God the Holy Spirit His Filling
Roger Henderson · Nov 17, 2002
Major Bible Themes (2002-03), No. 20
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/48262249532915

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Well, this morning we come to the last part of the section on the Holy Spirit. I put a little note down here just to kind of remind you. We probably should have done this back when we started. We took a little diversion. 16 through 19, we have a different approach to covering that, and that's on the chart that Hal put together. I thought it was just really wonderful. Most of those topics we've covered.

Regeneration, His indwelling and sealing, baptism, and so on have been covered, but not in the same manner that the book talks about them. So hopefully you're still reading the book. In fact, last week, Ryan's not here, so I can talk about him. Ryan says, Dad, you didn't cover baptism last week. I said, No, because we're doing a different outline. Oh, OK. So hopefully you're not getting I said, hey, praise the Lord. He's reading the book. That's great. So anyway, so we're coming in a different outline. And I think it's really this morning is really neat. We have some tremendous verses to look at.

So let's look at I kind of condensed what we've been covering. And I just tried to go through and look at basically the areas that we've been looking at. the Holy Spirit's ministry to the church in terms of that He has shared His glory, our position in Christ, and we've actually looked at those four aspects.

He called you, He chose you, He regenerated you, and He baptized you. So we looked at that, and that's the completed work. There's a much bigger list. I mean, as Hal pointed out, this whole section is another whole course, another whole Sunday school lesson. Then we looked at His present work in terms of He's sharing, He's continuing to share His glory to you and through you in terms of trials and suffering that you go through. And then we covered He fills you.

And we kind of just stopped there. I thought we had time for that particular chunk. And then last week we looked at the fact that the Holy Spirit is revealing Christ to you. And sort of that He's revealing, the Holy Spirit is revealing Christ's glory to you. He takes of mine and shows it unto you.

And in that we saw his guiding and his teaching. So up to there, that's what we've covered so far. Today we're going to look at the fact that as amazing as it may seem, he uses believers to glorify the Father and the Son. He uses us to show the world who he is. It seems incredible that he would do that. But he does, and that's what we're going to look at today.

Okay, so in this section here on the fact that the believer is going to glorify the Father and the Son, we're going to look at two aspects. That He manifests in you and through you the fruits of the Holy Spirit and the very glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we're going to see how they kind of tie together. How these how the fruit of the Spirit is used to show the world who Christ is. I don't know how to do this right. Okay. Yeah, I know. I'm sorry, guys. This is terrible. This is terrible. Well, actually, I need to cut off the top part.

Well, actually, I can do that. Hey, I can do this. I can do this. Okay. There we go. Okay, I thought we should spend some time looking at the word manifest. So the title of this chart is He Manifests Christ's Glory to Us, basically. Christ's glory is being manifest. So the word in the Greek for manifest is this word, I don't know, do I dare? Phaneruo?

I'm not sure that's, if anybody, I'm, anyway. It's the idea to make visible, to make clear, to known, to uncover, lay bare, reveal. And I think in looking at this word, there's a verse I think that kind of really helped me to understand what this word is about. You know, and it's just, I don't know about if you're like me, you know, Scripture explains Scripture. And so let's look at this passage, and I think it will explain what this word is about. If I could have someone volunteer to read John chapter 9, John chapter 9, not all 9, but, and verses 1, 2, and 3. John chapter 9. And you get extra points for this, you realize, and you get refreshments if there's some downstairs.

There are some. So good. I can't. I can't bribe you and all this stuff. My wife uses all these kind of techniques and she teaches. She has all the kids. You know, you get you get extra skittles or whatever. So it's hard to do with adults. Go ahead. Thanks. Oh, one, two, and three. Okay.

So basically, the purpose, you know, the Lord Jesus is asked, why is this man blind? And he says, the purpose of this man being blind is, as it says here, that God might be manifested, the works of God. Sue, how does yours read again in the last part of three? That the works of God should be revealed.

Okay. In the numerical standard it has the works of God might be displayed in him. And that's very much like the idea of, you know, displayed might be revealed, openly shown. God could be openly seen in this man. I mean, otherwise, God's, the works of God or God's glory might not be seen. But it's seen in this person's being blind and being born blind.

Okay. All right. So with that kind of in mind, the fact that this idea that we're going to see about God's glory being manifest, revealed, made clear, we're going to see how he does that. What's the process he uses in doing that? OK, now. OK, all right. Now we're going to go into the cultivating business here, which I know nothing, very little about, nothing about.

I learned quite a bit this week, the last several weeks. So we're going to look at this wonderful passage in John 15, which I'm sure you're familiar with. OK, so let's see, where do I want to start here? Maybe we should read it first. That's always probably. Can I ask for a volunteer again here? We get more extra points. As soon as she does this again, she'll get twice as many points. Read John 15, 1 through 5, and then also verse 8. Yeah, okay, thank you. Okay, good, good, I like that.

Abide in me, and I in thee. A branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am your vine, and you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, bear much fruit, for apart from me there can be no fruit. By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and sow fruit. Okay, thank you. That's great.

Okay, so we start off with this wonderful part of verse 1 with this phrase, I am. And if you've looked at John very much, you'll see that the phrase I am, it kind of focuses back on the Old Testament Christ saying that as we learned back in chapter 1 or 2, when we studied about the I am that I am, I'm the ever-present one, it looks back to that.

That's who he is. I am that I am. I'm the ever-present one, the one that has existed from all eternity. And actually, if you go through John, you'll see that there are seven times when the Lord Jesus says the phrase, I am. He says, I am the bread of life. I am the light of the world. I am the door. I am the good shepherd. I am the resurrection and the life. I am the way, the truth and the life.

And then lastly, he says, this is the very last one, I am the vine. And I really haven't, I wasn't, I don't intend to go through and go through all those, we could spend, it could be a whole study unto itself, but it's interesting that this is the final one of those seven. That all those aspects of our Savior, being the bread of life, the light of the world, and then finally he says that I am the true vine, or actually it's better read the genuine vine. And I like what Wiest has, he has in, some of the words he uses, my vocabulary is lacking, in contradistinction to anyone else. There is no one else that is divine. The Lord Jesus is divine. There's none other like him, and never will be.

Also, if you look in the Old Testament, there's a picture in the Old Testament of vines. Let me just read that. I think it might be worthwhile. What we're going to see is a totally different plan that God has in place for the believer and for the church age than with Israel. He has a picture of Israel in a vineyard situation. Then we have this picture here of the church in this vineyard situation. So let's look at Isaiah chapter 5. Isaiah chapter 5. And may I just read a portion of this? In my Bible it's called the Parable of the Vineyard. I think in this vineyard situation you see God's care and concern for his chosen people.

It says, Let me sing now for my well-beloved a song of my beloved concerning his vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill, and he dug it all around, removed his stones, and planted it with a choicest vine, and he built a tower in the middle of it, and hewn out a wine vat in it.

And he expected it to produce good grapes, but it produced only worthless ones. And then he goes on. From there he goes on and he says, And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, O men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it. Why then, when I expected it to produce good grapes, did it produce worthless ones?

So now let me tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedges, and it will be consumed. I will break down its walls, and it will become trampled ground. And I will lay it in waste. It will not be pruned or hoed, but briars and thorns will come up And I will also charge the clouds to rain no rain on it.

And then in verse 7 it says, For the vineyard of the LORD, of the host, is the house of Israel. So this whole picture is a picture that I read. It's a picture of this vineyard. It talks about God being involved with this vineyard and how his desire was to produce fruit, and talks about his actions.

I think that will kind of help. Now this picture has drastically changed. We've now come into the church age and now we have this wonderful relationship. So this doesn't apply to us, but what we're going to see here, this is what applies to us right now.

So it starts off, my father is the vine dresser, or he's the tiller of the soil. And you kind of saw in this passage what the tiller of the soil did. He took care of the vines. And if you look in here, and I called Hal yesterday and I said, Hal, I don't understand vines. So, Hal, help me out here. OK.

And looking at vines, what they do is that they have these little sticks or post or whatever, and they have wires that go across and they actually take the vine and they somehow attach them to these wires that go between so they won't be laying in the dirt, in the ground, because that's going to cause them to be less productive.

So they string them along here, they hold them up, and you notice that the fruit causes them to kind of fall down or hang down. So I believe, in this picture, that this is the vine, the brown part, and the green things are the branches, and this is the fruit. Now, in looking at this, we're going to see contrast between fruit production and no fruit production. So, in some cases, a branch will produce fruit. In other cases, it looks like it just produces a leaf. I've had the experience, my only experience with this kind of thing is I have an apple tree outside. Some years, we get tons of apples. Other years, we get no apples. So, that's my trouble. My total interface with... So anyway, so that's kind of my... Look at that picture.

Anyway, so we're going to look at this idea of producing fruit. And the Lord, as it says like in the Old Testament, His desire is that His people, His chosen people, produce fruit. He wants us to produce fruit. That's kind of the big picture. The bottom line, he wants us to produce fruit. The question is, who's producing the fruit? Are we going out producing fruit? Or is he producing the fruit?

And I think that's a critical point. And I think in Christianity, it's just critical. Who's producing the fruit? Okay, let's move on here. Okay, the next part is he makes a statement. And this is, I think, kind of a key statement. He talks about Non-production and production. He said, every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it.

So there's two things that he's doing as a vine dresser. Let's take the second one first. For the ones that are bearing fruit, for the ones that have fruit, he's going to prune them. He's going to cut off things that would hinder those grapes from growing. He's going to, and actually the word there is, he cleanses it, it comes from the word pure, to make something pure, and there are verses that talk about how, using this word pure, so he wants to make this fruit better. He wants to increase its yield and make it produce more fruit. So that's the pruning process, or the cleansing process. Now the other thing is that there are vines, or I mean there are branches, that don't produce fruit.

And it says he takes them away. And here's where it gets, you know, and I'll leave it, I'll present a couple of possibilities here. And it kind of depends upon how you, how you look at God and his purpose in the believer's life. Some have taken, take, take away to mean he basically would cut, cut this, cut that off. He cut that branch off. And you know, and if you think about that, taking that view, If you look at 1 Corinthians chapter 11, the one we do for the Lord's Table. Let's just look at that for a second. 1 Corinthians chapter 11. I'm just going to pick up in verse... It says, But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he does not judge the body rightly.

For this reason, many among you are weak and sick, and a number are asleep. So, some have taken this and they say, well, okay, what's happening here is that every branch that's not producing fruit, he's going to take it, he's going to remove it, take it away. Take it away, you know, it might be, person might be sick or weakness and that's, I think, something that's why people say, well, is there some sin in your life? You're sick, you're having some problem. People will use that thought process. So, one question, is that what's being said here? Okay, that's one interpretation. Another interpretation is, which, I'm biased here already, but anyway.

This word is translated, he lifts up. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he lifts up or he allows it not to hang down. So the picture here, I think, is the fact that there's some fruit in the vine and some of these branches are actually down in the dirt. So he's lifting them up, he's removing them so they can bear fruit. Okay, so that's kind of the picture there.

And it seems to me that in this passage he's talking about this relationship. And we're going to see that he's telling us later on, we're going to see, abide in me, remain in me. So we're talking about this relationship between the Lord and ourselves.

And I prefer the one where it talks about he lifts us up rather than that he's disciplining us in some fashion. But scripture says that it does happen. I'm not going to say it doesn't happen. It seems more consistent with this passage that he's lifting us up, the branches that are not producing fruit. His desire is that we do produce fruit. In fact, actually, in this passage, there's like four cases. There's not bearing fruit, there's bearing fruit, there's bearing more fruit, there's bearing much fruit. So he wants us to bear fruit for his glory. Okay, so I don't know. Thoughts? Go ahead. And actually, I had the same struggle. I said, well, what's the difference between those two statements? Is it repetitive? Is one enforcing the other? And that's an excellent question.

Well, actually, the word for take away can be translated lifts up. And the word for prune can be translated, he cleanses it. So they're slightly different, but they're close. The root word may be the same. I'm not sure of that. Mark? Correct. Yeah, it seems like this takeaway, and actually I may have said that wrong. Thanks, Mark. That's good. This idea of takeaway. can be rendered, lifts up. Actually, some have actually put the word, I found the Amplified Bible, some had, he trims. And I thought, boy, you're getting, no, you're kind of mixing, I don't know. Yeah, I know. And so, I don't know.

It's interesting. That's a real interesting passage. So I wanted to kind of, you know, put it out before you and so you can see, you know, and you can see how people, you can see how bodies of believers can go off different ways. They'll take that and they'll say, well, okay, here's what's happening, based upon verses like this. And it's critical that we see what's the Lord's intent here.

Okay, let's move on. I think, actually, as we look at more of the passage, we'll see, I think it fits better that he's lifting us up, seems, in my mind, to fit better. Yes, go ahead. Okay, well... Okay, okay, okay. Actually, I was getting ahead of myself there a little bit. Yeah, you're right. Good point. Good point.

Yeah, and I think what Bonnie's pointing out is that, and we're going to see later, is it the works of the flesh? Is it our own nature? Is it man producing the actions? Like when we get to the gifts of the Spirit, who's producing the love, the joy? Is that something? I'm going to be joyful today. I'm going to love my wife. That's going to be me doing it. I'm going to put it on the refrigerator and say, I'm going to love my wife. I'm going to do better today.

Is that the way the Christian life is lived? The buying of the branches doesn't fit with that. The buying of the branches says... Let me just give you what just astounds me sometimes. What can the fruit do to increase its growth? It has no control. What does it need? It needs sun. It has no control of the sun, right? It needs water. It has no control of the water, right? It has no control of the nutrients coming to it. The vine provides all that. It can't prune it. It can't prune itself. So it has no control over any of those things. It's totally dependent upon, as we are, Right, exactly. Exactly.

So the picture that Scripture presents is not one of us resolving and having a resolution service. I resolve to love my wife and be joyful and be under control. It's that the Lord's going to work through me to produce the fruit. And that's where Bonnie and I think there are fruits that we could produce that are effort and there are fruits that God produces. And that's what we're talking about here, the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

Okay. Okay, verse 3. And here you'll see, here's another verse that could be difficult, but I think there's a really neat parallel verse that helps us out a lot. It says, You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. So I think in this case it's speaking of the fact that you are already the Lord, has already provided. You're saved. He's gone to the cross. He's died. You're cleansed. And let's look at a verse that shows that. John 13. John 13. Can I have someone read John 13 in verse And verse 10, John 13 and verse 10. Okay. So basically in this passage here, maybe we should have gone back a little bit farther.

Psalm Peter, the Lord is washing their feet. So the Lord basically says here, and Peter says, well, back in verse 9, he said, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. And the Lord Jesus says to him that there's basically two pictures here. There's basically salvation and fellowship are in view here.

So I believe what's being talked about here is salvation. you're already clean. I've gone to the cross, it's been accomplished, you're already clean because of the words which I've spoken to you. We've listened to his words, we believe what he says and we are the saved ones. So that issue, we're already clean because of the words which I've spoken to you.

And that's different than up here in verse 2, it's more an issue of of whether we're abiding in the vine, as we're going to see. That's more an issue of fellowship. Whereas down here, this is more an issue of salvation, in verse 3. Questions or thoughts on that? Now, as we go on in the passage in verse 4, it says, Abide in me, and I in you. So this is this wonderful statement, and actually it's very reminiscent of other parts of Scripture, like in John 17. Let's just look at John 17 for a second here. And this is John 17. I like to read John 17 verses 22 and 23.

And the glory which thou has given me, I have given them, that they may be one just as we are one. I in them, and thou in me, that they may be perfected in unity, that the world may know that Thou didst send me, and didst love me, even as Thou didst love me." It's all the these and Thou's. Okay. So this relationship between the Lord Jesus and ourselves, in a way, pictures the relationship between the Father and the Son.

He says, Abide in me, and I in you. So He tells us to abide, and this word abide Is this word to remain or dwell or continue? And I like what our brother Hal, when he speaks on this, talks about. He says it's to be at home. Abide means to be at home. We're to be at home. We're to be in this relationship where our focus is on the Savior.

And that occurs about 120 times in the New Testament. And he tells us to abide many, many times. to be at home with Him, to be in this relationship where He is the focus of our life. And then the second part of it is that an I in you. And His part, I think, is never in question.

Like the prayer, like someone has said, the prayer that was prayed in John 17. He prayed in John 17. Would that prayer not be heard? That prayer was heard. I mean, what I in you is assumed because He is God. He will abide with you. He says, I will never leave you or forsake you. If you're a saved one, one that's a believer, there's no question about He abiding with you.

So let's go on. So now we go back to the... about the branch and the fruit. And it says, and this is what I was speaking of before, it says that a branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine. So really, the fruit cannot be produced that glorifies God without it abiding, without it abiding in the vine. So that's a given. It can't happen. It's an impossibility. We're unable to bear fruit unless we abide in the vine.

Let me just read for you a couple of things that I thought were really interesting that Miles Stanford pointed out. He says, the quality of the fruit depends upon the quality of the life of the vine. The life that's in the vine is the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. So that is to be our life. So that's why the fruit is not our fruit, it's His fruit through us.

Miles also says, neither quality or quantity is the product of the branch. I think I mentioned before, with all those different things, the sun, the branch can increase the amount of sun, the amount of water, the amount of care. That's only the Lord's business. And then thirdly, The branch merely receives what is produced by the vine.

The branch is a conduit to show God's grace through us. And I think that's just kind of critical to see that it's God's doing, it's God's fruit through us, rather than something that we're going to do for God. I'm going to do this for God, and God's going to do this through us. It's a different focus there.

And then in verse 8 it says, that by this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. So like I said, we see this process where you go from there's no fruit production, there's fruit production, there's more fruit, and there's much fruit. So just like with Israel, his desire was that we produce fruit. Okay. And what are the fruit? What is the fruit?

Let's turn to Galatians. Now you may have, depending upon your translation, you may have a little bit, the list may, the names may be a slight bit different. Could someone read for me Galatians chapter 5 and verses 22 and 23? So there's one thing to look here as you look in your Bibles Does anyone have an S on fruit in their Bibles? If you do, you shouldn't, unless it's a weird translation.

At first you think, well, the Lord's going to give me a little joy and a little peace, and maybe I'll maximize my love, and only a little peace, and maybe some goodness, and picking shoes. Well, this is the fruit of the Spirit. All these nine things are the fruit of the Spirit. It's a package deal. You get them all.

And once again, it's this picture that it's not your doing. It's not you doing it. And I know in my life, at different time periods, I've said, well, I'm going to endeavor to do this. I'm going to endeavor to do something. And when I do that, It doesn't work out. That's been my experience. It never works out.

It works out as I focus, as I learn about the Savior. I learn that these are His characteristics. He's love, He's joy, He's peace, He's patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. That's a description of our Savior. And that's what He wants to be the fruit that comes through us. Well, someone said that they numbered it. Yeah.

Well, if you know, if you some some rendering, some translations will not do that. I'll try to put it like least you read him. He'll put it in paragraphs with no verse numbers. Of course, I go back in there and I'm writing in verse numbers so I can figure it out. I can't tell where that verse ended and this verse began. We're going to move on to another passage here. Is it clear what's going on here in terms of the vine and the branches?

There's a lot more that could be said. I haven't really said... There's a lot more that could be said, but I think it's just critical that we that we see that it's His fruit, it's His life, it's Him that's being lived through us. And we're only vessels that people can see the Lord Jesus through. And also that we can be a hindrance to that. If we endeavor to say, OK, Lord, You've saved me now, now I'm going to go out and be loving and joyful and peaceful.

I'm going to really do a good job for You. I mean, that's our natural... Inclination. I'm going to go out and I'm going to really, I'm going to sharp it up for you. I'm going to be really, you know. So our only response to him would be to focus on him. Not the new boyfriend man. It's still on your wife. Well, the focus, right, that's a good thing. What's the focus? Is the focus on the fruit? Or is the focus on the biting? How many say fruit? How many say abiding? Okay, well, let's go back. Okay, that's a good point.

Well, I think in a sense you can work on it in the sense that if I want to come to know Mark better, I can go to Fort Collins. I can drive up to Fort Collins and call him on the phone. We can have lunch together. We can hang out together. I think that's how I come to know Mark better. I think that's the way with the Lord. As we hang out with Him, as we read His Word, as we understand Him, that's how we, quote, work on it.

I don't know. Anybody? It requires a conscious effort. Well, there is some, I mean, if you close your Bible up and if you say, OK, Lord, just zap me whenever you... Right. It requires us to look at His Word. I like the verse about the workman. It's about studying God's Word. He calls us workmen. mining out the treasures of God's Word, it can be work. So we should be looking at His Word. But very easily you can make that a law, too. You can say, OK, now, I didn't read my two chapters today. The Lord is not pleased with me anymore. That fruit suppression is dropping off.

Excellent. Excellent. Very good. That's true. Believe in what he says. I mean, you can say, yeah, that's wonderful, Lord. That's wonderful. Right. Well, it's amazing, like the Jews we know, they memorize books of the Bible. but that didn't bring him to the one that's the living word, so it's very true.

Okay, so let's go on to... Let's go ahead and read this passage. Let's turn to 1 Corinthians Let's try 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians chapter 3. This is going to be a little bit longer this time, I apologize. 2 Corinthians chapter 3, verses 1-8 and 11.

Are we beginning to mend ourselves again? Or do we need of some letters of commendation to you? Or from you? You are our letter written on our hearts, known and read by all men, being manifest in that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the Living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of the human heart. Such confidence we have through Christ our God. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything of coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit, for the way that fills the Spirit with life.

Yeah, I'm sorry. Through 11. Yeah, through 11. I'm sorry. Okay, thanks, that's great, Crystal. Actually, we're going to cover verse 18, too. I probably won't get to it very quickly, but anyway, as you go through here, This is really wonderful, and it kind of ties in with John 15 there.

The Lord's telling us that we're a letter, or actually that the word letter, or epistle in some translation, is the idea for a message, and it's from the word to send to. So we are being sent to the world, if you will, with these fruits showing who the Lord Jesus is, who He is. So that's kind of the picture. And it's not, so it's going to go through all these comparisons, as we're going to see, these comparisons between something that's really written, a real written letter, and the kind of letter that we have. It says it's written in our hearts, and it's known and read by all men. I found this really interesting. It's almost like it's a repeat, known and read.

And actually, remember last week we studied about the different words for no? Can somebody remind me what the words for no were from last week? There are two words that are used for no, not only two, but the two primary ones that we see a lot of times in scripture. Good, good. Okay, which one do you think this first no is?

Is it oida or gnosko? You can say one and then Crystal can say the other. I won't keep you in suspense here. It's Gnosko. Men know you by experience. They know the kind of person you are. It's amazing sometimes. They observe you. You're being watched by people. You don't even realize it. We're all being watched by people. So we're known at the know of experience.

Gnosko. And then actually red is another form of Gnosko. So it's – and this is the word anagnosco, which is to perceive accurately, to take knowledge. So that's the idea that it's a lot more accurate. If I – if you had a transcript of what I said, you'd go back and say, well, Roger, you messed up here. You said something was wrong. Like a transcript in a court, you'd say, well, Roger, you misspoke, and you amend the record and say this is what you really meant.

It's amazing that the Lord is saying that people will know and read us. It's more than just knowing us. The reading is an emphasis on that, it seems like to me. It adds another aspect to it. We're known and read by all men. We're read for this precisely and accurately. It's incredible. They're going to see the Savior through us, through this. Let's go on.

And verse 3 says, being manifest, and that's the word we talked about before, being openly shown that you are a letter of Christ. And here's the comparison, not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of the human heart. And once again, it's Christ in us. The very life of Christ is in us, and that's what's being manifested, that's what's being shown to us.

And if that's the case, then it can't be our doing, it has to be His doing. And then it goes on with a lot of these comparisons that we're not adequate in ourselves, or not sufficient, as another translation, not sufficient in ourselves, but our sufficiency or adequacy is from God. So in all these passages we're going to see that it's God's doing, it's God's work, His adequacy, His Word, His Spirit that is to be shown to the world. And then in verse 7-8, I skipped a verse in there, but basically it talks about this ministry of death, and I believe that's referring to the law that was given.

You know, when the law was given, before the law was given, I think it says in Romans that man, if it says, You know, 30 miles an hour. There's no speed limit. You say, hey, this is great. Montana, whatever it is. I can drive 100 miles an hour. But when there's a law, then the policeman can pull you over. Well, when the law came in, people could then be, here's the law, and here's the man, and he falls short of the law. So, in this passage, they refer to this ministry of death. I believe it refers to the law. And it was glorious. It came down with the tablets of stone. They were glorious. That was God's, that's God's very character.

They were glorious. but the ministry of the Spirit is even more glorious. And he goes through all these comparisons like that. And it says that the ministry of condemnation had glory, the law had glory, but the ministry of righteousness abounds in glory.

It's super abounds in glory. It's much more glorious. And the glory that Moses had when he came down, he had this He had to put a veil over himself because his face was shining. That was glorious, and it faded away. The glory that we have remains. So this is kind of a fast, and there's a lot more to be said about that. And then there's verse 18, which is just tremendous.

I actually didn't read that verse, so I'll just read it, and we'll just talk a little bit, and we'll close. It says, But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. So it talks about the fact that we have these unveiled face, or uncovered face. Moses' face was covered. Our face is uncovered. And then it talks about this wonderful thing, and this is what we're talking about.

How do we come to know the Savior? How do we come to to where our focus should be. But we're beholding as in a mirror, and the mirror is the Word of God. The mirror that shows who God is, and actually it shows who we are. It shows both. We're beholding. And that's really our job description, if you will. We're beholding. That's what we're going to be doing. We're beholding the Lord Jesus Christ in Scripture. And it's a mirror.

And it says, as we do that, we are being transformed into the same image. And that word transformed, some have it transfigured. It's the idea that it's a change form. It's like two words, change and form. It's like a metamorphosis, a butterfly. You have a, what is it? I can't think of it. A cocoon, caterpillar. It's a little cocoon, and it changes. It changes from the caterpillar to the butterfly.

So that's kind of the picture, to change into another form. So it says that's happening, we are being transformed into his very image. And then it says from glory to glory, from one state of glory to another state of glory, or from one degree of glory to another degree of glory. And that process is from the Lord the Spirit. So that was kind of a whirlwind.

Actually, we have good news for you here. Hal is working on a chart, he told me yesterday, on this earth. It will be good, I know. So any last thoughts or questions? Okay, well let's just close in prayer then. Dear Father, we thank you so much, Father.

We thank you for your word, Lord. We thank you that Lord, that it's you that is the one that produces the fruit, Lord, and you desire that the world read and understand who you are and know you, Lord. And some men will never open a Bible, but will see your children, your believers, and they will see that, and that will show them the Lord Jesus Christ. And we pray that that would be accomplished in your time and in your way, Father. We thank you for that, in Christ's name. Amen.