The Blindness of Unbelief
2 Corinthians 4:1-6 (NKJV)
Vs. 1 – “Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received
mercy, we do not lose heart.”
 We do not lose heart; in the King James Version it’s the phrase, “we
faint not.”
 The word “therefore” is letting us know that it’s connected to the last
chapter because of all that was described in chapter 3 where Paul was
describing the new covenant, the ministry of the Spirit, the liberty that
comes from the Spirit.
 And it’s when we are walking in the power of the Spirit that it keeps
us from burning out, from flaking out, from fainting out.
 It also gives us the ability to overcome the works of our flesh; notice
what the flesh produces…
Vs. 2 – “But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, 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.”
 The word “renounced” can be translated “to disown.”
When you disown something or someone it means the previous relationship
is no longer; you’re cutting ties, you’re shutting down the relationship.
 Notice what Paul was cutting off from his life—the hidden things of
shame or the hidden things of dishonesty.
 Not walking in craftiness or handling the word of God deceitfully.
 The word “deceitfully” means “to dilute or to adulterate.”
 The idea here is that the Word could be handled by the preacher in a
way that would manipulate people; it would be diluted to deceive.
 Paul had no heart for this, he preached an honest gospel; today we
would say it was raw, it was organic, it was pure.
“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints
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and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
Hebrews 4:12 (NKJV)
 The Word of God is anointed; it has the ability to get to the deep stuff
of our soul.
 That’s why Paul told Timothy, a young preacher…
“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not
need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15
(NKJV)
 The Word needs to be handled properly.
 Notice, Paul will even say, “…but by manifestation of the truth
commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of
God.”
 In other words, we are giving them the truth, nothing more, nothing
less and in so doing, we have a clear conscience before God and man.
 Every minister should be able to say, “I spoke today, I gave the Word
today, I ministered the truth today as if I was speaking to the Lord
Himself.”
 Not preaching to Jesus, but preaching with the reality that Jesus is
watching.
One of the pluses of teaching verse-by-verse is the accountability that I have
with you. You have your Bible in your lap; you can see the text that I am in.
You can see if I am teaching something other than what’s really there; you
can see if I am manipulating the text. It’s accountability.
Have you ever seen that show Restaurants Impossible? This guy goes in and
helps dying restaurants get back on their feet again. Usually their kitchen is
pretty gross; it’s pretty gnarly what can be behind closed doors. I like a
restaurant where you can see the kitchen; you can see what they’re putting
on your burger, you can see whole process. It keeps them accountable.
 Paul could say, and we should be able to say, “I gave the truth,
nothing less and nothing more,” realizing that it’s the truth that set
people free and that at the end of the day the one who wrote the Word
is watching.
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 Now, notice Paul will answer that question we all have pondered,
“The gospel is glorious, so why is it that some reject it?”
Vs. 3-4 – “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are
perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not
believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the
image of God, should shine on them.”
 If someone does not see the truth of the gospel, if they don’t get the
grace of the gospel, there is an answer.
 The god of this world, that being Satan, has blinded the minds of the
unbelieving.
 Notice here two things…
1. The god of this world is the one doing the blinding
 Notice the little “g”; he is inferior to Jesus Christ who is the big “G.”
 He is the little god of this world.
John 12:31 call’s him the “ruler of this world.”
Ephesians 2:2 calls him the “prince of the power of the air.”
Ephesians 6:12 refers to “rulers of the darkness of this age…spiritual hosts
of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
 We are even told in First John…
“We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of
the wicked one.” 1 John 5:19 (NKJV)
 And notice what he does…
2. He is blinding the minds of the unbeliever
 The mind is the target, that’s the battleground.
 This is why the Lord has chosen the Word of God as one of the
primary vehicles to transmit the gospel.
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 The Word touches the mind and when the Word touches the mind,
faith can be imparted, faith can be transmitted, and faith can be
activated.
“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans
10:17 (NKJV)
 It’s only when we don’t believe, when we reject the truth that we fall
into a downwards spiral.
 And then it gives the enemy a platform to breed blindness, to promote
hardness.
 You have heard it said that the more we reject the truth the harder our
hearts get.
 Look back at the Israelites; do you remember the main reason the first
generation did not enter the Promised Land?
 Hebrews tells us…
“…they could not enter in because of unbelief.” Hebrews 3:19 (NKJV)
 It was unbelief that kept the generation of Israelites from going into
the Promised Land.
 They had seen the power of God deliver them from the hand of
pharaoh, they had seen God part the Red Sea, they had seen manna
fall from the sky every day, they had seen God grant them water from
a rock, they had seen the fire lead them and warm them by night, and
the cloud lead them and cool them by day.
 They had seen the power of God, tasted the presence of God, and yet
they still doubted that God could conquer the Canaanites and bring
them into the Promised Land.
 They didn’t believe the Lord could do it.
 But what they did believe was the wilderness.
 And so the Lord gave them what they believed for and they died in the
wilderness.
 It all goes back to one issue—unbelief; they chose not to believe.
 And when you choose not to believe the truth, not to embrace the
grace, then it gives Satan a platform.
 Satan can only blind those who do not believe; if you are tired of
having your mind blinded, then move out of unbelief and into belief.
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 Put your faith and trust in Jesus today; that was the purpose of his
coming.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach
the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim
liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty
those who are oppressed…” Luke 4:18 (NKJV)
 That’s what He does in our lives; He heals the brokenhearted, He sets
us free from the bondage of sin, and grants us liberty.
 Jesus would tell Paul that part of his ministry would be to open the
spiritual eyes of those who were in darkness.
“…to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from
the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an
inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.” Acts 26:18
 It’s when we put our faith in Jesus Christ that our eyes are open
spiritually.
“He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not
believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” John
3:36 (NKJV)
“These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of
God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may
continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.” 1 John 5:13 (NKJV)
 The way out of blindness is belief.
 Notice he goes on to say, “…lest the light of the gospel of the glory of
Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.”
 Here Paul likens the gospel to light.
 And for some, when they see the gospel light they run to it, but for
others they turn away from it.
“And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and
men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For
everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest
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his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light,
that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” John
3:19-21 (NKJV)
 Those who are living in darkness flee from the light.
I live back in the hills enough that we have a lot of critters that are out at
night. When it’s dark outside and I turn on the light, the critters all scram—
rabbits, squirrels, skunks, and coyotes, but my dog is the opposite. When the
sun goes down she gets pretty freaked out because she knows the freaks are
coming out. She likes the light, she runs to the light, she is attracted to the
light—it brings comfort.
 Which is true for you and I; we love the light, the light of the gospel is
glorious because it points to Jesus, the ultimate light.
 We don’t have to hide in the dark any longer; we don’t have to cower
in the darkness any longer.
 But for those who want to stay in the dark, the light just exposes their
darkness, it exposes their sin, it exposes their eternal destiny.
That’s why they’re uncomfortable with you at work, at the staff Christmas
party; you’re shining the light, and you keep bringing up Jesus, the ultimate
light.
 That’s the focal point of Paul’s message.
Vs. 5 – “For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and
ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake.”
 When we preach, Jesus is always our topic; He is the dominating
theme, He is the famous one in our message.
 Paul would say when he came to Corinth…
“For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and
Him crucified.” 1 Corinthians 2:2 (NKJV)
 It was his main message; Jesus was always on the tip of his tongue
because it was his passion and pursuit.
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“But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet
indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of
Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and
count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not
having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is
through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I
may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His
sufferings, being conformed to His death…” Philippians 3:7-10 (NKJV)
It’s my desire, it’s my hope, that when you sit under my teaching or any
teaching here at Wildwood, that you will leave loving Jesus more than when
you came.
 He is the only one that can make real changes, long lasting changes in
our lives.
 We are just the servants He uses, as Paul said, “bondservants for
Jesus’ sake.”
 Not lording over, not dominating over, but servants representing the
heart of Jesus.
In the heart of any servant of the Lord should be the constant reminder that
we are in this because of Jesus, that we are representing Jesus to those who
we care for, to those we are ministering to. We should always be asking,
“How will what I say, what I do, how I act or react, reflect on Jesus?” Will it
add or take away?
 It was always in the heart of Paul the apostle that he was serving the
body of Christ for Jesus’ sake.
Vs. 6 – “For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of
darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
 Paul here is connecting the light and darkness to what took place in
the beginning…
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“Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. And God saw the
light that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God
called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and
the morning were the first day.” Genesis 1:3-5 (NKJV)
 Just as He commanded light to penetrate the darkness physically, He
can also penetrate the darkness of sin and Satan, and reach our hearts
spiritually.
 This is exactly what took place in Paul’s life.
“As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone
around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice
saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’” Acts 9:3-4
(NKJV)
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From that day on, Paul had a heart that was shining.
A life that was shinning for Jesus Christ.
That’s what Paul was getting at here in the last part the verse.
To those who believe He has given the light of the knowledge of God;
we have tasted the glory of God and now we have the responsibility to
get it out.
“He shined it in so we could shine it out, instead of shinning it on, as some
Christians do.” – David Guzik
 It’s the heart of our Lord.
“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and
glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16 (NKJV)
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