In the face of Christ

Good morning. I'm here to lead you in the other 29 verses. Maybe not. OK. No, what we're really doing here is going to be taking a closer look at the passage that Wayne just read for us. And just to kind of get the bigger picture about what this section of scripture is about, It has been, as we've studied chapter 3 and now stepped into the beginning of the fourth chapter, and will be into the next couple of chapters, about ministry. And as we use that word, it's important that we clarify some things. The ministry that Paul talks about here centers upon the person of Christ himself. It centers upon who Christ is. It centers upon what Christ has done. It centers upon who we are in Him and who He is in us. It centers upon Christ.

Now, our culture will oftentimes think of ministry with these visible symbols. People think, oh, ministry, that has something to do with this church building here. And indeed, it might have to do with that. It might have to do with, oh, I know that the pastor always wears this or that particular piece of clothing. Hopefully he wears something. But anyway. But that's not really ministry. Those are the visible symbols. That's what it looks like on the outside.

Ministry is about Christ, and you, and us, and those who are to hear the gospel of salvation by grace. That's what ministry is about. One of the points that is made out of Ephesians chapter 4, particularly looking at the 12th verse there, pastors and teachers are for the equipping of the saints for the work of service. That is, I'm not in the ministry, you are. Right? Ministry is something that is something we all do, not simply something that a particular person who is hired does.

It is about the body of Christ altogether. Paul is telling us in these passages here, the chapter we just looked at, the one we're starting today and the ones we'll continue into, he's telling us what ministry is. He's giving us some clear descriptions of what it is not. He talks about how it's received and where it is headed, where it is headed next. One of the things we looked at in chapter 3 is under law.

The ministry under the law of Moses was a ministry of death and a ministry of condemnation. Under grace, he calls it a ministry of the Spirit and a ministry of righteousness. He says there in the very first verse in chapter 4, the ministry that Paul has, which is by the way the same kind of ministry that we have, is the ministry of the Spirit, which is also called the ministry of righteousness. We have this ministry. We don't have the ministry that was under Moses. We don't have that ministry. We have this one. This particular one with the characteristics that it has. It is not the ministry of death and the ministry of condemnation.

I was talking to Dave Luna just before the service started here, and he had some questions about a particular group where, boy, it is very important that you keep all the rules and you do everything just right. And by the way, you'd better keep on doing everything just right, because if you miss anything, you're in trouble. So he's asking me about a particular group, and I told him, I said, I talked just within recent months with a fellow who was part of one of these groups where you got to do everything right and the fellow told me with great distress and sadness that in order for him to be saved he had to list every single one of his sins and he confessed to me that he missed one and he was concerned that he was not saved because he missed one when he had the chance to list them because they kept drilling him again and again is that all of them? Is that all? Are you sure you got all of them?

No, this is not a ministry of death. This is not a ministry of condemnation. We're not looking for the sin that you missed listing. We're looking instead at a ministry of the Spirit, a ministry of righteousness. How are we declared righteous? God does it. when we believe. It's a righteousness declared by faith, not because we made every single item on the sin list down on paper. The ministry of grace that our Lord gave us isn't just one of a range of possible ministries of varying character.

You know that out in the world there are all sorts of varieties of ministry. Oh boy, is there variety. Lots of variety. Some very, very strict and legalistic. Some couldn't care less what you do. Some couldn't care less what you do as long as you drop lots of money in the basket.

There is a wide variety of things out there called ministry, but Paul doesn't make that sort of a statement He says, there is this ministry that is a ministry of death and condemnation under law, or there is a ministry of the Spirit and a ministry of righteousness. That's the two kinds. This is a ministry of grace and it has a distinctive character to it. The ministry that we have, this ministry of grace, is distinctly different from the one under the law. One of the ways we put it in the past here comes right out of the first part of Romans chapter 8. There's therefore now no condemnation. It's not a ministry of condemnation. There's therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

So if you want condemnation, I just can't help you. I just can't help you. You'll have to go somewhere else. He says also there in verse 1, If we receive mercy, we do not lose heart. By the way, where's my heart? Oh, I can't find it. Oh no, that's not what it's about, right? Under the law of Moses, Israel would be shown mercy if they obeyed God. How would you like that? If you obey God, then you'll get mercy. Okay? If. Big if. Mercy if.

Under grace, God shows mercy with no ifs. And we are motivated by God's grace and mercy. Thankfulness. We're thankful for what God has done. We're thankful for who He is and who He has made us to be in Him and who He is in us. We're motivated not by threat. You'd better do this or else. We're motivated not to Do everything that's on the list in order to get mercy. We're motivated not to forgive because otherwise I won't be forgiven. We're motivated because of grace. We're motivated because of what God has already done.

As Paul puts it in Ephesians 4.32, forgive because you've been forgiven, not in order to be forgiven.

This mercy thing is a big deal. Paul writes to his dear friend Timothy in 1st Timothy chapter 1. Around verses 12 to 16 there, he talks about it is amazing. God showed me mercy. It's not because Paul did everything right. As a matter of fact, God showed Paul mercy when Paul was on his way to kill as many Christians as he could. That's when God showed mercy. Was Paul doing everything right?

Absolutely not. Paul said, I was a blasphemer. I persecuted the church of God to the death. I committed what's called hubris, shaking your fist at God. He says, I did it all, but God showed mercy. Not because of what I did, but in spite of what I did. I found mercy. We don't lose heart. We don't lose heart because God shows us mercy that does not depend upon us. Does not depend upon us. He didn't wait for us to do something first. He did it first. He showed us mercy first. Ever hear the, do unto others before they can do unto you? Right? You ever heard that? Right? Guess what?

God did unto us before we could do anything. Okay? He showed us mercy before we had a chance to do anything. He's the one who did it. As we step into verse 2, there's an interesting pattern there. There are two places that this word But beauty shows up there, and it's a particular Greek word behind that translation. It's a Greek word that means a sharp contrast. But we have renounced the things hidden because of the shame. And one of the things that we put in this is the definite articles, whether they're in your standard translations or not.

Because of the shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the Word of God, but in sharp contrast, by the manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience and the sight of God." As he writes this patterned verse here, he's basically saying, not this, but in sharp contrast, instead, this instead. Not the hidden things because of shame. Not the walking in craftiness.

Not adulterating the Word of God. Hey, we don't have to go and kind of polish it up and make it look good. Have you heard about somebody doing that? What can we do here to make it look good to people? I don't want to tell people they're sinners. That just doesn't sell easy. Right? So let's make it a little different. God loves you and He wants you to make a commitment. Let's make it a little different. God just wants you to join His team.

Right? That's easier to sell. No. Nothing hidden because of the shame. Nothing crafty. Not adulterating the Word of God. Instead, manifesting. That is, making plain. Showing it for what it is. The truth. Commending ourselves in every man's conscience. Oh, it doesn't mean they're going to agree with you about what's right and wrong. But what it means is people are not thinking, you know, that guy's out to trick me.

Ever run across somebody like that? This guy is out to trick me. I was one time in the bus station in San Francisco. And of course, there's a certain amount of waiting around that takes place there, as you could well expect. Anyway, behind me, I heard this fellow, and he was running. And he pulled out some piece of merchandise in front of me, and he said, you know, five bucks, quick! And I didn't respond right away. He says, too late! Wham! He ran. And then somebody else came running right behind him, right?

And I think the thing is, this, this is not manifesting the truth, okay? This is sell this thing quick before the guy catches me, right? This being tricked thing is not something that any of us appreciates, right? We don't like being tricked. So this is a matter of being out there, laying out the truth in the sight of man and in the sight of God. It doesn't mean everybody is going to like it, but you're not out there to trick people. You're not out there to tell people this is something other than what it is.

Notice something else here, all the definite articles, and again I've added some that may not be in your English translations, but they're there in the original language. And finally there's this last one, and this is an important one. We pointed out when we were going through chapter 2 that this in the sight of God or in the sight of the Lord is a repeated phrase in 2nd Corinthians. And a part of what this says is we do everything recognizing that everything we do is in God's sight. We're not trying to hide anything from God. We know that God sees everything that we do, all the way to the heart of it. All the way to the heart.

There's another perspective that comes along with this, and that is recognizing this. It is as if we're players in a theater. It is as if we were up there performing and God said, I bought out the whole theater to watch you. Our life is really before him, isn't it? The life that we live is before him. He bought out the theater. He paid for all the tickets. Everything we do is before him.

We have, in fact, him as our main and primary audience. It's not a matter of what does everybody else think. In truth, it's in the sight of God. What does God think? That's what Paul's saying here. What does God think? And we care about what God thinks. He sees it all. And in the end, it's his opinion that matters, right? So, Paul puts these two options here in sharp contrast in verse 2.

And the first one is there are those who are prone to tweak the Word of God and make sure that it sells better, find ways to set it aside when convenient. Oh, parts of the Word of God are difficult. Parts of the Word of God, it would be a lot easier if it didn't say what it says. You see, some prefer to offer light Christianity, not so heavy, you know. Some prefer to offer, like Christianity, less filling than the other brands. You know how it is. Just lighten it up a little. Snip out a little bit of the excess here and there. Make it not so tough to get down.

Paul's approach here, however, is under grace. In the ministry of the Spirit and of righteousness, It's manifesting, making plain and presenting clearly and plainly the Word of God. Present it as the ultimate truth. Present it exactly for what it is. Give it to people straight. Tell it like it is. What does the Word of God say? Tell it plainly.

Now, the other thing that comes out in verses 3 and 4, some people have blinded minds. Some people have blinded minds, and that's a key point here in these verses. One of the perspectives that we brought out when we were going through chapter 2 is this. This is not on your handout, but something we'll present here. There is an aspect of human beings that deals in the spiritual realm. There's an aspect of human beings that deals in the physical realm.

And what's interesting, of course, in the physical realm, we have five senses. We have sight and hearing and touch and smell and taste. And everybody has typically those five senses in some degree. But as we look at scripture in the same way that we have five senses in the physical realm, we also have an analog, something similar, something comparable of those five senses in the spiritual realm.

It's very interesting. And how do I conclude that? Here are some examples, and there are additional ones that we could give. Here's in Ephesians chapter 1, he writes to the believers at the church at Ephesus, and he talks about the eyes of your heart having been opened. Eyes seeing into the spiritual realm.

First Peter 2.3 says you have tasted. Here is tasting in the spiritual realm.

In Hebrews 5.11-14, the author of Hebrews writes that some of them have become dull of hearing. Or you see in the book of Revelation, he who has an ear, let him hear, right? It's not talking just about what's here, it's talking about in the spiritual realm as well.

We saw when we went through 2 Corinthians 2, verses 14-16, multiple references to this idea of spiritual aroma, a sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him. a sense of smell in the spiritual realm, and finally Ephesians 4.19 talks about unbelievers being past feeling, no longer feeling, sensing in the spiritual realm. So you have five senses that are referred to, and these are just samplings or additional passages we could look at, but five senses that are referred to and that are from the physical realm carried over into the spiritual realm. And is this one here the first one that he's making reference to in this passage?

That people either have a vision, and they have visibility in the spiritual realm, or they do not. And his point here It says, Even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. They might not see. Now, so what this makes clear, some have blinded minds. Oh, I'm not talking about the gray matter here. We're talking about in the spiritual realm. The ability to perceive and think about things spiritual is greatly limited among some.

Notice that when we went in chapter 3, the veil went from Moses' face to the hearts of those who heard the law read. And he's referring specifically to Israel. Now in this chapter, this veil shifts to keeping people from seeing the gospel of Christ. And not just the Jews, but all unbelievers.

They just don't get it. They don't see it. Gospel? I don't see any gospel. I don't understand. What do you mean? It can't be good news if I don't know what the bad news is, and I'm not seeing the bad news, so therefore I'm not seeing the good news. You see, if a person sees the gospel, a person believes and is therefore saved. But if they're blind, well, that's another thing altogether. So what's the gospel to be believed? We touched on this. I don't want to assume too many things. Back in 1 Corinthians 15, first four verses, it's as simple as this.

Christ died for your sins, which means your sins are in fact a serious problem. You don't have somebody die for sins if that's not a serious issue. When Christ died, he took the penalty that I should have paid the penalty that I should have paid, He paid the price instead of me.

As the song goes, instead of me, He took the blame, the misery. Instead of me, He suffered silent agony. And in that final breath, He died alone, the sinner's death, instead of me. He died in my place. Next, He was buried. Why is that important? It confirms that He was really quite dead. physically. He most certainly was dead physically. That's for sure. And finally, he was raised on the third day. That was an essential completion of what had to take place in order for us to be saved. That's the gospel to be believed. Died for sins, buried, rose again. That's the gospel to be believed. Gospel? What gospel?

The one who is blinded says. The one who doesn't see it, doesn't believe, that's the one who is perishing, is Paul's point. They just don't see it. They just don't see it. Sadly, that one has a blinded mind. They won't see it. They can't see it. They don't want to see it.

Nancy and I knew a young lady at one point in time. We're actually fairly close with her as a person. And what was interesting is she knew the gospel, but she said, I'm not walking through that door. I'll stand by it, but I won't go through it. knew enough to know what the gospel was, but she just couldn't see herself believing. She just couldn't see herself stepping through the doorway. She wanted to stand at that point, at that place of intentional blindness. The one who doesn't believe has a blinded mind.

Paul refers to, he uses the term the God of this world, And a key point here, we human beings oftentimes will enjoy seeing an illusionist. Maybe you've had the opportunity to see one in person, or if not, certainly TV shows and things of that sort. Illusionists do some amazing things.

I went some years ago to see David Copperfield, and there was still a lot of things I could not explain. You know, I, you know, growing up on the farm had gotten used to seeing a lot of ducks and chickens. But I'd never seen ducks and chickens walking around looking as lively as could be with their head switched. Okay? But that's what he did. Okay? It was a great illusion. It was wonderful. But it was, it was entertaining because it wasn't something of great consequence.

One of the things that David Copperfield also did, not at the event I was at, But he had a bunch of people gathered to see the Statue of Liberty. And then right in front of them, he made the statue disappear. Well, of course, everybody knew he didn't really make it go away, but the illusion was very entertaining. The people loved it. They were entertained because it was of no real consequence. They were quite sure that he hadn't really gotten rid of it.

But When an illusion has great consequence, that's something different. What the god of this world, also known as the prince of the power of the air, Ephesians chapter 2, verse 3 verses, the serpent of old, Satan, the devil, Revelation chapter 20, he creates for these unbelievers a lifelong, in many cases, illusion. But it's an illusion that's made sick with sin, stifling, choking, gagging, thick smog of sin that makes it impossible to see the truth. It's an illusion of great consequence, of serious consequence, of eternal consequence.

But they just can't see it. Think about it. Compared to the length of time that human beings will live, eternity is a long, long time to be wrong about. A long time to be wrong about. And the God of this world blinds the minds of those who don't believe about this long, long time and about what's happened now. So what do we have in verses 3 and 4 here? The light of the gospel, the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

In Acts chapter 9, Dr. Luke, who wrote not only the gospel of Luke, but the book of Acts, he wrote about the day of Paul's conversion. And in fact, he wrote of it a few times. He recorded it in the original event in chapter 9. And then later on, Paul retells that account, and Dr. Luke records it a couple more times.

Paul saw on that day the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. Yes, on that very day. Though Paul was physically blinded for a time, it was the first time he could truly see. Isn't it amazing? The first day that Paul saw was the day he couldn't see. Amazing, isn't it? The day when he could see nothing was the day he really saw everything. is Paul was that day changed by seeing Christ for the first time. So we are changed by seeing Christ every time.

Paul says in verse 5, we don't preach ourselves. Paul's not selling himself as others are prone to do. By the way, that's one of the things that's really tough about resumes, isn't it? Anyway, Paul just preaches Christ the Lord as our only crucified and resurrected Savior.

He says, I'm not here to sell myself. Matter of fact, I've got nothing to sell. It is only Christ the Lord. That's all I have. We don't preach ourselves. The only place that he puts himself in the picture at all when he presents Christ, he says, I am your servants, servants to the body of Christ for the sake of Christ. But it's certainly not all about beholding Paul. Believers, we who believe are to glorify the Lord and to point others to Him. It's not about pointing to us.

As a matter of fact, that's one of the things I would say that makes a ministry suspect. If you see a ministry and it seems to be all about somebody other than Christ, then that ministry is suspect, isn't it? If it's all about the people who are out in the forefront instead of the Lord Jesus Christ, that's a problem. That's a serious problem.

In verse 6, just as God in Genesis chapter 1 said, let there be light, and He spoke the light into existence, that was a physical light. Likewise, God also has made that spiritual light shine in our hearts, where once there was darkness. God did it. He pulled it off, just like he created the light on that very first day. So there, as the world began without God's light at the very beginning, so we also begin without God's light at the very beginning. The physical light was created as a physical analog that is something similar to God's own glory, the radiant essence of who God is. God makes the light shine at the very beginning of creation, and he also makes the light shine in our hearts. And that's Paul's point there.

You know, this darkness is amazing stuff. Complete darkness, you can't tell what's going on. Have you ever thought about what it would be like if you could see someone groping around in the dark? You know how it is where you're kind of feeling around and it looks kind of awkward. Well, we need the light to be able to see things, don't we? And that's exactly what God did in the physical realm, and that's exactly what God does in the spiritual realm.

As we look through this passage, there's a lot that relates back to Paul's account where he was saved initially. You have this as one slide on page 2, in the middle of page 2 of your handout. I'm going to break that down a little bit. Here is Paul as he retells the account of his conversion, the day that he saw when he was blinded.

And he tells King Agrippa this way. He says, while so engaged as I was journeying to Damascus, with the authority and commission of the chief priests. At midday, O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven brighter than the sun, shining all around me and those who were journeying with me."

Here is the gate out of Jerusalem that leads to Damascus. So Paul likely started off in that direction. Here's a part of that road between Jerusalem and Damascus. The old road is, in some places, oh, there are traces that are visible. This is a part of it. So very likely, Paul and his companions walked along this very path we see in front of us here. Here's an artist's depiction of what it might have been like. Here's a light. The others see some kind of a light, hear some kind of a voice. But Paul is the one who is completely blinded by it, and Paul is the one who can most definitely hear what the voice is saying. And Paul tells King Agrippa this way, And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And by the way, notice, Saul never historically persecuted Christ while he was on the earth.

That means that when we as believers receive persecution, and I would add to that, sufferings and trials, Christ takes it personally. Very important for us to recognize. God is not standing up there just kind of folding his hands and saying, I wonder what these people are going to do when they go through troubles. He takes our troubles personally. Next thing. It is hard for you to kick against the goads. And I said, who are you, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Point stated again. But get up and stand on your feet, for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness, not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you."

He is going to teach him personally, directly, himself. Christ will reveal things to the Apostle Paul, including the things we've been studying here this morning. In verses 17 and 18 here of Acts 26, he continues on, rescuing you, these are the words of Jesus to Paul, rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes, notice here is spiritual realm senses, to open their eyes, I'm not talking about these eyes, I'm talking about the spiritual realm eyes that I can't point to with my finger, right? To open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light, similar theme to the passage we've just been studying, and from the dominion of Satan, the god of this world, to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in me, the gospel.

He's essentially been conveying to the Corinthians here the character of ministry exactly as the Lord Jesus put it to him. Here is Straight Street in Damascus, the street where he was taken immediately after this event, immediately after the account that he just told us here.

You have this slide, less the lines, on page 2 of your handout. This is an interesting comparison between verses 4 and verse 6. In verse four, we have the light of the gospel. And then in verse six, the light of the knowledge. A very important point that comes out of this.

If you want to know God. You got to know the gospel. If you want to know the Lord and have a knowledge of him. If you want him to claim to know you, you've got to know the gospel and believe it. The gospel's not complicated. It's not difficult. It's rather simple. But unless one believes it, you won't have a knowledge of Him. If you believe it, you will have a knowledge of Him. The light of the gospel. The light, not darkness. The light you see. The light you see things. The light you understand. The next one He makes a comparison of the glory of Christ, and then in verse 6, of the glory of God. You want to know what God looks like? If you've seen Christ, you know what He looks like. Christ is the image of God.

The glory, remember what we said, glory is the radiant essence of who God is. Glory isn't just shiny stuff. Glory is not simply being really wondrous and coming up with angel-type sounds on the movie or TV screen, right? Glory is the radiant essence of who God is. And finally, Christ, who is the image of God. Christ, the very face of Christ, that's what God looks like. the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

Sounds like beholding Him, right? Sounds like beholding Him. And that's why we have the repeated message throughout the New Testament, and this is one of them, our beholding the Lord. Our beholding the Lord is not something that's a sidelight. It's not just something, oh, that would be nice. are looking unto Jesus, as Hebrews 12, 2 puts it. That's pivotal. That's key. Here is the Apostle Paul.

He can't see anything else on that road. He can't see anybody. What he saw seconds before is now completely invisible. But the one thing that he can see is Christ. in the face of Christ. He saw him. And he writes in this very letter about beholding the Lord in the face of Christ.

Let's turn to the Lord now. Lord, as we look at this passage here, we ask that we would behold you and be transformed from glory to glory. We thank you that because of the gospel, we do indeed have knowledge of you. Because of the light, we do indeed see. Thank you for opening our eyes. Thank you for causing us to see what is so essential, so important for eternity. We give you thanks. Thank you for your amazing grace. In Jesus' name, amen.