Oh, the miracles. The miracles of God's grace. The miracles of His mercy. I thought while Ron was standing
here praying, of all the weeks and months and years that he
had no interest in this gospel at all. No interest at all. And now God has not only given
him an interest in it, but a love for it, and a concern that others
hear it. That can only be done by the
grace of God. The language that came forth
from Ron's mouth and heart this morning is It's not a language
that you used to speak. It's words you didn't know. And
now they're spontaneous. And I talked on the telephone
last night with my son Paul. He's down in Sylacauga, Alabama. He's going to preach this morning
in about an hour. And I think about eight or nine
years ago when he was a rebel, Oh, what a rebel. That old long
hair, you know, and dirty clothes and blue jeans.
I always said outlaw blue jeans. Flower children. Just tough. Didn't want to be around him.
Didn't want to see him. Dreaded to see him come in the
door. Chip on his shoulder. But the Lord knocked it off. He engaged in a battle that he
couldn't win. God won it. And now this morning
he's preaching to God. And your husband, he was a rebel
too, I'm telling you. Wow! Man, he hated the world,
didn't he? He hated the world. He had a,
oh, he had a boulder on his shoulder. Came in my study there a few
years ago. What, five years ago? Something
like that. Said he heard me on television that I talked about
the Lamb of God. He'd been studying the Lamb of
God. And he's going to a Baptist church
and they didn't know anything about the Lamb of God. All they
knew about was the cooperative program, you know, and Lottie
Moon. You're wrapped up in Lottie Moon,
you're not often wrapped up in the Lamb of God. So we talked
a little bit, and he said, you going to preach tomorrow night?
I was on Tuesday. I said, yeah, I'll be preaching
Wednesday night. He said, I'll be up there to hear you. And now this morning he's going
before a congregation as their pastor. Now you think, that's
the miracle of God's grace. That's a miracle. And we've seen
some miracles. We've seen God perform them.
We're going to see some more. And there hadn't been a single
person drug down the aisle. There hadn't been a single person
coerced or manipulated or pressured. But there they are. There they
are. Each one of you. Each one of you know yourselves
to be a miracle of God's grace. when I think where he brought
me from. Where he brought me from. I mean
from nowhere. You talk about Mr. Nobody from
nowhere. Isn't that you? And what, where
he brought us, Mike. What a fellowship God has given
us. And the glory is his. It's all
his. Each one of us have our particular,
peculiar story to tell. And you know every one of those
stories has one leading character, and it's not I, it's Christ. That's exactly right. The leading
character in your biography is Christ. That's exactly right. And if it's not, then He hasn't
dealt with you yet in grace. If it's still I, 2 Corinthians
3. You notice back there in chapter
2, when I started with verse 14, Paul said, Thanks be unto
God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ. That's what
I'm talking about. When a man preaches the gospel
of God's grace, when a man preaches the gospel of God's grace in
the power of the Holy Spirit, he never fails. That's exactly
what Paul's saying, right, that thanks be unto God, which always,
always, not part-time, but always. Somebody said, well, we didn't
have a very good service today. You might not have had a very
good service, but there wasn't much power in the message. For
you, there might not have been, but if that man's preaching the
gospel, if he's magnifying, glorifying Christ in the strength and power
of God's Spirit, preaching that gospel that we prayed about,
He accomplished what God sent him to do. He froze your old
cold heart a little tighter and a little darker and a little
harder. But those who loved Christ were
melted a little more and strengthened and edified in faith. That's
what he said. You read it. See if that's not
what he said. Verse 14. Thanks be unto God, which always
causes us to triumph in Christ and manifest the savor, that's
the fragrance, the smell, the odor. It's like opening a box
of fragrant perfume. The place you open it, and the
whole place is filled with that fragrance. And that's what he's
saying here. When a man preaches Christ, God
makes manifest the fragrance of His knowledge by us in every
place we preach. That odor of Christ, that name
of Christ, that message of Christ, that gospel of Christ fills the
place. Now, people who have life and
who have a nose to smell it and eyes to see it and ears to hear
it and a heart to enjoy it, to them, it's life upon life. See, they learn a little more.
They are fed a little more. They're edified a little more. They're instructed a little more.
They're strengthened. They're established a little
firmer. They hear that good news that's
always been good news to them since God opened their hearts.
And they love it. They rejoice in it. They say, Amen to it. That's what he's saying here.
We are unto God. This is before God. a sweet fragrance
of Christ in them that are saved. In them that are saved. When
the message comes to you again, it's like Mike was singing just
then. Talk about where he brought me
from. And believers here, their minds
went back. They went back to those shacks
in which we used to live, you know, and the darkness and the
paganism and the daddy come in drunk, you know, Some of us were
brought up that way. No interest. Sunday morning came,
no church attendance. We were pagans. We lived like
heathens. And God breached down in that
idolatry and paganism and drunkenness and wildness and deadness and
darkness and plucked us. And here we are where he's brought
us to. And we love Christ and the gospel.
That's his doings, you know. And just like that song blessed
me, especially blessed me. It just made me relive some things. And it did you, too. And as I'm
preaching here of Christ, and as I go on and talk about that
veil removed, you're going to rejoice in it. But there's something
here for them that perish, too, verse 15. And in them that perish,
to the one, to those that perish, we're the smell of death, death
upon death. They get a little harder, get
a little colder. get a little more indifferent.
They can't rejoice in these things. They can't delight in these things.
They can't find any joy in these things. And to them, we're death
upon death. Keep, you see, keep adding to
their condemnation. Keep adding to it. When a man
refuses the gospel and rejects the gospel, and he hears the
gospel again, it just adds to his condemnation, just makes
him more responsible. And to the other, we're saver
of life and death. And here's what Paul said, who's sufficient
for these things? Who is sufficient for this awesome
task, for this great responsibility? In verse 17, he said, we're not
as many. And you know this is true, that
there are many who corrupt the word of God. They deal deceitfully
with their heroes. They hold back the word of God.
They trifle with truth. They even manipulate truth. Manipulate. You know, Paul said
this when he departed from the elders at Ephesus. He said, I've
kept back nothing profitable unto you. I've not shunned to
declare all the counsel of God. I don't understand why men who
stand in the pulpit with the open Bible take upon themselves
to manipulate the Word of God, to say, well, I just hold this
back, you know, because the people aren't ready for this. Or I keep
back this truth too strong, or they trifle with truth, they
manipulate, they deal really deceitfully with people. Or they
hope to raise some money so they'll go through the Bible and find
scripture on raising money, you know. or they hope to accomplish
some end, they go through Scripture and find, through the Bible and
find Scripture that deals with that, whereby they can accomplish
their goals. But he said, we don't corrupt
the Word of God. What's this? But out of sincerity,
we speak sincerely, as of God, God sent us, we're speaking the
Word of God, in the sight of God or before God. We're not
just preaching to the people, we're preaching before God Almighty
today. And we speak of Christ. We talk
about God's gift of grace in Christ, God's gift of the atonement
for our sins, God's covenant of grace, Christ our righteousness,
Christ our justifier, Christ our mediator. This is our message. We don't confuse the grace of
God. If righteousness come by the
law, Christ died in vain. Christ is our message without
apology. We speak of Christ. We speak
of Christ. Now look at verse 1 and 2. Paul
says, are we bragging? Verse 1, are we commending ourselves? We're defending ourselves to
a certain degree, but we're not commending ourselves. We're not
bragging. We're not seeking to compile
reports. He said, do we need, as some
others, as some preachers do, letters of recommendation to
you? Do we need brochures? Do we need
to tell our life story to impress you? Do we need to establish
credentials to open doors? Do we need letters of recommendation
from you and to you? What's the next line? You are
our epistles, written in our hearts, known
and read of all men. You are our testimony. Almighty
God, just what I said a moment ago about this man down here
and others out there and these young men out preaching, they
are our letters of recommendation. They are our epistles. And they're
not our epistles, look at the next verse, they are the epistles
of Christ. That's what they are. They're
the epistles of Christ. What is Paul saying here? He's saying this, this message of God's glorious,
sovereign, free grace, which we preach, keeping back nothing,
with magnifying, exalting the Lord Jesus Christ in His saving
grace, God's eternal, immutable, infinite sovereignty, God's covenant
of grace and mercy in Christ, God's gift of His dear Son, who
fulfilled the law as our righteousness and died as our atonement, and
rose as our justifier and ascended as our mediator, who reigns as
our King. This message of the free grace
of God, of the quickening of God's Spirit, of the blessings
of a knowledge of Christ, we preach it boldly and fearlessly. We do not confuse it, we do not
hold back, we do not trifle with it, we do not distort We do not
manipulate it, we just preach Christ, preach Christ, preach
Christ. Sincerely, that for God, as of
God, we preach Christ. What men think of that is of
no matter to us, because we don't need their letters of recommendation,
we don't need their approval, we don't need their credentials.
You are our epistles. You are our recommendations. You are our letters of commendation. Almighty God has blessed the
gospel to your heart and brought you to believe in and love Jesus
Christ. And your faith and your love
written in the heart is a testimony to any man who's interested that
God is with us. God is with us. That's the testimony. Our gospel and the fruit of our
ministry is not written in ink. Look at him as he says here in
verse three. You are the epistle of Christ, ministered by us. You're the sheep of Christ. You're
called by the Spirit of God. You have the Word revealed to
your heart. And all we did was just bring
the message. Christ did the Word. See that? We just brought the
message. And it's not written with ink. You're not a bunch
of names on a church roll. I go places to preach and people
say, how many members do you got? And you know, honestly,
Before God, my answer to them is, I don't know. I don't know. I've never counted that role
in that. Never have. Because to me, people
are not names on a roll, written in ink. They're not even names and monuments. You see, people are always building
They have big stone here and put a name, engrave it, chisel
it, you know, in a stone, chisel at that stake. They think it's
a stake. But he said, you're the epistle
of Christ, not written with ink or a piece of paper, but written
with the spirit of the living God in the heart. That's where
it is, in the heart. The name of Christ, the love
of Christ, the glory of Christ, the blood of Christ, the fruit
of Christ, written in the heart. And not names chiseled on stones
or tables of stone, but in flesh the tables of the heart. Almighty
God has brought you to Christ. Now look at verse 5. Not that
we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything of ourselves,
but our sufficiency is of God. Paul didn't want to leave the
impression, and before God no true preacher does, that he was
anything in himself, nothing. He wasn't even sufficient to
think anything of himself. He said, our sufficiency is of
God. Our open doors are of God. Our
power is of God. Our success is of God. He didn't
find us sufficient. He made us sufficient. There's
a lot of difference. Listen to this. A preacher is
no more than God makes him to be. Now you put that down. He can do no more than God is
pleased to do in him, with him, and through him. No more. But he says here in verse 6,
look at it, but he hath made us. He hath made us. And I'll tell you this, if this
is, as I studied these scriptures and looked at them and read them,
if you suppose it's possible that these words written from
the heart of Paul under the inspiration of God's Spirit in reference
to his own ministry, which God used so mightily in that particular day, that
it just may be by His grace that we have such a ministry?
Do you reckon that could be possible? I'll tell you this, I don't want to be just down
here in 1986 reading about something that happened almost 2,000 years
ago, and getting around a circle and discussing it. But this which applied to Paul,
I believe in this day, right now, in this
place, applies to this ministry that God's given us. I barely
actually believe that. And if it doesn't, if it doesn't,
if we don't have this ministry that he's talking about here,
and this spirit, and this grace, and these blessings, then we're outside of Christ.
And we're just playing games, religious games, like the idolaters
of old. That's But as I've looked through this,
and applied it, and studied it, and prepared to preach on it
this morning, I believe it's personally applicable right here
in this day. Verse 6, He hath made us able
ministers of a new covenant. A new covenant. That's a New
Testament. Not of the letter, but of the
Spirit. For the law and the letter and
the doctrine kills. It kills. Oh, if we could learn
this. Religion requires rules and laws
and regulations and rewards. Christ captures the heart. This is not a doctrine we're
preaching, it's a person. This is not even a way of conduct
and behavior with preaching. It's a person. He hath made us
able ministers, not of the letter of the law. What does the letter
of the law declare? What does the letter of the law
declare? What does it say? It declares
this. It declares what is to be done,
what is to be thought, what is to be said, what is to not be
done, what is to not be said, what is to not be thought, and
gives us no ability to perform any of it. The letter of the
law, the doctrine, gives no hope of life, for the law not only
reveals sin, but kills as a result of sin. That's what the letter
of the law does. That's what cold, dead, heartless,
tables-of-stone religion do to men and women. Kills them. Makes
them throw up their hands and say, what's the use? Eat, drink,
and be merry. Tomorrow you're going to die
and go to hell anyway. That's the only impression the law can
leave. But the gospel of Christ, he says, he's made us able ministers
of a new covenant, not of the old covenant, of grace, not works,
of life, not law, of Christ, not doctrine. And the gospel
of Christ gives hope to sinners, life to the dead. works repentance
toward God, gives faith in Christ, justifies, sanctifies, redeems,
and makes the believer a new creature, and writes the will
of God not on a table of stone or on a piece of paper, but writes
the will and law and purpose and commandments of God on the
heart. Makes a man love Him. That's the difference. I think
a lot of my preacher brothers need to camp right here on verse
6. We're able ministers, able. Able in ourselves? Oh no, able
in His grace, in His power, in His Spirit. Ministers of a new
covenant, of a new message, of the gospel. Not of the letter.
Not of the letter. We know the letter. But of the
Spirit of God. The letter killeth, the law killeth,
but the Spirit giveth life. Now watch this. I want you to
see verse 7 through 9. Concentrate a little bit right
here. If the ministration or ministry of death, written and
engraved in stone, that's the law. Levitical law or the moral
law. If that was glorious, and it
was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not even behold
the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance when it reflected
the glory of God when he came down off that mountain, which
glory is to be done away? How shall not the ministry of
the Spirit be rather glorious? If the ministration of condemnation
be glory, much more the ministration of righteousness in Christ exceeding
glory. For 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
was glorious, much more that which remaineth." What's he saying?
Here's what he's saying. Now listen. The Old Testament
dispensation. And the preaching of law, preaching
of law, do this and live, that's a ministry of death, condemnation,
and judgment. For the law discovers and reveals
our sins and shows us our duty and gives us no strength to perform
it, so it reveals the holiness of God, the justice of God, the
wrath of God, the judgment of God, and it's glorious. He's
glorious in His holiness. That old mountain from which
God gave the Ten Commandments, it flashed with lightning and
fire and thunder, and the people backed away from the glory of
it. Nothing could touch it lest they
die. But the gospel of Christ is the
ministry of life and hope. He's our righteousness. He's
our justifier. The law hasn't changed, but our
God-man has honored it. The law is still the same. It's
still awesome in its holiness and majesty and perfection. It
hasn't changed, but our God-man has honored it and obeyed it. And if that was glorious, think
how glorious is his obedience. Think how glorious is his obedience.
And then he says this, the law shows God above us, high above
us. The gospel shows God with us. Emmanuel, God, with us. The law
shows God against us. The gospel shows God for us. If God be for us, who can be
against us? The law is written in tables
of stone. The gospel is written on the
heart. The law judges and finds guilty and And the gospel forgives. And a perfect picture of that
is when the religious Pharisees, and I think when I read that
story, I think about the self-righteous Pharisees of this day. They found
this woman, they said, in the very act of adultery. Their prejudice
showed in the fact that they didn't bring the man at the other
hour. They just brought the woman. But to let him go might have
been one of their crowds. So they brought her to Christ.
And they threw her down at his feet there. And they said, the
law says stoner. And that's exactly what it said.
They were telling the truth. They were telling the truth.
The law condemned her. The law says stoner. She's bound
in a door. She's stoner. That's what the
law said. And when you preach law, that's
all you've got to say. She's guilty. And the law says
she deserves to die, and the law offers no hope. If you stop there, there's no
hope for her or anybody else. But I'll tell you this, while
the law is written on cold, immovable, unshakable, unchangeable tables
of stone, the gospel of God's grace is written on the higher. the heart which loves and forgives
and lifts and cares, and that's what our Lord did. He cared,
He forgave, He lifted. There's a difference. There's
a difference. You see, in verse 10, look at
this. It says in verse 10, even that
which was made glorious had no glory in this respect by reason
of the glory that excelleth. The Lord had no glory at all
compared to the gospel. If you stand there and see this
woman brought in the law, the law in its rigidity and inflexibility
and justice, such stoner, and you'll have to say, that's glorious.
That's God's holiness. You have to admire that law.
Yeah, you do. Paul said, I love thy law. You
have to admire it. You have to bow before it. You
have to say, that's right. That's right. Don't you take
sides against God in this matter. That's right. The Lord's right.
Our Lord said to that woman, the Canaanite woman, it's not
right to give a children's bread to dogs. She said, that's right.
Right's right. I don't care if we are affected.
That's a glorious law. But isn't that grace more glorious? That's what she admires, the
love of Christ, the grace of God. And that's what he's saying
here, that the law has no glory at all compared to the grace
of God. Look at verse 11. For if that which was done away
was glorious, if the law fulfilled, obeyed, done away in Christ,
is glorious, think much more of the glory of the gospel which
remains. How much more glorious is that
which remains and that which is taken away. Verse 12, seeing
then that we have such hope, seeing that we have such great
hope in Christ, we don't mince words and flounder about, but
we speak plainly. This is good news. This is not
something to hold back and something to compromise on and something
to ease up on a fellow or something to slip up on him. This is good
news. Seeing that we have such hope,
the law gives no hope, the letter gives no hope, the doctrine killeth,
the letter killeth, we've got good news of the sovereign, free
grace of God in Christ. Killeth! Boy, the sheep are going
to be so glad. They're going to be so glad. Verse 13, and not as Moses. Turn to Exodus 34. Let's see
what this is talking about. Exodus 34. Exodus 34, verse 29. Now, let's
see what this is talking about. Came to pass when Moses came
down from Mount Sinai, carrying those two tables of
the testimony in his hand, that law, thou shalt not. Thou shalt not. tough, rigid, glorious. The glory
of the holiness of God, the justice and judgment of God, the righteousness
of God. When he came down from that mountain,
Moses whispered out that the skin of his face shone while
he talked with him. The reflected glory of God. He'd
been in the presence of God, and his face just shone, radiated. And when Abram and all the children
of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and
they were afraid to come near him. And Moses called to them, and
Abram and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him.
Moses talked with them, and afterwards all the children of Israel came
near, and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken
with him in Mount Sinai. Until Moses had done speaking
with them, he put a veil on his face." And you know what Paul
is saying here? He's saying in verse 13, and
not as Moses, we don't put a veil on our faces. We don't hide anything. We don't have to. We don't cover
anything. The children of Israel could
not look steadfastly to the end of that which is abolished. The
people could not look upon Moses because of their sin, because
of their spiritual blindness, because of the hardness of heart.
They couldn't see Christ, the righteousness of God, and even
today he says the veil is on their face. Verse 14, But their
minds were blinded until this day. That same veil is there.
They cannot see Christ in that Levitical law. They cannot see
Christ in the types and the shadows and the pictures and the sacrifices.
They can't see it. But look at that last line. That
veil is done away in Christ. Do you see what he's saying?
We put up no veil. We preach Christ, able sacrifice. Christ, Passover lamb. Christ,
that blessed ark, floating on God's, by God's grace, over the
judgment of God's wrath. We see Christ the brazen serpent
lifted up. We see Christ, the righteousness
of God, the holiness of God, the fulfillment of the law, the
forgiveness of sin. We see the glory of God in the
face of Christ Jesus. Turn one page to 2 Corinthians
chapter 4. Look at verse 6 of chapter 4.
Verse 5 and 6. Listen to this. We preach not ourselves, but
Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Christ's sake,
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 God, the redemptive
glory of God. If the holiness and the justice
of God is glorious, I think what greater glory is
in the redemptive glory of God. That's what Moses said to him
in Exodus 33. He said, show me your glory.
He said, my glory is my goodness. My greater glory is my goodness.
And that's what we're enabled to see in Christ. Look at that
verse again. Verse 14, the last line, which
veil is done away in Christ. Even this day, unto this day,
when the Scriptures read, the veils upon the hearts of men
and women, not only Jew but Gentile. And let me tell you this, this
whole religious world, they claim to know the word of God, but
the great majority of them do not know the message of this
book. They know the words, They know
some of the Proverbs. They know the dates. They know the moral principles. But they don't see the glory
of redemption. They don't see Christ, the glory
of Christ. You see what I'm saying? They
tell us the walking Bible. Well, you can do that. You can
memorize the Bible and not know the message. The message is a
person. The message is that person fulfilling
the requirements of God and the righteousness of God and the
justice of God and the holiness of God by the grace of God on
behalf of a people of God. And the message of this book
is not rules and laws and regulations, it's the person. Religion has
to have rules and regulations and rewards. You do this, and
God will reward you. You do this, and God will bless
you. You do this, and God will whip you. You do this, and God
will take you to heaven. You do this, and God will take
you and send you to hell. These are rules and regulations and
laws and rewards and all these things. But this message of this
book is a person, a person who is our lover and husband and
friend and Lord and prophet and priest and king, who doesn't
who doesn't make robots out of people, but who fills their hearts
with His grace. And He doesn't give them a set
of rules to live by, He comes in their hearts and gives them
His Spirit by which to live. You see that? That's what I'm
saying. And that's what verse 16 says,
Nevertheless, when a man turns to the Lord, that veil will be
taken away. There is that religion. That
stereotype religion, that regimentation, that do's and don'ts, that earning,
that, well, this is my duty and I've got to do it, this is what
I've got to give, I've got to give it, this is where I've got
to live, I've got to live it, this is what I've got to don't do,
I don't do it, this is what I've got to do, I'll do it, that sort
of thing. But when Christ comes into the
heart, you love His Word, you love Him, you love His commandments,
want to do as well. What's yours is really his. You're joined in a happy union
and relationship and marriage. That's what I'm talking about.
And it's a helpless thing. It's a... I don't know what to
do about it. I don't know what to do about
folks that just can't get the message. They get the rules, and they
throw them at you, Talk about them, but they don't belong to
the person. When that veil, when a person
comes to Christ, the veil is lifted. Moses came down off that mountain.
He'd been with God, and his face just radiated the glory of God. He had to put some kind of veil
over his face. So the people couldn't stand
to look at him. They couldn't stand to look at
the glory of God in his face. They didn't know anything about
the glory of God. He gave them a bunch of rules, you know, here's
your rule, live by it. And when Christ comes, the veil
is moved and you see the glory of God, redemptive glory, the
grace of God, how good God is, how merciful God is, how forgiving
God is, how loving God is, how plenteous in redemption God is,
and you look into the glory of God, not into a bunch of rules. You join the church, let's be
sure we can give you our rules and bylaws and credentials, and
you know, say, oh, come to Him. And I was enamored with those
two statements there. Just let me give them to you,
and I'll quit. The veil is done away in Christ. And when you
come to the Lord, the veil will be taken away. And you're His. And you're His. And that's not
walking down the aisle, that's not joining the church, it's
not me. Now I'm supposed to stand here and announce the song now,
and put some pressure on you to do something. And I just can't
do it. I just can't do it. I just know
this. If you've heard something, you'll do something. If you heard about him, you'll
love him. You'll love him. And I tell you,
somebody said one time, if people you work with have to ask you
if you're a Christian, they needn't bother. Because somehow it's
revealed. Somehow it sticks out. How it's
manifested. Our Father in heaven, Lord God
who's sufficient for these things, who's able. We talk and talk
and talk, preach and preach and teach, but the only one who can
remove the veil is your mighty quickening spirit. The only one who can manifest
Christ Jesus, the message of this book, the life of this book,
There they would testify of me, and you will not come to me."
Oh, that men and women, young people, would look to Christ,
look to Christ and see Him in all that He is and all that He
has done. May it please Thee, Lord, may it please Thee, we
wait upon Thee in this congregation to set men and women free. free
from the bondage of religion and custom and tradition, the curse of the law, judgment,
and bring them to see the glory and beauty of Christ. Enter into
His rest and His peace and joy. In His blessed name we pray.
Amen.