11. Do Not Cover Your Glory

PDF Version - 11. Do Not Cover Your Glory

Word Document - 11. Do Not Cover Your Glory

Do Not Cover Your Glory

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:1

For us to understand the gospel, we must have grounded inside of us a full understanding of the foundation of divine law upon which we stand. Without knowing the absolute law of God that we live in as believers, as sons of God, there is no way we could go forward into victory.

So many believers have the idea that, as Christians, we are fighting our way up to gain salvation. That's completely backwards. As sons of God, we are not becoming what God wants us to be, we are what God wants us to be, we are pleasing to God, we are standing in the glory of that which we already are in our finished state. We are standing there by faith.

We rejoice in the victory before it happens. We dance on this side of the sea before the waters open. We have our hopes up so high that nothing could penetrate to bring them down. We are fighting the victory not to get somewhere, but because we are who we are. We are fighting as sons for the glory of our Father. We are not fighting as humans in order to please God. Big difference, big difference.

Paul begins his argument here in Romans 8 by saying "Therefore, because Christ died and because we believe in Him, there is no condemnation."

Now, this word 'condemnation' is not a bad feeling. Paul is not saying that because you are in Christ, you don't have to feel bad when you blow it. Certainly, we don't have to 'feel' bad. But the word condemnation is not a bad feeling that I get in the middle of the night when the accusation of Satan comes and says, "You're bad, you blew it, God is displeased with you."

The word condemnation is the Greek word katakrisis. Krisis is judgment and kata is down. There is therefore now no 'down judgment' to those who are in Christ Jesus. As I stand before God, right now, the accuser can accuse all he wants, but there is not one shred of evidence that I did anything. At the same time, Jesus, stands before the Father and says, "Look at Me, I did not do it, so Daniel did not do it." And the Father says, "Case closed. No sin has been committed."

I didn't do it. Justification is more than "just as if I didn't do it." Before God, justification is, "I did not do it." That's how clean the slate is wiped. There used to be someone who goes by my name that did it, but he is dead! He has already forfeited his life and is dead. I am a new creation in Christ. I am the one who was born the second time. I am in Jesus and no where else.

This 'down judgment' is everything that comes as a result of sin. I am fully free from every part of the fall of man including death. I do not have to die physically. Not one element of the curse upon man in this world applies to me.

"Who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit."

It is possible, now that I am in Christ, that I could define myself as something I am not. I could define myself as a fallen human, struggling under the weight of sin. I could define myself as someone who is bad, or even someone who finds his life in this world. If I did, I would be walking according to the flesh. But there is no reason to see myself that way.

The transformation comes through the changing of our minds. We are renewed by changing the way we think. I am a new creation. I do not recognize any self separate from Christ. Christ is in me. In me! That is the only me that I recognize. I don't see any other me than Christ in me, and no seductive lie can make me do so. In fact, God requires the opposite. He says, "Deny that. Deny that there is a self separate from Christ."

I am in Christ, Christ is in me. Therefore, I walk and live in the Spirit.

Then Paul says in verse 2: "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death."

In order to understand this foundational verse of the law of God upon which our life stands, God has given us a story in the Old Testament. God gave us the stories of the Old Testament to enable us to understand the New Covenant that we have with God.

After these things, King Ahasuerus promoted Haman . . . and advanced him and set his seat above all the princes who were with him. And all the king's servants who were within the king's gate bowed and paid homage to Haman, for so the king had commanded concerning him. But Mordecai would not bow or pay homage. Esther 3:1-2

Verse 5: When Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow or pay him homage, Haman was filled with wrath. But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him of the people of Mordecai. Instead, Haman sought to destroy all the Judeans who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus - the people of Mordecai.

Verse 8: Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, "There is a certain people . . . their laws are different from all other people's, and they do not keep the king's laws. Therefore it is not fitting for the king to let them remain. If it pleases the king, let a decree be written that they be destroyed . . ." So the king took his signet ring and gave it to Haman.

Verse 11: And the king said to Haman, "The money and the people are given to you, to do with them as seems good to you."

In the kingdom of Persia, there was a rule that if the king spoke a law, then even the king himself could not change that law once it had been spoken.

This rule did two things for the people. One, it made the king a little slow to speak strong words, because He knew that once it was out of his mouth, he could not take it back. At the same time, it helped the people. Once they understood what the king had said, they could rely on it, knowing that it was certain. They knew that if they built their lives and businesses on that particular word the king had spoken, they would not suddenly find that word jerked out from under them. No, they could live with certainty because of that principle.

That is the same with God. When God speaks His word, it is certain and sure and it cannot be changed.

The moment that the king had declared that the Judeans were to be killed on a certain date, that law was set and it could not be changed.

But then, Mordecai talked to his niece, Esther, who was married to the king. She went before the king and pleaded for her people. The end result was that Ha-man was hanged on the gallows he had made and Mordecai was exalted to the same position that Haman had enjoyed. Then, in Chapter 8, we come again to the law, the word, that the king had spoken concerning the Judeans.

Now Esther spoke again to the king, fell down at his feet, and implored him with tears to counteract the evil of Haman the Agagite, and the scheme which he had devised against the Judeans. . . Esther arose and stood before the king, and said, "If it pleases the king . . . let it be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman . . . which he wrote to annihilate the Judeans who are in all the king's provinces." Esther 8:3

Verse 8: (King Ahasuerus said), "You yourselves, write a decree concerning the Judeans, as you please, in the king's name, and seal it with the king's signet ring; for whatever is written in the king's name and sealed with the king's signet ring no one can revoke."

They could not write a decree that would overturn the original decree because that decree had been set and could not be changed. They had to write a decree that would stand alongside the original decree. Verse 11 is that decree.

By these letters the king permitted the Judeans who were in every city to gather together and protect their lives - to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the forces of any people or province that would assault them . . . and plunder their possessions.

And so it happened. On the set day, when the king had ordered the destruction of the Judeans, many people came to take advantage of the law the king had set regarding the Judeans, to kill them and to take their property. But the king had established a second law - that the Judeans had the authority of the king to fight for their lives. They had the backing and assistance of the king. That is what happened on that set day, there was a fight and the Judeans destroyed their enemies.

With that understanding, let's come back to Romans 8:2. For the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

What is the law of sin and death? The law of sin and death is the law of God, irrevocable, set in stone. God cannot change it.

The law of sin and death is this: The soul that sinneth shall die - In the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die - The wages of sin is death.

You sin, you die. It is an absolute law of God. Once sin begins to work in a person's life, death works as well. Sin leads to death and death to sin, and it is a downward spiral that leads all the way to the grave. More than that, it is a law passed on to our children who labor under the same curse in spite of the fact that they did not commit Adam's original sin. Sin is in their bodies, and so they die because of the sin in their bodies. On and on it goes, the law of sin and death.

You sin, you die! It's an absolute law. God cannot change it, He cannot revoke it, He cannot remove it. It is set in absolute stone. God spoke it once, and there it stands. If that were the only law that God spoke, we would be without hope.

But of course we know that we did die. That when Jesus died upon the cross, He took into Himself that evil person we were and we died in Him. Then, when He rose from the grave, we came alive with Him in His resurrection life.

But God has spoken a new law into the universe. This new law does not set aside the old law. The old law is still in operation. There is still sin in our bodies and our bodies still die and go into the grave because of the operation of that law. But God has set a new law. It does not remove the old law, but it is set alongside it. That is, the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus.

We look back at the story in Esther to understand exactly what God's intentions are. You see, there continues that voice of accusation that demands the old law be fulfilled, that demands death and destruction. But God has given us a new law that He has spoken, God has given us the right to fight back. God has given us the right to fight our enemies and to win and to destroy them, and to stand upon the plunder and to live and not die! God has given us the right to fight back.

We fight back on the basis of the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. God is a legal God. Everything exists on the basis of irrevocable, eternal law. When we fight back against the law of sin and death, against death, we fight back from a law that is far greater, far deeper, far more central to the heart of God. We fight back on the basis of the law of the Spirit of life, because that law has made us free. I am made free from the law sin and death.

This is absolute. On this absolute law, I stand; upon this certainty, I swing my sword; upon this unshakable foundation I fight with full assurance of faith. I KNOW that the legal ground of God upon which my feet stand cannot shake, cannot buckle, cannot move. It is the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. And on the basis of this law, we approach the battle taking place in our bodies.

This story helps us to understand, then, the confusion so many of God's people fall into, because the law of sin and death is a law spoken by God. The wages of sin is death. And so, there are many verses, particularly, in the Old Covenant, that establish and expand on that law of sin and death. Verses such as the one in Jeremiah, "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked." And even verses like, "See, I have set before you this day life and death, therefore chose life, for why would you die?" Verses like this are part of God's speaking of the law of sin and death, the first law.

Yes, the law given by king Ahasuerus concerning the Judeans was a law that did not end. It continued. But on the day that the Judeans were to fight for their lives, there was a full understanding throughout the kingdom that something enormous had shifted. The first man who had been behind the working of the first law, Haman, was dead, destroyed and defeated. Now, a new prime minister was in power, Mordecai, and the new law, the second law, spoken by the king giving the Judeans authority to fight back was backed up by the second in command in the entire empire. Everybody knew that. The authority behind those who sought to kill the Jews was a defeated authority. The authority behind the Jews fighting for their lives was the authority standing at the right hand of the throne.

And so it is with us. This is why so many Christians get confused on this matter. Yes, the law of sin and death was spoken by God, but it is not the law in which we live, it is not the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. We live in the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus; we have behind us the authority of He who stands at the right hand of the Father, having defeated His enemy. His authority is behind us, and we stand in the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. We have the right and the power to fight back.

The assurance verses in the New Testament teach us about the law of the Spirit of life and the jeopardy verses in the New Testament teach us how to fight back. Both sets of verses are on the same side. The one set teaches us where we stand, where our feet are positioned, and the other set teaches us how we fight back against our enemy who would kill us.

2 Corinthians 3:7-8 (We are moving ourselves into a position to where we can go back to Romans 8:13 and understand what God is saying.) But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily on the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?

What did Paul just say? Wasn't it the ten commandments that were engraved on stone? Wasn't it the receiving of the ten commandments that put the glory on the face of Moses? Paul is calling the ten commandments the ministry of death.

The story of Esther helps us understand. The ten commandments are part of the law of sin and death. Our enemy uses them to condemn us. Yes, the ministry of death which Moses received put a glory upon his face, but Paul says that the ministry of life which we have received, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, is far more glorious upon our face.

Verse 9, For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.

Paul compares the two sides of Romans 8:2, the law of the Spirit of life versus the law of sin and death. He places the law of Moses as central to the law of sin and death.

Verse 10-14: For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious. Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech (We tell it like is) -unlike Moses (We are not like Moses) who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ.

If one reads the Old Testament without the Spirit of Christ, in an unlawful way, not to understand the gospel, but to rule over the gospel, there is a veil that makes that person completely wrong in understanding what they read.

Verse 16-18: "Nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 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."

Here is the situation Paul is putting before us. When Moses received the law of sin and death from God, it gave him a glory that made his face so bright with God that the children of Israel could not stand to look at it. It was so glorious and overwhelming to the children of Israel that they could not bear to have Moses walking around in their midst looking like God, with the glory of God glowing from his skin. So they asked him to put a cloth over his head. He walked around with a hood over his face, so they would not have to look upon God shining out of his body.

Paul said that we are not like Moses. We are not like Moses! We do not cover up the glory of God that is upon us.

If we think the glory upon Moses in the receiving of the law of sin and death was glorious, how much more glory is upon the faces of those who receive the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, it is a glory that shines even through the physical body. Yes, Paul is speaking metaphorically here about this veil that is upon the 'faces,' but as we behold the glory of the Lord when we look in the mirror, my God, the glory that is upon us is far greater than the glory that was upon Moses.

We are being transformed into the image of His glory by the Spirit of the Lord. There is a glory that is upon our bodies, upon the skin of our face. God wants to be seen in our body. And He does not want us to cover our glory.

2 Corinthians 4:4 This passage begins by talking about the mind of the god of this age, the one who stands behind the law of sin and death, Whose minds the god of this world has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ should shine on them.

Verse 6: For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

The glory that was upon Moses was so great that the people could not stand to look upon God shining out of him. The glory that was upon Moses was nothing compared to the glory of Jesus that is upon us.

Verse 7: But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.

These bodies carry inside of them a treasure of glory beyond what we can imagine. God wants that glory to shine its way through this earthen vessel.

Paul says we are hard pressed on every side (in our physical life in this world), verse 10, "Always carrying about in the body they dying of the Lord Jesus (He died. That in me which needed to die is dead. I reckon it to be so; I speak it to be so.), that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body."

Verse 11: "For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, (here is the purpose of God) that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh."

God intends the light of Christ to triumph, not in heaven, but in our physical body. Yes, the body is dead because of sin, but just as surely as the death that comes from sin is working in our body, more surely than that, the life of Jesus counteracts it. There is in my spirit the law of the Spirit of life. God has given me authority to fight against my enemy who would use the word God spoke to destroy me. It is God who said that the wages of sin is death, and it is God who gives me the authority to fight against the effect of the word He Himself spoke. I KNOW that the death of Jesus overrides the death of sin.

God's purpose is not to blame or destroy the body. God's purpose is that the life of Jesus would be revealed, shown to all, in my mortal flesh, in my dying body. God wants the glory to shine.

We are not like Moses, we do not cover our glory.

Romans 12: 1-2 is Paul's conclusion in the book of Romans concerning the physical body, and how it fits into the gospel of Christ. Yes, the physical body is the source of our continued confusion in this world. It is where sin dwells and the death that comes through sin. But it is also the temple of the Holy Spirit. And as the temple of the Holy Spirit, we do not blaspheme God by abusing the body in any way. It is the place where God has purposed to win.

I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. Romans 12:1

My body is holy; it is pleasing to God. Every part of it is holy and pleasing to God. The life that I live in my body is holy, and I present my body in faith that it is acceptable to God. It is made clean by the blood of Jesus. It is the temple of God.

Verse 2: And do not be conformed to this world (to the thinking of this world, to the thinking of those who labor under the law of sin and death) but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

We are transformed by changing the way we think, by getting our minds out of the law of sin and death, out of the concourses of this world, into the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus where we live, changing the way we think about ourselves, about God, about the life of Christ inside of us. Believing that what God says about us is in the gospel is true.

We understand that God spoke two words into the world, and we are not to get them mixed up. The words God spoke in the law of sin and death are useful to us as we understand them by the Holy Spirit, but we stand fully in the law of the Spirit of life. As we are transformed by changing the way we think, we present our bodies, because God intends to prove His will in our bodies.

What is the will of God? That His will be done in earth as it is in heaven.

The commandment that God gave Adam in the beginning was to subdue the earth, to bring the physical body into the full glory of the Spirit of God. This is our task, this is our glory. The body has no shame in it. There is no shame in us. We carry this glory of God, this treasure, in an earthen vessel. And the purpose of that treasure, the reason we carry the face of Jesus Christ, is to prove the will of God in our bodies.

God will win. Not by taking us to heaven, but by proving His will, right here, right now, in this earth, in this life, in our physical bodies.

This is the battle. This is where we win. This is our glory.