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 this morning. I'm glad you could join us. And
if you would like to follow along in your Bibles as I preach through
the scriptures, I'll be preaching from the book of 2 Corinthians
chapter 11 this morning. And my title is The Simplicity
that is in Christ. The Simplicity that is in Christ. That's from 2 Corinthians 11
and verse 3. Now, Paul was used of God in a great way
to pioneer and establish churches in the regions of the Gentiles
throughout Asia Minor and the seaports and different places
around the Mideast and even going close to Europe. He didn't make
it into Spain as he wanted to, but he made it to Rome. He was
in prison at Rome. But Paul was used greatly by
the Lord to establish these churches. And what he would do is the Lord
would open the door and send him there and he would preach
the gospel. Normally he would go to a Jewish synagogue in that
place and begin preaching the gospel of Christ, the salvation
that God freely and fully provides for his people by his sovereign
grace. in and by the Lord Jesus Christ.
That was a new message to them. It was a message that they'd
never heard before because all false religions, all human religions,
are salvation in some way, to some degree, at some stage, salvation
by works, the works of men. And the Christian religion preaches
just the opposite. The works of men and women cannot
enter in as to the ground of attaining or maintaining salvation,
or making sinners right with God, or making sinners righteous
before God. Because that was, and is totally,
completely, the work of Christ. And so Paul preached that message,
showing how God could justify, that is, forgive sin and make
sinners righteous, justify the ungodly, sinners, that all men
were sinners, Paul preached that, that there was nothing good in
any of us in God's sight. I always make this distinction
because people don't understand this by nature, that when you
talk about goodness in a biblical way concerning the Christian
religion, You have to talk about goodness as it pertains to God
and as it is measured by God and not as it pertains to human
beings on this earth and as it is measured by us. God has a
higher standard. than we do. And that's why Christ,
you remember in Matthew 19, he spoke to the rich young man there
and he told him, he said, there's none good but God. Paul had dealt
with that in Romans chapter three when he talked about how there's
none righteous, no not one. There's none that doeth good,
no not one. All of those passages in the
Old Testament was made clear there's not a just man on earth
that doeth good and sinneth not. And so, That's the state of man
by nature. That's the Christian view of
the world. Man is a ruined, totally dead and depraved sinner, even
at his best. And what we by nature call goodness
is not goodness in the eyes of God at all. So you could imagine
Paul going into a place like Corinth. which at that time was
a pretty good-sized city. It was a big trade center, and
it was a place where a lot of people from a lot of different
countries and cultures came. And Paul was going in here and
preaching this gospel, showing that God is a holy God, and he
cannot tolerate sin, that God must punish sin. and that all
of us by nature are sinners and deserve eternal damnation. That's the message of the Christian
religion. That's the gospel message. But
it's not a message of despair because God has freely and fully
provided a way of salvation, a way of forgiveness, a way of
righteousness, But that way is by His grace. It's a free gift. It's unearned. It's not deserved. And it is freely given to His
people based upon the merits, the worthiness, the value of
the glorious person and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now what I have just described to you is the simplicity of the
gospel. And the command of the gospel
is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, look to Him, rest in
Him, look away from ourselves. Don't look within ourselves or
to ourselves for salvation, for hope, for peace. Look to Christ
and Him alone. And that's the simplicity of
Christ. Now that word simplicity in verse three of 2 Corinthians
11 is virtually a word that sets forth the singleness. In fact, some say what the word
actually means, the singularity, the single message that is in
Christ alone, and I'll get to that. But let's look at this
in 2 Corinthians chapter 11, where Paul starts off, he says,
would to God you could bear with me a little in my folly, and
indeed bear with me. Now what's Paul talking about
his folly? Well Paul never, he never desired to be in a position
before believers that he would have to defend himself. But false
preachers had crept in to the church at Corinth, teaching damnable
heresies, teaching things contrary to the gospel, seeking to bring
people under the bondage of the law. And this was after Paul
had left, and here he is writing a letter. And they had accused
Paul of several things. They accused Paul of being proud.
They accused him of promoting himself. They accused him of
being boring. I mean, they accused him of a
lot of things. They accused him of being a hypocrite.
And so Paul, because of their accusations, he was forced to
defend himself and to give his reasons why he preached the way
he did. And that's what he's saying, would to God, that you
would bear with me, bear with me in this foolishness, that
I have to defend myself before the people of God to whom I first
preached the gospel. But here's the reason he did
it. Look at verse two of 2 Corinthians 11. He said, for I am jealous
over you with godly jealousy. Now, he says, for I have espoused
you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin
to Christ. Many times in the Bible, the
union between God's people and Christ is described as a marriage
union. An eternal, unbreakable marriage
union. And we could go through the whole
realm of that marriage union. You know, for example, before
the foundation of the world, God chose a people and gave them
to Christ. And that's his bride, his church.
And he's the husband, he's the bridegroom. And the church is
his bride. And over in Romans chapter seven
in verse four, listen to this. Paul writes here to the church
at Rome in Romans seven and verse four, he says, wherefore my brethren,
you are also become dead to the law by the body of Christ. That means that Christ by the
sacrifice of himself satisfied the law of God against his people,
against his bride. In other words, the law of God
pronounced us sinners as we fell in Adam and as we are born spiritually
dead in trespasses and sins and as we come forth from the womb
sinning. We are all sinners for all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. And so the only
thing the law can do for us based upon our efforts to keep the
law is condemn us. That's all they can do. The law
cannot pronounce a sinner righteous. The law cannot provide forgiveness. The law has no mercy. That's
what the Bible teaches us. In the book of Galatians, Paul
talked about that. For as many as are of the works
of the law are under a curse, because cursed is everyone that
continues not in all the things which are written in the book
of the law to do them. Galatians 3.10. So the only thing the law
can do for me as far as a right relationship with God based on
my works or my efforts or my intentions is to condemn me. But that's the whole reason that
the gospel of salvation is by grace through the righteousness
of another, the Lord Jesus Christ, who himself in my place as my
surety, as my substitute, as my redeemer, kept the law unto
death and satisfied the law. So he says here in Romans 7,
4, Wherefore, my brethren, you also are become dead to the law,
but how did I become dead to the law? In other words, the
law's penalty is fulfilled, satisfied. How did I get that way? By the
body of Christ, not by my law keeping. And listen to me, people,
today. It is not by my decision that
I become dead to the law. It's not by my believing in him
that I become dead to the law. It's by the body of Christ, that's
by his sacrifice. Hebrews 10, 14, for by one offering,
he, Christ, hath perfected, satisfied, finished, completed forever them
that are sanctified. But back here in Romans 7, 4,
he says you become dead to the law by the body of Christ. Now
look here, that you should be married to another. Now, in other
words, this is a marriage union. Married to Christ, he said, even
to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth
fruit unto God. That's the fruit of the marriage
union with Christ, the fruit of his merits. The fruit of his
righteousness imputed. You know, many times in the scripture,
the righteousness in which believers stand before God, which is the
righteousness of Christ imputed to us, accounted, charged, reckoned
to us, is described by the metaphor of a wedding garment. Isaiah
61, for example, Revelation 19 is another example. The white
robe of the saints is not our works. I heard a preacher say
that one time on television. He said the white robe that the
saints wear before God is the white robe of their works. Oh
no, our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, Isaiah said, Isaiah
64, six. It's the white robe of Christ,
His righteousness. It's all in Him. So now go back
to 2 Corinthians 11 and verse 2. This is what Paul says. Now, when I preach the gospel
to you, Paul says, I pointed you to Christ as your husband. Not anybody else, not the law,
not the preacher, not the church, But Christ, and he says, for
I'm jealous over you, verse two, with godly jealousy, that is,
it's a righteous jealousy. Most jealousy is bad because
it's usually selfish. But he says it's a godly jealousy
because I have espoused you to one husband, Christ, that I may
present you as a chaste, a pure virgin to Christ. Now by nature,
we're anything but pure, aren't we? By nature, we're spiritual
prostitutes. That's what the scripture says.
I know that's offensive to some people, but that's what the scripture
says. We've committed spiritual adultery. And we did that when
we fell in Adam and sinned against God. But in Christ, there is
a chasteness. There is a purity. that can only
be found in Him. How can I look, how could I stand
before God and without embarrassment say, God, I'm pure in your eyes?
There's not but one way. And it's not in myself. It's
not in the best that I can offer God. It's in Christ. I'm washed
pure from all my sins, how? By the body of Christ, by His
blood. You may sing that song, what
can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
That's the only purity that I have before God. Because even now,
as a sinner saved by grace, I still have to fight the flesh that
contaminates everything I think, say, and do. And that's why Christ
is my intercessor. He redeemed me, I was ruined
by the fall, Christ redeemed me by the blood, His blood, and
out of His blood, out of His death comes life. I'm regenerated
by the Holy Spirit, and now I'm in a battle in this life within
myself, and I must constantly look to one single solitary person. for my salvation, for my forgiveness,
for my righteousness, for my purity and holiness, for my peace
and comfort and assurance, and that one single solitary person
is Christ, it's all in Him. Now you're getting the idea here?
Well look at what he says in verse three. He says, but I fear
lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety. Now you know where that's referring
to. That's referring to Satan, who appeared to Eve in the form
of a serpent and questioned God's word and got her to doubt God's
word through his subtlety. He said, I fear. lest by any
means through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted
from the simplicity, the singleness that is in Christ. That's the
key. Now what does he mean? Well,
over in the book of First Corinthians, listen to this. This will help
you. And I pray that the Lord will
open your eyes to see these things. But look over here in 1 Corinthians
chapter one. Here, and we'll look at verse
29. Here the apostle was talking about how when God saves a sinner,
that sinner has nothing in which to glory or boast but Christ. God has set up his way of salvation
to glorify himself through Christ. He gets all the glory and He
leaves none for us. You see, our glory is Christ. And the reason God did this,
look at 1 Corinthians 1 29. He says that no flesh should
glory in His presence. That word glory means to boast.
It means to have confidence. But in what are we to glory?
Verse 30 of 1 Corinthians 1. But of Him, the Him there is
God the Father. But of God the Father are you
in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us. Now what is Christ
made unto me? Wisdom. All the wisdom that God
requires of me is found in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the
wisdom of God. The wisdom of God in his salvation,
in his purpose, in his plan, in his providence. It's God's
wisdom that's found complete in Christ. So who of God is made
unto us wisdom? Who of God is made unto us righteousness? I have no righteousness before
God but Christ. All my works, my best works fall
short. You remember in Matthew chapter
seven, those false preachers who stood before Christ and said,
Lord, Lord, haven't we preached in your name? Haven't we done
many wonderful works? Haven't we cast out demons? And
he said, depart from me, ye that worketh iniquity. I never knew
you. You see, I'm preaching right now in his name. But when I stand
before him at judgment, I'm certainly not going to plead the righteousness
of my preaching. I preached in your name. My preaching
in his name is not my righteousness before God. Christ is. That's the simplicity, the singularity
of this message. Christ is my righteousness. What
is righteousness? It's perfect satisfaction to
God's law and justice. Listen, righteousness in the
Bible, when it comes to salvation and a right relationship with
God, is the perfection of the law that can only be found in
Christ. It can be found nowhere else.
That one single solitary person, Christ Jesus, Christ crucified
and risen from the dead. Christ kept the law perfectly.
Christ died under the penalty of the law. He was made a curse
for his people. He died the just for the unjust. The Good Shepherd gave His life
for the sheep. And what did He accomplish in
His death? He satisfied perfectly the justice
of the law. That's righteousness. So, you
see, you have to be righteous to be right with God. You have
to be righteous to have fellowship with God, to live forever with
God. Where am I, a sinner, going to find righteousness? Well,
the Bible says in Romans 5.21 that grace reigns through righteousness
unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So in salvation,
so that I won't glory in myself but glory in Christ, He has made
unto me righteousness, wisdom and righteousness. And then he
says in verse 30 of 1 Corinthians 1, he's made unto me sanctification. Now what does that mean? Well,
that's holiness. And there he's not talking about
moral purity. Now I don't have any moral purity.
Christ is the only morally pure person that ever walked the earth.
He's holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. But I'm
set apart in him. I'm separated. from the world
in Christ. It is Christ, that single solitary
person who did this great single solitary work on my behalf, as
my surety, as my substitute, as my redeemer, that I'm set
apart. He's the one who separates me
by the grace of God. And then he says, and redemption.
Christ paid the full redemption price. I didn't contribute to
that payment. Most people today think they
do. You'll hear preachers say that God loves you, Christ died
for you, now the rest is up to you. Well, that's not the simplicity
that's in Christ. Jesus paid it all, all the debt
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain.
He washed it white as snow. And somebody says, well, you
must receive the gift. No, the Bible teaches you if
he died for you, you will receive the gift. He will give you life
from the dead and you will be redeemed. You are redeemed rather
by the blood. And he says in first Corinthians
1 31, that according as it is written, he that glorieth, let
him glory in the Lord. There's our boast, singularly,
solitarily in the Lord. Paul wrote it in Galatians 6,
14. He said, God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto
me and I unto the world. Now go back to our text in 2
Corinthians 11. Paul writes in verse three now.
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through
his subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted. Now Paul had pointed
them singularly to Christ for all wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption, for all salvation. And these false preachers had
come in and tried to get their minds on other things, other
than Christ, for salvation, for forgiveness, for a right relationship
with God. Most of the time, the false preachers
will try to get your mind on you, or on them. Get busy, that's
what they say. Look within yourself, find within
yourself. Find peace and hope and assurance
and comfort and joy in yourself rather than joy and peace in
believing, that is looking to Christ. And that's what he means
here. He says that your mind should
be corrupted from the simplicity, that singular, solitary message
of all of salvation in this one person, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then look at verse four.
Now this is important. He says, for if he that cometh
preacheth another Jesus. Another Jesus? In the Greek language,
there's two different words. When you read in the English
translations, the word another, one word means another of the
same kind. And you'll see that, for example,
in John 16, where he's talking about Christ sending the Holy
Spirit, who is another comforter. In other words, he's another
comforter, other of the same kind, the same nature as Christ,
because he's the third person of the Godhead. Christ, God the
Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. So the Holy Spirit
is not another comforter of a different kind. He's another comforter
of the same kind, the same nature. But here the word another is
another Jesus, one of a different kind. The same word Paul used
in Galatians 1 when he talked about another gospel, which is
not another, another of a different kind. You know, some people say,
well, we're all preaching the gospel, we're just going the
same way. That's not true. That's heresy, friend. There's
only one gospel. As there's only one single solitary
Christ who saves his people by God's grace through that one
single solitary work of substitution on the cross to make us righteous,
there's only one single solitary gospel. And any other gospel's
a false gospel. Look here, he says in verse 4,
if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached,
or if you receive another spirit, which you have not received,
not the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will bring you to look
to Christ alone. Or another gospel, which you,
another gospel, which you have not accepted, you might well
bear with him. Now, the word him there is in
italics. And the reason that some of the
King James translators translated that way, because it's an objective
pronoun, but it should be me. Paul is saying, you might well
bear with me. In other words, as he's going
through this, Paul would not never tell them to bear with
or put up with false preachers, because in other passages, he
tells them, he says, mark them and avoid them. So understand
that he's not contradicting himself here. He said, you bear with
me as I go through this. And so he says, for if he that
cometh, preacheth to another Jesus. Now I want you to focus
on that, and I'm gonna deal with this next time concerning this. My friend, there is the biblical
Jesus, and that's what I preach. How do you know? And then there
are false counterfeit Jesuses, Christ, many. And that's what
I want you to focus on, and 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.