Corinthians — 2 Corinthians 7

0:00 Second Corinthians seven. Father, we come to you this morning. We thank you for this opportunity we have to open your word. We thank you for this opportunity to study it. Thank you that we live in a free country, and that we can gather here in your name and open your word and seek your truth.

0:18 We thank you for your blessings to us. We ask that, you would help us this morning, that you would open our minds, open our hearts to hear the things of your spirit, and that you might be able to use me just as a vessel to carry your message and that I might not taint it in any way. We commit this time to you, in your son's name, amen. Before I get into the text, I want to have a little illustration for you guys, and I'd like you to think about this because maybe this has happened to you or maybe this isn't too hard of a thing to imagine. So picture someone that's very close to you, whether it's a child, a parent, a sibling, your best friend, someone that's very close to you, and they do something or say something horrible to you.

1:22 They wrong you in an incredible way, and you try to confront them about it and talk about it, and they fly off the handle, say some things they shouldn't say, they storm out, and something like, Don't ever talk to me again. And months could go by, or years could go by, and one day they show up at your front door, and you open the door and you have the opportunity to forgive them or you have the opportunity to slam the door in their face. Now think about the same situation but the roles were reversed and you were the one that was wrong. And after all this time passes and you don't talk to the person that you offended, and you come to your senses and you realize that you were the one that messed up, And so you go to their door, and you're scared to death because you don't know what kind of reception you're gonna get because you know that you're the one that messed up. And you knock on their front door, and they open the door, and of course, if it's two men, no words are said.

2:51 And the guy on the other side of the door smiles, you know, and you hug it out and it's over. You know? That's... That kind of situation is what this chapter is about, and this gives us... This chapter...

3:11 The whole book really gives us an insight into the heart and the mind of Paul, but this chapter specifically gives us another very intimate look at his heart and mind, and also a little bit the Corinthians end. The Corinthians as the offending party. But I use this illustration, and even as we go through this chapter and we think about the offender, the offended, and that reconciliation that happens on on a much larger scale, this is the exact same thing that we do to the Lord when we sin against him. And so while we can very... It's it's easier for us to to apply it on a personal level when we can, when we think about real life situations and and real, physical people in our lives.

4:08 But the same applies in our spiritual lives and it applies to our relationship with the Lord. And how sin is is worked out, how sin is dealt with, and how restitution comes is so incredibly important for us. This chapter begins, in verse one with the exhortation to progress in holiness and to have a due regard for the ministers of the gospel. It's about all I'm gonna say about that that can get covered at the tail end of chapter six because it doesn't really apply to the rest of this chapter, in my opinion anyway. But Paul returns here in chapter seven after a rather long digression which started in chapter two.

6:08 And there was also sinning members in the church, and Paul had written a letter, a very blunt and forceful letter to them, to point out what was wrong and trying to get them steered to the right path, and they rejected him. They smacked him in the face as it was, as it were, and and initially had a very negative response to being corrected. And this letter that we have, the book of second Corinthians, Paul wrote after he heard back from Titus that they finally did recognize their sin and repent from it, and the steps that they were taking to correct what had been done. So that's why this book is so emotional because Paul had such an intimate connection with the Corinthians and had such a heart for them. And so when he finally heard that they had turned around, you just get this overflow of of joy and comfort and this affection that he had for them and this care that he had for them.

7:22 With that introduction said, we will read through the chapter beginning in verse two, second Corinthians seven. Make room for us in your hearts. We have wronged no one, we corrupted no one, we took advantage of no one. I do not speak to condemn you for I have said before that you are in our hearts to die together and to live together. Great is my confidence in you, great is my boasting on your behalf, I am filled with comfort, I am overflowing with joy in all our affliction.

7:52 For even when we came into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were afflicted on every side, conflicts without and fears within. But God, who comforts the depressed, comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not only by his coming, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted in you, as he reported to us your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more. For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it, for I see that your letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while, I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance, for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God in order that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.

8:43 For behold, what earnestness this very thing this godly sorrow has produced in you? What vindication of yourselves? What indignation? What fear? What longing?

8:52 What zeal? What avenging of wrong? In everything, you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter. So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the offender nor for the sake of the one offended, but that your earnestness on our behalf might be made known to you in the sight of God. For this reason, we have been comforted.

9:11 And besides our comfort, we rejoice even much more for the joy of Titus because his spirit has been refreshed by you all. For if in anything I have boasted to him about you, I was not put to shame. But as we spoke all things to you in truth, so also our boasting before Titus proved to be the truth. And his affection abounds all the more towards you as he remembers the obedience of you all, how you received him with fear and trembling. I rejoice that in everything I have confidence in you.

10:47 So Paul is dealing partly with critics, and so what he's confessing to them here is, you know, you guys decide for yourselves. Have I done anything? And and of course, he knows that the response is no. He knows that his conscience is clear, that he dealt with them with integrity throughout this whole process. He didn't do anything physically.

11:11 He didn't do any actions to deserve their ill will. He hasn't wronged anyone. He hasn't done anyone physical harm. He always had their best interests in mind. He said to the the elders at Ephesus in Acts twenty and thirty three that I have coveted no man's silver, no man's gold, no man's apparel.

11:34 He corrupted no one. He he wasn't trying to teach false doctrines. He wasn't trying to give flattering speeches. Nothing he did when he was there or in the letters he wrote was trying to do anything for his own gain. It was all that he was trying to administer to them and steer them in the direction of holiness.

11:56 We took advantage of no one. So he didn't seek his own interests, he wasn't trying to promote any secular ideas, he wasn't trying to be slick or crafty or greedy in his messages, he wasn't trying to gain anything from them. In all that he did, he didn't. And it's... This is kind of...

12:18 It reminds me of an appeal that Samuel made in first Samuel 12, that people that are in a ministerial role can more confidently expect esteem and trust from the people that they're ministering to when they know that they're guilty of of no wrongdoing in their dealings with them. We think about when Paul writes about the qualifications for elders and for deacons, and we have this list of of character qualities that are so important because if you think about it, if you're trying... If if you view yourself as one of the sheep and you're being shepherded by someone, if you can in any way insinuate them in dealing with you in in less than ideal way, that nullifies their ministry. Not that we're saying that those people should be perfect or we expect them to be perfect, they they can't be, they can't be sinless. But in in the way that a minister and anyone in that sort of role, you know, in the ways that they're dealing with and trying to shepherd someone.

13:25 And it applies to men and and women alike, when older women are trying to minister to younger women and older men are trying to minister to younger men. And it's it's not just about the message that's given, but it's how it's given. And it's such an important aspect of that ministerial role. And so when you know that you haven't done anyone any wrong in what you've said or how you've said it, you know that they are able to look up to you as a spiritual authority figure, and that they can trust you, and that you can trust them in returning. It goes both ways.

14:36 Maybe not suddenly, but you realize at some point what you did wrong, but then you don't run to the person you offended because you're afraid of them, and the reception you might get because you know you messed up. And so you're afraid of what are they gonna do, how are they gonna respond. I want to say that I'm sorry and admit what I did wrong, but how are they gonna come back? And so Paul starts here by saying, I do not condemn you. He starts, and he does this later on, I already said that, but he he continually tries to convey to them that he's not judging them, he's not condemning them because they have repented, they have recognized what they've done wrong, and they're trying to make restitution, and they want to make restitution, and they want to turn around.

15:31 Paul wants to prevent, especially for those that are still there that are criticizing him, he he has to make sure that he's clear and he prevents any insinuations against him on account of what he might have said, or that he was intending to charge them for wronging him, even though he had that right. And and he could have, but he wasn't. He wasn't pressing charges against them. All he wanted to do was to see them recognize their sin and and push them in that direction of holiness. It's not that he was concerned with they wronged him and they owed him this, and he could have done this and this.

16:19 His intimate relationship and his intense affection for them is why he was able to write to them so bluntly in the first place, and so frankly and so openly. Verse four, great is my confidence in you, great is my boasting. I am filled with comfort. I am overflowing with joy in all our affliction. His bluntness, of course, was not a lack of love, but it was because he was so proud of them.

16:54 He had boasted about the Corinthians to other people about their faith, possibly about their zeal and willingness to take collection and distribute funds for needy saints in Jerusalem and elsewhere. He speaks about that later in the book. He's maybe making a passing mention of it here. But he does boast about them to other people, and he's saying now that it's it's... It was because of that, because he had that relationship and he was so proud of them, he spoke highly of them, But also because of that, he was able to be so straight up into the point and trying to point out, you guys, this is...

17:36 This should not be this way. These are sins that are happening. I'm not gonna try to sugarcoat this. You guys, this is it. Know, we have what he wrote in first Corinthians pointing out things that they were doing wrong, but then in the letters that are missing that we have where he's talking about sexual immorality in the church, and that they were letting it go on.

18:00 And by letting it go on, they were condoning it. And they thought that they were super high and mighty and spiritual because they were able to tolerate it. And he's going, no. You know, so he's he's addressing all these issues and and and he's able to be so frank with them because he loves them so much, and he's so... And he is so proud of them, and he's still so proud.

18:56 He knows that he wrote these letters, these scathing letters of rebuke to them, and of course, he has no idea how they received it. And so he's he's bearing all this pain and sorrow because he he's trying to imagine how they received it. So having not received word from Titus, he left Ephesus, went to Troas. Titus wasn't at Troas, so he went to Macedonia. Titus still isn't in Macedonia, so Paul is all all the while wondering what in the world is going on and what what's what's the state of the Corinthians?

19:29 What is their heart? What is their mind? How are they responding to his rebuke and his correction? And he's... All all the while, he's also bearing physical persecution from Jews and Greeks through his ministry.

19:43 He's dealing with spiritual persecution and spiritual burden for all the churches that he's planted. He has this this heart for them because he wants to see them go on for the Lord and live the life of holiness. And because there's no other means of communication besides someone taking a letter to and from, you don't get to hear from them very much. And so if he's not hearing a report from somebody or if he's not visiting them again, you know, he just has all this burden and he's like, I wonder how the Christians in Ephesus are doing. I wonder how the Christians in Corinth are doing.

20:16 I wonder how the church in Colossae is doing, you know, and he's he's got all this burden going on, plus he's being persecuted. But then, while he's in Macedonia, Titus arrives. And right away, his his stress level drops because finally he's got Titus who, in Titus one four, Paul just... Paul refers to Titus as his son in the common faith. He was...

20:40 Titus was very close with Paul, had a very close relationship, and so Titus finally shows up in Macedonia, and Paul just is so relieved because Titus is now here, and and maybe he's trying to hold it all in because he's just gonna start spewing out stuff at Titus because he wants to know what's going on and when... What's the report and what's what's going on, folks. So Paul is super overjoyed just that Titus is there, and then Titus brings good news about the Corinthians. And not only that it was just good news about the Corinthians, but even Titus was comforted because of the reception he met with when he went to Corinth. So Paul had...

21:28 Paul had been to Corinth, Paul wrote letters to Corinth, Titus then went to Corinth to see about the response, and so this is where we're coming back in the general sequence of events. And the Corinthians had received Titus because they knew Titus worked with Paul. Mean, they knew about the relationship between Titus and Paul. And Titus was so comforted by how the Corinthians received him, and so that brings Paul all this exceeding joy. Like, he's he's not even thinking about his own, you know, here's how the Corinthians have wronged me, it's just, oh, Titus feels better about how the Corinthians are doing it, that they accepted and have turned and are trying to right the wrongs that were done.

22:13 And Titus tells him... Titus tells Paul about their... That the Corinthians are now longing to see Paul. After they rejected Paul and slapped him in the face, now that they've come to realize their error, they want to reinstate the relationship. They want to reinstate it.

22:32 They want Paul to now come visit. The letters aren't enough. It's Paul come because we need your help, we wanna fix this, but we're still new believers, we still... You know, and and we hold you as a spiritual authority figure, and we need you to come back and visit with us and teach us and and get us going the way we're supposed to be going and show us the way. And their mourning...

22:59 Verse seven. Their mourning could have been both for mourning at themselves for their own sin, but also mourning because of how they would have grieved Paul. And they know how he was grieved from the letters that he wrote. They can... Now that they're on the flip side of it and understanding what they've done, they can look at Paul and go, wow, you know, this was really awful, and this guy must have been in a horrible state of mind because of his incredible love for them, and his affection for them, and his burden for them.

23:34 They have this zeal, Titus tells Paul, they have this zeal, this this empowerment to please Paul, and to bring this relationship back that they had. And then Paul ascribes in verse six, all of his comfort came from God. It was it was through God. He recognizes God as the author of that comfort and the source of the comfort. And it's a reminder to us that when we are afflicted, when we are oppressed, when we are depressed, that we have to look as believers, we have to look beyond the all other means, all other instruments, all other things that can bring us consolation, and remember that the the true consolation comes from the father.

25:27 Again, he's he's pointing out, and and this is so interesting because as an apostle, and as a person who was writing under the influence of the Holy Spirit, in his work to carry out the spirit's instructions and and to carry out what God had for him, that involved causing the Corinthians pain. And so you have this very interesting dichotomy of his humanness. So he's he's sad and he's regretting in a sense that he had to write them and he had to use the words that he did that was so harsh and trying to deal with them, and so he's so burned by that. But not that it was wrong because it was the spirit that was inspiring him to write, and that it was his work. It it was God's work that he was doing, so he didn't do anything wrong.

26:34 It's just that you have this interesting... How how it works out for someone that's doing the Lord's will, but then also has this human response to what they're being instructed to do. And you you think about when you were a kid and you had a splinter and your mom and dad had to take... It doesn't really hurt so bad, you know, then mom gets the needle and she starts pulling your whole finger apart, you know, and it really hurts, but, you know, then it's better after that. Or now in the twenty first century, well, twentieth century, we have anesthesia for when we need surgery, but if you think about your revolutionary war, the civil war, and wounds that were sustained in battle, and these doctors that were doing surgery and amputating things, no anesthesia, but they were saving the guy's life.

27:38 And so you think about the incredible pain that is sometimes necessary to endure in order to save your life or in order to cause you to grow. And so Paul is is talking about how important this pain is, and he recognizes the pain that he feels, he recognizes the pain that they feel, but he knows that their sorrow is just for a little while. Because now that he's heard that they've accepted it and turned, now they can begin that whole healing process. And so as as as as hard as the pain was, it's over now. And now we can concentrate on the more positive aspect.

28:36 In verse nine, he says, I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance. For you were made sorrowful according to the will of God in order that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. So, of course, his comfort, his rejoicing was not in the fact that they were hurt, it was, excuse me, it was that their sorrow and their hurt led them to repentance. And he's so overjoyed at that, that their sorrow was according to the will of God, that they were convicted by the spirit and responded in the correct way. Finally, after rejecting it first, but they did come around to it and were convicted and responded in the right way.

30:40 And then he contrasts that with the worldly sorrow that he says produces death, and we can expand on that just a little bit. We think about if if either for the unbeliever or for the believer who goes through a trying time in life and doesn't doesn't come to godly sorrow. There's a difference between godly sorrow and just remorse. Worldly sorrow brings us to hardness. We get bitter.

31:21 We can despair. People commit suicide. And that's where the worldly sorrow goes. On the other side, if you recognize what you've done wrong or you recognize the godly sorrow, recognize what God is trying to do in your life, what he's trying to teach you, and you respond the right way, and you can say, God, I messed up. I'm doing this all wrong.

31:59 But not just to be remorseful, not just to say I'm sorry, and this is where that whole repentance part comes in. What does repentance really mean? Is this just the, I'm sorry, let's hug and move on? Or is this the, uh-uh, we're gonna go all the way around and not only say I'm sorry, but I'm gonna do this, this, this, this, and this to make sure that I'm going in the opposite direction. He says that godly sorrow produces life by means of repentance, And, of course, the Corinthians were already saved, but the life that he's talking about does...

32:46 Can definitely apply to the salvation of our souls, but he's probably not talking about that because they're already saved. But life that he's talking about, salvation, could just probably mean deliverance as a general meaning from any sin or affliction in the life of the believer that causes pain. Godly sorrow produces life by means of repentance. After he talks about this sorrow, we get in verse 11, some talk about very happy and the joyful fruits that are the result of this true repentance. That where the heart gets changed, the life and the actions also change.

33:38 True repentance that comes from here, true repentance that that really owns... You say, when you recognize what you've really done and the extent of how bad it was, and whether this is applying to someone in your life, your spouse, or to God, when you didn't directly sin against a person in your life, but you know that you did directly sin against God by either doing this thing or not doing this thing. But the happy fruits of that, when the heart is changed, and the life and the actions then start to change as a result of that, Paul describes... He's not describing, he's talking about what he's heard from from Titus, of course, that their indignation indignation at their sin, indignation at themselves, that they were upset with themselves for having done what they did, for allowing in the church what they did, their indignation at Satan and the instruments that he uses to penetrate and to get in and to weasel his way in. So they're...

35:25 How deadly it is and the and the damage it causes. So now they have this newfound watchfulness for it, and they're trying to take steps to make sure this sort of thing doesn't happen again. They have a desire to be reconciled with God, and with Paul, as well as I've already mentioned, they want that relationship back. But they know that they now can have their relationship with the Lord reinstated. They have this zeal for duty, this zeal against sin.

36:04 So, again, they're... They see their sin, they see what they've done wrong, and they're not just saying sorry and moving on, it's here are the steps we're taking, here's what we're gonna do now to make sure that this doesn't happen again. Here's how we keep this in check. They're trying to... They want to avenge the sin, Not revenge, but they want to avenge the sin.

36:32 They want to make sure that the damage that was done is made right. They want to make the restitution. They want to take whatever whatever is needed, whatever is necessary. They want to do whatever they have to do to to to make sure that both parties are now reinstated. In verse 12, he says, so although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the offender, nor for the sake of the one offended, but that your earnestness on our behalf might be made known to you in the sight of God.

37:16 He reminds them of his affection for them. He wasn't writing just because he wanted to point fingers at who was sinning, and he wasn't writing just to tell the offended people that they had a right to be angry. He wasn't trying to just justify, here's the sin, here's the offender, the offended. He's writing on behalf of the whole church body because he cares for them and he loves them so much, and because the sin in the church affects the entire body in such a huge way. That's why he's writing.

37:57 It's not just to point the finger. He doesn't want to allow the sin in the church to go unchecked because of the result that it has, because of the damage it causes. And he concludes the end of the chapter again in trying to assure them of his love for them, how he much how much he cares for them, that he's not judging them, he's not condemning them. It's forgiven. It's done.

38:35 And he's and he talks again about the confidence that he has, and he talks about his boasting about the Corinthians. So he boasted about them before, and then they stumbled big time. And then not only did they stumble, but they rejected correction initially, which is digging the hole deeper. But then when they come out the other side now, it's almost like Paul forgets about all of it. It doesn't matter.

39:08 He's like, nope. All the boasting I had about you before is still true. He commends them for their faith, he commends them for their openness of heart and openness of mind to eventually recognize that the spirit is telling them their error and that they need to fix it, and he's still confident and he's boasting about them, about their response. Doesn't matter that they slapped him in the face first. It doesn't matter.

39:45 It's that here. This is where you're standing now on the other side and saying, we messed up, here's how we're gonna fix it. And that's what he's full of. He's just so full of the joy because of that response that the other response doesn't even matter. And how much he used to boast to other Christians, not just to Titus, but to other other churches about the Corinthians' faith, about their, as I mentioned, their collection for needy saints and how willing they were to do that, and their zealousness for this and this and this.

40:17 And he's... You know what? It's still true. It's still true because I am so happy about your response that you were made sorrowful, that you repented, and now we're reinstating. That he had no he had no reason to doubt them.

40:35 He had no... Not that they were never going to sin again, not that they were never gonna stumble again, but he is so confident in their faith after seeing seeing them sin, seeing them fall, but then seeing them respond in the right way, the true godly way, the godly sorrow that produces true repentance, and that that change of the heart leads to the change in the life, and the walk, and the actions that follow it. What I would like to leave you with today is a couple of questions. But we all have sin or regret in our lives, things that we've done in the past or you know that you're gonna sin again this week. I'm sorry, honey, in advance.

41:36 I know I'm gonna mess up, whether I'm... Whether it's a sin against my wife on a on a personal level or a sin against God by not giving him what he's due this week, by not following him, by not trusting him this week, by not giving him what he's due. In some way, I'm gonna sin this week, I know that, as much as I try. But when we sin, do we allow it to change our attitude? Do we really allow it to change our attitude?

42:07 And do we allow sorrow to work a change of purpose, a change of attitude, a change of mind? Do we let it do that? Or it tends to be a lot easier to say, I'm sorry. Yes, I messed up. And then you just kinda brush it off to the side.

42:36 Do we allow the spirit to convict us of our sin? It's tough. And I'll stand up here and tell you that I'm I'm the first one that that struggles with that every day in my other... In in my personal relationships and then in my relationship with the Lord as well that I I stumble and I fall and I fail and I mess things up. I fall short, always falling short.

43:08 But do we allow the spirit to convict us of that? And then do we really do God justice? Do we give God what he's due by actually repenting in the godly way and having the godly sorrow that produces the real change that we need? So that's my challenge. Pray that God would help us as we struggle in our daily walk.

44:13 Life is hard, not that it's an excuse. It's not an excuse, but we do need your help, and we need your spirit to convict us, and we need to have open minds and open hearts and be willing to accept the things that we do wrong, both against you and against those in our lives. We ask for your blessing as we go from this place today. In Christ's name, amen.