If Our Gospel Be Hid, It Is Hid To Them That Are Lost! -- Part 2053

"For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus sake ..." (II Corinthians 4:5)

This scripture, for me, is at the heart of becoming a flow through for the Lord Jesus, wherein we only preach Christ Jesus the Lord, being servants and fainting not, for His sake. It is for this reason that we renounce the 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.

" ... not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth." (Titus 1:14)

So then, what is the truth?

Jesus said, "Thy Word is truth!" (John 17:17)

Who is the Word? JESUS. For in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and THE WORD WAS GOD ... and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. (John 1:1, 14) He was in the world and the world was made by Him and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own and His own received Him not. He is the great I AM. He is the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the ending. (Revelation 1:8)

To wit, God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. (II Corinthians 5:19)

It is in this context that Jesus could say, "I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man comes unto the Father but by Me!" (John 14:6)

Paul, an apostle, alludes to the same when preaching the gospel. That is, "for this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the Word of God which ye heard of us, ye received [it] not as the word of men, but as it is in Truth, the Word of God, which effectually works also in you that believe." (I Thessalonians 2:13)

"For 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." (II Corinthians 4:6)

Jesus said, "I AM -- the Light of the world!" Jesus said, "I AM -- the Bread of Life!" And before Abraham was, Jesus said, "I AM!"

What did Jesus pray in the Garden of Gethsemane, when most of His disciples were sleeping? His humanity, the visible image of an invisible God, knowing that He was soon to endure the cross?

"And now come I to Thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have My joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them THY Word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy Word is truth. As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth." (John 17:13-19)

Later, after the crucifixion, after the tomb was found empty, after Jesus appeared numerous times to His disciples, the women, and the 500, and then to Saul who later became Paul (as one born out of due time) Jesus was taken up ... and now, Jesus THROUGH the Holy Ghost - the Spirit of Jesus as both Lord and Christ -- is now the treasure that dwells within our earthly vessels.

The excellency of His power -- and ye shall call His Name JESUS for He shall save His people frothier sins -- His Spirit now dwells within us and comforts us, leading us into His wisdom and truth. He is our all and all. And it is for this reason that we having the SAME SPIRIT of faith, as the apostles did, can now declare also -- that all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God, for which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward is renewed day by day.

Thus, we faint not, because we look not at the things which are seen and temporal but to God who loved us enough to robe Himself in sin-prone flesh (and yet without sin!) so that you and I might find abundant life in Him. Stand in the offering plate.