There was a little girl who got home from a Sunday school class one time, and she'd been taught Matthew 5, 16, where it says, Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. She asked her mother what the verse meant. Her mom said, Well, it means that when you are good and kind and thoughtful and obedient, you are letting Christ's light shine in your life before all who know you. The very next week in Sunday school, the little girl got into a tussle with another student and created somewhat of an uproar in the class, to such an extent that the Sunday school teacher had to find her mother to get her to be settled down. Her mother was concerned when she got to the classroom and said, Sweetie, don't you remember about letting your light shine for the Lord before men? The little girl blurted out, Mom, I have blown myself out. I have blown myself out. You know, sometimes God's people can identify with that little girl. They've blowed themselves out. They've blowed themselves out as far as the light goes. And too many have in our day. If there was ever a day in which Christian people would allow themselves to be the light God wants them to be in this dark world, we might be surprised how much good that we could actually accomplish and how much of a difference that we could actually make within the circle of influence that we exist. Here in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, we'll pick it up in verse 1, read through verse 6 today. Therefore, seeing we have this ministry as we have received mercy, we faint not, but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. and whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Today, I'd like to focus on this passage and see what I call when God's light shines, when God's light shines. Let's go ahead and pray first. Father, we thank you for the opportunity to be here today and the truth of thy word. And I do pray that Holy Spirit would speak to our hearts and give us understanding so that we may let our light shine in this dark world and how much Satan is trying to extinguish that light. And too often, maybe it's too effective. Father, thank you for another day we can serve you. We pray it now in Jesus' name. Amen. You know, we live in a very increasingly dark world. It's a world that is plagued by sin and, of course, the consequences of it. The Bible is not bashful in describing the conditions of this world. It says in 1 John 5, 19, and we know that we are of God and the whole world lieth in wickedness. The whole world lieth in wickedness. And the results of that wickedness is less than glamorous, isn't it? Romans 8.22 says, For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. You know, this world is suffering as a result of the weight of sin and the things that go along with it. We live in a world that's filled with pain and hurts, a world filled with tears and struggles and frustrations and unmet expectations, loneliness, fear, stress. emptiness. Is it any wonder that people are groaning today? Maybe you've groaned a little bit this week. Maybe you felt the weight of that in your life. Job stated that life on this planet was such. Job 14.1, man that is born of a woman is a few days and full of trouble. A man is full of trouble. It's difficult. And we have struggles. We have battles that we go through. And they're all the consequences of just the sin that is going on in our world. However, God has provided some glorious hope for this world. For without Him, the world would have no hope at all. It would actually be much worse than what it currently is, if that's hard to even imagine. The hope God has provided us, of course, is in Jesus Christ and his gospel. Now, the word gospel means good tidings or good news, right? And Jesus has good news for a world burdened down with sin. When he came 2,000 years ago, he bled and died on the cross so that sin's penalty could be paid for instead of us paying for it ourselves, because our sin has to be paid for by somebody. You are going to either pay for it or I'm or God's going to pay for it. And if God pays for it, we've got a good deal. If we pay for it, we suffer forever. When we receive that payment for sin the day we are, we we receive that payment for sin the day we decide to be real with God about our sin. that it is horrible, that we deserve the just punishment for it according to Romans 6.23, for the wages of sin is death, and we're willing to turn from that sin with all of our heart. Turn from our self-effort to get us to heaven. and instead trust Christ alone to pay for our sin. It's called being born again or saved. And the day a person is saved, God forgives them of all their sin and grants them assurance that when they die, they'll go to heaven and not be judged for their sin as they had been before. Now that's very good news considering that everything in this world is coming down to those moments. Everything in our world is coming down to the who's going to be in heaven and who's not going to be there. Considering again we all will face death. Bible says that a point unto men wants to die and after this the judgment And there's only going to be one thing that pays for our sins, the blood of Christ. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood and without shedding of blood is no remission. The only thing that pays for sin or remits sin or forgives sin is the blood of Jesus Christ. And you and I must be saved if we're going to have that blood put on our sin account. now for many here that's that's a basic truth you've heard that many many times and have experienced that at some point in your life you know you've heard me say before many times when I got saved April 4th of 1999 when I received that payment upon my life upon my sin account when I recognize that I was a hell-bound hell-deserving sinner because I've broken the laws of God We're familiar with that, most of us here. But there are many people today that live oblivious to that, don't they? They have absolutely no clue about that. They go about their day-to-day life unknowingly walking through this world unaware of eternal reality, of spiritual reality. They walk day-to-day just thinking that all there is is this life. All there is is the things that they're pursuing. And they live oblivious to the fact that they are one heartbeat, one breath away from eternity, aren't they? Everybody is. That's something a lot of people don't want to talk about, don't want to face, but it's a reality that needs to be dealt with. And our passage says that these people are blinded, right? 2 Corinthians 4.3, it says, But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, who are unsaved, never been born again. in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not." There's a blindness that's upon the eyes and the minds, if you will, of people. And we who have been saved are to shine God's light into them or unto them so as to free them from the state of blindness. Now, that's not always easy. And today we'll see why and more. And what happens when God's light does shine. When we allow God's light to shine through us. First off, let's talk about the blinding menace. The blinding menace. Verses 3-4 again. Now, look at this phrase for a moment here. It says, we learn in these verses that this God of this world is heavily involved in blinding the minds of people. Now, on the surface, some who've never seen that verse before may say, well, that's strange. Why would God of heaven blind people's minds? But notice here, it's not a capital G, is it? It's a small g. It's a small g. It's a small God, if you will. And He blinds people. In other words, this blindness hides the gospel message from those who are unsaved or lost. Again, this God is not the God of heaven, it's the God of this world. Who is worshipped primarily in this world? Satan. Satan. This world is actually Satan's domain. It's one of the reasons why it's so rough. If you go to Matthew 4, flip over there quick, Matthew 4, Jesus is being confronted by the devil. He's being tempted. And one of the temptations that Satan gives Christ is about dominion over the kingdoms of the world. Remember that? Matthew 4, verse 8, it says, again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. Kingdoms being like countries and monarchies, as we would call them today. And he showed them the glory of them, and all their wealth, and all the power of these kings, and all the abilities, and so forth. And what was the temptation? And he said unto them, all these things will I give thee. if thou wilt fall down and worship me." There's a lot of things you can draw out of this passage about even how the devil may be using this to tempt people into power. But that's what he's doing. Jesus, I'm going to give you all the power of these earthly kingdoms if you just simply fall down and worship me. Now, to a mere man or mere woman, that's tempting. Isn't it? It's very tempting. Wow, I have all this power. You know, I have people at my means, or at my feet. I could do absolutely anything that I wanted. Now, what's Jesus' response? Like, what are you talking about? Is that how he responds? No. He doesn't even address that aspect. He says in verse 10, Was it Satan's to give? Yeah. He could dictate who he wanted in power. God has given him that. That dominion. Mankind was given dominion over the world originally, if you read in Genesis. However, when they sinned against God in the garden, Satan was given control over this world. This became His dominion. And there are several passages of Scripture that talk about Him being the Prince of this world. Jesus said it here in John 16, 11, of judgment, because the Prince of this world is judged, speaking of Satan. There's a few times in which that phrase is used and given by the Lord Jesus Christ. It mentions in Ephesians 2 too, Where in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." Who's the prince of the power of the air? That's Satan. That's Satan. He has jurisdiction over this world. He has been given jurisdictional control. That's one of the chief reasons why our world is in such a mess today. is because he is part of, he has been calling the shots and he has been doing things in this world to create problems for the human race. He incites the flesh and the temptation, or the sinfulness of mankind. So what's Satan's problem? Why is he so enraged? Why is he such a menace? Why is he keeping people blinded? The thing is, You have to understand a little bit of the history of Satan. Originally, when he was created, he was the number one angel in heaven. He was the most beautiful creation as far as a being goes. But the problem is, he got proud. He got lifted up in pride because of his beauty, his wisdom, and he was also a musical being, according to Ezekiel chapter 28. And he got this idea in his head We might put it this way, or I've heard this said, he got too big for his britches. He got too big for his britches. And he began to get a real big head. He got the idea that he wanted to be God. But that wasn't going to happen. But we see in Isaiah 14 verses 13 through 14, For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. This is Satan. It's referring to Satan here. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. The stars of God are the angels of God. I will sit upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High." What did he want to be? He wanted to be God. He wanted to be God. He thought he was somebody. So he attempted a rebellion in heaven and persuaded one-third of heaven's angels to go into that rebellion with him according to Revelation chapter 12. However, God pronounced judgment upon Satan and his followers. In the next verse down, Isaiah 14, 15, God created hell for Satan and those angels that followed in his rebellion. That's why Jesus refers to that place in Matthew 25, 41. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire. Notice, prepared for the devil and his angels. That's what hell was originally made for. God didn't originally create hell for mankind. Hell was for those angels and Satan who sinned against God, who knew better, who watched the creation, as it appears out of the book of Job. We learned that. They were around during that time. They've seen the glory of God, but yet they chose to rebel with Satan. So God created this special place for them called Hell. And Satan became God's archenemy. He came to hate God. But Satan has a problem. He can't get at God, can he? God's a little bit too powerful. More powerful than he is. So he went another route. He attacked something that God loves deeply. Mankind. And that's what he attacked. In Genesis 3, he knew if mankind could sin, God would have no choice, justly, but to judge mankind according to the same way that the angels did. Had to be judged. Or else God would be unjust. In Genesis 3, he got mankind to sin, right? Where they ate of that forbidden fruit. And as a result, they would have to face the same fate that he had coming. You know, Satan's gleeful. Hey, I got back at God because I got the thing that he loves the most to rebel against him just like I did. Of course, that broke God's heart. Because God cared about man so much. Hence God implemented the plan to help man and provide the means necessary to rescue man out of that situation. By coming to earth in the form of Christ and providing a means in which he would pay for the sins of man instead of man paying for his own sins. And provide a means in which mankind could do that. Hence we have the gospel message today, about how people can be forgiven and saved from that eternal predicament. However, Satan wasn't going to stop his quest to destroy mankind with himself and does all that he can to prevent that gospel message, that redeeming message, to get into the lives of people. He fights that. He does all that he can to blind minds from receiving and responding that message. That's what's going on in this world. Satan is doing everything he can to thwart the message being spread. Thwart the message from getting into people's lives. Stopping people from hearing the message. Preventing God's people and hindering God's people from giving that message. He's very active and involved in that. And that's what Paul is communicating to us in our text. Satan has at work trying to blind that message, or trying to blunt that message from ever entering into the life of an individual. And if he can lock things down, and he can hinder something, he'll do that. He does it by, of course, one of the means is by blinding minds to the reality of eternity and the great significance of that Gospel message as we talk about, secondly, the blinded minds. When somebody is blind physically, they do not have the ability to physically see, right? I think we're all familiar with a blind person. We've probably at least all met one blind person in our lives, and you think about how difficult that is to walk through life and not being able to see. We just close our eyes for a little bit and try to get around, but much less having to live that way your whole life. It's difficult to deal with things in life. You have to change your perspective and perception of things. But they cannot discern what things look like, and as a result, they respond to things differently than a person who sees, right? Well, the blinding mentioned in our passage today is much more serious, though. Satan works overtime. And may I say, he works weekends, too. Especially on the weekends, for some reason. to make sure that people stay in this position of blindness spiritually. And he does it by blinding minds. In other words, he makes every effort to prevent people from hearing and understanding the gospel message to the point in which they will respond to it. When people respond to the message, people get saved and are spared eternal separation from God. Of course Satan's goal is to drag everyone he can with him to his destination, which of course God does not want ever. Ezekiel 18.23, have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should return from his ways and live? Again, God designed it where every person can be saved, can be right with him. That's why I have such a problem with this Calvinism doctrine. You know, this idea that God chooses certain people to go to heaven and certain people to go to hell goes completely contradictory to the heart of God. It's people who are trying to explain the sovereignty of God in this world, things that they can't understand, that nobody understands. that somehow within the spirit of God's sovereignty, God has allowed man the ability to make his own choices. I can't explain it any more than I can explain the Trinity, but I do know this, I do not believe that God chooses certain people to go to heaven and certain people go to hell. That goes completely contrary to the character of God Himself. Because God says here, have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? that they should go off into an eternity, say of the Lord God, and not that he should return from his ways, repent if you will, and live. But that's how Satan gets at God though. Again, God's desire is that everyone is saved. 1 Timothy 2 verses 3 through 4, For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who will have all men to be saved. That's God's will. People don't always follow God's will, do they? And to come into the knowledge of the truth. That's God's heart. God wants people to come to the knowledge of the truth. God wants people to get saved. To understand what that whole message means. And it hurts God when a person rejects His plan we call the gospel. It hurts God, it breaks his heart, because God's done absolutely everything he can to provide the means in which people can be right with him. And when they say, no, I don't want it, I'll do it another time, that's just stepping all over that. That's saying, God, I don't need to take you seriously. God, you're not that important. God, I can do it my own way. By not saying yes, you are saying no. That's what Satan wants people to keep doing. Just put it off. Don't deal with it. Ignore it. Don't embrace it. And that's the blinding of the mind. Satan will use various methods to keep people's minds blinded. Keep them aloof. Keep them antagonistic. towards that message. There are a lot of, there's a growing faction in our society of antagonism against the scriptures. You notice that? A growing antagonism. And you sit there, why? Well, Satan has planted antagonistic thoughts into the minds of people. Through media, through things they're exposed to in the educational systems, through certain experiences and misunderstandings about God, even in religion today. And as long as people stay with that kind of mindset, they will not respond. They will not respond. So how does Satan keep minds blinded? Well, one big thing is through, number one, I call distractions. We live in a very distracted world. You know, we live in a metropolitan area where you can do absolutely anything you want, anytime you want, throughout day or night. You can be involved in a lot of different things. There's always an event going on. Sometimes there's multiple events on the same night going on. We went up, we were downtown Minneapolis last night, And they had this holiday thing or whatever, and they were shooting off fireworks. We were going to go to that. And boy, there was just gobs of people. You're walking through there, and you're like, this can barely move around. There was that event. When we were driving up there, I mean, it was clogged. The I-35W was clogged for a long time. It took us forever to get up there. It was just driving. Why? Because there's events going on. There's been times, there's been Twins games, football games, Gopher games, Lynx games. You know, all these things going on at once. Not to mention some of the shows and just the bar scene and all these different events that are going on. There's a lot of things that people can do and get themselves hooked into. Not to mention we got all the lakes and the streams and all that kind of stuff around here. But distractions. That's one of the big things that Satan uses to keep people blinded. The cares, the entertainments, the pleasures that this life can give. and keeps people's minds busy pursuing those details of their life so they won't have time to contemplate the things of the afterlife. You ever talk to somebody and invite them to church and say, well, I'm just too busy. I'm too busy on Sunday mornings. I'm too busy. You know what's funny is the traffic isn't as light or isn't as heavy on Sunday morning as it is on Monday morning, is it? A lot of people are snoozing, I think, or lying there. But you ever hear people, oh, I'm too busy to do that. I'm too busy. Want to meet for Bible study? Oh, I'm just too busy. Busy, busy, busy, busy. Why? Because they're distracted. Distracted with things that honestly, in the whole scheme of eternity, will mean nothing. And they keep people from contemplating the afterlife. Jesus mentioned in this parable, it's found in at least a couple of the Gospels, the parable of the sower. And the seed being the word of God being sowed into the hearts of people, the hearts of people reflected by the different ground that there is. There was stony ground, there was good ground, but there was also this thorny ground. It mentions in Mark 18 verses 19 it says, And these are they which are sown among thorns, the seeds of the word of God, such as hear the word, people that hear God's word, and the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, know to choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful. How the Word of God will get into the lives of people, but they're so choked up with all these other things, and it's called thorns. Interesting. Vines that wrap and snare and keep people in this state of unresponsiveness. Blindness, if you will. Distractions are a very big thing. Number two, lies. Jesus called Satan in John 8, 44, the father of lies. And one of the greatest lies Satan perpetrates is that the Word of God is not true, it's not reliable, and isn't worth your time to consider. I mentioned in the Sunday school hour, in our Bible class hour at 9.30, I mentioned a conversation I had yesterday about a gentleman who had gone to a church for years, and he said, you know, I've been reading this book by this theologian of all things, of course, they're always theologians, and about the credibility of the Scriptures. He says he's kind of struggling with that. Is it any wonder? Is it any wonder? Satan is out to attack the credibility of the Scriptures. Because if people don't believe the Bible's true, they won't take it seriously. But it's nothing that's new. It's what Satan's done for years. Genesis 3-1, Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden. He cast doubt immediately on the word of God. And he said, Hey, look at this. This isn't true. And if you follow the passage, he blatantly lies, completely contradicts what God said. And the woman went for it. And eventually Adam went for it as well. But Satan lies. And people have believed lies for years that have contradicted the Word of God to give them, I guess, some kind of credence or some sort of relief in needing to believe it. There's the lie of evolution. That this world came into existence outside of a supernatural force, if you will. That we're just really, this whole universe is just an accident. But at least it lets you be your own God and dictate your own decisions without a moral code of a higher being. There's secular humanism, which is the underlying moral philosophy of our whole education system from youth to the collegiate degree. Secular humanism that says that man is his own God and man is to pursue his own interests and has led to a self-serving, self-saturated society, hasn't it? Then you even have churches today that are very, what we would call, liberal. They tend to be more in step with the corrupt culture that they exist in than with God's moral righteousness. They're more in vogue with the world's and the culture's corruptness than they are with moral righteousness. and they perpetrate these things about God that are far from true, because they themselves don't even believe the scriptures are true. Lies. Lies. Satan is the father of lies. Everything he says goes contrary to what God says. He always does things opposite. And it sometimes confuses people. And he's very good at it too, by the way. He's extremely good at it. He's been at it for 6,000 years. And he can dupe anybody. Number three, there's fear. There's fear. Satan will coax people with thoughts. You know, somebody might get to the point of receiving Christ as Savior. But guess what? Satan will come by and whisper in their ear, what will your family and friends think? You know, that's enough to shake people away from salvation. What would your family say if you got saved? They would think you're wacko. They would think, what are you doing? Forsaking the old church, if you will. What are you doing? You know, not hanging out anymore with the things that you used to do. And so forth. The Bible mentions that there are those that may speak ill of us who embrace Christ. And that alone prevents some people from getting saved, because it's just too fearful for them. Sometimes people have sat in a church for a long time and had a false profession of faith, but they're afraid people might find, oh, what would they think if I got saved and everyone thought I had been, but I really wasn't. I was just kind of bluffing it all these years. Again, what will people think? Here's another one. What would happen if I got saved? What am I going to lose if I get saved? And for some people, sometimes they're concerned about a boyfriend-girlfriend type situation. I might lose my boyfriend. I might lose my girlfriend. I might lose this opportunity in life. There might be something, I'm going to lose a value. I'm going to lose my freedom. It's always, they think of loss. And sometimes that's enough to prevent people from from making that step in receiving Christ as their Savior. Because they're just, they're being told all these things, or at least these thoughts are flooding their mind of what they might lose. And usually those things that they are afraid of losing is some sort of pet sin or an idol, really. It's an idol of some sort. And I don't want to give that up. I don't want to stop listening to that old rock and roll music that I love. Oh, I can't give that up. You know, it's like, Really? Guess what? I never had to give up anything when I got saved. I wanted to give up stuff. Because the Holy Spirit moved inside of me. And you know what? He helped me push some of the junk out. You don't have to worry about giving up anything. I might lose some friends. You'll get new ones and better ones by the way. That will be real. That will actually love you for who you are. Fear, though. You know, in some parts of the world, it's a real valid fear that they might lose their life. Or they would go through some very painful physical things. And that's a reality in many places in the world. Again, people fear often what they might lose They focus on that, really, versus what they're all going to gain in salvation. There's a lot to be gained in salvation. There's a ton to be gained. Do I ever regret the day I got saved? Absolutely not. I wish I had gotten saved earlier. I wish I had gotten saved and had some things straightened out. But, tis life. I got saved when I did, and so did you. But some people will not get saved because they're just scared to death of what others might think. Number four, false religion. The Bible warns all over Scripture about false prophets, that there are false prophets. In fact, 2 Corinthians chapter 11, in fact, flip there. I'll show you this. 2 Corinthians chapter 11, the Apostle Paul writing to this New Testament church in Corinth, states very plainly that there are false apostles deceitful workers who are coming across as workers of God that they're not that they're masquerading as what we would call today in these days Christian says here in 2nd Corinthians 11 verse 13 for such are false apostles deceitful workers transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ and no marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Bible says God is light. Just replace that word light with God for a moment and read it again. I'll read it again like that. For Satan himself is transformed into an angel of God. We think that Satanism and things like that is that's how anybody worships Satan. No. No. People worship Satan when they go against the Word of God itself. Whether they know it or not. And Satan himself has his apostles of Christ, if you will. He comes across sometimes as being something of God. And verse 15 says, therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works. In other words, he's got ministers out there that are dissing the Word of God, but yet coming across as being Christian. The Bible says in Isaiah 8.28, Yea, if they speak not according to this word, there is no light in them, or God in them. Right? There is no God in them. and he does it through false religion all over the world you have false prophets, you have false doctrine, you have false religious systems that exist all over the world you see that because we see that mankind is incurably religious you know whether or not they're worshipping anything close to what they're supposed to be or not they worship you go to the most backward society they're worshipping something they're worshipping some sort of spiritual entity whether or not they know what it is or not all over there's very very few atheists in comparison to those that believe that there's something beyond them in the in the supernatural world if you want to call it that very few Because it goes to show that man was created to worship something. Many are worshiping the wrong things, obviously. But people will follow various teachings as a means of earning favor with their view of God, or their view of the afterlife, or how to achieve some sort of enlightened state. But unless those things line up with God's Word, all that worship will mean nothing. All those doctrines will nullify the truth of the Word of God itself. The Pharisees, they were very religious and diligent in keeping various traditions, but yet it nullified and blinded them from the truth about Jesus Christ at their times. Look at Mark 7 and verse 7 and then verse 13, it says, How be it in vain do they worship me? Teaching for doctrines the commandments of men, making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered, and many such like things do ye." I grew up in a very traditional type of worship setting. It was a lot of traditions and a lot of repetition and things like that. But it had no effect in my life. It kept me blinded to my reality and my need of being saved. It scratched the natural religious itch that exists within every human being. And that keeps people nullified or blinded to their need to be saved. Oh, I'm going to church. I'm okay. You know, it's Advent now. I'm going to church every Sunday now. I'm doing the religious thing. I've had people say to me, you know, when I go out door knocking, they'll say, I'm asking about church. And I'll say, yeah, I've got it covered. I've got it covered. In other words, I got that point in my life checked out. I'm in church. Well, that's nice. But the thing about it is, have you been saved? Because if you haven't been saved and you go to church every day of the week, it still won't get you to heaven. But false religion will do that. False religion scratches the religious itch that every person naturally has because we were all created to worship something. And thus, Satan has developed all these different isms and schisms and ideas that people worship that just nullifies their need to pursue the reality. Again, the devil doesn't mind people being religious. Not at all. As long as they don't get saved, He'll encourage them to continue to be religious. Because again, it nullifies the need to get right with God. Because people think that they can appease God through these religious works that they do. And that was me for 20 years of my life. Titus 3.5 says, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us. not by works right you and I can't do any good works that will that will save us that will get make us right with God that will appease God that will impress God even but these are all things that Satan does to keep minds blinded to the reality of the need to embrace the gospel message see what can be done to remove the blindness Well thirdly and finally and very quickly the bright manifestation. Look at verses 4 through 6. Again, In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. how do people get the blindness remove it's to the bright manifestation of the light of god paul says here that god has shined he's he's writing to save people here in corinth he's saying the light of god shined into our hearts and gave us knowledge or understanding the glory of god in the face of christ no was the gospel message that blindness is lifted when the glorious gospel of light, the light of the glorious gospel of Christ shines into the life of an individual. That's what that word lest means. Again, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, replace that word lest with the word except, or unless. Except the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, whose the image of God should shine unto them. When the light of God's gospel shines into the light of an individual, it begins to illuminate and lift the blindness off of individuals. It begins to help them understand. God's word breaks through the blindness and begins to give people the light of understanding. That's why in the book of Isaiah it says, My word shall not return unto Me void. every time you and I give somebody the gospel when we give them truth from his word that begins to break open the light and the blindness of their heart and begins to open up things well they were antagonistic when I did that well guess what people go back and God keeps working on their heart while you don't see it some people say well that people seem aloof to it you don't know what goes on in the back stages of people's hearts You know, I was in Fargo here recently and I was talking with the pastor. We went out to lunch and he told me about a gentleman that started coming back to church and had gotten saved and he mentioned the guy's name and I was like, man, that guy wasn't around, hadn't been around for 14 years. Some real length of a long amount of time. I said, what happened? He said, did the work of God in his heart, and he got saved. I think of another individual that I know. We did a Bible study in Alexandria, Minnesota, and he heard the Word of God. He heard the Word of God just was distracted. Let's just put it that way. There was a distraction that came in his life. Well, he didn't get saved. But all of a sudden, years later, it was actually during one of our prayer revivals. I was out to eat with Brother Beckham in the Doherty's. And I got a phone call from him. And he said, hey, I got saved. This is like 10 years later. 10 years later. The Word of God does the work of God if we're faithful in giving the Word of God out. And it will remove the blindness out of the hearts and lives of people so that they can respond to that message, and give them the opportunity to make their choice to reject or respond. If they reject, what happens? Well, their heart will grow harder, and the blindness will get thicker. And if they respond, God will reveal more light till the person gets saved. We are responsible as those who have been illuminated, if you will, those of us who have been saved, to get that light to as many people as we can, so that people have an opportunity. Jesus said in Matthew 13, 15, for this people's heart is wax gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed. That's what happens when people continually tell God no. Their ears will get dull of hearing, their hearts will get harder, less, except at any time they should see with their eyes. In other words, they begin to respond to the truth, And hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. Either one of two things happens. There's either a hardening going on, or there's an opening up. But every time you and I give that gospel message out, it at least gives people the opportunity to have their blindness lifted a little bit. And we pray that they will respond properly so that they can eventually get saved. But it only happens when God's light shines in. when God's light shines. Otherwise, this world is blinded to the reality. They have no clue. If you're saved, hopefully this past week you tried to be a light that God wanted you to be. Hopefully there was somebody that you got to witness to, somebody you got to give your testimony to, somebody that you got to give at least a track to. If you're unsaved here today, are you responding to the light that God has shown you? If you do not respond to it, your heart will continue to grow harder and harder to the point it will not be able to respond anymore. You've got to take this seriously, because your eternity stands in the balance. And Jesus does not want people to die lost, nor any Christian at all has been truly saved. These are questions to ponder. And I hope today that we do, for Jesus' sake.