I'm going to ask you to take your Bibles and turn with me to the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4.

I heard that Brother Scott had said one time, I didn't hear him say it, I just heard that he said it. He said this, I have a set of notes with me. He said, I hope that I don't need them. When I first heard it, I thought, ooh, that would be scary. But I think I understand it a little bit. Maybe a little bit, not much.

I have a set of notes here. I started, originally I was going to plan to preach out of the book of Job. Then a couple of days ago I thought, no, I better go to 2 Corinthians 4. So I was going to go ahead and try to deal with the whole chapter. And I got up this morning going over my notes, and I cut it down to what I'm going to preach now, Neil.

I've got a set of notes. The Lord helped me to preach, led by the Spirit of God, what the Lord has laid on my heart.

The Apostle Paul, in the book of 2 Corinthians 3, had just set forth the miracle of God's grace to open the eyes of God's people to understand the truth of Christ crucified. Paul the apostle, I'm sure, writing these under the inspiration of God's spirit was relating his remembrance of preaching and holding to the letter of the law.

What do you mean by that? I mean by trying to govern our lives out of rules and regulations and things that we find written in the law. There's nothing wrong with the law of God. The law of God is holy and just and good. But the only problem is that we can't keep it.

Oh to God that I'd be able to love the Lord my God with all of my heart and all my soul, all my spirit, and to love my neighbor as myself. I wish I could, but I can't. I can't do it. Paul knew what it was to attempt to shame people into obedience by regulations, by trying to make them live right.

Every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ wants to walk before God honorably. And they know in their heart. I don't even have to say anything to you that knowing You know what it feels like to find yourself thinking or doing or saying something that is disrespectful to God, and it hurts you. It hurts you.

Paul knew that this type of preaching, preaching of the law, was only found where men's hearts are blind. I'm not saying that men are not religious. Men, women are religious by nature. They get up, they go to church. I know this from experience. Look, you've heard the old saying, this is not my first rodeo. I know what it's like. Get up. Well, we're going to do church today. You know, we're going to go, we're going to feel better, we're going to dress up, you know, put on some sweet smelling stuff, get our clothes on, go to church and feel better about ourselves.

Paul knew that that type of preaching, whipping people into obedience, you know what that makes them? Pharisees. I don't know about you, but You know, I'll tell you this for me. I got up, you know, I wanted to come to church. I don't know about y'all, but I, you know, all that does, it just produces pride and arrogance. But to want to get up and come to hear the gospel proclaimed, to want to come and hear the word of God, I need some comfort.

It was more in my heart this week as I was trying to seek the Lord's will and direction. This little assembly is going through some tough times. There's a lot of people. People ask me, how's Katie doing? I said, well, you know, for old people, I guess we're doing all right, you know. Probably average age here. If I say 65 being the average age, I'm probably a little low. But I'll tell you this, it just rejoices my heart to know that the Lord has maintained this little assembly all these years and kept us.

And God's people, they need some comfort. We're going through, we're going through right now some times of trial. We've got loved ones that are sick. We've got husbands and wives and kids that just, I need some comfort. I need somebody to tell me something, comfort me. Remind me once again of Romans 8.28. Tell me one more time that we know that all things All things, all things, Dan, work together for good to them that love God, to them who are of the call according to His purpose.

Why am I going through these trials and troubles? Why? Because it pleased God to prepare His people to leave this world. This world is not our home. We're not going to be here. Thank God for that. We're not going to be here forever. For those that know him, love him, long to see him, this life is but a vapor. And we began to look more and more forward to it. I just didn't feel I could have said that years when I was, you know, 20 years old. I'm 30 years old. I'd say it, but you know, I didn't want to really feel, but God's people do. They want to, they look forward to seeing the Lord. He's real to them. He's not just a figment of their imagination.

Paul knew that the preaching of that type of preaching that tries to whip people into obedience, it accomplishes nothing, nothing of any profit whatsoever. Paul the Apostle, who had been, as you know, a Pharisee, that type of religion that just beats people down. He said in 2 Corinthians 3, verses 14, 18, talking about where he came from. He knew something about this. He said, but their minds, that is, these Pharisees. Again, I'm not saying they weren't religious. I'm just saying they were Pharisees. They looked to their own works for righteousness. He said, but their minds were blinded For until this day remain the same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament, which veil is done away in Christ, but even unto this day, even when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. Nevertheless, when it shall return To the Lord the veil be taken away. Now the Lord is that spirit. And where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. There's liberty. But we all with open face beholding in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the spirit of the Lord.

Don't you thank God for some liberty? Just to be honest. I know what I am by nature. I know what I am. But I thank God that God would teach me that. And teach me. In me, that is in my flesh, there dwelleth no good thing. To will is present with me. But how to accomplish that which I want? I find not. I see me for what I am.

Paul the Apostle, God was pleased one day to cross his path on a road to Damascus. And the God that rules in heaven and earth, the Apostle now is speaking now from a new heart. And he's calling himself into taking a good look at himself. And he's declaring what God has done for him. God had stopped him on the road to Damascus. Just like everyone that is a believer in this room today. God stopped you. You were going somewhere. You may have been sitting in this church. Some of you grew up here. listening to one of, if not the most faithful men I've ever met. And God Almighty was pleased to cross your path with the gospel. And God has given us a heart. And now here's Paul the Apostle, who was formerly Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee. And here he is, he says in 2 Corinthians 4, 1. Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, we have received mercy, we faint not, but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience, in the sight of Almighty God, sight of God.

Paul is now saying that, he said, the Lord has done something for me. The Lord has stopped me in my path of false man-centered, man-honoring, God-dishonoring preaching of nothing more than Pharisees. And Paul says, something caught my mind in that first verse where he says, therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not. We faint not. I looked up that word. What a surprise, huh? I looked that up. What does he say when he says we thank God? Well, it means, when you look it up, it says it means that God's people are not utterly spiritless. They're not utterly. They're not utterly wearied out, exhausted, and found to be bad. The reason I'm emphasizing that word utterly is that there is, in every regenerate, there's an old man that's still there that accuses and argues everything that that new man thinks. That old man will just raise his ugly head, cast doubt, Paul said, by the grace of God, we faint not. We're not utterly cast down.

God's people may get to a point where their mind fades. I'll be honest with you. I was thinking back when I first got here years ago. been able to read something and retain it, you know, relatively well, I thought. That's probably nothing more than pride for me to say that, I'm sure it is. But be able to read it, retain it, remember it, bring it back to my memory, but I can't do that anymore. Things just don't come back to my mind as quickly as they used to. God's people may get to a point where their bodies are weak and frail. My back hurts every time I sneeze. My back hurts whenever I try to pick up something. I try to make sure that I don't try to, you know, overdo like I may try to do that. But here by the grace of God, God's people, Paul said we, faint not. And when I looked that up and I saw it, it says utterly, we utterly faint not. I was so glad to see that word there. We go through trials and tribulations and whatever a believer is going through, by the grace of God, we're kept by God's power through faith, which is not of ourselves. It's a gift of God. But I'm so thankful that the Spirit of God moved Paul to say we utterly are not cast out. Not utterly. We are. We fail.

Now this state is not found to be so by the power of our flesh. I don't have the ability to be able to maintain myself. But this spirit of faithfulness, We are kept by the Spirit of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. And God's people have a new attitude, entirely a new attitude toward God's revealed truth. The Spirit of God says that we, verse two, we have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestations of the truth, mending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. I thank the Lord that God would deliver me. I know he delivers all of his people. He brings them out of that false religion, handling the Word of God deceitfully. It never ceases to amaze me how I can read something in the Word of God, and now by the grace of God, I read it You know, and I'll just, this just came to my mind. I want you to turn over to Ephesians chapter one. Ephesians chapter one. I'm just going to read a couple of verses here. If I can get my fingers to turn to Ephesians. Ephesians one. Look at verse three.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.

Now, let me ask you this. Does the Scriptures say that God Almighty has chosen a people in Christ before the foundation of the world, that they should be holy and without blame before him in love. Does the scripture say that? Yes, it does. Well, then let me ask you this. Why would a man, why would a woman doubt that God has a people that he's everlastingly loved in Christ and chosen them? foundation of the world that they should be holy and without blame before Him. Why would they doubt that? Because the God of this world has blinded them. He blinded them. They read those words and they do not see them.

Does the Scriptures say, Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated? Does the scripture say that? Sure does. Why would anybody say that God does not look at men and distinguish between men? Everybody's the same. The scripture doesn't say that. Why would men say that the Apostle Paul He said in verse 2, back in 2 Corinthians 4, we've renounced the hidden things of dishonesty. I don't want to be dishonest with you. I want to be truthful with you. He said, not walking in craftiness or handling the Word of God deceitfully. I don't want to be deceitful about God's Word.

Well, people say, well, you're not going to win, you know, friends and influence, blah, blah, blah, whatever, that, you know. I'm not going to stand before men. I'm going to stand before God. Therefore, God's people want to hear what God has to say. And if somebody is standing up and they're not being honest about it, God's got a people. And let me tell you how he's going to call them out of darkness. He's going to call them out of darkness through the preaching of the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace.

Now, if you want to have any hope in being found, you must hear the gospel. Here's the good news about it, though. God's got a people, and he's going to get them under the sound of the gospel. But what if one of God's elect is not found under the preaching of the gospel? My friend, the scripture says they're going to all be taught of God. All God's people are going to hear the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace, and God is going to bless it to their hearts. What if they don't? What if they don't come? My sheep are going to hear my voice, and they're going to follow me. What if somebody says, well, I don't want to hear what you've got to say? Then God didn't call you.

I said, Marvin, now you just kind of, you know, I said, listen, I've told you this, I've just seen enough of myself in the last year and a half to realize this very well, Larry, this could be the last time I preach, I know that. Gary Bourne, you were there when I was sitting in the pew, and all of a sudden, I never knew that I passed out. I never knew it. I could have been gone and I never would have known it. But I've got right now. And I pray that God bless this word. I pray the Lord bless this message. Because I'm telling you, we're dying creatures. We're dying creatures. And I don't have time to lie to somebody. I don't have time to wrestle. I don't have time, as Apostle Paul says, back in, he says, we don't, we've renounced the hidden things of dishonesty. We're not walking in craftiness, handling the word of God deceitfully. God forbid that I should not be honest with you. It's your kids, grandkids. They gotta hear the gospel. They've got to hear the gospel. They've got to hear verse three and four.

But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest. Believe not. lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine into their hearts. Let God be true. Let every man be a liar. If this gospel, which a man or woman must hear, you say, now wait a minute, are you saying they've got to hear the gospel? Yes. And I tell you what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna tell you what the gospel is again. Because you're like me, you forget, you forget, I do too. I do the same thing.

The gospel is the declaration from God's word, the declaration of who man is by nature. We're frail, spiritually dead creatures. It's the declaration of who man is. It's the declaration of who God is. He's God Almighty. He rules in heaven and earth. He's got a people of his choosing, because the scripture says he does, and he's going to call them out. And the gospel is the power of God and salvation. It's telling men and women the truth that God is going to save his people.

This meeting that we have right here, Do you realize the preciousness? I'm gonna try to wrap this up, but there's something I'm gonna come down to in verse seven, so I better hurry. What we're doing right here is called a treasure. This is a treasure. This gospel we preach is a treasure. I won't get ahead of myself. I'll just finish these. I'm almost done.

Here's what man by nature says. The Lord says in John 5, 40, you will not come to me. You will not to come to me that you might have life. I've said this before. You know why men and women don't come and bow before the Lord and ask for mercy? You know why they don't do that? This may be hard to understand. I hope not. Here's the reason they don't. They don't want to. They don't want to. They just don't want to. I have no interest in it.

One of the saddest things in the world that I've seen is when I see people and they just don't want to come. Why don't you come hear the gospel? We're tied up right now, I'll be honest with you. We're going to try to get all of our stuff. We've got the kids and we've got this. Man doesn't want to. You know what God's going to have to do for me? He's going to have to give me a new want to. He's going to have to make me want to come.

I say, well, I get accused of this. You don't really ever say anything any different. Thank you. Thank you. I'm not here trying to dazzle you with new stuff. Had somebody tell me one time, said, I just wish I could come up with something new. Somebody never heard before. I said, it'd be wrong. It'd be wrong. You will not come to me that you might have life. Men don't want to hear. They don't want to hear. They don't have time for this. Oh, the excellence of the knowledge of Christ. But I know this. God's got some sheep. I know that. He says He does. And I know they're going to hear His voice. And I just pray that as I stand to preach, struggling, and I know I am, You don't have to tell me, I know I am. I'm just thankful that the Lord has raised up the truth here in Katy, West Virginia and has been pleased to bless that message and call out some of his sheep and keep them.

Paul the Apostle says in verses, I'm gonna read verses five to seven and then I'll stop. Paul says in verse 5 to 7, For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. I think what a blessed calling. God would make me his servant and then make me your servant. That I am your servant, called of God to preach the gospel to you. and to have a heart to want to preach it.

For God, verse 6, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But here Paul said this in verse 7, but we have this treasure, the treasure is the proclamation of the gospel. The treasure is the gospel. That's the treasure. Can you imagine? The gospel being the power of God.

What I'm preaching. That man is a sinner, dead in trespasses and sins. and that God only saves men through the preaching of the gospel. I can prove that. Romans 1 16 Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It is the power of God unto salvation. I'll never convince you by just a natural hearing of the eye. I'll never convince you to cast yourself upon the mercy of God. But if God convinces you, And how does he do it? The Lord said, I'm going to do it through the preaching of the gospel.

Well, then what else do I want to preach? I don't have anything else to say. That's it. I don't have anything. I'm not going to sit here and give you a bunch of rules and regulations like Paul said. We've renounced all that. It's just trying to live right, straighten up, fly right, turn over a new leaf, whatever you want to say. Whatever. I want to tell you what God has done for sinners, and I pray that God bless it to the hearing of his people and call them out.

Only God can convict a sinner. Oh, this glorious, he said, we have this treasure. God's people, God's preachers, they don't preach. Those things which bring honor and glory to man, they don't do that. They preach that which honors the Lord. Think about how honoring this is to God, that God would be pleased to choose before the foundation of the world somebody like me. Somebody like me. Somebody, yeah, but Marvin, you know, you just, no, no, no. Believe me when I tell you that God would choose somebody like me and give me the glorious honor to be God's servant and your servant.

What an honor it is to be able to stand here and preach the gospel to you and to tell you the truth. Who knows? Lord may bless it. God may call out one of his own. We do this the sake of God's honor and glory, and for your sake. God's preachers preach the God who's truly God, the one that spoke light into existence. He said, let there be light. And there was light. And when it pleased God, God was pleased to tell this frail creature of dust to say to me, let there be light. And there was light. And I saw it, and God blessed it and kept me. And he said, we have this treasure.

This is a treasure. You talk about treasure. Now, some people might say, well, you know, diamonds and rubies and, you know, that's treasure right there. All that junk's going to be burnt up. It's gone. Just believe me. It's gone. But you want to know what a treasure is? according to God, this gospel. Now, this is a treasure. This is a treasure. And it's in an earthen vessel. Just a frail creature of dust. God's been pleased to put this treasure in an earthen vessel.

Weak, frail creatures that can, in themselves, do nothing. I can't do anything, but that God would put this treasure. Oh, I pray that almighty God might be pleased to bless this glorious gospel, the power of God unto salvation, and be pleased to call out His own.

to give us some light of who he is, who we are. I know just enough about myself to think, but for the grace of God, where in the world would I be? Who knows? God may save your kids. He may save your mama, your daddy. Who knows?

But I can tell you this, if he does, he's going to do it through this gospel. I know that. By the grace of God, I'm not going to preach anything else. I pray God be pleased to bless it to our hearts for Christ's sake and our eternal good. Amen. Amen.

All right.