I am reading from the book of
2 Corinthians chapter 4 this morning. 2 Corinthians chapter
4. I will be reading the first six
verses of this chapter. Now, God's bold and true preacher
of the gospel, the Apostle Paul, is speaking plainly here, and
he writes, verse 1, Seeing we have this ministry, seeing then
that we have this ministry, the ministry of the gospel of God's
glory, the gospel of God's grace. That's the ministry he's speaking
of. Not a bus ministry or a youth
ministry or this and that ministry, but the ministry of the gospel. The gospel of God's glory, God's
grace, how that God chose a people. God purposed their salvation. God made a covenant with his
son, Jesus Christ, and sent Christ to this earth to ransom those
people, to atone for their sins, to give them a righteousness,
and to give them to the Holy Spirit to sanctify them to grant
them repentance, grant them faith, and bring them all safely home,
this is the ministry, this is the gospel which the Apostle
Paul said he had. And he said it was by God's mercy,
as we have received mercy. That's what the gospel is all
about. Mercy for the guilty. Mercy for hell-deserving sinners. Paul says, though we do not deserve
salvation, much less to be allowed of God to be put in trust with
the gospel, yet by God's sovereign purpose, by God's sovereign mercy
and grace, we have this ministry of the gospel. And so he says,
we faint not. We faint not, though we meet
with many adversaries, many afflictions, many difficulties in the way.
Though the whole world may be against us, though the whole
world may call us cultists or false preachers, we will not
quit. We will not faint because we
speak not as pleasing men, but God which trieth our heart. Because
as Peter said, we cannot help but speak the things we have
seen and heard. And verse 2 goes on. He says,
We have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty. not walking
in craftiness nor handling the Word of God deceitfully. We've
renounced the hidden things of dishonesty. Not only do we not
faint or quit, not only do we speak the truth, but we also
speak out against error. We unabashedly, unashamedly renounce
all the subtlety, all the subtle hidden forms of trickery in religion. that these dishonest and false
prophets practice. He says we're not walking in
craftiness, or that is, we're not doing anything and everything
to get people to join our church or to support evil habits. We denounce the gimmicks and
methods and craftily rehearsed soul-winning techniques as being
religious proselyting and the merchandising of men's souls
for personal gain and glory. And he says, no, we're not handling
the Word of God deceitfully. As he said in 2 Corinthians 2
verse 17, not as many which corrupt the Word of God by adding to
it, by adding man's will, man's works, the tradition and philosophy
of man, or taking away from it or withholding from it. keeping
back those things which might offend people. No, sir, nor twisting
it or resting it, as Peter said, which unlearned and unstable
men do, by making it say what it does not say or not saying
what it does say. No, he said, but by manifestation,
verse 2, by manifestation of the truth, That is, because God
has commanded us to preach the whole counsel of God, because
necessity is laid upon us, because thus saith the Lord, because
God said it, and it does not need our explanation or our discretion
or protection or apology as to who may hear it and who may not.
No, no. By manifestation or the clear
preaching of the truth, And it goes on to say in verse 2, we
commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. We have nothing to hide, but
rather we beseech men and women to try us, to test us, to judge
us by what we say. That is, what we say by the Word
of God, to judge us, test us, try us, try what we say and what
we do, every method that we use by the Word of God. We implore
people to search the Scriptures, like those noble Bereans of old,
to search the Scriptures to see whether these things be so, to
try our message by God's Word. and try our methods to see if
they're in keeping, exactly in keeping with how God is to be
worshipped, what is to be done in the services of God's people. Well, he says, no, we have nothing
to hide. Verse 3, we have nothing to hide. We're not hiding God's Word,
but clearly, boldly, plainly declaring it, all of it. Verse
3, if our gospel be hid, it's hid to them that are lost. Our
gospel, Paul says. In another passage, Romans 1,
he said, God's gospel, our gospel, which we call our gospel, the
gospel distinguished from another gospel Paul talks of in Galatians
1, another gospel which is not the gospel. Our gospel, Paul
said, the gospel, the gospel of God. distinguished from another
gospel, a false gospel, a gospel of man's making, man's will,
man's decision, man's power, man's work. Our gospel, God's
gospel, the gospel of God's glory, God's will, God's sovereign will,
Christ's righteousness only, Christ's particular effectual
saving blood shed for His people, saving them for all eternity. Yes, our gospel, Paul said. If our gospel, distinguished
from this other gospel, if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them
that are lost. If our gospel is hid, then they're
lost. Those who do not believe it are
lost. It's not that our gospel is hard
to understand. No. No. But men refuse to believe
it. They're lost. They're dead. They're
blind. And verse 4 says, "...in whom
the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe
not." You see, all men and women are born blind to the truth,
born blind to who God is and what they are and who Christ
is and what the gospel is, born blind, and will remain so until
Christ gives them sight. That's why He came. to give sight
to the blind, sight to His blind sheep, yes. He came to save His
own. That's why His name is called
Jesus. He came to save His people from
their sin, to give sight to those that were blind. And He says,
the God of this world, speaking of Satan, clearly, whom Christ
Himself called the Prince of this world, hath blinded the
minds of them which believe not." Do you see that? He further blinds
the minds of them which are already unbelievers. "...hath blinded
the minds of them which believe not." Believe not. Here is the testimony against
men, that light is coming into the world, but men love darkness
rather than light. Men are already in darkness.
Men are already blind. Men are already unbelievers.
But the God of this world further blinds their minds to the gospel,
the truth. How? How does He blind their
minds? Well, how did Satan deceive the
first woman, Eve? Yes, woman. She was deceived. She was deceived, not Adam. Adam willingly partook of the
fruit. But how did Satan deceive the
first woman? He did so by casting doubt upon
God's Word, by questioning God's Word, by twisting God's Word,
by adding to it, by taking away from it. Yes, he used God's Word. That was the way that he deceived
or blinded her mind. But twisting God's Word, though,
by adding to it, by taking away from it, by causing her to interpret
God's Word for herself, and enticing her with promises of self-glory,
of her own free will. You said, you'll be as God's,
along with the allurements of the flesh. Yes. And Satan's chief
work today is not in the honky-tonk, but it's in the pulpit. Yes,
smooth-tongued preachers, sly-talking preachers, twisting, distorting,
misapplying God's Word by ministers of righteousness, the Scriptures
call these fellows and women, wolves in sheep's clothing, which
cast doubt on portions of God's Word. which cause men to interpret
it for themselves and entice men and women with another gospel,
a false gospel of man's will, man's glory. While you're like
God, you have a free will. And along with allurements of
the flesh, not only material things and sins of the flesh,
but promises of a carnal utopia called heaven. Well, Paul goes
on to say that, "...lest the light of the glorious gospel
of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
But God of this world blinds the minds of unbelievers, lest
the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them."
His chief sphere of work, the chief area that he works in is
to keep men and women from hearing the gospel. the glorious gospel,
the gospel of Christ who is the image of God, to keep them from
hearing that. And it says in verse 5, Paul
says, We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and
ourselves your servants for Christ's sake. We preach not ourselves. We are not trying to make a name
for ourselves, but His name is the name we are trying to expound
and give glory to. We do not come in our own name,
no, but in His name. And we do not preach ourselves,
like many do, our works, our will, our power, but Christ Jesus
the Lord. No, we are not preaching ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord. And he goes on to say, and he
goes on to tell what the gospel is. Here is the gospel. the gospel
which is hid to most, but revealed to some. And it must be revealed,"
this is what he says in verse 6, "...for God, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ." Here is the gospel, the apostle says. the gospel of God's glory in
the face of Jesus Christ. And God must cause that light
to shine in the heart. God must dispel the darkness
of unbelief that is in man's heart. God must reveal the gospel
of His glory to man's heart. God must give eyes to see His
glory, eyes for a man to see his own sinfulness, eyes for
a man to see his Son, God. Here is the gospel of God. It is the glory of God in Jesus
Christ. This is the sum of the gospel,
the test of all others which call themselves gospel and all
those who preach. Here it is. Who gets the glory? Is God getting all the glory?
Is Christ getting all the glory and salvation? Is this gospel
the glory of God and the glory of Christ, or does it glorify
man? There is the test. There it is. And so Paul says, if our gospel
is hid, it is because they are lost. Christ said, My sheep are
going to hear my voice. My sheep are going to have their
eyes open, and if it is hid, it is hid to them that are lost. Well, I pray that it might not
be so with you, that it might not be hid to you, but that God
might open your eyes to see the glory of God in the face, in
the person, in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Until next
Sunday, good day.