Good morning, gentlemen. Please open to 2 Corinthians, chapter 2.
As we come to the study of God’s Word, there is a principle of Bible study that is absolutely indispensable, whether you come individually or whether we come corporately, as we are doing this morning. That principle we cannot take for granted. That indispensable principle is total reliance upon God’s Holy Spirit.
Really, our whole worship service was the application of that principle. We sang it, and we prayed it, and I know in our hearts we long that God would show Himself.
We do need a revelation of this revelation. He has hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge in our Lord Jesus. Isn’t it neat that He tells us where He hides it? Then, as He reveals Christ, He reveals all of those treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Let us pause a moment and ask Him who dwells between the cherubim to shine forth.
Father, we do thank You again this morning for the opportunity we have to wait now before Thy Spirit. We know, Lord, this Bible is like our Lord Jesus: it is human and divine.
We would ask You, Lord, by Your Spirit, to unveil our Lord Jesus Christ to our hearts. Show us Him, we pray. Deliver us again, we would ask You, from all of man’s ideas.
We thank You in Jesus’ name.
Very briefly, let me touch on some of the things we looked at yesterday, and then we will pick up where we left off. 2 Corinthians 4:5 is the text around which these thoughts rotate:
We do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord,
and ourselves as your bondservants for Jesus’ sake.
To know the Lord Jesus as undisputed Lord and to become a bondservant to one another—that is a mighty miracle of God. We do not just decide one day, “From now on, I am going to serve my fellow man.” It does not work that way. It is a mighty miracle of God.
Though there are many things imperceptible in the way God deals with us, because He is going to deal with us differently—there is an infinite variety in God and in the way He deals with us—yet there is a process that we can see. Though He deals with us differently, there is a certain sameness about broad, foundational principles that God must burn indelibly in each of us if we are to understand some of these basic ways of God.
As I suggested last night, the Holy Spirit selected the Apostle Paul as the only complete model of the Christian life. We needed one model somewhere, a complete model. The Holy Spirit has given us the Apostle Paul as the safeguard against any incomplete model of Christ.
There is no question that we can learn many things from everyone who knows Christ. We can go into the Bible and study those Bible saints, learn from their lives, and see Christ in their lives in certain areas. But there is only one—the Apostle Paul—who gives us the complete balance of the new-covenant life. God has given us that.
So we need to study Paul, and we need to study him in 2 Corinthians, because 2 Corinthians is where the apostle unveils his own heart. He just bears his heart. By studying 2 Corinthians and the life of Paul, we see the process by which God creates a bondservant’s heart: bondservant to God, bondservant to men.
We are studying that process. We are looking at that process. I suggest that until that takes place in our lives, we will never fully understand 2 Corinthians 4:5. This is what God needs to do in us.
Last night, we looked at that first principle, based on 2 Corinthians 1:8-11. In order to become that bondservant, that heart-bondservant of God and man, God must press Paul beyond Paul and into the all-sufficiency of the Lord Jesus.
God must take him beyond the line, beyond all of his thresholds, and into the presence of God Himself. God is not cruel to push, to push, to push to the limit and beyond the limit, because God knows what is on the other side of that line.
I tell you, brothers, there is glory there. Some of you have been over there, and you know what is on the other side of that line.
We ended last evening with the Apostle Paul having been pressed beyond the limit. Now he stands on the other side of himself. He has passed through that. He stands on the other side of Paul, in the all-sufficiency of the Lord Jesus.
He died to Paul. He died to the world. He even died to the mercies of God that drew him from the world.
As he stands on this other side, this is what we would like to look at this morning. His eyes are opened wide in amazement, and his mouth is opened wide in amazement because of what he sees on the other side of the line.
Of course, I am referring to our Lord Jesus Christ alone, in all of His beauty, all of His glory, all of His adequacy, and all of His self-sufficiency.
If the first principle is emptiness—in order to become a bondservant, you must be emptied of yourself—then this second principle must be fullness. It is not enough, in order to become the servant of God and men, to be taken beyond myself. I must be taken into the all-sufficiency of Christ: thoroughly empty of myself, thoroughly filled to the brim and flowing over on all sides, at all times, with the Lord Jesus Christ.
That is where Paul is now. This becomes the second step in the process of God creating a bondservant, a heart-slave to God and to man.
Paul describes for us what he sees: the glory of living on the other side of the line, the glory of living on the other side of the threshold. I am going to describe for you, in Paul’s words, what he saw.
I do not know where you are in your relationship with God. If you have been over the line, even a little bit, and then back and forth—sometimes we do that—you are going to recognize some of the things that Paul saw.
If you have not been over the line, and there is that possibility in a group this size, then you might be puzzled at some of the things I am going to say and some of the things that Paul saw and claimed to see. I would ask you to weigh these things before God.
If they are not of God, scrap them. If they are, may God burn them indelibly into our lives.
Paul now is on the other side of the line, on the other side of Paul, on the resurrection side. Not only is his vision transformed, but his views are transformed.
From this point on in the record, the apostle is never the same again. Once he has crossed over that line, he will never be the same. Now he sees everything in Christ Jesus and related to Christ Jesus. Everything has changed—not just some things. Everything has changed on the other side of that line.
Obviously, in a short session like we have, we do not have time to look at everything. But may I suggest that from 2 Corinthians 2:14 through chapter 3, the apostle mentions at least three things that have drastically changed from the vantage point of being over the line.
Every sermon has to have three points and a poem. I would like to show you those three things that Paul mentions. I think it will be clear as you see how all these things fall into focus in the light of the all-sufficiency and adequacy of the Lord Jesus.
2 Corinthians 2:14:
Thanks be to God, who always leads us in His triumph in Christ,
and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.
A lot of you brothers shared with me yesterday that you have been through 2 Corinthians recently, or are going through it. Because of that, I have made a few alterations in my notes, and I am going to take for granted that you know some of this background. I am not going to take the time to do some of the donkey work I planned to do. So I hope you were telling me the truth about that, if you are all experts in this book.
The first thing that changed for Paul on the other side of the line—one basic thing that changed—was his whole concept of victory. As Paul stood on that other side of the line, on the other side of Paul, he saw victory.
“Thanks be to God, who always leads us in His triumph.” He saw victory in Christ—not some of the time, not most of the time, not pretty nearly all the time. He saw something he had never seen before: victory one hundred percent of the time.
Verse 14 says, “Who always leads us in His triumph.” The same verse says, “In every place.” In every place, always, at all times, in every place.
Let me back over the line a little bit. When Paul stood in Paul—and I am talking about after he had gone down the road in Christ quite a way—he believed in victory. He had come a long way since Christ first saved him.
He was no longer among those who believed that you had to trust yourself for victory. The Apostle Paul would not get up and say, “In order to have victory, you have got to have a quiet time every day.” He had come beyond that. He had seen that victory did not depend on Paul.
He saw that victory did not depend on his own faithfulness, his ability to suppress sin, or to resist the devil. He had come beyond the legal system. Even before God pressed him over the threshold, the apostle had realized that he was no match for the world, the flesh, or the devil. He knew that he had to trust God for victory.
Paul, before he got over the line, knew he had to pray, knew he had to trust God, to seek the Lord, to seek deliverance. He knew that. That was before he crossed the line. You need to understand what he saw before if you are going to see the change.
Here is what he believed before he crossed the line: “In order for me to have victory in my life, I must come before God and know that victory is a gift from God. In simple faith, I must claim from God His victory. It is a gift of God.”
That is what he used to believe before he crossed the line. When he got over that line, he no longer believed that and never believed it again after that.
Paul’s idea of victory, when Paul stood in Paul, was that he must trust God for victory and claim it from God. God was going to give him that gift, and if he did not claim it, he did not have it. There was nothing in him that could give him victory; God had to give him victory. If God did not give it, he did not have it.
But even with that view, if you had suggested, “Paul, in every place, all the time, do you have that?” he would not have been able to say yes—not all the time. There had to be seasons of failure, seasons of doubt, defeat, and wipeout.
Even if you just stick to the record in 2 Corinthians: in 2 Corinthians 1:8, he is despairing; in 2 Corinthians 2:13, he is anxious; in 2 Corinthians 7:6, he is depressed; in 2 Corinthians 12:1, he is proud; and in 2 Corinthians 12:13, he is sarcastic. That is just 2 Corinthians.
When Paul stood in Paul, he never dreamed that, whatever victory was, he could have it all the time—not when he was shipwrecked, not when he was scourged, not when he was in stocks, not when he was in prison, not when he had the thorn in the flesh, not when he was being oppressed by the legalists. All the time? Really?
But now God has pushed Paul. Paul has come on the other side, and Paul has died. Paul saw himself as a dead man. One of the first things God does is open his eyes to victory—what it is.
Paul saw in that moment that victory was not a gift God gives to His children when they trust Him. It is not that at all. He saw victory wrapped up in a Person: Jesus Christ Himself.
As Paul saw that Christ, it all became so clear. Now listen, brothers: Paul discovered that God never intended for Paul to have victory. That is what he saw on the other side of the line.
So often we think about victory as if it were something, as if God gives His Son and something else called victory. We speak of it this way: “I have victory over this in my life. I have victory over that in my life.” We pray, “Lord, give me victory over there. Give me deliverance over this area of my life. Set me free.”
But on the other side of the line, things began to come into focus for the Apostle Paul. Paul saw that he was not only not expected to have victory all the time; he discovered—exactly right, brother, I read your lips—he was never expected to have victory any time, not even for a lonely moment.
It was a great thing for Paul to learn that God did not expect him to have victory over lust, victory over pride, victory over selfishness, victory over his anger, his laziness, his procrastination, his bitterness, his strange thoughts, his unbelief, and his addictive habits.
That is what Paul used to think when Paul lived in Paul. But now Paul was on the other side of the line, and he saw something very wonderful. He saw that the Lord Jesus had victory over everything.
He saw that Christ was the Victor, and the only Victor. He had perfect victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil. He had perfectly overcome the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, and the lust of the flesh.
As Paul looked at the Lord Jesus, and as He began to fill the landscape of his heart, Paul saw One who had no trouble at all keeping His tongue. He had victory over His tongue. He saw One who had no trouble at all with bad thoughts or strange thoughts. Jesus had perfect victory.
Jesus had no trouble with binding habits. Jesus was victorious over anxiety. Jesus was victorious over fear. Jesus had a forgiving spirit. Jesus was not selfish. Jesus was perfectly victorious.
I tell you, it made a big change in Paul’s life when he saw this: Jesus has victory, and I have Jesus. You see the difference? Jesus has victory, and I have Jesus.
In that moment, Paul had one of the greatest deliverances of his life, because he was delivered from victory as a thing. He was delivered from deliverance. He took his eyes off victory, and he began to see himself in Christ, who always leads us in His triumph.
He saw something brand new, so wonderful for him and so liberating. It was not really new in words; he had heard the words before. But suddenly, he became alive to the reality, to the truth.
John 16:33 says the same thing. I will start it; you finish it: “Be of good courage, be of good cheer. You shall overcome the world.” He does not say that.
Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
It is His victory. Later, Paul wrote in Romans 8:37, “We overwhelmingly conquer through Him.” The apostle had his eyes opened to who the Overcomer was and to who the Victor was.
Paul began to see himself in Christ Jesus, sharing everything He was and everything He had. It is amazing to me: no Christian would ever dream that he has a righteousness of his own.
We would all say, “Oh, no, no, no. I am righteous because He is righteous. In Christ, I am righteous. I have no righteousness of my own.” No Christian would ever dream to say, “I have a wisdom of my own.” He has been made unto us wisdom, sanctification, holiness. We have those things in Christ Jesus.
No Christian would say, “I have a glory of my own.” We share His glory. But somehow, when it comes to victory, we think we have a victory of our own.
How glad Paul was when he began to see, “I share His victory.” There is only one victorious Person in all the universe, brothers, and it is our Lord Jesus Christ. He is victory. He alone is victorious.
This is a silly illustration, but I think it illustrates the point. We have a brother who comes to our Bible study who has an English sports car, manufactured by British Leyland, a cute little car called a Triumph.
How would you feel if a friend of yours owned one of these sports cars? You could be as poor as Mother Hubbard’s dog, and he comes up in this sports car and says, “Let us go for a ride.” You ride through town, and you see your friends. You are in the sports car.
Well, verse 14 says that the Lord Jesus also has a triumph. Hey, I told you it was silly. Give me a break.
“Thanks be to God, who always leads us in His triumph”—in every place.
I will tell you, that was great news for the Apostle Paul, because he finally put his flesh-mobile aside. It was constantly breaking down anyway. Jesus, in His grace, kept fixing it up for him. But finally, he crossed the line, and he became a passenger in God’s triumph. He began riding all over town.
He was set free from this idea that he had to ask God for victory. He began to see Christ as the victorious One, and he began to understand what it means to share His victory.
It is not that God is going to give me victory. It is not that God is going to give me rest. God has a rest, and I enter into His rest—not a rest He gives, but the rest He has.
Is God completely at rest about what you are facing right now? Enter into that rest—His rest—entering into His victory.
That was the first thing the apostle saw, and what a change it made in his life. From that time on, he was set free from this whole idea that he needed to claim some victory from God over this or that in his life.
He was no longer cutting his life up into a pie: God dealing with this area, God dealing with that area. He began to see himself out of Paul and in Christ Jesus, in all the sufficiency and adequacy of that revelation—to see Him alone.
Another thing changed when he was over the line. Let me read 2 Corinthians 2:14-17 again:
Thanks be to God, who always leads us in His triumph in Christ,
and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.
For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved,
and among those who are perishing;
to the one an aroma from death to death,
to the other an aroma from life to life.
And who is adequate for these things?
For we are not like many, peddling the word of God,
but as from sincerity, as from God,
we speak in Christ in the sight of God.
His whole concept of ministry changed when he stood over the line. Let me illustrate it from a very common event in Roman life. We are quite removed from this, and so I think a little background will help.
It was called the Roman triumphus, and it was very common in the days of Rome. It was a celebration, a parade, held in Rome after a Roman victory.
Some historians have described what it looked like. Let me give you Josephus’ description of this Roman triumph. There were four parts to this parade.
I will not give you the first part—obviously, that is my point. You have to save that for the end and come pounding in with it, see? Let me start with the second thing in the parade, and then we will look at the parade. Then I will give you the first thing, and I think you will get the whole story straight.
The second thing in the military parade was the Roman general. He was not first; he was second. This was the one who led the army into battle and had the victory. Of course, he would be on his white horse, with laurels and pomp and musicians around him. The Roman general.
Behind the Roman general would be the proud soldiers. They would be in their full-dress uniforms, fully arrayed. They would also be on horses. They would have their shields, swords, armor, and guards.
Then, on foot behind the Roman soldiers, would be the prisoners of war. Many times they would be naked, shamefully exposed to the people. They would be marching behind as trophies of the victory of this army.
Last would be the crowds of people. They would line both sides of the street, jeering at the prisoners of war and praising their gods for the deliverance.
The commentators understand that Paul was probably referring to that Roman triumphus. They say the Lord Jesus also has a triumphal procession. He has His soldiers, He has His prisoners of war, and He has those crowds who praise Him.
Some commentators think that Paul is saying Christians are like soldiers. We are following Christ; Christ is the General. He has led us into victory, and we march behind Him. We are the soldiers.
Others say, “No, that is true. There is a sense in which we are soldiers, but in this picture, we are the prisoners of war. We are the captives. We are the trophies of His grace. Christ has conquered us. We are the ones in chains, His bondservants, if you will, coming in behind.”
I do not know whether you are familiar with the New English Bible, but its translation is, “Who constantly leads us about as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession.” From that translation, we are the captives. Jesus has conquered, and we are trophies of His power.
But I am going to suggest that the Apostle Paul saw something different. He is not likening the Christian to a soldier, though there is a place for that. He is not even likening the Christian to the prisoners of war being dragged in, though that is also true.
Who led the parade?
The runner would come in from the battlefield and announce to a group called incense sprinklers that the victory had been won. These incense sprinklers, according to the historians, would begin to go through the town. The idea was that they were worshiping their gods, praising their gods, and spreading incense in thanks to their gods for the victory their army had just had.
As the people became familiar with that smell, as they smelled the incense, they would understand they had a victory. They would all come out and wait for the parade to come in. The incense sprinklers were the forerunners who prepared everybody for this great parade.
I suggest that, as Paul stood there on the other side of the line, he saw himself as an incense sprinkler.
[God] manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.
We are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved
and among those who are perishing.
Paul’s whole idea of Christian ministry changed here. He saw that the perfume, the fragrance, the aroma, was Christ Himself.
Verse 14 says it: “the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him.” Christ Himself. Verse 15 makes it clearer: “We are a fragrance of Christ.” The NIV says, “To God, the aroma of Christ.”
The Apostle Paul saw the simplicity, the beauty, of Christian ministry. He saw that it was simply a person so filled with Christ that the smell of Christ went up to God, and everybody around could smell it. They would enter into that aroma. His life was a fragrance.
That was all new to the Apostle Paul because, when Paul stood in Paul, Christian ministry, Christian service, soul winning, missions, and reaching out to others were goals. They were goals to him.
All of a sudden, he saw that ministry was a byproduct and not a goal. What a tremendous revelation for him to see that. The whole direction of Christian service had changed for him.
Before, it was ministering unto people, meeting their needs, doing for one another, helping people, and assisting them. Now, all of a sudden, he saw, as he stood there across the line in Christ Jesus, that ministry has to do with the joy of God’s heart. Ministry has to do with satisfying Him.
Christ was a fragrance to God among men. What a difference that is. Verse 15: of Christ, to God, among men. That is God’s order, and any changing of that order is legalism.
The apostle saw that God was pleased when his life was filled with the smell of Christ, the fragrance of Christ. It satisfied the heart of God. Then others smelled it.
In that Roman triumph, it was the same smell, but it had two different effects. When the crowd smelled it, they said, “Praise God, we won.” When those prisoners of war smelled the same smell, they said, “We lost. That is death for us.”
They were taking the prisoners of war off for public execution, right in the city square in Rome. So, when they smelled that incense, to them it was a savor of death unto death; but to others it was a savor of life unto life.
When the apostle began to see that and understand that, his whole life began to be transformed. He knew in his heart he would never be the same. From then on, all he would do was be filled with Christ and satisfy the heart of God. People would smell that.
Some would smell it and say, “Praise God for such a man on the earth.” Others would smell it and say, “Away with such a man from the earth.” Savor of life; savor of death.
In John 12, when Mary poured out that pound of costly perfume, she had no idea about ministering to men. She just wanted to minister to God. She wanted to satisfy the heart of Jesus. She understood ministry.
But John 12:3 says that the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. One design for Him, but as a byproduct, they became participants in that.
Try to enter into the joy, brothers, of Paul’s heart as he stood there on the other side of Paul, in the all-sufficiency of Jesus. His heart thrilled to be delivered from victory as a thing and to know that he was in Christ Jesus. Jesus had victory; he had Jesus.
I cannot fly; the airplane flies. I am in the airplane; I fly. He was in Christ Jesus.
What a relief to be delivered from Christian service as a goal and to realize that all he had to be was a fragrance of Christ to God. That would become a ministry.
No longer was it what he had to do in order to reach and minister. Now it was a matter of being in a right relationship with Him.
I am amazed that so many Christians struggle with some of these truths. I wonder perhaps if it is because they have not been beyond the line. On the wrong side of the line, it does not make sense. It does not matter.
When you stand in yourself, it makes a lot of sense that you have to trust God to give you something called victory. When you stand in yourself, it makes a lot of sense that you have to carry the burden of the world and that you are responsible to go out, minister, and do this and that.
But once you cross that line, everything begins to fall into place.
I am going to skip over a lot here because Paul saw many other things, as he stood in Christ Jesus, by transforming revelation. He saw that he possessed all things in Christ.
Paul did not lose anything by being pressed over that line. God gave it all back, but this time in liberty. He received all those things back the same way Abraham received Isaac back.
All things were in Christ. Paul did not lose his life by being pushed over the line; he found his life by being pushed over the line. He did not lose his will by being pushed over the line; he found his will. Everything was returned in Christ.
At last, it did not matter to Paul whether he was hungry or full, prosperous or afflicted, living in comfort or suffering, because his contentment was now in Christ Jesus. He was his satisfaction. He was adequate.
Not only did he possess all things in Christ, but even more wonderfully, he possessed Christ in all things.
He did not possess a house, a car, a business, and clothes. He possessed Christ in a house, Christ in transportation, Christ in clothes. Paul saw himself as rich, rich, rich over that line.
When he had nothing, he possessed all things in Christ. When he had everything, he possessed Christ in all things. What could be greater?
It is exciting to read of some of these discoveries that he made. Let me share one more, and we will be done. He not only got a new view of victory, and he not only got a new view of ministry, but as he stood there, God gave him a new Bible.
Chapter 3, please. Let me read a few verses.
Having therefore such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech,
and are 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 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 their 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.
When Paul stood in Paul, the Bible was a veiled book. It was a closed book: all facts, all information, philosophy of life, academic scholarship.
Sometimes we tend to forget that Paul was a theologian before he crossed the line. He was a tremendous theologian. He knew all about prophecy, angels, spiritual gifts, doctrine, history, and the background of Israel.
If he had stood up and preached, he could have given a tremendous sermon on the cross, the atonement, the nature of God, missions, the Holy Spirit, and the inspiration of Scripture. It was all death.
The Bible study was dead. It was all a shell. It was all external—just a veneer, just the outside. He did not get beyond the sacred page.
Just facts, just knowledge. The more he studied, the prouder he became, because knowledge puffs up.
When Paul stood in Paul, he was a master of a dead book. He was a theologian. He was a scholar. He was the expert on the Bible.
He had a veil over his face, a veil over his heart, and a veil over the Book. But now he is on the other side of the line.
“Whenever a man turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” Now, he comes to the same Book, but this time with an unveiled face.
This time, he does not come to study marriage, family, doctrine, the local church, evangelism, the end times, stewardship, or even the bondservant’s heart. He does not even come to study that.
In fact, he does not come to study Genesis, Exodus, Matthew, Mark, or Luke, because the goal of Bible study is not Bible study. He has begun to see that.
He is not trying now to study faith, surrender, repentance, or the Trinity. God gave him a new Bible.
He saw that, coming now with an unveiled face, he could see the glory of the Lord. He could see God Himself.
All of a sudden, he was not studying Matthew to know Matthew; he was studying Matthew to know God. He was not studying Isaiah to see Isaiah; he was studying Isaiah to see God, to see the glory of God.
It was a brand-new Bible. The whole thing became alive, and his heart began to burn within him as he began to seek Christ in the Scriptures. Tremendous. A new Bible.
Nor is that all. In verse 18, every time he saw Christ, he was transformed into that same image, from one degree of glory to another. This was so wonderful for Paul.
He began to see, “Now things are going to be different when I begin to live. He is my victory. Forget victory; He is my victory. I am going to live in Christ and ride in His triumph. He is my victory.”
Everything was different for Paul now. No more ministry per se. From now on, “I am going to be filled with Christ, satisfy the heart of God, and let others smell it if they want to.” Glorious change.
Now he says, “From now on, this Book is alive. I am coming to this Book to know God. I am coming to see Jesus.” As he came to this Book, every time he saw Christ, he was changed—transformed.
He began to think back about all those changes that had come in his own life because he was more disciplined and tried harder. He began to understand that any change that comes into his life that did not come by the revelation of Jesus Christ was an unreal change.
Changes come when we begin to see Christ in the Book. Paul had this whole new concept. It was a new dimension. It was a new life on the other side of the line.
He was not sad that God pushed him over the line. It was glory to him, because now God had given him this new Bible.
Someone might say, “Well, what exactly do you mean when you say, ‘I am going to see Christ’? I have never really seen Christ in the Bible.”
Yes, you have, if you are saved. You have had at least one revelation of Christ. One day the Holy Spirit, however He did it in your life, brought you to the place where you saw Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
What happened when you saw that, brothers? Were you changed? Oh, man, you new creature in Christ, you.
Some people think that is the end of it. “I saw Christ as my Savior. I am saved, going to heaven, not going to hell.”
There are unlimited revelations of Christ in this Book. The same way you came, as you received Christ, so walk in Him. The same way you saw Him as Lamb and were transformed, now you must come and, one day, God, when you are ready, will reveal Him as the end of the law to everyone who believes.
When God reveals Him, not by taking a concordance and tracing “fortress” through the Bible—that is not how you see Him as Fortress, and that is not how you see Him as Rock—but when you are ready, when God engineers your life to need that revelation, then God will come and reveal Christ as the Comforter.
When you see Him by revelation, you will be changed. When you see Him as Vine by revelation, you will be changed. When you see Him as the Smelter by revelation, you will be changed. When you see Him as Groom by revelation, you will be changed. When you see Him as Priest by revelation, you will be changed.
As God begins to quicken your heart, and you see Him as Father, Creator, Rock, Fortress, and the Lifter of your head, every revelation of God in this Book needs a special revelation of the Holy Spirit.
When the Holy Spirit reveals Christ that way, you are changed. You are transformed.
When Paul saw that, he said, “I am going to live on the other side forever. I will never move. I am going to live here. Christ is my victory. I am in His triumph. Ministry is just an overflow of this fragrance of Christ. My Bible study is nothing more: see Him, change; see Him, change; see Him. It is glorious.”
He is not a bondservant yet. He has to come back tonight and hear what I have to say.
You think that was all there was to it? “Now I can be a bondservant if I come to that place where I get beyond myself and am filled with Christ.” There is another step—a bigger step—that was necessary for the Apostle Paul before he could become that bondservant of Christ. We would like to continue that tonight.
I told you: three points and a poem. Here is my poem, by my favorite author. I have three favorite authors of poems: Unknown, Anonymous, and If It Is.
The world, I thought, belonged to me—
Goods, gold, and silver, land and sea.
Where’er I walked beneath God’s sky,
Those old days, the word was “I.”Years passed. There flashed my pathway near
The fragment of a vision dear.
That former word no more sufficed,
So what I said was, “I and Christ.”The more I looked on Him,
His glory grew, and mine grew dim.
I shrank so small, He towered so high,
All I dared say was, “Christ and I.”Years more that vision held its place;
It looked me steadily in the face.
I speak now in a humbler tone:
All I can say is, “Christ alone.”
Let us pray.
Our Father, we do ask You, in Your grace, to show us the all-sufficiency of our Lord Jesus.
Create in us, we pray, the reality of being bondservants. We ask it in His all-prevailing name.