Cartwright, David: Ministry 08-03 ~ 2Cor 4v3

And, uh, for sake of time, we're just going to u- use verses three and four. It says, but if our gospel be hid or veiled, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this age hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine in unto them. The Lord is, has and will bless his word to our hearts. In the annals of ancient history, it's often been recorded that when a conqueror came in, particularly the leaders of the country, the king or whatever it was, sometimes when they had conquered them, they would put their eyes out, so they were blinded for the rest of their lives. There's a couple of records in the book, in the Old Testament. For instance, Samson, when he was thought he had won the victory, when he decided he would try to play with sin. You remember when the Philistines captured him after his hair was cut off, and it was not the s- his strength was not in his hair, his strength was in, in his obedience to the Lord. It is said that they put his eyes out. There's another record in the Old Testament when King Zedekiah was taken by the Babylonians. They murdered his sons in front of him, the very last thing he saw, and they put his eyes out, and so he was blind. Now, our passage tells us of a different kind of blindness. It says that if our gospel be hid or veiled, it is hid to them that are lost. I want you to notice that. And the reason why, and Paul is stressing here in this, this early in this chapter, the importance of the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. He says, but if the gospel is hid or veiled, it is hid to them that are lost. And he gives the reason why. He says that the god of this world or this age, that is Satan, has blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine in unto them. I want to think with you for a little while this evening of the devil's blindfolds. What are some of the blindfolds or the things he blinds people's minds with? Notice it says not their eyes, it's the mind. That is why it is vitally important to always, when we share the gospel, to make sure that it is the word of God that we're using, because the scripture says the entrance of thy word brings. I want to suggest several ways in which the devil blinds the minds of people. The very first thing is something that we are all aware of, but yet, sadly, so many people do not see it. He blinds the minds of men and women to the terrible consequences of sin. The devil paints sin up into a very beautiful package. Oh, it's well wrapped, and it's so attractive, and it makes people want to go after whatever he is offering them, painted in its beautiful package, looking so, so wonderful, looking so exciting. But he doesn't let them know that in the package itself is death. You see, the devil did this from the very beginning. He came to Eve, and he came to her, and he said, "Yea, hath the Lord God said this?" Question mark on God's word. And when he, what he said was, did God really say you're going to surely die? Oh, you're not going to die. He knows in the day you die, that you do this, you're going to, your eyes are going to be open. You're going to see wonderful things. You're going to have new things revealed to you. And that's exactly what the devil does with sinners. It's not going to happen as God's word says it does. He lies to people just as he did to Eve, and he deceives people just as he did to Eve, and he says it's not really going to happen. He says you don't have to believe the Bible when it says the wages of sin is death. You don't have to believe that. There are people who've been sinning, look, they're still alive. But what he doesn't say is that, that yes, uh, that there is death, but there is spiritual death. And when Adam and Eve sinned, the Bible says that they died spiritually. The communion with God was severed. And so when he comes in the cool of the evening and he cries out, Adam, where art thou? We're hiding. Why? Because they recognized the fact that they could not meet the holy God face to face because they had sinned. And so what Satan does is he deceives people. He blinds the minds of people to the terrible consequences of sin, and he denies what God's word has to say. I want to tell you, friends, sin has wages, the sin of wages, or the wages of sin, rather, has never changed. It's still the same. It's still death. Not only spiritual death, but eventually physical death, and then eternal death, for death is never cessation of being, but it is separation from God. Spiritual death is separation from God. Physical death is the separation of the soul and the spirit from the body. Eternal death is eternal separation from God, which is called in the book of Revelation the second death. So he says to young people, you can play with sin. You can have your fun, you can have your fling. There's nothing wrong with this. Go ahead, try it. I say to young people all the time, they come and ask questions about these. I said, let me ask you a question. You see so and so, that person who's an alcoholic, and some people are not so kind. They say there's an old drunk going down there. Did he ever intend to be that way? No. The person that is, is strung out on drugs, did they ever te- intend to be in that condition? Absolutely not. But Satan said to them, go ahead and try it. You'll like it. But he didn't say like, uh, like the little poem says, you know, uh, that, that the sting comes behind it. The scripture says, lust when it is conceived, it brings forth sin. Sin when it is finished, it brings forth death. The Bible also says, be not deceived, God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth, that, that, that shall he also reap. He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. He that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting. Now, that's really written to Christians, but it has a tremendous message for those who do not know the Lord. You are going to sow, you're going to reap. Whatever you sow, you will reap. You sow the seeds of sin, you're going to reap them in your life. But the devil blinds people's minds to the terrible consequences of sin. The person that is sitting on death row in Fox Hill Prison never intended to be there, but they're there because they were deceived by Satan, blinding their minds to the terrible consequences of sin. And the thing that amazes me is that so many people say, it's not going to happen to me. I'm never going to be there. And yet I look around and I see people who, for years and years, have put off salvation and continued down the broad road of sin, and you know what? Their lives are ruined. He blinds the minds of men to the terrible consequences of sin. And he says to us, says to you, and he says to the sinner, it's going to be all right. Just go ahead and enjoy yourself. The sad part about it is, as I think of those who leave this life and go out into eternity, go to a lost eternity in hell, the desires they had for those things perhaps are still there, and they'll never be satisfied. But secondly, the devil blinds the minds of men to the joys of being a s- uh, of of of being a child of God. I want to tell you something. It's a wonderful thing to be a child of God. Amen. Praise the Lord. There is joy in salvation. There is joy in knowing, I'm not talking about happy. You see, happiness depends upon what happens. If you received a, a letter in the mail, and uh, it comes with a very official, uh, you know, legal thing comes from maybe set somewhere in England and saying that some long lost relative of yours has died and left you in their will with so many hundred thousand pounds, they, you know, you'll be full of happiness, but then you get a second out of it, we're terribly sorry to inform you that there's a mistake made, and you're not the person we were looking for, and all the happiness is gone. But when you have the Lord Jesus Christ in your heart, in your life, no matter what the circumstances may be like outside, there is still joy. For in the book of Nehemiah, we're told that the joy of the Lord is your strength. It is the strength of the child of God. And I want to tell you, friends, tonight, from someone who's been serving the Lord for, for and loving the Lord and living for the Lord for over sixty years, let me tell you something, there is still joy in serving Jesus. But the devil blinds people's minds to the joy of being a child of God. The joy of having my sins forgiven. The joy of knowing that I have passed from death into life. In the book of Isaiah, the Lord says in chapter forty five, I, even I, am the Lord, and that he that blotteth out thy transgressions, uh, for mine own sake, and I will not remember your sins anymore. We just heard about that, the joy of knowing that the sins have been buried, forgiven. What a joy it is for a sinner who has been steeped in sin to find salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ and to be able to s- say, I can go to bed tonight knowing that if death should come, I will be absent from the body and present with the Lord. That's joy. The joy of being a child of God. He blinds them to the minds of, o- of, of having a joy of having peace with God. The scripture says, therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And what a joy it is to have peace. To be able to, to know and experience that wonderful peace of God just, just flooding your soul. I want to ask you a question tonight. If you're here without Christ, do you have that peace? Do you know that joy? No, you don't, friend. He blinds the minds of, of people to the joy of just being in Christ. In Ephesians chapter three, chapter two, I'm sorry, the Apostle Paul, he says, and you hath he quickened, you hath he made alive, who were dead in trespasses and in sins. Wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also you also had your, your conversation, your conduct in the lust of the flesh and were fulfilling the lust of the flesh and of the mind. But in verse four he says, but now, uh, but, but God, who is rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith he has loved us. He says in verse, in the next verse, he says, for by grace you have been saved. What a terrible, terrible list of things he gives there, but praise God, he says, but God, who is rich in mercy. And in that second chapter, he says, he has not only, uh, saved us, but he has raised us up, and he has made us to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. What a wonderful, exalted position. That's where the Christian is, and that's why we have joy, because we're in Christ. And the scripture says, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Blind people to the joys of being a child of God, just to be saved. Paul, rather John writes, he says, behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God or the children of God. He says, beloved, now, present tense, are we the children of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be. But we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Praise God. I want to tell you something, friends. If you don't know the Lord Jesus, the devil has blinded you to the joys of being in him. He blinds, thirdly, their minds to the wonders of God's love. The devil would like unsaved people to believe that God is the, is the, is the big man upstairs. That's the picture. I'm not saying that's what we believe, but that's what the idea, that he's sitting there with a club, an angry God. Yes, he is angry at sin, but he's also a God of mercy and a God of love and a God of justice and a God of grace. But some people believe he's there ready to bang people over the head and plunge them into hell. No. No, my friend. God will love the sinner to the very gates of hell itself. But John three sixteen says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. The seventeenth verse says, but for God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And I want to tell you something, friends. In spite of all that man does, in spite of his rebellion, in spite of his sin, in spite of his wickedness, in spite of his, his, his even committing murder, God still loves the murderer. He loves that sinner that has, that has become so degraded that human beings look at that person and say, there is no hope for him. But one day, the wonderful message of God's love reaches that, that person who everybody has given up on. But the Spirit of God takes the word of God and brings conviction in the life of that person who is looked upon as a renegade, as no good. And that person opens their heart to the Lord Jesus Christ, and hallelujah, they are saved. And people look on and say, well, if God can save that person, he can save anyone. You know why? Because God's love reached down into their heart. God's love. The Bible tells us, that's why again I quote that verse from First John chapter, uh, uh, 3. Behold what manner, what out of the world kind of love. It's out of the world kind of love because God, seeing us in our lost condition, sent his only beloved son into the world that he might go to the cross and he might take the guilty sinner's place, and that we he might die and pay the punishment and take the punishment for our sins. Rise again the third day. And the scripture says, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. He blinds them to the wonders of God's love. The Bible tells us in Romans five and eight, but God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet good people. I saw some heads pop up. You know the verse, you know the verse. I do that, so make sure you're listening. In that while we were nice people. No, it doesn't say that. I love Romans five and eight. It says, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. I'm sure many of you have read or even seen the film that was produced years ago, The Cross and the Switchblade. Maybe you read the book, but you know, Nicky Cruz was the gang leader, and he kept going after other, and he, David Wilkerson kept going after, seeking to we- reach Nicky, and one day Nicky took out his switchblade. He says, Preach, you don't leave me alone, he says, I'm going to take this knife and cut you up piece by piece, and he says, Nikki, and every piece will cry out, God loves you. And it was that that brought the conviction of sin in Nikki Cruz's heart. And Nikki Cruz gave his heart and life to the Lord, and he also became an ambassador of Jesus Christ. If you haven't seen that film, it's still around. Good to watch it, The Cross and the Switchblade. You see, the devil doesn't want you to know, my friend, that God loves you. And we who know the Lord, we need to be ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ and telling people of the love of God. Oh, the wonder of his love. There's a beautiful old hymn that we sing, but one of the verses I quote so many times in preaching, inscribed upon the cross we see, in shining letters, God is love. The lamb who died upon the tree has brought us mercy from above. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. God loves you. Even, even, even you in your sin tonight, you're here. God loves you, and the cross still demonstrates the fact that he loves sinners. God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. But fourthly, he blinds the minds of men to the power of the gospel. Paul said, Romans one sixteen, he says, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God. It is the dunamis of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek or the Gentile. Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Why? It is the power of God. The Greek word dunamis can be translated or used in dynamite, and I like another, another expression. You know what dynamite can do. Also dynamo. We sit here tonight, and the power plants are running across there. We don't hear it. We see the power, but those generators, motors are running, but there's that part that's producing the electricity that shoots it back through here. That's power. We never think about it until boop, the lights go out. It's power. We think of the tremendous power that it takes to, to put one of the, uh, uh, uh, of the space shuttles into space, but that's nothing like the power of God that will explode a sinner, that will bring a sinner out of his sin. Not only so, but the Bible says that the sinner is, is, is enslaved in his sin, and he is in the kingdom of Satan, the kingdom of darkness. And the Lord Jesus Christ, when the gospel is preached and the person receives the message of the good news, that person is taken out of kingdom- of Satan's kingdom and put into the kingdom of God's love. That's power. That's the gospel. That's why Paul said, I am never ashamed. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It is the power of God unto salvation to everyone. Isn't that wonderful? Not just to a few people, but to everyone. I'm glad the gospel is for whosoever will. As the scripture says in the last, in the last invitation of the Bible, the Spirit and the bride say, come, let him who is athirst come. And it says, whosoever will, let him come, let him take of the water of life freely. Paul is not ashamed of the gospel. What is the gospel? First Corinthians chapter fifteen, He said in verse one, I declared unto you the gospel, and then in verses three and four he describes the gospel. How that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried. What did he do? He died for our sins. The gospel is this, the death of Christ for our sins on the cross. It incorporates all that took place there when he was not only became sin for us, was made sin for us, but he was punished for our sins, and he paid in full the, the s- the debt of sin that the sinner owed. And he cried that triumphant, triumphant cry, it is finished. He commended himself to his father. He died, he was buried, but praise God, the third day he rose again. That's the gospel. Any other person who comes around and says they have the gospel, and it doesn't have that in it, that's a false gospel. But he blinds the minds to the simplicity of the gospel. What is the gospel? He means good news. Good news. And so what does he do? He distorts the gospel message. He waters it down. Oh, there are a lot of preachers today who water down the gospel message. There are a lot of preachers who are adding, and I heard one, uh, one man preaching one morning, and I tell I just had to turn it off, just got so disgusted. And he was talking about the gospel. He brought in health and wealth, and he started to go along. He must have about nine things the gospel is. I said, my friend, you don't know what the gospel is. It's the gospel of the death, burial, and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he died for your sins, he was buried, and he rose again. He says, and if you will come and receive me into your heart, into your life, you can be saved. For that is what the gospel brings, it brings salvation. Sometimes there are questions. And some people look and they say, well, you know, I see hypocrites in the church. That's true. There are people who are hypocrites, they're playing the part. In fact, actors in ancient times were called hypocrites. They were playing a part they were not. But they're also genuine people. It's amazing how people will look at a person who says they're a Christian and are not living like it. And if you say you are a Christian tonight and you're not living like it, like it, my friend, you need to get yourself right. Because you may be a hindrance to somebody else coming to the Lord. But you know, there's hypocrites in every, every area of life. It's amazing how they look at the hypocrite in the church. But I want to tell you something. Hell is full of hypocrites. Full of hypocrites, people who are playing a part they're not. And so he says, you see, look at so and so. And one of the things that he does is he brings, when the Holy Spirit brings conviction in the heart of a sinner, the devil whispers in his ear, you got plenty time. Wait, you don't have to get saved now. To young people, he says, look, you've got plenty time. Nineteen sixty, if memory serves it, Brother Ed, Brother Rex, and myself were having meetings in Governor's Harbour. The little tent was pitched out on Cupid's Key, and one night we saw a number of people saved in those meetings. Some of those men are in the, in the chapel there in Governor's Harbour were saved back then. And I was talking to a few young men. There was a couple of guys, young fellas who went forward that night, and I was work talking with a couple outside the tent, and one young man, to admit, said to me, yeah, I realize that's what I need to do, but I got plenty of time. A couple others shrug, shrugged their shoulders, went off. Brother Ed and I went to Tarpon Bay on a Saturday evening, took Brother Eddie Thompson with us. We were coming back, we, and we had a blowout, and we had a flat in Tarpon Bay. Of course, those days you couldn't get things fixed, and and so we said we'll risk it. We were on our way back to Point, and we had another flat. Well, you know what it was. We said, Lord, we're here, we need help. And the police jeep passed us flying. A little later, they came back. Nobody'd come by yet. They said, we're sorry we couldn't stop, but there was an accident. You know, going out of Governor's Harbour, that very sharp bend down the hill, lake there. So the car couldn't negotiate the bend. It was a bad accident. He says that one of the guys, we tried to rush him to Rock Sound for the clinic, but he was dead when they got there. One of the same young men that said, I have plenty of time. I looked at that body laying there, and I said, oh God, I saw his shoes laying sitting there. I said, he tied those tennis for the last time. I've got plenty time. Oh, listen, the devil's, devil's lie is plenty time, plenty time, plenty time, and you have, do not know. The Bible says, boast not thyself of tomorrow. Thou knowest not what a day will bring forth. He blinds the men to the power of the gospel. He also blinds, and finally, the minds of men to the simplicity of salvation. It's a simple thing. Salvation is a gift. You can't buy it. You can't earn it. You can't merit it. The Bible says in Romans six twenty three, there's two parts of that, and it says though, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. It'd be a hard thing for a preacher to preach and say the wages of sin is death. Thank God we can use the but. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. And sometimes, you know, we, we, we as Christians get away from the simplicity of the way of salvation. And the devil tries to get people to get away from the, the simplicity of salvation. We have to remember, like Jonah did in the belly of the great fish, he said, salvation is of the Lord, not of man. There are simple words in sal- in the, in the message of salvation, for instance, John one and twelve, But as many as received him, to them he gave the power or the right to become the sons of God or the children of God, even to them that believe on his name. Three simple words. Believe. Believe what? First of all, acknowledge the fact that we are sinners. Secondly, understand and realize that Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose again. Believe that if we receive the Lord Jesus, the second word, believe, receive. Just receive what? God's gift, the Lord Jesus Christ, the gift of God is eternal life through him. If we believe, if we receive, he says we become a child of God. That's the simplicity of what the message of salvation is all about. The Lord Jesus, in John five comes to the pool of Bethesda. There's that man laying there, he can't get into the water. And he says to him, wilt thou be made whole? Notice it's a, it's a matter of the will. He says, Lord, I have no man. The Lord Jesus Christ says, your sins are forgiven you. Rise, take up your bed. And he did. He believed, he received, he became. Some people say, but there's surely something I have to do. I know for a man, I talked with this man for years, and he always said, I'm going to give up this, and I'm going to give up that. He ha- he had a problem with alcohol, he had a problem with other things. I said, listen here, the scripture says, come as you are, come just as you are. Come acknowledging that you are a sinner. I said, God doesn't want you to reform yourself and then come to him. He wants you to come just as you are and receive Jesus Christ. And I said, if you receive him and you believe in him and you receive him, you'll become a child of God. Let me tell you something, you won't have to worry about giving up those things. They're going to give you up. It's sad that he waited till almost his deathbed before he did it, but thank God he did. The scripture says in Ephesians two, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Romans ten eight, nine, and ten says, but what saith it, the word is nigh thee in thy heart and in thy mouth, that is the word of faith that we preach, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from that, from the dead, thou shalt be saved, for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness. You see, salvation is a heart changing s- uh, uh, salvation, and then with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. This preacher was visiting and preaching the gospel in a particular place. And there was a lady who came to the meetings, and she said, she kept saying, oh, but there's something I need to do, I must do something. And so she invited the preacher and his wife for lunch, and she set out a very sumptuous lunch, and the preacher stood there, and he complimented her on the lunch, and he says, oh, this is a, it looks so taste- tasty. She says, well, just sit down and eat. He says, surely something like it took you a long time. Let me pay you for it. Let me give you something. He reached down in his wallet. She says, no, no, no, you don't have to do that. It's free. But he says, you've taken so much time. And she said, but you're insulting me. He says, and that's exactly what you're doing to God when you're saying there's something I have to do. Salvation is free, and praise God, she saw it then before they ate lunch, she was saved. The blind fools of Satan. I want to ask as I close tonight, what blindfold is the devil using on you? Is he blinding you to the terrible consequences of sin? Is he making you think that being a child of God is something boring or dull? Has he blinded your minds to the wonder of God's love and the majesty of the cross of Jesus Christ for us? Has he blinded you to the power of the gospel? Or maybe he's blinded you to the simplicity of salvation. Whatever it is, if you're here tonight and you have never accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal savior, I want to ask you tonight to think about this and to think of the fact that if you will accept Christ as your savior, the blindfolds that are across your mind will be removed, and the scripture says the le- the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, will shine in unto you, and you leave here tonight a born-again Christian, a believer in Jesus Christ, a sinner saved by grace. Oh, what a message we have. If you will do this tonight. Don't let Satan keep the blindfolds on your mind. Don't let him keep the blindfolds on your heart. Tonight, as we sing our... I'm gonna pray, but I'm gonna sing a closing hymn, but I'm gonna pray first. And as we sing this old hymn tonight, I'm going to ask you, my friend, that if God has touched your heart and you realize this, that the devil has you blinded to some, to to to the all of these things, or one of these things. You will say tonight, Lord, I'm coming just as I am. I'm coming just as I are, just as I in my sin. Lord, save me tonight. Take the blindfolds off my heart, off my mind. Will you do that tonight? We're going to pray. I ask us to bow our heads and close our eyes, and Christians be pleased in prayer. And before I pray, I wonder if there's someone here tonight. I wonder if there's someone here tonight, and God has touched your heart. The old hymn two thirty says, O sinner, the Savior's calling for thee. Long, long has he called thee in vain. He called thee when joy lent its crown to thy day. He called you in sorrow and pain. And the chorus says, oh, turn while the Savior in mercy is waiting and stare for the harbor light, for how do you know that your soul may be crossing over the deadline tonight? With our eyes closed and Christians praise, there's someone here in this service tonight that God has touched your heart through the message and you would like to receive the gift of God's salvation through Jesus Christ. Is there someone before we pray, before we sing? Anyone? You may not raise your hand tonight, but you're concerned. There's someone here you know that's been praying for you. You can go and speak to them and say, or to me, but you know different ones, I want to be saved tonight. I want to be saved. I want to receive the gospel. I want the blindfolds to be cleared off my mind. I want to leave here tonight with God's glorious light of his gospel shining into me. No more in darkness, now in the light. Father, bless thy word, we pray, to every heart. Lord, I pray tonight that you will speak to hearts and save precious souls. Stir us as Christians, Lord, to understand that Satan has people's minds blinded. And, oh God, may we seek by prayer and the word of God to get those blindfolds off. Bless thy word, we pray, to the salvation of precious souls. And Lord, even if someone here tonight has gotten away from you and they're in a backslidden condition, we pray for restoration tonight in the lives of those persons. We ask these things, Father, in Jesus' precious name. Amen. Two hundred and thirty, in closing. The message may be finished, the meeting may close, but I want to tell you something, the invitation remains open. You may leave this place, you may be so concerned you'll go home, but if you need the Savior tonight, call someone. Call me or get in touch of with somebody here you know that can lead you to Christ. After we sing this hymn, the meeting will be over, but the invitation is open. I don't close an invitation. God bless you.