We're going to read from 2 Corinthians
11, 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, lest by any means,
as 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 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 truly 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 we 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.
I say again, let no man think me a fool, if otherwise, yet
as a fool receiveth me, that I may boast myself a little.
That which I speak, I speak it not after the Lord, but as it
were foolishly, in this confidence of boasting. Seeing that many
glory after the flesh, I will glory also. If ye suffer fools
gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise. For ye suffer if a
man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take
of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face.
I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak. Howbeit,
whereinsoever any is bold, I speak foolishly. I am bold also. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are
they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of
Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of
Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more,
in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons
more frequently, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received
I forty stripes, save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods,
once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck. A night and a day
I have been in the deep. in journeyings often, in perils
of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen,
in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils
in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils amongst
false brethren, in weariness and painfulness, in watchings
often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and
nakedness, Beside those things that are without, that which
cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. Who is weak,
and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I burn not? If I must needs glory, I will
glory of the things which concern mine infirmities. The God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore,
knoweth that I lie not. In Damascus, the governor under
Artaeus, the king, kept the city of the Damascusenes with a garrison
desirous to apprehend me. And through a window in a basket
was I let down by the wall and escaped his hands. Amen. May God bless to us this reading
from his word. This morning, my purpose is to
dwell a little bit upon the phrase that we find in the third verse
of this chapter, which speaks of the simplicity that is in
Christ. I've mentioned this phrase to
you before, and I hope to use it as a little bit of a springboard,
perhaps in successive weeks, just to remind ourselves that
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ is a message which is easy to understand,
which is readily received by those who are of faith and which
is not complicated or difficult. And that is designed to be a
comfort to us and a help and to lead us into truth. It's a
beautiful phrase that the Apostle uses, the simplicity that is
in Christ. It is an encouragement and I
want you to note it and I want you to remember it. I want it
to be a little phrase which readily comes to your mind. Whenever
you think about the gospel and about Christ and about coming
to worship and about the sermons that are preached and about the
hymns that we sing and about the prayers that we make and
about the providences of life and about the circumstances that
come upon us, there is a simplicity. in the Lord Jesus Christ. Language and words have a habit
of altering their meaning. And perhaps when we read the
word simple, we might nowadays think about the word stupid. If somebody were to say that
we were simple, we would not take that Likely, we would not
take that as being any form of commendation. We would assume,
and rightly, that they were calling us a rude name. They were suggesting
that we were stupid. But that's not what simple means. Simple means single. In fact, the word simple is just
an adaption of the word single. And it means in its singleness
that it's easy to understand, that it's easy to grasp. that it's not complicated, it's
not compounded of lots of different parts that make our minds think,
oh, this is all too much for me. No, it's simple. It's just
a single thing. Sometimes when people are trying
to impress us or to sell us something or to show how wise and able
they are. They will make things complicated
in order to try and impress us. And it's that contrast that the
Apostle is calling our attention to. There's nothing in Christ
that is hidden. There's a simplicity in Christ.
There's nothing in Christ that's disguised. There's a singleness
in the things that he has done. It is straightforward when we
come to think of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is straightforward
when we come to think about the gospel. It's not complicated. The simplicity that is in Christ
speaks of clearness, transparency. It speaks of plainness and a
lack of complication. It speaks of ease in understanding. So easy, in fact, that a little
child can understand. Indeed, it is interesting to
note the frequency with which the Lord Jesus Christ himself
and the apostles employ the phrase little children. Jesus calls
his followers little children. Paul too uses that phrase to
describe the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are little children. And do you know that John the
Apostle uses the phrase little children nine times in his first
epistle? Simplicity is an attractive thing. Simplicity is a good thing. We're not attractive if we're
devious. We're not attractive if we confuse. But that singularity, that singleness
and simplicity is attractive. It is desirable and it is commendable. And the message of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the gospel of Christ, the gospel of God is simple so
that a little child can understand it and a little child can receive
it. And the irony is, that often
the most intelligent minds miss it altogether. You see, man in
his pride thinks that he is wise over much. And he likes to present
himself as being able to think clearly on all matter of things. And whether that's education,
or whether that's philosophy, or whether that's probing the
depths of the world around about us, in science, or in literature,
or in politics, or in finance, man likes to think he's accomplished. He understands the way things
work. and yet we miss the simplicity
that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. The simplicity that is in Christ
is a beautiful little phrase and I want you to take note of
it and I want you to remember it. In the context in which the Apostle
Paul uses this phrase, the simplicity of Christ is a powerful and a
purposeful statement. The Apostle uses this statement
in this letter to the Corinthians, but it's not simply a letter
that he's writing. Yes, it is a letter. It's his
second epistle. It's his second letter to the
Corinthians. but it's written with a purpose,
it's written with a burden, it's written with a concern and an
anxiety that comes through in the words and the language that
he uses here. Have you ever seen such a catalogue
of the apostle's personal statements about all that he had endured?
When he makes reference to, I speak foolishly, what he's saying there
is that I don't want to be talking about myself. But there are people
amongst you, there are people that have come amongst you as
preachers, and as teachers, and as leaders, and as guides, indeed
as apostles themselves, claiming to be apostles. And they are
undermining my reputation, they are undermining my message, they
are undermining my character for their own purposes and in
order to abuse you. Well, let me just tell you, they're
saying that I don't have any authority, they're saying that
I don't have any legitimacy, they're saying that I don't have
any reason to be respected and recognised by you in my ministry. Let me tell you what I have endured
for the sake of this ministry. I don't want to, it's foolish
talk. But in order to show that these men are lying to your faces,
these men are slapping your faces, it's what he says. I have to
set forth in this foolish way in order to redirect your attention
and your mind. This letter is a fight. This
letter is like a bare-knuckle fight that the Apostle is having,
not with the Corinthians, but with these false teachers. He is battling false teachers. Look at verse 13 of chapter 11. He says, For such are false apostles,
false messengers, false bringers of their preaching. They are
deceitful workers. They are transforming themselves
into the apostles of Christ. The apostles never transformed
themselves into apostles. They were called to be apostles. They were directed, they were
given the role and responsibility of messengers of the Lord Jesus
Christ and carriers of his message to the ends of the earth. But
what happened? As soon as the church began to
be mobilized, as soon as the church began to form, there were
troublemakers arose. We've spoken about the 3,000
on the day of Pentecost, the 5,000 when Peter preached at
the beautiful gate. Hundreds, thousands of people,
a momentum, a movement was occurring there in Jerusalem and it was
spilling out. into the Near East, into Jerusalem,
Judea, Galilee, the provinces around about. It was moving,
as people moved, as traders moved back and forward, this message
was being carried. And suddenly people said, there's
money to be made in this. There's power to be had here.
There's influence to be gained here. And as the gospel went
out, there was a second wave that came after it of false teachers,
of devious teachers, of those who claimed to have greater authority,
claimed to be able to lead the people into deeper truth. And Paul says, You're forgetting
the simplicity that's in Christ. You're forgetting the message
that I've preached to you. You've forgotten the gospel that
you once received and accepted. This wasn't an isolated event. In the early years of the church,
a lot of people saw this new faith as a way to promote themselves,
a way to enrich themselves. And there were some like Simon
the Sorcerer or Simon Magus, as he's sometimes called, who
wanted power in the church, who wanted fame in the church. Indeed,
Ananias and Sapphira may well have been of that same coin. They wanted to enrich and get
honour for themselves. And some like these false prophets
that came from Jerusalem claiming authority from Peter and James
and Judas and the other apostles. So that the apostle Paul could
say in another letter that he wrote to the Galatians, that
there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel
of Christ. This is what happened. The apostles
were realising that while they did the work of the Great Commission
and carried that message to the ends of the earth, there came
behind them perverters, perverters of the gospel. and John and Peter
and Jude and Luke, they all speak about false teachers in the churches. Within just a few years of the
gospel going out, we've been nearly 2,000 years and those
false teachers are still with us. And they're still in the
churches and they're still doing their devious, deceitful work
in order to enrich themselves and promote themselves and get
honour for themselves and lift themselves up and take some sort
of credibility in the organisation which is the denominationalism
of church groups. So let us return to the subject,
the simplicity that is in Christ. What is it? What is it that Paul
had that these other men, these false apostles, these deceitful
workers did not have? How would you recognise that
simplicity? Let's personalise it. Would you
know If you were listening to the true gospel or to a false
gospel, would you know, could you hear the difference? Are we all the same? Preachers
just all got different emphases. Maybe come from a different tradition
or employ things from a different history, a different way of looking
at things, different perspective, but it's all the same message.
So after all, it's all the same Bible, isn't it? We're all using
the same text, we're all using the same words. It's just somebody
emphasizes one part, somebody emphasizes another. Come on,
we can all get on together, we can do this. Isn't it more important
that we have a common front to the world and we show the world
that we are united, that we are together, that we have a love
and a care and a concern for one another? Or can you distinguish between
the simplicity that is in Christ and the subtle imposter who has
a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. Paul uses that
phrase in Romans 10, verse 2. Or in Galatians 4, 17, who would
zealously affect you, but not well. Oh, they'll affect you with their
zeal. They'll affect you with their passion. They'll bring
an enthusiasm to the pulpit. They'll rally the crowds, but
they won't do your soul any good because they've lost the simplicity
that is in Christ. So what is that simplicity that
is in Christ? Well, listen, listen. It's the pure, simple doctrine
of the gospel concerning the person and the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ in making sinners right with God. That's it. Principally, it is this important
truth Salvation is all of grace. That's it. That is the simplicity
that is in Christ. Salvation is all of grace. That little phrase, that little
message sums up, epitomises the simplicity that is in Christ.
Salvation is all of grace. People talk about how are we
going to live? Salvation is all of grace. What
should we be doing? Salvation is all of grace. How are we to worship? Does it
matter what hymns we sing? Does it matter how we dress?
Does it matter what we say or how we speak? What about our
money? What about our gifts? What about
our contributions to the church? How is that going to be used?
Where is it invested? Salvation is all of grace. That's the only important thing.
That's the simplicity that's in Christ. All the rest of it,
all the rest of it is just noise in the system. And the sad thing is that there
are many who maximize that noise in the
system, who build it up, who lift it up in order to make that
the essence of Christianity. and the forgiveness of sins,
and the blood of Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and his
mercy, and the grace by which he accomplishes the salvation
of his people. It's all left as a mere notion
which is sometimes nodded at, but rarely mentioned. The unique and the exclusive
Gospel of God was given way back to Jonah in those prophetic days
long before the Lord Jesus Christ even came into the world, when
it was said to him, salvation is of the Lord. You remember
the jailer? who said, what must I do to be
saved? And Paul's reply was, believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe in the promises of God. Believe, that's all you can do.
There isn't any work. There isn't any law obedience. There isn't any giving. There
isn't any sacrifice. There isn't any alignment. There isn't anything that is
yours to do in order to receive the grace of God. Grace is a
gift. Grace is God's gift to give to
his people. Salvation is of the Lord, Jesus
Christ, he who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, is himself
the way, the truth, and the life. He has opened up the way to God
as he opened up himself to carry the sins of his people and to
bear the judgment of God against that sin. He has revealed the
truth of God as he has come and ministered the Word of God, the
voice of God. We read that in Psalm 29, the
voice of the Lord. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. who
is front and central, the Lord Jesus Christ, who was there in
David's psalm, who is here in the testimony of Jonah, salvation
is of the Lord, and who brings and fulfills and accomplishes
everything needful, that God can distribute his gift of grace
graciously to whomsoever he will. And it is the Lord Jesus Christ
who brings life to dead sinners, life from on high, the life of
God, the life of God, the Holy Spirit, indwelling us and bringing
us into that new life. You must be born again, the Lord
says to Nicodemus. Nicodemus scratches his head.
He's a leader in Israel. He's the top man. He's the systematic
theologian of the Pharisees in Jerusalem. And he says, what
do you mean? Have I got to enter into my mother's
womb again and be born? Is that what this new life is?
You must be born again. It's a spiritual gift from God.
That's the simplicity that's in Christ, and the theologians
and the philosophers have passed it by, and they've corrupted
the truth. If a man or a woman believes
that salvation is all of grace, then we receive them in gospel
fellowship. If they join with us in this
simplicity that is in Christ, we count it a privilege to welcome
them amongst us in Christian love. But if they come to us
preaching another Jesus who is better than the one that we have,
or declaring another Holy Spirit who differs from the one that
we have received, or who offers us another gospel in which we
are to work together with God in order to receive His grace,
then we must withhold from them the hand of fellowship. And for the cause of God and
truth, We must remain faithful to the simplicity that is in
the Lord Jesus Christ and the salvation that is all of grace. Amen. The Lord bless these thoughts
to us.