It Ain’t Over 2 Corinthians 4:7-10 Pastor Barry Kerner
It Ain’t Over
2 Corinthians 4:7-10
Pastor Barry Kerner
If your Bibles are open, let’s read 2 Corinthians 4:7-10 together
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. 8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; 10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
This is a most powerful statement concerning the power of God in us. Verse 7 says, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” This verse sounds a note of victory in our spirits.
It has sister verses like 1 John 4:4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. And, Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. And, Luke 10:19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
If you have lived very long you know that life is not always fair, bad things happen to good people. Sometimes Christians have financial problems, Sometimes Christians get sick, Sometimes Christians fight personal battles in their marriage, in their minds, even in their flesh, or their appetites.
In our text Paul says, I have been troubled on every side, and perplexed, persecuted and knocked down, but he also says I’m not distressed, I’m not in despair, I’m not forsaken, I’m not destroyed. Let me tell you today that It does not matter what the enemy is working against you, or what your struggling with. Isaiah 54:17 declares, “No weapon that is formed against you shall be able to prosper.”
The bible did not say that Satan would not form weapons against you, or that he would not launch them at you, or that they would not touch you. But what the bible does say is, It shall not prosper, it shall not accomplish its intended purpose. As a matter of fact, In Romans 8:28, the bible teaches us that, “All things, work together for good to them who love the Lord and are the called according to his purpose.”
It doesn’t matter who you are or how spiritual you are, at some point life is going to deal you a blow. The good news is, that even though we all will at some point encounter these unexpected unplanned for attacks, problems, and circumstances.
We have the promise of 2 Corinthians 2:14 which says, “Now thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ, and makes manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every place.” And, Revelations 12:11 which promises, “And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony.”
There might be someone here today who has been knocked down, life has thrown you an unexpected curve. It may be that in your future is an unexpected undesired situation and problems that will catch you off guard, and send your life into a spin. Divorce, sickness, financial disaster, a child who is on drugs, a lost job or the loss of a loved one. It can be a thousand different things, But the bottom line is: You didn’t expect it and it hurts, It throws your life into a tail spin. It knocks the breath out of you.
When I was a child, my brother and I were jumping on my parents bed one day. My dad would occasionally yell up, “Quit jumping on the bed, the ceiling down here will fall down.” After a while he had had enough and called us to come downstairs. We quickly jumped off the bed because we knew he had reached his limit. The only problem was, I didn’t land on my feet. I landed on my shoulder and broke my collar bone. And, it knocked the breath out of me. For a minute or two I could not breathe, I thought I was going to die.
That was almost sixty ago and I’m still here it didn’t kill me. Since that time life has thrown me some unexpected curves and there have been times when it has spiritually knocked the breath out of me, but It didn’t kill me I’m still here.
Paul had a similar experience. Acts 14:19-20 tells us, “19 Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. 20 But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe. ”
They thought Paul was dead. But he wasn’t: He just had the breath knocked out of him.
There may be someone here today who has taken a hard hit, and there’s no denying it, it hurts, it knocked you down, it knocked the breath out of you, It knocked you off your feet. But your still here, It didn’t kill you.
It knocked you off your feet but this is the biggest mistake the devil made, because when a Christian is knocked off their feet they fall to their knees, and when they fall to their knees they touch heaven, and when they touch heaven all hell trembles.
Let me tell you, you may have lost a round but you’re still in the fight. It may have slipped your mind so I want to remind you – This fight is fixed. Before you ever stepped into the ring called life it was already determined you were going to win.
I cannot say that I will never be knocked down. I cannot say that I will never be caught off guard. I cannot say that I will never be troubled or perplexed or even forsaken, but I can say, “I’m going to make it.”
I can say, “Nothing shall separate me from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
I can say as 2 Timothy 1:12 says, “I know whom I have believed and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I’ve committed unto him against that day.”
I can say as Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
And, I can say as Romans 8:37 & 38 says, “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” You may have lost a round, You may have had the breath knocked out of you, you may have a black eye, and a busted lip and a bloody nose. But it ain’t over.
There are no two ways about it, in the life of every person we sometimes find that the place that we are mentally, physically, emotionally, materially, or spiritually, is not the place we had believed we would be. We had envisioned that life would have more in store for us and that #1 would be our spot. We had high hopes and big dreams. We had envisioned that our marriages would last, our children would grow up and be model Christians, that our businesses would be booming, our house would be nicer, our car would be newer, our paychecks would be bigger and that life would be better. We had aspirations of reaching the pinnacle of success and happiness. Yet, we look around our reality and find that much of it has not panned out quite the way we planned. Life and it’s circumstances and situations have done a number on us and in the midst of that our dreams are now lying on the floor of our yesterday.
We cry and we pray but never really get it in our spirit that it’s going to get any better. We adjust our dreams to accommodate our today and we stop pushing for more. We figure that it is better to just accept the status quo than it is to press toward a mark that seems to be just beyond our ability to grasp. We quit in mid stroke, mid struggle and start looking for the nearest bench to park to watch time and life pass us by. But I want to tell you today, “Don’t throw in the towel just yet”. Though it may appear that all hope is gone, that everyone else is finishing the race without you, It Ain’t Over!!!!
Psalm 118:17 -18 declares, “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD. The LORD hath chastened me sore: but he hath not given me over unto death.”
There does not seem to be much hidden behind the words. I have searched it and searched it and yet it was simply what it said it was. I shall not die, I shall not quit, I shall not give up but instead I will live, I will survive, I will keep getting up and tell, evangelize if you will, about the goodness of God. There seemed to me not a whole lot to add. But earlier, as I was reading that Psalm, God placed it in my spirit that sometimes the significance of a text is not in the what, but instead in the who, the when, and the where.
So, the who of this text is the psalmist David. And if you know anything at all about David you will know that life for him was no rose garden. There were some mountains, some valleys, some hard times, some tests and some tribulations. Yet for all of that, there was this anointing from God that was upon his life. And at the time of this text, He was now sitting on the throne of Israel, a king of that nation. So when you look at this text, you see here a tried and true testimony of the sufficiency of God. A statement of what David had learned to be true.
You see this is the same David that God anointed, even as a young man to one day be King. That can testify that anointing from God won’t save you from trials. This is the same David that found himself wrestling with a bear and a lion and was able to kill them with his bare hands. This is the same David that the people were laughing at and scoffing at because he rose to fight the Philistine Giant Goliath. It was this same David who faced and defeated that Giant with nothing more than a few pebbles for his defense proving once and for all that if God is for you there is no one that can stand against you.
It was David who found himself running for his life from a man, Saul, that he had once called friend. And it was David who even after living in the promise of God who found himself so smitten by the flesh of a married woman that he was willing to not only to commit adultery but to kill for it. And as it mentions in the verses preceding the place where we pick up these verses he testifies of nations and enemies who had risen up against him. But in spite of all that and so much more, David kept pressing forward recognizing that for all that life was throwing his way that God had spoken promise over His life and because God had spoken there was no weapon formed against him that could truly prosper. There was no battle he could not win because God is a very present help in the time of trouble and yea though enemies should rise up against him they shall stumble and fall because in the time of trouble God will hide you in the shelter of his tabernacle. In spite of how dark the midnight, weeping will only endure for a night because as surely as God is God, joy will come in the morning.
Now there are more than a few things that we can learn from David and this testimony about God and the first would be that our tests are a testimony that there is more in store. See this testimony comes out from David’s spirit, not because his life had always been easy. In fact, as we just discussed it was not. This testimony does not come because God just planted him in the middle of the promise. This testimony does not come because David was always perfect and never struggled with the idea of being what God called him to be. This is a testimony that comes in spite of the testing. Actually, I’ll submit to you that this testimony comes not just in spite of but BECAUSE OF the testing.
Recognize that in life we all endure some difficult and trying times. It would appear that no matter how saved, and sanctified we may be there is no inoculation against the slings and arrows of life. In fact, it seems the more intent you are on doing the right thing the more intense the storms that rage in your life. But I suggest to you that for as varied as the difficulties we face may be, they all seem to have their root in one of three areas.
First, Temptation. Second, Trials and Third, Tests.
A temptation is designed for you to fail. See a temptation is what happens when there is this weakness in us, this proclivity towards some thing and we are presented with an opportunity to indulge the weakness. Since God’s desire for us is not to fail and the word says that God will not tempt us, know that this trap is from our adversary Satan.
The second source of our difficulties are trials. To understand a trial just look at our justice system. While the motto is supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. You have to do no more than view a trial in progress to know that it seems to be the other way around. The focus seems to be proving your guilt. Likewise as God’s desire for us is that we stand blameless before Him He will not send trials our way for us to fail. Again, this is a trap of the adversary.
Conversely, we have all experienced a test. A test is designed for us to pass. A test is what God sends our way to prepare a testimony in our spirit. A test is what God sends our way to prepare us to move forward to the next level of blessing, the next level of victory, the next level of promise. The testing is for our good because it is in the testing that God is able to purge us, reshape us, mold us and transform us into what it is He needs us to be. There is a blessing on the other side of it. The reality of the situation is that there are times when God will hide our blessings right in the middle of our trouble. But because it gets hard we have the urge to quit.
Know that even before David began to truly realize who He was in God, God was preparing him. His tests were a testimony to that. Now, it would have been easy in the face of any of his difficulties to call it a day, give up the fight. But he recognized that even in his most desperate situation that… It Ain’t over There is more ahead. More peace, more joy, more fulfillment, more blessing. Understand that the brokenness, the emptiness, the hurt, the tears that you may have right now are just the wrapper for your blessing. It all has a purpose. There is a reason for the madness.
I had a class that I was required to take in college. I had to pass it in order to move forward to the next level. I struggled through the class and made pretty good grades but then it came time for the final exam. I failed it miserably. I had resigned myself to taking the class again. But for some reason my professor was determined I was not going to fail the class. So he told me I’ve seen your work and it was acceptable so I am going to allow you to take the test again. So, he tempered Justice with Mercy and allowed me to retake the test. Once again I failed. Again, he tempered justice with mercy and I was allowed to take it one more time. That time I passed and therefore was able to move on to the next level without having to retake the class.
It’s a beautiful thing that God in his graciousness tempers His justice with mercy and allows us when we fail to take the test again. You see, for as good as we look today we have all had some test that we failed. Don’t let the good looks fool ya. For all of us there were some marks that we did not hit, some places that we fell short for all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God. Yet, by the grace of God we were able to get back up again. For a saint is just a sinner who fell down and got up.
But the truth is that there are some times when we have fallen so hard or fallen so low that it seems there is no way to get back up. It seems impossible. But we serve a God who specializes in the impossible.
I want to tell you something else, the seemingly impossible is possible with God. Truth be told, that just like David, we sometimes find that it seems as if the whole world is trying to war against us. It seems like we have a Giant to face and nothing but a few pebbles for our defense. In short, we find that we get into places, situations and circumstances that seem impossible to overcome. And because of our inability to keep pressing through toward the mark of the high calling, the adversary gains the victory.
Understand that every time that you allow anything, any one, any obstacle to deter you from being all that God has designed for you to be and all that God has designed for you to have you have given the adversary a victory. Every time that you turn your back on the things that God has spoken into your spirit because you can not discern with your natural eye how it can be possible you give the adversary a victory. But, when you learn to trust him…when you learn to discern his voice even in the midst of your storm. Then you will be able to step into the seemingly impossible with a confidence that knows that nothing is impossible with God.
You can press forward with a confidence that lets you know that all things work together for the good of those that are the called according to His purposes. Then you can step into the furnace knowing that God will be there because He is a very present help in the time of trouble. Then you can step out of the boat and into the raging sea knowing that God will keep you afloat because he will never leave you nor forsake you. Then you can step into the face of a storm knowing that he’ll be there to speak, “Peace be still.” Then you can step into God’s promises for you because then and only then will you begin to fully comprehend the idea that no matter how bad today may look It ain’t over because you serve the one who holds tomorrow in His hands.
Let me tell you that the best is yet to come. Your set back, is just a setup, for a comeback. 1 John 4:4 reminds us that, “you are of God little children and have overcome them, for greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.” If you’re down today you need to know that it ain’t over. The Devil may have rung the bell and said it’s over, but that’s just the end of the round, the end of the chapter. You’re getting ready to start a new round and a new chapter,
Do you remember the three Hebrew children, Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego. Do you remember how they heated the fiery furnace up 7 times hotter, and how they bound them up and threw them into that fiery furnace. They walked away saying, “The end.” Not quite. It wasn’t the end, it wasn’t over. The wicked king looked into the furnace and saw not 3 but 4 men up loose walking around in the midst of the furnace and he said the fourth is like unto the son of God. When those 3 Hebrew boys came out of the fire, they had not been hurt, and the smell of smoke was not on them, and not one hair of their body was singed. And, the king promoted them in the kingdom.
Or we could talk about Daniel and how because of his commitment to God, they threw him into a hungry den of lions Daniel 6:17 says, “And a stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lords; that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel.”
They walked away saying, “The end.” Not quite. That’s just chapter one. You see, it wasn’t over. If we read on we see that God sent an angel to shut the mouths of the lions. When Daniel walked out of that lions den he had not been hurt because he believed in his God.
Life and circumstances and people, may have thrown you into a fiery furnace and closed the door behind you, but, It Ain’t Over, Or you may have been thrown into a den of lions, and they rolled the stone over the door, and said this time it’s over for sure. But the same God that delivered the 3 Hebrew boys from the fiery furnace, and the same God that delivered Daniel from the den of lions, is the same God that is lifting you up.
Let me close with this thought, “What the devil sends to take you out, God will use to lift you up.”
Let us pray.