Christ Leads Us in Triumphal Procession | 2 Corinthians 2:12-16a | 2/8/26

Have you noticed how your sense of smell

is so strongly associated with memory?

Have you seen that before? Like how you

can smell a certain scent and you are

instantly pulled back in time to either

a good place or a a bad place.

Your emotions can even be instantly

manipulated by certain smells.

For me, for example, when I smell diesel

fuel or burning rubber, I'm instantly

happy.

I know it's weird. Bear with me for a

second. But because the smell of diesel

exhaust and burning tires takes me back

to Zambia 2007, one of the happiest

times of my life.

Or when I smell cinnamon, I get really

focused because I had a cinnamon air

freshener when I was a student in my

room.

Or when I smell pine trees, I

immediately take a deep breath and all

of my stress just kind of melts away

because it reminds me of my favorite

vacation spot.

But then there are other smells. Other

smells that for you might evoke negative

emotions.

Might be the smell of a hospital or a

certain kind of alcohol or that very

specific perfume that your ex used to

wear. One whiff and you're back in that

place with all of the painful memories

and all of the associated emotions.

Smell is an incredible sense, but it's

also incredibly subjective. The same

exact smell for one person can make them

so incredibly happy. And for another

person, it can make them so incredibly

sad.

It could drive them to instant despair

because of what it is, what they

associate with that same smell. Your

association with the smell controls your

feelings about the smell.

Did you know that Jesus has a scent?

That's where all this was going, by the

way. Jesus has a scent. I don't mean a

literal smell, but a metaphorical aroma.

To some people, Jesus is the best thing

that ever happened to them. He's the

reason they get up every morning. He is

life itself.

But this same Jesus to others is only

associated with condemnation, with the

end of happiness, maybe even with hell

itself.

How can the same scent conjure up

completely different and even opposite

feelings in different people?

And then we as Christians who are

keepers of the story of Christ, we evoke

the same opposite kinds of emotions in

people when we tell them about Jesus.

Why does this happen?

Paul's letter to the Corinthians is

going to answer that question today. The

main idea from Paul's text this morning

is this. Authentic gospel ministry is

the aroma of Christ. Authentic gospel

ministry is the aroma of Christ.

Our text this morning is 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2 12- 16a. That's the beginning

half of verse 16. So if you've got your

Bibles, go ahead and make your way over

to 2 Corinthians chapter 2. And we'll

2 Corinthians 2 · chapter mention

start reading in verse 12.

Paul says this,

"When I came to Trrowaz to preach the

gospel of Christ, even though a door was

open for me in the Lord, my spirit was

not at rest because I did not find my

brother Titus there." So I took leave of

them and went on to Macedonia.

But thanks be to God, who in Christ

always leads us in triumphal procession,

and through us spreads the fragrance of

the knowledge of him everywhere.

For we are the aroma of Christ to God

among those who are being saved and

among those who are perishing. To one a

fragrance from death to death. To the

other a fragrance from life to life.

This is the word of the Lord.

This morning we're going to look at

three aspects of Christian ministry.

ministry anxiety, ministry authenticity,

and ministry aroma. Ministry anxiety,

ministry authenticity, and ministry

aroma. So, let's first look at the

anxiety of Paul's ministry. Two weeks

ago, we learned that Paul was defending

himself against the accusations of the

Corinthians. They were upset with him

because he changed his travel plans.

They're like, "Paul, you're not

authentic. You're not a genuine person.

You you you say you're going to do one

thing and then you do something else."

They were criticizing him of not being

authentic. And so they were saying

because he canled his travel plans to

come visit them, his whole ministry was

a fraud.

He took We took a break last week to

deal with the Corinthians harsh

treatment of the leader of their

opposition party who had then repented.

But now Paul is going to go return back

to where we were two weeks ago and

defend why he changed his travel plans.

But before we get into his defense, let

me just explain what we mean by this

word ministry because it can be kind of

confusing.

What do we mean by the word ministry? In

the 21st century, ministry is a

vocation. That's what I do. It's it's my

job.

In the 21st century, ministry means

pastors. But that's not actually what it

means biblically.

Let me read Ephesians 4 11 through13 for

you.

Paul writing again says, "And he, that's

God, gave the apostles, the prophets,

the evangelists, the shepherds, that's

pastors and elders and teachers to equip

the saints, that's you, for the work of

ministry."

What is that? for the building up of of

the body of Christ until we attain to

the unity of the faith and the knowledge

of the son of God to mature manhood to

the measure of the stature of the

fullness of Christ.

And the word ministry in Greek is dya

which means servant.

In Greek it envisions a servant at like

a table, like a server, somebody whose

business is utensils and plate settings

and serving.

Now, Paul doesn't mention the word

ministry in our text this week. He will

elaborate it on it a lot in the next

couple weeks and especially next week,

but he's introducing this concept of

ministry in our text this week. So, when

we talk about ministry, we are not

talking about pastors. We're not talking

about my job. We're talking about

service for Christ. What you do. Yes,

pastors do this. Yes, elders do this.

Paul does this. But this is not a

passage for pastors. This is a passage

for you.

This is for all Christians. You are the

saints that Paul is talking about. God

gave you the apostles. God gave you

pastors and elders to equip you to be

servants of Christ Jesus.

That's ministry.

And so now that what we we know what

we're talking about that ministry is

serving Christ, let's take a look at

Paul's reasons for his changing ministry

agenda, for his changing ministry plans.

Look at verses 12 and 13 again.

Paul says, "When I came to Trrowaz to

preach the gospel of Christ, even though

a door was wide open for me in the Lord,

my spirit was not at rest because I did

not find.

I did not find my brother Titus there.

So, I took leave of them and I went on

to Macedonia."

The change of plans was a departure from

what the Corinthians were expecting from

Paul. Let me refresh you on Paul's

original travel plans.

These were what we covered two weeks ago

with Pastor David that these plans were

most likely communicated to the

Corinthians by Titus when Paul delivered

the severe letter through Titus to the

Corinthians. And here's what the

Corinthians were expecting of him when

Titus showed up. 2 Corinthians chapter 1

2 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

14 and 15. 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.

So their expectation, the last thing

that they heard was that Paul would

leave where he was in Trrowaz and he

would stop by Corinth on his way to

Macedonia. And then after Macedonia, he

would then go back to Corinth

on his way to Jerusalem.

But Paul was supposed to meet his

ministry partner Titus in Trrowaz to

hear how the Corinthians had received

this severe letter.

When Titus didn't show up, Paul got

anxious. He started to worry. Now, in

case you're not familiar with the

ancient geography of the Mediterranean,

hasn't changed a whole lot, but some of

the names have changed. Let me just

break this down for you really simply.

Corinth is located in the European side

of the Mediterranean

in Greece. Macedonia and Trrowaz are

located in modernday Turkey, the Asian

side of the Mediterranean.

So when Titus didn't show up in Trrowaz

and winter started showing up, Paul was

getting worried. Getting worried for a

couple of different reasons. First, back

then, travel was really, really

dangerous, especially traveling by sea,

which is the fastest way that Titus

could have come from Corinth to Trrowaz,

from Europe to Asia to meet Paul. And in

the first century, sea travel in the

Mediterranean was generally just avoided

in the winter from November to March.

They just tried not to travel on the sea

because it was so dangerous. Primarily

because of the weather conditions,

intense storms, high winds, low

visibility, making navigation almost

impossible.

So Paul was likely worried about his

companion Titus. It's like he didn't

show up and winter's here. He can't come

anymore. What happened to him? But

second, Paul was also anxious about the

Corinthians.

Titus carried news with him about how

the Corinthians had received his severe

rebuke, his severe letter. Paul didn't

want to just show up in Corenth not

knowing what happened, not knowing what

their hearts were towards him, not

knowing if they had received his harsh

correction or not. What if Titus never

made it to Corinth? What if they never

received the severe letter? Or what if

they received it and they just didn't

repent? They dug their heels and they

they followed the opposition party

against Paul.

Paul didn't want to add any pain on top

of pain. So he felt that he needed to

connect with Titus before he could visit

Corinth. And so as winter arrived, Paul

knew that Titus's window for travel

across the sea had closed.

So instead of trying to brave the winter

and the winter Mediterranean himself and

head for Europe in Corinth, Paul decided

to stay in Asia and to head north to

Macedonia,

probably back the backup location to

meet Titus in the case that he couldn't

make it to Trrowaz before winter.

So Paul's anxious about Titus and he's

anxious about the Corinthians. That's

what we're saying here.

But then Paul found Titus. He met with

Titus in Macedonia at their alternate

rende viewpoint. We see this in second

Corinthians 7, which we'll get to in a

couple months. Verses 5-7 says this,

"For even when we came into Macedonia,

our bodies had no rest. But we were

afflicted at every turn, fighting

without and fear within.

But God who comforts the downcast

comforted us by the coming of Titus.

And not only with his coming, but also

by the comfort with which he was

comforted by you, the Corinthians, as he

told us of your longing, your mourning,

your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced

still more.

So Paul did meet up with Titus. He heard

the news of the Corinthians repentance.

They got the letter. They got the severe

letter and they repented.

Titus told Paul how they had repented so

thoroughly and they had even kicked out

the leader of the opposition party of

the church. And then he told them, he

told Paul how that guy had repented and

they wouldn't let him back in the

church. He told them all of it. And Paul

was desperate to write to them again.

And so as he's writing, he feels the

need to explain all of this. This is why

I didn't come to you. here's all the

reasons why I didn't show up when I

planned to. He felt the need to explain

to them that he was so anxious for the

Corinthians that he even abandoned a

wide open door for the gospel in Trrowaz

in order to find Titus and settle his

mind about the Corinthians.

And this is our first lesson to take

away from this text.

True ministry, true service to Christ is

motivated by love for people. True

service to Christ is motivated by love

for people. Love for Christ, of course,

but also you have to care about the

people that you're trying to minister to

like Paul did. Have you noticed that we

usually get anxious about the things or

the ones that we love? It's why parents

get anxious about their children or why

children sometimes can be anxious about

their parents because we love them.

Now, I know that anxiety is typically

associated with a negative word. But in

second Corinthians, Paul will speak of

his anxiety as a kind of mark of his

love for the churches, for the

Corinthians, for other churches, a kind

of mental suffering that comes with the

territory of ministry.

Ask any pastor, ask any of our elders if

we regularly feel this anxiety for all

of you. We do. And I know you feel it

for the ones that you love, too.

Ask any Christian who's devoted to

praying for their neighbor's salvation

or who regularly talks with them about

Jesus or talks with their co-workers

about their story and their salvation.

They will feel anxiety for those people

because there's genuine love there.

In this sense, ministry anxiety is a

mark of love and concern for the souls

that we minister to. We should actually

be concerned about people's eternal

souls.

Every person you meet is immortal.

When they die, they don't die forever is

what that means.

And Paul

feels a profound sense of anxiety for

the Corinthians and for Titus and this

is why he changed his travel plans.

Okay, so we've seen Paul's explanation

for changing his plans. But in the next

verse, we see that even in the midst of

changed plans and anxiety, God is still

sovereign over his servants. Let's look

at ministry authenticity.

This week's text is introducing the next

major section of our book. Paul's moving

out of the the suffering section into a

long defense of what authentic ministry

is. He spends chapters 2 through 7

explaining authentic ministry because in

chapters 10 through13, he's going to

launch a direct attack on false ministry

and false ministers, on inauthentic

ministry. And so Paul begins to explain

what authentic ministry looks like. Look

with me at the beginning of verse 14.

Paul says, "But thanks be to God who in

Christ always leads us in triumphal

procession."

Paul begins by thanking God. Despite his

anxiety, despite his disappointment for

having to leave Trrowaz in the wideopen

door for the gospel, despite not knowing

how his severe letter landed with the

Corinthians, he's still able to thank

God.

Why?

Because God always leads his ministers

in triumphal procession. Now, what does

this mean? We need some historical

context to understand this phrase,

triumphal procession.

Those two words actually mean something.

And they meant something back then to

the Romans, to the Corinthians. In

ancient Rome, there was something called

a pompa triumphales.

Pompa triumphales in Latin. Triumphal

procession. It was an actual event. a

historical event where a victorious

Roman general would return from war from

some far-reaching part of the empire and

he would make his way back to the

capital city of Rome

and he would be making his way back at

the front of a huge parade.

He would ride on a chariot pulled by

horses and sometimes even elephants. All

of the residents of the capital city

would come out and see this huge parade

of people and animals.

He would lead this triumphant procession

through the pora triumphalis, the gate

of triumph. Surely you've seen pictures

of the great stone arches outside of

Rome with armies marching through them.

The triumphal procession is an extremely

well doumented historical phenomenon.

This event to a Roman was as popular as

the Super Bowl to Americans.

And there are over 350 recorded

triumphal processions in Roman

literature. So this is well documented.

And all of these 350 records record the

same basic features of these

processions.

If you were there in Rome 2,000 years

ago and a Roman general had just won a

great victory in Gaul or Germania,

here's what you would see. First, you

would see this victorious general riding

his chariot at the front of the

procession. He's dressed all in purple

and he's got a gold crown of olive

branches of formed olive branches on his

head. His face is painted red so that he

resembles or represents Jupiter, their

god.

Thousands, even tens of thousands of

captured enemy soldiers and slaves are

chained together behind him and they're

to be paraded in front of the citizens

of Rome who are celebrating over their

defeat.

They're led through the arch and into

the city where the most prominent of

them, the biggest, the strongest, the

the the leaders will be executed

in front of everybody and the rest will

be sold into slavery.

As you're watching the last of the

captured enemy soldiers disappear around

the arch, you would see a host of

sacrificial animals in the procession,

usually bowls. These are being led

through the triumphant gate into

Jupiter's temple where the victorious

general representing Jupiter will

sacrifice the bulls and thanks to the

gods for his victory over his barbarian

enemies.

After the animals, you would see all of

the loot and the plunder taken from the

enemy cities.

Cart after cart of gold and silver,

carved statues of conquered gods.

next in the procession. And you would

hear them before you see them, the

musicians, the trumpeters, the drummers

playing triumphant battle songs.

And as the finale of the parade, first

you would see the smoke.

You'd see the smoke wafting around the

gate of triumph. Your nose would catch a

whiff of the smell. And then through the

smoke would march the incense bearers.

Hundreds of them. Usually the incense

bearers are liberated Roman soldiers who

had been captured by their enemies and

then set free by the Roman general when

he conquered their enemies. They were

given this great honor in the triumphant

procession because of their grit and

their bravery for surviving their brutal

captivity to their barbarian enemies.

And so when Paul says, "Thanks be to God

who in Christ always leads us in

triumphal procession,"

that is what he's envisioning as a Roman

citizen. And that is what the

Corinthians are envisioning as Roman

citizens. Now, there's a significant

disagreement in Christian scholarship

about where Paul finds himself in this

parade.

Clearly, Christ is the victorious

general leading this procession. But

where is Paul in this parade as he's

being led by Christ. And wherever Paul

is, by the way, you are, too. Did you

catch that? Because he puts us in this

parade. Thanks be to God who in Christ

always leads us in triumphal procession.

You're in this parade metaphorically,

just like Paul.

Many New Testament scholars think that

Paul is identifying as one of the

captured enemy soldiers.

He's being led to his execution.

After all, this fits some of the tone of

the letter of second Corinthians with

this theme of suffering that we've seen.

It fits Paul's theology of being

crucified with Christ or being a living

sacrifice or being a drink offering

poured out.

Paul is defending his ministry by saying

affliction is a part of authentic

ministry.

Is Paul captured by Christ to do his

will even if that means his execution?

Paul elsewhere calls himself a slave of

Christ.

Remember Paul was an enemy of Christ

before he was converted. So that's one

side of the debate that that looks at

the biblical data and says Paul and

therefore us should identify ourselves

as captured enemies of Christ

heading to our execution.

I have two problems with that

interpretation.

First in verses 15 and 16, which we'll

unpack more in a few minutes, we read,

"For we are the aroma of Christ to God

among those who are being saved and

among those who are perishing. To one a

fragrance from death to death, to other,

a fragrance from life to life."

This aroma is surely a reference to the

incense burning, the the bearers of

incense in the triumphal procession.

Unless, as some argue, this is a

changing of metaphors, a mixing of

metaphors, and Paul is now talking about

Old Testament sacrifices.

But I don't think he's talking about

sacrifices because those don't smell

like the aroma of death to anybody.

But think about it.

The smell of incense in that parade

evoked different feelings for different

people in that parade depending on where

they stood in relation to that

victorious general.

Are you a captured barbarian slave? Are

you chained to thousands of other doomed

souls? Then the the aroma of that

incense is death to you.

You're being led to the executioner's

block. That smell is doom. It's the

fragrance of defeat.

But if you're the one bearing the

incense, if your hands are free of

chains, if you're the one that was

liberated as a a liberated prisoner of

war, that incense, that smoke, that

aroma is life. It's freedom. It's the

fragrance of freedom. It's the smell of

safety. It's the aroma of home and the

scent of celebration. It's the aroma of

victory, the aroma of life.

And so I have a problem with seeing Paul

and us as captured enemies of Christ.

And that's because Christ is the aroma

of life for Christians, not the aroma of

death.

I can't see Paul saying that Christ,

your victorious king, smells like death

to you.

I can't see that for people who have

been set free by him.

The second problem I see with

interpreting Paul and us as captured

enemy slaves is that Jesus is never said

in the New Testament to be conquering

Christians. He has never spoken to us

like that in the New Testament.

Yes, we are servants of Christ, even

slaves of Christ in different biblical

metaphors. But never in the New

Testament is Christ said to be

triumphing over us. And the reason

there's so much debate around this verse

and where Paul places his himself and us

in this parade is because it's actually

hard to understand what this word

triumphant means.

Not that it's hard to translate. We can

we can translate it easy enough, but the

Greek word is only used one other time

in the New Testament. And so there's

just not very much data to know how

biblical authors tend to use this word.

The other place that this word appears

is actually really telling for us.

I think it's telling for how we should

interpret Paul's position and our

position in this parade. Here's the

other place that this word is used.

Colossians 2:es 14- 15.

And you who were dead in your trespasses

and the uncircumcision of your flesh,

God made alive together with him, having

forgiven all us all our trespasses by

cancelling the record of debt that stood

against us with its legal demands. This

he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

He disarmed the rulers and authorities

and put them to open shame by triumphing

over them in him.

Amen.

The only other place the word this word

is used in the New Testament is in

reference to triumphing not over

Christians but over Satan and demons

over the the demonic spiritual forces of

this air the prince of the power of this

air. And so because I can't see

Christians sensing Christ as the aroma

of death. And because I can't see Christ

looking at us like conquered slaves,

I see that Paul is placing himself and

you in a very different place in this

parade.

We are the liberated prisoners of war.

We are the incense bearers.

that even though we were once held

captive by a brutal enemy, we have been

set free by our triumphant king Jesus

Christ. And we now march in his

triumphal procession, bearing the aroma

of his victory.

So now that we know where we stand in

this triumphal procession, let's see

what our job is. Verse 14, let's finish

the verse. But thanks be to God who in

Christ always leads us in triumphal

procession and through us spreads the

fragrance of the knowledge of him

everywhere.

Paul is thankful to God that even though

he felt like he had failed in Trrowaz

having left a wide openen door for the

gospel because of his anxiety about

Titus and the Corinthians, he still has

the ability to spread the knowledge of

Christ everywhere he goes. even in

Macedonia, even in in this new place.

Paul's defense of his ministry to the

Corinthians who were upset with him for

cancing his visit to them. He's like,

"Look, I failed. I left Trrowaz

where I was there was a huge need there.

I saw the need and I left because I was

not at peace about Titus and I was not

at peace about you Corinthians. But even

though I feel like I failed in Trrowaz,

thank God because I didn't really fail

because now I'm in Macedonia and I get

to spread the fragrance of Christ and

his victory here where God has led me

because I am an incense bearer in his

victory parade wherever I go.

And this brings us to our second lesson

today.

Authentic ministry, true service to

Christ is triumphant.

Even in the face of apparent failure,

even in the face of closed doors or

abandoned open doors or anxiety,

even your failures in this life have led

you to where you are now.

Your failures have led you to where you

are now. God has you here for a reason.

What's the reason? To spread the

knowledge of Christ everywhere. Where

are you now? What job has God led you

to? What family has he put you in? What

neighborhood has he led you to? You are

there to spread the knowledge of Christ.

Yes, you have failed in the past. And

yes, I have failed in the past. We have

missed opportunities. We have not been

the best example of a Christian, but God

has you where he wants you. He led you

to where you are. You're not leading the

parade. He is. So, where are you right

now?

you're an incense bearer in that place

to the victory of Christ.

Don't fixate on your failures. Instead,

recognize that you're on the side of

triumph, the side of life. And then talk

about Jesus. That's how people become

Christians because other people talk

about Jesus. That's how you became a

Christian because other people talked

about Jesus. That's our job as incense

bearers.

That's authentic ministry. Not beating

yourself up over your failures, but

holding your heads high as Christ leads

you to your next opportunity, your next

conversation.

Okay, so that's ministry authenticity.

Let's now look at ministry aroma, the

last part of our text.

You know, we rent out a couple of

bedrooms in our house. Um, and we used

to have a tenant who would burn incense

in his room. And even though his door to

our house was walled off and he had a

private entrance to outside,

we could still smell the aroma wafting

through our vents. Even after he moved

out, it was like soaked into our walls.

Even after we painted, we could still

smell it. And we actually liked the

smell. It actually wasn't a bad smell.

But we had to try to get rid of the

smell because for the next tenant, it

might smell repulsive. That same smell

that we enjoyed might smell offensive to

someone else

because the same smell has widely

varying effects on different people. And

it's the same with the gospel.

It has a certain scent to it.

Let's look at the end of our text

together, verses 15 and the first half

of 16 again. For we are the aroma of

Christ to God, among those who are being

saved, and among those who are

perishing, to one a fragrance from death

to death, to the other, a fragrance from

life to life.

When Paul says we are the aroma of

Christ, he's talking about the gospel

message that we carry.

We are the keepers of the knowledge of

Christ. We are the storytellers of his

victory. We are the incense bearers. And

so the smell that we carry will either

save or condemn people.

Paul says in Romans 1:16, "For I am not

Romans 1:16

ashamed of the gospel, for it is the

power of God for salvation to everyone

who believes." The gospel is the power

of God to salvation.

And because we're a gospel- centered

church, we use the word gospel all the

time and it loses its potency.

we forget what it means.

It can lose all of its sense of meaning

because we're so familiar to us. But

what are we talking about when we're

talking about the gospel? The aroma of

Christ or the knowledge of Christ. What

we mean by the word gospel or good news

is actually a person.

The gospel is God himself

and what he did to save humanity. And we

are keepers of the story of Jesus

Christ, his son. This story that God

watched his precious humanity get taken

captive by Satan. He watched his earth,

his cosmos fall to the devil. He watched

all of his beloved creatures take on a

sinful nature even though he made us

very good.

He watched us as we all fell to Satan

into slavery.

Slavery to sin, slavery to death. And as

God watched on, he enacted a plan. He

enacted the plan.

The plan to crush Satan and rescue his

beloved. He sent Christ, his son, his

champion, his conquering general, to

invade the barbarian enemy territory of

Earth. And upon Jesus's arrival, a great

war began.

Jesus began his conquest with Satan's

legions of armies, legions of demons.

Demons who possessed the bodies of God's

beloved humans and enslaved them. And

Christ drove out the demons, showing his

strength and his authority as the king

of all creation everywhere he went.

After defeating Satan's armies, the

final battle was Satan himself.

Satan executed his strategy with

clinical precision. He slipped a spy

into Jesus's camp. He captured and

possessed one of Jesus's closest friends

and convinced him to betray Jesus.

And the betrayal of Jesus led to his

arrest by the leaders of the people who

expected him as a savior.

And Jesus was executed as a criminal,

crucified by the very people that he

came to save, the very people that God

so loved that he sent his only begotten

son for.

And Satan must have thought that he won.

He got Jesus's friend to betray him. He

got Jesus's disciples to abandon him.

He got the people that Jesus came to

rescue, to kill him.

It was almost too easy.

Sure, he lost. He had a few demon

casualties, but it was worth it. He

destroyed the son of God himself.

And Satan then unleashed his most

powerful weapon on Jesus, death.

A weapon that he had wielded against

every human being ever. A weapon with a

100% success rate for him.

The weapon of death has been feared by

all people for all time. And Jesus was

swallowed up by death.

But death could not stomach the author

of life.

And Jesus split death open from the

inside and he rose from the dead. And

when Christ rose from the dead, he freed

humanity from the slavery of Satan and

from the fear of death.

He led a host of captives out of Satan's

captivity. And he brought them safely to

his father in heaven. And he offers the

same freedom to anyone who needs

rescuing today. Anyone who needs

forgiveness, anyone who fears death. And

here's the best part. As if it could get

any better, Jesus took Satan's weapon of

choice, death, and he transformed it

into a doorway into heaven, into God's

presence,

into the presence of the God who loves

you so much that he would enact this

plan.

And while Satan is now defeated, bound,

disarmed, and crushed, he's not fully

and finally vanquished. That will happen

one day when Christ comes back at the

end of all time once and for all to grab

Satan's chain and throw him into hell.

Satan is not the master of hell. He is

the chief captive of hell.

On that day, anyone who is called on the

name of Jesus will be saved.

Call upon his name if you have not yet.

He will save you.

This is the gospel.

This beautiful gospel. This glorious

gospel. This eternal gospel. And that

gospel, that story, that person, Jesus,

good news himself will be good news to

some of you and bad news to others.

He is the great dividing point of

humanity.

For people who believe that Jesus is

their savior, their rescuer and believe

that they need a savior. For people who

surrender to Jesus as their king over

their life. For them, he is the

fragrance of life.

For them, he set them free. He set us

free from our brutal enemy capture.

He conquers our enemy, Satan. He breaks

the chains of our slavery to sin and

death. And he brings us into his

triumphal procession.

And everywhere he leads us, we are met

with victory. Even in the apparent

failures, we're met with victory because

we still have Christ. We cannot

ultimately fail because we still carry

the aroma of life into our failures.

We're still in the parade.

He's leading us home. And as we go,

we're spreading the fragrance of of the

knowledge of him everywhere.

And so that's how one set of people

reacts to the fragrance of Christ. It's

life to you. It's everything to you.

But for the people who reject Christ,

for those who do not believe that they

need a savior, or for those who look to

any other savior to rescue them from

their slavery to sin or their fear of

death, for them, Christ will be an

offensive fragrance. He will not be the

fragrance of life, but the stench of

death. The righteousness of Christ will

his salvation will stink.

Like the captured barbarians in the tri

tri triumphal procession, those who

reject the victorious Christ will find

the aroma of Jesus only associated with

a coming judgment.

And so answer the call today. If you're

not a Christian, heed the warning.

If Christ is not life to you, if he is

only misery and unhappiness, unhappiness

rules or condemnation,

I hope that you can see that in the

gospel, he loves you. And I hope that

that love can soften your heart towards

him.

This brings us to our final lesson for

today for Christians.

When you go out into this world and you

in and you interact with immortal

people,

you don't know who is perishing.

You don't know who is perishing and who

is being saved.

So spread the gospel liberally. Spread

it far and wide. Be generous with it.

Tell the story of Christ. You are the

keeper of his story.

Tell the what you know of him. The

knowledge you spread that knowledge. The

knowledge of Christ that you proclaim

will offend those who are perishing. But

for those whose hearts and minds are

open, they will smell Christ and it will

be life to them. They will be set free.

They will join our ranks.

Spread it far and wide. Share Christ at

the park, at the salon, at the barber,

at the office, at the dinner table.

tell people what he has done for you and

what he can do for them.

For Paul, he defends his ministry by

saying, "Hey, even if I change my travel

plans, I'm not the leader. God is the

leader. He directs my steps,

not me." And even though I ended up in

Macedonia instead of Trrowaz or Corinth,

the gospel is spreading everywhere I go

because authentic gospel ministry is the

aroma of Christ.

May this same gospel, this same old old

story

go with you everywhere you