Let me ask that you turn in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians 3. Verse 4, Such confidence we have through Christ toward God, not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. But if the ministry of death in letters engraved on stones came with glory so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face fading as it was, how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory. For indeed, what had glory, in this case, has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it. For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory. Therefore, having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech, and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away. But their minds were hardened. For until this very day, at the reading of the Old Covenant, that same veil remains unlifted because it is removed in Christ. But to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart. But whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transferred into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. Let me introduce this passage of scripture in a rather roundabout way. Let me ask you, when you think of the word, work, what comes to your mind? Do you feel, Leslie doesn't feel words of joy and satisfaction and delight. Do you feel a sense of foreboding? Is there a dark cloud over your head when you think of the word work? There are some people who really enjoy what they do. Here are a couple. On a taxidermist's window, we really know our stuff. In a podiatrist's window, time wounds all heals. On a butcher's window, pleased to meet you. That's spelled M-E-A-T, Steve. For our P-G-E employees, this was found at the electric company, we would be delighted if you sent in your bill. However, if you don't, you will be. Yeah, delighted, there we go. At an optometrist's office, if you don't see what you're looking for, you've come to the right place. Americans work the longest hours of anybody in the industrialized world. We average 1,966 hours per year. Now just knowing many of you, you work far more hours than that each year. 40% of our life we spend working. And if you add up the time that we spend at work, going to work, and thinking about work, we spend more time there than we do eating, drinking, sleeping, and vacationing combined. Are you satisfied? Delighted? with the work with which you find yourself doing. Many are not. Here's the testimony of a man by the name of Leonard Wolfe. He writes this, I see clearly that I have achieved practically nothing. The world today and the history of the human anthill during the past five to seven years would be exactly the same if I had played ping pong instead of sitting on committees and writing books and memoranda. I have therefore to take a rather ignominious confession that I have in a long life ground through between 150,000 and 200,000 hours of perfectly useless work. Would you say anything close to that? Would you say that your work is empty, void of meaning and purpose? The passage of scripture before us this morning speaks of work. It may be a different kind of work than what you have envisioned. But the kind of work that we're going to be talking about this morning is a work whereby God has called us. To which God has called us. I want you to think for a moment. Imagine an executive picking you, very specifically, out of a large pool of other people handpicking you, hiring you to come into the firm, training you personally and always at your service to answer questions, to deal with other necessary feedback. Imagine being hired by such a person and given all of the tools you would possibly need to accomplish your job. And imagine that this person who has hired you guarantees not just results from your labor, but results that are going to last for all of eternity. This CEO, this cosmic executive officer, Jesus Christ, has done just that. Now, we are in the middle of a study here in Second Corinthians, and as I've said before, this is a wonderful study of the nature and the demand, the cost, the privilege, and the opportunity for us to be involved in ministry. I've defined it this way, taking the Word of God by the Spirit of God to do the work of God through me in other people. That's what we are about. Every person who has been called by God has been called to this service. We have been enlisted by God to be involved in His work. Even if you spend your hours doing other kinds of things, This work lays over the top of that. This is what is primary. This is what is most important. This is the stuff that will allow you to see eternal results from your labor. Now, I don't mean to be cute, but I simply wanted to put this passage of Scripture in maybe a different light than what you've thought of it before. I've outlined this passage according to the paragraph divisions beginning at verse 1, at verse 4, verse 7, and verse 12 in this manner. God hires me. God trains me. God gives me the best tools and God guarantees eternal results. This is an amazing passage of Scripture because God does something completely unexpected. Look with me again at verses 1 to 3. Paul writes, are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need some letters of commendation to you or from you? We need to remember the context in which Paul is writing. The occasion of the letter is this. Titus came to Paul, giving him a report. Titus gave Paul the report, the Corinthians are responding to your apostolic rebuke, Paul. And Paul was filled with joy at their response. There was sin in their fellowship and they rebuked that person, disciplined that person, that person repented, came back into the fellowship, and Paul is overjoyed with that. Titus also told Paul, there are some false teachers who have infiltrated the church and are undermining your authority and your teaching, Paul. Of course, that brought great consternation to the apostle, but these false teachers came with letters of commendation. They had papers that had the right kind of signatures and the right kind of seal on them. And they were How could they say that these people were false teachers? Look at their letters. Well, they didn't have email. They didn't have databases back in those days to compare. They didn't have phones to call up the Apostle Peter and say, who are these guys? Did they really come from the church there in Jerusalem? But Paul says, we don't have letters of commendation. If that's what's important to you, we don't have that. But what we do have is something far more important and far more valuable than simply a letter that commends us to your service. Paul says, verse two, you are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by all men, being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for 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. Paul says, we have something better than a letter that commends us to you. You are that commendation. because the Spirit of God has written on your heart. Paul says, we have something better than a piece of paper with ink. Anybody can write a letter, Paul says, but you are the proof, or proof positive, that the message that we speak is authentic, because the Holy Spirit of God has written truth on your hearts, and you are living Proof. You are different people, evidencing the fact that what we proclaim is true. Paul says in essence, we have been hired by God to preach. to proclaim, to tell you the truth of the gospel, and your changed life is evidence of the fact that we are dealing honestly with you. We are proclaiming the truth as God has given it to us. Now when you think about it, this is an absolutely incredible idea. Because prior to the mercy and the grace of God that has been poured into our hearts, we were not just separated from God, we were enemies of God. We were shaking our fist in the air at God. We were in abject rebellion against God. And then, completely apart from anything in us, God showers us with His mercy. He clothes us with the righteousness of Christ. And whereas we were once enemies of God, He says, I want to hire you. I want you to be one of my messengers. I want to enlist you in my service. I am calling you to be right by my side and to speak on my behalf. Now, my friends, that is an absolutely incredible thought, that God would choose, choose to use me and you for his service. But that's exactly what he has called us to. He has enlisted us, called us, hired us to be his messengers, his truth proclaimers. Verse four, not only does God hire me, but he trains me. Such confidence we have through Christ toward God, not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. The Greek word adequate means sufficient, able, well-qualified. In other words, that to which God calls us is a God thing. God is the one who makes me adequate, well-qualified, competent, sufficient to do what he has called me to do. It's not within me. Now that doesn't give us a license to simply sit on our hands. No, it is a very good thing for us to seek to have a mastery of Scripture, to improve our ability to communicate the Gospel. Those are good and important and necessary things. But fundamentally, at the very core of all things, God is the one who makes us sufficient. He is the one who calls us into His service, and He is the one who trains us for His service. When we speak, we are speaking on His behalf. knowing that Rick was here. He has been such a strength and encouragement to me and a challenge to me theologically. We have sparred and enjoyed in those kinds of discussions for years. And in many respects, I would love to have the gifts and skills that Rick has. I would love to be able to have his brain and kind of attach it back here somehow. I don't want to lose me, but I'd love to have what he has also. And your experience is the same. Maybe it's with someone else that's not in our fellowship. Maybe somebody across the country. But you so admire their gifts and their skills and their abilities. And you say, God, how come I couldn't have some of that? Just a little bit of it. And we are maybe a little down on ourselves because we don't have the degree of that gift that someone else may have. And that might cause us to think, God, I'm not, what do I have to offer? I'm not that kind of a person. I don't have those gifts. I don't have those skills. I'm just me. And that's the point. You are just you. And God gives you all that you need to be effective at reaching out to somebody else. You don't need somebody else's gifts. You just need you and all that God would desire to pour into your heart. because He is the one that makes us sufficient. He is the one who makes us adequate. We are adequate because of Him. I included in your notes a quotation from the very highly athletically gifted Babe Ruth. Most people who have really counted in my life were never famous. Nobody ever heard of them except those who knew them and loved them. I especially recall an old minister I once knew whose hair was white and whose face stone. I have written my name on thousands of baseballs in my life. The old minister wrote his name on just a few simple hearts. But how I envy him. He was not trying to please himself. Fame never came his way. I am listed as a famous home run hitter, yet beside the obscure minister who was so good and wise, I have never gotten to first base. You know the kind of posture that will give you all of the training and competency you need for ministry. You know what that is? That posture is simply seeking the face of God. To the degree that I hunger and I thirst after the living God and I pursue hard after Him, everything that I might need to be an effective tool in God's hands, everything that I might need will flow out of that personal relationship that I have with the Master. My God is faithful. Not only does He call us by His goodness and His grace, He trains us by His goodness and His grace, so that by His doing, I accomplish eternal things in the lives of other people. Oh, it doesn't stop there. God gives me the best tools. Now, before we look at verse 7, let me go back up just at verse 8 because Paul introduces something here. when he says that the letter kills, the Spirit gives life. Now very shortly, he's going to talk about the glory of the Law. And indeed, the Law was glorious, because the Law, summed up in the Ten Commandments, the Law was the revelation of God's holiness. So when we hear the Law, We hear a revelation of God in his perfection. So the law was a revelation of God's glory. But, as Paul says in verse 6, the law kills, the letter kills. Now what does that mean? It means that the law was external. the law was apart from us and it imposed demands upon us. And though the law was glorious and it was bright and it was shining and it was radiant, it wasn't inside of us. It shone on us, but in shining on us, that law revealed where there was darkness in my soul. And the law revealed to me that I was not like God is. The law was purposed by God to not only reveal Himself, but to reveal that we are not like Him. The law reveals sin, and sin brings condemnation. And so, in that sense, Paul says the law, or the letter, kills. It cannot bring life. It wasn't intended to. The law was given to us by God in order to humble us, to break us, to strip us of our pride and our self-sufficiency so that we cry out to God, Oh God, be merciful because I can't do it in my own strength and power. And God says, exactly. That's why you need me. And it's at that point that God gives us the Holy Spirit so that the light, the glory that was a part of the law is now within us. But that glory, that light that is now within us by the person of the Holy Spirit is much brighter, much more glorious than the law itself. Look at verse 7. Paul says, if the ministry of death in letters engraved on stones came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory on his face, fading as it was, how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory. For indeed, what had glory, in this case, has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it. For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory." Now, there's a lot of things that Paul is dealing with here, but it all centers around Moses' experience with God face-to-face on Mount Sinai. Turn over to Exodus chapter 34. Exodus chapter 34 is where we read about this account and look at verse 29. Exodus 34, 29. It came about when Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses' hands as he was coming down from the mountain that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with him that is God. You know, it was like, you remember, well, maybe you don't remember. When I was a kid, my kid's age, I had a creepy crawler set. How many had creepy crawlers? And nobody had creepy crawlers. You don't have a clue what I'm... Jenny had creepy crawlers. Oh, a sister, I knew. All right, well, creepy crawlers, you could buy a certain kind of goo, if you remember. Glow-in-the-dark goo. You know what, truth be told, I still have a creepy crawler. You know, I kept one. It's just kind of one of those childhood things. My creepy crawlers, I love the kind that glowed in the dark. You know, you'd hold them up to the light and then when you turn off the light to go to bed at night, you had scorpions and snakes and all kinds of good stuff crawling around in your bedroom on your bed, right? Well, it's that same kind of glow I'm not comparing Moses to a creepy crawler, really. But it was that same kind of glow that emanated from Moses' face. As he was in the presence of God, the radiance of God's glory somehow radiated off of Moses' face and did so for a while. You can imagine this guy coming down from the mountain and it looks like, here comes Mr. Glow Worm. walking down toward us. What is going on? Look at v. 33. And when Moses had finished speaking with them, that is the people, he put a veil over his face. They said, Moses, you are a scary guy. We don't know what's gotten into you. But whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, that is God, he would take off the veil until he came out. And whenever he came out and spoke to the sons of Israel that he had been commanded, the sons of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone. You know what Paul reveals to us? is that this glory, this radiance of God's wonder faded from Moses' face. But he kept the veil on. He kept the veil on because he would much rather have people think that he had just been in God's presence. But before it started to fade, Moses did indeed reflect the glory of God, but it was temporary because it came from outside. And just like my creepy crawlers, their ability to reflect light faded. So was the glory of the old covenant, the glory of the law. It faded. Let me use an example. If the first light you were to see, let's say you were blind, and the doctors were able to give you vision just like that so that you could see clearly. The first light that you saw was on a bright night, clear skies, full moon, what would you say? Oh, the glory of that moon shining in all of its brightness. We still say that. But what happens when we compare that with the sun? Wow. Have you seen the commercial for some kind of battery? where the boys are in the backyard and their flashlight ran out of batteries and hear from the cosmic source of batteries comes shooting down into his battery and all of a sudden when he holds out this battery now with new flashlight it looks like whatever he shines on is like not a flashlight but it's like the sun Wow, that would be our experience if we were to have seen the glory and the wonder of the moon and then just stepped into the brightness of the sunshine. Paul's point is God gives us the best tools available. We have the bright, glorious splendor of the gospel. It's better than the law, as good as that is. It's better than anything else out there. God gives us the very best stuff possible to work with. There is nothing better. There is nothing brighter. We've got it all. God guarantees eternal results. Look with me at chapter 3 verse 12. Therefore having such a hope we use great boldness in our speech and are not like Moses who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away. Something that is plastic, something that is external, something that is false, something that is fraught with error. These are the kinds of things that we want to hide, we want to conceal. There's a veil over them, lest somebody see the real thing. But Paul says, what we come to preach, we preach with boldness and with openness. We are right up front with people about what we have to share. This last week, I was with a young man and we were talking about the claims of Christ. We were talking about the uniqueness of Jesus, saying things like, I am the way and the truth and the life No one comes to the Father but by me. Such words of an egomaniac. Or of God. And I caught myself while we were sitting at McDonald's, I caught myself just being very aware of the person that was sitting at two tables over. who was eavesdropping on our conversation, and I caught myself thinking, maybe I better tone it down a little bit and talk a little bit more softly. And then I got to thinking, where else, assuming this man is an unredeemed person, where else is he gonna hear the uniqueness of who Jesus is? So then I got on top of the table at McDonald's. No, I didn't really, I didn't really. But Paul says we come with boldness and with openness to proclaim what we have to proclaim. Because there is nothing else on earth that will change a person's heart than the gospel of Jesus Christ. And God says, I'm hiring you to be a messenger of that message. Verse 14, but their minds were hardened, Paul writes, for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant, the same veil remains unlifted because it is removed in Christ. But to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart. But whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. There's nothing hidden. There's nothing concealed. They see God for who He is. Look at verse 17. Now the Lord is the Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty. There is freedom. Freedom from what, Paul? Freedom from bondage. Freedom from the bondage that is encased within the law. The law is good. And the law is just. It is a reflection of God. But the law shackles us. It binds us. And the Spirit of God frees us. There is liberty in the Holy Spirit. And we all with unveiled face beholding as a mirror the glory of the Lord. That's not the kind of mirror that you and I have. That was a kind of brightly polished piece of metal, a very poor mirror. Beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, that is, we don't see the glory of the Lord sharply, clearly. We are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. And what God has given us here is a little theology lesson in the nature of salvation. At the point of justification, a person has the veil lifted. Or to use another image, they are given spiritual birth. Or to give another image, their eyes are open, they are no longer blind. They are justified, they are right before God, and they have the privilege of standing before their maker. And then he says, we are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory. In other words, as I am an imperfect reflection of God's likeness and His glory, He is moving me, He is shaping me, He is developing me, He is growing me into a more Maybe a better way to say it, He is polishing me more perfectly that I more perfectly reflect His likeness and His glory. That's sanctification. So we begin that salvation process with justification through sanctification to that point of glorification when we will reflect the likeness of Christ perfectly. This is the task upon which we are embarking. This is the task to which we are called, making an eternal difference in other people's lives by simply starting way over here, speaking of the Lord Jesus and introducing Him to them. When that gospel takes root in a person's heart, makes that change, justifications and sanctification, glorification, transforms us. That's what we are about. The question is, are we going to show up for work? We don't realize how little and small and seemingly insignificant acts or words can affect people. You know, when we talk about making an eternal difference in people's lives, this process of salvation that God has called us to, that just seems so big. It seems so overwhelming. I look at me and I say, God, I'm just me. What in the world could I do to affect this thing? Well, we have to realize this is something that God's doing. And all it takes is an obedient, willing vessel that says, here am I, Lord. Use me. I'm available. What can I do for your service today, Lord? And it's just in those seemingly small and little and insignificant things that the course of someone's life can be dramatically altered. One time, Charles Spurgeon was asked to come speak in London. And he was to speak at the Agricultural Hall there in that city. The night before he was to speak, he went The chairs were all set up, but the place was empty, and he wanted to just test the acoustics. This is before all this high technology stuff. And so he simply said one sentence, and in his booming voice, to an empty room, he said, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. didn't think another thing about it. The next evening he came back, he preached his message. Afterwards there was a man who caught him and he said, Mr. Spurgeon, you probably had no idea that I was working on the roof yesterday afternoon when you came and said that one sentence. He said, Mr. Spurgeon, I want you simply to know that God used that to save my life. I went home that evening and asked the Lord Jesus to come into my heart. Simple, little, seemingly insignificant, but God uses some of those things that you will do for His eternal glory. David Smithers writes, God is presently seeking for a humble, praying people that He can pour His glory through. If we will not yield to the Holy Spirit in humble obedience, He will find a people who will. Let's not deceive ourselves. God is not committed to use us, but he is committed to remember the prayer of the humble. If we refuse to prescribe to the Christ-honored methods of humility and prayer, we will certainly be refused for the Master's use in the coming revival. What will this year be? Will this be a year of humble praying? Oh God, use me. I seek your face. I want to know you. And I trust that all of this stuff growing me up, that I am a useful vessel for you, a worthy tool. I trust that you're going to take care of that. And what I need to do is to simply and humbly seek your face and look to be used. Will you say that? Will you say, Lord, here I am in all of my humility. I seek you and I seek to be used by you. Would you pray that prayer? Why don't you bow your heads? And if that's your prayer, pray it right now. God, I am dependent upon your Holy Spirit right now to take these feeble words that I've spoken and by your power, by your grace, to move into the very core of our being and to create a thirst, a longing, a yearning to know you to a depth that we've not yet plummeted. Father, I pray that it be our prayer, our yearning, and our desire to know you, to walk with you, And to say, as Isaiah said, here am I, Lord. Send me. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.