I invite you to take your bibles and turn once again, to Second Corinthians chapter three. What a joy it is to be able to look into the Word of God and see what he has for us every Lord’s Daymorning. I've entitled my discourse to you, "A Final Call to Repentance and Pronouncement of Blessing." This will be my final exposition - Paul’s letters to the Corinthians. I looked and saw according to our calendar, we began our study of First Corinthians on April 8, 2018 and so here we are now at the end of this journey. I hope that it has been encouraging and edifying to you. Some of you, I'm sure, are wondering, where are we going next? Well, beginning next week, we will start an in depth study of the book of Daniel in the Old Testament, extremely relevant, given all that we see happening in the world today, as we watch just the satanic takeover of our country with all of the wokeness and the Marxism that is part of the dogma of liberalism, and how refreshing it is to be able to look into Scripture and to behold the sovereignty of God, the one who rules supreme over all rulers and all nations. And as we look at the great prophecies of Daniel, we will understand even more clearly where we are, at least within reason in in terms of the history of the world and what we have to look forward to. The prophecies are astounding. There's like 100 in chapter 11 alone that have been fulfilled. And so when you look at all of these prophecies, we're just overwhelmed to see what God has done and what he will do. And so that's where we will start next week.

Now the Apostle Paul was certainly very familiar with the book of Daniel, as he was all of the Old Testament, and this helped fuel his passion. And as we've studied the Corinthian epistles, we've seen how God has worked through the life of the apostle Paul, especially in the church in Corinth - a church that had all kinds of problems; and we can be thankful to see what God did there. I want to just remind you of kind of the history once again before we look at these final few verses.

You will recall that on Paul's second missionary journey, he came to the city of Corinth, an exceedingly wicked, vile, pagan, idolatrous city, and he began by teaching in the synagogue, as he would often to do. He was assisted by two Jewish believers, Priscilla and Aquila, and then Silas and and Timothy join him. We read how most of the Jews rejected his gospel message. But in Acts 18, beginning in verse eight, we read this "Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his household, and many of the Corinthians, when they heard were believing and being baptized. And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, 'Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city.' And he settled there a year and six months teaching the word of God among them."

So by God's grace and by God's power, he establishes a church there in Corinth. However, it's interesting, as we have learned, he didn't use any of the marketing strategies of evangelical pragmatism like we see today, none of that. He did not try to soften his message. He did not try to sharpen his oratorical abilities so that he would fit in with the great speakers of that culture. He didn't try to appeal to social justice, to overcome resistance, no promises of prosperity, no political posturing, no compromising with other religions, no gimmicks, no entertainment, no conforming to the culture. All he did was unleash the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation. First Corinthians two, beginning in verse one, we read, "And when I came to you brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God."

Well, after he was there for about a year and a half, he was brought before a Roman tribunal by some of the Jewish leaders that were furious with him, but the case was dismissed because the charges were religious and not civil. But then Paul travels at that point, eight days back by sea, back to Ephesus, where he learns that the church in Corinth is filled with factious people - bickering, selfish, even immoral - they couldn't free themselves from much of what was going on in the culture, and certainly they had pseudo-believers in the church, as every church will have. Apollos comes there. He ministers for a while, but clicks are developing. "I'm of Paul, well, I'm of Apollos. Well, I'm of the Lord." All of that type of stuff was going on.

And hearing of their unrepentant sinfulness, and out of his love for Christ and out of his love for them, he writes a corrective letter. We don't have it. It's not inspired. It was called the "lost epistle." And then the Corinthians write back to him, asking for clarification, and at that point, he writes, First Corinthians.

Next, Paul sends Timothy to Corinth to assess the situation. But it was bad news. A lot of the sinful patterns were still there. People needed more correction. And to make matters worse, the false apostles had slithered into the church and were now making all kinds of false accusations against Paul and preaching a false gospel. And sadly, many of the people were being duped by their lies. And although he planned on staying in Ephesus a little while longer, when he hears of what's going on, he immediately departs for Corinth, eight days once again by sea, back to Corinth for what he calls "the painful visit." There, he was insulted, undoubtedly, by one of the false apostles and the rest of the people didn't come to his rescue, come to his defense. So he returns to Ephesus to give them time to repent. He's very patient with them. In Second Corinthians 1:23 says that he wanted to "spare them," and that's why he did not come again to Corinth. But they still did not repent. So when he receives word of their persistent rebellion, he writes another non-canonical letter. It was called "the severe letter,” confronting their sin, and he asked Titus to deliver it to them. Paul is so anxious to hear what their response would be that he was unable to minister. You will recall in Troas, even though the door had been opened up to him. So he goes to meet Titus in Macedonia to hear how they have responded. And fortunately, by God's grace, he finally gets some good news that most of them had repented, but not all of them.

Therefore, at that point, he writes Second Corinthians and continues to call them to repentance. And now we come to the very end of his letter. And throughout his inspired epistles, we see the character and attributes of God put on display, and we see them as well, manifested in the life and the ministry of the apostle Paul, and he confronts these people. Many of them, or at least some of them, were unregenerate. Others were truly born again, but they had been duped by these false apostles, and many of them remained unrepentant in their sins. According to chapter 12 and verse 20, he gives a list of them. They were still filled with strife, jealousy, angry tempers, disputes, slanders, gossip, arrogance, disturbances, and those who have sinned in the past and not repented of the impurity, immorality and sensuality which they have practiced. And that's what was still going on. And he's concerned about this. This prompted him to say, with utmost passion, as we studied last week, in verse five of chapter 13, "Test yourselves to see if you're in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you - unless indeed you fail the test?"

And last week, we examined some of the marks of genuine saving faith. There will be a brokenness over sin. There will be a belief and an understanding of the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. There will be genuine repentance - repentant faith in Christ. There will be a hungering and a thirsting for internal righteousness, not just external religiosity. There will be a joyful submission to the Lordship of Christ as he is revealed in his word. And then there will be a love for God and for others. And those who profess Christ as Savior and Lord, but live in a perpetual state of willful rebellion have no basis to make the claim that they are truly born again, regardless of their profession, regardless of their church affiliation, regardless of their service in the community or in the church, however authentic Christians, at times, can regress into a season of spiritual dullness and blindness. I think we've all been there. An old word that is used for that is "backsliding." That'd make a great title for a book. Wouldn't it "Backslide." That would be a best seller, I'm sure. But those who do, who are truly born again will experience God's discipline, because he disciplines those that he loves, his true sons, right? Hebrews 12, eight.

And of course, we all need to guard ourselves against the slippery slope of sin. It's so easy in our culture to abuse our Christian liberties and see how close to that slippery slope we can walk without sliding off, rather than saying, I want to stay as far from it as I possibly can. The psalmist said in Psalm 119, verse 10, "Do not let me wander from Thy commandments." I hope that is your prayer. James one, beginning in verse 14, we read, "Each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust is conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren." Paul tells us in Romans12, two, "Do not be conformed to this world." And Peter says in First Peter 1:14, "As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lust which were yours in ignorance, but be holy." Be holy in all your behavior.

Oh dear friends, never underestimate the power of the flesh, that unredeemed humanness that continues to lust after all of the temptations that Satan puts in the world. In John Bunyan's great work, The Pilgrims Progress, he describes the successive stages of backsliding in a phony Christian. And we can even see elements of this in true believers, but never as a perpetual state. Let me read what he said. The context is his friend Hopeful asks Christian to explain how this happens. And Bunyan, who's calling himself Christian, says this,

"I will try to explain," said Christian, "I believe it happens by degrees. First, they try as much as they can to pull their thoughts away from remembering God, death and the coming judgment. Then they gradually cast off their personal obligations, such as closet prayer, curbing their lust, being watchful, being sorry for sin, etcetera. Next, they begin to shun the company of active and zealous Christians. Then they grow indifferent to their public obligations, such as attending church and other gatherings of believers. After this, they start nitpicking it and look for the faults in other Christians. They find a flaw in them and thereby get an excuse to cast their faith behind their backs. Next, they often begin to run with a carnal, hedonistic crowd. After this, they give way to secret and profane discussions, and incidentally, they are glad if they can find those with good reputations. doing the same things. This enables them to use that person's example as an excuse to sin, then they can easily begin to play with little sins openly. Finally,being hardened, they show themselves as they are. Once again, they have been launched into the gulf of misery, and unless a miracle of grace prevents it, they will everlastingly perish in their own deceit."

Obviously, this kind of behavior is incompatible with the ministry of the Holy Spirit, who has imparted a new nature to every believer. But at times, we can fall into these things. The apostle John summarizes this in First John three, beginning in verse four, "Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him, there is no sin. No one who abides in Him sins, no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him. Little children make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. The one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. No one who was born of God practices sin because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin because He is born of God. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious:  anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother."

I would challenge you this morning that if you're living your life today as a professing Christian, but you're really just living for yourself, if you're living in sin, and as Bunyan was saying, you really have no fear of God or of judgment, and when you think about it, you don't want to hear it, because you're suppressing the truth in unrighteousness - if that is you - then I can assure you, you have no secret devotion to God. You have no desire to commune with Him in prayer and to open up his word and to meditate it upon it and apply it to your life. And also, you want to avoid being around godly people because they make you feel guilty. Some men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. You have no desire to really worship God, no desire to serve Christ. You have no interest in coming to Bible studies or small groups or Sunday school classes, or any of those types of things. After all, those things are boring to you, and if you do go to church, you want to find a man-centered church that will applaud your sin and give you plenty of liberty to live it out. And moreover, you have become an expert at spotting the speck in everybody else's eye, but you can't see the log in your own. And you will basically say to yourself, you know, I don't want to hang around those religious people. They're they're kind of stuffy, you know, they're legalistic. They believe all that, all that crazy stuff, you know, I want to hang out with people who are liberated, you know, and smart and fun to be around. You know, like the types that hang out at the mall and at the parking lot and who like to get high and who like to party. That's your attitude. So you run with the ungodly and the worldly, and you begin to talk like them. You begin to think like them, you begin to share their values. You begin to even look like them. You become emboldened in your sin. You begin to live it in such a way that you flaunt it. And then, if anyone dares to suggest to you that what you're doing is dishonoring to God, oh my, he will attack them. Your heart becomes so hardened by the deceitfulness of sin that it betrays your true identity. Once your hypocrisy is exposed, you think, Oh, that's okay. I'm just going to be who I want to be. I don't really care. And at that point, God, if he hasn't already, will give you over to the consequences of your iniquity, and you will live out the depravity of your heart, until one day you die and experience the eternal torment that is the fate of all who perish in their sins.

Well, this was Paul's great concern, dear friends. This was his concern for the church at Corinth. This is my concern for you. This is the concern of every faithful pastor, every faithful elder, every faithful parent and Sunday school teacher, whatever your ministry is. And this leads us to his final words, which is our text this morning, found in chapter 13, beginning in verse seven. Let me read them to you.

"Now we pray to God that you do no wrong; not that we ourselves may appear approved, but that you may do what is right, even though we may appear unapproved.

For we can do nothing against the truth, but only for the truth.

For we rejoice when we ourselves are weak, but you are strong; this we also pray for, that you be made complete.

For this reason, I am writing these things while absent, so that when I that, so that when present, I need not use severity in accordance with the authority which the Lord gave me for building up and not for tearing down.

Finally, brethren, rejoice, be made complete, be comforted. Be like- minded, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.

Greet one another with a holy kiss.

All the saints greet you.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all."

Now, we can all be instructed and encouraged by what Paul says here at the close of this epistle. Here we see his heart, and therefore we see the heart of Christ, especially as we examine basically three things. I've tried to make this very easy. I hope that this little outline will be helpful. What we see here, number one, is a prayer for repentance. Secondly, a call to maturity, and finally, a benediction of blessing. So let's look at this closely.

First of all, a prayer for repentance, verse seven. "Now we pray to God that you do no wrong." I want to pause here for a moment. I fear that this is seldom practiced in the realm of discipline, maybe even at times, with our children, certainly in the church. Too often, we are premature, even with a loving rebuke. Too often we fail to prepare the soil of a person's heart by asking the Spirit of God to soften them before we come to them in gentleness trying to restore them. I would ask you, parents, how many times do you spend coming together with your husband or with your wife, getting on your knees before the Lord, praying that you would have wisdom to know how to discipline and instruct your child, especially a wayward child? How much time do you give to praying that the Spirit of God would soften that heart to receive the truth? Beloved, never forget that, unless the spirit softens the heart, it will remain hardened, even when it comes to hearing gentle, gracious rebuke. For it is the Spirit that, according to what Jesus said in John 16, eight, "convicts the world." It is the spirit that convicts the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.

In Colossians, one you will recall Paul said this in verse nine, "...we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding." Is that the prayer of your heart? "So that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience." So again, in verse seven, he says, "Now we pray to God that you do no wrong, not that we ourselves may appear approved..." In other words, we're not praying here that my character and my apostolic authority and all these attacks against my reputation will be vindicated. That's not my my concern here. But he says, "that you may do what is right, even though we may appear unapproved." Verse eight, "For we do nothing against the truth, but only for the truth." Here, the Greek term for truth, especially in this context and other places, refers to the divinely revealed truth of Scripture, the word of God, the inspired, infallible, inerrant, authoritative, all sufficient word of the living God recorded in the canon of Scripture. And what an illustration here of selfless love, isn't it? His passion is for their purity, not for his reputation. Would that we all be so motivated to see others, as Paul says, "do what is right" in the eyes of God. Do what is right in the eyes of God for the glory of God and o, the tragedy of indifference towards spiritual authority. I've seen it over the years, I've seen it in my life. I've seen it in the church. I mean, think about it, what manner of selfishness mitigates one's burden for the lost? What kind of a person would have apathy for those living in sin, knowing full well that they're walking towards a cliff of destruction, they're going to fall headlong into a life of misery.

We watch some of our young people doing things that are absolutely unbiblical, and we kind of smile and say, Oh, that's just kids for you, or we see somebody else that we know living in such a way that is truly dishonoring to the Lord. But we don't pray about that, and we don't try to look for an opportunity to come alongside them and restore them in a spirit of gentleness. Folks, that's not at all how we should be. We should know that for believers living in sin, they're going to forfeit divine blessing. They're going to place themselves in the pathway of divine chastening. They're even going to forfeit eternal reward. And for unbelievers, you know, there's pleasure in sin, right? It's what the Bible said, there's pleasure in sin. For how long? For a season. There's a way that seems right to a man, but the end is death. For the manifold sorrows of a person living apart from Christ and as they enjoy all of the things of this world, as they live for themselves, little by little, their life becomes increasingly filled with misery, and one day, they will realize that all that they have experienced is merely a foretaste of an eternal hell.

How many times I've seen broken hearted parents blame themselves for a child that they fail to discipline, when that child, as I had not too long ago, has died because of an overdose. Oh, dear friends, this is so important we need to pray, as Paul did for repentance.

Secondly, we see him calling them to maturity again, verse nine. "For we rejoice when we ourselves are weak, but you are strong..." Now, mind you, he's using some sarcasm here. Once again, it's as if he's saying, hey, look, it's okay if you see me as weak, if you see me as as ineffective, as unapproved, and so forth, like these characters have been describing me. You know I know the truth. God knows the truth, and I also know that strength is perfected in weaknesses, right? And yeah, I am weak in some things, but I'm strong in the Spirit, because I'm holding to the truth and loving you as God would have me. So my concern here is not really how you see me, but that you would be strong in the Lord.

And you know this kind of self-effacing humility is really the hallmark of Paul's ministry. We see it throughout his epistles, and then he says this, "We also pray for, that you may be made complete." That you may be made complete - an interesting term in the original language. It comes from the Greek verb "katartizo", which means complete. You could translate it "perfect" or "fitting," and thus, you know, to put things in order, carrying the idea of restoring something to its former condition or its proper condition. But it can also mean "to prepare” or "to train" or "to equip." In fact, it was used as a medical term to describe the setting of a bone. It was also a political term, referring to reconciling warring factions. In Galatians six one, it's used to describe restoring a sinning believer to a pure and proper devotion to God. In Ephesians 4:12, Paul uses the noun "katartismos". In that text, he says "God gave pastors and teachers for the..." here it is, "equipping." In other words, the perfecting, the training, "of the saints for the work of service. To the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ."

So here in this text, in chapter 13 and verse nine, Paul is saying this, we also pray for that you be we could translate it this way, wait restored to a right fellowship with God and one another, or that you may be perfected in your pure devotion to God, that you may be brought to a place of Christian maturity. Grammatically, by the way, the word "you" there is in Greek, it's in the emphatic position, which underscores his selfless priority. He wants "you," I mean, that "you" may be made complete. That's his priority. And I mean, he was passionate about their restoration. He was passionate about their perfection, their maturity, their completeness, not his own vindication.

We see this as well in his words to the Galatians. In Galatians 4:19, there, he says, "My children, with whom I'm again in labor until Christ is formed in you." What a great analogy like a woman who is enduring the pains of giving birth, he was willing to endure the inevitable sorrows and difficulties and frustrations of ministry that Christ might be formed in them and be birthed in such glory that visible likeness of Christ could be seen in them by everyone. So indeed, when Paul says "This we also pray for, that you may be made complete." This is a call to Christian maturity, which, again, has already been bathed in prayer.

And again, parents, I trust it is your great priority to pray for your children to be made complete. Sunday school teachers, youth leaders, camp counselors, whatever your ministry is, we need to pray for those within the sphere of our influence. In fact, Paul went on to say in Ephesians, four, "speaking the truth in love.." and here's why, verse 15, "that they might grow up in all aspects into him who is the head even Christ." And Paul perfectly summarized this in Colossians, one verse 28 "We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ."  Same concept. "For this purpose, also I labor, striving according to His power which mightily works within me." And I must say, as I was thinking about this last week, there is never, ever a day that goes by that I don't thank the Lord for a church filled of people who are mature in Christ, who are complete in Christ. My what a privilege, what a joy, but how sad it is to talk with pastors that I know - some in other parts of the world - that don't enjoy that; that have a church filled with people that is much more akin to what was going on in Corinth, people that have just never grown up. They just remain babes in Christ.

But know this, dear friends, mature believers must labor. We must strive to help others grow in Christ. It doesn't just happen. It's not just me that needs to try to do that. We all are part of the body. And that's why he said in Colossians 1:29, "For this purpose also, I labor; striving according to His power, which mightily works within me." He went on to express this, by the way, in chapter two of Colossians, let me read you those seven verses there. He says,

"For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf, and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face, that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God's mystery, that is Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."

See, that was the passion of his heart, and it must be the passion of our heart as well. So much of a passion that we would pray that God would give us opportunity, and pray that those that we speak with, those that we teach, would have ears to hear. He went on to say,

"I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument. For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ. Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude."  

Now mind you, while the fruit of true spirituality will always and naturally grow on the vine of genuine saving faith, nevertheless, the Father will use his under shepherds. He will use others within the body of Christ to help prune the vine, to help nourish the vine, so that it will bear more fruit, so that together we can present every man and every woman complete in Christ. And in this passage that I just read in Colossians two, Paul gives us an abbreviated list of what this would include what this will look like. As I have written elsewhere, he's praying for a heart that is strengthened by the Holy Spirit to courageously endure the difficulties of life and enjoy all that is theirs in Christ Jesus, in verse two. Also in verse two, that they would have a fervency and self-sacrificing love for God and fellow believers in the body of Christ. And then also, in verse two through verse five, that they would have a complete understanding and application of biblical truth that leads to the assurance of salvation and confidence in the truths of the gospel, especially the deity and sufficiency of Christ.

And finally, in verses six through seven, that they would have a walk with Christ that manifests a living union with him and an increasing likeness to him, and also a heart that overflows with gratitude to God as the gracious and glorious author of all the blessings of his saving grace. And beloved, I would ask you, do you share these priorities? Are these the passions of your heart? I hope they are. Are these the types of things that you pray for, as you endeavor to influence those within the sphere of relationships that God has given you? And if these things are foreign to you, if you have no desire to impart these things and to pray for these things, I would have to ask you, what is wrong with your faith? What do you not understand about what God has commanded us to do? If I can say this in all love, you need to grow up. You need to quit being a baby Christian. You need to get serious about your faith. Oh, dear child of God, get serious about the responsibilities that God has given to you, especially within the context of your family. I mean, isn't it amazing when you stop and think about it once again, these are responsibilities that we have as being part of the family of God. All of us in our family, we all have responsibilities in a family, right? And if you don't, there's something wrong. Of course, there's always that kid that doesn't want to take out the garbage. I get that. But we all have responsibilities within the family of God, and this is part of what that looks like.

Moreover, we are the privileged slaves of a loving master. We are to serve Him, and we're also undeserving subjects of our Sovereign King, who is coming again. So we need to get serious about those things that God has called us to do. Now, to be sure, Paul understood these things and he cherished this privilege. He took responsibility to shepherd his flock very seriously. Notice verse 10, "For this reason, I am writing these things while absent, so that when I present, when so that when present I need not use severity, in accordance with the authority which the Lord gave me for building up and not for tearing down." Again, this was the prayer and the passion of the apostle's heart that they might repent and thus eliminate the need for him to exercise his apostolic authority as an apostle to discipline them - those that lived in persistent rebellion.

And then he uses five exhortations here, five final exhortations. Notice what he says in verse 11. "Finally, brethren rejoice." I want you to rejoice. I want you to choose to do this. It's an imperative here. Yes, I know things can be tough and difficult, but you need to rejoice. Comes from the Greek word "chairō." It means, literally, to feel happiness, to - despite all of the difficulties - experience the joy of the Lord. And that joy comes not from circumstances, it comes from a deep understanding and faith in the truth of who God is. So he says, I want you to rejoice.

Secondly, "be made complete." Here it is again. It's an imperative. It's a command, it's not a suggestion. In other words, folks, I want you to set yourself in order. I want you to be restored to a right relationship with God and with others. I want you to be perfected in your pure devotion to God. Basically, he's saying, I want you to grow up as Christians. I want you to grow into spiritual maturity.

And then he says, "be comforted." "Parakaleō" - this is an interesting piece of exegesis here. The rendering of this verb is "be comforted" or "be encouraged." And in the New American Standard and other texts it's translated in in the middle voice. But I believe, as do others, that it's better translated in the passive sense. And it's means "be exhorted”; heed my expectations, accept my admonition.

And then he also adds, "be like-minded." "Phroneō" - literally means, I want you to think the same thing, alright? Think the same thing. Have the same convictions about doctrinal truths; those things that I have taught you. The same term is used in Philippians four two, when Paul says, "I urge Euodia and I urge Syntache to live..." here it is, "...in harmony with the Lord." In harmony in the Lord. In Romans five, I'm sorry, Romans 15, beginning in verse four, Paul says, "For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope. Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement..."  catch this now, "grant you to be of the same mind." There's the same term, "...grant you to be of the same mind with one another, according to Christ Jesus, so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Now I want to give a caution here. This is not a call to ecumenism, the idea of widening the gate of biblical orthodoxy, so everybody that fogs a mirror and says they believe in God and they love Jesus can be considered a Christian and we can all just get along. Nor is it a call to compromise so that you can have more respect in the field of academia that is constantly pushing for pluralism. Folks, the spiritual authenticity of the true church can be most visibly seen in the Protestant Church of the Reformation. And sadly, over the years, we've seen that just crumble as Christians - sometimes well meaning - have wanted to have unity so bad with other people that they're willing to compromise. And historically, whenever biblical New Testament, shall we say fundamentalism, has embraced liberalism, especially by denying the inspiration of Scripture and the inerrancy of Scripture, the results have been devastating. All you have to do is look at Europe and see that.

So he says, be like-minded. And again, this doesn't mean that you're going to you need to compromise Bible doctrine here by reducing it to its lowest common denominator so that we can join with Roman Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox and the charismatic extremists and all of the liberals and join hands and sing Kumbaya around the fire. That's not what he's talking about. Moreover, as Christians, we must never become co-belligerents with apostate religious systems that claim to be Christian and join them in fighting against political issues, or whatever. Jeremiah Johnson said it well, quote, "Ecumenism is not true unity. It's a lie agreed upon. One that inoculates lost souls to the life transforming truth of the gospel. And as the world becomes increasingly pluralistic, believers need to be committed to protecting the purity of the gospel, resisting the world's urging to mix it with error. We need to keep clear in our minds the black and white distinction between truth and error, and not succumb to the influence of an increasingly gray world."

Very well put. And then the final command here is "live in peace." And of course, when you're doing the rest of what he said, this is what's going to happen. There's going to be true Spirit-empowered unity as people obey the will of God. So again, as we examine these closing lines, we just see the apostles loyalty and love.

And finally, he closes with a benediction of blessing, he says, "And the God of love and peace will be with you." What an amazing thought, just to meditate upon this. God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. I mean, what else can you say? This is what he wants them to reflect upon and to enjoy. And also, I think of Romans, five, one, "Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." What is justification? It's being declared righteous on the basis of the imputed righteousness of Christ that comes by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. And once we are declared righteous, what happens? We are at peace with God. The war is over. He's not talking about a subjective peace. You know, there's all kinds of ways of getting subjective peace. What he's talking about here is objective peace - having been justified by faith.

And so he says, and the God of love and peace will be with you. What a great thing to know that we are at peace with God, right? Oh my. Then he says, "Greet one another with a holy kiss." That was a visible expression of fellowship in the Near East, typically combined with a hug; an important way of demonstrating their fellowship with one another, which was important. And so many of them were factious and fighting against one another.

And then he says, "All the saints greet you." And we know that this is especially true of the saints at Macedonia in Philippi, the place where he pinned this letter. And so those saints are saying, you know, say hi to our brothers and sisters in Corinth.

And then the final benediction, one that invokes the blessing of the Triune Godhead, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all."

Now you might be wondering, did they repent? Were they restored? Well, apparently, yes. We believe this, because we know that he visited them a third time as promised, where he spent three months there. We read about that in Acts 20, verses two and three. And we also know that Paul wrote his epistle to the Romans during that stay, when he went to visit them. And if there was still an ongoing problem there, undoubtedly, he would have said something in his epistle to the Romans. Moreover, in Romans 15 verses, 26 through 27 he indicates how the Achaeans, where Corinth would have been, responded to his plea for financial aid for the Jewish believers in in Jerusalem.

So, there you have it. What a magnificent illustration of how our Lord's promise to build his church is manifested. And aren't you thankful that we are also recipients of that same promise? Let's pray together, Father, thank you for these eternal truths. Thank you for your word. Thank you for what you did in ancient Corinth. And Lord, to know that someday in glory, we will be able to meet those saints, and somehow, by your power, we will know who they are. They will know who we are and we will enter into eternal fellowship with them, Lord, thank you for what you're doing here at Calvary Bible Church. Continue to grow us into maturity. Help us all to be complete in Christ by your power and for your glory. To that end, I pray with thanksgiving in Jesus' name, amen.