His life and ministry is characterized by love and forgiveness pt2
2 Cor: 2:9-13 · Roger Henderson · Feb 26, 2017
2 Corinthians (2017), No. 08
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/410261633476080

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

We're going to continue on in chapter 2, and we're kind of following a theme that we started back in the beginning of the chapter. So could, actually I just have 9 through 13, but could I have someone read, go back to 5, verse 5 through 13 in chapter 2 of 2 Corinthians?

But if anyone has caused grief, he has not grieved me, but all of you to some extent. not to be too severe, this punishment which was inflicted by the majority is sufficient for such a man, so that on the contrary you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow.

Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love to him. For to this end I also wrote, that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things. Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ.

Lest Satan should take advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices. Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ's gospel, the 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 for Macedonia.

Great, thanks Cheryl. Okay, so last week we talked about, a lot about sorrow, and all the aspects of that, and how Paul really had sorrow, kind of for two areas, right? One, for the Corinthian church, and he really identified with that church, and the fact that they had a brother who had sinned, against the body and he talked about how that affected the body and that affected him to some extent. And then as we get down to verse 5 and below, he talks about that body of believers in Corinth had the majority had agreed that this man was punished for his actions.

But then he said, well, when that punishment is finished, now there's time for forgiveness. Punishment just doesn't go on. Think about the verse that talks about fathers, don't exasperate your children, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. So there's a time for punishment, and there's a time for forgiveness and restoration. Paul's kind of into that section now. that he's talking about forgiving that brother and going on and moving on with that.

And that's what much of today's lesson is about. But there's other really gems in here too. There's some really neat things that kind of show up here about, you know, in the presence of Christ, not giving Satan an advantage, talking about a doorway open. There's all kinds of little neat little studies unto themselves that can take up a whole lesson, but we're going to cover them in a short measure. But they're neat. They're just kind of interesting things. Actually, we're going to see, as we go on, I was talking with Randy a little bit, we're going to have some lessons that are maybe one or two verses.

Especially First Corinthians 3.18. There are some that are so rich and deep that we're going to take a whole lesson to do that. So today we have some real gems in there. Okay, so let's look at the first verse here.

For to this end I also wrote so that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things. So the first phrase is for this end I also wrote you know and and Paul is using that you know and Wiest has it you know with this end in view and it seems like you know I kind of struggle with is he referring back is he referring back to the previous verses that he wrote or is he looking forward to the what he's going to say here and I'm not sure I came to absolutely definite conclusion it seems like my thought is that he's looking forward to the fact that he wants him to Listen under we're gonna see the obedience is the idea to listen under obedience is not so much Obey me, you know, I'm I'm the boss obey me.

I In God's world, in God's gracious system, it's listening under. Hear my words. There's so many cases where the Lord uses, listen to me, hear my words. That's the ideal of obedience. We listen to what God says. The only enablement comes from Christ. Right, absolutely. So it's not like by the grit of our teeth we're going to obey something. We're going to listen and grow in grace and knowledge of Him. So that's kind of the tenor of this. So, and he said that back in verse, not about the listening under, but about the idea that I wrote to you.

He wrote to you about the matter of this person that we saw about in 1 Corinthians 5. With a purpose that I might put you to the test. And the idea literally in that phraseology, literally that phrase is saying that I may know, gnosko, the proof of you. And Gnosko is this word to be taking in knowledge. Paul is saying that I want to be understanding and seeing and taking in and understand that you're listening to me, what I'm saying, and you're obeying that. And proof is this word, I'm not going to try to pronounce it, but it's proof of genuineness or trustworthiness.

I had a couple passages just to look at in that regard. Could someone read It's in chapter 13 of this book, 13.3 in 2 Corinthians. Since you seek proof of Christ speaking in me, which to you is not weak, but is mighty in you? We're going to be getting there eventually, probably months and months from now. Christ is saying, you're going to see proof of me.

It's like this word, you're coming to know something, you're taking in knowledge. I think that's the idea there. Then in Philippians, it talks about, but you are to know. Let's just read that. Philippians 2.22. Did someone read that?

But you know his proven worth, that he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child serving his father. I think that's referring back to Timothy. If you look back up in the 19 there, he's talking about Timothy. He demonstrated his actions, he demonstrated that, and that's the proof of that. So he's saying here, I wrote you this in, that he wants to see Christ in them in action, if you will. He wants to see Christ living out their life. He encourages them to forgive this brother, and he's looking for that to come back.

And then he kind of goes on and he says, whether you are obedient in all things, I kind of did a little bit in advance of this, so as you Corinthians, And this is this word, obedient, and it's basically to give ear, or listen, or subject yourself, and literally it's from the Greek word to listen under. And that shows up in a few places, and it's kind of good to do some tracing of that.

So another place that shows up is in Acts 7.39.

Our fathers were unwilling to be obedient to him. but repudiated him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt. So they were unwilling to listen under, to hear what God says, hear my voice, O Israel. They were unwilling to do that. Then Philippians talks about Christ being obedient to the point of death.

And you could argue that God the Father and God the Son agreed in eternity past that Christ would die on the cross. We should look at obedience not so much as God laying down the rule, but God appealing to us to listen to what He said. Listen to the truth. Listen to what He says. That's the tenor of obedience in the New Testament, that we're to listen under. There's the amplified rendering.

And then I had another verse that I thought applied here. 2 Corinthians 7. Let me read that one. 2 Corinthians 7 verse 15. And this kind of talks, it says, Yet if the unbelieving one leaves, let him leave. Is that the right place? Let him leave. The brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace. Oh, I know, that's actually 1 Corinthians. You're getting really scared there, right? Okay, we'll try this again here. Okay, yeah, this makes a lot more sense.

"...and his affections abound all the more towards you, as he remembers the obedience of you all, how you received him with fear and trembling." So this is a little bit later on, and Paul's recounting how the Corinthians how they did live out their action, how what he desired them was becoming true in the Corinthians lives. And then basically Constable basically just says that he kind of takes it maybe a step further. We're going to see in some cases where because Paul's an apostle that he appeals to him just in the fact that I'm an apostle. He comes up from that perspective.

The source of who's asking you to be obedient to is key, right? If God is asking you to be obedient to Him, that's really cool. If someone who is God's messenger to you, that's a good point too. That's kind of Paul's, he was God's representative here. Let's go on to the next verse. So now we're going to get back into this forgiveness mode here for me.

He told him to forgive back in verse 7. Let me just go back and look at verse 7 just for a second. Basically back in verse 7 he says, so that on the contrary you should rather forgive and comfort him, lest somehow such a one be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow." So he appealed that forgiveness is appropriate at this time. So now he's going to talk about this forgiveness in a broader sense. But one whom you forgive anything. And I found this verse kind of complicated. He says I forgive about two different ways and it's hard to kind of see what's going on to some extent. So I kind of, that's why I brought in the weasel here a couple of times. Now to whom you forgive anything. Okay, so who's being referred to here? Let me just go back here. So I believe, I'm myself confused here, I'm not careful. So I think he's referring, so let me ask the question. I have a question there, so what do you think? Have I sufficiently confused you, Tom?

The one who causes you offense. okay okay so he says now to whom you forgive anything right and you're right so it is someone outside the box somebody you know that is the Paul's talk about in this case I think it's referring to in the context of read down through these verses in chapter 2 it seems like he's referring back to that gentleman in first Corinthians 5 that he's been talking about all along That's my take. I could be challenged on that. So I think that's who he's talking about, this person. And then he says, I also, or I forgive also. Paul also forgives that one. So once again, the Corinthians forgave this one. Paul says, I forgive him also. Then he says, for indeed, what I have forgiven, for also that which I myself have forgiven.

It's sort of like he's talking to himself. This is my take on it. He came to a position about forgiving this person, then he verbalizes it. Because he says it so many times. He says, I forgive also, for indeed I have forgiven. That's a past action. In fact, actually, forgiven here is in the perfect tense. Basically, forgiven is this word for grace. He's saying that I forgave this gentleman in the past and that continues on. So I continue, I haven't changed my mind about forgiving him. That's an ongoing, he stands forgiven before me. Past completed action with abiding result.

So we're going to see it's going to show up a little bit later. It almost seems like in this verse, and I read that in some other commentator, that Paul actually forgave this person first and then he encouraged the Corinthians to forgive him. And I'm not quite sure, we saw it that way in the earlier verse, it seemed like that he encouraged the Corinthians to forgive him, and he says, well, I join you in that. But this sort of seems like another perfect tense that shows up in here. It almost seems like that he had forgiven before the Corinthians did.

And I'm not sure it makes a whole lot of difference, but just because we get two occasions where it's a past completed action, and he's continuing up into the present. Hopefully that's not too... I haven't confused it anymore. Okay, so let's go on here. Okay, so now he continues on with the forgiving thing. If I have forgiven anything, in this case, if is assumed to be true, or since I've forgiven anything, and it's the same word, he forgave it in the past with abiding results into the future, I did it for your sake in the presence of Christ.

And this is one of these little things your sake, it's because of you Corinthians, in the presence of Christ. Presence is this word, it's actually the idea that And it's kind of described with this phrase, in the presence of Christ. And actually I'm going to ask in a second what the significance of in the presence of Christ means.

Just hold your thought just for a second. So this word prosopon, part toward the eyes, so it's from pro and ops. So sometimes you could say you're facing one another, almost face to face. In fact, we're going to see that in these verses that use this word, the idea of facing someone, being in someone's present is paramount.

So Tom, you had something you wanted to say? OK. All right. So let's just look at what the word means, and then we'll try to grasp what this phrase, in the presence of Christ, and what's trying to be conveyed here. Because it's kind of an interesting I think it's going on here.

Okay, so Acts 3.13. Could someone read that?

Acts 3.13. The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his son Jesus, whom you delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when you were determined to let him go.

Okay, good. Now, it may seem kind of a innocuous passage, but the point here is that this word literally is used in the sense of being in someone's presence. I could say, I'm in the presence of Gary. That means we're facing one another. The idea of face toward one's eyes. We're facing one another. So this word is used in other parts of scripture as actually being in someone's presence. Physically in someone's presence. So that's what makes it a little more challenging when it says in the presence of Christ.

Hold your thought. Keep going. I'm going to show you. I'm going to build a case here. This word is strongly used for a physical presence. And then you're going to say, well, how does that work? I know I'm not present with Christ right now. I know I'm looking forward to that. Very much so. So what does that mean? Let's look at another one here.

541 in Acts. So they went on their way from the presence of the council rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for his name. Okay, so you pick up here, so basically the apostles were in the presence of the council, they physically were with the council, face to face, looking at one another.

And then the last one is in 2 Thessalonians, and can someone read that, 2 Thessalonians 2.9? Is it 2.9 or 1.9? 1.9, let's try 1.9, thank you. This is kind of a difficult one. You wouldn't want to be in this place. Go ahead Randy.

So this looks forward to the time we'll be with the presence. So what do you think? I have a chart that I take my take on and I found several different opinions about this. What's your first reaction? Don't overthink it. What's your first reaction to this?

That's why I came back. I went around the mulberry bush and said, wait a minute, what's the obvious here? So I came back to what I consider the obvious. If someone said, what's your relationship to Christ right now, what would you say? Give me some words. Seated in the heavenlies. Okay, that's one. Give me another one. What's your relationship to Christ right now? Face to face. What's that? Face to face with Him. In Christ. In Christ, okay. Right, all these wonderful identification truths we have, where Christ is in us and we're in him, he's our life, the life that I now live in the flesh, I now live by faith in the Son of God. So that's where I kind of came to.

But there's others that say, well this is looking forward to when at the judgment seat, when I'm face to face with Him. And remember that the judgment seat of Christ is a reward ceremony, as Vern always points out very well. He's going to reward us. We're not going to get condemned, we're going to get rewarded.

So that's a cool time, that's face to face. But let's go back. I'm getting too far ahead of myself here. Let me give the obvious and then we'll keep talking here. So the obvious is For your sake I have forgiven it in the presence of Christ. Paul seems to be saying that I forgave this man in the presence of Christ. Well done in the presence of Christ. So I said, well, what does that mean?

And here's all the answers I had, right? Just what you guys had. So that's just what naturally occurred to me. So is there anything else that we're missing here? Another aspect is, like I said, you could argue that it's just talking about at the judgment seat.

But the bottom line is that as we conduct our Christian lives, he's encouraging the Corinthians is that Because he's going to go on and say, if you don't do this, Satan's going to have an opportunity. So he's saying, I want you to be abiding in Christ, living the Christian life, and forgiving this man. And that will keep you away from bad things happening to you, or the opportunity for Satan.

Okay that's a good question. I watched this in my own life and I think that's an important question to ask when we evaluate. I actually didn't go totally down that path but that's really good because that's where he's really saying I want you to forgive and it's so important that you forgive that I see it, that as I forgive, Christ is with me.

He's looking at me. I'm here with him and I'm forgiving this person and that's even more encouragement because I'm walking in the Spirit. I'm walking with the Lord in that. So I'm not sure whether you decide it's what I have down here or whether you decide it's at the judgment seat of Christ.

The more important point, Randy's point is, you should be forgiven this person because that's the life of Christ. Christ is forgiving him. Paul says, you forgave him, I forgave him, and in essence God has forgiven him too. So that's important to see that and not to miss that and not to not forgive him and go on with...

I think there's verses that talk about the fact that... I can't think of the right word... bitterness builds up within you. I've forgotten the passage. You can think of a passage, I'd appreciate it. Bitterness can build up in you if you don't forgive. There's the idea of taking an offense.

What happens in the case where there's a person, it could be this case, where two believers, one believer forgives the person, the other believer does not. And so there may be contention between the two believers in relation to that believer who says, well, you forgave him, you shouldn't have forgiven him. So you're angry at the other believer for forgiving him. Well, you should both be forgiving him, basically.

That's Ephesians 4.31, I think is a good book. Why don't you read that? Where he says, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. That seems inclusive of pretty much all of the negative attitudes. begrudging, it just doesn't belong in the church. Right, right.

So Paul's saying it's so important that you forgive this person, that I see it in the presence of Christ. And there's actually other verses that kind of talk about that and use a similar phraseology. Could it also be too, you know, we're blessed already. Because of the cross, we're blessed. Our sins are forgiven. And so that's already happened. It's already taken place.

And you know when people, other Christians will say sometimes, you know, well I'm going to bless you or whatever. I turn around and say, well I'm already blessed. And they look at me like I'm, you know, they kind of don't get it. But isn't it sort of the same thing? We're already forgiven. That person is already forgiven before they even did whatever they did. They're already forgiven. That's true. And so are we. Right, and that's true. A lot of times we want to, as 1 John 1, we want to agree with God. We already stand forgiven because Christ paid for that sin. But God wants us to acknowledge that or agree with Him.

The next verse after that one about bitterness is Ephesians 4.32. He says, Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God and Christ has also forgiven you. Excellent. So we do need to actually participate in the forgiveness But it's because of what Christ did. Exactly. That's excellent. Thanks Randy. You should have taught this lesson. I've been challenged on the doctrine of forgiveness recently. And it's not the new man that is offended. It's the old man that's offended. Because he doesn't understand that position that he's already got.

That's good. That's very good. In the presence of Christ, forgiving that person is really kind of a cool thing. You need to get your mind around that. In fact, we do everything in the presence of Christ. You could argue that. Why is he making a special deal out of this? We live our lives in the presence of Christ. But he's particularly, I think, tied it back to the significance of forgiving this man. OK, so let's go on. So that builds up to this verse. If you don't do that, something bad may happen. And the question is, can something really bad happen? How much power does Satan have in our lives? And that's another cool area we're going to get into here. This is a really pretty neat set of verses. No advantage would be taken of us by Satan.

Literally, the verb is kind of interesting here. The verb here, the literal translation is, lest we should be outsmarted by Satan. So, we should be outsmarted. Remember Greek has the subject kind of, you get a package deal, you get a verb with a subject in it. if you guys like Paki Steels. We should be outsmarted. That's a verb in the Greek. It's that word I'm not going to try to pronounce. To seek to get more, hence to get the advantage of, to take advantage of is the idea.

So let's see a couple of verses here. We don't have to spend a long time on that. Could someone read 2 Corinthians 7? Make room for us in your hearts. We wronged no one. We corrupted no one. We took advantage of no one. So the word occurs here where it says, we took advantage of no one. So you kind of see that phraseology, not taking advantage of. So this issue is in the negative sense. He's saying we don't want Satan to take advantage of us. OK, so the question is, this is just not hard stuff. OK, so what is Satan's relationship to the believer? Should we be concerned here? Is this telling us that he's going to put us in a hold and pin us to the ground and we're going to be in trouble? What's our relationship? What can we count upon?

I have a verse, but if you can take it before we look at the verse. We can count on our position with the Lord. Satan really has no power over the new man at all. It's the old man that he truly has power over. We get distracted. That's addressing what this is all about, I think. So the verse that I had, let's turn to it. I said, really, if you ever want to know, should I be concerned about Satan? Read this verse, please. Read this verse. In fact, it ties in with another wonderful verse you guys all know by heart.

Okay, because somebody read Hebrews 2.14 for me. Forasmuch then as the children as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. Okay.

Now the translations kind of give us a little mess up here, but this is the same word that occurs in Romans 6.6. And unfortunately the translators translate it the same kind of way. They kind of indicate it's destroyed. Well, we know from the rest of scripture, that Satan is not destroyed.

But this is the same word, it's a word that's translated sometimes rendered powerless, that's what I translate, rendered powerless, or taken offline, or put in idle. So, what's really cool here, the Lord shows us that he has, in our lives, we have the world, the flesh, and the devil. Well, he says, as far as the devil is concerned, I've rendered him powerless, or taken him offline, or put him in neutral, in relationship to me.

He also says, back in Romans 6.6, that I've taken the sin nature, and put it in neutral, taken it offline. Neither the sin nature, or Satan, are annihilated.

And that's where the translations kind of get you in trouble. Some do, some don't. So, what's cool is, in relationship to Satan, he has, as was said, We're separated from Satan, we're separated from our sin nature, but we know we can go back and hang out with our sin nature, and unfortunately we can take Satan's schemes here. Do you have something?

At the creation, God gave man dominion over the earth. and then man fell, and so in Genesis 3.15, God says to the woman, and I'll put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed, and he shall bruise you on the head, or I'm sorry, he's speaking to the serpent, and you shall bruise him on the heel.

But the idea is, this is the first prophecy of the Messiah. He's going to, by federal headship, he's going to crush the serpent's head. Exactly. So that the dominion that Satan once had over the flesh is no longer operative. Right. So the victory is sealed. We are separated from Satan, but he's still out there and he's still doing his dirty work.

So this verse is just kind of, what's interesting is this verse says, no advantage. But then it says, for we are not ignorant. It says that believers are not ignorant of this. And so you think, well, maybe I am ignorant. So I thought we should review that. What's interesting is, this is really a positive. It says, but you Corinthians aren't ignorant of this. He could say, well, you might be ignorant. He says, no, you're not ignorant. I thought that was kind of interesting.

He says, you have the information. You don't have to go down this path of letting Satan mess with you, so to speak. Tom? One handy way to get yourself back into concurrence with God's teaching is, it's called the Law of First Reference. It's not hard to find the first instance of Satan successfully tempting somebody. And it plays out so much in the detail that the Law of First push him back if he tries to push him. Did you have a first reference you wanted to...

Well Satan came in the form of a serpent and seduced Eve literally in trying to take the first nibble. So Adam wasn't a part of it. Eve was just simply deceived by Satan. But the same thing happens because Satan did what he did because that's his nature.

Okay, okay. All right. Okay, so let's go on here. Let's get to the second part. For we are not ignorant. So this is really cool. So God's telling us, in his word, we're not ignorant. And you're saying, well, maybe I am ignorant. That's what I thought. Maybe I am ignorant. He says, ignorance is the idea of we don't know. So it's the idea that we're not ignorant and it's actually in the present tense. This is really kind of good news. It says, I'm continually not ignorant. That sounds pretty cool to me. Gary? They assumed that the Christian church was a groin. Well, apparently, you know, actually I took this as kind of a real positive for the Corinthian church.

He says, you're not ignorant of this. I mean, it's like, you guys know this. Don't, don't, don't go there. I mean, it's really kind of an encouragement. You're not ignorant of what the devil can do. They just went back, I mean, they do. They had struggles with, and you can see it, it's a tough thing when a brother offends, a believer in the body of Christ sins, and you have to put him out of the body for some time period, and they did that. But then they're moving on now, and they forgave him, this person. They're moving on, and he's showing them how that's very important that they do that.

OK, so the idea of schemes, we are not ignorant of the schemes. And it's the idea of thoughts, or actually mindset is a possible translation too. It's translated devices. I have translated schemes, but it also has translated devices and other translations. It's translated minds in a couple of places. So let's just look at one of those.

Can someone read 2 Corinthians 3.14? "...but their minds were blinded, for until this day remained the same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament, which veil is done away in Christ." Right, okay. So basically the word minds there is the same word we have here. It might seem a little confusing.

So basically, what are Satan's schemes? How does he operate? I have a list here, but without looking at the list, can you, once again, can you kind of, of course it's very hard to do sometimes, can you think of just off the top, so what are some of the, how does he operate? Does he say, hi, I'm Satan, glad to meet you?

I think doubt is one of the biggest things that Satan does, is put doubt about what your position is and who you are as Christ, because he knows if he can just wiggle in that doubt in your day-to-day living, then you take your focus off the Lord. As soon as you do that, you're focused on the world or you're focused on some other thing, money, debt, whatever it is that bothers you or punches your buttons. Satan loves to do that. Sneaky. Sneaky. Can you think of a passage of scripture that says something about how Satan operates or what he does. He's a deceiver. Okay, okay.

1 Peter 5.8 where it says, Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walks about seeking. Okay, okay. My list is a short list, but I only got three points. There's a lot more, there's a lot more. That's good, that's good. So okay, here's my list.

The snare or the trap of the devil? You're actually right close to that. Can you read 3-7? Were you with Timothy? No, that was Peter. Peter, I'm sorry. I'll be fine. I'm not listening very well. 1 Timothy 3-7. Hopefully that's right. It says, moreover, he must have a good report of them which are without, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. OK. This is talking about qualifications for an elder and talking about how he might be sucked in, so to speak. So that's like a snare. A snare or a trap? It isn't like the idea of a bait. Isn't that kind of baited? Isn't that kind of the idea of a snare or a trap?

Something gets you to walk in the door. Advertising people are always trying to find a way to get you to come to their store. They've got to have something to get you in the door. The door busters are right at the front door, but the things you really want are at the back, right? The milk. It cracks me up. The milk is as far as you can go in that store. You have to walk to the back of that store to find that milk. Well, you have to go past all the rest of it. Anyway, so this is a snare or a trap. That's one part.

Satan's going to look good. He's going to be attractive. He's not going to look like a bum. It's actually kind of comical. The world has Satan looking really mean and nasty. That's not a picture of Satan at all. He's going to look good. In fact, that always kind of scares me sometimes. You look at this world, and we know as believers, I think he has it right here, we kind of have a sense, we look at somebody, we evaluate them, and sometimes a person is too too good to be true, he's too good to be true. Maybe not. He's too good of a salesman. Everything just, you know, ran together.

If God's will for us as believers is to walk in fellowship with him as we're being conformed into his image, all Satan has to do is steer us away, to just look away for a second, and the flesh is really kind of latching on to that and then coming up with things to worry about. What if this guy And that's partially why I love that verse, that perfect love draws out fear. Simply when we rest in his perfect love, those fear things go away, but the flesh tends to really hold on to that stuff. So all Satan wants to get us to do is just look away for a split second, and often that's just long enough to be like, oh, hey, shiny.

It's the hook with the fishing line attached to it. What's that? That's good. Okay, my third one was, basically this is the one, this is a pretty condemning passage. Can someone read John 8.44? You probably know it pretty well. This is a pretty severe rebuke to the Jewish leaders.

You are of your father the devil when you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Actually, that's Satan's resume. That's a pretty bad resume, right? Turn that one in. So, that's pretty condemning stuff.

Actually, you know what, sometimes, and this is where, you know, some people, well, He's a religious person. That's why that term is so deceptive. He's a religious person. What does that mean? If he's the Jewish kind of religious person, whoa. So just saying you're a religious person or you're a person of faith, that's another one that bugs me too. That makes you spiritual. I know, that makes you spiritual.

Everybody has faith, right? I can't leave this late. you away from things of Lord right on to other things which have to do with Satan's deceiving lies in the different religions. I'm trying to remember the verses. My sweet Lord goes to Hare Krishna.

Oh yes, yes, yes, yes, you're right. Okay, thank you. My mind was doing something else. Okay, you're right. Okay, good. We kind of caught your minds being led astray. We'll get into this down the road here in a little bit. Basically, other things that might lead you astray, lead you away from Christ. So let's just go on. I want to get finished here. So basically, he says you know it. And I think we know it too. We know about Satan. And he said the Corinthians did too. So that's encouraging. Alright, so now the last two verses.

Now when I came to Troas for the gospel of Christ, and when a door was opened for me and the Lord, I had no rest for my spirit, not finding Titus my brother, but taking my leave of them I went away to Macedonia. So Troas from what I understand is a seaport close to the city of Troy. It's somewhat northwest of Ephesus. I actually didn't find a map and figure this out, but that's just what I was able to find.

He says, a door was opened for me and the Lord. So here's another neat phrase. We hear the idea of doors, open doors, closed doors, all kinds of things. Well, here's just kind of a summary of a few passages. And I borrowed this from Verne. The Lord is the one who places them.

If you look in Revelation 3.8 it talks about, in fact let me just look there real quick.

He is talking to the Church of Philadelphia. I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power and have kept my word and have not denied my name. So basically, God is the one that is in charge of these doors, these mythical doors, these figurative doors. I want to pray for them. It talks about in Colossians about praying that a door be opened for us.

It talks about the fact that we are to take advantage and walk through those doors. Let's look at that one. First back to Colossians again. 1 Corinthians 16. Yeah, it says, but I shall remain in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective service has been opened to me, and there are many adversaries. But there are many adversaries. OK?

So now he says, and this is a little interesting, I have no rest from my spirit, not finding tidiness in my brother. So why was Paul not at rest about this matter, do you think? There was a heavy amount of persecution going on. being a Christian man of God. He could have been murdered.

Tom? I'm wondering whether it might have been a hidden myth or he expected Titus to show up and he didn't. So he didn't want to put condemnation on him. There are many reasons that person couldn't meet another person. Right. Well, it seems like that obviously Titus, I had no rest from my spirit. Not finding Titus seemed to be a big deal. Titus was a dear brother to him.

You know, and I copied down the thing from Constable, but then I kind of rethought it. He basically says Titus is going to report to him about the welfare, I think, of the Corinthians in Corinth. And remember, Paul's on the move here, right? He's going to, right at the very end, he says, I went to Macedonia. And actually what And some people basically have taken, starting in verse 14 of chapter 2, is the start of a whole section, this whole section going to Macedonia through into chapter 7 is a whole area where Paul is going to talk about some really cool stuff, some really neat stuff here. But it starts with this, his leaving Troas and moving on to Macedonia.

Later on he's going to find Titus. Let's just look at a verse that talks about that. Go to chapter 7 in 2nd Corinthians. 2nd Corinthians chapter 7, how about 5-7. For even when he came into Macedonia, or when we came into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were afflicted on every side, conflicts without fears within. But God who comforts the depressed, comforted us by the coming of Titus and not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted in you as he reported to us your mourning, your zeal for me so that I rejoiced even more. I think it kind of explains his tight connection with Titus. It made me think also, Paul really, in this epistle, he really shows us his human side.

Because earlier up in verse, remember in chapter 1 of 2 Corinthians here, he said he was, times were tough, he said he was, no actually verse 8, he talked about the fact that that we were burdened excessively beyond our strength so that we despaired even of our lives.

I mean he was under tremendous pressure here of losing his life. So he kind of shows here that not finding Titus just really was, it's sort of like How easily would you be able to conduct your life if one of your loved ones was missing? You didn't know where they're at. It's very difficult to keep your focus on what you do when someone you care for deeply is missing. Because you're saying, well, if I can find that person, then I can go on with my life. And I think of that one pop tune that said, where were you when I wanted you?

So I think he's just really showing his... This is a human side of Paul. I just really missed you guys. I'm just saying that. He was all this fun. See, that's exactly the point here. Paul really missed Titus. I can't go on without that. There's a very humanist in Paul, you see here, just over and over again through this epistle. Okay, well that's it. There's some neat stuff in here. There's more neat stuff to come. Okay, let's close. Thank you, Father. Thank you so much for this day, Father. Thank you for your word. Thank you for the blessings we have. In Christ's name, Amen.