Receiving Increasing Revelations of Jesus Christ

I wanted to share from 2nd Corinthians chapter 4, 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 verse 3 and even if our gospel is veiled it is veiled to those who are perishing in whose case the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they may not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is in the image of God. I see this is a basic difference between those who are in the world and those who are Christians. The world is blinded and we are not and what is the difference is they are blinded not from an intellectual knowledge but they are blinded from seeing the glory of Jesus that's what it says here and so that's a very simple difference that I must always hold in front of me that the difference between a non-believer and a believer the difference between the world and me is not intellectual or agreement to certain facts it's one person is blinded from seeing the glory of Jesus and the other person is not blinded and so I have to ask myself if I say that I'm a Christian then there has been a glory of Jesus that I see and another way that John in 1 John 3 says verse 2 says or verse 1 says here's the difference also another difference between the world and us is that we know God as a father not that we pray our prayers saying our father who art in heaven a lot of people do that but the difference between us and the world is we see the glory of Jesus and we live with God as a father so that was a very simple thought that for all of us to simply think about and say Lord the difference between me and a non-Christian is not do I believe something different in my mind but have I seen the glory of Jesus and this glory of Jesus is not a one-time glory you know for us we have children we're praying that our children be born again what do we want when we want our children to be born again what we want is for the Lord to open their eyes to see the glory of Jesus not for them to say something and say a prayer after us not for them to agree with something that we agree with not even for them to be good children because there are a lot of people who can be good children what we truly want is we want our children to see the glory of Jesus that's what we want for us to as adults we want Jesus and the glory of Jesus to become real to us and it says in the previous chapter 2nd Corinthians just a few verses before that in 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 verse 18 the last verse this is how all of our lives are to be our lives will be again the veil has been removed remember we said 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 verse 3 talked about the God of this world has veiled them from seeing the glory of Jesus but now we that don't have the veil it's not a one-time veil is beholding as in a mirror the glory of Jesus from one level of glory to another so that tells us that this is not a one-time event that happens that we pray for that our children may have a one-time event no we may say hey look are your children born again what's the point of having a one-time event of being born again just like what's the point of us having a one-time event that we can talk to the Bible is very clear in 2nd Corinthians 3.18 we want to be transformed from image from one level of glory to another level of glory so this is a lifestyle that I say Lord Jesus I want to see your glory from one level of glory to another and God shines this as a light he shines it as a light that just like God it says in a few verses later just like God shone light into darkness he wants us to shine he wants the light of Jesus to be shown into us this is something that God must do in our lives this is something that is the only way we will grow from one level of glory to another as we see the glory of Jesus little by little by little so the level of maturity that I have as a Christian is how much of the glory of Jesus I've seen this must be something that we must keep longing for not checking how much did I obey God how much did I not obey God this and that there's a place for that but the true level to which I am growing as it says in 2nd Corinthians 3.18 I'll be transformed into his image as I see God's glory the glory of who Jesus is the another word for glory could be beauty the beauty of who Jesus is the majesty of who Jesus is the specialness of who Jesus is the uniqueness of who Jesus is that becomes the transforming agent that is what changes us there's a part we have to play but what ends up doing this transformation is as Jesus becomes more and more glorious where Jesus becomes more and more special that makes it very simple for us to differentiate Christians from not Christians because Christ is the difference not our behavior our behavior is an indication but what's behind that behavior is Jesus the glory of Jesus is becoming more and more special to us so that's why behavior is not the real the telltale sign is if you dig behind the Christian the Christian must say Jesus is becoming more and more special to me that's another way of simply saying the glory of Jesus how do we get this Jesus to become more and more special to us another word of saying we've I've heard and I've been blessed by the burden that the Lord has put on your hearts to to really be filled with the Holy Spirit for the Holy Spirit to immerse us and a word that's connected with us that we've been taught is the word revelation that's what happens that's what happened to the earth that was full of darkness God spoke and revelation happened which was light burst through and in the same way God wants us to grow in our seeing the light of the glory of Jesus it's through revelation and we have to ask God to give us revelation not knowledge not intellectual understanding but revelation and that's been something that the Lord has been putting on my heart revelation is not come as a result of long hours of bible study revelation doesn't come through long hours of prayer revelation doesn't come through singing all the right songs revelation doesn't come by listening to the right sermons or sitting under the right teaching revelation is a gift from God God alone can give us revelation it the earth didn't do something to receive light the earth was dark and void and formless God as a gift spoke into that earth and said let there be light so in the same way we have to ask God to give it to us that revelation is a gift and not everyone who comes to God receives revelation the rich young ruler came to Jesus and never got revelation of who he is the rich young ruler was a very upright man meanwhile Zacchaeus came to Jesus and received revelation Peter came to Jesus and received revelation the rich young ruler came to Jesus and did not receive revelation so it's not that just everybody who comes to Jesus receives revelation it's important for us to know that so just because we pray Lord fill me with the Holy Spirit fill me with the Holy Spirit doesn't mean we'll be filled with the Holy Spirit two people sitting right next to each other one may be filled with the Holy Spirit one may not that's another way of me thinking of being filled with the Holy Spirit another way of saying Lord give me a revelation of who you are because Jesus said in John chapter 16 verse 13 the Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth and he will glorify me that's what Jesus said about the Holy Spirit that the Holy Spirit will glorify Jesus he'll show me the glory of Jesus so when I ask God to be filled with the Holy Spirit another way of saying that John 16 14 is that Lord show me that when you fill me with the Holy Spirit Jesus will become glorious and from 2nd Corinthians 3 18 I will go from one level of glory to another and I'll be transformed so I see that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a baptism into seeing Jesus is more and more glorious and that glory of Jesus is what will transform me in a very practical way and as I said it comes to revelation it's a gift from God the rich young ruler didn't get it Peter got it the rich young ruler didn't get it the thief on the cross got it criminals got it adulterous women got it evil tax collectors who stole all their lives and loved money got it an upright rich young ruler didn't get it Apostle Paul also got it he was also an upright man but he was going the wrong way and God gave him a revelation of who Jesus was so you can be the worst criminal you can be a Pharisee God can give us revelation into who he is and he can transform us revelation is so important so if it's not everybody who receives revelation who does receive revelation and that's the word that has come to me in Matthew chapter 11 we've heard these words before this is nothing new maybe it is just underlining and hearing for the 44th time where then the Lord will say now you're ready to receive it in the right way that's what the Lord has been doing in me here's who receives revelation Jesus was talking in Matthew chapter 11 to people who had seen the miracles of Jesus he was talking about all these cities who had seen miracles of Jesus but had not received revelation they did not repent Matthew chapter 11 verse 25 just the previous verses he talks about Sodom would have it better than these cities of Capernaum and different places because they didn't receive revelation and Jesus says here here's who receives revelation verse 25 you know this you've hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to babes to infants God has hidden this from the wise and the intelligent and has revealed them to infants so Lord Jesus if I want to know you I want to see you as glorious I must have the spiritual heart of an infant and I wanted to share some of the one of the couple of the distinctions that I saw between the wise and the intelligent and the infant the Lord has gripped me with three attributes of an infant that I can covet that I can long for and then I could maintain it's like the soil that becomes the good soil on which the seed can come in and bear fruit that's the work I can do I can have this kind of soil as I say Lord I want to maintain I want to prepare my soil to be like the heart of an infant this is one thing that has blessed me about an infant an infant is not one who can crawl an infant is not one who can walk an infant doesn't know what one plus one is everybody who can understand what I'm saying here knows what one plus one is they're too old an infant can't even move infant doesn't know the name of their father and mother the ones that birthed them infant doesn't know but the one one thing that I know the infant knows is it needs to be nourished it needs to be nourished and this is the heart that an infant that all of us can have that I need to be nourished that's one of the hearts that I can have to prepare my heart to be like the heart of an infant and even among most Christians who read their Bible every day even among most Christians who pray every day even among most Christians who listen to God-fearing men of God preach and teach even among most Christians I feel that it's a small minority of even such Christians who long to be nourished I think we get nourished in our minds but we don't want to be nourished in our hearts we don't want to be nourished like a infant wants to be nourished we have become too old that we want to understand the makeup of milk we want to distinguish non-fat milk from two percent milk from organic milk from mother's milk from goat's milk we've got all these different distinctions of milk and the relative properties of where goat milk is better and why this one will give you allergies well beyond underneath all of that a baby doesn't have all those ideas a baby just wants to be nourished it doesn't know the chemical breakdown of milk but it longs to be nourished and so through all my Bible reading through all my prayer through all my listening to sermons I have to ask myself Lord did I get nourished like a baby gets nourished the baby doesn't know all the details about it but it is satisfied because the body has what it needs to grow and in the same way when I'm listening through two different sermons the vast tendency is for my brain to be filled up but nourishment is very different I believe that God's word is so rich that it's not volume of milk that nourishes a baby baby doesn't ever drink lots and lots of milk see the baby's infant's cup bottles are so small that's one of the tremendous privileges we have in this day of an age that we can memorize a few verses I don't know if some of you maybe know 10 verses that you memorize that you can say well I believe that the Lord can nourish me for the rest of my life on just John 3 16 if that was the only verse I could know and that was all the capacity of my brain God could nourish me because his word is eternal heaven and earth will fail away but not even a word his law is like his word is beyond time if John 3 16 can nourish me for all eternity how much more if we know more of God through more of the verses that God has given us so even if I've missed reading God's word in the morning when I got up even if I had to rush to work the question is not did I have my quiet time the question is Lord do I want to be nourished that can happen at 10 in the morning it can happen at 2 in the afternoon and even if I've wasted all day living for myself and I'm about to go to bed at 10 o'clock at night and I'm finally put down my phone after surfing all day and just not watching nonsense or what evil stuff but maybe just YouTube video here this that this internet site there nothing bad but I've grazed on the world all day at 10 o'clock at night I can still stir up my soil to be nourished and I can say Lord let me nourish myself on your word bring to mind some word that I know some verse that I know if you don't know maybe John 3 16 is to begin with John 11 35 the smallest verse in the bible Jesus wept that can nourish me why not from the youngest to the oldest it's not about volume of verses memorized it is about nourishment and as we want to get nourished more we say Lord show me something more not so that I can speak but so that I can get nourished an infant is not trying to show off as an infant is not trying to do anything it wants to be nourished though it longs to be nourished and God who spoke light into darkness speaks to us man shall not live by bread alone but by words that proceed Lord through the verses in the bible that I know or if I have time if I can still open up my bible and read this verse or that verse Lord nourish me nourish my heart so that I could have spiritual growth show me something about the glory of God show me something about the glory of Jesus that gives me life show me something about who Jesus is that should be the pointer of all of the verses that I memorize should be so that I can see Jesus as more glorious that's the whole point of it that's one thing about infants infants love to be nourished another thing that infants do and this is something that infants don't know what one plus one is infants don't know how to turn over infants don't know how to lift up their head infants don't know how to say mommy or daddy or anything but infants know how to drink milk they know how to drink it they long to be nourished and they know how to drink it that's they take it in they're able to take it in when Jesus says certain words we have to take it in infants need serious intervention they're sitting there they can't they're just lying on their back if you put them on their face they'll lie on their face they can't turn over they'll die if you put them on face down they're completely helpless they long to be nourished but one thing they can do if you give them milk their lives are full throbbing saying give me milk give me milk give me milk give me give me milk when you give them milk they drink it they don't spit it out they don't do on it like a mint and then spit it out or chewing gum it's not chewing gum to them they drink it and there's that muscle in infants that's the one muscle infants have that works for sure they they drink in that milk we have to take in God's word so when God says no grumbling or murmuring you got to take it in i have to take that word in i i don't when Jesus gives me a command he's clearly given me the ability to do it when i tell my child go and do something i know that they have the ability to do it i may get it wrong sometimes as an earthly father but God never gets as wrong as a heavenly father so when Jesus says when Jesus tells children obey your parents we tell them that's a command from God you can do it you can do it i don't tell the children well i know you can't do it ask God to fill you for the to the Holy Spirit so that you can obey me have you told your children that no you say you must obey you can obey you will obey it's a command from God are you are we excusing our children from obeying the command that's given to them because they don't have the Holy Spirit no we know that they have it in them to obey they can obey their parents God's that ability and we have to train them to do that when Jesus tells me take up my cross i can do it when Jesus says hold your tongue i can do it when Jesus says don't grumble and complain i can do it i can take it in i don't want to that's the reason i don't do it but i can children don't want to obey but they can we can be trained in righteousness as we take in God's word all scripture has been given so that we can be trained in righteousness these words God gives us to us and then says now take it in do all things without grumbling rejoice always no temptation has overcome you that has come across your path then which is common to man i'm giving you the way of escape which is don't grumble in this situation be anxious for nothing but in everything with prayer with thanksgiving make your request unto God do it take it in do that when you're feeling anxious God says take that word and drink it obedience is so important proverbs 6 25 do not desire a woman's beauty another woman's beauty in your height in your heart don't let her capture you with her eyelids that's how small a body part it takes from how small is an eyelid such a small body part and God says you can be captured with that a man can be captured with that don't don't desire her beauty and heart don't even let the small little eyelid God was telling me that's how small a body part of a woman it takes to capture you be careful take it in take it all the way and drink it in like a baby an infant takes it in that wants to be nourished and so we can say Lord I want to be nourished I want to be nourished I want to be nourished well then take it in too but you know and it's no different there's a verse in John chapter 7 verse 37 through 39 which we know which is about the filling of the Holy Spirit we can turn there John chapter 7 verses 37 through 39 this is a beautiful passage about that connects these two points about being nourished and drinking on the last day of the feast John chapter 7 verses 37 through 39 Jesus said if anyone is thirsty let him come to me and drink you want to be nourished you long to be nourished you're thirsty you're thirsty you're thirsty you're thirsty well God that's good but there's one more thing you need to do after you come to me and tell me you're thirsty here's what you need to do you need to drink you need to do that you need to drink it you need to take it in as an expression you can take a horse to the water but you can't make it drink it and many people can come to Jesus and say I'm thirsty I'm thirsty and thirsty but they don't drink it a rich young ruler was a classic example of that he was thirsty for eternal life he came to Jesus and Jesus said here's the water I can't drink it I don't want to drink it I don't want to drink it the rich young ruler refused it he was given the water and we can be given the water and we can't drink it but even beyond obeying there's something more that God wants us to do because there are things beyond obeying that only God can do we can teach our children to obey our parents in the Lord but we can't get we can't break their stony hearts we can't break it we need God to break it we need God to do the supernatural in our children's lives we need God to do the supernatural in our lives beyond all the obeying because we need to see the glory of Jesus it's not the obedience that's all that's enough that's the part we do but we need God to do something more than just us obeying we do our part but God needs to do his part we pour the water into the water pots but it's still water we need God to turn it into wine we give all that we have which is all of our five loaves and all of our two fish but we need God to do the miracle of feeding five thousand we obey and we take up our cross and we don't grumble and complain and we rejoice always and we be anxious for nothing and give offer to God with thanksgivings our supplications but then we need God to show us his glory it's a gift that God alone can give us like the Holy Spirit we have to come to him and say God for the impossible you need to do this and that's that story you know the rich young ruler and if we want to turn there Matthew chapter 19 Matthew chapter 19 the rich young ruler comes to Jesus and Jesus gives him the tough medicine doesn't taste very good but it was the waters of eternal life and the rich young ruler didn't want to take it which was sell everything give up everything the rich young ruler walked away and Matthew chapter 19 verses 23 to 25 Matthew chapter 19 it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God and we could be rich in many different areas for some of us it's money others it could be intellect others it could be feelings others it could be our culture many different attributes of self gives us rich each of us are unique in what makes us rich what we want to hold on to and not let God have complete control and God say you can and tell God you can do it your way I want all of my children to know the Lord but God is sovereign at what age should my children have the stony hearts burst open I want it at three it hasn't happened for all my children at three what should I do well I keep doing my part obey your parents in the Lord obey your parents in the Lord but then I have to say Lord your will be done I'm not going to let go of God just because it's five and six and seven and twelve and thirteen or seventeen no Lord break it open I don't have a complaint against God when he doesn't do it on my timeline whether it is children being born again whether it is me my children getting married whether it is my retirement whether it's anything my health I go to God I know all of God's promises but then am I willing to let go and say God you have to be sovereign you have to do it your way and I don't have any more complaint and I have to ask myself why have I not done a better job as a but then Lord I don't know beyond that is it some area where I'm rich Lord continue to show me but Lord in your timing you'll do it verse 24 it is easier for the camel to go through I have a needle than for a rich man Lord where am I rich Lord help me to continue to assist you in breaking down all the richness that our children have that I have which is why I have not seen the glory of Jesus more and more because I'm rich in some area and then the Lord said in verse 25 25 look what the disciples said who can be saved the disciples understood that he was not talking just about physical riches because the disciples were not very rich they had given up everything to follow Jesus but they saw the words of Jesus and they said no this that means who can be saved we have no shot either and then Jesus said those beautiful words in verse 26 with people it is impossible this Christian life is the impossible Christian life because it's okay for me to obey it's okay for me to do all the commandments I can do that but the Christian life is to see the glory of Jesus that's the impossible Christian life I'm stuck at that you want me to be anxious for nothing I can do that I can get better and better doing that you want me to not take in a woman's eyelids I can do that Old Testament people did that you want me to control my tongue I can do that non-Christians do that but see the glory of Jesus impossible Christian life with man it is impossible as and so going back to John chapter 7 verse 37 and 39 Jesus said here's another impossible command here's another impossible promise from your innermost beings will flow rivers of living water impossible well what are you doing about that do you have you come to God with that same faith and say no God it will be so it will be so I don't know if it takes 10 years 20 years it will be so and I'm gonna keep on coming to you don't kill me until it is so I don't need to see my children married or grand or grandchildren anything but Lord it will be so rivers of living water from my innermost beings it will be so this is what it means to drink John chapter 7 verse 37 says if anyone is thirsty let him come to me and drink and then he tells me what it is to drink which is in verse 38 he who believes in me Lord Jesus with you it is possible it's not a believing in the mind it is believing that Jesus can bring life out of my innermost being where are those Christians who are believing drinking not believing as an intellectual checkbox not believing as saying Lord I'm going to say that in my prayer every day but believing as in drinking like a baby drinking in saying innermost being rivers are going to flow it will be so faith is drinking faith is uh just like an infant drinking what happens when an infant drinks it is nourished it has not become now a 5 foot 11 180 pound person but it has been nourished it is on its way to becoming that it is nourished full of faith I'm happy I'm on my way to becoming innermost being rivers of living water and that is what the infant life looks like this impossible life the infant how what chance does the infant have of growing impossible it needs milk if you give it milk it'll drink it it's not worried about what it's 30 years gonna look like but it will drink today of the impossible life Lord with you it is possible Lord with you it's possible that my children will be born again I don't know how long it's going to take Lord it is possible that in my life these sins will be broken open I will not be mastery by them anymore that by the spirit I'll put to death the deeds of the body from my innermost being innermost being will flow rivers not just for myself for other people it will be so and that's the nourishment that God wants to give me every day that he doesn't just give me the cup but I drink it and I'm satisfied and that's the it takes me to my last point about what an infant is and it's my favorite point about being an infant infants love to be held and I think by far that has been the the the the truth about God that is is my favorite part is that the father loves to hold me and that the Lord is saying become like an infant who loves to be held by God you are too wise you're too intelligent that you don't want God to hold you when the prodigal son was out in the far country the father didn't go and hold him and when I'm out in sin the father wants to hold me but he's not going out to hold me but when the prodigal son came to his senses and started to turn around and walk home we see what the father did the father wanted to hold him but he didn't stay in the house saying I'll hold you when you come home the father ran out to hold him that's how much God wants to hold us he would have loved to hold the prodigal son in the far country but he needed the prodigal son to return to repent to say I want to be nourished I will eat whatever the father gives me even if it's the servant's food I want to come home when that attitude happened now you see the father running out to hold him and to embrace him and to kiss him and when the father when Jesus introduced the Holy Spirit to us I think the first time he actually called talked about the Holy Spirit in name I think it's in chapter 14 he says I will give you another comforter when Jesus was on earth Jesus says I'm your comforter come to me come here come here I'll comfort you he said I'm comforting you disciples for three and a half years I'm comforting you and he says now I'm going to leave your comforter is going to leave I'm going to send another comforter the Holy Spirit and he's going to comfort you he wants to hold you infants love that infants love to be nourished infants love to be held and we love to hold our infants I'm not sure who gets greater pleasure that's the wonderful relationship God and us can have where God gets as much pleasure out of holding us as we get being held by God John chapter 1 verse 18 who did God send to this earth to explain the father John chapter 1 verse 18 there's this beautiful picture about Jesus John chapter 1 verse 18 no one has seen God in any time the only begotten God who is who is in the lap of the father he's the one who explained him where is Jesus seated in the lap in is in the lap of the father J.B. Phillips says the son who lives in closest intimacy with the father there's that closest intimacy that Jesus has with the father he's the one who explains the father who's the one who's going to spread the message of Jesus to my children to my brothers in the church to my co-workers the one who lives in closest intimacy with the father the one who loves being held by the father this is a beautiful place to be this has been the place of rest that has it didn't always happen but when the Lord really got me to the end of myself and I came to the Lord and I said I want nothing I just I'm done I have nothing I've tried every avenue and it has not worked the Lord filled me again with the Holy Spirit in this way that he showed me God to be a God who holds me and he showed me the beautiful life of being held by God it's by far I think one of my most favorite things about God that I love to be held by him and you know as a man it may be a little bit of a challenge for you to for us to think about it and we have to grow in maturity but I absolutely believe that this is the rest that Jesus wants us to have all our lives he wants to calm us down and give us a peace that we can be held by him and that he will nourish us and that we will drink of his word it's a gift God gives us this revelation of who Jesus is a gift we can't do it but we can come to God as infants say Lord I don't want to know more and more of the intellectual ideas and the doctrine that has its place but Lord more than anything else let not a day go by where I'm not nourished by you I want something to nourish me it doesn't have to happen in the morning it doesn't have no afternoon it can happen any time of the day or night Lord Jesus nourish me and as based on whatever you give me to drink I want to take it in and these promises some of these promises are beyond my comprehension I want you I want to believe that it will be so rivers of living water from my innermost beings will happen and in that in between Lord as I come to you with my failures with my limitations hold me help me to get to this place of closest intimacy with you where I hear that I am yours and that you whisper that you are mine loved with everlasting love this is what will keep us calm day after day at rest I am yours you are mine and we can grow in that from one level of glory to another this is the glory that dwelt among us we have beheld that glory and I pray that the Lord will give us greater and greater revelations of who Jesus is and that will be the difference between the world that has been blinded by that and us who are infants who are becoming better and better infants to see the glory of Jesus may God help us