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*2 Corinthians 4:1-7*
Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.
(2) 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.
(3) And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing.
(4) 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.
(5) For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
(6) 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.
(7) But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
Today we end our series on regeneration—the biblical teaching about the reality of being born again.
We’re ending on the ground.
On the street.
In the car.
At Dunn Brothers.
In the back yard.
In school.
At work.
Over lunch.
On the phone.
On Facebook and My Space.
And text messaging.
And Skyping.
And blogging.
And airplanes.
And a hundred ordinary conversations.
We’re ending with personal evangelism—an old-fashioned commitment in new contexts for the sake of new birth in thousands of spiritually dead people for the glory of Jesus Christ.
!
Born Again Through the Gospel
Last week we reaffirmed the biblical truth of 1 Peter 1:23, “You have been born again . . .
through the living and abiding word of God”—followed by the explanation in verse 25: “This word is the good news that was preached to you.”
In other words, God brings about the new birth through the gospel—the good news that God sent his Son into the world to live a perfect life, die for sinners, absorb the wrath of God, take away our guilt, provide the gift of righteousness, and give eternal joy through faith alone apart from works of the law.
People are born again through hearing that news, and never born again without it.
“Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17).
So when we asked, what should we do to help people be born again, the biblical answer was plain: Tell people the good news from a heart of love and a life of service.
Now today what I hope to do is underline that main point with a couple new texts and then give you a collection of encouragements and practical helps.
!
Our Condition Without Christ
Look with me at today’s text from 2 Corinthians 4. Start with the condition people are in without Christ.
Verse 4: “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.”
People who don’t believe in Christ are blind.
They can’t see Christ as supremely valuable, and so they won’t receive him as their Treasure and so they are not saved.
A work of God is needed in their lives to open their eyes and give them life so they can see and receive Christ as Savior and Lord and Treasure of their lives.
That work of God is called new birth.
!
The Solution: New Birth
Then look at the solution to this condition of blindness and perishing.
Verse 6: “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.”
This is a description of the new birth, even though that term is not used.
The God who created light in the beginning does the same thing in the human heart.
Only the light this time is not physical light, but “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”
Or as verse 4 calls it “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God.”
He causes the human heart to see the truth and beauty and worth of Christ—the glory of Christ.
And when we see him for who he really is, we receive him for who he is.
And to as many as received him he gave power to become the children of God (John 1:12).
That’s what we want for our children—at six or sixteen or twenty-six—and for our parents and our spouses and our neighbors and colleagues and our friends at school.
We want the light to shine in their hearts so they see and receive Christ.
We want them to be born again.
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The Human Means God Uses: Gospel-Telling
Then, third, look at the human means God uses to make this happen.
Verse 5: “What we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.”
Paul’s role was to proclaim Christ from a heart of love and a life of service.
That proclamation is called the gospel in verse 3: “Even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing.”
It’s the gospel that spiritually blind people can’t see and spiritually deaf people can’t hear.
So our answer to the question, “What should we do to help people be born again?” is: Tell them the good news of Christ from a heart of love and a life of service.
!
“I Am Sending You to Open Their Eyes”
Let me give you one more picture of this before we turn to the collection of encouragements and practical helps.
In Acts 26, Paul is telling King Agrippa about his conversion and his call to the ministry.
He reports the spectacular encounter with Christ on the Damascus Road.
Then he reports the commission that Christ gave him.
It’s the words of the commission that are so amazing and relevant for our concern with evangelism.
He tells us in versed 15-17 what Jesus told him: “‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.
But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you . . .
.”
Now listen carefully to what Jesus says he is sending Paul to do in his gospel-telling ministry.
Verse 18: “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.”
According to 2 Corinthians 4, people are spiritually blind until God gives them eyes to see, that is, until God causes them to be born again.
But here Jesus says in verse 18, “I am sending you to open their eyes.”
The point is not hard to see.
God opens the eyes of the blind to see the truth and beauty and worth of Christ.
But he does by sending people to tell the good news from hearts of love and lives of service.
That is what I find myself praying or more and more.
Lord, fill our church with a passion to open the eyes of the blind.
Fill us with a passion to do what God uses to bring about the new birth.
I say to you what Jesus said to Paul in Acts 26:18: I send you to open their eyes.
Don’t stop because you can’t.
Of course you can’t.
But the fact that you can’t make electricity or create light never stops you from flipping light switches.
The fact that you can’t create fire in cylinders never stops you from turning the car key.
The fact that you can’t create cell tissue never stops you from eating your meals.
So don’t let the fact that you can’t cause the new birth stop you from telling the gospel.
That is how people are born again—through the living and abiding word, the good news of Jesus Christ.
!
Ten Encouragements to Gospel-Telling
So here are a few encouragements that I hope will help you.
*1) Know This: God Uses Clay Pots*
Back in our text, consider 2 Corinthians 4:7.
We don’t usually read it in context.
So let’s do that this time.
Verse 6 has just said that the God who created light does the same kind of thing to bring about in blind sinners like us the “light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”
In verse 4, this light is called the “light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.”
That’s the context.
Now we read verse 7: “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.”
We have “this treasure.”
What treasure?
“The knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”
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