Will you take your Bibles and turn to Second Corinthians chapter three. We continue to make our way through this epistle; we're going to be looking at the first six verses, under the heading "Five Marks of a True Shepherd." That's where we are in our study of Second Corinthians and I might add that this is going to be encouraging to all of you and instructive to all of you, not just to pastors or to elders. Before I read the text, let me remind you of the context. It's so important.

The Corinthians, as you will recall, we're in love with the wisdom of man, philosophy. They loved that and that was their form of entertainment. And rather than having their favorite football team or their favorite basketball team, or whatever, they attach themselves to their favorite philosopher, kinda like political parties or whatever. And so a skilled orator would move an audience with their soaring rhetoric. And of course, they were doing it to make money. And people naturally we're attracted to their favorite orator or their favorite preacher in Corinth. Remember that as well, I've of Paul, I'm of Apollos, and so forth. Well, naturally, with the growth of Christianity, comes the growth of people that are interested in it and want to know how they can make a buck off of it. And so that's what happened. This caught the attention of these characters who had superficially attached themselves to the church. We believe that the ones that came to Corinth were probably from Jerusalem; I'll maybe hint about that a little bit more later. But certainly everybody was aware of the miracles that Jesus had done. It was well known. So people were fascinated with this. And I might add that every church is a magnet to every weirdo and nut job and con artists and false teacher in the world.

So Satan dispatches these greedy, unscrupulous men, mostly Judaizers, to hound the apostles, and to infiltrate the churches. Now, remember, the Judaizers were ones that they accepted some of the new covenant, but they wanted to mix the Old Covenant in with it. And so, in order to be saved, you had to also be circumcised, you had to do the Jewish rituals and, and all of those types of things. So they would impose all of this Judaism on to these new Gentile converts. And so these false teachers had drifted into the church with their phony letters of commendation that they had received from some other church and they come into the church and they begin to con the people there in Corinth and that's what they would typically do with other churches as well. They would get a letter of commendation whether it was phony, or maybe it was real that some of the people in the church had given them a letter, they would go to the next church and they'd begin to ply their trade in that church. And Paul said that they were guilty of quote "peddling the Word of God" in chapter two verse 17. They were con artists; they were shuck stirs they were they were charlatans. And Jesus warned about them, as well as the apostles, for example in Second, Peter and Jude in particular, you read much about the character of these people. In Second Peter two beginning of verse one, here's how Peter described them, "But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them, the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed, they will exploit you with false words." And of course, there's 1000s of these kinds of people today, men and women. They are entrepreneurs. They are not divinely called and gifted shepherds serving Christ. In fact, all women preachers are self-appointed. God has not called them; they are forbidden to be in that position. The New Testament is so clear about that. But these people were all over the place then, they're all over the place today. I've got one guy that follows me on the internet and he's trying to make noise about how that the cross is the mark of the beast, and all kinds of bizarre things. I mean, you just get these crazy people, especially on the internet. Well, this was what was happening in Corinth.

Now mind you, Paul had been there for 18 months, these people knew who he was. And he had led many of them to Christ. But after he departed, the wolves started to come in. The shepherd leaves, now you've got wolves coming in to devour the sheep, and they viciously attack Paul's character in his absence. And of course, there was a main guy, who we believe is Paul's thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan. So they challenged his apostolic authority; they challenged his competency as a pastor. And unfortunately, some of the people bought the lies. And this was heartbreaking to Paul, to know that there were people that he loved, that he had led to Christ and that he had disciples that were suddenly believing these demonic lies. And so in this passage before us, he continues to offer a defense not so much for himself personally, as for the sake of the Gospel, for the glory of God, he doesn't want them to be led astray.

So anticipating that his adversaries would spin everything that he would say, in their favor, in their advantage, and accuse him of being arrogant and self-promoting, here's what he says, and this is our text, Second Corinthians three, verse one, "Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some, letters of commendation to you or from you? You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts. Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of the new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."

Now, we all know that defending your integrity from scurrilous, slanderous attacks is very difficult. You know how it works, even with a business, you can have 1000 satisfied customers, and have four or five dissatisfied customers, and guess who makes the most noise, right? And in fact, now, there's a whole industry of reputation restoration out there where they can somehow help you retrieve your good name. And I know what it's like, I've been called just about everything, it tends to go in one ear and out the other. But when the people of Calvary Bible Church began to believe a lie, now that's different. That's when I must defend not just my integrity, or the integrity of the elders, or of the church, but actually, for the sake of the gospel, we must defend from the lies. You know, "The first to plead his case seems right," Proverbs 18:17, "until another comes in examines him." And although truth and time walk hand in hand, sometimes you have to accelerate that process. And that's what's going on here with Paul and he does this so brilliantly, obviously, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. But from this portion of his defense, we are able to glean some fascinating insights into the marks of a true shepherd.

By the way, this is the type of information that every pastoral search committee and every person looking for a church should know very well. So I've broken it down into five categories for you that I hope will be helpful. The life and ministry of a true shepherd will be marked by five things, number one, a virtuous reputation. Secondly, a fruitful ministry. Number three, a confident calling. Number four, a godly presence. And number five, a new covenant message.

So let's look closely at what the Holy Spirit is revealed to us through his inspired apostle. I want you to notice first in verse one that Paul asks them two questions. And both of them require a negative answer. He wants them to rebuff the allegations of the false apostles on their own. Especially the allegation that somehow, he's arrogant, that he's self-promoting, that he's tooting his own horn. And I'm sure they're capitalizing on some of the things that he said earlier. For example, in First Corinthians, he has to assert his apostolic authority, because they were believing lies, and this this was important, it was necessary for correcting error. But notice what he says in verse one, "Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? The word "command" means "to introduce" or "to recommend, " to recommend a person as worthy of high regard of acceptance. I've written many letters of recommendation, he says, do we have to do this again? Really? Is this what's going on? He goes on to say, "Or do we need, as some, letters of commendation to you or from you?" Now, you might wonder, why is he using the word we when he's talking about himself? Well, that was a customary literary device. It's called the "editorial we" rather than saying "I," it was a way of kind of being humble and self-effacing in the communication. But he's asking them to make an honest evaluation of his character based upon the 18 months that he had been with them. In fact, he's saying really? After all, that you saw when I was with you, you think my character is in question? You're believing what these people are saying about me? Now, they were used to receiving letters of commendation. We know for example, in Acts 18, verse 27, there's a description there of a letter of recommendation that the church received at Corinth, from Ephesus, regarding Apollos to come to them. Verse two, he says, "Are we beginning to commend ourselves again?" The answer, of course, is no. "Or do we need a some letters of commendation to you or from you?"

Now, evidently, the false apostles told them that he lacked the proper official letters of commendation, which were customary in that day. And it's customary in these days when you don't know something about other people, and they need to be properly introduced. So these wolves probably came from Jerusalem originally, we get a hint about this, and Acts 15:24. But they present some kind of phony letters of commendation. And here in the second part of verse two, we see that they wanted the Corinthians to give them letters of commendation so that they could use them to go on to the next church to do the same type of thing. By the way, Paul addresses this in Second Corinthians five, verse 12. He says, "We are not again commending ourselves to you but are giving you an occasion to be proud of us, so that you will have an answer for those who take pride in appearance and not in heart." And in chapter 10 and verse 12, he adds, "For we're not bold to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves; but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding." And in verse 18, he went on to say, "For it is not he who commends himself that is approved, but he whom the Lord commends." Beloved, from this, we can clearly see that the life and ministry of a true shepherd will first be marked by a virtuous reputation. Everybody that knows that man will know who he really is based upon the pattern of his life. And Paul's life was not marked by self-promotion, not marked by arrogance, or by greed or anything else as he had been scurrilously charged by his opponents. A man's life and a man's ministry must and will speak for itself, as he will go on to say, in fact, he says in First Timothy three two that, "An overseer, then, must be above reproach"--referring to elders, pastors, elders, got to be above reproach--"the husband of one wife," meaning them must be devoted to their wife and not a womanizer, must be "temperate, prudent, respectable...free from the love of money." It goes on to say, verse seven, "He must have a good reputation with those outside the church."

Well, certainly Paul's conscience was clear on all of this, as he stated in chapter one and verse 12. He says, "For our proud confidence is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom, but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you." You see, Paul's life and his ministry, were beyond reproach. He had a virtuous reputation. He had no desire for wealth, he had no desire for fame. He wasn't trying to build a ministry empire; he wasn't trying to build a mega church. Boy, he could have done that with all of his giftedness, and with his apostolic powers, but that wasn't what he was about. He was gladly willing to suffer for Christ and serve him faithfully and sacrificially in obscurity.

You know, there are many examples of men and women, especially missionaries, who have done the same pastors as well. I'm currently reading a powerful biography, that I would encourage you all to read. It's a biography of a 19th century Scottish Minister, the name of the book is "The Pastor of Kilsyth: The Life and Times of W. H. Burns: Kilsyth, by the way is k i l s y t h and it was written by Islay Burns, who was his son, and his son lived between 1817 and 1872. You say, well, my goodness, I've never heard of W. H. Burns. Well, that's exactly the point. He won't show up on a Google search, except with reference to this book. He served Christ faithfully in obscurity in rural Scotland, from 1800 until the Lord took him home in 1859. Talk about a virtuous reputation. On the jacket of that book, it says this "In a celebrity driven age, (from which the evangelical church is far from exempt), this is exactly the kind of life that ministers, especially young ministers would do well to study. For it is good to be reminded of the beauty, dignity and ultimately, the glory of humble, obscure Christian service (Matthew 10:42). While there is needed times for towering leaders such as John Calvin, and John Knox, it is nevertheless true that the great work of the church is ultimately carried forward by those who receive little earthly reward and recognition (but whose reward in heaven is great). William H. Burns, the pastor of Kilsyth was one of these, and we need many more like him in our day." Folks, this was the heart of the apostle Paul and his life. And his ministry validated the integrity of his heart, and he needed no further commendation apart from a just as virtuous life. You want to ask yourself, can I be characterized in that way?

Well, the life and ministry of a true shepherd will be marked not only by a virtuous reputation, but secondly, a fruitful ministry. Notice again, verse two, "You are our letter, written in our hearts." That's a phrase denoting his great love for them. "Known and read by all men; being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the Living God, and not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts."

Now, this, of course, is consistent with God's covenant promises given to the Prophets, especially Jeremiah, for example, a new covenant promise, remember, and Jeremiah 31, verse 33, "'But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,' declares the Lord," here it is, "'I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God and they shall be My people.'" And certainly Paul is harkening back to that great truth; that great promise the Lord spoke to Ezekiel as well. Ezekiel 11, beginning of verse 19, "And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes, and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God."

So Paul is saying to the saints in Corinth, the Spirit of God has written his letter of commendation for me, he has written it on your hearts--the ones that he has saved, that he is transformed by the word of Christ that I preached to you. By the way, this was a letter the false teachers did not have right. They did not have a fruitful ministry. In first Corinthians two chapter four, or chapter two, verse four, Paul said this, "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." O, dear Christian, there is no greater evidence of the power of the gospel than men and women whose lives have been transformed by it. Nor is there any greater authentication of a man's ministry than seeing those that he has shepherded; to see lives that have been changed by the power of Christ--saints who are born again; that's the great power of regeneration--when the spirit breathes life into our spiritual corpses and he raises us from spiritual death to spiritual life. It makes us new creatures in Christ. All of the old things that once appealed to our flesh, no longer do; these new things have come. And now we begin to walk by the Spirit. That's so different than the Christless Christianity that we typically see today. This cultural Christianity, this phony churchianity, where people are Christian in name only. They say they're born again but there's nothing in their life that would validate that. You know, it's like being pregnant. You either are or you're not, right? And if you're pregnant, it's going to show there's going to be evidence of that. And if you're not pregnant, there's going to be evidence that you're; it's the same thing with Christianity. You know, you say you belong to Christ, then let's see the fruit of Christ's likeness in your life. The fruits of the Spirit--love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. That's the only letter that Paul needed--the fruit of his ministry, and that's what was going on with many of those dear saints, even though some of them had been snookered by these false teachers. The only letter Paul needed was a fruitful ministry of transformed lives that loved Christ. Remember, First Thessalonians chapter one, verse five, Paul said this, "For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in," catch this, "power and in the Holy Spirit." You see, he's the one that causes us to be born again. Verse eight, he goes on to say, "For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything. For they themselves, report about us what kind of reception we had with you, and how you turn to God from idols to serve a living and true God." Folks, this is the power of a fruitful ministry that results when a man of God preaches the transforming truths of the gospel; the Spirit of God changes people. First Thessalonians two verse 13, he says, "For this reason, we also constantly thank God that when you received the Word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe." Folks, if you want to measure a minister, look at the fruits of his ministry. It's real simple. Don't look at his popularity, don't look at the size of his church. Don't look at all the numbers of special ministries that are offered. My goodness, if that was the criteria, Jesus and the apostles fell woefully short of all of that; they would have been considered miserable failures in our culture. Look at the people that that man shepherds; men and women who have the mind of Christ, who love Christ and serve Christ. And when you look at their lives, they manifest Christ. It's fascinating. So think about it, in the New Testament, Christ, praised God. For virtues, I should say in the New Testament, well, yes, no, that's it is what I want to say Christ did give praise to God for virtues that in many ways we don't even think about in our culture these days. I mean, most people attend churches based upon what their kids want. You know, this is like asking your kids to develop their own educational curriculum and how they want to study. My goodness, can you imagine what that would be like? I mean, by the time they're 12 years old, they'd weigh 300 pounds, they would be totally illiterate. And all they could do is look at screens and press buttons. I mean, that would be their life. Proverbs 22:15 says that "Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child." And we know that a fool has no fear of God. That's where unsaved kids are. And the fear of God is the beginning of what? Beginning of wisdom. So really, you're going to let a child decide where you're going to grow and be fed and worship Christ? Well, a lot of churches understand that's how people think. So they try to create their own version of Disneyland, where children and youth are going to be excited, because that is, if you read any of the church growth movement today, they will tell you that if you want to grow your church, you must focused on children's and youth ministries. That is the key to church growth. And my response is biblically, that is the key to spiritual immaturity. Parents and adults never grow into spiritual maturity in those types of churches. Those types of churches will constantly be attracting unbelievers, the church will fill up with unbelievers. Many times, you hear them say, well, we want to church the unchurched. Well, really the unchurched are those people that are for the most part, unbelievers and what ends up happening? You fill up the church with unbelievers and so the unchurched, un- church the church, if that makes sense, I think I said that the way I intended. Well, the result is no discernment in a church. And its people mirror the world rather than Christ marriages eventually begin to suffer, families begin to suffer. Frankly, many churches today are nothing more than religious country clubs with the spiritual discernment of liberal Democrats. And they have the morality of a frat house on spring break. I mean, I see this all the time. I mean, think about it. There are numerous Christian denominations today that preach social gospel. Many Christian denominations, that see nothing wrong with same sex marriage and promote the LGBTQ agenda. They even ordain sodomites and lesbians to be their pastors, people who will never enter the kingdom of God, we read in First Corinthians 6:10. Folks, this is staggering. And it's satanic. A true shepherd will not allow this type of thing to happen. He will have a fruitful ministry. You can look at the people and you can see that they are people that love Christ, that have been transformed by the gospel.

One of the greatest mission fields today is the so called Christian church. I was thinking about this, this past week. Let me remind you of a few things that Jesus commended churches for in the Bible. I'm not going to give you the reference, but there's references for all of these. And this is therefore what we need to look for at church: moral purity, love of the truth, pursuit of holiness, devotion to the Word of God, good deeds, hard work, endurance, discernment, suffering, love, faith, righteous living, willingness to discipline sin, submission, repentance, loving the brethren, prayer, strong teaching and preaching, spiritual leadership, joyful attitudes, generosity, boldness, submission to God's sovereignty, and true worship. Folks, this will be the fruit of a true shepherd. This will be the fruit of true elders.

Let me give you just a short list of what Jesus condemned: lost love, compromise, tolerating sin, immorality, idolatry, deadness, lukewarmness, hypocrisy, false teaching, false preaching a different gospel, undisciplined living, disunity, sin, arrogant divisions, prolonged spiritual immaturity, abusing Christian liberty profaning the Lord's Supper, misappropriating spiritual gifts, unwillingness to forgive, and poor financial stewardship. This will be the fruit of a false Shepherd. But many of the saints at Corinth were a living testimony to the transforming power of the gospel that Paul preached. And this was the only letter of recommendation that he needed. That was his point. He had a living letter of transformed lives that loved and served and worshipped Christ. And I would encourage you to ask yourself, Is my life bearing spiritual fruit? I hope that it is. And I know for most of you it is.

So the life and ministry of a true shepherd will be marked by a virtuous reputation of fruitful ministry. And thirdly, a confident calling. Notice verse four, "such confidence we have through Christ toward God." You see, Paul was not arrogant. He was confident in his calling. He was confident that God had commissioned him to do and to say, what he was do doing, and what he was saying. In Colossians 125, he says, "Of this church, I was made a minister, according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God." In First Thessalonians two, beginning in verse four, "we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts. For we never came with flattering speech, as you know, nor with the pretext for greed--God is witness." You see, Paul was confident of his calling, as every pastor, as every elder should be. And frankly, every believer should be with respect to what God has called them to do within the realm of their spiritual influence. I mean, Paul knew what happened on the road to Damascus, talk about a calling. Paul knew how Christ, himself, had taught him for three years in the desert of Arabia. He knew that he had been given supernatural abilities. He knew that the Spirit of God had inspired him to write what he was writing. And he knew that God had even given him a tour in heaven. But he also knew that it was all of God's grace. It was not because of any merit of his own. In fact, in Ephesians three, verse seven, he said, "I was made a minister, according to the gift of God's grace, which was given to me according to the working of His power." First Corinthians 15:10, he said, "By the grace of God, I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me."

In my book, "Seven Key Principles for Effective Ministry: Nurturing Thriving Churches in a Postmodern Culture," I've devoted a whole chapter to this issue of a pastor being convinced of his calling. And there are essentially five divine tests of divine calling to vocational ministry that emerge from the study of the apostle Paul, in particular. I'll just give them to you. A man must have these five things: number one, a longing to know and serve Christ. Number two, a sense of urgency to preach the gospel. Number three, a pervasive feeling of inadequacy. Number four, a burden to shepherd the flock. And number five, a public confirmation of spiritual gifts, character and abilities. Dear friends, if a man does not have an unshakable conviction, that these realities are true in his life, he will have no certainty that God has called and gifted him to be a shepherd and therefore, he will never survive the inevitable difficulties of ministry.

Well, to be sure, the false apostles knew nothing of any of this. They weren't serving Christ, they were serving themselves. And so ultimately they were serving Satan. So Paul had no doubt whatsoever that God had called him to the ministry. And his confidence was anchored in the Gibraltar of something that is absolutely crucial in our understanding of our salvation. And that is the anchor of our union with Christ. He knew that he was in Christ and Christ was within him.

Notice verse four, "Such confidence we have through Christ toward God." In other words, it was a gift from Christ in relation to God, to be pleasing to God. And with confidence, dear friends comes courage, which can often be mistaken for arrogance. You see, he spoke with confidence and courage, and with authority because he was God's messenger. He knew the truth; he proclaimed the truth. He knew that he was united to Christ; this is what he was to do. He rejoiced in that and of course, that infuriated his adversaries. And every faithful pastor knows what that is like, you know? There's a constant assault on divine authority and anyone who proclaims that divine authority, I mean, people want authority for themselves, right? Strong convictions in our postmodern culture are considered arrogant. You ask the average millennial about, you know, absolute truth and they will reject every expression of certainty. They scoff at the idea that God has spoken in his Bible, and that is the end of the matter. This is what God has said, this is authority. This is absolute, authoritative truth. Well, such an idea these days is considered just the worst form of elitism, of bigotry, of intolerance. That kind of thinking is oppressive. You tell the average person today that God has said something about a particular issue and watch the response. Well, that's just your interpretation. Well, that's your truth. But that's not my truth. Well, who are you to tell me what to believe? Well, the Bible is full of myths and superstitions. So I can't believe any of that silly stuff. So, what happens in order to appeal to the culture, avant garde evangelicals, in other words, the kind of elite forward-thinking evangelicals have decided to conform to the culture rather than confront it. So what they do is soften the truth, so it won't be so offensive--let's lighten up on doctrinal things, let's don't be so cut and dry. After all, doctrine divides, right? So let's focus on style and methodology. Let's embrace the hermeneutics of humility. Because really, none of us can say for certain what the Bible says or what we need to believe.

But folks, truth is inextricably bound to God himself. Because God is truth and he has revealed himself in his Word, and he longs for people to worship him in spirit and in truth. In fact, we know that Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father, but through Me." So Paul came to this exceedingly immoral, idolatrous city of Corinth and he did just the opposite of what modern evangelical pragmatism would tell us to do. He cared nothing about coming in and in looking like them and being cool like them and talking like them and kind of using their methodologies and their style and their techniques to move an audience. None of that type of thing. In fact, what he did, you might say, seems counter intuitive. What he did is just unleash the truth of the gospel. And look what happened. Yeah, he didn't fill up auditoriums, but people were saved. You know, as my friend Dr. Culbertson said years ago, the President of Moody Bible Institute, he said, "What you win them with, you win them to." And he didn't win them with entertainment. He didn't win them with boosting their self-esteem and affirming them in their sin. He won them with the gospel. He said this in First Corinthians two beginning of verse two, he said, "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 a 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."

You see, he knew that the only truth that can save is the truth of the gospel, that most all men will hate. But he was not ashamed of the gospel. For he knew that it was the power of God, unto those who believed to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Now, beloved, this is not arrogance. This is faithfulness to the God of truth. Paul knew he had no authority on his own, but his authority was from God. And it was because of this, that he was resolute in his devotion to God, who had called him to do what he was doing and called him to do it in the way that he was doing it, not in man's way. So he was bold, he was uncompromising, but he was not arrogant. He was not self-promoting as the false teachers were alleging.

Second Corinthians four verse seven, we read, "But we have this treasure," referring to the gospel, "we have this treasure in earthen vessels"-- A reference to a disposable clay pot that was used for human waste and garbage. That's how we need to see ourselves. That's how I've seen myself. I mean, I'm disposable. I'm nothing. The treasure is in me, the treasure is in you, but we're nothing. He went on to say, Why did God do that? "So that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves." He went on to say, "we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body of the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death, for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh." Folks, only a man who was confident in his calling, would sacrifice himself in such a way. Are you confident in what God has called you to do? And are you faithful ain doing it?

Well, the life and ministry of a true shepherd will be marked by a virtuous reputation, a fruitful ministry, a confident calling and fourthly, a godly presence. Let me explain this to you. And first of all, notice verse five, "Not that we are adequate in ourselves," he says, "to consider anything is coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate." You see, Paul took no credit for any success that he had in ministry, all of it went to God. I mean, he knew his own limitations. He knew that all wisdom and strength and power that made him adequate, all of that came from God. Jesus said, "Apart from me, you can do nothing." He understood that. Second Timothy two two remember he told Timothy, who was who was weak and vacillating. He said, "Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." Paul understood this in First Corinthians 15, nine, here's what he said, "For I am the least of the apostles." Talk about a guy that doesn't toot his horn. "I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God, I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me." Folks, that's where the power is. He understood that God's power is perfected in weakness, not in human strength.

We see this clearly in the Lord's repeated response to Paul's threefold implorations to have that thorn in the flesh removed when the Lord said in Second Corinthians 12 nine, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." And there we discover a most important truth. And that is this; God's all sufficient grace is the conduit of his inexhaustible power that is perfected in our weakness. And even as the Spirit empowered the Lord Jesus Christ, to endure the horrors of the cross, so too, is he sufficient to empower all of us who are united to him to endure the most grueling labors, the most trying temptations, the most cruel sufferings, that he brings our way. So Paul was a living example of the grace of God, the power of God; a man therefore, that I would call having a godly presence with God, or what Paul called "a man of God," First Timothy 6:11, a man who is quote, "full of the Spirit and wisdom,' Acts six three. Which by the way, are the qualifications that saints were to look for in deacons, and deaconesses; virtues not every man possesses. A man who according to First Timothy 4:12, in "speech, conduct love, faith and purity shows himself," or we could even add herself, "an example of those who believe." Boy aren't we all drawn to people like that? Men and women who just manifest the power of Christ in their lives? I've written on the subject as well, regarding pastors in particular, men like Stephen, like Paul, the apostles, and so forth. I'll share this with you, "By godly presence, I mean a man with a noticeable aura of godliness about him, both in and out of the pulpit. A man like Jesus. A man who possesses a palpable sense of humility and love that draws you into his presence. A man who exudes spiritual strength, confidence, boldness, wisdom, and a noticeable fervency that marks him as a man of God, and a man on a mission. A man so lost in the wonder of the majesty of God, so filled by the divine presence that nothing in this world causes him to despair or tempts him to distraction. This is that rare man whose authority enters a room with him and commands respect without ever asking for it. This is that exceptional man who has such a great likeness to Jesus, that he actually emanates his power in ways that are mysteriously transcendent, and profoundly influential. He manifests what Paul described as 'the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe it in accordance with the working of the strength of His might,' (Ephesians 1:19). A personal power that only comes from Him "who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us (Ephesians 3:20). Well, to be sure, dear friends, this describe the apostle Paul. A man whose adequacy was from God, not from himself; a man who had a godly presence, who needed no further commendation. And may I encourage you to ask yourself, How do I impact other people? What do other people see when they are around me?

Well, finally, not only will the true shepherd be marked by a virtuous reputation of fruitful ministry, a confident calling and a godly presence, but a new covenant message. In verse six, he says that he has made us "adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." You see, unlike the false teachers, he did not arbitrarily transport certain elements of the old covenant of the Mosaic covenant of law into the glorious new covenant of God's grace, like the false apostles, did. You see this in a lot of cults, you see this in seventh day Adventism and that type of thing. You see the gospel of God, the new covenant, does not require anyone to conform to certain external religious rites or rituals of Judaism or any other system of human achievement for that matter. The new covenant is actually a synonym for the gospel of Christ. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, as we see in the windows around us. You see, according to Hebrews nine, verses 11 through 15, we read about the new covenant. Unlike the old covenant, the new covenant is not ratified by the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer, but by the blood of Christ. That's what Paul preached. It's Christ's accomplishment, not our own, that saves us. This is why Paul was singularly devoted to preaching the gospel, in all of its purity and power. He was a servant of, he says, "a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit." "Letter," by the way, referring to the onerous requirements of the law that could never save. All of those requirements were there to show us the holiness of God, in contrast to the sinfulness of man. And to help us see O, my God, have mercy on us, I need a Savior. I need help. I can't keep all of these laws. So you got to remember that the law was never intended to be a means of salvation, but rather, it was intended to be our tutor, to lead us to Christ so that we may be justified by faith, Galatians 3:34. And we all know that indeed, "the letter kills but the Spirit gives life." Think about it. What Paul's saying is that the letter of the law produces guilt, it produces frustration, that actually produces damnation, unless we repent. No one is good enough to impress God with their own merits. "Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at one point, he has become guilty of all," James two 10. Counts me out, counts you all out. If you've ever been around legalism, you know what this is like. It seems like there's a new law, a new ritual or a new something that you've got to do every day. And all of that just gives you the illusion of spirituality. But it can never save. I feel sorry for the Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Mormons, and other cultic people that are trying to earn their way to heaven. But with the new covenant, the Spirit gives life. How? He causes us to be born again. He indwells us and enables us to fulfill God's law; He imputes to us the righteousness of Christ. And as a result, we rejoice in the eternal life that is ours because Christ has paid the penalty for our sins and given us his righteousness. Folks, are you passionate about the gospel? I hope that you are.

Well, dear friends, I hope and pray that you've asked God to save you by his grace. If you haven't, and you are still under the wrath of God, and one day you will die and you will spend an eternity in hell. But the good news is, Christ is offered forgiveness through faith in him. And for those of us who know and love Christ, I pray that we will all emulate the life and the ministry of the apostle Paul, the ministry of a true shepherd and whatever sphere of influence he has placed us. May your life be marked by a virtuous reputation, a fruitful ministry, a confident calling, a godly presence and a new covenant message and then with Francis Havergal, we can sing, "Take my life and let it be, consecrated Lord to Thee. Take my moments and my days, let them flow in ceaseless praise. Take my heart, it is thine own, it shall be thy royal throne. Take my life and let it be consecrated Lord, to Thee." Let's pray together.

Father, may these indeed be the marks of each of our lives that we might bring glory to you and enjoy the fullness of your grace in our lives this side of glory. Thank you for the power of your word. May it bear much fruit for Jesus’ sake. And it's in his name that I pray. Amen.