WEBVTT 00:00:00.720 --> 00:00:04.059 I'm going to invite you to Second Corinthians chapter two. 00:00:04.140 --> 00:00:07.780 Today we last week we tailed off at the end of chapter two. 00:00:08.080 --> 00:00:12.740 And I'm going to pick up at the very end of chapter two as we dive into chapter three. 00:00:12.740 --> 00:00:16.480 So Second Corinthians chapter two, we're going to pick up in verse 15 and we're going to talk about. 00:00:16.620 --> 00:00:22.480 I think something significant for our culture today in light of this passage. 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:29.660 But I want to give you this thought as we dive into this section of scripture, 1962, which may be a little bit before some 00:00:29.660 --> 00:00:30.400 of our time. 00:00:30.420 --> 00:00:30.660 Right? 00:00:30.660 --> 00:00:38.080 1962 we're looking at 60 years ago here, Victor and Mildred Gazal published a revealing study of 413 00:00:38.080 --> 00:00:44.380 famous and exceptionally gifted people called Cradles of Eminence. 00:00:44.780 --> 00:00:46.640 And you may ask, should I care about this? 00:00:46.640 --> 00:00:48.280 No, you should not remember any of that so far. 00:00:48.820 --> 00:00:56.080 But I do want you know, they published a study, 413, famous and exceptional gifted people.They spent years attempting to understand what 00:00:56.080 --> 00:01:03.280 produced such greatness, what common thread might run through all these outstanding people's lives. 00:01:03.280 --> 00:01:10.100 And surprisingly, the most outstanding fact was the virtual, virtually all of them. 00:01:10.960 --> 00:01:18.400 392 of the 413 had to overcome very difficult obstacles in order to become who 00:01:18.400 --> 00:01:19.120 they were. 00:01:20.980 --> 00:01:26.080 It was the reality of challenges that they face that gave them the opportunity to excel. 00:01:27.040 --> 00:01:34.160 And, when I when I think in light of just that study and here we are today as we dive into scripture, oftentimes when I get an opportunity to 00:01:34.160 --> 00:01:41.560 travel places sometimes and presents about Utah ministry, other parts of the country, and I'll say to people, I 00:01:41.560 --> 00:01:46.880 think the strength of the Christian church moving forward, I think it's in Utah. 00:01:48.440 --> 00:01:54.160 And the reason I say that is because the Christian church, the mainstream Christian church is newer here. 00:01:54.440 --> 00:01:56.650 A lot of people that come to Christ are first generation believers. 00:01:58.080 --> 00:02:04.140 And to come to the Lord, for a lot of people, there are some significant adversity to putting their faith in Jesus. 00:02:04.980 --> 00:02:09.070 And when you when you're talking about first generation believers, there's a lot of challenges. 00:02:09.500 --> 00:02:16.560 People, I think, answer in their faith that if you live more in a region where Christianity is prominent, it becomes 00:02:16.560 --> 00:02:17.250 a part of the culture. 00:02:17.760 --> 00:02:17.940 Right. 00:02:17.940 --> 00:02:20.700 And so people kind of raise up generationally in that. 00:02:20.700 --> 00:02:27.760 But when you're first generation believer and you might be the first Christian that comes to Christ within your family, you start you ask 00:02:27.760 --> 00:02:34.060 questions regarding why that faith should be essential and what's the foundation of it, why you should even trust in it. 00:02:34.520 --> 00:02:36.480 And it becomes a strengthening point. 00:02:36.480 --> 00:02:43.840 Those challenges become a strengthening point to your faith, and it becomes very personal to you in that sense. 00:02:43.860 --> 00:02:50.420 And you are very well equipped and being able to defend in a loving way why you believe what you believe. 00:02:52.480 --> 00:02:58.440 And when you look in First Corinthians or excuse me, second Corinthians chapter two, I don't know if I said first Corinthians, but second Corinthians, chapter two. 00:02:59.940 --> 00:03:07.480 Paul, Paul, in this position, he's finding his faith challenged in 00:03:07.480 --> 00:03:11.900 his pursuit of Jesus, as well as the believers at Corinth. 00:03:12.020 --> 00:03:16.680 And he's encouraging them how to how to live confidently in Christ. 00:03:18.740 --> 00:03:25.920 How in the midst of the challenges of the Christian life, can you be successful towards your goal and striving 00:03:25.920 --> 00:03:30.860 for Jesus, for His glory to the benefit of others in the world around you? 00:03:31.200 --> 00:03:36.320 Life has hurdles and even in your faith there are obstacles. 00:03:36.340 --> 00:03:43.700 And so how do you how do you live and succeed over those hurdles and in your faith 00:03:43.700 --> 00:03:45.040 in this world? 00:03:45.080 --> 00:03:47.620 And that's where Paul he comes to in this passage. 00:03:47.620 --> 00:03:49.100 And he presents it really in three ways. 00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:56.120 He talks about he starts by talking about our position in the Lord, and then he talks about our the problem that 00:03:56.120 --> 00:04:00.140 we face or specifically the problem he faces when we're related to us. 00:04:00.620 --> 00:04:06.100 And then I was tempted to obliterate all this, to talk about our purpose, but I couldn't do it. 00:04:06.500 --> 00:04:07.530 So we're going to talk about our resolution. 00:04:08.100 --> 00:04:08.440 All right. 00:04:08.560 --> 00:04:15.740 See, as it starts in verse 15 four, we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who 00:04:15.740 --> 00:04:22.340 are perishing to want a fragrance from death to death to the other, a fragrance from life to life. 00:04:22.860 --> 00:04:25.360 Who is sufficient for these things? 00:04:27.680 --> 00:04:32.200 Paul In this section of verses, he's really building off what verse 14 was. 00:04:32.340 --> 00:04:38.280 Verse 14 gave this big picture that now he's taking it in a further in another direction. 00:04:38.340 --> 00:04:41.360 I'm not going to go back and explain verse 14 and again, we did that last week. 00:04:41.480 --> 00:04:46.300 But he's building off of that this idea of this aroma and this fragrance. 00:04:46.500 --> 00:04:50.640 And he asked this question at the end, as he is, he relates us to being this aroma of Christ. 00:04:50.720 --> 00:04:52.940 He says, who is who is sufficient for this? 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:56.080 And this is a very important question Paul is asking here. 00:04:56.460 --> 00:04:58.980 And I don't want it just to lock away in your memory from it. 00:04:58.980 --> 00:05:01.800 I'm not going to explain a whole lot of what it means to be sufficient. 00:05:02.060 --> 00:05:09.140 But to see that Paul is asking this question, who is who is qualified to do this very thing that I'm presenting to you as we conjure up this 00:05:09.140 --> 00:05:16.460 imagery of who you are in Jesus, this position you have in him as the aroma of Christ, he's asking this question as he represents God 00:05:16.460 --> 00:05:21.560 to this world, who is really qualified to represent God to this world. 00:05:22.740 --> 00:05:24.230 It's an incredible thought. 00:05:24.660 --> 00:05:32.280 But he builds this question off, this thought, this idea of being an aroma and this fragrance for Christ. 00:05:32.460 --> 00:05:38.940 And it's this powerful connection to your mind, the sense of smell when you think about the sense of smell. 00:05:39.120 --> 00:05:46.220 Some people say that one of the most direct connections to your mind comes through the sense of smell, and it's through the sense 00:05:46.220 --> 00:05:53.420 of smell that you can conjure up images of emotion and memory as you as the 00:05:53.420 --> 00:05:56.240 sense of smell heightens that within your mind. 00:05:56.240 --> 00:06:01.960 And Paul is relating to that as he as he connects you to the idea of being an aroma and a fragrance of Christ. 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:03.220 In fact, it kind of works like this. 00:06:03.280 --> 00:06:07.960 In verse, verse 14, he talks about the fragrance, the fragrance that we carry in Jesus. 00:06:08.300 --> 00:06:12.700 And then he specifically refers to you as an aroma before He goes back to the word fragrance again. 00:06:13.460 --> 00:06:17.120 And the picture works like this, that there is this fragrance in Jesus. 00:06:17.560 --> 00:06:20.160 And but the fragrance is very generic, right? 00:06:20.560 --> 00:06:23.160 It's just it's just like another way of saying, what's that smell? 00:06:23.520 --> 00:06:23.860 Right? 00:06:24.040 --> 00:06:24.810 What's that fragrance? 00:06:25.380 --> 00:06:31.330 And then he gets more specific in describing as an aroma which carries this thought of being sweet. 00:06:32.260 --> 00:06:39.270 There's this beautiful, sweet aroma before he goes back to the thought of this generic fragrance again. 00:06:40.600 --> 00:06:45.980 And Paul is using this imagery to connect the Corinthians to maybe this thought. 00:06:45.980 --> 00:06:49.140 He's saying to them, What kind of smell is Jesus to you? 00:06:51.940 --> 00:06:52.680 When you think about Christ. 00:06:55.460 --> 00:06:56.900 It's just this fragrance. 00:06:59.320 --> 00:06:59.700 Or is it? 00:07:00.820 --> 00:07:01.760 Is it more than that? 00:07:01.820 --> 00:07:05.040 Is there an aroma to Jesus? 00:07:08.080 --> 00:07:12.160 Smell has a powerful influence in the mind. 00:07:13.800 --> 00:07:18.260 I think I've learned this multiple ways, just living life. 00:07:18.580 --> 00:07:25.880 I remember when season when she first became pregnant with our first kid and we get to that place where it's 00:07:25.960 --> 00:07:32.640 time to pick something to eat and of course, being pregnant and not always having the strongest of stomach, she didn't want to go to her places. 00:07:33.320 --> 00:07:35.380 And so she would leave it up to me to decide. 00:07:35.380 --> 00:07:37.800 And of course, I'm going to pick my favorite restaurants. 00:07:38.140 --> 00:07:39.010 And so I do. 00:07:39.520 --> 00:07:42.010 And then we go to eat at my favorite restaurants. 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:46.970 And then while we're there, all of a sudden she gets ill from eating at our favorite restaurants. 00:07:47.160 --> 00:07:54.240 And I just I learned something there about pregnancy sick that once you eat something being pregnant sick at a at a restaurant that your husband might call his 00:07:54.240 --> 00:07:54.690 favorite. 00:07:55.000 --> 00:08:00.140 You can never go there again because your emotions of smell have now overpowered that. 00:08:00.160 --> 00:08:01.130 And so it's permanently banned. 00:08:01.720 --> 00:08:06.440 And so I'm finding ourselves in her first pregnancy, all of my favorite restaurants just getting knocked. 00:08:06.440 --> 00:08:11.420 It didn't take long before I realized when she says, pick your favorite restaurants, I'm not doing that. 00:08:11.440 --> 00:08:14.930 I'm picking yours because I don't want I don't want to ruin mine anymore. 00:08:15.380 --> 00:08:22.480 So there's this way that smell has this power over over the mind or maybe 00:08:22.480 --> 00:08:25.640 even in your life, you might be able to walk into a room. 00:08:25.640 --> 00:08:30.060 And then all of a sudden, this smell just captivates you. 00:08:30.060 --> 00:08:37.080 And it takes you back to a place where or maybe it's someone's cooking just reminds you of your mama's cooking when you were little, 00:08:37.240 --> 00:08:37.400 right? 00:08:37.400 --> 00:08:40.780 And you just instantly you're transported back to that time. 00:08:41.240 --> 00:08:45.140 There's this connection with that food and what it was as a child growing up in that home. 00:08:45.860 --> 00:08:48.500 And it just it reminds you of home as a kid. 00:08:48.960 --> 00:08:52.040 And you have that strong connection there. 00:08:52.040 --> 00:08:56.700 Or maybe maybe it's a perfume that someone you love used to wear. 00:08:56.700 --> 00:08:59.860 And all of a sudden you smell you smell that. 00:08:59.860 --> 00:09:04.120 And it takes you back to that person, that presence, the way you felt before them. 00:09:05.820 --> 00:09:06.880 The sense of smell. 00:09:07.900 --> 00:09:10.880 It's powerful and it's its connection. 00:09:12.460 --> 00:09:14.400 Good or bad. 00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:20.440 For some, the smell of Jesus, if I related it to that, is like being pregnant. 00:09:20.520 --> 00:09:22.320 Sick, right? 00:09:22.700 --> 00:09:29.720 But for others, as Paul says, it's this the sweet aroma that reminds us of our state of 00:09:29.720 --> 00:09:31.440 being spiritually hungry. 00:09:31.440 --> 00:09:33.180 And then we find Jesus. 00:09:33.540 --> 00:09:37.480 And it's incredible what he delivers into our lives. 00:09:40.180 --> 00:09:41.560 Why does Paul bring this up? 00:09:43.060 --> 00:09:50.320 Well, he's saying this passage, he's not trying to force the unbelieving world to Jesus, 00:09:51.080 --> 00:09:58.200 but he's saying, as he shares Jesus, that for this church to remember what they had in 00:09:58.200 --> 00:10:01.720 Christ, because right now they're being challenged in that. 00:10:03.780 --> 00:10:05.720 The church in Corinth. 00:10:05.720 --> 00:10:12.780 They've lost their identity or started to sort of dissipate in the beauty of the presence 00:10:12.780 --> 00:10:14.420 of what Christ means in their lives. 00:10:15.600 --> 00:10:19.460 And they're spiritually, I would say, homesick for Jesus. 00:10:19.460 --> 00:10:20.540 And they don't even realize it. 00:10:23.380 --> 00:10:27.100 And Paul is connecting this to the idea of smell. 00:10:27.260 --> 00:10:30.280 It's like an homesick being homesick. 00:10:30.280 --> 00:10:32.380 It's an interesting, interesting thing. 00:10:32.400 --> 00:10:39.440 Do you know that it's possible to purchase candles based on the region for 00:10:39.440 --> 00:10:46.620 which you've come from in life, that gather together smells that are specific to the area 00:10:46.620 --> 00:10:49.800 that you live, so that when you light that candle, it reminds you of home. 00:10:51.400 --> 00:10:55.220 So that you can have that connection to sort of alleviate that homesickness. 00:10:55.820 --> 00:10:57.930 And I think this is what Paul is saying to the believers. 00:10:57.960 --> 00:11:02.160 Look, there's this fragrance of Jesus that goes around just this generic smell. 00:11:02.380 --> 00:11:08.360 And for some people, that aroma becomes about death because they have this distaste of Jesus. 00:11:10.400 --> 00:11:11.140 But for others. 00:11:13.260 --> 00:11:16.160 For others, it's this the smell of life. 00:11:16.280 --> 00:11:17.810 It's this place of being home. 00:11:18.740 --> 00:11:21.880 It's to recognize what Jesus is for you and the. 00:11:22.140 --> 00:11:24.830 The life he brings for you. 00:11:25.320 --> 00:11:25.560 Now. 00:11:25.580 --> 00:11:29.070 I think even in my life, I've lived in Utah now for 17 years. 00:11:29.700 --> 00:11:34.660 And occasionally you'll get that little taste of being away from where you grew up of homesickness. 00:11:37.080 --> 00:11:44.260 And I find that when I've traveled back, when I've traveled back to be around the people that I've loved and the place that I grew 00:11:44.260 --> 00:11:50.200 up, just to reattach to that my homesickness is not necessarily attached to a place. 00:11:50.940 --> 00:11:55.280 And I don't really experience that much, but it's not really attached to a place. 00:11:55.300 --> 00:12:01.460 And I think probably because this is what I discovered with homesickness, rather, rather what it's attached to is more of a of a memory. 00:12:02.900 --> 00:12:10.320 It's attached to a specific people and a specific time and place during a specific moment that was impactful 00:12:10.480 --> 00:12:11.540 in my life. 00:12:11.800 --> 00:12:17.520 Because what you have to happen as you as you go back to that is that people have changed and things have moved on. 00:12:17.520 --> 00:12:19.660 And where people were in that moment, they're not there anymore. 00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:25.500 It's like as you move across the country, when you go back, you expect people to sort of stay frozen in that time period. 00:12:25.540 --> 00:12:27.340 But they all they all got older and different. 00:12:29.480 --> 00:12:32.540 But what Paul is saying is the sweetness of Jesus works like this. 00:12:32.660 --> 00:12:33.420 He never changes. 00:12:35.280 --> 00:12:36.120 He's the same God. 00:12:38.120 --> 00:12:39.380 And you remember what that's like? 00:12:39.380 --> 00:12:39.840 What is that? 00:12:40.060 --> 00:12:41.900 What is that aroma to Christ and you? 00:12:41.960 --> 00:12:49.040 It's so significant for the soul and what it needs and being able to attach 00:12:49.040 --> 00:12:50.220 to that moment. 00:12:50.460 --> 00:12:57.500 And Paul's just conjuring up this image for the Corinthians to just go back there because life has this way to kind of 00:12:57.620 --> 00:13:04.280 kind of pull you from that and just beat you down and present you with obstacle after obstacle that you just lose sight of that. 00:13:04.280 --> 00:13:07.860 And all of a sudden Paul's just saying, let's just savor the goodness of what Christ is. 00:13:07.900 --> 00:13:15.720 And then he starts to introduce to the to the reason why is because there is this problem that we're facing in verse 17. 00:13:15.720 --> 00:13:16.980 Paul starts with that problem. 00:13:17.040 --> 00:13:22.500 The answer to Blake, number two in your notes is this The problem is being pressured to detour. 00:13:24.040 --> 00:13:31.060 That there is a system that the world wants to present and the system is to detour you to you and pressure you out of that 00:13:31.060 --> 00:13:31.880 position in Jesus. 00:13:31.880 --> 00:13:36.020 And he says in verse 17, then for we are not like so many peddlers of God's word. 00:13:37.420 --> 00:13:43.420 But as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God in the sight of God, we speak in Christ. 00:13:44.260 --> 00:13:50.180 I mean, He's actually going to present to us three different ways that people are deterring the church in Corinth from Jesus. 00:13:50.180 --> 00:13:52.760 They're trying to rob their joy of what they have in Christ. 00:13:53.220 --> 00:13:59.360 And he says one in verse 17, and he says, the second one in verse one and two, and then the third argument in verse, verse three. 00:13:59.360 --> 00:14:00.360 But here he starts. 00:14:00.360 --> 00:14:07.440 He's saying, look, you don't really the motives of people that may be coming to you with God's word and trying to lure you into 00:14:07.440 --> 00:14:11.810 a different message through God's word, saying they're talking about a Jesus, but it's a different Jesus. 00:14:13.680 --> 00:14:15.280 And their intentions are not pure. 00:14:16.940 --> 00:14:18.600 And they're their motivations. 00:14:18.620 --> 00:14:23.980 They're peddlers of God's word, but they've got to they've got a different motive than what Jesus is about. 00:14:25.380 --> 00:14:28.620 And he's saying, well, let's just let's just appreciate the sincerity of what this is. 00:14:28.620 --> 00:14:30.960 And, look, we're sincere in what we're doing as well. 00:14:31.160 --> 00:14:36.400 Here at Alpine Bible Church, like our hearts, we want it to the motivation behind what we do. 00:14:36.460 --> 00:14:37.800 We want it to be pure in Jesus. 00:14:39.000 --> 00:14:45.150 And we want to live as a church that desires to give itself away for the cause of Christ, for His glory, to the benefit of others. 00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:47.700 We don't want to be about a megachurch. 00:14:48.040 --> 00:14:54.820 We're not here to bolster someone's identity, to make them become some sort of celebrity in Christ. 00:14:54.960 --> 00:14:55.480 Who could care? 00:14:55.580 --> 00:14:56.840 We could care less about that. 00:14:59.820 --> 00:15:02.470 Just want the purity of Jesus. 00:15:04.600 --> 00:15:06.820 From the aroma of Christ to be rich within our souls. 00:15:08.760 --> 00:15:16.120 To connect to that, to not deter from that, to say that Jesus is more than enough and I am just content and Christ. 00:15:18.040 --> 00:15:24.040 And Paul is warning the church here in this moment, look, people are coming to you and they may even present it in a Jesus esque way. 00:15:25.420 --> 00:15:28.990 But they've got an ulterior motive behind why they're doing what they're doing. 00:15:29.400 --> 00:15:31.360 But you need to pursue it with the sincerity of Christ. 00:15:31.780 --> 00:15:36.840 And he's saying, look, in our lives, we recognize this and we walk with this, that we're commissioned by God that is sacred. 00:15:38.360 --> 00:15:41.720 And in the sight of God, we speak in Christ that we are accountable. 00:15:44.840 --> 00:15:52.060 There is nothing more important than the message of Jesus and what it renews within the soul and the purity 00:15:52.060 --> 00:15:54.000 of that message and keeping that message pure. 00:15:57.360 --> 00:15:58.500 That's what redeems lives. 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:04.180 That's what brings the goodness of Christ into this world. 00:16:04.240 --> 00:16:06.660 And that's what we need to be about. 00:16:06.700 --> 00:16:07.790 And he goes into verse one. 00:16:07.920 --> 00:16:10.220 Then he further elaborates, What's happening here? 00:16:10.220 --> 00:16:12.770 He says, Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? 00:16:14.220 --> 00:16:14.520 Are we? 00:16:14.720 --> 00:16:20.420 Do we do we need a some do letters of recommendation to you or from you? 00:16:22.220 --> 00:16:23.990 See Paul's coming back to this church. 00:16:24.280 --> 00:16:29.280 And they're saying to Paul, they're trying to really discredit Paul in this church. 00:16:30.700 --> 00:16:34.020 And they're saying to Paul, well, Paul, look, we got other leaders coming now. 00:16:34.020 --> 00:16:38.700 And what we need from you is a letter of recommendation to validate who you are. 00:16:38.700 --> 00:16:41.160 And Paul and this woman saying, are you are you really kidding me? 00:16:41.200 --> 00:16:41.920 Do you need me? 00:16:42.220 --> 00:16:43.260 Do you need me to go to that? 00:16:43.260 --> 00:16:46.380 You need me to present some kind of piece of paper to tell you who I am. 00:16:46.380 --> 00:16:52.780 Like I'm a letter of recommendation like you do when we come with some kind of diploma that says to you, I'm something great. 00:16:52.780 --> 00:16:55.230 Like we know how those work in our culture. 00:16:55.400 --> 00:16:56.560 I mean, we know how it works in our culture. 00:16:56.600 --> 00:17:01.410 You can come, anybody can get a letter of recommendation of some friend that says there's something special. 00:17:01.860 --> 00:17:08.579 I mean, you can get a diploma and says that you're really smart at books, studying and answering questions. 00:17:08.579 --> 00:17:11.300 But at the end of the day, is that really what gets it done? 00:17:13.079 --> 00:17:14.160 Is that really what it's about? 00:17:14.180 --> 00:17:18.450 You can find that you can hire someone simply based on a diploma and a letter of recommendation. 00:17:19.140 --> 00:17:21.300 And they got the emotional intelligence of a two year old. 00:17:23.800 --> 00:17:25.099 Is that really what's going to do it? 00:17:25.119 --> 00:17:32.460 It's what Paul's is saying to the church, and what's been introduced into this church is this group of leaders that are charismatic and really 00:17:32.460 --> 00:17:34.240 from that, some armchair quarterbacks. 00:17:37.740 --> 00:17:41.500 Often saying charisma without character leads to an implosion. 00:17:43.020 --> 00:17:43.580 Let me say it with it. 00:17:43.720 --> 00:17:49.300 Within our own culture, our culture just flocks around people of charisma that have no character at all. 00:17:52.040 --> 00:17:52.600 Pulsing. 00:17:52.760 --> 00:17:53.160 Really. 00:17:53.300 --> 00:17:59.120 You're really attracted to these charismatic leaders that I've got to come back to you and validate who I am. 00:18:01.060 --> 00:18:06.820 And then with these charismatic, charismatic leaders, these armchair quarterbacks that are just lobbing and hurling insults at Paul. 00:18:08.380 --> 00:18:11.880 Not really doing anything for the gospel, but certainly tearing things down. 00:18:13.540 --> 00:18:14.660 Contrary to Christ. 00:18:18.420 --> 00:18:25.640 Paul then goes on and he says in verse two, he says, You yourselves are our letter of recommendation 00:18:25.860 --> 00:18:31.420 written on our hearts to be known and read by all. 00:18:34.280 --> 00:18:38.950 So rather than just give you a meaningless piece of paper. 00:18:39.720 --> 00:18:40.340 Church. 00:18:40.380 --> 00:18:42.540 How about we just stop for a minute and we. 00:18:43.640 --> 00:18:44.800 We look at what God's done. 00:18:48.080 --> 00:18:49.280 Just look at what God's done. 00:18:51.480 --> 00:18:52.290 I mean, it's been incredible. 00:18:54.100 --> 00:18:55.060 To think in Corinth. 00:18:55.300 --> 00:18:56.300 Before this, there was nothing. 00:18:57.960 --> 00:19:01.840 And now you become the testimony of the presence of God working. 00:19:03.940 --> 00:19:06.140 You don't need people of charisma. 00:19:08.260 --> 00:19:14.520 Any people with character and commitment towards this cause of Christ with sincerity. 00:19:16.360 --> 00:19:17.780 That's what we needed the end of the day. 00:19:19.080 --> 00:19:22.280 Those will be the people that carry the mission of God forward. 00:19:22.680 --> 00:19:26.800 And Paul, when he describes this, he's saying, look what God has done. 00:19:26.800 --> 00:19:30.620 Your letter of recommendation written on our hearts, Paul, saying, look, we saw it. 00:19:32.560 --> 00:19:34.780 We saw what God did in your lives. 00:19:36.400 --> 00:19:40.150 We're not going to forget that it's this pleasing aroma of Jesus. 00:19:40.880 --> 00:19:43.980 And not only did we see it, it's known by everyone. 00:19:43.980 --> 00:19:46.280 It was it was demonstrated in your life. 00:19:46.320 --> 00:19:49.970 This is much greater than just simply writing it down on a piece of paper. 00:19:50.380 --> 00:19:53.390 We get to experience the goodness of God collectively together. 00:19:54.620 --> 00:19:57.600 That's far more powerful than simply just writing it down. 00:20:00.580 --> 00:20:03.580 The experience of Jesus. 00:20:03.660 --> 00:20:10.740 You cannot deny what God has done and what He continues to do because lives continue to be transformed 00:20:10.740 --> 00:20:11.720 in him. 00:20:11.720 --> 00:20:19.540 And so in verse three says this and you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written 00:20:19.540 --> 00:20:23.140 not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. 00:20:24.140 --> 00:20:25.460 Not on tablets stone. 00:20:27.280 --> 00:20:32.520 But on tablets of human heart. 00:20:33.920 --> 00:20:35.300 They're trying in these moments. 00:20:35.420 --> 00:20:38.860 Paul's really getting ultimately to what the whole argument is. 00:20:38.900 --> 00:20:40.060 They're trying to discredit Paul. 00:20:42.140 --> 00:20:44.820 To ultimately introduce religious living. 00:20:46.960 --> 00:20:47.100 Now. 00:20:47.180 --> 00:20:49.520 That's the way our culture works, even today. 00:20:49.760 --> 00:20:51.060 Since the days of Paul. 00:20:51.060 --> 00:20:51.920 And even before that. 00:20:53.580 --> 00:20:57.640 If you don't like what someone's saying, you can't discredit the truth of what they're saying. 00:20:58.800 --> 00:20:59.760 You malign the person. 00:21:01.340 --> 00:21:07.240 And as you malign the person and that discredits them and gives you an opportunity to present something else. 00:21:08.160 --> 00:21:10.220 And this is exactly what they're doing to the Apostle Paul. 00:21:11.480 --> 00:21:18.840 First they start to attack Paul to then challenge the message that Paul presented in order to bring about a religious statement 00:21:18.840 --> 00:21:20.300 or a religious way of living. 00:21:20.340 --> 00:21:21.720 That's what they introduced the church. 00:21:21.760 --> 00:21:24.140 He's saying the spirit of God is what's giving you this. 00:21:24.420 --> 00:21:27.780 And it's not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human heart. 00:21:27.780 --> 00:21:33.400 And they're going back to the idea of Exodus 34, which we're going to we're going to talk about more next week. 00:21:33.440 --> 00:21:38.500 But that's the portion of scripture where God wrote the Ten Commandments on stone. 00:21:39.500 --> 00:21:46.520 And thinking out of all of the things that you can write down, I think the probably the most powerful thing that's been written down is what God wrote down on the 00:21:46.520 --> 00:21:47.020 Stones. 00:21:48.700 --> 00:21:51.320 He's saying you want to go back to religion of stones. 00:21:52.840 --> 00:21:53.520 Rather than what. 00:21:54.360 --> 00:21:57.680 What God has written on your heart. 00:21:57.680 --> 00:22:03.120 And, in this moment, Paul could have spent all kinds of time defending himself. 00:22:03.440 --> 00:22:03.580 Right. 00:22:03.620 --> 00:22:10.120 He could have said as he's being attacked and as they're there presenting this religion, he could have gotten this place now where he starts to defend himself. 00:22:10.120 --> 00:22:12.000 And he certainly had the position to do that. 00:22:12.000 --> 00:22:17.450 I mean, in Philippians chapter three, verse five and six, he says he's the Hebrew of Hebrews. 00:22:17.540 --> 00:22:21.630 And verse, verse five, he says that in verse six, he says, I asked to the law. 00:22:21.780 --> 00:22:23.580 He was blameless, or he lived it perfectly. 00:22:24.800 --> 00:22:30.640 If anyone understood what this religious living could have been about or should have been about, it was the Apostle Paul. 00:22:31.540 --> 00:22:34.700 And when it comes to the idea of learning what's on tablet. 00:22:35.760 --> 00:22:38.700 I mean, Paul was the most learned individual of his day. 00:22:38.940 --> 00:22:40.960 If anyone was qualified, it was Paul. 00:22:40.960 --> 00:22:44.240 And he was probably overqualified for that type of living. 00:22:45.520 --> 00:22:50.000 And it's not to knock learning or to say it's not important for us. 00:22:50.020 --> 00:22:53.300 I think even God's word is important to us. 00:22:53.340 --> 00:23:01.700 Like we should be in pursuit as believers and being lifelong learners. 00:23:01.700 --> 00:23:03.980 But Paul is making the argument here that. 00:23:05.240 --> 00:23:07.040 That's not what set you free. 00:23:08.660 --> 00:23:09.870 That's not what set you free. 00:23:11.440 --> 00:23:14.880 And this is exactly why Paul doesn't take the bait in defending himself. 00:23:17.000 --> 00:23:18.480 Because he understands it's not about him. 00:23:20.540 --> 00:23:27.940 In fact, the way that he describes it here, he's saying as they're attacking him, introducing this religion, he says he says in verse three, it's 00:23:27.940 --> 00:23:33.800 a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink, but the spirit of the living God. 00:23:36.680 --> 00:23:38.780 He's saying, look what we've taught to you. 00:23:40.340 --> 00:23:41.210 It's been written. 00:23:42.280 --> 00:23:44.640 It's a letter from Christ, written by the Spirit and all. 00:23:44.780 --> 00:23:45.280 All that we are. 00:23:46.460 --> 00:23:48.000 Or just the delivers of that message. 00:23:50.460 --> 00:23:52.370 We're just the ones that presented it to. 00:23:53.640 --> 00:23:54.260 It's not about me. 00:23:54.540 --> 00:23:54.880 It's about him. 00:23:57.020 --> 00:23:58.460 That's even for us in this world. 00:23:58.460 --> 00:24:04.700 When people when people disagree with maybe your stand in Jesus is not about arguing for you and defending you. 00:24:04.760 --> 00:24:11.900 It's about coming to what Jesus said and saying, What does Christ say in this text about who He is and acknowledging 00:24:11.900 --> 00:24:15.550 what Scripture says about Jesus? 00:24:16.620 --> 00:24:23.500 And so Paul's completely in the middle of this problem that they're presenting as they're attacking Paul and introducing this religion. 00:24:23.620 --> 00:24:28.160 And Paul is saying, look, it's not an issue about me because I'm not the answer. 00:24:30.380 --> 00:24:33.410 It's about Jesus, which is what makes the aroma so important. 00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.780 Which then Paul here, he gives us the resolution and this resolution for a moment. 00:24:39.780 --> 00:24:41.470 It's going to look very important to the first century. 00:24:41.540 --> 00:24:46.200 But I want you to know, this has a tremendous amount of application for our lives today. 00:24:46.640 --> 00:24:50.190 This is brilliant where Paul goes on this passage of scripture. 00:24:50.380 --> 00:24:55.460 But your resolution here, the blank in your notes is this the resolution is Christ alone? 00:24:56.980 --> 00:24:57.380 Resolutions. 00:24:57.500 --> 00:24:58.280 Christ alone, he says. 00:24:58.740 --> 00:25:01.300 He says in verse four, such as the confidence. 00:25:02.620 --> 00:25:05.240 That we have in Christ toward God. 00:25:06.820 --> 00:25:11.240 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything that's coming from him. 00:25:12.620 --> 00:25:14.360 But our sufficiency is from God. 00:25:15.700 --> 00:25:23.050 It was made a sufficient to be ministers for a new covenant, not of a letter, but of the spirit for the letter kills. 00:25:24.380 --> 00:25:26.360 But the Spirit gives life. 00:25:29.880 --> 00:25:36.900 Paul At the end of this verse, verse six, the very end, he's saying, look, when you try to merit your life and what you 00:25:36.900 --> 00:25:37.720 boast and. 00:25:39.460 --> 00:25:41.220 What it produces is death. 00:25:43.080 --> 00:25:46.560 Religion produces death as well, Paul says. 00:25:47.220 --> 00:25:49.600 The letter of the law kills you. 00:25:51.040 --> 00:25:54.160 The Old Testament, the 613 Commandments. 00:25:54.880 --> 00:25:57.200 It wasn't intended for you to obey that in order. 00:25:57.580 --> 00:25:59.120 In order that you can find a life. 00:26:01.660 --> 00:26:05.520 You can't find life in the 613 Commandments. 00:26:06.720 --> 00:26:14.000 What you find in the 613 Commandments is condemnation, because as you try to live that out in your life, you realize that 00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:15.420 you can never achieve it. 00:26:17.120 --> 00:26:24.200 That's why some of the most miserable people in this world are religious people, because you find them all of these laws that they're trying to 00:26:24.200 --> 00:26:26.700 achieve in this world and they can't attain to it. 00:26:26.760 --> 00:26:29.200 And all they hear over and over, you're worthless. 00:26:29.200 --> 00:26:29.610 You're a failure. 00:26:30.020 --> 00:26:30.740 You can't make it. 00:26:33.300 --> 00:26:37.640 And push it down and down and down and joy is gone. 00:26:39.180 --> 00:26:43.460 Now, that's not to it's not to say that the religious law isn't important in the Old Testament. 00:26:43.700 --> 00:26:50.340 In fact, in Galatians Chapter three, Paul makes the argument to the significance of what it represents, because within it we see the holiness of God. 00:26:51.460 --> 00:26:53.960 You see the beauty of who God is in it. 00:26:54.040 --> 00:26:56.010 He says in verse 21, that is the law. 00:26:56.180 --> 00:26:59.640 Then, contrary to the promises of God, certainly not. 00:27:01.080 --> 00:27:01.280 For. 00:27:01.280 --> 00:27:06.240 If the law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would have been indeed by the law. 00:27:06.260 --> 00:27:10.130 Meaning, if religion was the answer, then we would have kept it as the answer. 00:27:10.600 --> 00:27:10.700 Right. 00:27:10.760 --> 00:27:11.550 But then he says this. 00:27:12.000 --> 00:27:14.700 But the Scripture imprisoned everyone under sin. 00:27:14.700 --> 00:27:15.640 That's what the law did. 00:27:16.980 --> 00:27:18.000 It imprisoned you. 00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:18.800 It trapped you. 00:27:20.480 --> 00:27:24.620 So the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 00:27:25.800 --> 00:27:25.960 Now. 00:27:26.160 --> 00:27:33.080 Before Faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 00:27:34.220 --> 00:27:40.140 So then the law was our guardian, until Christ came in order that we might be justified by faith. 00:27:40.600 --> 00:27:46.420 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian or under the law. 00:27:48.560 --> 00:27:53.920 The argument is this and Paul makes the same argument in Romans three saying, is the law bad then if it condemns us? 00:27:53.920 --> 00:27:55.240 No, it's certainly not bad. 00:27:56.700 --> 00:28:01.000 It's not bad because it reveals the holiness of God and a really revealing the holiness of God. 00:28:01.260 --> 00:28:06.200 It helps us recognize that we can't live up to that standard and ultimately we look for a rescue. 00:28:08.580 --> 00:28:14.780 And that guardian that law worked to keep pointing us to that rescuer until ultimately that rescuer came. 00:28:15.140 --> 00:28:16.010 And who is that rescuer? 00:28:17.800 --> 00:28:18.680 It's Jesus. 00:28:20.380 --> 00:28:21.240 That's Jesus. 00:28:22.820 --> 00:28:24.860 Something entirely new for your life. 00:28:25.480 --> 00:28:31.560 Then he refers to it in this passage and in second Corinthians chapter three verses 4 to 6. 00:28:31.600 --> 00:28:38.040 He's saying, You have now this new covenant, this new way, this new place, this new identity. 00:28:41.400 --> 00:28:42.580 It's not religious living. 00:28:44.600 --> 00:28:45.260 It's Jesus living. 00:28:47.340 --> 00:28:48.520 It's walking in his spirit. 00:28:49.880 --> 00:28:57.380 It's separating yourself from this law because it's no longer a guarding over you, but now stepping into to Christ. 00:28:59.360 --> 00:29:01.000 That aroma of Jesus. 00:29:01.040 --> 00:29:07.480 And so it's on that backdrop that Paul says this and this is where now you can attach all the way back to chapter two. 00:29:07.520 --> 00:29:10.160 But he says this such is the confidence, if you want to. 00:29:10.540 --> 00:29:16.660 Where do we have confidence that we have through Christ toward God, not that we are sufficient in ourselves. 00:29:16.720 --> 00:29:20.180 Remember the question He asked at the very end of a verse 16. 00:29:20.600 --> 00:29:21.720 Who's sufficient for these things? 00:29:23.420 --> 00:29:30.500 When we think about the aroma and the fragrance that we have in Christ and being able to represent Christ in this world, who in the world could even 00:29:30.500 --> 00:29:34.260 think that we deserve a position to represent God. 00:29:35.380 --> 00:29:36.400 It seems arrogant. 00:29:38.020 --> 00:29:45.400 Why would I even begin to think that I could do such a thing as it's pleasing aroma of Jesus to this world who is sufficient to even do that? 00:29:45.400 --> 00:29:46.620 And now He makes this argument. 00:29:46.680 --> 00:29:48.300 Where does this confidence come from? 00:29:48.300 --> 00:29:50.380 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves. 00:29:52.360 --> 00:29:52.780 It's a claim. 00:29:52.880 --> 00:29:55.000 Anything is coming from us. 00:29:56.700 --> 00:29:57.280 But our sufficiency. 00:29:59.460 --> 00:30:00.060 It's from God. 00:30:01.940 --> 00:30:03.050 Who was made a sufficient. 00:30:04.520 --> 00:30:05.760 To be ministers of a new covenant. 00:30:07.440 --> 00:30:09.140 Not of the letter, but of the spirit. 00:30:10.280 --> 00:30:11.570 For the letter kills. 00:30:13.980 --> 00:30:16.990 But the spirit gives life. 00:30:19.380 --> 00:30:20.540 I love how Paul says it. 00:30:21.860 --> 00:30:23.560 We have confidence. 00:30:25.560 --> 00:30:25.780 We have confidence. 00:30:26.240 --> 00:30:31.360 This word confidence means really with faith con with evidence faith. 00:30:32.360 --> 00:30:33.540 It's faith. 00:30:34.220 --> 00:30:35.180 We're with faith. 00:30:35.260 --> 00:30:42.340 This is this is what gives us the strength to endure and the ability to live Christ in this world. 00:30:42.440 --> 00:30:44.200 This is this is where we get this confidence. 00:30:44.280 --> 00:30:45.240 It's not in ourselves. 00:30:47.590 --> 00:30:54.660 This is so important because when you think about the challenges that we experience in this world, I find 00:30:54.660 --> 00:31:02.020 that people in this in life today, they're looking for a place to find an identity and a confidence and a purpose and a and a meaning. 00:31:02.240 --> 00:31:05.220 And Paul is saying for us, this is where it comes from. 00:31:05.280 --> 00:31:09.460 This it's not that we are sufficient in ourselves, he says in verse five. 00:31:11.560 --> 00:31:13.650 He's helping his culture in this day. 00:31:13.660 --> 00:31:16.890 He's seeing where it's bankrupting its religious systems. 00:31:17.360 --> 00:31:20.220 And he's saying that is not that is not where you find confidence. 00:31:20.380 --> 00:31:21.890 That is that is where you find death. 00:31:22.400 --> 00:31:25.880 We find our sufficiency not not in ourselves. 00:31:28.260 --> 00:31:28.960 And Paul's Day. 00:31:28.960 --> 00:31:35.540 You see now in these verses what they were peddling right in verse 17, he's saying, look, the motives you need to look at, the motives. 00:31:35.540 --> 00:31:38.880 There's motives behind what people are doing, what they're trying to peddle to you. 00:31:39.160 --> 00:31:40.380 We're sincere in what we're about. 00:31:40.720 --> 00:31:42.410 It's the sufficiency in Jesus. 00:31:42.660 --> 00:31:43.700 That's what we need to find ourselves. 00:31:44.020 --> 00:31:46.540 But they have something else they're peddling. 00:31:46.700 --> 00:31:49.430 And what they're peddling is this religious law. 00:31:51.240 --> 00:31:52.080 The Ten Commandments. 00:31:53.540 --> 00:31:54.370 The Old Covenant. 00:31:56.960 --> 00:32:03.280 And you know, I think in our culture today, we try to find relevancy to what Paul is saying here as it relates to us. 00:32:03.860 --> 00:32:10.760 It's a little bit of a leap between the Ten Commandments that Paul's talking about here and writing on Stone versus what we experienced today. 00:32:10.840 --> 00:32:17.020 Because I think in our culture, people could probably say the word Ten Commandments and have a general idea of what we're talking about in that regard. 00:32:17.280 --> 00:32:23.280 But if you ask them to name them, I doubt very many people can name past two in our culture today. 00:32:23.580 --> 00:32:30.600 So when we think about okay, so when Paul is talking talking about living religiously here, how does this connect to 00:32:30.600 --> 00:32:31.100 us? 00:32:31.100 --> 00:32:37.540 I would say in our world today, the world still promotes a system of religion. 00:32:37.600 --> 00:32:45.060 It's just not listed under the Ten Commandments, like we're like they would be used to in polls to the world around us still promotes 00:32:45.060 --> 00:32:50.740 a way of finding a religious system to discover yourself. 00:32:52.920 --> 00:32:53.980 It's the same trick. 00:32:55.680 --> 00:32:58.440 From Paul's day, it's just morphed in different identities. 00:33:00.120 --> 00:33:02.170 And we talk in terms of religion. 00:33:02.280 --> 00:33:09.520 What we mean is any system of rules that people use to look in you to find a new identity and answers 00:33:09.520 --> 00:33:11.260 towards value and meaning for your life. 00:33:12.800 --> 00:33:19.960 Any system this world gives to you that says to you, look, here's another way of living your life, a new standard 00:33:19.960 --> 00:33:27.180 of rules that you can go by in order to reinvent yourself, to have this new identity, which will give you worth and value and meaning. 00:33:27.220 --> 00:33:33.560 If you would just if you would just align with this, then you'll find the holistic purpose for which you were created. 00:33:36.860 --> 00:33:37.960 Over and over. 00:33:38.080 --> 00:33:41.380 Our culture has done it, just like Paul saying in the first century. 00:33:44.220 --> 00:33:45.220 People have come into Corinth. 00:33:46.620 --> 00:33:48.000 They're saying, don't listen to the apostle Paul. 00:33:48.340 --> 00:33:49.360 Here's a new system. 00:33:49.860 --> 00:33:54.360 And if you follow this system, it'll give you a new identity and a new worth. 00:33:54.500 --> 00:33:57.500 And you could put your confidence here in Paul's saying there. 00:33:59.700 --> 00:34:00.220 There is. 00:34:01.280 --> 00:34:02.500 No sufficiency in this. 00:34:05.540 --> 00:34:09.620 Your soul isn't found free in laws of living. 00:34:12.260 --> 00:34:13.760 Rather it destroys you. 00:34:16.340 --> 00:34:19.719 And the gospel is something entirely different than that. 00:34:22.100 --> 00:34:22.380 They? 00:34:23.600 --> 00:34:24.880 In our culture today. 00:34:25.080 --> 00:34:26.000 People, I think, are hungry. 00:34:28.040 --> 00:34:28.780 To feel important. 00:34:31.300 --> 00:34:32.199 To know they matter. 00:34:34.440 --> 00:34:38.900 To discover some sort of identity that makes them feel this way. 00:34:40.719 --> 00:34:43.620 And they will step into anything the world presents. 00:34:44.739 --> 00:34:46.110 Just to feel that wholeness. 00:34:49.139 --> 00:34:50.020 And Paul is saying. 00:34:51.040 --> 00:34:51.840 In church. 00:34:53.580 --> 00:35:01.040 As people try to discover that in anything your culture tries to present, whether it's in wokeness or 00:35:01.040 --> 00:35:03.370 some sort of sexual orientation identity. 00:35:07.620 --> 00:35:10.320 You have something so sacred in the gospel to present. 00:35:12.540 --> 00:35:16.720 An entirely different alternative for another identity altogether. 00:35:16.720 --> 00:35:19.040 That's not the system of trying to prove your worth. 00:35:22.160 --> 00:35:22.680 That's Jesus. 00:35:24.760 --> 00:35:25.240 That's Jesus. 00:35:25.300 --> 00:35:26.320 And here's the beauty of Jesus. 00:35:27.640 --> 00:35:34.900 While these religious systems of performance are presented to people and they've got to strive within those that 00:35:34.900 --> 00:35:41.140 struggle to try to try to demonstrate to their social group or whatever they're in, that they might be worth loving. 00:35:43.480 --> 00:35:46.820 That there is Jesus who has come to completely deliver them from all of this. 00:35:48.820 --> 00:35:50.370 And it's not the system of rules. 00:35:50.420 --> 00:35:55.460 It's Jesus who is coming and Jesus who is who's died under the law that you could be set free. 00:35:56.940 --> 00:36:04.010 It's a laying down of you entirely and embracing Christ in this new identity and everything that Jesus has done for you. 00:36:04.500 --> 00:36:09.440 It's no longer having to wage a war in the worldly systems of life around you to prove anything. 00:36:13.820 --> 00:36:15.820 Because of everything Christ has proven on your behalf. 00:36:19.080 --> 00:36:20.480 Paul sang Let go of it all. 00:36:22.640 --> 00:36:24.180 Die to all of it. 00:36:26.000 --> 00:36:29.480 And find an entirely new identity in Jesus. 00:36:31.500 --> 00:36:33.190 Let him shape you. 00:36:34.420 --> 00:36:35.640 Let him renew you. 00:36:37.160 --> 00:36:39.960 Don't take a detour into the things of this world. 00:36:41.680 --> 00:36:44.280 I don't only trap you in this other system. 00:36:45.740 --> 00:36:50.280 And you're going to get to the end and you're going to labor and you're going to recognize that within your soul you still feel broken. 00:36:53.260 --> 00:36:55.640 Don't you remember the aroma of Christ? 00:36:57.680 --> 00:37:02.200 He's come to deliver you and to set you free and to lead you in this triumphal procession. 00:37:02.560 --> 00:37:09.580 That's what he says in verse 14, that you can you can live out your new identity completely other and different than anything this world 00:37:09.580 --> 00:37:14.190 has to offer in Jesus because of everything that Jesus has done for you. 00:37:16.460 --> 00:37:18.470 Where does our confidence come from? 00:37:19.580 --> 00:37:21.600 That's efficiency is not in ourselves. 00:37:24.400 --> 00:37:31.560 But our sufficient place is found in Christ to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter of 00:37:31.560 --> 00:37:35.880 some law that the world presents, but in the spirit who gives life. 00:37:40.020 --> 00:37:42.100 It's resting in the goodness. 00:37:43.320 --> 00:37:44.180 Of Jesus. 00:37:46.920 --> 00:37:47.740 For Corinth. 00:37:47.760 --> 00:37:50.400 The temptation came to them to let go of that. 00:37:52.140 --> 00:37:54.000 Guys for us in Jesus. 00:37:54.160 --> 00:37:55.980 That is the temptation that we face every day. 00:37:58.020 --> 00:38:02.340 Things this world to distract us from something completely other and different. 00:38:02.360 --> 00:38:09.600 And Jesus, where every day we have the opportunity to lay ourselves down and let Christ lead our lives 00:38:09.600 --> 00:38:16.980 as we find ourselves made whole in Him and our worth and our value and our meaning completely 00:38:16.980 --> 00:38:19.560 secure in Jesus. 00:38:19.860 --> 00:38:20.750 Let me end with this illustration. 00:38:22.540 --> 00:38:23.900 In. 00:38:25.700 --> 00:38:30.600 In Greece, there was one of the favorite events in their Olympic Games. 00:38:31.940 --> 00:38:34.600 It was a relay race for the running of the torch. 00:38:34.640 --> 00:38:41.720 In fact, in the original Olympic Games, there were multiple races that involved torches 00:38:41.720 --> 00:38:48.980 where we may make much of our torch things that we do today when we have the runs before the Olympic game, the runs we 00:38:48.980 --> 00:38:53.020 run before the Olympic Games, and we light the big cauldron at the end. 00:38:53.020 --> 00:38:53.960 I totally butchered that. 00:38:53.960 --> 00:38:56.060 Don't get the runs. 00:38:56.060 --> 00:38:56.880 But if you run. 00:38:58.560 --> 00:38:59.920 But when you think in terms of. 00:39:01.780 --> 00:39:07.000 Of the Greco-Roman games when they would run with these torches, the goal was they would run a race. 00:39:07.680 --> 00:39:14.680 And it wasn't about who finished first, but it was rather about who crossed the finish line first with their torch still lit. 00:39:15.400 --> 00:39:22.440 And they would run run this race and they would do this relay race with the with their torches and whoever crossed the finish line 00:39:22.440 --> 00:39:26.150 first with that torch lit and there was celebration. 00:39:26.720 --> 00:39:33.720 And then they would take that torch and they would light the spectators torches and illuminate the beauty of the 00:39:33.720 --> 00:39:34.020 games. 00:39:35.420 --> 00:39:40.380 And when I think about that story, there's a beautiful connection to the life of a Christian. 00:39:41.740 --> 00:39:41.940 Man. 00:39:41.940 --> 00:39:45.780 What Jesus wants to see with you is that the fire that he lit within you. 00:39:47.360 --> 00:39:48.940 To continue to run that race. 00:39:50.380 --> 00:39:51.820 And across that finish line. 00:39:53.280 --> 00:40:00.340 And that your light would just continue to illuminate the next generation for his kingdom and His glory in 00:40:00.340 --> 00:40:00.960 this world. 00:40:02.800 --> 00:40:05.420 And for us, it's to rest in this message. 00:40:07.040 --> 00:40:09.640 To remind ourselves of the aroma of Jesus. 00:40:10.680 --> 00:40:14.940 To not be tempted in the things of this world as if they have something to offer. 00:40:16.440 --> 00:40:24.720 Because we recognize it's just another religious system written another way that always results in bankruptcy. 00:40:25.140 --> 00:40:25.800 But in Christ. 00:40:27.480 --> 00:40:28.040 In Christ. 00:40:28.060 --> 00:40:35.360 I am forever secure and I am I am of worth not because of me proving anything, but because of what Jesus 00:40:35.360 --> 00:40:37.660 has proven on my behalf. 00:40:38.260 --> 00:40:51.460 And every day, regardless of the message presented to me from the things of this world, I choose 00:40:51.480 --> 00:40:57.410 Jesus that other people may find the freedom in Him to.