Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church,
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. The portion of scripture that
we're going to look at for a text this morning can be a little
bit of a difficult portion to understand at first glance. But
in this text is a great blessing. There is a great, great blessing. Once we see what our Lord is
saying to us in this text, just as he said, you shall know the
truth and the truth shall set you free. Once we see the truth
of this text, it'll set us free. This is a freeing text. And I would like to encourage
you to bear with me and give a little extra attention at the
beginning while we set this up. And maybe our Lord will make
it a real blessing to us. Now, the text will be in 2 Corinthians
3, but we're going to begin in Exodus 34. If you'd like to turn
there with me to Exodus 34, verse 29 says, And it 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 knew not, it says he wist not. That means he knew
not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him,
while God talked with him. Moses did not know. Moses met
with God face to face. And God gave Moses his perfect
and righteous and holy and glorious law. Those two tables of stone
that God hewed out. His 10 commandments. And Moses
came down from that mountain with those two tables of stone.
And Moses had no idea that his face was literally shining. He was shining with the glory
of the Lord as he stood there and talked with God. Now, if
you have a reference in your Bible next to the word shown
in this verse of scripture, it'll tell you that you can turn to
Matthew 17, verse two, and it says the same thing. And over
in that verse, that's where our Lord was transfigured. And again,
he was talking with Moses and he was talking with Elijah. And
it says, our Lord's face did shine as the sun. The same thing
happened in our Lord's case that happened here in Moses' case.
Well, when God gave this glorious law to Moses, as God stood there
looking at him, talking with him, giving this to him, God's
glory was reflected off of Moses. He didn't know it, but he was
literally shining to the point that it says in verse 30, when
Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the
skin of his face shown and they were afraid to come near him.
They were afraid it was, it was shining that much to the point
that it struck fear in them. If you stand in the sun outside
the sun long enough, it'll reflect on your skin. You'll get a sunburn.
Well, Moses stood there looking into the face of the son of God and the brightness of his glory
was so great when the people just saw the reflection of it,
not the glory itself, just the reflection of it. They were scared
to death. They were scared to death. Verse
31 says, And Moses called unto them, and Aaron and all the rulers
of the congregation returned unto him. And Moses talked with
them. Moses called them up, all the
people. Verse 32, 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. He told
them what God said. I want you to tell this to the
people. Verse 33, until Moses had done speaking with them,
he put a veil on his face. They were afraid. He was shining. And while he talked to the people,
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 spake unto
the children of Israel that which 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, with the Lord. When God revealed his law to
Moses, it was a glorious thing. Moses would talk with the people
and he'd have to put a veil on. And then he'd go back in and
speak with God and he'd take the veil off. And he'd come back
out and talk to the people and he'd put the veil on again. The
glory of it was revealed through Moses. And Moses represents the
law. Moses represents the law that
God gave to him. But there is a glory now. There is a glory that has now
been revealed that is so glorious it can't be described. That was
glorious, what we just read about, God giving that law, that's glorious.
But there's a glory now that is so glorious it cannot be described. The glory of the law pales in
comparison to it. It's not even close. And that's
what we're going to look at in our text. If you'll turn with
me now over to 2 Corinthians chapter 3. 2 Corinthians chapter 3. It says in verse 7. But if the ministration of death,
he's talking about the law. That's what the law says, you
have to die. The law says, do this and live,
don't do this and die. And nobody can live up to the
law. And so what all the law does is it judges us, it condemns
us, sentences us to die. So the law exposes sin, condemns
to death because of that sin. And it says in verse seven, if
the ministration of death written and engraven in stones, when
God wrote them in those 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. That glory was to be done away.
It was not meant to stay on Moses' face forever. It didn't stay
on Moses' face forever. And neither was the glory of
that law. It was not meant to remain forever. Never was it meant to remain.
But he said, if the ministration of death was glorious, verse
8, 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. God has now revealed the glory
of his righteousness. And this is so glorious. This
will set men and women free. I pray this will be a great help.
I pray this will set us all free. God has revealed the glory of
his righteousness. And it so far exceeds the glory
of the law. The law has no glory at all in
comparison to it, it so far exceeds that glory. The law has no glory
in comparison to it. Verse 10 says, for even that
which was made glorious had no glory in this respect. by reason
of the glory that excelleth." This newly revealed glory by
God's Spirit, this glory that God has now revealed through
His Holy Spirit, it's so glorious. Moses can't even look on it.
He can't even look on it. When the ministration of death
and condemnation was revealed, the people were afraid. They
were afraid to look on Moses. They were afraid of that glory. But when God revealed the ministration
of righteousness. It was so glorious, even Moses
was afraid. He was afraid of that. Look with
me now, if you would, at Exodus 20. Exodus chapter 20. And this is where our Lord was
giving his 10 commandments on Mount Sinai. The whole mountain
was on fire while this was taking place. And it says in Exodus
20 verse 18, all the people saw the thunderings and the lightnings
and the noise of the trumpet and the mountain smoking. And
when the people saw it, they removed and stood afar off. They were afraid. They were afraid,
they were scared to death of that glory. Moses was up there
in that glory. But if you look over at Exodus
33, it says in verse 18, Moses said, I beseech thee, show me
thy glory. Moses representing the law. Ask
God, show me this ministration of righteousness that you're
going to reveal through your spirit. Show me this. Show me what I'm pointing to.
The law points to something. This newly revealed glory. And Moses said, show me what
you're gonna reveal through your spirit. And God said in verse
19, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will
proclaim the name of the Lord before thee, and will be gracious
to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will
show mercy. And he said, thou canst not see
my face, for there shall no man see me and live, no man. He told Moses, you cannot see
my face. And the Lord said, behold, there
is a place by me and thou shalt stand upon a rock. And it came
to pass and it shall come to pass while my glory passes by. That I will put thee in a cliff
to the rock and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by. That is the newly revealed glory. That is the newly revealed glory. The law said, die. The spirit of righteousness says,
live. Live. Moses, representing the
law, he said to God, show me your glory. God said to Moses,
God said to the law, if you see my greatest glory, you'll die. You'll die. Now, are we reading between the
lines on this? God said to the law, and here's
why this is so wonderful. Men and women everywhere. And
it could be that you have wondered about this same thing. We see
what God says in his law. You got to do this if you want
to live. You got to do that if you want to live. If you do this,
you're going to die. And people think I've done that.
I'm going to die. That's what God's law says. We
read things in this law and know I can't live up to this. If this
law holds true, I will not make it into glory. God said to the law. Once you see the ministration
of my righteousness. Once you see how I'm going to
show mercy, you'll die. That's what he said. Christ my righteousness, that
cliff to the rock, that's Christ. Christ my righteousness will
be the end of the law. Now, how is he going to do away
with the law? Is he going to throw it away? Absolutely not. He's going to
fulfill it. He's going to satisfy it. And
he said, I'm going to illustrate to you what the glory of my righteousness
is going to do for sinners. I'm going to put you in that
cliff to the rock. And while my glory passes by
and beats on that rock, while my glory unleashes its fury,
the law, while it passes by, I'm going
to put you in the cliff to the rock to show you, Moses, what
I'm going to do for every one of my people who cannot live
up to the law. I'm going to hide them in a rock.
And they're going to be safe and they're going to live. That's
glorious. That is glorious. Now, if you'll
look with me back in our text in Second Corinthians three.
It says in verse 11. For if that which is done away
was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. If the law which Christ put away
was glorious, how much more the covenant of grace, this covenant
of kindness, this covenant of mercy which lives and abides
forever. If God's law was glorious, how
much more glorious is this? How much more glorious is this?
Listen to this scripture right here. This is Hebrews 10. It
says in verse 11, every priest standeth daily ministering and
offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take
away sins. For 4,000 years, they had priests
in temples or from the time the temple was given. Priests were
standing there sacrificing animals, sacrificing animals. One of the
Israelites would sin and he would go get a dove or he'd go get
a lamb or a goat and he'd bring it to the priest and they'd sacrifice
that animal. And it never did put away one
sin. And they never stopped. There was always work to be done
because there were so many sins committed and so many animals
needed to be slain. And they kept killing and killing
and killing. And it says, every priest standeth
daily ministering, offering oftentimes the same sacrifices. which can
never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God. That's wonderful. One man, one sacrifice, and then
he sat down. Why did he sit down? He was finished. There's no more sacrificing to
be done. The work was complete. The glory of the righteousness
of God and the sacrifice of God for sins so far exceeds the glory
that was given in the law. He, by himself, after he had
offered one sacrifice for sins, he sat down forever. on the right
hand of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be
made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified." That so far exceeds the glory
of the law. Any glory that the law could
ever demand. And I pray at this moment the
Lord will open this message up to our hearts and cause us to
see what he is saying right here. Back in 2 Corinthians 3 verse
12 says, seeing then that we have such hope, we use great
plainness of speech. Seeing that we have such confidence
and such expected anticipation. in the glory of the righteousness
of Christ. We are not ashamed to preach
the glory of this gospel to everybody. We want everybody to know this.
We strive to preach it as plainly and as boldly as we can. Verse
13 says, 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, but their minds were blinded. For
until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the
reading of the Old Testament." Still to this day. Still to this
very day. When men and women read the Old
Testament, they don't see the glory of God's righteousness
in it. They don't see the glory of God's
complete and total redemption in it. They don't see the satisfaction
of that law. They don't see the end. That's
the problem. That's the reason men and women
are going all over the place, trying to work their way to heaven,
trying to satisfy that law, trying to obey that law. They don't
see the end. They don't see what it's pointing
to. The law was given, the glory
of the law was given to point to a greater glory. It points to a greater glory,
and that's Christ himself. Christ himself is God's greatest
glory. Men and women, they get in God's
law. And I've done this. You may have done this. We get
in God's law and we see it demands this. It demands that. But they cannot see the law being
fulfilled. That's the glory of the gospel.
Every demand God has given in His Word, Christ has fulfilled. Everything God requires of a
sinner, Christ has fulfilled. Everything. He satisfied it. But men and women cannot naturally
see it because there's a veil over it. There's a veil hiding
this finished end. But if God ever reveals His greatest
glory, if God ever reveals Christ to a sinner, if a sinner ever
sees Christ, Christ alone, that veil will be taken away. It'll
be taken away. The end of verse 14 says, which
veil is done away in Christ. It's done away in Christ. But
even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their
heart. Nevertheless, when it shall turn
to the Lord, The veil shall be taken away. Men and women are
born with a veil over their heart. And they naturally see the stories.
And they learn these stories, they learn them in Sunday school
and they see all of these moral lessons. And they see the condemnation
for sin, they see that. This word condemns sin. Men and women see that. But when
it pleases God, in His time, according to His will, His purpose,
when it pleases God, He takes that veil away. And every soul
that has the veil removed will say what chapter 4, verse 6 says. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. Every soul that has that veil
taken away will say with the Apostle Paul, it's as though
scales were removed from my eyes. Now I see Christ in all the scripture. I see Christ in all the scripture. I had no idea that the entire
Bible was about Christ. From the first page to the last
page, it is all about Christ. Noah's ark is Christ. That Passover lamb is Christ. That smitten rock is Christ.
It's all Christ. Over in Acts chapter 10, It says
in verse 43, to Him give all the prophets witness that through
His name, whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission
of sins. To Him give all the prophets
witness. Every word written in the law,
every word written in God's Old Testament, it all points to Christ. All of it. In Luke 24, Verse
27 says, and beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded
unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. He started at Moses, Genesis,
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. He went through all the prophets.
It says in verse 44, he said unto them, these are the words
which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all
things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses
and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me. All that was written in the law
of Moses, the prophets, the Psalms, it's all concerning me. It says
in verse 45, then opened he their understanding, he removed the
veil. that they might understand the scriptures. These scriptures
are closed. They are locked until God removes
the veil and reveals Christ. Once a sinner sees Christ, they
see it all. They see it all. And he said
unto them, thus it is written and thus it behooved Christ to
suffer and to rise from the dead the third day. When a sinner
sees Christ, The payment he made to satisfy God's law. They see the whole reason he
came. And just like when the veil of the temple was rent in
twain, they see straight into the glory of God. They see straight into the holy
of holies. God opens it wide up. And it
says in our text, 2 Corinthians 3 verse 17, now the Lord, is
that spirit. And where the spirit of the Lord
is, there's liberty. In verse 8, he said the spirit
is the one who gave the ministration of this newly revealed glory.
And in verse 17, he said the Lord is that spirit. He brings
peace, he is peace. He brings life, he is life. He brings this glory, and he
is this glory. And wherever he is, there's liberty. He's the truth. And if we know
the truth, the truth will set us free, set us free from the
law. And he said in verse 18, with
open face, we see through a glass darkly. But in the same image,
we're going to be. Converted into the image of Christ
through seeing him, this glory of the righteousness of God,
may the Lord bless that to our hearts till next week. Good day. You have been listening to a
message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport Sovereign Grace
Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like a copy of this
message or to hear other messages of Sovereign Grace, log on to
our website at ksgctn.org. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock a.m., worship at 10.45 a.m., and 6 o'clock
p.m., Wednesday evening at 7.30 p.m. Please tune in next week
for another message of God's free and sovereign grace.