2co 11v01 03 Your Pastors Great Fear

YOUR PASTOR'S GREAT FEAR II Corinthians 11:1-3

In reading the New Testament, I am astonished by the fact that many of the churches founded and settled by the apostles of Christ were soon turned away from the gospel of Christ. Many who once embraced the gospel and were well instructed in its doctrines fell prey to Satan's subtle devices, and were moved to embrace another gospel, by which they were damned. That fact alarms me, and causes me to fear for you, as Paul did for the Corinthians. There are many subtle devices by which Satan deceives men and churches. Let me warn you of a few prominent ones, so that you may avoid them.

1. We all want to be ACCEPTABLE AMONG OUR PEERS. Concerning the things of Christ, this is a most dangerous snare. Many have toned down the message in order to make it more acceptable. But in doing so they have marred the gospel. Brethren, we must be true to the Word of God, even if we are obliged to stand alone against the world.

2. We all have a tendency toward INTELLECTUALISM. We want to fit the Word of God into the mold of our puny brains. We want to reason and educate men into the kingdom of God. So we are tempted to try to make the gospel palatable to human reason. We try to answer all the criticisms of men and remove all the seeming inconsistencies of gospel truth, making the Word of God consistent with the opinions of men. But the knowledge of Christ and his gospel does not come by reason. IT COMES BY REVELATION! Man's reason must bow to God's Revelation, or man must perish.

3. We are all susceptible to the snare of LEGALISM. Man wants to do something to earn something from God, either salvation, or reward, or rank in heaven. It doesn't really matter where works comes in, so long as it comes in. Man wants something in which he can boast. But the moment we allow human works, in any measure, we have denied the gospel.

4. We all have a weakness for the dangerous snare of WORLDLY SUCCESS. Many preachers, and many churches, have been bribed into denying the gospel for success in the eyes of the world. For the bread of success, they have sold their souls!

5. And we are all tempted, from time to time, to LEAVE THE SIMPLICITY OF THE GOSPEL for other issues. Satan does not care what issue you are taken up with (morality, prophecy, denominationalism, separation, etc.). So long as he can move your heart and attention away from the single issue of Christ and him crucified, he is both successful and satisfied. The simplicity of the gospel is just this, it has but a single message - "CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIFIED". We must stay with that (I Cor. 2:1-5).