A Clear Conscience Before God — 2 Corinthians 1-2

0:00 Good morning. Good morning. Morning, we're gonna be looking at second Corinthians chapter one again and starting at verse 12. And before we begin, we'll just ask the Lord's blessing. Our Father, we open thy word, we're so thankful that we have the liberty and the peace and quiet in this land to be able to study thy word.

0:38 We pray that the spirit of God would give help, first to the speaker and then to the audience, to help us to be able to understand and apply thy word to the activities in which we find ourselves each day. We ask thy help in the worthy name of the lord Jesus Christ. Amen. We're gonna pick up where we left off last week at second Corinthians chapter one, and we'll start with verse 12. And Paul says for our boasting in this, the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity.

1:31 Not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God and more abundantly toward you. For we are not writing any other things to you than what you read or understand. Now I trust you will understand even to the end. As also you have understood us in part, that we are your boast as you also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus. And in this confidence, I intend I intended to come to you before, that you might have a second benefit.

2:14 To pass by way of you to Macedonia, to come again from Macedonia to you, and to be helped by you on my way to Judea. Therefore, when I was planning this, did I do it lightly? Or the things I planned, do I plan according to the flesh? There with me there should be, yes, yes, and no, no. But as God is faithful, our word to you was not yes and no.

2:52 For the son of God, Jesus Christ, who has preached among us, among you by us, by me, Savannah, Silas, and Timothy, was not yes and no, but in him was yes. For all the promises of God in him are yes, and in him, amen, to the glory of God through us. Now he who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. Moreover, I called God to witness against my soul, that to spare you I came no more to Corinth. Not that we have dominion over your faith, but our fellow workers for your joy, for by faith you stand.

3:53 And this thought goes on, we're gonna read the first four verses of chapter two. But I determined this within myself that I would not come again to you in sorrow. For if I make you sorrowful, then who is he who makes me glad, but the one who is made sorrowful by me? And I wrote this very thing to you lest when I come, I should have sorrow over those from whom I ought to have joy. Having confidence in you all that my joy is the joy of you all.

5:17 But I kind of said, that's the first century. How does it apply to me today? And so, when I was given this part to expound, you know, your first thing you do, you pray. Lord, guide the study. And you read, and you study.

5:57 But then I think the most important part is the meditation. So pray, read, study, meditate. Pray, read, study, meditate. Pray, read, study, and meditate. And if you don't remember anything else from what I say today, particularly those that are younger, just remember.

6:32 Pray, read, study, and meditate. And I'm talking about daily. Now if you don't have time to study every day, take time for the meditation. And so, as we look at second Corinthians, this is a very transparent letter. It shows the heart and the inner feelings of Paul in a way that his other writings do not.

7:05 And second Corinthians has three major sections. The first seven chapters is the first section. Chapters eight and nine, the second. And chapters 10 through 13, the third section. And as we look at chapter one, chapter one, chapter two, and chapter seven are historical writings.

7:35 They show Paul's grief and his sufferings and his exercise. Then chapters three through six are doctrinal. But the passage we're gonna look at today has three sections as well. You know, try to get an outline of the section before you look at it verse by verse. In verses 12 through 14, we get Paul's boasting or rejoicing in the Corinthians.

8:11 Verses 15 through 22, you get Paul's original plans in his movements. And then from verse 23 through the fourth verse of chapter two, you get Paul's revised plans. And we're going to be looking. What changed? Because Paul was under considerable criticism at this time.

8:43 There were those that said, Paul said he was going to do this, and he changed. He's very fickle. He vacillates. He doesn't keep his word. Paul is not a true apostle.

9:04 And they refused to accept his word of rebuke. But fortunately the majority of the believers had accepted his rebuke. And had repented. And he was rejoicing now as he had heard of this. But as we looked at the end of verse 11 last time, Paul was thanking them for their prayers.

10:20 That means a single direction. He wasn't zigzagging all over. He was having a single direction of following God's guidance and Godly sincerity. He said, not with fleshly wisdom. In other words, they were accusing him, those that were his critics, of saying, well, Paul just changes direction for his own will.

10:53 He's always looking out for what's better for him. And if he gets a different offer, he'll switch. He isn't consistent. He doesn't keep his word. And as we look at this, Paul says no.

11:14 I have a clear conscience. My conscience is before God. In fact, that word for godly sincerity It's the thought of something being taken out to the light with the sun shining up, and it's pure and clear. It's totally transparent. And Paul says, this is my testimony.

11:44 This is my conscience. I have a clear conscience before God. And I want to look at eight different applications in this section. Because we wanna understand it, but we also wanna say, how does it apply to my life today? Your life today?

12:06 And it's a fair question. And the first application I wanna look at is, we need to live our lives before God that we have a clear conscience and a good testimony before the world. Now what is conscience? I think we all know that it's the inner voice that cannot be silenced. It constantly monitors our words, our actions, and our thoughts.

12:43 It tells us whether we're doing right or wrong. And Paul's conscience says, I have a clear conscience before God. For those that accuse me, they're wrong. And so, he speaks in the next two verses about the mutual rejoicing. And as we look at the end of verse 14, that we are your boast as you also are ours in the day of the lord Jesus.

13:23 In other words, he's saying, you know, your life, my life, were all gonna be reviewed before the Lord. And what is called the bema, or the judgment seat of Christ. That's the believers review and reward. Or unfortunately sometimes a loss of reward of service for the Lord. But he says, when I stand before Christ, and all you Corinthians are there, and he said the same thing about those in Macedonia, those in Philippi, and those in Thessalonica.

14:12 That you are my joy, you are my crown when I stand there before Christ. And he says, these are the fruit of your labors for me. And you're gonna say, Paul was the one that ministered and build us up and edified us. He was the one that encouraged us, that corrected us when we were wrong. A mutual joy and reward before Christ.

14:49 We wanna talk about that later. But the question, I guess we need to pose to each one of us. How am I living my life to be reviewed by Christ? We're not talking about sin because sin has been covered by the blood of Christ. But we're talking about reward.

15:24 When the savior says, well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into my kingdom. And as he talks about this more in chapter five, he says, and then shall everyone have reward. Each of us will have some reward, some will have more than others. But then he starts talking about his planned movements and his original plan. And he says in verse 15, and in this confident, I intended to come to you before that you might have a second benefit.

16:37 In other words, further growth in your Christian experience. And I want to challenge each of us, myself first. We all need further growth in the Christian life. We have two choices. Commitment to grow in Christ, or complacency, which is unfortunately a slide.

17:17 We're either growing or we're falling back. And you know we had our brother Chris Schroeder speaking about that a couple weeks ago. Going forward, going forward, or sliding back. And this is a daily challenge. But then in verse 16, Paul speaks about his travel plans.

17:53 He was planning for a short visit to Corinth, then going on to Macedonia and coming back to Corinth, as he says in one Corinthians 16, for a longer visit, a winter visit of maybe three months, and then to be helped on his way to Jerusalem to take the monetary gift for the poor there. And then he adds the words in First Corinthians 16, if the Lord permits. But the question is, in first Corinthians 16, when he speaks about in verses five through seven, He doesn't speak about going to Corinth first. So the question is, how did the Corinthians get that information? So some of them could say, well, he's flip flopped.

18:56 He zigged when he said he was going to zag. And it would appear as we heard Bruce a few weeks ago speaking that there was another epistle that had been written that we don't have recorded for us. But whatever the case, the Corinthians were disappointed that Paul did not come first. And so Paul answers that charge because there are spiritual principles that he wants to protect, and he wants them to recognize. And so he said, he wanted to be helped by you on my way to Judea.

19:50 Now in chapter 12 of second Corinthians verses 13 through 16, he speaks about that he did not take any funds from them. And he did not want their money. Because they were accusing him of perhaps just coming around for the financial gain. So he said, I took funds from other assemblies, but I did not take from you. So how would he be helped on his way to Jerusalem?

20:28 I would suggest a couple things. Prayer, He's referred that already in verse 11. Praying for the Lord's servants, for the Lord's protection, for blessing, for the Lord to work, and so many other ways. We've been praying for this brother Andrew Bronson, who's been in prison in Turkey for so many months now. Prayer changes things.

21:06 We know from Acts 12, when the believers were praying for Peter in prison, the Lord delivered, but the Lord does not always deliver at the time we pray. And sometimes he doesn't deliver at all according to his will. But prayer, another way is hospitality. Showing them hospitality, kindness, have them for a meal, to be able to help them. But I would suggest one of the applications we all have with the Lord's servants is to pray for them, show them hospitality, and also to help financially, either through giving at the chapel or individually.

22:33 That's what some of you are accusing me of. You're saying, well, he just does what suits him, what advances his own interests. And he said, no. And did I do it? Yes, yes.

22:58 And no, no. Now what is everybody saying? Yes, yes, no, no. He's saying, I did not plan with uncertainty. I had a definite plan.

23:15 I intended to carry out that plan, but it was as the Lord permits. And he said that plan changed. But then he goes on and he says in verse 18, But as God is faithful. As God is faithful. Now this is an expression that he used twice in his first epistle to the Corinthians.

23:54 In chapter one, and then in chapter 10. And I'd just like to focus a little bit on that verse in chapter 10 of first Corinthians verse 13. And he said, no temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man. But, God is faithful. Who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it.

24:45 Isaiah could quote those, pen those words. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee. They will not overflow you when thou passest through the fire, thou shall not be burnt. We think of those three young Hebrew lads, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And they were commanded to bow before the statue of Nebuchadnezzar.

25:26 They said, no. They were told, bow or burn. They said no. They were taken and tied up and thrown into the fiery furnace that was heated seven times hotter than it normally was. And those soldiers that had bound them and threw them into the fire, the heat of the open door killed them immediately.

26:06 Nebuchadnezzar's looking in. He said, do now we put three men into that fire? There's four. The fourth one I see as the form of the son of God. And he was shaken.

26:29 Those men were brought out without even the twinge of smoke on their clothes. Totally untouched. God provides the way of escape. We don't understand how he does it sometimes, and believe me I understand it's not pleasant to go through it. And I know there are some here that have gone through it or are going through it now, and probably all of us will go through it sometime or another, perhaps very soon.

28:06 He perfectly paid the price at Calvary when he shed his blood as the payment for sins, but there's a responsibility that has to be received. We have to confess that we are a sinner. We have to acknowledge that not only all have sinned, but I have sinned and fallen short of God's standard. But Christ on the cross paid the price that we could not pay. God is perfectly satisfied with the death of his son if we accept him as our personal savior.

28:56 And so, as he goes on, he talks about all the promises. Verse 20. All the promises of God in him are yes, and in him, amen. The work's been finished. And so as we find in verses twenty one and twenty two, God has established us in Christ.

29:33 Colossians two and seven says, we are rooted and build up in him and established in the faith as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Rooted, grounded down, build up. Established in the faith as we have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. You know, so often we forget the thanksgiving. We're thankful for the fact that Sunday, the Lord's day, our hearts are warmed again as we think of the love of God.

30:19 The love of Jesus Christ. We love to sing the songs, the hymns. We just need to remember each day in our daily praying to have that time of beginning with thanksgiving. But then we find that he's not only established us in Christ, he's anointed us. We have the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon believing, who prepares and directs us in his service.

31:00 Verse 22, God has sealed us. It's the guarantee, the pledge, the down payment of a future reward and inheritance in heaven. Christ has given us that pledge when he prayed the father to send the holy spirit who lives in us. But then in verses 23, 24, and into chapter two, we get Paul's revision of his plans. And he gives two basic reasons of why he had to change his plans.

32:40 As he says in one Corinthians four, I would have to come to you with a rod. Now he wouldn't physically beat them. But his words of correction would have had to be much more forceful if they had not repented. And so, he said, I delayed and I gave you time to repent and to turn from your evil way. And Paul was so concerned about it.

33:18 He was waiting at Troas and he said, I will not go on to Corinth until I find out how they've reacted to my first epistle. And he waits and finally Titus comes from Corinth. He says, Paula, good news. They took your correction, they've repented, and there's been a happy restoration. Paul says, Titus, that's wonderful.

33:53 I can go now. I've been waiting, and now I can go. And then as he goes, verse 24, he said, I don't want to have dominion over you. I'm just a fellow worker in your joy. In other words, Paul says, I don't want to have to try to be forceful and tell you, you have to do this or else.

34:27 He said, I've told you what was wrong, I told you what you needed to do, and I wanted to wait and be a sharer in your joy from your obedience. For by faith you stand. Then in chapter two, he says the second reason I didn't come to you is I did not want to come in sorrow. And if I made you more sorrowful, if I had to be forceful, you would be more sorrowful. I would be sorrowful, and it would be one sorrow upon another.

35:17 And he said instead, I wanted to be able to share with you in your joy. In verse four, I think it's one of the most revealing and tender revealing of Paul's heart. He said, when you got my scroll, and you read that scroll, there are all those stains upon it. It didn't get dropped in the mud. Those were my tears as I was reading that scroll before I sent it to you.

36:08 That's the heart of my affection for you. That you might know the love that I have so abundantly for you. Now just for the time that's left, want to just reveal again some of these applications. Just to be able to have them in our mind, If you can't remember them all, try to remember at least a couple. And I'm going to go over them in the order in which we looked at them, except I'm taking one out of sequence.

36:50 And I want to use that last, because I want to make sure that each of us at least remember that one application. But the first one we looked at is to keep our conduct such as we have a clear conscience before God and a good testimony before the world. Now that's something that is very basic. But we live in a world today that is so upside down with morality. And so upside down in saying, God has no standards that I'm interested in.

37:39 I'm setting my own standard. I'm living my life. I don't answer to God. Each of us are our own God. And unfortunately, some people believe that.

37:57 And what a shock for them to stand before the judge of all the earth someday. And scriptures say every mouth will be stopped. And all the world, the unsaved, will become guilty before God to be judged. But the second application, We need to be committed for growth in the Christian life, or we're going to slide back. There's no standing still.

38:38 There's no motoring in neutral. Either we're going forward or we're sliding back. And we all, I think, know by experience. You can slide back slowly, and you don't realize it until you've really slid a great way. The third application, to help the Lord's servants with prayer, with hospitality, to encourage them.

39:15 And I have to confess I'm terrible at this. Writing letters, or an email, or text message, just to be able to say, you know, we're praying for you. We're thinking of you. You're on our hearts. And then to share financially with them.

39:38 The fourth one was God is faithful in our trials, and he always provides the way of escape. He doesn't always provide it in the way we hope for. He doesn't always provide it in the way we expect. Sometimes we don't like the answer, but he always gives the answer, the way of escape. One that I didn't really touch upon before, but the importance of keeping our promise.

40:13 They said to Paul, well, you didn't keep your word. He said, no. There was a reason, a very important reason why I had to change my plans. But we should make every effort to keep our word with the family, parents with their kids, with their spouse, with our friends, with the world. Keep our promises as much as we can.

40:45 And if we have to change it, make sure it's a very good reason. Maybe others, particularly in the world, won't accept it, but really the character of God should be seen in how we conduct ourselves and keep our word. The next application, our aim should be to encourage others. Paul said, I didn't change because I wanted to. I changed before your...

41:24 It was for your own good. You didn't understand it. Many of you wouldn't accept it. But I changed because I wanted to encourage you. The next one I want to ask is, does our love for others influence how we live?

42:48 The Holy Spirit lives in us to produce fruit in our Christian life. I want to just close by saying a poem that I'm sure you've heard many times. But the truth of it is as convicting to me today as every time I hear it. Only one life, and it will soon be past, but only what's done for Christ will last, will have any eternal consequences. All the possessions down here, all the time spent on self, unfortunately, is only for the fire.

43:55 It will have no eternal reward. May the Lord convict me first and each of us to try to have a fresh determination to make this week count for Christ, count for eternity, for really that's all that matters, shall we pray. Our God and our Father, as we think of thy word, we realize that it's very, very enlightening, encouraging, but also very, very convicting. Father we're thankful for the spirit of God that indwells us. We are thankful for sending him.

45:01 That we were sealed upon believing. That he provides the means, the purpose. But father we realize we're in a battle with the flesh. We pray that the spirit of God might encourage us and the word of God will encourage us to live for you. For we ask it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

45:30 Amen.