As we saw in the previous Note, the Lord’s gospel work within any sinner begins with opening their eyes; nothing else can happen until this takes place. (See “The Key to the Gospel (1): ‘To Open Their Eyes.’”) However, according to this verse that is only the first step in the process of God’s full salvation. There are still several more steps that must take place before someone can enter into the Lord’s kingdom.

As soon as someone’s spiritual eyes are opened, they will immediately realize they have been living their life in spiritual darkness. Moreover, they will also come to see that, regardless of what they may have thought about their life before, they were actually living under the authority of Satan! As a result, they will naturally have a turn from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God.

These are the basic turns every sinner needs to have on his path back to God.

As we have said, in this verse Paul was telling of how the Lord commissioned him to preach the gospel. Yet, while the Lord committed this work to Paul, He surely knew it could only be carried out in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is the god of this age who has blinded the thoughts of the unbelievers (2 Cor. 4:4) to keep them from having such a turn and escaping from his kingdom; only the true God can grant them to see once again.

So, if we desire to serve the Lord today, to open the eyes of sinners so they may turn to God, we also must rely on the power of the Spirit; surely we have no way to deal with the blinding work of the evil one in ourselves!

D.L. Moody, one of the greatest evangelists in the history of the church, was one who knew this in his experience. He wrote in The Overcoming Life,

The reason why so many Christians fail all through life is just this—they underestimate the strength of the enemy. My dear friend, you and I have got a terrible enemy to contend with. Don’t let Satan deceive you. Unless you are spiritually dead, it means warfare. Nearly everything around tends to draw us away from God. We do not step clear out of Egypt on to the throne of God. There is the wilderness journey, and there are enemies in the land.

May the Lord gain so many of His believers today to work with Him in the power of the Spirit against all the powers of darkness, so that sinners may have their eyes opened and turn to God, and God’s kingdom come down to the earth!

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—  25 March 2025 —