Now I'll be preaching this morning
from 2 Corinthians chapter 3. 2 Corinthians chapter 3. The text that I'm going to deal with
today begins in verse 12 of 2 Corinthians 3 where he speaks of hope. Paul writes by inspiration of
the Spirit, verse 12, seeing then that we have such hope. We use great plainness. That
word plainness you might see in your concordance is boldness,
unwavering boldness, confidence. We use that plainness, that boldness
of speech because we have such hope. The title of the message
is A New and Greater Hope. A new and greater hope. Now,
I began this chapter last week talking about a new and greater
glory. And the apostle here is describing
the greater glory, the greater hope of the new covenant. The new covenant or the new testament. The new covenant, which is the
working out in time. of the terms of the everlasting
covenant of grace made before time. The New Covenant. We're a New Covenant church.
We who are Christians are New Covenant Christians. And he contrasts
here the New Covenant with the Old Covenant. The Old Covenant
that was given to the nation Israel on Mount Sinai through
Moses. Brother Aaron read about Moses
coming down out of the mountains. with the two tablets, that's
the Ten Commandments. Now the law of the Old Covenant
was more than just the Ten Commandments, you understand that. I'll show
you that in just a moment. It had to do with the Ten Commandments,
which was the center or the basis of that covenant. And that law
was given to expose the sinfulness of man, the depravity of man. It set up a standard of holiness
and righteousness which man fallen in Adam by his works cannot meet. We say it in the New Covenant
like this, we say all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. Remember Moses coming down out
of that mountain, the glory shone on his face. We'll go back and
look at that in just a moment. And that was a physical picture
or symbol of the very glory of God and the requirement of God
in the law that men by nature cannot meet, even the best of
us now. We can't do it. All have sinned,
not just some. You say, well, there are some
sinners who are worse than others. Well, that's not the issue. The
issue is this, that we're all sinners and that we cannot meet
the standard of righteousness. There's none righteous, no, not
one. That's why that law was given. But other things about
that law, we talk about the ceremonial law. That's the law of the priesthood.
Israel had a high priest. And then there were other priests
of the tribe of Levi, descendants of Aaron. And they had the tabernacle. They had the altar, the brazen
altar, the sacrifice of animals. And of course, all of that was
a picture of how God saved sinners, not by their works, but by the
work of Christ, the God man. Salvation by His grace. And so
that old covenant was given to that nation in physical ceremonial
things. And it was temporary. It was
set up to be temporary. That old covenant was never intended
to last forever. Now I know some people will go
back to the book of Jeremiah and they'll draw out, there's
a couple of verses that talk about a perpetual covenant. All
that simply means is continual. And it continues when? Your life
is perpetual until you die. Put it that way. Your life here
on earth, that's continual. You'll continue on until when?
Until you die. And that's what that old covenant
was. It was perpetual until it was ended. 1,500 years, that's
about how long it lasted. It was from the time of Mount
Sinai, that we read about there in Exodus 34, to the time of
the cross of Christ. where Christ said it's finished,
John 19, 30. Remember the veil was torn in two from the temple,
from the top to the bottom. And that was the signification
physically of the end of the old covenant, the beginning of
the new covenant in time. So Paul's contrasting these covenants. And he first brought out here
in chapter three the impossibility of the old covenant to save sinners. There was no salvation under
that old covenant according to its terms. Now that doesn't mean
nobody under the old covenant was saved. There were some who
were saved. Moses himself was saved. Saved
by the grace of God. But he wasn't saved based on
the terms of the old covenant. He was saved based on the terms
of another covenant, the covenant of grace. And Moses saw that
in the gospel. Good news of how God saves sinners
by mercy and grace through the promise of a coming Messiah,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And Christ himself told the Pharisees
who were depending on the law for their salvation, their works
for salvation. Remember in John chapter five,
he said, had you believed Moses, you'd have believed me. He said,
Moses wrote of me. So salvation has never been by
the works of men. Never has. Not in any shape,
form, or fashion. Salvation has never been conditioned
on sinners. In fact, that whole old covenant
for 1,500 years was a glaring testimony to the fact that if
salvation or any part of it is conditioned on sinners, you,
me, whoever, the best of us or the worst of us, it'll fail.
Jeremiah spoke of that in Jeremiah 31, talked about the covenant
that they broke. You see, we need to, for salvation, for salvation,
we need to be under a covenant that we can't break. Now think
about that. Because if we're under a covenant
that we can break, you know what's going to happen? We'll break
it. Now you may sit there and say, well, not me. Well, you're
just better than the rest of us. I'm surprised we don't see
a glow on your face today if that's what you think. Oh no,
you'd break it. You know why I know that? Because
I know you, I know me. I may not know your name, may
not know your life, your history, your experiences, but I know
this. This book says here you're a sinner. It says I'm a sinner. And that's the way it is while
we're on this earth. The old covenant couldn't save anybody.
But the Old Covenant was a schoolmaster to point them to the only one
who can and did save sinners, the Lord Jesus Christ. Read it
in Galatians chapter 3 and 4 and chapter 5 too. The Old Covenant
could not put away sin. You see, how can God forgive
sin? He's got to put it away. He's
got to deal with it. He's just. He's holy. He cannot
just look over it. He cannot. Listen, if you've
never confronted this question of how, how can God put away
sin? How can he forgive sin? How can
he pardon sin? You've never heard the gospel
or never believed it. God is holy. God can no more
just simply forgive sin at His will or request or whim than
a human judge. Now let me give you an example.
Let's say a human judge has a convicted proven murderer standing before
him and he's got to pronounce a sentence upon that person.
Now I'm talking about a convicted murderer, a proven murderer standing
before a human judge. And let's say that human judge
says, well, I'm feeling loving and kind and compassionate today.
I'm just going to let you go. Go on out there in society and
don't do that again. Now, what would you say to that? You would be shocked. You'd say
that judge ought to be removed. You'd say that judge dishonored
the law. That judge insulted society. But you know, that's the way
that most people think. God saves sinners. Well, that's not the
case. God has to deal with sin in a
just and righteous way. Yes, He's a loving God, but His
love must consider and honor His justice. His mercy, His grace
must consider and deal with His justice, His holiness, His righteousness. And the Old Covenant couldn't
do that. Couldn't do it. Let me show you why. Turn over
to Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9. The old covenant was powerless
to put away sin. This is what he is talking about
here in Hebrews chapter 9. About the old covenant. He says
in verse 1, then barely the first covenant. That is the old covenant.
First in time. That is what he is talking about.
had ordinances of divine service, a worldly sanctuary, that was
the tabernacle, the temple. Worldly meaning it was earthly,
it was physical. For there was a tabernacle made. The first
wherein was the candlestick, the table, the showbread, which
is called the sanctuary. That was the holy place where
only the priests could go. Remember they had the outer court,
you went through the door, there's the outer court and there's the
brazen altar where the sacrifices were made. And then you had the
next chamber was the holy place where only the priest could go.
And you had the table of showbread there, the candlestick, and the
priest of Levi would go in there and minister. And then verse
3, it says, after the second veil, the tabernacle, which is
called the holiest of all. Now that was the very center
of the tabernacle. That was the holy of holies.
Only the high priest could go in there one time a year on the
day of atonement with the blood of the Lamb. Now remember what
I was saying, all that's a picture of Christ, our high priest, Christ
our substitute, our sacrificial lamb, the one who put away our
sins. And he says in verse 4, which
had the golden censer, the ark of the covenant, that was the
box, made of chitim wood, overlaid with gold, that's a picture of
Christ's person, the God-man, his deity, his sinless humanity,
and had the lid over it, that was the mercy seat, contained
the law. He says it was overlaid roundabout
with gold, wherein was the golden pot and had manna and Aaron's
rod that budded the tables of the covenant. All of that was
in the holy place. Verse five, over it, the cherubims
of glory shadowing the mercy seat of which we cannot now speak
particularly. In other words, Paul was not
dealing with that subject there. Now, when these things were thus
ordained, The priest went always into the first tabernacle accomplishing
the service of God. In other words, he did what God
told him to do. And it says, but into the second with the
high priest alone once every year, not without blood. Now,
why not without blood? Because sin deserves death. The wages of sin is death. God
must be just. There's a mercy seat. That's
where God shows mercy, but not without blood. not without justice
being satisfied, not without his truth and righteousness being
honored. He must be a just God and a Savior. All that was pictured
there. That was the story, the message of all of that. Israel
as a nation didn't see it, but some did. Who did? All those to whom God revealed
it. And he says in He says, but into the second went the high
priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered
for himself and for the heirs of the people. Verse eight, the
Holy Ghost, this signifying that the way into the holiest of all
was not yet made manifest while as the first tabernacle was yet
standing. As long as that old covenant
tabernacle stood, or the temple now, the Holy Spirit was testifying
to Israel that the actual eternal spiritual way into the very presence
of God had not yet been made manifest, had not yet been accomplished. And what is he talking about
there? That's the coming of Christ into the world. Christ is our
high priest. Christ is our mercy seat. Christ is our sin bearer and
sin offering. And when he came, then it was
made manifest. And he says here in verse 9, which was a figure
or a type or a picture for the time then present in which were
offered both gifts and sacrifices that, listen, that could not
make him that did the service perfect as pertaining to the
conscience. Couldn't do it. The conscience
there is the seat of judgment in our minds and in our hearts.
It declares us either guilty or not guilty. Now what cleanses
the guilty conscience before God? Well, all that old covenant
service, the blood of animals, blood of bulls and goats could
not put away, couldn't do it. What does it take? It takes the
blood of Jesus Christ sprinkled on the conscience. That's what
the Holy Spirit does for His people. Now go back to 2 Corinthians
3. That old covenant couldn't do that. All the blood, all the
sacrifices, of all the animals under the old covenant were pictures,
were types that did not in and of themselves pay the debt of
sin or put away sin. They couldn't do it. They were
all pictures of one to come. Now he's come. The old covenant
was powerless. to give life, spiritual life,
to dead sinners. We fell an atom, we're born dead
in trespasses and sins. We don't have spiritual life
by nature. If we have spiritual life, it
must be given us by God. The Old Covenant couldn't do
it. The Old Covenant could tell you the commandments, even the
requirements, but it could not give a sinner a heart of conviction. A heart that's contrite and broken
over sin. A heart of faith. Couldn't change
the heart. Couldn't do it. All through the
old covenant, the complaint of the prophets were that Israel
was a stiff-necked and an impudent people. And that's the way we
all are by nature. We're no better than they by
nature. We, as the Bible says, walk according to the prince
of the power of the air by nature just like them. And whenever
the Old Covenant spoke of a brighter hope for the future, that brighter
hope was not wrapped up in the fact that God was going to find
a better class of people in the future who would be more cooperative
with Him, who would submit to Him. Oh, no. We're just like
them by nature. That's right. If we're changed,
it's by the power of God. Isn't that right? It's not by
our own power, not by our own will. It's not because, well,
they wouldn't do it, but we would. No, sir. The brighter hope for
the future that the Old Covenant speaks of is the coming of Christ
into the world to put away sin and to give life to dead sinners.
And that's how Paul starts this off in 2 Corinthians 3. He talks
about how this new creation, any man being Christ, a new creation.
is manifested in the sense that Christ both put away our sins,
He died for the sins of His people, He put them away, He paid the
dead, He was made sin, Christ who knew no sin, that we might
be made or become the righteousness of God in Him. And out of His
death, He died, He was buried, and what happened? He arose the
third day. And out of that came life. Out
of his death comes life, spiritual life, given to dead sinners. That's the new covenant, which
is the covenant of grace made before time. All of that. The
old covenant, blood of animals. The earthly priesthood couldn't
do it. The law couldn't do it. Christ did. He kept the law. He's the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believe it. And he sends his spirit to give
life. And so we come from tables of
stone to tables of the heart. That's what he says there. He
says we come from condemnation to righteousness. He says there
were ministers of the New Testament, the New Covenant, not of the
letter, not just of something written down, rules and regulations,
but of the spirit. This is the work of the Holy
Spirit within a sinner. Christ put away our sins by the
sacrifice of Himself and He sends the Holy Spirit to impart life,
give us a new heart, a heart of faith to bow. The letter kills, the law kills.
What does that mean? That means that all that the
law can do for a sinner is condemn him to death, that earthly judge. A woman standing before him who's
a convicted murderer, proven murderer. If that judge did what
was right, what would he do? He'd say, I sentence you to death. I know people get all upset over
that. But they say, well, that won't keep people from murdering. No, it won't. But it's justice. You see, it's not a matter of
how we keep people from murdering. We want to keep people from murdering,
don't we? But that's not what the death
penalty is about. It's about justice. Justice. People don't realize that. What does the law owe that person
who's guilty? Death. The wages of sin is what? Death. But now here's the point. What do I deserve? If God were
to judge me, What would I deserve? Death? Death? Well, if God were to judge you,
what would you deserve? Death? You say, well, where's
there any hope? That's what we're talking about.
A new and great mercy. I need mercy. Not mercy without
justice, but I need mercy from God. Where am I going to find
mercy? In the Lord Jesus Christ. No
mercy outside of him. Right? No mercy outside of Christ. He's the mercy seeker. And that's
why he calls this the ministration of righteousness. Look at verse
9. For if the ministration of condemnation, that's the law
pronouncing death, the sentence of death upon guilty sinners. If that was glory. Now that old
covenant had glorious things attached with it. We read about
one of them in Exodus 34. That was a glorious thing. Can
you imagine that? coming down from the mountain
and your skin is actually glowing. Now what it said? If my skin started glowing right
now, you all would get up and run, wouldn't you? You'd think
I'd been in a nuclear plant or something with a leak or something.
But that was glorious. I mean, his skin shone out so
much that he had to put a veil over his face. Something to see. But here's what he says, look
at verse 9. If the ministration of condemnation, that's what
that law was, if that be glory, or glorious, much more, here's
one of the much mores of the Bible, much more doth the ministration
of righteousness exceed in glory. So we, in the new covenant, this
new creation, we go from condemnation to righteousness. Now what is
that righteousness? That's perfect satisfaction to
the justice of God accomplished by the obedience unto death of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ brought in righteousness.
Moses couldn't do that. His blood equals righteousness
for his people. The blood of animals couldn't
do that. His priesthood Somebody asks, where is Christ right now?
Jesus Christ, the God-man, the Bible says, is seated at the
right hand of the Father, ever living, to make intercession
for His people. What does that intercession involve?
It involves His merits, the merits of His obedience unto death,
in place of His people, forever and ever and ever. Worthy is
the Lamb. In other words, what that says
to me is this. At no time or in any way can I come before
God apart from Christ or based on anything other than His shed
blood and His righteousness imputed. I cannot come before God and
expect to be accepted or blessed based upon my works at any time. The best message, listen to it,
the best message that I ever have preached or ever will preach
will not gain me access or acceptance with God. And the best one would
be a true message, wouldn't it? I may speak all the truth without
any anger or any resentment towards
anybody, but the best message that I've ever preached or ever
will preach is not good enough to gain me access with God or
acceptance with God. The best prayer that I've ever
prayed is not good enough to gain me access or acceptance
with God. There's only one thing that's
good enough to do that and that's the blood of Jesus Christ. And that's what the testimony
of that old covenant was about. I have righteousness but you're
not going to find it in me. You'll only find it in my Savior. the Lord Jesus Christ, for he
is my righteousness. And I'll tell you what, here's
what he's saying here by inspiration and spirit. That is so much more
glorious than if my skin would just start shining like the sun
right here before you. Somebody says, well, if that
happened, I'd believe what you're saying. No, you wouldn't. Like
I said, you'd run. The Lord told him in the parable
of the rich man and Lazarus, the rich man in hell said, send
Lazarus back to preach to my brothers because they'll believe
if somebody is raised from the dead. And the Lord said, they
won't believe if somebody is raised from the dead. They've
got something greater already. It's the Word of God, he said,
Moses and the prophets who preach Christ. Do you realize that sitting
there, hearing a man preach the gospel of Christ is much more
glorious than anything Israel experienced under the Old Covenant,
including the parting of the Red Sea. I'll never forget the
first time I saw the Ten Commandments. Boy, I was impressed. I mean,
you've seen that movie, haven't you? Could you imagine being
back there and actually seeing that in that day? Right now what
you're doing, you may not see it, I hope you do, I hope I see
it. There's something much more glorious
going on right now, preaching Christ Jesus and Him crucified. And he says in verse 10, look
at it, for even that which was more glorious had no glory in
this respect, or may glories had no glory in this respect,
by reason of the glory that excelleth. Compared to the preaching of
Christ, And His glory, the glory of His person, the glory of His
finished work, the glory of His blood, His righteousness, the
salvation, the work of the Spirit, giving life, compared to that,
back there all that stuff had no glory at all when you compare
it. No glory at all. Because, and I'll tell you why
I'm saying that. It's because even though they saw all of that,
they still didn't believe God. Now think about it. Here they
are. They had just come out of Egypt. They had seen all those
plagues. Remember, God brought all the
ten plagues on Egypt. The last plague being the killing
of the firstborn unless they had the blood over the door.
When I see the blood, I'll pass it over to you. I'm telling you,
that stuff was impressive now. You'd say, how in the world?
Everybody has to believe that. They came out, they were standing
on the shore of the Red Sea and they looked back and saw Pharaoh's
army coming. And what's the first thing they
did? They started complaining, they started dissing on God's
prophet and said, why did you take us out of Egypt just to
kill us? You're not doing right. One thing you can see right there,
their getting across the Red Sea had nothing to do with conditions
they met or their cooperation. They're standing there like all
of us by nature would and wanting to kill God's prophet who brought
them out. They wanted to kill him. They
wanted to kill Moses. That's us by nature. And what
did God do? Well, he opened up the Red Sea
and they walked across dry shot, it said. Pharaoh came after him
and once they got on the other side, he closed the Red Sea and
he drowned Pharaoh's army. Well, surely they believed then.
No, they didn't. Moses went up into Mount Sinai
and he stayed there too long, they thought. You know, that's
the way we think. It's just too long for me. We're like the woman who said,
Lord, give me patience and give it to me right now. Or else I won't believe. And then when Moses came down
out of the mountain, what were they doing? Worshipping a golden
calf. Moses broke the tabernacles. And then he says, whoever is
on the Lord's side, come with me. Whoever is not, stay with
them and that golden calf. And what happened? The ground
opened up and swallowed those who didn't come. That's impressive.
Somebody said, well, that ought to at least scare the hell out
of them. But it didn't. Did it? Wasn't too long that there was
a delegation of the nobles who came along, the impressive men
who had their own followings. And they said, well, Moses, you
need to delegate some of this authority to us, that authority
that God gave you. And what happened? People were divided and those
who stood with the others, with the nobles, they were killed
by the wrath of God. Those who stayed with Moses were
okay. Oh, every one of them believed that. No, they didn't. We could go on and on, couldn't
we? You see, that's us by nature under a conditional covenant.
Fail, fail, fail, fail, fail. That's what we are. If God puts
the conditions on me, I'm a failure. But when he puts the conditions
on his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, they will not fail. They have
not failed, they'll never fail. For he is able to save to the
uttermost them that come unto the Father by him. He's able
to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. He's
able, he's able, he's able. The glorious person of Christ.
He says in verse 11, for if that which is done away was glorious,
much more that which remaineth is glorious. What we have is
so much more glorious than what they have. So he says in verse 12, seeing
then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech.
What is our hope? Remember that hope. I always
try to remind myself and everybody that listens that this hope is
not talking about wishful thinking. or something you strongly desire. That's not what it's talking
about. This hope is an expectation, a certainty based upon solid
ground. That's what it is. And what it
is, is the certain expectation of salvation and all that it's
included, not part salvation, but all salvation, over and under
glory, based upon two things, God's word, God said it, and
His glory in Christ. That's what His word teaches,
so they go together. The two things really just one,
aren't they? It's because Christ came and put away my sins that
I have this hope. It's because Christ came and
established righteousness for me that I have this hope. It's
because Christ came and gave me life by His Spirit in the
new birth that I have this hope. It's because Christ died, was
buried, rose the third day and that He ascended unto the Father
and He's now seated in the heavenlies that I have this hope. I have
this hope. My sins cannot be laid to my
charge. I have that, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. I cannot
be condemned. Who can condemn us? It's Christ
that died. Jay Rather is risen again and is seated at the right
hand of the Father ever living to make intercession for us.
Now, I know what the world does with that. They say, well, you're
saying you can be saved and just do this, do that, blah, blah,
blah. No, no, no, no. That's not what we're saying
at all. Somebody said, I was reading yesterday trying to prepare
messages to preach out in Ruston. I'm going to preach like six
times out there. And I was just preparing messages for next week. And I was looking at some messages
on election and some people who brought objections to the electing
grace of God. And just about every one of them
said, well, these people who believe election, they believe you can
be saved no matter what. I said, no matter what? I said,
no, nobody says no matter what. We say what the Bible says. The
elect of God shall be saved, but it's not no matter what.
They'll be saved, number one, because God is faithful to His
promise. They'll be saved, number two,
because Christ fulfilled all the conditions. And they'll be
saved because the Holy Spirit will give them life. He will indwell us. And God will
not let us, we'll stray, but He will not let us go. Saved no matter what. You know
what? I'll tell you where that stuff
comes from. Now you listen to me. I'm telling you the truth.
It comes from this idea that people have that salvation is
this one time act that happened to me when I was a kid or somewhere
around the early teens where I was at a revival meeting and
I got emotionally involved in the service and walked in and
got baptized and I quote, got saved, unquote. And I'm telling
you that's not in the Bible. There's nothing even close to
that in the Bible. It is a concoction of man just
so that he can brag on numbers. When I talk to a person about
salvation, I hate to hear them. I'm telling you. I hate to hear
them say, well, when I was 12, I did this, you know. I hate to hear it. Because that's not biblical.
Are you saved? Well, I can tell you this much,
I'm looking to Christ as my only hope. Right now, today. That's
what I'm doing. He's my only righteousness. He's
my only forgiveness. I don't have any other plea but
Christ died for me. I'm covering it. What can wash
away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
That's my hope! Know what happened to me when
I was 12? I'm telling you. You've got to
go back there. I'll tell you what, just who
are you looking to today for salvation? And so what they did
is they got all these people down the aisle when they were
12, 13, 14, whatever, and then they had shown no evidence of
a real living relationship with Christ, and they go out here
and go out yonder and everything, and nobody even thinks about
them as being saved until they die and go to the funeral. Am
I right? You say, preacher, you're being
too hard. I'm just being truthful. I'm just being truthful. That's
not our hope. My hope is not what happened
to me years ago. My hope is who I'm looking to
today. Christ Jesus, my Lord. He's my hope today. Today. And look at verse 13. He says, not as Moses. Now, Moses
said, the law is not my hope. Moses put a veil over his face
that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end
of that which is abolished. You remember we read that back
here in Exodus 34, brother. Aaron read that. It says here
that the skin of his face shone. It shined. And they were afraid to come
near him. They didn't know what was going
on. We wouldn't have either. And Moses called unto them and
Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation here in Exodus 34.
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
him, he put a veil on his face. He had to hide that glory. That physical manifestation of
glory Moses had to hide. That's indicative of the glory
of God that's hidden from man by nature. 2 Corinthians 4, over
across the page from our text, says this, verse 3, But if our
gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God
of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not,
lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the
image of God, should shine unto them. Does the message of Christ
mean anything to me? Does it mean anything to you?
Is it a message I can take or leave? Is it a message that when
I hear it and I walk out the door today, I'll forget about
it pretty much and never think about it again? Well, let me tell you something.
If you've ever, by the power of the Spirit, seen the light
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, you will never
be able to get away from it. And it won't get away from you.
I guarantee it. Can't happen. Not only will it
mean something to you, it's your life. Now that doesn't mean you're
going to all become preachers, you'll become witnesses of His
glory. But look here, look at verse
14 of 2 Corinthians. But their minds were blinded.
Now what blinds the minds of men? I'll tell you what blinds
them, ignorance. They don't know the way. How many people in religion
today claim to believe in Christ but really don't know Christ?
Ignorance. How many people claim to be saved
but they don't know the way of salvation and don't even really
know what salvation is? I read a sermon or an article
written by a famous popular preacher who made this statement. He said,
in the end, when we appear before God at judgment, all that will
matter is what you have done for the Lord. Now my friend, that's ignorance.
All that will matter is this, am I in Christ or am I on my
own? The Apostle Paul said, O that
I may know Him and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ. Philippians 3, 9 and 10. Do I have a righteousness that
equals and answers the demands of God's justice? That's what
a matter of judgment. Because there's coming a day
in which God will judge the world in righteousness by that man
whom he hath ordained and hath given assurance unto all men
and that he hath raised him from the dead. Acts 17 31. You see,
when I stand before God at judgment, all that will matter is am I
washed in the blood? Am I clothed in his righteousness?
You say, but the Bible says about their works that it speaks of
their works only as evidences of their relationship with Christ,
not as meritorious thing. It's not what our works do for
us at judgment or earn for us. It's what our works say about
us. Do I love Christ? Do I know him? That veil over their minds, it
says in verse 13, there's a veil over his face. He said in verse
14, their minds were blinded. Look at it. For until this day
remained at the same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old
Testament, which veil is done away in Christ. You see that?
That veil is ignorance of Christ. They read the Old Testament and
they turned it into a self-righteous system of work salvation. They
didn't know Christ. They didn't see his grace, his
glory. That veil over their minds and their heart is self-righteousness.
Man by nature thinks too highly of himself. That's me, that's
you, it's all of us. We think too highly of ourselves. We think
we're worth something. We think God owes us something.
He doesn't, except death. My only hope is to be found in
Christ. When you read the Old Testament
and you see Christ, then it's opened up to you. Look at it,
verse 15. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the
veil is upon their heart. Nevertheless, when it shall turn
to the Lord, look what happens, the veil shall be taken away.
That's when the veil is removed. When I see Christ in His glory,
the glory of His person, the glory of His righteousness, His
blood, His finished work, the veil is taken away. Now I can
look at the Old Testament in a different light. That's part
of this new creation, you see. We're in the new creation. When
I read about the tabernacle now, and I read about the priesthood
and the sacrament, I see Christ. And so he says in verse 17, now
the Lord is that spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord
is, there's liberty. That's liberty of grace. That's
liberty to serve God now. Not in order to be saved, but
because we already are. That's opposed to the bondage
of the law, the burden of the law. Trying to work your way
into God's favor. Trying to establish your own
righteousness. Don't have to do that now. I
have Christ. And now I serve him out of love
and grace and gratitude. And so he says, but we all, verse
18, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory. This
is talking about believers now. We're changed into the same image
from glory to glory even as by the spirit of the Lord transformed
Transformed in every way Because we're in him and we see his glory
and we rest in him for all salvation. All right