When Prophets Return to the Gate — Carter Conlon

Let's pray together. Father, thank you for this day, thank you for this time together in your house. Thank you, Lord, for the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Lord, if it wasn't for you and for your presence and for your anointing, all we would have is theories about God.

I thank you, Lord, that we have a living relationship. I thank you, God, that you are bringing us into something of your life that, Lord, will delight our hearts. Give us the courage to hear your word.

Give me the strength to speak it. I thank you, Lord, that you will expand the borders of this frail vessel. You'll give me abilities that I don't naturally possess. You'll give me thoughts, Lord, that are deeper than my own.

You'll give me strength in leading. I pray that you animate me, help me to get out of the way. Animate me, Lord, so that even the intonations of my voice come from your heart. I thank you, Lord, that you have a bride and a people in this generation, Lord, that will truly glorify you in the midst of whatever happens.

We thank you for it. I praise you in Jesus' mighty name. Second Corinthians chapter 13, I'm going to be speaking message number nine in the Corinthian problem series. And for those who have not been following this series, it's the Apostle Paul coming to the church in Corinth, a church living in a very central, affluent society, a very selfish society.

The Corinthian Church and the Danger of Spiritual Reprobation

And in measure, that spirit had found a residence and were still occupying the thinking and the hearts of many of the people in this church in Corinth. They'd not made the break as it is from the society around them.

And because they hadn't made this break, it was opening the door to divisions, dissensions, court battles, false prophets and preachers were rising up that were catering to this self-interest that was still very much at the foundation of a lot of the people's thinking.

All types of problems. There was immorality in the church that people were not even grieved over. They're not even dealing with it. These things had found an open door and they were all on that foundation of God's own people not fully understanding what it meant to be part of the body of Christ.

What it really meant to identify with the Savior. And Paul, you'll see this thread all the way through 1 and 2 Corinthians. And if you read it in that context, all of a sudden the scripture comes alive and you see what the Holy Spirit was actually doing as these words flowed from the pen of this precious Apostle.

2 Corinthians chapter 13, message title is When Prophets Return to the Gate. When prophets, that's P-R-O-P-H-E-T-S, return to the gate. 2 Corinthians 13, beginning at verse 1. Paul said, this is the third time I'm coming to you.

In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. I told you before and foretell you as if I were present the second time and being absent now I write to them which heretofore have sinned and to all other that if I come again I will not spare.

Since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me which to you word is not weak but is mighty in you. For though he was crucified through weakness yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you.

Examine yourselves whether you be in the faith. Prove your own selves. Know you not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except you be reprobates. But I trust that you shall know that we are not reprobates.

Now this message today is about the danger of spiritual reprobation. Now spiritual reprobation happens where the natural mind, that means the fallen man in his own natural thinking as opposed to the spiritual mind which is a new mind that is given to us in Jesus Christ.

This natural mind is allowed to take control and lead him into fashioning and embracing an image of God which is incorrect. And folks we're living at that time. We're living in such an hour. Much of the gospel that is on our airwaves today, not all, thank God, but much of it is another Christ.

It's another Jesus. It's another image of God. It's something fashioned out of the minds of men. Paul speaks about a reprobation in verse 5 and here's the official definition. It's something that is unapproved.

It's undiscerning. It is empty of judgment. It possesses a mindset that is abhorred by God and it should be abhorred by man. Now Paul said examine yourselves. Take a look at what image you're following.

Who is the Christ that you're serving? He was trying to get this through to the Corinthian church all the way through these two books. He's now come to the conclusion actually in 2 Corinthians chapter 13 and now he's saying examine yourself in the light of all I've written to you and how I've shown you what true ministry is, who the real Christ is.

Now I want you to examine yourselves and see if the Jesus that you've fashioned is the Christ of the scriptures, the Christ Paul says that has been revealed to me. Paul said in 2 Corinthians chapter 11, just back a little bit in verse 4, he said, I fear in verse 3 actually, he says, I fear lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

For if he that comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached or if you receive another spirit which you have not received or another gospel which you've not accepted, you might well bear with him.

Paul is saying to the church in your present condition, if someone comes to you with another Christ, you might stop, you might pause, you might begin to listen to this message and you might begin to give it consideration.

And Paul says, listen, I'm concerned about it. I have this, I have this foreboding in my heart that you're going to fall to the same subtlety that came to Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, that there is another way to godliness, that there is another image that you can embrace other than the image of God, which Satan is always coming to God's people and saying, this image is not sufficient.

This, do you really want to look like this? This is what the preachers that were rising up in Corinth were telling the people, look at this man, he's weak, he's poverty stricken as it is. Paul said, I have nothing, but I possess everything.

He said, I am as weak, but I'm making others strong. Paul had the real treasure of heaven in his life, but they were pointing to him and they were saying to the church at that time, do you really want to look?

Is this what you think that Christ makes you look like? Do you want to look like this? Do you want to follow this same journey or wouldn't you rather look like us? You can just see them, just as we're living with this kind of a message that is found inroads into much of what testifies to be of Christ in our generation.

The reprobate is a person who blocks out of his mind the image of God, which he doesn't want to follow, and he creates a new image, which he finds much better to his liking. That's exactly what happened in Exodus.

The people came out of Egypt, they traveled only a short distance really, and they finally, in their hearts, they wanted to go back to what they left behind. This was the problem in Corinth. They simply couldn't make the break from the ways in the thinking of that society.

And they said, we remember the flesh pots and we remember the vegetables and things that we could sit around and the bread and we could fill our bellies with these things. There was a self-consumption still very much at the core of the people and they wanted to go back, but in order to do so, they had to block out this image of God and his messenger Moses and this image that was leading them in a direction which to their flesh they found very, very unappealing.

Israel, Bitter Waters, and the Cross

Go with me now to the book of Exodus, chapter 15, if you will, second book in the Old Testament for those who are new to the Lord. Exodus, chapter 15, and verse 22. Now the scripture says, so Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea and they went out into the wilderness ashore and they went three days into the wilderness and found no water.

Now they had just come through, they'd seen the miraculous, they'd watched this provision of God destroying their enemies, and they're three days in the wilderness and they started to complain. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters, for they were bitter and they called of it Marah.

And verse 24 says, the people murmured against Moses saying, what shall we drink? And they cried unto the Lord and the Lord showed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet.

And there he made for them a statute and an ordinance and there he proved them. Three days and they found no water that appealed to them. Now folks, everything here is a type of Christ. Everything in this Bible speaks of Jesus Christ.

If you see the scriptures in that context, all of a sudden they begin to come alive to you. God had one thing in mind. He had a son that was going to come to this earth before the foundation of the world.

He had a bride that was going to be redeemed out of a fallen condition. This bride was going to be empowered by the Holy Spirit, cleansed by the blood that would be shed on Calvary. And this bride would bring the name of God to reputation and honor in the earth.

God saw this. Now here's a type. The people are coming out of Egypt like you and I have come out of sin when you came to Christ. They're walking and they find the waters bitter and they don't want to drink what is before them.

And Moses was shown by God a tree and when he cast this tree, which is a type of the cross of Christ, when he cast this tree into the water, all of a sudden the bitter was made sweet. You see, the self-focused person will never be satisfied on the Christian journey until the giving of ourselves as Christ did for others is the central core of why we are walking with God.

You'll never be satisfied. You'll travel from conference to conference and place to place and you will complain about the waters. You will look in the scriptures. It will seem too hard. It will be remote.

It will be distant. It will be bitter to swallow. You won't like what you look at until the giving of yourself is the very central core of why you walk with God. Folks, there has to be an understanding in our generation, your heart and in my heart.

I'm not called to live for myself. I'm not called to use Christ for my own glory. I'm not called to build something of myself with Christ being the foundation. I'm called to give of myself for the purposes of God.

I'm called to walk the pathway of God that he set before my life, bringing honor and glory to his name as he changes me from image to image and glory to glory. Gives me the ability to endure what natural men cannot endure.

The ability to give where natural men fall short. The ability to be and to do the very work of God in the earth. This giving of oneself is at the central core and that's why so many people now are dissatisfied.

So many people are running from pillar to post all through the Christian community looking for a word, a touch, something from someone somewhere. The word that you're looking for is right here. If you've been among these that are traveling the circuit looking for God, give of yourself for others.

Let your life be used as a living sacrifice for God, which the scripture says is your reasonable service. Think of the multitudes following Jesus in John chapter six. You don't have to turn there and suddenly he turns to them and he says, truly I say to you, except a man, except you eat of the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

And as the living father has sent me and as I live by the father, so he that eats me, he shall live by me. Christ was saying, you need the power of another life within you to finish this journey. You need the power to put your old life away.

You need a new mind, a new heart, and you need a new spirit. But can you see the people looking and saying to themselves, well, this is not the image of God that I had in mind. I was willing to follow as long as I was seeing the miracles and thought, well, perhaps maybe I could lay hold of some of that power.

Perhaps I could have influence over men. I had an image. I had a vision as it is of what God was going to make me. That is the greatest hindrance I think to so many people now, this coming into the presence of God and God revealing himself and saying, well, that's not quite what I had in mind.

That's not what following you was supposed to be about. And verse 66 says, from that time, many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. Now, the scripture doesn't imply that they ceased from religion.

As a matter of fact, I think they got even more religious, but the reality is they stopped walking with him. They said, no, this, this is, this is really not what we want. And the bottom line is they turned from the image of God.

God was manifested in the flesh. The express image of God was in Jesus Christ. John himself said, we, we beheld him as the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth is the glory, the doxa, that, that which brings God to reputation, John says, was on him.

And we saw it, we beheld it. And, and I can't think of, I can't imagine how many people now of that time, how many now know this was the image of God. We stood before God. We saw God. We heard God. God was clearly revealing himself to us, but you see, we didn't want to hear this.

This, this is not the mindset of that society. This was not the general thinking of the religious populace. We don't want this, this simple ordinariness that we see before us. This common man who seems to be given for others, doesn't use his power for himself.

He's not gathering an army that we can see with our natural eye, is not, is not pressing into the hallways of political power and not using his influence the way we think it should be used. When the crowds gather, he seems to get in a boat and go somewhere else.

Everywhere we think he should go, he doesn't go. Everything we think he should do, he doesn't do. And they looked at him. And just as Isaiah said, they saw nothing in him that they should desire him. And they walked away.

It was like a root out of dry ground. It was like an uncomely tree to them. He was like a fruit that's to be despised. And they looked and they didn't want this image of Christ. And they turned and they walked away from the image of God.

Idolatry, Religious Darkness, and Self-Love

Now how do people do this? How do, how do people walk away? How do people sit in church and actually walk away from Christ? No, they don't walk away from religion, but they walk away from Christ. They probably become more zealous than ever before.

They probably travel more. They probably go into more conventions. They probably travel the circuit more than they ever did before. Always looking for some new corner on God. Unaware that they've seen him and walked away from him.

We're living at that time, folks. I make no apologies for that statement. We're living at a time of religious deception in the name of Christ. Exodus 32, 1 tells us how they did it. How did they walk away?

And here, it's very simple. They said, as for this Moses in verse 1, the men that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we want not or we don't know what has become of him. That's really the issue. They said, we don't know what's become of him.

He's too distant. He's invisible. He's hard to understand. He's hard to follow. Everything we hoped that we'd be led to through him is taking too long to happen. It's only a few days, folks, or a few months at this point.

But they're saying, no, we can't see this man. We don't know where he's gone. He's too far, too distant, too invisible. Now, we know what we'd like God to look like. So, let's make him of gold. Let's make him a God of personal advantage and wealth.

And let's point him in a direction where we want him to go. And that's exactly what they did. When a society is turning away from the image of God, they will recreate a God in the image of gold. And this is a God that doesn't lead them.

This is a God they begin to lead. Because now they're free to fashion him any way they want. They're free to make him say whatever they think he should be saying. They don't have to listen. They don't have to follow.

They can point him in any direction. They want him to go. A God of personal advantage. A God of gold. Jesus said in Matthew 6, 23, If the light that be in you be darkness, how great is that darkness? If you know biblical truth and it's turning you away from the image of God, there is a darkness that comes into your soul much deeper than the darkness of sin.

The deepest darkness that you'll ever find in this world is a religious darkness. Now keep in mind that Jesus is speaking of many people who are seeing the express image of God in human form would soon call out for his death.

It doesn't get any darker than that. There are people in that crowd that are very shortly going to be saying, Crucify him. We do not want this image of God. We are... This is not who we think God is. Crucify this image of God.

We're living in a generation now where they're saying, Get rid of the blood in all of our theology. Get the cross out of what we preach. Get rid of this God. Crucify this God. Put him to death. That's darkness, folks.

It's as deep as darkness will get. If the light that be in you be darkness, how great, Jesus said, is that darkness? Paul said in 2 Timothy chapter 3, In the last days perilous times are coming. I believe we're living there now.

Men will be lovers themselves. That's where we'll all come to. And this self-love will invade the church, the professing church. It will never invade the true church. But it will invade the professing church of Jesus Christ.

And in this love of self, men will be ever learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Never come to the simplicity of understanding that I'm called to be given for others. I'm not called to live for myself.

I'm not called to use God for my own comfort. I'm called for you. And in turn, you are called for others. And we are all called for one another. We are called in the sense, I think this is a divine moment in the history of this city, simply in the fact that this church and perhaps a few others have over 100 nations in it.

A living testimony to this generation that unity that the whole world seeks can be found. It can be enjoyed. It can be real, but it can only be in Christ. And it can only be found among people who are given for one another, not living for ourselves.

Because if you live for yourself, you'll hold grudges. There will be divisions as we're getting into the Corinthian church. Paul very clearly pointed that out. But if we are given for one another, if we've died to living for ourselves, we will forgive, we will forget, we will move on in Christ.

They will resist, he says, Paul says in 2 Timothy, in chapter 3, verse 8, he said they will resist the concept of being abandoned to God and yielded for the good of others. There'll be a ministry, but it will resist the simplicity that Paul says was in Moses.

When Moses appeared in Pharaoh's court, a man simply abandoned to God and standing for the good of others. Not standing for himself, not seeking power, not looking for political office, not looking for gold or gain, this man is standing for the good of others.

He's standing because there is a cry in the hearts of over 3 million people whose children are being thrown into the river, who are being fed straw, and they're sent out to make monuments for men's egos.

And there's a cry came. And because of the cry, this abandoned man appears. But there was a ministry that had gained access to the throne of Pharaoh. They're called Janus and Jambres. And the scripture says they withstood Moses.

They're the type of a ministry that withstands the simplicity of being personally abandoned for the good of others. We're living at such a time. Now, Paul says in 2 Corinthians, chapter 3, in verse 18,.

But we all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Paul said, if we are looking at the image of God, if in my heart and yours we can come to the point of saying, Yes, this is the Christ.

This is the Son of God. These are His words. These are His ways. I want this, O God. If you called me to take up my cross, if you called me to be abandoned all the days of my life for the good of other men and women and children in this world, then so be it.

That's the path that I choose. If I'm brought to no reputation, that you might be seen and heard. If I might have to be nothing, that you might be everything. Even as the Apostle Paul, if I may have to go to prison at the end of my days, and all I can do is take a pen and begin to write a few letters, then so be it.

I will trust that there's a purpose in all things that you allow my life to go through. Paul says, as we behold this image, we are changed from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord. And the word in the Greek is doxa.

And it means that inward life of Christ that brings the person of God to reputation in the earth. We are changed and our lives begin to bring God to reputation. Praise be to God. A God to be reckoned with in our generation.

As you and I begin to do the simple things. As we begin to take groceries to somebody that has nothing to eat. As we begin to put a hand and speak comforting words on somebody's shoulder that nobody else cares about in society.

We start bringing God to reputation. Praise be to God. God comes to reputation in the simple things. This giving. When we get to the point in life where we can't walk by suffering anymore. We can't cross the other side of the road as we're on our way to church on Sunday morning.

We see suffering. It could be somebody just crying on a park fence, but we see suffering. And we can't pass it by anymore. We can't turn off the station or change the radio channel when we hear about suffering in some country.

We can't pass it by anymore. Bringing God to reputation. Bringing Christ to reputation. Jesus himself inferred in John 13, 35. He says, All men will know that you're my disciples when they witness the love that you display to one another.

This love that is evidenced by a sacrificial and continuous giving of oneself that is rarely, lastingly found among the self-interested in this world. As they see it, they will know that you're my disciples.

Not because you have the right theology. Not because you speak in tongues as great as all that is. But they see this giving of yourselves to one another. And they will know. Praise be to God. Thank God.

Vision, Discernment, and the Reputation of God's Name

Proverbs 29, 18 says, Where there's no vision, the people perish. And really, what that means, the Living Bible says it this way. Where there's an ignorance of God, the people run wild. Where there's no vision, there's no image.

The people run wild. Why are people running wild in our generation? Think it through, folks. Is it possible? Is it possible that much of the church of Jesus Christ is not the image of God? Is it possible, folks, can we at least look there?

Can we at least start thinking about it? Can we at least have the courage to ask the Holy Spirit, God, is there some truth in this? Is it possible that people walk by church after church in our society because there's nothing there that represents God?

There's nothing that brings God to reputation and honor. And then you find the reprobation that Paul speaks about in Romans 1, all the way through the chapter that begins to flow through a society. Folks, it's not ever been up to government to change a culture.

It's never been given to outside organizations. It's always been given to you and to me, the church of Jesus Christ. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 13, verse 2, If I come again, at the end of that verse, I will not spare.

Paul said, I'd like to come. I'd like to come with comforting words. I'd like to stand. I'm sure he's like every other preacher. I know he grieved. I know how hard it is to preach messages like this sometimes.

But Paul said, I will not spare. I must not spare. I cannot spare. Because I've espoused you as a precious bride to Christ. I'm jealous over you, Paul said, with a godly jealousy. I want you to know who the real Jesus is.

And I want you to understand he's worth following. I want you to know that there's real spiritual life. Paul was telling them, I want you to know where the power of God is. It's not found in anything that the natural man or the natural mind embraces.

This is a spiritual kingdom. And when you and I are willing to become nothing, that Christ may become everything. When we're willing to give our all, that others may find life in him. Paul said there's power there that the natural carnal preachers don't know anything about.

And those that were trying to bring this message of reigning and ruling that wasn't true. I will not spare. I want you to think for a moment. Moses comes down from the mountain. He sees what the people have done.

And this righteous indignation comes into his heart. He took the calf that they'd made. Exodus 32 tells us, and he ground it to powder. He burnt it and ground it to powder. And then he threw it in the river.

And he made the people drink it. He made them drink of their error. He made them see. He made them taste of the spiritual foolishness that was being manifested around them. He saw that they were naked before their enemies.

He saw that they had no power. They could not go into the land of promise. They had been made spiritually bankrupt by this god of gold that they'd created. They would have no influence, no military power, and there would be nothing.

And Moses knew it, and he says, No, I'd like to just gloss it over, but I can't. You've got to taste the bitterness of this. You've got to be able to taste what this has done to you. What it's done to your families.

What it's done to this entire nation as it is that had come out of captivity. God help us in our time that we're living in to be able to see and to understand the bitterness of this error. And in Exodus 32 and verse 26, the Bible says that Moses stood in the gate of the camp.

Moses at the Gate: Choosing the Lord's Side

And he said these simple words. Exodus 32, 26, Moses stood in the gate of the camp. Now Moses was a prophet. I don't have time to prove that to you, but just look up prophet in your concordance. You'll find it.

He stood in the gate of the camp and said, Who is on the Lord's side? Let him come unto me and all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. He stepped into the gate and said, Who is on the Lord's side?

Oh God help us. It should be the cry of your heart. God give us prophets again. Give us prophets. You'll stand in the gate. Now the gate is where the battle plans are formed. The gate is where business is transacted.

The gate is actually the entranceway into where God dwelt. And Moses stood in the gate of the camp and he said, Who is on the Lord's side? Those of you who want to continue on worshipping this God of gold and you want to head back into self-consumed Egypt, then go there.

But I want to know who's on the Lord's side. I want to know who's willing to embrace the image of God. I want to know who's willing to follow this God that you can't necessarily see the way you'd like to see him, but he's leading you into something you don't understand.

That's why Paul said in 2 Corinthians 13 5, he said, Examine yourselves. He said, This is the third time I'm going to be coming to you. He said, Examine yourselves and whether you be in the faith, prove your own selves.

If it's not Christ that is in you, you've followed a reprobation. That's what Paul is saying. If it isn't the real Christ, then you have embraced a reprobate image of Christ. It's an image that proves that you're void of judgment.

Which image will I follow? You see, this is the question. I guess that you and I have to answer every day. Which Christ will I follow is will I follow a Christ that allows me to be central and self-indulgent?

Or will I follow the Christ who as Moses did, gave himself to lead millions into freedom? Which Christ will I follow? Will I follow this Christ who as Moses did with a simple yet all-consuming passion, in his life that fallen men find freedom and return home to God?

Paul said to them in verse 6 of 2 Corinthians 13, We are not reprobates. Paul says, You know we are not reprobates. Those that have come with me, we've come to you, we've lived by the power of God because of you.

We have been quickened because of you, Paul says. And if you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, he says in verse 3, Which to you it is not weak, but is mighty in you. He said, Paul said, This is the proof that Christ is speaking.

There's something supernatural happens in you when you hear the words that come from my mouth. I'm speaking on behalf of God. And as your hearts are open to what God has to speak, something is transpiring.

Paul said, This is the proof that God is with me. Don't look on the exterior. If you look on the exterior, look to the natural, you'll always be led astray. It's what God is doing in your heart. Praise be to God.

The Anointing as Transformation in the Hearers

There's so many today who claim to be anointed. And they've made this, the anointing of God, this spooky, stupid looking thing in the house of God, where they're throwing handkerchiefs at people and just doing all kinds of bizarre, foolish things.

The anointing is, that's what happens when the eyes of the people are natural. The anointing has got nothing to do with me. The anointing has everything to do with what's happening in your heart right now.

If there's an anointing on my life, then something is happening in your heart. That's what Paul's saying to the Corinthians. You're changing. You're being provoked by God. Hope is exploding in your heart.

Your eyes are beginning to see things you've never seen before. Prison doors are beginning to open and the courage is coming into your heart. You're finding this desire to get up and go out and be something you could never be in yourself.

Something of God is coming into your life. You're looking away from the naturalness of man and you're looking now to the supernaturalness of God. Praise be to God. Now, go to Malachi. Please, this will be my last text in chapter 3, last book in the Old Testament.

Malachi, the Forerunner, and the Returning Prophetic Voice

Now, Malachi is the last voice for 400 years before John the Baptist appears on the scene. And Malachi speaks of a forerunner to Christ. It's a voice that God raises. Now, in the case of John the Baptist, it was an individual voice that was announcing the coming of Christ at a specific time and location.

But most commentators agree that there's a duplicity in this last part of Malachi that in the last days, voices, this same spirit is going to be raised again announcing the coming of Christ. There'll be prophets again.

There'll be men and women of God raised up all through the world, all through the church world in particular, that will be calling the sons of Levi as it is back again. They'll be standing in the gate just like Moses did saying, who's on the Lord's side?