My text this morning is found
in the second letter of Paul to the Corinthians, 2 Corinthians
chapter 11. The message of the text is the
simplicity of Christ. The simplicity of Christ. Now, simplicity, as it appears
in the text, does not speak of a simple gospel. That's not what the word here,
simplicity, means. It does not mean a gospel that's
easy to perceive, easy to believe, easy to preach. There's nothing
easy about the gospel. He said it's the wisdom of God
in a mystery. The wisdom of God. He said the
foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men. What must
the wisdom of God be? It's not easy. There's nothing
easy about it. He said not even the princes
of this world understood Or they wouldn't have crucified the Lord
of Glory. It's not a simple gospel. The word simplicity in our text
means singleness. It means oneness. That's what
he's talking about here. Now let's read the text together.
2 Corinthians 11, beginning in verse 1. Would to God you could bear with
me a little. Bear with me a little in my folly. And indeed, bear with me. Now,
the Corinthians had fallen under the influence of false prophets
and their heresies. Fallen under the intimidation
of Satan and his ministers who comes in and begins to corrupt
little things and then bigger things. And finally, they've
corrupted the whole white That's what was taking place here in
the Corinthians. Now, in order to expose these
men, to expose what they were, to expose their motives, and
expose their false objectives and their offices, Paul had to
compare himself to them. He came to them, said that he
was sin of God, said that he had the gospel of God, he had
all these things, and they believed him. They rejoiced in the truth.
Then these men come along and they said, we're a sin of God.
We have God's message. And they corrupted what Paul
said. Now Paul's going to go back and he's going to compare
himself. And he's going to compare his
offices. He's going to compare his ordination of God. He's going
to compare his message with theirs. Any time a man stands before
other men and has to highlight his character, his intentions,
his honesty, all of these things. To him, it's folly. Do you follow
where he's coming? For me to stand up here and tell
you that I have no flaws, that'd be folly, wouldn't it? Now, Paul has to stand before
these men, and he has to point out those specific qualities
that God gave him in this ministry and compare himself to these
men. And in his eyes, he knew it was necessary, but in his
own eyes it was folly. So he said, you just bear with
me a little in my folly. Yet indeed, bear with me. It's
necessary. Necessary. Verse 2, For I am jealous over
you with a godly jealousy. For I have espoused you to one
husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ."
Now, Paul came to these people and he preached Christ to them,
the same way old Eliezer, the servant of Abraham, preached
to Rebekah. He didn't have anything to say
about himself. He didn't have anything to say
about his entourage that come with him. What he had to say
concerned Isaac and Abraham and the promises of God. And he told
her of those things. He told her those precious truths.
And her heart was affected. Now that's what Paul did. He
came down to these people and he preached Christ to them. And
their hearts were moved to repentance and they turned from the world
to Christ. They embraced They embraced Him,
and their hearts were filled with love and joy and gladness.
Their hearts were filled with awe and expectation. Christ came
into view. And at their own request, at
their own confession, Paul baptized these people. He baptized them. He joined them by their own oath
and profession to one husband. pure by the washing of regeneration,
renewing of the Holy Ghost, spotless in Christ's justifying righteousness,
chaste virgins joined in holy union to Christ by faith. Now that's what he's telling
them. I've joined you. I'm jealous of you. I'm jealous
of you. You've heard what I preached. And I brought you to Christ.
I didn't bring you to an altar. I didn't bring you down to the
front of the church. I didn't bring you to the law.
I brought you to Christ. And I didn't push you. I pointed
to Him. I told you about Him. And you
willingly came to Him. And you willingly professed Him.
And I baptized you, publicly, as a man's joined to a woman. And they stand before the preacher. And the preacher, he performs
a ceremony. And they say, I do. I do. We
do in baptism, confession, professing, we say, this is our hope. This is our hope. Now watch this,
verse 3, but I fear. I fear. There was a very real,
a very present, a very powerful enemy to be feared. He said,
I fear lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through
his subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity,
from the singleness, from the oneness that's in Christ. That's my fear. That's my fear. Now let me read this verse out
of another version of the Bible, see if it makes any clearer to
you. But I am afraid, as the serpent
in his craftiness deceived Eve, so your minds may be led astray
from the single-heartedness and your fidelity in Christ. A oneness. of oneness in Christ
the Lord. Publicly joined to Christ our
Husband, we give ourselves to Him. We look to Him. We look
to Him for all things. We give ourselves to Him. We
love Him. We embrace Him. He's our Lord. He's our Teacher.
He's our heart's desire. Now Paul said, Beware. Beware. Satan desires to lead you astray. He wants to take you away from
your husband. That's what he wants to do. He
wants to lead you astray. He wants you to think that there's
another more fitting, more able, another more wise, more efficient. He wants you to be led astray
from Him. He wants your love to be diverted
this way. He wants your mind to be diverted
this way. He wants your will to be diverted
this way. And He does it through subtlety.
Subtlety. These door-to-door salesmen are
subtle, ain't they? They'll get you saying yes. Now
your name is, yes, you know. And this is your home, yes. They'll
get you saying yes. Before you know it, they'll have
you buying all kinds of stuff, and you're still saying yes.
That's what Satan does. He's subtle. He's subtle. Boom. Away you go. Away you go. But it's adultery in the highest
order to stray from Christ. It's fornication in the highest
act to embrace anything other than Christ. And that's how he
pictures it throughout the Old Testament. Those are the terms
he uses. Very plain. Now, turn with me
to Colossians chapter 2. I'm going to have you turn to
this twice. in the message this morning, but I want you to see
just a few things with me now. In Proverbs, religion is the
woman in the attire of a harlot. That's how Solomon sets her before
the church. She's subtle of heart. She's
loud and stubborn. Her feet abide not in her house.
She lieth wait on every corner. She has peace offerings, saying,
I paid my vows. She has things that appeal to
the eye as well as the nose and the ears. She whispers a promise
of love. But he said, her house is the
way to hell. And those who fall into her snare
go as the ox to the slaughter and as a fool to the stocks. Now watch this here in Colossians
2.4. He said, in this I say, lest any man should beguile you
with enticing words, For though I be absent in the flesh, yet
I am with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order
and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. As you have
therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him,
rooted and built up in Him, established in the faith as you've been taught,
abounding therein with thanksgiving. And beware. Lest any man spoil
you through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of
men, after the rudiments, the fundamental principles of the
world, and not after Christ." Beware. Beware. An old woman stands in her perfume
and dress on every corner. She stands on the corner of election.
Oh, yes, she does. She stands there saying, God
didn't really elect the people freely. by his own choice, out
of his own sovereignty. But he looked down through the
telescope of time, and he saw who would and wouldn't choose
him. That's that old woman. She stands on the corner of election.
She stands on the corner of effectual calling. She stands on the corner
of justification and imputed righteousness. And she stands
on the corner of sanctification. She's on every corner, every
corner. Her intent is to lead you from
Christ. Her intent is to take you from
your husband. That's her intent. Her message
is something better, something wiser, something with more authority,
something more feeling, more affection, more pleasant, more
secure, more believable, more palatable. Paul said to them, if it were
possible, if someone could... I'm paraphrasing the Scriptures
now, 2 Corinthians 11. If you move down beyond our text
just a little bit, what he's saying here, if it were possible,
if it were possible, if someone could preach another Jesus better
than the one I preached to you, if he could, if you could receive
another spirit better than the one that you have received under
this gospel, or another gospel better than
the one that you've accepted and confessed and professed in
baptism." If that were possible, he said, you might well bear
with him. But there isn't anything any better. You see that? And then he goes on down and
he begins to show you where Satan himself transformed himself into
an angel of light. It's no problem for his ministers
to be transformed. If Satan himself can be transformed
into an angel of light, it's no problem for him to transform
men into ministers of righteousness. That's not hard for him. He can
do that. He can do that. There is nothing
better than Christ. Listen to this, down in verse
13 of 2 Corinthians 11. For such are false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles
of Christ, going to the preacher factories. That's where they're
made. Satan makes them. It's no problem
for him to make them. They come from sea and land to
make proselytes, and when they've made them, they're two-fold more
the child of hell than they are. He said, look at this, verse
14, no marvel, Satan himself is transformed into an angel
of light, therefore it is no great thing if his ministers
also be transformed, his ministers of righteousness, whose ends
shall be according to their works. Four things accompany this beguiling
work of Satan. Are you listening? Four things. Satan always tempts with pleasure. I had a fellow say one time,
he came to one of our conferences, and I think Brother Scott had
preached that night, Will a Man Rob God? And his first point,
Will a Man Rob God of His Glory? That was his first point. This
guy left, and later on at the fellowship, he came over and
sat down, and he said, You know, I just think, you know, when
a man goes to church, he ought to come away feeling better about
himself than when he went. That's how Satan tempts. Pleasure. Pleasure. Always by pleasure. It's not
pleasure that brings us to Christ, it's need. It's need. The seed, you remember the parable
of the sower? The seeds that fell among the
thorns were those that were choked out by the cares, riches, and
watch it, pleasures of this world. That's how he tempts. That's
how he draws away. Pleasure. The harlot on the corner offers
pleasure. Secondly, Satan beguiles by blinding
men to the power and dominion of sin. Do you know sinners in
their own mind always feel like they can be saved anytime they
want to? Was that not your experience
before you were saved? You thought you could be saved
any time you wanted to. You thought God was just waiting
on you to say something so He could run down and do whatever
it is you wanted. He blinds men to the power and
dominion of sin. Every sinner believes that. He
believes he can quit sinning any time he wants to. The truth
is he never will want to. And then thirdly, Satan successfully
beguiles by teaching us excuses. Excuses are like putting a Band-Aid
on an amputated leg. Excuses. An excuse is a lie to
cover up the first lie. That's what excuses are. Just excuses. And they're always
so ridiculous. Moses came down from the mountain.
He'd been up on the mountain with God. God had given to him
his holy law, and he came back down, and he left Aaron down
there in charge of the people. And he came back, and they're
all dancing around a golden calf. And he came to Aaron, and he
said, what are you doing? And Aaron said, well, they give
me this gold, and I threw it in the fire, and it came out
a calf. Ridiculous. You see them? They're
excuses. There is no excuse for sin. There is no excuse. That's why at the end of Romans
3, when he finishes describing us and our sin before God and
shut up by the law of God, he said, every mouth may be stopped.
Why? Because there is no excuse. There is no excuse. And then
fourthly, Satan beguiles men by causing men to make false
professions of faith. Paul said of Israel, he said,
they have a form of godliness. But it denies the power and presence
of God. I told you last week, godliness
is God in you. That's godliness. Don't try to define godliness
as going to church and paying tithes. That's not godliness.
Godliness is God in you affecting a change. It's God in you, God
in you. You might excuse your behavior
and lack of obedience if godliness is something that you can do,
but the believer is a man indwelt by God. Can you imagine God dwelling
in a house not under His reign? I can't. He ruleth and armies
of heaven among the inhabitants of the earth. Can you imagine
Him in a house that He doesn't rule? He's God. He's God. Can you imagine God
dwelling in an unsanctified temple? I'm telling you, you read in
the Old Testament, even those natural, the tabernacle and the
temple, everything in there had to be sanctified. If at any point
anything was not sanctified, they paid harshly for it. Do you imagine some force, some
power, some principality overcoming God, keeping God from doing His
will? He said, it's God that worketh
in you, what Paul said, both the will and the do of His good
pleasure. That's godliness. And where God abides, wisdom
abides. Where God abides, light abides. Where God abides, grace abides.
That's what John taught over in 1 John. Don't talk to me about
knowing God and walking in darkness. God's light. In Him is no darkness. God abides in you. Light abides
in you. God abides. Grace abides. And
when God the Holy Spirit abides, He glorifies Christ, John 16,
14. He said, He shall glorify Me,
for He shall receive of Mine and show it unto you. Wherever
the Holy Spirit abides, Christ abides. And He abides preeminently. And the fear Paul had is a beguiling
of Satan from the single-hearted faith that looks to Christ alone. Faith never turns its head. It's turned one time from sin
to Christ. You know why it never turns?
Because it finds in Him what it's been blinded of. Paul said,
If our gospel be hid, it's hid to the lost, in whom the God
of this world hath blinded their minds, lest they should see the
light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. They're
blind to it, but they're not blind anymore when they see it.
And when they see it, they stare at it. And they never find a
reason to leave it. Because in that place is all
the glory of God. Right there. They found it. What
did a man do when he found the treasure in the field? He bought
the whole field, didn't he? Bought the whole field. That's
why when you find Christ in the scriptures, you buy the whole
book. And you discover. You just seen a little bit sticking
up out of the grass. But you grabbed it. You bought
the whole field because you knew there was treasure in it. And
then you got in there and you found out the whole field full
of treasure. Full of treasure. Faith never turns its head. Faith
looks and sees the glory of God in Christ. And in looking, it
finds eternity in His eyes. You can look into the face of
Christ in the Gospel and you find the eternal purpose of God. You find the very being of God
in His face. You find the very essence of
God in His face. You find His purpose. You find
His ordination. You find His election. You find
everything that God has for sinners, you find in that face. You find
in Him your heart's desire. You want to be like Him. Want
to be like Him. That's what changes men. What
Paul said, we look into this glass, into this looking glass
of the gospel, and we're transformed day by day. Day by day. Let me give you four things this
morning about this simplicity of Christ. And I apologize if
these things seem like repetition to you. But the first thing is
this. Faith looks to Christ alone in
the issues of righteousness and atonement. It doesn't find any
hope anywhere else except in Christ. There is no hope. There's
no hope out here. All this business of reformation
and changing your mind and commitments and walking out, there's no hope
in that. Your hope is that God appointed
for you a substitute and that He died in your place and lived
and did what God required you to do under that law. That's
your righteousness. If you have any other righteousness,
it's self-righteousness. There's just one righteousness
and Christ is it. He's the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. Two things God requires of every
son of Adam, righteousness and satisfaction for sin. Righteousness
is a heart rendering obedience to God. It's a heart that loves
the Lord its God with all of its heart, soul, mind, and strength. loves its neighbors itself. It's
a heart that does all it's required to do without question. You never
find the Lord questioning God. This righteousness is a heart
that whatever it's commanded to do, it assumes that it's right
and good to do it because of who commanded it to be done.
He never questioned God. It's always and forever the first
impulse of the heart. Triumphs under stress and trial. Triumphs under temptation and
persecution. Triumphs from the cradle to the
grave, unbroken. Triumphs even if it's led to
the cross. Perfect. It must be perfect to
be accepted. Unbroken. Everyone who continueth
not in all things written in the book of the law to do, unbroken,
out of a heart of love. Is there anybody in this place
that imagines that they can produce this righteousness? Foolishness to you now, isn't
it, to even think about it? And then what of our sins? What's
your hope before the holy God of justice and judgment? Listen
to what Job said. What is man that he should be
claimed? These fellows were telling him,
now, Job, we know you did something. That's why you had these boys.
That's why your children's dead. That's why all these great things.
God's cursed you. God's cursed you. You're not
righteous. You need to fess up. What'd you do? all through the
book of Job, these friends. He told them they were sorry
comforters, as we see. These were his friends. Job said,
What is man that he should be clean, and he that is born of
a woman, that he should be righteous? Behold, he putteth no trust in
his saints. Yea, the heavens are not clean
in his sight. How much more abominable and
filthy is man that drinks iniquity like water. David said, if he should mark
iniquity, who should stand? Who's going to stand? Huh? What will you do with your iniquities
before God? How are you going to deal with
that issue? There's only one way, and that's in Christ. There's
no other way. Find only one answer in the testimony
of God, seeing the travail of His Son's soul, dying and loving
obedience to the Father, God said, I'm satisfied. Satisfied. His obedience is my righteousness.
His death is my atonement. Faith perceives Christ, as God
set Him forth, as a propitiation, a full, complete restoration
through faith in His blood. And God set Him forth in this
way to declare His righteousness. to declare himself righteous
in his justification of sinners. Faith looks to Christ alone for
justifying righteousness. And then secondly, the gospel
of God declares Christ alone. Christ is the gospel. I'll never
forget William asking me that day, he said, what is the gospel?
I said, the gospel is not a what, it's a who. It's a person. It's Christ. He's
the gospel. He's the gospel. That was the
answer he was looking for. Christ is the gospel. I've got
no gospel apart from Christ. Where's the good news apart from
Christ? I say this to you. You can be
an error in a lot of other things and still be okay, but you better
not miss this. You miss this, you miss life.
This life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life. Everything God has for sinners
He put in Christ. In Him, He said, dwelleth all
the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Fullness of mercy. Do you seek
mercy? You won't find the mercy of God
anywhere except in Christ. Grace, grace and truth came by
Jesus Christ. Where is even a hint of pardon
outside of Christ in the Scriptures? You can't find it. Forgiveness
of sins in Christ. We have redemption through His
blood, the forgiveness of sin. This gospel, my friend, is not
about trying to get you to change your ways. The gospel is about
pointing you to Him who is the way. The way ain't in you. You can
change and change and change and change and change. The way
is not in you. He's the way. Isn't that what
he told Philip? I'm the way. I'm the way. Someday I'm going
to change my ways. You probably will. You probably
will. But you won't find the way until
you find Him. The gospel is not about getting
men and women to make a decision. It's about pointing you to Him
who God already decided on. Decisions already made. The Gospel is not about getting
you to accept Jesus as your personal Savior. God's already made Him
Lord in Christ and accepted Him and accepted us in Him. Ain't
that what it says in Ephesians 1? The efficacy of His work doesn't
depend on your believing it. Your believing depends on the
efficacy of His work. If his work was not sufficient,
there's not going to be any faith. There's not going to be any spirit
given. There's not going to be any pardon shown. It all rides
on the sufficiency of his work. Can you really imagine that somehow
men and women dead in trespasses and sins? I'm just going to use
scriptural examples here. bound in chains of darkness,
falling under the curse of the law, blinded by the God of this
world, whose minds are enmity against God, of whom God said,
there's none that understandeth, none that seeketh after God,
none righteous. Do you really imagine that somehow
this man can believe? How can he believe what he don't
understand? How can he call on Him of whom
he has not heard? You see what I'm saying? All
of this rides on the sufficiency of that sacrifice. If that sacrifice
is sufficient and accepted of God, then comes the gospel. Preachers can't preach unless
they've been sent. They have to be sent. The Holy
Spirit's not coming until God sends Him. These things are sent,
directed, given. And the reason is the sufficiency
of that sacrifice. If I don't go away, He ain't
coming. Paul said to the Galatians, because
you are sons. Now he said, because. Here's
the foundation. Because you're sons, God sent
forth the Spirit of His Son and sent Him into your heart and
caused you to cry, Abba, Father. No gospel apart from Christ,
no revelation, no reconciliation, and no regeneration. And then
thirdly, by a sovereign work of grace and regeneration. The believer is brought into
a vital union with Christ by faith. This union is likened
in the Scripture unto a marriage. Likened unto a marriage. Both
in agreement. Both giving themselves the one
to the other. Both in love. Both in harmony. When one is offended, they are
both offended. When one is despised, the other is despised. Isn't
that what he said? He that despises you despises
me. Because we are one. He that heareth
you, heareth me. If he won't hear you, he ain't
going to hear me. One's love, the other's love.
Faith embraces a person. Regeneration is Christ in you. Christ in you. You husbands and
wives, the longer you're with one another, the more you know
about one another. Sometimes it's good and sometimes it's
bad. But that's how that knowledge comes. And it's this oneness
with Christ in regeneration. We begin to grow in knowledge
and grace because we're with Him. Because we're with Him. Open these Scriptures. I tell
you this, when God comes in, regenerates you, that experience
of grace will translate these Scriptures. You'll look at them
and you'll say, I understand what that's saying. And you'll
be amazed that you understand it. But the reason you understand
it is because you have Him. You have Him. If you don't have
Him, you don't have any understanding. Faith embraces a person. It's
Christ in you. And this understanding that we
have as husbands and wives, so it is with Christ. He brings
us into a vital union with Himself by faith. And from that moment,
we begin to grow in grace and knowledge of Him. Our doctrine
comes from Christ. It doesn't come the other way
around. It comes from Christ. And then, fourthly, faith looks
to Christ alone in its walk. and life and perseverance in
this world. It looks to Christ alone. And
I know, I read a lot of the old writers, and I know what they
believe. Most of them, the overwhelming
percentage of them, taught that the law was our moral guide.
It's just not so. I respect them. I respect what
they say. I like a lot of things that they
say, but they're wrong on this issue. The law is not your moral
guide. Christ is your guide. Don't you
take your eyes off Christ. What do we know of morals? Huh? Look back over your life. What
do we know of morals? What do we know of the law for
that fact? What do you understand about
the law? Christ said, it was said of them of old time, thou
shalt do this. He said, here's what I'm telling
you. Here's what that means. Here's what that means. To look
on a woman, lust after her is to commit adultery in your heart.
To be angry at your brother without a cause would be guilty of murder. He interprets the law. Why do
I want to go to the abstract to learn what's being personified
and exampled? You see what I'm saying? Husbands
and wives, we don't go to the law and the law said, well, you're
permitted to... You remember they asked Christ
on this issue. They said, Moses presented a
bill of divorce. What do you say? He said, well,
Moses presented that because of your heart, because of your
wickedness. That's why Moses gave that. But
he said in the beginning it was not so. He told them what that
law meant, didn't he? Husbands and wives, where do
we go to learn how to act toward one another? Do we go to the
law and look at all the specifications and write them all down and say,
now, I have to do this, and I have to call him Lord, and I have
to do this, and I have to do that. So here's my duties as
a wife, so I'm going to do this. I ain't doing one thing more,
not one thing less. I'm going to do this. No, you
go over here and he said, husbands, love your wives as Christ loved
the church. Whew, that covers a whole ball
of wax, don't it? Hmm? Yeah. That's it. We look to Christ. Well, I don't
look to the law as my moral guide. I look to Christ because that
law is exampled in him. That law has been taken. He took
a law that was just a law. It was just in its abstract.
Paul called it a dead letter. And he took that law, and because
God in human flesh obeyed that law, exampled that law, manifested
that law, showed what that law meant, interpreted that law. The Scripture said He took that
law and exalted it, honored it, set it up here where it's supposed
to be. He didn't leave it in the abstract.
He left it fulfilled, honored. You see what I'm saying? Now,
I don't want to go back to the abstract. I'm going to look up
Fisher. I'm going to look up Fisher. What you say, is everything
exampled in him? Said it is. Said he was tempted
in all points, like as we are, yet without sin. There's nothing
you need to know that you can't learn in Christ. Nothing. Nothing. It's not the law that gives me
light. It's Christ, isn't it? When we're talking about the
believer's walk, now just listen to me. If we walk in the light
as He is the light, we have fellowship one with another. And the blood
of Jesus Christ, His own Son, cleanses us from all unrighteousness.
The law is not my light, Christ is. It's not the law that gives
me inspiration, it's Christ. Paul said, if therefore there
be any consolation in Christ, any comfort of love, any fellowship
of the Spirit, any vows of mercy, fulfill you my joy, that you
might be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord,
of one mind, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ
Jesus our Lord. He's my inspiration. And He's my example. He's my
example. Oh, but you say the law restrains.
It restrains men who have no love. But Paul said the love of Christ
constrains us. Christ, I want you to think about
this. Christ is the only moral man who ever lived on this earth. Do I want to be moral? I better
study Christ. There's nowhere else to look.
If I look to the law, I'm left to my own understanding. I'm
left to my own evaluations. I don't have to evaluate anything
if I look to Christ, do I? Those who have Christ love
Christ, rejoice in Christ, look to Christ. I find no need of
the law. What do I need the law for? The
law is fulfilled. Turn with me to Colossians 2
one more time. Paul prayed for the church here
that their hearts would be comforted, same as he did the Philippians,
being knit together in love, unto all the riches of full assurance
and understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God and of
the Father and of Christ. Watch this, verse 3, in whom
are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And this
I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words, wants
to draw you away. For though I be absent in the
flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding
your order and steadfastness of your faith in Christ. Did
you therefore receive Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in
Him, rooted and built up in Him, established in the faith as you
have been taught, abounding in thanksgiving? Beware lest any
man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition
of men, after the rudiments, the basic fundamental principles
of this world, and not after Christ. For in Him dwelleth all
the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are..." What's that word?
Complete. Huh? Complete in Him, which is
the head of all principality and power. Verse 12, buried with
Him in baptism, risen with Him through the faith of the operation
of God who raised Him from the dead. And you being dead in your
sins and uncircumcision of your flesh, have He quickened together
with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses. and blotting
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us. And He took it out of the way
and nailed it to His cross. That's where it's at. Nailed
to His cross. Now beware. You see what He's
telling these Corinthians? Beware. Satan beguiled Eve that
your minds be not corrupted from the simplicity of Christ. Turn to Him. Look to Him. Stay focused on Him. Don't turn
aside. Turn aside. Turn aside. You may be gone.
You may be gone. Our Father, open our hearts and
minds to see Christ, to see His glory, to see His sufficiency
in all things. Oh, how we're so often tempted. On every side it seems like to
go this way, and go that way, and go some other way. And yet how gracious are you
in your Word, and in your promises, and in the preaching of the Gospel
to point us constantly at Christ. Make this message effectual this
morning, for Christ's sake. Amen.