THE HIDDEN GOSPEL
2 CORINTHIANS 4:1-7
Introduction: Paul writing to the Corinthian church speaks of the great and awesome privilege of having been given the ministry of carrying the Gospel to the lost. This ministry of bringing light to darkness was and is a work of God’s Power through His Spirit. Paul repudiates any attempt to present the Gospel through manipulation, trickery, carnal wisdom, or charismatic showmanship that drew attention to himself. His focus was to present a clear message of truth shining all light on the Light of the World – Jesus Christ. However, regardless of how bright the light of the Gospel is there are those who are blind to the truth. To them the gospel is hidden. How does such brilliant light become so veiled or hidden that men see not the Light?
I. Hidden by Satan
A. II Corinthians 4:3-4 “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
B. Note that Satan blinds the mind of men; not the eyes of their bodies, but of their understandings. As a result, they may hear the gospel and see its power and still not see or hear.
C. Matthew 13:13b “...seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.”
D. Satan uses many devices to keep people blinded to the gospel and bound to sin.
1. Pleasure (Hebrews 11:24-25 “By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.)
2. A number of Flies were attracted to a jar of honey, which had been overturned in a housekeeper’s room, and placing their feet in it, ate greedily. Their feet, however, became so smeared with the honey that they could not use their wings, nor release themselves, and eventually suffocated. Just as they were expiring, they exclaimed, "O foolish creatures that we are, for the sake of a little pleasure we have destroyed ourselves." So it will be on Judgment Day when those who have been blinded by the enjoyment of sin will cry out, "For the sake of a little pleasure, we have doomed ourselves into the eternal pits of hell!"
3. Approval of men (John 5:44 “How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?)
4. Satan often seeks to have us place too much weight on the judgment of others, forgetting that our relationship with God is our only constant source of stability. In biblical times, certain rulers that had direct proof of Jesus’ miracles and existence-publicly rejected Christ adhering to social tradition and legalistic rules instead. They “loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God” (John 12:43). For fear of being cast out of the synagogue and disowned by the Pharisees, they chose social acceptance over the approval of Almighty God, even as the Lord Jesus Christ Himself stood before them.
5. Lies (John 8:43-44 “Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”)
6. In Genesis 3:4 the serpent (the devil, the god of this world) tells Eve his first lie to mankind. He tells her that “she will surely not die” and that by eating the forbidden fruit that her eyes would be open and she would be like God. Satan has not stopped lying to man since that time.
II. Hidden by Unbelief
A. Notice that the persons whose minds Satan blinds are those "who believe not" distinguishing them from others that perish, who never benefited from hearing the Gospel.
B. Ephesians 4:18 “They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.”
C. Satan blinds the minds of those whose hearts are resistant to the Word of God. Satan finds willing subjects from whom to hide the truth. Eve had already been eying the fruit and in her heart started desiring it before Satan pulled the wool over her eyes. The bottom line is one cannot say, “the devil made me do it”. Personal responsibility for sin is not be dismissed by blaming it on the devil.
D. Their blindness is caused by the sin of a stubborn and rebellious refusal to believe.
E. Important lessons are given by this alternation (wavering) of the two ideas of faith and unbelief, obedience and disobedience. Disobedience is the root of unbelief. Unbelief is the mother of further disobedience. Faith is voluntary submission within a person’s own power. If faith is not exercised, the true cause lies deeper than all intellectual reasons. It lies in the moral aversion of human will and in the pride of independence, which says, “who is Lord over us? Why should we have to depend on Jesus Christ?” As faith is obedience and submission, so faith breeds obedience, but unbelief leads on to higher-handed rebellion. With dreadful reciprocity of influence, the less one trusts, the more he disobeys; the more he disobeys, the less he trusts. - Alexander Maclaren
F. John 12:36 “While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light. These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them.”
G. The captain of the Titanic refused to believe the ship was in trouble until water was ankle deep in the mailroom. Only then was it apparent the multi-layered hull had been pierced and the unsinkable ship was going to sink. Ships that could have arrived before the great ocean liner went down weren’t summoned until it was too late. [Leadership, Vol. X, #3 (Summer, 1989), p. 27] Likewise, there are those who hear that they are lost and in need of redemption but refuse to believe until it is too late.
III. Hidden by Soiled Witnesses
A. II Corinthians 4:6-7 “For God, who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.”
B. Matthew 5:14-16 You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
C. During a sermon, a pastor asked a reflective question to the congregation, "And what is a saint?" A little boy looked up at the stained glass windows of the apostles and blurted out, "People who let the light shine through!" – Kent Crockett’s Sermon Illustrations, www.kentcrockett.com
D. The believer is to let his light shine through. Think about the statement – Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket – for a moment. Is it not ridiculous? No one would ever even think about lighting a lamp and then hiding the light it produced. That makes no sense whatsoever. The lamp would utterly fail at fulfilling its intended function. By analogy, a believer who is light in the Lord and yet who chooses to put himself or herself under a basket so to speak is absurd.
E. As believers, we can hide the light of Christ in us when we are a poor witness to the world and act like they do.
F. We think that by becoming more like the world they will influence the world. But when we do that we buy the lies of the devil and the light of the gospel is hidden.
G. Light shines through clean vessels. Sin not only taints the believer but it also tints his witness. It gives the world an excuse.
H. 2 Samuel 12:14 “However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die."
I. 1 Peter 2:9 “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
J. Once upon a time, a little candle stood in a room filled with other candles, most of them much larger and much more beautiful than she was. Some were ornate and some were rather simple, like herself. Some were white, some were blue, some were pink, and some were green. She had no idea why she was there, and the other candles made her feel rather small and insignificant. When the sun went down and the room began to get dark, she noticed a large man walking toward her with a ball of fire on a stick. She suddenly realized that the man was going to set her on fire. "No, no!" she cried, "Aaaaagghhh! Don’t burn me, please!" But she knew that she could not be heard and prepared for the pain that would surely follow. To her surprise, the room filled with light. She wondered where it came from since the man had extinguished his fire stick. To her delight, she realized that the light came from herself. Then the man struck another fire stick and, one by one, lit the other candles in the room. Each one gave out the same light that she did. During the next few hours, she noticed that, slowly, her wax began to flow. She became aware that she would soon die. With this realization came a sense of why she had been created. "Perhaps my purpose on earth is to give out light until I die," she mused. And that’s exactly what she did. God created you and I to produce light in a dark world. Our purpose on this earth is to let our lights shine so that God may be glorified. – Still More Hot Illustration For Youth Talks, Wayne Rice, Zondervan, p. 43
