In this chapter, the Apostle Paul is making every
effort for the glory of God and for the good of this church,
this congregation, which he loved. It is as if he were saying, if
they listen to and are misled by false preachers, it's going
to be over his strong protest. If they miss Christ and perish
in their religious refuges, it's going to be over his strong protest. That's what Paul said. I'm going
to use, he said, every means at my disposal, even offending
you. even making you to believe that
I don't love you, any extreme measure to keep you from missing
Christ. Have you thought what it means
to miss Christ? I tell you, some of us are getting
older, and we're beginning to think about winding things up
here on this earth. and someday going out yonder
to meet Almighty God at the judgment. And I'm saying this to you. There's
only one plea that will avail at that judgment, and that's
Christ died for my sin. Only one plea. It is not I made
a profession of faith, I was a church member, I was a tither,
I was a preacher, I was a moral person, I was devoted to my family,
this, that, and the other. It's Christ is my righteousness. And I'll tell you, if you don't
have Christ, I don't care how sweet you are outwardly before
If you don't have Christ, I don't care how loyal and diligent and
zealous and faithful you are to your religious beliefs. If
you do not have Christ, you're going to be eternally separated
from God Almighty. And that's just so. And that's
what this chapter is all about. He's fighting. He's warring. He's using every means at his
disposal to expose these false preachers and teachers who had
crept in among the people and were crying peace, Charlie, when
there was no peace, and giving people a false hope, and allowing
people to hide themselves in a religious refuge. There's always
been false prophets. If you'll turn to the book of
Matthew, chapter 7, you'll hear our Lord saying that. There's
always been false prophets, false preachers. In the 7th chapter
of Matthew, our Lord said in verse 15, beware of false prophets. Beware. That's the Master talking.
Beware. Be scared. Avoid. Be on the lookout
for false prophets. They come to you in a way that
makes it difficult to recognize them, because they come in sheep's
clothing. That's what's terrible. You say,
I can spot a false prophet as far as I can see one. Can you
really? They come to you in sheep's clothing,
but inwardly they're ravening wolves. I'll tell you how you
can discern them, but this takes a long time. This is over a process
of years. You'll know them by their fruits.
You'll know them by their fruits, but that takes a long time. You
have to wait around until the fellow almost winds up his life.
What are the fruits of a preacher? It's his converts. It's his work. It's all his ministry, and the
results of it, and the fruit of it, and the end of it. Wood,
hay, and stubble. And you have to wait almost for
the judgment to find that out. That's right. So this is what
the Master said. These false prophets are not
discernible on the spot. They're not discernible at a
moment's notice. They're not even recognizable
by looking and listening. Because he says in Matthew again,
chapter 24, turn over there a minute. Here's a shocking statement,
Matthew 24. And I believe it's verse 24. Listen to what the
Master says here. He said in Matthew 24, verse
24, there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and there
shall be great signs and wonders. There will be powerful men, persuasive
men. There will be men with great
miracles and signs and wonders and great followings, insomuch,
watch this, If it weren't for God's grace, if it were possible,
if it weren't for the intervention of God, they'd deceive the very
last. How about that, David? That's
how deceitful they are. That's how deceitful they are.
You're playing high stakes when you start dealing in this spiritual
warfare. We wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against principalities and powers and rulers of the
dark God equips his ministers, and Satan equips his. God equips
his in earthen vessels with the knowledge of the gospel and mystery
of the gospel, but leads them in such a way that he'll get
all the glory. Satan equips his in such a way that they'll get
glory themselves. And he gives them power, and
oratorical ability, and enticing words, and wisdom, and high acclaim,
and influence, and all these things. He's a slick operator.
And even the angel Gabriel wouldn't do battle with him. He said,
he turned him over to the Lord. He said, the Lord deal with you. I'm not going to touch you. I
hear these little two-by-four preachers saying, if Satan gets
to nipping at your heels, tell him to go on back to hell where
he belongs. Yeah, you do that. You do that. He handled you with
just a flip. He's handled bigger game than
you. without even turning his head. He took care of Job, didn't
he? He took care of the Apostle Peter,
too. And he can take care of you without any problem if you
confront him. You don't want to do business
with him at all. That's what I'm saying. These fellows are
powerful. Yes, sir, they're powerful. And
over in 2 Peter 2, turn over there and let's look at this
thing. There have always been false prophets, false preachers.
But they're not weaklings, my friend. Generally, you find this. Don't let me offend you. Generally,
you'll find the true prophet of God to be the weak one. Earth
and vessel, that's right. That the power might be not of
us, but of God. But Satan's not going to let
his minister be weak in any area. He's going to be strong. Subtle,
crafty, skillful, manipulator, merchandiser. That's right. 2
Peter 2, listen to this, verse 1. There were false prophets
among the people of Israel, even as there shall be false teachers
among you, who shall privately bring in damnable heresies, even
denying the Lord that bought them. and bring upon themselves
swift destruction. Now here's a tragedy. Verse 2
says, And many shall follow their pernicious ways. Many shall follow
them. Many shall follow them. Our Lord
said, Let another come in his own name, and him the people
here. I come in my Father's name, and they will not receive me.
Many shall follow their evil ways, by reason of whom the way
of truth shall be evil spoken of. And verse 3, They are covetous
men. And through covetousness shall
they with feigned words make merchandise of you." They're
covetous men, they deceive people, and they make merchandise of
their hearers, they promote themselves. They promote their organizations,
they promote their kingdoms. Turn back to our text in 2 Corinthians. This is what Paul's doing. He's
doing everything within his power to expose these false teachers
and false preachers. and get the eyes of the people
not to be turned upon him. This is one reason he used this
word, I'm being foolish, I'm being foolish, I'm being foolish,
in defending and commending myself. But what I'm trying to get you
to see is these men are false and their message is false, because
their message is not Christ. It's not Christ. It's Christ
plus something. It's Christ and something. That's
what he's trying to get the folks to see. Now look at verse 13.
And he describes these men. He said there are many false
preachers and false prophets, and many people follow them.
They don't lack for a crowd. Many, our Lord said, many will
follow their pernicious ways. Many, many were saying to me
in that day, Lord, we did this, that, and the other. I never
knew you, workers of iniquity. Many. They don't lack for a crowd.
They don't lack for a following. They come in their name and you
hear them, Christ said, I come in my Father's name and you won't
hear me. And then he describes them in verse 13, they're false
apostles, they're not called of God, they're not sent of God,
they're false apostles. They're phonies, they're counterfeits,
they're imitations. And they are deceitful workers,
they claim what they are not. Very deceitful, deceitful. And they transform themselves
into the apostles of Christ. They present themselves as being
what they never were, what they are now and what they never were.
They're not messengers or ambassadors of Jesus Christ. They may be
messengers of the church, they may be messengers of a denomination,
they may be messengers of Satan, they may be messengers of religion,
but they're not apostles of Christ. They're not messengers of Christ.
They're not the ambassadors of Jesus Christ. They claim to be,
but they are not. Yes, they do. In verse 14, you
say, well, that's a marvel. Why would they want to pawn themselves
off as messengers of Christ if they don't preach Christ? He
said, well, that's no marvel. Look at verse 14. Satan himself. Now, you know he's not an angel
of light. He's an angel of darkness. That's
what he is. He's an angel of darkness. He's
a minister of evil. Satan is an angel of darkness.
He's a minister of evil. He's a wretched, evil person
and power and all of that. Well, how does he come to people?
As an angel of light. Transforming himself into what's
an angel? A messenger. He changes, he doesn't
come in his true colors. You know, people look for Satan
in nightclubs and bars and dens of evil. Not so, not so. Satan does his most effective
work in the pulpit, in the pulpit, in religion. That's what he's saying here,
these false apostles, these deceitful workers, these men who change
themselves into apostles of Christ. And that's no amazing, marvelous
thing to be wondered at. Satan himself, the crown prince
of evil, the worker of darkness, he changes himself into a messenger
or minister of light and truth. That's what he claims. Somebody
said, pretending friendship, he designs ruin. Pretending to
be your friend. If you'll hold 2 Corinthians
and turn to Matthew 4, I'll show you that. Pretending to be a friend, pretending
friendship, he designs your ruin, your total damnation. But he won't tell you that. It
says here in verse 4, verse 3 of Matthew 4, our Lord was in the
mountain, and the tempter came to him. Now he said, If you be
the Son of God, command these stones to be made bread. You
want something to eat? Forty days you've gone without
food, fasting. Want something to eat? Change
these stones into bread. And our Lord answered and said,
It's written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every
word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. And the devil taking
him up into a holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple,
he said, now, if you be the Son of God, cast yourself down headlong. It's written, he'll give his
angels charge over thee, concerning thee, and in thy hands he shall
bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against the
sun. Satan quotes scripture. He quotes scripture. He doesn't
sing dirty songs, he quotes scripture. Listen to the next one. And our
Lord said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again, Satan
takes him up into exceeding high mountain, shows him all the kingdoms
of the world and the glory of the world. Everybody thinks,
well, boy, Satan robbed that man of his health and robbed
him of his family and robbed him of his wealth and took him
down into Up on Skid Row, riding down the street in Chicago, there's
a lawyer, a man who used to be on top. Well, he used to be Governor
of West Virginia. Found him driving a cab, didn't
he, up in Chicago, an alcoholic, flat broke. Satan ruined him. That's where we're deceived sometimes.
Just the natural old flesh ruined him. But Satan took our Lord
up and showed him the kingdoms of the world, the glory of the
world, and he said, I'll give you this. I'll prosper you, I'll
bless you, I'll give you anything you want. Just fall down and
worship me. All these things will I give
you. You see what I'm saying to you is this. Under a cloak
of morality, he promotes evil. Under a shadow of partial truth,
he introduces error and idolatry and superstition in a subtle,
crafty way, in a skillful way. That if you're not careful, like
our Lord said, he'll deceive, if it were possible, the very
elect. That's how shrewd he is. That's how capable he is. Pretending
friendship he designs ruin under cloak of morality, under cloak
of morality and orthodoxy. Orthodoxy he'll promote evil.
And under a covering of partial truth, he introduces error and
idolatry and superstition. And you know what Paul said about
him? Let me show you another verse in 2 Corinthians 2. Paul
said this in 2 Corinthians 2, verse 11. The Apostle Paul wasn't
as cocksure as some of us. He talked about in verse 10,
he says, to whom you forgave anything, I forgive also. If I forgave anything to whom
I forgave it for your sakes, forgave I it in the person of
Christ, lest Satan should get an advantage of us, we are not
ignorant of his devices." That's the apostle talk. I know who
I'm dealing with, he said. I know how he operates, I know
where he operates, and I'm not ignorant of his devices. A lot
of people are. But Paul said he's not. Look
back at our text in 2 Corinthians 11. You say, Brother Man, you're
preaching Satan, mighty powerful. I wish I could tell you how strong
and powerful he is. He's powerful, he's not all-powerful. He's not omnipotent, omnipresent,
or omniscient, only God. But I tell you this. He has more
power than any other creature in this universe except God Almighty. And he's the working force of
evil. And I'm trying to warn you that you'll not find him
doing his effective work on skid row in nightclubs and bars. He gets in religion. He sows
tares where there's wheat. He gets in the pulpit, he gets
in the powerful places. There was one prophet of God
and 450 prophets of Baal. And that's what our Lord warns
us about all the way through scripture. And the thing about
him, verse 15, now watch this, the thing about these false preachers,
In 2 Corinthians 11, verse 15, he said, it's no great thing.
Let's go back to verse 13. They're false apostles. They're
deceitful, cunning workers. They transform themselves into
the ministers of Christ. And that's no thing to be amazed
about. Satan himself, he doesn't come
in his true colors. He doesn't come announcing his
true worth. He comes as an angel of light
and truth and beauty and morality and righteousness, a messenger
of light. Therefore, listen, therefore,
it's no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers
of what? Righteousness. Yeah, but brother
man, this man's fighting abortion. This man's fighting pornography.
This man's fighting evil politics. This man's not preaching Christ. That's exactly what he's doing. He's a minister of righteousness. Whose righteousness? Yours. Yours. That's exactly what they're
doing. They're doing what the Israelites
did in Romans 10. They're scratching the back and
tickling the ears of simple-minded people. That's exactly what they're
doing. They're fighting the so-called forces of evil, and they're coming
with a righteous banner and morality and deceiving multitudes into
following them. And they're not preaching the
fall of man, the guilt of the soul, the righteousness and holiness
of Jesus Christ, our great Redeemer, Priest and King." Look at Romans
10, let me show you that. It's exactly what they are. Sure,
they're ministers of righteousness. Sure, they're fighting outward
evil. outward evil. It's not inward
evil they're fighting. It's not spiritual wickedness,
because that's what they are, they're spiritually wicked. Most religious organizations
are just seething, seething with division and bigotry and hatred
and competitive spirit and jealousy and lust and envy and all these
things are seething under this outward form of righteousness
and morality. That's exactly right. In Romans
10, he said, "...brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to
God for Israel is that they might be saved." I'll bear them record,
they have a zeal of God. But not according to knowledge,
for they're ignorant of what? God's righteousness. Who is God's
righteousness? Christ. Not your righteousness,
but Christ's righteousness. And they're going about with
much activity and much ado to establish their own righteousness. Sure, they're ministers of righteousness,
your righteousness, man's righteousness, natural righteousness, flesh
righteousness. And our Lord said, if your righteousness
does not exceed theirs, you won't enter the kingdom of God. And in exposing these false teachers,
now listen to Paul here in chapter 11, Paul was forced to do what
he did not want to do, and that is defend himself and defend
his ministry. He didn't want to. In fact, to expose them and their false
message and their evil ways and their evil motives Paul had to
speak in praise of himself. And this was very distasteful
to him. And he said it four times. In verse 1, he said, now bear
with me in my foolishness. Bear with me in my foolishness.
I've never done this before. And he said, I regret having
to do it. But he said, I have a good reason. Paul had a good reason. The people
were being deceived. God's glory was being compromised. The church was being divided
by these false teachers, and Paul had to, for that reason,
to him, act foolishly. He said, please don't think me
a fool. In verse 21 he said, I speak foolishly, I hate to
do this. He said, these fellows, look
here at verse 21, he said, anybody that's bold, I speak as a fool,
I'm bold too. And again he said in verse 23,
are they ministers of Christ? Are these men ministers of Christ?
Oh, he said, I speak like a fool. I'm more a minister of Christ
than they are. And then he started talking about
in labors more abundantly and stripes above measure, in prison
more frequent of the Jews. Five times I was scourged. Went
on talking about his sacrifices and suffering for Christ's sake.
Listen to me a minute. Matthew Henry once said this.
And this is the reason why this is so difficult for Paul, and
it's difficult for any man who knows that all of his gifts are
borrowed. He has no gifts except what God
gave him. Any power or ability he has is
not his, it's Christ's. It can be taken just like he
was given, like that, just by the word of God. He can be broken,
stripped, brought down, humiliated, just like that, and he knows
it, so he dares not speak in his own defense. And we write
in the Word where our Lord was buffeted and he did not defend
himself. He was slapped and he did not
speak in his own defense. And our Lord said, "'Avenge not
yourself, beloved. Vengeance is mine. I'll repay.
I'll handle all your battles for you and all your enemies.'"
Paul knew these things. Paul knew these things. Paul knew
the Lord warned, don't touch my anointed, do my prophets no
harm because you've got to deal with the daddy. He knew that. And that's the reason he kept
saying, I'm talking like a fool. Matthew Henry said this one time,
it's as much against the grain for a proud man to acknowledge
his infirmities. as it is against the grain for
a humble man to speak in his praise." See what he's saying? You're
not going to get a proud man to speak of his weaknesses and
infirmities. He's not going to do it. He's
just not going to do it. And you're not going to get a
man who knows God to speak in his praise. He's not going to
do it, because he knows he is what he is by the grace of God.
He knows who maketh he to differ. What do you have you didn't receive?
He's just a voice in the wilderness. They said to John the Baptist,
why, you're the Christ. He said, I'm not worthy to lace
his shoes. Well, you're some great prophet.
Who are you? I'm a voice in the wilderness. And I'm crying, behold
the Lamb of God. I'm nothing. I must decrease
daily, daily, daily. He must increase. But Paul had
good reason. to defend his ministry in strong
terms in chapter 11, and I'm going to show you three things
in winding up this message. Verse 2 is the Apostle's purpose,
his purpose in doing this. In verse 3 is the Apostle's fear. And verse 4 is the Apostle's
message summed up under three words. Now, verse 2, Paul said,
I'm jealous over you. I'm jealous over you. What is
jealousy? I told you this morning, if you
want to stay out of trouble, buy your dictionary. The word
jealousy means this. Jealousy is a feeling within. I know it shows itself outwardly
a lot, but it starts within. It's a feeling within, a person.
which demands complete loyalty, total, complete loyalty. Jealousy
is a feeling within a person that resents, strongly resents,
any rival, any competitor for the beloved's affection and attention. Is that what it is? That's exactly
what jealousy is. And that's what Paul is talking
about right here. I have a feeling within me,"
he said, which demands complete loyalty, absolute loyalty, and
resents a rival or a competitor for your attention or your affection. Now, wait a minute. Was he talking
about himself there? No, sir. He said, I'm jealous
over you with a what? A godly jealousy. I'm jealous
for Christ. For I have, he said, espoused
you, married you, engaged you to be one with one husband. And I resent, he said, I strongly
resent any rival or competitor for my Lord's affections between
you and the Lord." That's what he said. David, that's what he
said. He said, if I were doing the
speaking here in Paul's place, I love you and I'm jealous over
you. Is that Paul saying? If Don Fortner
comes in and preaches, or Kent Clark, or Tim James, or one of
these preachers, and I'm jealous because you love those preachers
more than me, oh, no! No, under God! What I'm jealous
of, I don't want you to have any rival in your heart in Christ's
place. No competitor with Christ. That's
what he said. Christ is going to have your
whole heart, or you're going to hear it from me, that's what
he said. Christ is going to have your whole attention and your
whole affections on your whole heart. Paul's jealousy towards
the Corinthians was not on his account. It was not from a selfish
motive. It's not somebody taking his
place. He ain't got no place. He said, we're nothing. He said,
who is Paul? Who is Apollos? Who is Cephas?
Nobody! Nothing! Christ is all in all. And he said, this jealousy is
a godly jealousy. I'm not jealous of you for my
sake. I'm jealous of you for Christ's sake. Oh, it's so foolish
for preachers and believers to be jealous of one another. That's
so stupid. That's so stupid, isn't it? That's so foolish. We want to
promote ourselves, we want to promote, there's so much competitiveness
and competition and jealousy and envy among preachers and
churches. Old A.D. Mews said one time,
two fields, I don't know where he got his information, where
there's more jealousy than any other fields in the world, and
that's the medical profession and the ministry. Jealousy. And it's horrible. That's not
what Paul is talking about. He says, I'm jealous over you. I resent, I have a feeling within
me which demands your complete attention to Christ, your complete
loyalty to Christ, your complete affection for Christ, your complete
attention to Christ. And I resent anybody bringing
in any rival, whether it be Moses or the law, or prophecy or anything
else, I resent any rival, whether it be the Baptist church or what-ism,
Calvinism, or any other rival, for the attention that you owe
Christ Jesus. I resent it," he said. I'm jealous
over you with a godly jealousy. He was instrumental in bringing
them to Christ. He was instrumental in bringing
them to believe on Christ, to love Christ, to be joined to
Christ in one union as husband and wife. And it troubled him
that Christ should have any rival for their affections, no matter
who. He said, I want you to be a chaste virgin, committed to
and married to the Lord Jesus Christ, and Christ alone. Christ alone. You see what he's
saying there? Oh, what a faithful minister. What a faithful messenger
of Christ. What a faithful ambassador of
Christ. The world says everybody's promoting
himself. Everybody in the world is. But
in the spiritual realm, they're promoting Christ. And you find
a man who's promoting himself, he's not a messenger of Christ. Paul said, I thank God I didn't
baptize any of you. Maybe Crispus and Gaius and somebody
else. But he said, blessed you, any
of you. Lest any of your confidence be placed in me where it does
not belong. It belongs in Christ. I'm jealous
of you. Jealous over you with a godly
jealousy. Godly jealousy. I've espoused
you to one husband. One who has a total, complete
claim on you. As a chaste virgin, your affections
are not to be divided with anything or anyone. Not even your family.
Christ is all. That's what he said. Now verse
3, that's the Apostle's purpose right there, that's his purpose.
He said, I want Christ to be your whole life, your whole hope,
your whole love, the object of your faith, belong to him. Now
here's his fear. But he said in verse 3, but I
fear, but I fear, I'm afraid. Now, godly jealousy, somebody
said, is a mixture. This jealousy that he had was
a mixture of love and fear. The jealousy was there. Now,
let me give you the definition again. That jealousy is an inward
feeling that demands complete loyalty. And where the fear comes
in, where the jealousy is a mixture of love and fear, he was afraid
they didn't have that loyalty to Christ, that their loyalty
was divided. This jealousy demands complete
loyalty and complete faith in Christ. And this fear was that
they were being distracted from Christ and they had their faith
maybe in something else besides Christ. in an experience, or
in a morality, or in a church background. That's where the
fear comes in. This jealousy is a love for them. He so loved them, he wanted them
to love Christ supremely, preeminently. And he feared that they didn't.
That's why that's the, I fear. He said, I fear, I fear. I fear him. He loved them so
deeply and he desired their eternal good so strongly that he was
afraid. Afraid, was he afraid of Satan?
No, he was afraid for them. That's what he was afraid of.
And here's the reason he said it. He said the serpent beguiled
he. Through his subtlety, through
his craftiness, through his skillful deception, he deceived our mother,
Eve. And I'm afraid through his subtlety,
lest by any means, and my friend, he'll use any means. You know, I used to see these
movies, and the good cowboy wore a white hat, and the bad cowboy
wore a black hat, and they'd get into a duel. And the bad
cowboy would always draw first. The cowboy with the white hat
would never bite in a fight, he'd never kick, he'd never throw
dirt in other fellas' eyes, he'd never draw first. He was a good
guy. Satan ain't the good guy. He's wearing the white hat, but
he's not the good guy. He'll draw first. He'll draw
first. He'll gouge and bite and kick. He'll use any means. He's subtle. It matters not to him whether
it's success or failure. It matters not to him whether
it's law or morality, whether it's ceremony or honor or dishonor,
don't you see? Any means, he'll use any means
through his subtlety, any means, like he begot Eve, to do what? To corrupt your minds from Christ. He'll give you baptism to play
with. Yeah, he will. He'll give you baptism to play
with. He'll have you tracing your baptism right back to John
the Baptist in the River Jordan. Yes, sir. And he'll give you
proof of it. He'll help you raise up all these folks in the past
that did it the way you're doing it. He'll help you with your
research and help you with your searching and help you with your
books. He'll provide books. He'll pay for printing them.
He'll have you gazing into the future. He'll have you getting
enamored with Israel and with the dividing of the Mount of
Olives, splitting the Mount of Olives. And he'll give you scripture. You can go all the way through
the Bible and find all these cross-references, you know, of
the 3 1⁄2 years and the 3 1⁄2 years and the times, time and
a half of time, and the abomination of desolation. He'll give you
charts. He'll give you all this thing. Anything! He doesn't care. Just so you're not loving Christ,
making love to Christ, taking care of your personal love, walking
with Christ. He don't care. I tell you now,
he'll bless your business if it'll make you work all day Sunday,
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. He'll stuff
your bank account and make your business successful and put you
on the road. He'll promote you, move you away,
take you to another job. He'll do anything, don't you
see? Anything! He doesn't care. His
business is to corrupt your mind and take you away from what?
The simplicity of Christ. And that word simplicity, I'm
not a great scholar, but anybody can be a great scholar if they
buy a lexicon and look it up. All you got to do is turn over
there and find where it's used, find the number and look it up,
and it says singleness of Christ. Singleness of Christ. One. What's
single? One. One. Nothing else. This sincerity of Christ, that's
the two words it means. He can get you playing games,
he can get you debating about all these other doctrines, church
history. Yeah, he'll get you going back
and doing all this stuff and playing religious games. He'll
do anything to corrupt your mind. And when you corrupt the mind,
you sidetrack it, you muddle it, you muddy the water. You
confuse it. You get it off onto something
else that won't help, that won't benefit. And that's what Satan
does. Two things I see here, Christ
is all. The singleness of Christ, the
simplicity of Christ, the sincerity of Christ. The second thing I
see in this verse is Satan is a deceitful, skillful, crafty
enemy who will even use a dear friend to take you away from
Christ. get thee behind me, Satan." Who's
he talking to? Peter. The Apostle Peter. All right, here's the third thing,
the Apostle's message. The Apostle's message. See, how do you know you're a
messenger of Christ? Maybe you're a false prophet. We don't know
you any more than we know them. I'll tell you, if you'll turn
to 1 John 4, it'll give you a little bit of
light. But I can promise you this, no false prophet is going
to come to you with a clear-cut, unmixed message pointing you
to Jesus Christ, eternal God, eternal Redeemer. incarnate deity,
perfect righteousness, sufficient sacrifice and atonement, risen
justifier, seated king, reigning mediator and advocate and coming
king. He's not going to do it. He may
even say some of those things, but he's going to mix something
with it. He's going to mix a decision, a profession, a loyalty on your
part, baptism, duties, I'm saying this, that in the redemption
of a soul, from eternity past to eternity future, in the justification,
sanctification, righteousness, redemption of a soul, Jesus Christ
is all and in all. From alpha to omega, author and
finisher, beginning and end, and all in between. God loves
us for Christ's sake. He saves us for Christ's sake.
He accepts us for Christ's sake. He chose us for Christ's sake.
That's what I'm saying. In 1 John chapter 4 it said,
Beloved, verse 1, don't you believe every spirit that comes to you?
And that word is preacher. Try the preachers whether they're
of God. Many false prophets have gone out into this world. Hereby
know ye the Spirit of God, every spirit that confesses that Jesus
Christ, Jesus, his name of humiliation, Christ, his anointed Messiahship,
is come, in other words, he preexisted. He is come in the flesh. He is God in human flesh. What's
so strange about a man being in the flesh? Because he's God.
Because he's God. Anybody will tell you that Jesus
Christ was a man of flesh. Any preacher will. But what he's
saying here is the true prophet of God knows that Jesus Christ
is not just flesh, he's God in human flesh. Not a representative
of God, not a messenger of God, God himself. God himself. That's what I'm saying. God has
come in human flesh. And God has come in human flesh
for a purpose. He didn't just come in human
flesh to show he could. He came in human flesh to accomplish
what he had to accomplish in human flesh, to redeem flesh.
That's why he became a man. You see, you can't master this
book in 15 minutes. I wish we could get that through
our heads. People get saved today and teach in Sunday school a
week later. And that just shows the folly
of today's religion. A man be saved 40 years and he's
not equipped to teach. It's only by the grace of God
that any of us can do anything for the glory of God. Back to
chapter 11, the Apostle's message. He said, if he that cometh, these
false prophets, and they come preaching another Jesus. Now,
Paul preached the Christ to the Bible. Another Jesus is less
than the Jesus Paul preached. Now, there's an interpretation
of this you'll run into in Dr. Gill. did this, I believe, if
I remember correctly, and I don't agree with him at all. What they
say, if someone comes preaching another Jesus and another spirit
and another gospel, that's better than the one I preach. You've
read that before. You might well listen to him,
but you can't find one better. And I just can't imagine Paul
saying anything like that. There's one Lord, one faith,
and one Baptist. One God and one mediator between
God and man. I don't even believe Paul would
speculate about a thing like that. But what Paul is saying
here, if these fellas come along and preach a Jesus that's less
than the Christ I preach, and I preach the Christ of the Bible,
Creator, Incarnate, Our only righteousness and all that I've
talked about, the Christ of the Bible, and any Jesus that's preached
to you that's any less than the Christ revealed here, he's another
Jesus. And I'll tell you, when these
preachers talk about, when they talk about Jesus wants to save
you and you won't let him and he's up there crying his eyes
out because you won't let him in your heart, that's another
Jesus. That's not the Christ of the Bible. Our Lord turned
and said, don't weep for me, weep for yourselves and for your
children. I have the situation well in
hand. He shall not fail. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and be satisfied. I'm saying any man who comes
to you, listen to me, preaching of Jesus, that came down here
to try to do anything and didn't accomplish it, that's another
Jesus. And if they preach a Christ who hung on the cross and paid
for the sins of people who will never be saved, that to me is
another Jesus. That's not the Christ of the
Bible. No, sir. I'm saying that the Christ of
the Bible is a sovereign, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, almighty,
all-powerful King of kings and Lord of lords who has the keys
of hell and death. and will do what he will, when
he will, with whom he will, and his purpose is not confused,
frustrated, or defeated at any time by anyone. And that's the
Christ. And any less than that is another
Jesus and another Spirit. Turn to John 16. Now listen to
me, and I'm saying it very plainly, if it can be said any plainer.
I'd just rather not try to say it any plainer, but I'm saying
this, the spirit that's being talked about, the Holy Ghost, what concerns me and worries
me is these people preaching the Holy Ghost, they're preaching
the Holy Ghost, not preaching Christ. And Charlie, you know
more about this than I do, because you were in that more than I
was, and you could handle this a lot better. But I know this. Then when a preacher comes along
and preaches the Holy Ghost, Holy Ghost, Holy Ghost, he is
not a messenger of Christ. Because the Holy Spirit, listen
to this, Christ said in verse 13 of John 16, do you have it?
How be it when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide
you into all truth, for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever
he shall hear, that shall he speak. And he will show you things
to come and he'll glorify me, he'll receive of mine and show
it to you." He said what the Holy Spirit speaks is what God
the Father gave him to say, and he's not going to speak in such
a way as to glorify himself or call attention to himself or
magnify himself, he's going to take the things of Christ. What
are the things of Christ? His eternality, his deity, his
glory, his Godhead, his incarnation, his righteousness, his death,
his atonement, his burial, his resurrection. He's going to take
the things of mine and show them to you. And this is what they're
not doing. You watch that PTL club with
poor little Tammy. And her, somebody said she looked
like a striped, what was it they said? I wish I could remember
what that fella said, but she looked like a striped beaver
or something with those tears running through that mascara.
And poor little Tammy talks about the Holy Spirit and speaks in
tongues. Tammy doesn't know the gospel, folks, neither does Jim. They've never been introduced
to it. They're preaching the Holy Ghost. And if the Holy Spirit
was upon them, they'd be preaching Christ. Believe me, they would.
Oral Roberts is not preaching Christ. He's preaching healing,
and he's preaching the Holy Ghost, and he's preaching tongue, and
he's preaching the hallelujah side and all these things. Believe
me, I'm telling you the truth. If the Holy Spirit were in this,
they'd be standing up there telling you what I'm telling you tonight.
Christ is all. Now, that's the truth. You go
on compromising if you want to, but they're false prophets. They're
false prophets, and it's another spirit. Charlie, is that right? It's another spirit. You say,
but they touch people and they faint. Did you ever do that?
In fact, Donnie Bell said to me one time, he stood with a
healing line before he ever learned the gospel, before he ever met
God. and would touch people there
and they'd hit the floor, one right after the other, hit the
floor, everyone up. We say, was that done by the
power of the Holy Spirit? No, sir, by the power of the
devil, another spirit. You're not going to find the
Holy Spirit performing like that to begin with. You're not going
to find the Holy Spirit of God performing in that fashion. The
Holy Spirit of God breaks the heart, not the legs. The Holy
Spirit of God circumcises the heart. He deals with the will. He brings us to weep over our
sins. He brings us to look to Christ,
to embrace Christ, and to love Christ, and to find our joy in
Christ. I know that now. I know that. It's another spirit. And Paul
says it's another gospel. He says he comes preaching another
gospel. Another gospel. What's the gospel
we preach? We preach the gospel of God.
Turn to Romans 1. Listen to this. Romans chapter
1. In the first chapter of Romans, he says, listen to verse 1, Paul,
a bond slave of Jesus Christ, willing, loving, I've been called
by God to be an apostle, and I've been separated to the gospel
of God. been separated, not to healing,
not putting on a show, not to entertaining sinners on their
road to hell. I've been separated to the gospel of Christ. And
verse 2 said it's that same gospel that he promised to pour by his
prophets in the Old Testament. Is that what that's saying? That's
what that's saying, isn't it, Cecil? It's the same gospel that he
promised and purposed and pictured in the Old Testament. And it's
concerning his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, our God, King of kings,
Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh.
He was made in a mother's womb. He was given a body. A body,
thou hast prepared me. That's the one we're talking
about. And by whom, he said, and he was declared, not made
to be the Son of God, but declared to be the Son of God. He was
declared. He was with the Father in the
beginning. He said, glorify me with the glory which I had with
thee in the beginning, before the world was. He wasn't made
to be the Son of God. He wasn't the Son of God by creation.
He's the only begotten Son of God. He is God. He is God the
Son. And when he came, he was made
to be the seed of David, the house and lineage of Jesse, David,
right down the line. But he was declared to be the
Son of God with power. with power, not the weakling,
but with power. Jesus Christ was declared to
be the Son of God with power. I have all authority over all
flesh. I have all authority in heaven
and earth. According to the spirit of holiness, the Holy Spirit,
who declared him to be God? The Holy Spirit. How? By the
resurrection from the dead. And it's from him that we receive
this grace and apostleship. Now then, you say, you take a
lot upon yourself, all right. Somebody has to. Somebody has
to. Somebody has to tell this generation
the truth or they're going to go to hell, as Shelton said,
unworn. And what I'm saying, let this be, and this I feel
like is my purpose and fear and message. I'm not asking you to
be committed to a person, a human person, or a program, or a denomination. I'm asking God by his grace,
I'm pleading with you from my heart, look to Christ. Lay hold
on Christ. Embrace Christ. Don't you let
anything or anybody, slick and skillful, and subtlest Satan,
don't you let them weasel in, and that's the way they do. They're
corrupt, unfair, they'll weasel in, and they'll divide your affections,
they'll divide your heart, they'll turn your eyes to somebody or
something other than Christ, and they'll damn you. Because
I tell you, in heaven, it's an uncompromising allegiance. It's
Christ and Christ alone. Unto Him be all glory, All power,
all praise, both now and forever. Tom, it's Christ.