"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 a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life!"                             (II Corinthians 3:5-6)
 
Last week, at the start of our lesson on II Corinthians 2:12-17, we were surprised to find the apostle Paul, the hero of our faith, weighed down with a heavy heart--actually in the doldrums, "finding no rest for his spirit" (as he himself described his mind-set)!  Like some of us in times of setbacks and turmoil!  But surely not the great apostle Paul, we thought!  Turns out it was brought on by his concern over how the Corinthian believers were responding to the "severe letter" he had written and sent to them in Corinth by way of Titus; the letter he wrote, he says in II Corinthians 2:4, "out of much affliction and anguish of heart...and with many tears"!  And it even caused him to "walk away from an open door of ministry" the Lord had for him in Troas and, instead, to go on to Macedonia in a desperate attempt to find Titus and get a first-hand report from him (since he had no cell phone) about what was going on in Corinth!  And so we saw Paul, perhaps for the first time, as being very human and vulnerable--much like us!  (And we found that, in some kind of way, reassuring!)
 
But, as we might have expected, the apostle Paul wasn't left in that state of mind and heart for very long!  Something very dramatic and life-changing (not written about in this text!) must have occurred between verses 12-13 and verse 14, to turn things around for him!  For we found him in verse 14 bursting out in thanksgiving and praise to God, who he said, "always leads us to triumph in Christ" and, even more, "manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place"!  Wow!  What a turnaround!
 
And so we speculated that Paul must have sought and somehow received refuge and comfort in his quiet time with the Lord ("the Father of all mercies and the God of all comfort"), by "resting on His promises"!  It might have started, we surmised, with Paul asking himself, and crying out to God, somewhat as David did (in Psalm 42:11), and as we might in a similar circumstance, "Why art thou cast down O my soul?  And why art thou disquieted within me?  Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His presence!"  And then, maybe, responding again as David did, and like we should (in Psalm 142:2-3), "So I waited patiently for the Lord and He inclined unto me and heard my cry, and set my feet upon the rock, and established my goings!  And He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God; many shall see it and fear, and shall trust in the Lord!"
 
Then, he might have gotten the kind of relief John wrote about (in John 14:27) where he said, "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give unto you; not as the world gives give I unto you!  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid!"  And, looking back, he may have thought (again, as David did in Psalm 27:13-14), "I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!"  And then, finally, being reminded, as the prophet Isaiah was (in Isaiah 26:3): "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee!"  And (in Isaiah 40:31), "Yet those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint!"
 
And I wondered too if he might not have also turned to some songs or hymns of the faith (of that day), similar to the ones we are prone to sing during our darker moments; like the one often find myself going to: "All your anxieties, all your cares; bring to the mercy seat, leave them there..."  Or, the one taken from Isaiah 43--"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you...Do not fear, for I have redeemed you!  I have called you by name; you are Mine!"  Or perhaps an even more familiar one: "When peace like a river attendeth my way; when sorrows like sea billows roll; whatever the toil, Thou hast taught me to say, 'It is well, it is well, with my soul!"  And perhaps others!
 
In any event, we found the apostle Paul, last week in verse 14, at the place where he was able to rebound and confidently declare, "But thanks be to God, who always leads us to triumph in Christ, and manifest through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place!"  And we surmised that this drastic change in his spirit and demeanor must have come, as Constable wrote, "from his conviction that God was somehow working in and through him, regardless of the appearance of the setbacks that were confronting him (as he cited in this and other passages)!
 
We were reminded of I John 4:5, where John wrote that, "whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith!"  And Paul again (in I Corinthians 15:57-58), "But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!"  And how bout the assurance and encouragement of Romans 8:28?
 
And all that set the tone for our lesson last night on II Corinthians 3:1-11, where we find the apostle Paul continuing to find a need to defend his faith and his ministry of the gospel, but now with renewed confidence in God and his calling!  And he begins with some potent questions for the doubting Corinthians!  "Do you think I'm trying to commend myself again by my preaching?  Do you really think, you Corinthians, that I really believe that it's all about me?"  Do I need to introduce myself again to you with a "letter of commendation" from the pastoral board (which Constable notes was a common practice of that day for one to gain entrance and acceptance)?"  
 
And this is how he responded (to his own questions), in verse 2!  "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, but our adequacy is from God, who also 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!"
 
Paul was saying that the changed lives and transformed hearts of the Corinthians was the best evidence and most eloquent testimony of the legitimacy and creditability of his ministry!  Like a book written "not with ink" (like a letter of men!) but with the Spirit of the living God (who gives us new life!); not on tablets of stone (as it was in the time of Moses) but on tablets of the human  heart!  Constable writes that "God's method of commending the gospel to others is through the supernatural changes He writes on the lives of believers by His Holy Spirit!  In this instance, the transformation of the Corinthians' lives was the strongest proof of the genuineness of Paul's apostleship"! (As it is has been said, "our lives are the only Bible some people will ever read"!  And so our lives should be living epistles of Christ, easily read and not confusing to the reader!)
 
Paul called himself "the servant of a new covenant"!  A covenant prophesied by the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel!  Jeremiah wrote (in Jeremiah 31:31-34), "Behold, days are coming (declared the Lord!) when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel...not like the covenant which I made with their fathers...but this covenant I will make on their heart, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people!"  And the word of the Lord that came to Ezekiel (in Ezekiel 11:17-20), instructing him to say: "I (God!) will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries among which you have been scattered...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, so that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do sthme.  Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God!"
 
Jesus Christ inaugurated the new covenant with His death on the cross!  And when Christ instituted the Lord's Supper (in I Corinthians 11:25-26) He took the cup and said, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.  For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes!"
 
False prophets who were trying to gain acceptance from the church in Corinth, however (according to MacArthur) wanted to affirm that the old covenant was equal to the new covenant--and "impose on the simplicity of Christ all the Mosaic prescriptions from circumcision and on, confusing the people and deluding the simplicity of the gospel"!  Constable writes that the old covenant "kills"  in the sense that it "shows how impossible it is to measure up to God's requirements, and announces a death sentence for all who fall short of complete obedience, while the new covenant leads to fullness of life because Gods Spirit helps the believer do God's will"!  
 
Galatians 3:10-13 says, "For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, 'Cursed is eveyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, to perform them.'  Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for the righteous man shall live by faith.  However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, 'He who practices them shall live by them.'  Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us--for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree!"
 
And in Romans 7:6, "But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter!"
 
Both covenants involved ministry to God that resulted in glory for God!  But the glory of the new covenant far surpassed the glory of the old!  The glory that appeared on Moses' face when he descended from Mt. Sinai, after he communed with God (and descended with the ten commandments) was so strong that the Israelites couldn't look at his face!  But it (eventually) faded away!  It was only temporary!  How much stronger the manifestation of God's glory in the new covenant which manifests His glory in an age when His life-giving Spirit inhabits His people!  And lasts forever!
 
And so, in contrast with the old covenant, the new covenant gives life, produces righteousness, is permanent, more glorious to behold, and is something we've been charged with communicating to this troubled world!
 
And so, as men of the Bible, may God help us to live our lives as "epistles of the living God," easily read known and read by those with whom we interact in this life!
 
And, closing, here are words to some great old hymns that speak (and ring in our ears!) to what we learned from this great passage:  "Christ liveth in me, Christ liveth in me; O what a salvation this that Christ liveth in me...!"  And how bout this one: "Out in the highways and by-ways of life, many are weary and sad; carry the sunshine where darkness is rife, making the sorrowing glad.  Make me a blessing, make me a blessing, out of this life may Jesus shine....!"  And, finally!  "Free from the Law, O happy condition!  Jesus hath bled and there is remission.  Cursed by the Law and bruised by the Fall, Christ hath redeemed us, once for all...!"
 
Men, may we all go forth this week with joy in our hearts and a song of praise to God with our lips, knowing and understanding that our adequacy comes from God!
 
Lowell 

"For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life!" (II Corinthians 2:15-16)
 
Last week we dealt with (as MacArthur once noted) "one of the best and most beautiful texts in all the Scriptures on the godly motivation and rationale for forgiveness"!  We cited our Lord's reminder to pray: "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us!"  And we made reference to a range of verses in a Bible about forgiveness and concluded that the very act of forgiving is one of the most noble things we as believers can do for one another!  It demonstrates the "agape love" of Jesus, and brings joy and peace, and a taste of a bit of heaven to our earthly realm!
 
Paul set the example as he intentionally downplayed the sorrow and hurt that a certain member of the Corinthian church had caused him personally on his last visit to Corinth, and he insisted that they too should not only forgive the man (as he had!), and especially now that he had repented of his sin, but also to comfort him and restore him to fellowship, and reaffirm their love for him, so that "he wouldn't be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow"!  It was "a test (he said) of their obedience in all things" and necessary "so that no advantage would be given to Satan," who loves to divide believers in the church of God!
 
And that set the tone for our lesson last night, on II Corinthians 2:12-17, where we found the apostle Paul contining to express his concern and love for believers in the troubled church of Corinth, and specifically to explain why his heart was so deeply troubled as he wondered how they were responding to the "severe letter" that he had sent them by way of Titus, a letter that he wrote "out of much affliction and anguish of heart...with many tears"!  And he even decided to "walk away" from his ministry in Troas in a desperate attempt to find Titus, and get his report--even though there was "an open door in the Lord" for him there!  
 
Wow!  Imagine!  The great apostle Paul, the hero of our faith, in this condition, for a time, "having no rest in his spirit"!  Phillips says, he was "on edge"!  Troubled!  Even in the doldrums!  And so, we see him very human!  Much like us!  But not for long apparently, as we see his ultimate response in verse 14!  Makes you wonder what happened to him, in between verses 12-13 and verse 14, where he bursts forth in victory and thanksgiving to God!
 
I wonder (although it doesn't say!) if Paul might not have somehow gone through a whole line of questions and inquiries to God and His Word, in search of answers, as I have, and maybe you have, in times of distress and anxiety!  Beginning with maybe Psalm 42:11, where I often begin, where the Psalmist David cries out in despair: "David! (Lowell!) Why art thou cast down, O my soul?  And why art thou disquieted within me?  Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of HIs presence"!   And then maybe his (and our!) response (in Psalm 142:2-3), "So I waited patiently for the Lord and He inclined unto me and heard my cry; and He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon the rock, and established my goings!  And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto God; many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord!"  
 
He might then have gotten relief, the kind of relief John wrote about (in John 14:27): "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give unto you; not as the world gives give I unto you! Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid!"  And then, looking back, he might have thought (as in Psalm 27:13-14): "I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!" And, finally, of being reminded, as the prophet Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 26:3: "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee!"  And in Isaiah 40:31: "Yet those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint!"  Yea!
 
And I wonder too, if he might not have turned to some songs or hymns of praise of that day, along the way.  Kind of like the ones we today might go to in our darker moments!  Like, "All your anxieties, all your care; bring to the mercy seat; leave them there...!"  Or, the one taken from Isaiah 43, "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and the waves will not overcome you...for I am the Lord your God!"  Or, "He giveth more grace when the burdens are greater, He sendeth more strength when the labors increase...!"  Or, "It is well with my soul..."!  Take your pick!
 
And so, in whatever manner, Paul somehow arrived at verse 14 and was able, ultimately, to confidently declare: "But thanks be to God, who always leads us to triumph in Christ, and manifest through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place!" 
 
Wow!  Paul didn't get relief from "the power of positive thinking," but from the promises of God and, as Constable writes, "from his deep-seated conviction that God was working in and through him, regardless of the appearance of the set-backs that confronted him, as cited in this passage"!  
 
And when we experience that victory in Christ there's a special fragrance that's manifested of Christ to God (and to a watching world!)--a "sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place"!  And verses 15-16 add that "we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma of life to life!
 
The apostle Paul likens the victory we have in Christ to the victory procession the Romans conducted through the streets of Rome after conquering an enemy; a procession led by the victorious general who brought them the victory, followed by all the troops who participated in the glorious battle, capped off with priests swinging censors that spread a sweet aroma that all could smell and enjoy!  For all those "on the victory side"!
 
I Corinthians 15:57-58 says, "But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!"  And, I John 5:4, "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith!"  And in Romans 8:37-39, Paul writes further: "But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come; nor powers, nor heights, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is Christ Jeeus our Lord!"
 
"But who's adequate for these things," the apostle Paul asks in verse 16?  "For we are not like many, peddling the word of God (for personal gain!) but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ, in the sight of God!"  Constable writes that "Paul's only desire was the glory of God, the advancement of the gospel, and the progress of His people, and that the proofs of his sincerity were his divine commission, his sense of divine dependence and responsibility, and his divine authority and power.  Like a spiritual physician Paul did not dilute or add other ingredients to the medicine that brings life, the Word of God!  He gave it out full strength!"
 
Constable also notes that "the role of the heralder of Christ is a high calling, and that no one is adequate (or sufficient) in himself (or herself) for this task!  It's only when we follow Him at His command!  We've been given the great commission, and "we speak in Christ in the sight of God"!  And, he says (in II Corinthians 3:5, "our adequacy is from God"!
 
Paul considered it a great privilege to carry the gospel and, at the close of his ministry, in II Timothy 4:6, he was able to write, "For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come!  I have fought a good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing!"  (May this be said of us!)
 
Looking back, I love Paul's words in verse 14, about "giving thanks to God" and how that, when we do, it "manifests through us a sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place..."!  It makes me go back in my memory some 50 years at Immanuel to remember a godly man named Dave Keltonic (now long gone!) who had a habit of constantly saying, sometimes almost under his breath, "thank you, Lord"!  Over and over, at every juncture!  Whether good or bad things were happening!  "Thank you, Lord!"  It was always a joy to be around him, whether playing tennis with him (and him winning or losing), or on visitation, or in the jungles of the Amazon basin on a missions trip, or just in passing time!  "Thanks you, Lord!"  He just kept repeating it!  It was like a special fragrance to God with a "sweet aroma"!  And something I hope to copy and carry on too!
 
Thanks Dave (if you can hear me up there)!  And thank you, Lord (Who I know hears me)!  
 
And speaking on behalf of all us as MOBsters!  "Thanks be to God who always leads us to triumph in Christ"!
 
Lowell