Richard Ellis Talks

Richard Ellis: You will never be free completely without the spirit of God. The scripture won't make sense, your life won't make sense. You have got to let God live in you and you've got to let him live through you or you are never truly going to live.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Richard Ellis Talks with Richard Ellis. Thanks for allowing us to share this time with you. You may be stuck in traffic or stuck in life. Either way, today’s message is going to help you get on the right track as you learn how much God loves you right where you are.

Richard’s unique style checks all the boxes, with a lot of hope, insight, truth, and of course, humor. Today’s talk with Richard will get our conversation started, but we want to keep it going with you. So let’s stay in touch through our website, richardellis.com. But right now, let’s go ahead and get right into today’s talk. Here is Richard Ellis.

Richard Ellis: The title of today’s message is "Oh, Say Can You See?" I want you to turn to Exodus chapter 34, and let’s pick up in verse 29. Moses has been up on the mountain with God. He’s seen God basically face to face, and he comes down with these tablets, these two tablets.

Verse 29 says, "Now it was so, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai, and the two tablets of the Testimony were in Moses’ hand when he came down from the mountain, that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him." While Moses was with God and talked with God, God’s presence was so real there and the glory of God was so incredible that literally, it’s like Moses went radioactive or something.

He starts glowing in the dark, as it were. He’s shining, literally shining from having been with God. So he comes down, the skin of his face is shining while he talked with Him. "So when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him." In a physical sense, if you saw somebody like this, it would scare you a little bit. Chemotherapy doesn’t do this to you; nothing does this to you.

Moses had been with God, and it had such a dramatic, not just spiritual effect, it was a literal, physical, facial effect that it had on him. "Then Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him; and Moses talked with them. Afterward, all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them as commandments all that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face."

Most of the women back in those days had a veil on their faces, but I think Moses figured out this was freaking people out so much that he covered his face. Now, you’ll see in a minute when we go to 2 Corinthians that that’s really not the only reason he did this. He had been with God, and this glory was reflecting on him literally. He was shining; he was lit up from being with God.

So when he was with God, he would uncover his face. "When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. But whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with Him, he would take the veil off until he came out; and he would come out and speak to the children of Israel whatever he had been commanded. And whenever the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone, then Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with Him."

He was self-conscious. He couldn't hide the glory of God. Now we’ll see in a minute that one of the reasons he kept using this veil on his face was because the glory started to fade. But there is another kind of glory that if you know somebody who is a believer, you can spot. I’ve seen people go from literally what the scripture says, darkness to light.

There are people you look at, and I’ve described this before, but there are people you look in their eyes, and if you know what I’m talking about, it could be drugs, it could be just that they are just out there. But people whose eyes are just gone. You see them, but it’s like if you jumped in their eyes, it would be an abyss you’d fall in because they are empty. There’s nothing going on in there.

The Bible says that your eyes are the windows of your soul, so you look at someone’s eyes and it gives you away. When you get filled with God and the glory of God lives in you and through you, it’s got to come out some way, and the eyes are a primary source of spotting who somebody is and what’s going on in their life.

So Moses is covering his face, uncovering it, and this will give you some background for 2 Corinthians. Flip over to 2 Corinthians chapter 3, and we’re going to start in chapter 3 at verse 7. The context here is it’s talking about the Old Testament, it’s talking about the law that was given, and that the law produced basically condemnation, produced death.

It worked, but it didn't work anything like the New Covenant, the New Testament does and would in the case of Moses when he got the law here. But let’s pick it up in verse 7 of 2 Corinthians chapter 3. And again, talking about the law, about the stones that came down. It says, "But if the ministry of death," it literally calls the Old Testament law the ministry of death, "written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away."

As awesome as that was, it passed away. "How will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?" You think Moses, if you think that was cool, you think that was great, you think that was awesome, that his face literally shone, that is one man who got to talk with God one time or a few times and it had an impact like that. That sounds great, but what about me?

Paul says here, if that was awesome, that all of us can experience this now, it is even more amazing. "How will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?" Now this indicates that it is a spiritual thing, not primarily a physical thing. There are physical things that will happen to you because of the glory of God living in you, but primarily it’s on the inside.

Verse 9: "For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels." Compared to what we know now and have now, that was nothing. But it’s all they had. It’s what Moses experienced, but back then it was a big deal. Now it’s like nothing compared to where we are.

Verse 11: "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—unlike 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."

Let me stop here and break this down a little bit for you. If you have, for instance, Jewish friends who do not believe in Messiah, Yeshua, Christ, the Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, they read the Old Testament. And you know what? He is all over the Old Testament. But because they have a veil on their eyes, if they don't believe in Christ, if they don't believe that he’s Messiah, they can't see.

They read the words, but they cannot see it. So if you’re witnessing to someone, trying to share with them about your faith and want them to see the glory of God in you and in themselves at some point, you’ve got to pray that God will lift the veil, literally, that God will take the veil away from their eyes so that they can see. They can't see. They don't get it. And it’s because the god of this world has blinded them.

Let’s read verse 14 one more time and keep going. "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. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless," this is huge, verse 16, "when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away."

I try to explain this to people. I talk to people about Christianity, try to share my faith with them, and they say, "Well, I’ve read the Bible, it doesn't make any sense to me." There’s a reason for that. You take this Bible, and we’ve talked about this before. I'm not going to do this, but you go to a Marilyn Manson concert, one of the things he does is take the Bible and just start ripping pages out of it.

And that freaks people out. It’s paper and ink. He isn’t doing anything to the Bible. It’s a book. I can rip a page out, light a fire with it; it's paper, it's ink. There’s nothing of intrinsic value here into people who look at this stuff. They see nothing. It means nothing apart from the Spirit of God in you, and it’s only when you believe in Christ that you can look at these words and go, "Oh my gosh, it’s like the veil came off, the blinders came off, and it makes sense."

And there are people that say, "I read the Bible, I don't get it." And I say, let me tell you something, if you get the Spirit that’s described here, you get the Holy Spirit of God who wrote this book living in you, it says here in verse 16, it all comes off. So then you open the Bible and you start reading, and it’s like the words jump off the page to people. They don't understand how it happens.

This is why. Because when you are dead spiritually and you don't have the Spirit of God living in you, these are just words on a page. Has anybody ever experienced this? If you do not have the Spirit of God living in you, it’s not going to make the sense that it makes to a believer. Let me read you 16 again. "Nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away." You want the Bible to make sense? Turn to the Lord.

Turn to Jesus. Say, "God, I’m tired of things not making sense. I want the book to make sense. I want my life to make sense." Now, verse 17: "Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." You may have the word freedom. There is no true freedom without the Spirit. You will never be free completely without the Spirit of God.

The law made an effort to drive it, it drove people, it broke people, it sent them to God. But when the Spirit of God, you will never be free completely without the Spirit of God. The scripture won't make sense, your life won't make sense. You have got to let God live in you and you’ve got to let him live through you or you are never truly going to live. The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, there is freedom.

And the Bible uses words like stronghold, bondage. People are locked up in sin, have all these problems they can't shake. You’re out of control. And people who have drug problems, sexual addictions, whatever it may be, alcohol, something you can't stop doing, gambling maybe is your deal. You say, "Well, I’ve got it under control. I can stop when I want to." Then why don't you? Because I don't want to.

Well, that’s always the pat answer. I could play the violin if I wanted to, I just don't want to. That sounds like an interesting statement, but let’s just do an experiment. Quit smoking for a month. Quit drinking for a month. Quit doing cocaine for a month. Quit gambling for a month. And see when you try, if it’s got you or if you’ve really got it. This stuff’s more powerful than you realize.

If you want to get free, it’s going to take the Spirit of God in you, living through you to do this. Verse 18: "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." You may have another translation. Let me read you NIV in that verse 18: "And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."

What does that mean? It’s like the sun. This is one of the best illustrations in the universe. If you go outside right now and look up at the sun, it’ll blind you, right? You can't take the glory literally of the sun. But if you look at the moon at night, you’re really seeing the sun off the moon, right? It’s the reflection of the sun diverted a little bit where you can stand to see that light.

It’s like looking at God through a mirror, he says, and day after day, the longer you do it, it gets more glorious, more glorious. And I observe this in people all the time. They get closer and closer to God, their life makes more and more sense, and it’s like they radiate Christ more and more and more and more. Look at chapter 4, verse 1.

"Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart." Now, we don't have the ministry back up in 2 Corinthians 3:7, the ministry of death. What do we have? We have the ministry of life. We have this ministry that God lives in us. It’s not about having temporary glory or some great thing just for a little while that fades and we have to cover up.

We’ve got him living in us. It’s almost hard to explain this stuff because it’s all we know. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit would come down on people—a king every once in a while, a prophet for a while—and then the mantle would be passed and he’d be gone. When you become a Christian today, it’s not like God around you hovering over you. He moves inside you.

You have the God of the universe. When you believe in Christ and let him change your heart and your life, the God of the universe moves inside your body. And he lives in you and through you. You have the power to live. You have an answer when you die. You’ve got everything you need. So he says, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart.

"But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, 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. But even if our gospel is veiled," he goes back to this veil thing and says, even if there are people out there who you speak the truth to and they just don't get it, they don't see it, "it is veiled to those who are perishing."

People who are dying spiritually and physically, eventually they’re going to die physically. It’s veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds—now, why are they blinded and why are they perishing? He’s given the answer in verse 4. "Whose minds the god of this age," who’s the god of this age? Satan, the devil. "Whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them."

It all comes down to this. It comes down to faith. And at some point, somewhere in somebody’s heart and in their life, deep down in the innermost part of their being, you’re sitting here today, you’re listening to this message today, and somewhere inside of you something stirs. And you hear it, and you think this is foolishness, but something about this makes sense and you take a step, not a leap, a simple step of faith.

And you say, "God, I don't know if you’re even out there, but something about this rings true and I believe that Jesus died on the cross, that he is God, that he was buried, that he was raised from the dead, that his blood somehow covers my sin. All this stuff is true, I believe it, and I'm going to trust you to make it work in my life," and you take a step.

It’s that fast and that simple. And your whole life changes. I’m not saying your whole life is better from now on, you’re rich, wealthy, everything works out, you don't have any problems. But all of a sudden God moves in you. He lives in you and through you, and you have understanding, you have insight, you have discernment, you have wisdom that you will not have apart from that.

But there are people out there whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe. Because if they believed, the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, would shine on them. Verse 5: "For we do not preach ourselves," Paul says, "but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake."

One of the things I absolutely love about Paul is he could have been, and I think was, one of the cockiest, most arrogant religious people on the planet before he got saved, before he became a Christian. He had credentials; he had the doctorates, every degree you could have, trained by the best, went to the best school. He was it. And God knocked him on his backside and flipped him upside down, and he came out a servant.

Our job is to be servants, is to be slaves, and to yield our lives, our hearts, our minds, everything we have, every day of our lives, and say, "Father, I’m no one without you. I got nothing. I got jack without Jesus. And I'm going to screw this day up, I’ve proven it too many times before today, and I don't want to do it again. So God, I’m coming humbly before you. I’m checking in, I’m showing up, I’m here. Don't come looking for me, I’m already here.

And I love you, I praise you, I thank you. Point out anything that’s got to go, point it out and I’ll let you have it. I’ll confess it, I’ll get it gone. God, I don't want to waste another day." And then you yield your members, your whole body, your lips, your eyes, everything about you, say, "Father, I’m yours, and I’ll go wherever you want me to go today. I’ll do whatever you want me to do today. You want me to change somebody’s tire? I’ll change their tire. You want me to go get groceries for somebody? I’ll go get groceries for somebody."

Whatever it is, God. We do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake. And let me just make this note about the bondservant. He said not Jesus’ bondservant here specifically; he said *your* bondservants. He made himself a servant to the Corinthians. He said, "We are your bondservants. We are willing to serve you, to literally lay our lives down for you, for Christ’s sake."

"For it is the God who commanded," look at verse 6, "For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness." Look at the parallel he makes here. He says we are talking to you about the same God when darkness covered the face of the deep in Genesis, it describes it. There is no light. And all of a sudden the God of the universe said, "Let there be light," and boom, the switch is thrown and the entire universe is filled with glory, with this light.

He says the same 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. That same God turned the lights on in your heart, inside of you, in your life, and now you can see the face of Christ, behold his glory, and you reflect his glory literally in your person.

Now, I’m talking about this and I’m reading it, but I’m telling you, I don't get it. I think if anybody in this room, any of us, really comprehended what it is to have the God of the universe living in our person, and the scripture describes us as the temple of the Holy Spirit. There was a building with curtains, veils, all this security basically where you couldn't even get into this little room, this Holy of Holies place where God dwelt and his presence was manifest in this Ark of the Covenant.

You couldn't even get in there, and if you got in there and you had sin in your life, he’d knock you down, you’d die. And that God who had all of that about that place said, "You know what? I’ll rip the veil from top to bottom when Jesus dies and I'm going to give you access. Not just that I'm going to give you access to me, I’m moving in you. I’m going to come live in your body every day, you can't get rid of me. Day and night, I’ll never leave you, never forsake you. I’m in you."

You have the power of the God of the universe living inside your body if you’re a believer. And I think the devil, most of his job is to not let us see who we really are and to trick us and to keep us distracted so we won't read, so we won't discover what it is God is in us and wants to do through us. Because if you figured out who you got living in you and you start praying like you can and asking God to do things he wants to do, the whole world would change just like that.

You have the same God living in you who spoke one word and it went from darkness to light just like that. You say, "Well, I’m afraid to ask God for something." Ask. He said ask, and according to his will you ask anything, it’ll happen. Just test him. Just try little things, start something little, then you can graduate to the big stuff.

It’s so simple but it is so profound. It’s like being in a room that is pitch dark, you can't see anything, and somebody says, "You know, there’s a light switch on the wall, I’ll take you over there and show you where it is. If you flip this, the light will come on and you’ll be able to see." And you say, "Well, I don't believe in that. I’ve never seen electricity, nobody has, I’m not going to believe that."

At some point, you’re going to live in the dark or you’re going to flip the switch. Faith flips the switch and says, "Okay God, I’ll take the step. I’ll trust you that you exist, you are and you’re a rewarder of those who diligently seek you. I’m looking for you, you’re looking for me, let’s do this thing." And it’s a prayer away.

"God, I’m a sinner, I’ve screwed up, I need your forgiveness, come live in me, through me, forgive me, take all this junk out of my life and show me how to live. I’ve screwed it up, you’ve got a plan, let’s work your plan." Acts 26:16. This is where Paul is instructed what he’s supposed to do. Flip just a few pages back to the left to Acts 26. I’ll read three verses.

This is where Paul gets knocked on his backside basically and God says, "You’re mine." Acts 26:16 says to Paul, "But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose," there is a purpose, there is a reason, "to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you."

Guaranteed protection. I will deliver you from all that. "But this is what you’re going to do, Paul. This is what your goal is, this is your mission: To open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light." Now, look at verse 18 close. The first clause, the purpose is to open their eyes. When their eyes are opened, three things happen. Look what happens.

They’re turned from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to the power of God, and that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me. When their eyes are opened, then boom, like that, they’re turned from darkness to light. They’re turned from the power of Satan to the power of God, and they receive the forgiveness of sins.

Package deal. But it happens when your eyes are opened. Now the question is: Oh, say can you see? And see, if you can see, then sooner or later you’re going to say you can see, and somebody’s going to see that you can see and they’re going to want to know why you can see. Because they’re going to see that you can see and want to see what you see. And you say, "Oh, I see."

One more passage. Ephesians chapter 1. Keep going to the right. Ephesians 1, verse 15. And Paul wrote this as well. Verse 15, he says, "Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers." And this is what he says I pray for you: "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him."

There is a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. "The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come."

He says, "I’m praying that your eyes will be opened and you will see what you’ve got." You obviously don't know what you’ve got. Because if you knew that you had the same power living in you that raised Jesus from the dead, you’d ask, you’d believe, you’d live. He prays the eyes of your understanding will be enlightened that you’ll be able to see, that you’ll know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of the inheritance you have coming, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe.

He’s got the power, and you’ve got the power living in you if you claim and you do know him, and he can do anything. But you’ve got to see this stuff. Oh, say can you see? And if you can’t, then ask him for something. I’m telling you, I’m living proof that there’s more to being a Christian than living and dying and just existing. All these things that he promised between here and heaven are possible.

But it’s going to take you taking a step of faith and believing and asking. Ask him to open your eyes. "God, show me what it is that’s going on. Show me where the devil’s deceiving me. Show me where my life is being stolen right out from under my eyes. My marriage, my children, my home. God, don't let this happen anymore. Show me what’s going on."

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