Through the Bible with Les Feldick, Book 30

LESSON ONE * PART I

THE RESURRECTION COMPLETE

I CORINTHIANS 15:35-16:24

I know you are probably getting tired of I Corinthians Chapter 15, but it's such a loaded chapter. So we hope that you take your Bible, and follow along with us. It's still the greatest Book ever written, and once you learn how to separate the Scriptures it becomes so enjoyable A lot of folks are finding out that when you separate what God said, and what He does with Israel, and what He does for us Gentiles, and completely separate the two; then this Book just becomes so understandable and not all that difficult.

Let's go back where we left off in the last lesson in verse 35. Remember this whole chapter is dealing with resurrection, and also that there is no other religion on the planet which has resurrection as the very basis of their beliefs. This is so unique to Christianity, that the very core of everything that we believe, and everything that The Bible teaches, is based on this doctrine of resurrection. This life does not end at the grave, but rather there is also a life for eternity. The way we can enjoy that eternal existence is that every believer is to experience a Biblical resurrection. And again I have to stress over and over, the word `resurrection' does not refer to someone who has died and been brought back to life, such as the widow's son, and Lazarus in Christ's earthly ministry. They were not resurrected; they were just simply called back from the dead, and they died again. But resurrection began with The Lord Jesus Himself as He was the first ever to be resurrected. And that means He died, and rose from the dead never again to die, and it was for all eternity. We will see then in these succeeding verses that this is the same eternal life that we experience the moment we have believed the Gospel. Ref. I Corinthians 15:1-4.

I Corinthians 15:35

"But some man will say, `How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?'"

I had a call recently where a gentlemen asked that same question, "When resurrection happens what are we going to be like? Are we just going to be invisible spirit beings, or are we going to be like angels?" But you see he's not alone, and I'm not faulting him at all. Remember even Paul was also constantly bombarded, "Well how, if we're going to be resurrected, are we going to exist? What's it going to be like?" Well we are going to be eternally existing in a body, but it's not going to be the same flesh and blood body like we have now; it will be on the same order. I think the best illustration I can give of our resurrected body is The Lord Jesus in His 40 days after His resurrection. So basing that on Scripture let's turn to the Book of Philippians where this same Apostle Paul (and he's the only one that does) gives us a real detailed explanation of resurrection. Now the Old Testament saints believed in resurrection, we know that Job used that expression:

Job 19:25,26

"For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God."

When David lost the child from Bathsheba as a result of the adultery, he wept and fasted for seven days, but finally came to the realization:

II Samuel 12:23

"But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me."

So David also understood that there was resurrection. But now as Paul just enlarges on all of the questions that people have concerning resurrection, he lays it out so clearly. But here in the Book of Philippians, I just love these two verses in Chapter 3, they are so simple:

Philippians 3:20,21

"For our conversation (citizenship) is in heaven; (remember the Book of Colossians says, `we've already been translated into the kingdom of heaven.') from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself."

Do you see how plain that is? So all we really have to take time to study is those 40 days after His resurrection, and before His ascension from the Mount of Olives, and we're going to do that in just a moment. But before we leave Paul's reference to all of this, let's go to the Book of Ephesians Chapter 1, to another couple of verses that I just love to teach because so many hearts have been opened by my simple reading of the verses. I haven't had to comment on these verses, but rather just as I read them it was if all of a sudden I saw something that I had never seen before, so I do like to read these two verses.

Ephesians 1:13,14

"In whom (Christ of verse 12) ye also trusted, (placed your faith) after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: (see the core of eternal life is believing the Gospel) in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest (or down payment) of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory."

If you analyze that verse, the first thing you should ask is, "Well I thought I was already redeemed." We are, but what part of us is not yet redeemed? The body. It's still prone to the same pain and accident, and sins as the unbeliever. So what is the down payment going to assure? That even this body, this physical body, of which the soul and spirit are a part of, will be redeemed. But at death of course we'll be separated from the body. Just don't forget about that old body, and say, "Well all God's concerned about is soul and spirit. Remember for eternity we have to be a complete entity. I explained this to someone the other day again, and told them to search the Scriptures, "Does any human being have any function as a complete entity, and that's the best word I can find for it, unless he is body, soul, and spirit?" No way, because all three of them are going to have to be brought back together before we can spend eternity in the presence of Christ.

So if we're a believer tonight then the soul and spirit has already been redeemed, absolutely, but the body is still unredeemed, it's still in the flesh, and under the curse. But the very presence of the Holy Spirit in our life as a believer is God's down payment that He's going to complete the whole transaction. He's not going to just redeem the soul and spirit, but rather body, soul, and spirit together. Now in light of that let's turn to Romans Chapter 8 for a moment. And these are another series of beautiful verses. I think that very few people really understand what these verses are talking about. Let's begin at verse 18.

Romans 8:18-21

"For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us, For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons (or children, or the born ones) of God. For the creature (creation) was made subject to vanity, (curse) not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope," In other words the moment that the curse fell back in Genesis 3:15, God promised a Redeemer didn't He? Now this is all in reference to that. Now verse 21:

Romans 8:21-23

"Because the creature (creation) itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption (curse) into the glorious liberty of the children of God." (In other words all of creation is come under our rule and reign as we are joint-heirs with Christ.) For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, (the bird and animals, trees and so forth) but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, (in other words our soul and spirit are redeemed) even we ourselves groan within ourselves,(we have a lot, but we don't have it all, now we're) waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body."

When that happens it will complete it, and that's exactly what he was referring to in Ephesians Chapter 1. That as a believer, our soul and spirit has already been redeemed, yet that in itself is just a down payment and that God will complete the transaction, and redeem and give us a new body.

The best way to get a glimpse of that new body is to take a look at Christ in His resurrection experience (those 40 days between His coming out of the tomb, and when He ascended there in Acts Chapter 1). So come back to Luke 24, verse 36 and read about that account. Now we're going to take our time, we're not going to rush through this, because this whole concept of resurrection is the very bulwark of our faith. Not only did Christ die for us, but He arose victoriously over sin, death, Hell, Satan, and all the rest. He is able to impart unto us then, this blessed hope of resurrection. Now verse 36. One of the disciples was missing, so the ten are meeting.

Luke 24:36

"And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, `Peace be unto you.'" Now why did He have to say "Peace"? Well all of a sudden when He appeared right in front of them without benefit of a door or window, then naturally they, being human, were all shook up, probably half scared to death, and He had to settle them down with the word that He alone could use - "Peace be unto you." Now verse 37. But even with those words of comfort:

Luke 24:37,38

"But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. (or ghost) And he said unto them, `Why are ye troubled? And why do thoughts arise in your hearts?'"

Let's stop there for a moment. Could The Lord Jesus look right through their thinking? Sure He could, and He was seeing all those thoughts of fear. Now you want to remember although they had been in His company for 3 years they still didn't know He was going to be raised from the dead. Remember what Luke 18:33 and 34 says?

Luke 18:33-34a

"And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again. And they understood none of these things:..." Why? Because the Scripture says, it was hidden from them Sovereignly. Now it's the same way here in Luke 24. They should have known, we think, but on the other hand let's not blame them because God has providentially hidden a lot of these things from these men until a time that He has ordained that they understand.

Luke 24:39-41

"Behold my hands and my feet, (and He showed them to them. Now a ghost doesn't have hands and feet. He's not standing there fluttering in some mist. He is standing there visibly, physically.) that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, `Have ye here any meat?'" (or food)

Now this is going to be the proof positive. Up until now they still can't believe it's really the same Jesus that they had known a few days before. Now why was this so unbelievable to these people? I think that Isaiah tells us in Chapter 52 why.

Isaiah 52:14

"As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:"

So as He suffered that death on the Cross, He was more disfigured than any human being had ever been before. So take that into consideration when these people just can't believe what they're seeing. Because their last view of Christ on the Cross was something that didn't even appear human. But now He stands before them apparently whole with the exception of the wounds.

Luke 24:42,43

"And they gave him a piece of broiled fish, and of a honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them." That's what The Book says. And He ate in full view of these 10 disciples to prove to them now that he was a visible, resurrected Person. And that He had all of the physical attributes of even being able to eat.

Luke 24:44,45

"And he said unto them, `These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.' (now verse 45. Here is the secret of Biblical understanding even today. What did He do?) Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures."

Then it all fell in place. That, yes, the Son of God must come in flesh, and must suffer, and die, shed His Blood as the supreme sacrifice for men's sin, and then be raised from the dead. Now they understood it all and the whole picture came together. But now I would like for you to come back up to verse 39 where He says:

Luke 24:39

"Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit (or ghost) hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have."

Now for a moment we need to follow up on that verse by coming all the way back to Genesis Chapter 9 where Noah has just come off the ark, and now God gives some new instructions. Now humans are going to be permitted to kill of living things and eat the meat. But along with that, He's going to put some stipulations. So let's begin with verse 3. God is conversing with Noah:

Genesis 9:3,4

"Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat (food) for you, even as the green herb (which was mandated back in Genesis 1) have I given you all things. But flesh (meat) with the life thereof, which is the blood (now don't forget that fact) thereof, shall ye not eat."

Now we just read the secret. Every thing living in this economy, "The life is in the blood!" Whether it's in the animal kingdom, or the birds or humans the life is in the blood. So blood is the actual source of life that keeps that creature functioning. Now, with that in mind, let's come back to I Corinthians Chapter 15, and hopefully we can tie this all together. Let's begin with verse 50. Remember that Jesus said back in Luke 24, "Touch Me, handle Me, and see that I am flesh and bone."

I Corinthians 15:50

"Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption."

Now put those two things in your mind. Over here in His resurrection appearance, Jesus said, "Handle me, look at me, see me physically in flesh and bone." What did The Lord leave out? Blood! Now here in this chapter you can see why it had to be only flesh and bone. You see, flesh and blood, as we are now, cannot go into eternity. And even The Lord Himself could not go into eternity with Blood. And so His resurrected body is devoid of Blood. It is flesh and bone. Also remember what the Book of Philippians says:

Philippians 3:21a

"Who (Christ) shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body...."

So our new body will be a body of flesh and bone, and that's going to make all the difference in the world. Now we may hit this a little bit in a later lesson, but jump up quickly if you will, in this same Chapter 15 to verse 45, and this will give us another thought. Now if we're going to go into eternity with flesh and bone, and no blood, yet the Book of Genesis tells us that life is in the blood, well, what is going to be the source of life in that eternal body?

I Corinthians 15:45

"And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; (back there in Genesis when God breathed into him, and gave him the breath of life.) the last Adam (Christ) was made a (life-giving or) quickening spirit."

Now there's the secret. When we see that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom, but rather only flesh and bone then what has to be that life-giving substance that will keep the eternal body functioning? The Spirit. And it will be the Spirit of God Himself. Even now we are indwelt by the presence of the Holy Spirit, but not to the degree it will be in our eternal state. When we come into the eternal state of flesh and bone then the spirit will actually take over the role that the blood now has in our body. Life is in the blood in this physical existence. In the eternal existence life is going to be in the spirit. So this is the teaching that comes out of this great resurrection chapter. I'm amazed that Paul wrote in the beginning of this letter that these believers were carnal and that he couldn't give them meat, but rather milk. But yet at the end of this letter he comes out with the deep doctrine of our whole Christian experience, and that is resurrection. I haven't figured out how all this works yet, but I do know he suddenly shifts gears in this chapter and we get profound doctrines concerning our eternal state, and the resurrection of the dead. Always remember that the very core of our Christian belief is this power of resurrection. First in our salvation as Ephesians 2:1 puts it so plain.

Ephesians 2:1

"And you hath he quickened, (made us alive spiritually) who were dead in trespasses and sins:"

And Paul is talking about this life. In so many words we were raised from a dead spiritual existence to an existence that is filled with the Spirit of God, we have that new Divine Nature, we have all of these things that salvation brings working on our behalf, and all of this was unknown until we get to these writings of the Apostle Paul. So when you mull all these things over about our eternal state, the heart of it all is the resurrection.

_______

LESSON ONE * PART II

THE RESURRECTION COMPLETE

I CORINTHIANS 15:35-16:24

We're going to jump right back in where we stopped in our last lesson, so we'll be turning to I Corinthians 15:35, and go on from there.

I Corinthians 15:35

"But some man will say, `How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?'"

Now in verse 36 Paul is going to come into another concept of resurrection, and that is, before something can live it has to die. And this, again, is a Pauline concept. You just don't find it that much any where else in Scripture. We'll go back of course to The Lord's earthly ministry but for the most part as a doctrinal teaching, you do not find it like we do here in the writings of Paul. So he says:

I Corinthians 15:36,37

"Thou fool, (in other words you foolish individual) that which thou sowest is not quickened, (or made alive) except it die. And that which thou sowest, (in agriculture, a grain crop) thou sowest not that body that shall be, but (what shall ye sow?) bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:"

Paul had to make it simple here so that people without a shadow of doubt can get things straight. In other words Paul is saying that when you plant something you don't plant the whole stalk of wheat, but rather the seeds. Now it stands to reason if you're going to plant the seed then you don't expect the seed to suddenly come up above the ground. What's going to come up first? The stalk. Paul is using that as a total illustration of our own resurrection experience.

I Corinthians 15:38

"But God giveth it (this grain) a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body."

Now of course that goes all the way back to Genesis where everything is confined to its own species. There is no such thing as crossing over from one totally different specie into another. Now we know we can hybridize but so far as sowing the seed of an apple and expecting to get an orange tree, that is just not going to happen. Now Paul say, "It's the same way in the flesh," as we see in verse 39.

I Corinthians 15:39-43

"All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: (in other words that which is out in space, and things that are here on the earth.) but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead, It is sown in corruption; (death) it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:"

Now we'll go back and see what The Lord Jesus said about in His own earthly ministry, and it's a portion that we've used often. So let's go back to John's Gospel Chapter 12 and let's begin with verse 20.. And of course this is just shortly before His crucifixion. In fact just a matter of hours. The crowds are already coming into Jerusalem from all over the Roman empire for the feast of Passover. And among that crowd were some Gentiles, some Greeks, and I always like to use the analogy that when we go to the wailing wall we just sort of stand back, and watch the Jews go through all of their rituals and their prayers. We're just outsiders, we're looking at all this. Well I think the same thing was taking place here. As all these Jews were getting ready for their sacrifices, and the feast of Passover there were some inquisitive Gentiles. So they are the Greeks in verse 20.

John 12:20-24

"And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast: The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, `Sir, we would see Jesus.' Philip (remembering that Jesus sort rebuffed the Gentiles in earlier experiences) cometh and telleth Andrew: and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus. (well what did they tell Him? That there's some Greeks that want to talk with Him. Now look at Jesus' answer.) And Jesus answered them, saying, `The hour is come, (it's a matter of hours before He's on that Cross) that the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily I say unto you, Except a corn (kernel) of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.'" (or grain)

Now He's just simply saying that we, as gardeners or farmers, until we put that seed in the ground, nothing is going to happen. But the moment that seed is put into the ground and has moisture and sunlight - the first thing that seed has to do is die. It dies, it become corrupt, and out of that death comes the new stem out of which will come wheat, for example, hundreds of coronas. So this is the whole concept throughout all of God's creation. If you're aware of it, everything that you see in nature is constantly screaming the whole fact of resurrection. Every springtime when things began to shoot out of the ground and when you plant your crops and gardens, all of that is a reminder of the resurrection. Now when Jesus said, "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." What was Jesus referring to? His coming death, burial, and resurrection which was only a few days in the future.

And what Jesus is saying for these Gentiles was that He was not an object of their faith until He had experienced the work of the Cross. I try to stress to people that Christ in His earthly ministry was almost exclusive to the Nation of Israel.

Matthew 15:24

"But he (Jesus) answered and said, `I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.'"

Oh we know there were a couple of times, but His ministry was only to the Nation of Israel. But after experiencing the death, burial, and resurrection, now the Gospel of Grace can go to the whole human race as the finished work of the Cross is the object of our faith. Now coming back to I Corinthians 15 for just a moment we come down to the place in verse 42:

I Corinthians 15:42

"So also is the resurrection of the dead. It (the body that has lived and died) is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:"(and power)

The reason that Paul has been led by the Holy Spirit to make so much of resurrection is that when Christ arose from the dead He exhibited more power than it took when He created the universe. And of course the reason being through His resurrection from the dead, He defeated, totally defeated, all the powers of Satan. He totally settled the sin debt for every human being that has ever lived. Remember the sins of every human being have already been atoned for. When people go to an eternal Hell it won't be God's fault. They just didn't capitalize on the Atonement. They didn't appropriate it. So that's what's going to make Hell so awful. They're suddenly going to realize that they are there because they chose to be. Not because an unfair God sent them there. A fair God has already declared those sins paid for at the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. And so it took all the power that God had at His disposal to raise Christ from the dead. And that's why it is the very bench mark of our salvation experience. So looking at the text again Paul tells us in verse 42 "that it is sown in corruption." Let's go back for a moment to Romans Chapter 6 and look at that. In this verse it's almost enough to make you smile as it's the same kind of language that is used. It's a different word but it means the same thing.

Romans 6:5

"For if (here's the condition) we have been planted (or sown) together in the likeness of his (Christ) death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:"

Well what's it saying? Just as certainly as you plant two kernels of wheat side by side they're both going to come up the same. They're both going to be wheat. If we have been planted in the likeness of Christ's death, then we will be resurrected in Christ's likeness. So as we're planted together we come up in resurrection power together. Never that we become God. I always have to stress that. We will never become God, but we become the very manifestation of His resurrection power. Now come back again to I Corinthians. So we are sown in corruption. In other words, this old body, as soon as it dies, begins to go back to the earth, back to corruption. Now verse 43.

I Corinthians 15:43

"It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:"

Oh, as much as we love our loved ones as they lay there in that casket, and we mourn for their passing, yet death is our enemy. I think we all hate death. I hate even to lose an animal, it just tears me up to see an animal die. We hate the death of our loved ones. The unbelievers will never see their loved ones again. But we will. We're going to see them, we're going to know them. I've had a lot of questions from our television audience in that regard. My proof that we are going to know our love ones when we get to eternity is that experience that happened on the Mount of Transfiguration. When Peter, James, and John, and The Lord Jesus were there and suddenly with them was Moses and Elijah. Did the three disciples ask The Lord Jesus, "Who are these fellows?" Did they? No, because they knew, and here these two had lived a couple of thousands years earlier. So that tells me when we get to heaven we're going to recognize our love ones. We're going to know everybody. But nevertheless if we don't live to see the Rapture and have to go the way of death, we have this blessed hope that this body is going to be raised to a new life if we're a believer. And the whole concept of resurrection is just exactly that. That body of flesh has to die, and then be raised in resurrection power.

I Corinthians 15:44

"It is sown a natural body; (that which is born of the flesh) it is raised a spiritual body. (we can't go into eternity with flesh and blood) There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body."

Even though these two are eons apart, yet they are a lot alike. We are still going to have all the outward features that we have now, and we're going to be spiritual in that we now have eternal life instead of the promise of three score and ten. Now verse 45:

I Corinthians 15:45

"And so it is written, `The first man Adams was made a living soul; the last Adam (Christ) was made a quickening (or life giving) spirit.'"

Christ never stops being God. I know there are cults that deny the Deity of Christ, but that flies in the face of this Book. This Book says that He was Divine, He was Deity, He was God, and He never gave that up. In fact there's a verse in the Book of Hebrews that implies that even while He was in the womb, He was still God. And He never stopped being God. Now verse 46. It had to be that way because this is one of the rules of God in His manifestation with the human race. And that is all through Scripture; you have first the natural, and then the spiritual. Remember first Cain the natural and then Able the spiritual. Then there was Ishmael the natural, and then Isaac the spiritual. Esau the natural, and then Jacob the spiritual. First King Saul the natural, and then King David the spiritual. And it's this way all the way through Scripture to the very end of the Book where we find the appearance of the Anti-christ, the man of sin, the natural, and then the Second Coming of the true Christ, the spiritual. So this is one of the laws of Scriptures.

I Corinthians 15:46-48

"Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual but that which is natural: and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, (The first man was Adam, he was made of the earth he went back to the earth.) earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly."

We are earthy in our make-up although once we become a believer we are heavenly connected and our citizenship is in heaven, but we're still functioning, living, producing, and reproducing as physical earthly beings. Now verse 49:

I Corinthians 15:49

"And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly."

And this is where faith comes in. We believe it! Not because I can lay it out on a laboratory desk and pick it apart, but rather because this Book says so. We can believe it, we can trust it. It's the eternal Word of God. Now I know there's a lot in the news media about these Bible codes that these mathematicians in Israel are seemingly finding. But even that doesn't tell me anything more than I already knew. This Book is supernaturally put together. Every letter of this Book is in exactly the right place. We were discussing in our Tulsa class, "What is God's greatest controversy against mankind?" Well not man's immorality as much as God hates it, not his drunkenness as much as He hates it, nor stealing, but what does God hate most of all? "UNBELIEF" It just irks God to the core that man refuses to believe what He has said. And that's called FAITH!

In some of our Old Testament characters that was their problem. Esau for example - poor fellow, everybody feels sorry for him that he seemingly got conned out of the birthright and out of the blessing. No he didn't get conned. What was his problem? No faith. He couldn't believe a thing God said. Well for the most part the whole world is that way tonight. Now coming back to the test in I Corinthians 15:50:

I Corinthians 15:50

"Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption."

Well that's easy enough to understand isn't it? You do not put a spiritual Body such as Christ's resurrected Body back in the tomb. That which goes into the grave is this old physical body which is already corrupt. It's prone to disease, failures, and it's that body of corruption that we bury and place in the ground. But when it comes out of the ground in resurrection power it's going to be a new body fashioned after Christ's glorious Body. Now let's go to Ephesians Chapter 1, and if I don't experience it in this life then I know I will in the next one. And this Paul's prayer on behalf of the believers.

Ephesians 1:17-20a

"That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power. Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead,..."

_______

LESSON ONE * PART III

THE RESURRECTION COMPLETE

I CORINTHIANS 15:35-16:24

There is probably more on resurrection in this 15th Chapter than the rest of The Bible put together. It's interesting that Paul uses the word "mystery" that is so intrinsic to his writings. For example in verse 51:

I Corinthians 15:51

"Behold, I shew you a mystery;..."

This word `mystery' comes from the Greek word `musterion' which simply means `secret.' Those two words can be interchanged throughout Paul's letters when he says, "Behold, I shew you a mystery or secret." And when we speak of secrets we have to look at the Book of Deuteronomy Chapter 29. I like to use this verse especially when there's a reference to Paul's use of the word `mystery.' God in His Sovereignty has every right and reason to keep things secret as long as He wants to keep it secret. But once He reveals it then He expects mankind to believe it. Take it by faith! Another expression for faith is God said it and I believe it! or Taking God at His Word!

Deuteronomy 29:29

"The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law."

Now this was written for the Nation of Israel, but it still shows in the attributes of God that He has the prerogative to keep things secret. For example, look at Ephesians 3:1-9 things only revealed to Paul, and then for the Gospel of Salvation, Romans 16:25, I Corinthians 15:1-4 and Romans 10:9-10 which He kept secret until He revealed it to the Apostle Paul for us, the Body of Christ. For the Rapture of the Church was given only to the Apostle Paul. Look at I Corinthians 15:51-58 and I Thessalonians 4:13-18. And there are many more examples given only to that great apostle for us. Remember God doesn't have to reveal secrets until He's ready. So this is one of the basic things it takes to understand the Word of God. He does not reveal everything all the way up, but rather at the right time. Now let's look for a moment at Luke Chapter 18. And here that is so evident that God actually, with the Twelve disciples, kept things secret from them that they did not understand until He was ready to reveal it. Remember this was at the end of His earthly ministry, just before they went up to Jerusalem.

Luke 18:31-34

"Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, `Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again.' And they understood none of these things: (Well was The Lord speaking in some foreign language? No. Well why didn't they understand?) and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken." That was one of God's prerogatives to keep things hidden until it's time to reveal it.

As you come back to I Corinthians 15, Paul now says he is going to reveal a secret, or a mystery, which means it has never been revealed before. I can not emphasize this enough. All of these things that were wrapped up in that ball of knowledge, in that whole sphere of doctrines and revelations that have now come to us through this apostle, were for the most part, kept secret in the mind of God until He revealed them to the Apostle Paul. Paul makes reference to the fact that it was to him first that God revealed these things. God had the right to keep it secret. So keep that in mind now, that what He's now going to unveil to Paul had never been alluded to, or hinted at. It has certainly never been spoken, and that is that at a point toward the end of time there will be a group of believers who will not die physically.

I Corinthians 15:51

"Behold, I shew you a mystery: (secret) We shall not all sleep, (die physically) but we (remember Paul only writes to believers so he's not including the lost world here) shall all be changed,."

That is why I took so much time previously to show that our resurrected body is going to be fashioned after Christ's resurrection body, it's going to be a lot like our physical body, but it's going to be different. It's going to be a spiritual body without blood. It's going to be flesh and bone and going to be activated by the spirit. So Paul says, "there's coming a group of people who will not die physically, but they shall all be changed." And of course Paul writes as though it would happen in his lifetime. And so those of us who adhere to this line of teaching, we speak of it as the imminent coming of Christ for the Church, which means it could be tonight; it may be tomorrow, it may be ten years from now, but we are to expectantly look for it at any time. There is no set prophetic program that must be fulfilled for this event to take place.

Now contrary to the Rapture of the Church you have a completely different event in the "Second Coming" when Christ actually comes to the Mount of Olives (we'll be looking at this soon) in fulfillment of the second coming that will have prophetic events leading up to it, so by these events there will no doubt when He will be coming to the Mount of Olives. But for the Rapture of the Church there are no prophetic signs, there is nothing to indicate at what day or year that we can expect this to happen. Now let's read on:

I Corinthians 15:52

"In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump for trumpet (singular) shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." We shall be changed from this body of corruption to a body of incorruption in that split second at the trumpet call.

I Corinthians 15:53

"For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal (this body that is prone to death) must put on immortality."

This body we have now must lose the flesh and blood concept, and become flesh and bone, and be activated by the Spirit. Let's talk a little about the trumpet. Let's go back to Revelation Chapter 8, and look at the trumpet. This is the one that people are always throwing up to me. For some reason or other the best of people want to tie the trump of God in Paul's teaching concerning the Rapture, with these trumpets in Revelation which will occur about the mid-point of the Tribulation. But let me point out something.

Revelation 8:2

"And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given (not the trump of God singular, but rather were given) seven trumpets." (plural)

Now that's a big point I think. These are not the trump of God, these are angelic trumpets. The angels are going to blow these seven trumpets. Now comparing Scripture with Scripture look at Chapter 15 again of I Corinthians. The seven angelic trumpets can no way shape or form, as I understand language, be a part of the trump (singular) of God Himself. In other words God has a trumpet reserved for just this event and this alone "the calling out the Body of Christ." Now the Roman army, I think, used the trumpet to put out commands much like our American calvary used to (when the soldier blew the trumpet the ones in the very far distance would know what the command was). I think it was the same way in the Roman army. When the battle was over and the Romans were victorious, and the generals wanted to let the legionnaires know "we're going home to Italy" then that was the trumpet call that every legionnaire could be exulted by. And what a message from that trumpet. "The battle is over, we've won, and we're going home." Every soldier gets excited about going home.

Well you see that's where we are. We are in a battle, and even the press and Congress are finally waking up to the fact that Christianity world-wide is coming under ferocious attacks. Persecution is rampant against Christians, it's become warfare, and it's going to get worse. My what a joy it will be to hear that trumpet call, "The battle is over, come on home, and we're going to be out of here." I believe that with all my heart. We're getting closer and closer to the day when that trumpet call will take us out of this existence and we will suddenly, as Paul says, "be changed." Now in order to get the full picture of all this we have to go over to the corresponding portion in I Thessalonians Chapter 4. This is just an extension of this revelation of this part of the mystery which he now refers to "as being caught up." Now I've had a lot of people try to corner me by saying, "Well Les, the word `Rapture' isn't in my Bible." Of course it isn't in there, not in the English anyway, but we're going to see in a little bit two words in the Greek that mean the same thing, so what's the big deal.

I Thessalonians 4:13,14

"But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, (died physically) that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, (that's the Gospel that saves you, and it was also given to Paul as a mystery. If we believe the Gospel to the place where God has now imparted salvation. If we believe the Gospel) even so them also which sleep (or have died) in Jesus will God bring with him."

Now verse 14 is another one of those scriptures where Jesus and God are synonymous. It's the same God, the same Jesus. Let's look at that a little more in the Book of Ephesians. We're not going to look at all of them but if I'm not mistaken there are 96 prepositional phases, "In Christ, In Whom, In Him" speaking of Christ Himself in the Book of Ephesians. But we will look at a few of them.

Ephesians 1:1

"Paul, and apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesians, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:"

Ephesians 1:4a

"According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,..." Do you see what I'm talking about? Over and over you have this prepositional phrase. Let's look at a couple more.

Ephesians 1:12,13

"That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted,..."

So all the way through these 6 chapters you have 96 times, if I'm not mistaken, this prepositional phrase which is our position in Christ or the Body of Christ. Now back to I Thessalonians, and let's pick up again with the Rapture of the Church. So those of us who are in Christ, they have been baptized into the Body by the Holy Spirit, not with water but rather by the power of the Spirit. So we are in Christ. And if those kind of people are already dead they will be raised in resurrection power, but that body that's raised in resurrection power is still void of the soul and spirit remember because they separated at physical death. So what does God have to do to get it back into one entity again? Well the soul and spirit of that believer is already in glory, and the body is in the grave. Although it just came to me to tie all this together in II Corinthians Chapter 5.

II Corinthians 5:6-8

"Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, (while we're living in this tabernacle here on the earth) we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord."

Now I had someone ask me that not to long ago. "What happens to the believer's soul and spirit at death?" It immediately goes into paradise in heaven right into the presence of The Lord. Now back again to I Thessalonians Chapter 4 and let's look at verse 14 again.

I Thessalonians 4:14

"For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." Believers only, and He will bring them from heaven down to the atmosphere. Now verse 15.

I Thessalonians 4:15,16

"For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain (that's this one group of people He's talking about in I Corinthians 15:51 who have not died, but will be changed in a twinkling of an eye) unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent (or go ahead of) them which are asleep. (or have died) For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: (not the trumpet of the angels) and the dead in Christ shall rise first:"

Those that must be resurrected are going to be brought out of the tomb wherever they're buried, and reunited then with their soul and spirit which The Lord is bringing with Him. Now verse 17:

I Thessalonians 4:17a

"Then (after the resurrected saints have their new body) we which are alive and remain shall be caught up..."

Or another name for caught up is "Raptured." It all means the same thing. So if you don't like to use the word Rapture just say "caught up." Any way you put it we're going to be out of here. If The Lord comes in our lifetime then suddenly we're going to be out of here; whether we're driving down the highway or asleep in bed.

I Thessalonians 4:17

"Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them (the resurrected who have died in Christ) in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord."

Now for a quick comparison of Scripture let's go to the Book of Acts Chapter 1. Here we have The Lord and the eleven disciples on the Mount of Olives. It's the same Mount of Olives that we visit every time we go to Jerusalem. The Lord's 40 days of resurrection experience has now come to an end. Now verse 9:

Acts 1:9-11

"And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel: Which also said, `Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.'"

Now to put it in a lighter vain, I always say, "He went head first, but He's going to come back feet first." Now let's look at Zechariah Chapter 14 and compare the language. Paul says, "Christ is only going to come to the air, the atmosphere as we meet Him in the air." But here in this chapter in verse 4 it's just like Chapter 1 of Acts.

Zechariah 14:4

"And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east,...."

And that's the difference between the Rapture of the Church, and the Second coming of Christ. They are exactly 7 years apart.

_______

LESSON ONE * PART IV

THE RESURRECTION COMPLETE

I CORINTHIANS 15:35-16:24

Well hopefully we'll finish I Corinthians in this lesson, I'm certainly going to try. So turn again to Chapter 15, and we're going to take a look at this revelation of a secret which was part of that whole revealed body of truth which Paul refers to as the mystery. Before we look at I Corinthians let's look for a moment at Romans Chapter 16. I want you to see that this is not just a flippant use of the word, for Paul uses it throughout his writings. And simply because the Holy Spirit has revealed to this man doctrines and truths that no one else ever dreamed would happen. They're not in the Old Testament, or in Christ's ministry, or in Peter's activity in the Book of Acts, but rather it's a whole new revelation which builds on everything that went before. And that's why I teach the Old Testament and the Four Gospels just as much as I do the Pauline letters. Nevertheless this is something that has come out of every thing that has gone before, but it was never prophesied. Now let's look at verse 25:

Romans 16:25

"Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, (the one by which you are saved in I Corinthians 15:1-4) and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began.

Remember in our last lesson we looked at Deuteronomy 29:29:

Deuteronomy 29:29

"The secret things belong unto the LORD our God:..."

He is a God who can keep things secret as long as He cares to, and this whole volume of revealed truths was one of those. God just did not reveal it, not even a hint of the Church age, and what we call the Rapture in any of the prophecies, or His earthly ministry. And that's a good way that we can divide the Scriptures. The Old Testament was based on the prophetic word. Everything was based on what God said, "I Will, I Will, I Will," That was prophecy! And all sitting on that Abrahamic Covenant. So Christ came in fulfillment of that Covenant. He came only to the Nation of Israel (Matthew 15:24) as their Messiah, and their King, and we've been teaching that over and over. But Israel rejected it, (Acts 28:27-28) they didn't believe Who He said He was. Now God's going to turn to the rest of the world by putting the Nation of Israel into a dispersion, and not using the Jew with the exception of this one man, the Apostle Paul who was a Jew, a Pharisee of the Pharisees of the tribe of Benjamin. So this Jew now has revealed to him and him only these mysteries, these secrets, and now He can take it to the Gentile world and reveal it.

Now in our time line, we always start back with Adam, and then 2000 years later we have the call of Abraham. That brought about the Nation of Israel which was pulled off the main river of humanity. But the Nation of Israel, instructed and taught, and nurtured through the Old Testament under the Law and prophecies, rejected Him, and they were dispersed then back into that main stream of humanity from which they were called in the first place. Remember God had intended for the Nation of Israel to evangelize the world, but when he sent them into dispersion, in the last chapter of Acts He put them into a place of spiritual blindness. Paul tells us now there is no difference between Jew and Gentiles. Now for salvation all must believe the Gospel that was given Paul by the crucified, risen Lord, the Gospel we find in I Corinthians 15:1-4. When this dispersion took place about 70 AD the Jews lost the Temple, and the city of Jerusalem, and their homeland. They were dispersed into every nation on earth.

But about 30 years before this dispersion took place, about 40 AD, the Apostle Paul was called by God, and he now is going to be progenitor of this Gospel of Grace and the calling out of the Gentile Body of Christ. Now when this Body of Christ, which is made up of Jews and Gentiles, is complete, and the last one has been saved, that's when we have this meeting in the air (Rapture) that we talked about in the last lesson. This is when the soul and spirit of believers that have been in the presence of Christ after they died, are brought to the atmosphere by God Himself in the Person of Christ, and their bodies will be resurrected to be reunited with their soul and spirit in the air. And then in the next instance we believers who are alive and remain shall be caught up to meet The Lord in the air.

Then after that has taken place, the final seven years are ushered in and are associated only with the prophecies concerning the Nation of Israel, which in 1948 became a nation again. We call that period the final seven years or the Tribulation. Of course the ending of the Tribulation will bring about the Second Coming of Christ to the earth as we saw in the closing moments of the last lesson. This is when Christ will stand with His feet on the Mount of Olives. Now just to show the graphic difference again between the Rapture and the Second Coming let's go back to Matthew Chapter 24. Now there are many other references to the Second Coming, but I'm going to use this passage as the prime example of how everything that the Old Testament, and Jesus and the Four Gospel accounts refer to in Christ's coming is never this Rapture of the Church, this meeting in the air. That is something that the rest of The Bible knew nothing about. It was only a secret revealed by, and to the Apostle Paul.

Now all these other references to the end time events are directed to the Second Coming . When Christ will come and stand in that day on the Mount of Olives. All right now let's just look at Matthew Chapter 24 for an example. At this time the Twelve disciples are still intact.

Matthew 24:1-3

"And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, `See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.' And as he sat upon the mount of Olives the disciples came unto him privately, saying, `Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?'" (or age)

Jesus gives them the answer, and He comes down through these series of verses and none of this is associated with the Church one iota. This is all instructions for the Nation of Israel concerning the Second Coming of Christ. So when I teach Matthew Chapter 24 this is why I stress this over and over. Matthew 24 is Tribulation ground. This is not for you and I in the Church age. This is prophecy for those last 7 years. We're seeing the stage set now leading up to the Tribulation when there will be false teachers and there's going to wars and rumors of war, and granted we're seeing all this, but thank goodness we are certainly not in the Tribulation.

Now I was reading a book the other night by a dear old Bible teacher who had gone on to be with The Lord several years ago. And he was writing shortly after he had been at a prophecy conference, and he had been conversing with another well-known prophecy expert. As they saw the falling apart of western civilization and the apostasy of the Church, they thought that we were so close to the Rapture because they were seeing all the signs that were introducing the Tribulation. Well I read some of those things to Iris, and said, "Well what would those fellows say if they were alive today?" Stop and think about it. Look how far we have come to Tribulation ground in the last 20 years. But we're not there yet, we're not in the Tribulation by any stretch of the imagination. But everything is bringing us closer.

I had a banker friend tell me recently that every new technology is just bringing the prophecies that much closer, because the whole Book of Revelation is based on our tremendous technology. So it stands to reason that the Anti-christ could never be able to put his thumb on every human being on earth without the computer. But with the computer he'll be able to, but I'm not saying that he will. But if the Anti-christ wants to pull up some data on an individual anywhere then all he has to do is request it and there it will be. And he'll have every thing on that individual that he will want to know. Why? Technology.

Even in our ministry we're on the Internet, but the more I hear about it, it just scares the socks off me, because there's no place to hide. They can find anybody, and if they someday want to find us it will be no problem for them. There will be no place to hide. So what I want you to see in this lesson is that everything that was spoken in the Old Testament prophets; which was spoken by Jesus, and Peter, were all directed to the Nation of Israel, and His Second Coming. Not to the Church or the Rapture of the Church! So keep that in mind as we study even in these closing moments of this Book of I Corinthians. So let's come back to I Corinthians and we find Paul revealing one of the mysteries that was part of that whole volume of truth that he puts in one category. And that category is "The revelation of the mysteries."

Now there were all kinds of mysteries revealed to Paul, and they were unknown to the rest of Scripture. For example, that Jews and Gentiles would be brought into the Body of Christ on equal ground. Now I pay all respect to Israel's Covenant position, as the favorite nation of God. I know they are where they are only because of that. But we must never lose sight that for a Jew today to experience salvation, he's on the same level playing field that we as Gentiles are on. The Jew today is not in a place of special privilege when it come to his personal salvation. He's a sinner who needs salvation. just a much as a Gentile. But in the great scheme of things they have to be in the land of Israel for the culmination of the Prophetic Scripture.

I had a young Jewish listener out in California tell me once, "Now Les, stop and think. I know that you would just love for all of us Jews to get saved according to what you teach, but if all Jews would get saved then we would all leave with you at the Rapture, and there would be nobody here to fulfill prophecy." I told him that I hadn't thought of it that way. But you know what he said is so true. Israel has to be in the land at the end-time scenario for that final 7 years. She has no choice because all of prophecy is directed to that. Well you take them off the scene and God's Word would fall apart, and we know God's not going to let that happen. I was reading one of my little books the other day and had made the point that, yes, we love the Arabs, and Palestinians on God's behalf just as much as anyone else. But it's too bad that they can't understand that Scripturally they are not in the line of the Covenant promises given to Abraham. That was only for the Jew. If they think they're going to drive the Jew into the sea, then they'll have to deal with God first. Remember God has said that they are not going to disappear. They're going to be there for the end-time.

Now back to I Corinthians 15: 54. I think we've touched enough on the Rapture for now. All I want you to remember is that, "The Rapture is not prophetically announced. We don't know when it will happen, there is nothing to indicate that it's going to be today, tomorrow or next year. But as the world scene is being fulfilled for that final 7 years, and the Second Coming, we have to be ready at least 7 years ahead of His Second Coming. So as you see all the signs of the world getting ready for the Second Coming just remind yourself, "Hey, we're going to leave 7 years ahead of that so we'd better be ready." Now verse 54. Here Paul continues on dealing with putting in the grave this corruptible, and resurrecting the incorruptible.

I Corinthians 15:54-56

"So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal (this old body we have now) shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, `Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? (I think I said it just a lesson or so back that we all hate death.) O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; (that's why we hate it. Death and sin are almost synonymous.) and the strength of sin is the law.'" It was the Law that showed sin to be what it really is. Then verse 57:

I Corinthians 15:57

"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

There is no other way to gain victory over sin and death. Religion won't do it, good works won't do it, joining a church won't do it. It has to be by virtue of this resurrection power of the Gospel that does it. Now verse 58, and he begins this verse with the word "Therefore," Now Paul is winding this letter down. So he can say "Therefore" in light of all that he has written in these previous 15 chapters, but especially with this hope of the believers. Before we read this verse I would like to show you a verse in Titus to tie it all together. This verse shows that the Rapture is a reality, and it will happen before the horrors of the Tribulation comes. Verse 13 says it all, but let's start at verse 11.

Titus 2:11-13

"For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath (already) appeared to all men. (no one is ever going to say, `But Lord I never heard.' For this Grace is) Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world: (and we are to be) Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:"

When someone asks that you to show them in The Bible that Jesus ever claimed to be God well here's one reference right here, and there are many others. But look at this verse. If this isn't giving Deity to Christ then I don't know what is. That we are to be looking for that blessed hope, and what's the blessed hope? The glorious appearing of the great God, the God of Creation, the God of this Book, and Who is He? Our Saviour Jesus Christ! Now back to I Corinthians 15:58:

I Corinthians 15:58

"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord."

We may not reap the rewards of our labor in this life. We may go to the grave as poor as church mice, but don't let that discourage you. God hasn't promised that, "Just because we're believers we're going to drive cadillacs, and live in mansions." No way, but God has promised that He is keeping a record of our earthly activities. Then one day we're going to cash in on the rewards in glory, and remember that Paul is always teaching that. We are to run the race for rewards. Now go to Chapter 16 to wind up I Corinthians. Here Paul is going to deal with something totally different from resurrection. Here he is going to come down to the nitty gritty of, "How we're to give." Many people are hung up on the legal system of tithing. I've got nothing against giving. But you are not under the tithe. Now I know this is going to ruffle a few feathers, but remember the tithe was part of the Law. Tithing was given only to the tribe of Levi. I dare say if we could ask some of our Jewish friends whether they teach tithing today, I'd be very surprised if they would say yes. Because they, too, do not know who the Levites are so I just have to doubt that good Jewish people still tithe. Always remember that Paul never says tithe, because that was part of the Law, but that doesn't say that God doesn't expect you to give. Let's look how Paul puts it.

I Corinthians 16:1a

"Now concerning the collection (of money) for the saints,..."

Paul was always instructed to remember the poor saints at Jerusalem. Why? They had cashed in land and everything they had and brought the money to the feet of the Twelve disciples. It all went into a common kitty back there in Acts Chapters 2 and 3 in light of the Kingdom. But the Kingdom didn't come because the Jews had rejected it. So what happened to these poor Jewish saints? They had to live off the kitty and I imagine it was a pretty good existence for a while. But God took care of them through Paul's Gentile converts, and the money was taken back to Jerusalem for them. Now continuing on:

I Corinthians 16:1,2

"Now concerning the collection for the saints, (Jewish saints at Jerusalem) as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye (at Corinth). Upon the first day of the week (not on the seventh day Sabbath. Why first day of the week? Resurrection day!) let every on of you lay by him in store, (as a tithe? No, but rather) as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come."

Now that's one of the beauties of the Christian life, that's the beauty of God's Grace. He has left us with that free will. We can give as much as we want to, but God is not putting the thumb on our head, and saying, "You will give 10%! Now that's a guideline, and I'll always say that. God more or less lets it be known that 10% is a guideline for giving. But God's not going to zap you if you don't give 10%. Now you may lose some reward in glory, but you are under no mandate under Paul's teaching to give a set amount. That's up to you as a believer as God has prospered you. And God has enough respect for your free will as a believer that you're going to give as much as you can.

Paul told these believers at Corinth to take this offering before he came so that they wouldn't be under his influence. He wanted that all taken care of before he arrived. Paul doesn't want them to dig down in their other pocket and say, "Paul is here, and he'd better see how much I've given." But Paul wanted that all taken care of before he got there. The rest of this chapter is referring to the Corinthians how he still wants to come and see them. He wants to stop in there again physically, but until he gets there they're going to have to be satisfied with hearing from him, only by way of his letters. Now look at verses 10-14:

I Corinthians 16:10-14

"Now if Timotheus (Timothy the young preacher) come, see that he may be with you without fear: for he worketh the work of the Lord, as I also do. Let no man therefore despise him: (Timothy) but conduct him forth in peace, that he may come unto me: for I look for him with the brethren, As touching our brother Apollos, I greatly desired him to come unto you with the brethren: but his will was not at all to come at this time; but he will come when he shall have convenient time. Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. Let all your things be done with charity. (love)

_______

LESSON TWO * PART I

PAUL, OUR APOSTLE DEFENDING HIS APOSTLESHIP II CORINTHIANS 1:1-3:18

In our last lesson we finished I Corinthians 15 and 16. So as we come into II Corinthians I'll have to give a little bit of background. I think it will help you get a little better understanding of the Scriptures if you understand the circumstances under which it was written, as well as who wrote it, and one of the most important is to whom was it written. Of course most of you understand now that I stress that the Apostle Paul is the apostle of the Gentiles, and that's what he was called specifically to be. We will look at verses pertaining to that.

Acts 9:15a

"But the Lord said unto him, (Ananias) `Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles,...'"

Romans 11:13

"For I (Paul) speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:"

And in that role as the apostle to the Gentiles when he writes he is writing primarily to Gentile believers. Remember most of the Old Testament and the Four Gospel accounts were directed to the Nation of Israel and the Jew. So this makes a vast difference in comprehending the Scriptures, and whenever you read The Bible ask yourself, "To whom is this being addressed? Here Paul is writing the second letter to the congregation at Corinth on the tip of Greece. And as we saw in the first letter to the Corinthians, they were a carnal church. They were one of the congregations that had just not begun to grow and develop the deeper things of Paul's teachings.

Also remember that there were four distinct divisions. Some said "that they followed Christ and His teachings." Another group of these believers said, "No, we followed Peter." And another group said, "Well we follow Apollos, he's the man that we look up to." And then there was the fourth part of the congregation that said, "We follow the Apostle Paul, because it was through him we heard the Gospel of Salvation for the first time, it was through him we became believers so it's Paul that we will follow." So these four groups caused a lot dissension and a lot of grief to Paul. They just did not grow spiritually. Also remember in the first letter, these believers had sent Paul a long letter of questions of how they were to handle all these various problems, and we dealt with that as we came up through I Corinthians.

One of the problems he dealt with in Chapter 5 was gross immorality. That was a grief to the apostle to think that a believer would stoop to such a low level, and the church wasn't addressing it. The reason I mention that is here in II Corinthians Paul is going to seemingly give us the idea that a lot of these things are now corrected. So evidently his first letter did not fall on deaf ears. Again you want to remember that the second letter was probably written in a matter of months, probably within a year from the first. So there's been time enough elapsed that they could clean up their act.

Now in the first six chapters of this letter Paul is more or less dealing with the defense of his apostleship. I'm always referring to that. Every time that you get into Paul's writing he has to defend his apostleship. Now if you can understand the background you can see why. You want to remember that all during Christ's earthly ministry, Jesus had dealt only with Peter and the eleven, and after His death, burial, and resurrection and you come into the Book of Acts, it's still Peter and the eleven. But here is that other Jew, Saul of Tarsus who in the meantime is doing everything that he can to destroy this element of Judaism that had believed that Jesus was the Messiah. So Saul the great persecutor, the one who reaped havoc among the early Jewish believers is now the one that God has commissioned, after saving him by Grace on the road to Damascus. This is the one that is being sent out into the pagan Gentile, Roman empire with the Gospel of Grace.

Now it stands to reason if you all understand religion. I'm running into it even from our television audience where people's eyes are opened after being steeped in one religion or another. And it's not easy; I'm the first one to empathize with that situation. When they've had something drilled into them ever since they've been old enough to listen, then all of a sudden have someone like myself perhaps come along and show from the Scriptures that they've been taught totally wrong for so long, then it's not an easy situation. We've had people call and say, "Les this is the toughest thing I've ever had to do, but I can see that you're right on from the Scriptures."

Well the Apostle Paul was in that same situation. Now as he goes out among the Gentile cities and he's calling out, by virtue of preaching the Gospel (I Corinthians 15:1-4), a people for the Name of Christ, these Jews, whether they were part of the believing element or whether they were totally still in Judaism, constantly came back to the fact that, "You never walked with Jesus like Peter did. You're just an upstart, you're just bringing all this on your own." Well under those kinds of attacks what does Paul have to do? He has to defend his apostleship, and over and over he has to refer to the fact that he has suffered and suffered some more so that the Gentiles could get this message of Grace that had been revealed to him by the risen Lord. So this is basically the whole theme of these first six chapters, that he is again defending his apostleship, showing to the Corinthians all that he has to go through for the sake of the Gospel.

But this doesn't shock us because we know - in fact I'm going to take you back to the Book of Acts for a moment to Chapter 9. I'm afraid that there are a lot of people today that are still treating Paul the same way that the early Churches did. They were prompted by the Judaisers, and I hope you all understand what I'm talking about when I say a Judaiser. A Judaiser was a believer that believed for salvation that Jesus was the Christ, he was saved under that Kingdom Gospel. But they still did not comprehend "The Grace Of God" and that the Law had now been satisfied and totally set aside. So the Judaisers were constantly following in Paul's footsteps telling his converts, "Now wait a minute, you can't be saved on just Paul's Gospel alone, you still have to practice Judaism (Ref. Acts 15:1-5) You have to be circumcised, you must keep the Law, and so on. And that just about drove the Apostle Paul up the wall, and so he suffered because of that. But now back here in Acts Chapter 9 let's start with verse 13. Now here we're in Damascus, and Ananias, a believing Jew, is being approached supernaturally by The Lord from glory. And The Lord is warning Ananias that Saul of Tarsus is in town and that they would meet.

Acts 9:13-16

"Then Ananias answered, `Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem: And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name.' (that is Jesus of Nazareth The Messiah) But the Lord said unto him, (Ananias) `Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.'"

As I was again reviewing all this, getting ready for the program, I couldn't help but think about a book that hit the best seller list several years ago, and I think it was written by a Jewish individual. The title of the book is "Why Do Bad Things Happen To Good People?" You may remember the book. Well that's always the question. Even when some of our number is suddenly stricken, and the first thing that hits our mind is, "Why do these bad things happen to believers especially, and many times to unbelievers, but they're good people?" I'm also sure that the apostle must have had those thoughts many, many times. "Here I am sold out to Christ, I am beating the bushes of the Gentile community for the sake of the Gospel," and how he suffered. Not just physically at the hands of his enemies, but even in the area of sickness. Evidently as he left Ephesus and was in his second missionary journey under terrible persecution, and pressure because of the silversmiths, he gets deathly sick. We're going to see this in Acts Chapter 1 where he actually thought that he was not going to live. Yet he had that burden of the millions of unreached in the Roman Empire that he thought he was going to have to minister to. And on top of that, we'll see here in II Corinthians how was beaten with rods, how many times he was shipwrecked, how many times he was cold, naked, hungry, and in prison. This was all for the sake of the Gospel. I just have to remind folks of this because even today there are so many people that almost ridicule the writings of the Apostle Paul. So actually what it amounts to is, "People today are no different than they were in 60 AD. People don't change, their attitudes stay the same."

As another introduction to II Corinthians I can take you back to II Timothy, and just imagine how this must have grieved, and broken the heart of this apostle who had now spent twenty-some years through all of these hardships, through all of these sufferings. Probably, he had very little of the comforts of life, and then had to, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, make this kind of statement that we'll see. It has boggled my mind as long as I've been teaching this Book. How the apostle must have been brokenhearted to have to write something like this in II Timothy. Paul is writing to a young man who had labored with him in the ministry and who is now a pastor.

II Timothy 1:13,14a

"Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. That good thing..."

In the Greek the word `things' as we see here means the deposit. And the deposit was the volume of truth that we refer to in Paul's letters as the mysteries. So Paul is telling Timothy to hang onto this doctrine of the mysteries that was revealed to him by the ascended Lord which I have now left these mysteries with you. Now reading on.

II Timothy 1:14

"That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us." Now look at verse 15. Imagine that poor man having to write a statement like this, and Paul was not lying.

II Timothy 1:15

"This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia (in Paul's terminology Asia was the western half of Turkey in the area where he established so many churches.) be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes. (the leaders)

What's he saying? All these congregations that he had founded in his Gospel of Grace, and in the knowledge of the mysteries had now turned aside. It's really heart wrenching to think that the poor fellow had gone all those years going though such privation and yet have to come to that conclusion. When I read things like this I'm always amazed but for the Grace of God Christianity would have never gotten off the ground. It was constantly under Satanic attack. You and I have to just thank The Lord that it survived and that we today at least have the Word of God. Even today the truth of the fundamentals of Christianity are under constant attack, from within Christendom and from without. So we get a little taste of what Paul is talking about. Maybe that's enough introduction. II Corinthians was probably written about 60 AD and I Corinthians was probably written about a year earlier. Also remember II Corinthians was written two years after the letter to the Galatians. I'll be going back to that to show you that what Paul dealt with in the Galatian letter had already taken place quite some time before he wrote this letter of II Corinthians.

II Corinthians 1:1-4

"Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, (Paul was set apart by God Himself) and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia: (southern Greece) Grace be to you and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth (encourages) us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God."

In other words even for us believers today as we go through trying and testing times we have that promise that God is going to be a constant encouragement. And here again this is the answer to the question, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" Well I think it's so that God can show us that He's sufficient. You know when someone comes along and promises you a rose petal pathway if you become a Christian, then you just chalk it off as false teaching, because that has never been the theme of Scripture. In fact I've made the comment before, "The Christian life is like paddling a canoe up stream." It's one of the toughest jobs on earth. A sissy cannot be a Christian, because it's a constant battle against all the forces of Satan and the world itself. But we have these promises that as we go through these times of testing and discouragement The Lord God Himself is going to encourage us. Now reading on.

II Corinthians 1:5-7

"For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, (Paul is speaking of his own experience) so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. (The same Lord that permits persecution and testing to come into the life is the same Lord that will provide the strength we need to go through it.) And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or where we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation."

Now another thing we have to remember is that all of the early believers under the Roman yoke were immediately under persecution. They couldn't walk up and down the street and glibly talk about their Christian faith. They were under constant surveillance, and the Roman Empire at one time actually tried to stamp out Christianity. So to become a believer under Paul's preaching and teaching actually was an invitation to persecution. How many would buy that today? So remember, although these early believer were under constant pressure they also had that promise that The Lord Who was permitting the affliction and pressure was also The Lord Who had the strength to bring them through it. Now verse 8:

II Corinthians 1:8

"For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:" Can you imagine that? What was Paul talking about? He didn't think that he would live to finish his ministry. Whether it was a physical sickness, or outside pressure from the various forces that I've already alluded to, whether it was the Romans, or the Judaisers, he would almost come to the place where he would despair even of life. Now verse 9:

II Corinthians 1:9-10

"But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us:"

The apostle Paul must have had much the same kind of mental attitude regarding his trials and tribulations as they pertained to the resurrection, as Peter and the other disciple must have had at the time of the crucifixion. Let's reflect back for a moment. After Jesus' arrest and as He was placed on the Cross, where were those eleven men? They had pretty much scattered like a flock of quail. They were practically running for their lives because they were seeing what was happening to their Master. But do you remember when their attitude totally changed? After His resurrection! Now they understood that there was nothing that could touch that eternal part of them because if The Lord had been resurrected they would be also. So Paul is going through that same kind of a mindset knowing that the crucified Christ had been raised from the dead. They could take his life, so what, but they can't end his spirit life. So I think this is what he is constantly referring to that even the resurrection power of Christ would keep him even through the trials and tribulations of his physical life.

II Corinthians 1:11

"Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf." In other words Paul then, and like we do today, realized what really sustained him in his ministry. The prayers of the saints! Never fail to pray for one another. Pray for us, and others in the ministry that God is using to reach hearts. Remember prayer changes things. Now verse 12:

II Corinthians 1:12

"For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation (or manner of living) in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward." (who are in Corinth).

What's Paul saying? What he has said over and over in his other letters. "He did not come to the city of Corinth with a bunch of flippant statements and silly ideas, or a lot of gimmicky, or fifth avenue advertising, but he came with all the sincerity and desires of his heart that he might see these pagan people come out of their pagan darkness and step into the light of the glorious Gospel." So Paul is going to refer to that over and over, that he didn't come selling his cheap wares, but rather he came with all the sincerity of heart that he might see them believe. Now for a moment let's turn to I Thessalonians Chapter 1. And this is typical of every place that Paul ministered.

I Thessalonians 1:9

"For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God:"

_______

LESSON TWO * PART II

PAUL, OUR APOSTLE DEFENDING HIS APOSTLESHIP II CORINTHIANS 1:1-3:18

Now getting back into our study in II Corinthians, and remember that this letter is a follow up to the first letter where Paul had to deal with problems in the Corinthian Church. They had problems like no other congregation under Paul's Apostleship, and in I Corinthians he had to get rather hard with them. But now in II Corinthians Paul is coming back to encourage these people who had seemingly corrected their problems. Now we'll be seeing that more and more as we come through this second letter. That in itself must have been an encouragement to the apostle, that he did not have to come personally to them. Paul had intended to personally go down to Corinth, but evidently the message had come to him that his first letter had accomplished its work. The church had dealt with the person in gross immorality, and he was evidently back in the fellowship. So rather than come to them personally he writes this second letter.

I think we can all appreciate that. We have all found ourselves in a position where maybe we've had some hard feelings with perhaps a family member and it's so much easier to just write our thoughts rather than try approach them face to face. And I think this is exactly how Paul felt. He felt he could do more by writing than if he would go and meet them personally and become possibly too stern. Now verse 15. Remember in our last lesson we were talking about how The Lord supplies all the needs of the believers.

II Corinthians 1:15

"And in this confidence I was minded to come unto you before, that ye might have a second benefit;" In other words he wanted to come to Corinth and deal with their problems personally. Verse 16:

II Corinthians 1:16

"And to pass by you into Macedonia, (in northern Greece) and to come again out of Macedonia unto you, and of you to be brought on my way toward Judaea."

In other words Paul's itinerary was to leave Philippi, and come to Corinth, and then go back up into Macedonia and visit the churches and then come back to Corinth and head to Jerusalem. But Paul didn't make it. And because he didn't make it a lot of his detractors and his accusers would say, "Well you didn't come because you were afraid to." And Paul had to deal with these accusations. Remember, always put yourself in Paul's shoes. He was just as human as we are. Now verse 17. So he says, "Since I didn't get that accomplished...

II Corinthians 1:17

"When I therefore was thus minded, did I use lightness? (did I say I was coming just to be saying something? No.) or the things that I purposed, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be yea yea, and nay nay?"

If you looked that up in the Greek what Paul is really saying is this: "Did I come to you and talk in fickle language? Did I just say something to tickle your ears? No way. Whatever the apostle said he said it with full meaning but other things of course intervened. Verse 18:

II Corinthians 1:18-20

"But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, (Timothy) was not yea and nay, but in him was yea. (It was not fickle language, it was not something superfluous,) For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us." In other words Paul is saying "Whatever I've said to you I can put it in concrete. I meant every word of it, it was from the depth of my heart and none of this was spoken with frivolity. Now verse 21.

II Corinthians 1:21,22

"Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest (or the down payment) of the Spirit in our hearts."

Now there is another verse that is a perfect parallel with that and for that we have to go to the Book of Ephesians Chapter 1. Some of these days we'll be teaching this tremendous letter verse by verse. It's dealing with our position in the Body of Christ as believers.

Ephesians 1:13

"In whom (in Christ) ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, (and the word of truth is) the gospel of your salvation: (I Corinthians 15:11-4) in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise." Now that is part and parcel again of our salvation experience. We have been sealed, we have been marked by the Person of the Holy Spirit Himself. Now verse 14.

Ephesians 1:14

"Which is the earnest (and that means just exactly like we use the term today. He is the down payment. A sufficient down payment to make sure that the transaction is completed.) of our inheritance (which we will have by being joint-heirs with Christ, and that's going to hold it) until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory."

Now if I'm not mistaken we dealt with this verse when we were back in I Corinthians Chapter 15 on the great resurrection theme. I pointed out at that time that, yes, soul and spirit are redeemed in full. We are saved, we are redeemed completely for all of eternity. But at this moment only in the soul and spirit, so what's left? The body. The body is still in the flesh, it's still corrupt, it's still prone to sin and death. But the beauty and joy of resurrection is that we're going to have a new body. So it's this same concept that Paul is adhering to in II Corinthians 1:22 when he says again:

II Corinthians 1:22,23

"Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Sprit in our hearts. Moreover I call God for a record upon my soul, that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth."

What's he saying? "I did not come to Corinth purposely so that I would not be more stringent in reproof, and a letter would be a kinder way in doing it." So Paul just knew that the time was not right for him to make a personal appearance among this congregation. And as we teach II Corinthians don't forget what we learned in I Corinthians about all the problems, and all the necessary reproofs that were brought upon that congregation. And remember Paul was broken hearted over what was taking place there. So all of this is in the back of his mind, and of course the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and we never want to take anything away from that. Now verse 24:

II Corinthians 1:24

"Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand."

Now look at that verse again. Paul is not overlording them like a totalitarian dictator. Oh he is their apostle, he's their teacher, he's the one who brought them out of pagan idolatry. But he is not standing over them with a heavy whip, or in a totalitarian way, but rather he is simply a helper of their joy and what makes it all possible? For it's by faith. Now you see if Paul had been the progenitor of a religion, and he was the grand guru of that religion, then yes, Paul could have stood over them, and held the whip over them and made them adhere to everything that he said. But that's not the case. You see Christian liberty - Oh listen, the average believer today still does not comprehend the liberty that we have in this age of Grace. Liberty, now that brings up another verse in the Book of Galatians in Chapter 5. My these verses just ring in my mind as I'm teaching that Paul is telling these Corinthians, carnal as they were, with all their problems "You're not where you are because I have forced you there. You're not what you are because I'm standing over you." No, even the Corinthians in their carnality were still enjoying Christian liberty. And we have a lot of so called Christians today that have no concept of Christian liberty at all. They have no idea of what liberty in the Gospel of Grace amounts to. And here Paul has again been appealing to the Galatian believers much like he does to the Corinthians not to let the Judaisers destroy their faith.

Galatians 5:1

"Stand fast therefore (with your feet in concrete if I may use the example) in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

And that's exactly where most people constantly put themselves. They want to put themselves under a legalistic situation where someone lays down the Law that they must do this and do that. Well that's not Christianity! True Christianity is liberty! And remember I've always followed that with liberty is not license. Now let's come back to II Corinthians, and move on into Chapter 2. Don't lose sight of what I said in my introductory remarks that in these first 6 chapters we will find Paul constantly defending and reminding the Corinthians of his Apostleship as not tied to Jerusalem, not tied to Peter and the eleven, but tied only to the ascended Lord of glory.

II Corinthians 2:1

"But I determined this with myself, that I would not come again to you in heaviness." (or in much sorrow). Here again his reasoning for not coming personally to the city of Corinth, and meeting with the church, but rather writing them a letter.

II Corinthians 2:2

"For if I make you sorry, (in other words if Paul would come down on them too hard) who is he then that maketh me glad, but the same which is made sorry by me?" In other words the human response is if Paul would come to Corinth and just come down on these people would he experience a joy in that kind of response? Of course not.

II Corinthians 2:3

"And I wrote this same unto you, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow (or grief) from them of whom I ought to rejoice; (In other words he would hear about things taking place in the church that would make him sorry instead of being able to hear things that would make him joyful.) having confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all."

Paul's whole mental concept concerning this carnal church at Corinth was that they could grow and become real trophies of God's Grace in spite of all the pressure. And don't lose sight of the fact that these early Christians, the moment they professed faith in Christ, were under pressure. They were under pressure from the Jewish element, they were under pressure from the pagan element, and just a precious few of them were won for The Lord. Just a precious few would come into this liberty of Christianity. Now verse 4.

II Corinthians 2:4

"For out of much affliction and anguish of heart (now Paul's not over emphasizing) I wrote unto you with many tears; (I was reading one commentary on this letter by an old Bible teacher. He said "Paul must have written this letter with a quill dipped in tears." I think that's just about true as his heart was broken, he was in tears because of what he was hearing from the congregation at Corinth.) not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you."

Are you seeing the heart of this man? In spite of all their failures contrary to his teaching and doctrine, did he ever lose his love for them? No. And it was a constant battle in that early church. These church members had come out of abject paganism with no moral foundations whatsoever; with no concept of the one Creator God, they were ignorant of all these things. They didn't have the Old Testament like the Nation of Israel did. They had just recently heard the apostle preach them the Gospel of God's saving Grace (how that Jesus died for their sins, was buried, and rose again.) And how they were now set at liberty, and yet to see that they really hadn't consummated all of the Grace of God that would give them victory over their past lifestyle. And there was no doubt about it. They were still dipping back into their old lifestyle, and this is what the apostle is so grieved about. And yet understanding the circumstances he could equate with all of this, that you couldn't expect these people to all of a sudden live like Peter, James, and John did, because it would take time for them to grow. So catch this as you read these verses. Now verse 5:

II Corinthians 2:5

"But if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part; (in part here usually means a percentage or fraction. In other words it wasn't the whole congregation that was grieving him, but a percentage or fraction of them.) that I may not overcharge you all."

Do you get that? So Paul wasn't condemning the whole congregation because they weren't all guilty, but there was that small percentage that was grief of mind. Now verse 6.

II Corinthians 2:6

"Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many." (or the majority)

Now when you have a majority then you also have a minority. So it was not a total consensus but it was enough of a majority that the Church could take the action. Well what do you think Paul is talking about when he says, "Sufficient to such a man is this punishment," Now verse 7:

II Corinthians 2:7

"So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow."

Do you know who Paul is talking about? Well let's turn back to I Corinthians Chapter 5 and look at it again, and it was a gross situation. When we came through I Corinthians I touched on it lightly, because I realize that I have a lot of kids that watch this program, and I don't want to get overly explicit. But yet I guess more kids nowadays know more then we did when we were 20. But here we find one of the shortfalls of this congregation at Corinth. Now verse 1.

I Corinthians 5:1-3

"It is reported commonly (everybody in town knew about it) that there is fornication among you and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife." (Paul says, "even the Gentiles don't do anything that low." And the congregation wasn't doing anything except maybe grinning or joking about it.) And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. For I verily, as absent in body , but present in spirit, have judged already (or made up my mind already how to deal with it) as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed," Now here is what Paul is admonishing the congregation to do.

I Corinthians 5:4,5

"In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, (as a congregation) and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, To deliver such an one (as this guilty man) unto Satan (not for the destruction of his soul, but) for the destruction of the flesh, (inflict him with a sickness, or maybe take him out with death) that the spirit (of this guilty person, this saved individual who was a member of the congregation) may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus."

So does Paul consider this guy lost again? No. But this guy is in dire straights, because he is living in gross immorality, but the church is just as guilty as he is because they're not doing anything about it. Now after that I hope you can pick up again what he says in II Corinthians.

II Corinthians 2:6

"Sufficient to such a man (that we just read about) which was inflicted of many. (or the majority)

So the Church had evidently taken corporate action and the majority had voted to deal with this man to get him to straighten up his act (even though there was a minority that is probably like many liberals we have even today that would say, "Oh, leave them alone, because people are people."). Now verse 7 again:

II Corinthians 2:7,8

So that contrariwise (or on the other hand) ye ought rather to forgive him, (even of a gross sin like that) and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him."

Isn't that something? That's not an attitude that most of us would take. But even today that's what we're supposed to do. When someone is overtaken in a gross failure, what does the average Christian do? Smile about it, joke about it. They never consider the fact that the person needs prayer and encouragement and forgiveness. Let's look at one more verse in the Book of Galatians that will just put the frosting on the cake for this. I'm sure that this event in Corinth had a direct bearing on this verse in Galatians. It happens all the time and it still does. But we can't just wink at it, but rather we must deal with these people and restore them.

Galatians 6:1

"Brethren, (believers) if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, (the leaders of the congregation) restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted."

Do you see what he's saying? Anytime you come down on a situation in harsh judgment on a fellow believer, who are you setting up to be the next one to fall? Yourself. So instead, in that attitude that Paul had, we should forgive that man, and continue to love him. I think as we come to the end of the letter we'll find out that the Church at Corinth did deal with it, and they did bring the man back into fellowship.

_______

LESSON TWO * PART III

PAUL, OUR APOSTLE DEFENDING HIS APOSTLESHIP II CORINTHIANS 1:1-3:18

Remember as we begin this lesson: to get the full meaning and understanding from Scripture, and to help you understand what you read, it is best to always determine to whom a portion of Scripture is written. What are the circumstances, and who is writing it. Remember things written to the Nation of Israel or their representatives were for the Jews only. Here in II Corinthians we are realizing that Paul is now following up his first letter which was a letter of reproof and correction. So in this letter we know that, first, Paul is defending his apostleship, because of all the snide remarks that are coming out of Corinth. Paul was like us, and was heartbroken about some of the things that were being spoken about him. Yet, on the other hand it was a recognition that the first letter had done it's work. So we'll continue on with that thought. Remember in our last lesson Paul is more or less commending the Church for having dealt with the man of gross immorality and having restored, and forgiven him, evidently, and that's as it should be. Now verse 9:

II Corinthians 2:9

"For to this end also did I write, (to take care of this immoral situation, and to get the man straightened out.) that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things."

Are you going to respond to this immoral situation or are you going to ignore it. But the majority responded to it, and had evidently voted to deal with this individual, and get him into a place of forgiveness and restoration. Now verse 10:

II Corinthians 2:10

"To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: (Paul had that much confidence in them that if they had the mind of forgiveness he could go along with it.) for if I forgave anything, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ:"

Now Paul had absolutely no power of forgiving sin and we know that. Only Christ Himself can do that. But in the Name of Christ he could agree with them that when they had restored this individual and forgiven him then he could concur. What was the real purpose of bringing this individual, who had failed so miserably, to a place of restoration. To keep Satan from getting the upper hand! Now verse 11:

II Corinthians 2:11

"Lest Satan should get an advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices."

You all know the verse that says Satan can transform himself into an angel of light. And he can make it appear that he is promoting the Scriptures and as he does it he leads millions astray. Satan is a master at that, and so The Lord has given us the direction of the Holy Spirit. He's given us the mind and intelligence that by searching the Scriptures we can sort these things out. It just thrills my heart when people tell us that they have suddenly realized that some of the things that they thought were part and parcel of the Christian experience are not, according to The Book. I had a lady call the other night who wanted me to give her Scriptures to tell her that this particular practice was wrong. I told her that I couldn't do that, but I did tell her to see if she could find Scripture that instructs people to do it. I also told her that if it's not in The Book then it must be wrong. Anything that is part and parcel of our practice of the Christian walk is in The Book. If it's not in The Book then look out because you're on thin ice. How many times have I made the statement, "It's just as important to see what the Scriptures don't say, as what they do say." A lot of people go through life thinking something is in The Book because they heard it some place. But listen, you've got to search the Scriptures and if it's not taught in Scripture run from it like a plague. So Paul says in verse 11:

II Corinthians 2:11b

"...for we are not ignorant of his (Satan's) devices." Now Paul is going to bring in his own past experience when seemingly Satan had almost beaten him down in despair.

If you can picture in your mind the Mediterranean Sea and Turkey as it winds out to the West. Also remember Paul's early ministry was there in that western half of present day Turkey which was called Asia Minor. Then you have the Aegean Sea between Turkey and the mainland of Europe which is Macedonia or northern Greece, and Athens in southern Greece. And on this map in your mind you go around the peninsula into the Adriatic Sea and across from that is Rome. Now here Troas is located on the western shore of what is present day Turkey. Evidently Paul had made arrangement with Titus, his fellow worker there in Asia Minor, to meet him at Troas. Then they were going to go on around to the northern reaches of Turkey or along the Black sea which at that time was called Bithynia, and then head back to Asia. But remember back there they couldn't just drop a note in the mail, they couldn't send a telegraph message, they certainly couldn't phone - how they communicated in the ancients I have a hard time understanding. But somehow or other Titus and Paul had made an agreement to meet here in the sea port town of Troas, which was actually the ancient city of Troy. Now look at what Paul says:

II Corinthians 2:12,13a

"Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ's gospel, and a door was opened unto me of the Lord, (and we're going to look in the Book of Acts as to what that was) I had no rest in my spirit, (in his own being) because I found not Titus my brother:..."

When Paul couldn't find Titus, his brother in The Lord, can you imagine what that must have felt like? Here they had no means of communication so he had no way of knowing what had happened to Titus. Why isn't he at Troas at the appointed time? And then at the very same time when he's so distressed about what may have happened to Titus, The Lord comes on him with something totally different; contrary to what he thought he was going to do, and the two were almost a clash in the man's thinking. Now let's look at that in the Book of Acts Chapter 16 and here Paul has been ministering in western Turkey which was then Asia Minor So we find him at Troas. Now verse 6:

Acts 16:6-12a

"Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, (in other words back to the East) After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: (after that Paul had probably planned on taking a route back to Antioch in Syria) but the Spirit (that's the Holy Spirit) suffered (or permitted) them not. And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas. (where he was expecting to meet Titus.) And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, (northern Greece) and prayed (or begged) him, saying `Come over into Macedonia, and help us.' And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them. Therefore loosing from Troas, we came with a straight course to Samothracia, and the next day to Neapolis; And from thence to Philippi,..." (which was up there in northern Greece.)

Now come back to II Corinthians Chapter 2, and get this whole scenario that is coming down on the apostle. On the one hand he is heartbroken and distressed because Titus for one reason or another, was unable to keep his appointment at Troas. But evidently it was at this same time that The Lord revealed, by way of a vision, that he was to go over into Macedonia or Greece and preach the Gospel (I Corinthians 15:1-4) which we know he did. Now verse 13 again:

II Corinthians 2:13

"I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother: but taking my leave of them, I went from thence into Macedonia."

So what does Paul do? In spite of the fact that he had lost track of Titus, he is obedient to The Lord's call now to go across the Aegean Sea and begin his ministry in Macedonia. Now verse 14:

II Corinthians 2:14a

"Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph..."

Do you do the opposite? On the one hand he is depressed, down and distressed, and yet he's always triumphant. These are tremendous lessons for each of us. Paul was just as human as we are, he had the same passions and appetites and feelings. He could get down, and he could rejoice. Now reading on:

II Corinthians 2:14,15

"Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, (they are the recipients of God's Grace) and in them that perish: (a potential sweet savor to them that are perishing.)

So it isn't to those who are already lost, but rather to those who still had opportunity to hear him preach the Gospel. Paul was the good news for them, just as well as he was to those who had already embraced the Gospel. Now verse 16:

II Corinthians 2:16

"To the one we are savour of death unto death; (in other words if they didn't respond, then spiritual death was their end results) and to the other (the ones who did respond) the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?"

Now I hope I have enough time to do with verse 17 what I did with it the other evening. Every once in a while a word will just catch my mind, and I'll think, "I've got to chase this one down in the Greek." And here in verse 17 was one of those times.

II Corinthians 2:17a

"For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God:...'

What does Paul mean when he says corrupting the Word of God? So I went and found the Greek, and the Strong's concordance and did some checking. Well the Greek word here is `kapeleuo.' Now that Greek word is just Greek to us isn't it? But you can look it up in the Septuagint or the Old Testament Hebrew translated into the Greek by 70 Jewish scholars back quite a few years before Christ (and the reason I put a lot of emphasis on the Septuagint is because that was the Greek that Jesus always referred to). Whenever Jesus would quote from the Old Testament, if He didn't quote it from the Hebrew then He would quote it from the Septuagint Greek. That's where a lot of our Greek scholars put the Greek language together for our benefit.

Now when you compared that Greek word `kapeleuo' from the Septuagint it meant "One who was a huckster or one who would hock his wares, or from Isaiah Chapter 1:22 it meant someone who was selling or was hocking an adulterous product." Now turn for a moment to the Book of Isaiah, and you will see when Bible study gets to be fun, or at least I think it is. How The Bible all so beautifully fits together. And the word "corrupt" in the English doesn't really show you this. We just think of corruption as something that has begun to spoil, but maybe this will help you see it. Now here in Isaiah we find Isaiah coming down on the Nation of Israel because of all their sins and wickedness.

Isaiah 1:21

"How is the faithful city become as harlot! it was full of judgment: righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

What's Isaiah talking about? The city of Jerusalem. At one time it had been a righteous city and the Jewish people were obedient to the Mosaic Law, and the system. But what had happened? They had become so wicked, and that's why Isaiah was castigating the nation. So this city that at one time had been full of righteousness was now full of murderers. Now verse 22:

Isaiah 1:22

"Thy silver is become dross, (it was no longer pure silver, but rather impure. Now here is a word translated corrupt in II Corinthians 2:17) thy wine mixed with water:"

What were they doing? They were adulterating it, they were making it a cheap product. And this is the very same word that Paul uses. Paul says, "I didn't come unto you with wine watered down with water. I didn't come to you as a huckster hocking his wares which were not worth half of what he claimed." All of that is wrapped up in that one word "corrupt." Now coming back to II Corinthians Chapter 2. For Paul says:

II Corinthians 2:17

"For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: ( a lot of people do hock an adulterated product of the spiritual.) but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ."

Now I'm also thinking about another verse that corresponds. Let's go back to the Book of Jude for a moment. I imagine that these were the kind of people that Paul had in mind when he said, "For we are not as many which bring you an adulterated product, but rather we are bringing you the real thing." And remember Paul is defending his apostleship. He said, "I'm not like these false teachers. I'm bringing you the absolute truth." Now look what The Bible says concerning false teachers. I think this is the best description that you can find anywhere in Scripture. In fact I think II Timothy Chapter 3 is almost word for word like Jude. Now verse 8. Here Jude has given the example of the fallen angels, and Sodom and Gomorrah and so forth.

Jude 1:8,10

"Likewise also these filthy dreamers (he's talking about false teacher who are hocking an adulterated product. They) defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities," Now verse 10: "But these speak evil of those things which they know not; (does that sound familiar? They will ridicule the truth of Scripture, but have they ever really studied it? No. So what are they ridiculing? Something that they know nothing about. They ridicule it because it's the Word of God.) but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, (now that rings a bell doesn't it? When much of society lives at the level of animals. That's where these false teachers are coming from. They're no higher in their thinking than the animal world so they are as brute beasts) in those things they corrupt themselves."

They can live in the moral level of an animal and they think that they're living it up. Now verse 11:

Jude 1:11a,12

"Woe unto them!..." These (false teachers) are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, (false teachers can bring a cloud on the horizon of hope but all of a sudden the adherents suddenly realize that it's nothing) carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots."

Now these are all descriptions of what Paul says he was not. He said, "I did not come corrupting the Word of God, I did not come like we see in verse 13."

Jude 1:13

"(like a) Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever."

And that is what the world is falling for tonight. They're falling for this line of false teaching that is nothing but an adulterated product. It's so sad to be sure. Now coming back to II Corinthians. And let's look at verse 17 again in defense of his apostleship.

II Corinthians 2:17

"For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ."

Paul didn't come to these Corinthians with fickle language, or half truths, but everything that Paul spoke was prompted by the Holy Spirit, and he was here because of his love for Christ as we will see in Chapter 5. The love of Christ is what constrained Paul. So Paul was able to suffer all the privations that he will list a little later in this letter. He went through privation after privation, and there is no doubt he was being accused of not bringing the truth, because you see he wasn't agreeing with the Judaisers in Jerusalem. He was not working hand in glove with Peter and the eleven. He was out here proclaiming something that they really knew nothing of. So, consequently, he was being bombarded with all of these false accusations that should have been reserved for false teachers. But isn't it amazing how so often it's the other way around. Instead of the false teacher being bombarded, it's those with the truth who come under attack.

_______

LESSON TWO * PART IV

PAUL, OUR APOSTLE DEFENDING HIS APOSTLESHIP II CORINTHIANS 1:1-3:18

We're going to begin with Chapter 3. We would encourage you to study right along with us. We had missionary friends from Bolivia stop by this summer, and they couldn't get over the fact that all of our people had a Bible and most had a notebook in front of them. They said they had never seen that before, even on the mission field. And I do think it's unique that our people always bring their Bible to class.

I want to remind you that the Apostle Paul was always having to defend his apostleship because of all the false teachers that were coming in. Probably the strongest element at Corinth that was in opposition to Paul and his teaching according to the mysteries, were those who claimed to follow Peter. And right next to that were those who claimed to follow the teachings of Jesus. And, of course, it's no different today. Many people tell me, "Les I know you like to teach Paul, but I'm not going according to what Paul said, but rather what Jesus said." Well I know these people mean well, but you want to remember what Jesus said, He said in His earthly ministry. Also remember that He was only sent to the Nation of Israel.

Matthew 15:24

"But he (Jesus) answered and said, `I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.'"

Romans 15:8

"Now I (Paul) say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision (Jews only) for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:" (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob)

So what Jesus said was to the Nation of Israel under the Law. Although we can make applications from it, it was not spoken to us. What the Apostle Paul writes is Holy Spirit inspired and it is directed directly to us as Gentiles in this age of Grace in the Body of Church. Verse 1:

II Corinthians 3:1

"Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?"

Do you see what Paul is saying? Do I have to come here with official letters from Peter, and the eleven in Jerusalem? Do I have to come with some kind of a commendation from those who were apostles before me? They had nothing to do with his apostleship. Peter and the eleven didn't send Paul out into the Gentile world, but rather the ascended Christ seated at the Father's right hand did. So Paul is reminding them of that. Now verse 2:

II Corinthians 3:2

"Ye (these people I pointed out in our first lesson today, like the Thessalonians. They had turned from idols to the living God. So Paul says you) are our epistle (you are changed people) written in our hearts, known and read of all men:

I like to feel the same way about so many who have come to know The Lord through our simple teaching. They've become living epistles!

II Corinthians 3:3

"Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, (now watch this) written not with ink, (on paper) but with the Spirit (Holy Spirit) of the living God; not in tables of stone, (reference to the Ten Commandments,) but in fleshly tables of the heart." So you as believers are living epistles with the work of the Holy Spirit written on the heart - and that's where it all has to be.

II Corinthians 3:4,5

"And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;"

</