review

Chapter 3, 2 Corinthians. Last week we reviewed down through verse 11 talking about how in verse 6 there it says that God has made us adequate or sufficient or He's qualified us as servants of this new covenant not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. We talked about how being ministers of this new, because it is the ministry of the Spirit which gives life, it carries forth great, great, great glory. Glory that surpasses the glory of the old covenant. Not that the old wasn't glorious, it was. but the glory of this just super abounds and surpasses that of the old.

So verse 12, let's just pick it up right there and we'll read down through verse 18. Having therefore such a hope we use great boldness in our speech and are not as Moses who used to put a veil over his face that the sons of Israel might not look intently at the end of what was fading away But their minds were hardened, for until this very day, at the reading of the Old Covenant, the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. But to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over the heart. But whenever a man turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

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 let's start up there in verse 12, and again we're reviewing here. So these are some things that we've gone over in the past, and so if you have your notes, Bob taught this section, and then Hal taught verse 18, and we're just going to review through some of these things. So, it starts in verse 12.

Having therefore such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech. So the question would be, why is there this hope? What's he talking about there? Having, therefore, such a hope. Where's the hope coming from? What's the source? Why is he bringing up this hope? Why is hope possible in light of the context here? What do you think? Too early in the class to ask if you haven't had time to prime the pumps and get the juices flowing yet? What do you think? Why do we, why is it possible to have such a hope?

Jack. Go ahead Bill. In contrast to the Ministry of Condemnation Law with the Ministry of, what's it called, Righteousness here. So that's the reason for hope. You're taken out from the law and the condemnation and the death and brought into The new covenant, the promise of the life everlasting in fellowship. Therefore, that's hope. Sure, absolutely. Jack? Well, I was going to say that hope is righteousness.

Hope is an interesting thing. through life, oftentimes people find themselves to be hopeless. There's no hope. And especially the case for unbelievers, the hopelessness just overwhelms them at times. And I think oftentimes even for believers, they find themselves struggling to have hope. Believers can even find themselves sometimes being in a state of hopelessness. Boy, I don't have any hope.

So here he's talking about we have this great hope. And it's because of all that it is that the Lord's done for us. Because he's made us able ministers of this new covenant, this covenant of righteousness, this covenant of life, the spirit of life. And because of that, we're able to have great hope. Well that word hope, we've looked at that before. And that isn't a hope that maybe will come to pass, it's a certainty. That's right. Yeah, it's like a confident expectation. Sure, it's with confidence, sure. Yeah. Any other thoughts? This idea of hope?

The hope, confident expectations with certainty, comes from knowing faith and biblical facts of what it is that God has done for us. And because of that, that takes away the potential, therefore, for us to fall into that state of hopelessness. Okay, so we having, therefore, such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech, so we do not shine away from what it is that they're saying, because they know what it is that the Lord's done, it's giving them hope and boom, there's confidence. Now the confidence isn't in themselves, there. The confidence, their boldness in their speech is because they have this hope and they have this hope because of what it is that the Lord's done. The complete package and circle there is very interesting.

So down in verse 13 down through verse 16 he talks about Moses and he talks about Israel here and he says and are not as Moses I think what he does here is he talks about Moses and Israel in 13 through 16 and then verse 18 ties into the beginning of verse 13 so let me just read these two just beginning of verse 13 says and are not as Moses then she went to the beginning of verse 18 but we all with unveiled face so go back to the beginning of 13 it says and are not as Moses who put a veil over his face verse 18 but we all with unveiled face beholden as in a mirror so there's this real comparing here and this contrasting here of Moses who put the veil over his face in the nation of Israel that's what he's going to talk about in one section but then in verse 18 he comes to us the Bride of Christ, the Church, with unveiled face, beholding us in a mirror. He talks through this back to verse 13.

And not as Moses, who put a veil over his face, that the sons of Israel might not look intently at the end of what was fading away, but their minds were hardened. For until this day, at the very reading of the Old Covenant, the same veil remains, unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. To this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart. But whenever man turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

So that's just simply describing the state in which Moses and the Israelites were at that point. Which we read some, I don't think we got to, but it talks about that in Exodus. And that remains today. The same thing is true of them today as was true of them back then.

Why is it true? because they haven't turned to the Lord. They haven't turned to the Lord yet. And the end of verse 14, the same veil remains unlifted because it is removed in Christ. And verse 16, whenever man turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. So they haven't turned to the Lord yet, and because they haven't turned to the Lord yet, they're still veiled. So their understanding is darkened at this point. But if they would turn to the Lord, then the veil would be would be removed.

Well I've got to tell you I've been struggling with this veil passage there through 13 and 14 for a long time and it talks about it in 13 so that they could see the fading of that glory which was upon Moses' face and yet then they're talking about this veil being on the heart of Israel. What's What are they illustrating here? Well, I think the veil was over the face of Moses for the purpose that they would not see that the glory was fading. And so, that clearly defines why it is that it was over his face.

Because the glory of God was fading and he didn't want the individual to see it. But over their hearts, what are you all's thoughts? What's the next step? It's just this veil covering on their hearts. Except they're blinding and I don't see it. I don't understand this. Yeah. What do y'all's thoughts? I'm not sure I got a clear answer either.

I've read Darvey and he indicates that his glory was on the face of Moses. When they looked at him, it was terribly unsettling to them because it reflected the righteousness of God. They, in their condition, could sense that they weren't suitable for that environment. And so I don't know whether that's right, wrong, or what, but I'm still struggling with this other part. With this veil, I understand the veil, the blindness in part has happened to Israel. until he turned to the Lord. I don't know, I think it's blinding to them in the sense that when you go back and look at the Old Testament, all the different ways they found to do the wrong thing.

They were blundering in the dark. Some of them fell away from the religion altogether. Some of them believed that they could follow the law and earn righteousness through the law. There's a complete range, but all it exhibits is people wondering around in the darkness, not knowing what to do, not knowing what is right, not knowing what is true. And so, to that sense, to me it comes across as something that blinds the heart to the truth. You can't see it with your eyes anyway.

There's a theme kind of continuously through the Old Testament about the nation of Israel that they continued to do that which was right in their own eyes. And so they kept doing that, and they kept doing that, that which was right in their own eyes, and God just gave them over. If you want to keep doing what's right in your own eyes, it's not that God wasn't gracious and that he wasn't merciful and he wasn't patient. All those characteristics of God still existed. But since he gave them over, which resulted in their hearts being hardened.

But that doesn't specifically address Jack's question yet, I don't think. So, any other thoughts? asked the question, what did the veil do on Moses' face? It hid it. It hid God's glory. And so they couldn't see God's glory because of the veil. And it continued on. And so that same veil which hid God's glory from Moses' face That same veil is on their minds, that they can't see God's glory in anything, in creation, in the Word. Their minds are, the glory of God is hidden. Does that make sense? The veil physically hid God's glory. Hid God's glory. And so they don't see the glory of the new covenant because... Because that same veil is on their mind. Is over their mind. Yeah.

The contrast is that we, there's nothing to keep us from having that access to the Lord's presence directly now, whereas they didn't have that because of the veil and the fact that they did not recognize the Lord's glory. So, we, as we enter into His presence can be changed, as it says in verse 18, into that same image. So, there's no veil for us like the Lord. We can go forward. Sure. Legless, we're not going to go into His presence.

That's right. That's right. We're trying to go in a different way. Yeah. Yeah. Their hearts are hardened along with their eyes, they just cannot see. Yeah, yeah, because the veil is still there to hide what it is that God really wants to reveal to them, but because they're not going to in a sense turn to the Lord, that hiding of the veil is going to remain until they Turn to the Lord. Is that what you're kind of driving at now? Yeah. But in 14th century, their minds were blinded for until this day. They were going for the same veil and taking it away. And I think, okay, now that veil was hiding Moses' face. If you put the veil on that, I think it is hiding up.

Even today, when you take the Jews... If you put that veil on Israel, it was put on Moses' face so they couldn't see the glory of faith. And then if you put that same veil on Israel, what's it supposed to be hiding? The same thing now as it did then. The veil was on the hearts and the minds of Israel then. And you take the Jews today, it's the same veil still blinding their minds and their hearts from understanding. Today, take the Jews, that's the way I'm seeing it.

It was put on the veil on the face of Moses for the purpose of hiding that glory. Israel had no glory, so you're putting a veil on their face to hide them from what? No, to hide, to prevent them from being able to see the glory of the Lord. He's saying he thinks it's working the same way, but wanted us to keep them from seeing it, and then with the Jews, it's the other way around. The veil is working opposite. They can't see God's glory, because they have to stay. So it's just the opposite of what? Moses? Is that what you're driving at, Jack? Well, yeah, I think so.

Like I say, Moses has glory on his face and they put a veil over it so it doesn't fade away. If you're going to put that same veil on the face of Israel, for what purpose? Well, the veil was on Moses' face. It should be covered up. Right. The veil was on Moses' face because it was fading. to hide the glory of the Lord, to hide that the glory of the Lord was fading. See? True, I understand that, but I try to apply that same concept to everything else. Let's try it a different way. How about this chapter?

In terms of God's purpose, what is God's purpose? Isn't God's purpose to reveal His glory? And for man to see that glory? Right? That's God's purpose. And so here was the glory of the Lord on Moses face. God's purpose was for Israel to see that glory. Right?

Now the glory started fading away. And God's purpose still was for them to see that glory. He didn't want them to see the glory fading away. So here comes the veil. So in their mind, they saw with their eyes, they saw God's glory. But God didn't want them to see their glory fading away. He wants them to see his glory.

Right? So the veil prevented them from seeing the fading away of the glory. The glory was fading away. He did not want them to see that glory fading away. He wanted them to see the true glory and remember that. Right? So he put the veil over so they wouldn't see the fading away of that glory.

So what he's saying here, with their eyes they saw the glory of God. The veil then covered the fading away. And that same veil is on their hearts or on their minds. That same veil which prevented them from seeing the glory is on their minds. the veil is the means by which things are hidden and one of the cases was the glory and then the case of Israel I guess you could say the gospel that Paul was proclaiming was being hidden was being hidden or the glory of that gospel was being hidden So that Israel couldn't see that either.

Okay. No, no, that's what, you know, that's exactly what we wanted. We came back to Chapter 3 because we knew it had some good stuff. And this, you know, it's one thing to sit up and unload a lecture, but it's another thing for us to really to process it and grapple with what's being said. That's good.

And I found that it was interesting that most of the space didn't reflect that glory until he went up on the mountain the second time. And there's quite a bit of dissertation about these exhibits. You know, I was thinking about that. At the return of Christ, a nation who returns to Mount Zion to set up rain on this earth, in a day, the nation will be converted, because they will visibly see that glory.

And at this present time, until that becomes the case, that glory remains as stated by That line is well continued and it makes you wonder though, every now and then you hear of a genuinely converted Jew that has come to know the Messiah. Sure. There are exceptions to that and that I don't understand. Right, right, right, right. Yeah.

It's just God in His grace, you know, drawing people to Himself. As a corporate nation, Israel hasn't come yet. By God and His grace and His mercy, a few are coming to a personal relationship with Him. But corporally as a nation, not yet. But the time is coming.

Let's look at verse 17. Let's see here. is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And Bob just makes a couple of thoughts here about this idea of the Spirit. He writes not with ink in tables of stone, but in the fleshly tables of the heart.

We looked at that a couple of weeks ago. With the Spirit comes the absence of fear, as mentioned in Romans chapter 8 and verse That's an incredible thought in itself. You know, if you think about how many things in our lives can cause fear or anxiety to leap up in us, but when we're walking in the Spirit, it doesn't have to be that fleshly fear. The Spirit gives life, as we looked at last week in 2 Corinthians 3, 6, and then it gives liberty, Romans chapter 8 and verse 2.

Let's look at that. Romans chapter 8. in verse 2. This is a great verse. We won't take the time to dive into it. We will, probably in a year from now, when we get to Romans 8 in the Romans class, or however long it takes us to get to Romans 8. But this is a wonderful verse, Romans 8 verse 2.

For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. So this idea of this law, this principle of the spirit of life, has set us free, or has given us liberty, or has released us from the bondage of the world, the flesh, and the devil. So, the idea there of the Spirit bringing life. With Israel, they were under this Old Testament legal system, and they lived in bondage.

And so, again, I think it's helping us to see the contrast. Us, in the church age, we have been indwelt by the Holy Spirit. We've been placed into the body of Christ. And we're, again, indwelt by the Spirit. And the Lord is the Spirit. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there's liberty. There's no need for us to be living in that bondage of the oppression of the performance-oriented mindset, which the old legal system carried with it. But now we're in the Spirit. and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there's liberty, there's freedom.

And again, incredible thought there. We can stop and talk about that for the rest of the class. Let's look at verse 18. We have about 20 minutes left, and Hal's got about 8 slides. Just verse 18. This is a wonderful verse. We'll just go through this verse here together.

2 Corinthians 3.18.

The subject is we all. The verb or the action, what's going on? Is it that we are being changed or that we are being transformed? The direction of the change is into the same image. The extent of the change is from glory to glory. The means of the change is as beholding as in a glass mirror the glory of the Lord, our appointment with open or unveiled face. The agency of the change is even by the Spirit of the Lord." So this was how he broke it down and approached the verse. I think it was great. Please stop any time that you want to make a comment or have a question. We, the personal pronoun adds emphasis in all, so we all.

There's no one that is, and when it comes to believers, there's no one that is exempt from this we all are being transformed. or changed. So, God's eternal purpose is for every single believer, independent of one's maturity level, independent of one's spiritual gifts or one's ministry, God's eternal purpose is for every single believer, conditionally dependent on walking by faith and abiding and beholding Christ.

So, is anybody in this room exempt from this work going on in their life by God? No, absolutely not. Are there any believers that you might have contact, and be in contact with, that are exempt from God doing this work in their lives? Absolutely not. You might come across some. You might come across some believers who say, boy, God has abandoned me, or God is not working in my life, or this might be the case. That's not true. And again, this is a wonderful verse, along with many others, that you can take them to say, boy, God is working in your life, the way that he's working in everybody's lives.

And what is our part? to be walking by faith and to be abiding and to be beholding Christ. That's the believer's responsibility. That's our part right there. Thoughts? Okay, so we all, no one left out when it comes to believers are being changed or transformed. And the idea here is to change to another form, implying a change. So it lays the stress on the inward change for the believers. If we're looking for some kind of a, you know, we're going to get in great shape and be able to ride the Tour de France like Lance has seven times in a row, or our bodies aren't going to wear out or whatever, that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about the inward spiritual change that God is doing in our lives. The inward change or transformation is a continuous process.

Philippians 1.6, that God who began this good work in you is going to carry it out until the day of Christ Jesus. That's exactly what is being talked about. If that doesn't bring peace and encouragement to one's life, There's not a day that goes by that God isn't doing this work. And boy, again, what an encouraging thought. He began it and it's going to be a continuous process.

We are not making the change. God is changing us. Boy, that's not a relief, you know? All of us, sometime or another in our lives, to make changes to ourselves in one way, shape, or form. I don't know what it might have been. But I think that as we tried to make changes to ourselves, there were days where we weren't successful. There were times where we failed and it didn't work. But God is the one here who is making the change to us as we're walking by faith and as we are abiding and beholding Him.

So this transformation process, it's a reality. It's not just theoretical. It's not just kind of pie-in-the-sky type stuff. I mean, this is a reality. God's doing this and it's a continuous process. Gene. I'll be 68 this year. I've never seen any change in my old nature.

So if it's not that, I think we need to make that clear. Right. Unless there's somebody else with another experience. Is it not more of an exchange of Christ, not I, but Christ? That's right. I don't know what that word is in the Greek, change, but it's more of us learning to walk in the Spirit. That's the change that we were seeing.

That's right. It's not any change in our old name. That's correct. That's correct. Learning to walk in Christ. I don't know the Greek or anything like that. That's correct. That should be made clear. Some people are trying to improve the old Adam. That's correct. We're not in that type of society. Not at all. Not at all. Nope. Nope. Nope. Does that make sense to everybody in here? Any thoughts or questions? Probably pretty comfortable with that truth here in this room, but when you walk outside and you start talking with some other believers about that truth and the eyebrows dip down The real questions start coming.

But yeah, God's not in the business of improving the old man. The old man was unimprovable to the fact that he had to kill it. He had to crucify the old man and give us a new nature of the very life of Christ. And then there's growth in that new nature, not in the old.

Great point though. Excellent. That's a foundation from which we must build. OK. So there you go. So I pulled the paper down. I read I read through these last night and I wasn't sure how how close we were to it. So I didn't want to jump too far ahead. But if I were to pull the paper down.

So, yeah, there we have it. Did you write the slides for Hal a year ago before you guys came to the church? There you go. Okay. Sorry about that. I didn't mean to steal your thunder. Hey, you know, nobody's here to, we're all here to be a body working together. That's the way it is. Nothing to be stole from anybody. Yeah. Okay. Oh, good. Now the class is over in five minutes. So.

OK, so there's this there's this change or, you know, a better word might be an exchange, an exchange of the old for the news. And we're not trying to change or fix up. But there is this direction of the change or exchange and it's into the same image. and the extent of the change is from glory to glory and the direction or the end goal is to the image of Christ.

We say that a lot when you use that phrase that we're being conformed into the image of Christ a lot. Often times it's always a bit of a danger that the clichés, that the phrases become clichés. And I always hope that that never happens, you know, that things just begin to be so familiar that they just roll off our tongue, and that we don't ever give them any thought anymore. And so, boy, what a thought that we're being conformed into the image of Christ. And that doesn't just become this loose cliché that we just throw around loosely, and it loses the meaning in our lives.

So, if we're being transformed or conformed, changed into the image of Christ, then we need to know what is Christ's image. And it is very character and essence. And the word involves the two ideas of representation and manifestation. So throughout the change process, we represent and manifest the very character of Christ. And again, that goes back to what we've been talking about here.

We are the epistles or we are the letters of Christ for the world to see that God can manifest His glory and through this change we will represent and manifest the very life, character, nature of Christ. So as we behold Christ in the Word, God is transforming our new man, key word there, transforming our new man conditionally into who he is positionally.

The glory of Christ. That's... From glory to glory, does that mean that Christ's glory is becoming our glory? Does that mean that the glory we have is increasing? Yes. Both? Sure. For sure, Christ's glory is becoming our glory. As we're as we're getting more thoughts there. OK. But does that answer your question? I want to move on if it's still as it's still not clear. The increasing amount is boring.

As we see it in others, that is, people see it in us. I mean, others make, I mean, I remember being hungry for the Lord by seeing the future and Christmas, and I was poor what they had, but the glory of the Lord I was seeing through the Spirit, I wanted that.

But then it was transferred to me, and that I became hungry, and began to give the Word, and to be able to see that glory, and trust the Lord to have that happen in my life. Sure. I think that we could probably add right here, we could add glory to this, his love and his joy and his patience and his glory. So, the change we represent and we manifest the very glory of Christ. So, in the old man, there's no glory. Obviously, we've established that. Now, let me ask this question. I'm not asking because I know the answer and I want you to tell me what I know to be true, or think to be true.

In the new nature, in the life of Christ, where is the glory there? In the new nature of the life of Christ that we receive, when we trust the Word of our personal Savior, where is the glory there? So do we positionally get the glory of God? Or is it something that comes from the Lord and is manifested? Is glory part of positional truth that we receive and that we have and can never be diminished? Does that question make sense? We receive things as a part of the positional package, we're accepted in the beloved, we're blessed with all spiritual blessings, is the glory.

We don't have to answer it this morning, but just a thought. And you're positioning the moment we believe the word Jesus Christ has given us is word. So in John 17, verse 22, he says, Father, the word that you have given me, I have given to them. So talking to believers. So we have this position. Yeah, sure. That's right.

So then, if that's true, then as we're walking by faith and as we're abiding in Christ and beholding the Lord, that glory is going to be manifested. It's going to be flowing out from us because of the life of Christ. And as we're growing and as we're maturing in the Lord, His glory is going to be growingly manifested in our lives for other people to see. like Gene mentioned, and thus creating a hunger to know the Lord more as we see Christ in other people. But we, you know, at the moment, we have no clue what that glory is. Right. That's right. That's right. No clue. So we grow in that glory, understanding what the glory of the Lord is, from glory to glory, every increasing amounts of glory. We come to know what that is. Yeah. Yeah. Any more thoughts? Okay.

God's revealing his glory to us through his word. As we behold Christ's glory by faith, God shares Christ's glory with us from glory to glory. Ever increasing amounts of Christ's glory, then God manifests Christ's glory through us as he asks his representative to reveal Christ's glory to others, which we've talked about And ultimately this process will be completed when we see him face to face.

We've been singing a lot of songs with Henry recently and he's been getting into singing. And that idea there of amazing grace, it says when we've been there 10,000 years, that we still will scratch the surface of being with the Lord. that there will be that much time left after we've been there. That just kind of struck me as I sing songs with Henry every night before he goes to bed. So I'm laying there on the floor by his bed and we're singing. I was like, wow, that's something that really is going to be the case. Okay, so we're beholding as in a glass mirror. to behold intensely what is being reflected and what is being reflected is the glory of the Lord. What can we behold with our eyes that reflects the totality of Christ's glory?

Beholding creation doesn't do it. Beholding believers doesn't do it. Only the Word of God does it as the Spirit of God reveals to us Christ's glory. So what's the difference between beholding versus beholding. And the emphasis, one, is on the written word, beholding the objective truth concerning Christ through the written word. And the emphasis is on beholding with a personal interest and intimacy.

So the idea here is It's making the objective beholding a subjective beholding. One of, in a sense, kind of how, tweak me if I'm wrong on what you're driving at here, but one is more of a, we don't want it just to be objective and intellectual. beholding of the Lord, but we want it to be a personal, an inward intimacy, a subjective beholding of the Lord.

Is that what you were kind of driving at there? Okay. So Christ desires to have a close intimacy with us by beholding Him, and the apostles beheld Him on earth, and we behold Him in heaven. Let's see, I'm going to jump ahead here. Well, no, it's not. This kind of maybe helps us a little bit with where we were earlier.

What's the contrast Moses with the veiled and we with unveiled? God's glory reflected in Moses' face was fading after he talked to the Israelites. And Moses veiled his face to hide the fading glory. He then went back to the tent to restore the reflected glory. Moses' glory was external and temporary. He was removed from the source and thus the glory fades away.

You and I, the face is unveiled. Our face is unveiled to show the increasing glory of Christ as we behold Him objectively and then subjectively. The source of our glory is internal and permanent. The source cannot be removed. So notice the difference between this here and this here. This was external and temporary and removed from the source and thus it fades away. With us, because we've been placed into the body of Christ and dwelt by the Holy Spirit, the source of the glory is internal and it's permanent, never can be removed, never fading away.

I like to think about the idea, and that's my desire as I kind of open classes and closed classes is that the Holy Spirit would be the one that would be leading us and guiding us into truth. And then that the Holy Spirit would be the one that would be bringing things to our remembrance. So that it will be that subjective understanding of truth, that we won't just process things intellectually, and boy, I've got this truth down, I've got that truth down, but it would be something that would be personal in our lives, that we'd be thinking back through, through the rest of the week, that it would be affecting my relationship with my wife, it would be affecting my relationship with my kids, and with my neighbors, whatever, that would be a subjective understanding. And at this glory, it's internal and it's permanent, and that we would be ever-growing in that because of God's work.

God's purpose is never to hide His glory, but always to make it known. Again, and see how this kind of ties into the beginning of the chapter, where we are the epistles, we are the letters of Christ, to show forth His glory, and then here at the end of the chapter, He's tying it all back in together. Interesting how that works. God's glory revealed to Moses on the mount, Christ's glory revealed in His transfiguration to manifest the glory of Christ through you and me from glory to glory. Let's just end with this one right here.

So the agency of the change is ever by the Spirit of the Lord. It's not by us, it's not by our great abilities, by our great gifts, by our great talents, by our great drive or willpower, but it's simply even as by the Spirit of the Lord. The wonderful ministry of the Holy Spirit is to reveal the glory of Christ as we behold Him in the Word. 1 Corinthians 2, let's read this, it's a great passage. As it is written, I have not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love Him.

But God revealed them to us by His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things yea the depths of God. For what man knows the things of a man but the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knows no man but the spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. to be the living link between us and Christ as we behold Him in the heavenlies and experience a wonderful intimacy with Christ. We haven't received the Spirit of the world but the Spirit which is of God so that we can know the things that are freely given to us of God.

I think that's what we want to know. We want to know the Lord more intimately and it's going to be through His Holy Spirit which is the the agency of this growth. We're not growing ourselves. God is the one who's growing us. We're not conforming ourselves to the image of Christ. God is the one who is conforming us into the image of Christ as we're walking by faith and beholding him.

Okay, let's pray. Lord, thank you for your wonderful truths here. And again, just through your Spirit, bring these things to our remembrance. later today and later this week and let them be life-changing truths for us as we walk by faith and abide and behold you. In your name we pray. Amen.