 The title of our sermon this morning is Jealous and Zealous Love. This is part two in 2 Corinthians chapter 11, verses one through six. This passage is absolutely packed with truth, I believe, that we need to hear, that we can certainly benefit from. So this is part two. I anticipate a part three of Jealous and Zealous Love, 2 Corinthians chapter 11, verses one through six. Our first encounter with the Apostle Paul in the New Testament is Saul as a prideful, arrogant, angry man from Tarsus. We find Saul in Acts chapter 8, verse one, consenting to the murder of Stephen as the Jewish leaders drug Stephen out of the temple, out of the city to stone him to death. In Acts chapter 8, verse three, it was Saul who was then wreaking havoc on the new church, entering every house, dragging off men and women, committing them to prison, consenting to their death. Speaking to King Agrippa in Acts chapter 26, Paul says that many of the saints he shut up in prison. Having received authority from the chief priests and when they were put to death, he cast his vote against them and he punished them often and every synagogue compelled them to blaspheme. How did he do that? Through torture, through abuse. He compelled them to blaspheme and being exceedingly enraged against them. He persecuted them even to foreign cities. In his own words, in 1 Timothy chapter 1, verse 13, Paul said that he was a blasphemer, a persecutor of the church and an insolent man, the chief of sinners. This essentially rabid lust for his religious tradition and the self-righteousness that fueled his pride and zeal, that rabid lust was carefully cultivated from the beginning of Saul's life. In Philippians chapter 3, verse 5, he said, if anyone thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so circumcised the eighth day, the stock of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, concerning the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, concerning righteousness, which is in the law, Paul thought that he was blameless. But Saul was clearly a man who would have boasted in his accomplishments, boasted in his credentials, boasted in his education, boasted in his worldly privilege, boasted in his knowledge, boasted in his associations, boasted in his own righteousness, which he presumed to have attained through the law. But for that man, something dramatic happened on the road to Damascus in Acts chapter 9. The scales came off Saul's eyes. He had an encounter with the risen Lord Jesus Christ, and it changed him to his core, changed his very being, changed his heart, changed his mind, changed who he was. In Acts chapter 9, verse 20, immediately Saul began preaching that the Lord Jesus Christ was the Christ in the synagogues, preaching that he is the Son of God. All who heard him were amazed. Is this not he who destroyed those who called on his name in Jerusalem? And as Saul increased in strength, he confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that Jesus is the Christ. Paul realized just how long he had been. His mind was changed, his thinking was different, his heart was transformed. The light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ had shown in the heart of Paul, and Paul had been changed. All that Paul had once boasted in, now Paul saw as empty, vain, shallow. Philippians chapter 3, verse 7, what things were gained to me, Paul says, these I have counted lost for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ. Gone was that former arrogance, right, gone was that former self-righteousness, gone was all of Paul's self-reliance, gone was that pride, gone was that former self-reliant zeal and in its place by the grace of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, in its place was a determined faith, a determined love, the love of one who was blood bought by the Lord Jesus Christ, one who could stay in 2 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 12, that our boasting is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and in godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God. That was Paul's boast, the arrogance, self-invulgence, self-reliance, self-righteousness, replaced with simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God. In 2 Corinthians chapter 2, verse 14, Paul says, thanks be to God who always leads us and triumph in Christ and through us diffuses the fragrance of his knowledge in every place for we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing and in amazement of that fact Paul says and who is sufficient for such things. He once would have thought himself as the fragrance of life to anyone he was around. He once would have thought of himself that he was the fragrance of awesomeness to anybody he encountered. He took great pride in himself. Here Paul says, who is sufficient for these things? 2 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 4, we have such trust through Christ toward God not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of ourselves as being anything but our sufficiency is from God. Even Paul's words in 2 Corinthians, we can see that he's a changed man, isn't he? This is what the Lord Jesus Christ does through the gospel. What you once were, you are no longer when the Lord gets ahold of you, amen? When the Lord changes your heart, when the Lord changes your mind, when he endures you with his spirit, you become a changed person. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 7, Paul says, we have this treasure in earthen vessels. The treasure of the gospel, Paul says, are in weak, frail, clay, worthless, valueless, pulse away pots so that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. All things are for your sakes, Paul says, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to a bound to the glory of God. Paul no longer commends himself the way that he once did. He no longer commends himself for his education, boasting of his heritage, boasting of his accomplishments. Rather, when Paul now intends to highlight the commendation that he has from God as a minister of the gospel, he says in 2 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 3, that his commendation is seen in this, his perseverance, his tribulations. Not in his education, not in his accomplishments, not in his heritage, in needs, in distresses, not in his eloquence of speech, not in his wit, not in how good he is, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tummels, in labors, in sleeplessness, in fastings, by purity, by knowledge, by long suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love, by the word of the truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report, Paul says, as deceivers yet true, as unknown and yet well known, as dying, behold we live, as chastened yet not killed, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing and yet possessing all things. That's what Paul commends himself in now. Matter of fact, that's what the Lord commends Paul by. Do you see? Paul is an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord Jesus Christ said to Annanias, behold, I'm going to show him how many things he must suffer for my namesake. It's in that that God is glorified, right? The boasting that Paul does now is about the Corinthians to Titus in chapter seven verse 14. The boasting that Paul does now is about the Macedonians to the Corinthians in chapter eight verse one. The boasting that Paul does now is about the Corinthians to the Macedonians in chapter nine verse two. In other words, the boasting that Paul does now is about the work of God, the work of God's spirit, the glory of God. He's not boasting about himself. In fact, he told the Corinthians, I'm determined not to know anything among you, except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. Sounds like a different man, doesn't it? And my speech, my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power so that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Paul is not the man that he used to be. Paul's deep love for the Lord Jesus Christ is abundantly evident. Paul's sacrificial love for this church at Corinth is beyond question. Unless you think that this transformation is exclusive to Paul, this transformation takes place in the heart of everyone who's been transformed by the grace of God in Christ. This is true of every Christian. But how is it in Corinth that they repay his love? How is it in Corinth that they repay his sacrifice? They allow enemies of the cross to gain a foothold in their affections. They allow error to enter in. They compromise their affections, cool. They allow their hearts and minds to be swayed away from the Lord Jesus Christ and away from his apostle. What a testimony it is of our depravity, isn't it? What an evidence of inward corruption when we, for some reason, that has infiltrated our flesh, spurn those who love us most? What an evidence of inward rebellion, inward corruption when we sin against rebell against, love less those who love us the most? When we despise those who labor for our true good? That's exactly what's going on in Corinth. What do these false teachers do to so easily win over so many in this immature church and be careful, lest we think that we're mature? What do these false teachers do to so easily win them over? They slandered Paul, they boasted in themselves, and they taught error. They taught heresy. They slandered Paul, they boasted in themselves, and they taught heresy. They boasted in the flesh the way that Paul did before his conversion. That's the way that they boasted. They boasted in appearance, the way that Paul did when he was a Pharisee, and the perceived success of this satanic scheme has Paul rightly concerned. Thinking about these things out of love for the church at Corinth, out of love for these people, Paul now feels drafted into a fool's errand. He feels compelled to answer their boasting with boasting of his own for the sake of these weak and troubled believers in the church at Corinth. He feels like he has no other choice. He's drawn in to this absurd game that the false teachers in Corinth are playing. Paul's willing. Why is Paul willing? Because he loves them. He cares about them. He doesn't want to see them swayed. He doesn't want to see them go astray. He knows that if they stop listening to him, if they won't hear him, they're not hearing the word of God. They're not hearing the Lord. And so he is willing to go to great lengths to see them safe in the arms of their bridegroom, including his own boasting, his own moment of foolishness. He calls it in 2 Corinthians chapter 11 verse one. Oh, Corinthian, that you would bear with me in a little foolishness, some foolish boasting of my own. Yes, bear with me, bear with me in my boasting for your sake. Why would I do this? Paul asks rhetorically. Why would I stoop to such a level? Verse two, because I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. Because I have betrothed you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. I'm for your good, Paul says. But I fear verse three, lest somehow just like that wicked serpent in the garden deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. It's for your sake that I do this. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit, which you've not received, or a different gospel, which you've not accepted, you may well put up with it. I fear, Paul says, that you are being seduced. I fear that you are losing a single-minded, whole-sold devotion to that one husband you have been betrothed to. I fear that you are losing a single-minded loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ. You're likely to entertain an adulterer and become an adulterous yourself. Paul says, I fear for you. I consider verse five, I'm not at all inferior to the most eminent apostles, even though I am untrained in speech. He didn't go to all their eloquent schools. Didn't take their public speaking courses, wasn't preeminent member of the Toastmasters Club in Corinth. Paul says, I may be untrained in speech, but I'm not in knowledge. I would venture to say there's probably no one on the planet at this time who could have gone up against the apostle Paul when it comes to knowledge. Paul says, we have been thoroughly manifested among you in all things. Verse six, Paul is labored among them with the gospel and he well understands his responsibility for them. In the preaching of the gospel, when Paul showed up in Corinth, Paul arrived in Corinth, many were saved and that church was planted under the preaching through the work of the apostle Paul and those who were with him. Chapter 10, verse 13, Paul was given a ministry by God, which specifically includes them. They are within his sphere of responsibility, so to speak. And so Paul then rightly sees himself as their spiritual father. He told them in 1st Corinthians, chapter 4, verse 15, for though you might have 10,000 instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, I have begotten you through the gospel. Paul senses a personal responsibility for these brothers and sisters. That personal responsibility is one that should be spent by every minister of the gospel, by every pastor in every church. Men of God have been given responsibility as undershippers for the flock of the Lord Jesus Christ. They have responsibility for them. So when a man of God, quote unquote, packs up his gear and leaves them, he's like the hireling who not only flees when he sees the wolf coming, maybe he flees when he sees the bigger bank account. Maybe he flees when he sees greener pastors and he leaves the flock behind, right? That responsibility should be forefront on the mind of every pastor in every church of God. But also that responsibility should be understood, should be sensed, should be taken up by every single church member in every single godly biblical church for the sake of their brothers and sisters in Christ. When you come, when you come, you come to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. You don't just come to hear a clanging symbol. You don't come just to hear a gong. You come to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. Worshipping him, serving him, serving in his cause, serving in his kingdom, and serving him by loving your brothers and sisters, by serving them. We need to have a sense of that responsibility. The responsibility here that Paul feels, that Paul understands as his responsibility for this church in Corinth. Here it says, though Paul is the father of the bride, verse 2, I have betrothed you to one husband for the purpose that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. Paul loved them with a jealous, and therefore it's a jealous love. It's a lesson that should hit home for anyone who serves the Lord's church. Now as we continue to work through the text, notice this jealous and jealous love that the father of the bride has for her. It's a jealous and jealous love that prospers her in verse 2. The purpose is her good. Paul's purpose, Paul's aim in all of this is her good. It's a love that prospers her in verse 2. It's a love that protects her in verses 3 and 4. There are enemies afoot. We live in a dangerous context, a dangerous set of circumstances. We are in a spiritual war, a spiritual battle, and this is a love that is jealous for her and so jealous for her protection, verses 3 and 4. And it's a love that provides for her in verses 5 and 6. It's a jealous and jealous love that prospers her, protects her, and provides for her. And I want you to see this from the text. Now notice how this love is given for the purpose of doing her good in verse 2. His intention is to see her prosper in verse 2. Paul says, I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy, a jealousy that is from God. For I have betrothed you to one husband with the purpose that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. Essentially, why? Why am I jealous for you with the jealousy of God? Why do I have a godly jealousy for you? Paul asks, because I have begotten you through the gospel, because I'm responsible for you. I have betrothed you to Jesus Christ through the gospel, and I intend to see you with him in glory. That's what he's saying, right? I intend to see you, brother. I intend to see you, sister, in glory. We need to say that to one another here all the time. I intend to worship with you in glory. I intend to see you worshiping Lord Jesus Christ in heaven. I want to see you there, amen? I don't want to not see you there. I want to see you with him in glory. It will bring joy to my heart to see you with him in glory. It'll bring joy to your heart to see me there. Thank you, brother. I love you guys. It'll bring joy to your heart to see your brothers and sisters there, right? We come here on a Sunday morning to worship, and it's joy. Sit in the back and watch us worship the Lord and singing hymns, songs, spiritual songs to his name. It's a joy. Paul intends that to be his joy. He fears, as he does with others, that he might have run, might have labored in vain. So there's a concern on the part of Paul. He intends to see them in glory. To see them in glory, Paul is jealous for them, zealous for their highest possible spiritual good. Zealous for their sanctification. In part one, last week, last Lord's Day, we talked about how godly jealousy is a zealous jealousy that fights for undivided devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ. Fighting for undivided devotion. That's the Christian life. Fighting for uncompromising devotion to the Lord. Fighting to preserve or maintain full commitment to Jesus Christ. When Paul preached the gospel and the Corinthians responded in repentant faith, they were betrothed to the heavenly bridegroom, so to speak. Now, as the father of the bride, his heart, Paul's heart and soul is committed to guarding her virginity. Virginity, here, a picture of their commitment, their faithfulness, their undivided loyalty to the bridegroom. We can make the connection, can't we? Virginity, a metaphor for their uncompromising faithfulness to the one to whom they are betrothed. Virginity, a picture of their uncompromised loyalty, their undivided devotion to their one husband, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's going to guard her virginity until her wedding day when the bridegroom comes for her. His intention, his aim in this is to see her prosper, to see her persevere until that day. And listen, he's doing this in the context of those who would violate her. He's doing this in the context of those who would seduce her away from her one husband, who would seduce her away from her undivided loyalty to her bridegroom. That's the context in which Paul labors, do you see? Our context is no different. You walk out the doors of this building, you don't have to walk out the doors of this building. You have your phone in your lap. We serve and live in a context of wicked adulterers, wicked seducers, wicked and deplorable paramours who would seek to seduce us away from our undivided loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you're in Christ, you feel the pull of that, don't you? By our three enemies, the world, the flesh and the devil. You don't have to say the devil made me do it. You have enough within you to persuade you away from the simplicity that is in Christ. His intention is to protect her. He's committed to her spiritual purity. Paul is committed to her sanctification ultimately so that she will be presented to Christ as a chaste virgin. This intention isn't motivated by self-serving or self-indulgent jealousy, but by a God-word jealousy. The jealousy of God is the jealousy, a godly jealousy that fuels him. It's a righteous zeal that drives him. And Paul is concerned for the purity of the church. Paul is concerned for the purity of the church just as a godly husband would be concerned for the chastity of his own wife. The word chaste refers to pure or innocent. There's an innocence about her. She is chaste. There's a purity about her. Having no faults. Essentially it means free, unspotted, unstained by adultery, which often in Scripture is code for idolatry. Those things that draw our attention away from God, those things that we have as priorities above God. The context of the metaphor is extremely important because the Bible frequently refers to false religion or idolatry as adultery. The prophet Hosea is an object lesson. If you read that book, he's to display the sin of God's people. So God tells Hosea in chapter 3 verse 1, go again, Hosea. The Lord says, go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover in his committing adultery. Hosea is to go to get for himself an adulterous woman to display for God's people their sin against God. Go, love a woman who is loved by a lover in his committing adultery. Just like the love of the Lord for the children of Israel who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans. Not only do they look to other gods, they love the things that the pagans love. Do you see? They are idolaters and they love the things that the pagans love. James calls those who are at enmity with God, those who want to be a friend of this world. He calls them adulterers and adulteresses. Unfaithful. So when Paul says that he intends to present this bride as a chaste virgin to her bridegroom, Paul is referring to laboring for her preservation, laboring for her purity, laboring for her undivided full devotion to her bridegroom. He intends to do her great good. He intends to do her great good. He wants to prosper her. However, however. As we think about the context in which this work takes place, our own context in which our work of ministry takes place. And we easily make the connection that Paul's jealous and zealous love for this church not only serves to prosper her, but must also serve to protect her. We must prosper one another. We must protect one another. We serve in a context of spiritual warfare and spiritual danger. So Paul understands this reality in Corinth. We can see that by a statement in verses three and four. This is what his jealousy has aroused in Paul verse three, fear. His jealousy for them, his zeal for them, which is a godly jealousy, a righteous zeal, has aroused within Paul fear and concern concerning their context. I fear, Paul says, less somehow as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, by his deceitfulness, by his wicked trickery. In such a way, I fear that your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we've not preached, he who comes and gives a different spirit which you've not received or different gospel which you've not accepted, you may very well put up with it. I want you to see from verses three and four. Paul's fear here, his concern is their departure from a single-minded, whole-sold devotion and uncompromising loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ. He fears their departure from that. In other words, to depart, I'm going to repeat this frequently, to depart from a single-minded, undivided devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ alone is to become an adulterer, is to become seduced by this world. This departure begins in the mind, so your minds, Paul fears, may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. The departure begins in the mind, that departure in the mind poisons the heart and then destroys your life. In Corinth, it was a group of false teachers from Jerusalem that were working to deceive them. Judiizers, we've discussed that. For you, it may be any number of false teachers today. It may be any number of compromises with the wicked and foolish philosophies of this world. Those that profess to speak for Christ and they sound good, they tickle your ears, they scratch where it itches, and so you enjoy listening to them. You keep up teachers for yourselves. It may be from any number of false teachers. Don't compromise with error. When someone who professes to speak for Christ takes a hard, fast step into error, put them in the circular file for good. It may be a divisive person, a divisive influence, maybe the influence of someone you think is your friend, someone that comes and speaks to you smooth and enticing words, someone that speaks to you and you say to yourself, that sounds right. I think that's right. I agree now with you. Someone that you think is your friend. What's the effect of that teaching? What's the effect of that influence? It's divisive. What are they dividing you from? They're dividing you not from merely from a brother, a sister, a church. They're dividing you from your bridegroom. In the garden with Eve, it was Satan as the serpent. Turn with me to Genesis chapter 3 verse 1. Genesis chapter 3 verse 1. This divisive, seducing influence may come from any number of sources. In Corinth, with those false teaching, false apostles from Jerusalem, those Judaizers that were deceiving them, false wicked evils, seducing influences, or a dime a dozen in our day, but it all begins with Satan in the garden and Eve in Genesis chapter 3 beginning in verse 1. Now the serpent, this wicked serpent, was more cunning, more conniving, more deceitful than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, has God indeed said, you shall not eat of every tree in the garden? So from his first words to Eve, from the time that he opens his mouth, the strategy of the deceiver is clear. Do you see it? He sets out to undermine not only the word of God, not only the word of God, but the very character of God. In the mind of Eve, this begins. It begins in her mind. Rather than good and loving and gracious, freely giving Adam and Eve all good things to enjoy, God is painted in Eve's mind by the serpent and then in her heart as withholding good from her. God is tight-fisted, he's oppressive. God himself isn't the source of all good to me because here's something good that God has withheld from me. Do you see? I can find something good in the fruit of that tree and I don't need God to get it. I've found something good apart from God. I'm autonomous. I have free will. I can do as I please. I can find good for myself. Thank you very much. We look for good apart from God who is the source of all good to us. Today it may not be the fruit of that tree. It may be the adultery that you find on the Internet. Today it may be that anger that you hold on to because it just makes you feel powerful and good to have that kind of influence over somebody else. Today it may be that harsh tongue. Today it may be lying to get your way, cheating to get out of the sin, out of the effects of sin that you've sinned your way into. Whatever it is, whatever that fruit is to you, the woman said to the serpent in verse 2, we may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, you shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die. God is an oppressive killjoy. So the serpent said to the woman in verse 4, you will not surely die, undermining not only the words of God in the mind of Eve, but the character of God in the mind and heart of Eve. Verse 5, for God knows that in the day that you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. Not just attacking the word of God, attacking the very character of God. The deception takes root in the mind, grounded in and supported by a false view of God himself. Eve believes that she can obtain something good and pleasing on her own. In her mind, she questions truth. In her mind, she doubts truth. In her mind, she questions reality. In her mind, she becomes corrupted from the simple, single-minded devotion and loyalty and commitment that she had to God Almighty, the one who created her. False contemplation regarding the character and nature of God poisons Eve's heart and Eve becomes a spiritual adulteress. You see, a perfect world, unhindered fellowship with God, abundant provision and Adam and Eve for safe devotion to the one who made them. All begins in the mind. So when the woman saw verse 6, that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, that she would make one wise. She took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her and he ate. Incidentally, this is why theology is important. Theology is important. Out of your knowledge of God will flow the issues of life, so to speak. How you act, how you think, how you feel is impacted by your theology. If you have none, then you say, well, this feels good to me or that feels good to me, this feels good to me or that doesn't feel good to me. I think that this is right or I believe that that is right and you don't know. Theology, the truth about God doesn't come from your feelings. It doesn't originate from within you. God has given it to us in his word. Theology can't be divorced from life. You'll be known by your Christian character. You'll be known by the way in which you love one another and your Christian character and the way that you love one another will be fueled, driven, informed, motivated by your theology, by your theological acumen, by your understanding of these things. Theology is directly tied to life. You must know and worship and believe, trust God. Our theology is incredibly important and we should be living, breathing, walking, talking, theologians. Know your Bible. And listen, the more that you know the Bible the more that you love the one who wrote the Bible. The more that you love the one who created you. The more if you have the Spirit of God and he's opened your heart and ears and eyes to understand what he's written the more that you become devoted to him who gave all to redeem you. That's theology. And the more that you take in theology the more that you crave meat and not just milk the more that you crave to know him the more that you crave to understand these things the more that you want to know him. What God has done is staggering, is astonishing, it fills, fills, fills the heart and mind with wonder and with love and with gratitude and sometimes we have a tendency to put our head and our eyes down on mundane things on this earth and think that the purpose of our existence terminates in them. It doesn't terminate in them, it terminates with God. We're to love him and that comes through, listen, that comes through theology. Theology. In 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 verse 3 Paul is concerned that many there in Corinth may fall into this same deceptive trap that Eve fell into. It's the same deceptive, wicked hole in the ground that many a professing Christian has fallen into. Paul is concerned that it's wreaking havoc in the church in Corinth. He says in verse 3, I fear let somehow just like that serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your mind may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. It begins in the mind, it poisons the heart and destroys your life. If you don't have, if you don't have a rich, meaningful mind relationship with the Word of God, you walk in danger. Do you see? You are easy pickings for seduction because you don't know any better. Easily seduced. It begins in the mind, then it poisons your heart and it destroys your life. When your Christian life begins to look like something other than whole, sold, single-minded, undivided devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ, and it begins to look like something other than that, you've been seduced. You're already an adulterer. Turn. Warn. I can't resist it. Or burn. It begins in the mind, poisons the heart and destroys your life. Paul says in like manner, like Eve, as much that we can learn from Genesis 3, in like manner, so your minds may be corrupted. The word means ruined. That's what the word means. It means destroyed by deviation. Destroyed through deviation. I'm going to deviate off course and to my ruin. Deviating from that which is moral and good and right and true. What is their mind being turned from? What is their mind deviating from? Deviating from the simplicity that is in Christ. Simplicity here is not referring to simple as opposed to complicated, but simple as opposed to duplicitous. Simple single, you could say, as opposed to double-minded, two-faced, playing the hypocrite. Simple as opposed to divided. Makes sense? Simplicity that is in Christ. Simplicity refers to undivided devotion. Single-minded commitment. Whole, sold devotion to Christ. In Christ, there is this simplicity. We are to be simple people in that sense. Like Eve, we are concerned that they may be deceived into desiring a life apart from undivided devotion to Christ. Notice the connection to verse 2. Notice the connection. To do so, to deviate would be spiritual adultery. He wants to present them as a chaste virgin because he fears they may be deviating off course from the simplicity that is in Christ. In other words, they are easily seduced by adultery. We are to be given heart, soul, mind, and strength to living for him. You, as a Christian, are to be given heart, soul, mind, and strength to pleasing him, obeying him. Commands aren't burdensome. They are delight. You rejoice if you are a Christian to obey the law of God. We are to be given heart, soul, mind, and strength pursuing our joy in him. We are to be given heart, soul, mind, and strength to thinking rightly about who he is and what he has done to worshiping him in spirit and in truth. That's what the Christian life is all about. Single minded devotion, whole soul commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ. With Paul then, with Paul then we must be able to say with an earnestness what things once were gained to me these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet, yes indeed, I count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, rubbish that I may gain Christ. Now listen, that's not hyperbole. Comparatively, all the trappings, enticements, allurements of this world are rubbish. To live is Christ. To die is gain. That's what motivated Paul to say such things. A genuine Christian life is one of undivided devotion to the Lord. A simple single minded loyalty to the one who loved you and gave himself for you. If you're a Christian born again of God's Spirit, then he has your heart. He has your heart. All of it. If you're a Christian, he has your heart. Now, if you're a Christian, you understand that your heart is a weak thing. But he preserves you. And even though we with Paul might look at ourselves and say, oh this wretched man, we look to the Lord and say, praise God. And thank you, Lord. And please help me. If you're a Christian born again of God's Spirit, he has your affections. He has your love. He has your devotion. He then is the treasure which is hidden in the field. Which for joy over having that treasure, a man would give up all that he has to go and to purchase that field so he could have the treasure for himself. He is the pearl of great price. And for the yet inestimable worth of that treasure, for the matchless value of that pearl, the Christian joyfully parts with all that he has to lay hold of that which he treasures most in his life. In fact, it's that treasure on which he fixes his gaze that motivates, drives, directs all of life the way that he works, the way that he studies, the way that he interrelates, the way that he spends his time, the way that he spends his money, the way that he thinks all of those things, everything to do with life is motivated set within the context of that love, that devotion, what he treasures most in this life. Is this the longing of your heart this morning? Is the cry, the ache, the hunger, the thirst of your heart to be so loyal, so committed to the Lord Jesus Christ that consumes your mind, your heart, your actions, your thoughts. How can you be satisfied in anything else? Are you? Easy to say, could you? What is it that satisfies you now? What is it in your life? What are you doing? How are you spending your time? What is your devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ look like? Devotion isn't a nebulous thing. It's objective and definable. Devotion, your commitment look like if I were a committed engineer. What would it look to me to be a committed engineer? I would be doing engineering stuff I would do it all the time and I would be doing it well. If I were a committed baseball player what would it look like to be a committed baseball player? If I were a plumber What does it look to be a committed, devoted plumber? What would it look like to be a committed, All that we do by the way for the Lord's glory for the Lord's sake right committed to him our devotion to him drives all of those things What is it that drives you? Are you satisfied in anything else brother sister? Let me ask you this. Have you lost your first love? Do you believe that you have turned from your first love? If so your mind is corrupted And we need to think about that in terms of the language that Paul uses here. What would keep us from being devoted to him Who is worthy of supreme devotion? What would keep us from thinking believing rightly about him who is The most glorious object of faith right of our faith what would keep us from this kind of Undivided devotion if not with some inward corruption in our hearts and in our minds When we don't see him that way when we don't live that way we are in some way corrupted our minds Have turned they have deviated from the simplicity that is in Christ that turn that Deviation in our mind has poisoned our hearts. Is it not true that your affections cool when that's the case? Is it not true that that's the source of your lost love and If you do not repent of your sin if you do not turn back into the way Your life is on the verge of ruins Many have made shipwreck of their faith many have turned Many have Become statistics of apostasy many have died and Now their existence is an utter and eternal destruction This life is short And the Lord Jesus Christ is worth Following worth worshiping We're to repent You're here today And you don't see it your mind is corrupted The bible says so Your heart is depraved The bible says so god says that of you You are his creation You are not your own Look upon him who is pierced repent of your sin and be converted to your sins may be blotted out Poor contempt upon your adultery because that's what you are you are an adulterer You are in love with the seductress that is this world because you continuously go after her Giving yourself to her You need to Divorce that wicked seductress and you need to clean to your bridegroom by faith. Amen So we work through the text. We'll look at specifically what those Seduces are doing who they are and what impact that has on us We'll see that as we get to part three next Lord's day