I'll read 2 Corinthians 1, verses 12 through 22, and this passage, there's some things going on around it that, if I just mention now, I think will help us understand what's going on here, and that's that the Apostle Paul had changed his travel plans, and since he had changed his travel plans, now the church in Corinth, they're having some trust issues of perhaps accusing him of being worldly in his motives and even unreliable, and so here's how Paul responds. 2 Corinthians 1, verses 12-22. For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience that we have behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom, but by the grace of God, and supremely toward you. For we are not writing to you anything other than what you read and understand, and I hope will fully understand, just as you did partially understand us, that on the day of our Lord Jesus you will boast of us as we will boast of you. Because I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you first so that you might have a second experience of grace. I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea. Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans according to the flesh, ready to say yes, yes, and no, no at the same time? As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been yes and no, for the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I was not yes and no, but in him it was always yes. For all the promises of God find their yes in him. This is why it is through him that we utter our amen to God for his glory. And it is God who established us with you in Christ and has anointed us and who has also put his seal on us and given us his spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. Praise God for the encouragement of his word. Let's pray. Our Lord God, may your word be a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Well, as we come to our passage this evening, as we continue through 2 Corinthians, we can get a pretty good idea of what might be going on behind the scenes if we just read between the lines a little bit, reading what Paul has written, and then think why might he have written those specific sentences. And some things we've brought up is we know that there are false teachers in Corinth that were looking to discredit Paul and his ministry team. and they used Paul's changing travel plans as an opportunity then to sow seeds of distrust and discord. And this shouldn't surprise us even though it's the Apostle Paul and we would all have loved to sit under the preaching and praise God we have his letters. But it shouldn't be a surprise to us that there's distrust and discord because this is always the goal of the evil one throughout the ages to try to turn the saints of God against one another to try to stop the gospel from being preached and to thwart our sanctification. It's one of the devil's most favorite tactics to try to get us to jump to conclusions about one another and to think the worst of each other and even to get us to question God's love and even the truth of His Word. So we're familiar with these tactics. And so what we want to see tonight is it's interesting how Paul starts out to combat this. He needs to reassert himself. He needs to regain some trust with the church in Corinth. He needs to do this first up front in his letter so that they will actually listen to what comes after his letter. Because remember he wants to visit them for perhaps one last time and he doesn't want to come with a large docket of church discipline items. He wants them to work through these things so he can come and be encouraged. So as we go here, that's really what Paul is doing. He's trying to rebuild some trust, and we're going to unpack how he does this in his defense under three points. Paul's conscience is clear. The theological basis of Paul's integrity is God's faithfulness. And then we'll spend some time in application. So we don't have the Corinthian side of this communication, but by reading the passage, we can tell that Paul had travel plans and that those plans changed. I guess he didn't have Ralph and Grace Vischer travel. Yeah, I embarrassed our guests. You can get me later if you can catch me. But he changes travel plans, and so now it's what's going on with Paul? He's supposed to come, now he's not coming. Why did he want to come in the first place? Did he get a better offer? Is this guy unreliable? Those are some of the seeds being sown here. So Paul begins to answer his criticism in verse 12, where he says, For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom, but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you. So when Paul speaks of boasting, he's not talking about bragging. He's talking about his confidence. In verse 12, Paul's saying, I am confident And my conscience is clear. The conscience of our ministry team is clear. We have good motives. We've always conducted ourselves wherever we are in the utmost of simplicity and godly sincerity. We have not sought lavish things and privileges. Paul's saying he hasn't been hatching some kind of complex plan that would somehow result in them getting a whole bunch of earthly benefits and riches. He wasn't trying to make a name for himself. trying to get rich and famous, Paul's only had one motive, and he's always been transparent with them about that motive. His guiding principle has not been, what can I get out of the Church of Corinth, but how can I give them Christ? That has always been Paul's motivation. It also seems that one of the accusations Paul was facing is that perhaps his letters were overly complicated and unclear. In verse 13, Paul refutes this saying, for we are not writing to you anything other than what you read and understand. Now, Paul knows that they didn't understand some of his writings, and they thought it was difficult. Even Peter thought some of Paul's writings were a bit difficult. And perhaps he's saying, well, let me rephrase this for you. Let me give you some more information. Let me make it clearer. But we know very well that the problem with clarity, it probably wasn't Paul and his letters, is when we have a problem understanding the clarity of the scriptures, the problem isn't with the scriptures, the problem is with our own hearts, is that we're slow to receive and believe. So I suspect that perhaps some of the reason they were having a hard time with some of the things that Paul was writing about is because they just didn't like it very much. Well, next Paul gives an example of his godly sincerity and his relationship with the Corinthians. He says that on the day of our Lord Jesus, you will boast of us as we will boast in you. See, the reason Paul has a clear conscience is because he just wants good things for the Corinthians, not for himself. And when our Lord Jesus comes again, he's confident that the Corinthians will boast in the fact that they know Paul, and not just Paul, but in the Christ that Paul preaches. And in return, Paul's going to boast and even take a sense of godly pride in his spiritual children in the churth in Corinth, saying, look at how they love the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at how they've grown in grace. Look at how they take care of one another. That's what Paul wants to see. So these are not worldly motives. These are godly motives. There is no self-interest here. And then in verses 15 and 16, Paul explains his reason for, continues along reasoning, just giving them details about his travel plans again, he revisits it, and I'm just going to paraphrase verses 15 and 16. He basically says, look, I was so sure that we would enjoy being together that I plan to come visit Not just one time, but twice. But on my way to Macedonia I was going to come visit, and then when I was on my way from Macedonia to Judea I was going to come visit. And then he says in verse 17, was I vacillating, meaning was I going back and forth when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans in the flesh? He'd say, yeah, that's what I want to do. And at the same time, no, no. So Paul's asking him, do you think I was lying to you when I expressed my desire here? Do you think I made these plans lightly and didn't really think it through and was ready to just change them if a better offer came my way? Based on your knowledge of me, Paul says, I mean, they've known each other a long time for years. How is it that I make my plans? Does Paul make his plans according to just his whim? His flesh, what I feel like that day, by worldly standards, well, I would get some more benefit if I go here. He's saying, is that really what you think of me? Well, Paul sets this up as a rhetorical question. He's saying, you can't possibly think that little of my character after what we've been through together and after what we've shared in Jesus Christ. But Paul doesn't just point to his own clarity of conscience as to a reason why they should trust him. In verses 18 through 22, Paul continues to defend his action by giving a theological proof, a theological basis for the integrity of his ministry. In verse 18, he says this, as surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been yes and no. Paul roots the integrity of his ministry in God's faithfulness. It stands to reason here that If God is faithful, if God can be trusted, then so can God's messengers, especially the Apostle Paul and his ministry team. Paul is saying, if you trust God and you believe God is faithful, then you can trust those whom God has sent to minister to you. Verse 19 tells us that God is faithful and does not change. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaim among you, Silvanus and Timothy, And I was not yes and no, but in him it's always yes. Jesus is God's eternal yes to sinners. Hebrews 13.8 tells us Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. God is trustworthy. He doesn't change. He doesn't just tell us that he doesn't change. He proves it to us in salvation history over and over again as he makes promises of salvation and then delivers. This is what Paul is getting at in verse 20. For all the promises of God find their yes in him, that's in Christ. That is why it is through him that we utter our amen to God for his glory. By proclaiming God's faithfulness in history, Paul begins to reorient the minds and thoughts of the Corinthians, to change their focus, to get their gaze where it should be. See, they're focused on Paul and their perceived slight, but Paul redirects their gaze to the faithfulness of God. The gospel that Paul proclaimed was the gospel that was accomplished in history that proves God's faithfulness. In Genesis 3.15, we had a promise of a savior that the seat of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. Well, that's a promise. And in our original Old Testament reading, I just wanted one verse from from numbers here. And so rather than read the whole thing, I'll just read the one verse that I wanted from there. God is not man that he should lie or the son of man that he should not change his mind. Has he said or will he not do it? Or has he spoken and will he not fulfill it? God is faithful. He keeps all his promises. All those promises are answered in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Paul answers his rhetorical question by proclaiming all the promises of God find their yes in the unchanging Christ. Paul points to the history of redemption, God saving his people as proof of that faithfulness. And not only is God faithful and trustworthy because he never changes, and has always kept all his promises, God is also faithful and trustworthy because he continues to work in the life of Paul as the gospel keeps going out in the life of his ministry team. And he keeps working in the church in Corinth. And we know that he keeps working here among us. Paul tells us what God has done and continues to do in the lives of his saints in verses 21 and 22. This is what he's done and continues to do. And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us and who has also put his seal on us and given us his spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. There are several things here that God has done and is doing in us right now mentioned in these two verses. We want to go through each of them briefly. The first clause is, and it is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us We see that God is the actor here, that it's God who establishes. It's God who makes them to stand firm in Jesus Christ. And there's also a bit of a wordplay here that we might miss if we go too quickly. We know that Christ means the anointed one. We could also read this verse as God establishes us in the anointed one and he has anointed us. Since we are united to Christ and Christ is the anointed one, were anointed in him. Well, that's kind of an, usually when, if we think of anointing, we're not quite sure what to do with that, and we're probably starting to wonder if we accidentally, you know, may have walked into assemblies of God Church or something, because that's usually where they talk about God's anointing. Well, in the Old Testament, when a prophet, priest, or king was anointed, he had oil poured on him. And this oil was to symbolize the pouring out of the gift of the Holy Spirit. The gift of the spirit being given so that the person being anointed would have the approval and call of God for a task and that he would have the power of God because God would equip him to fulfill that task. That's what's wrapped up in anointing. Anointing was an appointment to a special office or task. And it included a guarantee of the Holy Spirit's power so that that person being anointed would be able to fulfill the task. So God the Father anointed Jesus the Son at his baptism with the Holy Spirit. So what was true for Jesus as he was anointed and called and equipped is true for Paul. It's true for his ministry team. It's true for the church in Corinth And it's true for us here at New Covenant Community Church. As anointed ones, we belong to the anointed one, Jesus Christ. And the same Holy Spirit that was poured out upon Christ, that was poured out upon Paul, is poured out upon every single Christian. So along with Paul, we're called then to be Christians, or little Christ, or anointed ones. This means that we have a unique call to be a witness of the gospel, to proclaim the gospel, to live as heavenly citizens in the midst of this evil age. God has anointed us. He has set us apart from the world to serve him. And he hasn't just set us apart, but he's given us the gift of the Holy Spirit so that we're able to serve him. So not only do we share in Christ's anointing, But in verse 21, we read, he has also put his seal on us and given us a spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. So a seal, we don't really use seals very often, most of us, but a seal signifies ownership and authenticity. In the ancient world, a seal was placed on a document to officially confirm something, or a seal was placed on something to show that it was someone's property, sort of like when you write on something, this is the property of so-and-so. So a seal is an official signature saying, these are my words, or this is on my, I own this, this is mine. Well, in our baptism, We have a seal from God. God placed his seal upon us. Baptism is the visible sign and seal of the Holy Spirit, that we belong to God, that he places upon us. And so if you've been baptized, God has publicly declared that you belong to him. But we don't just look to our baptism for this assurance and encouragement. We have more of this, and this is what Paul is speaking of here, is this additional insurance. And this assurance is in our heart, as the spirit of God testifies to our heart that we are the children of God and that we belong to him. We might not always feel like God's children because sometimes we don't look like it. But deep down, we know who we are. And this makes sense to us. We do have an analogy in earthly relationships. Kids, let me ask you a question. How do you know that your dad is really your dad, or that your mom is really your mom. How do you know for sure? Well, there is an official seal or document, whether that's a birth certificate or adoption papers, that does legally approve that your mom and your dad are your parents. But how do you know for sure that you are their child? Well, you never doubt it. The answer is, well, I can't explain it. I just know. I know that I belong here and that this is my family and that these are my parents. I just know. Well, in a similar way, God gives his Holy Spirit to his children so that they will know and be assured that they are children of the King. We know that we sin. We know that we stray. But we also know that God hears us and that he's a forgiving father. We know that we belong to him. And just that we know that, this is the guarantee of the spirit in our hearts testifying that we belong to God. So by talking about the Lord's faithfulness here and how God's proved it in history, how it's sealed upon our hearts, Paul's building a case for his integrity and for what he says next. His integrity and what he says next is founded upon God's faithfulness. And when Paul starts talking about God's faithfulness, we may have noticed that as we're reading about promises that are yes and in Christ and how the Lord never changes and he's faithful and we're sealed with this gift, it almost seemed like Paul started to just lose himself in the beauty of the gospel and ramble just a little bit. As he said, it's God who establishes you in Christ. He gets excited about this. And so what we want to do is now take a few minutes to think about these words, this foundation that Paul is laying about that just has to do with our trust in the faithfulness of God and see how that also relates to some of our trust and our difficulties of trusting each other. So in application here, I want to talk about three common trust issues that we struggle with. First, we often struggle to believe that God really loves us and really has our best interest in mind. Well, this passage reminds us that we can trust God because he's faithful, because God never changes. He's the same for eternity. He's the same and he will always be the same. This means that God, our father, is is a steady God. He's a steady father. He does not love us one day and then get tired of us and hate us the next day. He's not amused with us and entertained with us one week and bored with us the next week. No, our God always loves us, and he is a steady and faithful shepherd. For all who are in Christ, Christ is the evidence of the Father's love for us. He is God's eternal yes for his people. And to think of this just brings comfort to our heart, because no matter how bad we've messed up in life, or no matter how bad you will mess up in this life, I hope not, but you might. And no matter how many times you do, God is faithful. He is merciful. He is slow to anger. He's patient with you so that you might repent and turn back to him. So if you're on a road right now and you think that you have gone too far, and you think that you are beyond God's grace, if you think that you've just sinned too much and that God has done with you, you are wrong. Our God is a God who never stops calling sinners to repentance and faith in Christ. God is faithful and never changes. And as long as you have breath, the Lord pursues you to repent and believe. And God will not change his mind and disown you just because you struggle or just because your faith is weak, because he is the faithful God that never changes. He's always loving. He's always comforting. He always upholds all his children, even the obnoxious ones, even the ones that run and run and run, even the ones that have to learn the hard way and won't listen to wisdom of the scriptures and each other, and they have to get brought low time and time again. God does not even abandon that child. As one hymn we sing often says, we are prone to wander. We are prone to wander, but God is always there. He does not let us wander too far. We can trust God because he's our perfect father that will never harm us. He will only love us, and he's proved it by making every promise, yes and amen, in Jesus Christ. You can trust him. The second trust issue that I want to bring up is sometimes we struggle to trust and believe that what the Bible says is true. Well, Paul reminds us that God not only tells us that he loves us, but that he has proved it in history. And he proved it by keeping his promise to bring about a Savior to pay for our sins so that we might have fellowship with God. Immediately after the fall, right away, God promised a Savior. He didn't wait. And when God promises, God delivers. Christ is the promised Messiah King who descended from David. He's the deliverer that has come from Zion, from heaven above. He's the promised seed of Abraham. He's the one whom God said would be stricken, smitten, and afflicted for our sins. We only have to look and see that in history, Christ became man. He suffered, he died, he was buried, he rose again, so that we might too have fellowship with God. We can see evidence that everything that God says is true, so we can trust him. Every promise in his word. God the father promised a savior, God the son delivered, and God the spirit is the guarantee. The down payment in our hearts assuring us that this is true, that the word of God is true, that we are his children. So since we can trust him, that means that we can also trust his messengers. that we can trust the prophets and the apostles and what we have in the word of God. God is faithful. He's proved it in history. So it stands to reason that if we believe that and we see that, then his prophets and apostles are trustworthy as well. And we have the writings of the prophets and the apostles in the Old and New Testament. And these are God's love letters to us. So that means we can believe what's written here. God's word through the prophets and apostles is a trustworthy guide to salvation. And it's not just a guide to salvation. It's a roadmap to glory. That's what we have in his word. We can trust the word of God. Now, one last trust issue. And that comes as we struggle to trust each other, to trust one another. Paul's words remind us that we must be alert and aware that the devil does want to sow seeds of distrust in Christ's church. He wants there to be conflict. He doesn't want us to trust one another. Well, if we can't trust one another, we can trust no one. And we know that we're still sinners, that we still hurt each other, sometimes very, very deeply. But as brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ, we're called to put others' needs before our own. We're called to not be easily offended. And we're called to not to assume the worst of each other. So there are times when trust is so broken down and things are so bad that we certainly do need the help of others to rebuild that. But on an everyday level, we need to have the mindset of putting others' needs first, as that was the mind of Christ. We shouldn't be easily offended and just assume the worst of one another, that there's some other reason that someone talked to us or didn't or said this or said that. This is what the Corinthians did with Paul. They saw his travel schedule and they assumed the worst of him, probably with some outside influence, but that's what they did. If not for God's grace, if that bitterness would have grown, it would have permanently destroyed the relationship between Paul and the church that he helped plant. So this situation here in this letter should be a reminder to us. Think the best of one another. Be quick to forgive. Give grace. If you think there's an offense there and you've been hurt, don't assume that they tried to hurt you. Go and talk to them. Find out what's going on. You may find out that it's a giant misunderstanding. We must think the best of one another here. Because if we don't do it here, where will we? And for those of us that have really been hurt and really been wronged by people who have said that they love the Lord Jesus and had our trust abused, even by those in the church, there is pain there. And God meets us in that pain and gently restores us. But we must seek Christ. We must learn to trust again. We're commanded to forgive, but trust sometimes is slow in coming. And it's not an easy task. But with God, we have faith that all things are possible. And Paul's going to talk more about reconciliation between not just God and sinners, but he's going to talk more about reconciliation among each other. Paul's going to continue to defend his motives and show the way forward toward reconciliation. But for us, our takeaway tonight is we want to see where he starts with how that trust is rebuilt. He didn't start with here's the five steps on how to forgive, or here's five steps on solving conflict. Paul begins the same way that he always does, by getting our minds off ourselves and looking to Christ. God's faithfulness to us in Christ is the foundation of our trust in God, And by trusting in our faithful God, that's the only way that we'll be able to trust one another. By establishing us together in Christ, by giving us a full measure of the Spirit, and by claiming us as his own, the Spirit assures us that we are the children of God. And as the children of God, that means that we are brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ. So let us praise our God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who is worthy of all of our trust, because he never changes and always keeps his promises. And may he strengthen our trust in him and help enable us to trust one another. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we do come before you. We thank you for your servants. We thank you for the Apostle Paul that reminds us that the evil one is out to sow seeds of discord, that we often think the worst of one another. And at times, we do the worst to one another. Lord, help us to see that even though we are sinners and we are often fickle and sometimes we are not trustworthy, that you are always trustworthy, that every promise you've ever uttered in your scriptures has been fulfilled and kept in Jesus Christ. Let us find our comfort here. Let us find our comfort here so that we might be able to trust one another and let us be worthy of one another's trust as well. not taking that for granted, not insisting upon it, or not expecting it, but earning it as we love one another. And as Lord, as you have proved your love to us with a perfect track record in history, let us also have a track record of love that we can show to others so that we might be trustworthy as well. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.