The Simplicity In Christ Jesus - [2 Corinthians 11:1-4]

Well, since we last met here, hundreds and yet thousands of folks have gone off into eternity.

And yet the Lord has been pleased to allow us to remain for a little short while.

And we we are grateful for that and thankful for every moment that the Lord gives us here upon Earth to to be the lights, as our pastor has been teaching us about, to be the salt, to shine for a period of time for not the purpose that people would look at us and think something great of us, but that they might look and glorify our

Father who is in heaven. Our lives are of him and through him and to him are all things.

Everything that we do, Paul wrote the Corinthian church in the first Corinthians, chapter 10.

Whether therefore you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

And the idea is, is that folks would boast in Christ, that they would look to him.

And I mean, they might look at us and see something's been done in our lives that is wonderful, that is amazing.

But of course, ultimately, we know and what we ought to try to portray to them is, is that we would not be who we are and what we are and we would not speak or behave or act in the way that we do other than the grace of God, other than God taking us to be his very own and changing our hearts and making us his dear people.

Let's before we come to the study this morning, let's go to the Lord in prayer. Our Father, we do thank you and and we do praise you for the wonder of life.

We understand that we are frail creatures, Lord, we're clay pots and our lives are very brief.

Your word describes it in such a way that it is like faster than the weaver's shuttle.

And Lord, our days are fleeting by and yet our times are in our

God's hands and we can trust you and we do. And we look to you,

Lord, even in this moment when we want to just sit before your word and to be taught.

Lord God, that you would open up our hearts, that that we would learn, that we would grow, that we would be challenged and that we would not be satisfied to stay the way that we are, but to be always pressing forward, to be always wanting to learn and to know more so that we would live a better testimony for Christ here upon earth, that people would speak well of him.

And so we ask that you would take this time and please make it profitable for our souls and give us something to speak about in our hearts internally as we meditate upon this truth.

And Lord, also that we might speak one to another to encourage each other in the things of God and the struggles of life and just to be able to encourage each other to go on.

So help us not to be caught in mediocrity, but to go on and excel and to grow and to be changed.

And Lord, we know we need to be changed. Forgive us our sins even this day and bless us, we would pray in Jesus' name.

Amen. If you would turn with me please to the book of 2 Corinthians.

We're going to have a study this morning in the first few verses of 2 Corinthians in chapter 11.

Excuse me. When our children were very young, and of course I don't think it ever really stops, but I know when they were very young and you would walk with them in public, especially in a place where there was a busy street, you would always be careful to hold their hand or to let them know or warn them of something that was coming because we cared about them and we didn't want any harm to come to them.

And in this chapter, 2 Corinthians 11, the apostle Paul is helping, warning his dear children spiritually, the

Corinthian church. This is a church where Paul had labored amongst and the gospel had come to them and God had saved people and a church was established.

And yet there were things that were happening at that time in the ministry of the apostle

Paul. Whenever he would go around preaching and God would open hearts and people would be converted and lives would be changed and Paul would go on to the next city, what would happen many times is people would come right behind him on the tails of his leaving that area and they would come with false teaching.

They would come with their self -righteousness and pride and many of these were so -called apostles, leaders from Jerusalem.

And what they would come in and try to do is of course get a gathering amongst themselves for power, for control, or for pride, whatever reason.

And they would teach false doctrine. They would come behind Paul and say,

Paul says it's all of grace and that's good and it's Christ, yes, and it's wonderful, but you have to be careful anytime you hear it's only

Jesus. And then somebody says, but what is going to follow is probably very dangerous.

And they would come and they would say, yes, you need to believe in Christ, but you also need to adhere to the law or you need to be circumcised.

You need to add something to Jesus, this salvation in Jesus, because it can't be,

I mean, it just can't be just that, you know, we believe that you must have these other additional things to make it complete, to make it, to fit the message that they were trying to speak of.

And the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 11, notice in verse 4, he says, for he that cometh, he that cometh preaches another

Jesus, whom you have not, whom we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit, which you have not received or another gospel, which you have not accepted, you might well bear with him.

Here he's saying, there's another Jesus, another spirit, another gospel.

And that's what these people were teaching. Another Jesus. And there's no difference today in the day in which we live.

I mean, people teach and portray another

Jesus that is not the Jesus of the Bible. It's quite, I mean, we see this in many of the various religions that are around us saying that he's not the son of God, or he does not have the power to save, or he can save and he can bring you up to this point, but you, you know, you can forgive your sins up to this point, but you must take care of the sins afterwards.

Or, I mean, he, Jesus never was the eternal son of God and on and on and on.

There, there is another Jesus that is being perpetrated then in the

New Testament time and today, not only another Jesus, but, but another spirit.

And he says another gospel. I mean, this, this reminds us of course, of, of Galatians chapter one, when

Paul was warning that region, he's, you know, that, that somebody had, somebody had beguiled them.

Somebody had, he uses the word in the King James, bewitched them to take them away from the gospel of Jesus Christ to another gospel, to try to convince them that what they had already received was not good enough.

It wasn't the message. It wasn't the gospel. And Paul says in Galatians one, if any man comes to you preaching another gospel, let him be a curse.

Let him be anathema because, because there is no other gospel. There is only one gospel.

It's the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's the gospel of salvation through, through faith alone by grace alone in Jesus Christ.

And the same thing was happening in Corinth. These dear people that the apostle Paul loved and cared about were having these false apostles come and, and deliver this message to try to take under themselves a following.

And Paul was adamantly opposed to this and Paul cared for these people.

And you will see this in, in, as we, as we look through the, the study this morning, there are times when those folks would come supposedly from Jerusalem, bearing credentials, bearing letters, supposedly showing and proving that they were the true teachers, that they were the true apostles.

And when Paul begins this chapter, he says, I hope you can bear with me in my folly.

He's saying, I hope you can, I hope you could just put up with me a little bit in foolishness of what

I'm going to have to do here. And what he's going to have to do is he's going to have to show them and vindicate his apostleship.

He's going to have to declare to them that, that he is one of the apostles sent from God with the only true message.

And he does this often in the, in the epistles. If you read through, you'll notice he'll say, he'll say things that they say this about me, but let me tell you,

God is the one who did this marvelous work in my life. God is the one who revealed his son,

Jesus Christ to me. God is the one, I didn't get it from the other apostles. You remember at the beginning of his testimony, he did not spend time with them.

He was off in the desert. He was learning and as it were, he was directly receiving revelation and truth from God.

And God was equipping him for the ministry that, that he would have throughout all of this region.

And in this first, in this first verse here, what he is saying and what has happened is, is that it appears as if that the

Corinthian church has accepted the claims of false apostles.

They have received them. They've listened to them. They're hearing their false message and they have laid some credence to these people that what they have been teaching is correct.

And they've opened up themselves to that teaching and that authority of these false apostles.

And though Paul did not want to commend himself, because you'll see that at the end of, of chapter, at the end of chapter 10, he says, um, let's see.

In, in chapter 10, he says in verse 12, for we dare not make ourselves of the number or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves.

So there's some people that put themselves forward. There's some people that have, as Jesus said in John chapter 10, they have not come into the sheepfold the proper way they've come in over the wall, stealthy, deception, crafty, subtlety with man's philosophy, with this false teaching.

And they basically promoted themselves. They've said we're pastors, we're teachers, we're apostles, but they're not apostles of God.

They're not teachers of God. And they come in with this false message and they commend themselves. They put themselves forward.

And Paul says, we're not that type of people. Those people, they, they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves among themselves.

They're not wise. He said, because how it ought to be done and all the boasting and all the, all the promotion and all the putting into the ministry, the apostle

Paul always goes back and he doesn't say, well, it was some other man or some university or some school of the prophets or whatever.

Somebody promoted me and put me in the ministry. You'll notice when he, when he, when he starts his, his epistles off many times, he says,

Paul called of God or an apostle of God, or, or, you know, he sent from God saved by God.

I am in first Corinthians 10. He says that I am what I am by the grace of God.

He was not a self -made apostle. He was a God made man.

He was a God called man, a God saved man, a God called man. And they don't, they're listening to these other false teachers and Paul is going to have to put himself forward, but he doesn't want to.

And that's why he says here, just put up with me a little bit in my folly. I'm going to, I'm going to need to commend myself.

I'm going to need to vindicate my apostleship. And you'll see at the end of this chapter, if you'll notice, and we won't go there, he says in verse 22, are they

Hebrews? So am I, are they Israelites? So am I, are they at the seat of Abraham?

So am I, this kind of reminds you of his testimony in Philippians chapter three, doesn't it? Where he goes through and he says,

I'm a Hebrew of the Hebrews tribe of Benjamin and all basically the same thing here. Are they ministers of Christ?

I speak as a fool. I am more in labors, more abundant in stripes above measure in prisons, more frequent.

He had the, he had the mark of the testimony of Christ upon his life. Not that he just had the easy street.

Some of these other, some of these other teachers, Paul says in other places is, is they take the easy road.

Then there's no persecution in what they're teaching. What they, what they're bringing is it's Christ and whatever else, you know, seems good.

The legalism, um, the tradition, the rituals, you can hold onto that stuff, keep that.

And you can, but, but Jesus too. And there's no persecution. Paul's message was Christ and Christ alone and everything else is anathema cast it out.

And that was why it was, it was the cross of Christ. It was so offensive and they did not want to hear it.

And Paul's ministry, wherever he went, as he was speaking, as he was preaching, um, he, he went through tribulation.

He had difficult times in his ministry. He said five times I received 39 stripes.

I was beaten three times stoned once. And then all these journeyings and shipwrecks and weariness and pain and, and sleepless nights and thirsting and fasting and nakedness of cold and cold in verse 27.

And then in verse 28, besides those things that are without all of those things that, that come from without all the persecution and all the people that were attacking him for his ministry, he says that which verse 28 comes upon me daily, the care of all the churches, the apostle

Paul had a heart for the people of God. He had a heart for the churches that God was establishing.

He cared so much for these people that he was willing to give himself for them. And he had the daily pressures concerning the care of the churches.

It would be so easy for the apostle Paul to say, those Corinthians, they are a mess.

They, and I don't, and I don't have to deal with, I mean, I mean, I can just check out of here. I don't, I don't need to deal with all their problems.

I mean, you know, there's immorality in the church. Uh, they're taking each other to court. There's a misuse of the spiritual gifts and on and on and on and on.

He says, I'm out of here. I'm going to go on to greener, greener pastures, but he cared for them. And he, and he wanted to help them and deal with them.

Daniel, does he do that concerning those people or, well, he doesn't, from what

I remember, he doesn't, he, he doesn't do that of them, but he does it of himself.

And he, and he, and he speaks of the, the fact that God had called him, that he had seen Christ, you know, the risen

Christ in all these, all the, um, all the, uh, conditions that are there for an apostle that he does fulfill them in more than anything.

What's so incredible about Paul's credentials. He says, you know, what's most important. It's not this piece of paper that I can pull out of my pocket.

It's not the title that I have. He says, you to the, to the churches that he's speaking to you are, you are the vindication of the ministry that I've been given of God.

It is saved and sanctified souls. He says, you are my crown and you are my glory.

God has stamped his, put a stamp of approval on my ministry by the fruit of that ministry.

These other people, these other people, all they got is proselytes, but they don't have changed lives.

They don't have people who are, are regenerated people who have been taken out of idolatry and, uh, and brought into the kingdom of God's dear son in there.

And now they're following the true and the living God. What they have is people who would just follow in them and their teachings and just going on in tradition and ritual, the same old, same old, but what

Paul, what, what Paul has seen in his life is that God has given him souls. God has given him spiritual children and those spiritual children he's completely concerned about.

And that's what this chapter is all about here. Notice what he says in verse two, 11, two, he says, for, I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy, for I have espoused you, or I have betrothed you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

He's the apostle Paul here in this. I mean, the only way that he was going to, to, um, to make an impact upon them.

And what he was trying to do was, is that he felt the need to set forth his credentials because this was the only way that he could see, um, that they would be able to understand that his teachings were the truth because they seem to place this importance upon the person or the personality.

And Paul doesn't, I mean, he doesn't normally like to do that in his, when he goes from place to place, he, all he likes to do is declare the message knowing that he was sent from God, but he needed to kind of step back here a little bit and, and declare who he was and what

God has done. And these false apostles, they bragged, um, about themselves.

They tooted their own horns. And we see that today all over the place. I mean, we, we see people that they, they, they, they brag about the fact that they have the large numbers, or they brag about the fact that they have the big healing ministry.

Uh, they brag about the fact that they're selling the most books or whatever it might be there and they promote self.

But what does the apostle Paul promote in the, in the last part of chapter 10, as he's dealing with all this, don't commend myself.

It's not wise to do that. Notice what he says in verse 16, chapter 10, verse 16, to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you and not to boast in another man's line of things made ready to our hand.

He said, this is what his desire was. His, he did not want to go to places where people had already established a ministry and we're doing something for God.

His desire was to go someplace where they, where there was no work. Paul, these false teachers were doing just the opposite.

The apostle Paul was plowing the ground. He was with sweat and with tears and, uh, with just great, um, with great effort and sacrifice.

He was going into these places and, and even at the, um, persecution and at the possibility of losing his life, he was going in and the gospel was being presented and people were being saved.

And these other people were coming right by behind the trail to try to pick up, you know, and capitalize upon what the apostle

Paul was doing. But what they were doing, of course, was twisting the message. It was a perverse message.

They were coming in with something that was completely opposite of what the apostle Paul, if he was teaching Christ alone and they did anything else, they were negating the whole message and coming up with their own.

And what Paul says, notice what he said, what he, they presented themselves in chapter 10, verse 17, he that glorieth let him glory in the

Lord or whoever is going to boast, let them boast in the Lord for not he that commends himself is approved, but whom the

Lord commands. It's not the person that commends or puts themselves forward as being the authority or as being teachers.

It is, it is those that God has done that too. I mean, I've, I've over the years, folks that I've, that I've talked to in ministry, and especially some young men who have gone off to like Bible college or going to seminary, sometimes they don't even know why they're going.

They don't know what they're there for. Um, it's because maybe in some cases, a bunch of people in the church said,

Hey, you ought to be a pastor or you ought to be a missionary. Go ahead and go to Bible college and not really thinking about what they're doing.

Not that they're not that they're intentionally doing something that is wrong, but they haven't even, uh, ascertain what the will of the

Lord is for their own lives. And just listening to other folks and go, they're not sent of God. You know what

I mean? They're not, um, maybe they're going to be used in some other capacity, uh, in the church of God, but then there's other people whom

God has put their, his hand upon, and they believe that God has called them to ministry and they go to be prepared and equipped for that, which they know what

God has done in their lives. And it is God that is enabling them and God that is sending them, not them sending themselves.

Do you see the difference between the two false teachers? They're sending themselves, promoting themselves, tuning their own horn, coming with their own message and trying to get a following after themselves.

And Paul says, no, my boast is in the Lord. I'm here by the, by the grace of God, I'm saved.

And by, by the hand of God, it is God. The apostle Paul sells, sends, says this elsewhere.

He says, God put me in the ministry. That's a whole lot different than me putting myself in the ministry, the false teachers.

That's what they did. Not of God, not come, not, uh, not sanctioned, not approved, not sent by God, but the, they were self, uh, exalting, uh, and yet they did not have the divine favor of God.

Like the apostle Paul did. And when Paul sees this coming into the church and these teachers coming in and begin to spread their message,

Paul says, I'm jealous over you. I'm jealous of you with a godly jealousy. I mean, he was so concerned to the point of being jealous for them, for their spiritual wellbeing.

That's what it is. They did not want, I mean, he did not want them to be led astray.

He did not want them to go off the path of pilgrims progress to not, to not stay straight.

He did not want them to, uh, to lose the ground that they had already gained through the message that they had already received.

And that's very important to this teaching this morning. They had already received everything they needed to hear from God concerning the gospel of Jesus Christ.

They've gotten the message. They didn't need to hear anything more and they didn't need to hear it be twisted or, um, tuned or tweaked.

They had received the gospel of God from the apostle Paul. And, and here he says,

I'm jealous for you because I've betrothed you or I've espoused you to one husband.

Paul was their spiritual father. Um, they were like a daughter, uh, whom to him, whom he had betrothed to Jesus Christ when they were converted, they were united with Christ and his desire was is likes a father who would want his daughter to stay and remain pure, uh, to save herself for the marriage.

The apostle Paul's desire was for them to stay spiritually pure, um, and have a passion for Christ and for Christ alone until the day of the marriage, until the day when they would be brought home to be with him in the marriage feast of the lamb.

He, he wanted them to stay pure until that time. And because of this, this passion that he had, this concern that he had provoked him to jealousy when he, when he was hearing and, and, uh, uh, knowing that false teachers had come in among them.

Notice what he says. It's almost, it's to the point where, where, um, he is so concerned in verse three, he says, but I fear less by any means as the serpent beguiled

Eve through his subtlety or craftiness. So your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

He said he was fearful of them. And what was it over? Um, it was that Satan who had beguiled

Eve would come in and through his craftiness and subtlety, he would also take them away.

He would also lead them astray. He would also corrupt their minds. He would also ruin their testimony.

He would also take the power out of the church because he would, uh, he would replace truth with maybe even a half truth, which is not a whole truth.

A half truth is not a truth. And that's what, and that's what took place. And I'd like to hold you, hold your place here and just look with me quickly in Genesis chapter three, because he makes this reference here.

The apostle Paul, he says the danger that the Corinthian church was facing was that they could fall prey to Satan's lies, to Satan's trickery.

And in Genesis chapter three, you'll remember this is where, um, the serpent that was more subtle or more crafty

Genesis three, one more cunning than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made comes to the woman.

And he says, yay. Has God said now what did

God say already beforehand? Well, in Genesis chapter two and in verse 16, the

Lord God commanded the man saying of every tree of the garden, you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shall not eat of it for in the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die.

That's what God had said. That was the word of God. That's what God had commanded. That was God's will.

Satan now comes to Eve and you'll notice the attack is he comes to the, to the weaker vessel.

Uh, Adam is not around. He gets her while when she's alone and she's unprotected by her husband.

And he comes up craftily and he begins to plant seeds of doubt by saying, has

God said, so he's questioning what, what is he questioning?

God's word, God's authority, God's command, God's will. He begins, he questions that.

And basically he's saying is, is it true that God has restricted you from all the delights of this wonderful place?

You know, he's, has God really said that? I thought

God was a good God. Why is he keeping something from you? I mean, he's limiting your pleasure.

He's limiting your enjoyment. There must be some mistake. I mean, did

God really say that, that you couldn't eat of that? God really didn't limit you, did he?

And the woman says to the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, verse three, but of the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of the garden,

God has said, you should not eat of it. Neither shall you touch it lest he dies. So he's got to get even more tricky and more subtle.

Somehow Satan has got to convince Eve that what she's about to do is the right thing to do.

Even though God has said the opposite, that's what he's got to, it's what he's got to do. He's got to get her to, to, to trick her, to bring her to a place where she thinks that what she's about to do is the right thing.

Because God could not have said what he had said. That's his idea. That's the, do you think he's acting any differently today?

No, because we see that in, in Corinthians and we'll get back there. The serpent says unto her, you won't die.

You shall not surely die. There's this deception.

His lies, Satan's lies are always laced with a promise of a benefit. There's always going to be some benefit in what he says.

You're going to get something out of this Eve. You're not going to die. God knows the day that you eat, that your eyes will be opened and you shall be as God's knowing good and evil.

So what he's doing, he's saying is God is limiting you. God is restricting you. I mean, there's much more for you to enjoy.

And you see in just the opposite. God had set the boundary. God had set the line that they were to, that they were to live in.

And, and, and the, um, and, and there's, there was freedom within that boundary that God had set up, but God always sets up a boundary for our protection.

Always the law saying in the 10 commandments, thou shall not kill is not restrictive.

Just in the fact that it just stops us from doing what we might want to do. I mean, it's a very good law because it preserves life.

Doesn't it? It's protective. It's it's because of the, the hand of the God who loves us and made a covenant with his people to keep them and to watch over them.

And all that God does is not that it's restrictive, but that's what Satan is doing. He's coming in and saying, God is an ogre.

God is restricting you, you know, and you, you just can't enjoy all that you ought to enjoy. And you know,

God has, has, has God really said that? Is that what God really means? And what is he going to do? He is going to interpret

God's message for Eve. He's going to put his spin on it. He's going to make it sound better.

He's going to make it sound as if she really didn't understand what God was saying. I mean, Adam and Eve must've really missed it.

And you know what? You're not going to die. You know, what's going to happen. If you eat, you're going to be as God's knowing good and evil.

What happened? Verse six. And the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise.

And then she took the fruit, ate of it and gave it to her husband and he did eat. And what catastrophe, utter catastrophe from, from the, from the garden with its fruit and its wonder and its splendor comes thorns and thistles and briars and sweat and, um, and this friction between man, uh, between Adam and Eve and being cast out of the garden, the fall, him being the federal head and all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

And it was here we could see the source of this, of, of, of, um, of this temptation, of course, being

Satan. God hasn't said that the seeds of doubt and deception and the trickery is still the same.

Back in second Corinthians 11, notice what Paul says. I mean, it was, it was,

I mean, you think about it here, you are, um, out in the woods and a snake rears up its head and begins to talk to you and tell you something opposite what

God said. I mean, somehow not only in his deception and his craftiness,

Satan transforms himself there and he speaks there. I mean, it's something, something's different there because she's not surprised.

She's not shocked. She listens to this voice and she listens to the serpent talking to her. And somehow he has transformed himself in a way to come across in such a way that he seems like an authority.

And you know what? God doesn't really, uh, express himself clearly. Let me tell you what

I think God said. And you get this twisting of the message. Same thing happens today.

The apostle Paul says in second Corinthians chapter 11 verse 14 and well notice

I'll start, I'll go back up to 13 for such are false apostles. These are the people that Paul is warning them about deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ saying that they are the apostles of Christ when they're not.

And he says, and no marvel for Satan himself has transformed into an angel of light. I mean, he doesn't always come with the pitched fork and the horns and the, and the fire and you know, the smoke coming out of his ears or nostrils or whatever.

And, you know, looking ugly and grotesque false teaching sometimes comes packaged very brilliantly and with splendor and sophistication and, and people will receive it.

And it sounds so good. I mean, you, you just think back about all the stuff. I know you might look at some of the things you might say absolutely ridiculous, but just think about the,

I think it was the Betty ed embraced by the light. You remember all that in the book, the bestseller and all that.

It sounded so good. You know, people dying and you know, light at the dates, they're seeing light and you know, in, in, in everybody is going to be embraced and taken in and everybody's going to be okay.

You remember all the, all the teaching about the, the

Toronto blessing with the people when the charismatic movement and it was, you know, all this outward demonstration of inwardly what the

Holy spirit was doing and people were roaring like lions and barking like dogs and, and thousands of people bought into it and bought all the books and went after it.

I mean, it sounds so plausible. It sounds so good, but it's just, it's just deceit packaged in a sophisticated way.

So hopefully people will, will receive it. And that's, that's what Satan has done in the early church.

What was the means that he, that he used to take away the power of the church and to split them up?

What was, what was it that Satan had done? Anybody remember what was happening at the beginning of the, of the book of acts begins with the letter

P it's persecution. And it was scattering the saints. But when that no longer worked, what, what

Satan did and what he does is he's, he's got to come into the church and corrupt it from within, not to scatter them, get them away from each other, but to enter in like the wolves coming in and sheep's clothing and have these people teach things that are incorrect, false teaching to lead people's hearts astray.

And how's that done? They are, they come in. If Satan can transform himself as an angel of light, verse 14, therefore it is no great thing.

Verse 15, if his ministers also be transformed as ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works,

Paul says, they're going to come in also. And that's what happened in Corinth. They have come in with this, uh, with this other

Jesus, they've come in with this other, uh, spirit and this other gospel, which is not another gospel.

And Paul, you notice even in verse four, Paul's attack of the false apostles was not personal.

It was not a personal attack. He didn't come in and say, you know, um, these guys, he did not attack in this case here.

He's not attacking their character, although he knows about that. He's not making any personal statement about them personally about their attitude, their motive or whatever he is making his, his, his attack is not personal, but it's doctrinal.

It's their teaching because what a person believes affects the way that they live, what you embrace in your mind and what, uh, what, what comes into your, your gates, your ear gates and your eye gates in the mind and what you put yourself, um, before and begin to, to think about and meditate upon and it captivates you and you embrace it and you're attached to that.

You begin to put feet to it and you walk in it. What we believe affects the way that we live.

And these people were coming in with a false message. And Paul feared that they would embrace these lies.

As he says at the end of verse four, which you have not this, this, uh, gospel, which you've not accepted, you might bear well with him.

You, you, it's as if you're going to accept this, you're going to embrace these lies that damn souls to hell and, and, and remove people from something that's very important.

Satan's desire is to destroy and corrupt and strip the church of her power.

That's his, that's his desire. Ruin the testimony, make them ineffective. And the way that he does that many times is, is false apostles will come into the church and they are everywhere on the radio and they are everywhere on the television.

All you have to do is turn it on, listen to their teaching and it is garbage. It is absolutely false.

It is, it is so totally against the gospel of Jesus Christ and the, and something that's very important that Paul says, and I'm going to go back up to that now in verse three, he says,

I fear less by any means as a serpent beguiled Eve, just like the serpent came to Eve and deceived her to think that what

God had already said was not good enough or to make her think that he had the right, um, interpretation of what

God had said. And he was bringing that to her. Paul says just that same tactic.

I'm fearful of you Corinthians in that you have already received the message of Jesus.

You have already received the correct spirit. You have already received the true one and only gospel that saves.

And now these other people are coming in and they're saying, that's not what Paul said. Did Paul really say that that's,

I mean, let me, let me interpret it and show you what he really meant. And then they add on tradition.

Then they add on their philosophy. They add on, and it sounds reasonable. It might sound reasonable.

Uh, but he fears for them in this way, through that subtlety, through that craftiness, he says, your minds can be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Jesus Christ.

And some translations may say the simplicity and the, and the purity may be in there. And some of your translations that is in Christ.

And this is the focus of the whole Sunday school. This is what we, this is what we need to walk away with.

People can come and try to teach the things that they teach this false message. And Paul is so afraid and he wants to present them to the

Christ as a, as a pure vessel, a trophy of grace.

And he says, these people coming in and they're teaching their false teaching with their craftiness and the way that they packages it.

He says, I'm afraid that what it will do is it will corrupt your minds and take you away from the simplicity that's in Christ because Christianity is not a program.

It is not a series of to do's. It is, it is not a checklist. Christianity is

Jesus Christ. It is a, it is a life that is centered and focused and attached upon Christ and Christ alone.

And Paul says, if these people come in and they add things to Christ, it's going to take you away from the purity of that gospel message and the purity of that type of living.

And notice what he says, the simplicity that's in Christ, that word there means a singleness or a single hearted devotion to Jesus Christ.

False teaching will take you away from that focus that you ought to have that one mindedness for Christ.

That idea of Paul, the apostle Paul's life, Philippians one 21, for me to live as Christ and to die as game.

His life was Christ. Everything about him was focused on Christ. And, and Paul did not want them because he knows that Satan's desire is to destroy them.

And the way that he can do that is if he can cut that tether, if he can get them away from what it is that they ought to be focusing upon.

And it's a simple, basically put it this way, a pure attachment to Christ.

It's a simply resting and trusting and focusing upon and serving

Jesus Christ because any other message will take you away from that, which is so vital. It just some kind of like practical things that I was thinking of.

Paul was afraid that their hearts would get fixed on other objects.

And what are some of those other objects, maybe some type of sophisticated teaching.

And with that teaching, maybe some type of experience. I mean, do you think, I mean, I'll, I can just imagine that people were sincere in those instances that I was talking to you about, like up in Canada, and down in Florida, where people were to believing that the expression of the manifestation that the spirit of God had come upon them, that they would, they would manifest this outward experience of barking like dogs or roaring like lions.

They were sincere in that, but they were sincerely wrong. And they had been sincerely led astray.

They were deceived because that's not the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. And they latched onto that and it took them away from the pure attachment that they should have had and focused upon upon Jesus Christ.

And this is the thing that Paul feared the most for them. He was jealous over them because he wanted their focus to be on Christ, not experience, not something that would bring them spiritual pride, even though it sounded great, not tradition, not legalism, not a certain form of, of worship or setting down a standard or checklist that this is what you got to do in order to be spiritual.

It was Christ and Christ alone's Christianity. I got a note of my margin here.

Christianity is simply meant to be a life wrapped up in Jesus Christ.

And that's what he was afraid that they would be taken away from. Also the simplicity, which is in Christ is from Christ's pure teaching or from Christ's doctrine.

Do you remember that the, the, um, that which Jesus brought against the

Pharisees was that they had taught for doctrine, the commandments of men. They had raised up their own and come up with their own doctrine and teachings.

And they had said that basically they were from God and they were the true represent representatives of God.

And the people needed to listen to them and follow them. And Jesus just smattered it to pieces because it wasn't, it wasn't

God's teaching. It wasn't that which was pure doctrine. And it was mixed with philosophy and worldly opinion and human reasoning and man centered religion, but not

Christ. And Paul did not want their minds to be turned away from the simplicity of gospel of the gospel of Christ from living and behaving as Christ did with a pleasure alone.

His desire was to please his father, to do his father's will. You see in this type of teaching, please man, get, get in these groups and do what they say because you'll be able to be promoted because you'll be pleasing man.

You'll be accepted. Do you know what it's like to be in those types of groups or in those types of churches and not go along with it?

You're thought of as a second class, um, Christian citizen. It's like, I don't know if you've ever heard this, but I remember, uh,

I pastored a, uh, a Baptist church in Westbrook field. And we had a young couple who came to the church and they were told that the spirit of God is not in that place because it's got the name

Baptist on there. They're Baptist. They don't believe in the spirit, the Holy spirit. They don't believe in the power of the spirit. They don't believe in the unction of the spirit and it couldn't, but be all, all off whack.

I mean, somebody had told them some story or two. And what they did was one day they were traveling down the road late for their service, where they were going to go.

And they said, we'll just stop in there. We'll just go there Sunday and then go to the other church. And they stayed for, I don't know how many years, about four or five, five years.

They were, they were there when God taught them and us many things together. And we were, uh, we fellowship together for many years and it was wonderful.

But imagine that that's, that's how we're, that's how we're labeled at times.

And, and Paul did not want them to go astray and no trickery. I mean, there's no gimmicks needed.

Um, there's, there's, there's no craftiness when it comes to the gospel. When it comes to the church of Jesus Christ, it is preached the truth.

It is tell people like what it really is to love people, to meet together, to worship in spirit and in truth, as you gather together, declaring the word of God and people edifying and caring for and preparing and equipping each other to do the work of the ministry.

And in that not being removed from the simplicity of serving and worshiping, um, and being loving, true worshipers of Christ, even in worship, not ornateness, not ritual, not tradition, not big blown splendor and trumpets.

And you know, the, the regalia of all the, of the robes and the candles and all of that, it's just Christ and Christ alone.

And that was Paul's desire. He did not want them to be removed from that single focus, that attachment to Jesus Christ, because that's what the other people were doing.

And the message then comes to us this morning, who are we listening to? Where is it that we'll get our teaching from?

What is it that's the focus of our lives? What is it that really rings our bell? I said to somebody at work the other day, that works for me, we have one -on -one meetings.

And I said, what makes you tick? They looked at me and what do you mean? Uh, what is it you like?

What is it that, you know, fires you up here at the job? What do you like to do? And in the church and in serving

Christ, what is it that is your focus? What is it that, that, that really kind of rings your bell, so to speak?

What is it that, that, that ignites your, your desire and your passion? I trust it's Christ. I trust it's an attachment to him.

Teaching is good, but don't make the teaching and the academics and the learning and all of that to be the focus.

That's important. We need to know doctrine, but it's the, it is the Christ of that doctrine that is important, the

Christ of that teaching. I mean, whatever, is it ministry? Is that something that really fires you up?

Don't let the focus be ministry or the focus be family or the focus be anything else, but Christ, because when it's him first, then everything else will fall into place.

Let me answer any questions you have. Anybody have a question or comment? Peggy. Well, that her, the question was, is what's the protection for us today?

So we don't go astray. Were they ignorant? Would they want their ears tickled? Yes. All of the above. I mean, they, they, um, there's, there was pride there.

There was, but I think, I think there was a, there was a, a, a slacking off in watching for themselves.

We need to watch out for our souls. We need to be careful for the voices that we listen to. And what's the protection?

What was Eve's protection? It was Adam. Somehow she's alone and he attacks and she was not with, she was not protected by him.

Um, and she falls. Of course, it says that Eve was deceived. Adam transgressed.

He didn't transgress with the deception. She was, and that's a whole nother Sunday school. I can explain that to you later.

She was deceived. Adam wasn't, she was the weaker vessel. I'm not saying that that don't write me the emails that, you know, that, um, they're the women are, you know, you know what

I'm saying? Um, it's just the way that we're made, but God sets up the authority and, uh, the protection was there.

And before Eve had done, uh, had done, uh, anything as far as, as soon as she had listened to this message, she should have been running from Satan to begin with just fleeing away and say, no, no, no,

I don't want to hear this because God has said, and the protection would have been for her to say to, to, to Satan, this is what

God said. And I don't care what spin you put on it, what interpretation you make, how you mount and make package it. God has said this and we can't eat of it.

Period. That's it. But he, she allowed herself to hear all this other stuff. And then there was the pleasure of the sight of it and the, uh, the appetites and the, and the, and the temptation that went forward for the

Corinthian church. What they should have heated to was the message had come to them. It was the pure gospel.

It was what they had already received, accepted. They stood in this gospel. They were saved by it and they should have refuted anything else that came to them.

They should have said no to it. And it's the word of God that will be the Lord himself being our buckler and shield, but standing upon what

God says in the word and being very important to know what the word is and to say, when God says it doesn't matter what

I believe it or not, that settles it. It's done. Period. Okay. Let's pray.

Father, thank you again. And we praise you for this time together. Pray that our focus and our attention and our attachment truly may be upon Christ our

Lord. It's a hymn that says that we're to just simply trusting in Jesus Christ alone.

And may it be the testimony of our lives, help us protect us, forgive us when we focused on the wrong thing or set something else up over Christ and Lord be with us this morning for the remainder of the services and all that's going to take place, that it might be just profitable for our souls and glorify