If you'll turn back with me now
to 2 Corinthians chapter 4, I want to talk to you for just a little
while about the hidden gospel. There's a sense in which the
Bible is written to all men, to every man, to every woman,
any man, any woman, anywhere. and open this precious book and
read its promises and warnings and apply them to themselves
regardless of nationality, sex, color, or age. The great commission
was to the disciples to go and teach all nations, all of them,
to teach them to observe all things which He taught from the
Word of God. I'm to preach, he says, in another
place to every creature. That is, to the whole of God's
creation, to every man. And the Spirit and the Bride,
John tells us over in the book of Revelations, he's winding
things up in that last chapter. And he said, and the Spirit and
the Bride say, come. Who do they say that to? Anybody
they preach to. Come on. Come on. Not come if you're a Jew, or
come if you're a Baptist, or a Catholic, or a man of a certain
age, or a certain intellect, or a certain color. Whoever listens,
come on. And who says that? The Spirit
and the bride. That is the church. That's their
message. And let him that heareth say
come. And let him that is athirst come,
and whosoever will, let him take. of the water of life freely.
And if the words of this book do not apply to all men, then
such statements couldn't be made. You see that? So there's a sense
in which this book is written to every man. But there's another
sense in which it's written to the children of God alone. It's the children's bread. That's
what the scriptures call it. To them belong the promises of
God. To them belong the mysteries
of the Word of God. Paul said, I hath not seen nor
ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, mankind,
the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God
hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth
all things, yea, the deep things of God. And then again, our Lord
said over in Matthew 13, verse 11, the disciples were being
embarrassed because the Lord was speaking to this congregation
out here, and it was made up a lot of these Pharisees who
were master theologians. And Christ was using these parables
that were so simple that a child could understand. And it embarrassed
them that the Lord was speaking that way. And they said, why
do you speak to them in parables? He said, it's not given unto
them to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but it's
given unto you. I'm not talking to them. I'm
talking to you. That's what he said. Blessed, he said, are your eyes,
for they see, and your ears, for they hear. There are great
mysteries hidden from the eyes of natural men, hidden from ages
and generations. And these mysteries are made
known to the hearts of believers through the preaching of the
gospel. Without controversy, we're talking
about mysteries, great mysteries. Without controversy, great is
the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the
Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. These things are a mystery. I
read the Bible when I was a child. I didn't get any of this. Did
you? The mystery of the Gentiles,
the mystery of godliness, the mystery of iniquity. The average person can't tell
you anything about iniquity. They can't tell you anything
about sin. They don't know anything about it. That's why they speak
so lightly of it. That's why they don't flee it.
That's why they're not in trouble. They don't understand the mystery.
It's a mystery. The Bible contains within its
covers such mysteries that natural man can never, never discern. Never discern. Our Lord gave
thanks in the presence of those proud Pharisees that His Father
had hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed
them unto babe. Why did He do that? Because it
seemed good in His sight. It seemed good. And even the
love of God is a great mystery. It's a mystery. Paul, speaking
of the relationship of a husband and wife, said, For this cause
shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined
unto his wife, and they too shall be one flesh. This is a great
mystery. But I speak of Christ and the
church. It's a mystery. Now listen to this scripture.
If our gospel be hid, I read it to you a few moments ago.
If our gospel be hid, it's hid to them that are lost. 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. I have three things that
I want you to see in our text here in II Corinthians 4. I'm
using the first seven verses as my text. And I have three
things that I want you to see in our text. And the first thing
is this, that the gospel is hidden. It's hidden. If it wasn't hidden,
everybody would flee to Christ. Those who hear the gospel, those
who see Christ, those who are taught of God, they all come
to Christ, every one of them. And if the whole world could
see it, if the whole world knew the mystery, if it entered into
their heart, these great mysteries of God, they'd all flee to Christ.
But they don't, and that tells me that it's hid. It's hid to
them. And that's what Paul said, if
our gospel be hid, it's hid to the lost. Hidden by deceit, hidden
by lies, hidden by causing folks to believe that they know something
that they don't know. Some shall depart, listen to
this, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.
That's what the Scripture says. They come speaking lies and hypocrisy,
having their conscience seared with a hot iron. Ever learning
but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Unruly
and vain talkers and deceivers who subvert whole houses teaching
things which they ought not. Listen to this. Teaching for
doctrines the commandments of men. Beguiling men and women by teaching
them to worship angels and saints and even the mother of Jesus.
Teaching the rudiments of this world, that is the basic rudimentary
principles of this world. Work hard and you'll enjoy a
great reward. That's the principles of this
world. And while it might apply to the working man, it doesn't
apply to the believer. His reward is Christ. Teaching
men, Paul said, and women to abstain from meats, touch not,
taste not, and handle not. Leading whole congregations into
will worship. Lost men believe they know the
truth. You were talking to a man, Winston was telling me, he was
talking to a man, his aunt's husband, I believe he is, was
talking to him. He thinks he knows the truth,
but he don't. He don't know the truth. And
this is how this gospel is hid. This is one of the ways Satan
convinces a man that he knows something that he don't really
know. He don't really know. Lost men think they know the
truth, and lost men think they know the way. They think they
know the way. Lost men think they know what
they are, and where they are, and why they are. But that's
why they're lost. They are lost. They believe they
are rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing and
know not that they are wretched and miserable and poor and blind
and naked. The gospel is hid to the lost.
How is it hid? It is hid by another gospel.
Paul said, Who hath bewitched you? Who hath cast a spell on
you? before whose eyes this gospel
of Christ has evidently been set forth among you. The lost, their minds are veiled
by works religion. They can't conceive of a salvation
based on God's free and sovereign grace. Can't even conceive of
it. No way. They just tune you out. My little granddaughter wanted
to listen to a radio station and I didn't like it. Still don't
like it. But I let her listen to it because
she's my granddaughter. But the first thing I want to
do is turn the station. And that's what men do when you
start preaching a gospel to them that don't seem right. They tune
you out. They don't listen to what you're saying. They don't
listen to what you're reading from the Word of God. By grace
are you saved. How? By grace. What is that? Well, it's not of works whatsoever. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. Isn't that what it says over
in Romans 11 when it defines grace? If it be of works, it's
no more grace. Otherwise, grace is no more grace.
And if it's saying be of works, then it's no more grace. Otherwise,
work is no more work. And grace and work don't mix.
They won't mix. They're like water and oil. You
can stir it all day long, but they won't mix. And natural man
can't conceive of a salvation based on God's free and sovereign
grace. He cannot imagine, they can't
imagine themselves to have a will that's in bondage to a mind that's
enmity against God. Paul said that carnal mind is
enmity against God. It's not subject to the law of
God. Neither indeed can be. But isn't
that what preachers are trying to do? Make you subject to a
law. They're trying to tell you to
obey this law and win God's favor. You'll never win God's favor
by your pitiful attempts to keep His law. He demands perfection. He demands absolute perfection. It must be perfect to be accepted
of God. That was pictured in that old
lamb. He said, what kind of lamb was they to bring? One without
spot or blemish. They were to pin it up, to examine
it, to watch it. If that thing wasn't perfectly
healthy and without spot and blemish, you better not put it
on that altar. That was a picture of that perfect righteousness
of Christ without spot or blemish. Peter said, you know that you
weren't redeemed with corruptible things like silver and gold. Those were just pictures of redemption. But with the precious blood of
Christ as of a lamb without spot or blemish. They cannot imagine themselves
to have a will in bondage to a mind that's enmity against
God. They will not receive a salvation
by revelation. They want one they can figure
out. You'll never figure it out. It
has to be revealed. The gospel's hid. Who hid it? God did. Why does He hide this
gospel from men? Well, Scripture says, because
they received not the love of the truth that they might be
saved. Therefore God sent them strong delusion to believe a
lie and be damned. How does God hide His gospel? How does He do that? By leaving
men alone. That's all He has to do. All
He has to do is just leave you alone. Just don't intervene. Just don't interfere with your
life. Just leave you alone. You'll wander around until that
natural appetite of yours finds something that suits it, whatever
it is. If it's a bunch of drums and
people jumping and running up and down aisles, or if it's something
sophisticated with a priesthood and a man who dresses up and
calls himself father, you'll find something that appeals to
that old rotten nature. And when you find it, you'll
settle yourself in there and you'll stay there until you die. All God has to do is leave you
alone. You'll take care of the rest
of it. Just leave you alone. Salvation is God not leaving
you alone. It's coming in His grace. And
it's teaching you the truth. That's a revelation. How does
it come? Well, it comes through the Spirit
of God. Well, how does He do that? Does it come to us in the
middle of the night? No, it comes through the preaching
of the Gospel. The Gospels head to the lost. That's why they're lost. And
then secondly, I want you to see that there is an effectual
light. There is a light. A light so
powerful, so bright, so illuminating that it can chase away the darkness
so that a sinner can truly see. My friend, there is only one
thing that can stop a sinner on his road to hell. Only one
force can arrest that sinner whose whole being is set on self-destruction. Just one force. And that force
is the power of God. Turn with me over to Romans chapter
1. Let me show you something. Paul likens this gospel light
to that light which God commanded to shine on His new creation. God commanded, and the darkness
was swept away. But how should this power be
manifest? Is it going to be manifest in
dreams and vision? Is it going to be manifest by
unusual feelings? How does God manifest His power
to arrest this hell-bound sinner? How does He do it? Romans 1,
verse 16. For I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. Are you listening? For it...
What? What's it? That's the gospel. It is the power of God unto salvation. To everyone. How many? Everyone. Who? Everyone that believes. That's the way it is. That's
the way it is. The preaching of the cross, the
gospel, is to them who are perishing foolishness, absolute foolishness. But unto us which are being saved,
it is the power of God. To the religious Jew, it's a
stumbling block. To the wise of this world, the
Greeks, it's foolishness. But unto us which are called
both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God. And He's
the wisdom of God. Now I'm going to tell you something
that might not fit into your thinking. The Holy Spirit of
God works in conjunction with the preaching of the Gospel.
Now that's how He works. That's where He works. And that's
how He works. With His life-giving presence
and power, with His infinite wisdom In grace, He causes dead
sinners to be called out of darkness into the marvelous light of Christ.
And He does it through the preaching of the gospel. Paul said in 1
Corinthians 2 verse 4, he said, My speech and my preaching was
not with enticing words of man's wisdom, now listen to me, but
in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. What was that? How did that come? Listen to
him again. It wasn't with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in
demonstration of the Spirit and power. That's how this gospel
works. He said, I know your election
of God, for our gospel came not unto you in word only, but in
power and in the Holy Ghost. And it's the Holy Ghost which
opens the doors of opportunity and leads His preachers to His
elect. I want to read you something
over here in Acts chapter 16. You can turn over there if you
want to. God is sovereign over providence. Not many folks believe
that, but He is. There is a providence that works
in your life, in my life, and in all things in this world.
Our Lord told His disciples, they were fretting about this
and fretting about this, and He told them, He said, Not a
sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father. He can't
fall. His life can't end. A predator
can't get him. He can't fall to the ground without
your Father. The sparrow. And he said, God
has numbered even the hairs on your head. Now there's a providence
and this providence is everything that happens in this world. And
it's controlled by God. Now I want you to see something
over here. This is just one little sample. I'll go through the Scriptures
and give you many things. But this is just one little sample,
and here it has to do with the preaching of the Gospel. The
Holy Spirit, He sets this providence in such a way as to connect His
elect with the Gospel. Now watch this here, Acts 16,
verse 6. Now when they had gone throughout
Phrygia, and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy
Ghost to preach the Word in Asia. After they had come to Mysia,
they had said to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit suffered them
not." He wouldn't let them preach in Asia. And now He's not going
to let them preach over here in Bithynia. And they, passing
by Mysia, came down to Troas, and a vision appeared to Paul
in the night, And there stood a man of Macedonia and prayed
him saying, come over to Macedonia and help us. And after he had
seen the vision immediately, he said, we endeavored to go
into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for
to preach the gospel unto them. Now, who was controlling this
thing? Paul? No, he just... We have a general
desire, I want to preach to every creature, I want to go out into
all the world. But God sets His providence in such a way as you
can only go where He sends you. And the Holy Ghost, not by warnings,
but by acts of providence, forbids preachers to go to certain places.
He just does. What happens? You know, when
Henry Mayhem, a very well-known preacher of this century, when
Henry Mayhem was converted, Ralph Barnard came up there to preach.
You know why he came there to preach? They had come into that
area, the Southern Baptists, and they had got a county-wide
rally together. And they were going to have this
big meeting. And at the last minute, their evangelist got
sick. And he couldn't preach. as luck would have it. But it
wasn't luck. It was the providence of God.
And they said, who are we going to get? We've got the tent set
up, and we've got all these things, all the catering companies and
everything. Well, who are we going to get? And this fellow
said, well, I know one old evangelist. And he said, I'm pretty sure
he'll come. Well, he said, call him. And they called old Ralph
Barnard. Old Ralph Barnard. And he come
up there to that meeting. And Henry was just a young man
sitting there on the front pew. And he said, young man, do you
know Romans 8.28? He said, yes, sir. He said, I think I do. And he
said, well, quote it. And he said, all things work
together for good to them that love God. And he sat back down. And old Barnard had these little
glasses. And he looked at him and he said,
do you know all of it? And he said, Well, let me take
another stab at it. He said, let's see. He said,
all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are called according to His purpose. And he said,
old Barnard liked to blow the back doors off. He screamed out,
purpose. God saves men on purpose. That's what I'm talking about.
The Holy Ghost sets this providence in such a way that there is no
accidents. It might seem like an accident
to us. But it's not an accident. We
see other things involved, and there are other things involved.
But the truth of it is, you're here this morning by the providence
of God, and I'm standing here by the providence of God bringing
to you the one true Gospel. The one true Gospel. Oh, I'm telling you, the Spirit
of God accompanies the preaching of the gospel. And then lastly,
I want you to see this in our text. 2 Corinthians 4, verse
7. He said, we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency
of the power may be of God and not of us. An earthen vessel. What is that? That's a clay pot. You know a flower pot ain't much
to look at when it's empty, is it? We dump all ours out in the
fall. The flowers burn up by then and
gone, and we dump them all out in the garden, and I till them
up in it. These pots just laying over there
empty, they don't look like much. You sit there and look at them
all winter long, just old pots. All they are. But you put in the spring, You
go out there and take a wave petunia and put it in that pot. Huh? And those blooms begin to
come down and cascade down over that thing. You don't even think about the
pot anymore. Don't even mention the pot. I've
never got a compliment on a flower pot. Never have. But, boy, people
like those flowers. I've never got a compliment on
this old clay pot. But there's a lot of folks who
compliment me on Christ. Christ. He's the glory. In Him's the glory. Paul said,
we've got a treasure and God put it in an earthen vessel.
And the reason He did that is so that He'll get all the glory.
He'll get all the glory. And I tell you, if God works
in your heart, Through the message that I preach here this morning,
He'll get all the glory. He'll get all the glory. Listen to Paul describe this
thing of preaching over here in Romans chapter 10. He said,
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
But how are you going to call on Him in whom you have not believed?
And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?
And how are they going to hear without a preacher? And how on
earth is He going to preach except God send Him? But if He does,
if He does, now watch this, as it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things. We've got this thing in an earthen
vessel. Weak. Paul said, I was with you. He told those Corinthians, when
I came to you, I came not with excellency of speech. He knew
who they were. He knew that they were wise men.
He knew all that. And he said, I purpose to know
nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and
I was with you in weakness. What does he mean he was with
them? He identified with them in his weakness. He was in weakness
and fear, trembling, much trembling, he said. And he said, the reason
God's allowed me to do this is so that His gospel won't be founded
on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. We have this
treasure, and that's what it is. I'll tell you, if God ever
reveals to you the mystery of iniquity, and you see yourself
as a vile sinner, you know what a sinner is? A sinner is a man
without a hope. He's without God. He's without
Christ. He's in this world. He's subject
to the prince of the power of the air. He can't dig himself
out of the pit. He can't climb out of the pit.
His will is bent to evil. All he can do is go to hell. That's all he can do if God don't
do something for him. But, oh my soul, if God intervenes,
If God intervenes, that man will spend the rest of his life like
David saying, I remember the pit out of which I dug. Huh? Can you see how God gets
all the glory in that? We say, preacher, what about
good works? Believers will do good works. They'll do good works. But it won't be the basis of
their salvation. It will be the result of it.
You know what good works is called in the Scripture? The fruit of
the Spirit. the fruit. Oh, we have this treasure in
earthen vessels. Well, you say, it ain't how I
do it. It ain't how I do it. If I was God, I'd send a great
angel like Michael. Boy, can you imagine that? Michael
show up one day. This great angel of God And I'd
have him, boy, he'd said it right. Everybody would believe if Michael'd
show up. Yeah, and they'd worship Michael. That's what happened. And that's the reason why God
don't use many mighty and many noble, because they'd all worship
the man. But He takes an old ignorant
sinner and teaches him the truth. And He puts that treasure in
that vessel. And He said, now you go preach. And when you do,
I'll get all the glory. May the Lord enable you to see
this treasure today and embrace Him in whom is all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge.