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On Aug 21, 2005: 2 Corinthians 11:5-15 · Teachings On This Day On FerventWord

• You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2005. Paul starts out in verse 5, and like I said, it's in the middle of a thought, because he's been talking about these false apostles, and he's been expressing his fear and concern that they would be swept away or deceived and taken away by those who preach another Jesus, a Jesus other than what the Bible presents, than the Son of God who came and died on the cross for our sins. He is freaked out and worried that they would be following a different gospel and receiving that, the things that the false apostles were teaching and having to say. And he's freaked out and concerned because there is only one way Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. In John 14, 6, he said, no one comes to the Father but by me. And so we understand and know there's only one way. These guys are preaching another Jesus. And if there's only one way, it's not the one way. It's a different way. And it does not lead to the Father. It does not lead to salvation. So Paul is very concerned. And as he's sharing then, he... He continues on now in verse 5. He says, These apostles and those who are coming proclaiming this another Jesus, who are they? Well, they called themselves the most eminent apostles. So it's kind of a difficult word to say. I'm sure you could try it later and it sounds like M&M, I know. But the most eminent apostles. Now, Paul's not referring to Peter, James, and John and those 12 disciples who walked with Jesus and were called his apostles and sent out after his resurrection. It's a title that the false apostles used gave to themselves. And they said, we're the most eminent apostles. What does that mean? Well, most eminent, it's two words in the Greek combined, and it means this, exceedingly great beyond measure. Now, can you imagine that? calling yourself this. Like, hey, I want you to know I'm here and I'm the exceedingly great, beyond measure, apostle. They called themselves super apostles. They had this regard for themselves. Why? Well, we saw a chapter earlier, they compared themselves with themselves and came to their own conclusions about how great they were. And so that's how they proclaimed themselves as these super apostles, these greatly, exceedingly great, beyond measure apostles. And And so you can understand why Paul keeps talking about and warning against commending yourself because you end up in a position like this. As you exalt yourself and proclaim yourself, you end up proclaiming your own greatness, which really there is none at all to be proclaimed there. So Paul says these most eminent apostles, that's what they called themselves, He says, I'm not at all inferior to them. I consider myself and I'm not at all inferior to them. That word inferior means to come behind or to fall short. And not at all means not even one or no one. The idea is this. Not even an inch. Are we behind these most eminent apostles? Not even an ounce. Are we different in the weight of the things that God has called us to do and the ministry he's called us to? Not even a little bit. Not even a teensy tiny bit. Are they better than us? Not at all. They call themselves the exceedingly great beyond measure, but we're not inferior to them at all. Not even a little tiny bit. They are false apostles and Paul will proclaim that and demonstrate that today. Paul boldly says, I don't fall behind any of those so-called super apostles. Now, you might wonder, how could Paul say that? What is he saying about these guys and what is he saying about himself, that he is the exceedingly great beyond measure apostle? No, no, no. He's saying... that they're not what they claim to be. He's also saying, and he demonstrates this, that his ministry is completely different, and the way that they measure themselves is not a good way to measure themselves. They measure themselves by themselves, we saw, but Paul's ministry, the characteristics of it were completely different than the ministry of these false apostles. And we can see that. In fact, turn with me now very quickly to 1 Corinthians 2. 1 Corinthians chapter 2, we'll jump back to 2 Corinthians 11 in a few moments, but 1 Corinthians chapter 2, Paul explains the difference between his ministry and theirs, or he tells us really about his ministry so we can understand the difference. 1 Corinthians chapter 2, starting in verse 1, it says this, Verse 1. but in demonstration of the spirit and of power that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God." Paul says, "Look, when I came to you guys in Corinth..." Now, you need to remember that he spent eighteen months there. As he went there and established the church, he said, "I came to you, I didn't come with excellent speech and these great arguments and all these philosophical ideas that were very profound. I came to you in simplicity. He says in verse 2 that I determined to not know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It was the most important thing. It was the gospel message that Paul was there to deliver. He kept it simple on purpose. He determined it ahead of time. I'm going to keep it simple. I'm not going to use excellent speech. I'm not going to use all these flowery words or this eloquence. That their faith may not be, he says in verse 5, that your faith should not be in man. That you wouldn't be having faith in me because of my arguments or my words or anything I have to say, but that your faith would be in the power of God. In what God has done and the demonstration that he has given, that he truly is God. Now, in the culture that the Corinthians lived in, this would be very significant. And it was a good idea for Paul to approach it this way because... Greece, the Greek Empire and the Greek culture loved all types of philosophies. They loved to hear the philosophers and the orators and all the things that people had to say. In fact, in Athens, we find in Acts chapter 17, verse 21, it talks about the Athens and it's important to know that Athens was just down the street from Corinth. It's just 50 miles down the road from Corinth, right in the same area. The Athenians in Acts 17.21 says, the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing. That's what they cared about. That's what they were excited about. They just always wanted to hear or always wanted to talk about some new thing, some new philosophy, some new... message or thing that needed to be heard. And so they would spend no time doing anything else. They would just, you know, oh, did you hear this? Did you hear that? Delivering speeches, listening to speeches. And so eloquence was something that was very valuable, very highly looked upon because, man, if you could deliver something and everybody wanted to hear it, then that was something to be attained. That was something to be looked at and to be to be envied. And so the Apostle Paul, when he comes to Corinth, as he's entering into that Greek culture, he says, look, I don't want to have any kind of eloquence debates with these guys who have the most excellent speech or arguments. Forget it. I'm just going to know one thing when I come there, and that's Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I'm going to stick to the gospel message, stick to the cross, stick to Jesus Christ, because that's what really matters and that's what's really important. So simply sharing the gospel, that the power of God might be and might be the object of their faith and not fancy words or arguments or who had the best sounding argument. He wanted their faith to be in God. Now the ministry, as he ministered this simple way, just sharing the gospel, Jesus Christ and him crucified, it was accompanied by miracles as well. 2 Corinthians chapter 12, we'll see it in a couple weeks, but chapter 12 verse 12 says, truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance in signs and wonders and mighty deeds. And so Paul says, look, we came to you with simplicity and and sharing the gospel message, but the Spirit of God was there in power, demonstrating all of the signs of an apostle. And so maybe we didn't have excellence of speech, we didn't have these fancy arguments, but the power of God was at work to authenticate our ministry and our apostleship. Now the false apostles, these super apostles so-called, say, well, Paul's message is too simple. And that's the problem with it. It's too simple. And what you really need, if you really want to be spiritual, if you really want to be saved, you need to hear what we have to say. But Paul says, the only thing that's necessary is this one thing. That's Jesus Christ saved. crucified. It's a simple message, but that's the gospel message. It was accompanied by signs and miracles, so Paul says, I'm not at all inferior. My apostleship, my ministry was proved to you. Yes, the message was simple, but the power of God was demonstrated. All the signs of an apostle were demonstrated. Back now in 2 Corinthians chapter 11, we go on to verse 6. It says, Even though I am untrained in speech, yet I am not in knowledge, but we have been thoroughly manifested among you in all things. He continues on. He's saying essentially the same thing. He says, I'm untrained in speech, yet not in knowledge. And I really like this word untrained because it means, it's the idea of a common person, a common man. If you're using that word in reference to the military, it means a soldier as opposed to an officer. If you're using that word in reference to, say, writing, then it would be someone who writes in normal, ordinary language as opposed to a poet. Right? or someone who would write in poetry. And so you see the difference, the professionality of it is different. Paul says, I'm untrained in speech. It means he spoke in a common language. He spoke in a way that everybody would be able to understand. It was something very easy and accessible to everybody, no matter what their level was. These super apostles, these false apostles, they spoke with refined language and were trained orators. They sounded beautiful. They sounded great. But Paul spoke in the common language with simplicity. And so it's important to know and understand. Paul says, I'm untrained in speech, yet I'm not in knowledge. Paul says, yeah, I spoke in a simple way, in a way that you could understand it, but that doesn't mean that there's no depth to me. It doesn't mean I have no knowledge of of the things of God. We, in fact, see the contrary. We see incredible depth to the Apostle Paul in all of his books that he wrote throughout the New Testament. In fact, 2,000 years later, we're still trying to figure out half of what he said because it was deep. He had a real relationship with God. He knew his Maker and he shared deep things with us. But he shared the message of the Gospel in simplicity and with clarity. He delivered the simple message that everybody would be able to understand. Even Peter understood the depth of Paul. In 2 Peter 3, verse 16, he says, Yeah, Paul writes a lot of things that are very hard to understand. And so we know that Paul was not untrained in knowledge. In fact, we know that he was trained as a Pharisee. He was a scholar. He knew the scriptures, the Old Testament, back and forth. He knew them through and through. But he made sure to deliver the message in a simple way. He speaks simply, not because he knew less, but because the message is supposed to be simple. And if it were not simple, I mean, I think we should be glad that it is simple, because if it was not simple, how would you and I ever expect or get a chance to share the gospel message if it was not a simple message that we could share, if we couldn't share it in common, ordinary language. And sometimes it's easy for us to think that way and to begin to think along the same lines. Like, hey, I can't share the gospel. It's difficult. It's hard. But no, no, the message is simple. We can look at evangelists like Greg Laurie and say, man, he's the professional. Let's just leave the evangelism, leave the sharing of the gospel to him. We'll just maybe try to invite them to this or to that so they can hear the gospel message. But I can't share it. I'm not an evangelist. I'm not a good speaker. I'm not this or that. But it's not true. That's what we like to think or what we think sometimes. It's what we can think. But I want to do a test real quick. Can you say the words Jesus Christ crucified? Let's try that together. On the count of three, Jesus Christ crucified. One, two, three, Jesus Christ crucified. See? You're qualified. You're able to say the words to share the gospel message. It's that simple. That's what we need to share. That's what Paul determined to know. It's a simple message that can be delivered in a common language. It doesn't have to have all these great arguments and all these great philosophies, even if you're talking to whoever. The simple issue is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's what 1 John chapter 4 tells us. Who do you say that Jesus Christ is? It's the question we need to ask ourselves as well as those around us. You might say, well, I can't share a devotion or teach a Bible study at my work or to my family or this or that. I'm not a theologian. I'm not a pastor or whatever. Again, it's just a simple message. Pastor Chuck always says, simply teach the word simply. That's what we're called to do, to simply teach the word simply. Not with super great eloquence or not with all these flowery words. I'm not a theologian. I'm sure the Apostle Paul, if he wanted to, could have. He was a great man of God. He was a powerful man. He was a scholar. And I'm sure he could have used wonderful words and confused everybody with his arguments and with his logic. But he chose to deliver the simple message, to emphasize and to stress to us, it's simple. It's simple. It's so simple what God asks of us. He doesn't make it hard or complicated to come to Him. He delivers to us what He wants us to know in a very simple way that we can understand. So remember that we've all been called to the ministry of reconciliation and deliver the message, Jesus Christ crucified, in a simple way. Well, Paul, as he says, I'm untrained in speech yet not in knowledge, but we have been thoroughly manifested among you in all things. He says, look, our ministry was proven in all things, even though we delivered it in simplicity. we delivered the simple message and didn't get very complicated and didn't use all these eloquent things. It was the gospel message. Miracles accompanied that message and proved the ministry, proved that we are called by God. We were with you for 18 months. You know us. You know our ministry. You know the authenticity of it. So why did they find fault with him or where did they find fault? Well, the next attack of the false apostles was that he didn't allow them to support him financially. He didn't allow the Corinthians to contribute and to take collections for him and to be able to support him in the ministry there. We see that in verse 7. He asked the question, Did I commit sin in humbling myself that you might be exalted because I preached the gospel of God to you free of charge? He asked the question, is this what you're holding against me that I humbled myself and I preached the gospel to you free of charge? Now, Paul had already talked to them about his decision not to receive support from them. And we find that back in 1 Corinthians chapter 9. I would encourage you to spend some time on your own and take a look at that. 1 Corinthians chapter 9 verses 1 through 18. But a couple quick verses out of there. Verse 14, Paul says, Even so... Here in 1 Corinthians 9, Paul says, A worker is worthy of his wages. But he also explains in this portion of Scripture that he waives this right in their case. He waives this that he would be able to preach the gospel and present the gospel of Christ without charge. And in verse 18, he says that I may not abuse my authority in the gospel. He's going to extra measures to extra steps, extra He's out there preaching the gospel where it had not been heard. And so, And so he took great precautions so that he could never be tempted, never be charged with doing it for some type of profit. There wasn't a church established there yet, and so there was no body of believers that were regularly contributing, according to the word, as we studied a few weeks ago, that There was new believers and converts. And he's sharing with people, hey, Jesus loves you. And then in the next sentence, hey, give me 20 bucks. It just doesn't work. You can't share the gospel and expect to receive from those that you're sharing with. And that's what Paul is saying. I determined, I lay aside that right, even though it's a God-given right, because I want to make sure that I don't abuse my authority in the gospel. and what God is calling me to. So he humbled himself. He had the right to charge them and for them to support him, but he humbled himself so that they would not. He humbled himself and supported himself to give them the message for free. Jesus, when he was sending out the 12 disciples into the surrounding areas ahead of him, he sends them out and he gives them some very specific commands. In Matthew chapter 10, verses 5 through 42, another portion I would encourage you to spend some time in. But a couple of verses out of there. In verse 8, Jesus tells the disciples, he says, Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received... freely give. And so as he's sending out the disciples into the surrounding areas, he says, go, deliver the message, preach the gospel, work miracles, but do it for free. You've freely received from me these things, so freely give it out. You know, you don't want to start a business. Okay, casting out demon business. You want your son, you know, the demon cast out of him, that'll be 50 bucks and I'll be able, no, no, no, don't do that. He says, I want you to do it for free. Minister for free. That is what you need to do. However, he goes on in verse 9 and he tells them, provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts, nor bag for your journey, nor tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs, for a worker is worthy of his food. And so he says, okay, you're going out, do it for free. However, he says, don't take any money, don't take any gold, don't take any silver, don't take anything really to provide for yourself to meet your own needs. And now you're wondering, well, how do I meet my needs then? Well, he says, a worker is worthy of of his wages. And then in verse 11 of Matthew chapter 10, he says, now whatever city or town you enter, inquire who in it is worthy and stay there until you go out. And so he says, look, let someone provide and meet your needs. Someone who God will bring to you or will bring you to. Let them meet your needs and provide for you, but do the ministry. Cast out the demons and heal the sick and deliver the message for free. Don't charge for that. You've received it for free. Deliver it for free. And so this is what Paul is doing. This is the same attitude that he is taking. I wanted to deliver the message for free and not require you to support me. And so in verse 8, he goes on to say, I robbed other churches, taking wages from them to minister to me. Now, what is Paul saying? Of course he's not saying he put a bandana over his face and went and robbed some other churches so that he could go minister in Corinth. That's not what he's saying. He's saying, look, they supported me and... normally you would think that they would support me so that I might be able to minister in their area and alongside them with what God is doing in their ministry. But Paul says, no, no, no. They supported me so that I can minister in a completely different area. And so in that sense, I robbed them or they contributed to me so that I could minister to you. So I didn't rob you like these false apostles who are charging you these large fees and these amounts to come and teach these other ministries. The other churches supported me and provided me the ability to minister in Corinth. We also know that Paul was a tent maker. that he would make tents on the side and oftentimes he would work all night in order to share the gospel message during the day. And so he would provide for himself as well as the other ministries around supported him and helped him whenever he was in need. And that's what he says in verse 9. And when I was present with you and in need, I was a burden to no one. For what I lacked, the brethren who came from Macedonia supplied. And in everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you, and so I will keep myself. He says, look, I was with you and I was present, but I was also in need while I was with you. There were times where I lacked. Do you remember, a few months ago now, 2 Corinthians 6, and In verses 1-10, we studied the marks of a minister. One of the marks of a minister, how you could tell if a minister was genuine or not, was if they still ministered while they were in need. And that was an important understanding that Paul wanted to emphasize to them. I was with you and I was in need. I continued to minister. I still ministered because I'm a genuine minister. Paul lacked. He didn't have enough for food and for shelter, but he determined not to be a burden to anyone. as opposed to the false apostles who came in charging their fees and charging their amounts and trying to make a profit off of those that they were ministering to. Now, this is something, and I want to take this opportunity to personally remind all of us as a body, is you are sent out from this place. And there's a couple of guys who are going out, in fact, next week and going to Okinawa to minister for some time. take the attitude with you of the Apostle Paul, that you would go and determine not to be a burden to anybody. Remember the ABCs of missions that Pastor Tom would often share with us? A was abide in Christ. And of course, that's first and foremost. You need to abide in Christ, continue in a relationship with Jesus Christ, maintain that, make sure He is the focus, the center of your life. Even on the mission field, that can be tough. But B was to be a blessing and not a burden. And that's important. As we go out, as we are sent out from this place, that we're a blessing to those that we're sent to minister to and not a burden upon them. That we provide for ourselves and support ourselves, that we wouldn't be a burden to those. And then C, of course, was communicate with your home fellowships. And we want to make sure that you do that as well. Minister and share with us the things that God is doing and the exciting things that we can rejoice with you, pray with you, and just be excited about what God is doing. The ABCs of missions. Be a blessing and not a burden, though. The example of the Apostle Paul we see here. He says, Now, the Corinthians probably would have had no problem Paul. It probably wouldn't have been a big deal for them to support him and to care for him because Corinth was a wealthy city of commerce, as we'll see in a few moments. And that's probably why Paul had such a strong stance on receiving support from them, because And we'll see that, like I said, in a couple of verses. But he received support while he was in need in Corinth. He received support from Macedonia. Macedonia was the area that was north of Corinth. It was the area of northern Greece, probably Philippi. We know Philippi was located in Macedonia as well as Thessalonica. And so we know that Philippi in Philippians chapter 4... did help Paul and ministered to Paul and give him a financial gift that was to provide for him and meet his needs. And so it could be that that he's referring to, but it also could have been other churches that were involved. He doesn't give us the details, but we just understand that Macedonia, the northern part, was providing for him and supporting him, meeting his needs while he was down in Corinth, which was in the southern area of Greece and ministering there. In verse 10, he goes on to say, As the truth of Christ is in me, no one shall stop me from this boasting in the regions of Achaia. And so Achaia was the southern part of Greece. Macedonia was the north. Achaia was the southern portion where Corinth and Athens were. So Paul's boast, it's specific to this region. He said, look, as I'm going into a KI in this region, I'm going to take this mode, this method in my ministry. I'm not going to receive support from them. It's going to be something that I hold fast to because obviously God had spoken to him about it and with great, great confidence. uh reason and purpose behind it so paul's boast it's specific he had taken up this ministry in that area and specifically said look i'm not going to receive money from them in this way in here now why why would he decide that why not well he'll answer that in the next two verses verse 11 he says why because i do not love you god knows is it that i don't love you that i don't receive support from you is it that i don't love you that i did things this way of course not he He says, God knows I do love you. I have a great love for you. Then why? Why are you not receiving support from us? Well, he'll explain it here in verse 12. He says, but what I do, I will also continue to do that I may cut off the opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the things of which they boast. So why did Paul refuse to receive support from them? He says, simply, because I wanted to set an example and cut off any opportunity for false apostles, false teachers to come and rip you off, make merchandise of you and take from you what does not belong to them. He guarded the church against this trap of the enemy, but unfortunately they still fell into it. Now this is what he's been talking about, the marks of a minister. God tests ministers. And so he said, look, I'm going to go and I'm going to be faithful whether I'm paid or not. And whether it's difficult or not, whether I'm in need or not, I'm going to continue to be faithful even if it's not convenient or easy or even if it's extremely difficult. And God will test ministers. He will test us in Will we still do the things that we believe God has called us to do? Even when it's not easy. Even when we don't profit from it. Even when it costs us something or it's difficult. Paul said, look, I was there and I was tested. But he's a genuine minister. He continued to minister to them while he was in need. It's the difference between, Jesus described it, the difference between a shepherd and a hireling. A shepherd is one who cares for the sheep and he's there because he loves the sheep. And so if an enemy comes or something difficult happens, it doesn't matter. The shepherd's still there to protect the sheep, to be with the sheep. But a hireling sees any kind of trouble and is, you know, split. I'm not going to fight a bear. I'm not going to deal with this or deal with that. It's too difficult. And so it's Paul, well, Jesus calls it the difference between a shepherd and a hireling. Paul says it's the difference between a minister, an apostle, and a false apostle, or a minister and a scam artist or a con artist. There's a big difference there. If you're not willing to minister under adverse conditions, are you truly a minister? Are you truly willing to do what God has called you to do? Now, Greece is described... I'm sorry, Corinth is described as Greece's most splendid commercial city. It was very wealthy, very influential. There was much opportunity there for those who wanted to make money. And so much opportunity there for those who wanted to make money off of the Corinthians. If you remember the geography that we talked about back at the beginning of Corinthians, Corinth was located on a strip of land that's called an isthmus. And what an isthmus is, is it's a small strip of land that connects two large bodies of land. And so you can imagine as you were on one side and you wanted to get to the other, the logical way, the only way would be through that small strip. And so you'd pass through the city of Corinth. And so it was great commerce going on. from either direction, from these large portions of land that were on either side of them. But also, there was water, large bodies of water on either side of them, and so boats would be coming in and going out on opposite sides, and merchandise would be going through them constantly, and so it was a big commercial city. There was much money there. It was a very wealthy city, and so that's what the apostles were doing. They're coming, they're like, wow, this is a wealthy city, and so... They come and they proclaim themselves and they try to make merchandise and make money off of the Corinthian believers. It happened then, it happens today. People, many times, are only in the ministry for some type of financial profit. And so that's why Paul makes it clear, I wanted to make sure I don't give them an opportunity, so I don't do that. So you can tell a true minister, Corinthians, a true apostle, if they follow my example. Because you know I demonstrated all the signs of apostleship while I was with you. And so you can have a great example there. You can judge these guys if they only minister to you when they're paid or when there's profit for them. Then you know very clearly they're not apostles at all, but they're false apostles. They're just out for their own good. This is why I love the example of Pastor Chuck Smith in Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, who in his testimony, he shares he had to work for 17 years full time while he was pastoring churches and in the ministry, in the beginnings of his ministry. 17 years! 17 years! He worked and provided for himself while he was in the ministry. And that's how you can tell a true minister. It doesn't matter if it costs me something or everything. God has called me to do it, and that is what I'm going to do. And so they want to be regarded as us, Paul says about these false apostles. They want to be regarded as apostles like us, but it's not so that they can minister to you. It's not because they're called of God. It's so that they can have a financial gain, that they can make merchandise of you. Verse 13 going on says, For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. Such are false apostles. Those who want to be regarded as apostles in order to make money. Those who are in it for the gain that they receive from it. They're false apostles, Paul says. They're not real apostles. They transform themselves into apostles of Christ, but in reality, they're false apostles. They're deceitful workers. It's often been said, if you want an easy way to get rich, start a religion and go into the ministry. There's many who do that. They are in it for their own financial profit, and that's what their whole goal in the ministry is. There's many people At that time, as Paul is sharing, there's many today who minister, who share, who teach, who present themselves as apostles and teachers of Christ, but are actually false teachers, false apostles, and deceitful workers. He says they transform themselves into apostles of Christ. Now, what does that mean to transform? Well, it means to change the outside, to change the appearance, not the essence. It's a different word than metamorphosis. Metamorphosis, you know what that is. That's, you know, a caterpillar. It goes in and makes a cocoon and comes out sometime later as a butterfly. There's been a complete change. The whole nature of that animal or that creature has changed. It's no longer a caterpillar, but now it's a butterfly. It's been a metamorphosis. But this is not that word. In fact, it's a much harder word to pronounce. I'm not going to. But it's another word which means to change the outsider or just the appearance. It's the idea of redecorating, right? If you redecorate your room, it doesn't make it a different room. It just makes it look different. And that's what he's saying. They've redecorated themselves as apostles of Christ, but there's never actually been a change. They've just been redecorated. Now we know from 2 Corinthians chapter 5, Paul said, look, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have gone. Behold, all things become new. Paul says, if you're in Christ, it's not going to be just a simple redecoration. All things prior are going to be washed away. They're going to be completely gone. And God is going to make all things new. You're going to be a new creature. And so Paul says, these guys, they're not apostles of Jesus Christ. They're false apostles. They've redecorated to make you think that they're apostles, but in reality, they are not. They may have the language, they may have the look, they may have the walk, whatever it is that you judge and determine that makes an apostle, but... It's just an outward thing. It's nothing on the inside. And it's a scary thought. You have people who pretend to be ministers, pretend to be apostles, but are really only in it for the money or in it for their type of gain because that's what they're after and that's what they desire. They have no real call from God. There's no real change in their lives. It's all an outward appearance, a show that they put on. And you say, can that be? Absolutely it can be. There's plenty of them. Then in Paul's day and today as well, there's many who minister, many who minister for their own gain rather than a genuine call from Jesus Christ. Verse 14, And no wonder, for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Paul says, it's no wonder. It's no surprise, it's no big deal that they do this, that they transform themselves into apostles of Christ, that they might gain somewhat from what they do. He says, it's no wonder. Why? Well, because Satan himself If you think of the worst of the worst, right? Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Even Satan, the most evil of evil, he can put on an appearance of light. He can put on an appearance of greatness. He can put on an appearance of an apostle of Christ or a gospel message. Satan will meet you on whatever level you want to meet him. If you were willing to meet him in the dark and creepy areas, well, he'll gladly meet you there, but he has no problem saying, well, I'll meet you. You want to have high moral standards? That's great. I can put on that image as well. I can put on that appearance as well and deliver a nice, fluffy message which has no substance, which does not teach anything. what the word of God says about Jesus Christ, which is another Jesus, a different gospel, a different spirit. Satan has no problem with that. We saw it back in the garden as he presented himself to Eve as an angel of light. Now, he didn't appear as an angel in shining glory or anything, but he appeared to her and he said, look, I have this wonderful news for you. You really can be spiritual. You really can be like God. All you need to do is eat this fruit. take a bite of this and you'll be like God. And he deceived her in that way by saying, look, you can be more spiritual. But in actuality, he condemned her and robbed her of a relationship with God. Satan, he cares not for you and I. His desire is to deceive us, to rip us off, to keep us from the God that can save us. And if it's through carnality in the flesh and sinful living, it's no problem. He'll meet you there. But if it's through religion and high morals and feeling good, He'll do that as well. He'll put on the appearance. He appears as an angel of light. He transforms Himself, redecorates however He can meet your needs to deceive you away from the reality that the Bible presents. In verse 15, he says, So he says, look, it's no great thing. It's not something you should be shocked about or really surprised at. Since he does it, since his desire is to to rip you off and to send you to hell. Don't be surprised when His ministers do the same thing. They put on these great appearances and these deceitful things. They redecorate so that you'll receive them, but in actuality, they're leading you away from God and not to God, regardless of what they say. It's no surprise then if His ministers also do the same thing. But this is what's really heavy about this. Understand what he's saying. These false apostles are ministers, not of Christ, but they're ministers of Satan. The Corinthians had no idea. They just thought, these are super apostles, like they were saying. We're the most exceedingly great beyond measure apostles. They go, wow, we want to follow that. What do you have to say? Oh, we need to do this. We need to do that. And they promise, oh, you can be spiritual if you follow it this way. And you disregard what Paul says. It doesn't matter what he says. He's not very impressive. And don't you remember what he's like when he's here? Look at us, man. Look at the great way that we present things and how wonderful it sounds. How good it is. They're ministers of Satan. Deceitful workers. People who come in to deceive, to rob, to steal, kill and destroy just like Satan for their own profit. And that's the sickest thing. Now, don't get me wrong. Not everyone who knocks at your door or you run into is a deceitful worker of Satan. In fact, many are deceived workers of Satan. They're still ministers of Satan presenting his gospel, his messages. But they're deceived and so we need to love them And show them the truth. But there's also many who know the truth. And instead of receiving it, they've twisted it. They've Put on this appearance so that they can make merchandise. Teaching another gospel, another message. Maybe it sounds similar, maybe it sounds good. It might sound like, wow, that makes a lot of sense. Hollow and deceptive philosophies, Paul calls them later. They're worthless things that lead astray, that do not lead to a true relationship with Jesus Christ. And therefore, do not lead to eternity with God. Like I said last week, the deception is great. It's huge. And the stakes are high. They're unimaginably high. Because it's our souls that are at stake. And there's ministers of Satan pretending to be apostles of Christ, leading people astray because of what they can gain out of it. It happened then. It happens today. We need to be on our guard. We need to be careful. Who we receive from, who we hear from, who we allow to minister to us. Because there's many who would teach you another gospel, a different message that's not able to save you. There's many who would love to give to you a Jesus Christ that is different than the Jesus Christ that the Bible presents. And as I stressed last week, that's why it's so important for us to know what we believe and why we believe it. How can you tell if someone is a genuine minister or just out for their own gain? They're false apostles, false teachers. I would encourage you to spend some time looking at 2 Corinthians 6, verses 1-10, as Paul shares the marks of a minister. In fact, we did a two-week series on that. Get the CDs afterwards. Make sure you know who is ministering to you, and if they're genuine ministers of Jesus Christ or not, or if they just have the appearance. Oh, looks good, sounds great. He can tickle the ears like no one else. But is it the gospel message? Is it Jesus Christ that he presents? How can you know? How can you tell? By spending time in the Word of God. By comparing what they say to the Word of God. By letting the Word of God be our standard. They're deceiving, leaving people astray. Paul says, look, they'll get what's coming to them. Don't worry about that. In the end of verse 15, whose end will be according to their works. Yes, they're leaving people astray. They're deceiving them. But God's justice will be done. And they'll get what they deserve, he says. Their end will be according to their works. Our job is what then? What must we do since the deception is so strong and the stakes are so high? What should we do? What are we called to do in this? I would like to leave you with four things. Number one, know the gospel message. That's what you need to do. You need to know the gospel message. It's about grace. The grace of God which brings salvation. It's by grace through faith that we're saved and it's not of works lest any man should boast. It's grace, the gospel message. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. John 3.16, Acts 16.32, John 14.6. Know them, study them, know the gospel message that you're able to evaluate when the gospel message is presented. If it is the true genuine gospel or if it is another gospel. Number two, I would encourage you to study to show yourself approved. 2 Timothy 2, verse 15 tells us this. study, spend time in the Word of God to show yourself approved, that you know what the Word of God says, that you're able to evaluate what is taught, what is shared with you by the Word of God, that you're able to know and evaluate if it is truth or if it is deception. If it is of God or not. Because we can hear lots of great things, and Dr. Phil and Oprah and all these guys, they can make a lot of sense. But if it's not according to the Word of God, it's not true. It's deception. They're ministers of Satan if they're not sharing the truth of God's Word. So know, study to show yourself approved. Number three, watch out for false apostles and false teachers. As I said, they were there then. They're still here today. There's many who would rip you off, who would lead you astray from the things that the Word of God teaches. Watch out. Be on your guard. Take care who you allow to minister to, what you watch on TV, who you listen to on the radio. Take care who you allow into your homes. Watch out and be on your guard for false apostles and false teachers. And fourthly, and this is the most important, share the truth often. You know the truth. You know what the Word says. So share it often. Every opportunity you get, share the true message. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's what people need to know. That's what people need to hear. It's the only thing, it's the only thing that can take us into eternity with God. So share the truth often. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, Your Word is powerful and it's challenging, God. It's scary understanding that there are those who would rip us off and lead us astray. God, we ask that You would Give us great understanding and a thirst for your word. God, I ask that you would fill us with your Holy Spirit, that we might know your message, the gospel message. Lord, you made it so simple to come to you, not complicated, not difficult. We don't have to jump through these hoops and hurdles, but Lord, we simply must believe. Believe, that's what you called us to do, to believe that you are who you said you are, and you did what you came to do. Lord Jesus, we believe in you. Help us to hold fast to that message, never to add anything to it, never to subtract anything from it, but to stick to what your word has to say. God, we ask that you would help us to study to show ourselves approved unto you, that we would know what your word has to say. Lord, that we would know it through and through, that we would have a great thirst for it, to study it, to read it, to know it. That we might be able to evaluate the things in our life by your word. That your word would become the standard by which we judge thoughts and ideas and opinions and counsel that's shared. Messages that are delivered. Gospels that are given to us. Lord, may we judge and evaluate everything by your word. So teach us your word, God, by your Holy Spirit. God, we ask that you would help us to be on our guard, to watch out. for false apostles and false teachers. Lord, I pray for this body that you would protect us from deception, from those who would come in with good-sounding arguments, with excellent speech, from those who would come in ministering, not because you've called them, but for their own profit. Lord, protect us. Help us to watch out, to guard against false apostles and false teachers. And Lord, lastly, I pray that you would help us and give us a burden of passion. to share your truth with those around us, that they wouldn't be deceived, that they wouldn't be led astray. But God, we ask for opportunities this week even that you would allow us because the message is so simple. Lord, it doesn't take a professional. It just takes a willing heart, a willing mouth. So we present ourselves to you, Lord. Use us to share your truth. Enable us and empower us by your Holy Spirit. God, I pray that you would use us to plant seeds, to reap harvest, to do great work for you as ministers of you, genuine, true ministers called by you, changed and transformed by you, not just putting on the appearance. Make us like you, Jesus. We love you. It's in your name we pray. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.