Transcription
[Music] [Music] Listen, grab your Bibles this morning and turn, if you would, to Second Corinthians. Second Corinthians, as we continue on. And now we are in an amazing portion of scripture. In fact, go ahead and turn. I'll give you a little bit of time to turn there. Second Corinthians chapter two. But get your notepad ready, uh, and make note of something very, very significant. And it is this, that right here in 2nd Corinthians chapter 2, beginning at verse 12, it's going to go all the way through to chapter 7, verse 2. Which, you theologians, you Bible students, need to understand. Write in your notes or write on the margins of your Bible that we are now entering a what is called a parenthetical insert. What does that mean? Paul, the apostle, in church, grabbed this. In fact, I need you. I'm really concerned about this morning. I need you to grab the reality of what we're looking at, but I need you to take it so personal because of the context of how Paul gave it.
So, this entire parenthetical insert is this: Paul is speaking and teaching doctrine. Now, he pauses and inserts into his teaching a personal experience from his heart. Do you remember in the introduction of this book, I told you that a lot of people had issue with Paul being so personal? Remember how we looked at the fact that some scholars believe that this is a study, or this is a book, Second Corinthians, that Paul should have left, maybe, alone? Or maybe God should have left it alone? Why? Because it bears the deep, internal, behind-the-scenes workings of ministry. It's stuff that the, the heart-wrenching, gut-wrenching effects of ministry. Some don't want people to know about. And yet, for all of these weeks and months ahead of us, as we head to chapter seven eventually, it's Paul bearing his heart. And it is something. It is powerful.
So, the message this morning is entitled, "The Heart of the Gospel." I want you to write that down because, listen, uh, it's kind of a play on words. The heart of the gospel is, of course, Jesus Christ. The heart of the gospel, and you can feel that in a lot of ways, is presenting the Word of God accurately. The heart of the gospel, the heart of the gospel, as you've learned, is the word "repent." The heart of the gospel is the word "believe." The heart of the gospel is that Jesus died for our sins. And you know that, and we'll stress that even still more. But when I say, "The Heart of the Gospel," I mean Paul's heart of the gospel. The gospel had gotten inside of Paul's heart and transformed his life. If you don't have that experience, you only have religion. It would have been better for you to stay home today, honestly. If religion is all you care about, then you know what? You can go home now. Just go on home and mow your lawn or whatever you're going to do. Because religion cannot get you into heaven. God is not interested in religion. To do or have religion simply means that you do this thing, same thing, over and over again. I religiously have a number two fish taco, black beans, white rice at Wahoo's. I'm going to go there today. Why? Because at least twice a week, I go, minimum twice a week. I pay homage at Wahoo's. I do it religiously. Not only though, listen, if I eat all that, and I like the fish, they have everything else there too, but I like the fish. But I can eat all the fish they serve up, I will not become a fish. I do it religiously. I don't become a fish. I do it faithfully. I tithe at Wahoo's regularly. I don't become a fish. You can be religious and go through all of the motions and all of the trappings of the demands of a religion and never become a person that is heaven-bound because it's not like that. That it's a man-made thing. Religion looks up and reaches into the heavens and looks for God or gods for deliverance. God reached down in the gospel in Jesus Christ and brought us salvation. It's relational, not a religious act. Makes all the difference in the world. Nobody wants to be married in the context of we religiously say we love one another, or we religiously do this or that. That would remove the meaning from it. Are you with me?
Having set that up, you are going to be seeing and hearing Paul's heart. Second Corinthians chapter 2, follow along with me. Verse 12. "Furthermore, he says, 'When I came to Troas to preach Christ's gospel, and a door was opened to me by the Lord, I had no rest in my spirit because I did not find Titus my brother, but taking my leave of them, I departed to Macedonia.'" Now, "Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God, listen to this, the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.'" Interesting. It's a positive, positive, and a positive negative. We'll talk about that more in a minute. Verse 16: "To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things?" Verse 17: "For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God and Christ."
This is powerful, church. Jot this down. For whatever reasons, God, the Holy Spirit, who is the author of the Bible, assembling it from Genesis to Revelation, has seen fit to put this portion of scripture before the world, before us. Second Timothy chapter 3, verse 16 says, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God." The Bible is God-breathed. I love it. That's why nobody can find an error in the Bible. God gave us the Bible, and is profitable for doctrine, that is teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. So, listen, we now enter a portion of scripture which, I personally, privately, for my own encouragement, for my own ability to hang on to Jesus, I personally hold this as one of my most favorite, if not my favorite, portions of scripture from here to chapter seven. Without what Paul shares here, I think I would have quit this gig a long time ago. And he's going to share the reasons why. And anyone who has been involved in missionary work, or or teaching the Word of God, or serving, he is going to relate his heart to your heart, and you're going to say, "Wow, that's amazing." And with that, you're going to discover how much you are called as a Christian.
Number one, church, jot it down. As we look at our study, the heart of the gospel is, number one, the confirmed will of Christ. Write that down. Listen, how many of you are Christians? Raise your hand. I need to see this this morning. Christians, raise your hand. Here's the deal: the heart of the gospel should be, must be, if you raised your hand, dwelling within you. God has deposited. You ever go to the bank? You take your check, you put it in the bank. You take it from one theater to the next. You go from one reality to the other reality. You take it from you possessing it in your hands to deposit it in the bank for its safekeeping. The heart of the gospel, watch this, has been deposited in your life, Christian, so that, listen, God's will is confirmed regarding Jesus Christ in your life. It's awesome. All of this, you'll see, leads to the dynamic, bold proclamation of Paul being the man of God that he was. And it works this way: the confirmed will of Christ is this. It's confirmed to us this way: by or in truth. Verse 12. Confirmed in truth. He says, "Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ's gospel." That's the reason why he came to, uh, to Assos. Or listen, in those days, also, previous to Troas, you know it by the name of, of Troy. Ever heard of Troy? There you go. This is the place, Troy, of the famed Trojan Horse epic. Troas, to preach. He came to preach the gospel. God had opened the door. Look, a door was opened, not by his ministry team, not by the people of Troas, a door was opened. What does the Bible say to me? By the Lord. God opened the door. Listen, this excites me and you instantly because, as Christians, there's nothing we want more than God to open doors or close doors in our lives, right? We, we don't want to knock doors down. We want to know God's will and we want to walk in God's will. As Christians, we are completely other than what the world is. The world does it by ambition. The world does it by pushing its way. And you know, uh, it's the survival of the fittest. Look out for number one. If it feels good, do it. Uh, you know, no matter what it takes to get to the top. If you've got to crush people, then crush them. Just get to the top. And the world battles about and for such power. Listen, God's kingdom doesn't work that way. God opens the door. And listen, woe unto anyone in a Christian context, in the context of ministry, who tries to open or push doors open on their own strength or power. Here's the scary part: God will allow you to push doors open that He's not involved in. You can so bug God about what you want or what you want to do that eventually He will let you do what you want to do because you're going to do it anyway. But listen, the outcome. He will remind you when your nose is bloody after hitting the wall a thousand times. And you scratch your head, wondering what happened. God will then say to you, "I was not in this. It was in your heart, in your brain. You did it, and you asked me to bless it. I wasn't going to do that." And now you want to know why it all has fallen apart? Not Paul, and not us. We will wait. We will seek Christ. We will look to God's Word because God's will is confirmed, and it's confirmed in God's truth. God opens the door, and that's an awesome thing. Troas, by the way, you can look at it later. It's such a beautiful place, even today. It's on the eastern shore of the Aegean Sea. It's a beautiful, uh, area of the, of the world. And so Paul is there, but his heart is longing, as you'll, you shall see in a moment. But before we go on to this, uh, next argument here, I need you to consider three things that God has opened this door. There's no doubt about it. Notice the statement: "God opened to me the door." "The Lord did it." So, listen, church, that brings you confidence, right? Absolutely. In fact, you want that kind of confidence in ministry because when somebody comes up and says, "You're a jerk, I don't like you, I'm going to shoot you, I'm going to punch you," or whatever, you know what? You want to be able to stand there and say, "You know what? Whatever. I know what I'm, I know I'm doing what God told me to do." You can love those that you minister to, and you should, and you must. But your calling doesn't come from them. It comes from God. And we need to remember that as believers.
Three things I want you to think about: What if you and I wanted to see God move in such firm ways in our lives? Man, Paul is, without doubt, the Lord opened the door. How do you know that? Listen, Paul, before God, look, before us, he's a very special guy. But before God, Paul is nobody special. Isn't that wild? Not compared to you. He says he's not a respecter of people. So, this is encouraging. So, I don't believe it. That's too bad. God views you the same way He views Paul. So, check this out. If God answered Paul so clearly, how can I have this happen in my life? Well, number one, listen to this: Paul knew that he was in the truth of God. If you know that you're in the truth of God, the Word of God, listen, you'll be saved. You'll be confident. Number two, Paul was 100% yielded. He was in the truth of God, the Word of God. He was, number two, yielded to the desire, the will of God. And thirdly, notice what he's doing. He went to Troas to do what? To join the Rotary? No. He, he went to Troas to do what? To preach the gospel. He didn't go there for another reason. But Jack, you said it was beautiful. That's not why he went there. To preach the gospel. Paul preached. Listen, you have the truth of God in you. Be yielded to what God wants to do. Guess what He's going to use you for? To preach the gospel. Now, some of you might say, "Well, I don't talk publicly, and I don't speak. I'm very introverted. I'm very quiet." Listen, Jesus Christ died for your sins, not your personality. That's good news, is it? Huh? When you're insecure, you want to adopt someone else's personality. Well, Billy Graham talks like this, and he moves, you know, like this, and so I'm going to do like Billy Graham does. That doesn't work. Or you can shave your head and gain some weight and move and talk slow and move your hand like Pastor Chuck. Oh, not going to do it. Won't work. You can mimic all of the external what nuances and and and things that really don't matter. Those are personality things. Jesus didn't die on the cross for your personality. Some people are loud, some people are quiet, some people have a lot of words, some people have a few words. Jesus didn't die for that. He died for your sins. He died for my sins. So, listen, number one, we need to stop trying to be somebody else because God made you exactly how He wants you. I don't like me, too. Honestly? Tough. God loves you. God loves you, and He wants to use you. So, listen, it isn't coming upon us to be yielded, to have the gospel of truth in our hearts, and so then we come up before the Lord and say, "Whatever, whatever You want to do." And Paul was that kind of a believer. And you and I can become like Paul if we so choose. We'd love reading about Paul and about Peter, but they were yielded. And what happens around us when we're yielded like that? Listen, God will open a door. Oh, I just wish the Lord would open a door. He wants to open a door. Be yielded to Him. Have the truth of God in you. Preach the gospel. And you say it. You tell it. Introverted or extroverted, you say it the way God lays it on your heart. Some people just hand out tracts, right? We have a, Lisa and I have a dear friend who, uh, worked for State Farm Insurance. And she, when she was first working there, she opened up the mail. Now they have automated mail machines that do all that stuff. Back in those days, she opened up the mail. You know, she got saved. She would open up the mail, and people would put, when they paid their bill, insurance bill, they would put Bible tracts in the envelopes. She would open up mail and read the tracts, and she wound up getting saved. And the mail department at that insurance company. Think about it. I'm not a preacher. Oh, fine. You can put a tract in your insurance bill. Think about that. Great. That's awesome. God opens up the door, so you go through it. And Paul went through it.
But watch what happens. Verse 13. "The heart of the gospel is confirmed." Is the confirmed will of Christ. And it's confirmed in love. Not only truth, but watch, love. You cannot deny that Paul was in the truth of God in doing the will of God. But watch what happens. His love. He says, "I had no rest in my spirit." Lowercase 's', that is his born-again spirit, who he is. "Because I did not find Titus my brother." That's not his actual physical brother. This is his Christian brother in the faith, Titus. "But taking my leave of him, I departed from Macedonia." What are we saying? He gets the Troas church. This is amazing. He has no rest in his heart. He's troubled. And I want you to think about this for a moment because, boy, listen, if we don't get this down, we could really mess up. Paul has an open door. He's in Troas, and he's preaching. And by the way, historically, we know something. Paul is preaching the gospel at Troas, and a lot of people are getting saved. An open door of opportunity was there, and a lot of people were making decisions for Christ. It was a very successful ministry. People would long to have this opportunity. Oh, my goodness, to be able to say, "You know, I went here, I went there, and God opened the door of opportunity, and people were getting saved, and people were coming to Christ, and churches were being planted." And in the midst of all of that, Paul says, "I had no rest in my spirit. I'm troubled." Do you find something odd with this? I do. Paul, what, why are you so long in the face? Any other minister would be rejoicing. Any other Christian would be so excited. Oh, look, we're right in the middle of God's will, and look at the evidence. People are coming to Christ, and churches are being started in Troas. And Paul is crying. He's obedient. He's ministering against even his emotions. Notice how real this becomes. "I had no rest in my spirit." He had an earthquake raging in his heart. And when I got there, Titus wasn't there. He said, "Who cares about Titus?" I understand that in, in the context of things. Here's what it means: Titus was supposed to be bringing word to Paul when he got to Troas about the Corinthian believers. He wanted to know how they were doing. Paul wanted to know how they were faring with his authorship of First Corinthians, remember we studied that? And he was very, very concerned about them. He loved them. Watch. He loved the church at Corinth so much that while he was obediently ministering in a ministry field with an open door and all of the fruit of God's presence, he is longing to communicate to the Corinthians and to find out about them, and he's troubled in his heart. This morning, church, mark this well. You and I can spend the entire rest of the week trying to decipher, was Paul now moving out of God's will? Or was God in this whole thing in the first place? Why is God revealing this to us 2,000 years later? Does it cause us to be a little bit confused about Paul and his ability to hear from God? You can argue these things all you want. I believe God allowed this to be shown to us today to show us what the heart of the gospel is really all about. Paul is a human. This is encouraging to me. We look at these guys, and I know, and so we should. We so elevate the apostles and great Christians of history, and they become untouchable to us, do they not? Oh, man, you know what? And we begin to compare ourselves with them, and then we immediately remove ourselves out from being used by God, and we become depressed and saddened, and we go from the truth of God, and we wind up falling out of the love of God. That is the realization of it. And we say, "Well, God, God will never use me like that." Or, "Boy, you know, they were never swayed by this emotion or that setback." No, no, my friend. They were very much swayed, and they very much had to fight their flesh, just like you and I do. And sometimes they succumbed to their flesh. And I'm not saying Paul is succumbing to his flesh here. I don't know the answer to this. But mark this well: in my opinion, Paul's heart here is exposed, and that's what God wants us to see. I'm in the midst of ministry, it's going great, but my heart is longing. Now, I am not going to compare myself to Paul. That I would be a fool to do that. But I will tell you this, and many of you were with me over the course of those years in 1992, '93, '4, '5, '6, '7, 1998. I was racking up 200,000 miles a year going back and forth to Russia. And you were going with me, and we were starting churches, and we were preaching on the streets. The walls, the wall, uh, came down. We were in Red Square, in front of Lenin's tomb, preaching Christ. People were weeping, people were accepting Christ. Hundreds of people would stand at a street corner and listen to us proclaim the gospel. And let me tell you something, that is an awesome thing. It's not fishing with a pole, you're fishing with a net, and you see God moving. And then you got to get on an airplane and come back to California, where a lot of people don't care about the gospel. And we would have our services and go back to Russia. And we took, I don't know, I don't know how many hundreds of people from this church would go on these outreaches. And thank God, those churches are still ministering today. We praise the Lord for that. But let me tell you something, there was a rift in my family. There was a rift in my marriage. There was a rift in this staff. There was a rift in my heart with you during those periods of time. Because I looked at this church, and you didn't need me. They needed me there. Not that they needed me, but I was preaching, and hundreds of people would come forward every day. And you get into this sense of, "My heart is here, but my heart is there." And I started learning enough Russian, and I started eating Russian, and feeling Russian. And I remember flying across the Atlantic, crying all the way home, looking out the window, and the Lord said to me, "Knock it off. I will make you a sender, but you will never be a goer to this land." And let me tell you something, that was a spank on my heart that hurts. But you know what? When God does that, you got to take it. And it was good. Because when I came back home, when the wheels of that plane set down in L.A., I landed a different person. My heart, my soul longed for the people of Russia. But, and I'm thinking about Paul, he was in Troas, but his heart was longing for the people of Corinth. Why did he love them so much? They were such a messed-up church. I don't know, but he did. And so he gets no word from Titus. So now the passion is intensified. It's amazing. Does anybody leave a ministry success story like this? Paul is preaching, it's fantastic. Does anybody really leave? Could God be in it? Because, you know, we may judge him prematurely. And I thought about that. Listen, wasn't that Jesus preaching and people coming to Christ, and He raising the dead, and then He left? Remember? People began to follow Him to the next town. Why would you leave a perfectly good ministry? Jesus did. Philip did. Philip was preaching, and the Bible says the Spirit of God compelled him to go and meet up with the Ethiopian in the wilderness. Paul, the apostle, as we see here. George Whitefield preaching and teaching in England, and God lays on His heart, "Go to colonial America and preach the gospel." And George Whitefield wound up relocating many years to the East Coast of the United States, the great preacher of England. And I wonder how, how it might have been written in Paul's diary. I made this part up right now. This part I'm going to make up. This part I made up. Paul's diary entry that day might have said, "Wow, the Lord is moving here in Troas, and I should be very happy. But in the midst of this clear appointment by God, I'm about to quit out of sheer defeat and weakness and a sense of uselessness, plus my longing heart for the Corinthians. But why? I'm missing those Corinthian, those Christians in Corinth, and I can't seem to locate Titus anywhere. I'm so grieved. He was supposed to update me and bring me good news of what's happening at Corinth." That was his heart.
Point number two today regarding the heart of the gospel is found in verse 14. It's this: the assured victory is by Christ. There's an assured victory. See, why are you bringing victory up? Watch what happens. This is why. Watch what happens. He says, verse 14, "Now thanks be to God." This is an awakening. "Who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place." What in the world is going on here? The heart of the gospel is an assured victory that comes by Christ, and it comes this way: joy. Because it's an assured victory. Christian, we have joy. Paul, all of a sudden, has joy. Now, listen, when he says, "Now thanks be to God," who always leads us, scholars debate the timing of verse 14 in relation to verse 13. And that's why I wanted you to write a little note right there, put a star there. We don't know how much time elapsed between verse 13 and 14. It's a 400-mile journey from Troas to Macedonia. 400 miles. In those days, because of the terrain, it took 17 days. So, check this out. When he said, "Now thanks be to God," some scholars say he said that because he made it to Troas, uh, to Corinth. He made it. And they'll argue their case. So, you would say, "Well, of course, verse 14 is an explosion some 17 days later that he made it." The only problem with that is, why would he write to them if he were standing there? What do I think the answer is? I think the answer is what Paul often did is what we're supposed to do. We go from our moment of whatever it is that's plaguing you, what's laboring on your heart, and then you see it in the context of God's victories, of God's assurances, of God's, of God's, uh, promises. And when you get that, listen, David did that. Why? It's funny, huh? David said, "Why are you so downcast within me, O my soul? Hope thou in God." And you got to stop. David, who's talking to who here? David would have stopped and said, "I'm talking to me. I'm talking to me. I'm not talking to you, Jack. I'm talking to me." And a Christian, I know, listen, if you're visiting today, especially if you're a psychotherapist or something, you're going to say, "Those Christians need a doctor." Uh, well, listen, everybody needs a doctor. And we do have a doctor. He's a great physician. And I hope your doctor rose from the dead like ours, because, uh, he can do anything. But, uh, my doctor says it's okay for me to talk to myself when I use His Word, when I quote His Word to me. And this is fun because I don't counsel myself with myself counsel. Okay? Leave that up to Dr. Phil or Oprah. No, I counsel myself only with His Word. So, when David said in the Psalms, "Why so downcast, O my soul?" You're anticipating his soul speaking back and saying, "Cause I'm so depressed. Saul is chasing us. I'm tired. I'm defeated. I'm lonely. I'm scared." And David would talk back to his soul and say, "Listen, God's on His throne. His Spirit is leading us. God promised us great victories. Stop your whining. Let's get up and go." Now, look, I don't know about you, but all that takes place in my life very privately, very quietly, and in a nanosecond of time, at a stoplight, maybe. Let the Word of God speak to you, and the joy will come. And so, I believe that there is a minimum of 17 days between verses 13 and 14 in the sense of travel time. But I personally believe that the victory came instantly when he turned his heart to Christ and inserted Christ in the midst of it. Yes, it took time to get there, but you know what? I think every step along the way was fueled by the joy that he had in Christ, who leads us. Note this word: circulate. Who leads us in triumph in Christ. This is, of course, the word used for the Roman triumphal procession. This is what we talked about before at the end of Second or First Corinthians, and that is the procession that is of the Roman general of the Roman Empire. Remember this: if that general was engaged in the battle that conquered land, advanced the kingdom, and he had a minimum of 5,000 captives that he took captive in this battle that could be paraded back to Rome, then the Senate declared a triumphal entry. That's what it was called. And when the general came into town, into Rome, a great entourage was there, members of the Senate, the priests of the various gods. By the way, they had various incense censers being swayed. They would move them back and forth, and that's aroma, that beautiful aroma would permeate the streets. And by the way, that procession would eventually end at the Circus Maximus in the Coliseum, and those 5,000 captives were let loose in the Coliseum before wild animals and gladiators, and Rome cheered, and it was a tremendous, victorious event. The triumphal entry of a general. And Paul uses that word. There's no mistaking it. He could have used a different word. Paul is saying, "Listen, I thank God who always leads us in the triumphal procession to victory." And that is a tremendous picture he paints. It's an assured victory. And I like that. You and I need to meditate on that. Remember a moment ago, you raised your hands, Christian. God has promised you an assured victory. There are Christians in this church right now that are fighting legal issues, or financial issues, or health issues, or life issues. They're on the brink. They're, they're on the edge of eternity. No matter what the situation is right now, the victory is in Christ. It's not in this church, as you often hear from me. It's not in your pocketbook. It's not in your status. It's in Christ. All those things will evaporate, but never, never will the victory that is afforded in Christ evaporate. And listen to this: "Even in battle, the Bible says, 'No weapon formed against us will prosper.'" I told you, I think last week or whenever it was, we took our granddaughter to Disneyland. She's two and a half years old. Her favorite ride, you know what her favorite ride is? It's not Pinocchio. It's not Dumbo. It's not Casey Jr. It's none of that stuff that I like. Her favorite ride at two and a half years old is this: before we even get to Disneyland, she's in her car seat saying, "Pirate boats, pirate boats, pirate boats, pirate boats." We parked the car. "Pirate boats, pirate boats." And it just builds up within her. "Pirate boats." And she starts, two and a half, she's getting like, "Pirate boats, power rebels, we're going, we are going!" Okay. And you know, I'm talking about pirate boats, Pirates of the Caribbean. She's two and a half years old. We have a, we have a, I don't do roller coasters. I think they're from hell. I think Satan invented them. Why would you entrust your life to something some guy made? You know what she does? Two and a half years old. We get seated in the boat at Pirates of the Caribbean boat. We just sit down, and we're going through the bayou, you know, and her hands are like this. I'm not kidding. Straight up the whole ride. She's like this. And then she gets cute, she gets tired, and she winds up putting her hands down like this, and she goes like this. I'm not kidding. And you know, when you enter into the harbor there, and the, and Captain Barbossa is pounding the shoreline, and boom, and the water splashing, and the cannon fire is going, and the bucklers, their swords are clanging, and Johnny Depp is hiding in the can, and all that stuff's going on, right? You know what? How many times? I don't know how many times I've been on that ride since I was a kid. I can't, I can't answer that. But guess what? Not one of our boats have ever sunk. Well, you left because that's silly, huh? I've never been hit by any shrapnel or a cannonball. No pirate has even gotten any closer to me than he did 30, 40 years ago. So, what's going on? Christ leads us victoriously through all the stuff going around us in life. Boom, this emotion. Boom, this financial thing. Boom, this death. Boom, this thing. And Jesus leads you through. He promises. Now, for those of you who have not gone through anything, it's purely academic. Take notes. Write this down. Remind yourself of this message. You're going to want to download it someday. When you go into your Pirates of the Caribbean experience, and the bombs are going off, and there's all kinds of scary people around you, and you'll go right through because He leads us victoriously through all of them. He's so faithful. It's assured, which brings us joy. And that's a great thing. You can go through that stuff and laugh at it because you have the joy of the Lord. Colossians 2:13 says, "And you being dead." Listen to this. "And you being dead." Stop right there. Dead men tell no tales, right? It reminded me when we were, Lisa and I, uh, we're in the college and career group in the '70s at Calvary Costa Mesa. And I wrote down what I could remember, but there's a whole song of this. And Christians used to sing it on the Pirates of the Caribbean, right? It's "Yo ho, yo ho, a Christian life for me. I like to pray, I like to worship all day. A Christian life for me." And it goes on and on. And you think about that. Well, no, no, no. That's not the words of the song. It is if you're a Christian. And in Colossians 2:13, it says, "And you being dead in your trespasses." Man, that sounds scary. No, not at all. Dead. We, listen, before we met Jesus, we were dead in our sins. This is important. We looked like we were alive. We, we looked alive, but we were spiritually dead in our trespasses and the uncircumcision of our flesh. He, Christ, has made us alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses. Verse 14: "Having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us." Wow. Which was contrary to us. You know that means all the stuff you and I did bad and sinned against God's commands. God's commands were reporting constantly to God every day of our life. Jack did this, Jack did that, Jack violated this, Jack violated that. And it's all true. I was condemned before I ever got to court. I was busted before God's agent ever showed up. It's contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, like Barbossa and all the gang at the ride. He made a public spectacle of them, triumphant." There is the word. "Over them." That is awesome news. We also have this. It's not under the joy, but ministry. We have an assured ministry as Christians. That's why you raised your hands at the beginning. We're Christians. It says in verse 14. Now, this is where it gets heavy. Verse 14 to 17. This is amazing. Hang on to your seats. He says, "And through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place." This is a word picture of the Old Testament. The Christian, watch this, diffuses. Remember the censer? I said that the priest of the Roman processionals walking down the street, and all the beautiful aroma coming out. It was a beautiful aroma, okay? And here Paul is now tying it together. That that action, in light of the Old Testament offerings of God's worship, where you bring an animal, presented, and it's consumed on the barbecue of God. Really? The Lord smells that sweet aroma of that barbecued lamb, or that barbecued, uh, ox, or cattle, and God is smelling that, and it pleases God. The Bible says. And we're pleased because our offering is connected with that. And think about it. It's God taking that smell in, and God's saying, "Yes." And we rejoice down here before the altar, saying, "All right, God accepted the offering." Why? Because it was not only offered from a true heart of worship, but it had cost the life of an innocent animal, and our guilt was placed upon the innocence of that animal. That animal's innocence was transformed, transferred to our guilt, and God accepted this offering. And Paul wants the reader, he wants the Corinthian believers to know that picture. They were Gentiles, it was foreign to them. But just to make certain, he shows them the Roman processional of triumph. And he says, "This is diffused as the fragrance of His knowledge in every place." Christians are to emanate an aroma everywhere they go by how we speak, what we what we say, what we do. A lot of Christians today, I hear about it, especially among young people, it's ridiculous. They're, they're, they want to be Christians and have all of the, uh, freedoms that the world is having. Well, we're Christians, but we can fornicate. We're Christians, but we can have adultery. We're Christians, but we can get drunk. We're Christians, but we can. And they're fooling themselves. Listen, here's the deal. Those things are nothing in and of themselves. You're a Christian. Those things have been put away with your dead life. Don't tell me that you're free to do those things. I'm free not to do those things. Well, how far can I go with this? Why go there? Be free in Christ. Well, I want to be free in Christ. I want to be able to sin like the world and go to heaven too. That's not freedom, that's bondage and deception. Be free. Well, how am I freed? By presenting yourself and offering to God exactly what Romans chapter 12 talks about. Our ministry to God is quite amazing. Listen, I am not asking you to sign up for the parking lot ministry. I'm not asking you to sign up for children's ministry. I'm not asking you to sign up to be a missionary. I'm not asking you to do any of that stuff. I would never do that. I want God to call you to those things if that's what He's calling you to do. Listen, you know what your ministry is? This: I will call you to worshiping God. Romans 12:1: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." Ministry assured, Christian. If you are a worshiper, you will be presenting to God an acceptable sacrifice. And let me tell you, as you burn on the altar of God in your day-to-day Christian life, people around you will begin to smell it. It's amazing. The fragrance of His knowledge. We diffuse in every place. Have you ever shaken someone's hand or hugged somebody that's got too much perfume or cologne, and you take it home with you? Or you had your cologne on, and then you hugged them, and their cologne completely, your cologne just bowed to their cologne? I have to confess, I have to do that on Sundays. I take cologne and I put it on Sundays. And Lisa goes, "You have too much on." And I tell her, "Look, it's, I haven't even gotten the first service yet. I said, by the time third comes along, I, it's so worn out, Lisa. I border on stink. So I start off strong at first, just right. At second, third, I think you might need some more cologne." But if somebody, if I encounter somebody, because I manage my aroma, if I encounter someone who's like, has too much Old Spice on, it's like, "Oh, doggone it. Oh, man. I know by third, I'm going to stink." My impact has been lost on someone else's offering. As a Christian, we are to maintain that aroma. And when we don't stay in that place of the Lord perfuming us, we begin to stink in our attitude. We begin to stink with our words. We begin to stink with our witness, right? Okay. Very important. The Bible says in Ephesians 5, verse 1: "Therefore be imitators of God as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma." Man, what comes to my mind is Saturday, September 6, 1997. Anybody know what happened on that day? Well, Lisa and I will never forget it for this reason. It was a Saturday, September 6, 1997. How can you remember that day? Because I landed, en route to Russia, at London Heathrow. Had a layover. Got on the Tube from Heathrow to downtown London. Came up at the Kensington High Street station Tube stop to a barricade of people. Saturday, September 6, 1997. The sun was shining in London, which is a rarity. Came up out of the Tube, stepped out onto the street, massive crowd of people. The first thing that hit you was the smell of flowers all over the streets of London. It was the processional of the funeral of Princess Diana. Lisa and I could have never, we couldn't have planned it any more perfect. And yet, I, I can see, I saw her casket, I saw the carriage, I saw, okay, all that stuff. That's not, that's not what I remember the most, though vividly, was the smell. In a, in one of the biggest metropolises in the world, was the smell of flowers. I believe a Christian has that effect. When we walk in the Spirit, wherever we go, people may not smell with their nose, but they're going to smell with their spirit. "Something's going on. I want to be near them. I want what they have." And Paul, as a minister of the gospel of God, I want to be like Paul also.
This church, mark this, and we'll begin to wrap this up here. Look at closing point, verse 3, or a third point, verses 16 to 17. The heart of the gospel is the guaranteed results through Christ. Jesus does it. And this is powerful stuff. He says in verse 15 and 16 that there's a guaranteed effect when we proclaim the gospel and walk with God. He says, "For we are to God." This is good news. "We are to God the fragrance of Christ." Mark it down. Be encouraged. "No, I think I stink." God says, "You smell like Jesus to me." And among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, you smell like Jesus to me. I think I smell Jesus on you. Watch this. This is awesome. A guaranteed effect. If you live for Jesus, if you live for Christ, and church, listen up. Do I have your attention? We're almost done. Do I have your attention? We're living this right now in our world. And what I'm going to say right now is not based upon what I'm telling you. It's biblical, 100% Bible. What I'm telling you right now is going to intensify. Are you ready? Here it is: The more you live for Jesus, the more you will be a sweet-smelling aroma to those who are longing for salvation and hope and the gospel. Listen, the more you are that effective in people's lives, the more you will stink in the nostrils of those that are going to hell in perishing. They will hate you. You don't even do anything to them. You just lived for Jesus. Are you getting this, church? You're living for Jesus, and those who are lost want what you have, and those who want to stay lost think you stink, and they hate you. And people ask them, "Why do they, why do you hate them or him so much?" "I don't know. I just hate them." It's Jesus they hate. And you need to decide today in your life as a Christian to be so loving, and so caring, and so forgiving, and so gracious, and so representative of the nature of God, because He's willing to do this in and through your life, that those who are perishing will say, "Oh my goodness, this is an oasis of aroma. Tell me again the things of Jesus." And right across the table from them will be a person who will say, "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard." And you need to pick who you want to please. The aroma is through Christ. It's all about Christ. It's not our message. That's good news, huh? The effect is very, very precious. The Bible tells us, listen, I'm at a loss for time here. So, Second Corinthians 6, verse 1 says this. I'll read it fast. Second Corinthians 6:1 says, "So we then, as workers together with Him, also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For He says, 'An acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you.'" Behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Wow. Second Corinthians 4, verse 3. Listen to this. "And even if our gospel is veiled, if people don't get it, it is veiled to those who are perishing. They think it stinks. In their case, the god of this world, Satan, has blinded their minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel in the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord." Man, if somebody, imagine if somebody is not getting the gospel, the Bible says Satan, who's running around this globe, has blinded them, and they think it stinks. Listen, we're to give the gospel. The outcome is up to God. Oh, I don't want to assure Jesus. I might be rejected. Sure. You being rejected or not. Listen, it has nothing to do with you giving out the message. We are mandated to give it. The results, listen, are not ours. We are to obey. The results, listen, are solely based upon, listen, God and the person who accepts or the person who rejects. That's how hell, by the way, one of the ways, I should say that hell is warranted and justified. People in hell are there because they wanted to go there. Nobody's forced into hell. That's very clear from scripture. And verse 16 tells us that there's a guaranteed acceptance. "And to the other, the aroma of death leading to death." To those who want to be saved, the gospel is attractive to them. Verse 17: "A guaranteed end. Who is sufficient for these things?" Can you mark that, please? I'll end in the closing with this. "Who's sufficient for these things?" For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of God, but as sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God and Christ. What is he saying? He's saying this. This is awesome. Who's sufficient for these things? Paul is saying, "What human being, as a believer, is sufficient to preach the gospel, and the result is some people go to heaven, and some people go to hell? That eternal division comes out of the mouth of a mere human." And Paul says, "Who's sufficient for these things?" Isn't that an awesome statement? Which one of us qualifies to speak to someone, and once we deposit upon them the news of eternal life, that if they rejected or accepted based upon what we presented to them, they wind up in the presence of God forever or not forever? And Paul says, "Who's worthy to do this?" Answer: Nobody. It's not us. It's the message. Jesus Christ died and rose again from the grave. He's your Savior and your Lord. And there's no heaven without Him. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. And no man can come to the Father but through Him. Do you believe that? If you don't believe that, that stinks, and you're angry, and that's narrow, and who made up that rule, and I don't like it. That's because Christ thinks the gospel stinks in your nostrils. But to those of us who are being saved. Oh, can you say it again? Father, we thank You for Your truth. We pray, Lord, now in the name of Jesus, right where people are seated, right where people are listening, the heart of the gospel in Paul was that he loved people so much, and yet he understood the sovereignty of their own decision-making, that You have built within them the ability to decide to choose heaven or hell, submission to God or a state of absolute rebellion. And right where you're at, my friend, right there, right where your seat is, sitting, Jesus is wanting to hear from you. You can tell Him right now. We're going to end abruptly. We're out of time. But right where you're at, you can say, "Jesus Christ, my Lord, my Savior, my King, my God, I accept You as my Savior. Now I want You. I accept this message as a sweet aroma." If that's you today, you tell Him that right now. You make this commitment. Get in the Word of God. Start reading His love letter to you, the Bible. We have them for you at the end of this message if you want one. Know what He's saying to you. Yes, He saves you from your sins, but now He wants to live His life through you. Find out what glorious news that is. Father, we give You our lives. We give You, Father, all that we are. This church, our breath, our exodus today. May we bring You glory. And all God's people said, Amen.
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