just jumped out at me in verse
28, Acts chapter 5, verse 28, where they said to the apostles,
did not we straightly command you that you should not teach
in this name? And behold, you have filled Jerusalem
with your doctrine. Would to God that this accusation
would be brought against the Todd's Road Grace Church. You
have filled Lexington with your doctrine. May God in his grace
make that to be. Turn to Exodus chapter 34. While you're turning there, we've
got some work to do on these pews. And if anybody has any
free time tomorrow, I think we're going to be doing some sanding
and cleaning and there's just, the pews are kind of dirty and
we need to do whatever we can to fix them up. And people could
be out here, make it late, say around 10 o'clock, anybody that
is available. We're going to do some work on
the pews tomorrow. Exodus chapter 34, I'm preaching
on Moses' signing face. Let's begin reading verse 27
of Exodus chapter 34. And the Lord said unto Moses
write thou these words for after the tenor of these words I have
made a covenant with thee and with Israel and he was there
with the Lord 40 days and 40 nights. He did neither eat bread
nor drink water. Now I can't conceive of that,
going 40 days without eating bread or drinking water. And
he wrote upon the table the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. Now Moses had spent previously
40 days receiving the law. How glorious that must have been. And he comes down from the mount
and there all of Israel is worshipping a golden calf. And he's there
for a couple of days dealing with that. And then he goes back
up on the top of Mount Sinai and there he spends 40 days receiving
the law once again. And evidently he was so enamored
with what he was hearing, what he was seeing, that he didn't
think to eat or drink. Now that's never happened to
me. I've heard people say I was so consumed in what I was doing
I didn't even think about eating or drinking. That hadn't happened
to me yet. I wish it would, but it happened with Moses. He was
so consumed with the divine presence, the glory of God. You know, this
is a supernatural book. This is a supernatural gospel.
This is a supernatural religion. It goes above the strength and
energy of this flesh. He saw the God of glory, and
he didn't eat. And he didn't drink for 40 days. Now you would think he would
be emaciated looking at this time, but you know there's something
about being in the Lord's presence that's actually invigorating.
I love the way it says that when he died at 120 years old, you
can read about this in the book of Deuteronomy, how the, well
let's look at it. I can't quote it, so let's look
at it. Deuteronomy 34. This is shortly before he died. Verse 5, So Moses, the servant
of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, according to the
word of the Lord. And he buried him in a valley
in the land of Moab, over against Bethpheor. But no man knoweth
of his sepulcher unto this day. The Lord didn't let anybody know
where he buried him. And Moses was 120 years old when
he died. His eye was not dim. nor his
natural force abated. He looked young, he looked healthy,
he looked strong at 120 years old. Now, there's something remarkable
about the presence of the Lord. Now, let's go back to our text
in Exodus 34 verse 29, 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, he'd been there 40 days, that
Moses wished not that the skin of his face shone while he talked
with him. His face was shining. Now can
you imagine seeing that? He comes down the mount and literally
his face is shining. Now, unlike the Lord's shining
face, it was a reflected glory. The moon shines. How much power
does the moon have in itself to shine? None. Its light is a reflected glory. The Son of God, His shining was
that of the glory of God, like the sun in its strength. But
Moses' shining was a reflected glory, and I want us to notice
that Moses didn't realize his face was shining. I think that's
interesting, the way the scripture points out. He wished not. He
knew not that his face was shining. You see, if somebody ever sees
the glory of God, if you actually see the glory of God, if I actually
see the glory of God, one thing we can't think about is ourself.
Not while we're seeing the glory of God. You see, Moses was, the
scripture says, the meekest man in all the earth. And if I ever
see something about God's glory, I'll see anything that has anything
to do with man's glory. It's just reflected. There's
nothing to it. Moses wished not that his face shine. So verse 30, and when Aaron And
all the children of Israel saw Moses. Behold, the skin of his
face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. I imagine I
would have been afraid, too. This man comes down from Mount
Sinai shining like this. I would have been scared to death.
They were afraid to come close to him. And Moses called unto
them, and verse 31, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation
returned unto him. I guess they just backed off,
and Moses said, Come close. 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. Faithful Moses, he left out nothing. He gave them all of God's words.
Verse 33, Until Moses had done speaking with them, he put a
veil on his face. Now his face was so shining that
they couldn't handle looking at him and he put a veil over
his face, covered his face so they couldn't see his face as
he spoke with them. Verse 34, but when Moses went
in before the Lord to speak with him, he took the veil off. Now this shows us something of
the power of the gospel. Moses, it's hard for me to say
this, But I know it so from other scriptures. Moses wasn't any
different than me or you. He was a sinful man, saved by
the grace of God. But look what the gospel does
to a man like Moses. It makes it to where he can commune
with the living God face to face. Remember that passage of scripture
in the previous chapter where the Lord spake to Moses face
to face as a man speaketh with his friend. Now this is what
the gospel does. It takes somebody like me and
enables me and causes me to be able to commune. Speak with the
living God where he hears me and I hear him from his word
That's the privilege of every believer not just Moses, but
every believer he spake face to face With the Lord what a
glorious gospel we have that enables us to be able to speak
to the Lord to where he hears us and Accepts us and we hear
him. That's powerful gospel, isn't
it? But when Moses went in before the Lord, verse 34, to speak
with him, he took the veil off until he came out. And when 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, Moses put the veil upon his face again
until he went in to speak with him, or to the Lord. So whenever
he spoke to the children of Israel, he spoke with this veil over
his face. And whenever he went in to the
Lord, he removed the veil and spake with the Lord face to face."
Now this is a very remarkable story, but there's typical significance
to this. I mean, I love reading it just
as it is. It's glorious to think about
that. But do you know Paul the Apostle in 2 Corinthians chapter
3, if you'll remember, uses this veil to contrast the Old Testament
and the New Testament. Now by Old Testament I don't
simply mean Genesis, to Malachi contrasted to Matthew to Revelation. No, talking about the Old Covenant
contrasted to the New Covenant. The Law contrasted to the Gospel. Now let's turn to 2 Corinthians
chapter 3. We're going to stay there the
rest of this message because Paul uses this to show the difference
between Law and Grace. 2 Corinthians chapter 3. Let's begin reading in verse
5. Paul says, not that we are sufficient
of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves. We have no ability. You find that to be true? It
is whether you find it to be or not. It's true. But I find
that to be true. I have no spiritual ability,
not in and of myself. I have none, none, strengthless,
powerless, impotent, without ability. He says, we have no,
we're not sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves,
but our sufficiency, our ability is of God. You see, God does
strengthen us, the same one who said we have no ability in of
ourselves. He's the same one who said I
can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Every
believer can say that. Now he says he has made us, verse
6, he's made us able ministers. Now that word able, powerful,
ability. He's made us by His grace. And
this is regarding every believer. This is not just talking about
preachers. This is talking about every believer.
Every believer is an able minister of the New Testament, the New
Covenant, the Gospel. Not of the letter, but of the
Spirit. For the letter killeth, but the
Spirit giveth life. Now what's this about? Not of
the letter, but of the Spirit. What's that mean? If I know the letter of something,
that means I know how to spell it. I can pronounce it right. I know the letter. I remember
when I was in grade school, I used to love spelling bees. Never
won one, but I always wanted to win one. I was always jealous
of the people who did. I thought that would be, I'd
just love to get up there and win. I'd be, I'd generally sit
down pretty early and feel pretty frustrated, but I knew the letter. The letter is how to spell it. The spirit is the meaning. It's one thing to know how to
spell something. It's one thing to know how to pronounce something.
It's another thing to know what it means. That's the spirit. Now, I'll tell you one example
we have in the New Testament, John chapter 8, when the woman
is brought before the Lord. The Pharisees drag her up and
throw her down before the Lord, taken in adultery, caught in
the very act. And remember what the Pharisees,
they said, they said, now Moses in the law commanded us that
such should be stoned. Now there's the letter of the
law. I know what ought to happen to her. She ought to be stoned.
And indeed, she should have been stoned for what she did. She
should have been stoned. That's what she deserved. That's
the letter of the law. But what sayeth thou? This they
did tempting him that they might have something to accuse him
of. They could say, well, he talks about being merciful and
gracious. If he says stoner, we can say
he's not really merciful and gracious. If he says let her
go, we could say he doesn't care about the law. We've got him
trapped. They didn't understand the spirit of the law. You know
what the spirit of the law is? It's to drive us to the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's what the meaning of the
law is. If you want to understand the true meaning of the law,
the purpose behind that law is to drive us to Christ that we
might be justified by faith without the deeds of the law. That's
the spirit of the law. That's the true meaning. Spirit
is the meaning. Letter is knowing how to pronounce
the word. Now, he says he's made us able
ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the
spirit. For the letter, what's it do?
It kills. And that's all it does, but the
Spirit gives life. All it does is condemn, but the
Spirit of the law gives life, or the Spirit gives life. The
Spirit is the gospel, the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Now let's
go on reading, verse 7. But if the ministration of death,
that's talking about the law given to Moses on Mount Sinai.
But if the ministration of death, written and graven in stones,
was glorious so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly
behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance.
Remember, he had to put a veil over his face, which glory was
to be done away. Now, I think this is interesting.
The law is called the ministration of death. And because all it
does is kill. All it does is condemn. It does not have the power to
give life. Paul said in Romans 8, 4, for
what the law could not do. in that it was weak through the
flesh. God sending His Son in the likeness
of sinful flesh and foreseeing condemned sin in the flesh that
the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who
walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit which is faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. But all the law does is condemn. Now what is meant by law? What
is meant by law? He's remembering, he's contrasting
the law and the gospel, the Old Testament and the New Testament.
What is meant by law? Law, this is just a principle. You can
just write this across the board. This is what it means. Law is
having any part of salvation, any part dependent upon you doing
something. That's law. If salvation is dependent
upon me keeping the Ten Commandments, obviously that's law. Somebody
believes that, they believe law, they don't believe grace. Everybody
knows that. But just as truly, if I believe that Jesus Christ
died for everybody and made salvation possible for everybody, but what
he did won't do me any good, I'll end up going to hell unless
I do something to make what he did work for me as an act of
my will or the faith I come up with. That's law just as much
as the Ten Commandments. It's law. Now all the law does
is kill. It doesn't give life. All it
does is kill. turn with me for a moment to
Romans chapter 7 verse 6 Paul says but now we are delivered
from the law that being dead wherein we were held it held
us we couldn't get out from under its claims that we should serve
in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter
What should we say then? Is the law sin? Is the law bad
things? Is the law the cause of sin? God forbid. Nay, I had
not known sin, but by the law, for I had not known lust, except
the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion,
or using as a base of operations is what that word means, using
as a base of operation, the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence
and lust and covetousness. All I got to do is say, don't
covet, and you start coveting. That's just the way it is. All
I got to do is say, be perfect, and all kinds of unclean things
come to your mind. Everybody here knows that's true, if you
have any honesty. All the law does is stir up sin. But sin, taking occasion by the
commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. Throughout
the law, sin was dead, for I was alive without the law once. But
when the commandment came, Sin revived. It came alive and I
died. And the commandment which was
ordained to life I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion
by the commandment, deceived me and by it slew me. Wherefore,
the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. Was then
that which is good made death unto me? Is that the cause of
my death? God forbid! But sin, that it might appear
sin, working death in me by that which is good, that sin by the
commandment might become exceeding sinful. Now that is the ministration
of death. Remember where Paul said the
strength of sin, what is it? The sting of death is sin and
the strength of sin is what? The law. Now he says the ministration
of death was glorious, God's law, God's righteous requirements,
Moses represented that when he came down from Mount Sinai. And
Paul said it was glorious. And you've got to admit, what
a glorious sight that must have been to see Moses come down having
received the law from the hand of God. But he says in verse
8, How shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious? The ministration of the Spirit,
the gospel, the Spirit, as opposed to the letter, that which gives
life, the Spirit of God, is more glorious. For if the ministration
of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of
righteousness exceed in glory. Now the law is the ministration
of condemnation. All it does is condemn. It doesn't
give any power to obey. It doesn't give any life to obey.
All it does is expose my sin. All it does is condemn me. That's
it. Now he calls the law, the ministration of condemnation,
and he says it's glorious. And I'll tell you what, there
is in every person to ever live an admiration for justice. And they may hate it, but there's
an admiration for it. There's an admiration for that
which is right in every person to ever live. You know, the law
is written in the heart of everybody. Everybody knows the difference
between right and wrong. I think it's interesting when people
say, you need to teach people how to live. Everybody already knows
how to live. I don't need to teach anybody
anything. I mean, people already know. They know the difference
between right and wrong. Law is glorious, even though
it condemns, we see the righteous nature of God in it. But look
what he says in verse nine, much more that the ministration of
righteousness exceed in glory. The gospel is called the ministration
of righteousness. Now what is righteousness? Here's
the best definition of righteousness I know of. It's to stand before
God's holy law perfect, without guilt. without sin. It's to stand before God's holy
law and God's holy law testifies concerning me. He's kept it.
He's without guilt. He's perfect. Now that's righteousness. And the gospel is the ministration
of righteousness. It makes somebody like me righteous
before that law. And understand, I'm not talking
about A certificate that says I'm righteous even though I'm
not, but this certificate says I am. No, it makes me stand before
God as altogether righteous. Now, that's powerful. That's
the power of the gospel. It's called the ministration
of righteousness. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by the faith
of Jesus Christ. There's my righteousness before
God. I have such confidence in His
righteousness is my righteousness. And I love this name of the gospel,
the ministration of righteousness. Now there's the ministration
of condemnation, the ministration of righteousness. Now look what
verse 10 says. For even that which was made glorious had how
much glory? No glory. In this respect, by reason of
the glory that excelleth, how much glory does the law have
in comparison with the gospel? None. As much as we love God's
holy law and as much as we respect God's holy law in comparison
with the gospel, how much glory does it have? Zero. That's what the word of God says.
And you know, it's scary to say something like that, but it's
what the Word of God says. You know, John put it this way,
the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. Thank God for the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now let's go on reading, verse
11. For if that which is done away was glorious, much more
that which remaineth is glorious. Now the law is done away with.
You're not under the law. You're under grace. That's what
the Bible says. Sin shall not have dominion over you, for you're
not under law. As soon as I'm placed under law,
sin has complete dominion and sway over me. It just stirs everything
up. But thank God He says you're
not under law, but under grace. Now the law has been done away
with. Look how the writer to the Hebrews
described it. Turn to Hebrews chapter 8. Now this law that was done away
with is glorious. But look how this is described
in Hebrews chapter 8 verse 7. For if the first covenant, the
law, had been faultless, then should no place have been sought
for the second for finding fault with them, he saith. God says
concerning the law, he found fault with it. What was the fault
with it? He wouldn't say. It couldn't save. That's the
fault. Look what God says about the law in this last couple of
verses of Hebrews chapter 8, verse 13. In that he said, the
new covenant, he hath made the first old, now that which decayeth
and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. Now he says this old covenant,
it's done away with. It's absolutely done away with.
And the new covenant, remains. It's still here, so obviously
it's more glorious. Verse 12, seeing then that we
have such hope, we use great plainness of speech. Now, the
Old Covenant was obscure. You could not really see through
the veil. Looking through that veil, when
they hear the Old Testament read, they have no understanding of
the gospel, no understanding of Christ. You know, that's the
key to understanding every passage in the Old Testament. Now, think
about this. If you didn't understand the
gospel, I think I'd take Cain's sacrifice over Abel's. That's
kind of cruel, killing that lamb and giving this, you know, vegetables
and so on. That seems like the better thing
to do. That's the way it appears if you don't understand the gospel.
But if you understand the gospel, it means something totally different,
doesn't it? Abraham's confession, my son, God shall provide himself
a lamb for a burnt offering. You understand that in light
of the gospel, don't you? What was the ark without the gospel
of Christ? Just a big boat, a supernatural
saying that you don't know whether you believe or not. But you see
the gospel in it, oh my. What about Jacob's ladder that
reached down from heaven? Joseph, the father's favorite.
What is the Passover without Christ? What is that tabernacle
without Christ? What is the priesthood without
Christ? A bunch of ceremonies and meaningless rituals that
you just don't understand. That's all it is without the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. What about Samson? In his great
strength, he saved more by his death than he ever did before.
I see Christ in that. I mean, every story, David, the
son of David, Solomon. What's Isaiah 53 without the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? If you don't know the gospel,
all the Old Testament is is a mysterious bunch of rituals and laws that
you can't understand or keep. That's it. That's it. But the gospel's not like that
at all. It's not obscure. We use great plainness of speech. You know, another thing about
false religion is it's never plain. It's never easy to understand. You can take it this way. You
can take it that way. What the fellow says can mean 20 different
things. But the gospel is not like that at all. Great plainness. The word is sometimes translated
boldness of speech. Oh, the boldness that the gospel
gives us. If God be for us, who can be
against us? What boldness there is in that.
He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all,
how shall He not with Him freely give us all things? Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who is he that can condemn? It's
Christ that died, yea, rather that's risen again, who's even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us. Now that's bold as law. Can't cause somebody to say something
like that. Oh, but the gospel. God justified me. Christ died
for me. Yea, rather lives for me. Verse 16. Let's go on verse 12
through 16. Seeing that we have such hope,
we use great plainness of speech. And not as Moses, which put a
veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not
steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished, but
their minds were blinded for until this day remain at 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. Nevertheless, when it
shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. Now, this
is a reference to Moses when he's talking to the people. The
veil was over his face. But when he returned back to
the Lord, the veil was taken off, and he spake face to face
And when somebody, by the grace of God, turns to Christ, the
veil is removed. They see the meaning of the Old
Testament. Verse 17. Now, the Lord is that
Spirit. The Lord is the Spirit of God,
the Spirit of Christ. The Lord is that Spirit. Not
the letter, but the Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord
is, there is liberty. There is freedom. Oh, thank God
for freedom. Free from the penalty of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. Free from the guilt of sin. I
really have nothing to feel guilty about. Now, I always feel guilty,
but I have nothing to feel guilty about. It's hard to see how both
of those are true, but they are true. I have nothing to feel
guilty about. I don't try to keep the law. I've kept the law.
I don't have anything to feel guilty about. Christ, my righteousness
before God, I've been delivered from the guilt of sin. I'm free
from the dominion of sin. Sin shall not have dominion over
you, for you're not under law, but you're under grace. I can
now believe. There's time when I could. I can now repent. I can now love. Sin doesn't have
dominion over me. Free from bondage, we get to
do what we want to do as a child. Free from man-made religious
traditions. Free from serving simply to please
men. Free to draw near. Free to pray. Free to call Him my Father. Free
to take all the promises of the Gospel, every blessing, one of
them to myself. Free! Oh, what a wonderful freedom.
The Lord is that Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord
is, there's liberty, there's freedom. You know, I can't stand
bondage. I can't stand owing anything.
I can't stand having a debt over my head. I can't stand not getting
to do what I want to do. I love freedom. And that's what
every believer has. Free in the Lord Jesus Christ. Stand fast in the liberty, the
freedom, where with Christ has made us free. and be not entangled
in that yoke of bondage. I'm free to walk with him and
I'm free to enter into heaven. Verse 18, but we all, every believer
with open face, not with a veil over our face looking at the
Lord, but we all with open face beholding as in a glass, a mirror,
the mirror of the word. The glory of the Lord. And that's
how we behold His glory, isn't it? It's in the mirror of the
Word. What I see of His glory is found in the Holy Scriptures,
the mirror of the Word. This is what we're doing right
now. We're beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord. But we all, with open face, beholding
as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed, are transformed
into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit
of God. Now, look what it says, looking at
the glory of the Lord in the mirror the word does to us, in
looking to him I become like him. Not looking to self, not
looking to my evidences, not looking to my works, not looking
to my understanding, not looking to my faith, but looking to him
I become like Him. Now what does that mean? How
can that be? You can't look to Christ and
not believe. It's impossible. If you don't believe, it's because
you're not looking to Christ. You look to Christ, you must believe. You can't look to Christ and
not love. It's impossible. You love Him,
you love His people, you love all men. You can't look to Christ
and be unforgiving. You can't look to Christ and
be unmerciful. You can't look to Christ and
be proud and uppity. You'll be lowly and meek in looking
to Him. Now, if you try to be any of
these things, you know what? You won't be. Try to be humble,
you'll become proud as a devil. I guarantee you. Try to be good,
you'll just be bad. Oh, I'm trying to be good. Well,
it's an exercise in futility. It ain't going to happen. You
look to Christ. You look to Christ. Don't try
to be anything. You look to Christ and you reflect
His image. And you know, there are, you
see those who reflect His image, don't you? He makes a kind of
a progressive thing. You reflect His image from glory
to glory. I've seen people grow in grace
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And
it's such a blessing to see that. You look to Him. And you'll reflect
His image. May God give us grace to look
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Obviously, looking to Him is
the key. And here's a glorious thought. When we see Him perfectly,
think of this scripture, 1 John 3, verse 1. Behold, what manner
of love the Father bestowed upon us that we should be called the
sons of God. Now we know this, He says in verse 2. When He shall
appear, We shall be like Him. For we shall see Him as He is. Seeing Him as He is makes me
exactly like Him. Now you want to talk about a
powerful look. Somebody is so glorious, so powerful, so altogether
above anything this flesh could imagine that when you look at
him, you become like him. That's amazing, isn't it? Glorious, the glorious gospel
of the blessed God. Let's pray together.