Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. I'd like to welcome you to our
program today. I'm glad you could join us. And
if you'd like to follow along in your Bibles, I'm going to
be preaching from the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 11. 2 Corinthians chapter 11. And I'm gonna talk to you about
gospel simplicity. Gospel simplicity. Last week I preached on this
subject from Galatians 1. I preached on the gospel I preach. And then I talked about the difference
between the true gospel of God's grace in Christ and false gospels. And this message here today is
a good follow-up for that. So if you didn't listen to last
week's, get that message or go to our website and listen to
it or order the CD or the DVD. But these two messages sort of
go together. Here in 2 Corinthians 11, the
Apostle Paul is dealing with something similar to what he
dealt with in Galatians, and that is here he had been brought
in by God to establish this church at Corinth, and it was a church
that had a lot of problems. You can read 1 Corinthians and
2 Corinthians and know that. But one of the problems that
they had was false apostles. False preachers. Now Paul deals
with that over in verse 13 of this chapter. In fact, just look
at that, 2 Corinthians 11, 13. He says, for such are false apostles. Now obviously these were men
who claimed to be apostles of Christ, but they were false apostles. And he says they're deceitful
workers here, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
That transformation here was a temporary transformation. They
could change. And at times, they could say
a lot of the right words, but they wouldn't stay with it because
their heart's not in it. And he says in verse 14, 2 Corinthians
11, He says, and no marvel. In other words, this is not something
that should startle us. For Satan himself is transformed
into an angel of light. Now what does he mean by that?
Satan is deceptive. He disguises himself under a
little truth, but he peppers in false doctrine. And to give
you an idea about that, if you want to understand the boldness
of Satan, think about Christ on the Mount of Temptation, as
He went up to the Mount of Temptation, and Satan met Him there to tempt
Him. And you remember one of the things that Satan did? Now,
he did this to the Lord of Glory, to the incarnate Word of God.
He quoted Scripture. So don't ever think that false
apostles cannot quote Scripture. I knew, years ago, I heard of
a man who was trying to memorize the whole Bible. I don't know
if he ever got that far. But they called him the walking
Bible. And he could quote scripture after scripture after scripture.
But as I look back on it now, the man never preached the true
gospel. And then think about the Pharisees
and the lawyers and the Sadducees in the Old Testament. Christ
said in John 5, 39, He says, you do search the scriptures,
for in them you think you have eternal life. They read the Old
Testament and they quoted it, they interpreted it, they discussed
it, they preached it, but they missed Christ. They missed the
gospel. So don't think that just because
you're holding a Bible in your hand and you can quote this,
that, or the other, that that means that you know the truth.
And he says, these false apostles, they transformed themselves into
the apostles of Christ. And look at what he says, this
is 2 Corinthians 11, 15. He says, therefore it is no great
thing if Satan's ministers also be transformed as the ministers
of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works.
They can say the right things at times. But again, they cannot
stay with it, they're transformers, they have to return to their
old ways because their heart is not in the truth. And the
truth is not written on their heart. We'll go back to 2 Corinthians
11 here in verse one. Now, gospel simplicity is what
I'm gonna talk about. Where did I get that? Well, look
at verse one. Paul writes, would to God, or
I pray to God, you could bear with me a little in my folly,
and indeed bear with me. Now, what's Paul talking about
here? Well, Paul was a man who did not enjoy defending himself
against false accusations. I don't enjoy that either. I
don't enjoy being falsely accused. But Paul, when he dealt with
believers in the church, he didn't want to spend time defending
himself, but at times he was forced to. Because the false
apostles, not only did they go after the message, but they went
after the man who preached the message. And so they told lies
about Paul, and Paul was forced to defend himself, and that's
what he calls his folly. Bear with me, he said. Indeed,
bear with me. But why would he do that? Well,
look at verse two. He says, 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. Paul looked
upon it and these were his brethren, see? And he loved the people
of God. He loved the children of God. He himself was a brother in Christ
and he loved them. And whenever they entertained
any notion of departing from the gospel or going to another
Jesus, which he says down in verse four, Jealousy arose up
in him, but it was a godly jealousy. It wasn't a selfish jealousy
like so often comes with us. It was a godly jealousy. And
he says, my goal was to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. Now, what does he mean a chaste
virgin to Christ? He's talking about spiritual
chasteness, spiritual chastity, spiritual virginity. And what
that refers to is the purity, not in that those who are saved
by grace are pure and sinless in themselves, but it's that
purity that we enjoy as God has brought us to look to and rest
in and believe in and follow the Lord Jesus Christ and not
adulterate ourselves out to another. That's what he's talking about.
I have one husband, and that husband is Christ. Christ is
the head of the church. He's the husband of the church.
The church is called his bride. And the bride, the husband, the
bridegroom, loves the bride. And the bridegroom loves, the
bride loves the bridegroom. The wife, her husband. And she's
to look to Him and love Him and no other, just like in a marriage,
a husband and a wife. They're to be loyal to each other.
They're to love one another. They're not to look elsewhere
outside the marriage for love and the things that are to be
enjoyed inside of a marriage union between a man and a woman.
And that's what Paul's saying. When you look to and entertain
these false apostles, what you're doing is you're corrupting that
purity. You're corrupting that virginity,
that spiritual purity that we have in Christ. Now, understand
that being that way by the grace of God doesn't mean that we are
sinlessly perfect in ourselves. Those who look to Christ are
sinlessly perfect in one way alone, and that is legally as
they are charged or imputed with Christ's righteousness. The Bible
says in Romans 8, Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's
elect? It's God that justifies them.
God's elect people, now who are the elect? Those whom God chose
before the foundation of the world gave to Christ to bring
unto salvation. And he says they cannot be charged
with their sins. They're sinners. They deserve
condemnation and damnation, but they cannot be condemned, they
cannot be damned, because they cannot be charged with their
sins. Their sins were charged to Christ. And Christ came in time. The
incarnate Christ, the God-man, as their surety, substituted
himself in their place and died on the cross to redeem them from
their sins. And that means he purged their
sins away. He washed them away. What can
wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
So I'm a sinner saved by grace. I'm blood washed. by the blood
of Christ. Wash clean from all my sins.
Still a sinner in myself. One day I'll be pure and perfect
in myself. That's when I leave this body
of death, this world, and go to be with Christ. Then I'll
be perfect and pure within myself, a spiritual person. But right
now I'm a sinner in myself. There's a warfare going on within
me. It's a warfare of the Holy Spirit
and the flesh. And the Spirit bears witness
with my spirit. I'm a child of God because I'm
looking to Christ as the Lord my righteousness. But my sins
cannot be charged to me. I'm pure and perfect in that
way only. I have a righteousness that answers
the demands of God's law and justice. It's the righteousness
of Christ charged to. And so, in that sense, I'm pure
and perfect. But in the sense of being sinlessly
perfect, when am I? I sin every day. I have to struggle
every day with this. And so Paul's talking about this
chaste virginity to Christ. And he says, look at verse three
now. He says, but I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent
beguiled Eve. Remember, Eve was deceived in
the garden. through his subtlety. Now this,
see these false apostles that he's talking about, these false
preachers, they're subtle. They don't come into your churches
wearing black robes and have horns and a tail and carry pitchforks. They don't even come into your
churches openly denying Jesus. They're subtle. And he says,
this subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity
that is in Christ. Gospel simplicity. Now, what
is that simplicity in Christ? Well, some translations translate
this word simplicity as singularity, and that's okay. That's a good
word. And what it's talking about is
this. that my salvation, simply put, is all of Christ. All in Christ, all by Christ,
all based upon Christ, His glorious person, His finished work. It
is in one single person. Jesus Christ crucified and risen
from the dead. It's in the blood of Christ.
What washes away my sins? Nothing. but the blood of Christ,
singularly in the blood. What can make me whole again?
What is my righteousness before God? It's simply Christ. Singularly Him. It's not me and Him. Now understand
that. Most people think that salvation
comes by a bilateral covenant. God has done his part, now you
do your part. No, no, that's a corruption.
You see, God has done it all, and I'm the result. Christ told
his disciples, I'm the vine, you're the branches. The branches
bear fruit because of the life of the vine. It's not the branches
cooperating with the fruit, Most people believe that Christ died
for everyone, without exception, even those who perish in hell.
And what you have to do is meet certain conditions in order for
you to make His blood effectual. No, that's a corruption, my friend.
Christ died for his people. He said in John chapter 12, if
a seed of wheat fall into the ground, it'll bear much fruit.
He said, and I, if I be lifted up on the cross, will draw all
unto me. He said in John 6, 37, all that
the father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to
me, I will in no wise cast out. He said, this is the will of
him that sent me that of all which he hath given me, I should
lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day. Ephesians
chapter 2 and verse 8, for by grace are you saved through faith
and that's not of yourselves. Salvation is not of yourselves.
Faith is not of yourselves. Repentance is not of ourselves.
It's the gift of God, not of works. lest any man should boast. Verse 10 of Ephesians 2 says,
for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
not because of, but unto good works which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. You see that? That's the gospel
simplicity. It's all of Christ, all in Christ. I mentioned last week about how
all false gospels will condition salvation in some way, to some
degree, at some stage, on sinners. And the conditions vary with
denominations. One denomination says you've
got to be baptized. Another denomination says you've
got to believe. Well, you do have to believe,
but not as a condition that you meet in order to make His blood
effectual. The effectual blood of Christ is what brings all
of His people to believe. You see? And so other denominations
say other things. There are denominations who say
you can be saved, but then you can send it away, you can be
lost again. And therefore the condition is
perseverance. No, perseverance is evidence of life given from
the vine. Believing, repenting, obedience,
perseverance is all evidence, not conditions, but evidence.
of the value of the blood, the righteousness of Christ, freely
imputed to his people. And when they're brought under
the gospel by the power of the Spirit and given life, that's
the evidence. That's the fruit that God brings
through his people. So gospel simplicity is simply,
singularly, all the salvation in Christ, all by grace. It's every bit by grace. The Lord told Moses, he said,
I'll have mercy on whom I have mercy. That's his glory. He said,
it's not of him that runneth, that's working for salvation,
nor of him that willeth, but of God that showeth mercy. Back over here in 2 Corinthians
11, listen to verse four. He says, for if he that cometh
preacheth another Jesus. Now last week, I brought this
out about another gospel. How that in the New Testament
Greek language, there were two different words here, the word
another. Translated the same in our English,
but it's two different Greek words. For example, there's one
word that's translated another that means another of the same
kind. And Christ used that word in
John 14 and verse 16 when he talked about the Holy Spirit
being another comforter, a comforter of the same kind as Him, because
the Holy Spirit is deity, is God, the third person of the
Godhead, co-equal in every attribute of His nature with the Father
and the Son. So it's another of the same kind. He's another
of the same kind. But here it's a different word.
It means another of a different kind. This is not just another
way of looking at the same Jesus. Another Jesus is a different
Jesus, a false Christ. Christ said that when he taught
the apostles about the end of the age. He said, they'll come
saying, here's Jesus, there's Jesus, don't follow them, he
said. And he even said this, he said, some will be so close
to the truth that if it were possible, they could deceive
the very elect. Well, thank God it's not possible
for the elect of God to remain deceived until the end. God's
gonna open their eyes at some point. He's gonna shine the light
of the gospel, the simplicity of Christ. And so he says in
verse four, for if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom
we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit, not the
Holy Spirit, which you have not received, or another gospel,
a different gospel, which you have not accepted, you might
well bear with, and the King James Version here has the word
him in italics. That word was not found in the
original. Paul is not, certainly not telling
them to bear with false preachers, to put up with. It's almost like
what he's really saying here is, here this person comes in
preaching another Jesus by another spirit, another gospel, and you're
telling me you put up with that? That's the issue here. You put
up with that? Just like in the Galatian church,
I'm marveled that you put up with that. So he's not telling
them to put up with false preachers, as it may indicate to you as
you read it in the translation here. He says, and then in verse
five he says, for I suppose I was not a wit behind the very chiefest
apostles. That's where Paul begins to defend
himself against their accusations. They said stuff like Paul was
an intellectual, that Paul was not a very good speaker, Paul
didn't have a good pulpit presence, Paul was not an impressive man,
that he wasn't one of those charismatic preachers who drew people to
himself. Paul was just in it to get money
from you all that stuff that they they said and then he said
look He said bear with me as my father. None of that's true
He said the only reason that I stand firm against the gospel
for you Is because I'm jealous of you over you with a godly
jealousy. I don't want your minds Go back
up to verse 3 of 2 Corinthians 11, I fear lest by any means
is the serpent begotten through his subtlety, so your minds should
be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. You know,
salvation is a matter of the mind. It's a matter of the understanding. It's the matter of knowledge
that God has revealed. It doesn't mean you have to be
an intellectual or have some kind of high IQ or be an Einstein
to understand the gospel. The gospel is a simple message,
but man by nature will not receive it until God teaches him. And God teaches him by the revelation
of the Spirit through the preaching of the gospel. It pleased God
by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. The
preaching of the cross. God brings his people under the
preaching of the gospel. And by the power of the Holy
Spirit, he teaches them, he convicts them. He convinces them of sin. How sinful we are. The very fact
that we are, that if God gave us what we deserved, it would
be eternal damnation. And the very fact that we are
so sinful, even in our best efforts, we cannot make ourselves righteous. We cannot save ourselves. By
deeds of law shall no flesh be justified in God's sight. Man
at his best state is altogether vanity. Our only hope of salvation
is in one single person who did one single work and that's the
Lord Jesus Christ by whose stripes we are healed spiritually for
by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified,
set apart. That's the simple gospel. That's
the singularity of it. That's the simplicity that's
in Christ. He convinces us of righteousness,
which is the perfect obedience unto death of the Lord Jesus
Christ as the surety, substitute, and redeemer of His people. The
only righteousness that I have before a holy God by which I
can stand before Him and be accepted, be justified, be forgiven, is
the righteousness of Christ freely imputed, charged, accounted to
me. That's the only righteousness I have. He's my hope. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name, on Christ, the solid rock
I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. That's simply it. And then he
convinces us of judgment. People have all kinds of weird
ideas about the final judgment. They talk about how well God,
there used to be this pamphlet that people would read where
it had this guy who lived a hard life, lived an immoral life,
and then he died in a car wreck and he got put up before God
at the judgment and they started flashing his life before him
on a screen and all of that. That's not biblical. That's the
imaginations of lost people. A believer has already been judged. How? On the cross of Christ,
when Christ died for my sins and put them away. He put my
sins away. He purged my sins away. My sins
are washed clean in the blood of the Lamb. You see, pardoned. God said he'd remember them no
more. That means he will have no record of them at the judgment. The judgment for believers will
only be a declaration of what they are in Christ. Sinners saved
by the grace of God. Sinners washed in his blood. Sinners clothed in his righteousness.
Now for unbelievers, there will be a record of their deeds, and
it'll be a record of their evil deeds. Because without Christ,
all our deeds are evil. You see that? And so that's the
simplicity. that's in Christ. And Paul said,
I don't want your minds to be corrupted from that. The Son
of God has come and given us an understanding that we might
know Him that is true and believe in Him that is true. You see,
salvation involves the mind. Now that's the heart. It's not
just a mental thing, as some people criticize and attack the
gospel. is simply that which we know
to be true and brings us to live under that truth. The heart in
the Bible is the mind, the affections, and the will. It's the inner
man. It's the whole person. And what Paul is saying here
is I want your whole persons to be focused simply on this
single person and this single work, the simplicity that's in
Christ and Him crucified and risen from the dead. Not another
Jesus, not another spirit, not another gospel, but gospel simplicity. I hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
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today and may the Lord be with you. you