godly jealousy. For I have espoused you to one
husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin of Christ. But I fear, lest by any means,
as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtility, is in Christ. Simplicity that is in Christ. The title of the message this
morning is the simple gospel. Simple. The Apostle Paul here, he had a desire to preach He
said, I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy. I have espoused
you to one husband that I may present you a chaste virgin Christ. I tell you this morning, I'm
going to preach to you on a subject that is near to the heart of
every true preacher. It was near to the heart of the
apostle Paul and is near to the heart of everyone that we preach
the gospel. all those we preach to will hear
and understand our message. My desire is that every one of
you should hear and understand my words. That's always my intention. That is always my purpose. Every time I preach that you
are not misunderstanding my message. I labor to dispose. I labor to
make it as plain as I possibly can to you, so that no one can
misunderstand. The Apostle said in 1 Corinthians
1 17, He said, For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach
the gospel. This is not with the wisdom of
words. lest the cross of Christ should
be made of none to take. To preach with the wisdom of
words is to make the cross null and void. It is a useless gospel. If I preach to you words that
are not understandable, it is useless. If I use the wisdom
of the world in order to explain the spiritual meanings of Scripture,
my message would be wasted. It would be wasted. It would
be useless. He may puff up the flesh, but he could do nothing
for the soul. Believers in Christ. I want you to understand this.
We do this for this purpose. Because our enemy is very real. Very real. We have an enemy who
is very wicked and cruel. Cruel. Satan. Start over. He is a liar and the father of. The apostle said that he is a
roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Now you listen, he
will devour the lost. There's no doubt about it. He
will devour everyone who is not a believer in Christ. He will
easily subdue them, easily rule over them. They are already in
his dominion. But for us who are believers, I want
you to understand, this enemy, he is a roaring lion seeking
whom he may, with divine permission, devour. Now, I'll tell you, Job
was an example of that, wasn't he? and what he could do for a believer. He was allowed to take his position. He was allowed to take even his
area. He was allowed to do much damage
to his body and to his property. What he was never allowed to
do was take his life, and he was never allowed to move him
from Christ. See, this is the security of
a believer, though we have an enemy. I know this true about
you. that God has secured us in Christ,
and that we can never be moved or plucked out of His hand. Scripture says that plainly in
John chapter 10, He says, My sheep hear My voice, and I know
them, and I give unto them eternal life, and no man shall pluck
them out of My hand. My Father which is in heaven
is greater than all, and no man shall pluck Him out of His hand. See, Satan, he can do much damage
to you. He cannot move you from Christ,
but I want you to understand, he still is allowed to do much
damage to us. So, we should be aware of him. Scripture warns us of him, greatly. You remember, these two are clearly
seen in Judas and Enoch. Remember these two? Judas, Satan
entered into him. And he cruelly betrayed his friend. He truly betrayed the Lord of
Glory. And he was crucified. And you
know what happened to Judas? He died in his sin. He was devoured
of Satan. Conquered of Satan. Manipulated
of Satan. Now let's take Peter. Peter also
denied the Lord. Not once. Judas betrayed him
once. Peter denied him three times.
He denied him three times. With courtesy, he denied him. What was the difference? Our
Lord said to Peter, Behold, Satan hath desire to sift thee as wheat. You know how easy it is to sift
wheat? You shake it and take it and sift it. A little bit
of dust falls off. It's easy. It's easy for him
to do that. What's the difference between
him and Peter and Judas? But I have prayed for thee, that
thy faith may anoint thee. After thou art converted, he
wants him to feed his sheep. So we can see the two differences.
The difference is, is Christ praying for him? The apostle
over he warned them of his evil intention
look at that in the text he says my desire jealousy I'm jealous
over you and this is the reason why I fear lest by any means
the serpent beguile me to his subtlety so your mind should
be See, seeing that Satan cannot
accuse us before God is a great joy to me. But what is painful is he can
accuse our conscience. Go to Revelation chapter 12. I want you to see what's happening
here. Why are we having And there was a war in heaven.
Michael, the prince, and his angels fought against the dragon.
And the dragon fought against his angels and prevailed not.
Neither was there any place found anymore in heaven. This is the
battle of Christ. This is Christ. He said, now
is the prince of this world cast out. Christ fought the battle. Christ won the war. Christ cast
out Satan from accusing the brethren. No place in heaven for him. He
was cast into the earth and his angels were cast out with him.
And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now has come salvation
and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his
Christ. which accused them before God
day and night, and they overcame him by the blood of the lamb,
by the word of his testimony, and they loved not their own
lives unto death, therefore rejoice ye heavens and you that dwell
with them. But listen, woe to the inhabitants of the earth
and the sea, for the devil is come down to you, having raided
your house, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time
When the dragon saw he was cast to the earth, he did what? What'd
he do? Persecuted the woman. Who is
that? That's the church. That's you.
That's me. You see what happened? Christ
cast him out. There's no accusation between
us and of our sins before God, but he's cast to the earth. And
what does he do in anger and malice? He persecutes the church
with all of his vengeance, with all of his wrath, he hates and
persecutes. Church, God. Therefore, we see He still go
cast out, but infuse our conscience? And how does He do this? How
does Satan persecute the Church? I know that, like I said, there
are temporal means that God allows, such as physical sickness and
suffering. But what is the aim of His purpose? to move you from the simplicity
that's in Christ. That's what his purpose is. To beguile you, to deceive you,
to corrupt your minds concerning Christ. This is not what physical
sickness does at times in the beginning. Our minds get corrupted. We say, God, how can you love
me and do this? What is that? You've moved from
the simplicity of the gospel and you've started looking at
circumstance. You've started looking at things outwardly.
You have been beguiled. You have moved from the simplicity
and your mind has been corrupted. You see, we're always having
to struggle against this enemy. To corrupt our minds, to move us.
He tempts us with sin so as to cause us to turn from Christ
and return to the vomit of our sin. Is that not good for you?
Have you not found that so when you're tempted to sin? What is
He doing? He's tempting you back into the
vomit. He's tempting you back into the
sin that you loathe. That's what He does. How is this work done? Look at our text. How did he
do it? How did Paul say he was going to do it? Turn back to my text. Here it
is. He says, As the serpent beguiled Eve for his captivity. Subtlety. How does he do it? Does he do
it all at once? Does anybody stop coming to worship
all at once? And then they become so great
only after. He does it through subtlety.
He does it by questioning and doubting the Word of God. Isn't
that what he did to our mother? Yea, have God say it. Did God really say that? Now
is that what that text really means? Consider the text. And pretty soon you find the
man who's questioning the word of God, what does he end up doing?
He ends up denying it. God hath not said, you shall
not surely die by what he said to Eve. He went from questioning
to out-and-out opposition. And that's exactly what Satan
does with the mind of men. He corrupts them to be guiled.
And he doesn't use outside means. Listen, he uses the church. He uses the Word of God. Isn't that what he did? He even
considered the boldness of him to tempt the Lord Jesus Christ? How bold and arrogant is that? Who's to say it is written to
the one who wrote it? How much do you think he's going
to do to you? He used the Word of God. Isn't
that what he said? it says they use my word and
I didn't say it. I didn't say it. They twist the word of God, they
bend it to make it acceptable and smooth so that all may accept
it. That's what all preachers do,
and that's what, and he uses it. Paul goes on to say, he said,
is it, you know, those who preach a false gospel, is it not? Since
their master Satan transforms himself into an angel of light,
is it not just so that they are too able to transform themselves
into ministers of light? They look so pure, they look
so good, their words are smooth. You hear false preachers today,
you can't find one thing wrong with what they're saying. Why?
They're saying you need to be faithful to your spouse. What's
wrong with that? Nothing wrong with that. You
need to be good to your neighbor. You need to do this. You need
to do these good things. Nobody finds fault with doing
good things. It's not what they're saying. What is it? It's the
subtlety of what they're not saying. What they're omitting
on purpose. The gospel. The gospel. By this they corrupt man's mind.
You know the gospel is offensive. The gospel is offensive. Paul said this, rather than if
I preach circumcision, why do I get to suffer persecution?
Then is the offense that the cross ceases. In order to use
wisdom of words and human logic in preaching the gospel, we would
make the cross a non-offense. If the offense of the cross has
ceased, there is no reason to be preaching. we do not use high and lofty
language that few understand. You know what, I met a preacher
one time who went to his service, and this guy, he knew the gospel. I really hope and have confidence
that he might be a believer in Christ. But this man, you couldn't
sit under his ministry without a dictionary. You know who got anything out
of that? Only the few intellectual people that were in that building.
I got nothing out of it. I didn't understand half of it.
And praise God, he's no longer a Christian. I'm thankful, I'll
tell you the truth. This is our purpose, to be simple
and plain, so that you should not be beguiled, so that you
should not be corrupted in your mind, so that you should not
move from the simplicity, the simpleness, the singleness of
the gospel. I don't want you to move from
this. And so, I don't move from it myself when I preach, I have
one message. again from the dead. Christ is
all. This is the message we preach. I'm using such language. You know when the Lord Jesus
Christ preached, he preached so men understood him. Not all men believed him. offended when they heard your
doctrine? You see, how can they be offended
if they didn't know what he was saying? They had to understand
what he was saying in order to be offended. You can't be offended
if I call you a name that you don't understand. You don't know
if it's a compliment or an offense. But Christ offended them. They
understood. You remember when he said this
to you? Before Abraham was, I am. You know who understood that?
The Jews. Why? They picked up stones and they
were ready to kill him. They knew he was saying he was
God. They understood his word. Therefore we preach. We preach. where you shall speak into the
air. It's not only speaking into the
air this morning, I'm going to give you some simple things.
Five simple truths. Five simple truths of the gospel
so that you do not misunderstand what I'm saying. Now as I preach
these things I want you to know that It's always this way. You who
believe in Christ, listen, come to Christ. If you do not believe in Christ,
come to Christ. Is that not simple? Anybody missing
that? Don't come to the preacher, don't come to the front, don't
come to the creed, don't come to the church. Come to Christ.
How? By faith in Christ. Believe in Christ. Trust in Christ. And those who do the promise
of God, you shall be saved. Forever saved. Safe. Righteous. Perfect. Simple. This is the promise of the gospel.
This is what we do. We compel you to flee to Christ
for sake of your words, your religion, and come to Christ. I have no power yet. I have no
power or ability to make you come. Is that clear? I don't have any
power to make you come. I want you to come because I
know what's there. No, the Isis is dead, the Cesar
is dead, but I can't make it. When we preach, we preach wisdom. Listen, Paul said, we preach
wisdom among them that are perfect. When I preach these five things
to you, you're going to know these things. You're going to
say, this is wisdom. I understand it. This is the wisdom of God.
We preach wisdom to them that are perfect. Yet none of them,
not the wisdom of the world or the prince of the world, they
come to nothing. We speak the wisdom of God. Listen to the
mystery. The mystery, the hidden wisdom of God. Though my words
are plain, yet it's hidden. Though you understand what I'm
saying, yet you don't know what I'm saying. Why? To you that are lost, it's a
mystery. It's hidden, and you don't know.
How then is one made to understand? Don't the words of the gospel
be ever so simple? How is one made to understand?
By the power of God. The power of God gives life and
faith to understand these things. You that understand them, you
know them because God revealed it unto you. Paul said this, But God hath revealed them to
us by His Spirit. By His Spirit. As I was talking to Cheryl about
this, she pointed out this verse to me. I thought it was good.
Proverbs 14, 6. It says, But knowledge is easy
to him that understandeth. Isn't that simple? Knowledge.
This gospel is not complicated to us. Who? Us who understand
it. To us whom it is given, it is
not complicated, it is very simple. So here it is, five things. First,
the simplicity of man's rule. This is simple. See if you catch
this. If you catch my eyeball, you
will. All men are absolutely, completely, and
utterly When Adam fell, all of his grace
fell with him. When he sinned, all of his grace
sinned in him. He is a representative man. And when he sinned, he died. And when he died, all of his
representative people died in him. Therefore, when you were
born into this world, you were born dead in sin. Now, you may not believe that,
but you understand. Understand what I say. This means that man, by nature,
has absolutely no capability or desire for God, or to know
or believe He's God. Has no capability or desire to
believe He's God. Trust God. They all die spiritually. They're utterly and completely
incapable and unwilling to know God. Scripture has said that
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. Why? Foolishness to him. You don't receive it? Why? Because
this is foolishness. What I'm talking, even though
you understand it, is just gibberish. You don't like it. You don't
care for it. Why is it foolishness to you?
Do you want to know why it's foolishness to you? Because you cannot know it. Because
your spirits get tough. And by nature cannot and will
not seek after God. Man by nature cannot and do not
do anything good or pleasing to God. We by nature are ruined. Remember when Adam sinned. Adam
failed. What did he do? He took fig leaves
and began to try to cover his sin. You want to know how ruined
man is? This is how ruined he is. He
is as a spiritual malady, spiritual condemned condition, and he tries
to heal it with a carnal remedy. This is always the way of the
lost man, to try to heal a spiritual condition by carnal action. Religion. That's what man tries to do. He comes to the waters and he
says, well, you've got to do this carnal thing in order to
receive a spiritual outcome. You've got to eat the Lord's
supper. You've got to do a carnal thing to receive a spiritual
outcome. You've got to come and kneel
down and make the sign of the cross. You've got to do this.
You've got to do that. Outwardly to make a spiritual
outcome. This is the ruination of man. This is what happened
at the garden. And when Adam, when he sinned
and heard the voice of God, his fig leaves he found was not enough.
What did he do? He ran into the trees. What does
man do then? He runs into the confusion of
religion. He tries to hide himself in the
confusion of religion. He says, well, who knows? Who
knows how Our man is saying, you know them. I know them. Because
it's simple. And this is the beginning of
it. That man is rude. And if you don't ever recognize
this, you'll never know anything else. You'll never come to God.
Except you know this. Man is exposed. Of his absolute
rudeness. That there is none righteous,
no not one. There's none that seeketh after
God. There's none that doeth good, no not one. And it's complete. And then people come and say,
well I know that preacher. I know him. I understand what you're
saying. I understand the doctrine of depravity. Except you experience depravity,
you have no idea of the doctrine of depravity. Are you doing it? See, if you never come to this
first fundamental truth, you'll never know you've missed it.
Someone said you're wrong on the fall, you're wrong on it
all. That's true. You missed this, you've missed
everything else because you'll have to do something in order
to get your salvation. You don't realize that you have
nothing that you can do. You'll never come across. absolutely, completely, utterly
ruined, incapable of doing any good or pleasing God by his works,
by his religion, by his sincerity, or by his will. He cannot be
accepted of God. That's simple. Secondly, the
simplicity of God's election. Sovereign election. If man is
completely ruined, and he is, if man is born dead in his sins,
and no way he can please God, where then is there hope? Here
it is. Here's the hope. Here is the gospel of God's sovereign
election, that before the world began, God chose a thief that
he would save. You may miss it. These words
are too hot. God, of three greats, chose to save someone. You may not believe that, but
you didn't misunderstand. God and free and unmerited fame
and purpose to say something about Him free. This is the mystery
Paul spoke of in 1 Corinthians. He said the mystery, the hidden
wisdom, which God ordained before the world by the power of the
Holy Spirit. What hidden wisdom of this is this? It's in the
hand. The election of grace. The gospel
of Jesus Christ did not begin in the garden. It was revealed
in the garden, but it didn't begin there. It began long before
the garden was ever made. Salvation of sinners began in
eternity. It did not begin in time, but
it was something God purposed in eternity before the world
was. He elected them. elected some,
chose them, and ordained by sovereign decree that they should receive
all spiritual blessings. All spiritual blessings, holiness,
righteousness, justification, redemption, sanctification, wisdom,
all spiritual blessings were theirs in Christ before the world
began. 1 Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us, we believe,
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,
according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy. This is the purpose,
that we should be holy, without blame. He loved having predestined
us in the adoption of children. How is he going to do all this? By Jesus Christ. This is how
he purposed to do it. It was God's sovereign election
that put us in Christ, in union with Christ. In other words,
God hitched our wagon to Christ, and all that is Christ belongs
to us. All that he earns is ours. God purposed these to be whole,
adopted sons. They should be accepted. How should they be accepted?
How should they be holy, knowing that we were ruined and incapable
of holiness? By Jesus Christ, we should be
accepted. In Jesus Christ, we should be
accepted. See, God purposed that His Son
should be our representative. Just as Adam represented the
whole race, Christ represented His race, His people. and that
by all his righteousness and his actions, his obedience, they
should be made holy and accepted. Now all who deny the election
of God, I want you to understand they are begotten. Their mind
is corrupted. Do you remember the great illustration
of Romans chapter 9? Talking about these twins born
of the same mother, same father, and the same womb. That the purpose
of God according to election might stand not on words, but
on him that calleth. Said to her, the elder shall
serve the young. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. And then the serpent comes in
and says, surely God doesn't hate me. Surely it means something
else. No, that's what it means. God
loved one and despised the other. In sovereign, free grace, he
loved Jacob and hated Israel. What shall we say? Is there unrighteousness
with God? Is God unfair? Is God unjust? That's what men
will say, isn't it? That's what the serpent will
beguile men with. Is He? God forbid! I've already
told you, He said, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.
I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So, it
is not a human will or a human government, but God that shows
mercy. Sovereign affection is sinful.
God chose it. He chose to save. He chose how
he should be saved by Jesus Christ. Third thing. The simplicity of
the effectual redemption of Christ. The word effectual simply means
it gets the job done. Done. I like that better. Just
done. Effectual means done. are very clear that Jesus Christ
came into the flesh. He was God manifest in the flesh. He came to do the will of God. What was that? Did Jesus leave it in ambiguous
terms? He said, no, this is the will
of him that sent me. that of all he hath given me
I should lose none, but raise it up again at the last day.
That's the will of the Father, that all he hath given me, all
the elect, should be redeemed. That's the will of the Father. I like this, in Isaiah chapter
9, And the government shall be upon
his shoulder. What government is this? This
government is his elect, his kingdom. The government, the
responsibility of his people and their salvation will rest
solely on his shoulders. His name by then shall be called
Wonder, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace. of the increase of his government,
and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, upon
his kingdom, to order it, to establish judgment and justice
for henceforth forever. The seal of the Lord God will
be upon us. come to do away with that justice
by the sacrifice of himself. And by his sacrifice, God was
well pleased. God was satisfied by it. What
were his words at the end? How simple is it? It is finished. Is there any simpler term than
that? It is finished. What is finished? Everything
God sent him to do is finished. Redemption accomplished. Finish the work. He ordered, He established righteousness
and redemption, sanctification, wisdom. He had done it. Does
this sound questionable? Does that sound questionable? He will
do it. And you know what? The zeal of
the Lord of Hosts will be his. No question about this. No question.
He's done it. See the subtlety of the serpent
that cast doubt on the success of Christ and His righteousness
and redemption, saying that He died for all men. You know, that
does nothing but cast doubt on the success of Christ. To say
that He died for all men without exception is nothing but the
slime of the serpent covering the Word of God. Deceit! He did not die for all men. If
He did, all men would be saved. tell you he did not die for his
people. You know, I like that illustration
Michelangelo's assisting chapter, that beautiful artwork that he
performed. Suppose that I would go in there
and say, well, I don't think that's quite done. I need to
add my contribution to it. And I start going to paint stick
figures. That's all I can do. I don't have anything else. No
artist. You suppose then I could get
done and put my name to it and say, now is his work finished?
No! How much more Christ than his
work? How much more glorious was his
work? How much more finished was his
work? And yet the men say I need to
come in and add my work to his. That is nothing but the guile
and corruption of the mind and the gospel. He said, for the simplicity of
the irresistible call of the Spirit. Our gospel is plain. It's a plain call to sinners. You listen, I'm calling sinners. Oh, I heard one person. That
perfect righteousness and perfect salvation I just told you of
that Christ accomplished is for sinners. All the elect in God are made
up of what? Sinners! So what do we do? We
call up sinners! And you know who hears our gospel?
Sinners. But how is it that some woman
But not all men identify with that. Not all men know their
roots and need to pray. How is it that you come and you
know your? How is it you understand this
plain speech? How is it now made simple to
you that Christ is all because of the irresistible power of
the Holy Spirit? This is the work of God. Salvation
is the work of God. And if you ever come at all,
you would recognize this, that it is of the Lord you come. It is by the word and power of
God, the Holy Spirit, and the new birth that you come to Christ. Sinners this morning, why will
you not receive the simple good? I tell you that you will. You'll
save everybody. The election never stopped anyone
from coming. As a matter of fact, without
an election, nobody would come. But if you come, guess what? You
know who you are. You're one of them. You were
always one of them. You were always in Christ. But
how did you come? You come because God called you.
No man could come to Christ except the Father who just sent me what?
Raul. Therefore let us see the glory
of God in this, that our simple faith in Christ is not by our
might, not by our intelligence, but by the power and grace of
God. Scripture says, Thus saith the
word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, to Christ, Not by might, not
by power, not by my spirit, Scripture says your eyes being
put in understanding, being enlightened. How are they enlightened? By
the exceeding power of His grace to us who believe. Paul says
in Ephesians 1 verse 18-19. Receive the beguiling of Satan
to say that salvation is salvation to be a work of the
will. What does that do? It doesn't
sound like much, does it, that salvation is by the will of man?
You know, people say, well, I believe salvation is by the grace of
God. But, you know, you need to exercise your free will. That doesn't sound like as much.
But to add that is to move completely from the gospel. is the movement
of simplicity of it. Faith is simple, but faith is
impossible except God give it. Is that not simple words? God
must give faith, and when God gives faith, the man believes. And the man gives glory not to
his will, but to God. All that the Father chose, the
Son redeemed, and all that the Spirit calls will continue to
believe until the end. Are those any complex words?
Our Lord said this. He said that all that the Father
should give me, I should lose nothing. Raise it up again from the last
day, and this is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone
that seeth the Son and believeth on Him may have everlasting life,
and I will. Are there maybe, might, perhaps? No, I will. I will raise you
up to the last day. You should take confidence in
this if you believe in Christ. I don't believe you're surmounted
by doubt, you're surmounted by fear, you're surmounted by trouble.
You are. Our lot in life is trouble. In this world you shall have
true relationship But what is our cheer, what is our joy? Is
this, that all that God's saying, He will keep. Keep. Peter says, to you and to thee,
you are kept. Now, unto salvation ready to be revealed
at the last hour. I think of Noah. When I think
of being kept, I like to think of Noah in the Ark. 18 months he was in that boat. Does anybody assume it was pleasant? Anybody been around the farm
at all? I'm sure that it was very unpleasant. The stench that was in there
was probably horrible. I imagine that for a hundred,
imagine you didn't take a bath for a hundred, for eighteen months. I imagine it was very unpleasant
for them. But were they not safe? Were they not kept? by the power
of God. Was there any way that anything
should penetrate and enter into the ark to hurt or to kill? None. You're safe. Trouble gets safe. Is that not
your experience in grace? No, not so. Are we not troubled
but safe, kept by the power of God? And these are the simple
truths that make us rejoice. in the midst of our unpleasant,
in the midst of our tribulation, in the midst of our trouble.
These are the simple joys we cling to. We will rue, completely
rue, that God in grace chose us to be hopeful. The Son of God came and of our
salvation, our redemption. The Spirit at the appointed time
came and gave us life and faith in Christ. And the single gospel
that was a mystery to us, now we understand. Now we know. And you know what? We persevered. I've been believing this gospel.
Clinging to this gospel. I need this gospel. I love this
gospel. desire that you do not. Why can't you move from that
creature? Any man think he can stand, but
they can't. We should always be aware of
our enemy. His devices guide us. Don't move. Don't compromise. Be patient. Be faithful. Be courteous. Be generous. Pray God to keep
this in your hearts and minds.