down to verse 18. So 2 Corinthians 3, beginning at verse 4. Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God, 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, 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 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, the 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. The Lord will bless the reading of his word. I trust in the moments that we have before us that we can, for a moment, fan ourselves and cool down, but still be I'm very conscious of the heat. I can not only feel it, but I can see it on faces. But we come here and we're gonna look at a contrast between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. And before we kind of go into what Paul is saying, I do wanna mention a few things about what Paul is not doing. He's not making a contrast because the old covenant did not proclaim the gospel. The old covenant proclaimed the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's also not making a contrast because Moses and that whole covenant was wrong. The covenant of Moses was God's revelation to his people at that time, and because it was God's revelation to his people at that time, it came with glory. The glory of God is the revelation of his perfection. It is the revelation of who he is. When God, who is in himself, who is all blessedness and perfection, infinite, eternal, unchangeable, your catechism question number four, all of that, he is that in himself, but when he makes that known, that is his glory. And God who is all of that, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, so high, so other, so full of splendor, and we are but creatures, he has condescended to make himself known to us by means of a covenant, that agreement that he brings us into sovereignly, imposed upon us unilaterally. He is the one who initiates the covenant, and He does that that we might know Him, that we might behold Him. And throughout Scripture, That covenant, which we refer to as the covenant of grace, comes in different administrations, progressive administrations. You have that promise to Adam in the garden, right, where there is going to be a seed of the woman who will crush the serpent. So there, God reveals himself to Adam as the one who redeems. the one who is gonna conquer Satan, the one who's gonna do so through the seed of the woman. So we know, even as early as Genesis 3.15, that there's gonna be a serpent crusher who is human. But then God progressively reveals himself more to Noah. And you have that covenant with Noah, and there is a promise there that God will dwell in the tents of Shem. And so we see that God's going to condescend in a presence, and it's gonna be in the tents of Shem. That's the Semites. It's gonna be through that lineage. And so we know, even in the most basic form, that our Redeemer is divine and human, and then we see that covenant made with Abraham, and we're given a little bit more information. Now we see more of the line in which this Redeemer's gonna come, and he gives Abraham a promise that involves protection, presence, and land, and all of that, and Abraham believes. and righteousness is credited to him. And so we see even here, there's justification by faith alone, by grace alone, through faith alone, and you see then this unfold to then you get to Moses. Now Moses throws us all for a loop, right? That's the difficult one because now we have all of these rituals, we have all of these rites, we have all of these things. And if the promise to Adam, Noah, and Abraham tell us something of the who of the Redeemer, The covenant that was made with Israel through Moses there tells us something of the what of the Redeemer. What is he going to do? What does he need to be? He needs to be perfect. He needs to be spotless. That's pictured in the sacrificial system. He's gonna be one who's a substitute. You also have all that stuff with the priesthood. So there's gonna be one who's a priest. So all of that. But when you see that unfold, Remember, you have God redeems Israel out of Egypt by sovereign grace alone. He brings them there to the mountain. Moses goes up and God does what God writes the law on tablets of stone. Now, the people in Aaron think that Moses is up there for maybe too long of a time. And so they get to talking and they start saying, hey, Why don't we put all of our gold together, throw it in here, and we'll make this calf?" And they begin to worship that calf as Jehovah. Now Moses treks down the mountain, and everyone is, uh-oh. And God is angry, but remember, Moses comes down, right? He has just been with the Lord. He has been in the presence of the glory of God. And he comes down, and that glory that is now there, it comes in judgment, right? It comes in condemnation, like you have sinned, and remember what God says, to Moses, you know, because I'm faithful and I promised a land that I would give to your people, I promised this to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, I'm going to keep that promise, but because you're wicked and you're stiff-necked and you're rebellious, I'm not going with you. And so now, you have this judgment. This loss of God's, and so what does Moses do? He intercedes, and he begins to plead for the mercy and grace of God, and God hears that, and he says, okay, I will go with you, but remember what happens next. Goes back up the mountain. Writes this law on tables of stone. And so there is grace in the Mosaic Covenant. But there's an emphasis here on law. And if they were to put their focus on that table of stone, as it were, what does that speak to you? It speaks death. You can't keep it. It speaks of the holiness and righteousness of God that we don't have in and of ourselves. And even though there's grace in that Mosaic covenant, we can say that's the sobering glory of God's justice that we see. Now, also in that mosaic company, you have all these pictures. Pictures of the lambs, the goats, pictures of the tabernacle. We went through that when we went through Leviticus. And all of those pictures point to something beyond. They point to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so if I could ask you now, for those who lived Under that Mosaic covenant, how were they saved? They're saved by believing in the promise of a Redeemer. Not by the blood of bulls and goats, but by what was pictured. They're looking past that to the Redeemer, okay? Now, As time marches on, God is faithful to His promise. And all of those covenants that are moving progressively from general to specific, now they reach their culmination in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ comes. He lives a perfect and righteous and holy life. He earns that right to die. And you remember, even though that Mosaic Covenant was preparatory and it was going to be obsolete when he comes, it's that covenant that really gives us all of the framework to understand what Jesus Christ is gonna do. If you don't have all of that, when John says, behold the Lamb of God, You have no clue what he's talking about. But because of the Mosaic Covenant, when John, who's baptizing his followers, lifts his head up and he sees, he sees Jesus of Nazareth approaching, walking, and he just stops and he shouts, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Everyone stops. And here, as we heard this morning, here's the king. Here's the ancient of days in the flesh approaching, and he is baptized in order to fulfill all righteousness, to identify himself with sinners. And then we see his public ministry, and he's doing all of these things, and he's going up against Satan, that conflict, right, that God established there in the garden, that enmity between the sin. Here you have the final culmination, the seed of the woman. and the serpent in that final cosmic battle, and Christ overcomes him, and then he goes to Calvary, and it looks like a defeat. But there, as his heel was nipped at, he crushes the head of the serpent. Three days later, he's raised from the dead. He gathers around his disciples, and then he ascends into heaven, and Paul is saying, This new covenant inaugurated by Christ and ratified by his blood, that is a better covenant than the Mosaic, but not because the Mosaic didn't preach Christ. It's just comparatively, the new covenant is more clear and bold and glorious. And so you have in Corinth those ministers who were trying to pull the people away from that blessed gospel proclamation of the righteousness of Christ to go back to the Mosaic Covenant. And this is what Hebrews is all about, right? Hebrews is not saying the Mosaic Covenant failed. Hebrews is warning Christians not to turn back the redemptive clock. Right, so let me explain it this way. So if the mosaic is pictures and shadows, when the point of the picture or the substance that creates the shadow arrives, to go back to the picture is actually to reject the reality. So when Christ comes, The reason you don't go back to the Mosaic Covenant is because the Mosaic Covenant has been fulfilled. Christ has come. And there are people here in Corinth trying to get the church to go back to these pictures. And they're opposing Paul. They're denigrating Paul. They're saying, you're not a true minister. But yet, they're trying to get people to go back. And so, how does Paul defend his ministry? By saying, I'm a minister of the new covenant. And he goes on to this particular contrast. And so, what I want to do tonight is just highlight what is the contrast? Why is the new covenant of greater glory first? The new covenant has a greater glory because it is the better and final administration of the covenant of grace. And so it's better by virtue of its administration, it's better by virtue of its proclamation, and it's better by virtue of its permanence. And I've already hit a little on the administration. If I were just to give you all object lessons, you'll get the point. But yet, if you saw the point at the beginning, you wouldn't need all the object lessons. And so, the Mosaic Covenant in and of itself, at its time and in its place, had a glory. And we need to remember this. Paul's reminder to us that it had a glory is what keeps us from denigrating the Mosaic Covenant. In its time and in its place, it had a glory, he tells us. And what was the glory? It was the glory of God as revealed in that way. But it was veiled, right? He goes up into the mountain and he comes down and he has this physical transformation that people could not even be on, so they put a veil over his face. And also, remember at the end of Exodus, right before Leviticus, you have him going into the tent of meeting, and what bursts out the tent? The shining glory of God, and everyone was afraid. Remember, God speaks to them, and what do they say? Whoa, we can't take this. Lord, you say one more thing and we're dead. Moses, you go do it. You go up there and then you come back down. So it's always veiled, it's always mediated, it's always that. But in the new covenant, Christ comes. And for the first time, you can behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. This is what the whole Old Testament is anticipating and moving forward to. It's always presence, it's always communion, it's always life in the presence of God, and it always had to be. And that Mosaic Covenant veiled pictures, all this, but now Christ comes. And you have Paul in, what is it, Colossians, telling us that the fullness of the Godhead dwelled in Christ. That's mind-blowing. That is what Moses longed to see. Remember Moses' praise. After he gets his answer of God's presence, he prays, show me your glory. Remember what God says, right? If you see my glory, you die. And so he hides Moses, and then he passes by, and he gets to see the back parts as much as he could. And for what, that's, I probably shouldn't do chronology off the top of my head, 1440-ish, Christ comes. So 1,400 years later, You remember Jesus goes on the Mount of Transfiguration? Remember who's there? One of those is Moses. So don't get discouraged when Jesus doesn't answer your prayers the first six weeks. Moses had to wait over 1,000 years. But there on that mount, what does he see? He sees the glory of God in Jesus Christ. and he's telling us in this new covenant, by faith now, this is what you see. It's a better administration. Martin Luther, I think, hits this perfectly when he describes the superiority of this. He says the meaning here of this passage is when the glory and holiness of Christ revealed through the preaching of the gospel is rightly perceived, then the glory of the law, which is but feeble and a transitory glory, is seen to be not really glorious. It is mere dark clouds in contrast to the light of Christ shining to lead us out of sin, death, and hell and into God and his eternal life. And Luther's playing on this verse, right? It has a glory, but then in verse 10, indeed in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, why? Because the glory of the new covenant engulfs that glory. The glory of the Mosaic covenant is but a taste and echo of what's to come. But Christ having come, it's there for you to behold. And so that then takes us not just the administration, but also the proclamation of righteousness. As that law was emphasized and as they had to do those repeated sacrifices over and over and over, they were perpetually reminded that they don't have a righteousness of their own, but Christ comes. And you remember how Paul describes this in Romans, that the righteousness of God is revealed in Christ. that Christ is the end of the law for us. He is the righteousness of God for us. Lord willing, in the next week or two, we're gonna get to that verse in chapter five, which I confess, and it is, after John 17, I think the holiest of holy grounds. I don't even know how to begin to preach it. And that is, he who knew no sin, was made to be sin for us. And put your name in there. The holy one of God who knew no sin was made to be sin, why? So that we understood who know no righteousness might be made the righteousness of God in him. That is the proclamation and the declaration of the new covenant ministry, that Christ has come, that Christ has obeyed the law for you. Christ has kept everything that you could not keep. Christ has paid for everything that you could not pay. And he says, I for them. And as the Holy Spirit unveils the heart, and opens our eyes to behold Christ, we see what? He for us. He takes our sin and his righteousness is declared and puted to us. That is the glorious message of the new covenant. And then we see the third reason. that this is glorious is it's permanent. What is great about this one is Paul says, there's no end to this one. There's no end to this covenant. This has the greater glory and it also has no end. But then we see that it's also greater secondly, not just in its aspect, but also in its benefits. The second thing we see is that the new covenant has a greater glory because it brings greater freedom and greater transformation. And this is verses 12 to 18. Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. There's something interesting here that Paul addresses of why is it that people could not see even the glory that Moses had. It's because it wasn't a problem with Moses. It was a problem with their hearts. Their hearts were veiled. Their hearts were blind to this, right? And so God in his grace had to open up their eyes. And that's true today. Paul even says that that's even true in Paul's day. Like if you read the Mosaic Covenant, and even today you fail to see Christ, it's not Moses' fault. But here's the good news. The spirit of the Lord is at work. to open our eyes, and here is the one, again, it's not that the Spirit was inactive or absent in the Old Testament, but what is one of the characteristics of the renewed, the new covenant? That the Spirit is now gonna do this on all. And so, young boys and girls, the grace of God, in your life that has opened your eyes to behold is the same spirit that has opened the eyes of mommy and daddy. You don't need to be an adult to receive this benefit, and this is not, right, this is the wonder of it, it's not that God is writing things on tablets of stone, and now he's doing what? He's still writing, but he's writing on the fleshy tables of the heart. He's writing his law on your heart. And that spirit that gives you freedom is enabling you now to please God, to obey, to live a life that's pleasing to him. And this is not drudgery, this is not bondage, this is true freedom. to follow God according to his way, according to his law, and that spirit is on full display at work in and through you. And so now you don't need, right, you don't need to go to a geographical location and then hand an animal to a high priest during the week. You can go to God at any time of the day or night through Jesus Christ, at any time. We can worship here. When you go on vacation for the 4th of July, you don't have to hurry back to Wayside. You can worship, you're not bound by one geographical place, but we worship the Lord in spirit and truth, and he is enlivening us to be able to have that constant communion with God because of what Jesus Christ has accomplished and fulfilled in the new covenant. And then finally, It has a greater glory because there's a greater transformation, again, because we can behold Christ now by faith. Everything changes when Christ comes. This is the most amazing thing, that through the word, through the means of grace, those ways in which God makes himself known to us and grows us, we can behold Christ by faith. And I want you to notice a link here in verse 18. We all, not just Moses, not just Paul, but we all, with unveiled face because of the work of the Spirit, the Spirit of the Lord, may behold the glory of the Lord. And we behold it now by faith. And here's where, what is the effect of that beholding? You become more like Jesus. Moses went up in the mountain and saw the glory of God and it transformed his physical appearance. We behold God now by faith and it transforms our inner. inside out. That's true holiness, from the inside out, whereby the result is you look more like Jesus. And we gave this illustration last week, young children, just by being around your parents, they teach you how to walk, yes, they do all that, but they don't always teach you the manner of your walk. You pick it up. You begin to walk like them. You begin to talk like them. The same accent. The same emphasis on syllables. The same draw if you're from below certain lines. No draw if you're above. I remember one day in 11th grade, I went home and I thought, I'm like, you know, I'm from the South, I'm gonna put on this Southern accent. So my parents asked me at dinner, like, you know, how was your day and all this? And I was like, oh, it was really good. And my dad's like, come again? I said, oh, it was good, it was awesome. He goes, nope. I'm gonna ask you that again and you're gonna answer. in the way that you have modeled. And he's from Michigan, and so we have Midwest, so there we go. But all of that, most of the time, right, you just take it up. But here it is with Jesus. The more you behold him, the more you become like him. And so what is, Our desire, we already have, right, the law written on the fleshy tables of the heart. That law is our delight. He's our savior, our affection, so we just want to be around him and we become like him, from one degree of glory to the next. And then when Jesus appears and you see him now, not by faith, but by sight, what happens? you become immediately like him. Everything's transformed. And so there's no substantive difference between sanctification and glorification. Sanctification is that process, that progress by which you become more like Jesus, and glorification is when it's final and full and complete. But what's the difference? One, you're beholding Him by faith. The other one, you're beholding Him by sight. And John is gonna address this in First Nations. So dear Christian, tonight, here's what I want to encourage you with. Meditate on the glories of Christ coming in His work for you. Pray that the Spirit would increase your affections for Him, that you might long to behold Him more and more by faith now. so that you may behold him by sight then.