Would you turn back to 2 Corinthians
chapter 4? While you're turning there, we're
going to observe the Lord's table tonight. And I want to remind
you, the Lord said this do in remembrance of me. This is not
optional. This is something the Lord tells
us to do. It's not optional. So. If you can be here, be here
to observe the Lord's table. Second Corinthians chapter four. I'd like to read verses three
through six. I've entitled this message the
face. Of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ
is a person. He has a face. When you think
of somebody, what do you think of? You think of their face,
don't you? That's who you see. When God said, let us make man
in our own image, He's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ,
isn't he? And his face. So keep that in
mind as we look at this passage of scripture together. Beginning
in verse three. But if our gospel be hid. So that men cannot see. it hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves,
Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves, your servants, for Jesus' sake. 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 in the face of Jesus Christ. Paul says, if our gospel be hid,
who does the our refer to when he says, if our gospel be hid? Well, he's talking about every
believer, all of God's All who find the gospel to be gospel. Good news indeed. Our gospel. I love that phrase. Our gospel. Not just the gospel. It is the
gospel. But it's also our gospel. It's our good news. It's my good
news. It's the gospel to those who
are saved by it. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel, for it, the gospel, is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth. The gospel he's speaking of is
the plain, unadorned gospel, not the packaged version of the
gospel that men try to package it to make it more palatable
to the flesh. He said in verses one and two, therefore, seeing
we have this ministry, this able minister to the New Testament
as we've received mercy, we thank God, but we've renounced the
hidden things of dishonesty. And this is what is behind man's
religion. It's trying to trick people,
the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness or
handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth. We commend ourselves to every
man's conscience. in the sight of God. Now, if
our gospel be hid, and you know it is hid from some, you know
the Lord himself said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven
and earth, because you have hid these things from the wise and
prudent and revealed them unto babes. God does in fact hide
his gospel from men. as an act of judgment, so they
will not see. And our Lord thanked the Father
for that, didn't he? I thank thee, O Father, Lord
of heaven and earth, because you have hid these things from
the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes. Now, if our
gospel is hid so that people can't see or understand, the
problem is not with the gospel. The problem was with the blindness
of men. The problem is not with the gospel. Now, while the truth of the gospel
is profound, it's mysterious, it's sublime, it's glorious,
it's not hard to understand. Now, what do I mean by that? Well, let's begin with the inspiration
of the scriptures. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. Now, that's not hard to understand.
All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. Now, you might not believe that.
You might reject it, but that's not hard to understand. The Bible
is God's Word. The Bible is God's revelation
of Himself. Everybody in this room knows
what that means. Now, you might not agree. That's okay. But you
know what that means. That's where we begin. God is
who the Bible presents Him to be. That's not hard to understand. God's holy. He hates sin. God is just. He must punish sin. God is sovereign. That means
he's the first cause behind everything, and he is in control of everything. Now, you know what that means.
You might not like it, but you know what that means. God is
immutable. He cannot change. God is eternal. He never had a beginning. He
never has an ending. Now, God is who the Bible presents
him to be. Now, none of that is profound.
It's glorious, but hard to understand. No, you may not believe it, but
you understand that God is God. He's all powerful. He has the
power to do whatever he is pleased to do. That's God, man. is who the Bible describes him
to be. Dead in sins. That means he can't
do anything to save himself. Everybody knows what that means.
Dead in sins. That means there's not one thing
you can do to save yourself. You're totally dependent upon
the grace of God. Now, you know what that means. Now, God being who he is, Man
being who he is, that teaches us that salvation must be of
grace. That's what the Bible teaches.
By grace are you saved. Election. The election of grace.
It's necessary because God's God, he's got to be the first
cause. And man's dead. He needs God to save him because
he can't save himself. Election must be true. Christ's
effectual atonement for his elect, when he died on the cross, he
saved everybody he died for. That must be true because of
who died. And it must be true because that's what I need. I
need his grace to be invincible and irresistible. That's the
only kind of grace that will save me. Grace that actually saves. So
these things, they're high, they're holy, they're profound, but they're
not hard to understand. And if you don't see it, the
problem is not with the gospel. The problem is with you. You've
been blinded. You've been blinded. You're blind.
Now, if you can't see what I'm saying, it's because you are
blind. The God of this world has blinded
you. Look in verse three. But if our
gospel be hid, it's hid to them that are lost. Now, if the son
is shining at noon on a cloudless day, and you look up and don't
see it, the problem's not with the sun, is it? The problem's
with you. You're blind. And that's what
he, that's how he terms the natural man. Blind to the truth. If our gospel be hid, it's hid
to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded. the minds of them which believe
not. Now, if you are an unbeliever
this morning, that means that you're under the dominion of
Satan, blinded by Satan himself. That's a solemn thing to think
about, isn't it? Oh, Lord, give me light. Don't
let this be me. Give me light. But the unbeliever
is described as one who has been blinded. by Satan himself, so
that they can't see, the light of the glorious gospel of Christ,
who is the image of God, should shine unto them. Now, Satan is
called the God of this world, and that's what he is, and he's
blinded the minds of those who don't believe. And what is it
that Satan wants to prevent them from seeing? The light. The light. of the glorious gospel
of Christ, who is the image of God. That's what he does not
want you or I to see, because if we see it, we're saved. That's why he wants you and I
to be blinded from this glorious light, the light of the glorious
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, light is a metaphor used
in scripture to describe the nature of God. John says, God
is light. And in him is no darkness at
all. His dwelling place is light,
isn't it? He is the father of light in
whom is no variable in us nor shadow of turning. Light describes
the favor of God. We read throughout the scriptures
of the light of His countenance. Don't you want the light of His
countenance to shine on you? That's His favor. The scriptures
are set forth as light. Light represents His righteousness,
His guidance. Light. To me, the scripture that
that speaks most powerfully regarding the light is where the Lord said
in John chapter 8 verse 12, I am the light of the world. And right
before that, there was a woman who was taken in adultery in
the very act. She was guilty. And you remember
what the Pharisees, they brought her before the Lord. She's caught.
No doubt she did this. Now, Moses, in the law, commanded
that such should be stoned. But what do you say? They thought
they had the Lord entrapped. If he says stone her, we can
say, where's your mercy for sinners? If he says let her go, we can
say, you have no regard for the law of God. They thought they
had the Lord entrapped. And the Lord looked at them and
said, he that's without sin among you, cast the first stone. And they all were ashamed of
themselves. Their hypocrisy was exposed. They walked away, and
that woman was left alone with the Lord. And the Lord said,
Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned
thee? She said, No man, Lord, they were all gone. And he said,
Neither do I. And he is the light as to how
God cannot condemn somebody that's guilty. If you want to know how
God can accept you, if you want to know how God can love you,
if you want to know how God can embrace you, the Lord Jesus Christ
is the light of how that is. He's the light of the world. Now look in verse four, in whom
the God of this world have blinded the minds of them that which
believe not. lest the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them." I love to think of the glorious gospel of Christ. The gospel is glorious, isn't
it? How did God conceive me? That's glorious. Oh, the glory
of His Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, the God-man, the
glory of his offices as a Savior. He's the prophet. He's the Word
of God. He's the priest. If he represents
you, you must be saved. He's the King. Oh, he's the Lord
of Lords. And he's the King of Kings. And
I love to think of the glories of his achievements. Luke 9 31,
when Moses Elijah spoke with the Lord on the matter of transfiguration.
Here was the subject of their conversation. They spake of the
decease which he should accomplish. Now, since when is death an accomplishment? When you die, what does it say
about you? You know what it says. It says
there's nothing you can do about it. You're a sinful person and
you're going to die. Death, with us, is not an accomplishment. But when our Lord died, it was
an accomplishment. Everybody He died for, He saved. That's what He meant when He
said, It is finished. Isn't that glorious? It is finished. Now, Satan does not want these
blinded men to see the glorious gospel of Christ, because if
they see, they'll be saved. Now, he says in verse 5, Paul
talks about his preaching. I hope and pray that this will
always be a summary of our preaching. Verse 5, For we preach not ourselves. But Christ Jesus, the Lord, and
ourselves, your servants, for Jesus' sake. Now, Paul says we
don't preach ourselves. First of all, we're not preaching
our opinions. We're not preaching our thoughts.
Now, I'm asking you to try what I'm saying with the Word of God.
That's all I ask. I'm not giving my thought. I'm
not giving my slant. I'm not giving my opinions. I'm
preaching the Word of God. And I challenge you, see what
I'm saying is not according to the scriptures. I'm not preaching
my thoughts. I'm not preaching my opinions. I'm here as a messenger
of God preaching His message. This is the message of God. This
is the truth. Try what I'm saying according
to the Word of God. You've got a Bible. See if what
I'm saying is the truth. That's all I ask. We preach not
our opinions, and we don't preach to provide for ourselves. This
is not my job. This is not the way I make a
living. Some people make a living as
preaching. Some people make a living plumbing. Some people make a
living as a carpenter. Well, this is my profession.
No, I'm not doing this to provide for myself. If that's what I'm
doing, I'm going to accommodate the message in order to make
you provide more for me. That's what religious people
do. That's what preachers do. Because they're in this thing
for the money, they are going to accommodate the message in
order to make sure that they have more people, more money,
all that kind of stuff. Now, Paul says we don't do that.
We're not preaching to provide for ourselves and we're not preaching
to promote ourselves. You know. If you leave this place. And
your thought is. Well, I got some kind of preacher.
I wish I was like him. Do you know that means I've promoted
myself? If that's what you leave with,
that means I've promoted myself. If you leave thinking, oh, I
wish I had his understanding or his courage or his whatever,
if you leave thinking that way, I preached in such a way to make
you think that way. Now, I did. That's called self-promotion. That's all it is. Self-promotion. And so much preaching is self-promotion. That's the way it would be described. Now, Paul said we don't preach
ourselves, but we preach Christ Jesus, the Lord. That's who we
preach. Christ, God's prophet, God's
priest, God's king. Jesus, God's Savior, the Lord. He's the Lord. He's the, oh,
He's the Lord of creation. He's faked the world into existence.
He's the Lord of providence. He controls everything. And He's
the Lord of salvation. Our salvation is in His hands.
It's not up to you as to whether or not you'd be saved. It's up
to Him. He's the Lord. And we love having Him so, don't
we? We preach not ourselves, but
we preach Christ, Jesus, the Lord, and ourselves, your servants. Servants. For Jesus' sake. Verse 6. For God, who commanded the light to shine
out of darkness. Now, this is a reference to the
creation. 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. Now, this is
a reference to the first day of creation. So would you turn
back to Genesis chapter one? I believe The Lord has enabled
me to see this more clearly than I've seen in the past, of creation
being a picture of salvation. What happens? And if you want
to know what happens when God saves a sinner, if you want to
know how he saves a sinner, look at creation. Now let's look at
this. This is beautiful. Verse 1. In the beginning, God. There's the answer to every question.
In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. God created. Now look in verse
2. And the earth was without form and void. And darkness was upon the face
of the deep. Now, here's me and you. In darkness, without form or void, lifeless,
waste, undistinguishable ruin, darkness, no light, utterly in
the dark. Now, this is the state of the
natural man, isn't it? The earth was without form, covered by
darkness. That's me and you. And here's where salvation begins
insofar as our experience is concerned. And the Spirit of
God moved. Here's where our experience begins.
The Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters. And God said, let there be light. And there was light. Now, here we are in darkness
without form and void. Totally unable. Totally, totally
inability is what this is talking about. Total inability. Darkness can't make light. And then the Spirit of God moves
on the face of the water, like me. And light was. This is the divine command. Light be and the darkness fled. You know, in salvation, in so
far as our experience goes, light comes first. We find out who
God is. And we find out who we are. Light
was needful. Light was a divine work. Light
was made by God's word. Light was unaided. And by the
darkness, this light was unsolicited, it was instantaneous, and it
was irresistible. When he shined, the darkness
was no more. I love to think about that. I
mean, there was nothing but darkness. God said light be, and all of
a sudden, there was a flooding of light. And you know what happened as
soon as there was light? And God saw the light that was good,
and God divided the light from the darkness. A division took
place. Now, wherever there's light, that's when a division
takes place. And the first division I think
about is the division inside. When you're given light, that
means you're given life. You're given spiritual life,
and that's when the division occurs. You see a division on
the inside. You see the sinful, evil nature
you have. And you now have this new nature
that hates that nature. And there's a battle going on.
That's when the battle begins. A battle doesn't begin until
God gives life. Everything's fine. You know,
before you're, well, not everything's fine. You know something's wrong.
But when God gives you life, there's a division that goes
on. And I tell you what, when God gives you this light, you
divide yourself from the religion of this world. There was a time
when any old religion will do, but now you see there's a division
and you want to wait, you see that. When God brings light in,
a division, a dividing takes place. Isn't the creation a beautiful
picture of how God saves a sinner? What happens? Let's go back to
our text. This is what Paul is referring
to. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 6, For God, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. What is the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God? Paul says He shined in our hearts.
The Spirit of God moved, gave us a new heart, shined in our
hearts. We were in utter darkness, and
then the lights were turned on. When the lights are turned on,
all of a sudden you see. And he says, when God shines
in our hearts, he gives the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Now, what is the glory of God? I'm not giving a man-made definition. But we're going to look at what
the Bible actually says is the glory of God. Now turn to Exodus
chapter 32, if you would. And when God saves somebody,
He always gives them the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God. Exodus 32. And when the people saw that
Moses delayed to come down out of the mount. Now, before I go on reading in
this passage of scripture, let's remember what these people had
seen. These people had seen the 10 plagues. They'd seen the Passover
lamb. And God passing by. and the people
being destroyed who weren't under the house with the blood on the
door. They experienced that. They saw
the Red Sea parted. Can you imagine that? And they
walking as on dry ground? They saw the Red Sea parted.
They had experienced manna coming down from heaven and they ate
it. They saw Moses smite that rock and they saw water come
out. They had seen all these things. They experienced these
things. That's quite an experience, isn't
it? Now let's go on reading. And when the people saw that
Moses delayed to come down out of the bout, the people gathered
themselves together under Aaron and said unto him, up, make us
gods which shall go before us. For as for this Moses, the man
that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don't know
what to become of him. And Aaron said unto them, Break
off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives,
of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And all
the people break off the golden earrings which were in their
ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their
hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a
molten calf. And they said, These be thy gods,
O Israel, which brought thee up. out of the land of Egypt.
And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And then
Aaron made a proclamation and said, tomorrow is a feast to
the Lord. And they rose up early on the
morning and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings.
And the people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to
play. How quickly they forgot, willfully,
wickedly. If ever a bunch of people deserve
to be sent to hell right now, it's these people. Would you
agree with that? After all God had done. Look in verse 15 of the same
chapter. And Moses turned and went down
from the mountain, the two tables of the testimony were in his
hand. Remember, God had given him the law at this time. The
tables were written on both their sides, on the one side and on
the other were they written. And the tables were the work
of God. And the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the
tables. And when Joshua heard the noise
of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, there's a
noise of war in the camp. And he said, it's not the voice
of them that shout for mastery. Neither is it the voice of them
that cry for being overcome, but the noise of them that sing
do I hear. And it came to pass, as soon
as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf and the
dancing, and Moses' anger waxed hot. And he cast the tables out
of his hands, and he breaked them beneath the mount. And he
took the calf which they had made, and burned it in the fire,
and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and
he made the children of Israel to drink of it. And Moses said
unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee that thou hast brought
so great a sin upon them? And Aaron said, Let not the anger
of my Lord wax off. Thou knowest the people that
are set on mischief. For they said unto me, Make us
God's, which shall go before us. For as it is Moses, the man
that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we want not what's
become of him. And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold,
let him break it off. So they gave it to me, and I
cast it into the fire, and out came his calf. Boy, Aaron was
quick to make an excuse, wasn't he? He's the one who made it. Chapter 33, And the Lord said
unto Moses, Exodus 33, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the
people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt.
Notice the language, not the ones that I brought up, but the
ones that you brought up. Unto the land which I swear unto Abraham,
to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying unto thy seed will I give it.
And I will send an angel before thee, and will drive out the
Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and
the Hivite, and the Jebusite, unto a land flowing with milk
and honey. For I will not go up in the midst of thee, for
thou art a stiff-necked people, lest I consume thee in the way.
And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned, and
no man put on his ornaments." The Lord said, I'm not having
anything to do with you. I'll let you go into that land. You'll
enjoy these material benefits, but I'm not going with you. I've
left you to yourself. Now, Moses begins to pray for
the people. Look in verse 11. Chapter 33, And the Lord spake
unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And
he turned again into the camp. But his servant Joshua, the son
of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle, and
Moses said unto the Lord, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up
this people, and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send
with me. Yet hast thou said, I know thee by name, and thou
hast found grace in my sight. Now therefore I pray thee, if
I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may
know thee." that I may find grace in thy sight, and consider that
this nation is thy people." And he, the Lord, said, My presence
shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. And he said unto
him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. For
wherein shall it be known that I and thy people have found grace
in thy sight? Is it not that thou goest with
us? So shall we be separated. I am thy people from all the
people that are upon the face of the earth. There is that division. And the Lord said unto Moses,
I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken. For thou hast
found grace in my sight, and I know thee. by name, and then
Moses makes this request. He said, I beseech thee, show
me thy glory. Is that what you want to see? He said, I beseech Now, he'd
seen some glorious things. He'd seen the parting of the
Red Sea. He was the one who hit that rock
and water came out. He saw the bread come down from
heaven. Moses had seen the giving of
the law. You remember, God gave him the
law at this time, God's holy law. And after all he'd seen,
he yet says, I've not seen your glory. I beseech you, show me
your glory. Verse 19, here's God's answer. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass
before thee. God's glory is His goodness. Now, what do I mean by, or what
does the Bible mean by His goodness? I mean, you could look at the
beautiful blue skies and say, God's good. You can look at the
beautiful green grass and say, God's good. You can look at all
the blessings of this life and say, God's good. And that'd be
right, but that's not what he's talking about. Now remember these
people who were so evil that they made a golden calf and bowed
down before it after all they'd experienced. God's goodness is
that He will save people like that. His goodness is seen that He'll
save somebody as sinful as me or you. That's God's goodness. God's so good. You know, I'm always amazed by
how, when people hear of election, how that God chose who would
be saved. And they object. Why didn't he
save everybody? I mean, he could have. Why didn't
he save everybody? Why didn't Christ die for everybody?
I mean, if God has the power and the ability to save everybody,
why doesn't he do it? Now, when we say something like
that, here's what we're saying. I'm more merciful than God. I'm
more gracious than God. That's what we say. And the fact
of the matter is, and I know this is something, if salvation
were up to me or you, no one would be saved but me. Because
at one point, I mean, you could sin against me 10 times, 12 times,
15 times, and maybe after the thousands of times, I'll say,
that's it, I've had it. All of us would be that way.
Every one of us. But God is good. He said, I'll make all my goodness
pass before you. Look what he says next. I will
proclaim the name of the Lord before you. Now, the name of
the Lord It is attributes. It's the person behind the name. In the gospel, we see all of
God's holiness, his justice, his mercy, his grace, his sovereignty. Every attribute of God is magnified
in the gospel. It's the proclamation of his
name. Now, if God saves me, it's a manifestation of the attributes
of God. What power it took to save me.
What grace it took to save me. His righteousness given to me.
Just on and on, it's a declaration of the attributes of God. I'll
proclaim my name before you, and look what he says next, and
I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show
mercy on whom I will show mercy. His grace is sovereign grace.
That's the only kind of grace there is. He says, I'll save
whom I'm pleased to save. I'll give grace to whomever I
decide to give it to. I'll have mercy on whomsoever
I will have mercy. Salvation is in God's sovereign
hand. It's up to Him as to whether
or not you or I will be saved. And let me say this also, that's
not going to keep anybody from seeking mercy. Somebody says,
well, there's nothing I can do about it, so I won't do anything. You haven't heard a word I've
said. You don't believe. You're just looking for an excuse.
If you ever see your sinfulness, you'll say, I have to have Christ.
I must have him. And you'll see. No question about that. But he
says, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. Now, that's
God's glory. His goodness. His capacity to save people like
me or you. His name. His attributes. All
he is is magnified in the salvation of the sinner. And his sovereignty. He gives grace to whom he will
give grace. Now, I've heard people say, I
never will forget somebody said, well, I believe in election,
but it's a doctrine of secondary importance. I mean, there's other
things that are more important. Well, if the glory of God is
a secondary importance, then election is of secondary importance.
But you know better than that, the glory of God is everything. And when he says, I beseech you,
show me your glory. Let's go back to our text. 2 Corinthians 4. 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. Now, what does the face of Jesus
Christ look like? You all heard of that shroud
of Turin? Turin, is that what it's called? Where supposedly
his face, that's foolishness. Nobody knows what his face looks
like. I can't wait to see him. When by His grace I shall look
on His face, that will be glory. That will be. And I shall see
Him face to face and tell the story saved by grace. Oh, I can't wait to join in that
great heavenly choir and sing that song when I see His face. The glory of God shines in the
face of Jesus Christ. Let me show you what this is
a reference to. Turn to Isaiah 52. Verse 13. Behold my servant. Talking about
the Lord Jesus Christ. shall deal prudently, he shall
be exalted, and extolled, and be very high, as many were astonished
at thee." His visage, his face, was so marred more than any man,
and his form more than the sons of men. Now what's that referring
to? The Lord Jesus Christ was beaten,
black and blue, with rods. They hit him in the face. Then
they said, prophesy, who was it that hit you? They smacked
him with open palms. They took his beard and ripped
it out. And I'm sure the flesh was ripped
out with it. And they took a crown of thorns
and pressed it upon his head, so that you couldn't even recognize
him, who he was. His visage was marred more than
the sons of men. In that face, I see the glory of God. I see how a holy God can be just and justify me. I see that in the face, that
dear face that was marred, that visage that made you couldn't
even recognize Him. You see, that dear one was made
to be sin. My sin became His sin. And the wrath of God came on
Him to the fullest extent. And he paid the price. And his righteousness becomes
my righteousness. And I see the glory of God in
the face of Jesus Christ. Do you? And Paul went on to say in verse
7, and we'll consider this later on, but he went on to say, we
have this treasure. What a treasure we have. The
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ. We have this treasure in earthen
vessels, in jars of clay, that the excellency of the power may
be of God. and not of us. Let's pray.