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Satan’s Most Convincing Disguise | Studies with Stearman · Prophecy Watchers

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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: We're going to continue in 2 Corinthians. Last week we
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Speaker 2: were in 2 Corinthians chapter 10 and there are several
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Speaker 2: thoughts that I have concerning 2 Corinthians. The first is
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Speaker 2: that it is Paul's passionate plea. It's the most passionate
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Speaker 2: thing he's ever, I think, put on paper, including the
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Speaker 2: book of Galatians, which is very, very dramatic. But this
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Speaker 2: is personal. This is personal stuff because Paul is facing
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Speaker 2: charges from the Corinthian church and he's defending himself. Now
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Speaker 2: we studied verses about 1-15 of chapter 10 last week
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Speaker 2: and The language is so heartfelt and so complex that
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Speaker 2: in the Jacobean English of the King James Bible, it's
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Speaker 2: rather difficult to make out what he is saying. So
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Speaker 2: what I did, by way of review, is I typed
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Speaker 2: up verses about 1 through 18 of chapter 10 of
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Speaker 2: 2 Corinthians in, let's call it, Gary's paraphrased version of
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Speaker 2: what Paul is saying. And here's what Paul's saying, starting
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Speaker 2: in 2 Corinthians 10.1 in plain English. He says, now
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Speaker 2: on the basis of Christ's gentleness, I'm going to appeal
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Speaker 2: to you personally. I, Paul, so humble face to face
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Speaker 2: with you, but so bold in dealing with you when
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Speaker 2: I'm far, far away. He said, I beg you not
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Speaker 2: to make me take as bold an attitude when I
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Speaker 2: come as I count on Taking some people who suspect
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Speaker 2: me of acting on worldly motives, I'm afraid that I
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Speaker 2: might have to do some plain talking to those of
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Speaker 2: you who will persist in thinking that my activities are
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Speaker 2: on a purely human level. For although we live in
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Speaker 2: the world, it's no worldly warfare that we're waging. The
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Speaker 2: weapons which we wield are not merely human, but divinely potent.
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Speaker 2: They demolish strongholds. My battle is to bring down every
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Speaker 2: deceptive fantasy, every speculation, every imposing defense that men might
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Speaker 2: put up against the true knowledge of God. And cause
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Speaker 2: every thought to come under the authority of Christ. And
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Speaker 2: when the obedience of your church shall be complete, and
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Speaker 2: Paul's saying this to the Corinthians, when the obedience of
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Speaker 2: your church shall be complete, I'm ready to punish all
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Speaker 2: who may be disobedient. That's pretty strong language coming out
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Speaker 2: of the mouth of Paul. In fact, what he says
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Speaker 2: literally is, I'm ready to court-martial anyone who remains insubordinate
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Speaker 2: once your submission is complete. Look at it this way.
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Speaker 2: Look at this obvious fact, people. Look at this obvious fact.
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Speaker 2: So-and-so considers himself to belong to Christ. All right. But
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Speaker 2: let him reflect that we belong to Christ as much
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Speaker 2: as he does. Now you may think that I have
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Speaker 2: boasted unduly of my own authority, which the Lord gave me, remember,
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Speaker 2: to build you up, not to break you down. But
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Speaker 2: I don't think I've done anything to be ashamed of.
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Speaker 2: I say this lest you should imagine that I'm writing
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Speaker 2: empty threats. Don't bother about his letters, some are saying.
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Speaker 2: He sounds big, but he's all noise. His personality is weak,
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Speaker 2: his delivery is beneath contempt. But when he gets here,
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Speaker 2: you'll see that there's nothing great about him. You've never
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Speaker 2: heard a worse preacher. Well, Paul's quoting what people are
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Speaker 2: saying about him. And he's saying, I'm going to come
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Speaker 2: over there one of these days and don't make me
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Speaker 2: talk straight to you. It's kind of like driving your
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Speaker 2: car and the kids are misbehaving in the backseat. Don't
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Speaker 2: make me stop this car. That's basically what Paul is
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Speaker 2: saying here. Such people, he goes on, such people had
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Speaker 2: better understand that when I arrive and take action. I'll
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Speaker 2: do just as I say I will in my letters
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Speaker 2: when I'm far, far away. Of course, we shouldn't dare
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Speaker 2: include ourselves in the same class as those who write
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Speaker 2: their own testimonials or even compare themselves with themselves. What
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Speaker 2: fools they are to measure themselves by themselves, to find
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Speaker 2: in themselves their own standards of comparison. Now these are
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Speaker 2: his critics that he's talking about. But my boasting never
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Speaker 2: goes beyond the limit. It's determined by the limits of
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Speaker 2: the sphere marked out for me by God. That sphere
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Speaker 2: stretches out to include you, by the way. You yourselves.
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Speaker 2: I'm not overstepping the limit as if you lay beyond
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Speaker 2: my sphere. You're within my sphere of authority, says Paul.
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Speaker 2: God developed that sphere of authority so you're in it.
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Speaker 2: And since that's the case, then I can say what
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Speaker 2: I'm saying. I was the very first, he says, I
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Speaker 2: was the very first to reach you with the gospel
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Speaker 2: of Christ. I do not boast beyond my limits to
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Speaker 2: go into a place where other men have done their
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Speaker 2: work before I did. I was the very first to
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Speaker 2: reach you. My hope is rather that the growth of
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Speaker 2: your faith will allow me to enlarge the range of
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Speaker 2: my appointed sphere of authority. He says, I really want
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Speaker 2: to expand my influence. And I want to go beyond that,
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Speaker 2: he says, and preach the gospel in the lands that
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Speaker 2: lie beyond you without trespassing on the sphere of authority
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Speaker 2: assigned to other people or boasting about what's been already done. Meanwhile,
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Speaker 2: let him that boasts, boast in the Lord. For a
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Speaker 2: man is proved worthy not when he commends himself, but
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Speaker 2: when he is commended by the Lord. Well that's my
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Speaker 2: crude paraphrase of what Paul is saying basically in the
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Speaker 2: 10th chapter of 2 Corinthians. And notice not only is
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Speaker 2: it passionate but it is authoritative. He's speaking about a
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Speaker 2: sphere of authority that was given to him by God
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Speaker 2: and he says this Since God did this, I'm going
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Speaker 2: to see this thing through no matter what it takes. Meanwhile,
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Speaker 2: he's got his critics in Corinth. And today in chapter 11,
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Speaker 2: we're going to find out who those critics are and
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Speaker 2: what motivates them to criticize the Apostle Paul. To me,
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Speaker 2: it's absolutely amazing that Paul lived the life that he
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Speaker 2: did I think if there's a life in the history
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Speaker 2: of this planet that is unusual, totally out of the ordinary,
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Speaker 2: it's the life of the Apostle Paul. Much more so
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Speaker 2: than any of the other apostles. For example, just think
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Speaker 2: about this one thing. Paul was not present at Pentecost
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Speaker 2: when the Spirit was given to the apostles. If he was,
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Speaker 2: he was watching from a distance. as this strange phenomenon
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Speaker 2: took place and it made him very, very angry and
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Speaker 2: he swore he was going to stamp out this upstart
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Speaker 2: movement that was taking place in Jerusalem on Pentecost. And
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Speaker 2: he became the chief authoritative persecutor of the church. As
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Speaker 2: a Pharisee, as a member of the Sanhedrin, one of
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Speaker 2: the bright and shining young stars of Judaism, legal authority
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Speaker 2: without peer, studied the feet of Gamaliel, the enemy of
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Speaker 2: the church, and God picked this man to found churches
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Speaker 2: all over Europe. I'm convinced he went to England, he
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Speaker 2: went to West Africa, he went to what is today's Yugoslavia,
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Speaker 2: northern Italy, he went everywhere. It was Paul who founded
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Speaker 2: the doctrines of the church. It was not Peter, James, John, Luke,
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Speaker 2: none of these others were chosen by God to found
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Speaker 2: the church as we know it. Very strange indeed, and
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Speaker 2: we'll look further into this today. Ending chapter 10, verse 16.
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Speaker 2: Let's start in 10.15 and then move to chapter 11.
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Speaker 2: Not boasting of things without measure, that is, of other
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Speaker 2: men's labors, but having hope when your faith is increased
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Speaker 2: that we should be enlarged by you according to our
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Speaker 2: rule abundantly to preach the gospel in the regions that
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Speaker 2: are beyond you, in which he did, by the way.
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Speaker 2: He preached all the way over to what is today
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Speaker 2: Spain and all the way up the coast to the
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Speaker 2: English Channel and across to London, or as it was
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Speaker 2: called in those days, Londinium, because it was under the
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Speaker 2: rule of the Romans. And He says, I want to
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Speaker 2: go out to other regions and not boast in another
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Speaker 2: man's line of things made ready to our hand. I
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Speaker 2: don't want to take over somebody else's territory. My job
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Speaker 2: is not to come in after someone has founded a
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Speaker 2: church system and then to do visitation. Paul says, I
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Speaker 2: am not a visitation pastor. I am an evangelist. I
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Speaker 2: go to places where the church has never been before.
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Speaker 2: I found a church and I leave and hopefully I'll
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Speaker 2: never have to come back. because I'm off to found others.
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Speaker 2: churches elsewhere. But he that glorieth let him glory in
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Speaker 2: the Lord for not he that commendeth himself is approved
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Speaker 2: but whom the Lord commendeth. Don't criticize anyone. Paraphrasing. Don't
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Speaker 2: criticize anyone until you find out what his calling is.
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Speaker 2: Because Paul here is saying to these people, I am
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Speaker 2: not a visitation pastor. I don't do baptisms. I don't
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Speaker 2: do Marian and Marian. I don't do the typical deacon-like
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Speaker 2: or elder-like functions of a church. I'm not involved in
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Speaker 2: ecclesiastical polity. I'm involved in planting churches. And so Paul's
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Speaker 2: a missionary. Now there are other men who are called
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Speaker 2: to do visitation, who are called to do pulpit work.
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Speaker 2: The Apostle John, for example, became the Bishop of Ephesus
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Speaker 2: later on in the first century, and John in Ephesus
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Speaker 2: was the absolute epitome of a pulpiteer and a visitation pastor.
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Speaker 2: he was a man known for his loving concern for
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Speaker 2: his flock in and around Ephesus, and that's where he
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Speaker 2: stayed in his latter years. Paul was always going from
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Speaker 2: one city to another, right until the day he got
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Speaker 2: his head chopped off by the Roman Empire. I mean,
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Speaker 2: he was just busy, busy, busy. So the point in
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Speaker 2: all this is there are different callings within the church.
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Speaker 2: There's visitation, there's pulpiteering, there is organization, there is mission work, etc., etc.,
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Speaker 2: and don't criticize somebody before you find out what his
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Speaker 2: calling really and truly is. And Paul's being criticized because
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Speaker 2: he's not a visitation pastor to the Corinthians. They keep saying,
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Speaker 2: if you just come back over here, Paul, you can
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Speaker 2: straighten out all the problems and you can prove yourself
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Speaker 2: to be the man that you really say you are.
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Speaker 2: And Paul says, no, that's not necessarily what I do.
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Speaker 2: Now he's in chapter 11 of 2 Corinthians. He's going
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Speaker 2: to go ahead and he's going to talk about how
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Speaker 2: his apostleship works. Now remember 2 Corinthians was written right
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Speaker 2: around AD 56. Nero had come to power in AD 54.
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Speaker 2: The first four or five years of Nero's reign were
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Speaker 2: very peaceful. They were an era of economic growth, stability.
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Speaker 2: The church was quite welcome in Rome. But when Nero
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Speaker 2: began to fail as a ruler he looked around for
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Speaker 2: scapegoats and the perfect scapegoat was the church. And so
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Speaker 2: Right around A.D. 59, A.D. 60, he began to turn
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Speaker 2: against the church. 2 Corinthians is written in A.D. 56.
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Speaker 2: And so it's written in this period when the church
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Speaker 2: is expanding, when the Roman Empire is more or less peaceful,
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Speaker 2: and there's kind of a hiatus here that allows the
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Speaker 2: development of the early church. 2 Corinthians 11. Would to
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Speaker 2: God you could bear with me a little while in
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Speaker 2: my folly. Now, he has just started in chapter 10
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Speaker 2: his folly. And we have read it. I read my
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Speaker 2: paraphrased version of what he's saying to people. And he
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Speaker 2: describes it in chapter 11 as his folly. Actually, the
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Speaker 2: word translated folly here is the Greek word afrosuni. And
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Speaker 2: afrosuni means unthinkingness or mindlessness or speaking quickly without thinking
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Speaker 2: over what you're saying in advance. Afrosuni. frosune would be
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Speaker 2: thinking about something. Put the privative alpha in front of it.
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Speaker 2: Afrosune means not thinking about something. Well that's translated in
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Speaker 2: the King James as folly. And Paul says, I would
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Speaker 2: to God you'd bear with me a little in my folly,
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Speaker 2: in my blurting it all out, in my letting it
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Speaker 2: all hang out without thinking about what I'm saying. I'm
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Speaker 2: just speaking from the heart. That's what he's saying here.
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Speaker 2: So he says, indeed, bear with me, for I am
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Speaker 2: jealous over you with a godly jealousy. For I have
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Speaker 2: espoused you to one husband that I may present you
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Speaker 2: as a chaste virgin to Christ. And this is a
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Speaker 2: metaphor then for the bride of Christ, the church. And
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Speaker 2: the bride of Christ, the church as the bride of
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Speaker 2: Christ is married to one husband. Now if the bride
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Speaker 2: of Christ, the church, goes after another religion that is
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Speaker 2: not Christian, that's the commission of adultery. And we are
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Speaker 2: to be presented as the chaste virgin. In other words,
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Speaker 2: we have wholly committed our belief system to the doctrine
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Speaker 2: of Christ, as it is called by the Apostle John.
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Speaker 2: And therefore we are a chaste virgin, espoused to Christ
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Speaker 2: and one day the marriage supper of the Lamb will
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Speaker 2: take place and things are going to happen that we
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Speaker 2: do not now understand. This whole long episode of espousal
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Speaker 2: so far has run 2,000 years or so is going
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Speaker 2: to come to an end someday and we don't exactly
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Speaker 2: know why or how but we are to remain faithful
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Speaker 2: to that espousal And this is what Paul means when
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Speaker 2: he says, I'm jealous over you with a godly jealousy.
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Speaker 2: I don't want you running around experimenting with some other religion.
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Speaker 2: And there were many of them, of course, in Corinth.
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Speaker 2: Corinth was the home of occultic religions of all kinds.
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Speaker 2: The Delphic oracles and the Eleusinian mysteries, Mystery Babylon the Great,
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Speaker 2: the Babylonian mystery religion, the religions of the worship of
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Speaker 2: the the God in the bull, the shedding of the
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Speaker 2: blood of the bull. I mean they had a dozen
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Speaker 2: different religions and they thought in Corinth that they could
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Speaker 2: be Christians and also experiment one foot in Christianity and
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Speaker 2: one foot in some other religion and syncretize or bring
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Speaker 2: these two religions together and just be dandy for them.
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Speaker 2: And Paul says, no, no, I'm jealous over you with
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Speaker 2: a godly jealousy. I want you to stay with what
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Speaker 2: you started with. Verse 3 says, but I fear less
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Speaker 2: by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety.
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Speaker 2: So your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that
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Speaker 2: is in Christ. Here's another one of those couplets that
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Speaker 2: Paul uses so often as he writes. In verse 3
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Speaker 2: he uses the word subtlety and he uses the word
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Speaker 2: simplicity as two polar opposites. Subtlety is the is the
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Speaker 2: way the serpent works. Simplicity is the way that Christ works.
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Speaker 2: The word simplicity there comes from the Greek haplotes, meaning
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Speaker 2: singleness of heart or absolute sincerity. Saying what you mean,
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Speaker 2: meaning what you say, sticking to what you have spoken publicly,
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Speaker 2: being committed to that which you speak, speaking that to
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Speaker 2: which you are committed, is called simplicity. The simplicity or
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Speaker 2: singleness of heart that is in Christ. And Paul is
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Speaker 2: saying to these people, speaking in his folly, in other
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Speaker 2: words off the top of his head, I'm just going
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Speaker 2: to let it all hang out, says Paul. I fear,
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Speaker 2: lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through
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Speaker 2: his subtlety. So your mind should be corrupted from the
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Speaker 2: simplicity of Christ. By the way, one of the major
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Speaker 2: religions in Corinth was the religion of The Pythian cult,
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Speaker 2: the cult, the Delphic oracles, using dedicated transmediums, the virgins
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Speaker 2: of Delphi, were said to be inhabited by and empowered
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Speaker 2: by the spirit of Pytho, P-Y-T-H-O. That's where we get
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Speaker 2: our name, Python. They were called Pythianesses. They had the ability,
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Speaker 2: if you'd go and toss a few drachmas in their direction,
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Speaker 2: they would tell your fortune. They would summon up the
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Speaker 2: spirit of Pytho and they would tell your fortune. And
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Speaker 2: so the Delphic oracles were one of the serpent religions
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Speaker 2: of ancient Greece. Well here Paul is absolutely naming names.
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Speaker 2: He says, you know, I fear lest by any means
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Speaker 2: a serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety. So your mind
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Speaker 2: should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
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Speaker 2: Big contrast there Verse 4, for if he that cometh
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Speaker 2: preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if
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Speaker 2: you receive another spirit which you have not received, or
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Speaker 2: another gospel which you have not accepted, you might well
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Speaker 2: bear with him. A lot of people were coming through,
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Speaker 2: this has been the case since the founding of Christianity,
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Speaker 2: People try to mix the religions of the world with
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Speaker 2: Christianity and produce sort of a 60-40, 50-50 blend of
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Speaker 2: Christianity with some other religion. The fancy word for that
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Speaker 2: is syncretism. You take a native religion local to the
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Speaker 2: tribes of an area, you bring Christianity in, you build
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Speaker 2: Christian edifices And you bring the natives in and you
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Speaker 2: allow the natives to mingle their own tribal religions with
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Speaker 2: the Christian religion, for example, in any area. And you
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Speaker 2: have what we're talking about here. And this is what
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Speaker 2: people were trying to do in Paul's era. Mingle the Greek,
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Speaker 2: the Greco-Roman, the Hellenistic Jewish religions with pure Christianity. the
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Speaker 2: doctrine of Christ, the simplicity that is in Christ. This
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Speaker 2: goes on day in and day out. It has all
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Speaker 2: the way through the age of the church from the
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Speaker 2: very beginning right to the present day. There is a
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Speaker 2: temptation to mingle the religions of this world with pure Christianity.
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Speaker 2: Today it's going on big time, right? The emergent church
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Speaker 2: welcomes any doctrine into the Christian church, including the GLBTQ religions,
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Speaker 2: the religions that have to do with abortion, the religions
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Speaker 2: that have to do with the various rights groups. There
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Speaker 2: are a number of groups that are trying to assert
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Speaker 2: their civil rights right now. And there are a number
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Speaker 2: of Christian preachers who are saying, well, we ought to
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Speaker 2: welcome these other groups, these deviant groups within the walls
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Speaker 2: of Christianity and modify our Christianity so that it accepts
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Speaker 2: these other groups. Notice I'm not naming any names. Initials maybe.
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Speaker 2: GLBTQ and so forth. But that's Christianity. And do you
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Speaker 2: have a passion for the simplicity of Christ? Paul just
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Speaker 2: had a dying, breathless passion to preserve Christ. Christianity, the spirit,
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Speaker 2: the simplicity that's in Christ. If you read the words
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Speaker 2: of Paul carefully and take them to heart, you're going
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Speaker 2: to be on that same wavelength. You're going to at
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Speaker 2: last come to the point where you say there's a
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Speaker 2: lot that can be said about Christianity, but the main
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Speaker 2: thing that can be said about Christianity is that you
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Speaker 2: must maintain fidelity with the simplicity that is in Christ.
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Speaker 2: In other words, you must become a guileless believer with
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Speaker 2: a childlike faith in the divine full inspiration of the
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Speaker 2: Word of God, the vicarious substitutionary atonement of the Lord
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Speaker 2: Jesus Christ, the virgin birth, the literal resurrection of Christ
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Speaker 2: on the third day, the miracles of the Bible, all
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Speaker 2: of those things that the world is too sophisticated to believe,
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Speaker 2: you believe because you follow the simplicity that's in Christ.
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Speaker 2: Verse 5, for I suppose, says Paul, in his Afrosuni way,
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Speaker 2: in his just-off-the-top-of-his-head way, he says, for I suppose I
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Speaker 2: was not one whit behind the very chiefest apostles. So
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Speaker 2: you guys want to impugn my reputation as apostle? Let
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Speaker 2: me just tell you, right off the top of my
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Speaker 2: head here, I wasn't even a little bit behind the
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Speaker 2: chief apostles. Who would the chief apostles be? Well the
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Speaker 2: apostle Peter and John. These apostles that walked with Jesus
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Speaker 2: and ate with him and slept with him and went
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Speaker 2: fishing with him and all the very closest people. Paul
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Speaker 2: didn't do any of those things. In fact what Paul
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Speaker 2: did was try to destroy the early church. So think
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Speaker 2: about this, you're alive in AD 56 and some guy
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Speaker 2: comes to town and has a guest shot at the
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Speaker 2: pulpit in your church and he stands up and he says,
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Speaker 2: you know, that Paul, he thinks he's pretty hot stuff,
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Speaker 2: but you know, he's not one of the real apostles. No,
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Speaker 2: he didn't go fishing with them. He didn't go down
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Speaker 2: by the lake, you know, when Jesus came back and
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Speaker 2: after his resurrection, you know, and fixed breakfast for all
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Speaker 2: the guys down there by the lakeside. Paul wasn't there.
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Speaker 2: Paul's not a real apostle. Paul's a guy who came
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Speaker 2: along nine years after Pentecost and stood up and said,
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Speaker 2: I'm an apostle too. Don't believe it. He's not. He's
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Speaker 2: a false apostle. He's a faker. And Paul had to
25:52
Speaker 2: bear up under all this. The great apostle Paul Had
25:58
Speaker 2: to bear up under these charges constantly. And so he's
26:02
Speaker 2: now saying things like, bear with me in my folly.
26:06
Speaker 2: I'm just going to rattle off a few things here.
26:08
Speaker 2: I suppose I wasn't even a little bit behind the
26:11
Speaker 2: very chiefest apostles. Verse 6, but though I be rude
26:15
Speaker 2: in speech, and he was rude in speech, I don't
26:19
Speaker 2: know why he was rude in speech. But facially, we
26:25
Speaker 2: have three or four descriptions from the patristic era, people
26:31
Speaker 2: who interviewed people who knew the apostles and then wrote
26:36
Speaker 2: down descriptions of them. And there are some very good
26:41
Speaker 2: physical descriptions of most of the apostles. For example, Peter
26:45
Speaker 2: was very, very tall for that era. He was around
26:49
Speaker 2: six feet tall, very thin, had black hair and a
26:54
Speaker 2: black beard and blue eyes. That's the apostle Peter. as
26:59
Speaker 2: described by the patristic fathers. Paul was a short guy
27:03
Speaker 2: with bandy legs, that is, he had bow legs. He
27:07
Speaker 2: had gnarled hands, and he had an ugly face and
27:10
Speaker 2: a very, very objectionable voice. Possibly a speech impediment. Maybe
27:17
Speaker 2: he lost some teeth, I don't know. But he had
27:19
Speaker 2: bad eyes. And Paul, in his own letters, describes himself
27:23
Speaker 2: as not pleasant to look upon. And so he says
27:31
Speaker 2: here in verse 6, but though I be rude in
27:33
Speaker 2: speech idiotis is the word for rude but though I
27:45
Speaker 2: be rude idiotis in speech he says I'm not rude
27:52
Speaker 2: in knowledge. We'll talk about an understatement. Paul's got to
27:55
Speaker 2: be the genius of the western hemisphere. I mean I'm
27:59
Speaker 2: In all Western civilization, nobody outdid Paul's ideas. But we
28:05
Speaker 2: have been thoroughly made manifest among you in all things.
28:11
Speaker 2: In other words, what you see is what you get
28:15
Speaker 2: with me. Verse 7, have I committed an offense in
28:19
Speaker 2: abasing myself that ye might be exalted? Because I have
28:24
Speaker 2: preached the gospel to you freely. This is a reference
28:27
Speaker 2: to Paul working Paul earned his own money as a
28:31
Speaker 2: tent maker by the sweat of his brow. And in
28:36
Speaker 2: those days it was common for a worker in that
28:39
Speaker 2: warm climate to tie a sweatband around his head called
28:44
Speaker 2: a sudarian. And you'd be wearing a sweatband and wearing
28:50
Speaker 2: loose robes and sandals and sitting in the dirt making tents.
28:55
Speaker 2: His hands were gnarled, calloused. He was making money He
29:00
Speaker 2: was not taking money from those who said, here, Paul,
29:06
Speaker 2: take this money, we're going to finance the early church. No,
29:09
Speaker 2: he always made money. He's describing that right here in
29:12
Speaker 2: verse 7. Have I made some kind of mistake in
29:16
Speaker 2: abasing myself that you might be exalted by working for
29:19
Speaker 2: a living? Out there on the hard ground making tents,
29:26
Speaker 2: working on tables. stitching and sewing and doing all that stuff,
29:31
Speaker 2: getting my hands all messed up. And by the way,
29:34
Speaker 2: those sudareoi that he wore, the sweatbands on his head,
29:37
Speaker 2: he would take those off. and those would be sent
29:40
Speaker 2: to other churches and they had the power to heal.
29:43
Speaker 2: Wouldn't you believe that? Put that sweatband on some part
29:50
Speaker 2: of your body and you'd be healed. Wow! That's amazing.
29:56
Speaker 2: He said, have I committed some kind of an offense
29:59
Speaker 2: that you might be exalted because I have preached the
30:02
Speaker 2: gospel freely. Freely means as a gift to you. The
30:08
Speaker 2: word dorea is used here in the Greek which means
30:10
Speaker 2: a gift. I have preached the gospel to you, I've
30:14
Speaker 2: given it to you as a gift. I'm not charging
30:18
Speaker 2: for the gospel. I robbed other churches, taking wages of
30:23
Speaker 2: them to do you service. In other words, I have
30:26
Speaker 2: taken offerings from other churches. And I have helped you
30:34
Speaker 2: to plant your church. But I'm not taking money from
30:38
Speaker 2: churches for my own existence, for my own living. Verse 9,
30:44
Speaker 2: And when I was present with you and wanted, I
30:47
Speaker 2: was chargeable to no man. For that which was lacking
30:52
Speaker 2: to me, the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied. And
30:56
Speaker 2: in all things I've kept myself from being burdensome unto you.
30:59
Speaker 2: And so Will I keep myself? He said I've given
31:03
Speaker 2: my gospel teaching to you as a gift. I've asked
31:07
Speaker 2: nothing of you. In fact I've taken offerings from other
31:11
Speaker 2: churches and used it to help you people. And he
31:17
Speaker 2: says this is the way I operate and it's the
31:18
Speaker 2: way I'm going to continue to operate. I'm not in
31:20
Speaker 2: it for the money is basically what he's saying. And
31:24
Speaker 2: he wants to make sure they understand that. Verse 10,
31:29
Speaker 2: as the truth of Christ is in me, no man
31:31
Speaker 2: shall stop me of this boasting in the regions of Achaia.
31:36
Speaker 2: Achaia is the territory of Corinth, southern Greece. And Paul says,
31:43
Speaker 2: I'm telling you the truth in Christ. Nobody's going to
31:48
Speaker 2: keep me from boasting about what I did for Achaia,
31:53
Speaker 2: for you people. I didn't come among you for what
31:57
Speaker 2: I could get, I came among you for what I
31:59
Speaker 2: could give, is what Paul's saying here. Verse 11, Wherefore,
32:04
Speaker 2: because I love you not, God knoweth. Why did I
32:10
Speaker 2: do this? Because I don't love you? It's a sarcastic question.
32:15
Speaker 2: Paul is actually using a sarcastic tone here. Well, you
32:18
Speaker 2: should never use sarcasm. Well, Paul uses it to rather
32:21
Speaker 2: good effect.
32:22
Speaker 1: Hmm.
32:24
Speaker 2: Why did I do all this? Because I don't love you?
32:27
Speaker 2: This is a very Jewish way to speak. Hey, listen.
32:31
Speaker 2: Is it because I don't love you? Listen. God knows.
32:35
Speaker 2: You can just hear him talking, kind of like a
32:40
Speaker 2: typical Jewish guy. But what I do, he says, that
32:47
Speaker 2: I will do, that I may cut off occasion from
32:50
Speaker 2: them which desire occasion. He says there are people that
32:54
Speaker 2: are in it for what they can get out of it.
32:55
Speaker 2: There are people that are in it for the money.
32:57
Speaker 2: Now I'm not calling anybody any name here, but you
33:01
Speaker 2: know who they are. That wherein they glory they may
33:05
Speaker 2: be found even as we. For such are false apostles.
33:11
Speaker 2: Deceitful workers transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. So
33:16
Speaker 2: here he says now there are people running around who
33:18
Speaker 2: are calling themselves apostles. And they're not. You want to
33:24
Speaker 2: talk about apostles? Let's talk about apostles, he says. There
33:28
Speaker 2: are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves. Transforming themselves. Metaskematizomanoi. Metaskematizomanoi.
33:42
Speaker 2: That's one of those 26-letter Greek words. Metaskematizomanoi, which means
33:51
Speaker 2: Transforming yourself or working to disguise yourself as something that
33:55
Speaker 2: you are not. Putting on a very well-crafted disguise. See,
34:05
Speaker 2: here's the word transforming. Transforming themselves as the apostles of Christ.
34:11
Speaker 2: And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an
34:17
Speaker 2: angel of light. And by the way, that's the same
34:19
Speaker 2: word used about Satan. But it means transforming yourself into
34:29
Speaker 2: something that you are not. Satan has transformed himself into
34:34
Speaker 2: an angel of light. Have you ever read about the
34:37
Speaker 2: New Age movement or various branches of occultism? I have
34:42
Speaker 2: several books at home on the subject. which I keep
34:45
Speaker 2: in my indexed library so that innocent eyes may not
34:49
Speaker 2: peer upon them, there are over 630 New Age religions
34:57
Speaker 2: today by name. And they all have some slight variant
35:03
Speaker 2: of illumination. That is to say, they offer to the
35:09
Speaker 2: prospective worshiper a kind of spiritual enlightenment or illumination. And
35:19
Speaker 2: guess who is doing the illuminating? That would be Satan,
35:22
Speaker 2: transforming himself into an angel of light. And if you
35:28
Speaker 2: examine the New Age movement and all of the occultic
35:32
Speaker 2: branches of these religions, you will discover that the central
35:36
Speaker 2: aspect of all of them is that they promise one enlightenment. Illumination.
35:42
Speaker 2: Now Christianity does not promise one illumination. I do not
35:46
Speaker 2: come selling illumination here when I teach the word of
35:50
Speaker 2: the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus doesn't give you illumination, He
35:54
Speaker 2: gives you relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
36:00
Speaker 2: Which beats illumination all to pieces. I mean you can
36:04
Speaker 2: take your pick. Do you want to be illuminated or
36:06
Speaker 2: do you want to be part of God's family. Take
36:08
Speaker 2: your choice. I want to be part of God's family.
36:12
Speaker 2: I want to be joined to the Father through the
36:14
Speaker 2: Son and of course He's the source of all light
36:18
Speaker 2: and illumination is part of the deal but it's not
36:21
Speaker 2: why you come to Christ for illumination. You come to
36:24
Speaker 2: Christ for relationship because that relationship was broken in ages
36:30
Speaker 2: past and Jesus made the way to come back to
36:34
Speaker 2: Him Verse 15, therefore it's no great thing if his
36:40
Speaker 2: ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness, whose
36:46
Speaker 2: end shall be according to their works, namely damnation. Those
36:51
Speaker 2: are my words. But three times here, you have this schematizo, schematizo, schematizo,
37:01
Speaker 2: depending on the part of speech. Meaning to transform oneself
37:05
Speaker 2: into something that one is not. Three times here in
37:08
Speaker 2: verses 13, 14, 15 that word transformed is used. And
37:14
Speaker 2: take careful note of that because if somebody comes offering
37:19
Speaker 2: illumination or enlightenment of some sort it is because they
37:24
Speaker 2: have transformed themselves into something that they are not. In
37:29
Speaker 2: fact they are bearers of darkness rather than light. And
37:34
Speaker 2: so it was with the false apostles that were plaguing Corinth.
37:40
Speaker 2: Verse 16, I say again, let no man think me
37:44
Speaker 2: a fool. Let no man think me mindless. Let no
37:53
Speaker 2: man think me stupid. If otherwise, yet as a fool,
38:00
Speaker 2: receive me. that I may boast myself a little. Listen
38:06
Speaker 2: to the pratings of an old man here. While I
38:10
Speaker 2: boast just a little bit. And here he's going to
38:15
Speaker 2: begin a trend that will continue on into chapter 12.
38:21
Speaker 2: What Paul calls boasting is not what you and I
38:23
Speaker 2: would call boasting at all. What Paul is getting ready
38:26
Speaker 2: to do is the opposite of boasting. He's going to
38:32
Speaker 2: display himself in absolute humility, which he then calls boasting.
38:39
Speaker 2: And it really isn't. As a fool, receive me, that
38:43
Speaker 2: I may boast myself a little. Pull up your chair
38:47
Speaker 2: a little closer. Listen to me. I've got some things
38:49
Speaker 2: that I want to tell you. Hey, receive me as
38:53
Speaker 2: a fool, that I may boast myself a little. Here,
38:57
Speaker 2: pull your chair a little bit closer. I've got something
38:59
Speaker 2: I want to tell you. That's the idea here. Verse 17,
39:07
Speaker 2: that which I speak, I speak it not after the Lord,
39:12
Speaker 2: but as it were foolishly. In this confidence of boasting.
39:18
Speaker 2: Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also.
39:24
Speaker 2: So allow me to do a little boasting and glorying here.
39:27
Speaker 2: And what he's doing is making fun of these false
39:30
Speaker 2: apostles who actually do glorify themselves and boast about their credentials.
39:37
Speaker 2: You want to talk credentials? I'll talk credentials. This is
39:40
Speaker 2: the way. This is what we're talking about here. Seeing
39:45
Speaker 2: that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also.
39:49
Speaker 2: For You suffer fools gladly, seeing yourselves are wise. These
39:56
Speaker 2: are very harsh words, and yet they are words that
40:00
Speaker 2: are tempered with a kind of a Jewish folk humor,
40:09
Speaker 2: folk wisdom. You people suffer fools gladly, seeing yourselves are wise.
40:16
Speaker 2: For you suffer if a man bring you into bondage,
40:19
Speaker 2: if a man devour you, if a man take of you,
40:22
Speaker 2: if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you
40:24
Speaker 2: on the face, you dummy. You're letting these people hit
40:34
Speaker 2: you in the mouth. You've accepted these people who claim
40:38
Speaker 2: they are false teachers and who have impugned me as
40:41
Speaker 2: a false apostle. And look what they're doing to you.
40:45
Speaker 2: Verse 21, I speak as concerning reproach. And the modern
40:51
Speaker 2: English word for that would be criticism. Paul says, I
40:54
Speaker 2: speak as concerning criticism as though we had been weak.
40:59
Speaker 2: How be it whereinsoever any is bold, I speak foolishly,
41:02
Speaker 2: I'm bold also. And again, it's Paul lapsing into this
41:09
Speaker 2: kind of a folk witticism. I speak, listen, I'm speaking
41:15
Speaker 2: as concerning criticism as though we had been weak. How
41:20
Speaker 2: be it? Wherein so everyone is bold, I speak foolishly. Listen,
41:25
Speaker 2: I'm bold also. He's using that kind of a rich,
41:32
Speaker 2: avuncular style. to talk to people who have been gulled
41:40
Speaker 2: into believing that there are some really hot shots on
41:43
Speaker 2: the gospel trail out there. We really need to follow
41:46
Speaker 2: these hot shots who have come into town. And Paul says, listen,
41:51
Speaker 2: they're hitting you on the face. Listen, I'm speaking as
41:56
Speaker 2: concerning criticism, as though we've been weak. However, however it
42:01
Speaker 2: might be, I speak foolishly. I'm bold also. And now
42:06
Speaker 2: we come to a clue as to who these people
42:09
Speaker 2: are that are presenting themselves as the true apostles. Paul says,
42:15
Speaker 2: are they Hebrews? Aha! So they are. These false apostles
42:20
Speaker 2: who have come into Corinth are Hebrews. Are they Hebrews?
42:27
Speaker 2: So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are
42:33
Speaker 2: they the seed of Abraham?
42:34
Speaker 1: No.
42:36
Speaker 2: So am I. And in the Greek, this just reads wonderfully.
42:42
Speaker 2: He says, are they Hebrews? Kago. Kago in Greek means
42:50
Speaker 2: so am I. He says, Kago. Kago. Kago. He says
43:10
Speaker 2: three times, he says, And it's, there are lots of
43:16
Speaker 2: ways you could say so am I in Greek, but
43:18
Speaker 2: he's chosen that, just that little terse. Like, who do
43:30
Speaker 2: these people think they are? And remember now, they have
43:33
Speaker 2: come into town on the heels of Paul, presenting themselves
43:38
Speaker 2: as the true apostles. Paul is the false apostle. They're
43:42
Speaker 2: presenting themselves as the people with the real dope on Christianity. Paul,
43:46
Speaker 2: they're presenting as a man who's just making it all up.
43:56
Speaker 2: The Hebrews? Yeah. The Israelites? They're the seed of Abraham? Yeah.
44:06
Speaker 2: the ministers of Christ I speak as a fool I
44:09
Speaker 2: am more in labors more abundant stripes above measure in
44:13
Speaker 2: prisons more frequent in deaths oft of the Jews five
44:18
Speaker 2: times I received forty stripes save one thrice I was
44:23
Speaker 2: beaten with rods I was stoned thrice I suffered shipwreck
44:27
Speaker 2: a night and a day have I been in the
44:28
Speaker 2: deep in journeyings often Perils of waters, perils of robbers,
44:41
Speaker 2: perils by my own countrymen, perils of the heathen, perils
44:44
Speaker 2: of the city, perils of the wilderness, perils of the sea,
44:46
Speaker 2: and perils among false brethren, in weariness, painfulness, in watchings often,
44:51
Speaker 2: in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.
44:57
Speaker 2: Besides those things which are without, that's which cometh upon
45:00
Speaker 2: me daily, the care of all the churches. Who is
45:07
Speaker 2: weak and I'm not weak? who is offended, and I
45:10
Speaker 2: burn not. If I must needs glory, I will glory
45:13
Speaker 2: of the things which concern mine infirmities. The God, Father
45:20
Speaker 2: of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed forevermore, knoweth
45:24
Speaker 2: that I lie not. Why, in Damascus, the governor under
45:30
Speaker 2: Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with
45:33
Speaker 2: a garrison, desirous to apprehend me. And by the way,
45:41
Speaker 2: a garrison, if you examine the wording behind this, is
45:45
Speaker 2: a large contingent of Roman soldiers who are trained to
45:53
Speaker 2: block any entry and access to a city. So they
45:56
Speaker 2: really wanted Paul badly. In Damascus, the governor under Aretas
45:59
Speaker 2: the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison.
46:04
Speaker 2: Desirous to apprehend me. And through a window and a
46:08
Speaker 2: basket I was let down by the wall and escaped
46:10
Speaker 2: his hands. You want to talk about apostolic credentials, says Paul?
46:14
Speaker 2: I speak as a fool. I was let down in
46:17
Speaker 2: a basket once. You should be let down in a
46:20
Speaker 2: basket sometime. You should be stoned. In Lystra he was
46:26
Speaker 2: stoned and left for dead. We'll read about this next week,
46:28
Speaker 2: by the way, when we continue this. He was stoned
46:32
Speaker 2: and left for dead in Lystra. They took him back
46:34
Speaker 2: into town and He was alive and teaching the next day.
46:41
Speaker 2: And this is very key to understanding the next chapter.
46:48
Speaker 2: Because when we get into chapter 12, Paul says that
46:51
Speaker 2: he went to heaven and saw things that he was
46:54
Speaker 2: forbidden to utter. But Paul's boasting is never in his
47:02
Speaker 2: huge successes. The thing that the world would call huge
47:08
Speaker 2: successes are not what he uses for boasting. He boasts
47:12
Speaker 2: about what we would call failures. Like God allowed him
47:19
Speaker 2: to be beaten with rods and God allowed him to
47:22
Speaker 2: be in shipwreck and God allowed him to be robbed
47:26
Speaker 2: and God allowed him to be absolutely Pounded by false teachers.
47:38
Speaker 2: And he says, those are my credentials. This is what
47:40
Speaker 2: I'm boasting about in my life. Now, have you ever
47:43
Speaker 2: had trouble in your life? Ever have a time of trouble?
47:48
Speaker 2: What do you do at a time of trouble when
47:51
Speaker 2: you are having a sickness, when you're having a setback,
47:54
Speaker 2: financial difficulties? People have got it out for you unjustly,
47:59
Speaker 2: and you say, what's the first words out of your mouth? God,
48:02
Speaker 2: where are you in all this? Why are you letting
48:05
Speaker 2: this happen to me? Well, imagine what Paul said. Paul,
48:10
Speaker 2: the great apostle, had a succession of miseries. And later
48:16
Speaker 2: on here in a letter he says, this is the
48:19
Speaker 2: stuff I want to boast about. This is the precise
48:22
Speaker 2: opposite of what the church says. teaches today, namely, that
48:27
Speaker 2: if you're really safe in Christ and really in the
48:29
Speaker 2: will of God, we don't bless your socks off. You
48:32
Speaker 2: won't be able to count all your money. You won't
48:34
Speaker 2: be able to carry it down to the bank. Oh,
48:37
Speaker 2: it's just going to be wonderful. That's the way Christianity
48:41
Speaker 2: is taught. But the way Paul teaches it is the
48:44
Speaker 2: opposite way. He said, I'm in it not because I'm
48:47
Speaker 2: going to get anything out of it. I'm in it
48:49
Speaker 2: because I believe in the simplicities of Christ. He says
48:58
Speaker 2: to the Corinthians, so your minds should be corrupted from
49:02
Speaker 2: the simplicity that is in Christ. He said there are
49:05
Speaker 2: constantly people who are trying to build a false Christianity
49:10
Speaker 2: out here that's built on all kinds of false premises
49:14
Speaker 2: rather than the simplicity that's in Christ. And that's why
49:19
Speaker 2: we have these letters in the Bible, to keep us
49:22
Speaker 2: grounded in the tough times, to keep us thinking realistically
49:27
Speaker 2: and not idealistically. And by the way, I'm preaching to
49:32
Speaker 2: myself as much as to any of you, because people
49:36
Speaker 2: have troubles, people have difficulties. They ask God, where are you, God?
49:41
Speaker 2: Why aren't you looking out for me? Well, he is.
49:43
Speaker 2: But he's looking out for you in his own way.
49:46
Speaker 2: And later on, you're going to understand what it is.
49:49
Speaker 2: But right now, your job is to remain faithful. And
49:52
Speaker 2: so we do. And thanks to God, we have testimonies
49:56
Speaker 2: like 2 Corinthians chapter 11 in the Bibles.