Blinded By the God of This World

I'll ask you to open your Bibles
again to the book of 2 Corinthians, chapter 4. 2 Corinthians, the fourth chapter. In verse 1, the Apostle Paul
writes, "...therefore seeing we have this ministry." What
ministry? It's the ministry of God's grace. It's the ministry of God's gospel. It's the ministry of God's mercy
in Christ Jesus. It's not the old letter of the
law. Back in verse 6 of 2 Corinthians
3, he identifies this ministry. He says in verse 6 of 2 Corinthians
3, "...who also hath made us able ministers of the new covenant,
not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter killeth,
but the Spirit giveth life. The law can only slay the sinner. The letter killeth. Christ Jesus
gives the sinner life. We're not ministers of tradition,
custom. We're not ministers of the law.
We're ministers of grace. And our gospel is the gospel
of God. Our ministry is the ministry
of the new covenant in Christ Jesus our Lord. It's the gospel
of God, it's the gospel of grace. It is done, the great transaction's
done. I am my Lord's and he is mine. He drew me and I followed on,
charmed to confess his voice divine. And our gospel is not
only the gospel of God and the gospel of his grace and the gospel
of his grace in Christ Jesus, but our gospel is the gospel
of good news. There's no good news in the law.
There's no good news in rituals. There's no good news in feasts.
There's no good news in types, actually. These all speak of
a work yet to be done. But the gospel of God's grace
is the declaration of a work already done. So we have this
ministry. Verse 1, chapter 4, 2 Corinthians,
this is our ministry. We have this ministry, and we
have it by mercy. We have received mercy of God,
and therefore we faint not. Now look at verse 2. Paul says,
seeing we have this ministry, we have renounced the hidden
things of dishonesty. You mean there's dishonesty in
the ministry, as well as everywhere else? Paul said, we have denounced
these things, we have renounced them, we don't walk in craftiness. We're not handling the Word of
God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves
to every man's conscience in the sight of God. Now the true
minister of Christ, who has the true ministry of the gospel,
has a twofold purpose and a twofold motive, yea, a third may be added,
but specially twofold. First of all, he forever foremost
seeks the glory of God. As Paul wrote in Philippians,
that God may be glorified whether in my life or in my death. He calls his gospel the gospel
of God's glory. He says, whatever you do in word
or deed, do it for the glory of God. And then in verse 5 he
says, we're not preaching ourselves, this is not our message, we're
preaching Christ, Christ the Lord, and ourselves your servants
for Jesus' sake. That's the first motive and purpose
of a true minister of God. He seeks the glory of God. Now
secondly, he seeks the eternal good of his hearer. And I say
the eternal good for embracing, in embracing the gospel of grace,
the hearer may have to endure suffering and trial and persecution
in this life, but eventually he'll be like Christ. The minister
of the gospel cannot, he can promise us the peace of God,
but he cannot promise peace with men. The minister can promise
rest in Christ Jesus, but he can't promise rest in this present
world. The minister of the gospel can
promise freedom from condemnation, but not freedom from persecution.
So he seeks the eternal good of the hero. That's the twofold
purpose and motive of every true minister of God. Paul says, we
have this ministry of God, we have this ministry of grace,
We have this ministry of a finished, completed work, and we have renounced
the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, but
declaring the Word of God truthfully, for our first motive is the glory
of God. Whether anybody's ever saved
or not, whether anybody among our congregation ever gets to
glory, we are to preach for the glory of God. And secondly, we
seek the eternal good of our heroes. Now, say, every true
minister has a twofold purpose, perhaps three. Turn to 1 Timothy,
chapter 4, and this would be the third purpose and motive
of his study and his ministry. In 1 Timothy 4, verse 16, Paul
says, Take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine. Continue
in them for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them
that hear thee." Take heed to thyself and to the doctrine,
continuing them, for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself
and them that hear thee. In other words, the true minister
seeks his own salvation. That's a threefold purpose and
motive in this ministry. We have this ministry, the ministry
of God, the ministry of the gospel, and we preach for His glory and
for the eternal good of our heroes and that we might be saved. But,
verse 3, but our gospel is hid. But if our gospel be hid, it
is hid to them that are lost. in whom the God of this world
hath blinded their minds, those that believe not, lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them." A man may be a very keen politician. A man may be a first-rate businessman. A man may be a good doctor. He
may be a great scientist. He may be a philosopher and be
blind to our gospel. A man may be very religious.
He may talk of heaven and hell. He may quote scriptures like
the Pharisees of old. Yea, even Satan quoted scriptures
to the master. He may even talk of sin and salvation. He may even talk of Christ and
of the Holy Spirit, and never have the slightest notion of
the spiritual meaning of these words. Paul said, our gospel
to some is hid, and what's happened is this, the God of this world
hath blinded them. That's what's happened. They've
been blinded by the God of this world, lest the light of the
glorious gospel of Christ, whose image of God should shine unto
them. Christ Jesus said they have eyes, but they don't see.
They have ears, but they don't hear. They have hearts, but they
don't understand. And he turned to his disciples
and he said, Blessed are your eyes, they see. Blessed are your
ears, they hear. Now we have a ministry. We have
received it mercifully and in grace. This ministry is the ministry
not of the old dead letter of the law and traditional religion. It's the ministry of a new covenant. It's a new covenant. It's the
covenant of God's grace in Christ Jesus. And we have gone forth,
he said, renouncing the hidden things of dishonesty, not seeking
yours but you, and not walking in craftiness, seeking only the
glory of God and only your good and our own salvation. But it's
like shining a brilliant 300 watt bulb in the face of a blind
man. He can't see it. She can't see
it. Why can't they see it? because
they're blind. Well, who blinded them? The God
of this world, Satan blinded them. All right, I'm going to
bring three points in this message this morning. I want it applied
first of all right here, and I want it applied to everybody
here. It doesn't matter how long you've been professing to be
a Christian. I want three things to be brought forth in this message.
Number one, this blindness is a common blindness. Secondly, it comes in different
ways. Satan uses different ways to
bring it to pass. The third statement, what can
I do about it? Now here's the tragic thing we're
looking at. We're looking at a common condition,
spiritual blindness. Our gospel. We're not talking
about the law, not talking about religion, we're not talking about
creeds and doctrines. We're not talking about ceremonies
and symbols. We're not talking about rituals
and types. We're talking about the gospel. It's the gospel that's hid. It's
the gospel that's hid. It's the gospel they can't see.
If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. "...in
whom the God of this world hath blinded their minds." Their minds
are blinded. They have eyes, but they don't
see. They have ears, but they don't hear. They have hearts,
but they don't understand. It's their minds that are blinded. This spiritual blindness is very
common. It's manifested in several ways.
First of all, it's manifested in occupation with the material
world. Now, if you don't believe that
this world is spiritually blind, you look about you and you listen
to people. You just begin to observe. Close
your mouth and open your ears, and your eyes, and begin to observe.
And you'll see that this world is spiritually blind, that God
and His glory and His gospel, they're blind. And occupation
with the world, the material world, is the first evidence
of spiritual blindness. Now, four questions occupy the
mind of the average person here today in our chandra. Four questions. Occupy our minds. Here they are. What shall I eat? What shall
I drink? What shall I wear? And how shall
I be entertained? Those are the four questions
that occupy the thoughts and minds of the average person 24
hours a day. What shall I eat? What shall
I drink? What shall I wear? And how shall
I be entertained? Christ said that. Turn to Matthew
6. Our Lord Jesus said, that is the thought of the Gentile.
And when He says Gentile, He's talking about the person who's
not a believer, who's not a redeemed one, in opposition to the Jew. Look at this. In Matthew 6, verse
31, Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? What
shall we drink? Wherewithal shall we be clothed
after these things? All these things do the Gentiles
seek. Your Heavenly Father knows that
you have need of these things. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and His righteousness. Is that what we're doing? No,
sir. That is not what we're doing. We're doing what He condemned
in verse 31. We're not doing what He commanded
in verse 33. And all these things will be added to you. Therefore
take no thought for the morrow. The morrow shall take thought
for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the
evil thereof." That's the first evidence that men are spiritually
blind, is that their thoughts are strictly and totally on the
material world. They're occupied with it. What
shall I eat? What shall I drink? What shall
I wear? And how shall I be entertained."
What am I going to do with myself? I've got to have something to
keep me entertained. The second evidence that spiritual
blindness is upon us is an ease of conscience where sin is concerned. Now the Bible, listen to me carefully,
the Bible charges us, every one of us, with great sin against
God. It says, come short of God's glory. It
says from the sole of our feet to the top of our heads, there's
no soundness in us but open running sores. It says even our righteousnesses
are filthy rags. It says the Lord God looked down
from heaven to see if there were any, if there was any that did
do good. He says there's none good. The
Bible declares that God's angry with the wicked. that sins have
separated us from God. And yet be absolutely honest
now, honest this morning before God. Are you concerned about
it? About the deepest concern we
can get over sin is if we can think back yesterday where we
lost our temper yesterday. But that was yesterday. Today's
a new day and we wiped the mouth and washed the hands. And everything's
all right this morning. How many of us can cry with David
in Psalms 51? Listen to Psalms 51. Turn over
there just a minute and see if this, is this the attitude of
our hearts? Is this the attitude of our minds
where this thing of seeing is concerned? Have mercy on me,
O God. Verse 2, wash me from mine iniquity. Verse three, I acknowledge my
transgression, my sin is ever before me. Verse five, I was shapen in iniquity,
and sin, my mother, conceived me. He goes back and picks this
thing up pretty far back, doesn't he? Thou desirest truth in here,
in the hidden part. O God, purge me with hyssop,
and I shall be clean, wash me. and I'll be whiter than... Our
consciences are at ease. How many of us can cry with the
publican, Oh God, be merciful to me, the sinner. How many of
us have the attitude of the Apostle Paul, who says, I'm less than
the least of all the saints. I'm the chief of sinners. Oh,
wretched, wretched man that I am. An evidence that we are totally
blind to the exceeding sinfulness of sin and the holiness of God
and the wrath of God against sin is our ease of conscience
where sin is concerned. We're at ease in Zion. We come to the house of God and
there's no fear of God before our eyes, there's no reverence
of spirit, there's no smitten conscience and heart, there's
no seeking after the face of God. We're like blind men standing
on a precipice, totally unaware of our danger, totally unaware. We're taken up with smelling
the roses while the, as one of the old writers said, hell is
moving up to meet us at our coming. We're at ease of conscience.
We're not troubled by sin. The third evidence that spiritual
blindness is upon men is this. It's manifested by a presumptuous
hope about eternity. Well, I was christened when I
was a baby. I've been in church all my life.
My mother took me to church when I was just a little fella, and
I've been in church all my life." Another says, well, I'm not as
bad as most people. Another says, well, I made a
profession when I was in the junior department or intermediate
department, and I was baptized, and I've been regular in my church
attendance. Another says, well, I always
try to give to worthwhile causes. Paying no attention to statements
like this, you must be born again. Paying no attention to verses
like this, by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified. Paying no attention to verses
like this, he that believeth not shall be damned. Spiritual blindness is manifested
in a presumptuous hope of heaven. in a presumptuous hope of eternal
life, of resting upon isolated experiences in religion that
have not grown nor matured nor ripened in Christ Jesus. The fourth evidence of spiritual
blindness is manifested in trifling with eternal matters. joking
and trifling with eternal matters. I love humor, and I'm not alone. And I'm delighted to know that
Mr. Spurgeon was a very witty man, a very humorous man, one
who enjoyed laughter. And the Bible says a merry heart
doeth good like medicine. Bitter spirit dryeth the bones. But there are subjects of humor,
and eternal matters are not some of them. But today a joke about
heaven or a joke about hell can always draw a belly laugh from
everybody. A joke about a minister is always
funny. A joke about religion Men even
take certain phrases and passages in the Bible and make humorous
remarks about them. This shows spiritual blindness. And not only that, but spiritual
sickness. Hell is not humorous. There's
no laughter in hell. Sin is not funny. and God's judgments
and God's righteousness and God's wrath against sin is not a subject
for humor. Charles Wesley wrote these words. Listen carefully to them. Oh
God, my inmost soul convert and deeply on a serious heart eternal
matters impress. Make me to feel their solemn
weight and trembling on the brink of faith, wake me up to righteousness."
Charles Wesley. I think we ought to be happy
people. I think we ought to be people
who have a merry heart. We rejoice in the Lord always. Paul said, and again I say, But no man who's ever felt the
weight of sin can laugh about it. No man who's ever contemplated
eternity separated from God, burning in the pits of an eternal
hell, can laugh about it. No man whose soul panteth after
communion and a relationship with the living God can appreciate
a joke about it. It's as sacred as our relationship
with our mothers. We don't joke about them. It's
as precious and sacred as those sweet moments that we enjoy with
our wives or husbands, and people don't joke about it. It's as
precious and near to us as a dear sick or dying child, and we don't
joke about it. Some things we do joke about,
but not this. And one of the evidences of complete, utter,
absolute spiritual blindness of this age is the ability to
joke about eternal matters, trifling with them. Wherever the Word
of God is concerned and our relationship with God is concerned, let us
be, as Charles Wesley says, impress upon me their solemn weight,
the burden of the Word of God. Now those are four evidences
of spiritual blindness. Occupation with material things. Joking about eternal matters.
Ease of conscience where seeing is concerned. Now the second
thing. There are many ways that Satan
uses to blind us to the light of the gospel. It says here,
our gospel is hid. And it's head to them that are
lost, and the one that's done it is Satan. And here's the way
he does it. First of all, he clutters our
minds. He works in the mind. He clutters
our mind. A minister once invited a salesman. He met a salesman in a restaurant.
He was having coffee. And a man introduced him to a
salesman. He said to him, he said, I'm pastored in such and
such a church." The salesman said, "'I'm glad to meet you.'"
They talked a few moments. The minister said, "'Why don't
you come out sometime and hear me preach?' And the salesman
honestly replied, "'Reverend, there's no use for you to invite
me to come to church. You see, I'm after sales. That's
my job, that's my business, that's my life. If I were to come to
your congregation, I'd be thinking about sales. When you announced
the hymn and we stood to sing, I'd be thinking about sales.
When you announced the time for prayer and I prayed, I'd pray
about sales. There's no room in my life for
anything but sales. That is my life and my business. That's what these fellows said
to Christ. He said, follow me. One of them said, I've married
a wife. I cannot come. My wife is my life. Another said,
I've bought some land, and I'm sorry, Lord, I'm too busy to
follow you. I cannot come. My land is my
life. Another said, I've bought some
oxen, and I must go try them. This is important to me. I cannot
come. Satan blinded the minds of these
men by cluttering their minds, giving them something. Satan
will cause a man to prosper. You say, God's prospered me.
How do you know it's God? Has it taken your mind off the
Word of God? It wasn't God. Has it put something
between you and the worship of the Lord? It wasn't God who prospered
you. Has it taken your time away from
reading the Word of God from prayer, it wasn't God who prospered
you. The God of this world hath blinded
their minds, and he does it by cluttering their minds. Did you
know that the God of this world can educate a man and blind him? He becomes so intelligent that
these simple things aren't really important to him. These simple people. He's a note
above them now. He doesn't find time to fellowship
with them because they're not as educated as he is. Whoâ€”you
think God educated you? God didn't educate you. Satan
educated you. Satan gave you talent. You say,
God gave me talent. Has your talent taken you away
from the things of the Scripture? Has your talent taken you away
from a living walk with a living God? Has your talent put you
on a plane that you can no longer humble yourselves before God?
God didn't give you that talent. My responsibilities have increased. My fame has increased. I'm a
busy man. I've got a lot of responsibilities.
You know who gave them to you, don't you? God didn't. I'm serving my neighborhood and
my community. Has it come between you and the
Lord? God didn't prosper you. God didn't give you that talent.
God didn't educate you, and God didn't increase that responsibility,
and God's not in that recognition. Because I guarantee you anything
that God does for a man, will bring him to a growth in grace
and a spiritual maturity and a humility of mind. God's people
grow this way. The richest gifts are on the
lower shelves. I know what I'm talking about.
God's people grow in humility. God's people grow in compassion. God's people grow in affection.
God's people grow in love. God's people grow in compassion.
God's people grow in an interest in the Word, an interest in the
things of God. I'm sorry, my friend. The God
of this world has cluttered your mind, and in doing so, he's blinded
you to the pitfall in which he's led you. God didn't do it. The second way that Satan blinds
me, this thing of deceit. It's not 1, 2, 3, 4. It's not
A, B, C. You go to the school of the Holy
Spirit to learn what deceit is. You try the Spirit, whether they
be of God. I tell you, the heart is deceitful
above all things. Satan is a subtle one. If Satan
can deceive Eve in her condition of holiness, it's no problem
to deceive you and me. None at all. None at all. If Satan can use the Apostle
Peter, who was the right-hand man to the Master, it's no problem
to get ahold of one of us. Christ said, Get thee behind
me, Satan, thou savour'st not the things of God. Second way that Satan deceives
men, he clutters their minds. And sometimes they give God the
credit for it. Secondly, he raises objections
to the truth. If Satan can bring you to question
the scriptures, he's blinding you to the gospel. If he can
get you to raise objections to creation, objections to Bible
miracles, objections to the scientific accuracy of the scriptures, objections
to the virgin birth, objections to the blood atonement, objections
to the resurrection, if he can get a man to object to the so-called
scriptural inconsistencies, he's blinded his mind. And if he can't
get a man to object to so-called scriptural inconsistencies, he'll
turn him on a religious tangent. He'll give him a holly horse
to ride. He'll give him a pet doctrine to pursue. He'll give
him a creed to prove. And in doing so, he blinds his
mind to the truth. If he can get us to playing with
toys, then he can keep us diverted from the main object, the glory
of Christ. Another way that Satan blinds
men, listen to it, he blinds men by drawing wrong conclusions
to the truth. He will use the truth and draw
a wrong conclusion. He took Christ to the top of
the mountain. He showed him the nations of the world. He said,
Isn't the purpose of God to make you the king of these? Fall down
and worship me and I'll give you the kingdoms of the world.
And I hear people say, God has an elect people. True. Therefore,
if I'm going to be saved, I'll be saved. If not, I won't. False. God loves the world. True. Therefore, a loving God will
never send a man to hell. False. Well, the thief was saved in
his dying hour. True. Therefore I have plenty
of time to think of salvation." False. The Lord Jesus seeks to enter
our hearts. True. Therefore, someday I'll
let him in. False. This is spiritual blindness,
and Satan will take truth. He will take that which is so,
and he'll draw a wrong conclusion. And then here's another thing
he does. He blinds men by leading us to think that we have a pretty
good knowledge of eternal things. He takes people who are pretty
well versed in the Bible and leads them to believe that they
have a good knowledge of eternal matters. And they pay no attention to
what the Master said, except you be converted and become as
a little child, you shall not enter the kingdom of God. I like what I read it to the
men in the study this morning. I like what Solomon said in 1
Kings. He said, Lord, 1 Kings 3, he
said, Lord, I am but a little child. I know not how to go out
or come in." There are not many people in
that frame of mind, are there? We are superior when it comes
to divine things. We are wise. You know what Charles
Spurgeon said about this? He said, The more superior a
man thinks he is, the more sure I am that he will be damned.
Take my word for it. I don't mean that he is superior.
I mean he thinks he is. He's a master. He's a teacher. He's not prepared to be a pupil. He's no longer a learner. He
cannot be taught. Ask him any question, he has
an opinion. O thou deceiver of men! O thou
blinder of men's minds! How many avenues, how many deceitful
ways he has of keeping men from the glorious light of the gospel
of Jesus Christ. Listen to 1 Corinthians 8. Listen
to this. 1 Corinthians 8, verse 1 through
3. Paul says it's touching things
offered to idols. We know that we all have knowledge.
Knowledge puffeth up, but love edifieth. And if any man think
that he knows anything, he knows nothing, yet as he ought to know. But if any man love God, the
same is known of him. If Satan can bring me to the
place where I think I know something, it's a good way to blind me to the light of the glorious gospel
of Christ and keep me from being a willing pupil and a willing
learner. Well, the last question, and
I close, what shall I do? What shall I do? Well, the first thing I would
do is this, the first thing I'm going to do is beware lest these
warnings fall on deaf ears, lest I give them off to someone else
who needs them worse than I do. The first thing that the servants
did before they hanged Haman in the Old Testament was to cover
his face. That's the first thing they did.
Before they hanged him, they put a black hood over his face.
And when a man is about to be damned, about to be lost, about
to follow down that broad road of destruction, the way that
seems right to him, the first thing Satan has to do to get
him to continue down that path is to blind his eyes so he cannot
see. blind his eyes so he cannot see.
And his eyes, when his eyes are blinded and he's rushing down
that broad road of destruction, all of the detour signs and all
of the warnings will have no effect on him because he does
not see. Satan has cluttered his mind.
Satan has led him to believe he's a superior person. He knows. No use bothering him. He's all
right. He's presumptuous. Second thing
I would do, I'm going to do, I'd take, I'd look at these warnings
and I'd apply them. I'm going to apply them. Second
thing I'm going to do is if we have a little light, if God's
given us a little light, any at all, if we just realize we're
sinners, that's a step. If we just realize there's no
hope in ourselves but only in Christ, that's a step, that's
a little light. If we have a little light, let's
value it. Let's don't let anybody take
it away. Let's don't let Satan take it
away. Let's don't let him remove that
little light. Let's value it. You know, we who have two eyes, two good
eyes with the aid of glasses or however, we're a little, we're not as
careful as we maybe ought to be with them. But you know, if
I lost one eye, if I lost one eye, I'd tell you I'd really
value that other one. Oh, I'd hold on to it, I'd protect
it. If I thought anything was going
to endanger that last ray of light, I'd fight to protect it. And I'm telling you, if God's
been pleased to give us a little bit of light in this old dark,
confused, chaotic, hell-bound world, We ought to protect it
with all that we have. And then the third thing that
I think we should do is pray for more life. Put ourselves
as a child in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ and pray, Lord,
humble me, open my eyes, let the Word of God speak to me.
make me a disciple, make me a learner. The Lord Jesus said to those
men who had been with him three and a half years, 24 hours a
day, 365 days a year, I've got many things to say to you and
you're not able to bear them yet. The Lord helped me to stick around. Help me to be a pupil, a learner.
Help me to be a disciple. Help me to be a child. Open my
ears and my heart and my eyes and don't let me miss anything.
There's life for a look at the crucified one. There's life at
this moment for thee. Look, sinner, look to Him, unto
Him who was nailed on the tree. We have a ministry. God gave
it to us in mercy. And we've renounced the craftiness
and dishonesty that is so appealing to the world, but tragically
our gospel's here, because the God of this world is not going
to hide error from people. He's not going to blind them
to error. He doesn't care how much they
follow error. blind them to the truth, lest
the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them,
and they be saved. Our Father in Heaven, we thank Thee for the promises
of the Word, we thank Thee for the blessed invitations of the
gospel, We thank Thee for the mercy and pardon that we have
in the blood of Christ our Lord and the hope of the resurrection.
Make us to be thankful for Thy warnings, these warnings that come to us
that prick our hearts, that smite our hearts. We pray sincerely that we shall
give deep and sincere consideration to these words that the Apostle
Paul has given to us. our gospel be hid, that God of
this world, blinding the minds of men, lest that light of the
glorious gospel of Christ should shine through, all to know him. Minister to us by thy Spirit
for thy glory. Through Christ our Lord we pray.
Amen.

Blinded By the God of This World

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Blinded By the God of This World

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