I invite you now to turn in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 3 as we continue going through this book. You'll find that on page 965 of your Pew Bibles. I'll read verses 7 through 18, and we remember what Paul is doing here, that he's essentially commenting on Exodus 32 through 34 in our first Scripture reading, and he's talking about the surpassing glory of the New Covenant. He's talking about the glory of Spirit-filled ministry of our Savior Jesus and comparing that to the Old Covenant ministry of Moses, which was temporary. So 2 Corinthians chapter 3, verses 7 through 18, our sermon will focus on verses 13 through 18. Now, if the ministry of death carved in letters of stone came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. Indeed, in this case, what once had been glory has come to have no glory at all because of the glory that surpasses it. For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory. Since we have such a hope, we are very bold. Not like Moses, who had put a veil over his face so the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end, but their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the Old Covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts, but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image, from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." Praise God for His holy word. Let's pray. Blessed Lord, you who caused our holy scriptures to be written for our learning, grant that having heard them and read them that we may learn and inwardly digest them, and that through the comfort of your holy word we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of eternal life which you have given us in our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Well, it's been a couple of weeks since we've been in 1 Corinthians, or 2 Corinthians, and perhaps you weren't here for the first message in chapter 3, but as we re-engage here, we just want to take a minute and remember what's happening, and remember that the Corinthians have heard Paul's preaching, and they knew and they believed that Jesus was the Christ, but they also are beginning to listen to false teachers, and they were being tempted to trade the glory of Jesus for the fading and ending glory of Moses. And in Corinth, things started out well, it seems, even though there were a lot of problems in the church. But now, as some time has gone on, the Corinthians are beginning to put their confidence and their hope and their trust in something else other than the life-giving ministry of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. they were beginning to place their confidence, even in salvation, in something else. It seems that they had begun to leave their first love, their true love, and to return to an old love, an expired love. And we wonder, thinking of the glory of New Covenant ministry, how in the world could they do this? This doesn't make any sense. How could this happen? How could they be so blind and trade something so glorious for something else? But we also know in the same breath that we can't be too hard on the Corinthians because we only need to look inward to our own hearts and see how we're tempted to do the same thing. When we face trials, how quickly we forget how amazing our Savior is. How quickly we start to look for an easy way out or for comfort in something else or in someone else when things are hard. When things are difficult, or even when we get bored, or we don't get what we think we deserve, or even we're fooled, all these things, we're susceptible to these things, and we're also in constant danger of doing something similar, of replacing Christ with something or someone else. we should come to this passage humbly knowing that we are often also prone to wander off with the Corinthians. So we want to see how Paul combats this. And Paul's solution to this serious and dangerous error is to remind them once again of the glory of Jesus Christ. When we see once again how Christ is more glorious than anything else that has come before Him, we're reminded also that the Spirit of Christ is what is at work in us, then our hope and our confidence is strengthened once again in the midst of the trials of this life. And we need to be reminded of this over and over and over again. So we'll divide this passage into two sections, verses 13 through 15. We'll talk about what it means that a veil remains over some. And then in verses 16 through 18, we'll see the glory of this veil is lifted. And when it's lifted, we'll talk about what we get to see. So point one, the veil remains. Point two is the veil lifted. So in verses 13 through 15, Paul describes the spiritual condition of those with Moses in the wilderness and those who also now continue to teach that the ministry of Moses is greater than the ministry of Jesus Christ. And the spiritual condition that we're speaking of here is one of spiritual blindness. And he points this out, he talks about the veil and what it was for, and he likens this to the veil that's over their hearts, keeping them from seeing the truth. In verse 13, Paul connects his thoughts back to verses 7 through 11 by explaining the purpose of that veil we read about in Exodus chapter 34. In verse 13, we read, of what was being brought to an end. This summarizes what we spoke of last time where Moses delivered God's message to Israel following a pattern. Moses would go meet with the Lord. He would speak with the Lord, either on Sinai or in the tent of meeting. And after talking to, while he was talking to the Lord, he would lift his veil, right? And after talking to the Lord, being in his presence, his face would actually be shining, reflecting God's glory. And then Moses would emerge with his shining face. He would appear before the people. And while they could still see his face shining, he would tell them what God commanded. And then when he was finished, he would put the veil back over his face. Well, Paul tells us why Moses did this. Moses did this because the glory of the Lord was fading and coming to an end. His face wouldn't shine forever, it would fade over time. And this is also saying something about the ministry of Moses. Moses wore the veil then to hide the fact that the glory of the Lord that was shining on His face was fading." So, this communicated then to Moses and Israel, and at least who knew the glory was fading and why Moses wore the veil, that Moses' ministry was glorious. I mean, that is glorious to have your face reflect the very glory of God and to be shining. But it was also temporary. And because it was temporary, a greater ministry than Moses' ministry was needed. But Paul says that they did not understand this. He says their minds were hardened. And then in verses 14 and 15, Paul talks about a different kind of veil. And we remember that a veil keeps things hidden. Paul says, for to this day when they read the Old Covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts. So Paul says when they read the Old Covenant, they is referring to the false teachers in Corinth that he calls peddlers of God's Word that are still clinging to the glory of Moses instead of the glory of Jesus. that when the false teachers, when they read the gospel of the Old Testament, when they read about Moses, they're not getting what it's pointing to. They don't understand that the ministry of Moses was pointing to something greater, something better, something permanent. A veil lies over their hearts because they cannot see the truth that Jesus Christ is what these things pointed to. And just as the wilderness generation under Moses was spiritually blind, that first generation, so are those that teach that Moses' ministry is more glorious than the ministry of our Lord Jesus. Paul is essentially saying to them, why would you listen to someone about Jesus that is still spiritually blind and they can't understand what Moses was pointing to. They can't see or understand the surpassing glory of Christ's new covenant ministry. Why would you listen on how to interpret the Bible? Why would you listen and take spiritual directions from someone that has cataracts over their eyes and can't see clearly? This is a warning to the Corinthians and to us. As in our day, most of us here would probably say, I'm probably pretty safe from doing this. I'm probably not gonna go back to the ministry of Moses. However, like the Corinthians, we're still tempted to listen to other voices that are calling us to replace the glory of Christ with something else. There are so many things out there trying to get our attention and take hold of our heart that we must take care about what we listen to. We must take care when deciding what sorts of spiritual instruction we let into our lives. There are many voices out there, even in the Reformed church, that are calling us at times, not intentionally, But unintentionally, they're calling us to replace Christ with something else. It might even be something good, but it's something inferior. And if it was obvious, we would never do it. So how do we know if we're being tempted or being led astray to replace the glory of Christ and the glories of the ministry of the Spirit and the new covenant with something else? Well, this is what it sounds like. It's those teachers that have a hobby horse. It's those Christian teachers that have some kind of side topic that a lot of Christians disagree about. And they're trying to create their brand and their followers and get in their camp. And if you're not necessarily in their camp, then even if you're still a Christian in the Reformed Church or in another camp, you're somehow an enemy. And these can be good topics. These topics can have to do with things like, you know, how we engage with politics and our culture and what's the Christian's role in the world. These topics can be like, how should we, you know, school our children? These are good things, and yet sometimes these teachers get in there and they elevate these things to the most important thing about the Christian life, and they divide the body of Christ. This is what we must beware of. We must get our view of God, man, this world, sin, salvation, and the primary mission of the church and the Christian life, we must get these things from the Bible alone. We must be formed by the word of God in our minds and our hearts so we can clearly distinguish between truth and error. If someone's trying to elevate an opinion or a side view or a minority view to something that's so important that you're inferior if you don't believe this, They might not intend this, but they're tempting you to trade the beauty and glory of the gospel with some other side issue. So beware and be careful of what podcasts you listen to and what you take in. If it's just mind candy and you're just loving it so much, make sure that it's not taking you away from your first love. And one way you might know that is that they try to get you to think ill of other Christians that hold a different view. And all of us, especially parents of young people and young people, we need, of course, to pay attention to everything that we read, listen to, and watch. All of these things are competing for our mind. They're competing for our heart. and the values and the shows that you watch, the lyrics and the music that you listen to, the stories that you read, you just soak those up. They all become a part of you because this is how God has designed us as creatures. The things we take in through our eyes and through our ears and process through our brain, in some way they do become a part of us. That's why the Word of God can transform and conform us, because we take things in and it has an effect on us. Well, everything we take in has some sort of effect on us. So we must be careful and guard our minds and our hearts and take Paul's exhortation Seriously, he says, gives us some guidelines in Philippians 4 on what to take in. He says, finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there's anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. So, in this first point here, Paul is telling us, those who do not know Jesus as Lord have a veil pulled over their eyes and their hearts and they are not a reliable source of spiritual truth. So, why would you listen to them? You don't want to. This is good advice for us. And then in verses 16 through 18, Paul continues to talk about the veil, but this time he talks about how the veil, how it's lifted. And then when it's lifted, he describes that we experience and what we see, and what we see is Christ. We see our glorious Savior, who through the work of the Spirit is transforming the believer from a lesser glory to a greater glory. That's what we see. In verse 14, Paul teaches us that only Christ Himself can lift this veil. And this is exactly what happened to Paul as he traveled on the road to Damascus. He was a persecutor of Christians. That veil was once over his eyes and his heart. And then he met the risen Christ on the road. And he was struck physically blind. And he had to allow himself to be led by the hand. And he was in the darkness for three days. And then the scales finally fell off of his eyes and he could see. And through this experience, the Lord Jesus showed Paul that he was blind to the glory of the gospel. And Paul turned to Jesus and the scales were removed and he saw. This might be what Paul's thinking about in verse 16 and in applying it and thinking about Exodus. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. And Paul is skillfully referencing Moses and the veil. When Moses turned to the Lord to speak with him, Moses removed that veil when he was face-to-face, so to speak, with the Lord. Well, when Paul himself trusted in Jesus Christ, that veil that covered his heart was removed, and now he could see that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah. And he saw when this veil was removed, the first thing he really experienced was freedom in Jesus Christ. The first thing he mentions is this freedom given by the Spirit of the Lord in verse 17. He said, now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Paul has been talking about the New Covenant ministry of the Spirit throughout this chapter in chapter 3, and that Jesus is the life-giving Spirit who works in hearts in a greater way than the ministry of Moses. And now the Spirit has removed the veil from the heart of unbelievers and they are free. One commentator gives us a helpful summary of the Spirit's work here, saying, through the Word, the Spirit changes a person's heart, fosters life, and leads a believer to freedom in Christ. Paul says something similar in Romans chapter 8 verses 1 and 2. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. This freedom that we have in Christ is a far greater freedom than the Old Covenant believers experienced because they were a church underage. They were still children. They needed those restrictions for a time. And to compare this New Covenant ministry to the Old Covenant makes that Old Covenant look like slavery. There's so much more freedom. Some of you can remember this or you're approaching it. Think of that glorious taste of freedom that you're going to get when you eventually throw off the shackles of your parents at home and you're free to serve the Lord as you see fit. Right? Now imagine that you've lived out in the world for a while in godliness and in service of your God and Savior. Right? And then you have to, after several years, go back to that house and live under the exact same structure and everything else. Well, that would feel like slavery. That wouldn't feel good to go back to the way it was because you've experienced this freedom. And you're not saying that was bad, that was good. And you know what? For that time where you were in that developmental part of your life, that is exactly what you needed. You needed that. But then as you mature, and you grow up, and you become an adult, and you experience this freedom, you don't need the same things anymore. So this is a little bit of an inside, but for so kids remember that we need what we got right now, right? So let us not despise it. That's also good for us as parents to remember that someday they're making that transition and they don't need that same stuff anymore, right? But getting back to something greater here, this new covenant freedom is permanent. And it makes that Old Covenant ministry look cumbersome, because we are free in Jesus Christ to worship and serve in a way that those Old Covenant saints were not. And Paul says that the person who's had the veil removed experiences freedom, and they see something. Let's look at what they see. They see the glory of New Testament ministry. This glory of New Testament ministry is described in verse 18. and we all with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit." So not only were we spiritual blind and now we can see, but when we can see what we behold, we contemplate, we stare at, and we're mesmerized by the glory of Jesus Christ. Paul is saying something profound here. The Christ that we look upon in all His glory is the risen Son of God who rules and reigns now and will forever and ever. But what he's saying is that it's hard for us to comprehend is that glory of Christ in some way is also a picture of our future glory. Let that sink in. When we look upon the full glory of the Son of God, in some way we're looking upon our own future glory. That's unbelievable. That's hard to imagine. But Paul says that we all, the whole church, the whole body of Christ is undergoing this transformation. We're being changed from the inside out to reflect the image of the risen Christ. Now Paul's been building on this theme for a while. In fact, in his, in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verses 42 through 49, you can turn there if you'd like to. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul's teaching about the resurrection. And he has this section in these verses, 1 Corinthians 15, 42 through 49, and he starts by talking about the natural body. And the natural body is this creation body, the pre-fallen body of Adam. And then he's talking and he's comparing it to the spiritual body, which is the Holy Spirit body brought about at the resurrection. So he starts with the natural body. I'm going to read 1 Corinthians 15, 42 through 49, and what we're trying to see here is this transformation that we're undergoing and what it means to see Christ with unveiled faces and even to look upon our own future and our own glory as we're being conformed to Him. There's a transition here. He says, So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, our natural body, our this creation body. What is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, the first man, Adam, became a living being. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it's not the spiritual that is first, but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust. The second man is from heaven, as was the man of dust. So also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven. So also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. Now, someday I hope to get in to 1 Corinthians 15, but just briefly, this is what Paul is getting at here when he says that we're being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. In this passage, Paul's comparing Adam's earthly body, especially his pre-fall body, which is the natural body. It's a body of this earth, and he's comparing that to what our resurrection bodies will be. See, Adam was created very good, and he became a life-giving being because we are all Adam's children. He gave us life in that sense. And there's definitely some glory there, for Adam was created very good and in the image of God. It was glorious and life is glorious. But the second Adam, Christ became a life-giving spirit. He gives us a Holy Spirit resurrection body that is fit to live in the presence of God in the new creation. The transformation Paul's describing is talking about now we bear the image of Adam. a man of the dust, a man of this earth, but we shall bear the image of the man from heaven, the risen Christ. So when you compare the glory of our resurrection, our spiritual Holy Spirit body, you compare that glory to our earthly body, then how does our earthly body look? Well, it's life-giving, but it looks weak. It looks pitiful, even though it's good. This is a description of the transformation that occurs as a result of New Covenant ministry. This is why it's so glorious. This is what Paul's saying. Moses' ministry was full of glory. It was glorious. It did save, but it was not the finished product. It looked forward to the ministry of Jesus Christ. And when you look at the Old Covenant, it was written on stone. It had temporary glory. And as a mediator, it had a sinner, which would be Moses. And you compare it to the New Covenant ministry of the Spirit of Christ, who has given us hearts of flesh, written God's law in our hearts with Holy Spirit ink. He's opened our eyes, removed the veil so that we can see the glory of Christ, and even now is transforming us into the image of the Son. When you compare those things, then that Old Covenant ministry certainly looks like death. Now, we know which ministry we would rather follow. The ministry of Jesus Christ, the ones who hold forth a hope. Would we want to follow the ones that held forth a hope in Moses' ministry that was temporary and faded? Or would we want to look for the man from heaven whose ministry is permanent and is transforming us to look like him? We don't even really need to ask. We know which one is far superior. We choose Christ and the Spirit-filled ministry of the new covenant. Thinking of Christ's glory and how amazing it is and what we see, what we're being transformed into, we do wonder, why did the Corinthians stray? Why did they replace something so amazing with something so death-like? Why would they do that? Well, we can ask ourselves, if my faith is incredible as this is what it is, if it's amazing, why would I ever try to replace the glories of the new covenant with other things? But the truth is, sometimes we listen to bad teaching. Sometimes we get discontent and we just want something new. Sometimes we don't wanna wait. Sometimes we'd rather place our comfort and we replace Christ with things that we think we have are good. Like our good looks, or our strength, or our intelligence, our ability to make money, or even our robust health, or our past successes. We're constantly tempted to replace the unfading eternal glories of the world to come with the temporary glories of this world. We're tempted to do that all the time. When we find ourselves replacing our confidence and hope with what we have in Christ in these things, we feel like we're headed that direction. Remember this, and for some of you, you'll say, yes, I know, and some of you don't know yet, but your youth will fade. You will get old. You won't be as good looking someday, except for Gwen. Your strength in this body is robust and you feel so capable. It's going to break down. Even your mind as you age will grow dull. And you won't be able to process stressful situations like you used to. You won't be able to multitask like you used to. You just won't be able to understand things at the same level. And your wealth can disappear in the blink of an eye. Ask those people in North Carolina about that. The temptation to look elsewhere for hope and comfort is constant. because this is what the evil one wants, that great enemy of our souls. He wants to keep us looking everywhere else for glory, except for where glory can truly be found, and that's in Christ, because he knows. that as this veil is removed and we truly see Jesus for who He is and for what He is, and we understand and see what glory we're being transformed into as we're conformed to Him as image. The devil knows that if we see that more and more, what he offers us, that we'll consider it dung and rubbish, trash. Paul likes the word scubula. Brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ, when we're tempted to replace the glories of Christ. with earthly things, even good earthly things, temporary things. Let us look again to Christ. Read the Bible, listen to the preaching of the word, hear about all the glorious things that Christ has done for us. Reflect on what Pastor Paul says as he tells us over and over again who we are in Christ and what we have in him. And we constantly need to be reminded over and over again of our identity in our Lord Jesus. Christians, remember who you are. You are a new creation, a new creature in Christ. You have a new heart given to you by the Holy Spirit. Your spiritual cataracts have been removed. The veil has been removed from your heart, and the veil has been removed that separates us even from the heavenly places and from that most holy place. There is no more veil. Christ, our glorious Savior, has removed this veil so we can see him with unveiled faces, and he has given us his Spirit and made us new. May we look to the glory of Christ each and every day, and as we behold his glory, may we never be able to stop staring. Let's pray. Our God and Father, we ask that you would help us to see the glories of the risen Son. Help us to see the glory of His resurrection, and not just from a far away or from a cleft in the rock, but let us see a full view. Teach us more about the glory of Jesus Christ, and may we be so mesmerized and even obsessed with the glory of Christ that everything else that we're tempted to take comfort in or look to just doesn't look good anymore. Help it to look dull. Give us eyes to see, hearts that love, and hands that serve. We thank you. We thank you for working in us and transforming us into the image of our risen Savior. It's in his name we pray, amen.