of a new covenant, not of the
letter of the law, but of the Spirit. You know, he wrote in
Hebrews 13, now the God of peace that brought again from the dead
our Lord Jesus Christ, that great shepherd of the sheep through
the blood of the everlasting covenant, the new covenant. make
you perfect, Christ make you perfect through his blood and
righteousness, in every good work to do his will, working
in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ,
for whom be glory forever and ever. That's our ministry. He
hath made us able ministers of the new covenant, not of the
letter of the law, but of the Spirit, for the law killeth Paul
said the law came and I died, but the spirit, the gospel, the
grace of God giveth life. And this is our ministry. We're
ministers of the spirit of God. We're ministers of the new covenant
in Christ, not the law of Moses. And the spirit gives life and
grace and hope. Go back to the text. Seeing we
have this ministry, as we have received mercy, as God gives
us grace and mercy, we faint not. We won't compromise this
message, this ministry. We won't compromise. We won't
be silent. We won't faint. We won't quit.
We won't quit. Our call is by His grace. Our
gifts are by His grace. Our open doors and strength is
by his grace. And we shall not quit. We have
a ministry. We're dedicated to fulfilling
that ministry. And being able to say with the
Apostle Paul, one of these days, the time of our departure is
at hand. We've fought a good fight. We've
kept the faith. We haven't quit. Nor have we
compromised. And there's laid up for us a
crown of righteousness, which the Lord shall give us in that
day. And not us only, but all, to all who love his appearing. We have a ministry. And we won't
quit. We won't compromise. We won't
be silent. All right. Verse two. And we're
open and honest in this ministry. We're not like the false prophets.
He says in verse 2, we have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty. We're open and honest in this
ministry. If you'll turn in your Bible
to Matthew 7, our Lord warned about false preachers, false
prophets, and he gives a description of them. They're dishonest. They're
dishonest in their motive. They seek not the glory of God,
but their own glory. They're dishonest in their message. They compromise the message.
Keep back things that are profitable and deny the scriptures. And they're dishonest in their
methods, and they're dishonest in their approach. Listen to
the Master in Matthew 7, verse 15. Beware. Be warned. of false preachers. They come to you dishonestly. They come to you in sheep's clothing,
but inwardly they're ravening wolves. They come disguised. They come disguised. And back
to the text. We have renounced these hidden
things of dishonesty. Our ministry is open, above board,
and honest. And we don't walk in craftiness. We don't use people. We don't
disguise our true goals in order to gain support and help and
followers. One other reference, over in
2 Peter, all the way through the scriptures there are warnings
after warnings about following religious hucksters. false preachers. In chapter 2 of 2 Peter, listen
to the Apostle Peter, verse 1, But there were false prophets
also among the people of Israel in the Old Testament, even as
there shall be false preachers and teachers among you, who privately, in a dishonest manner, in a hidden
manner, sneaky, One of the prophets, one of the apostles says they
creep in, disguised, disguised. And they privately bring in damnable
heresies, even denying the Lord that bought us. Denying his substitutionary
work, his satisfaction. the efficacy of his blood, and
they bring upon themselves swift destruction, but the problem
is they bring that destruction on those that follow them. And
verse 2, and many people shall follow their lascivious, devious,
pernicious ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be
evil spoken of. And here's the problem, through
covetousness, Paul made it plain to the people to whom he preached,
I covet no man's silver or gold or possession. You have nothing
that a true preacher wants, but he has a lot that we need. God
will supply the needs of his servants, but these men are covetous. Listen, through that covetousness
shall they with feigned words, phony words, disguised methods,
craftiness, make merchandise of you. It's not your good and
God's glory. They seek your salvation and
His glory. They want place and power and
popularity and possessions, and this is what they want, and they
use you. They make merchandise of you.
You're just so much merchandise on the shelf to them. And whose
judgment now of a long time lingereth not, it's coming. God have mercy
on them and he won't. Their damnation slumbereth not. Let our ministry, go back to
the text, 2 Corinthians 4, be open and honest and not walking
in craftiness or handling the word of God deceitfully. 2 Corinthians
2.17 has a reference to that. Look at this. 2 Corinthians 2,
twisting the word, wresting it from its context. 2 Corinthians
2.17. We're not as many which corrupt
the Word of God, deal deceitfully with the Word of God. But our
dealing with the Word of God is of sincerity. But as of God,
in the sight of God, speak we of Christ. And I'll tell you
this. Listen to what he says here in
verse 2 of 2 Corinthians 4, back to our text. We have renounced the hidden
things. We're open and honest. We're
not walking in craftiness. We're not handling the word of
God deceitfully. But listen. by manifestation
of the truth, by the preaching of the truth, by revelation of
the truth, Christ is the truth, commending ourselves to every
man's conscience in the sight of God. Here's what he says,
all of you who really know God, who really know Christ, the living
God, you know that our message and our manner of life and our
methods And our motives are of God and the truth. You be the
judge. That's what he's saying here.
We commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight
of God. If you know God, you'll recognize
his gospel. That's what he's saying. You'll
recognize a true preacher. A man who really knows God will
not follow a false preacher. That's what Christ said in John
10. Now, how did he say it? Other shepherds they will not
follow. Isn't that what he said? Another
shepherd they will not follow. They know my voice, he said. And that's what Paul's saying.
But if our gospel be heard, verse 3, if it be unrecognized and
unreceived and unappreciated, I tell you the person to whom
it's hid, it's not hidden to the believer. He knows Christ
and he knows the gospel. The believer doesn't. God, I
tell you, God brands his flock in two places. Their ear and
their foot. They hear his word and they follow
him. And if this gospel is hid, it's
hid to a man that's blind and lost. and lame and dead. That's who it's hidden to. To
the people who do not understand the gospel. It's not the fault
of the gospel. It's their fault. It's the condition
they're in. It's not the fault of the preacher.
If he could just make it a little plainer. He can't make it plain. God has to make it plain. He
can preach it truthfully. But he can't reveal the gospel
to a dead heart. God has to do that. We can't
do that. It's not the fault of the gospel,
not the fault of the preacher. If our gospel be hid, it's hid
to people who will not hear it. They're dead in trespasses and
sin. You see, when the sun shines
brightly, it'll melt the ice and it'll harden the clay. That
same sun shining on the ice will melt it. That same sun shining
on the clay will harden it. And when we preach the gospel, the difference is not in the
sun, it's in the nature of the object on which it falls. When
we preach the gospel, His sheep hear and melts them, breaks them,
blesses them. And the man who doesn't hear,
the natural man, Hardens him. Hardens him. And here's the problem. In whom, verse 4, the God of
this world. Who is that? That's Satan. This
is the only time in the Bible he's called the God of this world. But our Lord called him the Prince
of this world. In John, turn to John 12. John
chapter 12, verse John 12, verse 31. Satan, Christ called him
in John 12, 31, the prince of the world. Now is the judgment
of this world. Now shall the prince of this
world be cast out. Turn to John 14, verse 30. Hereafter, John 14, 30, I will
not talk much with you, Or the prince of this world cometh,
and hath nothing in me. Now look at our text. These people
to whom the gospel is hid, they do not understand it, do not
receive it. The God of this world, Satan,
hath blinded their minds, blinded their minds, of them that believe not. Lest
the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of
God, should shine unto them. Now, let me help you with that.
Satan cannot prevent the gospel from being preached. He can't
do that. Just can't do that. And when our God determines for
the gospel to be preached, it'll be preached. Where he determines
it, and the person that'll do the preaching. and the time it
will be preached. When God sends his gospel, he
said, my word will accomplish that word until I send it. Satan
can't keep that proper. He can't prevent that. Nor can
he prevent one of God's sheep, one of God's elect from hearing
the gospel. Lydia is going to hear the gospel. The eunuch is
going to hear the gospel. Cornelius is going to hear the
gospel. You're going to hear the gospel. You're his sheep.
But he can. Those who are dead in trespasses
and sin. And they're not dead physically.
I've heard people say, well sinners are dead as this pulpit. No,
they're not. They're dead in trespasses and
sin. But they can hear. This pulpit can't hear me. But anybody here, whether he
knows Christ or not, can hear me. And has the power to think
and consider. That's right. They hear you. People who hate what you preach
hear you. They hear what you're saying.
The Pharisees knew what our Lord said. They didn't believe it,
but they knew what He said. Didn't they? He said, I and the
Father are one. They picked up stones to stone
Him. He said, why are you stoning me? He said, because you said
you're God. They knew what He said. Then how does Satan blind
their minds? Not their eyes, their minds.
I'll tell you. He clutters up the mind. He'll
do it to you, if he can. He'll clutter up the mind and
the heart with pride. You see, before God saves a man,
he's got to strip him and break him. And he'll clutter it up
with prejudice? I'm not going to listen to that
Baptist preacher. Prejudice? I'm not going to listen to an
American. With tradition, I've always believed
it this way. Well, keep on then. That's Satan
you see. He got you bound in tradition.
I've just never seen it that way. And we in Eastern Kentucky,
I'm telling you, we are traditionalists. We're bound in tradition most
of the time. Go up Big Sandy and see that
religion up there. It's everywhere. And you try
to buck it. You try to go in and preach Christ. Christ in opposition to free
will. And you'll get ridden out of
there in some places. Because Satan got them blinded with their
free will religion. Self-righteousness? Don't call
me a sinner. Materialism? I'm too busy. Come to church. Come here. I'll
pastor. I'm just too busy. I work six, seven days a week.
Sunday's the only day I got to do it. That's Satan. See, people,
they're looking for him with red union suits on and a pitchfork. And that's not the way it comes.
He blinds the mind. Lest the glorious gospel of the
grace of God should get a foothold. or even an interest. That's reason sometimes people
get laid flat on their back and have to listen, have to listen. But Satan is
a powerful enemy, and folks just don't recognize how powerful
he is. And that's how he blinds, he
clutters the mind. He doesn't have the power to
kill or make alive, he doesn't have the power to keep the gospel
from being preached, he doesn't have the power to keep the Holy
Spirit from awakening the sinner, but he cluttered up the minds
of those who follow him. So that they can't even, they're
not even interested. You can't catch them as they
go by, you know. They're too busy. And that's
His. That's His subtle way. Paul said, I'm not ignorant of
His devices. I know the subtlety and craftiness
of Satan. I tell you, he knows more about
human nature than anybody but God. Satan's been in the deceiving
business for 6,000 years. It's subtle. Verse 5, we preach not ourselves.
We don't preach our opinions, our philosophy, our traditions.
We preach not ourselves. We don't promote ourselves. They
said, John, who are you? A voice. A voice. Don't you have a program to promote? Nope, I'm just a voice in the
wilderness. We don't preach to supply ourselves with a place,
with a position, with possession. We preach not ourselves. We preach,
listen, Christ, the Messiah, prophet, priest, and king, Jesus,
the man, the God-man, the Lord, King of kings and Lord of lords.
He's our message. Christ Jesus the Lord that's
what we pray that's who we preach and I say who are we your servants
for Christ's sake we're his servants but if you're in his house in
his kingdom in his flock we're your servants for his sake I
was in Mexico at a home in Mexico where some of our men here have
been, and their Mexican standards well off. And the week I was
there, the few days I was there, they had two male servants and
six female servants. And they were not my servants.
They were Carmelita's servants. But while I was in her home,
I couldn't sit down without having a cup of coffee put in front
of me. One of those servants, one of those ladies or one of
those men would always be there with cookies, coffee, whatever,
serving, waiting on you. You couldn't do anything. You
couldn't make up your bed. They'd do it. You'd go outside
and they'd sweep the floor in front of you. They were her servants. But when I was in her home, they
were my servants, for her sake. God's ministers are your servants
for his sake when you're in his house When you're in his family,
that's what he's talking about there Because God who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness. What's the that's got to be referred
to the creation It says in the beginning God created the heavens
and the earth and the earth was without form and void and darkness
on the face of the deep and God said Let there be light. Light was the first act in the
creation. Let there be light. So in this new creation, the
first act of God, the first thing in the new creation, in regeneration,
is light. Can't see anything except you
have light. And that light is Christ. God,
who commanded the light to shine out of darkness in the old creation,
has shined in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God. In whom? In the face of Christ
Jesus. He's the light. He's the light. God reveals Christ to you. Conviction
of sin is in relation to Christ. The Holy Spirit shall convince
the world, listen to what Christ said over here, and let me turn
to it, I'll read it to you. Convince the world of sin, because
they believe not on me. Of righteousness, because I go
to my Father, accepted, and you in me. Of judgment, because the
Prince of this world. A while ago, you remember, He
said the Prince of this world comes? Well, He came. But he
found nothing in our Lord, and therefore found nothing in us,
because we were in Christ. But all of this, sin, righteousness,
and judgment, conviction of sin, is in the light of Christ. The honoring of the law, by one
man's disobedience, many were made sinners. By the obedience
of one, we were made righteous. That's Christ. Just and justified,
God has set him forth. as a propitiation, mercy seat,
that he may be just and justified. You see how that God can be just
and justified as you see Christ. His priesthood, seeing we have
a great high priest, let us come boldly before the throne of grace
to find mercy and grace to help us in our need. Light, that's
the first act in the new creation. Turn to John 1, let's read about
it. John chapter 1. In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God and
the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. And all things were made by Him. Without Him was
not anything made that was made. In Him was life and the life
was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness,
the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from
God whose name was John, the same came to bear witness, for
a witness, to bear witness of the light, capital L-I-G-H-T,
it's Christ, that all men through him might believe. John was not
that light, he was sent to bear witness of the light. That was
the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the
world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him. The
world didn't know Him. He came to His own nation, and
they received Him not. But, watch this, as many as received
Him, the light, to them gave He the right, the privilege to
become sons of God, even to them that believe on His name, which
were born, not of blood, that is, not of natural genealogy,
not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, but born
of God. And the word was made flesh and
dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth." Christ is the light. And God, just like back yonder
in the darkness, that original creation, God said, let there
be light. And there was light. And then
one day he crossed our paths. in our darkness and deadness
and depravity and death. And he said, let there be light.
And we saw Christ, the gospel of Christ, incarnation, righteousness,
crucifixion, resurrection, ascension. We saw Christ. And we saw the
glory of God. Life. Where Christ hadn't been revealed,
there's no life. In verse 7 it says, we have a
treasure, eternal life, sonship, union with Christ, the gospel,
we have this treasure in earthen vessels. That's talking
about these bodies, these bodies, this flesh. We have this treasure,
Christ lives in us, but he lives in a broken down clay vessel. It's not a vessel of gold, pure,
perfect. It's not a vessel of steel, hard
and strong, able to ward off every blow. Not a vessel of fine
wood to be admired. It's a vessel of clay, crumbling,
dirt, dust, that will go back to the dust. We have this heavenly gift and
treasure, the life of God, the gospel in a clay pot. That the excellency and the glory
and the credit and the praise and the honor might be all his
and none of yours. None of yours. None of your... When you unwrap a Christmas present,
you got a beautiful watch engraved and it's in a box and it's wrapped
up. You tear the paper off and throw it in the garbage and stomp
it down. Get the box out, throw it in
the garbage and stomp it down. Put the watch on. Don't think
another thing about the wrapping and the box in which it came. And that's the same thing about
this gospel. This old clay pot one day will
be put in the ground. And all we'll see is the glory
of Christ. And I didn't have anything to
do with that. He did it. It's his life. It's his gift. It's his glory. It's all his. And that's the reason All these
preachers talk about it's fun being saved, and when you come
to Jesus, your troubles are over, and that's just not so. You're
still a claypot. You're still a claypot. And Paul
tells the truth. See, these are dishonest preachers.
Dishonest. Their claims are unfounded, ungrounded. They're liars. They say, just
sing happy all the time. I don't want to sing happy all
the time. I've never been happy all the time. You know, we're
troubled. Listen, Paul said, we're troubled. We're troubled. Never free from
trouble. One trial right after the other.
We're in this world, we expect trouble and tribulation. We're
troubled on every side, but we're not distressed. We're not defeated. We will not surrender. That's
right. He says we're perplexed. You say, what does that mean?
Just what it says, confused. Sometimes we're uncertain about
what to do, which way to take. We're confused about the providence
of God. Why does God do what he does? I submit to what he does. That's
his business. It's the Lord letting him do
what he will, but I don't understand it sometimes. And I'm perplexed
about it. I don't understand it. Aren't
you? Don't you get that way? Confused and perplexed. David did. He said, why is this
happening to God's people and that bunch of renegades out there
that don't give a hoot for God or the Bible or anything else?
It looks like everything they touch turns to gold. He said,
what's going on here? That's right. Psalm 73, read
it sometime. He was perplexed. Any honest
believer is. That's the reason Paul said,
we've renounced this dishonesty. We've renounced this craftiness.
We've renounced this lying on God. We're troubled. We're not
defeated, but we're troubled, and we're perplexed. But we're
not in despair. No, sir. We're not without help. God has
a reason, and He will prevail. And we will prevail, and someday
we'll understand it. Someday, he'll make it plain.
We're persecuted, hated by those who don't know him and don't
know us. We're harassed by people whose
motives are evil. Man said not long ago, what we
preach here is satanic. Now, he ought not say that. He ought not say that. That's
dangerous. That's attributing the Holy Spirit's
ministry to the devil, and that's dangerous. They speak evil of things they
don't understand. Don't understand. We're persecuted. But let me tell you something,
we're not forsaken. He said, I'll never leave you. Your friend
may, but your friend of friends won't. He will never leave you. We're cast down. Sometimes this
old earthen vessel is thrown to the ground. Looks like it's
cast aside, left to the wind and the rain. But we're not destroyed. We'll never be destroyed. We
live with the power of our Redeemer and regardless of the condition
of this body. And I'll tell you, In God's permissive
will, sometimes this body can get awful, awful frail, fragile. This old clay pot looks like
it's just about done for. But we're not destroying. Our
inner man is renewed day by day. That's right. The clay pot don't
look so good, but I tell you, sometimes the worst This body
gets the brighter the new man shines. We've seen that, haven't we?
The brighter the new creation becomes as the old body goes
down. I think sometimes it might be
good for some of you pretty folks not to be so pretty. They would
see the prettiness inside. Sometimes you can't see for the
flesh and the glory of the flesh and the real beauty. The real
beauty is hidden under this mess. But if God would make a mess
out of the mess and let you see what the mess is, maybe we could
see what the real us is. Isn't that right? He said we are cast down, we
are not destroyed. Now, verse 10 through 12, talking
about the apostles here, always bearing about in the body the
dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be
made manifest in our bodies." He's talking about the apostles
now, himself and Peter, James, and John. "...For we which live
are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life
also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal bodies. So death
works in us, but life in you." Here's what he's saying. Talk
about the apostles and their suffering and their afflictions
which they endured in the flesh because they were one with Christ.
And the hatred, he told his disciples, he said, the world hates me and
they'll hate you. And you remember one of them said, Lord, let me
read it over here in Mark 10. Listen to this. In Mark chapter
10, James and John, this is interesting
here, James and John said to the Lord in Mark 10, 37, they
said, Lord, Mark 10, 37, grant unto us that we may sit one on
thy right hand and the other on thy left hand in thy glory.
But Jesus said to them, you don't know what you're asking. Can you drink of the cup that
I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism I'm baptized with
that's his suffering his death ignominious suffering death and
they said we can oh boy and Jesus said to them you shall indeed
drink of the cup that I drink of and with the baptism that
I'm baptized with all shall you be baptized every one of the
apostles were martyred crucified, some of them, stoned, beaten
to death with halberds, every one of them but John, who was
exiled to Patmos. Christ said, you will, you'll
drink of the cup, and you'll be baptized with the baptism.
And that's what Paul is talking about here. Verse 11, we which
live are delivered unto death for Jesus' sake. that the life
of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh, so death
worketh in us, but life in you." This is for the elect's sake.
This is for the church's sake. What the apostles endured was
for our sake. That's right. Verse 13, we having
the same spirit of faith, same spirit with David, same spirit
with Moses, all the apostles, the prophets, According as it
is written, I believe, therefore have I spoken. We also believe,
therefore we speak. This is true of every one of
God's people. See, David said this first. David said this first. He said, I believe. Psalm 116.10. David said, I believe, therefore
I speak. And Paul said, that's a tribe. That's a family. They all believe and therefore
they speak. They speak because they believe.
That's why. Abraham believed God and therefore
it was counted to him for righteousness. Verse 14, knowing that he which
raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus and
shall present us with you. Our Lord died, we're going to
die. Our Lord laid in a tomb, we'll lay in a tomb. Our Lord
was raised from the dead by the hand of God. By that same spirit
and hand, he'll raise us. And he will present us. Paul
is such a humble man. He didn't say he'll present you
with us, apostles. He said he'll present us with
you. You despise Corinthians. He's
going to present us with you. He's going to present us. Present
us holy and without blame before his presence with exceeding joy. He'll present us in himself.
He will present us. This is a difference. Listen,
those people in Matthew 7, they spoke for themselves. They said,
Lord, we preached in your name and cast out devils and did many
wonderful works. I never knew you. But we're not
going to defend ourselves or introduce ourselves. Christ is
going to present us. Father, here they are. You gave them to me. You made
me their surety. I went down and redeemed them
in bringing many sons to glory. He died just for the unjust that
he might bring us to God and present us. And he's not going
to lose a one. He's going to present the whole
church. That's right, with you, thus with you. For all things
are for your sake, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving
of many redound to the glory of God. Everything's for your
sake. Everything. God has an elect people. He has
a sheep. He has a church. He has a bride.
He's going to redeem them. And everything that God is doing
and has done since the creation of this world and back yonder
in the establishment of the covenant of grace was for your sake. That's
right. Let me show you that. Take a
moment, turn to 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 3. Now listen to this. 1 Corinthians
3, verse 21. Remember, he said, all things
are for your sakes. All that God has purpose-planned
and is doing is for the sake of the church, the elect. In
1 Corinthians 3, 21, Therefore let no man glory in me, for all
things are yours, whether power, or palace, or sepulchre, or the
world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to
come. Everything is for your sake.
Everything God Almighty has done is for this one day when Christ
and His church at the marriage supper of the Lamb will be manifested
and revealed as trophies of His grace for the whole universe
to admire. Everything is for that purpose.
A man is going to build a house. He makes plans, does all these
things, gets material together, hires workmen, everything's to
build that house. And we're His house. And everything
that God has purposed, planned, got together, people He uses,
workmen, servants, laborers, or whomever, is for the house. That's right. It's all for your
sake. So therefore, verse 16, listen,
for this cause, I'm part of His divine purpose. You're part of
His purpose. We're part of His plan to bring
His people together. For this cause, I don't quit.
But though my outward man perish, my inward man is renewed day
by day. And our light afflictions, which
are but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding eternal
weight of glory. Listen, whatever road I travel,
whatever road you travel, Whatever burden we bear, what difficulty
we encounter, what enemies we face, what trials we endure,
what success we have or failure, our chief objective is to be
used of our God, to accomplish His purpose and
bring together His sheep. If He uses me in my lifetime
to go out and find one of them, That's all right. Or two of them. Or you. Or five. Whatever. It's all right. It's okay. Whatever he does is all right.
And here's the two things that help us and support us. Why we
look not at things which are seen. If you do, it'll drag you
down, down, down, down, down. Because they know it and they
don't improve much, do they? Things that are seen. But we
look at things that are not seen. We see beyond these days of flesh,
and we look to the glory. Abraham looked for a city. The
things that are seen are temporal, but the things which are not
seen are eternal. Two things support every believer
in every trial and trouble. One is that whatever is done
in his life is according to the will of the Father, and secondly,
He looks to the day when all of this will be over. And we'll be in his presence
conformed to his image. Treasure in an earthen vessel. But what a treasure.