Hey everybody. Welcome back to another edition of the daily Bible podcast to eight ease Wednesday, December 4th. And we are starting a brand new book, second Corinthians today, which is obviously. The second letter to the Corinthians that we have from Paul in our Bibles little foreshadowing there. But before we get in there, Uh, wanted to just encourage you all to be active in pursuing people with invitations for our Christmas services coming up, we talked about this. On Sunday during our announcements, but I just want to stress it again. This time of year is one where, and people are expecting the church to kind of take center stage at Christmas, especially in our culture around here in north Texas. Uh, this is the time of year people think about, okay. Yeah. The birth of Jesus people are expecting. Uh, people to talk about Jesus, people are planning to go to Christmas Eve services. And my guess is a lot of people are, are either just planning to go to the one they've always gone to because it's convenient or. Uh, maybe they're just going to find one and, and you have an opportunity to say, Hey, we have one at our church and you should come join us. You would be more than welcome to, to be with us. December 24th, 4:00 PM. Campus Bible church. In Frisco there at founders classical academy. We'd love to have you and your family. Do you want us candlelight service? We're going to have some singing, some hymns. We're going to hear a message on joy as it pertains to Christmas. So. Uh, be active in your community, invite people to join you for church. People want to be there. In fact, I was just, uh, this week. I'm getting my haircut and you can pray for Anna and hopefully she'll end up joining us, but she was giving me a haircut and we got to talking and she asked me what I do. I said, I'm a pastor. She was like, oh, what church? And I told her. Uh, usually there's a look of blank. Unfamiliarity on their face because we're, we're still pretty new here. So I told her, I said, Hey, we're, we're a church plant where we're new here. But she said, oh, well, You know, w what, what do you guys have going on there? And so we started to talking and at the end of it, she said, well, I'm looking for a new church. I said, man, we'd love to have you join us at compass. And so I got her. A card from my car as well as one of our Christmas invitation cards. So keep a stack of those with you, because you never know when God's going to bring somebody across your path, who you can invite to join us for Christmas at compass. And so pray for Anna. Hopefully she'll join us there. And, uh, find that, find out that, uh, that we're, uh, A good group of people to be around and even more importantly, I have an opportunity if she doesn't know Christ, I don't know. I think she professes to be a believer. I don't know. Um, but, uh, but hopefully she will find out that we are a group of people that love Jesus and that she'll want to love Jesus alongside us potentially. So. Uh, invite people to our Christmas services, all that, to say, just a PSA, public service announcement to encourage you, invite people to Christmas at campus. Grab a stack. And get out into your neighborhoods, your communities, the grocery stores, the car dealers and everything else. Uh, and invite people to Christmas card dealers. Uh, oil change places, whatever. Um, leave some cars behind and who knows what God will do. We are hoping and praying for a full service for Christmas Eve. Well, let's jump into second Corinthians. I mentioned, this is the second letter of Paul's to the church in Corinth that we have, uh, that the, that you've heard me say that there were probably three letters. In fact, there were probably four letters that Paul wrote in all to the church in Corinth back in first Corinthians. Uh, chapter five, verse nine. So first Corinthians five, nine, Paul said there, I wrote to you in my letter. So there's one letter that, that would make first Corinthians as we know it to be the second letter letter that he wrote. He said, I wrote to you in my letter, not to associate with sexually immoral people. So first Corinthians is likely the second letter that he's written to the church at Corinth. And then there appears to be a third letter that would be in between. Uh, second Corinthians and first Corinthians. And so sometime after writing that he sent another letter and it's the letter that he refers to in second Corinthians chapter two as his severe letter. Um, he says. Chapter two verses three through four. I wrote as I did so that when I came, I might have to suffer pain from those who would have made me rejoice for, I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be for the joy of you all for, I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart, many tears, so forth and so on. So he had written a third letter between first Corinthians and second Corinthians. That was more severe even than his, some of his content in first Corinthians. So it appears that second Corinthians is actually the fourth letter. That we have from the apostle Paul to the church in Corinth there. And this is probably his most pastoral, uh, of the four. Um, We don't have the other two, so we don't know for sure. But when you read second Corinthians, you will really truly see Paul's heart for the church in Corinth here. He really did love these people and he was grieved over, um, not only their sin, but even over their grief. He, he felt bad not to the point of regret, but he felt bad. That he had to be so hard with them from time to time. Because as, as a parent with a child, when you discipline your children, You don't take joy in it necessarily. It it's, it's something that you're doing and it grieves you to do it, but you do it because, you know, it's for the good of the child. Well, likewise, Paul was harsh with the church at Corinth or hard with the church at Corinth, at least because he knew they needed it, that, that the discipline was for their good. And so he even felt bad about that, but rejoiced over their response as we'll see in tomorrow's episode. Uh, when we get further along in the letter, but the letter opens up. And second Corinthians were probably five to seven years after the writing of first Corinthians. So some time has passed. He's writing this one from Macedonia. It appears. And so he's writing to the church at Corinth here and he opens up by wishing that they would be comforted in their affliction. And that word comfort shows up. So many times they're in the firm versus three down through verse 11. Uh, if you mark in your Bibles, underline your Bible circle and your Bibles highlight in your Bibles, uh, which by the way, as a sidebar, I think is a good practice to have maybe you have one Bible that you don't do that in. You've got a Bible that you like to just read and it doesn't have any markings in. I get that. I can understand that, but, you know, I think it's such a good thing for us to mark up our Bibles and think about it, parents. The more you do this. Uh, you can give your Bible to your, your grandkids or to your kids in future generations. And it's going to leave a legacy of your faith in some of the things that God did in your own life. As you mark it, underline it. Write notes in it. Uh, it's a good. Investment in the future to do that. So if you mark your Bibles, all that to say in this first. Uh, paragraph first couple paragraphs there. After the greeting in second Corinthians chapter one note how many times the word comfort shows up. Uh, Paul mentions it. Multiple times here. And he does. So in the sense of, of seeing that God is the God who comforts us in our affliction so that we would be able to comfort others. As they are afflicted. And he says, it's, it's a pattern that he's even realized in his own life. And that's verses eight through 13. There are eight through 11 there he's saying, look. God. Took him in, in his ministry partners to the point where they despaired even of life itself. Notice that in verse eight. They, they were suffering to the point where they even despaired of life itself in second Corinthians, chapter 11, we're going to see what some of that suffering actually entailed and in it'll make sense for us. I believe at that point. But Paul said, man, we even despaired of being alive. And yet, and yet we were comforted. In the, by the Lord in that. And we realized that this was to make us rely not on ourselves. He says in verse nine, but on God who raises the debt. So God took us to the end of ourselves. In order to teach us something about, depending on upon him in. Interesting. Him. And so, uh, even he, in his own affliction, he's writing to them. Hey, blessed to be the God of all comfort, who comforts us in our affliction and pulsing. He's done that in my life as well. On the rest of chapter one, there are next in chapter one. There, he talks about some of the, the. The itinerary that he intended on, he wanted to come to them. He wanted to be with them. And sometimes his, his planes were going to have changed and he's writing that to let them know, Hey, some things have changed here. You need to know that. But before he gets there, I love what he says in verse 12. Our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity. I love that simplicity and godly sincerity, that that's such a good aim for us as believers in the world, around us, that your neighbors, your coworkers, your family members, that they would know you to be a person. Of simplicity and godly sincerity. That it's not complex, that your faith is, is not something that requires a seminary degree or, or an academic degree to be able to understand what you're talking about. No. We're going to proclaim a message that is simple. Uh, and, and yet we're going to do it in godly sincerity, and that's how we're going to conduct ourselves amongst people. I love that. He says in verse 15, I wanted to come to you so that you might have an, and this is something that needs clarification. A second experience of grace. That's something that some churches will point to and say, look, this means that there's a second blessing that Christians need to have a second blessing in some point to this and saying, this is the baptism of the holy spirit, or this is the re. Second blessing of the holy spirit and you need to have this. That's not what he's saying here, because that doesn't fit the rest of the context of the Bible. Paul writes in Romans eight, nine. I believe it is. That if you don't have the spirit, you don't belong to Christ. And so there's no second blessing. That is a waiting for us as Christians. What he's referring to here is he just wanted them to get even more benefit from his presence there. He wanted an another time with them where they would benefit from his. They would receive a second experience of grace, the grace being. His presence there to, to serve them and minister to them and be with them. That's what he's referring to here. It's more simple than we make it out to be. It's not this complex. Mystic Gnostic second experience of, of, of grace in a, in a sense of receiving something that you don't already have in Christ. You already have all of the blessings that you need in Christ. Ephesians one would undermine such a thought. And so here, he's just saying I wanted to come to you and yet he's saying. But I wasn't able to come to you. And that's where he gets into then appealing to the, the reliability and the trustworthiness of, of Christ. Uh, his credibility Paul's is he, he's not wishy-washy is basically what he's saying here instead. He's. He's appealing to the consistency of Christ and seeing as Christ is consistent. So I will be consistent. So he's just trying to clarify some things. Remember. These books that we read in the Bible written to a specific group of people at a specific time in history. And so he's clearing up some things with them as he writes this letter to them saying, Hey, don't think that I, I went back on my word with you. I, I intended to come to you. There's things change. And so that's all he's trying to convey to them there. Well in chapter two, he says, I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you. And so there again, we see that he had visited them at some point in time. And again, that, that interim letter between first Corinthians and second Corinthians. This painful. Uh, visit this painful letter where he. Uh, was, was to correct them and wanted them to respond obediently because of, of error in them. And he said in verse four, I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart with many tears. I didn't want to cause you pain again. There's the fatherly heart in him. But I wanted you to know the abundant love that I have for you. I wrote to you this way out of a love for you. And then he goes on. He says, look, apparently there was somebody there who had responded in repent in repentance, and he wanted them to forgive this person. It's an individual here, again, historical context here. This is to a specific group of people at a specific time. He said for such a one verse six, the punishment by the majority is enough. You should rather turn to forgive and comfort him. Or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. So I beg you reaffirm your love for him. He's talking about somebody specific here that the Corinthian church knew about. We don't know who this is. But the principle here we can draw in that is if somebody is guilty of a sin and they repent. And they need to be restored to fellowship. We need to forgive them. We need to welcome them back in. So that's what he's addressing there with the church thing. And I wrote to you something painful about this. Situation going on this person, at least repented. Forgive them. And then he goes on and versus 14. Uh, through the end of chapter two, to talk about. Us as Christ's war trophies. And that's the picture here. Christ leads us in triumphal procession. The victorious conquering Roman general would do that with the prisoners of war. He would lead them through the city and they would follow behind him on his war Steed. And they were a symbol of his victory. They were his prisoners of. Uh, of war. Yes, but they were his trophies of war. And that's what we are for Jesus in any, these, these, those that were marching along would also carry. Uh, vessels of incense to spread the, the fragrance, the aroma of the victory of the conquering general through the city as the general would go through. And it was a, a measure of celebration there. And so Paul says he's kinda mixing metaphors here. He says, not only are we those, those trophies of war, but we're also that incense. We are the aroma of Christ. To God, among those who are being saved. So those that are there that are, are. A fellow believers a week. The Corinthian believers and Paul and Timothy and others. They're the aroma of Christ. They are a sign of celebration of what Christ has done in their life. And he says to one of fragrance from. From death to death, though, and to others of fragrance from life to life, to those that aren't saved, man. The Christianity. And we're going to talk about this on Sunday is not something they love to. In fact, they hate it. And they hate it because it's a reminder of Christ victory and they hate Christ. And so, um, he's kind of a addressing. Uh, but the victory of Christ and then also helping to explain why. Uh, I mean, there's still affliction that we're facing right now because to some, it's an, it's an, a fragrance from death to death. They hate the victory. That Christ is one that we get to participate in now. Uh, chapter three, then he gets into talking about some more of his ministry and he says in verse two, you Corinthians you are our letter of recommendation written on our hearts to be known and read by all. Again, pal. Paul's pastoral heart for the church in Corinth here. He says that the change that we've seen in you, I can, we're going to pick up more on this. You are our letter of recommendation. People can look at your life. In other words, Corinth. And they can see the evidence of the genuineness of our ministry, because they can see your transformed life in, in what's going on there. And then he says such confidence that we have through Christ toward God, verse four. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything is coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God. That's such an important thing is we serve as we labor in the church. It's not about us. Our sufficiency is not ours, but it is God working through us. God Hoover six, who has made us sufficient to be ministered of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the spirit for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. And that launches him into this next section where he talks about. How the new covenant is better than the old covenant, because the new covenant is about righteousness and it's about permanence and it's, it's got a glory that surpasses the old covenant. And so he's, he's holding that up and saying it's, it's better than the covenant that Moses. Administered because of what we have now in Christ. When one verse 16, 1, 1 turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Moses had avail his face. We have the veil removed and we now are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. And that's that process of being made more and more like Jesus. The Mo the glorification, Romans 12, two, we're being transformed by the renewal of our mind. And all of that is taking place in the life of us as, as believers. And that's something to rejoice in, and he's confident of that for the Corinthian church. Do we say, look, this is what's happening. And you guys should be encouraged by this. Again, this is the pastoral letter of Paul to the church at Corinth. He's been harsh. He's been heavy with them. Now he's being more pastoral with them and encouraging them. Verse four or chapter four, he gets into the, the. The gospel and the reality of, Hey look, some believe and some don't. And why, why is that true? What is going on there? Why do some respond in faith and others? Don't. Uh, verse three, if our gospel is veiled, it's veiled to those who are perishing in their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the glory of Christ. If you've been with us for any period of time, you've heard me reference that passage and. And talk about that in sermons. That's the reason why, when you share the gospel with someone, and it seems as plain as day to you, they can look at you and go, I don't get it and walk away because their mind has been blinded in Jesus. God, verse six. Who said, let light shine out of darkness has shown in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. God has not yet shown in their hearts. So what should we do? We should pray that he will. And that should be our encouragement here. It can be discouraging to think, man. The God of this world has blinded their eyes, their minds. And so they don't understand in, and I'm powerless to remove the scales, but God's not so pray that God will shine the light of. Of of the knowledge of Jesus into their hearts, that they might come. To understand and come to know. And then he goes on to chapter four to talk about his own ministry. And basically the message here is to God be the glory alone. If God is the one that has to shine in the hearts, then who are we to boasting anything? And that's where he goes here. He says, we are simply vessels treasures. We have treasures in jars of clay to show the surpassing worth belongs to God, not to us. Carrying around the body of death and Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our bodies. Look, we're willing to suffer for Christ. In order to see the life of Jesus, the gospel go forward in others, responding more and more to that. And then he ends in chapter forcing. We don't lose heart. Our outer self yet it may be wasting away, but the inner self is being renewed day by day. This light momentary affliction preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. What an amazing concept that is that no matter what affliction you're in, remember how we started the letter. Hey Corinthians you're suffering right now. You're going through some affliction right now. Listen, be comforted and know, chapter four, this light momentary affliction that you're going through is preparing an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. That's one of the ways that God comforts us in our affliction, reminding us of that future. That's coming for us as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen for the things that are seeing these things are transient. The things that are unseen, those things are. Eternal. So again, Paul's pastoral heart for the church at Corinth that's, what's coming through in, in second Corinthians. And so he's opened as he's greeted he's wished them comfort. He's talked about his plans. He's talked about his, his initial visit. There. A lot of the initial stages of, of second Corinthians is the historical context of Paul and the Corinthians. Right? So if there's principles for us to draw out of it, but so much of this is Paul talking specifically to this group of believers, sharing his pastoral heart with them and in addressing these things. And so. Uh, we're going to get into to chapters five through nine tomorrow, but for now, Uh, this is second Corinthians one through four. Let me pray for us. And then we'll be done with this episode. God, we thank you so much for your word. We thank you. That there is a future for us. And eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison that waits for us. That's going to make anything that we go through in this life seem like light momentary affliction. And we know right now that it doesn't always seem like that. It doesn't always feel that way. Uh, burdens trials, Hardik sorrows can feel weighty and heavy and feel like they are crushing. And yet God, we want to be those that, that walked by faith and not by sight. And we want to be those that look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are temporary. The things that are unseen are eternal. So give us the eyes of faith to believe. That there's a day coming when whatever we go through this side of eternity will seem like light. Momentary affliction compared to that eternal weight of glory. And in the meantime, God, we pray that you continue to cause us to be transformed more and more from one degree of that glory to the next, until we finally realize it in its fullness. And we pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Keeping your Bibles tune in again tomorrow for another edition of the daily Bible podcast by.