freely. In verse 8, here's how
he could do that, not take money from them. He says, I robbed
other churches, taking wages of them to do you service. And
when I was present with you and wanted, 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've kept myself
from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself. Now
in our day, religion is Big business. I mean, big business. The money
that flows through religious organizations and activities
is astounding. And I'll tell you why that is.
Because people are willing to give a preacher money if they
think it'll help improve the situation of their soul. I mean,
they'll just fork it over. Well, the same is true in Paul's
day. You know, it might not have been as big a business or as
global of a business in Paul's days as it is in ours, but men
haven't changed. In Paul's day, men would go into
the ministry for money because there are plenty of people willing
to give them money to, you know, give them some sort of religious
comfort or something. The same as it is today. And
Paul wanted to be very careful not to be identified with those
kind of people. So for the two years that he
spent in Corinth, he wouldn't take money for the people there.
He wouldn't take any support from them. And he had no intention
to start taking support from them, even now at this time.
And he did it so it would be obvious to everyone. Paul was
not in the ministry for money. He wasn't in the ministry to
get gain for himself. He didn't come to the wealthy
city of Corinth because he was interested in getting their money.
He was there to preach the gospel and he wanted it clear to everyone.
He was there because he cared about men's souls, not about
their money. Now, Paul's there, but he's still
a man. I mean, you know, he's got to
have food to eat. He's got clothes to wear. He's got to have shelter,
you know, same as all of us. So other churches supported his
missionary work, just like we support missionaries today. And
he went out and worked with his own hands. You know, we know
from reading other places, he made tents and sold them as a
way to meet his physical needs. And he worked hard doing that.
I mean, you know, that's not just, you know, easily done. He had to go out and work hard
to do that, to make tents and these things, you know, to meet
his physical needs. and then turn around and work
just as hard or harder in the ministry. Now, not very many
people know how difficult that is, how that had to absolutely
wear on him. Because it's more than just working
two jobs. You know, a lot of people work
two jobs and it's hard, I know. But when you're putting your
heart and soul into one, into the ministry, the burden that
he carried, but he's not complaining about that. And you'll see this
as we go through here. Here's what Paul's doing. He's
pointing out the difference between the ministers of Christ and the
ministers of Satan. And God's servant is willing
to do that. Now, we shouldn't be willing
to let him do it if we can help it. But they're willing. God's
servants are willing to do that because they're in the business
of preaching the gospel to men's souls. And we're dealing with
the souls of men and women And we're willing to go to any extreme
to be able to preach that gospel to them. And I think it's interesting
to also point out, you know, God's preachers are servants,
servants of God, our servants. That's what Paul says. But, you
know, they're also leaders of men, too. And you'll notice when
we read, you know, you go and read about this yourself, but
when Paul was out there working with his hands, He was doing
that to supply his needs and the needs of those people that
were with him, that were traveling with him. Paul worked making
tents. He didn't tell those fellows,
now I'm the Apostle Paul and I've got important business.
You fellows go out and, you know, work and earn the money that
we need to have the food and things that we need. I'm going
to stay here and study. No. Paul was a leader of men. They all went out and worked
and did these things to supply their physical needs. Then, when
that work was done, Paul went into the study to supply their
spiritual needs too. A leader of men. That's what
God's servants are. They're not out there getting
people to do for them. They're doing for other people.
That's the leader that God's servants are. Now verse 10, Paul
says, as the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me
of this boasting in the regions of Achaia. Wherefore, because
I love you not, God knoweth, but what I do, that I will do,
I'll continue to do that, that I may cut off occasion from them
which desire occasion, that wherein they glory, they may be found
even as we." Now, for whatever reason, Paul was determined not
to accept any financial support from anyone in Corinth or around
Corinth and that whole area of Greece. He was not going to take
financial support from them. And it wasn't because he didn't
love them. It wasn't because he wanted to deprive them of
the blessing of giving. Because he taught them to give.
He taught them to take up collections. But it was always for others.
Never for himself. And he says, God knows. He knows
I love you. He knows my heart. I'm not taking
money from you because I don't love you. He's doing that so
he can boast about the difference between himself and false prophets. That's why he's doing this. To
make it so clear, he's not in this for the money. Now, I don't
know if this is true or not, but I just thought it could be
that because Corinth is such a wealthy city, false prophets
were drawn there because there was so much money there. You
know, Donald Trump is not building buildings in Ashland, Kentucky.
He's building buildings in New York City and Los Angeles and
Las Vegas. Why? Well, there's all kinds
of money there. It's a wealthy place. And it's
just easier for him to get rich if he goes to a place where there's
already lots of money so he can get, you know, a lot of it. False
profits operate the exact same way. It's just good business. And to them, it's business. It's
just good business to go where the money is. In our business,
the business that I'm in, in the wholesale business, you know,
we like to find these mom and pop stores and, you know, get
them as a customer and things. But you know what everybody's
excited about? When you get a chain in about 50 stores. Now we're
going after those people. Why? It's where the money is.
That's the way these false prophets operate. It's a business. And
for whatever reason, you know, that Paul chose to do this, he
did it for this reason. To stand out in contrast to those
false prophets. And when he does this, he's putting
them on the spot. You know, they claim to be equal
to Paul. Some of them claim to be superior to him. He says,
OK, well, if you're, you know, in the same, got the same desires
I do, you're doing the same thing I'm doing, preaching the gospel.
Well, then live like I've lived. Do what I've done to be able
to preach the gospel to people freely. Preach the gospel to
them and don't take their money. Are you really willing to do
that? Are you really willing to be a base like that? I know
you're willing to abound. I know you want to do that. But
are you willing to be a base for the good of men's souls?
Are you really willing to do that? And he wants this contrast
because I'm telling you there's a big difference between a bond
slave and a mercenary. Great big difference. A bond
slave will stay with his master No matter what, he won't leave
his master. No matter how bad the situation
gets, he's not going to leave his master. Because what's his
motivation? He loves his master. He's devoted
to his master. The mercenary is going to leave
the first time he don't get paid. The first paycheck he misses,
he's leaving because he's in it for his wallet. He's in it
for himself. His heart's not in it. His wallet's
in it. And there's a big difference
between God's servants and a false prophet. And the difference is
this, Christ the truth. Paul says that the truth of Christ
is in me. The truth of Christ is in one
and not in the other. Paul says what I'm saying is
true. It's just as true as Christ is
the truth. It's just as sure as Christ the
truth is in me. That's the difference between
a false prophet and a servant of Christ. The truth of Christ
is in God's servant. It's in his heart and God's put
it in his mouth. That's how God calls out his
people, by putting his word, putting the truth of Christ in
a man's mouth and sending him to a place to preach it. And
aren't we thankful? That's how God calls out his
people. Now, verse 13, Paul says, for such are false prophets.
Here's their description. They're deceitful workers. transforming
themselves into the apostles of Christ. Now, we see false
prophets today and we get all bent out of shape. I do. We just
get all bent out of shape about them. And it's horrible. I mean,
but listen, it's nothing new. Look in Jeremiah, chapter nine.
How many every years ago Jeremiah lived, he ran into the exact
same thing. Jeremiah nine, verse three. He describes these false prophets
as an assembly of treacherous men. And in verse 3, here's how
he describes them. He says, they bend their tongues,
they just twist up their tongues like their bow for lies. But
they're not valued for the truth upon the earth, for they proceed
from evil to evil and they know not me, saith the Lord. See,
the truth of Christ is not in them. They know not me. Now take
ye heed, every one of you, his neighbor, and trust ye not in
any brother. For every brother will utterly
supplant, and every neighbor will walk with slanderers. And
they will deceive every one his neighbor, and they will not speak
the truth. For they have taught their tongue
to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity." They've
taught their tongues to speak lies. They've learned the language.
They've taught their tongues the script. It's just like an
actor getting a script. They've taught their tongues
the script. so they can deceive people. That's
exactly right. Look over in 1 John chapter 4.
Jeremiah ran into it years and years later. Apostle John warned
us about him in 1 John chapter 4. Verse 1. Beloved, believe not
every spirit. Don't believe just every preacher
and the spirit that he says he's preaching in, but you try the
spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets
are gone out into the world. There's many of them. So don't
be surprised when you see them. Be disappointed, but don't be
surprised. Be aware that they're out, that
there's many of them out there so that you won't be taken by
surprise and won't be deceived. Because these guys are deceivers. They make a good show in the
flesh of being God's servants, but they're hollow. I wish you
could just peck on their chest. It'd be like the Tin Man, the
Wizard of Oz. Just an echo. There's no heart.
It's empty. They're deceivers. They're counterfeit. Why does somebody print up counterfeit
money? So they can get something for nothing. That's what these
fellows are doing. Getting something for nothing.
Counterfeit. Paul says they're deceitful workers.
They deceive. They lie about their calling. for their own gain. They lie
about having a message from God to deceive people and get their
money. People are desperate for a message
from God. They're desperate for something
to make their consciences feel better. A man says he's got a
message from God, they fork over the money to him. They lie about
God's Word. They handle the Word of God deceitfully. They take a scripture and twist
it. And at all costs, they avoid
teaching the whole counsel of God. At all costs, they do that
because if they would teach the whole counsel of God, you can't
be deceived. But they twist God's word, handle it deceitfully so
they can deceive people for their own gain. It's always about their
own gain. They lie about who they're serving.
You know, they act like they're serving God and serving Christ.
But they're not. They're not serving you. They're
not serving your best interest. They're not serving Christ. They're
serving themselves, their belly and their own agenda. They are
not what they pretend to be. If you've ever been out in the
workforce, you know somebody like this, somebody that goes
to the job and pretends to work, but doesn't do anything. They
show up to collect a paycheck, but they never contribute anything
to the bottom line. They're just an actor. They're
pretending to work. And that's what these guys are.
And we shouldn't marvel that they're able to do this by cloaking
themselves in religion. That's how they do it. Covering
themselves in religion. They're putting on the costume
of religion and going out to a costume party. That's exactly
what they're doing. Look at verse 14. And no marvel. It's no marvel that they can
do this, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of
light. False prophets are of their father, the devil, and
they've got the same characteristics, they've got the same mode of
operation that he does. Satan is the original deceiver. He deceives people by transforming
himself into an angel of light. He's not going around in a red
outfit with a long pointed tail and a pitchfork. That would scare
anybody to death. That would scare you away. You
would never give a moment's thought of listening to somebody like
that. But he transforms himself into an angel of light. It looks
like he's coming from God. And he's a deceiver. Isn't that
how he deceived Eve? He came to Eve pretending friendship,
didn't he? He pretended he was doing her
a favor by showing her the truth that God had hidden from her.
And he wasn't a friend. His motive all along was her
destruction and ruin. Satan pretends righteousness,
an angel of light. But he's not promoting righteousness.
He's promoting self-righteousness. In one form or another, he's
promoting anything that might fall under what a man's definition
of righteousness is. Anything but the righteousness
of Christ. His motive is to deceive and turn people at whatever he's
got to do. Turn them from Christ, from the
righteousness of Christ. Satan pretends truth. That's
what he pretended with Eve, the truth. But what he's really promoting
is error. Oh, he might mix in, you know,
a partial truth with it or something, but it's partial. And all partial
truth is, is error. That's what partial truth is,
is error that deceives people and keeps them from Christ and
ultimately sends them to hell. That's what that is. He promotes
anything but the simplicity, the singleness that's in Christ. He promotes some other way to
pay for sin other than the blood of Christ. Satan pretends religion. He doesn't have to go out and
pretend. and fool the people of the world, he's already got
them. The people in the flesh, he's already got them. The battle
is in the pulpit. That's where the battle is. He
deceives people in religion. He pretends worship. But what
he's really promoting is will worship. It's the worship of
anything other than Christ, who is the only hope a sinner has.
Now, Satan is doing a lot of pretending. And you know why? Because he's a hypocrite. That's what a hypocrite is. So
don't be surprised when false prophets are some of the best
hypocrites we know. They're of their father, the
devil. And Paul, it's so important to point this out, to see the
difference between the servant of Christ and the servant of
Satan, the minister of Satan. Look at verse 15. He says, therefore
it is of no great It is no great thing if his ministers also be
transformed as the ministers of righteousness, whose ends
shall be according to their works." Now, Satan pretends to be what
he's not because he has an agenda to deceive people and keep them
from Christ. Well, his ministers have an agenda
too. Now, you're either the minister
of Christ or the minister of Satan. There's no middle ground. There's no third option. There's
only two options and the minister of Satan has an agenda and their
agenda is their profit. It's not the glory of God. It's
not the salvation of men's souls. It's their own pocketbook. So they pretend to be what they're
not. They find out quick what you'll
accept in a preacher and they become that. It's just like an
actor getting into character. You know, I saw, I forget where
I saw this. this week talking about an actor getting into character.
You know when he does this movie that takes all these months and
months and months to film and he's in this character all this
time? Well, when they wrap that thing up, he goes home, he's
not that character anymore. These guys are putting, they're
getting into character. Now, they do talk about righteousness. They pretend to be a preacher
of righteousness. But you notice Paul says they're
transformed. as the ministers of righteousness.
They're putting on a costume. They're transformed. They're
changing themselves to look like this minister of righteousness.
Now, they do preach some sort of righteousness. But it's not
the righteousness of Christ. It's they don't preach Christ.
They don't preach Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord, our righteousness.
And they always mix in something with it. Always. And most likely
it will be something very, very subtle, something other than
Christ. Last night I was up late at night
waiting for Savannah. She's in South Carolina at an
academic team competition. So I wasn't going to go to bed
until she got home. So I go get her, you know, I was waiting
up and flipping through the channels. And there's Billy Graham. Well,
watch this for a little bit. It's an old, old show back in
the seventies. And it was towards the end of
his speech there, you know, and he's made this statement. He
said, now you pick up the phone, call the number at the bottom
of the screen and you accept Jesus into your heart and you'll
be justified. If that's so, John, we better
get a number put for people to call if that's all it takes.
Now, I'm telling you. He talked about the blood, he
talked about righteousness, he talked about the sinner's only
hope is Christ. Now you pick up the phone and
call and you'll be justified. Absolutely not. You're not justified
because you do anything. You're justified because Christ
died and shed his blood. Now that's so. And it's subtle,
but you're not justified because you did anything. We're justified
because Christ shed his blood for his people and washed us
free from our sins. It could be subtle as someone
saying, oh, you believe this doctrine and you're saying you
believe these five points of Calvin, this doctrine and you'll
be saved. No, you won't either. Now, those
doctrines are right. They're so they're true. But
you're not safe because you believe those doctrines. You're saved
because you believe Christ, because he died for you. It's see, it's
not the preaching of Christ. They might talk about his righteousness,
but it's not Christ. I'm telling you, it's so subtle.
If it wasn't subtle, they wouldn't be able to deceive people. It's
subtle. Now, they deceive men and they will deceive men. You just write it down. There's
no stopping them. They will deceive men, but they won't deceive God. In the end, their hypocrisy is
going to be made manifest to everyone in judgment and they'll
be condemned. But what is heartbreaking is
their followers will have the same end. It's heartbreaking.
And that's exactly why Paul's going to battle here. This battle,
this preaching the gospel is a battle over the souls of men
and women. We're on the trail of God's sheep.
We're not playing games. This is a battle over the souls
of men and women. That's exactly why Paul's going
to battle here. Now, verse 16 says, 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. That which I
speak, I speak it not after the Lord, but as it were foolishly,
in this confidence of boasting." Now, Paul hopes nobody thinks
he's being self-promoting here by commending his ministry and
vindicating himself against the reproaches of these false prophets.
And typically, self-promotion is very foolish, but that's not
what's going on here. Paul says, if you don't think
I'm a fool, then bear with me just a little bit while I validate
my ministry. And if you do think I'm a fool,
then bear with me like you bore with those other fools. I deserve
at least as much a chance to talk to you as those fools did.
And repeatedly, Paul calls this foolishness because he's uncomfortable
talking about himself and vindicating himself. It just goes against
the grain because Paul doesn't want someone thinking about him
and none of God's servants do. We want the glory to go to God.
We want people's hearts and affection to be turned to Christ. But Paul
felt it necessary here to defend himself. He didn't have a direct
commandment from the Lord to do it, but he felt it was necessary
for the good of the church so that these false prophets would
be pointed out and people wouldn't be deceived and follow their
lie to hell. A couple of weeks ago, Todd Nyberg
told me he likes for his TV program to be on TV between two false
prophets. That way people can see the difference.
Just put them right there and just let them watch and compare.
And he said, I hope they see. Well, that's what Paul's doing
here. He's drawing the comparison in hopes that the Lord will make
people see. Now, verse 18 says, seeing that
many glory after the flesh, I will glory also. Now, the flesh. loves to boast about the accomplishments
of the flesh. I mean, we, you know, we do.
We got that flesh. But false prophets, that's all
they got is the flesh. They're not in the spirit, they're
in the flesh. So they boast about the things of the flesh. You
know, their credentials come from their education or their
background or, you know, the numbers. They always talk about
the numbers of people or the amount of money that they're
taking in and so forth. And what they're boasting are
things external. They're not talking about spiritual
growth in people's hearts. They're not talking about grace
in the heart. They're talking about things that are external
because that's all they can see. That's all they care about because
they're in the flesh. Now, Paul could boast in his
flesh, couldn't he? He's got a background better
than they do. He's got a pedigree better than they do. He's got
an education better than they do. But that's not what he's
boasting about. He said, God forbid that I would
boast Saving the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ if you want
to know if a man's a minister of Satan or a minister of Christ
All you got to do is listen long enough to find out what their
glory in him. It's all you got to do You'll
if you listen long enough You'll be able to determine if he's
glorying in Christ alone or something else and all Paul's doing here
is pointing out the difference Now verse 19. He says for you
suffer fools gladly Seeing ye yourselves are wise. For ye 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 in the face.
If he does those things, you're suffering with him. You pride
yourself in your wisdom. Now, we've seen that in the first
epistle to Corinthians. They prided themselves in how
smart they were in their wisdom. When Paul says, You're still
bearing with these false prophets who deceive you, who are taking
advantage of you. Looks to me like you're not so
smart after all. Now, one thing's true. They had
been taught better, hadn't they? The Apostle Paul himself was
there for two years teaching in. He'd sent Timothy there.
He'd sent these men. They heard Apollos and they heard
these men priests. They should have been taught
better. They should have been more well
grounded in Christ. And it's hard to understand when
someone who claims to have seen the wisdom of God puts up with
the foolishness of men. But it happens. It happened here
in Corinth. And it happens because these deceivers are masters of
deception. They worm their way so far into
the affections and hearts of people that eventually people
will put up with anything they do. They bring people into bondage
of religion. They make slaves of them for
their own profit. They use the sheep to shear the
sheep for their own profit, not to watch over and take care of
and feed the flock. They devour everything people
have. I mean, they just beat you down
and devour everything you thought you had spiritually. They'll
take everything you've got physically. They'll leave you looking like
a forest fire swept through. And then they'll, just everything's
barren. And then they'll move on to the
next victim. Eventually, it goes so far, they don't have to be
deceptive anymore. And they slap you in the face
with their error and you swallow it whole. That's what will happen
eventually. Look over to Isaiah 56. Isaiah
ran into them. In Isaiah 56, verse 10. His watchmen are blind. They're
all ignorant. They're all dumb dogs, silent. They cannot bark, sleeping, lying
down, loving the slumber. Yea, they're greedy dogs which
can never have enough. They're just insatiable. And
they're shepherds that cannot understand. They all look to
their own way. Everyone for his own gain from
his quarter. They're not looking out for the
gain of the sheep, for the good of the sheep. It's for their
own gain. And this is one of the great
indictments against human nature. If you would ever have any doubt
that human nature is totally depraved, incapable of anything
good, all you've got to do is look how human nature will tolerate
a man who puts them into religious bondage. But we won't tolerate
a man preaching freedom and liberty in Christ. We won't tolerate
a man in the flesh. None of the flesh won't tolerate
a man preaching Christ alone. But we'll tolerate bondage to
anything else if we think somehow it'll help my soul. And we never
will tolerate or love the preaching of Christ unless God gives a
new heart. And when He does, then that's all you'll accept. And that's what I pray. Lord,
give us a heart that will love Him so much that we won't take
anything else. but him and him alone. All right.
Lord bless you.