We're going to be in 2 Corinthians chapter 11.
We're going to read the first 14, 15 verses,
excuse me. We won't go through verse by verse.
It's kind of, in some way, really similar to
what we've talked about and seen throughout the
book. It's more of Paul. defending himself and
trying to get the Corinthians to listen to him
and not give in to the teachings of these false
teachers that are preaching things that are not
of God. So we see more of that. So I would encourage
you this week, if you want to read and spend
a little more time on these verses, since we're
not going to look at all of them in great detail.
It's pretty self -explanatory. We'll see as we
read through these verses. We kind of can understand
what's going on. And then we'll pick a couple
of verses and spend a little time on them. But
we'll read through 2 Corinthians chapter 11,
verse 1. I wish you would put up with a little
foolishness from me. Yes, do put up with me,
for I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy,
because I have promised you in marriage to one
husband to present a pure virgin to Christ. But
I fear that as the serpent deceived Eve by his
cunning, your minds may be seduced from a complete
and pure devotion to Christ. For if a person
comes and preaches another Jesus, whom we did
not preach, Or you receive a different spirit,
which you had not received, or a different gospel,
which you had not accepted, you put up with it
splendidly. Now I consider myself in no way inferior
to the super apostles. Though untrained in public
speaking, I am certainly not untrained in knowledge.
Indeed, we have always made that clear to you
in everything. Or did I commit a sin by humbling
myself? so that you might be exalted, because
I preached the gospel of God to you free of charge.
I robbed other churches by taking pay from them
to minister to you. When I was present with you
and in need, I did not burden anyone. For the
brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my
needs. I have kept myself and will keep myself
from burdening you in any way. As the truth of
Christ is in me, This boasting of mine will not
be stopped in the regions of Achaia. Why? Because
I don't love you. God knows I do. But I will
continue to do what I am doing in order to deny
the opportunity of those who want an opportunity
to be regarded just as our equals in what they
boast about. For such people are false apostles,
deceitful workers. disguising themselves as apostles
of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan disguises
himself as an angel of light. So it is no great
thing if his servants also disguise themselves
as servants of righteousness. Their destiny will
be according to their works. Let's pray. God,
we come to you. We thank you for these good words.
And I pray, God, that we can... see Paul's passion
and Paul's zeal here for the people of Corinth,
that his main desire, God, is that they are not
led astray, but that they remember the truth
of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the truth that
they had heard, the truth that they had accepted.
And God, I pray the same for us tonight. Maybe
we are presented with things or maybe we begin
to stray off in one way or another, dear Lord,
sometimes. And I pray. that we would look at
these scriptures, that your Holy Spirit would
speak to us tonight, that you would give me just
a few words to say that will be for your glory
and your honor. I pray that you would hide me
behind the cross, dear Lord, that you would let
your Holy Spirit speak to us tonight in these
words. In Jesus' name I pray it. Amen. Again,
we see this idea that Paul addresses, and he
calls out, what's in quotations in our Bible
as what some are referring to, obviously, as
super apostles. And so, sure, maybe they thought
well of Paul in some way, but there were these
other apostles, and they were the super apostles.
Oh, yeah, Paul's good, but if you heard this
guy. Paul, he kind of stumbles around in his
speech. He's not a good speaker. He's kind of
weak. But this guy right here, have you seen
this guy? This big preacher, boy, he has got
a presence. He can speak in such a way that he
draws our attention or he's entertaining or whatever
it may be. And we would way rather listen to
this guy than Paul. And this guy, it appears,
is asking for some money, and they're joyfully
giving these people money to preach what is a
false gospel, all the while Paul is a humble
servant of Christ. He says, look, I haven't asked
you for a penny. I've come here just because
I love you. I haven't put any burden on you,
but yet you won't listen to what I'm saying.
Now, these people are preaching and teaching
foolishness to you. And you're just giving them
all your money and you're just listening to them.
Why? Because they're a smooth talker? But are
you listening to the message that they're saying
or just in the way that it's presented? And we
have to be careful because I think we can fall
into that same trap today. Now, it is a whole
lot better to listen to somebody speak that's
a good speaker than somebody that's not a good
speaker. We all would agree with that. We've
all heard good speakers. We've all heard bad
speakers. We probably at some point in our time
have been a good speaker or been a bad speaker.
There are some times where, man, things just
come out good, and other times we kind of mumble
and stumble and bumble around. But what Paul
says is don't pay attention to how flashy they
may be or how good of a speaker they may be or
how entertaining they may be. What are they preaching
to you? What are their lives showing to you?
Now Paul admits, okay, maybe I'm not a good speaker.
Maybe I'm not as entertaining. Maybe I don't
hold your attention in the same way. Maybe I
kind of drown on. Maybe I get down some rabbit
holes. Maybe I kind of stutter. Maybe I kind
of stumble. But Paul says, what I have taught
you and what I have brought before you, I bring
it to you in love. And it's evident. That I have
come to serve you. I've humbly come to serve
you. I'm not asking you for anything. There's
other people that have supported me. And I'm
not even asking you for anything now, he says.
I'm boasting in that. I'm boasting in the fact
that I have come here out of love. And that's
why he says at the very beginning of this passage.
I wish you would put up with a little foolishness
from me. Now what Paul is saying is. Not foolishness
at all. He's preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.
It's not foolish. The world would sometimes say
it's foolish, but Paul's making the point here.
These guys have come onto the scene, and you
are falling for everything that they say, hook,
line, and sinker. And it's all foolishness. So
if you'd give them all your time and all your
money, would you just pay attention to me for
just a little bit and listen to what I'm trying
to say to you? And we have to be on guard for
that same thing in our world today. Now, it's
nothing wrong with people who can speak well
or people who are funny or people who are entertaining
or people who can hold your attention. That's
not sinful in and of itself. But there's a lot
of people who may be gifted in those ways and
they use those gifts for their own good. It's
a lot of people that'll go to church. They'll
be drawn in by... by the way a preacher looks
or the way he dresses. Or maybe he is a really
good speaker. Praise the Lord. That's a gift
from God. And a lot of people will be drawn to
those things all the while not really paying
attention to the message that's being preached.
There's a lot of good preachers preaching a lot
of good messages. Praise the Lord. But as it
is in the case of Paul, there's always going
to be a lot of bad preachers preaching a lot
of bad stuff too. that are not preaching for
the kingdom of God, that are not preaching for
the glory of God, that are not preaching the
word of God. They may quote the word of God,
but they're not focused on what the word of God
really says. And a lot of times, for whatever
reason, our world today is not any different
than it was in Paul's day. For whatever reason,
it seems like a lot of times these are the people
that attract the biggest crowds. In whatever
way they put on a show and entertain and speak
and preach, if you'd call it that, in whatever
way that they do that, that in some way is attracting
to people. While you may have some other preacher
that's preaching his heart out and maybe he's
not as flashy or as good a speaker, and his church
might not have but 20 people in it, and he might
have preached 1 ,000 messages that are better
than anything that they've ever preached, but
yet there are some people that will fill up stadiums.
with a false gospel. And so that hasn't changed.
These are people who started out right here in
the real gospel and all of a sudden some other
flashy person has come in and they are just all
about following him. And Paul says, would you
just listen to me? And we need to be careful
because, look, we got phones and we got TVs and
we all listen to our favorite preachers and Bible
teachers. Maybe it's just for a... a few minutes
on a segment on the radio, or maybe we look for
their sermons on YouTube and watch them or their
studies and we listen to them, and that is all
well and good. But we always need to look at
what is being taught, not how well necessarily
it's being taught. There are a lot of people
out there that speak a lot of stuff really eloquently,
and they are just as big of lies as anything
you ever heard. And boy, we can be drawn into
that. And so we always want to check what we
hear with the Word of God, no matter who preaches
it to you or who teaches it to you. Even if it's
somebody you trust. Because even people you trust
make mistakes. It's not that everybody's trying
to mislead you. But we always need to check the
Word of God. And we don't always have to agree
on the Word of God. There may be things that
we read a scripture and we may have some difference
of opinion on it. And in many ways, many areas,
that's okay. But what we always want to make
sure we do is check what the Word of God says.
Sometimes it doesn't take us long to look at
the Word of God to see that, wait a minute, what
this person told me about Jesus, about God, about
God's Word, doesn't line up. Maybe I need to
do some research to make sure I understood what
they said. Maybe... I need to check God's Word.
I need to check them. And ultimately, God's Word's
always going to win. We need to be careful that
we don't get drawn away. Paul says, I wish you'd
put up with a little foolishness from me. Yes,
do put up with me. And listen to what he says
in verse 2. For I am jealous over you with a
godly jealousy. Now, isn't that something? Now,
we often think of jealousy as always being a
bad thing. But it is not always a bad thing.
Now, I would say more times than not in our life
it is a bad thing because we are jealous of somebody
else's cool car or somebody else's TV or somebody
else's husband or their wife or somebody else's
job or somebody else's preacher or somebody else's
whatever it is. I mean, there are lots of things
that we may be jealous of, and those things are
not good. When we desire something that somebody
else has and we want it for ourselves so that
we can be like them or so we can feel as good
as them or as important as them or as cool as
them, when we have that kind of jealousy that
we long for the things of other people, that
is an unhealthy jealousy. And it's unhealthy
because with that kind of jealousy, man, if it
begins to eat away at us, we will do all kind
of things to obtain the things that we are jealous
for. Jealousy is a bad thing, okay? Scripture
talks about jealousy not being a good thing.
But not all jealousy is bad. And we know that
for a fact because in Exodus chapter 20 verse
5, God says, for I am a jealous God. God's not
a sinner. God doesn't sin. But yet God himself
says that he is jealous. When does he say that?
Well, when he's given the Ten Commandments. He
says, don't worship any other idols. You're not
supposed to have any other gods before me, for
I am a jealous God. So there is a, as Paul would
say here, a godly jealousy. Now what does God
say in Exodus chapter 20? He says, look, you
are my people, and I am your God. And when you
go and you begin to worship and seek out other
gods, you are mine. And I'm jealous when you
are seeking somebody else because you are mine.
You can think of it in the same way that if you're
a husband or if you're a wife and somebody starts
flirting with your husband or wife or they start
flirting with somebody else, well, that's your
husband, that's your wife, that's your spouse.
You're not coveting and seeking and being jealous
for something that somebody else has. That's
yours. And you want it to be yours. And that's
not something to be shared with anybody else
because you love that person. And that's the
kind of jealousy that God had for his people.
And that's the same idea I think that Paul has
here. And he says so as we continue on. For I
am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. Because
I have promised you in marriage to one husband
to present a pure virgin to Christ. What does
he say? He says, you are the bride of Christ.
And what does the bride need to be? This is lost
in our society today. But we need to make sure
we know it and we need to make sure that it's
important that our young people, that our young
ladies know that it is important to be pure for
your husband. That's a big deal. It's not stressed,
it's not considered important in our world, but
it is important. It's a beautiful thing when
a husband can remain pure and a bride can remain
pure until they come together and get married.
And that's the illustration that we see of us
in Jesus. That Jesus is our groom and that we
are the bride of Christ. And what does Paul say?
He says, look, I've... I've promised you to somebody
in marriage. That is, I have come to you and
I have told you about Jesus Christ so that you
would enter into a relationship with him and
that marriage bond. And one day there's going
to be a great wedding banquet and you're going
to go and you're going to be the bride of Christ.
He said, you're promised to God. You are God.
You are in Jesus Christ. But you're not living
in a pure way. I don't want you to live this
way. I don't want you to act this way. I don't
want you to cheat on the Jesus you know with
a Jesus that you shouldn't be fooling with. It
ain't the same Jesus. He talks about that a little
bit in the verses here that we're about to see.
He says, look, I want you to be pure. Everything
that he's saying to them, and some of it with
some sternness, he says it because he loves them.
And he does not want to see them abandon God.
These are people that he has poured into. And
he's exposed them to the gospel. And some of
them have followed the gospel and put their faith
in Jesus. Praise the Lord. But now they're in
danger of these wolves in sheep's clothing. In
verse 3, he says, But I fear that as the serpent
deceived Eve by his cunning, your minds may be
seduced from a complete and pure devotion to
Christ. Now I want you to think about that verse
for a second tonight. In your own life. Think
about that verse. I want to read it again and
think about that in your own life. Are there
areas in your own life that we may be deceived?
He says, but I fear that as the serpent deceived
Eve by his cunning, your minds may be seduced
from a complete and pure devotion to Christ.
Do our minds have a complete and pure devotion
to Christ? Maybe they do, but maybe they don't.
Maybe our minds are seduced to think about the
things of the world, the things that we are jealous
for, the things that we really desire. Maybe
it's seduced to think about things that we worry
about. There's a lot of things that are going
through our mind. There's a lot of things that
are fighting for our attention. And if we're
not careful, and I suspect if we're all honest,
we would say that there are times that our minds
are pulled from being completely devoted to Jesus
Christ. And we want to be, and that's not saying
that we're not Christians. It's just saying that
sometimes we sin, and sometimes maybe we're like
the Corinthians here. Now, boy, we like to read
these passages and say, oh, those Corinthians,
they were so horrible. Get them, Paul, you get
them. But really, maybe we're in the same boat.
Maybe we're in the same boat that just as their
minds were seduced from a complete and pure devotion
to Christ, maybe our minds were seduced from
a complete and pure devotion for Christ. Is everything
we do a complete and pure devotion to Christ?
Well, maybe some of the stuff we do is. Maybe
some of the stuff we do is just a devotion to
us and what we want. And so it doesn't matter
what it is. You name it. It doesn't matter what
it is. The list could be a million things on
that list of things that take our mind off of
Jesus Christ. And I think that's what he's saying.
And I think that applies to us. He says, I fear
that there are things that the devil's doing
that's taking your mind off Jesus. And I think
that that's just as true for us tonight as it
was the day that he penned these words. That
there are things that the devil uses to get our
mind off of Jesus and keep our mind on stress
and desires and worldly things because when we
do that, we're not fully devoted to Jesus. Okay,
good. We see this verse. Does it apply to us?
Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. If it doesn't
apply to you, then praise the Lord and move on.
But if it does apply to you, then we need to
check ourselves and we need to repent and we
need to say, okay, God, I need you to help my
mind get right. Because it's not easy, okay?
It's not going to be an easy thing. There's going
to be a million things tomorrow that's going
to be fighting for your mind and for your attention.
So we really have to work at and pray and seek
God. that he would help our minds to stay focused,
that we would pray that he'd give us the mind
of Christ, the heart of Christ, that we wouldn't
let all the things of the world cloud our mind
and cause us to slack in our devotion for Jesus.
One more verse, verse 4. For if a person comes
and preaches another Jesus, whom we did not preach,
or you receive a different spirit which you had
not received, or a different gospel which you
had not accepted, you put up with it splendidly.
What does he mean here if someone comes and preaches
another Jesus? Is there more than one Jesus?
Well, absolutely not. There is only Jesus Christ,
the only begotten Son of God. There is but one
Jesus Christ. Now, he says a very similar thing
in Galatians to the people of Galatia, that if
someone comes to you and preaches another gospel,
not that there is another gospel, he says, but
there are some people, and we see it today, and
we see it in Paul's writings here, I believe,
that there are some people that they start with
Jesus, and they start with the Holy Spirit, and
they start with the gospel. And it all starts
good, but somewhere along the way they begin
to splinter off. They begin to splinter off a
little bit from the truth of God's Word. And
here's where they're really clever. This is where
they're clever. They'll take something that's
in God's Word and apply it inappropriately and
incorrectly to something else in God's Word.
to essentially make God's Word say whatever it
is they want it to say. And Paul says so here.
A person comes to you, they preach another Jesus,
you put up with it splendidly, he says. You're
excited about it. You're excited about a lie
about Jesus. Why won't you listen to me, he says,
when I desire to tell you the truth about Jesus?
And we see the same thing in our world today.
There are Christians, people like you and I,
that have heard the gospel, that have trusted
in Jesus Christ, praise the Lord, and there are
some bad actors out there. And they find these
people in their weakest moments, or they begin
to twist God's word, and they begin to say, boy,
you know about Jesus, I love Jesus, you love
Jesus, oh yeah, I love Jesus. Let me tell you
what Jesus wants in your life. Let me tell you
how Jesus desires for you to live. Let me tell
you what the Word of God... Let me tell you what
you need to do. Let me tell you how I can help
you. Let me tell you how you can give me some
of your money so I can help you. Let me tell
you how God wants to bless you in this way. And
let me tell you all the promises that God has
for you. If you would just claim these things,
there are 100 % guarantee that God would do them.
And people begin to make promises of God's word
that are not promises of God's word. And they
begin to take and whittle away at who Jesus is,
and they begin to say, well, you know, maybe
Jesus really wasn't this, or maybe Jesus really
didn't say this, or maybe Jesus really didn't
mean this, or maybe Jesus wasn't one with God,
maybe he was just the Son of God, but they weren't
equal, and maybe the Holy Spirit this, and maybe,
and all of a sudden, pretty soon, but let me
tell you, you might have believed this, but let
me tell you God's Word in a different way, and
pretty soon, People are believing in a different
Jesus than they believed in. Following a different
spirit than they followed. And I'm going to tell
you, that's pretty scary and pretty dangerous.
Boy, if we're led by the Holy Spirit, praise
the Lord. But if we're not led by the Holy Spirit,
the other spirits that are out there, they're
not good spirits. They're spirits that will lead
people astray. And they have led many people
astray. Boy, people start seeking the Spirit
for guidance. You'll see people on TV. I think
that's foolishness. I think some of it's just
lies. But I think it's super scary. Because,
boy, you start seeking stuff like that, you're
going to find something. And what you may find
is going to guide you in some way, but it ain't
the Holy Spirit of God. And Paul says you better
be careful and pay attention to what you're taught
and what you hear and what you're exposed to.
Because you know the truth of the gospel of Jesus
Christ and the Holy Spirit is within you and
you know the gospel, so why in the world are
you being led astray? So listen up, he says.
Listen up. If you think I'm foolish for preaching
Jesus Christ and what I've taught you, then listen
to my foolishness a little bit more and stop
paying attention to the foolishness of these
other people. He said, because they are workers
of Satan. And if Satan disguises himself as an
angel of light, then how much more his workers?
What he's saying is, it's not always easy to
see when the devil's at work. It's not like the
devil's out there. He said, he doesn't say, and
Satan comes with a big red tail and a pitchfork
with fire all around him. He doesn't say that.
He says, Satan appears as an angel of light.
That is to say, it looks good. It looks pleasing.
It looks like something that you would want to
desire. He said, but you better pay attention
because it's just a disguise. You better not
get caught off guard. So perhaps tonight, these
words are a good warning for us. We're exposed
to a lot of teachings in this world. The internet,
for all of its good, if there is any, is full
of bad. Because it gives a platform to anybody
that's got a microphone or a computer, which
is anybody in the world, to say anything they
want. And those are the things that we see on
Facebook or on YouTube or wherever you go. Are
you here? Even if you're not on Facebook or YouTube,
the people you see, they're listening to somebody
on Facebook. And they come and they tell you
something. And maybe it's good and true. And
praise the Lord if it is. But we need to be on
guard. We need to know that there is but one
God. And there is but one Jesus Christ, His Son.
And there is salvation in no other. God loves
you and God cares for you and God will be with
you. But we don't earn God's favor by sending
more money to our preachers on TV or in this
church or anywhere else. We can't buy God's favor.
If you don't have God's favor, it doesn't mean
that God's cursing you. It doesn't mean that
you don't have enough faith. It might just mean
that it's not God's will. So be on guard with
the teachings of the world. And the best way
we can be on guard is to know the Word of God
and to know the Jesus of Scripture and to seek
the Holy Spirit that He would guide us in our
life to throw up those red flags when we see
something's not quite right. So that we don't
get led astray. Let's pray. God, we come to you.
We thank you for these good words of warning.
And I pray, dear Lord, that you would help us
not to be led astray. I pray, dear Lord, that
you'd help me as a preacher and teacher of the
word to not lead anybody astray. And God, if
it ever happens in an unintentional way, if I
just say something, dear Lord, not wrong, not
intentionally, dear Lord, I pray that you just
would... Guide me back and correct me in that
and help me to always lead people in the right
way. God, I pray that you would help us to know
your word, that your Holy Spirit guide us and
lead us in the things that we hear and the things
that we do. God, we're exposed to a whole lot
of stuff in this world, so I pray that we would
not get caught up in the foolishness of the world,
but that we would be focused on Jesus Christ.
I pray, dear Lord, that you would protect us
and protect this church and protect all the people
of this church from any kind of false teachings
that we may encounter. I pray that you would
help us to examine ourselves, dear Lord. Maybe
there is a battle in our mind. Maybe there is
one today. Maybe there is one tomorrow. Maybe
there will be battles every day of our life.
I expect there will be things competing for our
attention, dear Lord, and competing for our mind.
Pull us away from a devotion to Jesus Christ.
And I pray, God, that you would help us to refocus,
try to reel ourselves back in to you and to stay
focused and devoted to you. God, maybe there's
one that's listening tonight online or maybe
one in this church building that doesn't know
Jesus Christ. I pray today that they'd know that
you love them. Pray today that they'd know that
Jesus Christ gave his life on a cross. the truth
and the hope and the love that they seek, that
they can be forgiven of their sins, that their
burdens could be washed away from them, that
they can have true freedom. I pray that if they
don't know Jesus, that even now, that they would
ask that you would forgive them, that they would
repent, turn from their lifestyle and their sinful
ways, dear Lord, and seek you. And I ask these
things in Jesus' name. Amen.