Turn with me, if you would, to
2 Corinthians chapter 11. 2 Corinthians 11. Our text will be verse 4, but
let's begin in verse 1. Would to God you could bear with
me a little in my folly, and indeed bear with me, for I am
jealous over you with godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one
husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through
his subtlety, So your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity
or the singularity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh
preacheth another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you
receive another spirit which you have not received, or another
gospel which you have not accepted, you might well bear with him. What a warning coming from an
apostle to God's people. A serious, serious, necessary
warning. Let's not fool ourselves. I know
that some of us have been under the truth for many years and
heard some very capable preachers preach the gospel. But let's
not fool ourselves into thinking that we could never be deceived. You know how some people become
deceived and you think, what in the world? Let's not fool
ourselves into thinking that there is no possible way that
we could become deceived. They're not as spiritually mature
as I am. That's why they're deceived. They don't have the grasp on
this that I do. That's why they're deceived.
That's what goes on in the mind. They may be deceived. I can see
why they would be deceived. They may be deceived, but I'm
absolutely confident that I will never be deceived. That is exactly
what Peter said just before he denied the Lord. Just before
he denied the Lord. So Paul said, let's be warned
and let's not underestimate the subtlety. And this is what I
really want to emphasize to us, the subtlety of the deceiver
and the deceiver's message. How close it really is. How close
it really is. Look at verse 13. It says, For
such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves
into the apostles of Christ. That's what they do, they transform
themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marble for
Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light, a preacher
of the gospel. Therefore, it is no great thing
if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness. It's no great thing if you see
men in the circles of grace. and then something goes wrong.
It's no great marvel. He goes on to say, whose end
shall be according to their works. For that reason, Paul said, let's
be on guard against corruption. Corruption. All right, let's
start with this. It is very unwise to study false
religion. It is very unwise to listen to
false religion, especially one that is so close to the truth.
Sometimes we do it for entertainment. It's so silly what they say.
We say, you believe what they're saying? You know, you turn it
on, it'll be on TV or something. Listen to that mess. Don't even
do that. Don't even do that. Don't listen
to false religion especially, especially if it is so close
to the truth. So close. Almost, I mean almost
right down the line. Almost right down the line with
the truth. As soon as we realize it is not
100% in agreement with this word, run from it. Run from it. Do not entertain it. How many
times have we thought? I have listened to men and thought. It's real close. It really is
close. It is very, very close. Here's
the question of the morning. Here's the title of the Bible
study. How close is close enough? That's the question. How close
is close enough? How close to the truth of the
Lord Jesus? How close to the truth of God's
Spirit, the truth of the gospel, is close enough? How critical
is it really? What difference does it make
really? Look with me at John chapter 8. John chapter 8 and this is the
Lord Jesus speaking verse 24 I said therefore unto you that
you shall die in your sins for if you believe not that I am
he if you believe not that I am he you shall die in your sins
that's pretty critical isn't it That is very, very critical. Look back at John chapter 3 verse
36. John 3 verse 36 says, He that
believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not
the Son shall not see life, But the wrath of God abideth on him. There is one faith and one Lord. He that believeth on the Son. There is one faith and one Lord. He that believeth on the actual
Son of God hath life. He that hath not, believeth not,
the actual Son of God hath not life. If he's not the one God
sent, there's no life. No life. We'll die in our sins.
It's that critical. Alright, in reference to the
Spirit, go with me to 1 John chapter 4. 1 John 4 verse 1 says, Beloved, Believe not every spirit, but
try the spirits, whether they are of God. Because many false
prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit
of God. Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. And we won't
take the time to dwell on this passage because we're going to
cover it in just a second. But the key to this is, Every
spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ, in everything that means,
Christ, is come in the flesh. Every spirit confesses Jesus
has come in the flesh. Every spirit that confesses Jesus
Christ came in the flesh is of God. Verse 3 says, And every
spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh
is not of God, And this is that spirit of Antichrist, whereof
you have heard that it should come, and even now already is
it in the world. If it is not this spirit, it's
another spirit, and every other spirit is Antichrist. Every other
spirit. Not only is close to the spirit
of Christ, not the spirit of Christ, It's Antichrist, that's
how critical it is. Alright, in reference to the
Gospel, go with me to Galatians 1. Galatians 1 verse 6, I marvel
that you are so soon removed from him that called you into
the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another. It's referred to in a few places
as another gospel, but there's not another gospel. Verse 7,
which is not another, but there be some that trouble you and
would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we or an angel from
heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have
preached unto you, let him be cursed. Let the man preaching
it be cursed. Let those that believe it be
cursed. So it's critical. It's critical. It's so critical that we have
nothing to do with another Jesus another spirit or another gospel
now let's go back to the text and see what this means 2nd Corinthians
11 verse 4 says for if he that cometh preacheth
another Jesus a completely different Jesus not too long ago Isabella
got my phone And she googled me. And when she did that, one of
the pictures that popped up was a guy who looked like he was
in his mid to late 20s, probably 5'8", 5'10", clean shaven, red hair, very
red hair. You know who that was? Gabe Stoniker. That's who it was. Gabe Stoniker. Even though that was Gabe Stoniker,
that was not her father. That was not the one that loves
her and protects her and provides for her. That's not the one she
can trust. That's not the one she can put
all of her trust in. That's another Gabe Stoniker. If any man comes, Paul said,
if any man comes preaching another Jesus, if anybody comes holding
up a picture, saying, if this picture is different from the
Jesus that God has pictured in His Word, if any man comes saying,
this is your Lord, this is Jesus. If it's not this Jesus, it's
another Jesus. There is no life in another Jesus. No life. This happens all the
time. This happens everywhere. It's
happening right now. Somebody is standing up all over
the place right now holding up a picture saying, this is Jesus. It may be a Jesus, but it's not
this Jesus. It's another Jesus. How can I
really know if it's this Jesus? How can I really tell if it's
this Jesus or another Jesus? Go with me to Mark 8. Mark 8 verse 27, And Jesus went
out and his disciples into the towns of Caesarea Philippi. And
by the way, he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men
say that I am? And they answered, John the Baptist,
but some say Elias, and others one of the prophets. And he saith
unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answereth and
saith unto him, Thou art the Christ. Just like 1 John 4 said,
any man who comes saying you are the Christ, what does that
mean? God. God. God. God. We know if someone was here
who had never seen it, I was going to go to John 1. We can
quote John 1. In the beginning was the Word.
The Word was with God. The Word was God. Verse 14 says,
and God and the Word. God was manifest in the flesh. Paul told Timothy great is the
mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. God was manifest in the flesh. That's who this Jesus is. God. He's God. Go with me over
to John 8. John 8 verse 58, I adore how
our Lord so plainly told who He was. This thing really was
not done in a corner, not at all. John 8 verse 58, Jesus saith
unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was,
I am. Before Abraham ever was, I am. This Jesus is the Eternal One. In Hebrews chapter 1, God the
Father said to God the Son, Thy throne, O God, is forever and
ever. This Jesus is Lord. This Jesus
is King. This is the judge of the earth.
This Jesus right here is seated on his throne in the heavens,
reigning over everything. That's this Jesus. If anyone comes in the name of
Jesus saying he's begging you, that's not this Jesus. That's
another Jesus. There are a lot of begging Jesuses
out there. I'm sure that red-headed fella
and me are not the only two Gabe Stonikers in the world. There
are a ton of begging Jesuses out there. There are begging
Jesuses all over the place. But there are other Jesuses.
They're not this one. They're not this one. This one
does not try. He does not beg. He just does. If any man comes preaching that
he's going to show you the better way or he's going to show you
how you can earn eternal life, that's another Jesus. This Jesus
does not show blind men how to see. Think about that. This Jesus
does not show blind men how to see. He gives new eyes. They
see. He does not tell deaf men how
to hear. That's absurd. He gives new ears. They hear. He gives the lame
new legs, they leap. That's this Jesus. That's the
difference. That's the difference. All right,
go back to our text, 2 Corinthians 11, verse 4 says, If he that cometh preacheth another
Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit
which you have not received, there's only one spirit of Christ.
There are many, many spirits out there. There's only one Spirit
of Christ. This is how we'll know His Spirit.
Turn with me over there. Go to John 15. This is how we will know God's
Spirit. John 15 verse 26 says, But when the Comforter is come,
whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of
truth, that's who the Comforter is, the Spirit of truth, all
right? Chapter 16 now, look at that, verse 7. Nevertheless,
I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away. For if
I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you, the Spirit.
But if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he has
come, he will convince the world of three things." Every person
he comes to, he will convince them of three things. Sin, righteousness,
and judgment. Three things, when he comes,
whoever receives the Spirit, when a person becomes convinced
that God has sent the Spirit to me, the way he knows it is,
he's convinced of his own sin. I mean convinced of his own sin. That's how you know the Spirit. When another Spirit comes to
a person, the other Spirit convinces that person of his own self-worth. You go to a church, you listen
to a man stand up, if everybody walks out of that place feeling
so good about themselves and what they've done, they have
just received another spirit. Another spirit. The spirit convinces
of sin, and all other spirits say, you are really not. You're
really not a sinner. You're really not. The Spirit
convinces of God's righteousness, the perfect work that Christ
accomplished. Another Spirit convinces of man's
righteousness. Convinces. Your works are good
enough for the Lord. If it's good enough for you,
it's good enough for Him. He'll accept them. The Spirit says
it's not by works which you have done, it's by His works. Another
spirit says it's not by works, which he hath done It's by your
words That's another spirit Antichrist complete completely opposite
Antichrist Sin righteousness in his judgment another spirit
says there is no real judgment Not really you do the best you
can do you'll be fine it is dangerous so dangerous to receive another
spirit All right, back to our text, we'll wrap this up. 2 Corinthians
11 verse 4 says, if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus whom
we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit which
you have not received, or another gospel which you have not accepted,
you might well bear with him. This gospel, only one gospel,
the gospel, is to sinners. I hope a sinner hears this. I
hope a sinner hears this. The gospel, to me this is a wow
moment. For me, this is a light bulb
moment for me. The gospel is to sinners. The good news, the amazing blessed
news to sinners. It is a notification of a finished
work that Christ has already done. Another gospel and this
is how you can tell if it's the gospel or another gospel. Another
gospel is to those who are not sinners. The good amazing news
is to those who are not sinners and it's a notification of a
work that is not finished. and will not be finished until
you finish it. That's another gospel. There's
no power to save in that gospel. Not only will it not save, it
will damn. And the scary thing is that's
about the only gospel being preached anymore. This is what it says. This is
what it says. I hope somebody finds this. This is what that
other gospel says. That is no gospel and will save
no one. This is what it says. You can't
be a sinner. And you're going to have to finish
the work. That's another gospel. That's another gospel. Paul said
whoever preaches that or believes that is cursed. Because the true
gospel is you can't be anything other than a sinner. It's what
you are. But thank God Christ has finished
the work. It's finished. So may the Lord
really keep his hand on this ministry. Honestly. May the Lord really keep his
hand on this ministry. May the Lord. Keep his hand on
us. May he in kindness and love and
unity send his spirit. Cause us to grow in grace cause
us to grow in knowledge of his word Lord. Don't let us split
Don't let us be fooled by false teachers Keep your hand on us and teach
us who is the true Christ. Let us see the true Lord Jesus
Christ Him alone fixed on him alone. Let us Have your true
spirit only Lord, I'm telling you, a lot of other spirits are
going to try to creep into this place and seek who they may devour. Lord, may your spirit dominate
in this place. And the way we will know if it's
dominating is if all of us, every one of us here, goes around going,
I'm such a broken sinner. You're better than me. I esteem
you more highly than I esteem myself. That other spirit comes
in and says, it's time we get you out of here. I've had about
all I can stand of you. That's another spirit. Lord,
send us our Lord. Cause us to look to him. Send
us your spirit. Cause us to only receive him. And don't take your gospel from
us. Please, don't take the good news for sinners from us. All
right. Paul said, bear with that. Bear
with it. It's safe. All right. You're dismissed.