Alright brethren, let's turn
to 2 Corinthians chapter 3. We'll begin in verse 6. Paul
had said that God also hath made us able ministers of the New
Testament, the New Covenant. Not of the letter, but of the
Spirit. For the letter killeth, but the
Spirit giveth life. And now we come to our text. He says, 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 was to be
done away, how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be
rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation
be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness
exceed in glory. For even that which was made
glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory
that excelleth. For if that which is done away
was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious."
Now, the simple point here in all of this is that the ministration
of the law, was glorious. It was glorious. The ministration
of the law was glorious. But the ministration of the Spirit,
the gospel of Christ, is far, far more glorious. Now, we're
going to look here at the glory that excelleth. We're going to
try to see how The ministration of the law had glory, and then
look and see how the ministration of the Spirit, the gospel, exceeds
the law in glory. It's the glory that excelleth.
Now the gospel, first of all, is more glorious because the
law ministers death, but the gospel ministers life. The law ministers death, but
the gospel ministers life. He says there, if the ministration
of death, written and engraved in stones, was glorious, how
shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious
or more glorious? Now first of all, understand
that when he speaks here about the law, and he says the ministration
of death, he's talking about the law. And what he's speaking
of here includes the Ten Commandments as well as the ceremonial law. Now go over to Exodus 31, I mean
Exodus 32, and let me show you this. Exodus 32. It says here in verse 16, the tables, the tables, that
is the two tables on which the law was written, the tables were
the work of God. And the writing was the writing
of God graven upon the tables. Now the only thing written on
those tables of stone were the Ten Commandments. the moral law. This is what folks so commonly
speak of as being yet in effect upon believers. This is what
religion tells you is still in effect upon believers. But the
Ten Commandments are talked about here. They were what God engraven
on the tables of stone. And then you know how that when
Moses saw the children of Israel engaged in idolatry, he threw
the tables down and he broke them. And so when that happened,
look at Exodus 34, verse 1. After that happened, the Lord
said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the
first, and I will write upon these tables the words that were
in the first tables which thou breakest. And if you look down
at verse 28, Exodus 34, 28, you'll see he says there, he was there
with the Lord forty days and forty nights. He did neither
eat bread nor drink water, and he, speaking of God, wrote upon
the tables the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. This is
what God wrote upon those tables of stone, the Ten Commandments.
But when He brought Moses up there into the mountain the second
time, from Exodus 34, 11 through 27, He gives Moses the ceremonial
laws. And there are others He gave
at another time, but there He gives some ceremonial laws about
how the children of Israel were to marry and how they were to
offer sacrifices and how they were to observe the Sabbaths
and what have you. So we are talking here, look
there at verse 27, 34-27. The Lord said unto Moses, now
Moses wrote that part. The Ten Commandments were written
on stone, but Moses wrote the ceremonial part. It says, And
the Lord said unto Moses, Write thou these words, for after the
tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with
Israel. That was referring to those ceremonies he gave from
verses 11 down to verse 27. Then in verse 28, it tells us
again that God wrote on the tables of stone the Ten Commandments.
So we're talking about here in our text, we're talking about,
and hold your place there next to 34, we're talking about the
whole law of Moses. We're talking about when God
gave the law at Mount Sinai, He gave ceremonial law and He
gave moral law, the Ten Commandments. The law is one law. It's the
whole law of God. And that's what we're talking
about in our text. Now our text says that law was
glorious. And it was glorious. And one
reason it was glorious is because the name of the Lord who gave
it is glorious. God is glorious. Whenever He
began to give Moses the law, you read there in verse Let me see, let me find it here.
Verse 4, I'm sorry, verse 5, it says, The Lord descended in
the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name
of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before
him and proclaimed, ìThe Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious,
long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy
for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and
that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity
of the fathers upon the children, upon the childrenís children,
and to the third and to the fourth generation.î And Moses made haste
and bowed his head toward the earth and worshipped. Now you
see, we saw the other day that when God gives His name, when
He gives His covenant or His promise, He always attaches His
name to it. And there He is. He attached
His name to this covenant that He made with Israel. And that
name is glorious. And so for that reason, this
covenant of law was glorious. It was glorious. Look down at
verse 29. It was so glorious that God's countenance made Moses'
face to shine. Verse 29 says, ìIt came to pass,
when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tables of
testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount that
Moses wished not, he did not know that the skin of his face
shone while he talked with him.î And 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. And Moses called unto them,
and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned
unto him, and Moses talked with them. And afterward all the children
of Israel came near, and he gave them in commandment all that
the Lord had spoken with him in Mount Sinai. Until Moses had
done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. But when
Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he took the
veil off until he came out. And he came out and he spake
unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded. So the
disministration of the law was glorious. It was glorious because
God who gave it is glorious. His name is glorious. And it
was manifest in the fact that he made Moses' face to shine
with glory when he came down. The law, we are told, is holy
and just and good. because God who gave it is holy
and just and good. And the law is the declaration
of who God is. It's the declaration of the righteous
and holy God. That's His very character, holy
and righteous, and that's what you see in the law. So that's
why your Old Testament believers, the old covenant believers would
often say, I delight in thy law. I study it all the day. Because
when you have spiritual discernment, you see, it tells you something
about the character of God and the character of our Redeemer,
who He is. You know, the second time God
gave those tables of stone, He didn't leave it in the hands
of men. You know where He put those tables
of stone? In the Ark of the Covenant. That Ark pictured Christ. Remember
when Christ came? He said, ìThy law is within my
heart. I came to do Thy will, O God.î
And God entrusted that to His Son. And He came to fulfill that
holy, just, and good law. And then another reason the law
was glorious is because it was given to minister death. It was given to minister death. It's what we refer to back in
verse 6 as the letter that killeth. And it's referred to here in
our text as the ministration of death. Now, we saw last time,
if a person is just left in their flesh, sin will deceive them
so that they think they can keep the law of God. When I hear folks
talking about keeping the law of God, brethren, sin has deceived
a man if he thinks he can keep the law of God. That old man
of flesh that is with that new regenerated believer, that old
man of flesh is carnal, sold under sin. That law is spiritual. So Paul goes on in Romans 7 to
say, that which I would do, that which I would do in my inward
man who delights in the law of God, I can't do because of that
carnal old man of flesh. But sin will deceive a man into
thinking he can keep the law. And if left in that state, He'll
meet God in the Day of Judgment and that letter of the Law will
kill Him. And as our text says here, it
will minister death to Him and condemnation to Him. But Christ
makes the Law glorious unto His people. He makes it glorious
unto us when He gives us spiritual discernment to hear it. I want
you to go back with me. And look here at 2 Corinthians
3 and look at verse 10. You see there He says, even that
which was made glorious. He is referring to the law. But
get what He says there. It was made glorious. Christ makes the law glorious
to you and I when He gives us spiritual discernment. Go to
Romans 7 again. Let's go back there and I want
you to see this a little bit more fully on what we looked
at the other day. But look what Paul says now.
After he talked about how sin had deceived him and he thought
he was alive by the law, he thought he'd put his sin away. But then
he says here in verse 9, I was alive without the law once. He
didn't have it, I mean he had it, but he didn't hear it. And
he says, but when the commandment came, when the Lord made him
hear it spiritually, taught him it reaches to the thoughts and
intents of the heart, he said, my sin revived and I died. He administered death to him.
Now watch this, and the commandment which I thought was ordained
to life, That's how sin deceived him. He thought it was ordained
to life. I found to be unto death. It was ordained to minister death. That's what our text is teaching
us. Now watch this. And he says, There sin, taken
occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by the law ministered
death to me. It slew me. Wherefore? Wherefore,
for this reason the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and
just, and good. You see that? Because Christ
made the law glorious to him. He made it glorious to him in
that he saw he was dead. He made it glorious to him in
that it ministered death to him. It killed that old self-righteous,
self-sanctifying vanity that he was dependent upon. It killed
him and all his self-righteousness. And he said, for that reason
it was glorious. It's holy, just, and good. I
delight in it. Watch this. Was then that which is good made
death unto me? Was the law made death unto me?
God forbid. But sin, that it might appear
sin, working death in me by that which is good. That sin by the
commandment might become exceeding sinful. That's how the ministration
of death is made glorious to the sinner that's given spiritual
discernment. Because that law, that good law,
that holy, just, and good law teaches him he's a sinner. And
it kills all his good works, all his good deeds, all his hope
of coming to God by his works. It kills that. It makes him see
he needs Christ. And so that's how God makes the
law glorious to us. So that we don't die, don't face
God in that false hope. That's one way the Lord says
it's glorious. It's glorious because of God's
name who gave it. It's glorious when Christ gives
us spiritual discernment and it ministers death to us, making
us see the exceeding sinfulness of our sin. That's when we behold
it's truly glorious. Now, back in our text, 2 Corinthians
3.7. But, he says, if the ministration
of death was glorious, how shall not the ministration of the Spirit
be rather glorious? How much more glorious is the
gospel of Christ, by which Christ ministers spiritual, eternal
life to us. If we were just made to hear
the law, and it ministered death to us, and we saw there was no
hope of coming to God in the law, but that was it, He wouldn't
be glorious to us. But, when He makes us hear that
law, Through the gospel, He ministers life to us. Eternal, everlasting
life. And that's much more glorious
than death. Much more glorious than death. Remember Christ said,
ìIt's the Spirit that quickeneth.î And He said, ìThe words that
I speak unto you, they are Spirit.î When He said, ìIt's the Spirit,î
He is saying, ìThe words I speak unto you are Spirit.î And when
He says, ìThe Spirit quickeneth,î Heís saying, ìThe words I speak
unto you give life.î Thatís how weíre given life. In the garden,
God took aÖ He took a dust and He formed a lifeless body. There was a lifeless body. And
Scripture says, ìGod breathed into Adam the breath of life,
and he became a living soul.î Christ takes a dead sinner. That
was the first creation. Christ in the new creation takes
a dead sinner, spiritually dead sinner. And Christ doesn't breathe
life into him. That word spirit means breath. And He breathes spirit and life
into a man. He makes him spiritually alive
by the words He speaks into the heart. And so it's written, the
first man Adam was made a living soul. The last Adam was made
a quickening spirit. He quickens His people. As the
Father raises up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the
Son quickeneth whom He will. Look at 1 Corinthians 2.12. I want you to make this connection.
Every time I look at this, I almost preached on John 6, 63 tonight,
but I decided we'd look at it more just in this context here.
But in 1 Corinthians 2, 12, make this connection. Every time I
look at it, I see a little bit more about this little s spirit
that Christ is speaking about. We're talking about the ministration
of the little s spirit and how it's more glorious than the law.
Look at what Christ did when He spoke words into our heart. Verse 12, 1 Corinthians 2.12,
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the
little s spirit which is of God. God gave us a new spirit. the word, the incorruptible seed
germinated within us and a new life was born. A spirit was quickened
and there was a new man born by God. And He gave us that spirit
that we might know the things that are freely given to us of
God. Like we saw last time, God does
not, He doesn't minister the Spirit, I mean minister the gospel,
the truth into the old man of flesh. That old man is dead and
he's left dead. He's returning to the dust. He's
born of corrupt seed of Adam. Christ creates a new spirit. He puts a new spirit in you and
gives life in the new spirit. And He teaches you the things
freely given to you of God in the new spirit. The Holy Spirit
of God bears witness with our spirit that we are children of
God. And so brethren, that ministry
of the Spirit of everlasting life is much more glorious than
the ministration of death. Now then secondly, He says to
us here, He says the gospel is more glorious
because the law condemns but the gospel ministers righteousness.
Verse 9, if the ministration of condemnation be glory. You
see what the law is ministering? The law is ministering condemnation.
But it's glorious. He says, but much more doth the
ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. The gospel is
ministering righteousness. And he says, for even that which
was made glorious had no glory in this respect by reason of
the glory that exceleth. Again now, the law, it only condemns. If we are left in our flesh and
we meet God in the day of judgment, that law will minister condemnation
to us and we will perish forever. But when Christ makes you hear
the law, He makes it glorious to you because He makes you hear
it condemn you now before it's too late. He makes you hear that
law condemn you now. And that law was given to do
that. That law was given only to condemn
us. That's the only reason it was
given. Romans 3. Look there with me. Romans chapter
3. Romans 3. Verse 19, look there
Willie boy, Romans 3.19. Now we know that what thing soever
the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law. Now here
is why it was given, that every mouth may be stopped, and all
the world may become guilty before God. You see that word guilt? That means that we might be condemned.
It speaks condemnation to us, teaches us we're guilty. Therefore,
by the deeds of the lost there shall no flesh be justified in
His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Now the
religious, self-righteous world would tell you, well, that's
not the only reason God gave the law. They'll say, God wouldn't
have given a law to us unless we could keep it. Yes, God would
give you a law that you could not keep. And that's exactly
what He did. In fact, there's a picture in the way He gave
the law. You know, He gave the law to
Moses on Mount Sinai. And Moses comes down out of that
mountain. God told him before he came down
out of the mountain, He said, the children of Israel have corrupted
themselves. And Moses went down there, and
sure enough, they had gotten tired of Moses coming down out
of the mountain, and they got tired of waiting, and they told
Aaron, make us a golden calf, and Aaron made them a golden
calf, and they were all engaged in a big religious ceremony around
this golden calf. The law hadn't even been given
to them yet, and they've already broken it. And that's what the
picture is. Before God ever gave us the law,
we had already broken it in Adam. We were already guilty in Adam.
And He gave the law to teach His people we're guilty. That's
what He gave it for. Paul said, I wouldn't have known
sin if the law hadn't told me thou shalt not covet. So God
gave it for that reason. The law was given because of
transgression. that the offense might abound,
the Scripture said. But if Christ takes that law
and He makes it glorious to us, when He makes us hear it condemn
us, how much more glorious is it when He ministers His righteousness
to us? That ministry of the gospel is
so much more glorious because He is ministering the righteousness
of Christ to us, making us to hear Him. Go to Romans chapter
5. Romans chapter 5 and verse 20. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound. that the offense might abound.
And Paul said, when the commandment came, my sin became exceedingly
sinful. I saw the offense abounding.
I saw that I was such an exceedingly guilty sinner. But watch this,
where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. That's what
our text is telling us. Wherein the ministration of condemnation
is glorious, oh, the ministration of righteousness is much more
glorious. How so? That as sin hath reigned
unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto
eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Now when we speak about
the ministry of the Spirit or the New Covenant or the Gospel,
we're talking about Christ Himself. That's what we're talking about.
When we talk about the New Covenant, Christ is the New Covenant. God
said, I am giving thee for a covenant to the people. Christ is the
New Covenant. We saw in 2 Corinthians 1 that
in Christ all the promises of God are yes and in Him amen. To the praise and the glory of
God's grace. There is nothing that is not
ordered and established and sure in all things by Christ. He is the Covenant. And then
when we talk about life, we are talking about Christ. Christ
is the life. He is the life. He lives in His
people and His people live in Him. He said there in John 6,
He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood. And He summed it up
by saying, I am not talking about the flesh. The flesh profits
nothing. Those folks were carnal. And all they heard in anything
that Christ said from the time He talked about, they came to
Him and He said, you didn't seek Me because you saw the miracles. You didn't seek Me because you
saw that I'm God and I'm salvation. You sought Me for the bread and
the loaves because your belly was filled. And He told them,
the flesh profits nothing. Don't labor for meat that perishes.
And then they said, well, what must we do that we might work
the works of God? And he said, this is the work
of God that you believe on Him whom He hath sent. He's telling
them the flesh prophets nothing. It's the Spirit that quickeneth.
The words I speak are Spirit in their life. And He's that
life. He said, believe on Me. And then
they said, well, when they heard faith, they said, well, if you
want us to believe on you, show us some fleshly sign that we
might believe you. that we might come to a knowledge
of you by our fleshly reason and by our fleshly will decide
to believe on you. And they said Moses gave them
bread in the wilderness. He said, Moses didn't give you
that bread, God gave you that bread. And I'm the true bread.
And he's telling them, it's the flesh that profits you nothing.
It's the Spirit that quickeneth. The words I speak, there's Spirit
in their life. And then he began to talk to
them about eating His flesh and drinking His blood. And being
carnal, they did what carnal men do. The carnal men, natural
men receive not the things of the Spirit. They have foolishness
to them. He can't discern them. And they didn't discern what
He was saying. They were saying, how can He give us His flesh
to eat? They thought He literally meant eat His literal physical
flesh and drink His physical blood. And He summed it all up. He said, it's the Spirit that
quickeneth, the flesh profits. They couldn't get that. But He
told them, He that eateth Me, I dwell in him and he dwells
in Me. He is the life. The words I speak,
He said, are spirit and life. And when we talk about Christ
needing righteousness or the righteousness ministered, we're
talking about Christ is the righteousness of His people. Christ is the
Gospel. Look with me at Romans 8. Romans
8 verse 3. What the law could not do in
that it was weak through the flesh. There was no fault in
the law. It was us. We could not do the
law. So God sending His own Son in
the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in
the flesh. that the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. Christ came forth and worked
out a righteousness for His people. God prophesied in the Old Testament
in Isaiah 53, and He said, He shall see of the travail of His
soul. He said, and shall be satisfied. In other words, He shall satisfy
justice Himself. He said, ìBy His knowledge shall
my righteous servant justify many, for He shall bear their
iniquities.î Go to Romans 10. Heís the righteous servant. You
and I arenít the righteous servant. Christ is the righteous servant.
When we talk about ministering, this being the ministration of
righteousness, weíre talking about Christ ministering to us
His righteousness. Look here, Romans 10.1. Brethren,
my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they
might be saved. Well, never look at will workers
and and mock them or anything like that. Our desire ought to
be for folks to be saved. Paul's desire was for his kinsmen
after the flesh, the Israelites, to be saved. He said, I desire
for them to be saved. I bear them record that they
have a zeal of God, but it's not according to knowledge. You
could say that about the whole religious world. They have a
zeal of God. They're going about doing a lot
of works, but nothing is according to knowledge. Look at this. For
they being ignorant of God's righteousness. Do you see that? They being ignorant of God's
righteousness. Ephesians talked to us about
God's righteousness. They being ignorant of God's
righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
How do you submit unto righteousness? Righteousness is a Just as the
word, what it means, it's a state of being. If you're righteous,
you're righteous. But he's talking here about submitting
unto righteousness. It's because righteousness is
a person. Christ, verse 4, for Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believeth. That's how the
ministration of righteousness is glorious. The law was made
glorious to us when we saw that it condemned us. That was a good
thing. At the time it wasn't glorious
to us because it's not good to see that you're under condemnation. But then when the gospel, through
the gospel, Through God-given faith, He made us to receive
freely by God's giving, by God's grace, He made us receive Christ
Jesus our righteousness. Life in Christ our righteousness. Then brethren, the law, I mean
the gospel became much more glorious. We didn't want to go back to
the law once you saw Christ. Only a crazy man would do that. Once you have Christ, the righteousness
of God. So He is the glory that excelleth. Christ is. He's the righteousness
we're talking about. Now let's go to this third thing.
2 Corinthians 3. The gospel is more excellent
in glory because the ministration of law is done away. But the
ministration of Christ remains. The ministration of the gospel,
the new covenant remains. He says here verse 7, look at
verse 7, ìIf the ministration of death, written and engraven
in stones, was glorious,î and then he says, ìwhich glory was
to be done away.î Then verse 11, he says, ìFor if that which
is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is
glorious.î Go with me to Hebrews. Let's look at a few Scriptures.
Hebrews 10. This is the best book to read if you want to see
how much better the New Covenant is than the Old Covenant. Hebrews
10 and verse 9. Christ said this, Hebrews 10,
9. He said, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away
the first, that He may establish the second. Now this is Christ
doing. He takes away that first ministration
of the letter, the ministration of death, the ministration of
condemnation, the ministration of the law. He takes that away.
The ceremonial law and the Ten Commandments, He takes that from
all His people and He establishes the new covenant, the second
covenant. Look at Hebrews 8. We're going
to jump around here a little bit. Look around here at Hebrews
8 and look at verse 10. This is the covenant... No, let's
go to verse 9. I'm sorry, verse 8. No, verse
7. I'll get it in a minute. Verse
7, If that first covenant had been faultless, then should no
place have been sought for the second. There was no fault in
the covenant. Again, it was us. For finding
fault with them, He saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and
the house of Judah, not according to the covenant 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.
He is talking about that covenant He gave at Mount Sinai. ceremonial
and moral. He said, not that covenant. He
said, they continued not my covenant and I regarded them not, said
the Lord. Cursed is the man that doesn't continue in all things
written in the book of the law to do them. He said, they didn't
continue and I didn't regard them. For this is the covenant
I'll make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord.
I'll put my laws into their mind, not on tables of stone. I'll
write them in their hearts, not on tables of stone. And I'll
be to them a God, they should be to me a people. When you read
my laws right there, let me tell you a word that will help you
understand what he's talking about. That could also just as easily
be translated, my doctrines. My doctrines. the doctrine of
the law of faith, the law of liberty, which is the doctrine
of liberty, the doctrine of righteousness, the law of righteousness, the
law of faith, the doctrine of faith. You know, all that is
the doctrine of Christ. I am going to write the new covenant
on their heart, the doctrine, the gospel on their heart. And
look, and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people.
And they shall not teach every man his neighbors and every man
his brothers, saying, Know the Lord, for all shall know me from
the least until the greatest. What he means is, all whom I
write on their hearts shall all be taught of God. They are going
to know me. They are going to have an unction from the Holy
One. And they are going to know Christ and know that Christ is
all and rest in Him. For I will be merciful to their
unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities will I remember
no more. And in that He saith the new
covenant, watch this now, He hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth
old is ready to vanish away. At the time that was writing,
it was vanishing away. Christ had put an end to it and
He was gradually bringing them out from under it. In 70 AD,
He sent forth the Roman army in there and God wiped it clean. And He totally did away with
it. The old covenant is gone. How
much more glorious is that covenant that remains? The everlasting
covenant of grace, ordered in all things and sure by Christ
Jesus. Now listen, all those old shatters
have been placed by the reality. Now we know that old covenant
is done away with, but how much more true is this in the heart
of the believer? It's true just as a matter of
fact that it's done away with and the new is what remains.
But how much more true is it in the heart of you who He's
made new? Because now you see, Scripture
says, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature, old things
are passed away and all things are become new. The new everlasting
covenant of grace is so much better than that old covenant.
It's passed away. He obtained a more excellent
ministry, Christ did, by which He is also the mediator of a
better covenant established upon better promises. Everything about
it is better. We have a far better high priest
in Christ. He is not in an earthly tabernacle. He is at the right hand of God.
The things which we have spoken, this is the sum. We have such
a high priest who sat on the right hand of the throne of the
majesty in the heavens. a minister of the sanctuary,
of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched in that man."
We know, brethren, we have a high priest, not in a building made
with hand. At God's right hand, we have
a high priest. And this is so too. He doesn't
die like those old covenant priests did. He lives forever. And that's
good news for us. Because the Scripture says, Wherefore
He is able to save them to the uttermost that come to Him, seeing
He ever lives. He lives forever to make intercession
for us. This priesthood never changes.
There will be no change in our high priest like it was back
then. In the old covenant, they died. They were men. This is God in
human flesh seated at God's right hand who ever lives to make intercession
for us. And Christ doesn't need to make
more offerings like they did continually every year because
He got the job done by one offering. Hebrews 10.14 says, By one offering
He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. That means,
brethren, that law... Now I want you to get what it
means. I've said this to you, but I want you to get it. The
law requires perfect love to God and to our neighbor. Perfect love. And on the cross,
Christ Jesus is the only one who ever fulfilled that law. He loved God and He loved His
people so perfectly He was willing to give Himself to be made sin
for His people to bear the judgment that His people deserve so that
He might in love declare God the Father just and justifier
and in love save His people from our sins. That is the righteous
fulfillment of the love of the law. Christ on Calvary's cross. Nobody has ever done it. And
the way that His people do it is He gives us faith to lay hold
of Him and rest in Him. And that perfect righteous love
that Christ exhibited on the cross is made ours. And it's
made ours so much that God says, we did it. We did it. Because we were in Christ when
He did it. You see how good that is? How much better that is?
And it's by that, brethren, by His work, we've perfected forever. Perfected forever. He's the only
one that did it. And look at this now. I said
to you, that covenant is not written on stone, it's written
in the heart. He said, I'm going to write my doctrine in their
heart and in their mind. and I'll be to them a God and
they'll be to me a people. When are we going to stop living
to ourselves and live unto God? When can we stop living unto
Moses and unto the law and unto our phony religion and unto the
church's rules and regulations and unto church preachers and
church folk? When are we going to stop living
unto them and living a charade and really live unto God? That's when Christ works this
work in our heart and teaches this in spirit and in truth in
the heart and makes us truly worship Him in spirit and in
truth. Now we're living under God. Because we want to. We want
to live unto Him. Like Brother Rob just said, how
much more mulch can I put out? How many more dishes can I wash?
Because He's a good husband. Every relationship we have is
patterned after Him. And they broke the mold with
Him. He is the perfection of all those
relationships. And so we live under Him. And
then this is the other thing. Go to Hebrews 10.17. This is
so good right here. We don't have to offer any more
offerings now. How much better is that than
the Old Covenant? Look at this. Hebrews 10.17. Their sins and iniquities will
I remember no more. Now where forgiveness of sins
is, there is no more offering for sin. You know, when the whole
law and condemnation and sin and everything that was barring
our communion with God, when all that is taken out of the
way and we are made righteous and holy so that the righteous
and holy God can now receive us, now none of that is in the
way anymore. Nothing prohibits us from living
under God. So, you know, used to we would
go out and we would sin and then we would try to do a bunch of
good things to make up for that. Or if we knew we was going to
sin, we would go and try to do a bunch of good things to soothe
our conscience and make up for that. You don't have to do that
now. God said, I don't remember your
sin anymore. Past, present or future. There
is none. And I grant you, that will make
a man sin and live in sin if God had taught him this in the
heart. But when God's taught him this in the heart, it won't.
It will not. Because he understands what that
means. There's therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus. Because the law or the doctrine
of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law
of sin and death. The rule of sin and death. I'm
free from it. And now we live under God, led of the Spirit,
free to draw near unto God in Christ in full assurance of faith.
Let me read this last thing, Hebrews 10, 19. Having therefore,
brethren, boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus.
There's a new liberty, a new boldness. By a new and living
way which He hath consecrated for us through the veil, that
is, His flesh. We've got a new and living way.
And having a high priest over the house of God, we got a new
high priest. Let us draw near with a true
heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from
a medieval conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
We have a new heart. Everything is made new. And look,
one more place. Now go to Hebrews 12.28. That
old kingdom of Israel, natural Israel, and all that law, that
all is done away with. We now, under this new covenant,
have a new kingdom that will never be done away with. It will
remain forever. Hebrews 12, 28. Wherefore, receiving
a kingdom which cannot be moved, cannot be moved, let us have
grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and
godly fear. How do I do that? People will
say, well, if you don't have the law, how can you serve God
with reverence and godly fear? Listen, I'll tell you. Colossians
2.6 says, As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk ye
in Him, that's how, rooted and built up in Him, established
in the faith, as you've been taught abounding therein with
thanksgiving. And beware of any man's philosophy
or vain deceit after the tradition of men, after those old covenant
elements of the world who's not speaking after Christ. Beware
of him, for in Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. You're going to find everything
you need in Christ. And here's the fact of the matter,
you are complete in Him. That's why he goes on to say
in Colossians 3, just set your affection on Him. Seek Him. Don't
seek things of this world. When he says the rudiments of
the world, he's saying all that old covenant rules and regulations. He says don't live under that.
Live under God. Live under God. Learn of Christ.
Follow Christ. Study Christ. Watch Christ. Keep
your eye on Christ. Run the race. Look into Christ.
And if you follow no Christ, He's going to grab you and pull
you back and point you back to Christ. That's how we live. Isn't that so much better than
law? Who in the world would want to go back to law when we have
Christ? Alright, amen.