Take a copy of the scriptures in 2 Corinthians 3. Let's begin reading a verse one. We will primarily look at verse 17 and 18. Let's read through this section. Remember what we read earlier from Exodus. Remember what we have sung this morning. Remember the words from John. Second Corinthians chapter three, verse one. Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? You are our epistle, written in our hearts, known and read by all men. You know how men could read it? Because they saw Christ in them. the work of the gospel, the ministry of the apostles in them, the Corinthians. Clearly, you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but by the spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart. In verse four, And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenants. Paul speaking of him and the apostolic band and their labors, their gospel ministry. They rely on trusting God and the power of his spirit through the word who are made Verse 6, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter, but of the spirit. For the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. Verse 7, but if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away. How would the ministry of the spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect because of the glory that excels. For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious. Verse 12, therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech, unlike Moses who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. But their minds were blinded for until this day, the same veil remains in the reading of the Old Testament because the veil is not taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart that is unbelieving Israel. And it's not just unbelieving Israel lies in the heart of every unbeliever. Nevertheless, verse 16, when one turns to the Lord, the bell is taken away. Now, the Lord. Is the spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, there's freedom, verse 18. We all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the spirit of the Lord. Father, we thank you for your word that you have preserved and given us. We are able to read it, hold it with our hands, hear it read and preached. So we pray for your blessing, Father, over the word heard, preached, and may we be a people that would with great eagerness receive it and apply it. So sanctify your people by your word and spirit. Conform us into the image of Christ and save those that are lost. Father, remove their blindness to see the glory of God in the face of Christ. We ask this, Father, in his name. Amen. You may be seated. The Puritan, the great Puritan, John Owen, wrote concerning, in his commentary on Hebrews, his commentary on Hebrews, he wrote concerning the differences between the Old and New Covenant. He wrote this, now listen closely. He said, no, quote, no reconciliation with God nor salvation could be obtained by virtue of the old covenant or the administration of it. Consider that. Before the coming of Jesus Christ, the people of God related to God under the terms of the old covenant. Those terms were given by God through Moses. He was the type of mediator. They were given to the people of God through Moses, and they were found in the law of God. The center of this covenant was God's law written on the tablets of stone, what we call the Ten Commandments. And everything moves out from there in the Torah. tablets of stone brought about an array, an arrangement with God and his people of blessings and what? And curses. You obey, you're blessed. If you disobey, curses. Carol said you're toast. The old covenant Along with the two tables of the law, it furthermore contained an elaborate system of worship. The worship of the Levitical system, its priesthood, the tabernacle, the sacrifices, the old covenant. Listen closely. The old covenant. as a system of types and shadows. Period. Let me be very clear on this point here with you this morning. The Old Covenant exposed to us our sin. It made known to us our guilt before a holy God. It revealed to us the perfect righteousness of God. And so it highlighted our weakness. And that was one of its predominant purposes. When we think of the use of the law, the uses of the law, it was to convict, it was to convict us in such a way, in such a way that we would seek the promises of God and the blessings of God found only in Christ and his gospel. The old covenant could not impart life. Only the reality that which would come through Christ alone could give life. The one who was greater than Moses, greater than Aaron, greater than the sacrifices, better than the sacrifices of old. If you want to read a good book on that topic, it's called the book of Hebrews. It's toward the end of your new test. But again, the words of John Owen, no reconciliation with God nor salvation could be obtained by virtue of the old covenant or the administration of it. How true that is. So the old covenant, the old covenant and its administration had a fading glory about it, a fading glory in its types and its shadows. Nonetheless, it pointed to the reality that would come. It would point to that reality that would come in the gospel of Jesus Christ and its everlasting glory. Paul earlier in this letter, in the first chapter, chapter one, verse 20, says this. Second Corinthians chapter one, verse 20, notice what it says. For all the promises of God in him are yes, and in him, amen, to the glory of God through us. The coming of the new covenant was foretold by the Old Testament prophets, was it not? It was the promise that began as early as in the garden. The first word was found in Genesis three, verse 15, and it would become the hope of all the true Old Testament saints. This was the covenant of grace promised and anticipated by the saints of old. And though it had not yet fully arrived by faith, they were partakers of it. The covenant of grace was revealed in the old Testament. And the language of our confession, it says by further steps or by progressive steps, like a rosebud blossoming until it is full bloom. Once in bloom, the old covenant types and shadows faded to be no more. and the language of the apostle in our text. In this chapter, notice the language here. Verse 7 and verse 13 in chapter 3 of 2 Corinthians says that it was, what? Passing, what's he say? Passing what? Away. It was passing away. It was the coming of Jesus Christ. and his work on behalf of the people of God that would establish the new covenant and would bring forever this everlasting reconciliation and salvation to the people of God. It was the gospel. It was the work of Christ for us. It was his obedient life, his death on the cross, the resurrection, his ascension, that the new covenant, it would eternally reconcile us with God and bring us graciously into his presence. It wasn't temporal. It was eternal. It wasn't a waiting for that, which would be better. because it was the reality. Now Paul in this letter, many things that he has been struggling with in the first letter to the Corinthians, in the second concerning his ministry to them and troubles in the life of the church. And one of them is that he is defending his apostolic ministry. We see that here in the opening verses of chapter three. He's defending his apostolic ministry against self-appointed preachers. He'll speak about these self-appointed preachers or apostles over in chapter 11, by the way. That's still a problem today, isn't it? Self-appointed preachers. Huge problem in American evangelicalism. Self-appointed ministries. All you have to do is put up a website and somehow you're authentic. And those self-appointed ministries are really just ministries of personal agendas. And Paul is making it clear that him and the apostles, the apostolic band, to them it is about the ministry of Christ, the agenda of Christ, the glory of Christ, God. And so not only will Paul later highlight his own sufferings as a faithful minister, but he's highlighting here and showing us in these this passage and in these verses, especially toward the end, the superiority and the glory of the new covenant versus that of the false apostles. He's going to highlight the old and new covenants by that which is external versus that which is internal. He's going to contrast the external letter versus the internal spirit. Let's begin with you wondering what the overarching theme is. Some of your Bibles, the pericope has written across the glory of the new covenant. So I've titled this, this overarching point of what Paul's making, especially from verses seven through 18 is the glory in the superiority of the new covenant. the glory and the superiority of the new covenant. The apostle Paul in this chapter, again, he's contrasting the old covenant with the new covenant and the background to this passage we've already read this morning. We read it earlier. It was Exodus 34 verses 27 through 35. But here we see there is a glory. and exceeding glory. There is a superiority of the new covenant over the old. Now listen closely. The chief difference between the ministry of the old, what Paul was going to point out for us here, the chief difference between the ministry of the old versus the new is the internal work of the Holy Spirit. It's glorious because of Christ, his work, but his work has secured for us. And by his ascension, he has sent forth his spirit. And it is the work of the internal spirit that Paul begins to drive home here in this chapter. Also in the next chapter, he does this in many other letters also. The new covenant is more glorious and superior because of the spirit of God that now indwells every covenant member. The covenant members are those that God has chosen from eternity and that Christ came into the world to give his life for them. Christ redeemed the chosen people of God by his blood. And through the preaching of the Word of God, the Spirit works in the hearts of the people of God. He applies the work of Christ. Now notice verse 16 and 17, how the Spirit of God, Paul points out, how he enables, he enables individuals now to be set free. Verse 16, 2nd Corinthians chapter 3, verse 16. Nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. That veil of blindness, that veil of unbelief is taken away. Now, verse 17, the Lord is the spirit where the spirit of the Lord is. He says there is liberty, there's freedom. Ultimately, what Paul has in mind here is what he will expound upon later in the next chapter, that is chapter 4, that is the work of the Spirit primarily in regeneration, renewing, removing. In 2 Corinthians, if you look down at the next chapter, in 2 Corinthians 4, notice verse 2, beginning of verse 2, notice what he says here. But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor hailing the word of God deceitfully. That's what the false apostles are doing. But by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. Now watch this, verse three. But if our gospel is veiled, covered, it's veiled by those who are perishing, whose minds the God of this age has blinded, who do not believe. Lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. Verse 5, For we do not preach ourselves, Christ Jesus, the Lord, and ourselves, your bondservants, for Jesus' sake. There's Paul's ministry. Verse 6, notice this. Here's that work of the Spirit and regeneration. And Paul picks up, he goes back to Genesis. Back to the creative hand and power of God, where the Spirit of God brooded over the waters of creation, hovered over the waters of creation. What God by his spirit brought into existence all that there is and will be Notice what he says for it is God who commanded light to shine out of darkness And so the Word of God was spoken But the work but the Spirit of God by that word acts and he says It is God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, verse six, who has shown in our hearts. Remember, he was talking about that glory that was with Moses and Exodus and earlier here in the new covenant. But he says now it has shown in our hearts. Look at this to give the light. There's an activity of God giving forth the light, just as God said, let there be light in the Old Testament. Now God says to those that are his people, let the light shine, that the knowledge verse six of the glory of God in the face, notice this of Jesus Christ. So now in the person of his son, the eternal son, the glory of God is seen and made known. And so what the spirit does. Now the spirit of the Lord, where the spirit of the Lord is verse 17 of chapter three, there is liberty. The spirit of God enables, enables the individuals to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The spirit of God unplugs our deaf ears. He gives us understanding. And we are enabled to believe the truth of the gospel. through regenerating grace. We are able by God's gracious activity, by his grace alone, his operative grace. He works in us by his spirit and word that we would believe the truth of Christ, see the glory of God in the face of Christ, embrace the gospel and receive the promises of the new covenant. Now this was foretold long ago, was it not? The prophets spoke of this. It's called the New Covenant, but in one sense, there's nothing new about it in the sense that they knew about it. They heard about it. In the equipping hour, going through the prophets, this has come up. Jeremiah spoke of it. Joel spoke of it. Ezekiel spoke of it, right? You remember the words of Jeremiah 31, and that which the Old Testament prophets foretold has now arrived with Jesus Christ. And we who believe in Christ have embraced his gospel are recipients of these promises. Listen to Jeremiah 31. In Jeremiah 31, verse 31, Jeremiah said, Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant. I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, 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 lead them out of the land of Egypt. My covenant, which they broke, there was the problem. Problem wasn't necessarily the covenant. It was the people and they broke the covenant. Now there was an inadequacy in the covenant to move the people, to work in the people, to obey as they ought to, but the covenant itself was holy and good and right. But the people, because of their sinfulness and depravity, they would not obey. They broke, though it was a husband to them, he says. Verse 33, but this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. So how would this problem be resolved if there's a problem with the people? He tells us, I will put my wall and their minds, and I will write it on their hearts and I will be their God. And they shall be my people. Verse 34, no more shy. Every man teaches neighbor, every man, his brother saying, no, the Lord, for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them says the Lord. I will forgive their iniquity and their sin. I will remember no more. So now in the new covenant, one aspect of how it is much better and superior is this work of the spirit that now have they had received like every covenant member had the law on tablets of stone. Now, every new covenant member has the law on the tablets of their heart. The new covenant is written on the heart. There's been an internal work of the spirit. and the inner man and woman and child. Ezekiel would say it this way in Ezekiel 36, 26, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. Later on, Ezekiel will say, and actually, chapter 36, verse 27, the next verse, listen to what he says here. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statue. And you will keep my judgments and do them. Jesus spoke of this, didn't he, in the New Testament. Jesus in the third chapter of John, this work of the Spirit, you remember? He made it very clear. Just being externally attached to the visible people of God will not get you to heaven. You remember that? He was speaking to a very learned man named Nicodemus. And he said, you must, what? You must be born again. In fact, he says, you must be born again to see the kingdom of God. He would say there in John chapter three, most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of the water and spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes. You hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the spirit. So back to our passage in second Corinthians three. Now the Lord is the spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. There is liberty. We have been made free, but Paul is saying, he's saying this to the Corinthians. He's saying this to all believers, all members of the new covenant. Notice he would use the expression in verse 18, but we all. I think there's a transition from from the apostolic band that he talks about earlier in the letter to now he's writing to the Corinthians to all Christians. But we. Oh. We have all been made free. Given liberty by the spirit of God in Christ because of the gospel, because the new covenant blessings, the law condemned, remember the language that Paul's been using to this section, the law condemned, the law brought death. We who have embraced the gospel have been set free from condemnation and death. We have been made alive, alive to walk in obedience to God. This is seen in sign and symbol in this ordinance or the sacrament of baptism, is it not? The old man and woman dies as they plunge and they rise to walk, to walk in newness of life, Romans 6. We've been made alive, alive to walk in obedience to God. Not out of establishing our own self-righteousness, not out of some attempt to merit the favor of God, but now out of gratitude, out of gratitude because of the gospel, we walk in obedience to the law of God. Because of new hearts, we delight to love God. to love our neighbors and thus fulfill the two tables of the law. So the Lord is the spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Verse 17. Now, verse 18. Verse 18. But we all With unveiled face, behold, as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. And again, in verse 18, Paul has Exodus 34 in his mind. Moses had an unveiled face when he would go out and meet the Lord, be before the Lord in his presence. And then when he would come before the people, he would be veiled. But now, as new covenant believers, We can approach God, we can now approach the glory of the Lord with unveiled faces because of the work of Jesus Christ. In fact, it is the very person of Jesus that as believers we behold. the glory of God. Again, verse 6 of chapter 4, For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Paul's point here, again, is part of this glory and superiority of the new covenant is that we now are being transformed day by day renewed. We are being the term that we would use. It's even found in our confession of faith. We are being sanctified, made holy, set apart. We reflect the glory of God in a mirror. though transformed lives, the work of God in the new covenant. And one day this will come to its completion on the day of Christ's return, the day of resurrection. When we shall be glorified, we shall be like our redeemer. Here is the work of sanctification. The work of God renewing and transforming us into the image of Jesus. To be like His Son. To be obedient children. To walk in His ways and to obey His commandments. To bear forth fruit of the Spirit. So what is the Apostle? What's his point here? What is he driving home to us? Again, number one, here's some application. Paul is reminding us and pointing out to us, again, the superiority of the new covenant over the old. He does this many places in the New Testament. In Romans chapter 8, he does it and he links it to, again, the work of Christ and the activity of the Spirit. In Romans 8, verse 2, he says it this way. Listen to the words here. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ has made me free. Made me free from the law of sin and death. Did you catch that? And then he says this in the next verse, verse 3, after saying we've been set free from the condemnation of the law, The death the law brings. Verse 3, he says, for what the law could not do, and that it was weak through the flesh. Did you catch that? Because it was an arrangement with the flesh. Do this and live. Do this and die. And you remember what the people said? All this we will do, right? And they last about 10 minutes, and you realize they're all lying, right? For what the law could not do, and that it was weak through the flesh, how does God then remedy this problem? God did by sending his Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin, he condemned sin in the flesh. So for the lawbreakers, he provides reconciliation, a mediator and a redeemer, one who would die in our place, one who would bear the penalty for the wages of sin, which is death. So he condemns sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. And so he does it again. He shifts to the activity of the spirit in our lives. The empowerment of the spirit, the indwelling spirit, the sanctifying work of the spirit. If you move down a few verses in chapter eight of Romans, he says, but you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he's not his. Again, just to be very clear, every new covenant member has the spirit. If you have not the spirit, he says you're what? Not his. If every Old Testament member who Many of them, or some of them, look forward to the promises of Christ and were born again, had received salvation. Many of them had not. They were externally part of the people of God, but they did not have the spirit of God. They were still in their sins, not looking forward to the salvation that would come through the seed of the woman, the salvation that would come in Christ. But now something has happened with the new covenant and it's much better aspect. It's superiority. Every covenant member has the internal realities of the new covenant and promise. Every member of the new covenant now by the application of the spirit applies the work of Christ to our hearts and our sins are forgiven because he's died for us. So the new covenant is superior over the old. The old could not give life in any of its administrations. The new has the promise of life in Christ for every member. Number two, in a way of application, the gospel is glorious and it accomplishes that which human effort or works can never do. There's one sense where Paul in this passage is wanting to make clear to us that all man-made self-effort, self-religion falls short. The children that had the tablets of stone that labored to obey, apart from Christ, apart from God's saving grace and the promises, were condemned and separate from God. The only where there's the operation of grace and regeneration that is promised, especially in chapter four here. Again, the old covenant did not have the power to save. But thirdly, not only do we see the benefit of the, and the much better aspect of the new covenant of the old, but thirdly, we should realize, and we want to be clear here, just as we are regenerated and justified in Christ though inseparably connected, but not of the same. There is a distinction. There is the internal work of the Spirit in sanctification. We don't want to blur justification and sanctification, but they're not separate. If you are justified in Christ, there is the activity of the Spirit in you sanctifying you. So number three in the way of application, what we should realize, there is true and sure sanctifying work in the life of every believer because of the indwelling spirit, because of the work of Christ for us. The old covenant not only did not have the power to save, but it did not have the power to transform fallen man. The law commands, the law convicts, the law condemns, but it lacks any power to renew the human heart. Only the gospel and its promises brings with it the blessings of renewal and everlasting glory. Paul writing to the Colossians, Colossians chapter three, verse 10 would put it this way. And having put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge, according to the image of him who created him. So if the spirit gives life, the letter kills. The letter has a fading glory. The spirit and the promise of new covenant has a glory that far exceeds and excels. It's everlasting. The old covenant was on tablets of stone. New covenant is written upon the hearts of all of its members. Oh, there's still place. Do not misunderstand Paul. He will teach in other places the place for the law of God and the life of the believer. But the law does not give life. It points us to that place where life is found. It convicts us and reveals to us our need so that we may be driven to that place where life is found. So this morning, as we hear Paul's good news, the glory of the new covenant, let us, as the people of God, praise God for the greatness and glory of Christ, for the indwelling spirit that has been sent as his gift from above. Let us labor, relying upon the spirit of God, obeying the word of God. looking to Christ, beholding Christ by faith, and the gracious activity in our heart, where we are being sanctified and renewed, in the language of Paul, from glory to glory, day by day being moved from glory, imperfect in this life, to one day perfected in the age to come. in the age of resurrection, when we shall be glorified or in the language of John in his first epistle, when we shall be like him on that day. If you are here this morning, apart from Christ, not only have you heard the word of the gospel that Christ died for sinners like you and like me, but it's also seen and heard from the word and seen in the table. The cup that we drink reminds us that he drank the cup of God's wrath for us through the shedding of his blood. He became an atonement for sinners. Through the giving of his body, the obedient son, he was crushed and broken for sinners. And so this morning as God's people in this meal, we reminded of this promise again. The life that was given, the blood that was shed, the work that he accomplished for us in the new covenant. We eat, we drink of it. It is that place where we find life. Let us pray.