FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

Scripture References: 2 Corinthians 3:18

The Change Produced By This Spiritual Discernment – Continued

Ever so sadly, those still living and walking in darkness will go on, forever in the treadmill of vain opposition to God. “In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4).

But God may be pleased to shine upon some of them that light which now they spurn. He will use for that purpose the light of the gospel as spread about by those who are changed from glory unto glory into the image of Christ.

My brothers and sisters, men and women all around you are still in the darkness of Plato’s cave. They grope blindly about them for light. But when you let the light, the light of the glorious gospel of Christ shine upon them they turn from you. They just can’t seem to bear that light. Will you then depend upon your eloquence, upon your attractive personality to make them see? Will you put a veil upon your face in order to adapt your message to the spiritual blindness of those to whom you minister? Or, like Paul, will you dare to speak plainly to those who are without, to those who are of a contrary belief?

Eloquence and pitifulness will not in themselves soften the heart of a scoffer or blasphemer, but neither will argument and debate in themselves cause a modern-day Plato to see. Men often seek to be wiser than God. Sincere ministers wish to have men see the full light of the gospel. But there are many who have methods of their own with which to try and accomplish the task. Often they will first bring men a part of the gospel and then another part oftentimes out of context. They hope to make the gospel attractive by sugar-coating it just a little. To those who are on the outside they will offer the gospel as an attractive hypothesis for men to consider. To those who are within they often tone down, or even avoid, the full demands of Christ.

Paul was beyond this stage when he first preached in Corinth. If you are still in doubt whether you will always and everywhere preach the full counsel of God you haven’t yet studied Paul’s complete motives. The Apostle Paul knew he could and that he would do nothing but speak plainly the whole counsel of God. That was absolutely settled with him. But now, as seen in his letters, he rejoices, looking back, at the results of that determination. He had at the beginning presumably been fearful. He had trembled when he first preached to the Corinthians. He had been tempted to let down on both the manner and the content of his preaching. But he had not let down. He had trusted in the God who had called him on that Damascus road. Now God has blessed his efforts. Dramatically changed from one who blasphemed to one who gloried in the Lord, Paul had seen others changed likewise. He had honored God; therefore, God had honored him. He had spoken plainly; therefore, men did see and they saw clearly and continually.

Let us all speak the gospel plainly in our day so that those around us may have the same opportunity to see and to see with an unveiled, or uncovered face.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture References: 2 Corinthians 3:18

The Change Produced By This Spiritual Discernment – Continued

From last lesson: The servants of the Lord are no longer afraid of affliction and/or evil. They recognize their legacy as heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ Jesus. They don’t even need to fear death for the last enemy conquered by Christ Jesus is death!

• For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:17-18).
• We are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him (Romans 8:16-17).
• “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:55-58).

All this, the Apostle adds, is just as you would expect from the Lord, and His Spirit. That glorified Lord who has earned for His people, who has given to His people the promise of the Spirit as He went to His home in glory to prepare a place for His own. His work is now identified with the work of the Spirit. Thus, the Lord whom they seek is also the Spirit who works within them. He takes the things of Christ and gives them unto us.

Is it any wonder that the Apostle rejoices in this change of those who look at the glorified Christ? As in the case of the Galatians, it is also in the case of the Corinthians, Paul might well say: “My little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you!” (Galatians 4:19). He knows that Christ is being formed in them, little by little, but the work is being done.

Again it’s true that this is first of all an object of faith. We walk by faith and not by sight. Yet the change is real. Those who believe can see it in themselves. The change may seem to be slow. This however doesn’t need to be a discouragement. Neither did it discourage Paul. He has fed them with milk but he will also feed them with meat. He will boldly seek to elicit that which they have in Christ. He knows his appeals to them will not be in vain. When he appeals for the unity of the Spirit they will realize their heritage and lay aside their factions. When they doubt the fact of the resurrection they will cast aside their doubts and will respond with joyful faith. They all see, they all see with open face constantly and clearly. Paul’s great plainness of speech will bear abundant fruit; both then and now.

If they have looked at the glory of the Lord they may even reflect that same glory among men. They will let their light so shine before men that others seeing their good works will glorify the Father which is in heaven. Those others are still in the darkness of Plato’s cave. Their heads are chained in darkness. They behold no glory; therefore they make no progress. As they look at the shadows they take them for realities; hence they also deceive themselves into thinking they are moving forward.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture References: 2 Corinthians 3:18

The Change Produced By This Spiritual Discernment

When people see the glory of the Lord they are definitely changed. Here is something wonderful indeed. Paul paints the portrait of the glorified Lord. As he and all New Testament believers watch this portrait painted, as they see it in the mirror, something happens. It is a lifelike portrait that they see. More than that, it is a lifegiving portrait that they see. They look at it again and again. They look at it constantly. Then suddenly they also look at themselves. They suddenly see there true selves by reflection. What a contrast between themselves and that picture. How ugly they are! How vile!

But they haven’t just seen a finished portrait, rather they have watched the actual painting of the portrait. They saw the Lord of glory in His suffering. They saw that what happened to Him and what happened also, in a sense, to them. They saw that He satisfied the demands of the law for them. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). Thus, the ministration of condemnation turned into the ministration of the Spirit. The Old Testament saints weren’t able to clearly see this. They didn’t see clearly the end of that which was to be abolished; they didn’t see clearly that the blood of bulls and goats and a heifer calf pointed only to the blood of the promised one. At best they wasted a lot of effort in doubt as to whether their good works were even meant to satisfy the law as a condition of salvation.

Relieved of this exhausting doubt, the New Testament believers can make steady progress on the pathway of sanctification. They walk on solid ground. They have seen Christ portrayed to them as raised from the dead. They know they have been raised with Him to newness of life. What certainty, what assurance of faith is theirs. “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:16). They know that they will proceed step by step with Christ into his glory.

• For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery (Galatians 5:1).
• For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness (Galatians 5:5).
• But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:16).
• But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law (Galatians 5:22-23).
• In Jesus . . . put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:21-24).

Finally, they will be received into glory. By the Spirit they now understand “secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory” (1 Corinthians 2:7).

The servants of the Lord are no longer afraid of affliction and/or evil. They recognize their legacy as heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ Jesus. They don’t even need to fear death for the last enemy conquered by Christ Jesus is death!

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture References: 2 Corinthians 3:18

The Object of This Spiritual Discernment – Continued

Afterwards, then Jesus set His face steadfastly toward Jerusalem where He knew He would suffer. Yes, even while in His humiliation He was glorious. His disciples beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten from the Father full of grace and truth (John 1:14). But Paul thinks here of that glory which should follow, that glory which should follow upon his suffering. “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” (Luke 24:26). He that said, “Yet I do not seek my own glory” (John 8:50) was raised up in glory by the Father whose glory was the only glory He sought. “Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father” (Romans 6:4). To Him was given a name which is above every name. To Him were given all the kingdoms of the earth which Satan had promised Him if He refused to suffer.

“Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle!” (Psalm 24:7-8). Who is the King of glory? He who was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead; even Jesus Christ our Lord!

It is Christ, now risen, now ascended, now seated at the right hand of the Father whom the Apostle saw. It was Him that he rejoiced to see, together with his fellow believers. Together they see Him; together they see Him constantly. Together they see Him clearly. However, doesn’t Paul speak of seeing in a mirror dimly? To be sure, he does. But in that passage of 1 Corinthians 13:12 he compares what we see now with what we shall see in the future. “We are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared” (1 John 3:2). In our text, however, Paul compares what we see now with what the Old Testament believers saw. The mirror is here used as a symbol of clarity.

That mirror is no doubt the gospel which Paul says he has spoken so plainly. That gospel now laid down in the Scriptures is the mirror in which we may see the glory of the Lord. In that mirror we all may see. In that mirror alone can we see the glory of the Lord. It is indispensable and absolutely necessary. In that mirror we see the original and only picture of the glory of the Lord; the Scripture is sufficient and authoritative. Yet it is the risen Christ in the Scriptures that we see.

How the apostle rejoices in the vision of the glory of the Lord. How he delights to show unto the congregation more and more of that glory of the Lord. That glory of the Lord is inexhaustible. He turns the mirror in a certain direction and they turn it another; he wishes them to see every aspect of that glory. When through the lust of the eyes they turn to look to the right or to the left he calls them back to look at the glory of the Lord. When through the weariness of the flesh they grow faint he stirs them up to look at the glory of the Lord. How he pleads with those who would mar the mirror and obscure the vision of the people of God. He pleads with them not to bring men back to the darkness of Plato’s cave. He pleads with them to let those Christ has set free to be free indeed, to be free that they may see, that they may see the glory of the Lord. But if they would obstruct or obscure the vision of the glory of the Lord he does not back down but rather stands for the truth. God’s people, Paul is determined, will see the glory of the Lord.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.