If you'll turn with me in your
Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 11, 2 Corinthians chapter 11,
we'll continue our study in this wonderful epistle. That hymn we just sang is our
hope. The Lord said, As Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted
up. And if I be lifted up, I'll draw men to myself. And if any
man come unto me, I will in no wise cast him out." What great
hope we have. And I hope that the Lord will
enable us to do what we just sang, to praise Him, to worship
Him in spirit and in truth. Paul said, we're the true circumcision
of God. which worship Christ in the Spirit
and have no confidence in the flesh. That's our hope, that
God will be pleased to bless these services with His Spirit
and enable His people to worship Him in truth. Let's bow our heads
and pray together and ask the Lord to bless us in that way. Merciful Heavenly Father, we're
so very thankful that there's a throne of grace that we are
able in the person of your dear son to approach you at. We thank you that it's not a
throne of law. It's one of mercy, one of grace. We thank Thee,
Lord, that we have an advocate with You, Jesus Christ, the Righteous
One. We thank You for His successful
work of redemption. We ask now that You would cause
Your Word by Your Spirit to find fertile ground in the hearts
of Your people, and that it would take root and produce fruit to
your glory. We know, Lord, that the fruit
of your people is the praise of their lips, and we ask, Lord,
that our worship would be from our hearts, given to us by you. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. In the 11th chapter of 2nd Corinthians,
Paul almost embarrassingly has to defend himself against the
accusations that are being made by the false prophets. They are accusing the Apostle
Paul of being an imposter. They're accusing him of not being
a true man of God. They're accusing him of being
in the ministry for personal profit and personal gain. Everything they accused him of
were the very things they were guilty of. And so, Paul distinguishes
the difference between his ministry, which is faithful and true, and
the ministry of those false prophets who are making these lying accusations
about himself. And he finds it, on several occasions,
he finds it very uncomfortable to have to defend himself. But
he tells us that the reason that he's doing it is not for self-promotion. but he's doing it that the believers
in Corinth might be convinced of the truth so that they would
not be deceived by these false prophets. We'll read, we'll begin
in verse one and he says in verse one, would to God you could bear
with me a little in my folly and indeed bear with me. He knows what he's about to say
and he's feeling very uncomfortable in having to convince them that
he in fact is the true messenger from God and these other men
are liars and detractors. He says, for I am jealous over
you with a godly jealousy for I have espoused you to one husband
that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. I'm not promoting
myself. My concern is for you. I'm jealous
over you. I don't want you to be perverted
from the simplicity, as he goes on to say, that's in Christ. And that's what these men are
doing. They're complicating the gospel with works, For I fear, lest by any means,
as the serpent beguiled thee through his subtlety, so your
mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ."
Now make note of that because the second hour, the title of
the message is the simplicity of the gospel. And I want to
go back, I want to go back to verse 3 and declare the gospel of God's free
and sovereign grace in its simplicity. I like simple, don't you? For if he that cometh preacheth
another Jesus. There's lots of Jesus's out there,
lots of them. There's a Jesus that's not able
to save unless man lets him have his way. There's one who's unsuccessful
in his attempts to redeem mankind. He's trying to save everybody.
He lacks the power to make you willing. He's dependent upon
you. He needs you to do your part.
There's a lot of those Jesus out there. Small J. Idols is what they are. Figments
of men's imagination. They don't really exist at all. But they are a corruption, a
perversion of the true Christ. And isn't that what Satan does?
He's a counterfeiter. That's what he is. He takes the
things of God. and he counterfeits them and
perverts them, changes them just enough to destroy them. And in
doing so, if he can convince men to believe them, he'll destroy
them as well. He said, for if he that cometh
preacheth another Jesus whom we have not preached, Christ
that we preach is a successful Savior. He's the Son of God. He came in the full power of
the Spirit of God. He is the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. And in that, He's omnipotent. He possesses within Himself all
power. He doesn't try to do anything.
He accomplishes everything He sets out to do. He's a God of
purpose. And these other Jesuses are not
that way. So if anybody preaches to you
a Jesus other than the one that we preach to you, or if you've
received another spirit, if you're convinced that that Jesus is
the Savior, then you've been convinced by another spirit.
Now you know there's only two spirits in the world, right?
There's only two spirits. There's the Holy Spirit, And
there's the evil spirit. There's the spirit of Satan.
So if you've been convinced that this other Jesus is the Savior,
you've been convinced by that other spirit. Not by the Spirit
of God. The Spirit of God would never
lead you into that error. Or, if you believe another gospel. Lots of messages of salvation
out there. Men have devised lots of schemes
and lots of plans as to how it is a person can be right with
God. And that's another gospel. The
simplicity of the gospel is the finished work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Which you didn't accept when
we were there. Now notice the pronoun him at
the end of verse four is in italics. That means that the translators
added it afterwards and it really as is often the case takes away
from the meaning of the verse. A better understanding of that
would be to put the pronoun me rather than him. What he's saying
at the end of this verse is if you've been deceived by a false
preacher to believe another gospel, to follow after another Jesus,
and you've gotten it from another spirit, bear with me for a little
bit. It'll be well for your soul It'll
be well for your soul if you will bear with my folly. I'm gonna have to convince you
now that the message I brought to you was truly of God. So just, it's as uncomfortable
as it is for me to have to compare myself to these men, bear with
me. Bear with me, it'll be well for
your soul if you will. For I suppose that I was not
a wit behind the chiefest apostle." You see why he's calling this
folly? He's having a difficult time
saying these things about himself and he doesn't want to be misunderstood.
But as he has already made clear, he's saying it out of love for
their soul and out of a sincere commitment to the one and only
true gospel. So these men say that they are
apostles. They're promoting themselves
as apostles. I was not a wit behind the chiefest
of the apostles. Not in speech, I wasn't, Paul
makes it clear on several occasions that he wasn't an articulate
speaker. He wasn't an impressive speaker.
He wasn't the kind of speaker that men would woo over in terms
of his delivery, which is always very appealing, isn't it? I'm
sure some of these men that came in behind him were more impressive
in their speech than was the Apostle Paul. And men were drawn
into that as they have always been and are today. Men are very
captivated by an eloquent speaker. Here's the message from this
verse and from this whole passage. Listen not to how it's being
said, but what's being said. What's being said is everything.
The message of the gospel is in its content, not in its delivery. Don't be caught up fleshly in
the outward appeal of an attractive delivery. Listen to what's being
said about Christ. And so Paul said, though I be
rude in speech, in another place he said, they accuse me of being
very contemptible in my speech, and I am. I am. I just don't have that gift.
But not in knowledge. You see that verse? Not in knowledge. No one had a clearer understanding
of the gospel than did the Apostle Paul. No one preached it with
more clarity and with more simplicity than did the Apostle Paul. And
so what he's saying to you, what God's saying to us right now,
is listen to what's being said, not how it's being said. Oftentimes,
God will use the most contemptible speech and the most rude delivery
to speak truth to the heart. Why? Why would he do that? Why would God take a man who
was not eloquent or particularly gifted in his ability to speak
to drive home the truth of the gospel to the hearts of God's
people? Why would he do that? That no flesh should glory in
his presence. I'll not share my glory with
another. God gets all the glory, doesn't
he? And that's our hope, isn't it? That the Lord Himself would
be honored and glorified in all that we do. For though I be rude in speech,
yet not in knowledge, but we have been truly made manifest
among you in all things. You know us. You heard what we
preached. these false prophets were coming
in behind the Apostle Paul and trying to corrupt what the foundation
that he had laid and he's reminding them now in the next several
verses he was reminded them of the manner in which he ministered
the gospel to them look what he says I have have I committed
an offense and abasing myself that you might be exalted because
I have preached to you the gospel of God freely What these men are accusing me
of, you know I wasn't guilty of. You know I didn't. He said, I didn't take a dime
from you. When I came and stayed and preached the gospel to you,
I didn't do it for money. There's a lot of money to be
made in religion, isn't there? And there's a lot of men in religion
that are merchandising men's souls for their own profit. And
that's a sure sign of a false prophet. They've got their promotions
going all the time. They're selling their tapes and
CDs and books. It's all about the money, isn't
it? All about the money. Did I commit an offense? to you when I abased myself by
not taking anything from you when I came to preach the gospel?
I robbed other churches, taking wages of them to do you service. When I was there with you in
Corinth, other churches were supporting me and taking care
of my needs while I preached to you the gospel freely. Didn't
take a dime, why? Because I knew these accusations
would come. And I didn't want them to have
any ammunition to use against me. And when I was present with
you and wanted, when I was in need, I was chargeable to no
man, for that which was lacking to me, the brethren which came
from Macedonia supplied. And in all things I have kept
myself from being burdensome unto you, and so I will keep
myself. I'm not going to allow these
accusations. You see why Paul is so uncomfortable
in having to remind them of what he did? He would have just as
soon, the right hand never know what the left hand's doing. He
wasn't tooting his horn. He wasn't promoting himself. Turn with me. There's a passage
in the book of Proverbs, Proverbs chapter 27. Turn with me back
there. It is required of a steward that
he be found faithful. This gospel that God has given
to us, we are but stewards of it. It doesn't belong to us,
it belongs to Him. He's given it to us to declare
in all of its simplicity. and without any compromise and
without any ambiguity to make it to lift up Christ. And the God who owns this gospel
is requiring of his stewards that they be found faithful to
do what he's called them to do. And that's what Paul's saying. I'm answerable to God in this.
Look at Proverbs chapter 27 at verse six. Well, this is one of the verses. I'm actually preparing a message
right now from Proverbs on faithfulness, and this is one of those verses.
Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are
deceitful. Paul was faithful in that he
wounded his friends in Corinth by exposing the error that was
creeping into the church. And he did it out of love. These
men were coming in, they were promoting themselves, they were
telling everybody how wonderful they were, and they were making
false accusations against the Apostle Paul. Faithful are the
wounds of a friend, but deceitful are the kisses of those that
would seek to gather people to themselves. Look at Proverbs
chapter 20 at verse six. Proverbs chapter 20 verse six.
Most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness. Most people
will promote themselves. Most people will toot their own
horns. Most people will call attention to themselves. Now
that's what they were accusing Paul of doing, but that's a varied
thing they were guilty of themselves. And now he's feeling very uncomfortable
that he's having to remind them of these things. Most men will proclaim everyone
his own goodness, but a faithful man who can find. A man that'll
point you to Christ. A man that won't blow his own
horn. A man that will tell you the truth and who can find it. Alright, go back with me to our
text. I robbed other churches, taking
wages of them to do your service. And when I was present with you
in wanting, I was chargeable to no man. For that which was
lacking to me, the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied.
And in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome
unto you. And so will I keep myself, as the truth of Christ
is in me. No man will stop me of this boasting
in the regions of Achaia." I'll suffer whatever I have to
suffer in order that the truth of Christ might be, might be
lifted up. Wherefore, because I love you
not. Why have I done this? Because
I don't, because I don't care about you. That's what they're
in it for. These false preachers are not,
they don't care about you. They're in it for themselves.
God knows. God knows. He said, the Lord
knows that I'm doing this because I do love you, and because I
do want to present you as a chaste bride to Christ. But what I do,
that I will do, that I may cut off all occasion from them which
desire occasion, that wherewith they glory, they may be found
even as we. I'm going to keep doing it in
order to be able to cut off, to be able to quiet, to be able
to diffuse the accusations that
they're making against me. And my hope is, that last phrase
in that verse is, my hope is that they'll become like me.
My hope is that they'll quit doing what they're doing. My
hope is that they'll hear the gospel. My hope is that they'll
become true faithful gospel preachers. For such are false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles
of Christ. And no marvel, for Satan himself
is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no
great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers
of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works."
Now listen very carefully. The devil gets no mileage in
the souls of men by presenting himself with horns and a pitchfork. Men are afraid of that image.
They run from that image. That's not how Satan presents
himself in this world. He presents himself in pulpits
just like this. he opens this book this book
and reads from the Word of God and twist it and perverts it
just enough to deceive men now how this chapter started out
I fear that as Satan deceived Eve through the his subtlety
how was how is Eve deceived what's the what's the first thing that
Satan said to Eve Did God say that thou shalt not eat of all
the trees of the garden? That's not what God said. That
was close to what God said, but that wasn't what God said. And
Eve knew that wasn't what God said. She said, oh no, God said
we could eat of all the trees of the fruit of the garden except
for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That's the
one we cannot, what'd she say? We can't even touch it. God didn't
say don't touch it. God said don't eat from it. So
the subtlety of Satan is just to take one word here or there,
a little bit of leaven leavens the whole lump and the whole
human race fell as a result of taking what God had said and
just changing it just enough. Just enough. The most deceitful
counterfeits are the ones that are closest to the truth. You're
not gonna be fooled by monopoly money. But you might be fooled
if somebody gives you a really good counterfeit. But the really
good counterfeit is just as worthless as is the monopoly money, isn't
it? Satan's producing some good counterfeits. That's what he
does. We should not be surprised that
he presents himself as an angel of light. He presents himself
as a minister of the gospel. but he takes the Word of God
and he twists it and he wrests it and he deceives men by it
and destroys the gospel and destroys men's souls. The simplicity that is in Christ
cannot be corrupted, cannot be compromised, it cannot be perverted
and that's what religion, man-made religion, is all about. It's
what it's all about. Verse 16, I say again, let no
man think me a fool. If otherwise, yet as a fool,
receive me, that I may boast myself a little. Here again,
he just keeps having to stop and saying, you put me in this
position. I hate to have to do this, but
I'm doing it for your good. And I'm telling you, let them
call me a fool. Consider me to be a fool. Let
them make the accusations they want to make about me. But I'm
going to tell you the truth, what I'm telling you. is of God
and what they're telling you is not. That which I speak, verse 17,
I speak it not after the Lord but as it were foolishly in this
confidence of boasting. Now what he's saying here is
that this position you put me in to have to promote myself,
God wouldn't have had it to be that way. But I've been put in this position
and so I'm not giving you, this is just, you see how uncomfortable
he's feeling about having to compare himself to these men. He says, verse 18, seeing that
many glory after the flesh, I will glory also. Let them, I know
they're going to, I know they're going to take this and use it
against me as well, but so be it. So be it. God's people won't. God's people understand the spirit
of it. God's people will believe it. God's people will bow to
it. For you suffer fools gladly. You've allowed them to come in.
You've given them a position of leadership in the church. You've allowed them to preach.
You've suffered those fools, so suffer this fool." That's
what he's saying. That's what he's saying. I know
I'm being foolish and having to promote and having to speak
of myself, but you suffered them, now suffer me. You're so wise. He's being sarcastic. For you suffer if a man bring
you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if
a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face. Now he's,
he's identifying exactly what these false prophets were doing.
They were putting them under the law. Stand fast in the liberty
where with Christ has made you free and be not entangled again
with the yoke of bondage. Don't go back to Egypt. Don't
go back to the law. The false gospel always brings
men back to something they have to do in order to earn favor
with God. Always comes back to that. You're going to allow man to
put you in bondage? A man who would devour you? A
man who is only interested in what he can get from you? A man that exalts himself? A
man that will beat you? Smite you on the face? You're
going to suffer somebody like that? That's not me. That's not
what I've been doing. I speak as concerning reproach,
as though we had been weak. Howbeit, whensoever any is bold,
I speak foolishly." He keeps talking about the foolishness
of his having to defend himself. But he's saying, I'm going to
speak boldly. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham?
So am I. Are they ministers of Christ?
I speak as a fool. They're not. I am more. In labors more abundant, in stripes
above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft of the
Jews five times received I forty stripes saved one, thrice was
I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck,
a night and a day I have been in the deep, in journeyings often,
in perils of waters." Now the waters there is rivers and that's
the reason they didn't have bridges. I mean it was a life-threatening
thing to cross a river to get from one place to another. So,
in journeyings often, in perils of water, in perils of robbers,
in perils of my own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in
perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils
in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness and painfulness,
in watching often, in hunger and thirst, in fasting often,
in cold and nakedness. See, that's why he didn't want
to have to tell them about all that. He didn't do it in order
to get attention for it. He suffered these things gladly. And he's feeling very uncomfortable
that he's having to remind them of all the things that he had
to suffer for the gospel's sake. And what he's saying is, those
men are not going to do that. They're not going to do that. And besides those things, I don't
know much about the things that he just described, and I hope
I don't. But I do know a little something
about verse 28. Besides these things that are
without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of the churches. You see somebody slipping away
from the gospel and spend sleepless nights praying for them. You
see all sorts of things going on in people's lives and then
you wonder if all your labors are in vain. This is a burden
that God's men will experience. The false prophets, they're not
into that. I've been a part of religious
organizations where the back door was just as big as the front
door. And the only interest, we didn't
have any interest about people going out the back door. We just
had to keep them coming in the front door. Lest we diminish
in size. It wasn't about people. It wasn't
about men's souls. It wasn't about the truth. It
was just religion. And it's not that way now. It's
not that way at all. There's a burden that God's people
experience for one soul. For one soul. Verse 29, who is weak? And I
am not weak. And what he's saying there is
that when you suffer, I suffer with you. When you are weak,
I'm weak with you. I'm in that with you. I'm not
standing over you in judgment of you. I'm entering into your
trials and troubles with you. And who's offended? Who falls
into sin that I don't experience that burning sensation of that
we're in this together? You see what he's saying? He's
saying it's not like it was in religion. Those men are just
religious. They're just trying to build
a name for themselves and the things they're accusing me of,
you know I'm not guilty of. So, I must needs glory. I will
glory of the things which concern my infirmities. The God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed forevermore, knoweth
that I lie not." I've spoken the truth. And then he tells
a story, he tells an event that took place in Damascus. In Damascus,
the governor under Aretas, the king, kept the city of Damascus
with a garrison desiring to apprehend me. I was in Damascus one time,
they sent the army out after me. and they would have arrested
me and put me to death but I had to be let out a window on a rope
an escape for my life. Why? For the sake of the gospel and
for the souls of God's people in that order for the sake of
the integrity of the gospel and for the salvation of God's people
We'll suffer whatever. We're not going to go back to
religion. We're not going to do it like they did in religion.
Or like we did it in religion. It's different now. Alright,
let's take a break.