Wednesday, October 19, 2022 PM

2 Corinthians 3–4 as the Core Text for Salvation

2 Corinthians chapter 3 and 4. I wrote it on the board up here. That's our core scripture. Let's open with a word of prayer. Father, I thank You and praise You for Your goodness to us, Your great love, Your mercy.

I thank You for Your Spirit and our fellowship in Your Spirit. Thank You for this meal tonight. Thank You for Your Word. Open it up to us tonight. And I pray for each of us that we might come to know Your Son in a deeper way.

In His name I pray, Amen. 2 Corinthians chapter 3 starting at verse 12. I don't know if I need my glasses or not. Reading down through chapter 4 verse 6. I gleaned a few truths out of this passage. I'll share with you tonight.

Since we have such a hope, we're 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.

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.

Your translation may say from glory to glory. That's actually what's in the Greek. But the intent is, you know, from one level of glory to another level of glory. From one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

And then I'm going to skip down to chapter 4 verse 3. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only 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 the image of God.

For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

The Spiritual Operation of Salvation

The first supporting scripture is in 1 Corinthians chapter 2. If you want to keep your finger there, we'll be coming back to 2 Corinthians. But 1 Corinthians chapter 2, I'm going to start reading at verse 10.

These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person which is in him? So also, no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

Now, we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words, not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual, or interpreting spiritual truths in spiritual language, or interpreting that which is spiritual with that which is spiritual.

Verse 14. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. I'll stop there. I have three points.

I don't have a poem, but I have a diagram. Three points. Point number one. Salvation is a spiritual, I'm going to use the word, operation. You're going to get a heart transplant. It's an operation, a spiritual operation, that was 1 Corinthians 1, no, 2.

10 through 14, I think is what I read. And this passage spoke of the spiritual person and the natural person. There are two kinds of people. Spiritual people, natural people. Now, I've got a diagram here.

Here's the earth. Here is heaven, or glory. That's where we're headed, right? For glory. And this is God in heaven. This is man on earth. Now, God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Man is body, spirit.

If you're a dichotomist, if you're a trichotomist, you can put the soul in here, okay? The body, with five senses, ties us to the earth, right? I mean, with these five senses, we experience life on earth.

Body, soul, spirit. Now, the way I've drawn this, this is the natural man. He does not know anything about the things of God. Does not know God. Cannot comprehend the things of God. That's 1 Corinthians 2, verses 10 through 14.

The natural man knows nothing of God. Most of the natural men, I use the word man and men, meaning men and women, mankind, okay? But, okay, now here's the point. This person can do a lot of religious things.

He can talk a lot of religious talk. But the spiritual man, okay, who has received the Spirit of God, okay, 1 Corinthians 2, 10 through 14, okay, he is connected. Now, this is like a communication channel, okay?

Now, this is the spiritual man. The spirit, okay, of this man is connected to the Holy Spirit of God. He has received the Spirit of God. He has been born again in John chapter 3. In John chapter 1, he is born of God.

He is indwelt by the Spirit. His spirit is connected to the Holy Spirit. Now, a passage of Scripture that, well, let's see. We need to look at, let's see, John 14, 16, and 26, John 15, 26, and 16, 12, and following, okay?

Easy to find. Three chapters in a row. John chapter 4, 14 verses 16,. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper or Comforter to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him.

The spirit of this world does not know God. You know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. Verse 26, But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things and bring to you.

The Holy Spirit will reveal the Son. Chapter 16, 15, verse 26,. But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about me.

Again, the Holy Spirit bears witness to the Son. Chapter 16, verse 12, I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth.

For He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears, He will speak. He will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for He will take what is mine and declare it to you.

So now, given these scriptures in John, you see, the work of the Spirit is revealing the Son. Wherever the Spirit is at work, the Son is made known. The Holy Spirit reveals the Son. Now, I've got a question for you.

Who does the Son reveal? The Father. That's exactly right. The Father. Now, I want to give you a scripture that illustrates that very clearly, how this works. It's Romans chapter 8, starts at verse 15.

We have not received the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but we have received the spirit of adoption or sonship, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. It is His Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and of children, heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ, provided what?

We suffer with Him in order that we might be glorified with Him. That's right. We're headed for glory. But now, I hope you see this. This is how well it works. When a person is born of the Spirit of God, he cries out, Abba, Father.

And he comes to know God as Father. Because the Spirit reveals the Son, the Son reveals the Father. And the person cries out, Abba, Father. And becomes a child of God. Okay? So now we have a spiritual person.

And salvation is a spiritual operation. Again, again, you have to be connected. There's two kinds of people. The natural man, the spiritual man. Second truth, salvation is a person-to-person encounter.

Salvation as a Person-to-Person Encounter

Hmm. I wonder if there's more than one person in here who's ever heard of a long-distance phone call. You used to pick up a phone and you could call the operator and you'd say, I want to make a long-distance call.

And I want it to be person-to-person. Person-to-person. That means, you know, you gave the operator the person's name and she called this number and asked for that person. If that person wasn't there, you know, the call didn't go through.

Now, if that person's there and that person comes on the phone, you know, the operator all of a sudden pushes a button that starts the timer that is measured in dollars. That's the way phone calls used to work a long time ago.

Well, just a few years ago. Person-to-person though. But you get the point, right? It's you and this other person. Person-to-person. Now, if you go back to 2 Corinthians chapter 3, okay? That's our core text, alright?

2 Corinthians chapter 3, starting verse 12. Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who had 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. Okay? Let me just stop right there. Now, this is referring back, obviously, to the Old Testament. Moses. And Moses was ministering to the people of Israel. He would go into God and receive a message and he would come out and give the message to the Israelites.

And when this first started happening, when he would come out, now you can read this in Exodus 34, okay? I'm not making this up. It's scriptural, okay? Exodus 34. When he would come out from the presence of God, okay, you may remember, what was his face like?

It was shining, right? Now that's an interesting idea right there. Okay, he just came out from the presence of God. His face is shining. The Israelites were afraid of him. They wouldn't listen. They ran off.

So what did he do? He put a veil over his face. Then he could give them the message, okay? Now, when he went back into the presence of God, he took the veil off. You got it? Back into the presence of God, face to face, got the message, comes back out, puts the veil on, gives the message to the Israelites.

Okay? That's what he's talking about here. At the end of Deuteronomy, it's chapter 34. I think it's verse 10. See, I need to put these verses down here. This is Exodus 34. It's Deuteronomy 34, same chapter, I mean same, yeah, same chapter number, but it's a different book.

Deuteronomy 34, verse 10. It's almost the last verse. Deuteronomy 34 is the funeral, the burial, and the funeral of Moses. You know who buried Moses? I mean, you think about that. When somebody dies, it may fall upon you to call a funeral home, funeral parlor, whatever you call them, somebody to take charge of that funeral business.

It was God that buried Moses. Wow, think about that. And after the funeral, they had, I think it was 30 or 40 days of mourning, and then the fellow that recorded this in Deuteronomy chapter 34, he said this, There has not risen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom God knew face to face.

That's exactly what it says. Whom God knew face to face. Now this is what Paul's talking about here, 2 Corinthians, okay? He's talking about this veil that Moses wore. But when Moses went into the presence of God, he took the veil off, and he dealt with God face to face.

Face to face. Now a few verses down, let me see, verse 14, 2 Corinthians 3, But their minds were hardened, this is speaking of the Jews that Moses was ministering to, for to this day, okay, this is years later, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted.

In other words, when the Jews read the Old Testament, after the resurrection of Christ, okay, when the gospel is freely proclaimed, okay, that 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. When one turns to the Lord, when you turn to the Lord, you're face to face.

You're face to face. And when you turn, you know, if you don't turn, you're going the wrong way. And when you turn to the Lord, what do you call that? Repentance. That's exactly right. Repentance. Repentance.

When one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now, there's no veil. We're face to face. Move on down to chapter 4, verse 6. For God who said, let light shine out of darkness, has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, where?

In the face of Jesus Christ. The face of Jesus Christ. Salvation is a person to person encounter. Face to face. Face to face. It's a personal encounter. I can't emphasize that more. You can learn a subject, but when you speak of the gospel, okay, it must end in a face to face, person to person encounter.

Okay? Okay? It's not learning a subject. Theology, the Bible, verses, sermons. Okay? It's getting to know a person. Right? It's a person to person encounter. Jesus said, Matthew 11, 28, Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Put on My yoke and learn of Me. You see, it's an invitation to Himself. Come unto Me. Learn of Me. And a verse in John 17, verse 3, This is eternal life, that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent, to know this person.

It's a person to person encounter. Face to face. That's important. Three, salvation is a glorious adventure. From glory, to glory, to glory. 2 Corinthians 3, verse 18. And we all, with unveiled face, that is, face to face with Christ, okay, beholding the glory of the Lord, that is the face of Christ, are being transformed into the same image, from one degree of glory to another.

Or your translation, it probably says, from glory to glory. Right? From glory to glory. And then Psalm 73. I don't remember the verse. Psalm 73, 23. Nevertheless, I'm continually with you, regardless of what is happening.

Okay? Nevertheless, I'm continually with you. You hold My right hand. You guide Me with your counsel. And afterward, you will receive Me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? There is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. And I'll put one little more item here. Somewhere from glory to glory, okay, there may be, back in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 17, another supplemental or support scripture.

For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal, oh, that's not a T. That's a W. My goodness. An eternal weight of glory. We're headed for glory. So, salvation is a spiritual operation.

I was wondering, you know, what word should I put here? Is it a... Salvation is a spiritual work. It's a spiritual process. It is a spiritual function. What about, it is a spiritual transformation. Is that a good word?

You know, being transformed from glory to glory, right? Right? Or maybe salvation is a spiritual execution. I mean, now, you know, execution sort of has two connotations, right? You know, one, execute this job here.

Do it. And also, put this to death. Okay? And in a sense, you know, the old man has to die, right? There's an execution there. So, you know, it's interesting. Think about that. What word would you put here?

I mean, there's a number of choices. Like I said, I picked operation, you know. It means basically we're going to get a new heart, right? Old Testament says a heart of stone replaced by a heart of flesh.

We're going to get a new heart. Praise the Lord. We're going to get a whole new body that comes in glory. Okay, it's 7 o 'clock. I'll leave that with you. I hope you got some of this down. I'm going to erase it.

There's already a bunch of stuff on the other side, so we need the board to take the prayer request.