Turn with me, if you will, to
Exodus chapter 34. Exodus chapter 34. The title of my message tonight
is The Veil on Moses' Face Removed. I've been working on this for
a while, and I believe God's given me something for you. So
listen carefully. In this portion of scripture,
God the Holy Spirit records a strange thing. It seems very strange. Moses has been in the Mount of
God for 40 days and 40 nights. At least twice, perhaps three
times, he spent 40 days fasting, fasting before God. He's been
in the Mount of God receiving again the law written on tables
of stone by the finger of God. the law that he had himself smashed
to pieces when he saw Israel dancing around the golden calf
and proclaiming the worship of the Lord Jehovah. In his fury
and anger, Moses smashed those tables of stone to pieces. God
called him back up in the mount, and for another 40 days and nights,
he was with God in the mount. But when he came out this time,
something strange occurred. His face shined with dazzling
brilliance. His face shines so brightly coming
from God's presence on this occasion that the children of Israel could
not look on his face as he spoke to them. Moses was unaware of
it. He didn't know his face was shining.
But he put a veil over his face so that he could communicate
with the children of Israel. And whenever he spoke to them,
he spoke to them with this veil over his face. When he went back
to the Lord, when he went back to the tabernacle and communed
again with God before God, he took the veil off his face. Now
this evening, I want us to look at this portion, Exodus chapter
34, verses 29 through verse 35, the last paragraph of Exodus
34. And understand that these things
are recorded here by God, the Holy Spirit, by divine inspiration
for our learning. That's what it says in Romans
15, four. They're recorded for our learning that we, through
patience, and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. This
is written, Bob Duff, for your hope and your consolation for
your learning. What does all this mean? Exodus
34, 29. And it came to pass when Moses
came down from Mount Sinai with the two tables of the testimony,
Moses' hand that the skin of his face shone while he talked
with him. The tables of the law, these
tables in his hand that he carried now were written by the finger
of God upon tables of stone. These tables, the Ten Commandments,
were then laid up in the Ark of God under the mercy seat throughout
the ages of the Old Testament until at last the Ark was taken
away with the captivity in Babylon. But until then, it was laid up
under the mercy seat in the Ark of God in the Holy of Holies. And it's all very significant.
These tables of stone upon which the Lord God wrote out his law
a second time. represented the fact that the
law that man had broken, none but God could repair. The law
that Moses had broken, he takes back to the mount and he comes
back now with the law written again by the finger of God on
these tables of stone. The law now repaired, written
again by the finger of God, testified to the fact that the law would
be fulfilled. It would be fulfilled. God will
not allow his law to remain broken. He will not allow his holiness
to be tarnished. He will not allow his justice
to be compromised. The law will be fulfilled. But
understand it will be fulfilled by one who is himself God. It
will be fulfilled by one who is himself God. Only God could
write it out. Only God could reveal it. Only
God could fulfill it. So strict was the prohibition
surrounding the giving of the law that the Lord God commanded
that if so much as the hand of a beast touched the mount, you
stone it to death or take a spear and kill it. if so much as the
hand of a beast touched the mount. Pastor, that looks like maybe
the Lord intended to teach us that any man who attempts to
keep the law himself is sure to die. Looks to me like that's
what it's intended to teach. You put your hand to the work,
you'll go to hell for it. You'll perish in your sins. The
law will be fulfilled. It will be fulfilled by man.
But it would be fulfilled by a man who is himself God, that
man who was promised back in the garden when first the law
was broken by our father Adam. And the Lord God said to our
mother Eve that he would send one who is the seed of woman
to crush the serpent's head. The law would be fulfilled when
Christ, our Passover, died in our stead, died for our sins,
and with his own blood entered in once into the holy place where
the law was laid up under the mercy seat. And there the blood
sprinkled upon the mercy seat signified the obtaining of eternal
redemption. And so the law would be finally
fulfilled Not just by our Lord's obedience in life. It takes more
than that to fulfill the law It takes more than that to satisfy
justice The law must be honored by his life of obedience and
it must be satisfied by his death as God wrote the law Upon these
tables of stone. It signified something else as
well. I It signified the fact that God in covenant mercy promised
you can read it in Ezekiel 33 and again in Ezekiel 36. He promised
that he would come by his spirit and write his law, not on tables
of stone, but on the fleshy tables of the heart. And that's exactly
what he did, according to the scriptures in second Corinthians,
chapter three and verse three. But what's the significance of
Moses' face shining, of his face glistening, beaming forth with
brilliant light, such great light that none could look upon his
face? Some have suggested that Moses' beaming face was a result
of his communion with God. Others think that Moses' face
shining as it did was prophetic. prophetic of the Transfiguration
you remember on the mountain transfiguration Moses appears
with Elijah and with the Lord Jesus who was transfigured before
them and Moses and Elijah Standing there as in their resurrected
bodies standing there as our Lord stood in his resurrected
body in his glory prefiguring the resurrection some suggest
the beaming of his face was prophetic of that event and Some suggest
that his beaming face, his shining face was prophetic of the resurrection
of God's elect and the glory that shall be ours when these
corruptible bodies shall be put on incorruption. And I suspect
that it represented all of those things to one degree or another.
But I am certain that there's more to it than that. The shining
of Moses face is directly connected with the revelation that God
gave him on the mount. Do you remember what God talked
to him about all the time he was there those 40 days? He gave
him a pattern, a pattern for the tabernacle, a pattern for
the worship of God, a pattern which told Moses and told Moses
clearly and distinctly about one who would come. by whose
obedience unto death all God's people would be saved, all God's
people redeemed, all God's people justified, and God himself glorified. The pattern they showed him was
the accomplishment of salvation by Jesus Christ in whose face
Shines forth the brightness of the glory of the triune God The
glory of God shining forth in the gospel the shining of Moses
face Indicated the enlightenment of his own heart as well The
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ Shown in his heart and his face beams with that light
look at verse 30 And when Aaron and all the children of Israel
saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were
afraid to come nigh him. Just recently, I've forgotten
who it was who was talking to me, said, you know, the fact
that someone speaks with conviction and authority frightens people. And it does. Folks who have no
conviction and have no sense of authority. Folks who just
parrot things they hear and don't speak from conviction are scared
to death of men who speak with conviction. The fact is enlightened
souls terrify folks who walk in darkness. Terrifies them. It just terrifies them. For you
to speak with confidence about the person and work of Jesus
Christ. I'm talking about speak with confidence, this is the
way, there is no other. Folks get angry because they're
terrified. They have no idea what you're
talking about. And confidence terrifies them. Look at verse
31. And Moses called unto them, Aaron
and the children of Israel. And Aaron and all the rulers
of the congregation returned unto him, and Moses talked with
them. Having put the veil over his
face because of their fear, Moses speaks now to Aaron and the children
of Israel and tells them about the things the Lord showed him
in the Mount Sinai. The things that typified and
foreshadowed by the law, the tabernacle, the sacrifices, the
ceremonies, the holy days, the Sabbath days, the priesthood,
all those things shown Moses in the Mount. Picture Jesus Christ
and him crucified. And Moses now speaks about them.
Look at verse 32. And afterward, all the children
of Israel came nigh, and he gave them in commandment all that
the Lord had spoken with him in the mount. Until Moses had
done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. But when
Moses went before the Lord to speak with him, he took the veil
off until he came out. And he came out and spake unto
the children of Israel, that which he was commanded. And the
children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses'
face shone, and Moses put the veil on his face again, until
he went in to speak with him." Now, without question, the veiling
of Moses' face was highly significant about many things, much more
than I can give you now, I'm certain. Anything under a veil,
however, is difficult to see. Matter of fact, something under
a veil, if it's very thick at all, all you can do is see a
slight form. You can't really make out what's
under the veil as long as the veil is there. It speaks of obscurity. And the veiling of Moses' face
certainly speaks of the obscurity of the law. Let me see if I can
be clear here. reveals the righteousness and
the holiness and the justice of God. It certainly reveals
that, at least in great measure. It doesn't reveal anything about
salvation. But the law reveals the righteousness,
the holiness, and the justice of God, so that this law of God,
which man has a consciousness of by nature, written on his
heart by nature, causes every man to sense his guilt, and his
condemnation, and fear judgment, so that men are without excuse.
The law doesn't teach them the way of life, but the law foreshadows
things that show men certainly their guilt. The law speaks then
of judgment and of death, but never of mercy, never of life. The law gives us a clear revelation
of guilt and sin, but allows no forgiveness. You remember
when the Lord passed by and shut Moses up in the cleft of the
mouth and he passed by him and said, he charges the sins of
the fathers, unto the children and the children's children,
unto the third and fourth generation of those who disobey Him? You
mean God causes one generation after another to suffer the consequences
of what the fathers do? He sure does. He sure does. Read history. Read history. God in the moral judgment and
government of this world visits the iniquities of the fathers
upon the children generation after generation so that one
generation exceeds the one preceding it in rebellion, ungodliness,
and iniquity until God steps in and turns it away. So the
law speaks of judgment and speaks of wrath and speaks of terror
and speaks of it justly, but speaks not a word of forgiveness,
speaks not a word of mercy and grace. The law demands obedience,
but it gives no ability to obey. The law demands obedience and
tells you if you don't obey, you shall perish. But it gives
no ability to obey and points not at all to one who will obey. It simply demands it. The law
commands a weighty debt and not one cent will it forget. The
gospel points to Jesus' blood and says he made the payment
good. The law provokes men off to ill
and hardened hearts makes harder steel. The gospel acts the kinder
part and melts the rebel's stony heart. The law, some of you folks
have been in law religion. You know what it is. It's mean
as hell. It's just, I don't know any other
way to put it. It's reformed, legalistic, law works religion
is just mean. makes folks mean. Like the Pharisees
in John 8, with that woman taking an adultery. Like the Pharisees
in John 9, with that man who was healed of his blindness on
the Sabbath day. Just because he could see, they threw him
out of the synagogue. Because they thought somehow
their law had been violated. Run, Don, run. Work, the law
demands. It gives me neither feet nor
hands. The sweeter news the gospel brings It bids me fly and gives
me wings What a blessed, blessed revelation of grace With these
by grace my soul may fly And soar aloft and reach the sky
Nor faint nor falter in the race But look to Christ and sing of
grace The law terrifies, it terrifies Do you know what it is to be
under the sentence of the law? Do you know what it is to be
guilty before God, terrified? The law terrifies, but it can
never comfort. The law threatens death to anyone
who puts his hand to it, but the law gives no promise of any
relief. Still, the shining of Moses'
face and the veil on his shining face is even more significant. Many believe that Moses' face
continued to shine as long as he lived on this earth. I don't
know. Maybe so. Whether that's the
case or not, I can't say. I don't need to. But I don't
see any reason to doubt it. This I do know. Once the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ
shines in your heart, it never ceases to shine. Once you know
him, you never cease to know him. The light just gets brighter
and brighter until at last we see him face to face. Now look
at verse 34 again. When Moses went in before the
Lord to speak with him, he took the veil off until he came out. Now this just stumped me. Why
on earth did he do that? Looks to me like if there was
ever any place he's going to put a veil over his face, it'd
be when he went in before the Lord. There's not really the
time to put a veil over your face. Remember when he stood
on the holy ground, the Lord said, take your shoes off your
feet as display of reverence. Looks like surely there's a place
where he's going to be veiled. It would be when he goes in to
speak to the Lord. But, uh, when he went in to speak
for the Lord, he took the veil off. And when he came out to
the people, he put the veil on again. Well, what does that mean? That's got to mean something.
That's got to be very significant. Turn to 2 Corinthians 3. 2 Corinthians
3. Without any question at all,
the best commentary ever written on Holy Scripture is Scripture.
You will be wise when you study your Bibles, when you're reading
the scriptures, to pay attention to the cross-references in your
center column references. Some of your Bibles have the
references down at the bottom of a verse. Look up at the cross-references. Those references point you to
another place of a similar kind, either dealing with the same
subject or the same word or something similar to it. Here in 2 Corinthians
3, we have a divinely inspired commentary on Exodus 34, 29-35.
The Apostle Paul is writing here. And he speaks of Moses going
in before the Lord as he took his veil off of his face. He
did it because he was standing before him. By whom alone the
law must and would be fulfilled. The one who communed with Moses
is the only one who is God the word. He is the one who is the
wisdom of God. The one communing with Moses,
as with all men, is Christ the mediator. Now look here in 2
Corinthians 3, verse 2. Ye are our epistle, written in
our hearts, known and read of all men. For as much as ye are
manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ, ministered,
served by us, written not with ink, but with the spirit of the
living God, not like the law was written
in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. And such
trust have we through Christ to God would. Trust that this
is God's work, not that we're sufficient of ourselves to think
anything of ourselves. You remember how he spoke concerning
the servants of God being men who are used of God as a saver
of life unto life and a saver of death unto death. And he said,
who's sufficient for these things? Larry, we attempt to preach the
gospel. And any man who's ever preached the gospel really knows
his utter insufficiency to do so. Who's sufficient? Not me. We're just earthen vessels. this
broken pieces of clay pots, that's all, and dirty vessels at that. But our sufficiencies of God,
our sufficiencies of God, what's this? Our sufficiency is of God,
who also hath made us. God's the only one who can. Able
ministers, able ministers, able servants, able ministers of the
new covenant, God Almighty, takes such things as he finds in fallen,
frail, fickle humanity, gives his grace to a sinner, and calls
that sinner to the work of the gospel, and equips him for the
work, so that this man, who himself was born in utter darkness and
blindness, this man who has no ability of his own, is now able
to serve well the new covenant, apt to teach. given an understanding
in all things, able to instruct men in truth, in righteousness,
giving them spiritual understanding and spiritual discernment. Not
of the letter. Not of the letter. Oh, I get
so tired of letter preaching. Just letter preaching. Lots of
fellows can preach the letter. The fact is, Alan, anybody with
half good sense can preach the letter. Anybody can. Anybody, if you just deal honestly
with what you read, you can read the scriptures, find out the
historic setting, and if you've got half good sense, you can
interpret the scripture in the letter. And when you hear letter
preaching, you know what it does for your heart, Joe? Nothing. Nothing. Oh, that was so good. We learned so much. I feel like
I've been in seminary today. I've been there a lot. And I
couldn't wait to get out. Letter preacher, no, no. Not
of the letter, for the letter killeth. Killeth. For the Todd Nybert's brother-in-law,
Chuck Moore, known him a long time, sitting under preacher. He said, no, I couldn't put my
finger on anything. I couldn't put my finger on anything.
I couldn't tell you what he said was wrong, but there was no mystery
to it. No wonder, no glory, nothing
majestic, just letter, just letter. The letter killeth, but the spirit
giveth life. What's he talking about? Spirit
giveth life. Our Savior said, the words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit and they are life. The preaching of the gospel,
not just the letter of it, but the preaching of the gospel by
God the Spirit gives life. Read on. The Spirit giveth life. Verse seven. But if the ministration
of death, the service of death. What's he talking about? Well,
then she's talking about the law, isn't it? The service of
death. Well, we. We recognize that believers
are not under the law for justification. They're not under the law to
make themselves whole and they're not under the law to give themselves
righteousness before God. But but now there's a sense in
which we're under the law. Well, there's a sense in which
you serve death. The law is administration of D.E.A.T.H. death. Nothing else. Just death. It's administration of death.
written and engraved in stones. But it was glorious, so glorious
that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face
of Moses for the glory of his countenance. Now watch this,
which glory was done away? Oh, you fellows believe the law
was done away. Well Moses, I mean the the Spirit
of God only says three times in these verses. We're reading
it was done away Don't away But Christ said I didn't come to
destroy the law but to fulfill it. That's what I said. It's
done away Don't away when it's fulfilled is done away As a matter
of fact, he says later on here in verse 13 that it was abolished
Abolished the same word translated done away three times. It's trying
to translate in verse 13 abolished because the very strong word
we don't Verse 8, how shall not the ministration of the spirit
be rather glorious? The preaching of the gospel far
more glorious. For if the ministration of condemnation
be glory, much more does the ministration of righteousness
exceed in glory. For even that which was made
glorious had no glory in this respect. He said it was glorious. It was it was really glorious.
And then he said, really, it didn't have any glory at all.
Really, nothing glorious about the law. Not when you put it
side by side with the gospel. although the gospel is the revelation
of the fulfilled law. He says the law then was glorious,
but verse 10 he says, even that which was made glorious had no
glory in this respect by reason of the glory that excelleth.
For if that which is done away, there it is again, was glorious,
much more that which remaineth is glorious. Seeing then we have
such hope, hope free of law, hope, free of condemnation, hope,
free of guilt, hope, free of dread, hope, free of terror.
We use great plainness of speech. We're not like these fellas who
hide their words, you know, and take real care, make sure they
say things just right so you really can't put your finger
on anything. Oh, no, we use plainness of speech. You don't have to
guess what we're talking about. and not as Moses, which put a veil
over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly
look to the end of that which is abolished. But their minds
were blinded, for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken
away in the reading of the Old Testament, which veil is done
away in Christ. But even unto this day But when
Moses is read, the veil is upon the heart. Nevertheless, when
it, that is, when the heart shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall
be taken away. Now, the Lord is that spirit. And where the spirit of the Lord
is, there's liberty. When God turns your heart to
Christ, it's amazing how well you see. It's suddenly a free
grace makes good sense to me. Well, I can see that clearly.
Substitution makes good sense to me. I can see that clearly.
Here, the spirit of God draws a comparison then between the
two covenants, the one from Mount Sinai, the covenant of works,
the other from Mount Zion, the gospel and the covenant of grace. The law he calls administration
of death. of condemnation, the gospel administration
of life. The law serves to kill. The gospel
serves to give life. The law is fleshy and carnal. As a matter of fact, Paul speaks
of the law as the rudiments of this world. He speaks of the
service of the law as carnal ordinances, carnal ordinances. That's fleshy. carnal things. The gospel is spirit and righteousness. The law brings bondage, the gospel
liberty. The law was glorious in the administration
of death and condemnation, glorious in the sense of terrified, glorious
in the sense that that the people were scared to death because
the mountain exceedingly shook and trembled and lightning and
thundering and smoke and fire. So they were terrified. Oh, but
the gospel, is a ministration of glory, glorious in the gift
of life. The glory of the law was just
transient, temporary, and the glory of the gospel is permanent.
Now watch this. Much more, that the ministration
of righteousness exceed in glory, that is, this is the revelation
of glory, so that the law pales to insignificance. by that which,
by reason of the glory that excelleth. Look at verse 11. For if that
which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth
is glorious. Now look again at the passage
before us. I remind you again, three times, the Spirit of God
says, the law's done away. The law, he says, is abolished. I wonder what that means. Isn't
that, that's so difficult to understand. Well, there must
be some sense in which we're under the law. Now I have a tough
time getting that out of it. Well, we're not under the law
for justification, but we're under the law as a rule of life.
Under that which is done away as a rule of life. Under that
which is abolished as a rule of life. Well, but preacher,
we've got to have something to motivate us and guide us. You've
got to have some kind of law. That which is done away to rule
you? That which is abolished to guide you? That which is done
away to motivate you? That which is abolished to inspire
you? Well, it seems to me like that's a contradiction. The law
is finished by Christ our Lord, who is the E-N-D. the end of the law for righteousness. Any form of righteousness, any
measure of righteousness, all righteousness to everyone that
believe it. Paul in Romans chapter 6 is telling
us how to live in this world by faith. But if there's a place
where you would expect to see Some instruction about God's
people living under law, it'd be in Romans chapter 6. Paul
said, now you ought to live right, because you're not under the
law, but under grace. Is that what he said? Romans 6, verse
14? And just in case you didn't get
it, read verse 15. It says the same thing. You're not under
the law, but under grace. In Romans 7, he said, you're dead
to the law. The law's dead to me, and I'm
dead to the law. We can't have anything to do with each other.
There's therefore now no condemnation to them that are in the flesh,
to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh
but after the spirit. How come? Because God sent his
son into the world because the law was weak through the flesh. He sent his son into the world
and he finished the law. He fulfilled the law. Christ
is the end of the law. The law was our schoolmaster
unto Christ. But once Christ has come, we're
no longer under the schoolmaster. How much plainer could scripture
be? No, believers are not ruled by law. We're ruled by grace. We're not motivated by law. We're
motivated by the love of Christ that constrains us. We're not
in any way condemned by the law or judged by the law. We have
no covenant with the law. We keep no ceremony of the law,
no holy day required by the law. We fear no curse from the law
and we have no debt to the law. Christ ended it all. We're free
from the law. Do you understand that? We're
free from the law. Well, Brother Don, how does a
believer find motivation? Inspiration. I recall when I
was writing a book on the church of God, I made it very clear
that we don't believe the scriptures teach anything at all concerning
tithing. We don't teach folks to tithe. We tell folks don't
tithe. Don't use that word around me.
I'll correct you if you do. We don't tithe was a Jewish tax. That's what tithe was. It was
a Jewish tax levied upon people to maintain the priesthood and
the tabernacle and the temple. It was a Jewish tax required
under the law. God's people don't tithe. They
give. They give. Well, if you don't
give them the law, folks won't give. No, if they tithe, they
won't give. Now, you tell me what you'd rather
do. Which would you rather do? Children of God, which would
you rather do? Would you rather give freely? Or, now listen,
you made $100 today, that means $10 goes right here. If you don't
give it, God'll get it. He'll get it out of your hide.
Your children will be in the hospital. Well, nobody preaches
that kind of stuff. I've heard it all my life. And
I can take you right back here and show it to you. If you're
all tired now, God'll get you. God'll get you. Does that sound
like grace to you? No, you're not under the law.
Well, brother Don, how do you get folks motivated? I don't. I'm not a motivational speaker.
But Christ does, doesn't he? Oh, if you see him, how your
heart will be motivated. If you come to know him in the
free exercise of his grace, come to know him in what he has done
and is doing and shall do for you and in you. The love of Christ
constrains us. The love of Christ constrains
us. What shall I not do for him? What shall I not give to him?
This is how Paul spoke to the Corinthians when he's talking
to them about giving. He said, you know, the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ. How that though he was rich,
yet for your sakes, he became poor, that you through his poverty
might be made rich. And then he says, prove now the
sincerity of your love. David, this is how he proved
his love to you. He gave everything for you and to you. Now you prove
the sincerity of your love. We're motivated by grace. Robert
Hawker wrote, it is very blessed indeed to read Moses in Christ. Fulfilled in Christ, finished
in Christ, done away in Christ. I'll show you one more thing
here. The veil that spread upon God's Israel, the veil that spread
over God's elect scattered among all the nations of the earth,
is taken away in a heartbeat. Taken away like that. We're born
in this world with a veil over our hearts. And we live with
a veil over our hearts, incapable of seeing. the glory of God in
the face of Jesus Christ, a veil of superstition and idolatry
and self-righteousness, a veil that would not be removed and
a veil we could not remove. But with the light of the revelation
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Taken away. Look at verse 16. Second Corinthians three. Nevertheless, when it when the
heart shall turn. Turn to the Lord, the veil shall
be taken away. Verse one, chapter four, therefore,
seeing we have this ministry, this ministration of life, this
ministry of the gospel as able ministers of the new covenant,
As we have received mercy, we faint not. That is, we just keep
right on preaching the same message. But we have renounced the hidden
things of dishonesty. Not walking in craftiness. Not
handling the Word of God deceitfully. I challenge you to challenge
everything I preach. Everything you see me write.
If you find that I have handled in any way the Word of God deceitfully,
If you find that I ever try to make the scripture say something,
walk out the doors and never come back. I'm as serious as
I can be. We don't handle the word of God
deceitfully. If I don't understand it, I just say I don't understand
it. We don't handle the word of God deceitfully. We don't
make it mean what we want it to mean. So, well, that doesn't
fit our system of theology. Well, throw the system of theology
away and bow to the book. We don't handle the word of God
deceitfully. But by manifestation of truth. You've heard me tonight. They
listen to me now for 41 minutes. Rex, if what I said been just
obvious and nose on your face. Well, I didn't see it before,
but now I do. That's what preaching does. Manifestation of truth. There it is. Manifestation of
truth. commending ourselves to every
man's conscience. Because I'm fully aware that
God's watching in the sight of God. But if our gospel be hid,
not by us, it's hid to them that are lost. in whom the God of
this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest
the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, the light of the gospel
of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine
unto them. For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus, the Lord, and ourselves, your servants, for
Jesus' sake. We don't preach for ourselves
or about ourselves. We preach for Christ's sake.
for the good of your souls, for God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ, who has saved us and called us
within holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. but is now made manifest. Oh, thank God. I manifestly have
life by the appearing of Jesus Christ, who has abolished death
and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. Oh, may God do that for you.
and immortality to light in your soul by the appearing of Jesus
Christ. And when he does, you will find
fulfilled in you the prophecy of Isaiah. In that day, you'll
say, well, this is our God. I've been waiting for him all
my life. Amen.