Ron Dunn Podcast - Satan's Strategy

Episode Date: March 20, 2019

From the sermon series "In Praise Of Weakness"

Well, I want you to open your Bibles tonight to 2 Corinthians chapter 11. I started this morning 2 Corinthians chapter 1, and so I'm making a big jump, but I'm going to come back. But I'm making a big jump to the 11th chapter because I think in order for us to understand, as I said this morning, this unusual epistle and Paul's unusual defense of himself, that we need to understand what was happening and why Paul was doing some of the things he's doing. One of the things that you'll notice in 2 Corinthians is that Paul does some boasting. And he never does this before.

And he says that he's being a fool on several occasions. For instance, in the first verse of the 11th chapter, he says, I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness, but indeed you are bearing with me. Now, sometimes a man or woman will be constrained to do something they would not otherwise do because of the circumstances. Paul would never boast about himself. He would never commend himself. But there were these that had infiltrated the church. Paul calls them super apostles,

which is probably a term they gave themselves. And as I said this morning, their attempt was to pry the Corinthians from their commitment to Paul and to downplay Paul's ministry, to criticize that ministry. And they were preaching, as we'll see, Paul says, another gospel, another Jesus, another spirit. But these men were prone to brag, and they were prone to boast in their achievements. And they carried with them letters of recommendation. And that was one of their criticisms. Paul didn't have any letters of recommendation. If you got his evangelistic brochure in the mail, it wouldn't have all those recommendations that

most brochures have on it, all the great things that have been said about this particular preacher. And they were big on that. They were constantly boasting and bragging to the Corinthians, and at the same time saying, see, Paul doesn't have these things. Paul doesn't have these things. So Paul is forced. Now, there's a reason for this. He says, I'm jealous for you. I'm jealous for you with a godly jealousy. And it's not that I myself am worried about my own reputation, but if you listen to another gospel than the one I preach to you, and if you follow these men, your Christian life is going to be made shipwrecked. And so you're forcing me to do something I don't like to do. So let me tell you a little bit about myself, what I've done, what I've accomplished. They're Hebrews. I'm a

Hebrew. They're of Israel. I'm Israel. They think they've served the Lord, I've served him a lot more. So unlike Paul. But he's doing this because he has a deep love for this church. He says in the second verse, For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy, for I betrothed you to one husband husband so that to Christ I may present you as a pure virgin. What a remarkable attitude for a pastor to feel that about his church. And as I said this morning, Paul and the Corinthians always had a stormy relationship. It was the most troublesome church that he ever had and they were proud and arrogant

they were the new wave rich in in the world they were the yuppies of that culture and they were so arrogant they most of them they had all the gifts and that they lacked nothing. And they argued over preachers, both present and past. And there were those who said, well, I'm of Apollos, I'm of Paul, I'm of Cephas. And the worst bunch of all was those who said, I'm of Christ. Now, those were the worst ones because they were saying, oh, I don't need any preacher. I don't listen to any preacher. I am of Christ, you see. And yet, Paul says this, he says, I want you to bear with me a little foolishness.

I've got to do something I would not otherwise do, but you're forcing me to do this. Because, he said, as your pastor and as your founder, I betrothed you to Christ. And my desire is to present you to him as a virgin presented to the husband. And so I have a godly jealousy for you. And I can't stand by and let what's happening happen in your fellowship. And so Paul says some very unpopular things,

but sometimes unpopular things need to be said. Sometimes you can't always say the soothing, comforting things you want to say. Sometimes you have to tell the truth. And so I want us to read this passage tonight. I'm going to talk to you tonight about Satan's strategy, how Satan is trying to dupe this church. And you know, the methods of Satan never change. And his strategy is the same now as it was then. So let's read. Well, I don't know. Just

follow me. He said, I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness, but indeed you are bearing with me, for I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy for I betrothed you to one husband so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin but I'm afraid I'm afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached,

or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully. Phillips translates it, you welcome it with open arms. You'll just listen to anything. No matter who says it or what it is, without discrimination, without discernment, you just listen to anything that comes along.

And he says, you bear it beautifully. For I consider myself, and here goes the boasting, not in the least inferior to the most imminent apostles. That's the way the American Standard translates it. But the Greek word has the idea of super apostles, these super apostles. He says, but even if I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not so in knowledge. In fact, in every way we have made this evident to you in all things. He's bragging again. And he comes on down to verse 12, but what I am doing I will

continue to do so that I may cut off opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the matter about which they are boasting. There's somebody trying to take my place. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds. Again, I say, let no one think me foolish, but if you do, receive me even as foolish, so that I also may boast a little. What I'm saying, I'm not saying as the Lord would, not what I would normally say, but as in foolishness

in this confidence of boasting. Since many boast according to the flesh, I guess I'll just have to boast also. For you being so wise, tolerate the foolish gladly. For you tolerate, you tolerate it if anyone enslaves you, anyone devours you, anyone takes advantage of you, anyone exalts himself, anyone hits you in the face. These Corinthians were in a mess. Satan's strategy to dupe the church and to destroy its Christian efficiency. First of all, let's look at the purpose of Satan. His purpose. What is his purpose? Paul says,

But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion in Christ. The devil is trying to lead your minds astray from the simplicity and the purity of devotion that is in Jesus Christ. Satan's purpose is twofold here. First of all, his purpose is to complicate Christianity, to complicate Christianity. Now, I tell you the truth, Christianity is very, very simple. Although it is profound, it is very, very simple. Charles summed it up. Tonight in the gospel reveals what?

The righteousness of God. And that righteousness is found in Jesus Christ. That's very simple. And Paul in Colossians says that we are complete in Christ. All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in him bodily. And also you are filled with it too because of your union with Jesus Christ. For in Christ are hidden all the treasures of God.

He is God's treasure, Christ, and as the fullness of God dwelt in him, so he dwells in you. Therefore, you are complete. You are filled with it too. You are complete. What can you add to completeness? Nothing you can add to completeness. Having Christ, having Christ, possessing Christ, Christ living in my life, that makes me complete. You can't add anything to completeness. That's so simple. Just trust Christ. Just love Christ.

Just serve Christ. Just pray to Christ. That's so simple. But the devil is always trying to complicate it. The Roman Catholic Church is the greatest illustration I know of complicating Christianity with all its various ceremonies and rites and rules and regulations, and you had to do this, and you had to do that, and you had to do this. But Luther was very simple.

He said, the just shall live by faith, you see. And it's such a great contrast here with all the rigmarole of ceremony and rules and regulations the Catholic Church had made, had destroyed the simplicity that was in Christ. And Luther regained it by saying, oh, it all boils down to this, the just shall live by faith. That's pretty simple, isn't it? That's pretty simple and yet there are those today who are not satisfied with just Jesus you got to have Jesus plus something else you know

what I mean there are people today who complicate Christianity. I remember some years ago I was preaching with another two preachers, and, well, I was just so exhausted. We'd had two services that day, and one in the morning, one in the evening, and it had been a long day, and we'd had a noon service also. And so I got in the back seat of this car. This friend of mine and his wife were sitting in the front. They were going to drive me back to the motel. And I got in the back of the car, and I say, boy, I am exhausted.

And she wheeled on me and parted a finger at me. She said, that's a negative confession. I said, no, it's a positive confession I am positively exhausted and then I heard this preacher who said you have to be careful what you say and he said women you know who go and take these tests for breast cancer, they're exposing himself to cancer which they would not have otherwise exposed themselves to because they're falling into the hands of the devil. And he was telling women not to have those tests.

Because he said, if you do, that's a negative confession, and now you're giving the devil, I'm just quoting him, you're giving the devil permission to give you cancer that he did not before have until you went to this. Now, you and I think that's foolish. I hope. But there are a lot of people who, that's true, that's right. You've got to be careful what you say.

Oh, if you say the wrong thing, you know, that's negative. If you say the wrong thing, you know, whatever you say will happen. And if you say, oh, I'm really afraid that my car is going to break down. Uh-oh. Now you've given the devil permission to break your car down. Folks, I'm not stretching at all. All this is quoting. I'm quoting from all that.

As I mentioned this morning, after our boy died in 1975, we had one of these fellows visiting our church, and he came up to me and he said, Well, I guess now you realize that praying in tongues would have saved him. My wife and I have gone through a tremendous trial this spring, and we prayed. And someone said, Well, how have you prayed? She said, What do you mean? I mean, you know, we prayed. And someone said, well, how have you prayed? She said, what do you mean?

I mean, you know, we prayed. Well, have you covered it in the blood? Oh, I didn't think to do that. Have you stationed angels? I forgot to do that. Did you bind the devil? Doggone, that's something else I forgot to do.

No wonder God's not answering your prayer. It's so complicated. You understand what I'm saying? People are just trying to complicate Christianity and to draw us away from the simplicity that is in Christ. And what happens is, of course, we get caught up with these suburbs. We get caught up with these things, you see. We begin talking about covering with the blood and pleading the blood.

And by the way, I'll just be honest with you, in all my study of prayer in the Bible, I have never found one place where it says in prayer to cover the blood of Jesus in prayer. Now, if you know a place, you come and tell me. After the service, don't interrupt. But I have never, I have never, never, never found in the Bible any verse that even come away,

that hints that when we pray, we need to plead the blood over people or cover with the blood. Now, if you want to do that, that's fine. I'm just saying, I don't find it anywhere in the Bible. All I know is Jesus said, ask and it shall be done. That's pretty simple. Now, if I'm going to have to watch everything I say and every step I take, and I'm going to have to make sure I hit all the right buttons and push all the right numbers, and friend, that is

complicating Christianity. After a while, I forget about Christ, and I'm bragging on the fact that I've done this, and I've done this, and I've done this, and I've done this. One of the criticisms that these false apostles, these super apostles, had about Paul was that he did not do enough miraculous gifts. Did not do enough. He didn't. He didn't show off with a lot of visions and signs and miraculous gifts. And Paul says, I have done that. But he says, basically, miraculous gifts, miraculous things happening were meant to validate the gospel, not replace it. So where all you talk about is the miracles, the devil is leading us astray

he's leading us from the simplicity that is in Jesus Christ you add anything to Christ folks you take away from him well also the devil's purpose is not only to complicate Christianity but it is also to corrupt the Christian he says your minds will be led astray purpose is not only to complicate Christianity, but it is also to corrupt the Christian. He

says, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion that is in Christ. The idea is there, the single-mindedness, the wholeheartedness of devotion in Christ. He wants to divide your heart. He wants to divide your heart so that rather than giving wholeheartedly devotion to Christ, your heart will be divided, your heart will be split, and there will not be that single-mindedness of purpose in Jesus Christ. Folks, as Charles said, God is the fixed center. Christ is the center. Christ is the fixed point in our lives. And when we become enthralled with other things,

we're being deceived by the devil. Well, that's his purpose. Now, what is the process he uses to do that? Paul says, I'm afraid that he, by his craftiness, like he did with Eve, will be led astray. Your minds will be led astray. Your minds will be led astray. Now, the word mind here doesn't mean mind in the sense of the brain, but rather it refers to the thinking process,

that your thinking may be led astray. That your thinking process will be all fouled up. That's what he did with Eve. You know, he didn't immediately tell Eve, the serpent in the garden, didn't immediately tell Eve to eat of the fruit, did he? No. First of all, he talked to her. And he changed the way she thought about God, and the way she thought about herself, and the way she thought about fruit, see, changed her way of thinking. And the first mistake that Eve ever made was to listen to the serpent. And that's the devil's strategy today, is to change the process of our thinking, to change the way we think. Those who have been brought up on the Word of God and love the Word of God, after a while they begin to think like the Word of God. The renewing of your mind, the renewing of your mind.

And as Charles quoted in chapter 1, the reason God is wroth, and I like that, is coming upon them is because they would not acknowledge God. They didn't want to think about God. And their hearts and minds became darkened. And they, professing themselves to be wise, became foolish. And I do not know of a better description of our world today. Professing ourselves to be wise, we have become foolish and we have made logic out of nonsense and we've made virtue out of vice and our minds are darkened.

We don't think the same way we used to think. I don't think the same way we used to think. Our thinking processes have been led astray and changed. And so now today they say one belief is as valid as another. Whatever seems right to you, you know, whatever seems good to you, you know, whatever seems good to you, that's the way to do it. We don't think biblically anymore. We don't think biblically anymore.

We think like the world thinks, like the devil wants us to think. And so what the devil wants to do is to change our thinking processes so that we begin to think like the world thinks and how successful he has been. In the church of today, we think like the world thinks. Bigger is better.

The showier, the more spectacular, the better it is. We're thinking like the world thinks. And so now, we're soft-peddling homosexuality. We're soft-peddling the exclusiveness of Jesus because we don't want to offend our Muslim friends. And we're soft-peddling the exclusiveness of Jesus because we don't want to offend our Muslim friends, and we're soft-pedaling this truth and this truth and this truth. I don't know what is so interesting.

You know, our denomination, Southern Baptist, is a pretty interesting place to belong right now. I know we're right. You know how I know we're right? Because the media press is against us. That's how I know I'm right. I mean, if the media press was agreeing with me, I'd worry. If the secular press. press well leave it to me

but you know a couple of years ago what was it they you know I don't know why they did this you know I probably me I'd have been quiet and said let's not stir up anything but some of those boys they said well we're going to put in there that women ought to submit themselves to their husbands

now in there that women ought to submit themselves to their husbands. Now, there's no way to get around what the Bible says. And yet many in our denomination say, Oh, that's terrible. That's terrible. It's what the Bible says. But like one fellow said in a letter to the editor, Dallas Morning News the other day, talked about those Bible-believing morons. and we're being made ashamed to say we believe the Bible. You ought to read Stephen Carter's book on the culture of disbelief and he makes the point in this that in today's world, in today's society,

if your argument is an argument based on the Bible, you do not have an argument at all as far as the world is concerned. You may be against abortion if you've got good medical, psychological reasons for it. But if you come up and quote Scripture and talk about it being contrary to the Word of God, oh, we don't listen to you. We just laugh. You may be against homosexuality. And if your reasons are sociological or psychological or whatever,

then, you know, you have, you know, you know, okay. But if you start quoting Scripture, they laugh at you. The Bible is not accepted as a valid argument in any position in our culture today. And so what's happening in many of our major mainline churches denominations is we're trying to be politically correct. We're thinking the way

the politicians tell us to think. We're thinking the way the feminists tell us to think. We're thinking the way the gay and lesbians tell us to think. And we've lost our ability to think like the Bible. Well, let me move on

to the last. We've seen his purpose. We've seen his process. Now, I want us to look at his partners. Now, you know the devil never works alone. Generally speaking, he always has somebody helping him. Now, you know the devil never works alone, generally speaking. He always has somebody helping him along the way. And he has two partners in this, Paul tells us.

First of all, he has false leaders, these false disciples, these false apostles. And he calls them super apostles, and then he calls them, these men are false apostles. Now, let me just give you some characteristics of these men. First of all, these super apostles, these false leaders, they, as I've already mentioned, they believe really, you know, in having the right people say the right things about you. They were always bragging about their heritage. They were always bragging about their heritage. They were always bragging about their letters of commendation, see. And they would say, now, Paul, he doesn't carry any recommendations

from the big boys down in Jerusalem. He can't be a true apostle. But now I tell you what, we'll show you, you know, our vita sheet, and we'll show you our bi sheet, and we'll show you our biographical thing, and you can see what all the great people said about us. We have credentials. And they believed in credentials. They believed in financial reward.

Corinth, as I said, was a country that had been destroyed. And then in 44 B.C. it was rebuilt. And then it became a very wealthy city. And these were new rich people. And they kind of wanted to be cultured. And so it became a gathering place for eloquent speakers. And rhetoric was highly acclaimed. And these eloquent men would come in

with their portrait reading and their philosophical messages. And the wealthy would take them into their home and become their patrons, you see. And so many of these people did it for financial gain. I mean, they knew where the money came from. And so they practiced their eloquence. And they condemned Paul because he is a contemptible speaker.

He's not a good speaker at all. And when Paul went to Corinth, he wouldn't take any money from them. From the Corinthians, you know, he wouldn't take any money from them, from the Corinthians. You know, he was a tent maker. He apologized for that. He said, I guess I was wrong. I should have, but the only reason I did it is because I didn't want to burden you,

and I didn't want to give anybody cause to think I was just in it for the money, but these guys, these guys, they're trying to build a financial empire, and they say, Paul doesn't act like a real evangelist ought to act because he's not after money. That's what they said. Chapter 2 and verse 17, chapter 11, verse 7.

You want to read it? And they were very charismatic in their personality. I mean, these guys, you know, they were winsome. Paul, they said, was not charismatic. Paul was just boring. He was. He can't be a true apostle. And they liked displays of ecstatic experience. They didn't believe

in any suffering. They believed in great outward show. Paul says in chapter 10 that, talk about looking upon things that are external. And in chapter 5, looking on things that are external rather than what's in the heart. And here's an interesting thing. These men came in and they dazzled the Corinthians with their rhetoric, with their miracles, with everything else. But they didn't do it for the good of the people. They did it for their own self-interest. You'll notice in verse 20, Paul makes an amazing statement.

For you tolerate it if anyone enslaves you, anyone devours you, anyone takes advantage of you, anyone exalts himself, anyone hits you in the face. He says, these men, these super apostles, they're not ministering to you because they have your best interests in mind. No, they're trying to subjugate you so they can be dominant over you and rule you and you'll do what they say

and be afraid to contradict anything they say. Well, they'll slap you in the face, and you just sit there and smile. Isn't that wonderful? They'll take every penny you've got in your bank, and you smile. Isn't that wonderful? He said, they've dazzled you.

False apostles. Oh, now, they preached Jesus, but he said, isn't that wonderful? He said, they've dazzled you. False apostles. Oh, now, they preach Jesus, but he said, if you listen real carefully, it's not the same Jesus that I preach to you. But you bear it beautifully, which leads me to my second point. Not only false leaders, but foolish listeners are the devil's partners in this deception of the church. But I'm afraid. Why? Because he said, for if one comes, now

notice these guys are calling themselves apostles. The word meant one who was sent. These aren't sent. They came on their own. They're self-proclaimed apostles. I've run into a few of these today. Have you run into a few apostles today? I have.

Self-proclaimed apostles. But he said, if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully. You just, you know, you just listen to any old thing. I remember when I was pastor,

there was a certain minister in town, and this minister was of questionable doctrine, no doubt about that, but attracted great crowds and did spectacular things. It was sensational. It was a great show. Some of my members went over there.

You know what? They came back and made appointments with me and said, Now, preacher, I need you to straighten me out. You know what I told them? I said, You shouldn't have gone in the first place. We had a ladies' group in our church who came to me one day, and they said, we would like to have this kind of program. We want to invite people of other beliefs to come in and speak to our group.

Jehovah's Witnesses, the Mormons, Christian scientists, everything, and said, we think it would be good for these people to come in and share their beliefs with us. I said, no, that would not be good because the fact of the matter is they're going to be better versed in their faith than you are in yours, and you're going to get all confused,

and then you're going to cost me a lot of time trying to straighten you out. Don't listen to them my motel door has a little peephole in the door you probably have one in your home at the front door why? well when the doorbell rings

you don't just nowadays open it up let whoever's out there come in you peep through and make sure that it's safe I wish we was careful about what we let come into our minds as careful about what we let come into our minds as we are who we let come into our homes. And I don't understand these people, these Christians,

members of the church, some of you here tonight, that you'll just listen to anybody very beautifully and then you wonder why you're confused in your doctrine. You are cooperating with the devil. Folks, I'm saying to you, let's be a little wiser in who we open our ears to.

Satan's strategy hadn't changed one bit. And with cable television today and all the different guys that are on there and the different beliefs and the different faiths, I mean, if you want to really get confused, you just zero in on a few of these boys and listen to them. I've always said and still believe that three months of sound preaching would destroy most of those TV programs. But it's amazing how many people just listen to them. And then they'll come to me in meetings and say, I need to ask you a question. I was at so-and-so's meeting, right?

And I want to say, why were you there in the first place? Well, you know, don't be stupid. Guard what you let come into your mind don't bear this other stuff beautifully and say well you know it's harmless oh no no

they're false apostles and they're the devil's partners and don't you become one of the devil's partners. And don't you become one of the devil's partners by listening. Eve's first mistake was that she listened. And your first mistake in being led astray from the simplicity as in Jesus Christ is by listening

to these so-called super apostles. Well, is that long enough, Jamal? He told me to go, and so I went. And anyway. But I think we need to understand these things to understand why Paul writes as he does he wasn't writing out of vindictiveness to get even

he was writing because he was jealous of the church of God and I believe every true minister is jealous for his people and wants to make certain that nothing, nothing spots or blemishes their virginity

because they have been betrothed to Christ. Now, the Lord bless you. If you would like to listen to additional Ron Dunn messages, visit sherwoodbaptist.net slash bookstore and search Ron Dunn. For more Ron Dunn materials, including sermon outlines, devotions, and scanned pages from a study Bible, please visit rondunn.com.