Benjamin Hatch brings a message on 2 Corinthians 3:4-18 as part of our series "God's Power in Our Weakness," a series in the book of 2 Corinthians.
Redeemer Bible Church of Fort Bend
The Letter Kills, the Spirit Gives Life (2 Corinthians 3:4-18)
(soft piano music) - You're listening to a podcast by Redeemer Bible Church. Come visit us Sunday mornings at 10.30 a.m. or visit our website at redeemerfortbend.org for more information. Thanks and enjoy. (soft piano music) - If you have a Bible term with me now to the book of 2nd Corinthians. We're gonna be in chapter three today. If you're using one of the seatback Bibles, today's text can be found on page 907. 907 and if you don't have a Bible, please take one of our Bibles as a gift to you from the church. 2nd Corinthians chapter three. This morning I'm gonna read verses four through 18. It's a little different than what's in the bulletin. Versus four through 18. Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant. Not of the letter, but of the spirit. For the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. Now if the ministry of death carved in letters on stone came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end. Will not the ministry of the spirit have even more glory? For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. Indeed in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all because of the glory that surpasses it. For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory. Since we have such a hope, we are very bold. Not like Moses who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. But their minds were hardened. For to this day when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord, who is the spirit, at all of God's people said, "Hey man, let's pray." God, this is a very theological passage in many ways. And so we pray that you would give us ears to hear and attentive hearts that we might follow Paul's logic. But most of all God, we pray that we would see the great transforming power of the spirit, and that we might be transformed. That you might lift the veil from anyone here today, who does not see the glory of the gospel. That you would do your good work in our midst, saving those who are lost, and transforming those who are saved. And we pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. One of the most infamous moments in American pop culture happened at the 2009 video music awards. Taylor Swift, I know, right? I can't believe we'll talk about Taylor Swift in a sermon. Taylor Swift, then an emerging star, had just won the award for best video. And she was beginning her acceptance speech when rapper Kanye West stormed the stage, took the microphone from her hands, and announced that he didn't care what the official results were. The winner should have been Beyonce. The room filled with booze. Social media exploded with outrage. Because it was a stunning display of arrogance. And when we see arrogant behavior like that, our natural response is to ask, "Who do you think you are?" But sometimes people ask, "Who do you think you are?" Not because someone's actually guilty of arrogance like Kanye. Sometimes we say, "Who do you think you are?" There are people that dare to tell us uncomfortable truths that we don't want to hear. And that's what happened in Corinth. The apostle Paul who founded the Corinthian church later learned that it had drifted into sin. And Paul repeatedly urged the Corinthians to repent in writing and in person, but they wouldn't listen. Instead, some in the church started attacking the legitimacy of Paul's ministry. They said to Paul, "Who do you think you are?" To tell us that we are in sin and that we need to repent. And this sorry conflict persisted for some time. Until Paul wrote the Corinthians an intense letter of rebuke, which finally caused most of them to repent. And yet, even though that positive development, even though most of them had repented, questions about Paul's legitimacy lingered in Corinth. Especially among a stubborn minority in the church that refused to repent. And so Paul writes this letter that we have in our Bibles as the book of 2 Corinthians to set the record straight, to answer the remaining questions about why the Corinthians should listen to him and to demand that those who are still unrepentant must return to the gospel they previously professed. Now today as we continue our series in 2 Corinthians, we come to chapter three, verses four through 18. And here Paul answers this question, "Who does he think he is?" And in this section, Paul explains why he speaks with such boldness, such directness as he rebukes the Corinthians sin. And Paul's answer is that his boldness comes from the glory of the new covenant, which is the foundation of his ministry. And we'll see today believing friends that the new covenant should likewise inspire great boldness in us too. And that's what we'll see today in three points. First, the new covenant is more glorious than the old. Second, the new covenant radiates into the lives of believers. And third, the glory of the new covenant generates great boldness in ministry. We begin with our first point. The new covenant is more glorious than the old. So who does Paul think he is speaking so bluntly to the Corinthians about their sin? Paul explains. Second Corinthians chapter three, verse six. He says, God has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant. Paul points to the content of his message. See how Paul preaches is shaped by what Paul preaches. If Paul was just preaching a bunch of unimportant triviality, great boldness would be very inappropriate. It'd be very inappropriate for me to get up here and rebuke you if you don't root for the Cincinnati Bengals shame on you, right? That's not appropriate if I'm talking about trivialities. But Paul says he's preaching the new covenant. That is a matter of ultimate eternal significance. And so great boldness is appropriate. Now what is this new covenant? A covenant's like a contract. And God makes covenants throughout the Bible with people. In our passage, Paul focuses on two of these covenants. The first he calls the old covenant. This is the covenant God made with Israel at Mount Sinai. And God explained this covenant in Exodus 19. If you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples. For all the earth is mine and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. God required Israel to keep his covenant, which meant keeping his law. And God said that as Israel kept this law, they would be his special people, his priestly nation representing him to the world. And God promised that as Israel obeyed, he would shower them with material blessings. Deuteronomy chapter 28 verse one. If you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments, all these blessings shall come upon you. Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground. But as Israel disobeyed God's law, instead of material blessings would come curses. These were the terms of the old covenant. Obey and be blessed, disobey and be cursed. Now why does Paul call this covenant old? Because God said in the Old Testament, a time was coming when he would deal with people on a new and different basis than this covenant made at Sinai. Jeremiah 31, 31. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord. When I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers, my covenant that they broke. God said he would make a new covenant, which would not be like the old covenant. But what would be different about it? In Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 36, God said, he was gonna give his people spiritual blessings, not material blessings. And here are the blessings he promised. I will be their God and they shall be my people. They shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest. I will put my law within them. I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more. You shall be clean from all your uncleannesses. I will give you a new heart and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. So to sum all of this up, the old covenant was just a law, demanding obedience, but the new covenant offered spiritual transformation, an unbroken relationship with God, characterized by his forgiveness and empowerment. And friends, there's some great news today, which is that what was future to the Old Testament prophets is now our present reality. God's new covenant is now in force. 1 Corinthians 11, 23 says that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed, took the cup after supper, saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood. The new covenant began with the pouring out of the blood of Jesus, the death of Jesus. And friends, that's what Paul says his ministry is all about, this new covenant. Now why is all of this theology so important? Because the new covenant is the best news in the history of the world. At Paul now demonstrates that by showing how the new covenant is infinitely better than the old. Now we might wonder why does Paul feel like he has to make this comparison between the new covenant and the old. Probably it has to do with the ongoing problems in Corinth. Later in this book we're gonna see that the unrepentant folks in Corinth were following some false teachers. Probably these false teachers, like many false teachers in the first century, urged the Corinthians to reject Paul's new covenant gospel message and to instead cling tightly to old covenant Judaism. And so Paul here is demonstrating that these false teachers message is inferior to the glorious truth that Paul preaches. The new covenant is better than the old. Now Paul begins to show this in verse six. We've got a Bible, look at this. He says the new covenant is not of the letter but of the spirit. Now when Paul talks about the letter he's talking about the content of the old covenant, the law of Moses. And Paul contrasts that with the content of the new covenant, the spirit. That is to say the Holy Spirit. So the old covenant gave Israel the law, the new covenant gives believers the Holy Spirit and the spirit's better than the law so the new is better than the old. Now if you really know your Bible you might be surprised to see the way Paul talks about God's Old Testament law here. Fairly critical the way he describes it. And yet we see in the Old Testament that the law was a great and a glorious thing. And Paul acknowledges this in verse seven. That when God gave the law there was a tremendous display of divine glory pointing to the great value of the law. So in Exodus 19 God's glory descended upon Mount Sinai in a bunch of visible wonders, thick smoke and lightning and earthquakes. Awesome displays of God's power. And this all culminated with Moses coming down from the mountain with the two tablets of stone bearing the 10 commandments written with the very finger of God. The giving of the law was accompanied by great glory. Later after Israel sinned with the golden calf those tablets were destroyed. And so in Exodus 34 God summoned Moses back to the mountain. And God had Moses make two new tablets with the 10 commandments on them. And then God allowed Moses to see something nobody had ever seen before. To visibly behold part of God's glory. Again the giving of the law was accompanied by divine glory. And this glory was so immense that Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 3 verse 7 that it came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses face because of its glory. When Moses saw just a glimpse of God's glory it changed his countenance. It made him glow undeniably. The old covenant was accompanied by tremendous glory. And yet even as Paul acknowledges the glory of the old covenant look how he describes it in verse six. As he says the letter that is the letter of the law kills. Verse seven he calls it the ministry of death carved in letters on stone. In verse nine he calls it the ministry of condemnation. Although the law was glorious Paul asks what did it produce? Death and condemnation. Now that is transparently different than the way the Old Testament talks about the law. Leviticus 18 5 says you shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules. If a person does them he shall live by them. Or some of Moses' final words. He told Israel you need to obey the law like this. Deuteronomy 30 19 I have set before you. Life and death choose life that you may live. The old law frames itself as a path of life. So why does Paul talk about it as a ministry of death? Because while the law was a path of life for those who could obey it, for the disobedient the law was the curse of condemnation. And as Paul considers Israel's history with the law he has come to understand a terrible truth. Nobody can keep God's law. So Romans 3 20 says by works of the law no human being will be justified. Romans 3 23 all have sinned and followed short of the glory of God. The law proved not to be a path of life to anyone instead it only produced the curse. The promise of death, judgment and hell for sinful humanity. So the law produced only death and condemnation. Not because anything is wrong with the law. Romans 7 7 Paul says what shall we say? That the law is sin by no means the law is holy and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. The law was good. The problem is humanity is bad. And the laws affect upon sinful people is really bad news. It's death and hell. And friends that's my problem and that's your problem today. In our natural condition we all stand under God's curse because we are all sinners. And so the goodness of the old covenant leads to a bad outcome for humanity. But this is why the new covenant is better than the old. Listen to 2 Corinthians 3 8. We'll not the ministry of the spirit have even more glory. For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation the ministry of righteousness was far exceeded in glory. All of the old covenant brought death and condemnation but the new covenant brings righteousness. Romans 3 says on the basis of the law no one could be justified. No one could be counted righteous but righteousness is available in the new covenant. How? Oh Paul tells us later in this book. Second Corinthians 5 21. For our sake God made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Righteousness is available because of the death of Jesus. Friends, Jesus is God who took on true humanity and yet who was never tainted by sin. And so when Jesus went to the cross something happened which Luther called the great exchange. Jesus took the sin of believers on himself and he gave his perfect righteousness to believers. So that today believing friends we stand before God clothed in Jesus own perfect righteousness. The very righteousness of God has been imputed to our account. Nothing like that was available under the old covenant. But the old covenant have animal sacrifices, right? And Hebrews 10 says they could never make perfect those who draw near for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. But in Jesus there is the prospect of true righteousness and forgiveness. That is a tremendous advantage the new covenant has over the old. Paul points to another advantage, the spirit. So what Ezekiel prophesied? That God would put his spirit in us. This is one of the most critical distinctions between the old and the new covenants. The old covenant gave a law to Israel that it could never obey. But the new covenant gives believers the spirit who enables our obedience. Romans eight verse two. The spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do. The righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. The Holy Spirit empowers us to turn away from our old lives of sin. He empowers us to obey God. But that's not all. 'Cause we're gonna see in a minute the Holy Spirit also transforms us and makes us more like Christ. The transformation promised in the new covenant. And twice this book tells us God has given us the spirit as a guarantee. The spirit secures our eternal hope of resurrection life and the new creation. So the new covenant is greater than the old because through it the spirit empowers and transforms and secures us. But there's one more way that the new covenant is better than the old, which is this. The new covenant endures forever, but the old covenant has been brought to an end. We see this in verse seven. The ministry of death was being brought to an end. And look at second Corinthians three, verse 10. Indeed in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all because of the glory that surpasses it. For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory. Man, the new covenant was glorious in its day. But Paul says that glory has been utterly eclipsed by the glory of the new covenant. In fact, so much better is the new covenant than the old. Paul says it's like the old covenant has actually been emptied of its glory. That is to say the old covenant's age is over. And friends, there is no ambiguity here. In verses seven and 11, Paul tells us the old covenant has come to an end. And the Greek verb there means to invalidate or abolish. The old covenant is over. Now again, if you're really familiar with your Bible, you might be confused by that. Because Jesus says in Matthew 5, 17, "Do not think that I have come to abolish "the law or the prophets. "I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them." Now indeed, the old law has not been repealed or abolished in the sense that it has fallen out of the Bible. No, no, no, no. The old law is forever a part of the scripture. But friends, we must understand that the binding force of the Old Testament law stands concluded. Because Jesus says that he has fulfilled it. And just like a prophecy is fulfilled and stands forever complete, so too does the law and its demand stand fulfilled and forever complete in Christ. That's why Paul says in Ephesians 2, 14, he has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances. The old law is no longer operative and neither is the old covenant whose content was that law. Hebrews 8, 13 says in speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. So to sum all of this up, the new covenant is better than the old because it gives us righteousness. It bestows the spirit and it lasts forever. Now, that's a ton of theology, right? What should we take from this? Let me offer three applications. Number one, we need to avail ourselves of the superior blessings of the new covenant. The old covenant was indeed glorious in its day, but what did it produce for Israel? Death and condemnation. Now, if that's the position Israel stood under and they were part of the old covenant, how much worse of a position were Gentiles in? Listen to Ephesians 2, 11. At one time, you Gentiles were separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. Gentiles couldn't even claim the benefits of the old covenant. We were totally alienated from God, utterly hopeless, and so here's the idea. To be an Israelite under the old covenant was to be under death and condemnation, and to be outside the old covenant as a Gentile was somehow to be in an even worse position. All of humanity stands in a terrible place, apart from Christ, indeed Ephesians 2 says you were dead in trespasses and sins by nature, children of wrath. In our natural condition, we're under God's wrath. And there is no hope to be found in the law of Moses, and that means there's even less hope to be found in anything else in some other religion, like Islam, that says, oh, you can save yourself with good works, or some philosophy that says, we can improve ourselves by being nice, no friends, there's hope in just one place. Ephesians 2 says, by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast. We must turn away from our old lives of sin by turning to follow Jesus, because he is God and man, because he has died for our sins and risen from the dead, that is faith. And as we have this faith, we will receive God's free gift of salvation. So my first question for us today, friend, is have you grabbed hold of the life that is available only in Jesus? If not, do so today, friend, choose life that you may live. Application number two, we need to avoid falling into the error of thinking, that because the old law stands concluded, therefore God has no moral demands on our lives. Yes, the old law is no longer in force, but that does not mean we're free to live however we want, because the new covenant comes with its own moral imperatives. Believing friends, we must obey the commands of Christ. That's why he says in Luke six, "Why do you call me Lord Lord and not do what I tell you?" We must follow the commands of the apostles, which come from Jesus. For Cessalonians 4, Paul says, you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. Friends, all the commands we find in the New Testament are the words of Christ and they are for believers to follow, and so it is false to think that the end of the old covenant creates a moral free for all. The new covenants as believers are empowered to obey God and what we are to obey are the commands of the New Testament. Application number three, we need to enjoy being under the new covenant and stop trying to run back to the old. Jesus is better than everything in old covenant Judaism. So why in the world would we ever want to go back? But many people today are trying to do precisely that. There are Gentile Christians who decide that they can best please God by retreating to more explicitly Jewish forms of worship grounded in the old covenant. That's why the vast majority of people attending so-called messianic Jewish congregations today are Gentiles. Friends, that is totally contrary to this passage. There is nothing better or holier to be found in the forms of the old covenant because the new is better in every respect. There are some today who advocate a return to what they call the Hebrew roots of Christianity. Urgent Christians to keep the 613 commands of the old law as a way of getting saved or maintaining your salvation. Friends, that is heresy. There are those today who advocate Christian nationalism through theonomy and dominionism, which are theories that say the Old Testament law should be implemented as the governing principle for our country. Friends, we must resist such errors as the heresy that they are. The old covenant is finished. We must not return to it. We should rejoice that we stand in the new covenant, which is infinitely better. We should practice explicitly Christian forms of worship commanded in the New Testament. Let us be content to be God's New Testament church and not pretend to be Old Testament Israel for what we have in Christ is better in every way than what is found in the old covenant. So do not try to go back because Christ has come and brought what's better. I've become now to our second point. Now, the first point was long, the second was shorter. The new covenant radiates its glory into the lives of believers. Now Paul returns to an idea he previously introduced. The shining face of Moses in Exodus 34. And Paul latches onto one detail from that account. That after Moses came down from Mount Sinai, Exodus 34 says he put a veil over his face. Moses faced glowed, but he chose to cover that glow by veiling himself. Now Paul explains this detail and uses it to make some really important points. Look at chapter three, verse 12. "Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, "not like Moses who had put a veil over his face, "so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome "of what was being brought to an end." Now I've heard people try to interpret this passage in this way. They'll say, well, Moses put the veil over his face because as time went by, the glow started to fade and he didn't want people to see that. There's a common interpretation. It is an incorrect interpretation. And we know that because of certain features of Greek grammar that would take way too long for me to explain to you right now. But when Paul talks about that which is being brought to an end here, he is not talking about the glory on Moses' face dimming. Rather, when Paul speaks of something being brought to an end, he uses the same language in verses seven and 10 to talk about the old covenant. So Moses covered the glory on his face because he didn't want the Israelites to look at it because Paul says that would be to stare into the outcome of the old covenant. And what was the outcome of the old covenant? Paul just told us. It was death and condemnation. So Moses covered his face to protect the Israelites from death and condemnation. Now why would they incur death and condemnation? Look at verse 14 because their hearts were hardened. Moses' generation of Israelites were sinful people and the law cannot justify. It can only condemn. And so as the Israelites sinned against the law, which they did a lot of, what would happen if they kept staring into the very glory of God that was reflected in Moses' face? It risked judgment for them. And so to protect the Israelites from this outcome, Moses covered his face. He held the glory back. He did not put it on display out of consideration for the guilt of his people. And Paul says, this guilt persists. Look at verse 14. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts. Many Jews believed in Jesus in the first century and they became the beneficiaries of the new covenant. But what about the Jews who refused to believe in Jesus, who kept trusting the old covenant? Paul says they're just like their hardhearted ancestors. They have been cut off from seeing the glory of God. So when they read the Old Testament, they don't see how it points to Christ. They don't see the new covenant anticipated. Their minds and their hearts are veiled. We'll talk about this more next week. As Paul tells us, every unbeliever is veiled from seeing the glory of God. Look at 2 Corinthians 4 verse 3. Even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. Satan has an almost God-like power over this world. And he has been empowered to blind unbelievers so that they cannot see the glory of the gospel. This is a terrible truth that explains the extent and intensity of opposition to the gospel throughout history. And we're gonna talk about that more next week. But right now, what I want you to see is this, to trust in the old covenant, to the exclusion of the new, to hope in Judaism without Jesus is to be hopeless. It is to be spiritually blind. But those who turn to Christ gain a spiritual sight. Look at chapter three, verse 16. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Moses obscured his face from the Israelites that they might not see God's glory. But Exodus 34 says that when Moses would go before the Lord, that is when he would go into the tabernacle, he would take the veil off and directly interact with the glory of God. Paul says that's like us believing friends, when we turn from our old lives of sin to trust Christ. The veil Satan had put on us is taken away by God. The scales fall from our eyes. Now we see. And what do we see? Well, look at verse 17. Now the Lord is the spirit. And where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Now, as Paul speaks of the Lord here, he's still talking about Moses' situation in Exodus 34. When Moses would go into the tabernacle and take the veil off his face, Paul says he was talking to the Lord, that is the Holy Spirit. And there in the presence of the spirit, Moses found freedom. What kind of freedom? Freedom from that veil on his face. Freedom to behold and directly interact with the glory of God. So it is with us believing friends. As we turn to Christ, the spirit enters our lives. He takes our blindness away. He grants us the freedom to behold and interact with the very glory of God. And we see that in this wonderful verse at the end of our passage, verse 18. And we all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the spirit. This is what Paul's big point is. And this verse has many moving parts, so let's work through it slowly. As we turn to Jesus, Paul says the veil is lifted. We can now understand what we previously could not. We can now access what we previously could not. And what do we see? The glory of God. The same glory Moses saw only greater because Moses saw the lesser glory that accompanied the lesser old covenant. But we have access to the greater glory that accompanies the new covenant. How? Well, notice the verb Paul uses in verse 18. Translated, "Beholding." The Greek verb most often means to look in a mirror, to catch a reflection. So Paul says when we believe, when we are unveiled in Christ, it's not that we directly gaze upon the unmediated glory of God. That's what will happen with us in eternity, friends. Revelation 22 says they will see his face. That's what we'll do in the new creation. That's not yet our reality. What we access right now is just a glimpse of reflection and image of that glory. And how do we access it? Next week's passage tells us. 2 Corinthians 4-4. Christ is the image of God. 2 Corinthians 4-6. God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shown in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The reflection of God's glory we can access today is found as we look to Jesus, because Jesus is the ultimate disclosure of God's glory. Now, when Paul talks about us seeing God's glory here, I want you to understand, he is not promising us a mystical experience or a vision. He's not telling us that we will all literally see Jesus with our eyes in this life. On the contrary, chapter five of this book says, we walk by faith, not by sight. Our perception of God's glory in Christ in this life is not a visible phenomenon. No, we experience the glory of God in this life as we hear about Jesus, and as we pray to Jesus, and as we trust Jesus, and as we think about Jesus, and as we rely upon Jesus, and friends as we do these things, Paul tells us we will be changed. Look at verse 18. We are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the spirit. The spirit works in our lives believing friends. And as we gaze at Jesus with the eyes of faith, as we read about him and think about him, and learn about him, and consider his life, as we put our minds on the things above, as we war with the flesh and walk by the spirit, the spirit transforms us. Just as the glory of God imprinted the glory upon Moses' face, as we look more and more to Jesus, the glory of God will imprint itself upon our hearts, and we will be changed from one degree of glory to another. Until in the end, we are transformed into the same image we see in the mirror, the image of Christ. Now understand, this is not teaching what Eastern religions teach. We will not become part of God. This is not teaching what Mormons teach, that we will become gods. But friends, we will become more like Jesus. We will grow in Christ's likeness, and therefore we will grow in glory, because that's what the spirit does as we walk by faith, turning again and again, to look to Jesus. He grows us in Christ's likeness. Now let me ask two questions of us here. Number one, is the glory of God veiled to you? As you sit here today in church, is there any appeal to you in what Jesus offers? And we've sung about him, and we've prayed to him, and we've read about him, we've talked about the righteousness and forgiveness he offers. Is this desirable to you? Do you want these benefits? Do you see value in Jesus? Or is all of this just a bunch of mumbo jumbo to you that doesn't make a lick of sense? If that's you friends, you're under the veil Paul is describing. Satan has blinded you to the glory of God that's in the gospel. And that means you're dead in your sins, you're under God's wrath, and you need to beg God that he would grant you the insight only the Holy Spirit can give you. Friend today, if you're here and you profess Christ, do you really see the glory in what you profess? Or is all of this primarily a family thing that you owe my family comes to church I do to? Or it's a cultural or a political thing. I'm a conservative, and you know, we conservatives should be evangelicals. Is it a social thing, how my friends are here? Or in your heart, do you long to see God in the face? Do you long to be more like Christ? Do you hate your sin and want righteousness? Do you know your desperate need for transformation? Do you long for your faith to be sight? Friends, this is such a clear way to examine yourself to see if you're really in the faith. To see if the veil has been taken away. Do you see the glory of the gospel? Do you desire it? Or is all of this some empty dead ritualism to you? If so, repent and believe the gospel. Question number two, if you really know Christ, are you growing? As you consider your life, do you see the imprint of the glory of God which is changing you? Are you any different now than you were at the start of your faith? Are you any different than you were a few years ago? Do you see greater righteousness and greater holiness and more victory over sin? Believing friends, the Holy Spirit will grow us, but we see in this text how he does it. He transforms us more and more as we gaze into the image of Christ, as we turn to Christ again and again. That's how we change. This explains why we read things in the New Testament like set your mind on the things that are above, not the things that are on earth. Or Hebrews 12, look to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. This is why there's great value in immersing ourselves in the Scripture, in praying regularly, in gathering for worship, in confessing our sin. Because as we turn to Jesus again and again, the Spirit will make us more like him. And that means when we don't do these things, we will drift like the Corinthians did. Transpirational growth is not automatic. Let go and let God theology is a lie. The Spirit does his work in us as we turn again and again to Jesus. And so if you're here today and you're like, "Man, I'm spiritually dry." Look to Jesus, read the Bible, come to church with regularity, sing, confess your sin, turn to Jesus again and again, and the Spirit will transform you. That's what this text says. But finally, now, and this is a very brief point. The glory of the new covenant compels a boldness to all new covenant ministry. Why has Paul gone on and made all these theological arguments? Because he's answering this criticism, who does Paul think he is? And Paul's answer is he's a minister of the new covenant. And how did he get that ministry? Not because of his education or his inelectorous training. Rather, he says in chapter three, verse five, "Not that we are sufficient in ourselves "to claim anything is coming from us, "but our sufficiency is from God "who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant." And Daniel showed us last week. We can't undertake gospel ministry in our own strength. Nobody could do that. Paul's ministry didn't come from his own strength. It came from the Spirit's work in his life. The Spirit was making him more like Christ. The Spirit produced Paul's ministry and the Spirit produced much fruit through it. And the Corinthians couldn't deny that. They might have wanted to quibble about Paul's legitimacy, but they were part of his ministry fruit. Look at chapter three, verse two. "You show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, "written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, "not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts, "such as the confidence that we have through Christ toward God." The Corinthian church existed because the Spirit used Paul to proclaim the gospel. It didn't make sense for the Corinthians to criticize Paul's ministry. Their salvation testified to the authenticity of Paul's ministry. But Paul wasn't content to just plant the Corinthian church and let them fend for themselves because he's a minister of the new covenant 'cause the Spirit still didn't work in him. And because he wants the Spirit to work in his converts. He wants them to grow from one degree of glory to another. He wants them to turn away from worldliness and sin and be more like Jesus. And as the glory of the new covenant shapes Paul, it erupts through him with great boldness. That's why Paul's not like Moses. Moses obscured God's glory behind a veil. Paul put it all out there in the open for everybody to see. He says it just like it is. He is bold and direct in his ministry. Why? 'Cause the new covenant is so great, so glorious and so consequential. It would be wrong not to just lay it all out there crystal clear. That's why Paul is blunt because the significance of the new covenant requires it. And he's a minister of that covenant. So Paul says in chapter three, verse 12, "Since we have such a hope, we are very bold." That's why Paul is so blunt as he speaks to the lost about the gospel. As he speaks to Christians about the need for holiness. But friends, I want us to end today by thinking about this truth. Paul is not the only such person with a new covenant ministry. Yes, Paul was an apostle, we are not apostles, but you don't have to be an apostle to have a new covenant ministry. You don't even have to be a church leader. Actually, listen to Ephesians 4-11. He gave the apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry. Ministries not the province of church leaders, ministry is the province of the saints that is all believers. Every believer has a ministry, not just those with titles in the church. Friend, if you know Jesus, you have a ministry. And what is your ministry? Let me highlight three things. First, use your spiritual gifts to build up the local church. So Paul says in Ephesians 4, we build up the body of Christ. We are each given by the spirit, a special empowerment to build each other up and help the local church operate. And friends, when we do that, when we serve, our service should be bold because it is in furtherance of the new covenant. Listen to 1 Peter 4. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another. Whoever speaks as one who speaks the oracles of God. Whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies. In order that in every, then God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. That's why we don't believe in mealy mouth timid preaching here. Say man, preaching here is confrontational. Yes, it should be. It should get in your face a bit because this is new covenant ministry. We should be bold like Paul. We should get in your chili. Because when we declare the scriptures, we are speaking the very words of God. The message requires boldness. It's also why we don't believe in half-hearted lazy service. If we're in some non-teaching role here and there are many, we must do the very best job we can because we do that work in the strength God supplies under God's glory. So when we put our hands to the work, it shouldn't be marked by timidity or half-hearted, half-measures, but by excellence and boldness. Second, believing friends, we all have a ministry to speak truth to one another. It's a part of the Christian life that's often neglected, but it is vital for our welfare. Hebrews 3.13 says, exhort one another every day so long as it is called today that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. We should speak into each other's lives with regularity. And when we detect there is sin afoot in someone's life, we should call it out. Now that can be very awkward, but Hebrew says it's vital. Because if we don't do it, we may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Now to speak very frank words about what we see in each other's lives, friends that takes boldness. If we are timid, we won't do it. It takes kutzpah. But you know what? We have been entrusted with the ministry of the new covenant meant to transform us and make us Christ like. This is the path that leads to life. And there is no room for timidity when we're talking about life and death matters. So we should have this kind of frank boldness with one another. So let us have some spiritual conversations with each other. And let those conversations have some reality and vitality so that as Colossians 3 says we admonish each other with all wisdom. As Hebrews 10 says we stir one another up to love and good works. So that this doesn't just become another dead hull of a church building where we show up, watch a performance and go home unchanged. But that we might be a real community where the living God works. Now to be clear, boldness doesn't mean that we should be unloving jerks. It doesn't mean we should be busy bodies. Oh, here's another chance to speak into your life. Well, what's going on in your life, friend? And the point of exhortation and admonition is not that we might feel superior to others as we probe their lives. But when we really see something in the life of a fellow believer, we should speak up with boldness 'cause that's the loving thing to do. It's a hope, a believer, beyond guard against the dangers of sin. We've got to have this kind of boldness with each other. But lastly, our ministry includes the command to evangelize the lost, to go and make disciples. And friends, that takes boldness of what we're really going to do it. If we're going to tell a lost person that they're really dead in their sins and headed for hell, you can't say that in a nice, in offensive way. Again, that's not a license to be a jerk. But friends, our message is bold. It is in your face. So let us have some holy boldness because the new covenant is not some slight insignificant thing. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation and sin, death, and hell are real. And final judgment is coming. And if we really believe that, if we really think about what that means, the great stakes should give us some boldness. And Jesus tells us to warn the perishing, to call on them, to repent and believe, to say to them, choose life that you may live by pointing them to the Christ. And friend, if you are sitting here today and you're like, well, I really don't have any boldness, then immerse yourselves in the things of the faith. 'Cause that's how the spirit will convince you of the urgency of the gospel. That's how the spirit will transform you to making more like Jesus who boldly spoke the truth to those who needed to hear it. That's how the spirit's gonna get us past our hang-ups and make us into the effect of servants He wants us to be. So friends, let us have some new covenant boldness in our service at church and in our spiritual conversations with each other and as we pursue the lost. So to conclude, who did Paul think he was? A minister of the new covenant, just like us believing friends. Praise God, we're not under the ministry of death and condemnation anymore. Praise God, we're part of the new covenant if we know Christ. If you don't know Christ, turn to Christ today and live. But if you see the glory of God today, keep your mind fixed on the things of Christ and the spirit will change your life. He will make you effective in ministry and we will be the bold people that God has called us to be in each other's lives, in our service, and among the lost. And let us see what God does as He works through us and makes us more like His dear son. And I bet if we do that, friends, people do far more abundantly than all we want to ask or think. Let's pray.