manifests through us the aroma of the knowledge of him in every place now

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Paul may be saying that as it turns out y 'all did receive this letter well when it came to you

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I may not have had word of that when I was in Troas but you received the letter well and then

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I went on to Macedonia and I'm comforted because God comforts us in every place we go back to chapter 1 right where Paul had been talking about God being the father of mercies and the

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God of all comfort and so no matter where he goes he's able to be comforted by God the

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Corinthians are able to be comforted by God the Holy Spirit is not bound by time and space but he can be anywhere at any time extending to us the comfort of the ministry of Christ so Paul says thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ we triumph over these things the devil does not get a foothold and God manifests through us the aroma of the knowledge of him in every place for we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing that's verse 15 so Paul is using this illustration of being like a fragrant offering now you right away you may think of the incense that's burned in the temple or in the tabernacle and and that being a fragrant offering unto the

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Lord the book of Exodus where instructions were given to the priests on how to offer fragrant offerings there would be the the wave offering so as the smoke is lifted up it is a a fragrant offering unto the

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Lord that may be where your mind goes when Paul makes that reference but this was actually in reference to a

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Roman practice more of a of a Greek practice rather than the

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Hebrew practice that was going on in the tabernacle in the end in the temple whenever the

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Romans would conquer a people whenever they would be successful in battle there would be a big parade in the city probably whatever city was nearby it could be the capital city of Rome or it could have been the city that Rome had just seized or it could have been the city that was most involved in that particular seizure you know whatever it might happen to be there would be a parade in the city and and this parade this procession of victory would include the burning of incense and so that that fragrant aroma all of the senses are being pleased by news of the victory yay we won so there's shouts of joy there's there's good pleasing you know colors and and and all kinds of visual things that symbolize our success against our enemies they're probably eating a lot of good food and drinking wine in rejoicing and then there's also the burning of incense so the even our sense of smell is being satisfied with the victory and so Paul is making a reference to that here and not just with regards to the aroma of an incense offering but also in the picture of the the spices and things like that which would be burned in an incense offering they have to be crushed first so you would put them in kind of a bowl and you have the pestle you know when you you pound it down and and so that it becomes a fine powder and that's what gets burned and gives off this fragrant offering will remember that Paul is referring to himself as having been beaten for the sake of the gospel he talks about the persecutions that he endured for the gospel back in chapter one and he's going to come into that again later on all the things that that he suffers and that he endures for the sake of the gospel the

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Corinthians were also crushed they were crushed not just by persecution that goes on around them but they were crushed by Paul's letter crushed though in such a way to build them back up and so this is a good crushing same with with making incense were crushed and then set on fire that we may offer up a fragrant offering so you have this picture of fragrance of Christ to God we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing so when you think about the fragrant offering as being some sort of victory offering okay the the burning of incense when you think of that as being something victorious then to those who are rejoicing in the victory boy that that aroma is sweet it's wonderful it is lovely but to those who have been defeated the aroma is a reminder of their defeat you've probably heard it said that that that smell our sense of smell is the sense that is most closely tied to memory and so every time you would smell that fragrance you would be reminded of the victory that they have or the enemies that were defeated by the

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Romans whenever they smelled that scent it would remind them of their defeat so we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing we're not talking about those who are our sinners and unbelievers and eventually they will come to faith no these are those that will never come to faith remember that Paul said back in first Corinthians 118 the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved it is the power of God so the message of Christ the the message of the gospel which is being carried by the

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Apostles to the churches and to the rest of the world we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved it's good news when the gospel comes to those who are being saved it's good news but when the message of victory in Christ is said to those who are perishing they think it's foolish and then verse 16 to the one an aroma from death to death to death and another an aroma from life to life so for those who are perishing who do not believe in God the message of the gospel is the message of a dead guy like they crucified a carpenter

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I mean what difference does that make to me right because once again first Corinthians 118 the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing so they hear about a dead guy they're not convinced about it and it just leads to their death they heard the message of the gospel they would not believe they die it is an aroma from death to death to the other an aroma from life to life we didn't just hear a message about a guy who was being crucified although we did hear that message he died as an atoning sacrifice for us but then he rose again and that was for our justification and we are risen again to new life and so the message of the gospel is an aroma from life to life and who is sufficient for all of these things that's a rhetorical question the answer is

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God he is sufficient for all of this he is the one who will judge those who are perishing and he is the one who is saving those who have believed verse 17 for we are not like many peddling the

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Word of God but as from sincerity as from God in the sight of God we speak in Christ we do this out of sincerity as Paul said to Timothy in 1st

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Timothy chapter 1 our motivation is not ourselves the aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith 1st

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Timothy 1 5 and then Paul goes on to say certain persons by swerving from these have wandered away into vain discussion so they do become peddlers of the

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Word of God they use manipulative tactics to get people to believe or follow them or whatever like the pragmatism that we see going on in the church all of the different flashy ways in which

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Christ will be presented to get people to come to my church and give us money so we can continue to be this really popular church they're peddling the

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Word of God instead of out of loving sincerity preaching the gospel of Christ to all for it is only the message of the gospel of Christ that has the power to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness and restore us to fellowship with God now something

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I want to do tomorrow as we come back to this I want to I want to sit on that verse 17 a little bit as we jump into chapter 3 and I'll give you a few more examples of the ways people peddle the

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Word of God so that you can be wise to this and not be led astray by it let's finish with prayer

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Heavenly Father we thank you for the the real gospel that came to us raw as it may have been to convict us of our sin and lead us to Christ to look to him that our sins would be forgiven and we would have everlasting life with God may we be a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and even among those who are perishing they may think we are foolish because we believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ but we we know that it is through this gospel we have fellowship with God if God is for us what can man do to us thank you for these words that we have heard today and may they be a comfort to our spirits it's in Jesus name that we pray amen you can find a complete list of videos books devotionals and other resources online at www .utt