God's Deliverance Part 3

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. I look again at 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 8. He said, I don't want you to be unaware of this, brethren, for our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened beyond measure and above strength, so that we despaired even of life.

Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead. That was Paul's attitude, and we need to adopt this attitude also. You notice Paul, I'm sure he had his moments, but he didn't have a pity party.

He didn't cry out to God and say, Lord, why are you allowing, this is not fair. We don't see Paul saying any of that. Instead, he trusted in God who raised the dead. Paul's attitude was basically, well, if I die, I did it serving the Lord, to live as Christ, to die as gain.

If Paul was killed by the mob, he just enters into the presence of God, which is far better than where he was at before. And you know, he was at peace with that. Every person in this room, hopefully, at this moment, certainly by the time you leave the door, should be at peace with your own death.

If you really believe that to live is Christ and to die is gain, we should all be at peace with that. Our former pastor said to me one time, he said, Mike, I'm not afraid to die. I'm just afraid how I'm going to die.

Well, that's relatable. But he wasn't afraid to die. We should not be afraid to die. This is the mindset that we need. If it is God's will, and you know, based on the past, it's unlikely. Who knows the way things are going?

It's hard to say. But if we do ever suffer for the Lord's sake, we need to rejoice. Rejoice that you are counted worthy to suffer for Christ's sake. Isn't that what the apostles said when they were arrested and beaten?

They left rejoicing that they had been counted worthy to suffer for Christ's name's sake. So we need to trust in God, serve God to the best of our ability, be content with what we have, and trust in the Lord.

Paul's Deliverance and the Believer's Peace in Death

Because many times, God will deliver you. And that threat that's looming on the horizon, many times, if not most of the times, you never end up having to deal with it. But this is the message this morning.

Look at verse 10. God who raises the dead, verse 10, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us, in whom we trust that he will still deliver us. He will still deliver us. Do you believe that?

Has God delivered you? Maybe you were at that point where you weren't sure if you were going to live or die. Well, if you're here, he delivered you. Or maybe it was just a situation that was really bad.

You didn't see how there was any hope. You thought, this can't possibly turn out for good. There's no way that this could ever be resolved. And then what happens? God intervenes. God delivers you. The Lord delivered Paul again and again and again.

And it's encouraging to hear about it. It's inspirational to hear about what God did. That is the great God that we serve. And Paul says, this is the point I want you to remember. Paul says, God delivered us.

That's past tense. God does deliver us. That's present tense. And God will still deliver us. Future tense. If I was a member of the Corinthian church, and I knew what Paul had gone through, and this was the message he was telling me, I'd be encouraged.

I don't know about you. That the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who created all things, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, He is a God who delivers His people. What does He ask from us?

To have faith. To walk by faith. A while back I did a sermon on 1 Corinthians 10. Where I addressed the question, will God give us more than we can handle? And what's the response? When anyone brings that up, anyone ask the question, will God give you more than you can handle?

What's the answer? Verse 13. Yeah. Well, yeah. The answer is no. God will not give you more than you can handle. If I had a nickel for every time I heard that, I don't know, I'd have a few dollars maybe.

Here's the thing though. It's true that God will not tempt you beyond what you are able. That is true. But here's the thing. I believe that God will give you more than you can handle at times. So that you'll have no other place to turn except to turn to Him.

Prayer in Trials and the Cycle of Deliverance in Judges

Verse 11. You also helping together in prayer for us. That thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the gift granted to us through many. So prayer. Don't leave prayer out of this. This is another reason why God allows His people to go through trials.

So that God's people will cry out to Him in prayer. You know, when things are just peachy, what do people do? They start to get comfortable and they start to forget God because everything's going so well.

The temptation is to think, what do I need God for? Or you take His blessings for granted. But if you read the book of Judges, you remember what happened in the book of Judges? That is what would happen.

Israel would be at peace and safety. Everything was wonderful. And then they would start to drift from the Lord. And by the time the next generation came around, they were completely away from God. And then God would do what?

He would send adversity. He would judge the nation, raise up the Philistines. To do what? To get the people to cry out to God. And then the Lord would raise up a judge to deliver the people. And that was just a cycle that kept happening again and again and again.

And maybe that's what's happening today. This was the cycle. And I think that same principle always applies. So the Lord allows things to happen. Sometimes He will bring you to your knees just to get you to pray.

1 Thessalonians 5, 17 says to do what? Pray without ceasing. Prayer should have an important place in your life. Whether it's when you get up in the morning, around lunchtime, before you go to bed. You should have a set time where prayer is a very important point in your life.

What does the scripture say in James chapter 5? The effective, fervent prayers of a righteous man availeth much. So God wants His people to pray. And when we pray, God can answer the prayers. I know this is obvious and very basic.

But God can't answer your prayers if you don't pray. And it's always wonderful. Something great happens. But when you've been praying for that thing and you see it done, it's that much more rewarding.

Or when all of God's people are coming together in prayer for a certain thing and then it happens. Few things are better. So Paul was thankful to God because God delivered him. And part of that is that the Corinthians were praying for Paul.

They were praying for him. And he was proud of them. They had come a long way. And when they heard what Paul went through, they were proud of him. But there were still some problems. And Paul knew this.

There were still those people in the church, the false teachers, who attempted to undermine Paul's ministry and to assault his character. And that's what he's responding to in verse 12. He says, For our boasting is this.

Some people, before I read this, some people seem to object to the Apostle Paul because he uses the word boast a lot. He's boasting about this and he's boasting about that. I think we're looking at this the wrong way.

The King James Version translates this rejoicing. A boast is I'm bragging and that's a bad attribute. That's not really what Paul's doing. There's nothing wrong with what he's doing. So basically, for our rejoicing is this.

The testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity. Not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God and more abundantly toward you. So as he will do several times in his letter, Paul is defending himself.

And sometimes there's a time to do that. Sometimes there's a time not to do that. But the false teachers had convinced enough people that Paul was a fraud, basically. And he had to address that and set the record straight.

And what is he saying? Our boasting, our rejoicing is this. We were above reproach. We conducted ourselves in a godly way. He's basically saying my critics don't have anything on me. Paul could lay down at night and sleep with a clear conscience.

And there are few things more valuable than a clear conscience. And even if someone says, well, I've done wrong and my conscience isn't clear. Then repent, pray to God, ask for forgiveness. Don't do it again.

God will forgive you. You should be able to forgive yourself. And this is about having faith in the blood of Christ that it's powerful enough to forgive all your sins. People hold on, well, you can't forgive this.

I can't let go of this. If God forgave you, you need to let it go. The blood of Christ forgives all sin. So Paul had a clear conscience. At least with the Corinthians, we know that Paul wasn't sinless.

But with the Corinthians, there was nothing to accuse him of. And then finally, the New Living Translation renders verses 13 and 14 this way. Paul says, our letters have been straightforward. And there is nothing written between the lines and nothing you can't understand.

I hope someday you will fully understand this. Even if you don't understand us now, then on the day when the Lord returns, you will be proud of us in the same way we are proud of you. So when the church heard of all that Paul went through, his amazing testimony, how God delivered him, how he was faithful, they were proud of his godly conduct.

And when Paul heard how they were praying for him and they had corrected some of their wrongs, Paul was praying for them and he was proud of them. And even if that wasn't fully the case, even if there were still a few people and a few issues, what's he saying?

The day is going to come when we can all rejoice in what God has done in our lives. That is the day of Christ's return. But until then, same situation, Paul, the Corinthians, and us today. We're both living in the same age known as the last days, the time period between the first coming of Christ and the second coming of Christ.

And because we're living in the last days, as the scripture says, perilous times will come. They have come, but here's the encouragement. God is not just the God of all comfort who comforts us in all our tribulations.

He is the God who will still deliver us. Just to remind you what he said in verse 10, Paul says, God delivered us in the past. God does deliver us and God will still deliver us. Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Coronet Church.

If you'd like to listen to the complete message, or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, MorrisCoronetChurch .com. And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett.

Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.