Are you a sweet aroma to God?
Notes
Transcript
Are you a sweet aroma to God?
Text: 2 Corinthians 2:14–17 (KJV 1900)
14 Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. 15 For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: 16 To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.
I. When have a triumphant ministry in giving out the Gospel. We are on the winning side!
14 Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.
* The greatest privilege in the world is to give out the Word of God. There is nothing like it.
* In our text Paul says “Thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ.” This is wonderful, friend. You can’t lose when you are in Christ. You cannot lose! Paul says that God always causeth us to triumph.
* Let me give you a little background information about this passage.
* Paul is saying that preaching the gospel is like leading a Roman triumphal entry.
* Paul is speaking here of the triumphal entry of a Roman General. This even would have been a very common event to the people of the Roman Empire at the Corinthian church.
*The Roman Triumphant entry is the source of this dramatic picture of our triumphant victory after we have faithfully preached the Gospel here on this earth.
* One of the great Roman generals would go out to the frontier—to Europe, or down into Africa—where he would have victory after victory. Rome was victorious in just about every military campaign it went out on.
* The conqueror would then return to Rome, and there would be a big, triumphal entry into the city. It is said that sometimes the triumphal entry would begin in the morning and go on far into the night!
* The Roman conqueror would be bringing in animals and other booty which he had captured
* In the front of the procession would be the people who were going to be released. They had been captured but would be freed and would become Roman citizens. In the back of the procession would be the captive people who were to be executed.
* In these triumphal entries there was always the burning of incense. They would be burning the incense to their gods to whom they gave credit for the victory. All the way through the procession would be clouds of smoke from the incense, sometimes even obscuring the procession as it passed by.
* With this as a background, Paul is saying, “Thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ.” This is wonderful, friend. You can’t lose when you are in Christ. You cannot lose! Paul says that God always causeth us to triumph.
II. When we proclaim the gospel it is a sweet smelling savor to God.
15 For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:
* Those who proclaim the “knowledge of Christ are a sweet smelling aroma to God! God loves to see the “knowledge of Christ” proclaimed all over the earth.
* God loves soulwinners, teachers and preachers, and churches who proclaim the message of his beloved Son Jesus! They are a sweet smell to the nose of God!
Romans 10:13–15 (KJV 1900)
13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
* Noah was a preacher of righteousness- Noah was a faithful preacher of Christ:
2 Peter 2:5 (KJV 1900)
5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
* Not only was Noah, a preacher of “the knowledge of Christ,” but even the arch its self was a picture of Jesus, who we all would inter into and be saved from the judgment of God upon the wickedness of this earth.
* Listen to what the Scriptures say about how God felt about Noah when he offered a sacrifice when he exited the arch:
Genesis 8:20–22 (KJV 1900)
20 And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. 22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
* The sacrifices of the Old Testament priests all spoke of the “knowledge of Christ.” These many types of animal sacrifices were examples of how Jesus would finally in these last days offer Himself a sacrifice for the sins of the entire world.
* When the church at Philippi sent money to the Apostle Paul as he preached the Gospel to the people of Asia, Paul said it was an offering “a sweet smell to God,” a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God.
Philippians 4:15–20 (KJV 1900)
15 Now ye Philippians know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. 16 For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity. 17 Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account. 18 But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God. 19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. 20 Now unto God and our Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
III. When we proclaim the Gospel it is also a savor or an odor to the world.
16 To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life.
* In that vivid picture of a triumphal entry that the apostle Paul gave is there were those who were going to be set free and those who were going to be executed—but all of them were in the triumphal entry.
* In verse 16 we see two smells or savors that we present to the world.
A. The Gospel is a sweet smell those who obey it.
B. The Gospel is a smell of death to those who reject it.
* In verse 17, Paul is overwhelmed by this—“who is sufficient for these things?”
* When the gospel is preached and the multitudes accept Christ, that is a wonderful thing! We can see the triumph and victory there.
* We are a “savour of life” unto those who are saved. But now wait a minute—what about the crowd which rejects Christ?
* To those who reject our message of Christ, we are the savor of death!
* To some, we are their best friend because we brought them to Jesus!
* To others we become their worst enemy because they will never be able to stand in from of God and say “I didn’t know about Jesus!”
* Weather the people we preach to obey the Gospel or reject the Gospel, they will all take part in the victorious, triumphal entry with Jesus and his church!
* One day Jesus will come and present Himself as the victor in this battle with Satan and his angels over the souls of men. Listen to the words of Enoch who lived way back in the time with Adam and Eve found in the book of Jude:
Jude 14–15 (KJV 1900)
14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, 15 to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
* The Book of Daniel speaks of the events immediately after the triumphant entry of Jesus and His saints, the bride of Christ, the Church:
Daniel 7:15–18 (KJV 1900)
15 I Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me. 16 I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things.
17 These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.
18 But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.
* God also allowed the prophet Zachariah to see into the future and see the triumphant entry of Christ and His Saints in Zachariah 14:
Zechariah 14:1–9 (KJV 1900)
Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, And thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. 2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; And the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; And half of the city shall go forth into captivity, And the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. 3 Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, As when he fought in the day of battle. 4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, Which is before Jerusalem on the east, And the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, And there shall be a very great valley; And half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, And half of it toward the south. 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; For the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: Yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake In the days of Uzziah king of Judah: And the Lord my God shall come, And all the saints with thee. 6 And it shall come to pass in that day, That the light shall not be clear, nor dark: 7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, Not day, nor night: But it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light. 8 And it shall be in that day, That living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; Half of them toward the former sea, And half of them toward the hinder sea: In summer and in winter shall it be. 9 And the Lord shall be king over all the earth:In that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one.
* This triumphant entry is once again mentioned in I Thessalonians 3:
1 Thessalonians 3:13 (KJV 1900)
13 To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father,
at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.
* The apostle John was taken up to Heaven and allowed to see a vision of the triumphant entry of Jesus with his saints in the book of Revelation:
Revelation 19:11–16 (KJV 1900)
11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. 12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. 13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. 15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
* My friend we are defiantly on the winning side tonight! We will be by the side of our savior in that wonderful day of His triumphant entry in Heaven!
* Not only will all those who have obeyed the Gospel be there, but all those who have rejected our preaching of Chris will be there also!
Romans 14:10–11 (KJV 1900)
11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
* Many will not be set free; they will be judged. But regardless of our destiny, we are in the great triumphal entry of Jesus Christ, because He is going to win, my friend! Every knee must bow to him, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Every individual will have to bow to Him someday—regardless of whether He is the person’s Savior or Judge. No wonder Paul exclaims, “Who is sufficient for these things?”
Conclusion:
* Since the Scriptures teach that it is a sweet aroma to the nose of God to spread the knowledge of His son, I want to spead the Gospel as far and wide as I possibly can!
* We as a church will cease to please God if we fail to proclaim the knowledge of His precious Son to the world.
* This must be our mission statement at Blue Springs Baptist Church if we are going to be pleasing to God as a church.
* As your pastor I am committed to the spreading of the Gospel. As church members, each and every one of us must be committed to the spread of the “knowledge of Hid precious Son.”
* Some will be teachers, some will be bus drivers, some will be singers that sing of the Gospel and Jesus, some will hand out tracts, some will work with the youth ranch to share gospel, but each of us must be active in the spreading of the knowledge of Christ!