The Blinded Mind

“THE BLINDED MIND”

Second Corinthians 4.1-6

Our text for this message in my series dealing with spiritual warfare is Second Corinthians 4.1-6. Before we read the text of the message, please allow me to draw together the first three chapters of Second Corinthians so that you will have an appreciation of the unity of Paul’s letter up to this point. Remembering that the Corinthians thought Paul was going to come and visit them on his way to Macedonia and that they were somewhat put off at him for not coming to visit them at all, Paul spent all of chapter one and half of Second Corinthians chapter two consoling them so they will listen to him when he endeavors to minister to them.

Beginning in Second Corinthians 2.9, Paul started to orient his readers to the Gospel ministry and its relationship to his adversary, to show them as much as possible what the ministry is like from the spiritual leader’s point of view. Second Corinthians 2.9-11:

9 For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things.

10 To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ;

11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

The reason he wrote this epistle to the Corinthian congregation, verse 9. Addressing matters of forgiveness with them, issues of forgiveness with him, and his motives for forgiving what needed forgiving being for their sakes in the person of Christ. Let us now look at the first three chapters more broadly.

First, Paul wrote about the man in the ministry, his concerns, and how his concerns affect the way he ministers to people, what the man of God owes his success in the ministry, and things like that.

Next, Paul discussed his relationships with other people. He pointed out that some in the ministry are frauds and charlatans, and he pointed out that those he ministers to are epistles that both God and he, with God’s help, write as they influence Christian’s lives, Second Corinthians 3.1-5.

Then, in Second Corinthians 3.6-18, he addressed the importance of the Gospel ministry. How important it is. How it originated. How it compares with the Old Testament ministry of Moses. How superior it is to that old ministry.

Now, after these opening three chapters, the Corinthians have only one question: “Okay Paul, the ministry is great and exciting and wonderful, and the Gospel that you preach and that we believe truly is God’s plan for saving souls, but why is it that there are people who just will not respond to your ministry? Why is it that there are folks who just will not trust Christ?”

Have you ever asked that question? Have you ever wondered in that fashion? Has it ever troubled you that a man or woman has heard the truth, that he or she had absolutely nothing to lose by responding to the truth, but they still rejected the truth? Do you have loved ones and family members who respond that way? I certainly do.

That kind of thing troubled me a great deal in my Christian life, as I am sure it troubled the Apostle Paul’s readers. And though Paul does not directly answer the question “Why did this person reject the Gospel?” he does show us that the struggle for the souls of the lost is not as simple as we sometimes think it is.

In our text, Second Corinthians 4.1-6, Paul exposed his readers to the fact that the ministry is a struggle, a conflict, a real war, and that in this struggle, there are three combatants, with the prize for victory in this struggle being an eternal and undying soul. Let us stand and read the passage together:

1 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;

2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.

3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:

4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.

6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

In this spiritual warfare, we consider, in turn, the three combatants:

THE FIRST COMBATANT IS THE GOD OF ETERNITY

1 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;

Notice God’s role, suggested at the beginning of verse 1:

“Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy.”

Though you don’t see it initially, God’s role is established here if you give it some thought and do some digging. First, God’s role is related to “this ministry” Paul refers to, the Gospel ministry he is involved in. Whose ministry is this ministry, Paul’s or God’s? And how did Paul get involved in this ministry? Was it his idea, or was it God’s call on his life? So you see, concerning this ministry, God’s role is established. Second, God’s role is related to “as we have received mercy.” Where did Paul get his mercy? Did he conjure it up himself? Did he do something to create mercy? No. Mercy is a commodity that is shown only by God, only to those who do not deserve it:

“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us.”[1]

Take my word for it that we are immersed in a passage related to the struggle for men’s eternal souls. What Paul establishes in these opening remarks on the subject, though he does so subtly, is that God plays a definite role in this struggle. He is one of the combatants. He is the One Who saves the Gospel minister, by His mercy, and Who, by His personal calling on that man’s life, gives the Gospel minister the ministry he serves in.

Next, notice God’s man’s response. The response of God’s man to what God has done in his life, both in saving him and in calling him to this glorious Gospel ministry, is two-fold:

His first response is related to faithfulness, verse 1 again:

“Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not.”

The three times we see “we” in this verse, Paul refers to himself and his crew, not to all Christians everywhere. We have this ministry, we have received mercy, we faint not. This is Paul and his guys. The word “faint” translates a word that means to “lose heart.” So we’re not talking about passing out on the job, but about getting discouraged to the point of giving up. Not that the man of God doesn’t often have to deal with great despair and discouragement, but if he’s called of God, he won’t give up. Something keeps him keeping on. What is it? It’s the call of God on his life.

His second response is related to holiness, verse 2:

“But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.”

If faithfulness is related to the ministry part of verse one, then this aspect of the Gospel minister’s response is associated with the mercy part of verse one. When mercy was extended, and the man of God experienced personal salvation himself, he became a partaker of God’s divine nature, which nature is holy. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that the man of God, or that any Christian, would respond to being saved from his sins by doing what Paul did: What Paul did was “renounce the hidden things of dishonesty.” Have you done that since you trusted Christ? Have you gone public and renounced your former life and lifestyle? And have you accompanied that renunciation with the things that properly go along with such a public renunciation? Have you stopped “walking in craftiness?” That is, have you stopped trying to be so clever about everything? Have you stopped trying to be cute and get something for nothing out of life? Are you now giving a full day’s work for a full day’s pay? And are you being true to what the Word of God declares and directs? That is, do you both believe it and do it? Positively, are you manifesting the truth openly to every individual, out in the open, in the sight of God? Are you a full-time Christian or just a Sunday morning saint?

This is how the God-called man of God responds to God. And by the role He plays and through His man on the scene, God certainly is one of the combatants in this supernatural struggle for the souls of lost men.

THE SECOND COMBATANT IS THE GOD OF THIS WORLD

Notice what has been achieved by him in this conflict, verse 3:

“But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost.”

Do you wonder why lost people just cannot see how simple is God’s plan of salvation for them? Do you marvel that they have such difficulty comprehending what is so straightforward to you and me? See the word “hid” that appears twice in this verse? It’s the word “veil” that appears in chapter three, only in chapter three it’s the noun form of the word and here it’s the verb form of the word kekalÏmmenon. This shows that unsaved Gentiles are just as surely veiled as are the unsaved Jewish people mentioned in Second Corinthians chapter three. Do you also see the word “lost?” The word is á¼€pollÏmenois, and refers to folks who are in the process of perishing, and indicates that what is happening to them they are doing to themselves. Do you realize what this means? Do you see the implications of this verse? Satan comes upon those who are perishing themselves in unbelief and he veils them so that the Gospel is hidden to them. He works in the lives of those who are already lost and on their way to Hell to make sure they stay lost and on their way to Hell. That’s what the Devil has achieved in some lost people’s lives.

But how has this been achieved? Verse 4:

“In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not.”

Notice the point of attack. Satan referred to here as “the god of this world,” attacks the mind. He has always attacked the mind, and he will continue to attack the mind. Did not the serpent in the Garden of Eden interact with Eve to attack her mind? Of course, he did. Don’t you, for one instant, think that just because you are now saved that you are now immune to Satanic attacks upon your mind. That’s why Peter warned us to “gird up the loins of your mind,” First Peter 1.13. Back to lost folks. How does Satan blind the minds of lost people, so they won’t be able to see the glorious Gospel truth which saves?

Externally, Satan blinds by dominating and controlling the media and the sources of information that influence the mind: Radio, television, movies, magazines, books, public schools, colleges and universities, newspapers. Can we isolate ourselves from these sources of information? No. And lost people won’t isolate themselves from these influencers. Therefore, we must open our mouths and be an alternative source of information. We must be the source of truth to them. Amen?

Internally, Satan blinds by influencing people’s thought processes so that one’s pride is at stake in embracing error, and stubbornness is cultivated to resist the truth that overthrows a person’s long-established but very wrong approach to life. It includes a worldview that is heavily invested in error and the dread that imagines how horrible it will be to repent of sins, to ask forgiveness of those you have wronged, and to misconstrue entirely the altered affections that results from a new heart and a new attitude toward Christ and the things of God.

Now for the why. Why has Satan done what he has done? The second half of verse 4:

“lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”

Satan blinds lost people’s minds because he is a hopelessly depraved supernatural maniac whose perversity extends to endless efforts to see everyone born of woman suffer the torments of Hell. And for all of his twisted sense of what’s right and good, he does know that men and women are saved when they behold the glory of Christ, Who is the very image of God. And how does one behold the glory of Christ? Through the Gospel message. That is why he works to blind the lost to the truth. Satan will seek to influence lost people’s minds, destroy Christian testimonies, bring down God’s men, and much more. Why? So he can distract from the truth so that he can blind the understanding of the mind, so he can get lost people’s minds off of Christ and the Gospel and onto inconsistent Christians, onto humanistic philosophy, onto selfish and licentious living, onto anything except the glorious Gospel of Christ and the glorious person of Christ. This is what Paul tells us about this second great combatant in the spiritual struggle for men’s souls, the Devil.

THE THIRD COMBATANT IN THIS STRUGGLE IS NOT A GREAT COMBATANT BUT IS AN IMPORTANT COMBATANT, NEVERTHELESS. HE IS THE GOSPEL MINISTER.

Notice what these men do who are Gospel ministers, verse 5:

“For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.”

Referring to himself and his ministry team, Paul declares, we preach, and we practice. And anyone who truly is a minister of the Gospel, notice just how his preaching and his practice will mesh and merge to form a consistent message. We preach, not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, he declares. We practice ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake, he insists.

Isn’t it critical to the Gospel message that Jesus Christ really ought to be Lord of the sinner’s life? Sure it is. But that message seems to be a false one if I, the person who preaches the Lordship of Christ in your life, turn right around and fail to be a servant to you. Amen? I mean, if I preach His Lordship and then try to act like I’m your lord, you might begin to doubt the truthfulness of my preaching. Is this not true? Yet, it is the practice of so many who serve as pastors of congregations. So, when the Gospel minister is doing what he is supposed to be doing, he is preaching Christ’s Lordship and practicing servitude.

Why are Gospel ministers willing to do this? Verse 6:

“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

We do it for God. We do it because the same God Who created physical light, according to Genesis chapter one also shined the light of truth into our hearts. And now we have the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

So you see, there are three combatants in this spiritual struggle, this spiritual warfare, if you will, for the souls of lost men. There is God, the God of all creation, there is the god of this world, and there is the man of God. Of course, there are others involved. Every single Christian is involved, by virtue of the fact that he is a child of God. But the principal players are God, Satan, and the man of God.

Satan is no match against God. So he seeks to do harm to the man of God. He knows that if he can bring the man of God down, if he can trick him into lording over God’s heritage instead of being a servant to God’s heritage, he has won a battle. And if he can turn the stubbornness of the lost around to serve up a diet of propaganda that it is the preacher’s fault this person no longer comes to Church, and it is the pastor’s fault that person has turned her back on God and the things of God?

This is why Peter wrote these words to pastors, First Peter 5.1-9:

1 The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:

2 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;

3 Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.

4 And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.

5 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.

6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:

7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

This is also why I need your prayers. Will you pray for me, Christian?

And you who are here without Christ. Want to know why Christianity seems stupid to you? Want to know why it doesn’t make sense? Want to know why you’re at a loss to explain why people that you like, people you think highly of, go in for this thing called Christianity, and you don’t? Want to know why you do not wish to become a Christian, why you have no interest in Christ? It’s called spiritual blindness, and it’s a work of the god of this world. Realize that, my unsaved friend. Cast off the veil and allow someone to share the Gospel message with you.

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[1] Titus 3.5

Would you like to contact Dr. Waldrip about this sermon? Please contact him by clicking on the link below. Please do not change the subject within your email message. Thank you.

Pastor@CalvaryRoadBaptist.Church

Calvary Road Baptist Church