Alright, let's continue looking
at that passage that Brother Doug just read in 2 Corinthians
chapter 4. In the past few messages, I've been
dealing with the believer's warfare with Satan. And we've studied quite a bit
out of Revelation chapter 12 where it identifies Satan by
name. It calls him the great dragon
because of his ferocity and his hatred of the church, his hatred
of the truth, his hatred of Christ. And he attacks, he has his ways
and those ways are known by what the scripture reveals, not by
what man concocts in his mythology. and imagination, and what we
see in Hollywood and on TV. That's not the way. That's a
diversion. In fact, that's one of Satan's
greatest tools, I believe, of deception, to get people thinking
the way that the world thinks of him. And we've talked about
how Satan is real. He's a created being. He was
an angel. His name was Lucifer, which means
son of the morning or son of light, and he fell. And ever
since, he declared war on God. It's a lost cause, a losing effort,
obviously. But Satan has been allowed by
God to declare war on the church. And the way he does it is through
subtlety and deception. We learn that in Revelation 12.
The name devil, the word devil means a slanderer, one who slanders
or an accuser. He's the accuser of the brethren.
That's why I always caution people, don't ever, don't ever accuse
the brethren of anything without the proper foundation and proof
and without using the biblical, the biblical methods of dealing
with such issues because when you do, when you do, you're taking
up Satan's cause. And I tell you, that's serious
business, isn't it? That's why the scripture says, God hates
those that sow discord among brethren. And usually that's
the way they do it, by slander and accusation. But he's the
accuser of the brethren. And yet, thank God that we saw
there in Revelation 12 that all his accusations will not stick
to the people of God. Why? Because they turned him
back. They defeated him by the blood
of the Lamb. The blood of the Lamb. It's in
the blood. That's the death of Christ. That's
the righteousness of Christ. And we'll see that here today.
But in this passage of scripture, I want to show you something
specific. And what it shows us here, in one verse, and you can
go all through the scriptures, but here it's just in one verse,
it shows us that the only remedy, the only remedy, the only victory
that we can have As sinners saved by the grace of God over Satan,
of being saved and delivered from sin and from the curse of
the law and from the subtleties and the accusations of Satan,
and having victory in all these things is right here in verse
six. Look at 2 Corinthians four and verse six. Here's your hope. Here's your remedy. Here's your
salvation. For God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness. Now when did God do that? We'll
go back to Genesis, don't turn there, Genesis 1.1. In beginning,
God created the heavens and the earth. God said, let there be
light. Remember he said the spirit moved
upon the face of the waters. In creation, who's he talking
about? The God of creation. Now God revealed something of
his glory in the creation of this world. But look here, that
same God who made light to shine out of darkness, now here it
is, hath shined in our hearts, is he who hath shined in our
hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ. That's our hope. That's our victory
over Satan. Now I want to show you how this
leads up and how this connects to our warfare against Satan.
Look at verse one. Here's the first thing I want
you to see. He talks about our ministry. Our ministry. He says, therefore, now that
connects back with what he said in the prior chapter. In other
words, based upon what I've just told you, seeing we have this
ministry, This ministry, now what ministry? Well, we'll look
at that. He says, as we have received mercy, now there's the
foundation of it all, there's the power of it all, it's the
mercy of God. It's not our power, it's not
our goodness, it's not our efforts. As we have received mercy, the
unearned favor of God, the mercy of God in Christ, we faint not,
we don't quit. How many times have you wanted
to quit? How many times have I wanted to quit? Well, have
we received mercy? If you have, we won't quit. That's
what he's saying. We won't stop in this witness,
in this life of perseverance, endurance. And it's not, again,
it's not because of our power and goodness and determination.
It's because of the mercy of God in Christ. It's of the Lord's
mercies that we're not consumed. He said, I am the Lord, I change
not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. And so as we
have received mercy for this ministry. And you know what ministry
means, it means service. Did you know that? That's what
ministry means, it means service. A minister is a servant. Well,
we thought he was the CEO. No, he's not the CEO. Thank God he's not the CFO. He's
a servant, that's what he is. And he's a servant of the church.
And this ministry is service. And it says, but verse two, but
we have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty or shame.
What does he mean by that? Not walking in craftiness. Craftiness
means slyness. I'm not, you know, just trying
to be sly and witty. He says, nor handling the word
of God deceitfully or deceptively. making it mean what we mean.
I told a fellow a couple years ago, I said, now you've adopted
a doctrine and you're determined to go into the scripture to support
your view. That's deception, that's handling
the word of God deceitfully. We don't put our doctrines in
to the word of God, we get our doctrine out of the word of God.
And so he says, but by manifestation of the truth, Now who is the
truth? Christ said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. And he says, commending ourselves
to every man's conscience in the sight of God. Now what he
means by that is the consciences of believers in whom the word
of God has been written on their hearts. And what that simply
means is you don't take it just because I say it. Now, You know,
anytime you get a notion that any man, because of your love
and respect for that man, that he cannot say anything wrong,
you are in trouble. I don't care who it is. Now,
why is that? We'll look down at verse 7. Now,
we have a treasure. Well, what is that treasure?
It's the glory of God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ.
That's our treasure. But look at verse seven, but
we have this treasure in earthen vessels. You know what an earthen
vessel is here, literally? It's a clay pot. Sometimes I've just jokingly
said, well, what we ought to do is just set a clay pot up
here on the pulpit and put a tape inside of it. These preachers,
they wear these signs that say clergy. Just put clay pot on
it. That's what they ought to put on the front over at the
hospital and said, clergy parking, now I have clay pot parking. That's what we are, earth and
vessels. In other words, you don't look
to the man, you don't worship the man, you don't follow the
man, you follow him as he follows Christ. That's what it's saying. And the reason is that the excellency
of the power may be of God and not of us. Not of us. I'll never forget Tim James telling
that story. about an old preacher who was
walking up in one of the big cities, I don't know whether
it's New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago or something, he was
holding what they called a revival. And after he got through preaching,
he was walking back to his hotel and a drunk came out of the alley,
just staggering up, and he looked up at the preacher, he said,
I know who you are. And the preacher said, well, who am I? He said,
you're preacher so-and-so, you saved me a couple years ago.
And the preacher said, well, you look about like some of my
work. And that's the way it is. You know, I can't save you and
you can't save me. We look to Christ. John the Baptist. I must decrease. Christ must
increase. That's the issue. Now that's
the kind of ministry we have. Not just me, but as a group.
As a group of believers here in this place. But now look back
here at 2 Corinthians chapter 3. What ministry is he talking
about? Over in 2 Corinthians 3, what he's doing here, he's
contrasting the greater excellent glory of the new covenant. Now
the new covenant is the gospel covenant. That's what we live
in today, the New Testament. That's what a covenant is, a
testament. And it refers to the great day of the coming of our
Lord. He's already come and done his
great work. And so we're no longer under
the old covenant. We're so much better off in that
sense, you see. Now any believer under the old
covenant is the same as a believer under the new covenant as far
as the gospel, as far as salvation. It's always been by the grace
of God, by the mercy of God, based on the blood and righteousness
of Christ. They look forward to his coming, we look back at
the fact that he's already come. But it's the same salvation,
same blessing, same surety, same security. It's in Christ, always
has been, always will be. But the economy that they had
to live under, now you think about what they had to do, the
laws they had to keep, the laws of the Sabbath, the laws of diet,
the laws of ceremony, the laws of the feast days, every bit
of it, it was a burden upon them. And when Christ came in time
and fulfilled all the conditions of the salvation of his people,
and he cried on the cross in John 19.30, it is finished. What happened? Remember what
happened? The veil was written to in the temple from top to
bottom, signifying the close of that era and the beginning
of a new era. And we live in that new era.
We live in the new covenant. And what we have in Christ as
to the manifestation of that in the economy is so much greater
than what they had back then. It's so much more glorious. And here's how he does it. First
of all, look back there at verse 6. Now he's talking about our sufficiencies
of God. This is 2 Corinthians 3. He said,
God has made us able ministers of the New Testament, New Covenant.
Not of the letter. Now the letter means the written
law. But of the Spirit. I believe the word Spirit there
should be capitalized. That's the Holy Spirit. And what
he's saying, now under that old covenant, God had a nation, but
it was a nation of rebels as a nation. Now, not every individual
in the nation, there were a few believers saved by the grace
of God, regenerated and called by the Holy Spirit. They were
always referred to as a remnant all through the Old Testament
when Isaiah spoke of the remnant. the remnant according to the
election of grace. But they were always very few.
As a whole, the nation, it was a nation of rebels. They had
the law imposed upon them, brought down upon them, forced upon them,
but they had no inner desire to serve God. They had penalties connected
with it. If a man didn't keep the Sabbath
aright, what was the penalty? Anybody know? One word, what
was it? Death. Capital punishment. That's what they had. A rebellious
son or daughter, death. That was the penalty. And that
was imposed upon them as a nation of rebellious people. God set
it up that way in his wisdom to keep them together for a while. Until the time of what the book
of Hebrews calls Hebrews chapter 9, the time of reformation, the
time of change, which is the New Covenant. So, under the New
Covenant, though, it's not going to be like that. He said this
in Jeremiah 31 when he prophesied it. Under the New Covenant, it's
not going to be a nation of rebels. Now, we're sinners saved by the
grace of God, and there are times we'll be rebellious. But now
the law is written on the heart. What law? The law of God. as
kept and fulfilled in Christ. That's right. Now Christ is our
Sabbath, you see. Now Christ is our feast in the
feast days. Christ is our temple, our tabernacle,
our high priest. See, it's all in Christ now.
That's the singularity or the simplicity of Christ. It's all
in him. My whole salvation. I don't have
to have a list of 660 some laws that I have to check every day
to make sure I don't break. You see, Christ kept the law.
Now that doesn't make me a rebel or a law breaker. Because we
have the commandments of Christ. Love God perfectly, love our
neighbors ourself. All the things that he told,
we're to follow him. Not in order to be saved, but
because we already are. That's the mercy of God that
we receive. He's been merciful to me. I didn't
deserve it, didn't earn it. Still don't. But He's still merciful. And we live in such a glorious
day. He says in verse 6, He says, for the letter killeth. That's
what the letter did. But the Spirit, the Holy Spirit
gives life. The law kills. The law condemns. Look at it. He says in verse
seven, but if the ministration of death, that ministration there,
the root word is ministry. The ministry of death, that law
was a ministry of death. What does that mean? Well, all
the law could do was condemn you. The law was given to expose
sin and sin leads to what? Death. So it's the ministry of
death. Here's what the law said, basically.
That whole law, here's what it said. You're a sinner, you deserve
to die. And it was a continual reminder
of that. What law? The law written and engraved
in stones. What does that tell you? What does that remind you?
The Ten Commandments. That was the central heart of
that law. And he says, he says, but if
the ministration of death written and engraved in stones was glorious,
and it was glorious, I mean, you think about, read about it
sometime. You're all reading about it now if you're following
along in the scriptures. The great and marvelous and glorious things
that were done. He says that the children of
Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for
the glory of his countenance. Remember when Moses came down
out of them, out of Mount Sinai after receiving the law. He had
a physical light. from God that shone on his face. They had to put a veil over his
face. Look here, which glory was to be done away? It didn't
last. It had a beginning and had an
end. And he says in verse eight, how
shall not the ministration of the Spirit, that's the Holy Spirit,
be rather glorious? The Holy Spirit who gives life
to a dead sinner. The Holy Spirit who gives light
to a darkened sinner. The Holy Spirit who brings a
sinner to see the reality of his sin and drives him to Christ
for all salvation. How much more glorious is that?
Would you rather have that or would you rather stand there
and watch the Red Sea open up? Which one would you rather have?
You know, the book of Hebrews chapter 3 tells us that just
about every one of them who walked across dry shod through the Red
Sea, that they perished in unbelief in the wilderness. Read it. I'd rather have the glory of
God in Christ by the Holy Spirit. How about you? You know that
the new birth is the resurrection of a spiritually dead sinner
unto life. Do you know that's a greater
miracle than opening up the Red Sea? That's a greater miracle
than anything physically that took place, even though they
were miracles and they had a glory, but it didn't last. And it didn't
bring a sinner, a sinner, to see the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. But look at verse nine, he says,
for if the ministration of condemnation be glory, that law was a ministration
of condemnation. Why is that? Because it exposed
sin. Sin demands condemnation and
death. He says much more, the ministration
of righteousness. You see, the ministration of
righteousness exceeds in glory. What's the ministration of righteousness?
It's the ministry of the gospel that reveals the righteousness
of God in Christ. You see, the law could not make
a sinner righteous. God can and does make sinners
righteous in Christ, who kept the law. The law can show you
what it requires, but it can give you no power to keep it.
But in Christ, we have one who kept the law, honored the law
in every jot and tittle, he said, and who satisfied the justice
of the law on Calvary's cross for the sins of his sheep. That's
righteousness. That's the merit of His obedience
unto death. That's why He was made sin. Our
sins accounted, charged to Him, and we're made the righteousness
of God. His righteousness accounted, charged to us. Righteousness
of God in Him. That's glorious. Now I wanna
show you how this connects with Satan, but hold on here. He says
in verse 10, for even that which was made glorious had no glory
in this respect by reason of the glory that excelleth. What
is the glory that excelleth? 2 Corinthians 4, 6, the glory
of God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ. That outshines
and exceeds anything that man could even compare to it. But
now notice how he called it the Ministry of Condemnation. I want
you to turn to Hebrews chapter 2. Now how does that connect
with Satan here? I want to show you something.
Look at Hebrews chapter 2 and look at verse 14. Condemnation. Now the Bible teaches
us in all over, but I'll just quote Romans 8.1. There is therefore
now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk
not after the flesh but after the spirit. No condemnation in
Christ. Now that law back there, it was
a ministry of condemnation. And you know Satan, he would
like nothing better than to keep you and me and every human being
looking to the law for righteousness rather than looking to Christ.
You wanna know why? Because that's what keeps sinners
condemned. There is no righteousness for
us by works of the law. That's why salvation is by grace
and not by works. Satan would love, he'd like nothing
better than to keep you and me looking to the law. Trying to
be the best we can be, religiously, morally, ethically, in order
to work ourselves unto righteousness and holiness. Because that keeps
a sinner, that was a ministration of death and condemnation. Well
look here, verse 14, now he says, for as much then as the children,
that's the children of God, Our partakers of flesh and blood
were partnership in that sense. We all have flesh and blood.
And he says, he that is Christ also himself likewise took part
of the same. He had a human body created for
him in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit without
sin. In other words, he was just like us physically speaking,
yet he was not born a sinner. He was made sin later on when
he went to the cross. But he was not born a sinner.
He was not even made a sinner. He never was a sinner. He was
always perfect, but he had a human body. He identified with us in
our name and in our nature without sin. And the reason he did it
is said right here in verse 14, that through death he might destroy
him that had the power of death. That is the devil, the adversary,
the accuser of the brethren. Now, it says there that Satan
had the power of death. Well, what does that mean that
he had the power of death? Well, we know from scriptural
testimony that Satan cannot kill or destroy men at his pleasure.
He doesn't have that power. Job said it. He said, the Lord
killeth and the Lord maketh alive. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Who did he say did that? God. Not Satan. He didn't say
God's trying to keep you all alive, but Satan's trying to
kill you. That's not what he said at all. That's not so. That's
not scriptural. In fact, that's actually heresy. That's putting Satan on the same
plane as God, and you can't do that. Satan has no power to kill
you or to destroy you at his pleasure. But, why does it say
he has the power of death? What power of death does Satan
have? Well, look at verse 15. He says,
and deliver them, this is what Christ would do, deliver them
who through fear of death, Now what kind of fear of death is
he talking about? He's talking about a legal fear of death where all their
lifetime subject to bondage. Now how do I know that's a legal
fear of death? Because it's bondage. That's what legalism is, bondage.
Anytime you find the bondage of the law in the scripture,
that's legalism. What's legalism? Trying to work
your way into God's favor. Trying to work your way into
righteousness. Trying to work your way to salvation.
That's bondage. Just like Israel, bondage in
Egypt. If you're trying to work your way into God's favor by
your works, if you're trying to work your way into righteousness,
you're in legal bondage to the law. And that's just where Satan
wants you. Why? Because that's condemned
you. That's condemnation, you see. Now, he says, who through fear
and death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. How does
Satan have the power of death? Well, he was the first one to
introduce sin into the world, and that brought death into the
world. And so he was, as John 8, 44 says, a murderer from the
beginning. He still tempts men to sin, and
sin, if it reaches its goal, equals death. And then, what
does he do? He accuses. He accuses them of
that sin. Now, he terrifies and affrights
them with death and stirs people up to try to avoid that death
and condemnation by their works. But now when Satan accuses, what
if the accusation sticks? What happens then? Death. But now if Satan accuses, what
if it doesn't stick? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn us? What? It is Christ who died. Yea, rather, is risen again.
Now that's how Satan's power of death is removed by the death
of Christ. You see, Satan doesn't have any
power to condemn you, but he can accuse, and if that accusation
sticks, it brings condemnation. But what if it doesn't stick?
Well, that's where the mercy of God comes in here. Back in
2 Corinthians 4. By the mercy of God, that accusation
won't stick. We're not condemned. We're not
under law. Romans 6, I believe verse 14,
we're under what? Grace. As sin hath reigned unto
death, You see, where sin is imputed, it reigns unto death.
Even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life
by Jesus Christ our Lord. Now look back at 2 Corinthians
4. There's the ministry of it. The gospel ministry. There's
two things here. Satan has a goal. What is his
goal? Look at verse 3. of 2nd Corinthians
4. But if our gospel be hid, that
everlasting gospel, the gospel of God's grace in Christ, the
gospel of God's righteousness in Christ, the gospel that tells
me I'm a sinner who has no hope but Christ, the gospel of the
blood, the gospel of the cross, the gospel that shows me where
mercy for a sinner is found. The gospel of God's justice in
punishing my sins in the person of his son. Our gospel that tells
me that my sufficiency is of God and nowhere else. If it be
hid, it's hid to them that are lost. Who are the lost? They
are those who don't know the way. That's pretty simple, isn't it?
You say, am I lost? Well, let me ask you, do you
know the way? Who is the way? Christ said it. I am the way.
I am the truth. I am the life. No man cometh
unto the Father but by me. Where is the way to heaven? Christ
and him crucified. Where is the way of righteousness?
You've gotta be righteous to enter heaven. Where am I gonna
find it? I'm a sinner. Christ and him
crucified. Where's the way of holiness?
Christ and him crucified. Where's the way to immortality? Christ and him crucified. He
arose from the dead. He's the first fruits of them
that sleep. If our gospel be hid, it's hid
to them that are lost. Now, look at verse four. In whom
the God of this world, Satan is called the God of this world.
What does that mean? Well, Christ referred to him
as the prince of this world. He said in John 12, the prince
of this world is cast out. The apostle John called him the
evil one in whom the whole world lies. In John chapter five, in
verse 19, he said, and we know we are of God and the whole world
lieth in wickedness, literally the wicked one. Paul wrote, when we're lost,
we walk according to the prince of the power there. That's what
he's called there. In what sense is Satan And is Satan the God
of this world? Well, he's the God of this world
in the sense, in this sense alone, that the whole world by nature
is aligned with Satan against God. Let me just read that to
you in Ephesians chapter two. Hold your finger there at second
Corinthians four. The whole world by nature is
aligned with Satan against God and don't even know it. Ephesians
chapter two. And verse one says, and you hath
he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sin, that's how
we're born by nature, ruined by the fall, where in time past
you walked according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air. The spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience, a child of disobedience in the
scripture is an unbeliever. See, you can have an unbeliever
who's doing his dead level best trying to keep the law to be
saved. That's a child of disobedience. The world would say, well, he's
trying to obey God. No, he's not. If you're trying
to keep the law to be saved, you're disobeying God. Because
God forbids that. He says, by deeds of law shall
no flesh be justified in his sight. The commandments of the
Lord lead sinners to Christ. for all salvation. And then it
says, among whom also we all had our conversation in times
past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath,
even as others. In other words, by nature, as
I was born in this world, there's no difference between me and
a child of wrath. And that's why I love that next
verse. But God, who is rich in mercy,
but God. Look back at 2 Corinthians 4.
You see, Satan has a usurped authority over this world, allowed
him by God for a time. And his main way of hiding the
gospel, that's what it's talking about. Look at it, verse four.
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. His main way
of hiding the gospel, from sinners is with the deception of false
legalistic religion. Now let me show you that. Look
across the page in verse 14 of chapter 3. Now what's he talking
about here? What he's talking about is ministers
who claim to be ministers of Christ, but they're trying to
bring people back under the law for whatever reason. They would
tell you, just like in the book of Galatians, Christ is our Savior,
but you need more. and him. You've got to add your
obedience to his, your circumcision to his, your law keeping to his. And so he goes back and he shows
what that covenant, that old covenant, that law really did.
Now, what he's telling them, he says, if you do that, you're
going back to death and condemnation. Well, look at verse 14. He's
talking about the children of Israel when Moses came down.
And he says in verse 14, but their minds were blinded. Now
what blinded their minds? I'll tell you exactly what did
it. Self-righteousness. That blinds the mind. Self-love. Religious pride. Ignorance. Darkness. Their minds were blinded
for until this day remained at the same veil. They had to put
a veil over Moses' face because they couldn't look on that glory.
Now their minds were blinded, and he says, this day, his day,
remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old
Testament. You know what they don't see
in the Old Testament? They don't see Christ in the Old Testament. They read no scriptures. And
they'll see all kinds of things. They'll see the power of positive
thinking. They'll see Christian psychology.
They'll see how to make bigger and better churches, how to get
them in, keep them in, get them to work, get them in the water,
get them to give, how to build a building. They'll see all kinds
of things. And they'll get extra biblical
messages from God, but they won't see Christ. How do you know that's what it's
talking about? We'll look at the next line, verse 14. Which veil is
done away in Christ? You want that veil removed, that
ignorance removed, that darkness removed? It's done away in Christ,
look at it. But even unto this day, when
Moses is read, the veil's upon their heart, it's upon their
mind, their affections, their will. Nevertheless, when it shall
turn to the Lord, to Christ, the veil shall be taken away. When it turns to Christ. The
ignorance, the self-righteousness, the darkness is taken away. And then he says, now the Lord
is that spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is, there's
liberty. Not bondage now, but the liberty of grace. Now, that's
Satan's goal. And he uses deception, he uses
religion, he uses philosophy, he uses self-righteousness, he
uses great lying wonders. Remember we read that in 2 Thessalonians
2? to deceive sinners into thinking that they're okay. Now what's
gonna do away with all that? Verse six, here it is. Here's
God's goal. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of the dark, the God who created this world, the
God who revealed his glory in creation, hath shined in our
hearts. What is our hearts? Our minds,
our affections, our wills, our inner man, our inner being. And
that tells you right there that in order to see this, we must
be given a new heart by the Holy Spirit. This is a good description
of the new birth right here. Verse 6, this is what happens
in a sinner when he's born again. The light shines in his heart
to give what light? The light of the knowledge. This light is knowledge. Who
is this light? It's Christ. He is the light of the world.
He's the light of his people. How does he reveal himself? Through
his truth revealed, preached. and the power of the Holy Spirit.
The gospel, the everlasting gospel, which tells us who God is in
His holiness and in His justice, as well as His love and mercy
and grace, tells us who we are in our sin and what we deserve,
that man at his best estate is altogether vanity and tells us
who Christ is. And that's the glory of God in
the face of Jesus Christ. What is His face here? It's His
person, It's who he is. It's what identifies him. It's
not a physical image. You know, people all the time
are trying to look for things in nature that replicate Jesus. And it gets right down silly,
doesn't it? They see a cloud or they see
an image in a tree and people will flock for miles trying to
get healed. And I told you about the one
who saw the image of Jesus, he said, in a grilled cheese sandwich.
And it's right down silly. But people look for that, the
Shroud of Turin. That's not what this is talking
about. That's Satan's deception, folks. It is. You see, the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ is not a photograph or a carved
image. or a physical image at all. It's
who He is. He's God and man in one person. He's the God-man. He's the word
made flesh and dwelt among us. He's the child born, the son
given. He's the Lord our righteousness,
the Lord our banner, the Lord our peace. He's all those things.
He's the great I am. He's the water of life, the bread
of life. He's the rock. the water came
out of. He's my salvation. He's my hope. That's who He is. He's the only
one who's appointed of God to save me, who's able to save me,
and who's willing to save me. And then it's His finished work. You cannot separate Christ's
person from His finished work. The reason you know that, because
look at it in verse 6, For God, who commanded the light to shine
out of darkness, God's glory is in who He is as He exists,
but He has determined to show forth His glory in His works,
and He created this world. And it's the same way with Christ.
He is who He is, and that's glorious. And we can't even begin to imagine
how glorious that is. But He has determined to show
forth His glory in His work of redemption of His people on the
cross. And so he set forth, set his
face, glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, the Bible says
he set his face like a flint to do what? To redeem us by the
blood shedding, by the death that he'd accomplished on Calvary.
That he would fulfill all righteousness. And let me show you something
and I'll close. This glory now, right here, is the greatest and
fullest glory of God that ever has been or ever will be. Even
more so than creation. Because you see, you can see some of God's glory
in creation. The Bible talks about that in
Romans 1 and Psalm 19. His wisdom, His power, even His
goodness. But in Christ on the cross, paying
the redemption price for the sins of his sheep and establishing
righteousness, there on that cross, you see every attribute
of God's character and nature honored, magnified in the effulgence
of its glory, working consistently together for one purpose, to
save a sinner. That's God's highest, that's
the Shekinah glory of God. You ever heard that term, the
Shekinah glory? Used to dwell in the temple,
in the tabernacle where? Above the mercy seat, where the
blood was shed. That was a picture of God's Shekinah
glory in the face of Jesus Christ. And I'll tell you, there's one
phrase that identifies God in this way, and that's God is both
a just God and a savior. He's both a righteous judge and
a loving father. You can go in there and get Arthur
Pink's book on the attributes of God and there are others,
Stephen Charnock's book, and they're good books. You want
to condense it all down into one thing, right here, the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. I see it. Every attribute. You may not even be able to name
all the attributes of God, but you've seen the glory of Him
if you've seen Christ and Him crucified and risen again. If
you've seen that His blood alone can wash away all your sins,
and His righteousness alone can give you a complete, eternal,
unchangeable standing before a holy God, you've seen the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Now, one more thing, verse 5,
He says, For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and
ourselves your servants, for Jesus' sake. Now, if you've seen
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, Why would you
wanna preach out yourself? Why would you wanna promote yourself?
You wouldn't if you've seen his glory in the face of Jesus. You wanna promote him, preach
him out. It's not salvation conditioned
on me, it's salvation conditioned on Christ, that's our hope. All
right, let's sing as our closing hymn near the cross, hymn number
351.