Alright brethren, let's be turning
to 2 Corinthians chapter 1. In another place, the Apostle
Paul said that there are three fruits of false preachers. He said, first of all, of your
own selves shall men arise. Of your own selves. And that's
what had happened at Corinth. Men who had sat under the preaching
of the gospel, probably heard Paul preach, had arisen from
among the Corinthians. And he said, number two, they'll
speak perverse things. In order for a false preacher
to create a following, They must alter, change their doctrine
at least slightly to differentiate themselves from that gospel which
they claim to be saved under. They have to change it to differentiate
themselves. And their purpose, Paul said,
is to draw away disciples after them. Their purpose is not the
glory of God. Their purpose is to create a
following, to draw away disciples after them. Paul said, these
are the sort that lead silly women captive, laden with all
types of cravings and lusts, and they appeal to that and lead
them out. Now in our text, we see three
more fruits of false preachers. As we go, we're going to see
that these things that Paul is saying, he is correcting the
accusations that were being made against him. First of all, false
preachers had attacked Paul's character. They had attacked
his character. They accused him of lying to
the Corinthians concerning his plans to come visit. And this
is what Paul said, verse 15, and in this confidence, The confidence
of a clear conscience we saw last time. The confidence that
the saints at Corinth believed the gospel, that they were thoroughly
knowledgeable of Paul and they rejoiced in Paul and he rejoiced
in them. He said, in this confidence I
was minded to come unto you before that you might have a second
benefit. and to pass by you into Macedonia, and to come again
out of Macedonia unto you, and of you to be brought on my way
toward Judea. When I therefore was thus minded,
did I use likeness?" This is what they were accusing him of,
being rash. and using likeness. He said,
Are the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the
flesh, that with me there should be yea, yea, and nay, nay? He's saying, Did I lean on the
arm of my flesh saying that my yes would be an absolute yes
and my no would be an absolute no? That's what they were accusing
him of, leaning on the arm of the flesh rather than looking
to God. And so, That was the first thing
they did. They accused his character. Now
that's one of the first things that false brethren would do.
They will accuse the character of God's faithful preacher. If
you ever have a man try to get you to agree with them on maligning
the character of a faithful preacher, don't dare do it. Do not do it. Because here's why. Here's the
second thing they did. After they attacked his character,
they used that to say, he was preaching a false gospel. They
said if he lied to us about his daily dealings, then he lied
to us about the gospel too. Can't trust him to preach the
gospel either. And they said this about the faithful preachers
Paul associated with. Now watch what Paul answered. But as God is true, as God is
true, our word toward you, our preaching toward you was not
yea and nay. There wasn't any maybes in this.
For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by
us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not gay in name,
but in Him was yes. For all the promises of God in
Him are yes and in Him amen unto the glory of God by us. And then
the third thing false preachers did was accuse Paul and the true
brethren there of being converted by men and of following men. And Paul corrects this accusation. He says in verse 21, Now he which
establisheth us with you in Christ and hath anointed us is God. Not men, it's God. who hath also
sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. Now brethren, Christ said we'll
know false preachers by their fruits. And here are six fruits
I've given you. Now one, they sometimes arise
from within, from God's own people. They alter their doctrine to
differentiate themselves. They do it to create a following. to lead disciples after themselves. They malign the character of
God's faithful preacher. They accuse God's preachers of
preaching a false gospel. And they accuse God's people
of following men rather than following Christ. Christ said,
beware of men that bear these fruits. He said, they're wolves
in sheep's clothing. But I want you to see tonight
that God gives His witness an honest character. He gives His
witness an honest character and He preserves us in the truth,
believing the truth and preaching the truth. And God does it because
it's God who establishes us and not men. Now, that's our subject. Established by God. Now, first
of all, because God is true, Paul said there, as God is true,
and because God is true, God makes the character of His witness
true. We don't come into this world
with a true character. We come into this world deceitful,
deceived, trusting lies, going after lies, and speaking lies.
That's all we are by nature, in that corrupt heart. But we
saw last time that God creates a new heart. He gives a new spirit. He purges the conscience by the
blood of Christ. And He does that purging us from
dead works, from deceitful works, and cunning and crafty works.
So that the character of His witness is true like God. He makes the character of His
witness like God. And therefore God's preacher
conducts himself like Paul did. He said back in verse 12, that
he preached to them and conducted himself in simplicity and godly
sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God. And
he said, and such is our conduct in the world and more abundantly
to you. Now that was the fruit of God's
grace that made him have that character. That was God's grace. Paul's motive for going to Corinth
was selfless. He said he wanted to come that
they might receive a second benefit, meaning that they might be grown
in grace by God through the preaching of the Gospel. That's why he
wanted to go. There was no other motive than
that. He wasn't trying to create a following. He wasn't trying
to fleece them. He just wanted to see them grown in grace through
the Gospel. And God makes His minister walk
according to the will of God. He didn't say to them, I'm definitely
coming there. He didn't say that. Back in 1
Corinthians 4.19, He said, I will come to you shortly if the Lord
will. You see that? He bowed to God's
will. bowed to God's will. Now what I'm saying is since
God is true, since He's true, He will make the character of
those He sends to be true. Now Christ didn't have to have
anything made true in Him. He is the truth. But He came
forth speaking the truth and the scripture says, 1 John 5.20
says, we know that the Son of God has come and hath given us
an understanding that we may know Him that is true. And we
are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal
life. You see, Christ came forth from
the God of truth and He was true. And He taught us who the true
God is. And we are in Him that is true,
even the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the true God. So those
His sins are going to be true. God the Holy Spirit is true.
Christ said this, Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come,
He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak of Himself,
Christ said, but that which He hears He will speak and He will
show you things to come. He said He will speak of Christ.
Well, He's true. You see, the promise that a man
makes, the word he speaks is only as good as the character
of the man. Well, God is true. God the Son
is true. God the Holy Spirit is true.
And those He sends to preach the truth of God, He will make
their character to be true. You can bank on it. Listen to
this. This is a promise of God. We're
talking about God's promises. And He says He will fulfill.
They're all yes and amen in Christ. Here's a promise of God. I will
give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed
you with knowledge and understanding. Not lives, knowledge and understanding. Brethren, because God is true,
God will have His Word delivered in truth. That means He is going
to have to create us anew, give us a new heart, make us a partaker
with His nature. He is going to have to give us
the mind of Christ so that we are not out for selfish gain
and selfish glory. We are desiring Him to have the
glory. And that is the character He
gives to His preachers. Now the second thing I want you
to see here And since God is true, God will make His witness
declare only truth. He will not only make the character
true, He will make him declare the truth of God. Paul said there
in verse 18, As God is true, our word towards you, and the
margin there is preaching. As God is true, our preaching
to you was not yes and no. Paul said, now when it comes
to me, I have to bow to God's will. I can't say yes, yes, and
no, no. I have to say if God will. But
he said, but when it comes to preaching my gospel, the gospel
I preach, it's not yea and nay. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ,
who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and
Timotheus, he said, this is true of all God's faithful preachers.
It was not yea and nay, but in Him was yes. For all the promises
of God in Him are yea, and in Him amen, and to the glory of
God by us. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
6. You see, this is important. The Word, the Word, a man's character,
what a man speaks coming out of his heart, so his character
has got to be true. And then that which he speaks
has got to be true. The Gospel is God's promise. The gospel is God's promise. We're preaching the promises
of God. That's what we're preaching.
And so we have to know God is true. We have to know His Word
is true. If we're going to believe Him. Right? Look here, Hebrews
6, verse 13. When God made promise to Abraham. There's the father of them that
believe, Abraham. And God saved Abraham by promise.
When God made promise to Abraham, because God could swear by no
greater, He swore by Himself. Saying, now watch this, here's
the promise. Surely, blessing, I will bless
thee. And multiplying, I will multiply
thee. And so after He had patiently
endured, after Abraham patiently waited, He obtained the promise. God made good on His promise. He blessed him, He multiplied
him, and He brought him to glory. Now look at verse 16. Why did
God swear by Himself? For men verily swear by the greater. You know, men are going to make
a promise and they swear by something greater than them, you know,
to confirm it. And then He says this, And an
oath for confirmation is to man an end of all strife. Once he's
done that, then we trust His Word. Well, we're in God, willing
more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise. That's
what we are, heirs of promise. An heir doesn't do anything to
be an heir. He just made an heir. And that's
what we are. We just made an heir by God's
grace, His electing grace. We made an heir. And we're heirs
of promise. He showed the heirs of promise
the immutability of His counsel. That is, whatever God counseled
to do from eternity, it never changes. It's immutable. God is immutable. And what He
promises to do never changes. Because God does not change.
who He loved from eternity, He has always loved and will always
love. And that will never change. Never
change. To show this, the immutability
of His counsel, He confirmed it by an oath. That's why He
swore to Abraham. And He did it that by two immutable
things, by two unchangeable things, watch this, in which it was impossible
for God to lie. Two immutable things. God's promise
and God's oath, both of which is impossible for God to lie.
He did it for this reason, that we might have a strong consolation,
strong comfort, a sure hope, who have fled for refuge to lay
hold upon the hope set before us, who is Christ Jesus, our
great high priest. You see, God is true. He is going
to save us by promise. That's how He saves. And God
cannot lie. So when He makes His truth, He's
sworn by Himself in sending His Son. That's God swearing by Himself. And He can swear by no greater.
And He's promised us He shall save His people from our sins
and give us eternal life. So we have a strong consolation.
We've got strong reason to believe God. He can't lie. God cannot lie. And the truth
then that God's preacher declares won't be a gospel of maybes.
It will not be a gospel of maybes. No, God's going to send forth
a man who's going to declare to you that there are no maybes
in any promise God makes because God has left nothing, absolutely
nothing in the hand of the sinner. He put it all in Christ's hand.
That's why it's sure. Because nothing's left up to
us. It's all of God. All of God. Look at verse 19,
2 Corinthians 1.19, For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who we
preach, is not yea and nay, but in Him was yea. In Him was yea. It's impossible. Just like it's
impossible for God to lie, it's impossible for the Son of God
to fail. It's impossible for him to fail.
Isaiah 42.1 said, Behold my servant. God said that. Behold my servant. He's talking about Christ. He
said, Whom I uphold. Whom I uphold. God and Christ
are one. And He's upheld by God, by His
eternal power in Godhead. Whom I uphold. He said, Mine elect in whom my
soul delighteth. You see, the promises were all
first made to Christ. So that tells you God is going
to make good on them because He made the promises to Christ
first. He said, He is mine elect. He is my choice. And He said,
and in Him my soul delights. I put my spirit upon Him and
He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. And then He
said in verse 4, He shall not fail. He shall not fail till
He has set judgment in the earth and the Gentiles shall be made
to wait for His law, for His immutable Word, His immutable
promise. That's what we're waiting. You
and I, that's been fulfilled and some of you sitting here.
We're Gentiles and we're by His grace because He has not failed.
We're sitting here now waiting for God's promise. to be fulfilled
all the way to the end. And so God's true preacher declares
God's promises are sure. Verse 20 says, All the promises
of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen, and to the glory of
God by us. Now get this now. Here's what
God says in His promise. Every need that we as guilty
sinners have, can you think of a few? We got a lot of needs,
don't we? God promises that every need
that we have as guilty sinners, God shall provide. Listen to this. My God shall
supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ
Jesus. Now that's sure, that's certain.
God cannot lie. And He says, I will supply all
your needs. And we lost all righteousness
in Adam. We broke the law. We became guilty
before God. And God promised in the Old Covenant,
in the Old Testament, He promised, this was the promise of the New
Covenant, He promised He would send Christ. And He would be
our righteousness. Go to Jeremiah 23. Let me show
you this. I can't go through all the promises,
there are just too many. But basically everything in the
Old Testament is God declaring what He shall do. His promises
that He shall accomplish in Christ. Christ is Him accomplishing those
promises. And then the rest of the New
Testament is the apostles reminding us they are all accomplished.
Now look here, Jeremiah 23, verse 5, God said, Behold, the days
come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous
branch. He is going to come out of David's
family tree. He is going to be a righteous
branch, and a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute
judgment and justice in the earth. In His days Judah shall be saved
and Israel shall dwell safely. That means all His elect Jew
and Gentile shall be saved. And this is His name whereby
He shall be called the Lord our righteousness. And so in the
fullness of time when it pleased God, Christ came forth. That
righteous branch came forth. And He executed judgment and
justice in the earth. He went to the cross and He justified
His people from all our sins and made us the righteousness
of God in Him, exactly like God promised. And then we also lost
all holiness and became corrupt in our nature by Adam. But God
promised that He would create a new heart within by Christ.
He said in Ezekiel 36, 25, Then will I sprinkle clean water upon
you, and you shall be clean. From all your filthiness and
from all your idols will I cleanse you. Now listen to that. God
said from all your filthiness and from all your idols will
I cleanse you. There won't be one we're not
going to be cleansed from. He said, A new heart also will I
give you, and a new spirit will I put within you. And I will
take away the stony heart out of your flesh, that natural heart
of stone. And I'll give you a pliable,
moldable heart of flesh. And I'll put My Spirit within
you, and I'll cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall
keep My judgments and do them. And when he does this, he said
this will be the result. Then shall you remember your
own evil ways and your doings that were not good and shall
loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and
for your abomination. Now that's what true sanctification
is. True sanctification is not God putting a new heart in you
so that now you look to yourself to see how well you are fulfilling
the law. True sanctification is God put a new heart in you
so that now you behold Christ as your all and when you look
at yourself you say, I loathe myself. There is nothing good
in me. That is true sanctification.
And that grows. You grow in that state. You grow
to see Christ as more your all and you grow to see yourself
as altogether unprofitable, more and more. That's God's promise. And He did it. He done it to
some of us here just like He said He would. He said He promised
to do it and He's done it. And then His true preachers don't
bring sinners back under the law. You know why? Because to
bring a believer back under the law is to make salvation to cease
being by promise. If you have to do something And
I have to add something to what Christ has done. Anything at
all. Salvation quits being by promise. It ceases to be by promise. Turn to Galatians 3. Let's see
that. Galatians chapter 3. This is why we don't preach believers
and yoke and bind believers with the law. Right here. Galatians
3 verse 16. Now to Abraham and his seed were
the promises made. And he saith not to seeds as
of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ." The
promise God made to Abraham, the promise He makes to you and
me, He made that promise to Christ first. He made it to Christ first. Watch. In this I say that the
covenant, that is the promise, that's what the everlasting covenant
is, God's promise. The covenant that was confirmed
before of God in Christ, the law which came 430 years after
cannot disannul that promise. The law was given 430 years after
God made that promise to Abraham that He was going to save him
in Christ. 430 years later He gave the law
at Mount Sinai. Abraham's rule of life wasn't
the law. He didn't have it. It wasn't
given. But it couldn't end, it couldn't alter when it was given.
It couldn't alter that promise God had made. Watch. Read this. It couldn't disannul it that
it should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance
be of the law, it's no more of promise. You see that? If it's of man and your doing,
then God hadn't done it all. And God promised He'd do it all.
See, it's got to be all of God. But God gave it to Abraham by
promise. And so what do we keep preaching
to people? Look down at verse 22. The Scripture hath concluded
all under sin. We preach all flesh is grass.
Why? That the promise by the faith
of Jesus Christ, by His doing, by His fidelity, by His faithfulness
might be given freely to them that believe. We preach the just
shall live by faith. And we preach the grace and power
of God through Christ Jesus. So that's the work of God. And then God promised this in
the Old Testament. He promised that He would continue
this work in His people until the very end. And that He would
raise us to glory perfect. Listen to the psalmist. He said
in Psalm 138.8, The Lord will perfect that which concerneth
me. He didn't say, I'm going to perfect
it and help God out by my law keeping. He said, the Lord will
perfect that which concerneth me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth
forever. Forsake not the works of thine
own hands. That's what we are. We're His
workmanship and God's promised He won't forsake the work of
His hands. Listen to Jeremiah 32, 40. I will make an everlasting
covenant with them. that I will not turn away from
them to do them good, but I will put My fear in their hearts that
they shall not depart from Me. That's what God promised to do.
And He's doing that with His people. That's why Paul said,
He that's begun a good work in you will perform it to the day
of Jesus Christ. He had that on promise. He knew
God's promise. And so we have that on promise.
And what has He promised us? What is it we're waiting for?
What is it we're looking for? This is the promise that He hath
promised us, even eternal life. And this is the record that God
hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Now that's God's Word. In all
these promises, brethren, why is the gospel by promise? Why
did God promise to do everything required to make us righteous
and holy and preserve us and keep us and bring us into His
presence perfectly conformed to Christ's image? Why did God
promise He would do all of that? A to Z. It's because God will
have His people give Him all the glory and all the praise. Look here. He said all these
promises bring us to this one end. Paul said unto the glory
of God by us. That's us glorifying God and
praising God. He said that's the purpose. God's
put salvation in Christ's hands so that there's not any flesh
that will glory in God's presence. And He's done it so that those
that He calls and saves will glory only in the Lord. We give
Him all the glory. Nothing we do brethren is by
us. It's all by God. And it's all according to God's
promise. He said in the Old Testament,
who's a God like unto thee that tells my people beforehand what
I'm going to do and then I do it. Just like I said I'd do it. That's an immutable God. You
see, it's not that, you know, man wants to look at God and
sees it like all these tragedies and these things happen are going
to stop God from doing what He will. That is God doing what
He will. God is ruling all that, making
it happen and bringing His will to pass. None of that is stopping
God from doing what He will. That is God working His will.
So we can be certain these promises are sure. Now, that brings us
to this last point. The reason God's witnesses are
true in character, the reason His witnesses are true in character,
and the reason that they will continue believing the truth
and preaching the truth, is because we're not established by men.
We're not following men. We're established by God. We're
established by God. He said in verse 21, Now he which
establisheth us with you in Christ and hath anointed us is God. Now let me tell you something
about false brethren, false preachers. If they sat under the truth,
the whole time they were sitting under the truth, they were only
following men. That's certain. Even when they
were sitting under the truth, they were following men. Even
when they knew the gospel and declared the gospel, they were
following men. And they prove it by changing their doctrine
at the time when it benefits them. And they change their doctrine
to line up exactly with other men, with the false preacher
and false brethren who will benefit them most. They followed men
when they said unto the truth, and when they change, they keep
following men. And their purpose is to have
men follow them. But God's preachers and people are established by
God in Christ. He says, now He which established
us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God. It's God. Look at 1 John 2. 1 John 2. Since this is the case, God's
people aren't ever going to turn from the Gospel. Their doctrine
is not going to change. They are not going to turn from
Christ. Not at all. Watch this. 1 Corinthians 2 verse
27. The anointing which you have
received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man
teach you. But as the same anointing teacheth
you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it
hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him." You see that? That's where we're going to stay.
Because when Christ has done the work and the Spirit of God
is in you, the anointing, He said, we're established and anointed
by God. And the anointing we have, the
unction from on high, It means He's planted us and His people
won't be rooted up. We won't be turned, we won't
be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. We'll be planted
in Christ. And then another reason we don't
change our gospel or follow ways is because God seals us. When
He brings you to believe on Christ, He seals you. Look here, verse
34. I'm sorry. He said there, verse
22, Who hath also sealed us, He sealed us. Christ said this,
He said, He whom God has sent speaketh the words of God, for
God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him. That's speaking
of Christ. God didn't withhold the Spirit
from Christ. He preached what God sent Him
to preach. And because that's true, this is true. The Lord
promised over in Isaiah 59-21, He promised this. He said, As
for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord. My spirit
that is upon thee, the spirit that He gave to Christ, and my
words which I put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth,
nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed
seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and forever. That means Christ
is the seed, He is the Father, the everlasting Father of His
children. And the Word and the truth, the Spirit that God put
in Him, He puts in all those born of Him. And their seed,
those born of Him and those born of Him, means every one of His
people are going to be born of that Spirit and that truth is
going to abide in them. That's what He promised. So God
is going to bring that to pass. This sealing, when he seals you,
you've heard that illustration about, you know, when you can
vegetables and you can them and you put them in a hot bath and
then you set them out on the counter and you put the lid on
them and you sit there and wait and in a little bit you hear
that pop and that means it's sealed. That means you can open
it up six months later and the vegetables will all be good.
Christ, God sent forth the Holy Spirit in the heart of them that
believe. That new heart is created and
He sealed us so that we're not going to leave the city of refuge.
We're not going to leave Christ. We're not going to change and
turn and start preaching falsehood. We're not going to do it because
He's put His truth in us and He'll make it abide. We're sealed.
And not only that, The hope we have and the sureness we have
here in all this is because He's given us an earnest. He's given
us a foretaste of Christ which we're going to have in the end.
He said here in verse 22, and He's given the earnest of the
Spirit in our hearts. He gave the earnest of the Spirit
in our hearts. rejoice in Christ now because
the Spirit of God is in us. And that Spirit is the earnest
and that earnest of having a foretaste of Christ is the earnest. And
we know we are going to have that freedom God has promised,
that everlasting eternal life He has promised in the end because
we already have a foretaste of it. Don't you see how this gospel
and God's people and just being with God's people and hearing
His Word and His promises. And then you look at the world
and the promises that politicians make and then what they end up
doing and how the governments run and all that. Don't you just
see how much better God's government is of us than man's government?
And He said, He promised, Christ's government shall know no end.
It will just increase and increase and prosper the more He adds
His people to it, the more His kingdom will progress until He
saves the last one. And it's a good reign. He reigns
in righteousness and judgment and justice for us. So now notice
here, I'm going to point one more thing and I'm going to close.
Paul spoke here of the true character of God our Father. He said God
is true. And then He said the true and
certain mediation is by Christ. All God's promises are by Christ.
And then He said that the establishing operation is of God the Holy
Spirit. You see, there's our salvation,
our triune God in Christ, a God in three persons. He does it
all. He does it all. And therefore,
brethren, we give Him all the glory. And therefore, you can
rest assured, God creates in His witness an honest character. I got some honest people sitting
here before me. Because there is an old liar in you too. But
in that new man, God has created an honest character. And that
is going to dominate. That honest character is going
to dominate God's people. And you can be sure of this,
God's people are going to speak the truth. They are going to
declare the truth according to these Scriptures and give God
all the glory. And the reason all that is, is
because God established us and not men. Let's give Him the glory
now as we sing praises to Him. Alright, Brother Eric.