Alright, now 2 Corinthians 11. Paul says, Would to God you could
bear with me a little in my folly, and indeed bear with me. We'll
look more at that and why he said that next time we have a
message in chapter 11. But tonight I want to focus on
verses 2 and 3. Now Jewish historians say that
It was the Jewish custom that the groom's best man, called
in Scripture the friend of the bridegroom, the groom's best
man held a very, very important position. Whenever the bride
was espoused to her husband, what we would consider engagement,
When she was espoused to her husband, from the time that she
was espoused to the groom, the friend of the bridegroom, the
groomsman, was to be the guarantor of the bride's virgin chastity. He was to protect her, guard
her, look over her, And the apostle used that illustration here when
he's speaking in verse 2 as the friend of Christ, as the groomsman
of Christ, guarding Christ's bride, the church. He said to
the Corinthian church, the saints at Corinth, I am jealous over
you with godly jealousy for I have espoused you to one husband that
I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. Now why was
Paul so protective with this godly jealousy? What was his
fear? He said in verse 3, 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. The title tonight is The Groomsman's
Message. the groomsman's message. Christ's
preacher, as the friend of Christ, preaches only Christ so that
our minds are focused on Christ and we'll continue in faith in
Him so that we may be presented to Christ a chaste virgin. That's all it's going to be,
through faith in Christ. And so, Christ's preacher Like
this groomsman, like this picture of this groomsman who would watch
over and protect the bride. The Christ preacher preaches
Christ, preaches Christ and Him crucified constantly. Because
it's only through faith in Christ that we're going to be a chaste
virgin when we're presented to Christ. Now the first thing we
have to notice here is every true saint is a member of Christ's
church. That means every truly sanctified
believer is the bride of Christ. He says there, I have espoused
you to one husband. I have espoused you to one husband.
Now, God's elect church was espoused to Christ before this world was
ever made. We were espoused to Christ in
eternity. God the Father, you're familiar
with Ephesians 1, I won't read it, but it says everybody who
believes on Christ, truly believes on Christ, is born of God, sanctified,
trusts Christ. Everyone whom God works that
work in, each one was chosen by God the Father before the
world was made and blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ.
And when God chose His people in Christ now, You know, these
things we talk about that illustrate this, God ordained and predestinated
and worked everything to make these earthly customs of men
so that they would glorify what He did. And it was a custom that
when a father espoused his daughter to be the husband or to be the
wife of a man, he espoused her to be his bride before that wedding
even took place. The groom entered into a covenant
and she was a spouse to him. He made some covenant agreements. Before as yet they had a wedding
ceremony to the father. And so they are legally married
before as yet they even go through the ceremony. And turn to Hosea
2. I'll show you what that covenant
is that Christ spoke of. Right here in Hosea chapter 2,
Before the world was made now, Christ entered covenant with
the Father. He made a promise to the Father
concerning this bride. And what we're going to read
here, He's saying to the bride, but this is what He promised
the Father. This is what He promises us. You know when Scripture says
He writes the law on our hearts? He's writing the law of this
new covenant. This is what He writes on our
hearts right here. Hosea 2.19, Christ says, I will betroth,
that's the same word as a spouse, I will betroth thee unto me forever. Yea, I will betroth thee unto
me in righteousness and in judgment. What does that mean? I'll do
it in righteousness and judgment. Before the world began, Christ
entered a covenant promise. to come into this earth and to
fulfill the law for this bride. For all God's elect, He agreed
to fulfill the law so He would espouse her to Him in righteousness
and just judgment. He'd do this in a just, right
way. That's why Christ came to declare
the righteousness of God. To declare how God can be just
and at the same time be the justifier. We didn't do either. We weren't
just and we didn't justify ourselves. That's why Christ came. To honor
the law, uphold it, do it so that in the place of His people,
He did it so that the whole law is fulfilled for us. It's honored.
It's kept for His people. He justified us by suffering
justice. He put away our sin. He justified
His people. and he declared God is the justifier. And then he says in verse 19,
and in loving kindness and in mercies, at the same time that
he satisfied justice, Christ was showing his people loving
kindness. He was showing us his mercy.
That's what the scripture means when it says mercy and truth
have met together. Mercy and justice. Those two
don't normally meet together. Man can't make mercy and justice
meet together. Either we can show mercy at the
expense of justice, or we can be just and not show mercy. But
we can't do both. God can. Because He satisfied
justice when Christ died, and that was Christ showing mercy
to His people. So He said, I'll do this in loving
kindness and justice, in mercy. And in verse 20, I will even
betroth thee unto Me in faithfulness, and thou shalt know the Lord.
though we fell in sin in Adam." And He made this covenant agreement
knowing we would fall in Adam. God knows the end from the beginning.
This whole thing and the reason we fell in Adam was so He could
come forth and do this work. And so He said, even though we
fell in Adam, He remained faithful to His bride. He said at the
beginning, I espouse you to me forever. God hates putting away.
There won't be any divorce. Those God loved and those Christ,
His bride that was espoused to Him, all the elect, He loves
them forever. He won't ever lose one of them.
He said that. And so He says, even though they
fall, I'm going to come in faithfulness, and I'm going to bring my gospel
to them, and I'm going to give them a new heart, and I'm going
to give them ears to hear Me, and they're going to know the
Lord. So God's elect church was espoused to Christ before this
world was made, and Christ entered into the covenant through all
these things, and then He came and did it. He came into this
world, laid down His life for His bride. That's what Ephesians
says. He loved the church, gave Himself
for her. Now secondly, what reason Paul
makes this statement is Christ's preacher, like a groomsman, Like
the friend of the bridegroom, Christ's preacher is a groomsman
to Christ our husband. His preacher is sent to protect
and guard Christ's bride. That's his job. In his faithfulness,
Christ sends his preacher. Preachers don't just make themselves.
Well, most do. But Christ's true preachers are
made by Christ. The same one that descended,
ascended, taking captivity captive, and he gave gifts unto men, he
gave some apostles, pastors, teachers, evangelists, he gave
his preachers for the edifying of his body, the church. And
so he sends his preacher and he sends the gospel to those
he died for. Nothing is left to chance. He sends the gospel to the one
he died for. This is a gift He purchased.
You've all been purchasing gifts next week. Have you purchased
a gift and not purchased it for anybody? You knew who you purchased
it for, didn't you? Did you purchase it and you're
just going to set it up on the shelf and say, well, I hope somebody
shows up and gets it. That's what the world's teaching.
Christ did all He could do. He's just hoping you'll come
and take the gift No, Christ purchased a gift for His people
and He's going to bring His gospel to them and give them a new heart
and see to it they get the gift He bought. And so that's what
He did. When He does that, He comes and
writes that covenant on our heart personally. And that's when we're
personally espoused to Christ. We're waiting for the marriage
ceremony when Christ returns and we have that great wedding
feast. Right now, we're a spouse to
Him. And so Christ's true preacher here, the illustration Paul's
using is of a groomsman. He's using the illustration of
the best man, so to speak. The friend of Christ, the bridegroom.
Therefore, Christ's preacher has a heart for Christ. And he has a heart for Christ's
people. Just like Paul did for the Corinthian brethren. He says
here, verse 2, I'm jealous over you with godly jealousy. I'm jealous over you. The church
wasn't his bride. But he's still jealous over with
godly jealousy. Why? For the sake of Christ.
This was Christ's bride. This was Christ's people. And
he's jealous. He wants to watch over them and
protect them and see to it nothing happens to them. Why? Verse 2,
For I have espoused you to one husband. See, how could he say
that? Because Christ used him to preach
the Word. And Christ espoused, He espouses
His people to Himself. But Paul says, I have espoused
you to one husband. Just one. Not Christ plus Moses,
which is being taught everywhere that you go to Christ for righteousness
and you go back to Moses and the Law and your works for holiness. No. One husband. Just one husband. We can't have two husbands, we
just have one husband, Christ. I have espoused you to Christ,
one husband. Verse 2, that I may present you
as a chaste virgin to Christ. Now listen, the only way we are
going to be presented to Christ is without spot and without blemish. Ephesians says he is going to
present his church to himself without spot and without blemish. He's going to do it. He's going
to do everything. His blood cleanseth us from our sin. He purges the
sins of His people. He did it on the cross by Himself.
So the only way you and I are going to be found without spot
in Christ is to be found in Christ, trusting only Christ. Remember
what Paul said, notice he says there, that I might present you
to Christ. Listen to this, 2 Peter 3.14,
Peter said, Beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be
diligent that you may be found of Him in peace without spot
and blameless. Remember how Paul said he wanted
to be found of Christ? In Philippians 3, I want to be
found of Him, not having mine own righteousness which is of
the law. not having a righteousness that I have contributed to, I
want to be found of Him having that righteousness which is by
the faithful work of Christ Himself. So if I am going to be found
of Christ without spot, I might be found in Christ, trusting
Christ only. Now the only way, brethren, the
one means, the one message that's going to make that happen, where
God's going to bless so that that is the case, that you found
trust in Christ and you're not turned to other things, the one
means God has chosen is this, what we're doing right here tonight,
the preaching of the gospel. That's why Paul said, I determine
not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We show up and the preacher preaches
the same message week in and week out. Some men say that to
you trying to cast dishonor upon you. That's the most honorable
thing a man can say. He only preaches Christ. Paul
said, I'm determined not to know anything among you but Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. Because that's the one way you're
going to be made to keep looking to Christ, is to hear Him preach. He said in Colossians 1.28, Whom
we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all
wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ. Whereunto I also labor, striving
according to His working, which worketh in me mightily. I can't
even preach unless He's working in me. And you can't hear it
unless He's working in you. But this is what He's doing for
His people. He's making His preacher preach Him, and He's making His
people hear that preaching of Him, and He's keeping His people
set on Christ, trusting only Christ for everything. For everything. They tried to... Look over John
chapter 3. I want you to see this. They
tried to make John the Baptist envy Christ. They came to him
one time. They were trying to compare the
two and make John the Baptist jealous of the Lord Jesus. Listen to what he said. John
3, 26. They came unto John and they said unto him, He that was
with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou bearest witness, behold,
the same baptizeth, and all men come to him. John answered and
said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness
that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. Now watch this. He that hath
the bride is the bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom,
the best man, the groomsman, which standeth and heareth him,
rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice." You
see that? John said, I'm the friend of
Christ, I'm the groomsman. I'm standing here and I hear
His voice and I'm rejoicing in Him myself. And he says this,
This my joy therefore is fulfilled. I'm glad to hear men are going
to Christ. I'm glad to hear men are confessing
Christ. That's what I want men to do.
He must increase, but I must decrease. He that cometh from
above is above all. But he that is of the earth,
me, he said, I'm earthly, and I speak of the earth. He that
cometh from heaven is above all. And what he hath seen and heard,
that he testifieth, and no man receiveth his testimony. He that
hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true. For he whom God hath sent speaketh
the words of God. He's talking about Christ. For
God giveth not the Spirit, but measure unto him. The Father
loveth the Son, and giveth all things into His hands. Now here's
the Gospel right here. This is it. This is what he's
talking about later, Paul, when he says the simplicity of Christ.
Here it is. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. Isn't that simple? Isn't that
clear? Why corrupt that? Why muddy that?
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. It's His now. And he that believeth
not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on
him. So this is why, brethren, you come in here and I only preach
Christ. This is why I encourage you to only hear preaching that
honors and exalts Christ. Only read the books of men that
exalt Christ, that show you the Scriptures in truth. It's because
I'm jealous over you with a godly jealousy. I've espoused you to
one husband. I want to see you presented to
Christ, a chaste virgin to Christ. That is, looking only to Him. Trusting none but Him. That's
what I want. That would be my greatest joy.
If I heard you... I overheard Alyssa talking. I
go, y'all went to Lexington? I overheard her talking about
that. You think I'm jealous that she went to Lexington and heard
the gospel of Christ preached? and came back rejoicing as she
heard Christ exalted? No. That's what I'm trying to
do right here. I'm happy. That's what John said.
I'm glad. But now thirdly, it's not so
with the devil's preachers. Not so with the devil and not
so with his preachers. Verse 3. 2 Corinthians 11 verse
3. 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." Now let me
say this before I forget it. If anybody's minds are corrupted
from Christ and they end up falling away, They only prove that they
never were Christ in the beginning. Only prove that Christ had never
really done a work of grace in their heart. Because Christ promises
those that He calls, no man shall pluck them out of My hand. But
the devil uses his preachers. Now, I know men think about the
devil and they think about the devil being in the, you know,
the dens of immorality and the dark places and the, you know,
brothels and all of that kind of thing. And he's there. But
the devil does his greatest work in pulpits in churches. That's right. And he has preachers.
And what he's doing is he's trying to turn men from Christ to anything
else. Now, don't misunderstand me. He will preach Christ. He will
have his preacher preach Christ. Are you going to add something
to Christ? And that, according to Scripture,
is turning entirely away from Christ. Salvation is all of grace
and not of works. If it's of grace, it's no more
of works. If it's of works, it's no more of grace. See, there's
not two. Now, the devil essentially uses
any means. He says, less by any means. Now,
we just saw Paul said, we got one means. We got the preaching
of Christ and Him crucified. That's our one means. Our one
means is preaching Christ and Him crucified. The devil uses
any means necessary. You look at churches around in
this country alone and you'll see he's using sports in religion,
he's using humanitarian works, He's using religious, there's
a church in my hometown, one of the oldest, it's a First Baptist
church. And across the street, I was
amazed one day riding through town one evening, and it looked
like a nightclub right across the street. And I told my sister,
I can't believe this town let them put a nightclub directly
across the street from the church. And she said, it is the church.
It's a place where 14, 15, 16 year olds can go and it looks
just like a night club. It's dark, got bent neon, got
pool tables and everything just like got a bar. They just serve
milk and cookies. But it's what it is. Any means
necessary. And then the devil is interested
in getting your mind searching these scriptures for anything. in addition or other than Christ. Men will begin to look into the
Scripture and they'll get interested in prophecy. Next thing you know,
in their mind, they think that if you don't believe this prophecy,
you're lost and they'll separate from the gospel. He'll get you
to looking into, you know, end times and, you know, you are
millennialist, premillennialist or what are you, you know, and
men will get to arguing over those things and men will draw
such a hard line over how Christ is going to return that they
entirely miss Christ. And that's what the devil wants.
He don't care how you believe Christ is coming back. As long
as you get an argument and you trust it in your knowledge of
how He's coming back, you'll miss Christ and it won't matter.
When He comes back, you won't be found in Him. They'll get
into doctrine like superlapsarianism and things like that that aren't
clearly revealed in the scriptures. Things that you just can't...
Why do you even argue about that kind of stuff? When the devil
convinces a man that meaningless doctrine is a matter of life
or death, he has corrupted that man's mind from the simplicity
of Christ. He's turned him from Christ only. That's what he's done. About
a year ago, And a few men began to have some idle curiosity.
Just had some idle time and then curious about something, began
to look it up. That seemed harmless enough. Let's just idly, curiously
want to see what Scripture says about this or what I can find
out about this. And what started out in the minds
of men as being idle curiosity ended in apostasy, division,
pride, falling away. You see what I'm saying? Just
get you turned on something else other than Christ. And the devil
does this with subtlety, brethren. He says, "...as the serpent Beguile
tricked Eve through his subtlety." The devil came, he didn't come
looking mean and fierce and like a demon. He came in the form
of the most subtle creature that God had made. That's how he came. And when he came to her, not
only was he beautiful and attractive to the fleshly senses, he came
to her and he used very subtle deception. Listen, you think
I'm just exaggerating when I say that Paul is talking here about
preachers. when he's talking about the serpent
beguiling Eve. He's talking about that's what
the problem was at Corinth. False preachers had come in,
claiming they were apostles of Christ. Listen to the description
of them down in verse 13. 2 Corinthians 11, 13. For such are false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles
of Christ. They're workers. They're workers. They're hard workers. But they're
deceitful workers. They're transforming themselves.
Christ didn't do it. They transformed themselves into
the apostles of Christ. And no marvel, for Satan himself
is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore, it's no
great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers
of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works.
Our habit On Wednesday nights we will turn and we will usually
watch Todd first preaching at Lexington. And then when his
ends, Gabe starts later so we will switch over and watch the
end of Gabe's message. And then last night I discovered
that I forgot about Brother David Pledger down there in Houston
is an hour behind us. So I found Lincoln Wood Baptist
Church flipped over there and I got to hear Brother David's
message last night. And he was preaching on 2 Corinthians
11. He was further along than we are in it, but he was preaching
on it. But he made a statement on this passage and I thought,
I don't know if I said it to you or not, but I was thinking
Melinda is going to hear that again because I am fixing to
say it tomorrow night. But here it is. Brother David Pledger
said this. He said there, you see there
in verse 15, He said the ministers, His ministers are transformed
as the ministers of righteousness. Brother David said the devil's
preachers are indeed the ministers of righteousness. But whose righteousness? That's all they talk about is
righteousness. But whose righteousness? See, we're preaching Christ and
Him crucified. We're preaching Christ the righteousness
of God. But almost every preacher you
hear is preaching man's righteousness. Morality. Telling you the same
principles and the same lessons you learn on Andy Griffith. Some of you even use Andy Griffith.
My good friend I was talking to the other night told me his
preacher preached Sunday on Gone with the Wind. But it's man's righteousness.
It's not Christ's righteousness. They're adding things to Christ's
work that you must do for your good. It's for your good. And it's to make you wise. And
it's to make you more holy. It's to make you be more like
God. Now doesn't all that sound like
that ought to be something good? That's exactly what the devil
did in the garden. Listen. He told Eve, your eyes
will be open. And you shall be as gods, knowing
good and evil. That's exactly what men are preaching.
Your eyes will be open. You'll be like God. You'll be
able to discern between good and evil. But it's turning from
Christ to you. That was the transgression. Adam
trusted in the work of his own hand. And when he did, he plunged
the whole human race into sin. But doing so, verse 3 says, your
mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
Now what does that mean, the simplicity that's in Christ?
What does that mean? Well, one, it means just what
it sounds like. It means not complicated. Not
complicated. They use the same words, but
they give them different definitions. I'm not kidding with you. I heard
a preacher one time preach on limited atonement, particular
redemption. And when we preach on particular redemption, what
we mean is Christ said, I lay down my life for the sheep. And
He laid down His life for those God the Father gave Him for eternity
and He accomplished their redemption. That's what limited atonement
is. He made redemption for a particular people. He accomplished it. I
heard a man preach using terms particular redemption and limited
atonement. But if you listen to the man, what he was defining
was universal atonement. Christ died for everybody. He
wants everybody to be saved. But he used the terms limited
atonement. When a man asks you about election,
The doctrine of election. You ask him to define the election.
Don't start engaging in a conversation with him about election. You
ask him, tell me what you mean by election. If a man starts
talking to you about sanctification, ask him what he means by sanctification. Find out if he is talking about
what the Bible describes as being sanctified by God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, apart from anything we
do, or if he is talking about something you do. Two different
things. Or preachers use words that nobody
can understand. Words that, high sounding words
that nobody can understand that are complicated. This is one
thing I don't like at all. Men will use the Greek word.
And then they'll say, now that means, and they'll tell you what
it means. Won't you just tell me what it means? I don't speak
Greek. I'll tell you why. to impress
you with intellect. And some men follow men because
of that. Because he knows Greek and he
knows Hebrew. And he uses those kinds of words. And men are impressed with those
kinds of things. That's why Paul said, Our brethren, when I came
to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring
unto you the testimony of God. My speech and my preaching was
not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the spirit and of power, that your faith should not stand in
the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. But I'm going to
tell you chiefly what simplicity means. And I'm not just giving
you the definition of the word, I'm going to tell you what it
really means. What Paul said in Colossians 3, Christ is all
and in all. That's what it means. The word
actually means singleness. I fear lest your mind should
be corrupted from the single object of Christ who is all and
in all. Concerning the Scriptures, Christ
is all in and all. This book, from beginning to
end, is about one subject. Christ. That's it. He said to
the Pharisees, search the Scriptures. They are they which testify of
me. All of them. Everything about
them. Yesterday, I was studying this passage. Brother John texted
me about a question on something that's not really... Well, God
doesn't give any light on it. in the Word of God. There's no
light on it, period. And I'm sure that John thought I had
blown a gasket when I texted him a sermon back replying, but
the reason I did is because I was studying this. And I was telling
him it's a serious thing. I fear lest your mind should
be corrupted from the singleness of Christ. Don't go to this book
looking for anything but Christ. I'll tell you a secret about
this book. You'll find what you're looking for. If you go to this
book looking for some meaningless doctrine, you'll find it. You
go to this book looking for something you should do and you think there's
life in that, that's what you'll find. You go to this book looking
for Christ, life in Christ only, that's what you'll find. You'll
find what you're looking for. That's right. Concerning the
wisdom of God, Christ is all in all. We don't have wisdom
by nature. We come into this world and the
Scripture says the things of God or the Spirit of God are
foolishness to a natural man. Neither can he know them because
they are spiritually discerned. But when of God Christ has made
wisdom unto us, we have the mind of Christ. So that we might know
the things that are freely given to us of God. Christ has to give
you that wisdom. He is that wisdom. In other words,
if you are going to understand this book, Christ is going to
be the key. He is the key that unlocks every
passage in this book. It is all concerning Him. You
want wisdom to understand what the book is saying? Look for
Christ in every verse. If you have His, if He is your
wisdom, and you understand Him and know Him, you'll begin to
see Him in all this book. Concerning the righteousness,
Christ is all and in all. Romans 10 says Christ is the
righteousness of God. Christ is the end of the law,
the end of our doing to try to make ourselves righteous to everyone
that believes. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. He's the one God sent to manifest
His righteousness. Christ is sanctification. Concerning sanctification, Christ
is all. It's not Christ plus me. God
the Father sanctified us when He when He separated us out from
all of humanity and put us in Christ. That's what sanctification
is, to be separated out for God's holy use. That's what He did
when He chose His people. The Holy Spirit sanctifies us
when He gives you a new heart and He sanctifies you in Christ.
The Father sanctified us in Christ, the Spirit sanctifies us in Christ,
and Christ is our sanctification. When He's formed in your heart,
the holiness of the new man is Christ. Christ is that holiness
without which no man shall see the Lord. Hebrews 12 says that
and if you read the first and second verse of that thing, it
says, Run the race that is set before you looking to Christ. He is the author and the finisher
of our faith. He is the holiness without which
no man shall see the Lord. He is the holiness that thief
on the cross had without doing one thing. Christ. When it comes to redemption,
Christ is all and in all. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written,
Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. And there is another
redemption, the redemption of our bodies. Christ is going to
return and He is going to redeem our bodies and make them like
unto His glorious body. That is what we are waiting for,
the redemption of our bodies. Concerning the believer's rule
of life, as we walk through this life, Christ is all. Men want to go back to the Law
as a rule of life. No, Christ is all. Christ teaches
you what the Law can't teach you. The Ten Commandments can't
teach you what Christ can teach you. He said, My sheep hear My
voice, and I know them, and they follow Moses and the Law. No,
they follow Me. He said, If any man serve Me,
let him follow Me. Peter, he came to Peter after
Peter had denied him. And he talked to Peter and he
said, feed my sheep, Peter. And he said that to him three
times. And after they got through talking, as soon as they got
through talking, Peter looked over at John and he said, what
about him? He started minding John's business
right away. And Christ said, if he tarry
till I come, what's that to you? Follow thou me. Don't follow your brother, follow
me. Unless it's like Paul said. Paul
said, follow me as I follow Christ. Now, if your brother is following
Christ, follow him. So, you know, Scripture says
we walk by faith. How can you walk by faith except
you follow Christ? It can't be done. Concerning
resurrection, Christ said, I am the resurrection and the life.
Concerning heaven, you want to study about heaven? You want
to look into heaven? Christ is heaven. Christ is heaven. So, what I'm saying to you, brethren,
He says, here's my fear. My fear, I'm jealous over you, I want
to protect you, I want to guard you, because I've espoused you
to one husband. Now you wives, you just think,
Kristen, you got married not long ago. Think about how Rob
would have liked it. If whilst they were engaged,
Kristen's looking at other fellas. or while she's walking down that
aisle coming to him, she's glancing at fellows in the congregation.
That's what he's talking about right here. He's saying, you
start looking to you, you start looking to something else that
you need, you start looking to other just idle things that have
no bearing on the gospel or whatever. That's just like a woman flirting
with other men when she's espoused to one man. And I'm fearful,
he said, lest the devil so tricky and so subtle he can corrupt
your minds from knowing and resting in the one single object of Christ
for everything. Listen to this. I'm going in
with this. This is the record. Now listen, this is the record. God hath given God, started with
God, hath given. We didn't contribute. God hath
given freely to us. That is, it's us in the Scriptures,
always His elect. Those He chose to give it to.
He given to us eternal life. And this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life. Not the Son plus anything. He
that hath the Son hath life. And he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life. Now knowing that, brethren, who
do you want to have your mind on? That girl right there didn't
have her mind on anything but that boy back there for all the
time leading up to that. You want to have your mind on
Christ. That's who you want your mind on. Just like a bride, a
new bride with her new husband, you want to have your mind on
Christ. Alright, if you come back Sunday,
you know what I am going to preach to you? I am going to preach
Christ to you. Alright, Amen.