Why the Gospel Is Hidden From Some People — 2 Corinthians 4:1-4

Hello and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Everybody in again today. And we trust that by the afternoon's completion, we'll have four more good programs. And we trust that as they go out, they'll continue to bless hearts. Again, for those of you out in television, we just want to thank you so much for your letters and for your financial help. Because after all, we cannot do this without that old green stuff. We don't like to talk about it, but nevertheless, it's one of the facts of life. But how we do appreciate and all your prayers. Again, we thank these folks in the studio for coming in and being a part of our ministry, not just for an afternoon, but throughout the coming months and years if the Lord does tarry. Again, we always have to remind folk that we do have everything available in books and tapes from Genesis 1 all the way up to where we are today. So if you're interested in any of that, you give us a call or drop us a note, and we'll get these materials available for you. All right, now then, the name of this program is Bible Study, and we're going to use up every minute that we can. So turn with me, if you will, to 2 Corinthians now, chapter 4. We'd finished chapter 3 in our last program, and so we're ready for verse 1. Now again, for just a little bit of review, and I do this because letter after letter thanks us for reviewing, because after all, you want to realize, for most people, this is the first time that they have really heard the Bible taught on a verse-by -verse basis, and especially the letters like 1 and 2 Corinthians. I know even myself, so far in my own Bible study, I imagine these were two of the most neglected letters of all of Paul's writing. And as we're preparing to put it on the air, of course, I am seeing things that I have never seen before. And so I'm sure that as we review some of these main tenets of Paul's writings, that we will not write it into the ground. But never lose sight of the fact that the Apostle Paul, of course, as soon as he began his ministry among the Gentiles, he came under satanic opposition from every possible direction. And I think, as we're going to see here in chapter 4, he grew weary, and he almost despaired of life itself, because it just seemed as though he was just getting the gospel off the ground, and everything just fell in on him. And he was just as human as we are, and he really, like I said, despaired of even life itself from his sickbed. But never lose sight of the fact that all the way through these Corinthian letters, he is especially, more than in the others, defending his apostleship. Because every place he went, the Judaizers would say, After all, Peter spent three years with the Lord, and Peter is our spokesman, and Peter is the one that we're going to listen to. And then there are other factions who said, Sound familiar? Does to me. And then there were those who said, And then on top of that, of course, he had that tremendous opposition from Satan throughout, of course, the pagan background, where they, too, were trying to stamp out this new idea. Now, I've often wondered why the Roman Empire, the Roman government, came down so on Christianity when they didn't bother Judaism. In fact, I've read, and I'm sure some of you have, that the Roman authorities guaranteed that the offerings to the temple from whatever section of the Roman Empire, they guaranteed safe arrival. So they had no problem with the Jews' religion. They protected it. But Christianity, my, they tried to stamp it out, and I think I finally found the answer to all that, was that the Romans had due respect for any ancient religion, whether it was pagan or whatever. And consequently, since the Jews' religion went back into antiquity, the Romans had a high regard for it. But Christianity was something new. This was something that was more or less coming from the upstart of this one man, and consequently they, too, had no compunctions about putting it to death and martyring those who were adhering to it. And so as we've come through even the first couple chapters now of the second letter of the Corinthians, I want you to understand that the first letter was written from Ephesus, over there on what is today the land of Turkey on the western coast. And so as he wrote 1 Corinthians from Ephesus, and it was a letter, of course, that came down real hard on many of their problems, their divisions, their immorality, and some of the other problems they had. And then the second letter, the one we're in now, was written sometime after he had been forced out of Ephesus because of the tremendous hatred for the gospel from the pagan followers of Diana, you remember, whose statue oversaw the whole city of Ephesus. And so after he had left Ephesus, he went up north into the northwest corner of what is now Turkey to the ancient city of Troas, which, those of you who are history buffs, was the city of Troy. And according to the legends of Homer and so forth, it was Troy where you had the Trojan horse, and so that will give you a little idea of the historical background. And so after leaving Ephesus, he stopped at Troas, or ancient Troy, and evidently began a little congregation there. But he was supposed to have met Titus or Timothy? Now I'm confused. I think it was Titus. And he gets to Troas in chapter 1, and it was Titus. It's chapter 2, verse 13. Chapter 2, verse 13. You might want to slip back to it a minute, because I'm giving this background to show you why this man was under such constant satanic attack. Now listen, that's nothing new. You know, I've always taught, and I think I put it on the program not too long ago, just as soon as God made that classic statement in Genesis 3, 15, speaking to Satan that the seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent. Remember that? Immediately Satan knew what he was talking about. It was the coming of a Redeemer. And so he kicks in gear everything to prohibit the coming of a Redeemer for the human race. And then when the Abrahamic covenant was given to Abraham, again Satan understood that this was now the vehicle that God was going to use to bring about the seed of the woman. And so what does Satan do? He turns on the nation of Israel. And all the way up through Israel's history there is that satanic attack and the apparent desire to destroy the nation of Israel. Because if Satan could destroy Israel, then God's whole program would fall apart. Well, it's the same way now as you come into the advent of Christianity. Satan is going to do everything in his power to disrupt it, to destroy it, in order to thwart the very program of God. All right, the verse we're looking at now in 2 Corinthians 2, verse 13, where the apostle has been under such pressure from the persecutors of Ephesus, and now he's up at Troas hoping to meet Titus. And then you remember in verse 13 he says, I had no rest in my spirit, that is, in his own innermost being, because I found not Titus my brother. Now imagine, there was no communication. He couldn't just even go to a telegraph office, as those of you who are older would probably think of as being antiquitous, but no way of communicating. There was no way of Titus telling Paul, I haven't been able to make it, but I will. And so after no doubt waiting a few days and ministering to the people at Troas, he finally had to go on his way, not knowing what had happened to Titus. Well, from there, of course, he went on up to Philippi, which is clear up in northern Greece, and it was probably at Philippi then that he had become so deathly sick that he despaired of life itself and thought that his ministry had come to an end. And all of that was heaped on the man, I think, by satanic forces. But God, on the other hand, said, it's in weakness that we make you strong, and so Paul had to rely on that. Well, now then, as we come into chapter 4, once again he's going to defend his apostleship because of all the innuendos that were leveled against him, because of all of the attacks of the Judaizers and the other forces that were in the man's life. And so he says in verse 1 of chapter 4, Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not. Oh, but he was close. He was human. He was, I think, despaired. And then verse 2, but he says, We have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully. Now, does that ring a bell? Come back again with me. You remember the word we used back in chapter 2, verse 17? Not the same Greek word, but it's awful close. And so here again the apostle is showing us that he is not in this for personal gain. He's not in it for wealth. He's not in it for fame. He's only in it for one purpose, and that is to see lost humanity, given the gospel. All right, you got chapter 2, verse 17, for just a quick review? For he says, We are not as many who corrupt. Now, you remember when we talked about it in one of our previous programs? The word corrupt is translated in the Septuagint back in Isaiah chapter 2, I think it's verse 22, as water mixed with wine. Well, when you throw water in with good wine, what do you do to it? You adulterate it. You corrupt it, see? And so that's exactly what the word means here in verse 17. He wasn't doing that. He was not watering down his message with something that would tickle people's ears. He was not giving them a message that would just make people feel good. That would have been an adulteration. That would have been a corruption, see? Then the other part of the Greek word of corrupt in verse 17 was like a street salesman, a hawker who is out simply hawking his goods, but those kind of fellas are usually a little bit suspect because they do not have the best quality products because they too are adulterated. And so all of this fits together where Paul says, I'm not like those kind of people, and I'm not coming with something that's corrupted, adulterated, or cheap. I'm coming with the real thing. All right, back to chapter 4 then, if you will. Reading on in verse 2, he said, We're not handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth. Now, you know, truth is an elusive thing, isn't it? A lot of our universities used to put across their main gate, you know, seeking after truth in one way or another. But truth can be so elusive many times. And yet, if we just get in and search the Scriptures, the truth comes out. My, I've been thrilled. Yesterday morning I had three phone calls in a row. All people from a particular denomination that I feel is way out in left field. I'll never name them. It's nobody's business who they are. But three calls from different parts of the country, and they all said, Lest you open my eyes. I never realized that I was under such false teaching. Well, it wasn't that I opened their eyes. The fact was, they did what I'm telling people to do. What does the book say? And that's where they found out that they were under a lot of false doctrine. They couldn't find it in the book. It was coming from their pulpit, but it wasn't in here. And that's all it took. And they came away from it. And that's all I'm saying. I'm not here to deride any group, but if you can line up with their preaching in the book, fine. I've got no opposition to that. But so much of what we're hearing is not in the book. It's men's ideas, and people are swallowing it, hook, line, and sinker, and then suddenly realizing that they've been led down some back alley. All right, verse three. But, see, but. Now, everybody that ever listened to me at least once knows what that means. That's the flip side. The flip side. He's not coming with an adulterated product. He's not coming with something cheap. He's not coming as a hawker out on the street hawking his wares. But, he says, if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are what? Lost. See? Now, I'll just mull that over. If Paul says, our gospel is hid. Now, the better translation should have been the same word that was used as veiled back in chapter three. And, in fact, flip back again just for a quick review. Chapter three, verse 16. Chapter three, verse 16. What's also in verse 15? Even to this day when Moses read, the veil is upon their heart, what has been happening? Something has been hidden from them. And now, verse 16. Nevertheless, when it, the veil, or the heart rather, when it shall be turned to the Lord, the veil, that which was hiding, shall be taken away. Alright, now you bring that same concept up into verse three. If our gospel is veiled, something is over it. So that hearts cannot comprehend it. What has to happen? Well, someone has to remove the veil. And who is, in this case, holding the veil in place? Satan is. Read on. But if our gospel be veiled, it is veiled to them who are lost. Next verse. In whom? These lost people. In whom? The God of this world. And who is that? Satan is. Now, a lot of people don't like to talk about Satan. They think he's more or less a cartoon character in a little red underwear suit and a pitchfork and some horns on his head. Listen, that's not the Satan of the Bible. The Satan of the Bible is a powerful being. Paul says in another place that he can transform himself into an angel of what? Light. See? And this is what he's doing so expeditiously today. He is constantly confusing the issues with his seeming light. But it's Satanic. And so here again, it's Satan, the God of this world, who has blinded the minds of them who will not repent. No, doesn't say that. He is blinding the minds of them who will not be baptized. Doesn't say that. So what is God's controversy? They won't believe. You've heard me say that more than once, haven't you? It's not that we have to repent. It's not that we have to run down some aisle in penitence. What does God demand? That we believe the gospel. Now, I guess this is a good time. Jerry Poole isn't here today, but if he would, he'd be winking at me, and I'd know what he'd be saying. Turn back to 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. And bless his heart, Jerry started coming to my class years ago, and I guess one of the first Thursday nights he attended, I must have struck a chord with 1 Corinthians 15, these first four verses. The gospel. There is no clearer place in the whole Bible where the gospel is laid out in full. This beats John 3, 16, 100 miles. Now, I've got nothing against John 3, 16, but John 3, 16 can't even come close to what Paul writes here in 1 Corinthians 15, 1 through 4. All right? Now, any time that Paul makes a reference to the gospel in any of his epistles, it's always this one. All right? Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel. Absolutely, today there is one gospel which I preached unto you, which you have received, and wherein you stand. That was all it took. When they believe the gospel, then God literally moves heaven and earth to bring that person to a place of enlightenment. And as soon as we believe the gospel, this book begins to open up, and it begins to make sense. But not until, and here it is, in all of its simplicity, that verse 2, by which you are what? Saved. See how plain that is? It's by this gospel that we are saved. I don't care whether it was in Corinth or any other area of the world, whether it was back in 50 AD or whether it's in the present year, makes no difference. This is the gospel that saves lost people. All right? By which you're saved, verse 2, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, lest you believed in vain. Don't believe the wrong thing, because listen, God is meticulous. Again, this same Jerry had been to a funeral of a dear friend, a good person. And I'll never forget the look on Jerry's face, and he said, lest is there any chance God might compromise this a little bit and let this person in? No way. God is not a compromiser. God has made the plan of salvation so simple, so plain, that He is not going to let someone slip in a side door and say, well, I thought. You know, that's what Cain did. You don't always have to go back to Cain and Abel. They were so typical. My, they were typical. Abel did just exactly what God said to do. He believed what God said, and he acted on it. But old Cain, you know the word I've used for 20 years? What did he do? He rationalized. He rationalized. And old Cain said, yeah, but I think, I think that if I do this, and if I come on with all of this effort, God will accept me. But did he? No. And I've often said, I shouldn't be a bit surprised that Cain was probably a better person than Abel. Wouldn't surprise me a bit. Because he tried. But what was his problem? He didn't believe what God said. And it's the same way today. If people are going to somehow rather connive around this simple gospel, I don't believe God's going to accept them. Now, I don't know hearts. I don't ever pretend to. But I have to go by what the book says, and the book says that this is the gospel by which people are saved. All right, here it is. Verse 3 and 4. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received. In other words, here we come back to his revelations again from the ascended Lord. Not from Christ's earthly ministry, but from the ascended Lord. The finished work of the cross now behind. And now he says, How that Christ died for our sins. According to the scripture. It wasn't just an afterthought. It was in that whole preordained plan of the ages that Christ went to the cross. And then verse 4. And that he was buried. And that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. Now that's the gospel. Now isn't that simple? Oh, there is no strings attached. There is no prescribed ritual. There is no particular way that you have to do this. You can believe it at the kitchen sink. You can believe it driving down the road. You can believe it when you wake up in the middle of the night. And you can say, Yes, I see it. For me, the sinner, there is only one remedy. And that is that Christ died for my sins and he arose from the dead. And then God does all the rest. God saves us. God sets our feet on a rock and he begins to open up the scriptures. And we begin to comprehend the truth of it from cover to cover. Now it's not going to happen all at once. But salvation is. You know I had to tell a class long, long time ago. Salvation is not a process. Salvation is an event. Salvation is an instantaneous event. Christian growth is a process. Bible understanding is a process. But salvation is a one-time event. And what an event! To be translated from darkness to light. To know sin's forgiven and to be known that you're justified. And that all happens instantaneously, see? And again, I noticed that in my study throughout this last week, and I've been going through again all of Paul's letters looking, because I had a question come up in one of the classes the other night. Do you realize that it is never taught? Now this is going to ruffle feathers all across the country. Do you know that it is never taught that in this age of grace we have to beg God to forgive us our sins? Think about it. And yet for most people who are going to put out the plan of salvation, they say, you have to ask God to forgive you of your sins. You have to repent. I can't find that. It's not in here. But you know what my Bible tells me? Now I think, yeah, I've got time enough. You know what my Bible tells me? That when Christ died the death of that cross, He took on Himself not just the sins of those who are saved. He took on the sin of every human being that has ever lived. And when He took every human being's sin, He could cry to the Father, those sins are forgiven. They're buried in the deepest sea, never, never to be brought before us again. And so even when lost people slip out of this life into eternity, their sins are already forgiven. Now when we get into chapter 5 of 2 Corinthians, we're going to find the word reconciliation. And the same thing applies. Every human being that has ever lived has now been reconciled to God by virtue of the work of the cross. But, and I had to think half the night how I could clarify this. Congress, all those guys who hold the money bags, and they can just hand it out by the billions. Okay, so Congress appropriates so many billion dollars for a particular program. And there it is. And there it is going to stay until somebody out there starts drawing on it. Am I right? Is that government process? You know it is. All right, the billions are already appropriated, but they won't do a nickel's worth of good until somebody draws on it and puts it to use. Well, that's God. At the cross, God paid the payment for every person's sin. He paid their eternal doom. He did everything that needed to be done. So that now all lost people have to do is draw on it. How? By believing the gospel. But you see, the reason they're never going to enjoy all the ramifications of that finished work is they're never going to draw on it by believing. They're never going to exercise the faith that God demands. Isn't that sad? You know, I think I made it plain on this program. When people go to the lake of fire for all eternity, they're not going there because of their sin. They're not going there because of their drunkenness and their adultery and their gambling or whatever else you might want to call sin. No, that's not what they're going there for. They're going there because of their unbelief. And if I don't be remembered for anything else, I want to be remembered for that. That lost humanity is going to their eternal doom for only one reason. They refuse to believe that everything is already done. And isn't that sad? How sad. Now back to 2 Corinthians 4. And who is keeping them from seeing all this? The powers of Satan. And how does he do it? I think his number one choice of modus operandi today is to keep people so busy. Everybody is so busy. Our kids are all involved in sports from the time they get old enough to walk. And it is a constant bombarding of our time with everything but the things that count. And this is Satan's biggest instrument. And there's nothing wrong with a lot of those things. There's nothing wrong with kids playing t-ball. There's nothing wrong with kids playing basketball. But what's it doing? It's keeping their minds so occupied that they never have time to think in terms of the spiritual. And oh, the devil loves it. The more he can keep people in programs, and the more he can keep people with their eyes on the material, the more he can say, I've got them veiled. I'm keeping them blinded. I'm the winner. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 716, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. That's Route 1, Box 716, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.