All right, brethren, let's go
to 2 Corinthians 3. I want to tell you how this message
came about. I'm preaching something I've
preached before, and it bears repeating, but I'll tell you
how this came about. I was speaking with a brother
who has somebody that has spoken to them and who believes we should be preaching
the law and really preaching strongly, preaching the law strongly. It got me to thinking about this
passage. The more I heard this and the
more I spoke with this brother about this, the more I thought
of this chapter. Paul says here, the Spirit of
God gives Paul this word. It said in verse 6, God hath
made us able ministers of the New Testament. You see that? We're to preach the New Covenant,
the New Testament. The New Testament is Christ. He is the covenant. We saw that
in Isaiah 49. He's the messenger of the covenant. He said, he's given, God the
Father said, I've given thee for a covenant to open the blind
eyes. He's the messenger, he's the
one that comes as the prophet and makes the word effectual
in the heart. And it's Christ who fulfilled every promise in
the covenant. So that, as Paul said in chapter
one here, in 2 Corinthians one, he said, all the promises of
God are in him, yes, and in him, amen, to the glory of God. And
this is what Paul says here, he's made us able ministers of
the New Testament, to preach Christ, the covenant, to preach
how that Christ is the messenger of the covenant, how Christ is
the worker of the covenant so that all the promises of God
are assured. This is what God's made us able ministers of. We've
seen this in Isaiah too. If we go to Isaiah, we started
in Isaiah 40 this time going through Isaiah. And if you break
those up into sermons, you can kind of see some divisions where
Isaiah would preach, then he'd preach another sermon, then he'd
preach another one. And if you go through those and
look at them, Isaiah just says the same thing over and over
and over. And it's all concerning the Lord
Jesus Christ. all concerning Him. The Lord's
made His ministers, ministers of the new covenant of Christ
Jesus the Lord. Now look down at verse 18. Here's
how He does this work. In verse 18, 2 Corinthians 3.18,
He says, We all with open face beholding as in a glass. We're
going to see here Moses had the veil on his face and this is
speaking of before the Lord gave the spirit, before men had spiritual
discernment like they do in this gospel age. He said, we with
open face, open face. And what do we behold? We behold
the glory of the Lord. This is the glory we're talking
about here, is the glory of the Lord. He says in chapter five,
God, verse six, God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness
has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So the spirit
of the Lord makes you behold clearly, not with a veil, behold
clearly. the Lord Jesus, and it's Him
we behold, behold His glory. And what happens? We're changed
into the same image, created in the image of the Lord Jesus
Christ in this new man, in the new heart. And He translates
us from glory to glory, from the glory of the old covenant
to the glory of this new covenant. And we're going to see the glory
that old covenant had, it had glory. And what it was supposed
to do and what it did. Now he's translated you to the
glory of the new covenant. You're not under the law, you're
under grace. This is the difference here.
Not under the law, you're under grace. Most people preach that
as meaning you change in his image and then you grow from
one degree of holiness to another degree of holiness. That's not
what he's saying at all. We're going to see that in the
context. I want you to stay with me now. We're going to see the
context is not that at all. The glory is the glory of the
old covenant, the glory of the new covenant. And all of this
is by the Spirit of the Lord. It's all by the Lord working
in Spirit and power doing this work. The context is telling us we're
saved from the glory of the Old Covenant to the glory of the
New. And that's what He's made His preachers to be, preachers
of the New Covenant, preachers of grace, preachers of Christ,
preachers of what He's accomplished for His people. Now, what is
the Old Covenant? Before we get into our text,
let me ask you, what's the Old Covenant? Well, the Old Covenant
is the law. It's the law, given at Mount
Sinai, written, engraven on stones. God engraved it on stones. And
you don't divide the law. Men divide the law into the moral
law and the ceremonial law, the civil law, and the reason they
do this is so they can say, oh, we're not under the ceremonial
law, but we're still under the moral law. The law is one law. But specifically here, he's talking
about the law that killed us, the law that condemned us, and
that's the moral law. And he's saying he saved us from
the glory of that old law to the glory of this new covenant
of grace. That's what we're talking about. And the new covenant,
this is the everlasting covenant of grace. It was between the
three persons of the Godhead, you and I didn't contribute to
it. And it's all of God. Every bit of it's of God. Ordered
and sure in Christ from the foundation of the world. And this is the
law that God writes on the heart. It's the law he writes on the
heart. It includes the law of faith,
the law of love, it's called the law of liberty, the law of
righteousness, it's called the law of Christ, it's the gospel,
it's the everlasting covenant of grace. The glory of the new
covenant is the Lord Jesus himself. Now, let's go back up to verse
one. 2 Corinthians 3.1. Paul says, do we begin again
to commend ourselves? He's saying, do we have to convince
you we're preachers of the gospel? He said, need we as some epistles
of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? There
are churches where if you move from one place to another, you
have to carry a letter with you and give a letter of recommendation
to that other church. Paul said, do we need that? We
don't need that. Why? He said, you are our epistle,
written in our hearts, known and read of all men. Our hearts
is written in the preacher's heart, it's written in the people's
heart, it's the epistle. Now, how did this epistle become
written? He said, for as much as you're
manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ, ministered
by us, used of God, we preach the gospel, ministered by Christ,
and he says, written not with ink, but with the spirit of the
living God, not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables
of the heart. And such trust have we through
Christ to God. We trust Christ is able to do
this work, that he has done it in his people that he's already
called, and he's able to do it in those he shall call. Not that
we're sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves. You see, I could sit up here
and whip you with the law and preach the law all day long,
and I might constrain you to do something outwardly, but I
can't make any man hear that law. and I can't make, I can
preach the gospel, and I can't make anybody hear the gospel.
Where's our sufficiency? Our sufficiency is of God. He's
the one that makes this word effectual. who also 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. And I want to show you here,
God makes his preacher preachers of the New Testament. That's
what he does. Far more glorious than the Old
Testament. And we're gonna see how much
more glorious it is. And I wanna show you three ways
Paul shows us that it's more glorious. It's more glorious
in where it's written. It's more glorious, this New
Testament's more glorious in what is ministered to us. And number three, it's more glorious
in the duration of it. in the direct, so let's see these
three. This new covenant of grace is more glorious than the old
covenant because of where it is written, where it's written. Verse three, he said, you're
manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ. There's the
first thing, it's Christ who wrote this epistle, who wrote
this letter of this law, he wrote this law, and where did he write
it? Not it with ink, It was written with the spirit of the living
God, not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the
heart. Now the law, the old covenant
law couldn't do this. It never did this. It was written
on stones. God wrote it on stones and gave
it to Moses. You go over there and read, and
I don't know how the Lord got all that law on the front and
back of those stones, but he did. It's more than just the
Ten Commandments. You go read it. He wrote all
that on the stones, as far as I can tell. I do know there was
some written in a book, written with ink in a book, and Moses
was told to put it in the side of the ark. And then he was told
to take those stones and put them in the ark. Why was that? That ark is Christ. The Lord
Jesus said, thy law, O God, is within my heart. I came to do
thy will, O God. And the Hebrew writer said, by
the witch will we are sanctified by his offering, by what he did,
by him fulfilling the law. But you see here, this law was
written on stones. Now, let me repeat this, because
most believe that we're not under the ceremonial law as believers,
but we're still under the moral law. Well, what law was it that condemned
us? What law was it that killed us?
It was that Paul said, the law said, thou shalt not covet. That's
part of the moral law, the Ten Commandments. That's what he's
speaking about right here. But this new covenant of grace
It's not writing the Ten Commandments on your heart. You already had
that on your heart. Let me show you that, Romans
2. Go back with me to Romans chapter 2. Look here. Romans 2. He says in verse 26, If the uncircumcision keep the
righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted
for circumcision? He's just saying, if the Gentiles,
who didn't have the law, if they kept the law, they'd be righteous
by the law. And shall not uncircumcision,
which is by nature, if it fulfill the law, judge thee, who by the
letter and circumcision does transgress the law? He says, Look back up at verse 15. Here's
what I want you to see. Verse 14, when the Gentiles which
have not the law do by nature the things contained in the law.
These having not the law are law unto themselves which show
the work of the law written in their hearts. their conscience
also bearing witness in their thoughts, and meanwhile accusing
or else excusing one another. You see, the Gentiles didn't
have the written law. They didn't have it written on
stones like the Israelites did, and yet he said they have it
on their hearts. So we have that law written on
our hearts already. So it's not that law God's writing
on the heart. He's writing a law we didn't
know on our hearts, a new law. He's writing the law of the covenant
of grace on our hearts. He does write that law on your
heart in the sense that he makes you hear that law, makes you
hear the moral law, makes you hear it condemn you. But he's
writing the law of grace and the law of faith, the law of
love, the law of liberty, the law of Christ. He's writing this
everlasting covenant on our heart. Look at Hebrews 8, Hebrews chapter
8, verse 6. He said, now Christ
has obtained a more excellent ministry. Everything excels about
this new covenant. He's obtained a more excellent
ministry by how much also he's the mediator of a better covenant
established upon better promises. For if that first covenant had
been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the
second, for finding fault with them. It wasn't the law's fault,
it was sinners' fault. He said, finding fault with them.
He said, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I'll make
a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house
of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their
fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them
out of the land of Egypt, because they continue not in my covenant.
And I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant
I'll make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord.
I will put my laws into their mind and write them in their
hearts. And I will be to them a God and
they shall be to me a people. And the next word says, and they'll
all know me because I'm going to teach all my children this.
from the least to the greatest. And he says, verse 12, for I'll
be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more. And that he saith a new covenant,
he's made the first old, now that which decayeth and waxeth
old is ready to vanish away. So this new covenant excels the
old in that first of all, it's a new covenant and it's written
on the heart. It's in spirit. Now, let's see
what it ministers. Let's see how it excels in what
it ministers to us. Look here in verse six, 2 Corinthians
3.6. Both of them have glory, because
both minister something to us. But let's see what this new covenant
ministers to us. Verse six, he said he made us
able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter. but of the
spirit. You see, this is written on the
heart and spirit. For the letter killeth. That's
what it ministered to us. It ministered death to us. The
letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. Paul, you know here
he's not talking about the moral law giving you life, because
Paul said if there had been a law which could have given life,
Righteousness would have come by the law. But this is life
given, and that life is the Lord Jesus. This is what's ministered
to us, life, spiritual life, eternal life, life forever. The old covenant law, verse seven,
is the ministration of death. It ministers death. If the ministration
of death, that's what it's called, it ministered death, it declared
us guilty, it killed us. Written and engraved in stones.
That shows you he's talking about the moral law. It was glorious
so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold
the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance. But look
here now at verse eight. How shall not the ministration
of the Spirit be rather glorious? It's a new spirit he gives you.
The old law gave you death, it killed you, showed you that you
were guilty, and slew you. The new covenant gives you life,
a new spirit. Look here in verse 9, the ministration
of condemnation. It was glorious, but for this
reason it ministered condemnation to you. That's what God gave
the law at Sinai for. The law entered in, why? That
the offense might abound. That you might see how great
a sinner you are. That's what it came for. It condemned
us. The new covenant of grace, look
here now. much more that the ministration
of righteousness exceed in glory." Through this gospel, Christ ministers
righteousness to us. Which one do you want? You'd
have to be blind, you'd have to just be foolish to want the old covenant
because it's going to minister death to you and condemnation
to you. This new covenant is ministering
righteousness to you. It's coming to you and saying
the work is finished. It's coming to you and saying
Christ did it all. He fulfilled it all. Men who preach the letter always
use it to condemn others. and excuse themselves. That's
what Paul said in Romans 2. It accuses and excuses. That's
what they use it for. And Paul said in Galatians, he
said, those that constrain you, they do it that they might glory
in your flesh, lest they be persecuted for preaching the gospel of Christ.
So if they preach this gospel, they're going to be persecuted
because they're telling sinners they can't keep the law. They're
telling sinners what this law ministers to you is death. It
kills you. And so they'll be persecuted
for that. And he said, besides that, they want a glory in what
they constrain you to do. But they're not keeping it either,
he said. No man has but one. That's the God-man mediator,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the spirit, verse six, giveth
life and ministers righteousness. Christ said it's the spirit that
quickeneth, the flesh profits nothing. The words I speak unto
you, their spirit and their life. He gives discernment to hear
what that law says. That's how we hear the law and
how it kills us. Paul was on that road, he was
going to kill God's people because they were preaching that Christ
has delivered us from the law. So he was going to kill them.
That was a real law-abiding thing, wasn't it? To go kill God's saints
because they're preaching the gospel? And yet, here's a man
who's trying to come to God, trusting he's kept the law that
said thou shalt not kill. You see the absurdity of a man
who's blind under the law? But what happened? Christ spoke.
The commandment came. Christ spoke. He said the words,
I speak their life. Christ spoke. The commandment
came. And what happened? He beheld the Lord Jesus. He
beheld him who is the holiness, the justness, and the goodness
of the law. He beheld him who laid down his
life and put away the sin of his people. He beheld him who
is the word, who is the life, who is the way, who is the truth.
He beheld salvation that day. And when he did, you know what
happened? He said the commandment came and sin revived and I died. That law killed him. It ministered
condemnation to him. But you know what the new covenant
ministered to him? It ministered to him the law
of faith. And it ministered to him the
law of the spirit. It ministered to him grace. And
when it did, it made him believe on the Lord Jesus. And he, Christ
ministered righteousness to him. Christ's righteousness. And this
is why Paul said in Romans 8 too, the law of the spirit of life
in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
You see, these are two different laws. The law of the spirit of
life in Christ Jesus, that's the new covenant. It's made me
free from the old covenant, from the law of sin and death. Christ
said, I'll give them one heart and one way that they may fear
me forever. I'll make an everlasting covenant
with them. I'll not turn away from them
to do them good. I'll put my fear in their hearts
and they'll reverence me and they won't depart from me, he
said. The law of this new covenant of grace that he writes on their
heart is the law of faith. That's what it is, the law of
faith. Believers are under the law of faith. What does that
mean? Really what it comes down to
is we're under Christ's rule. And he has a faithful rule. He's guiding us and directing
us through his gospel. He guides us and directs us through
his example. We see in Christ everything,
how we ought to walk in this world, looking to Christ. This
law of faith means we look to Christ and we're not trying to
fulfill the old covenant law ourselves. We look to Christ
in knowing and believing and trusting He's fulfilled the law
for us. He put away all our sin for us. You'll never begin really
believing God and serving God till He's persuaded you and given
you the faith to believe that He has totally fulfilled the
law. There is now no condemnation. No sin will ever be charged to
you because Christ fulfilled the law completely. When He's
convinced you of that, now for the first time, He said there
at the end of chapter 3 and verse 17, He said, The Lord is that
spirit where the spirit of the Lord is, there's liberty. That's
what it's also called, the law of liberty. James called the
gospel the law of liberty. He frees you now. That's the
only way you can serve him. That's the only way you can do
anything pleasing to him. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. He's got to bring you to this
place. Long as we're looking to ourselves and long as we're
trying to constrain with the letter, We're glorying in our
flesh and we're trying to glory in what we constrain others to
do. There's no faith involved in it whatsoever. But when he
gives you this law of faith, now you want to maintain good
works. Now you have a heart to maintain
good works. Because you see, you've already
been made righteous. That's the first time you can
really start wanting to truly walk in a way honoring to God
is because you see the work's finished. He did it all. And
with this also comes the law of love. He writes the law of
love on our hearts so that you see Christ's great love in laying
down his life for us. You see how he loved us when
we did not love him. There's where you see how to
love. He loved us when we did not love him. He loved us when
we hated Him. He loved us when we wanted nothing
to do with Him. He kept sending the gospel and
kept sending the gospel. We just keep showing up preaching
the gospel to those that love us not. We keep showing up and
trying to set forth the glories of Christ to those that love
us not. Because that's how God's gonna
save them. That's how He's gonna have mercy on them, if He does. It's love, love. shows us how
Christ Jesus, He took our sin and bore our sin. All of it. And He bore the punishment of
our sin. That's why it's called the law
of Christ. That's why Paul said, if you
that are spiritual, you that have this newness of spirit,
you that have had this new spirit ministered to you by this new
covenant of grace. He said, when a brother falls,
He says, you with your spirits will restore such a one in the
spirit of meekness. Remember what we saw the spirit
of meekness is? The spirit of meekness is bowing to Christ,
like Moses, meekest man on earth. You know, in that account, we
looked at that, how when Aaron and Miriam accused Moses, and
the Lord came down and called all three of them out, did you
notice in that that Moses never opened his mouth? He never defended
himself. Meekness is bowing to the Lord
and trusting the Lord to save. Trusting he's going to defend
you, trusting he'll make the word effectual in the hearts
of his people. And he said, you restore your fallen brother in
the spirit of meekness, trusting Christ is the one who's going
to minister into the heart, into the new spirit. And so you speak
the gospel of Christ and you pray to Christ and you wait on
Christ. And you do this considering yourself,
lest you be tempted, because you know just like that, just
like that, you can turn back to this sinful flesh and this
law, and you can want to kill with the letter of the law. Just
how easy it is for us. That old man is always there,
brethren. He's always there. But he said,
but bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. That's what Christ did for us.
This is what love does. The moral law is not the believer's
rule of life. The moral law does one thing,
it kills us, it condemns us. We through the spirit are waiting
for the hope of righteousness by faith. And you know, we're
not just waiting with the hope that Christ our righteousness
will return in the end. We are waiting for Him. He is
our hope. We're waiting by the Spirit,
by faith for Him to return and take us home where we'll be righteous
in Him. but we're also waiting when you're
trying to restore one or when you're trying to preach this
gospel and you're waiting with this good hope that Christ will
come and he will minister into the heart of those to whom you
preach. And you do that when you're speaking to a brother
who's drifting away or who has fallen away or you're You're
praying with the hope that Christ will come and minister this new
spirit and this covenant of grace and this spirit of faith and
love into his heart and make him see Christ and make him want
to worship Christ and restore him. You're praying for Christ
to restore him. We're waiting because here's
why. Paul said, in Jesus Christ, Circumcision
avails nothing. That was the first thing that
was done at eight years old, I mean at eight days old, and
that brought them, made them debtors to do the whole law of
God. So that represents the whole law of God. He said it doesn't
avail. Nor does it avail if you're not
under the law. Uncircumcision doesn't avail.
What avails? Nothing of us. Nothing we do. being made a new creation by
the Spirit of the Lord alone, by Christ's works alone, and
He gives you this spirit of faith, this law of faith and love, and
here's what avails. Faith which worketh by love. Being made a new creation so
that you do all with faith in Christ and love. And so, And
then, you know what Paul said next to that? He said, you did
run well, what hindered you that you should not obey the truth?
Now think about that. That means if we're not living
by faith, trusting we're righteous in Christ, trusting Christ is
gonna save us and keep us, trusting our brethren to Christ, and loving,
being constrained, motivated in the heart only by the love
of Christ, do what we do by the love of Christ, we're not obeying
the truth. That's obeying the truth. Christ
is the truth, we obey. Paul knew his sufficiency was
not in himself. He knew he couldn't make this
word official in anybody. He said, we have the treasure,
this treasure in earth and vessels that the excellency of the power
may be of God and not of us. We're able ministers. He made
us able ministers and only He can make others minister this
new covenant to others. This grace and this faith and
this love, only He can minister it to others. And so we preach
and we only do that by Him. We go to Him and ask Him for
the message and we pray. We ask Him to bless it and we
wait on Him. That really sums up the ministers
of Christ. Preach, pray, and wait. Preach,
pray, and wait. That's the life of the minister
of Christ. Preach, pray, and wait. And we do this constrained
by his love. Let me give you the examples
here that I think I gave these last time, but these are good
examples of love, faith working by love. All right, here's a
contrast between the letter and love. Pharisees came with a woman
caught in adultery and they said, the law says stoner. That's the
letter. That's what it says. And it will
make no room for mercy whatsoever. Law says stoner. She's guilty. No mercy, guilty, stoner. What do you say? Christ stood
between her and those accusers. That's what he did for us, brethren.
He stood between us and the law. And he bore our sin, he put our
sin away, and he made us righteous. And so then he turned to her
and he said, he sent them away. And he turned to her and he said,
does no man accuse you? She said, no man, Lord. He defended
her just like he defended Moses, just like he defends all his
people. He defended her. He sent the law away. And then
he turned to her and he said, and I don't condemn you either.
go and sin no more. That's the love of this gospel. That's newness of grace. That's
it right there. Paul and the apostles met and
they determined, what are we going to do about the Gentiles?
Do we need to preach law to these Gentiles? They said, no we don't.
They don't have to be circumcised. They don't have to come under
the law of Moses at all. So Peter, Paul, and Timothy get ready to
go preach the gospel to these Gentiles, I mean to these Jews.
And Timothy is a half Jew, half Gentile, and he's uncircumcised. And if they go in there to preach
the gospel, it's gonna be an issue. And these people won't
ever hear the gospel preached because that's an issue. Now
the law said, the law they came up with, that they decided was,
we don't have to circumcise the Gentiles. They don't have to
come under the law. That's the law. That's what we, it's not
required. Here's what the Spirit of Grace
said. But Paul said, we're going to
circumcise you, Timothy. And he said, OK. So that's not
an issue. And they can hear the gospel
preached. You get how that the law doesn't avail nor not being
under the law avails. The law has nothing to do with
it. It's faith which works by love.
Let me give you one more example. He wrote to the church at Corinth.
It was the wealthiest church there was, but they didn't support
Paul. And he told them what the letter of the law said. The letter
of the law was, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that
treadeth out the corn. And here's what it meant. He
told them, Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach
the gospel should live of the gospel. And then what did he
say? But I've used none of these things.
He said, I hadn't even brought the law up to you. I'm not telling
you this now that you might support me, he said. Why? Why did he
do that? He said, that you might hear
the gospel of Christ preached, that you might be partaker of
this gospel with me. He did not, he did, it wasn't
about It wasn't about what the letter of the law said. The newness
of spirit said, here's what matters. What's going to glorify Christ?
What's going to keep all eyes on Christ? What's going to keep
unity? What's going to help my brethren
behold the Lord Jesus Christ and bow and worship him? And that's what he did. And that's
what the Spirit, this newness of Spirit, looks at every circumstance
and says, what is for the glory of Christ? What is going to exalt
Him? What's going to show that I trust
that He's able to save, that He's able to make my brother
stand, that He's able to make this gospel effective? What's
going to show His glory and glorify Him? That's the rule of life. That's the touchstone. And then
lastly, I'll just say this because I'm out of time. This covenant
lasts forever. You read the rest of it there.
He said that that old covenant was to be done away. Paul said
in Galatians, the law was our schoolmaster until we're brought
to Christ. Then we're no longer under the
schoolmaster. And that's what he's saying right here. He said
that glory's done away. It's abolished. It's done away
in Christ. He said, and when the Lord, the
Spirit, takes the veil off your heart, he said, that's when you'll
have liberty to see this and know this and find you're all
in all in Christ. That's when. And where that Spirit
of the Lord is, there's liberty. And that's it, brethren, that's
it. He said, this is what Paul meant over there in, look at
2 Corinthians 5, verse 17. He said, therefore, if any man
be in Christ, He is a new creation, that's what it means, entirely
a new creation of God. Old things are passed away. What's he been talking about
that's done away, that's passed away, that's ready to decay and
pass away? All the old covenant law, all
the notion that we're saved by our works, all this idea that
we're gonna constrain men by the letter of the law and make
them holy by the law and justified by the law, all the old way of
doing things in the strength of our flesh Just me, me, me,
me, me. He said, that's passed away now.
Behold, all things have become new. And all things are of God. You see that? All things are
of God. He reconciled us to himself by
Jesus Christ, and he gave us this ministry of reconciliation.
All right, brethren, let's go to him. Father, we thank you
for this word. Lord, make it effectual to us.
Make us behold Christ as in a glass. Take the veil off our heart.
Make us truly see him and know him. And Lord, thank you how
we thank you. Salvation free, salvation all
of our Redeemer, all by your grace. Lord, forgive us for our
unbelief, forgive us for our sins. Forgive us and make us,
Lord, make us walk by faith. Give us spirit to walk by faith. Give us more love in our hearts.
longsuffering, meekness, temperance, all the fruit of the Spirit,
Lord, increase us in the new man. Subdue our old man. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen.