Our lesson last week ended in
verse six. Paul began to show us how much
more glorious the gospel is than the law. He taught us that the
law is the killing letter, the gospel of Christ is the quickening,
life giving spirit. And here in the rest of this
chapter, he's going to show us how much more glorious the gospel
of Christ is than the law, than that first covenant, the law
of Moses. So verse seven, he says, but if the ministration
of death, written and engraved in stones, was glorious, so that
the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face
of Moses for the glory of his countenance, which glory was
to be done away, how shall not the ministration of the Spirit
be rather glorious, or be rather more glorious? Now Paul calls
the law the ministration of death, because all the law does is expose. It exposes our sinfulness. It
shows us that all we are sinners who deserve the wrath of God,
deserve eternal death. The law shows us that we're sinners
under the curse of God. The law reveals our sin sickness,
but doesn't tell us anything about healing, doesn't offer
any healing, doesn't tell us where to go to find any healing.
The law shows us our inability to obey God, but doesn't tell
us how to obey God. The law can't even give us any
desire to obey God. But the gospel was much more
glorious than that. The gospel revealed life found
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Because Christ suffered death
as a substitute for his people, he delivered us from death by
dying for us. The gospel reveals, yes, we are
under the curse, but the gospel also reveals that Christ delivered
us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. The
gospel does reveal our sickness. Not only are we sick, the gospel
reveals that we're dead. But then the gospel pours in
the sweet balm of Gilead, ministered from the hand of Christ, the
great physician. The gospel clearly reveals our
inability to keep the law. Then reveals us Christ, our righteousness,
who kept the law for us as our representative. The gospel reveals
our inability, complete inability, to please God. Then shows us
we're accepted in the beloved. Now that's much more glorious
than what we see in the law. And the gospel is so much more
glorious than the law because the law has to do with us, has
to do with our ability to do or don't do, what we do, what
we don't do, what we can do, what we can't do. The gospel
is the ministration of the Spirit. The Gospel is the ministration
of what Christ has done for us. And we receive every spiritual
blessing from God the Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done
for us. We receive forgiveness of sins because He was made sin
for us. We receive eternal life because
Christ died for us. We receive peace with God through
the blood of His cross. We have joy in Christ our Savior. We have comfort found in the
Holy Spirit. That's much better. That's what
Christ has earned for us. That's way better than the death
that we earn through the law. The law is the ministration of
condemnation. Look over at Galatians chapter
3. It's the ministration of condemnation. In Galatians 3 verse 10, For as many as are of the works
of the law are under the curse. For it is written, Cursed is
everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them." The law is the administration
of condemnation. You offend in one point, you
are guilty of the whole law under the condemnation of God. But
the gospel reveals life in the Lord Jesus Christ. The law says
we're under the condemnation because of our offenses. The
gospel says the just shall live by faith. Not by our obedience,
but by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The law reveals God's
wrath against sin. The gospel reveals God's mercy
to sin. Much more glorious. The law shows
us something about who God is. how far above us God really is,
that God's holy, so He must be against us. But the gospel reveals
Emmanuel, God with us. The gospel shows us union with
Christ and the Father. Now, the law was written on tables
of stone, but the gospel is written on the hearts of believers. You
don't have to run down to the temple and look inside a box
to find two tables of stone to find out what you're supposed
to do or how you're supposed to do it or what you're supposed
to do in this situation or that situation. You don't do that.
If you're a believer, The gospel is written on your heart. God's
law is written on your heart. And not only did He write His
law on your heart, He gave you the desire to keep the law. He
gives you the desire to walk with God that comes from a new
nature that He gives you, that He puts in you, in your heart.
That's not something you have to go read on something carved
in stone. It's a new nature that God's given you. That's a whole
lot more glorious than two hunks of stone, I'm telling you. Now
with that question, the giving of the law was glorious. You
saw something of the glory of God in the giving of the law.
If God was giving Moses the law up on that mountain, the people
saw it. And it was quite a sight. I mean, Moses was up there. God's
giving him the law. It was a sight, the thunderings
and the lightnings. Moses came down from that place.
His face shone so brightly from being in the presence of God,
it was so bright that people couldn't look at him. This is
just the reflected glory of God was too bright for the people
to look on. They had to put a veil over his
face or they'd blind them from looking at him. Well, the law
did reveal something of the glory of God's holiness and righteousness,
the glory of how strict true holiness really is. But the gospel
reveals the greater glory of God, the glory of God's grace
and mercy to sinners, the glory of Christ in redemption as our
substitute. And I'll show you that over Exodus
20. Look back here at Exodus 20. This is the giving of the
law. In Exodus 20, verse 18. And all the people saw the thunderings,
and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountains
smoking. And the people saw it. They saw
this glory of God. And what did they do? They removed
and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak
thou with us, and we'll hear. But don't let God speak with
us, lest we die. They saw the glory of God and
the giving of the law, and it caused them to run away. Don't
let God speak with us. Now look over at chapter 33. You know, they saw this sight
from a distance. Moses was in the mountain when all this was
going on. Moses saw this up close and personal. And look what he says in chapter
33, back to this verse 18. And Moses said, I beseech thee,
show me thy glory. Now, Moses, are you nuts? Haven't
you just seen all this glory, all the thunderings and the lightnings
and this glory that made the people run away? Hadn't you seen
all this? Moses, there's something more.
Look, God told him in verse 19, there is something more. And
God said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee. I
will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee and will be
gracious to whom I will be gracious and show mercy on whom I will
show mercy." See, God's greater glory is His sovereign mercy
and grace to sinners. And that's what He showed Moses.
And that's what's revealed to us in the Gospel. God's sovereign
mercy and grace to sinners in our Lord Jesus Christ. That didn't
cause Moses to run away, did it? That glory draws God's people
to Him. It doesn't cause us to run away.
It causes us to run to Him and tell Him, You speak to us. That's
who we want to hear him speak because we've seen his glory
and mercy and grace. Now, verse 9, back here in our
lesson. 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. There was a greater
glory. Now the law is the ministration
of condemnation. And like we just saw, there's
a certain amount of God's glory that's seen in the giving of
that law. But that glory vanished away
when Christ was revealed. Because so much more of God's
glory is seen in the person and the work of Christ than seen
in the law. God's mercy, God's love, God's
wisdom and redemption are all seen in the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's much more glorious than the law. It's just so much more
glorious than giving the law. It blocks it out. It's just like
the sun. When the sun rises, you can have
a searchlight out there at night, you know, and that thing is bright. I mean, so bright it'll hurt
your eyes. When the sun comes up, you can't see it because
the sun is so much more glorious. Last Saturday evening, Jan and
I were at the Ohio State football game with 106,000 of our closest
friends. And at halftime, a former basketball
player came out onto the field. Somebody carrying one of those
gigantic cardboard checks, you know. And they called everybody's
attention down to the field. This kid is donating $500,000
to the university. He's played in the NBA now. You
know, everybody's clapped. I mean, it is. Everybody around
says, that's wonderful. He got this scholarship and he's
making, you know, Unbelievable amount of money now and he's
donating half a million dollars to the university. That's wonderful.
Everybody's happy, you know. Well, then the band played, marched
off the field. Another man comes out carrying
one of these big cardboard checks. They call your attention down
to the field. This check the man was donating to the university
was for five million dollars. 106,000 people went, Janet says, give me those binoculars. I've got to see this man. I got
to see this man is going to donate this much money to you. And I
told her, I said, you've got to go a ways to outshine $500,000
gift. But that man did it. That's the way the gospel should
be preached. That's the way I want to preach it, because that's
the way it should be preached. We should exalt Christ so clearly
that someone says, give me the binoculars. I've got to see this
man. I've got to find a way to get
close enough to see this man. It's just like those men that
came to the disciples. Sirs, we would see Jesus. We need to see Him. Now you've
got to go a ways to outshine the law of Moses. But our Lord
Jesus Christ did it. This completely outshines it
because He revealed God's grace God's mercy, God's salvation,
God giving eternal life to dead sinners. Let me see the man who
did that. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the gospel of Christ is the ministration of righteousness,
how he imputes his perfect righteousness to his people. It's so much more
glory. than these rags of righteousness
that we try to earn from the law. They don't even deserve
to be compared. They're just not even compared.
This is the ministration of righteousness that we have joy and comfort
and righteousness in Christ. That's much more glorious than
the fear and the sorrow and the condemnation, the unrighteousness
that we earn under the law. Christ gives eternal life. life to his people that cannot
be lost. That's a whole lot more glorious
than death under the law. It's pretty obvious. Life is
always much more glorious than death. Always. See, the gospel
outshines the law in every way. Just completely makes it fade
off into oblivion. Now, verse 11, Paul says, for
if that which was done away was glorious, Much more that which
remaineth as glorious. Now the law of Moses did have
some glory. It even had some staying power.
God let it stay in effect for 2,000 years. But still, that
was still just a temporary covenant. Christ came. He fulfilled all
of that law. He took away the first that he
may establish the second. That he may eternally establish
the second. Well, the eternal covenant is
always going to be more glorious than the temporary one, isn't
it? Now, verse 12, seeing then that
we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech. This word
hope is expectation. Seeing we have such a good expectation,
a hope through grace. We have such a sure hope, a sure
expectation, because our expectation is based on the Word of God.
It's based on the person and work of Christ. Well, it doesn't
get any more sure than that, does it? Based on God's Word?
Based on the doing and the dying of Christ? Well, since we have
such a sure hope in Christ, we use great plainness of speech,
great boldness to preach the gospel of Christ to all men. We use great plainness of speech
to point men to Christ. Now, we use plain speech. We
don't obscure the gospel like the children of Israel had to
use that veil to obscure Moses' face. We don't take the edge
off of it because we're afraid it's going to offend somebody
in the leaf. We use great plainness of speech. We preach in plain
speech. Not like how Christ was revealed
in type and shadow and picture in the Old Testament. The gospel
reveals Christ in plain view. Preach in plain speech. Easy
to understand speech. We preach the gospel in plain
speech so everyone can understand exactly who we're preaching. So they can understand exactly
who it is we're pointing to because we know this. Christ is the greatest
need every person has. I don't care where they've come
from, what background there is, what's happened in their world
today or yesterday. is the greatest need every one
of us has. So we preach Him in the most
plain speech possible so that people will look to Him, come
to Him. And that's kind of what Paul
says here in verse 13. And not as Moses, which put a
veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not
steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished. Now
we preach the gospel in plain speech. We tell men and women
You look to Christ. You look directly to Him. And don't you let anyone or anything
get between you and Christ. You look to Him. You come to
Him. You do whatever it takes to get
to Christ because in Him you'll find everything you need. You
get to Him. You be determined to come to
Him like that woman with the issue of blood. I mean, if you've
got to crawl on the ground through the multitude, you do it to get
to Him because you'll find everything you need in Him. But now you've
got to look with the eye of faith. You cannot look to Christ and
find salvation with the human eye. If that were true, those
Pharisees that crucified Him would have been saved, wouldn't
they? They saw Him for years with the natural eye. It didn't
do them any good. They saw Him with the natural eye. They touched
His body, even though it was to torture Him and hurt Him and
wound Him. But they never saw what you've
seen, because you've seen Him with the eye of faith. They never
saw salvation in Him. They just saw someone to look
down their nose at, to despise and hate. You've seen Him with
the eye of faith. You've seen His glory. Now, the
Jews in the wilderness, They couldn't even look directly at
the reflected glory of God with the natural eye. They couldn't
do it. They needed Moses to put a veil over his face or the reflected
glory of God would have blinded their natural eye. But with the
eye of faith, you can look directly at the Son and not be harmed. Not only can you not be harmed,
find life. You can see His glory. Look across
the page here at chapter 4, verse 6. For 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. The eye of faith can see the
glory of God directly in the face of Jesus Christ. You look
to Him. Now verse 14, But their minds
were blinded. For until this day remaineth
the same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament,
which veil is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when
Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart." Now that veil,
it could be referring to the veil that Moses hung over his
face to block out that glory. It may also in some way refer
to that veil that hung between the holy place and the holy of
holies. That veil was there to block out the glory of God, to
keep people from coming directly into the presence of the glory
of God. And that veil is a type of a
veil that right now to this day is covering their hearts. You
see, it's not just their eyes that are blinded. It's their
hearts that are blinded. Their minds are blinded so that
they cannot see Christ. They will not see Christ, but
they cannot see Christ because the veil of unbelief is covering
their heart. That veil of unbelief keeps them
from seeing the glory of Christ in the gospel. That veil of unbelief
keeps them from seeing that Christ is the Messiah. They read the
Old Testament scriptures. They read them every Sabbath
day. To this day, how many years has it been since Paul wrote
this letter? And they're still reading those Old Testament scriptures
every Sabbath day. But they still don't see Christ.
All they see to this day is laws for them to keep and promises
of an earthly kingdom. They're still looking for an
earthly kingdom. They're still looking for the Messiah to come
and set them up as rulers of the world. They still do not
see Christ. But you know, That's true of
Jews and it's true of every unregenerate son of Adam. They're blind. Dead people are blind. They've
got that veil over their hearts. And the only way that veil can
be removed is if the light of the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ shines in their hearts. So they're light and they can
see Christ. Look here at verse 16. Nevertheless,
When it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.
You know, the Jews, they have to be the most rebellious nation
in the history of this planet. God sent them the prophets. I
mean, how many prophets did the Lord send them? They rejected
every one of them. They rejected the Messiah when
he came. And they couldn't just reject
him. They couldn't just not listen to him. They had to kill him.
And they couldn't just kill him. They had to torture him first,
then kill him. And to this day they refuse to see Christ. Nevertheless,
Paul says, nevertheless, our God is gracious. God's grace
is never the less. It's always the greater. His
grace is always greater than our sin and our rebellion and
our unbelief. God is so gracious that if those
Jews would ever turn to the Lord, He'd take that veil of ignorance
and unbelief away. And the Lord saved them if they
would ever turn to Him. It's just like when you go to
see a play. You sit there before the play
and all you see is a curtain. And the lights, you know, are
kind of dim. And then they turn the lights out. And that curtain
comes up. And you see this elaborate set
behind that. You never would have known all
this elaborate set was behind that curtain. Because the curtain
was blocking your view. But when the curtain's taken
away, oh, now I see everything that the playwright's planning
here. Well, if the Lord would ever
lift that veil of unbelief from the hearts of those Jews, they
will see the glory of God. Now, many, many people, and I
wouldn't be surprised if this is true, think that this is one
of the prophecies of Scripture, that one day there's going to
be a great revival in Israel. That they're going to turn to
the Lord and the Lord's going to save them. And I wouldn't
be surprised if that's the case. Because read through Israel's
history. How many times has it happened
in the past? They rebel, the Lord lets them be carried off
into captivity and idolatry. Pretty soon what happens? He
calls them back. Could it happen again? I don't
know. Hope so. But here's what I do know. That
this verse applies to Jew and Gentile alike. Now, every one
of us is born dead with this veil of unbelief over our heart.
Yet, if a sinner will turn to the Lord, that veil will be taken
away and God will give them a sight of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we preach unashamedly the
election because the Bible reveals God of electing love. If God
doesn't choose us, we'll never choose God. That's so. Christ
came and He died to redeem God's elect. He didn't come to try
to die and didn't die for the whole big wide world and hope
to save everyone or hope somebody would accept His sacrifice. He
came and He died for God's elect. He offered a sacrifice for God's
people. And not one of those people will
be lost. Not one. Every one of them is
going to be saved. Not one drop. the precious blood
of God's Son is going to be wasted. Now that's so. That's what we
preach. That's what the Bible clearly teaches. At the exact
same time, we preach man's responsibility. Men are responsible to look to
Christ, to come to Him. And when God sends people to
hell, not one of them is going to be able to blame God. Not
one of them. God sends them to hell and He
wouldn't do it. if they ever would have turned
to the Lord. But they wouldn't do it. They would not turn to
Him. They would not turn to Him to find mercy. They would not
turn to Him that they might have life. So in the strongest, most
plain language possible, I compel men, look to Christ. You look to Christ. You come
to Him. How many times have I heard Henry
say it? Right where you're sitting without moving a muscle, you
come to Christ. You look to Him. If you'll turn
to God, He'll save you. That's just so. And you'll turn
if God turns you. You will turn when God turns
you in mercy and grace. Now, verse 17. Now the Lord is
that Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord
is, there's liberty. Now Christ is that Spirit. And
what Paul's saying here is he's God. He is the Spirit of truth,
the Spirit of peace, the Spirit of life. And he's the giver of
life and salvation and grace. He's that Spirit. And where Christ
dwells in the heart, there's liberty. There's freedom from
the bondage to sin and the bondage to the law. All the law could
ever give us is bondage. Do. Do. Do. Do. Not just today. Not just for
a little while. Forever. Do. The gospel gives
freedom. Freedom in Christ. The law never
offers any rest. The gospel gives rest in Christ. And we are free in the Lord Jesus
Christ. If the Son shall make you free,
you're free indeed. And that veil is lifted and you're
free to come right into the presence of God Almighty. And you couldn't
do that before Christ died, could you? There that veil hung between
the holy place and the holy of holies. And you dare not crawl
under that veil unless you're the high priest once a year and
not without blood. But what happened when Christ
died? It's finished. That veil is ripped from top
to bottom. The veil's taken away and you're at liberty, freedom,
to come right into the presence of God. Not just one day a year. As many days as you want. As
many times a day as you want. My suggestion would be you go
and never leave. Come to Him. You have freedom
to come to the throne of God Almighty in our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I don't know a lot about
slavery or bondage. I'm so thankful I've never experienced
it. But I've read biographies of slaves and stories of slavery
at the time when the slaves were set free. They all loved freedom
a whole lot more than they did slavery. You're free, liberty
in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's glorious. In verse 18,
But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the
Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even
by the Spirit of the Lord. Now, you know, God told Moses,
no man shall see me live. But now in Christ, we see the
full glory of God and His salvation. We look straight into the face
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And not only do we not die, we
live. And we're changed into His image
by Christ being formed in our hearts. So by faith, We grow
in grace from one degree of faith to another degree of faith. We
grow in grace and faith and in knowledge by the power of God. You can't grow in the law. The
law, you never grow. You're stuck in one place under
condemnation. But in Christ, we grow in grace
and knowledge of Him. All right. Lord bless you.