Here Is Liberty // 2 Corinthians 3:17-18

[Music] Grab your Bibles as we come to the end of 2 Corinthians chapter 3. It is an awesome ending. It is a crescendo. You can hear the drums beating and and getting louder as we come to the closing verses of this chapter. And the title of the message today is, "Here is Liberty." Here is Liberty.

And I wish I had the time to get into this topic more and more. I think you know by now, if you're a native to this church, I am a lover of history and I'm a lover of Liberty. And I want you to know that it's not because I'm an American. Don't think so. I'm a lover of Liberty because God has placed the pursuit, the hunger, the love, the desire of Liberty in the heart of every human being. Liberty is a God-ordained thing. Man knows nothing about true Liberty. Unfortunately, man is very versed in tyranny. And God wants to break us from tyranny. It could be tyranny of a government. It could be tyranny of of a uh a situation. It could be certainly the tyranny that sin so so often holds us captive to.

Here is Liberty. 2 Corinthians 3:17 to 18. Follow along with me. Paul says there to the Corinthian Church, "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 by the Spirit of the Lord."

This is huge. Get your pens out, get your notes out, and get ready. Number one, mark this down in your preparation of this. If you've ever been to Philadelphia to the Declaration, or I should say the Independence Hall, where so many of our nation's documents are are on display there, there's one that crowns them all in my opinion because it's not so much because uh it is a big bell, a 2008 lb, 280 lb bell. I'm talking about the Liberty Bell. It's not so much that it's the bell that makes me excited, but if you've been there, have you read what's inscribed on the bell? What's inscribed on the bell? I'll read it to you: "Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof." And then it says, dash, Leviticus 25:10. The Liberty Bell. Did you know that? You should know that. Why? Because our founding fathers saw that Liberty was something, and they said so, that God has placed it in our hearts. Thus, I stole that from them a moment ago in the introduction. Why? Because it is true. And because man has the pursuit of Liberty in his soul, that he wants to be free. They took that and they said, "What would be the best declaration for us and this movement in the founding of a of a new nation that is for Liberty?" And they all agreed, it's going to be Leviticus 25:10. And it was embossed on the Liberty Bell.

Isaiah 61:1. Jesus proclaimed in Luke 4, in the inauguration of his ministry, what was Jesus's announcement to the world regarding his ministry vision for the founding of his church? He quotes Isaiah 61:1: "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor; and he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim Liberty to the captives." God wants you free. He wants you free. He wants you free in your heart. He wants you free in your soul. He wants you free from sin. He wants you free from the tyranny that grips this world. And the tyranny that holds this world in such a condition that that I would argue with you today that I could find every of the world's ills and point them to some form of tyranny where Liberty has not been allowed to flourish. You name it, bad marriage, tyranny. Why? No Liberty is there. Nations gone nuts, rogue countries, many nations now in the Middle East, what's going on? Tyranny. Why? Because Liberty is not allowed. China shuts its doors to the open preaching of the Gospel. Why? They don't want Liberty. It's not so much that it's in some document you can manipulate that. But when somebody has Liberty in their heart and soul, oh man, no telling what might happen. When a man or a woman is set free, the joy, the excitement, the peace, the hope, the power that is in that. And I, this is a serious issue for me and all friends, always for the church, always on spiritual grounds for sure. But I wonder how many young people today love Liberty. I think you need to teach, though it's in the heart, we need to teach children to let that Liberty come up out of them.

Thomas Jefferson, kind of a radical statement, but he was a radical guy. Thomas Jefferson said, "Every generation, every 40 years," he said, "America to stay strong needs to go through a revolution." And they said, "Why?" And he said, "So Liberty can have its way." What a great thing to say. When you think of it in a spiritual context, so church, here we go. Mark it down. Point number one is this: Here is Liberty. And what do we mean by that? It's that the Lord is our Liberator. Will you mark that down? And if you're not a Christian today, will you just think about this for a moment? The Bible says that the Lord is our Liberator. He sets us free. Jesus said, "The mission of my ministry is to set the captives free."

Number one, I think about this in verse 17. That He's the source of all Liberty. It says, "Now the Lord is the Spirit." Look close in your Bibles. Some of you have Bible verses or Bible versions that say, "Now the Lord is that Spirit." No harm, no foul. Don't worry about it. The original language though leans toward the Spirit, the Spirit. What in the preceding verses? Look at verse 16. We looked at it last time. This is what "Now the Lord is the or that Spirit of verse 16 said last week." "Nevertheless, when one," some of your Bibles say it, that's okay. It's the heart. It being the heart, or when one that is a person's heart turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. The veil of sin, the veil of tyranny, the veil of not understanding spiritual things, the veil of everlasting life. When someone turns to the Lord, when that heart change happens, the veil is lifted, and they are set free. And the Bible, now verse 7, verse 7, I need this slow down. I'm too excited. Verse 17 looks back at verse 16 and declares that is the Spirit of the veil being lifted. Only God can do this. And we've looked at that. I got a letter from somebody all upset with me last week because I said that you can't get to Heaven by keeping the law. And uh, they want to do that. They want to go keep the law and try to get to Heaven. Well, good luck. I mean, really, we, we wish you good luck. And when you're all beaten up, tired, and frustrated, and defeated, just remember that the Lord Jesus Christ did what we could not do. He accomplished what you and I could never earn. And then once he accomplishes it, he turns and he gives it to us. Wow. It's awesome. He is that Spirit. He's that great liberating Spirit. And the veil that is once upon the unbelieving heart can only be removed by the power and the working power of the Holy Spirit of God. And when you read this, um, it's interesting to note. You don't see it on the surface that it's teaching that Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. You see the word "Spirit" in your Bibles capitalized, that the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ are so inseparable regarding salvation that I think as we go through this message, you're going to be delighted to see how much so. This is the truth. And by the way, it exalts the deity of the Holy Spirit. So listen to this as we consider that the Lord is the Spirit. This excludes all of the things of verse 17 that there's no or nothing else that can liberate us.

And you and I can just look around the world that you and I live in, and there are people looking for Liberty. We don't hear much about the word Liberty anymore unless it's the Fourth of July or that kind of stuff. But uh, it's something that all of us love each and every day of our lives. I hope that we are liberated. And we may think, we may define liberation as, uh, being freed from communism, or being freed from taxation, or being freed from whatever. But the truth is that you can, listen, you can be free and liberated even if you are taxed to death, or even if you are living in a communist country. You know what's cool about it? The ultimate Liberty is from the Lord, which means it reaches into the very depths of who you are. You can be in some gulag right now because you believe in Liberty, in some communist nation, and be completely free.

We've all been praying. I mentioned to you on Wednesday night that I have been unusually burdened in my heart for Pastor S. and Iran. Our Christian brother from Idaho, from Boise, Calvary Chapel Boise, and he's made international news. You've probably watching that. But my heart, I got to tell you, just Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, it's not unlike, it's this is unlike me to go to this depth of burden. I, I was not able to eat very well. I didn't want to do anything. I just wanted to kind of cry. You said, "Well, Jack, you're going through some midlife crisis." I'm too old for a midlife crisis. No, no, no. It's been my heart has been burdened for this man and praying for him. And I've been praying, "Lord, you have visited prisons before in your Bible. I've read that. So I'm asking you to do the same thing with his life." I'm asking you, Lord God, right now, 'cause he's, he's under the threat of death. He's been, he's been sentenced to eight years in this prison that people don't live, they don't survive. So God, be there. Surround him. Strengthen him. Be his power. Bring out angels mighty. And then I started thinking, wait a minute. There's rumors that have been going around on the internet for quite a few years that there's somewhere between 50 to 80 million born-again Christians undercover in Iran. Because Islam is such a loving religion, uh, and peaceful, that they've got to be underground. And you can't let people know you're a Christian. What if he's in prison with all these other tremendous threats? Oh, dear God in heaven, put him in, put him in this, well, in the prison that he's in, may he be surrounded by a bunch of brothers just like him. You know, a revival could break out. Imagine all the mullahs, uh, getting saved. Those guys coming up on El Jazer, tearing off their turbans and saying, "Jesus saves." Could you imagine? Oh, my gosh, that'd be awesome. You can be liberated no matter where you're at, and whatever condition you're in, or whatever the doctor just told you is going to happen to you. You can be liberated in the midst of a prison. God does this. He does it to us. And listen, he wants to do it in your heart. If it's never happened, freed from the tyranny of worry or guilt or shame. He wants to set you free. That's what he does. He loves it.

The woman caught in the act of adultery. Look, she wasn't even behind bars yet. Well, in that culture, she was about to be stoned to death by the religious hierarchy of the neighborhood. Jesus rushes in and sets her free. He didn't say, "Go home, you guys, or I'm going to turn you into dust." He didn't do that. He's too great for that. He just said, "Well, okay, get, get your best rocks." Now, I'm adding this part. I'm making this part up. I'll tell you when I'm back onto the Bible here in a second. "Go get your sharpest rocks. Go get, go get the, you know, polish them up really sharp. And then, you know, do a couple of wind-ups, get all ready, loosen up your shoulder, loosen up your arm, and let her have it. Just boom, go for it." Here's the deal, though. Before you start throwing the rocks at her, whichever one of you guys is sinless, have him come up first and throw the first rock. Rock ready? Play ball. And the guys are standing there like this with the rocks. "Oh, man, how's your week been going?" "Not, not so good." "How's yours?" "Not as good as I think." He's looking for. And what does the Bible say? That he put down the rocks, or they put down the rocks, and they walked away. And Jesus said to the woman caught in the act of adultery, "Like, yikes, women, where are your accusers?" She's brilliant. She looks around. You remember what she says? She looks around. She says, "I don't have any." Well, that's a lot of faith. I mean, if YouTube wouldn't have been around then, it would already been on YouTube. There were eyewitnesses to this, and she says, "I have none." She understood and recognized that standing before her was the great Liberator. Jesus sets people free. He's the source.

The second thing is, He's the teacher. Verse 17 says, "And where the Spirit of the Lord is." And I deliberately stopped right there at that is. What does "is" mean? "Is" and "where" are connected together in the argument. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, try to grab this if you don't, it's not you, it's my inability to teach it. Where He is implies He's everywhere. And He liberates you from what? The "is" is the situation. The "is" is the event. The "is" is the dynamic you're in. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, He's everywhere. Nothing, listen, are you listening? Nothing can be happening to me right now that He does not know of. And we all have our things, our monumental issues. And we've got to leave church today remembering this verse: "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty." And where the Lord is, oh, well, He's here. That's right. He's in your car, waiting you to get back in it. He's at your home, waiting for you to get home. He's at the restaurant, waiting for you to get there. Uh, what are you doing today? You're going to go to a Super Bowl? Super, super bowl, ye whiz. Who's playing? The Rams are playing the Goats today. Wherever you go, He's going to be there. And He's the teacher. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, the presence of the Holy Spirit, listen everybody, is what qualifies you and I in being a Christian. My two and a half-year-old granddaughter yesterday announced deep theological truth. I'm, I kid you not. Her mom asked her yesterday when she was leaving the house, our house last night, Rebecca said, "Watch this." So, okay. And she said, "Emiline, where's Jesus?" And she said, "In my heart." That is absolute deep theological truth. That is so deep, only a two and a half-year-old can really get it. Because let me tell you, to a, to a child, and Jesus said we need to become like children. To her, she doesn't have to explain it. She doesn't have to understand it. But she understands Jesus is in my heart. The math doesn't work. Her body size doesn't work. If you, how does God fit in my heart? And she's got it. Most kids, right? If not all kids, get that. They just get it. That is absolutely true. Wherever the Holy Spirit is, and if you're a believer, the great Liberator is there to teach. Teach you. Christian, write that down. You never have to be afraid of being led astray by God. I've heard somebody say, "Well, if I pray to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, will I get possessed?" Well, I hope so. By the Holy Spirit. "Well, won't Satan come in?" Oh, that's just great. God sticks an open house on your heart and allows Satan to move in? Not, I don't think so. When you say, "Lord, fill me with your Holy Spirit, come upon me," I don't care what terminology you use, "baptize me with your power and your strength," God comes upon you. The Holy Spirit fills your life. Listen to what Jesus said about the Holy Spirit in John chapter 16:13: "Jesus said, 'However, when He, the Spirit of Truth, has come, He will guide you.'" That's another word for teaching, "into all truth, and He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak.'" Isn't that awesome? The Holy Spirit's job is to teach you. And He will tell you things to come. Really? Should the Christian then know sense in his gut what's coming regarding the future? I'm not talking about the day or the hour. I'm talking about when you can discern, "These are interesting times," or "We need to get ready," or "There's a great moment, there's a great opportunity coming for God." I believe based upon what Jesus said, the Holy Spirit will instruct and guide you into a relevant Christian life. Verse 14: "He will glorify Me." So wherever the Holy Spirit is at work, Jesus will be exalted, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. The word in Hebrew is "moral." God is my teacher. Christian, listen, we don't have time to go there, but 1 John chapter 1, you ought to read it slowly. Why? It says in John chapter 1, the Holy Spirit, and chapter 2, the Holy Spirit. 1 John 1 and 2 is your teacher. Isn't that great? You said, "What are you doing then up here?" Because this is supposed to be the gift of teaching by the Holy Spirit at work right now. But listen, this only accents what I'm doing, the corporate Body of Christ, here and now. What, what do I mean by that? Church, you know by now that this is, this is, uh, what is this? This is a whipped cream on your on your week. Uh, this is A1 on your steak. Uh, this is the cherry on top of what of your day-to-day living with Jesus. On your day, Sunday is your day. It's the first day of the week. Sunday, Monday is the second day of the week. It's the first day of the week that gets you ready to live for God. Why? Because Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, onward, it never stops. The Christian lives for God. And us coming together is what the Bible calls a holy convocation. That is all of God's people on the first day of the week come together. And as it were, we get our bearings either straightened or readjusted or encouraged. But when you open up the Bible tonight or tomorrow, guess who's there to teach you? The Holy Spirit of God. He will exalt Jesus Christ. He will honor the Word of God. He will not deviate from that. He will not produce or give or play with you with false doctrine. He's the God of the Word. And He will exalt Jesus and He will guide you into all truth. I get, listen, this is personal. You may not, you know, repeat what I'm saying unless you're convinced of it. I personally am. When I hear about people who quote, for example, say that they're Christians, but now they're going after some pagan doctrine or some anti-biblical, antichrist doctrine, I don't think they were ever Christians. If somebody who was never a Christian goes after some religion and embraces their crazy teaching, and then you try to show them the Bible says, then they'll tell you that their leader says, and it's their leader against the Bible. Listen, you're talking about a person who's been influenced, according to the Bible, it says, by doctrines of demons. Radical, huh? Now, I'm not saying that your friend who may be an occult has fangs and a little stubby, you know, point on the end of his tail, but he's heading in that direction if he keeps hanging out with stuff like that. The Bible says that there are demonic powers in the world to spread false doctrine to get people away from the truth. And the truth is, the Holy Spirit is the teacher. And that's comforting. I like that. If you hear anything in these Bible studies at this church, or from anybody on staff, or from some, anybody in the parking lot, or somebody you're talking to, hold it up against the Word of God. The Bible is the ultimate judge. The Holy Spirit illuminates and gives us understanding. Seven times in the Book of Revelation, Jesus says, "Let him who has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the church." That's comforting, isn't it?

John 16:5. "But now I go away to Him." Jesus said to the disciples, "Who sent Me?" And none of you ask me, "Where are you going?" Verse 6. "But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart." Pause right there. Look at the, look at your Bible. The disciples, they're hearing now Jesus is leaving. I don't know about you, but I'd be bummed with them, right? Wouldn't you be bummed? So, "What do you mean you're leaving? I mean, you're the most fantastic thing that's ever happened, and you're leaving. Why are you going? Everything's going great." Well, nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away. What could possibly be better than being face to face with Jesus and walking around? Pause right there. Listen. What could be better? Is Jesus being localized in His skin? Could only be one place at one time. Hello. The Holy Spirit. I love the Old King James. What is the Holy, how does the Old King James, the Holy Ghost? Right. You said, "Oh, what, what's that like Casper? What ghost?" No, no, just calm down. The Holy Ghost, in the sense that He is everywhere. When Jesus was on Earth, He was localized. He allowed Himself to be localized to His body. He said, "It's best for you that I leave because once I leave, that's where the church will be born because the Holy Spirit will be everywhere." That's awesome. Where was I? What verse was I in? You don't, you weren't watching, you weren't listening. Verse 7. "Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Helper, paraclete, the Holy Spirit," that's His name, "Helper, paraclete, will not come to you. But if I depart, I will send Him to you." What's the evidence that Jesus made it before His Father in Heaven? What's the evidence? What's the evidence that Jesus arrived? Holy Spirit came. "When I get there, I'll send Him to you." Isn't that amazing? And when He comes, "He will convict the world of sin." He's doing that right now. He just has more of it to do these days. "And of righteousness," showing us the right way. "And of judgment." Everybody discerns and feels in their gut there's a day of reckoning coming. Even the atheist, there's this foreboding that's even in the atheist mind that things may not turn out the way that I hope. And for us as Christians, the Bible tells us that Jesus on the cross was judged for us, that we would never be judged by God again. Did you know that? You and I, listen, you and I as Christians will stand before the judgment seat of Christ regarding the opportunities of ministry given to us, but not for sin. Is that awesome? Jesus took your sin debt and guilt at the cross and liberated you, set you free. Because the ruler, He says, of this world has been judged. That is Satan. When was Satan judged? When Jesus died to the cross. I love it. Yeah, but the Bible says he's like a lion roaming about, seeking whom he may devour. That's true. Read the Bible carefully. He is like a lion. He's not a lion. He's like a lion. But if you look real close, the Bible clearly indicates that when Jesus died on the cross and rose again from the grave, that that one who's like a lion has got no teeth. He grows really loud. He's really mean. And you stand there and, "Oh, Satan's going to get me." And then he goes, "Come here, come here. I'm going to give you..."

The third thing under this is freedom. The great Liberator is, in fact, our freedom. There is Liberty. Look at that at the end of verse 17. Liberty. Can you imagine the people throughout history that this verse is ministered to? There is Liberty. What does the word Liberty mean? It means exactly what I think you know it means. Liberty to be completely and absolutely set free, regardless of circumstance. Do you know this? Romans chapter 8, verse 14 says, "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God." Note the connection. Jesus Christ, what He did. The Holy Spirit, what His work is. These are the sons of God. Are you led by the Spirit of God? Then you're a son of God, a daughter of God. "For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear." That is, you've been set free, liberated. "But you did receive the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry, 'Abba, Father.'" Abba in Hebrew, Papa in Italian, uh, Dad in English. Dad. The Bible says to the sons and daughters of God, we cry out to Him in such closeness that we even use the word Abba in Hebrew for the relationship between a father and his child. The Bible says this: "Have you not been liberated so much that the Bible says God says, 'Call me Dad'?" Can you do that? Oh, I don't know. That's kind of sacrilegious. If you're a legalistic person, I could understand where you're coming from. But I'm not. I used to be, but I'm not. I'm a son. And the son turns to his dad and says, "Dad." And of course, a girl turns to her dad and says, "Daddy." D's cool, but Daddy just, "What do you want? Wallet? Keys? What is it?" It's just amazing. Wow. The Bible says in Galatians 5, verse 1. This is a verse if you and I have ever talked anywhere and you've got something gripping your life, Galatians 5:1 is the verse that I most often give you because it's a verse that has liberated me and set me free from tremendous things in my life. Please write this verse down. You don't have to get this prescription filled. You don't have to go spend any money for this. And I'm telling you right now, this did for me what no prescription could ever accomplish. What I'm going to give you in a moment gave me power and freedom from stuff that most people, it could kill them in life, or they never shake it, or whatever it is. I'm going to give it to you right now. You ready? Say, "Shut up and give it to me." Here it is: Galatians 5:1. "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage." You have a temper. That was my big scourge in life, is my temper. This verse, I copied it out. Back in those days, there were no, there were Xerox machines, computers for the public, anyway, had not yet been invented. We had typewriters. And I put this verse all over. When I got saved in 1977, 1877, 1977, I, I put verses up all over my bedroom, in my car. I put them up at work. This, this headed up the, the list of verses right here. I was so set before coming to Christ to write the wrongs in my life that had been done against me. I was on a crusade. I won't tell you the things that happened to me in life, but I was out to hunt them down. And that's okay. You know what? I would have been a great terrorist because I thought, "I'll get him in five years. I'll get her in three. And I'm going to wait 18 months to get him." And then Jesus messed up the whole plan. I systematically hunted my offenders, and the Lord gave me this verse. And I remember saying, "Lord, what am I going to do with my life if I don't have this to do?" And He said, "I'm, I'm sure He must have said to me, 'I'll think of something for you to do.'"

Second point is this: Here is Liberty. The Lord is our Transformer. The Lord is our Transformer. But we, He says, verse 18, "with unveiled face." Keep that in mind with the context of this chapter's teaching. Moses's face had been veiled. No, we have an unveiled face. Think of the theological glories this is telling us about. Beholding, it just gets better. As an, that's crystal clear, the glory of the Lord. And it gets better. And being transformed. The word "being" is actually in the present tense. We are constantly being transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit, constantly. He's at work. If you're sick or not, if you're happy or not, if the sun is out or not, if you feel like it or not, God is still working. Isn't that awesome? Working in your life. He does it this way. Revelation. He's our Revelation. Verse 18 says, "But we all with unveiled face." The word means that God is revealing Himself to the Christian today. The person, listen, He's not revealing Himself to the Christian because the person has attached the Christian label. Forgive me. He is saying this: "I will unveil the face of the person who's longing for Me." Which should be the Christian. Hello. Do you want Me in your life? Yes. Then come and be a Christ follower, a Christian. And what will happen to me, Lord? "I will take away the veil, and you and I will converse with each other in the spiritual realm with an unveiled face." Oh, it's by Revelation.

The second thing is by illumination. "Beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord." What Moses saw. This is, listen, this is amazing. I don't even feel like saying it. It's so amazing. I should take my shoes off before I say what I'm about to say. Moses interacted with God as close as you could possibly get. When God said to Moses, to the children of Israel, "I don't speak to anybody else on the planet like I do with Moses. Him, I speak face to face." When you and I read in the English, "face to face," it's not face to face like you and I think. It's as close as they could possibly have gotten. That's how we talk. That's the atmosphere. God could only get so close to Moses, or else what would happen to Moses? Because God's not a human, and He's light. You think going to the doctor, getting an X-ray, X-ray machine? It's funny. H. The guy takes an X-ray of you. They go back behind a wall with lead, in a robe, on a lead thing. Okay, you ready? You don't feel anything, but man, in the scientific realm, that's invisible to you. Your body just got hit by a very, very nasty thing. I got a friend that flies three times a week, every week, for 14 years now. No, I say every day. He's off two days a week. I'm talking about Tony Perkins. The guy flies more than any human being I've ever known. And he's getting, he's, he's over the limit of getting bombarded with the radiation from from airport scanners. So when we're down in Louisiana goofing around, we'll use them out front as a light bulb. Get some gator hunting out there. No, I'm kidding. But I'm serious. It's not good if that's true in the physical realm. Imagine the glory of God. And the Bible says that He shined before Moses, and Moses, who was in hiding. Think about it. What did God say? Moses says, "I want to see You." God says, "You can't see Me. You're going to die." Ah, but I tell you what, "You'll see where I've been." Isn't that amazing? You can only see where I've been. I'm so powerful that when I go by, I affect things. When I go by. So I tell you what I do. I'm going to put you inside the crack of this big rock. There's a crack in that rock. He puts him inside there and then covers Moses's face. God passes by and lifts His hand, and Moses gets to see what is called the effervescence or the afterglow. It's where God was, and it's His face lit up. He came down the mountain. The children of Israel going, "Look at that face." And Moses veiled his face. Why am I saying this again to you week after week? Because this verse, verse 18, God says, "Forget all that stuff on the mountain and the atmosphere and the science of it all. Forget that junk. Forget the stuff about getting a suntan when I pass by. Forget it. That's of another testament. That's, that was then, and the fulfillment of it is now." No, when I talk to my kids, and my kids talk to me in the Spirit, it's face to face, unveiled. Why do we doubt when we pray? Why do we doubt? Don't we doubt? You don't. I do. I have doubts sometimes. I don't doubt His existence. I doubt if He's going to do this. And it's funny. I have a lot of faith that I pray for you, Robin, "God, heal her." And I'm like, "Yes." And then I stub my toe. "Oh, God, heal me." And I'm like, "Will you really? Do you love me that much?" Aren't we funny people? The Bible, this is the Bible, the inherent, holy, perfect Word of God, is announcing to you this morning, "When you talk to Me, it's face to face." "I can't see You, God." "I can't." "Yeah, you know what? In a sense, we see Him more clearly." It is awesome. He illuminates us, and we see. Think about it as a mirror. Church, I want you to write this verse down. This is another one of those precious verses to me. It's Psalm 46:10. I'll just quote the first front end of it. It's what we're talking about this morning. Um, if you are prone to having, um, challenges in your life, you want to write this down. If you, if you're prone to even remotely worry or be concerned about something, you got to write this verse down that's coming up. Uh, if you have kids, write this verse. Step. Ah, if you're married, write down this verse. If you're, uh, able to write, write down the verse. It's Psalm 46:10. David said it, and it's these few words: "Be still, and know that I am God." What might be the most liberating news you'll ever hear? Because this opens the door to everything. And yet, it's one of the hardest things to do in your life in the 21st century. To be still. I mean, who does that? You, I mean, you have to fight. You have to work at being still. It is hard work. But of course, He's talking more of the stillness of your soul. You may need to get alone. I understand. Understand. You may need to shut the door or climb the tree or get in the closet to get alone. I understand that. But the meaning is, divorce yourself from everything. Be still. And what's the next word? Yadada, yadada. Be still and yadada that I am God. Yadada is Hebrew for discover, find out, know Me in every situation. Be still. Yes, Lord. And discover Me. Know Me. Find out. It's Me. Me in all of your life situations. Who says this to us? God says this to us. Isn't it awesome? Don't you think we should be teaching our kids the Bible? Huh? If I was the dictator of America, I'd have it in every public school. You can't do it. I'm going to do it anyway. I'd do it anyway. But the ACLU can either repent or go to anyway. Um, when you tell a kid, "Did God love you? And He wants you to discover His glory in every bit of your life situations." I can't think of how that's going to cause a child to become mentally nuts or whacked out. What great news that is to us. And I love it.

The third thing under this second point is this: It's a pattern. The Lord is our Transformer, and He is our pattern. This is exciting. The word here to be transformed. I need all of you to really get this down because I really like it. To be honest with you, what this means, transformed. The word means to take on the form, the shape, the resemblance, to become a, listen, look-alike, to become a look-alike image of Christ. Think about that. You wake up in the morning, and maybe you'll want to dress like, uh, your boss. Your boss is somebody you respect, and they're upwardly mobile, and they wear a red tie, and you go, "I'm gonna get a red tie." And I'm gonna put it on. I'm gonna walk like he walks. I remember walking by, I was a freshman in high school, walking by the senior all-CIF running back at my, at our high school. And I, I don't repeat this. I've never said this publicly in my life. But I was a freshman, he was a senior, and he walked a certain way, and he did something with his fingers all the time. He's just a nervous twitch, I guess. And I remember my freshman year wanting to run like him, wanting to act like him. He never talked. Now, you know how impossible that was for me. He never talked. He was quiet. His name was John Carroll, just a stud of a guy. He's just, just no people parted like he was. And here I am, like 98 pounds behind him, you know. And I, I, I, he wore Converse high-top shoes with Levi 501 jeans and Penny Town Craft t-shirts, and I bought those same things. And I walked, I remember doing the same thing with my fingers. Why? So the anointing would come, so I could run with the ball like he ran with the ball. That's exactly the meaning of this word. To take on. What did Jesus do? He did this. I'm gonna do that. What, what did Jesus do in that situation? I'm gonna do that. Are you with me? It's exciting, huh? To be the pattern of. And I like that. Listen to this. 2 Kings chapter 4:32. This is it, lived out in the Old Testament. Second Kings, turn there, chapter 4:32. I'll read it in a second. Why is it important? This word, transformed, as I told you a moment ago, to assume, to take on, to be a look-alike. We get the English word "metamorphosis," or we use the word in English as "metamorphosis." More accurately, it's the same. Listen, church, it's the same situation that happened on the Mount of Transfiguration. Are you with me? I need everybody to look. We're going to end. We're going to end soon. I can't finish the message today, which is totally normal. Do you remember when Jesus went to the Mount of Transfiguration? By the way, it was not the Mount of Transfiguration until He got there. Hello. He didn't go, "Come on, Peter, James, John, let's go up to the Mount of Transfiguration." It wasn't like that. It was Mount Hermon, I believe, covered in snow, beautiful. That's the highest mountain in Israel, almost 10,000 feet. Huge. They start going up the mountain, and you know what happens? Who shows up? Moses and Elijah show up from Heaven. They show up in the Bible. Listen, the Bible says Jesus was transformed in front of them. Are you sitting down? Listen to this. The word "transformed" means that the glory came from the inside out. He was not, remember how Moses was affected by the glory of God from the outside upon him? The Mount of Transfiguration. Jesus got up to the mountain, and He began to pray, and Moses and Elijah arrived. The word means the glory came out of Him and lit them up. Don't think for a moment that while Jesus prayed, the heaven descended, and He began to glow in all this illumination, and Moses and Elijah brought to Jesus this glorious experience. It's the other way around. Moses and Elijah, eternity was revealed in front of Jesus as He prayed. And because He is God in flesh, He, from the inside out, transformed. The light came out, illuminated Him, and it says, "Moses and Elijah appeared in glory." That's exactly what happens to us. It's happening to us on the inside first. Ladies and gentlemen, please grab this. Wouldn't it be great if the moment we accepted Jesus Christ, we just began to glow? Look, He's a Christian. Look, there's a Christian. Can you imagine? But that does happen on the inside. It takes, it takes, listen, it takes all of our lives for the glow to start to come, to come out. And when it starts to show, and how you love people, and take care of people, and how you speak to people, it starts to show. Listen, eventually, what happens is your inside outgrows your outside. It's called death. For the Christian, we got to go. I mean, we got to go. We got to leave here someday. We got to die. I got cancer. You got to go. Are you a Christian? Yes. You don't want to stay here forever, do you? No. You want to go to heaven? Yes. You got cancer. Well, how you, how you going to get to heaven? There's not an elevator going from here to there. Now, the rapture could happen, that'd be cool, you know. But we got to get there. And because this world is ravaged by sin, and by pain, and by sorrow, and by all the things that rebellion to God creates, listen, it affects us. But listen, the moment you and I leave here, it's because the inside of us has outgrown the outside. Got to go.

And we end with this. Elijah, I mean, um, Elijah, Second Kings. Are you there? Now it says here, "When Elijah came into the house." He comes into the house of the widow. She has the son that she had prayed for, by the way, that Elijah prayed, and said that she would have a son someday. There was the child. So Elijah comes into the house of the lady, and there's the child. Here's the problem. Uh, he's lying dead on his bed. Remember, he was out in the field, got a headache. Bible says he had a headache. His headache got really bad. The kid began to cry about his headache. The kid dropped dead. He had a, obviously had an aneurysm. Dead. Verse 33. "Elijah went in, therefore, and shut the door behind him and the two of them." That's just Elijah. There's with the dead guy, the dead kid. And he prayed to the Lord. Verse 34. "And he went up and he laid on the child." Don't, don't listen, don't miss this. He laid on the kid. Is dead. Elijah prays and then lays on the child. He doesn't lay on the child like, you know, the word means he laid on the child in the exact same form. If the kid's hand was over here to the right, Elijah put his hand over there to the right. If the kid's other hand was down along his side, stretching out to the left, Elijah laid there and mimicked the exact same shape. Is this cool? You, you know, think is cool? I think it's amazing. Why? Because we're, we're being conformed by the Spirit of God into the image of Christ. So Elijah lays on him. Watch this. And put his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, his hands on his hands, and stretched out himself on the child, and the flesh of the child became warm. He returned and walked back and forth in the house, and again went up and stretched himself out on him. The child, then the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. I don't know what's with the seven times sneezing. I'm sure it means something. God put it in the Bible. Did he get Elisha's allergies? I don't know what happened. The point is, the prophet stretches himself out. Listen, you and I as Christians, from this moment when you leave this place today, I want you to start thinking this way: Jesus is looking out of my eyes. From this moment on, because of the Spirit of God dwells within you, I want you to be thinking, Jesus smells with my nose. When you leave here today, I want you to be thinking, Jesus touches with my hands. Jesus goes with my feet. When you leave here today, I want you to be thinking, Jesus speaks out of my mouth. Huh? You do that this week, and I think the community might think something's happened in your life. Here's the cool thing, and we're all done. You can't do this. Everything I told is impossible. Have a nice day. It's completely humanly impossible. For 5,000 years, every January 1, we've tried this. It doesn't work. But here's the good news. The Holy Spirit is inside of you, Christian. And He does the work. And it's so cool that when He does it, how many times have we, the Christian, been surprised by what God does in our lives?

Let's pray. Father, You're awesome. You're so awesome. Oh, Father, in a moment, we're going to leave this building, and the sun's rays are going to hit our face. The breeze. Man, if those things that You've made that will someday perish because they're not eternal are glorious, how much more the power, the power, the wonder-working power of the Holy Spirit within the life of the believer. Lord, thank You. Thank You. Thank You so much. And God, I just pray that You would live true Christianity out of our lives. The world is ravaged by false hypocrisy, Christian pretenders. And Jesus, I thank You that we are so done with that. Live through us. Love through us. Stand through us. Speak through us. Look through us. Smell through us. Touch through us. We thank You, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen.

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