Turn with me to the book of 2
Corinthians chapter 11. 2 Corinthians chapter 11. We're going to look at a verse
of scripture in 2 Corinthians 11 and I want you to look first
at the first three words of verse 3 of chapter 11. The Apostle
Paul is writing here and he begins with, but I fear, but I fear. Now the Apostle Paul had experienced
some things, some fearful and frightening things. We remember
he was riding down to Damascus on his horse and he was hurled
off his Horson landed on his face and when he came to himself
he was blind. That would be a fearful thing.
He had been spoken to by a voice from heaven whom he at the time
knew was Lord. Then he had been taken to the
third heavens. To the third heavens. and seeing
what was there. He found out that his highfalutin
education was not an asset but rather a great liability in the
face of the true and living God. Paul found himself suddenly in
the hands of the one whose children he had set about to persecute
and kill. That'd be a fearful situation,
wouldn't it? You set about to kill a man's children and suddenly
you find out he's got you by the scruff of the neck and you
are completely at his mercy. So when Paul says in verse 3
of 1 Corinthians 11, he says, I fear. We'd be wise to pay attention
at what it was that caused him to fear. If something alarmed
Paul, Perhaps I ought to be alarmed too. Now read a little further
in this verse. He says, But I fear, lest by
any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so
your minds should be corrupted. Paul is saying here, after all
these things I've experienced that were fearful, he said, here's
one I fear for now. He said, I'm afraid your minds
will be corrupted. Now notice it says they're minds. They're minds. We all have a
mind, don't we? Too often it gets away from us,
doesn't it? He said, I fear lest your minds be corrupted. Now
that tells us some important things. Number one is that the
mind of a believer can be corrupted. He was writing this letter to
the believers. in Corinth. He wasn't writing
to the unbelievers. He was writing to the believers
in Corinth and therefore to us as well. And he's saying, I fear
lest your minds be corrupted. And that word corrupted means
shriveled or withered. It means not working correctly.
It means not at full capacity or as it should. It means not
processing information rightly. It means not understanding truth
as it's revealed or in context. It means getting facts without
spiritual revelation. And it's a terrible thing to
live with a diminished or withered mind. Now, I do want us to notice
this. He didn't say, you know, you
believers, I'm afraid that your mind's been destroyed. I'm glad
it doesn't say that. You know our mind cannot be destroyed.
The new mind we have. I'm glad it doesn't say your
mind's been forsaken. I'm glad it doesn't say that. I'm glad it doesn't say I've
abandoned your mind. I've condemned your mind. What
doesn't say that, does it? I'm so glad about that. What
it says, though, is that I'm afraid your mind's shriveling
up on you. It's withering. And it's being
diminished. And I know a little bit about this.
And others of you do hear about a shriveled or withered mind. I'm talking about in the flesh.
I was telling Rebecca in the car yesterday, I'm getting a
little concerned. I mean, somebody I've known all
my life walks up and I'm talking to somebody I don't think they
know and I want to introduce them, I can't thank you, you're
mine. I may have known, I mean your
name, I may have known you, there it is, I nearly lost it there.
I've known you all my life, just about, you know, 40 years or
something and your name won't come. It just won't come. Dates, oh, don't ask me my anniversary,
don't ask me stuff. Sometimes it just won't come.
And it's a bit frightening to think that my mind's shriveling
up, but it's happening. It comes with age. But now, Paul's
not talking about our physical mind, our natural mind here.
He's talking about another matter which really ought to frighten
us more. It's okay if I lose my mind and you know, you gotta
park me in a corner somewhere every day and I don't desire
that, but it'll be all right. I'm not losing much in that case.
But oh, I don't wanna lose my spiritual mind. I don't want
it to wither and shrivel up on me in this life. And God deliver
us and our pastor from this great evil, a withered spiritual mind. Because apparently it can happen.
It happened in Corinth, didn't it? And remember who Paul is
writing to here, as I said, two believers. You know, the unbeliever
didn't suffer from a withered or a spiritual or shriveled spiritual
mind. You know why? He hadn't got one.
He hadn't got one. When Adam ate of that fruit,
His spiritual mind died. He lost his mind. That's why
we behave the way we do, so unspiritual, so ungodly, is we lost our mind. But the gift of God to the believer
is a new mind and a new heart. God, by his spirit, gave us a
new mind, which thinks right. which can see things in the word
and recognize truth and discern between evil and good. What happened to Adam? In Genesis
6 it says, every imagination of the thoughts. It says, and
the heart, but in this case we're talking about the mind. He said,
not just, you know, not just Adam wasn't thinking right about
some things, Oh, he wasn't thinking right about anything. And until
we get a new man, we're not thinking right about anything spiritual
because we're out of our mind. And the gift of God to all believers,
to all his children is a new man and a new heart. One that
understands and believes truth and a man that knows Christ and
a heart to love him. And Paul says here, I fear, I
fear that your mind is being corrupted. Now how can a believer's
mind be corrupted? What brought this about? This
may be even more frightening. Do you see what he said here?
But I fear lest by any means, by any means, I wish I could
give you a list that says, okay, here's the 10 things that'll
corrupt your mind. I can't do that. It could be,
you know, so strong is the old mind and so fragile and weak
is the new mind, any attack, any temptation, any situation
is apt to corrupt or wither our mind. It can come from any direction. Now, Paul then goes on and gives
a good example so that we might have a little better understanding
of what to beware, what to be concerned about. You notice that
he gives this example. He says, Paul goes back to the
very first means by which a man was first corrupted. It was in
the Garden of Eden as the serpent beguiled Eve through subtlety. Now the pattern is always fits this and there's
many means but there's just one pattern. Turn over, hold 2 Corinthians
and turn over to Colossians 2 with me. The word beguile, the word beguile
Eve was beguiled. She was deceived. She was seduced. She was enticed. Eve had a much
better mind than any of us ever did. I mean, we've come a long
way down since Adam and Eve. Yet, she was beguiled. And it
says a lot about our vulnerability. Look at Colossians 2, verse 1.
says, for I would that you knew what great conflict I have for
you and for them at Laodicea. For as many as have not seen
my face in the flesh, that their hearts might be comforted being
knit together in love and unto all riches of the full assurance
of understanding with the mind to the acknowledgement of the
mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ. in whom are hid
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And this I say, lest
any man should beguile you with enticing words." That's how it
comes. That's how it comes, with enticing
words. Go back to our, well first let's
turn over to Genesis. And let's, Genesis chapter 2
with me. Beguiling is usually done by enticing words, clever
words, twisting of God's word. And with subtlety, that's cunning,
trickery, craftiness. If false preachers and those
who would harm God's people told the truth, no believer's mind
would ever be corrupted if they told the truth. But they don't.
They use clever words and tricky words. Subtlety and error usually
take a lot more words than simple truth. Let's compare in Genesis
what God said with what Satan said. Look at Genesis 2 verse
15. And the Lord God took the man
and put him in the garden of Eden to dress it and keep it.
And 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. Now that's
the sum total of what God said to Adam in the garden. That's
it. Now look right across the page at chapter three and look
what the serpent, who is Satan in the form of that serpent,
had to say. Now the serpent was more subtle. There's that word.
He was being crafty. He was being tricky. He was being
clever. twisting the truth, as you'll see. He 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, you shall not eat of
every tree of the garden? He said, didn't God tell you
you could eat any of these trees? That's pretty subtle, isn't it?
I mean, God said almost that. That's not what he said. He said,
you can eat all the trees of the garden except this one. And
the woman, she noticed that and 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.
You see the difference there? God never said anything about
touching that fruit. He didn't say you touch it, you'll die.
He didn't say that. I don't know where she got that
idea. I don't know if, The subtlety of the serpent put that man in
her head. I don't know where it came from. But it's not actually
the word of God, what he said. And look a little further. She
said, you shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest
you die. And the serpent said unto the woman, you shall not
surely die. The words sound kind of familiar,
don't they? But there's a not in there. You
shall not surely die. You say that's pretty subtle.
Well, it worked. What would it take with her mind
that worked? What would it take for you and
I by any means to get our mind corrupted? For God doth know,
look what Satan said to her. For God doth know that in the
day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened and you
shall be as God's, knowing good and evil. And when the woman
saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant
to the eyes and a 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. This is so subtle and crafty.
Do you see up here in verse 6, is this when the woman saw that
the tree? I don't know how she saw all
of a sudden what she saw. I don't know whether, you know,
when she said, if I touch it, I'll die. And I don't know if
the serpent touched it and he didn't die. I don't know what
happened here, but it was so subtle and crafty. We don't get
it because we know that sin, God tells us in his word, sin's
a bad thing. And yet what do we do? Why do
it? It doesn't take much to convince
us or persuade us, does it? By any means, we'll do it. Well,
this is a slippery slope. You know, you can't really, we
really can't always believe what we think we see or what somebody
says. That's why sitting under a pastor
who has the mind of Christ is crucial. It's vital. A person's well-being is dependent
upon it. Notice I didn't say their salvation,
but their well-being. They're in corruption. So how
did this subtle corruption of the mind of the Corinthians come
about? What happened there that got them? Turn back to 2 Corinthians
chapter 11 with me. What happened here? It says that
they got corrupted through subtlety. You see it, I fear less by any
means, as a serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety. So
your mind should be corrupted, look what from, the simplicity
that is in Christ. I, and that word simplicity here
doesn't mean simple minded or simple to understand. In eternity
is not long enough we'll understand who God is. But it means oneness. singleness, being corrupted from
the singleness of Jesus Christ, the only God-man, the only Savior,
all our salvation, oneness. And I thought how to try to illustrate
this, and y'all stay with me on this illustration a minute,
will you? Let's say the children come down to breakfast, and the
mother says this to the children. She said, now for breakfast,
here's your choices. You can have fried eggs, bacon, toast,
and marmalade. Or you can have sausage, biscuits,
blackberry jam, and scrambled eggs. Or you can have waffles
and syrup, poached eggs, and hash browns. Or you can have
Cheerios, Eggs Benedict, and croissants with honey and butter.
Or you can have granola, breakfast burritos, taco sauce, and tea.
Or you can have a cheese souffle, Canadian bacon, French crullers
with milk. Or you can say a cheese omelet,
French toast with maple syrup and orange juice. Or you can
have corned beef hash, soft boiled eggs, fresh strawberries, and
grapefruit juice. Or you can have bananas foster, bagels,
a Denver omelet, fried potatoes, and coffee. Or you can have chocolate
chip pancakes, chocolate mousse, Cocoa Puffs, and hot chocolate. Let me tell you, that's confusing. That's complicated, isn't it? That is just ridiculous is what
it is. Children ought not be subjected
to that kind of foolishness. On the other hand, let's say
the children come down and mom says, hey, this morning we're
having oatmeal for breakfast. That's pretty simple, isn't it?
have an oatmeal. That's healthy and nutritious
and that's simple. Now let me make this gospel application. Those who would corrupt your
mind are going to come with enticing words and they're going to include
these kind of things. They're going to say salvation
is dependent on a person's obedience to the law. and the performing
of good works, and giving a time, and joining a church, and observing
the ordinances, and being baptized, and loving one another, and praying
through, and faithful church attendance, and abstaining from
alcohol, and doing the best you can in all those the best you're
able to do. That's how they're going to come at you. You think,
who would buy that? Who would buy that? We might
be surprised. Because it's not put that plainly
or clearly. It's with enticing words and
great subtlety. You know, all that's complicated and confusing,
isn't it? Not to mention simply untrue. But it sounds good. It's subtle and beguiling and
totally corrupt. Now, let me give you the contrast
to that. How about the pastor who comes
and says, salvation, is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Period. That's pretty simple, isn't it?
That's pretty plain, isn't it? Anybody here that doesn't understand
that? Is that confusing? Is that enticing? Am I twisting words? That's quoting
scripture. Salvation is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's singular. Do you see?
That's one statement. That's all Christ. Now, am I
saying that Jesus Christ is simple? Oh, no. He's unfathomable. He's glorious. He's holy and
righteous and undefiled. He's man and God. We'll never
understand. But it's not complicated. It's
not confusing. Jesus Christ is not simple in
his complexity. He's simple in what He requires
to be understood by our minds. Does that make sense to you?
Our salvation is not dependent upon understanding the great
mysteries of the scriptures. We all understand exactly what
He would have us to understand. How do we get that understanding?
We come sit under the Word. We read the Word. We ask Him
to reveal things to us. You know His command is simple
and singular. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Now that's simple, isn't it?
Isn't that clear? Isn't that easy? It's all Christ. Let me give you these two things.
The simplicity of the life of Jesus Christ is this. He always
did the right thing. Perfectly. He always did the right thing.
in both thought and deed. Therefore he is righteous." That's
pretty simple, isn't it? That's what the life of Jesus
Christ is. The simplicity of the death of
Jesus Christ is this. He did nothing worthy of death,
but he died for all the sin of all of God's children. They therefore
have no sin. That's clear and plain, isn't
it? Isn't that pretty simple? The good and simple message of
the gospel of God is this. Christ Jesus put away the sin
of His people. Christ Jesus gave those people
His righteousness. Therefore they are saved. Period. Now, it's not that simple. It's not that simple in terms
of what we'll one day see and understand. For right now, boy,
that suits me really well. I'm losing my mind already. I
just don't want to lose him. I don't want to lose Christ. How can we best do that? How can we best not be beguiled
and corrupted of mind? You know, another illustration,
if you watch TV at all or you're on the internet at all, you know
there's so much advice for the young and the old. Now I'm paying
more attention to the old than I used to, but you know, especially
the old, there's all these commercials about what to eat, what to take,
what to do to live a longer, happier, more complete life.
To keep your mind sharp and healthy, you do this diet, you do this
exercise, you take these pills. You know, do you see what I see
all the time in that stuff? And I tell you, that's praying,
that's praying on the fear of the inevitable death, the physical
death that's coming to all of us. It's just praying on that.
Well, is anybody interested in a healthy spiritual mind? I've
got a simple suggestion. Get on a regular, steady diet
of the Lord Jesus Christ and Christ alone. Get on that plan. I hate to use that word. Get
on that. 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. We'll be much
the happier for it because we're less apt to have our mind corrupted.
You know what the word of God is, what is called in the word?
It's a shield. You want some protection from
those who would try to seduce and those who try to say clever
things and draw us away and get us confused? Stay in the Word. Stay in the Word. Understand,
we don't do anything to be saved. We seek Christ through His Word
because He's revealed us that we have been saved. There's a
difference. Now, let me go back to this breakfast
illustration for just a second. Who would ever offer anyone,
much less a child, that ridiculous array of choices. Who would ever
do that? Well, you know there's an answer
to that question. You know who would? Someone trying to impress
somebody else with their cooking skill. You might call them a
culinary pharisee. Somebody who's trying to impress
the whole world. Your kids go to school and they
say, I don't know what all she had but I could add anything
this morning, some variation of that or she can go to telling
her friends and whatever all she was willing to do for her
children. Now, either that's the case or it's
someone trying to appear to be something that they may not actually
be. You know what that is? A parent
who genuinely is concerned with the welfare of their children.
Did you get that? Do we realize almost all children
all the time are going to be seduced by the chocolate things? They're going to pick out of
all that list, when it's over, my guess is almost all the kids
all the time, I'll take that chocolate stuff. And how good
for them is that? A steady diet of that, you know,
and apply this to the religious person who makes simplicity complicated
or confusing or misleading, and it's no different. Those who
want to argue and fuss and divide do not have the glory of God
or the welfare of God's people at heart. To the Corinthians
here, there was a whole group who was trying to convince them,
persuade them that sinful behavior is acceptable among God's people. And they didn't have the glory
of God and the welfare of God's people at heart. The Lord preserveth the simple.
The one in Christ, he'll keep us. Maturity in the gospel, growth
in grace, discernment and wisdom doesn't come with understanding
or debating of the deep mysteries of God. But rather, if the Spirit
of God will protect our mind from corruption by all and any
means, enabling us to focus all our attention on the one, on
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what was happening here
with the Corinthians. And I didn't bring this message
because I thought it was happening here or anything especially,
but it can happen anywhere. Or the warning wouldn't be issued
and wouldn't have been preserved. And we'll ask the Lord to protect
us and keep us in that regard. All right, let's stand and we'll
be dismissed.