Paul's Enlarged Heart (11/04/2001)

Well, I appreciated what you had to say about our young people. That's, uh, there's a lot of things we can take for granted around here.

That's another one that we shouldn't because they are, they are special. Turn with me this morning to 2

Corinthians chapter 6. I was,

I was reading this verse to, to Charlotte on the way over, I said, this is what I'm going to preach on.

And, uh, let me read it to you and you'll see why she laughed. Second Corinthians 6 11.

Here is the text. Oh, you Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you. Our heart is enlarged.

You are not straightened in us, but ye are straightened in your own bowels. Now for a recompense in the same,

I speak as unto my children be also enlarged. Says a lot, doesn't it?

That old English just tears that up, doesn't it? That's, that's one of the most amazing passages

I've seen where the old English just, I mean, you really, it's hard to see that it's saying much of anything, but it is.

Let me reread it to you with some more literal translations, all right, put in into it.

My face is open to you, or you could say my speech is open to you.

Ye are not distressed in us or by us, but you are distressed in your own inward affection for us.

Now in return for what I have done for you, be also enlarged.

Now this word enlarged means to widen, to broaden. I believe it carries the connotation of to be matured in the

Lord. So Paul is talking to his disciples and is saying that in return for all that I've done for you, and we see a little glimpse of what he's done when we read the rest of the passage in a moment, but he says in return for that, all

I ask is that you be enlarged also. He said, I am enlarged. You be enlarged also.

So we've talked in the last days about the enlargement of the heart and we talked last time about David.

Today, I want to bring it into the new Testament on this side of the cross and let's look at Paul's enlarged heart and his last prayer was that his, that our hearts would be enlarged the same way that his is.

So let's look at Paul's enlarged heart this morning. It is amazing to see the revelation that he had that David didn't have.

Some of the things are similar, but there are some additional things because we're this side of the cross.

So let's pray together and we'll begin. Father, we thank you for the service thus far and how it ministered to our hearts as we sing about you, as we think about what you have done and the simple little words that that we can utter up to you just seem almost embarrassingly not enough and yet we know that we have your

Holy Spirit who amplifies what we say, brings it into the proper language to your throne, to your heart and we do understand that the praises that we bring are sacrifices to you and that's how we offer them this morning, as simple as they may be, as little children perhaps, bringing them up to you.

We thank you that you've revealed yourself to us to the extent that we know you love us. We may not understand all the reasons why, but we cannot debate the fact we know that you love us as your own dear children and we can thank the

Lord Jesus Christ for that because only in him may we come before you.

So as we look at the scriptures before us this morning, our hearts be enlarged and we ask it in Jesus name, amen.

David in Psalm 119 verses 33 -42 said that,

Lord if you'll teach me, then I will keep guard of your testimonies.

If you'll teach me, if you'll flow your truth into me like water flows. David said if you'll give me understanding, then

I will hedge about your truth. I will guard it in my heart. David said if you'll make me to be as a bow that is drawn in your strong arm already, then

I will delight in your way. David said if you'll incline my heart to your testimonies, then

I will lay aside covetousness because I love your testimony so much I won't need the other things.

And David said if you'll turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity and quicken me in the way so that my reproach may be turned away from me and your judgments will be good to me, then he says

I will not behold any unclean thing. And David said if you'll establish your word in your servant,

I'll fear you as I properly should. And David said quicken me in your righteousness and that really brings us to today's message.

And it is quite amazing how David saw a glimpse of what

Paul saw very clearly. David really had the key even before the cross.

He said quicken me in your righteousness and that is almost prophetic when you realize that what

Paul is going to say to us today just gives the details of what David asked for. But David saw it somehow.

Make me alive in your righteousness, David said. Well, in 2

Corinthians chapter 6 verses 11 through 13, we see Paul's prayer for his disciples is that our hearts would be enlarged also.

Well, let's go back some ways back in this passage to try to get some understanding of why

Paul's heart was enlarged. Go all the way back to chapter 5 and let's look at verse 21 leading into chapter 6 here.

I believe that the first thing that Paul had going for him that helped him to have this enlarged heart was he recognized the forgiveness of God and he recognized how it came about.

It came about by a doctrine we call imputation and it is a Bible word.

And let's look at this first half of verse 21 or he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin.

Now, he goes on to say so that we might be made the righteousness of God in him, which is exactly what

David said, quicken me in your righteousness. But Paul gives the how to it.

David understood a bit of it, but I'm not sure David understood totally how, but Paul gives it.

Look what he says for he, that's the father, has made him, that's the son, to be sin for us while the son knew no sin of his own.

Now, this is called imputation, it's kind of like an accounting term. And it shows that what

God did was he took our sins from our account and placed them in Jesus's account as if Jesus had done them.

He imputed our sins to him while he was on the tree.

And we find from first Peter that that's when it happened, it was while he was on the cross. So at the moment when

Jesus began to utter the words, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

At that moment in our time on this earth, God put your sins and my sins and remember at that time they were all future sins with respect to us anyway.

I mean, our sins were future sins and he placed them upon the body of Jesus Christ. At that moment, as Jesus began to be experiencing something we'll never understand totally what, but we know that it had to do with the goat that was led out into the wilderness with the sins of the people having already been placed upon his head.

And this, of course, was an innocent goat, never could sin by himself. But the sins of the people were placed on his head and he was taken out into the wilderness, never to return.

Jesus went to that place while he was on that cross. And because of that,

Paul understood a kind of forgiveness that few men of his day and of all time really have ever understood.

A forgiveness that has more to do with the removing of the sin than it has to do with someone just letting it slide, letting it pass.

Just let it go. I'll forgive you. I'll just let it go. It's not that kind of human forgiveness. This is a divine forgiveness that carries with it all that is pictured.

When the priest raised his hands above the people and took their sins and then placed his hands on the head of that goat and sent him out into that wilderness, never to return.

The sins were removed. Paul understood this. Paul gives this to us in the first part of this verse.

He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin.

And then as we go in and understand the second part of this verse. We recognize what some call positional righteousness, the reason it's called positional is because there's not anything you can do to change it.

It is part of the finished work of Christ, and it happened at the same time that the imputation of our sins to him occurred.

And it says this, but he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin.

That we might be made the righteousness of God. Now, that's what

David talked about, and it's amazing to me that he could talk about that, but he saw it. And Paul says,

I have that righteousness and the way that it worked, Paul said, is because as God swept forward and back and throughout all human history and took the sins of all of his people and placed them upon the body of Jesus Christ on that cross, when

Jesus Christ died for those sins and with those sins, then those sins were removed.

He took them away. But that's not all he did. He did that, as the scripture says, that that means so that that means that the removal of the sin was not the end, it was the means.

The end was so that we might be made.

That means that's not something we can do to ourselves. This is a passive word, it means it had to be done to us.

God. The end of it all was so that we might be made the righteousness of God in Christ.

No wonder Paul was enlarged as he went out into that desert for three years and Jesus taught him these things.

Can you imagine? Well, you can imagine because it's been taught to you by the Holy Spirit. Do you remember the first time you really realized what this meant?

Or maybe this morning might be that first time for some of us, but. There has to be a time when you finally come to grips with the fact.

That Jesus has accomplished on the cross the removal of your sins.

But also the bestowing of his righteousness into your life, not that he made you righteous, not that he made you where you could be righteous,

I should say, but that he gave you his perfect righteousness so that as God looked down on that cross, two things happened.

He was propitiated, which means he was satisfied with the punishment of sin.

But he was also satisfied with the righteousness of his children, because as he looks at all of us, he sees

Jesus like the little black Christian lady said, when Jesus looks down at me, he sees me all dressed up in Jesus.

And that's just the way it is. So Paul understood and recognized that forgiveness is by imputation.

It is because God took our sins and imputed them to Jesus as if he had done them. And then he paid the price.

And Paul secondly recognized the positional righteousness that we have, not a righteousness that we can change by what we do tomorrow or the next day.

Nothing can change this righteousness because it's not done by us. It is received by us.

Now, there's a third thing that we see as we go on into this scripture. Chapter five, verse twenty one leads right into chapter six with no real division in the originals, of course.

The next verse, then chapter six and verse one says this, we then as workers together with him, beseech you also that you receive not the grace of God in vain.

Now look down at verse four. We'll take this one along with verse one, but in all things, approving ourselves as the ministers of God in much patience and afflictions, et cetera.

Now, what I think Paul sees here and what he's teaching us as he is praying that we will be enlarged as he was, he's giving us the very truth that caused his heart to be enlarged.

And the next thing that we see here, he says that as workers together with him, we beseech you also that you receive not the grace of God in vain.

It's interesting to look at this workers together with him, if you read that in the English, it looks like other verses in the scripture where it teaches that God works together with us or in us, but that's not what this particular verse is teaching.

It's not what it's emphasizing. In fact, the phrase with him is not in the original Greek at all.

It's just simply not there. And if you remove that, you get the real emphasis of this verse.

What it says is we then as workers together beseech you also that you receive not the grace of God in vain.

This Greek word means literally together, standing, standing together, we as workers standing together.

It's talking about a unity of we of us, I should say, as the brothers and sisters, as the body of Christ.

It's talking about the togetherness that we ought to have as our hearts are enlarged.

And so when you find a church that has people that have enlarged hearts, you don't find much division, if any at all.

You find a tremendous unity that's created by this love that covereth the multitude of sins.

We know we're not perfect, but we overlook the weaknesses and the sins that we have because we love each other so much and we tend to see

Christ in each other. We look for those strengths and that's what gives us this great unity.

So with him is not in the Greek, so the phrase stresses or the verse stresses us standing together.

Now, let's go on. We then as workers together with him beseech you also that you receive not the grace of God in vain.

Now, we'll see more what it means to have received it in vain as we read through this passage, because it would be a person who'd be the opposite of these things if you received it in vain.

But he says, for he says, I have heard thee in a time accepted and in a day of salvation have

I secured thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.

Now, that's a parenthetical statement. And I'm going to go back to the top and read verse one and go right into verse three.

It says, as workers together with him beseech you also that you receive not the grace of God in vain, giving no offense in anything that the ministry be not blamed.

You see here that as just in the Old Testament, as we talked about the enlargement of the heart or of the steps, the enlargement of the saint.

Some of this still has to do with the enemy. Do you see how much of what's going to come to pass in this passage are outward things that come from what

God has done to us on the inside? The outward things that people can see, that the enemy can see, that we do because of what

God has done in our hearts. This, in a way, is a victory over the enemy every time he is forced to look at it.

He doesn't want to look at that. He wants to look at failure. He wants to rise up and clap his hands and shout and dance around when he sees us naked in our sins.

That's what Satan likes. That's what the enemy likes. The world likes that, too. The world loves nothing more than to point the finger at some evangelist that's fallen in the newspapers and so forth.

It just loves that. The enemy just loves that. What the enemy does not love is when he is forced to look at some of the things that are about to be mentioned in this passage, and he has to gaze upon God's children as they are approved as ministers together before God.

What a powerful thing this is. Giving no offense.

So we see, how do we stand together? The first way, number one, we give no offense.

We don't offend, and we don't get offended by our brothers and sisters. Giving no offense that the ministry should not be blamed.

Who is it that would blame the ministry? The enemy. Now, the next thing that we see that's important in standing together is found in verse 5.

In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watchings, in fastings, we should stand together in separation from the world as we go through tribulation as well.

Now, the third thing that we see the scripture talks about as far as us standing together is found in verse 6.

By pureness, by knowledge, by long -suffering, by kindness, by hope, by the

Holy Ghost, by love unfamed. Does this not sound like a list of the fruits of the

Holy Spirit? So we ought to stand together not offending and not being offended.

We ought to stand together in separation from the world even as we go through tribulation from the enemy.

And thirdly, we ought to stand together in the genuine fruits of the

Holy Spirit. All of this so that the ministry be not blamed. Now, there's a fourth thing that we see in verse 7.

It says by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left.

Now, does this language not speak as if we are in battle? As if we have a fierce enemy who hates us with cruel hatred?

As David said, my enemies are many. There are many demons. We don't know how many hundreds of thousands or millions of them there are, but we know that a full third of them are here.

Well, some of them may be. It's a bad, he chained them away already. I don't know, but we know there are multiplied hundreds of thousands or millions of them here on this planet.

And you know what? They like to have bodies. They don't like to just float around. They even will take a pig's body if they have to take that.

But we have many enemies and they hate us with cruel hatred.

And therefore, the fourth thing that we must do as we stand together is that we must be staying in the word.

It can't be that we read the word last year. We read through the Bible last year. It can't be that we studied last week with Brother Otis.

It can't be that we came to church last Sunday and heard a sermon. It can't be that, well,

I've studied all the great doctrines of the Bible back when I first got saved. It has to be that we are staying in the word today and keeping on the full armor of God that we may be able to stand in the evil day by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness.

On the right hand and on the left, we stand together so that the ministry be not ashamed or be not blasphemed and so forth.

Now what does this mean, the armor of righteousness? Well, this is something we're supposed to put on if you remember

Ephesians chapter 6. Everything in Ephesians chapter 6 is put on including the helmet of the hope of salvation.

That's how I know it's not the helmet of salvation because you can't take that off and put it on. It's the hope that you put on, the encouragement that you put on every day.

But this righteousness is not the same righteousness that was spoken of just a few verses earlier.

The righteousness that was spoken of at the end of chapter 5 is a positional righteousness that you cannot change.

You can't take it off. You can't put it on. You merely received it the day you got saved and you'll have it for all eternity.

But the righteousness that's found in verse 7 of chapter 6 is called the armor of righteousness.

It is in fact something that affects the enemy when he sees it on us. And this is not a positional righteousness.

It is an experimental or experiential righteousness that you do. This is something that you are responsible to put on every day.

And it's called righteousness. Some might call it holiness. Some might call it purity.

The scriptures might even say it this way, Be ye holy for I am holy.

The Bible might even put it this way, Be holy because you are holy. The Bible might say it this way,

Since you have positional righteousness, it only makes sense that you live experiential righteousness.

Be what you are. How does that little saying go, Brother Otis? Be what you is because if you ain't, you ain't what you is or something like that.

He says that better than I do. He's got more black blood in him than I do. Amen. And it finally comes out.

Hallelujah. That's great. Well, with this armor, let me ask you a personal question.

Don't raise your hand though. Don't even blush. Let me ask you a personal question.

When you do sin, do you sometimes feel the enemy is laughing? Do you sometimes feel that the armor has dropped a little?

Do you know why you feel that way? Because it has. It has happened. That's why we're exhorted to stay in the word.

Do you know that if you stay in the word daily, if you'll get you a buddy to have coffee with like mine over here, and there are others of us that get together from time to time, sometimes

I even get to stay in my head and have coffee with my dad. Well, usually we do lunch, don't we?

We don't do coffee as much as we do lunch. But if you'll find someone that's a believer to get together with and discuss the word and be in the word, it's a powerful thing.

It will help you keep on the armor of righteousness. You won't want to sin just because that partner of yours expects you not to.

That human partner, your friend in Christ, your church members, your family. Maybe it's your spouse is your partner that you drink coffee with.

Who knows? It needs to be somebody that you can talk about the word with, and that brings the power of God, which leads to you keeping the armor of righteousness on, on the right hand and on the left.

Now, that is so important if we don't want the enemy laughing. We don't want him laughing. What we want him doing is fleeing.

I mean, if he's going to laugh, let's make sure he's running the other direction while he's laughing. And let's make sure he's finding somebody else to laugh at.

The word of God, the power of God, the armor of righteousness. So we are supposed to make sure as we stand together that we're not offending anyone or being offended.

We want to make sure that as we stand together that we recognize we may have to go through tribulation together.

We want to make sure as we stand together that we bear the fruits of the Holy Spirit. And fourthly, as we stand together, we want to be staying in the word of God daily, keeping on the full armor of God that we may be able to stand in the evil day.

Now, there's a fifth point, and it's this. It's found in verse 10. Look at verse 10.

As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. As poor, and that means poor in spirit.

As poor in spirit, yet making many rich. As having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

As we stand together in the ministry, we should be humble, and yet joyful.

We should be poor in spirit, and yet enriching others.

We should be understanding that we possess all things.

Understand that you are an heir. Understand what you are an heir of.

Everything that is. Is there power in just knowing that? Is there power in the truth that you're a joint heir with Christ?

That you have received everything that God has made is for us. I like what

Brother Otis has said in the past, as he's tried to explain this idea of Satan's seed and God's seed.

A lot of people have trouble with that. But he said, do you realize that even

Satan's seed are used in God's hand for God's seed?

Almost everything that you go to the grocery store that's on the shelf ready for you to take home and use, much of it was put there by lost people.

Or corporations who are part of the enemy's world system. It's all provided for you.

Even the evil that's in this world, God uses that. He uses the evil ones. He uses the children of Satan.

He uses all this to provide what you need. So understand we possess all things.

Now, that brings us to verse 11. He says, our mouth is open to you.

Our heart is enlarged. Remember this word mouth can be translated face. In fact, it is translated face in other verses in the

New Testament. Or speech. So he is saying this. He's saying,

I'm not being hypocritical. When you look at me in the face, Paul said, you see Jesus because I have an enlarged heart.

God has enlarged my heart. I am full of God. When you look at my face, what you see is what you get.

I'm not hypocritical. Or he's saying, when you hear the words that I speak, they are open words.

They are words that will not contradict other words that I've said. Because I've been taught by the

Holy Spirit. And he's saying that his heart is enlarged. And he rejoices in strength.

He exhorts the Corinthians that their hearts would be enlarged as his is.

Do you remember Hannah in 1 Samuel chapter 2 verse 1? When we talked about the enlargement of Hannah.

She said this. Hannah prayed and said, my heart rejoiceth in the Lord. An enlarged heart is a rejoicing heart.

She said, my horn is exalted in the Lord. The horn represented the horns of the animals that they used to aggressively attack their enemies with.

And she said, my offensive weapon, my ability to cause Satan to flee, is exalted in the

Lord. And she said, my mouth is enlarged over my enemies. And I don't believe that she meant in the

Hebrew her face or her words. I think she meant literally her mouth in the sense that she could praise

God. And rejoice and gain the victory over her enemies. And she says, because I rejoice in thy salvation.

Just like the Apostle Paul said, yet possessing all things. We possess all things.

How can we not be the victors? And then we see verses 14 through 16.

The end of this whole passage. And many, many groups in our country and perhaps other countries try to begin here.

Rather than end here. They try to begin in this idea of separation by causing people to dress a certain way, act a certain way, talk a certain way, look a certain way.

Don't do this, don't do that. You can do this, you may do that, but you may not do this. That's where they start.

And yet this is where God ends. This is the result of everything we've already read about.

First of all, in verses 14 through 16, God does command separation.

Let's read it together. Be ye not, that's a commandment. He's not asking us.

He's not recommending this. He is demanding that we pay attention and that we obey him in this area.

He says, be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Young people don't ever get interested in a young man or woman who's not saved already.

Where you don't see the fruit of the Holy Spirit in their life. Don't get interested in them because you can't marry them.

Because you're not allowed to be unequally yoked. And that's just one example of different ways that we could be unequally yoked together with unbelievers.

I believe the same is in business. I believe it's in business partnerships and throughout life.

In fellowship of any kind. You shouldn't be part of a club or part of a group that is filled with ungodly people.

Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?

And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath

Christ with Belial, the children of the devil? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel who doesn't believe?

And he goes through and says, and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?

Now as he says that, he begins to get into really the important part of this issue of separation.

Where does it come from? What is its origin? What causes it? The interesting thing about God is that many times he demands things of us and then he turns around and provides it.

In fact, that's probably universal. When he demands us to do something, he provides the way for us to do it.

And look at the rest of this passage. Look here, starting in verse 16, but starting in the second sentence.

For you are the temple of the living God. You see that? He doesn't just say what agreement has the temple of God with idols.

That you shouldn't be yoked together with these people. He gives you the reason. He says, because you are the temple that I live in.

You are the temple of the living God. As God hath said,

I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their

God. And they shall be my people wherefore, verse 17 says.

Wherefore come out from among them. Wherefore means that the reason you can come out from among them is because God is in you living and dwelling and walking and working.

Wherefore? It's as if to say, this is easy now. Because your hearts are enlarged.

You are full of God. Therefore God is separate from all of the evil.

He is holy. And because your body is his temple and you are full of God.

And he is walking in you and existing in you. Come out from among them.

And be ye separate, saith the Lord. And don't touch that which is unclean.

And I will receive you. And will be a father unto you.

And ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord almighty.

Verse 7, verse 1 in chapter 7 which really is a continuation of this. Simply says, having therefore these promises.

What promises? My goodness. The promises that we've seen that God dwells in us.

That we are his temple. That he walks in us. The fact that forgiveness is by imputation.

It is by the fact that he took your sins out of you. And put them on Christ and sent him into the wilderness.

Having therefore these promises. That not only did he send your sins away. But he has given you his own righteousness positionally.

Which means you can't mess it up. These promises that we then approve ourselves as ministers together.

Working together. Standing together in all the ways that we've mentioned. These promises that our hearts are enlarged.

Just like Hannah's by his presence. The very promise that we are in fact the temple of the living

God. And he is our father. Having therefore these promises dearly beloved.

Let us cleanse ourselves. That's the experiential righteousness.

That's the part we are supposed to do. Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit.

Perfecting holiness in the fear of God. The enlarged heart.

The enlarged heart is caused because of the work that God does in it. The positional things that he has accomplished for us on the cross already.

And already given us and we already possess. But it also has to do with our experience today and tomorrow and the next day.

And it has to do with whether or not. Because of these precious promises.

We lay aside the filthiness of our minds, our spirits. And we lay aside the filthiness of our flesh.

And we walk in a perfecting of holiness in the fear of God. Which will cause the enemy to have to behold

God's children and flee. Power from the word of God.

Power from the power of God itself. Power from the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Causes the enemy to be ashamed and be defeated and have to flee. That's what this enlarging heart is about.

It was that way in David's life. That way in Hannah's life. That way in Jabez's life.

That way in Paul's life. And Paul's prayer was. That ye be enlarged also.

Let's stand and pray together. Father we thank you for your word. We thank you for the power in it.

We thank you that your Holy Spirit brings it to our hearts and minds. And applies it within us.

We thank you that he also can take our meager words of thanksgiving and praise. And create volume and amplitude.

And take it to your throne as it should be. We thank you for the fact of the positional righteousness of Christ.

That you've given us. The fact that you've taken our sins away and removed them and put them on the scapegoat.

Our Lord Jesus Christ. So that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

And the fact that you give us the strength and power through the word of God. And the Holy Spirit and our fellowship together.

Working together. That we might walk a clean walk. Help our young people and our teenagers to realize his promises for them.

Help our adults of all ages to recognize that this is a promise that is for all of us.

That we can in fact walk a clean walk. Which in itself is as armor on the right hand and on the left.

That would cause the enemy to flee. May we not stand ashamed before him.

May we stand in Christ. Strong in the power of his word.

Until you come back for us. Father we ask you to bless our meal and our fellowship time together.