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2nd Corinthians chapter 4 beginning at verse 5. Before 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, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 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 are always 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 shall raise up us also by Jesus Jesus, and shall present us with you.
For all things are for your sake.
That the abundant grace might, through the Thanksgiving of many, redowned to the glory of God. For which 'cause we faint not but through, 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.
Verse five shows that it's not about us, brethren, it's about Him. Are we in the picture? Yes, but it's about Him.
And ourselves your servants, for Jesus sake.
That's where we fit into the picture.
So it's really about him, not so much about us.
The radiancy of the glad tidings of the glory of the Christ, who is the image of God.
That's a lot better subject than ourselves, isn't it?
When you make a comparison like that.
What a much better subject we have.
But the wonder of it is that God does use servants, doesn't he? And you're one of his servants, and I'm one of your servants of his servants. And we often think of the preaching of the gospel in connection with those who have a special ABI ability or calling. Tonight a brother is going to stand up and preach the gospel here from the platform. But every one of us have the privilege of in one way or another, making known the glorious gospel, making known Christ. Now Paul again, as we said this morning, was a special instrument raised up at the beginning. And what a preacher he was.
And what a gift he he had. But even Paul said to the Corinthians in the first epistle that it wasn't with enticing words that he presented the gospel to to them. It certainly wasn't with the wisdom of this world. His exercise and his responsibility before God as a preacher of the gospel was to preach Christ, and Christ crucified his whole. The whole exercise of Paul's life was to present Christ to the lost for salvation.
And Christ to the Saints for their blessing and edification. And you'd say, well, it's never been given to me to preach the gospel. Well, maybe not in the way that we think of it so often, but every one of us are here to reflect something of Christ, both by what we say, what we do by our lives as we had this morning, by by what we say too. You know, what we say is important too, brother. It must correspond with our life. But what we say is important too. And in the Acts, I've been impressed in going through the Acts, how often you have preaching, mentioned preaching, preaching, preaching. It's, it's, it's important. And we're here.
To preach Christ. And when we open our mouth, is it Christ that we're presenting, or is it drawing attention to ourselves?
The exaltation of Christ is the greatest and truest gain. The exaltation of self is the truest loss.
I think of the, uh, ministry of John the Baptist and you know, here's a man that had opportunity, I believe, to exalt himself.
And when they went to him as to whether or not he was the Christ, he said, I am not the Christ. And then he went on to speak how he that comes after me is preferred before me, because he was before me. And so I believe he was pointing to Christ. It ought to be the object of all true ministry, I believe, to attach souls not to oneself, but to Christ.
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And of course.
I read about how the John the Baptist.
You could say, behold the Lamb of God.
He was so taken up with the person of the Lord Jesus Christ that tells us there were two of his disciples who were listening to what he had to say. And they stopped following John. They start following the Lord Jesus. Was John disappointed? No, I believe he was thankful. Well, I think.
Impossible was at the same persuasion. His desire was to exalt Lord Jesus and draw souls to him. But that's not the way of the world. And I know in our area there's elections coming up in Canada.
Of course, you're already talking about elections in the United States.
Next year, so on.
And what is it that people are doing? They're Tooting their own horn. That's what they're doing, trying to get.
People to promote them because of what they have to offer.
My fault wasn't that way.
Now he says here we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord.
With the Apostle Paul that said not either price.
I think I'm John the Baptist, too, he said. I he must increase, I must decrease.
But the Lord gave his approval of John's ministry. The Lord said of those born among women, there is not risen or greater than John the Baptist. John was the voice of one crying in the wilderness, just a voice. You know, you can hear a voice, but you can't see it. And John said, I'm just a voice. I'm just here to speak for Christ and to pave the way for Christ. But the Lord gave his approval and it's not what we really want, brethren, the Lord's approval. And if you seek to go on and present Christ and make nothing of yourself and just be that voice, maybe you do feel like you're crying in the wilderness sometimes. You know, you get out in the wilderness and you start talking. Seems like you're, it's useless. You say I'm not reaching anybody out here. Nobody's listening.
John might have felt that way, but he was just a voice. And if you and I seek to be just a voice, to represent to, to present Christ and leave it for his approval, then they'll be true blessing in our ministry.
This was in distinct contrast to others occurrence that we read about in the 11Th chapter.
Just a few verses like first 13 for example, contrast with what we had back in verse 2, not to go backwards, but for such a false apocalypse to people, workers transforming themselves into the apostle of Christ is a little further in that chapter, verse 19. You suffer fools gladly seeing yourselves alive. Do you suffer if a man bring unto you? Will you suffer if a man bring you into *******? If a man devalue by the way, that would suffer, I believe means permit. It doesn't mean to suffer in a physical sense.
And so there are those that current that were exalting themselves and the apostle Paul here in this chapter, uh, in this chapter in verse five, he says in ourselves, you're servants for Jesus sake. We've spoken about the minister and that how the ministry and, and the word minister is related to the word serve. But here he doesn't use that same word. He uses the word slave. So he says that they were your slaves for Jesus sake. He would go even lower in contrast to those at current that would exult and make merchandise of them.
Of the Lord Jesus.
At the image of God.
We think of him as the son of man who was here on the earth and in the world already.
And at that time.
All who lived there, they could see him.
They actually saw his image, his face, his person.
But he was the image of God also, and he still is, he could say.
That God is his Father, but was his Father, and when people see him, they see God.
John the Baptist could say that he was before him. He knew him by heart alre already before he was even shown to him in this world. God had already shown him him through his heart.
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And he pointed him out.
Who he was, he saw his person as a man, as a son of man.
Now here I understood that we are and the buildings here we see quite a few of images that's supposed to be the images of Christ, but the only pictures, when I look at them, they don't do anything to me.
But when I picture the Lord Jesus as who he really is and what He has done for me.
Then I have the real picture of him within me. He speaks to my heart. And then the longer I think of him and I pray to Him, the more real He gets to me.
This is the actual image that we get today. That's what we read in Hebrews 1.
Where he is declared who who he is.
In verse six of our chapter, we seem to have a reference to Genesis 1.
In the creation it mentions there that the earth was.
Uh, darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
God said, let there be light, and there was light.
It's interesting. Light and darkness are in the first verses of the Bible. Here we see it not in connection with physical light and darkness, but with spiritual darkness that enshrouds people's souls. And it's interesting how it puts it in verse six. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Wonderful. When God gives the command for the light to penetrate the penetrate the darkness, there's nothing that can withstand it.
You can't mix light and darkness. They're separate things, and so it seems so impossible sometimes when you're speaking to souls that are in darkness.
But brethren, it's not a work of ours, it's a work of God. And when He gives the command for the light to penetrate the darkness, then it will penetrate. And I think the important thing for us is to make sure that the light is shining.
Because the moment will come when there will be a change. Seems like if we were writing this, we said go to caused the light to shine into the darkness.
I hear it's shining out of the darkness that's, uh, seems to our minds sort of an impossibility. But.
There was never a darker hour in this world than Calvary's cross, and darkness covered the land for three hours.
Darkness, darkness. It could be felt, and it was from there that the light shined out from Calvary.
Uh, you were mentioning the 1St chapter Genesis of Bob and I was thinking that.
God created the light on on day one.
But we don't see the display of that light until day 4.
Before that light was displayed in all its brilliance, we have day three, which tells us of the cross when the gas waters were gathered together into one place and, uh, then the dry land appeared.
Through that work machine.
It was all buzz that the light was on display, the sun, the moon and the stars.
So as you say, our salvation, the under our understanding, being enlightened and being brought to the Savior had nothing to do with us. It was all a work of God. The work was done by the Lord Jesus. The plan was in the heart of God from a past eternity. The moment came when the Spirit of God worked in our souls. The Word of God was presented to us in some way, and the Spirit of God worked in our souls to give us that light and that knowledge.
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And I think we need to keep that before our souls, brethren, in dealing with other souls. Sometimes we think it's going to depend on our explanation of the Word of God or what scriptures we present or how we do it. Well, it is true, we need to be exercised. It says of some they so spake that a great multitude believed. And it's an exercise to present the truth of God's Word in a way that the Spirit of God can take and use it in enlightening dark hearts. But in the final analysis, aren't you and I thankful?
That blessing doesn't depend on our ability to present the word of God. A brother again is gonna stand up and preach the gospel this evening. And I'm sure that brother is gonna be very, very thankful at the end of the hour. That blessing doesn't depend on his ability to present the Word of God. Because if it depended on our ability to present the word of God, that's a burden we couldn't carry around because whether it's speaking to souls individually or presenting the the gospel in a public forum or setting.
There's all we always feel our inadequacy. At least we ought to always feel our inadequacy. But thank God that blessing depends. Well, it doesn't depend on us. It does depend on the word in all its living power. It depends on the work of the Spirit of God. It depends on the heart of God and his desire to bless another. Nothing can change those things, brethren. That's what that's why it shined into our hearts. And if God uses us as instruments and as we said.
He delights to use us as instruments to present the word in one way or another. But if he delights to use us in in as instruments, then let's remember though, in the final analysis, the work is all his. If he doesn't shine into dark hearts, if he doesn't penetrate dark hearts, there's no blessing at all, but his desire is to do it. That's why I think, Jim, that often God uses least expected.
Instruments and letting the light shine. Sometimes the sister in her place, just living out the reality of her life in Christ.
Is a powerful testimony and it gets through. And then say the light doesn't make much noise. It doesn't say much, but by its presence you see everything clearly. That's what it takes. It's letting the light shine. Sometimes I think sometimes we try to do too much explaining and we hinder the work of the Lord. Not that that's not necessary. Like you say, preaching is necessary.
For a man down in Bolivia that had contact with and.
Mechanic shop and.
I gave the gospel to him one time and let me know that he thought he was all right.
Anyhow, I gave him a New Testament and sometime later he says to me, that book you gave me, I don't understand anything. Why don't you come over my house and explain it to me?
We set a time and it went over and we started in John's Gospel first verses. We got down to John 1/4 and him was life, and the life was the light of men.
I looked at him and I said what is light?
Just look for me at me for the longest time.
Didn't say anything, I don't think. It's just as if the light was penetrating his heart, that moment. I don't know that it was, but it was. Sometime after that I was in the shop again and he says, you know that book you gave me, I understand it now.
I understand it now. Something that happened. The light had penetrated. You know, it's not a matter of convincing people. It's a matter of letting the light shine. Your sisters can let the light shine just as much as the brothers.
So it's important in our testimony to let the light shine. The next verse of our chapter says we have this treasure in earthen vessels.
And sometimes the illustration has been given from this of Gideon when he went out to defeat the Midianites and.
ENS 300 men, remember that when he blew the trumpet, uh, 32,000 men followed him. Lord said I can't give the victory to Israel. This many people, they're gonna say that they gained the victory. So tell all those that are fearful to go home.
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Well, reduced his army dramatically.
Anywhere left the next time I was at 10,000 or left I forget right off hand but anyhow it's too many still. So after the last Test was given it was only 300 men.
Brother, we got to learn, as it says in the end of verse 7, the Excellency of the power is of God, not of us.
The important thing is the light. And so as they went out, those 300 men, they stood around the camp of the Midianites. They had two things. One was a trumpet one hand, and another was a earthen vessel with a torch inside. And at a given signal, they all broke the vessel. And as they broke the vessel, the light showing down, that's the important thing. Sometimes God has to break these vessels, these earthen vessels.
What's his purpose in breaking us? The lights shine out.
And as the light shined out, then they blew the trumpets, the sword of the Lord and of Gideon, and the Lord did the victory.
So that's the two types of the testimony like you're mentioning, Jim, It's the life, that's the light, and it's the spoken word, that's the trumpet. So those two things God uses to let the light shine into darkened souls. Before we go on, I'd just like to go back to the end of verse six there. To me, it's exceedingly precious, brethren, God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts.
To give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God and notice where it shines in the face of Jesus Christ.
In that face that was Sormard more than any man's, is where the full display of the glory of God.
Next.
Steven is stoned.
Saw the young man taking care of Coats.
Stephen's face had shown.
Because of the presence he was realizing.
Later Chapter 9 of X and so is on the road to Damascus.
You suddenly, verse three there shine round about him a light from heaven.
And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecute us. It is hard for thee to kick against the ******. The trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?
Lord said unto him, Arise and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. But we know the story well. But.
Three days later when Ananias came to him.
He then received the Holy Ghost and became a member of the Church by being baptized by the Holy Ghost and the. The fact is that he had seen Christ in glory. The object formed him, and in chapter 22.
Where he reiterates this.
He and others with him saw the light, but he was the one that heard the voice.
910 verse 11 And when I could not see, for the glory of that light, that light had.
Taken all other attention away from him.
And he could not see for three days.
And the result of that.
Uh.
He is baptized. Verse 16, and wash away thy sins. He had shared in the guilt of Israel in trying to put out all testimony about Jesus but the risen head in heaven.
Responded.
As the body hurt on earth.
In the risen head in heaven today.
Seeing the earth of our brethren in so many countries.
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Chapter 26.
1St.
Well, I've mentioned how often souls are in darkness under religion.
Verse 12. Whereupon I went to Damascus with authority and Commission from the chief priests.
At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven above, the brightness of the sun shining round about me and them which journeyed with me.
Here we get it reiterated again.
There's 15 And he said, I said to art thou Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecute us.
But rice, stand upon thy feet provide appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make the administer and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things which.
I will appear unto thee, delivering the from the people and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them, which are sanctified by faith.
That is in need.
There's still a great need today.
That souls be turned from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God. These happenings in Japan, a land of about 1% Christian.
What I've read, the average church is about 13 people. In the area where the tsunami hit, there were many churches.
Perhaps there were those who were simply washed out to sea.
Those laboring there now, in a land that's prevalent with heat and darkness.
We still have by the great grace of God.
That wondrous message of the gospel, that Solid Tarsus met that person that day. It's an amazing, brethren, that we can have as he such a treasure in our heart that we may share.
Set forth the knowledge of that treasure in part.
Through the Spirit of God working that treasure to someone else and not have less treasure ourselves.
It's not like handing out money, is it?
He is the object. That's the object that forms us. God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. It's Paul's ministry that gives us.
The gospel of the glory, isn't it Christ in glory and the the earthen vessel is expendable.
Our natural.
Defense is self-defense.
The very interesting aspect is you and I do not have to live.
We have brethren in other countries that are literally laying down their life for the name of Jesus.
They may not have the light so brightly as you and I. And then I have the richness of ministry that you and I have the privilege of listening to.
That they've got the right object.
And it's the object that forms us. This is Christ himself.
But the vessel is expendable, the treasure is not.
It seems like adversity and persecution are two things which the Lord has used down through the ages, hasn't he, with his people so that the light might shine forth like Bob related to us, Gideon, and so with many believers, with all of us today. Isn't that the Lord's desire? And they're not welcomed in our life. We sometimes see them as unwelcome guests and.
We wish things could be just right. We could plan our day.
And things go accordingly. But of course the Lord knows what we need, but adversity and persecution when I think of the apostle Paul.
And, uh, especially in writing to 2nd in Second Timothy. It's a language of warfare, isn't it?
It's a language of warfare, and so again, adversity, persecution. Steven was mentioned his his face shone.
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And as you mentioned too, and it's been on my heart to pray for the persecuted church.
As we speak right now, there are truly believers.
Who are being, who are under tremendous persecution.
You did have the reports that I heard of those in China who have decided to take the message without any support.
But simply with the conviction that the Lord wants them to carry the message on into those Muslim countries that are so close, so difficult, they go out.
Without any hope, many of them have ever returning to their families.
Any of the movies killed.
I don't know that there's that kind of mentality in our country, brother, amongst those called Christians.
Was it true that perhaps in our land and in Western Europe and Canada that Satan presents himself as a as a servant beguiling, whereas in these other countries he's as a roaring lion?
I mean, there's, there's different types of persecution and umm, you know, for us it's perhaps just being blasted by the media or going for those of us that are still working, going into the workroom floor and rubbing elbows with non believers and wanting to be a witness for Christ, not so much in Word, maybe on the working floor, but through example.
And I know personally that, uh, my state of soul is not always what it should be.
But there is, there is exercise and that's good. But again, I think of, you know, the fact that, umm, in this land, it's, it's there, there are different things that can draw away the Saints heart, but certainly in these other lands, it's, it's, uh, it's touching to, to, uh, to read and to hear about these believers who are being persecuted, but also in, uh, in, in thinking about the scriptures have.
Have any of us or any in this room ever heard of the book when Iron Gates yield? Uh, there was two books and maybe I got them confused, but the first one he never, he did not have a Bible. He did not have a testament for I don't know how long. And that whole book is written on his recollection of verses. This missionary back in the early 50s of, uh, verses that he had, uh, you know, read the Spirit of God brought it back.
And that was his comfort and stay through I don't know how many years in this Chinese prison. Umm, but he had nothing except well, he had the Lord and that was the key and the spirit of God bringing back these verses and he goes through, he recounts the life of Abraham. And these are all his musings as he spent his time in jail in this prison. And the book as a result of these musings. It's, it's an excellent book and it makes us makes me anyway realize again.
Do I, do I take for granted, you know, I, I sometimes think I do what I have.
So the treasure, brethren, is.
The light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Tell me, is it really a treasure within your bosom?
We've been brought into the full knowledge of all that God is and the person of the Lord Jesus.
Say, brethren, when you look around in the world and see so many in darkness, poor Muslim people don't have that light. Think they're serving God.
And you and I have that light.
Is there anything we're doing about it?
The light is made to shine and I really put wonder if the Lord is allowing the trials, the physical trials and infirmities.
That that light will shine.
Sometimes our thought, our only thought, is to get well again. And naturally speaking, I understand that that's very normal.
But let's remember that God permits these things, like happened in Japan.
He has a purpose in it. He has a purpose in the terrible tragedies in this country, too, tornadoes that tore through the country.
That doesn't do those things without a purpose.
But is that treasure that's within us? Is that shining out? That's what God wants.
He has to break the vessel.
Lemoyne says the vessel isn't that important. What's important is the treasure, the light. I've been amazed, brethren, at certain ones here in the States. You know who I'm talking about, too. I won't mention names, but the Lord laid upon them. Terminal counselor.
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And they're with the Lord now.
Terrible things they have to go through to leave family behind.
But the testimony that was left behind, what a tremendous blessing.
It was the Treasury. It was the light that was shining out of a broken vessel.
So what he wants is the glories of Christ to shine in your life and mind. And I think we ought not to pass over the, uh, expression. I know we've had some things about it, but the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, because as you say, Bob, God has been completely revealed in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It says of the Lord Jesus as the Son of God, that he was the express image of his person and, uh, that we beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the Father, great, full of grace and truth.
We get that in John's Gospel chapter one. And so the Lord Jesus, in walking in this pathway, he fully showed out the glories of God, because to be glorified is to have every attribute and quality that makes up a person's being brought into full display. And the Lord Jesus at the end of his pathway could say, I have glorified thee on the earth. Every glory, every act, every attribute, every quality of God was brought into full display. He was the express image or the mirror image of his person.
No other son, you could say, was the express image of his Father. We look at a son and we say, well, no trouble to see whose son that is, but they're not the express image of their father. But here was one who fully showed forth who God was. The light shone in this world, and yet the moral darkness was so deep when the Lord Jesus was here that it says the light shone in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not I I marvel at a statement like that. Cecil was talking about the light earlier and darkness and so on.
You know, no matter how dark a room is, you take a candle or a flashlight, it's gonna penetrate it to some degree. So deep was the moral darkness when the Lord was here that the light shone and the darkness comprehended it not Thank God it did shine into some dark hearts. And thank God it has shined into our dark hearts and is shining into dark hearts this very day. But that's how deep the darkness was. But it's interesting you meant someone mentioned Steven. And when Steven looked up, he, he said two things.
I see the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. How did he see the glory of God? It was in this person that was standing there, the one who had on earth glorified the Lord Jesus, the one who had been the light here. Now he was at the right hand of God and Steven saw him there. And that's what gave Steven courage to be a witness to the very end and to lay down his life. Talking about people who laid down their lives, you'd say how could they do it? They have Christ in the glories of Christ, the glories of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
That's what gives them the courage to lay down their lives. You know, Moses went on those years in the wilderness because he esteemed the glories of Christ greater than the treasures in Egypt. He endured us seeing Him who is invisible. And so if we have that before us, brethren, there cannot help to be our reflection in our lives of Christ. The light is gonna shine out. It shined into our hearts. But then there's to be a shining out that others.
May seedy, but like and do you realize that the only light this world is going to see really is what is reflected in your life and mind? And especially brethren, in a day when they've closed the pages of this book, they've rejected the light of God's word. Don't read it in the schools or in public occasions. They've set that aside. What light is this world going to see? It's what is reflected in your life and mind and the Lord Jesus when he was here with the light of the world, but he is not the light of the world today.
He said to his own before he left them. He said, Ye are the light of the world. We are here to reflect Christ, the glories of Christ, that the light might shine into other dark hearts.
To be glorified is really to have every quality and attribute that makes up a person's being brought into full display. And that's why the Lord could say I have glorified beyond the earth. He brought every quality, every attribute of the very person and essence of God into full display. Yeah, this is really.
The first Peter chapter 2, verse nine. You might read those two verses here. Peter 29 about showing forth.
00:40:04
But, uh, our chosen generation, a Royal Free food, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that you should show for the praises of him who has called you out of darkness, and end to his marvellous light, which are in time fast, not a people, but now, but are now the people of God, which have obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
And then goes on to strangers and pilgrims in verse 12, having your conversation, or you're a matter of life honest among the Gentiles, that whereof they speak against you as evildoers, that they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. And then to submit to all the ordinances in our verse 15. For sober is the will of God, that ye with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, as free, not as used in your liberty as a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.
I love the margin there too. It says that Ye and verse nine should show forth the praises for the excellencies of him.
Called it of darkness the excellence. We have the privilege of showing the excellencies of the Lord Jesus Christ of God as shown in the person of Christ. There's a few words in a verse in Exodus 24 we have spoken a little of.
Moses, face shining.
And.
I just enjoyed in meditating a little on verse 12.
Oh, we might apply this to ourselves.
The Lord said unto Moses.
Come up to me.
Into the mount and be there.
Now the opportunity for communion between.
My heart and the Lord, your heart and the Lord come to me.
It's a good place to be. And then it says.
And I will give thee. I'm gonna skip the next few words.
And.
The end of the verse says that thou mayst teach.
There's one to be occupied with, one to receive from.
Something to give from having been there and.
That we all need, don't we, brother? We need to be occupied with this blessed occupy.
The object that forms us.
These scriptures are helpful because in the context of our chapter here, this was very, very difficult for these Corinthians to understand. Naturally speaking. The Corinthians were people that naturally speaking look to outward ability and gift and that kind of thing. They were men who naturally speaking wouldn't have put somebody in a public place unless they were like Saul in the Old Testament, head and shoulders above the crowd, had some natural ability, were able to speak eloquently, and.
Were intellectuals and that kind of thing schooled in the wisdom of the world?
And so on. And it was very difficult for them to understand this concept, and yet it was very necessary. And that's why I think it was so difficult for them to accept the apostle Paul as an apostle, one with authority, because Paul did have authority and he wasn't apostle and he had seen Christ in glory. And yet they couldn't understand it. His bodily speech was, his bodily presence was weak and his speech was contemptible. And uh, I don't think Paul was.
Quite the way we sometimes picture him. And, uh, Paul, Paul has, uh, perhaps a little reticent too. And he just didn't seem to have the qualifications, naturally speaking, that the Corinthians would have looked for in a person who had this kind of authority. And so he had to bring before them that if a person was going to be used of God and the light was going to shine forth, it didn't depend necessarily on the vessel itself, the natural vessel. I'm not saying that God doesn't use our natural abilities. He does.
He links natural ability with spiritual gift and so on. We often see that, but let's use and let's go to an Old Testament example for a moment. You know, when Moses came out of the palace of Egypt, schooled in the ways of the world.
It says he was a man mighty in words and deeds, but that wasn't the kind of material God could use to lead his people out of Egypt and through the wilderness for 40 years. And so he spent the next 40 years of his life in the backside of the desert. And when he came out of that, he said, oh, Lord, I can't go in and talk to Pharaoh. I stutter and stammer, and I'm not eloquent of speech. That's not the most that she read about that came out of the palace. But that was the kind of material God could send back into the palace to meet Pharaoh because there was a man now that the vessel was broken.
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And he could go in and Cle complete dependence on on the Lord. And we know that he did. He, he went in and he was used in a mighty way. But the vessel had to be broken. And if God is going to use any one of us, whether it was the apostle Paul or whether it's you and me today, or whether it was the Corinthian Saints, if the light is going to shine out for the glory of God and the blessing of others, the vessel must be broken. We must realize. And the Lord has to cause circumstances often in our lives to make us realize, brethren, that we are.
Nothing. Yes, he gives us abilities, but we in ourselves are nothing. And when we learn that are in the measure in which we learn that, then the light can shine out as it did in Gideon's day.
We don't have the actual breaking of the vessel here in these verses, do we? But we have the effects, umm, in these next versus verse 8910, which would have the effect of producing a broken vessel. And we see the results of these things is the, umm, that the life of Jesus Christ might be manifest in our bodies. We don't necessarily have the thought of a broken vessel, but we have, we have, uh, troubled on every side.
Uh, we have distressed, we have persecuted, cast down. These things aren't very pleasant. And we as natural men would run from the experiences that Paul is speaking about. But Paul had learned that, umm, his, his, his very life was not important. His, he had learned to value above his life the, the glorious display.
Of the Lord Jesus Christ and he was willing to put his put his life on the altar that the Excellency of the knowledge of the Lord Jesus might shine forth and so when it came to being troubled you know, sometimes umm, I, I really enjoyed a, a story that was given to us by one of the laboring brothers that came through our assembly recently and I'm not very good at telling stories so if you'll bear with me but there was a a Chinese brother who.
Uh, had come over to the United States after having been subjected to extreme persecution in his own country. And, uh, there's a book, uh, that has been written, uh, about this brother. And, and some of the, the, the persecutions that he went through are pretty phenomenal. But he came over to the United States and, and, uh, he was going about and seeking to encourage the Saints here and in the process of him serving the Lord in this country.
He umm, he was, he, he was falsely accused. He was, he was accused of being a, a farce. And you know, with, with present day, umm, media and, and Internet and everything the, this, this rumor traveled around and, and hindered his service for the Lord. And one comment that he made was that.
The greatest one of the greatest pains and the greatest suffering that he endured in his life was not what he endured in China, but it was what he endured when he came to the United States and suffered from the hands of his brethren.
And.
So, you know, there, there may be times when we're called to go through something. Uh, we've talked about the persecution and, and what our, what our brethren have gone through.
And serving the Lord and, and certainly that's all part of breaking the breaking of the vessel. Because if you, if you read his autobiography or the, the story that was written about him, you find that he, he, he learned many lessons there as he went through the fire of persecution in China. But he said the the most difficult persecution that he went through was when he was suffering at the hands of his own brethren. And I know that, that sometimes we are called to.
Feel that ourselves.
And.
Sometimes we don't like that very much and we want to just maybe react or we want to just just give up the service of the Lord, but.
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The the purpose of it and why God allows it is so the Excellency of the glory of the Lord Jesus might shine forth from us and so if we are troubled.
On every side.
We can see that God has a purpose in it and we cannot be cast down.
If we're uh, if we're or we're not, uh, yet not distressed If we're perplexed.
We can't understand things. There are things God allow in our life that are impossible for us to understand. He hasn't allowed them so that we would understand them. He has allowed them so that.
We would, we, we would, we would not despair. He has a he has allowed them so that we can just accept what he is allowed in our life, so we can learn submission, so that we can learn to lean on him more and trust him more. And so the process of the breaking of the vessel can be very, very painful. But there's a real, real.
Good purpose in it. And I know that our brethren, you know, we, we aren't called to have to face the lions, but that doesn't mean that the believers, believers in the United States don't suffer pain.
Don't go through the process of being broken, the vessel being broken, because they do. If you're gonna serve the Lord, if you're gonna seek to.
Allow the glory of the Lord Jesus to shine through you.
There is gonna be a an absolutely necessary process and that is that the vessel will be broken.
Who are these verses speaking about when it says we?
I just looked over it a little bit.
In verse 12 it says.
So then, death worketh in US, but life in you.
Paul was writing.
To the Corinthians and with Timothy, first Timothy, I just checked it out Paul and Silas and Timothy wrote First Corinthians and now we're at Second Corinthians and I I looked and it didn't say that stylist what might not have been there anymore might have gone on, but.
Paul is saying in our verses, We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not inexperienced. We are persecuted, but not forsaken. We are cast down, but not destroyed, always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus. Why? That the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
For we are which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
This treasure that we've been talking about.
Every single one of us that have received the Lord Jesus as Savior, we have this treasure. We can keep giving it out and there's always more to give. It's a fountain of life that goes on and can be passed on to others and others.
Umm, but we, we might read a little bit. Would anyone like to volunteer to open the floodgates to let some of that life out?
So that others can have it. Are there any children here that would like to share the treasure that you have? Any young people would like to to share it? Paul and Timothy were talking about it here in verse in chapter 4. If you would like to, there's verses written for you and Corinthians in chapter 6.
And it tells all the opportunities where you can SHO show out. It tells you in these circumstances and by these ways. And this is the effect it will have. We're just gonna read those in Second Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 4.
But in all, all things approving ourselves as the Ministers now that we we read that.
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I'd rather explain that means as giving service. Would you like to serve the Lord? You can improve yourselves in what the ministers of God in much patience. There's an opportunity.
In afflictions, there's an opportunity to let the treasure out.
In necessities.
In distresses, every time you you get into a distress, that's another opportunity.
To prove yourselves and to share these treasures.
In stripes, in imprisonments in tumult and laborers, in Washington, in fasting.
These are.
Not just only Paul and Timothy, but for us. Now we can have this. And how do you do it? By pureness.
Is it Are you your words pure? The thoughts pure? Find knowledge?
Find long-suffering.
By kindness.
You know there are people in this room. They need it.
There's some people going through dark times right here in our assemblies.
In our neighborhoods, Even in our own homes.
React in the flesh or you can stop.
Approved yourself, umm, a servant of God by kindness.
By the Holy Ghost.
By love unveiled by the word of truth.
By the power of God, it's not ours. Like Bob was saying, obedience.
Doesn't.
Depend on the power that's in us, but obedience to God's Word obeys no matter what we see the results are. That's vague.
And the power of God, by the armor of righteousness, that's doing what's right, no matter how it's going to affect us on the right hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report, as deceivers and yet true, as unknown, yet well known as dying. And behold, we live as chastened and not killed, as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. You know, we can even rejoice when we're suffering.
It's joy on the inside.
That's what happens. You go to to the happiest place on Earth. At least it says that in California, Washington, when you walk into Disneyland and be the most miserable person on the inside.
As poor, yet making many rich. That's the treasure we've been talking about.
As having nothing.
And yet possessing all things, Oh, you Corinthians.
O ye brethren, our mouth is opened unto you, our heart is enlarged. Paul wanted them to experience it.
He wants the Lord wants us to experience.
I just mentioned that in these vessels that we've had in.
In our chapter we have trouble in every side and not distressed and so on. It really is outward, isn't it? It's really talking about this body that we have. It's not spiritual and that's important to see because we do. As brother has been mentioned, we do have natural problems, don't we? It says in the.
The sixteen of our chapter, but our outward man parish that's the man that's in contact with this well the scene that we're in. It says the inward man is renewed day by day and so we have trouble in every site that's output and how do we react inwardly not to stress. We are perplexed that's outward. So how do we react inwardly not in despair and so and also verse 10 always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life also Jesus might be made manifest in our bodies in our body doesn't say the death of the Lord Jesus. He talks about his dying which we speak of the sufferings that he went through his physical sufferings and so on. So as I just to reiterate it really is talking about this.
The things that we suffer in this world, the outward things that we suffer bodily, we don't need to spiritualize those.
So Paul had a thorn in the flesh that he also brings before the Corinthian brethren. It was some physical thing that was given to him by God so that he would feel his dependence on the Lord as he ministered to the Saints and preached the gospel. We're not. We may have little hints of what it is here and there, and it's not for us to speculate, but it was something physical that was given to him. And so we find here in our chapter that perhaps there's two reasons why God allows these physical things, whether it's something that's passing.
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Something we we suffer or feel in passing or like Paul, something that he had to put up with and deal with the rest of his life for two reasons. One is that the Excellency of the power of God might be seen so that we realize that the power is not in US. Brethren, if God has given us any little ministry to do for him, he it's not our in our own strength. The power is of God and he allows these things to make us realize that we are just earthen vessels and that.
It's it's not going to be a natural strength. There are in our own strength. And so that's one thing. And then that's a life of Jesus might be manifested in our day-to-day practical walk here. And if those things that he allows, if there, whether it's persecutions or something physical that he allows us to pass through or to bear permanently in our body the rest of our life. He it's so it's not because he wants to necessarily chastise us brethren, It's because he wants us to walk independence.
U utilizing the power that we have in Him and so that Christ might be seen in our lives.
I did a study recently. I mentioned to Jim earlier about the times that the Apostle Paul uses the name Jesus without Lord or Christ in his epistles and and also I I looked in Acts as well and the name Jesus has used alone occurs most often in Acts and then Hebrews and for Philly obvious reasons if you think about it for a little bit.
And thirdly, I believe at 2 Corinthians and here we see the name Jesus being used appropriately without Lord. And so in verse 10 it should just say always bearing about the body the dying of Jesus. But the life also of Jesus may be manifest in our body. For we live always delivered unto death on account of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifest in our mortal flesh. And I would suggest that the reason why his name is used here because it speaks as the man that walked through this world who suffered physically, who did not have a place to lay his head.
And so.
As I said, this is a correct use of his precious name, Jesus.
It's interesting in both versus 10 and 11 That it speaks of the dying before it speaks of the light.
Because brethren, the life we have in Christ now is a life and resurrection. You cannot talk about resurrection unless there's been death verse. And so there is a practical application to our lives. I I often think bread in the the self pleasing lifestyle that we have been taught in these countries is not the life that we are talking about here in these verses. It's a life that is beyond death.
And we need to learn to truly.
Live the Christian life that we have and that's why God allows these things to happen because it's so real that even though there is very.
Very.
Uh, abnormal and disagreeable things that happen to us. It doesn't affect that life that we have in Christ. Often think of the apostles in the book of the Acts.
They threatened to kill him, and I suppose that's the maximum threat you can put to a person that kill you.
Can you threaten the dead man? And that's already died. That threat AB absolutely has no effect on the apostles. They were living in the power of resurrection life. And I think this comes in here, brethren. And I think it's beautiful because versus 10 and 11, if you notice them, they're very they're very similar, but there is a difference, verse 10. It's always varying about in the body of the dying.
Of the Lord Jesus. That's the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. That's what we ought to always do, brother.
Do we always do it?
I don't think so, but notice the difference in verse 11. We which live are always delivered unto death. Now here's a something you're delivered to. This is not what you would have wished would have happened, but you're delivered to something or delivered to death. Why does this happen? That the life also of Jesus might be made manifest? And notice at the end of verse 11.
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It's not in our body, it's in our mortal flesh.
Because sometimes it is a matter of touching these bodies, infirmity, and perhaps even death itself. It's not necessarily physical death, but it might be were delivered to it. The point is, is that God wants the treasure to shine out, and so he's going to allow it, rather than if we do not live this way as we ought to, always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus.
What does that mean?
Jesus died. He died to sin. That means that we don't allow sin to have a place in our lives. And it's in that measure that we do that that the life of Jesus is manifest in our bodies.
Sometimes we don't do that as we ought to, and so God allows circumstances and he delivers us.
So that the life of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. And then that verse 12 That our brother read before. So then death worketh in us, but life in you.
We got succeedingly precious. He's talking to the Corinthians. Death works in us, but life in you, and it's the same principle that we have, if you want to look at it, back in John chapter 12.
Lord Jesus speaking.
Uh, John Chapter 12 and.
Philip comes in verse 21 to tell him that there were Greeks that were seeking for him.
And the Lord Jesus says in verse 23, Jesus answered and said, answered them, saying, The hour has come that the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I send to you SEPTA. Corn of wheat fall into the ground and die. It divideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
He that loveth his life shall lose it. He that hateth his life in this world shall keep it into life eternal.
And ye man serve, may let him follow me. Where I am there shall also my servant thee and the man serve me him while my father honor.
It's the same principle. It's that corn of wheat, so that there would be fruit, had to die.
That's not pleasant to think of dying. Didn't God make us to live? But this is the principle to give yourself.
To bear about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, so that that light, that new life can be manifest. And so Paul says, so that there might be fruit for you, there might be life for you. Corinthians death works in US.
Principle of death and resurrection. Rather, that's where we stand in Christianity.
So we might ask a question, Why are we doing all these things? Why do we want to bring the gospel to others?
Why do we want?
To Co tell us about the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we have brought out that it's not for us to glorify us, is it to glorify the Lord Jesus. And I just like to read a verse in Ephesians 118.
Is pretty well known.
The eyes of our understanding that could also reach the eyes of our heart. But Darby says, the eyes of our heart being enlightened, that he may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints.
So we get some of the answer here. Why we are doing this? Because of the richness of his inheritance and the richest of his inheritance are the Saints.
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They are the ones that He for, for whom he died, all the Saints he brings to God the Father. That's why he came into this world.
To have eventually to have an in an inheritance, and that inheritance is in the Saints, all those who get saved and we are.
Privileged to partake.
In this work.
To bring about that the lower Jesus has an inheritance and we are part of it.
What we have here in these verses about dying was the exercise of pulse on a continual basis, because if we were to go back to the 15th chapter of the first epistle, where he speaks of why stand we in jeopardy every hour and so on, they're in the midst of what we call the resurrection chapter. He then says, I die daily. That was quite an exercise. It wasn't something he took up just once in a while or when he went out on a special missionary tour or something like that.
No, every day Paul experienced this in a very, very real way. And brethren, when we think of what Paul could have been a solid tarsus and what he was headed for as far as the glory of this world, it really gives import, doesn't it, to realize what he suffered then, for the, uh, sake of Christ and for the blessing of the people of God. I remember when my grandfather was nearing the end of his life and different ones of us were taking turns sitting with him. My mother went in to sit with him.
One afternoon and he said to her, Amy, he said that dying is a slow, painful process.
It's not interesting and you know it it. We feel it, don't we? If we're going to live in the practical expression of what we have had before us in this meeting this afternoon, it's not easy. It's going to be painful.
Did Paul feel the things that he suffered? Did he feel what he had given up? Yes, he did. He felt it now he gained something far better. And so he could leave those things behind and he could suffer the things he did physically and so on because he had the glory before him, the glory of Christ and and the end of the journey and all those things and so on. But it wasn't that he, as we said this morning, that he was callous or indifferent to it. Dying is a slow, painful process. And if you and I are going to have.
The glories of Christ shine out in our lives, and we're going to have the power, the Excellency of the power of God in our pathway and in our ministry. And if we're going to manifest in our bodies the life of Christ, it is going to be painful. Is it worth it? Yes, Paul. Did Paul regret what he gave up at the end of his life? No, it was worth it and more. But it wasn't easy. And so I say that because we just don't want to give the impression.
That these things are gonna be easy and that you're just gonna roll along and it's you're not gonna feel it. You will, but it isn't worth it. Yes, again, Moses. He gave up the glory of Egypt and never realized till I visited there what Moses gave up. It was a glorious nation in the days of Moses. But he endured us seeing him who is invisible. Yes, he did endure. Yes, he felt those things. His spirit was provoked. He could get just as discouraged and thirsty and hungry as the rest. But what kept him going on those years in the wilderness? He had the glory before. He had glory before him.
It's interesting, isn't it, that he has seen the reproaches of Christ. Now that was a little flash of something beyond what was the normal revelation of the day. But God gave him that to encourage him through the wilderness. And if we're gonna be encouraged through this wilderness world, and if the light is gonna shine out and if the vessel is gonna be broken, brethren, we have to have the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ before our souls. So are you saying, uh, Jim, that when the apostle Paul.
Said I die daily.
Meant that he was willing to put his physical life on the line.
Day by day.
Yes, absolutely, because Paul never knew from one day to the next, did he? No, we sit here this afternoon. We're not afraid of somebody busting down the doors and breaking in here and shooting us because or carrying us off to prison because we're having Bible meetings. But you know, there's some brethren that they, they feel that in a very real way when they when they open the word of God, they do it very circumspectly and shutters closed and very quietly. And if they do it in this room today, they'll do it in another room in another part of the city tomorrow and they.
01:15:09
They they fear for their lives because of their testimony. And Paul had that, didn't he? He never knew when he got up in the morning if he was going to see another, another sunset or when he lay down at night if he was going to see another sunrise. He lived in jeopardy every hour. But why did he do it? Because there was glory before his soul. There was something better before before his soul. And the things that he once counted deer here, those things were nothing compared to what was ahead and even the physical things that he suffered.
While he was waiting to be taken to be with the Lord, those things he could endure because he knew there was something far better. You know, you can get through a difficult situation. You can suffer pain and get through it. Even the natural man can. If there's hope that things will be diff better tomorrow, you take a little medication, you're gonna heal. You're gonna get that. And so Paul, with the glory before him, he knew. He knew that things were gonna get better. He knew what was ahead. And so all those physical things and putting his life on the line from day-to-day.
He was gladly, gladly willing to do for Christ and for the blessing of the people of God. I think a lot of our brethren that are persecuted in other parts of the world for that reason appreciate these trees more than we do, but it's something that is true for us all. Brethren, if you want to, uh, enjoy the life that is really ours now, remember it's life and resurrection, but you cannot see that life and resurrection unless.
Death has been put into practical effect first. Another place where we have that principle is I am crucified with Christ.
Person that's crucified, is that painful? Yes, it surely is. But he says nevertheless I live. What sense are you living yet? Not I, but Christ liveth in me and the life that I now live in the flesh. I live by the faith of the Son of Man. It's the faith it has for its object, the Son of Man.
Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. So it's life and resurrection. That's why I say, brethren, it it's been impressive to me that I believe that in many of these Western lines we've been deceived into thinking that life is living for the enjoyment of ourselves here. Naturally, that is not Christian life. Christian life is that which is beyond death. It's putting into effect the dying of the Lord Jesus now so that the life of Jesus might be made manifest.
In our bodies, Lord Jesus could say to his disciples, if any man come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. And I believe that the apostle Paul, you heard those words loud and clear and he was willing to deny himself in this world. Somebody has said the apostle Paul, he fasted on the outside, but he feasted on the inside and.
Audio parcel. It tells us in chapter one something of what he experienced, I believe is referring to the riot that broke out at Ephesus. When, uh, was it that Goldsmith, he saw that his business was in jeopardy. Apparently he's making these images for Diana and he incites the people to oppose Paul. And you know Paul, he says in the first chapter of this epistle that we're reading from.
Per SE, but we would not rather have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure above strength in so much that we despaired even of life. I believe you, Pastor Paul thought he was going to die right there at Ephesus. They had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God, which raises the dead.
Now this is a great encouragement for each of us, I believe, verse 10 who delivered us from so great a death, and thus delivered in whom we trust that He will yet deliver us. You see, we're covered past, present, and future.