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The Battle You Can’t See | Studies with Stearman · Prophecy Watchers

0:03
Speaker 1: Welcome to Studies with Stearman. Join us as we look
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Speaker 1: deeper into the Bible. Strengthen your faith with us, even
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Speaker 1: as we see the day approaching. And now, here's Gary.
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Speaker 2: Well, the question is, why are we here this morning?
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Speaker 2: It's really a nice day. It would be a great
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Speaker 2: day for golfing, fishing. You know, we could just stop
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Speaker 2: right now and all go fishing. Fantastic. Wonderful weather. We
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Speaker 2: could go out and run around the lake. That would
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Speaker 2: be good. But no, we're sitting in a little room
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Speaker 2: together and we're going to study the Bible. And this
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Speaker 2: goes back to something that happened a couple thousand years ago.
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Speaker 2: Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of
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Speaker 2: the week, Sunday morning. A few weeks later, the church
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Speaker 2: was born on Pentecost. And when the church was born
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Speaker 2: on Pentecost, it received the Holy Spirit, which was a
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Speaker 2: brand new phenomenon. It had never happened on planet Earth before.
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Speaker 2: Nothing like that had ever happened when the Spirit of
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Speaker 2: God actually descended to Earth and spread itself out among
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Speaker 2: a group of faithful followers of Christ. This was something
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Speaker 2: brand new. And so people began at that point to
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Speaker 2: gather together on the first day of the week. And
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Speaker 2: so that's the reason I ask the question, why are
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Speaker 2: we gathering together in groups? This group. Other groups. We
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Speaker 2: meet because these meetings are commemorations of what happened. They
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Speaker 2: are commemorations of what Jesus and the apostles and the
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Speaker 2: heroes of the church have done. They are communion, that
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Speaker 2: is we are celebrating our common salvation. We study the
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Speaker 2: Word to make sure that our founding doctrines are clearly
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Speaker 2: understood and to demonstrate that they were originated by God
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Speaker 2: and not man. And more than that, we celebrate something
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Speaker 2: that nobody really understands. Not the world, not most of
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Speaker 2: the church. I don't fully understand salvation. Jude wrote a
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Speaker 2: little letter about And when he did, he said, Beloved,
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Speaker 2: when I gave all diligence to write to you about
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Speaker 2: the common salvation, as he called it, it was needful
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Speaker 2: for me to write to you and to exhort that
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Speaker 2: you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once
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Speaker 2: delivered to the saints. And when Jude says this, he
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Speaker 2: says the faith that was once delivered to the saints,
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Speaker 2: what does that mean? Does that mean... Once upon a
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Speaker 2: time it was delivered to the saints? Way, way back
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Speaker 2: in the first century? No, that's not what it means.
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Speaker 2: When you read in the King James Bible, you should
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Speaker 2: earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered to
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Speaker 2: the saints. The word once is a translation of the
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Speaker 2: Greek word hapax. And hapax is a very special word.
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Speaker 2: When you study literature or study the Bible, you'll run
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Speaker 2: across an expression. It's called hapaxlegomena. I love that expression.
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Speaker 2: Rolls off the tongue. Hapaxlegomena. All together now. Hapaxlegomena. And
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Speaker 2: you know what that means? When you're studying the Bible,
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Speaker 2: if you run across a hapaxlegomenon, that means that you're
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Speaker 2: running across something that occurs only one time in the
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Speaker 2: entire Bible. And there are a number of things that
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Speaker 2: you find in the Bible that happen only one time.
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Speaker 2: There are a number of words, for example. vocabulary words
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Speaker 2: in the Bible that occur one time and one time
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Speaker 2: only throughout the entire Scripture. And those words are called
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Speaker 2: hapax legomena. And so when Jude says that we should
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Speaker 2: earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered unto
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Speaker 2: the saints, he uses the word hapax, which means one
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Speaker 2: time and one time only. Period. Ain't it going to
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Speaker 2: happen again, as my granddad would have said. Because he
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Speaker 2: loved ain't it going to. He used that expression all
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Speaker 2: the time. Particularly when he's being emphatic. Ain't it going
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Speaker 2: to happen again. It's happened once. That is the faith.
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Speaker 2: And by the way, it only happens once for each individual.
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Speaker 2: If it happens at all. And when it comes once
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Speaker 2: into your life, it's a great blessing. And so Jude
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Speaker 2: says we should earnestly contend for the faith. How do
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Speaker 2: you contend for the faith? How do you fight for
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Speaker 2: the faith? How do you become an advocate of the faith? Well,
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Speaker 2: you have to understand what the faith is and there
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Speaker 2: is a dearth of knowledge about what the faith actually is.
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Speaker 2: You know, I'm an old gray-haired guy and I went
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Speaker 2: to a prophecy conference a while back and I noticed
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Speaker 2: that most of the people there were old gray-haired guys.
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Speaker 2: I want to see younger people begin to go to
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Speaker 2: prophecy conferences. I want to see younger people begin to
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Speaker 2: be interested in the things of the Lord as they
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Speaker 2: are clearly expounded in the Word. It's not a drag.
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Speaker 2: It's not an intellectual enterprise. It's actually an adventure. It's
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Speaker 2: the greatest adventure in the world to learn all about salvation.
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Speaker 2: Because it's a hapax legomenon. It's a one-time, one-time only event.
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Speaker 2: Get it now or don't get it at all. And
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Speaker 2: God help you if it doesn't happen in your lifetime
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Speaker 2: that you pray to receive Christ and become one of
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Speaker 2: the household of faith. God help you. It would be
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Speaker 2: a terrible thing. Well, there has been a battle going
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Speaker 2: on from the beginning of the church. Now today we're
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Speaker 2: going to continue our study in chapter 10 of 2 Corinthians.
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Speaker 2: We're going chapter by chapter through 2 Corinthians, which I've
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Speaker 2: always thought it's one of the more difficult books in
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Speaker 2: the Bible and the more I study it this time
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Speaker 2: around the more I really think it may be the
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Speaker 2: most difficult book in the Bible to really grasp in
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Speaker 2: terms of what it's trying to say to you because
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Speaker 2: it is a letter written by Paul from the heart.
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Speaker 2: There's always been a battle within the church from day
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Speaker 2: one right now to this present day There's always been
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Speaker 2: an active conspiracy to weaken the word of God. That's
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Speaker 2: why Jude says that we must earnestly contend for the faith.
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Speaker 2: There's a weakness among the saints. And I count myself
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Speaker 2: as right at the head of the list. I am
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Speaker 2: not a strong man. I am not a spiritually strong man.
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Speaker 2: God is strong. I'm not. Heaven only knows I've got
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Speaker 2: a thousand and one weaknesses. And if you don't admit
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Speaker 2: that you have, then I need to talk with you
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Speaker 2: a little bit later. Because we all have weaknesses. We're
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Speaker 2: all dragging chains. We're all beset by the past. Paul
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Speaker 2: writes about these things. He knows all about this. So
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Speaker 2: to contend for the faith, you must... honestly accept not
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Speaker 2: only Christian doctrine, but your position within Christian doctrine. What
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Speaker 2: exactly are you in Christ as a new creature? Well,
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Speaker 2: this is the battle. There is weakness among the saints,
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Speaker 2: many of whom are quite willing to be led astray.
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Speaker 2: Because of personal pride, because of greed, because of guilt,
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Speaker 2: because of resentment, because of emotionality, ambition, desire for personal wealth,
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Speaker 2: the list goes on. But most of all, when we
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Speaker 2: gather around God's Word, the Bible, it brings a reality
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Speaker 2: to the situation. I'm not talking about pie in the sky,
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Speaker 2: by and by. I'm not talking about fairy tales or
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Speaker 2: They all lived happily ever after. I'm not talking about
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Speaker 2: these things at all. The Bible is brutally real. The
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Speaker 2: Bible is an adult book. Period. In every sense of
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Speaker 2: that term. I've taught the Bible for years and of
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Speaker 2: course I welcome people of all ages to Bible studies
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Speaker 2: and I've taught Bible studies when people of all ages
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Speaker 2: are present. But I have to be very careful what
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Speaker 2: I say, because there are some things that juvenile ears
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Speaker 2: probably should not be told in full, and those are
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Speaker 2: things in Scripture. Because the Bible is definitely an adult
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Speaker 2: book that deals with adult subjects, but you can massage
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Speaker 2: the message in such a way that I think everybody
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Speaker 2: understands what's going on. We're talking here about real adult subjects.
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Speaker 2: We're talking about feuding, fussing, fighting. And we're talking about
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Speaker 2: the passions among men. We're talking about drama. We're talking
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Speaker 2: about failure. My goodness, Solomon failed so miserably in ways
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Speaker 2: that well, we can't talk about that because this is
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Speaker 2: a mixed group. David failed miserably several times in his life.
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Speaker 2: And his deathbed scene never fails to amaze me. I
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Speaker 2: won't go into that right now. But it's a strange,
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Speaker 2: strange death that the great King David died because he's
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Speaker 2: a man. He's beset by weaknesses. And the reason I'm
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Speaker 2: building up to 2 Corinthians 10, in the way that
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Speaker 2: I am, and you'll get it here in a minute,
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Speaker 2: is because 2 Corinthians 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,
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Speaker 2: and 9 are all sweetness and light. We talked about
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Speaker 2: giving last week. We talked about Titus and Paul and
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Speaker 2: evangelism and the Macedonian example of giving. And we talked about...
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Speaker 2: the ministry and the goals of the ministry, the successes
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Speaker 2: of the ministry in Macedonia. We talked about all these
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Speaker 2: wonderful sweet light things. But today we're going into 2
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Speaker 2: Corinthians chapter 10 and it's dark. All of a sudden
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Speaker 2: it turns pitch black. And it stays pitch black for
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Speaker 2: the next three chapters. It's kind of fascinating. A lot
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Speaker 2: of scholars when they study 2 Corinthians say, well, 2
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Speaker 2: Corinthians is really two letters that later copyists have spliced together.
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Speaker 2: And they spliced it together between chapters 9 and 10.
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Speaker 2: So chapters 1 through 9... is one letter of Paul
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Speaker 2: and then chapters 10, 11, 12 and onward are another
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Speaker 2: letter and copyists in later ages stitch the two books together.
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Speaker 2: And the reason they say this is because 2 Corinthians
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Speaker 2: from 1 through 9 is a different book than 2
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Speaker 2: Corinthians 10 and following. Paul turns dead serious and the
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Speaker 2: subject is dark, dark, dark, dark indeed. And they say, well,
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Speaker 2: he's writing this to the Corinthians. Why would he just
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Speaker 2: do a 180? Why would he just go the opposite
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Speaker 2: direction between chapters 9 and 10? Well, I'll tell you
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Speaker 2: why here in a minute. Christianity. We're going to be
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Speaker 2: talking about Christianity today. What is it? Well, it is God.
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Speaker 2: It is God's Son, Jesus. It is The program of
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Speaker 2: redemption initiated by God the Father, completed by God the Son,
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Speaker 2: carried out by God the Holy Spirit, it's all about redemption. Redemption.
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Speaker 2: Getting saved. And by the way, it has nothing to
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Speaker 2: do with religion. Paul fought religion all his life. The
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Speaker 2: religions of the Greeks, the religions of the Jews, and
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Speaker 2: A million and one permutations of religion. He fought that
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Speaker 2: all his life. His chief enemy was religion. Christianity is
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Speaker 2: not a religion. And I want to repeat that even
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Speaker 2: though you've heard it probably several times, many times by now.
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Speaker 2: Christianity is not a religion. Christianity is not a religion.
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Speaker 2: Christianity is not a religion. Everybody get that? It's a
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Speaker 2: relationship with God. You've heard this before. It's built around relationship.
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Speaker 2: Vertically from God the Father through God the Son, God
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Speaker 2: the Holy Spirit through the churches. We are to have
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Speaker 2: the same relationship between us as God has through Jesus
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Speaker 2: to us, we should promulgate the same relationship between us
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Speaker 2: as exists between God and His Son Jesus. Well, I
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Speaker 2: can't do that. I'm not good enough to do that.
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Speaker 2: I'm fraught with all kinds of failures. I'm not that
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Speaker 2: much of a people person anyway. I'm kind of private.
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Speaker 2: I don't like to do that. I don't want to
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Speaker 2: do that. I don't have the time to do that.
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Speaker 2: I've got a job, you know. over there at Bob's Burgers,
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Speaker 2: eating hot dogs all day long and flipping burgers, you know,
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Speaker 2: wearing a paper hat. I'm busy. I've got nothing to
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Speaker 2: do with Christianity. I've got to make a living. Christianity
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Speaker 2: is built around relationship, what comes down through God, through Jesus,
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Speaker 2: through the Holy Spirit, into the body of Christ and
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Speaker 2: spreads out through the world. Has zero to do with religion.
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Speaker 2: It has no candles, no pipe organ, no magenta carpet,
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Speaker 2: no lilies. Has some artificial daffodils on the end of
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Speaker 2: the piano. No lilies. Although those would be nice at Easter.
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Speaker 2: Symbol of resurrection. I'm making the point that Paul is
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Speaker 2: going to make in 2 Corinthians chapter 10. And when
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Speaker 2: Paul makes the point, he makes the point. I mean,
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Speaker 2: he hammers on it. There are cults. There are isms.
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Speaker 2: There are literally thousands of religions around the world today.
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Speaker 2: Thousands of them. Where people go and they do weird
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Speaker 2: little things and weird little shrines and bow down to
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Speaker 2: strange things and light lights and leave gifts and offerings
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Speaker 2: before a little statue. I mean there are just thousands
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Speaker 2: of these things. But there is only one way to God.
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Speaker 2: One way. How narrow-minded God is. Somebody once said it's
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Speaker 2: like mathematics. It's There's only one way to add up
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Speaker 2: 2 plus 2 and that is to get 4. Now
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Speaker 2: you can contend for 5 if you want to, 2
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Speaker 2: plus 2 equals 5. And you can even build a
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Speaker 2: religion around 2 plus 2 equals 5 and maybe get
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Speaker 2: a big building, big parking lot, even a pipe organ
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Speaker 2: on the 2 plus 2 equals 5 idea. But anybody
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Speaker 2: who's got eyes to see and ears to hear will
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Speaker 2: tell you 2 plus 2 equals 4. Man loves to
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Speaker 2: build something and then fall down before it and worship.
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Speaker 2: He loves principles. He loves law. In my religion, what
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Speaker 2: we're going to do is put a whole list of
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Speaker 2: things you can't do, and then if everybody kind of
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Speaker 2: cleaves to that list, then we'll all be good people, right?
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Speaker 2: Man loves the law, but man... wants other people to
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Speaker 2: keep the law. That's for other people. I don't want
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Speaker 2: to keep the law myself. It's good for other people,
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Speaker 2: but I kind of reserve the right to occasionally break
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Speaker 2: the law myself, right? Don't tell anybody about this at all.
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Speaker 2: That's law. Now, in total contrast to that, we come
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Speaker 2: together today to confirm our mutual experience. That is, not
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Speaker 2: only biblical truth, doctrinal truth, but we confirm our mutual experience,
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Speaker 2: the truth, the power of God's Word, its effect in
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Speaker 2: our lives. We submit one to another. And I mean
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Speaker 2: that we really do. Except for so-and-so, yeah. I ain't
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Speaker 2: submitting to nobody. Might not say that, but he's thinking it. No,
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Speaker 2: we come to submit one to another. We really do.
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Speaker 2: We exhort each other. We honor sound conduct based upon
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Speaker 2: biblical principles. And you can call it cornball, you can
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Speaker 2: call it whatever you want to, but that's what we do.
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Speaker 2: I have one final word, and that is a three-word
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Speaker 2: sentence as follows, Christianity ain't cool! With an exclamation point.
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Speaker 2: That's my new book, by the way. Be available through
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Speaker 2: Amazon and bookstores nationwide next year. Christianity Ain't Cool. I'm kidding.
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Speaker 2: But wouldn't that make a great book title? Probably not.
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Speaker 2: But it's true. Christianity is not a cool thing at all.
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Speaker 2: It is on fire, basically.
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Speaker 1: It is.
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Speaker 2: Built around something that is actually happening, as opposed to
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Speaker 2: being built around something that you would like to see happening.
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Speaker 2: When you're selling dog food, how do you sell it? Well,
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Speaker 2: you make it attractive to humans. It doesn't make any
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Speaker 2: difference what's in the dog food. the cheapest stuff possible,
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Speaker 2: but then you sell it as the best stuff you
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Speaker 2: can possibly ever give your beloved pet. And by the way,
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Speaker 2: when you do, your pet will love you. And by
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Speaker 2: the way, when you do, your pet will live forever.
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Speaker 2: And on and on it goes. The selling of dog
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Speaker 2: food is basically a religious activity. How do you sell
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Speaker 2: cat food? Well, you make the cat food attractive to humans.
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Speaker 2: Put it on a little china plate with a flower.
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Speaker 2: And you arrange it very carefully so that it just
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Speaker 2: looks beautiful. I'd like to have some of that myself.
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Speaker 2: That cat food looks so good. That's religion. That's religion.
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Speaker 2: That's the way you sell religion. Christianity is on fire.
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Speaker 2: It is a living, breathing thing. It is not cool.
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Speaker 2: It is a real thing that's happening right now. You
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Speaker 2: can't see it. But the Holy Spirit of God through
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Speaker 2: Christ has come down into me and it lives there
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Speaker 2: right now. And it will be there throughout eternity. You
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Speaker 2: can't see it, but it's there. Having said that, let's
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Speaker 2: go to 2 Corinthians 10. We are to comfort one
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Speaker 2: another with the words of God so much the more
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Speaker 2: as we see the day approaching. Paul's great burden is
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Speaker 2: that we love one another. Paul's great burden is to
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Speaker 2: pull us away from cultic religions into the reality of God.
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Speaker 2: Pure worship of God through Jesus Christ. And now he
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Speaker 2: says in chapter 10, verse 1, Now I, Paul, myself,
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Speaker 2: beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who
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Speaker 2: in presence... am base among you, but being absent, am
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Speaker 2: bold toward you, but I beseech you that I may
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Speaker 2: not be bold when I am present with that confidence
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Speaker 2: wherewith I think to be bold against some which think
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Speaker 2: of us as if we walked according to the flesh.
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Speaker 2: Now Paul's been talking about all the wonderful things, the giving,
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Speaker 2: the ministry, the wonderful behavior of people. And now he
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Speaker 2: suddenly goes into defense mode. And he said, I'm going
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Speaker 2: to make a personal appeal to you people by the
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Speaker 2: gentleness and sympathy of Christ himself. I'm making a personal
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Speaker 2: appeal to you on the basis of Christ's gentleness. I, Paul,
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Speaker 2: who am humble, I'm humble to your face. Paul's humble
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Speaker 2: when he's with you, you say. but outspoken enough when
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Speaker 2: he is not with you, when he just writes letters,
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Speaker 2: when he's away from you, Paul is beginning now to
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Speaker 2: appeal to a different group of people. I mentioned a
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Speaker 2: minute ago, Paul is answering a charge here in chapter 10,
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Speaker 2: the charge that he is a coward. And as we
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Speaker 2: get into the middle and end of chapter 10, we're
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Speaker 2: going to see that not only is Paul charged with cowardice,
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Speaker 2: but they have charged him with being a false teacher.
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Speaker 2: They have charged him with unapostolic behavior. And they basically
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Speaker 2: have said, this guy Paul is a fraud. And after
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Speaker 2: the very sweet confession an uplifting opening of this letter.
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Speaker 2: Now Paul's getting down to cases. He said, I'm going
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Speaker 2: to make a personal appeal to you by the gentleness
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Speaker 2: and sympathy of Christ himself. You say, Paul is humble
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Speaker 2: enough to your face when he's with you, but when
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Speaker 2: he gets away from you, he's outspoken. They're talking about
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Speaker 2: his letters. Now, there's something we should clarify here. Go
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Speaker 2: back to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Verse 10. And let's
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Speaker 2: review a little bit. And we've talked about this in
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Speaker 2: the past, but it's been a while.
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Speaker 3: 1 Corinthians 1.10, Now I beseech you, brethren, by the
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Speaker 3: name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak
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Speaker 3: the same thing, there be no divisions among you, but
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Speaker 3: that you'd be perfectly joined together.
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Speaker 2: In the same mind and the same judgment. Right off
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Speaker 2: the bat, we find out that the Corinthian church is schismatic.
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Speaker 2: It's divided into at least two groups of people who
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Speaker 2: are fighting each other. There's a book called Great Church Fights.
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Speaker 2: If you want to read a really good book, that's
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Speaker 2: the title of the book. It's called Great Church Fights.
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Speaker 2: And I've got two or three books like that at
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Speaker 2: home that speak of the schisms in Christianity and believe
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Speaker 2: me there have been schisms. I've actually been party to
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Speaker 2: a few of them myself. It is in the nature
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Speaker 2: of contending for the faith that there will be schisms.
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Speaker 2: Now let's read here 1 Corinthians 1.10 Now I beseech
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Speaker 2: you brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ
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Speaker 2: that you all speak the same thing. Get on the
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Speaker 2: same page here. He says that there be no divisions
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Speaker 2: among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in
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Speaker 2: the same mind and the same judgment, for it hath
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Speaker 2: been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them
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Speaker 2: which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions,
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Speaker 2: there are quarrels, there are schisms among you. So we
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Speaker 2: learn right here that the Corinthian church is schismatic. It's
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Speaker 2: got different groups who believe different things There are different
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Speaker 2: leaders who are trying to come to the top and
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Speaker 2: lead their little group. Does that sound familiar? It goes
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Speaker 2: all the way back to the first century. Have you
26:27
Speaker 2: seen schisms in churches? Of course. I recently heard of
26:32
Speaker 2: a church in another city attended by someone who is
26:37
Speaker 2: a friend of mine that well actually two different churches
26:41
Speaker 2: in two different cities have recently had schisms in which
26:45
Speaker 2: In one case, three-quarters of the members of the church left,
26:50
Speaker 2: leaving one-quarter of the original church membership. This happens. And
26:58
Speaker 2: Paul says in verse 12, Now this I say, that
27:02
Speaker 2: every one of you saith, I am of Paul, I
27:06
Speaker 2: of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ.
27:12
Speaker 2: Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you
27:15
Speaker 2: baptized in the name of Paul? What a powerful thing
27:20
Speaker 2: for Paul to say. When you are baptized, do you
27:23
Speaker 2: get dunked in water and somebody says, I baptize thee
27:27
Speaker 2: in the name of Paul? No! It doesn't happen that way.
27:32
Speaker 2: Usually a water baptism, I baptize you in the name
27:35
Speaker 2: of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
27:38
Speaker 2: Not Paul. So Paul is being very, very I'm sarcastic here.
27:46
Speaker 2: And you didn't know that sarcasm was part of Christianity,
27:50
Speaker 2: did you? Well, it is. He says, were you baptized
27:56
Speaker 2: in the name of Paul? Well, the answer is, of
27:58
Speaker 2: course not. I thank God I baptized none of you
28:04
Speaker 2: except Crispus and Gaius, two people. Now, were Crispus and
28:12
Speaker 2: Gaius any more saved than the rest of the Corinthians?
28:14
Speaker 2: I doubt it. And why did Paul baptize Crispus and Gaius?
28:20
Speaker 2: You're going to have to ask him when you get
28:21
Speaker 2: to heaven because the Bible doesn't tell us. But Paul
28:26
Speaker 2: was not a baptizer. Paul was an on-fire missionary who
28:33
Speaker 2: went to places that you can't even believe. He went
28:38
Speaker 2: to Illyricum. You know what Illyricum is? Paul actually traveled
28:43
Speaker 2: to Illyricum with the gospel. Today we refer to Illyricum
28:48
Speaker 2: as Transylvania. Good evening. I am the count. Transylvania, one
28:55
Speaker 2: of the darkest regions in the whole world. In the
29:02
Speaker 2: Bible it's called Illyricum, but it was a horrible place
29:05
Speaker 2: to go. And Paul went there and preached the gospel
29:10
Speaker 2: in Illyricum where nobody else had ever been before. Theodoretus,
29:17
Speaker 2: a church historian of the 5th century says, Paul liberated
29:22
Speaker 2: from his first captivity at Rome, preached the gospel to
29:25
Speaker 2: the Britons and others in the West. Our fishermen and
29:29
Speaker 2: publicans not only persuaded the Romans and the tributaries to
29:32
Speaker 2: acknowledge the crucified and his laws, but the Britons also.
29:36
Speaker 2: And The Cimbri, he says. Theodorotus said, Paul not only
29:46
Speaker 2: preached to the Britons, he preached to the Cimbri. Do
29:50
Speaker 2: you know who the Cimbri were? They were the Celts
29:54
Speaker 2: who lived in northern England, and they were the meanest, nastiest,
29:58
Speaker 2: and ugliest women warriors in the world. They were the
30:02
Speaker 2: forebearers of the Scots. And do you know that Hadrian
30:07
Speaker 2: built a wall across England to keep the Cimbri out?
30:14
Speaker 2: Because they were too tough for the Roman army. Paul
30:18
Speaker 2: went and preached to them, according to Theodoretus. And I
30:22
Speaker 2: could read many, many more. Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea, says
30:26
Speaker 2: that the Apostles passed beyond the ocean to the isles
30:29
Speaker 2: called Britannia. There are many, many, many historical references that
30:36
Speaker 2: tell us that Paul went to the ends of the
30:39
Speaker 2: earth preaching the gospel in places where you just wouldn't
30:43
Speaker 2: have wanted to go unless you were led of the Lord.
30:48
Speaker 2: And so, while attempting to do this, he's also having
30:55
Speaker 2: to deal with quarrels. And we're going to find out
30:59
Speaker 2: in 2 Corinthians chapter 10 that one of the main
31:03
Speaker 2: problems with the Corinthians is that they were faulting Paul
31:06
Speaker 2: for not coming back and visiting them. Paul, you should
31:12
Speaker 2: be doing visitation. You ought to be coming back here
31:15
Speaker 2: and spending more time with the flock in Corinth and
31:18
Speaker 2: you're not. You're staying over there in Ephesus, you're going
31:21
Speaker 2: up to Troas, you're going up around the horn up there,
31:25
Speaker 2: you're going to Philippi and over to Berea. You really
31:30
Speaker 2: ought to come back down here to Corinth and visit
31:32
Speaker 2: the folks. Well, Paul's gift was not visitation. Paul was
31:38
Speaker 2: a missionary who spread the gospel to the ends of
31:42
Speaker 2: the earth. And so he's dealing with personal criticism. He's
31:49
Speaker 2: dealing with interpersonal rivalry on a massive scale And he says,
31:54
Speaker 2: now let's go back to 10.1. I, Paul, I beseech you,
31:58
Speaker 2: he says. I'm going to make a personal appeal on
32:03
Speaker 2: the basis of Christ's gentleness. I'm going to ask you
32:07
Speaker 2: to try to understand what I'm doing. Verse 3. Well,
32:16
Speaker 2: let's read verse 2 again. I beseech you that I
32:19
Speaker 2: may not be bold when I am present. with that
32:24
Speaker 2: confidence wherewith I think to be bold against some, which
32:27
Speaker 2: I think of us as if we walked according to
32:31
Speaker 2: the flesh. He said, I just beg you not to
32:37
Speaker 2: make me take such a bold attitude when I come,
32:41
Speaker 2: as I'm planning on taking toward some people who suspect
32:44
Speaker 2: me of acting out of worldly motives. That's what he's
32:47
Speaker 2: really saying here. Verse 3, for though we walk in
32:51
Speaker 2: the flesh... We do not war after the flesh. He
32:55
Speaker 2: says we live in the world but it is not
32:59
Speaker 2: worldly warfare that we are waging. And where else does
33:03
Speaker 2: he say this? Over in Ephesians 6 he says we
33:06
Speaker 2: wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, powers,
33:10
Speaker 2: rulers of darkness and heavenly places. Are we wrestling against individuals?
33:17
Speaker 2: Well the world would have you to believe that we are.
33:19
Speaker 2: But in the news, you find mad bombers chased by
33:27
Speaker 2: hundreds of cops. And you say, ah, the war is
33:32
Speaker 2: against the mad bombers. The war is against Muslim terror.
33:36
Speaker 2: The war is against, oh no, Paul says, no, no, no, no,
33:40
Speaker 2: we do not wrestle against flesh and blood. We worship against,
33:43
Speaker 2: we do not make war with the mad bombers, but
33:50
Speaker 2: we wrestle against principality, the powers and rulers of darkness.
33:54
Speaker 2: This is the key element in this letter. Now, he
33:59
Speaker 2: said in verse 2, don't make me have to get tough.
34:10
Speaker 2: I'm going to try to keep this at a level
34:12
Speaker 2: where we're civil with each other. And then in verse
34:16
Speaker 2: 3 he says, We're not wrestling against the things of
34:20
Speaker 2: this world, but against spiritual ideas. And you say, well,
34:29
Speaker 2: I already knew that. Well, think about it. Do we
34:32
Speaker 2: already know that we're wrestling against spiritual things, or do
34:35
Speaker 2: we think our enemies are people and events? It's common
34:42
Speaker 2: for us to put the fight in the realm of
34:46
Speaker 2: person's I'm being opposed by this person or that person.
34:49
Speaker 2: I'm being challenged by this personal situation. In fact, the
34:59
Speaker 2: challenges to Christianity and to one's own personal growth in
35:04
Speaker 2: Christ are challenges that come from beyond. They come from
35:10
Speaker 2: the spiritual realm. Verse 4, for the weapons of our
35:16
Speaker 2: warfare are not carnal, that is they're not fleshly, but
35:18
Speaker 2: they are mighty through God through the pulling down of strongholds.
35:27
Speaker 2: Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself
35:31
Speaker 2: against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every
35:34
Speaker 2: thought to the obedience of Christ. He says, I want
35:38
Speaker 2: you to know here that I'm engaged in demolishing theories
35:45
Speaker 2: And blockades that are put up to resist the knowledge
35:51
Speaker 2: of God. He said there are many barriers that act
35:55
Speaker 2: to inhibit the flow of the knowledge of God. What
35:58
Speaker 2: are the barriers? What would those barriers be? Well, anything
36:07
Speaker 2: that diverts your concentration from the fight would be a barrier.
36:18
Speaker 2: Paul says our battle is to bring down every deceptive fantasy,
36:23
Speaker 2: every imposing defense that man might erect against the knowledge
36:30
Speaker 2: of God. He's talking about religion. He said our battle
36:35
Speaker 2: is to bring down religion. And he uses the term
36:41
Speaker 2: which could be translated deceptive fantasies. In verse 5 it
36:46
Speaker 2: says he's casting down imaginations and every high thing that
36:50
Speaker 2: exalts itself against the knowledge of God. He's talking about religion.
36:55
Speaker 2: What comes against the word of God? Religion. In every case.
37:02
Speaker 2: There is a very large global religion which is growing
37:05
Speaker 2: like wildfire right now. International Islam. And if you read
37:12
Speaker 2: the Islamic texts, which I have, you will discover that
37:16
Speaker 2: within the pages of their text there is a professed
37:19
Speaker 2: goal to declare Islam as absolutely dominant and to eradicate
37:25
Speaker 2: any trace not only of every other quote-unquote religion, but
37:30
Speaker 2: of the traces of their society so that in the
37:35
Speaker 2: perfect Islamic world there will be only Islamic consciousness. That's
37:41
Speaker 2: the centerpiece of their religion. Well, Paul was up against that,
37:47
Speaker 2: of course, years and years, centuries before Muhammad, but he
37:52
Speaker 2: was still working to cast down imaginations and every high
37:56
Speaker 2: thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God. Verse 6,
38:01
Speaker 2: and having in readiness to revenge all disobedience. If you
38:14
Speaker 2: look at the Greek language here, Paul says, and when
38:17
Speaker 2: the obedience of your church, that is your Corinthian church,
38:22
Speaker 2: shall be complete, he says, I'm ready to punish all
38:28
Speaker 2: who may be disobedient. I'm prepared. In fact, he uses
38:33
Speaker 2: the Greek word for court-martial. I am I'm prepared to
38:40
Speaker 2: court-martial anybody who remains insubordinate, says Paul. In the Greek.
38:48
Speaker 2: He uses the Greek word that's commonly used for court-martialing.
38:52
Speaker 2: That is, to take a Roman soldier before the centurion,
38:59
Speaker 2: charge the Roman soldier, and then strip him of his
39:02
Speaker 2: weaponry in front of the group and chase him out
39:04
Speaker 2: of the culture. Court-martial. And he uses that term. He said,
39:12
Speaker 2: like I said, this is a dark passage of Scripture.
39:15
Speaker 2: And by the way, if you think 10 is dark,
39:17
Speaker 2: wait until we get to 11. It's going to get
39:19
Speaker 2: darker and darker because Paul is making a serious defense here.
39:26
Speaker 2: And as I said a minute ago, Christianity ain't cool.
39:30
Speaker 2: It is a living, breathing, on-fire enterprise motivated and driven
39:38
Speaker 2: by the Spirit of the Lord God through Christ. having
39:46
Speaker 2: in readiness to revenge all disobedience. When your obedience is fulfilled,
39:50
Speaker 2: do you look on things after the outward appearance? He says,
39:55
Speaker 2: if any man trusts to himself that he is Christ,
39:57
Speaker 2: let him of himself think this again, that as he
40:02
Speaker 2: is Christ, even so are we Christ's. Paul begins verse
40:09
Speaker 2: 7 by saying, I want you to look at something
40:11
Speaker 2: that's obvious. Look at an obvious fact here. Let anyone
40:16
Speaker 2: who is confident that he belongs to Christ think about
40:19
Speaker 2: it for himself. And think about this, says Paul, that
40:25
Speaker 2: we belong to Christ no less than he does. He
40:31
Speaker 2: says to this person out here who is critical of me,
40:37
Speaker 2: I belong to Christ no less than you do. You're
40:40
Speaker 2: criticizing someone who is in Christ. says Paul. This is
40:47
Speaker 2: something that you should think about. This is something you
40:51
Speaker 2: should not just listen to and walk away. You need
40:54
Speaker 2: to think about this. The thing about Paul is that
41:00
Speaker 2: we find out what his heart is here. After he
41:03
Speaker 2: is viciously attacked, we don't hear the actual words of
41:08
Speaker 2: the attackers in Corinth. But we hear Paul's defense. And
41:15
Speaker 2: And we can glean through reading about his defense what
41:18
Speaker 2: these people said about him. And the farther we get
41:22
Speaker 2: through this passage, the more it's going to appear that
41:25
Speaker 2: they accused Paul of just about anything you can be
41:27
Speaker 2: accused of. And he's now fighting back, if you will.
41:41
Speaker 2: This is Christianity. It's a battle. When Paul says put
41:46
Speaker 2: on the whole armor of God, he meant it. It
41:48
Speaker 2: was not some metaphor. It was meant to represent the
41:52
Speaker 2: fact that as Christians we need to be able to
41:57
Speaker 2: walk in strength. Otherwise people are just going to take
42:00
Speaker 2: us by the shoulders and just guide us anywhere they
42:03
Speaker 2: want us to go and leave us there. That's just
42:07
Speaker 2: the way it is. Christianity is not often presented this way.
42:12
Speaker 2: Very often it is sweetness and light and, you know,
42:16
Speaker 2: it's beautiful little songs and Jesus loves me, this I
42:19
Speaker 2: know for the Bible tells me so. All that is true,
42:22
Speaker 2: but Christianity is a, well, it's not for weaklings. Christianity
42:33
Speaker 2: at its heart is for those who are strong. Be
42:37
Speaker 2: strong in the Lord and the power of his might.
42:40
Speaker 2: And I think that is why the Lord allowed chapter
42:46
Speaker 2: 10 to be retained in Scripture, so that we could
42:50
Speaker 2: actually stand behind Paul and watch as he is delivering
42:54
Speaker 2: this incredible defense of the accusations against him. Now, I
43:00
Speaker 2: mentioned a minute ago that a lot of expositors say
43:02
Speaker 2: that chapters 1 through 9 were one letter of Paul. 10, 11,
43:06
Speaker 2: and 12 and beyond are another letter of Paul. that
43:11
Speaker 2: were stitched together. But actually, what this letter is, chapters
43:18
Speaker 2: 1 through 9 were addressed to the faction of the
43:22
Speaker 2: Corinthian church that agreed with Paul. Chapters 10, 11, 12
43:28
Speaker 2: are addressed to the faction that does not agree with Paul.
43:32
Speaker 2: And so he takes a very conciliatory tone of the
43:35
Speaker 2: first nine chapters and a very combative tone in chapters 10, 11,
43:40
Speaker 2: and 12. Verse 8, for though I should boast somewhat
43:49
Speaker 2: more of our authority, which the Lord hath given us
43:51
Speaker 2: for edification, and not for your destruction, I should not
43:55
Speaker 2: be ashamed that I may not seem as if I
43:58
Speaker 2: would terrify you by letters. He said... you may think
44:02
Speaker 2: I have boasted unduly of my authority, which the Lord
44:06
Speaker 2: gave me, remember, to build you up, not to break
44:10
Speaker 2: you down. That's what he's really saying here. But I
44:13
Speaker 2: don't think I've done anything to be ashamed of. I
44:17
Speaker 2: don't think I've done anything to be ashamed of, he says. Wow.
44:23
Speaker 2: I should not be ashamed, it says in the King
44:24
Speaker 2: James Bible, but what it really means is I don't
44:27
Speaker 2: think I've done anything to be ashamed of the great
44:29
Speaker 2: Apostle Paul. Wrote 13 epistles. Defined the church as we
44:35
Speaker 2: know it. From God's mouth through Paul to our ear.
44:40
Speaker 2: I mean, nobody is more important than Paul. And he
44:45
Speaker 2: stands there and says, I don't think I've done anything
44:47
Speaker 2: to be ashamed of. What? Of course you haven't done
44:51
Speaker 2: anything to be ashamed of. This is strange. Verse 9,
44:55
Speaker 2: that I may not seem as if I would terrify
44:58
Speaker 2: you by letters. He says... you must not think of
45:03
Speaker 2: me as one who scares you by the letters that
45:06
Speaker 2: he writes. Now we already alluded to the fact that
45:09
Speaker 2: there is a lost letter. There were probably three letters
45:12
Speaker 2: to the Corinthians. One of them has been lost. And
45:18
Speaker 2: about that letter, Paul alludes to his content saying, I'm really,
45:22
Speaker 2: really sorry I got so steamed up and wrote you
45:25
Speaker 2: that letter. Now that I've cooled off a bit, I'm
45:28
Speaker 2: going to write another one, and I hope you listen
45:30
Speaker 2: to what I say in this letter. So there was
45:33
Speaker 2: real hot-bloodedness. There was real emotion. That's why I say
45:37
Speaker 2: Christianity ain't cool. It is a flesh and blood, blood
45:42
Speaker 2: and guts type. I mean, it's basically at its core
45:45
Speaker 2: a contending for the faith that was once delivered to
45:49
Speaker 2: the saints. Now he answers a charge that he is
45:53
Speaker 2: personally weak, starting in verse 10. For his letters, they say,
45:58
Speaker 2: are weighty and powerful. But his bodily presence is weak
46:05
Speaker 2: and his speech is contemptible. You know, his letters are impressive.
46:12
Speaker 2: They're forceful. Don't bother about his letters. He sounds big.
46:17
Speaker 2: That's all noise. His personality is weak. His delivery is
46:22
Speaker 2: beneath contempt. When he gets here, you're going to see
46:26
Speaker 2: that there's nothing great about him. That's what his critics say.
46:29
Speaker 2: And by the way, Paul was a contemptible man in appearance.
46:33
Speaker 2: His face was apparently not good to look at because
46:37
Speaker 2: of an eye disease that he had. Some say trachonitis.
46:41
Speaker 2: I don't know what it was. Possibly a parasitic disease
46:44
Speaker 2: of the eye which gave him a bad appearance. He
46:47
Speaker 2: was bald. He was hunchbacked. He was bandy-legged. He was short.
46:53
Speaker 2: And he made tents for a living in the marketplace
46:56
Speaker 2: in When he was in Corinth, he worked in the
46:59
Speaker 2: marketplace getting his hands dirty. He was a sweaty guy.
47:03
Speaker 2: And when you make tents, you sit cross-legged on the
47:06
Speaker 2: ground or maybe on a stool. And at the end
47:09
Speaker 2: of the day, you're not looking like an apostle. And
47:13
Speaker 2: you don't smell like one either. And that's Christianity, friends.
47:19
Speaker 2: Forget the magenta robes and the gold tassels. Forget it.
47:26
Speaker 2: Organ music and hymns, okay. That's fine. I love pipe organ.
47:31
Speaker 2: Prelude and fugue and C minor, one of my favorites.
47:36
Speaker 2: But that's not Christianity. That's organ music. Paul was a sweaty,
47:42
Speaker 2: smelly tent maker who spent a good deal of his
47:45
Speaker 2: time chained to a Roman soldier in his first imprisonment.
47:51
Speaker 2: You know, I don't even want to think about that.
47:52
Speaker 2: That's horrible. Could I go through that? Probably not. What
47:57
Speaker 2: am I doing right now? And I asked the question
48:02
Speaker 2: when we first began today, why are we here on
48:04
Speaker 2: a Sunday morning and not out on the golf course
48:07
Speaker 2: or out by the lake? Why are we here? We
48:12
Speaker 2: are here to celebrate the majestic work of our Lord
48:17
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ and those who followed Him and built the
48:23
Speaker 2: thing that we not only believe in, but we get
48:25
Speaker 2: our life from The whole Christian ethos, the living, breathing
48:32
Speaker 2: Christianity in shoe leather, which has nothing at all to
48:36
Speaker 2: do with Christianity, the religion. Nothing at all to do
48:41
Speaker 2: with that. Nothing. The great heroes of the faith have
48:46
Speaker 2: battled many battles down through the last 2,000 years. God
48:51
Speaker 2: may ask you to battle some kind of a battle.
48:53
Speaker 2: You may have to actually break off a relationship with
48:56
Speaker 2: a friend. I couldn't do that. Well, maybe God will
49:00
Speaker 2: call you to do that. Maybe God will call you
49:02
Speaker 2: to do something even more traumatic than that. Who knows
49:07
Speaker 2: what God will call you to do? Look at what
49:08
Speaker 2: he called all the apostles to do. You say, I'm
49:12
Speaker 2: not an apostle. I'm not very important. You are singularly important.
49:18
Speaker 2: Each Christian is as important as every other Christian. Period.
49:24
Speaker 2: And by the way, I'm not standing up here as
49:25
Speaker 2: an authoritarian. I'm just a teacher. I'm just teaching the Word.
49:29
Speaker 2: That's all I'm doing. I have no authority over you whatsoever.
49:34
Speaker 2: Nor do I take any authority. But my job is
49:38
Speaker 2: to put into your consciousness as real an impression of
49:44
Speaker 2: authentic Christianity as it's possible to do. And so that's
49:49
Speaker 2: what we're doing. Struggling to do it. I feel that
49:52
Speaker 2: I'm struggling and falling short, but we'll get there. We're
49:57
Speaker 2: going to stop on this thought. For his letters, they say,
50:00
Speaker 2: are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak.
50:03
Speaker 2: His speech is contemptible. Let such in one think this,
50:08
Speaker 2: that such as we are in word and letters when
50:10
Speaker 2: we're absent, such will we be also in deed when
50:14
Speaker 2: we are present. He said, I live the words I speak.
50:19
Speaker 2: What I say, what I write is no different than
50:21
Speaker 2: what I do. And now he begins to answer a
50:27
Speaker 2: charge first of personal weakness, then in chapter 11 he
50:32
Speaker 2: begins to answer a charge that he's not really an apostle. Then,
50:37
Speaker 2: as you get over into chapter 12, he begins to
50:40
Speaker 2: defend a charge that he is spiritually weak. Oh yeah, Paul.
50:48
Speaker 2: Not only are you physically contemptible, and not only are
50:51
Speaker 2: you not a real apostle, but by the way, you're
50:56
Speaker 2: not even very strong spiritually. Such was the charge against Paul.
51:01
Speaker 2: And Paul said, you know what God did to prove
51:05
Speaker 2: you're wrong? God gave me a thorn in the flesh
51:08
Speaker 2: and I prayed that it might be lifted and God said,
51:10
Speaker 2: my grace is sufficient for thee. That's how I'm going
51:13
Speaker 2: to prove what a great person I am. That's Paul's
51:18
Speaker 2: testimony of personal weakness. Wouldn't it be a much better
51:24
Speaker 2: testimony to say, God gave me a thorn in the
51:26
Speaker 2: flesh and hallelujah, I prayed that the thorn might be
51:31
Speaker 2: removed and it was low. No, it wasn't. It stayed there.
51:39
Speaker 2: It stayed there. Whoa! This is Christianity. Yes, it is, friends,
51:45
Speaker 2: and we're all a part of it. Praise the Lord.
51:48
Speaker 2: We're in this thing together. It's called communion. It's called commonness. Koinonia.
51:55
Speaker 2: When we break the bread and take the cup, what
51:58
Speaker 2: are we testifying to? Are we testifying to something absolutely
52:02
Speaker 2: wonderful and Transcendental? No, we're testifying to the broken body
52:08
Speaker 2: and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Gave
52:12
Speaker 2: himself for us. And I'm preaching to myself here as
52:18
Speaker 2: much as I am to anybody else. Because you tend
52:22
Speaker 2: to reject any personal weakness that you find in yourself.
52:26
Speaker 2: I've been through a long siege of illness. And I'm saying, well,
52:30
Speaker 2: if I were a real Christian, I wouldn't be sick
52:32
Speaker 2: like this. I'd just pray to God and he'd lift
52:34
Speaker 2: the sickness. Right? Maybe not. Maybe God has a different way.
52:43
Speaker 2: He's giving me another message. Not exactly the way I
52:47
Speaker 2: would like for the message to be given, but maybe
52:50
Speaker 2: he is. Christianity ain't cool. Christianity is... Warm-blooded. It's hot.
52:59
Speaker 2: It's on fire. It is the living, breathing flow of
53:03
Speaker 2: the Holy Spirit through individuals. And it flows through all
53:08
Speaker 2: of you just as much as it flows through me.