Let's take our Bibles and turn
to the book of 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. I'd like to look at the first
four verses. Before I say that, I want to just bring us very
quickly up to where we were. The apostle Paul had set forth
in the third chapter that there was no need of letters of commendation
for the establishing of the authority of God's preachers. No letters
from men to say we recommend these guys, these guys have our
blessing. He said that the actual epistle,
the letter of Christ Himself is actually written on the fleshly
hearts of God's people. That's the only letter of recommendation
that we have, our need. If the Lord sends us, and God's
preachers come with the message of the gospel, we just looked
at last time, last message, listen to what they're saying. And what
they're saying gives evidence of God's blessing. God's commendation. Paul had said that we're preachers
able, able ministers of the New Testament. And the New Testament
he was talking about there wasn't the second segment that we know
of as the New Testament or Old Testament, New Testament. He
wasn't talking about that. He was talking about the New
Testament means that the Lord has made us able or sufficient
ministers of the fresh will or covenant, the covenant of grace,
the gospel. He said we don't preach the letter
of the law, the letter of the Mosaic law, that law that Paul
set forth that was glorious. It was a glorious declaration,
but it was a veiled declaration. It was the truth of the gospel.
But it was veiled in signs and pictures that God had to give
new eyes to see. Man by nature doesn't see the
glory of the gospel in the message of the old covenant, the law. But being glorious as it is,
it still couldn't give life because It set forth the inability of
man. So Paul said, we preach the gospel,
the message revealing Christ who has fulfilled the law. Now, he says in verse 1, chapter
4, 2 Corinthians, therefore, seeing we have this ministry,
as we have received mercy, We faint not. Since, he said, therefore,
since we have been given this ministry to preach the gospel,
the ministry of the proclamation of the Lord Jesus Christ sent
from heaven, made flesh, made in the form of likeness of sinful
flesh, yet without sin, made likened to his Brethren, he said,
seeing that we have this ministry that we've received of the mercy
of God, by the mercy of God, he said, we don't faint. We persevere
in that message. The message of preaching the
gospel is essential to the salvation of sinners. This message that
we preach must be preached. It's not optional. This is the
message. First Corinthians 121, Paul says,
for after that in the wisdom of God, the world, by wisdom,
knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Foolishness of preaching,
as I've said before, not foolish preaching, but what men call
foolishness. You mean to tell me they say,
that you believe that all it takes to save a sinner is just
preaching of the gospel. You don't have to teach them
how to straighten up and fly a right and turn over a new leaf.
No. No. We do preach the truth of
a believer's consistency of walk, but we're not trying to straighten
anybody out so that God can save them. We preach the truth of
the gospel. Paul had declared from the beginning
God had chosen His people. In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2
and 13, He said we're bound, we're bound, we're bound to this
truth. To give thanks to God for you,
beloved. Because God had from the beginning
chosen, He's got an elect, We don't faint from that. We don't
back up from that. I know man by nature doesn't
like election. But you can't take it out of
the Bible. You can't take chosen and election
and choose. The scriptures declare God has
chosen a people from the beginning to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit, a setting apart and a regenerating of, making
anew, and belief of the truth. At 2 Thessalonians 2.13, we're
bound to give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved of the
Lord, because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation.
But then he said in the next verse how God qualified and set
forth. that which he had done. Wherefore,
verse 14, he called you by our gospel for the obtaining of the
glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. He chose you to salvation before
the foundation of the world, but then he called you out of
darkness by putting you under the gospel. That's how he called
you. So God promised, he promised
that he was gonna send some preachers. He's gonna send some pastors
after his heart his people with knowledge and understanding.
And Paul said back in 2 Corinthians 4, he said, now we have this
ministry. That's what God's called us to.
We've been called. We've been taught. We've been
qualified. We've been sent by the Lord to
preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ for the calling
out for the establishing, for the comfort of God's people. Paul said, we're not discouraged
in that. We don't faint in that. We're
not fearful in that because of the difficulties and the trials
that come with it. We expect it. God's preachers,
they don't look to their strength. They don't look to their power
to persevere. The best of men are, as I've
said before, at best, they're men. frail creatures of the dust
that would fail if left to themselves to continue. 1 Corinthians 15.10
says, For by the grace of God, I am what I am, and His grace
which was bestowed upon me was not in vain, but I labored more
abundantly than they all, yet not I, Paul said, but the grace
of God. which was with me. Paul said,
God called me and I was obedient, but he said, I'm the first to
tell you, it wasn't me that did it. Almighty God called me and
sustained me by his grace. So Paul declared that the Lord
had called him, therefore we have this ministry, we've received
mercy, we faint not. Then he says, but, verse two,
have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, or shame, not
walking in craftiness or handling the word of God deceitfully,
but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every
man's conscience in the sight of God." He said, we've been
taught of God. God's taught us. And we disown. We disown. That's what he said. We renounce. We disown the private,
hidden, things of shame, anything that men would do to bring dishonor
to God's Word. Add to it, take away from it.
He said we have nothing to be ashamed of. We're God's preachers
whose attitude is for the glory of God. For the glory of God. What if men hate us for that? We preach for the glory of God.
We're not going to stand before men. We preach for the good of
God's people. God's got a sheep, and He's going
to call them out according to this message right here. I realize
something right now. This is the message that God's
going to bless to save His people. There's some people sitting in
here today that I was privileged to see that the Lord was pleased
to call out of darkness. Some before I ever got here.
But it's the same message. It's the same message. I realize
this. This is how God's going to call
His people out. And Paul said, I'm not ashamed
of that. This is what God has chosen to
do. So we set forth. the truth and
we disown, we renounce the hidden things of dishonesty. He said craftiness. We disown
that trickery. Trickery. Subtlety. He said, I'm not trying to trick
you into anything. I'm not going to try to slip
on you, tell you something. I'm trying to slip around to
the back side and somehow trip you up. has called men and they're
frank, they're transparent, they're honest concerning the truth. I have no desire. I don't want to preach anything
other than what the Lord has said. You take God's Word and
this is all I'm doing. I was talking to someone the
other day. that was of a different faith,
and he was telling me that what they do in their services, he
said, well we have different types of messages, you know,
it's just like current events, you know, helps, you know, different,
he said sometimes we have this and the other, never said one
time that they ever picked up this book. Can you imagine not
just going line by line by line by line and say, Paul said, we
don't use craftiness, we don't use trickery, we just, we're
not here, I'm not here to please men. We're setting forth the
truth that pleases God. It pleased God through the foolishness
of preaching. to save them that believe. We
don't handle the Word, Paul said, deceitfully. We don't disguise
what He said, God's Word. We don't add traditions or philosophy. We don't withhold part of it. Well, I don't want to deal with
that. Years and years ago, I was in
Louisiana. We used to have what's called
a study course. That's what they called it. We're going to have
a study course. Take a week. It was on the book
of Romans. We're going to study the book
of Romans this week. You had to go every night. And
I got a hold of one of those books and the Lord was pleased
to reveal Himself to me. And I got a hold of that book
and the first thing I did, I wanted to go to Romans 8 and Romans
9. And I want to see what did they have to say about Romans
8 and Romans 9. They weren't in there. They skipped
it. They skipped it. They skipped. Romans 9, read
that chapter again. That sets forth the absolute
sovereignty of God. This woman had two boys and she
had children. Those children not being yet
born but that the purpose of God according to election might
stand. God said, Jacob have I loved,
Esau. That's in Romans 9. We know that all things work
together. Romans 8. together for good to
them that love God, to them who are THE called according to His
purpose, purpose, just eliminated it. Paul said we don't use deceit,
we don't take away from or add anything to what God has to say,
but by the manifestation of the truth. commending ourselves to
every man's conscience in the sight of God." What did he say?
He said, we preach the truth simply, clearly, truthfully,
openly. We state it just exactly the
way it is and we don't blunt the edge of it or try to explain
any part of it away. We're straightforward with what
God has to say. There's no deceit in the gospel. And it must be clearly set forth. The whole design of preaching
is the glory of God in the Lord Jesus Christ and the salvation
of his people. And this is how Paul said we
preach. We don't renounce, I mean, we
do renounce the hidden things of dishonesty. We don't walk
in craftiness. We're not trying to trick you,
you know, slip up. We don't handle the word of God
deceitfully. but the manifestation of the
truth. We preach to men, preach to the consciences, the way he
said it. You preach and you leave it alone.
That's what he said. You leave it alone. If Almighty
God is pleased to bless it, God will bless it. You preach the
truth to it, he said we preach to men's consciences and we preach
in the sight of God. What is he saying? He's saying
just exactly what he just said. We preach in the sight of God,
knowing that the omniscient God, God sees. God knows. And every preacher, I'm going
to read a scripture here out of Hebrews 13, 17. He's going
to have to give an account. He's going to have to give an
account. Listen to this. Obey them that have the rule
over you. and submit yourselves, for they
watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that
they may do it with joy and not with grief. This is unprofitable
for you. I give an account right now before
you. You're listening to what I'm
saying, and as you're preaching what he said, I have to give
account to my own conscience, And before God, what's the depth
of that? I don't know, but I'll tell you what I do want to know,
do. I want to preach what God has said and set forth what the
Word declares and don't be deceitful about it. Don't use trickery
about it. Don't be cunning about it. He
says in verse 3, but if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that
are lost, that are perishing, is what it means. Paul had just
said that that God's preachers preach the truth openly and plainly
and truthfully and boldly and they preach it to the consciences
of men in the sight of God. But here he says, if our gospel
be hid, if those who will not and cannot see the truth as it
is in Christ, those whose eyes are closed against it, those
who refuse to remove the veil. That's what he said to the Jews. They wouldn't remove the veil.
If the glorious brightness of the gospel is hidden or veiled,
it's hidden to those that are perishing right now. They're
perishing. If the gospel we preach is hidden
to men, now listen, It's not the fault of the gospel that's
being preached. It's not the fault of the gospel.
It's the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. It's
not the fault of the preachers who faithfully preach the truth
with simplicity and plainness. Preach it without craftiness,
without deceit. It's not the fault of God Almighty.
Men might say, well, it's the Lord's fault because He didn't
choose me. The Lord's fault. No, let me
tell you. The problem is with those who hear the truth preached
and will not hear unto salvation. They're blind. They're spiritually
dead. They refuse to come. They refused to come. I'll prove
it. By the words of our Lord in John
5.40, He said to those that opposed Him, and ye will not come to
Me that you might have life. Now again, what did He mean when
He said that? He meant again exactly what He
said. You will not to come. This is what you will. You will
to not come. You will not come. You can't
say it any other way than the way he's saying it. Why won't
you come? Because you will not to come.
You don't want to come. How many people that does not
bow to the gospel, bow to Christ, as he said before, how many of
them just don't want to come? All of them. All of them that
don't come don't want to. I don't want to. How many people
are not here today that really wanted to be here? Well, maybe
some providentially hindered, but by and large, everybody that
didn't come today didn't want to come. I don't want to show
up over there. I'll go somewhere else where
it's a little bit, you know, not so dogmatic. You will not
come to me. You will not come. You want that
veil over your face. It's not the lack of evidence
in God's Word. There's no lack of evidence in
God's Word that a sinner needs Christ. There's no lack of truth that's
set forth. It's totally because men by nature
don't want to come. I don't want to come to God. I don't want to admit my guilt. I don't want to admit my inability.
And I don't want to cast myself upon the Lord for mercy. Natural men have no perception
or taste for the things of God. 1 Corinthians 2.4, but the natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. What does
that mean? want to take them to themselves. They don't want to. They receiveth
not. They won't embrace them. They
won't receive them. They don't favor them. And they
won't give an ear. That's the definition. When it
says receiveth not, I don't want to hear that. For they are foolishness unto
him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned. Now listen, all men All men born
in Adam were born with that attitude. All of us were. All of us were children of wrath
against God. Even as others. We were all like
that. Every one of us had been born with that attitude. And it's because of sin. Sin. Blindness. revealed in these scriptures,
everlastingly loved the people, that he was not going to leave
to themselves. I'm not going to leave you like
that. What he did was, I've said so
many times, he chose out of the mass of humanity, a people, a
group. Some here, some there, others.
Be born in different time, different ages. But all known of God, names
all written in heaven before the foundation were in the book
of life. That book was written eternally. That book's always
been written. That book had my name in it before I was ever
born. Well, yeah, all of them. All
of them. And what He did, He chose them,
loved them, You put him in Christ's safe keeping. And he sent the
Lord Jesus Christ, the angel of the covenant, the messenger
of the covenant. God's got a covenant. He's got
a will. And it's an eternal covenant of God's grace. And the angel
of the covenant, the Lord Jesus, the servant of Jehovah, humbled
himself. Humbled himself. Made flesh.
He came into this world. to set forth that which God has
done. And He told us. He told us. And it's recorded
right here. It's recorded. The Spirit of
God was pleased to move upon men, holy men. They wrote as
the Spirit of God gave them utterance. They wrote it down. They wrote
it down. Now this is God's message. Paul said, I'm a minister of
this. This is what I'm preaching. And the Scripture sets forth
that when it pleases God, God's going to save them. He's going
to call them out of darkness through this message. And He gives them
a new heart and He reveals to them, He said, I've always loved
you. The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world came
in time and actually died under the judgment of God. And He bore
all the guilt, all the sins of all of His people in His own
body. It was made them. It was made sin. And God put
away that guilt. And in time, He calls them out
of darkness and gives them a new heart. Gives them a new mind,
a new spirit. And He gives them faith. And
they believe this and everything else they ever believed. It's
done to them now. I don't believe that anymore.
I don't believe that truth. but to all left to themselves. If the gospel is hid, it's hid
to them that are lost. And the Lord prayed, thank the
Father. Father, I thank you that you've
hidden these things from the wise and prudent and you've revealed
them unto babes. This is who God is. or for in whom the God of this
world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest
the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of
God, should shine unto them." Now here the Apostle Paul, in
closing, sets forth the reason that those who are lost, those
who are perishing, don't believe. Here's the reason. They don't
behold the excellence of the glory of God in Christ. The God,
the little g, God of this world has blinded them. Now I want
to make something perfectly clear here. I want us to understand
perfectly the scope, the scope of Satan's dominion and power
and ability. He has absolutely no power except
that which has been delegated to him by God for the accomplishment
of God's will and God's purpose. He has only as much power as
the Lord allows him to have. Matthew Matthew 28, 18 says this. Let me tell you where the power
is. Matthew 28, 18. And Jesus came and spake unto
them saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and earth.
Now let me tell you how much he's got. All of it. That includes me,
and you, and Satan. Who has all power. The Lord Jesus
says, all power is given unto me. In heaven and earth, all
of it. He prayed in John 17, 1 and 2,
Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son, that thy son
also may glorify thee, as thou hast given him power over all
flesh. that he should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given him. Now back in 2 Corinthians
4 verse 4, the devil is set forth to actually have control over
those who are perishing. Who gave him that power? Who
gave him that power? The Lord. allow Satan to do exactly
and only that which the Lord is pleased to allow him to do
in the accomplishment of God's will. I'm going to tell you something
while I'm doing it. Turn over to 1 Kings chapter
22. Verse 19 is where I'm going to
start reading. 1 Kings. 1 Kings chapter 22. 1 Kings 22. There was a king named Ahab,
evil king Ahab. King of Israel. There was another
king, Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. And
Ahab, the evil king, God was going to destroy him. And he was going to slay him.
And Ahab, king of Israel, asked Jehoshaphat, a faithful king,
king of Judah, He said, how about you go in with me? We're going
to go together. And we're going to do battle. And I want you
to help me. And so Ahab wanted to know, OK,
what do I do? So what he did was he asked his
false prophets. Ahab, the evil king, asked his
prophets, what do I do? Should I go to battle? And you
know what they told him? The Lord's with you. You do. That's what evil King Ahab asked
his false prophets, and his false prophets told him to do it. And
so the faithful king, Jehoshaphat, king that knew God, he wanted
God's prophet, Micaiah, to be consulted. Let's ask God's prophet. And Micaiah, God's prophet, declared
the word of the Lord. I'll tell you all that to tell
you what had come up. Starting in verse 19 now. And
he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the Lord. I saw the
Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing
by him on his right hand and on his left. And the Lord said,
Who shall persuade That word interpreted in the margin maybe,
but it means deceive. The Lord said, who shall persuade
Ahab? Who shall deceive Ahab that he
may go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead? And one said on this
matter, another one said on that matter. And there came forth
a spirit which stood before the Lord and said, I will persuade,
I will deceive him. And the Lord, who knows all things,
who knew exactly what he was going to say, but for our understanding,
the Lord said unto him, Wherewith? How will you do it? And he said,
I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of
all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade
him, you shall deceive him, and prevail also. Go forth and do
so. Now therefore, behold, the Lord
hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets,
and the Lord has spoken evil concerning thee. The devil's
design is to prevent men from seeing the glory of God in the
face of the Lord Jesus Christ. That glory that is the sum and
substance of all of the Lord's glorious essence. That which
makes Him to be the very radiance of the manifestation of God to
His people. Satan's desire is to blind God's
people. All men, but God's people. Like
that dragon, that flood that came out in Revelation 12. It
came after the woman who is after God let the earth. open up her
mouth and swallow in all that deceitful lies. He helped the
woman. You know the passage. Satan's purpose is to blind God's
people. The God of this world had blinded
them, blinded the minds of those that don't believe. But Satan
can only do that which the Lord allows him
to do. Therefore Satan according to
the will and purpose and justice of Almighty God, keeps men in
darkness and ignorance who will not see. Almighty God has the right, making one vessel under honor
and another vessel under dishonor, God has the right to leave a
man or a woman to themselves. He has the right to show mercy
and compassion to whoever He wants to, whomsoever He will. But one thing that Satan can't
do, God, like that lion spirit said, I'll go, I'll deceive Ahab,
I'm going to be a lion spirit in his prophet's mouth. And the
Lord said, go. That lion spirit did exactly
what God said he could do in the accomplishment of God's will.
God was going to slay Ahab. And God did it, and did it His
way through a lying prophet. Nothing has changed today. Men do exactly what they want
to do, and if God's pleased to leave them to a reprobate mind,
He does. And He's right. He's right. He does as He will. You listen
to me. In the army of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth, And Satan is God's vessel, God's
means in the accomplishing of God's will and God's purpose
to be just. But I'll tell you this, Satan
cannot stop God from calling out His people. Why? Because
all power in heaven and earth belongs to the Lord. When God
is pleased, He calls His own unto Himself. He calls His elect. Christ who has put away their
guilt comes in the power of His Holy Spirit to the objects of
His affection and in power. In power. The Kingdom of Heaven
is taken by force. By violence. And that's how the
violent, the powerful one, that's how he does it. He takes them.
You're mine. You're not going to perish. You're
mine. You belong to me. And he rescues them out of the
bondage of sin and unbelief. He takes them and he gives them
a new heart, makes them willing in the day of his power. And
they come. They come. They believe Him.
They cast themselves upon His mercy. He gives them eyes to
see and ears to hear. They hear that gospel and they
say, that's the truth. He's called them by His grace,
power. And they know, I could have never
done that. He was going to have to rescue
me. He was going to have to save me from myself. Brethren, listen. If the Lord
this morning has given you faith to believe. That is the most
marvelous and wonderful thing you'll ever hear. Because had
he been pleased to leave me or you to ourselves, do you know
what we would believe? Whatever is contrary to this
book. We would have believed it. And had he left us to ourselves,
we would have died in unbelief. and we would have been hewn down,
and he'd have been right. But if we know Him this morning,
that's not a light thing. If you believe Him this morning,
that's not a light thing. It's by the grace of God that
we believe afresh. Faith cometh, it cometh, it cometh
by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. Almighty God has been
pleased to save some folks. Now they know it. They see through
a glass darkly. We don't thank Him as we ought.
Oh, but one of these days, one of these days, real soon, Scripture
reveals we're gonna see Him as He is. Can you imagine? I can't. We're gonna see Him as He is.
And we're gonna know Him as we are known and be like Him. I pray God bless
this to our heart for Christ's sake. Amen.