Don't Trade the Jesus You Know for a Jesus You Don't!

We're going to be in 2 Corinthians chapter 11.

2 Corinthians 11 · chapter mention

We're going to read the first 14, 15 verses,

excuse me. We won't go through verse by verse.

It's kind of, in some way, really similar to

what we've talked about and seen throughout the

book. It's more of Paul. defending himself and

trying to get the Corinthians to listen to him

and not give in to the teachings of these false

teachers that are preaching things that are not

of God. So we see more of that. So I would encourage

you this week, if you want to read and spend

a little more time on these verses, since we're

not going to look at all of them in great detail.

It's pretty self -explanatory. We'll see as we

read through these verses. We kind of can understand

what's going on. And then we'll pick a couple

of verses and spend a little time on them. But

we'll read through 2 Corinthians chapter 11,

2 Corinthians 11:1

verse 1. I wish you would put up with a little

foolishness from me. Yes, do put up with me,

for I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy,

because I have promised you in marriage to one

husband to present a pure virgin to Christ. But

I fear that as the serpent deceived Eve by his

cunning, your minds may be seduced from a complete

and pure devotion to Christ. For if a person

comes and preaches another Jesus, whom we did

not preach, Or you receive a different spirit,

which you had not received, or a different gospel,

which you had not accepted, you put up with it

splendidly. Now I consider myself in no way inferior

to the super apostles. Though untrained in public

speaking, I am certainly not untrained in knowledge.

Indeed, we have always made that clear to you

in everything. Or did I commit a sin by humbling

myself? so that you might be exalted, because

I preached the gospel of God to you free of charge.

I robbed other churches by taking pay from them

to minister to you. When I was present with you

and in need, I did not burden anyone. For the

brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my

needs. I have kept myself and will keep myself

from burdening you in any way. As the truth of

Christ is in me, This boasting of mine will not

be stopped in the regions of Achaia. Why? Because

I don't love you. God knows I do. But I will

continue to do what I am doing in order to deny

the opportunity of those who want an opportunity

to be regarded just as our equals in what they

boast about. For such people are false apostles,

deceitful workers. disguising themselves as apostles

of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan disguises

himself as an angel of light. So it is no great

thing if his servants also disguise themselves

as servants of righteousness. Their destiny will

be according to their works. Let's pray. God,

we come to you. We thank you for these good words.

And I pray, God, that we can... see Paul's passion

and Paul's zeal here for the people of Corinth,

that his main desire, God, is that they are not

led astray, but that they remember the truth

of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the truth that

they had heard, the truth that they had accepted.

And God, I pray the same for us tonight. Maybe

we are presented with things or maybe we begin

to stray off in one way or another, dear Lord,

sometimes. And I pray. that we would look at

these scriptures, that your Holy Spirit would

speak to us tonight, that you would give me just

a few words to say that will be for your glory

and your honor. I pray that you would hide me

behind the cross, dear Lord, that you would let

your Holy Spirit speak to us tonight in these

words. In Jesus' name I pray it. Amen. Again,

we see this idea that Paul addresses, and he

calls out, what's in quotations in our Bible

as what some are referring to, obviously, as

super apostles. And so, sure, maybe they thought

well of Paul in some way, but there were these

other apostles, and they were the super apostles.

Oh, yeah, Paul's good, but if you heard this

guy. Paul, he kind of stumbles around in his

speech. He's not a good speaker. He's kind of

weak. But this guy right here, have you seen

this guy? This big preacher, boy, he has got

a presence. He can speak in such a way that he

draws our attention or he's entertaining or whatever

it may be. And we would way rather listen to

this guy than Paul. And this guy, it appears,

is asking for some money, and they're joyfully

giving these people money to preach what is a

false gospel, all the while Paul is a humble

servant of Christ. He says, look, I haven't asked

you for a penny. I've come here just because

I love you. I haven't put any burden on you,

but yet you won't listen to what I'm saying.

Now, these people are preaching and teaching

foolishness to you. And you're just giving them

all your money and you're just listening to them.

Why? Because they're a smooth talker? But are

you listening to the message that they're saying

or just in the way that it's presented? And we

have to be careful because I think we can fall

into that same trap today. Now, it is a whole

lot better to listen to somebody speak that's

a good speaker than somebody that's not a good

speaker. We all would agree with that. We've

all heard good speakers. We've all heard bad

speakers. We probably at some point in our time

have been a good speaker or been a bad speaker.

There are some times where, man, things just

come out good, and other times we kind of mumble

and stumble and bumble around. But what Paul

says is don't pay attention to how flashy they

may be or how good of a speaker they may be or

how entertaining they may be. What are they preaching

to you? What are their lives showing to you?

Now Paul admits, okay, maybe I'm not a good speaker.

Maybe I'm not as entertaining. Maybe I don't

hold your attention in the same way. Maybe I

kind of drown on. Maybe I get down some rabbit

holes. Maybe I kind of stutter. Maybe I kind

of stumble. But Paul says, what I have taught

you and what I have brought before you, I bring

it to you in love. And it's evident. That I have

come to serve you. I've humbly come to serve

you. I'm not asking you for anything. There's

other people that have supported me. And I'm

not even asking you for anything now, he says.

I'm boasting in that. I'm boasting in the fact

that I have come here out of love. And that's

why he says at the very beginning of this passage.

I wish you would put up with a little foolishness

from me. Now what Paul is saying is. Not foolishness

at all. He's preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It's not foolish. The world would sometimes say

it's foolish, but Paul's making the point here.

These guys have come onto the scene, and you

are falling for everything that they say, hook,

line, and sinker. And it's all foolishness. So

if you'd give them all your time and all your

money, would you just pay attention to me for

just a little bit and listen to what I'm trying

to say to you? And we have to be on guard for

that same thing in our world today. Now, it's

nothing wrong with people who can speak well

or people who are funny or people who are entertaining

or people who can hold your attention. That's

not sinful in and of itself. But there's a lot

of people who may be gifted in those ways and

they use those gifts for their own good. It's

a lot of people that'll go to church. They'll

be drawn in by... by the way a preacher looks

or the way he dresses. Or maybe he is a really

good speaker. Praise the Lord. That's a gift

from God. And a lot of people will be drawn to

those things all the while not really paying

attention to the message that's being preached.

There's a lot of good preachers preaching a lot

of good messages. Praise the Lord. But as it

is in the case of Paul, there's always going

to be a lot of bad preachers preaching a lot

of bad stuff too. that are not preaching for

the kingdom of God, that are not preaching for

the glory of God, that are not preaching the

word of God. They may quote the word of God,

but they're not focused on what the word of God

really says. And a lot of times, for whatever

reason, our world today is not any different

than it was in Paul's day. For whatever reason,

it seems like a lot of times these are the people

that attract the biggest crowds. In whatever

way they put on a show and entertain and speak

and preach, if you'd call it that, in whatever

way that they do that, that in some way is attracting

to people. While you may have some other preacher

that's preaching his heart out and maybe he's

not as flashy or as good a speaker, and his church

might not have but 20 people in it, and he might

have preached 1 ,000 messages that are better

than anything that they've ever preached, but

yet there are some people that will fill up stadiums.

with a false gospel. And so that hasn't changed.

These are people who started out right here in

the real gospel and all of a sudden some other

flashy person has come in and they are just all

about following him. And Paul says, would you

just listen to me? And we need to be careful

because, look, we got phones and we got TVs and

we all listen to our favorite preachers and Bible

teachers. Maybe it's just for a... a few minutes

on a segment on the radio, or maybe we look for

their sermons on YouTube and watch them or their

studies and we listen to them, and that is all

well and good. But we always need to look at

what is being taught, not how well necessarily

it's being taught. There are a lot of people

out there that speak a lot of stuff really eloquently,

and they are just as big of lies as anything

you ever heard. And boy, we can be drawn into

that. And so we always want to check what we

hear with the Word of God, no matter who preaches

it to you or who teaches it to you. Even if it's

somebody you trust. Because even people you trust

make mistakes. It's not that everybody's trying

to mislead you. But we always need to check the

Word of God. And we don't always have to agree

on the Word of God. There may be things that

we read a scripture and we may have some difference

of opinion on it. And in many ways, many areas,

that's okay. But what we always want to make

sure we do is check what the Word of God says.

Sometimes it doesn't take us long to look at

the Word of God to see that, wait a minute, what

this person told me about Jesus, about God, about

God's Word, doesn't line up. Maybe I need to

do some research to make sure I understood what

they said. Maybe... I need to check God's Word.

I need to check them. And ultimately, God's Word's

always going to win. We need to be careful that

we don't get drawn away. Paul says, I wish you'd

put up with a little foolishness from me. Yes,

do put up with me. And listen to what he says

in verse 2. For I am jealous over you with a

godly jealousy. Now, isn't that something? Now,

we often think of jealousy as always being a

bad thing. But it is not always a bad thing.

Now, I would say more times than not in our life

it is a bad thing because we are jealous of somebody

else's cool car or somebody else's TV or somebody

else's husband or their wife or somebody else's

job or somebody else's preacher or somebody else's

whatever it is. I mean, there are lots of things

that we may be jealous of, and those things are

not good. When we desire something that somebody

else has and we want it for ourselves so that

we can be like them or so we can feel as good

as them or as important as them or as cool as

them, when we have that kind of jealousy that

we long for the things of other people, that

is an unhealthy jealousy. And it's unhealthy

because with that kind of jealousy, man, if it

begins to eat away at us, we will do all kind

of things to obtain the things that we are jealous

for. Jealousy is a bad thing, okay? Scripture

talks about jealousy not being a good thing.

But not all jealousy is bad. And we know that

for a fact because in Exodus chapter 20 verse

Exodus 20:5

5, God says, for I am a jealous God. God's not

a sinner. God doesn't sin. But yet God himself

says that he is jealous. When does he say that?

Well, when he's given the Ten Commandments. He

says, don't worship any other idols. You're not

supposed to have any other gods before me, for

I am a jealous God. So there is a, as Paul would

say here, a godly jealousy. Now what does God

say in Exodus chapter 20? He says, look, you

Exodus 20 · chapter mention

are my people, and I am your God. And when you

go and you begin to worship and seek out other

gods, you are mine. And I'm jealous when you

are seeking somebody else because you are mine.

You can think of it in the same way that if you're

a husband or if you're a wife and somebody starts

flirting with your husband or wife or they start

flirting with somebody else, well, that's your

husband, that's your wife, that's your spouse.

You're not coveting and seeking and being jealous

for something that somebody else has. That's

yours. And you want it to be yours. And that's

not something to be shared with anybody else

because you love that person. And that's the

kind of jealousy that God had for his people.

And that's the same idea I think that Paul has

here. And he says so as we continue on. For I

am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. Because

I have promised you in marriage to one husband

to present a pure virgin to Christ. What does

he say? He says, you are the bride of Christ.

And what does the bride need to be? This is lost

in our society today. But we need to make sure

we know it and we need to make sure that it's

important that our young people, that our young

ladies know that it is important to be pure for

your husband. That's a big deal. It's not stressed,

it's not considered important in our world, but

it is important. It's a beautiful thing when

a husband can remain pure and a bride can remain

pure until they come together and get married.

And that's the illustration that we see of us

in Jesus. That Jesus is our groom and that we

are the bride of Christ. And what does Paul say?

He says, look, I've... I've promised you to somebody

in marriage. That is, I have come to you and

I have told you about Jesus Christ so that you

would enter into a relationship with him and

that marriage bond. And one day there's going

to be a great wedding banquet and you're going

to go and you're going to be the bride of Christ.

He said, you're promised to God. You are God.

You are in Jesus Christ. But you're not living

in a pure way. I don't want you to live this

way. I don't want you to act this way. I don't

want you to cheat on the Jesus you know with

a Jesus that you shouldn't be fooling with. It

ain't the same Jesus. He talks about that a little

bit in the verses here that we're about to see.

He says, look, I want you to be pure. Everything

that he's saying to them, and some of it with

some sternness, he says it because he loves them.

And he does not want to see them abandon God.

These are people that he has poured into. And

he's exposed them to the gospel. And some of

them have followed the gospel and put their faith

in Jesus. Praise the Lord. But now they're in

danger of these wolves in sheep's clothing. In

verse 3, he says, But I fear that as the serpent

deceived Eve by his cunning, your minds may be

seduced from a complete and pure devotion to

Christ. Now I want you to think about that verse

for a second tonight. In your own life. Think

about that verse. I want to read it again and

think about that in your own life. Are there

areas in your own life that we may be deceived?

He says, but I fear that as the serpent deceived

Eve by his cunning, your minds may be seduced

from a complete and pure devotion to Christ.

Do our minds have a complete and pure devotion

to Christ? Maybe they do, but maybe they don't.

Maybe our minds are seduced to think about the

things of the world, the things that we are jealous

for, the things that we really desire. Maybe

it's seduced to think about things that we worry

about. There's a lot of things that are going

through our mind. There's a lot of things that

are fighting for our attention. And if we're

not careful, and I suspect if we're all honest,

we would say that there are times that our minds

are pulled from being completely devoted to Jesus

Christ. And we want to be, and that's not saying

that we're not Christians. It's just saying that

sometimes we sin, and sometimes maybe we're like

the Corinthians here. Now, boy, we like to read

these passages and say, oh, those Corinthians,

they were so horrible. Get them, Paul, you get

them. But really, maybe we're in the same boat.

Maybe we're in the same boat that just as their

minds were seduced from a complete and pure devotion

to Christ, maybe our minds were seduced from

a complete and pure devotion for Christ. Is everything

we do a complete and pure devotion to Christ?

Well, maybe some of the stuff we do is. Maybe

some of the stuff we do is just a devotion to

us and what we want. And so it doesn't matter

what it is. You name it. It doesn't matter what

it is. The list could be a million things on

that list of things that take our mind off of

Jesus Christ. And I think that's what he's saying.

And I think that applies to us. He says, I fear

that there are things that the devil's doing

that's taking your mind off Jesus. And I think

that that's just as true for us tonight as it

was the day that he penned these words. That

there are things that the devil uses to get our

mind off of Jesus and keep our mind on stress

and desires and worldly things because when we

do that, we're not fully devoted to Jesus. Okay,

good. We see this verse. Does it apply to us?

Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. If it doesn't

apply to you, then praise the Lord and move on.

But if it does apply to you, then we need to

check ourselves and we need to repent and we

need to say, okay, God, I need you to help my

mind get right. Because it's not easy, okay?

It's not going to be an easy thing. There's going

to be a million things tomorrow that's going

to be fighting for your mind and for your attention.

So we really have to work at and pray and seek

God. that he would help our minds to stay focused,

that we would pray that he'd give us the mind

of Christ, the heart of Christ, that we wouldn't

let all the things of the world cloud our mind

and cause us to slack in our devotion for Jesus.

One more verse, verse 4. For if a person comes

and preaches another Jesus, whom we did not preach,

or you receive a different spirit which you had

not received, or a different gospel which you

had not accepted, you put up with it splendidly.

What does he mean here if someone comes and preaches

another Jesus? Is there more than one Jesus?

Well, absolutely not. There is only Jesus Christ,

the only begotten Son of God. There is but one

Jesus Christ. Now, he says a very similar thing

in Galatians to the people of Galatia, that if

someone comes to you and preaches another gospel,

not that there is another gospel, he says, but

there are some people, and we see it today, and

we see it in Paul's writings here, I believe,

that there are some people that they start with

Jesus, and they start with the Holy Spirit, and

they start with the gospel. And it all starts

good, but somewhere along the way they begin

to splinter off. They begin to splinter off a

little bit from the truth of God's Word. And

here's where they're really clever. This is where

they're clever. They'll take something that's

in God's Word and apply it inappropriately and

incorrectly to something else in God's Word.

to essentially make God's Word say whatever it

is they want it to say. And Paul says so here.

A person comes to you, they preach another Jesus,

you put up with it splendidly, he says. You're

excited about it. You're excited about a lie

about Jesus. Why won't you listen to me, he says,

when I desire to tell you the truth about Jesus?

And we see the same thing in our world today.

There are Christians, people like you and I,

that have heard the gospel, that have trusted

in Jesus Christ, praise the Lord, and there are

some bad actors out there. And they find these

people in their weakest moments, or they begin

to twist God's word, and they begin to say, boy,

you know about Jesus, I love Jesus, you love

Jesus, oh yeah, I love Jesus. Let me tell you

what Jesus wants in your life. Let me tell you

how Jesus desires for you to live. Let me tell

you what the Word of God... Let me tell you what

you need to do. Let me tell you how I can help

you. Let me tell you how you can give me some

of your money so I can help you. Let me tell

you how God wants to bless you in this way. And

let me tell you all the promises that God has

for you. If you would just claim these things,

there are 100 % guarantee that God would do them.

And people begin to make promises of God's word

that are not promises of God's word. And they

begin to take and whittle away at who Jesus is,

and they begin to say, well, you know, maybe

Jesus really wasn't this, or maybe Jesus really

didn't say this, or maybe Jesus really didn't

mean this, or maybe Jesus wasn't one with God,

maybe he was just the Son of God, but they weren't

equal, and maybe the Holy Spirit this, and maybe,

and all of a sudden, pretty soon, but let me

tell you, you might have believed this, but let

me tell you God's Word in a different way, and

pretty soon, People are believing in a different

Jesus than they believed in. Following a different

spirit than they followed. And I'm going to tell

you, that's pretty scary and pretty dangerous.

Boy, if we're led by the Holy Spirit, praise

the Lord. But if we're not led by the Holy Spirit,

the other spirits that are out there, they're

not good spirits. They're spirits that will lead

people astray. And they have led many people

astray. Boy, people start seeking the Spirit

for guidance. You'll see people on TV. I think

that's foolishness. I think some of it's just

lies. But I think it's super scary. Because,

boy, you start seeking stuff like that, you're

going to find something. And what you may find

is going to guide you in some way, but it ain't

the Holy Spirit of God. And Paul says you better

be careful and pay attention to what you're taught

and what you hear and what you're exposed to.

Because you know the truth of the gospel of Jesus

Christ and the Holy Spirit is within you and

you know the gospel, so why in the world are

you being led astray? So listen up, he says.

Listen up. If you think I'm foolish for preaching

Jesus Christ and what I've taught you, then listen

to my foolishness a little bit more and stop

paying attention to the foolishness of these

other people. He said, because they are workers

of Satan. And if Satan disguises himself as an

angel of light, then how much more his workers?

What he's saying is, it's not always easy to

see when the devil's at work. It's not like the

devil's out there. He said, he doesn't say, and

Satan comes with a big red tail and a pitchfork

with fire all around him. He doesn't say that.

He says, Satan appears as an angel of light.

That is to say, it looks good. It looks pleasing.

It looks like something that you would want to

desire. He said, but you better pay attention

because it's just a disguise. You better not

get caught off guard. So perhaps tonight, these

words are a good warning for us. We're exposed

to a lot of teachings in this world. The internet,

for all of its good, if there is any, is full

of bad. Because it gives a platform to anybody

that's got a microphone or a computer, which

is anybody in the world, to say anything they

want. And those are the things that we see on

Facebook or on YouTube or wherever you go. Are

you here? Even if you're not on Facebook or YouTube,

the people you see, they're listening to somebody

on Facebook. And they come and they tell you

something. And maybe it's good and true. And

praise the Lord if it is. But we need to be on

guard. We need to know that there is but one

God. And there is but one Jesus Christ, His Son.

And there is salvation in no other. God loves

you and God cares for you and God will be with

you. But we don't earn God's favor by sending

more money to our preachers on TV or in this

church or anywhere else. We can't buy God's favor.

If you don't have God's favor, it doesn't mean

that God's cursing you. It doesn't mean that

you don't have enough faith. It might just mean

that it's not God's will. So be on guard with

the teachings of the world. And the best way

we can be on guard is to know the Word of God

and to know the Jesus of Scripture and to seek

the Holy Spirit that He would guide us in our

life to throw up those red flags when we see

something's not quite right. So that we don't

get led astray. Let's pray. God, we come to you.

We thank you for these good words of warning.

And I pray, dear Lord, that you would help us

not to be led astray. I pray, dear Lord, that

you'd help me as a preacher and teacher of the

word to not lead anybody astray. And God, if

it ever happens in an unintentional way, if I

just say something, dear Lord, not wrong, not

intentionally, dear Lord, I pray that you just

would... Guide me back and correct me in that

and help me to always lead people in the right

way. God, I pray that you would help us to know

your word, that your Holy Spirit guide us and

lead us in the things that we hear and the things

that we do. God, we're exposed to a whole lot

of stuff in this world, so I pray that we would

not get caught up in the foolishness of the world,

but that we would be focused on Jesus Christ.

I pray, dear Lord, that you would protect us

and protect this church and protect all the people

of this church from any kind of false teachings

that we may encounter. I pray that you would

help us to examine ourselves, dear Lord. Maybe

there is a battle in our mind. Maybe there is

one today. Maybe there is one tomorrow. Maybe

there will be battles every day of our life.

I expect there will be things competing for our

attention, dear Lord, and competing for our mind.

Pull us away from a devotion to Jesus Christ.

And I pray, God, that you would help us to refocus,

try to reel ourselves back in to you and to stay

focused and devoted to you. God, maybe there's

one that's listening tonight online or maybe

one in this church building that doesn't know

Jesus Christ. I pray today that they'd know that

you love them. Pray today that they'd know that

Jesus Christ gave his life on a cross. the truth

and the hope and the love that they seek, that

they can be forgiven of their sins, that their

burdens could be washed away from them, that

they can have true freedom. I pray that if they

don't know Jesus, that even now, that they would

ask that you would forgive them, that they would

repent, turn from their lifestyle and their sinful

ways, dear Lord, and seek you. And I ask these

things in Jesus' name. Amen.