2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians 4. And we do take all these things
for granted, don't we? We do. What a privilege it is
to have the freedom to be here right now. Great gift. 2 Corinthians 4. Last week we looked
at verse 1. which says, therefore, seeing
we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint
not. We faint not. God has given us
his ministry. of mercy and grace. And I was thinking about this.
I meant last week to go farther, but I never made it. I never
made it past verse 1. I just stopped. And I got to
thinking about it again this week, and I thought, we could
just get hung up on verse 1 again. The ministry of mercy and grace. People love the word grace. They do, and you ask them, you
know, and they'll even say salvation is by grace. But they don't really
believe salvation is by grace. They don't truly know what grace
is. They don't honestly stop at grace. And the Lord has given us the
ministry of grace. We preach and we minister God's
mercy and His grace. And he said in that verse, because
we have received mercy, because of what we have received in the
blood of Jesus Christ, because we have not been given what we
deserve, that's what mercy is. We've not been given what we
deserve. God chose some people to not
give them what they deserve. How amazing. Because Christ suffered
what we deserved, we faint not. We faint not. We fervently minister
the word of truth, this gospel of mercy and grace. And we do this in hopes that
God will show mercy to more people like He's done to us. I truly
do pray that. That's our motivation and that's
our desire in this, is that God will show mercy to many more
like He's done to us. So in verse 1, He said, this
is what we don't do. By God's grace, we don't faint. We don't faint. But in verse
2, He said, this is what we do. Verse 2, he said, but have renounced
the hidden things of dishonesty. Renounce means to speak out against. It means to take a stand against
the hidden things of dishonesty. Again, last week we pointed out
that God's ministry is one ministry. There is one ministry, this ministry. Every congregation of people
that He has caused to be raised up all over this earth, wherever
they are, they're a part of, they have been given in hand,
they're called to the ministry of the gospel of His Word. And
in the ministry of His Word, an open stance is taken against
the lies of false religion. Now, I want to be extremely clear
about this. I believe this is so, so important. This is extremely important to
me. In the ministry of God's Word,
as we are ministering God's Word, while we are in the process of
ministering God's Word. The very last thing that I want
to be, and you can clearly envision me in
this position. I'm preaching, and people, by
God's grace, are going to come in and visit, and they're going
to sit down, and they're going to hear the truth, and we're
going to, by God's grace, be on the radio and be on TV, and
people are going to hear the truth. But you're going to run
into it also. You're going to run into somebody,
and somebody's going to say something to you that is so offensive to
you. So blasphemous. So in the ministering
of the gospel, in the ministering of the word, in whatever capacity
the Lord gives us to do it, the very last thing that I want to
be is an offense. The very last thing. And when
people come to you and they say these off-the-wall things, the
best thing to do is turn them to the Word. Respond with a Scripture. Respond with a Scripture. Always
bring everything back to the Word. But the last thing that
I want to do is be a hindrance in the ministry of God's Word
by being a personal offense. I don't want to make it so that
nobody wants to come hear the Gospel. because I've made myself
to be such a personal offense. How terrible that would be. With that being said, with that
being said, We cannot declare the truth of God's Word. We cannot declare the truth of
what God has actually written in His Word without His Word
being an offense to the flesh. We need to prepare ourselves
for that. By declaring this Word, it will
expose false religion. It will. You just declare the
written word and it will expose false religion. And you tell
men and women that the message they believe is a lie. And that's
offensive. You just can't get around it.
That's offensive. But it must be told. It must be told. We must go out and preach the
truth. We must preach the truth. Verse
2 says, but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty,
not walking in craftiness. Craftiness means sophisticated
trickery. One of false religion's tactics. And it's more prevalent in some
denominations than others. But one of their tactics is they
try to make the message so complicated nobody can understand it. And
the reason they do that is so that nobody can refute it. That's
the reason they do that. Nobody can figure it out. And that's by design. The truth
of the matter is the preacher can't figure it out. The preacher
doesn't have any idea what he's talking about. In order for,
and that's another reason why it's complicated, is because
he doesn't have any clue what he's talking about. In order
for something to be simple, in order for any matter to be simple,
you have to know something about the matter. If you're going to
make it simple, you have to know what you're talking about. Religion
wants the message to be over everybody's head, so nobody can
refute it. Nobody really can figure out,
what are you saying? And I would caution, there's
a scripture that says, if it were possible for some of these
false prophets, even the very elect would be deceived. And
when you hear what men call the doctrines of grace, when you
hear certain things that you know to be so, and you can tell
this guy's preaching depravity and he's preaching election and
he's preaching, but I can't put my finger on exactly what he's
saying. I can't. There's something wrong
there. There's something wrong there.
Men try to make it so that nobody can really get their finger on
it, and nobody can refute what they're saying, but God's Word
refutes it. It refutes it clearly for what
it is, dishonest, deceitful lies. And God's Word exposes those
lies with the clear truth of simplicity. When a believer,
when any person is hearing the Gospel, they are hearing clear,
simplicity. And everybody who God really
gives them ears to hear it, they listen to the message, and their
heart, the spirit, bears witness to their spirit, this is the
gospel. And their mind says, yes, I understand
what this is saying. I see it in the Word. I clearly
hear what's being said. That's the ministry we've been
given. If God will enable us to deliver it that way, we deliver
it with as much clear simplicity as possible. My goal in preaching
is to be as short as possible. I've heard messages that were
15 minutes long that blessed my soul more than, I don't care
how long it is. I read some of our Lord's messages
and they're like three sentences long. Isn't that right? I don't care how long it is. My goal, my desire in this ministry
is to be as brief and to the point as I can possibly be and
be as close to one point as I can possibly be. I want to get across
one thought, one message. If we get one thing, if we walk
out with one thing, and the only way that's possible is if God's
Spirit speaks, if God's Spirit blesses, if God's Spirit sends
the message, but we desire and we're commanded to preach simplicity. Our Lord said, I thank Thee,
O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid
these things from the wise and prudent and has revealed them
unto babes. Look with me at chapter 11, 2
Corinthians 11. Verse 1 says, Would to God you
could bear with me a little in my folly, and indeed bear with
me, for I am jealous over you with godly jealousy, for I have
espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste
virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means,
as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should
be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." The simplicity
that is in Christ. That is the ministry of God's
Word. The simplicity that is in Christ. Go with me back to the text.
2 Corinthians 4. Verse 1 says, Therefore, seeing
we have this ministry, as 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 God. As long as we preach
God's Word, our conscience will be clear
in the sight of every man and in the sight of God. As long
as we preach God's Word, stay on God's Word. As long as we
preach God's Word, every man's conscience will be clear for
believing what we say. As long as we preach God's Word.
As long as we can see it right here in the Word. Verse 3 says,
but if our gospel be hid, and he doesn't say our gospel as
though there's another gospel. He told the Galatians there is
not another one. There's only one gospel. But he said, it's our gospel. And I love that. I love that.
This is our gospel. This is my gospel. Gospel means good news. This
is my good news. This is our good news. And if
you look back at chapter 2, 2 Corinthians 2, he said in verse 12, furthermore,
when I came to Troas to preach Christ's gospel." Our gospel
is Christ's gospel. Our good news is Christ's good
news. And what does that mean? Look
over at Romans 1. Romans 1 verse 1 says, Paul,
a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto
the gospel of God. It's God's gospel. Our gospel
is Christ's gospel and Christ's gospel is God's gospel. Verse
2 says, which He had promised afore by His prophets in the
Holy Scriptures. And I love doing this. You see
how verse 2 is in parentheses? We know that that means it's
an interjected thought into a sentence, into another thought. And if
you remove it, the sentence is still complete. Alright, read
verse 1 and verse 3. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God concerning
His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of
David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of
God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection
from the dead." That's our gospel. That is our gospel. Our gospel
is not what we are going to do for God. That is not our gospel. It is not what we're going to
do for God. Our gospel is concerning Jesus
Christ our Lord, who He is, and what He has done for us. He was
made flesh. He died for the sin of His people.
He has risen in power and glory. And He's seated on His throne
making intercession for us. And back in our text, 2 Corinthians
4, verse 3 says, But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that
are lost." Lost like we were. Lost when God's ministry of mercy
and grace came to us. Lost. That's where men are. Lost. Verse 3, If our gospel
be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of
this world, lowercase g, the adversary. 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." You know what he's saying right there. That's
who you need to be preaching to. That's who you need to be preaching
to, the lost. Those who we saw in chapter three
that as Moses had that veil over his face, men and women by nature,
they have a veil and they cannot see Christ in the law. They can't see anything. They're
lost, flat lost. He said, that's who you need
to be preaching to. And I want to show you something very quickly.
Look over at Ezekiel 34. Ezekiel 34 verse 1 says, And
the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy
against the shepherds of Israel, against them. Prophesy and say
unto them, Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds, Woe be
to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! Should not
the shepherds feed the flocks? You eat the fat, and you clothe
with the wool. You kill them that are fed, but
you feed not the flock. Now, verse 4, he said, The diseased
have you not strengthened. That's who you were supposed
to be strengthening. The diseased. Neither have you healed that
which was sick. That's who you're supposed to
run with this healing balm to. The sick. Neither have you bound
up that which was broken. Neither have you brought again
that which was driven away, neither have you sought that which was
lost, but with force and with cruelty you have ruled them. And they were scattered because
there's no shepherd, and they became meat to all the beasts
of the field when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all
the mountains." He said, everybody I just mentioned, those are my
sheep. Those who were not strengthened,
those who were sick, those who were broken, those who were driven
away, lost. Verse 6, My sheep wandered through
all the mountains and upon every high hill. Yea, My flock was
scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search
or seek after them. In verse 16, He said, I'll seek
them. I will seek that which was lost
and bring again that which was driven away and will bind up
that which was broken and will strengthen that which was sick.
I'll do it. And he's going to do that through the ministry
of his word. He is going to do that through the ministry of
his word, our gospel. He's going to send his message. He's going to send his servants
and we're his servants. He's going to send His servants
with His true message, and He's going to call every single one
of them out. Every one of them that's sick, He's going to give that healing balm, pull
them out. Everyone that's lost, He's going to find them and bring
them. Everyone. Back over in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 1, He said, Faint not,
run with it, give it your all. Verse 2, he said, expose the
lies and declare the truth. Verse 3, he said, this is who
you need to preach to, the lost. Verse 4, he said, this is why
you need to preach to them. It's because the adversary, the
God of this world, has blinded their minds. But he said, if
the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of
God, ever shines unto them, That means if they ever see God, if
they ever see God, if God ever reveals Himself to them, they're
going to find mercy just like we found mercy. That's why you
need to preach to them. And then in verse 5, He said,
this is what you need to preach to them. Verse 5, for we preach
not ourselves. We don't preach ourselves. If
this ministry, this ministry we've been called to, if we run
with this message, I tell you what we're not going to run with,
the message of ourselves, the message where we do anything,
the message where we earn anything, we don't preach ourselves. One
of the commentators had four things to say about that. He
said, We preach ourselves, and this is good, he said, we preach
ourselves, number one, when we preach what we think, our opinion,
our speculation, and that is religion. Matter of fact, that's
every translation of the Bible. A translation from one language
to another language is a direct translation. And then once you
start taking a language and changing it, you just have an opinion
on the language. We don't translate English into English. What we're
saying is, well, this is what He means. That's an opinion.
And we don't do that. If God has not written anything
on it in His Word, we don't preach it. Number two, He said we preach
ourselves when we preach what men want us to say instead of
what God has commanded us to say. And that is... Men try to influence the pulpit
all the time. All the time. All the influence
that we need is right inside the pages of this book. Number
three, he said, we preach ourselves when we take the offense out
of the cross, trying to please men, thinking that that's going
to win people over to the truth. The reason for the cross. What's
the reason for the cross? Absolute sin, rebellion, destruction,
damnation. That's offensive. Well, let's
not talk about sin anymore. Well, I prefer not to talk about
sin. A lot of these guys who are real
big, when they're asked about sin, I've seen interviews with
them, and their answer is usually, oh, I prefer not to talk about
sin. Well, yeah, I see why. You haven't finished making the
payments on that jet yet. That's an offense of the cross. And taken out the horror of the
cross. What actually happened on that
cross? What God did to His own Son. And taken out the sufficiency of
the cross. What that means is, there's nothing
left for you to do. But I want to do something. Sorry,
it's done. You can't have any of the glory. You cannot share Christ's glory
in it. All of that is an offense. And
God uses, and I have to remind myself of this all the time,
God uses the truth concerning Christ and Him crucified to open
men's eyes and save their souls. You know, it's so of the flesh
to say, well, they're not going to like this. They're never going
to come back. They're never going to hear this again. If they belong to
God, they will. If God chose them, they will.
He's going to use that true message. And the fourth thing he said
is we preach ourselves when we set up ourselves as authorities
over the people of God. God's people have one authority.
God's word. We don't make up our own laws
and rules and God's Word. We preach not ourselves, he said
in verse 5, but Christ Jesus the Lord. And he said the only
thing about ourselves we preach is we're your servants for the
Lord Jesus Christ's sake. And I know we all say that. May
the Lord help us. May the Lord help us in this
ministry. Give us the strength to faint, not give us the gospel
to run with and give us a heart to do it with humility as the
servants of Christ. Alright, you're dismissed.