Exodus 34 in verse 27 is where
we'll start. 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. And he was there with
the Lord forty days and forty nights. He did neither eat bread
nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables
the words of the covenant the Ten Commandments. Remember when
the Lord said, I have meat to eat that you don't know of? Moses
must have been getting a little of that, you think? Because he
didn't eat or drink water for 40 days and 49. 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 wist not that the skin of his face shone while
he talked with them. And when Aaron and all the children
of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone. And
they were afraid to come nigh 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 nigh.
And he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken
with him in Mount Sinai. All that the Lord had spoken.
Paul said, I've not shunned to declare unto you the whole counsel
of God. We don't leave out the parts we don't like, like religion
is so commonly doing. or add anything to it. Until
Moses had done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face.
His face was still shining and they were afraid, but he called
them over and said, yeah, I've got to talk to you. So he put
a veil on his face while he spoke with them. But verse 34, but
when Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, 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. Let's pray together
before we begin. Gracious Father, thank you for
this occasion and for your drawing of your people together, your
gracious providence in arranging this. We pray, Lord, that by
your grace we've gathered in your name tonight to hear of
you, to learn of you, to praise you, to glorify you, and by your
enabling grace to worship you, Lord. May it be so tonight. Bless us, teach us, and may you
receive glory. in all that's done and said and
even in our very thoughts and hearts tonight. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.
Now often we've read and seen passages like this in the Old
Testament and it's led us to the New Testament. And also when
we studied Hebrews it was the other way around. We were led
to look back to the Old Testament so many times in order to understand
what was written in Hebrews. But in this case sometimes you
know the same truth is being taught in one or the other and
so we have to see it in both or here the Apostle Paul in writing
in 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 uses this very passage of scripture
that we just read to teach a spiritual lesson so it would it would be
utter foolishness to try to teach anything else but that if the
Word of God teaches Second Corinthians 3, based on what we just read,
and that's what we've got to look at. So let's turn there
together. Second Corinthians chapter 3. And we'll see a few
verses at a time and go through this whole chapter. And that's
why I said I wasn't sure how quickly we'd be able to do this
tonight. I may continue this, Lord willing, next week, but
we'll see. But in 2 Corinthians 3, let's read the first four
verses together because Paul introduces a thought here. He said in teaching, he's talking
in chapter two about the gospel that he preaches. And he's bold
to defend those who would accuse him of heresy or accuse him of
wrongdoing or of In this case, boasting, he said,
Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or need we, as some
others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation
from you? You are our epistle written in
our hearts, known and read of all men, for as much as you are
manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered
by us, written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living
God. not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. And such trust have we through
Christ to Godward." Now we'll be brief on this part because
it doesn't directly bear on our subject tonight, but he's already
beginning to talk about the writing of the Spirit on the heart as
opposed to the letter that's written. And so we'll see that
also in connection with our text. And Paul here is defending the
ministry of Christ that was given and trusted to him, as opposed
to those who minister the law, as we'll see later in this chapter.
And he said, we don't need anybody of weight, you know, to write
a letter of commendation, recommending us or condoning our ministry. He said, you're our letter of
commendation. The fact that I'm writing to you at all, the fact
that there's a gospel among you for me to defend, the fact that
there's a church in Corinth at all is proof enough that God
is with us. And this is true here as well. I've often thought that same
thing. How do we know that we're a true church? Is it just opinion?
No, there's two things. And it doesn't matter if people
of weight in this community or any community in this world consider
us heretics or what they consider us or what they do or say about
us? What do we look for as evidence
of God's blessing upon us, of the legitimacy of this church,
not letters of commendation from men? First of all, as Paul said
in chapter 2, verses 12 through 17, which we don't have time
to read, the truth, the truth of God, if it's according to
this book. And that's what, if you'll read
that, 2 Corinthians 2, 12 through 17, let's just read verse 17
and you'll get the main I have a gist of what he's saying, I
believe. 2 Corinthians 2, 17, he said, For we are not as many
which corrupt the word of God. That's why we don't need men
to say this is a God's church, you know, and he's a good preacher. None of that means anything.
The praise of men. We don't corrupt the word of
God. That's why we're a church. We preach the truth. As of sincerity,
as of God, our gospel came from God. And it's the gospel of God. It's the gospel that's recorded
in this book. And in the sight of God, speak
we in Christ. Not in the sight of men, not
looking for the approval of men. And so that's what he's talking
about. And then also, the second thing is you. It's what he's
saying here. You are our letter. of commendation. We don't have the praise and
approval of men, and don't desire it, but we indisputably do have
the favor and blessing of God, which is evidenced, as he said,
by the truth that we have, and also that his people gather and
rejoice in it, and are saved and edified by it. And we have
this, as he said in verse four there, this trust, this confidence
is the word there, We have the confidence that this is God's
church because of that. We don't pervert the word of
God. We preach Christ crucified. We
preach the gospel of God as it's recorded in his book. And God's
people gather and are benefiting and edified and are saved by
this word. And we have this confidence through
Christ. not looking to our flesh, but
looking to Him. We see that He's honored and
He's glorified in the word preached and in the people, among the
people. And in the benefit to the people,
to the church that gathers, we have it through Christ to God,
in other words, for His glory. And so, through Christ, we have
all of our confidence. And that's what He's about to
say. And the contrast in verse 3, let's look at verse 3 before
we move on, chapter 3, verse 3. Look, he said, you are manifestly
declared to be the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written
not with ink, not in a letter from somebody that's in some
hierarchy somewhere that's condoning Paul, like he's acknowledging
here that others got their confidence and their legitimacy from that
type of thing, a religious hierarchy and recommendations from men.
He said, no, not us, but with the spirit of the living God.
The Spirit of God's got to do something for this to be a church.
It doesn't matter if every religious big shot in the world wrote a
letter saying, Chris Cunningham is a good preacher. You should
come hear him. And this is a legitimate church. It doesn't mean nothing
unless the Spirit comes here and does something in the hearts
of His people. And where the Spirit is, Christ is preached.
We know that. Christ said the Spirit, the Holy
Spirit that I send to you, He'll take the things of mine and reveal
them to you. And He won't boast in the flesh. care what men think. And so that's what he's talking
about here. But the contrast there, not letter, but with ink,
but by the spirit of God on the heart. And this is important
to what we're getting into. The spirit writes on the heart.
And this is true also of the new and old covenants, which
are taught in the text in Exodus, where we read. Paul said, my
letter of commendation is not from men, but from God, the spirit
who wrote that letter of commendation, not on paper, but on your hearts.
And then in these following verses, Paul's gonna speak of how that
God, who once wrote on tables of stone his law, the old covenant,
has now written his gospel on the hearts of his people. And
that's the parallel I wanted us to see in those first four
verses primarily. Now he's gonna talk about the
glory, the glory that exceleth. Excellent glory. Look at verse
five. Not that we are sufficient of
ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency
is of God. Not only do we trust the commendations
of men, we don't trust our own flesh, much less theirs. There's
nothing in us, in any of us. Our sufficiency is of God, who
also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament. We're not
sufficient to think anything of ourselves. If I tell you what
I think, it's worse than worthless. It's destructive. I can't just
come up with something worth hearing. But the Lord made us
able ministers of the new covenant. Not what
we think. Not what we come up with. Not our doctrinal statement
or whatever. Not of the letter. Not even the
letter of the law. but of the Spirit. For the letter
killeth, but the Spirit gives life. 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 glory was
to be done away. And I know we're in the middle
of a thought here, but let's stop right there. Paul is contrasting
here the two covenants. He calls the Mosaic Old Covenant
the letter because it consisted of God's written law. His command
to obey that written law. It was written and engraved in
stones, he said, and so he calls it the letter there. Verse six,
he said, we don't preach that. Didn't come to tell you what
you should not or shall not and shall do. Didn't come to tell
you anything to do or not do. came to tell you what he did.
We don't preach the letter. We're not ministers of the law.
Why not? Why don't we preach a little bit more law here? Maybe
that would help us. Paul said here that the law is
glorious. That old covenant was glorious and it was. It was. Wonderful. You think about that.
For God to write His will, His will, His moral standard on rock
and give them to man. Give those commandments to man
and the circumstances of that giving of the law were accompanied
by a revelation of God's glory. It even shone in Moses' face.
A manifestation of the greatness and glory of God accompanied
that. And when Moses came back down from speaking to God, they
couldn't even look at his face. It shone with the glory of God
just from being in the presence of God. And the outward obedience
to that law was glorious. in all of the pictures and types
of Christ daily put on display. When they obeyed that law, they
offered sacrifice according to that law. Every day, blood was
shed, and sinners could see in vivid, present terms that the
wages of sin is death. Blood had to be shed. And that impression was made
upon them daily. Sinners understood, at least
mentally then, that God demands justice for sin. And sinners
had a visual testimony each day that God can only be approached,
only be worshipped, only be pleased by the blood, the death of an
innocent victim, dying in the place of a sinner. That's glorious. It was glorious. Exodus 15, 11,
Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like unto
thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? That
was declared from what they saw. That's Exodus 15, 11, from what
they saw of God's glory. Even then, He's glorious in His
holiness, and His holiness is displayed in His law. But there's
a problem. There's a problem, and this is
the first answer to our question. Why don't we preach more law?
Because glorious though it is, and Paul said, I delight in the
law of God after the end with man. And we must too, we do. You can't hate God's law and
love God. That's God's moral will, moral
standard written for us. But here's the problem. God's
law in itself gives no hope to a sinner. What the law could
not do, Paul said, God sent his son to do. What couldn't the
law do? It couldn't save you. God has
determined to save his people. The law can't do that, so he
sent his son to do it. Romans 3.20, Therefore by the
deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his
sight. For by the law, all the law is
going to give you is a knowledge of sin, which is great in its
place. When the law is used lawfully,
we'll see that in a minute, it's a wonderful thing. Now we could
preach more law, presumably we'd be more outwardly moral if we
preached more law, you think? Maybe if I told you, you've got
to quit doing all this stuff, and here's what you need to start
doing. Maybe we'd be more outwardly moral. If I studied on how to
identify and combat the sins of the flesh, and how to ward
off the devil, you know, that's popular now, that's a popular
message, how to deal with the devil. You know what would happen? We might become more outwardly
moral, but even if we did, we would be self-righteous, goody-two-shoes,
holier-than-thou, Christless, hell-bound, hopeless sinners.
That's what we'd be. Christ said to the Pharisees,
you blind guides, you strain it in that and swallow a camel.
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, you're a bunch of hypocrites.
You may clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but
within they're full of extortion and excess. The Spirit hasn't
written on the heart. You see, you're looking at the
letter and trying to follow the letter, but nothing's happened
in here. The inside is your problem. Cleanse first that which is within
the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean
also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. For ye
are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful
outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all
uncleanness. Even so, ye also outwardly appear
righteous unto men." Ah, we wouldn't become more outwardly moral,
it would just look like it to other men. You appear righteous
unto men. But within you're full of hypocrisy
and iniquity. Your sin problem is on the inside
and it's got to be dealt with. And the law doesn't do that.
All it does is expose that. It doesn't solve that. But the
gospel does. The gospel does. Why does something
good, the law, it's glorious in its ministration. Why does
it result in such wickedness? How can it be used for such wickedness
like by the Pharisee. Well, it's not the law that's
wicked, it's the way it's used. That's a key word. Let me read
you 1 Timothy 1.5. Now the end of the commandment
is love out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and of faith
unfeigned from which some having swerved have turned aside into
vain jangling, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding
neither what they say nor whereof they affirm. But we know that
the law is good if a man use it lawfully. Use, that's a key
word right there. It's how you use the law. If
you use the law in order as a standard for you to measure up to, to
stand righteous before God, you're not using the law lawfully. Because
you can't measure up to that standard. We just read it, by
the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified. If you're
flesh, forget it. You're not going to measure up.
Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man,
but for the lawless and disobedient. The law shuts us up and makes
us stand before God and plead guilty. If we see it as it is,
if the Spirit shines the light upon it, and we see the law for
what it is, it's for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and
profane, for murderers, and he lists murderers, manslayers,
whoremongers, those that defile themselves. And then he says
this, and if there be any other thing that's contrary to sound
doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which
was committed to my trust. That's what we preach, the gospel. And according to that gospel,
Paul said, all the law does is render you profane and vile and
wretched in the sight of God. And it leaves you right there.
The law. That's why we don't preach the
law. We preach the gospel. The lawful use of the law is
not to use it as a basis for which to attain righteousness
before God, but to use it to know that you are before God
a lying defiled whoremongering murderer Paul said right there
that's what we read that you might know that Romans 3 20 by
the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his suffer
by the law is the knowledge of sin that's what the law does
it gives you a knowledge of your sin That's a lawful use of the
law. That's what he just said there.
If you hear the law and you say, I'm unholy, profane, a murderer
of father, a murderer of mother, a manslayer, a whoremonger, a
defiler of myself with mankind, a liar, a perjurer, and every
other thing that's contrary to sound doctrine, then you've used
the law lawfully. That's what it's for, to show
you that. It's the knowledge of sin. Romans 3.19, Now we know
that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them that
who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped, and all
the world may become guilty. If you see God's law and plead
guilty, that's the lawful use of the law right there. When the law is used unlawfully,
For example, if somebody hangs it on their wall and it makes
them feel good about themselves, they say, well, I hadn't murdered
anybody today and I hadn't cheated on my wife today. I'm doing pretty
good. Check, check, check. No, not check. You've done every bit of that.
The Lord Jesus Christ in his Sermon on the Mount said, if
you've even thought about it, if you've even been tempted to
do it, you did it in your heart, you're guilty of the law. When it's used unlawfully, the
result is self-righteous presumption and pride. What's the result
of a lawful use of the law? The scripture hath concluded
all under sin that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might
be given to them that believe. You've got to be concluded under
sin before you can believe on Christ. You're not going to flee
for refuge until you need it. But before faith came, we were
kept under the law, shut up under the faith, which would afterwards
be revealed. Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ. The law teaches you your need
of Christ. He teaches you your only hope
is Christ. He drives you to cry. The law
does that if it's used lawfully. To bring us to Christ, that we
might be justified Not by the law, but by faith. By faith in
Christ. But after that faith has come,
we're no longer under a schoolmaster, for you're all the children of
God by faith in Christ Jesus. Not by law, and we're not under
that law, and so we're not ministers of the law. That's what Paul
is saying. The law can't do what needs to be done. But God's son
was sent and did what had to be done. That's our message.
He's our message. Christ crucified. The second reason that we're
not ministers of the letter. That is why we don't preach law
because we got something a whole lot better than that to preach.
That's why. And that's what Paul said here.
We have something more excellent more glorious than that to preach
he said were made able ministers that is equipped by god ministers
of the spirit not the letter called the spirit because whereas
in the old the law was engraved on tables of stone In the ministry
of the Spirit, the Gospel, the truth is engraved upon the heart
by the Holy Spirit of God. That's why he calls it the Spirit
there. Because the Spirit is the one that applies that Gospel
to your heart. Remember the New Covenant? I'll
write my word on your heart. Not on tables of stone, on your
heart. That's the Gospel. That's the Spirit of God that
does that. Hebrews 8, 6, but now hath he
obtained a more excellent ministry by how much also he is the mediator
of a better covenant which was established upon better promises.
Better, better, better. For if that first covenant had
been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the
second. If God's elect could have been saved by that first,
then there would be any need for a second. But that can't
happen. And so finding fault God said,
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, I'll make a new covenant
with you, with the house of Israel, spiritual Israel, and the house
of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their
fathers in the day when I took them by the hand and lead them
out of the land of Egypt, because they continued not in that covenant.
Nobody can keep that covenant. And so he made a covenant where
he said, I'm going to write my law on your heart instead of
on tables of stone. That way you're going to love
the truth. You're going to love it. You
still can't measure up to it, but you're going to love it.
Like Paul, you're going to say, why do I do that that I wouldn't
do? Why can't I do that that I would do? I want to. I want
to. You weren't saying that before
God wrote on your heart. And neither was Paul. And he said, I'm going to be
your God, and you're going to be my people, not if. It's just
the way it's going to be. I'm going to be your God, and
you're going to be my people. He said, I'm going to reveal myself
to you. All of those under this new covenant are going to know
the Lord. The Lord Jesus said, my sheep know my voice, and they
follow me. This is life eternal that they might know thee. And
then he said this about that, I'll be merciful to their unrighteousness
and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. The
law doesn't give any hope for that. The new covenant, the gospel, preaches of the forgiveness of
sin by the righteousness and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The law leaves us without hope. No flesh is justified, Paul said,
Romans 3 20. The gospel message is this. Now,
our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God, even our father, which
has loved us and have given us everlasting consolation and good
hope through grace. There's our hope. We have good
hope, but not through the law, through grace. Comfort your hearts, establish
you in every good word and work. No hope by law, but good hope
by grace. The law renders us guilty. The
gospel declares sinners justified, justified freely through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus. What a contrast. By the law is the knowledge of
sin, but by the gospel is the message and knowledge of righteousness,
the very righteousness of God. Without the law, is manifest,
Paul said, Romans 321 in the gospel. The law reveals why God
is against us and we are enmity against God. The gospel is the
message of God with us, Emmanuel, and God for us, and God in us,
Christ in you, the hope of glory. By that gospel, Paul said, we're
reconciled and we beseech you Be ye reconciled to God. The law demands your death, the
wages of sin. The gospel speaks of his death
and the precious blood whereby sins are washed away. And that
blood gives life to sinners. The law is written on tables
of stone. The gospel is written on the
heart. Written on stone, you can know it. Written on the heart,
you'll love it because you love him. On stone, you'll grudgingly
try to obey because of fear and because you think you've done
pretty good. You know, you'll try to do the
best you can and think you're good will outweigh your bad.
But written on your heart, you'll want to obey. And you'll realize
every moment how far short you fall. And you will look to him
who obeyed it for you. Christ is my righteousness. The
law says stone her. Isn't that what they said to
the Lord Jesus? The law says, Moses said, stone
her. What do you say? He said, go
that way. I'm not going to condemn you.
That's the gospel. Neither do I condemn thee. Go
and sin no more. The law kills, but the spirit,
Paul said, gives life. The law is a moral standard,
the gospel is a person. I agree with Paul, it's much
more glory. Look at verse 9 in 2 Corinthians 3. If the ministration
of condemnation be glory, much more that the ministration of
righteousness exceed, exceed in glory. For even that which
was made glorious had no glory in this respect by reason of
the glory that excelleth. The moon looks glorious, doesn't
it? Until the sun comes out, and you can't even see the moon
anymore, usually. Moses' face shone with light,
but that was a reflection of him who is light. He didn't have
light within himself. That light was God's light shining
from Moses' face, like the moon. But when you see him, you think you're something. until
you see him. Job said, I've heard of you by
the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee, and I hate
myself. I was glorious before, but now
I'm despicable in my own sight, because I've seen his glory in
the face of Jesus Christ. For even that which was made
glorious, verse 11, for if that which is done away was glorious,
much more that which remaineth is glorious. How glorious is
the good news. the good news. Those angels said,
oh, glory to God in the highest, and peace and good tidings to
earth. When the good news came to earth,
the angels said, glory to God, glory to God. And look at verse
12, seeing then that we have such hope. We have the excellent
glory. We have that glory which exceleth. We have such hope. Let's be plain
about it. Let's declare it clearly so that
it's not confused or misunderstood. We have to use great plainness
of speech. And here's why. Look at the rest
of this with me. We're going to try But such hope
we're ministers, not of the letter, but of the spirit, not of that
which kills, but that which gives life, not of the old, but the
new such hope, such hope. This is a good hope because man
is not involved in it in any way. Did you know that salvation
was wrought without you? You're going to experience it,
but it was accomplished without you. It was done all together
outside of yourself. It was done for you in your stead. Man benefits from the new covenant,
but the new covenant doesn't require anything from the sinner,
nothing. That's glorious. The hope that
we have in preach is a good hope because it gives hope to the
vilest of all sinners. If God's saving of sinners is
not based upon anything in them, then even I have hope. You say,
well, you know, my son or my daughter, they don't have any
thought whatsoever for God. And that just kills me. Well,
I agree, that's disturbing. And I'll tell you this, if salvation
were up to them, like religion says, it'd be hopeless. It'd
be hopeless. Salvation's not up to them, it's
up to God. I've spoken to those that I love about the Lord Jesus
Christ. It was like I was speaking a
foreign language. And I would despair of all hope if it was
up to me to convince them, but I know it's not up to me. God
uses that gospel that they don't understand a lick of. One of
these days, he may just turn the light on. He can do that
in a moment. He can open their understanding
that they might understand the scriptures, Luke 24, 45. How's
that for glorious? It's not whether they're going
to decide to do something for God or choose Christ over themselves. That's not going to happen. Surely
you know that. But there's another puradventure
upon which we pin our fondest hope. And it's a good hope. It's a good hope. Paul said this
to Timothy. The servant of the Lord must
not strive. Don't argue. I'm sure they've got their head
full of all kinds of religious ideas. Don't argue about it.
Just proclaim the truth. Don't strive. That's not it. You're not going to convince
them by arguing. If they want to fight, just say, well, you
go do that with somebody else. When you get ready to hear the
truth, I'll be glad to tell you. Must not strive. Must not strive,
Paul said. Must not. But be gentle unto
all men, apt to teach, patient. Oh, the Lord was patient with
us. In meekness, instructing those
that oppose themselves. If God, peradventure, if God
just might give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.
If He gives them repentance, they're going to hear what you
say, and they're going to say, that's the truth. That's what
Paul said there, to the acknowledging of the truth. They're going to abandon all
of their thoughts about God, their false notions about God,
and they're going to say, This is the truth. He's holy and he's
sovereign. He saves whom he will. And they're
going to abandon all of their good thoughts of themselves.
And they're going to say, this is the truth about me. If God
put me in hell today, he'd be doing the right thing. We abandon
all of our false notions about how God saves a sinner. Well,
you got to make a decision for Jesus. No, you don't. It's not
about you making it. You can't decide your way out
of your problem. And we'll come to the Lord Jesus Christ and
say, Lord, if you will, you can make me whole. You can save me
if you want to. Repentance to the acknowledging
of God's truth. He might just give him that if
we preach, if we use great plainness of speech like he sent us to
do and bold, preach with boldness. Paul said, pray for me that I'd
preach the word boldly like I ought to. Pray for me. And this hope that we have is
a good one because it's based in righteousness. Paul said,
with this gospel, do we then make void the law through faith?
No, we establish the law. The only way there can be righteousness
is by Christ, by the gospel. The only way you can be righteous
before God is by the gospel, by the truth that Christ lived
for you and died for you. He came and did what you couldn't
do and didn't do what you shouldn't have done and paid for everything
you did do and didn't do. That's the righteousness of God. He is the righteousness of God.
And when we preach the Gospel, we're not antinomians. We establish the law. The ones
who insult the law of God are the ones that say, I can keep
that like that rich, young ruler. I've kept these for my... That's
an insult. to God and His law. But we establish
the law. We honor the law in Christ. Establish their means to uphold
or sustain the authority or force of anything. The gospel acknowledges
the force of the law, the necessity that the law be kept perfectly
and despairs of self and looks to Christ. Let's look at the
next passage here and if I'm gonna be through we're gonna
I have to look at verse 13, not as Moses, which put a veil over
his face that the children of Israel could not look steadfast,
could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished.
But their minds were blinded for until this day remain at
the same veil, untaken away in the reading of the old Testament.
They still can't see the glory of God because the law doesn't
reveal that only the gospel. which veil is done away in Christ.
But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon
their heart. Paul said they still don't get
it. If they were ever going to get it, they'd have got it by
now. You're not going to get it by the law. They never will. The way that sinners get it is
by the revelation of God. And you know how God reveals
Himself in His Word? Through the preaching of the
Gospel. That's another reason Paul said, we don't preach the
letter. We preach the spirit. What is
the result of this veil being on their heart? What does it
do? The physical thing was it hid
that shining of Moses' face, but what is the veil that's on
the hearts of these religious Jews? What is the result of that
veil being on their face? Well, Paul talks about it in
Romans 10. He said, my heart's desire and prayer to God for
Israel is that they might be saved because I bear them record.
They have a zeal of God, but it's not according to knowledge. There's a veil. They don't understand.
They don't see. What do you mean, Paul? Well,
they're ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish
their own righteousness. They're still hanging the Ten
Commandments on their wall and saying, OK, if I live by this,
God will save me and have some foolish notion that they're doing
that to some extent and that God's going to be merciful and
just accept their best effort. Going about to a state and have
not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. Where
does the righteousness? How do we get the righteousness
of God? Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to
everyone that believes. Christ is our righteousness. And then he said in verse 16,
nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be
taken away. Oh, here's what needs to happen.
Turn to the Lord. Quit looking at the letter, quit
looking at the law, and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
the gospel. He's the good news. How does
that happen? Well, Jeremiah said in Lamentations
5.21, Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned.
That's how that happens. You don't just decide to turn
to the Lord. He's going to have to turn us. He's going to have
to turn us. When we read there from 2 Timothy
2, it talked about repentance to the acknowledging. And what's
repentance? It's a change of mind. It's turning from ourselves
to Christ, our goodness to His holiness. our law keeping to
his precious blood. It's a change of our mind about
everything about God and ourselves and it includes an abhorrence
of what we are and what we once believed was the truth. We must
change our minds about our sin and realize that eternal death
is what we deserve. We must change our mind about
our righteousness and realize it's filthy rags. We call it
righteousness, but it's just more sin. And Paul said in verse
17, the Lord is that spirit. The Lord is that spirit. He's
the gospel. He's the message. He's the one
who gives life. He said, I give life to whomsoever
I will. And where the spirit of the Lord
is, there's liberty. Free from the law. Oh, happy
condition. He's talked about the ministration
of the Spirit. The Lord is that Spirit. We minister
Christ, the Lord. Paul said in 1 Timothy 4, 6,
If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be
a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of
faith and of good doctrine, where into thou hast attained, where
the Spirit is, you'll know. If there's bondage, if there's
a yoke of law-keeping, the burden of the law, deciding and dedicating
and rededicating and living the Christian life and all of that,
the Spirit of the Lord's not there. There's liberty where
He is. There's liberty from the bondage
of the law. The Lord said to Nicodemus, the
Spirit goeth where he pleaseth, where he listeth, where he wants
to. And you can hear the sound thereof. You can see the effects
of the Spirit moving. And you know what the sound,
you can hear the sound of the Spirit. You know what the Spirit
sounds like? Paul said it's freedom, freedom. But we all with open face, Paul
said, Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord. Verse
18 there in our text. With open face, no veil. Beholding
the glory of the Lord, we're changed into the same image from
glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Open face, no veil. What do we
behold? Not that glory which was of the
old covenant, And though that was glorious in its way and in
its lawful use, but now we behold in the very glory of God, the
glory that excelleth. By the gospel, you see the glory
of God, because the glory of God is seen. Listen, God who
commanded the light to shine out of darkness, Paul said. The God who created the universe
and said, let there be light, and there was light. Paul said,
that God has shined in our hearts. Whose hearts? Those who have
heard the gospel and believed. That's how we believed. He said,
let there be light, and there was light. That's why he said it, to give
the light of the knowledge. You're not gonna know him unless
he says, let there be light. Is that what Paul said right
there? You jot that down, 2 Corinthians 4, 6, and read that again later,
if you're not hearing what I'm saying right now. He said, if
you're gonna know God, God Almighty, who said, let there be light
in the beginning, and there was light, is gonna have to say that
to your heart. Glory of God. I see how God can be God and
still save me, though I've broken every law that he wrote. of my Redeemer, in the face of
Christ my righteousness, in the face of the crucified Son of
God, I see the glory of God. What's the glory of God? I will
have mercy. The law is condemnation and wrath,
but the gospel is life and peace, forgiveness, righteousness, What
is this change from glory to glory? Well, the glory of the
old. We're going to be just like Him
when we see Him as He is. Romans 8, 16, the Spirit itself
beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.