Disguising themselves

Good morning. As Wayne mentioned, we have with Matt Kirby's heading on his way over to the Middle East. We now have three who are from or associated with Holly Hills that are in the midst of the battle or soon to be. I've been instant messaging with Andrew this last week. which is kind of a neat thing to be able to do. He goes into this tent, you know, where he's instant messaging. And what's interesting, Andrew, I talked to him quite a bit before he headed over.

And he was headed over expecting to be an electrician. Then they found out that he had experience behind some heavy guns. And so that's what they've put him to now. And he was telling me he's in a small group out in a fairly remote area with very little protection around them, and so quite vulnerable.

And so he can most certainly use our prayers. And he has expressed repeatedly he greatly appreciates the gifts that we send over and the various communications that we send. So anyway, just an encouragement in that regard. One other question, a number of you may be wondering.

Yes, Hassan got home just fine. He did last through the eternity of plane and airport experiences, and he was very glad to get home. As a matter of fact, Nancy and I could tell he was excited because he was singing, I'm sure it was African songs, in the shower, and quite excitedly, even letting out a few hoops now and then. So anyway, he is back. He's glad to be back. And everyone there seems to have enjoyed his return, too. I've heard from several people over there expressing thanks for having him and all that.

And so anyway, we also have some information in the Needs and Opportunities newsletter that's posted out on the bulletin boards, as well as in your email, on how to contact him, an email address. He's also got a Facebook account. Not sure how frequently he'll get in touch with those, but feel free to write to him. I'm sure he'd love to hear from you. It's also a mailing address listed there in case snail mail fits your style better. So at any rate, any of those contact information items would be, I'm sure, welcome.

Now we're going to get into the passage here. This is 2 Corinthians 11, 12 through 21. In this passage, I've got to tell you, Paul is putting on the gloves. Not that glove. Not those. Not those either. Those gloves. Okay. Paul is putting on the gloves. He is beginning to address the difficult situation that's come up there. He's hinted at it before, but now he is really coming on strong. So what is that?

There remain some at the church at Corinth who are boasting to avoid being seen as disgustingly humble. We've mentioned in prior Sundays that the culture of the Roman Empire considered humility as a disgusting personal flaw, as a character deficiency. And so in order to make sure that you didn't appear humble, it was very common for people to boast. So if you're wondering why Paul is mentioning boasting so often in this passage and in the previous passage and in next week's passage, that's why. It's the learning of humility was something that the culture most certainly didn't encourage and support. They were listening to others who call themselves, or at least it seems, super apostles. Some who had come in and said, oh, well, you've been listening to the Apostle Paul.

Well, guess what? We're better than he. We've got all his qualifications and then some. And so Paul is having to deal with that. There were others coming in claiming to have apostolic authority. And so he's countering that claim here in this passage. He's been talking about these matters, but now he is going to go very directly against those who are challenging his apostleship, claiming to compete or even have a superior apostleship. And so he's going to be addressing these issues head on.

And the reason he's going to do so is not because he's all that big on being, hey, I'm an apostle and you ought to really think highly of me. But the reason he's doing so is because Paul has a particular point, and it's a point of truth and a point of reality. Spiritual realities and what the truth is really do matter. And that's ultimately what Paul's going to get to here.

So Paul revealed the real issue way back in 2 Corinthians 11.4 last Sunday, right? He said there that it's not so much that Paul matters, but rather that Christ matters. And that's the difference.

If somebody else comes and gives you a different Christ, a different Jesus, tries to sell you an alternative Jesus, that's a problem. Christ matters greatly. Christ matters ultimately. Christ matters eternally. He says you don't want to get the wrong Christ. And one of the reasons he makes that abundantly clear, he doesn't want them to miss this critical point. Certainly there is a need to understand the gospel clearly, but also from then on, believers need to get to know the Lord personally and Him, not just some substitute or an alternative. And it matters not just for this life, but it matters for eternity, doesn't it? It matters forever.

Paul was not trying to manipulate them or wrangle some selfish advantage from the believers in Corinth. Or as we put up here jokingly, Paul wasn't playing any Jedi mind games. He didn't have any hidden agenda with them. But the false apostles who were coming in claiming to be apostles, they did have a hidden agenda.

What he did have for them and what he expressed previously, and he continues to do so, and he will tell them again in this next chapter, is that he has a selfless love for them. He would work carrying on his tent making trade in order that they not have to support him. He would lay his life down, put his life on the line, as we'll see shortly, for them.

He had a selfless love for them. He wasn't trying to get something out of them. He was trying to give something to them, graciously. And he makes that point clear. He told them early. He told them just in last week's passage. And he's going to tell them again in the next chapter. He says, I love you deeply. I love you dearly. That's why I'm writing these things. I really do care about you, ultimately.

And that's what he wrote to them, repeatedly. What Paul is trying to get across in this passage is that the believers in Corinth need to have discernment. Discernment. What is discernment? It's seeing people and teachings in the light of what God has revealed in his written word so as to see things as they really are.

How many of you enjoy being fooled? Being tricked? You really enjoy that? It's kind of nice if you go to see some sort of a magic show, you know, like David Copperfield or something like that, and seeing an illusion that you can't quite explain, yeah, that's entertaining. But it's not so entertaining when you end up feeling tricked and taken and shafted. And that's really what Paul's addressing here. He says this is not entertainment.

He says you really need to see the truth and to understand it. You need to discern what is true from what is false. You need to discern what is right from what is wrong. And if someone claims to be an apostle of Christ, you need to discern, are they really apostles or are they not? Discernment is exactly what's needed in order to avoid falling victim to deception and disguise, which is exactly what those false apostles in Corinth were doing to the believers.

Years ago, I was working at an engineering office in Ukiah, California, and I was amazed one day to find out that the parking lot right next to where I was working was a place where some deception had gone on. There were some younger people who were coming up to people in the parking lot and telling them they'd won some sort of a contest. And if they would just give them about $5,000, that they'd get the rest of their money. Anyway, apparently a few people got fooled by this, taken. And basically, as you've probably figured out, lost their money.

And I was really stunned to find out that was just happening just, you know, like a very short distance from where I was working. Well, the deception and disguise here wasn't about dollars or coinage quite so much, although there was some of that. But the deception was about what's the truth? What's true and what's false?

You have there on the bottom of page one the kind of the poetic pattern of verses 12 through 15. And one of the things that stands out there is this disguising themselves, disguising himself and disguising themselves. pattern there. And the disguising themselves, these are these false apostles in Corinth. Disguising himself is Satan himself. The other pattern that we see in here is he talks about these false apostles are also deceitful workers.

And he has down at the very end there, they will be paid. Their end will be according to their working of deceit. It'll come back to bite them in time. One of the things that Paul makes clear in this passage is that these guys are masters of disguise that's part of a system of disguise.

What's the system that I'm talking about? We believers have three enemies in this life, and by that I mean spiritual enemies. And the enemies are these. One is the world system. The world system has, in fact, a conformity that it wants to squeeze you into. This is what Paul cautioned about in the book of Romans. Don't be conformed to this world. This world has a mold into which it wants to squeeze you. The world has a shape it wants you to take, and there are pressures that this world has.

The next enemy is the flesh, the sin nature expressed through this human body. And by the way, the sin nature is associated with and attached to this body. And that's why when we get a new one, we won't have one, right? We won't have the sin nature to contend with.

Next, Satan, otherwise known as the devil, is the third member of this, oh, I suppose you could call it sort of a satanic trinity. This trinity of the devil in the world and the flesh, those are our three enemies. And so you can see Paul talking about the influence of Satan here in this passage and how he sets the example as the master of disguise. Those false apostles were doing the same.

As a matter of fact, isn't any enticement to sin deceptive? Isn't that the way it comes across? Promising something that it can't deliver? It even comes in the form of advertising. You know, I've got to tell you, if you buy the car, you don't get the girl. It just doesn't work that way. Right?

Satan is the father of lies. That's what Christ said in John chapter 8, which is how he deceived Eve in the Garden of Eden. He uses the world system and appeals to the sin nature through deception. As a matter of fact, if you look at the last places that Satan is mentioned in the last few chapters of the book of Revelation, the word deceive and deception comes up each time. It's what he did at the beginning, he did it at the very beginning, recorded for us in Genesis 3, and he will do it to the very end, recorded for us in Revelation chapter 20. The third chapter of the Bible and the third to the last chapter, guess what? All about deception. That's what he's all about. He's a master of disguise.

And these false apostles were coming across as, oh yeah, we're apostles and we're here to help. They're not even from the government, right? Now, so why is discernment all that important here? What Paul says is they come across as apostles of Christ, angels of light, and servants of righteousness. Certainly those are good beings, by those titles anyway, who do the Lord's work in spiritual truth and life. But Satan and all his willing subjects, every one of them, have a desire to bring spiritual death and damage to others. They can't do it if we see them for what they are. They can't do it if they see them for what they are. It's not too often that someone comes up and says, you know, hey, I'm here to rob you and steal from you. I just thought I'd let you know, you know, and give you a little advance notice.

No, that's not the way it happens, is it? Years ago, I went to San Jose State to go to engineering school, and I took the bus back and forth between school and home. And of course, waiting for the bus, you get the guys in downtown San Jose who are always scrounging for money. And one guy, I was rather amazed, he comes up to me and he says, I need some money for some food.

He says, I'm lying to you. I thought, well, that's shockingly honest. But you know, Satan isn't going to do that, and neither are any of his minions. They're not going to come up and say, hey, I'm lying to you. They're going to pretend like they're telling the truth. They're going to appear as something else. They're going to appear as other than what they are.

Discernment, however, is seeing things as they truly are, regardless of the guise, regardless of the disguise. That's discernment, seeing things as they really are. seeing through the mask, seeing through the falsehood. What's really happening? Who is this really?

In 2 Corinthians 11, 12 through 15, it ends there with, whose end will be according to their deeds. There are about 50 places in the Old and New Testaments that teach that we'll all be judged according to deeds or works. And that's basically true of both believers and unbelievers. We have a sampling of them here from Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Revelation, and even back in 2 Corinthians that we studied not too long ago. Some of these passages are entirely about believers. Some of them are about unbelievers, as we see in this passage here. And some are about both.

Now, salvation is never by works. When it says, judge according to their deeds, this isn't about salvation. That's not the point. Salvation is always by faith. As Paul wrote in Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, and not as a result of works.

So why all this repeated statement about being judged according to works? 50 times approximately in the Old and New Testaments. These judgment according to works passages are not referring to salvation, but they're talking either about eternal reward for the believer or punishment for the unbeliever. That's what they're talking about.

And that's what Paul is referring to here in chapter 11 where he says, whose end will be according to their deeds. One of the important things for believers to get settled in their minds is that God is ultimately and absolutely just. Fortunately, He's also very gracious. He's infinitely gracious. God will deal justly with those who mislead others spiritually, as the false apostles did, or who carry out any other wrongs in this life.

That's an important thing to get settled in our minds because what do people typically get Very concerned about in varying ways and they get concerned in four areas. It's things that I've done It's things that I didn't do that I should have Or things that were done to me or things that weren't done to me Those are the four areas where people get personally concerned about And sometimes it involves guilt over what they did or didn't do. Sometimes it involves feeling very badly and oftentimes having a sense of grudge or anger against the person who did or didn't do something in their lives.

And it's important for us all to get settled in our hearts and our minds that we don't have to worry about any of those. I mean it. We don't have to worry about any of those. I say that as a guy with a lengthy history earlier in my life of great anger.

But a part of recognizing the solution to that anger problem was this very thing. There is no sin that has been, is being, or will be committed on this planet where Christ did not die for that sin on the cross, no matter how small. no matter whether public or relatively unknown. Every single sin is dealt with on the cross.

In addition to that, sometimes, and I think this is the important thing to recognize, sometimes there is justice here on this planet. Sometimes. But there are things that are not always addressed here on this planet, right? Things that you can think of, boy, the right thing didn't happen here. Things where you look at it and you say, eh, justice didn't happen.

But there's also justice in eternity. And to those who avail themselves of the Lord's grace, there's also grace in eternity. But the Lord will deal with every single little thing. Don't worry about it. The things that you did, the things that you didn't do, the things that happened to you and the things that didn't happen to you, every single one of those things, the Lord will deal justly with perfect and infinite justice and His amazing infinite grace will apply for all those things.

It's been said that God cannot look upon sin, but that's actually not quite the case. I would say rather that God will ultimately deal justly with sin. All sin. Every little bit. Nothing excepted. You don't have to worry. God's not going to forget something. And something that no one else knew about, God does.

Every little thing. God has a full knowledge of every single sin and every single kind and magnitude of sin, but we can trust Him to deal justly, and I would add graciously, with all sin of all time. Here's the poetic pattern for the last part of the passage, verses 16 through 21. And, of course, several things stand out, particularly you've got a pattern of I am's and I am's and I will's that show up there in the middle of that passage and actually start and end the passage as well. There's also this series of anyone, anyone, anyone, anyone, anyone, and we'll look at that here in a minute.

Paul uses as critics' terms this foolishness and this boasting Facetiously here in this context, some would say ironically, since his critics seem to be stuck on these words. Let's define foolishness here. This isn't the court jester kind of foolishness. This is a foolishness that means not having a correct measure of oneself. That's the definition of foolishness.

Boasting is done to try not to appear humble. This is the cultural definition here. These words are aimed at addressing their tolerance. Now, we have in our culture this idea that tolerance is a good thing to learn and virtue and that sort of thing. But interestingly, the Bible doesn't put it quite that way. As a matter of fact, what the Bible describes as tolerance is actually a problem. Yeah, a problem. Why? patience with people and patience with circumstances and by the way those are two different Greek words in the New Testament patience with people and patience with circumstances is godly and so is forgiveness but tolerance isn't treated the same way in the New Testament and the way Paul puts it is this basically you tolerate anyone Paul says that they tolerate anyone who enslaves devours and takes advantage who exalts himself and even hits them in the face.

And by the way, that's not a figure of speech. We'll talk about that in a minute here. The false apostles were apparently enslaving them to the law. And we'll see that more in evidence the next week or two here. They're actually enslaving them to law. The problem was very much like the Galatian problem. And one of the things that we'll see is a pattern of word usage very similar to what you see in Galatians.

Galatians 2.4 and 5.1 both talk about being enslaved to the law, devouring them financially and also even verbally. That also shows up in Galatians 5. It's essentially the Galatian problem, the problem where the law is used to come up and control and beat people up.

By the law, I mean not the civil law, but the law of Moses. The false apostles exalted themselves and not God, and they actually, literally, hit people in the face. Acts 23, 1 through 3 is an example. We'll take a look at that in a minute. Paul, looking intently at the council, said, and this is when Paul had found himself in trouble there at the temple site, And funders brought up against the Sanhedrin, the high Jewish council, and said, brethren, I have lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day. And the high priest, Ananias, commanded those standing beside him to strike him on the mouth. This was actually something that started from the very top of the Jewish hierarchy. And so these false apostles were apparently just carrying on the tradition. saying we're going to set ourselves up as the local Sanhedrin and order people to be slapped in the mouth, whacked in the mouth.

Now it's interesting when we look at this word tolerate or tolerance. Here is what Christ said to the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2. I know your deeds, your toil and perseverance and that you cannot tolerate evil men. Same word. and very interesting about false apostles, look at the next part. And you put to the test those who call themselves apostles and they are not. And you found them to be false.

What was happening at Corinth is they weren't determining who was a true apostle and who was not. At Ephesus, Christ is commending them, and this is some decades later, Christ is commending them for actually discerning who is truly an apostle and who is not. It so happens that, so far as we know, John was actually the only living apostle when this was written. So anybody else who claimed to be an apostle was pretty certainly not a true apostle.

The church at Syatira, verse 20 in the same chapter, Revelation 2, Christ says to them, But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel. who calls herself a prophetess and she teaches and leads my bond servants astray so they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.

So on the one hand there's commendation for the one who does not tolerate evil and here there's a correction, a warning, a caution to this one who does tolerate evil. So tolerance, at least in the biblical context, is not viewed favorably. We ought not to be tolerating that which is evil. We ought to be discerning what's true and what's false and what's right and what's wrong. Discernment is critical. For believers to have an exercise of discernment is very important. Scripture, from beginning to end, makes it a key point. There was one Bible college professor who did an experiment with this class. He broke his class up into small groups and he said, okay, I want you to go away from this class and I want you to study this question.

What's the number one topic of all the letters of the New Testament? What's the number one topic of all the letters of the New Testament? And interestingly enough, although several groups were given this assignment, they all came back and you know what they said? Dealing with false teaching. The number one topic in the letters of the New Testament.

And this is no exception in this passage, is it? Certainly we are saved by faith in Christ that He died on the cross for our sins and was buried and rose again. It's that faith that the Lord uses to save us, to call us justified and declared righteous. But when it comes to our time after that, beholding the Lord through his written word, looking to the Lord so as to be transformed, when it comes to our being seated with Christ after that time there in the heavenlies, it won't do for us to switch Christs. Another Jesus won't cut it. And that's what Paul is making the point about here. Discernment is critical because some substitute Jesus will not work.

And by the way, those folks who come up to your door two at a time, you know who I'm talking about? They come knock and they want you to take their magazines and that kind of thing. They've got another Jesus. A different one, okay? And that's a caution I would give you.

There are people who use the words God and Jesus and Bible, saved, things like that. They use a lot of the same words, but they don't mean the same thing by them. To many of these groups who come to your door two by two, grace is where God sends His Son to die for your sins so that you can earn your own salvation. That's grace. Wrong answer, right? It won't do to switch Christs.

In Galatians 1, 6, and 7, and I go here based on the understanding that the problem here in Corinth was very similar, if not identical, to the problem in Galatia. Paul writes this to the believers in Galatia after getting through saying, Hi, I'm Paul. He says, I am amazed And this is an expanded and explained version, a little more wordy. I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting him who called you by the gracious character of Christ for a different gospel of a different kind, which is really not another of the same kind of gospel at all, because there's really just one gospel.

Only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the one true and real gospel of the one true and real Christ. There isn't some alternative Christ. There isn't some alternative gospel. There isn't any substitute. There's just one gospel because there's only one Christ to believe in. There's only one Christ who died for your sins. So there's only one Christ who was buried and rose again. And as a believer, that's the one that you've been identified with in his death, that singular, one true and real Christ, in his burial, in his resurrection, his ascension, and his seating in the heavenlies.

Just him, only him, that's the one. It's the one that scripture identifies. the one true and real Christ, the one that we're called to behold and thereby be transformed. Let's pray. Lord, as we look at this passage, we ask that you would give us a clear spiritual vision. Many of us are familiar with having some deficiency in our physical vision, but certainly in the spiritual vision, clarity is essential. And we ask that we would indeed have a clear vision of the one true and real Christ, our Savior and our Lord.

And we thank you that you have provided every means for us to have that clarity. We thank you for the work of your Holy Spirit in producing your Word to reveal Christ through the Word. We thank you for the work of the Holy Spirit to draw us to the truth in our hearts. We thank you for everything that you have done to bring us salvation today and tomorrow and on into eternity through the one true and real Christ. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.