You'd like to follow along. I'll
be in 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 2nd Corinthians chapter 11
And I think I'm gonna read the first five verses and stop there Would to God ye 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. Then I may present you as a chaste
virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means
is the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should
be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he
that cometh preaches another Jesus, whom ye have not preached,
we have not preached, excuse me, or if ye receive another
spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have
not accepted, ye might bear with him. For I suppose that I was
not a wit behind the very cheapest apostles. And I'm just gonna
stop right there. because Paul goes on to tell
them about what he's done while he was at Corinth. But here's
the thing. My title, Paul, is single-minded. Single-minded. We preach. That's what I do when I come
here. We preach. And we preach knowing that we
cannot explain God to fallen men. But we preach, we preach. We
endeavor to proclaim a risen Lord to fallen men. Now, in order to have a risen
Lord, it necessitates the explanation of his dying. And his dying means that we have
to proclaim his life on earth as a man. And his life tells us we have
to tell of his incarnation, his condescension, his birth as a
child on this earth, the son that was given. We preach
as best we can. God manifests in the flesh. Justified in the spirit, seen
of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, and believed on in
the world. People don't understand that's
just as big a miracle as the rest of it. They think it's nothing
that people believe the gospel. No, no, no. It's right here with
this. God manifests in the flesh, justified
in the spirit, seen of angels, preached to the Gentiles, and
believed on in the world, and received up into glory. In short,
we preach Christ and him crucified. And we preach to believers and
unbelievers alike. Because there's only one gospel,
there's only one message. Believers believe and unbelievers
do not God is sufficient and we are
not and We preach that's what we're here for But here's Paul
is writing this letter to people he had preached to before who
had believed He's writing to the believers At Corinth And he says, bear with me in
my folly. And the word my is interpolated
so you could read it, bear with me a little in folly. And then
he repeats it, bear with me, bear with me. Understand this
is important because Paul repeating himself shows that this is important. And he says these words, I am
jealous over you with a godly jealousy. has a reason For what
he refers to as his folly or as folly But it's not a fleshly
reason It's a godly reason. I am jealous over you with a
godly jealousy Paul wasn't jealous over them as people Paul was
jealous over them as has as those whom he had preached the gospel
to and that they believed. Paul is speaking as the man who
came and stayed with the Corinthians for a year and a half. And the
reason that he had stayed there for a year and a half was, I
preached it last week, God told him, I have much people in this
city. So Paul knew God still had much people in this city.
But he says, he preached to him under the explicit orders from
Jesus Christ, and he states it this way. And I love the way
this is stated. He espoused them to one husband. Espoused them to one husband.
What's that mean? Basically, the word means betrothed. The
other way of definition for that word is bound. You are bound to one husband. I have binded you to one husband.
Why does that mean? I preached one gospel. I preached
one Jesus Christ. I preached one risen Lord. I
preached one Christ crucified. He wrote that in the first epistle
to the Corinthians. Determined to know nothing among
you except Christ and him crucified. He's espoused you to one husband
He preached to you the true and the living Jesus Christ by the
gospel of Christ, and you believed. You believe. That's who he's
writing to. And then he says these next three
words. But I fear. This is why there's
a warning. This is why Paul says what my
folly, I fear, I fear. You understand, God knows them
that are his, God knows their condition, and God is in control,
and Paul knows that, but here's the thing, but I fear. We do,
we do. Paul is writing as an apostle
to those, to warn those to whom he had preached the gospel. Walter,
a pastoral comment, a warning, a concern, and this is not the
first one Paul wrote to the Corinthians about, let's just put it that
way, I'm not gonna go into it. But he says there's one particular
fear I got here. As the serpent beguiled Eve through
his subtlety. Now I'm not gonna keep you long
today, but I do wanna point this out. Paul is not worried about pool
halls and beer joints. You understand? He's not worried
about drunkenness here. This is not what he's talking
about. He dealt with some other problems in the other epistle
that needed to be dealt with. About eating and drinking at
the Lord's table and other things. Other things they had problems
with. Like I said, I'm not gonna go into that. But the Corinthians
had their problems. But that's not what he's talking
about here. That's not. He's worried about them being
beguiled through subtlety, through subtlety. And in particular, Paul is worried
about religious subtlety. And I am too. You understand, this world hasn't
changed for the better, for the better. in 2,000 years, around
2,000 years when this was written. But there's another part of that.
Because man has changed, but for the worse. It says it in
scripture, evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse. And there's gonna be people around
who have itching ears, it says. And they'll heap to themselves
teachers having itching ears. And what will they do? They lead
away from the Christ of God. That's what it is. Paul's worried
about subtlety, because subtle changes are easier to overlook. They really are. And here we
are after 2,000 years of subtle changes, and what have we got? Well, I'd tell you to turn on
the news and watch, but I don't want you to really do that if
you don't want to. We are surrounded by violence
in the name of religion. We are surrounded by hatred in
the name of religion. We are surrounded by diversion,
division, and madness. Now, it's not all in the name
of religion. Some's in the name of race. Some's in the name of
hatred. Some's just ignorance. I mean,
just plain ignorance. But that's what we're surrounded
by, people. 2,000 years and things have not
gotten better. But subtle changes come in. That's
why he said the word beguiled, deceived. What did Christ say? A little leaven leavens the whole
lump. What's that mean? It's a little
thing. It's a little change. May not seem like much, but you
end up with people getting saved by their own free will. But I'm
gonna tell you this. Some years ago, in Paul's day,
that same thing was going on. You understand? There were Jews
running around at that time, Judaizers is what they called
them. They said they were believers. But then they would tell people
they had to be circumcised. Had to be circumcised. To keep that part of the law,
just that little bitty part, according to the law of Moses,
you had to be circumcised to be saved. What was that? That was a little leaven. And
Paul withstood Peter to the face just because Peter went from
eating with the Gentiles over to eating with some Jews that
came to visit. What was that? That was a little
leaven. That was a little leaven. And you're saying Paul did not
stand for it. Why? Because a little leaven
leavens the whole lot. You start separating The people
of God? Uh-uh. Christ said there's one fold
and there's one shepherd. And I'm single-minded about that.
There's one fold and there's one shepherd. And there's no
division between the people of God. And I'll be bolder still. There never has been. Because there has only ever been
One shepherd, the good shepherd Jesus Christ. And that's Old
Testament and new. And you can take that however
you want to. I'll explain it someday. And you might believe
me, you might not. I don't know, but it's in the
scriptures. There's only one salvation, and that is in the
Lord Jesus Christ. But subtle changes may be overlooked. A beguiling, a beguiling. What does Paul warn in another
book, I think it's Paul. He warns about Satan's ministers.
What about them? Well, they don't come as ministers
of darkness. No, no, he says they come as
ministers of light. Now, they don't come as ministers
of the light, Jesus Christ, because they'll suddenly change it just
a little bit, you know? Christ is necessary, but he's
made salvation available for you. Have you ever heard that? Christ has made it possible for
man to be saved. But you gotta believe. You gotta
come. Some of them say you gotta be
baptized. Subtle changes. Oh no, we believe
in Jesus. We believe he's Lord. We believe
he's the one that saved everybody. But you have to. All right. You start hearing preaching like
that, somebody's changing something. because the Lord Jesus Christ
is our salvation. We are redeemed. We were redeemed
2,000 years ago when he died and was resurrected. Redemption has passed and salvation
is coming. and is coming now to his people,
but that's still through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
For by grace are you saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God. I'm sorry, I feel enough Baptist
to say that every Sunday, Walter. Why? By grace are you saved,
through faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of
God. We are, what? His workmanship. A lot of Baptists don't want
to read that part. I don't understand it. We're
His workmanship. Created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Salvation is of the Lord. That's
what it says in Jonah. Salvation is of the Lord because
it is. But he's worried, he says here,
as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, that so your mind
should be corrupted from what? The simplicity that is in Christ. Now simplicity is a tricky word.
A lot of people want to take it and say, here's God's simple
plan of salvation. It's really not. It's really
not. Man is simple, God is not. There is a simplicity in Christ,
but I like another word better, and I've heard Henry use it,
and I heard Earl use it, and I looked it up in the Greek,
and it's there, that's what is actually the first definition
of this Greek word, is singleness, that is in Christ. There's a
singleness in Christ, and I really like that word. That's the first definition of
the word. The singleness that is in Christ, Christ is our Lord. Christ is our life. Christ is our light, and Christ
is our truth. Now, this is also true. Christ
is the Lord, whether he's your Lord or not. Christ is the life,
whether he's your life or not. Christ is the light, whether
he's your light or your blind. And Christ is the truth, period. Then as Paul has said several
places, there is the singular gospel of Christ. What is it? One Lord, one faith,
one baptism. Singular gospel, it's the gospel
of God. It's the gospel of Christ. It's
the gospel of God's dear son It's the gospel of truth, and
it's the gospel There's only one anything else Let's just
be blunt about it anything else is a lie If you're saved by your
own free will that's a lie If they tell you that they're telling
you a lie Because that's not what this book says This book
says, and I quoted it last week, with men it's impossible, but
with God all things are possible. The singular gospel of Christ.
One new birth, one gospel, one walk, one fellowship, one flock,
one church, one body, and one head. One head. There's one land. as if had been
slain from before the foundation of the world. And that lamb,
that man, Christ Jesus, arose and ascended to the Father, and
he is seated on the right hand of the Father, expecting his
enemies to be made his footstool. There's only one Christ. There's
only one Christ. And matter of fact, what can
you say about Christ in heaven? You could say what he was on
earth, but here's this. Our God is in the heavens. He
hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. What's that mean? That means that Christ is sovereign.
You want to say any different, you're lying. You want to say
he's mostly sovereign, partly sovereign, but he won't go against
your free will, you're lying. I'm sorry folks, that's just
the truth of it. He's in the heaven, he's done whatsoever
he hath pleased, and right now he is doing whatsoever he pleases. And what's he gonna do? Well
he's gonna do whatsoever he pleases. Understand Jesus Christ is the
same yesterday, today, and forever. He always has done what he pleased. He is doing what he please I
like saying this and he's gonna do what he is, please. Ah There's
a singleness in Christ a singleness in Christ, it's not simple But
it is single And it is simple How do you do this Because in
all things, God has given it to him. In all things, Christ
has the preeminence. The preeminence. Oh, I like that. And there's a reason. Because Jesus Christ is the preeminent
one. And there's none beside him.
There's none beside God, because the singleness of Jesus Christ
is real, and he is the one with whom we have to do. The singleness of Christ. There
is no other. What did Paul say here in this
chapter? I have espoused you to one husband, to one husband. You know why? because there only
is one husband. And what are we called in other
places talking about? The bride of Christ. It seems weird for me to talk
about having a husband. It seems weird to me. It's scriptural
though. But we are his body, he is the
head. and we are espoused to one husband. Paul says, don't be beguiled.
Don't let any subtlety slip. You understand, we say it and
we say it again and again. This book, this scripture, is
our soul proof, if you wanna put it that way. Our soul authority
for what it is. The truth of God saved for us,
preserved for us, given to us. What man says has to be taken
in context of this book. We don't take this book in the
context of what men say. What's it say then? For he that
cometh preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached. Or
if you receive another spirit which you have not received,
another gospel which you've not accepted, you might well bear
with him. But here's the thing. If they
speak not according to the law and the testimony, it's because
there's no light in them. You understand? It's not because
that there's a little light in them. It's because there's no
light in them. Paul's warning here is real.
Very real. You understand? And Paul was
giving this warning 2,000 years ago, Walter. 2,000 years ago. Man hadn't gotten any better.
I already said it. Man's not getting any better. You know, if that's not proof
against evolution, I don't know what is. You understand? And Paul here was actually relaying
the words of Christ in part Matthew 24 and verse
23 you don't have to turn there. I'm just gonna read it then if
any man shall say unto you lo Here is Christ or there Believe
it not believe it not for there shall arise He's already said
it these are the words of Christ there shall arise false Christ
And I'm gonna tell you this That's not just some idiot saying, I'm
Jesus. Although it does include those.
God wouldn't leave out the idiots, we're full of them. It's not
just that. But there shall arise false Christ,
what? And false prophets. And false
prophets. And shall show great signs and
wonders insomuch that, and I love this part, if it were possible,
they shall deceive the very elect. Thank God it's not possible.
But it's not because you're so smart. It's because God's so
powerful. It's because God's so good. And
here's the thing, and this is the, when you start thinking
about these things, sometimes it will blow your mind a little
bit. It will just kind of stun you, okay? You understand, false
prophets and false Christ are for my good and God's glory.
All things work together for good to them that love God. What,
does that include false prophets? You bet it does. You bet it does. He's got to arm you against them.
He's got to arm you against being beguiled like the serpent did
with his subtlety. You gotta learn the nuances.
People will try to sneak stuff in. That's what Paul said when
he's talking to the Ephesians. He says, they're going to come
from among you. What? Grievous wolves in sheep's
clothing. In sheep's clothing. They will
try to beguile you. They'll try to deceive you. They'll
try to misdirect you to while you're looking over here, they're
slipping in something up front. And what? A little leaven still
leavens the whole lump. John wrote of the spirit of Antichrist
was now already in the world. Again, around 2,000 years ago.
Deceivers who confess not that Jesus Christ is coming to the
flesh. Coming to the flesh. Here's the
thing. Anything against the true Christ
is Antichrist. Anything against the true Christ. And it's already here, been here
for over 2,000 years. It's been here since the world
was made. You understand? Your fathers slew the prophets. Now he's talking about the prophets
of God. And he was talking to Jews. There were those who were burned
by the Church of Rome. for holding forth this Christ. Now, I'm not calling for those
days to come back, but you understand, man is exactly the same. And
if he could get away with it, I've seen the hatred in their
eyes. Walter, you were there. Linda, Pam, you were there. I
don't know if you were there at Paul or not at that time,
but man, I mean, seriously, Didn't hear it Walter said it told me
later said let's hang them up from a tree why? because of speaking
about this Christ the singleness of Christ Leaving out any and
all of man's works. That's the singleness of Christ Now I was talking to Deb in the
kitchen yesterday and I told her, I said, there is in reality,
a reality to that phrase, the simplicity that's in Christ.
Because there's a lot of questions you can ask a believer that have
one single answer. Who do you preach? Christ. Who do you believe? Christ. Who do you love? Christ. Why do you drive past 50 churches
to get to this place? Christ. And because Christ is
preached here. And where are you going? Well,
we're going to Christ. He's coming for his church and
his people. Believers are identified with
Christ because believers are in Christ Jesus now the world The world sees us as narrow-minded I Like single-minded better the
world Walter may say that we're bigoted That we won't give any heed to
to their thoughts, to their beliefs, or their reasons, or their denomination. We're not broad-minded enough. That's what I've heard. You're
too narrow-minded. We're too narrow-minded to see
their point of view. And my answer to all those things
is, yes, I am, by his grace. But here's the reason why, and
I've tried to explain this, but they don't get it, but I think
you might. Understand, I used to have their point of view. I used to know their point of
view because it was mine. Now, it may not have been exactly
the same one as the person who's talking to me, but I had all
my own thoughts about God. And you know what? I had to be
shown I was wrong. Believers are the only ones who
know what it is like to be an unbeliever and to be a believer. Believers are the only one who
know they're no longer in the pit. Remember the pit from which you
are digging. And I like what Walter said one
time. Don't go there and dance around the edge of it. Just remember
it. Why? Because the rest of the
world around you is still in that pit. And that's their point
of view. And I refuse to go back to that
point of view. But I know about it. I know about
it. Oh no. We don't have blind faith. We
have faith that sees. We've been given eyes that see,
ears that hear, and a heart that understands. Otherwise, I'd be
right there with them fussing at you guys. And I know that. Believers are the only ones who
know both sides of this discussion. But believers are now single-minded
in Christ Jesus. We can get distracted, we can
get blindsided sometimes. But in here, there's a single-mindedness,
a gift of God from Jesus Christ and his spirit and the Father
above to know his son. and the singleness that is in
Christ Jesus. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
again for this day and this time. Thank you, Lord. For your Son, our Lord, who came
and gave himself for us and is now calling us out of this world
into his marvelous light. opening blind eyes, opening deaf
ears, giving a heart of flesh that can understand your word
and your will in your book. Thank you, Lord. In Christ's
name, we pray. Be with Walter and Paul as they
come to preach your gospel. We will give you all the honor
and glory because it's yours now and forever. Amen.