Delivered from the sentence of death (Quality: Very good)

[0:00] As the Lord should be pleased to help me, I should call your attention to a subject you will find in the second epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 1, verses 9 and 10.

[0:19] But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God, which raiseth the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver, in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us.

[0:49] Chapter 1, the second epistle to the Corinthians, and the 9th and 10th verses. This is a great subject to contemplate as grace is given.

[1:11] And it is one of supreme importance, because you and I must know something about the line of things set forth in it, to evidence that we are indeed what we do desire to be, many of us, pilgrims to Canaan bound.

[1:33] The setting of the subject is to do with the going forth of men to preach the gospel of the grace of God.

[1:48] And as this word was penned to the church at Corinth, I need not go into details, but you know somewhat about the church at Corinth.

[2:03] I have often referred to it, but the apostle Paul was owned of God to the building of the church at Corinth, and his labors in preaching the gospel were wonderfully successful.

[2:23] But the time came when he had to go on his way to preach elsewhere. And in his absence, Satan gained an advantage and roused up a party spirit in the church, and it brought divisions, which were inimical to the prosperity of the church at Corinth, as they must needs be.

[2:49] Worst of all, there were those who had been added to the church, according to their own profession, through the apostle Paul's ministry, being blessed to them in their soul's experience, and yet they turned around and declared that he was not an apostle at all.

[3:14] And now that is just an outline of the setting of the subject. The knowledge of this came to the apostle Paul, and there is no doubt whatever that he felt it very, very keenly.

[3:32] And you must never forget that those who preach the gospel, whatever their personality may appear to you, as a rule, they are exceedingly sensitive to the work that they humbly hope God has called them to engage in.

[3:53] And now, I just look at the setting of the subject, a little more in the detail of it. You will find in the opening word, it is a very striking word as I view it, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God.

[4:13] And now, whether a man is an apostle, such as Paul was, and others in the dear Saviour's time, or at any time down through the ages, a man is sent forth to labour upon Zion's walls, if he is sent forth a right, it is by the will of God.

[4:40] And the will of God ordains what his labour should be, where and when, and how, and how long. And now think of Saul of Tarsus, when he was persecuting the church, hailing men and women who followed Jesus Christ to prison, thinking he was doing God's service in so behaving.

[5:11] And then to think that in eternal purposes, God had ordained that he should become an apostle of Jesus Christ.

[5:22] And it was by the will of God. The will of God is the axle, as it were, on which all the wheels of his providence turn around.

[5:39] And so, the apostle Paul goes on. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. And Timothy, our brother, unto the church of God, which is at Corinth, with all the saints, which are in all occasion.

[5:57] grace be to you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. And now, do follow this along, dear friends, because there is a line of truth which I would like you to understand.

[6:13] And as grace is given to enter into it, especially those who labour in word and doctrine upon Zion's walls. Here you see how a man is made a minister, by the will of God.

[6:30] Not as men make ministers, many of them by dint of education, doing it from without. God does it from within.

[6:42] And the apostle Paul gives this beautiful outline of how God made him to be a minister. Remember what he says in the Ephesians epistle, whereof I was made a minister.

[7:00] And he repeats it. And now he says to the church at Corinth, blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort.

[7:15] Follow this along, who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

[7:32] For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer.

[7:55] Or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. You see, it means that every man ordained of God to preach the gospel must, as he labours in word and doctrine, as grace is given, be able to declare in some measure that which we have tasted, handled, and felt of the good word of life, declare we unto you.

[8:33] And now, you find that as Paul laboured in word and doctrine in his long ministry, he uses what may seem to you very strange expressions.

[8:49] But those whom God ordains to preach know somewhat about it. And now he says, I die daily. Our subject tells us, but we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead.

[9:14] And says the Apostle Paul, in my life as I live it before God with whom I have to do, I die daily. And he speaks of the tribulation that he has been called to endure in being an apostle of Jesus Christ.

[9:36] And he says, in deaths oft. And he says this, as dying and behold we live.

[9:49] There is an outline in this same epistle to the Corinthians where Paul challenges some in the church at Corinth as regards as being a minister of Christ are known.

[10:06] There were some in the church who attempted to preach who had not got the qualifications which God had given to the Apostle Paul. And so the Apostle Paul issues a challenge and remember he was inspired of God to do it.

[10:23] Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more. in labors more abundant in stripes above measure in prisons more frequent in deaths oft of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.

[10:46] Thrice was I beaten with rods once I was stoned thrice I suffered shipwreck you only read of one account of a shipwreck in the sacred pages but there were two more.

[11:00] The Apostle Paul sets forth a night and a day I have been in the deep in journeyings often in perils of waters in perils of robbers in perils of mine own countrymen in perils by the heathen in perils in the city in perils in the wilderness in perils in the sea in perils among false brethren in weariness and painfulness in watchings often in hunger and thirst in fastings often in cold and nakedness such was the Apostle Paul as he labored on you're in you're out as an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God those of us who humbly hope God has given us a commission to preach the gospel we do know somewhat of what tribulation is but when we look at a picture like that we just shrink in ourselves and desire to humble ourselves before God how far far short do we come of that standard you may say oh but these are different times in which we are living eh but there is no alteration whatever in how men are ordained of God to preach whatever the times may be each one every one must out of the abundance of the heart speak that which he has tasted handled and felt of the good word of life so that he can say

[12:47] I believed therefore have I spoken and now you find regarding our subject which I just begin to unfold as grace is given but we had the sentence of death in ourselves and now in the immediate context you will read for we would not brethren have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia that we were pressed out of measure above strength insomuch that we despaired even of life and now there is no preacher on Zion's walls at the present time who can tell you any details of what those sufferings were beyond that they were so painful in the extreme that had you seen the apostle

[13:48] Paul while he was in the throes of those sufferings and said do you think you will live or die Paul in this tribulation which you were in the apostle Paul would have said I can only feel that I shall not live but die and thus he speaks but we had the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves but in God which raiseth the dead there is just a viewpoint of that line of things I turn aside to make a comment on in the chapter I read to you there are these words do listen and let your consciences tell you how these things work out in your everyday life in some little measure always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord

[14:57] Jesus that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body for we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus save that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh so then death worketh in us but life in you there is a deep line of things there and it means that all whom God ordains to preach the gospel have got to realize the sentence of death in themselves especially every time they go up into a pulpit wherever it might be and they must not dare not trust in themselves no no there will be no success attending their labors if they should be left to such a frame of mind this is what the word of

[16:05] God declares but we had the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves but in God which raiseth the dead in other words I am the resurrection and the life whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die and now I just want to look at that beautiful phrase it is a beautiful phrase it is a blessed phrase God which raiseth the dead oh what a death there is there do not just read it cursory but do ponder it in your heart prayerfully and remember you have this God to go to every day all day in your times of stress and strain whatever your tribulations may be whatever your fears are fountains whatever your questionings even if you seem almost dying helpless and well hopeless you have got God to go to and says the apostle

[17:31] Paul God which raiseth the dead think of it from this viewpoint how many millions hundreds of millions millions of people have lived and died on the earth since in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and there may be yet hundreds of millions more who will live and die ere time shall cease to be and now think all that is mortal of them has gone back earth to earth ashes to ashes dust to dust but the word of God says the trumpet shall sound and the dead in Christ shall rise first and all the dead will rise yes God which raiseth the dead and there will be that tremendous horse of all who have ever breathed the breath of life beneath the sun gathered before

[18:47] God and the apostle John tells us I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away and there was found no place for them and I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the books were opened and another book was opened which is the book of life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their words what I want to make plain is God shall help me is this think of what this will be when that judgment day should dawn when the last day shall arrive when God will raise the dead and now it will come to pass and you believe it do you if you do believe it that God will raise from the dead hundreds of millions untold and bring them to be before the judgment seat of Christ surely you can ask divine aid to believe that God who raiseth the dead can help you in your times of need however desperate they may seem to be even though you may feel dead as to hope as to what God will be pleased to do being on the borderland of self despair like you read in

[20:40] Psalm 107 he brought down their heart with labor and they fell down and there was none to help there you see the sentence of death in ourselves none to help what then you have got God which raiseth the dead to wait on and seek his divine aid and he will not refuse it no no call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shall glorify me this is a wonderful view speaking with great reverence a wonderful view of God to have before the eyes of your faith God which raiseth the dead you sing about it I am Seth Christ your glorious head may we attention give the resurrection of the dead the life of all that live yes there is another thought when

[21:58] Jesus Christ rose from the dead I have told you not once or twice or thrice that the church of Christ rose in him in mystical union with him as the church's living head and henceforth there is the power of his resurrection available for all who belong to the church of Christ every poor sinner born again young or old has got that power available and God is seekable to obtain it Jesus ready stands to save you yes think of what Ezekiah says and there you see this word was verified because he had the sentence of death in himself but the Lord appeared on his behalf and granted him a great deliverance not only as regards his being sick unto death but in saving

[23:04] Jerusalem them from the Assyrian host when the angel came and destroyed them all in the night God which raiseth the dead yes and he says I will be inquired of by you all house of Israel to do this there is another viewpoint of it God which raiseth the dead and now here you are and you are very welcome the pastor is always pleased to see you pleased to be in the pulpit to preach to you here you are in the attitude of worship but in our village life there are hundreds who know nothing whatever of what it is to worship God aright they are neither chapel gores or church gores but they just go their own way as they were born and they live their lives as they were born after the flesh the things of the flesh and you sometimes look round our village life

[24:13] I am sure like I do and how glad you would be! if you could see God at work in their midst and now you must appeal to God as God which raiseth the dead for he can do it the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live and when you try to pray especially you dear men praying in public do bring in an appeal to God which raiseth the dead that when he the spirit of truth is come he shall convince the world of sin and that he might be pleased to do it in our own village life how glad you and I would be to see it yes there is just another thought about

[25:19] God which raiseth the dead and that you read about in the epistle to the Ephesians and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins and now if God has quickened you from the dead do listen you must not entertain any thought that if God has quickened you then you have got something wherein you can do this and that on your own initiative no no you need God which raiseth the dead to carry on that good work which he has begun in you quicken in your soul into life divine God who is the author of it he alone can maintain it and he really has promised to do it thy power and mercy first prevailed from sin to set me free and often since my life had failed had it not been in thee dear friends you and I have got to depend on

[26:36] God which raiseth the dead so that sometimes in your soul's experience and you know how dead you do feel mark how that was worded how dead you do feel therefore you are alive not absolutely dead not just as you were born but when you feel also dead in your soul's experience and can hardly tell what you are and where you are think of that question put to Ezekiel when he saw the vision of the valley of dry bones can these dry bones live and Ezekiel said oh Lord thou knowest Ezekiel could not answer the question but then God made it manifest that they could live yes breathe on these bones so dry and dead thy sweetest softest influence shed in these cold hearts of ours you see dear friends it is

[27:52] God which raises the dead you and I have got to deal with dear Job entered into it thou hast granted me life and favour and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit I told you it is a beautiful wording for you to ponder in your hearts God with whom you have to do God which raiseth the dead oh my dear friends young and old do get in touch with him the Lord help you and grant you divine aid to do it and you will find he is indeed God which raiseth the dead he can revive your drooping soul he can comfort you when cast down he can bring to life again as it were all that he has done for your soul in journeying on through life yes

[29:02] God which raiseth the dead you see you and I have got to learn salvation is of the Lord a man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven and there is a word in the Psalms that was sum up this viewpoint of the subject oh bless our God ye people and cause the voice of his praise to be heard which holdeth our soul in life and suffereth not our feet to be moved yes God which raiseth the dead but then the apostle Paul outlines what his experiences were and they were extreme you and I know some of these things in our measure and says the apostle

[30:08] Paul we had the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves you see dear friends that is just the thing you are about inclined to do when trouble like a gloomy cloud gathers thick and thunders loud you begin to trust in yourself as to what you can do about it and you find you can do nothing that will work well and bring about a deliverance which is what your soul desires to see I just look now at this expression we had the sentence of death in ourselves and now you will have that sentence of death wrought in your heart your conscience many a time as you journey on through life somehow being what you and

[31:10] I are by nature there gets an accumulation of that which we have to learn later on is just the flesh and if God is our teacher he would teach us that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit and now you think of a sinner when he is born again and he is brought before the law of God I often describe that to you and you think on it as a picture and that poor sinner as he hears the law's loud thunder pay me that which thou owe and he knows do what he can all that he attempts to be or to do is stained with sin and nothing were and therefore he hears the law's loud thunder the soul that sinneth it should die and as he is before that holy law at

[32:21] Sinai's mount so he dies to all hope of getting to heaven by anything whatever that he can do as to the doings of the great eye he enters into that experience that David outlines the pains of hell got hold upon me I found trouble and sorrow then cried I O Lord I beseech thee deliver my soul yes every sinner taught of God although he may not go through a deep law work he will go through a law work as he journeys on through life although he may not be able to define it it will be here a little there a little line upon line precept upon precept but he will come at length to this to have the sentence of death in himself and he will declare nothing else can satisfy give me

[33:25] Christ or else I die and now that is what the apostle Paul is aiming to proclaim to the church at Corinth that we should not trust in ourselves but in God which raiseth the dead and how good it is to think of that word Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone which believeth but then there is another sentence of death that you have to know something about and that is as regards the world in which you live and move and you know it may be in your school life later on in your teenage life you have your ambitions and they may be lawful you treasure up pleasant pictures of what you will be as life opens up before you and it may be to be this or that in the world at large but when

[34:34] God grants you his grace then he gives you a true sense of values and you may see the sentence of death come on that which you would hope to be and to do and you have to wait on God God which raiseth the dead and you learn it is not in man that walketh to direct his own steps how can a man then understand his own way the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord yes and he delighteth in his way and that is what you desire to be done show me now thy way oh that is a beautiful prayer of Moses if now I have found grace in thy sight show me now thy way thy way you see we should not trust in ourselves regarding our future that we will plan to be this and purpose to do that but we should say if the

[35:52] Lord will we will do this or that and put our trust in God which raiseth the dead and you find the sentence of death comes upon all that this world can offer you you can live in a house of your own it may be all paid for your cupboard shelves well stored ready to break your balance at the bank is quite good the things of this life give you no anxiety as regards what shall we eat what shall we drink where with all shall we be clothed but when in the midst of all that earthly comfort you will find you have got an aching void which this world cannot fill because you were being taught I cannot hear contented live with all the dainties earth can give and the sentence of death comes upon it yes!

[36:56] and what do you learn then none but Jesus can do helpless sinners good but we had the sentence of death in ourselves and now this sentence of death I can only give you hints comes also upon our own righteousness and I not only mean the righteousness whereby before the law of God you were stripped of all your fancied meekness to approach the dread I am but I mean that which seems to be impregnated in what you and I are by nature our self righteousness you know there is that about us that you may think you have lived a long life all your life long you have had to do from baby days on with the people of

[38:00] God and being found in your seat as a chapel goer and there may be some sense of satisfaction lurking in your spirit because you have lived such a life but you will have the sentence of death come upon that feeling and be stripped of it remember that it is good for other folks to look on and see your regularity in the worship of God but you are not to trust in it no no we should not trust in ourselves but in God which raise it the dead and you know I have told you and I tell you again however good your chapel going is and it is good and commendable it is what goes on between your soul and

[39:02] God in your chapel going as you do business in heaven's marketplace that will build up your soul in a good hope through grace and help you to feel that matters are right between your soul and God and you find too the sentence of death will come on our own wisdom our own strength our own plans you see the Lord designs the just shall live by faith and now what is it to live by faith it is that we should not trust in ourselves but in God which raises the dead what the psalmist tells will help you to understand it trust in him at all times ye people pour out your hearts before him

[40:06] God is a refuge for us yes and now there is just another viewpoint of the sentence of death coming into our lives and that is in our circumstances sometimes our circumstances become so complicated that you cannot see any way of escape and you come into that experience the apostle Paul describes in the shipwreck chapter in the Acts of the Apostles all hope of being saved was taken away then are they brought to their wits end all their wisdom is swallowed up circumstances so complicated and now you know of a truth the sentence of death has come upon your circumstances and you in the midst thereof that you should not trust in yourselves to find a way of escape but in

[41:18] God which raiseth the dead much might be said along that line of thought and if the time had allowed I could have given you some illustrations in the word of God where some of the most notable saints were taught this truth you might think when you get home about Abraham when God said to him Abraham you shall have a son to cheer you in your old age and he will be the child of promise but Abraham was old and his wife was old and it seemed an impossibility as he viewed it that this could be and although God had given the promise Abraham got older still and Sarai also and then when the sentence of death had done its work that

[42:27] Abraham and Sarai should not trust in themselves in that being brought about which God had declared should be a reality in their family circle when they were brought to trust in God which raiseth the dead then Isaac was born it was just miraculous but then I thought we have many adjectives for the grace of God we speak about amazing grace and so it is but I have thought we might as well use the word miraculous grace because that is what it really is when at length we are brought not to trust in ourselves but in God which raiseth the dead and you find that the apostle Paul lines this out in the epistle to the

[43:31] Hebrews through through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed and was delivered of a child when she was past age because she judged him faithful who had promised she trusted in God that raiseth the dead therefore sprang there even of one and him as good as dead so many as the stars of the sky in multitude and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable all he endured to see in him who is invisible faithful Abraham and you see coming over to the New Testament how God dealt with Peter as an apostle that he should lose his self confidence his self sufficiency and his impetuosity by nature be subdued he had the sentence of death come upon it when he was in

[44:37] Satan sith I have told you he went in an outsized Peter he came out a very wee Peter and he could never be the same size again because henceforth as he went forth to labour in word and doctrine he was not trusting in himself but in God which raiseth the dead yes there is just another thought comes to my mind let us go and stand where Lazarus has been lying in the grave for days and God which raiseth the dead is before the sepulcher and what does he do?

[45:31] the sisters of Lazarus tried to persuade the Lord as it were that it was hopeless to think about doing anything says Jesus nevertheless let us go unto him Lazarus come forth and he came forth bound hand and foot in his grave closed loose him and let him go you see dear friends good Mr.

[46:03] Coble used to say in his public prayers almost every time in West Street Chapel when he prayed in public there Lord help us to believe what we do believe in that is just what we want done for us Lord increase our faith faith in Jesus can repel the darts of sin and death faith gives victory over hell who can give us faith there is one who can without faith it is impossible to please him for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of all them that diligently seek him and see how the apostle Paul sums this all up but we had the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves but in

[47:04] God which raiseth the dead and now he embraces the past he looks around the present he looks forward to contemplate the prospect and he says who delivered us from so great a death there is the past as he contemplated it can you do it in remembering the way God has led you along hitherto to he looks around the present he looks up to God which raiseth the dead mark the wording in the present tense raiseth and he says and doth deliver this God is still approachable oh let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need and then the weather beaten apostle dear suffering servant of

[48:17] God that he was he not only looks back and looks around and contemplates the present but he looks forward that as he finishes his life work in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us the Lord help you to think on these things amen