2nd Corinthians 7:1-7 | How to be Received by God and Men
We are going through the book of 2nd Corinthians on Wednesdays. Last time we talked about the doctrine of separation which is mentioned at the end of chapter 6. I bring that up because we will refer back to some of those verses tonight. Verse 1 of chapter 7 is a continuation of what we looked at in chapter 6. The end of a chapter does not mean that the thought and the idea has been separated. When the Apostle Paul wrote 2nd Corinthians, there were no chapters & verses. They were added afterwards to be able to reference and find things in scripture. We are thankful for that. However, just realize that chapter 7 of 2nd Corinthians continues the thought from chapter 6.
We will look at verses 1 though 7 of chapter 7 tonight. Chapter 7 deals with how to be received or accepted by God and also by men. When we are talking about being accepted, we are not talking about being saved. Anyone who believes is saved or accepted in regards to salvation. That is not what we are talking about though. I just want to run through a couple of verses to lay a foundation. Go to Hebrews 11.
Hebrews 11:16 “16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.”. Here the writer of Hebrews is telling us about a group of people who desire a better country. They’ve left their old country and are living with a purpose for that which is heavenly. They are living with a purpose for that which is heavenly. Then the Bible says that as a result of how they’re living their lives, it says “wherefore” or as a result he is not ashamed to be called their God. On the flip side of that statement, if there are some people that God is not ashamed to be called their God then we also have to walk away with this understanding that there are some Christians that God is ashamed to be called their God. Those would be the ones that you would say they’re not necessarily accepted. It’s not that they aren’t saved but he hasn’t accepted them.
When it comes to the Christian life, there are really two focuses that we should have. One focus is to be right with God. Another focus is to be right with others. There are two main focuses in the Christian life. We learned this most pointedly by the Lord Jesus Christ. He said the greatest commandment is to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all my might. Then he added that the second is like unto it “to love thy neighbor as thyself”.
In Acts 24:16, the Apostle Paul wrote “16 And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void to offence toward God, and toward men.”. A conscience void of offense means that he is right with God. It means that he is right in his relationship both with God and man. The 2 directions in this verse are to God and to man. What you and I need to be focused on in the Christian life is to be right with God and right with man. Our relationship is both vertical and horizontal. We have a vertical relationship with God and a horizontal relationship with man. We want to have our conscience void of offense toward God but we also want to be right with man also.
A person can be saved but that doesn’t mean they are accepted with God or pleasing to God. God is not pleased with all of his children. 2nd Corinthians 7:1 is a continuation of the thought from the end of Chapter 6. 2nd Corinthians 7:1 “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”. The word “therefore” continues the statement or thought from the end of chapter 6. What promises is he referring to in verse 1? Go back to 2nd Corinthians 6:17 “17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.”. When the Bible speaks about separation, it means to be holy or set apart. These terms are used interchangeably in scripture (holy, sanctified, set apart). See, the promise is that God will receive you. He doesn’t receive everyone. There are other saved people that God is ashamed of to be called their God. God does not want to be ashamed of you but to be proud of you and to be pleased with you.
Verse 18 “18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”. Some might ask “Well doesn’t God become your father at salvation?”. That’s true. He becomes your father. However, even on a human level, just because somebody gives birth to you and they have that position of father to you, doesn’t mean they really act like a father to you. When you got saved, you became a child of God. He actually wants to have a relationship with you though. God Almighty in heaven is inviting you and inviting me to enter into a relationship with him where he is a father unto you. “and ye shall be my sons and daughters”. He wants to receive us. So the idea is that we want to be received by God and we also want to be received by men.
How is it that we get received by God? Let me just give you a few thoughts tonight. How can we be received by God, to know God, to be close to God, to be received by God? How do we do that?
Number 1 – You must realize the promise of holiness. 2nd Corinthians 7:1 “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”. The promise is that when you and I come out and live a separated life, God will receive you. There is no respecter of persons with God. God does not decide to draw close to someone over somebody else for any sort of bias. You can be as close to God as anyone has ever been close to God when you read the Bible and live a separated life. The Bible says that great men like Abraham and Moses were friends of God. They spoke with God as a man speaketh with a friend. When you think of men like the Apostle Paul who were obviously close to God and had the power of God upon their life, you need to realize that there is nothing special about them. God is no respecter of persons and you can be as close to God as anyone has ever been close to God. There is a promise that if we live holy & separated lived, there is a promise that God will receive us. There is a promise that he will be a father unto us. There is a promise that you can have an active relationship as son or daughter to God.
How do we get received by God? First you have to understand and acknowledge and realize the promises of holiness. Secondly, this verse also says to cleanse ourselves. Not only is there a promise of holiness but there must be a pro-activity of holiness. How do we become the types of Christians that have a genuine, authentic walk with God? There are people in this world that when they speak to God, they honestly feel like God is communicating with them. They don’t think that their prayers are just rising and bouncing off of the ceiling. They believe and feel that they have a father who hears them and answers prayer. How do we get there? You must take some pro-active steps. If you are going to live a separated life, you have to take the steps to do the work.
2nd Corinthians 7:1 “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”. If you are going to get right with God, at some point you have to decide that you’re going to stop drinking, stop smoking, stop watching things and listening to things you shouldn’t, stop going places that you shouldn’t go. We have to cleanse ourselves.
Acts 24:16 “16 And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void to offence toward God, and toward men.”. Here’s why. Exercise requires work. Exercise doesn’t happen passively. You don’t sit on your couch eating chips 12 hours a day and get a 6 pack and in great shape. If you want to build muscle and get in shape, you will have to do some work. In the spiritual life, it is the same way. When you look at a preacher and think “I wish I knew the Bible like them.”. Realize that preacher didn’t learn the Bible through osmosis. They took years of consistently reading and memorizing the Bible. There’s a pro-activity to holiness. There’s a promise that says if you come out from among them, if you live separated then he will receive you.
This is why even in a Church like ours where we are actively preaching the Bible, you can come here for years without drawing close to God. Why? My preaching does nothing to help you if you don’t actually do what you are supposed to do. You have to actually apply it. Let us cleanse ourselves. How can we be received by God? Number 1, we see the promise of holiness. Number 2, we see the proactivity of holiness. You have to decide that you’re going to take some action and actually begin to walk with God.
Let me just for a second speak to the young people in our Church. You ought to be thankful that you are raised in a Church like this. Your mom and dad are people who care enough to bring you to a place like this. Let me tell you something, at some point, this faith and beliefs and lifestyle choices to serve God are something that you will have to decide to do. It can’t just be your dad’s religion or your mom’s religion. It has to be something that you decide to do. You have to decide that you want to be in Church and live a Christian life.
Proverbs 18:1 “Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom.”. This is the same kind of thing we are talking about in 2nd Corinthians. When you separate yourself, God allows you to seek and intermeddle with all wisdom. What happens is that when you realize there is a promise that says you can get close to God, you start proactively separating yourself and learning and growing. The more you separate yourself, the more you seek and intermeddle with all wisdom.
We saw the promise of holiness. We saw the proactivity of holiness. Let us see thirdly the purging of holiness. 2nd Corinthians 7:1 “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”. In the Christian life, if you’re going to draw close to God and you’re going to be received by him, you’re going to have to learn to purge yourself. The word purge means to remove or to get rid of unwanted or detrimental things. The Bible is saying that we need to begin to purge ourselves from that which is detrimental to the Christian life. Being proactive in your separation allows you to grow. Purging yourself allows you to serve. The Bible says that the more we separate ourselves, it allows us to grow and learn. Then as we continue to separate ourselves, we now become useful.
2nd Timothy 2:20. Notice what the Bible says. We have a little analogy or parable. 2nd Timothy 2:20 “20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.”. House could be referring to the household of God or you could be referring to a Church house. Vessels are a word for cup or dish or something like a plate to serve food or liquids. Isn’t that true in your house. You might have some fine China that you use once a year for a special guest or event and then you have your regular dishes for every day use.
Notice verse 21 “21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.”. The word sanctified means separated or set apart. Meet means suitable. See, the truth is that not only can you and I draw close to God just like anyone else. Think about giants of the faith like Jack Hyles, Curtis Hutson and John R. Rice. They were able to draw close to God but so are we today. Verse 22 “22 Flee also youthful lusts:…”. The purging has to do with being separated from a sinful lire or lifestyle. So we see the promises of holiness and the proactivity of holiness and the purging of holiness.
Fourthly, let us look at the perfecting of holiness. 2nd Corinthians 7:1 “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”. The word perfect in our Bible means to bring something to an end or to be whole or to be complete. Job 1:1 “There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.”. The word “perfect” means he was complete or whole or mature. It doesn’t mean that he was sinless. Job lived a balanced life. He was upright or honorable or honest. He had a healthy fear and reverence of God. He feared the consequences of crossing lines or boundaries with God.
Job 1:8 “8 And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?”. The Bible tells us that Job was a perfect man. That means that he was complete. See, when you and I acknowledge the promise that God wants to receive us and we can draw close to him when we get proactive about cleansing ourselves and purging ourselves, we grow in wisdom and become useful vessels meet for the master’s use. Then we become perfect Christians. That doesn’t mean we are sinless but whole, complete or balanced Christians. We want to strive to be the types of Christians that are reading our Bibles, praying, faithful, soulwinning, walking in the spirit and not fulfilling the lusts of the flesh.
2nd Corinthians 7:1 “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. I understand that preaching on holiness is not popular today. The reason why it is important is because you will never be a perfect Christian while living an unholy life. You will never live the life that God has for you and walk in the way that God has for you if you do not learn to live separated. You must come out from among them and be separate.
At the end of 2nd Corinthians 6, he’s talking about separation. Then in verse 1 of chapter 7, we saw those 4 different things: the promises of holiness, the proactivity of holiness, the purging of holiness, the perfecting of holiness. Then in verse two he kind of shifts gears but it’s still connected. When we talked about the promises, it was being linked back to the fact of God receiving us. Paul gives us those four ideas in regards to how to be received by God. Then in verse 2 he shifts gears but he has kind of the same idea. Now he is talking about how to be received by man. He is directing his attention to the Church at Corinth and he’s asking them or requesting of them that they would receive us. Then he gives us some thoughts in regards to how to be received.
2nd Corinthians 7:2 “2 Receive us; we have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man.”. If you want to be received by man, the first step is that we have to be able to say that we have done right by men. In fact, the Apostle Paul is saying to the Church of Corinth that we have done right by you. The term that would be used in regards to qualifications of ministry would be blameless. Paul says we are blameless. To wrong a man would be to hurt them. To corrupt someone would be to make them worse. If you have been a preacher at a Church for a while then you are not making those people worse. To defraud would be to steal. He is saying that they have had a positive impact on man. They are not guilty of those things.
Here’s the truth, if you want to be received then stop hurting people. You should be able to say or at least strive to be able to say that you have wronged no man, you have corrupted no man, you have defrauded no man. This has been a theme especially as we’ve been going through 2nd Corinthians. There is a theme in this book and it is about ministry. I had read this book scores of times before preaching it but before preaching through it, I had never really noticed the thread of ministry. However, all scripture is given by inspiration of God and we can all be benefited by studying through this book. He says look, we’ve wronged no man, we’ve corrupted no man, we’ve defrauded no man.
1st Samuel 12:1 “And Samuel said unto all Israel, Behold, I have hearkened unto your voice in all that ye said unto me, and have made a king over you.”. If you remember, they asked Samuel to put a king over them but he didn’t want to put a king over them. God told Samuel that they aren’t rejecting Samuel but rejecting him. Samuel felt like he was being rejected as the spiritual leader but really they were rejecting God. At this time before there was a king, Samuel was basically the leader of the country humanly speaking. People like Moses and Joshua and Samuel were both the political and spiritual leaders.
1st Samuel 12:2 “2 And now, behold, the king walketh before you: and I am old and grayheaded; and, behold, my sons are with you: and I have walked before you from my childhood unto this day.”. Remember, Samuel began his ministry even as a young child or as maybe a toddler when his mother Hannah dropped him off at the tabernacle. He was raised in the house of God. Verse 3 “3 Behold, here I am: witness against me before the Lord, and before his anointed: whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? whom have I oppressed? or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith? and I will restore it you.” He is getting ready to be done with mission and like Paul said to the Church of Corinth, he says that he has not wronged or corrupted or defrauded anyone. He says if you have an accusation then go ahead now and give it.
Notice verse 4 “4 And they said, Thou hast not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither hast thou taken ought of any man’s hand.”. Then he goes on to speak to them and really rebuke them about their choice of a king. We see this great testimony of Samuel who gets to the end of his ministry and he is able to say that he has not corrupted or harmed anyone. Here’s the lesson for those in ministry but really for you in your Christian life, your goal ought to be to get to the end of your life and say we have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man.
When it comes to being received by man, Paul says that we have done right by man. Secondly, he says we have loved you. 2nd Corinthians 7:3 “3 I speak not this to condemn you: for I have said before, that ye are in our hearts to die and live with you.”. If you remember, several years ago we went through the book of 1st Corinthians. The whole book is about rebuking them for the problems that they have. Throughout the books of Corinthians, he has been rebuking and correcting and telling them what is wrong. He is talking about how to treat each other and not to allow sin in the Church. Remember, there was a man at the Church living in grievous fornication.
Then he says in verse 4 “4 Great is my boldness of speech toward you,…”. He says that he has been very bold with them because he loves them. Paul loves them and has been willing to confront them when they are wrong. He didn’t do it to try to belittle them or embarrass them or condemn them. He did it because he loved them. “4 Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of you: I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation.”.
Ephesians 4:15 “15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:”. Now liberals love to take these verses and use it against fundamentalists and say we are too mean and should be nice and should preach in love. That’s not what this verse is saying when it says speaking the truth in love. What it means is that when somebody speaks the truth to you, it’s because they love you. When someone is unwilling to preach against sin, warn you about drinking and divorce, it’s because they don’t love. If they loved you then they would be willing to tell the truth.
We have a wrong understanding in our society today. If someone confirms and approves of everything we do, we say that they are loving. If someone criticizes or rebukes you then you say they are not loving. That’s now what the Bible says. Proverbs 27:5 “5 Open rebuke is better than secret love.”. We feel like we don’t want to be around people who will criticize us in anyway but the Bible says that open rebuke can be a good thing. Verse 6 “6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.”. Be careful about the person that’s always kissing you and making you feel nice. The Bible says that kisses of an enemy are deceitful. Paul said that the reason why he was so bold was not to condemn them but because he loved them.
Look, when you show up to Church and I step on your toes, don’t get mad and angry. You ought to be thankful that there is a Pastor willing to tell the truth even though it might cause someone to quit or leave or get made. Paul stood up and spoke the truth in love. When someone rebukes you, you ought to think “There is somebody that loves me.”. Open rebuke is better than secret love.
2nd Corinthians 7:4 “4 Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of you: I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation.”. The word glory means to boast or bragged. He says that he has bragged about the. I’m not going to talk about this bragging thing with Paul too much because it’s a major focus in chapters 8 & 9. He will talk about how he bragged how generous the Church was financially. He talks about how with other Churches they weren’t as generous. This was a theme when Paul spoke to Churches that he really bragged about them to other Churches. Let me give you an example in Romans 1:8.
Romans 1:8 “8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.”. He brags about the fact that their faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. I can honestly say that the faith of the members of this Church has been spoken of throughout the whole world. When I travel to other Churches, I regularly talk about how great the members of this Church are. Don’t make me look like a liar by not living up to it. That is what he is saying to the Church of Corinth.
I want you to notice a fourth thing. He says that we have done right by you, we have loved you, we have bragged about you and lastly we have encouraged by you. It says they are filled with comfort. This is also a theme that we’ve seen in this book. We started in chapter 1 with the idea of being comforted in tribulations. Here Paul is going to talk about how he’s full of all comfort. In this book he’s been very open about the fact that he’s gone through some trials and through some heartaches and he’s going to talk about that here again. He talks about the difficulty of ministry.
Notice verse 4 “4 Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of you: I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation. 5 For, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears.”. I don’t know that there is a better description for the ministry. Paul really hits it right on the head for what it is like in ministry. What does it feel like to be in ministry? It feels like you are sinking and when you are just about to get your head above water, something else comes up. It can get stressful and difficult.
There’s a famous song that we sing in the hymn book called “Just As I Am”. Some of the lyrics in that song were taken from this passage. The second verse in that song says “Just as I am though tossed about, with many a conflict many a doubt, fightings and fears within without, O lamb of God I come I come,”. That’s taken from this passage where he says “our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears.”. Here is something about that song. The 3rd verse says “Just as I am thou wilt receive”. That is what we’re talking about. It’s interesting because whoever wrote this must have really understood. Remember in 2nd Corinthians 6:17 it said “I will receive you”.
What does Apostle Paul mean when it says that their flesh had no rest? It means that there was a business about ministry. It causes you to stay up late, wake up early, miss sleep. It is the business but also the stress that can keep you up at night worrying and thinking about issues and problems. It is the idea of feeling overwhelmed like you’re just getting attacked from everywhere.
Let me just take a little bit of time to be transparent with you. In 2016, as a result of preaching against the homos, we were protested by 1,000 protestors. It was all over the news and we still get up and thunder forth the word of God. Let me be honest. Sometimes you deal with the fightings on the outside boldly but within there are fears. Sometimes there is difficulty on the inside when it comes to ministry. Even in the last few months, my wife and I have battled one of the hardest battles we’ve ever fought in the ministry. You say “Pastor, what is going on?”. What I’ve learned is that one of the hardest things to go through are things you can’t discuss publicly because they involve people’s personal lives. What I’m saying is that the ministry can be difficult. What you can take away is that you can help by encouraging your Pastor and your Pastor’s wife.
Notice 2nd Corinthians 7:5 “5 For, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears.”. Verse 6 “6 Nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus; 7 And not by his coming only, but by the consolation wherewith he was comforted in you, when he told us your earnest desire, your mourning, your fervent mind toward me; so that I rejoiced the more.”.
Now I don’t have time to develop this and we’re going to talk about this next week. However, the Apostle Paul is referring to the fact that he wrote them a very pointed letter. He preached a very hard sermon. As soon as he wrote it, he regretted even writing the words. He didn’t know how they were going to receive the preaching. He didn’t know if they would accept the correction or not. Paul is stating that with these battles and fears and the feeling of no one to talk to about these problems, their earnest desire toward Paul caused him to rejoice. It helped him. Paul is stating that when he heard they received the correction well and got right with God and dealt with those issues, that was encouraging.
You say “Pastor, how do we know when you’re going through hard times in ministry.”. You don’t. You probably won’t know. You don’t need to know. I hope I don’t sound like a complainer because I’m really not complaining about the ministry. People ask me if it is good or bad. It’s both. Every day is both good and bad. Every day there is something to rejoice about. Every day there is something to weep about. If you want to know how to encourage us then keep serving God. I wish I could tell you over the last 11 years of ministry that there have not been wounds that my wife and I are going to carry for the rest of our lives as a result of this ministry. I wish I could tell you that but I can’t. However, I am encouraged when I see you walking with God and getting right with God and growing in the Lord.
3rd John 1:3 “3 For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.”. How can you encourage me through difficulties in ministry? Don’t get backslidden. Stay right with God. Love your wife. Love your husband. Be the spiritual leader God’s called you to be. Be the submissive wife that God’s called you to be. Love your children. Invest in them. Be faithful to soul winning. Be faithful to Church. Be faithful to the Wednesday night service and Sunday night service and Sunday morning service. Just stay at it. If you need help, you call us and we will be here for you. If you want to be an encouragement, stay right with God.
John said “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.”. Paul said “I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulations”. Paul said that they were troubled on every side with fightings and fears on the inside. 2nd Corinthians 7:6 “6 Nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus; 7 And not by his coming only, but by the consolation wherewith he was comforted in you, when he told us your earnest desire, your mourning, your fervent mind toward me; so that I rejoiced the more.”. We have no greater joy than to hear that our spiritual children walk in truth. You can encourage us and you have encouraged us and you’ve been an encouragement. Ministry can be hard but you stay at it. Keep learning and growing. Keep doing what you’re supposed to do and we will all say it’s worth living the Christian life.
Let’s pray.