False Apostles - Part 2

Moore's Corner Church

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The Fellowship of His Sufferings - Part 3

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Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts.

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Morse Corner is a non -denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist

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D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

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If you'd like more information, visit our website, morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message.

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But understand this, false teachers, false prophets, they are in local churches everywhere.

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And they never admitted, a false teacher is never going to come up to you and says, Hi, my name's

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Joe, I'm a false teacher. They're not going to do that. So, my friends, the things that we are reading about in the scripture, they are happening right now.

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Nothing has changed, only the details. The spiritual war continues.

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And the only way we can contend for the truth is if we recognize what's going on.

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So the spiritual warfare that we are in continues, and it will continue until Christ returns.

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So that's the introduction. Now let's get into the text of 2 Corinthians chapter 11.

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Because this should be very real to all of us. Let's look at this, starting in verse 1.

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Paul says, Oh, that you would bear with me in a little folly. And indeed, you do bear with me, for I am jealous for you with godly jealousy.

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For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

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But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

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For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you may well put up with it.

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And that was the problem the church at Corinth was putting up with it.

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And many churches today are putting up with false teachers.

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Now I've pointed out in the past few weeks that Paul, in chapters 10, 11, now he is directing his words more at the false teachers, those who have been deceived by them.

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Those who were listening to them and were maybe even loyal to some of the false teachers.

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And Paul, you know, this is very clear to us, they should have listened to Paul. This isn't any mystery to us today, but they were confused, obviously, some of them.

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So Paul begins the chapter by saying, just bear with me. You know, it might sound like I'm boasting in my defense, but you need to hear this.

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I won you to the Lord and now I'm concerned. In the New Testament, the church is depicted as the bride of Christ.

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So the Lord expects fidelity. Paul expects the church to remain faithful to the bridegroom, and some of them were not faithful.

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Therefore, there's this jealousy. If it's another Jesus that they are following, a

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Jesus who did not rise from the dead, if it's another Jesus who isn't God and human flesh, if it's another gospel of salvation by faith plus works, if that's what the false apostles were teaching and preaching and leading people, what were they leading them into?

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A type of spiritual adultery. Paul fears that not only have individuals been led astray, but that the church in general was tolerating all of this.

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The false apostles were throwing just everything at him they could and throwing it against the wall, trying to see what would stick.

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They not only tried to ruin his reputation in Corinth, their influence had apparently spread beyond to the region of Achaia.

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So Paul has had it up to here, and now he is going to level that knockout punch.

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So are you ready for it? Look at verse 13. Paul says, For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.

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And no wonder, for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.

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Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.

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So you see what Paul is saying about the false prophets and the false apostles.

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He said they are Satan's ministers. Now, that might seem like a harsh statement to some people.

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But again, we've been talking about the past few weeks about the spiritual war.

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It is a war over truth. Besides, Paul's statements are very similar to what

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Jesus said in John chapter 8, verse 44. Jesus said about his opponents,

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You are of your father, the devil. Jesus goes on to say that the devil does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him.

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When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.

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So who is the father of truth? Well, it's God the Father. Who's the father of lies?

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That's the devil. So if there is a minister who is consistently opposing the truth, when there is a minister who is consistently teaching lies, he is a minister of Satan.

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He is doing Satan's work because Satan is the father of lies.

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False apostles are ministers, according to the Bible, they are ministers of Satan.

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You know, the devil is a destroyer. The devil cannot build anything.

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The devil, when he seeks to destroy something, it's much more effective when he does it from within.

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Jude, verse 4, says, For certain men have crept in unnoticed. They crept in, okay?

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They do it from within. They crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation.

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Acts, chapter 20, verse 30, Paul warns the Ephesian elders, From among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things.

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So false teachers are unbelievers who get into churches. They attract a following.

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Once they have an audience, they begin to corrupt the faith and they devour the flock by teaching lies.

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And it turns people against one another. You know, it's the Trojan horse approach.

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Dismantle, divide, and conquer from within. They follow their master's playbook.

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Since this is what Satan did, he was created as a holy angel in God's heavenly court.

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And due to his pride, he fell and led a rebellion in which one -third of the holy angels followed him, becoming demons.

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You know, Satan, that's not his name. That's a descriptive term, which means adversary.

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Satan's personal name is Lucifer, which means light bearer.

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Satan was created as an angel of light. And he still presents himself that way, as an angel of light.

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Let me try to explain it this way using our nation and our current culture as an example.

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Consider how depravity is often presented as though it were virtuous.

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How did things get this way? It didn't happen overnight, but slowly over time, our nation turned away from God, turned away further, turned away from God even further.

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The seeds of rebellion were planted, planted. They were watered. And now we are starting to see what the harvest looks like and how good is called evil and evil is called good.

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Well, this is what happens in a local church. Sin is tolerated.

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It's even encouraged, usually in the name of love. False doctrine is taught.

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It is put up with, usually all in the name of being nonjudgmental.

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When people are deceived, rebellion against God can be presented as a very honorable and loving thing.

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But what's the end result? Paul says their end will be according to their works.

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The end result is Hades, Hades destruction. You know, the

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Corinthian church, where are they now? Where's the Corinthian church now? They don't exist.

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Long ago, their candlestick was removed. Jesus said,

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I will build my church. The devil says, I will destroy it. Jesus in Matthew 16, verse 18.

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I will build my church and the gates of hell or the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

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So you have true churches. You have false churches. You have true churches that over time go apostate and become false churches.

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Paul, as long as he was alive, was not about to let that happen to the

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Corinthian church. He was not about to hand over the church to the false teachers.

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So he wants every church member at Corinth to know exactly what is at stake.

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It's the truth. It's the truth of the gospel given by apostolic authority.

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In that Paul was a true apostle. Now, before we close,

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I want to stress something that I believe is so essential. The church we know belongs to Christ.

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Christ is the head of the church. But what we preach and teach, what we believe comes from the apostles.

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Every Sunday we preach books and we read and we teach from the writings of the apostles or their close associates.

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You know, Matthew was an apostle. John was an apostle. So what about Mark and Luke? They were close associates of Peter and Paul.

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In Acts chapter 2, verse 42, it says that the church continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship in the breaking of bread and prayers.

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So how do you know the difference between a true church and a false church? A true church continues steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine.

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We recognize the authority of the true apostles. Now, someone will say, well, no,

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I follow Jesus. Yes, and everything you know about Jesus came from the apostles.

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Well, I just believe the Bible. We just go by the Bible. Yes, and the Bible was written by the prophets and the apostles.

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That's how you recognize a true church, that they preach the truth from the true apostles.

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The truth handed down by the apostles of Christ, as opposed to the false apostles who are ministers of Satan.

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Do you realize there are people today, right now, who claim to be apostles of Christ?

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I hear people quoting men. They get their doctrine from men. They're quoting this person and this person.

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They don't go to the Bible to quote the authority, which is from Peter and Paul and John, who followed

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Jesus and learned directly from him. So, folks, in conclusion, the things that were going on in Corinth, you better believe they are going on today, right now.

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The same devil is still at work. He has ministers right now preaching and teaching lies.

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The spiritual war is raging, and it will continue. It will continue until Christ comes.

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So, in conclusion, stay in the battle. Stay in the battle. Keep fighting the good fight.

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Do not become another casualty of the spiritual war.

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Let's close in prayer. Lord, I pray that your Holy Spirit would guide us into all truth.

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And I'm reminded of what your apostles said to the church at Thessalonica, how we are to test all things and hold fast to that which is good.

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And how we are to abstain from every form of evil. And then he gives these words of comfort.

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Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our

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Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.

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Lord, if there is anyone listening right now who has never given their heart to Christ, we pray they would do it today, even this very moment.

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So that when they stand before the Lord, they will hear those words, well done, good and faithful servant.

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We ask all these things in Christ's name. Amen. Thanks for listening.

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I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornick Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message, or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website,

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MorrisCornickChurch .com. And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett.