Second Corinthians chapter 12, I'd like to read a section beginning in verse 1, and with God's Word open before us, let's seek the Lord in prayer. O Lord, as we bow in Thy presence now with Thy Word open before us, we pray that Thou wilt send it forth with power. We ask, O Lord, for the help of Thy Spirit to be attentive to Thy Word, May we consider, O Lord, that this is very much a part of our worship. Worship doesn't end and a mere lecture follows. This is that time, O Lord, when we can expect to hear from Thee, and we pray, Lord, that we will indeed hear from Thee now. And to that end, I plead the blood of Christ over my life. I ask of thee, Lord, for cleansing in the blood of Christ, that I may in turn know the filling of thy spirit and be guided by thy spirit. May it please the dear spirit of God to grant to me strength of heart and mind, clarity of thought and speech, and especially unction from on high, so the message will be perceived not merely as a sermon crafted by a man, but as the message God has for this people for this occasion and we'll give thee the thanks in Jesus' name, amen. Second Corinthians chapter 12, we begin with verse one. This is the word of God, let us hear it. It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ about 14 years ago. whether in the body I cannot tell or whether out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth, such in one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth, how that he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Can I pause there just long enough to point out what a blessing that might be, to have such a rich spiritual experience of the Lord in glory that it is indescribable to the point where to even attempt to describe it would almost be to defile it. It's unspeakable, not lawful for a man to utter. Verse five, of such in one will I glory, yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities. For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool, for I will say the truth, but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me. And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong. I have become a fool in glorying. You have compelled me, for I ought to have been commended of you. For in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing. Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds. For what is it wherein ye were inferior to other churches, except it be that I myself was not burdensome to you? Forgive me this wrong. Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you, and I will not be burdensome to you, for I seek not yours, but you. For the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you, though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. Amen. We'll end our reading in verse 15. And we know the Lord will add his blessing to the reading of his word for his name's sake. It is verse 15, the last verse of the section we just now read that I want to call your attention to this evening. where Paul writes, and I will very gladly spend and be spent for you, though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. When the Apostle Paul made the statement earlier in this epistle that we would be transformed into the image of Christ by beholding Christ, he was not merely sermonizing in terms of some far-fetched ideal. He was speaking from experience. From the moment he beheld the risen Christ on the Damascus Road, his life was changed forever, and this process of transformation begun and became ongoing. It would be his desire from that point on to know more and more of Christ. Oh, that I might know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death, he would write, Philippians 3 and verse 10, and I've often marveled at that verse. Who knew the Lord better than Paul? And yet he was not satisfied that he comprehended Christ in his fullness. He recognized there was so much more of Christ to be known. You have perhaps heard that prayer of old, Lord, help me to be as sanctified as a saved sinner can be, this side of glory. Well, Paul shows us in his sanctification and in his knowledge of Christ just how far that prayer can be realized And I believe he shows us that the more of Christ you gain, the more you want. And in the process, a love for holiness and a desire for service intensifies. Paul truly went from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord, and I believe that his Christ-likeness shines very brightly in this second epistle to the Corinthians. This epistle, even though it is, like all of Paul's epistles, rich in doctrine, it is nonetheless noted more for its personal warmth and compassion, perhaps more than any of his other epistles, a pastoral epistle, if you will. We find a sample of that warmth and compassion in chapter six, beginning in verse 11, where he writes, O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged. Ye are not straightened in us, but ye are straightened in your own bowels. Now for a recompense in the same, I speak as unto my children, be ye also enlarged. Paul had an intense desire for their well-being, and he longed for them to enlarge their hearts toward him. His every dealing with them was from a heart of love. Even his hard and stern dealings came from these feelings, as he tells them back in chapter two in verse four. For out of much affliction and anguish of heart, I wrote unto you with many tears, not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you. Oh, what a heart he had. for the people to whom he ministered. Even the Corinthians, the problem church, so to speak, reminds me of a sign that I saw once in the doctor's office. It's probably a Facebook meme. Some of you are probably familiar with it. It reads something like this. No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care. I love that statement. I think the Apostle Paul demonstrates that by showing the Corinthians, especially in this epistle, how much he cared. His love governed what he did and what he refrained from doing for them. So he tells them in the beginning of chapter two that he would not come to them so long as he was in heaviness for fear of making sorry the very ones that he would want to make him glad. And doesn't Paul, in all these things, manifest the very same desires and longings that Christ himself has for his people? We are continually on the mind and heart of Christ. So we read in Psalm 40 in verse five, thy thoughts which are to usward, they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee. If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered. Oh, how much our Lord thinks on us. And we can certainly hear the desire of Christ reflected in Solomon when he writes in Proverbs chapter 23 and verse 26, my son, give me thine heart and let thine eyes observe my ways. This is Christ's desire over his people. His hands are viewed as stretched out even to a disobedient and gamesaying people. He weeps over the doom of his rejecters. If you're in the meeting without him tonight, his hands are stretched out to you. He takes no pleasure in your damnation, but rather invites you to come to him. The spirit and the bride say come, and let him that heareth say come, and let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely. Revelation 22 and verse 17. Now when we come to the words of our text, In chapter 12 and verse 15, I believe that there is so much of Christ shining through Paul that we do no injustice to the text if in these words we hear not so much the voice of an apostle speaking to Christians that he loved dearly a long time ago, But indeed, we may hear in these words Christ himself speaking to us as if he says to us, I will very gladly spend and be spent for you, though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. And in order that we might hear these words as expressions of Christ's love to us, I would like for us to think in the moments that remain on how Paul reminds us of Christ in these words. How Paul reminds us of Christ in these words. Consider with me first of all that Paul reminds us of Christ's action in these words. Underscore the statement, I will very gladly spend. I will very gladly spend. We find in the setting of our text that Paul compared his relationship to the Corinthians to the relationship of parents with their children. In verse 14, he points out the parental obligation to lay up for their children. Or in other words, it is the obligation of parents to lay aside financially all that is necessary to provide for their children's needs and then to spend what they've laid aside specifically for their children. I mean to tell you that's no easy task to perform these days, especially when children tend to think that they need so much more than they actually need. It seems, doesn't it, that children today can hardly imagine living without a cell phone, or their own computer, or the latest fashions, et cetera, et cetera. And children should know that however short they think their parents may fall from that standard of what they think they should provide for them, the likelihood is very high that most of what your parents manage to make is applied either directly or indirectly to the well-being of their children. This is something, you know, I'm afraid that children usually don't realize or appreciate until they become parents themselves. We see then from our text that Paul adopted this parental obligation, and he made it his own standard toward his converts. I will spend for you, he says in our text. And this was true not only of the Christians at Corinth, but of all Paul's converts throughout the Gentile world. I love the way he expresses the same sentiment of our text to the Thessalonians. when he writes to them in 1 Thessalonians 2 and verse 8, so being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us. Oh, you get an idea, don't you, of how much the apostle cared for those to whom he ministered. I think this text illustrates to us exactly what Paul has in mind when he expresses his willingness to spend. He was willing to impart all that he had up to and including his very soul for them. Whatever thou shalt ask of me, I will give it thee under the half of my kingdom, wicked Herod would say to the daughter of Herodias. But Paul would go much further than that. He would impart his very life for those who belong to Christ. What an outstanding example he sets for us. What a tremendous challenge he puts forth to believers that they might be affectionately desirous of each other, willing to spend or impart their own souls for the well-being of others. I can't help but wonder at times if it is the lack of this kind of heart toward others that keeps many churches cold and may keep them from bringing in the harvest that the Lord Jesus himself set before us. Oh, may we rise to the challenge that Paul's example sets before us, but let us come now to view the text on a higher plane, so to speak. In his action of spending himself for his converts, Paul reminds us of Christ. And we can say in this respect that Christ has spent himself for his people. And just as in the case of Paul, this action of spending involved the imparting of his very soul, so in a higher sense, in the case of Christ, we can say he spent himself through the pouring out of his own soul. So we read in Isaiah 53 in verse 12, he hath poured out his soul unto death. I find it interesting that the Greek word for spend that is found in our text is translated by the English word spend just two other times. We read in Mark chapter 5 verse 26 of a certain woman who had suffered many things of many physicians and spent all that she had. And we read again in Luke chapter 15 and verse 14 of the prodigal son who spent all that he had and then began to be in want. In both cases, there is an emphasis not only on spending, but in spending everything. Paul was willing to spend everything. Christ, in fact, did spend everything. No higher price could be conceived by God than the pouring out of Christ's life through his blood. What more could he spend? Oh, he could create worlds of silver and gold by the power of his word, but these could not avail for our redemption. They are but corruptible things. No, nothing short of the spending or the pouring out of his precious blood could avail to redeem us. Do you realize, dear believer, how valuable that makes you to God? We sometimes find it difficult, don't we, to consider ourselves valuable to God? especially during those times when we're very much aware of our sins and our shortcomings. Why would God see me as valuable? We know that the gospel teaches us that our sins are imputed to Christ, his righteousness imputed to us, but it seems that we are often so aware of the strength of inbred sin that yet abides in us that it seems impossible at times to think that God would view us as valuable. It becomes difficult for faith to grasp because it seems so foreign to what we know ourselves to be when we contemplate our sin and our shortcomings. You should consider, however, that you do great dishonor to God by failing to see yourself as valuable to him. God has paid a very high price for you to bring about your righteous standing, even the blood of his Son The value of something can be seen in the price that is paid for it. And if he paid his blood, well, that makes you pretty valuable. We must therefore count ourselves to be righteous in Christ if we would honor him and have respect toward what he has paid for us, what he has spent for us. But we can go a step further and say that not only has Christ spent himself for his people, but he continues to spend for his people up to this very day. He spends his prayers on you. He intercedes for us. interceding on your behalf that your salvation will be wrought to the uttermost, pleading the merits of his blood for you, that all that has been purchased by his blood will be applied to you. That's a good argument, you know, to make in prayer. Lord, we seek thee for the blessings that have been purchased by the blood of thy Son. O Lord, apply to thy people what you have paid a very high price to secure for us. He spends his power on you, ordering all things providentially for the sake of his elect. He works all things together for your good. He spends tireless energy watching over you at all times, all the while protecting you from yours and his enemies, subduing you more and more to himself. So Paul's action reminds us of Christ's action. Here, the text, as Christ's word to you, I will very gladly spend for you. But not only does Paul's action remind us of Christ's action, but consider with me next that Paul's openness reminds us of Christ's openness to his people. Our text, you see, presents to us both an active element and a passive element. I will very gladly spend. There's the active element. I will very gladly spend and be spent for you. There's the passive element. Paul is saying, in effect, not only that he would exert all his effort toward the good of the Corinthian Christians, but also that he would be open or accessible to them. He's saying, in essence, use me. Use anything and everything that I have. I place myself at your service to be spent by you as you direct. You know, it's something when parents visit the shopping mall for the sake of their children, You shop for them, you enter the stores, or maybe you visit Amazon, whatever the case may be, and you study the merchandise with your children in mind, and you choose for them such things as you think will contribute to their happiness and well-being. This is what it means to spend for them. But if you were to hand your children the checkbook or the credit card, or the cash on hand, and you were to say to them, now you go and pick out for yourself such things as you need and want and use this cash or this credit card to buy them, now you are being spent for them. You are placing all that you have at their disposal. And in this manner, Paul opened himself to his converts. On a higher plane, of course, this reminds us of Christ's willingness to be spent for his redeemed ones. This openness or accessibility is revealed to us by what took place immediately following Christ's atoning death on Calvary's cross. We read in Matthew 27, verse 51, how the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. That veil is what divided the holy place from the most holy place in the temple. Up until that time, there was only one person, the high priest, who was allowed to enter the most holy place, and even he did not have free and open access to it. He could only enter into that room once a year on the Day of Atonement. We are told that this rending of the veil in the temple took place after Christ had cried with a loud voice and had yielded up the ghost. And I think that these two verses of Scripture demonstrate the truth of our text. Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost, Matthew 27, 50. In that verse, then, Christ has spent himself for his people. And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom, verse 51. And that verse shows us now how the way of access is now open to Christ, and he is willing now to be spent by his people. And this truth is stressed again and again by Christ himself when he says, John 14 and verse 13, and whatsoever ye ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. And a few chapters later, chapter 16, verse 24 in John's gospel, hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name. Ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. You see his willingness to be spent. These verses teach us the wideness of Christ's openness to his people. He throws the doors open to the throne room of heaven. He opens them wide. He invites us to approach him freely and openly and even boldly. They demonstrate also his willingness to be spent by his people. He invites us to ask what we will, and that for two reasons. because his Father is glorified in him when we avail ourselves of him, and because he would have our joy to be full." And there again, two more arguments to take to the Lord in prayer. Now, it's not my purpose this evening to go into the various reasons why we don't receive things that we ask for. We do know that if we ask amiss, he will not grant us what we ask. But let me rather point out that there are things that are never denied to us anytime we go to him in prayer. We are never denied grace each time we approach his throne of grace. His grace comes to us as an open account that we can access at all times. So long as that throne remains a blood-sprinkled throne, then we will never be able to spend it all. How could we spend up His grace when its value is infinite through the blood of Christ? This in turn means that we will never be denied cleansing. We will never be denied forgiveness. So long as his character is unchangeable and he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness, then he will always allow himself to be spent for us in these realms. He'll never deny us his attention. 1 Peter 3 and verse 12, for the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and his ears are open unto their prayers. You spend any time at all in the book of Psalms, then you have seen the truth of this text manifested again and again. The psalmists have the freedom to praise God, to petition God, sometimes even to complain to God. They approach Him at times with their souls filled to overflowing with the sense of God's goodness. They approach Him at other times in deep anguish and distress of soul. And in each and every case, they are never denied His attention. Even during times when he seems afar off, he still is really very near at hand. Reminded of Job, for instance, who thought that God was long gone from him. And in his complaint, he exclaimed, oh, that my words were now written, oh, that they were printed in a book. Job 19.23. Funny you should say that, Job. That's exactly what has taken place. And though God seemed far off, yet that very prayer was heard and was answered. So Paul reminds us of Christ. In our text, Paul's action reminds us of Christ's action. Paul's openness reminds us of Christ's openness or accessibility. Consider with me finally how Paul's demeanor reminds us of Christ's demeanor. When I use the word demeanor, I'm conscious of a definition that reads like this, a distinguishing feature of your personal nature. By his demeanor then there are elements that come into play here, his feelings, his attitude, his affections. And our text makes it clear to us that underlying Paul's willingness to spend and be spent was the feeling of gladness. I will very gladly spend and be spent for you. There was no reluctance or hesitation on Paul's part in his expression. Our text further indicates to us that this gladness was due to the affection that Paul felt for the Corinthians. A love which grew in fervor as time went on, underscore the phrase, the more abundantly I love you. Do you see how that text paints the picture for us of Paul's demeanor? His actions toward them, his openness to them, came from a fervent and growing affection for them, which enabled him to serve them with gladness and abundant love. And perhaps the greatest marvel of the text is found in the fact that Paul's gladness and affection toward the Corinthians did not depend on their response to him. His love for them was unconditional and full and free, so we read these incredible words, though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. When I look at words like that, I have to say I lose sight of Paul. The light of Christ shines through those words with such brilliant radiance that Paul becomes lost in the light the way the flame of a burning candle is lost in the sun. We read of Christ in Hebrews 1 and verse 9, that thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity, therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. The very term Messiah means anointed one. We know that Christ was anointed with power and unction that were necessary for the fulfillment of his ministry up to and including his atoning death. But underneath that anointing of enabling power was also the anointing of gladness. He did this gladly. so that we may conclude that even though he was a man of sorrows as he visited this sin-sick and sin-cursed world, yet he lived and died gladly as our covenant head. He spent himself gladly for us. He opens the doors of heaven gladly to all that will avail themselves of him. And must we not conclude that at the very moment his love was strongest, as it were, as he hung suspended between heaven and earth, nailed to a cross, he was loved least by his people. You ever thought about that? We know that Christ loved us by going to that cross, but how much was Christ loved as he hung on that cross? Those that had been nearest to him had forsaken him. One had betrayed him. His enemies surely felt no sympathy for him, but rather mocked him. If he be the king of Israel, let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe him, Matthew 27, 42. And as the crowning point to his penal afflictions for our sins, his father's love, which had been his portion throughout the ages was taken from him. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Oh, truly Christ can say that he has spent himself for his people, though the more abundantly he has loved, the less he has been loved. How can we not then marvel at such amazing love? In a day such as ours, you know, when families dissolve and divorces increase. I think we've developed in our culture an understanding for these things, which is not to say that we condone divorce and the splitting up of families, but when we hear so many stories of cruelty and neglect and abuse, we come to understand how one party may fall out with another party, especially when there is no positive response to love, but instead there may even be a response of cruelty and hatred. Christ's love is stronger. His love and loyalty remain constant in spite of what may be our lack of response. He loves us fully, he loves us freely, and he loves us steadfastly. He loves you no less for your failures. He could love you no more because of your successes. We should, therefore, bask in his love Enter into the joy of it. Let faith affirm this night that Christ will very gladly spend and be spent for you because he abundantly loves you. And as you bask in that love, you'll find yourself transformed by it. Paul certainly was. And like Paul, you'll find yourself willing to spend and be spent fully and freely in such a way that you too will come to remind others of Christ. Oh, may God bring it to pass then in each of our lives that we'll reflect the boundless love of Christ through our willingness and desire to spend and to be spent for his name's sake. Let's pray. O Lord, as we bow in thy presence now, we thank thee for such amazing condescending love that would take you all the way to Calvary's cross for poor, vile, unworthy sinners such as we are. We thank thee, Lord, that thou hast spent thyself, that thou does continue to spend thyself, and that you make yourself open and accessible to us and you do all of this gladly. Lord, we thank thee for your abundant love. Oh, may we love thee in increasing measure in return as our hearts are illuminated to the reality of the breadth and length and depth and height of a love that passes knowledge. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.