When Gospel Ministry Is attacked - [2 Corinthians 3]

The Criticisms That Come With Faithful Gospel Ministry

Well, I want to begin with some criticisms of your pastor. I have a list of criticisms to share with you. And as you laugh, since he's your pastor, these are actually criticisms of you. These are criticisms of Bethlehem Bible Church, and they're a bit stinging.

Listen to these criticisms and consider how they would make you feel, how they would make you want to respond. Criticisms of your pastor, and therefore criticisms of you. Your pastor doesn't have the right credentials.

He didn't go to the right schools. He's not been affirmed by the right people, the right ordination councils. Your pastor doesn't have the right credentials. Another criticism, your pastor is overly confident.

So bold, I think your pastor is arrogant. Bethlehem Bible Church seems like kind of a overly bold, kind of arrogant kind of church. Another criticism, your pastor lacks an emphasis on the old covenant.

He doesn't talk enough about Moses. He doesn't talk enough about the law. And that relates to another criticism of your pastor and Bethlehem Bible Church. Too much emphasis on Jesus. Too much emphasis on the gospel.

Not enough emphasis on the old covenant. Too much emphasis on the new covenant. And there are more criticisms I need to share with you, just two more. Oh, let's just limit it to one, because you look like your feelings are getting hurt, or you're going to take me down from the podium.

You know, in all of this lack of emphasis on law, lack of emphasis on old covenant, too much emphasis on Jesus, it really doesn't even seem to work. The ministry just seems to not even transform people's lives the way they should.

They don't even seem to behave the way they should. Well, those are the criticisms that are actually not of Pastor Mike Ebendroth, though I imagine each of those criticisms have been made. They're not actually criticisms of Bethlehem Bible Church or you, your congregation, but I imagine they are criticisms that have been made, because they are the kinds of criticisms that are made where there is faithful gospel ministry.

And I know that's the case, because those are the criticisms that were made in the first century of the Apostle Paul. In 2 Corinthians, those are the very criticisms that the Apostle Paul addresses. And so, if you have your Bible, I'll invite you to join me in looking at 2 Corinthians.

And we'll be focusing on chapter 3 today. And the Apostle Paul is responding to those five kinds of criticisms I just mentioned. And so, I think of this church. I love this church. I love my brother. I'm so thankful for its new covenant ministry.

But I know there are criticisms and they can be rather tiresome. They can make you weary. They can be discouraging. No doubt the Apostle Paul was weary of them and was discouraged at times because of these criticisms.

Who likes to be criticized? 2 Corinthians is a tough book for different reasons. One reason it's tough is because it's responding to criticism. But the wonderful thing about 2 Corinthians is, you see what you should be criticized for as a Christian.

And you also end up having a great opportunity to respond about what true gospel ministry is. So, if you think about 2 Corinthians 3, it's a book of response... 2 Corinthians 3, it's a chapter of responding to criticisms.

But on the positive, if you want to turn that around, it's actually a book that therefore underscores and emphasizes what true, genuine, authentic, legitimate, new covenant Christian gospel ministry is and should look like.

And so, I love it for that reason. I love to have it be a passage that encourages us today. One other thing I'll say about 2 Corinthians is that it is a hard book to interpret. There's a reason why I waited for a long time before I darkened the door of 2 Corinthians in my preaching ministry.

It's intimidating for preachers for different reasons. But one reason it's intimidating is because there's so much that the Apostle Paul says that assumes you know something about what the criticisms are or what's going on in the background.

And he doesn't state it explicitly. So, here's what you have to do as a good Bible student. You have to read what he does say. And based upon what he does say, you can pretty much figure out with some good detective work, with some good just paying attention, here's what was going on.

This obviously is what was going on. And based upon what he's saying, we can determine what was going on for the most part, rather confidently. And then we can understand it better. So, it's a challenging book.

I'm here with fear and trepidation before the Lord and before my big brother, Mike, and before all of you who I'm thankful for. But also, this is the kind of text that you're going to hear things you've heard before and they're great quotes.

Christians love some of these statements. But it's a challenging chapter. It's the kind of chapter I would never preach when I was speaking at someone else's church. It's not a candidating sermon. But at the same time, it's a great text that I think when we work through it together, you'll be more thankful.

You'll understand it better. And you'll be more convicted about what legitimate, genuine, authentic gospel ministry should be, even when the criticisms come. So, a little risky, I know. But I think the Lord will bless us as we study this text.

Did I say one more thing? One more thing. Lots of sarcasm in 2 Corinthians. You got to be looking for it. So, I hope you're not easily offended by sarcasm. It's going to be in here too. Okay. 2 Corinthians 3, verse 1 says, Are we beginning to commend ourselves again?

It's this rhetorical question. It's a sarcastic kind of rhetorical question. The accusation has been there. Oh, the Apostle Paul and those bold Christians. And they've just said things like he quoted in chapter 2, The Lord always leads us in victory.

The Lord is always with us in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are confident. We are bold. And so, the Apostle Paul knows. He has to say, Oh, you accuse us of self-commendation. We're so bold. We're so confident.

So, is that what we're doing again? Obviously, the answer is no. We're not commending ourselves. We all even know. The reason he says the Lord always leads us in victory is because we're in Christ. And we have the message of Christ.

But it's being wrongly criticized as self-commending. More sarcasm in verse 1. Next rhetorical question. Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you? And the implied answer is obviously, No, we don't need that.

But apparently, these so-called Christian leaders, they refer to themselves sometimes, or people do in 2 Corinthians, as super apostles, right? But apparently, they are saying, You know what? You're not legitimate unless you have our accrediting.

Unless you've had this unique experience that no one else has had other than us. Unless you have this certain endorsement by a certain teacher, you actually are not legitimate. You need to have the letter saying that, you know, brother so-and-so, and sister so-and-so, an apostle, super apostle, so-and-so laid hands on me.

And all this kind of things that are made up and not legitimate. But they're sowing these seeds of doubt in the congregation in Corinth. You know, the Apostle Paul, he's not actually legitimate. He doesn't have the qualifications that we have.

Well, the Apostle Paul started the church. That might mean something. No wonder he's using the sarcasm. But how about verse 2? You yourselves, you Corinthians, you yourselves are our letter of recommendation.

And think about that for a moment. The Corinthians are known for being Corinthians. You've been known for sinning like no one's business. Pagan McPaganville Corinth, right? And so the fact that they're Christians, the fact that they were children of darkness and now they're children of light, the fact that God regenerated them, drew them to saving faith and they're believing in Jesus.

You know what? You want to talk about commendation? The fact that Corinthians are Christians is saying something about the guy who preached Christ to them. It's saying something about the guy who started the church there.

So he says, you yourselves are our letter. You are living proof that what we did was not illegitimate in preaching Christ to you. And then he goes on to say, it's written on your hearts to be known and read by all.

You are living letters of commendation, recommendation. You were not close to the kingdom. You were not virtuous. No, you were unbelievers, dead in trespasses and sins. You were fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, all of those things that are listed in 1 Corinthians 6.

The Lord used us to bring the legitimate true gospel to you and you were converted. You're living proof of our legitimacy is the idea. Well, he continues on with this letter emphasis. Apparently, they're accusing him of really stressing this one.

So Paul does. How about verse 3? And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us. Yes, we were involved as the apostles of Christ. Remember, an apostle is one who speaks with the authority of another.

And if they're apostles of Christ Jesus, they represent officially Christ Jesus. Okay, unlike these faker super apostles. But he does say that you are a letter from Christ. So it's Christ's work. Christ has done this.

He's actually the one behind it all. But he did use us as proclaimers delivered by us. We are legitimate. Let's keep reading in that verse. Written, not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God.

Legitimate credentials from the living God. Keep going then, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts. What have we here? Did you notice the contrast? The letters on stone. It's not letters on stone here, but letters on the tablets of human hearts.

Not tablets of stone, excuse me, but tablets of human hearts. Well, this is an important thing to sort of read between the lines to see as we anticipate a text in the future that we're going to look at.

They want more Moses. We need more Moses. We need more old covenant. If we need people to behave and really honor God, don't you think that all the Bible's important? So they're saying, you know what?

The apostle Paul doesn't emphasize Moses enough, not old covenant enough, not old covenant laws enough. And so that's a big criticism. And so we're already starting to see Paul beginning to get close to addressing that.

You want to talk about tablets? It's all about the tablets, tablets of stone. You know what we're going to talk about? We're going to talk about the new covenant reality that even the old covenant talked about.

Tablets of human hearts. That's new covenant talk. Think of it in terms of, and this is probably an oversimplification, but the law of God outside of you and against you to condemn you. And now the law is no longer our enemy if we're in Christ.

Now the law's, it's so much not our enemy, it's in us. It's our friend in Christ. Jeremiah 31, you know the text if you've been a Christian longer than about five minutes. It's just a classic kind of new covenant text anticipating the coming of Christ.

Jeremiah 31 says in verse 33, I will put my law within them and I will write it on their hearts. So that's where that verbiage comes from. The apostle Paul is a new covenant preacher, a new covenant proclaimer.

Even Moses himself talked about one who would come after him. Deuteronomy 18, 15, the Lord, your God will raise up one, raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers. He's looking to another Moses, a greater Moses, the new covenant fulfillment one of the old.

So here are these false teachers, faker super apostles, give us more Moses that really leads to life change. That's really legitimate. Don't you realize that Moses has talked a lot about, talked about a lot in the Bible.

I'm a professional speaker, but I don't do it very good sometimes. And so Paul's drifting into that. He's moving into that to address that issue. You want commendation? Look at your own church, your own lives, your own salvation, and let's talk about something far greater than tablets of stone.

It's something that God has done in you in the new covenant reality. Now, verse 4, such is the confidence, that's their big gripe, he's so confident, such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God.

What a fantastic statement. It is through Christ that we have confidence toward God. How is it that they could be so bold? How is it that they could be so fearless? How could they be so strong and courageous as they would talk about knowing God and God knowing them and not cowering in fear?

They have great, great, great, great confidence because Christ, He's the mediator. The mediator of the new covenant. He is the One. We have adoption through Him. He's our great faithful elder brother.

And so, Christians should be greatly confident toward God. Not because we are so great and we are so godly and holy and so smart, but if we have Jesus Christ, of whom the Father said, I am well pleased in Him and now we're united to Him by faith.

We have what Paul will talk about elsewhere, union with Christ. We receive Christ and all of His benefits. Boldness, confidence. But you could see where someone who didn't really understand this would think that you are arrogant.

They would think that you are overly confident. Oh, so you think God accepts you no matter what? You have assurance? I know your life better than to know that you're a perfect person. I know you're not a perfect person.

And you could see if people don't understand the Gospel and they don't understand Christ, what He's actually accomplished, and they see you thinking in terms of, therefore, having been justified, I have peace with God.

That smacks of arrogance. In one sense, it's no wonder that the Council of Trent anathematized the doctrine of assurance and all who believe it. Because if you don't really understand the work of Christ, you'd think that's just pride.

But if you do, here, through Christ toward God, we have confidence. We have a better mediator. Moses was a mediator. Did you know that? Moses was definitely a mediator. And now we have the true and better Moses, if you will.

We have Christ who's the ultimate mediator. And if you have Christ as your mediator, people are going to think you're arrogant if they don't really understand who Christ is and what He's done. That's a sense, a savor of what's happening in Corinth and the Apostle Paul's having to address it.

Now, to elaborate and to say more, we see in verse 5, look there with me if you would, not that we are sufficient in ourselves. You can see how they would think that. To claim anything is coming from us.

But our sufficiency is from God who has made us sufficient. Don't you love that? There really is sufficiency, but God has done this. Sufficiency is from God who has made us sufficient to be ministers, servants, new covenant servants here, of a new covenant.

Not of the letter, but of the Spirit. This great new covenant reality that all of human history has been waiting for. This reality that we have a good and positive relationship with God and it is absolutely sure.

Yes, that reality was there and always will be there. You must do this. You must keep your end of the relationship obligation and you're in covenant with God. Everyone is. We're all obligated to do the right thing to gain eternal life.

But from Adam onward, we know how that's worked out, right? And so we are not able to do this to gain eternal life. So what do we do ultimately after we despair? We look to another, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He is the great covenant keeper.

He's the great last Adam, Paul would say, elsewhere. And so here we have this great new kind of relationship with God through Christ, who is the new covenant mediator that brings sufficiency, but it brings it from God.

Think in terms of old covenant, true, right, good. We're going to talk more about this in a moment, but I'm getting you warmed up. It was always meant to be a shadow, a type waiting for the substance which belongs to Christ, the apostle Paul will say elsewhere.

Always preparing, getting ready for the, here's the type, now we have the antitype, the fulfillment, the new covenant, the greater and ultimate Moses that even Moses in Deuteronomy, we read it, talked about.

And that time had come with the coming of Christ, with the incarnation, with the life, death, resurrection of Jesus, and ascension of Jesus, and now Paul's getting pushed back because they're like, you guys are too confident.

That's arrogant. Who do you guys think you are? Why don't you talk about Moses more than you do? Well, because they're talking about the last Moses. And remember, John 5, Jesus even said, Moses spoke of Me.

If Moses could be on the scene to these super apostles, he'd say, you guys are out of your minds. You're crazy. So here we have it. Jesus, new covenant. How about verse, are we on verse six? Yeah, verse six, halfway through.

This is a striking statement. For the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. Man, that's a half a verse that's been taken out of context a lot. A lot of weird things have been said in that light. Maybe before we get to the true, how about this?

Rome said around the time of Trent that the letter is the Bible and the spirit is the church. Therefore, the Bible is not enough. Man, that's pretty weird. I went to public school. I know that's not right.

Some radical Anabaptists said, well, the Bible we know is wrong because Rome had a Bible and Luther has a Bible and we don't like Luther much and he doesn't like us much. And so that's the Bible. And so what we have instead, we have the spirit, we have private revelations from God.

We don't need a Bible. Sort of like charismatics today. The letter, the Bible kills, but the spirit gives life. And so we're just crazy charismatics that don't like the Bible very much. I don't think that was what was happening in the first century.

What does he mean? For the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. Let's keep it in its context. He's talking about the tablets of stone, right? Mosaic law, mosaic economy, old covenant world. And then he's talking about the spirit, right?

New covenant reality, gospel reality. We might say, to oversimplify, he's talking about law and gospel, right? If you want to get to heaven by obeying God, you're never going to make it. The requirement is there.

We've just been talking about that. Read Romans chapter 10. We talked about it in Sunday school. God requires perfect, personal, perpetual obedience. And that is going to only kill you. It's going to slay you because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

No one does good. No, not one. So the law is good, righteous, and holy, but you know what it does? It's a slayer. And all of this talk in the first century, you know, well, if we just got back to Moses and got people back to behaving.

No, you know what? If you're honest, which is the kicker, you just admit that it just slays you. I'm undone. But the Spirit, the Spirit who brings us the gospel, the Spirit who brings us the message of Christ, the Spirit gives us life.

He's just talking about new covenant reality. He's talking about gospel reality. He's talking about Christ. Life, good news that there is a law keeper who, yes, was slain, but it was voluntarily the just for the unjust so that He might bring us to God.

This is just a great, great summation of things that we cherish and love so. The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. It doesn't mean the letter's bad. In fact, we're even going to talk about that.

And Paul's going to want to clear that up in just a little while. But it's such a great text for us. Now, for some more unpacking, let's keep moving in verse 7. Now, if the ministry of death... How about that?

That'd be a good church sign. Bethlehem Bible Church, the ministry of death. Well, it wouldn't be very good, actually. But Paul is saying, you clown super apostles. What you're really asking for is for the church of the super apostles, a ministry of death.

But in actuality, shock value aside, it is positive if you look at it the right way. Now, if the ministry of death... That's a... What a way to frame it. But he's talking about this law ministry. It's a ministry of death.

Carved in letters on stone, came with such glory. See, it isn't bad, actually. It was such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end.

So, notice the positive and then also the brought to conclusion. It's glorious. It's true. Elsewhere, the Bible would say, it's holy, right? It's good. But it is a ministry of death to the sons and daughters of Adam.

There's no eternal life in it. And he does say it's brought to an end. It serves its purpose. The old covenant world, the old covenant economy, if you will, it has a born on date, right? Or best to be used by date.

It was always meant to be with an end, to have a terminus. Notice verse 8, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? Implied answer is what? Absolutely it will. We're not anti-law people.

We're not anti-old covenant people. We're not anti-Moses people if we're Christians. But we do know that it was designed to come to an end as glorious and great as it was. But you know, it's even greater.

It's the fulfillment of that great reality by none other than Jesus Christ, the Lord. And he uses spirit there because spirit is shorthand for new covenant reality. This is fantastic. This helps us to see that it's not, it's a false choice.

It's not an either or, but you've got to do things in a certain order and in a certain way. Both are glorious, but one is lasting. One is a shadow. The other is the substance. And don't go back. To go back is nonsense.

To go back is wrong as we will see. In other words, how about this for practice? Don't pretend like the Gospel didn't happen. Don't pretend like Christ didn't come. That's crazy because He did. And by coming and doing what He did, we have a different perspective and take an application of the old covenant.

And to pretend like we don't is to not really understand the chronology, the unfolding drama of redemption, we like to call it. Verse 9 says, for if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, ministry of death, ministry of condemnation.

Oh, please give us a moral covenant law. You don't know what you're asking for. The ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. One is greater than the other. Please do observe the particulars.

He's saying in effect, righteousness against you versus righteousness for you. Are you thinking with me? Are you tracking with me? It's actually an important reality. So, condemnation. Think of Romans chapter 5.

There's condemnation. It's final judgment talk. All who are in Adam are condemned. Okay? Guilty, sentence, condemned, condemnation. But if you're in Christ by faith in Romans chapter 5, you have the opposite word.

And it's what? Starts with a J. It's justification. You're declared righteous. So, future judgment's already been told to you because you're in Christ. You are justified. So, condemnation is being condemned.

It's you being seen as unrighteous, a lawbreaker, not a law keeper. It's unrighteous brings condemnation. And if you're seen as righteous, even though you're not because Christ is righteous, you are justified.

You're declared righteous because you have Christ's righteousness. So, that's the point there. But when we keep that in mind and we read this, really what he's saying is, righteousness against you or righteousness for you.

And in Christ, it's righteousness for you. And what a great reality that is. I love the designation, Ministry of Righteousness. It's to say, it's a ministry of law fulfilled. Righteousness fulfilled because Jesus Christ, the righteous, by definition, fulfilled the law.

That's what it means to be righteous. Righteous means to be an upholder of the law. Righteousness provided. It suggests righteousness provided. It suggests imputation. It's to suggest that the righteousness of Christ is graciously given to us by faith.

All of those are assumed here. What a great motto. Don't miss this. Righteousness. Ministry of Righteousness. You know what? Bethlehem Bible Church, if it's a true Christian, biblical, faithful church, BBC, a Ministry of Righteousness.

Not righteousness against people. Righteousness for people. Righteousness in Christ for people. That's new covenant, authentic, genuine, legitimate gospel ministry. And that's what the Apostle Paul's having to defend.

He's going to the wall to defend it. It's why he can say, like in chapter five, we won't go there, that we're these great ambassadors in Christ. And he can say those great words in chapter five, for our sake, he made him who to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him, we might become the righteousness of God.

It's spiritual insanity and wrong-headed to go elsewhere. These so-called super apostles are spiritually insane. And they're trying to confuse the Christians. How about verse 10? Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all.

See, there is an expiration date. Because of the glory that surpasses it. So it was all good and true and right and served a purpose, but it was designed to serve a temporary purpose. 10 says, indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all.

We were already in that verse, weren't we? How about verse 11? For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory. So once temporary served a good purpose, a glorious purpose, and now we have a greater glory, and it's a permanent kind of glory, because it's the one that will carry us into the new heavens and the new earth.

Do you love the shadow? Or do you love the substance? One of the first, I think probably the first, one of the first letters my wife, Molly, ever wrote to me. I still have it somewhere. She wrote me this letter.

She was trained to be a school teacher, perfect, I mean, perfect penmanship. Can we still say that today? Or is that a trigger word? Perfect person, I can't even say it. So maybe a four-page letter, handwritten, and it was giving me instructions on how to get to her parents' home, because it was going to be the first time I would meet her family.

So Christmas break, we're college students, and she wrote me the letter with all the turn by turn, no GPS then, directions. And then her parents lived on a nice lake, and so she drew the lake. And I remember she put birds on the, I mean, it was awesome.

I was nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof. I thought about turning around so many times, driving from Omaha to Grand Island, Nebraska, and so pulling in, and then I pull my little pickup truck and parked it, and sat there.

Should I go in? Should I not go in? I'm telling you too much now. This is why I'm still in counseling. But you know what I did? I had that letter and directions, and I probably, I don't know if I folded it up or not, but I left it in my pickup truck, and I went inside so that I could see Molly, who I was madly in love with, and meet her family.

Can you imagine how ridiculous it would have been if I would have pulled up in my pickup truck, and I had that letter that I love so much, because I loved her, and I just sat there for the two days I was supposed to be inside.

That would be crazy. You'd say, you're totally out of your mind. No, that letter served for our illustration purposes as the shadow. But really, who I was in love with, who I needed to see, was Molly.

I went inside. And maybe this is a little bit better, but if I were to see her coming, walking into a room, and there was a shadow, and I would see the shadow, I would think, oh, great, I'm about ready to see my wife.

Right? That would be good. Be positive. It's her shadow. But if she walked into the room, and I just ignored her and kept staring at her shadow, oh, you sweet shadow. She doesn't even talk back to me.

I would be spiritually insane. If I did that with Old Covenant economy, Old Covenant world. The substance belongs to Christ. He's come. There was a great glory. Be fans of the Old Covenant. Read the Old Covenant.

Be amazed by the Old Covenant. Isn't this cool to see how the drama was unfolding and everything was leading? But don't stay there or you're spiritually insane. You're a shadow starer, shadow worshiper.

This is crazy, but people are this way. No, Christ has come. He's the one. Permanence. Temporary. And you say, Paul, don't you love scripture? Yes, if you read it the right way. If you see it the right way, but you see how these false teachers could be good false teachers because they could say, you know, after Moses has talked about a lot.

Let's keep moving. 12 says, since we have such a hope, and I'm going to read a lot into that word because of context, right? What's he been talking about already? He's been talking about righteousness, not against us, but righteousness for us.

He's been talking about this great new covenant reality that God saw outside judging, if you will, now inside. And we have boldness now with God, all these great things. That's no doubt what he means by we have such a hope.

Righteousness graciously given to us. We have such a confidence, such a hope. And then he says, since that's true, we are very bold. It's no wonder you're bold. It's no wonder you're so confident because the tomb is empty.

The ascension happened. It is finished. New covenant in my blood, Jesus said. And so you are bold. And if people don't understand, they're going to mistake you for being arrogant. And in one sense, rightfully so.

But in another sense, no. How about 13? 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. Terminus. It is going to stop.

Bold before God. Bold with your message. Bold even in the face of being criticized. Atonement's been made. Work is done. One sacrifice. Better Moses. Ultimate Moses. 14 says, but their minds were hardened.

Think unbelievers. For to this day, when they read... Oh, this is interesting. When they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted because only through Christ is it taken away. Fascinating, right?

Really fascinating. Paul's saying, in my day, people have a spiritual veil over their eyes, over their hearts. And they can't make sense of the Bible the way you're supposed to make sense of it. And they read and memorize and do Hebrew exegesis and diagramming and do hermeneutics.

And if you don't understand the greater Moses new covenant reality, guess what? You got blinders on. You're coming to the wrong conclusions. You're not going to see it the right way. That is a really profound thing.

It's a really profound thing because sometimes we're told in books on how to interpret the Bible. In effect, you're not allowed to read old covenant in light of the new covenant. Oh, so I should pretend like I'm unregenerate.

Oh, so I should pretend like I'm not a Christian, but I am one and I'm not schizophrenic. I should pretend like, what? This doesn't make any sense. It's no wonder they're coming to the wrong conclusions.

That's what's happening here. Only through Christ is it taken away. How can I rightly understand the old covenant given that it's come to a close? Only through Christ is it taken away. Only through Christ is it taken away.

I can't say it enough times. Verse 15. Yes, to this day, whenever Moses has read a veil lies over their hearts. Weird imagery, right? Earlier I said over your eyes, but I remembered that it's over your heart.

Well, it's talking about the spiritual you, if you will. Can't see. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Being in Christ is the interpretive key. Pretty fascinating. Pretty important. Progress of revelation is actually really important.

Veil is removed through the gospel, and then the whole Bible can and should be seen the way you can and should see it. Verse 17 says, Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Freedom from the veil. How about that? Where there's the regenerative work of the Spirit, new covenant reality, there's freedom from the veil. Freedom from condemnation. Freedom from the legitimate criticisms that come from people who say they're Christians.

Freedom from condemnation of the law. It's great. It's wonderful. Things are different because of Christ. Law written on your heart. It's not outside against you is the picture. Now it's actually inside.

It's for you is the picture. It's positive. We have a new relationship to God's law. We're not trying to do it for our justification. We want to do it because of what Christ has done for us and is doing in us.

We're also freed from false teachers who tell us otherwise. How about verse 18? And then I have a quiz for you. And we all... Let's emphasize that word. And we all... This is true for all who are in Christ.

This is true for all Christians. And we all, with unveiled face... The veil isn't there if you're in Christ. We all, with unveiled face, beholding... Think gazing, staring at, focusing on. Beholding the glory of the Lord.

That's another way of saying, no doubt in this context, in this flow, the gospel. Right? We all... The veil on our heart is gone. And so we are beholding. We're looking at Christ and the glory of Christ.

We're looking at the gospel. We're thinking through the implications. We're looking to Christ himself and what it means to be in Christ and receiving Christ and all of his benefits. Beholding the glory of the Lord.

Different than old covenant mosaic economy. With the veil... Are... Notice, here's what I wanted you to really see with the all. This is true of all Christians. Are being transformed. Oh, Paul, since you're not doing enough mosaic law stuff, you know, people's lives really aren't changed.

Oh, you want to bet? Well, he doesn't say it that way, but that's how we talk. Really? All who are in Christ are being transformed. All are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.