Let's go to the Lord once again in prayer. It's good to see each one this morning. We are thankful to be here. We are thankful to be able to turn this morning to second Corinthians chapter three. This is a great text of scripture. Lord willing, we will get to the great meaning of this text of Scripture this morning, if the Holy Spirit will enable us. 2 Corinthians chapter 3. So yes, we do want to continue our progress today through Paul's second letter to the Corinth church. usually remind us it's the second canonical letter and I do that because there are other letters we know that we know this letter was written in response to a letter that is not in the scripture and so I mentioned that I probably don't have to every time but I usually do just to keep me straight and I'll also remind us again that we are currently in a section of text that spans from chapter 2 verse 14 to chapter 7 verse 4 that is really, if I could put it this way, it is really a Holy Spirit inspired rabbit trail. That's kind of what it is. A rabbit trail in which Paul is actually, in this particular section, defending his ministry, defending his apostleship against his enemies. And specifically, he had many enemies, but specifically he's directing this defense to the false teachers that had infiltrated into this church, this Corinth church. Now, in this section and in the text we're going to look at today, there is much truth, much truth, that can be topically gleaned in this section. But, when gleaning this truth, we have to keep Paul's intent here before us, or we will lose the context. And when we lose the context, bad things happen. Okay? We've seen and studied and know that every false religious doctrine began by scripture taken out of context. That's where it begins. But on the other side of that, the flip side of that, when we keep the context, good things happen. Because it's then that God's Word is seen and understood as He intended it, as the Holy Spirit intends it to be seen. understood so let's read the section this next section here which is verses 7 through 12 but to orient our reading a little bit I just want to begin in in verse 5 again so 2nd Corinthians 3 we'll pick it back up in verse 5 not that Paul says not that we are adequate in it in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves again they're addressing some of those accusations But our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants, ministers of a new covenant. Not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Now here's today's section. But if the ministry of death in letters engraved on stones came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face fading as it was, how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory. For indeed, what had glory in this case has no glory, because of the glory that surpasses it. For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory. Therefore, having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech." And I want to stop right there. I'm stopping intentionally in mid-sentence. I realize that, but it's purposeful towards the text. So speaking of the context of this entire section, being the defense of Paul's ministry and apostleship, notice the last words that we read again. Notice them again in verse 12. Therefore, having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech. We should realize that Paul's words, we use great boldness of speech, has to do with his enemy's accusations, okay? Who, remember, basically, they accused Paul of thinking far too highly of his ministry, thinking far too highly even of himself. And let's understand what that actually means. Let's get to the root of the enemy's mind here. Because his enemy's accusations actually had very little to do with Paul himself. We know this because when we get to chapter 11, Paul speaks very directly about them. He tells us there that those enemies that had infiltrated into the church, they were trying to lead the Corinth church, not just to hate Paul, no. He said, their motive is not really even me at all. He said, they're trying to lead you away from the simplicity of Christ. They were trying to lead the church away from the true gospel. And he goes on to tell them they were so because they, those enemies, they were the servants of Satan himself masquerading as ministers of light. So these false teachers were actually anti-Christ, right? Yes. Now, that does not mean that they weren't using the name Jesus in their teaching. No, I'm sure they absolutely were, but their Jesus was not this Jesus. Their Jesus was not Paul's Jesus. Their gospel was not this gospel. Their gospel was not the true gospel, God's gospel, the only single gospel. In other words, Christ alone was not their message. Christ alone was not their message, but it most certainly was the Apostle Paul's message. His message, as we have seen, is Christ Jesus must be, he is everything or he is nothing. So let's all understand, these false teachers were attacking Paul because of his message. They were attacking Paul to discredit his message. So when Paul here talks about his boldness of speech, he's talking about the boldness of his message. He's talking about Christ is everything or he's nothing. That sort of boldness. That's what he's talking about. So notice here in verse 12, as we begin to walk through this text, notice he says here, therefore, in verse 12, or we know what that means, you know, for this reason, for this reason, what reason? Well, because of the things he just previously wrote, right? We understand what that word therefore means, what it's calling us to pay attention, what it draws into the context of verse 12, okay? It's for this reason, because of the things Paul just previously wrote. In other words, this, these things that he had just previously written. This is why, Paul's saying, I preach that Christ is everything or He is nothing. This is why these previous things, this is why Christ alone is everything to me, to my ministry, to my apostleship. This is why these previous things is why I preach Christ and Him crucified. Or from our section last week in which he began to talk about God making him the Minister of a new covenant which basically is the promise of God to save by his grace alone Through his faith alone in Christ alone for his glory alone Paul is saying here in verse 12 this this new covenant in Christ Jesus is why I am so loud and totally confident in my message my ministry my Apostleship, that's what he's saying so let's take a few minutes and see in detail why this therefore in verse 12 is therefore okay let's let's take a few minutes to see it in detail let's see in detail why paul was so sold on the new covenant in christ jesus why he was so sold first Notice verses seven and eight again, okay? So we were at the end of this section, now we're gonna go back to the beginning and work our way through. The end says, these previous things is why I preach Christ is everything or is nothing, okay? And so now we're gonna go back and we're gonna see what he enumerates here to find out exactly why, what exactly is he talking about? So in verses seven and eight, notice, he says, but if the ministry of death, and letters engraved on stones came with glory, or such glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory or the shining of his face, fading as it was." He's talking about the ministry of death being fading as it was, not the shining of Moses' face. How will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? So here Paul is actually referring to our 9 a.m. study. He's referring to the accounting of Exodus where Moses received the law of God on Mount Sinai. And you remember that when Moses came down from the mountain, his face shone with the reflective glory of God. Remember that? Matter of fact, the people demanded that he put a veil on his face because they didn't want to see it. All right? But it's interesting here, realize, we learned something here that we didn't know there in Exodus, okay? Realize, the Holy Spirit here through the Apostle Paul reveals to us that this reflective glory that lit up Moses' face was not seeing, was not looking up, was not Moses looking upon and seeing the Shekinah glory of God. That was not the reason. You might say, yeah, but didn't Moses, didn't God, Heidi, you know, Moses asked, show me more of your glory. And he hit him in the rock and his glory passed for him. That's after what, what that's after the giving of the law. That's not what Paul is referring to here. He's referring to something previous. Okay. So this, when Moses came down off the mountain and his face was shining, it was not because he had seen the reflective glory of the Shekinah glory, the shining of God. No. It was from him seeing the glory of the person and nature of God Himself that is expressed in His law. Remember, what we've been learning in our Exodus study is that the law, of God is not just a list of do's and don'ts, no. It's the very essence of the person and the nature of God Himself. So much so, that is so much the case, that Moses' face shone with the glory of God just by Moses being face to face with God Yahweh in His law. in His law. That's how glorious or that's how God revealing His law, God's law is. But as much as that is true, notice here in verse 7, that the law is referred to as the ministry of what? Death. In verse 9, it's referred to as the ministry of what? Condemnation. In the previous text, Paul describes it as a deadly letter that kills. So as glorious, as God-revealing as the Law is, as clearly as it displays the glory of the person and nature of God, so much so that Moses' face shone with just the glory that was revealed and reflected through His Law. As much as that is so, the Law itself can only bring death. The law itself can only bring death. As glorious as it is, the law exposes our sin, which demands and deserves the wage or the payment of death. So if this ministry of death is so glorious, is so God revealing, Paul's question here is how much more than is the ministry of spirit, ministry of the spirit or the ministry of life? How much more glorious is the new covenant in which God has promised to save sinners by and because of Jesus Christ. How much more glorious the law, just the glory of God that is reflected right here. Just a glimpse of the person and the nature of God that way that is revealed right here when God gave this to Moses, caused the face of Moses to shine. It was that glorious. God is that real and realized in His law. Now that, which only brings death, which was only ever designed to bring death by God Himself and condemnation. If that is that glorious, if that reveals that much of God, that Moses' face shone with the glory of God, then how much more glorious surely must be the new covenant in Christ Jesus. How much more glorious surely must be the ministry of the Spirit, the ministry of life. Or let me say it like this. The law itself shows us so much of the glory and the renown of God. We've been seeing that every Sunday morning at 9. Over and over we're seeing God, God Himself, revealing Himself in the law, in those principles of the law. We see that on every page, on every verse, it's God. revealing Himself, God revealing His person, God revealing His nature. So if the law shows us so much of God, so much of the renown of God, we see His sovereign supremacy, we see His absolute Godhood, we see His power, we see His authority, we see His justice, we see His righteousness, we see His righteous perfections, we see His perfect standard, we see all of that in the law and more. But there is an aspect of God Yahweh that far exceeds these things, as great and glorious as they are. And that aspect is His salvation. That aspect is His mercy and His grace. That aspect that it far surpasses the glory of Himself that is seen in His law. That aspect is that God Yahweh, He is the God of salvation. And that aspect is only seen, it is actually only ordained, seen, realized, and experienced only in Christ Jesus. Only there. So the first reason that the therefore of verse 12 is therefore is this. The New Covenant that is in Christ Jesus displays the surpassing glory of God in the face, in the person of Christ Jesus. The New Covenant in Christ Jesus displays the surpassing glory of God the Savior. God the Savior. That doesn't do that by itself. That displays God the judge. Only in Christ Jesus. And we see a glory that surpasses. That's great glory. God is and he is the creator. Therefore, he's the owner. Therefore, he's the ruler. Therefore, he's the judge of all things, everything, everywhere. Great, great glory. God, that would be enough. God never had to show us anything else. But there is something that far surpasses that. And it is that God Yahweh is the God of salvation. God Yahweh is the God, is God the Savior. We see that and we only see that in the person and in the face, that's what that reference to his person, his face means, in the person of Christ Jesus. This is why. Paul says here, I use great boldness of speech. This is why, Paul says, I'm sold out for Christ. I preach Christ is everything or is nothing because of the surpassing glory of Christ Jesus. The surpassing glory of God the Savior. This is why. Well, then Paul goes on to further elaborate here on Christ's surpassing glory. Look at verse nine. Notice how it begins, for, or because, and when we see that, it asks the previous statement why, okay? This word asks the previous statement why. So why, Paul? Okay, let's ask it. Why, Paul, does Christ's glory surpass the great glory of the law? Here's why, here's the answer, you see it? If the ministry of condemnation, or the law, has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory. Okay, let's think about that. So again, the law exposes God's ministry of condemnation. The law exposes God's ministry of death. Now you might say, hold on, what do you mean God's ministry? Yeah, God's ministry. The law, who does the law belong to? God. God, I know, I know modern religion don't want nothing to do with that. Wait a minute. God's got a ministry and it's the ministry of death. It's the ministry of condemnation according to the scripture he does. It's God's ministry. It's not Paul's ministry. It's God's ministry. So, the law exposes God's ministry of condemnation. The law exposes God's ministry of death. The law condemns us. Of itself, that's all the law can do, is condemn us. It sure can't do what it did for Christ. It can't prove us righteous, can it? It can't prove our perfection, can it? No, no. For us, because of who we are, it proves us guilty because of our sin. Or, as this same apostle said to the Rome church, listen, now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law. Oh, you mean Jews, right, Paul? Oh, hang on. He's going to tell us who that is, okay? Watch, listen to this. Okay, now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth who's under the law, according to Paul, every mouth may be closed in all the world, all the world. That's who's this under the law here, okay? So now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable or guilty before God. Why? The answers. Because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in His sight. Now Paul tells us in this letter, no, the law kills, not justifies, the law kills. for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. And yet, even though it is God's ministry of condemnation, Because it shows us so much of the person and the nature, the perfections of God. It's so glorious of all. It's so glorious that even its reflective glory is shown on the face, on the skin of Moses. The ministry of condemnation. The ministry of death. It's so glorious. But, what if? Imagine. Imagine, imagine if God had a ministry, a ministry of life instead of death. God's condemning law, the ministry of death is glorious. Again, so glorious that Moses' face shone with the reflective glory of it. But what if God had a ministry of life? What if God had a ministry of righteousness that provides a righteousness that is able to remove the curse of the law's condemnation? What if God has a ministry of life and righteousness which is able to remove the curse of the law's death? and give life in the place of death? What if God had a ministry of righteousness, a righteousness that is so perfect that it could and would completely cover and put away all our sins? What if by now You've heard me say it probably a million times, but God demands and He will not accept anything or anyone less than absolute perfection, which is a perfection that none of us have of ourselves. You don't believe me? Just line your life up with that. That's just 10 of them. There's 300 more, 600 more. Just line your life up with the 10 of them. that will prove you, me, and everyone else guilty, okay? So we don't have what it takes. We don't have what God demands. Not even close. Matter of fact, you say, well, hey, preacher, I'm doing pretty good. I got nine of them. No, you don't, because James tells us if you broke one, because this is bigger than just a list of do's and don'ts. It's the nature and the person of God. James says, if you've broken one, you've broken them all. So every single one of us, not only do we not have enough righteousness, a little bit of righteousness, we have no righteousness. We are not just not almost perfect, no. We are ruined, defiled, corrupt, sin personified in the sight of God. That's what all of each and every one of us are. But God will not demand anything or anyone except absolute perfection. But, what if, what if God Himself had a ministry of righteousness, a ministry of righteousness in which He made guilty condemned sinners just as if they've never sinned? What if God had that sort of ministry? What if God had a ministry in which He made guilty, condemned sinners fit for His acceptance? Fit for His approval? Even fit for His glorious presence? What if God had such a ministry of righteousness? Wouldn't that ministry be even more glorious, even infinitely more glorious? Wouldn't that ministry abound in glory, over glory? That's what Paul's asking. And wouldn't it? Well, God's ministry of the new covenant in Christ Jesus, God Himself promising to save, condemn sinners, all by His grace alone, all through His gift of faith alone, all in Christ Jesus alone, is exactly this ministry of justifying, guilt-removing, condemnation-conquering, sinner-saving righteousness. It's the very imputed righteousness of Christ Jesus to sinners. This is God's ministry. Or here again from Paul to the Rome church. The law came in so that the transgression would increase God's ministry. He brought the law, right? He gave the law and the law came in. Why? He says, so that the transgression would increase God's ministry of condemnation, God's ministry of death. But You remember what we've been learning on Wednesday night? God has a purpose in judgment greater than just annihilation. Paul says, but, what's the purpose? Where sin increased, the transgression increased. And where sin increased, where the transgression increased. Why did God bring the wall in? Grace. God's grace abounded all the more. God has a greater purpose in judgment than just annihilation. What's Paul say in that text? The purpose was so that we could see the abounding grace of God. That's why. So that for this reason, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness." God's ministry of righteousness to eternal life. through Jesus Christ our Lord. So y'all listen, it's not what if. I was asking it like that on purpose. Because it's not what if God had this ministry. It's not that at all. This is God's amazing, much more abounding, much more abounding in glory ministry righteousness that far exceeds and abounds in glory in showing God himself so much more of God himself than the law this is this a glory abounding ministry of righteousness this it's the new covenant in Christ Jesus and This is exactly why Paul says here in verse 12, that I use great boldness of speech, that I preach Christ and Him crucified, that I preach that Jesus Christ is everything or He's nothing, because He is. Because He is. Basically, the inference is, why would I preach anything else? You want me to go back and preach the Old Covenant? Ain't no way! Why? When I have something that surpasses and abounds in glory, far above the Old Covenant. You want me to mix a little of the Old Covenant in with the New Covenant? You know what that does, right? It destroys the New Covenant. It makes Jesus nothing. Because if we got to mix the old and the new together, guess what? Jesus isn't everything. Jesus is part, but you're a part too. That's a lie, y'all. That's a lie. Anybody who says, and you mark my words, anybody who says, Jesus has done all he can do, and it's up to you, if you're listening, run out the back door, because that's heresy. That is a doctrine that accursed you and everybody around you. Jesus is everything or He's nothing. He's everything or He's nothing. It's not Jesus plus something. It's not Jesus plus you. It's not Jesus plus the law. That's what Paul's getting at. Why am I so bold? Why do I come and preach Jesus is everything or He's nothing? Because He is. And if you try to add anything to Him, you make Him nothing. He will not be nothing, y'all. He is King of Kings. He is Lord of Lords. He is the one and only anointed Christ of God. He is the one and only appointed Savior for a sinner like you and me. He is it. He will not be nothing. He will not be. So that's why Paul says, you can say what you want to about me, but I'm gonna use great boldness of speech, meaning, I'm going to come to you with Christ because he's everything or he's nothing. Matter of fact, look at verse 10. You'll see it starts again. For or because So this ties this verse, verse 10, to the previous verse. So Paul asks in nine, if the ministry of death is glorious, shouldn't the ministry of righteousness or life abound in glory? And of course the answer is yes, and here's why. Do you see it in verse 10? Here's why. Indeed, what had glory, speaking of the law, What had glory in this case, or we would say it, what had glory in comparison has no glory at all because of the glory that surpasses it. That's a pretty amazing statement. That's a really bold statement. By the way, that's a really bold statement that Paul makes in that economy. Do you understand what he's saying? The law has no glory at all compared to the surpassing glory of Christ Jesus. Wow. So do we all hear Paul's answer? He says, yes, God's ministry of righteousness does abound in glory. God's glory the revelation of God Himself that is seen in His ministry of righteousness, in Him freely imputing the righteousness of Christ Jesus to previously condemned sinners, in Him giving sin personified perfection freely by His grace through His Son. The glory that is seen in His new covenant in Christ Jesus is so glorious, Paul says here, that it surpasses, it eclipses all other glory as if it were no glory at all. Wow. Or let me put it like this. Let me say it again like this. When we see God as Savior, in the person of Christ. That's the only place we see Him as such. When we see God as Savior in the person of Jesus, we forget all about Him being the minister of condemnation and death. Isn't that true, brothers and sisters? It doesn't mean we forget about the law, because the law is part of God's Word, okay? But the real reality is when we see Christ, the condemnation's gone. The guilt is gone. It should be going away, y'all. The condemnation, the guilt is gone. Because we've seen a greater revelation of God than we could ever see in the law. We've seen God the Savior in the face of Christ Jesus. We know Him and see Him as we have never seen Him before. That's what happens when the Holy Spirit works effectually in the heart of the hearer. That's what happens. He reveals Himself to us. He reveals God the Savior in the person and the work of Christ Jesus. And that's when we know Him. We see Him as we've never seen Him before. So again, see why the therefore of verse 12 is therefore? Of course, Paul uses great boldness of speech. Of course, he courageously and confidently preaches the gospel glory of the grace of God in Christ Jesus alone. I mean, y'all just look at the surpassing, eclipsing glory of God in Christ Jesus. Have you ever seen Him? I'm talking to you personally. Have you ever seen Him? Have you ever seen the surpassing, abounding glory of God, God Yahweh, in Christ Jesus, in the person and in the work of Jesus? Have you seen Him personally? Have you seen Him? Have you seen the Savior that He is? Have you seen what He has done? Have you seen how He lived His life in perfection to be your perfection? Have you seen how He died on the cross under the wrath of God that was appointed for you to remove your sin and therefore God's wrath from you? Have you seen that He was dead because of you? He lay dead in the grave because of your sin. But have you seen? On the third day, He rose again. Have you seen Him? Have you seen the glory of God, the Savior? He did all of that to save His people from their sins. That first angelic proclamation in the book of Matthew. You will call His name Savior. Jesus Yahweh saves. because He will save His people from their sins, not condemn them, not put them to death because of their sin. That's what they deserve. But this Savior, He is able and He is willing to take away our sin and to give us righteousness, perfection in its place that makes us acceptable before Him. Have you seen Him? Have you seen Him? Right now, right now, right this moment, at the right hand of the Majesty on High, have you seen Him there pleading your acceptance by His presence, by His meditorial office? Have you seen Him ever living? to make intercession for you. Have you rested upon His person? Have you rested upon His work? Have you seen Him? Do you know Him? Do you know Him as your Savior? As your Savior? If you have, if you have, you know then that you've known Him, you see Him, and you know Him like you've never known Him before. No more the death. No more does the death and the condemnation come first, but Christ is first. Christ is everything. Christ and His sacrifice. Christ and His abounding presence now living for you as your Savior, as your righteousness, as your salvation. Have you seen Him? Do you know Him? Do you know Him? I pray you to look at Him if you can. See Him if the Spirit would enable you by the grace of God this morning. Know Him as your only hope of escaping the wrath of God that your sins deserve. He's it. He's all you have, but He's all you need. As you do, notice Paul has one more connecting declaration here. I gotta tell you, I got a little excited. I got ahead of myself. Back up. Put me in reverse here. Beat, beat, beat. Verse 11. Again, it begins with for, so because. So we asked the previous verse why. So let's do that. Why, Paul? Does the glory of God in Christ Jesus far outshine, why does it eclipse even the glory of God in His law? Why? Why? Here's the answer, verse 11. Why? Because if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory. So I made reference last week to the writer of Hebrews calling this new covenant in Christ Jesus a better covenant. One of the ways in which the writer in Hebrew tells us, one of the ways in which the New Covenant excels over the Old Covenant is that the Old Covenant was temporary. Paul says twice here, he speaks of it fading or fading away. So one of the ways in which the New Covenant excels over, surpasses the Old Covenant, is that the Old Covenant was temporary. But let me ask you, I'll give you a little quiz here, okay? Do any of us remember one of the proofs the writer of Hebrews gives us as proof that the Old Covenant was temporary? Do you remember? Well, It was that its priests, its mediators, died. That's in chapter 7 if you want to go read that glorious chapter. Its priests, the Old Covenant's priests, the Old Covenant's mediators, died. That's one of the ways that the writer says this proves that the law was temporary because its priests died. You remember Moses, who was a mediator, not necessarily a high priest, but he was a mediator. Moses died. Aaron died. The high priests all throughout the history of Israel died and they were succeeded by their ancestors who died. And since they all died, that meant, that was proof that all of those priests, all of those mediators We're all sinners. And sinners cannot save sinners. We all need to get that. Sinners cannot save sinners. Job talked about that. The most ancient writings of God's Word. Job said, when talking about mediation, he said, I have no man. You know what he meant by that? I look around me, remember he was being accused of not being righteous and he needed help. He said, I look around you, I got no man because y'all are all just like me. Sinner. Sinner. Sinners cannot save sinners. You are not going to enter into the glory of God because of the religion of your parents, your brothers, your sisters, your grandma, your grandpa. None of that. Sinners cannot save sinners. But in God's new and God's better covenant, in His promise to save sinners by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, get this now, God Himself appointed a mediator. God himself appointed a mediator. In this new covenant in Christ Jesus, God himself appointed a mediator. You remember what Jesus said? This is the blood of the new covenant. And he was talking about the element of the Lord's Supper was a symbol of his blood. God himself appointed a mediator. And this is what the mediator said. This is what the writer of Hebrews said about his mediation. Listen. But Jesus, he says, But Jesus, on the other hand, in contrast to the dead and dying priest of the Old Covenant, but Jesus, because He, because Jesus continues forever, He holds His priesthood permanently, therefore, For this reason, because He continues ever, and He holds His priesthood permanently, therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him since, because He always, He forever lives to make intercession for them. So of course, of course, the glory of God seen, realized, experienced in Christ Jesus far surpasses and eclipses all other glory. Of course, the ministry of righteousness, the ministry of life far abounds in glory over the glory, even though it's great glory, of the ministry of death, the ministry of condemnation, the law. Of course, Paul will boldly preach that if Christ Jesus is not everything, He is nothing. Of course He will and nothing and no one will stop Him and detour Him or shake Him. Of course He will. Because Christ Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant. Christ Jesus, the only Savior of guilty and condemned sinners. Christ Jesus, He has risen from the grave. Christ Jesus, Christ Jesus, the one God-appointed Mediator, He has conquered death in His righteousness. And now, now Christ Jesus, He stands. He stands today. He stands tomorrow. forever, to ever live as the righteousness, to ever live as the perfection that none of us have by ourselves, but all of us have in Him, those who believe in Him. That's, of course, of course, I will use great boldness of speech, Paul says. And all of us should say the same thing. Therefore, we're having such a hope. Having such a Savior. Having such a living expectation that never fades away. Because He ever lives. He holds His priesthood permanently. And in that priesthood, He's working right now. He's ever living to make intercession for us, saints of God. Therefore, having that kind of hope, that kind of Savior, we use great boldness of speech. Having that kind of hope, that kind of Savior, we will declare Christ. We will make Christ known to the nations. We will declare that God saves sinners by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. We will. Won't we? Shouldn't we? Shouldn't we? If God has given us that kind of hope, shouldn't we? The expectation of the New Testament, the answer to that question is yes. The expectation laid on the shoulders of every believer, the expectation is yes, yes, we have Him as our Savior. Nothing can silence us. No one can silence us. He's ever living right now to make intercession for us. If God be for us, if God right now sits making intercession for us, who can be against us? If God, this morning we read, if God has given us His Son, Won't he, if he's given us everything in Christ Jesus, won't he give us everything else, the little temporal mess that we need on this earth? Yes, yes, yes! So as Paul says, and we all should say, therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness of speech. We will, because the glory of God, the new covenant glory of God in Christ Jesus, displays His surpassing glory. The new covenant in Christ Jesus shows the surpassing glory abounding of His ministry of righteousness, a glory that eclipses and much more abounds over all other glory, the glory of a resurrected and forever Savior of sinners. May God give us grace. May God give us boldness to make His surpassing glory known. To make His, our God's surpassing glory, our God, God Yahweh, His surpassing glory known in all three of His persons. May God give us grace to make His surpassing glory known, that He is the God of salvation. Oh, what glory! Our God is the God of salvation. There has never existed another God like Him. There never will exist another God, even in name. All other gods are no gods, but even if they're called a god, there is no other like Him. There is no other like Him. May we love and live and declare the surpassing, overabounding, everlasting, life-giving glory of His grace in Christ Jesus, our Lord.