Brother Ronnie quoted a passage
of Scripture in his prayer that I want you to look at for a moment. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. Such an important, important
statement. The very foundation of what we're
about to what we're about to do, and that
is this business of preaching. 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 13. Listen to this. Paul says, "...for this cause
also thank we God without ceasing, because when you receive the
word of God..." Now, how did they receive it? They received
it from a preacher. Paul was the preacher. He brought
them the word of God. He preached to them the word
of God. They didn't all have a Bible in their laps like you
have this morning. The New Testament was in the
process of being written at this time. And he said, when you received
the word of God and you received it from the lips of God's servant
who came their way, that's what he said in the next line, which
you heard of us. You received it not as the word
of men to be argued and debated But as it is in truth, the Word
of God. That's what we preach, the Word
of God. That's what you receive, the Word of God. And you receive
it not as the Word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of
God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. It's by the Word that we're quickened.
It's by the Word that we're regenerated. The Holy Spirit is that agent,
but the Word of God is that instrument. And that seed, our Lord said,
a sower went forth to sow. The sower is the son of man and
the seed is the word of God. It's the word of God that quickeneth.
It's the word of God that regenerates. It's the word of God that convicts.
It's the word of God that reveals Christ. And if you receive it
as the word of God, it is God's effectual. Effectual means what? Talking to my grandson Luke in
here in the office the other day, he was coloring in a color
book. He wanted to do something else.
I said, we'll do that after you complete what you're doing. He
said, complete. I said, after you complete it.
He said, what's that mean? I said, finish it. And that word
effectual, which worketh effectually in you, you say, what does that
word mean? It gets the job done. The Word of God will get the
job done. It's the only thing that will.
So turn now to 2 Corinthians 4, and let's see if we can approach
this passage of Scripture. in that frame of mind. Ronnie,
I appreciate that prayer. Oh, I appreciate that prayer.
If we can approach this message in that frame of mind, the preacher
and the people, this is the Word of God, the Word of the living
God. And we receive it not as the
Word of man, not as Baptist doctrine. I'm not preaching Baptist doctrine. I'm preaching God's Word. God's
Word and you receive it as the Word of God that's able in the
hands of God's Spirit, not in the hands of any man through
coercion or manipulation or persuasion or personality or psychology
to do anything for you, but as it is the Word of God in the
hands of the Holy Spirit that's able to work effectually in you
to do His will. Now in chapter 4 of 2 Corinthians,
strange as it may seem, but the Apostle Paul constantly battled
something. You know what it was? He constantly
battled the charge that he was not a true minister of Christ. He had to continue, especially
in the 2nd epistle to the Corinthians, he deals with that charge, the
false teachers. And false preachers continually
tried to prejudice the people against Paul. They said, don't
listen to him. Don't listen to him. He's not
a true apostle. Now, a true apostle, number one,
had to have seen the Lord. Had to have seen the Lord personally,
as did Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and so forth. Well, when did
Paul see the Lord? Well, he said, I saw the Lord
as one born out of due time. In other words, the Lord revealed
himself to him first on the road to Damascus. He saw the Lord.
The Lord revealed himself to him. He saw, he said, who are
you? He said, I'm Jesus of Nazareth. So he saw the Lord. Secondly,
an apostle had to have received his gospel directly from the
mouth of Christ. from the Lord himself. Those
were the two requirements. The twelve, now you know Judas,
Judas perished. He killed himself. He betrayed
the Lord and killed himself. There were eleven and then the
apostles met together and cast lots and chose one to take Judas'
place. I'm not certain that they acted
on the leadership of the Holy Spirit when they did that. I
believe Paul was the twelfth apostle. That's my opinion. And they chose Matthias. We never
hear anything else from Matthias, but we sure hear a lot from Paul.
But, you know, these 12 apostles, they sat at the feet of Christ.
He taught them the gospel. And these false apostles said,
when did Paul ever sit at the feet of Christ? When was Paul
ever with Peter, James, and John as the master spake? He never
was. He never was. He saw the Lord. Well, when did
he receive his gospel directly from the Lord? Well, take a moment
and turn to Galatians 1. Galatians 1. In Galatians 1,
verse 11, he said, I certify you, brethren, that the gospel
which was preached of me is not after man. I didn't receive it
of man, neither was I taught it. but by the revelation of
Jesus Christ." And he tells about his conversion. And then he said
in verse 17, after the Lord revealed his Son in me, Galatians 1, 17,
neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before
me, but I went into Arabia and returned again into Damascus.
Then, after three years, now it doesn't say he was in Arabia
three years. It doesn't say that at all. I
don't know how long he was in Arabia in the desert. But while he was
there, the Lord Jesus Christ taught him the gospel. That's
what he said. I didn't receive it of men. I wasn't taught it
by man. I didn't go to Peter, James,
and John to learn the gospel. I went into Arabia. Three years
later, I went up to Jerusalem and met with Peter. Three years
later. And we talked some things over.
But I got the gospel from God himself, from Christ himself.
And that was the charge these false preachers brought. They
brought the charge he's not an apostle. because he didn't see
the Lord, because he didn't get his gospel from the Lord. But
another thing they used was this, because of the afflictions, which
Paul, he's always in trouble, that's what they say. He's always
in trouble. He's always under some form of
persecution. Look at us, we're not persecuted,
that's what they say. We're not always in prison. We're
not always in jail. We're not always in trouble.
We're not always in some kind of conflict. Look at him. They
contended that Paul was not an apostle, and they tried to prejudice
the people against him and tell the people not to listen to him.
And in these verses, the apostle Paul declares several things.
Number one, he says in verse 1, chapter 4, 2 Corinthians,
we have this ministry. Seeing we have this ministry,
and we have it by the mercy and grace of God, and we're not discouraged,
and we're not going to quit, and we do not faint, and we do
not fall under the load. We have this ministry. Now, what
ministry was he talking about? Well, we've got to go back to
chapter 3. Would you just a moment? I'll be as brief as I can because
I want to get to verse 6. But we have this ministry. Now,
verse 6 of 2 Corinthians 3. The Lord hath made us able ministers
of the new covenant, of the new covenant, not of the letter,
but of the Spirit. For the letter killeth, but the
Spirit giveth life. But if the ministration of death... Now, the old covenant was the
ministry of death. The ministry of the law is the
ministry of death. It discovers our sins, it shows
us the wrath of God, Somebody said the old covenant reveals
God against us and the new covenant reveals Emmanuel, God, with us. Paul said our ministry is not
the ministry of death that only shows our sins and shows the
wrath of God and shows us our duty and gives us no strength
to perform it and no delight in performing it. But the new
covenant is the ministry of life, not the ministry of death. but
the ministry of life. And then verse 7, he said, this
ministry we have is not written in stones. See that verse 7? The ministry of death written
and engraved in stones. This new covenant is written
on the heart. God writes his word not on tables
of stone to be read, but he writes his word and his law on the heart
to be loved. And then he goes on, he said,
if that old covenant was glorious, It was glorious and it was glorious. Let me show you some scripture.
Turn to Exodus chapter 20. Even the giving of the law was
glorious. Even the declaration of God's
holiness and God's justice is glorious. God's majesty is glorious. It's glorious. Such glory that
man can't even look upon that. Listen to Exodus 20, if you will,
verse 18. And the people saw the thunderings,
and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain
smoking. And when the people saw it, they
turned and ran. Where? Toward it? Oh no, away
from it. They removed and stood afar off.
And they said to Moses, Speak now with us, and we'll hear,
but let not God speak with us, lest we die. Paul is saying this,
if the ministration of death and the ministration of law and
the ministry of God's majesty and holiness and righteousness,
if that's glorious, and it is, let me show you another verse,
Exodus chapter 34, listen to this, Exodus 34, beginning with
verse 29. And it came to pass when Moses
came down from the mountain, from Mount Sinai. with the two
tables of the law, the testimony in his hand, when he came down
from that mountain, that Moses did not know that the skin of
his face shone while he talked with him. And when Abram and
all the children of Israel saw Moses, the skin of his face shone,
and they were afraid to come near him." You're talking about
glory. Now, what Paul is saying here,
he said, we have a ministry. I have a ministry, but it's not
the ministry of death. The law speaks judgment, reveals
the wrath of Almighty God, reveals our sin, reveals our duty, doesn't
give us the strength or power to perform it, but it reveals
it. It reveals it. And that law is glorious. We're
not taking away from it. We're not saying it's something
hidden in the closet. The law of God is glorious. The power, the sovereignty, the
justice and judgment of God is glorious. When Moses came down
from that mountain holding those two tablets, the Ten Commandments,
when he had been in the presence of God to receive the law, just
the law, just do this, do this, don't do that, don't do the other.
This is my law, this is my judgment, this is my holiness, this is
my righteousness. It was so glorious that when
the people saw Moses just Having been there on the mountain, having
been there in the presence of the Lord, his face shone with
such radiance they couldn't look upon a man who had been in the
presence of God. Not God now, but a man who had
been there in the presence of God. His face shone, and he had
to cover his face with a veil. So, back to our text again, let
me show you that. Verse 7, Paul said, the ministration
or ministry of death. written in stones, written in
letters. It was glorious so that the children
of Israel could not gaze even for any time. Now you can glance
at the sun, but you better turn away. And that's what he means.
You can look quickly at the sun, but you better turn away. And
they couldn't steadfastly, continually look upon the face of Moses for
the glory of his countenance. which glory was to be done away. Listen to this. If we could just
see what I'm talking about. We take the gospel with such
indifference. Preaching with such indifference.
This Word, we can go to sleep while somebody's reading it.
We can fidget, we can get up and go to the restroom, we can
come in late. And he talks about the giving
of the law. A declaration of God's judgment
against us, God's wrath upon us, God's holy law which we can't
commence to get started, even touch, to come within spitting
distance of even understanding, let alone observe it. If that
law is so glorious, so magnificent, that when the man who received
it went into God's presence and got the tables of stone, and
left and came down the mountain, and us poor mortals couldn't
even look at him, couldn't even look at him. The glory, the reflected
glory of God on the face of that mortal was so brilliant and so
radiant they couldn't even look at him. And he said, all that's
to be done away. It's all to be done away. It's
not even going to continue. Now read the next word. If that's
glorious, how shall not the ministry of the Spirit be glorious. What I'm dealing with this morning
is infinitely more glorious than the giving of that love, infinitely
more glorious. In fact, that's going to be done
away. He taketh away the first that he may establish. What I'm
talking about, life in Christ, the life of Christ, the beauty
of Christ, the mercy of Christ, the forgiveness of Christ, The
redemption that is in Christ Jesus, that's the true glory
of God. Moses said, Lord, show me your
glory. And Moses had already received
that love. Come on now. Moses, that was
Exodus 20. This is Exodus 33. When Moses
went alone with the Lord, and he said he'd been on that mountain,
he'd picked up those tables, he'd come down that mountain,
he'd put that veil on his face, he'd seen the smitten rock, he'd
seen the pillar of fire, he'd seen the cloud by day, he'd seen
the splitting of the river, he'd seen all those things. Now he
said, Lord, show me your glory. The Lord said, all right, but
you get over there and hide in the cliff to that rock. Because
no man can see God and live. No man. And I'm going to pass
by you, and you'll just see my hind parts. But he said, I'm
going to declare my glory to you, and my glory is this. I'll
be merciful. I'll be merciful in Christ. I'll be gracious in Christ, to
whom I will be gracious. That's God speaking. That's my
glory. And that's what Paul is talking about. We have this ministry.
We have this ministry. How we can take it so lightly,
how we can give it less than our best, kills me. I don't understand
it. How we can seek to serve God
unprepared, I don't know. I don't know. How we can give
it less than our utmost attention is utterly, completely beyond
me. I don't understand it. I'll tell
you what we're going to say. We're going to see the glory
of that law that's going to kill us and crush us and grind us
to powder because we hold with such indifference the glory of
this gospel. It's the ministry, Paul said,
we have a ministry that's infinitely glorious. Glorious. We're going to see why we don't
see it in a few minutes. But look down here at verse 9
of chapter 3. He says this ministry of the
law is a ministry of condemnation. Ministry of death. It's a ministry
written in stones. It's a ministry in letter. But
even that ministry is glorious. But it's the ministry of condemnation. Condemnation. This is a ministry
of condemnation. Cursed is everyone that continueth
not in all things written in the law that do it." Condemnation.
That's all the law will say to you, me, or anybody else. You're
condemned. You're condemned. What the law
saith, it saith to everyone who's under the law that every mouth
may be stopped and all the world become guilty before God. Now,
if that's glorious, much more does the ministry of righteousness,
whose? His. His. The ministry of righteousness
exceeds in glory. What kind of ministry do we have? We're not entertaining sinners
on their road to hell. We're not filling up space and
time for a bunch of religionists to go through the motions and
the form and the ceremony on Sunday morning. We have a ministry! We have a ministry not of death,
but of life! Not of letter, but of spirit!
Not in stone, but in heart! Not of condemnation, but of justification! What a ministry! We have it. We have it. We have it. That's what Paul
said. I've got a ministry. I've got a ministry. I've got
a ministry. Verse 2, and he said, we have
a ministry. Verse 2, he said, we renounce
the hidden things of dishonesty. We're not after your money. That's
exactly what he said. We're not one thing in public
and another thing in private. We're not hucksters and merchandisers
of men. Turn, if you will, to Acts chapter
20. Somebody said, the preacher's always after my money. Most of
them are. You're right. They ought to be
shot. Put a bounty on their heads, $50 apiece. Scalp them. Bring
them in. Pay off. Kill them all. Sooner
the better. But Paul says in verse 33 of
Acts 20, I've coveted no man's silver, gold, or apparel. In
fact, he said, you yourselves know, verse 34, that these hands
right here you're looking at have ministered to my necessities
and to them that were with me. He said, I went out and worked.
I wouldn't be chargeable to you or anybody else. I don't know
what you have. I'm not interested in yours.
I'm interested in you. That's exactly what he said.
I've renounced the hidden things of dishonesty. Most preachers
in this next line, not walking and crafting, it's using people.
You can't see it, I see it. Preachers using people with tricks
and methods and hidden meanings, disguising their true goals,
promoting themselves. And we're fools, we support them.
They're promoting themselves. They're exercises in dishonesty
and craftiness and trickery, trickery, handling the Word of
God deceitfully, mixing grace with works, keeping back part
of the Word of God, speaking one message to one people and
another message to another people, depending on what they'll receive. Paul said, I've renounced that
sort of thing. I will not be engaged in it.
I will have no part of it, the hidden things of dishonesty,
walking in craftiness, a shyster, using people, exercising trickery
and methods, disguising my true intention and my goal, promoting
myself, handling the Word of God deceitfully. Oh, no. But
by manifestation of the truth, the truth That's what we preach,
the truth. And that's what commends us to
every man's conscience in the sight of God. A sincere heart
and a true message is all the recommendation any preacher needs. That's all. A sincere heart and
a true message. That's all he needs. And the
people of God who know God will recognize it. That's what he
says over here in verse 13. He said, David said this, we
have the same spirit David had, the same spirit of faith David
had, verse 13. He said, I believe, therefore
I spoke. And Paul said, that's my spirit,
I believe. I believe God. I believe his word, every word
of it. I believe his son, I believe
his gospel, and because I believe it, I speak. I speak, and I have
a ministry. But, verse 3, we have an enemy. He said in verse 1, I have a
ministry, not of death, life, not in letter, but spirit, not
written on stones, but written on the heart, not a minister
of condemnation and judgment, but a minister of justification
and salvation, and I have renounced all these methods that these
sorry dogs and hooksters and merchandisers of soul use. I've renounced it. I preach the
truth as it is in Christ Jesus, but I have an enemy." He said,
our gospel's head. Yes, it is. Notice someone said
he called it our gospel. It's my gospel. I know it's God's
gospel. Paul said it was God's gospel.
We preach the gospel of God, but he said it's our gospel,
and he said it's our gospel because we've been saved by that gospel.
It's touched not our minds, but our hearts. Not just our hands,
but it's touched our hearts. He said, it's my gospel. It's
my gospel. I've been redeemed by it. He
said, it's my gospel because I've been obsessed by it. I love
it. I'm devoted to it. I'm obsessed
by it. And I'm entrusted with it. God's
put it in my hands. What a treasure. What a treasure. I'll not compromise it. It's
my gospel. But he said, my glorious gospel,
the glorious gospel of God, my gospel, the gospel of truth is
hidden. It's hidden. It's hidden. To whom is it hidden? I'll tell
you this. Someone wrote this one time.
They said, what Paul's insinuating is this. If one of his hearers
does not see the glory and truth of God in the gospel Paul preached,
it's not from want of a true minister or a true message. Not
at all. But the problem is the hardness
of their hearts. And secondly, the presence of
Satan. And that's what's unfortunate.
Watch this verse forward. Somebody's doing the work. The
fault's not in the gospel. The fault's not in the gospel.
If the gospel be hid, the fault's not in the gospel. If men do
not understand it and do not believe it and do not receive
it and cannot rejoice in it, the fault is not in the gospel.
I didn't get anything whether it wasn't the fault of the preacher
or the message. The fault was in you, in the
hearer. That's what, if our gospel be
heard, it is heard to them that are lost. Let me show you a scripture
over here in 1 Corinthians. Some people believe this to be
reprobates. Now let me go over this just
a moment. See, everybody's lost. We're
born lost. We're lost by the fall. We're
lost by imputation and impartation of guilt. We're lost by identification
with Adam. We're lost sheep. Christ said,
I came to seek and to save the lost. The lost. He talked about the lost coin,
the lost boy, the lost sheep. That's His people. We're lost.
We once were lost, but now we're found. But here He said, to them
that are forever lost, There are some who are lost who will
be found. There are some who are lost who will never be found.
God has given them up. Read Romans 1, 2, and 3. God
has passed them by. God has left them in their sins
and left them in their rebellion. And many people believe that
this verse of Scripture, if our gospel be hid now and hid tomorrow
and hid forever, it's hid to them that are lost. The gospel
is not hid to his people, it's revealed in Christ. But it's
hid to those who are lost, reprobates, rebels, indifferent to the Word
of God. Lost. Listen to 1 Corinthians
2. But here in chapter 2 of 1 Corinthians,
he says, we speak, verse 7, we speak the wisdom of God in a
mystery. Even the hidden wisdom, the wisdom
of God's Christ. Christ and His redemptive work,
His person and work, it's a mystery, it's hidden, which God ordained
before the world unto our glory, His glory and our glory, because
we will share His glory and enjoy His glory, which none of the
princes of this world knew. They didn't recognize God's glory
in the face of Christ. Had they recognized it, they
wouldn't have crucified Him. But it is written, I have not
seen, not the human eye, I have human understanding and wisdom,
no ear heard, not the natural ear, neither have entered into
the natural heart of man the things God has prepared for them
that love him, but God has revealed them to us. How? By his Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things,
yea, the deep things of God." Verse 14, "...but the natural
man, he receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God." What are
the things of the Spirit of God? He'll take the things of mine
and show them to you. Those are the things of the Spirit
of God, the things of Christ. He'll not speak of himself. Well,
he shall hear, he shall speak, and he'll take the things of
mine and show them unto you. And the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, the things of Christ.
He won't receive them. Why? They're foolishness to him.
Ah, that's all a pack of foolishness. You talk about God being just
and His justice must be honored. You talk about God's law being
pure and whole and His law must be satisfied and kept. You talk
about God pronouncing condemnation on the world and it must be fulfilled.
And the person of a substitute, God coming down here in the flesh,
and living on the earth, and obeying the law, and fulfilling
the law, and suffering in all points, and tempted in all points,
and a man going to the cross and spitting upon him, nailing
him to a tree, giving his soul, and offering for sin his body
to the spiders, his cheeks to those that pluck out the hair,
and suffering there under the wrath and judgment of God for
all the sins of all the elect of all ages, being taken down
from the cross and buried and rising from the tomb and ascending
to the right hand of God. Oh, a pack of foolishness! Yes,
you don't see the beauty of it. You don't see the glory of it.
You don't have eyes to see anything in it but foolishness. It's foolishness
to him. Neither can he understand it,
verse 14, because these things are spiritual matters. Yes, you
can You can measure a square lot and build a house. You can
build a bridge. You can shoot your rockets to
the moon. Sure, you can do all these things
that natural eyes can see and natural ears can hear and natural
hands can manipulate, put together. You can see those things, understand
those things and do those things and operate and put in this,
that and the other and take out this, that and the other, but
these things are not seen with the natural eye. These are the
things of God. God's a spirit. God's not a mechanical piece of something that you can
see and hear and touch. God's not natural, mechanical
on this earth. God's a spirit, and they that
worship him, they that know him, they that walk with him, worship,
know and walk with him in spirit and truth. That's right. In the Gospels here, verse 4,
what's this? "...in whom the God of this world."
Who is that? Well, you say, God's the God
of this world, God's the God of all things. But this is a
little g, see that little g? "...in whom the God." That's
not capitalized. And then secondly, this is the
only place that Satan's called the God of this world anywhere
in the Bible. He's called the prince of this world twice by
our Lord. In John, I'll just give you the
text, 12, 31, 1430, Christ calls him the prince of this world.
But this is talking about Satan because Satan blinds the minds
of them. God does not blind the minds
of men in the sense he hides Christ from them. That's Satan's
work. Now God judicially blinded Israel as a form of judgment.
But Satan, let me tell you this, by divine permission, Satan has
great power. He's not almighty. God is almighty. Satan is not omni-anything. He's not omnipresent, omnipotent,
nor omniscient. He's limited in all things. Everything
he does, everything he performs is by divine permission. God
lets him. God lets him. God lets him. And by divine permission, he
has great power, and by divine permission, he blinds the minds
of men. By divine permission, he is the
prince of this world, he's the god of this world, and Christ
is his enemy. Not you particularly. Christ
is his enemy. He uses you. But Christ is his
enemy. Christ is the express image of
God, and Christ is the enemy of Satan. And Satan does, he
can't keep the gospel out of this world, but by divine permission
he can keep it out of your heart. Our Lord said the seed is sown
on the fallow ground and the birds of the air come pick it
up before it can bear, take root and bear fruit. And he said the
seed sown on fallow ground is picked up by Satan. He uses all
subtlety, all manner of craftiness, all manner of subtle methods
to keep you from hearing the gospel. That's right, to make
you weary under the sound of the gospel, to take your mind
off on something else. You see, here's one objective.
He doesn't care how religious you are. I'm telling you the
truth. We've got, just like everything else, we've got it all balled
up in this generation. Our thoughts of Satan are all
wrong. We picture Satan as living down
in the hulky talks, and the dives, and the red light district, and
Satan living with the mafia, and Satan having a wicked smile
on his face, and a pitchfork, you know, and horns, and a tail,
and a red suit, and all this. You got it wrong. Satan's in
the bullpen. Satan's got his collar turned around back. Satan's
got his hands folded in total submission. Satan lifts his eyes
toward heaven and carries a cross around his neck. That's Satan.
That's right. He wants you to be religious
without Christ. His enemy is Christ, not you.
He doesn't particularly care whether you get drunk or stay
sober, just so you don't know Christ. He doesn't care whether
you join the Catholics or the Baptists, just so you join somebody
and miss Christ. He doesn't care how religious
you are. He doesn't care how many times you pray just so you
don't lay hold of the horns of the altar in Christ. He doesn't
care. In fact, he'll promote it. Let
me show you something in 2 Corinthians chapter 11. 2 Corinthians 11. Listen to this. I'm telling you
the truth. I make enemies because I tell
people the truth. I got one lady in this church
now mad at me. She won't even speak to me because
I told her the truth. And I'm going to keep telling
the truth. Paul said, am I your enemy because I tell you the
truth? If I think you're lost, I'm going to tell you I think
you're lost. If I think you've missed Christ, I'm going to tell
you I think you've missed Christ. Now Satan won't do that. He'll
soothe your feathers. And here in 2 Corinthians 11,
listen to what Paul said, verse 13, they're false apostles, they're
deceitful workers. They transform themselves into
the apostles of Christ, and that's no amazing marvel. Satan himself
is transformed into an angel of light. It's no great thing
if his ministers also be transformed as ministers of righteousness,
humanitarian works, philanthropy, and all this sort of thing. human
righteousness, goodness. Don't go to this place, that
place, and the other place, because Jesus may come while you're there.
He promotes that sort of foolishness. There's no great marvel whose
end shall be according to their work. So he said, Our enemy is
Satan, and he blinds men's minds. Now watch this. Stay with me.
I'm going to quit in a minute. I preached too long. Listen to
this verse, "...in whom the God of this world hath blinded..."
What did He blind? Their minds. Their minds. Understanding. My friend, that's
what He blinds, is the mind. The mind. The mind. Our God has
come and given us an understanding that we may know Him that is
true in Christ. But Satan blinds men's minds.
He gets their minds cluttered up. with their works and deeds
and religion and all these sort of things, blinds their minds. He doesn't blind their eyes,
physical eyes, but their minds. Lists the light. And let me tell
you something. First thing in salvation is light.
Light. First thing in creation. What
first thing in creation? Genesis 1, 3. God said let there
be light. That's the first thing. And I'll
tell you the first production in grace is light. Who is that
light? Christ. Christ. That's exactly right. And this
Satan blinds people's minds, lest the light of the glory of
the gospel of God's glory, not yours, not the Baptist's glory,
God's glory, who is the very image, express image of God should
shine unto them. But we don't preach ourselves.
I'm not preaching myself. My opinion, my philosophy, not
worth that. We're not preaching to supply
ourselves with praise or possession. We're not preaching ourselves.
It doesn't matter what you think of the preacher, it matters what
you think of his Lord. I hear people say all the time,
you got folks down at that church, I don't have any confidence in
them. I don't either. I don't either. I don't have any confidence in
me. My confidence is in Christ. We're not selling people, we're
preaching Christ. We're not preaching ourselves.
Well, I'm as good as some of the folks down at the church.
You may be better mentally, physically, and morally. But they're not
trusting their works, they're trusting their Redeemer. You
find fault with our members, you find fault with our Lord.
You can't find any fault with Him. Even Pilate could find no
fault in Him. Even the Heavenly Father said,
I'm well pleased. You're looking at the wrong one.
We're preaching Christ. We're preaching ourselves. We're
preaching Christ, that's what Paul said. We don't preach ourselves,
but Christ anointed, Jesus man, our Lord, King of kings and Lord
of lords. That's who we preach, and we're
your servants, for his sake. God's men are God's servants,
but in being God's servants, they serve you, because they
dish out his words. See, they're His servants. They
go to the throne and say, where do you want me to go? I want
you to go down here. What do you want me to take? I want you to take
this word. So that makes us your servants for His sake. In serving
Him, you serve them. Now, a lot of preachers got that
wrong. They go to the people and say, what do you want me
to tell God? And they send them up there, you know. What do you
want me, what do you want to hear from God? Well, this is
what we want to hear. We want to hear something tickle our ears and
tickle your ears. Oh, no. The servant of the Lord goes to the
Lord first. And then he serves the people.
He may have to reprove, rebuke, exhort, and all these sort of
things, but he's God's servant. But in being God's servant, he
serves you. In giving you what God gave him, he blesses you. So we don't preach ourselves,
we preach Christ, Jesus, the Lord. That's his whole redemptive
character and work in office right there. And we're your servants
for his sake. For God, who commanded the light,
to shine out of darkness. And I go back to Genesis 1, 3,
and I tell you what I hear. I see darkness upon the face
of the deep, void. The earth became without form
or void. That's us by birth, by nature. We're without form
and void. We're in darkness, in corruption,
without God, without hope, without Christ in this world. And God
determines to recreate, recreate, If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature creation. And when God created the world,
when He recreated the world, the first thing He said is, let
there be light. And there was light. And in recreation,
in regeneration, in God making the new creature in Christ Jesus,
God doesn't send a law down there, He sends light. God doesn't send
a hammer and beat you to death. God doesn't just send more darkness
to show you your darkness. You see the way to see darkness?
Oh no, He sends light. Who is light? Christ. Christ. God Almighty has shined in our
hearts to give the light and the knowledge of the glory of
God in the face of Christ Jesus. No man. Let me tell you something.
Bob said this last night up yonder, Charlie Tooth, same message I'm
preaching now. The man that sees his sin and
understands his sins is the man who has seen those sins in the
light of Christ Jesus. Love. Now, let me tell you something.
Let me give you an illustration. Here's an old criminal and a
thief. And you can talk to him about
the law of the land and the law of the state and the law of the
city. And you can't touch him. He'll boast of the fact that
he got around it some way, or he broke it, or he stole, or
got away with something. I don't care how hard they are.
You can't break them with law. But I'll tell you what you can
do to make tears come in that old boy's eyes. You tell him
the whole state's mad at you, the governor's your enemy, so,
well, I fixed him. I put it over on there. But you
come in and tell him, you broke your mother's heart, son. Your
mother is grieving over you. She loves you. No boasting. Now, tears have come in his eyes.
He said, well, I'm sorry. I sure regret it. What you couldn't
do with law, you did with love. You see what I'm saying? And
you can take these old heart and rebels against God, and you
can preach law to them until you ain't got a righteous man
in the place. But if they ever see by the grace of God, the
love of Christ, the love of God in Christ, the mercy of God in
Christ. You see, I don't measure myself
beside a rule, I measure myself beside the ruler. You see, the
King, the Lord Jesus Christ, His perfect love. You know when
I see my hate and malice is when I put myself beside Christ's
love. That's when I really see it.
You know, when I see my fleshly nature, what you prayed about,
the more I see of Christ's sinlessness and His compassion and His kindness
and tenderness, that's when I see myself. Not when I'm looking
at a law. So in conviction, the first thing is Christ. And I'll
tell you, in honoring the law, the first thing is Christ. And
in the attributes of God, the first thing is Christ. You can't
know God apart from Christ. There's no man who can even fear
God except as he's revealed in Christ. And I'm telling you,
the satisfaction of God's justice is in Christ, faith is in Christ,
I live by the faith of the Son of God, and growth is in Christ.
We grow in grace and knowledge of the Son of God. That's how
we grow, in the knowledge of Christ. God, who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness, has given us, has shined in our
hearts, not in our heads only, in our hearts, to give the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God. And where is it seen?
In the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why we must preach
Christ. Everything is relative to Christ. And I hear people say, well,
you preach Christ, Christ, Christ, don't you preach anything else?
Yes, everything else is relative to Christ. It's by Christ that
He made the world. It's by Him and through Him that
the world is sustained. In Him we live and move and have
our being. It's in Christ that He made the covenant of grace.