Hello and welcome to Hackberry House and God's Word. Father, in Jesus' name, may your blessing be upon what is said and those who hear. May we grow together today in the things of God. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Hackberry House is a website that you can access by typing myheartcry.net into a keyboard of a computer. When you get that website, go to the library page, look for the lessons that we're doing here, and you'll see a bunch of other things that will be of interest to you too, I do believe. But today's lesson is in Unit 10, Lesson 44. We're starting from the beginning with Acts Chapter 20. We're going to do a couple chapters there in Acts, because we're dealing with Paul's life, now in chronological order as much as possible. Whenever he comes to a certain place where he would write a letter to someone else, we will stop there and read his letter. Today's letter is 2 Corinthians. Let's just see how far we can get. The first thing that we have to do is do a little bit of introduction to the Book of Acts portion that we'll be reading here and to the 2 Corinthians book. Let's do that now. Paul is continuing his third major trip, we call them missionary journeys, but just his trip by preaching in Macedonia, in Greece and what was called Asia, which was a little section of what we call Turkey today. After a disaster turned into a miracle at Troas, he meets the Ephesian elders on his way back to Jerusalem. Well, it's perhaps in the Macedonian part of this trip, we're not totally sure, But in the Macedonian part of this trip, it looks like he sat down and wrote the second letter to Corinth. And that was about A.D. 56. The Book of Romans was in all likelihood written shortly afterwards. Again, we're not swearing to that, but it's quite possible. And that would be written in Greece. And then on the actual trip back to Jerusalem, he's told in no uncertain terms that the trip to Jerusalem will mean his imprisonment, and he's ready for it, and continues on. We'll get back to that in a minute. Well, let's just do that right now. Let's go to Acts chapter 20. Read those couple of chapters, actually, from 20 all the way into chapter 21, verse 16, where we'll take another break there and go into a letter. Well, you know, Paul's always getting in some kind of trouble because he's true. When he speaks the truth, people don't like it. And he speaks it anyway. He's got a whole riot going on here in the city of Ephesus in Asia Minor. And after that all calms down, he calls the disciples together and hugs them and decides to go on into Macedonia, as he had gone before. Remember when the Macedonian call. Now, when he goes up to Macedonia, there'll be churches already established that he began. And he goes over that whole region, it says in verse 2, comes down to Greece, stays there three months, and the Jews are going to try to kill him again. And he decides to go on back to Syria, but he's going to go back the way he came, through Macedonia. You have to get a map to see all this, unless you know that part of the world real well. talks about the people who are with him in verse 4, mentions Timothy. In verse 5 it says, these men, all the ones mentioned in verse 4, waited for us at Troas. And there's another first-person passage here of Brother Luke. You know, Luke is writing the book, and Luke is a traveling companion and associate of the Apostle Paul. When he comes into the story, he lets you know he's in the story by using the word us and we. In verse 6, we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and in five days joined them, that's all these guys in verse 4, at Troas in Asia, where we stayed seven days. So they've come out of Macedonia now, and Luke has joined them in the top of Asia Minor there at Troas. And while they're at Troas, on the first day of the week, now verse 7 is one of the only places that you'll see the first day of the week as the main thing in terms of church meetings and so on. The interesting thing about it is that if you read on, this first day of the week had to be an evening. Now it could have been Saturday night, and they could have been talking about how the When you end the Sabbath, you're really at the beginning of the first day of the week in one sense. So it could have been Saturday night, but more likely, I'm understanding it anyway, and I don't want to use the words Saturday and Sunday because those are of pagan origin, but probably the first day, meaning what we call the first day of the week today. But it was in the evening. It was in the evening. because it talks about how Paul preached to them and continued his message till midnight. I don't think he started in the morning and preached all day long. They started in the evening and preached. We don't need to think of this as a horribly long service. These guys worked all day, you know. They worked long hours and don't know when the meeting actually began. It could have begun very late. But the fact is that the message lasted till midnight and there were people that were getting pretty tired by this time. That's why we've got a man who's sitting up in one of the windows and finally just overcome by sleep, falls out the window, goes three stories down, he's taken up dead, dead. But Paul, knowing that God did not want this kind of a reputation to be upon the people of God, goes down and prays for this man and even tells the people ahead of time, you don't have to worry, he's alive, he's alive, And the man indeed was. Indeed was. He just woke up and began living again. God raised him. Well, did God raise him from the dead? It says, he fell down from the third story. He was taken up dead. Does that mean as dead? That he looked like he was dead? Well, it says dead. Let's just go with what it says. Paul fell on him. Fell on him. Kind of like Elijah. Or Elisha in the Old Testament falling on these people who had died and breathing God's breath right into them. Whatever, however he did it, but he did bring him back to life again. So there's a huge miracle that comes from a disaster. I believe God likes to do that. Think of the disasters in your life that perhaps God would like to turn around and turn into a miracle. something that's just not going the way you want it to go in your life, and you don't even think it's going the way God wants it to go, then let God turn that into something wonderful through prayer. God does hear our prayers. So, it says, when he'd come up, he broke bread and ate and talked a long while, even till daybreak. So now, they've got a whole lot more to talk about. The service, maybe it was winding down, don't know. Boy, when this man is raised from the dead, you better believe they're going to fellowship even more. And Eutychus and the whole group of people there at Troas are just really excited about Jesus now. They just want to talk all night. And so he does. It says they were not a little comforted. I'll bet. So he goes ahead after that. They sailed to Assas. We did. Luke did. Luke and his company sailed on and they were hoping to pick up Paul right there and just take him on. The reason they had to pick up Paul later is because Paul, like Jesus, didn't always go with him. Now, Paul is just full of the Holy Ghost right now. He's just so wound up about everything that's happened. He just wants to talk this all over with the Lord. There's a lot going through his mind right now. He doesn't want to get on a boat and just talk some more. He's got to get along with the Lord. And he walks, I don't know how many miles it is, but Assos is the next port city from Troas. You look on your map, it's several miles down the road, and he just walked it. So they picked him up there. As again, like Jesus did around the Sea of Galilee at different times. So we took him on board then in verse 14, came on down to Mydalene and tells the progress of their journey in verse 15, sailing past Ephesus, verse 16, because he didn't want to spend a whole lot of time in Asia. However, he did. He went on down to Miletus, actually, and asked the elders to come to him. He didn't want to go to the whole church, didn't have time to minister there, spend a whole lot of time there, maybe get involved in evangelizing, and perhaps the Jews of that area are still going to try to cause trouble. You never know. what's going to happen. He goes past the city, and it wasn't just the Jews in Ephesus, you know, it was those other brothers, the Demetrius Club, that was the silversmith and the ones who were making all these idols. Perhaps he just doesn't want to get involved with all that right now. So he goes to the next town down and calls to a messenger for the elders to come down and visit with him. And when they came down, He gives a very touching farewell speech to them. He says, you know, from the first day I came to you in Asia, you know exactly how I lived. You know how I served the Lord. You know how there were tears. You know how there were trials. You know all the things that happened to me through what the Jews did. You know that I kept back nothing from you. In spite of all that, I told you the whole truth. I taught you in public. I taught you from house to house. I told Jews and I told Greeks the truth about repenting and believing God. And now, look at me. Look at me, man. I'm bound in my spirit. There's something that's telling me I've got to go to Jerusalem. I guess it's the feast. Maybe he wasn't totally sure what it was, but he knew. that somehow God was guiding him down there. And he says, the Holy Spirit's telling me every place I go, there's going to be chains, there's going to be trouble. He didn't need even a prophet to come up and tell him these things. He knew. And when the prophet did come, and when the other people did come and warned him, it was just confirming what he already knew in his spirit and what he'd already dealt with. I wonder, have you dealt with the idea that you are called to be a servant of God now and not a king? That you are called to suffer for Christ now and not to reign? Have you dealt with it? Have I dealt with it? Have we mentally paid the price? If you have mentally paid it, you better believe that physically you'll pay it too. People who haven't even cared about paying the price, they won't be asked to pay it and they won't be given a reward for it either. He says, these things don't bother me. My life isn't dear to myself. I live for Jesus. But I know, and something's telling me now, verse 25, that I'm not going to see you again. I've been back and forth here several times now, but I'm not coming back, and I can't tell you why, but God's told me that I won't see you again. And I tell you, I'm innocent from the blood of all men. I told you everything, and I want you to be faithful when I go. Take care of this flock. The Holy Ghost has made you. Plural. Look at this. I want you to see this. I guess it comes against the flow of our day. We have almost a papacy that happens in church after church after church where one man just takes over and you pay him to do it and he just runs with it. He does everybody's gifts, whether he has the gifts or not. Everything just centers in that man. That's not how it was. Paul was the least. And when he went in, he went into a church and he got it going, sure. And he'd even leave one man behind to keep it going. But once it got going, it was to be ruled by many men. And I don't understand why the churches today are ruled by one man, even though they've been around a long time. He says, I want you elders to shepherd the church of God. This is the church at Ephesus. Was it one congregation? Maybe not. Maybe there were several congregations and each had an elder in charge. I don't know if I want to go there because the in charge thing, the one man king thing, is not God's best way. He wants to rule his church and he wants to rule through the Holy Ghost. Now, you might have one man that's more public than another, a better teacher than another, one man that's a better administrator, one man that's a better this and that. Let them all use their gifts, but let the Holy Spirit lead the church. Let Jesus be the only head of the church. He says, I know when I'm gone there's going to be wolves coming into your church. And not only from the outside, they're going to rise up from the inside too. It's going to be terrible. But remember that I warned you. Be strong. Watch. Remember how I was three years, three years. I was warning you night and day with tears. I stayed there with you. Now I commend you to God and to the Word of His grace. It's going to build you up. It's going to give you an inheritance. I haven't been asking for anything from you in return, verse 33. I've been working with my hands. I showed you. I showed you. You're not here in this business to become rich, to become settled, to become comfortable. Get a job. Oh, if the pastors of our nation, many of them, not all of them, but if many of them would get a job, if some of them just went to Bible college right out of their church situation, right out of school, went to Bible college, went into a church, and they've been little kings ever since, and they don't feel, they can't taste, what it means to work for a living, what it means to scramble for dollars, because the church just loves them and is taking good care of them. The church should love them. The church should care for their needs in one aspect, especially if they can't care for their own. Why are there so many pastors who don't know how to do anything else, who only want this security? Be careful. Be careful. The thing that they heard the most during that whole thing was that Paul wasn't going to come back anymore. It really broke their heart. And that's the thing that they cried about, he says in verse 38. So he moves on and he tells the rest of the journey that they took. They see Cyprus, they go to Syria, they land at Tyre, and they have to go there to to unload their cargo. So he has to stay there about a week. And of course, whenever he's somewhere, he's got to be fellowshipping. Are you like that when you take a trip? Do you just have to be with the people of God? Are you kind of glad to get away from your church responsibilities? Well, maybe we need to rethink our commitment to Jesus Christ. Rethink who we are and what we're here for. This is a different kind of a world here in America than it was there and then. there are places in the world that are just like this. In fact, most of the church lives like Paul's day lived. And most of God's people and God's leaders have a tendency to be more like this than they do the ones in our nation. Think about it. When the disciples who were full of the Holy Ghost there in Troas, not Troas, I'm sorry, Tyre, just as in all the other places, They knew something was up with this man. And they warned him not to go to Jerusalem. And he went anyway. He knew there was going to be trouble. He comes to Ptolemaeus. Greets the brothers there. Stays one day with them. Comes to Caesarea. Goes to the house of Philip, the evangelist. Remember one of the seven deacons that's chosen. He has four daughters that prophesied. I don't know that they prophesied in the church, because in the church the women were to keep silent, but at least they prophesied. Here at home, I believe they did. Here comes another man of God, a prophet named Agabus. We talked about him before, who prophesied the famine that was to come. He came down from Judea. over to where he is staying in Caesarea, comes down from Judea to be with Paul and deliberately to hand him a message before he gets to Jerusalem. He says, this is going to happen to the man that owns this belt. What? He's going to be bound because he took Paul's own belt and bound it. I don't know if it was a belt like you have, but it was more of a rope, a sash. He took Paul's hands and feet and and tied them together. He says, that's what's going to happen to the man that owns this belt. He's going to be delivered into the hands of the Gentiles. And so now they're saying, no, you can't go. But see, the prophets already said, this is what is going to happen. He knows Paul's heart. Paul's going to Jerusalem. And all the warnings notwithstanding, he's like Jesus. He knows this is his hour. This is his time. He's going to go. Paul says, don't try to break my heart. I've already endured enough things for Christ. I have His very marks in my hand. I'm ready not only to be bound but to die. But the prophet didn't say he was going to die in Jerusalem like Jesus did. No. He just said he's going to be bound. So they weren't able to persuade him. So they said the Lord's will be done. Then he packs up, goes to Jerusalem and finds a place to stay there. And then the story really is going to change, isn't it? We're coming to the end of Paul's life, or at least his real act of ministry. Let's go to the questions before we go into Corinthians. It says, trace Paul's route from Ephesus to Troas. He went from Ephesus to Macedonia, to Greece, back to Macedonia, back to Troas. And who joined him at Troas? That was Luke. What day and time did the disciples meet in Troyes? It was the first day of the week, but it was in the evening. Did they rest all day? It doesn't say that. And they weren't worried about that. God had given them the Sabbath, and it was a Sabbath-keeping church in those days. The first day didn't come for a long time, I believe until Constantine came and honored that first day as a day of rest. Now, they were meeting on the first day, perhaps in honor of the resurrection and Pentecost. They were meeting on that day. But then again, they met a lot of days. It seemed to be that this first day is becoming a special day to them in terms of meeting anyway. That's all we have. That's all we have in the New Testament. You take that and what we covered in 1 Corinthians. That's all we have about the first day of the week. Now, the rest of it has come from tradition and from Roman practice. Not necessarily from the Holy Spirit. You deal with that any way you want. This is not for bondage at all, but deal with that to see what the Lord would have you to do about the various days of the week. Some people don't honor any particular day, Paul said. Every man's got to do what God puts upon his heart to do, as much as possible from His Word. Number four, Paul's healing method reminds us of what prophet? That would be Elisha in 2 Kings chapter 4 verse 32 to 35 if you want to look that one up. Why did Paul bypass Ephesus? Probably because of the trouble there and he wanted to be in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. Number six, what bad news for the Ephesian elders? Number one, savage wolves are coming. Number two, false teachers and Paul is not going to see them anymore. That's number seven. That's what distressed them most. Number eight, why a seven-day layover in Tyre? Because ships unloaded their cargo there. And number nine, what is Paul told in the Spirit both here and in Caesarea? Don't go to Jerusalem. At least you're going to have trouble in Jerusalem. Jesus is going to deliver. Sorry, the Jews are going to deliver you to the Gentiles. Number ten, How is Paul's reaction to the prophecy different from the rest of the disciples? Well, they said, no, no, this is horrible. Paul said, no problem, I'm ready to go and I'm ready to die for Jesus. Well, somewhere along in here, he writes that second letter to the church at Corinth. And in between the two letters, Paul's enemies attack his character and his faith. Titus is sent over to correct the church, and upon his report to Paul of their repentance, at least most of them, Paul writes 2 Corinthians. He might have made a brief visit over there to defend himself, we don't know, but it doesn't seem likely. So there's a real defensive tone in the Epistle, because he's had to be kind of tough with his church, and some of them are kind of upset with him. And he wants them to know, I love you. I love you. Open your heart back to me. Don't be mad at me. It's again a love letter to a church. Now the letter that's mentioned in 2.4 and 7.8 is either some lost letter or maybe 1 Corinthians. I've always leaned that way. The letter he's talking about here is 1 Corinthians. Now the letter he talked about in 1 Corinthians is obviously a lost letter. So the offender that's mentioned in this letter would be the immoral man that's in 1 Corinthians 5. That makes some sense. Some people have had trouble with it. I won't go any deeper into it. Let's go into 2 Corinthians. You're going to find that 2 Corinthians is a little different. In fact, a lot different than 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians is answering some of their questions. It's very issues-oriented. One issue after another. You can clearly tell when you've gone from one subject to another. And it's like he's got a list. He says, the things that you wrote me about, I'm going to check them off one at a time. Here's this one, here's this one, here's this one. 2 Corinthians is more personal in tone. As we said, he's defensive. He's trying to let them know how he feels about them and how he wants them to feel about him. But in doing so, he hits an issue now and then. But it's issues that are a little deeper for us. And some of them don't relate as easily to us right now. But, many people have found much blessing in this book. It's little nuggets of truth that are hidden here and there, coming from the Holy Spirit, through this man, to the church. And we should read it too. His normal opening in the first couple of verses, and then he starts, he launches right into this thing about comfort. How comforted he is. How God comforts, that's what he's feeling right now. Titus has just come back. And he said, everything's cool there. They're repenting, Paul. You wouldn't believe it. They've repented so much. They're so sorry. The whole church is experiencing revival from the Holy Ghost, Paul. It's wonderful. And Paul's spirit is just so happy. And he sits down and he says, Blessed be the God and Father of Jesus, the Father of mercies, the God of all comfort, who comforts us. You see, he was troubled. You know what? You cannot be comforted until you're troubled. You can't be comforted by the Holy Spirit until you're troubled by the Holy Spirit. And when you're walking with God, He's going to bring you through some difficult situations, especially as you enter into ministry to others. And you're going to get perturbed and you're going to get angry and upset with those with whom you're ministering. And you're going to have to do some difficult things. And you're going to have to wonder, like he did, are they going to make it? Are they going to make it? My own children, are they going to make it? And this brings you through distress. We've taken the dis off. We just call it stress today. That's what it's going to bring you through. But then the Holy Spirit comes and brings you comfort. And when he does, you'll be singing with Paul. God comforts us in all our trouble. so that we, he says, can comfort others who are in trouble with that same comfort that we are comforted with, because he wants to keep using that word so much. The sufferings of Christ are in us, but just as much as that, the comfort's in us. You see, verse 6, if we are afflicted, it's for you to be comforted. And then when we're comforted, oh, wow, it's for the same thing, for your salvation. You see how he lived? Do you see how he lived? His life was lived totally for others. We want you not to be ignorant, verse 8, of the trouble we had in Asia. I think he's talking here of Ephesus. We were burdened beyond measure. We had the sentence of death in ourselves. We were as good as dead, but God raises the dead. And He raised us up too. He delivered us from death. Thank you for you helping us in verse 11. Thank you that you prayed with us. For our boasting Verse 12, here is the only thing we boast about. It's you. The way our conscience is clean, that we gave ourselves to you totally and that you received it. And that you received it not as from men, but as from God. So we're glorying in the Lord, who is working in you, Corinthians. That's what he says. Well, I wanted to come to you again, verse 15. In fact, in 1 Corinthians, he's talking about coming to them again, remember. He says, I planned to come there. I was going to come again from Macedonia right over to you. And then I was even going to ask you to help me on my way to Judea. So when I made this plan, did I do it lightly? Did I plan it according to the flesh? Like some of you are saying now, you know, he said he was coming, but he didn't come. The man walks in the flesh. Is that how it is? Oh, no, no. That's not how it is. As God is faithful, our word to you is not yes and no. Now here he goes off a little ways before he gets back to what he's talking about. He starts talking about all the promises of God. It's related, but you see how he goes off sometimes. All the promises of God are yes and amen. He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God. God's leading my life. God's planning things. I'm telling you the truth here. Yes, I planned to come. That was something that I believed the Lord wanted. I really believed that. But I believed that there was something the Lord wanted even more. And I didn't come so that I could spare you. I didn't come back to Corinth because you were not ready for me to come. I didn't want to have to come with the rod. I didn't want to have to come and hurt somebody. I wanted God to have His time to work in you, and so I didn't come. I'm not going to come again in sorrow like I had to before. No. If I make you sorrowful, who's going to comfort me? There was a reason I didn't come, Corinthians. Don't be angry about that. You better believe I was trying my best to follow the Lord in this, and I really thought He wanted me to come at first. But then I realized his greater purposes. Don't worry, I'll be back. But I didn't come. I didn't want to have sorrow over those for whom I ought to have joy. When I come to you, I want us to rejoice. I wrote to you in anguish of heart. I believe here he could be talking about his first letter to Corinth. I wrote to you with tears, not to grieve you. I wanted you to know the love I have for you. This punishment that you gave to the man who was in sin, it's enough. It's enough. Now I want you to forgive this man. I want you to comfort him. Don't let him be swallowed up with grief too much. You see, Titus has come back saying, you wouldn't believe, they're going so far. In fact, they might be going a little too far in their zeal. So Paul says, thank you so much. You did the right thing. Back off a little bit. Don't spank him too hard. No, forgive him. Reaffirm your love to him. Let him know he's loved. I wrote to you to put you to the test to see if you're obedient. Now I realize you are very obedient. And I want you to obey me in this too. Forgive this man. Because I forgive him. Just as I said that I cast him out, even though I wasn't there, in the Spirit right now, verse 10, I'm forgiving him. And I want you to do that too. I forgive him. Don't let Satan take advantage of this whole situation by doing it too much, guys. Back off. We know how he works. Remember Jesus said, whatever you bind on earth is bound in heaven, right? This is how it works here. Those who are leaders in God's flock, they can pronounce that forgiveness to a man. They can pronounce that forgiveness to a man who's being dealt with by the Lord. He tells the whole flock to pronounce forgiveness, to forgive him. It's not a magical wand that they wave, but something from their heart rises up and says, You're forgiven. We forgive you. Because they forgive and the Lord is able to forgive too. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. It's just the working out of that Word right here. So when I came to Troas to preach Christ's Gospel and a door was opened to me, that was the Macedonian call, I had no rest in my spirit because I didn't find Titus, my brother, looking around for him. But taking my leave of them, I went over to Macedonia." Then he has this great victory story. Even though he starts to talk about it right here, you won't see him getting back to that until chapter 8. He starts talking about the great thing about Titus' coming in verse 13, 14. But he doesn't mention it fully and explain it fully until chapter 8. So thank God that he's always giving us victory, but then he moves on to some other things. Let's go to chapter 3. Do we need to commend ourselves to you again? Do we have to praise ourselves here? Other people write you these letters of commendation, but you don't need that from us, remember? We've been so close through the years. You know all about us. You, in fact, are our letter of recommendation. When I look at your lives, I see how far you've come in the Lord. And you're like a letter. And anybody that looks at you can read how effective my ministry is through Christ. The words that I'm writing on you are written on your heart. We have such trust through Christ, knowing that He's working in you. We're not sufficient. We didn't do anything. But God has made us. Sufficient, verse 6, chapter 3. Ministers of the New Covenant. This is different than the Old Covenant. It's not like the Old Testament where you read a book. You read a book and you try your best to do it in your natural man. You try, try, try to do the book and it kills you because you can't do it. No, this is the ministry of the Spirit. We still have the book. The book is the mirror now. The Spirit of God is in us, leading us, as we hear His Word preached, or we read it ourselves, but it becomes a part of us, and He lives His life through us, and it's different. It's a freeing thing, it's not a binding thing. Now we have the power, as well as the perfect will to do. The Spirit gives life, and it's a glorious one. It's a glorious thing that we're doing. It's a glorious ministry that we have. Why, even Moses' ministry was glorious. It was so glorious that his face dishewn so much he had to put a veil over him. It's the ministry of condemnation. But it was glorious. How much more glorious do you think this new thing will be with Christ? Put Jesus next to Moses. You see how glorious our ministry is. That ministry was passing away. Ours is going to stay forever. That's why we have such hope. That's why we have such boldness. We're not like Moses who had to put a veil over his face. You know what that veil stands for? It's the flesh. Even today, when you read Moses to the people of Israel, there's that veil there in between Moses, or in between the Word, and the real people. It's their flesh. They can't see the truth. It's been dimmed down. But when one turns to the Lord, verse 16, goodbye veil. The flesh is crucified. We see Him in the Spirit, where the Spirit of the Lord is. There's freedom. There's liberty. We then, it says, with an unveiled face, that's with no encumbrances of the flesh, We're looking like, as in a mirror or a glass, the glory of the Lord. The Bible says, John said, we shall be like Him when the whole process is complete. We shall see Him as He is. We'll be like Him and see Him as He is. He's saying much of the same thing right here. When that which is perfect is come, he said it another place. We'll see Him. Now we see in a glass darkly, as He says here, in a mirror. We see the glory of the Lord, but someday, face to face, we're being transformed into that same image from glory to glory. The more Christ is in you, the more you sense His glory, and the more the people around you sense that there's something different about this person. The glory of the Lord is in this person. We're going from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord. If you're a man of the Holy Ghost, I know that's bad talking these days of craziness. There's some strange things going on. So much of this stuff goes into false teaching. I know, I know. But that doesn't take away the ministry of the Holy Ghost in your life. Don't be afraid. of the Holy Ghost in your life. He wants to keep working in you. He's not just some vague force. When you read His book, when you read His words, He will stir within you, and He Himself will cause these things to come to pass in you. Let's take a break here and get some questions answered in the first three chapters of 2 Corinthians. Why are we comforted And why are we afflicted? Well, we're comforted so we can comfort others with our comfort. We're afflicted so that we will receive that comfort. And it just keeps working in a cycle. Number 2, the trouble in Asia, what's he talking about? That's Demetrius, Ephesus, Diana, all that. Number 3, what was the original plan he had? To go to Macedonia via Corinth. And then back to Corinth. Take money even from them and go to Judea. What changed his plan? He didn't want to hurt them. He didn't want to come in sorrow. Maybe still some unrepentance then. Number five, what does Paul appeal for here? To forgive. Now that the punishment is over, don't keep punishing the man. Number six, why the worry over meeting Titus? Well, he wants to know the status of these troublemakers. He wants to know the status of Corinth in general. Have they repented? Number seven, how did Paul claim to be different from contemporary preachers? He gave them the pure, unadulterated truth. He was sincere. Number eight, how could people know that Paul's ministry was valid? Well, the fruit at Corinth came from the power of God in them, and people could just look at that and see God is moving in them. Number nine on the other side of the page now. How does the letter differ from the spirit? Well, the letter is the law of Moses. You obey it or you die. If you can't obey it, you're dead. The spirit brings that law within. It's much more glorious. Number ten. What does Moses' veil symbolize? It's the veil on their heart. the covering over their heart, or we might even say the flesh. It can't see the Lord. Number 11, why do some not believe? Because, well, let's stop right there because I didn't get to chapter 4 yet. Let's go to chapter 4. Chapter 4 starts out, we don't lose heart, and he picks up that same theme in verse 16, we don't lose heart. He had to say that to himself, didn't he? We all want to lose heart, but we don't. We can't. There's too many people depending on us. Too many lives at stake. And God says we can't grow discouraged. We don't do it. It's a great ministry we've been given. It's an overwhelming thing to be thinking that the glory of God is all over us and in us and greater than even Moses. We better be sure that we are walking worthy of this, but we will not be discouraged. turned away from all the ugly things in this world. Even if our Gospel is veil, it's not veil to us. Even if it's veil, it's veil to the ones who are perishing. The people of this world have been blinded. Not just Jews, but most of the Gentiles of the world too are blinded to this. Because if they would look, the glory of God would come on them, but they can't see. Anybody who truly has his eyes opened is going to see. So that's what we pray for the most, is to pray that people's eyes will be opened, that they will see the truth. We don't preach ourselves. We preach Jesus. And it's the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness that has opened our eyes. Don't be going around proud. You're only able to see because God opened your eyes. You didn't look for Him. He looked for you. He found you. He opened your eyes. We have this treasure, this overwhelming treasure in a body of clay. He calls it an earthen vessel. So that when we go around ministering these things and sharing this wonderful thing, people will know it's not Paul. Paul, well, he was weak. We don't know all about his weakness, but he had a weakness. And everyone that's truly, truly been God's man down through the years has had some horrible weakness. I'm not talking about a sin, but some physical thorn, some problem in him, that people would honor the Jesus in him and nothing else. We are pressed on every side. I like these verses, don't you? But we're not crushed. We're perplexed, but not in despair. You know, the next time you read the epistles of Paul, next time you read this, you've got to look at the we here and realize this was a historical figure we're talking about. Before you put yourself in it, Before you put yourself as part of the we, as Luke did, be sure that you realize who's talking and who said this and what the situation was when he said it. If you're in Paul's situation, you can put yourself in here. I don't mean that you have to be an apostle. You don't have to be on a missionary journey, but are you truly being used of God to bring other people to the Lord and to strengthen the church in some way? Are you really into the cross of Jesus Christ? Then you can say, we are hard-pressed. We are perplexed, but not desperate. Persecuted, not forsaken. Struck down, not destroyed. A lot of bad stuff is happening to me, but I'm moving on. I'm continuing on. Because the dying of the Lord Jesus is in me. His life is in me too, but I have both working at the same time. We who live are always delivered to death, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested. Are you dying with Christ? Do you live a crucified life with Him? He said death is working in us, but life in you. You see, are you the we or are you the you? Are you the baby Christian? And if you just came to Christ, God bless you. Be a baby for a little while, but don't be a baby very long. It's time to keep growing up, you know? The we and the you are both in here. Most people want to jump right to the we and say, yeah, that's me. But is it? Maybe it's you. Maybe you're the you. Maybe you're the one that somebody has given their life for, to minister to, and you're just now catching a hold of it. Do you see the light here? Do you see where you're going? One of these days you're going to be on the we side. One of these days you're going to be on the Apostle's side where you'll be out bringing others and giving your heart to them and sweating and toiling and bleeding and dying perhaps for them. That's when you become a we. Since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, I believed and therefore I spoke that we believed too. And he who raised up Christ will raise us up no matter if we're almost dead or dead altogether. He's going to be our deliverer. And all of this, verse 15, all of this that we're talking about, it's for you. It's not for us. And that's why, verse 16, we don't lose heart. Do you know when you'll lose heart the most? It's when you're working for yourself. When everything you do is just so you'll be seen. That your name will be lifted up. But when you're working for Jesus, when you're working for others, and another man's life is at stake, Then, my friend, we won't lose heart. You won't quit. You won't turn around. You won't die in this thing. We won't lose heart. Even though our outward man is special, our body's a real mess. Our body's a mess, but the inward man, oh no, not like that at all. Now we're having some problems. We have this light problem. We have a little persecution here and there. But it's nothing compared to what's coming. We're looking at things. We're not looking at the things that we can see around us. We keep looking on to the eternal things that you can't see. The things which you see, they're just here for a little while. The things which you can't see, they're forever. And there shouldn't really be a break between chapter 4 and 5. So many of these chapter breaks bother me. It just moves on. He's talking about the body now versus the body later. He says, our earthly house. He calls his earthly house, or his body, a house, a tent. That's a good term for it. It's a tent. It's a temporary dwelling. And when it's gone, we've got a better one that's coming. A house that is not made with hands. We groan in this body. Oh God! Oh! Don't you groan sometimes? Your body starts to hurt. Or, in his case, he wasn't in disease. He wasn't in old age. His body was hurting because they could still hurt his body. They can't hurt your soul. They can't hurt your spirit. But they can still hurt your body and his body was groaning from all the persecution. We want to be clothed with our new body that doesn't get hurt all the time. They can't take a whip to my new body. It won't help them at all. Having been clothed, we won't be found naked anymore. Oh, no. He says we're not... He puts the word if in there, verse 3. He says we're not just wanting to lose this body. We don't want to just die. We're not just tired, want to go to sleep. Oh, no. That's not Paul. And that shall not be us either, I trust. We're not just wanting to end it all. That's called suicide. And if you end it all, then, yeah, you'll lose this body, but you'll be found naked. You'll be found naked. I'm talking about unbelievers who commit suicide. Yeah, they lose this body like we all must, but they get nothing back. They get eternal punishment. They'll be found naked. They will have an eternal body of some sort that can endure punishment forever. No, don't want that just to die. No, I want a new body. I don't want to be unclothed, verse 4. I want to be further clothed. I want more. this body that you're looking at will be recognizable. We've talked about it before. The seed is being planted in, so when the seed comes up, if you look real close in that plant, you can see a little bit of that original plant. You can see a little bit of the caterpillar in the butterfly. Yeah, you can see that, but the new body will be so glorious that the old body will be totally forgotten. It'll be in there in seed form. so that we recognize each other. We still have our identity, so to speak. We who are in this tent groan, but God has prepared for us a new body. And He's given us His Spirit as just a reminder of the glory that's going to come. A reminder of what's out there for us. It's a down payment. It's the guarantee of what's coming. We call it earnest money today. That's why we're confident. We know that while we're at home in this body that we have now, we're absent from the Lord in His fullness. We have the Lord in us, but we don't have the fullness and we don't have that new body. Because we're walking right now by faith, we don't have sight. We don't just see Jesus all the time. Some people say they have seen Him. Paul saw Him once, but later on he's going to say, that's not what I'm into anymore. That's not what I'm for, seeing Jesus in the flesh. I want to walk by faith. I want to know what He says. I want to follow what He tells me to do, even though it doesn't make any sense. I want to see what He sees in the Spirit by faith. And then, as I keep walking this way, then one day I'll be absent from this body. I'll be glad when that happens. And I'll be present with the Lord. In His presence, in His fullness, I will see Him. Verse 9, that's our goal in life. Is that your goal in life? That's our goal, to be pleasing to Him. Because why? We're going to stand before His judgment seat. Not the white throne judgment to determine whether we're saved or lost. But the judgment seat of Christ. Perhaps talked about in Matthew 25, although not necessarily. The judgment seat of Christ. Everybody's going to receive everything He did while He was in His body. A reward for that. Or punishment. It's real clear here, isn't it? He talks about it in other places, too. I think 1 Corinthians, he mentions this whole scene of judgment, of the believers, of having your works tested to see whether they're going to endure. Saved, yet by fire. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. Now, the terror of the Lord. We're not afraid of the Lord anymore if we walk with Him. If, I said, if we walk with Him. But He's still terrible. He is still to be feared. We get in such a comfort zone with Him that we think He's not terrible anymore. Oh, He's terrible. And I use that in the biblical sense. One who inspires terror in someone else. You should be horribly afraid of the Lord if you don't know Him. And that's why we persuade men. Because they're going to be judged forever. They're going to be lost forever if they don't repent. We persuade men, but we're well known to God, and I trust we're well known in your conscience, too. We don't commend ourselves again, do we? And this is where he started. Wait, where was this? In chapter 4, 3. Do we begin again to commend ourselves? No, no, no. We don't have to commend ourselves again, do you? Do you see what I was talking about, where he just kind of skips around? He's got a thought process going in his mind, and it makes perfect sense to him And I believe if I would go deeper and deeper in this, it would make perfect sense to me. But for now, I see where it's a little difficult to keep his train of thought. Because his train goes down different tracks. At least kind of a roundabout track there. But we do not commend ourselves again to you. I just want you to hear that again, he says. We give you opportunity to glory on our behalf. Glory on our behalf. Not in appearance. Not in our appearance, but in heart. Hey, we're acting kind of crazy, aren't we? Verse 13. We do so many things. So much we just totally sold out for you, but it's for you and it's for God. Even when we're of sound mind, it's for you. Listen, we love you. We are filled with the love of Jesus Christ for you. Because Jesus died for us. And since Jesus died, Our life doesn't matter anymore either. Our physical life. We just give it to you. We don't have a life for ourselves anymore. He died for all. We shouldn't live for ourselves anymore. And look at verse 16. We don't know anyone according to the flesh. Forget the flesh. Even the flesh of Jesus. We've even known Christ according to the flesh. He appeared to me. I've seen Him. I've heard His very voice. I know what He sounds like. But that's not what we're after. It's the Spirit. And so if anyone is in Christ, He's a new creation. You don't have to worry about the flesh anymore. Your flesh, His flesh, it doesn't matter. Jesus even said, the flesh profits nothing. It's the Spirit that gives life. And the Spirit is Christ inside the man. The new creation. And we love this verse. We pick it right out of here. But look at the context that it's in. Everything's all passed away because Christ is in us now. Christ is in me, he says. Christ is loving you through me. Everything I do, I do for him. I'm dead now. You've got to see the death part of this passage before you get into this newness of life. None of it makes sense until you see the death. You've got to die. The flesh has to die. The old has to pass away in order for the new to come in. God has reconciled us to Himself and given us a ministry of that. What He did for us, we're just turning around and doing it for others now. We're doing it for you. You see what we're into? God was actually in Jesus when Jesus was here, reconciling the whole world to Himself. And He's in Jesus still. And Jesus is in us still. You see the pattern, He says? The Father was in the Son. Now the Son through the Spirit is in us. He's still doing the same thing that He always did. He's trying to bring people to Himself. And so, we're ambassadors for Christ, as though God was still pleading, be reconciled to God. Come to God. That's what we're here for. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. There's a whole book of theology right in that verse. You know that. Books and books of theology. We didn't deserve his righteousness. He didn't deserve to have to go and become our sin. He is God. We have nothing in our flesh. But he became sin. so that we could become righteous. There's absolutely no fairness in that, no justice the way men look at justice. It's wrong, we would say, but that is the righteousness of God and that's how He makes us just in Him. That's how He makes us just. That's how we have that legal righteousness before the throne of God, because He does it all. Paul preaches that Gospel to them again here and lets them know this. is why we're here ministering among you. Look at that. Be reconciled to God. Be reconciled to us while you're at it. And let's continue on working the work of the ministry together, Corinthians. He's going to make his appeal even greater in the next chapters as we go on next time. But let's do a few questions now, and then that will be all for today. Why do some not believe? Well, their hearts are blinded. They're veiled. What difference did Paul see between himself and the Corinthian church? Well, death is working in us. Life is working in you. Number 13, what does affliction do for us? It's working out a whole weight of glory. Just glory in the afflictions that come because of Christ. Not because of your sin. Get away from sin. But glory in the persecutions that come. It's going to bring great things to you. How does Paul refer to his earthly body. He calls it a house or a tent. What's the down payment on our new house? The Spirit of God. God's paying it all. 16. Absent from the body means present what? With the Lord. 17. Will Christians be judged? Yes, they will. Not damned, but judged. Decided between. Put in various ranks and God knows exactly where we belong. Eighteen, what is our motivation to give ourselves to others? The love of Christ who died for us. Nineteen, what has God been trying to do since the cross? To reconcile man unto himself. Lord willing, Lord willing, we will finish 2 Corinthians next time. I'm not sure that we will, but we're going to try. It's the day the Lord has made. It just so happens to be the first day of the week where I'm at right now. But wherever you are and whenever you listen to this, this is the day the Lord has made. And Jesus is the way that the Lord has made. Let's rejoice and be glad in Him today. Amen? Amen.