Motives, Masquerades, and Ministry

Transcript

GR 1824
12/6/2015
Motives, Masquerades and Ministry
2 Corinthians 11:7-15
Gil Rugh

We're going to be in 2 Corinthians 11 in your Bibles. We're in a portion of Paul's letters where he reveals himself as we have noted. 2 Corinthians 10-13 are the most personal of any of Paul's writings. Here he reveals more of himself, his thinking and so on. We have the history of his ministry and his travels in the book of Acts, but here we have more of a revealing of what was going on in Paul, what motivated him, how he handled situations. We find out as we move along that the weight of the ministry in the churches weighed upon him, it concerned him greatly. So we find out something about Paul. It's all recorded here for our benefit. God is not just giving us history lessons or biographies or material that might interest us when we are looking for something to read. This is so we will learn as His people today how we are to function, what we must be aware about, what we must watch for. Paul's writing to the Corinthians is based in the context of difficulties in the church at Corinth. We've taken time to look through the first letter and the second letter. After repeated issues that come up at the church at Corinth, they are recorded here because these are the kinds of things that keep coming up in the church's life down through its history to the present day.

Paul's apostleship is being attacked in the church at Corinth. And that is surprising to us as we look at it from a distance. How does this kind of attitude toward Paul, how does this teaching so contrary to what Paul taught get entrenched in the church to the point that some in the church are being caught up in it? Paul is concerned that the church not be led away from its faithfulness to Christ. Part of the approach, what happens is false teachers infiltrate themselves into the church. Now they are not recognized as false teachers and as they are there presenting themselves as ministers of righteousness, as we will see, relationships are developed and bonds are formed. And we appreciate one another. And then when an issue comes up it becomes hard to disagree with our friends.

I've shared with you on other occasions and I share with you as a background, the seminary that I attended was a solid fundamental in the sense of committed to the Word of God at all costs and so on. And some years after I left that seminary they hired a professor and he came in as one who would be in agreement with them, but over time things became evident that were a problem. But what he had done, and one of the professors who had to leave shared with me, the way he worked. He built relationships with the professors, had them into his home, they became friends, they became close. But for some it became clear he was doctrinally not where the school had been. Now when there was an attempt to deal with that, it wasn't just the doctrine. Now we are intertwined, we have friendships, we have relationships, it's not so easy to oppose a friend. It's not so easy to stand against someone that you love, that has had an impact on your life. This particular professor took a special interest in the personal needs and situations of the professors. The end result of it was those who took a stand for the truth had to be removed and the seminary was destroyed as far as a sound, biblical seminary. Tragedy! As I experienced that from a distance, became involved with some letters I wrote, it was hard for me to believe these professors, many of them that I had sat under their teaching, I had learned from, somehow were not able to sort out the relationship and the doctrine. And the relationship overruled the doctrine at great cost.

And I thought about that as I worked through these chapters. How does this kind of situation happen in a church? How does Paul become the one on defense? His teaching, his ministry? It happens subtly. That's what he is dealing with and he's trying to call the church back to its foundation.

So he opened up chapter 11, “I want you to bear with me in a little foolishness. I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy, I betrothed you to one husband so as to Christ I might present you a pure virgin.” That marriage analogy of the time where a binding betrothal, agreement took place that sometime in future this couple would be married. And it was binding, could only be broken by divorce. Paul said when you came to trust Christ through my ministry you were betrothed to Christ. Some day that marriage will take place, you will be taken to the house He has prepared for you. You will dwell together. And the picture is rather complete. Paul's concern is in the intervening time, that they not be turned away from that pure commitment to Christ, that single focus of faithfulness to Him.

Verse 3, “I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity,” that single-minded purity, devotion to Christ. Because when you are turned away from the truth then you are turned away from faithfulness to Christ and all kinds of other problems will enter the picture. He says in verse 4 the problem was tolerance, “If one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit you have not received or a different Gospel you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.” And down through church history tolerance has been a problem. Read the letters to the churches in Revelation 2-3, I went through those again this week, amazing what had become acceptable in some of these churches. We say, can this be real? How does this happen? Well we think in our day today we tolerate everything except truth and an unshakable commitment to truth. And so the church doesn't want to be viewed as narrow and negative. So we are open, and as long as we agree on the facts of the Gospel then we'll accept one another as believers and let's move on. Let's not be so negative. But Paul says that doesn't work, that's corrupting. The devil can believe and promote the facts of the Gospel, he can infiltrate the church with people who believe at least in what they say, the facts of the Gospel. But it's not the purity of the Gospel. So it is a “different Gospel” as he said at the end of verse 4. It's a different Jesus.

One writer quoted J. Gresham Machen who was involved in the battles of the modernist fundamentalist controversy, some of his books are still worth reading and are in print, but he made a statement similar to the fact that you are not known for who you are by those you agree with but those you fight against. And it does come to that. When you stand against those, that's what is so galling to people about fundamentalism. Characteristics of the fundamentalists were they promoted the truth and they stood and battled against error. The neo-evangelicals wanted to say they stood for the truth but we're not going to be known for what we battle against. And the result is corruption.

This is what Paul is dealing with. The Corinthians, the end of verse 4, “they bear with this beautifully.” They are so gracious, so tolerant, so open, so unbiblical. Well these people are good people, they are nice, I have appreciated, I have benefited from them. Wait a minute, we have to be more discerning. Remember “if you love family or friends more than Me you cannot be My disciple,” Jesus said.

Part of what happens is Paul doesn't come across externally with the same appeal that these others do. They are warmer, have nicer personalities, better speaking abilities, better personal presence. But Paul said in verse 6, “Even if I am unskilled in speech, I am not so in knowledge. In fact in every way we have made this evident to you in all things.” I may not be the best speaker, I may not have the best appearance, I may not be the most personable, but my knowledge is the knowledge that comes from God. We all battle with this. The externals become appealing. We like to think that doesn't, but if somebody stands up and can present their degrees and so on, we say I better listen to them.

I've shared with others, when I was a student in Bible college, so it tells you it impressed me because that was many years ago, there was a man who would come and speak—Ralph Kiper, well-known for his Bible conference ministries on the East Coast. And he was a little, short, round guy who wore, the way they used to have to, we call them the Coke bottle glasses. And he would be reading his Bible, he'd be up speaking in chapel and he would read like this. You would see him in the library and he would be working, had come for a series, he would have his nose down on the page because he couldn't see. And this little round, short half-blind, three-quarter-blind guy would stand up and teach the Bible and it was wonderful. It was amazing! I remember seeing him, he would walk down the hall, you'd pass and go into chapel or something, you'd say I can't believe it, it's not what I expect. If you saw him and were told he was going to be the chapel speaker, you'd think, I'll skip today.

That's sort of what Paul had to deal with, and we get caught up in that. We are enthralled by people's success and these are people who came and portrayed success. And what is Paul? Well in many ways he is a failure. So we pick up with verse 7, “Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted.” And Paul reminds them, everything he did was for their benefit, for their edification. And was it a sin that I humbled myself so that you might be exalted? That's a demonstration of love, not selfishness. And what area is he talking about? “So that you might be exalted because I preached the Gospel to you without charge.” He didn't accept any financial or material payment for his ministry to the Corinthians. Now you have to understood, among the Greeks that was a negative. If you were what we call blue collar, if you were just a working man, you didn't have the respect. Any teacher worthy of respect was paid for his teaching, and if he wasn't directly paid he was supported by a wealthy person who underwrote his ministry. But to be out there working with your hands, you're not somebody who has anything worthy to say.

It's sort of like your children when they are younger, they might do something for someone and you say, did they pay you? They say, no. Well, you got paid what you are worth. What are you saying? That's their attitude toward Paul. Did you get paid for your ministry at Corinth? No. Well, you got paid what you are worth. That was the attitude among the Greeks, so this is the culture in which he now comes and ministers. If you are here teaching for free, that's an indication you don't have anything worth saying. And if you are working with your hands, you are not of the class that we listen to. So Paul says, “was it a sin for me that I would humble myself and preach to you the Gospel at no charge so you could be exalted to the position of being part of the Bride of Christ, a child of the living God?”

“I robbed other churches by taking wages from them to serve you.” Paul had a right to be paid, he is not disagreeing with that, but it's a right he used very, very carefully and with discrimination. He did not take pay from those that he went in to bring the Gospel to. So there was no question, I'm not here bringing you the message of the Gospel but it costs you. It is free, like the salvation, it's free. And I'm not here as a hireling, you can't buy me. I'm not here to get money from you, I'm here to tell you of Christ. So when he went into a new area and evangelized that area, he did not accept money.

How did he do it? Come back to Acts 18, this is repeat because Paul does repeat himself. In Acts 18 you have the historical account of Paul coming to Corinth on his initial visit, this great Greek city. Coming in, no church, coming in to proclaim the Gospel to a pagan city. And it says he comes from Athens, he's journeying down from Macedonia in northern Greece down into the province of Achaia where Corinth is. “And he found a Jew,” verse 2, “named Aquila and he had come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, and he came to them.” Verse 3, “And because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and they were working, for by trade they were tentmakers.” This is the lower class, they work with their hands, they are not those that we respect and look to for instruction or anything. They are leatherworkers as tentmakers, or a broader word that means to work with leather. Could have made sandals, could have made awnings for the stalls where they sold things, could make tents, could make belts or whatever. Here in Corinth you walk down and here is this little Jewish guy working with leather, making a sandal or something, that's the Apostle Paul. You have to be kidding. When the Greeks saw him, they are not going to hear him teach tonight someplace. We don't look to those people.

It's like if you try to go to the university and you don't have a degree, but you may have a lot of knowledge, but they don't want to hear from you because you are not respectable, you are not of that level. I'm not saying there is not a place for it.. So what did Paul do? This is how he supported himself until…. while we're here we'll pick it up. What he did was work during the day through the week making leather. In some ways you say what a waste of time for the Apostle Paul. But “when Silas and Timothy,” verse 5, “came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the Word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.” What happened was the churches in Macedonia had sent a gift for Paul. Now Paul didn't take money from the Macedonians when he ministered there, but he would accept the gift for his ministry in another place. That way there was no confusion, he wasn't preaching the Gospel to get money here. It was free to them. Now if they chose to send money for his ministry in another place he accepted it. They did that. So then he quit his leather business and devoted himself full time to carrying the Gospel to people. This was his consistent plan.

While you're in Acts come over to Acts 20. Here he is speaking to the elders from the church at Ephesus. Ephesus is one of the cities in Asia Minor, directly east across the water from Corinth. And Paul reminds the elders of what he did when he came to Ephesus to preach the Gospel. Look down in verse 33. “I have coveted no one's silver or gold or clothes. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my own needs and to the men who were with me. In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner.” This was hard work, I mean this wasn't something Paul played around with. He had to raise money, he had to make goods that were saleable so he could get income, not only for himself but those that were in ministry with him that may not have had the same kind of skill. That's what he did at Ephesus.

Come over to 1 Thessalonians. Thessalonica is in northern Greece, in Macedonia with Philippi. Paul had carried the Gospel to the Thessalonians, and in 1 Thessalonians 2:9, “For you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the Gospel.” You see the same pattern there, I worked hard, I devoted myself to what was necessary to do to support myself. So you realize he had to work hard. I mean, he came in here and you are starting out, this is not an ongoing business, you have to make enough items to sell that will bring in enough income to support you. That's what he said, I worked hard day and night. And then any free time he had, he is out sharing the Gospel.

Look over in 2 Thessalonians 3, he reminds them again because there were some that were getting lazy in the church and deciding they didn't want to work. And in
2 Thessalonians 3:7 Paul says, “You ought to follow our example because we did not act in an undisciplined manner, nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it. But with labor and hardship we kept working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you.” The consistent pattern of Paul. When he went into a new area he is ministering, he will not accept pay. Not an issue of whether they offered it or whether we'll provide your meals, they didn't even do that. We didn't eat anything we didn't pay for. Paul is very scrupulous on this.

Now as you come back to 2 Corinthians 11 he says, “did I commit a sin by not charging you?” You ought to come back to 1 Corinthians 9, we've been here but you ought to come here and see it again because it relates to what he is saying. Paul had rights that he did not use, for example the right to have a wife like the other apostles who accompanied him. That would have been a comfort and encouragement. Verse 5, “Don't we have a right to take along a believing wife as the rest of the apostles?” Even Peter, Cephas did. “Or,” verse 6, “only Barnabas and I do not have a right to refrain from working? Who at any time serves a soldier without being paid?” He is reminding the Corinthians of how he functioned among them. Verse 11, after giving illustrations, “If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you. If others share the right over you, do not we the more. Nevertheless we do not use this right, but we endure all things so that we will cause no hindrance to the Gospel of Christ.” Verse 14 he reminds them, “The Lord directed those who proclaim the Gospel to get their living from the Gospel.” I've gone beyond, but the Corinthians weren't appreciating it. Now he is not looking for personal acclimation, but this becomes part of the attack against him. He can't win. If he had taken money from them, he would be open to the accusation that he came and preached to you a free Gospel, but he charged you, didn't he? And if he doesn't take money, well, is any teacher not worth his pay? So he can't win. And when people start attacking your motives like the Corinthians are with Paul, you can't win because no matter what you say there is always another possibility. But Paul is clear, my foundation is laid and I won't change it.

So you come back to 2 Corinthians 11, in verse 8 he says, “I robbed other churches by taking wages from them.” Now that's hyperbole, obviously he didn't steal anything, but in the normal flow and in the plan of God those who benefit from the ministry should support the ministry. But Paul went beyond that, but he did accept money from other churches like the churches in Macedonia. Those dirt poor churches gave money so Paul could minister the truth to those rich people in Corinth. All so everything is above board, so nothing taints the Gospel in my ministry of the Gospel.

Verse 9, “And when I was present with you and was in need I was not a burden to anyone.” Why? We saw, we read in Acts 18, because he worked with his hands. And when he didn't work with his hands, “when the brethren came from Macedonia,” Silas and Timothy, “they fully supplied my need. And in everything I kept myself from being a burden to you.” We saw him use the same kind of expression in writing to the Thessalonians, I didn't want to become a burden to you. He doesn't want anything negative here. “And I will continue to do so.” There will be no change in my plan. Now again we want to be clear. Paul just spent two chapters, chapters 8-9 of this letter, encouraging the Corinthians to be giving to the collection that they had committed to, but it wasn't for Paul. It was for the poor Jewish believers in the church at Jerusalem. Paul was fine with receiving money for the benefit of others, he would also accept gifts for ministry in other places. All of this to be sure that that was not an opportunity for attack.

I'm going to continue this. Verse 10, “As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be stopped in the regions of Achaia.” No one is going to take away this reason for me to boast. Again, not selfishly about I deserve a lot of credit, but for the reality of it. There is nothing here that would cloud the Gospel, no questions can be raised here. And I'm not going to allow the pressures from the false teachers and the problems in the church at Corinth to change my pattern. And you think, could Paul change now and start to receive money from the Corinthians? He'd still be open to attacks on both sides—well, you realize he was just setting you up. Now he is after your money, isn't he? I mean, you can't win. So he says, I stay consistent, I won't change my pattern. I'm going to be doing the same thing in Achaia, and we saw it's the same thing he did in Macedonia, it's the same thing he did in Asia Minor. It was his pattern. And when he passes through the church at Rome, it's not to get support for himself for ministry in Rome when he said, the Romans may want to help him on his way to Spain for ministry there. So Paul's commitment to the truth.

Why did he do this? Because I do not love you? It's just amazing how attacks would come against the Apostle Paul. God knows I do. This didn't come because he didn't love them. Sometimes if you reject a gift it can be taken as a slight, something negative. Someone says, I have this gift for you and you say no, I won't accept it. It's like a putdown. Why wouldn't they receive a gift from me? I remember something happened when I was a little boy, a very cute, good, well-behaved little boy. My grandparents lived down the bottom of the hill, which would almost be a mountain in Nebraska. And when I was young and in grade school, my friend and I would go downtown together one evening a week. And you could do that in those days, by yourselves, without being shot or kidnapped or anything else. And I would stop at my grandparents', they always wanted me to stop. When I went to school I passed their house every day, when I came home my grandmother had sugar bread ready for me. Just spoiled the daylights out of me. They would always give me a dime, in those days you could buy something with a dime, an ice cream cone or something. So one time I stopped and they wanted to give me a dime and I said, no, thank you. I thought that would be good. When I got home my parents were ready to talk to me. Did your grandparents offer you a dime? Yes. Did you tell them no, thank you? Yes. Well they called here wanting to know if we told you that you were not allowed to take money from them. You never say no to your grandparents. When they give you something, you just say thank you. Why? It was a putdown to them, it was a negative when I refused their gift.

So Paul is covering the other side here. Did I refuse any gifts from you because I don't love you? No, God knows I love you. It's just the opposite. Verse 12 gives the real reason. You realize when people get into your motives, you are just on a notion of where do you go. You get it from this side, you get it from this side, you can try this, you explain this. That's why Paul said in earlier writing to them, for you to judge my motives, it's a small thing to me. I mean, I can't even judge my motive ultimately. My conscience is clear but the Lord will make the decision. He says “what I am doing I will continue to do so that I may cut off opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the matter about which we are boasting.” Paul has put the false teachers, and this is where he is coming to, in a spot because they are there for the money. And they are trying to show that they are the true apostles, the true representatives of Christ, have the true truth, but Paul won't let them escape. He is putting the pressure on. Think about it, did I ask anything from you? Did I take anything from you? Was I there to get something from you? What about these who claimed to be the true apostles, the super apostles? And we saw up in verse 5, the most eminent apostles, the hyper-apostles, those super apostles. No. And I'm not going to let them cut off this opportunity because they want to be like me. And they would be happier if I took money because then they would have a point to compare. We take money, Paul took money. And the other points of comparison, if we're going to do that, don't we have a better personality than Paul? Aren't we better speakers than Paul? Paul says no, they are not going to have opportunity to be put on my level because he knows they are not going to say, we won't take money, either. Because false apostles have no other motivation. What are they there for? They are not there to present truth because they don't have the truth, they are there to get followers and get the benefits that come from it.

This is the matter in which we are boasting. In fact when we pick up in verse 16 and following, which we won't get to in this study, but he'll go through all the humiliations he has had to go through, all the sufferings. If you are looking for success to model yourself after in the human realm, Paul is not your guy because his life has been one of hardship, difficulty, failure, if you are measuring by physical accomplishments. But if you are looking about spiritual accomplishments, people saved, people established in the Word, people who are brought into the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Paul is your man. So what about these false teachers? This is probably the strongest that Paul ever gets in his letters, or as strong. Galatians is pretty close. There is no latitude that can be allowed here.

“For such men,” these who want to be considered like Paul or above Paul, they want to be the apostles. “Such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.” That's strong. Now keep in mind this is written to the church at Corinth. These are people that have infiltrated the church at Corinth, have been accepted into the church at Corinth. They have a ministry among the people in the church at Corinth. Friendships, relationships have developed. Now Paul is not just saying we have a disagreement, he is saying they are false apostles, pseudo apostles. They are deceitful workers, and the reason is they are like the one they serve. Remember up in verse 3, “the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness.” They are deceitful workers, they work with craftiness. They are “disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.” John Calvin writing on this, part of their battles were with Roman Catholics and he takes this passage and he says it's like the pope. You take the mask off him and you see the devil. That's getting right to the point.

Why? “No wonder, even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.” Now this doesn't mean everybody in the church at Corinth who is involved in this is a false teacher. Paul has identified the source of the problem. He's encouraging the Corinthians to deal with it before he gets there, but if they don't, he'll deal with it. And he'll deal with those who have been caught up in it and their conduct and doctrine has been corrupted. He is committed to whatever it takes. He will present the church at Corinth to the best of his ability as a pure, single-minded bride to Christ that he talked about in verse 2. That's unpleasant. We read this and say how did it happen at Corinth? The devil doesn't change his tactics, we've talked about this. He disguises himself as an angel of light. We saw this up in verse 3 when the serpent deceived Eve and we talked about it. He didn't come and say, I have a different point of view from God's. Let me tell you, you can follow me instead of God. No, it's much more subtle than that. And he is there to help you, to benefit you. Yes, you can be wise, you can have more knowledge than you would otherwise have. And you could be like God. I am here for your good, your benefit. That's how it comes in. Nothing changes.

“Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.” You see that is key. When they infiltrate the church, they come as those who are serving righteousness, come representing God in presenting righteousness and helping you to be more righteous, to have the righteousness of Christ, of God provided in Christ. Paul just bluntly cuts it off. “Their end will be according to their deeds,” they are doomed to hell. This is serious business. This kind of thinking is corrupting the church at Corinth. How does this happen? Well, you are sitting there next to your friend who is the one Paul is talking about. How do you take that here? That's not the way I see them, I think they are here to encourage us and help us grow and develop. The way the man worked that I mentioned regarding the seminary I attended, the one who got these professors on his side. If he had come and said I'm here with a different doctrine, I'm here undermining the truth that founded this seminary. The reason men left the seminary they were part of to start this seminary, we're going through the cycle. Here we go. Would I recommend anyone to that seminary today? Absolutely not. What happened to the church at Corinth? It works, it works, it works. The devil comes in and he looks like us, he dresses like us, he talks like us. I mean, he is here as a servant of righteousness. He can talk about righteousness, about what Christ has done. It is subtle and by the time you begin to recognize it, it gets a hold and now it spreads. The seminary I attended, they couldn't cut it out. Those who had to go were those who stood for the truth. How does it come to that? Some of the people I know were truly saved but it just gets so murky, you don't know where we are. And it gets confusing. You don't know who is a believer and who is not. Paul says that, remember we've gone over to 2 Corinthians 13:5, “Test yourself to see if you are in the faith.” Examine yourself. The confusion gets so murky and the things, how did this get . . ., where are we, who is right, who is wrong. It's difficult. It would be nice if they all just came and carried a sign. Mormons, we haven't had any problem with that in our church; Jehovah Witnesses, the eastern religions—Hinduism, Buddhism. We deal with these things. We don't give the devil his due. We ought to give him his respect as Michael the archangel did, but I have to be very, very careful. Paul says what is at issue here is not my followers vs. their followers; the issue is the Bride of Christ be presented in its spiritual purity to Christ. And for that we will fight to the death. There is no giving up here, it's that serious.

Turn over to Galatians 1, just look at a few passages with you. This is just ongoing. We have the Old Testament, the prophets among the people and they always got a following. It is just relentless. The book of Galatians, Paul had established the churches in Galatia. Galatia is a region so he's writing to the churches that he had established in that region. What does he say in verse 6? “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel, which is not really another.” He uses two different Greek words for another here. One means another of the same kind, the other means another of a different kind. So you have deserted Christ for a different gospel, one of another kind. It is not really any similarity to mine. “Only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the Gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach you a Gospel contrary to what we have preached, he is to be accursed,” anathema, cursed to hell. Same place he ended in our section in 2 Corinthians 11, their end.

And if you didn't get it, I mean, Paul, there is no variation here. If you didn't get what I said, let me repeat it. If anyone is preaching any other gospel he is accursed. We say we wouldn't . . . Well, why would the Galatian churches, why would the Corinthian church? Do you know what happens? It is similar, it's like the conference at Jerusalem in Acts 15 that we've gone back to, that Paul will allude to later in this letter to the Galatians. We believe that Jesus is the Messiah, we believe that He is the Son of God, we believe He died on the cross, we believe He was buried, we believe He was raised from the dead. And people said, that's good enough for me. Paul said, that's not good enough for me because do you know what they do? They said it's not enough, you must also be circumcised and keep the Law. Well, does that matter as long as they believe the facts of the Gospel? It does matter. The changes come in subtly. Do you think my seminary professors would have wandered off if it weren't subtle enough? He is very subtle, and once it gets into our hearts and minds and the confusion comes, then things get murky and then our friendships and associations, and we're all impacted by this, begin to affect our thinking. That's what Paul is dealing with, it's what he had to deal with in the Corinthians and also the Galatians.

Look in Galatians 2:4, “But it was because of the false brethren,” we have pseudo-brethren. We had false apostles, the only other use of this Greek word translated false brethren will be later in 2 Corinthians 11 where Paul talks about being in dangers from false brethren. They are not a help, they are a danger. “Because of false brethren secretly brought in who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ, to bring us into bondage. We did not yield in subjection to them even for an hour.” Why? The Gospel is at stake. If I had yielded the Gospel would have been corrupted. The corruption doesn't seem major but it's going to get bigger and worse. It's a challenge to the church.

Come over to 1 Timothy 4:1, “But the Spirit explicitly says,” we ought not to miss what the Spirit says. How come the church keeps going through the same problems and we handle them the same way and we end up with the same mess? “The Spirit explicitly says that in the latter times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons.” That's what he's talking about with the Corinthians, isn't it? Servants of Satan come, his representatives disguised as servants of righteousness, they bring their corruption. This is what the devil does so well. When the church is not well grounded in the truth and committed to die for the truth, he can bring in error. Well, it's no big deal, we have differences, we are broad minded, we are tolerant. Everybody doesn't have to agree with us. No, they don't, everybody has to agree with this. You are so narrow.

I had someone I was having lunch with, a well-known speaker and writer. After I got done talking to him, he says, you are a fundamentalist. Well, thank you. Aren't you? Do we not battle for the truth? What is Paul writing to Timothy here who is in Ephesus? And he's there, back in 1 Timothy 1:3, “so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines.” This is not optional, it is this. If you don't agree with this, we are going to war. Now not a twisted version of this. So that's what Paul is dealing with.

Come over to 2 Peter, I alluded to what Peter says in 2 Peter 2. “But false prophets also arose among the people,” talking about Israel's history, “just as there will also be false teachers among you.” That's the shattering thing, among you. Those are the dangers. Now again, we're not going around turning every rock over, checking everybody. But we have to be careful. People come in, they get somewhat established and then we find out they are not where we are, but they've been here long enough to have associations. People can be a long time, none of us are above being confused by false doctrine. The men I studied under had devoted their lives to teaching the Word. You know you never know. Pressures, trials, conflicts come for two things—they develop our character and they reveal our character. Romans 5, James 1 talk about the trials, persecution produce proven character. But they also reveal where I am. And I handle some things and I'm straight, straight, straight, but something else can come in and all of a sudden I'm shaken a little bit. And those come in and it's good for me, it's good for you, it's good for us because we have to grow through this, too, and handle this properly.

I had a man very early in our ministry who was key in my life and in the ministry of our church. He seemed rock solid. And you know something came up, it was something we hadn't had to deal with before, and you know, he couldn't get through it. We ended up sitting together, crying together, and they left. You have to go through this. And I met someone a year or so later who knew him, he said, I knew he wasn't going to make it because that was the one weak spot that I knew in his life. I didn't know about it, it just happens. And that's true for all of us. I have to remind myself this is necessary for my growth. There will be false teachers among you who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the master who bought them. They bring swift destruction upon themselves, but the problem is “many will follow their sensuality, because of them the way of truth will be maligned.” They are effective and we as believers can be impacted by it and led astray from that purity and single minded devotion to Christ.

Come over to Jude, just after Peter, and you have the epistles of John and there are a number of references there but we don't have time for them. Look at Jude, one-chapter book just before the book of Revelation. Verse 3, “Beloved, while I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation,” I was going to write to you about the salvation we share in Christ and that would be something positive and encourage them. But “I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. For certain persons have crept in unnoticed,” they have successfully infiltrated the body and have not been recognized for what they are. “Those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation. Ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only master and lord, Jesus Christ.” How do people of that character creep in unnoticed? The devil is a master counterfeiter, a master counterfeiter. His counterfeits get so good, it's like in anything.

I sometimes watch a program on TV where they are evaluating something and this is such a good counterfeit. You would have to be an expert to recognize. And then they talk about the little thing . . . We're not going to be parsing things in an unbiblical way, but the devil is subtle. He is committed to the destruction and corruption of the church of Jesus Christ. And that means every individual local church.

One more passage and we are done, Acts 20, we were there. Paul is meeting with the Ephesian elders, we came here to read how he handled himself on his finances when he went to minister at Ephesus. Now he is meeting with the elders that have been appointed for this church. And he says that he is “clean from the blood of all men,” verse 26, “because he did not shrink from declaring to them the whole purpose of God. Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” This is His church, it's the Bride of Christ, it's the church of God. “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. And from among your own selves,” this is the sad thing, “men will arise, speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be on the alert.”

Paul had to deal with this kind of infiltration, men came personally into the churches, these traveling teachers. They also sent letters. Paul would write and tell the church not to be upset by letters as though they came from us because you get a letter and it is supposedly from Paul but it's not, and its teaching is not good. We have added things. We have radio and television. Many years ago we had a family that attended here and every time I would mention Robert Schuller, in those days, it goes back quite a ways, he was popular, and the error in the teaching. He would come up and tell me, I wish you wouldn't speak against him, I've learned a lot from him. He has helped me. And you know you get this. Now you have the teaching that comes in from outside in. We have books now that are disseminating all kinds of . . . I have a book in my library that was written on the problems of what Christian bookstores can be, religious bookstores, because they are disseminating all kinds of books with all kinds of teaching in it. Then we add to that the internet and we have all kinds of things coming into the church infecting people, and we don't even know it is going on. Do you know what happens to this stuff once it gets into you, gets down in my thinking? And I wonder, and I begin to question, then we're confused. Sometimes it gets quite a ways along, don't even know it's going on. That’s how the devil works.

We have objective truth. God has called us together and we are His people and we want to remain pure and faithful in our devotion to Him. I'm not saying people who leave Indian Hills are corrupted or unbelievers. Have to always qualify lest people think my motive was wrong in what I said. People can leave for a good reason, people can leave for a bad reason. We want our church to be faithful, we want to stay faithful to the Word. Sometimes that will be unpleasant, sometimes it will be harder than others to stand for the truth, but when all is said and done the church is the pillar and support of the truth. If we are not faithful keeping the truth that is entrusted to us pure, what will be left?

Let's pray together. Thank You, Lord, for Your truth. How amazing it is that You brought the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ to us and each of us can give thanks for those that You use to be instruments to bring that Gospel to us. Now You have called us together as a church family to be a pillar and support of this truth, to remain faithful, pure, single minded in our devotion to You. Lord, to loving Jesus Christ, the One who loved us, loving Him more than family or friends. May we be faithful, may we be diligent. The Apostle Paul is a sterling example of the man faithful and diligent, pouring his life into serving You. May we do likewise. We pray in Christ's name, amen.