Certainties Absolutes And Conviction

2 Corinthians 4:1-12

I could of entitled this message “Light And Darkness”, however today we want to fix ourselves on what is certain, absolute, and what truly convicts. Paul does that in this passage.

He has been writing to the Corinthian church to correct their behavior while they are together and when they are out in the world.......The church was in chaos, it had rich, poor, former pagans, Jews, someone in the church had married their father’s wife (step-mom), self-proclaimed apostles had come in and questioned the Gospel the Paul preached, etc. Their worship was earthly and chaotic. Paul had written approx. 4 letter to this church......There is much discussion on how many letters were written, but we have 2 of them.

Paul wanted them to center on what is certain, absolute, and what truly convicted. He stated in 1 Corinthians 2:1–4 “And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:” .......Out of that passage verse 2, hit me early on as a preacher of the Gospel......For I determined to know anything among you, except for Jesus Christ and Him crucified! The Gospel of Jesus Christ!

The Person and Work of Jesus Christ! There is no other absolute, there is nothing else certain, and His life is a conviction to all humanity!

The Person of Jesus Christ is Who He Is now and His earthly ministry, what He was on earth, perfect, sinless, totally committed to His Father. Teaching us the spiritual, revealing to us in His life, revealing the Godhead in His earthly walk....Colossians 2:9 “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” ......Colossians 1:15 “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:”

The Work of Jesus Christ is His perfect walk, to be a lamb without spot and without blemish, His death on the cross for our sins,......1 Timothy 1:15 “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” ..........John 19:30 “When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.” .........3 days late being raised from the dead by the Father through the Spirit: God being perfectly pleased and satisfied by the work of Christ, that the penalty/ransom/propitiation/ perfectly satisfied the wrath of God on humanity for sin, raised Jesus from the grave through His Holy Spirit! He walked with the disciples in a resurrected state and ascended and now He sits at the Father’s right hand and ever lives to make intercession for us to the Father!

The Holy Spirit has been given to reveal Christ to us, to transform our lives into the light of the world.......

This is where we pick up in 2 Corinthians 4.......Paul was not a fancy looking fellow nor had he a smooth tongue, he just preached what Jesus taught him, what Jesus lived..........For that Paul’s life was wrought with calamity, persecution, and suffering.

The theme of verse 1 is to not faint, to not lose heart......lose heart has a meaning of giving in to evil or a sinful life, to burn out, defect, abandon..........Paul tells this that regardless of what is going on in their life, they are not losing heart!

Why? There has to be a why in Paul not losing heart.

There a lot of whys......One being that this ministry was given to him by mercy, he had done nothing to be called.....Jesus appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus in the midst of Paul travelling to Damascus to persecute those that believed in Jesus.

There was no qualities that Paul had, no righteousness that Paul had that made him fit to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ! You see that? (Acts 9)

He was actually in the act of going to persecute Christians and Jesus appeared and told him that he was going to proclaim the Gospel to the Gentiles, nothing of quality, as far as eloquence, as far as living unto God.

Paul was certain of God’s mercy, brought him out of a sinful state and made him a minister of the Gospel.

There is another certainty, but it is in ch. 3 the 2 verses prior to this one.......2 Corinthians 3:17–18 “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

We are being changed into the image of God, from one level of glory to another!

What is this saying? When we believe in Jesus Christ, then the Holy Spirit resides in you, with that a transforming to the true believer begins and you are constantly being renewed and worked on.

I preached on the fruits of the Spirit for a few weeks this year and those are the traits of our Lord that we should see happening to us.....love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control.

Attributes of God, that the believer will see growing in their lives!

I find this fascinating, Paul says that because he sees the fruits of the Spirit becoming more and more in his life, he does not lose heart!

Paul is certain of this sanctifying effort within him, by the Holy Spirit, so he does not lose heart!

Burnout, abandonment, defecting, seem to affect a lot of folks.....a lot of us.......There are reasons for that......

I read a sermon about this and this is what he said about this: “People assume that your Christians life is lived out in an emotional and sentimental way”........That is the major contributor to losing heart!

Emotional and sentimental is not foundational and will lead to despair!

Your faith must reside in what is certain, what is absolute, otherwise we will be like Paul said in Ephesians 4:14 “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;”

That is what Paul says next. in verse 2.......

Renounced the hidden things of dishonesty........The hidden sins, the secret sins that plague humans, they have renounced, repented, they confessed them and turned away from them!

Emotional and sentimental faith will not deal with those thing because they are too hard! Too much to deal with!

Paul states, possibly because of accusations that he has secret sins, that he has renounced those!

They have not walked out this believing life in craftiness....One writer said this about “craftiness”: “a cunning readiness to adopt any device or trickery for the achievement of ends”

Emotional and sentimental faith will find ways to work around the truth, to sooth their emotional state!

Handle the Word of God deceitfully....adulterating the Word of God....Tampering with the Truth!

Emotional and sentimental faith will twist the Scripture to get “their own meaning” so to sooth their emotional need.

Paul states that he has done none of those things, he only manifested the truth, the truth of Jesus Christ!

It cannot be disputed, but humans do, why?

It is hidden to those that are lost!

Even if they put the label Christians on their lives, if they walk any other way they are denying the truth of the Gospel!

They are lost and it is hidden because they are blinded by the temptations of the devil, because they love the world not God and His Son, and the Spirit in which all is not of the world!

Paul is actually defending himself in this chapter, because of accusations but is teaching along with his defense!

The ministry of Paul is certain because of these things....the truth of Jesus Christ is absolute, It does not change nor does Christ!

Jesus Christ is not on a wave of emotional responses, it is a faith in a solid foundation which is Christ and Him crucified!

The Light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ would not be light if the Christian life was based on emotions! It is based on fact!

John 7:7 “The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.”

That is mainly what is at issue, John 3:19 “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”

I listened to a lecture on darkness......The speaker spoke of Adam and Eve....Genesis 3:7–10 “And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

He said that their covering up was to hide themselves from God and that is what darkness is......it is where satan desires us to live, in darkness! Hid from God!

You cannot hide, but it will be an eternal separation if you continue to hide, you will get your desire!

Paul told King Agrippa in Acts 26 about Jesus coming to him on the road to Damascus, in that Paul reveals what Jesus told him.......Acts 26:17–18 “Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.”

Darkness is all things that are uncertain..........That is why Paul states that they do not preach themselves! Be careful of folks that preach and they are the hero of the story........They preached Christ Jesus the Lord of all, the Owner!!!

Paul states that they were “dulous” in the Greek which means a “bond-servant” or better said “slave” to Christ, because of their absolute certainty of the Truth of Christ!

The treasure of this fragile clay.....some say “cracked pot”… is the surpassing or beyond measure power is of God and not of any human effort.....

Why are they in a poor condition, why is Paul’s body weak, why does he not have enticing words........do you see?

It is of God and He can use the weak because Christ’s strength is made perfect in our weakness!

That is assurance in the Person and Work of Jesus Christ! It is absolute and if I trust in His Person and Work, I willbe forgiven of my sins, Jesus’ sacrifice was enough, I will inherit eternal life with God the Father!

No matter what the world is saying, no matter how it looks.......The sinner’s hope resides in Jesus Christ, Who has revealed to us His Father and the purpose of His coming and that He will come again and receive us unto Himself, that where He is there we may be also!