Welcome to the InTouch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Thursday, October 17. You've probably heard people described as blind to things that are obvious. That's even more so the case for people who are oblivious to the things of God. But there is hope as today's podcast identifies the biblical remedy for spiritual blindness. And why is it that some people whose lifestyle is so unscriptural cannot understand our rejection of their disobedience before Almighty God? And how is it that some people can criticize the Word of God as to its origin and as to its authenticity?
Well, the answer to those questions is very simple. It is called spiritual blindness. Spiritual blindness is a very dangerous condition for anyone to be in. And if you recall in 1 John chapter 2, verse 11, that in that little epistle, John says that those who are spiritually blind do not know where they're going. They think they know where they're going, but they do not. They think they're walking in the light, but he says they're walking in darkness. They think they're walking in God's acceptance, but they're walking in God's condemnation.
They think they're going to heaven, but they're marching straight to hell. They do not understand the truth because they cannot understand the truth because the Scripture says that spiritual truth is spiritually discerned. Now in the midst of a passage of Scripture where Paul is discussing his ministry in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, he discusses this matter of spiritual blindness and he answers some very, very important questions for us.
And if you look at that passage, in the verses before he's talking about his ministry and he talks about how they have preached the Word of God freely and openly and honestly, not with craftiness or shame. Then he says in verse 3, Now what is spiritual blindness? Spiritual blindness is the inability of a person to understand, to perceive, to grasp, to comprehend, to digest spiritual truth. They may be able to fully understand some facts, many things in life that are true, but a spiritually blinded person is incapable of digesting, apprehending, comprehending, perceiving the true meaning of spiritual truth. Now a person who is spiritually blind is in a dangerous condition. John said it.
They think they know where they're going, but they don't really. He says because they're walking in darkness and cannot see where they're going. Now there are three things in this passage I want us to see because you see he's primarily speaking to the unbeliever whom he says is spiritually blind. Now Paul, of all people, could speak so clearly on this particular subject because recall, here he was on his way to Damascus to persecute the church, fully convinced and persuaded that he was doing the right thing.
In his mind at that time, the right thing was to remove all traces of Christianity and all evidence of the influence of Jesus Christ from the face of this earth in the name of Jehovah God. He was a scholar. He was a student of the Word. Few things passed by Saul of Tarsus and yet somehow he could not comprehend. He did not understand. He could not digest. He could not believe. He could not spiritually understand the teachings of this resurrected Christ until shocked on the Damascus road in fear, struck down the Scriptures as he turned and what did he cry out?
Lord, what will thou have me to do? And in that moment, there was revealed to him the Lord Jesus Christ and he accepted him as his personal savior. What is the origin of all spiritual blindness? Here it is in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 4. In whose case the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving that they may not be able to see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. The one who has blinded the unbeliever is none other than Satan himself. He is described in 1 Peter chapter 5 as a devourer seeking to whom he may devour as a roaring lion. He is described by Jesus as the father, the originator of all deceit. He says he's the father of all lies. He's described as a schemer, a snarer in Ephesians chapter 6. It is the devil who is the one who is firing, he says, those flaming missiles of doubt toward those of us who are believers. And that's why we're to use, he says, the shield of faith. The Bible says he is a doomed fallen angel who will spend eternity in a fiery hell from which the smoke shall never die. But while he's here, his business is to blind the minds of men so they will follow him in his blindness, in his darkness, and will follow him to his own eternal destiny.
Is that not what he said? In whose case the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving that they may not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. That is his objective. It all originates in the person of Satan attempting to blind the minds of men. Because you see, what did he attempt to do in the beginning? He wanted to be like God.
He wanted to be lifted up to be on the same equality with God. And having fallen as a fallen angel, now he attempts to use his power to diminish the ability of men and women to think rightly and so he blinds their minds to the truth. And every person who is a follower of Satan, every single person who is an unbeliever in the resurrected Christ has been blinded by Satan.
Now here is his objective. His objective is very clear and he states it in this very verse. Verse 4, in whose case the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving and what is his objective? Why does he blind the mind of the unbeliever? In order that they may not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God.
Notice the words here. When he says that they may not see, that is they may not perceive and understand and grasp and comprehend the light of the gospel. That is the illumination of the gospel. The word of God that you and I hold in our hand is the revelation of God. The Holy Spirit is the one who enlightens the mind of every person. He enlightens the word of God for us. That is we read it and we are able to comprehend the truth of it. We're not just reading words and understanding facts. We understand the deep, rich, wonderful, exciting meanings of the truths in the word of God. Satan's purpose and objective is to so blind a person's mind they can't grasp it.
Or they can read the words, they can tell the stories, they may even be able to quote the scriptures. But to grasp the truth of the word of God, to comprehend the rich, deep meaning of the word of God apart from the Holy Spirit, there is no such comprehension. And you see, the unbeliever who does not have the Holy Spirit living within him or her is unable in their own minds to comprehend that truth. What is this truth that he wants to diminish, that he wants to cover, that he wants to veil? If you'll notice in verse three, even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. What is this truth that Satan is trying to veil?
Here is the first part of it. Satan wants to veil or hide this truth so he blinds the minds of men so that they cannot even possibly perceive of the fact of being lost. If you ask somebody, well, have you ever been saved? Saved from what? I mean, some people will honestly say to you, saved from what? Are you lost? Well, surely I'm not lost.
I know exactly where I am. That is how totally unrelated to scriptural truth they are. There are many people who are sincerely and honestly blinded.
Now, I'm going to tell you how they got there. I didn't say they were excused in their blindness. I'm saying they are sincerely blind in what they're doing. They really believe that they're right.
Not everybody, but many people do. Now, the scripture says, what is it that Satan has blinded them to? Well, the first thing he naturally blinds them to, he blinds them to any sense of need on their part of the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, he blinds them to the whole meaning of the cross. The cross, the blood, all of that is meaningless to the unbeliever. Oh, they say, well, you know, I know you believe that and I know that I've read that in the Bible.
I know lots of folks believe that, but they can't grasp the necessity of the cross. So Paul is saying here that when a person begins to yield to this kind of blindness, what happens? Their whole perspective is warped.
Notice what he said. He said that they may not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. Oh, they say, oh, yes, I believe in Jesus, that he was a man, he was a teacher, he was a great philosopher. But they believe nothing about the glory of Christ, which is expressed in the next phrase, who is the very living image of the living God. He is not only the very image of God, he's the reflection of God, he is God. And Paul is warning us here. This truth of which they are blinded to is the truth of the gospel.
No need of it. Don't understand the resurrection, don't understand the necessity of confession, repentance. Oh, yeah, I know I'm sorry for some things, and I just tell God I'm sorry if they believe in God at all. And so they have no comprehension of what it means to repent of sin, no apprehension of the power of the blood of Jesus Christ.
All of that is foreign even though they may speak the words because it is spiritually discerned, spiritually blinded by the devil. That is his objective in the life of the unbeliever. Now, what is the strategy of Satan at this point? What kind of strategy would Satan use if he wants to blind the minds of men?
Now, don't you forget this. Satan's strategy in blinding the minds of men so they will not receive the Lord Jesus Christ and not will believe in him. First of all, Satan always launches his attack against the word of God. First of all, he launches his attack as to its origin. That is that it is not God-breathed or the Spirit of God didn't breathe through some men.
How could the Spirit of God breathe through somebody? How could the Bible be wholly inspired? This book was written by a group of men.
Everybody knows that. They say the group of men got together over hundreds of years and wrote this book. There's nothing inspired about it. Once a person begins to doubt the inspiration, I want you to watch the sequence of events. Once a person begins to doubt the authenticity, the origin of the word of God, that it is divinely inspired, that the Holy Spirit breathed and controlled the writing of the word of God. Once a person begins to doubt the origin, that is the supernatural origin of the word of God, the next thing they begin to doubt is the authenticity of it. Well, you know, I know that more than likely men wrote it.
Therefore, probably it has many mistakes in it. And therefore, they begin to doubt the authenticity of the word of God and so they begin to pick and choose. They pick what they want to believe and they choose what they do not believe. The next thing that happens is they doubt the authority of the word of God. Well, after all, it was written by men, and after all, it's full of errors, and after all, if that is true, how can it be an authority in my life?
Do you see the subtleness of Satan as he begins his slow but subtle approach to blind the minds of men? He gets them doubting the authenticity of it. Then he gets them to doubt the very fact that the word of God is authority. And then, of course, lastly, he begins to work to make them doubt the power of the word of God. My friend, when you doubt the supernatural origin of the word of God, you begin to doubt the authenticity of every word of this book. You begin to doubt the authority of the word of God.
You are in a dangerous condition. Because here is exactly what happens. Now, watch the sequence of events, and you and I can see this in the society in which we live. We see it among people. We can see it in the very society in which you and I live. This is Satan's attack.
This is his approach. What naturally happens when a person or a group of people or a nation of people doubt the supernatural origin of the word of God? They doubt its authenticity. They doubt its authority. They doubt its power. They conclude it has no power.
It's all in the mind of men. So what happens? Here's what happens. A person who doubts the word of God naturally begins to move in the direction in which Satan himself moved in. If the word of God is not an authority, if it is really not all true, then who becomes the center of my world? I become the center of my world.
Why do I become the center of my world? Because I want to be the one who makes my own decisions. That is, I want to be the authority in my life. I want to decide what I think is right and what I think is wrong. I decide how I want to live. I decide which lifestyle to live because, after all, you see, now I have become my own authority. Spiritual blindness is a dangerous condition.
When I make my own decisions, no one tells me what to do. It is deifying self. Self-centeredness and self-serving has become deified. If there is no divine authority, what is the authority? Whenever you have a society in which this book is no longer looked at as the final authority, you have all kinds of things going on and well defended because Satan has blinded their eyes.
They are spiritually blind and whether an individual, a family, a group, or a nation is spiritually blind, that is a dangerous condition to be in. So what does Satan do? He counterfeits every good thing that God brings along. Now, I want to say a word and I'm sure that some pastors would probably disagree and it's your right to disagree, but I want to tell you something. And if you'll be honest and open enough to think down 10, 20 years down the road, if you stand in your pulpit and you say to your people, this book was not divinely inspired, though it has some divine things in it. This book has many errors in it.
It is an authority in some areas, but not all areas. And there's no particular power in this book. I want to tell you, my friend, you're going to create a group of people, not a group of people who are living by faith, but who are saturated with doubt, who are frustrated, who do not know which part of this book to believe and which part not to believe. And so they face one problem in their life and they come to this passage and they say, but did my pastor say that was inspired and not inspired? Is this one of the erroneous parts or is this the true part? I want to tell you, my friend, you cooperate with Satan by teaching them that the Bible is full of errors because you build doubt and skepticism into their life.
And so what happens? Here's what the teenager sitting in the pew says, well, if it's full of errors, how could it be an authority? If it's not an authority, where's the authority?
I'm 18 years of age, I'm leaving home next year, who's going to be the authority in my life? Whoopee! I am now going to be the final authority in my life and they begin to live in sin and the very foundation of their faith crumble beneath those who were untrue to the full counsel of the living God. That's a little tough for some folks to accept, but it is the living truth. Thank you for listening to Spiritual Blindness. For more inspirational messages like this one, visit our online 24-7 station. And if you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
