I'm going to be preaching here
from 2 Corinthians 3. And my subject is, the Spirit
giveth life. You see it down there in verse
6. The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. And as I
read through these verses, these words seem to take hold of me. I deal a lot with this thing
of life. Those of you who listen to my
messages on the Internet or follow my teaching through the various
books that I'm teaching on, you've picked up on that. I speak a
lot to that subject of life. But Paul says here in verse 4, And such trust, he said, have
we, talking about those who are his fellow ministers, Such trust
have we through Christ toward God or to God. Not that we are
sufficient of ourselves to thank anything of ourselves, but our
sufficiency is of God, who 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. Able ministers. I looked at that and I thought about myself and
I thought about my abilities. I thought about my history. I
thought about my current condition. And it just don't jive. able
ministers. Am I? Is it even in the realm
of possibility for a man, a fallen shipwrecked son of Adam, to stand
before men and minister to them as they have need to be ministered
to? And that's why Paul prefaced
what he said by I'm not like I'm looking inside and seeing
any sufficiency in here. Whatever this ministry of the
New Testament is, it's not dependent on anything in me. Nothing. Nothing whatsoever in me. But he said our sufficiency is
of God. The Apostle said, He was made
able, but not of himself. Not if it's
left to him. He said that we are sufficient
of ourselves even to think anything of ourselves. But our sufficiency
is of God who hath made us able ministers. Now, what is this
New Testament? What in the world is he talking
about? This ministry of the New Testament. Well, let me begin
here in Hebrews 9, verse 15, where Paul says, and for this
cause he, that is, talking about Christ. And I was talking to
Nathan here this morning about what I was going to preach on
this morning, and I said, whenever you want to understand something
of the ministry and something of what the Lord is talking about,
don't look to man, look to Christ. Look to Christ. And here's what
Paul said about this new covenant. He said, And for this cause he,
that is Christ, is the mediator of the new testament, the new
covenant, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions
that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive
the promise of eternal inheritance. So as a covenant of works, Man
failed. He failed miserably. He failed
in his covenant obligations in our father Adam. He failed to
keep the law. He failed to love God supremely. He failed to submit himself to
the simplest of God's commandments. Of everything in the garden you
may freely eat, but not this tree. That tree was the sign
and seal of God's authority as God. And the simplest of commandments,
the greatest man outside of Christ who ever lived on this earth
could not fulfill this covenant, could not keep this covenant.
Man failed miserably. And because of that failure,
all mankind in Adam became a partaker of this failure. In Adam all
die. But there was a covenant that
preceded that covenant of works, an eternal covenant of And Christ
was appointed surety of that covenant. And a people were chosen
in him to be represented by him and in him. And their future
state rested upon him and his ability to keep and honor this
covenant of God. And this he accomplished, Paul
said, by means of death for the redemption of their transgressions. This is what this new covenant
is all about. Here's the mediator of the covenant.
If you want to know how God's going to mediate this covenant
and how God's going to bring this covenant to men, you look
at Christ. Christ stood before men as a
man, and He preached the Word of God. He brought the promise
of this New Testament, of this new covenant, and He stood before
them as a man, and some saw God in Him. Some heard the words
and just heard the words of a man. Others heard that word and heard
the word of God. And this is what he told them.
He said, except you believe that I am, you'll die in your sins. A man with an open book declaring
this New Testament of God. That's what it's all about. That's
what it's all about. This New Testament has to do
with his accomplishments, his righteousness, his willingness,
his love, his sincerity, his faithfulness, his sin atoning
death. And then in Hebrews chapter 10
verse 15, he goes on through the rest of chapter 9 and chapter
10 at the beginning and he tells you how this covenant is being
mediated by Christ and what it's all about. It has to do with
his death. has to do with his death. And then he gets down
here to verse 15, and he says, Whereof the Holy Ghost also is
a witness to us. For after that he'd said before,
This is the covenant, here's the testament, here's this new
testament. This is the covenant I will make
with them after those days, saith the Lord, I'll put my laws into
their hearts, and in their minds will I write them. And their
sins and iniquities will I remember no more." So this New Testament
of God is a covenant of grace that must be confirmed in the
heart. It's not enough to hear with
the ears. This new covenant of grace must be carried to the
heart by the Holy Spirit of God Himself, who alone can take that
blood that's preached by that man and sprinkle it on your dead
and purge you from your sin. He's the only one that can do
that. He is the mediator. He's the mediator. And when he
does, he said, there are sins and iniquities, will I remember
no more. This covenant of grace confirmed
in the heart and in the minds of all those whom God calls out
of darkness into his marvelous light. And it's to them who are
called to receive, he said, this eternal inheritance. You see that there in chapter
9 of Hebrews? Called to receive the eternal
inheritance. And no man is sufficient of himself
for this task. It requires things out of his
control, out of his ability, out of his authority. Can these
bones live? Oh, Lord, God, thou knowest.
I don't know. I don't know. And ministers of
this covenant are only ministers as God makes them able. You see,
I don't care how well trained you are, how educated you are,
how fluent you are in the languages. I know a man who died not too
terribly long ago, and I knew him for some years. And he was
a grace preacher. And he could speak five languages
fluently and had a photographic memory. But he could not communicate
this gospel. He just could not do it. Now
watch this. Ministers of this covenant are
only ministers, Paul said, as God makes them able. He made
us able ministers. Now watch. Not of the letter. Not of the letter, but of the
Spirit. For the letter killeth, but the
Spirit giveth life. Now, before there can be faith,
that's what I'm looking for. I'm looking for faith. I preach,
and I look, and I listen, and I preach some more, and then
I look, and then I listen. What am I looking for? I'm looking
for faith. That's what I'm looking for. The evidence of life. Before
there can be faith, there must be life. Faith is the fruit of
the Spirit. You've all read that in Galatians,
the fruit of the Spirit. One part of that fruit. He's
not talking about a lot of different kinds of fruit there. He's just
talking about one fruit. And this fruit has meekness,
joy, it has all these things, and it produces faith. Faith
is the fruit of God's Spirit. And except a man be born of water
and of the Spirit, he cannot perceive, he cannot understand,
he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. And apart from an understanding,
there can be no faith. I have to hear. I have to understand. I have to rest. I have to perceive.
But I can't do that apart from a new birth. Can't do it. In John chapter 1, the Lord said,
I was in the world. Here I am. I came into the world.
Now he's talking about from Genesis to Malachi. He was in the world. And he said, and I made it. I
made everything in it. My fingerprint, my image, my
mission, my purpose is in everything that's created. Every living
thing in some way points to me. But the world did not know me. He was in it as Melchizedek.
He was in it as the angel of the covenant. I couldn't tell
you how many pre-incarnate appearances Christ made throughout the Old
Testament. I can't tell you how he was prophesied
and promised and all of these things, how many times throughout
that period. But the world knew him not. And he said, I came unto my own.
I set aside a nation of men. I set aside a great number of
men. And in them I committed my purpose,
and I committed how I would redeem. I committed all of these things.
I committed in pictures and types and symbols to them. I came unto
my own, but my own received me not. The fulfillment of everything
that he prophesied through the Old Testament prophets appeared
before men in the person of a man, and they looked him right in
the eyes. and could not see Christ in him. Could not see Christ
in him. But some did. Some did. Some did embrace him. Some did
indeed believe on him. But why not all? Why not all? In Romans chapter
10, I'm just going to pull a piece of a verse out of Romans chapter
10, where he said, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. And Paul said, For there is no
difference between the Jew and the Greek. For the same Lord
over all is rich unto all that call upon him. So why didn't
all call upon him? He came to them. And now what
did I say? He appeared. He appeared in pictures. How
much simpler? We've been looking at these pictures
in Genesis. And I always get feedback from
the folks there of how clear these pictures make this teaching.
If you can give a picture of something, how clear is it in
your mind or an illustration? But they saw the pictures, and
they didn't perceive what they were talking about. So why only
a comparative few? Well, here's the answer down
here in John 1, verse 12. To those who received him, to
them, it says, he gave power to become the sons of God. That
word means permission, permissive authority, and it also means
ability. even to them that believe on
his name which were born, not of blood, that is, not of natural
descent, nor of the will of the flesh, that is, some potential
that another man stirs up in you, and not of the will of man,
not because somebody else wants you to, not of those things,
they are born of God, born of God. Now, faith is necessary
to salvation, but faith can only be produced by a man who is born
of God, raised out of spiritual death. He must hear because faith
cometh by hearing, but it also says hearing by the Word of God. He has to get past me to God. Same as they did when they heard
the Son of God. The prerequisite of faith is
life. Without this life, and this is,
I'm getting into the heart of what I want to talk to you about.
Without this life, faith is dead. It's of no consequence to you.
I hear folks, and this is why I preach on this subject so often,
because there was a time when I was submerged in it and didn't
know the difference. I could not understand the difference. If I'm in agreement with the
doctrines, if I'm, if I If I see these things and they make sense
to me, is that not salvation? No. No. No, it's not. No, it's not. Those things are
the end of what happens when God gives you life. He has to
give you life so that those things have meaning. Otherwise, it's
just like being baptized when you don't believe. The baptism
didn't do you any good. It's just like taking the Lord's
table but not being able to discern it. It does you no good. A lifeless faith has no dedication. It has no devotion. It has no
commitment. It has no self-sacrificing spirit. A lifeless faith rests in its
bed not knowing that its bed is a coffin. James said faith
without works is what? Dead. Ain't that what he said?
Dead. What's the matter with you? It's alone. It's alone. You've got a faith with no life.
It's alone. It has no compassion. It's not able by identification
to enter in with sorrow to those who have need. It bears no kindness,
no generosity, no meekness, no gentleness. It's alone. Now wait a minute, preacher,
we're saved by grace, are we not? Absolutely. Absolutely so. But that divine work of grace
which is given to those who believe is the workmanship of God. Isn't
that what he says? By grace are you saved through
faith, that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. But what does he quickly add
to that? For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk
in them. You see what I'm saying? A believer is a man quickened
from the dead. Unregenerate men and women are
dead. You, Paul said, hath he quickened
who were dead. walking the course of a thousand
generations, ruled by the God of this world, living out our
days in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath,
even as others, dead in trespasses and sins. I preached this the other night
out of Genesis, living in a cave on a mountain, still able to
look down and see the smoke of Sodom rising out of the valley. Lot's two daughters, who both
typify worldly religion. One typifies the religion of
the world, the other typifies the one who listens to them and
follows their example. And these two daughters, one
came up with a plan and sold it to the other. They get their
father drunk, and without him having any knowledge at all,
they sneak up on him in the darkness of the cave and take his life-giving
seed within their womb to preserve life on the earth, to preserve
their father's seed. This is the goal of religion.
Religion wants to procreate more of the same. It wants to It wants
to live forever, but it don't want to change what it calls
life. It just wants to continue on. We don't want to go to the
grave and that's it. We don't want to go to the grave
and come before God in judgment. We just want to go on. So if
we believe God's going to judge this, then we need to clean it
up. And that's what religion does, and it teaches you You
know, don't go to the bar, don't drink, don't smoke, don't wear
these kinds of clothes, cut your hair this way, do this, do that,
do something else. They want to get you all cleaned
up and then they want to call that reformation life. That's
not life. Not life. That's what these two
daughters wanted to do. They wanted to lie with their
father without him being having any knowledge of what they were
doing. And in Revelations chapter 17 verse 2, God makes the application. He said the great whore of religion
hath committed fornication with the kings of the earth, now listen,
and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the
wine of her fornication. By intoxicating means and things
that they do and by the spirit of of Satan, they get people
in a drunken stupor. And without them even realizing
what's going on, they commit this fornication with them, this
spiritual fornication. And they think in doing that,
they're going to prolong and preserve his seed. But what ultimately
is produced by those things are enemies of God, Moabites, Amorites. That's what's produced. Salvation
is not the desperate attempt of God to preserve man from annihilation,
but it's the eternal purpose of God to redeem a people for
the glory of His name. When He created man, what did
He say? Why did He create? Let us make
man in our image. It's God's image that must shine
in man or he's lost his purpose. Now, was that purpose overthrown
in the garden? Absolutely not. The garden was
essential. The fall of man was essential
for this image to shine in this man. There's no way that you
can show the image of God who is merciful and gracious and
loving and kind. How are you going to show that
apart from redemption? You're not going to be able to
do it. You're not going to be able to
do it. Whom He did foreknow, He also
did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that
He might be the firstborn among many brethren. This is their
end. It's God's determinant counsel.
But what's their salvation all about? It says we're predestinated
unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according
to the good pleasure of His will. Paul said, we've obtained an
inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. He did that that we might be
to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ, talking
about God, who trusted all of these things into the hands of
Christ. The fall of man didn't take God by surprise, but it
was absolutely necessary and according to His determinate
counsel to achieve this end. Life. The very life of God is
about its quality. It's about what kind of life
we have. Life as we know it by nature,
God calls death. We loved to get together and
talk about the good old days. There was nothing good in the
old days. Everything was evil, wasn't it?
Huh? By one man, sin entered into
the world, and death, death, that awful image, that awful
rebellion, that awful hatred of God, that awful resistance,
all of those things that symbolize this fallen man are passed unto
all men. How do I know that? Because they
all sinned. They all did the same thing. The same thing. I don't even know how to describe
this death. I just went through the scripture
and picked these out at random. But over in 1 Timothy, Paul begins
to give instruction as to the widows. Now he gives Timothy
instruction about a lot of things but in this particular case he's
talking about the widows and he said the older widows I want
you to consider them as mothers and the younger widows I want
you to consider them as sisters in all purity but he said these
younger widows who are promiscuous and who seek out with that wanton
pleasure. They go after these things. They
go house to house. They're promiscuous. He said
they're dead while they live. Dead while they live. It has to do with our nature. And no matter how good the things
are that man comes in contact with, I don't care what it is,
there's nothing wrong with sex. But let man touch it and he defiles
it and turns it into something ungodly. There's nothing wrong
with drugs. I know this young man wishes
he had some, but there's nothing wrong with drugs. But let a man
get a hold of it and he defiles it. He makes it something unclean
and ungodly. He's like the leper. Everything
he touches, he has to be isolated from men because everything he
touches, he turns into something unclean. He defiles it. In the
book of Jude, he speaks of those who came into the church professing
religion, professing things, most of them sincere in what
they did, but they came in and they crept in totally unaware.
Nobody knew it. I'm not even so sure they knew
it. But they came in, and he said they were promising. They
were like clouds in a drought that promises rain. And I've
seen them over there. It gets hot over there sometimes,
and it just sucks all the moisture out of the ground, and you're
just looking for rain. And I look down there in the
direction that I know it comes from, and I see this cloud, and
I watch it, and it comes up our way, and then it just disappears. Nothing happens. No rain. Well, he said that's what these
folks are like. He said they're like trees who promise sweet
fruit, and then when you go out expecting to see it and pick
it, it's withered on the branch. They're like shooting stars.
They blaze up in a brilliant light, but soon they burn out
and go into an everlasting darkness. They're like waves of the sea
that roll in, and when they hit the rocks, they foam out all
that pollution that's within it. Well, what of these men? What of them? How does he describe
them? They're very religious. They
all attend. They're all sincere. Some of
them are teachers. Listen to what he says. They're
twice dead. Twice dead. Once dead in their
Father Adam. Now they're dead because of their
corrupt ways by reprobation. They're twice dead. It says Pharaoh
hardened his heart. But as he did, he reached a point
and it says, and God hardened his heart. The disciples, listen to this,
the disciples themselves, they said, Lord, I'm going to follow
you, but let me first go bury my father. He said, let the dead bury their
dead. What I'm saying is this, before
any man can do anything, God must come and give him life.
And this life is to be understood in a four-fold sense. First of
all, it's eternal life. It's eternal. It's not something
that came about in time. It's something old. It's something
as old as God. Eternal life. And it has its
beginning with the eternal God. The book of life is one of the
books seen in John's visions of Christ over in Revelation.
It said at the judgment he had books. He had books. And all
through the book of Revelation it talks about these books. In
chapter 5 it talks about a book of God's eternal purposes and
decrees. That book was sealed. It had
conditions. It had things that had to to
take place. Not just anybody could do it.
In fact, nobody could do it. Nobody could take that book and
open those eternal decrees and counsels because it was sealed. And John wept, but one was worthy,
Christ. He took the book. Talks about
another book in there. This other book, it's the book
of debt. The book of works, every idle
thought, everything that God considers sin, the thought of
foolishness, all of those things, all taken into account, all documented
as evidence to justify their condemnation. But the one I want
to talk to you about is the book of life. Now religion, the one
I grew up in, they told us that if we'd accept Jesus as our personal
Savior, when we did, the instant we did, our names were written
in the Lamb's Book of Life. But that's not what it says,
is it? He said, whosoever was not found
written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. passed
into the lake of fire. And here in Revelation 17, 8,
it states that their names were written in the book of life from
the foundation of the world. Now, if I want to understand
that life, I've got to go all the way back to where it was
given. It was given to me in eternity. Given to me in eternity. I don't understand that life
by looking at a man who fell in the garden. I understand that
life by looking back here into eternity where that life was
given, and through whom it was given, and why it was given.
And these things are all revealed to us in the Scriptures. It's
not something new, it's something eternal, everlasting. Listen to what John says in John
1, verse 4. He said, was life. Who? He that was in
the beginning with God who was God. In him was life. Listen to what he says over here
in 1 John 1. That which was from the beginning,
which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which
we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the word
of life. That which was from the beginning.
For the life was manifested, and we've seen it and bear witness
and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father
and was manifested unto us. Eternal life, purpose, predestinated,
predetermined from the beginning. And then secondly, this life
is pictured, promised, prophesied throughout the Old Testament.
In 1 John 5, verse 9, it says, If we receive the witness of
men, do we? Have we? Will we? Because that's as far as you're
going to get as far as God's concerned right there. But if
we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater.
For this is the witness of God which is testified of His Son. That testimony that they bring
to you, that gospel that they preach unto you, that book out
of which they preach and read to you. You see what I'm saying? This is God's testimony. And he that believeth on the
Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not
God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that
God gave of His Son. And this is the record that God
hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
The Old Testament is a book of life. It's not a book of law.
It tells about that eternal life of God promised and prophesied
in his Son. And then thirdly, this life was
manifested in Christ's appearance on the earth and understood by
the things that he did. Listen to this. I just love 1
John 5. He said, And we know that the
Son of God hath come, and hath given us an understanding. that
we may know Him that is true, and that we are in Him that is
true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal
life. The only way to perceive eternal
life is to consider it as it's manifested in Jesus Christ. That's how I understand what
it is. And I fear that all too often we go around trying to
look inside for the evidence, trying to look inside and understand
what this book says. You can't enter into an understanding,
you can't enter into rest and rejoicing until you look and
view that life in Christ. It's when we see it in Him that
we get excited. I see it in Him and I see it
in its purity and in its glory. That's what I see. Listen to
this, God commendeth His love. Wouldn't you like to have the
love of God? My soul. God commendeth His love
toward us while we were yet sinners. Christ died for us. Looking unto
Jesus, Paul said, the author and finisher of our faith for
the joy that was set before Him. You want to know what joy is?
Here it is. Here it is. This joy motivated Him to endure
the cross, despise the shame, and sat down at the right hand
of the throne of God and stay put interceding for us until
He has us with Himself. Joy. Peace. I don't have any
understanding of these things. I'm telling you, I can't find
that peace in me. I can't find that joy in me.
I can't find any of those things in me. But I see them in Him. I see them in Him. I must study him. This life,
he said, is in my Son, and he that hath the Son hath life.
But man is dead spiritually. He can't see the Son. He sees
a man. He might even see a great man.
He may see an inspirational man, but he does not see life because
he does not yet see God in Christ. To perceive this life, I must
be given this life through regeneration, and that's the fourth thing.
In order to understand this life, I must be born of God. Verily, verily, he said, I say
unto you, except you be born of water and of blood, you cannot
enter into the kingdom of God, you cannot perceive it. Listen to the language Paul speaks
to the church over here in Titus chapter 3. I'm going to read
you a few verses here, Titus chapter 3. He said, Put them in mind to
be subject, subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates,
to be ready to ever good work, to speak evil of no man, to be
no brawlers, but gentle. showing all meekness unto all
men. For we ourselves also were sometimes
foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures,
living in malice and envy and hateful and hating one another.
But after that the kindness, you see that? Now watch this,
after that the kindness, and the love of God our Savior toward,
what is that word? A man appeared. Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to his own mercy, and Paul calls
it salvation, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and
the renewing of the Holy Ghost. He takes these things of Christ
so gloriously manifested in him, and he washes those old concepts,
and washes those old ideas, and washes away your doubts and fears,
and he shows it to you in purity in his Son. The washing of regeneration. And through that washing, you
begin to perceive his kindness. Now you look at this coming of
Christ and you don't see Him as a judge. You don't see Him
as this harsh, severe ruler who doesn't care about anything.
Now you see Him as Savior. Savior. He said, I didn't come
to judge. I could have done that for my
throne in glory. I didn't come here to judge.
I come here to save. I come here to save. All these old foolish thoughts
of God are stubborn will washed away through regeneration. Listen to what he says again.
After that, the kindness and love of God our Savior toward
man appeared. That love of God, that kindness
of God, that willingness of God to save, that wisdom of God that
shows you how He can save. That wisdom of God that shows
you where He'll say. That wisdom of God that will
tell you when He'll say. Who He'll say. All of these things. Christ didn't come in the capacity
of a judge, but of a Savior. He said, unto you this day is
born in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And
listen to what John said, He is the propitiation for our sins,
and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
Boy, don't that turn your theology upside down. Huh? What he's saying
there is not that he did these things to redeem the whole world,
but that his appearance before the entire world, every man,
woman, boy and girl, angel, devil, in hell, was that of a Savior. and you got no excuse. You can't
look at him and say, well, he judged me. No, he appeared before
you as a Savior and you wouldn't have him. He appeared before
you showing the kindness of God. Ain't that what they said? The
kindness of God. He appeared before you showing
you the love of God. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son. You got no excuse. You can't
hide behind election. You can't hide behind predestination.
You can't hide behind that, Tommy Rock. You're going to have to
come right out before God and say, I wouldn't have your love.
I wouldn't have your salvation. Man is responsible to God, he's
accountable to God, and he won't have it. Listen to what Christ
said. Here's the will of God that sent
me, He said, that everyone would seeeth the Son. Can you see it? Everybody that seeth the Son
and believeth on Him may have everlasting life. It's not the unwillingness of
God or the lack of means or the lack of light. It's the willful
rebellion and evil rejection of men and women who will not
come to Christ that they might be saved. That's the problem.
That's the problem. Now, here's where I'm going with
this. This act of life, when God comes
and regenerates this man and passes this man by, this is an
act of pardon and grace. It's not the act of a judge saying,
well, he's worse than you, so I'm going to take you. This is
an act of sovereign grace. You're probably worse than him.
Probably worse than him, but God is going to show you grace.
Does that make him ungodly or unrighteous in some way? No, it makes Him gracious. But
He'll be gracious. He's sovereign over that grace.
Listen to what it says here in Galatians chapter 4, And because
you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your
hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Paul said there's an awful veil
that hangs over the face of this gospel. hung over that glory
that shone on Moses' face when he brought down that log, blinded
them to the glory. They could not look steadfastly
on his face, so they put a veil over it. That veil is still there
today. It's a darkness of nature, an
emptiness of mind, it's enmity of heart, it's rebellion of will. And Paul said, when it shall
turn to the Lord, that veil will be taken away. Now, the Lord
is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there's
liberty. Freedom to look. That's what
that means. Freedom to look. Freedom to seek. Freedom to see. Freedom to enter
in. Freedom to rest. To rest. And all of those who are given
this grace, he said, with open face, they look in this glass,
they look in this glass at that reflection of Christ. They look
into the Word of God. They look into this pure, precious
promises of God. And they see His image. And seeing
that image, they desire it. They love it. They want it. They
want it worse than what they have. They want it worse than
anything this world has to offer. They want it worse than they
do the love of their own family. They want this image in them. What He has, they want. And looking
into that image, he said, you're transferred day to day. You're
transformed right into that image. That's life. That's life. I remember years ago down in
Louisiana, pastoring a church down there, we had this old seafood
restaurant. And in the restaurant they had,
you go through this line, They had different things and seafood
and different things. But the thing I remember, because
all my kids loved it, they had these little half ears of corn.
And they put them in a butter sauce. They had a little stick
in the end of them. And he put some kind of special
spices and stuff in this butter. And I mean, that corn was out
of this world. It was just delicious. And I
remember one winter we were in there, and his family was eating,
and I was waiting on the restaurant to clear out so we could fellowship
with the owner of the restaurant. And we were sitting there, and
this couple was getting ready to go. And he had this little
two-year-old, and he had an ear of that corn that he'd been eating
for 30 minutes. He had it all over him. I mean,
he was just grounded in corn and butter and stuff. And he
was still sucking on that cob, getting that juice out of that
cob. But they got ready to go, and they were trying to wipe
him off, and they were going to put his coat on. And they went
to try to get his coat on, and they tried to take that ear of
corn away from him. Man, he screamed at the top of
his lungs. And they went back because they
were just making a big scene. And so they tried everything.
They tried to reason with him. They tried threatening him. They
tried everything. And that little boy, he hung
on to that ear of corn, and he was just shaking, hanging on
to that ear of corn. Finally, the restaurant owner came over
to him and he said, if you'll allow me, he said, I think I
know what to do. And they said, well, have at
it. We tried everything. He pulled out a Hershey bar,
and that little kid just dropped that ear of corn and reached
for that Hershey bar. That's what I'm trying to preach
to you this morning. Men will drop these things. They'll drop these concepts and
foolishness and all the things that attract them to this world
and their habits. They'll drop it when they see
something better. When you're going to see something better,
when He puts life in you, and that life He puts in you, He
points to Christ and He says, that's what you're going to be.
That's what you're going to be. And you look and you see the
glory of it. And you never quit looking. Never
quit looking. And one day we'll have it. Right
now we have the earnest of it. Then we'll have it. We'll know
as we are known. And we'll experience that life.
That's what salvation is. Salvation is just not this rabbit
foot of accepting Jesus and this fire escape and all these things
that they preach. It's seeing that glory in Christ
and wanting it more than you want anything. That's what it
is. It's just the willful committal of a man's life into His hands,
because that's what they want right there. And God gives them
the ability. He said He makes them meet to
be partakers of that life.