2 Corinthians 4:1-7 4 Things Christians Must Do After They Are Saved

renounced the hidden things of shame. Not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by the manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. Even if our good news is veiled, it is veiled in those who are dying, in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving. That the light of the good news of the glory of Christ, who is

the image of God, should not dawn on them. For we don't preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as LORD and ourselves as your servants, for Jesus sake, seeing it is God who said light will shine out of the darkness, who is shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in clay vessels that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves.

In the last chapter, Paul was talking about this veil that is on the minds of every single person who does not believe in God. But when you eventually come to believe in God, this veil gets taken away and you are able to see clearly and you're able to understand what Scripture has to say. So with that in mind, Paul continues on. In verse 1 of 2 Corinthians 4, he says, Therefore, seeing that we have this ministry even as we obtained mercy, we don't faint. Now, of course, Paul's ministry was very

difficult. He's going to describe later on in 2nd Corinthians all of the terrible things that he had to go through. He got bitten by a snake. He had a bunch of shipwrecks, um, he got beat Multiple times. He was involved with several riots. He got whipped, I believe, and beaten with rods and almost killed a handful of times. Stoned once, potentially did die actually in that stoning. We don't know exactly there what happened, but, uh, he was stoned once.

And so Paul definitely experienced extreme suffering for the Gospel message. And you would imagine that most people would give up. You know, if you experience any amount of persecution like that, the average person would be like, okay, I'm done. You know, I don't want to continue on um, risking my life and putting myself in danger and experiencing all this pain and betrayal over and over and over

again. So Paul was really doing something abnormal which was continuing on with the Gospel message in the face of extreme persecution. But he says, because we have this ministry and because we have obtained mercy, we don't faint or we don't lose heart, depending on the version that you are reading. So that is the reason why Paul was able to continue on even in the face of persecution like that was because he obtained mercy and he could see the

truth clearly. Because at one point in time, Paul was also like those people who had a veil over his mind until Jesus himself literally appeared to him on the road to Damascus while Paul was actually going to go persecute Christians. And this blinding light hit Paul and he was knocked down to the ground and just absolutely flabbergasted that he had seen Jesus. And Jesus said, why are you persecuting me, Paul? And then Paul finally saw

the light after that. So Paul once experienced that veil being over his mind and then that veil being taken away. So if anybody understands this whole idea of this veil, it's Paul. And so because Paul now can see the truth, there's no way he's going back. He can't go back to what he was. And because Paul himself experienced mercy. like Jesus on the road to Damascus could have killed Paul then and there. He could have been like, Paul, this is

enough. You've persecuted too many Christians. I'm, um, done with you. And Jesus could have snapped Paul out of existence if he wanted to. But yet Jesus had a face to face conversation with Paul, asking him, why did you persecute me like this? Why are you persecuting me like this? And gave Paul mercy instead of judgment and death. While Jesus was on earth, he actually gave a parable about people who experience mercy.

There was a woman who was washing the feet of Jesus and she was an immoral woman, very likely a prostitute or something along those lines. And Jesus was in the home of a pharisee at this point who had invited him to dinner. And this Pharisee was getting really angry that Jesus was not pushing this woman aside, but he was actually allowing this woman to clean his feet

and anoint his feet with this oil. And so Jesus answered this Pharisee and said, the person who has been given more forgiveness and more mercy is the person who is going to love more. And Paul definitely experienced that mercy and love from Jesus. And so he's never going back. So no matter what comes Paul's way, even if it's death, he was not going to give up on the gospel message. And eventually, Paul did die from spreading the gospel. It's believed that Nero actually killed him by, uh,

chopping his head off. So that is how Paul's life ended. But it wasn't just Paul here, because notice the language that Paul is taking on. He says, we have this ministry, we obtained mercy, and we don't faint. So Paul's not just talking about himself here. He's talking about the other missionaries and evangelists and apostles that are traveling with him that are preaching the gospel to all of these people. So Paul's giving credit where credit's due. He's not just talking about himself here.

He says, we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully. The first step to, uh, believing in the gospel message is understanding that you are a sinner. Because if you don't understand that you're a sinner, you can't understand your need for a savior. And that's the whole point of the gospel message is that we have a savior, right? So we have to understand that we

are sinners. And when we finally do understand that and we decide to believe in Jesus as our Savior, the first thing that should be done is that we renounce the hidden things of shame. And that would be all of the sins that we have that we are either doing publicly or that we are hiding. More likely. We usually aren't very vocal about our sins, not too often, or at least we pretend that they are not sins if we are doing them. Nobody likes to admit that they are

sinning. And that's one of the reasons why finding the gospel is so difficult, is because people have a very hard time admitting that they have done sin in the past because nobody likes the idea of sin. And everybody knows that sin is something bad because those sins are shameful. Paul says, so you renounce those now, does that mean you're never going to sin ever again? No,

absolutely. Not, I mean, you are certainly going to sin, because once again, understanding and believing in Jesus doesn't free us from all sin because we still are in a sinful body in a sinful world. So we are going to sin, but we renounce those sins when we do sin, and then we try not to do those sins again in the future. And, uh, it will be easier the more you practice to not sin again in the future as long as you understand that what you are doing is a sin. And it is very hard to break

habitual sins. It is very difficult, but it's not impossible like some people try to make it out to be. We have an advocate helping us, that advocate being the Holy Spirit, who guides us in the way He wants us to go. So we renounce the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully. So the second thing we do when we become saved is first and foremost we renounce our sins. And secondly, we

live in truth. And actually, if you read Ephesians chapter 6, where Paul talks about the full armor of God, you might have heard these verses before because they're very famous. Ephesians 6, 13 - 15 says, Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be

able to stand your ground. And after you have done everything to stand, stand firm then with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. So notice in Ephesians 6, with the full armor of God, the first thing mentioned is the belt of truth. We're supposed to be living completely in truth, so much so that it's buckled around our waist. We are constantly living in

it. So when Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4 that we don't handle the word of God deceitfully, that means that we also understand that God's word is the truth, and we spread that truth to other people, but by the manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. So in other words, everybody kind of understands whether they are Christian or non Christian, kind of understands that Christianity is

overall good. For example, you're going to hear this in pretty much every circle. You will hear, well, Jesus was a good man. Regardless of where you go. Even atheists, if they believe in Jesus or believe that a historical figure of Jesus existed, they will say, yeah, He was just a good man. He's not God or anything, but He was a good man. They'll say something like that because pretty much everybody believes that the message of Christianity is generally good.

And Paul says here that he commends himself to every man's conscience in the sight of God. So every single person, their conscience kind of tells them that there is something good about Christianity. In fact, uh, Jordan Peterson, who I don't believe is a Christian, I don't know if he is now, but five years ago, when I first started listening to him, he was

not a Christian. But one thing he used to say that was always really interesting to me is he would say, if you're going to have a religion, which I recommend that you do, because religion overall is good for this, this and this reason, if you're going to have a religion, I recommend having the religion of Christianity because Christianity is a good religion to have as compared to, you know, such and such religion.

It's just kind of interesting that non Christians do kind of see that there is some good with Christianity, unless they're in complete and total denial of God and Christianity or they're angry for whatever reason. In the case of the Pharisees, even in the days of Jesus, you know, they hated what Jesus was doing, but it wasn't because they didn't think it was good.

Because what was Jesus doing? He was healing the blind. He was, um, you know, casting out demons and doing all sorts of amazing things. It wasn't that the Pharisees thought those things were bad because obviously the Pharisees did some of those things themselves. It actually says that there were Pharisees that could cast out demons. There were Pharisees that tried to heal people unsuccessfully, but still they tried to heal people. And, um, the Pharisees would go out and

supposedly do good deeds. So they weren't necessarily against Jesus's good deeds, but they were just jealous of Jesus. And so that's why they opposed him, and that's why they opposed the gospel of Jesus so sincerely is because of complete and total jealousy. And that was the same thing in the days of Paul. You know, people were against Paul because of jealousy and because of

personal gain. For example, the whole riot that happened in Ephesus with Paul, with Demetrius happened because Demetrius was angry that people were becoming Christian because that was affecting his business, because he was an idol, um, maker. Demetrius wasn't necessarily against Christianity until it affected him personally. Then he, he got

upset. So in the conscience of people, pretty much everybody can see that there is good with Christianity, but for their own selfish reasons or their own selfish gain or Anger. They don't like Christianity for some reason or because they were burned by the hypocrisy of a Christian in the past. Which is why right here, Paul says that he lives in such a way that is commendable, basically, that the conscience of all men can see is

a good way to live. So that is why Christians are not supposed to be hypocritical like that, because they can end up burning people and, uh, turning people off from the Gospel message. However, Paul says that he commends himself to every man's conscience in the sight of God. So Paul is going to do what is good so that people really can't say anything bad about him. And that was true. No matter where Paul went, people would try to bring cases against him, but they couldn't because Paul didn't do

anything wrong. So they'd have to, like, lie about Paul in order to bring these cases against him. And that is what Christians are supposed to do. That is the third step. So first, we renounce sin. Second, we walk in truth and spread that truth to other people. And thirdly, we. We live in such a way that is a, uh, light to the world, as Jesus would call it. And that is so that people will see our lifestyles and say, hey, you know, they've got something good going on there. I wonder what they're

doing differently. And the way you live might actually cause some people to be interested in the Gospel and also not really be able to say anything bad about you if they want to. So that is the four things that Christians are supposed to do when they become Christians. Now moving on to verse three, and I'm already 20 minutes in, and we've got four more verses to talk about. Even if our good news is veiled, it is veiled in those who are dying, in whom the God of this world has blinded

the minds of the unbelieving. Now there's that concept of the veil again that Paul is talking about, that really the only people who believe the good news is bad in some way is because they have a veiled conscience, they have a veiled mind. And the person who veiled them was the god of this age is what Paul calls him. And that, of course, would

be Satan. Now, the term god of this age throughout Christian history has been debated because there were some Christians, like early on, who apparently really got stressed out that Paul called Satan the god of this age. And they'd be like, oh, my gosh, you know, uh, Paul is putting Satan on the same level as God here. And so they would do things to try to get around the

phrasing. But notice here that when Satan is called the god of this world or the god of this age, it's a little G god, the same way that baal in the Old Testament was considered to be a little G god. And obviously we know that baal and God were not on the same level, because we just literally talked about the other day how God literally humiliated the baaL worshippers because he proved that baal was a false idol and wasn't even real to begin with.

So obviously God was not on the same level as baal because God was real and baal was just, you know, something made up. Now, of course, satan is not something made up. satan is clearly talked about in scripture as being a real entity who really messes up the lives of people. But just because Paul calls him the god of this age with a little G, that does not put Satan on the same level as God. But is Satan a god? Well, yeah, kind of, because there are people who actually do

worship him. There are Satan worshipers who worship satan as a god. And also it says that if you worship any false idol, that is not God, you are actually worshiping demons. So, yes, satan is a god of this age, but he is not God. He's never going to be God. And eventually his rule is going to end. When Jesus comes back again, satan's gonna be over and done with and he's going to be tossed into the pit for a very, very long time, is what it says.

So the minds of the people of this world have been blinded by the god of this age. That the light of the good news of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn on them. So unfortunately, these people who we love, who are not Christians, their minds are being blinded by satan. And this doesn't mean that, you know, they don't have any fault in the matter, because they do. Obviously, our sin nature also has a hand in blinding us. And in fact, uh, Jesus

himself said that. He said that the people of this age love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. So satan and people sort of work hand in hand together to blind themselves, if that makes sense. But satan certainly plays a part and really helps people truly stay blinded so they can never see the light of God. And so that that veil will just remain over their minds forever is what satan hopes. Because he wants those

followers, he wants those worshipers. He doesn't want to give those people up to God. Of course not. He hates God and he hates God's creation. He hates human beings because human beings have been given a gift that he was not given, which is the gift of salvation. So satan hates human beings and he's going to do everything he can to possibly destroy human life. It says that the enemy goes around killing, stealing and destroying. That is what satan does. He kills, steals and

destroys because he hates you. So unfortunately, these people that we love, they have their minds blinded by satan. And so we should be praying that satan has no power over these people and that finally God's light can really dawn on them and they can truly understand the gospel message and have that veil lifted off of their minds. For we don't preach ourselves, verse 5, but Jesus Christ as LORD and ourselves as your servants for Jesus sake, seeing is God who said light will shine out

of the darkness. So Paul says, you know, we're not up here preaching ourselves. I'm not up here on stage preaching Paul. I am preaching the gospel message. And unfortunately there are so many pastors out there now in the American churches who are just preaching the gospel of self, the gospel of themselves. That is not the gospel message. There is no gospel of self. The gospel message is what Jesus did for us. The gospel message is the good news of Jesus. That is what the word gospel actually

means is good news. And a message that is just a message of like feel good, self love is not really going to help us understand what the gospel message truly is. So Paul says, we apostles, we don't preach ourselves. We preach Christ Jesus as LORD and ourselves are servants for Jesus sake. So there we go. Paul says we don't preach ourselves because we're servants of Jesus. The servant is not above the

master. So we're going to preach that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, and that we are just servants, seeing it is God who said light will shine out of the darkness, who is shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Paul says, I'm not going to preach myself because the gospel message is truly what helps the light to shine on people. It's the knowledge of the glory of God and the face of Jesus Christ.

And that is the gospel message that Paul is going to preach. No other gospel message. And that is the gospel message that every pastor that claims to be a Christian and every teacher of the Bible should be preaching. If they are preaching anything other than that, then they are not actually preaching the gospel. They are not preaching what God told them to preach. They are not preaching the truth the truth is the gospel message. So we need to be living in the truth. We need to be renouncing

sins. We need to be living in a way that other people can see the truth through us. And we need to be preaching the gospel message accurately and the way that it is written down in scripture.

So I'm not gonna get to verse seven today. I'm going to save that actually for Thursday, because, you know, I was actually debating whether or not to talk about verse seven anyway, when I first started this, um, this podcast episode, because I sort of thought, well, I don't know if I can do a podcast episode where I only talk about six verses and have enough to say. And I was like, I'll throw verse seven in there, because I think verse seven is good too, and relates. But

I definitely had enough to talk about today. And also verse seven does actually relate more to what we're going to talk about on Thursday anyway. So I will save verse seven for Thursday. But faithful listeners, thank you so much for all of your wonderful reviews of the podcast. I am so, um,

just blessed to be able to read them. And if you do like the podcast, then please do review it and tell people that the Bible Explained podcast exists because it is a good way to evangelize, because all we do here is talk about the Bible. And maybe we'll talk about tea or coffee every once in a while, but for the most part. And the weather. But for the most part, I talk about the Bible here on the Bible Explained. But faithful listeners, have a fantastic

and wonderful rest of your day. I hope you guys stay nice and warm and toasty. Happy listening and God bless.