Bold Proclaimers of Gospel Truth (2 Corinthians 4:1-6)

so refreshing to be together away from all the chaos that is going on in our world and look out and see all your beautiful faces and thank the lord that you're here and worshiping him this morning i i want to take you to a passage that has been a treasure to me for many many years in fact it's actually a passage that i spoke on two years ago at a shepherd's conference to all the men that were here it's one of those defining portions of scripture as i look at my life and my ministry and your life and your ministry in the kingdom of light that passage is second corinthians chapter four second corinthians chapter four now we've been looking at the idea of the fact that there is revealed in scripture that the world is made up of two kingdoms there's the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness and last time we looked at second corinthians chapter 6 which says light and darkness are incompatible as incompatible as lawlessness and righteousness as satan and christ as unbelievers and believers and so we said that the word of god calls on us to be separate touch not the unclean thing have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness the kingdom of light is not ever helped or advanced by an alliance in a common cause with the kingdom of darkness christ does not need satan to accomplish his purposes and that breaching that reality is what causes all the compromise that infects and has always infected the church so there are two kingdoms i want to reaffirm that to you colossians 1 you remember we have been delivered from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of god's dear son in first peter that very very important statement in verse 9 you are a chosen race a royal priesthood a holy nation a people for god's own possession philippians 2 15 we are lights shining in the darkness we are a light in the world and we don't let that light be hid but it shines in dispelling the darkness if you go through the gospel of john you find that one of john's themes all through his gospel is the issue of light jesus christ is introduced to us in chapter one as the light which comes into the world and lights every man in chapter three we are told that he is the light but men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil in chapter 8 we are again told that he is the light of the world whoever comes after him follows him will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life even in chapter 12 of the gospel of john we are reminded again to respond to the light while the light is here and first john chapter 1 john again opens his presentation of christ with these familiar words john first john 1 5. this is the message we have heard from him and announced to you that god is light and in him there is no darkness at all god is light and in him there's no darkness at all if we say we have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness we lie and do not practice the truth but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light we have fellowship with one another and the blood of jesus his son cleanses us from all sin if you're among those who are being cleansed of all sin you live in the light you walk in the light now our calling and our duty as the children of light as paul calls us is to make sure that we shine the light of the gospel into the darkness that's our responsibility we don't make alliances common cause with the darkness but we shine the light of the gospel into the darkness paul gives us some help on that when he gives his testimony in the 26th chapter of acts and if you look down at verse 12 that's a good place to start paul is giving his testimony to pagan king and he's rehearsing what happened to him on the damascus road so he says while so engaged as i was journeying to damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests at midday o king i saw on the way a light from heaven brighter than the sun shining all around me and those who were journeying with me and when we had all fallen to the ground i heard a voice saying to me in the hebrew dialect saul saul why are you persecuting me it is hard for you to kick against the goads and i said who are you lord and the lord said i am jesus whom you are persecuting but get up and stand on your feet for this purpose i have appeared to you to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen but also to the things in which i will appear to you rescuing you from the jewish people and from the gentiles to whom i am sending you and here's his calling to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of satan to god and that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in me that is crystal clear isn't it let me read it again your purpose is to open the eyes of jews and gentiles so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of satan to god that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in me we are lights in the world we have the same calling the apostle paul had to shine the gospel light into the darkness paul accepted this calling and in romans chapter 1 he says this chapter 1 verse 14 i am under obligation to the greeks and barbarians to the wise and to the foolish this is an obligation so for my part i am also eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in rome for i am not ashamed of the gospel it is the power of god for salvation to everyone who believes to the jew first and also to the greek for in it the righteousness of god is revealed from faith to faith as it is written but the righteous man shall live by faith i am not ashamed of the gospel it is the power of god unto salvation to everyone who believes paul was not ashamed to boldly shine the light of the gospel into the darkness in fact in first corinthians 9 16 he says woe is me if i preach not the gospel in first corinthians 1 23 he says we preach christ crucified in chapter 2 of that same book in verse 2 we preach nothing but christ and him crucified back to chapter 1 of first corinthians verse 30 christ jesus who became to us wisdom from god and righteousness and sanctification and redemption he is the subject of our preaching in second corinthians chapter 1 paul says the son of god christ jesus who was preached among you by us in him and through him are the promises of god and amen to the glory of god even by those who were enemies of paul the gospel was preached and in philippians 1 he says christ is proclaimed and in that i rejoice and will rejoice so the simple responsibility that all of us bear as the children of light in the kingdom of light is to proclaim the gospel of jesus christ into the darkness and that means to the people who are in the dark again just very foundationally romans chapter 10 just so you understand tells us why this is necessary if you confess with your mouth jesus says lord and believe in your heart that god raised him from the dead you'll be saved the only way to be saved from eternal hell is to confess jesus as lord and believe in your heart that god raised him from the dead which means you accept his atonement on the cross validated by his resurrection for with the heart a person believes resulting in righteousness and with the mouth he confesses resulting in salvation for the scripture says whoever believes in him will not be disappointed there's no distinction between jew and greek same lord as lord of all abounding and riches for all who call upon him and then this wonderful invitation whoever will call on the name of the lord will be saved how then will they call on him and whom they have not believed how will they believe in him whom they have not heard and how will they hear without a preacher how will they preach unless they're sent just as it is written how beautiful are the feet of those who bring the gospel of good things whoever calls on the name of the lord will be saved how will they be saved if they don't hear how will they hear if someone isn't sent so that is what is behind the great commission we are here in the world for that one glorious purpose and i want to say immediately the boldness of paul and the fact that he was not ashamed of the gospel put him in a precarious position from the very beginning of his ministry he his conversion story is back in the ninth chapter of acts and i won't go through that but i do want to mention one thing his conversion is in the beginning of the ninth chapter of acts on the damascus road we read his rehearsal of that in chapter 26 of acts but no sooner had he been converted and called by god midway through that same chapter that gives the story of his conversion we read this and immediately he began to proclaim jesus in the synagogues saying he is the son of god that would be the most hostile place he could possibly go to a synagogue he's been converted and he goes immediately into a synagogue to declare that jesus this crucified jew is in fact the son of god the boldness of paul validates the fact that he was not ashamed in the rest of his life he faced the inevitable hostility that comes to one who's bold look down at verse eight of chapter four ii corinthians we'll get to that next week we're reflected in every way not crushed perplexed not despairing persecuted not forsaken struck down not destroyed always carrying about in the body the dying of jesus so the life of jesus also may be manifested in our body verse 11 we are constantly being delivered over to death verse 12 death works in us but life in you he's talking about physical death it was a reality every day he was so despised by the jews and the gentiles look over at chapter six and he gives us a little litany of uh the things that came unto his life because of his boldness verse four much endurance affliction hardship distress beatings imprisonments tumults labors sleeplessness hunger impurity and knowledge and patience and kindness in the holy spirit and genuine love in the word of truth in the power of god by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left by glory and dishonor by evil report and good report regarded as deceivers and yet true unknown yet well known dying yet behold we live as punished yet not put to death as sorrowful yet always rejoicing as poor yet making many rich as having nothing yet possessing all things that's a frantic way to live shuttling back and forth between [Music] persecution and blessing in chapter 7 he says in verse 5 he was afflicted on every side conflicts without fears within in verse six he says he actually was depressed but maybe the most dramatic litany is in chapter 11 where he says in verse 23 that as a servant of christ i have endured more labors more imprisonments beaten times without number often in danger of death five times receiving from the jews 39 lashes three times i was beaten with rods once i was stoned three times i was shipwrecked a night and a day i've spent in the deep i've been on frequent journeys and dangers from rivers robbers countrymen gentiles in the city in the wilderness on the sea among false brother and i have been in labor and hardship through many sleepless nights hunger and thirst often without food and cold and exposure apart from such external things as the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches who is weak without my being weak who is led into sin without my intense concern so we bore all the burdens of the sins of the church as well as the physical suffering i just want you to understand that the most faithful servant of the lord was the most persecuted person in the new testament boldness and an unashamed willingness to proclaim the gospel will inevitably lead to this kind of hostility now you may not suffer the same things that paul suffered but there is rejection on that level of boldness that he exhibited so it's hard given that to stay with it it's hard to stay with it but paul stayed with it let's go back now to second corinthians chapter four verse one he says in verse one notice just that phrase at the end of the verse we do not lose heart we do not lose heart he says it again over in verse 16 therefore we do not lose heart this is the remarkable thing about this man his life was just just a constant act of dodging death because there was so much fierce hostility against the good news of the gospel there would be many people today who would suggest to paul that he could he could maybe alter the message a little bit and it wouldn't always be a jail ministry maybe you don't have to be so bold what is it that you're saying this is supposed to be good news what is it that you're saying that is causing this level of hostility everywhere you go so extreme that he was even stoned to death and raised again he says we do not lose heart he was faithful to the very end to the time that he laid his head on a block and an axe head severed it from his body and he died and martyrdom he never lost heart what does that mean what does that verb mean in greek it basically means to act cowardly to defect sinfully to give in to evil to burn out paul has to remind timothy not to do that in ii timothy don't do that timothy don't abandon the gift that was given to you affirmed by the laying on of the hands of the elders timothy preached the word you have god watching you how did this apostle maintain such endurance when so many people bail out at some point complaints about burnout about the ministry is too difficult there are fewer people who leave the ministry that way than there are who stay in the ministry and just avoid anything that's offensive they never say anything that could make anybody mad how did he endure well at the end of verse 3 i should say at the end of chapter 3 it says that the lord is the spirit and where the spirit of the lord is there is liberty we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory just as from the lord the spirit the answer is the holy spirit was consistently sanctifying him and making him more like christ and there was no lack of boldness in the preaching of christ was there as the holy spirit sanctified him he became more like his savior and he demonstrated the attributes of the lord jesus himself and one of them was certainly preaching the truth boldly but as you come into chapter 4 he defines for us some convictions people will debate about whether theology is important i think a lot of people assume that your christian life has lived in some sentimental way that it's it's sort of some emotional connection to god but the fact of the matter is you can only live the christian life with any strength and you can only avoid being a coward who defects when you have a very firm structure of certainties absolutes convictions that keep you strong because living the christian life shining the light into the darkness is difficult it can be painful you'll be persecuted starting with your own family and the people around you to whatever other level you go so how do you endure you have to have some inviolable commitments unchangeable beliefs they can't be you can't be adjusted from them and paul had those and he lays them out here and i want to take you through this chapter in this week and next but let's let's look at it at least in part this morning he was able to face the hostile darkness take whatever they threw back at him for the following reasons number one he was certain of the superiority and exclusivity of the new covenant in other words he was certain of his message he was certain of the urgency of his message that it was the truth that it was superior to the old covenant and that it was the only hope for sinners let's look at verse 1. therefore since we have this ministry i have to stop you there what ministry what this ministry what are you talking about go back to chapter 3 verse 7. if the ministry of death in letters engraved on stones all right what's that law of moses it's a ministry of death but it came with a certain glory because after all it was divine revelation carved into the stone by the finger of god as it were if the ministry of death in letters engraved on stones came with glory so that the sons of israel could not look intently at the face of moses because of the glory of his face fading as it was how will the ministry of the spirit fail to be even more with glory so you had the old covenant ministry with a certain amount of glory god revealed himself partially to moses on the mountain in exodus 33 the glory god on moses face he came down that is to say the law of god is represented as having glory because it comes from the glorious one but on moses face it was a fading glory yes it was glory but it was a fading glory because the law is the ministry of death the law only condemns you it only kills you and sends you to hell because you violate it far more glorious is the ministry of the spirit paul makes the contrast another way in verse nine if the ministry of condemnation has glory much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory for indeed what had glory in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it that is to say the glory of the new covenant salvation in christ far surpasses the fading and condemning deadly glory of the law verse 11 for if that which fades away was with glory much more that which remains is in glory therefore having such a hope we use great boldness in our speech so why is he so bold because he understands the glory of the new covenant gospel he is certain of its superiority to the old covenant which only condemned and damned all of the world is under sentence of eternal death because they have violated the law of god everyone has the law then is a ministry of death it is a ministry of condemnation the only way that any soul can escape that condemnation is through the new covenant which is a ministry of the holy spirit and a ministry that provides righteousness it really is the something better of hebrews chapter 11. the new testament gospel gives spiritual and eternal life the new testament gospel gives righteousness the new testament gospel has glory that is eternal the new testament gospel provides hope hope verse 12 calls it such a hope such a hope a hope for eternal glory that will never fade away so he understood that he understood that clearly enough when he wrote in philippians chapter 3 these very very familiar words he says as far as the law was concerned chapter three um i could put confidence in my flesh you know i jotted dotted every eye and crossed every t he says i was first five circumcised the eighth day i was of the nation of israel i was of the tribe of benjamin i was a hebrew of hebrews i was as to the law the most zealous possible i was a pharisee as to zeal i i was a persecutor of the church because i thought they violated the law of god as to righteousness found in the law i was blameless as far as anybody knew i kept the law perfectly but whatever things were gained to me those i have counted as loss as done for the sake of christ more than that i count all things to be done in view of the surpassing value of knowing christ jesus my lord for whom i have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish that's where he uses that word that i may gain christ and may be found in him not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law but that which is through faith in christ the righteousness that comes from god through faith he understood that the only hope of salvation was in the new covenant he understood that we are saved by grace through faith and he makes that theme of his writings as i read to you from romans chapter 5. so what drives us in ministry to be faithful and not defect not give up not become ashamed because we can't take the hostility and the rejection what drives us is the certainty that this is the sinner's only hope this is the sinner's only escape they're all around us going to hell do you care enough to shine the light into their darkness do you understand they have no hope without it paul understood that and it kept him bold until he was martyred there's a second characteristic second certainty a second strong conviction that's also in verse 1 it says therefore since we have received this we since we have this ministry as we received mercy and again i have to stop he understood that is a mercy this is the second certainty ministry is a mercy in other words he never lost the wonder over the fact that he was doing something he didn't deserve to do he was not worthy to carry this message not at all it was always a stunning shock to him he never got over it even late in his ministry as he writes his first letter to timothy in chapter 1 he says this i thank christ jesus our lord who has strengthened me because he considered me faithful putting me into ministry even though i was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor yet i was shown mercy because i acted ignorantly in unbelief and the grace of our lord was more than abundant with the faith and love which are found in christ jesus than this it is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance that christ jesus came into the world to save sinners among whom i am foremost yet for this reason i found mercy that in me is the foremost sinner jesus christ might demonstrate his perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in him for eternal life paul says this god in his mercy christ in his grace saved me to show the world that no one is beyond redemption i was the worst that was the worst jesus tells us that when someone is forgiven much they have much gratitude it is the mercy of the lord paul says to the corinthians in first corinthians 7 that has made me trustworthy philippians 2 he says god had mercy on epaphroditus and also god had mercy on me so that i would not have sorrow upon sorrow god continues to be merciful to me i didn't deserve that my dear friend epaphroditus whom i needed survived but god allowed him to survive was merciful to him because he knew i needed him so paul is saying that god is merciful even allowing me to minister even allowing me to preach this glorious gospel and god is merciful to surround me with the people that i need none of us deserve it no one deserves such a privilege no one deserves as he says in chapter 5 verse 20 to be an ambassador for god representing the heavenly king and the kingdom of light such ministry always is a mercy always a mercy that's why back in chapter three you look at verse five not that we're adequate in ourselves to consider anything is coming from ourselves our adequacy is from god who also made us adequate as servants of the new covenant we're not adam we don't deserve this and we aren't capable but the lord chose us and empowers us by his holy spirit there was a sense in which paul understood that even his own unworthiness was not a hindrance to what the lord could do through his faithful life i don't think he ever got over that i i think always through his life as a as a person who was bent on imprisoning christians at one time that he was the worst anti-christ activist on the planet and the lord gave him the ministry of the gospel and the new covenant and he was so aware of how wretched he was what a an anti-christ life he lived that he always saw ministry as a mercy and to sustain him out of sheer gratitude there was a third certainty and by this we'll at least get to verse two there was a third certainty he was certain about the need for a pure heart we've renounced the things hidden because of shame we've renounced the things hidden because of shame all kinds of false accusations were thrown against paul we know that there were people who said he falsified the number of converts that he had there were people who said he had a hidden life of sin terrible things were said about paul he was brutally slandered even by other preachers read philippians chapter 1 they were trying to wound him while he was already feeling the wounds of his imprisonment and he had lived a life essentially as a pharisee in which he has had developed a very high skill in hiding sin right that's what pharisees are they're cover-up artists they're hypocrites jesus said they're white wash tombs on the outside they look clean and the inside they're wretched with dead men's bones and all uncleanness jesus said and they were the most zealous of all the jews the most acquainted with the law the most fastidious about supposedly observing it that they were experts at a hidden life of shame because false religion doesn't restrain the flesh false religion does not overcome sin so when you have somebody who appears very religious and you don't see the evil in their life you are looking at what false religion has to produce and that is the best of all spiritual hypocrites it seems to me the more external decor the less internal reality what does shame mean here anything disgraceful anything dishonorable anything that produces shame paul says i've renounced shame we wish sometimes that we knew when we hear people speak or preach or we know some christian who's seemingly representing the lord jesus christ but something seems wrong there and we wish we knew what really was going on inside that individual sometimes we find out sometimes we don't but we have a right to expect of those who minister the gospel that there is no secret life of shame and when there is it is devastating it is devastating so paul says in chapter 7 as we saw last week verse 1 therefore having these promises beloved let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit outside and inside perfecting holiness in the fear of god you've got to be dealing with your heart matthew 15 jesus said it's not what goes into you that defiles you it's what comes out of you so paul knew that if he was going to be faithful to the end and he was going to endure he knew that if he was going to be faithful to shine the dark the light into the darkness there had to be some things that anchored him down some certainties he was certain regarding the superiority and exclusivity of the new covenant he was certain that ministry was a mercy he was certain that he needed to have a pure heart there's a fourth and very important conviction he was certain of the duty to preach accurately the word of god look at verse 2 again he was certain of the duty to preach accurately the word of god not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of god conviction about handling the word of god accurately this opens up for me pandora's box nothing is more disappointing to me than somebody misinterpreting scripture and speaking as if it's the truth when it's a misrepresentation that's why paul says to timothy in second timothy 2 15 be diligent to be a workman needing not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth you've got to get it right you've got to get it right you get it right and all scripture is profitable he says to timothy and then you preach it so first you have to interpret it correctly and then you have to understand that every single thing it says is profitable and then you preach it conviction conviction of handling the word of god accurately and he uses the word craftiness not walking in craft panorgia literally if you take the word apart it's the word for all and the word for energy all work what does all work mean that there are people who will do anything to accomplish their ends they'll be shrewd with the scripture they'll be unscrupulous with the scripture they'll twist and pervert it they'll deceive people with it a synonym for this word is a kakur gea which is an evil doer or a criminal i don't think there's much difference between a criminal and someone who twists the scripture that is a crime against god the new testament uses panorgia craftiness always in a negative sense it is being willing to do anything to gain your end anything with the scripture and he describes what he means adulterating the word of god adulterating it using it in an illegitimate way adultery is a sin it's a violation of a covenant it's having sexual relations outside your marriage covenant that is violating that covenant and you have a covenant with the word of god to teach it faithfully and if you do not you have violated that covenant adulterating dulund tests only here in the new testament it's a snare it's a trap it's a fish hook it's something deceptive to hook people using the word of god as a way to deceive them look over at chapter 2 verse 17 it's very much like peddling the word of god peddling the word of god kapalas that's a con man that's a crook the false teachers always twist always pervert the word of god in a deceptive way corrupting it diluting it twisting it to make their lies look scriptural to make the the people who follow them think they speak for god over in first thessalonians 2 paul defends himself again and says our exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by way of deceit but just as we have been approved by god to be entrusted with the gospel so we speak not as pleasing men but god who examines our heart we never came with flattering speech as you know nor with the pretext for greed god is witness we don't use the scripture we teach it faithfully and accurately this leads to a really amazing point here the apostle was truly faithful to the scripture and notice what this verse says it accomplished but by the manifestation of truth that was because he was faithful in interpreting the scripture he was manifesting the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of god by the manifestation of the truth that can't be overemphasized the the duty of every preacher the duty of every witness is to proclaim the truth to manifest the truth accuracy of interpretation demands a clear careful exposition of scripture i was saying to some of our young men the other day i hear preachers telling me what the bible means telling me what the bible says the bible says the bible says the bible says that's not helpful show me how it says it don't tell me what the bible says you hear preachers all the time on television the bible says the bible says well then let it speak you're not an intermediary for it take me into it and show me that it's speaking and show me what it's saying that's why the only legitimate kind of preaching is expository preaching because only that kind of preaching lets god's voice be heard and not my interpretation of god's voice don't tell me what the bible says let the bible speak for itself so paul says not in craftiness not adulterating the word but rather by the manifestation of the truth of god's revelation what happens commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of god this is a most unexpected promise the faithful accurate clear exposition of god's word will do exactly what we would want it to do it will commend ourselves meaning the message that we have brought to every man's conscience in the sight of god this is one of the greatest promises in the bible this is the best possible truth for all christians to hear if you proclaim the truth it will commend itself to the heart of the hearer no craftiness is necessary no deceptiveness no alteration no adulteration just declare the truth the truth of sin and condemnation and forgiveness and justification through christ and you have this promise that it will commend us to every man's conscience in the sight of god now you only have one ally in the in the heart of an unconverted person and that is the law of god written in the heart and the conscience romans 2 says the law of god is written in the heart and there's a conscience a mechanism god has put in every human being much like pain in the physical side that is activated when that law is violated every sinner feels guilt every sinner feels fear and anxiety when their sin is confronted amazingly this is the one evangelistic strategy that promises to achieve the goal if you if you said okay what would be the highest possible effect of my witnessing the answer would be to literally by proclaiming the gospel commend yourself to the hearer and in the sight of god well we know how we would commend ourselves in the sight of god by being faithful to the truth but that's also how you commend yourself to the sinner if you could get any effect out of your witnessing what would it be that the sinner would understand the truth of what you're saying that you would establish credibility with the sinner and with god all the clever strategies all the nonsense tactics to try to make sinners respond without offending them don't do any good the only way you can commend the truth to a sinner initially is to hit them at the only ally you have in their heart and that's the law of god and a guilty conscience if you avoid that you have not commended yourself to the sinner the sinner is only affirming the truth of what you said when they feel the reality of sin and guilt so all the clever strategies to avoid that are distortions and deceptions and craftiness and adulteration you say well that makes the sinner angry of course that's the point but it also under the power of the holy spirit makes the sinner repent all these people coming up with all these endless strategies about how to circumvent the hostility of the sinner to the indictment of sin and death and judgment all going around the in circles to try to make the sinner embrace christ out of some whimsical almost romantic emotional response bypass the only thing that is in a sinner that can say this person is telling me the truth every sinner knows the wretchedness of his own heart everyone the only way you'll ever commend yourself to a sinner is to hit him right between the law and the conscience you say people will hate the truth of course but that's where you have to start romans 1 32 all after all the lists of immorality homosexuality reprobate mind all the sins paul says they know the ordinance of god wow that that is a that's an affirmation that sinners know the ordinance of god he's talking to romans these are gentile pagans not jews who had an old testament they know the ordinance of god and they also know those who practice such things are worthy of death wow where does that come from why do sinners when they are confronted with their sin get angry because you've raised fear the law of god condemns them they know they're worthy of death but they not only do those things they give hearty approval to those who practice them and as we've seen in america they make laws to turn that into some kind of acceptable behavior sinners know they're sinners they know they're worthy of death if you're going to proclaim the gospel to them that's the only ally you have in the human heart proclaim the truth of sin and righteousness and judgment and then of grace and forgiveness and salvation proclaim the gospel in truth accurately call sinners to escape sin to escape hell by trusting in christ look jesus said this john 7 7 the world hates me why because i do miracles no because i fed them one day and didn't feed him the next day no the world hates me because i testify of it that its deeds are evil did you hear that the world hates me because i testify of it that its deeds are evil get past this will you that's necessary and it engenders hate but you have to activate hostility because that's a reaction to the recognition of sin you only commend yourself to a sinner when the sinner knows you're telling the truth because his heart is telling him the same thing and his heart's not going to tell him anything about grace or truth but it's going to tell him about his sin so expect hostility expect to have experiences like paul look if the sinner is in the grip of lust and wickedness and likes your message you didn't give the right message if the sinner feels no pain then no rejection you failed you miss the target rejection hostility resistance even persecution is the natural result to an accusing conscience but it's also the path to repentance under the power of the spirit one theologian said it this way paul knew that the truth had such a self-evidencing power that even where it was rejected and hated it commended itself to the conscience as true and those who are sincere and declare simply the truth as god has revealed it commend themselves as truth-tellers when they speak to the consciences of men in an ironic twist being a little personal for a moment somebody was writing things about me and said this macarthur can't reach people he can't reach people that the missional movement is reaching so if he and his followers are successful delegitimizing it the individuals who would never join the faith would hopefully be only in the tens of millions how many souls could be lost to such unwillingness to be missional the criticism is i'm not missional because i preach on sin and so tens of millions of people might be lost look people aren't going to get saved unless you talk about sin that's why paul says i'm not ashamed of the gospel because if you're not willing to take the the assaults you're you're going to fail you're going to lose heart look you can't overcome consumer resistance neither can i this is not a marketing exercise oh yeah this is a marketing exercise i was just reading something on that yesterday you have the product the gospel you have the consumers and you have to figure out how to sell the product to the consumers overcome consumer resistance um you can't do that consumer resistance is too profound too deep they're um they're blinded by satan as we'll see in a minute you don't save anybody you can't save anybody one writer put it this way preaching is the sacrament of salvation but only god does the saving so certainties drove paul that kept him faithful certainty of the superiority of the new covenant ministry is a mercy a pure heart and certainty about being accurate with the word of god and expecting hostility and then this fifth one settle down i'm not done i i know you're looking at your watch okay verse 3. he is certain that salvation is the sovereign work of god are you ready for that he is certain that salvation is the sovereign work of god and even if our gospel is veiled it is veiled to those who are perishing in his case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of christ who is the image of god he is certain about this that if the gospel is veiled if it's covered over if it's not received it is veiled to those who are in a category the perishing and also the blinded by satan the god of this world has blinded their minds we do not have the power to overcome the sinner's resistance there's no amount of cleverness there's no amount of manipulation there's no amount of [Music] oratory that can cause repentance and salvation we can't fight this battle with human weapons why is this true let's go to back to verse 3 for a moment number one they are the perishing these people are the perishing strong verb those are those devoted to destruction that's a category of people paul refers to that in first corinthians one second corinthians two they're the perishing in other words they're a category of people who can't respond they have no mechanism they don't understand the things of god their foolishness to them secondly they're blinded by satan so you have this category of people who are the perishing as contrasted in first corinthians 1 from those who are being saved and then additionally the god of this world has blinded their minds so they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of christ who is the image of god the god of this world the god of this age may be a better way to say it is satan satan has blinded them satan has deceived them chapter 10 paul says they're they're fortified in ideologies of doom and death they need to be led captive out of those john 8 we talked about that already in the last few weeks they're of their father the devil who's a liar and they believe his lies they love darkness rather than light they're under the wrath of god their minds are corrupted by their perishing status and the double blinding of satan so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of christ who is the image of god they can't they can't see it so that's the level of consumer resistance that we have to attack you say well what do we do in a situation like that you recognize this we do not preach ourselves but christ jesus as lord and ourselves as your slaves for jesus sake we preach christ because we know this the god who said light shall shine out of darkness is the one who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of god in the face of christ i'm just going to make a comment about that you know this that the same god who spoke in genesis 1 3 and spoke light into existence is the same god who has to speak spiritual light into the heart of a perishing satanically blinded sinner so this is paul's certainty that salvation is a sovereign work of god it is a sovereign work of god so what does paul say in verse 5 we then do not preach ourselves but christ jesus as lord and ourselves as your slaves for jesus sake we just preach christ we're not looking for gimmicks to overcome consumer resistance as i said the only way that you can commend yourself to a sinner is to hit his conscience and activate the law of god that strikes his conscience and makes him feel guilt and that guilt validates the truth of what you're saying about his sinfulness and then you come to the saving good news of the gospel but even at that you have absolutely no ability to save the sinner the sinner is too profoundly locked down by being in the category of a perishing person one already devoted to destruction and blinded by satan salvation is a creative miracle just like light in genesis now there's so much more to say about that and i will say more about verses four and six next week but i want you to look at verse five for a moment we do not preach ourselves don't preach your ideas don't preach your insights preach christ as revealed in scripture we preach christ jesus as what lord we pray preach christ jesus as the lord we're just slaves to us spiritual results don't come from us no we preach christ that's sufficient that's our calling we preach christ as the only hope for the sinner to escape judgment and hell in john 7 18 jesus said he who speaks from himself seeks his own glory just note that he who speaks from himself when you hear a preacher who's the hero of all his own stories he's seeking his own glory he was seeking the glory of the one who sent him he is true and there's no unrighteousness in him listen for the preacher who gives all the glory to christ we preach christ as lord i think a good way to end you have that little card we preach christ pull it out of whatever you've got it in i want you to stand and read this together with me and we just really got started there'll be a lot more from this section next time but i thought it would be a wonderful experience for us to just hear ourselves say these things if you have one just follow me and read out loud okay we preach christ who is the eternal son one in nature with the eternal father and the eternal son the triune god who is the creator and life-giver as well as the sustainer of the universe and all who live in it who is the virgin-born son of god and son of man fully divine and fully human who is the one whose life on earth perfectly pleased god and whose righteousness is given to all who by grace through faith become one with him who is the only acceptable sacrifice for sin that pleases god and whose death under divine judgment paid in full the penalty for the sins of his people providing for them forgiveness and eternal life who is alive having been raised from the dead by the father validating his work of atonement and providing resurrection for the sanctification and glorification of the elect to bring them safely into his heavenly presence who is at the father's throne interceding for all believers who is god's chosen prophet priest and king proclaiming truth mediating for his church and reigning over his kingdom forever who will return suddenly from heaven to rapture his church unleash judgment on the wicked bring promised salvation to the jews and the nations and establish his millennial reign on earth who will after that earthly reign destroy the universe finally judge all sinners and send them to hell then create the new heavens new earth where he will dwell forever with his saints in glory love and joy this is the christ we preach you need to go back to the first paragraph and recognize that that's supposed to be the spirit father and the eternal spirit let's make that one correction that's what we preach it's what we believe right you said it hardy amen we don't have to be clever we just have to be faithful and don't lose heart father thank you for our time this morning the best of all possible experiences to be in your presence in the presence of your people worshiping you hearing you speak through your word may sinners repent right in this very service and beyond where this message is heard may they turn from their sin may they feel the fear weight dread guilt of their sin and flee only to christ who offers complete forgiveness our lord we love you we desire to be faithful to serve you as paul did to the end of our days may we never lose heart may we never defect may we always be bold and unashamed and may you be glorified in our lives faithful to the very end you

Channel: Grace to You

Views: 146,985

Rating: 4.8944044 out of 5

Keywords: John MacArthur, Bible, Preaching, Christianity, Expository, Exposition, Sermon, Jesus, Christ, Grace to You

Id: X-T6V1e394s

Length: 67min 16sec (4036 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 19 2021