We’re The Vessel

Transcript

Well, hello again radio friends. How in the world are you? You’re doing alright today? Well, you know that greeting establishes the fact that this is your friend Bob Cook and I’m back for a few moments once again to share the word of God with you. My thing, as they say in worldly language when they’re talking about the elements in some form of activity, “That’s his thing”. Well, I’ll tell you [chuckle], my specialty is just opening the word of God and seeing what it says and applying it. Aside from praying, I guess that’s what I do best. But aside from that, I love the word of God. Don’t you? It thrills my heart and I’m so grateful, so very grateful for the privilege of coming to you by way of radio and sharing the word of God. We are talking about this matter of the Lord Jesus Christ, our blessed living Lord revealing God to us. His truth, His grace. And then I mentioned the fact that the third quality that is given us there in John 1:14 is glory. The word that the Lord Jesus was made flesh, that means He took upon Him a human body, was incarnate and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory, the glorious of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Start with truth, go to grace and then think about the glory of God.

Now, there’s glory that’s visible. You go over here, I’m moving my Bible as you can hear the rustling of the pages, over to Matthew’s gospel. And the story of what we call the Transfiguration. It says that our Lord Jesus took Peter and James and John with Him into a high mountain apart. And when they were there, it says, He was transfigured before them. His face was shining as the sun, His clothing was white as the light. And there appeared Moses and Elias and saw Him. Transfigured before them, His face did shine as the sun. His clothing was white as the light. Now that’s the story of the Transfiguration.

You’d go over to the Book of the Revelation, John’s account of what happened and what will happen, and see what he says there. He said, “I turned to see who spoke with me and I saw in the midst of the seven lamp stands, one like unto the son of man clothed with a garment down to the foot, girded with a golden girdle. His head and His hairs were white like wool, as white as snow. His eyes were as a flame of fire. His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace. His voice is the sound of many waters and He had in His right hand seven stars and out of His mouth went a sharp, two-edged sword. His countenance was as the sun shineth in His strength. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right up hand upon me and said, ‘Fear not, I am the first and the last. I am He that liveth and was dead and behold, I’m alive forever more and I have the keys of death and hell.'”

Now, that was the Lord Jesus Christ in His post ascension glory. That’s how He’ll look when you see Him again. And the reference, of course, to the sharp, two-edged sword is a symbolic reference to the Word of God. God’s Word is alive, we read in Hebrews, and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. Paul speaks about the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. But there you have a visualization of the glory of God as revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ. “As the sun shineth in his strength,” when there’s an eclipse of the sun, you’re warned, aren’t you, “Don’t look at it with the naked eye. You’ll blind yourself.” Why? Because those powerful rays are far too strong for our eyes to stand the rays of the sun shining. Little babies in some of the third world countries are permanently blinded because they’re laid out in the sun and allowed to gaze up into it. And those little baby eyes are ruined early on in their lifetime. Sun rays, so great that you cannot look at them and stand them. But Jesus, our blessed Lord, reveals the glory of God in a way that you can understand. And you can take it in. Now, that’s the visualization of His glory. But there’s a reality that’s greater than that, and of course that’s the spiritual part of it.

And I’m thinking now of Corinthians, where Paul speaks about the glory of God. We all, with open face beholding as in the glass, that means a mirror, the glory of the Lord. Now who brings that? When you become a believer on the Lord Jesus Christ, when you’re saved in other words, I’ll use the old-fashioned term. I love it, don’t you? When you’re saved, the Holy Spirit of God comes to dwell in your life. Paul tells us in Romans 8:9, “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he’s none of His.” The Holy Spirit comes to dwell in your life when you became a Christian.

And so Paul speaks about the Spirit of God. The Lord is that Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. So he says, “We all with open face beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord.” Now who reveals that to us? The indwelling Holy Spirit reveals the Lord Jesus Christ. You get that? When you’re saved, who comes to dwell in your heart? The Holy Spirit. Now then, you’re contemplating the glory of God, revealed to you the glory of the Lord Jesus who brings reality to you concerning God, that’s all revealed to you by the Holy Spirit of God. We’re beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image. Whose image? His image. That’s where we get the concept of Christ-likeness. That’s where the song writer got his idea of the song, “Be like Jesus, this, my song, in the home and in the throne, be like Jesus all day long. I would be like Jesus.” That’s where you get that concept. Change into the same image. Whose image? Christ’s image.

From glory, here’s the concept of glory, you see it. What kind? Inside glory. Spiritual glory. In your life glory, revealing Christ from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Now if you went on to read in 2 Corinthians chapter four, I was quoting from 3:18 with the last verse of chapter three. If you went on at chapter four, you’d see the result of that. If you’re gonna reveal the glory, the glory of Christ, then what do you do? You trust in God’s mercy 4:1. You clean up your act, verse two. You preach the gospel and give yourself as a servant to people so that you can win them, verse five. You keep on shining even though you contain that light in a fragile earthen vessel, verses six and seven. You demonstrate the victorious power of God in your life, never knocked out, verse nine, 10, 11.

Oh, hey that’s great. And you get a victory over trouble. We faint not. Says Paul in verse 16 and 17, “Our light affliction which is but for a moment works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Because we look not at the things that are seen but at the things which are not seen because they’re eternal.” So you got an eternal point of view. The glory of God, what does it mean? I tell you, it’s a practical thing, isn’t it? I’ve just given you the practical out working of it. You spend some time with Jesus and you’ll keep going for God, you’ll clean up your act, you’ll preach the Gospel out of love and devotion and serve people. In the process, you’ll prove yourself to be unsinkable because God keeps you going and you’ll have an eternal view point. Oh, that’s good stuff, isn’t it? [chuckle] I love the word of God, don’t you? It’s great.

So it says the only begotten son which is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him, to declare the Lord of Jesus. Now, has it ever occurred to you that because our Savior has gone back to heaven, the only incarnation of God’s glory has to be a believer? The only Jesus people will ever know about is the Christ that is revealed through your life. I said the Holy Spirit reveals Christ. How will people learn about Christ by watching your life? Well, very simple. See, my faculty always accused me of being simplistic, and I guess I am. But simple things turn out to be quite profound. I said the Holy Spirit enables you to reveal Christ, didn’t I? And you believe that too, don’t you? Because there it is in the word. Now, the fruit of the Spirit then. If the Holy Spirit is the one that reveals Christ, then how does he do it? He says, the fruit of the Spirit is love. When people see God’s agape Calvary John 3:16, love in your life, they’re going to know something about Jesus, aren’t they?

Joy. That’s the quality of being completely right and at peace and radiantly content inspite of circumstances. Peace, that’s the unflappable, unsinkable quality of knowing that God’s hands are holding you and God is in control. When you pray about a thing and put it in His control, Philippians 4:6,7 tells us that the peace of God that passes all understanding will keep your hearts as though there were a garrison of soldiers around you. Long-suffering, that’s our Greek word “makrothumia”, large-heartedness, room for people, putting up with people because you love them. Gentleness, I don’t have to explain that. You know what that means, don’t you? Goodness, faith, meekness, willing to be second fiddle, self-control. Now see the question, how does the Holy Spirit reveal Christ who is the revealer of the glory of God? How does the glory of God that points to Jesus come through your life? It doesn’t come through any ecstatic, hysterical type of performance, brothers and sisters. It comes through the steady revelation of these qualities that I’ve just read off for you from Galatians 5:22. The results of the Holy Spirit working in your life are these: Calvary love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control. When people see that, they say, “That’s what Jesus must be like.” You wanna work on that today? It’s a big assignment but the indwelling Holy Spirit will work it in your life.

Blessed Father today, reveal Christ through us I pray, through the ministry of the indwelling Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Till I meet you once again by way of radio. Walk with the King today and be a blessing.