Address—C. Hendricks
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2nd Corinthians.
Chapter 4.
2nd Corinthians 4 verse one.
Therefore, seeing we have this ministry.
As we have received mercy, we think that but have renounced.
The hidden things of dishonesty.
Not rocking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God secretly, 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 that shined in our hearts.
To give the lights 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 at every side, if 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.
Or 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, and shall present us with you.
For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the Thanksgiving of many read down to the glory of God.
For which 'cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish yet the inward man as we knew day by day.
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight glory, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. But the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
He talks in this first verse.
About the ministry that.
We have see, therefore seeing we have this ministry. But what's he referring to? Well, if we go back for a moment to the third chapter.
To see that he's contrasting the ministry of the the New order with the the old order of things that existed in Judaism.
He says in verse 6.
Of chapter 3.
Who also have made us, that is, God hath made us able ministers of the New Testament or the New Covenant.
The article isn't there and it's really new covenant ministers. That is, the character of the ministry that was committed to Paul was grace. The New covenant speaks of grace. The old covenant speaks of law. This doom thou should live the principle of works. The old covenant is the principle of works of doing something. And then we would get the blessing based upon our our obedience. But the new covenant is blessing held out to us.
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And secured infallibly for us by grace.
And so Paul was a a new covenant minister.
He says in verse 6 not of the letter.
But of the Spirit.
For the letter killer, but the spirit giveth life. The letter of the word doesn't have life in it. The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. Now He tells us what the spirit of of the word is. In verse 17 there's a parenthesis and it goes. It goes on to the end of verse 16 now. And at the end of the parenthesis he continues his thought.
Says the spirit giveth life. Now the Lord is that spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
We were mentioning in the Sunday school this morning.
Saul of Tarsus knew the letter of the word.
He knew the letter, but the letter killeth the Spirit gives his life, and the Spirit of the old order, or the Spirit of the word of God is the Lord. The Lord is that spirit. And Salvatarsis did not know the Lord. He knew the old, the old writings. He knew them. He knew the letter of them. But he didn't have the spirit of them. They all speak of Christ.
And today, a Jew with a veil upon his heart, he can read the law and read all of the ordinances and the instructions and and all that. But if he doesn't see Christ there, he doesn't see that it all speaks of Christ. Christ the Lord is the Spirit of the Word of God. If you don't see that, then this book is really a closed book to you.
The Lord is the Spirit, while Saul of Tarsus, when those scales fell off his eyes, as it were, and he he was transformed into Paul, and he got saved. Then he had he had to come to the realization of what the Spirit of the word is. Not the letter, only the letter Killeth, But the spirit giveth life.
Now verse seven of chapter 3, what if the ministration the ministry that is of death, written and engraved in stones, He's talking about the 10 commandments.
And he calls it the administration or the Ministry of Death.
Why did he call it that? Because the 10 commandments gave to man God's requirement for man if he was going to gain acceptance with God on the basis of his doings.
Keeping the law here was the law, but it's called the Ministry of Death because it said it held out blessing for the obedience and it held out death and judgment for the disobedience. So he calls it the Ministry of Death. That's really what Moses ministered, the ministry of death. Moses was the the one that gave the law, was given to him and he gave it to the children of Israel. But it's called here a ministry of death.
Written and engraved in stones was glorious. Or it began with glory, that is, there was a glory attached to the giving of the law.
It began with glory, but that glory was to pay. It wasn't permanent. It was it was a glory that shone from God, who was giving to man if he wanted it. And man was really asking for it. You tell me what I'm to do, and I'll do it. You give me a perfect moral code and I'll keep it. That's what man was saying to God. And so God gave it to him. And there was a certain glory connected with the giving of that.
Moral law, the 10 Commandments. It began with glory. That's really what that means. It says it was glorious, or it began with glorious. Mr. Garvey renders it so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his face, his countenance, which glory was to be done away. That glory was to fade Moses when he was on the mount and receiving the 10 commandments from the Lord.
And he came down and presented them to them. The first time you remember who came down, the children of Israel had already broken the 1St 3 commandments. The first commandment, Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Second commandment, thou shalt not make a graven image, bow down to it, anything in heaven or on earth. The third commandment was thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. They've broken all three. They had made a golden calf.
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And denied the true God, they invented another God. They made an image. They learned that in Egypt, that's what the Egyptians worshipped, the calf. That's what the Indians over in India, that's what they worship today too, in the Hindu religion. And they had made a feast to Jehovah. They said tomorrow's a feast to Jehovah. They put the name of the true God on a heathen, idolatrous feast.
And that's taking the name of the Lord in vain. It wasn't the feast of Jehovah at all. He was an idolatrous thing. And so they brought in the 1St 3 commandments. And Moses came down and heard the music and dancing, and he saw what they were doing and he broke the the tables of stone at the foot of the mountain. He didn't bring it into the camp. Had he done so, they would have all been destroyed because this was a ministry of death.
And it would have been sure, and certain death and judgments upon those that broke it that was pure law. There was no grace mixed with that pure law, with what it was given the first time.
Then Moses went up under the mouth, and he received it a second time. But this time there were provisions.
That God gave in the event of Savior on the part of the children of Israel. It was a sort of a mixture of law and grace.
But it was still strict. Law is a Ministry of death.
And no one has ever kept it outside of the Lord Jesus himself.
So Moses face shone, and when they saw his face, this was in connection with his going up. The second time when he came down and spoke to the people, they could see his face shining, and he had to put a veil over his face so that they should not look upon the end of that which was to be done away. Because the shining of Moses face was a reflection of the glory of God in connection with giving the law that was to fade, that was to fade, and so they were not allowed to see the fading of that.
They're passing away of that, but was never God stopped. A man should get the lead justified before him by the principle of law.
Man being a Sinner, so it's a ministry of death. And then in verse eight he says, How shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious? So you have the the new now the Newman. The new ministry is called Administration of the Spirit. If the ministry of death began with glory, he says, how shall not the ministry of the Spirit be rather glorious? Or as Mr. Doherty renders it to giving the real force of its subsist in glory?
Continue in glory. It does not fade, It will not pass away. But here it's called the ministry of the Spirit. The spirit of God has been given. That is what characterizes Christianity.
A new life energized by the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. New life and a new power within the believer, and a new object outside of the believer would come to that object a little bit later in chapter 3, which is Christ and glory.
We're going through these verses to to see what Paul means when he says having therefore seeing, we have this ministry. This ministry, it's called here the ministry of the spirit, in contrast with the the ministry of the 10 commandments which is a ministry of death.
Now in verse nine he goes back and gives another term to describe the ministry of the 10 commandments that Moses gave them. Or if the administration of condemnation be glory, much more does the administration of righteousness exceed in glory.
And so he called in verse seven. He called the the law, the ministry of death, and now he calls it the Ministry or the ministration of condemnation.
Because though the law held out the promise of blessing to the obedient, it condemns the disobedient. And so it's really a kind of a ministry of condemnation, because there isn't one that obeys or has obeyed the law outside of the Lord Jesus. So it's a ministry of death, the ministry of condemnation.
The law says cursed is everyone that continueth, that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law. To do them pulls out the promise of blessing and life forevermore on earth to the obedient soul, but doesn't give the power to carry it out. And so on that ground man is dead and condemned.
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But the contrast is much more depth. Verse 9, Much more depth. Administration of righteousness, exceeding glory. The administration of condemnation said to the righteous soul, the one who righteously kept the law, that he would be blessed.
Obedient soul that would be his own righteousness. Let's turn back to Deuteronomy chapter. I think it's chapter 6.
Yes, Chapter 6, verse 24.
And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God for our good always, that he might preserve us alive as it is at this day. And it shall be our righteousness if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God as He has commanded us.
It shall be our righteousness.
Now let's turn to Philippians 3 for a verse.
A contrasting verse, so we get the real force of that.
Philippians 3 verse 9. Paul desire was to be found in him, that is, in Christ not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, which is of the law principle. If they have kept the law, it shall be our righteousness. If you keep the law, it's your own righteousness. You have worked it out, you have kept it, you have earned it, you deserve it. And so the blessing was yours because you have worked out in obedience to the law.
A righteousness which was a human righteousness of obeying the law. That's a legal righteousness. And Paul says here to be found in him not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, he had said earlier in the chapter.
Of verse 6, middle of the verse touching the righteousness which is in the law of language, that is, he was a Pharisee. Of the Pharisees and all that the law required as far as the letter of it is concerned, he said he was blameless. He attempted.
Now we know that.
He hadn't kept it perfectly. No one ever has the last commandment says. Thou shalt not covet or lust or desire with someone else has that you don't have, and every one of us is guilty of that. So he owned that in Romans 7HE quotes that one commandment, by the way, to show how that that condemns every one of us. But as far as the letter of the law is concerned, he felt that he was blameless, but he had learned.
Another righteousness.
Now God had brought him into a ministry of righteousness, not a righteousness which we gain by obedience, not a righteousness which is our righteousness because we have kept the law, but the righteousness which is of God by faith, the righteousness which God himself supplies and covers us with, as it were Christ being our righteousness he had learned.
To say I want to be found in him not having my own righteousness, not something that I can boast in, not something that I have earned. That's the way his thinking was when he was a Pharisee of the Pharisees when he was Saul of Tarsus. That was his thinking. But now that he's a Christian, he says I don't want that kind of righteousness. No, he says I want the righteousness which is of God by faith, and that is of course Christ is our righteousness. Now going back to 2nd Corinthians 3.
He says in verse 9 again, for this administration of condemnation, the glory or begin with glory, that's really the thought and that's the law. Much more about the administration of righteousness, Exceed in glory or subsist in glory.
Administration of righteousness is not something that we earn by our obedience, but it's something which God Himself bestows upon us and ministers to us simply by grace. Christ is now our life and He is our righteousness.
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And that's the difference between law and grace. Under law, it's the ministry of death and condemnation. Under grace it's the ministry of the Spirit and the ministry of righteousness. God now has a righteousness for man which he can't earn, which he can do nothing to get. It's given to us by grace. It's a gift. It's the gift of righteousness. God bestows it upon those that believe. We get it on the principle of faith, not on the principle of works, the righteousness which we earn by our own efforts.
And by our own obedience to the law is our righteousness pulses. I don't want that.
He says, I want the righteousness which is of God by faith, that which he confers upon those that receive and believe in his beloved Son.
So this is the ministry that Paul is talking about in chapter 4. Seeing therefore we have this ministry, not the ministry of condemnation and death, which was the what Moses gave them, but the ministry of the spirit and righteousness, not a righteousness we work for, but which he bestows upon us by sovereign grace.
Let's go out in verse in chapter 3 a little bit, verse 10. For even that which was made glorious, or that which began with glory, that was the glory associated with the giving of the law, had no glory in this respect by reason of the glory. That excelleth good illustration in nature is you go out in the evening and you see the moon and it's shining and it's very glorious. But when the sun comes out, that glory of the moon has no glory.
In comparison with the glory that excels in the sun, the moon is simply a reflection of the sun. And when the sun comes up, that that glory of the moon dims into nothingness in comparison with the glory of the sun. And that's what he's saying here. He says That which was made glorious, or began with glory or glory connected with the giving of the law had no glory, has no glory in this respect. By reason of the glory that excel, there's a glory associated with.
The ministry of the Spirit and the ministry of righteousness which we now have in Christ.
That so excels anything that the glory that was connected with the law, that the glory connected with the law is, is reduced to relative nothingness.
Verse 11 For the fact which is done away, which is the old covenant, the old order was glorious or began with glory. Much more.
That which remaineth his glorious, it subsists in glory. That which remaineth is the ministry of the Spirit and the ministry of righteousness, which is bestowed upon us by faith. Verse 12 Seeing them that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech.
And that is Moses which put available his face that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look for the end of that which is abolished. Because the glory that was shining in Moses space was a glory that that was that that first glory of the giving of the law, and that was going to be dimmed and so transcended by the glory that excels the glory of the spirit and the righteousness that it would give to nothingness. And they didn't have so Moses face was covered so that they couldn't see that that glory connected with the giving of the Law fade.
And faith to nothing.
Not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished. That which is abolished is the law that's done away. Now, that's not the principle upon which the people of God get righteousness. It's not like keeping the law. But their minds were blinded for until this day, and remain at the same veil, untaken away in the reading of the Old Covenant, the Old Testament, which Leo has done away in Christ.
So the Jew today is still their minds are blinded and they read the letter of the law, the letter of the Old Testament. They don't see Christ there. Their minds are blinding. Because if you don't see Christ in the scriptures, the scriptures is a closed book to you because it all speaks of him.
It all testifies in him. Remember, in Luke 24 the Lord opened their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures, that they could see that it all spoke of him, and he showed them himself. And all of the Scriptures must have been a most wonderful unfolding of truth that the Lord gave to them. Now we have even beyond that we have the Spirit of God indwelling us, the ministry of the Spirit to unfold these precious things to our souls so that we can enter into them and enjoy them.
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We are standing in a righteousness before God which is as perfect as himself because it's his own righteousness that He bestows upon us. Christ is his, his, his our righteousness. Christ is the one that he has given out to become our righteousness. First Corinthians one verse 30 says that for of him are thee in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
And according as it is written either glory and glory of the Lord, so Christ has become our righteousness and that's why I call said to be found in him not having my own righteousness which is in the law and that which is through the faith of Christ, even the righteousness which is of God by faith.
But these poor, unbelieving Jews, their minds were blinded, and they still are. But until this day we made at the same veil, and taken away in the reading of the Old Covenant. The Old Testament, which is done away which they are, is done away in Christ as soon as they their eyes are open like solid touches, and saw who Jesus really is, that He is the true Messiah, and He is the one of whom all these types speak.
And here's the one that is hidden, you might say everywhere in the Scriptures. It's all about him. Then that's the key. And then the eyes are opened, the veil is removed from the heart, Verse 15 says, For even unto this day when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. They don't see Christ there, and therefore they're blind. Nevertheless, when it's when the heart, when the Jewish heart, when the heart of the Jews turn to the Lord.
Turn to the Lord. The veil should be taken away.
And then that next verse that we've already read. Now the Lord is that spirit. He is the Spirit of the Old Testament. He is the spirit of the Scriptures. He's the key, He's the secret. And until one sees that, he is unable to understand the Scriptures. The Lord is that spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
What characterizes Christianity is liberty, the Spirit of God indwelling us, we standing in a perfect, accomplished, subsisting righteousness before God, Christ being our righteousness and in liberty not in ******* but characterized. The law was *******. They were under ******* and they were always afraid that if they broke it they would they would come under condemnation, and they had to bring their sin off them or their trespass off.
And there were these provisions made for failure. But there was no real liberty ever enjoyed by one under law. There's many Christians that are under that ******* still today. Where the Spirit of the Lord is there His liberty. Now notice the last verse of Chapter 3. But we all with open face or with unveiled face. There's no veil upon our face. There's no veil upon Christ's face. We look directly into His face.
He's in glory. We're on earth with unveiled face beholding.
The glory of the Lord, as in a glass, implies that there's there's something between that hinders a good view of him. And I don't think that's the thought here. It's not in the new translation. We'll leave it out. Beholding the glory of the Lord. His face is unveiled, Our faces unveiled. We behold the glory of the Lord. Mercy. He's in heaven, He's in glory. And what happens when we are occupied with Christ in glory by the Spirit?
What? What happens?
Marvelous transformation takes place. It's called metamorphosis. It's the process when the the the little insect in the cocoon breaks out of that and becomes a butterfly and flies away. That's called that, that transformation.
Is called the Metamorphosis, and that's the word was translated changed. Here as we behold the glory of the Lord, We are changed, we are transformed.
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Into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. So in that verse we have the secret from Scripture, and there are other passages that speak of it the secret of a victorious Christian life. We are occupied with unveiled face. We look into the into the face of the Lord Jesus. My veil there, and we by the Spirit were occupied with Christ where he is.
And a marvelous thing takes place. It's not by any home which is the principle of law that's full of works that's due and thou should live, but simply by gazing upon that glorified man. You know, there's an expression I've heard a number of times. I don't like it a bit. The the men of Galilee is in Acts one. When the Lord was taken up into heaven, the Angel said he men of gravity, wise, stanchy, gazing up into heaven. This St. Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manners. You see them go, and I think it's taken from that but.
One of the comments that has been leveled against.
The Saints gathered to the Lord's name is that they're so heavenly minded they're no earthly good.
That's totally unscriptural. If you're really heavenly minded and you're really occupied, If you're really occupied with the Lord and glory, then this is what this is what takes place, we all.
With open or undale face, beholding the glory of the Lord.
Are changed are transformed into the same image.
From glory to glory.
And what's the power of the president? Evil is by the spirit of the world. So it's the ministry of the Spirit that occupies us with a glorified Christ who is not here, who's been cast out of this scene, and he becomes the center of our occupation, and that changes us.
It's it's a it's a process that you cannot explain. You can't explain the process of metamorphosis where that little grubby insect just gets out of the cocoon and flies away as a as a butterfly. You can't reliable there. You can't really explain that how it happens. What is the power that does it. It's the power of God that does it and it's the power of God that will enable us. Who if we're really occupied with the glorified heavenly man.
By the power of the Spirit.
To be transformed according to the same image, the image of the one that we're occupied with. This is the sure cure for depression.
You don't have to go to a psychologist. You don't have to go to a psychiatrist if you really have fits of depression, unless there's something wrong physically with you and something in your body, or the lack of certain hormones or something like this. But the real cure for depression is being occupied itself, not with miserable self, Christ the spirit of God. When we're doing, we really do that. I think this is an unfailing thing.
It never falls when they're really occupied with Christ. When we get down, it's when we've taken our eyes off the Lord and glory and we start getting it. Looking around, we see our brethren, we see their failures, We see our own failures, and we see all the evil that's come into the church and we start wringing our hands and say, Oh dear, what's going to become of US1. Brother said that to Mr. Darby once, And he said, I know of no future for the Christian, the glory. That was his answer today. What's going to be coming? What's going to become of us? We're all going to end up in glory. We're all going to end up in the Father's house.
And if we keep that before us, and we keep him before us, then they'll they'll there'll be a deliverance. That's what gives practical deliverance from the things that plague us now and cast us down and get us occupied with, with failure and a host of things. Down here in this world, we behold the glory of the Lord with unveiled face, and we are transformed according to the same image.
From glory to glory, from 1° of glory to another.
By the Spirit of the Lord.
Now that's the ministry that he's talking about.
Seeing therefore, therefore, seeing, we have this ministry, Ministry of Christ, ministry of Christ and glory, the ministry by the Spirit, the ministry of righteousness. We don't. We're not working to get righteousness, but we are serving him because we are righteous in Christ. He has bestowed upon us. It's all His grace that has brought us into this blessing, and we're sure of ourselves.
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Therefore, see, we have this ministry. As we have received mercy, we think not.
That's the sure thing to keep us from thinking as we're occupied with the man and the glory. We won't get discouraged. And we do get discouraged. Why? Because we take our eyes off of Christ. We get occupied with the wrong object, and then we get discouraged. I do believe you probably know what that means too. But I also know that when I am that way, it's because I'm not easy.
I'm not occupied with him as he is now, as he was when he was here below. Pretty hard to get discouraged when you're feeding on the Lord Jesus effects. Morally impossible to get discouraged when you're really feeding on Christ.
He says. We think not, but we have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty.
Not walking in craftiness or handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth. Commanding ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God, everyone who's under law.
Everyone who's under law has to handle the word of God deceitfully in one way or another, because he knows that if he's honest.
The law condemns him.
It curses him.
It slays him because he doesn't keep it. Everyone that really knows that really is honest.
Do I have to admit that?
But what do people do to put themselves under law? I've talked to many because are you going to get to heaven? Well, keep the 10 commandments. I said, you keep it. Well, I failed. But I'm trying. But that's not what That's not the way the law reads. The law holds out blessing to the obedient, but we're not obedient. And so they say they're trying and then they they they bring in a host of other things. And oftentimes they they fail to call sin, sin.
When they're in under the law.
But here, Paul says, we have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty. We don't have to be dishonest anymore. We don't have to pretend to to being better than we really are. Race enables one to to own before God and everyone else that we are rotten, guilty sinners before God.
That doesn't shake our confidence in the Lord. By nature, that's what we are. Could it be worse than we are? But that doesn't shake our confidence and our assurance. And our standing in Christ and that he has made us to be righteous in Christ doesn't shake that at all, because that's all by grace. That doesn't depend upon my doing anything. Depends all upon what Christ has done. And we own that our true condition before God.
We've renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness or deceit. You don't have to deceive someone. We don't have to pretend to to being better than we really are.
Grace enables one to be completely honest with one another and with oneself. With oneself is important. We're not honest with ourselves, and that's why we are We get discouraged. We're not even honest with ourselves. But Grace enables one to be thoroughly honest with himself. I like when one brother was speaking to another, pointing out this first one, this failures, and so on, going over the list that he had.
And when he said that, he threw.
Second brother said the 1St is yes.
Says you haven't. You haven't even told me half of it, and far worse than you think I have.
And grace enables us to do that. Grace enables us not to pretend to be better than we are. Because he's picked this up when we couldn't have been worse than we were. Saved us promising to bless him, giving us a new life now. And now we can live in the power of that. We don't have to pretend to anything.
Our hand in the Word of God deceitfully.
Handle it deceitfully would be to just take those those verses that we seem to.
Fit all right. And I remember talking to many, many a man on Skid Row and he would say to me, well, I he's a dunker. He's got a real problem with alcohol. Because I don't. I don't.
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Feed my children and don't mistreat my wife and I do this and I do that. He was naming the the virtues that he thought that he had.
But I said what? You drink and.
You don't really know what you're doing when you're drunk. Do you want to talk about that? Well, one year under grace, there's nothing you have to hide. It's all, it's all, it's all disposed. It's all been dealt with by God and knows it perfectly.
So it enables us to be honest with ourselves, honest with others, honest with the word of God.
Not having the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God, he was living in the power of the new life that he had in the risen Christ by the Spirit, and it produced fruit that was for God's glory, and it manifested the truth, commanding ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
And then he says, But if our gospel be hid, it is hidden to them that are lost.
And whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not?
Lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ is the image of God should shine unto them.
And if our gospel is hidden, is hidden to them that are lost, and whom the God of this world had blinded the minds of them which believe them. Now why does it say that? Why does it put it that way?
What is brought before us when it speaks to him as the God of this world, and Satan that he's talking about, doesn't speak of him as the Prince of the power of the air. That's another expression of Satan, and he's called the Prince of this world, He's the ruler of this world, and his man is under his power.
But as the God of this world, he's the one that is the head of all the false religions of this world.
And that's how he blinds people's minds to receiving the true gospel. He gives them a false religion.
And especially he puts men under law, he puts men and women under law. And in that way they're blinded to to the to the truth of the of the grace of God.
They're still trying on their own efforts to become acceptable to God. They're still trying to do something man does not like to own, that he is incorrigibly bad and that he has no righteousness that avails before God.
It's lost. It says it's our gospel is hid. It is hidden to them that are lost. They are lost and they don't know they're lost because the God of this world has set religion before them. Some form, some system of works by which they can work their way out of the mess they're in and their lost condition and up to heaven.
It's the God of this world that's blind in their minds so that they can't understand what else.
The Gospel.
We talk about pure grace. They don't know what grace is. They don't understand that concept because it's the opposite to works, and they're under the principle of works.
Grace. There's nothing so humbling as grace because grace doesn't give me any part to do. I can't even contribute to my salvation if I'm saved by grace. It's all of God. It's not grace and works. It's not a mixture. Now it's all grace, and since man doesn't like that principle, he wants to be able to to pat himself on the back, to some extent at any rate. But when he gets to heaven, he can say, well, I did something towards my salvation.
But grace, if we're saved by grace, the one that finally comes to that has to own. I did nothing for myself.
He has done it all, he has done everything and I've come in as a lost, guilty, condemned Sinner.
Have received what the God of all grace, has offered to me simply out of the goodness of his own heart, and not because there was anything good in me. There was nothing good in me.
The God of this world by providing all these false religions in their legion. There's hundreds of them and they're all a system of works, one way or another. That's the whole principle of all false religions is a system of works.
Even Judaism, which was not a false religion. It was a religion that God gave to man when he was testing him in the flesh to see if there was anything on that principle of law, that man in the flesh. But he gained righteousness and acceptance before God on that principle.
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The law was given to show man that on that principle, he's lost.
Never give them to men to save them, because man can't be saved on that principle. He can't be made righteous on that principle.
What the law says to a Sinner is thou shalt not be a Sinner. Or more correctly, thou shalt not act like a Sinner. Well, how can a Sinner fail to act like a Sinner? He said. That's the only way I can act because that's what I am. But the law says you shall not do the things that a Sinner does and.
So it is a ministry of death and condemnation.
Grace says I know how bad you are. I know where you are. I know you're condemned. I know you're dead in trespasses and sins. I know you're lost and we're safe.
And I want to bless you, and you won't have anything to plant yourself on the back about in this. Because it's all my grace, It's all mercy. It's all grace. It's all the goodness of my heart.
And how does Satan oppose that?
How does he oppose it? I remember talking to a professor when I was in college. He was a Roman Catholic and I sat before him grace, some saved by Grace and just the very things I've just said here. And he looked at me and he said I don't want it. If I can't contribute in some way by my own works to my salvation, I don't want it.
He had a religion given to him by the God of this world that was a religion of works, and he wanted to feel that he contributed to his acceptance before God. So I didn't want grace.
It's just like you go up to a man who's who's really in trouble, but he doesn't realize it and he's about to drown. He doesn't realize it to throw the life preserver and he throws it back with contempt. I can make it to shore by myself.
Until finally he realizes he can't.
And then he's willing to accept the help that you've offered to him. But that's man, he wants to do it in his own efforts.
The God of this world is the one who has blinded the minds of them, which believe not. He does it by religion. He does it by religion. He's the God of this world. He's the one that is the author of all false religion in this scene.
And he uses the principles that give man a place.
Give man a position of importance, of some kind, so that when he arrives at his destination, hopefully heaven, he says. I've got there by my own efforts.
No one will ever get you that way. The God of this world is blinded in man's minds.
Doesn't see the truth about himself. He doesn't see the truth about God. Doesn't really know that God is a God of love. Grace wants to say that.
If our gospel be hid, it is hidden that are lost in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe that.
Lest the light, I'm going to read that as it is in the new translation, unless the radiancy of the gospel of the glory of Christ.
Lest the radiancy of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
But we preach, not ourselves.
Christ, Jesus the Lord. Now how many today are preaching themselves and not preaching Christ? And he says ourselves your service for Jesus sake.
We're just servants.
We're nothing. Who then, is Paul, who's a policy ministering servants through whom he believed?
Palace planet, power planet, polished water, but God gave the increase in talking to my brother here today.
Has pointed out sometimes he did. He did everything right, everything right, but the crop failed. God didn't give the increase and he thought he spoke to me about another year when he did everything wrong. But he had a good cry, just got through the interest.
And I'm sure that you, who are in farming, know better, much better about these things than I do.
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God has to give an increase, and if he doesn't, nothing cuts you, no matter how much you do.
We preach that ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves your servants. For Jesus sake, for God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness. That's what we were. We were moral darkness. We were totally depraved. We had nothing, no light, no life. As he did. He shined out of darkness. Refers back to Genesis one verse 2. The earth was wasted, empty and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And God said let there be light and there was light.
God caused the light to shine out of that darkness, that chaos, that physical chaos, and with us it was a moral chaos.
God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, that shined in our hearts to give the light, or for the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, isn't that wonderful? He shined into my sin darkened heart into your sin darkened heart, that the light that he shined in with should shine out now to others.
He doesn't commit the preaching of the gospel to angels who have never sinned. He commits it to us who were darkness. Then He shines into our hearts that glorious light of the truth, and now it's to shine out from you and from me to those roundabouts. And he uses saved sinners to proclaim the gospel, not unfallen elect holy angels. He uses sinners saved by grace to proclaim the gospel. So he shine into our hearts.
For the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, very fragile, these vessels we can get sick. These bodies of ours, We're subject to sickness. We're subject to infirmity. You're subject to death.
Yes, earth and vessels.
That the Excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
The angels excel in strength and in might, and their messengers of his executing his will. But he doesn't use the angels to proclaim the gospel. He uses you and me in these earthen vessels, these fragile creatures, as we are these vessels of play. He uses us that the light might shine out, that the Excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. Now then, in order for that light to shine out, that light is the life of Christ within every one of us.
Everyone of us has Christ as our life in US, and the Spirit too. And he shined in, and in order for it to shine out, the vessel has to be broken, just like Gideons 300. And they had the light in the vessel, And then at his word they broke the vessel in the light Shaman. And God wrote a great victory. That's the picture that we have here. We have this treasure in earthen vessels. The light is the treasure. The light is the light that the Excellency of the power may be of God and none of us. We have trouble on every side now we have the breaking of the vessel.
Trouble at 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. The putting to death of the Lord Jesus. That's the breaking of the vessel. That's the accepting by the vessel of the the lot of death here. Always burning about in the body. That dying in the Lord Jesus. They're putting to death of the Lord Jesus. That's not a pleasant thing for us to accept. Death is our portion here.
That's the way the life shines out.
Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the light also of Jesus, which is within that vessel, once the vessel is broken, now, might be made manifest in our body.
Everyone of us has that life in our city. Where he is and the way it shines out is when he breaks the vessel. Sometimes he breaks the vessel by putting us on a sick bed. Sometimes he takes away loved ones. Sometimes he puts us through the severest trials. And some of us, many of us probably here, know what I'm talking about personally, what he puts us through greatness. But the life.
Apostle of Jesus might manifest in our body and our moral flesh in our body, verse 11 Says, For we which live are all we delivered unto death. Now this is something further. We are delivered to death. We are Paul had death before him every day, every day he was. Now we're not in fear while we're in this meeting. Then all of a sudden those doors are going to burst open and the Gestapo is going to come in with submachine guns and order us all to prison and take us away. We're not afraid of that.
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There are some Christians in countries where they meet, they meet like we're meeting here and they're in that kind of danger.
We're not, thankfully, we're not in this country.
Power works. Power works. He never knew when the Jews would catch up with him, they hunted him down. You know, they tried to get him and we got to get rid of that man. He's the greatest threat to to us now that he's turned trigger to Judaism and embrace that false religion, Christianity. That's the way they thought, you know. And he says we got to get rid of him. So Paul says 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. Pretty hard to to hurt a man like that. You can't, you can't stop him from preaching by threatening him with death when he's already committed to death anyway.
You can't hold death as as the supreme threat to man which it is to most men. But to one who is always bearing the bottom of the body of the dying of the Lord Jesus, if you threaten him with death, to him that's just the door of entrance into the presence of the Lord. He's not terrified by that. Death is ours. Life and death things present things to come. All are ours. We are Christ. Christ is God likes everything is ours again.
So then death worketh in us the life of you. The result of him accepting death is his portion working him in him and him being exposed to death at any time he could. His life could be snuffed out down here was that life might work in the Saints, and that they might be brought to blessing.
He was willing to lay his life down and literally lay it down to the brother. Death working in him of life might work in the Saints, they might be blessed.
We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believe, and therefore have I spoken, we also believe and therefore speak.
Knowing this, that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus or with Jesus, and shall present us with you. What a hope, what a certainty. They can threaten me with death. They can take my life away. The Lord is going to amaze me and I'm going to be with him. They can't stop that. No matter what the enemy can do is worse than me. He can't stop that. I'm going to be raised with him. I'm going to be rude, Jesus.
And when we're living so in that world, as Paul was threatening, extinction from this world doesn't terrify.
Doesn't terrify what we're looking for. This world, then, if someone threatens to take your life from this world, that tariffs.
Paul says in Philippians in nothing terrified by your adversaries.
You don't have to be afraid. The worst that they can do to us is kill us. And if they kill us, they just send us into the presence of the Lord with the certainty that at the resurrection day for that partner.
That's our that's our absolute certain knowledge that gives such boldness and such confidence.
For all things are for your sakes, he says that the abundant grace, right through the Thanksgiving of many redounds, to the glory of God.
All the things that, for your sakes, the abundant grace which was given to Paul so he could go through all the suffering and all the torture that he was subjected to. He was stoned, he was beaten with rods. He spent a night in the day in the deep he was, he suffered the loss of all things he says. I don't think there's anyone any of the apostles that suffered like Paul. The Lord said, I'll show you how great things you must suffer for my sake.
And he accepted it. He was committed to death. He'd always bore his body for the dying of the Lord Jesus.
And so he could do that. All things are for your sakes.
Give the spare himself.
For which 'cause we think not, But though our outward men perish, yet the inward man is renewed they. By the way, I said this once.
How that?
And his dear sister and her husband has.
Mentally lost things. He just lies there. He just doesn't seem to recognize anyone, doesn't know what's going on around him.
Sort of like a vegetable.
And I just brought this truth out. The awkward man perishes, and that's what you see if you look at them. You see the outward man is a parachute.
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There's no apparent recognition of your being there, but still, given the word, read the word to him. Pray with him.
The inward man is renewed with the 898. The spirit never dies, The Spirit never deteriorates.
Spirit, the inward man, the Newman is revealed daily. And so we can speak to one in that condition, thinking maybe they don't understand the word we're saying, but having confidence that the spirit of God can apply that word to them and bless them in their soul. I remember the story of a little idiot boy in Scotland that had never spoken a rational word in his life. It's in a book called Last Words of Famous People that the last story of the book. It's got last words. Mr. Darby and Mr. Kelly and various ones and and kings and Princess and atheists and agnostics. And the last story in the book is the most thrilling to me.
I was dying back, this little boy. This was a little bit of the time. He was a man then, but.
Never spoken.