Our thoughts this evening are
going to be centred around a verse that we read in this portion
of 2 Corinthians in chapter 4. The second verse where Paul speaks
about the renouncing of the hidden things of dishonesty. and that the ministers of the
gospel walk not in craftiness, nor handle the word of God deceitfully,
but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every
man's conscience in the sight of God. True and faithful ministers
of a true and faithful Saviour, Jesus Christ. We are reminded
frequently and rightly so that the Lord Jesus Christ is truth. People ask, what is truth? We
live in a world that likes to speak about relative truth, about
your truth and my truth and the differences that there are in
truths. But the Lord Jesus Christ says
he is the truth. and he is the one who has brought
to this world, to men and women, God's true message of grace. That is the truth, that God is
a gracious God, and the gospel of God is truth, and it is life
for guilty sinners. In John chapter one, Verse 14,
we read this. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
amongst us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. A little
later in the passage, we read that grace and truth came by
Jesus Christ. If we need grace in our lives,
And trust me, as sinners, we need grace in our lives. Then we need Christ, for he is
grace and truth. If you would know what is true,
if you would know what is right, what is the way in which you
should walk, then you must know Christ. From the lips of the Saviour
himself came this testimony as to why he came into the world. He was being interrogated by
a man who had power, in all appearance at least, to allow him to live
or to sentence him to death. And Pilate stood before Jesus
and Jesus stood before Pilate. And man to man, they spoke one
to another. And the Lord Jesus Christ, in
response to this question about who are you, gave this answer. He said, to this end was I born. For this cause came I into the
world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. We say, why did
the Lord Jesus Christ come into the world? He came into the world
to die, that's true. He came into the world to save
his church, that's true. From the lips of the saviour
himself, in answer to that direct question, he said, I came into
the world that I should bear witness unto the truth. Paul, writing to the Ephesians,
He said that the word of truth is the gospel of our salvation. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
came in to bring that good news of salvation, of sins forgiven
to men and women who have a need of that grace. Truth. That gospel, that salvation which
Christ has revealed, they are inextricably linked, they are
connected together. And we cannot think about gospel
unless it is in the context of truth. We can't preach the gospel unless
we are preaching the truth. Now there are many, many who
say that they're preaching the gospel. Everybody says they're preaching
the gospel, but it's not the gospel if it isn't the truth. These two things are the same. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
the world as the truth of God and preaching the gospel of God. to the end of the salvation of
the people of God. The Lord Jesus Christ himself
said that no man comes to the father but by him. So gospel preachers preach the
message of grace and truth. They preach that Christ came
into the world to save his people from their sins, that he fulfilled
his purpose, that he achieved his end, that he accomplished
the task which he was given to do, that he gloriously succeeded
and rose victorious from that work that he was given. He had
finished the work that God had given him to do. Preachers of
the gospel preach that message. And this is the contrast that
the Apostle Paul is drawing here in the second verse of 2 Corinthians
chapter four. He is saying that we have renounced
the hidden things of dishonesty. Not walking in craftiness, nor
handling the word of God deceitfully. And the sad thing is that in
so many ways today, the world, let's begin at the top, let's
say Satan. and the deception that flows
from Satan and that which comes into a sinful world is happy
to adopt any method whatsoever, including religious vocabulary,
including Holy Scripture, including the structure of the church,
including the pattern of worship, in order to deal deceitfully
with the souls of men. Paul says, we do not walk in
craftiness. Any who would suggest that God
wants to save everyone is dealing in craftiness. We do not handle
the word of God deceitfully. as is done when people say that
the Lord Jesus Christ died for all. But preachers of the gospel manifest
the truth of God. They preach salvation by free
grace. They preach sin forgiven by the
blood of Christ. They preach particular redemption
of a chosen people. And this is what characterises
them as being faithful preachers of the gospel. What I'm going
to do this evening, as the time will allow and the Lord will
enable, is give you, we're going to flick through our Bibles together. So you're going to be active
tonight. What I'm going to do is I'm going to list six inconvenient
truths. Six inconvenient truths that
deceitful workers and false preachers can't handle. Six hard nuts for
them to crack. So here's the first one. Turn
to 2 Thessalonians chapter two with me please. 2 Thessalonians
chapter two. We read there in verse 13, the
Apostle Paul is writing this letter to the Thessalonians and
he says, we are bound to give thanks all way to God for you. Brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation, through
sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. Now, how often do we hear gospel
presentations in which the speaker says, God wants this, or God
wants that? The truth is that God doesn't
want anything. We use the word in a slightly
different way today, but the word want means lack. This is what I want means this
is what I lack. We use it in the sense of this
is what I desire. God doesn't lack anything. He is the self-fulfilling, self-sustaining,
He is the self-sufficient God. He has everything, is everything,
has eternally been everything that He wants to be, desires
to be. Our God needs nothing. And everything that pleases Him,
He possesses. God does not desire or require
anything that he cannot have. The very idea is preposterous. It makes him no God at all. Can you imagine? A God who went
around saying something like, I wish this had happened or I
wish this had occurred. It just doesn't make sense and
certainly it would be impossible to conceive of such words or
ideas passing the lips of any of the prophets or the apostles
who spoke the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ and the revelation
of God. Salvation is of the Lord and
he gives it to whomsoever he will. The apostle says, we are
bound to give thanks all the way to God for you. Who do we
thank when a sinner gets converted? Do we thank the sinner for getting
converted? Or do we thank God for converting
the sinner? self-evident, isn't it? So here's
the first thing. The first truth that those who
preach a universal gospel find inconvenient. God never intended
that everyone would be saved. He never did. He gives salvation to whomsoever
He will. And Paul is speaking here in
this verse about individuals who are beloved of the Lord. He says, we are bound to give
thanks always to God for you. Brethren, beloved of the Lord. And how is this love of God manifested? We spoke about this from Romans
5, 8 a few weeks ago. God commendeth his love towards
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
These again are connected. The love of God and the death
of Christ are for the same people. We are bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Now this is discriminating,
this is distinctive. Here is a distinction being made
between people. There are those who have been
chosen from the beginning and there are those who have not.
There are those who are beloved of the Lord and those who are
not. And the Apostle is rejoicing and thanking God that here amongst
the people of Thessalonica is a people that evidence the fact
that they are beloved of God, chosen to salvation, sanctified
by the Spirit because they have come in faith the gift of God
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. This one verse says all that
and it is an inconvenient truth to all who would deny sovereign
choice, sovereign predestination on the part of God or who would
cast aspersions on particular love or deny the free grace of
God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's a second inconvenient
truth. Jesus did not pray for everyone. It's another verse that discriminates
between men and men. John 17 verse 9. Turn to John
17 verse 9 with me please. John 17 is called Christ's high
priestly prayer. It was made just hours before
the Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross. Now many people will
say that the Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross and there he
died to take away the sins of the whole world. Yet our Saviour purposefully
left this record before he went to the cross. Look at verse 9
of John 17. He's speaking about his disciples.
He's speaking about the apostles. He's saying, I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. Purposely the Lord made that
prayer. Purposefully the Holy Spirit
recorded that prayer and laid it to the memory of John the
Apostle who obviously understood the significance of it. The Lord
Jesus Christ was not praying for the world. He was praying
for a distinctive group of people that he says had been given to
him by God the Father. A people that were God's. God's
people. A people that had been committed
into the hands, into the care of the Lord Jesus Christ with
this task or responsibility laid upon him that he should take
care of them. Now in his going away, in his
leaving them, in his being taken from them through his death and
subsequent return to glory, he is praying for these men and
the difficulties that they will encounter, the challenges that
they will face. the opposition that will come
upon them. And the Lord is distinguishing
these people in his prayers. And here again, we see the unity
of purpose in the Godhead. The disciples were God's specially
chosen people. They were given to the Lord Jesus
Christ to care for, to protect. the work that was given him to
do. Now drop down to verse 20. And he says there, neither pray I
for these alone. Ah, okay. Who is he praying for
now then? But for them also which shall
believe on me through their word. So the Lord Jesus Christ is distinguishing
in his prayer those that had been committed into his care
and those who through their ministry would believe on him. The Lord Jesus Christ is praying
for people who will believe in him. That's worth just pausing
on and thinking about. We pray to the Lord Jesus Christ,
but the Lord Jesus Christ prays for us. And even now in heaven,
he is fulfilling this role of intercessor, interceding for
his people, interceding for those that were given to him, committed
into his care. There he is in glory, speaking
to his father on their behalf. what we sometimes call the high
priestly role, or the great high priestly role of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is prophet, he is priest,
and he is king. Prophet in that he reveals the
things of God. King in that he reigns and rules. over his kingdom, which is the
church, he is king of his church, and priest, because he went in
to his father's presence, as the picture of the old high priest
in the Old Testament would typify, that he went in with his own
blood and there made offering as the blood offering for his
people to take away their sins. So here's another inconvenient
truth, that the Lord Jesus Christ doesn't pray for everyone but
only for those who were given to him and believe upon him. There's another thing that men
say. They say that the Lord Jesus Christ died for everyone. But the Lord Jesus Christ didn't
die for everyone. And many people won't like that
idea and will be very happy to speak against it and to separate
from any who do maintain what we sometimes call a particular
redemption or a limited atonement. They want to believe that Jesus
died for everyone so that everyone can take advantage of the provision
of his atonement. And they'll make statements like,
the Lord Jesus Christ has done everything that he can do, now
it's up to you. What are you going to do? How
are you going to respond? And we can hear that emphasis,
that thrust, coming through so many of the religious activities
today. John 10, verse 11. Turn to John
10 and 11. And here we see the Lord Jesus
Christ identifying himself as the shepherd of his sheep. John chapter 10, verse 11, and
he says here, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. Not for the world, not for all
men and women, not for everyone without exception, but specifically,
definitely, With this determination of fulfilling the purpose that
was given to him, the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. Now that's a bit inconvenient
for all who preach a general atonement. The distinction between
sheep and goats is one that has been maintained by the Lord previously. If you turn to Matthew chapter
25, you see here in this passage which speaks about a judgment
that is to come and a separation which will take place in that
day when Christ comes to judge between men and women. In verse 32 of Matthew 25, And before him shall be gathered
all nations, and he shall separate them one from another. As a shepherd
divideth his sheep from the goats. Some people try to say that this
isn't a division between people, it's a division between nations.
But nations are made up of people, that's the point. It's a collective
here. This is a judgment of all people,
all the nations gathered together. And he shall separate them one
from another. As a shepherd divideth his sheep
from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on
his right hand and the goats on his left. Nobody would say
that nations were sheep or nations were goats. That would be a foolish
argument. It's individuals that are being
spoken of. And once again, we can see here that we are being
reminded of God's purpose of redemption. Because if all were
redeemed, then all are purchased. That's what redemption means.
All are delivered. All have escaped. An atonement
has been made for everyone and there is no more judgment. Because
the sins have been paid for. The idea of redemption is sometimes
pictured in the notion of a ransom, where someone has perhaps been
kidnapped and taken away in the olden days. This would have been
a favourite ploy, certainly in Europe. It was always desirable
if you didn't actually kill your enemy, you managed to take him
alive. because then you could sell him
back to his friends or to his family and make money out of
it. And the idea of the ransom then
being paid, the payment would be made and the captive would
be liberated. Well, if the payment has been
made for everyone, then every captive is liberated. And there
are no longer any who are under the condemnation of the law. But that would do away with all
judgment whatsoever. And it would make God unjust
if he was judging men for sins that had already been forgiven. Galatians 3, 13 says, Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse
for us. It is a particular atonement,
a definite redemption that the Lord Jesus Christ undertook in
order to save his people. It's an inconvenient truth that
the word of God declares and that so many, if they were faithful
and not devious, would have to encounter and explain. In Titus
2 verse 14 we read, who gave himself for us that he might
redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar
people or a particular people, a people upon whom he placed
a value. There's a great picture given
to us of course, of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ when
we think about domestic love and union and faithfulness in
marriage. Ephesians 5.25, husbands love
your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself
for it. So often that verse is used in
order to lay obligation upon men to love their wives, but
we can read it just as profitably, if not more so, by reminding
ourselves that human relationships and human marriage and human
love between a husband and a wife is a picture of the greater reality,
the greater truth of Christ's love for his church and his sacrifice
for it. Here's another inconvenient truth
in the Word of God. The resurrection was not shown
to all. Have you ever wondered why the
Lord Jesus Christ on that resurrection morning met his disciples in
the quiet garden in the half-light when dawn was breaking? Or why
on another occasion he met them at dawn, at daybreak on a remote
part of the lake when they had been fishing all
night and he made them some breakfast with coals and fishes in the
morning. Or why he went to meet them in
an upper locked room and spoke to them privately. Why didn't he just meet them
on the temple steps? Jerusalem at the time of the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ was full of people. It was heaving. It was a Passover feast. It was
one of the three feasts in the Jewish calendar where all Jews,
all male Jews, had an obligation to go to Jerusalem for worship.
That crowd that had bade for the death of the Lord Jesus Christ
was a crowd of people that had come from all over, perhaps all
over the known world at that time. Certainly a few weeks later
at Pentecost, we discover that there are Jews then at Pentecost,
which was another of the three main feasts that the Jews had
to attend to from all over the known world, so we might well
imagine that it was the same here at the Feast of the Passover.
Jews from all nations All the Lord Jesus Christ would have
had to have done was to have made a grand entrance at the
temple. This is the one that they had
all watched being crucified just the other day. And there would
have been thousands and thousands of people witnessing the fact
of the miracle of the resurrection. But he didn't do that. He didn't
do that. Listen to what it says in Acts
10, verse 40. Him God raised up the third day. Him God raised up the third day
and showed him openly, not to all the people, but unto
witnesses chosen before of God, even to us who did eat and drink
with him after he rose from the dead. If the purpose of God was to
make as many believers as possible, as we are told, would not this
have been a great opportunity to establish beyond doubt the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ? Why just a few? Why all the secrecy? In 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse
1 through 4 it reads, Moreover, brethren, Paul is writing to
the Corinthians. He says, moreover, brethren,
I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you. Now
note that what Paul is saying is this is the gospel. I declare
unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which ye also have
received and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved. This is a gospel that he preaches,
that they've received, that they believe, and by which they are
saved. How that Christ died for our
sins according to the scriptures was buried and rose again the
third day according to the scriptures. Now, there were lots and lots
of people who saw that he had died and believed that he had
died. There were lots and lots of people
who saw that he had been buried and believed that he had been
buried. If the Lord Jesus Christ had
been revealed to all these people there, they would have had to
admit that he had been resurrected also. But the point was that
that wasn't God's purpose in this matter. And it is rather
inconvenient that such an essential part of the gospel, the resurrection
of Christ, was not more widely promoted. Unless, of course,
God's plan all along was to apply the gospel only to certain people
at certain times. Here's a fifth inconvenient truth. The gospel isn't preached to
everyone. The gospel's not preached to
all people. And that's exactly what we find.
We know that that's the case. Indeed, we go out of our way
to the best of our ability to encourage people to come and
hear the gospel, But many, many people have never heard the gospel
and will never hear the gospel. And you wouldn't get them into
a gospel meeting to sit in a service like this, supposing you tied
them to wild horses. Turn with me to Acts chapter
16. Here's another few verses that are an inconvenient truth
in the word of God. Acts chapter 16. Look at verse 6. Now when they had gone, we're
speaking here about Paul's, what we call Paul's second missionary
journey. And this is the journey that
he took with Silas. He had previously been with Barnabas
and then there was a bit of a fracture in their relationship and Barnabas
went off with John Mark in one direction, Paul took Silas and
went in another direction and we call this the second missionary
journey. And so Paul and Silas are travelling
here and it says, now when they had gone through Phrygia and
the region of Galatia, this is modern day Turkey, They were
forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, or what
we sometimes call Asia Minor. So again, it's still part of
Turkey. After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go
into Bithynia, but the Spirit suffered them not. And they,
passing by Mysia, came down to Troas. The Holy Spirit here, is preventing
Paul from preaching. Now that's not to say, and I
grant it, it's not to say that they didn't go on then and preach
somewhere else. The next journey is what we sometimes
refer to as the Macedonian Call. where Paul had a vision of someone
from Macedonia, what would be called Greece today, saying,
come over and help us. And that's where Paul was directed
to next. It's actually really quite interesting,
this, to think about. I'm not going to expand upon
this too much, right? But here's the point. Here was
two roads in the way They were in Asia. If they had turned left,
they would have been at the gateway to what we now call Greater Asia. They turn right, they're heading
into Europe. And that's exactly what happened.
Paul was prevented from preaching the gospel here in Turkey, and
he was sent into Macedonia, which is Greece, from where the gospel
then extended up into Italy, and to France, and to Northern
Europe, and to Britain, and to America, and to Australia, and
anywhere where the sailors of Europe could go. Now it wasn't
the pure gospel that went in every case by any means. The
point is this, it didn't spread in the same way into Asia. I don't want to say that this
was the point at which that division took place, but I will say this.
To the degree that we read these verses and understand their meaning,
the Holy Spirit prevented Paul from preaching the gospel in
these certain places. Now, what's the implication of
that? It cannot be denied from the
scripture that these people in these towns were denied by the
Holy Spirit access to a preacher. They were denied the opportunity
of hearing the truth because the Holy Spirit said that they
were forbidden to preach the word in Asia and that they had
to pass through and were suffered not to preach the gospel in Bithynia. That's the reality. And that
is inconvenient for those who teach that the gospel is for
everyone. The proof is that the Holy Spirit
has said the gospel's not for everyone, for he has prevented
the gospel from being preached in certain situations. In Romans
chapter 10, verse 14, we read, how then shall they call on him
in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? They were stopped from getting
Paul as a preacher. They were stopped from hearing,
on that occasion, the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. In
Romans 10, 20, it says, The Apostolic Commission was to take the Gospel
to all the world. But it is very clear and evident
that not all the world have heard the gospel. What about the millions
that lived before the time of Christ? What about all those
dynasties and empires that lived and died without any gospel ever
being preached to them? What about in the years since
the time of Christ? In those nations and lands where
no missionary ever walked? What about the closed doors that
there are to the gospel even in our own age where people do
not get to hear the gospel because literally God the Holy Spirit
has not opened doors of preaching and sent the preacher that is
necessary according to Paul's teaching into those situations. There are many, many people in
the history of this world that have been unevangelised as far
as the gospel of Jesus Christ is concerned. And this emphasises,
does it not, the privilege that we have of hearing the gospel and the culpability and the legitimate
condemnation that will fall upon those who have rejected the gospel
when they have heard it and despised it when they should have received
it. Here's the sixth hard nut, sixth
inconvenient truth. Jesus is not coming back for
everyone. Jesus is not even coming back
for all those who profess his name. Matthew 7 verse 21 says this. Not everyone that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. But he
that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven, Many will
say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name? And in thy name have cast out
devils? And in thy name done many wonderful
works? And then I will profess unto
them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity. Who are these people? They are people who speak, minister,
and act in the name of Jesus. Well, who are they? What a terrible condemnation
to have gone through our whole lives assuming wrongly that we
are acceptable to God, while in reality, being ignorant of
his grace and strangers to Christ all the while. Listen, I say that's more than
inconvenient when it's our soul's eternal destiny which is the
price that has, the price that is at stake or the price of the
mistake. God must have mercy upon our
souls. What does this matter? What is
the point about saying these things? Why are we careful? Why are we stressing these things?
Should we not simply preach the gospel and put out there the
positive teachings that we have? Well, it matters because this
is the gospel. It matters because This is the
truth of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the message of God's
salvation to men by Christ. And if this message is corrupted,
if the truth is hid, then how can men and women believe the
truth? The Godhead is misrepresented. The Father's eternal love is
misrepresented. The Lord Jesus Christ's finished
work, the Holy Spirit's effectual calling, that love is weak and
inconsequential. God's love makes no difference.
between men as to whether they are saved or whether they are
lost. God loves everyone just the same. God desires the salvation
of everyone just the same and it doesn't make any difference
the will of God or the purpose of God if this is how we are
to understand the gospel. Christ's blood is powerless to
cleanse from sin because it was spilled for many whose sins are
never washed away. The Holy Spirit is himself ineffectual
to quicken and to convert for those he tries to convince and
to convert. Many of them, his labours are
lost upon them. Can it really be true that God
will go through eternity regretting the millions whom he loved, for
whom Christ died, and upon whom he exerted all the persuasion
that he was able to do, but who ultimately rejected his offer
of salvation? Man is misrepresented under this
gospel because we think of ourselves better than we are. We think
that salvation depends upon our will and pride finds a place
in our thinking. And sin's not sin because it
does not render a man dead in his trespasses. but rather allows
him nevertheless to do those good things which God wants him
to do. And grace isn't grace. Not powerful,
not life-changing, not effectual to alter and convert and to save
sinners. And ultimately the whole of our
faith is built on lies, falsehoods and misrepresentations. The Word
of God says that everyone who is of the truth heareth my voice. This is what we lay hold upon.
It may be inconvenient to the masses to hear these truths being
preached. It may be that they would prefer
these things were not brought to the fore and declared openly
and publicly. But the reality is that the true
people of God will seek out these truths, seek out this gospel,
seek out this Christ, because they will discover that he is
the only one and that that message is the only one that can give
them peace and give them comfort and give them ease in their soul's
conviction. And that is why we will preach
the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace as he gives us
strength and enabling. Amen.