1223. Paul the Perfumer

Welcome to The Daily Platform program future sermons from travel services Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina, whether it's the general travel service to the whole student body or services for those in the ministerial class or seminary. Everyone at the school is blessed by the preaching of the word each day from the travel platform during the course of 2020 uncertainty and unrest have risen to a degree. Many of us have never seen before in second Corinthians.

The Holy Spirit breathes out perfect guidance of how to minister God's truth in love through Paul's ministerial testimony. Testimony full of difficulty, but more full of Christ today were continuing the seminary series from second Corinthians, and today's message will be brought by Dr. Bob Jones, the third Chancellor of Bob Jones University all right this morning I am leaving new pleas in your in your text to second Corinthians 2. Beginning in verse 14 is the theme of the whole chapels I got to thinking as I was preparing this. What can I say that they haven't heard four or five times already.

If others have come and spoken with this theme in mind, but this is what the Lord has laid on my heart.

I would point you to verse 14 to begin you know it well now thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ maketh manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every place.

For we are unto God, a sweet savor of Christ in them that are saved and in them that perish too long though we are the savor of death on the death and to the other. The savor of life unto life and who is sufficient for these things are time is very brief this morning is as it always is in the chapel so much.

I would like to say about this, but imagine the apostle Paul, I just got off of the ship coming over major minor and they arrived at Neapolis, which is a short distance to Philippi where he was headed. Maybe he was made to some refreshment so we got in the one of those Roman Baz Aeneas struck up a conversation with a citizen of Neapolis said they hear stranger and I don't think I've seen you here before know is that I'm new here. Where do you live well. I was born in Tarsus I went to school in Jerusalem. I've been spending a lot of my time may all through Asia minor, and I come to a new place I come over here to Macedonia. That's new to me and what is what to look this is our UN well he said my my my name is Paul and I'm a perfumer I deal with fragrance O the citizen says may be well. My wife has a birthday coming up I needed fragrance you got any murder you got a frankincense lady got well, no, that's not quite what I have. Well, what is your fragrance. It's the fragrance of the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Maybe that guy went running. Hope he got his close first out of that bath and just won't get away as fast as he could. Well, this is what Paul was he was a perfumer and he said right here that Betty was a perfumer there three things about in these three verses that I just wanted to share with you briefly.

There were three things that smelled good that Paul told us about hear the gospel itself smells good. That's verse 14.

We'll talk about that the gospel of the gospel labor smells good to God and to those who receive the fragrance of the gospel. Those who get saved and there is the labor of the gospel. Let's look at 14.

Thanks be to God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ, I'm in victory a in jail or out of jail or are being beaten or being cared for by the kind gifts of God's people. I am in victory at all times. In Christ, ladies and gentlemen in the most glorious of your studies in the most pressure of your schedules. You are entitled to be in triumph in Christ, and indeed, if were not, then there's something wrong with our relationship with Christ.

Joy set I'm I'm in victory and I am making known the savor of the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ in every place. The salvation of all people is God's desire. As you know, it's part of God's benevolent nature and his love, he tells us in first in first Timothy 24 tells us that God desires all people everywhere to be saved. The gospel is the savor of life and the life and death, and that some receive it and live. Some refuse it and I it's the fragrance of a Savior who was smitten and bruised for our sakes fragrance to be produced requires cutting/eating, thrashing, and the fragrance of incense is produced when a tree is slashed and the protective lose between the bark in the tree comes out and is harvested and hardened and then burned and makes the aroma of incense. The tree got her got bruised it got slashed flowers to produce a the fragrances that you ladies like the floral fragrances those flowers had to be dried and crushed. There's always a sacrifice involved when there is a fragrance Christ was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities was chastised for our peace.

There's a price to be paid for the production of fragrance and Paul said the gospel smells good and the knowledge of Christ.

The savor the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ is what my life is all about. Ephesians 252 tells us that Christ also has loved us and given himself for a sweet smelling savor.

This is our Savior. This is our Lord is our Lord, who gave everything and if we don't keep ourselves reminded of the essential nature of the gospel and the telling of the gospel that our ministries are going to dry up and blow away.

It's easy and the pressures of ministry.

The daily routines the care of all the churches, or your church as it was expressed by Paul plural for him, singular for you the care we get so involved in the care we get so involved in the care of study that the thrill of the gospel which we understood that and reveled in when we first got saved its you.

Yes, we know at the we cherish it, but it's something that's somewhere way off the front burner in the fragrance of our lives will become an odious fragrance. If we don't keep near to the surface of our lives. The fragrance of the gospel. Paul's life was making that fragrance known everywhere he went. I was reading from Barnes the other day about this passage, he said the regular tendency of the gospel is to save not to destroy men is the tendency of medicine as the tendency of medicine is to heal a food to support our body of air to give vitality of like to give pleasure to the eyes.

The gospel is provided for all and adapted to all. There is sufficiency in the gospel for all people and its nature is suited to save one as another.

Whatever may be the manner in which it is received, it is always in itself.

The pure same glorious system full of benevolence and mercy. Paul said the gospel itself. The knowledge of Christ which is the essence of the gospel and the aim of the gospel has a great fragrance that really smells good and he said in the second verse here verse 15. We are under God, a sweet savor of Christ. Not only is the gospel a wonderful sweet savor fragrance, but the gospel were is a sweet fragrance unto God.

God is pleased with such people. He delights in their work. I think sometimes we maybe get hard on ourselves and down on ourselves because it just doesn't seem like we matter too much. We preach to the same people week after week, just the nature of things in America right now nature of things in Europe and the Middle East, and many other hardhearted countries.

This is a hard country. Now just about every missionary I speak to Justin. My wife and I were just speaking with some from Poland the other day. He said you know, I become convinced that my life is about sowing all the gospel seed I can and leaving the rest God we don't see great results. The Poland is as opposed to other European nations would be a gospel garden just one or two here in one or two there was talking with the Murphy's are graduates who are out in the southeast Arizona near an Apache reservation and they are giving their life to a work just off the reservation, which seeks to salvage the people who get saved on the reservation, bring them and their families and teach them what a Christ centered life and hold her all about it and put them back on the reservation where they can be. Hopefully up transplanted plantain that will survive the intense harshness and pressures of that place but he said my wife and I from the day we arrived here said if we can seek for families saved and established and flourishing and fruitful for Christ. For in our lifetime will consider that our ministry to these Native Americans to be successful. That's a hard work the gospel or who has hard work to do as a sweet savor to God and his laborers are a sweet savor regardless of their fruitfulness. Verse 16 to the one we are the savor of death under the we give the sweets fragrance of the gospel. One hears it, despises it dies and goes to the second death.

Another receives the message of life is born again, he has new life in Christ, and he dies and goes to eternal life. But he said I'm not in charge of the reception of it or the rejection of it. My job is to labor in this effort and that is a sweet savor to the Lord is gospel labor that smells good to God, not gospel success God would have all men everywhere to be saved, you and I are out there as I hope for the rest of our lives as passionately as we can. Getting the message of the sweet savor of the gospel of Christ to everybody and some will receive the Savior, and be saved but are fragrance to God, our acceptability God to God does not have to do with the results of it. That's in God that he bills the church he's in charge of food who receives and who rejects idea to keep myself reminded of that my grandfather who preached to big crowds and those big gospel meetings in the teens and 20s, when the cities would bring in an evangelist like Billy Sunday my grandfather and others put up a pole barn sawdust on the floor.

Crude wooden benches to services a day. One of the afternoon when the evening those big pole barns would seat between 5 to 5 and 10,000 people.

It would be filled every afternoon every evening for 4 to 6 weeks multitude that would even give an invitation until the last week about that time.

These people had come night after night or no competition, no television, no circuses, no nothing. It was that the big show. If I can put it that way in town and they came and they heard and multitudes got saved, churches got started. It was a glorious day. I heard my grandfather say in the late 50s toward the very end of his ministry. You know were not seen people say very much anymore. He said it's like the Holy Spirit has removed his convicting presence when I was in the late 50s I was college student just about ready to graduate at the end of it I did in 1959 and compared to today was a verdant flourishing gospel production compared to what he had seen decades before it looked pusillanimous and so the greatest enemy.

You and I will have to face.

Perhaps is our own despondency over the fruitfulness of the apparent evidential result of what happens when we are gospel preaching people and by the way whatever God's calling for you is as he reminded Paul reminded Timothy the pastor to have an evangelistic quality to your pastoral ministry is incumbent upon all of us had.

I remember one time in my life when in my early 20s I was doing some evangelistic work I didn't have much to do here at the University I was teaching at the time, but I was also doing some administrative things that the Dean of men's office and all of that in and I had periods of time I could be away and I would go for five days to a church and sometimes a week and I I I was doing evangelistic work and really, really good week really good week that might be 25 or 30 professions of faith. On an average week 456 and then I would read it in in a newspaper, a weekly newspaper that was sent out to preachers, particularly all over the southeast reports of other evangelists in the results they were having and eventually so-and-so would say last week and such and such a talent I saw 45 people say to somebody else would say I saw hundred and 45 people savor 85 people safe, and I would read those reports week after week and one time I just got so fed up with myself. I took that paper and I went into my father's office and I threw it on his desk and I said dad I'm going with this God hasn't called me to. This should set down so much wrong with you today and look at this paper.

These reports every week. Great results.

I've never seen results from my preaching when he said son Ari prayed up where you live and write us and yet they had the best I know how when he said, son, listen at the judgment. God's not going to stand you up beside those other men and say why didn't you have his results are his result. He's going to say did you do the best you could with the opportunities and the gifts and the anointing that I gave you we faithful what I gave you to do. Then he said something understand better now than I did at the time, he said, beside that son don't even know if those reports are true. Well was a great load lifted off of me. God is delighted in the gospel faithful gospel labor and the faithfulness and that is what is going to reward, not the results because you and I are not in charge one time in New York City when my children were small we were up there for whatever reason I don't remember and we were on the subway one day going to museum was taking the children amuse them up in upper Manhattan were sitting at the side of the car facing the door.

One of the doors it got to a station and I noticed that a man at the other door at that stage and got on with the signboard didn't say a word walk right down the aisle came and stood at the door in front of us. The signboard don't remember the exact versus the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life but whosoever shall call, and they were the Lord shall be saved. Just couple of simple versus gospel versus I got to talk to that guy jumped up and said Sir I'm glad for your witness here and you do this every day. He said no just on Thursdays.

He said I work for the electric company here in the orchid. He said I can't preach on, I'm not very able speaker, but I do love the Lord and I want to do something to make you known and so he said several years ago I decided I could at least let these verses do the speaking and this is what I do every Thursday I got get on at that station. I'm getting off at the next one. I'll catch the next train back the other way. Several hours shall do this every third yes it sure I praise God for you.

Has anybody ever commended you as everybody rejoiced up. He said no, I've got a lot of cussing but I never had anybody say thank you as I'm saying thank you.

My family is saying thank you.

I'm glad you're here for the sake of the gospel. The doors open.

He got often that was it not, that wouldn't win a ministry I could've done, but it was a minister he could do and I believe God was very pleased with his gospel labor. Labor is pleasing to God, not the results. So I just like to close by urging you to keep your perspective about ministry right and keep the perspective of your training right whatsoever your hands find to do, do it today for the glory of God.

That's pleasing to him in your gospel labor done with a pure heart, and for the glory of God regardless of the results will be pleasing to him, and keep in mind that all over the world.

People like you who are known only to God will never be in the headlines. Their names will be known to few outside of their immediate circle there being faithful where God has planted them as well.

Many of you know the name of Pastor David Urich. He was I think the founder certainly, the longtime pastor of Hampton Park Baptist Church hearing release with the Lord told me one day. He said that after he retired from the churchy. He said I would go out once a week to such and such a retirement home in I would hold a little service and he said, before the service.

I would go and meet people, invite them to the services. That was one lady that just wanted nothing to do with me whatsoever.

She was hard old old lady so she never came to our services, but I would always call on are not always speak to her of Christ and said, one day I came and she was bright and cheerful and welcoming, and I said Sally or whatever her name was your so happy today. What is made you so happy. She said pastor you've told me of Christ, week after week, month after month and you know I wanted nothing to do with him, but I got saved this week and he said my thought was, well, hallelujah all of the ever said I made boy. The gospel got through and achievement trophy and in their necks and this was that so he said to her, well, tell me about it.

She civil pastor there's a cleaning lady who comes every day and tidies up my room and she's been telling me of Christ for many weeks now and she came this week I understood what it was all about it and I got say he was expecting her to say pastor was Kierkegaard great effort.

There was no moon there gospel power was a cleaning lady in her gospel, or the paranoid all over the world. God's doing his work through preachers through Lehman through teachers through gospellers, whatever their place in life may be, they are the sweet, savoring gospel servants, sweet savers.

God loves them. God knows them.

God keeps to record the rewards will be according not to how much they did, but how faithful they were in the doing of what you and I we can't be great people should not be our desire because it's the humble who before God, who is the exalted one. Just try to do in the niche where they are the work of the gospel that you and I be able to be that kind of a person. We are our lives smelled good to God.

The world is a smelly place. It stinks with sin but you can be a sweet savor the sweet fragrance in the midst of it all. Heavenly father, thank you for the privilege. The exalted privilege of everywhere we go, like Paul, taking the sweet savor the gospel. Thank you for the power of for those who will be saved. It is not your will that any should refuse the gospel, but there will be many who do but may they know is we live among them that there is no rule about our life that only the difference of Christ can make that would give credibility to our fragrant message as we speak.

It would be all use to your glory and the good of those who need you in Jesus name, amen. You been listening to a sermon from Dr. Bob Jones the third chancellor of Bob Jones University. Thanks for listening and join us again tomorrow as we continue the study in second Corinthians on The Daily Platform