Today I would like you to turn
in your Bible to 2 Corinthians chapter 11. 2 Corinthians chapter
11 beginning at verse 1. Let's read verses 1 down through
verse 4. Would to God you could bear with
me a little in my folly, and indeed bear with me, for I am
jealous over you with a godly jealousy, for I have espoused
you or given you to one husband, to Christ. that I may present
you as a chaste virgin to Christ, but I fear, lest by any means
as a serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your mind should
be corrupted from the simplicity, and the word there is oneness
or singleness that is in Christ Jesus." Now verse 4, 2 Corinthians
chapter 11 verse 4, For if he that cometh preaches another
Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you received another spirit
which you have not received, or another gospel which you have
not accepted, you might well bear with me." Paul says, stay
with me, don't depart from the gospel. Now, I want you to listen
carefully to me today, I have a very vital message that needs
to be heard. We live in a day when the gospel
of God's grace, the gospel of God's glory, the gospel concerning
Christ Jesus desperately needs to be heard. Most of the churches
in our day have long since left the preaching of the gospel.
They have left the preaching of the truth. It's now a day
of compromise, conformity to tradition, rather than proclaiming
the truth, the truth of God, Christ alone. In this chapter,
the apostle plainly exposes the false preachers. Notice verse
13 and verse 14 and 15 of this same chapter, Paul plainly exposes
the false preachers in his day. Notice what he says, for such
are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves
into the apostles of Christ, or masquerading. These false
apostles came among the church masquerading, making themselves
the apostles of Christ. And we're never sent of God.
Verse 14, and no marvel for Satan himself is transformed or masquerading
into an angel of light. Therefore, it's no great thing
if his ministers also be transformed or masquerading as ministers
of righteousness whose end shall be according to their works."
He plainly declares their message, these false preachers, is another
gospel, another spirit. Down in verse 14, he said, if
they come among you preaching another Jesus, or another spirit,
or another gospel, he says, to stay with me. Now let's go back
at verse one and see what God would have us learn here. He
says in verse one, would to God, would to God you'd bear with
me, or listen to me, listen to me, he's saying here. Paul loved
this church. Paul spent 18 months preaching
and living with them and desires to expose the lies and the deceit
of these false preachers for their good, for the honor of
God and for the furtherance of the gospel. He loved them, he
cared for them. He says, bear with me, listen
to me. Verse two, he said, I'm jealous
over you. Paul loved these people with
a godly jealousy. He said, I'm jealous over you
with a godly jealousy. I've given you to one husband.
I've given you to Christ. I pointed you to Christ that
I may present you to him as a virgin. Now I'm jealous over you and
for you with the zeal of God. This is the desire of every God-called
preacher to appoint every sinner to whom the Lord, to one Lord,
every sinner to whom he preaches, to one Lord, to one husband,
Jesus Christ, who supports, sustains, supplies the need of every sinner
who trusts him. Paul wrote to the Philippians
in Philippians 4, but my God shall supply all your need according
to his riches in glory by Jesus Christ. That's a desire of every
God-called preacher to point sinners to one husband, one supplier,
one Savior, one Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. And to present
them to Christ as a chaste version who is consumed with the love
for her husband, with a single love and a sincere heart toward
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a desire of every preacher,
God called preacher, to have those to whom he preaches to
in love with Jesus Christ. Like Solomon said, he is altogether
lovely. Notice verse three, Paul said,
I fear. Now, the apostle didn't fear
many things. He didn't fear death, he didn't
fear men, but he says, I fear. by any means as a serpent beguiled
Eve through his subtlety, through his craftiness, through his trickery. So your mind should be corrupted
from a simplicity, the singleness that is in Jesus Christ. Paul's
godly jealousy was a mixture of love and fear. He deeply loved
them and feared that these believers should be corrupted by these
deceivers. Satan and all his followers,
all his preachers would turn the minds and hearts of believers
away from the singleness, away from the oneness, away from the
simplicity that's in Christ, away from wholehearted devotion
to the Lord Jesus Christ to something other than Christ alone or to
a mixture of law and faith and works and grace instead of Christ
alone. Christ plus anything. Now listen
to me. You remember this. Christ plus
anything in salvation is not the gospel of God's grace and
glory. It's another gospel. Do you remember
what Paul wrote to the Galatians? He said, I marvel that you are
so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of
Christ unto another gospel. And he says in chapter 1 verse
7, which is not another. There is but one gospel, but
there would be some that would trouble you and would pervert
the gospel of Christ. Though we or an angel from heaven
preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached,
let him be accursed. There's just one gospel and it's
a gospel of His grace and glory in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
notice verse 4, he says there's one Lord, one faith, one spirit,
one gospel. False preachers in Paul's day
and ours come preaching among us another spirit, another gospel,
and another Jesus. Now what is this? What is this
another Jesus? That Jesus is preached in most
pulpits and our day is weak and pitiful, unable to do anything. He's trying, but sinners won't
let him. My friend, that's not the Christ
of God. That's not the Lord Jesus Christ
as He described in Scripture. He is the almighty, conquering
God and King. Listen to the way He prays in
John 17, verse 2. The Father hath given me power
over all flesh that I should give eternal life to. as many
as the Father hath given me." And he says another spirit. Preachers
in our day are also talking about a spirit who wants to and can't,
who's trying to reveal but is unable. He's handcuffed by the
sinner. My friend, that's not the Spirit
of God that we read about, who does according to His will in
the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of this earth,
and none can stay His hand. And Paul talks there about another
gospel. Now listen to me. Any and all preaching that does
not give God all the glory is another gospel. Paul said, necessity
is laid upon me, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. Now let me give you six marks
of a false gospel. Now listen to me carefully. Six
marks of a false gospel. Now see if you don't think this
is true. The first one is this, today's
preaching is not based upon the Word of God alone, but upon what
I think or what I feel. How many times have I heard people
say, well, I don't know what the Bible says, but I know what
I think. The Word of God in our day is
not studied, it's not reverenced, It's not meditated upon. Instead,
we have substituted emotion, feelings, tradition, and human
wisdom, for thus saith the Lord. They have a form of godliness,
but they deny the power thereof. The Word of God is not studied,
nor is the Word of God preached in our day. We have programs
and puppet shows and processions and ceremonies instead of Christ-centered
preaching. Now you know it's so. You know
I'm telling the truth. Paul said, I'm determined to
know nothing among you but Christ and Him crucified. Here's the
second problem in our day. Today's preaching emphasizes
what you must do for God rather than what God must do for you.
My friend, salvation is an operation of God. Salvation is not an operation
that we perform. Salvation is of the Lord. That's
what Jonas said. He said salvation is of the Lord.
We hear preachers in our day say, give your heart to God.
My friend, the truth is God must give us a new heart. God must
make us new creatures in Christ. And this is the Lord's doing.
It's not something we do. God doesn't want our old filthy
and guilty heart. God Almighty must give us a new
heart and make us new creatures in Christ. But the emphasis today
is placed upon what you must do instead of what God has done
for us in Christ. How many times have you heard
preachers make this statement? Accept Jesus as your personal
Savior. My friend, you can't show me
that in the Word of God. The question is He must accept
us in the Beloved. The question is not what I will
do with God. The question is what God Almighty
is going to do with me. God must do something for us
or we will never be saved. If God simply leaves us to ourselves,
we're doomed to perish. Thank God, he said, it's God
who saved us, not by works of righteousness, which we have
done, but according to his mercy he saved us. God saved us and
God called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to God's own purpose and grace. But you know it's
so. The preaching of our day, the
emphasis is put upon do something for God. The emphasis that we
should be putting is God Almighty must do something for us. Salvation
is of the Lord. Now thirdly, today's preaching. These are six marks of a false
gospel. A false gospel. Thirdly, today's
preaching and today's gospel. Today's preaching ignores the
holiness and justice of God. It ignores the wrath of God,
the law of God, and the righteousness of God. You listen to this scripture
over in Malachi chapter 2 verse 17. Listen to what God said. He said, you've wearied the Lord
with your words. Yet you say, wherein have we
wearied him? When you say, everyone that doeth
evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in
them. Or where is the God of judgment? Do you see what he's saying there?
Today's preaching has God in love with everybody. Nothing's
mentioned about the holiness of God, the justice of God, the
law of God that has been offended, the law of God that we have violated. Today's preaching has God in
love with everybody. My friend, God is love but not
apart from His holiness. God is love but not apart from
His justice being satisfied. Here's the question, how God
can be just and justify the ungodly? How God can be a just God and
a Savior? But that's the question that
preachers in our day aren't asking. And my friend, they're not asking
the question because they can't answer the question. How God
can be just and justify the ungodly. Isn't that what Job asked? How
can a man be justified with God? Or how can he be clean as born
of a woman? Behold, the moon and the stars
are not pure in this sight. How much less man that is a worm. Now here's the question, how
are you going to make this worm a prince? How are you going to
make this worm a trophy of God's grace? My friend, there's just
one way, and that one way is substitution. That one way is
satisfaction through the righteousness, through the blood, through the
exaltation of Jesus Christ. Listen to this scripture. Substitution
is the only way God can be just and justify the ungodly. For
Christ also hath once suffered for sin, the just for the unjust,
that he might bring us unto God. And know this, my friend, no
one will be brought any other way. And then through this satisfying
substitutionary work of Jesus Christ. God outside of Jesus
Christ is a consuming fire. The love of God is in Christ. The love of God is holy love,
just love. The only way God can love me
is to love me in Christ. Now fourthly, today's preaching
Preachers in our day emphasize and they say that the gospel
is a plan. Today's preaching they say is
a plan. That's not the truth. God's gospel is a person, the
Lord Jesus Christ. You listen to Romans chapter
1. Paul, a servant, separated unto the gospel of God, which
he has promised by the prophets, concerning his son Jesus Christ
our Lord, made of the seed of David according to the flesh,
but declared to be the son of God with power. The gospel of God is concerning
His Son. Did you hear what that said?
His Son, Jesus Christ. My friend, the gospel is not
an offer, it's a gift. The wages of sin is death, the
gift of God is eternal life. It's not an invitation, it's
a command. We are commanded to believe,
to look, and to love the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not a proposition,
it's a proclamation of a King. Believe the gospel and be saved
and those who believe not shall be damned. Fifthly, today's preaching
belittles the glorious person and work of Jesus Christ. This
generation of preachers declares that Jesus Christ made an effort
to save or that his death put all men in a savable state. My
friend, that's not what this Word teaches. Jesus Christ made
sufficient effectual atonement to save His people from their
sin. That's what the Scriptures teach.
Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3, when He had by Himself purged our
sin, He sat down at the right hand of God. He obtained eternal
redemption. for us. But today's preaching
belittles the glorious person and work of Christ. To say that
God tries to and fails is a horrible reflection upon the attributes
of God. None for whom He stood as surety,
substitute, mediator, and advocate will ever perish. The blood of
Christ indeed puts away the sin of God's people. Now lastly,
listen to me. Six marks. There's the sixth
mark. of a false message, of a false gospel. Today's preaching
gives sinners hope with no commitment to Christ. People have walked
an aisle, made a decision, put their name on the church roll
and trusted this for salvation with no knowledge or commitment
to the living God, to the Lord Jesus Christ. Those for whom
God saves and calls and regenerates are committed to the cause of
Christ. They say with Paul, I know whom I have believed, and I'm
persuaded he's able to keep that which I've committed unto him
against that day. His people believe his word,
not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God.
They're not ashamed of their hope, for it's the power of God
unto salvation. They bow to his will. They say
with Paul, Lord, what would you have me to do? And they're kept
by the power of God. Is there any hope for the recovery
of true preaching. My friend, the only hope we have
for God to have mercy upon us and for God to raise up preachers
who will boldly and plainly declare the truth of God as it is in
Christ. The salvation is of the Lord.
If you would like a copy of today's message, this message, I brought
this right to me and I'll send it to you free of charge. My
address is 6088 Zebulon Highway, Pikeville, Kentucky.