What It Means to Be Sealed by the Holy Spirit — 2 Corinthians 1:21-22

Hello and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Let's go right back to where we left off in our last program, which would be 2 Corinthians chapter 1, and we'll pick up at verse 15. Again we'd like to welcome our television audience, and we always like to let everyone know that all the past programs, beginning with Genesis 1 on up to where we are in Corinthians, are available on videotapes, audiotapes, as well as the printed page. And I've just been reminded now at break time that a lot of folk probably do not understand that just because I refuse to ask for money, and I absolutely refuse, I will go off the air before I will beg for money. But yet we do have to let people know that we can stay on the air only because of the gifts of God's people. That's why we set up a tax deductible organization where you can receive your tax deduction, and that's the only reason we've done it, so that God's people can at least get that kind of a break from their taxes. So any gift that you send to the ministry is tax deductible, and we cannot stay on the air without it. Lord knows I can't afford it, and television time is expensive, no doubt about it. So I had a gentleman call yet this morning, and after we had dropped one station and the phone had been ringing off the wall, and he wanted to know why, and I said, well, we just weren't getting enough funds, and I said, we're out of money and we have to pay our bills. And he said, well I never knew you had to pay for TV time. Well I don't know what they think, but anyway we do. So much for that. Again we're always appreciative of the fact that so many of you come in from so many different areas of Oklahoma and Arkansas, and we just couldn't teach a situation like this unless you were here with us. Let's get right back into where we left off then in II Corinthians, and for those who missed our last program, we want to remember that this letter is a follow up of course to the first letter, where he had to deal with so many problems in the Corinthian church. They had problems like no other congregation under Paul's apostleship, and so he had to get rather hard with them in I Corinthians, but now in II Corinthians he's coming back and in defense of course of his apostleship, but also 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, and that in itself must have been an encouragement to the apostle that he did not have to go personally, and we're going to see this right here in this verse 15. He had intended again to go down into Corinth personally, but evidently the message had come to him that his first letter had accomplished its work. They had dealt with the person involved in gross immorality, and he was evidently back in the fellowship. So instead of going and coming down on him in a personal effort, he writes this second letter, and I think maybe we can appreciate that, because I think we've all found ourselves in a position where maybe we've had some hard feelings with maybe a family member or something like that, and it's so much easier to just write our thoughts rather than try to approach them face to face. I think this is exactly how Paul felt, that he could do more by writing than if he would go and meet them personally, and become possibly over stern. Verse 15, and we've just talked in the last program how the Lord supplied all the needs of the believer. And in this confidence I was minded to come unto you before, that you might have a second benefit. In other words, he wanted to come to Corinth and deal with their problems personally. And then he says, I intended to pass by you, and go into Macedonia, which of course is up in northern Greece, and come out again out of Macedonia unto you, and of you to be brought my way toward Judea. In other words, Paul's itinerary was to leave Philippi, and so he was going to come down again to southern Greece, to Corinth, visit the church there, and then go back up to northern Greece into Macedonia, and visit the churches, and then come back to Corinth, and then head to Jerusalem. But he didn't make it. So that was another thing. A lot of his detractors and his accusers would say just exactly, well you didn't come because you were afraid to, and you didn't come because of this reason or another, and he had to deal with that. And always put yourself in Paul's shoes. He was just as human as we are. Now then verse 17. So he says, "...since he didn't get that accomplished, when I therefore was thus minded, did I use lightness?" In other words, when he said, I sent the message to you that I was coming, did I deal with you frivolously? Did I just say it to be saying something? No. But other things came up that prevented it. "...or the things that I purposed. Do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be yea, yea, and nay, nay?" Now if you look that up in the Greek, what he's really saying is, did I come to you and talk in fickle language? Did I just say something to tickle your ears and not really mean it? No way. Whatever the apostle said, he said it with full meaning, but other things of course intervened. Verse 18, "...but as God is true, our word toward you was not yea, and nay. For the Son of God, Jesus the Christ, or Christ Jesus, who was preached among you by us, even by me, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, or Timothy, was not yea, and nay. It was not again fickle language, it was not something superfluous. But for all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him are amen, under the glory of God." In other words, whatever I've said to you, I can put it in concrete. I meant every word of it. It was from the depths of my heart, and none of this was spoken with frivolity. Now let's look at verse 21, "...he who establisheth us with you in Christ, and the one who hath anointed us in that position is God Himself, who hath sealed us, and hath given the earnest, or the down payment of the Spirit, in our hearts." Now there's one other verse that is a perfect parallel to that, and there we have to go to the right a few pages to Ephesians chapter 1, and we've used this verse before on the program. I know we have. Ephesians chapter 1, and someday we'll be teaching the book verse by verse, a tremendous letter dealing with our position in the Body of Christ as believers. And now in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 13, and he says, "...in whom," that is in Christ, "...you also trusted, or placed your faith. After that you heard the word of truth," what's the word of truth? The Gospel of your salvation, "...again in Christ, in whom also, after you believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise." That is part and parcel again of our salvation experience, that we have been sealed, we have been marked by the person of the Holy Spirit Himself. Now verse 14, "...who 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. All right, so the indwelling Holy Spirit as a result of our salvation then is the down payment of our inheritance, which we're going to have by being joint heirs with Christ, and it's going to hold it until the redemption of the purchased possession under the praise of His glory. Now if I'm not mistaken, we dealt with this verse when we were back in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 on the great resurrection theme, and I pointed out that yes, soul and spirit is redeemed in full. We are saved, we are redeemed completely for all eternity, but only in the soul and spirit. 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 this is the beauty and the joy of resurrection that we're going to have a new body, and we went through that quite in detail back in 1 Corinthians. And so it's this same concept that Paul is adhering to in verse 22, when he says again, "...who hath sealed us, and he hath given us the earnest, or the down payment of the Spirit in our hearts. Moreover, I call God for a record upon my soul, that to spare you I came not as yet to Corinth." What's he saying? Hey, I didn't avoid you for frivolous reasons. I did not come to Corinth purposely so that I would not be more stringent in His reproof, and a letter would be a better kinder way of doing it. And so he just knew that time was not ripe for him to make a personal appearance amongst this congregation, and don't forget everything we learned in 1 Corinthians with all the problems and all the necessary reproofs that were brought upon that congregation. The Apostle was of course uptight, he was grieved, he was broken hearted over what was taking place at Corinth. And so this is all in the back of his mind, and of course the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. We never want to take anything away from that. Now then verse 24, and not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy, for by faith you stand. Now look at that verse again. Paul is not over lording 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. He is not standing over them in a totalitarian way, but 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 he could stand over them, and he could hold the whip over them, and make them adhere to everything 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. Now that brings up another verse. Turn over to the right again a little bit to Galatians chapter 5. 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, that you're not where you are because I have forced you there. You're not what you are because I'm standing over you with a heavy whip. No, even the Corinthians in their carnality were still enjoying Christian liberty, and a lot of so-called Christians today have no concept of that at all. They have no idea of what liberty in the Gospel of Grace amounts to. But you've got Galatians chapter 5 starting at verse 1, and he has just been again appealing to the Galatian believers, much like he does to the Corinthians, not to let the Judaizers destroy their faith. So he says in verse 1 of chapter 5, "...stand fast therefore with your feet in concrete, if I may use the example, stand fast 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 just lays down the law. That's not Christianity. True Christianity is liberty, and liberty I've always said, as long as I've been teaching, is not license. Liberty is not license. All right, now then let's come back to II Corinthians and let's move on into chapter 2, and again don't lose what I said in my introductory remarks in the last program, that in these first 6 chapters and 10 verses, in other words the chapter 6 verse 10, throughout these first 6 chapters Paul is going to be constantly defending and reminding the Corinthians of his apostleship as not tied to Jerusalem, not tied to Peter and the Twelve, but tied only to the Ascended Lord of Glory. Verse 1 of chapter 2, "...but I determined this with myself, that I would not come again to you in heaviness, or in much sorrow." Now here again his reasoning for not coming personally to the city of Corinth and meeting with the church, and using rather the process of writing a letter. Verse 2, "...for if I make you sorry," in other words if he would come down on them too hard, "...if I make you sorry, who is he then that maketh me glad, but the same who is made sorry by me?" In other words the human response is, if Paul would come down there, and just come down on these people, would he experience a joy in that kind of response? Well of course not. Verse 3, "...and I wrote this same unto you, lest when I came, I should have sorrow, or would grieve, from them of whom I ought to rejoice." In other words he would hear things taking place in the church that would make him sorry, instead of being able to hear things that would make him joyful. Verse 4, "...having confidence in you, that my joy is the joy of you all." In other words Paul's whole mental concept concerning this carnal church at Corinth, was that they could grow, and that they could become real trophies of God's grace, in spite of all the pressure. Now as I mentioned in the last program, don't ever lose sight of the fact that these early Christians, the moment they professed faith in Christ, they were under pressure. They were under pressure from the Jewish element, they were under pressure from the pagan element, and they were won out of a precious few. Oh so few of them were able to come into this liberty of Christianity. Now then verse 4, "...for out of much affliction, and anguish of heart," now he's not stretching, he's not overemphasizing, "...and in anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears." I was reading one commentary on the little letter, I think it was by the old Bible teacher Finley, if I remember, and he said he must have written this letter with a quill dipped in tears. And that's just about true. His heart was broken, he was in tears because of what he was hearing from the congregation at Corinth. "...and so with anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears, not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have for you more abundantly." Are you seeing the heart of this man? In spite of all their failures, contrary to his teaching and his doctrines, and they were failing so miserably, did he ever lose his love for them? No. And it was a constant battle in that early church. Now listen, remember where they'd come from. They had come out of abject paganism, with no moral foundations whatsoever, with no concept of the one true Creator God, and they were ignorant of all these things. They didn't have the Old Testament like Israel did, and so here they had just recently heard the apostle preach them the gospel of God's saving grace, and how they were now set at liberty, and yet to see that they hadn't really consummated all of the grace of God that would give them victory over their past lifestyle. And there's 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 this, that listen, you can't expect these people to all of a sudden live like Peter, James, and John did. It would take time. And so catch this as you read these verses. All right? Verse 5 of chapter 2, but if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part. Now the word in part here usually means a percentage or a fraction. In other words, it wasn't the whole congregation that was grieving him, but it was a percentage, a fraction. See? And so he says that I may not overcharge you all. Do you get that? So Paul is not saying I'm condemning the whole congregation, because they weren't all guilty, but there was that small percentage, and it was that percentage that was a grief of mine. All right? Now verse 6, "...sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many," or of, I think the Greek probably puts it plainer, the majority. Now when you have a majority, what else do you have? A minority. See? 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 suppose he's talking about when he says in verse 6, "...sufficient to such a man is this punishment, so that contrarywise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow." Do you all know who he's talking about? Well let's go back. Now be in I Corinthians chapter 5, and it was a gross situation. We touched on it lightly, because I realize I've got a lot of kids listening to my program, and I don't want to get overly explicit, but yet I guess most kids know more now than we did when we were 20. But here in chapter 5 of I Corinthians, here was one of the shortfalls of this congregation at Corinth. Verse 1, "...it is reported commonly that there is immorality among you, and such immorality as is not so much as named among the Gentiles that one should have his father's wife." Now he says even the Gentiles don't do anything that low. Verse 2, "...and ye have not rather mourned or grieved over this gross sin in their congregation, and that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. For I verily have judged or made up my mind already how to deal with this, as though I were present concerning him that hath so done this deed." Now here's what Paul is admonishing the congregation to do. In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together as a congregation, and with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such a one as this guilty man unto Satan, not for the destruction of his soul, but for the destruction of the flesh. In other words actually inflict him with a sickness, or maybe even 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 put this guy lost again? No, but he's in dire straits 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 I hope you can pick up what he says in II Corinthians chapter 2, verse 6 and 7. So sufficient to such a man that we just read about in I Corinthians 5, is this punishment or they're dealing with it, which was inflicted by 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 probably like a lot of liberals would probably do today. And they said, Oh after all, leave him alone, people are people. Now verse 7, so that contrary wise, or like I usually use the word, on the other hand, you ought rather to forgive him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with over much sorrow. Wherefore I beseech you that you would confirm your love toward him. Isn't that something? No, that's not an attitude that most of us would take, and even today that's what we're supposed to do. And someone is overtaken in a gross failure, what does the average Christian do? They smile about it, they joke about it, they never consider the fact that that person needs prayer, that person needs encouragement, that person needs forgiveness. Now I think I have time to look at another verse in Galatians that will probably put the frosting on the cake for this, and that's in Galatians chapter 6 verse 1. And I'm sure that this event in Corinth had a direct bearing on this verse in Galatians. It happened all the time, and it still does. But we can't just wink at it, we can't just glibly let it go its way, but we are to deal with these people and restore them. Galatians 6, verse 1, "...brethren," so who is he talking to? Believers, "...if a man be overtaken in a fault, he is fallen into a gross sin, you who are spiritual." In other words, the actual leaders of the congregation. Kick such a one out? No. What's the word? Restore, see? Restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be what? You see what it's saying? Anytime you come down in a harsh judgment on a fellow believer, who are you setting up to be the next one to fall? Yourself. Don't ever lose that. And so instead we're to, in that attitude that Paul had, the great apostle, he still says to the church of Corinth, forgive that man and continue to love him. And I think as we come to the end of the letter we'll find out that the church of Corinth did deal with it, and they did bring the man back into fellowship. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.