Let Light Shine Out of Darkness

2 Corinthians chapter 4. In chapter 3, Paul had

2 Corinthians 4 · chapter mention

talked about the ministry of the Spirit and the

ministry of righteousness as opposed to the ministry

of death and the ministry of condemnation. He

was comparing the law and living by the law to...

the glory that comes in Jesus Christ. And he

had reminded his audience of when Moses had gone

on to the mountain and Moses came down and his

face was glowing because he had experienced just

a tad of the glory of God and Moses' face was

veiled because the people were afraid to look.

on moses and it said that the glory of god was

fading from moses face after he would come down

from the mountain it would begin to fade but

paul is is really making a good a good point

in that story and saying that look The unfading

glory of God comes through Jesus Christ. And

so it's not something that needs to be veiled.

It's not something that is hidden. It's something

that has been shown to us through Jesus coming

and giving his life on a cross. We have seen

the glory of God. And so Paul has been really

kind of defending himself throughout this part

of this letter up to this point, and even still

we'll see that in the words that we'll read today.

Paul is trying to say, look, we have done right

by y 'all. We have taught you guys and shown

you guys who Jesus is. You can see it through

our life and the way that we have lived, and

it's all for the glory of Jesus Christ. Last

couple of weeks, we saw in chapter 3 that idea

of, look, don't get caught up. Don't be blind.

Don't keep a veil over your face. Don't miss

the glory of God by trying to live by the law,

but recognize that you have freedom. Where the

Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. We ended

there last week. And so there's freedom in Jesus

and there's burden in trying to earn our salvation

and earn God's favor through our works and our

deeds and anything we can do. But we have to

recognize that Jesus has done everything. And

so when Jesus did everything and fulfilled everything,

The Holy Spirit comes and dwells in us when we

trust in the work of Jesus Christ. And there's

freedom in that because we're not trying to earn

God's favor. We want to live in obedience to

God, certainly, when we've received the grace

and the mercy of God, but we're not striving

to earn God's grace because of what we do. because

that would defeat the purpose of what grace is.

Grace is something that cannot be earned, but

is given to us freely through Jesus Christ. And

the result of that, Paul said in the closing

verses of chapter 3, is that there is freedom

in Jesus. And so that's where we left off last

week, and just continuing on with that same idea

this week. So let's pray, and we'll get started.

God, we come to you. We thank you for your word.

I pray, dear Lord, that we would find freedom

in Jesus Christ, that we would find freedom in

our life of the sin and the temptation that we

face, and that we would find joy in that freedom

and peace in that freedom. And, dear Lord, I

pray that our lives would be lives that people

would look at, that would point them to Jesus,

that we could be so bold as to speak as Paul

does, dear Lord, that we can say in good conscience

that our lives... are a reflection of the love

of God. And if they're not, dear Lord, let us

see those areas where we're struggling and let

us seek you to make us stronger. I pray that

you bless the reading of your word and all for

your glory tonight. In Jesus' name I ask it.

Amen. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 1. Therefore,

2 Corinthians 4:1

since we have this ministry because we were shown

mercy, we do not give up. Again, kind of playing

back on what we saw in the last one. Anytime

you see the word therefore in your Bible, you

need to go back and you need to see what was

going on before. And sometimes you'll have just

one therefore after another. It'll seem like

every little section or every chapter is a therefore.

And so you've got to read all of it to wrap it

up. But we just talked about that ministry. He

says, therefore, since we have this ministry.

Well, in the previous chapter, he had talked

about the ministry of the Spirit. We're not under

the ministry of death and the ministry of condemnation.

That is, Paul was saying, we're not here promoting

the law. We're not telling you you've got to

live by the law. We're telling you that you need

to live by Jesus. So the law was the old way.

That was the old ministry. But there's a new

ministry, the ministry of the Spirit, the Holy

Spirit that indwells in us, that comes once we

put our faith in Jesus Christ. It's a ministry

not of condemnation, but a ministry of... righteousness

that comes only through Jesus Christ, not through

the fulfillment of any kind of things that we

can do on our own. And that's the ministry he's

talking about there. Therefore, since we have

this ministry, because we were shown mercy, we

do not give up. So Paul says, look, God calls

us and God is using us because he was merciful

toward us. What does mercy mean? It means that

you do not get what you deserve. Now, Paul was

a pretty rough guy. Paul was not doing right

by the Lord. I mean, he knew the Word of God,

what we would call the Old Testament. Man, he

was a Jew's Jew. He was a man who knew the law

backwards and forwards. He was an expert. I mean,

he would have known all the religious stuff,

but his heart was not right. He didn't get it.

He knew it, but he didn't get it. And sometimes

maybe we need to check ourselves, because sometimes

maybe we know the Word of God, but we don't get

the Word of God. But then what happened to Paul?

What changed his life? It wasn't that he knew

the law backwards and forwards. It was Jesus

who changed his life. When Jesus appeared, when

that great light shone to Paul, it opened his

eyes, and he realized that he didn't know all

he thought he knew. And when Jesus showed up

on the scene, it changed everything. Now, God

could have looked at Paul, and he could have

said, Look, Paul, you're just this rotten dude,

and you're persecuting those who are trying to

follow me, and I'm not going to show you any

mercy. But instead, God didn't give Paul what

he deserved, nor does he give you and I what

we deserve, or else we wouldn't even be here

right now. But instead, God is merciful. He didn't

give Paul what Paul deserved, but instead he

transformed Paul. He said, I know who you are,

I know what you've been, but I want to show you

Jesus. I want to introduce you to Jesus. And

when Jesus showed up on the scene, it changed

everything. And so it should be in our life.

And maybe it is, or maybe it's not. Maybe we

know the scripture, but maybe we don't know Jesus.

And maybe, maybe... God wants to speak to us.

Maybe God wants to show us who Jesus is through

these scriptures and through so many more that

we will see the glory of God in the same way

that Paul did, that our lives would be transformed,

that we would go from living for ourselves and

for our own glory to saying, woe is me, God,

because I have sinned and I have done wrong,

but God, I have seen the light. And Paul was

rejoicing in that, and he's doing the work. You

can tell a change. Before Jesus, Paul was a pretty

rough guy. After Jesus, Paul is out there doing

the work of the Lord. He is full of zeal to tell

others about Jesus Christ. And he says, look,

we have this ministry that was shown to us that

God is using us for because of his mercy. And

therefore, he says, we do not give up. Now, it

was not easy to do the work that Paul was doing.

Ministry is not easy. Now, there are some in

ministry who, of course, are pastors and missionaries

and who serve in that capacity. But even if we

don't have a title like that, we all still, I

believe, as Christians, are called to serve the

Lord and to minister to others and to serve others

in some way. And it is not always easy to do

the Lord's work. So what's our motivation? What's

going to keep us going? Well, it has to be the

same thing that kept Paul going. That he says,

look, God has called me to serve him. He has

saved my soul. He has had mercy on me. And because

of that... We do not give up. We do not lose

hope. We continue to do the work. So even though

it appears as though he is facing some opposition

here in Corinth for whatever reason, he says,

look, we're not going to give up. We love you

and God loves you and you're too important to

us and we want to continue to pour into you and

to show you the love of God and to instruct you

in the way of God that you'll fully experience

the glory of God. And then he continues on in

verse 2. He says, Instead, we have renounced

shameful secret things, not walking in deceit

or distorting God's message, but commending ourselves

to every person's conscience in God's sight by

an open display of the truth. So he says, look,

we've renounced secret things. We haven't walked

in deceit. We haven't distorted God's word. He

says, look, we have been good ministers of the

gospel of Jesus Christ to you. Now, he has to

say that. Well, he doesn't have to say it. But

he says that because there were some who were

not good ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

There are some who ministered then and still

to this day for profit. They minister so that

their pockets can be filled. They minister for

the recognition. They minister for the fame.

Some minister just to stick it to Paul. They

wanted that big following. They want to be able

to say, I have X amount of people that are in

my church, and there are a lot of people that

minister and do the Lord's work, if we call it

that, but it's not for the Lord. They're working

for themselves. But Paul says, look, we've got

nothing to hide. Everything we do, we do for

the Lord. Everything in our life, you see, it's

on display. Everything we speak to you is the

truth. We speak the truth to you. We love you.

We serve God. We have nothing to be ashamed of.

And that should be evident to you. It should

be evident to you. Your conscience should let

you know of that. part of us that lets us know

when something is not right, when we have a decision

to make, is this right or wrong, that conscious

that's in us, is that little voice or that feeling,

however you want to describe it, that lets us

know there's something not right about this.

And sometimes you may hear that. You may hear

somebody that preaches something or teaches something,

and you say, I'm not real sure about that. But

Paul says, look, you can look at our lives, and

you can judge, and you can see by how we have

lived. And what we have done, that we are those

who are speaking the truth. So listen to what

we have to say. And he says here, we are commending

ourselves to every person's conscience. Now,

Paul, I don't think, is looking for a pat on

the back. We see that as the passage continues.

Everything they do, they do for the glory of

the Lord. But he's saying we're proud of the

work that we've done. We don't have anything

to be ashamed of. But what of you and I? Could

we say that tonight? Could we boldly say that

to people that we are trying to reach? Could

we honestly and truthfully say, look at my life.

Listen to the words I'm telling you and look

at how I've lived. And you can see that the way

I've lived is worth following. Can we say that

tonight? Well, maybe we can. But then maybe we

can't. Because maybe there are some things that

we do want to keep secret, that we would like

to keep hidden. That we really don't want to

have our life fully exposed. And Paul says, look,

we've hidden nothing. Our lives are on full display.

You can see Jesus in us. And the question is,

do others see Jesus in you? Can we say that with

boldness? If we're trying to reach somebody and

we're trying to tell them they need to follow

Jesus so they can be like us, are we something

that's attractive to them? Or do they say, I

don't want to be like you. I see the things you

say. I see the way you act. I see the way you

treat other people. Paul says, look, my life

is wide open. And he says that boldly, not bragging,

but promoting Jesus Christ, giving glory to God.

And we need to be able to live our lives in such

a way that it's an example to those who see how

we live. Verse 3. But if our gospel is veiled,

it is veiled to those who are... Now we're going

back to the illustration that he used in chapter

3 where he talked about the veil being over the

face of Moses. And he said that the Jewish people,

when he was writing this, still had a veil over

their face. They were still trying to live by

the law. They had missed Jesus Christ. And even

still to this day in 2025, the Jewish people...

Reject Jesus Christ. They still have a veil over

their face. They have not seen the glory of God.

And he says here, but if our gospel is veiled,

that is, we've preached the truth of the gospel

of Jesus, and if there are some who have not

seen it, it is veiled to those who are perishing.

That is, if they haven't seen it, it's because

they've chosen not to look at it. We have shown

and we have preached and we have taught and we

have done the work of Jesus Christ. It should

be evident to anybody who is seeking, to anybody

who has an ear, to anybody who is in the least

bit interested. The glory of God through Jesus

Christ, we have preached that gospel. And if

somebody can't see that gospel, it's because

they are those who don't want to. They are those

who are perishing. And he continues on. In verse

4, in their case, the God of this age has blinded

the minds of the unbelievers so they cannot see

the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ,

who is the image of God. Now, this verse can

be taken in a couple of different ways. Some

translations would say, in their case, Satan

has blinded their minds. That's not an accurate

translation. I looked at a bunch of translations,

and there was only two. that use the word Satan

there. That's not a good interpretation. It may

be speaking of Satan when it speaks of the God

of this world, but it may not as well. There

are Christians that kind of fall on both sides

of that argument. Some would say, oh yeah, that's

talking about Satan. Others would say it's talking

about God. Now, certainly we see examples of

where God turns people over to their sin or where

God hardens people's hearts. Romans chapter 1,

Romans 1 · chapter mention

it talks about God kind of hands people over

to their sin, their sinful desires. He just gives

them over to it. We see examples throughout Scripture

of God hardening people's heart. And in those

situations, it's not that the person doesn't

have an option or a choice. It's not like God

just goes around saying, hard, hard, hard, hard,

hard, hard. People who have rejected God and

the Spirit and the Word of God repeatedly that

their heart is hardened. And so that possibly

could be what's being talked about here when

it says the God of this age has blinded the minds

of the unbelievers. It could be speaking of God

himself. It could be speaking of Satan. It's

hard to know for sure. Now, we could get into

a lot of details on that. You can study that

yourself this week if you care to. But either

of those things, I believe, would fit. with Scripture.

We certainly see Scriptures where it talks about

the ruler of this age and the ruler of this world,

in which it does apply to Satan, and it's pretty

clear that it does, even if it doesn't exactly

say it. It seems as though in some instances

it does. In this instance, though, it could be

talking about God, it could be talking about

Satan, but regardless... These who are perishing

are perishing because even though they were exposed

to the gospel and the glory of God and the glory

through Jesus Christ, they are perishing because

they have not believed. They have had every opportunity

that has been presented to them, but yet they

are still veiled. They are still missing the

point. They are still missing Jesus Christ. Verse

5, For we are not proclaiming ourselves, but

Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves

because of Jesus. Now, here Paul clearly says,

look, we're not boasting in ourselves. We're

boasting in who Jesus is. And yes, he has chosen

us. Jesus appeared to Paul personally. God had

chosen Paul and those who were with him to do

the work. And they're saying, we've done the

work and we've done a good job, but not in a

way to pat yourself on the back. It's all for

the glory of God. But that comes back partly

to Paul kind of defending himself here, saying,

look, you guys need to listen to me and the message

and the things that we're speaking because we

have been an example that is trustworthy to you.

Our words have been trustworthy. The life we

have lived has been trustworthy. And you need

to listen to us. And everything we have done,

Paul says, it is not for ourselves, but it is

for the Lord. And then what he says at the end

of that verse. As the Lord and ourselves, as

your slaves because of Jesus. Now, that's a good

thing for us to remember. Are we being slaves?

Are we being servants to others? Paul's not out

there just to build up his reputation. He's not

out there just so he can go to the next town

and say, hey, did you hear about all those people

I converted over in Corinth? It must have been

7 ,000 people over there. He's not just building

his resume. He's saying, look, we're your slave.

We're not coming here so you can put us on a

pedestal and you can serve us. We're coming here

to serve you because we want to see you turn

your life over to Christ. We want to see you

grow in Jesus Christ. And so we are your servants.

We are your slaves. And that's a beautiful mindset

that we see even in Jesus himself, that we are

called to be a servant to others. And we need

to remember that. We need to be reminded of that.

That we are called to serve others. And there

is nothing that God calls us to that we are too

good for. There is no opportunity that God presents

to us that we are too good to help with that.

There are some things that put us out of our

comfort zone. There are some things that may

be dangerous. There are some things that may

be nasty. There are some things that may be dirty

and gross. But we are called to serve and we

are called to love. And Jesus doesn't call us

to do anything that's any worse than what he

had to endure. He had to endure the mockings

and the beatings and being spit upon and the

crown of thorns and being nailed to the cross

and all the things that Jesus endured to show

us what it means to love and to be a servant

to all. And so there may be things in our life

and opportunities for us to serve and it may

be scary and it may be dirty and it may be nasty

and it may be uncomfortable. But we have to remember

that what Jesus did on the cross was uncomfortable

too. And so Paul shows us a beautiful heart and

a beautiful attitude, the same that we see in

Jesus. That we are not called to be better than

others or think of ourselves as better than others,

but to be a servant of all. And that's what Paul

says here. Look, we come to you proclaiming the

gospel of Jesus Christ, and we come to you as

your slaves. We come to you to serve you because

we love you. Verse 6. For God who said, let light

shine out of darkness, has shown in our hearts

to give the light of the knowledge of God's glory

in the face of Jesus Christ. Now, for God who

said, let light shine out of darkness, I don't

know of any scripture where it's exactly a quotation.

Maybe there's one and I just missed it. But this

is probably talking about... in Genesis when

God said, let there be light. It says at the

beginning that the earth was formless and void

and dark. It was in darkness. And then right

after that, God said, let there be light. And

so we serve a God who brings light in the darkness.

And that's good news. This idea of light and

darkness, this contrast, this symbolism is pretty

prevalent throughout the New Testament. That

darkness is sin and it's evil and it's death.

But the light is forgiveness and joy and love

and peace and all of those things that come through

Jesus Christ. And so what God does not want us

to do is to continue to walk in the darkness.

But he wants us to see the light in the same

way that Paul saw the light. He was walking in

darkness and didn't even know it. Now that's

something to consider. He was walking in darkness,

but he didn't know he was walking in darkness.

He thought he was walking with the Lord. But

then when he found Jesus, he realized that he

had been walking in darkness all along. And maybe

that's true for some here tonight, or maybe some

who are listening. Maybe there's a lot of people

who think they're walking with the Lord, and

they go to church some, and they know some scripture,

but they never have experienced Jesus. But when

Jesus comes onto the scene, when we begin to

read the Word of God and the Holy Spirit begins

to speak to us and we begin to see who Jesus

is and the love of Jesus Christ, that is a light

that begins to shed on our life. And we begin

to see the greatness of Jesus and we begin to

see the sin that's in our life. And it's a scary

thing when the light comes on. It's like when

you roll over a... roll over a piece of bark,

and it's crickets and roaches and everything

else, and they like it under there, but as soon

as you roll it back and the light hits, they

scatter because they want to stay in the darkness.

And that's kind of what it's like in our heart

because there's things in our life and our heart

that we don't want to be, that we enjoy, that

we should not want to be there, but we do enjoy

them in some way, and we may not even realize

they're there. But then we begin to read the

Scripture. And then we begin to read about Jesus

Christ, and then the light begins to come into

our hearts, and all of a sudden it begins to

reveal some stuff, and we say, oh my, I've got

some bad stuff in there. God, I'm in bad shape.

I'm in worse shape than I ever imagined. But

praise the Lord. That's what it takes. The light

has to come into our life. It has to begin to

work. And so that's the example that we see here.

That's the illustration that God called light

to shine in the darkness. In the darkness of

our sin, in the darkness of our heart, in the

darkness of our depravity, God said, I'm going

to bring light to you. Not the sunshine, but

Jesus Christ. He's talking in spiritual terms

here. That Jesus Christ has come to be the light

to us, to reveal those things in us that shouldn't

be there, and to wipe those things out that they

would flee from us. That we would flee from our

sin and from the devil and that we would flee

to Jesus Christ. For the God who said let light

shine out of darkness has shone in our hearts

to give the light of the knowledge of God's glory

in the face of Jesus Christ. Kind of tying it

back in to what he talked about in chapter 3.

Remember he had talked about the face of Moses.

Moses had been in the presence of God and Moses'

face had shone with... with God's glory, but

it was a fading glory that was veiled. And now

he uses that same language here. He says, look,

we've seen the light and the glory of the face

of Jesus Christ. So he's saying, look, the people

couldn't look at Moses' face, or they chose not

to, they were afraid to, but now a better glory

has come, an unfading glory has come in the face

of Jesus Christ if we would just be those who

would look upon it. And so that's our choice

today. That's our choice in life. For those sitting

in this room, for those listening online, that's

our choice. It's the glory of God has been revealed

to us in the Son, Jesus Christ. And when we see

the glory of God, what will we do with it? Will

we be those with veiled faces? Will we be those

who reject the glory of God? Or will we be those

who accept the glory of God? And if we are those

who have lived in the glory of God through Jesus

Christ, then we need to be those whose life reflects

that. That the things we do, the things we say,

the way we act, that that should be evident to

all that we encounter. That we have seen the

glory of God so that others can see the glory

of God through us. Let's pray. God, we come to

you. We thank you for these good words. And I

pray that you would help us to take these things

to heart. And dear Lord, maybe even for those

who are yours, maybe there are some dark spots

that's just been kind of hanging out, dear Lord,

some things in our life that we need to deal

with, and maybe we know it or maybe we don't.

So I pray, God, that Jesus Christ would just

be that light to shine into our heart today,

that you would help us to seek your word and

to let your Holy Spirit lead us, that we would...

let you begin to work in our hearts, dear Lord.

Maybe there are some that don't know Jesus Christ.

Maybe there are some that are like Paul, and

they know a lot about your Word, but maybe they

just don't really know who you are, dear Lord.

I pray that Jesus would become real to them,

that as they read the Scriptures, that God, your

Holy Spirit, would just work in their lives and

work in their hearts, that they would see the

light and the glory of Jesus Christ. We thank

you for that, dear Lord. We thank you for your

word. We thank you for the freedom to come here

tonight. And I ask these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.