CCS Sermons
2 Corinthians 11
How, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he, who comes preaching, preaches another Jesus, excuse me, whom we have not preached, or if you received a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you may well put up with it. For I consider that I am not at all inferior to the most eminent apostles. Even though I am untrained in speech, yet I am not in knowledge, but we have been thoroughly made manifest among you in all things. Did I commit sin in embracing myself that you might be exalted because I preach the gospel of God to you free of charge? I robbed other churches taking wages from them to minister to you, and when I was present with you and in need I was a burden to no one for what was lacking to me the brethren who came from Macedonia supplied, and in everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you, and so I will keep myself. As the truth of Christ is in me, no one shall stop me from this boasting in the regions of Achaia. Why? Because I do not love you, God knows, but what I do I will also continue to do that I may cut off the opportunity from those who desire that an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in things of which they boast. For such are false prophets, apostles, deceitful workers transforming themselves into apostles of Christ, and no wonder, for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness whose end will be according to their works. I say again, but no one thanked me a fool. If otherwise at least received me as a fool that I also may boast a little, what I speak, I speak not according to the Lord, but as it were foolishly in this confidence of boasting. Seeing that many boast according to the flesh, I also will boast for you put up with fools gladly since you yourselves are wise. But you put up with it if one brings you into bondage, if one devours you, if one takes from you, if one exalts himself, if one strikes you on the face, to your shame, to our shame, I say that we were too weak for that. But in whatever anyone is bold, I speak foolishly. I am bold also. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more, in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received 40 stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have been in the deep. And journeys often in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness, often in hunger and thirst and fastings often in cold and nakedness, beside the other things would come upon me daily, my deep concern for all the churches. Who is weak and am I not weak? Who is made to stumble and I do not burn with indignation? If I must boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. In Damascus the governor under Aridus the king was guarding the city of the Damassines with the garrison desiring to apprehend me, but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped from his hands. Father, thank you for your word. We pray that you would bless it now as we look into it, speak to our hearts, and we ask this in Jesus' name. Everyone say amen. Long chapter. That means that two and a half hours from now we will end the service and you'll all be able to go home. We'll probably finish a little earlier than that. I'm hopeful and I'm sure you are too. That way we'll be able to look at the things that are here in a timely fashion. Well the Corinthians were easily impressed by the resumes that the false apostles had come. They were also easily impressed by articulate and persuasive speakers and shows of power. They had been duped by a group of false teachers and they were doubting Paul because of what they were saying. By consistently criticizing and accusing Paul, this group of false apostles had undermined Paul's authority in Corinth. Paul felt obligated to respond to their criticisms, point by point, and he had founded the church and had the responsibility to keep the church on the right course. As we see and we've seen it, it began in chapter 10 verse, chapter 10, 11, and 12, all are of this direction. That is the defense of his apostleship and his love for them and a defense of the things that he had been going through which those apostles had been saying were demonstrations that he really wasn't a called apostle because of all that he had endured. One of the things that we had talked about early on as we started into 2 Corinthians was the fact that this letter is one of Paul's letters that are very personal. You see it in some of the things that he says here in this chapter about, first of all, his motive and his intention is because he loves them and for these exhortations for all that he is doing in here. He does this because he feels an obligation as if you will, their spiritual father, to present them as a chaste virgin to the Lord. And so that's why he's so strong in his defense of the truth because he could see that they were being deceived. They were being tricked very easily, too, by the way. And so Paul says, "No, I can't allow that to happen, and so I'm going to tell you the truth about these things." And of course, we had talked about it last week in chapter 10. They made reference of the fact that Paul, his letters were weighty, but he was really weak in his speech. In other words, he would say things in his letter that he wouldn't say to your face. And I don't believe that for a moment. As a matter of fact, I figure when Paul would address individuals or the church, either one, that he had to really constrain himself not to just let it all go, to speak that truth because that's what he loved. He loved the truth about God and his word and was intolerant to anything but that. And that just like so many that he wanted to do that in love, and we've talked about that as we've been going through this letter, that this is one of the reasons why he wrote them a letter instead of going directly to them, is because he wanted to soften the blow of everything that he was telling them, the rebukes, the exhortations, all that he needed to share with them. And he wanted to, he sent that letter with Titus so that when he arrived, they wouldn't have to deal with all that, that the Holy Spirit would have been working in their hearts, and these matters would be dealt with very quickly. And so he continues on with this section of Second Corinthians with that purpose in mind. And he says, as he in verse one here, he says, "Oh, that you would bear with me in a little folly, and indeed you do bear with me." So there's a lot of sarcasm that Paul expresses in this chapter of the letter. You know, he really is saying, look man, you guys, you think this of me, but you need to understand what you're doing is absolutely wrong. Paul asked the Corinthian believers to be patient and bear with him as he spoke of his apostolic credentials. He felt foolish repeating his credentials because it was through his evangelistic efforts that he had founded the Corinthian church. There shouldn't be any reason for the Corinthians to question him. He was their father in the Christian faith. But because the Corinthians had been mesmerized by the rhetoric of these false teachers dazzled by their claims and to their static spiritual experiences and duped by their logic. Paul was forced to talk like a fool to remind him of what he had done for the cause of Christ because the Corinthians had been mesmerized by the rhetoric of these false teachers and dazzled by their claims and aesthetic spiritual experiences. Paul was forced to talk like a fool. Paul had made mention of this in chapter 10 about those who commend themselves that it's a foolish action. You know, and that's what these guys were doing. They're saying, hey, no, we're true apostles. Paul is a false apostle and they would commend themselves and build themselves up with the Corinthians. And unfortunately, the Corinthians were taking it. They were accepting that as being truth. Even though Paul was the one who birthed and was responsible for the birth of the church, they're in Corinth. And you remember, when we were all the way back in first Corinthians, that Paul had to deal with the fact that they were all caught up in factions being broken up because they were followers of different individuals. Some would say, I'm of Apollos. Some would say, I'm of Paul. Some would say, I am of Cephas. Some would say, I am of Jesus. They were all broken up into these factions because they placed all this emphasis upon different people rather than just the pure and simple teaching of the Word of God. Now, those that are mentioned there, it's not like, it's not like Apollos was a second-rate guy. I mean, he was very eloquent and was able to teach very well. Even though he didn't know the things that he needed to know, Priscilla and Aquila had to pull him aside and talk to him and teach him about his teachings and what he needed to be teaching. But yet he was still, he had the right mind, the right heart, his desire was to instruct, to teach, and to build up the church and the same thing with Peter, the same thing with Paul. And certainly, of course, the same thing with Jesus. But they would break up into these factions and be a follower of this person or a follower of that person. So they were open and susceptible to false teachers as well. Somebody that came along, that was very eloquent in their speech, then they went, whoa, man, that guy, he can dazzle us pretty good. I like him really well. So Paul has to tell them, look, I want you to bear with me, like you're bearing with them. Because in a moment, and we've already read our text, so we see that Paul is going to step out and he's going to talk about himself, something that he always was reluctant to do. But in this case, he wanted to make sure that the Corinthians understood that when it came to being an apostle and suffering for the cause of Christ, that he outshined them because of the fact that God was using him so greatly. And Paul didn't like to do that kind of thing. It was kind of like, no, hey, let me just preach the gospel and let's go forward. Let's just do the work of the ministry. Let's not shine the light on any person, but upon the Word and upon Jesus himself. That's whom Paul really wanted to do. It was against his principles to do this. For all honor, glory, and even boast belong to God as we saw there in 1 Corinthians 10, 17, last week. Verse 2, Paul says this, he says, "I am jealous for you with Godly jealousy, for I have betrothed you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." So Godly jealousy is perfect. God's jealousy towards us and toward the church is perfect because he knows our heart and he wants all of it and is unwilling to share it with any other person thing. I don't care what it is, God is unwilling to share our affections with something else. In other words, he wants it all. That's his desire. He wants our hearts, he wants our life, and he wants nothing to come between us and him no matter what that is in our life, no matter what it is. God wants priority and first place. Anything less than that, he is jealous for us. But when you think of jealousy, don't think of the person, whether the guy or the gal, that becomes jealous over their girlfriend, boyfriend, spouse and begins to question everything. I've seen those guys that if their wife talked with some other guy, they instantly get jealous and suspect that the guy is either trying to take his wife or that she's trying to take him. There's this insanity that goes along with it and it makes people do stupid things. That's not the kind of jealousy that we're talking about here. God's jealousy is perfect. He knows whether or not those affections are really being diverted to something else and away from him, where we might not know that and often we don't know that about our spouse or someone that we have those affections towards. Paul makes it very clear here that he is doing this because he had betrothed them to one husband and that, of course, would be to Christ as he says that I might present you a chaste virgin to Christ. 1 Corinthians 4, 15, he says, though you might have 10,000 instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, I have begotten you through the gospel. A little quote from Adam Clark about this whole idea of that friend of the bridegroom and that's what Paul would represent himself as as a friend to the bridegroom because he's presenting the bride to Christ, not to himself. Adam Clark said in the Jewish culture of that day, the friend of the bridegroom had an important job to procure a husband for the virgin to guard her and to bear testimony of her corporal and marital endowments and it was upon this testimony of this friend that the bridegroom chose his bride. He was to the go between her and her spouse elect carrying all messages from her to him and from him to her. For before marriage, he says, you women are strictly guarded, were strictly guarded at home with their parents and friends. Also, the friend of the bridegroom was called upon if necessary to vindicate the character of the bride. So Paul took this responsibility very seriously about being that friend of the bridegroom, in the day in which Paul was living and in many circles, even within Judaism today, marriages are arranged. And so there was this protection that would take place to ensure that the girl remained a virgin before she got married. As matter of fact, if you can you can think of this one as an example, Mary, the mother of Jesus. She was betrothed to Joseph, which in the culture, in the time, that was as good as being married. As a matter of fact, when you read through that account, Joseph had the right to put her away. That would be to also give her a writ of divorcement, which meant that everything was off and he could go find another woman. And so there was this protection that was to take place for purity, for purity's sake. And so there was that doubt that came in when Mary showed up pregnant. You know, before they got hitched. And so Paul, he says that this is what my job is. And that is to make sure that you guys are remaining pure and holy, set apart, sanctified for the groom. And that's what God wants to do in our lives. You know, Paul was ministering to the church in this way. This was his concern is that they would not be deceived, that they would be, you know, that they would understand and know what God wanted for them and that they would follow after that rather than being deceived by false teachers and taken off in a different direction and would rather than what God would have. The time of betrothal wasn't to be taken lightly in Paul's culture. And so it is the same for us too when it comes to our relationship with Christ. Each one of us are considered the bride of Christ. Now, fellows, you might have little trouble with that, but the thing of it is, it just simply means that you belong to him. There is a promise that is there. In Ephesians, it tells us that what God has done is he instilled his Holy Spirit in us as a guarantee. It's the engagement ring, if you will, that before the marriage takes place, that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit being set apart for God, for him and him alone. And God wants us to be faithful to him and not allow anything to come between us and him. Now, that is quite a task, if you will, quite a battle. See, in Psalm, we're in a world that's constantly demanding or attention away from God. No matter what it is, I mean, some of them are reasonable, right? And when I say demanding our attention away from God, I'm saying that it turns our focus where we can't intently look at God, but yet we have to focus on what we're doing. Your job, that's a good example, right? When you go to work, you're focusing in on what's going on there and doing your job and that kind of thing. And it's not the same as when you're sitting down in your devotion time with the Lord. And I hope that you're doing that. I hope you're sitting down with the devotion time with God each and every day, reading His Word and praying. There are things that are in our life that we have need of that by their nature do that. But then there are a lot of things, a lot of priorities that we set for ourselves in our lives that are not worthy of that. And that anything that would come between me and my Lord is something that He gets jealous over and He doesn't like it. I'll use this as an example. It may not be one that tickles your heart, but it did mine. Before I became a believer, I hung out with bikers and wanted to be a biker and acted like a biker. And I did all those kinds of things. And in those days, the thing that was most important to me more than anything at all was my motorcycle. That was it. It got top-notch priority in my life. Well, after I became a believer, the Lord took me out of that life, and He also took that out of my life as well. And He didn't let me have a motorcycle for years. And then I got one, and it was a basket case, and I never could get it together. And I had that one for years. And I just sensed that all the way along, it was a test that got it. And so then I sold that bike, and then the Lord blessed me with a bike. But then again, it was broken, and I needed to fix it. And once again, there was this test. What kind of priority am I going to have about this? Well, long story short, the Lord had spoken to my heart and said that I could have this, but any time it became a priority over my ministry, which first of all was my wife, and how I served the Lord as a pastor, then He would remove it from my life. He gave it back to me. I enjoyed it for years. I loved that motorcycle. It was God's, and He glorified Himself through it all. But before that, it would have been all about me, and all about what I wanted, and what I was going to do. And so the Lord, most of you are sitting there going, "What's the big deal about that?" You know, you don't know motorcycles. That's all I can say. You know, think of anything else you got in your life that takes away from your relationship with God that interferes from what God wants for you in your life, no matter what that is. And if it's there, then God wants to remove it. I still have that deal with God, and that is, at any time that becomes a priority, then what I have gets sold. I don't have a motorcycle anymore, because of the fact that I've let my priorities get out of whack. My wife first, and how I serve God in the church as a pastor, those things are not so separate that I consider them two different issues in my life. They have an equality that is there. My wife is always going to take precedence over any of it, but certainly as a pastor, I have to give it the importance in my life that God requires as being one called to do so. Verse 3, he says, "But I fear, lest somehow, as a serpent deceived ye, by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." The simplicity that is in Christ, these false apostles were Judaizers who brought in a gospel that said that you must obey the law in order to be saved, and by their eloquence and the boasting of their apostolic authority, which they had none, they were deceived. The Corinthians were deceived, and they say, "It's amazing to me how easy it is to convince people that what they must have is works in their life in order to be right with God." Now, don't get me wrong. I believe it's important that we obey God, but it's not because that I'm trying to get right with God through those works, but it's because I am right with God that I want to do what God wants me to do. I want to be obedient, I want to follow after Christ, not because I have to. In a sense, I do, and the foolishness is to think that I can be devoid of that kind of thing in my life and still maintain a relationship with Christ. If you are going to be a friend of Christ and you must obey his word, it's like a train. If it doesn't have the tracks to ride on, then it's not going to go anywhere, and if it does, it's going to be a train wreck. And as long as you have the rails to ride upon, then it's going to get to its destination and do it well. And so it is, too, in our own lives that when it comes to God and obeying his commandments, that is those rails for our life. It keeps us on track, on track with him, and on track with others, and on track in the world in which we live in. That gospel, though, that Paul presented was so easy. 1 Corinthians 15, 1 through 7, moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preach to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which you were saved, if you hold fast that word which I preach to you, unless you believed in vain, for I deliver to you, first of all, that which I also receive, that Christ died according to our sins, according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures, and that he was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that he was seen by over 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remained to the present, but some have fallen asleep. And after that he was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Paul's gospel is very simple, and it is that you believe that you're a sinner, that you need a savior, and you believe that Jesus Christ is the one who paid the penalty for that sin, and so by believing in him that he did that and the demonstration of the truth of what he declared was bore out in his resurrection, that when you believe that, and you receive that in your heart, that you will be saved. It's very simple, but it's also very difficult. Many people stumble over so many things about that gospel. When God has made it where we can understand it and we can receive it without a lot of difficulty, we can't buy it, and we don't have to buy it. You can't earn it, and you don't even need to try. It's a free gift that he offers, and for some people they say that's too easy. How in the world could that possibly be? That's because God provided it, and to be honest with you, even though I believe that God in his word he does say, he says, "Come now, let us reason together you and I." I believe that God is very reasonable and that he wants to reason with us, but to me it doesn't seem reasonable that Jesus would die for my sins. But it is according to God and his word. And if I believe that, then I have the hope of eternal life. Without it, I do not. And verse 4, Paul says, "For if he who comes preaching another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you may well put up with it." So the problem was is that they were coming with a different gospel. They were coming with a gospel that said basically that it's grace plus works. You're saved by grace, but now you have to obey the law and a frightening thing for those who are guys that one of the things that you would have to do would be to get circumcised. You know, I don't know about you, but I'm glad that's not a requirement today for salvation. And I'm sure that when they realized that they were glad to, or at least you would think so, but yet they would listen to these Judaizers. And not just in Corinth, as a matter of fact, when you read through the Epistle to Galatia, when you look at that, it says to the Galatians, you have to understand that as a region, it's not just a single church. It's actually with several churches in an area that Paul had written that Epistle and expected that it would be passed around. And what had happened is that these people had started out being saved by faith, not by works. And then the Judaizers came in behind them, and they're telling them that message, and they were buying into it, and they were willing, okay, then I guess we need to do these things. And Paul says, circumcision is of no meaning at all. It's the circumcision of the heart that God wants, not the circumcising of your flesh. Another sermon, but nonetheless. Now these guys were bringing in a false gospel and a false message, and they were buying into it. The church has that same problem today. The problem was that the Corinthian Christians were putting up with it, and it's not surprising that there are false teachers in the church today, just like their word then. The problem is that the church puts up with them and embraces them. Christians of this generation, like Christians of many generations, will have to answer to Jesus for their lack of discernment when it comes to false teachers and leaders accepted and embraced by the church. Man, it's so important that we are Bereans, that we are those that study the Word of God, that we take and judge what we are being told by the Word of God, and not just a Scripture. Not just a single Scripture or a couple of Scriptures here and there, but how do those things fit within the context of what is being written and why it was written? Because I can take the Scriptures and make it say a lot of things that are not true, but yet the Scripture, you would say, "Oh, the pastor of Bob used the Scripture. I know that's true." So check me. That's what you need to do, just like you need to do in all teachers, because there are those that have already come that preach another Jesus, another way of salvation. The Mormons come with a different Jesus rather than their true Jesus. They say that Jesus is a spirit brother of Lucifer, and that Elohim chose Jesus over Lucifer to bring salvation to the earth, and that because of that, Lucifer was kicked out of heaven because of his rebellion. That's what they teach. That's not what the Scriptures say. But if you talk to a Mormon and you ask him or her, either one, "Are you saved? Yes, I am." Well, how are you saved? By the blood of Christ. Well, the problem is they believe in a different Christ, a different Jesus. Same thing with Jehovah Witnesses. Jehovah Witnesses say that Jesus is Michael the Archangel. They can't even come up with the Scripture of that. I want you to know that. So if you talk to them, you have an opportunity to talk to one, you can ask them, "Where in the Scripture do you see that being said?" And they can't come up with it because it's not there. But yet, they teach that there is a different Jesus. But yet, if you ask them, they'll tell you that they are forgiven because of what Jesus has done. And they won't say on the cross, they'll say on the stake. They have all these little nuances, but it's a different Jesus. So Paul is saying, just this simple little gospel of what Christ has done and who he is, and he demonstrated that he was indeed who he claimed to be, God incarnated in the flesh by rising from the dead. And that is the Jesus that needs to be believed in. Anything different than that is false. Then Paul goes on and he begins to speak about himself again. He says, "For I consider that I am not at all inferior to the most eminent apostles." So here Paul compares himself to some he refers to as the most eminent apostles. Apparently, these were apostles that the Corinthian Christians preferred over Paul. The original language here has the idea behind the phrase, the most eminent apostles, is extra-super apostles, which the false apostles were claiming that about themselves. So Paul probably writes sarcastically in reference to those who thought of and promoted themselves as those. Verse 6, "Even though I am untrained in speech, yet I am not in knowledge, but we have been thoroughly manifested among you and all things." So Paul, according to the Greek standards of rhetoric, was untrained in speech. In Paul's day, the ability to speak in a polished, sophisticated, entertaining way was popular. Others, such as the most eminent apostles, the Corinthians love so much, were able to speak in this manner. But Paul was either unable or unwilling to preach in this way. You remember in 1 Corinthians, Paul makes it a point to tell them, "I did not come to you with this flowery speech." In other words, I didn't come to impress you by the way that I spoke. I came to you to tell you the truth of what God's word says, and that should impress you. As a matter of fact, it certainly should impress all of us. The word of God should be the most important thing in our life when it comes to Christ. Verse 6, "Even though I am untrained," excuse me. Verse 7, "Did I commit sin by humbling myself that you might be exalted because I preached the gospel of God to you free of charge? I robbed other churches, taking wages from them to minister to you. 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 everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you. And so I will keep myself." So Paul, once again, he's saying, "Hey, look." He says, "This was one of the criticism that he did not charge for preaching." That's what others were bringing accusations about him saying, "He's not really a apostle because he's not asking for money." Well, in that day, there were charlatans that were going around presenting themselves as a true apostle, and they expected to get paid. If they didn't get paid, then they were in a big huff about it. And Paul says, "Look, I came to you because I wanted to just simply share the Word of God, and I did it free of charge." And not only that, when there was a need that I had, I worked outside the ministry. I made tents is what he did. He said, "But then there were those who of the church of Macedonia." That's once again a region, and there were several churches that actually had given to Paul to support him in the ministry that he was doing. And we talked about that in chapters 9, 8, and 9, and so I'm not going to go back into that very much. Only to say this, that Paul, in those chapters, just like here, there's a reminder that what they had done, as they had cheated themselves out of the blessing that God wanted them to have by being unwilling to give and to support others in the ministry. Matter of fact, and Philippians 4, 18, and 19, this is indeed, I have all and abound Paul, speaking of himself. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you. This is that gift that came, a sweet smelling aroma and an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God. And he says, "And my God shall supply all your need according to your riches and glory by Christ Jesus." You remember that the churches, when we were talking about it, they didn't have a lot, but they gave out of the abundance and even more than the abundance that they had. And Paul said, "Man, may God turn around and bless you and give you from all that your needs are that he'll take care of every one of them." Great philosophy in our life, great doctrine in our life, of giving to the Lord because of the fact that he has promised that he will, indeed, take care of every need that we have. Like I said, I'm not going to go into that. We did that quite well, and we'll move on. Verse 10, "As the truth of Christ is in me, no one shall stop me from this boasting in the regions of a chaos." Why? Because I do not love you. God knows. 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 recorded just as we are in the things of which they boast. For such are false apostles, deceitful workers transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ and the apostle of Christ. You notice here, Paul, when he starts out his epistles, he says that he is in the position that he is because God has appointed him to that position. Paul never took that for himself. As a matter of fact, it was the last thing he was looking for to become an apostle of the church of Christ. He wanted to kill everybody that was in the church. So he did not sit around going, "Oh, one day I'd like to be an apostle." God appointed him to that. But these guys, they were transforming themselves into it. In other words, it wasn't that God had appointed them, that God had gifted them, that God was calling them, but they were making themselves out to be something that they were not. They were not apostles, they were representing themselves as being apostles. And Paul is pointing out, these guys, they were false, deceitful in the things that they did, deceitful workers. In verse 14, "And no wonder for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light." This is one of the things that I think is important today, is that we understand that Satan has that ability to present himself as an angel of light. And now, we instantly, when we think of Satan, we think of darkness, and we should, because of the fact that's what he represents. But his presentation to us will not be darkness, because we're looking for light, and he will present himself as an angel of light, so that he can deceive us, so that we'll believe false doctrines, that we will believe untruths about God and his word, that we'll deny the existence of God. And that's what he does. He comes and presents himself in that way. Our promise from God is that if we're in his word, that we will not be deceived. If the word is in us, and we are living in that word, we will not be deceived. And I believe that wholeheartedly. I believe that from the time that I accepted Christ 46 years ago, and how I saw, God gave me discernment about different things. There were people that I had heard and listened to, and there was just, I didn't even know the word or anything, but yet there was a check in my spirit that said, "No, that can't be right." And sure enough, as I grew and studied the word, I found out that it wasn't right, and that God was speaking to me so that I knew, because he didn't want me to be deceived, and to go the wrong direction. But now, I've got to tell you, it was essential that I learned the word so that when other opportunities came up to go the wrong direction, I knew that wasn't the way to go. God gives us a brain to think with, in spite of what people say in the world, that Christians are just mindless. You check your brain at the door when you come into church, and the pastor tells you everything you need to believe. That's not true. The spirit of God teaches us and shows us what we need to believe and what is true. And that's what we need to hold on to in our lives and not give in. In verse 15, therefore, excuse me, I'm sorry, verse 16, "I say again, let no one thank me a fool, if otherwise at least receive me as a fool, that I also may boast a little. What I speak, I speak not according to the Lord, but as it were foolishly in this confidence of boasting." You remember what it said, chapter 10. Paul made it very clear that boasting, commending yourself is foolishness. And he says, "Okay." He said, "I'm going to do this. Bear with me in this." And seeing in verse 18, seeing that many boast according to the flesh, I will also boast. They were, the false apostles were coming, and they were presenting their credentials, if you will, as to what made them apostles. So Paul counters what they were saying by telling them what he had done, what he had gone through. And even though Paul will speak of himself and what he had endured, ultimately what he does is he gives complete and thorough glory to God and Jesus Christ. That it's not about him, it's about the work of God in his heart and his life. Verse 19, "For you put up with fools gladly, since you yourself are wise," sarcasm. "For you put up with it, if one brings you into bondage, if one devours you, if one takes from you, if one exalts himself, if one strikes you on the face." To our shame, I say that we were too weak for that, but in whatever anyone is bold, I speak foolishly, I am bold also. He says, "You know, you guys are willing to be abused so much." I didn't do that to you. And he's being sarcastic when he says, "I wasn't strong enough to do that to you." And in reality, it probably took a lot of strength not to be that way instead of giving in to something like that. Verse 22, "Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I." Paul in Epistle to Galatians would speak about the fact that he was a Hebrew of Hebrews. Paul wasn't just a regular Hebrew guy, right? There's no little doubt in my mind and you don't have to believe what I say about this, but in my opinion, let's put it that way, in Romans when Paul talks about the fact that he would not have known, it wasn't for the word of God, the law of God, he would not know that it was a sin to covet. But the word says, "Thou shalt not covet." And I believe, by what we see in Galatians, that Paul aspired to be like the top dog in the Sanhedrin. He was the Hebrew of Hebrews. He studied the Scriptures. He not only studied the Scriptures, but he knew all the philosophy and the Greek literature and all those different things. That's why he was able to debate with his Stoics on Mars Hill. Paul was a well-informed, well-studied man. But Paul, I think he wanted that, but then he realized all that was nothing but a big pile of manure compared to the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ. And so when he's speaking here of his credentials, truly he was. Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more. In labors, more abundant, and stripes above measure in prisons, more frequently in deaths often. From the Jews five times, I receive 40 stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I have been in the deep. In journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness, in toil and sleeplessness, often in hunger and thirst, in fastings, often in cold and nakedness. Besides the other things, what comes upon me daily by deep concern for all the churches. Huge list. Lots you can talk about in this. But I will just say when I went to Turkey, I found that the topography of the land was so much different than what I expected. I've been to Israel several times and thinking of the Middle East, I'm thinking it's going to be similar to that. And it's not. It's absolutely beautiful. It's got huge mountains. And these are mountains that Paul would have gone back and forth across going from the Asia minor area over to the coast, back over to Ephesus and Philippi and all that area there. And he would have been going back and forth. And in those days, one of the things that you had to deal with was robbers, bands of robbers that would come and they would take all your goods and leave you out in the middle of nowhere with absolutely nothing. And Paul was willing to endure all this stuff that he put up with. And you know, he goes through this list and I look at this and I go, man, this is, this is absolutely crazy. And when he gets to the end, he tells us, he says, the thing that was the most difficult of it all is my burden for the churches. That's something that he says, that's the most difficult thing for me to to deal with. And that's what he's dealing with with the Corinthians. This burden that he has for them, that they're being led astray, that they're going in the wrong direction and they're unwilling to turn and go the direction that they need to. After having such great teachings, great, great instruction, but yet still easily deceived. And boy, I've got to tell you, I don't see things being much different today in the world in which we live in, the church that the church universal that we are in today. It's the same issues. And I, you know, it's one of those things where the same instruction that Paul gives to the Corinthians is the same instruction that we need in our heart and our lives. This whole idea of being betrothed to Christ is something that I think is foreign in a lot of people who claim to be Christians in their lives. They don't understand what it means that you belong to him, not to yourself, because we think we belong to us, that we have the right to do whatever we want to do. But yet we don't. We belong to another. And we are called to do his bidding. Whatever God wants us to do, that's what we are to do. Now God in his grace allows us many pleasures in his life. But oftentimes we're more into the pleasure than we are into following Christ. Paul has said this in verse 29 he says, "Who is weak and I am not weak. Who is made to stumble and I do not burn with indignation. If I must boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity." Paul says, "Look," he said, "all these things happen to me, but that's not where I'm not boasting that I suffered for Christ." He says, "I am boasting that God allowed that in my life." And in that, then he is glorified. There's a great article in the latest Calvary Chapel magazine. I think we have some copies out there in the hallway there on the welcome table. But there's an article that's called "Miracle in Elderette, Kenya." And it's about a young family who went over there to minister and all that they have had to endure in order to be there. They had sleeping gas thrown into their house and then the robbers came in and stole everything they had, kidnapping attempts, deadly illness, yet the faithful continue on at Calvary Chapel Elderette. And I would encourage you to pick up a copy of it and read the article because these people, man, I'm telling you, inspiring and convicting as they have suffered so much for the sake of Christ. I don't think that God calls each one of us to be like Paul in the sufferings that he went through. But to think that there shouldn't be some suffering in our life for the sake of Christ is wrong because Jesus said that we would go through it. And that we need to understand that when it comes, just as it was in Paul's life, he saw everything that he went through that had had this perfect effect upon him, where it formed him more into the image of Christ and that Christ received the glory for his life. And we have to embrace those things in that same way for ourselves. This young family, it's an inspiration to read about them because it is much like what Paul endured in his life. And when you read it, you go, Lord, thank you. But I haven't had to do that. But then again, I want the Lord to do whatever he needs to in my life in order to make me more like Jesus and less like me, you know, unless my flesh is crucified, it will continue to gain strength. Verse 31, "And the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying when he is talking about it." In Damascus, the governor under Uratos, the king, was guarding the city of democines with a garrison, desiring to arrest me. But I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escape from his hands. So, you know, this was perhaps the first real peril or hardship that Paul faced that we see for Jesus' sake. And we see that in Acts 9, verses 23 through 25. He thinks way back to the beginning event and perhaps thinking that his escape from Damascus was his apprenticeship in persecution. It is as if he says, "This is how my ministry began, and this is how it continues." Be grateful that when you met the Lord, he didn't say, send somebody to you and say, "I want you to tell Bob that he must suffer many things for my name's sake." Now, he's going to stand before, you know, people and he's going to endure great hardship and persecution. And I'm sure that Paul probably thought to himself, "Well, I'm getting what I deserve because I gave it out now I'm getting back." But I can tell you this, he received it gladly and the Lord did a tremendous work in his life. And he's such a great example for us to follow. We should remember that God loves us and is not willing and is not going to allow us to give our affections to any other thing or person. That is a matter between you and the Lord and the Holy Spirit. And whatever God speaks to your heart, just remove it out of your life. But your motorcycle sell it, whatever it may be. Don't allow yourself to be deceived. You are as bride and you are to remain pure for him. We can't do that without God's Holy Spirit. We can't do that without his word. And so we are to stay close to God, to walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. That's what it tells us. And so we're to do that as Christians and to remain pure before he comes for his bride and know that he wants that pure and chaste virgin for himself. Let's pray. Father, I thank you and I praise you once again for your word. I thank you for the life of Paul. I thank you for all that he endured for your namesake, Lord. And I pray that through it, we would be encouraged, Lord, in whatever that you would call us to, that we would remain faithful, that we would follow you, and that we would determine that all the days of our lives, that we would grow in the knowledge of Christ, being filled with the Holy Spirit, and Lord, help us to do these things. And we ask it in Jesus' name. And everyone say amen. If you would, please stand. Now I'm in the Lord. Bless you. And I pray that you'll come back and join us tonight for a time of prayer. I'll guarantee it. We're going to pray for things that are needful, and we're going to pray for our country. We're going to pray for those who watch out, or who rule over us, because that's what the Bible says that we are to do. And so I would encourage you to come out and join us for a wonderful time of just putting our hearts and our petitions before the Lord. And I'm so grateful for answered prayers. We got some of those standing right here and with us today. It's so good to have our beloved brother Ted join us this morning. Amen, all glory to God. And I mean, he has a Lazarus story. He was dead, and the Lord brought him back, and we're grateful to God. And there are so many other prayers that God has answered. And I'm sure you've been joining in with that, and you can receive the joy from coming, knowing that God has heard our prayers.