Will you please turn to 2 Corinthians?
2 Corinthians 1:9, 12:
But we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raiseth the dead.
For our glorying is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and sincerity of God, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we behaved ourselves in the world, and more abundantly toward you.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10:
And He hath said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for My power is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Wherefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, our hearts are most grateful to Thee that Thou shouldst remind us once again how much Thou dost love us. Thou lovest us to the uttermost.
We do praise and thank Thee that we are all Thine and Thou art ours. We thank Thee for this opportunity of drawing before Thee and waiting upon Thee to open Thy Word to us, that we may hear Thy voice.
May not only our hearts burn, but may our eyes be opened to see Thee and to receive Thee into us, neither far away. Lord, how we do desire that Thou be all to us. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
Last night we shared together 1 Corinthians, and this morning we would like to share together 2 Corinthians.
Now, spiritually speaking, the Bible classifies mankind into three groups: the natural, the carnal, and the spiritual. You will find that in 1 Corinthians 2:14-15 and 1 Corinthians 3:3.
The natural are those who are not saved. They are in Adam. Their spirit was dead through sins and transgressions, so they are as if they have no spirit.
They have a soul—their own thinking, their own emotion, their own volition. They have their body, their passions and lusts. But the spirit is dead, and of course the Holy Spirit is not within them. So they are the natural.
And people who do not know the Lord all belong to this class. As the Bible tells us, the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for these are foolishness to him. And he not only does not receive them, but he cannot know the things of the Spirit, because the things of the Spirit have to be discerned by the Spirit.
That is the natural man. He is the man of the world. He is the man that we see everywhere.
And then the Bible says there are the spiritual. Now, who are the spiritual? The spiritual are those who are born again.
Not only do they have a new spirit; our old spirit, that was dead in sins and transgressions, has been quickened into life—cleansed into new life, a new spirit. And in our new spirit, the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, dwells.
Because the Spirit of God dwells in our spirit, to guide and lead us and to bring the life of Christ in us, therefore those who have received the Lord Jesus are supposed to be spiritual. That is to say, they have the Spirit of God in their spirit, and they are supposed to be led by the Spirit of God, to walk according to the Spirit, to live in the Spirit, and therefore they are the spiritual.
The spiritual discerns all things, because the Spirit of God indwelling them knows the depths of God. It is the spiritual who know God and the things of God.
Now, every believer, every born-again person, has the spirit and the indwelling Holy Spirit, and is supposed to be spiritual.
The spiritual is not for a few. Every born-again Christian is supposed to be spiritual. That is the will of God.
But unfortunately, we find that even though we have the Spirit of God in us, somehow we are still walking according to the flesh.
And because of this, you find we remain as babes in Christ. As Paul mentioned in 1 Corinthians, in the beginning he treated them as babes, and he fed them with milk—predigested food—because their spiritual organs and faculties were not yet exercised to receive solid food.
But after a few years, Paul says, “Well, you are still carnal. You are still fleshly. You have not grown.” That ought not to be, because even though you are the Lord’s, you still act according to man and not according to God.
The Bible says the mind of the flesh is not subject to the law of God. Not only is it not subject to God’s law, but it cannot obey God’s law, because flesh can never please God.
So here you find, in the middle between the natural and the spiritual, you have the carnal. In 1 Corinthians, we find that the Corinthian believers belonged to this class.
Paul says, “You are yet carnal.” Even though you are the Lord’s, judging by the way you live, you are just like a natural man. The only difference is that there is life of Christ in you, but it is being imprisoned and is not released.
And we mentioned last night: because they were carnal, they lived according to the flesh. Therefore, you find all the symptoms of the flesh, the natural, coming out.
Sin became a problem to them. The reason is that after they had received the Lord as their Saviour, they had not really committed and submitted themselves to Jesus as their Lord, and allowed the cross of our Lord Jesus to work in their lives. That is the reason why they became carnal.
Now, when you turn to 2 Corinthians, it is an entirely different picture. In 1 Corinthians, you see what carnality is. But in 2 Corinthians, you see what spirituality is in the life of Paul.
In those who have received the cross working in their lives, the result is spirituality. That is, the spiritual man manifests Christ in his life. And I believe that this is what God wants all of us to be, and this is what we desire to be.
The Bible says, “He that is spiritual judgeth all things, and he himself is judged of no man.” So, in a sense, you find that the spiritual is a mystery.
Now, who are the spiritual? Yes, they are those people who are led by the Spirit of God. They are those people who walk according to the Spirit. They are those who are filled with the Spirit. These are the spiritual.
But who are they really? How can you discern that this is spiritual and that it is not carnal? I believe that in 2 Corinthians we have a number of signs telling us who are the spiritual.
As a matter of fact, you find the spiritual is a paradox. Second Corinthians is full of paradoxes, and it is through these paradoxes that you realize what spirituality really is. So this morning we would like to fellowship together on a few of these paradoxes.
Now, number one is in 2 Corinthians 1:9. The apostle Paul said, “We have the sentence of death in ourselves, so that we cannot depend upon ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.”
That is the first paradox: the sentence of death versus God who raises the dead.
Now, of course, when Paul mentioned this, he referred to something that happened to him, and perhaps to Timothy, when they were in Asia.
We are not told what really happened to Paul when he was in Asia. The only thing you find in Acts 19 is that, when he was in Asia, there was at one time a riot, and because of this Paul had to leave Ephesus.
He was there for three years, and all Asia heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. God did a marvellous work there. So we really do not know today what actually happened to Paul. He used the pronoun “we,” so it may include Timothy.
What really happened there, we do not know. But something very terrible must have happened, because Paul said, “We despaired even of life. The sentence of death was upon us.”
We could not depend upon man’s wisdom to try to solve our problem anymore. We came to our end, and the only One we could look to was God who raises the dead.
He said, in all sincerity, “We can say we do not live by man’s wisdom, but we live by God’s grace.” This is our testimony.
Now, even though we may not experience physically the same thing as the apostle Paul experienced in Asia, spiritually speaking, this is something that we have to experience in order to be spiritual.
We have to be brought to a place where the sentence of death is in us. That is, you know, flesh.
So far as God is concerned, when our Lord Jesus was crucified, the sentence of death was upon Him. It was not just some sufferings. It was not just some pains and wounds. It was death.
The sentence of death was upon our Lord, and in this sentence of death God has sentenced all who are in Adam to death.
So you would sense, brothers and sisters, we are all under the sentence of death. God has already sentenced us to death—our flesh, ourselves.
Our old man was crucified with Christ. This sentence of death is upon every flesh, because God says there is no good in the flesh. It deserves death and nothing else. God did it in Christ Jesus for all of us.
But unfortunately, we do not accept it.
You know, brothers and sisters, when we are convicted of our sins, we do acknowledge that we are sinners. We have sinned, and we need our Lord Jesus as our substitute. We accept His blood for the cleansing of our conscience, that we may be justified before God and our accuser’s mouth may be stopped. Thank God for this wonderful salvation.
But strangely, when it comes to this matter of God’s sentence as to death, we do not agree.
We do acknowledge that there are a lot of bad things in our flesh, and these need to be rid of. But to say that there is no good in us—that is, in our flesh—that seems to us too much. We do not agree with the Lord.
Even the apostle Paul did not agree in the beginning. If you read Romans 7, in Romans 6 he had already heard the message. He said, “Knowing this”; in other words, he had the knowledge already, knowing that our old man was crucified with Christ.
But this mental knowledge is important, yet you need something more than this. In Romans 7, you find that he did not agree with God.
He said, “I want to serve God. I am able to keep His commandments. Now I belong to God. It is different now. I can do it.” He had full confidence in himself.
He rejected the sentence of death upon him and began to serve God and to keep God’s commandments.
But first, in the Ten Commandments, you find only one commandment that has something to do with our inward being. “Thou shalt not kill”—that is something of outward action. But among the Ten Commandments there is one that says, “Thou shalt not covet.”
Thou shalt not be greedy. Now, this has something to do with our inward feeling. Paul was very confident that he was not a greedy person. He was an ambitious person, but not a greedy person.
So when the commandment came, “Do not be greedy,” he was quite sure that he had never been greedy and would not be greedy.
But, friend, when he heard that commandment, somehow something stirred within him. That greediness began to come forth.
Before the law, he was perfect. But when the law came, he found that sin began to stir up within him.
So he tried to deal with the situation. He tried to press it down, tried to overcome it, but he found that it came up again. This happened again and again.
Until he said, “Well, this is not something I want to do, but I do what I do not want to do, and I do not do what I want to do, because I am bound by the law of sin and death.”
After trying again and again with strong determination—and Saul was a very strong-willed person—finally he discovered, “In me, that is, in my flesh, there is no good.”
It was not until that point that he accepted the sentence of death that God had sentenced upon him. When he accepted the sentence of death, immediately you find he cried out, “Who shall deliver me from this body of death?”
Immediately: “I thank God through Jesus Christ.” In other words, he found God who raises the dead.
So, brothers and sisters, in our spiritual pursuit, how can we come out from this stage of carnality and into the state of the spiritual?
The first thing we need to do is, by the grace of God—and in a very real sense, this is not something that can merely be told. We have been told many times, but it is something that the Spirit of God has to lead you into experiencing.
You will not accept this sentence of death until you are brought into that dealing and discover that it is very true.
God knows you much better than you know yourself. Until you capitulate and say, “Lord, this is what I am. In me, that is, in my flesh, there is no good.”
“As long as my flesh is in charge, I will fall into sin. I will not acknowledge Your law. I will offend You. There is no hope in me, that is, in my flesh. I agree, and I accept that Your sentence of death is justified. I accept it.”
When you accept this sentence of death—that is to say, you accept your co-death with Christ on the cross—when He died, you died in Him, and you take that position by faith.
Then resurrection life begins to come forth. In other words, the life of Christ in you is resurrection life. It is imprisoned by your flesh.
So when you accept the sentence of death, then the life of Christ is released within you, and you begin to walk in newness of life. This brings us into spirituality.
So this is the first paradox that you find in 2 Corinthians.
The second one is in 2 Corinthians 2:13-14.
The apostle Paul wrote a very strong letter to the church in Corinth. You know, after the first letter to the Corinthians, evidently Paul made a short trip to Corinth.
This was not recorded in the book of Acts, but from 2 Corinthians you find that he said, “I am coming to you the third time.” Now, where was the second time? It was not mentioned in the book of Acts.
So evidently, after he wrote the first letter to the Corinthians, things did not improve. As a matter of fact, they got worse. Paul made a hurried trip to Corinth to try to help, but it was a great disappointment to him. He was not accepted.
So after he returned, he wrote another letter, a strong letter to them. He wrote the letter with many tears.
When we read 1 and 2 Corinthians, we really cannot see that it was a letter written with tears, with many tears. So evidently, he wrote a very strong letter, and it touched him so deeply that he shed tears. He was really in travail.
Most likely, he sent this letter to the church in Corinth by Titus. He made an arrangement with Titus to meet at Troas, to hear what happened after the Corinthians received that letter.
Then he began to travel, and at the appointed time he came to Troas. He was ready to see Titus there, to bring him the news about the result of this strong letter—whether the Corinthians had received the letter and repented, or whether they were still strongly against him.
But when he came to Troas, in 2 Corinthians 2 you find that the Lord had opened a door for the gospel there.
Yet he had no rest in his spirit because he could not find Titus there. He was so worried and grieved about the situation in Corinth. Even though the door was wide open for him to preach the gospel, he had no heart to preach the gospel. He had no rest, and therefore he left.
By all appearance, he failed. The Lord had opened the door of the gospel. How could he leave because he had no rest in himself? It was a failure.
Strangely, immediately after he said he had no rest, yet he left, he said, “Thanks be unto God, who always leadeth us in triumph in Christ.” Victory in Christ.
Now, defeat and victory at the same time—another paradox.
You know, brothers and sisters, in our concept, the spiritual is a person who is always above his circumstances. He is never overwhelmed. He is a Superman, always in control of his situation. That is a spiritual man.
In other words, a spiritual man is not a man. Now, that is our concept.
But the Bible tells us that a spiritual man is still a man. He is not a man made out of iron—no feeling, no weakness of any kind. No, he is still a man.
There can be restlessness under certain situations, and it can be so overwhelming that he is not able to fulfil his duty.
But thank God, he does not remain there. Because he is still a man, therefore he will have to go through all these things; yet you find he bounces out of it quickly.
Think of our Lord Jesus. Think of the scene in Gethsemane. We would think that our Lord came for that purpose and knew it all along.
Yet when He got into that garden, He was so oppressed in His spirit, so worried, so sad—His soul almost unto death. He asked His three disciples to watch with Him, to help Him.
He even prayed, “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me.” Did He not know that this was for Him?
A perfect man—His self, His weakness, His flesh’s weakness. Yet you find, being man, He had to deny Himself.
Even in that garden, He had to struggle for it. He had to pray. When He prayed, He sweat, and His sweat became as blood. Such agony.
If the angel did not come and strengthen Him, He might have died in the garden.
Yet after three times, He said, “If this is Thy will, Father, let it be done.” Now, this is spirituality.
So, dear brothers and sisters, do not think that the spiritual is not a man.
You have emotion. You have feeling. You can be hurt, deeply hurt. You can agonize. You can have restlessness. You can have weakness, even to the point of neglecting your duty.
Yet the life of Christ within you is so ascendant that you bounce back in no time.
Wherever you go, you still spread the fragrance of Christ, because it is not you; it is Christ in you.
Now, I think that is the second paradox you find in 2 Corinthians.
The third one you find in 2 Corinthians 4. I think it is verse 7.
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves.
The apostle Paul said, “We are earthen vessels.” We are made of earth. So naturally, we are vessels: cheap, opaque, easily broken, common. That is what we are.
But the strangest thing is, God put the treasure in earthen vessels. We would never do that. If we have a treasure, where would we put that treasure? In a gold box, in something embroidered—that seems to be fitting.
But God does the most wonderful thing. He puts the treasure in earthen vessels. Nobody would do that.
Of course, we know the treasure is our Lord Jesus. That is the gospel.
Not because the treasure is in us are we no longer earthen vessels. We are still earthen vessels—cheap, common, opaque. We are still earthen vessels.
The thing is, God has put treasure in us. And the point is: the treasure in the earthen vessel—what is the point of it? Why is it in that earthen vessel?
God’s purpose is that the radiance of the treasure may be manifested.
If you want the light of the treasure to be manifested, you do not put it in an earthen vessel. Without the earthen vessel, the treasure would really shine. Christ without us, He would shine.
But strangely, God puts Christ in us to shine. That is the mystery, you know.
Because of this, in order that the radiance of the treasure may be manifested, that the power may be of God and not of man, this earthen vessel has to be broken.
There must be breaking. God, by the Holy Spirit, arranges our circumstances to break us.
Paul said, in 2 Corinthians 4:
We are pressed on every side, yet not straitened; perplexed, yet not unto despair;
persecuted, yet not forsaken; smitten down, yet not destroyed.
I have read several versions of this, and I like something like that. One is, “At our wits’ end, but not at our life’s end.” The other is, “Knocked down, but not knocked out.” Now, I like this very much.
You know, brothers and sisters, why is it that God allows us to be brought to our wits’ end? Oftentimes we find we come to a point where we do not know what to do. That is the end of it. Why?
Why is it that we have been knocked down so often? Why? Is there something the Lord is trying to tell us?
We all like to keep our integrity. We all like to keep ourselves intact, to hold on to ourselves. Because of this, Christ is imprisoned. His radiance cannot come forth. His power cannot be manifested.
The only way God will do this is to crack us, break us.
But thank God, we are finished, but Christ—Christ!
We bear in our body the dying of Christ, that the life of Christ may be manifested, not only in us but upon others. That is the way God is doing.
So again, you find it is a paradox: brokenness unto release.
Now, that is the third one. There is a fourth one, found in 2 Corinthians 12.
You know, Paul, in 2 Corinthians 11 and 12, opened up himself, as it were, to the Corinthians because of their misunderstanding of him. So he had to act like a fool and just open himself.
Ordinarily, he would try to hide himself, because he was to preach Jesus Christ and not himself. But he was forced to act foolishly, and he began to tell us of himself.
When you read 2 Corinthians 11 and 12, you find what sufferings this man had gone through for Christ’s sake. It is almost beyond our imagination. He suffered much more than most people will ever suffer.
Not only that, but what revelation he received! He was caught up to the third heaven. He was caught away to paradise and heard things that could not be shared. What a man in Christ he was.
Because of the greatness of his revelations, God allowed Satan to attack him and put this thorn into his life.
Now, we do not know what that thorn was. Some people think it was physical, because Paul travelled in areas full of malaria, and evidently he caught malaria.
With malaria, when the attack came, you shake with trembling. He said, “I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.” Malaria can also hurt your eyesight.
Paul said that his eyesight was so bad that he had to write in big letters. Malaria made him weak.
Being a messenger of God, travelling among the Gentiles, he felt that he had to be strong physically. Otherwise, people would say, “Now, you preach the gospel of salvation, and look at yourself—such a poor specimen.”
For the glory of God, he prayed and asked the Lord to take away that thorn, to take away his weakness. He wanted to be strong for the Lord, and that is what he thought he should be.
So he prayed and prayed and prayed. After three times, the Lord told him, “My grace is sufficient for thee. I am not going to remove your thorn. I am not going to make you strong in yourself.”
“I allow the enemy to attack you and allow you to be in weakness, but My grace is sufficient for you. In your weakness, I am going to manifest My power.”
Now, are you able to accept that? Brothers and sisters, when we are weak, what is our prayer? “Make me strong.”
We have good reason—not just for ourselves, but for Your sake. People look at you and say, “Well, that is a poor specimen of the power of the gospel. How can you preach the gospel with such a weakness?”
But God’s way is always higher than our way. His thought is higher than our thought. He knows better.
Are you willing to be kept in weakness that the power of God may be made perfect in you?
We cry. We weep over our weakness. But Paul said, “I boast of my weakness.”
When you begin to boast of your weakness, you experience the power of Christ. So it is a paradox.
Brothers and sisters, God has no intention to make you strong, but He has every purpose that the power of Christ may be made perfect in your weakness.
Are we willing to accept weakness? Paul says, “I boast of weaknesses, of sufferings, of tribulations, of all of them, because when I am weak, then I am strong.” The power of the Lord Himself is released.
So, when you read through the second letter to the Corinthians, you find that, in a sense, Paul is revealing his secret to us: how can we be spiritual as we should?
It is a paradox. The flesh has to come to death so that Christ’s life in us may be manifested in fullness. So this is the secret of spirituality.
Shall we pray?
Dear Lord, we do want to thank Thee for revealing Thy secret to us. We do pray that we may really understand and open for it.
How we praise and thank Thee that it is Thy will to glorify Thy Son in us.
Lord, we want to offer ourselves to Thee and say, “Lord, may Thy will be done with us.” In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.