Second Corinthians. OK, cool, thank you very much. All right, we're going to talk about the subject tonight, simple. Simple. 2 Corinthians 11 1. 2 Corinthians 11 1. read a few verses.

Would to God you could bear with me a little in my folly and indeed bear with me for I'm jealous over you with godly jealousy for I've espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear less 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 cometh preaches of another Jesus whom you have not preached, or if you receive another spirit which you have not received, or another gospel which you have not accepted, you might well bear with him. For I suppose I was not a wit behind the very chiefest apostles, but though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge, but we have been thoroughly made manifest among you in all things."

Now, we won't probably get that far. We'll probably look at about four verses tonight, but look back at verse one again. would to God you could bear with me a little in my folly and indeed bear with me he emphasizes that very strongly because I love what Matthew Henry wrote about this listen to this this is Matthew Henry's a commentator on the scriptures from way back when, but he said this, as much as it is against the grain for a proud man to acknowledge his infirmities, so much against the grain it is with an humble man to speak in his own praise.

In other words, well, and just making it a little less wordy than that, proud people love to brag. And you'll never catch them Saying anything bad about themselves. There is a way you all know about You say something that sounds humble and you're really bragging if you ever heard people do that, you know that That's a thing. They will do that. But you know, everybody knows that they're really bragging and we all have this in us, but He's saying here. It's just as repulsive to an humble man to brag on himself as it is for a proud man and to acknowledge how weak he is. And that's what Paul is sort of displaying here in this verse.

The Lord has shown us believers what we are. And so there's still a lot of pride in us. There's still a lot of self-righteousness and we're conceited and we're self-promoting. And I don't guess that'll ever be completely knocked out of us until we leave this earth. But at the same time, when it comes to the things of God, when it comes to righteousness with God, I mean, it's just what the Lord does inside of us. It's part of what he saves us. He saves us by himself. But part of that process of salvation is the Lord giving us a new heart that says what Paul said, I have nothing to boast of. I have nothing to boast of. And all of my things that I might boast in, I count but dung that I may win Christ. And every believer understands what we are before God. And so that greatly mitigates our boastfulness even in earthly things, because we know what we are, just that simple.

What we are has caused us to run to Him for mercy and salvation. We've looked outside of ourselves because we found no hope in ourselves, and so now we see nothing good in us. We see us a little bit the way the Lord sees us when He saves us. He gives us It's Christ in us. The new heart, the new nature is Christ in us. And so we see things the way he does. In my flesh dwelleth no good thing. That's what the Lord sees and that's what we see by his grace. To say anything good about ourselves is just counter to what we know spiritually by God's grace about us. It's just not, it wasn't pleasant for Paul. He said, what to God? He's appealing to God. about it, because he's saying, bear with me in my folly, bear with me indeed a little in my folly.

And the folly that he's talking about is him promoting himself. When they compared him, when the false preachers compared him to themselves unfavorably, and some people in the Corinthian church may have been leaning that way as well, thinking, yeah, you know, you're right. Paul is pretty weak. He is pretty pitiful in person. He really doesn't have, you know, the qualities that we see in these, you know, fancy preachers of the gospel and this and that.

So he was forced to defend himself a little bit here, and that's what he's calling his folly. That's not a position that we ever wanna be in. And here's the thing. What Paul was saying was not in defense of himself before God, as if there was some mitigating factor regarding his sin. It was just factual in regard to distinguishing himself from the false prophets.

And we as believers, we often experience that kind of ourselves in a little bit different way. Do you ever, when people say, oh, you know, you're a Christian, do you ever cringe a little bit and say, If this world's definition of that is what you think of me, don't think of me that way. And when people find out I'm a preacher, I remember Jack Shanks, my old pastor, used to say, he'd play golf, you know, and foursome gathers up, and it's usually people you don't know unless you bring three with you. And he said, the last thing I ever mention is that I'm a preacher, because then everybody, the whole conversation changes, the whole 18 holes. I don't want to be associated with that, do you? With what this world considers a preacher.

And so that's what Paul was saying here. He wanted to set himself as far removed from these false prophets as possible. Don't even compare me with them. Don't even make that comparison. So he wasn't bragging before God. He was talking about the distinction among men, if that makes any sense.

But the false preachers love to promote themselves. That's what they do. They're in the business of promoting themselves. That's why they get on television and all that. They're not trying to reach the world for the Lord. They don't even know who the Lord is. And their motives are fleshly.

Paul had to hold his nose to do it. He had to hold his nose to do it, to defend himself. The false preachers love to do it. They love talking about themselves, their pedigree, all of the stuff that Paul denied. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. That was high cotton among the people. He could have been well and highly respected among all religious people, but he said, I renounce that. I don't want any part in that i count it but done and my righteousness according to the flesh is done christ is all but you see how he repeats this plea bear with me yay indeed bear with me in my folly and let's understand from that that the integrity of the preacher is tied to the ministry.

That's what Paul was jealous over, and I'm not trying to read his mind. That's pretty clear, and we'll see that in the text. They tried to personally discredit the Lord Jesus Christ. They called him a drunk. They said he was demon-possessed. They said he came from Nazareth. No good things ever come from Nazareth, and they tried to discredit him. Why? Because what he was saying was tearing them up. What he was saying was burning down their religious empires. They wanted to discredit him personally because they couldn't refute the truth that he preached. But if they could discredit him personally, like with Paul here, then what he preached would be ignored. It would be put aside. It would be shunned. And so that's their modus operandi. And that's what's at stake here with Paul. These false preachers wanted the people to stop listening to Paul. Because what he was saying was counter to their fleshly religion, all about what you do and what you need to do.

How are you going to manipulate people? When Paul is over there preaching that your good works are filthy rags, how are you going to manipulate people if you can't shame them, or threaten them with hell, or bribe them with heaven, when they're just looking to Christ and they trust Him for everything? You can't manipulate them anymore. And we can't refute what He says, it's according to the Old Testament Scripture, so we're going to burn Him down and the truth will go with it. and then we can prosper from our lives. So the Lord, Paul, and that's exactly what's going on in this world today.

So imagine the heart behind this verse two, when he realizes, he's saying, bear with me, bear with me. because he understands the stakes here. Look at verse two, for I am jealous over you with godly jealousy. I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. See, now, again, I wasn't reading Paul's mind. What he's saying is his jealousy here And we'll talk about that a little bit, hopefully later, but his jealousy was not based on this church belonging to him. He wasn't saying, oh, you belong to me, not this idiot over here, you know. No, no, he was saying you belong to Christ. So there was no fleshly, he was indeed distinguishable from the false prophets because it wasn't about himself. He said it's about you and Christ.

Paul's fear was not that they would reject Paul, but that they would reject Christ, that they would miss Christ, that they would be removed from Christ only. That was his fear. Espousal. I've espoused you to one husband. Espousal means forsaking all others. It means looking to one husband. It means forsaking all others. Marriage to Christ means not looking to anyone else, but being faithful to Him alone. And that's what was important to Paul here. Jealousy demands exclusivity. That's what makes us, if there's a rival, if there's somebody to get between us, that's what sparks jealousy. It demands no intrusion into a relationship. That's what Paul is saying, not between him and the church, but between Christ and his church.

I can't abide it. I can't, I can't not address this because the problem is between you and Christ. There's an intruder between you and God's Son. That's the problem here. That's what sparked Paul's jealousy. Because of God's grace, God's preachers are jealous for Christ, not themselves. And as repulsive as it was for Paul to commend himself, it was necessary to lay bare the facts, the truth, regarding these false prophets. And so, gracious of God to give such grace to Paul, that that's all he cared about. I've espoused you to Christ. Be faithful to Christ. Look to him alone. Don't let anybody become between you and the Lord Jesus. Look at verse three. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, So your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. Paul compares these false preachers to Satan. The false preacher bringing a false gospel, speaking of another Christ, is just like Satan beguiling Eve through his subtlety.

I fear that those same tactics are being used on you by the same person, by the way. He's just using others to do it. He's just using false preachers to do it. The Lord said to the Pharisees, you're of your father, the devil, and the works of your father you will do. And that's what Paul is saying is happening here with these false preachers coming into the church at Corinth.

Satan beguiled Eve with his subtlety. That's what's happening here in the church at Corinth, and I'm afraid that it's going to be successful. I'm jealous over you, and I'm afraid for you. God gives pastors after his own heart, doesn't he? Oh, may God give me that, and all of his preachers that. I'm jealous, lest somebody come between you and Christ, and I fear for you, lest somebody should remove your heart from the simplicity that's in Christ.

No fleshly motive, no ulterior motive, no interest in personal gain, But they were of their father, the devil, and they were doing the works of their father, and that's exactly what was going on in this church. The work of the devil, the work of their father, the devil, has always been to pervert the Word of God, to flat-out deny the Word of God, ultimately, and to say to sinners what God said is not fair. They're still saying exactly that.

When you preach predestination, that's not fair. Everybody deserves the chance to be saved. When you preach an election that God chose and didn't leave it up to us, that's not fair. He's saying exactly the same thing, and when they ate of the fruit of that tree, Satan came to them and said, has God said that you can't eat of all the trees? It's not exactly what he said, was it? He didn't say you can't eat of all the trees. He said you can eat of all the trees except that one. A little bit different emphasis, isn't it? It's all negative coming from Satan.

He said, oh, and that's what he'll do with the true gospel of Christ. He'll make it sound like they're saying they're the chosen few. You know, poor us out here on the outside. No, that's not what we're saying. We're saying God's God. That's what we're saying. And we're saying that when he says, I've chosen you, you haven't chosen me. There's no misunderstanding that. We just preach it the way the Lord preached it, by his grace.

But you see how they turn it on its head, like Satan did. They were of their father, the devil, and they were doing the works to pervert the word of God.

He said, hath God said, he questioned, are you sure God said that? What did he say? And then he out and out denied it ultimately.

And listen, nothing could have been simpler than God's law in the Garden of Eden. Think about the Garden of Eden. You can eat of everything, you can enjoy every herb, the fruit of every tree, everything that you want, but there's my authority right there. I'm exercising my authority over you to say that that one tree, you're not to eat of it. Not much simpler than that, is there?

And there's nothing simpler than the gospel. Christ is all. Is that complicated? He's all righteousness. He's all atonement for sin. He's all salvation. He's everything.

The basic message of the garden is that the one thing forbidden, the one thing God forbids is selfishness, glorying in self. He will not give his glory to another. And that's what happened in the garden. They were to obey God. They were to live and do what they did for his glory.

And Satan's focus was with you, not God. You shall be his gods. You can eat of what you want to eat. This is not fair to you. And that's the gospel, the false gospel, free will, man-centered false gospel today. It's all about you. You need to do this and you need to do that and you're free. You're free.

No, no. If God said you shall not, then you're not free. And what God says you shall not, with regard to the gospel of the cross, is you're not gonna get any glory out of it. You're not gonna glory in yourself. That's what got you in the problem.

And what gets you out of the problem is gonna include absolutely this much glory for you with the rim knocked off of it. But that's the message of the gospel. Boasting is excluded. You get no glory. God did it all. Salvation is of the Lord.

And what does man say? It's up to you. It's all up to you. That's what Satan said. It's up to you. Do people not see that? In religion, do people not see that? That's what Satan said in the Garden of Eden. It's up to you. I know what you say, God said that. It's up to you. He's still saying the same thing. They are of their father, the devil, and the father's works will they do. Boasting is excluded. The issue in salvation, how many times have we not only said this, but seen this in the word of God? The issue is who's gonna be God and who's not. That was the issue in the garden too. And Satan's tactic is exactly the same now as it was. Are you going to serve God or yourself? Are you going to love God or yourself? Are you going to trust God or your own reasoning? Are you going to go about establishing your own righteousness or are you going to submit to God's righteousness in Christ? Is everything up to you? Or is it, Lord, if you will, you can make me whole?

The message of false antichrist preachers like their father to the devil is you, you, you. The mark of the beast is, it's the number of man, isn't it? It's the number man. Man, man, man. That's the mark of the beast. It's not going to be tattooed on you. It's going to be impressed upon your heart. Unless the Lord Jesus has your heart. You need to do this, you need to do that and everything will be fine as long as you do something. You need to walk in out, you need to say this prayer. Do you know that you'd go to heaven when you die? Is that the issue? Is that really the issue? whether everything's going to be all right for you, whether you're going to make out fine. I think God's glory has something to do with it, according to the word of God.

Satan knows what he's doing when it comes to what sinners want to hear. And they, you know, Paul, in the book of Jude, I believe it is, they have itching ears, they heap unto themselves teachers like that, that'll say that, having ears that itch for that, ears that crave that. Satan's subtlety, he uses the word subtlety in our text here, his subtlety is in questioning what the what God said, and now what the Bible says. What did God say? Does it really say that Christ died only for his sheep? That's not fair. Did he really say that you can't eat what you want to eat? That's not fair. Hath God said that with men salvation's impossible? You can't do anything about it. Nothing you do is going to please God. Is that what he said? That's not fair. What about your goodness? What about your good works? You've been taking care of your mama for all these years. That didn't count for anything. That's not fair.

Everybody gets a chance to be saved. Salvation is not by chance. It's by the will of God. We had our chance, didn't we? We don't need a chance.

And then it progresses. The subtlety progresses to outright lies. And don't miss this in the book of Genesis. You can look at it later in Genesis 3, I think most of what I'm referring to. That what Satan said, ultimately, he comes in, you know, not just with guns blazing. Is that what God said? Hmm. He questions it. And then, before it's over with, what God said to them is, in the day you eat thereof, you shall surely die. And then when Satan's got your ear, his exact words are this, and you look it up in Genesis, you shall not surely die.

Is that what's going on in religion? They'll question it. Is that what they say down there? That you don't even have a chance? If you're not chosen, you don't even have a chance. Why do they even preach then? And then the next thing you know, they're completely diametrically opposing what God said.

God loves everybody. Is that right? Did you know that the scripture said God hates everybody? Every sinner, every sinner. God hateth all workers of iniquity. Every one of them. All means all. How popular would I be if I went around preaching that? If you're not in Christ, you have no claim upon God's love. God's love is in his son.

God said, your choice, your will, your decision equals death. In the day that you make a decision, you're a dead man. Satan flat out contradicted, and he's still doing the same thing. The Lord said, I lay down my life for my sheep, and he excluded the Pharisees. He told them flat out, you're gonna go to hell. He said, you are of your father, the devil, you're gonna do the works of your father, and you're gonna die in your sins because you believe not on me. And when he said, my sheep hear my voice and I know them, and I lay down my life for my sheep, he turned around and said, you don't believe because you're not my sheep.

And still, still they're saying that Christ died for everybody, to give everybody a chance. Satan's not, he hadn't changed, has he? He hadn't changed a bit? You think about it.

The one thing that plunged our entire human race into sin and depravity was a decision. There wasn't but one. There was only one decision ever made in the Garden of Eden. Made by man, prompted by the devil, and now we're all spiritually dead because of it by nature. There wasn't any decisions to make. Doing what God said was a submission, not a decision. Obeying God, keep the garden. You're the keepers of the garden. Dress it and keep it, and eat whatever you want, and not that. Obeying Him is submission.

But what undid us was a decision. Still is. There was only one decision made in the Garden, and it is the direct cause of sin. sin nature, not just practice. Everything else that was done in the garden was obedience. Eve and then Adam decided that what God said was death, was good food. Don't ever think for a second either, because I've heard some say this, don't ever think for a second that there was anything noble about what Adam did. Adam wanted to be God just like Eve did.

The simplicity that is in Christ is the truth of God. And it's called submission, just like in the garden. You want to live forever in communion with God? Submission. Obey Him. Do what He said. Don't do what He said not to do. Submission.

But now it's not submission to his law. We've already utterly destroyed the law of God, not literally, but with our disobedience, we've destroyed the law of God as a way of righteousness for ourselves. That's why Paul said, without the deeds of the law, by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in God's sight.

But submission to the truth of Christ, submission to His righteousness, Romans chapter 10, submission to Christ as our sin offering, submission to Christ as the only sacrifice for sins that God will accept, the only righteousness in which a sinner can stand before God. It's not complicated. It's simple.

You read Philippians chapter 3, read around that, a lot of the context, 2 and 3, everything Paul said was, down with me, down with me, down with me, down with me, down with me, Christ. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God. Where is it, Paul? It's in Christ. I count everything I am, everything I have, and everything I've ever done as the most disgusting thing you can think of on this earth. And I'm running to Christ as fast as I can. That's the gospel. That's not hard, is it? It's impossible. With men, it's impossible.

But don't you tell me you don't understand that. Religion knows exactly what they hate. They know exactly what they hate. You can't hate somebody without knowing them. The simplicity of Christ is the only sacrifice. He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. Simple, the simplicity.

Salvation is bowing to Him. They haven't submitted themselves to the righteousness of God, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. They're going about to establish their own righteousness. It's you and not Christ. That's the problem. Not complicated. bowing to His will. Lord, if You will, You can save me. Have mercy on me. I'm a wretched sinner. Be propitious unto me.

Propitiation has to do with blood. It has to do with sacrifice for sin. That's what that man was begging for. God, let the blood of Your Son be sufficient for me. Be propitious for me. To bow to His will, to bow to His way. Christ said, I am the way. How are we going to get to God? You don't know the way? Of course you do, Philip. Of course you do. I am the way.

His crosswork. We preach Christ and Him crucified, because that's how God can be just, and yet justify a wretch like me, because Christ paid my sin debt on Calvary. Simplicity. Anything. And simplicity is not simplicity anymore if anything is added to it. Anything at all. That's the thing about it. It's very narrow. So anything else, Spoils it.

The one surefire way in all this, God says, believe my son, this is my beloved son, hear him, obey him, follow him, bow to him. And the one surefire way to damn your soul forever is for you to make a decision. just like in the garden. God says bow, God says submit, God says believe, and Satan says decide. He always has.

Simplicity like jealousy is a question of exclusivity. Simpleness rejects addition or duality of any kind. It means singleness. It refers to Christ and the scriptural truth that Christ plus anything means that Christ shall profit you nothing. It's all Christ and only Christ, or Christ profits you nothing. Christ plus your decision is damnation. Christ plus your imagined free will is eternal perdition. To say that God needs or wants you to do anything to be saved is, you know, God wanted me to do this and I did it. That's to say I was saved by Christ plus sin. I had to add some sin to it for Christ. Because everything you do is sin. Your out walking is sin. Your decisions are sin. All of them. They always have been and they always will be. Bless God he decided to save us anyway.

Christ plus anything means Christ plus sin. Simplicity means all inclusiveness. In Christ Jesus dwells all the fullness of the Godhead in a body. Paul said in Colossians 3.11, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, law-keeping or not law-keeping, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all. No earthly distinction, no way in which you distinguish yourself from anybody else even exists when it comes to salvation. Christ is all and in all.

Turn with me to Colossians 2, and we'll be through. Two more verses of Scripture. Colossians chapter 2, verse 1. Paul similarly had anxiety over the church in Colossae. And you'll see some similarity to our text in this. Colossians 2, 1, For I would that you knew what great conflict I have for you and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ. In whom? or hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. In this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. For though I be absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ, as you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him. Rooted and built up in Him. When we talked about the plant and the roots and the sowing of the seed and the plant taking root, bearing fruit, be rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith as you've been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Thank God for what He did for you.

Beware, beware. lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. That's what all of those other things have in common, and they're all different, and we could talk all night about it. Philosophy, vain deceit, the tradition of men, but they have all this in common. Not Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. You are complete in Him. You see why he talked about it? If you're removed from the simplicity that's in Christ, you have no ground on which to stand before God. You're complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power. Complete to make full, to cause to abound, to furnish or supply liberally. I abound. Is that what David said? My cup runneth over because the Lord is my shepherd. I abound and I am liberally supplied. I don't need any of the promises of false religion. I don't need to be threatened or bribed. Don't want to argue. The Lord specifically forbids it. Not interested in debating. I'm complete. I abound. I am liberally supplied. And in Christ, I abound in all things.

Romans 518, this is the final one. Let's look together and we'll be through. I've gone too long tonight. Well, we waited a while, didn't we? Hopefully I hadn't gone too long. In Christ, I abound in all things. Romans 518. Therefore, as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Grace abounds in God's Son. There's no decision to make. Kiss the Son. Submit to God's righteousness in Him. and finding him all you need, all you need.