What a blessing. We're going to observe the Lord's
table tonight, and I'm going to attempt to preach on this
subject, eternal union with Jesus Christ. The simplicity that is in Christ,
Now it's my prayer that we will all leave this place rejoicing
in the simplicity that is in Christ. Paul's great fear for
the church at Corinth and my fear for me and my fear for you
is being corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus, His
singleness, His onlyness, the simplicity that is in Christ
Jesus, the Son of God. Have you ever taken a test with
multiple choice? and you didn't have any idea
which one it was. You could guess. You thought maybe you could come
close, but you just were not sure. Seems like there's usually
four choices, A, B, C, and D, and you got to pick out one of
them. I don't know how many times I've had those tests, and I didn't
have a clue. And I guessed at which one sounded
the most reasonable. Now, that would describe religion. Very complicated. Like a multiple
choice test where you don't know the answer. You have the world's
seven great religions. And you know which one is the
biggest? Christianity. 2.4 billion adherents. Let me say right off
the bat that I don't like Christianity. I love the gospel. But Christianity
is one of the world's religions. It's not the religion of the
Bible. I asked Siri how many different
religions there were and Siri said there were 4,300 definable
religions. 4,300. All claiming to be true. And
let's forget just a moment about other religions like Islam and
Hindu Buddhist and atheism. Atheism is a religion. But within
Christianity, you have East and West, Protestant and Catholic
and charismatic. How many denominations are there?
Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist, Church of Christ, Church of God,
Lutheran. I mean, I could just go on and
on all day about the different denominations, all of which claim
to have a clearer view of the gospel than the others. There's so many differences even
within a single denomination. How many different kind of Baptists
are there? Hundreds, hundreds. And what about church? High church, low church,
formal, informal, liturgical. I mean, there are even different
ways of worship. There's contemporary worship, there's traditional
worship, there is, did I already say contemporary? Okay. Some churches even have both.
We'll give you whatever you want. We have traditional early morning
and then the late morning we have contemporary. Rock and roll,
whatever you want, we'll give it to you. Take your choice. Multiple choice. I'm so thankful the gospel is
not multiple choice. With regard to doctrine, how
many different views and answers are given to this question, how
does God save sinners? So many different answers. What
must I do to be saved? So many different answers. My question is, where is the
simplicity that is in Christ Jesus? That is the one issue. Now look at our text in 2 Corinthians
chapter 11 verse 1. would to God you could bear with
me a little in my folly. Now Paul is saying I'm speaking
foolishness. Now he was speaking under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit but what he was talking about
is the fact that he had to defend himself to these Corinthians
and he says let me sell myself some. I'm speaking foolishly. Look what he says in verse I say again, let no man think
me a fool, if otherwise yet as a fool receive me that I may
boast myself a little. Now, who is he referring to?
He says in verse 12, but what I do that I'll do that I may
cut off occasion from them which desire occasion that wherein
they 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's no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers
of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works.
Look in verse 21. I speak as concerning reproach,
as though we had been weak, albeit whereinsoever any is bold. I
speak foolishly. I'm bold also, are they Hebrews?
So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I.
Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. And he goes on to compare
himself to these men. And he's saying, I'm speaking
as a fool. Indeed, bear with me. He says
in verse two, 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."
Someone who looks only to Christ and nowhere else. But verse three,
I fear. You know, I fear this for me.
I dreadfully fear this for me. And I fear this for you. This
was Paul's fear with regard to the Corinthians. He said, I fear
lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled, deceived Eve through
his subtlety. So your mind should be corrupted
from the simplicity that is in Christ. Would you turn with me
for a moment to Genesis chapter three, and let's read about where
the serpent beguiled and deceived Eve. Now, let me remind you about
Eve at this time. Eve was not fallen like you and
I are. I don't believe she had a holy
nature. I know she didn't because holiness can't fall. It can't
corrupt. But she had an innocent nature. God made man upright. She was made upright. And she
didn't have a sinful, stupid mind the way you and I have.
She had not yet fallen. And look at how Satan deceived
her. Verse one, was more subtle than
any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. Now, before we go on reading,
look in verse 15 of chapter two. And the Lord God took the man
and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep
it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, of every tree
of the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil. Thou shalt not eat of it, for
in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Now, what I want you to notice,
he didn't say, if you eat, you'll die. He said, when you do, you
will die. Now, could God have prevented
this from taking place? Of course he could. Did he? No. It was all according to his
purpose. I know somebody's saying, are
you charging God with being the author of sin? I'm saying God's
God. And I'm saying he controls everything.
And I'm saying there's nothing outside of his sovereignty. And
I like it that way. Wouldn't want it to be any other
way. But remember that this commandment has been made. Now let's go on
reading. Chapter three, verse one. And
he, the serpent said unto the woman, yea, hath God said, you
shall not eat of every tree of the garden. Now he changed what
God said. No, God didn't say that. He said,
there's one tree. And that tree represents God's
authority. You've got full course to eat
every fruit you want, but there's one tree you're not to eat of
because this is a demonstration of my authority over you. You
do what I say. And the woman said unto the serpent,
verse two, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden,
but of the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of the
garden, God has said, you should not eat it. Neither shall you
touch it lest ye die. Now, I suppose I can understand
why she said don't touch it. If God said don't eat it, you're
probably better off not touching it. But still, she added to what
God said. And it's never smart to add to what God says, no matter
how reasonable it may seem. I can see why she said that.
I'd probably say that too. But she added to what God said. Verse 4, and the serpent said
unto the woman, you shall not surely die. You don't have to
believe what God said. You shall not surely die. For God doth know that in the
day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and you
shall be as God, knowing good and evil. God's not looking out
for your best interests. He knows that if you eat that
tree, you're gonna know good and evil. And right now, all
you know is good. And you're like a wind-up Energizer
bunny. You're just doing what you're
programmed to do. You don't know good and evil. You're not making
any choices. But when you know good and evil, here's what you're
gonna do. You're gonna choose the good over the evil, and that's
what's gonna make you like God. You know, that sounds good, doesn't
it? I can see the reasonableness of that. That does sound good.
It sounds better to choose the good over the evil than to just
do good because you got an innocent nature. She took the bait. What he was
tempting her with was free will. You'll have a free will, and
that's what's going to make you like God. Verse 6, and when the woman saw
that the tree was good for food, the lust of the flesh, that it
was pleasant to the eyes, the lust of the eyes, the lust of
the eyes is being more concerned about what men see than what
God sees. And a tree to be desired to make
one wise, the pride of life, you'll be like God. Then she
took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her
husband with her, and he did eat. And the eyes of them both
were opened, and they knew they were naked. Now, they were naked
before this had taken place, but now they know it. with a
sinful nature and everything that is associated with that.
They died spiritually and Satan deceived Eve and Eve was a lot
smarter than me or you, a lot smarter. Now let's go back to second Corinthians. I fear, lest by any means as
the serpent beguiled, deceived Eve through his subtlety, through
his false reasoning. Sounded good, but it wasn't. So your minds, your minds, the
mind you have right now should be corrupted from the simplicity
that is in Christ Jesus. Now something that is simple
is not compound. If you have distilled water,
what do you have? It doesn't have any additions
to it or it's not distilled. What happens when you add a drop
of gasoline? It's been corrupted. It can't
be used for experimentation anymore. It's no good. It's been corrupted. Now that's what it is to have
your minds corrupted from the simplicity of Christ. If I add
something to Christ, I have been corrupted from the simplicity
that is in Christ Jesus. Turn back to 2 Corinthians chapter
1 for just a moment. Verse 12. For I rejoicing is
this, the testimony of our conscience. Our conscience is bearing witness
to this, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly
wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation
in the world. Simplicity, simplicity. Now, the gospel is simple. Now, when I say that, the gospel
is majestic. It's beyond comprehension. It's
transcendent. I know that. I'm not saying,
just believe on Jesus, everything's OK. Because who is Jesus? Who is God? How does God save
sinners? So I'm not trying to oversimplify
things, but the gospel is simple. It's not hard to understand. For instance, 2 Timothy 3.16
says, all scripture is given by inspiration of God. Now, is there anybody here that
doesn't understand that? All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. Every word in this book is inspired
by God. It is inerrant. God wrote this
book. He used men to do it, he used
their personalities, but this is the verbally inspired Word
of God, God's revelation of himself. Now, is there anybody that doesn't
understand what I'm saying? You may not believe it. You may
reject it, but you understand what's being said. Now, here's
where the problems come. The Bible contains the word of
God. Now it's up to me to figure out which part is from God and
which part is from man. And I'm really in trouble then. things become very convoluted.
When I say God, His will is the cause of
everything, everything, including that virus
that's going on in China right now. I can't remember what it's
called, con something. God's in control of that. He's
in control of everything else. It was the will of God that created
the universe. God willed it. It took place.
You know what that means. You say, I don't understand what
you're saying. Yeah, you do. I'm saying God created the universe.
I'm saying everything that happens in time. Everything. I don't
care what it is. Everything. He's the cause of.
Doesn't matter what it is. He's the cause of it. Because
he's God. Salvation is caused by the will of God. If you're
saved, it's because He willed your salvation. You know what that means. Now,
you might not agree with it. You might not even like it, but
you know what that means. That's easy to understand. Speaking
of man, man is dead in sins. That's what the Bible says. In
the day you eat thereof, you shall surely die. You know what that
means? There's nothing you can do to save yourself. That means
you're in his hands. There's nothing you can do to
save yourself. If God leaves you to yourself,
you will go to hell. Is that hard to understand? You
might not believe it. You might not agree with it.
You might not rejoice in it, but you understand. God, listen to me, according
to the scriptures, God chose who would be saved before the
foundation of the world. Somebody says, that's deep. No, it's not
deep. It's just so. And it's easy to understand. You might
not like it, but you might, you might, you might love it. You
might with glory and God being God, but you understand when
the scripture says God chose before time began, who would
be saved. You know what that means that you, you know, I'm
not asking if you agree with it or whether you rejoice in
it, but you, it says God chose who would be saved before time
again. On Calvary's tree. Now this is not hard to understand.
On Calvary's tree, Christ accomplished salvation. He didn't make salvation
available. He accomplished salvation. He succeeded when he said it
is finished the salvation of everybody he represented was
completed. Everybody in here understands
that? It's easy to understand. It's
not complicated. Christ is salvation. Now I'll
tell you when it gets convoluted when you deny that. And then
you're left with, well, what is salvation then? Is Christ
deaf? Not enough to save? What else
do I need to do? All of a sudden, everything becomes convoluted
and complicated and unintelligible. God's grace, according to the
scripture, actually saves. It's irresistible. It's invincible,
the grace of the Holy Spirit. God's grace is not an offer of
salvation. That's when it becomes convoluted.
Well, what do I got to do to receive it then? If it's just
an offer, it doesn't actually save, then what does save? No,
God's grace is not an offer. God's grace saves. And when I call that into question,
that's when things become so convoluted, multiple choice.
What am I supposed to believe? God's people, by the grace of
God, Persevere all the way to the end by grace. And that's
the evidence of salvation. You persevere. You continue in
the faith. You continue looking to Christ
alone. And that's the work of God in
you. Now, that's not hard to understand,
is it? This is not deep theology. This is not doctrine. This is
simple. This is simple. The only evidence of salvation is continuing to look to Christ,
and that's easy to understand. Now, this word, simplicity, means
the onlyness of Christ, the singularity of Christ. What's meant by that? Paul feared for the Corinthians
of being corrupted simplicity, the singleness, the onlyness
of Jesus Christ. What is meant by the simplicity
of Christ? God made the world for Christ
only. That's what that means. All things
were made by him and for him. And he is before all things. By Him, all things consist. God made the world only for Christ,
for His glory. The fall itself was for the glory
of Jesus Christ. And let me repeat that. The fall
of Adam, it was all according to God's purpose for the glory
of Jesus Christ. The fall was for the cross. Christ
is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And the very fall
was for the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ to manifest all
of God's glory. That's what the cross does. It
manifests who God is. The cross of Jesus Christ is
the whole counsel of God. Before the foundation of the
world, the cross is everything. During time, the cross of Christ
is the only message of Scripture. When time is no more, and eternity... I don't know how to say that.
It doesn't begin, it's always been. We're struggling when we
talk about eternity, but I know what the theme of eternity is. It's this worthy is the lamb
that was slain. Everything is for Jesus Christ,
his glory, the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus. This book we call the Bible has
a very simple message. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And that is the only message. There is not any other message. And if I can't see that, it's
because I really hadn't been taught of God. If you're taught
of God, He's going to open your understanding that you might
understand the Scriptures. and you understand the onlyness
of Jesus Christ. You might look at a passage of
scripture and, well, I don't know, I don't know really how
to get to the gospel there, but I know it's there, and if I don't
see why it's there, it's because I don't see the meaning just
yet, because I know the meaning before I know the meaning. The
meaning is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He is all in the scriptures. The scriptures got a very simple
message, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. All doctrine in the
scripture is summarized as the doctrine of Christ. Whoso transgresseth
and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ is not of God. Now, whatever
doctrine it is, it's the doctrine of Christ. There's only one doctrine
in the Bible. There's only one doctrine. Election
is the doctrine of Christ, chosen in Him. Some sequence of events,
why I choose Todd and choose Eric, choose Elizabeth, choose
Mr. No, one election. Christ be my
first elect, he said, then chose us in him, our living head. The elective election is not
a sequence of I'm picking out. No, all of God's people are chosen
in him. Predestination is the doctrine
of Christ. for whom He did forego, then
He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His
Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Redemption
is the doctrine of Christ. We're redeemed. Redeemed, not
made redeemable. No potential redemption. We're
redeemed by the blood of Christ. That's the doctrine of Christ.
Oh, whose blood was shed? Don't forget that. It's Christ
that died. Justification. Justified by His
righteousness. This is the doctrine of Christ. Sanctification. He's made into
us sanctification. This is the doctrine of Christ.
Faith and repentance. Faith is in Christ. It's not
in yourself. It's not what you think about
yourself. Faith is in Christ. And you repent of anything contrary
to that. Faith and repentance is the doctrine
of Christ. When the Philippian jailer said,
sirs, what must I do to be saved? What a question. And let me remind you, he didn't
say, what must I do to save myself? He knew better than that. What
must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and. Nope. Nope. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. We have one object, a very simple,
a very singular object of faith, Jesus Christ. Now let me remind
you, I need to be reminded of this every day. Faith is not
what I believe about myself. Faith is what I believe concerning
him. Whoso believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Take that, take that. We have a single reason for being
saved. We believe that by the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved. That's real simple,
isn't it? We have a simple, single ground
of forgiveness. Be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving
one another. Now let me remind you, forgiveness
is not an option. I love that passage you read
in Matthew chapter 18. If you from your heart forgive
not men their trespasses, Neither will your heavenly Father forgive
you your trespasses. Now, if I refuse to forgive,
I've never been forgiven. What is it that will cause somebody
to forgive? Seeing what they've been forgiven
of. Whatever you forgive somebody of, what you're forgiven of,
is it near as bad as the sin you've committed against God?
And I'm talking about me too. Me too. You too. Be kind. tenderhearted, forgiving one
another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. That's all the reason that's
needed. He did it for Christ's sake,
not because you asked for forgiveness. You know, if you're forgiven,
he forgave you before you ever asked for forgiveness. You see,
salvation begins with God forgiving you for Christ's sake. You find
that out. We have a single reason for not
being condemned. Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died. What else needs to be said? That's
the simplicity that's in Christ Jesus. I'm not condemned because
Christ died for me. That is my only hope. We have a single reason for justification. He was delivered, Romans 4.25
says he was delivered for our offenses and raised again for
our justification. I'm not justified upon my act
of believing. I'm justified because Christ
put away my sin and was raised, God being satisfied with him.
I believe that. My only justification is Him. He is my justification. We have a single reason, a simple
reason for all that God gives us. He that spared not His own
Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with
Him freely give us all things? You have all things in their
fullness for Christ's sake. You're complete in Him. I have a very simple ground of
personal assurance. Now listen real carefully. Oh,
may God give me the grace to say this the way it ought to
be said. I've got a simple ground for personal assurance. You know
what it is? Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. I'm one of them. What else? Nothing else. Nothing else. That's my simple ground of assurance. And it's the only good ground
of assurance. If you draw assurance from anything else, it's a false
assurance. May the Lord deliver you from
it. It's being corrupted from the simplicity that is in Jesus
Christ. We have a single faith. looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of
our faith. We have a single motive for obedience. I live, yet not I, said Paul,
but Christ liveth in me. And the life that I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God. who loved
me and gave Himself for me. I don't need another reason. He loved me and He gave Himself
for me. We have a very simple objective. Oh, that I may win Christ and
be found in Him. That's all I want. I want to
be found in Christ so that all God sees is Jesus Christ. I'm
not going to convolute that. That's all I want. What, do you
want Him to see you as a preacher? Nope. No, no, no, no. I want Him to see me in Christ. I have a single hope with regard
to Judgment Day. Would you turn with me to 1 John
chapter 4? You're familiar with this, but
I want to read it to you again. Verse 17, I wouldn't believe this if the
word of God didn't say it, but the word of God says it and I
believe. Herein is our love made perfect
that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. Now how in the world can somebody
have boldness on the day of judgment? To stand before the thrice holy
God and have boldness? Well, here's the answer. Because
as he is, so are we in this world. That's how I have boldness on
the day of judgment. No other way. Here's the simplicity of Christ.
Scripture alone. That's where we get the simplicity
of Christ. Scripture alone. Christ alone, not Christ and,
not scriptures and. Christ alone as everything in
my salvation. Grace alone, not grace and. Faith alone, not faith and. Add anything and you've been corrupted. from
the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus. And I do not want to be
corrupted from the singleness of my affection. Christ alone. What language shall I borrow? I love the way that sounds, not
what language can I come up with or what language shall I use.
What language shall I borrow? I know I can't come up with the
language and you're going to have to give it to me. What language
shall I borrow to thank thee, dearest friend, for this thy
dying sorrow, thy pity without end? Oh, make me thine. forever. And should I fainting
be, Lord, let me never, never outlive my love to thee. May I not be corrupted from leaving
my first love. to Him. Aren't you thankful for
the simplicity, singleness, the onlyness of Christ? This ain't
no multiple choice test where I gotta look at four or five
or seven things and try to figure out which one is the right answer.
There's not even two to get confused by. Christ only. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
onlyness of our Redeemer. And Lord, we pray for grace to
be delivered from being corrupted from the simplicity of Him. Enable
us to glory in the simplicity, the onlyness, the singularity
of Thy dear Son. how we thank you for the revelation
of His person. In His name we pray, amen.