 Follow Christ in triumph. That's the sermon title this morning. Follow Christ in triumph. We're in part 2, 2 Corinthians chapter 2, verses 12 through 17. As we once again open our text this morning, I want you to consider with me these words from Paul to the church at Corinth in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 18. Beginning in verse 18, Paul says, for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, God says, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God. It pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. Jews request a sign and Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. To the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness. But to those who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. In the foolish and empty wisdom of this world, the cross of Christ is a shameful spectacle of humiliation and defeat. The Son of God despised and rejected of men. Having come to his own, his own did not receive him. A man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, betrayed by one closest to him, forsaken by his friends, overrun in the garden, arrested, beaten, mocked, scorned, tried, sentenced and killed. He gave his back to those who struck him, his cheeks to those who plucked out his beard, his face to shame and spitting, his visage marred more than any man. Executed in the place of criminals, hung between two felons, nailed to the tree of the cursed, pierced by his enemies, he shed his blood, poured out his life, gave up his spirit all while the world blasphemes even to this day, making jewelry out of the cross, right? Worn by pagan idolaters, worn by sinful heathen, to the Jews a stumbling block, to the Greeks foolishness, the fragrance of death to those who are perishing. Never was there a death like this one, right? But to us who are being saved, it is the power of God, the fragrance of life leading to life. This from Charles Spurgeon. Faith knows no shame in the cross, except the shame of those who nailed the Savior there, it sees no ground for scorn, but it hurls indignant scorn at sin, the enemy which pierced the Lord. Faith sees woe indeed, but from this woe it marks a fount of mercy springing. It is true it mourns a dying Savior, but it beholds him bringing life and immortality to light at the very moment when his soul was eclipsed in the shadow of death. Faith regards the cross not as an emblem of shame, but as the token of glory, the place of victory. The sons of Belial lay the cross in the dust, but the Christian makes a constellation of it and sees it glittering in the seventh heaven. The cross of Christ is his victory manifesto. Now is the judgment of this world, now the ruler of this world will be cast out. Healing the brokenhearted, proclaiming liberty to the captives, opening of the prison to those who are bound. And this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God from that time waiting until his enemies were made his footstool. For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. Paul said it this way. In Colossians chapter two verse 14, he wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross, having disarmed principalities and powers. He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. He crushed the head of the serpent to deliver his people from bondage. Amen. Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ. The picture of verse 14 is pulled from a historical and ancient triumphant procession of the Roman war machine, having returned from great exploits on the battlefield. The people crowded along the streets, they were standing on rooftops, a great cloud of witnesses so to speak. The sound of trumpets, the rhythmic cadence of drums, the smell of incense in the air, as the victorious legions of Rome parade through the city along the way of triumph to the shouts of praise. Finally, in this triumphant procession, the conquering general appears, riding in a great chariot, decked in regalia fit for a king, holding a scepter of power, wearing a laurel crown of victory. Trailing behind him would be the trophies of his conquest and the enemies that he had subdued. Through the use of a single Greek word for leads in triumph from verse 14, Paul has in mind there that we are the ones being led in procession as conquered enemies and now trophies of our conquering king. Amen. You were born. I was born a hellbound son or daughter of disobedience by nature, a child of wrath like all the rest, a child of your father, the devil, an enemy of God by your wicked works, a denizen of darkness. Without Christ, the Bible says, strangers from the covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the world condemned already because you have not savingly believed in the name of the only begotten son of God. You were born in bondage to sin. The offspring of Adam, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin and you are a slave of that master to whom you now, even now if you're not in Christ, daily present yourself. A bond slave to the flesh to fulfill its lusts through fear of death, all your lifetime subject to bondage. That's how the Bible describes you and I outside of Christ. Do you acknowledge that? Do you acknowledge it? And you are still in bondage unless in fact you have been triumphed over in Christ, a slave to sin forever. Unless Christ would condescend in grace and mercy to ransom you from sin and to save you from death. It wasn't by your works as if you had won the victory yourself by doing good. If in fact you have been triumphed over in Christ, it wasn't because you took the battlefield for him, tell the truth, Arminian, with your horrendous man centered miserable theology. You would put man in the chariot's driver's seat in place of Christ. It wasn't the prayer that you prayed or the decision that you made. Christ never bowed to your will. If you are in Christ, it is because your stubborn will has been conquered. Conquered. Christ has triumphed over your stubborn will and now we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Lord Jesus Christ said to his disciples, you did not choose me and I chose you. You should go and bear fruit. Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ. Christ always triumphs. Christ never bowed to your will and now praise God that we're in the procession. We are in the procession. He has triumphed over us. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. So listen, turn from your sin and trust yourself to him. He is a victorious over sin in the grave and now God leads us in triumph in him. Oh death, where is your sting? Hades, where is your victory? When the adversary whispers in your ear, who shall bring a charge against God's elect? The reward of his suffering. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died and furthermore is risen and risen triumphant, victorious even now seated at the right hand of God who even now makes intercession for his own. And now being conformed to his image, we must battle the enemies of our soul, the world, the flesh and the devil, but we battle with glorious weapons of our warfare. Amen. The battle has been won. The Lord Jesus Christ has his boot on the neck of our enemy. We battle by faith in the one who has already won the battle. The enemy may tempt, but he can't make you do anything. He doesn't have you on a choke chain any longer. He may threaten, he may accuse, he may assault, but he can't conquer. He cannot triumph. When I sin, I have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ, the triumphant righteous one. When Satan tempts me to despair, up when I look and see him there, the one who made an end to all my sin. Spurgeon again, rejoice, brothers and sisters, rejoice in the day of battle for it is to you but the beginning of an eternity of triumph when you're tempted to think that your enemy has the upper hand. When your circumstances seem insurmountable, when the accusations just fill your head, fill your ears, when the battle with sin is raging, when you face discouragement or you face despair, when you're tempted to worry, when you don't know where the next paycheck is going to come from, When you're not sure how you're going to make it through with this rebellious child, you've got difficulties in your marriage, difficulties on the job, difficulties in school. Consider with Paul this question, who is it? What is it that shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? Shall distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? In all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. And then, considering that, turn to Christ by faith, proclaim with Paul, I am persuaded, I am convinced, neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God. Which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ. Paul, in 2 Corinthians chapter 2, the beneficiary of this blessed victory, he pours out his heart in gratefulness and thanksgiving to the one who has conquered his rebellious heart and now always continually and forever leads him in glorious triumph. What is our response to these things? What is our response to this? This glorious salvation, this great salvation that we've been given. One, it is the sacrifice of praise and worship. As Paul demonstrates in verse 14, thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ. The sacrifice of praise and worship. Hebrews chapter 13 verse 15 says it this way. Therefore, by him, by Christ, let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God. That is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. Worship, praise, gratefulness. The psalmist says to the end that my glory may seem praise to you and not be silent. Oh Lord, my God, I will give thanks to you forever. Amen. The sacrifice of praise and worship. Secondly, we offer him the sacrifice of our very lives. The sacrifice of our very lives. Look back just a couple of pages at 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 55 in light of these truths. Paul says there in verse 55, oh death, where is your sting? Oh, Hades, where's your victory? Listen, the victory has been won. The Lord Jesus Christ triumphant rules and reigns. The sting of death is sin verse 56 and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now what is our response to this victory won for us? A victory, hard one for you at the cross. By our Lord Jesus Christ who loved us and gave himself for us. What's our response to these things? Verse 58. Therefore, my beloved brother, my beloved sister, therefore be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that your labor is never in vain in the Lord. Why? Because he always leads us in triumph. Jesus told Peter, right if you love me, what? Feed my sheep. So we take up the mantle of ministry. We take up the cause of Christ. We do it in faith and we serve the Lord Christ. We serve the Lord Christ. By faith we follow Christ in triumph. You know, it's one of the many miracles of the gospel that we get promoted to this. Right? Undeserving, wretched, hell-bound sinners, carnal at enmity with God. And yet we go by his grace from enemy of God to co-heir with Christ. From a slave of sin slated for judgment, slated for hell, to a slave of Christ slated for glory. No longer enemy rebels, right? Marching in the rear of the procession on our way to death in opposition to the conquering king. But co-laborers, co-conquerors with the king in his cause, marching in the procession with him in triumph. We carry now his sword. We fight with his weapons. We bear his name. We serve his cause. Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ. And we will always triumph in Christ, won't we? Why? Because Christ always triumphs, amen? Thanks be to God. Thanks be to God who enlists us as good soldiers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Right? To serve in his cause. We fight alongside him. In this second canonical letter of Paul to the Corinthians, we see the wonderful example of Paul doing just that in his ministry, in his work among the church at Corinth. We see Paul's heart on his sleeve as he labors among the Corinthians in the cause of Christ. Because Christ has won the victory, we can now step out by faith onto the battlefield and point one on your notes, trust him for endurance in the fight. Trust him for endurance in the fight just as Paul endured and struggled and labored and toiled and prayed and struggled and prayed some more. We can trust the Lord like Paul did for endurance in our own ministry. Because Christ has won the victory, we can step out onto the battlefield in victorious faith and point two on your notes. We can trust him for victory in our own battles. Christ is victorious and he will always lead us in triumph. Point three on your notes then, when we pick up the bandal of ministry in faith, when we serve the Lord Christ with a grateful heart, we must point three, trust him for results. Trust him for results. Look at verse 14 with me now. Verse 14, now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ and through us diffuses the fragrance of his knowledge in every place. In verse 14, Paul sees his life in service to Christ as a sacrifice of thanksgiving. Paul sees his very life as a praise to God for all that God has done for him in Christ. He sees it as a sweet smelling aroma that diffuses or spreads the fragrance of God's knowledge in every place. Interesting there that he says through us. Isn't that amazing right through you through me? God diffuses the fragrance of his knowledge in every place and thanksgiving. Speaking of that in great thanksgiving to God. Paul then again pours himself out now as a living sacrifice from his chapter 12 verse 1 verse 2. Holy and acceptable to God. And notice what he says now in verse 15. For Paul says we are to God. The fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. And note a couple of things with me. Note first that the fragrance of our offering rises to God as the fragrance of Christ. That's glorious. Amen. That is glorious. Your offering of your life of your ministry of your preaching the gospel of your prayer the fragrance of your offering rises to God as the fragrance of Christ. So whenever and wherever you preach the gospel you are the sweet smelling fragrance of Christ to God. A sacrifice pleasing to him when you labor in ministry. When you labor to love one another when you label labor to disciple that person. Disciple your kids disciple your wife when you labor when you preach the gospel when you go door to door person to person place to place. Sometimes it feels like the doors are being slammed in your face. Don't be discouraged. Don't grow weary in doing well. Preach disciple seek out love one another minister to one another why because that's the fragrance of our offering and our offering rises to God as the fragrance of Christ. A sweet smelling aroma. Notice secondly with me the fragrance of his knowledge in every place here is described in verse 15 as being diffused among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. Do you see that in verse 15 when the Lord Jesus Christ gave himself in sacrificial love for sinners at the cross. Paul describes that offering in this way in Ephesians chapter five verse two listen to Paul from Ephesians chapter five verse two. He says that Christ has given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling aroma. That's the way that the sacrifice of Christ is described on our behalf in Ephesians chapter five verse two is given himself for us and offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling aroma. Now in verse 15 Paul then now stands in the place of Christ not as an atoning sacrifice but here is a living sacrifice for the cause of Christ for the cause of the gospel. Following Christ, obeying Christ, serving Christ, suffering for Christ, loving the Lord's people, preaching the gospel and Paul's saying in essence in verse 15 in this sacrificial service we are the fragrance of Christ to God. A sweet smelling aroma holy and acceptable to God. The fragrance of his knowledge is diffused in every place verse 15 verse 14 both among those who are saved and among those who are perishing. And our diffusing fragrance when we serve the Lord Christ is a sweet smelling aroma to God himself. The diffusing of the fragrance of his knowledge verse 14 or this diffusing of the fragrance of Christ in verse 15 both occur primarily here what Paul has in mind in the preaching of the gospel in the preaching of the gospel. When you preach the gospel you are diffusing the fragrance of his knowledge verse 14 or you are diffusing the fragrance of Christ to God verse 15. That occurs primarily in the preaching of the gospel. Now why so many interpret this to exclude speaking is beyond me. It makes absolutely no sense right? You've heard that phrase before, preach the gospel and when necessary use words. That is an absurdity. To preach the gospel you always need to use word. It doesn't diminish the importance of a life example. Our life is to testify to the truth and the power of the gospel. So make no mistake about it. You can't preach the gospel from a filthy well. Amen? Turn from your sin. Trust Christ. Live for him and preach the gospel as a testimony as a trophy of his grace. Because if the spread of fragrance isn't compatible isn't a compatible metaphor with preaching. I'm going to remind you of that if someone comes up and tells me that my preaching stinks. Right? Or remind you of that. Preach the gospel. It includes here preaching the gospel. Certainly this diffusing of fragrance is spread by the life and example of Christians. What Paul has in mind here is the preaching of the gospel to lost people. Verse 16. To the one, verse 16, to those who are perishing. That preaching of the gospel, we are the aroma of death leading to death. To the other, to those who are being saved. Verse 16. We are the aroma of life leading to life. And consider this with me. In other words, verse 16. For some, the gospel is heard by dead ears. And it sounds like nothing more than a dead tune. The gospel lands in the lifeless soil of a dead heart and it dies like an empty husk. Maybe the word of God on your heart this morning. Maybe the word of God to you on many mornings. You argue and you gripe and you whine and you complain and you argue some more against the word of God. And it lands on your heart like concrete. That glorious seed never pierces. You are a hard-hearted, wicked, dead hearer. They look at the cross of Christ and all they see is death. No victory, no resurrection. The stench of death clings to that person. It's written all over their face. It's in their attitude, right? Stench of death clings to that person. They have no interest in the things of God. They've got no love for the people of God. They've got no love for the Lord. And the life and the preaching of one of God's saints is as the fragrance of death leading to death. They don't find Christ alone as the joy and rejoicing of their heart. They don't see the glories of Calvary. They don't rejoice in the things of God. Christ isn't precious to them. He's not their treasure. They don't hear the song of the redeemed. There's nothing there to grip their heart. Their heart's not gripped by these things. To them it's merely an academic exercise, right? Something that they're going to in their tradition they're going to argue with or argue against. There's nothing there to grip their heart. So they turn away. They turn away to their own preferences, their own opinions, their own mind. They turn away to their own path, walking the path of the perishing. Rejecting Christ to enjoy the passing pleasures of their sin. You see that death grip on people professing to be Christians in churches today. All over churches today. No love for the Lord. No zeal. No fervency. No earnestness. We should be blood earnest about these things because these things are life and death. If you're sitting there arguing with these things in your mind, you need to consider your own heart. To others. To others. This fragrance of Christ in the gospel is the sweetest of smells. It's the most joyful thing that we can talk about. The most wonderful thing that can be preached. He is a glorious savior. It should enrapture your heart. Their own sin becomes the disgusting and intolerable stench of death in their nostrils. Their own sin, their own pride, their own rebellion, their own flesh. The Christ in the gospel comes and it's the aroma of life leading to life. The substitutionary sacrificial death of Christ on the cross diffuses the fragrance of everlasting life to those who are being saved. To those who are his own. To those whose heart has been changed by the gospel. The feet of those who bring the gospel are seen as beautiful. The voices of those who proclaim the praises of him who called them out of darkness reflect his marvelous light. This is the Great Division. This is the Great Division. The same sun that melts the wax hardens the clay. Some smell that fragrance and they live. They live. They exude life. Some smell that fragrance and die. They continue in death. The stench of death clings to them. They walk the path of death. We are called to be the fragrance of his knowledge, the fragrance of that knowledge, the fragrance of Christ. What side of the chasm are you on? A great divide. What side of the chasm are you on this morning? Are these words? This call to ministry. This call to serve the Lord Christ. Paul's example, the gospel. Are these things meaningless to you? Is your heart dull toward this? What side of the chasm are you on? Only two sides. Two destinations. Life or death. Heaven or hell. What side are you on? I'm always just shocked, right? It shouldn't surprise me, but it does. You're out at the park. You're out somewhere. You're open-air preaching. And some quote-unquote Christian comes up and says, What in the world are you doing? As if proclaiming the Lord Jesus Christ is offensive to them. That one has the death, the stench of death clinging to them. These are words of life. They should be proclaimed from the rooftops for heaven's sake in his wicked and perverse generation. People are dying. People are going to hell. They need their hearts changed. They need a new heart in Christ. They need a new life. They need the gospel. They need Christ to triumph over them. They need to turn to him and be saved. We're not talking empty, vacuous superficialities here. These are realities. These are truths. They need to be preached like that. Preached like we believe what we're preaching. For some, it will be the aroma of death. So be it. That's the way that God has determined it to be. It will be the aroma of death to some. But to some, it will be the aroma of life. Everlasting life. Glorious life. Everlasting life. I want to call your attention to two observations from the text. Two observations from our text. The first one is this. Notice first. Notice first that in both instances, whether of life leading to life or of death leading to death, we are the fragrance of God. Whether of life leading to life or of death leading to death, we are the fragrance of Christ to God. Now what do we mean by that? What's meant by that? That means this. That in the preaching of the gospel, both are the pleasing fragrance of Christ to God. Both. God is glorified. And God is pleased in your fragrant diffusing of the gospel to those who are being saved. And God is glorified. And God is pleased. Well pleased in your fragrant diffusing of the gospel to those who are perishing. God is pleased in both. God is glorified in both. God will be glorified in the salvation of a sinner by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Or God will be glorified in the damnation of a sinner who suffers the holy and just wrath of God rejecting Christ in his sin. God will be glorified in the display of his love. God will be glorified in the display of his mercy. God will be glorified in the display of his grace. God is glorified in the display of his perfections, of his perfect attributes. God will then be glorified in the display of his wrath, in the display of his justice, in the display of his judgment. What side of this great chasm are you on? So for us, then, we must faithfully preach the gospel. Ours, it's not to deal with these realities, these truths. These belong to God, right? Who is sufficient for these things? Who is adequate to this? Certainly not me, certainly not you. Ours is merely to faithfully preach the gospel. Preach his word and trust him for the results. God's word is never preached in vain. It is effectual. It is living, inactive. It will lead to life or it will lead to death. Preach the gospel, right? Preach the gospel, diffuse the fragrance. It's also amazing to me how, considering the reality of these things, how men twist and pervert the word of God to suit their own impressions of how they think things ought to be done or said. So what has flooded the churches today with counterfeits, with fake, false professing Christians? When you take God's message of repentance and faith, defined with God's dictionary for what repentance and faith mean according to God's word, and you substitute that gospel, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, having been crucified, buried and risen again, man's response to repent and to believe in the gospel. And you replace that with, just pray this prayer and ask Jesus into your heart. Admit you're a sinner, believe that Jesus Christ died for sinners, and then confess him as Christ. And that's enough. No, I'm sorry, it's not enough. The Bible says repent and believe the gospel. And the man comes and says, no, I've got a different way of saying that. I've got a better way. Listen, it's more palatable if you say it this way. God's not concerned with what you think or don't think is more palatable or less palatable. Use the words that God gives us in his word. Use his language and preach the gospel. Others come along, right? And they want to say, listen, we don't need to share the gospel this way because people are going to get offended. You need to do it this way. Listen, you need to have barbecues over the course of like a year, and you need to quote unquote earn the right to like talk to them about Jesus and be careful how you do it. Listen, what kind of wicked worldly wisdom is that? Preach the gospel. Who's in charge of results when the gospel is preached? God is, not you. And you can't manipulate or coerce results. God is the one who produces results. It is up to you to preach the gospel. Lord have mercy on just the foolish ignorance of a vast majority of professing churches today. For heaven's sakes, many of you like I did came out of wicked places like that who pervert and corrupt the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're preaching another gospel. Notice next point number two on your notes that we don't cause in light of this. We don't cause or bring about the determined end. Listen, some live, some die. We simply diffuse the fragrance. We don't presume to determine or manipulate or coerce results. Paul said it this way in 1 Corinthians chapter three, verse five. Who then is Paul? Who is the policy? Who is Mark or Tom or Brian or Sally or Pam? But ministers through whom you believe as the Lord gave to each one, as the Lord gave to each one. I plant Apollos waters, Bob plants Sioux waters, but God gives the increase. So then verse seven, neither he who plants is anything. What am I that he is even mindful of me? Nor is he who waters, but God is everything who gives the increase. It's God who gives the increase. He who plants, he who waters are one. Each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers. What a joyous cause of rejoicing that statement is, right? What an absolute stunning, staggering truth. We are God's fellow workers. Praise the Lord and praise the Lord. That should be the joy and rejoicing of your heart. You, Paul says, are God's field. You are God's building. You're not my building. They're not your building. It's God's field, God's building. We don't control the results. We don't manipulate results. We don't coerce results. We're not to attempt to cunningly or cleverly market things to get results, right? You know, Christ didn't say I'm going to build my church and to show you how to do it, but put out a bunch of church growth books to help you. True conversion doesn't come about through books read regarding church growth. True conversion comes through the faithful preaching of the gospel. True conversion does not come any more expediently or any more frequently if you water down the gospel. People today can water it down all they want to. Conversion, true conversion does not come any more expediently, any more frequently in any greater numbers. The more and more you water it down, the only thing that happens, the more and more that you water it down is you're producing more and more false conversion. Stuffing, professing churches with weeds that are no longer churches. They're just weed factories. They're greenhouses for weeds. They carry the stench of death on them. You can't do it by manipulating or coercing results. You can be sure that if you manipulate or coerce or try to force or market these results, you can be sure that you are sending many to hell if you do, including yourself. We're called to be faithful. The Lord Jesus Christ said, I will build my church, right? He will take care of the results. He will take care of the results. You be faithful in the proclamation of His truth, proclamation of the gospel. Faithfulness, incidentally, isn't signified by large churches. Faithfulness isn't signified by small churches. Faithfulness isn't signified by popularity. It's not signified by fame, by the number of Twitter followers that you have. It's not signified by internet hits. Faithfulness isn't even signified by the number of converts that you get for Christ. God is well-pleased. God is well-pleased with the one who faithfully preaches and obeys His word. Faithfulness is that with which that God is well-pleased. God is well-pleased with the one who faithfully preaches and obeys His word. We must trust Him for results. Point 400 notes, trust Him for help. We must trust Him for help. When we enter this ministry that the Lord has given each and every one of us, we must trust Him for help. Look at the end of verse 16 there. And who is hikanas? Who is sufficient, adequate, competent for these things? Who is sufficient for these things? It's a rhetorical question. It has an assumed answer, and the answer is no one. No one. We're not sufficient or adequate for these things. Who could bear the weight of such realities? Who could bear the weight of that? At your preaching of the gospel, people will either live eternally or die eternally. They will either live eternally in heaven or die eternally in a devil's hell forever. Who is sufficient for that? Certainly not you or I. For these that want to manipulate or shape or pragmatically control how the gospel is presented or not presented to, consider worldly wisdom instead of the word of God with how they preach the gospel. Listen, if I thought for a moment that the way I turned a phrase or the way I manipulated a circumstance or a conversation or the way that I led someone led them to a decision, if I thought that the way that I was doing or was not doing something that I should be doing or should not be doing, if I had any real control or investment in those things, that would be the last moment that I would spend in ministry. Because if I thought that a person's eternal destiny rested on how I manipulated a word or how I said something or didn't say something, if I thought all that was determined by me for heaven's sakes, who is sufficient for that? Not a one too much weight to bear. Praise God, we're not bearing that. Lord Jesus Christ always leads us in triumph in Him. Jesus won the victory. Just like the victory, just like the results, our sufficiency for these things comes from God. Flip the page. Look at 2 Corinthians 3. And look at verse 4. Verse 4. We can't bear the weight of this ministry by ourselves. We cannot. We must not. Verse 4. We have such trust through Christ toward God, Paul says. Verse 5. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency, our adequacy, our competency, our work is from God who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant. Not of the letter, but of the spirit. For the letter kills, the spirit gives life. We can't bear the weight of this ministry by ourselves. But by the grace of God, we can. And by the grace of God, we must. We must follow Christ in triumph and trust Him for help. We must follow Christ in triumph. Verse 17. We are not as so many. We're not the truth, right? We are not as so many. We are not as so many. There are so many who peddle the word of God. We are not like them. Praise God by the grace of God. We are not as so many peddling the word of God. But as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ. Verse 17 then sets up a contrast for us. Those who peddle the word are contrasted with those who preach the word in sincerity. They preach the word as it is from God. They preach the word as before God in the presence of God, in the sight of God, and they preach the word as in Christ. On the one side of the contrast, in verse 17, you have the many who peddle the word of God. That word for peddle means to corrupt, to pervert. It came to be used for hoxters, for snake oil salesmen, for deceivers, and make a buck at someone else's expense. They're getting a profit, so to speak, or they're earning fame. They're earning power. They're earning influence. They're earning large numbers of members in their church. They're earning your approval. Whatever they're earning, they're earning at your eternal expense. They're peddling the word of God, corrupting the word of God, perverting the word of God. There are many, many, many in our day as well. They are a dime a dozen. There's a guy up the street here who perverts the gospel. There's a guy down the street over there perverts the gospel, has a church of thousands. There's a guy over here, got a small church, but he perverts the gospel, and people are going to hell under his preaching. There are guys who flood the radio with us. The radio is flooded with false gospels, people going to hell, listening to that tripe, because it is not the word of God. They're manipulating, corrupting, perverting the word of God. There are churches there many, many, many in our day who peddle, do not be said of us. We're to preach God's word, even if people hate it, knowing that it is going to be the fragrance of death, leading to death to some, to others, praise God. It will be the fragrance of life, leading to life. Many of you can attest to that, amen, right? When you heard it, the fragrance of life, leading to life. When I heard it, the fragrance of life, praise God, leading to life, preach the word of God. They're selling a placebo, you understand, right? Doesn't Paul say that of the last days, which we are in, that they're heaping up teachers for themselves, teachers who will tickle their ears, tell them what they want to hear. How many people, right, when you're witnessing, I go to church, I want to be encouraged, don't give me that Hellfire brimstone, so you don't like biblical preaching that. No, I don't want any Hellfire brimstone. I don't want to hear the word hell. I don't want to hear the word sin. I don't want to hear the word damnation. I don't want to hear the word condemnation. I want to be comforted. I want to be encouraged. I want to feel good about myself. Mercy, they're selling a placebo. They're selling cotton candy. Cotton candy. They're making a fake, a counterfeit product, and they're churning it out to the masses, and the masses are swallowing it down. That one who stands on the side of the road, yelling, because the bridge is out, cotton candy is laced with arsenic. It's going to kill you. That one is the freak. They won't listen to. His words sound like words of death to them. Paul says, we are not like them if we preach God's word. Apart from the grace of God, we certainly would be like them. Paul says we're not like them. Paul says we're not like them. One, because we preach the word of God in sincerity with integrity according to truth. In other words, without hypocrisy. Preach the word of God with life and death earnestness. I don't want you to come here because you quote, unquote, like my preaching at the end of the day. I don't care if you like it or don't like it. I want the word of God to be honored. I want God to be glorified. I want Christ to be exalted and I want you to be saved. We need to be life and death earnest about these things. I need to stop caring what that person that I'm talking to thinks or doesn't think. I need to be loving. I need to share the truth in love. It needs to be full of grace and truth. But at the same time, it needs to be truth. And if it's the fragrance of death, then praise God. The fragrance of life and praise God. There's no superficiality here. We don't want to try and manipulate you. Second, we preach the word as it is from God. Not our own words, not our own opinions, but His word. Not from our own wisdom, not as though we are slaves to quote, unquote, what works to the wind with all that garbage. God has determined what He says will work. Not what we think they want to hear, or not what we think they don't want to hear. We preach the word as it is from God. Thirdly, we preach the word as before God, in the sight of God, in the presence of God. That's a very throne of God. As before the judgment seat of Christ, as if you were on the other side of the table, from us, next to us. Will you care more for what He thinks about what you are preaching than what others think about what you are preaching? Fourthly, we preach the word as in Christ, in Christ. All of your power, all of your strength, all of your wisdom, all of your confidence, all of your boldness, all of your hope all comes from Him. By His Spirit we're to preach the word as in Christ. I love this example from Paul in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, beginning in verse 1. It sort of just sums up this kind of gospel ministry. I love how it pictures what we're after here, what Paul is referring to what we see in his example from 2 Corinthians chapter 2. Listen to this from Paul. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 1. Brothers, you yourself know what we're talking to you is not in vain. But even after we had suffered before and were spitefully treated at Philippi as you know, we were bold in our God to speak to you, the gospel of God in much conflict. Our exhortation did not come from error or uncleanness, nor was it in deceit. But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel even so we speak, not as pleasing men but as pleasing God who tests our hearts. For neither at any time did we use flattering words as you know, nor a cloak for covetousness. God is our witness. Nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, when we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children. So affectionately longing for you, we're all pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives because you had become dear to us. For you remember brethren our labor and toil for laboring night and day that we might not be a burden to any of you. We preach to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses and God also you are witnesses and God also how devoutly and justly and blamelessly you believe. As you know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you as a father does his own children that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. For this reason we also thank God without ceasing. Because when you received the word of God which you heard from us you welcomed it. Not as the word of men but as it is in truth which also effectively works in you who believe such a testimony such an example I pray brothers and sisters that we would take up the mantle of ministry and follow Christ in triumph with that kind of heart that kind of heart for his word that kind of heart for his people that kind of heart for the Lord that we would trust him for endurance trust him for victory trust him for results trust him for help and we would walk in triumph with him Amen All praise, honor, and glory be to him who always leads us in triumph in Christ.