Category: Sermons

Text: 2 Corinthians 2

Has it ever bothered you that there seems to be a great discrepancy between what the Bible says believers are, and what we really are in our daily living? You read all of those great things in the New Testament about those of us who are in Christ. But when you turn to observe the lives of believers, you have to shake your head and say, “Well, I see the picture in the Bible of what you ought to be—but you don’t look a thing like your picture.”

Is this just a glamour photo that God has made, where we’re specially made over and made up so that we’re not presented as we really are? Or is it something else? For instance, here’s one picture the Bible gives of a believer. In Romans 8, Paul talks about all the terrible things that can happen to a person—all the fears and terrors that we face in life. He declares, “In all of these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Rom. 8:37, emphasis added). That’s the only time the words “more than conquerors” appear in the New Testament.  It means we are supraconquerors. We not only conquer, but we conquer by an overwhelming margin. And this isn’t just a promise; this is a statement of fact. Paul said, “We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” Simply because Christ loved us and we know Christ, we win by an overwhelming margin.

I suppose every Christian believes we’re going to win eventually. But they also think it’s going to be very close. They think the margin of victory will be narrow—that we’re barely going to squeak by. In the last three seconds, they surmise, the Christians are going to kick a field goal and beat the devil 17 to 14. We’re going to win, but it’s going to be by a slim, narrow victory.

That’s not what the Bible says. The Bible says we don’t win by a narrow margin; we win by an overwhelming margin! We are supraconquerors through Him who loved us! Well, I see the description in the Bible of what you’re supposed to look like; ‘but you don’t look a thing like your picture!

In John 4, Jesus was talking to the woman at the well. And He said, “Whoever drinks of the water that you have will thirst again. But whoever drinks of the water that I give him shall not never [notice the double negative] thirst again” (John 4:13—14, emphasis added). In other words, Jesus said that whoever took a drink of the eternal life that He offered would never thirst again.

And yet, everywhere I go I find Christians who are thirsting and living lives that are filled with emptiness. I see in the Bible what you’re supposed to be—but you don’t look a thing like the picture.

The apostle John declared, “This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith”  (1 John 5:4).  I used to read that and I would think, That’s why I’m not overcoming the world. I don‘t have enough faith. If I just had more faith, I could overcome the world. But then I realized that that’s not what John is talking about. John goes on to say, “Who is victor over the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:5 NEB ). It’s not how much faith you have. It’s the kind of faith you have. It’s faith centered on Jesus Christ.

Now if I were to ask how many of you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, I’m confident we’d get 100 percent affirmation. But the positive response would be much lower if I were to ask, “How many of you have overcome the world?”

I believe the reason why we do not look like our phootograph is that we are either ignorant of a certain truth, or knowing it, we have failed to obey it. Let’s take a close look at 2 Corinthians 2:12-17.

Beginning in 2 Corinthians 2:12 and continuing all the way through verse 11 of chapter 6, Paul diverts from his main thought and defends and describes his apostleship. Some people were casting doubt upon his authenticity as an apostle. What we’re about to read is an introduction to that entire section. So Paul said:

“Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me, I still had no peace of mind because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said good-bye to them and went on to Macedonia . But thanks be to God, who always leads us in his triumphant procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? Unlike so many we do not peddle the Word of God for profit. On the contrary. In Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God”(2 Cor. 2:12-17).

I want to call your attention to the first part of verse 14: “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in his triumphant procession in Christ.” In this statement Paul gives us the truth, the principle, the key, the secret to living the victorious life that God has presented for us in the Bible.

The apostle does this in other places, of course, but here he does it in a special way. Notice the phrase “thanks be to God, who always leads us in his triumphant procession in Christ.” Those words “always leads us in his triumphant procession” are the translation of one Greek word. This was a technical term for a custom that was common among the Roman armies of that day. When Paul wrote these words to the Corinthians and they saw that word, they immediately knew what it was. They got the picture, they got the application, and they got the message.

But today, we are so far removed from Paul’s time that we miss what Paul is saying here. “Triumphant procession” refers to a custom that was common among the Roman armies. As soon as the soldiers had won the victory, they dispatched a herald runner who would run all the way back to the city of Rome. He would run through the streets of the city, announcing that the victory had been won. The word preach comes from that word herald, and that’s what preaching is. It is going ahead of our conquering hero and announcing to everybody that the victory has been won.

When the people of the city heard the news, they began to make preparation for what they called a triumphant processional. It was a magnificent victory celebration. A particular type of incense was burned in the temples for those occasions. And that’s why Paul refers to the perfume, or the fragrance. If you had been a citizen of Rome in those days, and you had stepped out of your house one morning and breathed the air and smelled that particular incense, you would have said, “Hey, we’re going to have a party! We’re going to have a celebration. There’s going to be a parade!”

When a commanding general—the conquering hero—returned to Rome, the people would line the streets, waiting for the appearance of their hero. The procession would be led by a priest swinging censors, burning that special incense. He would be followed by musicians and others. The main figure in that drama was the commanding general, the victorious military leader. He would be riding in a gold-plated chariot drawn by white horses. Right behind that chariot were the officers of the defeated army who were chained to that chariot. These men would later be executed, so they were being dragged to their death. The enemy soldiers who had been captured would be brought in later, and they would be enslaved.

When the people saw their hero in that chariot, they would cheer and shout. They would throw garlands and confetti into the air. But when they saw the officers of that defeated army chained to that chariot and being dragged along behind, they would really go wild. This was a demonstration of the power of their hero. Paul was referring to that custom when he said, “Thanks be to God, who always leads us in his triumphant procession.” In other words, Paul was Christianizing that custom. He was saying there was a time when he was at war with Jesus Christ. There were hostilities between God and Paul. But the Lord Jesus had conquered him, and he had yielded to Him in unconditional surrender. And He had put Paul in the chains of His lordship, and he was chained to His chariot. And everywhere Paul went, Christ led him in His triumphant procession.

The New English Bible really brings it out well by saying, “Thanks be to God, who continually leads us about, captives in Christ’s triumphant procession.” Paul was saying, “I came to Jesus Christ. He overcame me, and I yielded to Him in unconditional surrender. He placed my hands in the chains of His lordship and chained me to His chariot. And now thanks be to God, everywhere I go and in every place I am being led in His triumphant procession.

Paul was wanting everybody to know this before he detailed his apostleship, because when you get over to chapter 4 of 2 Corinthians, he will speak about some bad things happening to him. He is saying in anticipation, “Now I’m going to tell you some things that some of you are going to think reveals failure and defeat. But I want you to know at the outset, thanks be to God. He always leads me in His triumph in Christ, and wherever I go, it may look like defeat to you; it may look like failure to you. But I’m chained to His chariot, and that means that everywhere I go, I am following in his own triumphant victory in Christ!”

Paul, how is it that you can say everywhere you go there’s victory? “Because I’ve been conquered by Jesus Christ. I’m chained to His chariot, and I’m simply following along in the wake of His victory.” Here is the principle, the secret. If you want to be a conqueror, you must first be conquered. If you want to be an over comer, you must first be overcome. If you want to be a master, you must first be mastered. If you want to exercise authority, you must first submit to authority.

I was preaching in Florida a few years ago, and a man got to talking about my sermon. He said, “Preacher, that was a good sermon.” I thanked him and told him I was glad he enjoyed it. But he went on to say there was one thing about it he didn’t like. I asked what it was. “I didn’t like that idea of being chained to the chariot,” he replied. “I think if you would take that out, it would be a better sermon.”

I said, “Brother, that is the sermon. That’s the sermon right there! If I take it out, I don’t have a sermon.”

He said, “Well, it just seems degrading and humiliating to be chained to a chariot.”

“Absolutely, Absolutely!” I replied. “I know why you don’t like it. I don’t like it either. None of us like it.”

You know what I want to do? I want to ride up front with the Lord! I don’t want to be chained back there. I want to ride up front, helping drag others along. Well, heaven knows He needs some help from time to time. Sometimes I say to Him, “Lord, why are we going so slow? Everybody else has passed us up. Can’t you put the pedal to the metal on this thing?”

Other times I say, “Lord, why did you take this road?  It’s so bumpy and it’s got potholes in it. And we passed up a good superhighway.” Sometimes I say, “Lord, I’m tired of traveling. Let’s pull over at this roadside park and have a picnic.” I like to help the Lord drive, don’t you? That’s where I want to be—up front.

But Paul says if you want to be a conqueror, you must first be conquered. And I say to you that you are only experiencing as much victory in Jesus as Jesus is experiencing in you. If there is an area of repeated failure in your life, that’s a good sign there is an area of your life over which Jesus Christ is not yet Lord. If we want to be conquerors, we must first be conquered.

The best illustration I’ve ever seen of this occurs in the encounter of Jesus and the centurion who had a sick servant. Matthew 8 tells us, “He came to Jesus and he said, ‘Lord, my servant is sick.’

“Jesus said, ‘I’ll come to your house and heal him.’

“The centurion said, ‘Oh, no, Lord, don’t do that. I’m not worthy to have you come under my roof.   Just speak the word, and my servant will live, for I also am a man under authority with soldiers under me. And I say to this one, go, and he goes. And to this one, do this, and he does it.’

“And when Jesus heard that, he marveled, and he said, ‘I have never seen such great faith, not even in all of Israel ”’ (Matt. 8:5—10).

Now, I have great respect for the Word of God. But I must confess to you that for a long time I couldn’t see what was so great about what that man said. I didn’t understand it. What did he say? He said, “I also am a man under authority with soldiers under me. And I say to this one, go, and he goes. And to this one, do this, and he does it.”

Jesus was amazed. He said, “I have never seen such great faith.” I couldn’t see what that had to do with faith. But I got to thinking. If it amazed Jesus, it ought to amaze me. I would think it would take a lot to amaze Jesus. He was amazed twice in the Bible. Both times He expressed amazement at the faith of a Gentile. What could you show Jesus or what could you tell Jesus that would amaze Him? He’s seen it all! He made it all!

If this encounter with a Gentile amazed Jesus, it ought to do something to me. I thought to myself that I must be missing something. Let’s look at their encounter again. Jesus told the centurion that He would come to his house and heal his servant. But the centurion replied, “Oh, no, Lord, don’t do that. I’m not worthy to have you come under my roof.   Just speak the word, and my servant will live, for I also am a man under authority.” Now I would expect his next words to be, “And if I am told to go somewhere, I go somewhere, and when I am told to do something, I do something.” But that’s not what the centurion said.

He said, “For I also am a man under authority with soldiers under me. And I say to this one, go, and he goes. And to this one, do this, and he does it.” The centurion was saying, “I live under authority; therefore, I have authority.” And he did. He had authority over one hundred soldiers. That’s why they called him a centurion.

As long as that centurion was submitted to the authority of the emperor, he had the emperor’s authority over those one hundred soldiers. If he rebelled against the authority of the emperor, he lost his authority over those one hundred soldiers. So that was the principle by which he was living. But that’s still not what amazed Jesus. What amazed Jesus was one little word that the man said. Some translations say “also.” Some say “too.” And unfortunately, some translations leave it out. But it belongs there.

Now listen to me as I quote it: “He came to Jesus and he said, ‘Lord, my servant is sick.’ Jesus said, ‘I’ll come to your house and heal him.’ The centurion said, ‘Oh, no, Lord, don’t do that. I’m not worthy to have you come under my roof.   Just speak the word, and my servant will live, for I also am a man under authority.”’ In other words, “I don’t have to run my own errands. If I want something done, I tell others to do it, and it’s done for me. And Lord, I understand that You live by the same principle I live by.” When he said, “I, too,” or “I, also, am a man under authority,” this is what amazed Jesus, that this centurion had such great insight into the truth that Jesus Himself lived by that same principle. He said, “I have never seen such faith.”

But the point I want you to get is that this was the principle by which Jesus Christ lived. He lived under the authority of His Father; therefore, He had His Father’s authority. That’s the principle by which the centurion lived. He was under the authority of the emperor; therefore, he had the emperor’s authority. That’s the principle by which Paul lived. That’s the principle by which we should live if we want to experience victory in the Christian life. Let’s look at three brief things about this victory.

I.  This Victory is God’s Victory Through His Son

This victory that Paul talked about is God’s victory through His Son. Paul was saying, “Thanks be to God, who always leads us in his triumphant procession in Christ.” It’s not we who are triumphing; it’s not we who are riding in that chariot. No, He doesn’t cause us to triumph. He leads us in His triumph. It is God’s victory through His Son. I’m trying to say that the responsibility for victory in the Christian life is not mine; it is God’s. I realize that many of us use the expression, “win the victory.” I’ve got to go out there and “win the victory,” to overcome the devil, and win over temptation.

But I want you to know that there are no victories to be won. Christ Jesus won every victory two thousand years ago when He died for us on the cross! The truth of the matter is that every temptation you will face has already been overcome by Jesus. The responsibility for victory is not ours. It’s important for us to know that, because most Christians feel, “It’s up to me.” So I didn’t do good, I did bad yesterday, but I’m going to do better today. So I climb put of bed, grit my teeth, tense my muscles, and say, “I’m going out there and win the victory today, if it kills me!” And it usually does!  The responsibility for victory in the Christian life does not rest with us. It’s not our victory; it is God’s victory through Christ.

I like the story of David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17. They must have fought funny wars back in those days. Israel was fighting the Philistines. One day David’s dad said, “David, here’s a sack lunch. Your brothers are at war. Take them lunch.” It just seems strange to me that David just walked into the war and said to his brothers, “Here’s your lunch from home.”

When he got to the front lines, David saw this giant mocking Israel and Israel ’s God. And Israel was hiding over behind the bushes, scared to death. Little David said, “I want you to do something about that guy.”

“Son,” they replied, “just leave the lunch and go back home. Play your harp and write your poetry.”

“Well, it’s not right to let him get by with this,” David said. “Why don’t you do something about it?”

“You don’t understand the situation. Go home. We’ll handle this.”

“Well, you’re not handling it very well, it seems to me. I’d take care of him.”

“Huh! You’d what?”

“I’d take care of him.”

“Go ahead and try.”

They started to put Saul’s armor on David. “Oh, no, I don’t want Saul’s armor,” he cried. “It would swallow me up. I don’t need anything. I’ve got my slingshot and five smooth stones.”

They said, “Good-by, brother. Been nice knowing you.”

And remember what happened? Little David marched out to meet Goliath. He stopped and looked the giant straight in the kneecap. He said to Goliath, “The baffle is the Lord’s. He has delivered you into my hands” (1 Sam. 17:47 ).

The battle was not David’s—why, of course it wasn’t. He wouldn’t have been there if it had been! Neither was the battle Israel ’s. That’s why the Israelite soldiers were hiding behind the bushes. The battle was the Lord’s. What I need to learn to do is stand in front of the Goliaths in my life and say to them, “The battle is the Lord’s. He has delivered you into my hands.” It’s God’s victory through His Son.

I’m a Southern Baptist, and in my denomination we have a bad habit of calling the church by the pastor’s name. When I was pastor, people would say “Brother Dunn’s church.” Or last week I was at “Brother Ken’s church!”

We know it’s not the pastor’s church, but you hear that so much and for so long that you begin to think maybe it is. You’re the pastor, and you’ve got all those people out there, and they’re your responsibility. And you’ve got to take care of them. When they hurt, you’ve got to heal them. And when they’re angry, you’ve got to soothe them. And you have to make sure you have more people in attendance this Sunday than you had Sunday a year ago, or it won’t look good in the statistics. And we’re behind on our budget. This whole thing is mine. This is my church, and I’m responsible for it. I’ve got to build it, and I’ve got to take care of it. It’s just too much. That’s why in our denomination we have about a thousand ministers a year quitting the ministry. It’s just too much.

Well, that’s the way I felt about my church. Once I was preaching through the Book of Matthew, and I came to Matthew 16 where Jesus said, “On this rock I will build my church”  (Matt. 16:18 NIV). And I saw a little word there that I had not paid much attention to before: my.  Jesus said, “I will build my church” (emphasis added).

I said, “Lord, do You mean to tell me this is Your church?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Welcome to it!”

I was never so glad to get rid of anything in all my life! A great weight was lifted from my shoulders. This is the Lord’s church!

Then Jesus said, “Upon this rock I will build my church” (emphasis added).

“Lord, I thought I was supposed to build it. That’s been one of my problems. You mean to tell me that You will build the church? This is Your church, and You will build it?”

“Yes.”

What a deal! I don’t know of anything that liberated me any more as a pastor than this. Now I understand that it is not my responsibility to get people to walk down the aisle and join the church. It’s not my responsibility to get the people to give. It’s not my responsibility to build the church. This is God’s responsibility. I have a responsibility, and we’ll get to that in a moment. But building the church is not my responsibility! It is the Lord’s church, and He does the building. I do what God tells me to do as faithfully as I know how. And the rest is up to Him. This is God’s victory through His Son.

You may be thinking that I am preaching a religion, of passivity. No, not at all. We do have a responsibility, a great responsibility, but I think it is essential that we understand that it is God’s responsibility to give the victory and to give the growth.  ’Let’s understand that first.

II. This Victory Is Ours Through Submission

Now we come to our responsibility. This is God’s victory through His Son, but it becomes mine through submission. How do I enter into this victory? By submission, by living “chained to the chariot.” You may say, “Oh, is that all?” Well, if you say that, I know you’ve never tried it.

We have a lot of “Houdini” Christians in the church, and they can get out of those chains. My number one responsibility is to make certain that moment by moment, day by day, I am living under His lordship, and I am living chained to His chariot. Every other responsibility I have flows from that.

A seminary student was interviewing several pastors in our area about our philosophy of ministry. One of the questions he asked me was, “What is your primary responsibility as pastor of this church?”

I said, ” Me. Write it down. M-E, me!” He looked at me, and I admit it did sound like an egotistical answer and a very irresponsible answer. I said, “You want to know what my top priority is as pastor of this church?”

“Yes.”

‘I said, “It’s to me. Let me explain. My number one priority as pastor of this church is not to the lost of this community. My number one priority is not to the members of this church. My number one priority is to me. To make certain that I am living filled with His Spirit, chained to His chariot. Because when I am filled with His Spirit and living under His lordship, then the lost of this community and the members of my church will be ministered to by the overflow of my life.”

In 2 Corinthians 2, Paul makes this point very clear. These men who were chained were being led to their death. And Paul put himself in that position: “Thanks be to God, who always leads [me] in his triumphant procession” (2 Cor. 2:14 ). Yes, but that’s leading to death. And in chapter 4 he tells us what kind of death. He said, “I bear about in my body the dying of the Lord Jesus so that the life of Jesus might be made manifest through me. So then death works in me, that life may work in you” (2 Cor. 4:10 ,12).

Now I want you to focus on that. I bear about in my body the dying of the Lord Jesus. Why? So the life of Jesus that dwells in me can manifest itself through my mortal flesh.

The only thing that will bless anybody is the life of Jesus. When I stand to preach to my congregation, I cannot bless anyone. I cannot minister to anyone. I may tell a few jokes and get a few laughs, and I may come up with two or three clever little thoughts, but nobody’s going to break out of their chains. No hearts are going to be healed. No wounds are going to be ministered to. No lives are going to be touched. The only thing I have to offer anybody is the life of Jesus that dwells in me. And the only way that you people are going to be ministered to is if somehow the life of Jesus that is in me will manifest itself through my mortal flesh and touch your lives. That’s what ministry is all about.

I must make certain that you understand. It’s not the preacher. It’s not me. I don’t bless anybody. I don’t minister to anybody. It is the life of Jesus in me. That’s what people need. People don’t need to hear my opinions. They don’t need to hear my advice. What people need is to be touched with the life of Jesus. The life of Jesus is in me, and I must make certain that I live in such a way that His life can manifest itself through my human personality and touch others. Then people will be blessed.

Jesus said, “If any man come to me and drink, out of his’ innermost being shall flow rivers of living water” (John 7:37—38). I like to think of myself as the riverbed. And He supplies the river. Nobody’s ever been blessed by an old, dry, crusty riverbed. No, it’s the river running along it. So this victory is God’s victory through His Son. It becomes mine through submission.

III. This Victory Is Ours in Any Situation

There are two phrases in 2 Corinthians 2:14 that I want you to notice. First of all, Paul said, “Thanks be to God, who always.” At the end of that verse he said, “He manifests through us the sweet aroma of him in every place.” So we have always and every place. Always—that’s time. Every place—that’s space. We are time/space creatures. Everything we do is in time and space. Here’s what Paul is saying: “Thanks be to God who always, anytime, every time, all the time, leads me in His triumph in Christ. And every place, all places, any place, you name the place.”

Now I don’t say this lightly. I’ve thought about this before saying it. If we can learn how to live chained to the chariot, there is no conceivable situation in life in which God cannot give us victory. This may require us to redefine the word victory.

I won’t say I’ve learned it; I’ll say I’m learning. When I wake up and find myself in some trial, some difficulty, some adversity, the first thing I do is check to see if I’m “chained to the chariot.” I check to see if as far as I can tell, I’m still living under His lordship. And if I am, then I can say two things about that situation. First, He led me into it. If I’m chained to His chariot, I couldn’t have gotten there any other way! He led me into it.

Second, Jesus has already overcome it. Well, of course, because I’m following in the wake of His triumph. You may find this hard to believe, but when you live chained to the chariot, do you realize that you walk on conquered ground? That every time you put your foot down, you place it on territory that Jesus Christ has already conquered? He’s leading you along, and you’re simply following in His triumphant train!

There is no conceivable situation in life in which God cannot give us victory. When I was in college, I pastored a little country church in Oklahoma . I lived in Fort Smith , Arkansas , so I would drive down there every weekend. This church was about thirty miles over on the Oklahoma side. To get to this little church, I first took a main highway, a good highway, a big superslab. But then, after a while, I got off on a secondary road, a nice, smooth, asphalt road. After that, I got off on a road that had been acquainted at one time with asphalt, and it was pretty rough. And finally I got off on a dirt road. This dirt road wound through the foothills and mountains for about three or four miles to the church.

Three times on this dirt road I crossed a little, crystal-clear stream about an inch deep. And I didn’t think anything about it. I just splashed right through it.

One Sunday morning, I was driving to the church. It had been raining all week, but God had given us a beautiful sunshiny Easter Sunday. I had on a new suit and a new pair of shoes. And I was driving my 1946 Ford.

Back in those days when I drove to a preaching appointment, I would practice my sermon. I was trying to make it last forty-five minutes. I figured that if I could go for forty-five minutes in the car, when I got up before the people I could at least go for twenty-five minutes.

So I was driving along and preaching my sermon. It was coming along pretty good, as I remember. Suddenly, my car began to buck like it had hit a brick wall. Then it just stopped! I felt my feet getting wet. I looked down, and water was coming through the floorboard. Then I noticed that this little stream that was usually about an inch deep was about knee deep. I hadn’t even paid any attention to it.

There wasn’t anything to do except get out of the car, take off my new shoes, roll up my pants legs, and walk the last mile and a half to the church. You may be saying, “Preacher, does this story go anywhere?” Yes. One day I came to Jesus Christ, and I surrendered my life to Him. He put me in the chains of His lordship, and He took off! And I was happy. Praise God. Hallelujah. It’s fun to be a Christian! Just trust in Jesus every minute of life! Praise God!

We went along like that for awhile. Then we got off that smooth highway and got on that secondary highway that wasn’t quite as nice and smooth. But that doesn’t bother me, man. I’m chained to His chariot. Trust in Jesus. Bless God. Hallelujah! It’s fun to be a Christian! Amen! Bless God!

And after a while we got on the third road that had potholes and bumps. But it doesn’t bother me! I’m chained to His chariot! Praise God! Hallelujah! Trust in Jesus all the way. It’s fun being a Christian! I’m having the greatest time of my life!

Finally, we got on that dirt road. Well, that doesn’t bother me either. There’s just a little dust in my eyes and grit in my teeth. And right there I can sacrifice for Jesus—chained to His chariot! Bless God! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! Amen! I’m having a wonderful time! It’s fun being a Christian!

Well, after a while, I feel my feet getting wet. I look down, and I am passing over one of those little streams. The water is about toe-high. Well, that doesn’t bother me! Bless God! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! Trust in Jesus all the way! Man, it’s fun being a Christian!

I keep on going along, and after a while the water gets up to my knees. Doesn’t bother me. I’m chained to His chariot. Praise God! Hallelujah! Bless the Lord! Amen! It’s fun being a Christian!

Then the water gets up to my waist. Well.. amen. And then the water gets up to my shoulders. Oh, Jesus! And then the water gets up to my chin. And I say, “If I don’t get out of these chains, He’s going to drown me!”

Do you know what victory is? Victory is staying chained to the chariot, even if the water covers your head. Victory doesn’t always mean that the Lord will lead you on dry land, or drain the swamp. Sometimes He will take you into water that covers your head. Victory is staying chained to that chariot, no matter how deep the water gets, no matter where the chariot leads.

I go back to what the apostle John said in his first epistle. He said, “Faith is the victory” (1 John 5:4). He didn’t say, “Faith brings the victory,” or, “Faith gains the victory.” He said, “Faith is the victory” (emphasis added).

You come into my office, and you say, “Preacher, I’ve got to have surgery. The doctor says there’s a malignant tumor. And it doesn’t look good.” I ask you, “Do you still believe?” “Yes,” you reply. That’s victory.

Later I stand beside your bed. They’ve done the surgery, but all they could do was sew you back up and send you home to die. I ask again, “Do you still believe?” You reply, “Yes, I still believe.” That’s victory.

And then I stand beside your grave, and I turn to your wife and ask, “Do you still believe?” And she says, “Yes, I still believe.” That’s victory. This is God’s victory through His Son. It becomes ours through submission, and remains ours in any situation. And if we learn how to live chained to the chariot, there is no situation in life in which He cannot give us victory.

©Ron Dunn, LifeStyle Ministries, 2002

Text: 2 Corinthians 1:3-10

Those of you who were here this morning will remember that we started the message this morning on the Ministry of Trouble.  There are two ways to bear any wounds that you receive.  Whether they are spiritual, mental, physical, financial, etc., it really doesn’t make any difference.  Anytime that a problem, a difficulty, a hurt, or a pressure comes into your life, it is sent from God to minister.  There are two ways to bear them.  One is to bear it the world’s way.  That always brings about death.  The other is to bear it God’s way.  That always brings about such a change of heart Paul says that you don’t regret having the wounds.

I could not help but think tonight as some of these testimonies were given (some of the difficulties that were encountered, some of the pressures that were experienced) how true that teaching is of the Word of God.  When a problem, a difficulty, a pressure, a wound, a hurt of any kind is borne God’s way, it produces a change of heart so great, so tremendous that you do not regret having the wound.  The way to bear it God’s way so as to produce this change of heart is to see it as a minister sent from God for our good to do a work in us that God has preplanned before the foundations of the earth.  We saw this morning that the first reason that God allows these things to come into our life is that you and I may experience the comfort of God.

Beginning with verse 3,
Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation (The word literally means all our pressures.  We always have the idea of physical pain, but that is not the primary meaning of the word.  If we understand it as any kind of problem or pressure, it will be more meaningful to us.), that we may be able to comfort them which are in any (every kind of) trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.  For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.  And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer:  or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.  And our hope of you  is steadfast, knowing, that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.  For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, in so much that we despaired even of life.  But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us.

God allows trouble to come into our lives not only that we may experience his own comfort but that we may be equipped to comfort others.

Notice what he says in verse 4.  Let me read from the New English Bible which I think makes it a little clearer than the King James Version.
He comforts us in all our troubles so that we in turn may be able to comfort others in any trouble of theirs, and to share with them the consolation we ourselves receive from God.  As Christ’s cup of suffering overflows, and we suffer with him, so also through Christ our consolation overflows.  If distress be our lot, it is the price we pay for your consolation, for your salvation, your wholeness.  If our lot be consolation, it is to help us to bring you comfort and strength to face with fortitude the same sufferings we now endure.  Our hope for you is firmly grounded for we know that if you have part in the suffering, you have part also in the divine consolation.

In that statement Paul is making a tremendous revelation.  The reason God comforts us, and the reason God comes to us in those times of distress and pressure, and makes himself real, and stands over us, and overshadows us with his strength and encouragement is not that that comfort might terminate within ourselves, but that we might become a channel through which God may be able to comfort others also.  The key word in verse 4 is the word that.  It is a purpose clause in the Greek language.  It means simply this:  the reason that God comforts us in all of our trouble is for the express purpose that we may be able to comfort other people in every kind of trouble with the same comfort that we ourselves have experienced.  That is one of the main principles of the Christian faith.  It is that you and I receive something from God that we may pass on to someone else.  God blesses us.  Why?–that we in turn may be a blessing to someone else.  The most distorted view of the Christian life is that God blesses us simply that we may be blessed, and that God comforts us simply that we may be consoled.

If you will check out the Old Testament, you will discover this is why God had to temporarily set aside the people of Israel and to graft in another branch into the tree.  The Israelites in the Old Testament had the idea that they were the end of all of God’s purpose.  God had given them blessing upon blessing just because they deserved it, just because he wanted to bless them.  They did not see this tremendous principle that the reason God chose Israel was that they might be a channel through which he could reach other people.  They were to simply take what God gave to them and pass it on to other people.  They were blessed in order that they might become a blessing.

There is nothing that will sour the fruit on the tree of your godly life any quicker than thinking that the reason God gives you fruit is that you may enjoy it simply for yourself.  It is only when you take the fruit that God gives in your life and pass it on to somebody else that it flourishes and reproduces itself.  The chain of events here is so interesting.  Paul was in Asia and had serious difficulty.  Perhaps this trouble had absolutely not a thing to do with the Corinthians.  It may have come from some other direction. It may have been occasioned by something that was not even related to the Corinthians.  Paul says here is the way God works.  Here is the chain reaction.  God let us get into a tight place—pressure, tribulation so intense that we even despaired (word despair means we were in doubt of survival).  Phillips translates it like this:  we thought this was the end.  Paul is literally saying we thought our number was up.  We thought we were going down for the count.  It had nothing to do with the Corinthian situation.  Paul says God let us experience that so that in turn he might be able to comfort us that we might experience God’s ability and adequacy to meet every need.  The reason he did that is so that we might be able to pass on to you our experience of God’s complete adequacy in every need.

Why does God let it come?  How does it minister to us?  You stop looking upon that as a hospital; you look upon it as a seminary in which God has enrolled you to train you and equip you and prepare you to minister to someone else.  He says that God has allowed this to happen to us that we might take that very same comfort, encouragement that we have received of God and share it with you.  He says in the fifth verse that as the sufferings of Christ are overflowing the banks of our lives so also is the consolation.  When God pours out his comfort and comes with his adequacy, there is so much of it that there is enough for you to share it with somebody else.  There is always more than you need yourself.  God never gives you simply enough to meet your own needs; he always gives you enough to meet your need and the needs of others.
By the way, that’s true not only of spiritual encouragement; that’s true of money.  If you will read in 2 Corinthians, chapter 9, he says that he gives us enough so that we can be generous for every situation.  How about that?  The thing that stagnates the Christian’s life financially, spiritually, emotionally and every other way is when he gets the idea that God has given him just enough barely to get by himself.  That’s how most Christians live.  They don’t have time to minister to somebody else.  They think they are just going to barely be saved by the skin of their teeth themselves.  They don’t have time to help someone else, to comfort someone else, to give to someone else in need.  God never works that way.  If you’ll read the Scriptures, you’ll find that every time God gives, he always uses words that have the idea of giving lavishly and freely and overflowing.  God never gives you anything that is simply adequate only for yourself.  He always gives you enough to meet the needs of somebody else.

Now I want to tell you a tragedy.  I have seen it happen so many times in the seven years that I have been here.  I have seen it happen in my own life, and I stand condemned tonight by my own memory.  A pressure comes, a heartbreak comes, a tragedy comes and I bear it the world’s way.  I resent it.  I get bitter.  I feel sorry for myself.  I begin to mumble and gripe and complain.  There is no comfort, no blessing, no victory.  Then suddenly one day my path crosses with somebody who is in desperate need of ministry, of comforting.  That person goes unhelped, uncomforted because I was unable to share with them anything but my own bitterness and resentment.  I don’t know how many times I have seen somebody in a need, and I’ve thought of somebody else.  I thought to myself, oh, if so-and-so had just reacted to that problem in a Christian way and found victory, how they could minister to this other person.  The tragedy is that there are a great number of people tonight who are not being helped, and encouraged and ministered to because their ministers never learned the secret of receiving burdens in the way God intended us to receive them.
Every time God leads me into a new area of truth, or every time God teaches me something new about himself, every time there is some problem and I learn how to solve that problem, without failure, sooner or later God brings somebody across my path that needs exactly what I’ve learned.  Every time God has led me into the area of a new truth from the Word of God, I’ve thought he is just trying to expand my understanding of the Word of God.  But somebody either comes to my office or I cross paths with somebody who needs exactly what I have just learned.  Isn’t that amazing?

Why do you suppose as Peter was resting and dozed off while they were preparing his meal that God came to him in a dream.  God showed him a vision of a four cornered sheet.  Upon that sheet were unclean beasts.  The sheet was lowered to Peter. And a voice said, rise, take and eat.  Peter, being a good Jew, said I can’t eat that.  That’s unclean.  God had to deal with Peter and wipe away his prejudice about certain kinds of food.  God knew there was a Gentile named Cornelius who needed ministering to and God could not use Peter until first of all he had been equipped.

Are you going through some difficulty right now?  Is there some heartbreak that you are experiencing right now?  Do you have a problem right now?  By the way, if anybody here doesn’t have a problem, will you please stand up?  I surely would like to meet you.  I want to get to know you before you lose that innocent state.  To transform your situation, simply rejoice in the midst of it.  One day you will meet someone who is going to need encouragement and comfort and you can tell that person that God is adequate for their need.
There are two kinds of authority.  There is the authority of the Word, and there is the authority of the Word backed up by experience.  It is one thing to be able to tell a person that the Word of God says he is adequate, and you’ll come out of this problem okay if you just trust in him.  It’s another thing to say that this Word is true and I want to share with you what I went through.  I was surrounded and thought there was no way out but I discovered that God’s Word is true.  I want you to know what God has done for me.

2) The second reason that God allows trouble to come to us is that we might be equipped to minister to others.  The ability to comfort a broken heart is more to be desired than the ability to give large sums of money and preach great sermons.  What the world needs is not greater givers and preachers, but greater comforters.  It is easier to learn how to preach than it is to learn how to comfort.  It is easier to give away your money than it is to learn how to comfort.  The only way you can learn how to comfort others is to go through it yourself.  So Paul says that God has done this that we may be able to comfort others in any kind of trouble.  They don’t have to have the same kind of trouble you had.  It may be it different kind of trouble altogether but you have learned that God is adequate for any kind of problem.  You can share this with them.  God will minister life through your experience.

3)  That we might be emptied of all self reliance.  That God might eliminate all self confidence.  Look at what he says in verses 8 and 9:

For we would not brethren have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia (He doesn’t tell us exactly what it was.  He just describes the intensity of it.) For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, in so much that we despaired even of life.  But we had the sentence of death in ourselves (I don’t know what happened to Paul but it was something he was not able to bear.  It was a problem, a situation in which he thought actually he was going to die.  It was as though he had the sentence of death in him but notice what he says.  Verse 9 is beautiful.), in order that (that purpose clause again) we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:

I was in the office this afternoon working on this, and I almost skipped this point because to be honest with you I am a little bit embarrassed.  It seems as though every other Sunday and twice on Wednesday I’m up here saying to you that what God wants to teach us is that we can trust him.  I’ve said that, haven’t I?  I was sitting there and thought to myself, Lord, I am being repetitious.  Then the thought occurred to me that it’s not me that’s being repetitious, it’s the Lord that is being repetitious.

Paul said that we had the sentence of death within us.  The sky fell in on us.  The rug was pulled out from under us.  Why?  So that first of all we would not reply upon ourselves.  If God is going to teach us that he can be trusted, the first thing he has to do is to destroy our faith in ourselves.  Now I know that cuts across the grain of a great deal of teaching that goes on in our world today—have faith in yourself, have confidence in yourself, believe in yourself.  Moses believed in himself, and he made a mess of everything.  Abraham believed in himself, and he made a mess of everything.  Simon Peter believed in himself, and he ended up denying the Lord and cursing.  Paul is simply echoing the teachings of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation.  First of all, God must knock the props out from under us and show us that we are utterly helpless.  Then in that desperate moment, we reach out and grab hold of God and learn to trust in him.  Most people will not trust in God until they have to trust in him.  Very few people will just voluntarily trust in the Lord.  God has to work in such a situation that we are forced to rely upon him.  That is what Paul is saying.  He sends us trouble.  That point at which you think you are strong, and that point you have confidence in and are relying upon, that is the point at which God is going to have to deal with you.   God sends the ministry of trouble that he might eliminate all self confidence.

I have two more points.  I am going to mention one and go on to the third one.

4)  That we might exhibit the power of God.
I’ll give you the Scripture reference, and you can get your own sermon on this.  Chapter 4, verse 7, Paul describing in this chapter all his sufferings says, but we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not us.  Let me read this out of the New English Bible translation.  He says, we are no better than pots of earthenware to contain this treasure, and this proves that such transcendent power does not come from us but is God’s alone.  God wants to be glorified, and the Bible says over and over again that he will not share his glory with anyone.  Paul says this treasure I have (What treasure?  Eternal life, Jesus.) is carried around in an old broken down clay jar.   Why would God let such weakness come to a man like the Apostle Paul.  He says we are the off-skirting of all flesh.  We are despised by the world.  The world  snubs its nose at us.  The world looks at us and counts us as nothing.  Why does God do that?  When Paul gets up and preaches and people are saved, or when Paul is able to rejoice in the midst of suffering, then everybody knows that Paul’s power must come from some other source other than that old clay vessel.  The reason God allows the ministry of trouble to come into our lives is that we might exhibit the power of God—that it is God’s power and not ours.  Now the last point.

That there might be expressed in our lives the very life of Jesus himself.

Chapter 4, verses 10-12:
Always bearing in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.  For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.  So then death worketh in us but life in you.

When you read the chapter and context, Paul is describing his tribulations, his troubles, his pressures.  Why?–in order that the life of Jesus might be made manifest in this flesh.  So then death is working in us, suffering, sacrificing, tribulation in order that life may work in you.  When Jesus hung upon the cross, that life-giving blood flowed from the wounds of his body.  I want you to know that the life of Jesus still flows only from the wounds of his body.  And you and I are his body.

When Bro. Schoeppey was talking about this 62-year-old man that was saved last Sunday night I was so glad he mentioned that for four years the missionaries had worked, sown,  and labored.  The reason that 62-year-old man received life is because for four years that missionary couple had been giving death.
That’s the only way you can minister.  There is no other way.  The life of Jesus resides in this body, and it wants to get out and touch the lives of others.  But there is only one way that the life of Jesus can flow, and that is through a wound.  God allows hurts and wounds and troubles to come into our lives.  Why?  So then death is constantly working in us so that life may work in you.

I never forget when somebody walks down this aisle on Sunday morning, and says, I want to give my life to Jesus.  I know that somebody somewhere has died.  I know that somebody somewhere has allowed death to work in their body so that life might work in this person.  That’s the law of the spiritual harvest.

You say I wish that I could minister to people.  I wish that I could release the life of Jesus that is within me.  Jesus said unless a kernel of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone.  But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.  The life of Jesus is released when the alabaster box is broken.   When the alabaster box is broken, then the fragrance is released and fills the room.

Everywhere I see a cross upon which
the sons of God yield up their breath.
There is no gain except by loss.
And there is no life except by death.

When God allows tribulations, troubles, hurts and wounds to come into your life, it is in order that your life might become an expression of the life of Jesus.  And that the life of Jesus might flow from you and touch and minister to others.

There are two ways to bear the hurts and the wounds.  One is that you bear it the world’s way.  It will kill your joy.  There will be the death of bitterness throughout your life.  If you receive it God’s way, there will be such a change of heart there will be no regret.  The way to receive it God’s way is to look upon it as a minister sent from God to do you good.

Text: 2 Corinthians 7:10

For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of:  but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

I am going to do something a little differently this morning.  I am going to read this verse from the New English Bible.  The past few weeks I have been reading the book of 2 Corinthians over and over from different translations, not looking for sermons, but just for my own edification and devotion time with the Lord.  I highly recommend that as you take a book of the bible such as 2 Corinthians and read it over and over again from various translations to open up to you a truth that perhaps you have not seen before.  To me this is one of the great values in reading the Word of God with variety. The New English Bible is a very capable translation of the Greek text, one of the best. It seems to me that this translation, such as no other, has captured the thought of the apostle and expressed it better than any other translation.  Let me read this same verse out of the New English Bible.

2 Corinthians 7:10
For the wound which is born in God’s way brings a change of heart to salutary to regret, but the hurt which is born in the world’s way brings death.  Then he goes on in verse 11 to say, you bore your hurt in God’s way, and see what its results have been.

I want to read that phrase again because with that phrase turns the entire message of 2 Corinthians.  Paul has written to these Corinthians a very severe letter rebuking them for sin in their lives.  The Corinthians have been greatly troubled and have gone through a great deal of tribulation.  Paul is writing to them concerning all that they have gone through–the wounds, the hurt, the trouble that they have experienced.  Notice what he says:  The wound which is born in God’s way brings a change of heart that is so good you don’t have any regret for the wound.  You gladly receive the wound, the hurt, the trouble because since you bore it in God’s way, it produced a change of heart.  This change of heart is so great that you have no regret for the wound.
Now notice:  but the hurt which is born in the world’s way brings death.  The difference between happy people and unhappy people, between people who are rejoicing and people who are down in the mouth, is not the absence of trouble.  Oftentimes, we think this is what makes all the difference.  We look at a person and everything seems to be running smoothly for him.  He seems to be such a happy person.  There seems to be such peace and joy in his life.  Sometimes just looking on the outward appearance, we say, well, if I had it as easy as he has it then I could be as happy as he is.

One of the amazing discoveries that we continue to make is that everybody, no matter what they look like on the outside, has problems.  You would be completely astounded if you knew some of the deep, deep wounds and troubles of the people sitting around you.  The difference between people is not the absence of trouble.  The difference is in the attitude towards the trouble that comes to them.  If the Bible makes anything clear, and really you don’t need the Bible to make this clear, it is that trouble and hurt come to everybody.  The difference lies in what you do with it.

In this congregation, the difference in the people whose lives are characterized by victory and rejoicing and triumph and those whose lives are characterized by depression, self pity, defeat and bitterness lies in what they did with the hurt and trouble that came their way.  The reason that this particular translation of this verse captivated me is that it states so plainly that there are two ways you can receive the wounds and hurts and troubles that come to you in life.

One is God’s way, and the other is the world’s way.  Paul says that when you bear it God’s way, it brings about a change of heart.  It ministers to you and brings about such a transformation of your heart, the control center of your life, the steering wheel of your life, that you have no regret.  You welcome that hurt and that wound because of the result it produced.

He says if you bear this hurt the world’s way, it produces death–the death of bitterness and resentment.  I can’t help but think of a number of people I have met through the years who are outstanding illustrations of this truth.  People who received a wound, a hurt, trouble dumped into their lives the way the world receives it—with resentment and bitterness.  Do you know what?  It has produced death in their life, death to their spirit, death to their joy, death to their happiness.  Yet, I’ve seen many people who have received equal hurts, and even deeper wounds, in God’s way, and it has produced in them such a joy and peace and abundance that they have no regret for what happened.  There are two ways to receive the problems that come to you.  One is to receive them the world’s way, and I tell you it produces death.  This is the reason some of you have a dead spirit, and your joy is dead, and the peace and contentment of your heart has been slaughtered.

How do you bear this trouble in God’s way?  I want us to look in 2 Corinthians, chapter 1, and I want to share with you this morning how you receive this trouble, this problem, whatever it is, in God’s way so that it creates in you a change of heart.

1 Corinthians 1:3-5
Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.  For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.

There are other verses of Scripture throughout 2 Corinthians I want to share with you.  I am going to start this morning and finish tonight.

Paul uses the word tribulation in the fourth verse.  It is a very strong word that indicates being pressed down.  It indicates any kind of pressure that comes to you.  It doesn’t necessarily have to be physical pain; it can be emotional or mental.  It is a slipcover type of word.  It fits any chair or couch.  It simply means pressure of any size, kind, or color.  He says that these Corinthians, as well as Paul and Timothy themselves, have received a great deal of various kinds of pressure.  Throughout the book of 2 Corinthians, Paul is giving his personal autobiography of the tribulations that he has experienced.

In these opening verses, he gives to us the way to receive them in God’s way so as to bring about a change of heart so that we really won’t regret it.  When trouble, distress and hurt come to us–pressure of any kind, it simply means that God is up to something in our lives.  God, through this trouble, is perfecting his eternal plan in our lives.  The way to bear it is to realize that it is a minister sent from God to us.

If you are looking for a title to the message, it is The Ministry of Trouble.  You thought you had a strange minister.  Here is yet a stranger minister, a minister whose name is Rev. Trouble.  God has sent him to us to do us good.  There are about five things I want to share with you.  I will probably get to one this morning, and the others tonight.

What is the purpose of this trouble that God himself allows to come into our lives? Realizing that it is a minister sent from God to us will enable us to bear it God’s way and therefore transform our heart.

God sends these troubles to us that we might experience the comfort of God.

Let me read those verses out of the New English Bible.
He says, Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the all merciful Father, the God whose consolation never fails us.  He comforts us in all our troubles so that we in turn may be able to comfort others in any trouble of theirs, and to share with them the consolation that we ourselves receive from God.

Verse 5 is a tremendous verse:

As Christ’s cup of suffering overflows, and we suffer with him, so also through Christ our consolation overflows.

Paul is saying that when trouble of any sort comes, it is that we might experience the comfort of God.  The word for comfort is the same word that Jesus uses in Matthew 5:4, the beatitude, blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted.  That’s a tremendous word.  It’s a rich word.  Really, you cannot translate that word into English.  You can come close to it.  It is the same word that is used of Jesus being our advocate in 1 John 2:2 as he stands before the Father on our behalf so that when we sin, we do not lose our salvation.  The reason we do not lose our salvation when we sin is because Jesus Christ himself is our advocate before the Father.  He is standing before the Father as our advocate.   It is the same word that Paul uses here for God’s comfort.  It is also the same word that is translated the comforter in John 14, 15, and 16 where Jesus speaks of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, when he comes to us, to indwell us, to be our Comforter.
What does the word comfort really mean?  The word actually means one who comes to stand beside us, to champion our cause, to encourage and strengthen and comfort us.  It takes that much and more to translate that Greek word.  It is someone who comes to stand beside us in our time of need, to take up our cause, making it his cause, and stays there to encourage, strengthen, and comfort us.

Paul says that God is the God of all consolation and the reason that he allows trouble to come to us is that we might experience God’s presence in this way.  I don’t know of anybody in all the world that would not want the comfort of God.  Can you imagine any person who is saved, any Christian not wanting to experience God’s presence?

How many of you this past week thought to yourself, I wish God were as real to me as he is to so-and-so.  How many of you in the past few days or weeks, perhaps reading the biography of  some great saint of God has said to yourself, I wish that I could experience the strength and the power and the encouragement of God in my life as that person has.  All of us want to be comforted.

Do you realize what the prerequisite to comfort is?  It is amazing to me how shortsighted we are.  We want to be comforted but you can’t be comforted until first of all you mourn.  That’s what Jesus said.  Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted.  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for they shall be filled.  Many of us want to be filled with righteousness but first of all you have to be starving for it.  Many of us want to be comforted but we don’t want to mourn.  We don’t want to have hurt and trouble.  The prerequisite to experiencing the comfort and consolation and encouraging presence of God is first of all that we know tribulation, pressure, hurt.  God allows these various kinds of trouble to come into our lives so that we may experience firsthand the comfort of God.

By the way, Paul is uniquely qualified to speak on this subject.  Let me encourage you to read through 2 Corinthians and see what a rough time he had.  In chapter 1 he says we had the sentence of death within us.  Christian, have you ever had that feeling?  Have you ever had the feeling that God has absolutely forsaken you, that he no longer cares about you; he has really forgotten where you are, and has misplaced you somewhere?  You are at the mercy of the devil and the mercy of the world and whatever fate there is out there against you.  Paul said we got into so much trouble that we actually had a sentence of death within us.  You can’t get into a valley that is any deeper and darker than that.  Yet Paul says through all of this we came to experience firsthand the encouragement and comfort of God.

Notice he says that he is the God of all comfort.  This basically means that God’s comfort and encouragement and strength is complete.  He is the God of A-L-L comfort.  That is simply Paul’s way of saying that God’s presence and God’s overflowing strength are adequate for whatever you need.  There is absolutely no hurt, no wound, no pressure, no trouble that comes into your life that God himself is not adequate for it.  Some of you don’t know this and don’t believe it so God is going to have to let you hurt enough so that you will come to know that God is adequate.

There is a great song, Through It All, and I know the second verse.  I’m not going to sing it.  Don’t worry.  I’m just going to quote it.  It has come to mean so much to me.

I thank him for the mountains,
I thank for the valleys,
And I thank him for every storm he’s brought me through,
If I’d never had a problem,
I’d never have known that God could solve them,
I’d never have known what faith in His Word could do.

Isn’t that great?  If I’d never had a problem, I’d never know that God could solve them.
Some of you do not believe that God alone is adequate for your every need.  The only way you will ever come to know it and believe it is when you have the sentence of death in your selves, and then you’ll learn that God is adequate.  That will create such a change in your heart that you won’t be sorry for the troubles that came.  Learning that one secret that God is the God of all comfort will be worth whatever it costs.  That means he is adequate.  I will tell you something else that it means; it means he is the only source of comfort.  You see, if he is the God of all comfort, then that means outside of him there is no comfort.  How often we’ve seen this illustrated.  I want to repeat that over and over again.  I want you to really understand this.  Outside of God, there is no other real comfort and strength.  He is the source of it all.

Trouble, hurt and pressure come into a person’s life, and they bear it the world’s way.  They begin to complain, to fuss about it, feel sorry for themselves, resent it, and grow bitter.  What are they doing?  They are cutting themselves off from the God of all comfort.  They are turning away from the God who is the only source of comfort.  When they turn away from the God who is the only source of comfort, they will never find any comfort for that problem.  We know people who in times of problems and distress have borne it the world’s way.  They have wallowed in self pity, resented what God has done, grown bitter, and to this day there is still no comfort in their lives.  Why?  Because God is the God of ALL comfort.  If you turn away from him, and don’t see his hand in it, and praise him in the midst of it, you cut yourself off from all strength and comfort.  There will be none.  His comfort is complete.

There is something else about this comfort.  It is a conquering type of comfort.  Let me read two or three verses.  This comfort that Paul is talking about, this strength that God gives, this experiencing God’s encouraging presence in the midst of trouble does not enable the Christian simply to endure the trouble (that would be pretty good if that is all there was to it, all right, a bargain—if it stopped there just to enable you to endure it) but to rejoice in it.

2 Corinthians 7:4 says, in all our many troubles my cup is full of consolation and overflows with joy.  The thing that really impressed me so much about 2 Corinthians is that all the way through it there is a parallel note struck, a parallel theme.  There is that dominant theme of suffering, hardship, trouble, and tribulation.  Paul talks about being stoned, scourged, forsaken, lied about, betrayed, his own people turning against him.  But the parallel track that runs right alongside the theme of suffering is joy, victory, rejoicing and happiness.  Paul says in all our many troubles our cup of consolation and joy overflows.  Isn’t that amazing?

Listen again to what he says in 2 Corinthians 6:9: we are disciplined by suffering but we always have cause for joy.  Paul is not saying praise the Lord anyhow.  I don’t care much for that phrase praise the Lord anyhow.  I don’t think that is scriptural.  What you are saying is that everything is bad, but in spite of everything, I can still squeak out a praise the Lord anyhow.    Paul didn’t praise the Lord anyhow; he praised the Lord—period!  He is not saying he has joy in spite of all these troubles; he is saying joy in them and because of them.  There is the difference.  A Stoic, a humanist, a person with a great constitution and strong will could praise the Lord in spite of the circumstances but only the comfort of God can enable a Christian to praise the Lord because of the circumstances.  Until you get to that place, you haven’t known the real victory that God has for you.  He says in our sorrows we have always cause for joy.

It is a joy:  God not simply enabling a Christian to endure the problem, but to rejoice in it, because of it.  Why?–because it’s going to bring such a change of heart.  You are going to taste the goodness of God in a way that you’ve never tasted it before.  You’ve just been on a diet before but now God is going to set you down at a table spread with all of his comfort, strength and encouragement, and you are going to experience a feast.

There is one other thing about this comfort that I want to share with you before we close.  It is the comfort of Christ.  You are liable to miss something very important if you read casually or quickly over verse 5.  Notice what Paul says.  He is talking about the troubles he is going through.  He defines those troubles, and he defines that comfort in verse 5.  For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.  Now you have to see this or you’ve missed the whole thing.  Paul does not say for as the sufferings for Christ abound in us.  Paul is not saying that we are suffering for Christ.  What does he say?  For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us . . . .  When you have problems as a child of God, that makes you something special in the sight of God.  It qualifies you for a number of things.  One of the things is to share in the very sufferings of Christ.  Every time there is a hurt, a problem, a difficulty, a pressure, do you know what that is?  That is the sufferings of Christ himself in your own body.

Isn’t this what the Apostle Paul said in Colossians, chapter 1:  For I fill up that which is behind in the afflictions of Christ.  Isn’t that what he said in Romans 8?—that we share with Jesus in HIS sufferings.  Paul isn’t saying here that we are suffering for Christ; it’s not our suffering on behalf of Christ.  It is actually the sufferings of Christ expressing itself through our body.  Jesus could never redeem the world and change our hearts without suffering for us, could he?  That proof and principle still are true today.  The only way that God can still in this hour redeem the hour is through the sufferings of Christ but now Jesus has a glorified body.  Which body is he going to suffer through today?  It is the body of the believer.  God’s plan of redemption has never changed.  The world cannot be redeemed and hearts cannot be changed apart from the sufferings of Christ.  The sufferings of Christ still go on through the believer.  That’s exactly what Paul is saying in Colossians 1, Romans 8, and 2 Corinthians 1.

When you have any kind of problem, distress, tribulation, it is the suffering of Christ.  That’s why you can bear it God’s way.  You become a co-laborer, a partner.  Isn’t this what Paul means in Philippians 3 when he says, that I may know the fellowship of his suffering, being made conformable unto his death.  The word fellowship simply means sharing alike.  For Paul this was the apex, the climax of his Christian growth:  that I may come to the place where I share the sufferings of Christ, being made conformable unto his death.
Just as the sufferings of Christ overflow in us so our consolation overflows by Christ.  If what I am suffering is really the sufferings of Christ, then the comfort and consolation and encouragement that I receive are also that which belongs to Jesus Christ.  In other words, I receive the same consolation, the same comfort that Jesus Christ himself received.

Text: I Corinthians 10:13, 14

There is something that all of us in this building have in common, no matter who you are or what you are or what your position in life is, how educated you are or how uneducated you are, how spiritual you are, or how carnal you are…there is one experience that all of us have had in common this week. And that is the experience of temptation. The Bible makes it very clear in a number of passages that temptation is the appointed lot of all of us.

Failure to understand the meaning and the ministry of temptation can lead to a great deal of frustration and failure in the Christian life. I think it was about a year ago that we dealt with this passage in the chapter, but I have felt all week the necessity of us taking two verses in this tenth chapter this morning and dealing with them again…because as you and I come to know Jesus in a greater way and as the experience of the Apostle Paul in Philippians 3 becomes ours when he said,
“…that I may know Him…that I may come to know Him as I have never known Him before…” there is going to be at the same time greater knowledge of temptation. By that I mean experiential knowledge of temptation.

You are going to be facing more temptation and if you do not understand that there is a ministry of temptation, then as a Christian you’re going to be subject to frustration and failure. So I want you to listen as I read 1 Corinthians 10:13-14…
“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man, but God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tempted above that you are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it. Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.”

There has no temptation taken you…and the word “taken” means “to seize and hang on” and doesn’t that graphically describe some of the temptations you and I have to endure? It not only seizes us suddenly, but it just seems to hang on doggedly and stubbornly. And some of us struggle with the same temptations day after day, month after month, year after year. And we wonder why it is that these things come upon us, and what can be the reason for all of this and why it is that God allows some of these experiences to come to us and if it is God allowing us to do it, or if it is because we are still sinful and is it because we are still not right with God. Many times I have talked with Christians who, when they face severe temptation, their first reaction was, “Well, I must be wrong with God…maybe He isn’t really Lord in my life. Maybe I’m not even saved.”

Now, you need to understand two or three things about temptation if you’re going to enter into the ministry of temptation. And that’s the title of the message this morning. I think it’s remarkable how that everything that God brings into our lives, or allows to come into our lives, has a ministry to perform! Last Sunday morning we talked about the ministry of the thorns. A few months I preached on the ministry of failure. And I praise the Lord this morning that He is such absolute control of all things…circumstances and situations…that everything that happens to me and everything that comes to me performs a ministry…even if it’s tragedy.

This past Saturday…yesterday, as a matter of fact…we had some testimonies at the couples’ retreat. And I was overwhelmed by two or three of the testimonies as young married couples stood and testified of tragedy in their lives…one couple whose child had been run over by a car…another whose child had died of leukemia. And as these couples stood and gave testimony how God used that experience to bring them to Jesus and to bring their home together and to bring them to a full and abundant life I sat there and I thought, “Isn’t it amazing how God can even take the worst things that befall us and use them as a ministry to His glory and for our ultimate good.”

You need to understand this, Christian. Everything that happens to you does not happen because of some impersonal, unknowable fate. It happens because there is a loving Father in heaven who is seeking to work out and carve His purpose in your life. There is a ministry of temptation.

We’re going to say three things about temptation as revealed in these verses this morning.

God permits the experience of temptation.

Notice what the apostle said… “There is no temptation taken you but such as is common to man but God is faithful who will not suffer (will not allow) you to be tempted above that you are able.” Now, that little expression, “God will not allow you to be tempted” tells me two things.

First of all, it tells me that temptation itself is not a sin. If it were a sin, God would not allow it to come to me. God allows me to be tempted. Temptation itself is not a sin. And I find increasingly that Christians don’t understand this. The devil comes and tempts us and at the same time he accuses us because we’re tempted. He says, “Now, you see…if you were really right with God…if you were really saved, you wouldn’t have those thoughts. That would never occur to you. That desire would never well up within you if you were really right with God.”

But, you need to understand that the temptation itself is no sin. The book of Hebrews says that Jesus Christ was tempted in all points…not a few…but in all points such as we …yet without sin. Jesus was led of the Spirit, driven by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. Jesus was sinless yet He was tempted. And when the devil tempts you, don’t let him bluff you into thinking that that temptation itself is a sin. It is no sin!

But, this also reveals another truth to me. God allows the temptation. He permits the experience of temptation in my life. Now, God Himself tempts no man. God tempts no man. It says He allows the temptation. He Himself does not tempt us. Listen to James 1:13:

“Let no man say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted of God.’ For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed.”

Now, you say, “Well, what about those expressions in the Old Testament where it says that God tempted Abraham and God tempted Israel?” The word “temptation” is used in two different ways in the Word of God. It is used with the meaning “to entice to evil, to entice someone to sin.” God never tempts anyone in that manner. God never tries to get you to sin. He never entices you to evil. And so, James says that when a man is drawn away to sin…when he has this impulse to sin…to do that thing which is unholy…don’t ever let him accuse God of bringing that temptation.

But temptation is used another way in the Bible… “to put to the test…to try something to see if it is real or not…” Now, God does tempt us in this way. He puts us to the test…1 Peter 1 speaks of the trial or the testing of our faith. In other words, God leads us into experiences to test us and to try us to see if our faith that we profess to have is really genuine.

Abraham had made his profession of faith. He’d said, “Lord, I’m yours. Everything that I possess, everything that I love…I put You above all of that.” And so, God tried his faith and put him to the test. And God does test us and tries our faith, but God never entices us to sin. The enticement to evil never comes from God. But God permits us to be tempted.

Now, why does God permit us to be tempted? What is the ministry of temptation? I think there are two basic reasons God allows you to be tempted and every person here this week has been tempted. Every person has been tempted and some of you have yielded to the temptation and that’s sin. Some of you have been confused by the temptation and it’s caused you to be filled with doubt and uncertainty about your relationship with God. So, why does God allow this temptation to grab hold of me and just hang on doggedly?

There are two reasons…

First of all, God allows us to be tempted to expose us to our weaknesses. Listen to Deuteronomy 8…and God is giving here an explanation why He led the people into that wilderness for forty years. In the Deuteronomy 8:2 Moses says,
“And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led you these forty years in the wilderness…” Now why did He lead them in the wilderness? “…to humble thee and to prove thee…” The word “prove” means “to examine, to expose” “…to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep His commandments or not.”

Do you know what the children of Israel had said on one occasion? “…whatever the Lord tells us to do we will do!” And they were lifted up with pride and self-confidence. And God allowed them to be tempted…He permitted the experience of temptation to expose to themselves the sinfulness and the wickedness and the rebellion that was in their hearts.

Do you know that one of the easiest things for a Christian to fall into is spiritual pride and spiritual presumption. And you and I get to the place we think, “I’ve arrived! You other poor creatures, you’ll just have to look with awe upon me because I have arrived. I came. I saw. I conquered all things!” And God says, “Now you don’t realize the wickedness that’s in your own heart.

And you know it’s very difficult for us to see the weakness and the sinfulness that’s in our own heart. So, God allows the devil to tempt us to evil so that we might recognize the sinfulness that’s in my own heart. And everything I am tempted, whether I yield to that temptation or not, the very fact that I can be tempted…the very fact the desire to yield to that temptation convinces me I still have a ways to go. And Paul says in this tenth chapter of 1 Corinthians, “…take heed lest you fall…” And in Galatians 6, he says, “Brethren, if a brother be overtaken in a fault, you restore him and you watch out because you can do the same thing.”

Once in awhile, you and I get the idea that certain things can never happen to us and this failure that this fellow went through will never happen to me and we have the idea that we’re better than they are and we begin to look with a critical eye and a condemning eye upon them…so God allows us to be tempted to expose to me my own wickedness and my own sinfulness.

But, there’s another reason. And I think this is the best reason and the most comforting reason. God allows us to be tempted, not only to expose us to ourselves, but to enlarge our capacity for God.

He allows us to meet conflicts and difficulties and temptations in order to enlarge our capacity. You know, God meets a person on the level of his capacity. And God will give you as much blessing and God will pour as much of His fullness into you as you’re able to contain. Now listen to Exodus 23: 29-30…God is telling them how He is going to bring them to victory in the land of Canaan. And He says:
“I will not drive them (that’s the enemy) out from thee in one year. (He says it’s going to take longer than a year…Rome was not built in a day and Canaan was not going to be possessed in a year…it’s going to take longer…now why?) “…lest the land become desolate and the beast of the field multiply against thee, by little and little I will drive them out from before thee until thou be increased and inherit the land.”

God said that He was not going to drive all of the enemies out at once. And have you ever wondered why it was that when the people of Israel crossed over Jordan that God did not immediately just drive every enemy? They took it one city at a time…one city at a time… God said, “You’re a small nation. Not only are you small in number, you’re small in spirit. And you don’t really know Me well enough yet to trust Me in every situation and if I were to just completely vacate the land of all enemies, you wouldn’t be strong enough and big enough to hold the ground that I give you. And while you’re waiting to grow up spiritually and statistically, the beast would multiply and they would multiply faster than you multiply and the land would become desolate because there’s not enough of you to occupy the land.”

So, He says, “I’m going to give you victory by victory, as you’re able to take it, as you’re able to contain it.” Now, this is true to the experience of most of us. Man, when we got right with God and we came to that place where we said, “I’m willing to acknowledge Jesus as Lord in my life…” it seems as though every enemy in the land was completely overpowered. And we thought we were big enough to possess the land…we thought we were strong enough that we would never fail…that we would never falter…but you know what happened? The land became desolate and we found out we really weren’t strong enough to take all the blessings that God was giving to us. We really weren’t mature enough to trust Him in all of these things that God was going to do for us.

And so pretty soon, we began to lose ground. Have any of you lost ground spiritually? Have you ever had that experience? Sure you have! You’ve lost ground…because you were not big enough, strong enough, mature enough to hold the ground that God gave you in victory. So, this is the way God works. And some of us are perplexed because we think, “Well, I thought I had victory and today I met an enemy I didn’t know I had! Today, I met an area of my life that I didn’t even know existed!” And sometimes we think maybe we really didn’t mean it when we asked the Lord to come into my life.

NO! God brings you victory one city at a time…little by little…He’s enlarging your capacity for fullness. And as God allows one temptation to come to you and you overcome that temptation that enlarges it just a little bit. That increases you just a little bit. God allows another temptation to come to you. You conquer another city and that gives you time to increase and enlarge just a little bit. And what God is doing in our lives is enlarging our capacity so He can pour more of His fullness and more of His strength and more of His blessings into us.

That’s the ministry of temptation, so when you’re faced with temptation you need to thank God for it. You need to realize that God is doing two things in this temptation…He’s exposing you to the weakness and the sinfulness of your own heart so you won’t be filled with pride and presumption and also He is making you larger so you can receive more of His fullness and more of His love and more of His blessings. So, God permits the experience of temptation.

God prevents extreme temptation.

Now, this is a very comforting statement that the apostle makes…
“…but God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted above that ye are able…” “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man…”

You don’t ever have an uncommon temptation.
Now, I want you to understand this morning, Christian, that if you ever yield to temptation, it’s your fault. God never allows you to be tempted beyond your ability to bear it. God will not allow you to be tempted beyond your capacity…beyond your strength…because God is gradually enlarging you and He is not going to allow the devil to tempt you beyond your capacity to take that temptation and stand against it.

This is why in the third chapter of Genesis, when the devil came to Adam and Eve to tempt them, he came in the form of a snake…in the form of a serpent. I’m convinced that if God had allowed him to come in all of his power and in all of his majesty, Adam and Eve would have had no choice but to fall beneath the tempter. But, you see God had already given to man dominion and rule and control over the reptiles and the serpents and so God said, “Satan, you can tempt My creation but you’re going to have to reduce your potential and you’re going to have to come in the form of a serpent because man has dominion over you and I’m not going to allow Adam and Eve to be tempted above that which they are able.”

Man has dominion over that serpent so he did not have to yield. And I want you to know this morning that because of the blood shed on Calvary you as a child of God have dominion over the devil whether you know it or not and you don’t have to yield. “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man…” It’s just human. It’s never beyond your strength.

I had a man come to me a year or so ago and he said, “Pastor, I have a problem…maybe you can help me with it.” He said, “I have this problem of bad language.” He said, “I just curse all the time…I can’t help it! I cannot control my tongue. I cannot help it! I curse all the time!”

I said to him, “I’ve never heard you curse. I’ve been around you a great deal. I have never one time heard you say one foul word.” He said, “Oh, no! I wouldn’t around you!” I said, “Well, then, don’t tell me you can’t help yourself! If you can control your language around me you can control it around anybody.”

You see, he thought he was helpless. He thought he just couldn’t help using that kind of language. Now listen, if you can control that language around one person, you can control it around anybody. Don’t say that that’s beyond your strength! It isn’t! I said, “Well, why don’t you use that around me?” He said, “Well, you’re a preacher.” You know, as though that puts me in another category…sub-human or subterranean or something!

Somebody said, “One of the greatest days of my life was when I discovered my pastor was human.” Well, that’s a very discouraging discovery for a great many people. So, he went on to say, “I don’t use that language around you because I have too much respect for you.” I said, “Your problem is you have more respect for a human being than you have Jesus Christ that dwells within you.”

“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man and God is faithful…” Do you believe that? God is faithful! He “will not allow you to be tempted above that you are able, but will with the temptation make a way of escape that ye may be able to bear…” You can endure. When a temptation comes to you, you just thank the Lord… “Thank You, Lord, I’m grateful that this temptation is just common to man and I’m grateful that I’m able to bear it.” And then you thank Him for the next thing.

God provides an escape from temptation.

“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man.”
The Greek word means “moderate…moderate to man.” “…but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above that ye are able…” and notice this… “but will with the temptation…” right along with the temptation… “also He will provide a way to escape…”

Every temptation that comes to you has with it a corresponding way of escape. There’s a way out of every temptation. That word “escape” means “a path through a mountain canyon.” And it is a picture of an army that has been stampeded into a box canyon and there they are pinned in. There’s no way out. The only way out is guarded by the enemy. They’re doomed. They’re finished. They’re going to be wiped out. There’s no way of that mountain box canyon. But, as they look, they discover a little opening. They discover a door in the mountain. There is a way to escape! And as they look for it, they discover they can slip out of that box canyon and escape the onslaught.

That’s the word that he uses there. And you may sometimes feel like you’re hemmed in with temptation and you’re just in a valley surrounded by mountains that are too high to climb over. This is the way temptation comes to us. In James 1, it says, “When you fall into temptation…” It’s just like falling into an open grave or falling into a deep hole and there’s no way out! He says, “Listen, I’m faithful. I’ll make a way out! You trust Me! I’ll make a way of escape. You just look for it! There’ll be a door and you can get out of it.”

Now I want to point out something to you that doesn’t come out in your English version of the Bible. Literally, what the apostle says is “but will with the temptation also make the way of escape…” There is a definite article…THE…in front of the word “way”. And the rule of Greek grammar says that when the definite article is used it is referring to a specific and a definite thing. There is always not just a way to escape…there is always the way to escape! Do you know what that way is? Jesus said, “I am the Way!” Jesus is always the Way to escape!

A man came to me yesterday in Colorado. He poured out the problem he had. Oh, it was a heartbreaking problem. He said, “What can I do about it?” I said, “Friend, the first thing is to recognize it’s not your problem. It’s God’s problem.” And the first step in victory is to see that this isn’t my problem, it’s His problem. Jesus dwells within me and every demand that is made upon my life is really a demand made upon Jesus who dwells within me. I said, “Sir, the first step is to see that it is not your problem…you cannot handle it. Don’t try. It is God’s problem and you commit it to Him.”

There is THE way to escape. You say, “How can I escape temptation?” When temptation comes to you, you remember God is faithful and God has toned down this temptation. God has stripped down this temptation. God has limited this temptation. God has policed this temptation, and has made certain this temptation, this particular temptation that is coming to you is not beyond your capacity to take it.

He tailor makes temptations for you…or He lets the devil tailor make it. The devil says, “I want to tempt Job…” God says, “Alright, here’s what you can do. I’ll give you his size and you make it to fit him.” And the devil has to obey the Lord. I don’t know about you, but that gives me a great deal of comfort. And the Father says, “Alright, you can tempt that fellow. Here are his measurements. You make it to fit him. You can’t make it any larger than he is. It’s got to fit him perfectly.” God is faithful! And so when temptation comes I say, “Thank You, Lord, this temptation is tailor made for me. It’s not bigger than I am. It’s not more than I can bear. And I thank You that there’s a way to escape and Jesus, You’re the way…and Jesus this is really Your temptation because You’re my life and You dwell in me and this is my temptation and I’m just going to trust You and let You handle it”

And if we’d come to more and more depend upon the indwelling Christ and rely upon Him and recognize that it’s not your problem, not your difficulty, not even your temptation…but it belongs to Jesus who dwells within you and that’s why He dwells within you…to take all of this…to do your living for you. He not only did my dying for me. He does my living for me! And that’s the way to escape!!

So, he says, “Wherefore my beloved brethren, flee from idolatry.” When you see the EXIT…run, don’t walk to the nearest EXIT. When you see the way God has given you to get out of temptation…you flee…you run from the face of temptation and idolatry. You say, “Well, Preacher, what if I do yield? What if I do fail?” Well, no cause for permanent defeat…1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” I think God has just taken care of everything!

There is just no way that the Christian who knows this Book can miss out and lose! If the temptation comes to me, and it will, it is not more than I can take and Jesus will provide escape. If I do fail and I do yield to that temptation, I can go to the Father, confess that sin…I am forgiven and I can still stand in His presence. And God has just taken care of everything!

God has taken care of the failure as well as the success! Whenever you failed this week…maybe you’ve met temptation and you’ve yielded to it…it’s easy to get rid of that sin in your life…just be confession…just by saying, “Lord, I confess this thing..” and you just name that thing…and the Bible says that the very moment you confess it to God He forgives you of that sin and He goes a step further…He cleanses you from all unrighteousness.

Now, let’s bow together…

© Ron Dunn, LifeStyle Ministries, 2005