Don’t Be Led Astray

0:52Both inwardly and outwardly, there's a feeling of total commitment to each other and even eager anticipation of the joys of marriage. But in the pressure cooker of married life, those early feelings can fade as the realities of sin and personality quirks and bad habits and the attacks of Satan, who hates marriage because it's a picture of the gospel, as all of those realities ramp up and set in. And then that sincere and pure devotion that these young couples have toward one another starts to slip away. And sometimes, in the saddest situations, Satan leads one or both spouses into adultery or divorce or both.

1:51What an uplifting sermon introduction. Thinking about young, promising relationships, though, breaking down into infidelity and separation isn't fun, but since marriage is a picture of the gospel, it is a sobering reminder to all of us. And you see, the Corinthians were well out of what we would call the honeymoon phase of their relationship with Jesus Christ. And Paul was becoming concerned that Satan was leading some of them astray into relationships with others that could not save them. And so what we're going to see this morning in 2 Corinthians 11 is that in the face of temptation, we must display sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

2:45The first verse of chapter 11 essentially sets up the next two chapters, all that Paul is going to say in chapter 11 and 12, and he's going to defend his ministry credentials in these chapters. So in addition to his direct commission, From Christ, Paul is going to rehearse his Jewish pedigree in chapter 11, and then he's going to talk about all the visions that the Lord gave him in chapter 12. Now, as he said last week, back in chapter 10, Paul feels no need to boast, no need to compare himself with the false teachers because he doesn't need human affirmation. He's not after human approval or fame or the praise of men or anything like that. But you see, these false teachers who have come in, they've put him in a no-win situation.

3:36If Paul doesn't answer these accusations, the Corinthians may see that as a tacit admission that they're true. And if he does answer the accusations, it may look like he's just tooting his own horn, that he's just promoting himself. So he's in this no-win situation. So Paul comes right out at the beginning of chapter 11 here in verse 1, and he asks them to bear with him in a little foolishness. Now, Paul was not above going into sarcasm, and I see a lot of that in this verse. He's like, forgive me. I know you guys now have these super apostles among you. But if you could just grant me a few minutes of your time, the guy who came and preached the gospel to you and planted your church and taught you everything that you know, if I could just have a couple minutes, that'd be awesome.

4:31Verse 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, Paul feels what he calls a divine jealousy for the Corinthians. A divine jealousy. Now, I don't know about you, but I have a hard time explaining the difference between jealousy and envy. Maybe it's kind of like the difference between sympathy and empathy. I always have a hard time explaining those two, and maybe it's because I have neither.

5:14Pray for me. But back to jealousy and envy. A couple years ago, our life group went through this awesome study by Jared Wilson. It was called Seven Daily Sins. Seven Daily Sins. And here's what he said about jealousy and envy. He said, envy involves wanting what someone else has or is and not wanting that someone else to have or be it either. It's fueled by resentment. Jealousy is simply wanting what someone else has or is. In the New Testament, envy is always condemned, while jealousy is sometimes condemned and sometimes commended, depending on the context.

6:01So envy is always presented as sinful in Scripture. There's no such thing as good or godly envy. But that's not true of jealousy. It can be sinful if we are coveting the things that God commands us not to covet in the 10th commandment. But it can also be good and godly when we are jealous for the right things. So when God is jealous for his glory, for our worship, for the affections of his people, that's a good thing.

6:37Because God alone deserves glory. God alone deserves our worship. God alone deserves our affection. When a husband is jealous for his wife's affections, or a wife is jealous for her husband's affections, that's a good and godly thing. Because, see, in a covenant relationship, as Paul explained back last year in 1 Corinthians 7, a husband belongs to his wife. A wife belongs to her husband. So in that covenant relationship, jealousy can be good and godly and appropriate.

7:12So the key to verse 2 is the word divine. Paul says that he feels a divine jealousy, a good and godly jealousy for the Corinthians. Why is that? Well, it's not because these other teachers have risen in the esteem of the Corinthians. It's not because they have grown in fame, their platform is now larger, that they're more famous or gifted or anything like that. No, Paul feels a divine jealousy because he is their spiritual father, the one who first preached the gospel to them and then planted their church and established them in the faith.

7:53You see, in Jewish culture, when a young woman got engaged, and they called that betrothal, betrothal was like engagement, except it was even more binding. When a young woman in Jewish culture got engaged, it was the father's job, it was his solemn responsibility to promise to her fiancé that he would present her on the wedding day as pure, as devoted only to him. And so, what Paul is saying is that as their spiritual father, his responsibility was to present them as a pure virgin to Christ on his wedding day, that is, the day that he returns for his bride, the church.

8:39So, take a look at Ephesians 5, well-known passage. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. Listen to this, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor. Without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. Look at Revelation 19. Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, Hallelujah, for the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.

9:25Let us rejoice and exult and give Him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come. Listen to this, and His bride has made herself ready. It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure, for this fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. So Paul feels a divine jealousy for the Corinthians because he sees it as his job, his solemn responsibility, to present them pure and unblemished to Jesus Christ on the day of his return.

10:04Let's look at verse 3. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. So Paul's fear is that just as Satan, the serpent, deceived Eve by his cunning or his craftiness or trickery. So also the Corinthians' thoughts would be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. Now, there is a lot to unpack in that one verse. First, I want you to notice: where does Paul locate the source of the problem?

10:49The source of the problem isn't the false teachers. The false teachers are just the means. They're just the medium by which the Corinthians can be led astray. It's their teaching and their example that's going to be used against the Corinthians. But who is the source of the problem? The source of the problem is Satan, the serpent. He is the one who tempted Eve to doubts God's character and his word. And Paul is concerned that Satan is doing the exact same thing to the Corinthians through these false teachers. That's why Paul talks so much about spiritual warfare in the last chapter. Because our battle isn't really with people, although it sometimes seems that way. Take a look again at Ephesians 6, verse 12, another well-known verse. He says, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

12:00Second thing I want you to notice is how does Satan fight against us? He uses deceit, which, as I mentioned earlier, can also be translated cunning or trickery. So the very nature of deception means that you don't know that you're being deceived. If you know you're being deceived, you're not deceived. That's how Satan operates. So he's going to use whatever means necessary to believe lies about God and his word and yourself and this world and others in your life, all while covering his tracks, so you don't know that he's behind all of it. So if we go back and we study Genesis chapter 3, then we have the clearest case study of how Satan operates. Think about what happens in Genesis chapter 3, if you're familiar with that chapter. When Satan comes in, he doesn't come in and say, hey guys, God doesn't really exist. He's just a figment of your imagination. Or God never really spoke to you. You just imagined that. You're just hearing things. No, see, Satan is much too subtle. He's much too crafty for that ham-fisted approach. He comes in and take a look at the screen. Look at what Satan says. Did God actually say?

13:30You shall not eat of any tree in the garden. He implies that God didn't want them to eat any of the fruit of the trees in the garden. Like maybe God said that they could only eat potatoes, like Matt Damon and the Martian. Nobody wants to eat only potatoes. Then he directly contradicts God. Look at what he says next. He calls God's motives into question. He says, You will not surely die, for God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

14:13In other words, God doesn't love you, he sees you as a threat to his kingdom. And anyway, you're not going to die. It's not going to kill you to have a little fun. I mean, doesn't that sound just like peer pressure? You're not going to die. It's not going to kill you. Come on. The sad part of all of this, of course, is that Adam and Eve were already like God. They had already been created in His image and likeness. But Satan deceived them into thinking that they weren't. So as creatures, they could never become the Creator, but they were already like Him.

14:59Third, I want you to notice where does this spiritual battle take place according to verse 3 in the mind. Look what Paul says. He's worried that your thoughts will be led astray. Take a look on the screen at chapter 10, verse 5. Paul said, This: We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ. Friends, we're in a spiritual war, and one of the main battlefields in this spiritual war is the mind. We need spiritual weapons to fight this war, so when Satan tempts us to believe lies about God, we can take them captive and make them obey Christ. The Word of God is our primary offensive weapon in this battle.

16:01The Bible calls it the sword. So, if you don't know the word of God, you don't have a sword. And if you don't know the word of God very well, the blade of your sword is dull. You don't want to be in a battle with a dull blade, and you certainly don't want to be in a battle with no blade at all. So, when we spend time reading and studying, Studying and meditating on the meaning and application of the word of God, we've got a sharp sword to cut down those ungodly thoughts and to take them captive and make them obey Christ. A huge battle takes place in the mind, and we have got to be ready for it.

16:52And then, fourth and finally, what I want you to notice in verse three is: what is Paul's concern? That their thoughts would be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. This Greek word that's translated sincere means something like singleness of purpose or motivation. I want you to think about that. Paul is concerned that they would be led astray from singleness of purpose or motivation, that they would no longer see worshiping God, serving God, bringing God glory, making the name of Christ famous, that they would no longer see those things as the primary purpose and motivation of their lives.

17:42And this word translated pure means to be without moral defect. So, when something is impure, it means that it's not made up of all the same substance. So, think about gold. Pure gold is made up of nothing but gold. But impure gold has a mixture of gold and other minerals, making it impure. It cuts down on its beauty, it cuts down on its usefulness. So, when Paul speaks of sincere and pure devotion to Christ, he's talking about a love for him that is single-minded, that is untainted by love for anyone or anything else besides him.

18:29And friends, when we read the Old Testament, it is made up of so many examples of the Israelites being led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. Here's what you need to understand: the Israelites almost never quit worshiping God altogether. They just started worshiping him in ways that he did not command, or they started worshiping other idols, other gods alongside of him. Their worship was no longer pure. It was no longer sincere. It was impure.

19:05That was the problem. And so that's what Paul is worried about with the Corinthians, that they were in danger of doing the same thing. Let's pick up in verse 4. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you receive, You accepted, you put up with it readily enough. Paul's divine jealousy had a foundation. He's not like a crazy boyfriend or girlfriend that's jealous for no reason. He has a foundation for this jealousy. And see, false teachers have come in and they've proclaimed a different Jesus. They've encouraged them to receive a different spirit. They're encouraging them to receive a different gospel from the one that Paul proclaimed. And Paul says, you put up with it readily enough.

20:04So think of this in terms of marriage. If a husband and wife are pure and sincere in their devotion for one another, they're not really open to temptation. But if a husband and wife are impure or insincere in their devotion to each other, then that door has been left open to temptation. Other suitors, other lovers can walk through that door. And that's what Paul is saying to the Corinthians. Their insincerity and the impurity of their worship and devotion to Christ has been exposed by the very fact that they've left the door open for these false teachers to come in. Now, they might say, come on, Paul, there's nothing wrong with giving these guys a fair hearing. We're not going to fall for it. There's nothing wrong with hearing what they have to say.

20:57But can you imagine if you were married? And you came home, and there was a strange man or woman in the living room with your spouse. And you said, What's going on here? And they said, Oh, honey, it's no big deal. They just wanted to make me an offer to leave you and be with them instead. I wasn't really going to do it, but I wanted to hear what they had to say. Paul said, You put up with it readily enough. You put up with these guys preaching a different Jesus, a different spirit, a different gospel. You let them in, and you haven't kicked them out. Why not? Could it be that my fears that you are in the process of walking away from Christ could actually have a foundation? Could it be that you are walking away from the only Jesus and the only gospel that can save you?

21:56Verse 5. Indeed, I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these super apostles. Even if I am unskilled in speaking, I am not so in knowledge. Indeed, in every way, we have made this plain to you in all things. Paul says, Listen, I know these guys are coming in and presenting themselves as superior to me. I might be unskilled in speaking, and what he means is. He didn't have formal training in the Greek rhetorical style. He said, I may be unskilled in speaking, but I'm not in knowledge. I mean, think about this. In addition to his impressive background as a Jewish Pharisee, instructed by one of the greatest rabbis who ever lived, Paul had seen and spoken with and been commissioned by the risen Lord Jesus. Paul knew Jesus in a way that these false teachers did not know him. In fact, he knew Jesus in a way that on this side of heaven, the false teachers couldn't ever know him.

23:08Paul spoke the plain truth so that the educated and the uneducated, the mature and the immature, the young and the old could all understand and hear and respond to the gospel message. C.S. Lewis once said, it takes no skill whatsoever to make difficult things sound hard to understand. It takes incredible skill to take difficult things and to explain them in a way that a child can follow. That's why I have such great love and respect for all of our volunteers who work for our preschool ministry, our K-4 Club, Tribe 56, our youth ministry, because that's the real skill. It's not hard to make hard stuff sound hard. It's hard to make hard stuff sound simple and easy to comprehend. And that's what Paul is saying. He says, look at the end of verse 6. Indeed, in every way, we have made this plain to you in all things.

24:17Friends, when God spoke to Moses on the mountain, he gave him the second commandment. And the second commandment says that we shall make for ourselves no idols, no images, no rival gods to bow down to and worship. And then he says this in Exodus chapter 20, verse 5. Look at what it says. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me.

25:02I, the Lord, am a jealous God. If that rubs you the wrong way, if you think God shouldn't be jealous, then remember what we talked about earlier. Jealousy is sometimes the only right and appropriate response. And God, as our creator and our sustainer, has the right to all glory, all honor, all worship and devotion. To give it to anything or anyone else, to bow down to any idol, is wrong. It's sinful. We deserve to be brought to justice for not giving God what he actually deserves.

25:49But thankfully, right after God says that he is a jealous God who will judge those who hate him, take a look at the very next verse, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. There is good news for all of us who have bowed down to idols and who have worshipped and served created things rather than God, who is the creator. The good news is that he shows steadfast love to those who love him and keep his commandments.

26:29We say, how is that good news? Because we haven't kept his commandments. That's right, we have not. But that's why he sent his son, Jesus. Jesus came to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. He was, as the New Testament talks about, born of a virgin, born under law. From the very moment that he was born, Jesus submitted to every single law, every single command that God had ever. Spoken. Every single day of his life, he obeyed perfectly. And the whole time he was doing that, he was doing it as our substitute. He was doing it to stand in our place for our sins so that when he went to the cross, he had a perfect record, a perfect life of obedience. The life of obedience that you and I don't have to stand before God and say, We have obeyed your commands. We haven't. But Jesus did. He died, he was buried, and he rose again, showing that God accepted his sacrifice on our behalf. Friends, the good news of the gospel is that although we have not kept God's commands, our Savior Jesus has kept his commands. We haven't offered him sincere and pure devotion and worship, but Jesus did.

27:59And so I just encourage anyone who hears that God is a jealous God to consider that he is holy, he is perfect in every way, and he is jealous for the affection and the worship that he alone deserves. And so I encourage you today to turn from your sin, to repent of it, as the Bible says, and to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. There is no other way to be saved and recognized. Reconciled to God.

28:34If you are already following Jesus this morning, I want to leave you with a challenge. And that challenge is to seriously consider Paul's words back in verse 3. Before God, honestly assess yourself: have your thoughts been led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ? Can you honestly say that you are just as devoted to Christ today as the day that you first professed faith in him? When Jesus spoke to the church at Ephesus in the book of Revelation, he had a lot of great things to say about them.

29:27But then he said, This, but I have this against you: that you have left the love that you had at first. You have abandoned your first love. And, church, I think for some of us, if we're honest this morning, we abandoned that first love a long time ago. We are much more excited about hobbies, sports, and work, and money, and stuff, and family, vacations, and everything else than we are about Jesus. Even though once he was the supreme love of our lives, so honestly assess yourself this morning. Remember what we talked about last week? It doesn't matter what you think about yourself, it doesn't matter what anybody else thinks of you, all that matters is what Jesus thinks about you.

30:19So, in the face of temptation, let's ask God for grace and help to display a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. Let's pray. Father, this is certainly one of those passages that it hits very close to home. When Paul says that he's concerned that the Corinthians' thoughts might be led astray, that hits very close to home for us because we know that in different times of our lives, and it may even be right now, our thoughts have been led astray. That's why we sing prone to wander, Lord, I feel it.

31:31And so, God, we pray that whether we have wandered in the past or whether we are wandering right now, that you would come and that you would draw us to yourself, that we would offer you the pure and sincere worship and devotion that you alone deserve. And so, we ask for your help, for the ministry of the Holy Spirit, for your grace this morning to do that. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net.