2 Corinthians chapter 4. In chapter 3, Paul had
talked about the ministry of the Spirit and the
ministry of righteousness as opposed to the ministry
of death and the ministry of condemnation. He
was comparing the law and living by the law to...
the glory that comes in Jesus Christ. And he
had reminded his audience of when Moses had gone
on to the mountain and Moses came down and his
face was glowing because he had experienced just
a tad of the glory of God and Moses' face was
veiled because the people were afraid to look.
on moses and it said that the glory of god was
fading from moses face after he would come down
from the mountain it would begin to fade but
paul is is really making a good a good point
in that story and saying that look The unfading
glory of God comes through Jesus Christ. And
so it's not something that needs to be veiled.
It's not something that is hidden. It's something
that has been shown to us through Jesus coming
and giving his life on a cross. We have seen
the glory of God. And so Paul has been really
kind of defending himself throughout this part
of this letter up to this point, and even still
we'll see that in the words that we'll read today.
Paul is trying to say, look, we have done right
by y 'all. We have taught you guys and shown
you guys who Jesus is. You can see it through
our life and the way that we have lived, and
it's all for the glory of Jesus Christ. Last
couple of weeks, we saw in chapter 3 that idea
of, look, don't get caught up. Don't be blind.
Don't keep a veil over your face. Don't miss
the glory of God by trying to live by the law,
but recognize that you have freedom. Where the
Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. We ended
there last week. And so there's freedom in Jesus
and there's burden in trying to earn our salvation
and earn God's favor through our works and our
deeds and anything we can do. But we have to
recognize that Jesus has done everything. And
so when Jesus did everything and fulfilled everything,
The Holy Spirit comes and dwells in us when we
trust in the work of Jesus Christ. And there's
freedom in that because we're not trying to earn
God's favor. We want to live in obedience to
God, certainly, when we've received the grace
and the mercy of God, but we're not striving
to earn God's grace because of what we do. because
that would defeat the purpose of what grace is.
Grace is something that cannot be earned, but
is given to us freely through Jesus Christ. And
the result of that, Paul said in the closing
verses of chapter 3, is that there is freedom
in Jesus. And so that's where we left off last
week, and just continuing on with that same idea
this week. So let's pray, and we'll get started.
God, we come to you. We thank you for your word.
I pray, dear Lord, that we would find freedom
in Jesus Christ, that we would find freedom in
our life of the sin and the temptation that we
face, and that we would find joy in that freedom
and peace in that freedom. And, dear Lord, I
pray that our lives would be lives that people
would look at, that would point them to Jesus,
that we could be so bold as to speak as Paul
does, dear Lord, that we can say in good conscience
that our lives... are a reflection of the love
of God. And if they're not, dear Lord, let us
see those areas where we're struggling and let
us seek you to make us stronger. I pray that
you bless the reading of your word and all for
your glory tonight. In Jesus' name I ask it.
Amen. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 1. Therefore,
since we have this ministry because we were shown
mercy, we do not give up. Again, kind of playing
back on what we saw in the last one. Anytime
you see the word therefore in your Bible, you
need to go back and you need to see what was
going on before. And sometimes you'll have just
one therefore after another. It'll seem like
every little section or every chapter is a therefore.
And so you've got to read all of it to wrap it
up. But we just talked about that ministry. He
says, therefore, since we have this ministry.
Well, in the previous chapter, he had talked
about the ministry of the Spirit. We're not under
the ministry of death and the ministry of condemnation.
That is, Paul was saying, we're not here promoting
the law. We're not telling you you've got to
live by the law. We're telling you that you need
to live by Jesus. So the law was the old way.
That was the old ministry. But there's a new
ministry, the ministry of the Spirit, the Holy
Spirit that indwells in us, that comes once we
put our faith in Jesus Christ. It's a ministry
not of condemnation, but a ministry of... righteousness
that comes only through Jesus Christ, not through
the fulfillment of any kind of things that we
can do on our own. And that's the ministry he's
talking about there. Therefore, since we have
this ministry, because we were shown mercy, we
do not give up. So Paul says, look, God calls
us and God is using us because he was merciful
toward us. What does mercy mean? It means that
you do not get what you deserve. Now, Paul was
a pretty rough guy. Paul was not doing right
by the Lord. I mean, he knew the Word of God,
what we would call the Old Testament. Man, he
was a Jew's Jew. He was a man who knew the law
backwards and forwards. He was an expert. I mean,
he would have known all the religious stuff,
but his heart was not right. He didn't get it.
He knew it, but he didn't get it. And sometimes
maybe we need to check ourselves, because sometimes
maybe we know the Word of God, but we don't get
the Word of God. But then what happened to Paul?
What changed his life? It wasn't that he knew
the law backwards and forwards. It was Jesus
who changed his life. When Jesus appeared, when
that great light shone to Paul, it opened his
eyes, and he realized that he didn't know all
he thought he knew. And when Jesus showed up
on the scene, it changed everything. Now, God
could have looked at Paul, and he could have
said, Look, Paul, you're just this rotten dude,
and you're persecuting those who are trying to
follow me, and I'm not going to show you any
mercy. But instead, God didn't give Paul what
he deserved, nor does he give you and I what
we deserve, or else we wouldn't even be here
right now. But instead, God is merciful. He didn't
give Paul what Paul deserved, but instead he
transformed Paul. He said, I know who you are,
I know what you've been, but I want to show you
Jesus. I want to introduce you to Jesus. And
when Jesus showed up on the scene, it changed
everything. And so it should be in our life.
And maybe it is, or maybe it's not. Maybe we
know the scripture, but maybe we don't know Jesus.
And maybe, maybe... God wants to speak to us.
Maybe God wants to show us who Jesus is through
these scriptures and through so many more that
we will see the glory of God in the same way
that Paul did, that our lives would be transformed,
that we would go from living for ourselves and
for our own glory to saying, woe is me, God,
because I have sinned and I have done wrong,
but God, I have seen the light. And Paul was
rejoicing in that, and he's doing the work. You
can tell a change. Before Jesus, Paul was a pretty
rough guy. After Jesus, Paul is out there doing
the work of the Lord. He is full of zeal to tell
others about Jesus Christ. And he says, look,
we have this ministry that was shown to us that
God is using us for because of his mercy. And
therefore, he says, we do not give up. Now, it
was not easy to do the work that Paul was doing.
Ministry is not easy. Now, there are some in
ministry who, of course, are pastors and missionaries
and who serve in that capacity. But even if we
don't have a title like that, we all still, I
believe, as Christians, are called to serve the
Lord and to minister to others and to serve others
in some way. And it is not always easy to do
the Lord's work. So what's our motivation? What's
going to keep us going? Well, it has to be the
same thing that kept Paul going. That he says,
look, God has called me to serve him. He has
saved my soul. He has had mercy on me. And because
of that... We do not give up. We do not lose
hope. We continue to do the work. So even though
it appears as though he is facing some opposition
here in Corinth for whatever reason, he says,
look, we're not going to give up. We love you
and God loves you and you're too important to
us and we want to continue to pour into you and
to show you the love of God and to instruct you
in the way of God that you'll fully experience
the glory of God. And then he continues on in
verse 2. He says, Instead, we have renounced
shameful secret things, not walking in deceit
or distorting God's message, but commending ourselves
to every person's conscience in God's sight by
an open display of the truth. So he says, look,
we've renounced secret things. We haven't walked
in deceit. We haven't distorted God's word. He
says, look, we have been good ministers of the
gospel of Jesus Christ to you. Now, he has to
say that. Well, he doesn't have to say it. But
he says that because there were some who were
not good ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
There are some who ministered then and still
to this day for profit. They minister so that
their pockets can be filled. They minister for
the recognition. They minister for the fame.
Some minister just to stick it to Paul. They
wanted that big following. They want to be able
to say, I have X amount of people that are in
my church, and there are a lot of people that
minister and do the Lord's work, if we call it
that, but it's not for the Lord. They're working
for themselves. But Paul says, look, we've got
nothing to hide. Everything we do, we do for
the Lord. Everything in our life, you see, it's
on display. Everything we speak to you is the
truth. We speak the truth to you. We love you.
We serve God. We have nothing to be ashamed of.
And that should be evident to you. It should
be evident to you. Your conscience should let
you know of that. part of us that lets us know
when something is not right, when we have a decision
to make, is this right or wrong, that conscious
that's in us, is that little voice or that feeling,
however you want to describe it, that lets us
know there's something not right about this.
And sometimes you may hear that. You may hear
somebody that preaches something or teaches something,
and you say, I'm not real sure about that. But
Paul says, look, you can look at our lives, and
you can judge, and you can see by how we have
lived. And what we have done, that we are those
who are speaking the truth. So listen to what
we have to say. And he says here, we are commending
ourselves to every person's conscience. Now,
Paul, I don't think, is looking for a pat on
the back. We see that as the passage continues.
Everything they do, they do for the glory of
the Lord. But he's saying we're proud of the
work that we've done. We don't have anything
to be ashamed of. But what of you and I? Could
we say that tonight? Could we boldly say that
to people that we are trying to reach? Could
we honestly and truthfully say, look at my life.
Listen to the words I'm telling you and look
at how I've lived. And you can see that the way
I've lived is worth following. Can we say that
tonight? Well, maybe we can. But then maybe we
can't. Because maybe there are some things that
we do want to keep secret, that we would like
to keep hidden. That we really don't want to
have our life fully exposed. And Paul says, look,
we've hidden nothing. Our lives are on full display.
You can see Jesus in us. And the question is,
do others see Jesus in you? Can we say that with
boldness? If we're trying to reach somebody and
we're trying to tell them they need to follow
Jesus so they can be like us, are we something
that's attractive to them? Or do they say, I
don't want to be like you. I see the things you
say. I see the way you act. I see the way you
treat other people. Paul says, look, my life
is wide open. And he says that boldly, not bragging,
but promoting Jesus Christ, giving glory to God.
And we need to be able to live our lives in such
a way that it's an example to those who see how
we live. Verse 3. But if our gospel is veiled,
it is veiled to those who are... Now we're going
back to the illustration that he used in chapter
3 where he talked about the veil being over the
face of Moses. And he said that the Jewish people,
when he was writing this, still had a veil over
their face. They were still trying to live by
the law. They had missed Jesus Christ. And even
still to this day in 2025, the Jewish people...
Reject Jesus Christ. They still have a veil over
their face. They have not seen the glory of God.
And he says here, but if our gospel is veiled,
that is, we've preached the truth of the gospel
of Jesus, and if there are some who have not
seen it, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
That is, if they haven't seen it, it's because
they've chosen not to look at it. We have shown
and we have preached and we have taught and we
have done the work of Jesus Christ. It should
be evident to anybody who is seeking, to anybody
who has an ear, to anybody who is in the least
bit interested. The glory of God through Jesus
Christ, we have preached that gospel. And if
somebody can't see that gospel, it's because
they are those who don't want to. They are those
who are perishing. And he continues on. In verse
4, in their case, the God of this age has blinded
the minds of the unbelievers so they cannot see
the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ,
who is the image of God. Now, this verse can
be taken in a couple of different ways. Some
translations would say, in their case, Satan
has blinded their minds. That's not an accurate
translation. I looked at a bunch of translations,
and there was only two. that use the word Satan
there. That's not a good interpretation. It may
be speaking of Satan when it speaks of the God
of this world, but it may not as well. There
are Christians that kind of fall on both sides
of that argument. Some would say, oh yeah, that's
talking about Satan. Others would say it's talking
about God. Now, certainly we see examples of
where God turns people over to their sin or where
God hardens people's hearts. Romans chapter 1,
it talks about God kind of hands people over
to their sin, their sinful desires. He just gives
them over to it. We see examples throughout Scripture
of God hardening people's heart. And in those
situations, it's not that the person doesn't
have an option or a choice. It's not like God
just goes around saying, hard, hard, hard, hard,
hard, hard. People who have rejected God and
the Spirit and the Word of God repeatedly that
their heart is hardened. And so that possibly
could be what's being talked about here when
it says the God of this age has blinded the minds
of the unbelievers. It could be speaking of God
himself. It could be speaking of Satan. It's
hard to know for sure. Now, we could get into
a lot of details on that. You can study that
yourself this week if you care to. But either
of those things, I believe, would fit. with Scripture.
We certainly see Scriptures where it talks about
the ruler of this age and the ruler of this world,
in which it does apply to Satan, and it's pretty
clear that it does, even if it doesn't exactly
say it. It seems as though in some instances
it does. In this instance, though, it could be
talking about God, it could be talking about
Satan, but regardless... These who are perishing
are perishing because even though they were exposed
to the gospel and the glory of God and the glory
through Jesus Christ, they are perishing because
they have not believed. They have had every opportunity
that has been presented to them, but yet they
are still veiled. They are still missing the
point. They are still missing Jesus Christ. Verse
5, For we are not proclaiming ourselves, but
Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves
because of Jesus. Now, here Paul clearly says,
look, we're not boasting in ourselves. We're
boasting in who Jesus is. And yes, he has chosen
us. Jesus appeared to Paul personally. God had
chosen Paul and those who were with him to do
the work. And they're saying, we've done the
work and we've done a good job, but not in a
way to pat yourself on the back. It's all for
the glory of God. But that comes back partly
to Paul kind of defending himself here, saying,
look, you guys need to listen to me and the message
and the things that we're speaking because we
have been an example that is trustworthy to you.
Our words have been trustworthy. The life we
have lived has been trustworthy. And you need
to listen to us. And everything we have done,
Paul says, it is not for ourselves, but it is
for the Lord. And then what he says at the end
of that verse. As the Lord and ourselves, as
your slaves because of Jesus. Now, that's a good
thing for us to remember. Are we being slaves?
Are we being servants to others? Paul's not out
there just to build up his reputation. He's not
out there just so he can go to the next town
and say, hey, did you hear about all those people
I converted over in Corinth? It must have been
7 ,000 people over there. He's not just building
his resume. He's saying, look, we're your slave.
We're not coming here so you can put us on a
pedestal and you can serve us. We're coming here
to serve you because we want to see you turn
your life over to Christ. We want to see you
grow in Jesus Christ. And so we are your servants.
We are your slaves. And that's a beautiful mindset
that we see even in Jesus himself, that we are
called to be a servant to others. And we need
to remember that. We need to be reminded of that.
That we are called to serve others. And there
is nothing that God calls us to that we are too
good for. There is no opportunity that God presents
to us that we are too good to help with that.
There are some things that put us out of our
comfort zone. There are some things that may
be dangerous. There are some things that may
be nasty. There are some things that may be dirty
and gross. But we are called to serve and we
are called to love. And Jesus doesn't call us
to do anything that's any worse than what he
had to endure. He had to endure the mockings
and the beatings and being spit upon and the
crown of thorns and being nailed to the cross
and all the things that Jesus endured to show
us what it means to love and to be a servant
to all. And so there may be things in our life
and opportunities for us to serve and it may
be scary and it may be dirty and it may be nasty
and it may be uncomfortable. But we have to remember
that what Jesus did on the cross was uncomfortable
too. And so Paul shows us a beautiful heart and
a beautiful attitude, the same that we see in
Jesus. That we are not called to be better than
others or think of ourselves as better than others,
but to be a servant of all. And that's what Paul
says here. Look, we come to you proclaiming the
gospel of Jesus Christ, and we come to you as
your slaves. We come to you to serve you because
we love you. Verse 6. For God who said, let light
shine out of darkness, has shown in our hearts
to give the light of the knowledge of God's glory
in the face of Jesus Christ. Now, for God who
said, let light shine out of darkness, I don't
know of any scripture where it's exactly a quotation.
Maybe there's one and I just missed it. But this
is probably talking about... in Genesis when
God said, let there be light. It says at the
beginning that the earth was formless and void
and dark. It was in darkness. And then right
after that, God said, let there be light. And
so we serve a God who brings light in the darkness.
And that's good news. This idea of light and
darkness, this contrast, this symbolism is pretty
prevalent throughout the New Testament. That
darkness is sin and it's evil and it's death.
But the light is forgiveness and joy and love
and peace and all of those things that come through
Jesus Christ. And so what God does not want us
to do is to continue to walk in the darkness.
But he wants us to see the light in the same
way that Paul saw the light. He was walking in
darkness and didn't even know it. Now that's
something to consider. He was walking in darkness,
but he didn't know he was walking in darkness.
He thought he was walking with the Lord. But
then when he found Jesus, he realized that he
had been walking in darkness all along. And maybe
that's true for some here tonight, or maybe some
who are listening. Maybe there's a lot of people
who think they're walking with the Lord, and
they go to church some, and they know some scripture,
but they never have experienced Jesus. But when
Jesus comes onto the scene, when we begin to
read the Word of God and the Holy Spirit begins
to speak to us and we begin to see who Jesus
is and the love of Jesus Christ, that is a light
that begins to shed on our life. And we begin
to see the greatness of Jesus and we begin to
see the sin that's in our life. And it's a scary
thing when the light comes on. It's like when
you roll over a... roll over a piece of bark,
and it's crickets and roaches and everything
else, and they like it under there, but as soon
as you roll it back and the light hits, they
scatter because they want to stay in the darkness.
And that's kind of what it's like in our heart
because there's things in our life and our heart
that we don't want to be, that we enjoy, that
we should not want to be there, but we do enjoy
them in some way, and we may not even realize
they're there. But then we begin to read the
Scripture. And then we begin to read about Jesus
Christ, and then the light begins to come into
our hearts, and all of a sudden it begins to
reveal some stuff, and we say, oh my, I've got
some bad stuff in there. God, I'm in bad shape.
I'm in worse shape than I ever imagined. But
praise the Lord. That's what it takes. The light
has to come into our life. It has to begin to
work. And so that's the example that we see here.
That's the illustration that God called light
to shine in the darkness. In the darkness of
our sin, in the darkness of our heart, in the
darkness of our depravity, God said, I'm going
to bring light to you. Not the sunshine, but
Jesus Christ. He's talking in spiritual terms
here. That Jesus Christ has come to be the light
to us, to reveal those things in us that shouldn't
be there, and to wipe those things out that they
would flee from us. That we would flee from our
sin and from the devil and that we would flee
to Jesus Christ. For the God who said let light
shine out of darkness has shone in our hearts
to give the light of the knowledge of God's glory
in the face of Jesus Christ. Kind of tying it
back in to what he talked about in chapter 3.
Remember he had talked about the face of Moses.
Moses had been in the presence of God and Moses'
face had shone with... with God's glory, but
it was a fading glory that was veiled. And now
he uses that same language here. He says, look,
we've seen the light and the glory of the face
of Jesus Christ. So he's saying, look, the people
couldn't look at Moses' face, or they chose not
to, they were afraid to, but now a better glory
has come, an unfading glory has come in the face
of Jesus Christ if we would just be those who
would look upon it. And so that's our choice
today. That's our choice in life. For those sitting
in this room, for those listening online, that's
our choice. It's the glory of God has been revealed
to us in the Son, Jesus Christ. And when we see
the glory of God, what will we do with it? Will
we be those with veiled faces? Will we be those
who reject the glory of God? Or will we be those
who accept the glory of God? And if we are those
who have lived in the glory of God through Jesus
Christ, then we need to be those whose life reflects
that. That the things we do, the things we say,
the way we act, that that should be evident to
all that we encounter. That we have seen the
glory of God so that others can see the glory
of God through us. Let's pray. God, we come to
you. We thank you for these good words. And I
pray that you would help us to take these things
to heart. And dear Lord, maybe even for those
who are yours, maybe there are some dark spots
that's just been kind of hanging out, dear Lord,
some things in our life that we need to deal
with, and maybe we know it or maybe we don't.
So I pray, God, that Jesus Christ would just
be that light to shine into our heart today,
that you would help us to seek your word and
to let your Holy Spirit lead us, that we would...
let you begin to work in our hearts, dear Lord.
Maybe there are some that don't know Jesus Christ.
Maybe there are some that are like Paul, and
they know a lot about your Word, but maybe they
just don't really know who you are, dear Lord.
I pray that Jesus would become real to them,
that as they read the Scriptures, that God, your
Holy Spirit, would just work in their lives and
work in their hearts, that they would see the
light and the glory of Jesus Christ. We thank
you for that, dear Lord. We thank you for your
word. We thank you for the freedom to come here
tonight. And I ask these things in Jesus' name.
Amen.