Glory to the Lord. We thank God for all His mercies, for His goodness, for His peace, for the songs, the words, and the prayers. From the oldest to the youngest, we thank God that He gave us life again today and gave us the opportunity to gather. May the Lord be glorified, dear brothers and sisters.
With God’s help, I would like to speak today from 2 Corinthians, chapter 11, verses 2 and 3. We will read verses 1 through 4, but we will pay attention to verses 2 and 3. It is written in 2 Corinthians 11:1–4:
“I wish that you would bear with me a little in my foolishness—but indeed you do bear with me. For I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God, because I betrothed you to one man, to present a pure virgin to Christ. But I fear that, just as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds might also be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if someone comes and preaches another Jesus whom we did not preach, or if you receive another spirit that you did not receive, or another gospel that you did not accept, you put up with it well enough.”
When we look at the apostle Paul’s ministry in the church of Corinth, we see that he established the church in Corinth. He had a special heart for the church in Corinth. He says, “I became your father.” He says, “You have many teachers, but you do not have many fathers; I became a father to you.” We know that he stayed there for a year and a half and taught. Priscilla and Aquila were there as well, and during that time they sent Apollos. Both Paul and Apollos worked: one planted, one watered, and God gave the growth.
But we see that even with these apostles—these powerful people who had worked in this church and made so much effort, praying, pleading, fasting, and doing so many things—there were still many problems in that church. There were problems concerning the crucified Christ, idolatry, food sacrificed to idols, fornication, adultery, the Lord’s table, head coverings, spiritual gifts, prophecies, speaking in tongues, the resurrection, and many other smaller matters. In the first letter, it seems that he was giving them direction; the situation did not yet seem completely serious, so he was giving direction because there were wrong ideas and understandings. He reminded them, “This is how I taught you; this is what I told you.”
But by the time we come to 2 Corinthians, we see that he speaks about false apostles and false workers. He says that even Satan can present himself in the appearance of an angel of light, so it is no great thing if his servants also approach in the same way.
Dear brothers and sisters, in the church of Corinth those false prophets, those false angels of light, those false workers had physically entered the church and were destroying it. But in the present day there is an even greater danger in all the churches. It should never be necessary for a false prophet to enter the church, for an evil worker to enter the church, or for a false apostle to enter the church. Yet day and night we watch and listen to sermons, songs, movies, and different kinds of things, and we feed on them. They establish things inside us.
If someone attends all the worship services during the week—let us say six hours, listening attentively—and, adding fellowship, let us say eight hours, perhaps four of those eight hours contain preaching. Even if a good person listens to all those sermons to the end, he still hears more outside. Because day and night, in different ways, the country and the world teach us different sermons, ideas, and doctrines.
And the apostle Paul, because he was the father of that church and did not want them to come under false prophets or wrong doctrines, admonished and taught them. I want us to pay attention to verses 2 and 3:
“For I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God, because I betrothed you to one man, to present a pure virgin to Christ. But I fear that, just as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity that is toward Christ”—or “that you have in Christ.”
Eve’s Deception and the Change in Her Vision
We see that the Law of Moses presents and teaches that God is a jealous God. He does not give His glory to false gods or idols. We know about Phinehas, who had the jealousy of God in him and stopped the judgment, because he went and did the work of God and stopped that darkness. And we see that the apostle Paul had this jealousy over God’s people. Just as a father keeps and protects his virgin daughter until he gives her to another man, so the apostle Paul had this kind of thought toward the church in Corinth. He cared for them in this way, watched over them, thought about them, prayed for them, and taught them.
Just as God created Eve from Adam’s side and presented her to Adam, the apostle Paul, as a spiritual father, prepared the church in Corinth as a bride and presented it holy to Christ. But he says, “I fear that just as Eve was deceived, you also may be deceived.” And we see that Eve really was deceived. The serpent came and filled her with doubts about God; he said false things about God. Her field of vision, her way of looking at God, became a different kind of look, dear brothers and sisters.
We see that, until that moment, Eve was not suspicious of God. She did not suspect that God was lying to her or that God was withholding something good from her. But Satan planted a seed in Eve’s heart and mind. He corrupted her mind, and Eve listened. She heard, her mind became corrupted, and for that reason she became suspicious of God. “Perhaps God is withholding something from me?”
It is written that God had given all the trees to be pleasant to look at and good to eat. But because Eve became suspicious of God, she forgot the rest of the garden, that freedom, that blessing, and that grace, and only that one tree remained for her. “Why does God not allow me to approach this tree? It means that God is withholding something good from me; He does not want me to receive that good.” Eve’s eyes turned toward the tree, and she forgot everything else.
It is written that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes. All the trees were like that: they were sweet to eat and pleasant to look at. God was not withholding goodness. But this third description says that the tree was desirable to look at, and here we should understand the word “look” in another way: it captured attention, dear brothers and sisters. In another translation, it was desirable for making one wise; in another translation, it was attractive for understanding. It drew her in.
And for this reason God said, “Do not approach it, because it will capture you; it will take you into itself. Once it captures you, you will see nothing else—you will see only that.” You think, “Will this make me wise?” But that wisdom will become shame, because through that wisdom you do not become God or become like God. Instead, your eyes are opened and you see your nakedness; you see your shameful condition, and you begin to cover yourself.
May God help us, dear brothers and sisters. When those seeds of doubt were planted in Eve, her field of vision was damaged and clouded, and she was taken out of that innocence, that simplicity. We see that Eve’s corrupted mind also changed her eyes. When her eyes saw wrongly, she stretched out her hand and took the fruit. When the body participated, all her other relationships—with the rest of creation and with God—were damaged, dear brothers and sisters.
God says to Adam, “Adam, where are you?” Adam comes and says, “We saw that we were naked, and we hid from You.” Why do you think that you are naked? Then he says, “The woman whom You gave me…” and Eve says, “The serpent…” Judgment comes upon the serpent, judgment comes upon the woman, and judgment comes upon the man. And we see that when a person’s mind becomes corrupted and allows him to look and desire with that corrupted mind, when it enters the mind, when he sees it with his eyes, and the body participates, all the person’s relationships are damaged and broken.
Because of the disobedience of sin, Adam and Eve were deprived of fellowship with God. Their relationship with one another was damaged. It was no longer a relationship of love, but a relationship in which one ruled over the other. It is written that Eve was to multiply, increase, and fill the earth, but for Eve this became difficulty, hardship, pain, and suffering. Adam also had to work the ground. Adam’s relationship with the ground was damaged, because the ground would now produce thorns and thistles. The curses took hold of them, and afterward they were deprived of that holy garden of God.
From Thought to Action
A person thinks, “It is nothing; it was only a thought.” But when the thought comes, it begins to work; it begins to corrupt. Then the eye enters into it, then desire enters, and then the body participates. When we do such a thing, certain relationships in the sequence are damaged and spoiled. We need to return so that we can have all these things again through God, so to speak.
Darkness, Satan, the enemy, wants to destroy these relationships in the church at every level: our relationship with God, with one another, with God’s creation, and even with our own bodies—how we see our own bodies. He wants to destroy all these relationships.
“The Simplicity That Is in Christ”
I want us to focus on one word. It is written: “Your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity that was in Christ.” Another translation says, “That your mind might be led away from the sincere and pure devotion that is in Christ.” Another translation says, “In the same way, your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity that is toward Christ.” We see that these three Armenian Bibles present the idea in somewhat different ways and communicate somewhat different ideas. This word has many different interpretations, because Paul uses this word elsewhere in 2 Corinthians, but he uses it in different ways.
In 2 Corinthians 1:12 it says, “With the purity of our hearts and the simplicity of God, we preached the gospel to you.” In 2 Corinthians 8:2 and 9:11 and 13, it says that we were generous. There it is written that the apostle Paul speaks about collecting money for the poor in Jerusalem, and he presents how the church in Macedonia was generous, and how their generosity would bring thanksgiving and gratitude to God. In other words, the word “generous” is very different from the word “simple,” and it is also very different from “simplicity” and from “sincerity.”
Romans 12:8 presents different gifts and says, “The one who gives should do it cheerfully,” with joy. We see that it presents a somewhat different idea.
James 1:5 says that whoever asks God receives, because God gives and distributes generously.
Romans 16:19 uses a similar word: “Be wise toward what is good and innocent toward what is evil.” In another translation: “Be without deceit, without treachery toward evil.” In another translation it says, “Let nothing be mixed into you; be pure, be innocent.”
We see that this word is translated in many different ways, and there are other places where it is used as well. Depending on the translation, there are six, seven, eight, nine, or ten different translations. I am not even talking about English; when you read it in English, there are also some ideas that are presented in different ways.
“The Lamp of the Body Is the Eye”
I would like us to focus especially on Matthew 6:22, dear brothers and sisters. Let us go to Matthew 6:22. It is written this way:
“The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. Therefore, if the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! No one can serve two masters, because he will either hate one and love the other, or honor one and despise the other.”
Here it uses the word “clear.” The eye is clear. In the English translation, the word “healthy” is used. In another place, this same word is written as “whole, complete, general.” If your eye is whole, if it is complete, if it is entire.
And here I want us to focus on this thought: when a person’s mind toward God is clear, when he is not suspicious, when there are no other things mixed into it, when it is clear, straight, pure, whole, not broken, not divided—when a person has such an eye, he is able to give and distribute freely; he is generous. But when a person becomes suspicious of God, he becomes suspicious of everyone. He begins to hold grudges; he becomes envious. When he gives, he thinks, “Was it worth giving that to him?” When he does something good, he says, “Was it worth doing this?” His mind has become crooked; it has been bent, and he no longer looks at his God in a clear and straight way. Therefore, we see that the rest of his life also becomes crooked.
That is why it says: if your eye is clear, your eye is the lamp of your body. If you have a clear eye, your body will be good, it will be full of light, and it will be on the path of truth, dear brothers and sisters.
In Matthew 20:15, when He gives the parable and gives one denarius to each person, the first ones complain. He says, “Is your eye evil because I am good?” In other words, a person can have an evil eye rather than a good eye, as God has toward us.
Serving God Rather Than Mammon
Dear brothers and sisters, for this reason it is important that we cleanse our eyes and wash them with the holy blood of Jesus Christ, and that we not be divided, but be clear, straight, and whole. That is why, immediately afterward, it says that no one can serve two masters, because he will either hate one and love the other, or honor one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
We see that the serpent came and deceived Eve, and Eve’s devotion, direction, and purity toward God became divided. She began to desire what she should not desire. She wanted what had not yet been given to her. God would have given Adam and Eve whatever they needed in His time, but she reached out her hand because her devotion, faithfulness, and trust toward God had already been divided. In a figurative sense, I am saying that she became a lover of money, while also wanting to serve God. She wanted to serve both mammon and God. And it says that you cannot do that, dear brothers and sisters.
In the Old Testament, when it says, “Love your God with all your soul, heart, mind, and strength,” in the Hebrew translation it is written, “with all your mammon.” In other words, mammon is the thing that a person has—all his strength and possessions—and he must serve God with those things rather than serve mammon itself.
And what is written in Proverbs 3—perhaps verses 9 and 10—it says, “Serve God with all your possessions; give them to God.” I would like to read those verses from Proverbs 3, because they present it more beautifully.
Proverbs 3: “Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first fruits of all your produce. Then your storehouses will be filled with abundance, and your winepresses will overflow with new wine.”
We see that we must serve God with all our possessions.
And darkness, Satan, deceives and confuses us so that we do not serve God with our possessions, but serve our possessions instead. We become attached to our possessions in such a way that they bind us, and even when we try to break free, we cannot. That is why, earlier in Matthew, it says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
In other words, when a person’s possessions, strength, or—so to speak—glory, whatever he has in this world, becomes his master, that is a terrible condition. Therefore, after saying “either God or mammon,” it says, “For this reason, do not worry.” Do not worry about anything. Where does worry come from? It comes when mammon wants to make us serve it. When the tree of the knowledge of good and evil captures us and wants us to serve it. What did God say to Cain? He said, “Sin is crouching at the door, and it desires you, but you must rule over it.”
We see, dear brothers and sisters, that our possessions—our mammon—want to make us serve them. We must not allow it. We must serve over them, and we must serve them in such a way that we rule over them and surrender them to God, so that God may do all of this.
What Enters Through the Eye
It is written that the lamp of the body is the eye. We can understand the eye in two ways. There are things that enter through the eye—we see them—and there are things that we look at with our eyes: the way we look, dear brothers and sisters.
When does our body become dark? When we allow dark things to enter us through our eyes. The more dark things we look at with our eyes, the more darkness will fill us, and our body will become dark. And if we think, “Oh, I am just looking at this with my eye; it will not harm my body,” the Word of God shows that the mind, the eye, the body, the soul, and the breath are not separate things—so that you sin with the body but not with the mind, or sin with the mind but not with the body. God created a person in such a way that these things are woven together. When we look with our eyes and desire, He says that we have already committed adultery in our hearts.
Therefore, God wants us to look at everything and consider how we are looking. Let us listen and consider how we are listening. Because whatever enters us will either illuminate us or darken us, dear brothers and sisters. It will make our hearts, our souls, and our minds dark.
The Light We Allow Into Our Eyes
Matthew 5:8 says:
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”
And if our body is full of light, we will see God with illuminated eyes. But if our body is filled with darkness, we will see God with dark eyes. And it says, “If the light that is in you has become darkness, how great is that darkness!” It means double darkness: when the inside of a person who was illuminated becomes dark.
It is written:
“Everyone who looks at a woman in order to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
For this reason, dear brothers and sisters, let us pay attention to the desires of our eyes; let us not consider them ordinary or insignificant. When such a thing comes and we desire it, let us confess and turn to God. Let us not wait or move away from God. Let us not say, “It was just a thought.” Let us go to God and say, “Lord God, I had this kind of desire.” What kind of light are we allowing to enter our eyes today?
I want to focus on one thing that we can say is illuminating our eyes day and night, but with artificial light and not with God’s light: our phones. That dark and shadowy abyss receives artificial light and gains power, and people are captivated day and night. Have there been times when you look at your phone and cannot turn your eyes away? It captures you. It says, “Look at me!” And the light that comes from it—that artificial light—I would say, for the most part, puts the light of darkness inside us. It does not put God’s light inside us.
And we must, dear brothers and sisters, be careful about what kind of light we allow to enter us. We must greatly watch and guard it, day and night; we must watch over that light so that it does not put darkness in us, dear brothers and sisters.
The Light That Comes Out Through Our Lives
The light that comes out through our eyes: if there is light within us, we have a good eye; we have a desiring eye—that is, we want the other person to be well; we are optimistic. There is light within us, and our judging and measuring will be according to the Word of God.
But if there is evil in us, we will be like those workers who had an evil eye toward their brothers. They did not want the others to have anything for themselves; they were envious, and they wanted to lower them and shame them. But God said, “My eye is good, but your eye is evil.”
And, dear brothers and sisters, each one of us must look at how we look at, judge, and measure one another. If we judge and measure and then gossip, it means that our eye is evil. May God help us, cleanse our eyes, purify them, and illuminate them with His Spirit.
It is written in 1 John 2:15–16:
“If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, because everything that is in the world—the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the pride of this life—is not from the Father, but is from the world.”
Here we see that the body and the eye are joined together. And when we ask, “What is the Father’s love?” the Father’s love was revealed to us through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the Light of the world. And when the Father’s love is not in a person, it means that God’s light is not in that person. At that time, desire and pride are in him. Therefore, let us watch over what is within us: “Lord God, may Your love reign in me.”
We Are the Light of the World
Matthew 5:14–16 says:
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Neither do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before people, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
We are the light of the world, and these eyes are the lamp. If our body is full of light, the world will see that light, because we will do good works with our bodies. But if our eye is dark, we cannot do good works with our bodies, and the world cannot see that light, dear brothers and sisters.
When we think about light, there is a great difference between sunlight and artificial light. Sunlight is true light; it is real light. Artificial light is simply what we bring in when we cannot get light from somewhere else. I think that if we had the opportunity, and if we had a beautiful, huge church and had to choose whether artificial light or sunlight should illuminate the church, one hundred percent of people would choose sunlight, because sunlight is sweet, pleasant, healthy for the body, and true light.
In the same way, dear brothers and sisters, in spiritual life there is true light: Jesus Christ. There are also artificial lights, and it is written that even Satan can transform himself into an angel of light.
Choosing the True Light
Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, let us choose the true light and walk in the true light. Psalm 19:8 says, “The commandments of the Lord are pure; they enlighten the eyes.” Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path.” Another psalm says, “In Your light we see light.”
Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, if we have come out of God’s light, it means that we see darkness; our body is dark. Let us enter the light so that we may see light. Another psalm says, “Enlighten my eyes, otherwise I will sleep the sleep of death.” Yes. Ephesians 5:14 says, “Rise, you who sleep, and stand up from the dead, and Christ will enlighten you.”
Christ is the Light of the world. But John 3:19 says:
“And this is the judgment: the light came into the world, and people loved darkness more than light, because their works were evil.”
May God keep us far from that forever. We have loved the light; that is why we have come to the light, dear brothers and sisters.
And 1 John 1:5–7 says:
“This is the message that we heard from Him and declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in Him. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of His Son Jesus Christ cleanses us from every sin.”
May the Lord be glorified. If we have come out of the light, let us not say, “You know what? I have come out of the light, and I am ashamed to come into the light.” For the farther we move from the light, the more ashamed we become and the more bound we become. Come into the light; come and confess; come and repent; come and renew your covenant before the Lord, so that you may be illuminated by that light, and the blood of Jesus Christ will cleanse you and me from every sin, dear brothers and sisters. May God help us to be established in this.
Looking at Christ
2 Corinthians 3:18 says:
“But we all, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord. Therefore, since we have this ministry, just as we have received mercy, we do not grow weary. But we have rejected shameful hidden things; we do not act with deceit, and we do not distort the Word of God. Rather, by revealing the truth, we commend ourselves to every person’s conscience before God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled among those who are perishing, among whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of the invisible God, would not shine on them. For we do not preach ourselves, but the Lord Jesus Christ, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Amen.
And as we look at Christ, the leader and perfecter of our faith, we are illuminated. What did it say before this? When we look at Christ’s face, our life, our body, our soul, our breath, and our mind are transformed from glory to glory; we become more like Christ, dear brothers and sisters. Therefore, let us come to the light. Whatever we see with our eyes plays a great role in our bodies. The more we look at Christ, the more our bodies will be illuminated, and the more good works we will do.
The Crucified Christ Before Our Eyes
I would like to read the final verse, Galatians 3:1:
“O foolish Galatians, who bewitched you, so that you would not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was portrayed as crucified among you?”
And that word “bewitched” is precisely the word that says, “Who looked at you with an evil eye?” In other words, there is an evil look here that moves a person away from God. But may our eye be clear, so that the crucified Christ is always before our eyes. And if the cross is before us, then we will become like the cross; our life and our walk will be cross-shaped.
And what was the greatest problem the apostle Paul had in 1 and 2 Corinthians? Why did those false apostles insult him, put him down, and mock him? Because he suffered for Christ, lived a life of the cross, and his life was cross-shaped, with hardship, suffering, pain, and sorrow for God’s people. They looked at him and said, “If you were from God, you would not have that kind of cross-shaped life.” But for the Christian, that light comes from Golgotha; that light shines from the crucified Christ. The more we look at the crucified Christ, the more we become like Him. May our lives also be cross-shaped lives that illuminate the people around us, dear brothers and sisters.
May God help us, may God strengthen us, may God give us strength, ability, and power, and may He cleanse our eyes. And if—if we have looked at evil things with our eyes, if we have heard evil things with our ears and have not confessed them or turned away from them, now is the time, dear brothers and sisters. Because these things affect our body, our soul, and our breath. May God help us. May He illuminate our whole soul, breath, mind, and body for His name and glory. Amen. May the Lord be glorified. Let us pray. God bless you.
Prayer
Good and merciful Father God, for everything and in everything we glorify You, honor You, give thanks, and confess, good and merciful Father God, that our body contains dark things to some extent. Because our body looks, sees, and hears things from which it must turn away. Cleanse and forgive Your people. Cleanse our eyes; make them holy, Lord God. Wash and cleanse our eyes with Your holy blood, Lord God. Grant that these lamps may be full of light, Lord God, and may receive only Your light within them, Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed God, have mercy; cleanse and purify us.
If, Lord God, we have moved away from the light, if we are ashamed of the light, if we are afraid of the light, Father, remove that darkness from within us and bring us into the light, so that we may confess, repent, turn back, and receive Your light; so that we may look at Your cross, and the light of Your cross may renew us, strengthen us, and give us new life. We glorify and honor Your great and precious name. May the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit be glorified in all these things. Hallelujah. Amen.
