2 Corinthians 6 | The Upward Way | Bible Study with A. Z. Adams — Transcript

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1. 0:00Second Corinthians chapter 6.
2. 0:02Paul has been saying that God has given
3. 0:04us the ministry of reconciliation. What
4. 0:07God did on the cross is now ministered,
5. 0:11shared, expressed through the agency of
6. 0:13the church.
7. 0:15And working together with him,
8. 0:18we also urge you not to receive the
9. 0:21grace of God
10. 0:23in vain. [music]
11. 0:24People say we're saved by grace. Mhm.
12. 0:27But you can receive that grace in vain.
13. 0:29And that word vain means useless.
14. 0:32You can receive what God's done for you
15. 0:34in a way that doesn't help you at all.
16. 0:36Doesn't save you one bit.
17. 0:38So, Paul says if we're going to work
18. 0:40with God, then we're going to urge
19. 0:43people not to receive [music] the grace
20. 0:47of God in vain. If we must urge them not
21. 0:50to, that means they can.
22. 0:52But if we must urge them not to, that
23. 0:54means they can stop receiving it in
24. 0:56vain.
25. 0:57How we receive the grace of God is up to
26. 1:00us.
27. 1:01For he says, "At the acceptable time I
28. 1:03listened to you, and on the day of
29. 1:05salvation I helped you."
30. 1:08Behold, now is the acceptable time.
31. 1:11Behold, now is the day of salvation.
32. 1:14Giving no cause for offense in anything,
33. 1:17so that the ministry will not be
34. 1:19discredited. But in everything
35. 1:21commending ourselves as servants of God
36. 1:24in much endurance, in affliction, in
37. 1:26hardships, in distress, in beatings, in
38. 1:28imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in
39. 1:31sleeplessness, in hunger, in purity, in
40. 1:35knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in
41. 1:38the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the
42. 1:42word of truth, in the power of God, by
43. 1:46the weapons of righteousness for the
44. 1:48right hand and the left, [music]
45. 1:50by glory and dishonor, by evil report
46. 1:54and good report, regarded as deceivers
47. 1:58and yet true, as unknown yet well known,
48. 2:03as dying yet behold we live, as punished
49. 2:06yet not put to death,
50. 2:08as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as
51. 2:12poor yet making many rich, as having
52. 2:15nothing yet possessing all things.
53. 2:18That's a long sentence, but there's none
54. 2:21like it in the whole Bible.
55. 2:23This is how we receive the grace of God
56. 2:29not in vain.
57. 2:31When we don't know how to tolerate these
58. 2:35apparent contradictions,
59. 2:37a hard life but a graced life.
60. 2:41When we don't know how to see that hard
61. 2:44things and good things are packaged in
62. 2:46one person
63. 2:48in those God has sent to us, we're going
64. 2:50to receive the grace of God in vain.
65. 2:55What is the specific way that he's
66. 2:57worried they will receive the grace of
67. 2:58God in vain?
68. 3:00They'll get the timing wrong.
69. 3:03In an acceptable time,
70. 3:06I listened to you. On the day of
71. 3:09salvation, I helped you. You can't
72. 3:11respond to God unless God gives you the
73. 3:14grace to respond to him.
74. 3:16And that is called prevenient grace.
75. 3:20You can't say yes to him unless he gives
76. 3:23you the opportunity to say yes to him
77. 3:25and the grace to say yes to him.
78. 3:27So that nothing is coming from your
79. 3:29strength or willpower alone, but you
80. 3:32[snorts] have to consent to what he is
81. 3:35offering you. So the whole question of
82. 3:37receiving the grace of God boils down to
83. 3:40when he opens the window of opportunity,
84. 3:43will you walk through it?
85. 3:46When God moves on your heart, will you
86. 3:48act on it?
87. 3:50That is the whole question. So Jesus
88. 3:52weeps over Jerusalem and he says, "How
89. 3:55often I wanted to gather you together,
90. 3:57but you were not willing."
91. 4:00You did not know the time or the hour,
92. 4:03the moment of your visitation.
93. 4:07They didn't recognize their window. They
94. 4:09let it pass.
95. 4:11So, God does not say, "I'm here and
96. 4:14whenever you're willy-nilly ready, you
97. 4:16can just decide to flip a switch and do
98. 4:18it."
99. 4:19You can't decide to follow God unless
100. 4:22he's giving you the grace to make that
101. 4:24decision. But just because he's given
102. 4:26you the grace doesn't mean you can't
103. 4:28reject that decision. You can neglect so
104. 4:32great a salvation. You can do despite to
105. 4:35the spirit of grace. You can receive the
106. 4:37grace of God in vain. How do you avoid
107. 4:40that? By walking through the window of
108. 4:43time when that grace is real in your
109. 4:46heart. By acting in the moment of
110. 4:49opportunity.
111. 4:51Behold, now is the acceptable time.
112. 4:53Behold, now is the day of salvation.
113. 4:57Giving no cause for offense in anything,
114. 5:01so that the ministry will not be
115. 5:04discredited. But in everything,
116. 5:07commending ourselves as servants of God.
117. 5:11In everything, commending ourselves as
118. 5:14servants of God. In everything, in all
119. 5:17of these hardships that he just
120. 5:19described. In that,
121. 5:21we are yielding ourselves to do God's
122. 5:24will. That's what he's saying. And then
123. 5:26he begins to describe what that looks
124. 5:28like. In beatings and imprisonments,
125. 5:31in love,
126. 5:33in charity, in all of these things,
127. 5:36staying in the place
128. 5:38where you're not living for yourself,
129. 5:40but for him who died for you.
130. 5:42Verse 11,
131. 5:44our mouth has spoken freely to you, oh
132. 5:48Corinthians.
133. 5:50Our heart is opened wide.
134. 5:54You are not restrained by us,
135. 5:58but you are restrained by your own
136. 6:00affections.
137. 6:03Now, in like exchange, I speak to you as
138. 6:06to children,
139. 6:08open wide to us also.
140. 6:13So, the way the Corinthians were going
141. 6:16to receive the grace of God in vain is
142. 6:18they were going to stop accepting the
143. 6:20ambassadors who were coming in Christ's
144. 6:23stead. They were going to stop receiving
145. 6:25Paul.
146. 6:27They were going to close their heart to
147. 6:29him.
148. 6:31Our mouth has spoken freely.
149. 6:34He's saying, "We've given you everything
150. 6:36we knew.
151. 6:37The knowledge that you possess, it came
152. 6:39from us.
153. 6:41Our heart is opened wide.
154. 6:45You are not restrained by us,
155. 6:49but you are restrained in your own
156. 6:51affections.
157. 6:54Your love is drying up.
158. 6:56You don't feel the commitment of love
159. 6:59that you once felt. You're restrained in
160. 7:02your own affections.
161. 7:05Now, in like exchange, I speak to you as
162. 7:08to children,
163. 7:09open wide to us." He says, "So, since
164. 7:11that's how you're going to be,
165. 7:13I'm going to talk to you like to kids,
166. 7:14and I'm going to say, 'Open wide to
167. 7:17us.'" Now, I ask you,
168. 7:20if they open wide to Paul,
169. 7:23will they
170. 7:24receive the grace of God correctly and
171. 7:26no longer in vain?
172. 7:28Yeah, that's the solution. Open wide to
173. 7:31us.
174. 7:34Do not be bound together with
175. 7:37unbelievers.
176. 7:40So, there are there is unbelief in their
177. 7:42midst that is making them close their
178. 7:45hearts to Paul.
179. 7:47They are forming a toxic unity with the
180. 7:50wrong people,
181. 7:52and that is creating a disunity
182. 7:55with their spiritual parents.
183. 7:58He's not changing his subject. He's
184. 8:00saying open wide to us. Stop being bound
185. 8:03to the wrong people.
186. 8:05Do not be bound together with
187. 8:07unbelievers, for what partnership
188. 8:11have righteousness and lawlessness, or
189. 8:14what fellowship has light with darkness?
190. 8:19They need to break away from the people
191. 8:21that are sowing the divisions in their
192. 8:23midst.
193. 8:25Or what harmony has Christ with Belial?
194. 8:28Or what has a believer in common with an
195. 8:31unbeliever?
196. 8:33Now, I seriously doubt that the
197. 8:35unbelievers that Paul is speaking of, I
198. 8:37seriously doubt they're straight-up
199. 8:39heathens who deny Jesus.
200. 8:41He calls these people super apostles.
201. 8:45So, far from claiming to deny Jesus,
202. 8:48they claim to be better versions of Paul
203. 8:51than Paul.
204. 8:52But, they are a divisive,
205. 8:55patricidal group that is trying to cut
206. 8:58the Corinthian church off from those who
207. 9:02gave them birth in Christ and trying to
208. 9:05supplant that role themselves.
209. 9:09Or what agreement has the temple of God
210. 9:11with idols? For we are the temple of the
211. 9:15living God.
212. 9:17We.
213. 9:18Paul, the Corinthians, the body of
214. 9:21Christ, we are the temple of the living
215. 9:25God.
216. 9:26Just as God said,
217. 9:29"I will dwell in them and walk among
218. 9:33them.
219. 9:34And I will be their God, and they shall
220. 9:38be my people.
221. 9:40Therefore
222. 9:42So, Paul quotes from one Old Testament
223. 9:44scripture, and then Paul puts the word
224. 9:47therefore, because we want to be his
225. 9:49temple, because we want his presence in
226. 9:52our midst. What does that look like?
227. 9:54That looks like reconciliation.
228. 9:57Paul says the church and he has been
229. 9:58given the ministry of reconciliation.
230. 10:01When God is walking among us, when God
231. 10:03is dwelling in us, that's
232. 10:05reconciliation.
233. 10:07So, then Paul says, "Therefore, and then
234. 10:09he patches in another quote from another
235. 10:12Old Testament scripture. Therefore, come
236. 10:15out from their midst and be separate."
237. 10:19says the Lord [music]
238. 10:21"and do not touch what is unclean." So,
239. 10:23he's given us three Old Testament
240. 10:25scriptures and stitched them together.
241. 10:27Because we want God's presence, we need
242. 10:30to embrace separation from what defiles
243. 10:32it.
244. 10:36And then he adds to the scripture
245. 10:40his own words from God.
246. 10:42"And I will welcome you.
247. 10:47And I will be a father [music]
248. 10:48to you.
249. 10:50And you shall be sons and daughters to
250. 10:52me."
251. 10:54says the Lord Almighty.
252. 10:57So, that portion is not from the Old
253. 10:59Testament.
254. 11:01Paul takes three [music] pieces of
255. 11:04prophecy from the Old Testament and
256. 11:06finishes it with a prophecy from the
257. 11:09Father, but through Paul.
258. 11:12He adds,
259. 11:13"I will be a father to you.
260. 11:17And you shall be my [music] sons and
261. 11:19daughters." says the Lord Almighty.
262. 11:24The whole problem in Corinth
263. 11:26is patricide.
264. 11:28They have lost their love and their
265. 11:30honor for the fatherhood of God.
266. 11:33And it looks like it's directed toward
267. 11:35Paul.
268. 11:36And it looks like it's clinging to the
269. 11:38super apostles who know how to do
270. 11:40everything better.
271. 11:42But what it's really doing is it's
272. 11:43cutting them off
273. 11:45from the fatherhood [music] and presence
274. 11:47of the almighty.
275. 11:48Uh and he's saying, God is saying, I
276. 11:50will be a father to you. So, this whole
277. 11:53passage is Paul being the ambassador.
278. 11:56It's Paul saying,
279. 11:59"Don't receive the grace of God in vain.
280. 12:01Open wide to us, and you will know the
281. 12:04fatherhood of God again."