Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign Annan, and I'm the discipleship pastor here. I'd love to meet you afterwards. I'll be down in front.
[00:00:11] And I mean that. I always look forward to meeting somebody new.
[00:00:15] While we continue in our series then in Second Corinthians, and its overall title is Ministry Training. Last week we were in chapter 10 and we saw Rules for Faithful Ministry. And we looked at humility and meekness and gentleness and only being bold when absolutely needing to and when it is necessary, but also owning our own stuff. Owning our. Our faults, our weaknesses and our intentions and. And staying in our lane.
[00:00:46] Well, we're going to be in roughly in chapter 11, verses 1 through 21. I say that because some of what's in there, we've already preached on quite a bit. So what I'm going to focus in that section is Paul's plea, his warning to us. He wants to get their attention because they are in major trouble. The church at Corinth, it's like they're under the spell of these false teachers.
[00:01:13] The danger's right in front of them. And if there was a scale of danger from 1 to 10, this is a 10.
[00:01:18] And that's what Paul is all about today. To help them see that, our title today is Frauds, Masquerades and Wolves. Isn't that nice? Aren't you glad you came? Frauds, Masquerades and wolves. It's like the Corinthian Church is paying these false teachers to poison them. They're being killed spiritually. It's like they're paying for these pills that are poisoning them, but they just keep paying them. It's foolish. The Corinthian Church was slow to understand God's ways, God's methods, God's truth, God's standards.
[00:01:58] Often, as we know, the world's standards are different than God's standards. Paul wrote this in a previous letter. He said these words, the cross of Jesus Christ is foolishness to the world.
[00:02:12] Also, Paul, he borders on sarcasm. Today we're going to see that.
[00:02:18] Today he's trying to get his point across.
[00:02:21] Oftentimes, as you know, sarcasm really is about mocking someone. Sarcasm usually is ridiculing someone. It's putting someone down. You know, you might want to say to the person next to you, oh, I sure hope this isn't another long sermon. Well, that probably.
[00:02:35] No, I sure. No, that wouldn't be sarcasm. Here's sarcasm. I sure hope we have another long sermon. See that? That's sarcasm. You get the difference there?
[00:02:43] Well, actually, I'm better than that at sarcasm. But Paul isn't using typical old sarcasm because his motivation is different.
[00:02:56] He's there to help.
[00:02:58] He wants to help.
[00:02:59] He loves them. He loves the church. He wants to correct them and pull them back to the true Jesus and the true gospel. He wants to do this out of love. He doesn't want to step on them. He wants to bring them up.
[00:03:10] That's why it's a little different.
[00:03:13] So I'm going to look at the bookends to start of this passage. Really. I'm going to be at verse one, and then we're going to jump to verse 16. You'll see why here in a moment, and then we'll come back to the meat in the middle. We're going to see that Paul competes.
[00:03:26] He competes for their souls. And so verse one says this.
[00:03:30] I wish, as he's speaking to the church at Corinth, I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness.
[00:03:37] Do bear with me.
[00:03:39] It's actually foolish that Paul should even have to defend himself or his apostolic authority. Paul's saying that what I'm about to say might sound foolish to you, but please, he says, bear with me. In other words, tolerate what I'm about to say. Hear me out, because I'm about to speak your language. Because the church at Corinth seemed to gravitate towards, frankly, foolishness.
[00:04:03] It's like a fish in the water looking up at the fisherman in the boat. And the fisherman on the boat is putting on artificial bait. It's not even a real worm, it's artificial bait. And they're lowering. The fisherman lowers the artificial worm and the fish still bites. It's foolishness.
[00:04:20] Paul's saying, okay, you want to play foolishness? Here we go.
[00:04:25] Paul's reluctant in this contest. He's willing to compete with with the super apostles with the truth jumping ahead a little bit. Then let me look then, like I said, at verse 16 here. More foolishness. Here's some more language of foolishness. Paul says this in verse 16, chapter 11 of 2 Corinthians. I repeat, let no one think me foolish. But even if you do accept me as a fool so that I too may boast a little, what I am saying, what I'm saying with this boastful confidence. I say, not as the Lord would, but as a fool.
[00:05:01] Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast. You know, he's owning this contest. He's owning this thing.
[00:05:08] The Corinthian Church, now in verse 19, is about to hear some Sarcasm. So here we go, verse 19. For you gladly bear with fools. Ouch. Being wise yourselves, for you bear it. If someone makes slaves of you or devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on errors, meaning exalting themselves or strikes you in the face, to my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that. See the sarcasm there in verse 21?
[00:05:42] He's saying that we, the true apostles, were too weak to treat you so harshly like they did. That's sarcasm. Of course, the Corinthians thought they were wise, but again, they're tolerating even paying the real fools to teach them. And maybe, maybe you know somewhat what this feels like. Maybe you've been led astray at times by either false teachers or cults or false religions, and you kind of know how this feels coming out of that. But in verse 19, Paul says this. The words up there for you gladly. They were gladly doing this. Again, these words stung, right? They border really on sarcasm. But remember, his motivation was not to humiliate them. It wasn't to step on them. It was to bring them back up to know again the Gospel and truth. And verse 20 is filled with imagery. I love this. He says being slaves here probably means these false apostles were trying to bring them back under some type of legalism. No gospel at all. Or maybe a works base, or maybe under the Mosaic Law. Back to the Mosaic Law, which is not the gospel. And Also in verse 20, the super apostles were exploiting, or it says devouring them, cheating them, taking advantage of them, really taking their money. This was about gain and personal wealth. That's what they were about. And we. We've heard this before in our series. Apparently they've also been hit, some of them, by the apostles. And yet the Corinthians claim to be wise.
[00:07:21] Jesus uses the same word, devour, that we see here in verse 20. In the same way for religious leaders who exploit the people. I'm going to read from Luke, chapter 20, verse 46. Here's what Jesus says. He says, beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes and love being greeted in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor, at feasts, who devour widows, houses, and for pretense they make long prayers.
[00:07:51] And then Jesus says this about them at the end of that passage, they will receive their greater condemnation.
[00:07:57] They are in trouble. They'll get what's coming to them. But Paul again in our passage, sarcastically says in verse 21, we were too weak for that big Idea today is don't be fooled by the real fools, by the false teachers. Paul is willing to sound like a fool. He's willing to bring in even some sarcasm just so they could wake up and understand that they are really in trouble. All right, back to the meat. We're in verses two and three. When I look at verse two and three here, I want to give you a main point here, one of our main points. We got four of them. This is this. False teachers are cunning imitators of Satan.
[00:08:41] As we look at verse two and three, then we're going to see that the false apostles, they teach a different Jesus, a different spirit and a different gospel, all false. And Paul is going to start with two metaphors, and they're really just two comparisons in verse two. And then in verse three, verse two says this for I feel the apostle Paul is talking again. He said, I feel a divine jealousy for you since I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
[00:09:14] So how does Paul feel about the church at Corinth? While he feels protective, like a father of the bride feels. If you've been a father of bride, you know how that feels. Last November, I walked my daughter Grace right there down to. Down the aisle. Yes, you have to stand up. Walked down the aisle to her now husband, David.
[00:09:36] Great guy. But I'm.
[00:09:38] I'm a protective father. I wanted nothing but good for her. And anything that messed with that I would have to mess with. That's just the way it is. Paul compares the Corinthian church to a betrothed bride and himself to a protective father, father of the bride. But the, but the super apostles, they wanted to seduce the Corinthians away from their husband, Christ. You know, the metaphor here is this pure virgin church being betrothed or pledged to Christ.
[00:10:10] That's how he felt about them. And that's verse two. And then verse three, another metaphor, another comparison. Verse three says this. He says, but I'm afraid. Paul says that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning. There's that word, cunning. Your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
[00:10:31] So these super apostles, they are like the serpent, meaning Satan. He's comparing them directly to Satan in the Garden of Eden who was tempted by sin. And Paul compares the church at Corinth to Eve who listened to lies and were led astray.
[00:10:47] Paul's really concerned about a reenactment here of the Garden of Eden scene.
[00:10:54] Paul's afraid that they're Going to continue to be deceived.
[00:11:00] The word cunning in verse three is really wicked trickery.
[00:11:05] It's intentional trickery to lead people away and astray. And these false teachers, it's good to remember that these false. By the way, it's the same thing today. These false teachers, they use really just the general same strategy and tactics that Satan always has. It's about deception, it's about deceiving. That's why we need to be aware of his schemes. The goal here, of course, in the last half of verse three, you can see it, is that they would not be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
[00:11:42] That's the point.
[00:11:44] Paul's not picking on Eve here in verse three. Of course he's not. When you look at First Corinthians, chapter 15, we'll put it on the screen, verses 21 through 22, you see Adam here.
[00:11:55] Adam. And then you'll also see the redemption that comes through Christ. It says, for as by a man, that's Adam, came death, by a man, Christ has come. Also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all should be made alive. In Adam came death, came physical death, came spiritual death, sin and judgment. But Christ brings new life, resurrection life and eternal life, just like then. Even today, the Church is targeted with these cunning false teachers. I'm going to get to that. Talk a little more about that because they want to seduce you and lead you astray.
[00:12:37] Now, Paul, he's going to elevate his rhetoric now and bring it up a notch. Our second main point, we'll put this on the screen is this. As we move forward. Beware, not all Jesus are the real Jesus.
[00:12:52] So we're gonna go to verse four now and look at that. And then when we talk about verse four, I'll explain. Then I'm gonna get to verses 13 and 15. You'll see why I have to bring that up here in a moment. Paul's being super practical. These false teachers, their messages were different. Different Jesus, a different Holy Spirit, we'll see. And a different Gospel. And that's how you know they're wrong.
[00:13:14] There is not a version 2.0 of what Scripture teaches. There's not a version 2.0 of Jesus. Please don't ever look for it. We have it. So I'm gonna walk through verse four. Verse four says this. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus, in other words, if a false teacher comes and is preaching, that's what proclaim means there, another Jesus.
[00:13:34] Then the One we proclaim, then the one the true apostles have been teaching them, or a few. You receive a different spirit, in other words, not the true Holy Spirit or a different version of the Holy Spirit from the one you received. Or if you accept a different gospel, it could be legalism or pulling them in towards a workspace salvation. Whatever it is from the one you accepted for salvation, you put up with it readily enough.
[00:14:05] The devils representatives regularly seduce people through often slight variations of the Bible. So young people, older people, this all applies to us. Don't put up with false teachers like the Corinthian church did. And please, let's not be caught in this idea that we're wise, because we found something else, something better than Jesus. Verses 13 through 15. I'm gonna pull that up now. And look at that. I'm gonna pull it in. Because really what he does here, Paul is he expands and he explains more on verse four. So that's what we're gonna talk about. Paul ups his rhetoric and he drops the irony. He's shooting from the hip. This is extremely plain what he's about to say.
[00:14:54] In the for passage for the verses 13 through 15, one author said this about these two verses. These three verses. They disguise themselves as servants of righteousness in the same way Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
[00:15:10] Verse 13.
[00:15:12] For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light for verse 15.
[00:15:27] So it is no surprise if his servants, that's Satan's servants, also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.
[00:15:38] The father of these false apostles are Satan, and they followed their father's ways of deception and disguise.
[00:15:49] Verse 13. We'll put it up again. I've already read it. But let's look at the word deceitful in verse 13.
[00:15:55] Notice that inwardly that the false apostles inside them, what are they? They are deceitful. That means lying, dishonest, trickery, crafty. They intentionally will use Jesus for their own gain. They're deceitful. That's what they're about. What else? Also in verse 13, outwardly, they disguise themselves. They disguise themselves intentionally portraying themselves as something that they are not disguising. Here you could think of it. Some versions might say masquerading. That's a good word. They're changing their form to look like something they're not. And what do they look like? This is why it's easy to spot them. They look like servants of righteousness, but there's so many other things that define them. And I'm going to give you more of them as we move on.
[00:16:44] Have you ever had your. You don't have to raise your hand on this.
[00:16:48] Have you ever had your identity stolen?
[00:16:50] Or maybe you can go like this. You don't have to.
[00:16:53] How about your bank account hacked?
[00:16:57] Don't you feel good about that? Cause people need that money, right? No, I'm just kidding. That's horrible. It's infuriating.
[00:17:03] This is how the apostle Paul feels. Because the false apostles are pretending to be righteous ambassadors of Christ, stealing this righteous identity, yet they're working for Satan. And I'm not talking about mere leaders who are just teaching and make mistakes sometimes from the Bible. We're not talking about that. We're talking about people who are disguising themselves, people who are deceitful, who are tricking us for their own gain. Remember, the big idea again is don't be fooled by the real fools.
[00:17:37] Paul's not holding anything back.
[00:17:41] It's that 1% time where he is bold because the church is in danger and nothing's really changed today. Let me. Let me talk then off of these few verses. Let me talk about four counterfeits.
[00:17:53] Four counterfeits to Jesus.
[00:17:57] All right, the church, we'll have them on screen in a minute. But the church at Corinth, they tolerated Satan's evil substitutes. And I realized some of what maybe I'm gonna say you may not completely agree with, or some of this might be slightly new. If it is, happy to talk to you about this afterwards. But my point is there's no alternate Jesus and there's no alternate Gospel that can save you and hear this. Anything, all at all, anything else that seems spiritual apart from Christ or enlightening in some way or something new, something that was hidden in secret or maybe adds to Jesus or adds to the Gospel, leads you away from Jesus.
[00:18:42] The second big point again here today is beware, not all Jesus's are the real Jesus. Counterfeits make us feel like we're in control. Counterfeits make us feel like we're being spiritual.
[00:18:57] Here they are. First one, spiritual, but Christless.
[00:19:03] Some ideas here are New Ageism, New Age religion, mysticism. There's actually quite a bit of overlap in these two. But let me talk about New Age spirituality most.
[00:19:12] Because honestly, this one is in your books, this one are in your movies right now. This is a regular thing. We see it all the time. The thing about New Age spirituality It's all about you and. And it's all about yourself. There is no God here. There is no Jesus here. It's very eclectic. In other words, it draws from things like. And here's the overlap with mysticism. It draws from Eastern mysticism, It draws from occultism, it draws from astrology, it draws from metaphysics, like monism. Monism, this idea that all is one, or pantheism, that everything is God.
[00:19:47] This is New Age stuff, and this stuff is regular and it's out there. Also, New Age spirituality uses meditation. I'm not talking about meditating on God's word, which is good, or things that are true, right, and godly. I'm talking about a meditation. I'll get more into that in a minute. But also holistic healing that leads away from God, maybe belief in interconnectedness to a higher consciousness. Again, not God, but some higher consciousness. Mysticism is this idea of a journey where you're moving and being absorbed into what's called the absolute.
[00:20:24] And oftentimes in this world, what you'll find is people alter their states and they're looking for a spiritual high, but aren't focused at all on Jesus Christ. In other words, anything else that seems spiritual or enlightening apart from Christ will just lead us away. And there's only two sources.
[00:20:45] Spirituality. There's only two sources.
[00:20:48] There's God, of course. He has his messenger angels. We know that as well. But there's God, and then there's the evil angels, which we call demons.
[00:20:59] There's not a middle ground here for us to play with. Not a middle ground at all. There's nothing spiritual apart from Jesus, guidance, wisdom, correction, any of that. None of that. It's all from the evil one, Satan.
[00:21:12] Well, what should I run from?
[00:21:16] I would run from games or video games that seem to have a spiritual element that aren't directly related to Jesus Christ. I would run from. I would run from any of those games that seem to be dark in nature to some degree.
[00:21:32] Of course, we do know. Here's meditation. And meditation can be good if it's on the right things and godly things and so on. And scripture, as scripture says, obviously. But how about the idea of the meditation of opening up your mind to nothingness?
[00:21:46] That's ungodly to open your mind up. Because what typically happens is we get.
[00:21:53] There's a void there and a place where oftentimes New Age spiritists and spiritual leaders will ask you to invite in your spirit friend. And spirit friends, again, are no friends at all. They're the demonic realm. I would run from that kind of medication.
[00:22:08] Meditation.
[00:22:09] That medication, too. The occultic world. There's so many things you could list, right? Ouija boards, a lot of things. White or dark magic. Any of that is not from God. Psychics, fortune tellers and tarot cards, please. I've seen the destruction. I have seen the destruction that these wreck on people's lives.
[00:22:27] Have you opened the door? Have you cracked the door to the demonic realm? You're in danger. Look out.
[00:22:35] This looks like a game, but it's not a game. The have you ever. I'm gonna put this on the screen. I just steal some of these things from Neil Anderson's work. But just have you ever. And this is stuff to be super careful about. Have you ever had an imaginary friend when you were younger? Be careful about that. You should probably talk to somebody about that. Have you had a spirit guide or an angel who's helping you along and giving you counsel in your life right now?
[00:22:58] Careful.
[00:22:59] Have you played occultic games?
[00:23:01] Have you attended a New Age seminar? And this is typically where you see a leader will. And yes, this happens.
[00:23:07] A leader will often ask you and help you to empty your mind, to invite a spirit friend. This is often where these things literally happen. Consulted a spiritist or medium of some sort, a psychic, or attended a satanic ritual or a satanic focused concert. Yes, those happen. You may not be aware this happens.
[00:23:26] So my point here is that these things are benign. They're super, super dangerous. They are Christless counterfeits. And this spirituality will lead you away from Christ.
[00:23:38] Second, counterfeit, redefine Jesus and Gospel. This could be cults. This could be Mormonism. This could be Jehovah Witnesses, Mormonism or Latter Day Saints.
[00:23:49] This idea of we like Jesus, but we have a different version for you.
[00:23:55] One illustration is for Jehovah's Witnesses is the idea of. I'm going to look at the Gospel of John, Chapter one, verse one. I give you an example now, when we have our English translations, the esv, the ni, all good translations, the niv, nasb, csb, and there's a lot more. But all of these say these exact same words. Let me put John, Chapter one, verse one on the screen.
[00:24:19] It says this.
[00:24:21] In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God, or the Word was with God and the Word was God.
[00:24:31] Word here is referring to Jesus. Now, the New World translation of the Jehovah Witnesses will put an indefinite article, a God at the end and would say, I'm not going to put it on the screen. Because I don't want to at the very end would say, and the Word was a God. Now does that matter? Yes, because it is not our God, the triune God, the God of the Bible. It is not the same Jesus. The full deity of Jesus is ripped away. Jehovah witnesses teach that Jesus is actually Michael the Archangel, not the eternal God. And so my point is different Jesus, different gospel, different from the Bible. So we want to watch and we want to be discerning. We want to know our Bible.
[00:25:20] The third counterfeit is a true Jesus, but maybe a distorted gospel essentials where we can get grace through the church somehow when we've messed up and that you have to come to me or somebody. In other words, this category might be something like yes, okay, we believe in the Son of God. We believe he is the true Son of God, that he is God and man, that he died on the cross for my sins. He rose again from the grave.
[00:25:47] But the gospel message has changed or it's been added to and also some other damaging teaching.
[00:25:55] Basic example, just one slide I have for that could be this. A counterfeit gospel in this sense is that your enduring salvation is dependent on the church's rituals to, to impart or to restore you to God's grace. You know, this idea that you can fall out of grace, that you've sinned and now you're in trouble. And of course we confess our sins and come back to God and repent. That's what we do as Christians.
[00:26:23] But we don't need.
[00:26:26] You don't need to confess to me. You don't need to come to me. It's not communion that restores you. It's not your baptism that restores you to grace.
[00:26:35] Or this idea of this works based mentality somehow creeps into this realm. Also that if I'm just good enough or better than the next person, I'll be okay. Or I can go to the church and then I'll get X and Y and Z and now I'm back where I needed to be. No, because the true gospel is. And I love this verse and I know I'll just read it. I know many of you love this verse too. Paul writes In Ephesians, chapter 2, verses 8 through 9, many of you have taken time to memorize this one. For by grace this is the true gospel. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing. It is a gift from God, not a result of works so that no one may boast.
[00:27:18] Fourth on the counterfeit to Jesus the fourth is this. Christian leaders who champion sin and reject God's practical word. Oftentimes these are thought of as wolves. Jesus calls them ravenous wolves.
[00:27:36] They look like sheep.
[00:27:39] They seem to be gentle at times, but they can cause harm. They deceive and they destroy. They go after the flock for their own selfish gain.
[00:27:51] These wolves teach it's even okay to sin. They usually actually champion sin.
[00:27:57] You could, for sake of argument, you could lump in the Word of Faith movement here as an example, teachers like Kenneth Hagin and Benny Hinn and Kenneth Copeland, the Crouches, Fred Price and others. Any prosperity gospel that says, give me and you'll be blessed. Give me and you'll get more, because that's what you need, that's what God has for you.
[00:28:20] Any of that can be in this category and there's plenty more. Jesus says this in Matthew, chapter 7, verse 15. Beware of false prophets, not from God, who come to you in sheep's clothing, disguising themselves like in verse 13 we read earlier, like Satan does. But inwardly they're ravenous wolves. You'll recognize them by their fruits. Wolves can be pretty arrogant, usually have a lower view, a low view of scripture.
[00:28:49] If the Bible doesn't fit what they want to teach, they'll just change it. Talk about sin in a different way and twist it quite a bit. Remember, sin is whatever God says it is.
[00:28:58] Sin is rebellion.
[00:29:00] Sin is defiance.
[00:29:03] Wayne Grudem says it this way. I'll just read it. Any failure. Sin is any failure to conform to the moral law of God in act, in attitude or in nature.
[00:29:15] We don't get to decide what sin is. And often these wolves, they do.
[00:29:20] Jesus says we're to watch out for these ravenous wolves who come to you in sheep's clothing.
[00:29:28] Put a little list of some of the things that the wolves might do.
[00:29:32] They claim to speak for God. They seem innocent at first. They're going to sneak in some heresies, sometimes just a little bit. They want to destroy your faith. This is what they're about and gain control.
[00:29:45] Oftentimes they're here to destroy a church. And they of course enrich themselves.
[00:29:52] Those were four counterfeits. Remember our previous main points that we put up there earlier? At the very beginning we talked about false teachers, our cunning imitators of Satan. And we said, beware not all Jesus. The second one was beware not all Jesuses are the real Jesus.
[00:30:12] The third main point is going to be this. As we get into verse six and seven is going to be this. False teachers discredit true ones to gain influence.
[00:30:25] False teachers, they find a way. They find a way to get in. They're going to point fingers, discredit somebody and try to get in.
[00:30:32] We've heard much about this actually in previous sermons, but for today let me read 6 and 7, talk briefly about that.
[00:30:40] Verse 6. Paul says, even if I am unskilled in speaking, remember that from previous weeks, I am not. So in knowledge, indeed in every way. We have made this plain to you in all things. Verse 7. Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted because I preached God's gospel to you free of charge?
[00:31:02] Paul wasn't a, a trained speaker and it showed. Michael mentioned that last week and these, these false apostles, they tried to use that to discredit him. But here's the deal.
[00:31:13] The Gospel is plain and it's great.
[00:31:18] It doesn't need a great speaker. The message is great.
[00:31:23] Faith alone, through grace alone will save us. Paul didn't need to spruce it up and he taught the truth, the truth of salvation. And the evidence was God clear. Because people were coming to saving faith in Jesus because of this message.
[00:31:36] And then verse seven, false apostles, they also tried to discredit Paul's authority because he wouldn't take money.
[00:31:42] That's ridiculous.
[00:31:46] Point again is false teachers discredit true ones to gain influence.
[00:31:53] The last large main point here then is going to be this.
[00:31:58] As we get to verse 12, that's the next verse I wanna look at. 12 true leaders give generously. In other words, they bless and frauds will take advantage. They're going to take and take and take.
[00:32:13] Verse 12 says this, Paul is saying this.
[00:32:17] Paul's talking here. He says, and what I am doing, I will continue to do. In other words, he's not gonna change his tactics for them to appease them in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim the that in their boast admission they work on the same terms as we do. No, they don't. Paul, he's going to refuse to take money, just stay with what he was doing because he wants to show that they're taking all this money. He's going to go the other route and just not change. He wants them to see the difference between the two teachers. The false apostles do not work on the same terms as we do. As it says there at the end of verse 12, the frauds are takers.
[00:32:58] He's not going to descend to their level. So ask yourself, do your mentors, do your disciplers, whoever's discipling you? Do those who teach or whatever or shepherd you, do they bless you and do they speak truth to you? Are they gentle with you?
[00:33:13] Are they only bold when maybe there's sin involved and they need to love you in that way? Or do your leaders, do they tell you whatever you want to hear? And they vie for power and they vie for influence and they take and they control and then they take again. Because again, the point here is true leaders will give and will bless. And those who are frauds are going to take and keep taking.
[00:33:40] So what can we do with this? I have two very basic. So what's the first? Is this to just. If you have and maybe you're here, stop searching.
[00:33:53] Stop searching for spirituality apart from Christ.
[00:33:59] If you've been following a false God or false spirituality or false Jesus, the good news is today you can repent. Repent simply means tell God you're sorry and stop doing it. He wants to forgive you. He will forgive you. Just come to him and say I'm sorry and he will forgive you. Walk away from those things.
[00:34:22] Just walk away. Stop whatever they are and then pray. Pray for spiritual protection and deliverance. Maybe you fell into demonic traps. Maybe there's even demons influence you. Ask God for protection.
[00:34:34] Come to him in faith, become one of his children. Believe in the gospel.
[00:34:42] And if that's true about you, by the power of the Holy Spirit and under the authority of Jesus Christ, you have the power to pray against these forces. And they have to move, they have to flee. They have no more say in your life. Maybe you've been there before.
[00:35:02] Well, the Corinthians were a very sophisticated culture. They really were. They were also filled with demonic influences. And same thing today.
[00:35:13] We like to think we're wise. We like to think we're sophisticated culture. We have all these things, but we are filled with demonic influences throughout our society. So don't be fooled. Don't be fooled by the real fools. You don't need a deeper understanding of spirituality. We have Christ. We have His Word. That's what we need. So let's learn the word. Peter says this.
[00:35:38] His divine power has granted to us all things.
[00:35:44] All things. Not some things. All things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him. All things. If you know Jesus, you don't have to search anymore.
[00:35:57] The second thing is to believe the gospel, but believe the plain gospel. That will change your life.
[00:36:04] Now, maybe you have trusted in Jesus Christ.
[00:36:06] So my word to you is to remember the gospel basics and don't add to that. But if you've never trusted in Jesus, know this. That I don't need to find great words to explain to you. The message itself, as I mentioned before, is great. It's not complex, doesn't have hidden secret. There aren't tears of knowledge and there aren't even tiers of spirituality.
[00:36:30] Your leaders are not here and you're here. That's not truth. You know, if you believe the gospel for salvation, you're not missing anything.
[00:36:40] You have what he has for you, the salvation. You have the Holy Spirit. You know the truth. You have the power to learn and you have the power to grow and you have the power to live for God.
[00:36:54] Let's pray.
[00:37:00] God, thank you for the truth, even when it's hard, because we know your heart.
[00:37:07] Your heart is good.
[00:37:09] You are a God who is jealous for us in the most holy way because we are yours, your church, and you want to protect us. And your love is great and we see it, Jesus, through the gospel, your life, your death, your resurrection. God, thank you for helping us. Thank you for opening our minds. Thank you for what you're about to do with these words. God, I pray that you would transform us and help us to think differently, live differently, and love you and others more because of it. I pray this in Jesus name, amen.
