Blessings flow. Praise Him all creatures here
below. Praise Him above ye heavenly
host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost. Thank you Dave. In this passage of Scripture,
Paul speaks of a particular ministry, saying that he has this ministry,
and the ministry of which Paul speaks in verses 1 and in verse
7, is the ministry of the Gospel. That is, the declaration that
God is just to justify sinners, conditioned entirely upon the
person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now he in previous chapters
has shown that this ministry is not the law and not of the
law but is of grace. The previous ministry that is
spoken of in chapter 3 called the covenant of works or the
old covenant was a ministry of the letter of the law. And it
was said to be and defined with certain adjectives and these
were some of them. It was called a ministry that
killeth the law. a ministry of death, a ministry
of condemnation, and a ministry that was done away with. This
was the language he used in chapter 3 concerning the ministry of
the old covenant of the law. We know that our Lord said in
Hebrews chapter 10, Lo, I come in the volume of the book, it
is written to me to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first
and established the second, speaking of the covenant of works being
set aside, the covenant of grace being established. Now the ministry
of the gospel by contrast is called the new covenant and is
a ministry of life, not death, a ministry of the spirit, not
of the flesh, a ministry of righteousness, not of condemnation, and a ministry
that remains for eternity rather than one that passes away. Now
that's the ministry that he says this is my ministry. The ministry
of the gospel is the ministry that Paul has been given And
this ministry is a ministry delivered by what Paul calls himself a
dirt pot, an earthen vessel. He says in verse 7, we have this
treasure, this ministry, this gospel in earthen vessels, and
the reason that it's in dirt pots is so that if anything good
happens out of it, all glory belongs to God and none to the
dirt pot. This assures that the excellency
of the power of God may be of God and not of the preacher.
Because if we're honest, not much confidence can be invested
in a dirt pot. It's just that simple. The execution
of this ministry is wholly dependent upon the mercy of God. He says,
therefore, seeing we have this ministry as we have received
mercy, we faint not. It's wholly dependent upon God's
mercy that we are able to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And it's also a very straightforward
and plain declaration in chapter 3 and verse 12. It says, seeing
then that we have such hope We use great plainness of speech. When the gospel is preached,
it's set forth in plain terms. It's set forth as what is, not
what might be or could be or no possibilities or probabilities
are involved. It's all about what is and it's
set forth in that manner. It's a declaration of the record
that God has of His Son. And it's a clear declaration.
We don't go into great swelling words of man's wisdom or go into
hyperbole and try to set things where people have to really try
to figure out what you're saying. I remember hearing a preacher
one time said, I preached election tonight and nobody knew it. Well,
why bother? Why bother? We preach in a plain
way. The gospel is a very plain thing.
God Almighty sent His Son into this world to die in the place
and room of those whom He had chosen before the foundation
of the world. And in that death, Jesus Christ
secured their redemption and salvation, honored God, and was
buried and rose again and ascended to the right hand of God where
He ever lives to make intercession for His people. That's the gospel.
It's plain. Not anything to be misunderstood.
Now, a lot of people say, well, I don't particularly like that.
But if people say things like that, just remember, they're
unbelievers. had a fellow write me on Facebook
the other day and said, well I don't believe this, and so
I wrote him back and I said, well let's just get down to where
the rubber hits the road. If you don't believe what the
Bible says in any place, you are an unbeliever. That's what
it means to not believe, it means you're an unbeliever. I didn't
hear anything back from him, probably won't ever hear from
him again, but that's the truth. That's the truth. We're to believe
what God has said. We're commanded to believe. This
is the word of life. This is the word of truth. And
God has set it forth. And it's to be believed and bound
to and appreciated. And to say that for a man with
a pea brain like ours to say, well, I don't believe that. That's
just, he's just an unbeliever. He's an unbeliever. There's no
two ways about that. It's a plain declaration. It's
accomplished without any inventions of men, like invitation, or sinner's
prayer, or gang saving, or playing fast and loose with God's Word.
He says, but we've renounced the hidden things of dishonesty
or shame, not walking in craftiness with cool little designs to make
people do things, nor handling of the Word of God deceitfully,
but by manifestation of the truth. The truth, commending ourselves
to every man's conscience. What does that mean? Men cannot
say, men when they hear the gospel cannot say that they hate the
man for doing it. What they really say is they
hate the gospel that's being preached. That's what really
happened. So we commend ourselves to men's
conscience in that we don't deceive them. We don't play fast and
loose with their minds. We tell them what the truth is. And so we're commended to their
conscience. It's a ministry about the preacher. It's my ministry. He said, this
is my ministry. It's about Jesus Christ delivered
by your servants for his sake. All of it's for the glory of
Jesus Christ. is the preaching of the gospel
which God has chosen as the only means of salvation. No man is
ever saved who does not hear and believe the gospel. And no
man ever will hear the gospel unless God sends a preacher to
it. That just simply won't happen. That's how God has ordained it.
Now I know people say, well you can read the Bible and be saved.
I'm not saying that's not the case. There's a possibility that
could happen. But we don't have a warrant to
say that because God doesn't say that. God says it's through
the foolishness of preaching. He is pleased to save them that
believe. He said that how shall they believe
on him whom they not heard? How shall they hear without a
preacher? How shall they preach except they be sent? This is
how it works. The gospel is God's record. And
it's a record. This is a done deal. We're repeating
what's already taken place. We're repeating what God has
already recorded. This is fact. It's a record of His Son and
the glorious salvation He wrought by the sacrifice of Himself,
the offering of His own soul to God. The Gospel is the report
of who Christ is, why He came, what He did, and where He is
now. It is the declaration that God is just to justify sinners
on the merits of Christ alone. and nothing else. It is the gracious
removal of the sinner from the equation of the accomplishment
of their salvation. It is good news. Glad tidings
that God has saved His people and He has given them faith to
trust completely that God has actually saved them. That is
what we believe when we believe the Gospel. God saved us the
way He said He saved people. This is what it is to believe
the Gospel. Concerning the Gospel, Paul says that if it is hid from
anyone, it is hid from them that are lost. That's what he says
here. But if our gospel be hid, be
hid from them that are lost. Now the lost here are the same
as those who believe not in verse four. They are unbelievers concerning
the gospel. The wording here is important.
Though it is said that Satan has blinded these folks' eyes
or minds, Satan doesn't make anybody lost. He doesn't make
anybody lost, nor did he make them unbelievers. Satan doesn't
make people unbelievers. They're born that way. They are
born that way, as if they were neither before blinded, because
they were. Not by Satan. They were born
with blind eyes. That's because they were born
in sin, conceived in iniquity, and came forth from the womb
as soon as they were born, speaking lies. Their lost condition and
unbelief are products of their birth as the son of Adam. The blinding of their minds came
at a later date. This is what Paul is saying.
And in context, their unbelief ceased being a general condition
and became a specific mindset somewhere in their lifetime.
And that happened with the appearance of the gospel and their rejection
of it. Paul is talking about the gospel here being preached
and men saying, I don't believe that. What happened? Satan has blinded their mind.
Now they were blind from birth. by nature. Now they are judicially
blind. They are judicially blind. I
also said this passage begins with the word, therefore, this
whole scenario has to do with the two ministrations referred
to in chapter 3, the Law and the Gospel. It is clear that
Satan is used by God to hide the Gospel, but even though he
is the God of this world, his power is derived from the true
God of this world. the God of the universe, the
God over all, that is the Lord God Himself. His power to perform
His dastardly deeds must come from God for no one has power
to do anything except to be given Him from above. John the Baptist
said that about when the disciples began to follow Christ. They
said, your disciples are leaving you. He said, well no one does
that without the power of God. And then when Pilate said to
the Lord, don't you know I can crucify you? The Lord says, you
can't do anything unless God gives you power to do it. And
you and I can't breathe unless God gives us power to do it.
We can't do anything without the power of God and Satan is
God's ape. He's used by God to blind the
minds of those whom he has chosen not to save. And that is in scripture
called those who not elect. Blinded their minds. God has
concealed them. God has used Satan to do it.
Has he used Satan that way? Satan is his creature. Satan
has to do what God says. Now he loves his job. He loves
to blind people's mind. But he can't do it unless God
gives him power to do it. So where does the root of blinding
come from? Where does it really come from? comes from God Himself. The fact that God commands the
light to shine in some hearts is an unqualified proclamation
that Satan's power is limited to those to whom the gospel is
hid. That's where he works. It's the
only place he can work. The hiding or the revealing of
the gospel belongs to God. If God reveals the gospel to
you, it's because He's chosen to do so. If God hides the gospel
from you, it's because He's chosen to do so. Our Lord thanked God
for that. In Matthew chapter 11, before
He gave that great and wondrous call to men who are heavy laden
and full of labor to come to Him, He said, I thank Thee, Lord
of heaven and earth, for Thou hast hid these things from the
wise and the prudent and revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father,
for it seemed good in Thy sight. No man has seen the Father at
any time, and no man has seen the Son, save whomsoever the
Son will reveal Him. over in the Proverbs the wise
preacher said this about the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, it's
the glory of God. Now this is just glory. It's
the glory of God to conceal a thing. To conceal a thing. That's the
God of Scripture. I heard a preacher on TV this
morning saying God loves you and has a wonderful plan for
your life. God loves everybody and he wants America to get back
to God and all this stuff. That's not true. Now he's a very famous preacher
and does a lot of good things and I'm thankful that he does
the good things he does and whatever he does good I applaud him for
it. But he's lying on God. He's lying
on God. God said, I hate it Esau. God
said, I hate the workers of iniquity. He said that. Do you believe
God? Do you believe God? We're blinded here. means to
put a veil over. Now that's something that he's
already talked about. Back in chapter 3 in verse 13
and 14 he says, But not as Moses, which put a veil over his face,
that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end
that they be abolished. But their minds were blinded,
for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in
the reading of the Old Testament, which veil is done away with
Christ. That's that veil. It's over the eyes. What's the
veil? The veil is the law. That's what it is. They look
at the Old Testament and they see this is the way we ought
to live under this old covenant. That's a veil. It's only taken
away by the Lord Jesus Christ. Satan covers men's eyes with
the law. He blinds their mind by leading
them into a religion that causes them to believe that they can
be saved by their own merit. that they have self-produced
righteousness, they have self-manufactured light, and therefore do not believe
that God except centers only on the merits of Jesus Christ
the Lord. Satan covers, if you will, the men's eyes to God's
will and gives them vision to their own will. Satan, if you
will, covers men's minds from God's choice and makes them center
on their own choice. Christ's righteousness with their
righteousness, and God's salvation with their decision. That's how
He does it. Thus, those from whom the gospel is hid are judicially
blinded by Satan according to the will of God, and He covers
the gospel with the law for righteousness. And that's always the way it
is, no matter what form it takes. That's always the way it is.
Men either believe that God has done everything in the matter
of salvation from pole to pole, or they believe they have something
to do with it. And if they believe they have something to do with
it, that is a legal approach to salvation. It's that simple. It's that simple. In verse 6
we see the glory and the power of God in the revelation of the
gospel for God. commanded the light to shine
out of darkness, it shined in our hearts to give the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The gospel here is said to be
light, and you see the word light in the scripture, it speaks of
Christ, it speaks of understanding, it speaks of knowledge, that
word means a lot of things in scripture. But it's understanding
that reveals something. It's understanding that reveals
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That's what
it all comes down to. It all brings down to that point.
I want us to consider four things quickly this morning from this
passage concerning this light of the gospel. This light of
the gospel and the manner of its ministration. God says God
commanded this light. God had commanded this light
to shine out of darkness. God commanded it to shine in
the hearts of His people. First this light comes by sovereign
will. God commanded it. God commanded the light to shine.
Now there are commands that God gives that men cannot and will
not obey apart from a work of grace. God commands all men to believe
and to repent. It's a command of God, and they're
responsible to do that. For it is the Lord of glory that
is declared. But a lot of men never believe. Why don't they
believe? Because they can't. They can't. They can't believe
unless they have faith, and faith is a gift of God. However, both
of these things that God requires are also only received and obeyed
by God giving and granting them. However, there are commands that
men cannot obey or disobey because men have nothing to do with their
accomplishment. God's will, His purpose will
be done and never has and never will be dependent on anything
that man does or does not do. In the will of God's solidity,
man is just a player or is not a player. He is not an actor.
He is acted upon without any application to His will or permission.
He's like the flower that follows the sun. Like the flower that
follows the sun. He really don't follow the sun.
But you put it in a windowsill, and where the sun is, the flower
bends toward the sun. Well, why is that? You say, well,
that flower's got a mind. It wants some sunlight. That
flower ain't got a mind. What the flower has is photosensitive
cells and heliosensitive cells in its stem. And when light comes on that
flower, the direction the light's coming from, that side of the
stem, the folo-synthesis and helio-synthesis cells shrink.
And it causes it to bend. And as it moves, as the sun moves
across the sky, some cells, these cells start to extend, and when
it gets on the other side, those contract. And it bends toward
the sun. So the flower follows the sun.
Yes, it does. It does because it's acted upon it doesn't act
and you don't act in the matter of salvation you are acted upon
God commands it to be so without your permission God doeth according to his will
in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth
and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what are you doing? You can't even ask the question.
You can't even ask the question. Men talk about God in such paltry
terms. God wants this. God wants that. God's in handcuffs. You've got
the key. That's not the God of Scripture. The God of Scripture
does as He pleases, when He pleases, with whom He pleases, however
He pleases, because He's God. He doeth His will. in heaven
and in earth. David said that God does as He
pleases. He said it in Psalm 114. He said
it in Psalm 135. He does as He pleases. He's always
done what He has pleased. Such is the light of the gospel.
God commands it to shine. You reckon it's going to shine?
It's going to shine. It's going to shine. Nothing can stop it
from shining. Satan can't cover it. And the
law can't touch it. God commands the light to shine
out of darkness. That means this light is mercy.
It's merciful. God commanded this light to shine
where? Out of darkness. That's where we abode. That was
our abode. We dwelt in darkness. The darkness
comprehendeth not the light it sees in John chapter 1. How great
was our darkness? It was great. It was complete
darkness. We couldn't see a thing. Have
you ever been someplace where it's completely dark? And I mean
completely. I know Big Coke can look that
way sometimes. If the power goes out, you think,
man, I can't see outside. I was in a castle one time over
in Norwich, England. We went down to the dungeon and
they had all manner of torture devices down there. They had
this helmet that had this ball that they had a hinge at the
top and they stuck the ball in a person's mouth and had nails
coming out of it. And they clamped that helmet
on and it mashed down their tongue and that was just for being a
gossip. They had to wear it after several days. They had this gate
that they would not kill a man but eventually kill him. They'd
throw like a big birdcage and they would put him in it and
hang him over the side of the castle until he died. He was
starving to death and he'd rot. All manner of torture. But down
there was, I'd never seen this and I didn't see it that bad,
just experienced it. We was down there and had one
little old 71 light bulb down in that place. He said, now I'm
getting prepared for this. I was about six or seven, I was
taking the tour. He said, I'm gonna cut off the
light. He reached up and pulled that switch and the light went
off. There was no light down there. No light. Coming from nowhere. It was total
darkness. I put my hand up. Touched my
nose. I couldn't see my hand. There
was no light. All of a sudden, I began to see
things that weren't there. I was trying to find something
to find light, trying to search for light, but it wasn't there.
This is what we are by nature. Total darkness. Total darkness. The only thing that will remedy
that is God commands the light to shine. And what a merciful
thing that is. God has commanded the light to
shine. What a blessed sovereign mercy for God to send some dirt
pot to pour out the light of the gospel to us. Bound in the
tomb of death, wrapped in Egyptian darkness, blacker than a thousand
midnights, down in a cypress swamp. Oh, but mercy was on our
trail. And light was on its predetermined
course to its precise target. And the light would not be denied.
It's gonna shine. The preacher draws a bow at a
venture we don't know who the light's gonna shine on. We just
put the arrow on the string and let it rip. That's all we can
do. We can't point here and point
there and say this light is going to shine for you because I don't
know whether it will or not. But if God has ordained it, if God
has made you his target, that light is a guided missile. It
will find its target. It will find purchase in your
heart. The light of the gospel is a
guided missile. The hymnist wrote, long my imprisoned spirit lay
fast bound in sin to nature's night. Thine eye diffused a quickening
ray. I woke, my dungeon flamed with
the light. My chains fell off, my heart
was free. I rose, went forth, and followed
Thee. And that's what happens when
God makes the light shine out of darkness. Thirdly, this light
is irresistible. It's irresistible. It hath shined
in our hearts. It hath shined in our hearts. It's not offered. It's not proffered. It's not presented as an available
commodity. It's not held up for your approval. It says it hath, past tense,
mission accomplished, hath shined. God has commanded the light to
shine of darkness and it hath shined. It hath shined. It's a done deal. It hath shined. Robert Chandlis wrote in his
little book on 1st John, he said, in the first place, light is
clear, transparent, translucent, patent, and open, always and
everywhere as far as its free influence extends. The entrance
of life or light, the entrance of light, which itself is real,
Spreads reality all around. Clouds and shadows are unreal. They breed and foster unrealities. Light is naked truth. Its very
invisibility is, in this view, its power. It's not seen because
it's so pure. Or secondly, a certain character
of inviolability. belongs to it, in respect of
which, while it comes in contact with all things, it is self-affected
by nothing. It kisses carrion. It embraces
foul pollution. It enters into the innermost
recesses of the rottenness in which worms uncleanly revel. And it is the same clear element
of light still, taking no soil, contracting no stain, its brightness
not dim, nor its beauteous beauty marred. It endureth forever clean
and clear. The marginal reading of this
in our text says, when it says God has commanded the light and
the light hath shined, it says, He who hath shined. Christ is that light. He is the
light of the world. Finally, this light is purposeful,
its own purpose. Many years ago, Henry Mahan went
to a meeting in 1954 where Rolf Barner was preaching at Central
Park in Ashland, Kentucky, when all the Baptist churches got
together and had a great big tent meet. Henry Mahan was sitting
on the front row. He was a young pastor, 22 years
old, of Pollard Baptist Church. didn't know the gospel but he
was a pastor anyway and a good preacher even though he didn't
know the gospel. He was sitting on the front row and Ralph Barnard,
tall, gangly fella, slender, great big ear lobes, wore his
glasses down like this. When he talked He had a real
high tenor voice and his earlobes shook when he taught me. He had
a powerful presence. He looked down and saw this young
buck, this young Henry Mahan. And he said, boy, stand up. Henry stood up and says, quote
Romans 8.28 for me. Brother Mahan said, all things
work together for good. And sat down. Barney looked at him and said,
stand up, boy. He stood up and said, quote Romans 8.28 for a
minute. Henry thought for a minute and
said, all things work together for good to them that love God.
And he sat down. The martyr just shook his head
and said, boy, stand up. Quote Romans 8.28 for a minute.
Henry thought for a minute and he said, we know all things work
together for good to them that love God and to them that are
called according to His purpose. He said, you got it son. He said,
if you're ever going to be a preacher, this is what you have to remember.
God does everything on purpose. He does everything on purpose. This light is purposeful. This
light was given according to the Word of God to give the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God. When this light comes, Sovereignly,
mercifully, and irresistibly, it comes for the purpose of revealing
that all glory for salvation, the salvation of your soul, the
salvation of my soul, for the understanding of your mind and
heart, all of that belongs to God and that glory is tied up
lock, stock, and barrel in one place, the face. of the Lord Jesus Christ. What
does that mean? The face, the person, the countenance of the
Lord Jesus Christ. If this light is in you, if it
hath shined in your heart, you know what you'll do? And this
is a good measure. You will give all the glory to
God and disallow and disown and disavow any glory for yourself
if this light has shined in your heart. Because that's what this
light does. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I understand. So the rest of
you, have you understood?