SECOND CORINTHIANS 1:23-2:17 Last week, as we began our study in the book of 2 Corinthians, we saw as Paul told the believers at Corinth that he had undergone hardship and difficulty and affliction for the sake of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul also wrote defending himself because he had had to change his plans. Paul had planned to come to them and receive a collection they had taken up for the poor Jewish believers in Jerusalem, but his plans had been changed, not once, but twice, and Paul had been criticized for this. HAS THIS EVER HAPPENED TO YOU? HAVE YOU EVER SAID SOMETHING OR DONE SOME-THING AND IT WAS MISUNDERSTOOD TAKEN THE WRONG WAY? WELL, YOU RE IN GOOD COMPANY! Well, Paul s not coming to Corinth, and in verse 23 of chapter 1 through verse 4 of chapter 2, Paul explains why Verses 5-11: In essence, Paul is saying that to spare them any more pain, he would not come. The pain Paul is speaking of is thought to be a letter that he wrote perhaps in between the writing of the first letter known as 1 Corinthians, and this letter known as 2 Corinthians. Some theologians say there were two lost letters. Paul had written them apparently admonishing them to forgive and restore a fallen brother who had repented. Some theologians thought this man might be the same man referred to in 1 Cor. 5, or perhaps someone who had brought charges against Paul, himself. Paul must have gotten word that the Corinthians resented this letter and so Paul says, I ve already caused you pain by what I wrote, and if I come, I m just gonna cause you more pain and that s the last thing I want to do I have no desire to hurt you I wrote the things I wrote with one motive and that was to help you Verses 12-13: Paul interjects how his journey to Troas was not a fruitful one because Titus was not there and so he journeyed on to Macedonia. NOW, I KNOW WE VE QUICKLY SUMMARIZED ALL THIS, BUT THERE S A REASON FOR THIS. ONE OF THE FIRST COMMENTARIES I LOOKED AT WHEN I BEGAN TO STUDY 2 CORINTHIANS A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO SAID THAT THERE ISN T A LOT OF BIBLE DOCTRINE CONTAINED IN THIS BOOK. Well, there are commentators who write good commentaries and then, there are commentaries written by just common taters. And, I wanted us to key in on verses 14 through 16 of this chapter because in it is contained some profound Bible doctrine doctrine that we need to be reminded of frequently because most of us live beneath our privileges as God s children. Page 1 of 7
The normal Christian life is to be a life of victory, not defeat. And, I m afraid most of us walk around in defeat more than we do in victory because we forget this truth this doctrine that is taught in these three little verses. Paul said in another book he wrote that we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us and these three little verses are going to tell us why!! Verses 14-16: Let s get these verses of Scripture in their historical context Paul was a Roman citizen and he was drawing on a Roman custom. God always leads us in His triumph in Christ. (NAS) causeth us to triumph (KJV) After the Romans would do battle and be victorious, there would be a magnificent triumphal procession back into Rome. A holiday would be declared and the people would line the streets and the white robed priests would burn incense as thanksgiving to the Roman gods for the victory. Then the conquering general would come into the city. He would be in a gilded chariot, pulled by a white stallion, and following after marching after him would be his army of soldiers. But, between the chariot and the army of soldiers would be the defeated emperor or general of the conquered country or province - he would be chained to the chariot - he would be stripped naked totally humiliated and dragged into the city to be made a spectacle, a public display. Now, in this passage we just read, Paul borrows from that tradition and he says that in the same way the conquering armies follow after the victorious general, so we too follow after the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a picture of the victory the Lord Jesus has won and our triumph in Him and I want us to see three things about this victory that Jesus has already won 1) THE ARENA OF THE VICTORY Where was the battle fought? at Calvary Jesus won the battle at Calvary! Verse 11 What are his devices? his schemes? Satan s schemes are to attempt to deny to distort and to cover up the victory that Jesus has won! If Satan can get us to forget the fact that Jesus has won the victory and that victory is ours, then Satan will have gained the advantage over us Paul doesn t want Satan to have the advantage so he reminded us of the defeat of Satan and so did John 1 John 3:8 tells us that Jesus came for this purpose that He might destroy the works of the devil Page 2 of 7
The writer of Hebrews did the same thing Hebrews 2:14 through death (Calvary) Jesus rendered the devil powerless Paul said in Col. 2:15 When Jesus had disarmed the rulers and authorities (principalities and powers), He made a public display having triumphed over them (These rulers and authorities (NAS) these principalities and powers (KJV) speak of the demonic kingdom.) Remember Paul said we don t wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places So, - just as the Roman general would strip away the defeated general s clothing and take away his weapons Jesus has done this to Satan! - just as the Roman general would publicly humiliate the defeated general Jesus has made a public display of Satan! - just as the Roman general triumphed over his enemy Jesus has triumphed over Satan and his demons! and Beloved, Satan doesn t want you to know that!! He just as soon you not have that information!! But, Paul says No, I want you to understand what s happened! Jesus has defeated Satan at Calvary!! We need to understand this profound Biblical doctrine When Jesus went to Calvary, He said, Now is the prince of this world cast out VICTORY IS NOT OUR DESTINATION VICTORY IS OUR POINT OF ORIGIN! We are not moving to victory we are moving from victory and should be walking in victory!! So, the arena of our victory is Calvary, next let s look at 2) THE AREA OF THE VICTORY How vast is our victory? how long, how wide, how big? To what extent is our victory? To whom and to what does the victory apply? Verse 14 always every place What did Paul leave out when he said always and every place? When you ve covered TIME and SPACE you ve covered it all, haven t you? Always Everywhere That s the area of the victory! There is nothing left out! Our Lord Jesus is total Victor!! DO YOU BELIEVE THAT? DO YOU LIVE LIKE THAT? Now, listen His victory is your victory!! When that Roman general came back from defeating the enemy when he had that defeated enemy general chained to his chariot, Page 3 of 7
stripped, shamed and subdued whose victory was that? Was that the Roman general s victory? Of course, it was! Therefore, was it also Rome s victory? Of course, it was! He fought the battle for them! His victory was their victory! Beloved, Jesus victory is OUR victory! We need to understand this!! He fought the battle for us! When HE won, WE won! We are in Him and He is in us! We identify with all that He is It s not victory SOMEDAY! It s victory NOW! Now, does this mean that from now on I m not going to have any difficulty in my life? No, that s not what it means! (I wish it did!!) This does not mean we will live a life of ease free from pain, free from worry, free from grief, free from heartache no, if we think that, we ve missed it! Look at 2 Cor. 2:15-16 again. He always leads us in His triumph But, let s look over at 4:8: We are afflicted in every way The Apostle Paul is not offering you a life of luxury and ease when he tells us Christ causes you always to triumph. He s not teaching health and wealth. He s not teaching name it and claim it. (By the way, you can t have victory unless you have opposition THINK ABOUT IT You cannot know victory unless you know problems, unless you know heartaches, unless you know trials and difficulties and perplexities ) HOW RE YOU GOING TO KNOW VICTORY IF YOU DON T KNOW ANY OPPOSITION? Remember when God told the children of Israel to go in and posses the land? God told them, it s already yours I ve given it to you But, they still had to possess it they still had to do battle with the enemy, didn t they? By the same token, the devil is defeated God has already given us the victory but we re still commanded in Ephesians 6 to be equipped to do battle with him!! The Christian life is not the subtraction of problems It is the addition of power to meet those problems! Thanks be to God who always leads us in His triumph in the Lord Jesus Christ! Miss Bertha Smith was one of our denomination s premier missionaries. Miss Bertha tells this story about a missionary from Los Angeles who went to India to serve on the mission field. When the missionary got to India, things didn t work out for her the way she thought they would. First, she had to move into a house with two older missionaries. These older missionaries were set in their ways, there just wasn t that chemistry and she just could not live comfortably with these older women. Secondly, she had great difficulty learning the Indian language. She studied, but she just couldn t get it. On top of that, she was horribly homesick! She was lonesome for her family and when she would think of them, she would just get so homesick she couldn t seem to overcome it! On top of that, she began to loathe the Indian people. Instead of loving them, she saw them somehow as unlovely people. She saw them as the enemy and she d come there to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them. Page 4 of 7
And on top of all that she came down with amoebic dysentery and was constantly ill and they told her there was no hope of getting well unless she returned to the United States. She was a defeated Christian. She packed and was ready to come back to this country and then, she began to read God s Word. She was reading in the tenth chapter of Joshua and she read about God s commander-in-chief. In this particular chapter, there were five very evil and powerful kings whose armies Joshua and his army had defeated. These kings had hidden themselves in a cave to avoid being captured by Joshua s army, but Joshua discovered them and ordered a large stone to be rolled across the entrance of the cave and posted men to guard them until he could finish fighting the battle. (Joshua was about to give an object lesson to his people he was about to show them by example the victory that God gives and to show his people that the battle was God s battle, not theirs ) So, Joshua brought these five kings out of the cave and called to the leaders of his army and said, You see those five kings? You remember how powerful and how strong you thought they were? I want you, one by one, to come and put your foot on their necks. Now, get a mental picture Here are these five wicked, powerful kings defeated, and lying on the ground and the chiefs of Joshua s army come and they put their foot, one by one, on the necks of these kings. Now, why did Joshua do that? Well, Joshua knew that this was a great object lesson and here s what he said Joshua 10:25: Do not fear or be dismayed! Be strong and courageous, for thus the LORD will do to all your enemies with whom you fight. What did God show to Joshua and to those captains and to us and to that missionary? He showed them that yes, there are enemies to fight, but He has already won and we can put our foot where He has put His and His victory is our victory!! Well, back to the missionary story When the missionary read that passage in Joshua, she realized she had given up the fight she was not walking in the victory Jesus had already won for her at Calvary. She realized that Satan had gotten the advantage over her and this is what she did. She said, I have five problems 1) I can t get along in the home where I live 2) I can t learn the Indian language 3) I m homesick 4) I don t like the Indians 5) I have dysentery and can t get well Page 5 of 7
and she took these five problems and wrote them on five pieces of paper and put them on the ground and went around one at the time and announced the victory of Jesus over them She just put her foot on each of those problems and said, Lord, You re the Victor over this and this and this and this and this and she announced His victory, not knowing how or when but He would be victorious! Well, a young American missionary came along, and fell in love with her, proposed to her and she moved out of the house she had been living in. She called for a teacher and began again to study the language and she learned the language. Her health problems disappeared. She got well. God gave her a great love for the people of India and she became a very effective missionary, sharing the love and gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this is not a formula to follow. The answer may not always be so immediate!it may not always be so dramatic! But, what an example to us of God causing someone to triumph! Let s see one last thing: The Arena Calvary The Area Always Everywhere 3) THE AROMA OF THE VICTORY verse 15 for we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing Paul is obviously using figurative language here. He s saying there ought to be a fragrance about the life of Christians. Our faith should show forth a sweet fragrance. Do you know what you are when you live victoriously? You re incense!! When God sees you entering into the victory of Jesus Christ When God sees you living in triumph and victory that, Beloved, is an aroma to those around you and it is praise to God! When folks see our lives and hear our testimony, they must come face to face with the reality of Jesus Christ. Paul says that our aroma, our fragrance will touch some for salvation and some will see us and stay in their lost condition. Thank God for those who will come to salvation through the testimony of our lives!! Remember Paul and Silas in prison? They d been beaten and put in prison for preaching the gospel and they began to praise God in their cells By the way, what would we have done? We d have said, Hello, Lord, remember me? Look at me, Lord, I ve been doing Your work the best I could and now, I m in prison! But, not Paul and Silas they began to sing and all the prisoners around them couldn t help but hear. They d heard cursing before in prison and taking God s name in vain in prison, but they d never heard anyone singing praises to God! Page 6 of 7
Into that prison there came a fragrance and God smelled it! The prisoners smelled it! And, God sent His earthquake angel down and shook the bars of that prison and the bonds fell off and all the prisoners could have escaped, and the keeper of the prisoner came, expecting everyone to have gotten away, and he started to commit suicide for fear of what would happen to him and what did Paul say Hey, don t harm yourself we re all here Not just Paul and Silas everyone was there no one had left! Folks, that means quite possibly that all the prisoners got saved and then we know the jailer and all his family got saved!! Folks, listen How do you make perfume? You crush the flowers! We re not talking about luxury and ease we re not talking about keeping you out of prison we re talking about real victory that overcomes the world! Let me just say this and then, we ll be finished If you re not walking in the victory, there can be only one of two reasons: 1) you re letting Satan have the advantage over you you re not possessing the victory Jesus has already won for you 2) you re not saved at all Beloved, in order for us to walk behind the chariot as a conqueror, we must first belong to the One who won the victory at Calvary. Are you absolutely certain you re saved? Was there ever a time in your life when you knew you were a sinner and you knew you needed a Savior and you knew you could not save yourself? Was there ever a time when you called upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive you of all your sins and you turned in repentance to the Cross of Calvary and pled the blood of Jesus over your sins? If there is any doubt please get that settled!! Ladies, we re not getting any younger what are you waiting for? If there is any doubt that you are walking behind that chariot of the Lord Jesus, please get it settled today!! Let s pray Father, I pray that You will teach me the lesson of this passage of Scripture this morning. It s a hard lesson, Father. My flesh doesn t want to accept it. My flesh wants to interpret victory as a life of ease. Father, I pray that You ll help us all not to be terrified of our enemy. I pray that You ll give us a mental picture of Satan chained to Jesus chariot, stripped, shamed, subdued. Help us, Lord, to understand that He has given us victory. Greater is He who is in us that he who is in the world. Page 7 of 7