The True Gospel Is No Hidden Gospel

DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, JUNE 4, 1882,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"But if our Gospelis hid, itis hid to them that are lost: in whom the
god of this world has 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 on them." 2 Corinthians 4:3,4.

I THINK in this case the Revised New Testament gives a better
translation than does the Authorized Version and I will, therefore,
read it, "But even if our Gospel is veiled, it is veiled in them that
are perishing, in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of
the unbelieving, that the light of the Gospel of the Glory of Christ,
who is the image of God, should not dawn upon them." Paul had been
speaking of Moses with the veil over his face and we lose the track of
his thought if we use the word, "hid," instead of, "veiled." Our Gospel
wears no veil, but exhibits all the Glory of its countenance to the
sons of men. Oh that they may be able to steadfastly behold it and see
in it their own salvation and the Glory of the Lord!

Observe at the outset the confidence with which Paul speaks. It is
abundantly evident that he has no doubt whatever that the Gospel which
he proclaims is assuredly true. No, that it is so manifestly true that
if those who have heard it do not accept it, it must be because the god
of this world has blinded their minds! The accent of conviction makes
every word emphatic. He believes and is sure! And he is convinced that
those who do not believe must be under the thralldom of the devil. This
is not the ordinary style in which the Gospel is preached nowadays! We
hear men courteously apologize for stating anything as absolute, for
they are fearful of being thought narrow-minded and bigoted! We hear
them prove what is clear as noonday and back up with arguments what
God, Himself, has said–as if the sun needed candles to exhibit it, or
as if God's Word needed the support of human reasoning!

The Apostle did not take the defensive ground at all! He carried the
war across the border and assailed the unbelievers. He came forth fresh
from God with a Revelation and his every word seemed to challenge men
with–"This is God's Word. Believe it, for if you do not, you will
incur sin and prove that you are lost and are under the influence of
the devil." When the Gospel was preached in that royal style, it
prevailed mightily and annihilated opposition! Cavilers came, of
course. "What will this babbler say?" was a common question, but the
heralds of the Cross made short work of all cavilers, for they simply
went on declaring the glorious Gospel! Their one word was, "This is
from God! If you believe it, you shall be saved. If you reject it you
shall be damned."

They made no bones about it, but spoke like men who believed in their
message and judged that it left unbelievers without excuse. They never
altered their doctrine or softened the penalty of refusing it. Like
fire among stubble, the Gospel consumed all before it when it was
preached as God's Revelation. It does not spread, today, with equal
rapidity because many of its teachers have adopted what they fancy are
wiser methods–they have become less certain and more indifferent and,
therefore, they reason and argue where they should proclaim and assert!
Some preachers rake up all the nonsense that any scientific or
unscientific man likes to bring forward and spend half their time in
trying to answer it! What can be the use of untying the knots which are
tied by skeptics? They only tie more! It is not for my servant to
dispute my message, but to deliver it correctly, as mine, and there
leave it.

If we get back, again, to the old platform, and speak as from God, we
shall not speak in vain, for He will surely honor His own Word. The
preacher should either speak in God's name or hold his tongue. My
Brother, if the Lord has not sent you with a message, go to bed, or to
school, or mind your farm–for what does it matter what you have to say
on your own? If Heaven has given you a message, speak it out as he
ought to speak who is called to be the mouth for God! If we are to make
up our Gospel as we go along, out of our own heads, and compound our
own theology as chemists make up mixtures of drugs, we have an endless
task before us and failure stares us in the face! Alas for the weakness
of human wit and the fallacy of mortal reasoning!

But if we have to deliver what God declares, we have a simple task and
one which must lead to grand results, for the Lord has said, "My Word
shall not return unto Me void." Where did the Apostle learn to speak
thus positively? He tells us in the first verse of the chapter,
"Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we
faint not." He had, himself, been once a persecutor and he had been
convinced of his error by the appearance of the Lord Jesus to him. This
was a great deed of mercy. He now knew that his sins were forgiven. He
felt in his own heart that he was a regenerated man, changed, cleansed,
newly created and this was, to him, overwhelming evidence that the
Gospel was from God. To himself, at any rate, the Gospel was a Truth of
God past argument, needing no other demonstration than its marvelous
effect upon himself!

Having received mercy for himself, he judged that other men were in
need of mercy even as he was, and that the same Gospel which had
brought light and comfort to his own soul would bring salvation to
them, also. This braced him to his work. By this consciousness he was
made to speak as one having authority. There was no hesitancy about
him, for he spoke what he felt. Ah, Friends, we not only deliver a
message which we believe to be from God, but we tell out that which we
have tested and tried within our own souls! An unconverted preacher
must be in a sorry plight, for he lacks evidence of the Truth of God
which he proclaims. A man who is not familiar with the effect of the
Gospel upon his own heart must endure much disquietude when he stands
up to preach upon it. What does he really know about it if he has never
felt its power?

But if he has been converted by its means, then he is confident and is
not to be moved by the questions and quibbles of those who oppose him.
His inner consciousness strengthens him in the delivery of his message.
We must also feel the influence of the Word of God that we may speak
what we know and testify what we have seen. Having received mercy we
cannot but speak of that mercy positively as of a thing which we have
tested and handled–and knowing that it is God who has given us the
mercy, we cannot but speak with anxious desire that others may partake
of Divine Grace.

We now come to consider our text. Our first observation shall be the
Gospel is, in itself, a glorious light, for in the fourth verse Paul
speaks of the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ. Secondly, this
Gospel is, in itself, plain and simple. Thirdly, if we preach it as we
ought to preach it, we keep it plain and do not muddle it up by worldly
wisdom. And fourthly, it being in itself a great light and in itself,
clear, therefore the preaching being clear, if men do not see it, it is
because they are lost–it is a fatal sign when men are unable to
perceive the light of the Gospel of the Glory of Jesus Christ.

I. First, then, THE GOSPEL IS IN ITSELF A GLORIOUS LIGHT. In countless
places it is so described in the New Testament. This is the light which
has come into the world. "The darkness is past, and the true light now
shines." Observe that this light reveals the Glory of Christ. This is
the new translation and it is a valuable one– "The light of the Gospel
of the Glory of Christ." You know the Hebrews had a different mode of
expression from the Greek and if we are to read the Greek as though
Paul Hebraized it, then we read it according to the version we have
here– "the glorious Gospel of Christ." But if we read the Greek as
Greek, then it runs, "the light of the Gospel of the Glory of Christ."
The renderings are equally true, but the second one has a fullness and
freshness of sense about it worthy of special note.

The Gospel reveals the Glory of Christ. It tells us that He is the
eternal Son of the Father, by whom all things were made, for whom all
things were created and by whom they continue to exist. This might not
have been good news to us if it had stood alone, though it ought always
to be good for the creature to be informed of his Creator. But the
Gospel further reveals to us that this ever-blessed Son of the Highest
came down to earth in infinite pity, espoused our nature, was born at
Bethlehem and became as truly Man as He was assuredly God. This was the
first note of the Gospel and there was so much delight in it that it
set all the angels in Heaven singing–and the shepherds who kept watch
over their flocks by night heard the chorales of the first Christmas
rung out from the midnight sky–"Glory to God in the highest, and on
earth peace, good will toward men."

It could not but mean peace to man that God should become Man! It could
not but mean mercy to the guilty that the Heir of Glory should be born
into their race! It must be good news to us that the offended One
should take upon Himself the nature of the offender! So the first pure
Gospel music rang out that made glad the ear of mankind! The Lord God
Omnipotent became Immanuel–God With Us! "Unto us a Child is born, unto
us a Son is given, and His name shall be called Wonderful." This is the
beginning of the Gospel of the Glory of Christ–He gained a greater
Glory by laying aside His Divine Glory!

Furthermore, the Gospel tells us that this same mighty God, the
Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace dwelt here among men, preaching
and teaching, and working miracles of matchless mercy, everywhere
proving Himself to be man's brother, sympathetic and tender and gentle,
receiving to Himself even the lowest of the people and bowing Himself
to the least of the race. It is written, "Then drew near unto Him the
publicans and sinners for to hear Him." And again He took little
children into His arms and blessed them, and said, "Suffer the little
children to come unto Me, and forbid them not." There was a Gospel
about all that He did and a Glory which men who are pure in heart both
see and admire!

His life was good news–it was a new and a glad thing that God should
dwell among men and be found in fashion as a Man. The God that hates
sin and whose wrath burns against iniquity, tabernacled among sinners
and saw and felt their evil ways and prayed for them, "Father, forgive
them." His Glory lay in His being so patient, gentle and
self-sacrificing, and yet so just and true. Well did John say, "The
Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His Glory, the
Glory as of the Only-Begotten of the Father), full of Grace and truth."
But the Gospel's biggest bell, which rings out with clearest note, is
that this Son of God, in due time, gave Himself for our sins, making an
offering of His whole Human Nature as a propitiation for the guilt of
men! Herein is an excessive Glory of love!

What a sight it was to see Him in the garden oppressed with our load of
guilt till the bloody sweat was forced from Him! To see Him bearing
that stupendous weight up to the Cross and there hanging in agonies of
death, bearing the desertion of His Father and all the thick clouds of
darkness that came of it–dying–the "Just for the unjust to bring us
to God"! It was the Glory of Christ that He was there bereft of all
Glory! Never can a more glorious thing be said of Him than that He, for
our sakes, was obedient to death, even the death of the Cross! And this
is the Gospel we preach, the Gospel of Substitution, that Jesus stood
in the sinner's place and bore in the sinner's stead what was due to
the Law of God on account of man's transgression.

Tell it out among the heathen that the Lord reigns from the Cross–

"Fling out the banner! Let it float Skyward and seaward, high and wide!
Our Glory only in the Cross, Our only hope, the Crucified."

No more gladsome news could come to man than that the Incarnate God had
borne man's s sins and died in man's place! Yet there is another note,
for He that died and was buried is risen from the dead and has borne
our nature up into Glory–and there He wears it at the Father's right
hand. His loving heart is still occupied with the same Divine errand
that brought Him down below–He is, by His intercession, saving sinners
whom He purchased with His blood! He is able to save them to the
uttermost who come unto God by Him, seeing He always lives to make
intercession for them!

This is the Gospel of the Glory of Christ! It is our Lord's Glory that
He mediates between man and God, pleading for the unjust ones, using as
His all-prevailing argument the blood which He has shed. But I must not
leave out the fact that He who now in Glory pleads for sinners will
speedily come, again, to gather all His own unto Himself, to shed
abroad on them the fullness of His own Glory and to take them up to be
with Him where He is. There is wondrous light in the Gospel, both for
the future and the present! It sets forth to us the Glory of Christ,
the Glory of love, the Glory of mercy, the Glory of a blood which can
wash the blackest, white! The Glory of a plea which can make the
poorest prayer, acceptable! The Glory of a living and triumphant
Savior, who, having put His hands to the work, will not fail nor be
discouraged till all the purposes of infinite love shall be achieved by
Him. This is "the Gospel of the Glory of Christ" and the light of it is
exceedingly clear and bright!

We are now called to a second Truth of God–the Gospel is a light which
reveals God, Himself, for, according to our text, the Lord Jesus is the
image of God. Did not Jesus say, "He that has seen Me has seen the
Father"? For, first, our Lord Jesus is the image of God in this sense,
that He is essentially One with God. He is "the brightness of the
Father's Glory and the express image of His Person." He is "very God of
very God," as the creed has it, and I know not how better to express
the idea. Our Lord Himself said, "I and My Father are One." But the
text means more than that. Christ is the image of God in this sense,
that He shows us what God is. If you know the Character of Jesus, you
know the Character of God.

God Himself is invisible and is not seen of mortal eyes; neither can He
be comprehended of finite mind. He cannot, indeed, be truly known at
all except by the teaching of the Holy Spirit. But all that can be
known of God is fairly written in capital letters in the Person of
Jesus. What higher conception of God can you have? Even those who have
denied our

Lord's Deity have yet been subdued into admiration by His matchless
Character. Read His life through and see if you could improve it. Can
you suggest anything that should be left out, or anything that could be
added? He is God and in Him we see God as far as it is possible for us
to discern that matchless Father of our spirits! Thus the Gospel is
full of light, revealing, first, the Mediator and then the Lord God,
Himself.

Now, dear Friends, this Gospel of the Glory of Christ is really light
to us, that is to say, it brings with it all that the metaphor of light
sets forth. First of all it brings illumination. It is a lighting up of
the soul "to know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You
have sent." It is light to the understanding to be able to see that the
Only-Begotten has revealed the Father. Man feels after God as if, by
chance, he may find Him and the heathen stumbles upon this and that in
his blind groping. Perhaps the world was nearest the truth when it
called Him, "the unknown God." When the wisdom of this world once began
to define and to describe the Deity–then it proved its own folly. "The
world by wisdom knew not God," but in the Person of the Lord Jesus we
have the true icon, the image and representation of the Godhead.

It cannot be said of true Christians, "You worship you know not what,"
for we know what we worship! Each one of us can affirm, "I know whom I
have believed." We have no question about who is our God, or what He
is. There is a knowledge given by the Gospel to men which creates
daylight in the understanding. But it is light in another sense,
namely, that of comfort. Let a man see God in Jesus Christ and he
cannot be unhappy. Is it sin that burdened him? Let him see Jesus
Christ bearing sin in His own body on the Cross and let him believe in
this same Sin-Bearer–and that burden is gone! Let him be fretting
under the cares and trials of life and let him get a view, by faith, of
Jesus–an infinitely greater Sufferer–sympathizing with him in his
sorrow and surely the sting of his grief is removed!

Is he afraid to die? Let him hear Jesus say, "I am the Resurrection and
the Life," and he shall be taught to long for death rather than to
dread it! Is he troubled about the things to come? Does the awful
future hover darkly before him? Let him only hear Jesus say, "I am He
that lives and was dead, and am alive forevermore, amen, and hold the
keys of Hell and death," and he will no longer be afraid of the
separate world of spirits of which Christ has the key nor will he
tremble at the burning of the world and the ruin of creation–for he
has a hold upon One who has said–"Because I live, you shall live,
also." Never did such another light ever shine upon the sons of men!
Neither for instruction nor for comfort can this eternal Truth of God
be rivaled!

It were not in the power of an archangel to tell you the joy which this
"Gospel of the Glory of Christ" has given to the sons and daughters of
affliction! Wherever it comes, it liberates the captive mind and
removes the pains of remorse. At the very sight of it, tearful eyes are
brightened till they flash with delight! Oh, the joy unspeakable of
having Christ to be our Savior and the glorious God to be our Father!
He is rich to all the intents of bliss who knows this. This is light
and all else is darkness!

We now advance a step, and observe that–II. THIS GOSPEL IS, IN ITSELF,
MOST PLAIN AND CLEAR. The

Gospel contains nothing which can perplex anybody unless he wishes to
be perplexed. There is nothing in the Gospel which a man may not
apprehend if he desires to apprehend it. It is all plain to the man who
yields his understanding to his God. Whenever I get a book which
puzzles me, very much, to make out its meaning, I wish I could send it
back to the author and tell him to write it over, again, because I am
sure he is not very clear about his own meaning–or else he could
easily make me know what he meant. A man has never fairly mastered a
subject until he is able to communicate his thoughts on that subject so
that persons of ordinary intelligence can tell what he means.

Now, the Lord has, in His own mind, a clearly-defined way of salvation
for men and He has expressed Himself without ambiguity. Certain divines
like to preach an incomprehensible Gospel, for it gives them the air of
wisdom in the judgment of the foolish. Certain hearers prefer sermons
which they cannot understand. To them the difficult and intricate are
as marrow and fatness. I heard of one who said he liked a bit of
gristle in the sermons, or a bone to try his teeth upon. We could
easily gratify such friends, but we see no authority in Scripture for
gratifying this longing. I carefully endeavor to take the stones out of
the fruit before preparing the dish. When we are eating, it is by no
means a good thing to swallow the bones, for our digestion might not
master them and we might be injured by their presence within.

Souls want spiritual nutriment, not problems and riddles. So, when a
man preaches the Gospel so that you cannot make heads or tails of it,
you need not fret, for what he has to say is not worth your trouble in
listening to it! If it is the Lord's own Gospel, you who are doers of
the Lord's will can understand it. And if you cannot, it is not the
Gospel of the Glory of Christ, but a gospel of human inventing! The
true Gospel is simplicity itself. Listen! That God should come

among men and espouse our Nature is so far a great mystery that we do
not know how it could be! Blessed be God, we do not need to know how it
was done–we only know that it was done and that fact is enough for us.
We understand that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we
rejoice therein. Observe the doctrine of the Atonement–this, also, as
a fact is plain enough! How it became right for Christ to suffer in our
place and for His sufferings to be an expiation for our sins may be a
very deep question, but the fact is clearly revealed.

I do not think Substitution to be a bewildering mystery, but some do.
What if it is? The secret reason of it is nothing to us! If God has set
forth Christ to be a Propitiation for our sins, our most reasonable
course is to accept Him. We need not quarrel with Grace because we
cannot understand everything about it. It is wiser to eat that which is
set before us than to die of hunger because we do not know all the
secrets of cooking! I am not asked to understand how God justifies us
in Christ, but I am asked to believe that He does! The fact is plain
enough and the fact is the objective offaith. That Jesus should suffer
in my place is a simple matter of the Truth of God and in it there is
no darkness at all. That precious doctrine that we are justified by
faith–that all the merit of Christ's glorious work comes to us simply
by our believing– is there any difficulty about that? I know that men
may argue till they are blue in the face, but the doctrine is plain as
a pikestaff!

At times persons enquire, "What is believing?" Well, it is trusting,
depending, leaning upon, relying upon–that is all. Is there anything
hard about that? Do you want to put on your spectacles to see through
it? Will it require a week to work your way into the idea? No, the fact
that God was made flesh and dwelt among us, and that being found in
fashion as a Man, He became obedient to death for our sakes and that He
now bids us simply trust Him and we shall live, is as simple as any
Truth within the sphere of knowledge! Some people would like a gospel
of puzzlement–they prefer a little confusion of the intellect–they
love to wander in a luminous haze in which nothing is clearly defined.
They feel that they are getting on when they are leaving others behind
and rising into sublime absurdity!

Now, suppose the Gospel consisted in terrible mysteries, bristling with
matters hard to be understood? Suppose it required 18 volumes to be
read through before you could see it? Suppose it needed mathematical
precision and classical elegance before you could see it–millions
would never get to Heaven, for they have never read through a single
volume and, therefore, they are not likely to digest a library! Some
men are so busy and some have their brains so constituted that they
never will be deep students–and if the Gospel required of them deep
thought and long research–they might give themselves up for lost. If
men needed to be philosophers in order to be Christians, the majority
of men would be out of the pale of hope! If the masses of the people
must read hard before they can catch the idea of salvation by faith in
Christ Jesus, they will never catch the idea–they must inevitably
perish.

And would you, learned men, like them to perish? I fear that some of
you have less concern about that than about your own credit for talent
and thought! For the sake of getting a profound little gospel all to
yourselves, you would dig a moat around the Cross of Christ to keep the
vulgar crowd from intruding! That is not the Gospel, nor the spirit of
the Lord Jesus! Take care lest you miss the Truth of God yourselves! I
fear that while you are fumbling for the latch of Heaven's gate, the
people whom you despise will get inside the door and be singing,
"Glory, hallelujah, we have found the Savior." The Lord permits the
disputer of this world to stumble, while those who receive the Kingdom
of God as little children, find out the great secret and rejoice in it!

Suppose the Gospel had been such a difficult thing to explain and such
a very hard matter to understand–what would become of the many who are
now rejoicing in Christ and yet have, by birth and constitution, the
most shallow capacities? It is wonderful how one but little raised
above an idiot can yet grasp the Gospel! What a blessing that it is so!
I have heard of a poor boy whom his teachers had been instructing for
years and, one day, they said to him, "Well, Jack, have you a soul?"
"No, I've got no soul." They feared that they had lost their labor, but
their minds were changed when he added, "I had a soul, once, and I lost
it. And Jesus Christ came and found it and so I let Him keep it." That
was better Gospel than we get from many a learned divine! He had the
whole thing at his fingertips! Christ had found his soul and was
keeping it for him–even He who will not fail to keep that which we
have committed to His charge.

We clap our hands for joy because the Gospel reveals the plain man's
pathway to Heaven and makes the most illiterate wise unto salvation!
The shepherd on Salisbury Plain can understand the Gospel as well as
the Bishop in Salisbury Cathedral! And the dairyman's daughter can feel
its power as fully as a Princess! Suppose the Gospel were hard to be
understood, what should we do at our deathbed? We are sent to see
persons who have neglected attendance upon the means

of Grace and are dying in ignorance. It is our sorrowful task to
explain the path of life to them when they are entering upon the dark
descent of death.

While the lamp continues to burn, we have hope and, therefore, we
proceed to state the way by which a sinner may return to God. Is it not
well to have it packed away in a small compass and expressed in common
words? We tell them that Jesus Christ came into the world to save
sinners and that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have
everlasting life. What could we do if the Gospel were not, thus, plain?
Must I have a handcart and wheel it about with me, so as to carry to
each dying man half-a-dozen folios in Latin? Nothing of the kind! Right
well do Cowper's often-quoted lines set forth the plainness of the
Gospel and rebuke those who reject it on that account–

"Oh how unlike the complex work of man,

Heaven's easy, artless, unencumbered plan!

No meretricious graces to beguile,

No clustering ornaments to clog the pile–

From ostentation as from weakness free,

It stands like the sky-blue arch we see,

Majestic in its own simplicity!

Inscribed above the portal from afar

Conspicuous as the brightness of a star,

Legible only by the light they give,

Stand the soul-quickening words–

Believe and Live!

Too many, shocked at what should charm them must,

Despise the plain direction and are lost.

Heaven on such terms? (They cry with proud disdain)–

Incredible! Impossible and vain!–

Rebel because 'tis easy to obey,

And scorn, for its own sake, the gracious way."

III. Thirdly, IN THE TRUE PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL, THIS SIMPLICITY IS
PRESERVED. Paul expressly said– "Having this hope in us, we use great
plainness of speech." And again, "My speech and my preaching was not
with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit
and of power." The Apostle Paul was a deep thinker, a man of profound
insight and subtle mind. The bent of his mind was such that he would
have made a metaphysician of supreme rank, or a mystic of the deepest
darkness–but he went against his natural inclinations and devoted all
his energies to the unveiling of the Gospel! It was a sublime
self-denial for him to put on one side all his logic among the other
things which he counted loss for Christ–for he says, "I determined not
to know anything among men save Jesus Christ and Him crucified."

He "determined." He was resolute and had made up his mind to it, or he
would not have accomplished it. He was the man who wrote some things
hard to be understood, which Peter mentions, but when he came to the
Gospel, he would have nothing but simplicity! He was tender among them
as a nurse with her child and made himself an instructor of babes,
dealing out the Word of God with such plainness as children would
require! The true man of God will not veil the Gospel beneath
performances and ceremonies! Mark those who do this and avoid them! We
see "His Reverence" walking with clasped hands to the right and to the
left, repeating Latin sentences unknown by the people! He turns and
bobs, and turns again! We see his face for a moment and then his back.
I suppose it is all meant for edification–but I, poor
crea-ture–cannot find the least instruction in it, nor, as far as I
can discover, do the people who are looking on!

What do these little boys in pretty gowns, making such a smoke, mean?
And what are these flowers and images on the altar? What a splendid
cross is that which adorns the priest's back! It seems to be made of
roses. The folks look on and some are wondering where he buys his lace,
while others are speculating as to the quantity of wax which will be
consumed in those candles every hour–and there is the end of
it–Christ is veiled behind the millinery, if He is there at all! I
know numbers who would disdain to do that and yet they hide their Lord
under finery of language. It is a grand thing to mount aloft upon the
wings of eloquence and display the Glory of speech till you ascend, in
a splendid peroration, as many another exhibition closes with
fireworks. But this is not becoming to preachers of the Lord Jesus!

I always tell our young men that one of their commandments should be,
"You shall not ramble on." To attempt anything grand in language when
we are preaching salvation is to leave our proper work! Our one
business is to tell out the Gospel plainly. We deal in bread, not in
flowers! Let tawdry ornaments be left to the stage or to the bar, where
men amuse themselves or dispute for gain–or let these poor gewgaws be
reserved for the Senate where men will defend or denounce according as
it suits their party. It is not ours to make the worse appear the
better, or to hide the Truth of God under floods of words. As for us,
we are to hide ourselves behind the Cross and make men know that Jesus
Christ came to save the lost–and that if they believe in Him they
shall be saved at once and forever! If we do not make them know this,
we have missed our mark, however grandly we have performed. What? Shall
we become acrobats with words, or jugglers displaying wonders? Then God
is insulted, His Gospel is degraded and souls are left to perish!

I venture to put in a word for myself and then leave this point. I can
say with the Apostle, "I have used great plainness of speech" and,
therefore, if the Gospel which I have preached is hidden, I have not
produced the veil. I have used vulgar words when I thought that they
would be better understood and I have told all sorts of simple stories
when I thought I could make the Gospel known. I have never used a hard
word where I could help it. My one desire has been by manifesting the
Truth of God to touch your consciences and win your hearts. If you see
not the light, it is not because I have hidden it from you.

IV. With this we close. IF THE GOSPEL IS VEILED TO OUR HEARERS, IT IS A
FATAL SIGN. "If our Gospel is hid, it is hid to them that are lost."
The god of this world has blinded their unbelieving eyes lest the light
of the glorious Gospel of Christ should dawn upon them. Not to believe,
understand, appreciate and accept the Gospel is a sign of perishing. I
want to put this very plainly to any here who say that they have not
received the Gospel because they cannot understand it and they see
nothing remarkable in it. If you have heard it plainly preached, it is
so plain in itself that if it is hid from your eyes it is because you
are still in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity!

You who receive the Gospel are saved! Faith is the saving token. If you
believe that Jesus is the Christ, you are born of God–if you have
accepted Him as your Savior whom God sets forth as such–then you are
saved. But if you say, "No, I cannot see it," then your eyes are
blinded and you are lost! The sun is bright enough, but those who have
no sight are not enlightened. Do you say, "I cannot receive the Gospel.
I need something more difficult"? By sinful pride your judgment is
perverted and your heart is hardened! While you are still among the
unbelieving, you are still among the perishing–and the god of this
world blindfolds you! O Spirit of God, convince men of this sin–that
they believe not on Jesus Christ. This work is out of Your servant's
power, but, oh, You perform it! Oh that our text, like a sharp knife,
may cut deep and reach the conscience! May this Truth of God pierce
between the joints and marrow and discern the thoughts and intents of
your hearts!

According to the text, he that believes not on Jesus Christ is a lost
man. God has lost you–you are not His servant. The Church has lost
you–you are not working for the Truth. The world has lost you,
really–you yield no lasting service to it. You have lost yourself to
right, to joy, to Heaven. You are lost, lost, lost, like the prodigal
son when he was away from his father's house. You are lost like the
sheep that went astray from the fold. It is not only that you will be
lost, but that you are lost, for, "He that believes not is condemned
already, because he has not believed on the Son of God." Press those
two words upon your conscience– "Condemned already"–lost even now!
You are perishing! That is to say, you are gradually passing into that
condition in which you must abide forever as one that has perished
before God and become utterly useless and dead.

It is an appalling truth that this is proved by the fact that you do
not understand the Gospel, or, if you understand it, you do not
appreciate it–you do not see beauty or Glory in it, or, if you do, in
a measure appreciate it, and see some Glory in it, yet it has never
stirred your affection or drawn your heart towards its great Subject.
In a word, you have not come to trust in Jesus! He is the only One that
you can trust to salvation and yet you reject Him! It must be the
simplest thing in all world to trust in Christ and yet you will not do
that simple thing! Trust in Him should be attended to at once and ought
not to be delayed–and yet you have delayed for years! If faith brings
salvation, why not have salvation? Why abide, still, in unbelief–in
unbelief of the most glorious Truth that God, Himself, ever revealed to
men–in unbelief of that which you dare not deny? Oh, what a condition
to be in–willfully in darkness, shutting your eyes to the Light of
God! You are certainly lost!

The Apostle explains how a man gets into that condition. He says that
Satan, the god of this world, has blinded his mind. What a thought it
is that Satan should set up to be God! Christ is the image of God.
Satan is the imitator of God–he mimics God and holds an usurped power
over men's minds and thoughts. To maintain his power, he takes great
care that his dupes should not see the light of the Gospel. The veils
he uses are such as men's selfish hearts approve, for he speaks
thus–"If you were to become a Christian, you would never get on in the
world." He claps a sovereign on each eye and then you cannot see,
though the sun shines at midday! Pride binds a silken band across the
eyes and thus, again, the Light of God is excluded. Satan whispers, "If
you become a Christian, you will be laughed at!" And he hoodwinks his
victim with fear of ridicule. He has many a crafty device by which he
perverts the human judgment till they cannot see that which is
self-evident–and will not believe that which is unquestionable!

He makes the gain of Heaven to seem inconsiderable when weighed with
the little loss which religion may involve. He hides from the soul the
bliss of forgiven sin, of adoption into God's family and the certainty
of eternal Glory by throwing dust into the eyes, so that the mind
cannot look at things truthfully. What shall I say, in closing, but
this–are you lost, any of you? Upon the showing of the text all of you
are to whom the Gospel is hidden! Well, but thank God you may yet be
found–lost today, but you need not be lost tomorrow! Lost while
sitting in these pews–but you may be found before you leave the
Tabernacle! The Good Shepherd has come to find His lost sheep. Have you
any desire after Him? Have you any wish to return to Him? Then look to
Him with a trustful glance!

You are not lost if so you look, nor shall you ever be! He that
believes in Jesus is saved and saved eternally. Are any of you blinded?
You must be so if the Gospel is hid from you, so that you cannot see
its brightness. Ah, but you need not remain in the dark! There is One
here, today, who opens blind eyes! Cry to Him as did the two blind men,
"You, Son of David, have mercy on me! You, Son of David, have mercy on
me!" The Messiah came on purpose to give sight to the blind–it was a
part of His commission when He came forth from the Father's Glory. He
will give sight to you! Oh seek it! Is the god of this world your
master? He must be if you do not see the Glory of the Gospel! But he
need not be your god any longer! I pray the Holy Spirit to help you to
dethrone this intruder. Why should you adore him? What good has he ever
done for you? What is there about his character that makes him worthy
to be your god?

Break off his yoke! Burst the fetters which now hold you his slave. The
true God has come in the flesh to set you free and to destroy all the
works of the devil! Whatever keeps you from beholding the Glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ can be removed. I am sent to say, in my
Master's name, "Whoever believes in Him is not condemned: he that
believes and is baptized shall be saved." "Come now, and let us reason
together, says the Lord: though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be
as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as
wool." Trust the Savior, trust the Incarnate God! Trust Him now and
trust Him at once–and though a moment ago you were black as Hell's
midnight, you shall be clean and bright as Heaven's eternal noon!

In one instant sins that have taken you 50 years to accumulate shall
disappear! The transgressions of all your days shall be plunged beneath
the sea and shall be found no more! Only be willing and obedient–and
yield yourselves up to the Incarnate God who always lives to take care
of those who put their trust in Him! May the Lord bless you, dear
Friends, forevermore. Amen and amen.
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"Jehovah-Rophi"