If you have your Bibles, turn to 2 Corinthians 3. I didn't want to deal with headdressing. So I'm just skipping to the 2nd epistle. No, we will get to that. I know everybody's waiting on that. I've gotten more, like, I can't wait till you get to that passage text than any other passage I think I've ever preached. But this is a text that... It's quite remarkable. 2 Corinthians 3, we'll be looking basically all the way to verse 18. 1-18. But we're not going to do a detailed exposition of it. We're just going to get some highlights out of this text. And it's pretty remarkable because in this text, it concludes with this amazing verse that we are transformed from one degree to another degree of glory by looking at the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And in this we'll see that this is the method that God has chosen to sanctify us as Christians. We all want to grow and be transformed into the likeness of Christ. We want to be holy and we want to actually grow in holiness. And sometimes we find ourselves stumbling or not growing or sometimes backtracking and we wonder why we're not growing like we should, but this is the method we'll see, the method of sanctification and why sanctification, just like justification, why sanctification is only found in Jesus Christ. Well, it's not found in the law, but in Christ alone. Read with me starting at verse 1. And we're going to mainly highlight verse 18, but we'll pull some things out as we go. Are we beginning to commend ourselves again, or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendations to you or from you? Yourselves are our letters of recommendation written on our hearts to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered 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. Such is the confidence that we have through Christ towards God, not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit, For the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. Now, if the ministry of death carved in letters on stone came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses's face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the spirit have even more glory? For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all because of the glory that surpasses it. For 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 put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, the same veil remains unlifted because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day, wherever 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, or sanctified, transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. Now there is two ways that we may attempt to become transformed or sanctified. Two ways to better ourselves. To become more obedient to the law, if you would. Two ways to try to do it. And we've tried. We've all tried the first way. And that's through the law. Let's just read the Ten Commandments. Let's read the law. Let's buckle down. And make some resolutions. You know, like going on a diet. I'm going to do this. I'm going to obey. I'm not going to disobey. I'm going to keep the commandments. And you find that no matter how hard you try to obey the law, you'll find that you're kind of like the man in Romans 7 where he's frustrated constantly. What I want to do, I cannot seem to do it. I'm unable. And we'll find out that this man in Romans 7 is bound and he's held captive to another law, the law of sin that works in his members. And Paul tells the Galatians, oh foolish Galatians, are you so foolish to be gone in the Spirit by faith that you think that now you can be made perfect, that you can be sanctified, you can progress in the Christian life through going back to the law. Some people think you're justified by Christ and you're sanctified by Moses. But Paul tells us that we're justified by Christ, we began by faith in Jesus Christ, and we're going to be sanctified and matured by Christ as well through faith. The very gospel message that gives us the freedom from the condemnation of sin and justification is the very gospel message that gives us the freedom from the power of sin and sanctification. And we all want to live holy lives as Christians. We want to be pleasing to the Lord. And the Bible tells us it's not going to be by the law that we do this. It's not going to be through our good intentions and by the flesh being determined to obey. Romans 7-4 tells us, likewise, my brothers, You also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that you may bear fruit unto God. That is, you've been dead to the law so you can bring fruit to God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which we were held captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. No longer are we under this written code, this legal document, the law that held us captive. And every time we tried to obey it, we find that we were unsuccessful. The law that we thought would bring life and purity brought death and even provoked us and incite us to greater sin. And so in this message, we're going to look at two things. One, why the law won't sanctify us. And why only Christ can sanctify us. So let's look, first of all, why the law, there's four reasons why the law cannot purify you. Why it's the wrong method of sanctification. As an unbeliever and as a believer, you can't go to the law and think by this method you're going to be a good man or a holy woman. Why does the law not sanctify? There's four reasons. First of all, the law can't sanctify because it's a legal document or as a legal document, it's lifeless. Just like a contract. It's a contract, it's a covenant, it's a legal document. The contract says do and you shall live, but it also says don't do and you'll be cursed. Cursed is the one who does not do everything as written in the contract, in the law. We see here that Paul describes the old covenant or the law as a legal document or a contract or as a as letters written upon stone look at verse 6 he's made us sufficient to be ministers of the new covenant not of the letter that is the old covenant not of the letter but the spirit for the letter talking about the ten commandments for the letter kills but the spirit gives life now if the ministry of death carved in letters on stone so Paul's identifying this law as a... There's a little feedback, by the way. He's describing the law as these letters. And it's like a code. It was written originally in stone. These Ten Commandments. He had these tablets, stone tablets, and on that were written Ten Commandments. And these commandments are holy and pure. They're not bad commandments. In fact, they're awesome commandments. They're holy commandments. They're good commandments. There's nothing wrong with the commandments. But the problem is that just written on stones, they're dead. It's dead letters. It's written cold. And it's lifeless. There's no life in just simply the description of the law written on tablets. Letters on stone cannot change the heart of stone. You see, letters on stone or letters on a written document cannot capture the full intent of the law. You know, you heard the saying, well, you're keeping the letter of the law, but you're missing the spirit of the law or the intent of the law. Some people, they know how to pay their taxes, but they do it legally. upholding all the letters of the law, so they can't be charged with violating any law-breaking, but they're not actually trying to obey the spirit of the law. Think of what Jesus says, you have heard it says, thou shalt not kill, and you say, well I've never killed anybody, but Jesus says, well that's good, but the spirit of the law is not just thou shalt not kill, that you shouldn't even be angry with someone. Or you've heard it says, don't commit adultery. That's the letter of the law. But the spirit of the law, the intent of the law, is that you don't even commit adultery in your heart. You don't even lust after someone. So someone outwardly can keep the letters of the law, and everybody look at him and say, that's a good person. But internally in his mind or his consciousness and his thoughts, he's violating the law. He's not loving his neighbor as himself. You know, he's committing all kinds of violations in his thoughts. And so that's the spirit of the law, that you love God and you love your neighbor, not just in deeds, but also in your consciousness, in your thoughts, in your heart, that you actually, in your heart, love God. And in your heart, you love your neighbor. And so it's hard to put the law and the depth of the law and the beauty of the law on a written document. And it's easy to take the written document and say, hey, I've obeyed that, and miss the very intent or the spirit of the law. You see, the letter of the law is kind of a 2D version, a flat version of the nature of God. See, I don't want you to not love the Ten Commandments or the law, because the law is a reflection of the very nature of God. The law are not arbitrary commands that God made up on the spot. He looked to himself, he said, be holy as I am holy. And what does that look like? Well, love God and love your neighbors. And what does it look like to love your God? It looks like this. What does it look like to love your neighbors? It looks like these things. And he's given us a description of what God is. God is love. And therefore, the Ten Commandments or the commandments, the law, even written on a document, represents his nature, his character. So the law is beautiful. To not love the law is to not to love God. We have to love the law of God. And what is not to love about the law of God? But I want you to see that the law just written on paper or on stone is a flat dimension of the nature of God. It only captures a part of God, not the fullness of God. And as it is communicated to paper or to stone, That, in a sense, becomes lifeless. There's no life in it. And this is why the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. Jesus says, the spirit gives life, the flesh profits nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit, and they are life. So we need more than just a document, a dead letter, if you would. We need a living word. We need a spirit to give us life. The second reason the law cannot sanctify us, because the law by its very nature is designed to kill us, not to give us life. It says in verse 6, the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. It calls the letter, or the law, it calls it a ministry of death carved in letters on stone. Paul says, I thought the law would bring me life. The very commandment that I thought would bring life, because it says, do and you shall live. That's a promise. If you obey, you'll live. He says, that which I thought would bring life, I actually found brought me death. Because it also says, curse is the one who doesn't do. And because we find that we haven't obeyed, we find that the law does not give us life. It actually pronounces death upon us. by the law becomes the awareness of sin. And once we become aware of sin, that's when we become aware that we are already spiritually dead before God. Paul put it this way in Romans 7, he says, I was alive once without the law. That is, in my mind, as a Pharisee, I thought I was good with God. I thought I had a relationship with God. I thought I was a righteous man. And I was walking along and doing well and was alive. But once I realized the covenant that says, 10th commandment that says, thou shall not covet. He's like, man, I haven't killed, I haven't stolen, I haven't done these outward things by the letter of the law. But once I realized there's a 10th commandment that says, thou shall not covet, and that's dealing with my heart. He says, that's when I realized I was a dead man. So you need the law to show you that you're a sinner. All of us, we need to face up with the law. And the law, if we look at it intently, we'll see that we're undone, we'll see that we're a sinner, that we're deserving of God's justice and wrath. We need to come to terms with the law. But once we examine the law and look at the law, it's not going to bring us life, but it's going to expose our sins. It's going to show us that we're already dead and under the wrath of God. But the law doesn't just bring death to us. It's an instrument of death. It's a ministry of death. So we preach the law not to save people, to get people saved. That's what we need in the Bible Belt, right? Everybody's a Christian in the Bible Belt. Therefore, we have to preach the law to them so they can see that they're actually not a Christian. And you got to get them lost before they can see the need of salvation. And the law is that method that God has chosen to reveal people their need of a Savior. It's not the means of bringing forth righteousness or salvation. No one will be justified by the works of the law. But not only does it kill us, thirdly, the law can't sanctify us because it brings us into greater bondage. I mean, the law is good, but because we're evil, we're going to take that which is good and it's going to bring us into a greater sense of slavery. We see that in verse 17, thou the Lord is the spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord there is freedom. We'll talk about that in a minute, which is implying that the spirit brings freedom, but the letter of the law not only kills, but the letter of the law brings slavery and bondage. And this is why Romans 7, 6 says that we must be delivered from the old way, the law, that held us in bondage. How does the law hold sinners in bondage? Well, the law doesn't push us to righteousness. If the law pushes the unbelievable to righteousness, it'll be self-righteousness and pride, like the Pharisees. I did this from my youth up. So it's either going to produce pride in your life and self-righteousness in your life, which is sin, or it's going to incite you to just go against it. And so how does the law make you a greater sinner? You're such a sinner, if you're unconverted, you're such a sinner, you'll take what is good and turn it to bad. And the way it works is like you're walking down a sidewalk, minding your own business, having a good time, and you're not thinking about stepping on the grass. You're not, but someone on the sidewalk has manicured the lawn and keeps it nice and fresh, It's nice and green and soft and plush and you're just looking at it and admiring it and walking down the sidewalk, all is fine until you see a little sign that says, do not step on the grass. Kids, what do you want to do? Didn't even think about it before, but now you see the sign, do not step on the grass. Now what do you have to do? Now it looks comfortable. Now it looks soft. Now it looks enjoyable. Now it looks like I have to do it. So the law will push you to sin. That's what Romans 7, 8, but sin, seizing opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. So once I saw that I shall not covet, when I realized that, then I saw all the more how big, how covetous I actually was, and how much of this world I actually want. Sometimes when Christian parents just keep pushing the law on their kids, it's just going to push Push them and push them away. You can't be sanctified by it. You can't be sanctified if you're just trying to keep it. Our hearts are too evil to use the law for good. The fourth reason the law cannot sanctify us is because the law is going to harden our hearts even more. Look at verses 12-15 with me. Again, we're kind of just pulling things out. We're not doing a detailed exposition of this text. Look at verse 12. Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. But their minds were hardened by the commandment. For this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yet to this day, wherever Moses is read, a bell lies over their hearts." Now, when Moses went to go to the top of Mount Sinai to get the Ten Commandments, he left Israel down below at the base of the mountain, and they didn't want to go up there because they were too scared of God. He said, you go, you intercede on our behalf. We're afraid of God. We're scared of God. We don't want to look to God. Moses, you go on our behalf. You speak to God, then we'll listen to you. We don't want to listen to God. We'll hear you. Right? But they didn't even want to hear Moses. Moses went up there and comes down in his face because he's been in the presence of the living God. His face is shining with the glory of God all over his face. Just like Jesus has the glory of God shining on his face in a greater way. Christ has the glory of God shining on his face because he's been in the presence of God. But when he comes back, this glory has to be veiled. It has to be veiled, and in part, because the unbelieving Israelites cannot see it. They're so scared of God, and they hate God so much, that they don't even want to see a reflective picture of God. They don't even want to see God from a reflected image of God. And so he has to put a veil over, symbolizing the hardness of their heart, and that hardness remains upon Israel until this day. They read the Old Testament, they don't understand it. They got the Old Testament, but they're not getting the gospel out of it. They're not getting the truth out of it. In fact, the more they read, the more they become hardened. Look at the Pharisees. They were hardened. They didn't understand the Word of God at all. But how does this hardening work? Again, they cannot, because of God's glory, is so magnificent, and they're such a sinner, they can't gaze upon God's glory. So they send Moses. Moses comes back. It's a reflective glory. The glory that was shining on Moses' face was only partial. It wasn't the full glory. Remember, Moses had to be put in the cleft of the rock and he didn't get to see the face of God. So Moses only has a partial glory of God shining on his face. But even that couldn't be handled by unbelievers. remains upon them. And it functions like this. You preach to unbelievers. And they hear the law. And this is what the law does to them. It shows partial truths of God, true truths of God. Truths we all need to see and hear. But it shows us that God is holy. Shows us that God is just. Shows us there's a day of judgment. Shows us the wrath of God. Shows them their sins. All these wonderful truths. But that's what it does. The Old Covenant can get us dead and show us the glory of God in part, but it will never leave us to love God. If all we know about God, if all you know about God is that He's a just God and you're a sinner, and that's all there is then there's no motivation to run to him. Because he's going to kill you. He's going to judge you. He's going to squash you. He's going to curse you. Right? That's the message of the law. And because that's the message, and unbelievers understand that. In fact, if you're an unbeliever here this morning, let me speak to your heart. You know you're facing the wrath of God and you're going to be thrown into hell. You know it. But because you don't like that truth, you're going to run by distracting yourself. You're going to try to block it out. You're going to pretend like you're okay. You're going to keep living your life. You're going to harden your heart because you don't want to face the reality of a just God. It's a scary vision. It's a scary reality. And you have no hope under that reality. And the best thing you can do is try to flee and run to Tarshish. Get away from God at least for a little while, even if He's going to catch up with you eventually. At least have a few good days now, a couple days of pleasure. That's the best you can do. And thus, people are hardened by the law. Now, the law can't sanctify us because it lifeless, it kills, it enslaves, and it hardens. Now let's get to the positive message here. Why Christ and Christ alone does purify. Only Christ can sanctify our hearts. If you want to be holy today, it's going to be looking, not at Moses, at the glory that was fading. You're going to look at the face of Jesus Christ, a glory that does not fade away. Look at verse 15. 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 and being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. Four reasons why Christ sanctifies us. One, unlike the letter, Christ is alive. He's a spirit. He's not a dead letter. He's not just a document. Christ is not just a legal document. He's a living person. He's a spirit. The letter kills. The spirit gives life. You see, Christ is the fullness deity. The letter, we'll get into this a little bit later, but the letter is a kind of a 2D flat version of the image of God. It captures a portion of God's justice, His holiness, His wrath, which is true. We need to see that side. But Christ captures the fullness of deity. And because of that, number two, Christ sanctifies because he brings illumination. The law will harden your heart. Senators, if that's all you have is the law, it will harden your heart. Look at verse 15. Yes, to this day, whenever Moses has read, a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. You see, Moses could not look at the face of God. He had to be put in a cleft. So even Moses didn't look face to face at God. He had to put his face into the rock. And only a portion or the back portion of God passed by him. But yet that was enough for Moses' face to shine. Israel could not look at the face of Moses because of their sins. But in Christ, we with open face can behold not Moses' face, but Christ's face, who shows not a portion of the glory of God, but the fullness of the glory of God shines in the face of Jesus Christ. Israel saw the glory of God's holiness, justice, and wrath, but in the face of Christ we see that, but we also see the glory of His grace, mercy, and kindness. In the face of Christ, we can see the meekness of God. Yes, He's holy. He is a God of vengeance. Yes, we can see the fiery eyes that want to take vengeance upon those who do not know Him. But we also see in the face of Jesus Christ a meek and lowly God who's humble, that loves sinners, who's kind and compassionate. In the face of Christ, we see mercy. We see compassion. John 1 tells us, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, the glory of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. For from His fullness we have all received grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth come through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, the only God, who is at the Father's side. He has made Him known. Brothers, sisters, or unconverted children, you can look at Jesus Christ and gaze upon Him without being scared. You can approach Him because in Him there is compassion and mercy. All who come to Him, He will no wise cast out. You can look and look long at the face of Jesus Christ. You can't look long in the face of Moses because you see vengeance and anger. And you have to turn away. But look to Christ and gaze deep into His face and you'll see compassion and mercy and grace for you. The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 4 verse 3, if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is in the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus Christ. For God, who said, let the light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. If you really want to see God, not just one dimension of God, not just His wrath, not just this written code that shows you an aspect of God. If you want to see the fullness of His love, the 3D version, the depth of His kindness, Then look to Jesus. Third, Christ sanctifies because He liberates us. Look at verse 17. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord, there is freedom. You see, the letter of the law fences us in. It says, don't do this, don't do that. Okay, I want to do this. And see, our heart, it doesn't change our heart. The law is like a mirror. It shows you that you have an evil heart, but it doesn't change you. It's like looking in the mirror and saying, oh, I need to shave, but you don't want to shave with the mirror. You're going to cut yourself. The law is not made to change you. It just fences you in. It puts boundary markers. Don't do that. Don't do that. You know how little kids are, little crazy munchkins, you know. Stop, stop, stop. Don't, don't. But, you know, it's like in the end, they just want to do things. They're hyper, they're energetic. And so here comes all these rules of the classroom. It's just fencing them in. Well, that's what the law does. It binds us and keeps us contained and tells us what to do things we don't want to do. That's why unbelievers, what can I do? What can I not do? Because their heart is to sin. The law is just fencing them and it's not changing them. But this is what the Spirit does. The letter binds, the Spirit liberates. It puts a new heart in us and says, go after it. You know, think about when you get to heaven. I mean, imagine first day of heaven. And you're saying, okay, what can I not do? What are the rules? You know, where can I not go? What can I not eat? And God says, just go have fun. What does it mean? I need to know what I... No! Just go and enjoy yourself. Everything you delight in, participate in. Everything you want, get. Everything you love, enjoy. That's liberty. And when your heart has been transformed, you're free. And you're free indeed. This is the nature of sanctification. It's not binding, it's liberating. It's giving us the desires of our heart. Because our hearts have been transformed into the very likeness of God. We've been taking that heart of flesh out, that old hard, stony heart. It's been removed. And you've been given a new, fresh heart. And it's the love of God being poured into you. And that love, as it matures and grows and is sanctified, you can just enjoy yourself and delight yourself in God. And you can love your neighbor as yourself. And this is what you enjoy and delight in. And sin is what you hate. And righteousness is what you enjoy, and because it is free, and it's sin that binds, it's righteousness that liberates. And the Spirit of God, and only the Spirit of God working in you, can do that in your life. Now fourth, and this is my main point. I did all that to get to here. So this is where it gets, in my opinion, great. Verse 18. Christ sanctifies because in Him we behold the fullness of the glory of God. Verse 18 says, And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed in the same image from one degree of glory to another. Again, to kind of review, unlike the law, Christ is not a flat two-dimensional image of God. The law is a written document, captures truth about God. What does it capture? It captures that God is a God of love. And God's angry because we don't love Him and we don't love our neighbor. And the Father's angry with us because we didn't love the Son. The Son's angry with us because we blasphemed the Holy Spirit. And because God is love, He's angry and He's just. And so yes, the law depicts what love looks like. It tells us that we're to love God and love our neighbor. And so it does give us an image of love, an image of God's nature. But it's only a portion of God's love. You see, Christ is not stone with the law written upon him as tablets of stone. God has put his very nature in flesh. and blood. He's Emmanuel. He's God with us. Colossians 2, 9, for in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. John 14, 9, if you have seen me, you have seen the Father. John 8, 19, if you know me, you know the one who has sent me. John 12, 45, whoever sees me sees the one who sent me. Colossians 1, 15, the sun is the image of the invisible God. Hebrews 1, 3, the sun is the radiance of God. The radiance of God's glory and exact representation of His nature. John 1.14, The Word become flesh and made His dwelling among us, and we've seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. You see, the law does capture God's nature, in part. But the man, Jesus Christ, embodies it in full. And not only do we see the wrath of God's love, And we can see that when Christ paid the penalty, that God is a just God. But when we see Christ on the cross paying the penalty of God's justice and wrath, we see His grace and His compassion and His mercy. That's the other side of God's nature. That's the fullness of God that we need to see. The law cannot show us that side, but Christ has. The law has come to Moses, but grace and truth comes to us by Jesus Christ. Christ shows us the fullness of God. To behold Christ with faith, now how does this transform us? Because when we behold Christ by faith, we cannot help but love Christ. When you behold the law as a sinner, it's going to cause you to hate God because He's angry with you and there's no hope. The law will push you away. Christ will draw you in. Once you see the loveliness of Jesus Christ, the glory of God, not just an angry God, but a God of love and compassion and mercy and the fact He did all that He did because of His care and concern and compassion for your soul. And if you can get a hold of that by faith, then there's immediate affection that is drawn out of you. You cannot know God without loving God. If you do not know God, you do not love Him. That's what 1 John says. If you know Him, you love God. If you do not love God, you do not know Him, for He is love. He's the only one to know is to love Him. You see, faith works by love for this very reason. It gets us a hold of God, and by beholding God and His glory and His nature, we see something altogether lovely. We see the love of God, the mercy of God, and all these wonderful attributes. Think about the woman at the feast, who she was a sinner, probably a prostitute, and the scribes and the Pharisees, what are you doing, Lord, allowing her to wet your feet with her tears and wipe your feet with her hair? What are you doing? Don't you know who she is? She's a sinner. And the Lord says, listen, he who is forgiven much loves much. Here she is. She knows who she is by the law, that she's a sinner. But by looking at Jesus Christ, she knows he's compassionate and he's the Savior. And by knowing who he is by faith, she cannot help but love him greatly. To weep over his feet, And this is what it means when you find that hidden treasure in the field. For the joy of the treasure, you'll sell all that you have. You can have this world. Tell the rich young ruler, sell all you have and come follow me. He's not going to do it because he loves his riches. But once you see the great precious pearl, Once you see the value of Jesus Christ, the loveliness of Christ, once you see Him hanging on the tree because He loves you, once you see that your sins are being covered by His groaning and His agony, and He's doing it out of compassion and love for you, and you can see that, that draws out love for Him. To know Him is to adore Him, to worship Him, to love Him. You see, once you love Him, that is the heart of transformation. It's when you love Christ that you'll worship Christ and forsake this world. When you love Christ, you can keep the first four commandments. And when you love God, that's when you can keep the next six commandments and love your neighbor as yourself. It's the transformation of love being poured in your heart by the very image of God given to you by the Holy Spirit illuminating it into your heart. Once you see Christ, you will bow down and worship Christ. He's altogether lovely. There's no aspect of Christ not to adore. You know, we don't like people who are always good at all that they do, and it makes us feel bad because we are incompetent in many areas, and this guy thinks he's hot stuff. And so we just don't like that type of person. And that's the way I would feel about Jesus Christ, because He's good at everything. I would feel that way until I examine how humble he is. He's way more humble than I am. And how meek he is, and how kind he is, and how he did this for me. I've got all this pride in my life, and all this selfishness in my life, and I see he's done that for me, and I go, how can I not love this man? How can I not adore him? How can I not bow down before him? How can I not surrender my life to him? And when we see Him, we are transformed into His very image. You see, by seeing Him, we have His love. It pulls it out of us. And then we love Him as with the love that He loved us with. He loved us first. And because we see His love and experience His love, then we can love Him in return. And this goes from glory to glory. The more we see Christ, the more we'll be like Christ. Henry Scrooge says, we become what we worship. The more you see the Lord, the more you become like the Lord. And it goes from one degree to another degree of glory. So how do we want to be sanctified? I want to be holy. Look to Jesus Christ. Go into the Gospels and just say, I want to know who Jesus is. I want to learn about His grace, His compassion, His wisdom, His humility, His kindness. I want to study Him. Because in studying Him, I'm going to love Him. And in loving Him, I'm going to love God. And in loving God, I'm going to love my neighbor as myself. We're changed by vision. of God. And we can't see God if He's invisible, but we see Him reflected in the image, the perfect image, the perfect reflection of Jesus Christ. We see His glory. And we're transformed into that same glory. The most glorious of all beings are those who are most like Christ. And we're being sanctified from one degree of glory to another degree of glory until we get to the perfect state of glorification, and that's when we see Him face-to-face. Do you know what's going to transform us to make us glorified, where we'll become completely sinless? Theologians call it the beatific vision, which means a happy, blessed vision of Christ, when we see Christ face-to-face. 1 John, we read it in our Bible reading, Beloved, we are God's children now and what we will be has not yet appeared. But we know that when he appears, when we see him, we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is. We see through a glass darkly. Therefore, that's why our sins are still remaining. That's why our lives are still muddled up. But the more clearly vision we have of him, the more affections we'll have for him. And the more love we have for him, the more holiness we will display. And that happens from degree to degree, but there's going to be a day, and it's coming soon, it's coming soon, when Jesus is going to show himself to you in full. And you're going to get a clear vision. You say, well, I'll see Jesus when I get to heaven. Yes, you will, because that's what's going to glorify you. And when you see him, that glory, which would kill unbelievers, will purify you perfectly. Take all selfishness away and fill you with the love of God from top to finish. You'll be perfected. In application, in closing, I've got two words for sinners and one for saints. For sinners, There is a way to be sanctified and purified. There's a way to be delivered from your sins. I know you love your sins. I know you love yourself. You're full of arrogance and pride. You have a hard heart. But as long as you just keep looking at the commandments, you'll just continue to run from God. Yeah, you need to see the Ten Commandments so you can see that you're undone and broken. You need to see that you need a Savior. But if you see that you're unable to save yourself, and you see that you're a sinner, take a moment, take a real moment to see Jesus hanging on the cross on your behalf. And I'll say this to you. If you're going to go to hell, and some of you, I think, are determined to do it. You're determined to go to hell. You know how much your parents pray for you, or how much people evangelize you, or how many sermons you sit under. You want to go to hell because you love your sins. I want you to know, If you're going to go to hell, you're going to have to take Jesus Christ, who's hanging on a cross, and you're going to have to push him out of your way. And you're going to have to, this is what you're going to say right now when you leave this place. If you're lost, this is what you're going to tell God. I don't want your provision. I don't want your mercy. I don't want your love. I don't want your compassion. I don't want your mercy. I don't want that, God. I don't want it. I want my sins. Please move the gospel away from me. And I urge you, please, with all that I can, the Bible tells me to beseech you on Christ's stead. And I'm as if Christ is beseeching you now. I do all that I can to say, please, do not push the gospel aside. Bow down and receive mercy, and you'll be forgiven, and you can have liberty and freedom, and you can be saved right now. And for us who are saints who have been believers for a while, I urge us, myself, look to Jesus more and more. Put this world out. Don't put your affections on this world. Turn your eyes from this world. I mean, there's tons of sports that are going to captivate you. There's a ton of entertainment movies that will captivate you. There's a ton of the worlds and the goods of those worlds. Buy this, buy that. You need this, you need to do that. You need to advance yourself in your career. All these things are going to be distractions that's going to pull your heart and your attention. But do not look at the things below, but put your heart things above put your eyes on the man Jesus Christ behold Jesus behold the Lord and in beholding him say Lord I see his love I see his mercy I see the glory of God and in seeing God you'll be transformed from glory to glory let's pray Lord, it is my heart and my prayer that this word comes, a real living word to our hearts. Not dead letters, but living spirit. Breathe out by your mouth, sharper than any two-edged sword. Lord, it is my desire and prayer that we're changed and transformed this day for the glory of your son. Your son deserves for us to be transformed in his likeness. We pray, glorify yourself this day through the preaching of your word. Amen.