2 Corinthians 1:12-2:4 (Yes and Amen, Jeff Kliewer)

that You have led us into all truth, that we can see things for what they are, and to have certainty in the things that You have said.

We thank You that we know what up is and what down is, and left and right, and right and wrong, and sweet and bitter.

God, thank You for the mind of Christ which allows us to think rightly. I pray that You would be restoring our minds,

Lord, renewing them today as we're transformed from one degree of glory to another, transformed into the image of Christ through Your Word this morning, we pray.

In Jesus' name, amen. Since all the promises of God are yes and amen in Christ, we must stop wavering between opinions and live our

Christian lives with single -minded, simple, sincere, clear certainty regarding what

God has said and how we are to order our lives accordingly. In the course of this week,

I was sitting there thinking about the culture and the way things are going and how it is that people are willing to accept whatever it is that a person believes.

They're willing to accept a Christian being a Christian and a Muslim a Muslim, a Jew a Jew, atheist an atheist, as long as nobody tries to impose their beliefs upon another person.

And as I thought about that, other people have said this, but I was reminded that the real enemy of the culture today is certainty.

So I sent that out on Facebook. I sent out a little Facebook that said, certainty is profanity to the faithless.

But Christians speak of one who is absolutely worthy of certainty.

Certainty is profanity to the faithless. Those who have yet been given eyes to see who

God is and what he says, hate the idea of certainty. Why?

Because they have no standard to believe anything. Each person believes what is their own private quote unquote truth, which is really a matter of opinion.

And no one is supposed to impose their beliefs on other people because that would be considered intolerant and bigoted and pushing your belief on other people.

But brothers and sisters, here's the main idea I'm trying to communicate today. That faith itself requires certainty.

Now we don't need to be as certain about everything that we believe as we are about the core essentials.

There are some things that the Bible reveals that are so clearly revealed that we should hold them with a tight fist and never let go.

There are some things that are a little harder to understand, and we can hold those in more of an open hand.

But where the Bible has given us clear revelation, the role of the Christian in exercising faith is to be certain of the things that God has said.

Isn't that what he said in Hebrews 11 verse one? Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the certainty of things not seen.

The core ingredient of faith is certainty. We have to actually believe something, not just hold a loose opinion about things.

We need this certainty. As we turn now to 2 Corinthians chapter one, verse 12 and following, we'll see the certainty with which

Paul lives his life. Paul is not wishy -washy in the things that he says and does.

He's not a flip -flopper like today's politicians. Paul is very certain that God has spoken in his word, and so he orders his life according to the word.

He's also very much in relationship with the Holy Spirit. And being filled with the

Holy Spirit, going to the word, he receives direction for his life, and he lives a life of conviction, not just a life of opinion.

So follow with me now, as we get into what is really the thesis of the book of 2

Corinthians. Whenever someone writes a letter, it's good to have an introduction, but early on in that letter, it's important to say what you're writing about.

Get to the point so we know where you're going. Paul is great at that. In the book of Romans, verses 16 and 17 of the first chapter, serve as the thesis for the book.

Here in 2 Corinthians, oftentimes people kind of muddle their way through 2 Corinthians and have trouble grasping what is this book really about?

Well, here, Paul actually lays down a thesis for the book. So let's read that in verses 12 to 14.

This is the main idea. This is what he's trying to establish. He says, for our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom, but by the grace of God and supremely so toward you.

For we are not writing to you anything other than what you read and understand. And I hope you will fully understand, just as you did partially understand us, that on the day of our

Lord Jesus, you will boast of us as we will boast of you.

Paul, in the thesis of the book of 2 Corinthians, is calling for the

Corinthians to follow his leadership and to continue in his apostolic teaching.

For Paul, it's not only a matter of a friendship that he wants to keep established and strong.

That's important and he loves them deeply. But what he knows is that he is leading them in the truth.

And consider the context of 2 Corinthians. There are false teachers afoot.

In the Corinthian church. We read 1 Corinthians and we saw there was a whole slew of problems in Corinth.

Remember that? The divisions, I follow Peter, I follow Apollos, I follow Paul. There was the divisiveness, kind of an anti -Paul rhetoric that was emerging among some of the teachers.

There was sexual immorality and lawsuits. There was a denying of the importance of marriage.

There was abusing freedom that we have in Christ and using it as a license for sin.

There was a gender confusion in 1 Corinthians 11. There was an abusing of the Lord's table.

This, what we just took, this ordinance of communion. There were spiritual gifts run amuck, out of control, not operated according to God's standard.

And there was essential doctrine about the resurrection that was being denied. So there were some sort of false teachers in Corinth who were leading the pure, sincere believers in Christ astray.

And Paul is fighting for them. He is not gonna go quietly into that dark night. He is fighting his heart out to save this church, to rescue it from false teaching and deception.

So his first letter, he rebukes them for sexual immorality. We don't have that letter. He just tells us about it in 1

Corinthians chapter five. And then we're told here, if you jump ahead to chapter two, verse one, he says,

I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you. At some point between 1 and 2

Corinthians, the books that we have in the Bible, at some point, Paul makes a visit to Corinth.

We don't know when that happened. Probably during his second missionary journey when he was in Ephesus. It's probably when he took a trip over and visited them in Corinth.

But he goes to straighten things out and it doesn't seem like it went that well. He calls it the painful visit.

And so he follows up with another letter and it's very harsh. He refers to this in 2 Corinthians chapter seven.

He even regrets having sent it for a moment because he thought maybe I was too hard on them.

But now he's planning another visit. And rather than going directly to them, he writes this letter.

He sends them a letter. And he'll follow it up with a personal visit.

So what are we seeing here in verses 12 to 14? The core idea here is he wants them to boast in him and Silvanus and Timothy to boast in us as we will boast in you on the day of Christ Jesus.

He is looking forward to glory on the day of judgment at the Bema seat.

When each of us stand before the Lord, he wants to see his friends right there with him. He wants to welcome them and hug them in heaven and be happily ever after in the kingdom come.

But they're in danger. It's possible that they will depart and follow a different gospel and be led astray.

So he is contending for them by defending himself. That's what this book is about.

He's trying to win their affection back over. Verses 12 to 14, he calls for that.

We see in the context of everything that's happened that he is fighting for their affection, that they would follow him.

Notice how he describes himself in verse 12, how he behaved himself with simplicity and godly sincerity.

There are probably some opponents in Corinth who say that Paul means something else when he writes.

They're reading so deeply into his letters that they're actually taking out the exact opposite of what he intended to say.

And he says, no, what I wrote to you is exactly what I meant. I'm wearing my heart on my sleeve here.

Paul operates with sincerity. There is a genuineness, a simplicity about his faith in Christ.

He has the Torah, he has the word of God, and he simply and humbly believes it.

This should mark us as Christians, the same way it marked Paul, that we would conduct ourselves and be able to say,

I walk with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom. No deep

Greek philosophy underlying what I'm really saying, no deep hidden meanings. But Christ and him crucified,

I live for him. And now picking up in verse 15, he explains his desire to come to them first, to cross over and visit them in Corinth.

But he doesn't do what he wants to do. Note that. The world is gonna tell you, do what you want to do.

Don't let anybody tell you differently. Follow your heart. The Bible is gonna tell you, the heart is deceitful.

And desperately sick, who can know it? The Bible will tell us not to follow our heart, the world will tell us to follow our heart.

So here's Paul, verse 15, because I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you.

Have you ever had that urge, when you know a relationship isn't right? You know something is wrong, and you just wanna go and fix it.

You just wanna get there, see the person, and surely you'll work it out. That's his urge here.

I want to go to Corinth, so that you might have a second experience of grace.

Now some theologians have run with this in the wrong direction. And they've created in Christianity, two levels of spirituality.

The ordinary Christian, and then the super Christian, who have had the second experience of grace, or the second blessing, or the baptism of the spirit, as they describe it.

And those who come into that second blessing, are kind of hyper spiritual and are on a higher plane.

That's not what Paul is talking about here. The first experience of grace, is when he brought the gospel to them.

And then he followed that up, with what he will call the painful visit. A second experience of grace in this context, the idea is he wanted to go and encourage, and build them up for their joy.

To build them up in the faith. And if he had gone another time after that, he could have given them a third experience of grace, and a fourth experience.

He wants to go as an encouragement. This is not creating a two tier Christianity. He says in verse 16,

I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia, and have you send me on my way to Judea.

Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans according to the flesh, ready to say yes, yes, and no, no at the same time?

So Paul, notice how he says again and again, I wanted, I wanted, I wanted. Verse 15, verse 16, verse 17.

I wanted to do it this way. I wanted to go straight to you, and see you face to face and work this out.

But that's not the plan I made. I didn't decide to do this and then just change my mind.

He didn't just follow his wants, his heart in this. There was some other way that he made a decision.

Follow with me now in verse 18 and following. He says, as surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been yes and no.

For the son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Sylvanus and Timothy and I, was not yes and no, but in him it is always yes.

Yes, for all the promises of God find their yes in him.

That is why it is through him that we utter our amen to God for his glory.

Paul says that just as God makes a promise, and then he keeps it, because that's the nature of God, he has determined that that is how he will live his life.

And the key to living life this way is to learn not to make plans according to the flesh, verse 17.

Do I make my plans according to the flesh? Ready to say yes, yes, and then no, no?

He says he doesn't make his plans that way. He has learned how to go to the word of God, to hear the voice of God, and by the spirit of God, apply that to his life.

The opposite of the flesh in this context is spirit. To hear from the spirit of the living

God in making our plans. Many Christians live their life with a plague of indecisiveness, unable to follow through with the plans that they make.

And the reason for that is because many of us fail to take the time to go to the word and pray and ask for the leading of the spirit to know what is the mind of Christ for a given situation, to know what

God calls you to do. Because if in the first place, you go and hear the word of God and then stand upon what he's called you to do, you walk with confidence, simplicity, sincerity.

You walk with certainty. The Christian is called to live a very certain life.

And this is especially important in a culture that hates certainty. We are able to go to God's word and receive direction.

But the problem of indecisiveness and flip -flopping has plagued humanity from the beginning.

Remember Elijah, 1 Corinthians 18? I'm sorry, 1 Corinthians. 1

Kings 18, we're in Corinthians now. Elijah in the Old Testament, he noticed that the people had flip -flopped back to worshiping

Baal and Asherah. And so he goes to the king and he tells Ahab, have all the people come to Mount Carmel.

And what he says in verse 21, how long will you waver between two opinions?

If Yahweh is God, worship him. If Baal is God, worship him. But the people were silent.

I like the way the ESV translate it. It says, how long will you limp between two positions?

Walking with a limp, unable to hear the word of God and live your life accordingly. You limp your way through life.

Well, finally, the prophets of Baal, of course, they do their thing. They're cutting themselves and they're trying to get

God to answer by fire. But God, the God that they serve is no God at all.

So there's no answer. And Elijah, he rebuilds the altar, puts the 12 stones and digs the trench and douses it with water.

And he calls on the name of the true God. The true God is able to answer certainly and decisively.

He answers by fire and it consumes the sacrifice and the stones of the altar and licks up all the water.

And God has spoken. Stand on it, believe it. Elijah knew that we cannot waver between opinions.

We must make a stand for the Son of God. Verse 19 now in 2

Corinthians. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you was not yes and no, but in Him is always yes.

For all the promises of God, find their yes in Him.

Everything God ever said to us is true. And every promise he ever made, whether to Abraham that he would make him a nation.

Just look how in 1948, after no nation existing from 70 AD until 1948, he called the

Jewish people from the four corners of the earth back into the promised land and remains faithful to his promise to give them a land.

Every promise God makes is yes and amen. Every promise he makes.

When he says, fear not, I am with you. Be not dismayed, I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you,

I will uphold you in my righteous right hand. We read that and we say, yes and amen, he will.

And fear has to go and doubt has to go. We can stand upon the promises of God and as surely as these promises are faithful, we can live lives of certainty.

And that's what Paul is telling them. When I chose not to come straight away to you, I made a plan.

I prayed about it. I decided to write you a letter, to send Titus with the letter and I would go up to Macedonia and I would circle around after you received my letter and come and confirm it in person.

That was his plan. He only knew that because he walks in the spirit and by the truth of God. Brothers and sisters, are you living your life by mere opinions?

By what you wake up feeling like that day? Or are you taking time every morning to open this book and say, speak to me,

I need to hear and ask the spirit to lead you in what you're called to do that day. If you do that, you'll walk with certainty.

The promises are yes and amen. You will become a person of conviction who walks in the yes and amen of God.

Another example, verse 21 and 22. Even as God, when he saves us, he'll never let us go. There's eternal security.

Why? It is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us and who has also put his seal on us and given us his spirit.

In our hearts as a what? Guarantee, the word of God says. I love that word.

Our eternal life, our redemption, our final redemption is guaranteed. Ephesians 1, 13 and 14 says the same thing.

Having believed you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit who is a guarantee until the redemption of those who are

God's possession. When God saves us, he is gonna faithfully complete that work through to the end.

God who took hold of you and you marked that in your baptism, he will never let you go.

He has you and he is faithful to the promise that he will glorify you one day.

Romans 8, 28 through 30. Just as you were justified, so you will be glorified.

It's a certainty for us who believe. His promises are yes and amen. And now finally, verse 23 through verse four of the second chapter are really a section here.

He says, but I call God to witness against me. It was to spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth.

How so? He says, not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy.

For you stand firm in the faith. In other words, I can't come to you with a rod and beat you and say, be happy in Christ.

That won't work. I can't come discipline this out of you. I am working for your joy and here's how you'll have joy.

When you come to repentance with God, you will find joy and my joy in you will be contagious.

Look what he says, chapter two, verses one to four. For I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you, for if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom

I have pained? And I wrote as I did so that when I came, I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice.

For I felt sure of all of you that my joy would be the joy of you all. For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain, but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.

We're gonna leave off there today, but I want you to see the point that Paul is making. He's not gonna beat joy into them.

He writes them a letter that they would repent and that when he comes, they would welcome him with joy.

Sometimes we have to say hard things to one another. We have to write a hard letter.

We have to say something that's difficult to say. Parents, you have to discipline your children now knowing that it will in the end produce a harvest of righteousness.

We have to do and say hard things, but the final result of that decision and the goal that we have in this

Christian life is our final joy. Paul wants their joy in him.

He desires that true relationship where they love to see one another.

He's bringing the relationship back together. So in closing, we live in a culture that hates certainty, but as Christians, we're called to walk on the certainty of God's word and as sure as every promise is yes and amen, we can live with that kind of conviction.

We can order our lives by the word of God. So let's now call on him in prayer and I just wanna give you a moment to pray because maybe you're recognizing that there's areas of your life where you've been waffling, wavering between two opinions.

Maybe on one hand, you know what the word of God says about a certain sexual sin in your life and you need to repent of that and say, no,

I walk in truth, not compromise, the single -minded sincere that this is who

I am and this is where I stand. Maybe there's another area of waffling between two opinions in your life.

This is the time and this is the text that calls you to sincerity, to be integrated as one person, not divided and separated out, having one opinion on Sunday morning and another opinion at a different part of the week.

So let's close our eyes and worship team come up. I just wanna give you a minute to talk to God about the kind of certainty that we can have based on the promises of God.

Ask Him now to just help you to follow the example of Paul, to be single -minded, sincere.