Text: “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4).
When we talk to other people about the Word of God, God hears our every word. If we distort the Word, He knows about it. If we distort the Word just to please those to whom we are talking, we are being disobedient to God. When we are disobedient, we are sinning.
As Christians, we are to speak the truth no matter what other people might think. If we are speaking the Word of God as the Scripture indicates and someone is offended, it is because the eyes of that person are not spiritually open. They are blind to the Word and they are lost.
When we are physically blind we cannot see things that are in the world. Physical blindness is a handicap, but it is not the result of sin. Physical blindness does not prevent a person from spending eternity in heaven with Almighty God.
Spiritual blindness is brought about by Satan. Satan, who is the god of this world, tries his very best to draw people away from believing the Word of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
That deadly deceiving serpent who appeared to Eve and tempted her is still active in the world today. He is urging men and women to believe and do things that are contrary to the Word of God. He is making worldly sinful acts appear exciting, different and worthy.
He is twisting the minds of our young people leading them to commit sinful acts. There are groups in the world called “cults” that claim to have all the correct answers to a life of peace and love.
These groups have been around since the beginning of time. They claim to lead people to God, but in reality they are leading people away from Him.
Satan and his workers strive to lead people away from God. Paul faced this issue during his ministry and it hurt him badly. False teachers are Satan’s workers.
The more Paul strived to start up new churches, the more false teachers worked to infiltrate them and change their Godly way of thinking to ungodly thinking. This struggle is still prominent today.
Paul did not have an easy ministry. He struggled through many trials and tribulations. He struggled with a personal weakness which he called “a thorn in the flesh.” In Lystra, “They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead” (Acts 14:19).
When the slave girl kept following Paul and Silas and shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved,” Paul said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” (Acts 16:17-18). For this act, Paul and Silas were both arrested.
“The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully” (Acts 16:22-23).
Although Paul and Silas suffered they never lost faith in Almighty God. They remained obedient to His Word. When Paul was on his way to Rome, the ship was caught in a storm for 14 days and finally destroyed. While Paul was imprisoned in Rome, he wrote Colossians, Philemon, Ephesians and Philippians. These letters are known as “The Prison Epistles.” He was executed in Rome in the year 66 or 67 by being beheaded.
Paul knew that his ministry was given by and under the direction of God. He said, “Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart” (v. 1). He was true to the Word. He did not candy-coat it just to please people.
He did not deviate from the straight and narrow path of the Word. He said, “We have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God” (v. 2).
Preachers and teachers will be held more accountable to their words and actions than the average person because of their influence on the lives of their listeners. Everyone will be held accountable and everyone will have to answer for what they have said and done.
Paul was well aware of those who were preaching a false doctrine. He said, “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).
During Paul’s time, Satan worked very hard to draw people away from God while Paul put forth his effort to bring them into a right relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ. Paul’s mission was to reveal the gospel to the multitudes of people. Although the gospel was available to all people, many were not receiving it.
Paul knew that “…if the gospel is veiled (hidden), it is veiled to those who are perishing” (2 Corinthians 4:3). You might question as to how the gospel was hidden from people if it was indeed available. Satan used the same devices then as he is using today.
In Paul’s time, people were interested in worldly possessions just as they are today. Instead of accepting the Lord as their own personal Savior, they were accepting things like: money; pleasure; position; power, and a host of other worldly possession. Many people today are more interested in what material possession they can acquire instead of following the words in red.
Jesus said, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21).
It is not that Jesus does not want us to have material possessions, but He was trying to indicate to us that these worldly possessions can lead one in the direction of greed, selfishness, anger, covetousness, pride and lust. This is exactly what Satan wants. He wants us to be worldly instead of heavenly.
Jesus said, “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things” (Matthew 12:35). When Satan makes things of the world very appealing to people, there is a good possibility that if they are not spiritually strong, they will swallow hook line and sinker and be caught. This is how Satan blinds people and makes them unreceptive to the gospel.
Paul told the people of Corinth, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4). The people who refuse to believe and accept the Lord Jesus Christ are lost. These people who follow the lies of Satan will perish just as Satan is going to perish.
Paul was not bragging about what he was doing. He did not want people to look up to him, but instead, he wanted them to look up to Jesus. Paul claimed to be Jesus’ helper or His messenger. He said, “For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake” (v. 5).
Those of us who are Christians need to follow in the footsteps of Paul and witness without calling attention to ourselves. Our gifts and accomplishments will not get us or other people into God’s kingdom.
If we want people to focus on us or we twist the gospel in any way, then we are not being true and obedient to the Word. We than become false teachers. The blind will lead the blind and both will fall into a ditch (Matthew 15:14).
Christians are the light of the world and that light should shine upon all who are approached. We, who are born again, were at one time in darkness, but when Jesus came into our life and into our heart, we became children of light. Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:15-16).
We are to show others what Jesus has done for us. If they are spiritually blind or are difficult to get to, we should speak to them and then let the Holy Spirit take over and compete with Satan for their soul. There will be people who do not want to hear what we have to say, but by the same token, the same thing happened to Jesus.
There were people who did not listen to Paul or the twelve apostles. Jesus knew this would happen and that is why He told the disciples: “And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet” (Matthew 10:14).
There is an interesting concept behind what Jesus said about shaking off the dust. In Jesus’ day, when a Jew would leave a Gentile city, the Jew would shake the dust off his feet to indicate his severance or separation from the way the Gentiles carried on life.
Jesus told the disciples to follow this practice when they left a gathering of Jews who did not accept Him as the Messiah. Bottom line indicated the Jews were making an incorrect decision and this might just be their last chance or opportunity to spend eternity with Him in His kingdom.
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness, made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (v. 6). Paul knew it was the light of God shining in his heart that gave him the knowledge necessary to cause others to turn and give glory to God.
Paul talks about treasures in jars of clay. He is reminding the people of his age and the people of today that God breathe His breath of life and power into our frail breakable perishable bodies. He said, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” (v. 7).
The important part of us is not our frail body, but the important part is the content because this is where the Holy Spirit dwells. Our bodies are going to get old, wear out, fall apart, but the content will live on forever in the His kingdom. The body is merely a vehicle to enable us to move about and spread the Word of God that the blind might see and the deaf might hear.
As God children sent forth to carry on His mission, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned, struck down, but not destroyed” (v. 8, 9).
As human beings, we have a sinful nature and we are tempted to sin and we do go through trials and tribulations, but we never suffer alone. We know and we believe the words of Jesus when He said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). Knowing this, we have peace within our heart.
It does not matter to us how people may let us down or how nothing seems to work in our favor or we feel as though we cannot go on, we are not at a dead end. We are only at the end if we lose hope, but as long as we have hope we will become victors and not victims.
I say we are victors because of the victory over death experienced by Jesus. We, too, will be raised just as He was raised. We, too, will ascend into heaven and be with our God just as Jesus did. We, too, will live on eternally in the presence of God the Father. The trials and tribulations we pass through give God the opportunity to show His power and His presence in our life.
The Psalmist said “I believed; therefore I have spoken” (Psalm 116:10). The Psalmist was expressing a spirit of faith and we who are believers and witnesses for Jesus can speak the message to others because we have that faith. Paul preached and witnessed with the hope that other people would accept the love and grace that was afforded him by Almighty God.
The spiritually blind will not understand what he is saying, because they are lost to the god of this world.
They are so caught up in the things of the world that they have no time or interest in that which they cannot see. This is exactly what Satan wants.
Paul knew that one day he would be rewarded for all the suffering he did in the name of his Savior. He knew what the Scriptures said. His earthly life was difficult, but he knew his heavenly life would be one of rest, relaxation, and reward.
Paul was wasting away physically, but his inner being was being renewed as each day passed. We, too, are wasting away physically, we have hurts, we have pains, but instead of thinking about difficulties and aches, we focus on the rewards that await us. We are like athletes who have worked hard, played hard, run hard, and have given their all while looking to the victory instead of concentrating on the pain and agony they are going through. The runner’s hope is to reach the finish line first because then the trophy will be his or hers.
The Christian’s goal is to do the will of God by following the words written in red. We are “the salt of the earth and the light of the world” (Matthew 5:13-14). We are to live a pure life following the dictates of the Ten Commandments. We are to go the second mile instead of complaining of the difficulty.
We are to love our enemies and bless those who curse and spitefully use us. We are to forgive and forget. We are to serve God and nothing else. We are not to worry, but we are to “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:32).
We are not to judge because we too will be judged. When we are in need we need to ask. Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8).
Paul did not give up when things got difficult. We should do the same and continue on. Our troubles are only for the moment and in time they will pass. Our troubles and difficulties in life gives God an opportunity to instill the resurrection power in our clay bodies.
Our suffering will increase our faith and remind us the suffering Jesus encountered. Our suffering will keep us humble and increase our dependence on our Father. Our suffering will help us understand that there is life beyond this earthly life.
The way we accept our suffering will show forth our faith to those who see us. Our difficulties are really opportunities that will bring us to a closer relationship with our Maker.
Conclusion:
Those who are blinded by the god of this world will not experience the love; joy, happiness, and peace of knowing Jesus as their own Lord and Savior. They will never be born again; therefore, their salvation will be lost.
They won’t know where to turn in time of trouble and difficulty. They will be lost for all eternity. They won’t experience the eternal glory the child of God will experience.
The devil is as cunning and crafty today as he was in the days of Adam and Eve. His mission is the same today as it was during the first days.
His mode or style of action has not changed because it is evident that temptation is still prominent in the world. Worldly things or objects that people want have changed, but the result is the same when they are placed between the person and Almighty God.
God created man so that He would have someone to communicate with, provide for, and to receive respect and honor from. God loves each of His children, but does not like some of the things they do. His love was demonstrated at the Cross where the sins of the world were deposited. His resurrection is for all those who will accept Him as their Savior.
“But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4).
Story: “When Christ is in Control”
Martin Luther was often very graphic in his description of the activities of the Devil. Asked one time how he overcame the Devil, he replied, “Well, when he comes knocking upon the door of my heart, and asks ‘Who lives here?’ the dear Lord Jesus goes to the door and says, ‘Martin Luther used to live here but he has moved out. Now I live here.’
The devil seeing the nail-prints in the hands, and the pierced side, takes flight immediately.” It is surely good for every life and for every one to have Jesus as a permanent resident. These assured heavenly blessings are sure to fall upon such bodies.
--------------------Sword of the Lord
Amen.
