One Last Loving Defense
First B Jackson
2016-01-03

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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Amen. So, this, there it is. So, we're up to, for those of you who've been following along, second Corinthians twelve thirteen is where we left off. So, we're picking up in 14 and it looks like a lot. It's it's twelve fourteen to thirteen fourteen.

That's a chapter and a half. It is the last chapter and a half in second Corinthians and we've been studying this. I I didn't even look back. Usually, when we get to the end of one, I I get really pensive and thinking about it. I look back and see when we started.

It's been about six or seven months probably, I think. Maybe. Somewhere in there that we've been studying second Corinthians together and this closing, I tried to dice it up. I knew that the kids were gonna be in here instead of downstairs this morning. So, I tried to cut it in small pieces for kids, you know, and it didn't work.

Cutting it up into little pieces just didn't work. This is a big hunk of scripture but I think that it kinda all goes together and so we're gonna go with it the size that it is. Try to chew it a little at a time as we go this morning but we're gonna leave it all as one big steak, okay? One, last loving defense from Paul. One last loving defense and you know, he's been defending either himself or his message for the whole book of second Corinthians because there are people who oppose him at the church at Corinth.

I won't necessarily say that they're Christians who are opposing him but they're purporting to be. He calls him the super apostles and he calls him the false apostles different times throughout this book. So, he's given one last loving defense of the gospel. Then, he gives an edgy and parental warning and then, it's a beautiful benediction. So, I hope to close the service today just with Paul's words, the class four verses of this book are a very very pretty benediction to bless you out the door, okay?

But before we get there, it's one last loving defense and an edgy yet parental warning. That's what you can look for. I was not able to superimpose any other structure on this today. So, just listen for the flow. He loves these people and I told you this in the first message I remember saying, read this book as if Paul really really does love him.

Don't read it as a legalist and don't read it as somebody who is all about moral uprightness because he has been variously translated that way throughout both first and second Corinthians but it's because he loves him. Why does God tell us not to do the things he tells us not to do? Because those things hurt us. They hurt us and they hurt our chances of being right with him and so he gives us that. It's out of a heart of love that he's going.

Now, I say all that. Second Corinthians twelve fourteen to thirteen fourteen is where we're gonna be but we're gonna start off in Jeremiah, okay? So, Jeremiah, he refers to this at least twice in his passage but the heart of it, I think, is contained in this. So, this section is a section where he has the grace of God and the mercy of God extended but he also speaks of the justice, righteousness, and judgement of almighty God against those who are proud and oppose him. So, both of those things are held in check.

I have admitted my mercy tendencies. Y'all hear it every single Sunday. I admit that on the front side. So, when we go through, listen to Jeremiah and the heart of this passage especially thus saith the Lord what God says and then, when we go into Paul, let this color what you're hearing here. After Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had taken into exile from Jerusalem, Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, together with the officials of Judah, the craftsman, and the metal workers, and had brought them to Babylon, the Lord showed me, that's Jeremiah that's speaking.

The Lord showed me, Jeremiah, this vision. Behold, two baskets of figs placed before the temple of the Lord. One basket had very good figs like first ripe figs but the other basket had very bad figs so bad that they could not be eaten and the Lord said to me, that's Jeremiah, okay? The Lord said to me, what do you see, Jeremiah? And I said, figs, the good figs very good and the bad figs very bad.

So bad that they cannot be eaten. Then, the word of the Lord came to me. That's Jeremiah and thus, says the Lord, the God of Israel. Y'all know who Jeremiah is? Let me back up.

Back away from the text for just a second. Jeremiah is a prophet of God. Sometimes, you hear him called the weeping prophet. He was a prophet during a very difficult time in the history of Israel and Judah and he is a prophet to the nations. He's speaking to everyone around but he has a specific word from God and it's a message of judgement and it's not a popular message and people don't listen very well to talk to unpopular messages.

And so he has forty years of basically fruitless ministry. Yet, Jeremiah was faithful. He's faithful to the message that God gave him but people didn't listen to him and he kept preaching it. In fact, there's one place where he says, I gave them the message that you gave me just as you gave it to me, lord. I wrote it down.

I gave it to him. They wrapped it a rock up in it and threw it in the river and he says, Jeremiah, write this down. He proceeds to give him exactly the same message. Multiple times, he gives the same message but people, for the most part, disregarded his message. So, this is one of those messages of judgement.

The word of the Lord came to me, Jeremiah, and said, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, like these good figs, so I will regard. I'm gonna look upon these, regard. I'm gonna regard these as good, the exiles from Judah, whom I have sent away from this place. Now, they've been exiled. You would think, oh, they were bad guys and so they got shipped off.

God says, I'm the one who's removing you. I'm the one who's exiling you. It seems like a bad time but I'm pulling you out. So, I will regard as good the exiles from Judah whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. I will set my eyes on them for good and I will bring them back to this land.

I will build them up and I will not tear them down. I will plant them and not pluck them up. I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord and they shall be my people and I will be their God. For they shall return to me with their whole heart. But thus, says the Lord, like the bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten, so will I treat Zedekiah, the king of Judah, proud man, resistant to Jeremiah's instruction.

So, will I treat Zedekiah, the king of Judah, his officials, the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt. I will make them a horror and in Hebrew, it's a horror for evil. I will make them a horror for evil to all those kingdoms of the earth to be a reproach, a byword, a taunt, and a curse in all the places where I shall drive them and I will send sword and famine and pestilence upon them until they shall be utterly destroyed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers. God had extended them a blessing which they were rejecting out of hand. They were holding on to the wrong reasons.

They're holding things on and God says, utterly destroyed. He resists the proud. He gives grace to the humble and so that's a message from Jeremiah. Take it for what it says, especially this part. I will build them up and not tear them down.

I'll plant them and not pluck them up. I will give them a heart to know that I'm the Lord. Okay. Now, we'll go forward and get into second Corinthians. Here we are at verse 14.

Here for the third time, I'm ready to come to you. Sounds like he's warning him in advance. I'm headed that way. Here for the third time, I'm preparing myself. I am making ready to come to you and I will not be a burden.

He's already defended himself for the last 12 verses or so, 13 verses. He's been saying that I'm not after your money. I wasn't after your money in the first place. I will not be a burden to you. For I seek not what is yours but you.

I seek not what is yours but you. I'm not trying to get more material possessions. I'm not trying to get anything that you've got. I'm not trying to sneak in in any way. I'm sincerely just coming to you with the message of God just like Jeremiah had come very sincerely with the message that God had given him.

I'm coming to you like this. I'm not seeking what is yours but you. I want your heart. I'm after you. I love you.

For children are not obligated to save up for their parents but parents for their children. Paul sees himself as a parental figure in this arrangement with the Corinthians. He is a father of that church. Now, of course, Christ builds up the church. You can use either the family figure and have him be the father figure.

He sees them as his children in faith. He says that about Timothy, Titus, and he says that about the sec the Corinthians. For children are not obligated to save up for their parents. Do do parents inherit from their kids? Maybe professional football players.

But other than that, usually, it's the parents are saving up for their kids. But parents for their children. So, he sees himself as a father role. He sees himself as a farmer role too and that he is the one who planted that church and he cares about that church. I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls.

It's not about what is yours, it's about you, your souls, your lives. If I love you more, am I to be loved less? Actually, when he says but you, not yours but you and for your souls, those two things go together and show. He's just sincere about what he's sharing with him, right? He's not trying to sneak up on him.

He's not being crafty. I'll most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. Now, if I love you more, am I to be loved less? Sometimes when you give somebody something for free, they appreciate it less than if they had to pay a little something for it, right? Do you agree with that?

Sometimes, we tack on a little, we'll pay $10 for for this thing that cost a 150 so that you'll actually value it rather than something given to you. Well, Paul had been giving them all of his service in the Lord. He'd been given that free because he's given it as if unto the Lord. He didn't expect anything from them. He knew in Corinth, money was very important.

So, he was not preaching to try to extract from them. He was giving it freely. If I love you more and show you that by not charging you anything from it, am I to be loved less for that? Are you gonna devalue me because I'm actually loving you more than these other guys, the super apostles, the false apostles? But granting that I myself did not burden you.

Now, can we grant that? Paul had been with these people. He's saying he's coming for the third time. He'd been with him twice before. The first time he got there, he spent eighteen months.

He spent eighteen months. So, a year and a half, he knew these people. He knew who they were. He knew when they accepted Christ. He knew their kids.

He knew everything about em just like I know y'all, most of y'all. Some of y'all. Granting that I, myself, did not burden you, Paul says, you you remember when I was there what I was like, right? I came for that first time and I stayed eighteen months with you. I didn't charge anything.

Hung out with you the whole time and then, I came back and what I saw was that my family, this church that had started, my kids were acting up in a pretty bad way. In fact, I like the agricultural metaphor here better. I had planted this crop and God was given the increase and it was coming up and when I came back on that mournful visit for a few weeks, when I came back, I saw that there was a blight on my plants. There's a blight on the plants and it was sin, unrepentance, whatever it was, it was sin. There's something there and there were other plants in that garden that were growing up, that were not fruitful, that were actually weeds that were strangling out the other plants.

He said, when I came back, that's what I saw. Now, you can hear his heart right there just but granting that I myself did not burden you. I was crafty, you say. Now, this is obviously one of the things that the super apostles or his opposition there in Corinth had been saying. Oh yeah, Paul sneaky, you can't trust him.

He says he doesn't take anything but hey, he sent Titus to get that collection. What do you think? You think, you think he's not doing anything with that? Come on. Granting that I myself did not burden you.

I was crafty, you say, and got the better of you by deceit. The only other place that you see that word craftiness like that, we we covered it in a few weeks ago in the eleventh chapter, second Corinthians but I'm afraid as the serpent deceived Eve, it's always used about Satan, craftiness. I'm afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and the purity of devotion to Christ. The good old gospel message is not difficult to understand. We all have sinned, fall short of the glory of God.

Jesus was the only perfect one and he gave his life as a ransom for many. Whoever or whosoever would accept it. That's the simple good old gospel message right there and to be led away from that by theology or by detractors or by the philosophies of men. He said, I'm afraid the serpent deceived thee by his craftiness. Your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity, devotion to Christ.

Did I take advantage of you through any of those that I sent to you? Now, Titus had started them preparing a collection but had not actually collected it. The people were piling the money up and getting it ready or they were supposed to be but Titus had never taken the collection from him. They were getting it ready for Jerusalem anyway. Paul had told him that.

He's told him that multiple times in this book. Did I take advantage of you through any of those whom I sent to you? In English, it might not be obvious. In Greek, it's obvious. No.

No. I did not. I urged Titus to go. Y'all love Titus, right? I did urge him to go.

I felt like it was the that God was saying, hey, send Titus. I was busy with other things and so I sent Titus to you. Y'all love him? He just gotten a good report back from Titus. Titus probably sitting next to him in Macedonia when he's writing this letter.

I urged Titus to go and I sent another brother with him. He had said earlier that this other brother was a trusted evangelist, trusted guy. I urged Titus and I sent that other brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? In English, it's not all that obvious.

In in Greek, it demands a no. No. Titus did not take advantage of you. We all agree on that, right? Did we not act in the same spirit?

Now, both of em are listening to the Holy Spirit's call in their life. Both of em are seeking the best for the Corinthians. Do we not act in the same spirit? That one's a yes. Yes, you did act in the same spirit.

Just like you came along, planted the church, he came along, and sought to take care of this garden or your family. Did we not take the same steps? In his steps? Following the steps of the savior. Did we not take the same steps?

Yes. Yes, Paul. You did. You have to answer it that way. So, he's defending himself.

You think he's defending himself? Or you think he's defending the good old gospel message? What he says in the very next verse is this, have you been thinking all along that we've been defending ourselves to you? Do you get that? Have you been thinking all this time that what we've been doing in these in these, you know, 13 chapters so far, 12 chapters anyway.

Have you been thinking all along that we've been defending ourselves to you? No. We're taking our call seriously to manage this garden that God is growing up. It's in the sight of God that we've been speaking in Christ. Everything that we've said to you.

In Christ and all for your upbuilding. This is why I started with Jeremiah. Upbuilding is pretty obvious reference there and then it's an even more overt reference later on and all of this is for your upbuilding, beloved. So, as harsh as these last four chapters are in Corinthians, he still peppers it the whole time with beloved. I love you.

I care for you and he's encouraging and he's hopeful. He knows that by and large, the church full of Christians but there are a few detractors. There are few that are divisive. There are few that are trying to tear things apart. Weeding, it needs some weeding.

There's some weeds in there. It's for your upbuilding, beloved. For I fear that perhaps, and he doesn't say it for certain because he's gotten a good report from Titus. He knows that always though there's the possibility of weeds. Always, there's a possibility of people trying to tear down.

So, he says, for I fear that perhaps when I come, I may not find you as I wish and that when that you may not find me as you wish, that perhaps, maybe, perhaps, there may be among you quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. Now, every one of those things he's mentioned in first Corinthians to him, most of em he's touched on in second Corinthians at some point but if you're looking for a list of sin, here it is. Okay, if every message has to be about sin and they all should be in some way, there's the list right there. Quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. If we were really, really honest with ourselves, these are probably more of a draw for most of us than the biggies that we talk about a lot today.

The big sins. Quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. Now, this is what Paul fears that perhaps is going on. He knows the human tendency is to be drawn away from the center, good old gospel message either towards legalism or towards license and all the time, these things can go on either side of that, right? Are you with me?

Everybody still with me? Okay. So, the parental warning I talked about. He's already set himself up as a father type figure that they are to inherit from him and not the other way around. He's not enriching himself off of their backs.

Parental warning. I I love this. Kistemacher in his commentary about this says that first sentence where he starts this warning is a syntactical parallel that stresses the negative. I just thought that was cool. And so where he says, I may find you not as I wish, and you may find me not as you wish.

Now, the parental warning in here. Have any of you ever had a parent that said something along these lines? They've told you to go clean up your room. Take care of your business back there in your room. I know it's filthy.

I know it's nasty. I know it was awful. I know you know the right way. And so they say, hey, I'm coming back there. I'm headed back there and you know how things are supposed to be.

So, I'm giving you a heads up. I'm coming back there. He's already done that right once and he says, I hope that when I get back there, I find things like I ought to find things. I hope that I find things like I wish but I may not. I fear that perhaps you might not have done everything.

You might have stuffed the toys under the bed. You might not have made up your bed. You might not have taken care of business. It might just be filthy back there. You might have a pizza box under there for all I know.

I may find you not as I wish and you may find me not as you wish. For the teenagers and children here, I may find you not as I wish. That will make me angry. And you may find me not as you wish. That may make you sad or confused or lonely or whatever those other two are.

Okay. I don't get emojis very much. For I fear that perhaps when I come, I may not find you as I wish. This is a parental warning. It's the parental, hey, everybody.

I just want you to know, I'm coming back there. You're getting a fair warning in advance. You know, and I trust that most of you know Jesus already and so, act like it. Let your doing follow your being. You are Christians.

Let your doing follow your being. Don't be led astray by the people who tell you it doesn't matter. He goes on. So, this is what he's afraid he'll find in thirteen twenty, quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder and if we're honest, I think those are the things most of us are more prone to. Although, 21 covers some more fears.

I fear that when I come again, Paul says, my God may humble me before you because I'm confident that y'all are Christians and that you're doing his will and that you're doing the good that you know to do. But I'm I'm afraid that when I get there, God's gonna humble me because I'm gonna be mourning over many of those who had sinned earlier. You remember first Corinthians what that was all about? You remember his mournful visit where he was mourning over the sin of these people, the blight on his plants, the weeds that were trying to convince him that blight's fine, no problem. Over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented, what's Paul afraid he will find in 1321?

Unrepentance is the main thing. Unrepentance is not turning away from your sin. Metanoeo, to repent is to change your mind, to turn around, a complete turn. Unrepentance is continuing in the direction of your sin. Whichever way that is.

Whether it's legalistic or license. Unrepentance is not dropping your sin, not turning away from it. And he says, specifically from impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality. We're prone to those two but it's a slight variation in the list there. But the repentance is for any of it.

I fear that I may have to mourn for those who have not repented of impurity, sexual morality, and sensuality. That they have practiced. Now, they have practiced there is an imperfect tense verb and so it's a past tense verb that says what you habitually did in the past. The way that you have been habitually in the past, that you've not repented from it. So, it may be whatever it is.

I'll let you fill in your own sin. Whatever it is that you practice in the past, it's really easy. Even after you've come to the good old gospel way, seeing the greatness of God, the goodness of Jesus, the great feeling of forgiveness. It is still fairly easy to be drawn back into those bad patterns in your life and so he's saying, I'm afraid that when I get there, I'm gonna see that that's what's happened. Some of you have not repented from those things.

Now, the edgy warning. It's edgy. This is just dictionary definition. Tense, nervous, or irritable and this is the most tense, nervous, or irritable that I think I hear Paul at least in this book. Galatians, oh foolish Galatians.

That's pretty tense too but edgy is tense, nervous, or irritable. He became edgy and defensive as a using it in a sentence. Tense, nervous, on edge, anxious, apprehensive, uneasy, and unsettled. Now, when I think of Paul, I don't think of him being this way. But when he is considering this flock and he's considering the church, the people, his plants that he's planted, God's given the increase, and then he sees weeds trying to strangle him out and he sees blight.

He becomes tense, nervous, and edgy because it's a hard thing to go in and prune, right? It's a hard thing to go in and cut off that blight. He doesn't want to do it because it's hard. It's hard for the planet. It's hard for people.

So, 13, he gets a little bit more edgy. This is the third time people I've I'm counting to three. Third time, I'm coming to see you. Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. Wait a second, this is Paul, preacher of grace, preacher of the mercy of God and now he's quoting Deuteronomy.

He's quoting law here and saying, every charge. Now, we're going to take sin seriously. We really are going to pay attention to this. Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. Be ready to witness to it too.

We're going to take this seriously. When we come back through, we're going to get rid of this blight. I'm coming for a reason this time. I warned those who sinned before, first warning, warn those who sinned before and all of the others in front of the assembly, I warned you and I warned them now while I'm absent in this letter. I'm giving you a heads up.

Here I come. I'm coming down the hall. I hope your bedroom looks like it's supposed to. Yes. Just as I did when present on my second visit, the mournful visit where he was heartbroken over them, over their sin.

They're turning away from God. That if I come again, I told you this when I was there that if I come again, I will not spare them. He has the authority to do this. He's God's man. He presented them with this gospel in the first place.

He's been given the authority. He's argued that in first and second Corinthians. Since you seek proof that Christ is speaking in me. Now, some versions say, I will come again. I will not spare you since you're looking for Christ to be doing something.

He's going to do something alright. I'm bringing, I'm bringing the sword. I'm coming and I'm going to have to deal with it. He's not weak in dealing with you but he's powerful among you. He's powerful enough for you Christians to stand up against these people who are selling you this bill of goods.

The hogwash that they're selling you. For he was crucified in weakness but he lives by the power of God. That power of God is accessible. It's accessible for you, Christians. That's what Paul is saying.

It is accessible. Christ lives by the power of God. We're also weak in him but in dealing with you, we will live with him by the power of God. That power of God is available. It's available to deal with your sin in your own life and he'll get to that furthermore in a minute here.

But it's available to Paul and Paul has it and he knows and he can see things. The mournful visit, he was heartbroken over and he's been trying to get back there for some time and when he comes this time, he knows he has to deal with it. Now, I read Paul now a lot more merciful than I did in the past because I'm in this position. He wants for them to do right without having to have them come down hard, without the swift kick in the rear. So he says in thirteen five, and I've heard this verse a lot lately, quoted a lot lately.

Examine yourselves. He say, you do the examining. Instead of you sitting up there and feel like you're sitting in judgement over the theology of the preacher or you're sitting up there in judgement of theology of somebody else or the Christology, what role Christ actually plays in all of this? What instead of questioning that, he says, examine yourselves. Turn turn the lens the opposite direction.

Look into yourself. Examine yourselves to see whether you are actually in the Christian faith. Whether you're actually have accepted this good old gospel message. Whether you have accepted Christ's perfect life in place of your imperfect one. Where you lay down your will to align it with his.

You look for his will. Examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith and be honest about it. See whether you really want Christ. Test yourselves. He says it again.

Test yourselves and that the examine yourselves and test yourselves, there are couple different things. Go positively, prove it to yourself that you are, and negatively, test and make sure that's true. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, Corinthians, that Jesus Christ is in you? Do you not realize that? Do you not get that?

And he actually, right here, that demands a yes response too. Yes, Christ is in me. Well, if he's in you, start acting like it. And if you are the one that's in control, you're not in the faith. If you're the one, if you're living by your will, Jesus Christ, when he was in the garden said, lord, not my will but yours be done.

Are you with me? It's a ground level of Christian faith right there. It is not that you set yourself in judgement up over Christ but that you realize that he is the one who lived a perfect life and he will be your judge. So, you need to look with the same lenses that he does and go, lord, help me a sinner. Help me, show me what it is.

Cleanse me from it or do you not realize this about yourself that Christ Jesus is in you? Unless indeed you fail to meet the test. If you're set up where you're judging, you failed the test. If your will is the most important, if your brain, your intellect is the most important, you don't bow the knee to him, then you failed the test. I've heard this used a lot lately to say, you can't have any assurance of your salvation and you can.

Flat can. You know why? That's why I put six on this. I hope that you all will find out that we've not failed that test. We bow the knee to Christ.

Paul is humble throughout his writings. I hope that you will find that we have not failed the test. This list a minute ago where it was conceit is in there, wherever that was. Keep on going. Conceit.

Remember what he said last week? He said that God gave him that thorn in the flesh so that he would not become what? Conceited. He's dealing with the sin that's in his life. He's been given the power of God to deal with it.

He goes on forward. Let me see if I can find where I was. There we go. I hope that you will find out that we have not failed the test But we pray to God that you may not do wrong. Not that we may appear to have met the test.

Does this make sense? Paul's not saying, my my relationship with Christ does not really depend on how you accept my message or not. If what I'm preaching is the gospel message, and you accept it, that changes who you are, which changes what you do. Amen. He says, we pray to God that you may not do wrong.

I don't want you morally to live a morally unkempt life. Yeah, that's right. I hope that you will do the right thing but it's not because of the way it makes me look. Not that I may appear to have met the test but that you may actually do what is right. Does that make sense to you?

He wants you to do what's right because of who you are not because of how it looks. Though we may seem to have failed, even if I seem to have failed, I don't care how it makes me look as long as you are who you are in Christ. For we cannot do anything against the truth but only for the truth. He struggles and strives to always remain clear that the gospel is the gospel regardless of self. For we are glad, so glad when we are weak and you are strong.

We're so glad your restoration is what we pray for. Now, restoration, the Greek word right there is and it means a perfecting or a making fit. Restoration is a really good translation of it. The the other place where this one is used is in Mark's gospel when he says and the disciples were with their nets. They were restoring their nets to working order.

Now, Christ had already saved them and had already cleaned them up and Paul is saying, do your part. Actually, your restoration, you restoring yourselves is what we pray for. You restoring yourselves now. Under the power of God, he gives you the power to do it. It's accessible.

As Bob says, he has extended the hand. He's extended the power to you but grab hold. You restore yourselves under the power of God. That's what we pray for all the time for all of y'all. A perfecting or a making fit, making it fit for use.

Your restoration is what we pray for. So, I'm fine. When y'all are doing well, I don't care how it makes me look. I'm fine because your restoration is what I'm praying for. It is for this reason that I have written or I am writing these things.

While I'm away from you, that when I come, I may not have to be severe in my use of authority. I see Paul as a mercy guy. He'd much rather write a strong letter ahead of time. Give him a good warning ahead of time and let him take his words. Let him sink in.

Let him pray before God as they test themselves and examine themselves. Lord, help me. Be merciful unto me, a sinner. Show me your way and I will follow it. He'd rather him do that than when he gets there, have to come down on him hard.

I understand that. I don't like having unpleasant meeting. You know what I mean? I understand it because I don't want it to be that way either. I like that God's given us warnings.

For this reason, I write these things while I'm away from you that when I come, I may not have to be severe in my use of the authority that the Lord has given me and Paul had a different type of authority certainly than I do. Apostolic head directly talked to Jesus. Last week, we talked about his divine revelation, his certain call. So that I may not have to be severe in my use of the authority that the Lord has given me for what? He gave him the authority for building them up and not for tearing them down.

There's that reference to Jeremiah again. Now, that might think, you're going out of the way. No, this is definitely a reference to Jeremiah and here it is. Think about this Christian. Majority of people in the stream on the sound of my voice, I know they all have accepted the good old gospel way.

You may have been at times pulled back into an old life. You may have been tempted to move towards legalism because it's easier to deal with when there are clear distinctions rather than gray areas. Think about Jesus Christ saying this to you. Thus, says the Lord. I will set my eyes on them for good.

So, I'm setting Jesus Christ is saying, I'm setting my eyes on you, Christian, for your good and I will bring you back into this land, this good old gospel path. I'll pull you up out of this ditch if that's the one you're in or this ditch if that's the one you're in. I will set my eyes on you for good and I will bring you back into this land. Humble yourself. I will bring and build them up and I will not tear them down.

I will plant them and not pluck them up. I will give them a heart to know that I'm the Lord and they shall be my people and I will be their God. Four, they shall return to me with their whole heart. As much as you are able in your conscious mind and your consciousness of your life, if you turn to Jesus and say, help me, lord, I'm a sinner. He always responds to that call of faith.

Always. The problem with that verse, test yourself, examine yourselves is when people say, examine yourselves, you're not even Christian at all. I'm looking at your life and I'm seeing, no, it doesn't say examine other people and see how they're living their lives and then condemn them. It says, examine yourself. Test yourself to see whether you be in the faith.

If you don't know, look at first John. It's like two or three pages long. First John one through five. Look at there and it has several different tests. Are you loving the brothers and sisters in Christ?

Are you walking in the light? Are you trying to hide your evil deeds, walking in darkness? There are some of those. It's a couple pages long. You can look at it.

It's pretty straightforward. They shall return to me with their whole heart. First John one nine says, here it is, Bob. It's always in every message it feels like. If we're confessing our sins, he's faithful and just to be forgiving our sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness.

So, let me pray. Lord God, I'm coming to you right now and I pray that everyone else in this room is coming to you right now too lord and saying, lord, cleanse me. Take this stuff, this stuff that I'm dealing with that I've been trying to deal with myself. Will you deal with it? Give me the power.

Let me reach up, grab that hand that's been extended. I confess my lack and I pray for your help. In Jesus name, amen. So, I think that that's it. The last slides I have are for a benediction but we're going to sing Cleanse Me, right?

Yep. Alright, would you stand with me? And if you don't mean it, just okay? Of second Corinthians and do you, are you on that there, Renzy? There it is.

It's from second Corinthians thirteen eleven through 14. Rejoice. Be happy about it. God's offered you his power, the good old gospel way. Rejoice in that.

Aim for restoration. Make your nets ready. Do what you can. God's given you the power. Comfort one another because it ain't easy.

Agree with one another. Unity is really important. Live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss.

Didn't go into that one. I actually like the idea of a holy kiss. Show it. Show people that you love em. Mean it when you embrace, when you see someone.

Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints, think about that. All over the whole wide world, there are people who've attached themselves to this one good old gospel message to Christ. All of those saints greet you and will be for eternity. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God, the father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Amen. I told the first service this too, that I tend to be in the mercy ditch. I think it's obvious from my preaching that I lean towards mercy but if you need a good swift kick in the rear, I have a list of people and I will send you to them, alright? So, trust me, the invitation is not just during the last song. It's all week long.

We're here all the time and I'm easy to get in touch with. I'd love to talk to you. So, we love you. Grace, love, and fellowship be with y'all. Amen.

Amen.