Promises, Privileges, Prospects of a Christian

Driving home: And the emphasis falls upon the uniqueness of Christ's relationship to the Father as His own Son. The One with whom there was an eternal and indescribable relationship of communion and of love.

Paul's statement in 2 Corinthians 13:2, 'if I come again, I will not spare,' illustrates the meaning of 'spare' as withholding chastisement from a disobedient child, applied to spiritual correction.

Now what does the word spare mean? Well in this context, it means to withhold a measure of the chastisement due to a disobedient child, or the punishment due to a guilty criminal. This word spare is the word that Paul used in 2 Corinthians 13 when dealing as a spiritual father with the Corinthians. He wrote to them and used this word in 2 Corinthians 13, verse 2b, that if I come again, I will not spare.

8:27 - 9:02 Read in full sermon

Driving home: And the emphasis falls upon the uniqueness of Christ's relationship to the Father as His own Son. The One with whom there was an eternal and indescribable relationship of communion and of love.

The example of God not sparing sinful angels in 2 Peter 2:4-5 illustrates that God brings deserved punishment upon those who rebel, keeping them in chains for judgment.

In other words, he says, if I come, and I find that you've not dealt with the things that you ought to deal with as a loving, wise, but principled Father, I've spoken to you with words, I will come with a spiritual rod of correction, and I will not spare you. I will not withhold. I will not refrain myself from the spiritual chastisement that your actions deserve. It's the same word used in 2 Peter 2, verses 4 and 5, where God spared not the angels that sin.

9:02 - 9:40 Read in full sermon

Driving home: And the emphasis falls upon the uniqueness of Christ's relationship to the Father as His own Son. The One with whom there was an eternal and indescribable relationship of communion and of love.

The example of God not sparing the generation in Noah's day, leading to the flood, illustrates God's determination to bring the full weight of His judgment without withholding it.

When innocent angels become guilty, criminal, rebellious angels, they deserve the punishment of God. He did not spare them. He brought that punishment upon them, and the Scriptures tell us that they are kept in chains awaiting the judgment of the last day. In verse 5, it is said that he spared not the generation in Noah's day.

9:40 - 10:05 Read in full sermon

The point: If you won't use your God-given head to think the way God thinks and the way He's revealed His thought in Scripture, you're doomed to be an unstable Christian.

The analogy of a student solving advanced calculus problems and then being able to do simple addition illustrates the logical principle of arguing from the greater to the lesser, which Paul uses in Romans 8:32.

And you can't hear the word of God and read the word of God when He has logical constructions without thinking logically. And we do this all the time if you're sitting in the class and there's a student who cycles around the class as if he's a drunk or a lunatic. a complex problem in advanced calculus. And then you had a little simple addition to do in order to know how much you owed someone in a loan that you made.

15:02 - 15:23 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The greatest thing God can give in pursuit of your salvation and mine is the gift of His own Son.

The example of desiring a new Cadillac and misinterpreting 'all things' as material wealth illustrates a common misapplication of the text by the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel, which contradicts the reality of Christian suffering.

How shall He not with Him freely give us all things? And the all things are not the new Cadillac that you happen to see and say, boy, I'd like that. And God says He spared not His Son. He'll give me all things.

17:48 - 18:03 Read in full sermon

Driving home: But this word means to give gratuitously. To give as an expression of grace. To give without money, without price. To give to the undeserving and the ill-deserving. That's how He gives.

The metaphor that all lesser gifts come 'strapped to the belt of our Lord Jesus' illustrates that if we have Christ, we inherently have all other necessary things in Him.

And shall He not notice, give with Him. With Him. If He's given the greatest, all lesser gifts come as it were. We're strapped to the belt of our Lord Jesus.

21:09 - 21:21 Read in full sermon