Our text for today's Bible study and sermon is in 2 Corinthians 3. Turn there a while. 2 Corinthians 3, verses 7 through 11. Our English word, glorious, refers to that which is illustrious, exalted, noble, excellent, beautiful, magnificent, acclaimed, something very, very honorable. We use the word glorious in reference to things. We might talk about, oh, it's a glorious day. We might look in the evening as the sun sets and say, what a glorious sunset. What a glorious view. Those type of things. We also use it in terms of men and their achievements, their titles, their work, and so on. And so that which is glorious is that which is exalted and great, excellent. We all wish, don't we, to experience the glorious. To be part of something that is glorious. But you may say, yeah, that's true, but I live an ordinary life. I rarely experience or am part of anything glorious. However, and this is the message of our passage today, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you are in constant contact with the glorious. Not only is your Lord and Savior exalted in glory, representing you there, He has given to you the privilege and the opportunity to be part of something glorious. That is, the service, the ministry of the new covenant. The calling to be a true and faithful servant of Jesus Christ is a calling to participate in something glorious. And I hope you will understand and see that after we have studied our passage today. For this is the teaching of 2 Corinthians 3, 7 through 11. This is part of a larger context where Paul is proclaiming the nature and the power of the gospel ministry. And the nature of the gospel ministry, when we speak of the gospel ministry, we speak of a doctrine that has immediate application in this context to Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, and to his fellow apostles and their associates in the ministry of the preaching of the Word of God and the establishment of the New Testament Church. This teaching here also has application today to preachers, pastors, evangelists, missionaries, who, like Paul and his associates, take the gospel, preach it to the lost, minister to the church of Christ, and build it up. However, all disciples of Christ are called to be His servants. And each individually is gifted by the Holy Spirit for ministry in evangelism and discipleship in the Great Commission. In other words, all of us are part of the gospel ministry. None has been excluded. All have been given a work to do in the fulfillment of the Great Commission in bringing Christ to the nations and teaching all things whatsoever He has commanded. And so the passages that we're studying, though they have the immediate context as Paul and his associates, so it applies to all believers, all servants of Christ. And in our section, we're studying now, and we'll be doing this for the weeks to come, and we've been doing it for a number of weeks already, Paul here is revealing the marks of a true, that is a genuine and faithful, as opposed to an unfaithful, servant of Jesus Christ. Thus far, we have considered five marks of a true and faithful servant of Christ. First of all, they are led in triumph in Christ. Does that describe your life? Think about it. Number two, they make manifest the knowledge of Christ in every place. Number three, they do not corrupt the Word of God. Number four, they are shown to be such, that is, true servants of Christ, by the fruit of their lives, by the fruit of their ministry. Number five, true and faithful servants of Christ know and they've learned this, that's one of the aspects of sanctification, that they're sufficient for ministries in God alone, not in themselves. We cannot do this in ourselves. It is a work of God through us. This morning we come to consider the sixth mark of a true and faithful servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what is it? This is number six. They have received a more glorious ministry than Moses. They have received a more glorious ministry than Moses. Beginning in verse 7, But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away, how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious." True and faithful servants of Christ have been given a more glorious ministry than Moses. Paul was being attacked at Corinth by false teachers who were seeking to win the Corinthians over to themselves and to their doctrine. That's made clear in chapter 11 of our book. So far we have seen that they attack Paul over his change of plans in regard to his visit to Corinth. It was in chapter 1. And over the fact that he did not have official letters commending him. Letters of commendation that would recommend him to the church in Corinth. They had them, they said. Where's Paul's recommendation? Well, Paul answered the first attack against fickleness in chapter 1, verse 8, through chapter 2, verse 13, and he answered the second attack in chapter 3, verses 1 through 3. In an answer to this second attack, he introduced a metaphor, you remember, of writing a letter of Christ on hearts of men and women. And that that letter of Christ on their hearts was the validation of himself and his ministry as an apostle of Christ. But he knew that his enemies now would say, listen to him boast. Paul's a boaster. And so he quickly added in verses four and five of our chapter that we're studying these words. And such trust have we through Christ to Godward, not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. This work of writing Christ in the hearts of men and women is a work that no man, no person can do. It is a work that only God himself can do and we are simply the scribes. We are the secretaries as it were who take the message given to us and we take the pen given to us and we move the pen, but it's the Holy Spirit, it's the message from God and the Holy Spirit who is the ink of the pen that actually writes on the hearts of men. Now we've been looking at that wonderful metaphor in the last two sermons. But Paul is going to develop this thought now of sufficiency for ministry. He wants to further define that ministry. And he says in verse 6, who hath made us able ministers of the New Testament. And so we've moved this along now. Paul is able to carry out this work because God is his sufficiency, and in the sufficiency of God, he has made us, Paul and his associates, and of course we're applying this by extension to all true believers, but Paul says he's made us what? Able ministers. Of what? The New Covenant, or the New Testament. When we think of New Testament, What do we think of? The contrast, the earlier covenant, the old covenant. Now, we looked at this last week, but I said we'd be looking at this again. Would you please turn to Jeremiah 31, 31 to 34. It is my belief that if we do not understand this passage, that is the Jeremiah passage, we cannot begin to understand fully and enter into the teaching of Paul in this should I say, somewhat difficult passage. Anytime we're trying to understand the relationship between the Testaments, the ministry of Moses, the ministry of the apostles, the law of God, how do they relate to one another? And this passage before us is one of the primary texts in the Old Testament that deal with that. But look with me at Jeremiah again, because if we're going to understand this passage and New Testament ministers, We have to understand the Old Covenant and as we're talking about Moses today, as we already read in our passage, he was the minister of the Old Covenant. But let's look at this. Paul says we have been made able ministers of that covenant. made with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt." That's the old covenant that Moses was the mediator of. Which my covenant they break? although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord. For they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sins no more. Now, look at the comparison here. There's three points of comparison in this prophecy between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. First of all, the law of God was written externally in the Old Covenant. That's implied here when he speaks about the covenant that they broke, but he will write it somewhere else, that is, internally on the hearts. And so in the old covenant, the law of God was given to Israel, the covenant people, written by the finger of God on the two tables of stone, which contained the Ten Commandments, which was the epitome of the law, the moral law. But in the new covenant, it will be written on the heart. It's an internal writing. I think that's the basis upon Paul's analogy that we were looking at, at writing epistles of Christ on the hearts of people. He's a New Testament minister. He's fulfilling what God said here, that he would put God's law in their hearts and write it there. The second point of comparison is many members of the Old Covenant did not know the Lord. Many of them. Because membership in the Old Covenant was not based on regeneration, spiritual circumcision of the heart, but upon physical relations to Abraham and physical circumcision. And so many of the members of the Covenant were not saved. However, in the New Covenant it says, All shall know Me. All members of the covenant know the Lord. In other words, the membership in the New Covenant is not based on external circumcision, but internal, upon the regeneration of the Holy Spirit. That's what makes a person a child or a daughter of Abraham. And so here's the contrast. Many in the Old Covenant didn't know the Lord. All members of the New Covenant will know the Lord. Third one is that the sin of the people are remembered in the Old Covenant. That's implied because in the New Covenant, the sin of God's people will be remembered no more. Why is that? The sin of the people was remembered in the Old Covenant because of the sacrificial system. Like Hebrews said, it was constantly brought to their minds. Every time they brought a sacrifice to the Lord, particularly the sacrifices of the Day of Atonement, it reminded the people that their sin had not yet been definitively dealt with. It kept reminding them of their sin over and over. Yet in the new covenant, the sin of the people of God will be remembered no more by sacrifices because Christ has offered the final sacrifice. And so, what we remember each week in the Lord's Supper is not our sin, but the payment of it. In Christ. The difference between the Old and New Covenants that we have just looked at here, as we see, was not due to a different way of salvation. Salvation has always been by grace through faith in the promises of God, His promise of salvation. The Old Testament, the Old Covenant, was not a work-based, human merit-based salvation. Salvation in the Old Testament was not by keeping the law, but by faith in God's promise. Abraham believed God and that was counted to him. for righteousness. None of the other works of Abraham are spoken of as counted to him as righteousness before God. Only faith. And Paul uses that great text as the anchor of the preaching of salvation by faith. And it came from the Old Testament. Furthermore, the differences between the Old and New Covenants was not based on different moral standards. There is one moral law that binds all men in all ages because the moral law must, it has to be a reflection of the unchanging moral character of God and how that moral character expresses itself in His will for mankind whom He created. One God, one moral law. So the difference between the covenants is not that there was different world laws. In fact, if we look at the passage here, it doesn't say, I in the new covenant, I will create a new law. No, he will write the law that was written on stones. The same law will now be written internally on the hearts of men. What then is the difference between the Old and New Covenants? The difference is due to the respective places in redemptive history. The Old Testament was a covenant designed for the age of preparation. And this is where we're going to see that Moses, as we read, had a glorious ministry. Because the Old Covenant is glorious. But it was designed for the age of preparation, for the coming of the Messiah. who the scripture begins to promise even in the book of Genesis after the fall as the seed of the woman. Then we're told that he'll be the seed of Abraham. Then we're told later he will be the seed of David. This is the Christ. This is the Messiah. Therefore, the old covenant was filled with types and shadows that pointed forward to Messiah and had limitations thereby because it was preparatory and it was typologically based. These limitations were inescapable. before the coming of Christ. And these limitations, the most important of those, are sketched in Jeremiah. The limitation that the law was written on two tables of stone. The limitation that all the members of the covenant would not know the Lord. The limitation that their sins would be remembered over and over and over again by sacrifice. But the New Testament was a covenant fitted for the age of fulfillment. For the time after the Messiah had come and offered Himself as the Lamb of God for the sins of His people, the Messiah had risen from the dead, He had been exalted to the right hand of God the Father, and He had sent the Holy Spirit into the world to apply the benefits of His death, resurrection, to all the nations. And the most important of these benefits are sketched in Jeremiah 31. In the new covenant, the reality will be the law written on the heart, or God's will, God's mind written on the heart. All the members of the covenant, all the members of the New Testament church would know the Lord. What a glorious thing. And thirdly, the sin of God's people wouldn't be remembered anymore because Christ's final sacrifice had come. As I explained last week, there was an organic relationship between old and new covenants. Both were based on God's promise of salvation. And both administer the terms of the promise within their respective dispensations. The illustration I used last week was of a fruit tree in this organic relationship. There's an organic relationship between the seedling of a fruit tree and the full mature tree that bears fruit. The Old Testament was the seedling. It was the young tree that had been planted but needed to grow and develop in view of the future. The New Testament is the mature fruit-bearing tree. The seedling has to precede the fruit-bearing tree. You cannot have a fruit-bearing tree unless you first have the seedling. You cannot have New Covenant if you don't first have Old Covenant. The inferiority of the Old Covenant was not an unfortunate thing we wish never would have had to happen. It was necessary. Just like it's not unfortunate and unnecessary to have a seedling. You can't get the one without the other. There's a development. And so is there a relationship of development between the Old and New Covenants. And building on this analogy then, the full fruit of the New Covenant is given in the particulars in the Jeremiah 31 passage. And that fulfillment is centered in what the Holy Spirit does in the world. This is an area that is, I wish there was more revelation on it. Not that there's not sufficient, because that would be wrong to even suggest that. But maybe I just haven't found all the connections yet. But I want you to turn with me to John 7 here. We have to understand that the reason for the glory of the New Covenant is centered in the New Testament upon the gift of the Holy Spirit. For some reason, and I do think the reason is that Christ had to first offer His sacrifice to pay for sin before the full giving of the Spirit could come. Yes, God looked forward to the coming of Christ. He forgave sin on the basis of the coming of Christ, but He could not give the Spirit without measure to the people, to the church, until Christ had died. Here's what it says in John 7. If I can find John 7. Here we are. 38. He that believeth on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive. For the Holy Ghost, or the Holy Spirit, was not yet given. Okay? And so, when Jesus was on earth, before his sacrifice even, he was on earth, but it was before his sacrifice, the Holy Spirit had not yet been given to the world. Come into the world. Why? because that Jesus was not yet glorified. It could not be until Christ died for sins, rose again, was exalted to the Father's hand, that the gift of the Spirit could be poured out upon the earth. And so the New Covenant is known as the Age of the Spirit, the time of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Look over in John 14, just a few chapters further, where this same idea is present. He says, verse 15, if you love me, keep my commandments, and I will pray the Father, and He will give you another comforter, that He may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him, but ye know Him. You know the Holy Spirit. How do you know Him? Here's why. For He dwells, now notice this, with you. Before Christ had died and sent the Comforter, that he's promising here, the disciples knew of the Holy Spirit because he was with them. But look what it says next. But he shall be in you. Again, the difference between the two Testaments is the Spirit is with the believer. In the New Testament, he's in the believer. The indwelling Spirit. Here we have a difference. Exactly what that is, how we could define it when we talk about the spirits indwelling of a human being and being with the disciples then, but a new and fuller manifestation of his ministry will now be in them. Apparently, the Holy Spirit could not dwell in believers until Christ had paid the penalty for sin. This is the age of the spirit. And this is the perspective, this is the theology, this is the truth that we must have in mind as we study our passage today. And that is why I've taken the time to go back over some of the material from last week and also give new perspectives, I hope, on what's being spoken here. Paul's purpose in 2 Corinthians 3, 7 through 11, our text, is to show the greatness of the glory of the ministers of the new covenant. But how does he do this? He does it by comparing it with the greatness and the glory of the ministry of Moses. Some people are so anti-Moses that Moses is going to say he had a ministry of death. Yeah, why do we want Moses? He's a minister of death. We'll explain that in a moment. Moses' ministry, though, the point here is it was a glorious one. The glory of God surrounded the ministry of Moses. Unless we see that and that the Old Covenant had a glory, it had the glory of the seedling. And seedlings are glorious things. But, in comparison to the full-grown plant, it's like it doesn't have any glory. And that's what we're going to see in this passage. And so the comparison is not Old Testament Moses, no glory, versus New Testament, ah yes, finally we get to glory. No, it's between glory versus greater glory. Glory versus greater glory. Again, look at the passage here. But if the ministration of death, written and engraved in stones, was glorious, This word glory and it's cognate is used eleven times in these four verses, or five verses. Eleven times! You can count them. It was glorious, number one, so the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses. For number two, the glory of his countenance, which glory, that's in italics, but the pronoun refers back to it, and so it's properly added, that's the third time, which glory was to be done away. How shall not the ministration of the Spirit be, number four, rather glorious? For if the ministration of the condemnation, number five, be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed, number six, in glory. For even that which was made, number seven, glorieth, had number eight, no glory in this respect, by reason of number nine, the glory that exceleth. For if that which is done away was number 10, was glorious, how much more remaineth as glorious? Number 11. What do you think he's talking about here? glory, something magnificent, something filled with honor and splendor, something that's stupendous, glorious. The other main word here is ministration, which is used four times in the passage. The ministration of death, verse 7. Verse 8, the ministration of the spirit. Verse 9, the ministration of condemnation. And also verse 9, the ministration of righteousness. And so Paul is giving to us here the truth that the ministry of Moses had glory. But Paul And the ministry given to him and the other ministers of the New Testament has a greater glory. Now to establish this difference of glory, Paul goes back to a particular Old Testament account. And without this background, we might miss what he's saying here. So please turn to Exodus 34, 29 to 35 for this account. historical account, which is the background of our passage and Paul's teaching on the glory of Moses and the glory of the new covenant minister. Chapter 34 of Exodus, verse 29, by the way, leading up to this, we see Moses writing the words of the covenant, verse 27, It says, verse 28, he was there with the Lord 40 days and 40 nights. He didn't either eat bread nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the 10 commandments. And it says this, and it came to pass when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hands, when he came down from the Mount that Moses with Snotter did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with them. And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, Behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come nigh him. And Moses called unto them, and Aaron, and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him, and Moses talked with them. And afterward, all the children of Israel came nigh, and he gave them in commandments all that the Lord had spoken with him in Mount Sinai." Notice he's fulfilling his role as lawgiver. And then it says, "...until Moses had done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face." But when Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he took the veil off until he came out. And he came out and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded. And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone. And Moses put the veil upon his face again. until he went in to speak with them. In other words, he put the veil because the people couldn't look on him unless he did. What was this shining? It was the glory, I believe, of being in the presence of the living God. God communicated his glory to Moses in his words, but the effulgence of God's glory physically affected Moses, and so his face had this shining nature that was very strong, that the people were actually fearful It wasn't just like he looked perky that morning, your face looks shine this morning, we say to someone. No, there was literal a shine, a glory covered the face of Moses, the reflected glory of the living God. That's the background to our passage. Now, here's what Paul says, but if the ministration of death Written and engraved in stones was Gloria, so the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses." For the glory of his countenance, that's the Exodus passage. So if we hadn't read that, you might figure, what is he talking about? The Old Testament is necessary for understanding the New, and we see that clearly here. But what we see here is this but if the ministration of death. The word but here is introducing a new element in our passage that we've been studying or a new development in Paul's discussion of the New Covenant. The word if here, but if the ministration of death, written in graven stones was glorious. This is introducing what we call a conditional sentence. We use these in our common conversation. Conditional sentences have an if clause. If this be the case, if this fact be real or true, then comes the then clause, which says, then this is the consequence of it. If this be the case, then this is the consequence. The condition that is used here is what we call a condition of reality. What Paul is saying, but if the ministration of death was written, was glorious. He's not saying if and well, maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. He says if and it was. This could be translated since. Since the ministry of death was glorious. So he's affirming the glory, the reality of the condition, which is the glory of the ministry of death. But what is that, the ministration of death? I believe this is the designation of the ministry of Moses, the mediator of the Old Covenant. The ministration of death is not the Old Covenant. because we're talking here about ministries. Remember we talked there in verse 6, able ministers of the New Testament? Here we have the same word of a minister of death. It's talking about a person who ministers. It's a person who is a servant, who is a person who has a duty, an office that they carry out. The ministration of death was Moses's office. It was Moses's ministry. It was his old covenant ministry. Certainly the context of his ministry is the old covenant. But what we're trying to say here is the actual comparison here is the ministration of Moses with the ministration of the apostles and New Testament believers and preachers. That ministration of Moses is said to be a ministration of death. What this means is that the result of his ministry was death. It was the consequence of ministry for Moses. It was not the purpose of his ministry, nor did he receive it. as such or understand it as such. This is, though, the consequence of his ministry. And we know that he's talking about Moses here in terms of his ministry as a lawgiver because of the context of Exodus 34, which we saw when he had the face shown when he was receiving the commandments and came down to give them and teach Israel. But also it's made clear here that the ministry of death was the one written and engraven in stones, which is the law. It was the ministry of a lawgiver. And his ministry as a lawgiver was glorious. And so it's the ministry of Moses as a lawgiver that brings death. The ministry of Moses as an intercessor for his sinful people is not in view. Remember after the great sin at the Golden Calf? He saved the lives of the whole nation by pleading with them and saying, God, cut me out of the Book of Life. Don't do it to my people. Was he a minister of death there? No. The ministration of death was his role as lawgiver and that was his primary and chief role. What was the purpose of the law? It was to establish the standards of life for Israel in the covenant. But what is law by nature? Law by nature sets forth a standard with commandments and law always includes sanctions or penalties. Otherwise, they're just mere suggestions. If we had our traffic laws, we just had no penalty attached to them, they wouldn't be laws. They would be saying, hey, this is a dangerous area. We suggest you drive 35. But that's not what we want. We don't have suggestions out there. We have law. And therefore, there are penalties attached. And the penalties apply to lawbreakers. And the Ten Commandments all carried, except the 10th, which was an internal one about not coveting, but if you coveted you might eventually commit one of the other nine crimes, sins. But the Ten Commandments all carried, at least in certain cases, the death penalty for breaking them. So in this sense, and this is the sense Paul has in view here, Moses' office as a lawgiver resulted in death. It declared death to all who broke its commandments. The problem, though, wasn't with Moses or with the law. The problem is not with the law, which is holy, righteous, just, and good. The problem is with the people who receive it. And remember, one of the weaknesses of the Old Covenant is the very people of the Old Covenant that received it, many did not know the Lord. And so necessarily, when the law comes to people who don't know the Lord, it's going to be a ministry of death. And that's what happened so many times in Israel. Death, coming, God sending angels, destroying angels into the camp, people dying for God's judgments. Because the law was a problem? No, they were the problem. They were sinners. Law by its very nature cannot save a transgressor. If you are a sinner before God, you don't need law or more law. You're already condemned. And why were the people of God in the Old Testament, why didn't they know the Lord? Why was this a ministry of death to them? Why is it a ministry of death to anybody today who doesn't know the Lord? It's because they're spiritually dead. When the holy law of God comes to spiritually dead people, the only outcome can be death. No other option. In a lawless society, or among the councils of lawless men, or the fellowship of lawless men, You don't save them by giving them more law. You don't save them by giving them more stringent laws. All you do is add condemnation upon condemnation. There's only one thing that can save lawless men, and it's not more law. But let's get back to our passage here. Paul says, this was glorious. It came in glory. It came to be in glory. The giving of the law was surrounded with glory. The word glory here means something literally that is bright or shining. That's its literal physical sense. Something with great brightness, splendor. But it can then also be used in a metaphorical way to refer to majesty, something magnificent. something great, something filled with honor. Paul says, Moses' old covenant ministry of death came to be in the midst of glory. We read our passage. He came down, glory so surrounded him, his face shone with the glory of God. So that, we're told, they could not look steadfastly on his face because of the glory that was on his countenance. They could not bear to look at him. You know, when you ever look at a very bright light, something, you can't look at it. It hurts you. It actually hurts the eyes. It blinds the eye. And this gives us the idea of how great this glory was. It doesn't say they didn't want to look at it. They couldn't. It was so intense. Think of the very intense bright light that you can't even look at. Apparently it was something like that. That's why he had to put a veil over his face when he came out to talk to the people. Otherwise they just have to be like this. They couldn't look at him. That's the glory surrounding his ministry. How many other ministers and men have had that? With the glory of God shown from the face. Moses did, and he did it in the role as lawgiver. But then we have this little thing he adds here, which we'll fill out later, which glory was to be done away. A temporary glory. We'll talk more about that in a moment. But let us move on to verse eight, because here is the then clause. Remember, if this be the case, then this is the consequence. If the ministration of death was glorious, then how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather or more glorious." So if there was glory there, the consequence must be that there's more glory here, that is in the New Covenant. Now the key here in understanding the contrast is in the words here, ministration of spirit. So it's ministration of death, ministration of spirit. If ministration of death meant a ministry that led to death, The consequence was death. Then the ministration of the Spirit is not the ministry the Spirit carries out, but it's the ministry that has the consequence of giving the Spirit. How shall not the ministry of the new covenant that brings the Spirit to men and women be rather more glorious? There's a beautiful contrast here because He's talking of the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now, look at Acts 2. The church in the New Covenant was born on the day of Pentecost. And what is the dominant glory? The Holy Spirit. He begins, the beginning of the story here is the apostles are gathered together waiting for the promise of the Spirit that Jesus said they were to wait for before they begin their work. The Spirit then comes in this sound here in verse 2 of a mighty rushing wind from heaven. It fills all the house where they were sitting, and it appeared upon them like clothing, tongues of fire, and it sat upon each, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Here comes the gift. Jesus has been glorified. The new covenant ministry is now begun, and the Spirit is given to these men. They are mocked then later as being drunken men, as they speak in this miraculous way in tongues. But Peter says in verse 15, we are not drunk, Verse 16, but this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel, and shall come to pass in the last days, I will pour out my Spirit, the gift of the Spirit. Then Peter preaches a sermon filled with the Holy Spirit's power, and he, through the power of the Holy Spirit given to him, the gifts given to him, he begins to write Christ on the hearts of his hearers. Three thousand of them have Christ written on the heart. But here's the promise, look at this. In verse 38, then Peter said to those who ask him, what can we do? We're guilty, we're sinners. Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. Glorious, but what does it go on to say next? And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The ministry of the New Testament preachers and apostles, and Peter shows here, is to be those who, through their ministry, the gift of the Holy Spirit is given. And so the ministration of the Spirit is the new covenant ministry, that in the preaching of the gospel that leads men to repent and find forgiveness of sins, then the gift of the Holy Spirit is given to them. And so the new covenant ministry is a ministry wherein we are the agents of God in bringing the Holy Spirit into the lives of people. What is more glorious than that? And look at the contrast, the ministration of death and the ministration of the Spirit. Because what is the Spirit? What is the gift of the Holy Spirit? The gift of the Holy Spirit is that which brings spiritual life to people. And so it's the ministration of death to spiritually dead people imposed to, or in contrast with, the ministry wherein we are the agents of God of bringing the gift of the Holy Spirit to people and therefore spiritual life. Ministry of death, ministry of life. And it's the life of being born again. spiritual birth, the new birth. When we take up the gospel of Jesus Christ and we share that message with individuals, and God by His power and His Spirit and His Word brings conviction of sin and repentance, and they receive Christ as Savior, they receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And so the ministry of the New Testament is not consequences, not death, but life. spiritual life through the gift of the Holy Spirit. And so the ministration of the Spirit is the ministry that is God's means of bringing the Holy Spirit into the hearts and lives of men. And this, you can trace this through the New Testament. You can trace, I mean, through the book of Acts, where we see when they go to the Samaritans, remember the steps in the taking forth of the gospel from Jerusalem? They started in Jerusalem, then they went in Judea, but then Samaria. Now we're getting outside of this close circle of Israel, because the Samaritans were half Jews, half Gentiles, or maybe even more Gentiles than they were Jews. And when they go to the Samaritans, The Apostle Peter goes down, Peter follows up Philip's preaching and many of the Samaritans had believed but they had not received the Spirit yet. They had not received the Spirit yet because God wanted to make it clear that in this case that the Spirit would be communicated by the Apostles so that no one could claim that the Samaritans were second class and that somehow they did not have the same status as the Jews. So Peter comes down and it says this, When they were come down, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost. For as yet he was not fallen upon none of them, for they were only baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And Peter laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit." That's the ministration of the Spirit. A ministry that brings the Spirit of God into the lives of people. So it's lawgiver that leads to death as opposed to gospel preachers who give spiritual life. Now verse 9, he continues the contrast now and talks about the ministry of condemnation and the ministry of righteousness. He says, for if, and this again is a condition of reality, if and truly it is the case that the ministry of condemnation was glory, came in glory. The ministry of condemnation is the ministry of Moses. The word condemnation here refers to a judgment in a judicial sense that goes against somebody who's broken the law. Someone who's guilty and they're condemned because of their guilt and now the necessary punishment is inflicted. The condemnation in view here that Moses' ministry came about because people broke the law. And so Moses' ministry was a ministry of condemnation. Again, the problem's not with Moses. The problem's not with the law. The problem is with the sinners. And when law comes to sinners, it can only condemn them. And many of the Old Testament people were sinners, never saved. In contrast, this is the ministration of righteousness. This is the ministry of the New Covenant, of the preaching of the gospel. As Moses' ministry brought condemnation because it was brought to sinners, the gospel preaching of Paul and the apostles and all true ministers of Christ brings about the consequence of righteousness in the lives of the hearers who believe it, who believe the message. In other words, it's a ministry of condemnation versus a ministry of justification. What do we mean by justification? Justification has two necessary elements. Justification deals with people who are condemned before God. What do they need? First of all, they need to be forgiven of their sins. Forgiven of their sins. Secondly, they need to be given to them in a legal sense. We call this imputation. They need to be given righteousness. Did you know innocent people don't go to heaven? Only righteous people go there. Innocent people need more to enter God's presence. So God cancels our sin in Christ who paid for it. But then in justification, in the gift of salvation, he puts Christ's righteousness to our account. Or another image is that we're put on the robes of Christ's righteousness. And we are seen as being as righteous as Jesus. That's a glorious thing. It's not our righteousness. Justification means God forgives our sins and He clothes us in the righteousness of Christ. And the preaching of the gospel in the New Covenant ministers is a ministry that results in that kind of righteousness. dirty, rotten, sinners, condemned, going to hell, are cleansed of their sin and they're clothed in the righteousness of Christ. That's a glorious ministry, my friends. And if you're involved in sharing Christ with someone, you're involved in the most glorious work you could ever be involved in as a human being. We look at the achievements and the works of people who've done glorious things in the buildings they've built and the achievements they've done, from literary to athletics to military, they're clothed with glory. Nothing, conquering the world is nothing than seeing a sinner clothed in the righteousness of Christ. And that's our ministry. It exceeds in glory, he says. It has an abundance. It's like Paul says, it super abounds. Yes, Moses had glory, but ours super abounds with splendor, with majesty, because of the stupendous nature of the work we're called to do. He goes on in verse 10, continuing this theme. Remember the message. True and faithful servants of Christ have received a more glorious ministry than Moses. Problem's not with Moses. problems with the sinners that he ministered to. But we have the solution to the sinners we minister to, it's the gospel and it's the gift of the Holy Spirit. So he says in verse 10 as he continues now to make this contrast, for even that which was made glorious, that is the old covenant, had no glory in this respect or in this sense is what he means. What do you mean, Paul? It sounds like you're double-talk here. You said, for if the ministration, excuse me, verse 10, for even that which was made glorious, Moses' ministry, you know, it really didn't have any glory, in a sense. What do you mean? Here's why it really didn't have glory, even though it did have glory, but it really didn't have glory, and it's because the reason of the absolute stupendous nature of the glory of the ministry of the gospel. In other words, it had no glory in comparison with the glory of the ministry of the gospel. If we take the image of the bright light, even as Moses' face shone, we can illustrate this on a beautiful, clear evening, especially in the winter when it's cold and the sky is clear and you see this magnificent moon up there. It's a glorious thing, isn't it, a full moon? You can just sit there and bask in it. That glory is just shining from the heaven. But then the sun comes up and the glory of the moon is still there. You can't see it because the glory of the sun, the power, the effulgence of light in the sun is so glorious that the moon disappears. And in a sense, no longer does it have any glory. That's what he's saying here. The old covenant had a wonderful, magnificent glory like the moon and all of its things, but the glory of the new covenant is like the sun. which is so powerful and so searing. You think you have trouble looking at Moses' face? Try to stare at the sun for five seconds. And then he says in verse 11, For if that which was done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth. Does it exceed in glory? Here's a further explanation. He brings another point to bear, and it's this, that the glory of the Old Covenant was temporary. And the surpassing glory of the New Covenant ministry is that it will not be done away with. That is, it will remain until the consummation. The ministry of the gospel shall abide until the end of time. While the Old Testament ministry of Moses came to an end, the glory faded, but the glory of the gospel will remain in all of its strength and power to the day that Jesus returns. And so what is our passage teaching us today? The true and faithful servants of the Lord Jesus Christ have been given a more glorious ministry than Moses. That refers to you and I if we are true and faithful servants of the Lord Jesus. You are surrounded by glory. It's about you all the time. Are we living it? Are we embracing this ministry? That we can be the instrument of God, usually with others, we work together. through prayer, through sharing of the tracts, the gospel tracts, through personal testimony of what God's done for us, for sharing the gospel and the plan of salvation, and in supporting missionaries, supporting the translation of the Bible, and all the work that goes into the Great Commission, is to be involved in a more glorious ministry than Moses, who was the greatest minister of the Old Testament. Moses did a great work for God, it was surrounded in glory, but ours is more glorious." The fact that Moses was a true and faithful servant of God is not being questioned here in the passage. It's rather affirmed by Paul. And that's the whole point of the comparison. If Moses didn't have glory, there'd be nothing to use to show the glory of the New Testament. A helpful text for us is another one that is used between Jesus and Moses. It's in John 117. It says, For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Now, Moses is called the lawgiver. That's the summary of John's whole take as an inspired apostle on Moses. He was the lawgiver. But grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. First of all, that doesn't mean there was no grace or truth in Moses' scriptures. Much of it was loaded with it. That's not the comparison because it doesn't say that grace and truth was given by Jesus. Notice that. It says it came by Jesus. What does this mean? The word came there means something like came into being, became a reality. Moses could give the law because there was always the law. The law spoke the very moment Adam and Eve sinned. The law is the unchanging will of God, but grace is something else. Condemnation was there at the moment men say, but how could sinners be saved? Grace need to come into being. And the truth of God's love needed to be revealed. And Jesus brought that. He brought salvation, in other words. It's like this, Moses gave the law, but Jesus brought salvation to those who break the law. There's quite a contrast. And so this passage teaches us that ministers of the New Covenant have a more glorious ministry than Moses. It was three points of comparison. Number one, Moses' ministry as lawgiver brought death to sinners. Our ministry as servants of Christ in the New Covenant brings the gift of the Holy Spirit, which brings new birth and spiritual life to sinners. Moses brought death to sinners, not because Moses wanted to, not because Moses was a problem, not because the law was a problem. but law can only condemn sinners. We bring life through the gospel and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Secondly, the second point of contrast, Moses' ministry as lawgiver brought condemnation to sinners. Our ministry as servants of Christ in the New Covenant brings justification to sinners. Thirdly, third contrast, we didn't spend much time on this, but Moses' ministry as lawgiver came to an end in the Old Covenant. Our ministry as servants of Christ in the New Covenant will remain until the consummation of history at the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. This then is the surpassing glory of the ministry we have received as disciples of Christ. We have a part, all of us who are Christians, true Christians, have a part in this glorious ministry of being a witness for Christ and of bringing salvation to sinners. We must contemplate the glory of our position. I begin the message by talking about, oh, my life's just a normal, ordinary life. No glory associated with it. Well, there is much glory, greatest glory possible associated with your life if you are active in bringing the gospel to sinners, which then means you're bringing the gift of the Holy Spirit, spiritual life, and justification. The outcome of Moses' ministry as a lawgiver, as we said, was not due to the fault of Moses or the weakness of the law itself, but to the fault of Israel and the weakness of sin that was in them. The problem was not with Moses or the law, but with fallen men and women who were under the power of sin. Though the old covenant with Israel has been replaced by the new covenant with the church, The effect of Moses' ministry is still ongoing for sinners who are outside the covenant. They're still under the condemnation of the law because the moral law embraces all men, women, and children. Therefore, Moses, as the minister of the law, the Ten Commandments today bring death and condemnation. to sinners because we break every one of them. The law is still important today. It's important for a moral guide for life, for believers. I'm talking now about its role in reference to the gospel. It is still absolutely important. We cannot see people saved until we first preach the law. Because the law was part of the preparation for the gospel, remember? Age of preparation. Law was there so that men and women would see that they are transgressors and under condemnation. Look with me to this classic passage in Romans 7, where Paul says, It talks about serving in newness of spirit, not oldness of letter. It sounds similar to our passage we've studied. That's in verse 6. But pick me up in verse 7. What should we say then? Is the law sin? Is the law sin? No. He says, God forbid that anyone would ever even begin to think that. He said, nay, I had not known sin, but by the law. Oh, the law brings a knowledge of sin. He says, For I had not known lust, or desire, or coveting, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concubines, for without the law sin was dead. For I was alive without law once, thought I was, thought I was spiritually alive, I was right with God, I was a holy man before God, and everything was going just fine in my life, until the commandment came, Thou shalt not covet. In fact, not only did it make me aware of my sin, it actually stirred up a desire to covet. It's like with a child, don't do something you tell them, they might not even have been in their minds about doing it, but as soon as you forbid it, all of a sudden it's a temptation. And so not only does the law make us know that we're sinners, it actually stirs it up. Because sinners say, who are you, God, to tell me not to do that? If I want to covet, I'm going to covet. If I want to steal, I'm going to steal. Who are you to tell me not? That's the sinner's response to God's law. And so it actually stirs up sin. And that's what Paul says, I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. There's the ministry of death. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. Do this and thou shalt live, the law says. The problem is we don't do it and so we don't live. And the commandment that if we would keep it we would find life, Paul said, I found it to be the path to death. Here's why. For sin taking occasion by the commandment. Sin in me. Sinful nature. Sinful desires that were in me. were stirred up. Sin took occasion by the commandment. It deceived me, and by it, it slew me. Wherefore, the law must be cleared." No problem with the law. The law is holy. The commandment is holy, and it's just, and it's good. Nothing wrong with the Ten Commandments. They're wonderful. They're good. They're holy. So he says, what was then that which is good made death to me? Remember the ministry of death? The good law that Moses gave, it actually resulted in death. Here Paul's explaining how that happens. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. It wasn't the law that made death come about, but it was sin, he says. That it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good, that sin by the commandment might become exceedingly sinful, for we know that the law is," catch this, spiritual. Problem's not with the law, it's with me. I am carnal, fleshly, and I'm sold under sin. About out of time, jump back quickly and we'll conclude chapter 3. After Paul has laid out this truce, that there is none righteous. No, not one. In chapter 3, verse 11. And he goes on to talk about, in quotes from Old Testament texts, about the sinfulness of mankind, Jew and Gentile, concluding with, there's no fear of God before their eyes. And then he says this, now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. It is a ministry of condemnation. You look at your life and you look at the holy law of God and all of your boasting, all of my boasting, I'm righteous, I'm good, I'm good enough for God, I'm better than this person, I'm gonna make it to heaven because of all of my righteousness, blah, blah, blah. Stop! The law says, you're guilty. You're guilty. He says, Therefore by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without law is made manifest in this glorious new covenant ministry that proclaims the gift of the Spirit and justification. But now the righteousness of God without law, without human merit, is manifested. It's witnessed by the law and the prophets. It was in the Old Testament. It was in Moses. It was in Isaiah. For even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all, Them that believe, for there's no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. The ministry of the new covenant is this declaration. All of us have sinned. We've all fallen short of the glory of God. We are all under condemnation. We all are under the sentence of death, spiritual death, physical death, eternal death of hell. We are completely undone. The ministry of the law has done its work. Death and condemnation is our lot. And then by the grace of the glory of God through Jesus Christ, the ministry of the gospel given to Christians to declare to the world this message. You can be forgiven all of your sin. You can be accepted before a holy God by the imputation of the righteousness of Christ and you can receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. That's a glorious ministry. Let's carry it out. Lord God, help us to glory in the ministry you've given us. And Lord God, help us to take this message and to use the law rightly. Yes, it is a holy law. That's why it's a ministry of death. Help us to slay the pride of men. Help us to bring them under condemnation by showing them this. For no one will ever see their need for Christ, even as Paul, until the law comes and sin is made exceedingly sinful, so that even the dullest can't miss it. Now, Lord Jesus, I pray you'll give us a zeal for this ministry. And I pray for anyone here today who does not know Christ, that the Spirit of God has convicted them, that the law condemns them, they're undone, they're under judgment and condemnation, that they would hear the ministry of the Spirit. They can receive the Holy Spirit, have new life, joy, and peace. And they can receive the forgiveness of all of their sins. And the very righteousness of Jesus can be their righteousness by God's gift. Save their souls, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Okay. We talked about interaction today. Do we have some for our time here now after the sermon? Anyone today have anything that they would like to add to the sermon? If not, we will... Okay, Benjamin? I don't really have anything to add, but I do want to say amen and thank you for the word. Thank you, brother. Amen, thank you. And that's an important thing at times too, just to amen. And to say to everyone, in an amen, you're saying to one another, listen to what was preached. I believe it was the truth of God. And I say amen to Benjamin's amen. I was going to ask you a question from Romans chapter seven, but you already answered it. So amen. Thank you, brother. Amen.