So thank you for having me. Turn
to 2 Corinthians 11. And I want to read a verse to you here. 2 Corinthians 11.3.
Paul says, 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's in Christ." Paul begins
his verse by saying, I fear. Now, if you read about Paul in
the Scriptures, you find out he experienced a lot of things.
He'd been riding down the road one day and something happened. bright light, something happened,
and all of a sudden his horse, and he flew off that horse and
hit the dirt, and it might well have killed most of us or broken
his neck, but he landed and hit like that, and when he opened
his eyes, he was blind. And he then was taken in hand, and he heard a voice
from heaven, that knew his name. And you say, what's so unusual
about that? Well, everybody else around him heard a thunderstorm. And he heard the voice of God.
So Paul, he had been then taken to the third heaven. I don't
know where that is. But God took him there. He had
seen some things. And all of a sudden, the voice
that spoke to him indicated, Paul, he said, Saul, at that
time, he said, Saul, he said, all these people you're trying
to kill are my children. How would you like to be found
by the scruff of the neck, held by the scruff of the neck by
someone who said, you've been trying to kill my children, and
you're now in my hands? He knew some things about fear,
I suspect, don't you? He had seen some things. And
yet here he is all these years later, and he's talking, writing
to the Corinthians, and he says, I fear. I think that's worth
our paying attention to what it was that made him afraid,
what concerned him there. And if we look, what we find
out, Paul found himself suddenly suddenly in the hands of the
God in whose children he'd been trying to kill, and it alarmed
him. And yet, he says here, he has
a godly fear or concern for some of these Corinthians, some of
these believers in Corinth. And let's read what it was concerning
him. He said, I fear less by any means
as the serpent of Galilee to the subtlety Here's what he's
fearful of. That your minds should be corrupted. Now that says several things
to us. The first thing it says is, are we aware that our mind,
we're all sitting here thinking we're in our right mind, aren't
we? Anybody here who thinks they need to be in the loony bin or
needs to be under medical attention for our mind? We don't think
that. We think we're in our right mind. It says here that the mind can
be corrupted. What's that mean? It means, listen to me now, the
mind of a believer can be corrupted. Do I have to say much to convince
you all of that? I've heard since last night about how all these
years folks have been corrupting your mind. Haven't they? They've
been telling you things that weren't so. And corrupted, here's
what this word means. And aren't we thankful that it
doesn't say that your mind can be forsaken or that your mind
can be condemned? Aren't you glad God hadn't condemned
us for what we think? How our mind's been working in
the past? But a believer's mind can be
shriveled or withered And it means that the mind's not working
correctly. It's not at full capacity, as
it should be. It's not processing information
rightly. It's not understanding truth
in its context. It's getting facts without revelation. It's a terrible thing to live
with a diminished mind. And I know more about that of
late than I ever wanted to know. I have sat here I know your name is Levi, and
yet I'm glad I have not been in a situation where I had to
introduce you to anybody, because what I'm apt to do is go, Joe,
this is, what's wrong with me? My mind's getting diminished.
And that's what's ahead for all of you. If you live to be my
age, you'll find out that your mind can be diminished. What
Paul is saying here to believers, he said, I fear. Lest your mind
be corrupted. So, it's a simple fact for us
to understand. Our mind can be corrupted. It
can be shriveled or withered. And that's a frightening enough
thing. We should all really fear a diminished spiritual mind.
Now, remember who Paul is writing here. He's writing to the Corinthians. They are believers in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And to us, he's writing to us
now as believers. And he's saying, I fear, unless
somebody comes in, y'all may not have experienced this that
much yet, but you will if God preserves you and brings you
together in forms of body and a church here. You're going to
find out the attacks will come. And they no longer can gather
up the town and grab up the believers and drive a stake in the ground
and throw sticks around them and burn them up. They can't
put tar and feathers on them anymore. They can't do that in
this country. But I tell you, they'll come
for you. They're going to attack you and be prepared for it. And
you say, what's wrong with them? You know what's wrong with them?
They're out of their minds. They don't have a diminished
mind. They don't have a spiritual mind. They are dead in trespasses
and sin. That doesn't mean physical dead.
It means spiritual dead. And they don't understand what
you're doing. Paul is writing here to those in Corinth who
are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ and to us who are believers.
The unbeliever isn't suffering from a withered or a shriveled
spiritual mind. He doesn't have one. God, by
His Spirit, us and gives his people a new mind and a new heart.
Genesis 6 says, every imagination of the thoughts is only evil
continually. That's their problem. It was
our problem. That's what we were before God
came and gave us a new mind and a new heart. In Adam, we lost
our mind. The gift of God to all believers,
to all his children, is a new mind and a new heart. One that
understands and believes the truth. A mind that knows Christ
and a heart to love Him. And Paul says here, I fear that
your mind is being corrupted. Now, how can a believer's mind
be corrupted? This is something we need to
learn. As believers, if the statement is made, your mind can be corrupted.
How can that happen? Well, look at verse 3 here, and
the answer is given. He says, But I fear less by any
means. That's a lot of ways. How can
your mind be corrupted? By any means. Do you know, if
you have children, if you have children, have you learned yet
what their weaknesses are? Man, man, oh my. I don't want to give you the
list of my kids, but I know them. I know. If you want to tempt
this one, this is all you got to do. If you want that one,
man, if you got chocolate, that one's a goner. I mean, the chocolate's
going to be eaten. All of it. How much is the right
amount? All. As a little child, I'd be eating
a piece of chocolate, and this one would come up and go, piece,
piece. And I'd go, okay, a little piece.
More? More? More? More? How much is enough?
All? All? I mean, we all have these
weaknesses. We can be corrupted by any means. Any means. So strong is the old
corrupt mind. So fragile and weak is the new
mind. Any attack, any temptation, any
situation is apt to corrupt or shrivel or wither our mind. But
then Paul gives a good example. The very first means used to
corrupt the mind in the Garden of Eden, as the serpent beguiled
Eve, is what he said here. He says, I fear lest your mind
be corrupted by any means, but he says, as Adam and Eve were
in the Garden. Hold this place, we'll come back
to it, and look at Colossians 2 with me. Turn over to Colossians chapter
2. as the serpent beguiled Eve.
The pattern, well, there's many means, but one pattern. And beguiling
is that pattern. Eve was beguiled. Eve was deceived. She was seduced and enticed.
Eve had a much better man naturally than any of us, yet she was beguiled. And beguiling usually comes by, you
know how it comes, enticing words. If somebody says something to
us, if you touch that, I'm going to break your hand with this
crowbar. That's pretty clear, isn't it? Okay. And on the other
hand, if somebody's trying to get our hand broken and they
go, I just go ahead and touch it, you know, they don't mean
really broken. Those are enticing words. You
know, it feels good to touch that. Go ahead. And that's how
a believer, that's the pattern here. I mean, it's clever words. And listen to me now. You have
experienced this for years. It's the twisting of God's Word. That makes enticing words. If
false preachers told the truth, nobody would ever believe them.
But they take the truth and twist it. They make it enticing. And
look here in Colossians 2 verse 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. This is
Paul writing again. That their hearts might be comforted
being knit together in love and unto all riches of the full assurance
of understanding. to the acknowledgment of the
mystery of God and the Father and of Christ, in whom are hid
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And this I say," listen
here, "'lest any man should beguile you with enticing words.'" Do
you see the warning here? Turn now to Genesis chapter 2. Let's go back and look at this
just a minute at what Paul referenced here about the beguiling of Eve
in the garden. It's with subtlety, cunning,
trickery, craftiness that the temptation comes, that this beguiling
comes. And subtlety and error usually
take a lot more words than simple truth. Let's compare what God
said with what Satan said here in Genesis 2. Look at verse 15. This is what God said to Adam
and Eve in the garden. And the Lord God took the man
and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep
it. And here's what he said, the Lord God commanded the man,
saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat,
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not
eat of it. For in the day that thou eatest
thereof thou shalt surely die. Period. That's all God said about
it. It's plain. It's clear. And most
of the time when we succumb to temptation, it's not because
we didn't understand. It's because we disobeyed. It's
not because, oh, I don't know what that means, not to eat it.
It's pretty clear, isn't it? You eat it, you die. That's clear. But now look what Satan said
in Genesis 3, verse 1. Now, the serpent was more subtle.
Oh, there's that word, isn't it? The way beguiling comes is
through subtlety. Now the serpent was more subtle
than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he
said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of
every tree of the garden? Now if you look back, that's
not exactly what God said. He's added a little to that,
a little subtlety. And a woman said unto the serpent,
We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the
fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God
has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it,
lest you die. Did God ever say not to touch
it? Do we see how Satan has led her into thinking and saying
something that God never said? He didn't say you couldn't touch
it. It might not have been a wife to touch it. But he didn't say,
don't touch it. He said, don't eat it. Don't
eat it. And that's the first subtle step
in error, is to accept some little thing that appears to be true. I just twisted the word a little
bit. It's one thing to tell your child, don't eat it. It's another
to say, don't touch it. You got that, don't you? And
it doesn't take them long to understand either. If you say
eat it, they can eat it. If you say touch it, they can
touch it. If you say don't, they don't. Don't and don't. And here
Satan is going, now honey, you know, God said, you know, don't eat it. And she goes, yeah,
I'm not supposed to eat it or touch it. And now Satan's got
his opening. I'm sure what he did was he touched
it. He reached up and grabbed it. Okay? To prove in her mind
through subtlety that, see, God's not telling you exactly how it
is. And that's what false religion does. Now, I'll read on here.
It says in verse 4, And the serpent said unto the woman, You shall
not surely die. For God doth know in the day
ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall
be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw
that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the
eye, and the tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of
the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband
with her, and he did eat." You know, you can't always believe
what you see. She saw, she thought she saw
it was good to eat. And I suppose the serpent ate
it. I don't know. But the point is, don't believe what you see. Believe what this word says.
Believe what God sends through your ears, to your heart, in
your mind. And don't go for the subtlety.
When preachers get up and don't say exactly what's in this book,
you've got to question that. The truth is simple. And I'll
show you that here in just a second. So how did this subtle corruption
of the mind of the Corinthians come about? If you remember in
2 Corinthians 11.3, it said, from the simplicity that is in
Christ. Simplicity means oneness. It's all it means. The simplicity
of oneness. Now, I've got an illustration,
and you're going to have to bear with me here. This takes a little
bit to get through, but I think the payoff is good. Listen to
this. Let's say one morning, Mom, you've
got four kids, and they come down to breakfast. And you children
can, you're not children, you're young people, you can verify,
I bet your mom's never done this, but let's just go with me here
for a minute. If you came down one morning and your mom says,
okay guys, here's your choices for breakfast. Number one, you
got fried eggs, bacon, toast, and marmalade. Number two, I'll
do sausage, biscuits, blackberry jam, and scrambled eggs. Number
three, we can have waffles with syrup, poached eggs, and hash
browns. Number four, we can have cherries, eggs benedict, croissants
with honey and butter. Number five, we can have granola,
breakfast burritos, taco sauce, and tea. Number six, you can
have a cheese souffle, Canadian bacon, French crullers with milk.
Number seven, you can have a cheese omelet, French toast with maple
syrup and orange juice. Number eight, corned beef hash,
soft-boiled eggs, fresh strawberries, and grapefruit juice. Number
nine, bananas fostered, bagels, Denver omelet, fried potatoes,
and coffee. Or number 10, you can have chocolate chip pancakes,
chocolate mousse, Cocoa Puffs, and hot chocolate. What will
it be? Has that ever happened at your house? You say, that's
ridiculous. That is just ridiculous. And
you know what that is? That's not only complicated,
it's confusing. And children ought not be subjected
to that kind of foolishness, should they? And that's what
modern religion does. There's a brand for every possible
imagination. On the other hand, mom, if they
come down and you say, OK, we got oatmeal this morning. That's pretty simple, isn't it?
What are y'all having? You're having oatmeal, right?
That's pretty simple. You know why? It's one choice. One choice. And now y'all listen
to me. Here's the important part. Salvation
is... Here's what it's not. This is
not simple. Salvation When a preacher says
salvation is dependent on a person's obedience to the law, and the
performing of good works, and giving a tithe, and joining the
church, and observing the ordinances, and being baptized once or twice
or three times, loving one another. Salvation is dependent on praying
through, being faithful in your church attendance, and wearing
the right clothes, and abstaining from alcohol, and doing just
the best you can at all that stuff. That's not simple, is it? Not
only is it complicated and confusing, not to mention it's just not
true. That's not what salvation is
dependent upon for you or me or anybody else. On the other
hand, let's say a fellow like me stands up here and says, salvation
is of the Lord. That's pretty simple, isn't it?
Did I confuse anybody with that? Did you all walk to the back
going back there? Man, that's just too complicated
for me. I don't get it. No, no. The truth is simplistic
in its singularness. Salvation is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Am I saying that Jesus Christ
is simple? No, no. You're hearing me wrong
if that's what you think I'm saying. The Lord Jesus Christ
is unfathomable. He is glorious. He's altogether
lovely. He's holy and He's righteous
and undefiled. He's man and God. And we can
go on. You study this Word through eternity
and will not see all the facets of this gem. You ever had a diamond
and look at it under a magnifying glass and see the facets? That every one is beautiful and
unique and different? Well, let me tell you, Christ
is the great gem. He's the perfect stone. He's
the rock of all ages and eternity. We'll be every day in eternity. We'll look and go, oh, look at
that one. Look at the light through that.
Oh, did you see that? Did you see that? No, He's not
simple in the sense that we think of simple ton. No. He's beyond
our comprehension. But this is simple and singular.
If you want to know Him, if you want to be saved, believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. It's that simple. That's simple, and it's singular,
and it's all Christ. The simplicity of life. How many times in your life have
you said, well, the key to life. Here's the key to life. Here's
the key to happiness. Do you young people want to be
happy? Here it is. The simplicity of the life of
Jesus Christ is this. He always did the right thing. Now, if any of us here, have
we ever once done the right thing? The really right thing. We think
we did it just right. Oh, oh, I fixed the sink just
right, honey. It's all okay now. And if you
want to put the magnifying glass on us in anything, in any way,
we're not only imperfect, we're just generally all upside down
and backwards. The Lord Jesus Christ, on the
other hand, always did the right thing. in both thought and deed. And therefore, He is righteousness. He is perfectly righteous. That's
the simplicity of His life. You know what the simplicity
of His death is? He did nothing worthy of death. You say, what's
that list? Well, start going through this
Old Testament. Have you all been exposed to
that? All the things you're not supposed to do? All the things
you have to do perfect? Alright. Well, I'm telling you,
the Lord Jesus Christ never broke one of those. Not one time. And He did nothing worthy of
death, but on the other hand, He died. Why? For all the sin
of all God's children. They therefore, we therefore,
have no sin. Can you imagine such a thing? We've sinned enough this morning,
between when we got up and we got here, to spend eternity in
a very bad place. But the good news is, Jesus Christ
never did anything wrong. And the good and simple message
of the Gospel of God is this, Christ Jesus put away the sin
of His people, and Christ Jesus gave His people His righteousness.
They are therefore saved. That's pretty clear. That's pretty
plain. And that's the simplicity of Christ. And don't let anyone
by any means beguile or corrupt you into thinking anything else. It's just not so. You say, well,
how can we best do that? Paul said, I'm afraid for you
that you're going to be corrupted. You're going to be beguiled by
enticing words. So how do we not let that happen? Y'all ever see these ads on the
TV or internet that says, they got so much advice, whether you're
young or old, about if you want to be happy, if you want to be
healthy, well you need to take this supplement, or you need
to take these pills, and you need to do this and no longer
do that. Well, you'll be happier, have a more complete life. Keep
your mind sharp. Be healthy. And you all think
that's all a joke, but let me tell you, when your mind starts
getting like mine and you start feeling like I do and hurting
in places that you didn't know you had places, all of a sudden
you start listening to that stuff and you get enticed and beguiled
and think, maybe I better order some of that. Make me feel better. Fix what's ailing me. And listen, all that is is preying
on the fear of the inevitable death physical death that's coming
to all of us. Folks, there's no cure in this
life for this physical life. Our bodies, from the day we're
born, we live and we start dying. And is anybody interested, on
the other hand, in a, and I'm not against y'all take whatever
you want to take, whatever makes you feel better. That's fine
with me. I, you know, I've eaten too many of the wrong things
and you can see it on me. I don't have to, there's no hiding
it. Okay? Don't do what I did necessarily.
But on the other hand, is anybody interested in a healthy, strong,
spiritual life? I have a simple suggestion. Get
on a regular, steady diet, listen to me, of Christ and Christ alone. You'll cure it all. Cure it all. Get in the Word. Hear the Word
preached. Seek His face by the Word of
prayer. It's a simple remedy for all
of life's trials and tribulations. Once we've met the Lord Jesus
Christ, He's revealed Himself to us. Don't misunderstand me. All the important problems are
all solved. All our sin is gone. If we have
a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, it's going to be
alright. But we still have to live out
this life. And that's the difference between
the religion you came out of and where you are now in the
Lord Jesus Christ. We don't do these things so God
will save us. We do these things because He
has saved us. We don't come here going, well,
I hope this morning I'll be good enough. I hope this week I'll
be good enough. I won't do bad things this week
so God will save me. That's all upside down. It's
all upside down. Because God saved us, we don't
want to do that stuff anymore, do we? Do we see how backwards
religion has it? The simple remedy for all of
life's trials and tribulation are in worshiping God, worshiping
the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me go back to my breakfast
illustration just for a second. You say, who would ever offer
anyone, much less a child, all those ten choices? Well, let
me say this. Salvation is not an offer. It's
bestowed on His people. The earlier message, Jonah didn't
get on the boat looking for Christ. Christ came to the boat where
he found Jonah and dealt with him. Don't get that backwards.
But who would give a child those choices? Here's the answer. Someone
trying to impress somebody else with their cooking skill. I don't
know who your neighbors are, But if you gave that to your
kids and you went out and told them, would they go, wow, you're
such a good cook, you're such a good mom, you offered them
all that stuff? You know what would make you?
A culinary Pharisee. Do we understand what religion
is doing today? They're creating Pharisees. They're Pharisees
and they're making more Pharisees. If they can convince you that
salvation is in all that stuff, And salvation is not that complicated. You give a child those choices,
you know what they'll pick every time, I suspect? Those two would
pick chocolate. They want the Cocoa Puffs. They're
not interested in the healthy stuff. And you wouldn't be doing
them any good. And it would show you're not
really concerned about the welfare of your children. The religious person who makes
complicated or confusing or misleading The salvation of the Lord is
no different. They're religious Pharisees.
You've been exposed to it, and that's what they're doing. Those
who want to argue or fuss and divide over doctrine and these
things do not have the glory of God or the welfare of God's
people at heart. They're Pharisees. And as with
these Corinthians, those who would try to persuade them that
sinful behavior is acceptable among God's people again, They
don't have the glory of Christ or the good of God's people at
stake. I mean, at the heart of the matter. Listen, the Scripture
says the Lord preserves the simple. That's me. That's me. That's me. He'll keep us. And
maturity in the gospel, growth in grace, discernment and wisdom
does not come with the understanding of or debating the deep mysteries
of God. It doesn't come from that. If the Spirit of God will protect
us, will protect our mind from the corruption by any means,
enabling us to focus all our attention on the one, on the
simplicity that's in Christ. Over 40 years, I've seen so many
children depart from places because the gospel was made complicated.
It made confusing. Children are not saddled with
the same issues we are. And as such, when they hear this
stuff about you have to do this or God won't save you, they inherently
know you're not telling them the truth. It's not the truth.
It's not the truth. Because salvation is not in what
we do. It's in whom we believe. It's in what Christ did. And
that's the difference. It's not that complicated. We
don't have to do this, do that, do the other. It's what Christ
did. And He's done all that's required.
And I can tell you, well, you have to do this, you have to
do that, you have to do the other. The simple truth is Christ has
done it all. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. That's simple enough, isn't it?
It truly is that simple. Look to Christ. Look for Christ. He said, look and live. Look
and live. That's where salvation is. It's
in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not in these things. And
it really is just that simple. Well, I pray that the Lord will
enable us to see that, to hear it, to believe it on Him. Thank
you for having me. I'm grateful to have been here
and to meet new friends. And I pray the Lord will bless
you in the days ahead. And I shouldn't depart without
saying that so many people in our fellowship, our pastor came
back just so effervescent and overjoyed at what the Lord is
doing here. And you have brethren in Tennessee
who love you and are concerned about you And now I'll tell you
this, come see us sometime, okay? The highway goes both ways. You
guys can come our way and we'll kill the fatted shrimp or the
fatted calf or whatever you like, okay? But y'all come see us and
thank you for having me. May the Lord bless His Word.