Guard Against Slander

One thing I forgot to mention, we can put this back on the information table.

This is the pictorial for the Ambassador Bible Center from last year.

And if you'd like to take a look at the pictorial, it has all of the students, activities, instructors, you know, that type of thing in it. So we'll leave that here, and we can add this to our stock of information.

And I've got a couple of others I'll take with me when I go to Chattanooga.

David made a statement back in Psalm 19 verse 14 that it seems that very few follow today. Let's notice Psalm 19 verse 14.

David said, Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.

We discover that words of our mouth and meditations of our heart, meditations of the heart would be talking about what you're thinking, that all of this should be acceptable in God's sight.

Now, there are some things that we might think that certainly are not acceptable in God's sight, and there are a lot of things that we say that are not acceptable in God's sight. So, we want to focus on that today and realize that the very things that we think about and that we say that we need to individually have a governor on those.

Notice what Jesus Christ said in Matthew chapter 12, the book of Matthew chapter 12 beginning in verse 33, because he gave a warning here beginning in verse 33, says, either make the tree good and its fruit good or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad.

For a tree is known by its fruits. Conversely, you and I are known by our fruits. We're known by what we produce. He said, He said, blood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things?

For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

So what comes out? Now, you can speak or you can write. What comes out? That's what's in the heart of a man. A good man out of the good treasures of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasures brings forth evil things. But I say to you, for every idle word men may speak, they will give account in the day of judgment.

So every idle word, the word idle here, if you look it up in the Greek, means not employed, inactive, insincere, false, unprofitable. Another definition is idle words, insincere language of a person who speaks one thing and means another.

And so we're told that we will have to give account before God for every idle word that we utter.

For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.

So what we say is certainly extremely important from God's perspective.

I want you to back up here to chapter 10, verse 34. As I was preparing this sermon, I got to reading over a section that many of us are very familiar with. This is chapter 10 of the book of Matthew, verse 34, where Christ said, Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth, I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man's enemies will be they of his own household.

He goes on to explain that if we put father, mother, sister, brother, anyone else before him, if they are more important to us in God, then we're not putting God first.

But he shows that a person can actually have enemies in his own household. And we've all experienced this as we've come into the church, that we've had relatives, we've had neighbors and friends who, because of what we believe, the Sabbath, the Holy Days, whatever it might be, might turn against us. I'd like to take this Scripture and perhaps give it another application, and I think that it's certainly a permissible application. We today are called the household of God. You find that back in Paul's writings.

Is it possible that there could be members of the household of God who become our enemies, or become enemies to one another? I just pose that as a question, because Christ very clearly shows that when one person becomes converted, that there are times that his family can turn against him. Back in 2 Timothy in chapter 3, we find a description of the end time that we live in today.

2 Timothy chapter 3, beginning in verse 1. Let's notice this. It says, but know this, that in the last days, as talking about our days today, the last days, perilous times will come, for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud. Notice, blasphemers. Now, what is a blasphemer? Well, we'll see as we progress through the sermon today. Disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers. What does the Bible mean when it says a slanderer? Without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God. Having a form of godliness, having the form, but denying the power.

You've got to have the form, and you've got to have the substance of Christianity, not just the appearance or the form. Much of what we know about the first century church of God is revealed through the writings of the Apostle Paul. Paul wrote 14 books in the New Testament.

He raised up many churches. As you go through the book of Acts, you'll find the book of Acts does not concentrate on the work of Peter or Matthew or a number of the other apostles, but it concentrates on the work that God did through Paul, Barnabas, and especially Paul in the Gentile areas. Paul trained a number of ministers, and we have books in the Bible that are called pastoral epistles, 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus, that were written to pastors to give them admonition and training.

And there are some of the fundamental books that we have today to show us how to pastor. Would it not be great to have the Apostle Paul as your pastor? Just to think about here would be Paul. You and I can go back and read about Paul, his ministry, his understanding, his wisdom, his knowledge. Would it not be great to be able to sit at his feet and have him as your pastor? Well, let me show you one congregation that the Apostle Paul raised up. And even though he wasn't always there personally on a daily basis as the pastor, he certainly oversaw this congregation.

He wrote two very lengthy letters to this congregation to give them direction. And I'm talking about the Church of God in Corinth. The Church of God in Corinth. The books of 1st and 2nd Corinthians show that the Church in Corinth certainly was God's church, but they had some problems.

And so Paul had to deal with them. Let's back up to 1st Corinthians chapter 15, and beginning here in verse 1, 1st Corinthians chapter 15 verse 1. Paul wrote more of her brethren, I declare to you the gospel, which I preach to you, which also you receive, and in which you stand. You and I are to stand in the truth of the gospel, by which you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preach to you, unless you believe in vain. Now why would Paul say that it's possible for them to believe in vain, unless it's possible for them to believe in vain?

Or is that they would believe and it would not turn out to be productive? They would not endure to the end. He preached to them and they end up on the scrap heap, so to speak. You'll find that throughout a lot of the letters that the Apostle wrote, he expressed grave concern for the people that he was writing to. Another example of this is back in the book of Galatians chapter 4 and verse 11. Galatians chapter 4 and verse 11.

Paul wrote to the church here and in verse 11 he said, I'm afraid for you.

So he had concern for this church. Lest I have labored for you in vain.

So he was looking at all of the time he had put in there, and he was concerned for them, that what he had done was futile or useless. That's what the word vain implies. Well, brethren, when I look overall at the church of God today, I have some of the same concerns.

And if I could just speak plainly about it, we have a situation, or we have situations that go on in the church, where slandering takes place, blaspheme takes place, evil speaking takes place, gossiping takes place, misinformation is spread, and with no concern about verification, and even if it is verified, the question comes up, should it even be mentioned?

You find today that we live in a unique age. When the Apostle Paul wrote the letters to 1 in 2 Corinthians, he lived in an age where you find that he sent them a letter. They got together on the Sabbath. The minister, probably Apollos, got up, read the letter to them, and maybe it was passed on to another church area. But today, we live in an age where you have radio, you have television, you've got computers, you've got the internet, you've got websites, you've got all of this. A person can get on the internet and on the web and say anything they want to about another person, and you have absolutely no defense against it. And if you don't say anything back, you are accused of being guilty because you don't defend yourself. If you defend yourself and you're accused of mudslinging, and so you can't win, either way. Now, I'm not saying that for necessarily this congregation. I'm talking about the Church of God as a whole that we are looking at.

And I think you'll find that the Apostle Paul had the same type of situation arise with this particular Church. Now, we could go and we could look at other churches, but this was one particular Church that we have a little more intimate information about. Let's go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Now, I'm going to do something a little different today. Normally, I don't just go through a book of the Bible, and I'm not going to read through all of 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians, but we are going to hit some of the highlights.

And I want to show you that the Apostle Paul had grave concerns for this Church.

Almost every chapter, especially in book one, deals with the problem that the Apostle Paul had to address. And then, he, in discussing some of these situations, you find that some of their attitudes came out also. So, let's begin here in verse 1. It says, Paul called to be an Apostle Jesus Christ through the will of God, and sostenies our brother to the Church of God, which is a Corinth. So, there's no question that this was a Church of God, one that he had raised up to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call in the name of Jesus Christ, or Lord, both theirs and ours. Grace to you, peace from God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God, which was given to you by Christ Jesus. That you are enriched in everything by Him, in all utterance, in all knowledge, and even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come short and no gift eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, Paul explained that they had many spiritual gifts. Now, one of the gifts that they had was mentioned back in 1 Corinthians 14.

It was a gift of speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues. Paul goes through in 1 Corinthians 12, and he explains what gifts God gives to His church, what the purpose of them are, and he shows that they are to be used to edify and strengthen the church, not to inggrandize the individual.

So, these people had spiritual gifts, and the point I want to make is that people who are given spiritual gifts can also have spiritual problems, and these people did. In this case, you'll find that there was division in the church, and they were picking out champions that they were following. Let's notice in verse 10, Now I plead with you, brethren. Notice, this wasn't just, well, let me make a suggestion to you. He says, I plead with you by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind, in the same judgment. For it's been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe's household, that there are contentions among you. Now I say this, that each of you say, I am of Paul, or I am of Apollos, or I am of Cephas, or I am of Christ. Now, in our day and time, you could plug other people's names into this, but he's talking about that day. He said, is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? So he explained that they were beginning to set up their own champions and following them, and they were causing division. Same thing occurs today. Let's go over to chapter 2, where you find again Paul dealt with this church. He says, I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellency of speech or wisdom, declaring to you the testimony of God, for I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

He said, I was with you in weakness and fear and much trembling.

And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. So Paul very clearly shows that he was the one who came, raised them up. He didn't use human wisdom. He just clearly explained to them the principles of God.

And we know here in chapter 2 that he explains that it takes the Spirit of God to understand spiritual knowledge. But dropping down to verse 16, it says, for who has known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him, but we have the mind of Christ. So we have God's mind.

So he's not talking here. He's pleading with them. He's concerned about them. He's not saying that they're not the Church of God. Very clearly, they are. Now going on in chapter 3, notice he says, I brethren could not speak to you as to spiritual people, but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. He said, I fed you with milk and not with solid food, for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able.

For you are still carnal. Now how can we determine if there's carnality around? He says, for where there is envy, strife, division among you, are you not carnal, and behaving as mere men? That's the proof, he says. You will know them by their fruits.

For when one says, I am a Paul, another I am a Vipolis, are you not carnal? Who then is Paul? Who is a Paulus but ministers, through whom you have believed, as the Lord gave to each one? I planted a Paulus water, but God gave the increase. And so he goes on to show that they need to be very careful, he explains, that you can build your spiritual character. It's got to be built on the foundation of Jesus Christ. There is no other foundation. And it's got to be gold, silver, or precious stone. Not wood, hay, and stubble. Wood, hay, and stubble will not endure. But gold, silver, and precious stone will endure. And so they were carnal. And he pointed out that they were choosing leaders to follow. They had problems and divisions. Now in chapter 4, beginning in verse 1, we discover that they had these problems, but they were also sitting in judgment of Paul. Let a man so consider us as servants of Christ, verse 1, in stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required in stewardship that one be found faithful.

But with me, it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself, for I know of nothing against myself. In other words, I'm being judged, but I don't know of anything that you can criticize me for, he says. Yet I'm not justified by this, but he who judges me is the Lord. And then he goes on to show that God will bring things to light in the judgment. He's the one who knows our heart. He sees our thoughts. He knows what's going on. So what you find, Paul was being judged by the local congregation. Members were judging his words, his actions. As I mentioned to begin with, I think we'd all love to have the Apostle Paul, as our pastor. I'd love to sit out there and hear Paul explain the Scriptures, because he had a depth of understanding that obviously most of us do not have. But you find that there were members there who were speaking against Paul, being critical of him, and speaking against those who were in authority.

Now beginning in verse 6, he explains that they had a problem with arrogance and being puffed up.

Verse 6, it says, Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sake, that you may learn in us not to think beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up on behalf of one against the other. He goes on to say, Who made you differ from one another? What do you have that you did not receive?

Well, we find that God is the one who made us differ. God is the one who gives us our talents. God is the one who gives us our abilities, gifts. Notice he goes on, though, to talk about being an apostle and what the apostles went through. Verse 9, I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last. As men condemned the death, for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. For we are fools, for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. Now, he's using a little sarcasm here. He said, We're fools, you're wise.

We're weak, but you're strong. You're distinguished, but we are dishonored.

To the present hour, we both hunger and thirst. We are poorly clothed and beaten and homeless. We labor, working with our own hands, being reviled. We bless, being persecuted, we endure.

Being defamed, in other words, talking about being defamed, made fun of, ridiculed, we entreat, we have been made as the filth of the earth and the off-scaring of all things until now.

So, the Apostle Paul shows that they had quite a high opinion of themselves, and a very low opinion, and there were those who had a low opinion of him and the other apostles. Then, in verse 14, he says, I do not write these things to shame you.

And I could say the same thing. I'm not preaching to shame anyone, but as my beloved children, I warn you. For though you may have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers. And so, it was the Apostle Paul who raised this Church up.

As a result of his concern for the Church, he sent Timothy to them in verse 17. For this reason, I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved faithful son and the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ. So, he's going to send Timothy to teach them and guide and direct them.

And then, in verse 18, for some are puffed up, and you'll notice the margin, the word puffed up here means arrogant. Some are arrogant as though I were not coming to you. Now, Paul has said on three occasions he was going to come to them, that he was going to speak to them, and he hadn't come. Now, this was the third time, and this time he said he was coming.

Now, there were reasons why he didn't come, and he explains that here in this letter. But there were those who vilified him or accused him because he said he was coming, he had not come.

Verse 21, he says, What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or shall I come and bang heads with a rod, correct you, or in love in a spirit of gentleness? So, the Apostle Paul was showing them that he had rather come in love and gentleness. That would be his preferable approach. Now, in chapter 5, he goes on with his same theme. A lot of times where you read chapter 5, but you need to go back and read chapters 3 and 4 before it. He said, It's actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality is not even named among the Gentiles. That man has his father's wife. Apparently, this young man in the church was having relations with his stepmother, his father's wife. And you are puffed up, again, the word arrogant. You are arrogant, and have not rather mourned that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you. So, here you find Paul correcting them over this particular problem, that they were puffed up, and so he had to straighten them out. Now, their problem was, they glorified in their understanding. They thought that they were so loving, so understanding, that they had been over backwards, and they allowed this sin to continue in the church.

Verse 6, he says, Your glory is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven, leaven is a whole lump?

That a little sin like this can leaven the whole lump? Now, in verse 9, he said, I wrote to you in my epistles. So, apparently, Paul had already written a letter to them. This is called 1 Corinthians, but it's the only one that we have, so it's titled 1 Corinthians. He said, But I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet, I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or even with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters. Since then, you would need to go out of the world. So, if you're going to get away from anyone who has faults, mistakes, and sins, you're going to have to go to the backside of the moon, because they're all over the place here in this world. But now, he says, I've written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner. Not even they eat with such a person. For what have we to do with judging those who are outside? He says, Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside, God judges. Therefore, put away from yourself. Now, I want you to notice the language Paul uses. Put away from yourself the evil person. So, in referring to the fornicator, Paul called him an evil person.

Why? Because what he was doing was evil. It was wrong. Now, later on, as we know in 2 Corinthians, Paul had to write, Welcome him back! He's repented. He's changed. So, he had to encourage them to welcome him back because they weren't about to do so. Now, in chapter 6, we find they had another problem. They were going to law against a brother. And in verse 7, just to summarize it, he says, Now therefore it's already another failure for you that you go to law against one another.

Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourself be cheated? No, you yourself do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brother. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? So, he wasn't saying this was a righteous approach.

They were going against their brethren, and Paul had to correct them. Again, almost every chapter in this book deals with the problem they had. They misused the gifts that God gave them.

Many probably thought that Paul was very tough, as we'll see. Maybe they thought Apollos was very gentle and kind and considerate, and so therefore they had their champions.

In chapter 9, we find the Apostle Paul beginning here in verse 1.

Chapter 9, verse 1, was being examined by many members of the local congregation.

He says, Am I not an Apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? Am I not an Apostle? Or, if I am not an Apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

My defense to those who examine me is this. So, part of the reason why Paul wrote this letter was to defend his actions. So, he said, My defense? Let me defend myself, he says, to those who examine me is this. Do we have no right to eat and drink?

Do we have no right to take along a believing wife, as also the other apostles, the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? Or, is it only Barnabas and I who have no rights to refrain from working? You'll remember that the Apostle Paul, when he would go to a number of these church areas, continued to ply his trade. He was a tent-maker. He continued to make tents and preached to them.

He brings out very clearly here in 1 and 2 Corinthians that those who preached the word should live by the word. But, he was not taking the tithes from the people.

So, they were examining him and accusing him. Now, in chapter 10, beginning in verse 6, chapter 10 and verse 6, Paul points again to the Old Testament, to the example of the Israelites, and that we ought to learn from that example.

Now, verse 6, he says, now these things became our example to the intent that we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. So, notice Paul could have cited hundreds of examples from the Old Testament, but he cites specific examples because these were the problems this church, or some in this church, were having. So, he says, we should not lust, as some of them did, and do not become idolaters. And then, in verse 8, nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, nor let us tempt Christ, verse 9, as some of them also tempted, verse 10, nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Of course, Paul could have cited all kinds of examples of Israel complaining. All you've got to do is go through the book of Exodus, and you'll find that they were always complaining. We want water, we want meat, we want this, we want that. And, you know, they were always complaining against Moses and Aaron. And then, verse 11, now all of these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore, let him who thinks he stand take heed lest he fall. So, the warning is given that we need to be very careful. Now, we could go through chapter 12, chapter 14, chapter 15, where false doctrine was being taught, misuse of tongues, you know, and all of this. But, for sake of time, let's go over to 2 Corinthians chapter 1. 2 Corinthians chapter 1, beginning in verse 15.

Verse 15, he says, in this confidence, I intend to come to you before you might have a second benefit. He said, look, I wanted to come to you, to be able to preach to you, teach you, guide you, answer your questions, and all of this, and to pass by, to pass by way of you to Macedonia, to come again from Macedonia to you, to be helped by you on my way to Judea. Therefore, when I was planning this, did I do it lightly, he says? It was something that I did lightly. Again, they accused him of vacillating over visiting them. Now, he did it for a reason. He wanted to spare them because of all of the problems. He said, if I come, I have to deal with these problems.

But he said, did I do it lightly, or the things that I plan? Do I plan according to the flesh, that with me there should be yes, yes, and no, no? He said, you know, am I saying yes, yes, but then I come around and say no, no? But as God is faithful, our word to you was not yes, no.

For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, by me, Sylvanius Timothy, was not yes and no, but in him was yes. You can always count on what Christ said on his promises. As verse 20 says, for all the promises of God in him are yes, and in him amen, or so be it.

So, you know, they again got upset over this. Now, let's notice chapter 2.

But I determined this, verse 1, within myself, that I would not come again to you in sorrow.

He said, I didn't want to come again and be sorry, or make you sorrowful, for if I made you sorrowful, then who is he who makes me glad but the one who is made sorrowful by me? So, he didn't want to have to come there and correct them and get on them, and then they'd be all upset. He'd rather come and be encouraged by them. So, I wrote this very thing to you, Les, when I came, I should have sorrow over those from whom I ought to have joy, having confidence in you, all that my joy is the joy of you all. For out of much affliction, notice his attitude, an anguish of heart I wrote to you, with many tears, not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have so abundantly for you. And he demonstrated a point here that many of them maybe didn't understand, and that is, love is demonstrated by not just patting you on the back all the time. Then, when Paul corrected them, that was showing love to them. And when God corrects us, that's showing love to us. When we correct our children, do we not do it out of love? You don't want your children to run out on the road and get run over, so you correct them. Don't run out on the road. Stop, look, and listen. And the same thing is true here. In verse 5, he goes on to say, but if anyone is cause grief, he is not grieve me, but all of you to some extent, not to be too severe, he says. And then he goes on and tells them to forgive the fornicator and accept him back. Verse 17, notice, he used a particular expression here. He says, for we are not as so many. So I don't know who these many were, but he says we're not as so many peddling the Word of God. But as of sincerity, and as from God, we speak in the sight of God and in the sight of Christ. So he was very clear about that. Now in chapter 3, verse 1, he says, do we begin again to commend ourselves, or do we need some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of condemnation from you? You are our epistles written in our hearts, known and read by all men. Clearly, you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of the flesh. That is the heart. So there were those who were going around who had letters of recommendation that they could pull out and say, well, I visited this church over here, and they recommend me. I'm a great person, and so you've got these letters of recommendation. Paul said, listen, I don't need that from you. You know that I raised you up. You are my epistles. Now, let's go over to chapter 6.

In essence, he was saying, I don't need a letter to prove that I'm a servant of God, that I'm an apostle, that I've worked with you. You are the fruits of what I produce.

In chapter 6, beginning in verse 11, he said, O Corinthians, we have spoken openly to you.

Our heart is wide open. You're not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affliction or affections. Now in return for the same, I speak to children, you also be open.

Then he goes on to say, don't be unequally yoked together. So Paul shows again that he spoke openly to them. He didn't hide things. He was doing it for their good. Now in chapter 10, beginning in verse 1, chapter 10 verse 1, he says, Now I, Paul, myself am pleading with you.

So again, notice his language. He pleads with them by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who impresent and lowly among you, but being absent and bold towards you.

So when Paul was there present with them, he was, it wasn't real bold, but he could write very strong letters. I remember the first church circuit that I served in back in 1963 came out.

There were two men there. One was a church pastor, the other was the associate on the other end, but he was ordained. And the church pastor would get up and he would give the strongest sermons. He would chew you out and eat you up from one end to the other. And you would think, uh-oh, if he ever comes out and corrects me, I'm in trouble. And I remember the first Sabbath I was there. He grabbed me. He said, you and I are going to go out here. This couple is having these marriage problems. I'm going to disfellowship them, kick them out of the church. You know, I'm just a new kid on the block. We go out, visit this person. He never said one crossword to this person. He talked to them. We were there for 45 minutes. You know, you need to make sure you work on your problems. And we went away and I thought, wow, is that how you disfellowship someone? Well, he was real strong in what he said, but in person, he had difficulty, you know, just correcting. Now, the other gentleman would get up. When he spoke, he was like a grandfather. He would speak. He'd put his arm around you, so to speak. He was just the greatest guy, but when he came out and visited you, he would cut you up one side and down the other. He was just the opposite.

Well, this is what the Apostle Paul is saying here. He's saying, you know, my letters are strong. I know that, but when I'm among you, you know, I'm gentle.

And, you know, he's using that analogy. And I've been able to identify with that because I had these two examples, you know, to begin with. Now, let's notice going on here in verse 2, for I beg you that when I am present, I may not be bold with you, that confidence by which I intend to be bold against some who think of us as we walk according to the flesh. So there were those who thought that Paul was carnal, that he was walking according to the flesh, that he was doing things just motivated by the flesh or by envy or whatever it might be. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds and casting down arguments in every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing every thought into captivity of obedience to Christ. Now in verse 7, he says, do you look at things according to the outward appearance? See, they were evaluating things by just the appearance, the outward appearance. If anyone is convinced in himself that he is Christ, let him again consider this in himself, that just says, he is Christ, even so we are Christ. So if you think you're a Christian, he said, so are we. Now in verse 8, for even if I should boast somewhat more about our authority, which the Lord gave us for edification and not for your destruction, I should not be ashamed, lest I seem to terrify you by my letters. So some of them said they were terrified by Paul. Verse 10, for his letters, they say. Now notice, this is what the congregation is saying about the Apostle Paul. They said, his letters are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible. So Paul was not a great orator. Now he understood the Bible, and he could explain it, but his presence, maybe because of being stoned, who knows what the Apostle Paul looked like. His nose may have been wrapped one way or the other, and you may have, he apparently had some bad eyesight, he could have had all kinds of physical problems. So they were very critical of him. But verse 11, he said, let such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters, when we are absent, such we will also be indeed when we're present. So yes, my letters are strong, he says, but when I get there, I'm going to be just as strong when I'm present with you, that he would correct them. And verse 12, he says, for we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. Now, why did Paul write this? Because some of the encorrents were doing this, but they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, he said, are not wise. They're not wise in doing that. Okay, in chapter 11, verse 5, he said, chapter 11, verse 5, I consider that I am not at all inferior to the most imminent apostle, even though I am untrained in speech, yet I am not in knowledge.

And so, Paul shows that he was not inferior to others. In chapter 12, you find that verses 19 through 21, again, he shows that the church there was carnal in their approach. Again, do you think that we excuse ourselves to you? We speak before God in Christ, but we do all things we love for your edification to build you up, to strengthen you.

For I fear less when I come, I will not find you such as I wish.

He wished they would change, he wished they would repent, he wished they would change.

But he says that I should be found by you such as you do not wish, lest there be contentions and jealousies and outbursts of wrath and selfish ambitions and backbodings and whisperings and conceits and two moths. He's not writing about the world, he's writing about the church of God in Corinth and about his concern.

Lest when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and I shall mourn for many who have sinned before and have not repented of the uncleanness, fornication, and lewdness, which they had practiced. So Paul was just simply calling his fate as fade, and he was saying that their approach was a carnal approach.

So finally, he says, look, if I come, I will not spare. In verse 3, well, let's back up here to verse 1. He says, this will be the third time I am coming to you. By the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word shall be established. I have told you before, and foretell you as if I were present the second time. I have, being absent, I write to those who have sinned before and to all the rest, that if I come again, I will not spare you. I won't spare you. I will deal with these problems. If you seek proof of Christ speaking in me, who is not weak toward you but mighty in you, he said you will see it. So verse 5, he says, examine yourself. Stop examining me. You go ahead and examine yourself as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you unless, indeed, you are disqualified? And then in verse 10, he said, therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present, I should use sharpness. So I'm writing this ahead of time so that you have a chance to change, you have a chance to repent, according to the authority which the Lord has given me for the edification, for your edification, not for destruction. Now, I could have gone through a lot more in these particular books. These are good books to read occasionally.

And I've just sort of highlighted some of the problems that Paul had to deal with and some of the attitudes they had towards him. Now, I mentioned to you to begin with the word blaspheme and the word slander. You know what the word slander means? Slander is the utterance of false charges or accusations that defame another person's reputation. Anytime we defame another person's reputation, we're wrong. When directed towards God, such accusations are considered blasphemy.

Now, the word blasphemy is profane or contentious speech or writing about or actions toward God.

In a general sense, blasphemy can refer to any slander, including any word or action that insults or devalues another being. Now, in Greek literature, it was used not only of insulting God, but of deriding or insulting another human being.

In the Old Testament, blasphemy almost always was insulting God, belittling God, cursing God, mocking God, attacking God, something of that nature. As another definition of blaspheme says, in a wider sense, this verb means to injure the reputation, to defame, to slander, to revile, and it is used in relationship to humans. The word slander can also mean evil, malicious talk, intended to damage or destroy another person. Now, I might say I have a whole other sermon here I'm not going to get to because I have a couple more sections here, the deal, and you might make an interesting Bible study. Go through the four Gospels and look up what was said about Jesus Christ. If you remember, Christ was called, what? illegitimate. He was called a bastard.

He was called a drunkard. He was called an alcoholic. He was one who ate with sinners.

He was accused of having a demon on more than one occasion. He was accused of casting demons out by the power of bales above. You go on and on and you'll find that the Jews accused Him of being immoral, not breaking the law. There are so many scriptures that we read where they accused Jesus Christ of many of the same things. They slandered Him. They made fun of Him. They ridiculed Him.

The point, brethren, the reason why I've taken time, as I said, I don't normally give a sermon where I just go through a couple of books and sort of highlight things, is that many times we find that we are careless with our words and our thoughts. Remember, the Bible very clearly says that God sees everything that we do. We're going to have to give account in the day of judgment for every idle word that we utter, we write, we say, and for what we do.

We find that Paul was slandered, Christ was slandered. What did Lucifer say about God?

Well, you know, at some point, he had to be let alone put God down. He had to gossip about Him.

So let's all remember there is a God in heaven. There is a God. He is alive. He sees all. He hears all. If He knows how many hairs you have on your head, sees the birds that fall, how many steps you take, He certainly knows what's going on in our minds and our hearts. He knows the thoughts of our hearts. And so, as David said, let the meditation of my heart and what I say be acceptable in your sight.