Alright, good morning. Let's
open your Bibles, if you would. Let's start reading in 2 Corinthians
chapter 11. We're just going to look at two
verses here, start with three verses. 2 Corinthians 11, we're
going to start reading verse 2. Paul says, under the Corinthians,
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. 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 preaches another Jesus whom we have not
preached, or if you receive another spirit which you've not received,
or another gospel which you've not accepted, you might well
bear with him, saying that you might well tolerate it. So what
we read here is the result is of the serpent that beguiled
Eve. The result is death. Does that
seem too harsh? It may seem harsh to us if we're
someone who doesn't require absolute perfection in word in thought
and in deed. It might seem harsh, but yet
I would wager for everyone here gathered this morning, each person
has an interest in being able to go to God's heaven, or else
you wouldn't be here. That's why you're here. Well,
in order to get to God's heaven, we have to operate by God's rules,
and God's rules say we have to have absolute perfection in all
things, in our words, in our thoughts, and in our deeds. So
what he tells us here is he says, I fear, in verse 3, I fear. So there is great danger here
in being corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. And so if
we break that statement apart just a little bit, I said, well,
what is the simplicity that is in Christ? Simplicity is just
a, the word means a pure and simple devotion. This is just
your reliance upon Christ to save you. And that's what we
picture in baptism. Every time someone comes up here
and confesses Christ in believer's baptism, they say, his life was
my life. And in dying, I was in him. He
died for me. And when he was raised again,
I was united with him, and am as accepted as he is before God."
It's your simple faith, simple devotion. So that's the simplicity
that is in Christ. But yet Paul says, you've been
corrupted from this. So very simple, not complex. So if you've been corrupted from
this, that means that either something's been added to it,
or something's been taken from it. So it's something other than
what the original is. Well, how does this corruption
come? Well, he tells us. He says, the serpent beguiled
Eve through his subtlety. And this is where the great danger
is that we have in our day today and has existed up to this point,
is subtlety. Subtlety is two parts. It's first,
it's making use of a clever or indirect method to accomplish
something. Why must it be clever or indirect?
Because if it were open and clear what was trying to be accomplished,
you would say, that doesn't sound right. I'm not going to do that.
That's not right. But yet it says subtlety is use
of clever or indirect methods to accomplish something. The
second part of subtlety is that it is so delicate or difficult
to analyze it might not be able to be perceived. So you may not
even see it. It's such a slight deviation
from what you were with before. So Paul is saying it's not like
there was some gross departure from the gospel you've received. It's just a twisting of it a
little bit. There's little twisting of it, yet the Lord sees the
difference. It's only slightly different,
but God calls it another gospel, another spirit, another Jesus. So it's not just that we're talking
about Muhammad or some other type of religion, whatever it
may be. It's they use the words, Jesus. They use the words, salvation,
but yet it's how they're used and how they're twisted. That's
the subtlety. That's how the serpent beguiled Eve. I want to share with you a little
bit of an excerpt from a letter from a loved one who sent it
out to my family this week. This is someone you've never
met in my family before, but this is someone who has found
religion, who's found God, and decided to let everyone in their
family know. And so I want to share you a little excerpt of
what they wrote to me and kind of precipitated the way I wanted
to open this message. He says, I've accepted Jesus
as my personal Savior. I can't describe the change in
my life, my heart, my mind, and my spirit that has occurred as
a result of my decision. I thank God that He brought me
to this decision. If you haven't accepted him,
please don't wait. It's the most important decision
you'll ever make." Now, the world rejoiced with this person. They
said, how wonderful, what a blessing, so happy for you. But yet, I
found in my heart I was very empty. I couldn't rejoice with
this man. I didn't feel the same things
because being born again is not a decision. You're either alive
or you're dead. It's not a decision. You had
no choice in your first birth. How then will you have a choice
in your second? I had no influence over it. Turn back to John chapter
three, if you will, with me. And in verse 7, the Lord says
to Nicodemus, marvel not that I said unto thee, you must be
born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth,
and thou hearest the sound thereof, but cannot tell from whence it
cometh, or whither it goeth. So is everyone that is born of
the Spirit. So what does this tell us? So
he says you can't tell from where it's coming, you can't hear the
sound, you can't even tell where it's going. So everyone is that
is born of the Spirit. So what he's saying here is we
can perceive the operation of the Spirit, but yet we can't
influence it. I can't decide to be born again
and therefore the Spirit comes unto me. That is not what happens.
The scripture clearly speaks against this and says You can
perceive that it happens, but you don't know where it's coming
from, you don't know when it's coming and when it's going. So
this is not a decision. This person who wrote me this
letter, they're saviors themselves because they said, I accept it. That's how their salvation, the
words, how they were saved is I. You call into question anything
that ever starts with an I in salvation. The changes in my
life occurred as a result of my decision. So, had I not made
this decision, then I wouldn't have had all these benefits.
Does that sound familiar? Does that sound familiar if I
said, had I not done something, then therefore I would have been
lost? It sounds an awful lot to me like, this do and live. That's the law. It is subtle,
this do and live, but his confession here of what he believes, it
uses a lot of the right words. Talks about the Lord Jesus, talks
about salvation, talks about believing, talks about the fruits
of the Spirit, but yet It's still this do and live. This is a false
hope. You see, he's made a law out
of it because the law is based on my decision in what I do and
what I decide whether I live or whether I die. The second
thing is it's a denial of our spiritually dead state. You can't
choose God. You can't choose to believe.
Your sinful nature prohibits you from doing such. nor do you
desire him." This purchase in spiritual gifts came as a result
of their decision. They're so dead they don't even
know it. We can't even perceive it. Apart from the Lord giving
us eyes to see, we won't know. Isn't that what we just read
in John 9? The Pharisee said, do we see? He says, if you would
not see, then your sins would be forgiven. But because you
say we see, therefore your sins remain. He's saying, I see, I
can decide, I have the ability to do this. Yet what does the
Lord say in his word? He says over in Ezekiel when
he told him to prophesy to the dry bones, he says, I'll cause
breath to enter into you, and you shall live. I shall put my
spirit in you, and you shall live. And I'll put you in your
own land, and then shall you know that I, the Lord, have spoken
it, and I, the Lord, have purposed it and performed it. So what
that means here is, apart from the Lord putting breath in me,
apart from the Lord putting His Spirit in me, He has to do those
things first before I can even perceive He's done it. That's
what He's saying in that scripture right there that I just read
to you. If He ever works on you, the God, the Holy Spirit, you'll
know it. You'll know that it wasn't you. You'll know that
you've been called forth just as he called forth Lazarus. What
was Lazarus's experience? Lazarus died. Lazarus couldn't
hear. Lazarus couldn't respond. Lazarus
lay there dead. But yet at some point, Lazarus
heard, Lazarus, come forth. Lazarus opened his eyes. He was in the dark. He heard
somebody call him. He got up and he came out. That
was his experience. What choice did he have in the
matter? What did he decide? He didn't decide anything. He
got up and he came forth. I looked up all forms of accept
in the Scripture because this is a bold statement I'm making
and I don't want to say it without some backing up of what I'm saying.
When this person says, I accept therefore, because I wanted to
make sure we're not just twisting it to the way that we say that
we believe. I want to make sure it's true
out of the Word of God. And you can say this to anyone who says
something like this. Every time the word accept is
used in Scripture, every single time with respect to God, being
in acceptance. It's only used in, will God accept
my person? The second way is, will God accept
the sacrifice that I bring? The only two ways the word accept
is used with respect to God. It is never with us saying that
we'll accept him. It's will he accept me and will
he accept the sacrifice that I bring? The Lord said, you've
not chosen me, but I've chosen you and ordained you that you
should go forth and bring forth fruit. So not only can I not
choose him, he has to choose me and make me capable of bringing
forth fruit. That's putting his spirit in
me. This letter that I read you is
one of false hope, which is, and I say it sadly, this is a
relative of mine. I want to know what a true hope
is. I don't want to know what a false hope is. So turn with
me over to Acts chapter 27, if you will. This is where we'll
stay. Alright, we'll start reading
in verse 21. But after a long abstinence,
Paul stood forth in the midst of them and said, Sirs, you should
have hearkened unto me, and should have not loosed from Crete, and
to have gained this harm and loss. And now I exhort you to
be of good cheer, for there shall be no loss of any man's life
among you, but of the ship. For there stood by me this night
the angel of God. whose I am and whom I serve,
saying, Fear not, Paul, thou must be brought before Caesar,
and lo, God hath given all of them that sail with thee. Wherefore,
sirs, be of good cheer, for I believe, God, that it shall even be as
it was told me. So what I want us to look at
zero in on, there's a lot in this passage, but zero in on
verse 23 where he says, the angel of the Lord stood by me this
night, whose I am and whom I serve. Whose I am. The implication here
is you're not your own. He belongs to somebody. All right
now, all men with that exception, are sold into the slavery of
sin. When you're born, you were born
into sin. Your father was a sinner, your
mother was a sinner, and you're born into sin. There's nothing
you can do about that. If you turn over to Romans, back
to Romans chapter 3, look at what Scripture has to say. And
in verse 10 it says, and it's written, there is none righteous,
no not one. There is none that understandeth.
There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of
the way. They are all together become
unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher.
Their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of asps is
under their lips. whose mouth is full of cursing
and bitterness, their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in
their ways, and the way of peace have they not known. There is
no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that what saying
soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty
before God. In your sinful state, does this
describe you? You can't understand, you can't
seek out God, and you can't produce righteousness that He will accept.
You're not your own. Sin and death have ownership
over you. You can't buy yourself out either.
Problem is, you have nothing to pay with. I have nothing to
pay with. I can't take something to God
to buy myself out of sin and debt. See, we lost our war with
God a long time ago. Our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags and he cannot accept them. When our nation was at war with
one another, when there was the North and the South, whenever
the North accepted defeat from the South and the South was crushed,
immediately all of their money became worthless without exception. Anyone who carried Confederate
dollars, it was worth nothing. There was a day wherewith it
would buy houses, it would buy food, it would buy land, it would
buy anything you needed. But when that war was lost, that
money became worthless. Paper for the burning. and such
is our righteousnesses before God." A slave has no rights. A slave cannot come and go as
he pleases. A slave cannot choose to do as
he pleases. Maybe he says, I'm going to start
work at 10 o'clock today instead of 9. No, you'll get out there
at 9. You're a slave. You're under the dominion of
sin and there's nothing that you can do about it. Turn with
me over to Hebrews chapter 2. in verse 9, but we see Jesus,
who is made a little lower than the angels for the suffering
of death, crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace
of God, should taste death for every man without exception,
some of all types. For it became him for whom are
all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons
unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through
sufferings. Forasmuch then as the children
are partakers of the flesh and blood, he also himself likewise
took part of the same. that through death he might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver
them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject
to bondage." So, he tells us here in the scripture, the Lord
Jesus is he who has delivered many sons, who has delivered
the brethren, who has delivered the children which God has given
me. There are some who have had the yoke of bondage broken, and
there are some who have been redeemed, who have been bought
back from sin and death by Christ. Paul said back in Acts 27, our
text, he said, the angel of the Lord which stood by me this night,
whose I am. Now, we don't belong to just
any angels, so angels don't own us, but the Lord Jesus Christ
did. If he bought me back, that angel
is the form of the Lord Jesus Christ, that's who he is. So,
he says, whose I am. whose I am. I belong to Him and
I am His purchased possession. And there are three ways in which
I am His purchased possession. I want us to be kind of the subject
of what we look at today. You're His by promise, you're
His by blood, and you're His by birth. First, you're His by
promise. Let's turn to Ephesians chapter
1 if you will. Start reading in verse 11. In
whom we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory
who first trusted in Christ, in whom you also trusted. after that you heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom, after that
you believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise,
which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased
possession, under the praise of His glory. So if we look at
that passage there, break that down a little bit, we see in
whom we have an inheritance. Well, an inheritance is something
that you can't earn. You can't earn an inheritance.
You're given an inheritance because of who you are in relation to
who gave it. The next thing we see is it says
that we're predestinated. So this is something just means
it's been determined before to be done. What was predestinated? Well, it tells us. It says the
promise at the end of verse 13. You were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise. So promise is just something you've been
told before that will be done. And in Christ, who is the reason
for our inheritance, if you look over in verse 5, it says, having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto
himself. What's glorious here is we are
made children before we're actually redeemed. See that? He's saying
that in eternity past, before the world was, we were made His
children before He actually came in time to do that. That's how
sure this thing is. That's how sure we are children.
It's not you're children until something happens and you fall
away or you're saved. It's if you're made children
then, you can't not be made children later. And in verse 14 seals
that. So at the end of verse 13 it
says, "...the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest
of our inheritance." What's an earnest? Well, when I buy my
house, I had to put money down in order to buy it. Earnest is
something given in advance before the rest is paid. So, if you're
given the Holy Spirit as the earnest of your inheritance,
you've been given that before God says, I'm going to give you,
there's so much more that we don't even realize He's going
to give and bless us with in our inheritance. The Holy Spirit
is the first part. And if you're given that, God's
gonna pay the rest. He's gonna give the rest of the
inheritance. And so, if we're given that,
we have confidence in knowing that I've been given the Holy
Spirit, I will not fall away. The only way I'll fall away is
if God doesn't give the inheritance, and that would mean Christ's
death was not meant for nothing. That can't be. So this giving
of the Holy Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance. If He gave
it to you, He'll never take it away. The father sacrificed his
son to keep his promise. And if he was willing to sacrifice
his darling son, who was perfect, who was holy, who was faithful
in all that he did and honorable, what manner of love must he have
for his children? That we should be called the
sons of God. Whose you are. Isn't that what
Paul said? It's whose I am. Whom I belong
to. This is not just anyone I belong
to. I know somebody. This is God
the Father. This is Christ the Son and the
Holy Spirit. This is the King of Kings whom
I belong to. You think about that. If you're
one of His, you belong to the King of Kings, to God Almighty.
He said in Exodus, but against the children of Israel should
not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast, that you may know
that the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.
This is the Lord's people. He said he won't even permit
a dog to move his tongue against him. It's whose you are. You
don't belong to just anybody. It's whose you are. You're his
by his blood. This is the work of the Son.
Turn over to Colossians chapter one. in verse 20, "...and having made peace through
the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things unto
himself, by him I say whether they be things in earth or things
in heaven, and you that were sometimes alienated and enemies
in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in
the body of his flesh through death to present you holy, unblameable,
and unreprovable in his sight." So it says he has made peace,
he is our peace, by the blood of his cross. Without the shedding
of blood there can be no remission of sins. When his blood was shed,
all the people for whom he died for were saved. And that's what
that says right there. To reconcile, or to bring back
all things to himself, I was sold into sin. He brought me
back. He bought me back with his blood.
With his blood and his death, he has made me holy, unblameable,
and unreprovable in his sight. And that's the only sight that
counts. I can justify myself in front of you, but if I'm not
justified before him, I'm not justified. Turn with me over
to Hebrews chapter 13, verse 20. Now the God of peace
that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd
of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working
in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ,
to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen." So it's through
the blood of the everlasting covenant. That's how I'm made
perfect. So apart from the blood of the
everlasting covenant, I'm not made perfect." And he says, and
because of that, it's working in you that which is well-pleasing
in his sight through Jesus Christ. So, I have no works to glory
in. I have no part in this salvation.
It's all what he has done. And in doing that, it makes me
before him in Christ well-pleasing in his sight. I can't really
get a hold of what that means, but I know that's true because
it says it. We are the redeemed purchase. We're made whole through
His blood. You are purchased. It's whose
you are. Somebody owns you. And then the
third one we looked at, so we've looked at you're His by promise,
you're His by blood, and now we're going to look at you're
His by birth. And this is the Holy Spirit.
Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. He is a
new creation, something that was not there before. It's not
a change of mind in that I decide one thing one day and therefore
I choose to be saved and I am that day. This is not the decision,
as we come back to the whole decision thing. This is not a
decision. It's something new that is birthed
in you that was not there before. If you'll turn with me over to
Romans 8, I think that gives us a little more light on Verse 8. So then, they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh,
but in the Spirit. If so be that the Spirit of God
dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the
Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you,
the body is dead because of sin. But the Spirit is life because
of righteousness. But if the spirit of him that
raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised
up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies
by his spirit that dwelleth in you. So, what we have here is
the Spirit gives what gives life. The Spirit is what gives me eyes
to see. The Spirit is what gives me ears
to hear and a heart to receive. Apart from the giving of the
Spirit, I can't, this is a closed book, and there are times when,
I know you've read this, I've read this, I've read the words,
but they don't touch me in my heart. It's a closed book to
me, they're just words. But yet when God gives His Spirit,
and gives me eyes to see, and ears to hear, and a heart to
receive, I'm able to feed. I'm able to see Christ. I'm able
to rejoice in His salvation. Without the Spirit, we're spiritually
dead. We cannot believe, we cannot
trust Christ, and we cannot see how sinful we are before God.
And anyone who says differently has received another spirit and
has received another gospel and has believed in another Jesus,
because that's not what's in this book. It's whose I am. I'm owned. I'm his purchased
possession. And if you are, if you're one
of his purchased possessions, then we're called on to live
for Christ. not out of debt, not out of the wall, not out
of trying to do it because we have to, but out of love for
Him, if you're one of His. If you're one of His, you're
called to be an ambassador of Christ. Now I remember when I
was younger, it makes an impression on you, at any point in your
life, but you meet someone from somewhere, and they happen to
be from another state. It was the first person we had ever
met from this other state. And this person was rude, and
they were mean, and they were ugly, and I didn't like them.
And so I thought that everybody from that state was rude and
mean, because that was the only person I'd met. And so if I'm
called upon to be an ambassador for Christ, I'm called on to
show grace because I've been shown grace. I'm called on to
show mercy because I've been shown mercy freely. And so I
don't want to be the reason why somebody else can't see Christ
because of the ugliness in me. If you're called to be one of
His, do you believe His good news? Is this good news unto
you? Do you have a zeal for the gospel?
Are you intolerant of anything that is contrary to this gospel?
If you're one of His, do you die daily? Do you crucify this
flesh? I hate my flesh. I'm here with
it until it dies, and every day I hate it, and there's not a
day that goes by I don't hate my flesh. God's given me eyes
to see that, because I didn't used to feel that way. and I
see that I'm more sinful now than I ever could see before.
I'm not sinning more now. I'm sinning probably just the
same, but I just couldn't see it before because I didn't have
eyes to see it. Do I take up my cross and follow Him? Do I
find that He's everything to me and that everything in my
life and in my salvation is in the Lord Jesus Christ and I'm
to follow Him? Remember whose you are. The world
says, I've accepted Jesus. The world says, I found Jesus,
I found religion, I found him. Well, you know, he never was
lost. He never was lost, but yet the
world seems to always have found him. But yet, he came to seek
out the lost sheep. Are you one of those lost sheep
that he came to seek out? I am. He came to seek out the
lost sheep. It's whose I am. He found me,
he saved me, and he called me, not by the works of the law,
but by the faith of Jesus Christ. It's whose I am and whom I serve."
So we talked about it's whose I am. Now let's talk about whom
I serve. He gave all for me. How then shall I not serve him?
Turn with me, and this will be our last scripture, to Exodus
chapter 21. I want us to look at the two pictures of the servant
here. Let's read these first six verses
together. Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them.
If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years shall he serve. And
in the seventh, he shall go out free for nothing. If he came
in by himself, he'll go out by himself. And if he were married,
then his wife shall go out with him. But if his master has given
him a wife, and she is born in sons or daughters, the wife and
her children shall be her masters, and he shall go out by himself.
And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, I love
my wife, and I love my children, I will not go out free. Then
his master shall bring him unto the judges, and he shall also
bring him to the door, or to the post of the door. And his
master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve
him forever." Now here we have two pictures of a servant. The
first picture we can look at is the servant and his wife,
Christ and his church. He came to do His Father's work. He came as faithful and as the
perfect servant. He came as a servant to men.
He proclaimed the gospel unto us. He came to seek out the lost
sheep. He came loving His wife and children,
but yet they could not go out free. So what did He do? He says,
I will that they be with me where I am. He's going to be with the
father and he doesn't want to be separated from his family.
And so what he does, the servant says, bore my ear through with
it all and I'll serve you forever because I love my family. And
that's what the Lord Jesus Christ did when he had his hands and
his feet pierced and his side. He said, I love my family. These
are my children, the ones that God gave me. And he said, I'm
going to bear the marks forever to show that they are united
with me and that I'm not going to leave them. Father, I will
that they be with me where I am. So this is the picture of Christ
and his church, but there's also another picture here. There's
also the picture of the servant, which is us, and the master.
The slave's debt has been paid. He's not bound by the law anymore. He can go out free for nothing. He's not indebted to serve anymore.
Brethren, beloved of the Lord, for whom he died and endured
the shame, the humiliation, the rejection, and death on the cross,
all of your sins are paid. You're free from the law, and
you are not indebted to serve anymore. You're not underneath
that law. You're not underneath that schoolmaster
anymore. We are free from the law. Christ
fulfilled it. If being free from that law and
me knowing all my sins are paid leads me to say, well then, I'll
sin and do whatever I want. Do we sin that grace may abound?
Or if I should decide to try to also keep that law, to add
to what Christ did, then all that shows you have no love for
the Master. But see, because he's already
accomplished that. You've gone out free. You don't need to pay
anything else. He's saying, I've provided everything,
but yet you've decided you've got to provide. So if you have
love for your master, you realize that the law is not made for
a righteous man. And if I do sin, sin and that
grace may abound, or if I do decide to keep the law, all I
prove is that I have no love for the master. I don't want
to be free from him. I don't want to be free from
who he is. It's whom I serve." That's what Paul said. And so,
I'm his willing servant, just as this Hebrew slave said, I
don't want to leave my master. He's saying that I'm free, you
can go out free if you want to, but he says, no, I want to serve
him forever because not only does he love his wife and children,
but he also loves his master. So, it's whom I serve. I'm his
willing servant. How can I not serve if he gave
all for me? How then do I serve? Well, some
people asked the Lord Jesus Christ the same question. They said,
what shall we do that we might work the works of God? And he
replied to them, this is the work of God that you believe
on him whom he has sent. It's whose I am and whom I serve. A decision, is having Christ
a decision? That's to assume that there's
something to even compare him with, and there's not. There's
no cry for mercy in a decision. And what is the one cry of mercy
that we know that he will hear? Jesus, thou son of David, have
mercy upon me. And my willingness to cry for
mercy is evidence of whether or not I am his and I serve him. That's all I've got today, thank
you.