Don’t Fall for the Fake!

II Corinthians 11:1-15

There is a lot of fake in our world!

There are even apps and technical capabilities to create deep fakes of people which is a little frightening!!

The Apostle Paul was dealing with false apostles in the Text this morning that were teaching a false gospel and a “different Jesus.”

Paul’s message inspired of God was, “Don’t fall for the fake!”

I. VS 1-4 > Paul teaches that God desires authentic, pure, and sincere relationship and devotion to the real Jesus for the church

· The deceiver is always at work

· True believers will desire relationship with Jesus not just things from Jesus

II. VS 6-11 > Paul knew God desired clearly spoken truth and Christlike character over eloquent speech and shady character that distorts the truth.

Evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse. See that you do not follow them!!

· Soothsayers, slick talkers, charismatic personalities

· Be careful!

· Prefer to be slapped with the truth than kissed with a lie

· Now, we should speak the truth in love and let our speech be seasoned with salt as being gracious speech as believers.

· False teachers present the devils message in tempting packages. VS 14 reminds us that even Satan disguises himself as a minister of light.

· Evil doesn’t always show up with horns and a pitchfork. Most of the time it looks great on the outside and is poison on the inside.

“Let the dogs bark, it is their nature to. Go on preaching Christ crucified”—Charles Spurgeon

False apostles preach for their own glory, pervert the Gospel, mislead people, and serve Satan’s cause.

Truth proclaimers preach for His glory, desire to present the Pure Gospel, and carry out Christ’s cause.

Questions for testing:

Who is being exalted? What are the results, are people being saved and becoming more like Jesus? Does it clearly present and agree with the Word of God?

III. VS 12-15 > God commands Paul and us to be faithful to the Truth and trust Him with judgement.

· Paul states clearly He will continue proclaiming the truth

· Faithful service to Christ does not result in salvation it is the result of salvation.

· Repentance desires God to work in you, not just for you

Galatians 6:1-10

I am astonished that you are lso quickly deserting mhim who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to na different gospel— 7 onot that there is another one, but pthere are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or qan angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, rlet him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, rlet him be accursed.

10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying sto please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a tservant2 of Christ. [1]

IV. God will judge and each false teacher will have ends corresponding to their deeds.

· Every single person will be judged according to whether they personally trust Jesus Christ

· All people not found in Jesus will be judged in their sin for their sin

· All believers will be judged under grace for their life of service to Christ, not as guilty sinners but as accountable saints.

l [ch. 4:13; Acts 16:6; 18:23] m ch. 5:8 n 2 Cor. 11:4; [1 Tim. 1:3] o [Acts 4:12; 1 Cor. 3:11] p ch. 5:10; Acts 15:24; See 2 Cor. 11:13 q 2 Cor. 11:14 r See Rom. 9:3 r [See ver. 8 above] s 1 Thess. 2:4; [Rom. 2:29; 1 Cor. 10:33; Eph. 6:6; Col. 3:22] t[Rom. 1:1] 2For the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface [1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ga 1:6–10.