Paul's Greatest Fear

Now you can turn again in your
Bibles to the book of 2 Corinthians 11. 2 Corinthians 11. The Apostle Paul, who wrote the
book of 2 Corinthians, did not use the word fear very often. He was a fearless apostle. He was a fearless servant and
minister of Jesus Christ. But he did use the word. I found
several references to fear in his epistles. First of all, turn
to Romans chapter 3. Paul used the word fear in reference
to unbelievers. In Romans 3, in describing those
who did not know Christ, those who did not believe, those who
were unconverted, he sums it up After going through none righteous,
no not one, none that understandeth, none that seeketh after God,
they're all gone out of the way, they're together become unprofitable,
talking about their throats being an open sepulchre. Verse 14,
their mouths full of bitterness and cursing. He sums it up in
verse 18, there is no fear of God. before their eyes. There's no fear of God before
their eyes. This is the unbeliever. Now,
the fear of the Lord in the Old Testament was synonymous with
faith. It was synonymous with worship.
A believer in the Old Testament was described as one who feared
God. Let me show you that. Begin with
Genesis 42. In Genesis 42, verse 18, we're
talking here about Joseph. And Joseph said, in Genesis 42,
verse 18, And Joseph said unto them the third day, This do and
live, for I fear God. That's my motive. I fear the
Lord. By the fear of the Lord, men
depart from evil. And as he gives these instructions,
he said, Now you do this, for I fear God. I fear God. Now turn to Joshua. In the book
of Joshua, chapter 24, we find the same thing said concerning
this man Joshua. And you know who Joshua was.
Even his name is the Old Testament name for Jesus. Joshua, chapter
24, verse 14. Now, therefore, fear the Lord. and serve him in sincerity and
truth. And put away the gods which your
father served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt, and
serve ye the Lord." This is the worship of God, is the fear of
the Lord. And then David in Psalm 119,
David said this in Psalm 119, verse 120, describing his attitude toward the Lord of hosts. Psalm 119, verse 120. My flesh
trembleth for fear of thee, and I am afraid of thy judgments. Now turn to Ecclesiastes 12. This is interesting. The book
of Ecclesiastes, chapter 12, written by the wise man Solomon,
and he described the whole of religion the whole of religion. In Ecclesiastes 12, verse 13,
he says, after writing the entire book, talking about vanity of
vanities, talking about trying all these different things and
finding in them no satisfaction, at last turning to the true worship
of the Lord, in Ecclesiastes 12, 13, he said, Let us hear
the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the whole duty of man. Fear God and keep his commandments,
this is the whole duty of man. Paul, when he describes the unbeliever,
says this is not his condition. He does not fear God. There's
no fear of God before his eyes. Now the man who fears God is
the man who stands in awe and reverence before God And he's
the man who receives from God his commandments, his law, his
will, and his reports, and his instruction. He's the man who
walks in the light God gives him, whether he lives in the
days of Moses, or the days of Abraham, or the days of David,
or the clearer days of the gospel revelation, or in our day. He
fears the Lord, and he walks in the light that God gives him.
But in describing the unbeliever, the apostle Paul says, there's
no fear of God before their eyes. Now then, he uses the word in
reference to the believer, me and you. Look at Romans 11, this
word fear, we're talking about fear. Paul uses the word in reference
to the unbeliever. He describes the unbeliever in
this way, he doesn't fear God. There's no fear of God before
his eyes. Now he uses the word in reference to you and me, who
claim to be believers in Christ, in Romans 11, verse 20. He says, well, because of unbelief
they were broken off. Now wait just a minute there.
Who's he talking about? He's talking about the Jews. He's talking about God's national
people. And he says they were broken
off, they were the natural branches They were broken off because
of unbelief. They did not believe God's Word,
they did not believe God's Son. And thou standest by faith, you
Gentiles. Now watch this. Be not high-minded,
be not proud, but fear. You are supposed to stand in
fear. Listen, why? For if God spared
not the Jews, but has placed them under a judicial blindness,
under judgment to this day. That's what the scripture says,
they're under judgment to this day, judicially blinded. He said
if God did that to the Jew who had the prophets, who had the
law, who had the tabernacle, who had the ceremonies, to whom
Christ in the flesh came, for Christ was a Jew, salvation is
of the Jew. Go preach the gospel to the Jew
first. and also to the Greeks. Here
my witness is beginning in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the uttermost
parts of the earth. If God spared not the natural
branches, take heed, or fear, lest he also spare not thee. And it may be that this generation
shall see the dawn of that day, when the time of the Gentiles,
and the Scripture talks about the time of the Gentiles, when
the time of the Gentiles shall fade out, shall be over, as it
was in those days the time of the Jews." Then in 2 Corinthians
12, he uses the word again in reference to the believer. He
said, you believers, don't be high-minded and proud, but fear. For if God spared not the natural
branches, the Jews, would place them in judicial blindness and
darkness to this day. you take heed that he spare not
thee." Now 2 Corinthians 12, verse 20. I fear, lest when I
come, that is, when I visit with you, I'll not find you such as
I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as you would
not. I'll have to come in correction
and in judgment. Lest there be, listen, debates,
envying, strife, backbiting, whisperings, swellings, tumults. Paul says, I fear that when I
visit you, I'll find in your church factions, quarreling,
jealousy, gossip, selfishness, whispering. We need to fear these
things. And we need to depart from these
things. And then in Hebrews 4, quickly, let's move on. In Hebrews
4, verse 1, he uses the word in reference to us again. Now,
to the unbeliever, this is what he says. They don't fear God.
There's no fear of God. They don't fear the word of God.
They don't fear the law of God. They don't fear the presence
of God. They don't fear God. They make no effort to walk in
the revealed way of God and the word of God for their generation.
They just don't fear God, pay no attention to God. But you
believers, you need to fear. You need to be afraid. The natural
branches were cut off and it may be that you'll be cut off.
And you need to fear divisions and factions and these things
in the church. And here's something else, Hebrews
4 verse 1. Let us therefore fear, lest a
promise being left us of entering into his rest, that is, the rest
of eternal glory and the rest of eternal life, any of you should
seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached
as well as unto them." He's talking again about Israel. The gospel
was preached to us, the gospel in type, in example, was preached
to them. But the word preached unto them,
the lifting up of the serpent, the blood on the door in Egypt,
the Passover, the water, the rock that was smitten from which
the water came, that rock was Christ. Christ is our Passover.
Christ is the serpent lifted up. The gospel was preached to
them, but it didn't profit them, not being mixed with faith in
them that have heard it. So let us therefore fear. And
they didn't enter into rest. They didn't cross Jordan into
Canaan. They died in the wilderness. Let us therefore fear lest the
promise being left to us of entering into his eternal glory, any of
you should come short of it." Now then, he uses the word in
reference to the unbeliever. They don't fear God. He uses
the word in reference to believers. That word needs to be in our
vocabulary, fear. Fear, the fear of the Lord. I
know people don't want to hear messages on the fear of God.
I was preaching down in the Panama Canal zone years ago, holding
a meeting in the First Baptist Church there. And the wife of
the chaplain out at one of the military bases was in the service
one day, and I brought a message on the fear of the Lord. And
she corrected me. She reprimanded me after the
service. She said, We're not supposed
to fear God. We're not supposed to fear God. Well, useless for
me to quote all these scriptures. The beginning of wisdom is the
fear of the Lord. come my children," David said,
I'll teach you how you ought to fear God. And these scriptures
here in reference to believers, you branches that have been grafted
in, you better walk before God in fear, for the natural branches
will cut off and let us fear lest any of you come short of
entering into his rest. And then over here in our text,
2 Corinthians Paul uses the word in reference to himself. Now,
he said in 1 Corinthians 2, I was with you in weakness and in trembling
and in much fear. Who is sufficient for these things?
But here's what we want to get to right now. He says in verse
3, But I fear, I'm afraid, I'm afraid, lest by any means, as
the serpent beguiled through his subtlety. So your mind should
be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus. Now
there are two words that I want to look at. Paul's greatest fear. I fear, I'm afraid, lest by any
means, after all of the effort put forth as the serpent beguiled
Eve through his subtlety, Your mind should be corrupted from
the simplicity that's in Christ. Let's look back to Genesis 3
at this serpent dealing with Eve. Let's see what Paul is talking
about here. Paul says that Satan using the
serpent through subtlety. Now this is the greatest weapon
in Satan's arsenal. Subtlety, craftiness. Satan didn't
tell Eve that he was there to deceive her. He didn't announce
that he was there to lead her into sin, did he? Think about
this for a moment. He didn't tell her that he was
there to deceive her. He didn't tell her that he was
there to lead her into sin. On the contrary, he told her
that this forbidden fruit was good for food. And that it would
make her wise. Listen to it. Let's look at it.
Verse 1 of chapter 3 of Genesis. Now the serpent was more subtle
than any beast of the field. There are a lot of translations
about this. There are a lot of commentaries.
Someone says this is the serpent was more beautiful. Another writer
says the serpent was more naked, that is, he didn't have hair
as the other animals did, he was more like Eve, and therefore
she listened to him. But we, it just, it's difficult
to say. But we'll just move on here and
see what Satan said as he used the serpent. The serpent was
more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God
had made. And he said unto the woman, now this is Satan, for
throughout the scriptures he's called that old serpent, that
old serpent. And he said, hath God said you
shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said
to the serpent, she wasn't afraid of him, she wasn't horrified
by him. Here's another thing, he didn't
come to her in the attire of darkness. He didn't come to her
in the attire of repulsiveness, or she would have run away, she
stood there and talked to him. He didn't come to her in the
attire of death. but he used someone else, something
else. But of the fruit of the tree,
she said in verse 3, which is in the midst of the garden, God
has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it,
lest you die. And the serpent said to the woman,
You shall not surely die. God doth know that in the day
you eat thereof your eyes will be opened, and you'll be as God,
knowing good and evil. And when the woman was convinced
that the tree was good for food, pleasant to the eyes, and one
and a tree desired to make one wise. She took of the fruit thereof
and did give to her husband." Now watch this in the temptation,
in the deception of Eve, the subtlety. Satan didn't tell her
he was there to deceive On the contrary, he told her he was
there for her good. He wished her good. That the
tree was good for food, he wished her to be smart and wise. The
tree was desired to make her wise. He didn't tell her he was
God's enemy. He didn't announce to her that
he was her enemy. But Satan persuaded her that
he was her friend. And that he wished her well.
He said, you'll be like God. I wish you well. I want you to
be like God. And Satan did not come to her
in the attire of darkness and death and repulsiveness, but
he used a pleasant approach. He used another. He used another. Just as he entered Judas. The
scripture says Satan entered Judas. Turn to Matthew 16 and
see how Satan used the apostle Peter. He didn't come, he doesn't,
the Satan, you know we see pictures of the devil with horns and cloven
hooks and a pointed tail and a pitchfork in bright red with
a diabolical look on his face, that's not Satan. Satan does
not approach us that way and Satan did not approach Eve that
way. And that's the reason Paul says, I fear lest Satan in his
subtlety will corrupt your mind. The false prophet, the false
teacher, doesn't walk in and say, I'm God's enemy, I'm your
enemy. He doesn't walk in and say, I'm
here to deceive you, I'm here to lead you away from the simplicity
of Christ, I'm here to lead you away from the truth of the gospel.
He doesn't say that at all. He doesn't come in the attire
of darkness and say, if you follow me, you'll follow me to death
and destruction and damnation and darkness. No, he uses another,
and many times he uses one very close to us and very dear to
us. Matthew 16, verse 21. From that time forward began
Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem
and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and
scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day. Then
Peter, there were twelve apostles, Three of them were the inner
circle. Three of them went to the Mount of Transfiguration.
Three of them went into the room where he raised the young lady
from the grave. Three of them went into the garden
where he prayed in secret to the Father, his priestly prayer.
And one of those three was Peter. Peter, the spokesman. Peter,
the impulsive one. The one who cried just a few
verses before that said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God, Peter, to whom Christ said, Thou art a stone, I'll
give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Peter took him and
began to rebuke him. Now Lord, be it far from thee,
pity thyself. Pity thyself. This shall not
be unto thee. All of this agony and suffering,
I wish you're good. I wish your glory. I'm concerned
about your being recognized, avoiding this humiliation and
this suffering and this agony. I wish you well. Pity yourself. Far be this from you. This shall
not be unto thee. Now listen to the Lord. But the
master turned and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan. Get thee behind me, Satan. Thou
art an offense unto me. Thou savorest not the things
that be of God, but those that be of man." Satan does not come
to us in his true character and his true nature. He comes as
one who wishes us well. He comes as one seeking our good. That's what he said, and that's
what Peter said here to the Master. Satan entered him, and Satan
spoke through Peter, and Peter said, Don't you even think about
going to that cruel cross. Don't you even think about suffering.
Don't you even think about the agony and humiliation of that
terrible trial. I wish you well. Pity thyself,
Lord. Far be that from thee. The Master said about false teachers
and false prophets, he said, they come to you in sheep's clothing. The wolf could never enter into
the foal if he didn't wear sheep's clothing. He would be immediately
detected. He would be immediately expelled.
And that's the reason I read this in 2 Corinthians 11. Turn
back over there just a moment. In 2 Corinthians 11, The Apostle
Paul says, I fear, this is my greatest fear, lest by any means,
as the serpent beguiled and tricked and deceived Eve through his
subtlety, through his craftiness, that your mind should be corrupted
from the simplicity of Christ. Now look at verse 13. For such
are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves
into the apostles of Christ, and it's no marvel. For Satan
himself is transformed into an angel of light, beauty, truth. Therefore it's no great thing
if his ministers be transformed as ministers of righteousness. Now my friends, error would never
be acceptable if it didn't contain some truth. Satan is far too wise to conduct
a campaign against you and against God's Church and against Christ
in his true character. And people who expect Satan to
appear to be Satan are desperately already deceived. And people
who expect false doctrine to look false are already deceived. Let me give you an example. A
young man or a young woman is brought up in evangelical circles,
listening to the gospel of God, listening to the gospel of grace,
listening to all the warnings about false doctrine and false
teaching. That young person is brought
up in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's never hurt
anybody but a faithful evangelical servant of God. One day he's
invited to go and hear a liberal preacher. He's invited to go
and hear a liberal sermon. Well, he goes. And he goes expecting
to hear outright heresy. He goes expecting to hear that
man deny the Word of God, the inspiration of the Scripture.
He goes expecting that man to preach heresy, and he goes arming
himself against the heresy that he expects to hear. But instead, he hears a beautiful, clever,
eloquent sermon containing many truths. The speaker is a kind
person. He doesn't have that diabolical
look upon his face. The speaker is a considerate
individual? The speaker is a charitable individual? The speaker is a sincere man? How did Satan come to Eve? He
didn't walk in and say, now I'm here to deny God's Word. I'm
here to pronounce anathema upon every doctrine of truth. I'm
your enemy. I'm here to deceive you. I'm
here to lead you astray. I'm here to turn your minds and
your hearts from the true God. I'm here to lead you and trick
you and take you to hell when you die. I'm here to deny the
gospel." That's not the way Satan comes, and that's not the way
his ministers come. They are kind and considerate
and charitable and sincere. They transform themselves into
ministers of righteousness and morality. And this young person
sits there and he hears the word sin, he hears the word heaven,
he hears the word Jesus, he hears the word cross, he hears the
word Bible. The speaker talks about living
a good life, the speaker talks about Jesus, he talks about the
Holy Spirit, and he talks about God. And that young person goes
away confused. He's amazed. He thinks, my former
teachers have been unkind, my former teachers have been narrow,
my former teachers have been fanatic. There's something good in all
these things. But while that man used the word
sin, he didn't define sin. And while that man used the word
Jesus, now look here at 2 Corinthians 11 verse 4. He that cometh preaches
what? He preaches Jesus, another Jesus. Who is Jesus Christ? He didn't
define who he is. He didn't define why he came.
He didn't define what he did. He didn't define where he is
now. He talked about eternal life,
but he didn't define how we receive eternal life. He talked about
enjoying heaven, but he didn't define the glories of heaven,
who is Christ. And as the serpent beguiled Eve,
as he came to her in another character, Paul says, I fear
lest your minds be corrupted from what? From the simplicity
of Christ. Now we're going to get into this.
Let me point out two things. Wise is the person, young or
old. Wise is the person. Now you're
looking, here is a man speaking to you from the word of God,
but you remember this. This is a man speaking to you.
And I know that I don't want us to be heresy hunters. I'm
afraid of somebody who comes always measuring everything they
hear like a heresy hunter. But I don't want anybody to be
scoffed at for expecting danger. And when somebody comes to you
and says, well, you listen to a sermon with a critical ear,
you say, that's all right. Satan deceived Eve with subtlety,
and I'm not going to be deceived. You take every word this preacher
says, and every word any other preacher says, and you measure
it by the word of God. It says over here in the book
of Acts, these men searched the scriptures to see if these things
be so. Turn over here to Acts 17 just
a moment. Let me show you something. Acts
17, verse 10. Now these people had been preached
to by Paul and Peter and James and John. And they didn't just
accept it as being so because Paul and Peter and James and
John said it. It says in verse 10, And these
brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto
Berea. who coming thither went into
the synagogue of the Jews, and these were more noble than those
in Thessalonica, in that they received the word of God with
all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether
these things were so." Now that's the thing that you and I have
got to do when we hear a man preach. I don't want to be a
heresy hunter and sit around and examine with a critical spirit
every sermon, but if that man speaks not according to the word
of God, the scripture says it's because there's no light in him.
There's no light in him. And Satan, when he came to Eve,
and he came in his subtlety and craftiness and artistry and all
of this deception, he didn't come to her and say, I'm God's
enemy. He was, but he didn't say that.
I'm your enemy. He was, but he didn't say that.
I'm here to deceive you. I'm here to lead you away from
God. I'm here to get you to follow me and not God. I'm here to enforce
my beliefs on you and take away God's belief." He came in with
all of this subtlety and deceitfulness, like a minister of righteousness,
and said, Now, I'm interested in your good. I'm interested
in your good. I'm interested in you being smart
and wise and being like God. Here is the problem, the simplicity,
and I hurry. Lest your minds be corrupted
from the simplicity that is in Christ. One other thing I want
you to see. Turn to 1 John. These people down there in Berea,
they search the scriptures to see if these things be so. In
1 John 4, verse 1, listen to this carefully, very carefully.
1 John 4, verse 1. Believe not every spirit. Believe not every spirit. Don't swallow everything that's
religious. Don't turn your television on
every time a man stands up and starts talking about Jesus, think
he's preaching the Christ to the Bible. Try the spirits. Look at it. Try the spirits,
whether they be of God, because many false prophets have gone
out into this world. Now I don't care if you sit there
this morning and any true servant of God won't object. I don't
object one bit with you sitting there right now with a thought
in your mind, well maybe Mahan's a false prophet. That's all right.
Maybe I am. Maybe I am. And the way for you to find out
is to search the scriptures whether these things be so. Don't put
your eternal soul into the hands of a man. Don't put your immortal,
eternal soul into the hands of a denomination, a church, an
ecclesiastical movement, a system of doctrine. Don't be like a
bigmouth bass out there in the river that just swims around
with your mouth open ready to swallow anything that looks edible. You try the Spirit. I hope you
try everything I've said today by the Word of God. My motive, if I am a servant
of God, my motive is the glory of Christ. If I am a true messenger
of God, my desire is that you might know him, not follow me.
My desire is not for my praise or my glory or my enrichment
or my possessions. My desire is that the hearers
know Christ and love Christ and follow Christ and believe Christ.
That's the simplicity of Christ. All the subtleness and deception,
and people swallow it blindly. They follow natural men. Beloved,
don't believe every spirit. Try the spirits, whether they
be of God. Many false prophets are out here
in this world. Search the scriptures to see
if these things be so. Don't you believe anything because
I say it. Not anything. not one thing, or that any other
human being says, unless it's in God's Word. Paul said, you
follow me as I follow Christ. And what I'm warning you about
right now is the very thing, oh, he is so clever, he is so
courageous, he is so charitable, he is so courteous. He's so pious,
he's so holy, he has to be God's servant. He might be one of the
devil's chief emissaries, ambassadors. That's right. An angel of light,
a minister of righteousness. He just might be, you don't know.
He's not going to tell you so, but he's going to come to you
in subtlety, craftiness. Deception. Deception is not deception
if you recognize it. And Satan is the master of it.
You're dealing with the master of it. You talk about a con man,
if he could deceive a brilliant man called Adam, well, you're
just a child. You're just a first grader, a
kindergarten child. It can be twisted around his
finger in the most simple manner. What about this simplicity? All
right, let's look at this just a moment. 2 Corinthians 11.3.
That your minds, I'm afraid, that Satan, with his deception
and subtlety, will turn your minds from the simplicity of
Christ. What does the word simplicity
mean? First meaning of the word is this. Uncomplicated. Uncomplicated. Simplicity. Man's religion, Satan's religion,
is always complicated. Now you look at present-day religion,
it's so complicated. They have their rules, their
regulations. They have their ordinances, they
have their rituals. They have their holy days, their
special seasons. They have their foreign language,
their mysterious cults and sects. They have uniformity in standing
and sitting and kneeling and praying and reading. And everything
is complicated about it. The worship services are complicated. When you go to the service with
a person, you're a stranger, you say, what am I supposed to
do and when am I supposed to do it? Because it's complicated. Christ is simplicity. And then
the word simplicity means, another meaning, it's uncomplicated,
but the word simplicity means unmixed. Unmixed. Uncombined with anything else.
Listen to the ways of salvation. Believe on Christ and be baptized. Believe on Christ and obey the
gospel. Believe on Christ and produce
good works. It's Christ and you, it's cooperation
with God. God's done his part, now you
do your part and you'll have eternal life. That is mixture,
that's not simplicity. Simplicity is one. Simplicity
is unmixed. Simplicity is plain and unadorned. Bishop J.C. Riles says, if you
love your soul, if you care about your eternal, immortal soul,
you will not add anything to Christ, you will not take anything
from Christ, because to add anything to Christ is to turn divine medicine
into poison. The Word of God says you're complete
in Him. That's how simple it is. The
Word of God says, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou
shalt be saved. That's how simple it is. The
Word of God says, He that believeth on the Son hath life. He that
believeth not the Son shall not see life. That's how simple it
is. The Bible says, Christ in you. That's the hope of glory.
That's how simple it is. There's no covenant of mercy
except in Christ, uncomplicated, unmixed, unadorned. God chose
us in Christ. That's the way it was, and that's
the way it is, and that's the way it's going to be. No other
consideration except who He is, and what He did, and what He
suffered, and what He's doing now. No other consideration.
There's no sacrifice for sin except Christ. Don't listen to
those who talk of sacrifice and sacraments. Don't listen to those
who talk about sacrifice in self-abasement. Christ by one offering perfected
forever them that are sanctified. He came into this world, Paul
wrote in Hebrews, and put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. That's how simple it is. There's no priest who can be
our mediator. There's no intercessor between
us and God, except Christ alone. I'm the way, I'm the truth, I'm
the life, I'm the door, I'm the water, I'm the shepherd. No man
cometh to the Father but by me. That's how simple it is. There's no peace except the peace
that he gives. My peace I give unto you, let
not your heart be troubled. True rest of conscience. and
true inward peace of soul will never come from any source except
Jesus Christ." As he sat by the well talking to that woman, he
said, "'You ask of me, I'll give you living water.'" There's no one in between. There's
no one around to serve. "'You ask of me, and I'll give
you living water.'" I have it, I purchased it, I produced it,
I planned it, I'm in it, I'll give it to you, between me and
you. There's no Baptist, Catholic,
Methodist, priest, poet, minister, evangelist, anybody in between. You ask of me, I'll give you
living water. That's the simplicity of Christ.
You love me, you worship me. You ask of me, I'll give you. We have complicated, we have
mixed up, we have added to, we have made religion the most confused,
mixed up, complicated mess of confusion that the world's ever
had. People have to dress a certain
way to worship God. They have to be in a certain
place to worship God. They have to have a certain leader
to worship God. They have to burn so many candles
to worship God. They have to have a certain type
of pulpit, certain colored robes. They have to have certain arrangements
to worship God. That's a complicated, confused
mess, that's what it is. And Satan, in his subtlety and
in his craftiness, has taken the worship of God from the fields
and put it in stone buildings. And he has corrupted our minds
from the simplicity of Jesus Christ. He got us. And we didn't
even know when it happened. There's no priest except Christ.
There's no peace except Christ. There's no rule of life for the
believer except Christ. It's thy will be done. It's thy law we love. It's my
commandments you keep. It's his life we imitate. It's
his gospel we preach. It's his glory we see. simplicity. Oh, the simplicity
of Christ. That's Paul's greatest fear.
And we, in this present world, we're victims of this thing that
Paul feared the most. We've been duped, we've been
deceived. As the old football The term
is, we've been suckered in on the play and they've swept the
inn and run a touchdown. That's right. And we're letting them do it
to us every day. It's going on more every day.
Satan, Satan, just like he beguiled Eve, just like he deceived her,
just like he came in and turned her heart from God, he's done
the same thing. He's replaced Christ with things. He's replaced Christ with ordinances. He's replaced Christ with soft
background music. He's replaced Christ with all
of these different visual aids to worship and religion. He's
taken your heart from the simplicity of Christ. And we've let him
do it. We've let him do it. John Owen once spoke before the
English House of Commons And his subject was the greatness
of Christ, and this is what he said, Christ is the way. Without him, you're like Cain,
a wanderer and a vagabond. Christ is the truth. Without
him, you're living a lie. Christ is the life. Without him,
you're dead in trespasses and sin. Christ is the light. Without
him, you're in darkness. Christ is divine. Without Him,
you're a withered branch. Christ is the rock. Without Him,
you're on the sand. You'll be swept away by the flood.
Christ is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. He
who has not Christ hath not the beginning of good nor the end
of miseries." Listen, it is better not to be than to be without
Christ. It's better not to be than to
be without Christ. I hope God will enlighten our
minds, that God the Holy Spirit will take this scripture and
literally shake us down to our foundations. Oh God, let me not
be deceived by the subtlety and craftiness of that archdemon
of hell who comes as a wolf in sheep's clothing, who comes with
all of his error mixed with truth, who takes the simplicity of Christ
the glory of a personal interest and a personal relationship and
a personal dealing and a personal walk, and turns it into some
organized, formal, aristocratic show of outward piety and flesh. It might be good for us if we
had had to revert back to the old simple brush arbor logs cut
in half, turned upside down, with dirt on the floor, listening
to some individual who just has met the
Lord and walked with Him a little while, and telling us how gracious
God is. Sing without books

Paul's Greatest Fear

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Paul's Greatest Fear

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