Veiled Gospel

The veiled gospel that the Apostle Paul was talking about isn’t difficult to find or understand.  It is veiled by the god of this world – the devil.  There are many different angles of attack for him.  In our message this Sunday we looked at the causes of spiritual blindness and how God reveals the light of salvation.

2 Cor 4:4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. The god of this age is none other than the old evil foe, the devil.  His blindness is so complete for some that they can’t see anything.  What does that look like practically speaking?  Evolution could be one example – if I believe in a god then all the research and science is wrong?!  There are others, but I think the most powerful has to do with everyday sin.  If I show up in church, I might hear something about my life that I don’t want to hear.  It’s easier for me think there is no God than to face my guilt or my sin.  Paul is very black and white here – there was an intended pun – they cannot see the light of the gospel.  But NONE of you are spiritually blind – you are happily sitting and worshiping God.  That doesn’t mean that the god of this world has written you off as lost causes.  He tries all the harder!  What do his temptations look like?  He doesn’t throw a bag over your head and say there is no God.  That would never work.  He does something different.

Are any of you color blind?  My eldest can’t see the whole rainbow.  I like this picture because if you are colorblind, you can tell, explain, describe to another what you see.

The center is the whole color wheel and the pictures that surround it show the blindness to lesser or greater degrees.  Instead of the bag over the head, the god of this age tells you that the pencil on the top middle row isn’t really green, it’s brown.  It’s not really wrong to cheat on your taxes, the government doesn’t know what they’re doing anyway.  On Friday night everyone gets drunk, is that really wrong?  Some days I have every right to be angry, I can’t control my temper all the time, who doesn’t get angry?  While none of these phrases denies the existence of God, the god of this age is making you color blind to the glory of God’s Holy Will for your life.  After he blots out one color, he just keeps on going, until it’s too uncomfortable for you come to church.  You’re still a Christian, but you’d rather not listen to what God has to say about your life.  The god of this age will never stop causing spiritual blindness, yet the true God reveals the light of salvation.  Jesus’ sacrifice cuts through the darkness and brings life to light in the gospel.  You are loved and forgiven.

Want to hear more?  Watch this week’s message taken from 2 Corinthians 4 – Veiled Gospel.

Please click HERE to watch the video of Christ Alone that closed out our morning of worship together.