2 Corinthians 11, and verse 23 is where we'll start. On the one hand, I've been doing a series on the torments of hell, and I've not finished that series. I do plan to, Lord willing, as that time rolls around. But right now, the Lord laid on my heart these sermons last week, and as a matter of fact, they're part of a faith series I started in the summer, and we kind of cut that off, but not to forget about it, because I wanted them to just the way the Lord wanted it to be, you know, His timing. You've just got to be sensitive to the Spirit of God and let Him give you the timing. Now I know there's a lot of minds that are caught up in so many other things that are going on in this country right now. Brother Randy Osborne got called out. He's got to go up to Georgia, he's up there in Georgia to count votes. I told him, I said, my sister-in-law died about 10 years ago, why don't you vote for her? My uncle, a lifelong Republican, lifelong Republican, voted for Biden this week. If he'd been alive, he wouldn't have done that. I like political jokes. I really do, whether it's for my side or against my side. I like them, except when they get elected. But, you know, it's really just the things that are going on in this country today. It ought to make us happy to say it's ripe for revival. Okay, it's ripe for revival. There's no way we can say, boy, everything's just going great and good, you know, and boy, things are well-pleasing to God in this country. No, it's ripe for revival. Okay, so we see that as an opportunity. Let's have a word of prayer, and then we'll get here into the message for the day. Before I do that, though, let me just say, I had some of them come up to me and said, can we have prayer after church tonight, those that wanna stay and just pray for our country? And that's fine, that's fine. If you wanna stay after the church services tonight when everybody else is dismissing and so forth, if you'd like to stay around and pray, that'd be great. It's a good idea. Prayer's never a bad idea, okay? Prayer's a good thing. And so if you've got that in your heart, then you can stay at the services tonight. All right, let's have a word of prayer and we'll get into our message. Father, I'm asking you, Lord, to take over, because I can't, I can't convince anyone, but the Holy Spirit can work in the hearts to do a whole lot. I pray that you would be the power in my voice that holds the attention to the message that you've given me, but also be the power that understands, gives the understanding to each heart and mind. Lord, if there's one in our midst today who does not know, they're not 100% sure if they died today that heaven's their home, I pray that today would be the very day they receive Christ their Lord and Savior. And we would ask this in that name above every name, the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Well, last week I felt led to do the sermon. And really these kind of fall out from the idea we've been looking at the torments of hell with those things in mind. And then we've got to believe that people are actually going to hell. You know, that's the problem. A lot of folks just don't believe it. There are people going to a hell. It is a real place. But the message itself last Sunday was more about our responsibility in that. If we believe that hell is real, and it is, and those torments actually will take place for all eternity, and they will, then what kind of people would we be? to allow the fear of man, the rejection of man, or what people would think about us, deter us from witnessing the gospel of Christ. Because that is our commission by God, to be witnesses for the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And I just like what Mrs. Lloyd shared with you, besides the song, the idea of the souls getting saved. That's what it's about here, okay? We want every ministry of Central Baptist Church, whether it's bus, whether it's the radio ministry that we have here, whether it's the internet ministry, no matter what ministry, the church services, the music, OCA, all of them, we want them to fulfill the great commission. Soul saved, baptized, then trained in the Word of God and taught to observe all that He has commanded us. That should always be it. Now looking at our text we look at verse 23 and we're going to go through verse 32. Paul has been questioned. These Judaizers they are people that may have made decisions for Christ but they wanted to keep their Jewish religion involved in it. their various laws, and they wanted that to be a part of everything. And so they come behind Paul. They undermine what he's trying to do. They say, well, he got it wrong here. They got it wrong here. And he's just not qualified like we are. Now, he was part of the Sanhedrin. He learned at the feet of Gamaliel. He is very well qualified, even in their books. That's what they say, and they like to talk about all the letters they have after their names and things of that nature. So beginning in verse 23, he says, are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more. In labors more abundant. In stripes above measure. In prisons more frequent. In deaths ought. the Jews five times received I 40 stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned." As a matter of fact he was left for dead it was so hard. Thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep. I mean he's treading water a night and a day. in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by my own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness and painfulness, All those things led up to problems in his physical body. The weariness and the painfulness are very real. In watchings often, when you're watching, you're observing. One of the main duties I have as a pastor, and some say his main duty is to visit the sick. No, it's not that. His main duty is to do this, do that. The main duty, is to preach the word, to teach the word, and to be a watchman for those false doctrines, for those things that seek to work their way into the church, take it away from the holiness of God and the witness for Christ. I've got to be a watchman that warns. I've got to be that. That's what the Bible tells me to do. I've got to be that person. And the apostle was in watchings often as these people would come behind him to try to take these people away from the faith they had just received. He says, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness, and beside those things that were without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. That care, the false brethren, all of those things together with all those physical things. One thing about it, the apostle is committed far beyond all that we have ever suffered, you and I, and many speak of Job and those sufferings which he had, and they were of Satan as well. And we wonder, how do they stick to it? But Paul, he has in addition, as Job, this physical pain and suffering with the many threats against him on a daily basis. People wanting to kill him. Now, we may talk about Antipha today or other terrorist organizations threatening to attack you if you preach the Word or go to church. And sometimes the trial of your faith comes through those things. What happens after the resurrection of Jesus Christ? Well, Peter preaches, 3,000 get saved, another time 5,000 get saved. How many people get saved right and left? And they're commanded by government, you can't preach anymore in this name. But you see, there's a higher authority than government. And you'll always find that authority is in the Word of God. It's the Lord, and His Word is the authority that He gives for us to act upon. It's not that we're out against the government, but we are out for the Lord. We are citizens. If you're saved, you are a citizen of heaven. I am proud to be an American, but I'll tell you this. My American citizenship is secondary to my heavenly citizenship. And that was with the Apostle Paul. But then there's Peter and John, they're beaten for their faith. Philip is killed and his blood is shed. We read of the apostles, most all of them died cruel deaths, painful deaths for their faith. I don't know what's gonna happen in America. I don't know if one day there'll be somebody outside our doors threatening everybody. I don't know if people will come to our house. But I can tell you this for sure. I have a God that if it comes down to my blood will give me both the grace, the strength, and the help for that hour if I will just trust him through it all. That's what we are called to do. Trust in him, trust that holy name. And so, Paul is committed far beyond what we have, or Job, who both received these great things from Satan. We concluded in the prior sermon on 2 Corinthians 11, 13-15, but we really didn't spend time on it, so I want to look at it just a little bit this morning. And so you're still in the same chapter, 2 Corinthians 11, for such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. and no marvel. For Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works. Years ago I read a book As a matter of fact, this goes all the way back to well over 40 years ago when I had the first church that I was a pastor of. And I read this book, World Aflame, by Billy Graham. Very well written. very well backed up everything, not only with scriptures, but footnotes, everything. I mean, that, he was right on it. And yet, just a little bit before he died, he said, well, I can't really believe in a hell. He said, I don't think a good God would torture people in those tortures and that flame. I just think that hell is being separated from God and you can't pray and have him answer. He won't answer you anymore. Look, those people lived through a life to a God they can't pray to and they haven't prayed to. If they tried to, He wouldn't hear them because they're not saved. But what made Him change? The same thing that has happened to many churches across this country that have gone contemporary or have gone Calvinist or some other filthy thing. And they've gone those directions, why? Because they get appealed to in their flesh, whether it be their mental thing, where some of the Calvinism is the idea, oh, this is intellectual. I have no doubt of that. I have no doubt of intellectual. Some of the most liberal Theologians, the most liberal educators, the most liberals of kind are very well-educated men and women. So I have no doubt of it being intellectual. But that is worldly wisdom, not God's wisdom. See, wrong is wrong, regardless of how much intellectual property it may have. Intellectual doesn't make it righteous. It has been said, take that guy that's going out and stealing money out of a convenience store, and you give him a good education, really get him well educated, then he'll be able to get to the point where he can embezzle millions from the various places that he works. You see, the problem is still that nature's wrong and it needs to get saved. That nature, that flesh is in control. See, the flesh sometimes is mental. Sometimes it's like the churches that have gone to the nightclub. Atmosphere, you gotta have the lights, you gotta have that, you gotta have people up here dancing on the stage. And boy, if they're dancing, they're shaking everything around and there's some, shouldn't be seen anywhere else except with a husband and a wife. And that is the trouble that is going on across this country. And if we don't have a Revival it's not going to be the Democrats, it's not going to be the Republicans, it's going to be Christians who would not be holy, and who would not take a stand for the Lord and be a witness for the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now folks, We've said many times the country's in trouble, but it's not because of who's in power in the politics. It's who's not in power in our lives because we won't let him. So again, for such are false apostles. Deceitful work is transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ, and no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed to an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed into the ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works. What am I saying to you? it's the Lord is saying it to you, it's His Word. He's saying that Satan can appear to be a preacher of righteousness. That is why in Acts 17 and 11 Paul said the people at Berea were more noble than those at Thessalonica in that they searched the Scriptures to see if the things that he was saying were true. Hey, measure me by the Word of God what I preach. Anybody that stands in this pulpit, measure them by the word of God. It's the word of God that's the final authority. It's the word of God that's always right. When there's a disagreement, the man is always wrong. Now I want to give you a couple passages here just to, you need to believe them in a way that knows this one thing. Now I did say this last week, but didn't dwell on it. What were we talking about, hell? And then we got talking about faith. Faith says there is a hell. Faith says that anyone that dies without Christ is going there forever and there's no escape. Faith says there are torments in hell that never cease. Faith says that that fire that men go to now will be one day cast into an eternal lake of fire and continue forever and ever. Why does faith say that? Because it's God's Word. And when we base our lay, you know, you say, I've got faith, what do you got faith in? See, faith, faith is living by the doctrinal teaching of God's Word. It's not whatever, God's Word teaches this doctrine, by the way, but it is not just saying, I've got faith. Oh yeah, I believe there's a God, devils believe in tremble. Bible tells us. See faith is acting upon the Word of God. Now I can act because I can believe to die is gain. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. And if I truly believe that then I need not fear what man can do unto me. Other words, Deny Christ or we'll shoot you. Why are you threatening me with heaven? Why threaten me with heaven? Now look, we've got a living God. Whether you realize it or not, the day comes, we're gonna win. Our job, if we believe in that, we believe these things, then don't let the fear of man stop you. Our responsibility and our call before God is to spread the gospel of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world. What about the suffering, Romans 8, 18? For I reckon, I guess Paul was from South Tarsus, okay, I reckon, okay, I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. Now let's think about that for just a moment. We just read of Paul's sufferings. We read of Job being covered with boils head to toe. We read of those things. All of his children dying. I remember my brother David died. Dad says to me, he says, you never think that one of yours will go before you do. And it did in that case. But that's hard. That's hard as a parent. But the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us. That means that as great, in the greatness, the volume of those kind of sufferings those men suffered seem minute, seem like that in comparison to the greatness of the glory that will be revealed in us. I gotta believe that. Because it is true. It is true, and it'll always be true. My wife, as a girl, she grew up in the North Carolina mountains there, and they were farmers. And you knew these people, they loved God. As a matter of fact, probably the best witness in the church was her mother. I mean, they told people that you need the Lord, you need God, but they really didn't know a whole lot more beyond that. But they'd be faithful to church. But I can remember her telling me her testimony when we had met. She went forward in church for salvation. I don't know if it's an evangelist preaching or what, but they had an evangelist in, they were having great meetings. And what would happen there? One would say, pray through, honey. Another would say, hold on, darling. Now, I think that what they meant by hold on is keep the faith. But keeping the faith, praying through, did not save Paul or Job. But they were already saved. But see, there's one thing that Paul and Job both knew. Job says it. I know that my Redeemer liveth. And I shall see him on the latter days upon the earth. And not someone else's eyes, but mine eyes shall see him standing there. Yes, I'll be tried, he goes on to say in the 23rd chapter. that I'm going to remain true. I'm going to remain faithful. I'm going to do what He wants me to do. Why? Because when I am tried, I shall come forth as cold. We're focused on the moment. We're focused on the circumstances instead of being focused on the Christ who can do everything about it. That's the difference. Yes, The Redeemer liveth. In the midst of what we read in verses 32 through 30, 23 through 32 of our text, we can say this. The apostle endured, and I believe Job endured in the same way. They did pray through. They prayed through it because they were saved already. Job says, I look to my right hand, he's not there. I look to my left hand, he's not there. No matter which way he looks, up, down, whatever, he's not there. Why? Because God is not gonna answer him until it's God's time. Sometimes God's answer is no, and Paul will get a no answer that we'll see that in tonight's message. He will get a no. When God tells you no, When God tells you not yet, just remember Romans 8.28, for all things work together for our good to those who are the cold according to His purpose. Those that love God, all things work together for good to those that love God and who are the cold according to His purpose. If you're saved, you're cold. And you don't get that prayer that you wanted in your answers to prayer? then you just trust God, you pray through it, and he will strengthen you. Stay with all the way. Paul kept the faith, Job kept the faith, and they did it without compromise. You say, you think God wasn't strong enough to do anything about that? Well, let me put it this way. For with God, nothing shall be impossible. You know when that was said in Luke chapter one? An angel told Mary that about a virgin birth. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. Nothing's impossible for God. Now, let me give you a demonstration of it. We told you about Paul's sufferings. I'm going to read here from 1 Corinthians 6, 9-11. But before I read, I just want to say this to the Christian. It is unthinkable could live as unbelievers do. Our whole life and behavior, our demeanor, and our deportment should suggest something which is marvelously and strangely different than the world. The modern Christian thinks doing something wonderful is is when he behaves or she behaves either way, like the world behaves. And just try to add Jesus' name to it. But my friend, they may try to argue and say, well, this is the way to win them. What's He winning? What's He winning for them? Look, our God, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ on earth, we read of Him mixing with publicans and sinners, they said. But what did they not do? They did not mistake Him as being a publican or a sinner. You see he mixed with him because he's taking the gospel to them, but it didn't become like them to get them to receive the gospel You see that's the difference When I witnessed the gospel if I think I'm doing it a great job It's not me that's doing it It's through witnessing the word, the gospel through the word of God, the Holy Spirit speaks to their heart. My job is to deliver the gospel. Your job, if you're saved, is to deliver the gospel. In other words, we witness the gospel. They're getting saved, it's between them and God at that point. You've offered to lead them into prayer, to lead them to receive Christ, but if they reject it, it's not on you, it's on them. Ours is to turn them to righteousness. Theirs is to receive it. But God can save them. You may think that there's some miserable characters out there when you've watched the news and you've seen the murderers and you've seen the looting and you've seen all kind of things that go on and then you see the drugs and you see the things that are going to children and all this other stuff that's happening. When I think of Paul, Philip had already been put to death for the faith. They're trying to kill others. Can God work through that? Well, after those things were well underway, 1 Corinthians 6, 9-11 says this, Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators. That word fornicators comes from the Greek word pornea, which we get our word pornography, but it had the idea of sexual sin of any kind. It could be bestiality, it could be homosexuality, It could be incest, it could be any of those things. Neither fornicators nor idolaters, anything that takes the place of the Lord in your heart and you show it. It may not be a religion, but it is something that takes his place in your life. Nor adulterers, those that cheat in marriage, nor effeminate, that's looking at the homosexual. nor abusers of themselves with mankind. That includes harlotry, that includes those that do all these sexual perversions that you read about today. Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revelers. What was revelers? Revelers were the party and social drinking crowd of that day. Sometimes that social drinking got to be drinking contest after a while. but they would be either a drinking contest, but it'd be involved with a party. Many times it was just social drinking while they partied. Nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God. Well, that's a pretty rough group, wouldn't you say? Wouldn't you say that's a pretty rough group? But now listen to his words. Such were some of you. They were but they're not that way anymore Why because if any man being Christ, he's a new creature all things are passed away and behold all things are become new He says but ye are justified in the name of the Lord By the Spirit of our God how in the world are they justified? Well, he says that just before that But you're washed, what are they washed in? The blood of Jesus Christ. The blood of Jesus Christ taketh away our sin, the Bible tells us. But ye are sanctified, that is, you are not only cleansed of your sin, but you're set apart for the Lord's use. But you're justified, why? Because now, it's not your righteousness now, it's the righteousness of Christ upon you, by which you are accepted in Him. These people received them. Perhaps some of them got rejected by their family. Perhaps some of them got made fun of. Perhaps some of them one day would be martyrs. Perhaps some of them one day would be rejected by so many people. But they believed it. Don't know a lot about the people at Stone Paul. I don't know a lot about the people that killed Philip and Stephen. Don't know a lot about these people of those days, but I do know this. We remember those names of John and Peter, that they said they are ignorant and unlearned men. Who said that? The intellectuals. Where are those intellectuals today? They're in hell. Who feels like they're ignorant and unlearned now? Now look, I don't care how low that you feel like you've gone in this life. You say, I don't deserve to be saved. I don't deserve to be forgiven. I don't know that anybody in this auditorium ever was deserved to be saved, deserved to be forgiven. But the reason you can is that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. The Lord wants to save you. And He will, if you'll come to Him in repentance and faith. You say, repentance? Do I gotta come and say, okay, no, I did this, I did that, did this, did that, did, no. You come to Him saying, Lord, I'm a sinner. I live according to the lust of the flesh, and now I turning to you. I can't get rid of my sin, but you can sure cleanse me of it. And I want you to. You're turning from yourself as your Lord in turning to Jesus Christ. By faith, you call upon Him. You see, Paul said, Repentance towards God because all sin is against God. and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ, believing that his shed blood, his death, his burial, his resurrection, indeed paid it all for you. All you need to do is come to him. Let's bow our heads, please. Now, Lord, there are those that could not raise their hand to say, I'm not saved. And didn't raise their hand to say, please pray for me. So Lord, I pray that I don't know what the hardness is there, but I know that you can still save that soul if they'll just come to you today. I pray there's one that needs to come up and just do business with you and say, Lord, I want to be a part of the unashamed. I want to be of that army that's unashamed of our Lord and Savior. I'm not ashamed to take a stand. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation, to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. But I pray that that'll be the heart, that'll be the mind of thy people, because revival hinges upon it in this country. In Jesus Christ's name, amen.