Go with me, if you would, to
2 Corinthians 11. 2 Corinthians 11. I have told you this before. I've mentioned to you before
that this has happened to me. And this may seem strange. I don't know. Maybe you'll understand. I'm just going to be honest with
you for a minute here. Sunday is a big day for me. Sundays
are a big, a very big day. It's the culmination of a week
of studying and preparing. And I know Sunday is the first
day of the week, but to me, it's the last day of all of my work. And it's a big day. It starts very early in the morning. And it consists of going over
notes and preaching notes, and then going over more notes and
preaching those notes. And it's a day that, you know,
I have a message tonight, but I have three messages on Sunday.
And while I'm in the Bible study, trying to make sure I stay on
track for the Bible study and don't cross over into what I'm
about to say Sunday morning. And sometimes I'll get into Sunday
morning and go, wait a minute, that's tonight. Hold up, save
that. So it's just a big day for me. And a lot of times I'll get to
the study on Monday morning and I'll think, now what? Now I know that sounds funny. because we know what now, but
this happens a lot. I'll get there Monday morning
after the whirlwind, and I think this all the time. I literally
think this all the time. I think, I said everything I
know to say yesterday. Now what? What do I say now? What would the Lord have me to
say now? Lord, what is the message now? It's a big question mark. And sometimes that big question
mark carries all the way from Monday into Tuesday. I just sometimes
scour the scriptures and just back and forth, Genesis to Revelation. And this big question mark goes
from Monday to Tuesday or later, Wednesday. And I'm just begging, I'm just
begging. I've gotten to the place many
times where I have said, Lord, I'll just stop. And I'll just
sit here until you are pleased to tell me what to say. Because
I'm honestly wanting to know what is the message now? What is the message now? We talk
about messages for today. I am constantly reminded, I am
being so sincere right now, I am constantly reminded that we are
totally dependent on the Spirit of God. It doesn't matter what
we know. We are totally dependent on the
Spirit of God. From receiving the message to
delivering the message, to hearing and believing on and worshiping
in the message. We are totally dependent on the
spirit of God. This is not about finding an
outline. This is about receiving a message. And until our God is pleased
to give it, we're at the mercy of waiting on him. And that's what happened to me
this week. I had to spend a little time asking and begging and waiting. And I'm glad that that was the
case because it really emphasized this point to me. After much time of asking now,
what Lord, what, what would you have me to say now? What's what's
the message now? This line popped into my heart.
What's the message now? The simplicity that is in Christ. That's the message now. The simplicity
that is in Christ. You said everything you know
to say last week. All right, you said everything
you know to say last week. And you're wondering, what's
the message this week? Here it is. Christ alone. That's the message this week.
After we say everything that we know to say about that this
week, this will be our message next week. Christ alone. Christ alone, the simplicity
that is in Christ. It was Christ then, it's Christ
now, and it's gonna be Christ from here on out. By God's grace,
by God's grace, we preach Christ. That thought brings so much comfort
to my heart. When the Lord, you know, I believe
the Lord gives messages through His Word, by His Spirit. And
when that was settled on my heart, I felt such a sense of relief
and I felt such a sense of comfort. because we love the subject of
Christ alone. We love the subject of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. So 2 Corinthians 11 verse 1,
the Apostle Paul right here said, would to God you could bear with
me a little in my folly and indeed bear with me. And that's how
I feel in my flesh. And again, I told you, I'm just
going to be honest with you. This is how I feel in my flesh
concerning my studying and concerning my preaching and concerning my
pastoring. When I think about all of that
in the weakness of my flesh, it all feels like folly to me.
That's what it feels like. It just feels like folly. I just
see foolishness and insufficiency. But I pray that God will let
you bear with me in my folly. Verse two, Paul said, for I am
jealous over you with godly jealousy. And I believe in my soul, I can
say that with this man. He said, I'm 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."
What that means is no one else. No one else. Paul said, my whole
goal and calling as a minister and a declarer of God's Word. You know, you call people who
have my profession a minister. We minister the Word of God. And Paul said, my goal and my
calling as a minister and as a declarer of the word of God
is to point you to Christ and to tell you about your union
with Christ and to not defile you with anything else. Him alone. Him alone. But he said, I fear
that at some point, and I do too. I do too. I fear this for myself. Man, I fear this for myself.
I fear this for myself. And I fear this for you. I'm
paraphrasing, we'll read it here in just a second. Paul said,
I fear that at some point, our adversary and our own sin, is gonna come whisper into our
ears, all of our ears, and into our hearts, Christ is not enough. Isn't there something more? You heard that already. That's
what was said last week. That's what's gonna be said next
week. There has to be more. There has to be more. What else
is there? Now what? Now what? Verse three, Paul said, 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. Oh Lord, doesn't see that make
you cry a prayer in your heart, Lord? Please give us the simplicity
that is in Christ. Please give us Christ alone. Give us a heart for Christ alone. Oh, give me a heart for Christ
alone. Remove all thoughts of trying
to impress anybody and put on a show for anybody and outwit
anybody and who knows what. Just give me a heart for Christ
alone. Give us faith in Christ alone. Give us the message of Christ
alone. Give us Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. Join us, unite us, present us
to the simplicity that is in Christ. The simplicity, the simplicity. Now, let me say concerning the
word simplicity, that word does not mean simple. It doesn't mean simple. Nothing
about our salvation in Christ and what it took to join us and
to unite us and to espouse us to the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing
about that was simple from the design of it to the execution
of it. Nothing about that was simple.
Nothing about the person of the Lord Jesus Christ is simple.
Nothing about the work of his redemption for us was simple,
nothing. Turn with me over to Mark chapter
10. Mark chapter 10 verse 23, And Jesus looked round about,
and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have
riches enter into the kingdom of God. And the disciples were
astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again and
saith unto them, Children," it's like he said, let me repeat that
to you. He said, children, how hard is
it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of
God? It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle
then for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And
they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who
then can be saved? And Jesus, looking upon them,
saith, With men it is impossible." It's impossible. Simple? Oh,
no. Impossible. In John 6, he said,
no man can come to me, not on his or her own. It's impossible. There was nothing simple about
our salvation at all. Nothing. With us, it was impossible. He said here in verse 27, he
said, but it's not impossible with God. But not with God. He said, with
God, all things are possible. And that's what Christ accomplished
in our salvation. He accomplished the impossible. That's what he did. He accomplished
the impossible. Nothing was simple about it.
Just ask the one who was marred more than any man. Ask him how
simple that was. Just ask the one who was literally
separated from God. Ask him how simple that was. There was nothing simple about
it. And that's not what the word simplicity means. Not at all.
This is what it means. It means oneness. It means singleness. It means fullness. It means completeness. What it means is Christ is all. All of it. It means Christ is
enough. That's what it means. Christ
is enough. Go with me back to 2 Corinthians
11. Verse 3, Paul said, 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 singleness, the oneness, the completeness, the fullness
that is in Christ. Now, I want to ask this question
to all of us, and I want all of us to truly ask our own selves
this question in the heart. Don't let me just say it and
then have no response to it. Take it. Ask it to yourself and
then answer yourself quietly in your own heart. Ask this,
answer this. The scripture says, examine yourselves. And we should do that because
God is examining us. So let's get honest before God. Let's get honest with ourselves.
Go into your heart alone and answer this question. Here it
is. Is Christ enough? Is Christ enough? Is the word of Christ enough? You know, this precious word.
A man just read for us in my study and I told a few of the
brethren, I told him, he read a very familiar passage, Colossians
chapter one, and I just told them, the more familiar a scripture
is to me, the more I love it. Honestly, this word is so precious
to us. Our flesh is so weak, we don't
devote time to it like we should, and we don't, when you turn to
us, you ruin the whole thing, and it's a big disappointment.
But if you just look at this word, this word is precious to
us. Is the words of Christ enough,
or do we need to add the words of man to this? That's what everybody
tries to do. You know, we have the book of
Christ right here, but men want to go get the other books of
men and they want to study the books of men and they want to
talk about the books of men. And is this enough or do we need
to add something to it? I tell you what Solomon said
in Ecclesiastes 12, he said of the making of many books, there
is no end. and much study is a weariness
of the flesh." He said, here's the conclusion of the whole matter,
fear God and keep, that means hold to, cling to His commandments,
for this is the whole of man. And it is, this is all man needs. We don't need to listen to any
man. A true preacher is only gonna say God's words. Really. So this is all we need. Christ's
word is enough. It's enough. All right, now is
the work of Christ enough? Ask yourself, is the work of
Christ enough? The righteousness that he earned,
that precious savior became a man and walked this earth and he
earned a righteousness before God. He earned what everybody
else is trying to do. He did it. And he gave what he earned to
his people. He earned it only to give it
to his people. That's the only reason he is
righteousness. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. And he came and earned a perfect
record to give it to his people. Are his good deeds enough or
do we need to add our good deeds to his what in quotes, what we
think are good deeds. Paul told Timothy, I know whom
I have believed and am persuaded that he is able alone by himself
to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. Christ's deeds are the only good
deeds there are. There's none good but God and
his deeds are enough. They're enough. All right, what
about this? Is the cross of Christ enough? The blood, is the blood of Christ
enough to put away our sin? Do you have bad, wicked, horrible
sin? You know, some people have little
sins. Everybody has all kinds of sins, but we have some bad sins. unmentionable
things. Is the blood of Christ enough
to put away all of your sins? I mean all of your sins. Is the
death, the sacrifice, the offering, you know, there was no sweeping
that under the rug, that had to be dealt with and God dealt
with it in Christ his son. And after the father shed the
blood of his own son, his son came back to the father pleading
that blood. Was that enough or do we still need to try to put
away our own sin? Hebrews 10 says, this man, after
he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on
the right hand of God. It says, by one offering, he
perfected forever them that are sanctified. His blood was enough. His death was enough. His payment
was enough. All that was required. When He
said it was finished, judgment said it's finished. And the law
said it's finished. Everything and everyone was satisfied. You just think about the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I know that we don't know his
image. We don't, he has not revealed his face and there, we don't
know what we shall be, but we know when he appears, we're going
to be like him because we're going to see him as he is. But
just think of in whatever ability the spirit will give us. Just
think of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. This person, is
this person enough? Is this person enough for you to satisfy your worship, to satisfy
your religion, to satisfy your doctrine, to satisfy you? Is this person enough for me,
this man? I think about this glorious man, this beautiful man, Is He enough? Is faith in Him
enough? You know, we are trusting Him. You know why we have any ounce
of calmness to us and settledness to us? It's because we're trusting
Him. Is faith in Him enough? And is rest in Him, is that enough? in order to be satisfied. Do
we need golden streets? And do we need pearly gates?
And do we need mansions? That's what everybody's waiting
on. Do we really need all that stuff?
Or is He enough? He's enough, isn't He? There's a song called, How Tedious
and Tasteless the Hours. And one of the verses in that
song says, content with beholding his face. My all to his pleasure
resigned. No changes of season or place
would make any change in my mind. While blessed with a sense of
his love, a palace, a toy would appear. And prisons would palaces
prove if the Lord Jesus would dwell with me there." That means
it's all about Him. That's what it means. That means
everything is nothing if He's not there and nothing is everything. A palace would be nothing and
prison would be a palace if He would be with me. It's all about
Him and He's enough. He's enough. I love how that
woman at the well ran into the city crying, come see a man. Come see a man, come see this
wonderful man, the only man who is enough. His word is enough. His work is enough. His cross
is enough. He is enough. And we've already answered this
question, but let's ask it anyway. Is his glory enough? Or do I need to try to add mine
to it? Is Him getting all the glory
enough or does He need to share it with me? Verse 3, Paul said,
I fear lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through
his subtlety. You know that account in Genesis
chapter 3. You know what it says there.
It says the serpent asked Eve, he said, are you going to eat
that fruit? And she said, we can't. God said in the day that you
eat of it, you'll surely die. And the serpent said, you won't
die. God said that because he knows he's going to have to share
his knowledge with you. In the day that you eat of it,
you're going to know just like he knows. And he said that because he knows
he's going to have to share his judgment with you. And the day
you eat of it, you're going to know good and evil just like
he does. And he said that because he knows
he's going to have to share his wisdom with you. This is a tree
to make one wise. He said, if you eat this, God
won't have all the glory anymore. He'll have to share it with you.
Now he lied. He obviously lied. God has the
glory. He has always had the glory and
he is always going to have the glory. And here's the question we need
to ask ourselves. Do we say amen to that? Is our heart's desire for Him
to have all the glory? Let that be a real question to
your heart. Is your heart's desire for Him to have all the glory? Is the glory of Christ enough? Or does He need to share it with
me? Paul said, God forbid that I
should glory save in the cross. of our Lord Jesus Christ. He
said, If any man glory, let him glory in the Lord. Verse 1, Would
to God you could bear with me a little in my folly, and indeed
bear with me. For 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.
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 singleness, the oneness,
the fullness, the completeness. May God give us a resolve for
Christ alone. I mean, I really pray that for
us. Bear with me in my folly. And let's press toward the mark.
Let's press toward the mark, just like the huckster. I'm not
going to tell you that story. I'm going to wait a while before
I read the whole story to you, but I'll give you a snippet.
That man sang one song. He could only sing one song.
Every question they asked him, he sang one song. I'm just a
sinner and nothing at all. But Jesus Christ is my all and
in all. My all and in all. He's all we
have. He's all we need. He's all of
our hope. He's all of our joy. That is
the simplicity that is in Christ. He is the single object of our
hope. He's all of it. I also love how
John Jasper, that old preacher from many years ago, somebody
asked him one time, when you get to the gates of heaven, if
the question is asked to you, what right do you have to be
here? What are you going to say? He said, I'm gonna say, I don't
have any right to be here. I'm not here on my right. I'm
here on the right of another. My Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
who loved me and washed me from my sin in his own blood. All
my eggs are in his basket. That's what he was saying. All
my hope is in him. All my plea is in him. My all,
our all is singled in on Him. Lord, keep our eyes and our hearts
on Christ. Pray He will. All right, let's
all stand together.