Dear congregation, dear friends, I would ask you now once again to please turn your very prayerful attention there to those words that I read to you in 2 Corinthians chapter 11. We've been going through this chapter over the last month, and of course, having gone through 1 Corinthians and then 2 Corinthians, working our way through small sections, sometimes just a couple of verses going through This epistle now, we arrive in verse 22 of this chapter. And let me just read once again from verse 21 to the end of this chapter, so it's fresh upon our minds. I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak. Howbeit, whensoever any is bold, I speak foolishly. I'm 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'm more in labors, more abundant in stripes, above measure, in prisons, more frequent, in deaths oft of the Jews. Five times received I forty stripes, save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods. Once was I stoned thrice. I suffered shipwreck. A night and a day I've been in the deep, in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils mine 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, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness, beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. Who is weak? And I am not weak. who is offended, and I burn not. If I must need glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed forevermore, knoweth that I lie not. In Damascus, the governor under Arateus the king, kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison. desirous to apprehend me, and through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall and escaped his hands. Amen. May the Lord bless his word. The Apostle Paul is now continuing to defend his apostleship to these Corinthian believers who have truly grieved his spirit and no doubt the Lord, for they were being misled by men who claimed to be true apostles, but they were false apostles. Men who were also claiming to be true teachers of God's Word, but they were false teachers. They had deceived them, and we learned last week of these deceivers just like Satan. If you recall back there, what he says of these men who gloried in the flesh and the outward appearance, these men who were Judaizers seeking to bring them under ceremonial law and under certain feast days and circumcision, these men who looked good were their modus operandi. or their mode of operation was to transform themselves into ministers of righteousness. Just as Satan transformed himself, look at verse 14 and 15, into an angel of light. That's what Satan did. He says, verse 14, 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. And last time we saw, regarding these false teachers, their work, their origin, and also their end. Their end is going to be a very severe end. They are now, if they were false teachers, They are now reserved in a place of darkness for that great day of judgment. And their end will be destruction. These false teachers, they came in and they claimed to be ministers of Christ. They preached a gospel, but it was a false gospel. And he even tells us here at the opening of this chapter how he was jealous over them with a godly jealousy, verse 2, for he espoused the church to Jesus Christ. He saw himself very clearly as being given a charge over this church and the churches. He was an apostle called directly by the Lord Jesus Christ to the Gentiles. And he went about by the grace of God in the work of planting churches. And the work here was established. He was at this church for some 18 months and had labored there. And in much prayer and affliction, his heart was burdened for them now. because after having left after the 18 months, trouble soon arose in the church and there were schisms, factions, and now even false teachers have arisen and privily crept in amongst them. And now they are being beguiled by these false teachers. And he says there how he was concerned that even in verse 4 that there would be some who would come and preach another gospel, another Christ, another spirit. And these Corinthians now are so taken in with these false teachers. They gloried in their appearance, these false teachers. And the Corinthians were really hoodwinked. As I said, they were bringing this church to, even as we read in this chapter, you suffer and men bring you into bondage, he says here in this chapter. The bondage of circumcision, the bondage of rites and certain feast days, which the epistle to the Hebrews tells us those ceremonial laws of the Old Testament were shadows of good things to come, pictures of the true, all pointing to Christ. No need for circumcision now. No need for special feast days. All of those feast days, if you were to study the Old Testament and also in conjunction with that epistle to the Hebrews, you will see that those things were a foreshadowing. The things of the ceremonial law. The law, Paul says to the Galatians, is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. They were teaching aids. the whole sacrificial system, everything in the Old Testament, even the whole order of the tabernacle, the showbread, the table of incense, the altar, all of that, the golden lampstand, all of that pointed to Christ, the Ark of the Covenant, even the veil of the temple, we are told, was a foreshadowing of Christ's flesh and the sufferings. But now these false teachers are seeking to bring these Corinthians back to this ceremonial law. And it was viewed with a purview of works. You see, it seemed very attractive. Really what they were doing is they were saying, you can do a little bit of religion which will make you feel good about yourself. You can be circumcised. That's, as it were, a badge. That's something worthy that you've done. Keep a certain feast day. Well, there are no more feast days in the New Testament. There are no more such special observations and ordinances. There's only two ordinances now. That is, baptism and the Lord's Supper, the ordinance of the Lord's table. No more feast days. No such thing today as Ash Wednesday or Maunday. or these holy days that the high churches, Rome and even the Anglican church and the Episcopalian churches and the Methodists introduced, they are not in Scripture. They're only two ordinances and one special day to keep. But these false teachers were seeking to bring them under a yoke of bondage. You do a little bit of work, but what you do if you do a little bit of work In thinking that your work plus Christ is something, what you're doing is you are completely undermining the whole work of Christ. In other words, you make the work of the cross null and void by saying, I need to do these other things that are not instituted in the New Testament. I will keep a feast day. I will get circumcised. Paul has to say in Galatians chapter 5, if you be circumcised, you must keep the whole law. It's as simple as that. You add anything to Christ, you deny Christ. And you really have no salvation. If you think you need to do some works, you have no Christ. You have no salvation. If you think you need to do works to be saved, Christ then avails you nothing. It's pointless. That's what these men were doing. And it was very attractive because, you see, people feel good about doing certain things. You'll feel good about yourself if you're circumcised, if you keep this day. You see, it's very attractive, even today in the high church. And what they were doing is they were substituting these extant things now from the New Testament. They were substituting those things for holiness. But these men were brute beasts. We saw they were bullies. And the church here suffered. Look, verse 19. For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise. For ye suffer if a man bring you into bondage. That's the bondage of the ceremonial law or other, maybe even rabbinical laws. If a man devour you, if he consume you, And these men really talked down to people. They thought they were high and lofty. Sometimes they literally devoured people of all of their wealth, asking for coban. If a man take of you, that you have a take of your finances, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face, they even beat people. These were wicked Brute beasts, literally bullies in the church here at Corinth. This is a serious thing. There are even today some charismatic false teachers who act like this, and cults. And these men claim to be ministers of Christ, but really they are ministers of Satan. Paul does not mince his words here. He's straight to the point. Now, we thought, how do they operate? We thought of their work. They transform themselves. This is the way of all false teachers. Well, they make themselves to be ministers of the truth. That is, they take some truth, but they mix error with it. It was always laced with error. That's their approach. That's their tactic. It still is today. Also, we thought, didn't we, about how they continued on in this false teaching. And what is their end? Well, their works were destructive, but look at their end. Verse 15b, whose end shall be according to their works. Their works were most destructive. They tried to destroy the truth, but they themselves will be destroyed in the end. And it's a reminder here, this is telling us, if you look at verse 15b, I didn't say this last week. Whose end shall be according to their works. It's very telling here, isn't it? That according to God's judgment, it's not what they pretended to be, but it's actually what they did. How they will be judged. They destroyed and therefore they will be destroyed. People who are false teachers do not edify, do not build up the church. But they literally destroy. They break down and they undermine the gospel. And they undermine the whole of the Word of God. You think of so much of the false teaching that takes place today. How many men, and even sadly women, stand up and preach things that are so flagrantly contrary to the Word of God. preaching things that God's Word abhors and condemns, they themselves one day will be destroyed. And again, it's a reminder, as I said last week, false teachers are immoral. False teaching is immoral because truth is truth. And it's right to walk in truth, but to go against the truth, if you have a Bible in front of you and you are preaching the exact opposite to it, it's a sin, it's immoral. So we come now to these verses. And thinking about this, the whole aim of the minister is to build up the Church of Jesus Christ. Why are we saved? Well, we sang it. We're called to holiness. In our last hymn, we sang it. How blessed we are with benefits divine. We're called to holiness. And if the church is not walking in holiness, you must know that there is error. The whole aim of ministry is that God's people walk in holiness. I'm not here to make people happy. But let me say this, happiness and holiness are joined together, aren't they? You can't have true happiness and contentment without holiness. And the whole reason why the grace of God has come to us is to teach us to deny ungodliness. Titus 2, verse 11, in this present age. For the grace of God, Paul says there, Titus 2, 11, that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world. But look at the false teachers. They're slapping men. They're hitting men. They're stealing. They're pilfering from the congregation. And they have no conscience about it. It's like all the false TV evangelists today. They have no conscience about what they do. The health, the wealth, the prosperity teaches. absolutely no conscience. And you know what? The people love to hear it. The Benny Hins and everybody else, all these false teachers, they love to be led by these people. It's entertainment. And it's the blind being willfully led by the blind, isn't it? But they will be destroyed one day. One final thing about false teachers before we move on. We are told by Jude, by the Holy Spirit. In Jude 4, it says, therefore, there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of the old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of God into lasciviousness. That is, they take the grace of God and they say something like this, let sin, the grace may abound. It doesn't matter how we live. Christ died for us, and it doesn't matter. Let's turn the grace of God into sin now. We can use the grace of God to sin as we will. Well, that is not the spirit of a Christian, is it? And this is how bad things had got at Corinth. They were using this yoke of ceremony and circumcision and everything else, and they were completely blind to what these men were doing. And even as I said before, there was this terrible adultery that had taken place at Corinth. And these men were here, and they never corrected it. Paul had to address it and write sternly to them. And so he says, you suffer fools gladly. That's what they were doing. And Paul here once again is constrained to argue his credentials as an apostle. Now what we will see is compared their false credentials with his, but now he gets to the true credentials of a true minister of the gospel. So we arrive in verse 22 this evening, but I'll read from verse 21 for sake of context. Now notice something very important as we come to the first point this evening in verse 22, but again I say I'll read from verse 21. What you will notice is that These false teachers, they claim credentials in things that really didn't matter in God's eyes. That's what they did. I speak concerning reproach, he says, verse 21, as though we had been weak. Howbeit, whensoever any is bold, I speak foolishly. He said, look, if you want me now to boast, I'll do it, but I'll do it as a fool. Okay? If this is true, he says, I'm bold also. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. Well, you ask the question, what difference does it make whether you're a Hebrew or a Gentile if you preach the gospel? Does it matter to me here tonight if I'm a Jew or a Gentile preaching the word of God? There's no difference. It doesn't matter what heritage. It doesn't matter who your parents were. It, in fact, doesn't matter even what your background is, so long as you meet the scriptural qualifications. And that is a man, as Paul tells us in Timothy, that we meet that criteria, although some will pervert it. What difference does it make being a Hebrew or a Jew? You see, they were fools in this. They were saying, we're Hebrews, we're Jews. Well, can any Hebrew preach or be a teacher? No, not at all. How could these things, being a Hebrew or a Jew, how could these credentials in any possible way make them as acceptable ministers, but they couldn't. But this is what a lot of false teachers do. They introduce things, and this is a warning, that the Bible doesn't call for. Like, did you go to theological seminary? Does the Bible tell you that? Now, I'm not saying that seminary is not helpful. It is helpful, but it is not the be all and end all. Men like James Smith, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, many of the great men, didn't go to theological seminaries. A friend of mine recently said, a very experienced and seasoned minister, said this recently to me about seminaries, while they are good, they don't last for many generations. It's not long before that seminary has gone completely the wrong way. If any of you know anything about C.H. Spurgeon's seminary in London, it's an utter disaster. A seminary can't make a minister. Can't make a minister, can't make a pastor. It can be a help. But you see, people introduce things that the Bible doesn't set as a credential. And this way they can trick people. And that's what they were doing here. We're Hebrews, we're Jews. Some people say, well, I went to such and such a church. Well, it doesn't matter what church you were at. It doesn't matter who you studied under, but it's whether you meet the scriptural qualifications, whether you are called of God. Often these questions are not even asked. But Paul says here, for argument's sake, are they Hebrews? So am I. He was equal to them in all of these things, but that does not make a difference, does it? Did it make a difference? Well, they took confidence In Jewish heritage, they took confidence in these things, but these weren't things that God had ever called for. In fact, if you turn to Philippians 3, verse 4. Philippians 3, verse 4. The apostle Paul speaks of all his previous learning and what he was before he was saved. certainly an expert in the law, studied under Gamaliel. He was a rising star as far as the Jews were concerned. He says in Philippians 3, 4, though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he hath wherewith he might trust in the flesh, I more circumcise the eighth day of the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin and Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law a Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law blameless. But what things were gained to me, those I counted loss for Christ." All loss for Christ. Heritage counts for nothing. What church you went to, what degrees you may have had, those can be helpful. What is the qualification? Well, what God's word says. And it's a knowledge of Christ. And ultimately, unless we are taught of the Lord, it's of no use. Sadly, I mentioned earlier seminaries. Many of the good seminaries in this country have gone a terribly wrong way. I don't want to mention them, but it's true. What we need is to get on our knees and pray that God would gift men. We are told in Ephesians 4, when he led captivity, captive he gave gifts unto men. Some he called to be pastors and teachers and so on. It is the gift of God. And you need to pray that God will keep us ministers humble. It's not of our learning when I come, every time I feel my emptiness. and my utter inability, then that is absolutely necessary that we are kept and remain dependent, utterly dependent upon God. Well, many false teachers today, they try to bring up credentials that are not in the Word of God. You might ask things like this, well, how many conferences have you spoken at? Where did you study? and so on. Imposters, really, what they do is they fall back on irrelevant qualifications. This is very common today, and they actually shy away from the fundamental qualifications that the Bible gives. Again, seminary is not qualification for the ministry, and even a desire. We've heard of men who have a desire to preach But unless the Lord has gifted somebody, a man has to be tested by the church. But sadly sometimes people just push it and push it and push it and eventually they get what they want and then it is a disaster. Well, we need to move on now. Secondly, I hope you notice there with me now what we will see is Paul's true qualifications as a minister of the gospel of the New Testament. You'll see this in verse 23 to verse 28. He was unlike these men. He was faithful and you look at the deprivations Paul went through. You look at the hardships that he endured. This was all proof that his heart was in it, not merely his head. He was a man who loved the Lord. What we see here in these verses, verse 23 to 28, are his character, his duties, and all that he did for the churches. And all of these things actually are the things that really count in the eyes of God. What counts is to be faithful in the small things. You know, some men can, I suppose, speak at big conferences and things like that, but that does not make up for the daily bread and butter work. and the prayers and the godly living that man is to have in the local church. That cannot make up for that. It might be a star in many people's eyes, but what counts, friends, is even you see here Paul, he had care daily in his heart for the churches and we will consider this evening all that Paul went through for the sake of Christ and it proves his credentials to be true by his experience of life. Have a look with me. First of all, you will see in verse 23 that there really are four areas here of Paul's ministry that are set forth where you see great exertion on his part and sufferings on his part. Firstly, you'll see his labors in the preaching ministry in verse 23. And then secondly, you'll see his suffering under severe persecution for preaching. And then thirdly, his journeys for the Word of God. We will think of the many miles that he traveled and that he was prepared to endure, to take the Word of God, and then you'll see his daily care for the churches. He was not a flash in the pan, if you like. Paul was sincere and earnest in all that he did. Now, firstly, his labors in preaching and in ministering, verse 23. He says, are they ministers of Christ? Well, he's not saying they are, but these men were claiming to be. And certainly, perhaps some of the Corinthians were imagining that these false teachers were. But he says, let's say if they are in a sense. And now he's somewhat constrained and obliged to this boasting, which he doesn't really relish in doing, but he has been constrained to do so. And so he says, I am more. If they are ministers, I'm more. In labors, more abundance. He here is pointing immediately to his labors, his labors in the word of God. Wherever he went, he preached. And he preached sometimes in the most perilous and difficult situations, knowing that his fellow kinsmen, his brethren, hated him. He was, as I said, the rising star among the Jews. He was known, but then all of a sudden this man is turned to do the work of Christ. One day he was the greatest enemy, as it were, on the road to Damascus, papers in his hands, ready to put more Christians in jail, but then all of a sudden he turns. And you can imagine what effect that would have had. amongst the religious leaders, how he was hated by the scribes, the Pharisees. He himself being a Pharisee of Pharisees, they loathed him. It was very difficult. This is why he was beaten five times with 39 stripes by the Jews. They hated him. He labored more than they, that is particularly in the word, in the study of the word. I mean, even what he had learned before, he said he had to consider. But Scabala and nonsense, his understanding of the law, his perception of it before, he had to relearn. He had to humble himself and he had to continue. He writes to Timothy and says, to give himself to the study of the word and in prayer. This man prayed and sought to study the scriptures diligently and to preach. faithfully, and he exhorted Timothy to entrust other men who were faithful with the word. He took it seriously. When he's in prison, what did he ask for? My parchments, the scrolls, and my coat. It's all he asked for. In fact, he tells us that he actually labored more than the other true apostles, 1 Corinthians 15, 10. He says, but by the grace of God, I am what I am. And his grace, which was bestowed upon me, was not in vain. But I labored more abundantly than they all. He's not here talking about the false apostles, but the other apostles, because he mentions them before in that very chapter. When there was Peter and Cephas, who saw the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ, and over 500 brethren witnessed the risen Christ, and he refers to the apostles, and he said, I labored more than they, the true apostles. Now, he was not boasting then, but he was already telling the Corinthians that he was a true apostle. He sensed because he was such a man of prayer that there were issues in this church. He had a certain perception. He had wisdom, and God had given him an intuition. that things weren't right already at that state. And then if you look at verse 23b, we see his suffering and his severe persecution for preaching. That's the next thing, secondly. In stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft of the Jews five times received I forty stripes, save one. Thrice I was beaten with rods. Once I was I stoned. So you notice here in stripes above measure, more than I could count. And he says in prisons more frequent. Probably some of these false teachers never went to prison because they were never persecuted by the Jews. If they say their ministers, I more frequent than anyone else. He was always in prison because he was hated. He was despised. just like the Lord Jesus for preaching the truth. In deaths oft, he escaped death so narrowly, so often. Now notice verse 24 of the Jews, five times received I 40 stripes, save one. Well, why is that? Well, if you turn with me to Deuteronomy 25, you notice what the law required. The beating was If it was for something very severe, you couldn't go any more than 40 stripes. Deuteronomy 25 verse 3, 40 stripes he may give him and not exceed, lest if he should exceed and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee. This was just too much. It was beyond what was humanly reasonable. People would probably even die after this with the flogging, the beating. Now, this was actually a restraint of the law, 40 stripes. But strangely, the Jews had developed this custom that just in case somebody miscounted, they went minus one. That's what they did. Just in case we miscounted. So really, they were just covering their own backs. in doing this, 39 stripes. So just in case somebody had miscounted, well, these men always just covering themselves. But he endured it five times. Five times. Now, here's the thing. Paul was also a Roman citizen. And a lot of people miss this. Paul being a Roman citizen, didn't have to endure this. It was a time, if you turn with me, to Acts 16. Paul has just been beaten at Philippi. He speaks to the authorities there. He's been beaten in the stops with Silas. Although he was, we could say, he was a Roman citizen, a man of Tarsus, he was Saul of Tarsus, he could as it were, call upon his Roman citizenship, an appeal against Jewish law, okay? So Acts 16, 37, but Paul said unto them, they have beaten us openly, uncondemned. Now notice this, being Romans, and have cast us into prison. And now, do they thrust us out privily? or privately? Nay, verily, but let them come themselves and fetch us out. What is Paul saying here? He says they've unjustly treated us. I'm a Roman citizen. Although he was a Jew, he was yet a Roman citizen, and they weren't allowed to treat him like this. So the question is begged, why did Paul, therefore, as we've read there from Acts 16, and he's rather disgruntled by this whole way that he's been treated at Philippi, and he says, let them come and fetch us out, let them not do this privily. I'm a Roman citizen. The question is asked, why then did he endure this five times from the Jews? Well, there are two suggestions, two possibilities. The first is this. is that it may well be that if Paul, because he was always preaching and always the Jews were up against him, if he always came to the Romans and said, look, I'm in trouble again. The Jews are at my neck again. They might have got tired of him and said, well, you've done it again. We're not going to get you out of this one. That's quite possible. The other, in which some people also favor, is this, and it might be both, and we should say Paul could have used his right as a citizen, as a Roman citizen, to appeal this 39 stripes. The second reason could well be that you know when Paul, it was his custom. He went into the synagogue, didn't he? Wherever he preached, he went to the Jews first in some places. And what they could have said is, We don't want you here, fellow. You say you're a Jew, but you always act like a Roman. So get out. We won't have you." That's quite a possibility as well. So he endured these stripes. Why? Because the love of Christ constrained him. That's what he tells us in Corinthians. He says, whether we be beside ourselves to some. You just turn there, 2 Corinthians 5.12. He says, for we commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf, that ye may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance and not in heart. Going back to these false teachers. For whether we be beside ourselves, it's to God. Or whether we be sober. Some men thought the apostles had just lost their minds. It's for your cause. And then he says, for the love of Christ constraineth us, because thus we judge, that if one died for all, then we're all dead, and that he died for all, that's all believers, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again. He says, this is what motivated me in all of this. the love of Christ. Paul's heart was moved for this one who loved him and bled for him and suffered. This is why he was prepared at least five times not to appeal to his Roman citizenship so that he might reach both Jews and Gentiles. You see, he has true credentials. He was a man that put his own comforts to one side, prepared to go through much privation for the sake of Christ and the gospel. And then he says that he's beaten with rods. Verse 25, thrice I was beaten with rods once I was stoned. And we have it in Acts 14.19. They thought he was dead when they stoned him at Lystra. It says there in Acts 14.19, And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium who persuaded the people, and having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead. He was a man who was so concerned to take the truth to lost men and women that he was prepared like Stephen to be stoned. And then we read how the Lord rises him up again. And then thirdly, if that's not enough, notice the journeys. As he took the word of God, thrice I suffered shipwrecked. At night and day, I've been in this deep, these journeys, but difficult. A shipwreck, thrice, three times. Some people, maybe they've gone about once, they're afraid. Paul went in perilous waters, in perilous seasons, night and day. One time it was a whole night and a whole day, as perhaps the Acts 27 passage on his way. We don't know. And one time, a whole night and a day. We don't know when this was, but they were unspeakable perils. You notice here he mentions perils of waters. There are seven perils here, by the way. Perils of waters, perils of robbers. I mean, there were vagabonds on the road. There were robbers, there were murderers. It's not like you had streetlights or anything like that. Not like there were police walking around. Murderers, perils by my own countrymen. That's in Jerusalem, and also there were Judaizers all over the place. The Jews vehemently hated him. Now notice something else. Perils by the heathen. Think of Ephesus, where the whole city was in uproar. Lystra, we mentioned. Derby. Corinth. That was not easy when he went there. And perils in the city, and perils in the wilderness, and perils in the sea, and perils among false brethren. You couldn't think you could add to this list. You couldn't. In weariness, perhaps due to lack of sleep, food, in painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger, in thirst, and in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. I mean, this man endured so much, didn't he? But what constrained him? Again, the love of Christ, because he was a saved man, and because he had been given a commission by the Lord, and because he felt he could do no other than to preach. You know, the word preach is the word in the Greek kerugma, and it comes It's the word that he is to herald. He is to herald the message of the King. When we preach, we're not giving a thought of the day. I'm not giving you my opinion. We are giving you a message from the Lord, the King of Kings. It therefore comes with authority, and people don't like that today. People don't like preaching with authority. People like to hear different... I heard once somebody not so long ago say, well, you need to give the various arguments and here and... No, no. We're not told to do that. We're told to simply preach the Word of God, not look at all the different points of view. Not look at all the other religions. You know, when you've got truth, it expels error. That's what truth does. You shed light into things. Just preach the Word. What does Paul say to Timothy? Preach the Word. in season, out of season. We are told in Isaiah 55 by the Lord that his word shall not return unto him void. When we go out and we preach in the open air every Thursday, yes, there'll be passersby railing, shouting, people laughing, scoffing, but you know what? There'll be some whose heart the Lord opens like Lydia. Because God has said, his word will not return unto him void. His word is hardening, son, and ripening them for the day of judgment, but it is going to save others. Therefore, we have every confidence. And then notice, to add to all of this, this was his commission. In all of this, was to take the word out. Not like these men, tricking, conniving, hoodwinking, bullying their way into the church. But Paul loved the church. Fourthly, his care for the churches. And then he adds, beside these, verse 28, beside those things that are without, that's the troubles I suffer from the world, from others, from heathen, from the Gentiles, false teachers, beside those things which are without, that which cometh upon me daily." That was in his heart, the care of all the churches. When he heard of some news coming from Corinth or the Galatian churches or Ephesus, his heart was burdened because he loved the bride of Christ. because he loved Christ. Christ has a bride and every true minister cares for the bride of Christ, every one of them. They are precious to every true minister. You see, it is the love of Christ, isn't it? We love one another because Christ loved us And therefore he said, love one another as I have loved you. What a burden he had. But friends, there was one greater than Paul, wasn't there? Paul suffered much, but there was one who suffered far more than we could ever know. That was our Lord Jesus. In those three lone hours, We'll never know all that he had to suffer. You can think of Paul suffering through all that he went through. But it was because of the man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. The Lord Jesus, we think of his face marred more than any other man. It says in the scripture that he hid his face not from spitting, that he gave his back to the smiters. Isaiah 50 verse 6, I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked off their hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting. And we read, his visage was marred more than any other man and his form more than the sons of men. Now again, the amazing thing is the Lord Jesus was even no mere man. As such, he is the God-man. He is the Son of God. He is God the Son. And that is what made the crimes done against him so much worse. What was done to Paul was bad. But what was done to Christ by evil men was most wicked. but it was all purposed by the Almighty God. But by His sufferings, and then by the Father offering Him up for us, we should go free, but we would not be punished. We read in Lamentations 1.12, is it nothing to you that pass by? Behold, see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow. which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. Friends, what was done in the unseen world to Christ, we can never begin to enter into, never. And thank the Lord that we will never experience it. But that is why the Apostle Paul did what he did, because of what Christ did for him. And so we must endure. If we love the Savior, we should be prepared to suffer for the sake of Christ. Never be ashamed of Him. Paul says, verse 29, who is weak? And I am not weak. Who is offended? And I burn not. If I must needs glory, I will glory in the things which concern mine infirmities or my weakness. And then he mentions that weakness right at the end. You might think this is a very strange thing that he puts at the end. He mentions an incident that occurred when he was first saved. Notice, in Damascus, the governor under Oratius, the king kept me, the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me. And through a window in a bucket was I let down by the wall and escaped his hands. He said, I'm going to glory in my infirmities. This is my weakness. I had to be led down by a smelly fish bucket down the city wall and escape. But who gave him the escape? The Lord did. In that humbling, this mighty apostle escapes by a little bucket, let down in a smelly fish bucket as it were. What a humble, what a humble thing. But how have we escaped by the cross of our Lord Jesus? That humble, rugged cross for us. let down once a mighty apostle, once a mighty Pharisee, now a humble apostle, down the city wall. He says, our glory in my infirmities. It is God that delivered him from all his troubles. And even in the end when he has to face Caesar, he knows the moment he closed his eyelids in death, when he was executed, that he would meet the Lord. The Lord would never forsake him. Amen.