So here we are, once again, with the wonderful privilege of looking into the Word of God. So will you take your Bibles and turn to Second Corinthians chapter three. This will be the third and final exposition of this section of scripture under the heading "Beholding the Glory of the Lord." We're in Second Corinthians chapter three, beginning in verse 17. And actually, I'm going to be mainly in chapter four, but all of it fits together, as you will see. Now before I read that, let me remind you that here we have the opportunity to understand what the Apostle Paul was communicating with respect to beholding the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ as he is revealed in Scripture; of beholding his majesty and his meekness, of being able to see the glory of his grace to see his power and his authority. For indeed, he is the Savior of sinners, and he is the Lord of the church. And unlike the old covenant believers, the new covenant believers like us are able to see Christ very clearly, as he is revealed in Scripture. We see him with, as Paul says, an unveiled face as Moses did on Mount Sinai. And the more we gaze upon him in Scripture, the more we contemplate the glories of his person and work, the more we become like him. And this was Paul's great concern for the saints in Corinth. Because you will remember the context here, there were false apostles that had come into the church, and they were trying to deceive people into believing that you needed to arbitrarily take some aspects of the old covenant and mix it with the new covenant in order for salvation and sanctification to occur. And as we will see, Satan continues to use that strategy of legalism, along with many other strategies, to deceive people, and he does so with devastating power. And as we've seen thus far, in the little outline that I have given you, seeing Christ in Scripture accomplishes five amazing realities in the life of a believer. Number one, it reveals the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, it transforms believers into the likeness of Christ. Number three, it emboldens believers to stand firm in their faith in Christ. Number four, it motivates believers to renounce sin, pursue holiness and proclaim the truth of Christ. And then the final one that we will deal with this morning is, it dispels the darkness of sin, and ignorance concerning the person and work of Christ.

So let me read this section to you and then we will begin to look at it closely and apply it to our lives. Second Corinthians three I want to begin with verse 17. "Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But 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, justice from the Lord, the Spirit. Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bondservants for Jesus sake. For God who said, 'Light shall shine out of darkness is the one who is shown in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.'"

So indeed, as our fifth point tells us, beholding the glory of the Lord in Scripture, dispels the darkness of sin and ignorance concerning the person and the work of Christ. Now again, a bit of context, in his absence, and behind his back, the false apostles and their sycophants in the church at Corinth were saying all manner of things to somehow discredit the Apostle Paul. And although they were according to verse two of Chapter Four "walking in craftiness and adulterating the Word of God," they accused Paul of that very thing. They even ridiculed his personal presence. They ridiculed his preaching style and his content. Boy, do I know what that feels like? I get that all the time. In Second Corinthians 10 and verse 10. Then he tells us how that they ridiculed his personal presence, saying it it was" unimpressive, his speech is contemptible." In other words, he's just a weak, ineffective person, you don't need to listen to him. They were saying that his preaching was offensive, and that it alienated people. First Corinthians 1:23, "to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness." Now remember, in ancient Corinth, and that whole area of the Greco Roman Empire, they preferred lofty, skillful rhetoric, eloquent oratory, steeped in philosophy, so that these speakers would woo and wow the audience; sway the crowds. They were the original seeker sensitive people, okay. They were culturally relevant ear tickling philosophers. That's what they were used to. But Paul's method and his message, were counterintuitive. He didn't do any of that. In fact, he said in First Corinthians two two, "I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." My goodness. That's it. From verse four, he went on to say, "my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but, “here it is, "in demonstration of the Spirit and of power." You see, he understood that it's not the messenger, but the message that God uses to save sinners. It's not cleverness, but it's clarity. He understood that it's not trickery, it is truth. It's not a message of relevance, but a call to repentance based upon the pure gospel of Jesus Christ.

And so again, in verse two, he says, "We have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God." In other words, like the false apostles, "but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God." And then he says this, and this is where we're going to focus in a few minutes, "And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." You see, folks, the reason why people do not respond to a clear, bold proclamation of the gospel is not because it is not packaged properly or presented properly. It's because people are spiritually dead in their trespasses and sins, Ephesians two, one. It's because, according to John 3:19, they "love the darkness more than the Light for their deeds are evil." It's because according to First Corinthians 2:14, The natural man is "spiritually discerned." In other words, he is incapable of discerning the activities of the Spirit of God. He cannot understand the things of the Spirit of God. They're utter foolishness to him, and we've all encountered such people. When you try to give them the gospel, they look at you like you've got two heads. Men and women reject the gospel, dear friends because they are spiritually blind. Jesus says in Matthew six, and verse 22, the lamp of the body is the eye. "If therefore your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light." But here he's making a spiritual comparison, "If your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!" You see, unbelievers cannot see the light of truth because the internal corruption of their very nature emanates darkness within them causing them to walk in darkness, which they perceive to be light. Worse yet, as we will see, they are double blinded. Not only are they blinded because of their depraved nature, but Satan does everything he possibly can to deceive them with all manner of strategies of darkness to keep them in unbelief. So what is it that gives man spiritual sight? It is the gospel by the power of the Holy Spirit. It's the miracle of regeneration. That instantaneous, supernatural impartation of spiritual life to the spiritually dead, like we would see pictured, even in Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. You see, the miracle of spiritual sight is what we must understand if we're going to have boldness in our evangelism. Because sometimes we think it's up to us to be really clever and come up with really cool ways to somehow help people be soft to the Gospel. And I'm not saying we shouldn't be kind, and we shouldn't present it in a loving manner. But folks, it's not going to be up to you to do that. It's going to be the truth that the Spirit of God uses to open their eyes. You will recall the miracle of spiritual sight that was pictured in John nine. In that narrative, Jesus takes the initiative to show mercy to a man born blind from birth, the text says, you know, those born blind from birth, give no value to sight, because they don't know what they're missing. They don't even know what it is. What a picture of spiritual death, right? And likewise, the spiritually blind have no capacity to see the wretchedness of their very nature of their condition, nor are they able to see the imminent danger that they are in. So they have no capacity to see their desperate need for the Savior. And they have no ability to see the glory of the person and the work of Christ. So God must do something. And folks, none of us would have ever seen the glory of Christ; we would have never seen our sin had the spirit of God not taken the initiative and stooped down to give us sight. Because there is none who seeks after God, Romans 3:11. So God must seek after us, as we read in Luke 19. And he must seek after us and he must save us. In fact, Jesus said, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God, as in the case of the blind beggar, we too were utterly destitute, utterly helpless. And were it not for a merciful God to come and to seek us out, we would have never been saved. So, folks, the point is, it is God, it is not man, that opens the eyes of the spiritually blind.

Now back to Second Corinthians four. Later in verse six, Paul is going to describe this very thing when he speaks of the sovereignty of God, granting spiritual eyesight to sinners. Remember there he says, "God who said, 'Light shall shine out of darkness,' is the One who has shown in our hearts, to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." So it is not human persuasion, but the divine Spirit through his word that causes us to be born again. This is why evangelism must begin with the word, with the gospel, not apologetics. In fact, Peter states in First Peter 1:23, "For you have been born again, not of seed which is perishable, but imperishable, that is through the living and enduring word of God." He went on to say in verse 25, "And this is the word which was preached to you." Similarly, in James 1:18, James says, "In the exercise of His will, He brought us forth by the word of truth." The apostle John said, in John 1:13, "We were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God." Let me give you another passage, Paul told Timothy in Second Timothy two, beginning of verse 24, "The Lord's bondservant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wrong, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition. If perhaps," now catch this, "if perhaps God may grant them repentance, leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil having been held captive by him to do his will." And this is why Paul would say that he's not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God unto salvation to all who believed, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. So again verse three, he says, "And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing." In other words, unlike what these false apostles are saying about me, that the reason people aren't believing, the reason the church isn't filling up, so to speak, is because this guy's not saying the right things. That's not at all what the issue is. It is veiled to those, notice, who are perishing, which means those who are spiritually discerned, those who are spiritually blind; they're dead, they are doomed. Only God can open their eyes. It is not veiled because the preacher isn't clever enough. It is not veiled, because they're not hearing a non-offensive, culturally relevant, entertaining, conversational style sermon that'll kind of soften them up in order to somehow help spiritual cadavers be more comfortable, so that they will accept the gospel, so that they will be open minded towards the person and the work of Christ. Folks, that is just foolishness. That's just unbiblical. Nor is it dependent upon a preacher who can manipulate people emotionally, to get them to make a decision for Christ. Very dangerous.

He says again, in verse three, "If our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing." "Tois apollymenois" in the original language, it's a phrase used in chapter two and verse 15, where Paul described his ministry as a fragrance of death to those who rejected Christ. By the way, it's also used in Second Thessalonians two in verse 10. It says, he describes those who perish again, same phrase, "tois apollymenois,” those who perish, they do so because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. Now, this brings up a very important theological distinction that I want you to be aware of. Because I fear that this kind of, or misunderstanding, what Paul is saying here, and in many other passages of Scripture, has led to a great deal of false conversions so to speak. You know, we see this especially in what I call altar call evangelism. You've probably seen this before, at the conclusion of many church services, or evangelistic crusades. People are given an invitation to respond to the gospel message, which in many cases is is grossly distorted. And they are asked to raise a hand or walk an aisle, repeat a prayer and some of these types of things. Where upon they will immediately be welcomed into the kingdom of God, without giving any evidence whatsoever that they'd been made a new creature in Christ and the old things have passed away, the new things have come and so forth. And here's why this is dangerous. Friends, when an immediate external act in response to an evangelistic appeal is considered evidence of new birth, instead of a changed life, many people are going to be deceived into believing that they are born again when in fact, they are not. It's almost like, Oh, this is all I need to do to get my ticket punched. Okay, I'll do that. You probably have seen this with Franklin Graham here recently on television, where he gives kind of a gospel invitation and says, repeat this prayer and if you've repeated this prayer, there's people on the other end, and they'll talk to you and they're basically going to say, welcome to the kingdom. Don't let anybody ever tell you that you weren't just now born again. Well, you may have been, but there's a real danger with all of that. And furthermore, when a non-offensive kind of watered down gospel that appeals to carnal minds is the gospel that is preached. And then when masses of people embrace that kind of gospel, the perceived success of that kind of evangelism and the perceived success of that kind of, shall we say, gospel seed guaranteed to grow in any soil--when people see that, they say, Well, you know what? We need to adopt that style because that's bringing in the masses. Unfortunately, this is the tragic legacy of the errant Arminian and I would even say Pallagian theology of the flamboyant revivalist preacher, Charles Finney. He lived from 1792 to 1875. And this has been adopted by many evangelicals over the years, very common even to this day. Finney believed, quote, "human depravity is a voluntary condition." Didn't believe in, you know, the depraved nature of man. It's a voluntary condition. That is to say, it's continuance depends upon the choice of the human will. He went on to say, "Let a man once decide for Christ and he will become a new man." So the evangelist is not simply to preach Christ and tell men of their duty to believe he has to help make that believing reality by appointing some outward action to assist a change of will. Ian Murray, writes this concerning Finney; Finney believed, quote, "That evangelism has to involve telling gospel hearers that they are able to become Christians at once. They have to be presented with an immediate choice, and to show the sincerity and reality of their choosing Christ, let them do something to prove it. Hence, what became known as the altar call. That is the practice of calling those who would be converted to take some visible action, which would clinch the matter. The fact that such novel public actions were calculated to create natural excitement was the opposite in Finney's mind to being a drawback." He said, "God has found it necessary to take advantage of the excitability there is in mankind to produce powerful excitements among them before he can lead them to obey."

Now perhaps you've been in revivals, so called revivals, or crusades or whatever, you know, at the end of the sermon, there is a gospel invitation and all of a sudden the organ comes on, begins to set the mood. Typically, "Just as I am," you know. And then you begin to see people get up from all over. And they've been preprogrammed to do this in order to prime the pump, to get other people to kind of join in because we tend to be sheep. And, obviously, this method of evangelism, and based upon this kind of a gospel, really rules out dependence upon the sovereign grace of God to save people. That's the danger. And then the danger is that many of these people become false converts. And we know that to be true. It's not to say that some aren't saved, but many are not. In 1838, Joseph Ives Foot, a Presbyterian minister who lived in that era, and witnessed Finney's ministry wrote this quote, "During 10 years, hundreds and perhaps 1000s were annually reported to be converted on all hands, but now it is admitted that Finney's real converts are comparatively few. It is declared even by himself," even by Finney that, quote, "the great body of them are a disgrace to religion." Writing in 1835 in the Princeton essays, Albert D. Dodd, made a similar observation, quote, "Appearances were somewhat in favor of the new measures, at least wherever they were carried, converts were multiplied. But it is now generally understood that the numerous converts of the new measures have been in most cases, like the morning cloud and the early dew; in some places, not a half, a fifth, or even a 10th part of them remain." You know, someone has well stated that the one thing we learn from history is that we never learned from history. And this is certainly true in this regard. Countless people have responded to these kinds of emotional invitations without ever really even understanding the true gospel, without really understanding their own heart, their own nature, their own sinfulness and their own need for Christ. Nevertheless, as Michael Horton has aptly stated, quote, "The New York revivalist was the oft quoted," and by the way, he's referring to Charles Finney, "The New York revivalist was the oft quoted and celebrated champion of the Christian singer Keith Green and the Youth with A Mission organization. He is a particularly esteemed or he is particularly esteemed among the leaders of the Christian right. And the Christian left by both Jerry Falwell and Jim Wallace, Sojourners magazine. And his imprint can be seen in movements that appear to be diverse, but in reality are merely heirs to Finney's legacy-- from the Vineyard Movement and the Church Growth Movement to the political and social crusades, televangelism, the Promise Keepers movement, and even as a former Wheaton College President glowingly cheered, 'Finney lives on.' That is because," as Horton goes on to say, "Finney's moralistic impulse envisioned a church that was in large measure an agency of personal and social reform, rather than the institution in which the means of grace, Word and Sacrament are made available to believers who then take the gospel to the world," end quote. See, folks although Finney's theology was errant on many levels, which is beyond the purpose of our discussion here, his denial of the doctrine of original sin, and man's utter inability to somehow contribute to his salvation, because of the bondage of his will, and his nature. All of those things just are really contrary to the true gospel, contrary to the doctrine of regeneration, and justification. After all, who needs the Spirit, if a clever preacher can get someone to make a decision for Christ? Who needs the Spirit, if you can get a man to lift his own veil off of his eyes so that he can see the truth? Who needs the Spirit if you can cause yourself to be born again. And by what standard of measure, can anyone be called a Christian? If all that is necessary for man to do is just to decide on himself, make a decision for Christ, with the help of a compelling evangelist, of course, and then validate that conversion solely on the basis of some external act and a profession of faith. That is the great danger. And over the years, I've seen many people come to faith in Christ. I've seen them break down and weep. And in the middle of a service, I've seen them, go into a back room and just come to Christ, often with great emotion, sometimes not. I know of many others who have gone home, I can just think of story after story, where they've gotten down on their knees and come to Christ. But folks, the other dangers, whenever you have a sanitized, watered down version of the gospel; some seeker sensitive form of the gospel, what you have is just a hybrid of the same kind of system. You know, let's soften up the crowd with some entertainment. Let's get the lights right, get the music right. Make sure everybody's kind of getting into it, and then offer them a feel-good sermon. And invite them to ask Jesus into their hearts so that they can be happy. Because after all, God wants you to be happy; doesn't mean he wants you to be successful and all of those types of things. He even wants you to be prosperous. Boy, watch what happens. And what happens is you fling open the wide gate, and you make it wide as possible so that people enter the wide gate rather than the narrow and they traverse down the broad path that leads to destruction.

You know, it's funny, I bring this up because Satan had been at all this stuff and we could see it all the way back in the first century with the apostle Paul in Corinth. The false apostles were into this type of thing, their own version. And they were criticizing Paul because he wasn't. You know, all Paul did, I mean, he was just dumb enough to just unleash the truth on people. We see this, for example in First Thessalonians two beginning of verse two, Paul says, "after we had already suffered and been mistreated in Philippi as you know, we had the boldness in our God to catch this, to speak to you the gospel of God amid much opposition. For our exhortation does not come from error or impurity, or a 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 hearts." I've had a number of evangelical preachers that I've interacted with over the years that have told me, "So Dave, we could never get away preaching some of the things you preach in your church." And one guy telling me, you know, brother, that stuff just turns people off. You know, I remember one preacher called me and he said, he said, If I were to preach, and he was talking about a certain message that I preached, kind of a series, he said, If I would have preached that they would have hauled me off of the stage in the middle of the sermon.

And I reminded him of what Jesus said in Luke 6:26, "Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way." Folks, as people that know and love Christ, and had been saved by His grace, we're not trying to win some popularity contest. We're trying to give people the truth of the gospel, the truth of what the Word of God has to say. And then let the Spirit do what only He will do. And whenever the truth is preached, it will do one of two things, it will either harden hearts or soften hearts, and that's up to the Spirit. "So even if our gospel is veiled," Paul says, "It is veiled to those who are perishing in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving." The word "world"-- "aion," in the original language, it could be translated "age." Paul described it by the way, in Galatians, one four as this "present evil age." It's a description of this whole world system that God has allowed Satan to oversee, to influence, to control a system that is in opposition to God, that's designed to hinder the work of God, and to hinder his people. We all experience this. And that's what he says, in whose case the god of this world, referring to Satan, is the one doing this. By the way, "god" small g, obviously, Satan is a created being. Nevertheless, he has dominion, albeit temporary and limited; nevertheless, he has subjects--they are called unbelievers. I like the way John MacArthur put it, quote, "Satan is the archetype of all the false gods in all the false religions he has spawned."

So he's the one that has blinded the minds. "Minds" are a term in the original language that speaks about a person's ability to apprehend, to reason, to understand logically. "He has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel," and so forth. Now, how does he do this? He doesn't necessarily do this by indwelling people, even though that has happened, and that can happen. But rather, he does this through temptations, and through deceptions that appeal to a man's innate, depraved nature. Think of it this way. He's the pimp that provides the prostitute to the man who is already enslaved by his immoral loss. He's the cartel that provides the drugs for the people who are already living in a state of unimaginable depravity. He is the record label that promotes the artists who sing the lyrics that appeal to those who are in love with the world. He is the Hollywood that produces the filth that appeals to depraved minds. Here's the educational system that trains the teachers who teach the students who are already alienated from God and walk in darkness. He is the political party that deceives the masses, makes laws to oppose God's law and therefore panders, the wickedness that is already there in the human heart. We see this today with the satanic groups like Antifa and Black Lives Matter; Marxist revolutionaries that grossly exaggerate racial inequalities in order to push their agenda of social injustice and create division amongst the people so they can quote, "disrupt the Western prescribed nuclear family structure." Can you imagine that? Yeah, that's what Satan does. Also the Black Lives Matter people say they want to dismantle cisgender privilege and uplift black trans folk, especially black trans women who continue to be disproportionately impacted by trans antagonistic violence. Basically, they want to promote sexual deviancy, things that are an abomination to God. They don't want to promote radical feminism; they want to abolish the police. Basically, they want to abolish capitalism, they want to abolish the Constitution. And folks, please hear this. They want to abolish biblical Christianity. That is at the very core of what Satan is doing here. And if you don't understand that, you've been deceived. Think of the unbelievers that, you know, not only are they dead, spiritually, and blind because of their depravity, because they love darkness rather than light, but virtually everything that they experience in life is Satan’s way of somehow deceiving them and blinding them even further. I mean, think we send kids to, not everybody, but a lot of people will send kids to school. And by the way, I understand some people have to do this, but we have ungodly teachers, you know, they're going to tell the kids that there's no creator, for example. College professors, phony churches, false teachers, media, music, politics, social media. I mean, these are things that are designed by people whose father is the devil, and they want to do the desires of their father as Jesus said in John 8:44. These are people who want to kill unborn babies right up to the point of birth, and some of them to let them die even beyond that. I dare you, go to a high school principal and say, Look, I want to make sure that my child is not put in a class where they teach the LGBTQ agenda and watch the reaction you get. Can you imagine asking permission from the mayor in New York City to go there in front of the Trump Towers next to the Black Lives Matter thing that they've painted on the thing? May we also paint something right next to that, we just want to paint John 3:16. Oh, my we couldn't do that. That would be racist. And you know, on and on and on it goes. Folks, this is how Satan blames the minds of unbelievers. They're already hostile to God. They're already ruled by the lust of their flesh, and he just comes along and provides more opportunities to tempt them and to deceive them. Why do you think millions of people clamor to these prosperity cult charlatans? I mean, they just fill up these massive, ordered auditoriums. Why do you think that's so? It's because Ephesians, according to Ephesians, two beginning of verse two, "they walk according to the course of this world." That's why. "According to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience." Paul went on to say that they're "living in the lust of the flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and are by nature, children of wrath." You see, these people simply cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

I love to read a lot of the old dead guys all right, can't wait to meet them someday. I glean so much from them. And under the heading Satan and the Gospel, an 18th century Scottish churchman Horatius Bonar, he lived from 1808 to 1889. He offers some very compelling, powerful insights regarding Satan's diabolical opposition to the purposes of God. And it's as if he could have written this, I know the language is a little bit old English, but he could have written this as if he had written it today, okay? I want you to listen to what he writes, quote, "Let us mark how in these days of ours, Satan works and tempts and rages. He comes as an angel of light to mislead yet pretending to lead to blind yet professing to open the eyes, to obscure and bewilder, yet professing to illuminate and guide. He approaches us with fair words upon his lips, liberality, progress, culture, freedom, expansion, elevation, science, literature, benevolence, nay and religion too. He seeks to make his own out of all these, to give the world as much of these suits his purpose, as much as will make them content without God, and without Christ and without the Holy Ghost." He went on to say, "He sets himself against God and of the things of God in every way. He can deny the gospel, or he can dilute the gospel, or he can obscure the gospel, or he can neutralize the gospel just as suits his purpose, or the persons with whom he has to do. His object in regard to the gospel is to take out of all of it that makes it glad tidings to the sinner. And oftentimes this modified or mutilated gospel, which looks so like the real, serves his end best. For it throws men off their guard, making them suppose that they have received Christ's gospel, even though they have not found in it the good news, which it contains." He goes on to say the "Satan rages against the true God, sometimes openly and coarsely and other times, calmly and politely. Making men believe that he is the friend of the truth, but an enemy to its perversion. Progress, progress, progress is his watchword now, by means of which he hopes to allure men away from the old anchorages, under the pretext of giving them wider, fuller, more genial teachings. He bids them soar above creeds, catechisms, dogmas, as the dregs of an inferior age and a lower mental status. He distinguishes too, between theology and religion, warmly advocating the latter in order to induce men to abandon the former. He rages against the divine accuracy of the Bible, and cunningly subverts its inspiration by elevating every true poet and philosopher to the same inspired position. So successfully has he wrought in disintegrating and undermining the truth, that there is hardly a portion of it left firm. The ground underneath us is hollow, and the crust on which we tread ready to give way and precipitate us into the abyss of unbelief." Folks, that was back in the 19th century. Look where we are now. You say, Well, is there any hope for sinners? Yes, it's the gospel. It's the power of the Spirit unleash it upon people. You don't need clever sermons. You don't need emotional altar calls with 37 verses of "Just as I am," you don't need all of those things. No smooth-talking crowd pleasers, not a non-offensive, self-esteem promoting conversational gospel, you don't need all of that. The only thing that dispels the darkness is, as Paul said, the manifestation of the truth.

So in verse five, we begin to wrap this up. He says, "For we do not preach ourselves." In other words, we're not trying to promote ourselves like the false teachers do. We're not peddling the word, we're not in this to make a buck. So many pulpits today are filled with entrepreneurs, not men that God has called and gifted to shepherd his people. By the way, later on, Paul will expose the false apostles in chapter 10 and verse 12 and following. He talks about how they would compare themselves with each other, which was common in their culture, using vicious smear tactics against their rivals. Can we say politics in America today? Guilty of character assassination, being boastful, territorial. In fact, self-boasting was an act of honor in their culture. Of course, you see Satan using the same types of things today.

Well, Paul denied being this way. He attributed whatever success there was, to one thing it was the ministry of the Lord through His Word. First Corinthians two and verse three. He said that he came to them again in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. He went on to say "on my own behalf, I will not boast except in regard to my weaknesses." Second Corinthians 12 five, and then verse nine, "I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me." You see, folks Paul didn't want a personal following. He wasn't trying to get a man to make a ministry empire. He simply preached Christ Jesus as Lord. He wanted Christ alone to be worshipped and praised and served and obeyed. And he didn't want people to serve him. He didn't have his own personal entourage carrying all of his bags and treating him like some prima donna. Instead he was there he says bondservant. "Doulos" in the original language; it could literally be translated "slave." He was their slave, for Jesus sake. By the way, the understanding of that term the slave was a person who was legally owned by someone else, and whose entire livelihood and purpose was determined by their master. That's who Paul was. That's who we need to be.

Well, then he closes the section by underscoring the sovereignty of God in salvation, by comparing it to the sovereign work of God in creation. And this passage always moves me to tears. I think I'll be okay here this morning. But it is so powerful when you think about it, folks, because this is the story of my life and yours. In verse six, he said, "For God who said, 'Light shall shine out of darkness is the one who has shown in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." By the way, this is a reference to the Spirit's role in creation. When he spoke the world into existence out of nothing, we read about it in Genesis one, three. There, it says, God said, "Let there be light and there was light." One of my professors in seminary, Dr. Dick Mayhue, who writes this, "In regeneration, God unites the external call of gospel preaching with his sovereign, effectual call unto new life, into darkened and dead hearts, He speaks the command, 'Let there be light.' And he instantaneously births in us the light of eternal spiritual life where it had not existed."

Dear friends, I pray this as your testimony. You see, because regeneration is that great bridge of grace that that spans the infinite chasm between man's depravity and all that is needed, the righteous demands of the law, necessary to enter God's kingdom. Because of this, Paul was thrilled, he rejoiced, knowing that God had made him a minister, as he said in Second Corinthians three, six, "of a New Covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." So I would challenge you in closing here this morning to spend more time in the Word and less in the world, okay. As you go into the Word, and as you behold the glory of the Lord in Scripture, you are going to see the five little points that I've given you here in the outline, the Spirit of God will reveal the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, transform you into the likeness of Christ embolden you to stand firm in your faith in Christ, motivate you to renounce sin, pursue holiness, and proclaim the truth of Christ. And then finally, it is going to dispel the darkness of sin and ignorance concerning the person and work of Christ so that you will have discernment. And you can teach your children to have discernment. My great fear for each of you is, it's so easy, especially in these days, to be deceived by the enemy. And then, with all of the things that are bombarding us, not only are we deceived, but we end up being distracted. You know, one of the things that drives me nuts is when I click on something on the internet, I want to read an article all sudden, pop up, pop up, I can't even what is this? And now I'm fighting to get rid of all these things. You know, that's what Satan does. You know, you try to focus on something that is pure and lovely, and holy and godly in your life. And what happened? Boop, boop, there's just stuff everywhere. And we get distracted. We get distracted. I know so many people today, and there's, by the way, there's a place for some of this, but they're more concerned about stockpiling guns and ammunition and an ammo than they are having a secret devotion to God and prayer and worship and evangelism. And again, I know there's a place for all that, we need to be concerned with some of those things. Christians joining militias all over the place. People obsessed with the news and politics, horrified to see what's happening in the country and all of these types of things, getting all depressed and discouraged. Folks, please let me remind you again, our hope is in the in the Lord. It's not in anything else. It's not in politicians. It's not in anything in this world. We're citizens of another kingdom. You know, expect these things to happen and glorify Christ in the midst of them. Use it as an opportunity to present the gospel. Let your light shine before men so that they will see who Christ really is. But as Paul said in Second Corinthians 11 three, "I am afraid lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, that your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ." Therefore, I would encourage you, as Paul said, in Colossians, three one, since "you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of the Father. Set your mind on things above, not on the things that are on the earth. For you have died and your life is what it is hidden with Christ in God." Then I love that next phrase, he says, "When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory."

Folks, let me close by encouraging you. King Jesus is coming again. Don't forget that. King Jesus is coming again as he has promised, believe the next thing on the prophetic stage is the church is going to be snatched away. Then Daniel's 70th, week of judgment upon Israel and upon the nation's will begin, sometimes known as the tribulation. He's going to judge the nations, he is going to restore a remnant of Israel and then he is going to return in power and great glory as King of kings and Lord of lords; we are going to return with him and he is going to establish his earthly kingdom. He is going to reign upon this earth for 1000 years in fulfillment of the Abrahamic and the Davidic covenants. As well as hundreds of Old Testament and New Testament prophecies, that will be a time when as Habakkuk says, "The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." O how I long for that day, don't you. But folks, it's coming, mark it, it's coming. And we pray that his kingdom will come and his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Then that magnificent millennial kingdom will be the consummating bridge between human history and the eternal state. And we will dwell with him forever. All because of the glory of his grace. Amen? Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for the eternal truths of your gospel that has not only saved us, but that is in the process of sanctifying us. May we embrace these things with all of our heart and live them out in such a way that others will see the glory of Christ emanating from us. May our lives redound your glory. And once again, use us as salt and light in this very decaying, corrupt and dark world, that many will come to faith in Christ and finally, Lord, come quickly. I ask, come quickly. We long to see you face to face. For it's in Jesus name that I pray. Amen.