2 Corinthians (Quality: Average)

[0:00] The End The End The Divine Truth

[1:01] This is on my mind to speak from You will find in the chapter that we read together That is the second of Corinthians chapter 10 And I will ask you to look at the last two verses 17 and 18 But he that glorieth Let him glory in the Lord For not he that commendeth himself is approved But whom the Lord commendeth I trust that most of us I would all of us Has such a knowledge Of what this Bible says Especially this morning Concentrating our minds upon the Apostle Paul Who wrote these words

[2:02] Under the pen Appointed By the Holy Spirit That we have Sufficient knowledge Of his background To be able to appreciate The wonder Of his confession In the spirit Of the text That we are Later on To examine Perhaps a little more Thoroughly Now You know We're born into the world And we're born into the world With an inclination So natural And so Universal That we want to be something We want to be something And there is In Young children A fruit That I'm referring to

[3:04] That A proud little man Proud little girl Isn't she There she is Preening herself In her new crop She looks Thinks she looks lovely And She's very proud of herself Isn't she And then we have that boy Who Seems to rise In his Spirit To A sense of Manhood And He's Doing something That's beyond his power That he's He's trying to show That he is Capable Of certain attainments Which are associated To manhood To being As it were The male category As opposed to The weaker vessels Of the female There's pride Pride And It Surfaces And Yes And parents

[4:05] Only know too well The True diagnosis Of the complaint And they know Much to their Humiliation That That Complaint Was passed Down From parents To children That our children Inherited from us A nature Which is Fallen A nature Which is not Centred In the glory Of God And those things That Are The advancement Of God's Cause An interest In the earth And my friends What an enemy Is pride The pride Of nature It's an enemy It follows us It follows us Up through the years We Get very Elated When we're Somewhat

[5:05] Commended For our Attainments Or we may be Blessed in Certain ways When we come Into Our school Life We Are not The bottom Of the class We have a Certain ability In certain Subjects That seems To identify Us As Specialty In Certain Ways Some are Fond of math And others Can write a good Story And their Ability To communicate Their thoughts To pen and Paper Brings them To an Exalted Position As it Were Well that's A good That's a That's a Good essay You've Written That's worth Pursuing I remember In my own Case We were We were Asked in Class To do a Report

[6:05] On an Airplane Crash Somewhere near Where we Lived And we Applied Our minds To Just It was All Imagination To Such a Thing Happening In our Close Reasonably Close Proximity And we Had to Write a Newspaper Report That's what It was The challenge Well The whole Class As it Worked Submitted Their Results To the Teacher And the Teacher Commended Certain Of the Class That it Was Excellent You know You Should Eventually Be a Newspaper Reporter At this Age Being able To Describe All The detail In its Interest In that Particular Imagitative Detailed Experience

[7:07] And Look You know It's not The child At the Bottom Of the Class Really That Evidence Is The fruit Of a Fallen Nature That there's A sense Of shame And Bitterness Perhaps Because Of a Comparative Weakness But It's Those That You know They're Good They're Unusual They're Talented God Has Given Them Certain Gifts And Those Certain Gifts Are Finding Expressions In Natural Ways In Their School Life And Eventually Of course They come Years ago It was To Eleven Years Of Age And They Went In For Examinations And They Changed Schools And Eventually Perhaps If They Were Especially Good In Nowadays They Went To The Grammar School And That Was About As Far As

[8:07] They Could Get Until They Were Somewhat Sixteen Years Of Age When They Had To Launch Out Into Higher Education Or Into Business Commitment In The World But Following Us Following Us Along The Avenue Of Opportunity And God's Gifts That Were Presented To Us By The Providential Direction Of Heaven We Weren't Very Ready To Take Second Place Were We We Wanted To Be Thought Well Of We Wanted To Be Commended We Wanted Things To As It Were Evidence Themselves That We Were So Too Glad To Go Home At The End Of The Day And Tell Mum And Dad How Well We Been Commended

[9:09] By The Master Or Mistress That Was Responsible For Teaching Us Pride Pride Pride Wretched Pride For Not He That Commended Himself As A Proud Oh No Oh No Let Me Put This To You Some Things That Naturally Are Most Desirable And By The Help Of God And I Und School That The Help Of God Natural Abilities Developed And Took Us Quite A Way Up The Ladder Quite A Way Up The Ladder And It May Be I Never Was Anywhere Near The Opportunity And Ability But We We We That So And So Was Going To University

[10:11] Higher Education And Sometimes It Really It Was A Most Impressive Thing If They Had Had An Entrance To Cambridge Oxford London Edinburgh One Of The Leading Centers Of Education In Our Country But You Know Attaining Natural Attainment Unsacrified Centers Around Self Condemnation All With You Know We're Getting On Well The Prospect For The Future Is Ground It's All Working Out And Obviously I'm Better Placed In Certain Are That Have Promise

[11:11] Of A Marvellous Future Don't You Remember Some Of Your Dreams When You Were Young That Well Some Of The Foremost Places In Your Opportunities Were Waiting For For You To Qualify And Take The Responsibilities And The Professions Of One Sort And Another But The Text Says He That Glorieth Let Him Glory In The Lord Where Did You Get Your Gifts From Who Made You As You Are Who Gave You An Advantage Over Other People Of The Same Age Who As It Were Put You In The Avenue Of Success That You Were Quite

[12:11] A Capable Person And Perhaps You Were Made In The Environment Of The School You Were Educated In A House Captain And There Were Four House Captains In The Class And You Were One Of The Four And You Had Special Duties To Discharge When The Master Was Not Available To Lead The Whole Class In The Particular Instruction And You Went On And You Went On And You Went On From Whence Did You Gain Your Success Who Gave You The Gifts Now Let's Come To The Apostle Paul He Sat At The Feet Of Gamaliel He Had The Highest Education That Was Available In

[13:12] Jerusalem At That Particular Period Who Gave Him So To Speak The Talents That Enabled Him To Go Step By Step By Step Up The Ladder Of Success Repet And As He Was Of A Religious Turn Of Mind And It May Be That His Parentage Was Such A Direction That He Became A Pharisee Of The Pharisees the highest element as it were of religious prosperity in the nation he became one of the top most people oh what a wonderful gifted man was the Apostle Paul naturally a tremendous successful rise in the world by various supportive providences of God that took him down that path and granted him success after success so he was certainly a figure notorious a man to be respected and whose talents were valuable if exercised in your personal interests this is the man that though the Lord ordained ultimately

[14:51] I should say but he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord naturally speaking we are what the Lord has made us to be and not all generals in an army there has to be for some foot soldiers too we can't all rise to the managerial minority that run the factory or the firm oh no no no somebody's got to do the labouring jobs the menial tasks but in the ordering of God's providence in society generally there is a provision made generation by generation so that the various professions are peopled with talented people who have come up through and they've shown they have some special gifts it may be of law it may be of music it may be of a number and too many for me to possibly suggest to your mind but you know what I'm trying to say and here the apostle Paul is as it were at the pinnacle of success while a comparatively young person and what a future prospect must have stood before him as he looked ahead but what was all this doing what was all this God given success producing a proud pharisee a proud pharisee success unsanctified excites that wretched abominable experience of pride and God it's in the 16th of

[17:02] Proverbs God abominates pride because it robs him of the glory due to his name it as it were takes from the arena of life that which is only as it is because God is a God of Proverbs God gives talents God exercises opportunities God brings to the surface as it were certain stratas of society that we all have to respect because they're people away of others in human talents and abilities my friend are you thinking upon yourself with that measure of pride that as it were in no way leads you to appreciate that you are what you are by the goodness of God by the goodness of God not only did you give you the ability but he ordered your life in such a way that you had the opportunity and those things materialized under the ordering of God that you are where you are as you are and appreciate it there's a great difference between glorying and commending yourself and the appreciation of others that by your talents by your gifts you are able to solve some of their problems and you are able to help them on the way when they come into certain difficulties that they are not sufficient to unravel but you've got the superior knowledge and you can tell them the way through and the way that will be the least trouble to them in a natural development of life

[19:18] I hope the apostle Paul is such a wonderful illustration of natural success sanctified he came to a point and he was so zealous in the course of the pharisaic religion that he went about persecuting the church he went about hailing men and women to prison who were Christians they were people that were giving glory to God they were people that were humbly acknowledging that they were as they were where they were by the ordering of a sovereign providence and that God and his own is worthy of the glory man's a thief if he starts thinking it's me that need the commendation and the praise with a man robbed heart oh my friend if there's an inclination within you to as it were attract attention to your capabilities and prosperities

[20:43] I say oh seek grace seek grace to take the lowest place and we have in the I think it's the 12th chapter of this very letter that he wrote to the Corinthians and at verse 11 he concludes his assessment of the situation and he says though I be nothing though I be nothing you would say well look at look at the position that he occupied look at the recognition that was given to him and the power that was in his hand that would tail men and women to prison and to death guilty guilty guilty of terrible persecution of the best element in the whole kingdom the people of God oh that devil turns the world upside down doesn't he how he causes poor people who pray for their country who seek as it were its welfare seek that the principles of godliness shall prevail and man would love his neighbour as he loves himself and all those principles of god and godliness that are sent to us given to us to regulate our approach our attitude to things well now

[22:25] God determined that the apostle Paul should be a preeminent servant of his kingdom he's off down to Damascus because he hears that there's an element of Christianity in that foreign city and he's going to do there what he's been commended by the blind Jews at Jerusalem for doing persecuting the people of God and my friends I'm going to say this this morning the element of that persecution is present in our society today Christianity is not the prevailing commanding principle in our society there's progressively strong element of hating

[23:30] Christianity hating those people that follow this old fashioned religious outlook I tremble sometimes because the devil is the master of anti-Christian outlook and the devil he doesn't rest he goes on from strength to strength as God permits him so to do to persecute the church to bring the freedoms that are so priceless to us in our worship and in the manner of life we live according to the teaching of God's word and the principles of godliness which we so value and covet because we know to live subject to God is peace it's suitable not only in the worship of God it's so suitable to the agreement the peace of society he is our peace it's said of Jesus

[24:44] Christ and he is if we all lived as disciples of Jesus Christ in the spirit of Jesus Christ there'd be peace on earth it would be heaven below all the contention that exists in the world are the seeds of bitterness sown by Satan he's our enemy he's our enemy he's the enemy of God he's the enemy of the godly and he's powerful and he doesn't rest if he doesn't succeed look he's seems to have succeeded in the world to enslave a great part of the world to false religion to various pursuits of religiosity in the most God dishonoring and unprofitable pursuit things and the apostle

[25:51] Paul he was off to Damascus and God didn't allow him to get there one of the wonders one of the wonders of God's grace to that man was he stopped him in the way oh has the Lord stopped you in the way can't you now do things don't you want to do things in the future that you've done in the past you look back as he looked back upon his history oh he was so ashamed he was so ashamed he couldn't take any glory to himself he said though I be nothing I'm less than the least of all saints and to me this grace is given that I should preach the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ he that was my enemy and I fought against him with every power in my being but oh he's the only one now that can do me any good

[26:52] I've got into such a condition and position that no human agency is capable of touching the case it's Jesus only he's the saviour of sinners I'm the chief of sinners and my hope of salvation is absolutely dependent upon his love his grace and his mercy exemplified by leaving the father in heaven and coming down to this world and taking a nature like unto our nature unfallen pure sinless but nevertheless living sinless with as it were those natural reactions sin accepted oh let me emphasize that the purity the righteousness of Christ is such an essential part of our salvation that never never would we suggest that anything sinful fell from his lips or was acted or was anything that he ever did toward any person and his whole burden was the glory of his father as he fulfilled the work that his father gave him to do and he fulfilled it to perfection it was as pure he was as pure when he died as when he was formed in the womb of the virgin mary he was as he is the sinless one but we need such a one to save us we need such a one to save and he's the only one and paul was brought down in blindness and darkness and desperation what could he do to be saved there's one named

[28:56] Ananias he's the man that I've ordained to come to you with the solution to your problem Paul had never had a bigger problem he'd never been confronted with anything worse the displeasure of God as he persecuted those who trusted their salvation in his son what do you think of the gospel what do you think of the gospel isn't it wonderful that God against whom we have sinned at the greatest cost he's ever expended in any direction at all he exercised in sending

[29:57] Jesus Christ into the world as the saviour of sinners when Christ left heaven and came to earth and he lived out his life and he died on the cross and was buried and he rose again the third day and he went back to heaven one of those that lay on his heart to intercede for Saul of Tarsus Paul the apostle it's hard for thee to kick against the troops you're fighting against the king of kings and lord of lords you can't win the battle nobody ever has it's an utter impossibility for any person to fight against God and win I'm a witness of that ever

[31:03] I'm a weakness in my life ruin the lord stop me but my friends not he that commendeth himself oh the awfulness of being stopped and shown just what we are and where we are as Paul saw the Tarsus was on the Damascus road the lord just shone with the light of heaven upon him the light that exceeded the light of the sun nothing could be hidden nothing could be as it were to keep the power of the light from him oh I remember my own experience I went under the clothes I was on my bed when the lord came and I went under the clothes I wanted to get somewhere out of sight and I couldn't the light under the clothes was as bright as the light in the room

[32:09] I couldn't find a refuge couldn't find a covering couldn't find a way to escape the glory of the lord and he cut me I thought I'm going to hell I'm going to hell I'm going to hell and I kept saying and I cried lord have mercy on me have mercy on me and the lord came my grace is sufficient for thee my strength is made perfect in weakness total weakness I can do nothing to save myself there's no human agency that can do anything to save me Jesus Christ is the only one I was a Christian from that time I'm still a Christian by the grace of God and I'm here to commend the truth to you because there's no other way for you to be saved from your sins but

[33:14] Jesus Christ and he says the truth so simply so comprehensively he says I am the way the truth and the life no man cometh unto the father but by me if you really believe that from your heart you're a Christian you're a Christian if you're shut into Christ no help himself I find though up to sort it well the native treasure of my mind is sin and death and hell oh the apostle Paul had got nothing to boast of nothing to please to commend himself he was utterly destitute of any ground upon which to see his future in anything but eternal woe God but my friends what a wonderful thing it is when

[34:17] God in the fullness of his grace sends his holy spirit to you and shows you his way of saving oh not not because you are who you are and blessed with all sorts of talents and been so successful through school and education and you got to university and you passed certain exams and you are respected in your certain profession you have got a name now that is probably internationally recognised that poor man in the United States who has recently climbed to the excellent position of the chief man on earth if I may talk of the new president of America if he dies out of Christ if he goes down the road of the Muslims and he doesn't find

[35:19] Jesus Christ before he dies you go to hell I don't glory in that I rather pray that his eyes will be opened as the eyes of Paul were opened and he will see that God's way of saving is to the glory of God from first to last not he that commended himself is approved oh no no no no no no Paul couldn't take the glory to himself and say oh I'm a leading Christian and I should be a leading Christian by my pen as well as by my preaching no no I be nothing done to me who am the least of all saints he couldn't get low enough he couldn't get as it were the truth of his absolute unworthiness over more more clearly that nobody would think of him with any particular personal glory but they would glory in the

[36:29] Lord that had saved him the Lord that had met with him the Lord that convicted him of his awful manner of life in persecuting the Christians in Jerusalem and going on to do the same at Damascus my friends he would say as in Romans 7 oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death I thank God through Jesus Christ my Lord he commended me gloried in the Lord and in the Lord only you and I must be brought there you must be brought there you'll never go to heaven thinking of yourself as a noble contributor to your own salvation oh no not unto us oh Lord not unto us but unto thy name be the glory but he that glorieth let him glory in the

[37:48] Lord oh you come to chapel you read your bible you say your prayers you don't swear you don't like to tell a lie you you're very honest in your dealings perhaps you're despised by some with whom you are employed or with whom you mix at school and that sort of thing and they think you're a strange person because you won't do this and you won't do that and on the positive side you do this and you do that you come to chapel on a Sunday you're pleased to attend the Sunday school and listen to what the Sunday school teacher has to say your life shows that you're seeking Jesus Christ you read the Bible there's a lot in the Bible that you can't understand but you bless God if somebody's able to make an explanation that you can understand you can get the feel of it that brings you to this point if my poor soul be saved it is

[39:07] Christ must be the way let me quote another hymn nothing in my hand I breathe simply to thy cross I cling the cross was where the precious blood of Christ was poured out remember the Bible says this it's a revelation of God's mind without the shedding of blood is no remission of sin will you say well there was an awful lot of blood poured out when the Jews were sacrificing their lambs and their bullocks and so forth on the altars in the Old Testament rituals that blood was in itself of no value not all the blood of beasts on Jewish altar slain could give the guilty conscience peace or take away the stain there's only one answer

[40:17] Jesus paid the price he poured out his precious blood to atone for the sins of his people these are they which came out of great tribulation they knew what soul trouble was they knew what a sin what a plague sin is and how so often they've gone wrong and they've come with guilt on their conscience wondering if God will have any more to do with them because they're so wretched in themselves but nevertheless the precious blood of Jesus Christ takes away all sin it makes a slate perfectly clean the sins of the Lord's people were laid upon Jesus the secret of his sufferings he never suffered anything on earth unassociated with his work to salvation of his people his burden with a single eye and humble spirit was the glory of his father

[41:39] I have glorified thee on the earth I finished the work which thou gavest me to do redemption salvation no longer under the law to be sent away from God but brought to God washed in his blood made pure clothed in his righteousness as if you had lived the spotless sinless life that he lived by imputation that righteousness is given to you your sins were given to him and that was the key of all the sufferings of Christ as he suffered the penalty of a broken law and shed his heart's blood on the tree of Calvary remember he that cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree he bore the curse for us he took our sins to himself he paid the price he opened the door to paradise for those that are brought by the

[42:55] Holy Spirit leading and teaching to put their trust in nothing less but nothing else than the work of the Saviour in their behalf oh my friends I close this night oh I do wish that the Lord would bless his word make you realise that to be a Christian is the greatest asset that any person can be possessed of you say well there's a man in America and he talks he's the head of Microsoft and he's a multi millionaire and he doesn't know what to do with the multiplied riches of which he is possessed he's handing it out by thousands of millions I was going to say when he comes to die he'll be among the poorest people if he's not a

[44:00] Christian but if he is a Christian he'll be among the richest of the people and I put before you and as I close this morning riches and poverty it's not the rich of this world it's the poor of this world rich in faith the Lord gives them that simple trust in their hearts to cast their sin sick souls upon the salvation of God in Christ Jesus that hung and died upon the cross of Calvary paid the penalty of sin went into death itself on the third day as the king and Lord of all he rises triumphant he's waiting in heaven until every soul that trusts in him and casts their sin sick souls upon his finished world is gathered to him there'll be a number which no man can number if every nation kindred is in tongue but let me say there won't be an absentee all that the father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me

[45:23] I will in no wise cast out they hold her that take that to the throne of grace and plead it before him tell him what a sinner you are and how great is the promise of salvation in and through him and see what wonders God can do he's glorified in the hearts of his people with higher praises than even the unfallen angels and archangels that are with him in glory I hope you are able to follow me so much depends on him so much depends you don't know the price that I put on you as a person knowing that we shall all come to the judgment seat of Christ the way into heaven

[46:30] Jesus only nothing else nothing in my hand I bring simply to thy cross I claim amen our collections last Lord's day amounted to 40 40 pounds and 46 pence for the gyra fund and 380 pounds and 50 pence for church expenses and thanks our return for your kindness god god willing we have a prayer meeting on Friday evening and mr j hayden is expected to preach next lord's day our last hymn is number 708 to the tune hillborough 157 as when a child secure of arms hangs at the mother's breast safe folded in her anxious arms receiving food and rest to the people and girl and queen and and in and but at hour

[48:15] Thank you.