[Music]
listen grab your bibles this morning and
turn if you would the second
corinthians second corinthians as we
continue on and now we are an amazing
portion of scripture in fact go ahead
and turn that 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
may be 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 as 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 wahoos
i'm gonna go there today
why because at least twice a week i go
minimum twice a week i pay homage
at wahoos
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 wahoos
regularly
i don't become a fish
you can be religious and go through all
of the movies 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 raise
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 safe
keeping 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 asos or listen in those days also
previous troas you know it by the name
of
of troy you 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 open what does the bible say
to me by the lord god open the door
listen this excites me and you instantly
because as christians there's nothing we
want more than god to open doors or
closed 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 in 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
beautiful uh area of the of the world
and so paul is there but his heart is
long and 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 right 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 not 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
gonna 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 tracks 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 track 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 corn 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 2000
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
succumb 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 the red
square in front of london'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 and 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 him 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 him 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
whitfield preaching and teaching in
england
and god lays it 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 i make it i
made this part 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 corinth 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 this is awesome
you guys need to put a little mark a
star something between verse 13 and 14.
and i'll tell you why it says 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 true
uh to corinth he made it
and they 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 what'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 and 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 um
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 our 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 senate
the priests of the various gods
by the way they had various incense
sensors
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 victories 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 junior it's none of that
stuff that i like
her favorite ride at two and a half
years old it 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
right 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 barboza is
pounding the shoreline and boom and the
water splashing and the cannon fire is
going and the bucklers the 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 have i been on that
ride since i was a kid i can't tell 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 uh
the 70s at calvary costa mesa
and i wrote down what i could remember
but there but there's a whole song of
this and and christians used to sing it
on the parts of the caribbean right it's
yoho yoho 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 um
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 barboza and all the gang at the
ride
he made a public spectacle of them
triumphant there is the word
over the minutes
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 raise 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 seeds he says
and through us diffuses
the fragrance of his knowledge in every
place this is a word picture of an old
of the old testament the christian watch
this defuses remember the censor 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
uh 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 bar barbecued uh
oxen 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 too
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 see that
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 defuse in every place
have you ever shaken someone's hand or
hug 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 at least 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
in 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 could i already okay
all that stuff that's not that's not
what i remember the most though vividly
was the smell in a in a and one of the
biggest metropolis 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 gonna 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 listen 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 ii 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've helped you behold now is the
acceptable time behold now is the day of
salvation
wow
second corinthians 4
verse 3 listen to this
that's the good news 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
is 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 life
leading to life 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
so as 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 qualify
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 now
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 and
sitting seated
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
[Music]
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