Joshua and Judges: The allotment of the land, part 33 - Predestination - Beholding God's glory.

Title: Joshua and Judges: The allotment of the land, part 33 - Predestination - Beholding God's glory.  

 

Announcements/opening prayer:  

 

 

Glorified: The believer shares in God's glory, which is all the goodness that He is. It is to be shared in time through spiritual growth and will ultimately be shared in heaven.

 

Paul saw firsthand the victory over the enemies of the gospel.

 

2CO 2:14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in His triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.

 

2CO 2:15 For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing;

 

The glory of God, the fragrance of Christ, flows amongst those who will believe and those who will reject it. God is not pleased with the perishing. He is pleased with His Son's death for them.

 

The bitterest enemy of the gospel cannot point to one of its provisions that is adapted or designed to make people miserable, and to destroy them. All its provisions are adapted to salvation; all its arrangements are those of benevolence; all the powers and influences which it originates, are those which are suited to save, not to destroy people.

 

It is like the perfect medicine that is able to heal anyone who takes it. It cannot destroy. It can only save.

 

"We indeed bear the sweet odor of Christ's gospel to all; but all who participate in it do not experience its healing effects. Thus, to diseased eyes even the light of heaven is noxious; yet the sun does not bring the injury. And to those in a fever, honey is bitter; yet it is sweet nevertheless. Vultures too, it is said, fly away from sweet odors of myrrh; yet myrrh is myrrh though the vultures avoid it, Thus, if some be saved, though others perish, the gospel retains its own virtue, and we the preachers of it remain just as we are; and the gospel retains its sweet fragrance and healing properties, though some may disbelieve and abuse it, and perish." [Theodoret]

 

The same sun hardens clay and softens wax. The sun does not change and neither does the gospel.

 

People do not perish because of the gospel. They perish in their sin of rejecting it. They choose their own peril.

 

The preaching of the gospel, and the offers of life, are often the occasion of the deeper guilt of the sinner. Often he becomes enraged. This is not the fault of the gospel or its ministers.

 

He gives vent to the deep malignity of his soul. He opposes the gospel with malice and infuriated anger, His eye kindles with indignation, and his lip curls with pride and scorn. He is profane and blasphemous; and the offering of the gospel to him is the occasion of exciting deep and malignant passions against God, against the Savior, against His ministers. Against the gospel, people often manifest the same malignity and scorn which they did against the Savior himself. Yet this is not the fault of the gospel, nor of the ministers of it. It is the fault of sinners themselves; and while there can be no doubt that such a rejection of the gospel will produce their deeper condemnation, and that it is a savor of death unto death unto them; still the gospel is good and benevolent, and still God will be pleased with those who faithfully offer its provisions, and who urge it on the attention of people.

 

2CO 2:15 For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing;

 

2CO 2:16 to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?

 

Death to death: those separated from God who reject Christ continue down that slope. Life to life: the living Savior giving life to the believer.

 

The gospel confirms the death of those who reject it. They are dead in their trespasses and sins and Christ has offered to make them alive. That life, given freely, without cost, is the great manifestation of the glory of God. Those who reject it choose death and so they proceed from death to death.

 

"And who is adequate for these things?" Who is worthy of such a charge? Who can undertake the ministry without trembling and feeling inadequate?

 

Paul reveals his humility and his understanding of the weight of the ministry. The glory of God in the world of men is a matter of life and death. Only Christ and the gospel hold the power of life and both He and His gospel have been placed in the life of the believer so that he may reveal it. Those who seek the depths of Christianity with any other attitude are looking only to themselves. They have not yet seen what is truly at stake.

 

Every believer takes upon himself the arduous and responsible work of the ministry. It is not arduous due to the amount of work or that the work is burdensome or heavy, the work is heavy with importance since its influence must be felt either in the eternal salvation, or the eternal ruin of the soul. Who is worthy of so important a charge? Who can undertake it without trembling? Who can engage in it without feeling that he is in himself unfit for it, and that he needs constant divine grace? This is an exclamation which anyone may well make in view of the responsibilities of the work of the ministry.

 

Paul now reveals those who do not have an attitude of awe and inadequacy before the truth of God, but rather, who actually peddle the word of God as a commodity with the hope of receiving wealth and approbation.

 

2CO 2:17 For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.

 

Some of the false teachers in Corinth mixed scripture with human philosophy and others were Judiazers who sought to bring believers back under the letter of the law. They taught this falsehood for a price as they brought their letters of recommendation from various schools and wise men.

 

The word peddling is only used here in the NT and it refers to a small dealer especially of wine who were often known to water it down for increased profit.

 

These were common in the ancient world and were often known to dilute their wine with water or juice for profit. These not only sold their teaching but they watered down the scripture with human philosophy.

 

The opposite is true of the minister of the gospel and God's knowledge. It is offered without cost since the glory of God may be seen and known by all men and not only to those who can afford it. The gospel is also concentrated and direct. The person of Christ and the work of Christ is not diluted. The glory of God cannot be mixed with any human so-called wisdom. It is simple. The gospel does not have to be dressed up with any fancy human accessories.

 

The gospel is simple, clear, and to the point. It is not watered down with any human thought.

 

2CO 2:17 For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.

 

We speak in the sight of God. For the humble believer who makes an issue out of the gospel alone, simple and pure and occupied only with the person of Christ, this gives great comfort. The fact that God is watching us represent His Son should not give us fear but comfort and joy.

 

2CO 3:1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some [false teachers peddling the word], letters of commendation to you or from you?

 

In the Roman world it was common when traveling to bring a letter of introduction to be presented to those with whom you would stay. Depending on who wrote the letter it would have more or less prestige. Paul was sent by God and so needs no letter.   

 

2CO 3:2 You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men;

 

Rather than a letter of recommendation Paul references the life of Christ that many Corinthians enjoy due to Paul's ministry and faithful labor. Their lives are his letter from God.

 

Paul doesn't need a commendation when believers are there in Corinth, living in the light of the glory of God because of the gospel that Paul brought to them by God's charge.

 

"written in our hearts" - the believers are also a letter in Paul and his men as a testimony from God that they are truly sent by Him as ministers.

 

2CO 3:3 being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts.