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2005 Two 7.
And.
3/5.
Michigan products are ordered.
Today you're all right, yes.
So I don't know why I'm talking to you.
2nd Corinthians 5.
At least for this meeting.
00:05:00
It would be suitable with the brethren I was thinking of.
The latter part of the 2nd Corinthians 4 in addition.
Starting from verse, uh.
About verse umm.
UH-15 and going on into the 5th chapter that uh.
In the mind of the brethren.
Some brother would read from, uh, say verse 15 of the 4th chapter.
2nd Corinthians chapter 4 reading from verse 15.
For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might, through the Thanksgiving of many redounds to the glory of God.
For which 'cause we faint not. But though our inward men perish, yet the inward I'm sorry, but though our outward men perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. Or the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. Or we know that if our earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved.
We have a building of God and house.
Not made with hands eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan earnestly, desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven, if so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this Tabernacle do groan, being burdened not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life.
Now he that hath brought us for the self, same thing as God, who also has given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
Wherefore we labor.
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in His body according to that which He has done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.
But we are made manifest unto God, and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.
For we commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf.
That ye may have somewhat to answer them with glory and appearance, and not in heart. For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God, or whether we be sober, it is for your cause. For the love of Christ constraineth us. Because we thus judge that if one died for all, then we're all dead, and that he died for all. That they which lived should not henceforth live under themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh? Ye know we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, or a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new, and all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ.
00:10:12
And hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation, to which that God was in the world. I'm sorry. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. And hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ. As though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ.
Had be reconciled to God, for he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God.
Well, the Apostle Paul.
Wrote this. The epistle, umm, had various, uh, purposes in mind. Uh, we see this in the, uh, earlier part of the epistle that uh.
There was, umm, you might say, misunderstanding, uh, among the Corinthians, uh, about, uh, Paul's purpose. He didn't come to Corinth, as he had, uh, intimated in his first epistle. And, uh, there seemed to be a lot of, uh, opposition to the apostle. There were those that were seeking to, uh, undermine his ministry in Florence and, uh.
Impute wrong motives to him and so on. So the apostle takes up a lot in this, uh, epistle about ministry, the, the characteristics of a true minister of the Lord. He deals with that whole subject in great detail from, you might say, chapter 2 right through to Chapter 7. Uh, so sort of a parenthesis in the epistle.
But, uh, it's beautiful to see the way he unfolds the.
The characteristics of a true minister of the Lord, which no doubt he he manifested in his own pathway that's taken up in the third chapter, in the 4th chapter and so on.
But umm, he does, umm, defend himself, if we might say I shouldn't probably use that term, defend himself, but, uh, the ministry that he had given up been given of the Lord to show that, uh, he was, umm, manifesting the true, uh, characteristics of, uh, a servant of the Lord in his sacrifice.
He was a willing vessel. He was a broken vessel. He was a clean vessel. And those that were, uh, working with him. And so, uh, coming down to our passage here, uh, there is rock before us. Certain motives that really, uh, inspired the apostle to continue on in the ministry.
So, starting in our passage here, all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might, through the Thanksgiving of many, redound to the glory of God.
So he says in the first epistle in the first chapter, that the persecutions that he went through, which he gives in detail there in the first chapter, were really for their sakes. Because the same comfort that he experienced in all those trials and tribulations were really for the blessing of the Lord's people, so that he could comfort others in their times of affliction and.
Colossians. Capital One.
She's here. The suffering of the apostles fall.
And I don't think anybody suffered as much as the Apostle Paul next to the Lord Jesus Christ himself. As you read through what he experienced here, he speaks of it in uh.
Verse 23.
Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more labor is more abundant in stripes of measure, in prisons, more frequent in death. Or of the Jews. Five times received by 40 strikes, save 1. Thrice was I eaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck a night in a day. I've been in the deep and journeying so often in perils of waters and perils of robbers.
In peril by my own countrymen. In perils by the heathen.
Imperils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, and the list goes on. In weariness and painfulness, in watching so often, In hunger and thirst and fastings often, and called in nakedness besides those things that are without that which cometh upon me daily. Just what I was thinking about.
Saints of God.
And it wasn't something that was off and on with him, you know, one week, uh, concerned about the church, the next week not so it says here daily. He had the care of all the church, not just one assembly or two, but he was thinking about all the assemblies.
So what an example your Pastor Paul is for each of us.
You know any little thing that we do for the people of God seems quite miniscule compared to what the great apostle suffered was willing to suffer and love for Christ and for his people. But we see in this chapter that we started with how that.
00:20:16
It's amazing that the apostle could speak of these things as a light affliction.
It would seem as a very heavy trial and affliction for the apostle to suffer as he did, but he speaks of a light affliction.
Because it's in view of the coming glory. This is where he's talking about weight.
Your parcel includes you and I with Himself. It works with for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Lord. How important it is to keep our eye on the future and think about where we're going.
And really those things that are so difficult for us here in this world.
We need to recognize.
That these things are making the weight of glory that much more.
So rather than shining the suffering and affliction.
It's easy to speak about the resurrection and the power that's manifested there and the fact that we're going to experience this power because it tells us this in verse.
Where we started, I should say before we started.
And in any measure that we seek to follow the Lord and.
Serve him and his people. There's going to be difficulties. They'll be suffering.
But it's, it's a reward, isn't it?
Well, what a great savior, not on he's the Savior, but the body was the soul of the spirit and the verse two in chapter one verse, uh, second Corinthians grace, BDU and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be God, even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercy and the God of all comfort comforts us in all of our contributions that we make be able to comfort them which are in any trouble.
By the comfort, where would we ourselves our comfort of God?
00:25:44
That last person, Dave Dickey, often quoted that verse to me. Verse.
And the glory.
That should follow.
You know, as the sufferings of Christ in connection with redemption.
We have no cards with that.
But as to the suffering in his life, the rejection, the pain?
Sorrows and he went through as he dealt with men around him in unbelievable.
Annual feelings towards himself. This we have. We have. Telegraph inter sufferings of Christ.
And we can consider that whatever bidder cup is set before us.
When we relate that to what it was for the Lord.
In similar, yet so much greater circumstances.
Ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. And then he gives an illustration.
A woman when she is in travail, has sorrow because her hour has come, but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembers no more the anguish or joy that a man.
Yes, there is suffering, yes there is sorrow, but there's the exceeding joy and there's the weight of it forever. And the future that we have is absolutely tremendous. And He, he gives us.
As we wait on him, uh, the, the word given to the Apostle Paul as he passed through the difficulties that he had down here.
My grace is sufficient for me. Not, maybe not will be, but my grace is sufficient. So for down here it's sufficient.
00:30:09
At his right hand, there are pleasures for everyone.
Well, there's a tendency to become discouraged. Uh, and.
Becoming weaker and we feel the infirmities of age as we get older. The outward man is is perishing.
Umm, that's the, uh, the Tabernacle that we are in the tent, so to speak. It's temporary, but uh, the inward man, that is the soul and the spirit, they can be renewed day by day, something that, uh, we need to be exercised about on a daily basis. Uh.
Would be strengthened by the Word of God and renewed.
On a daily basis.
And verse 28.
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the call according to His purpose.
So we have a calling.
And God has a purpose in that calling.
And uh, in verse 32 it says he that spare not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not with them also?
Really give us all things.
My brother Philip Herman, he pointed out to me. Mr. Darby has a footnote.
For Psalm 23, verse 6.
And.
I I looked it up and it was beautiful. For surely goodness and mercy. He's got only goodness and loving kindness. That's all. Shall follow me all the days of my life.
So you read this first here Romans 828 We know that all things work together for good for them that love God.
Well, what a great comfort this is to realize that God has only our good at heart every step of our pathway here.
There's never a time when he's trying to hurt us, harm us.
We have difficulties, no question about it, but they're all designed in love. They're an expression of His love to do it good in one way or another. So what a great comfort this is.
And I was thinking too, in connection with Thanksgiving here in our chapter, verse 15.
Thanksgiving.
Is so blessed you know God appreciates.
00:35:09
But you know, it's wonderful how that when we take things to the Lord in prayer, He comes in.
And he undertakes for us, he gives us deliverance in one way or another.
That those traveling to this conference would be kept in safety on the road. There's a lot of dangers out there on the highway.
But you know, the Lord has brought us to this place, and now we can thank Him for His goodness in bringing us to your safety. And there were those who gave thanks for this very thing. But this Thanksgiving redound to the glory of God, just as it tells us here, because it was God.
Whose power and goodness brought us here in safety. That's the only reason we're here.
And we can thank Him. It's a testimony to the world about us and to the greatness and the goodness of our God.
How important Thanksgiving is.
And I believe a thankful soul is a happy soul.
You know, sometimes we get the impression like.
We deserve this and that and the other thing because of what we've done. The truth of the matter is we don't deserve anything but God, in his goodness, he still blesses.
And that's what Grace is all about. It's getting a favor we don't deserve.
We ought to be just thanking the Lord.
24/7.
For his goodness.
Reality and truth of resurrection.
That we have in these previous book. Also, First Corinthians 15 was something that was definitely under attack in Corinthians.
But the truth of resurrection, all of this world goes into deep sorrow. We have it in the news all the time, great names to pass away, and that's the end of it. No, it's not the end of it. We know the Lord is risen from the dead and we are all going to be raised from the dead if we pass away. And if we don't pass away, when the Lord comes, you're all going to be changed. This has been.
Operated for us, merited for us by the Lord himself on the cross. It's something that's so.
Complete.
And it's gonna be just the manifestation of something that's true right now. And it gives us, as we consider the scene where there's the valley of death and the shadows there and the sorrow and the pain and the suffering momentarily, it's all gonna be over and we're going to see all these wonderful things presented to us now in the scriptures.
For our enjoyment, we haven't. I think it's first Timothy chapter one.
It says manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light to the Gospel?
It's through the gospel now, it's by faith that we, we have these things, but we have them. They're ours. That has been announced by the Lord Jesus. And it's now life and immortality that is what is before us. And it's only in the light of this truth that we can look at the president's fiction as being like, if our outward man perishes, oh, I'm getting old, I'm getting sick, I'm losing my means. Well, temporary.
00:40:15
We think of the apostles, laborers, I suppose you might say 30 years of Labor that our brother Wally referred to there in the.
Further on in the epistle we would hardly consider it to be a a moment or light, but uh, in view of eternity, it really is. Umm.
Very short time.
And although perhaps it's not the reward that is prominent here, I think rather is the spiritual capacity that we are developing in our lives now. Umm.
That's going to go on into eternity. Rewards we know are going to be given according to our measure of faithfulness. They are more connected with the Kingdom.
But the eternal weight of glory is our spiritual capacity that we are forming down here. Every cup will be filled, as it has often been said, but the joy of each one will be full. But the the capacities will be different. So we are developing or forming that capacity now by our walk and our enjoyment of Christ.
In our souls, that will be a a weight of glory that will go on, uh.
An enjoyment that will go on into the eternal state even beyond the the Kingdom period, which we know is the Millennium. But how, uh, often the things that are seen motivate us and drag us down.
How often we.
Are are, uh, controlled, we might say, by these earthly things instead of, uh, having our view on eternity?
And the the weight of glory and.
The things which are not seen and take spiritual energy.
To grasp those things and to to enter into what God has.
Traumas to us and what He has given to us even now to enjoy it takes spiritual energy. There are, as mentioned, so many things to hinder us from, uh, apprehending those eternal things, that portion that we have in Christ that, uh, is really, uh, our possession now.
The things that are seen.
Seoul also is the resurrection of.
So we have the stars and the perfect glory, one from another. That's what we have the weight of glory in our portion there, the resurrection, the resurrection bodies and glory.
00:45:55
This morning encapsulates the whole crux of the matter in one verse. I believe that verse can be found in chapter 4, verse 11.
For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus sakes, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. That's what is our witness in our testimony, is it not how the Lord Jesus shines through you and me as channels of His grace and His blessing?
I think when we just read that last verse of verse 18, sometimes we look at the channels and we judge the channels, not the message that comes through them because we look at what is seen. Often times the Lord and saving us doesn't change us physically.
But he changes spiritually. So often times we judge the things that we and even the the tone of voice and those things that we naturally absorb. We tend to judge not seeing the totality of God's perfect work in the channel that he chooses as he chooses that Channel and works it. And this is one of the things I believe Paul was was struggling with.
Paul had, uh, some abnormalities I believe, as he mentions in other uh.
Books where he speaks of how he wasn't really welcome in certain situations because of whatever his situation was, whether it was a deformity or whatever. I don't believe you're quite sure on that, but, and he was often judged because of that. He was often judged by his manner of speaking and what he spoke about, but yet the message of God came through clear and we had the evidence of that in the word. Now that we speak about it and are able to encourage one another and enrich one another with, but I just thought it was interesting how he, uh, says in that one verse.
The life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh for you and I the same thing as it not. That's the whole crux of God working in us, that the life of Christ may be made manifest in our flesh, in our flesh, in our normal natural that we are. This is the body he's given us. These are the the voices he's given us, the eyes with which to see the hands which wish to work. But yet the life of Christ is what is now in US. And because of that, Paul suffered persecution.
Not because he was Paul, but because he was Christ. Christ suffered persecution because he was Christ. And you and I will continue to suffer persecution to the measure that Christ is shown through us by his grace.
Perhaps wasn't all that much to attract.
India Pastor Paul from a human standpoint of.
But you know the apartheid Paul.
He was chosen vessels for Christ.
And he spoke the truth.
And he unfolded the, I believe, highest truth of Christianity concerning the church, the body of Christ. You and I united with Christ as our head. And what a wonderful revelation to the apostle. And you could say it's not by my, it's not by my nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord. And I believe the Saints of God recognize in the apostle.
That he had this revelation and they appreciated his ministry when they were spiritual. But you know, it's possible to become carnal and rather than being governed by the Spirit, we're governed by our own fleshly.
00:50:14
Lust.
And we can adopt A humanistic, uh, viewpoint that doesn't appreciate divine things, but, uh, would rather glory in the flesh.
The old man, so to speak, but you know the apostle.
He rejoiced in his ministry and there's nobody who rejoiced as much as he did in the Lord, I believe in spite of his, uh, bodily appearance, his speech. And he, he speaks in Galatians about how that, uh, they appreciated him so much that they would have even plucked out their own eye to give to him because perhaps he did have a, an eyesight problem.
Well, we can see that there was that, uh, appreciation.
Of the ministry of the apostle by those that were spiritual. But when carnality come in, we find they turn against it. So it's something we need to be aware of. But The thing is to look.
Not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. How can we look at something that's not seen? It seems a contradiction.
Well, this is fake. That's what we're talking about faith and I I just read recently concerning Steven in Acts Chapter 7 and how he gives his testimony concerning God's ways with Israel.
And he spoke the truth. And of course, this.
Aggravated the Jews, and they began to gnash upon.
Him with their teeth. It tells us this is Acts Chapter 7 but notice in verse 55.
It says but he that is even being full of the Holy Ghost.
Looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God.
And Jesus standing on the right hand of God.
Well, with Steven not looking upon that which is not seen, you know his persecutors, those that were picking up the stones to hurl at him.
Yeah, no appreciation for what he saw, but.
It's wonderful.
What Steven saw, and was it not by faith?
He saw the Son of man at the right hand of God.
He saw the glory of God.
As if the Lord Jesus was right here on earth.
But it's a matter of faith, and that's how, as Christians, we walk. We walk not by, say, the sight, but by faith.
And we need to exercise that faith.
Because if we don't, we're gonna get tripped up.
And we see how Steven went out of this world.
It was marvelous to realize the attitude of Steven toward his persecutors.
As they stoned Stephen, it tells us he called upon his God and he said Lord Jesus receive my spirit. And verse 60 says he kneeled down, cried with a loud voice. Lord, lay not this into their charge.
And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
You know, I asked myself.
Would I?
Perform or behave in the same way as Steven.
Found in these circumstances.
Well, I believe it's a matter of faith that enables us to be overcomers.
Nothing for Stevens.
00:55:21
And we haven't bought in the launch and I've got 2.
X.
That's that's regarding the lesson you might suffer and then I can do for most people Sir Shunmi and insult me from Disney and then.
Mateo Architect parish was the using active management without the men, which states that it used to show with Lincoln in real world and the millions of neglected of the body not in many honor to the satisfying question.
To have a report, to be looked at as martyrs and faithful wonder.
Ones who are really concentrating the Lord and so on. So you shouldn't be ashamed that a board has to be discussed to us at the same event or something that we see and reverses which belong reasonably impossible. And those who were certainly at that time and in a message from each one of us. True, but we should just be having arrived in the Lord in whatever circumstances of our life here, but we should manifest in the character as even this in your circumstances involved in the history of sanctions and.
Warren sisters as well as brothers, and we need to exercise that.
That service for the Lord in dependence upon him, and there will be a reward. Even a cup of cold water given in the name of his disciple will not lose its reward. Mag Mag Wonderful. The grace of God is what I was thinking in our verse here at the toward the end of the tractor here the world looks on and they think this is pure nonsense. How can you be?
Affected by what you don't see.
Well, that's because they, they don't have any object to be for them, but their horizons are limited by this world. They can't see beyond that. But we, uh, by faith is our brother Wally has brought out, we can look on into eternity. We can, we know that, uh, we're going to have that eternal weight of glory, but are we really living in the power of those things now?
You know, the children of Israel have to cross the Jordan and, uh.
They to, they want, they have to, there was conflict there in the land of Canaan to, uh, enjoy what really was there's. But, uh, there was self judgment at Gilgal and there was conflict before they could enjoy what was really theirs. It was their possession, but they had to encounter difficulty to, to, uh, to enjoy it, to possess it. So, uh, looking at those things which are not seen take spiritual energy because every.
Everything in this world is calculated to occupy us with the things that are seen, Mr. Hale used to say. Every ad advertisement that you have that you see is to make you dissatisfied with what you have. But.
01:00:04
Christianity gives us godliness with contentment is great gain gives us an object outside of this world entirely.
So I.
Servants said unto him, Alas, my master, how shall we do? And he answered, Fear not.
For they that be with us are more than they that be with them and all.
Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man as he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and Chariots of fire around about Elijah.
There that only the spiritual eyes to discern, and I wanted to tie a quick thought to this in connection with what Molly said earlier about Thanksgiving. Reminded me of a story.
Of, umm, the hiding Place. You probably read that book, many of you. And.
The girl was in the nasty concentration camp and they were living in awful conditions and this one spot they had a terrible problem with. I think it was light, it might have been fleas, I can't remember.
And the fleas were just horrible. And, umm, the sister had a Bible and she was able to conduct Bible studies daily with a whole group of the prisoners in that concentration camp. And the prison guards never once went near that Bible study, never once sought to shut it down. And they hated the fleas in that place and after.
This has gone on for a while. They finally realized that the reason that this Bible study was never stopped was precisely because the prison guards couldn't stand the fleas, didn't wanna go anywhere near them, and therefore the Word of God is able to be read in that horrible, horrible place. And they were thankful for the police. They praised God that God had sent the fleas to that place. And I believe there's two things in that, that you can be thankful in the worst of conditions, but you can also realize that in the worst of conditions.
Your spiritual eyes may be able to see things that God is doing.
That other people couldn't possibly begin to imagine. And I think that's what sets us apart from the world.
And that's what the faith really is.
Well, you see the various motivations of the apostle in this passage.
One was the resurrection of Christ. He knew that if he should lose his life in, uh, in the rigors of persecution that he was enduring, he, uh, he would have a, uh, a temple, uh, a building of God in a house not made with hands. He knew that, uh, he would, uh, be in the presence of the Lord.
01:05:21
Was a motivation for him to, to devote his energy, uh, in the Lord's service. This, this comes on into, uh, chapter UH-5 where he deals with the subject of uh.
Our resurrection body, building of God and house not made with hands.
So there were various things that motivated the apostle, uh, in his, uh, service and all the sacrifice that he endured.
Uh, as we have read in the epistle.
And, umm.
He didn't faint.
He had the glory before him, and he drew upon those wonderfully resources of God's grace. I think of that verse in the, I think it's in the 8th chapter of our epistle or the 9th chapter. I've often enjoyed it and I think the apostle experienced it. Verse eight of the ninth chapter. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye always having all sufficiency in all things.
They are bound to every good work. That was what what the apostle was experiencing that.
Wondrous resource and supply of grace so that he didn't faint and he pressed on in view of eternity and the judgment seat of Christ and the the.
Glorified body that he would have with the Lord forever the.
This hope motivated him in his ministry and his service for the Lord.
Rumble, you know the Lord Jesus, He groaned. He saw the effects of sin.
I believe come in.
They're in the household of Mary and Martin. The brother died since he grown spirit. Well, we can look about and we feel burdened because of, you know, the effects of sin in this world. But we never read about the Lord Jesus complaining at all. He never grumbled, and that's a word for it, my own heart, because it's a tendency, isn't it, to.
Complain, but the Lord Jesus had a beautiful attitude about everything.
Even so, father, for so it seemed good in thy style, He just took everything from his father's hand, recognizing that it was.
Good. And there's no grumbling.
Please save 162.
Nsnoise.
We thank you for this time together.