I invite you to turn with me in your Bibles if you have one to 2 Corinthians 4:1–6. Paul writes:

Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

The Greatest Good of the Gospel

I have four questions that I believe this text answers that I would like to try to answer with you. I’ll give you the four questions and then we’ll take them one at a time.

First, What is the greatest good of the gospel to which all the other goods in the gospel are pointing?

Second, what does it mean to be lost? Or what is the condition now of those who are perishing?

Third, what happens when a person is saved?

Fourth, what is our role in the salvation of another person?

Let’s start with question number one — what is the greatest, ultimate good to which all the other goods in the gospel are pointing?

The word gospel means in the original is good news. And my question is, what makes it good news? What is the highest and best good in the good news? Is it justification by faith? Is it forgiveness of sins? Is it the removal of the wrath of God? Is it deliverance from guilt? Is it liberation from slavery to sin? Is it entrance into heaven? Is it eternal life? Is it deliverance from all pain and sickness and conflict?

Now, all of those are promises in the gospel. They are wonderful, good things in the gospel. They were bought for us by the blood of Jesus. But they are not the ultimate, best, highest, good of the gospel. In order to see what is the highest and the best good that the gospel gives, we need to look at verse 4. Focus with me on 2 Corinthians 4:4 for a moment. It says:

In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Now notice the word gospel. It says, “the light of the gospel.” And then the gospel is defined with the phrase, “the gospel of the glory of Christ.” And Christ is defined for us as the one who is “the image of God.” Now notice the similar phrase in 2 Corinthians 4:6. Near the end of the verse it says, “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” So in verse 2 Corinthians 4:4, you have “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” And then in 2 Corinthians 4:6 you have the parallel phrase which says, “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

Now the glory of Christ in 2 Corinthians 4:4 and the glory of God in 2 Corinthians 4:6 are not two different glories. And we know that because in verse 4, the glory of Christ is immediately defined as “who is the image of God”. And in verse 6, the glory of God is immediately qualified as “in the face of Jesus Christ.” So we have one glory. The glory of the Father and the glory of the Son are one glory. And the word “glory” is not an easy word to define. But let’s define it as God’s beauty or God’s greatness. The gospel then, in verse 4, is defined as the gospel of this glory. So the ultimate highest good of the gospel is to see and to enjoy the glory of Christ, or the glory of God.

Pointers to the Glory of Christ

We know from 1 Corinthians 15:1–4 that the foundational event of the gospel is the death of Jesus Christ. But the question is, what do we have to see in the death and resurrection of Jesus in order for it to be good news to us? The devil himself knows that Jesus died. The devil knows that Jesus was raised from the dead. He believes these facts. But the devil does not see anything beautiful, anything glorious in the death and resurrection of Jesus. That’s what we have to see in order for the gospel to be good news to us. We need to see Jesus Christ crucified and risen as beautiful and compelling and satisfying. All the other good things that are promised in the gospel are leading to or pointing to an experience of the glory of Christ.

For example, justification is good news because it makes us acceptable to God so that we can be in his presence and see his glory. Forgiveness of sins is good news because it removes all of our sins so that we can be in God’s presence and see his glory. The removal of all of God’s wrath is good news because now we can be in God’s presence and enjoy his glory. Eternal life is good news because eternal life is everlasting enjoyment of God’s glory. Freedom from sickness and pain and conflict is good news because it’s the display of more of God’s glory.

So when 2 Corinthians 4:4 says that this is the gospel of the glory of Christ, it means the gospel is ultimately and essentially seeing and enjoying the glory of Christ forever.

The State of the Perishing

Now the second question is, what is the condition of a person who is perishing? The answer to that is in the first part of 2 Corinthians 4:4, which says:

In their case (the people who are perishing) the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ . . .

The condition of those who are perishing is that they are blind to the glory of Christ. You all know people like this. Some of you are people like this. You look at the gospel or you hear the gospel and you don’t see anything compelling or beautiful. You hear the story of Christ coming, Christ living, Christ dying for our sins, Christ rising again, and it is boring to you. You may hear of his wisdom and power and justice and meekness and humility — all of his attributes — and they make no difference to you at all. You’re much more interested in the computer, or the television, or the radio, or music, or money, or food. Other things are much more immediately satisfying, and the glory of Christ, the beauty of Christ, means nothing.

This is a very frightening condition. We look into the face of people we love, our children or our parents who are not believers, and we feel absolutely helpless to awaken their hearts. What needs to happen for these people?

The Substance of Salvation

That’s question number three: what happens when a person is saved? The answer to that question is in 2 Corinthians 4:6, which says:

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

The reason we are so helpless when we’re dealing with a person who is not saved is that they are blind. They have no light in their heart. Over in Ephesians 2, Paul calls them “dead in their trespasses and sins.” I don’t have the power in myself to give sight to the blind or to give life to the dead. And yet, there are people all around who I want to see. I want them to live. Second Corinthians 4:6 tells me that God is the one who has to give them light. And notice the comparison that it makes between the light that needs to happen in my heart and the light that happened when God created the universe.

Once there was no light in the universe at all and God said, “Let there be light.” And 2 Corinthians 4:6 says that’s the same kind of almighty, creative act that God does when he brings light into a person’s heart. When God says to a heart, “Let there be light,” suddenly the eyes of the heart are opened and we see the cross as beautiful. If you are a Christian, that happened to you. You may have been 6 years old or 60 years old. There was a time when spiritual things were meaningless and boring, and then there was a time when you loved them. They became your satisfaction. So what happened? God said, “Let there be light,” and you saw.

Or you could say that Jesus was standing outside the tomb of your heart, like he was outside the tomb of Lazarus, and he said, “Lazarus, come forth.” And your dead heart awakened at the sound of the sovereign voice of God. And then you began to read your Bible and it was living. And you saw his grace and love and power as precious. You saw his wisdom and justice and patience as infinitely valuable to you. This is what happens when a person is saved. We do not save ourselves. We can’t open our own blind eyes. We can’t raise ourselves from the dead. And 2 Corinthians 4:6 makes it so plain who does it for us. It says:

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

If there’s any sight, if there’s any light in your heart, God put it there.

My Eyes Went Open

I got an email from a man in 2005. He was from the Netherlands, and he was Jewish. And he read online, on the computer, a sermon of mine called “Education for Exaltation”. And God did 2 Corinthians 4:6 in his heart when he read the sermon. I want to read you the email. You need to hear verse 6 happening in a Jewish heart. It really is quite amazing. So I’ll read it to you one phrase at a time.

God bless everyone who reads this. I can’t believe it took me two whole years to understand what was said in the audio sermon “Education for Exaltation.” I am a Jew and a Christian Jew since two minutes ago. I believe that Jesus is God. Jesus is Elohim. He who has the Son has life. God used that audio sermon to crush the mind of this stubborn Jew. I must say that I had troubles with the Father’s name being pronounced, as in Jewish culture it is not common to pronounce the Father’s name. But I decided to go on and listen to the sermon.

My eyes went open (that’s the key phrase). Just today, I was angry with God. I said to Him, “Why are you letting me search without finding answers?” Well, I found it now. Jesus is Elohim. I will make sure that this message will spread out here in Europe. I am from the Netherlands. I can’t believe it. Well, I do believe it actually. Jesus is Elohim. Praise Jesus. Praise Elohim.

That’s the end of the email. The key sentence in that email was “my eyes went open.” That’s not good English. But that’s the way he said it. So my answer to the third question — what happens when a person is saved — is that God sovereignly gives sight to the blind. And he has done it for you when you open your Bible and suddenly you love what is there. It’s not foolishness anymore. It’s not boring anymore. It’s your life. It’s your satisfaction. That’s what happens in salvation.

Our Role in Awakening the Dead

Now the last question is, what is our role in helping another person experience that? If God is the one who raises the dead and gives sight to the blind, what can we do? And the answer to that is 2 Corinthians 4:5, which says:

What we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.

Sandwiched in between 2 Corinthians 4:4 — which is about the glory of Christ being revealed — and 2 Corinthians 4:6 — which is about the glory of Christ being revealed — you have the proclamation from the lips of a man about Jesus Christ. So there is a place in this divine event, this divine transaction, for the human witness. And that place for the human witness is absolutely essential for the salvation of other people. Even though God is the one who opens the eyes of the blind and God is the one who raises the dead, he does not do it apart from the gospel.

Now I want to give you two more passages of Scripture to illustrate our role in the salvation of other people. The first one comes from Acts 26:17–18. Paul is describing how Jesus appointed him and sent him to his ministry. So this is Jesus now sending Paul. He says:

I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.

Now, this is an amazing parallel with 2 Corinthians 4:4. Because two things are very much the same, and one thing is very much different. They need to be removed from darkness to light here in Acts 26:18, and that’s exactly the same as 2 Corinthians 4:4. Acts 26:18 also says they have to be removed from the power of Satan to God, and that corresponds to the blinding of Satan in 2 Corinthians 4:4. But now here’s the amazing difference. In Acts, Jesus says, “I’m sending you, Paul, to open their eyes.” And in 2 Corinthians 4:4–6, God is the one who opens their eyes.

Now, when I put these together, I conclude God sovereignly opens the eyes of unbelievers through the ministry of human beings. So even though there was a time when I felt helpless facing one of my own unbelieving sons, I knew what I could do. From age 19 to 23, one of my sons wanted nothing to do with the gospel. And I felt absolutely helpless. I knew I could not open his eyes. I couldn’t raise him from the dead. But I knew from Acts 26 that God uses the word of God to open the eyes of the blind.

So I would email my son every day, not to preach at him, but to share with him some precious glimpse of the glory of Christ in the Bible. And there came a day — sometimes it happens in a year, 5 years, or 10 years, but there came a day 4 years later when I got an email that said, “I am saved.” And my son has written an article published in a magazine in America in which he describes 12 ways that parents can help their unbelieving children. And one of the ways that he mentions is to never stop sharing with your children the word of God.

God May Grant Repentance

Let me give you one more passage of Scripture.

This is 2 Timothy 2:24–26. It’s a description of how you, a powerless human being, can be used in the hands of a very powerful God. Let’s read 2 Timothy 2:24–26. Paul says:

The Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

Now notice again the parallel with 2 Corinthians 4:4–6. These people have been snared or captured by the devil. And the question is, how can we be used to liberate them from the devil’s trap? But notice again what the decisive power is that frees them. It says in 2 Timothy 2:25, “God may perhaps grant them repentance.” God doesn’t owe any rebel sinner repentance. If you ever repented, God enabled you to repent. And he uses the word perhaps here because he didn’t have to do it. I didn’t deserve to be saved. My blindness was a guilty blindness. I didn’t deserve to have my eyes opened. My deadness was my fault. It was a guilty deadness. I didn’t deserve to be made alive. It was God who opened my eyes, God who raised the dead, and God who granted repentance.

Make sure that you see in your own Bibles, when you open them up later this afternoon — not out of my mouth, but out of God’s mouth — that God “may perhaps grant them repentance.” I could not make my son repent. And since he was blind and dead, he couldn’t make himself repent. God opens the eyes of the blind, he raises the dead, he grants repentance, and we are saved. Oh, how thankful we should be for the grace of God.

But now notice what human means God uses to bring about repentance. Second Timothy 2:24–26 describes how you can help a person experience repentance. It says, “The Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome . . .” You must be kind to everyone. You must be able to teach and patiently endure evil. Correct your opponents — and it might be your children — with gentleness. And then God may use your words to save a sinner. So God does the saving, but he doesn’t do it without us.

So in conclusion, my prayer for you and me this morning, indeed for all of Europe, is that God would come with the power of his Holy Spirit and open our eyes, and that we would see these four things: that the greatest good in the gospel is the glory of Christ, the image of God; that the condition of the perishing is that they are blind and can’t see this glory; that what happens in salvation is that God Almighty opens the eyes of the blind, raises the dead, and grants repentance; but that God does this supernatural work through your mouth, not without it.

So may the Lord make us confident in his grace to save sinners. And may the Lord make us bold in our sharing of the gospel. You will not speak the word of God in vain. God will bless your ministry.