Urgently Devoted: Guarding Your Allegiance (2 Corinthians 11:1-4) | Pastor Mike Fabarez

Catholic's Pope made news. He's been

making a lot of news lately.

And uh one of the things he said that I think may have caught your attention, certainly this went around the world quickly. Now, most of his

quickly. Now, most of his statements do, but this one in particular a few weeks back when he said um those, let me quote it precisely, "God does not listen to the prayers of those

who wage war, uh but but he rejects them." Now, of course, he's quoting here just before this that God um this is our God, uh

Jesus, king of peace, who rejects war, and and and whom no one can use to to justify war. Now, mil- millions of

justify war. Now, mil- millions of people heard that, and um it did catch fire around the world, and and and people have said when they heard that, a lot of them nodded, and they they

smiled, they agreed with that, they they felt like this this is um this is this is the right thing. This is

this is surely what Jesus would say. And

it felt right to people. And I just want to tell you that that so many people um clung onto that. Not just for their political frustrations. Uh a lot of

political frustrations. Uh a lot of people clung onto that just even they knew nothing about the political headlines or geopolitics, they they liked that because uh not because of

doctrine or theology um as he was trying to quote, uh but they like it because of culture. They like it because of kind of

culture. They like it because of kind of the modern understanding of Christianity in our generation, which uh boils down to in many people's mind that if you're a Christian, you should certainly be

nice. And if you're nice, you shouldn't

nice. And if you're nice, you shouldn't want war. And if you uh are going to be

want war. And if you uh are going to be a Christian and be nice, you you always should want to be at peace with everyone about everything. And that is very

about everything. And that is very common.

And and many many people uh will make that case uh repeatedly in many different ways.

They think the most Christ-like strategy that you can have is accommodation.

Um God doesn't listen to the prayers of warriors. People people appreciate that

warriors. People people appreciate that from spiritual leaders. We should be at peace.

Now, the Pope quoted Isaiah chapter 1 verse 15 when he made that statement, which is not a statement about war, I should make clear, about the hands spread out covered with blood. First

five chapters of Isaiah are about the violence that's taking place in the streets and the crime in Jerusalem and the oppression of people in the nation at that particular point. But uh that

notwithstanding, uh the reality of the warriors in and outside the pages of scripture engaged in just warfare, uh God is certainly hearing the prayers of warriors. As a matter of fact, he's

warriors. As a matter of fact, he's answering uh the prayers of many warriors.

Um not to mention uh Christ, the one that he is quoting, who ends human history uh with a war. As a matter of fact, he's quoted in Revelation chapter 19 verse 11 as waging war. He comes back

to do that. And even though he says in that missive that he carried out and was recorded and sent around the world saying he rides in on a donkey, well, the next time he arrives, he rides in on a horse, and he does exactly what the

Pope says he he doesn't do. He will this is exactly what he will do because at times there is, as Ecclesiastes says, a time for peace and a time for war. When

it comes to Christianity, the reason I bring all this up is because if you buy the modern perception of Christianity, you may think uh particularly as we deal with um more esoteric issues like

theology and ideas and topics and doctrine, you may think uh certainly we don't want to be disagreeable about these things. And to be not disagreeable

these things. And to be not disagreeable is to be agreeable and to be accommodating.

And uh I want to remind you as we get into 2 Corinthians chapter 11 that nothing could be further from the truth.

Now, it doesn't mean we're not going to be people uh that remind ourselves that we have to be um we have to have a respectful attitude.

We need to know that the imago Dei, the reality of people being made in the image of God is certainly important as we address people regardless of what they know or what they believe. Uh but

we cannot compromise the reality of who Christ has presented himself to be, who God is, uh what Christianity has been revealed to be in the pages of scripture. This is critically important.

scripture. This is critically important.

And the chapter that precedes it that we just finished uh going through in the exposition of this book, uh he made this very clear at the beginning of 2 Corinthians chapter 10 when he says that we do have weapons of warfare, and we

are all warriors when it comes to tearing down any thought that raises itself up against the knowledge of God.

We don't just say, "Oh, that's a nice idea. Let's think about that. Or that's

idea. Let's think about that. Or that's

good for you, and that's nice. And some

people in my band, they may like that.

Or maybe you should present that to my church. They may want to consider that."

church. They may want to consider that."

We are tearing down every thought that raises itself up against the knowledge of God, and we're taking every thought captive to obey Christ. And that means that if you come in with a different Christ or a different gospel or a different idea of what Christianity

should be, that we are supposed to counter that, and we are supposed to bring that in conformity with the revealed truth of God's word. That's

what the Bible teaches. That's what Paul has said. He's made that very clear, and

has said. He's made that very clear, and he's made that clear in chapter 10. And

as he turns to chapter 11 to eventually here in this chapter get to really going after the critics, the critics, right, that he's going to go after have been

influencing these Corinthians and pushing Paul out. And and really, they've been successful to some extent in getting the Corinthians to say, "Well, maybe Paul's the bad guy. And

maybe these people that are talking about a different way to view Christ and the gospel and Christianity, maybe they're right." And in the first four

they're right." And in the first four verses in what I'm now going to use as a five-part series, we're going to look at at how we need to think about our Christianity. I've entitled this series

Christianity. I've entitled this series uh being urgently devoted. We need to be urgently devoted to Christ, and that really starts with the battle that's taking place in our minds. Our minds as

it relates to Christianity. And God

wants to see our minds transformed by the truth, continually refined, calibrated based on what God has revealed in his word. So, we're going to go through a shift, and this chapter

division comes at a good place as he's shifting into a problem that he's going to address right here in verse 1. And

there's kind of an inclusio here, two two bookends, verse 1 and verse 4. We're

going to see that tie, and we're going to understand the concern. And then we'll unpack in future

concern. And then we'll unpack in future weeks some of the real specifics as to what's going on in the doctrine that's being shared that doesn't comport with biblical orthodoxy. But right now, I

biblical orthodoxy. But right now, I just want to read the text. So, let's

read it together. And by that, I mean you follow along with your eyeballs as I read it here in verses 1 through 4. 2

Corinthians chapter 11 verses 1 through 4. I'll read it from the English

4. I'll read it from the English Standard Version. And what you're going

Standard Version. And what you're going to find here is uh accommodation is is not uh is not the goal. Uh being polite and nice and just giving a listening ear

to everything is is not the goal when it comes to our Christianity.

Now, verse 1.

This is a this is a great rhetorical device, and there's some sarcasm here as we're about to see. "I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness."

Now, take note of that phrase there, uh "bear with me." That That phrase bear with me

with me." That That phrase bear with me and and because we're not reading a Greek New Testament and unless you in fact you are, and you might be, might have that on your screen or in your lap, um that word there, "bear with me,"

you're going to see that reprised in verse 4. There's the bookends. There's

verse 4. There's the bookends. There's

the inclusio. If you were to drop down to the very last line in verse 4, you would find this if you're looking at the Greek text, you'd find this word again when it's when it's translated this way, "you put up with."

Okay? Now, what do they put up with?

Look at the beginning of verse 4. "If

someone comes and proclaims another Jesus rather than the one that we proclaim." Now, they're putting up with

proclaim." Now, they're putting up with that, and then the other Greek word is you put up with that well. You do it well. As it's translated, you put up

well. As it's translated, you put up with it. You bear with it readily enough

with it. You bear with it readily enough as it's translated here. So, the irony is this of this is that Paul, the church planter, right, has come into Corinth.

He's led them to Christ. And now he's trying to defend his apostleship to bring them back to think properly about Christ and the gospel and Christianity.

And he's saying, "I need you to bear with me in what is considered here in your eyes a little foolishness, and what I feel we are doing in defending myself.

You need to bear with me, but it seems like you're bearing with the critics really well. Uh they want to share some

really well. Uh they want to share some new uh progressive ideas. They want to share with you some things that seem to comport really well with the spirit of the age there in Corinth. Uh you like

all of that, and it seems like you you have a listening, warm, accommodating, welcoming ear for all that they have to say.

You give me uh a little bit of bearing with in all of this." That's just an interesting use of the vocabulary both in verse 1 and verse 4. Okay. Now, let's

read it all again. "I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do

bear with me, please."

With what? Verse 2. "For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ." Now, don't miss this.

This is an interesting analogy. And and

the analogy here is that Christianity is analogized that Paul as a church planter goes and he leads a bunch of these people to Christ back in the book of Acts as we looked at last week.

And in doing so, right, they commit themselves, right, to be followers of Christ. They put their trust in Christ,

Christ. They put their trust in Christ, which is predicated, of course, on the covenant commitment that Christ makes to them. And now they're in this

them. And now they're in this relationship saying, "Christ is my king and my lord and my redeemer." And Christ is saying, of course, "You're my son, my heir." Right? In Christ, I see you as

heir." Right? In Christ, I see you as fully righteous. And so, we have this

fully righteous. And so, we have this covenant promised relationship between the Corinthian Christians and Christ.

And so, they're in this relationship, but as I often say in this church and this platform this platform, Christianity is about the then and there. It's not about the here and now.

there. It's not about the here and now.

As Paul says to in 1 Corinthians, "We see through a glass dimly." Right? It's

now kind of a long distance relationship, barring of course the reality of the conviction of the spirit and the encouragement of the Holy Spirit. We're not left as orphans, as he

Spirit. We're not left as orphans, as he says in the book of John, but right?

We're going to then see face-to-face.

So, the reality of all of this, 1 John chapter 3, is we're going to have a time when all of this is consummated. We're

going to be in the presence of Christ, but right now we're promised, we're committed, but then we'll be in his presence. So, it's kind of like a

presence. So, it's kind of like a betrothal, certainly in the ancient world, where a father, right? Would

commit in this relationship, this this betrothal, his daughter to this this man, and the man would be committed in this relationship as though it's it's

it's a a contractual commitment, and the daughter, of course, was to be a as it says here, "Jealously protected to be the future wife of this of this husband." And you can picture a

husband." And you can picture a scenario, you know, very unlikely because it's very unique to think about Joseph and Mary, but think about the situation of a betrothal period and saying if you're the father

of the bride, you certainly want her to not fall into what is talked about in the Mosaic law of being one of the outrageous things that could happen when the husband encounters his wife on his

wedding night and realizes that she's been, you know, an immoral woman go woman going out and sleeping around in Israel. "Such an outrageous thing should

Israel. "Such an outrageous thing should not be done in Israel," it says in the law of Moses. And so, what he wants here is okay, you're committed to this man, you're going to get married to this man.

I certainly don't want you out flirting around with other men in in your town, right? You need to be reserved and

right? You need to be reserved and preparing yourself for your marriage to this guy. Right? And and here's the

this guy. Right? And and here's the picture. You're committed now to Christ,

picture. You're committed now to Christ, you're going to be with him in eternity.

He says in John 14, "I go away to prepare a place for you, and I'm going to come again to receive you unto myself, that where I am, you may be also." As many commentators think that's

also." As many commentators think that's even a picture of betrothal, setting up a household, and coming back to get his bride and bring her That's the picture.

You are going to be with Christ. And you

now have to keep yourself focused on that. Don't go out and start flirting

that. Don't go out and start flirting around with other loyalties. And and

here's Paul saying like a friend of the bridegroom, right? I don't I don't I'm

bridegroom, right? I don't I don't I'm jealous for for you to be faithful and loyal to him, as we see in the next verse. He says, "I'm afraid

verse. He says, "I'm afraid I'm afraid that maybe as the serpent deceived Eve, she was supposed to be loyal to God, but by his cunning, right?

So, the serpent's cunning, your thoughts may be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ." Now, Eve wasn't sincerely and purely devoted to God, and you might not be sincerely and

purely devoted to Christ. You might be messing around with idolatry, which is basically the basic definition of not being sincerely and purely devoted to God, the triune God. You start to get

other things in between you and God.

And how does that work? Well, you start thinking about God and Christ and Christianity different. You think that

Christianity different. You think that it's allowable, you think it's okay, you start thinking differently about all of that. And verse 4, there's always

that. And verse 4, there's always someone involved in that. Someone starts

giving you a different pitch. Verse 4,

"If someone comes and proclaims another Jesus other than the one we proclaim, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received." Now, translators

put that with a small S here, which is a translation decision because there is no capital or small letters. I mean, there is an original language, but that convention is not here in Greek to say Holy Spirit or some other usage of the

word spirit. So, it's a translator's

word spirit. So, it's a translator's decision, but I think that's it's one I agree with here because I think it has something to do with the idea of the experience of Christianity, what it's supposed to be. And he says, "Okay,

you've pitched a different Christ. He's

not the Christ that I've proclaimed to you." Now, I'm an apostle, Paul is

you." Now, I'm an apostle, Paul is saying. Someone else is saying, "Well,

saying. Someone else is saying, "Well, Christ isn't quite what Paul said, or Christianity that I've proclaimed to you, well, it's not the Christianity that Paul said. This is should be a different experience than what he said,

or a different gospel than the one you accepted." Right? If someone's pitching

accepted." Right? If someone's pitching you a different gospel, "This is really not the thing that God wants you to commit to. This is not the good news

commit to. This is not the good news that Paul said. This is not how you respond to the good news. There's a

different way to do it. There's more to it. There's just less to it."

it. There's just less to it."

He says, "It seems like if you hear that, you're putting up with it. You're

bearing with it readily enough."

So, this is a bit of a a rebuke. It's

also a sobering warning, and he's saying, "I'm a little concerned that you guys are listening to these people that I know are criticizing me, so that they they might mute my voice

and influence in your life." And really, it's about making sure that love That's an amazing line in verse 3, that you you can't got to have a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. I called it I called

it urgent devotion because of the urgency is you're going to constantly be tested. You're going to be constantly

tested. You're going to be constantly tempted. There's going to be constantly

tempted. There's going to be constantly something pulling at you in our information age. Think about it. How

information age. Think about it. How

many voices do you coming at you How many voices do you have coming at you?

The din of opportunities for you to hear about different versions of Christianity. Right? I mean, your

Christianity. Right? I mean, your algorithms all the time, think about it.

I mean, you're a Christian, I hope your algorithms are, you know, showing that you you know, you're into the Bible, you're into Christ, Christianity. I mean, church, there's

Christianity. I mean, church, there's stuff thrown at you all week long that's going to appeal that and all kinds of voices are going to talk to you about this. Right? Now, your pastors here are

this. Right? Now, your pastors here are going to talk to you about this, right?

And and and we, right? Have some

commitments, credal commitments, right?

Confessional commitments, some vetting that goes on, some schooling behind us, some commitment to you, a love commitment, a career commitment to you, but some guy in his underwear in front of his computer screen, you know,

pontificating about theology and Christ and Christianity, what Christianity should be, whole different experience, but he's got a lot to say to you this week. There's some real that's coming

week. There's some real that's coming your way, some some video on Facebook that's appealing to you about how you should think about Christianity. This is

happening in our day. So, this is so highly applicable to where we live. And

so, we want to think about the starting with what he says here in verse 2 regarding jealousy. Now, he qualifies

regarding jealousy. Now, he qualifies the jealousy he has as simply participating in a jealousy that's divine. It's a divine jealousy, which

divine. It's a divine jealousy, which means God is jealous that you're committed to Christ without any kind of rival, without any kind of idolatry, without anything in between you and your

sincere and pure devotion to him. And

Paul's just saying, "I'm sharing in that." Just like if you were the best

that." Just like if you were the best friend of a groom, and and the engaged woman is is is flirting around or sleeping around, you'd be like, "Ow, man, I'm I'm terribly jealous for for

for this the the the the consummation, the purity of this marriage." And so, Paul says, "I'm sharing in that divine jealousy." So, ye needs to be heard on

jealousy." So, ye needs to be heard on that, verse 1. And in verse 2, he says, "I have betrothed you to this This is how the commitment works. You've

committed to Christ, Christ the Lord."

Lord is like he's the exclusive one, right? He's the one that you're supposed

right? He's the one that you're supposed to be fully and wholly committed to, right? The the God-man, Jesus Christ.

right? The the God-man, Jesus Christ.

Okay, number one, let's just start with that concept and do a little didactic teaching here. Number one, we need to

teaching here. Number one, we need to understand God's righteous jealousy for you. Now, we think of jealousy

you. Now, we think of jealousy as a negative so often. But jealousy is not negative, that's why my qualifier is it's a righteous jealousy. And I want to tell you, it is for you,

even if you're not a Christian here this morning. Think about it this way. Here's

morning. Think about it this way. Here's

the basic fundamental truth. The earth

is the Lord's and the fullness thereof.

In other words, everything in the world is his. Every flea

is his. Every flea on the planet, right? It is his. He's designed it,

right? It is his. He's designed it, right? And every flea on the planet,

right? And every flea on the planet, right? He is the creator of that. Every

right? He is the creator of that. Every

flea, every kangaroo, every every amoeba, everything, he is the creator of all things. And every neighbor in your

all things. And every neighbor in your neighborhood, when you drive home, you'll pass all those play all your neighbors. And all those neighbors, he

neighbors. And all those neighbors, he is the creator of all those neighbors.

They're created in the image of God, he made them.

Acts 17, he gives them life and breath and everything else.

Okay? And they should wake up this morning and say, "Creator, God, giver of of everything I have, of of my strength to make an an income and a a giver of my life and breath and

everything else, and and Christ, the agent of creation, the one who holds all things together, right? The God who holds everything together by the word of his power, Christ in whom all things

What can I do for you today? First of

all, thank you for all of that. And

number two, how can I serve you, the great king of the universe and creator of my life?" That's what your neighbor should do.

And if you're non-Christian here, that's exactly what you should do. He is God, he's preeminent, he is the God who created you, and you should you should have that perspective.

But if you realize that you're a sinner, as most of you have, you've been convicted by God's spirit, and you realize you'll be cast in outer darkness with his weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth forever, you should recognize that you want forgiveness, of

course, because you care about the fact that you don't want to go there, and you say, "God, I throw myself on your mercy and your grace." And by God's kindness and love for you, with the great love

with which he loved you, he has solved the problem by sending his son, and he's absorbed the penalty and fulfilled the righteousness, and you have responded to him, and you've said, "I trust in you.

You are my Lord and my king and my redeemer." And so, now not only is he

redeemer." And so, now not only is he your creator, giving you life and breath and everything else, but he's now also your redeemer. And so, every morning you

your redeemer. And so, every morning you should wake up and say, "God, you're my creator, you're the provider of all things, you're also my redeemer. You've

saved my soul, right? You are now the person, right? Who I am completely

person, right? Who I am completely devoted to. Thank you for all of that,

devoted to. Thank you for all of that, and how can I serve you today?" Right?

How What can I do for you? That is what someone does who understands who God is.

And if you are that in now this covenant relationship, where he says, "Now you're my child, I am your redeemer, you're my heir, you're my son, you're a participant in the kingdom, you're a citizen of of this future thing called

the New Jerusalem," then that's what we should be. He's God.

Now, if your skeptical critical friend says, "Well, God sounds pretty selfish, pretty self-centered." You just nod your

pretty self-centered." You just nod your way through that and say, "Yeah, he he really does." You know why? Because he's

really does." You know why? Because he's

the center of everything. So, he can be the self-centered selfish person because selfishness and self-centeredness makes sense when you're the absolute pure and absolutely perfect one who provides

everything with everything that they have. He is the one who should have all

have. He is the one who should have all honor, all credit, all authority, all dominion, all wealth, everything should be directed to him. And when when that takes place in the appropriateness of him being exalted in everyone's mind,

exactly where he belongs, then everything's good. When your teenage

everything's good. When your teenage daughter thinks she's the center of everything in the universe, that's gross, right? But when God recognizes

gross, right? But when God recognizes that he's the center of everything, which of course he knows that, and when you recognize that God is the center of everything, that's perfect. That's good.

Now, life is good. When you think you're the center of everything, that's gross.

See, so the reality of this is that everyone should recognize that God is God, and if he's your redeemer, that that you're doubly his. And and that you say, "Nothing gets in front of that."

Speaking of that, we think about the concept of jealousy.

If anything starts to become the center of your life that's not the center of the universe and really the center of your life, God can say, "Well, well, something's wrong here.

You shouldn't be that way.

You know, Christ your redeemer and your Lord is not you're not acting like he's your redeemer and your Lord. I don't

feel right about that. It it's not it's not copacetic with me that you're that way." This is the biblical concept of

way." This is the biblical concept of divine jealousy. And he is zealous about

divine jealousy. And he is zealous about the fact that you should rightly understand who he is. As a matter of fact, it goes back to the first thing that God ever wrote to mankind. I know

you think the first thing God ever wrote to mankind is Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." But that's not the first

the earth." But that's not the first thing God ever wrote to mankind cuz God had not yet dispatched Moses to write the Pentateuch. That was about to

the Pentateuch. That was about to happen, but he first sent him down the the mountain of Sinai with tablets in his hands. And the first thing that God

his hands. And the first thing that God wrote, assuming he wrote the commandments in order, right, was "You shall have no other gods before me." The very first thing God

before me." The very first thing God says to his creatures, right? "I'm I'm

God." And and God by definition is first. I should be first. I should be

first. I should be first. I should be first in your mind, first in your heart.

If if that's the way it is, everything will go fine.

That was the problem in the garden. And

it shouldn't be the problem with you.

So, let's keep first things first. And

I'm first, let's keep that first, and nothing should get between us. And if

anyone shows up with a golden calf or anything else to say, "No, this is first." You should say, "No.

first." You should say, "No.

No other gods before me."

So, you want to build something or put something else or some little shiny thing as the object of of your supremacy? No. I should have preeminence

supremacy? No. I should have preeminence in everything.

That's the first thing he says.

Go all the way to New Testament times now, thousands of years later. Jesus

shows up. They ask him, "What's the greatest commandment?" He says it in a

greatest commandment?" He says it in a little different way, but it's the same thing. It's the summation of all the

thing. It's the summation of all the commands of the Old Testament as it relates to vertical commands. He says,

"You are to love the Lord your God up there pretty high on the list, about the way you would love your wife and your kids and your grandkids and maybe the way you love your house and maybe your favorite motorcycle or your your your summer home or

your RV.

Should be in the top 10 at least."

That's what Jesus said. You remember

that passage?

Talking about your RV?

Jesus said you should love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, all your mind. Well,

I should have some of my strength, soul, mind, heart left over to love some other things.

Here's the deal. According to Luke chapter 14, right, starting verse 25 all the way to verse 33, God is very clear that your love for God should be so preeminent and

so superior to everything else that everything else is so distant second that for sure there going to be people that misunderstand. They may even think,

that misunderstand. They may even think, "Oh, you you must hate me because your love for God is so supreme." And they may think they don't even they don't even chart on your priorities.

Because your love for God is so it it's so supreme.

You are supposed to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind. There should be no there

and mind. There should be no there should be no question in anybody's mind that that if it means that somebody in your life is going to be hacked off if there's ever a competing interest, they're going to be hacked off. I mean,

that's just what's going to happen.

That's why he said, "No one can be my disciple unless you hate your own father and mother, sister, brothers, life, even your own life." Right? You can't

be. What does that mean? I thought I was supposed to love my own life. Love my

neighbors. I love myself. I'm supposed

to love my wife and my children and my parents. All of that's biblical, but you

parents. All of that's biblical, but you know what he's saying here. The

supremacy of your commitment to God is supposed to be so supreme that there's no other rivals. There's no other rivals.

And if there is a rival, here's what he says in following up on Exodus chapter 20, the first commandment, "Have no other god before me." Is Exodus chapter 34. Jot this one down, verse 14. Exodus

34. Jot this one down, verse 14. Exodus

34 verse 14.

When he repeats the first command, "You shall have no other gods before me." He

says, "Why? Because the Lord your God, whose name is jealous, is a jealous God." Now, that's an interesting way to

God." Now, that's an interesting way to put it.

"My name is jealous."

Now, that doesn't get a lot of play in in in people's minds. It's not a lesson in the Sunday school curriculum of our kids, but it probably should be. But

people don't think about that as a central issue, a central attribute of God. He's a jealous God, which simply

God. He's a jealous God, which simply means it'll go well for you, it'll go well for everyone if everyone will remember that God is zealous about you keeping first things first, and the first thing in your life ought to be the

first person in the universe.

And he is jealous for that. Don't let

anything get in the way.

And you think, "Well, that still sounds like a weakness."

God tried to make this point crystal clear in the northern tribes of Israel when he had early on with the prophets at least. He has Hosea go out and marry

at least. He has Hosea go out and marry a prostitute.

Now, you can tell the mother of this preacher wasn't very happy about her son's assignment as he gets out of seminary. Go marry a prostitute. Now, of

seminary. Go marry a prostitute. Now, of

course, he's not going to have her being active in her prostitute duties as he may brings her into the home, but uh you know, cleans her up, does what she what he can to make her a respectable woman, and then by the time we get to the end

of chapter two, she goes back to her old ways.

Now, as she goes back to her old ways, you can only imagine how that would devastate Hosea the prophet. And it

does. And he's just almost that you know, he's just disenchanted, disheartened. He's he's

disenchanted, disheartened. He's he's disheartened, and all of this is not going well. And yet God steps on the

going well. And yet God steps on the scene and he says this in chapter three, verses one and two. He says, "Go out and woo her back. Go win her back. She's out

there turning her tricks again, taking a few shekels for bedding down these guys.

Go and win her back."

And basically, this is such a hard thing for Hosea, you can imagine. But the idea is I want Israel to see what you're putting up with here, how hard this is for you, right? I I want them to see how

this is for me.

And the reality is when you feel bad about what she's doing, and your tenacity to go and try and win her back, just know this, you don't have the problem. Jealousy is you don't have

the problem. Jealousy is you don't have a problem with jealousy, Hosea. She has

a problem with loyalty. Right? This is

the problem. The problem is on her side, it's not on your side. If you feel bad because your wife is turning tricks, that that's her problem. Your problems

are totally appropriate cuz the problem of jealousy is 100% accurate, and it's what you should have. As a matter of fact, we'd be concerned if you didn't feel that way. And God said, "That's how I feel all the time when my people go

after the Asherah or after the Baals or they go after all these things."

And he says, "This is the problem." Now,

the culture was pushing people toward Baal and Molech and and and the Asherah.

Our culture's pushing out us after all kinds of other things. And it's always going to start with a redefinition of Christianity, particularly for those of us those of us that are submitting ourselves to Christianity to try and

make these things allowable. And I will tell you this, when it comes to the modern idols of our age, I can tell you the number one idol of our age, particularly in South Orange County, California, it's family and children and

grandchildren. This is the number one

grandchildren. This is the number one idol of our day.

Right? At least for most. Right? And

there's a lot of other things that we can get into. But let's just let's talk about that one for a second. We can take Christianity, we can redefine the spirit of Christianity, we can redefine Christ, and we can even redefine the gospel to

where we don't have to lay our family on the altar. We don't have to take the

the altar. We don't have to take the love of our family and subordinate it to the love of Christ. We can take Christianity and even redefine Christianity and equate it with family.

Right? Have you heard that I mean, this should you should have a little twinkle of identification and familiarity with what I'm saying right now.

And you can do all of that and create a whole different Christ and a whole different spirit of Christianity and a whole different gospel because it's done all the time.

And it always is a capitulation to whatever the idols of our day are.

Now, you think, "Well, I'm in the clear cuz no one's ever invited me to an Asherah party or you know, I'm a Molech party." Okay, but you're not. You're not

party." Okay, but you're not. You're not

in the clear because all the time our Christianity is under siege by the enemy who's trying to get us to redefine Christianity that will allow us to indulge in our idolatry.

That's the problem.

God is a jealous God.

And the jealousy of God is don't let anything get between us.

And it's not because he's weak, it's because we're unloyal. It's not because he's weak, it's because we are not faithful.

And it's never going to go well for us.

Matter of fact, I just want you to jot this passage down.

All of this is the engagement period.

None of this is going to be a reality when we get to where we're going.

Revelation chapter 21 is the consummation of it all.

And I want to show you when we get to our final destination, as Jesus would put it, "I come again to receive you unto myself that where I am you may be also. That sounds like not a big deal.

also. That sounds like not a big deal.

It's a huge deal. Here's how it's put in Revelation chapter 21 verse 3.

I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with men."

Now, the God-man Jesus Christ, fully glorified just like we read about in Revelation chapter 1, now in Revelation chapter 21 is living among people on a new earth in a place called the New Jerusalem.

He will dwell with them, right?

He's not dwelling with us now. Yeah, we

have the spirit, we have the influence of the fear, we have the prompting of the fear, we have the conviction. Yeah,

we're with the true true. We're not

orphans. I understand that. But we are living, right, by faith, not by sight.

We're living seeing through a glass dimly. We're living by a constitution of

dimly. We're living by a constitution of propositional statements on a book that God breathed out. I get that.

Privileges yes.

But not this.

And then it says this. Listen to these possessive pronouns. And they will be

possessive pronouns. And they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

You know, there's going to be a time we move in.

And he moves in with us.

And there'll be no there'll be no threats.

There'll be no temptations. There'll be

nothing getting in the way between God and his people. Christ will will consummate this. And and as it says, and

consummate this. And and as it says, and I quote it often, Psalms 16:11, in his presence, and we will be there, unmitigated glory. In his presence

unmitigated glory. In his presence there's fullness of joy and at his right hand there are pleasures forevermore.

There's nothing you're going to want to do but be in his presence. And that's

coming. And the Bible says at that point you're going to realize that all of his jealousy in the engagement period totally makes sense.

Totally makes sense. Why would you why would you possibly threaten right, a good track record of sanctification to get to that?

Why would you mess around with loving the world? Why would you mess around

the world? Why would you mess around with putting your kids before God? Why

would you mess around with putting money or or advancement in your career above your loyalty to Christ? Why? It would

make no sense. You will look back in shame at all of those things.

Understands God's righteous jealousy for you.

Some books on the back that may help you. Thomas's book is always a good one

you. Thomas's book is always a good one to talk about God's jealousy. And there's some great

God's jealousy. And there's some great concepts that can be developed in this, but just had a little bit of time at this particular juncture of our study of 2 Corinthians to touch on the topic.

Divine jealousy is a godly thing. It's a

good thing.

Matter of fact, he goes so far in Exodus 34:14 to say it's his name.

It's his name. Right? He He could be called that, jealous, Mr. Jealous.

And it's a good and godly perfect thing.

Verse 3. Look back at our text, print it on your worksheet.

All that's great. It sounds good in verse 2, right? To to the pure virgin completely get there. Sanctification

looks clean. It's a good run. Now we're

in the presence of God. That is great.

But I'm afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, it's a word we don't use very often. It's craftiness, his scheming,

often. It's craftiness, his scheming, your thoughts, that's where it always starts, will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

That's what I want. That's what God wants. That's what Paul wants for the

wants. That's what Paul wants for the Corinthians, a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. Nothing's getting in between

to Christ. Nothing's getting in between you and Christ. Nothing. Nothing can

sway you from it. And I'm not talking about any Christ or the Christ of your imagination, right? About the Christ

imagination, right? About the Christ that God has revealed through his apostles, the clear Christ of scripture.

The problem is we got a very powerful, very crafty enemy that's trying to pull you away from that. Number two, let's put it this

from that. Number two, let's put it this way. We need to beware the subtle but

way. We need to beware the subtle but powerful threats. The subtle but

powerful threats. The subtle but powerful threats. I've already touched

powerful threats. I've already touched on some examples, but let me just focus on this. There's a battlefield

on this. There's a battlefield and behind the battlefield is a very powerful person.

At the women's Q&A yesterday morning, if you went to that we had close to 500 women there at that. And we talked about we started we kicked off I got kicked in the shins with the first question.

Um but we we started with the with the question about conspiracy theories. And

my my first reflexive answer to that was, I believe in this conspiracy theory, the one that's spelled out in in Ephesians chapter 2 verses 1 through 3.

And it says that there's a spirit now at work in the sons of disobedience. Right?

And he is out there, right, at work in people trying to pull people away. That's

that's it. And of course I had all my study that I was working on in the middle of yesterday in mind.

But but the reality of him trying to move people down a path and blind their eyes as 2 Corinthians 4:4 says, this is his plan. He'll do whatever it takes.

his plan. He'll do whatever it takes.

He'll use the popular conspiracy theories of the day to fearmonger and all the rest to get people away from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ, which I did challenge people on yesterday, by the way.

And that is I'd love for people to spend as much time evangelizing, worshipping, doing apologetics on on the Christ of scripture than they do the

conspiracy theories of TikTok. I would

love that. But the reality is I want to know that I want I want you to know there is something going on.

And and it's a very powerful strategic enemy trying to make sure that people are are being deceived just like Eve was.

He He's very very cunning.

Which I think that word in in in this is a Greek text, of course, in the New Testament. But the Old Testament where

Testament. But the Old Testament where we see this described in Genesis chapter 3 verse 1, there's a Hebrew word that's used, arum, right? In English, a r u m.

That that that word is the same word used in a positive sense. It's translated cunning or crafty

sense. It's translated cunning or crafty or shrewd. Um that word is used in a

or shrewd. Um that word is used in a positive sense in the book of of Proverbs for someone who is prudently putting the wisdom of Proverbs to work.

Right? To be prudent is to think past the surface and to get God's wisdom to work in a situation. Right? You think of a businessman who's wisely going about what's right and doing the right thing.

That that's shrewd. It's It's It's prudent. And that's how it's translated

prudent. And that's how it's translated in the book of Proverbs. That concept I mean some think about it, right? It is

It's like It's used The wisdom is used in a bad sense by the enemy.

He is crafty. He's shrewd.

And in other words when temptation comes to pull you off the path of a biblical Christ to allow you to do some things that God doesn't want you to do

right, and have a emphasis in Christianity that you shouldn't have or loyalties in your heart that you shouldn't have right? I'm just telling you it sounds

right? I'm just telling you it sounds like wisdom to you. It's always going to sound like wisdom to you. It's always

going to be packaged just like it did for Eve. And remember how Eve saw it.

for Eve. And remember how Eve saw it.

Oh, this does look good for the eyes.

Oh, this this will be good, right? For a

good good good to eat, good for food.

Oh, this will make me uh someone who knows right from All these things that he pitched to her.

It sounded like wisdom. It sounded like it would be good. It sounded right. Just

like someone quoting Isaiah chapter 1 verse 15 as though it's about warfare, right? And and not about violence in the

right? And and not about violence in the streets of Jerusalem.

The reality is it may sound good. It may

it may match the sensibilities of our culture in our day.

But it doesn't rightly reflect the truth of God's word.

And if that's the case, we reject it.

And we've got to see through it.

Satan's going to appeal to our sensibilities and the cultural mores that we have.

The spiritual battle and the off-ramps, they seem benign. They don't seem like a big deal.

But they are a big deal.

Sometimes they seem very wise. Sometimes

they don't seem like anything at all.

Sometimes we we don't even notice them.

My grandfather worked for the Long Beach Gas Department.

One of the few cities in Southern California that had a municipal gas utility.

And um my dad tells stories when he was growing up of my grandpa coming home and reeking a horrible odor.

And uh it wasn't cuz of his body odor.

Well, it was on his body.

Um that's cuz he worked for the gas department. And that's an interesting

department. And that's an interesting thing if you know anything about natural gas because that's odorless, tasteless, you know, colorless.

Gas doesn't doesn't have an odor.

But um as everyone in my dad's household knew, uh grandpa stunk. And uh

he was stinky because of something called mercaptan. And mercaptan is

called mercaptan. And mercaptan is something that was added uh to um all natural gas.

Uh it's a sulfur compound that gives it uh give gas natural gas that rotten egg smell that all of us know. Matter of

fact, the mercaptan is one of the things that's one of the most sensitive uh to human smell, right? One part in a billion or whatever. I forget what the what the uh you know, the ratios are. But it is

we're very sensitive to go, "Ooh, that's a terrible smell."

And so of course, this is all, you know, from the mid-20th century injected into utilities to make sure that before it's sent to the pipes into your neighborhood

that it uh stinks. And it stinks badly enough with just a little mercaptan in it to where it gets to your house, if there happens to be a leak, you smell it. And you go, "Ooh, what is that?"

it. And you go, "Ooh, what is that?"

Well, it's gas. And now you know that smell cuz it's unique smell. And you

say, "We must have a leak."

Well, why is that the case? Well,

because in 1937, before they started doing that at a school just outside of Tyler, Texas there was a school that had a gas leak before any mercaptan was ever put in

gas.

And that gas leak went on and on and on and on all day long until finally there was a spark that it ignited it. Not a single person

ignited it. Not a single person recognized there was a gas leak. Not

anybody smelled it because it has no smell. No one saw it. No one There's no

smell. No one saw it. No one There's no clouds, there's no fog cuz it's it it you can't see it, right? It it's it's colorless, it's odorless, it's tasteless. No one had a weird taste in

tasteless. No one had a weird taste in the No one smelled it, no one saw it until the smart spark erupted and it killed 300 people at the school in in Texas.

And people started saying, "Maybe we ought to put something in this that if there is a a leak, every grade school kid would know it, every teacher would know it, everyone would know it."

So, of course, by the time we got to the middle I mean, we got to the 1940s, we were putting something that we we perfected something that stunk enough to where everyone say, "We know what we're dealing with here."

Here's the problem.

Right? Some of us don't recognize the error when it comes our way.

And the problem is that we are drinking out of the fountain of all kinds of opportunities for us to learn about Christianity, about Christ, about the gospel. In our information age, as I

gospel. In our information age, as I said, we can get it all the time. You

all your algorithms are are a magnet for everything about Christianity. I I've I you know, I am too. And I see it It was funny after our Good Friday doing

that very extensive and probably too complicated of a of a presentation on on on penal substitutionary atonement, I was getting all these reels and all these these these videos about people

saying what a ridiculous concept the blood atonement was. And and I listened to these guys and as I often say, who knows who they are, who knows if they have a congregation have to preach to every week that keeps them accountable

with with real feedback from real people. Right? Who knows who did where

people. Right? Who knows who did where they went to school, who knows what kind of a vetting there was, right? There's

no ordination to to have a YouTube channel, do you know that? There there's

nobody has to hire you. You don't go through the process all our pastors go through.

There there's there's nothing other than you just signing up with a with a with an email address.

And yet every every month, you know, I was going to say every week, but at least every month someone's coming to me challenging the doctrine of our church, right? Because they saw something on

right? Because they saw something on YouTube or they heard something on TikTok or they watched something on Instagram or they got some some link on on Facebook.

And and all I'm saying is what you've got to have enough discernment to at least start to say, "I got to be really careful."

careful." And and start injecting a little mercaptan in in in in things even where I get it from. I'm just going to be a lot more skeptical and discerning

before I start listening. They were They were not bearing with Paul's defense.

Paul knows he got to say, "Would you bear with me? Please just listen to me for a minute."

Because you sure are open-minded about all those other people. You are sure pulling up a chair and a cup of coffee and leaning into a conversation with someone who's got a kind of a newfangled way to explain all this.

Now, Paul felt silly.

Right? I mean, he felt uncomfortable. I

shouldn't say silly. He felt

uncomfortable trying to defend himself cuz it sounded self-serving and I can tell you this sermon's felt the same way for me, trust me. I'm not going to go home feeling good about this sermon this weekend. And I'm telling you this,

weekend. And I'm telling you this, right? It feels that way. I'm not

right? It feels that way. I'm not

telling you your pastors here at this church are the smartest guys in the world, we're certainly not. But I will tell you this, there's something about the built-in accountability and the concept of being people on the ground in

real life preaching to people in in the open forum of the church, caring for you, burying your relatives, marrying your kids, doing what we do, right?

School, vetting, all that we do to week by week, month by month deal with you in the real situation of trying to disciple and train before someone wafts into your little

screen on your phone to tell you we're all wrong and they're right and they sound persuasive cuz everyone sounds persuasive before someone can come in and challenge them. And we don't have the opportunity to do that when you're

watching 20 videos before you ever get to a church service and the service and and the sermon is about something entirely different.

And all I'm saying is be careful.

Right? It's odorless, it's tasteless, right? It It just comes in

right? It It just comes in and it doesn't smell like anything at first. And and just sometimes we got to

first. And and just sometimes we got to slow down and say, "Is this an explosive doctrine that's going to do something to move me away from from scripture?"

There are some ways to help us with this.

Let's hurry on to the fourth verse.

And though we don't in this sermon unpack the other Jesus, the different spirit, and the different gospel, we'll get to that in the rest of this series.

But I want to I want to focus in on a phrase.

We're going to have a sincere and pure devotion to Christ, the Christ of scripture.

And we're going to see that just clearly spelled. That's not an assumption.

spelled. That's not an assumption.

That's right here in verse four. If

someone comes and proclaims another Jesus. Now, here's the phrase,

Jesus. Now, here's the phrase, right? Than the one we proclaim. Right?

right? Than the one we proclaim. Right?

Now, he's an apostle, he's proclaimed it, he's codified it in in the writings of the New Testament along with the other apostles that have written scripture, right? Or received a different spirit,

right? Or received a different spirit, right? Than the one that was received

right? Than the one that was received because it was received and proclaimed in the New Testament. Or you've accepted a different gospel than the one you've accepted, which of course, as Galatians

1 says, was given to them directly from Christ through the apostles. Well, then

it seems like you're you're you're swallowing that hook, line, and sinker and you're pretty hungry for it. Uh but

you shouldn't. Why? Cuz we proclaimed it differently. We've given you the right

differently. We've given you the right one. We've told you the one that's

one. We've told you the one that's biblical.

And so all I'm saying is there's a comparative, there's a benchmark, there's something you measure it by.

So, the real imperative here, the real command I guess I'll give you it in the third point. Let's put it this way, number

point. Let's put it this way, number three. Don't tolerate twisted versions

three. Don't tolerate twisted versions of Christianity. Don't tolerate

of Christianity. Don't tolerate Christian versions of Christianity like Christology, right? What the Christian experience

right? What the Christian experience should be, uh what the gospel is or how you respond to it. Whatever the aspect of Christianity

it. Whatever the aspect of Christianity is, don't let someone say, "Well, here's the new thing."

But the safeguard is go back to what was taught. Go back to what the scripture

taught. Go back to what the scripture says.

And and just know that the job of the pastors at your church are to exegete the word. That's what we do when we

the word. That's what we do when we study. We spend a lot more time studying

study. We spend a lot more time studying than we do preaching, you should be glad to hear.

And then we get up and exposit it. We

exegete the the Bible and then we exposit the Bible and in doing so, we're trying to be as careful as we can to tell you what the Bible says.

A lot of guys can proof text passages and give it to you on a YouTube channel.

That's easy to do, right? But in our job, that's what we're we're trying to to bring.

And in doing so, right? This is, right?

The thing that we can now say this this becomes the standard. This is what we're trying

the standard. This is what we're trying to get people to measure things things against. Our

our job, according to Ephesians chapter 4:11 through through 14, as pastor-teachers, is to have us grow up into a unity of of the faith, to be have we on the same page doctrinally.

To grow up into the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, not just to know it, but to live it out, that we may no longer be children. Notice this now, tossed to and

children. Notice this now, tossed to and fro by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning. It's

not just people uh it's not just Satan's cunning, but human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes. Cuz ultimately the

deceitful schemes. Cuz ultimately the deceitful deceitful scheming is it is the conspiracy of of the enemy.

He's the one ultimately scheming deceitfully.

But he's using people.

Just as it says later in our chapter, just like Satan is masquerading as an angel of light, so do his servants.

Old school Christianity, speaking of my grandfather, your grandpa's Christianity is being supplanted by your grandkids' Christianity.

And your grandkids' Christianity seems much more palatable to the culture that we live in.

But all I'm telling you is before you say, "Well, that old ridiculous notion of having only male pastors, that just seems oh outdated and so blood eyed. It's It's whatever."

blood eyed. It's It's whatever."

Before you do that, we better figure out what the Bible says, right? Cuz I can I can proof text

says, right? Cuz I can I can proof text and and take passages out of context as as well as anyone.

What else the Pope proved that he can do? I can do that.

do? I can do that.

Sorry. I can do that.

But what does the Bible Do we really get it wrong for the last 2,000 years and finally we figured it out when we had enough pressure in our culture?

Right? Or or really did it did it take us 1,900 years before we figured out that the spirit of the church was all wrong? It took, you know, it took uh

wrong? It took, you know, it took uh Parham and and and it took the Azusa Street revivals and it it it it took all that went on in in 1901 and 1905 for us

to change the whole experience or John Wimber to say, "Well, you know, we we're really missing out on what Christianity should be." Really, do we miss it all?

should be." Really, do we miss it all?

You know, this whole thing which I I hope we can see through the veneer of this.

Is it really that that the traditional biblical Christian marriage or or the the the binary of male and female is Really, we should stand we should stand

on that as a biblical revelatory truth?

It's easy for us to capitulate to culture.

But we got to get back to what the Bible says. Two passages real quickly on this.

says. Two passages real quickly on this.

Go with me to the Old Testament passage of of Isaiah chapter 8.

Isaiah chapter 8.

If you were with me yesterday morning, some of you gals know I quoted verse 12, which is not a bad place to start.

Verse 12. This is when the northern tribes dealing with the Assyrians and uh the pact that was going on. We won't get into all that. But in verse 12, plenty

of fear going through the land.

And he says in verse 12, Isaiah chapter 8:12, "Don't call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy.

And do not fear what they fear cuz as I said, most conspiracy is all about fear-mongering.

And don't be in dread.

Right? There are some things to be afraid of, as he says in verse 13, but not what a lot of the people say are are to be afraid of.

The Lord of hosts, right? Yahweh of the armies, that him shall you honor as holy. He's

the one in charge. Let him be your fear.

Let him be your dread. You should care about what he says, not what the people say, not what the polling says, not what the culture says. I fear him. Therefore,

I don't care what he says.

He will become a sanctuary, right? For

us, but a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel.

They're going to mess up. They're going

to incur God's judgment by the Assyrians in the north and the Babylonians in the south. A trap and a snare to the

south. A trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken. And it shall be a it shall and

broken. And it shall be a it shall and they shall be snared and taken. That's

repeated in the New Testament several times.

Now, look at this.

What do we do? Verse 16, bind up the testimony, seal the teaching among my disciples. That sounds like close it up,

disciples. That sounds like close it up, put it under your bed, lock it up.

That's not what we're talking about.

This is about what you do with a king's missive, a king's herald heralded message. We're we're

going to put the imprimatur on it. We're

going to make sure everyone knows this is the truth.

And make sure the disciples know it.

I will wait for Yahweh, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I'll hope in him. I want among the disciples know what the truth is. And

and and these people are lost. They're

stumbling around and they're going to incur the penalty. But behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel and the Lord of hosts who dwell on Mount Zion.

And they will say to you, these people, inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter.

Sounds a little bit like the Jesus street revivals. Um, should

not a people inquire of their God?

Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living?

To the teaching and to the testimony. I

love that the translators put an exclamation point after this grammatically strong Hebrew phrase. To

the teaching and to the testimonies.

What should we do? You go back to that thing that he talks about in verse 16, to the authoritative word of God. Back

to the thing I should be concerned about. In verse 13, right? I should fear

about. In verse 13, right? I should fear God. I should have him as my dread. What

God. I should have him as my dread. What

does he say? That's what I can't wait to get home, open my Bible and find out what the Bible says, not what some church down the street did, or what some YouTube video says, or what the polls are saying the churches should do. What

does the Bible say? To the teaching and the testimony. If they will not speak

the testimony. If they will not speak according to this word, right? It's

because they have no dawn. They have no light. And you should change churches.

light. And you should change churches.

You should not be there. It is not you it's not worth going there. To the

teaching and the testimony, that's the benchmark.

One more passage. I said two passages, Jeremiah 23.

This is going on not only early in the demise of the northern kingdom, but also in the demise of the southern kingdom.

721 is when the north is going to fall in Jeremiah. He's chronicling what's

in Jeremiah. He's chronicling what's going to happen in 586.

And all this was going on in Judah.

In Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, he's tired of these prophets lying. Look

at how God puts this.

Jeremiah 23 verse 25. Let's start there.

Read through 29. 25 through 29. Jeremiah

23:25.

I've heard what the the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name.

Just because someone has a title doesn't mean he's telling you the truth.

Saying, I have dreamed.

I have dreamed. I got something to say.

I Here's my Here's my thought.

How long shall there be lies in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy lies, who prophesy the deceit of their own heart? I'm not saying they all know

own heart? I'm not saying they all know they're lying. Sometimes they're

they're lying. Sometimes they're deceived in their own heart and they're just sharing what they think.

Who who think to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another? They're always encouraged by

another? They're always encouraged by each other, right? They all tell their stuff and their thoughts. They write

their books. They read each other's books. Even as their fathers forgot my

books. Even as their fathers forgot my name for Baal.

Now, notice this, verse 28. It's like an open invitation to post your YouTube video. Let the prophet who has a dream

video. Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream. Fine, whatever. But let

him who has my word speak my word faithfully. Cuz what does straw have in

faithfully. Cuz what does straw have in common with wheat? Really? What does a well- exegeted text and a clearly exposited sermon have in common with

some reel on Instagram? Really? What

does it have in common? I mean, if you have a properly hermeneutically given instruction in a good book versus somebody telling you something that that's just coming down the pipe because

someone's trying to pontificate on on Jesus or the atonement or on on on on church and what it should be.

You should be able to tell the difference. The word of God spoken

difference. The word of God spoken faithfully versus someone telling their ideas.

Is not my word, verse 29, like fire?

Right? Compared to the straw, it's just going to burn it up.

And like a hammer that breaks rocks into even if it's popular. Even if it's like a rock. It's like, this is a big deal.

a rock. It's like, this is a big deal.

It's not straw. Stop talking about my opinion like straw. My my ideas are big.

Everyone agrees with my It well, God's word is like a hammer. It can break rocks too.

Colossians 2:4 talks about plausible-sounding arguments.

People have them.

God's always telling us, don't be diluted by them.

Everyone sounds like they got all the answers until someone comes along and challenges them.

They'll always be They'll always be novel takes on Christ, the gospel, Christianity.

Your job is not to be nice, right? You

should be gentleness, respect. I get all that. But if niceness means to you you

that. But if niceness means to you you got to tolerate it all, you've missed the point.

Speaking of tolerance, September 1938, the crowds were cheering the very tolerant agreeable accommodating spirit of the British Prime Minister.

You do know that history, right?

Neville Chamberlain came in getting off the runway, the tarmac in Munich.

He'd returned from Munich, rather. He

was coming in back to London. He had a signed agreement in his hand.

And it had Adolf Hitler's signature on it. Chamberlain waved it in the air as

it. Chamberlain waved it in the air as he got off the plane and uh he declared this peace for our time.

I got his signature. All's good.

Everything's copacetic. All's peaceful.

The crowds cheered. Everyone thought he was a hero. All was good.

Problem was what he'd actually done is extended an accepting, comfortable welcome to someone dead set on destroying.

Danger didn't arrive with an alarm or a name tag.

It arrived with a handshake and a signature and a smile.

And people fell for it cuz they thought, well, this is how it should be.

Let's just all be nice and get along.

After all, isn't that what Jesus would do?

There was a man who saw it for what it was. He was an Apostle Paul figure, if

was. He was an Apostle Paul figure, if you will.

His name, of course, was Winston Churchill. He saw it immediately. He

Churchill. He saw it immediately. He

stood up in Parliament after this and he said something no one considered nice.

He said this after that. He said, we have suffered a total and unmitigated defeat.

Think about that.

The members of Parliament booed him for saying that.

They called him a warmonger.

But within a year, they'd changed their opinion.

People learned. You don't assess a threat by how reasonable it sounds, right? Or how warmly it's presented.

right? Or how warmly it's presented.

At that point, the MPs knew there was nothing more inevitable, there was nothing more righteous, and nothing more he wanted to pray about as a warrior than the war they were engaging in.

And they prayed.

And those warriors were answered.

Paul's sounding the alarm here in our passage, the way Churchill sounded the alarm in Parliament. It was a warning that you can't just be accommodating.

When there's a threat to the truth, right?

Our weapons of warfare in the battle we're fighting, unless of course you are a career military person, ours are not of the flesh. But they are divinely powerful to tear down strongholds.

Take down anything that raises itself up against the knowledge of God, the revealed, truthful, codified knowledge of God.

You got to be willing to trade all of our comfort cuz it is uncomfortable at times. I

understand that.

To confront what is not true.

Godly Christians, we don't we don't love conflict. We don't. We're not looking

conflict. We don't. We're not looking for a fight, but we want to be like the Bereans. We'd like to be like Churchill.

Bereans. We'd like to be like Churchill.

We see something that doesn't add up, something that's not going to be good.

It won't be good for us. It won't be good for those who believe it. We can't just make terms of

believe it. We can't just make terms of peace and call it a virtue. Truth and

loyalty are worth the discomfort.

Let's pray.

God, we know you're a jealous God.

We know you're caring very much about us being right with you and our allegiance to you certainly deserves more than our

niceness.

It deserves our zeal, our resolve, our commitment.

I pray we would not be so accommodating to teachers we have no idea who they are.

We don't know what they believe. We

don't know where they got what they're saying. Let us be much more discerning.

saying. Let us be much more discerning.

Let us just be a little bit more discerning about where we get our truth.

Hoping that we go to the Bible ourselves and learn how to rightly handle it. And

that takes some time, but to rightly handle the word of truth, a workman who doesn't need to be ashamed.

Let us be that increasingly so.

As we're discipled and trained in in a that is uh uh is is good.

is is tested and tried.

The next time we hear a video about the afterlife or the redemptive work of Christ or the incarnation or whatever might be that says, "Ah, maybe

what your grandpa believed isn't right."

We might be really slow to change our views.

Especially if the word of God is um seemingly very clear about it. We don't

want to ever change our views if your word is clear.

God, so uh just help us to recommit our hearts to you and to your truth even today. In Jesus' name. Amen.

even today. In Jesus' name. Amen.