In this sermon, the preacher focuses on 2 Corinthians 4 and 5 as the basis for his message. He emphasizes the importance of not preaching oneself, but rather preaching Christ Jesus as Lord and serving others as bond-servants for Jesus' sake. The preacher then introduces the concept of the Roman triumphus, a parade held in Rome after a victory, to illustrate the transformation that occurs when one becomes a bondservant of God and man. He highlights three key changes that take place when one crosses the line into this new way of living. The sermon also explores the process by which God creates a bondservant's heart and the need for believers to be pressed beyond their own limitations and into the all-sufficiency of the Lord Jesus.

Good morning, gentlemen. I'll ask you to open, please, to 2 Corinthians 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're doing this morning, that principle we cannot take for granted. And that indispensable principle is total reliance upon God's Holy Spirit. Now, really, our whole worship service was the application of that principle. I mean, we sang it and we prayed it and I know in our hearts we longed 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? And then as He reveals Christ, He reveals all of those treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Let's just pause a moment and ask Him who dwells between the chair of Him to shine forth. Our 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's human and divine. And we would ask You, Lord, to, by Your Spirit, 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 just touch on some of the things we looked at yesterday and then we'll 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's a mighty miracle of God. We just don't decide to do that one day. From now on, I'm going to serve my fellow man. It doesn't work that way. It's a mighty miracle of God. And though there are many things that are imperceptible in the way God deals with us, because He's going to deal with us differently. We are all different and there's an infinite variety in God and the way He deals with us. Yet there is a process that we can see, that we can perceive. And though He deals with us differently, yet there's 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. See, we needed one model someplace, a complete model. And so the Holy Spirit has given the Apostle Paul as the safeguard against any incomplete model of Christ. There's no question we can learn many things from everyone who knows Christ. And we can go into the Bible and study those Bible saints and learn from their lives and see Christ in their lives. In areas, in certain areas. But there's only one, the Apostle Paul, that gives us the complete balance. The new covenant life. And 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. A bondservant to God, a bondservant to man. We're studying that process, we're looking at that process. And I suggest until that takes place in our life, we'll never fully understand chapter 4 and verse 5. This is what God needs to do in us. Last night we looked at that first principle, which is based on chapter 1, verses 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 and beyond all of his thresholds. And into the presence of God himself. Now God's not cruel to push and to push and to push to the limit and beyond the limit. Because God knows what's on the other side of that line. And I'll tell you brothers, there's glory there. Some of you have been over there and you know what's on the other side of that line. We ended up last evening with the Apostle Paul having been pressed beyond the limit. And now he stands on the other side of himself. He's passed through death. He stands on the other side of Paul. And in the all-sufficiency of the Lord Jesus. He's died to Paul. He's died to the world. He's even died to the mercies of God that drew him from the world. And as he stands on this other side, this is what we'd like to look at this morning. His eyes are open wide in amazement. And his mouth is open wide in amazement. Because of what he sees on the other side of the line. And of course I'm referring to our Lord Jesus Christ alone. In all of his beauty. In all of his glory. In all of his adequacy. In all of his self-sufficiency. If the first principle is emptiness. In order to become a bondservant you must be emptied of yourself. Then the second principle must be fullness. It's not only enough in order to become the servant of God and man. To be taken beyond myself. But I must be taken into the all-sufficiency of Christ. Thoroughly emptied of myself. Thoroughly filled to the brim and flowing over on all sides at all times. With the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where Paul is now. This then 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. And I'm going to describe for you in Paul's words what he saw. I don't know where you are in your relationship with God. If you've been over the line even a little bit and then back and forth. It seems like sometimes we do that. We go back and forth. If you've been over the line. You're going to recognize some of the things that Paul saw. That I'll describe. If you haven't been over the line and there's that possibility in a group this size. Then you might be puzzled at some of the things I'm going to say and some of the things that Paul saw and claimed to see. And I'd ask you to weigh these things before God. If they're 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. He's 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's crossed over that line, he'll never be the same again. Now he sees everything in Christ Jesus and related to Christ Jesus. Everything's changed. Not just some things. Everything's changed on the other side of that line. Everything has changed. Now obviously in a short session like we have, we don't have time to look at everything. What was changed? Let's look at everything. Well, I'm not qualified to give you that anyway. And we don't have time to look at everything. But may I suggest that from chapter 2, 14 through chapter 3, the apostle mentions at least, see every sermon's got to have three points in a poem, at least three things that have drastically changed just from the vantage point of being over the line. And I'd like to show you those three things that Paul mentions. And I think it'll be clear as you see how all these things fall into focus in the light of the all-sufficiency and the adequacy of the Lord Jesus. Chapter 2, verse 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've been through Corinthians recently or are going through it, 2 Corinthians. And so because of that I've made a few alterations in my note and I'm going to take for granted that you know some of this background. And I'm not going to take the time to do some of the donkey work I'd planned to do. So I hope you were telling me the truth about that that you're all experts in this book. The first thing that changed for Paul on the other side of the line or one thing, a basic thing that changed was his whole concept of victory. His whole idea of victory. As Paul stood on that other side of the line, on the other side of Paul he saw victory, verse 14 Thanks be to God who always leads us in his victory. He saw victory in Christ, not some of the time not most of the time not pretty nearly all the time but he saw something he had never seen before victory 100% all the time. Verse 14, who always leads us in his victory 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'm talking about after he had gone down the road in Christ quite a ways when Paul stood in Paul on the other side of the line he believed in victory. He'd 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 you see the apostle Paul wouldn't get up and say in order to have victory you got to have a quiet time every day he'd come beyond that he'd 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'd come beyond the legal system but even before God pressed him over the threshold the apostle had realized he was no match for the world for the flesh, for 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 and that's before he crossed the line you need to understand what he saw before if you're going to see the change here's 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 and in simple faith I must claim from God his victory, it's a gift of God that's 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 I must trust God for victory and I must claim it from God and God's going to give me that gift and if I don't claim it, I don't have it there's nothing in me that can give me victory God must give me victory if God doesn't give it, I don't have it but even with that view if you would suggest Paul in every place all the time, do you have that? see he wouldn't be able to say yes not all the time there had to be seasons of failure seasons of doubt and defeat and wipe out even if you just stick to the record in 2 Corinthians in chapter 1.8 he's despairing in 2.13 he's anxious in 7.6 he's depressed in 12.1 he's proud in 12.13 he's sarcastic that's just 2 Corinthians when Paul stood in Paul he never dreamed whatever victory was that 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 corn in the flesh not when he was being oppressed by the legalists all the time, really? but now God has pushed Paul and Paul has come on the other side and Paul has died and Paul saw himself as a dead man and one of the first things God does is open his eyes to victory what it is and Paul saw in that moment that victory was not a gift that God gives to his children when they trust him it's not that at all he saw victory wrapped up in a person Jesus Christ himself as Paul gazed at Christ it all became so clear now listen brothers Paul discovered that God never intended for Paul to have victory that's 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 this give me deliverance over this area of my life set me free on the other side of the line things began to come into focus for the apostle Paul and 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's a great thing for Paul to learn that God didn't expect him to have victory over lust victory over pride and victory over selfishness victory over his anger and over his laziness and his procrastination and his bitterness and his strange thoughts and his unbelief and his addictive habits you see that's 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 and he had perfect victory over the world the flesh and the devil he had perfectly overcome the lust of the eyes and the pride of life and the lust of the flesh and as Paul looked at the Lord Jesus and as he began to fill the landscape of his heart he saw one who had no trouble at all keeping his tongue he had victory over his tongue and he saw one who had no trouble at all with bad thoughts or strange thoughts Jesus had perfect victory 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 and I tell you it made a big change in his life when he saw this Jesus has victory and I have Jesus you see the difference Jesus has victory and I have Jesus and 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 and he took his eyes off of victory and he began to see himself in Christ who always leads us in his triumph not Paul's, in his triumph and he saw something brand new and so wonderful for him so liberating it wasn't 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'll start it, you finish it be of good courage, be of good cheer you shall overcome the world he doesn't say that be of good cheer, I have overcome the world it's his victory later he wrote in Romans 8.37 we overwhelmingly conquer through him and the apostle had his eyes opened to who the overcomer was and to who the victor was and so Paul began to see himself in Christ Jesus sharing everything he was and everything he had you know it's 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'm righteous because he's righteous in Christ I'm righteous I have no righteousness of my own no Christian would ever dream to say I have a wisdom of my own he's 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 that I share his victory there's only one victorious person in all the universe brothers and it's our Lord Jesus Christ he is victory he alone is victory this is a silly illustration but I think it illustrates the point we have a brother that comes to our Bible study who has an English sports car manufactured by British Leyland cute little car called a Triumph now how would you feel if a friend of yours who owns one of these sports cars you could be as poor as Mother Hubbard's dog and he comes up in this sports car and he says let's go for a ride and you ride through town and you see your friend you're in this sports car now 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 hey I'll tell you that was great news to 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 and he began riding all over town and he was set free from this idea that I have 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 not that God's going to give me victory not that God's going to give me rest God has a rest and I enter into his rest not a rest he gives, a rest he has is God completely at rest about what you're facing right now enter into that rest his rest, entering into his victory oh it was the first thing the Apostle saw and what a change it made in his life and every time he began to live after that he was set free from this whole idea that I need to claim some victory for God over this or that in my life it's all done cutting his life up into a tie God's dealing this area God's dealing that area he began to see himself out of Paul and in Christ Jesus and all the all sufficiency of that revelation the adequacy to see him alone well another thing changed when he was over the line verses 14 to 17 let me read them 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 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 who is adequate for these things 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 illustration of 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 very common in the days of Rome it was a celebration a parade that was held in Rome after Roman victory some of the historians have described what it looked like let me give you Josephus description of this Roman Triumphus he starts to this parade I won't give you the first obviously that's my point you've got to save that for the end and come pounding in with it let me start with the second thing in the parade and then we'll look at the parade and then I'll give you the first thing and I think you'll get the illustration this military parade the second thing in the military parade was the Roman General he was not first he was second he came into the battle and had the victory and of course he'd be on his white horse and there'd be laurels and pomp and musicians around him and so on the Roman General and then behind the Roman General there would be the proud soldiers and they would be in their full dressed uniforms fully arrayed they'd also be on horses they'd have their shields and they'd have their swords and then on foot behind the Roman soldiers would be the prisoners of war and many times they'd be naked shamefully exposed to the people and they would be marching behind as sort of the trophies of the victory of this army and then the last would be of course the crowds of people they would be lining both sides of the street jeering at the prisoners of war praising their gods for the deliverance and so on and so the commentators understand that Paul was probably referring to that Roman Triumphus there and they say the Lord Jesus also has a triumphal procession he has his soldiers he has his prisoners of war he has those crowds that are praising him some commentators think that Paul is saying Christians are like soldiers and we're following Christ Christ is the general he's led us into victory and we march behind him we're the soldiers and others say no that's true there's a sense in which we're soldiers but in this picture we're the prisoners of war we're the captives we're the trophies of his grace Christ has conquered us his bond servants if you will coming in behind I don't know if you're familiar with the New English Bible but their translation of this who constantly leads us about as captives in Christ's triumphal procession you see from that translation we're the captives Jesus has conquered and we're trophies of his power but I'm going to suggest that the apostle Paul saw something different he's not likening the Christian to a soldier yet there's a place for that and he's not even likening the Christian to the prisoners of war that are being dragged in though that's also a truth who led the parade? you see the runner would come in from the battlefield and would announce to a group called incense sprinklers that the victory had been won and these incense sprinklers according to the historians would begin to go through the town and the idea was they were worshipping their gods they were praising their gods and they would just spread this incense in thanks to their gods for the victory that their army just had and of course as the people became familiar with that smell as they would smell this incense they would understand they had a victory and they'd all come out and the incense sprinklers were the forerunners who prepared everybody for this great parade and I suggest that as Paul stood there on the other side of the line he saw himself as an incense sprinkler verse 14 manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of him in every place verse 15 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 can anything be clearer than this NIV says to God the aroma of Christ see the Apostle Paul saw the simplicity and the beauty of Christian ministry he saw that it was just a person who was so filled with Christ that the smell of Christ just went up to God and everybody around could smell that would enter into that aroma that his life was a fragrance see that was all new to the Apostle Paul because when Paul stood in Paul Christian ministry Christian service soul winning missions reaching out to others was a goal that was a goal to him and 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 and meeting their needs and doing for one another and 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 and Christ was a fragrance to God among men what a difference that is you see verse 15 of Christ to God among men that's God's order and any changing of that order is legalism that's God's order and the Apostle saw that God was pleased when his life was just filled with the smell of Christ the fragrance of Christ and it satisfied the heart of God and then others smelled like Roman triumphants 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's death for us you know where they were taking the prisoners of war they were taking them up for public execution and they did it right in the city square in Rome but to others it was a savor of life and when the Apostle began to see that and began to understand that his whole life began to be transformed and he knew in his heart that he'd never be the same and from now on all he would do is be filled with Christ and satisfy the heart of God people would smell that and some would smell it and say praise God for such a man others would smell it and say away with such a man from the earth savor of life in John chapter 12 when Mary poured 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 chapter 12 verse 3 says that the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume it wasn't designed for them but as a byproduct they became participants in that trying to enter into the joy brothers of Paul's heart as he stood there on the other side of Paul and in the all sufficiency of Jesus how his heart thrilled to be delivered from victory as a thing and knowing now that he was in Christ Jesus Jesus had victory he had Jesus I can't fly the airplane flies I can't fly he was in Christ Jesus what a thrill he had 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 and that would become a ministry no longer what he had to do in order to reach and minister but now it was a matter of being in a right relationship with him I'm amazed that so many Christians struggle with some of these truths and I wonder perhaps if it's because they have not been beyond the line because on the wrong side of the line it doesn't make sense it doesn't make sense when you stand in yourself it just makes a lot of sense that I've got to trust God to give me something called victory when you stand in yourself it makes a lot of sense I'm the king of the world and I'm responsible to go out and to minister and to do this and that but once you cross that line everything begins to fall into place and I'm going to skip over a lot here because Paul saw many other things as he stood in Christ Jesus transforming revelation he saw that he possessed all things in Christ see Paul didn't 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 and now Paul he did not lose his life by being pushed over the line he found his life by being pushed over the line he didn't lose his will by being pushed over the line he found his will everything was returned in Christ at last it didn't matter to Paul whether he was hungry or full whether he was prosperous or afflicted whether he lived in comfort or whether he was 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 didn't possess a house in a car in a business, in 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's exciting to read of some of these discoveries that he made let me just share one more and we'll be done he not only got a new view of victory 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 just read a few verses having therefore such a hope verse 12 we use great boldness in our speech but not as Moses who used to put a veil over his face that the sons of Israel might not look intently at the end of what was fading away their minds were hardened until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted because it's removed in Christ but to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their heart and when 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's 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 it's the philosophy of life academics, 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 and he knew about angels and he knew about spiritual gifts and he knew about doctrine and history and the background of Israel if he had stood up and preached he could have given a tremendous sermon on the cross on the atonement, on the nature of God missions on the Holy Spirit the inspiration of scriptures but it was all death the Bible said it was death it was all a shell it was all external just a veneer just the outside he didn't get beyond the sacred page just facts knowledge and 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 a veil over the book but now he's on the other side of the line verse 16 and now the same book but this time he comes with an unveiled face and this time he doesn't come to study marriage or to study family or to study doctrine or to study the local church or to study evangelism or the end times or stewardship or even the bondservant's heart he doesn't even come to study that in fact he doesn't even come to study Genesis or Exodus or Matthew or Mark or Luke because the goal of Bible study is not Bible study and he's begun to see that he's not trying now to study faith or surrender or repentance or the Trinity God gave him a new Bible and he saw that coming now with an unveiled face he could see the glory of the Lord he could see God himself and all of a sudden he wasn't studying Matthew to know Matthew he was studying Matthew to know God he wasn't studying Isaiah to see Isaiah he was studying Isaiah to see God to see the glory of God brand new Bible and that whole thing became alive and his heart began to burn in him as he began to see Christ in the scriptures tremendous new Bible nor is that all because 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 begins to see now things are going to be different when I begin to live he's my victory forget victory he's my victory I'm going to live in Christ and ride in his tribe he's my victory everything was different for Paul no more ministry per se from now on I'm going to be filled with Christ satisfied 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'm coming to this book to know God I'm coming to see Jesus as he came to this book every time he saw Christ he was changed transformed and he began to think back about all those changes that had come in his own life because he was more disciplined and he tried harder and he died he began to understand that any change that comes into his life that didn't come by the revelation of Jesus Christ was an unreal change changes that come when we begin to see Christ in the book and so Paul had this whole new concept it was a new dimension it was a new life on the other side of the line he wasn't 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'm going to see Christ I've never really seen Christ in the Bible yes you have if you're saying you 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 that takes away the sin of the world and what happened when you saw that brothers were you changed? oh man new creature in Christ you know some people think that's the end of it now I saw Christ as my Savior I'm saved I'm going to Heaven I'm 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're ready the end of the law to everyone that believes and when God reveals Him not by taking a concordance and tracing a fortress through the Bible that's not how you see Him as fortress that's not how you see Him as rock but when you're ready when God engineers your life to need that revelation then God will come and God will reveal Christ as the Comforter when you see Him by revelation you'll be changed when you see Him as the vine by revelation you'll be changed and as the smelter by revelation you'll be changed and as the groom by revelation you'll be changed and as the priest by revelation you'll be changed and as God begins to quicken your heart and you see Him as Father and as Creator and as rock and as fortress and as the lifter up of your head every revelation of God in this book needs a special revelation of the Holy Spirit and when the Holy Spirit reveals Christ that way you're changed you're transformed when Paul saw that he said I'm going to live old to life forever here I'll never move I'm going to live here now Christ is my victory I'm in His triumph now ministry just an overflow of this fragrance of Christ now my Bible studies nothing more see Him change see Him change see Him His glory is He's not a bondservant yet He's got 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 I'm filled with Christ there's another step a bigger step that was necessary for the Apostle Paul before he could become that bondservant of Christ we'd like to continue that tonight I told you three points in a poem here's my poem by my favorite author I have three favorite authors of poems Unknown Anonymous and Ibbid the world I thought belonged to me goods gold and silver land and sea where'er I walked beneath God's sky in 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 but oh 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 all in a humbler tone all I can say is Christ alone 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 bond servants and we ask it in his all prevailing name