2nd Corinthians chapter 11 and
starting at verse 1. 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, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear less by any means
as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should
be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. And it's that
little phrase there that we're going to return to this morning,
the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth
another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another
spirit which ye have not received, or another gospel which ye have
not accepted, ye might well bear with me. For I suppose I was
not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles. But though I be rude
in speech, yet not in knowledge, but we have been throughly made
manifest among you in all things. Have I committed an offence in
abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I have preached
to you the gospel of God freely? I robbed other churches, taking
wages of them to do you service. And when I was present with you
and wanted, I was chargeable to no man, for that which was
lacking to me the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied.
And in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome
unto you, and so will I keep myself. As the truth of Christ
is in me, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the regions
of Achaia. Wherefore, because I love you
not, God knoweth. But what I do, that I will do,
that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion, that
within their glory they may be found even as we. For such are
false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into
the apostles of Christ. And no marvel, for Satan himself
is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no
great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers
of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works. Amen. May God bless to us this
reading from his word. The phrase that I drew your attention
to at the beginning The phrase, the simplicity that is in Christ,
is used by the apostle to remind us that the message of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the gospel of God, is clear, is transparent, is
plain, is easy to understand, is easily known by men and women. The way of salvation is not a
secret. It's not being kept as a mystery. It's not hidden. It has been
revealed and it is simple. The way of salvation is clear
to behold. In this letter to the Corinthians,
the Apostle Paul contrasts the simplicity that is in Christ
with the subtlety of Satan. There in these early verses of
the chapter, he speaks of the subtlety wherewith the serpent,
that is Satan in the Garden of Eden, approached the woman, approached
Eve. and beguiled her through his
subtlety. But the apostle says, I don't
want to talk about subtle things. I don't want to talk about hidden
things. I want to talk about those things
which are clear and transparent and obvious, the simplicity that
is in Christ. Subtlety alters the simplicity
of Christ. Subtlety modifies the gospel
of salvation. Subtlety adds things and subtracts
things. It corrupts in order to deceive. We preach the gospel and we rejoice
in the simplicity that is in Christ. And yet so much of what
goes on in a religious context under the name of Christianity
is a modified, added to, subtracted from subtlety, whereby a deception
is being foisted on men and women in our day. Subtlety makes the
truth deliberately complex. Subtlety is craftiness. It is cunning. And it is craftily
cunning in a self-serving way. It is designed to confuse in
order that those confusing, those who are subtle in their preaching
can manage and manipulate and control those that they preach
to. And those who are subtle rather
than preaching the simplicity that is in Christ, they are setting
up another gospel. They use the same vocabulary,
the same language, they may even use the same scriptures. but
they bring to it a subtlety. They bring to it a confusion
that is designed to keep people down and to promote themselves,
to give themselves airs, to give themselves position, to give
themselves responsibility and authority by which they can manage
and by which they can direct those that are under their charge
and under their directing. The Apostle Paul tells the Galatians
that another gospel is no gospel at all. It's a misnomer. It's
presented as a gospel, but it is no gospel. And those who preach
this no gospel gospel, they do so purposefully and they do so
with subtlety. The gospel that is preached today
in most churches is a free will gospel. where the emphasis is
placed not upon the sovereignty of God in salvation and the gift
of life from God in the powerful gospel that speaks and changes
and transforms the hearts of men and women, but it is a gospel
that is weak and a gospel that is inconsequential until the
individual Man or woman takes the initiative to do something
about their own soul's well-being and accept the offer that is
made from God and transforms their own lives. And we talk
about conversion but we've long ago forgotten that it is God
who converts and we imagine that people convert themselves by
an act of their own will. Or people convert themselves
by the lives that they lead and the deeds that they do. So that the free will, free offer
gospel of our day is a religion of subtle meanings. devious interpretations,
which Peter, the apostle, calls cunningly devised fables. The works righteousness and legalism
that abound so much in Christian circles, do this, do that, Say
this, say that, dress like this, dress like that, eat this, don't
drink that. All of these rules, all of these
ways in which religion takes and endeavours to mould and straightjacket
people so that they live a particular kind of life, say particular
things, that is mere outward trappings of religion. And it
has nothing to do with a transformed internal spirit. It's legalism. And Paul calls that the commandments
of men that turn from the truth, that turn away from the simplicity
that is in Christ. And either way, This simplicity
which is in Christ is opposed and it is compromised and it
is contaminated. Denominations exist and sometimes
they've got hundreds of members and sometimes they've got millions
of members and they are built on subtlety. They're false teachers. And false
teachers have all of these attributes that we find in this passage
that the apostle Paul is endeavouring to deal with. They teach another
gospel. They transform themselves into
the apostles of Christ. This is what he describes them
as in verse 13. For such are false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles
of Christ. These people that the apostle
was contending against, we spoke a little bit of that last week.
That's what this chapter is about. He is contending against these
individuals who have come into the church at Corinth and they
have brought their fables. But they use the same words that
Paul used, the same language that Peter used, but they've
twisted it with a subtlety. They've confused it. They've
adapted it. They've altered it. With their
cunningly devised fables, they come in. They are false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles
of Christ. And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed
into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing
if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness."
You know what that means, ministers of righteousness? That means
that they were speaking about justification, exactly what we
speak about. They were speaking about how
a man and a woman could be made righteous, how they could have
peace with God, exactly the things we talk about. But the answer to their question,
been altered and twisted and modified so that through subtlety
they were giving themselves a place of prominence and pride and self-accomplishment
and control and they were suppressing those to whom the simplicity
of Christ ought to have come and did come through the preaching
of the Apostle Paul. So the Apostle was contending
against these individuals. and he was showing how much danger
the church at Corinth was in because of these interlopers
who had come in with this false message. This morning I want to return
us to that simplicity that is in Christ and to show us the
Lord enables us that There is a simplicity in Christ's coming
into this world to save sinners. The verse that I had in mind
was 1 Timothy 1, verse 15. It says this, this is a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners. I want to simply take three little
phrases. The fact that the Lord Jesus
Christ came into the world. I want us to think about the
fact that Christ came. I want us to think about the
fact of how he came. And I want us to think about
why he came. that he came, how he came, why
he came, and just return us once again to the simplicity that
is in Christ. The first thing then is to reflect
upon the fact that he came. Well, doesn't everyone know that
the Lord Jesus Christ came? But let us just pause for a moment
The Lord Jesus Christ is God, is God, is the Almighty God. And what we see is that right
from the beginning of this world, from that moment when Adam and
Eve sinned and fell in the garden, that a promise was given to men
and women that God would have to intervene in this world in
order to save and recover those who had sinned and fallen. It
has to be a God initiative. And when we think about the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ, we ought to realize that this is
not just a story. This is not even just how it
had to be. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world because of sin. The Lord Jesus Christ came because
man was incapable of recovering himself. Right from the very beginning,
from the beginning of the world, from the beginning of creation,
from the fall of man, there had been a promise given that Jesus
Christ would come. It's told in Genesis chapter
3 and verse 15 where Satan is told that the one who would come,
the promised deliverer, would bruise the serpent's head. That means that he would crush
the serpent. But that in crushing the serpent,
the serpent would bruise his heel. And that speaks of the
fact that the Lord Jesus Christ had to suffer in order to accomplish
the deliverance of his people. One of the earliest books that
was written in the whole of the Bible, it is thought, is the
book of Job. And there we see also that the
coming of the Lord Jesus Christ was an integral part of the message
that Job was given and understood. In 19 verse 25, we discover that
Job says, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand
at the latter day upon the earth. Moses, in the early books of
the scriptures, said to the children of Israel in Deuteronomy chapter
18 and verse 15, the Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a
prophet, a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like
unto me, and unto him ye shall hearken. In Isaiah chapter seven and verse
14, the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin
shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. In Isaiah 9, verses 6 and 7,
we discover a list of names and titles that this child would
have. Micah tells us that he would
be born in Bethlehem, hundreds of years before the Saviour was
born. Malachi anticipates that John
the Baptist would arise and be sent in order to prepare the
way for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so from the
beginning to the end of the Old Testament, this message was clearly
set forth that the Lord Jesus Christ was coming. Nothing was
hidden. Nothing was secreted away. This
isn't special stuff for just some people. The message was
set forth that the Lord Jesus Christ would come. Malachi 3.1
says, Behold, I send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way
before me. And the Lord whom ye seek shall
suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant
whom ye delight in. Behold, he shall come, saith
the Lord of hosts. And then in Luke chapter one,
The angel comes to Mary and says, the Holy Ghost shall come upon
thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore
also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called
the Son of God. All the promises were coming
to their conclusion. Zacharias could say the dayspring
from on high hath visited us to give light to them that sit
in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into
the way of peace. Simply. The plan and the purpose
of God to deal with the sin of men and women was unfolding according
to the promises and the prophecies of God in Scripture, exactly
as God, through the prophets, had foretold. Nothing hidden,
no subtle deviousness, just the promises of God fulfilled for
the salvation of sinners. In the book of Acts, we discover
that Peter and Stephen and Paul showed repeatedly to the Jews
of their own age that this was Jesus the Messiah, that Jesus
of Nazareth was that promised one, was the Son of God. In Acts 3, verse 13, we read,
The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our
fathers, hath glorified his son Jesus, whom ye delivered up,
and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined
to let him go. But ye denied the Holy One and
the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you. and killed
the Prince of Life, whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof
we are witnesses. It is the Lord Jesus Christ that
has come. Simply, straightforwardly, Without
any great pomp or circumstance, this little child born in a manger,
born to this girl, is God himself upon earth. Come to intervene,
come to recover, come to deliver, come to save his people from
their sins. Let us think of how he came. The Lord Jesus Christ came as
one of us. He came as a man. He didn't come
as an angel. He didn't come as some ethereal
spirit. He didn't come as some great
cataclysmic event or manifestation of divine power and glory. He could have done. But that
would not have served the simple, straightforward purpose for which
the Lord Jesus Christ came. And here too, we see the wonderful
simplicity. of the Lord Jesus Christ on view,
the wonderful simplicity of the gospel and the way of salvation,
the perfect wisdom of God revealed in this, that the Lord Jesus
Christ, the infinite, the omnipotent, the eternal God, holy, perfect,
undefiled, glorious in every attribute, became a man. became a man like us, took our
flesh, became that little baby, took on himself, the form of
a man, and entered as a real man into our humanity. Took our flesh, took our blood,
took our bone. Hebrews chapter 10, verse four
tells us, It is not possible that the blood of bulls and of
goats should take away sin. Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not,
but a body hast thou prepared me. by the which will we are
sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all. That body had to be our body
in order to represent us and in order to substitute in our
place. The Lord Jesus Christ had to
be a man like us. As Moses said, one from amongst
you, one from amongst your brethren. Now you might say to me, Peter,
that's not a simple idea that God should become man. God and
man in one person, that's pretty profound. That's pretty amazing. Well, I'm not suggesting to you
that there is nothing profound. in the revelation of God. I'm not suggesting to you that
there is nothing that is deep and significant as far as the
plan of salvation is concerned. Even mysterious In the incarnation, we are told
that there is a mystery. Scripture calls it the mystery
of godliness. But here's the point. It's a
revealed mystery. It has been declared to us that
this is what God has done. He has joined himself to us in
our humanity in order to bring us to salvation, in order to
bring us to himself. He has united himself to us that
we might be brought into that oneness with him. Without controversy,
great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the
Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up into glory. The word simple, I think I mentioned
it to you last week, it just means single and it speaks of
the uniqueness that we have in this one Jesus Christ, God with
us. There is one God and one mediator
between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, a real man. with real empathy, a suitable
substitute, a suitable representative, one that was designed by the
Father, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit,
that he would come in sinless humanity, a fit and able saviour
to die in the place of sinners, and also one that would be able
to enter into our needs as men and women of flesh and blood,
who could understand our feelings, who would identify with our weaknesses,
who knew something of our trials and our fears, and who brought
us into union with himself by this great act of sacrifice and
coming. and descending and joining himself
to us. Hebrews 4.15 says, we have not
an high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of
our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are,
yet without sin. This is Christ. This is the one. This is the one who came And
this is how he came, a man with our flesh, to do that which we
never could. He came willingly. He came voluntarily. He was prompted by love to mediate
between the father and the fallen creature, to reconcile us to
God by the blood that he shed on the cross. That he came, how he came, and
why he came. The Lord Jesus Christ came as
a man with a purpose, and he came with this purpose, to redeem
his people from their sins. He came for the salvation and
deliverance of God's elect. He came to free the captives
who were bound in sin and in death. That's why this message
is good news. That's why we can speak about,
preach about the Lord Jesus Christ with this clarity, with this
message. It's a powerful message. And
it's a message which can touch the hearts and the lives of men
and women like us here today. A message that leads to the forgiveness
of sins. To this end was I born, said
the Lord Jesus. For this cause came I into the
world, that I should bear witness to the truth And everyone that
is of the truth heareth my voice. Here's his voice in the gospel. Here's his message of salvation. Our Savior came into the world
to save sinners, to open a way of recovery and restoration and
reconciliation, to bring us to God, to make us one with God. It isn't complicated. It's a
single message. It's a simple word of grace and
truth. It is the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is a faithful saying. and
worthy of all acceptation. It's worthy of being believed. It's worthy of being accepted. It's worthy, even by the youngest
child, the simplest individual, it's worthy of being received. That Jesus Christ came into the
world to save sinners. It's a faithful word. Worthy
to be accepted. Why would you not accept it?
Why would you not accept that God has a salvation for sinners
and that salvation has been worked out in the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ? God made it so simple. Is it
too simple for you? Jeremiah 21 verse 8 says this,
Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I set before you the way of life
and the way of death. I set before you the way of life
and the way of death. The Lord Jesus Christ could say,
I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
way of entering, that way of life, that door, that gate, that
straight way by which individual sinners come to a knowledge of
their sins forgiven through repentance and faith and trust in this work
which he accomplished and completed on the cross at Calvary. And
that's the simplicity of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ
into this world. That is the simplicity of the
way of holiness and life to sinners like you and like me. Isaiah
35 verse 8 says this in conclusion. And a highway shall be there
and a way and it shall be called the way of holiness. The unclean
shall not pass over it, but it shall be for those the wayfaring
men, though fools, shall not err therein. May the Lord give
us eyes to see Christ the door, Christ the way, and grace to
enter in by that way. Amen.