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If you have your Bibles, I invite
you to take them out and open them to 2 Corinthians chapter
11. Today we're going to be focusing our attention on verses 1 to
4. A common belief among some Christians is that if you are a person of
faith, true faith, genuine faith, then you should never worry or
fear. Some will even say faith is the
absence of fear. But that's not always true. Now we should not be ruled by
fear or worry, but that does not mean that a person who has
faith will never have those thoughts and emotions. Paul actually shows
us this throughout 2 Corinthians. From the beginning, he has said
that he is concerned. He's even used the idea of being
anxious, that his spirit was not at rest. If you remember
in the second chapter when he was talking about the fact that
when he was at Troas, he had an opportunity to preach the
gospel, but his spirit was not at rest because Titus had not
returned. He had not received the word
from the Corinthians. He had not received the response
to his severe letter. And he was concerned for them.
He was concerned for their souls. He was concerned for them. And this is Paul. This is a man who believed in
the sovereignty of God. This is a man who believed in
God's preserving power. This is a man who believed in
providence. And yet there were times when
he clearly says he had a restless heart. I've entitled today's message,
What Pastors Worry About. And the reason why I entitled
the message this is because in this section, and we're only
going to look at four verses, in this section Paul actually
says he is afraid. He says he is experiencing phobomai,
which is the word that comes from the root phobos, which is
where we get our word phobia, or to be afraid. And I believe that the fear that
Paul is experiencing in this passage is a fear that every
legitimate minister of the gospel fears from one time or another. And it is a fear that the people
who are under his charge would be seduced and led away into
false teaching. So let's stand together and read
this text. And hear what the Apostle has
to say to us today. Beginning in verse 1. Paul writes,
I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear
with me, for I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed
you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent
deceived Eve by his cunning, Your thoughts, too, will be led
astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims
another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive
a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept
a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with
it readily enough. Father in heaven, hallowed be
your name. I pray, Lord, this morning as this is the hour for the message. I pray, Lord, that this would
be the message for the hour. Lord, that the very words that
are going to be preached today would be your words. Lord, that they would be. True
to your scripture. That the thoughts and intents
of the heart of the Apostle Paul would be the thoughts and intents
of my heart as I preach this text. That the same spirit that
inspired Paul, Lord, would fill me and use me in the preaching
of your word. And Lord, that you would keep
me from error. I pray it every week, Lord, because
I believe it. I believe I could preach something
wrong and I don't want to. I don't want to see the ministry. Be seduced into error. So many
have. Father. I pray your mercy be
upon us as we study. I pray for those who hear. For the believer, God, that today
they would be reminded. Of the danger. Of the false teachers
who come. With their smooth words and their
flattering voices. And I pray. That we would not. Give them
even. An ear. And Lord, for the unbeliever
in this room. That they would hear the gospel
today. That there is only one Jesus. That there is only one Holy Spirit
and Lord, there is only one gospel. And to believe on the wrong Jesus
or to believe through the wrong spirit or to believe in the wrong
gospel. Is damnation. So, Lord, be with us today. As
we recognize the exclusivity of the message of the gospel. And as we consider the power
of Paul's words. Lord, teach us spirit. Lord,
teach us by your spirit. In Jesus name. Amen. Paul's second letter to the Corinthians. Well, the second letter in our
Bible, it's not the second one that he wrote. We we think there
was at least three, possibly four letters that he wrote to
the Corinthians. We only have two which are part
of our canon. And this letter is his final
letter to them before his final visit. And he's speaking to a church
that he himself planted, that he saw grow, and that he has
now had to watch as false teachers have made their way into the
church, have corrupted the minds of the people, have taught a
false Jesus, a false spirit, a false gospel which has been
believed and have called into question not only Paul's message,
but also the integrity of the apostle by saying that because
of his suffering, because of all the things that he has had
to endure, because he did not make it to Corinth when he said
that he would, that he was an untrustworthy man, an ungodly
man, that he was not a man who the church should be submitted
to, but rather the church should be submitted to them. Next week, as we move into verse
5 and on through the rest of the chapter, we're going to see
that Paul identifies these men as super apostles. And as I've
said for the last several weeks, the phrase super apostle is not
a compliment. but rather it is Paul's way of
pointing out that these men have raised themselves up in opposition
to the truth. These men have raised themselves
up in opposition to Paul himself by proclaiming themselves to
be greater than they are. As we noted in last week's message,
the way that they promoted their own greatness is they would compare
themselves one to another. And they would build up their
esteem and their reputation based upon their comparison one to
another. These men were probably great
orators. They were probably interesting
and entertaining to listen to. They probably had words that
sounded wise. And yet they were false teachers. Paul is going to clearly say
in our next section that they are in fact agents of the devil
himself. He says the devil is like an
angel of light. He pretends to be an angel of
light and his ministers pretend to be ministers of righteousness. So this is the context that this
letter comes in. Paul has planted a church that
has gone astray. And he is concerned for them. He is, as it were, if I could
use this phrase, worried about them. Because he does not want to see
them go down the road of apostasy. which is to turn from Christ
and from the truth. Second Corinthians can be broken
into three parts. I've talked about this by way
of reminder. It can be broken into three parts.
The first seven chapters is Paul's defense of his ministry. He defends
the ministry of reconciliation, being a minister of the new covenant.
And we have some of the most thoughtful and deep theology
in all of the New Testament found in just those seven chapters.
In chapters 8 and 9, he describes an offering which the Corinthians
had promised to the church in Jerusalem, which was suffering
at that time through famine and persecution. And he is calling
them to remember the offering that they were to give. And we
have some of the greatest teaching on giving in chapters 8 and 9. But then in chapters 10 to 13,
Paul goes on the offensive. In fact, some even believe, I
do not, but some scholars believe that chapters 10 to 13 is an
entirely different letter. Some even consider that it might
even be the severe letter that Paul mentions in chapter two
and somehow later in time was stitched together and this is
how we find it. I don't agree with that, but
I understand how they can come to that conclusion because it
is severe. His words do not mince. His words are solid and hard
and strong. So while I don't agree because
there's no historical or any type of evidence from the manuscripts
or anything that this letter was ever separated or in parts,
that would lead me to believe that's not the case. And there
is an internal logic that follows from the beginning to the end.
So that's the internal and external evidence why I would disagree
with that. I do understand how people arrive in that conclusion.
because this is the harsh part of the letter. Not harsh in the
sense of a bully, because as I said last week, there is no
place for bullies in God's pulpit. There's no place for anyone who
abuses the sheep of God. But it is at times that the man
of God must take up the sword and attack the enemies of his
people. I don't know how many of you have ever seen the movie
The Patriot, one of my favorite patriotic movies, and it talks
about the Revolutionary War. It's a fictional account from
the Revolutionary War, but there's a point in which the pastor,
they've called on men to serve in the militia, and all these
men are coming to mount their horses, and the pastor comes
out, he's still got his pastoral neck, whatever they call it,
the tie that he wore. And as he walked out, he still
had his pastor's hat on or his pastor's wig on. Thank goodness
that's over. But as he walks out to his horse,
they said, Reverend, and he turned around and he said, sometimes
he says the pastor has to care for the sheep, but sometimes
he has to destroy the wolves. He takes off his wig and he puts
on his hat and he picks up his rifle and he goes to war. I just
think it's a wonderful reminder that there's two voices. The
pastor, I think it was Spurgeon who said the pastor should have
two voices. One for calling the sheep and one for sending away
the wolves. And so Paul is sending away the
wolves. Paul is speaking with that voice that is strong and
powerful. And one thing that is so clear
in chapters 10 to 13 is that Paul had a particular
relationship with the church at Corinth. He says they are
in his area of influence. We talked about that last week.
We talked about the fact that it's like a lane in a race where
the runner gets his lane and then the other runner has his
lane. Paul says you're in my lane. You're in my sphere of
influence. I planted you as a church. I
have a relationship with you that is God produced this relationship. God put me in a special position
with you. And he desired to protect this
church and not see it destroyed. Certainly Paul wouldn't want
to see any church destroyed. But it's specific to him that
this particular church be protected because this church was in his
lane. And so we come into chapter 11. And I decided only to do four
verses because chapter 11 is 32 verses long. It's one of the
longer chapters in the whole book. And I knew we wouldn't
get through a lot of it, but I wanted to at least help you
to understand the heart of Paul in this. And I'm focusing mainly
today on verse 4. Because in verse 4, Paul is going
to outline the three places where people are most likely to be
led astray. The three places people are most
likely to be led astray, and I'll go ahead and give it to
you, is a different Jesus, a different spirit, and a different gospel. And you know what he says? You
tolerate it. It's translated differently in
the ESV. It says you put up with it readily
enough. The NAS says something like you see it beautifully.
I think it's the word. Mike's going to check for me
real quick. But it's basically you tolerate this. You tolerate
the different Jesus. You tolerate the different spirit.
You tolerate the different gospel. What does it say in the King
James, Mike? Yeah, you bear with them. What
does yours say? It is different. Yeah, you basically say it's
okay. It's fine with you. It's okay with you. It's not
okay. But they were tolerating it. Let me tell you something, and
I'm getting ahead of myself a little bit, I'll just go ahead and say
it. The greatest virtue of secularism, according to modern teaching,
is the virtue of tolerance. And they will say, unless you're
willing to tolerate anything, foolishness, degrading, sexual
perversion, unless you're willing to tolerate that, you're wrong,
you're a bigot. But might I say, this church,
there are things we ought not tolerate. There are things we
must not tolerate. Far be it from celebrating, we
shouldn't tolerate it. Paul says that's the problem.
They are tolerating a different Jesus, a different spirit, and
a different gospel. But before we get there, I do
want to walk through verses 1 to 3, because that sets the point
of the Apostle Paul on edge. It sets it up for us so that
verse four can cut us. Verse one, he says, I wish you
would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me.
Some some have this in the imperative. Do bear with me. Some some translated
in the indicative. You are bearing with me. It really
matters very little how you translate it, because ultimately what Paul
is saying here is for the next portion of this letter, I'm going
to be speaking in a way that may sound foolish, but I need
you to stay with me. And the foolishness, actually
he uses the word foolish in the next chapter or so. He uses the
word foolishness eight times. He uses the word bear with me
five times. So this becomes sort of a theme in this next section,
because what he's going to do is he's going to defend his ministry
by demonstrating all of the things that he has gone through for
the ministry. He's going to talk about his pedigree. He's going
to talk about his history. He's going to talk about who
he is. And in a sense, this is something
that he's saying, listen, I shouldn't even have to do this. You know
who I am. I planted this church. You know
who I am. I taught you. I preached to you.
I built you up. You know who I am. But for a
moment, I'm going to engage in a little foolishness. If these
guys want to compare resumes, well, let's do it. And you'll see that the things
that these men are boasting about are actually foolishness. So
bear with me as I engage with you in a little foolishness. I like what John Gill says in
this section. He says, The false apostles boasted
so much of their gifts, abilities, and usefulness that the apostle
found himself under a necessity of saying some things in his
own defense for the honor of God and the good of his church,
which otherwise his modesty would have not permitted him, and which
he saw would be accounted and censored as folly in him by others.
And therefore he entreats their patience a little while. and
that they would suffer him to say a few things in vindication
of his character, and not be offended. Though it would be
in commendation of himself, which were he not forced to, would
look vain and foolish." So Paul is saying, what I'm about
to say may seem like foolishness, bear with me, it's going to make
sense. And then we get to verse 2. Verse
2, he says, "...for I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed
you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ."
Now, let me ask you this. Why does Paul say he feels jealousy? Well, He's using this phrase
in a way that is intended to drive home the power of his thoughts
for the Corinthians. Because the picture that he's
painting is the picture of a father with his daughter. That's the
very illustration that he gives. This is the illustration when
he says, I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure
virgin to Christ. Well, in that analogy that Paul
is using, and it is an analogy, and all analogies fall short
eventually, but in the heart of this analogy that Paul's making,
he's saying, I am like your spiritual father. And I have in the past
presented you to Christ like a father would present his daughter
who he had kept pure for marriage. And so I am experiencing a divine
jealousy over you because I see you in a relationship of a father
to his daughter. You might think, wow, that sounds
really like a wild analogy for Paul to use. Doesn't Jesus say,
call no man father? Well, Paul's not saying, call
me Father Paul. Paul's not trying to encourage
them to bestow upon him some title that wasn't appropriate. But Paul is trying to help them
to understand his emotional connection to them. And the illustration he uses
here is very similar to the Old Testament illustration that God
uses for Israel. Because what does God say of
Israel? He says, I am jealous for a people
who are called by my name. In the 1980s when Oprah Winfrey
was rising to a powerful level of influence in media and culture. She was known for saying things
about the Christian faith that were often incorrect. But she
was bold and she had a platform so people listened. And one of
the things that she is known for having said was that growing
up in church she had a problem with the fact that God was called
a jealous God. And you can look this up, don't
have to take my word for it, go look up Oprah's issue with
the jealous God and you'll hear basically what she says is that
she found that to be offensive. That God would be so petty as
to be jealous. And so that led her down a road
away from what the scriptures teach about God. So might I for
a moment simply address this idea of jealousness and pettiness
as if they are automatically connected. They are not. There are things where there
are times where jealousy is an appropriate response. Particularly
from God. Because God does not want us
to go worship other gods, one, because his name is the only
name that deserves to be worshiped, and two, in the worship of other
gods, we bring about our own destruction. So therefore, the God of Scripture
says to the people of Israel, I am a jealous God. I am a God
who accepts only that you worship me, not that you divide my worship
with the other gods. Consider the first two commandments
in the Decalogue. Have no other gods before me. Meaning, do not divide my worship
with the worship of other gods. And then the very next commandment,
which is sometimes confusing because it sounds like it's almost
the same commandment. In fact, the Roman Catholics
have combined it and separated nine and 10 to where you end
up coveting. Coveting gets divided into two.
They still have 10, they just number them differently. But
in the Protestant reading of the Ten Commandments, we understand
that the second command is, do not make any graven image. Now what's the difference between
commandment number one and commandment number two? Well, commandment
number one says don't have any other gods. There's one God,
not other gods, and you don't bring any other gods and worship
them. You have one God. And the second
commandment is don't take an object and call it God. You remember what the people
of Israel did when Moses went up on the mountain and they thought
he was gone forever? And so they go to Aaron. What
do we do? Aaron says, well, give me all
the gold out of your ears and your noses and all these other
things. And we're going to put them into the fire. And they molded
a golden calf. And Moses comes down from the
mountain. Oh, by the way. Most exciting
worship service in the Bible was that worship service, if
you read it. People always talk, oh, I want
excitement in worship. Be careful what they ask for.
Careful what you ask for, because they had excitement in worship.
They were worshipping the wrong God. Worshipping Him in the wrong
way. Moses comes down, and I love
what the text says. We put the gold in the fire and
this cow came out. No, that's not how it happened.
You molded this cow and you said, this is the God who led us out
of Egypt. Go back and read it. This is
the God who led you out of Egypt. This cow that we just made is
the God who led you out of Egypt. God does not want to share and
will not share His glory with another God and He will
not tolerate His glory being given to an idol, because he
is jealous for his name. And if you don't understand that,
I will say this, you don't understand who God is. Because he has said
who he is. He is the God who made all things. And he will not share his glory
with another. So Paul, in this text, is hearkening
back to this idea of divine jealousy, but he is using it in slightly
a different way because he is saying to the Corinthians, I
have a divine jealousy for you because I have betrothed you.
And you remember betrothal was the pre-marriage contract that
was made. that before the marriage a father
would enter into a contract with a man for the daughter's hand
in marriage and there would be a period where the man had to
provide for her all the things that were necessary for a wedding
and during that time they were not yet wed but they were contractually
obligated together Remember this from Mary and Joseph, where Joseph
thought Mary had cheated, and so he said, I have to divorce
her. Well, why do we have to divorce
her? They weren't married yet. Well, because they were betrothed, and betrothal
would require a divorce. So this picture is the picture
Paul is using. I betrothed you. I gave your
hand to Christ, as it were. Like a father gives his hand
of the daughter to a man. I have a divine jealousy for
you because I do not want you who reached your hand out and
took the hand of Christ to now take your other hand and grab
the hand of an idol. I do not want your mind, I want
your mind captured to Christ. Remember what he said just a
chapter ago. He says, I want to see your thoughts
captured to Christ, not captured to the false teachers. So Paul is not being petty. Paul
is not being sinfully jealous as there is sinful jealousy and
we see it all the time. But Paul has a concern for their
souls. Just like we should have for
one another. You know what the book of Hebrews
says about the elders? It says they keep watch over
your soul. And that's why I said that's
why I entitled the sermon, What Pastors Worry About. We worry
about your soul. We do. There's so much more I could
say about this, but I do want to move to verse 3 because he
says in verse 3, But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived
Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere
and pure devotion to Christ. This is what he's afraid of.
This is what he's afraid of. And just like he used the picture
of divine jealousy in verse 2, now he's using an illustration
from the Old Testament all the way back to the beginning where
Eve was deceived by the serpent. And by the way, this is a complete
aside, but important to mention, this reminds us too of the truthfulness
of that story. Because Paul is not drawing from
mythology, he's drawing from history. And he's talking about
Eve who lived in space and time. The story of Adam and Eve is
not a myth. The story of Adam and Eve is not something that
was constructed according to ancient Near Eastern custom where
Moses could figure out a way to help the Israelites understand
how the world was created. No, it is history from God through
the Holy Spirit to Moses which he wrote down under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit to give us an account of what happened. I don't know how long it's been
since you read Genesis 1, 2 and 3, but we should keep it in our
mind. Because when we go back, we're
reminded of how easily someone can be led astray. Eve was deceived by the serpent. Three words I think the King
James has. Three words. Half God said. Half God said. That's the words
the serpent used to bring Eve into destruction and threw her,
Adam, into destruction. Three tiny words. Half God said. The easiest way that the false
teachers lead people astray is by calling into question the
integrity of God's Word. Hath God truly said? Did God really say? Nowadays, it's more like, you
don't really understand it. You don't read the original language. You didn't go to university.
So you don't know about ancient Near Eastern history. You really
don't know what it means. That's the way it comes today. Hath God said? Well, he did,
but you don't know what it means. You don't get it. Calling into question the word
of God. or even more calling into question
how we understand the word of God. And this is what was happening
to the Corinthians. The Corinthians were being led astray by these
super apostles. These men were calling into question
what Paul had said. They were calling into question
the gospel. They were calling into question
who Christ was, who the spirit was. This is what these men were
doing. And so Paul says, I am afraid
that just like Eve was led away by the serpent, you are going
to be led away by these serpentine characters. If you've never seen it happen,
it is heartbreaking. I've seen people seduced by cults.
I've seen people let out of this church. by false teaching? Hasn't happened often, but it
has happened enough to be a memory in my gut. That's not a memory
you keep in your head, that's a memory you keep in your gut.
Because when you think about it, you want to throw up. And you see somebody led away
into false teaching and chase it like a dog chases its vomit. So we get to verse 4. Paul has
painted a graphic picture. I'm like a father giving my daughter
and now comes the rapist. That's the picture. I'm a father
with a daughter and in comes the one who wants to ravish her,
destroy her virtue, take away her virginity for the sake of
his own pleasure and the robbery of her soul. You think Paul's serious? I think
he's deadly serious. And now for the convicting words
of Paul. For if someone comes and proclaims
another Jesus than we proclaimed, or if you receive a different
spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different
gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. You tolerate it. You bear with
it. You don't rebuke it. You don't
run from it. You don't flee from it. You take
it in. You bear this beautifully. You
might well bear with him. All these different ways of saying
it. I like the New Living translation. I know it's a paraphrase and
it's not a great one to study, but sometimes it just says it
plain out. And it says it like this. You
happily put up with what anyone tells you. You happily put up
with what anyone tells you. Even if they preach a different
Jesus. Remember a few years ago, there
was a guy came here, visited from another church. And he told the story of how
his daughter was in a class at the church he was attending.
And the person in the class was teaching against the Trinity.
And by the way, if you got a different millennial position, we'll tolerate
that. It's okay. I think we're all
kind of figuring it out. If you got a different position
on even the spiritual gifts, we'll figure it out. There's
things we can differ on that, right? But you come in here wanting
to tell me Jesus is not God in the flesh. Yeah, you gonna ship, shape up
or ship out. You're not going to teach here. So that doesn't sound very tolerant.
Good. And that was the point. The guy
came to me and says, they're letting this guy teach. I went
to the pastor. The pastor said, oh, we're not going to say anything.
You're not going to say nothing. You got a dude in your Sunday
school class teaching that Trinity isn't true and you're not going
to say anything. I don't want to upset him. Sorry, just everything in me
just went. If there's something to get upset
about, that's it. The three areas people are most
likely to be led astray. As I said before, this is it.
The three areas people are most likely to be led astray. Different
Jesus, different spirit, different gospel. Now, there are others.
We could make a list longer than this, but these are the three
things Paul addresses. So apparently this was important
to him because this is where the Corinthians were being led
astray. And I I'll say this, almost every
cult, almost every aberrant teaching, almost every false religion will
fall into one of these three categories, if not all of them. A different Jesus. Even in the first century, there
were falsehoods being taught about Jesus. And they haven't
really changed, even though I would say there are things that have
been emphasized more or less now that are different then.
Now there's a lot of people who call into question the divinity
of Christ. In the first century, it was more calling into question
his humanity. The idea that God would take
on flesh was anathema to many people. They did not want to
accept that. This is why I believe John says, if anyone says that
Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, let him be a curse. If
he doesn't say that, because Christ coming in the flesh was
foundational and doctrinal. And if you didn't believe John
1.14 that says the word became flesh and dwelt among us, you
weren't a Christian. And there are things that we
can say that about. Again, back to the zero tolerance
thing or no tolerance thing. There are times when we can say,
if you don't believe something, you're not a Christian. People
get so upset. People will say, oh, well, you
can't discern someone else's heart. No, but if you tell me
Jesus is not God in the flesh, you're not a Christian because
that's what Christianity teaches. You might be something else.
Call yourself whatever that is. And I love it when people say,
well, Islam, you know, they get a lot right about Jesus. Because
they say Jesus is the Messiah. They do. They believe Jesus is
the Jewish Messiah. They believe Jesus was born of a virgin. Right? So those things, they'll
say, yay, Muslims get that part right. Yeah, but they deny He's
the Son of God and they deny He's God in the flesh. They say
cursed is the one who says Allah has a son. Guess what? It's a different Jesus. The Isa
of the Koran is not the Jesus of the Bible. When the Jehovah Witness comes
to your door, like they used to for me, when the Jehovah Witness comes
to your door, And they say, we want to talk to you about Jesus. They want to tell you about a
Jesus who was created. And they will say that Jesus
is a created God, little g, created God. In their translation, the
New World Translation, in the beginning was the Word, the Word
was with God, and the Word was God. That is how your Bible reads.
That is how the majority of Bibles read, because that is the proper
way to translate that phrase. And the Word was God is the proper
way to translate that. But they will say no. They'll
say the Word was a God. They'll say Jesus was a God.
And we say, you don't use the indefinite article to describe
God, because there is one God. In three persons, but one God. The person who brings to you
a false Jesus does not have a message that can save your soul. The
person who brings to you a false Jesus does not have a message
that can bring you life. But it will bring destruction
to you and to your family. So as Paul was concerned that
his people would not believe a false Jesus, I have the same
concern for you, Mike has the same concern for you, Andy has
the same concern for you, that you would not believe a false Jesus. That you would not tolerate such. Now the second says a different
spirit. Now it seems obvious that Paul
is referring to the Holy Spirit, but we also have to consider
that the word spirit is used different ways. Like, for instance, in Romans
chapter 8, when Paul is talking about falling back, he says,
we do not want you to fall back into a spirit of slavery. Right? So he uses the word spirit there
more as an attitude or a mood or a condition rather than a
person. So right away I would say certainly
Paul wants us to have a right understanding of who the Holy
Spirit is. The Holy Spirit is a person.
He's the third person of the Trinity. He is the one who comes
and indwells you when you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
he empowers you for whatever ministry he has chosen to gift
you to accomplish. That is the work of the Holy
Spirit. And I think, sadly, often the Holy Spirit is the most neglected
of the Trinity, particularly among Reformed folks, because
we're so afraid of the eccentricities of Charismaticism that we're
afraid to talk about the power of the Spirit. And that's dangerous. Because, in fact, it is the Spirit
who indwells us, who empowers us, and who causes us to want
to will and do what God has commanded us to do. But there are other
spirits. There is, as I mentioned, the
spirit of slavery that would cause us to fall back into fear.
There is false teaching and false spirits. There is even demonic
spirits, which Paul will address later. Those who come. who consider
themselves or who pretend to be ministers of righteousness,
but are actually ministers of Satan himself. So can I just simply say this,
if we do not understand. The role of God, the Father,
God, the Son and God, the Holy Spirit in our salvation, we should
seek to. Because one of the ways that
the cults and the false religions and the false teachers will try
to infiltrate us is by trying to convince us of a wrong God. The God that is not the God of
Scripture, that is not the Trinitarian God, is not the God that we should
be serving. And serving any other God is
idolatry. So that's when Paul says, people
come, bring you a false Jesus, you tolerate it. People come,
bring you a false spirit, a different spirit, you tolerate it and you
shouldn't. Finally, a different gospel. And interestingly enough, this
is the same thing that Paul said to the Galatians. You remember
the beginning of Galatians? when Paul says to them, I am
astonished, I am surprised. that you are so quickly deserting
Him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to
a different gospel. Not that there is another one,
but that there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel
of Christ. But even if we or an angel from
heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preach
to you, let him be accursed. As I said before, I say again,
if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one
you received, let him be accursed. Paul is not mincing words with
the Galatians or the Corinthians. Beloved, there are not many Gospels.
There is one Gospel. And all other Gospels are impostors. False Gospels always descend
into one of two things. And this is how you can be clear
to see what is a false Gospel. False gospels will always descend
into one of two things. Legalism or licentiousness. Legalism
or licentiousness. What's the difference? The gospel
that says do, do, do and you will be saved is a false gospel
because the gospel is done. Jesus did it. He died on the
cross. He took our sin. He is our righteousness. He alone
is our salvation. And the gospel that calls you
to legalism is a false gospel. But the same, out of the same
breath I will say this, the gospel that says that if you come to
Christ it will not change your life, that is a false gospel
as well. And I have talked to people that
say that very thing. You can come to Jesus, believe
in Jesus, trust in Jesus, be filled with the Holy Spirit,
and it make no change in your life. Beloved, that's a false
teaching. Because the gospel is this. We
are saved by grace alone. Meaning, nothing that we did
has caused God to look upon us with His favor. But His grace
alone, which He lavishes upon us as a gift, is how we are saved. And we receive that gift through
faith alone. Not by faith plus works, but
through faith alone. In Christ alone, our faith is
placed in the object of the Son of God, who gave Himself for
us, dying on the cross, taking our sins, and providing for us
a righteousness we did not have. so that we could be called the
children of God through adoption as sons. This is why when people ask me
about, well what about Rome? What do you think about Rome? Roman Catholics. I believe there
are Roman Catholics who are saved, but Rome itself does not teach
the gospel. Because Rome has abandoned the
gospel of the scriptures, which is justification by grace alone
through faith alone in Christ alone. Oh, and by the way, if
you have questions about Rome, just look at what the pontiff
is now saying. Many roads to God. Many ways
to God. Why? Well, because it's not about
the truth. It's not about the truth. Paul says there's not many ways
to God. In fact, in response to Francis, I would say Paul
disagrees with you. Because he says there's one Jesus,
there's one spirit, there's one gospel. And if you believe in
a different Jesus, you believe in a different spirit, or you
believe in a different gospel, you have believed unto your own
damnation. So the title of today's message
was, What Do Pastors Worry About? And the answer is the same thing
Paul fears in this message. That the people under their care,
the people God has charged us to shepherd, would be led astray
like Eve was led astray in the garden. And as I said, I've seen
people walk away into unbelief. I have seen people walk away
into false teaching. I've seen people walk away into
aberrant teaching and false religions. And it is a dagger to the soul.
Ministry's hard as it is. It's just hard. Over the years, people come,
people go for all manner of reasons. Not always bad, just happens. But it is a dagger to the heart
to see someone walk away into a false gospel or a false Jesus. Being led by false spirit. Paul had a pastor's heart. And
therefore, he was concerned with Corinthians, and I want you to
know if you are here. We care for you. And if you find yourself struggling
with dangerous doctrines, please, for the sake of your own soul,
come and talk to us. The cults are devastatingly clever
in the way that they convince people to come. Take up the armor of God and
stand. Alongside brothers and sisters
who care about you. The days are wicked. The cults
are wicked. But Christ is beautiful. Let's pray. Father. It's a serious subject for a
serious day as we consider the dangers of a different Christ,
a different spirit and a different gospel. And I pray, oh, God,
that today that the words that have been preached would resonate
in the hearts of men and women here. And Lord, if anyone is
being led astray. Into false teaching. God, I pray that you would protect
them from that. I pray that you would keep us
in this faith, Lord, that we would not abandon it. Lord God, only you can keep us,
only you can give us the strength to persevere and only by your
spirit will we persevere. So Lord, help us to trust in
you. In Christ's name, amen. So as we come to the table, we're
remembering one other thing. We're remembering our
What Pastors Worry About
Series 2 Corinthians Exposition
| Sermon ID | 92924185565310 |
| Duration | 56:00 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | 2 Corinthians 11:1-4 |
| Language | English |
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