The glory of the new covenant ministry in Christ surpasses the glory of the Old Testament law, which required a veil over Moses' face due to its fading radiance. This new ministry, empowered by the Spirit, allows believers to behold the glory of the Lord with unveiled faces, transforming them from glory to glory. The sermon illustrates this transformation through the example of Stephen's radiant face at his martyrdom and the profound conversion of Saul of Tarsus, emphasizing that the power of the gospel lies in Christ's glory shining through believers as earthen vessels. Ultimately, the message calls for a surrendered life, presenting ourselves as living sacrifices to God, so that His light and the knowledge of His glory in the face of Jesus Christ can shine through us to impact the world.
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one of the Lord's servants who has been serving the Lord in Jamaica for a good many years, our brother Gibson. I'd like you to turn with me to the third chapter of Second Corinthians. I would like to carry on a little along the line that we have been listening to in ministry by our brother Mr. Kessler. Second Corinthians chapter three, verse seven, but if the administration of death written and graven in stones was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses, for the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away?
How shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glorious, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. This is a glory that excelleth. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect by reason of the glory that excelleth or the glory that surpasseth. But of that which is done away was glorious much more, that which remaineth is glorious.
Seeing then that we have such hope we use great plainness of speech, and not as Moses would put a veil over his face that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished or is being done away with. But their minds were blinded or hardened, for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament, which veil is done away in Christ. But even on to this day when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart.
Nevertheless, when it that is, when the nation of Israel shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face or unveiled face, beholding as in a glass or in a mirror, the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Chapter four. Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we paint not, but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world or age hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel or the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus our Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. But God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
But we have this treasure in earth and vessel, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. Now we have been listening to and enjoyed very much the ministry connected with the glory which is future. We are thinking of the exceeding weight of glory that will be bestowed in that day when we see our Blessed Lord and we shall be with him and like him forevermore.
There is a glory which is passed, which is referred to here, and there is a glory that exceedeth or exceleth or surpasseth, spoken of here. And I think it would be profitable for us to spend a little time musing upon some of these passages because I believe they should apply to us very practically in this day in which we live. When Moses received from the Lord on the Mount where he had spent forty days and forty nights, the law.
And he came down from that mountain, his face shone with a glory that he had taken on in the presence of God. So much so that the children of Israel could not look upon the face of Moses. and Moses, to make it more easy for them, put a veil upon his face to hide that glory. But when he went into the presence of God, he always took the veil off. That was all under the old economy, under an old dispensation.
But now, that which is done away with, that which is past. It is nice to read about it and to know what happened and what transpired in those days. But we are in a period in a new covenant dispensation. A new testament has been given, has been imparted unto us, ratified by the blood of Jesus Christ at the place called Calvary. And under this new dispensation, this new covenant, there is no need to take the veil from the face or to put a veil upon the face.
This is the day when God wants every one of us to be radiant with a joy that can be imparted, I believe, may be imparted to everyone who will go in for this business. So that our lives shall speak for God volumes even without open our mouths. And I believe that this is a gospel that is far more potent, far more effective than the gospel which we preach. because if we can live quite and set forth a glorious little person of Jesus Christ before the eyes of men and women, they'll fall in love with him.
If they see what Christ means to us and they can see something in him to be attracted to, they'll want to know him too. That's what we get in the Song of Solomon. The Song of Solomon... In the song of Solomon, the bride has gone to sleep, or the lover, shall I say, she has gone to sleep, and her beloved has been away. He comes. He knocks at the door. There's no response on the inside.
He puts his hand in through the hole of the door, for in those eastern homes the latch was on the inside. And of the hole was not barred or bolted, you might put your hand in and lift the latch. He put in his hand through the hole. There was no response. There was the voice of her beloved. speaking. But she was in a sad state. She had gone into a semi-conscious state of sleep. She could hear the fumbling at the handle of the door.
She could hear him, the voice of her beloved on the outside. But she makes no move. How typical that is, symbolic, of the present state of things, generally speaking today. There is a sad state of indifference, of sleepiness, to the one who's coming, blessed be God, he's coming soon. He wants to alert us and to get us busy before that day comes. But finally she stirs.
She throws her robe about her. She rushes to the door, and first of all, what does she find? That he has left behind him the fragrance and savour of his own presence. There from the handle of the door is a dripping, sweet-smelling moor, and this fills her soul with a longing to see him. She rushes out into the open street and she meets the watchmen of the city, and they buffet her and beat her and take her veil away from her. Then she says to the daughters of Jerusalem, Have you seen my beloved?
Where is my beloved gone? And they tauntingly turn around and say, What is I, beloved, more than another beloved? Is he any different to anyone else? Oh, yes, to her he's different. She begins to describe him from the crown of the head to the son of the foot, and she ends up by saying, He's altogether lovely, the fairest among ten thousand to my soul. Now if she had not been close to him or intimate with him, In close association or fellowship with him, she never could have described him in detail as he's described there by that lover.
What's the next thing? The next chapter opens with this. After hearing the description of this one whom she says is the altogether lovely one, The daughters of Jerusalem in the next chapter say, Look here, tell us whether thy beloved is gone that we may seek him with thee. That's it. We want to show a packed lives of men and women around us that they'll want to seek that Savior that we are seeking. That one that we love and long for.
the one who's coming, blessed be God, very soon. It says here, now the Lord is that Spirit, or the Lord is Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. And what a liberty when the Spirit of God makes up liberty. What a freedom. What an exchange there is among the people of God in the kind of ministry that's given, one to be exercised this way and another that way, and yet all prompted by the Spirit of God.
But we all with open face, not veil face, this word says, unveiled face, but we are with unveiled face, beholding us in a glass, the glory of the Lord are changed. Now here's a way to take on a bit of glory. We are with unveiled face, beholding us in a mirror, the glory of the Lord. are changed, it says, from one degree of glory to another. This is a progressive work.
It's something that takes place unconsciously to the individual, unconsciously. We think of Stephen when he was martyred. That man saw, Tarsus saw, that man, Stephen died. He was consenting to his death, his face shone as the face of an angel. Heaven's glory was upon that face. He was going out of time into eternity. He had never seen Saul had never seen a man die like that before. And I believe that the death of that man has much to do with the conversion of that man called Saul of Tarsus.
as he left Jerusalem, invested with authority to hail all the Christians that he found and bring them back to undergo the same torture. I think I see him passing outside of the old city wall, going up contrary. Passing by the eminence of the hill called Calvary, the place where on yonder, center cross, Jesus cried, it is Sennacher. And I believe the Spirit of God must have been working, and the conviction of the Spirit of God was going deeper every movement, until finally the fight is over.
He can no longer hold us. He holds with the feet of Jesus Christ an absolute surrender. Whenever he doesn't carry out the commission that he received in Jerusalem, he must have thrown that to the forewins. But that day when he met the Lord Jesus Christ, he took on a new commission. He says, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? There was implied in those words, Lord, I'll do anything you want me to do. I'll say anything you want me to say, I'll go anywhere you want me to go.
From that moment of the life of that man, the burning passion of his soul was to make Christ known and to herald the blood tidings of salvation far and near. And he had the joy of seeing that the gospel of Christ is still the dynamite of God onto salvation to everyone the believer. He had felt its power in his own life. The power of a crucified, risen and glorified Christ had changed that mind. We have got to preach in our Gospel not only the death of Christ, the resurrection of Christ.
and blessed be God, the coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's a complete gospel. Here's where a change takes place from one degree of glory to another, even as by the Spirit of the Lord, as by the Lord the Spirit. The Spirit of God can affect great changes in the lives of men and women if we are only under the influence and power of that gracious Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God will just have as much of your being and mine as we are willing to allow them have.
In Romans twelve and one, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present, yield your body as a living sacrifice wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable, your religious, your rational service. Why should we yield our bodies to the law in dedication of these lives of ours? Why, when it comes to a matter of salvation, you and I have got to surrender our own wills, when it comes to a matter of accepting the gospel of God's grace concerning our soul salvation.
And all words, our wills, are no longer at cross purposes with the will of God. And we say yes to the will of God. And we have set our own will aside. When it comes to a question of presenting our bodies, living sacrifices, Let us remember that God doesn't want dead sacrifices today, it's living ones. Living filled with vitality, filled with a life of the Spirit of God, energized by the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not. A ministry received, entrusted to us. The gospel is a trust, a divine trust, given by God to his people. And the apostle says, Woe is me, if I preach not the gospel. Woe, he says, as me if I preach not the gospel. Why? Because he realized that he would have to give an account of his stewardship, give an account of the trust that had been given him at the judgment seat of Christ.
Woe as me if I preach not the gospel. We have received a ministry, but have announced this Minister you have received, we faint not, but have announced the hidden things of dishonesty. That's what the gospel of the grace of God does when it saves a man. It cleans them up. It makes, indeed, a new creature out of him. We have seen so many examples of this in the walk of God on the island of Jamaica.
We have seen notable characters who have been saved, whose lives have been changed and revolutionized by the power of the gospel of the grace of God. The whole community has been effectured through the conversion of such people, because the people knew what kind of person this was before this conversion. Seeing the change that has taken place, they can't understand them. and to watch him, to see if there's any desire on his part to go back to the old ways again. And when they see that God has made it of this man a monument of his saving grace, they begin to sit up and they begin to take notice.
And after a while they say, Come, let us go along to see what it's all about. We're going to hear this gospel that has changed the life of that man. and God in turn takes hold of those people one after another and does the very same thing for them. We have seen practically whole communities changed by the grace of God. That's what it should be. But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, showing the truth how, in our walk, as well as by our lips, by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience on the sight of God.
That's it. something that will touch the conscience of men and women today, and I want to tell you this, there's not enough of this kind of preaching today, or this kind of living on the part of the people of God. Men are not being convicted today. Men are not brought to repentance in the true sense of the word. I have seen people and after meetings going up to the front with a smile on their face and a chuckle, and there was no more evidence of conviction in them than in any Houghton talk. I'd love to see...
I love to see a walk, a deep walk of the Spirit of God. When you get a conversion coming out of such a birth experience as that, you see, something is going to turn the test of time and the test of eternity. But if our gospel be hid, what gospel? Let us look at that verse up there, verse six. for God who commanded them the first place, the light to shine out of darkness, have shined in our hearts to give the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
He's shined in our hearts that we in turn might shine for him to give the light, the illumination. of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But the Apostle says we have this treasure in earth and vessels, and we know how pretty frail some of these earth and vessels are. Some of them pretty fragile. but it's a good thing it's earthen vessels and not something else.
Why? An earthen vessel can be broken easy. You remember the case of Gideon with his group of men, three hundred men. You remember how they went down there to that great host, that enemy, and each man had a picture in his hand, and in that picture concealed by the picture was a light, a torch. Out of the given signal, they were all to break the pictures, and in a moment of time there was a great glare of light, all these men, every man, holding a torch, a light.
shining in the midst of the darkness. It may be that God is going to work upon these fragile earthen vessels, and if not break them completely, put a few good cracks in them so that the light will shine through them. But we're waited too long for to have an experience like that. I don't think we ought to be old men, decrepit people, when we ought to do service for God. I believe that we should, right from the very beginning, when God saves us, go right to the business of winning all our sinners for the Savior, and have the great joy.
Next to the joy of one's own salvation is the joy of seeing other people getting saved. That has been our joy. all through the years, for thirty-seven years on the island of Jamaica, we have seen one steady, constant blessing, a movement of the Spirit of God, men and women getting saved constantly. My bless your soul, what you have here in this meeting tonight and a conference meeting. We have placed that in a morning meeting to break bread in one of our eighties. The Spirit of God has been moving in Jamaica, and a multitude of souls have been saved.
If we had all the believers in Jamaica tonight that have gone to Great Britain, that are in the United States and in Canada and in the other islands of the sea, we would have thirty more assemblies in Jamaica. So many of our believers have gone to other places, but we still have, thank God, fifty-six assemblies. scattered over the island, and all these have come into being in the last thirty-seven years' time. Talk about the triumphs of the Gospel. You have never seen anything like it, beloved. You may read about it.
It has been wonderful, I say, to be there, to behold it, to see what God has brought on what He is still continuing to do. The work today is being carried on largely by those who are saved in those early days. They're carrying the gospel to their fellows, thirty-two whole-time workers, carrying the gospel to their own people up and down the country, and God is using them. Fifty-six of them is all manned by a local oversight brother. Why shouldn't it be so? We were reminded about the Thessalonians who turned to God from idols to share the livings and through God and to wait for a Son from heaven.
Did you ever stop to notice the extent of the territory covered by the saints at Thessalonica? They had preached the gospel practically over the whole entire Grecian Peninsula. from the upper part of Macedonia, right down to the very tip of the peninsula, down to Achaea. I would judge across the top part, over three hundred probably and fifty miles across, and over three hundred and fifty miles down to the tip, and get these people saved out of idolatry, I preached the Gospel in such a way that the Apostle said it was not necessary for to speak a word.
Can it be done? Yes, I would, to God, that we saw revival here in the United States. A revival that will sweep this country, men and women with truly convicted of their sin, and brought to the place to cry out, What must I do to be saved? The Spirit of God can do the what? And we must ever remember this, that no matter how anxious we are to see sinners saved, we couldn't save a single soul, you or I, no matter how keenly interested we are in saving the lost, we couldn't save a single soul if we were to work now to the end of our days.
Salvation from beginning to end as of the Lord. And He does the gracious work of saving him, gives us the joy of reaping a little bit of fruit through the preaching of the gospel. But the work is all His. He says, other sheep I have which are not of this fold. Them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one shepherd, and not one ford, one flock. One flock. All the difference in the world between the flock and the fold. A fold's an enclosure. and it's meant to keep the sheep in and to keep everything out, all other intruders out.
And there are so, ever so many folds today. Each man is his own little fold, his own little fence. And the idea is to keep in and to keep out. If you're not in, you're out. See? But the Lord says, I have other sheep, they're not of this fold of Judaism. Oh, how hard it was to get into the fold of Judaism. You have to, if you were a Gentile, you'd have to go through a long process of proselytizing, and then you'd have a place in a notary court. Hard to get in there. The Lord says, I have the other sheep that are not of this fold.
Them also I must bring. He says, I'm bringing them. They shall hear the preacher's voice. Thank God they hear the preacher's voice. But if they don't hear the voice of the Savior, they're not going to come. And that's the thing. Oh, how holy we are cast upon the Lord in this business of winning souls. Them also I must bring, and there shall be one, not two flocks or two foes. There shall be one flock and one shepherd. What is it that holds a flock together? Our flock has no circumference, no bounds.
You can add as many sheep as you like to the flock on the outside of that circle, and the circle will grow larger and larger. What has it got? That the fold hasn't got it. It is a center. And that center is Jesus Christ, the shepherd of the sheep, who knows the sheep, who purchased the sheep with his own blood. Redeemed then to God by his own precious blood. He holds. He's the center of attraction, and if the blessed Lord himself doesn't hold you, my friend, no assemblies go to hold you, or no other pen will ever hold you. It won't hold you. personal attraction to the person of Jesus Christ is what we need today in these last days.
And if we fall in love with him, we lose sight of a great many worries that are concerned a good many people today. Looking for the atomic bomb or the hydrogen bomb? Blessed be God, we're looking not for the undertaker or for any of these things. We're looking for the uppertaker. And I believe he's going to take us out of this scene before any of those dread things happen here. It may be the beginning of a great time of tribulation, such things poured out upon this earth, but the Lord's going to have his own people with them. You and I, by the grace of God, are going to be there. Let us double up our efforts in the meanwhile. Shine for God in this place where he has given us this gospel to show forth a gospel of radiance and the like.
a gospel that sets forth the glory of the person at God's right heart. And may God, by His Spirit, bless us in our efforts in so making Him known for His name's sake.