Alright, take your Bibles and
turn with me again to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter
4. The title of the message this
evening is Our Life of Dying. Our Life of Dying. The Scripture
says in verse 10, 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. What I want us to see before
we get to this particular part is what the Apostle has brought
so far together before he says this. I think it's necessary
that we see the whole picture of this. And so we would If you
go to verse 4, he says, in verse 1 of chapter 4, he says, therefore,
and always when you see that word therefore, you find out
what it's there for. You got to go back to chapter
3. Paul asked the Corinthian church
here, he says, do we commend ourselves? Do we begin to commend
ourselves or do we need some other commendation? Paul is asking
this church, did we come preaching the Gospel by our own commendation? Did we need the commendation
of men to preach the Gospel to you? Of course, he did not need
that letter of commendation. Why? Because the church itself
was the commendation. The church of Corinth, he says,
you are our commendation. You are our commendation. The
witness of every gospel preacher who is called to preach is not
of men, but is witnessed by the work of the Holy Spirit upon
those we preach to. I often struggle with my calling. I struggle with my calling just
as the Apostle Paul struggled with his in recognizing our insufficiency
to do what we are called to do. If you look in chapter 3 of verse
5, he says, not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything
of ourselves. We're not sufficient for this.
I am not sufficient for this. Preachers are sinners saved by
the grace of God, just like every other saint. There's no difference
between you and I. We are of the same body, which
is Christ, and we have the same head. It's not that preachers
have some better thing or something that's desirable, something that
sets us apart from other believers, that's not what sets us apart.
That's not what calls us to this office because we have some ability
that's more than anybody else. The only reason we are preaching
the gospel is by the grace of God. We are what we are by the
grace of God. There's no other reason for me
to be called. And if I am called of God, you
are my commendation. You are my epistle. That's what he says to the church
of Corinth. You are my epistle. You are my
commendation. If I am called to preach the
gospel, then there will be a work of the Holy Spirit among you. among you. If there's no work
of the Holy Spirit among those to whom we preach, we're not
called. We're not called. The Spirit of God testifies to
our calling by the working of His power in those we preach
to. The message we preach. The message
we preach. It's not a message of law. It's
not a message of works, religion. But we preach the salvation of
God by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. We preach this
message. This is the message of every
gospel preacher. And this message is not without
its power. The Spirit of God takes the message. And He applies it to the hearts
of His people. We preach salvation is the complete
and utter work of God alone, without any addition. We add nothing to this work.
When I preach the gospel, I add nothing to it. If there's anyone who hears the
message of God's grace and testifies and believes and trusts in Christ
and is moved by the grace of God, then it's not of us. Paul
said that the work should not be of us, but of God. It's of
God. We have no confidence in our
ability to preach. And I have no confidence in your
ability to hear. It's all the work of grace. It's
all the work of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, be comforted. You
who believe on Jesus Christ, you be comforted. God said to
us who preach the gospel, Comfort ye, my people, saith the Lord. Speak comfortably unto Jerusalem,
for her warfare is accomplished. Be comforted, believer, because
you are saved by the grace of God. Be comforted because Jesus
Christ has accomplished your redemption. Be comforted because
Christ is risen from the dead and is seated at the right hand
of God and ever lives to make intercession for us. Be comforted,
not just because you are my epistle, but because you are the very
epistle of the Lord Jesus Christ. Believers, recognize this, that
you have the very image of the Son of God written on your hearts. You, each one of you who believe,
every one of us who believe, have this epistle that is written
on our hearts. It is the very image of the Son
of God. This is what it is that when
the Spirit of God comes in the new creation. We have been given
a new life. We who were dead in trespasses
and sin are now made alive. How? By the Prince of Life. The
Prince of Life, Jesus Christ, has shined in our hearts. God has commanded the light to
come out and shined in our hearts. And what's the image that shines
in our hearts? It's the image of Christ. It's
the life of Christ. He is the sum, the substance,
the object, and the matter of our life is Jesus Christ. He's everything. He's the author
of our life. He's the sum of it. And He's
the object of it. Jesus Christ. He is the epistle that the Holy
Spirit has stamped on our hearts and sealed, the scripture says. We are sealed with the Holy Spirit
of promise. Sealed. Jesus is the original
epistle and we are his copies. It's wonderful, isn't it? You
are the express copy and image of the Son of God in your hearts. Every one of us. Isn't that the
whole reason why He predestinated us? The Scripture says He predestinated
us to be conformed to the image of His Son. That He might be
the firstborn among many brethren. How is it that this image came
about? How is it that this light shined
out of darkness? Is it not by the instrumentation
of the preaching of the Gospel? Yes, it is. All of these things
are connected together. Scripture says, How shall they
believe on Christ whom they have not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word. Do you believe hearing by the
Word of God? Do you believe? How did you believe? Well, you heard the Gospel. You
heard the Gospel. And God shined His power. God has put His power to that
message. And you believed. You were born
of the Spirit of God. Secondly, not only does Paul
discuss his commendation as being a preacher of the gospel, that
they are his commendation, but he also testifies to the glory
of the message that we preach. The glory of the message. Paul
gives an example here in 2 Corinthians chapter 3. He gives the image
of Moses. Let's begin reading there in
verse 6. He said, Who also hath made us able ministers of the
New Testament, not of the letter, but of the Spirit? For the letter
killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. But if the ministration
of death, written and engraved in stones, was glorious, so that
the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face
of Moses, for the glory of his countenance, which glory was
to be done away, How shall not the ministration of the Spirit
be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation
be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness
exceed in glory. There is no doubt the law is
glorious. It is the law of God. There is
nothing wrong with the law. The problem is us. The problem
is our sin. Therefore, the law was only meant
for our condemnation. It was only meant to show us
the exceeding sinfulness of our sin. Now, when Moses came back
from that mountain, The Scripture says that his face was so bright
that they couldn't stand the sight of him. They had to put
a veil over his face so that they could hear his message. Well, how much more glorious!
When Moses came down, he revealed, he manifested the glory that
he was in the presence of God. He manifested the glory that
his message was from God. And he had a veil over his face.
But how much more glorious is the message of Christ? How much
more glorious does the gospel shine in comparison
to the law? The law was only meant to show
us our sin. But believer, how much glorious
is the gospel of God's free grace in Christ? How much better is
the covenant of grace than the law of sin and death? Well, it's
much more glorious. It's infinitely more glorious. It's brighter, it's more glorious
because it speaks of better things than the law. Does not the message of grace
speak better things? What does the law say to you?
Death. Guilty. That's all it can say.
When you read the law, all you can see is your guilt. No man is able to look to God
through the law without being consumed by the wrath of God. But now the veil has been removed
and we are able to see the glory of God. We can see the glory
of this message. How that God has chosen people
as a chosen people that He ordained to be saved from the foundation
of the world. How glorious is that, that we
were chosen in Christ before the world began, that we were
accepted in the Beloved before the foundation of the world.
How much more glorious is it that the Son of God came in human
flesh so that He might die for our sins and suffer the wrath
and vengeance of God's law in our stead, so that we were able
to go free How much more glorious is that? And how much more glorious
is it that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead? That this testifies
that all He said and did was true. And that God has seated
Him on His right hand until He had put all His enemies under
Him. We are able to see the glory
of God and this veil has been removed so that we can see this
in the face of Jesus Christ. I can only see hope in the face
of Jesus Christ, can't you? I can only see my hope in the
person and work of Christ alone. I can't see my hope anywhere
else. I can't see the glory of God found anywhere else but in
Him. And this glory, this glory, The glory of God, the image of Jesus Christ, we bear on our hearts. The image of God is on our hearts
and it shines much brighter than the face of Moses. This image
that God has stamped on each one of his people is a brighter
image than the face of Moses because it is the image of Jesus
Christ. Therefore, we preach to you,
Paul said, with plainness of speech. Because of what great
things God has done for us, because of such a great and glorious
gospel, we dare not interfere with this gospel message. Therefore,
we try, as the Lord gives us liberty and ability, we try to
preach to you with such plainness of speech that you should be
able to say, well, I already knew that. I'm not telling you anything
new. These things have been written here for centuries. These things
are true. These things are right. Therefore,
we preach with plainness of speech. That's what he says in verse
11. He said, For if that which is done away is glorious, much
more that which was remained is glorious, seeing we have such
an hope. We use great plainness. speech. So when we preach the
gospel, we preach with great plainness, clarity. Gospel preachers are to preach
Christ with simplicity and steadfast confidence. I declare these things to be
true because God has declared them to be true. I declare them to be true because
I have experienced them to be true. You see, I don't have any confidence
in my flesh to do this, but all my confidence is in God. All
my confidence is in God. And because we have been given
such a ministry, because we have been given such a ministry, we
have no need of deception. I'm not here to deceive anyone. We're not trying to trick men
into believing in Christ. I know that many people when
we witness or something, we always have this phobia as though we're
not going to say it right or do it right. It don't have anything
to do with us anyway. It is the power of God. This
is the message of God. We're not trying to trick men
to come. Why? Because this gospel message is
just too good to add anything to it. We don't need to deceive
men to come and try to gain men into the church. We preach with
boldness and without compromise of any free will, works, or sensational
religion. We're not trying to please men.
We just try to simply declare what we've heard, what we've
known to be true. We preach salvation by the work
of God alone. It's simple. What do we have to do with our
salvation? Absolutely nothing. Absolutely
nothing. That is simply by the grace of
God alone. And all who believe the gospel,
you who hear the gospel and believe it, testify to these truths because we've been set at liberty.
Have you been set at liberty from sin? Are you free from the
condemnation of sin, from the guilt of sin, from the power
of sin? You are if you are in Christ.
You have been set free. You have liberty. I'm not here
to bind you. I'm not here to take chains and
put them on you, and burdens which you cannot bear, and I
can't bear. I'm simply here to tell you that
the Son shall set you free. You shall be free indeed. And you who believe, you are
free. You are free. You are free in Christ. Free
to worship Christ, free to serve Christ, as once you were bound
and you could not serve Christ. Paul says in verse 18 of chapter
3, he says, But we all, with open face beholding in a glass
the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory
to glory. even as by the Spirit of the
Lord. We who believe in Jesus Christ,
who have the image of God, may see this image of God in us. You who believe, you may see
and know the image of the invisible God by His presence in you. In you. Yes, in us. The Scripture says that we can,
with open face, not with a veiled face like Moses, but we can see
with an open face, a plain and simple open face, looking into
the gospel of God's glorious grace and mercy. We can see what
great things He's done for us. Paul says, for now we see through
a glass darkly. Yes, it's darkly. Yes, we still
have this old man that we see constantly. But as we look into
the pages of Scripture, as we study the Word of God, we should
be looking as into a mirror and seeing what great things God
has done in us. When I read the Word of God and
it speaks of forgiveness, I testify with that. I identify with forgiveness
because He has forgiven me of my sins. I identify with the
glory of God in Jesus Christ. I know that He has saved me. We cannot see the image of Christ
fully, but yet we know it's there. His Spirit, the Scripture says,
testifies with our spirit. that we are the sons of God. Does your spirit testify with
the Spirit of God? Does the Spirit of God testify
with your spirit when this gospel is preached that you are the
sons of God? We know this to be true by the witness of the
Spirit, that Jesus Christ is all our righteousness. Now, as
we grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, The
Scripture says that this image, that this image we see in the
mirror of the Gospel is change from glory to glory. As we grow in the grace and knowledge,
this changes from glory to glory. What this simply means is that
He that hath begun a good work in you shall perform it unto
the day of Jesus Christ. That's what that means. That
this image in you, though glorious, is just as glorious as it's going
to be in heaven. There's not going to be anything
that as we grow, we don't become holier. No, that image is perfect
in you. That which the Spirit of God
created is perfect in you. And as you die and drop this
mortal frame, that spirit will rise to be with the Father in
the same image that's in your body right now. But as we grow, we become more
aware of this. As we grow in the grace and knowledge
of Jesus Christ, we become less in ourselves, but we see the
glory of God more in us. We see the work of God more. And He'll keep us until He raises
this mortal body to be like His glorious body. Now, we preach
the Gospel, We who preach the gospel and you who believe the
gospel, we bear the image of Christ by the grace of God. You and I are sons of God in
the image of Jesus Christ by the grace of God. If I should look to myself or
my ability to preach, I should surely faint. If I should look to myself to
keep the image of Christ, I should surely faint. But because I have received this
ministry, and because I have received the image of Christ,
both by grace, we shall both endure. I shall endure preaching
the gospel by the grace of God, and you shall endure by the grace
of God to continue to believe the gospel. And we who preach the gospel,
Paul says we faint not to renounce all the hidden things of dishonesty. Look at verse 1, he said, therefore,
seeing we have this ministry. I want you to understand this,
that this is not my church. This is not your church. This
is our church. This is ours. This is our ministry. This is our ministry. that we
have been given of the Spirit of God, by the grace of God. Seeing we have this ministry,
as we receive mercy, we faint not and have renounced the hidden
things of dishonesty. We who preach are constantly
denouncing false doctrine. How do we do that? Do I study
false doctrine? Don't study false doctrine. A
counterfeiter never studies a counterfeit. He always studies the truth,
the original. And that's what we are to do.
We're not to denounce these things by studying them and revealing
those things. We just simply declare what's
true and that denounces them all together right there. I don't
have to study their gospel. If it's of works, it's wrong.
I automatically discredit it. It's not true. He says, For the wisdom of this
world, in 1 Corinthians 3.19, He says, For the wisdom of this
world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh
the wise in their own craftiness. The whole purpose of a pastor
is that the church of God might be called Edified, encouraged
by plain declaration of the gospel. Paul says in Ephesians 4 verse
14, he says that we henceforth be no more children tossed to
and fro, carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the slight
of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive.
We speaking the truth in love may grow up in Him in all things,
which is the head, even Christ. You see, God gave the gift of
preachers so that you might not be tossed about. So that you might be steady and
settled, grounded in the truth of the gospel of God's grace. And truly, if this gospel be
hid, it's hid to them that are lost. It's hid to them that are lost. I'm not trying to hide it. I'm
not trying to weave it in, the conversation. Oh, I've fretted for that for
so many years, just trying to, you know, wanting to tell somebody
of Christ and then trying to weave it in. I don't need to
do that. I don't need to be deceitful.
Just be plain. Speak plainly to people. We preach Christ and Him crucified. This same Jesus whom God who
is God manifest in the flesh, has come by the will of God to
save His people from their sins. And He's accomplished that. We
simply declare an accomplished work. A finished work of salvation. I preach Christ who fulfilled
the law as a representative man for God's elect. I preach that
Christ has redeemed his people from their sins by dying under
the justice of God's law. By having their sins imputed
to him and he is raised for their justification and he will call
them by the gospel, by his spirit. And according to his will, the
spirit of God will come and quicken everyone and he will keep everyone. that Christ has chosen. Now,
is that not plain and simple? Have you believed on the Son
of God? Have you trusted in Christ and
rested your soul on His glorious salvation? Then, friends, listen. You have this treasure in earthen
vessels. You have the very treasure of
God's righteousness in your mortal body. I love that hymn that says, Oh,
the love that drew salvation's plan and the grace that brought
it down to man. The mighty gulf that God did
span at Calvary. Believer, you and I have the
treasure of God in this mortal frame. This gospel that is written
on the tables of our heart. And we bear the image of the
Son of God. To whom do we owe such a great
honor? Such glory? Well, we owe everything
to God. We owe everything to God. What
then is the result of this grace? If you've received this message,
if you believe this message of Christ, and you have the treasure
of God in you, the very image of the Lord Jesus Christ created
in you by the Spirit of God, what's going to be the result? Well, it's not what natural man
expects it to be. Look at your text here and see
what the Apostle found as he traveled through this world believing
on Christ. What did he find? Verse 8, he
said, 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. Men would expect who have received
the election of God who receive the redemption of Christ, the
Spirit of God dwelling in them, men would expect a trouble-free
life. Well, surely God chose me, He
redeemed me, He did all that. Surely He'll take away all my
troubles. That's not what we expect. We expect trouble. We who believe on Christ should
expect trouble. We should expect to be perplexed
by our circumstances. We should expect to be persecuted
and outcasts of this world. This is the result of the image
of God in you. That's what will happen when
this image shines forth. That's exactly what will happen.
You'll be troubled, you'll be perplexed, you'll be cast down,
and you'll be cast out. That's what to expect. Yet when
we are perplexed, when we are troubled by our sin, we are not
distressed. Why? Christ died for our sins.
We're not distressed. We're not in distress or danger
of being cast out forever into hell. Why? Christ had died for
our sins. We have a hope, a glorious hope. Are you perplexed? Do the circumstances
of your life perplex you? What's that? Things that make
you go, hmm? You expected everything going
well, everything going well, and all of a sudden, it all falls
apart and you're perplexed. But yet, we are perplexed, maybe
perplexed by our circumstances, but Christ is risen from the
dead and He controls all things. We may be perplexed, the Apostle
Paul says here, He says, we are perplexed, but not in despair. We don't utterly despair about
our circumstances. Why? Christ is controlling our
circumstances. We may be despised and forsaken
by men and family and friends, but Jesus Christ said, I will
never leave you nor forsake you. So we are not forsaken. Therefore,
believer, We who are given spiritual life must expect to bear the
dying of the Lord Jesus in this mortal body. Matter of fact,
verse 11 is just a clarification of verse 10. Look at that. For
we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake. that the life also of Jesus might
be made manifest, where? In this mortal flesh. What does this mean, dying? Bearing
about the dying of the Lord Jesus. Not that our dying or suffering
in this flesh would merit any part of salvation. That's not
what we're saying. That's not what He's saying.
It means that we should expect to suffer. even as our Lord Jesus
Christ suffered. Was He not delivered by God for
our offenses? Yes. The Scripture says He was
delivered by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God. The
Apostle in Romans 12 says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the
mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. Holy and acceptable. unto God. Which is your unexpected,
over-exuberant service? You're going above and beyond
now? No. He said, that's just your reasonable
service. Isn't it just reasonable that
if our Lord was delivered to death, should we not be delivered
daily to death? Yes. That's just reasonable.
And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed
by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that
good, acceptable, and perfect will of God. For I say through
the grace given unto me to every man among you, that you think
not more highly of yourself than you ought to think, but think
soberly according as God has dealt to every man the measure
of faith. Let's not be fooled by the wisdom
of this world to think that we are above suffering. That somehow we merit a better
path. Jesus told us that the world
would hate us. He said, if the world hates you,
know it hated me before it hated you. Now, should we expect the
world to love us and accept us? No. No. Jesus, when He prayed His high
priestly prayer, He said, Father, take them not out of the world,
but keep them from the evil one. God has placed us here in this
life at this particular time for His service, for His glory. And I'll tell you, if the world
love us, we should consider our calling. We should consider ourselves
if the world love us. Scripture says that friendship
of the world is enmity against God. Therefore, we who have the Spirit
of Christ must not think ourselves above the suffering of the Lord. Why such suffering? Why are we
called to suffer? That the life of Jesus might
be made manifest in our mortal body. Believer in Christ, we don't
belong to ourselves. We belong to Christ who bought
us with His own blood. He bought us with His own blood. We belong to Him and all we possess
in this life is for His glory. Paul said, for me to live is
Christ and to die is gain. May this be our hope and greatest
comfort that for us to live is Christ and to die daily is gain. It's to die daily is gain for
us. Is your job your life? Or your
family your life? Or your marriage your life? Or
your children your life? Or is Christ your life? We all need a job. The Lord knows
this. He says, I know what you have
need of. Now, He may not provide it exactly the way we had planned,
but He promised and He will provide. We who have families should love
them and take care of them, but never to the neglect of the gospel
of Jesus Christ. We should never compromise with
the flesh or this world, but rather let us rejoice when we
are able to suffer for the cause of Christ. Rejoice! Rejoice that your Savior has
called you to bear about His dying to the rest of the world. Do you not know that you are
the light of the world? Jesus said you were. He said,
you are the salt of the earth, and if the salt hath lost its
savor, what good is it to be cast out and trodden among men? If we have lost the life, what
good is this life? If we've lost the testimony,
the witness of Jesus Christ by our sufferings, then what good
is this life to us? It's not any good at all. We have no purpose. We have no
purpose. Jesus Christ, that we are said
we are to die daily, said, take up your cross and follow me.
Take up your own individual, personal cross that I have made
with my own hands. Jesus said, take that cross and
follow me. Now don't envy somebody else's
cross. There's a lot of crosses that
seem a lot lighter than ours. Well, Christ said, don't envy
those. He said, you take up your cross. Remember when Peter asked
the Lord about John? He said, what about John? How is he going to die? And He
said, look, if I want John to live until I come back, what's
that to you? Follow thou Me. Individually. He calls us all
to follow Him. How do we follow Him? By faith. Simply dying to this world in
the flesh. Mortify therefore the deeds of
this body. And in doing so, we bear testimony
to the image of God that is created in us. And lastly, how can we endure
such sufferings and bearing about the body of our Lord Jesus? Paul
goes on to tell us the reason of all the saints suffering,
that we should faint not. Look at this in verse 16. This
is the reason, this is the comfort you should have when you are
dying inside. When all around you seems to
be collapsing. Look at this. In verse 16, for
which cause we faint not? But though the outward man perish,
yet the inward man is renewed day by day. Aren't the mercies
of God fresh every day? Aren't they new every morning?
Yes, they are. Well, that gives me renewal. That gives me strength to make
it through the day. It is His mercies for our light
affliction. And the Apostle Paul, none of
us would ever consider his life light affliction. None of us have ever suffered
beatings for the gospel, have we? No. None of us have resisted
unto blood, but Paul said these are light afflictions, which
are but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory. For while we look not at the
things which are seen, but the things which are not seen, For
the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which
are not seen are eternal. Set your affections on things
above. John Gill says this about the
Apostle, that he aimed at throughout the whole course of his life
was for the glory of Christ, the good of His church, the spread
of His gospel, the honor of His name, and the increase of His
interest. Is that our life? Can anyone
around us testify that that was our life? That Christ is all? Is this not what we live for,
the glory of Christ and the good of His church? Is this not going to be, is this
going to be easy? No. No. Believer let us see that we live,
for us to live is Christ and to die is gain. Our suffering here on this world
would be unbearable and we would not be able to endure unless
the promises of God were not sure in Christ. We who bear the
life of Christ in our body must also bear the death of Christ
in our body, so that we might testify to the gospel that is
preached here. When you go out from this place
into this world, you will be the only gospel, the only testimony
to those around you. I'll tell you what, you'll speak
to people and you'll be around people I'll never see. What is our testimony? You are
my testimony. You are my witnesses, Jesus said.
But if anybody's to hear the gospel, it's going to be first
by you, by your life, by your endurance of the sufferings of
this life. And maybe God would use that
to bring them to hear the message of his grace. I pray that God
bless this to your heart. Let's stand. We'll be dismissed
in prayer.