Book of 2 Corinthians - Ch. 2, Vs. 1-17 (03/25/2001)

Park Meadows Church

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I have a question for you. The scripture says, from glory to glory.

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What does that mean? Glory to glory.

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No, the scripture has glory to glory.

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No one knows what it means. All right. All right.

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Where is that scripture? From glory to glory.

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Well, look it up for next week. Decide what it means. Another question.

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I want you to find in the Bible where the

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Lord casts out devils from the believer.

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All right, the lesson for today.

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But I determined this with myself, that I would not come again to you in heaviness.

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Why did he decide that? All right.

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For those of you that just come in, I had two questions that I want you to research.

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No one could tell me why the scripture is glory to glory.

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The next one is, does our Lord find in the

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Bible where the Lord casts out devils from the believer?

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All right. I just read the first verse, but I determined this with myself, that I would not come again to you in heaviness.

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The apostle continues to give further reasons why he did not visit them at the proposed time.

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Because of the scandals that were among them, he could not see them comfortably.

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He could not come to them in comfort. And therefore he determined to not see them at all until he had reason to believe that those that were evil had put the evil away.

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Remember, they were having a congregation of incest, and they were in turmoil after Paul had written his letter.

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For I make you sorry, who is he then that makes me glad? But the same which makes me sorry by you.

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He says, I look to you for my gladness, and you would have only sorrow for me, so I'm not going to come.

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Should he have used his apostolic authority in inflicting punishment on the transgressors?

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Yes or no? David? You mean on the main transgressions that were mentioned?

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When you say punishment, do you mean churching them?

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I think, I believe he would have done that if they hadn't taken care of him. Should he have used his authority for this?

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He probably would have. He wouldn't have to. You don't have to have an authority to take care of that kind of thing.

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And since he did that, in a sense that if Goldilocks says you first go to the person and talk to them, and if they don't change, then you bring two more, and if not, you bring them to the church.

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In this instance, he was running for church with this group, and they didn't change, so he didn't have to go to those guys to come forward and use his apostolic authority.

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And I wrote the same unto you. He's written about the situation.

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When I came, I should have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice, having confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all.

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So he would comfort himself with the comfort of them.

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For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears, not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which

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I have more abundantly unto you. Faithful ministers of the gospel are often made sorrowful by those who ought to give them joy.

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Now, why is that? David, you're a faithful minister.

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What do I mean by the fact that those from whom we get joy are often our sorrow?

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Well, it's probably a fact of life that the one you're closest to has the ability to hurt you the most in life.

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So when you're ministering to people and you're watching them grow and you see someone who does not exhibit the fruits of the

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Holy Spirit in whatever manner, whether it be a mini -man, it breaks your heart to lose sleep over it and pray for them.

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In reality, our fellowship should bring great joy to one another, but it doesn't always do that.

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It always does. But if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part, that I may not overcharge you all, but in part.

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He had not grieved Paul only, but the sound part of the church also.

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Not overcharge you all, not speaking as if all were guilty, or equally so.

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He was not speaking that he's not writing to the church and says you all. He's writing to the church about one individual.

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Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many.

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The church body consented to the dismissal of one. So was the whole church agreed to the reinstatement of one.

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But it was the pastor that had the last say in the reinstatement.

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It has to be up to one, and that's as it should be.

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So that contrarywise, you ought rather to forgive him, comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with much sorrow.

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If the church as a group inflicts discipline on one, sets him aside, it's for his good.

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If it is going on too long, if the church forgets about him, then he can be swallowed up in the sorrow.

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He can be forever, well, he gets unhappy with the church.

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And they did this to me, and I'm never going back. That's not the reason.

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As worldly sorrows cause death, so may religion sorrow also, even sorrow for sin.

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Sorrow is not of any worth in itself, but only as it serves to a spiritual end and purpose.

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And when it is excessive, not only the comforts, but the gifts of the usefulness of the person sorrowing are in danger of being swallowed up.

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Wherefore, I beseech you that you would confirm your love toward him. Now, if a church has set aside a person, we're not to stop loving, we're to love him, hoping for his acknowledgement of the fact and his return.

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Confirming your love toward him by receiving him again into the church. The objects of the church discipline are the repentance of the offender in honor of religion.

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That's the object. It's not just to get rid of somebody. Whenever these are accomplished, offenders should be forgiven and such as have been excommunicated should be received again to the

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Christian communion. For to this end also did

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I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether you be obedient in all things.

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Paul is writing to find out. He didn't go to find out.

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It was a great handicap to go from place to place in that day and time, but he is writing to know one way or the other the arguments with which and the motive by which he presses the church, of course, to forgive the incestuous person and to readmit him to their society, lest Satan get advantage of us.

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To whom ye forgive anything, for I forgive also.

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For if I forgave anything, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgive

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I it in the person of Christ. If I forgave anything, it was in Christ.

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If you forgive anything, it was in Christ. You cannot forgive outside of Christ.

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Lest Satan should get an advantage of this, for we are not ignorant of his devices.

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Not ignorant of Satan's devices. Charlie, what are some of the devices of Satan in such a situation?

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Well, I don't know if this is going to be what you're looking for, but to me,

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Satan is not the obvious overt

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Satan. And it's like you were saying, he already has the world.

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So where does he think it's at in the church? That's right. So, you have to be very sure.

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Can I make another comment? At the expense of taking a panel, because this is really such a ground with the

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Christian. Yes. We have to be very careful. I believe, shoot your sniper, that the brothers in the church may come to him, and chastise him, and he needs to repent and all get out of the church.

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But we have to be very careful. There are so many agendas going on in the church, that we have to be very careful when we start pointing our finger at them.

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And I'll give you an example of what I'm talking about. The homosexuality is a very hot issue.

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And it was in a particular church that was going on in New Jersey that was such an issue, that that's all they preach about, that's all they talk about.

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And I believe that they were taking away from God, giving the devil too much credit.

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And I didn't go to church every night. That's right. And I was against them.

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But we left the church because of that. Or that's the main reason. But we got labeled homosexuals, that we were appelled homosexuals.

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But in fact, I told the preacher at my kitchen table, we are totally against homosexuality.

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And that is not the issue. The issue is, we want to hear God's word.

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That's right. Sure. But you see how faith can get blown out, and this can improve the work out in the community that we have.

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Excuse me. How do you say it? Yes. Extremely so.

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Fortunately, we have not discussed homosexuality to any extent in this church.

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I hope we never do. Satan could care less whether we're for it or against it as long as we talk about it.

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And we cannot talk about it. We're for love, yes. Absolutely.

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We're for love and not for Satan. I went to preach

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Christ's gospel, and the doors opened unto me of the Lord. I had no rest in my spirit, because I had found not

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Titus my brother, but taking my leave of them, I went from Thinsen to Macedonia.

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A door was opened to Macedonia, because they had expected to meet

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Titus there and to give news concerning the state affairs at Corinth. Hence he went on soon, hoping to meet him on the way to Macedonia.

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Now, thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the

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Savior of His knowledge by us in every place. If we're looking for the good,

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Christ is always there. Christ is there whether we're looking or not.

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But I mean, if we're looking for the good, we find it. The figure is that of a sacrifice, a sweet -smelling savor.

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You remember the incense that was burned on the altar of incense as the smoke ascended?

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It was the prayers going up. For we are unto

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God a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish.

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We're the same. I would that each one of you were the same, whether you're sitting here on the pew or out in the world.

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And I think for the most part you are. To God they are a sweet savor of knowledge of Christ, both for the message itself, they who from love toward Christ and their fellow men publish it, are most precious in God's sight, and that whether men receive

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Christ or reject him. You cannot be static.

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You cannot sit under the word of God and it not affect you one way or the other.

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Even if you sleep, it's affecting you. For the one we are to savor of death unto death, and to the other the savor of life unto life.

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And who is sufficient for these things? Who knows these things? You cannot determine who is who in the church.

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From one evil condition to another, some people are actually hardened by preaching.

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Have you ever experienced that? And who is sufficient for these things in himself?

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No one is. But someone has to preach Christ, and Paul proceeds to show that he is sufficient.

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For we are not as the many a bold thing to say, but necessary and only from God.

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For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, speak we in Christ.

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I would that each one of us would speak in Christ, no matter where we are or what we do.

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I don't think all of you do, or all of us do, but it should be that way, yes.

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Father, you finished what you wanted to say. What? Are you finished? Yes. And what comes out of this verse, for we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of God, speak we in Christ.

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That's right. We're outnumbered. It's kind of scary. Mostly by God, and then through hell, and being told we are taxed for perverting the word.

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Yes. Unfortunately, probably most of that goes on within the church.

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It doesn't necessarily mean there are saved people doing it. There are church members. For we are as many, or not as many, who corrupt the word of God, like those who mix their wines with worse liquors, but as sincerity without any mixture, but as from God this rises higher still, transmitting this pure word, not of our own.

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You cannot, well, first of all, you don't have to memorize the

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Bible, but it has to become such a part of you that you look at everything, every situation in the light of God.

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If you fail to do that, it's in the light of Satan. One or the other, it's never in between.

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In the sight of God, whom we regard as always present, and noting every word of our tongue,

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I forget that. I forget that God knows every word, not only of the tongue, but of my thinking.

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But once you speak the word, it becomes your master. You must be very, very cautious, very capable of sending forth the right message.

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You cannot account for people's thinking, but you can for their receiving.

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Speak, yes. A brother would say, I was thinking that you were talking about that, about corrupting the

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Bible. There are three things that give me a good thought. I think the first is probably in the sight,

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I don't know what it is, but it's in the sight, to put some of the writing in red and some in black, and say, that bit's red and said by our

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Lord. They didn't exactly say that, but the implication is that when

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I read that, Jesus said that there was one that was black.

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So that's an energy, and that kind of leads you astray. I can put on kind of a second level, that which is black.

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And then the other thing, and we all have said, I think it's been maybe too much, not enough time reading what he says.

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That's right. And I'm not against commentary. I think it's great. It helps me see things

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I didn't see. But I think what we ought to always do is we need to go back and re -read what is actually said in the

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Bible. Maybe after having been enlightened, we'll want to comment everything.

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And that's the same with a lesson that you teach. When you're reading the

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Scripture, and this is what you believe in, it's what you think today, but you may think something different tomorrow.

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Because you may be better informed. And so, I think we need to be very careful that we don't have these three categories, or these two categories of proof, and then discover this.

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And we sometimes consider it more valuable than the actual Bible itself.

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We go down and read that and see what it says. Tell us. You're right, Bill. Always read the

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Word. Yes? There are too many books in the Christian bookstore, too.

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I was given one for Christmas that I've been reading.

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It is one of the most horrible books I've ever read, documented speaking. And it just stings to me, the book.

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But I'm reading it because I want to go ahead and see what I think the passage is that the person gave it to and wanted me to have.

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But we have to be very careful what books we read out in the bookstore. Another comment I want to make is on the interesting context that this verse is found in that we're studying.

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Where it says, For we are not as many as corrupt in the Word of God. If you read the verses right above it, you'll see that the actual doctrine that was being, or the corruption that was happening in St.

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Brett that he makes this statement. The verses are speaking of verse 15,

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We are unto God a sweet savior in them that are saved, and in them that are perished. That's speaking about two different seeds, as you've taught it so many times.

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In them that are saved is Jesus' seed, or God's seed. And those that perish are those who are

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Satan's seed. And then when he comes down and he says, And who is sufficient for these things?

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He's saying, We cannot understand this, or know who it is.

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And that this is the way the Satan's seed is going. We're going to have to be a savior of sin.

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They're going to hate us. And when we tell the same gospel to the Lord's seed, the lost sheep, so to speak, it'll be a sweet smelling savior, and they'll come to the

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Word, and they'll be saved. And he says this is a mystery. And he goes right into verse 17 and says,

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But we're not as many of people unto corrupt the Word. One of the earliest heresies or corruptions was

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Arminians, as in the church in terms of the Roman Catholicism.

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Everybody was born Arminian. And they began to twist the scriptures and change the scriptures to do away with the election of God.

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And that's one of the earliest corruptions. That's right. And it started from the beginning, from the very first.

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So notice, I read a commentary this week about this lesson.

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And this writer said that the whole thing, that in this chapter of 2

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Corinthians, where they had the disturbance in the church, was from one man who got into Paul and started lying and having false accusations about Paul and had the whole church believing in him.

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And he said, That was one of his sons, that Paul, that lived.

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And I don't know where he got that from, but anyway, he wrote it. Personally, I will read no book.

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My eyesight is poor, and I use that as a tertiary excuse, but books just never have held a fascination for me.

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I will not read about the Bible. I would rather read the Bible and study the

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Bible. I do go by commentary every once in a while.

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And it's good. It's good to get other godly men's viewpoint.

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But I make up my own mind, and I hope each one of you do the same.

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Everybody is Armenian in the beginning. Explain that.

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The Armenian belief is the belief that man, everything is determined by man's will, rather than God's sovereignty.

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An Armenian is a person who believes that man's will, his own will, his decisions that he makes, determines everything that happens in the world, as opposed to one who believes that God is sovereign and he's in control of everything.

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So when you're born, even when you're first saved, I think, even when you're first born again, you think that the whole big deal of it is that you were accepted to Jesus Christ.

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That's all you've got to say. But later, as you know the Lord better, you find out he was pursuing you first.

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And he responded to that. You weren't the one who initiated it. You thought you were, but you remained a

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Christian. And as you grow, you find out God was the one. Arminius was a man who had an argument with the

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Calvinistic viewpoint. And he, Arminius, argued that man's will is the ultimate authority.

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But it came from a man's standpoint. You put up your hand.

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Yes. Let's see. Oh, I don't like that. The book that I'm reading came back to my mind.

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I just want to make one more comment, because you made a comment on books. A lot of times, if you haven't read a lot of books on theology, the first one you pick up and read, you may not be aware that nearly all of them are very persuasive.

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And they wouldn't be writing books if they were convinced they were right. And they're all very persuasive.

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And so you just have to be so careful, because you have to hold it up against Scripture, or else you'll be persuaded in their argument, just because you bought it at the bookstore.

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And it doesn't work that way. You cannot do that. If you read this book, if some of you have picked up this book, including myself, if I had picked this book up 20 years ago and read this book, it would have made a devastating difference in my life, because I might have believed it.

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I know better now, because I know the Scriptures. But these books are very dangerous. And you have to focus on the

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Scriptures, as if you believe we're far more going to do these books. I would advise, anytime you want to pick up a book at the bookstore, ask me, about the author.

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Ask folks who have been around in the city for a long time, if they've ever heard of the author, to try to determine if the person is a conservative, violent leper, or not.

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But this particular book I've been reading, I just have thought over and over how dangerous it would be in the hands of almost any, many, many church members, if they read this book.

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It's an obvious book to read. It's very persuasive. It's in the wrong direction.

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It uses false premises to set it up. And if you buy the premises, you'll believe it's right.

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That's the way Satan works. Yeah. He'll, he'll... Take us back to Satan working with us.

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Right. Yeah. I'm glad you can say that, because that, and they bring up, in so and so's book, we even have one that actually doesn't make sense.

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I agree with that. And that's why a lot of times, he's faithful in the

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Word of God, too. Isn't that true? That's right.

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Another way is so many translations of the Bible. Amen, amen. Another thing, and me and Troy and I aren't on anybody's case, actually.

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No, not y 'all, but Ron. Honestly, this is our part. This is why we, so many years ago, came to your

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Bible studies in your Sunday school class, is that we did not want to go to Sunday school and have somebody dictate in a book

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Sunday school anyway, because we weren't, we weren't in the

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Word, we weren't learning, we were just reading Tennessee or wherever, deciding that we should study that Sunday morning.

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And I think that's, I mean, I'm not saying that it's wrong, because then that goes back to control of what people think and control of what they, whoever they are, a hierarchy, and, oh, this is what

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I'm saying. Let me, let me explain this. If you have, if you have a, a, a, a, a, an association of Martin Luther King Churches, and there's interest in all the people who write it, then if they, if it comes down to being taught in Sunday school, then it can be very dangerous.

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Yes. It's a waste of time. Absolutely. It's just dangerous. Think about this verse we just studied last week, 1

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Corinthians 9, 2 Corinthians 1, 24. Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy, providing faith in your faith.

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Paul didn't believe in that. He said, what's that, dominion over your faith? We're just helpers of your joy.

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A good teacher is a joyful thing. You know, when you sit at the feet of a good

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Bible teacher, you're just joyful. But if you sit at the feet of a controlling group who want the whole church and the whole country to study a certain thing, it's just dry and dead.

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I've been there. Yeah. It may be wrong. Yes. It probably is, for the first place.

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Yeah. And then there's one other thing, where we get no, we get no big carpet. Any time your teacher has an agenda that he is supporting, you can rest assured that he is not going to try to rest.

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What your teacher should be doing is just trying to clarify what is in the Bible at the time that you have these questions.

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When you have a doctor who's not convinced you to believe a certain thing, or he's able to a certain way, he's sure that you don't use it to prove something.

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See, I almost have a problem with, when you say, well, we should use the

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Bible to prove that creation occurred, rather than evolution.

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I almost have a problem with that. But if you're saying,

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I believe in creation, I'm going to use the Bible to prove it, I think the better answer is, to read the

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Bible and see what it says. Now, I think what the Bible says is that creation occurred, not evolution.

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But if you set out backward, you're going to get back with whatever the thing you're trying to prove is.

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That's right. The Bible doesn't have the word, but it has the word.

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I want you all to take note of this. We are in competition with God too many times, too many places.

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Think about it. Everywhere you turn, brother, everywhere you turn, you go into a bookstore, and you can find that here is some writer who has found the perfect way of happiness.

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And all you've got to do is read her books, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and that woman has never been near a

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Bible, or a man who ever wrote them. That's right. So, go off of David's bookstores in terrible places to find any kind of truth that you want to live with, and to be a partner here on the side.

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Bookstores are in business to sell books. And so are movies, and television, and everything else.

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The corruption of the world is almost perfect. Well, all right.

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What is the will of God for each person? Do what?

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All right, how can we make it more personal? More personal than that?

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I will love God. That's the most personal thing.

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More personal than that? Well, that's the first part of it.

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Oh, you're all operating secondhand.

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We are to have experience. You are to do the best you can right where you are, with whatever you have right now.

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That's right now. At this very moment, you're to do the best you can.

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He takes care of bringing all the circumstances.

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But to be led, I must do the best I can. Right now.

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Yes, yes. He has made it so personal, so positive, that right now is the only time you have.

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Yes. Now, there may be something said that prepares you for next week, but right now, while you sit in that pew, now, and now, and now, and now, and now,

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Christ is present. Right now. The tongue is ours, but the power is

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God's. Don't be hurt that you don't do it.

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Just do it. You can't go back, so don't be hurt.

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Just do it. You can't go back.

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You can't recall. I can make a statement. I can't go back and make another statement.

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I can't go back and redo anything. It's got to be right now. The same thing.

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The point you were making, don't be hurt by it. You can't change it. That's right. They don't make you who

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God wants you to be right now. Everything is under God's dominion.

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Bill? I was just saying, Brother Charles, I was talking about the subtleness of that statement.

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And this right here is the perfect example of that subtleness, really, that we have one time. And I think you've said it very well.

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It doesn't even need to be said again. We have one time, and that's now. Yes. The statement says, well, you've got tomorrow.

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Yes. And look what you did yesterday. Yes. What you should be doing now is being concerned about what you did yesterday.

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Yes. So that was wrong, right? Yes. So you don't do anything else?

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That's right. Absolutely. That's absolutely true.

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I missed what you said.

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You just had a birthday, didn't you? Yes, sir. You're nearly as old as I am.

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But, Brother, I'm not. I've spent an awful lot of time just thanking the

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Lord for what He's changed me to do. My wife can verify that.

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I hardly say anything about it. She indicates why. Well, The Lord is with me, and He never leaves.

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Remember, the tongue is ours. The power is God. You know, you talked a long time about and it's something that didn't help me with anything, is that you taught us that when we go to God in prayer, and we ask

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Him to give us our good, He does. And if we just keep our good...

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That's right. Absolutely. And I think that's one of the best lessons I have learned in life.

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Bill, you said something today that I'd never thought of before, but it's true.

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The red letters. Leads to a division in the Bible. If it's taken right, that's fine.

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But I think we unconsciously read the black letters as second -hand.

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I like that. All right, anything else? Yes. I have been told that in your life, if you consider money, you know, everybody considers their money.