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From we will find an obvious favor, Our Spirits Present Home number 56.
My father's house.
Of God make it the rest of the Lord's day.
Corinthians 4-5 and six.
In the parenthesis of which chapters 345 and six are apart? That we have ministry of the person of Christ, brought out in such a beautiful way that it prepares us for the exercise of conscience or subjective ministry. That we find in the 6th chapter, that it seems to me to be a moral principle of Scripture that we first find.
Are standing in Christ and fullness of his Person, and then we find that which is for exercise the 6th chapter.
Yes.
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, 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, have shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
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But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the Excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed but not in despair. Persecuted but not forsaken, cast down but not destroyed.
Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
For we which live our old way, delivered unto death, for Jesus sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
So then death worketh in us, but life in you.
We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken, We also believe, and therefore speak, knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus, and shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might, through the Thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.
For which 'cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish.
Yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
It's.
A ministry of the gospel of the glorious of Christ. And he had contrasted it with that ministry of Moses, which was introduced in glory but passed away. But this is something that wasn't and will not pass away, and it involved the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ and of God Himself.
But it was committed to.
A man, particularly here, the apostle, and he has this.
Ministry in an earthen vessel that he is seeking to carry out fulfilling this ministry that have been given to him. But it's an administration that he has contrasted with what Moses had been given and as a or as the scripture says that.
What Moses gave was introduced.
In glory with angels, but it's passed away. But he has this ministry that's not going to pass away.
Chapter 3 and verse seven. It speaks of the ministration of death. In verse nine, it speaks of the ministration of condemnation that was the law that was delivered to Moses, like you said. And it's in contrast with what we have in verse 8 of chapter 3, the ministration of the Spirit.
And at the end of verse 9 Administration of Righteousness and he shows like you mentioned.
Brother Henry, that if the ministration of death and condemnation in the law was introduced with such glory, so that Moses when he came down from that mountain his face was shining. How much more now the ministration of the Spirit and the administration of righteousness that we have in the Lord Jesus, because in the Lord Jesus we have.
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The complete revelation of the glory of God in our chapter.
In verse four it says 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.
Or it could be read the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them. And verse 6 God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness that shine in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So it is our privilege. And the Apostle Paul like you said brother Henry was.
Especially given that ministry. But do we not know God ourselves, brethren?
If we have been brought to know God is not, then this responsibility of this ministry weigh upon our shoulders as well, to show out the glorious gospel of Christ in the midst of a dying world. That is the ministry that is spoken of here, and so it comes to bear on each one of us.
Forth by the person of Christ we'll never see, as we have in First Timothy chapter six, that there's a glory which we will never behold. But the person of Christ displayed that glory, and he could say to Philip, Hast thou been so long time with me, Philip? And dost thou not know me? He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father. And so everything that we know of God, everything we'll ever know of God, is demonstrated through the person of Christ.
The Lord Jesus Christ.
As the image of God we cannot but remember Ephesians, excuse me, Hebrews chapter one and verse three. It says he is the express image of his person and so it's been referred. He that has seen me has seen the Father. The Lord Jesus Christ was the perfect expression.
Of the heart and mind of God, so that he could say that the Father.
And I are one, but not only was he the expressed image of his person.
He was the effulgence of his glory, that is, the outshining, the demonstration of the glory of God in a man. And so when the Lord Jesus Christ was challenged as to whom he was, and he said, I am altogether that which I have said unto you, He was the honest representation of what he said, and he proved it by the work that he did.
That verse you quoted in John I have an interlinear that wasn't translated by anyone in in gathered and he has a footnote that he said this is the most troublesome verse in the whole New Testament. Well, the problem is that they must have used the wrong manuscripts because as you quoted, it is what Darby quotes it and it's absolutely exquisite. It doesn't need to be misunderstood at all, does it? And as you have said, I just add Amen.
Very important.
Verse.
We see in the verse here, seeing we have.
We see in the verse here seeing we have this ministry as we have received mercy.
It's all received, isn't it? What we have, we have by way of revelation. We're not smarter than anybody else. We're not more worthy than anybody else, but we have it by revelation. That's the thing. That's the key thing. What hast thou that thou hast not received? And who made thee to differ from another? That's the grand thing about all of this. What we have, our God has been pleased to reveal to us, undeserving as we are.
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Notice the first verse of our chapters therefore, and it reflects back.
To what we had in the third chapter, I'd just like to draw attention to the last verse of chapter 3. It shows that this ministry in a certain measure is given to every one of us brethren. It says we all with open or unveiled face.
Beholding as in a glass, the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory.
Even as by the spirit of the Lord, when Moses came off the mountain.
His face was shining so much that he had to put a veil on it so that he could talk to the children of Israel. But now the contrast is that we have the privilege, brethren, to look with unveiled face right into the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is our privilege to do that. And in the measure that you and I do that notice it says we all this is not just some special group.
Amongst God's people, it is the privilege of every true believer.
We are with unveiled face, Beholding as in a glass. The glory of the Lord are changed into the same image, and the power of Christianity is in looking to that object, to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in the measure that you look to him and are occupied with him, there will be a transformation that takes place rather than we all have false.
And we need to have help with our faults sometimes. But what transforms really transforms is to be directed to the person of our Lord Jesus Christ in all his glory. In the measure that you look there and I look there, there will be an unconscious transformation in our lives to His glory. And so this is the.
Ministry that really is ours as well in this measure, brethren. Paul had it in a very special way, but it does come on us to the responsibility of letting the light shine.
I suppose that was very graphically demonstrated when the Lord rode in Jerusalem on a wild ***** colt.
We're just like that. And if we allow the Lord to control our lives, we'll be just like that too, won't we?
But it's very important to notice that as Moses came down, the veil hid that glory that was reflected in his face. And in verse 17 it's, excuse me, 14, it says until this day.
Remain at the same veil, untaken away. When they read the Old Testament, he's referring to those Jews who could not see the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Is not this Joseph Son? Is not this the Carpenter and these kind of things? They saw nothing except a natural individual in this world in the Lord Jesus Christ. But we beheld His glory, the glory of an only begotten of the Father to faith. That glory is manifested.
It is open for view, but for the unbelieving heart it is still.
Veiled and that glory is not seen because.
There is a very active enemy to prevent the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ from being seen.
And that enemy, of course, is now the God of this world, controlling its religion and its politics and its activities.
So as to hide the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. But how delightful it is.
That the very God who spoke that light should shine out of darkness, he said, Let there be light. And there was light has shined into these hearts and given faith to see that wonderful glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, the glory of God in the face of a glorified man at his right hand, and so as we are occupied with him.
As we set our mind on things above as we admonish in Colossians 3/1.
And are concerned and feed the new man. These glories are by his matchless grace reflected.
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In these mortal bodies. But we have to suppress the desires, because the apostle says, I bruise under my body in order that the life of the Lord Jesus Christ might be manifested in this mortal body. So it is our responsibility, as has been laid on us, to reflect that glory. But it's our special privilege to deny the normal thoughts of South and order that the life of the Lord Jesus might be seen in US.
But marvelous grace, that sixth verse is. How dark was the darkness at that scene when it says he caused the light to shine out of darkness? Well, probably darkness that we never, never will see. And that's the way our hearts are when we are in a lost state. That's the state of everyone that's without Christ. Total, absolute, abject darkness. And think of the grace as shined in our hearts.
To give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, if God could shine out of the darkness that existed in that first part of Genesis. He does that for you and me when we accept Christ as Savior.
It is so important, beloved brethren, and I say this particularly to the young people.
That we understand that the God who did this has done.
In our hearts, and it is He that we know as our Father.
God who made this universe, we address as our Father and in first John chapter 2 when the Apostle writes to the babes in Christ little children, because you know the Father, and because you know your sins are forgiven, there we have the very basis of basic elements of Christian blessing to know God is our Father, our sins forgiven, and we so fall so far short.
To entering into the preciousness of who it is that is our Father. And so we hear too often our Heavenly Father, we hear a clergyman pray, Oh my God, Almighty God, the Creator of Heaven. He is all those things. But He is our Father, and we do Him an injustice, and we do not serve Him well unless we address Him in the intimacy of our Father.
Bob, if you mentioned about the we all give us, if you have liberty to do it, give us a a little help in connection with is this those that have a particular gift? Is it these that have a particular advancement in in knowledge of scripture? Is it for the full range of first John 2, the fathers, the young men and the children?
It doesn't qualify here, does it, brother?
Seeing we have received this Ministry, we have received mercy. We faint. Not all of us isn't.
Isn't it important, regardless of age, of obviously age of responsibility on up, that there be this personal exercise to think of the Lord indeed as savior, as master, the one that died for us, but to think of one that we can indeed not just at a conference have some brother talk about it, but that day by day, you know, to wake up in the morning and whatever the the problems of the day.
To talk with him. I'm not saying he shouldn't get down and pray, but before he ever got up bed you can talk to him. Just think of it of of having a an appreciation for a relationship that we can talk to him and know that he wants us to unburden our hearts or just to thank him, you know, because I think the first issuance of praise will be to thank him for having died for us. But we can do it before we get there. Can't wait.
Can do it every day.
The very first chapter of the Bible, God divided the light from the darkness. He.
First commanded like you said brother, that out of the darkness the light should shine. But then he separated the light from the darkness, and there is that separation all through the word of God, right from the first chapter on. And in this second verse we have how the importance of that practically affecting our lives. Like you say brother Stan, not only.
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When we're here together in meetings, but every aspect of our life, we should.
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, In other words, the light dispels the darkness. You cannot mix light and darkness. There has to be a distinction, and one of the enemies most obvious distinction, and one of the enemy's most.
Greatest desires is to try.
To get those who profess to know God to get into the darkness of this world.
Well, I lived in Bolivia.
Of course, in South America the Catholic Church is predominant and at the time when the Pope came for the first time to Bolivian territory just before it happened, one of the preachers of the Gospel over TV that was well known.
And quite well respected, even amongst Catholics.
Had a moral fall, and I never saw such a violent backlash against the gospel in Bolivia as that one. It's because, brethren, if we take the position of having known God, then necessarily there has to be the practical reflection of that in your life and mind, not only when we're preaching the gospel.
Not only when we're here in meetings, but when you're at work, when you're at school, wherever you are. The light shines into every facet of our lives, and so we need brethren to be exercised, not to have anything that relates to the darkness in our lives. The Lord help us because we all fail in a certain measure, but we need to keep.
An exercise of heart.
That our lives be what becomes the gospel of Christ, and as it says in the end of this this verse 2 by manifestation of the truth.
Commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God, still remember.
Some of you will remember dear brother Maguire, who lived in Michigan. And he was.
A brother that didn't take a public position of preeminence, but I still remember him coming to the conference in Wheaton, IL. It was a privilege to know that brother, but the story was told of him. He's along with the Lord now that he worked in a hardware store.
And in the hardware store he had a testimony of being a Christian and.
One day the fellow employees in the hardware store got around him and said we're going to make you listen to one of our dirty stories.
And he looked at them in the face, and he said, Men, I live in the presence of God.
That's as far as it went. They dispersed. The light dispels the darkness. The Lord help us, brethren. The enemy wants to being discredit on the testimony of the Lord Jesus by attacking those who profess to be those who know God as we have been brought to know Him in the Lord Jesus.
Add a little bit to your story bump.
It says here, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
When Mr. Maguire passed away and at his funeral in Lansing, MI, it was the largest funeral that had ever been up to that moment.
He was a testimony to not just where he worked, but to the whole community. Lansing, MI is a relatively large city and the procession going to the funeral and to the burial site was so long they had to have a number of police.
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At the intersection. Largest funeral that ever been held up to that moment.
That would fall into line with the first verse that is required of a steward that a man be found faithful.
And it's a wonderful thing to see the truth of God faithfully translated from what we might call doctrinal truth and to the practical expression of daily life. And it does happen, as has been reported by of one brother, and it has happened many times over. But to be diligent and maintain communion, so that the consciences of men in this before God.
Are affected by the lie, and this is really the whole impetus of the second Epistle of the.
Of.
Corinthians is the ability to translate.
The truth that is brought before us in the book of Romans. We know that in the First Corinthians there is a lot of things that had to be corrected.
But in a moral sense we progress from Romans where we established in righteousness before God.
Into Second Corinthians, where we translate that into living experience.
And we do that by reckoning ourselves dead, he said. We did not have our confidence in ourselves, but we had any confidence of the God who raises the dead. We are living a resurrection life. The life that is seen in US should be the life of the Lord Jesus Christ given us by faith and resurrection. The new creation is in the resurrection and we are in it. As we get in the 5th chapter, we anticipate if the Lord hasn't come, new creatures and so we have the requirement of faithfully carrying out.
The truth of what God has made good to us by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I think there's something very helpful in this verse too as well. When we present the Gospel Brethren, it is to appeal commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. I know we live in a culture where people.
Glory in their power to reason things through, but it doesn't say commending ourselves to every man's mind.
In the sight of God, it's their conscience, and it is interesting in the life of the Lord Jesus to see.
How he did that? You remember when they brought the woman taken in adultery and said to the Lord Jesus, This woman was taken in the very act and Moses and the law said we should stone her. What do you say? And the Lord didn't answer immediately. Sometimes, you know, we like to answer immediately. The Lord stooped down and wrote on the ground and they kept asking him, And he finally stood up and he said.
He that is without sin amongst you, let him cast the cast first, the stone at her. It was not an answer to their question, it was an answer to their conscience. And they, being reproved by their own consciences, went out from the eldest to the youngest until there was no one else but the woman. And the Lord left there. And I think that is something that we need to keep in mind as we.
Seek to let the light of the.
Glorious gospel of Christ. Shine in a Dark World, brethren.
Appeal to man's consciences. The conscience is that part of men that he got when he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And we could say in a simple way that conscience is basically that it is the knowledge of good and evil, and every human being has that within their breast, even those heathen in the darkest part of the jungle.
Of New Guinea or South America or other places that have no testimony.
From the word of God that we have know that there are things that are wrong.
Why their conscience tells them, according to the testimony.
Of creation Something of light gets to them, and so man's conscience.
When you present, the gospel is always on your side, his conscience will tell you.
Will tell him that this person is telling the truth. It's the knowledge.
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Of good and evil. So it's something to keep in mind. Aim for the conscience.
When speaking to souls.
Just an interesting thought about those who went out.
From the eldest to the youngest, one brother wrote.
Had the most to hide when out first.
Is it not true?
That all through ministry will do just that, it will reach the conscience.
Certainly in the Gospel, and I believe it will also reach the consciences too, of all those that sit under even the sound of the word of God.
I'm sure that.
We've seen that. We've seen that happen many times.
I don't like it when people come up and say my it was a wonderful message, a certain sense. I'd like them to come up and say to me, what did you mean by that? You know that the conscience has been reached and stirred a little bit, and that's good.
Brother Tom.
Called our attention to the connection of this epistle with Romans and.
In verse nine of chapter 3, the apostle says if the ministration of condemnation be glory much more even the ministration of righteousness and then the last verse of chapter 5.
Epistle, it says, For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
So the apostle says, if this is true, and it is true of every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, the effect of this in our lives is that we renounce the hidden things of darkness, everything that.
Is not in keeping with God's righteousness, is renounced in our life.
And that is what addresses the conscience of the unbeliever. We do have this wonderful message to bring, and it remains the truth regardless of our state of soul. But when the state of soul has answered to the truth that has brought this righteousness of God to us.
And when our practical life is a life of renouncing the hidden things of darkness.
That that bothers the conscience of those to whom we are bringing this message of the gospel of the glory of Christ. If we haven't renounced the hidden things of darkness, then their conscience isn't troubled and they excuse themselves and they say, yeah.
Look at what he does. He's supposed to be a preacher. Look what he does. And so that's this. Renouncing is what?
Bothers the conscience of those to whom we bring the gospel, because.
They can't find that in our lives to find fault with. And so the Lord Himself is that wonderful example of which of you convinced of me of sin because they couldn't. There was nothing in the Lords life. And so the apostle says here, unlike Moses, if there is a veiling, it's a veiling on the part of those who are hearing our word because we have not veiled it.
By sin in our lives the light has shown in and shown out in the same purity that is shown Into Darkness. They came out, and if there is a veil, it's upon the hearts of those who will not receive it. Satan has blinded the minds of those, lest they should believe the light of the glorious gospel of Christ and and it's wonderful when the only hindrance to the.
Preaching and reception of the Gospel.
Is on Satan's side. It isn't on ours. We haven't obscured this wonderful light that has shown into our dark hearts, and it comes out in that same glorious way it came in.
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All the state in second sympathy, that in speaking to Timothy Badah has fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, and so on. So Paul's Paul's life, his manner of life, fully went along and measured up to the gospel that he preached. He could say to the Corinthians that it didn't matter to him whether what man, how man, judged him, because it was the Lord to judge, and he was not aware.
Of anywhere where he had was not walking according to the truth that he was, that God had given him. And so in speaking to Timothy too, he he told him in in chapter 2 That he was approached himself from every vessel to dishonor. But then he used to follow those that called in the name of the Lord out of a pure heart. And he was also told that he was to flee from youthful lusts, and follow righteousness and faith and so forth.
So there may be the going out, or shall we say there may be the proclamation of the truth. But if our manner of life does not follow along, we don't believe those things that would war against our souls, then it's going, it's going to deter from the gospel. It's not going to to glorify the gospel.
In that second verse if our comportment or manner of life.
Is in keeping with that second verse. Then we come to the third verse.
And if the gospel that is preached by those that walk according to the word of God is not accepted, what do we have? But if our gospel be hid, it's hid to them that are lost. And I'd like to connect that with Second Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 10. They believed not the love of the truth, and if you reject God's love, there's nothing left except judgment. And so that's where these second the third verse falls, they.
They're lost.
Because they did not believe God's love.
So it's not always that we may be walking around that people aren't safe. That's not always the case.
However, there is a.
Exhortation in that second verse. I don't deny that at all.
To see Mr. Darby translates that veil. If our gospel be veiled, that is something has obscured it. Like Moses veiled his face and obscured the glory that would have come forth from his face face. But Paul didn't. And we aren't to veil that gospel, are we? It's to come out the way it came in and that's.
A moral thing?
Lights would turn back for a moment to Judges Chapter 7 and read a few verses there. It's often been remarked that this chapter is a Old Testament example of the truth that we are studying this morning in the life of Gideon.
Just want to notice a couple of points here that sort of bring out in picture form what we have been considering.
And judges Chapter 7 and.
Verse 16 it says. And he divided the 300 men into three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man's hand.
With empty pictures, and lamps within the pictures. And he said unto them, Look unto me, and do likewise. And behold, when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be that as I do, so shall ye do. When I blow with the trumpet I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also, on every side of all the camp, and say, the sword of the Lord and of Gideon.
So Gideon and the hundred men that were with him came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the Middle Watch.
And they that had but newly set the watch and they blew the trumpets.
And break the pictures that were in their hands. And the three companies blew the trumpets and break the pictures and held the lamps in their left hands.
And the trumpets in their right hands to blow with all. And they cried the sword of the Lord and of Gideon. And they stood every man in his place round about the camp. And all the hosts ran and cried and fled. This is a picture of this chapter in which the earthen vessel.
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We, our bodies being our earth and vessels, are likened to these pitchers here and I was quite struck in reading this again where it says empty.
Pitchers so easily. Our lives and our, you might say our mortal bodies are full of everything but Christ sometimes, and everything that you put in yourself that you take in, that is not of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything that I take in takes away from the capacity of the pitcher. It's not empty anymore, but in our chapter they had.
Well, here they had two things. They had a sword and they had a pitcher with a lamp in it. And we each have the sword, if you will, of the word of God. But if you use that sword without the light shining, it does not have the moral result that God is intends from it. And so the only way the light could shine was from inside out. And what affects our outward lives is what's inside. And so here.
In order for what was inside to shine out to them, it was necessary for the pitcher to be broken.
And God often takes the circumstances of our lives to breakdown the picture.
So that what's inside that's of himself will have an opportunity to manifest or display itself as light to those about us. So he puts within us the light of the glory of God, the glorious message. But then, in order that it might be useful to himself, he may turn around and break the vessel and allow it to shine out. And we ought to thank God for the breaking of our own vessel.
That those things which hinder.
God's display of himself that he has put in us, as we have later on in the chapter, the new creation or in the next chapter, that's what's placed in us. He doesn't take an old vessel. He actually starts all over in one sense with an empty picture. And when we accept the Lord Jesus Christ, everything that was there before in the vessel is not of use to God. So he empties the vessel, puts the light in it, breaks the vessel, causes it to shine out and.
Puts a sword in our hand that when might be the sword of the Lord.
But also he uses people. And so it's the end of Gideon. Well, it's AI think a nice chapter. I don't want to try to say any more on it, but to meditate on because it really does give us a sense of what we have in our chapter. And I think particularly again of the empty vessel later down in the chapter it says always bearing about in the body, the dying of the Lord Jesus. That's what keeps the vessel empty, so that the light that's there as a place to shine.
You've just been saying honestly?
5th 1St isn't it?
For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord.
An earthen vessel doesn't have much.
It's worthless, really.
How much does an earthen vessel cost? It's very, very little. And that's you and me. And So what? What can we present to God or to those around the bottom from an earthen vessel if it's not of Christ? It's not much. Is it worthless? And so we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord.
It's not the earthen vessel, it's the treasure in it. That's important, isn't it? And that's what I like to think of in verse seven. We have this treasure in earthen vessels. It's not the vessel that's so important, it's the treasure in it. What is that treasure you really believe? It's what we have in verse 6, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Oh, brethren, how wonderful that we can say we have been brought to know. God, what a wonderful thing.
You know, we've had our attention drawn to the Muslim religion since.
Last September. And what it is, how do those people almost a billion, I suppose it's around a billion people.
In this world, who profess that religion? How do they know their God?
Is there any love there? No, There's only vengeance, killing, destruction. See, if you can destroy enough and kill enough people, you might have a chance of paradise. That's their knowledge of God. What a lie. What a tragedy. And brethren, we know the true God. Yes, we have been brought to know the true God in the face of Jesus Christ.
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What a treasure, brother. It's not so much the vessel, this human vessel. It's the treasure that's in it. And sometimes we live our lives like it's been mentioned, so full of other things, material things, that the light doesn't shine out very much. No wonder God has to allow unpleasant circumstances to be brought in to break that vessel.
So that the light will shine out.
Oh, brethren, it's because the Excellency is of God and not of us. And taking that illustration that Don read about, remember when Gideon blew the trumpet to have Israel come together to fight the Midianites? 32,000 men came after him, and the Lord said too many.
I can't give Israel the victory because they would glory in themselves.
Brethren, that's the tendency. I see it in my own heart.
There's a meeting that people seem to get blessing. What is the immediate reaction of my own heart is to take glory for myself. That is not getting the point, brethren. It's not the vessel. It's the treasure in the vessel.
And that's the thing we need to learn. And so the Lord told Gideon. Tell all those that are afraid to go home.
22,000 went home. That's reducing your army pretty drastically. Still, 10,000 too many, the Lord says, bring them down to the water and I'll prove them, and only 300 were left. 300 against the millions or the multitudes of the Midianites. That seemed like folly. But, brethren, this is the point. We need to learn the Excellency of the power.
Is of God and not of us. And maybe we look around sometimes those who are younger.
Get discouraged that the fewness of numbers. Yeah, we are few in numbers, brother. We have to recognize it. But let's not look at ourselves, brethren. We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves, your servants, for Jesus sake. So the focus is not on what we are, it's what our God is, the revelation of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
I think it is a tremendous treasure ready that we can say that we have been brought to know God in the fullest sense possible. Think of the almost a billion of the Hindus in India. Thank God they're not all Hindus, but the majority of them are. What are the Hindus believe about God? I think I forget if it's 300,000 or 300 million.
Different gods that they have.
In that country, what knowledge of God do they have?
Seriously lacking in the true knowledge of God, we have been brought to know God. What a treasure, brethren. And if God has put that treasure into your heart, it's not to hide it, brethren, it's to let it shine forth. The Lord help us that in our lives it truly might shine forth.
Verses that I would call to our attention that show the absolute work of God in our salvation.
John 1 and 13 where it speaks of those children which were born.
Not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, not of will of man, but of God.
The sovereign work of God begets life and the soul to start them on the way to glory.
In the next chapter we will read If the Lord leaves us here and we make it to the end of that chapter.
If anyone be in Christ as a new creation, all things are passed away.
All things are made new, and all things are of God in the new creation. We are brought into circumstances with God, where He is everything now in our chapter that the Excellency might be of him, of God and not of us. If he is everything in our salvation, He is everything and anything that represents him properly to others in our life.
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It is the work of God that we.
Have no glory in ourselves.
But he has used these things here in verse 789. This difficulties in the life, troubled on every side, persecuted. This is the eroding of that body of clay, in order that the Excellency might be of him and not of US1 Brother has used this expression, and I've enjoyed it, my own soul. And it's been helpful too, he said. Suppose that God is pleased to use my brethren to tear down the flesh in me.
I should rejoice that my flesh is torn down, so God uses these things. He uses us one another to take off the rough edges, if you please, in order that the work may be evidently help God and not of us.
Oh, it's necessary. It's necessary to.
To judge ourselves.
I think that's the thought in the 10th verse here that those hindrances which come into our lives, we are called upon to judge the flesh and all its workings which we are aware of, and to keep the the old nature in the place of death, that the life of Christ might be manifest in our mortal flesh. Alas, we don't always do that. So God brings circumstances into our lives where we are forced to judge the flesh.
But he would have us to exercise that self judgment that we.
Might be maintained in communion.
Day by day.
To to all we spare about in the body, the dying of the Lord Jesus, to apply the death of Christ practically in our lives, day by day. We never get rid of the old nature, brethren. It's it's it'll never improve or never change, but we are to keep it in the place where God has put it, place of death.
Everything that relates to sin in our lives.
Think of what how it related to the Lord Jesus. What did he do about those sins? What did it cost him? He bore our sins in his own body on the tree and he died. Now that is our position is dead to sin because we have accepted Jesus as our Savior. Now am I going to give free reign and continue to sin? Let my flesh enjoy itself.
That is not understanding our position and what you say, brother John.
Is right. That is the practical working out of it in our lives, always varying about in our body.
The dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body, But I like to draw attention to the difference, although slight, in verse 10 and 11.
Notice verse 10. Perhaps we can say is what we should do, brethren, Always, always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus. But sometimes we don't, brethren.
Sometimes we don't do that. What is verse 11 Say?
We which live are always delivered unto death. This is something. Perhaps circumstances that are out of our control were delivered to it. And so often this happens in our lives. Difficult situations, problems that seem unsolvable.
Why does God allow that He is delivering us unto death? He is putting us into situations, circumstances of life where we realize that He is delivering us to that so that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest. And notice here it says in our mortal flesh so that sometimes he has to even touch our bodies.
In infirmity, in sickness, that happens. Why does God allow sickness? It's not always for something bad we've done, brethren. It may be so that the light will shine out of our lives. Maybe we haven't been real faithful in letting that light shine out to a Dark World around. And so God puts us into that set of circumstances that is so hard, that is so difficult to understand.
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But his purpose is that the light would shine out of this mortal flesh. And there's this to encourage those of us, when we are in dire circumstances in all of these incidents, were not left alone.
We may be afflicted, but we are not constricted. We still have liberty to flee into the presence of God. When difficult portions come, we may be persecuted. We're not left alone. If they hate you. The Lord Jesus said they've hated me first. So in all of the difficulties that God brings into our life, in order that the life of the Lord Jesus Christ might be seen a little more perfectly in us, he is the origin and the controller.
And will sustain his own and all of those circumstances.
Comments at the end of that level. First, what an amazing thing that really is. When you stop and consider that the Apostle Paul said in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, but notice what it says in me.
Motivated by me, but here it's motivated by Christ.
What a marvelous statement.
Might be made manifest, Christ Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So walking through this scene as an individual, as a human being, we can glorify God in our flesh.
Not motivate by ourselves because they're in me, in my flesh, Well, it's no good thing. But motivated by the person of Christ, there's a demonstration of His love and His grace that can be shown.
The words of the Philippians was to let his mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. And then they're given those seven, those steps downwards that the Lord Jesus took all the way from the glory right down, and then back up again to the glory. And where God is highly exalted him, and so he that humbleth himself shall be exalted, and he exalted himself shall be abased. So we are told to let this mind be in us, the same mind that was in Christ.
And the one who was who had the the, the authority, shall we say, to exalt himself above every man in this world, and to to do everything that he wanted with his creation. But he chose to come down into this world and humble himself, and take that place right down to the death of the cross. And so who are you and I to to exalt ourselves before our brethren, and and try and find some place before our brother that we might be?
We might have something for the flesh to glory in, but so if there's a problem there, let's look at Christ and see how he did.
He humbled himself, and he went all the way down to the very desk, and then God highly exalted him.
In both verses 10 and 11 dying, the death of Jesus comes before the life of Jesus, and the reason is, brethren, that the life of Jesus that we now possess is in resurrection. I think that is really wonderful to get ahold of the light you and I possess now in the Lord Jesus will never die. Death may touch this body of mind.
But the life I have in Jesus will never die. It's because it's life and resurrection. But since we live in a carnal world, that life is not manifested unless.
I carry about in my body the dying of the Lord Jesus in the measure that I do that then that light of Jesus is manifest in my body or in my mortal flesh.
So it's important, brethren, we understand it. And I just like to say to those who are younger and to those of us who are older too.
Sometimes the tendency is and we live in a country, in a culture that glories in.
Self pleasing, pleasing ourselves and it's not all bad stuff.
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There's a lot of good things you can please yourself in but in the measure that self.
Is the object of our lives. We are not going to prove the reality of what life in Christ is.
The joy of it, the thrill of it, brethren, to live.
This life of Jesus, oh, this is our privilege right here and now. We don't have to wait until we get home to heaven.
To live this life. It's for now, but it's in the measure.
That I bought there in my body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus.
Also, is made manifest because it's life in resurrection and that necessarily.
Includes the thought that death comes first. Let me just make this comment before we have to go as to what dying are bearing about in my body. The dying of the Lord Jesus Christ is it is the appropriation of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ by faith.
I can say as to my sins his death is my death.
As to his resurrection, his resurrection is my resurrection, and faith lays hold of the old man has been crucified, and this gives me power to refuse the overtures and solicitations of the evil one. So the bearing about of the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ is the appropriation by faith that he died for me as well as he died for my sins, and I have a new beginning in him. And this is applying the death of the Lord Jesus Christ in a practical way by faith in my life.
So I should walk in newness of life?
I would like to ask this question.
In verse 7 when it says we have this treasure in earthen vessels.
Is earthen vessels the equivalent of the old man, or simply a reference to the body that we have now, the mortal body in contrast to that?
This mortal body is saved in hope we don't. 25 It says that if this Tabernacle house be dissolved, we have a building, and I think it basically refers to the body in which.
This treasure is.
I think that's true.
And there's something significant in the Christian profession today that alerts believers and.
The apostle is saying we have this treasure in a body that is waiting. It hasn't been redeemed yet. And if.
We have, John says. It does not yet appear what we shall be, but if we had our glorified bodies today.
There would be no need of this breaking down, but we don't have that glorified body.
But the movement in the Christian profession today, and it's a strong one, and it's alluring.
I'll illustrate it. I have a friend that I walk with and he told me of the strong weight lifters.
Of world class, he called them. They were coming to our little town park and they were going to demonstrate their mighty works of strength, and then they were going to preach the gospel.
Then they have an organization that I'm aware of of Christian athletes.
And they promote the glorification of these men who do a wonderful feats in men's eyes in the athletic world. And they say this gives a real.
Power and allurement to the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's just in contrast to what we're having before us in our verses. Our body is not what communicates.
The glorious treasure that we have in this earthen vessel. Just the contrast.
You can't look at a believer and see the effects of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The body, the vessel needs to be broken down.
For this light to shine out. And so we do have this treasure in an earthen vessel. And as it's broken down, the light shines out more gloriously. How is it you go into a nursing home? Here's a soul that has nothing, a sick body. Their face is aglow.
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They're rejoicing in what they have in that earthen vessel and it's just contrast with natural man.
When his earthen vessel is broken down, all of his hopes, all of his glory goes with it. So I think, wouldn't you say the primary thought is here, the body, not the moral or immoral flesh that we need to judge?
Brother, I thought you were going to say in case with those weight lifters, that they couldn't have it because they got the flu.
Another what I'm really saying is, are they still subject to flus and so on? They could get the flu and they could be so weak they couldn't lift their own body. How foolish man is.
#24 in the appendix Nothing but Christ as on we tread the gift on Christ, God's living bread, #24 in the back.
Everything.
Was ordered.
Americans are from wherever.
We go.
He's always good.