2 Corinthians 4:3-4 - Homiletics

The condition of unregenerated men.

"But if our gospel be hid," etc. These words give an appalling view of ungodly men.

I. They are BLIND TO THE GOSPEL . "If our gospel be hid [or, 'veiled']." Men have different organs of vision. There is the bodily eye: the gospel is not "hid" from that—they can see the volume that contains it, they can see the print, and perhaps read its chapters. There is the intellectual eye to discover its sense and discern its meaning. There is the spiritual eye, the conscience which discerns the moral significance of things; this is the eye which alone can see the gospel, its real essence. And this is the veiled eye, the eye of conscience is closed, so that the gospel is no more discerned than the bright heavens are observed by the man who is horn blind.

II. They are PERISHING IN SIN . "It is hid to them that are lost," or veiled from them that are perishing. Soul ruin is a gradual process. Souls are neither ruined nor saved at once. The wicked are " going into everlasting punishment;" they are not hurled there at once; step by step they proceed. With every sin their sensibility of conscience is perishing, their power of will is perishing, all the better tendencies of their nature are perishing. It matters not how strong in body, how prosperous in wealth, how elevated in society, they are perishing. Startlingly solemn this!

III. They are VICTIMIZED BY SATAN . "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not." Observe:

1 . Satan is not a principle, but a personality.

2 . Satan has immense dominions. "The god of this world." Satan is a personality that has access to human souls. He enters men, acts on their springs of thought and fountains of feeling.

3 . Satan is a personality whose action on the soul is essentially pernicious. "The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not." He closes the moral eye of the soul, "lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the Image of God, should shine unto them."

2 Corinthians 4:5 - Preaching.

"For we preach not ourselves," etc. Here is—

I. A SAD POSSIBILITY in preaching. What is that? To "preach ourselves." To preach ourselves is to propound our own notions, to exhibit our own talents, genius, and learning, to parade our own productions. It is to put self, not Christ, in the front. In these days the egotism of the pulpit has become all but intolerable.

II. A GLORIOUS THEME for preaching. "Christ Jesus the Lord."

1 . Preach him as the Mediator between God and man. He whose grand mission it is to reconcile man to his Maker.

2 . Preach him as the great Example for man's imitation. He who embodies the ideal of human perfection and blessedness.

III. The RIGHT SERVICE in preaching. "Ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake." The true preacher is:

1 . The servant of souls.

2 . The servant of souls inspired by love for Christ. "Servants for Jesus' sake."

2 Corinthians 4:6 - True soul light.

"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." There are two lights in the soul. There is the light of nature . This light consists of those moral intuitions which Heaven implanted within us at first. These intuitions are good enough for angels, did for Adam before he fell; but now, through sin, they are so blunt and dim that the soul is in moral darkness: "The light that is in thee is darkness." The other light is that of the light of the gospel . This comes because the light of nature is all but gone out, and comes as essential to our spiritual well being. This is the light to which the passage refers, the new soul light. The words call attention to three facts concerning it.

I. IT EMANATES FROM THE HIGHEST SOURCE . "God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts." The reference is here to the creation ( Genesis 1:3 ). It reminds us:

1 . Of antecedent darkness . The state of the soul before this light enters it is analogous to the state of the earth before God kindled the lights of the firmament. It was cold, chaotic, dead. In what a sad condition is the unregenerate soul!

2 . Of almighty sovereignty . "Let there be light"—"Let light be, and light was." The luminaries of the firmament were kindled by the free, uncontrolled, almighty power of God. So it is with real spiritual light. It comes because God wills it. Everywhere he "worketh according to the counsel of his own will."

II. IT REVEALS THE GRANDEST SUBJECT . Light is a revealer. All the hues and forms, beauties and sublimities of the earth would be hid from us without the light. What does this soul light reveal? "The light of the knowledge of the glory of God." Gospel light entering the soul makes God visible as the eternal Reality, the Fountain of being, and the Source of all blessedness. Where this gospel light is not, the soul either ignores or denies him; or, at most, speculates about him, and at best has now and then flitting visions. But under the radiance of the gospel, God is the Reality of all realities, the Fountain of all existences, the Root of all the sciences. In this light they see God, and through him they see and interpret his universe.

III. IT STREAMS THROUGH THE SUBLIMEST MEDIUM . "In the face of Jesus Christ." There is undoubted allusion here to what is said of Moses ( 2 Corinthians 3:13 ) when the Divine glory was reflected on his face, and produced such a splendour and magnificence that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look upon it. The sense here is that, in the face or the person of Jesus Christ, the glory of God shone clearly, and the Divinity appeared without a veil. This light coming through Christ, "who is the image of the invisible God," is:

1 . True light. He is the Truth.

2 . Softened light. The soul could not stand the light coming directly from the infinite Source; it is too dazzling. Through the medium of Christ it comes so softened as to suit our weakness.

3 . Quickening light. It falls on the soul like the sunbeam on the seed quickening into life.

2 Corinthians 4:7 - The true gospel ministry.

"But we have this treasure , " etc. The words lead us to consider the true gospel ministry in various aspects.

I. AS CONTAINING AN INESTIMABLE TREASURE . The gospel is a system of incalculable worth. The most valuable things in nature are employed to represent it—water, light, life, etc. There are four criteria that determine the worth of a thing— rarity, utility, duration, the appreciation of the highest authorities . All these applied to the gospel demonstrate its surpassing value.

II. AS THE SERVICE OF FRAGILE MEN . "In earthen vessels." To whom have the inestimable truths of the gospel been entrusted for exposition, enforcement, and distribution? Not to angels, but to frail and dying men.

1 . They have frail bodies . They are subject to infirmity, exhaustion, decay, etc.

2 . They have frail minds . The most vigorous in intellect is weak, the most lofty in genius is feeble, the most enlightened is ignorant.

III. AS DEVELOPING A DIVINE PURPOSE . "That the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." The grand reason why frail men are employed to preach the gospel is that the glorious renovating and soul-saving effects may evidently appear as the work of God, and not of man. When sermons prove effective in converting souls, it is not because of the originality of their thought, the force of their logic, the splendour of their rhetoric, or the majesty of their eloquence, but because of the Divine power that accompanies them. "Not by might, nor by power," etc.

2 Corinthians 4:8-12 - Trials in the cause of Christ.

"We are troubled on every side," etc. Three remarks are suggested.

I. That THE TRIALS ENCOUNTERED IS THE CAUSE OF CHRIST ARE SOMETIMES VERY GREAT . Hear what Paul says about his trials: "We are troubled on every side." He speaks of himself as hemmed in by enemies, pursued by enemies, stricken down by enemies, and dragging about with him, as it were, a living corpse. It may be laid down as a principle, that the man who is earnestly engaged in any righteous cause in this world will have to encounter trials. The old prophets bad their trials, some of them were insulted, some incarcerated, some martyred. So with John the Baptist, and so with the apostles, so with the confessors, reformers, and genuine revivalists.

II. That, HOWEVER GREAT THE TRIALS ENCOUNTERED , THEY ARE NOT BEYOND BEARING . The apostle says that although "troubled on every side, yet not distressed," or straitened; though "perplexed , " or bewildered, yet not benighted; though "persecuted," or pursued, yet not "forsaken," or abandoned; though "cast down," or stricken down with a blow, yet not perishing. The idea is that he had support under his trials; they did not entirely crush him. The true labourer in the cause of Christ, however great his trials, is always supported:

1 . By the approbation of his own conscience .

2 . By the encouraging results of his own labours .

3 . By the sustaining strength of God . "As thy days, so thy strength shall be."

III. THAT THE RIGHT BEARING OF THESE TRIALS SUBSERVES THE GOOD OF SOULS .

1 . In the right bearing of these sufferings the sufferer reveals the life of Christ to others. "Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus." Rightly endured sufferings bring the sufferer so near to the sufferings of Christ that he is in a sense a sharer of those sufferings, and hence in them the life of Jesus is made manifest. Who that has witnessed the true Christian languishing on the bed of suffering and death has not seen the spirit of the life of Christ revealed?

2 . In the right hearing of these sufferings the sufferer promotes in himself and others the Christian life. "For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you." "God," says Dean Alford, "exhibits death in the living, that he may also exhibit life in the dying."

2 Corinthians 4:13 - The speech of true faith.

"We having the same spirit of faith," etc. The world is full of speech. Human words load the atmosphere. All the speeches may be divided into three classes.

1 . Speech without faith. Vapid and volatile talk.

2 . Speech with wrong faith. Wrong faith is of two descriptions.

3 . Speech with true faith. Take the true faith as faith in Christ. In him, not in propositions concerning him, propositions either including doctrines or facts. I offer three remarks concerning the speech of this faith.

I. IT IS INEVITABLE . The man who truly believes in Christ feels that "necessity is laid upon him," that he "cannot but speak the things seen and heard." Such is the influence of faith on man's social sympathies that his emotions become irrepressible.

II. IT IS RATIONAL . How much speech there is in connection even with the religion of Christ that clashes with the dictates of human reason, and is an insult to common sense! But he who really has faith in Christ can give reasons for his convictions in language clear as the day. It is the lack of true faith that makes our sermons hazy.

III. IT IS STRONG . True faith in Christ is the strongest of all convictions, and a strong conviction will always have a strong utterance. The words will be free and full.

2 Corinthians 4:14 , 2 Corinthians 4:15 - Soul-inspiring facts.

"Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus," etc. There are four glorious facts here.

I. THAT CHRIST WAS RAISED FROM THE DEAD . "Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus." "No fact in history," says Dr. Arnold, "is more firmly established by argument than this."

II. THAT THE GENUINE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST WILL ALSO BE RAISED . "Shall raise up us also by [with] Jesus, and shall present us with you." Raised as he was raised, and all be presented together.

III. THAT ALL THINGS ARE FOR GOOD TO THE GOOD . "All things are for your sakes." "We know that all things shall work together for good," etc. "All things are yours."

IV. THAT ALL THINGS IN LIFE SHOULD RESULT IN THE TRUE WORSHIP OF GOD . "That the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God." It is only in Worship that the soul can find the free and harmonious development of all its spiritual powers. Worship is heaven. It is not the means to an end; it is the sublimest end of being.

2 Corinthians 4:16 - Soul-growth.

"For which cause we faint not," etc. Observe at the outset:

1 . Man has a duality of nature—the outward and the inward; the latter the man of the man.

2 . The decayableness of one of the natures. "Our outward man perisheth." This is constantly going on.

3 . The constant growth of the tuner nature. "The reward man is renewed day by day. "Soul growth implies three things.

I. SOUL LIFE . Dead plants and dead animals can no more grow than stones. The inner man uurenewed is morally dead; its life consists in supreme sympathy with the supremely good .

II. SOUL NOURISHMENT . No life can live upon itself. The appropriation of outward elements is essential to sustentation and growth. Moral and spiritual truths are the nutriment of souls.

III. SOUL EXERCISE . All life seems to require exercise. Even the productions of the vegetable world cannot grow without it; though they cannot move themselves, they are moved by the breezes of heaven. Animal life requires it, and the soul must have it in order to grow. It must "exercise itself unto godliness." "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength."

2 Corinthians 4:17 , 2 Corinthians 4:18 - The afflictions of Christly men.

"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." These words suggest a few thoughts concerning the afflictions of Christly men.

I. They are COMPARATIVELEY "light" and "momentary." They are " light :"

1 . Compared with what they deserve.

2 . Compared with what others have endured.

3 . Compared, with the blessedness that is to follow. They are momentary, "but for a moment. Momentary compared

II. That, though light and momentary, they WORK OUT GLORIOUS RESULTS . They issue in what? "A far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." What is the affliction to the glory?

1 . The one is "light;" the other is weighty. Put all the afflictions of the whole Church against the everlasting glory of one Christly soul, and how light!

2 . The one is momentary; the other is eternal. "Eternal weight of glory." But the result is not only an eternal weight of glory, but "far more exceeding." No expression could be stronger than this. The apostle here seems to struggle after the strongest language to express his idea of the transcendent blessedness that awaits the Christly man.

III. That they work out these glorious results BY THE REALIZATION OF SPIRITUAL AND ETERNAL REALITIES . "While we look not at the things which are seen… for the things which are seen are temporal." Observe:

1 . That there are things invisible to the bodily eye that can be seen by the soul . There are two classes of invisible things:

2 . That the things that can be seen only by the soul are not temporal, but eternal . We talk about the everlasting mountains, eternal sun, etc.; but there is nothing that is seen is lasting—all is passing away. Moral truths are imperishable; spiritual existences are immortal; God is eternal; these are things belonging to a kingdom that cannot be moved.

3 . That the things that are seen only by the soul are the things that, if realized, will make this mortal life issue in transcendent good .