Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 3. 2 Corinthians chapter
3. I'd like to look at verses 7
to the end of the chapter, verse 18. Coming up to this portion that
we're going to look at, the Apostle Paul, in those first six verses
that we considered last time, had set forth to the church at
Corinth that God's preachers do not need letters of commendation
from men to set forth the authority that they have from God. The epistles of commendation
for God's preachers was actually set forth in their calling. And the evidence of that calling
are the believers. But the Spirit of God is pleased
to call out of darkness. And those believers, the sheep,
they are the epistles from God that are read of all men. So men and women saved by the
grace of God through the preaching of the gospel, they are God's
They are God's letter of authority, and God's preachers need nothing
else. And he said in verse 6, who hath
made, that is the Lord himself, who hath made us able ministers
of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter killeth, but the
spirit giveth life. The apostle Paul said this, that
the Lord called us. The Lord taught us. The Lord qualified us, making
us ministers to preach the gospel and therefore salvation through
the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, we're not ministers.
of the written law, we don't preach the law for salvation,
but of the spirit of the gospel, Christ himself, the hope of glory. He said the law kills, but the
gospel blessed by the Holy Spirit makes alive. Now, having said
that the letter killeth, what does that mean, the letter killeth? It means that the letter of the
law, and the law is holy, the law is just, the law is good,
it is the expression of God's character, God's heart, God's
holiness. Do and live. The Lord came to
fulfill that law. He didn't come to put it away,
to eliminate it. The law is good. We love God's
law. Like I said, you just start looking
at the law of God. What part of the law of God does
a believer not love? Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, mind, soul. What part of that's not
good? Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt
not steal. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not covet. What part of that's not good?
The law is good, but here's the problem. The law makes no provision
for mercy. What does it do? It declares
God's demand for righteousness and reveals, therefore, the inability
of man to accomplish that which God has demanded. Therefore,
it sets forth for disobedience the penalty, death. Paul is going to set forth in
these scriptures that we're going to look at, the blessed difference
between that ministration of death. We're going to read that
and you're going to see that, the ministration of death. He's
talking about the declaration of God in His law. That's what he's talking about.
The declaration of the law of God. And how much better is that
ministration of the Spirit That is the fulfillment of the law
by the Lord Jesus Christ, the preaching of the gospel. So what
I want to do, and I have truly, and I've asked. You know, we
looked a few weeks ago when the Lord was talking about praying.
Seeking, asking, knocking. I have asked the Lord, I want
to take this passage of scripture and set it forth as plainly as
I possibly can. There's a true blessing here.
And the setting forth of this glorious passage of scripture
gives a believer some hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's
what I want to do. That's what God calls his preachers
to do, to take the scriptures, to study them, to seek the Lord's
guidance and direction, and to set forth the sense. What do they mean? What are they
saying? Just teach God's people. What is God setting forth? I need to hear this. I need to
hear it. So let's look at this. Starting in verse 7, 7 and 8,
we'll go through the end of the chapter. Paul says, but if the
ministration of death, and I just told that, ministration, that
declaration of God's word in the law, But if the ministration
of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that
the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face
of Moses for the glory of his countenance, which glory was
to be done away, how shall not the ministration of the spirit,
that is, the preaching of the gospel, be rather glorious? Now, if the ministration of death
that if the word of God that was given in the Old Testament,
dispensation, that during the time of Moses, that time whenever
the word of the Lord was written and engraven in stones, if that
was set forth to be glorious, it was glorious, what did it
do? Well, it revealed sin. The law set forth what it is
to disobey God. And it set forth the curse of
God for disobeying that law. How would we ever know it if
God hadn't told it? It clearly declared man's responsibility
for righteousness if he kept that law. And if he kept that
law in word, in thought, in deed, that man was righteous before
God. Let men say what they will. What
does it take to be righteous before God? Obedience. Obedience. That's glorious. How would we
know that? But if he kept that law, It set
forth that God be pleased with him if he could do it. And that
law, when it was given, it was given in splendor. Hold your place and turn with
me to Exodus 19. Exodus chapter 19. Exodus 19, when that law was
given, I mean the magnificence. Exodus chapter 19, let's start
looking verse 16 and read through verse 20. This is how the law
was given. It came to pass on the third
day in the morning that there were thunders and lightnings
and thick cloud upon the mountain, the voice of the trumpet exceeding
loud, so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. And Moses brought forth the people
out of the camp to meet with God. And they stood at the nether
part of the mount. They stood at the lowest part
of the mount. And Mount Sinai was altogether
on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire. And the smoke thereof ascended
as the smoke of a furnace. And the whole mount quaked greatly. And when the voice of the trumpet
sounded long, and waxed louder and louder. Moses spake, and
God answered him by a voice. And the Lord came down upon Mount
Sinai on the top of the mount, and the Lord called Moses up
to the top of the mount, and Moses went up. When that law
was given, there was fire and thunder and earthquakes, and
the trumpet The trumpet was sounded and it got louder and louder
and louder and God would speak in a voice, it said, and Moses
would answer. Moses was with the people and
God was speaking in a voice that the people could hear. And God
was giving Moses instruction. And Moses was speaking back to
him. And there was a conversation
going on and the people heard it. And God called him up into
that mountain. Now, I'm going to tell you something.
That was glorious. And Moses went up into that mountain
and God wrote the Ten Commandments with His finger in two tables
of stone. That was glorious. But that law that Moses received,
again it gave no strength to man to accomplish its demands. Those laws it revealed, again
God's holiness, but it showed man, you can't obey. All the law could do were a man
was pronounced him guilty. and therefore he's miserable. But that law was glorious. It
was glorious. It was glorious in that God Himself
came down and met with man. God Himself, in the glorious
demands of that law, set forth that He was pleased to meet with
man and declare his majesty. That's glorious. That law was
glorious in the fact that it and it alone was God's schoolmaster
to bring men to the Lord Jesus Christ. It pointed man to the
only hope that man had Galatians 3.24, wherefore the law was our
schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified
by faith. That's glorious. Nothing you
can say about God's law is not glorious. The giving of it, the
essence of it, it was glorious. And the giving of the law by
God through Moses was so glorious The people, the scripture says,
were not able to look steadily at the face of Moses because
of the brilliance that shone upon his face. He had to wear
a veil. Hold your place in 2 Corinthians.
Again, turn over to Exodus 34. Exodus 34, verse 29. Exodus 34,
29. It came to pass when Moses came
down from the Mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in
Moses' hand, when he came down from the Mount that Moses whisked
nigh. He didn't know that the skin
of his face shone while he talked with him, when the Lord talked
with him. And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw
Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid
to come nigh him. And Moses called unto them Aaron
and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him, and Moses
talked with him. And afterward, all the children of Israel came
nigh, and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken
with him in Mount Sinai. And until Moses had done speaking
with them, he put a veil on his face. But when Moses went in
for the Lord to speak with him, he took the veil off until he
came out. And he came out and spake to the children of Israel,
He was commanded, and the children of Israel saw the face of Moses,
that the skin of Moses' face shone, and Moses put the veil
upon his face again until he went in to speak with him. So there was a magnificence. I mean, that law, given the way
it was given, Moses went up, got those two tables of stone,
God wrote, his finger came down, his face was shining, Moses had
to put a veil over his face, but that veil revealed something
of dire consequences concerning the people. The veil was for
a picture of the blindness of the Jews to see Christ's glory
in the law. You're going to see that. A few
verses, I'm going to show you that. The law revealed God's
demand for righteousness. But that glory that was given
of that law, it was the glorious picture and type of Christ in
shadows, shadowed pictures, but they couldn't see Him. There was God's demand for righteousness. There were the types and figures
and all of the furniture in the law, in the tabernacle, they
all set forth the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, but they couldn't
see that. They saw the pictures, they saw
the types, they saw the shadows, but when Moses would come down,
it was a glorious setting forth. of the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ, who alone could fulfill that law. But the people, they
couldn't see it, and Moses' face was veiled. So Paul says back
in 2 Corinthians 3, verse 8, he said, well, how shall not
the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious? If that glory that was given
in the law, If that glory was so magnificent, given in such
splendor, such that even God speaking to Moses, his face would
shine, but God would have him put a veil over that face. If
that was glorious, how shall not the ministration of the Spirit,
how shall not the revelation of what was being pictured, how
shall not the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ be rather Yes, yes,
yes. The ministration of death, that
law which revealed the majesty of God, that was glorious. Oh, but that which is said to
be more glorious is that ministration of the Spirit, the Gospel. Christ
revealed, that which reveals the glory of God in the Savior
of His people, the one who honored that law. every jot and every
tittle, that gospel that set forth the Lord Jesus by the Holy
Spirit's blessing to the hearts of His people, calling them out
of darkness, that's more glorious. Paul said, look at verse 9, for
if the ministration of condemnation, he's saying the same thing again,
if the ministration of condemnation, the law be glory, much more doth
the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. Paul saying
the same thing, he says, now if the law is glorious, God's
setting forth of his glory and his demand for righteousness,
his son set forth in pictures and types and shadow, but veiled
concerning his finished work. If that right there is glorious,
as we have observed, how much more glorious. If that ministration,
the law, which sets forth by the works of the law, no flesh
is going to be justified. And God said if it can't forgive,
if it can't cleanse, if it offers no hope to every man born in
Adam, if that's glorious, and it is. Like I said, boy, when
we talk about the law of God, it's just, and I'm guilty, I'm
as guilty as anybody. First thing that pops in your
mind is the law. You know, that's just hard. No, let me tell you
something. The law is wonderful. God's law
is wonderful. But if that is glorious, Paul
says consider how much more glorious. is the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ that we preach right here. Even when we set forth the types
and figures, and I love the Old Testament types and figures,
but what the Jews could not see, it was veiled to them. We see
clearly, we see it with an open face, that message that proclaims
how God can be just and justify. Every time that lamb was brought
in, and that priest would have that sacrifice and they'd sacrifice
thousands and thousands and thousands of animals and all the blood
of the bulls and the goats and every time, the people, they
saw that, they saw it, but they didn't see Christ in it. They
didn't see, but now, we see, we look back and we see it. The
veil's taken off. So it's set forth in verse 10,
for even that which was made glorious, that is the law, had
no glory in this respect by reason of the glory that exceedeth.
Even so then, the glory of the law, which truly had its excellency
displayed, given with those lightning, fire, earthquake, you know, it
was, when God gave it the sound of that trumpet, God speaking,
Moses speaking, and you know, yet, when compared to the gospel,
the gospel that speaks of Christ and Him crucified. Christ, the
only begotten Son, that gospel that declares the glory of God
in the face of our blessed Savior. The law, comparatively speaking,
Paul says, has no glory. Why? Because the law revealed
man's duty for righteousness. and his wrath against failure. And that's glorious. But the
gospel is the revelation of duty done in the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And it sets forth God's mercy
and grace to hail deserving sinners in the Savior of sinners. The remission of their sins and
eternal life given them according to God's everlasting covenant
of grace. If we had only the law and God's
demand. I know how people like to take
the Ten Commandments and put it up on walls in schools and
stuff like that, you know. We hold to the Ten Commandments.
We love those Ten Commandments. We love them. But I'm telling
you that nobody ever born in Adam's ever kept them. All those
Ten Commandments do, you put that up on the wall, you look
at that right there, and you leave me to myself, and I'm going
to tell you, you know what I'm saying to me? I'm hopelessly
lost. I don't have any hope. And that
law is glorious. Oh, but the Gospel. Oh, the revelation
of God Almighty sending His only begotten Son into this world.
And every point of that law, obedient, obedient, and fulfilling
on the behalf of his people. Now that's more glorious, Paul
said. Look at verse 11. For if that which was done away
was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.
If that which was temporary, is what he was saying. and how
thankful for these words from the cross of our blessed Savior.
Now listen to this. It is finished. It's finished. If that which was temporary in
passing, not that God's law ever passes away, But for righteousness
before God, for all of God's elect, it's finished. It's finished. Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness to them that believe. Do we love
God's law? Yes. Do we admit it's glorious? Yes. Can we keep it? No. What's
more glorious? He kept it. He kept it for His
people. That's more glorious. If that
which was fading away, that which came with splendor, that which
was done away by the Lord Jesus, if that was glorious, how much
more is the ministration of the Spirit, the gospel message that
remains forever. Look at verse 12. Seeing then
that we have such hope, we use great plainness, of speech. Paul says we're bold. We're bold
in this proclamation. See, we have such hope. It doesn't have anything to do
with uncertainty, like I hope we're going to be alright, or
instability, but it means a confident expectation. You know what's
glorious to a believer? It's to know that every demand
for righteousness before God, for acceptance with Him, has
been fulfilled in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
my question to me, my question to you would be, what confidence,
what hope? We have this hope. What confidence
does any man, any woman have that they have a part in that?
What is it? You believe God. You believe
God. He that believeth. Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. Not that He exists, but to cast
all your care upon Him. All your hope, all your trust.
Lord, I can't keep that law. Lord, not by works of righteousness
that I've done. according to your mercy, you
say, that's more glorious. Paul said. That's a confident
expectation that is grounded on God's Word only, and it's
revealed only through the preaching of the Gospel. It's a hope that
gives Almighty God all the glory, all the honor, and all the praise. Seeing that we have such hope,
We use plainness. We use boldness. We're not ashamed
to preach the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace to men
and women. We don't hide anything that God
has proclaimed. We don't mince words. It's the
only message that God is going to bless to the salvation of
sinners. So therefore, Paul says, we preach
Fearlessly, we set forth God's gospel. Verse 13, And not as
Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of
Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which
is abolished. And now, Paul was not saying
anything in a contrary way concerning the character of the ministry. of Moses. He was speaking concerning
the nature of Moses' ministry. Paul was saying that the ministry
of Moses, which was set forth and founded in the setting forth
of types and pictures and shadows of Christ, was a ministry that
actually veiled the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ in all
of its ceremonies. Moses was preaching the same
Gospel that Paul preached. Listen, it wasn't that Moses
wasn't preaching the Gospel. Moses wasn't preaching salvation
by works. It was veiled to its brightness. It was veiled as far as its illumination
or its revelation. Moses preached the Gospel, but
he preached it according to God's calling. God called him and gave
him that message. He preached it in parables and
he communicated the truth according to God's direction. Listen to
the words of the Lord. John 5.46, Had you believed Moses,
you would have believed Me, for he wrote of Me. You think Moses
saw the Lord Jesus Christ in those pictures and shadows and
types and that law and all those things? You think he saw Christ
in that showbread? You think he saw the Lord Jesus
Christ in that high priest that went in once a year, sprinkling
the blood on the mercy seat? You think he saw the Lord Jesus
Christ on those stones, all of His people on His heart, bearing
His heart? You think Moses saw that? Yeah. But the Jews, by
and large, didn't. They were veiled. So Moses put
that veil on his face for telling. The blindness of the Jews, by
and large, they shut their eyes to the truth. And they wouldn't
see. They would not see. That's man's
condemnation now. Do we preach the gospel freely
and boldly? Do we set forth the glory of
the Lord Jesus Christ truthfully? Why do men not believe? Because
they don't want to. They don't want to. I will not
have that man to rule over me. Moses set forth Christ to be
the end of the law for righteousness. But he had that veil that God
put on him. God put that there. He set forth the truth of the
gospel, but they didn't see it. Not as Moses, Paul said. with plainness of speech, not
as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of
Israel could not steadfastly look to the end. They couldn't
see the end. They couldn't see Christ, that
which was abolished. So they couldn't see Christ to
be the end of the law. They couldn't see him putting
away the ceremonies Moses' veil was declaring. Christ's glory
is found in this law, in its fulfillment. in the satisfying
of the Father. Now like I said, when that lamb
came and that priest slit that lamb or that bullet's throat,
you know what he was saying? Christ laid down His life for
the sheep. That's what he said. On that
day of atonement, when that high priest put his hands on that
goat, Two goats came and he put his hands on one of them. What
was he saying? Christ was made for sin. There was a transference
in symbolism. Symbolism. They didn't see it. They didn't see it. You won't
see it. That's what he said. But Paul
says we don't preach like that. We don't preach. We use great
plainness of speech concerning those Jews who would not look
to the Lord. as the end of the law for righteousness.
They'd rather look to themselves and found comfort in their works
and in their ceremonies, in their law, in their keeping of the
law. Verse 14-15, But their minds
were blinded, for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken
away in the reading of the Old Testament, which veil was done
away in Christ. But even until this day, when
Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. To this day, the veil remains
to all who keep to hold to the keeping of the law for righteousness,
to all who look to themselves, to all that look to their deeds,
their works of righteousness, They read the Old Testament Scriptures
and they hold to its rules and regulations for righteousness
before God. That's man's condemnation right
now. You hear the Gospel and there,
but for the grace of God, there's a veil. You can't see. They can't see. Paul said in
verse 16, nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the
veil shall be taken away. How can that veil be removed? How can that veil be removed?
Does man have an ability? That veil can only be removed
by the Spirit of God through the preaching of the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And when that veil, and again,
that's man by nature, Until God opens a man or a woman's heart,
what do they see but their works as being their acceptance with
God? That's what they see. That's
what they see. All I've got to do is ABC. There's a veil. Oh, but when
that veil is removed, the Scriptures appear now to open up and they
absolutely agree with the gospel. Have you ever noticed, it doesn't
matter if I'm preaching out of 2 Corinthians 3, or Exodus 7,
or Deuteronomy 9, it's the same message every time. The same message. All now set
forth. All the shadows, if I'm setting
forth, if I go back to the Old Testament, and I'm going to preach
on the ark of Noah. How long do you think it's going
to take me to get to that ark being a picture of Christ? And
all of those that were inside that ark were shielded, secure
from the judgment that fell on the ark. God is just. How long do you think it's going
to take me, if we talk about the Red Sea being divided and
safe passage for the children of Israel, how long do you think
it's going to take me to set forth the Lord Jesus Christ's
broken body that He was opened up, His side opened. How long
do you think it's going to take me to set forth that smitten
rock in the Old Testament that the water came through that Moses
was told to the second time? He said, you smite it one time.
Next time, what did God tell him to do? You speak to it. Speak
to it. How long do you think it's going
to take me to set forth the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ high
and lifted up in the brazen serpent. Right now, all of that, the veil
is gone. And now we see it, we see Christ
now. Moses spoke of me, that's what
the Lord said. Verse 17, now the Lord is that
spirit. And where the spirit of the Lord
is, there is liberty. The Lord to whom the heart is
turned, When that veil is removed, He is the Lord of glory. He's the blessed Messiah, the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He is the Lord,
Jesus Christ. He is the fulfiller of the law. The law without Him is the ministration
of death, written and engraved in stones, but when God writes
His law, of love in Christ on the heart. Give them a new heart.
Say, I'm gonna write on your heart. I'm gonna be your God. You'll
be my people. When that law has been set forth
as having been fulfilled, written on the heart of that believer,
made new in Christ, there's liberty. There's freedom. There's liberty. from our former blindness, there's
liberty from guilt and bondage of sin, there's liberty from
fear of judgment by the law, there's liberty from hell, there's
liberty to the throne of grace in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is our salvation. Verse 18, but we all, with open
face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed
into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit
of the Lord. The Jews, they saw the glory
of the Lord. They saw it. They saw it in a
cloud. They saw it in a tabernacle. They saw it in all that furniture.
They saw it in those priests who ministered daily in that
tabernacle. But they didn't see the Lord
Jesus Christ. as the fulfiller. That's why
they hold, even today, to the old law. They keep the Passover. They still do that now. They
still, you know. And a believer says, Christ is
my Passover. I believe Him. But we all, believers
in the Lord Jesus Christ with open face, we see clearly the
Lord Jesus beholding the glory of Christ in the Gospel. And
looking and seeing Him in the Gospel by faith. That look that
is a look not without effect. You know, the Spirit blesses
that message of the truth and we mature and we grow in grace
and in the knowledge. of our Lord and Savior. You're not hearing something
preached right now that you've never heard before. You're hearing
the same message. But isn't it amazing how it just
solidifies? There's an effect that is wrought
in God's people. There's an amazing experience.
I don't like that word really, but it's a good word. Something
is happening. It's taking place. in those who
know Him. They hear the truth and they're
being kept by the power of God through faith. And it just settles
them down and they can just take another breath and just say,
but for the grace of God, where would I have been? Oh God, have
mercy upon us. Lord, thank You for not leaving
us to ourselves, to look to the ministration of death, the keeping
of the law, thinking that we would be able to satisfy God
by doing something. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Paul said that's more glorious.
I pray God bless this to our hearts for Christ's sake. Amen.