WEBVTT 00:00:01.389 --> 00:00:03.990 Hello, you are listening to Second City Sermons, 00:00:04.370 --> 00:00:07.110 a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg. 00:00:07.769 --> 00:00:09.869 This fall we're studying the book of Second Corinthians. 00:00:10.789 --> 00:00:13.070 Second Corinthians is a heartfelt and practical 00:00:13.070 --> 00:00:16.050 book calling us back to the life of the cross. 00:00:17.050 --> 00:00:19.730 We, like the Corinthians, so often pursue glory, 00:00:19.949 --> 00:00:23.410 admire eloquence, shun suffering, hide hurt, 00:00:23.829 --> 00:00:26.750 and hoard our goods. And yet the gospel of Jesus 00:00:26.750 --> 00:00:29.910 tells us that resurrection comes after a cross. 00:00:30.939 --> 00:00:34.500 comfort comes after being crushed, that the way 00:00:34.500 --> 00:00:36.759 up is the way down, that the way to glory is 00:00:36.759 --> 00:00:39.899 through suffering, that his strength is made 00:00:39.899 --> 00:00:44.619 perfect in our weakness. We'd love to meet you 00:00:44.619 --> 00:00:46.259 and we hope you'll consider coming and joining 00:00:46.259 --> 00:00:48.659 with us each Sunday morning at 10 a .m. in the 00:00:48.659 --> 00:00:51.140 heart of Midtown Harrisburg. You can find us 00:00:51.140 --> 00:00:53.899 online at SecondCityChurch .org and on Facebook, 00:00:54.159 --> 00:00:57.119 Instagram, and YouTube. We hope you enjoy this 00:00:57.119 --> 00:01:00.109 sermon. God bless. Great God, thank you for your 00:01:00.109 --> 00:01:02.990 holy word. Thank you for these texts, particularly 00:01:02.990 --> 00:01:06.310 from 2 Corinthians chapter 3, but the beauty 00:01:06.310 --> 00:01:11.709 that is your word, Psalm 32 and Ezekiel 11 and 00:01:11.709 --> 00:01:16.469 Mark chapter 7 and all of these in many regards, 00:01:16.549 --> 00:01:21.010 speaking of these same truths. Lord, thank you 00:01:21.010 --> 00:01:23.250 for the gift of its reading. Thank you for the 00:01:23.250 --> 00:01:25.829 gift of its preaching. God, I pray for each one 00:01:25.829 --> 00:01:28.700 of us. that we would be attentive this morning 00:01:28.700 --> 00:01:30.379 to what you would have to speak to us. Lord, 00:01:30.579 --> 00:01:34.079 speak, your servants are listening. In Jesus' 00:01:34.299 --> 00:01:40.379 name, amen. All right, so this morning in our 00:01:40.379 --> 00:01:42.000 adult Sunday school class, well, what we're doing 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:44.420 is we're inviting different people in the church, 00:01:44.420 --> 00:01:46.599 and I would encourage you, if you care to do 00:01:46.599 --> 00:01:48.939 this, it would be a gift to all of us, to share 00:01:48.939 --> 00:01:50.879 some of the heroes of the faith that have gone 00:01:50.879 --> 00:01:52.359 before us in church history with one another. 00:01:52.959 --> 00:01:55.280 I got to do that this morning. And we were looking 00:01:55.280 --> 00:01:58.280 at the life and legacy of a man who many consider 00:01:58.280 --> 00:02:01.420 to be the greatest, or at the very least, it's 00:02:01.420 --> 00:02:03.519 unquestionable that he is among the greatest 00:02:03.519 --> 00:02:09.759 Scotsmen of the 19th century. Thomas Chalmers 00:02:09.759 --> 00:02:13.560 served in many, many ways, many different educational 00:02:13.560 --> 00:02:16.969 posts at St. Andrews a couple of times. in Edinburgh. 00:02:17.090 --> 00:02:19.490 He was the president for the Royal Society of 00:02:19.490 --> 00:02:21.870 Edinburgh, which is Scotland's national society 00:02:21.870 --> 00:02:26.469 for science and letters. I mentioned that the 00:02:26.469 --> 00:02:29.069 University of St. Andrews had a twice -in -large 00:02:29.069 --> 00:02:31.909 lecture hall for the lectures he was giving on 00:02:31.909 --> 00:02:37.409 mathematics. They were so invigorating. I wish 00:02:37.409 --> 00:02:41.729 I would have had him as my math teacher. He was 00:02:41.729 --> 00:02:44.750 also the professor of moral philosophy. He gave 00:02:45.500 --> 00:02:48.979 lectures on political economy, on economics. 00:02:50.400 --> 00:02:53.180 When he was the pastor of the Great Tron Church 00:02:53.180 --> 00:02:58.860 in Glasgow, he started a midweek study for businessmen 00:02:58.860 --> 00:03:01.919 in the area there in Glasgow to gather together 00:03:01.919 --> 00:03:04.740 and to think of the things of God. And he thought, 00:03:05.039 --> 00:03:08.180 of all places, let's start with Christianity 00:03:08.180 --> 00:03:15.080 and astronomy. That makes a lot of sense, right? 00:03:15.439 --> 00:03:18.460 His first lectures were on astronomy and actually 00:03:18.460 --> 00:03:21.599 those lectures were published and remarkably 00:03:21.599 --> 00:03:24.199 that year they were published eight more times. 00:03:24.199 --> 00:03:26.960 They went through nine printings that year. They 00:03:26.960 --> 00:03:31.120 outsold in that year the combined works of both 00:03:31.120 --> 00:03:34.319 Jane Austen and Sir Walter Scott lectures on 00:03:34.319 --> 00:03:39.300 astronomy. There's zero question. He was one 00:03:39.300 --> 00:03:41.500 of the great thinkers of the day with regards 00:03:41.500 --> 00:03:45.520 to poverty, particularly in the cities. How do 00:03:45.520 --> 00:03:48.099 we care for the poor? While he was the pastor 00:03:48.099 --> 00:03:50.199 of the great Tron Church in Glasgow, he was there 00:03:50.199 --> 00:03:53.099 for five years, and then there was the massive 00:03:53.099 --> 00:03:56.539 influx of people for the coal and the textile 00:03:56.539 --> 00:03:59.439 industry in the south of Scotland, as was the 00:03:59.439 --> 00:04:01.199 case in other parts of the world, including our 00:04:01.199 --> 00:04:03.919 own country. There was this huge industrial revolution 00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:05.460 that was taking place and all these people were 00:04:05.460 --> 00:04:07.400 flocking into cities and there was great poverty. 00:04:07.800 --> 00:04:10.919 And he looked out upon one of the most poverty 00:04:10.919 --> 00:04:14.340 stricken areas of Edinburgh, St. John's Parish, 00:04:14.400 --> 00:04:16.819 and he petitioned, can I start a church there? 00:04:17.240 --> 00:04:19.660 And while he was there planting that church and 00:04:19.660 --> 00:04:22.699 caring for that, the city's expense that they 00:04:22.699 --> 00:04:25.560 gave to the care of the poor was diminished to 00:04:25.560 --> 00:04:28.240 one fifth of what it was before, because the 00:04:28.240 --> 00:04:30.300 church was so active in caring for the poor. 00:04:31.399 --> 00:04:34.300 I read that there were 50 different Sunday schools 00:04:34.300 --> 00:04:36.699 going on, largely teaching people how to read, 00:04:36.779 --> 00:04:39.779 how to brush their teeth, but also the great 00:04:39.779 --> 00:04:44.600 faith of Christ's cross and resurrection. Thomas 00:04:44.600 --> 00:04:47.519 Chalmers taught many of the great pastors and 00:04:47.519 --> 00:04:49.279 hymn writers of the 19th century. You can think 00:04:49.279 --> 00:04:52.040 of Horatius Bonar or Andrew Bonar, or you can 00:04:52.040 --> 00:04:54.259 think of Robert Murray McShane. Some of you use 00:04:54.259 --> 00:04:56.899 his Bible reading program to direct your Bible 00:04:56.899 --> 00:04:59.620 reading throughout the year. He taught some of 00:04:59.620 --> 00:05:02.620 the great professors that would come after him. 00:05:02.620 --> 00:05:04.379 One of the great Old Testament scholars in Scotland 00:05:04.379 --> 00:05:07.759 in the latter part of the 19th century was John 00:05:07.759 --> 00:05:10.060 Duncan, who had the nickname Rabbi, even though 00:05:10.060 --> 00:05:13.680 he was Scottish, because he so knew and loved 00:05:13.680 --> 00:05:16.759 the things of the Jewish people. Rabbi Duncan. 00:05:17.720 --> 00:05:20.300 And a lot of people attribute to Thomas Chalmers 00:05:20.300 --> 00:05:22.959 really the beginning of the great missions movement 00:05:22.959 --> 00:05:26.819 that began in the 19th century. David Livingston 00:05:26.819 --> 00:05:29.480 coming out of that movement. But the Scottish 00:05:29.879 --> 00:05:32.019 The Scots at that time and largely under the 00:05:32.019 --> 00:05:34.019 leading of Thomas Chalmers were the great missionaries 00:05:34.019 --> 00:05:35.899 of the 19th century going out into the world 00:05:35.899 --> 00:05:39.000 and telling people about Jesus. I could keep 00:05:39.000 --> 00:05:42.860 going because by all accounts this was a great 00:05:42.860 --> 00:05:48.120 man who did great work for the gospel of Christ 00:05:48.120 --> 00:05:50.879 in the world. And yet, here's where I want to 00:05:50.879 --> 00:05:54.959 go with this. And yet, early on in his life, 00:05:55.819 --> 00:05:59.689 early on in his career, there's zero question 00:05:59.689 --> 00:06:01.449 that he had little concern for the people under 00:06:01.449 --> 00:06:04.649 his care. He would say the same thing. The first 00:06:04.649 --> 00:06:07.129 pastor that he had was in this small fiefshire 00:06:07.129 --> 00:06:10.550 town of Kilmany, which is not too far from St. 00:06:10.769 --> 00:06:13.230 Andrews, and he would spend all of Monday through 00:06:13.230 --> 00:06:16.089 Friday there in St. Andrews giving lectures on 00:06:16.089 --> 00:06:19.060 math and other things. Well... I will say this 00:06:19.060 --> 00:06:21.259 until he he came at odds he was an assistant 00:06:21.259 --> 00:06:22.879 he was a lecturer there at the university and 00:06:22.879 --> 00:06:25.120 then the the main math professor and he had it 00:06:25.120 --> 00:06:27.319 out because they were both hotheads and so he 00:06:27.319 --> 00:06:30.500 started lecturing on math at just a town hall 00:06:30.500 --> 00:06:33.180 and all the students actually went to his lectures 00:06:33.180 --> 00:06:35.040 he was a rather full of himself and he thought 00:06:35.040 --> 00:06:37.980 he didn't really need to care for his flock and 00:06:37.980 --> 00:06:40.500 until there was a massive transformation in his 00:06:40.500 --> 00:06:45.600 life one year um actually so one year his uncle 00:06:45.600 --> 00:06:48.860 and his beloved sister both died And then he 00:06:48.860 --> 00:06:53.180 self -published a book that got no attention 00:06:53.180 --> 00:06:56.519 at all. The title of that book is, Inquiry into 00:06:56.519 --> 00:06:59.139 the Extent and Stability of Natural Resources, 00:06:59.839 --> 00:07:04.500 invigorating. It was an analysis on some of Napoleon 00:07:04.500 --> 00:07:08.680 Bonaparte's commercial policies. The stuff that 00:07:08.680 --> 00:07:11.459 puts you to bed probably, like our book of Church 00:07:11.459 --> 00:07:16.829 Orders, which is so helpful. Anyway, he was so 00:07:16.829 --> 00:07:18.750 discouraged by that and so distraught over the 00:07:18.750 --> 00:07:21.430 passing of his loved ones. And then he got consumption 00:07:21.430 --> 00:07:24.810 and actually spent about six months in bed. And 00:07:24.810 --> 00:07:27.129 it was through this dynamic of being humbled 00:07:27.129 --> 00:07:29.310 and then also coming face to face with the reality 00:07:29.310 --> 00:07:33.189 that we may have to give an account at any moment 00:07:33.189 --> 00:07:37.519 to Christ for what we did in this body. that 00:07:37.519 --> 00:07:40.040 his life could be taken from him at any moment, 00:07:40.339 --> 00:07:43.040 that the Holy Spirit so worked in him that he 00:07:43.040 --> 00:07:47.199 came back from that deathbed and everybody knew 00:07:47.199 --> 00:07:50.040 he was a changed man. And the Holy Spirit had 00:07:50.040 --> 00:07:53.439 entirely changed him. He went from kind of never 00:07:53.439 --> 00:07:55.639 seeing his parish, not having a care of the world 00:07:55.639 --> 00:07:57.819 for them, spending all of his time over in Posh 00:07:57.819 --> 00:08:00.620 St. Andrews to devoting himself to the ministry 00:08:00.620 --> 00:08:04.420 there in Kilmany. And the... The doors were bursting 00:08:04.420 --> 00:08:07.540 at the seams for people to come and to hear Thomas 00:08:07.540 --> 00:08:09.680 Chalmers preach. He went on, of course, to have 00:08:09.680 --> 00:08:11.680 this remarkable ministry and all these other 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:14.519 kinds of ways. But he wrote at that time in his 00:08:14.519 --> 00:08:18.480 journal, he said, Oh God, make me feel the firmness 00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:22.100 of the ground I tread upon and enable me to give 00:08:22.100 --> 00:08:27.660 all my mind to thy word. Above all, may I never 00:08:27.660 --> 00:08:36.480 receive by a single inch from my Savior. Now 00:08:36.480 --> 00:08:39.840 the end of second Corinthians chapter 2 last 00:08:39.840 --> 00:08:41.679 week we didn't talk about this last verse but 00:08:41.679 --> 00:08:46.039 it ended like this For we are not like so many 00:08:46.039 --> 00:08:49.539 Peddlers of God's Word but as men of sincerity 00:08:49.539 --> 00:08:54.059 as commissioned by God in the sight of God we 00:08:54.059 --> 00:08:59.679 speak Christ and we pick up in chapter 3 and 00:08:59.679 --> 00:09:02.679 It begins with this distinction between the peddlers 00:09:02.679 --> 00:09:05.740 of God's Word which happens a few times in 2 00:09:05.740 --> 00:09:09.740 Corinthians chapter 3, and a Christ -centered, 00:09:09.740 --> 00:09:13.799 sort of spirit -filled ministry. This is how 00:09:13.799 --> 00:09:17.940 it begins. 2 Corinthians chapter 3. Actually, 00:09:17.960 --> 00:09:20.299 let me find it. You can turn in your Bibles too. 00:09:20.460 --> 00:09:22.759 There, we're going to look at, draw your attention 00:09:22.759 --> 00:09:25.820 to different passages. 2 Corinthians chapter 00:09:25.820 --> 00:09:28.879 3 begins like this. Are we beginning to commend 00:09:28.879 --> 00:09:34.460 ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters 00:09:34.460 --> 00:09:40.440 of recommendation to you or from you. See, in 00:09:40.440 --> 00:09:44.320 the ancient world, if one was to go from one 00:09:44.320 --> 00:09:46.700 town to the next, say, last week I mentioned 00:09:46.700 --> 00:09:49.700 Troas up in the north of the Aegean Sea down 00:09:49.700 --> 00:09:52.179 to Corinth in the southern sort of tip of what 00:09:52.179 --> 00:09:56.370 would be Greece now. If you did that and you 00:09:56.370 --> 00:09:58.970 wanted to get employed in this new place, you 00:09:58.970 --> 00:10:01.070 would get letters of recommendation showing that 00:10:01.070 --> 00:10:03.470 you were a fine brick layer or you could make 00:10:03.470 --> 00:10:06.070 tents or all these kinds of stuff. You would 00:10:06.070 --> 00:10:07.730 bring along these letters and you'd say, hey, 00:10:07.730 --> 00:10:09.450 can I have a job? Of course, we still do this 00:10:09.450 --> 00:10:13.529 today, right? We fill out our CVs. We get other 00:10:13.529 --> 00:10:16.009 people to reference us. We make calls to make 00:10:16.009 --> 00:10:18.230 sure those references are good. We write letters 00:10:18.230 --> 00:10:20.309 of recommendation. I have written many of you 00:10:20.309 --> 00:10:23.899 letters of recommendation for various. It's a 00:10:23.899 --> 00:10:28.360 fine practice, those kinds of things. But they 00:10:28.360 --> 00:10:30.759 had, this is what had happened. The people came 00:10:30.759 --> 00:10:34.259 in to Corinth and they were sowing dissent among 00:10:34.259 --> 00:10:36.139 the people. And they were saying, oh, this whole 00:10:36.139 --> 00:10:39.059 free offer of the gospel thing that Paul's offering, 00:10:39.080 --> 00:10:42.940 that's not enough. And they're doing this because 00:10:42.940 --> 00:10:44.860 they had letters. And so because they had letters, 00:10:44.879 --> 00:10:46.340 they got the job. And because they had letters, 00:10:46.379 --> 00:10:48.840 they started getting the money, started being 00:10:48.840 --> 00:10:53.929 the peddlers of the word of God. Paul says there 00:10:53.929 --> 00:10:59.029 is a different kind of letter and it is not just 00:10:59.029 --> 00:11:02.269 different sort of materially, but it's on a whole 00:11:02.269 --> 00:11:07.250 different kind of level, letter difference. It's 00:11:07.250 --> 00:11:09.710 the letter that is written on the heart by the 00:11:09.710 --> 00:11:11.690 Holy Spirit. And so verses two and three, they 00:11:11.690 --> 00:11:15.950 say this, you yourselves are our letter of recommendation 00:11:15.950 --> 00:11:19.409 written on our hearts to be known and read by 00:11:19.409 --> 00:11:23.039 all. and you show that you are a letter from 00:11:23.039 --> 00:11:27.440 Christ delivered by us, written not with ink, 00:11:27.980 --> 00:11:31.539 but with the Spirit of the living God, not on 00:11:31.539 --> 00:11:36.059 tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts. 00:11:37.940 --> 00:11:41.019 And some of you might catch, some of you know 00:11:41.019 --> 00:11:43.379 your Bibles well, and you might catch that he's 00:11:43.379 --> 00:11:46.440 referring to one of the great passages in the 00:11:46.440 --> 00:11:49.200 Old Testament, Jeremiah 31. It's also, by the 00:11:49.200 --> 00:11:51.279 way, connected to Ezekiel chapter 11 that you 00:11:51.279 --> 00:11:54.120 heard. But here are some of the verses from Jeremiah 00:11:54.120 --> 00:11:58.600 31, verses 31 to 33. Behold, the days are coming, 00:11:58.799 --> 00:12:01.039 declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant 00:12:01.039 --> 00:12:03.179 with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 00:12:03.379 --> 00:12:05.440 Not like the covenant I made with their fathers 00:12:05.440 --> 00:12:07.700 on the day when I took them by the hand to bring 00:12:07.700 --> 00:12:09.460 them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that 00:12:09.460 --> 00:12:11.820 they broke, though I was their husband, declares 00:12:11.820 --> 00:12:14.179 the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will 00:12:14.179 --> 00:12:15.980 make with the house of Israel. And after those 00:12:15.980 --> 00:12:18.399 days, declares the Lord, I will put my law within 00:12:18.399 --> 00:12:22.000 them and I will write it on their hearts and 00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:25.600 I will be their God and they will be my people. 00:12:27.039 --> 00:12:30.139 Or as Paul continues on in verses five and seven, 00:12:30.320 --> 00:12:32.659 five to seven, it says this, not that we are 00:12:32.659 --> 00:12:35.320 sufficient in ourselves to claim anything is 00:12:35.320 --> 00:12:38.399 coming from us, but our sufficiencies from God 00:12:38.399 --> 00:12:41.409 who's made us. us sufficient to be ministers 00:12:41.409 --> 00:12:45.210 of a new covenant, not by the letter, but by 00:12:45.210 --> 00:12:49.649 the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit 00:12:49.649 --> 00:12:55.750 gives life." Okay, now you all probably have 00:12:55.750 --> 00:12:58.129 heard, if you've been around church settings 00:12:58.129 --> 00:12:59.710 for a little while, maybe you've read about some 00:12:59.710 --> 00:13:02.269 of this stuff, this great distinction between 00:13:02.269 --> 00:13:07.840 the old covenant and the new covenant. And you've 00:13:07.840 --> 00:13:10.340 probably heard that that's primarily sort of 00:13:10.340 --> 00:13:14.220 a temporal kind of thing old covenant equates 00:13:14.220 --> 00:13:21.039 to old Testament maybe New covenant equates to 00:13:21.039 --> 00:13:23.759 new testament maybe y 'all heard that kind of 00:13:23.759 --> 00:13:26.480 thing Probably some price maybe refer that kind 00:13:26.480 --> 00:13:32.220 of thing Old covenant pre Christ new covenant 00:13:32.220 --> 00:13:37.659 post Christ that kind of thing BC you know, all 00:13:37.659 --> 00:13:40.840 that kind of division. But I want to put something 00:13:40.840 --> 00:13:42.000 before you this morning that I actually think 00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:45.080 is deeply, deeply important. It massively influences 00:13:45.080 --> 00:13:46.960 how we approach the Bible, but it also invites 00:13:46.960 --> 00:13:49.799 us to examine our hearts, I think, which is a 00:13:49.799 --> 00:13:53.620 very healthy thing. And it's this, that the Old 00:13:53.620 --> 00:13:56.419 Covenant, New Covenant idea is one that is not 00:13:56.419 --> 00:13:59.480 so much temporal, but spiritual. It's not so 00:13:59.480 --> 00:14:01.639 much a temporal distinction as a spiritual distinction. 00:14:02.599 --> 00:14:05.200 And what Paul is saying in this chapter is that 00:14:05.200 --> 00:14:10.860 you can be part of Israel or not part of true 00:14:10.860 --> 00:14:14.480 Israel. You can be a preacher and you can be 00:14:14.480 --> 00:14:16.759 a teacher and you can be an elder and you can 00:14:16.759 --> 00:14:19.120 lead small groups and you can lead Sunday school 00:14:19.120 --> 00:14:23.440 and not be truly a part of the people of God. 00:14:25.799 --> 00:14:29.840 You can be a faithful attender in worship. You 00:14:29.840 --> 00:14:34.669 can know your theology. You can read through 00:14:34.669 --> 00:14:37.889 the Bible. You can do all these different things. 00:14:38.070 --> 00:14:42.210 Volunteered English language classes. And you 00:14:42.210 --> 00:14:45.529 can be of the old covenant and not the new. You 00:14:45.529 --> 00:14:48.649 can be of the letter and not the spirit. The 00:14:48.649 --> 00:14:55.909 way of death and not the way of freedom. One 00:14:55.909 --> 00:15:00.190 last, the new covenant working in us through 00:15:00.190 --> 00:15:03.159 the Holy Spirit. But the other comes to an end 00:15:03.159 --> 00:15:05.720 the covenant the old covenant the covenant of 00:15:05.720 --> 00:15:10.779 working of letter of law of doing So the next 00:15:10.779 --> 00:15:13.200 two paragraphs of this chapter, they kind of 00:15:13.200 --> 00:15:18.279 talk about these two big pictures The two big 00:15:18.279 --> 00:15:20.779 words that they keep going back to are the words 00:15:20.779 --> 00:15:24.269 glory and the word veil. And I think as we kind 00:15:24.269 --> 00:15:26.110 of maybe consider these two words, I think it 00:15:26.110 --> 00:15:29.389 will invite us into this understanding. But first 00:15:29.389 --> 00:15:31.669 what you have to get when you come to these two 00:15:31.669 --> 00:15:33.549 words, glory and veil in these next two chapters, 00:15:33.610 --> 00:15:36.009 what you need to understand is that what Paul 00:15:36.009 --> 00:15:39.350 is doing is throughout this whole section right 00:15:39.350 --> 00:15:42.409 here, is he's inviting you back to the story 00:15:42.409 --> 00:15:47.230 of Exodus 32 to 34. Now, some of you may know 00:15:47.230 --> 00:15:49.950 what that story is, but you know. Many of you 00:15:49.950 --> 00:15:53.950 probably don't remember that. Children, some 00:15:53.950 --> 00:15:55.409 of you are going to remember what happens in 00:15:55.409 --> 00:15:59.450 Exodus 32. When Moses goes up to the mountain 00:15:59.450 --> 00:16:03.389 and he receives the commandments of God written 00:16:03.389 --> 00:16:07.830 on the stone, what are the, I want like under 00:16:07.830 --> 00:16:10.350 15 of these sanctions, what are the people of 00:16:10.350 --> 00:16:12.429 God, the Israelites doing down at the base of 00:16:12.429 --> 00:16:20.259 the mountain? What does he find them doing? Thank 00:16:20.259 --> 00:16:25.860 you. Building an idol, right? They've gathered 00:16:25.860 --> 00:16:29.279 together their jewelry. Hey, give me your earrings 00:16:29.279 --> 00:16:31.200 and your rings and your necklaces. Let's throw 00:16:31.200 --> 00:16:35.100 them in. Oh, there's a golden calf. Let's bow 00:16:35.100 --> 00:16:36.720 down. So Moses comes down from the mountain, 00:16:36.840 --> 00:16:40.440 right? He's got the tablets and he hears singing. 00:16:40.840 --> 00:16:44.299 People are praising. He hears shouting. It's 00:16:44.299 --> 00:16:47.379 a worship service. Of course, he throws down 00:16:47.379 --> 00:16:49.100 those tablets, doesn't he? He's kind of... He's 00:16:49.100 --> 00:16:51.700 kind of unhappy about that, as he should be because 00:16:51.700 --> 00:16:53.620 they're not actually worshiping the Lord. They 00:16:53.620 --> 00:16:55.600 had just been brought out of slavery. They'd 00:16:55.600 --> 00:16:59.240 just seen the mighty acts of God in salvation. 00:16:59.919 --> 00:17:02.620 And what do they do? They fall down and they 00:17:02.620 --> 00:17:07.039 worship another God. He had just been given the 00:17:07.039 --> 00:17:09.900 law of God, the letter of God written on tablets 00:17:09.900 --> 00:17:17.039 of stone. But the letter in and of itself never 00:17:17.039 --> 00:17:23.619 brings life. It never does. The letter does absolutely 00:17:23.619 --> 00:17:27.740 nothing for you. It actually does something very 00:17:27.740 --> 00:17:31.920 negative. It only brings condemnation. Your heart 00:17:31.920 --> 00:17:35.019 is not bent towards the Lord. Your heart has 00:17:35.019 --> 00:17:37.380 not received a transformation through the Spirit 00:17:37.380 --> 00:17:40.559 of God. Of course, the story goes on to tell 00:17:40.559 --> 00:17:43.420 of how Moses then begins to meet with God in 00:17:43.420 --> 00:17:45.779 the tent of meeting, right? Outside of the camp. 00:17:46.059 --> 00:17:48.980 because God's basically like fed up with them. 00:17:50.380 --> 00:17:55.339 And, you know, Moses and Joshua are out there 00:17:55.339 --> 00:17:58.619 at the tent of meeting and Moses goes in to meet 00:17:58.619 --> 00:18:01.440 with God. And when he would meet with God, he 00:18:01.440 --> 00:18:04.299 would come out and his face, it says, would be 00:18:04.299 --> 00:18:07.480 full of glory, would be radiant because he'd 00:18:07.480 --> 00:18:11.079 been in God's presence, unveiled before the face 00:18:11.079 --> 00:18:15.759 of God. And he would come out. and he would shine 00:18:15.759 --> 00:18:20.680 with God's glory. Now, if we looked down at that 00:18:20.680 --> 00:18:25.259 paragraph that begins there in verse seven, what 00:18:25.259 --> 00:18:27.940 we would see is that this ministry of Moses is 00:18:27.940 --> 00:18:34.000 said to be a ministry of death. Sorry, it's said 00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:36.839 to be primarily a ministry of glory. It's very 00:18:36.839 --> 00:18:38.900 interesting that that's the word that keeps being 00:18:38.900 --> 00:18:42.380 said. It's also said to be a ministry of death, 00:18:42.400 --> 00:18:44.359 but it's primarily said to be a ministry of glory. 00:18:44.490 --> 00:18:49.849 And what many Christians make of this is primarily 00:18:49.849 --> 00:18:53.750 the idea of death. Ah, the Old Testament, death, 00:18:54.170 --> 00:18:58.190 bad, old, passe, antiquated, to be disregarded 00:18:58.190 --> 00:19:00.009 and not read and not studied and not thought 00:19:00.009 --> 00:19:06.190 much of, right? Old, particularly we like new 00:19:06.190 --> 00:19:10.190 stuff, right? Maybe not new, we're in this building 00:19:10.190 --> 00:19:12.009 that could use a little new in it sometimes. 00:19:14.019 --> 00:19:16.240 But that is not the main thing that Paul's saying. 00:19:16.339 --> 00:19:18.000 The main thing he's saying actually is that it 00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:23.500 was very glorious. Verse 7 actually tells us, 00:19:24.079 --> 00:19:26.099 now at the Ministry of Death, carved in letters 00:19:26.099 --> 00:19:29.859 of stone, came with such glory that the Israelites 00:19:29.859 --> 00:19:33.440 could not gaze at Moses' face because of its 00:19:33.440 --> 00:19:37.380 glory. He twice says, it's glorious. You can't 00:19:37.380 --> 00:19:41.619 even look at it. It's so amazing. That's part 00:19:41.619 --> 00:19:48.339 of... the emphasis, down in verse 11, the end 00:19:48.339 --> 00:19:53.279 of that paragraph, for if what was being brought 00:19:53.279 --> 00:19:59.259 to an end came with glory, much more, well what 00:19:59.259 --> 00:20:01.599 does permanent have glory? You know what? I've 00:20:01.599 --> 00:20:04.759 been hearing this alarm going off since I walked 00:20:04.759 --> 00:20:07.160 by this morning at 5 30. It goes off like every 00:20:07.160 --> 00:20:10.150 half hour. And so it's all just going to distract 00:20:10.150 --> 00:20:12.750 us for the next minute. How about we just let 00:20:12.750 --> 00:20:16.170 it pass by for a moment? I was thinking this 00:20:16.170 --> 00:20:18.230 morning while I was sitting in my office, I was 00:20:18.230 --> 00:20:20.890 like, what am I going to do with that alarm that 00:20:20.890 --> 00:20:23.069 keeps going off? It's probably going to go off 00:20:23.069 --> 00:20:27.910 right in the middle of my sermon. And it is. 00:20:29.250 --> 00:20:31.609 We'll just let it pass. It doesn't last too long. 00:20:40.400 --> 00:20:44.779 Golly somebody it's your car wake up 11 o 'clock 00:20:44.779 --> 00:20:49.559 already. It's time to get on with your day It's 00:20:49.559 --> 00:20:51.660 what I'm saying is that what what what Paul is 00:20:51.660 --> 00:20:55.180 unequivocally saying is that this this old covenant 00:20:55.180 --> 00:20:59.500 can come with this sorry this this This gift 00:20:59.500 --> 00:21:02.559 of the law can be a ministry of death, but you 00:21:02.559 --> 00:21:05.440 have to understand that it's glorious It's surpassed, 00:21:05.440 --> 00:21:07.920 but the primary thing that Paul does say about 00:21:07.920 --> 00:21:11.700 this was that it was a glorious time. Now, what 00:21:11.700 --> 00:21:14.559 he is not saying is that the old covenant was 00:21:14.559 --> 00:21:17.039 glorious. He's saying that the letter that was 00:21:17.039 --> 00:21:19.539 given at the time was glorious, which is to say 00:21:19.539 --> 00:21:25.000 the law of God. But if all you have is that, 00:21:25.500 --> 00:21:28.759 it only brings death. and it only brings condemnation 00:21:28.759 --> 00:21:31.359 and it has no glory at all. Even the glory that 00:21:31.359 --> 00:21:34.359 it does have, received rightly, is surpassed 00:21:34.359 --> 00:21:36.400 by what we have in light of the coming of Christ. 00:21:37.259 --> 00:21:39.839 And yet, if you receive it as simply a letter, 00:21:40.640 --> 00:21:43.599 as simply something to do, it brings death, it 00:21:43.599 --> 00:21:47.759 brings condemnation. Well, brothers and sisters, 00:21:48.200 --> 00:21:51.039 how did the Israelites receive the law of God? 00:21:53.470 --> 00:21:56.690 Where are the 40 years of wandering in the desert 00:21:56.690 --> 00:22:01.109 by the people of God? Was that generation commended 00:22:01.109 --> 00:22:05.329 for their faithfulness? Lifted up as a model. 00:22:10.890 --> 00:22:18.369 Did the generation that Jeremiah speaks to, he 00:22:18.369 --> 00:22:21.490 says there's going to be a day when the spirit 00:22:21.490 --> 00:22:25.980 writes, the words of God upon our hearts. Is 00:22:25.980 --> 00:22:28.559 the generation of Jeremiah's day ever lifted 00:22:28.559 --> 00:22:36.880 up to us as to be commended? No, not at all. 00:22:41.440 --> 00:22:46.380 They had the very words of God, and yet what 00:22:46.380 --> 00:22:48.339 we hear time and time again in the scriptures 00:22:48.339 --> 00:22:51.390 is that they didn't care for the care for the 00:22:51.390 --> 00:22:55.230 Lord Himself. Though they had the very law of 00:22:55.230 --> 00:22:58.069 God given to them, their hearts were far from 00:22:58.069 --> 00:23:02.029 Him. And the fact is that you can have the law 00:23:02.029 --> 00:23:05.549 of God and it be glorious. But if you do not 00:23:05.549 --> 00:23:09.589 have a love for the Lord, if the Spirit of God 00:23:09.589 --> 00:23:13.609 that Moses had, that Aaron had, that Caleb had, 00:23:13.750 --> 00:23:15.809 that Joshua had, that Miriam had, that Plenty 00:23:15.809 --> 00:23:21.279 had at that time, If the Spirit of God does not 00:23:21.279 --> 00:23:24.160 transform your heart, then all that the law does 00:23:24.160 --> 00:23:27.559 is condemn you. All that the law does is show 00:23:27.559 --> 00:23:32.279 you how little you care for Him, how you bring 00:23:32.279 --> 00:23:36.619 death. We know, right? You can think with me, 00:23:36.900 --> 00:23:41.359 the people of God often rested on the glory of 00:23:41.359 --> 00:23:46.000 the law. They held it up and said, because we 00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:49.750 have this, We can set aside all, you know, we 00:23:49.750 --> 00:23:52.730 can sit on our spiritual laurels. And we know 00:23:52.730 --> 00:23:55.769 that that was the case in Jeremiah's day. I mean, 00:23:55.769 --> 00:24:00.710 we have the temple. God himself said that we're 00:24:00.710 --> 00:24:03.029 his people. We have Abraham as our father. We've 00:24:03.029 --> 00:24:04.769 been circumcised. We belong to the people of 00:24:04.769 --> 00:24:08.190 God. That's the case in Jeremiah's day when he 00:24:08.190 --> 00:24:12.109 wrote his marvelous works, Jeremiah and Lamentations. 00:24:13.070 --> 00:24:15.549 They believed that because they were the chosen 00:24:15.549 --> 00:24:18.210 ones, because God had met with their ancestors 00:24:18.210 --> 00:24:20.289 there on Mount Sinai and given them the law, 00:24:20.630 --> 00:24:24.869 they were good. What happened during Jeremiah's 00:24:24.869 --> 00:24:31.470 day? Exile, the judgment of God brought upon 00:24:31.470 --> 00:24:36.069 those people, death and condemnation. Think of 00:24:36.069 --> 00:24:44.279 our Lord Jesus. Jesus comes to minister. among 00:24:44.279 --> 00:24:47.559 the people who had received the law of God. So 00:24:47.559 --> 00:24:51.240 many of his words were to the Pharisees or the 00:24:51.240 --> 00:24:53.200 scribes. What was the scribe, but literally the 00:24:53.200 --> 00:24:58.460 one who was writing out the law of God. Experts, 00:24:58.680 --> 00:25:01.859 they knew it all. The theologians of the day, 00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:04.759 the people that devoted themselves to the scriptures, 00:25:06.119 --> 00:25:09.079 the scribes, the teachers of the law. Did they 00:25:09.079 --> 00:25:13.910 have the glorious words of God? Absolutely. They 00:25:13.910 --> 00:25:18.349 did They you could say they devoted their lives 00:25:18.349 --> 00:25:24.470 to it But they miss God entirely when he was 00:25:24.470 --> 00:25:28.789 standing right there in front of them Because 00:25:28.789 --> 00:25:33.829 their hearts were not transformed and the letter 00:25:33.829 --> 00:25:38.630 killed and Only the spirit gives life the letter 00:25:38.630 --> 00:25:42.490 the law the right words and the right actions 00:25:43.430 --> 00:25:45.630 In a way, you could say they have a form of glory. 00:25:45.890 --> 00:25:53.069 They're a gift of God. But often it's a form 00:25:53.069 --> 00:25:57.670 of glory as verse 10, right? It says it's surpassing 00:25:57.670 --> 00:26:01.269 and when used wrongly, it's actually a letter 00:26:01.269 --> 00:26:08.769 of death. And the truth is that the letter, the 00:26:08.769 --> 00:26:12.690 law, the right words and all of that, are often 00:26:12.690 --> 00:26:16.450 far from glorious, aren't they? Don't we all 00:26:16.450 --> 00:26:22.289 know? We all know that people have done atrocious 00:26:22.289 --> 00:26:28.190 things in the name of Christ. We all can admit 00:26:28.190 --> 00:26:30.809 that there is reason why our neighbors say, go 00:26:30.809 --> 00:26:36.109 to church. Yeah, right. Place is full of people 00:26:36.109 --> 00:26:40.089 that are full of themselves. Self -righteous. 00:26:41.460 --> 00:26:48.240 self -confident, full of pride, hypocrites. We 00:26:48.240 --> 00:26:51.380 all know that there's reason for that because 00:26:51.380 --> 00:26:54.299 it is so often the case that we take the letter 00:26:54.299 --> 00:26:55.900 of God, the glorious thing that has been given, 00:26:55.940 --> 00:27:02.819 and we say, look at me. And we are self, we are 00:27:02.819 --> 00:27:06.220 puffed up. We are full of what we do or we don't 00:27:06.220 --> 00:27:09.329 do, right? I mean, it's true. The law of God 00:27:09.329 --> 00:27:12.509 brings death. It does all over the place. Unless 00:27:12.509 --> 00:27:17.349 you receive it with an utterly transformed heart, 00:27:18.470 --> 00:27:21.450 life that's transformed by the spirit of God. 00:27:23.890 --> 00:27:25.710 Brothers and sisters, this is how they received 00:27:25.710 --> 00:27:32.230 it in Moses's day. It is. They received the glory 00:27:32.230 --> 00:27:35.009 that was before them with a hard, hard heart. 00:27:37.949 --> 00:27:43.609 The wheat and the tares growing together. The 00:27:43.609 --> 00:27:46.589 thing about it, the glorious days of the United 00:27:46.589 --> 00:27:50.369 Kingdom happened under David and under Solomon. 00:27:51.990 --> 00:27:56.349 Glory. Man after God's own heart. A man whose 00:27:56.349 --> 00:27:59.470 life led to the destruction of the kingdom. Wheat 00:27:59.470 --> 00:28:03.470 and tares. They did this in Jerusalem in Jeremiah's 00:28:03.470 --> 00:28:06.680 day. This was the life of the church in Galilee 00:28:06.680 --> 00:28:09.579 and Jerusalem in Jesus' own day. This was the 00:28:09.579 --> 00:28:12.220 life of the church in Corinth with Paul's day 00:28:12.220 --> 00:28:14.559 and these peddlers of the Word of God. And this 00:28:14.559 --> 00:28:16.339 is the life of the church today. It has always 00:28:16.339 --> 00:28:22.539 been the life of the church. Same old, old covenant 00:28:22.539 --> 00:28:32.390 that puffs up and that tears down. It's the old 00:28:32.390 --> 00:28:34.730 covenant that meant that Israel had to wander 00:28:34.730 --> 00:28:39.329 for 40 years instead of being brought in by God, 00:28:39.390 --> 00:28:41.250 by the encouragement of Joshua and Caleb, into 00:28:41.250 --> 00:28:43.250 the promised land. It was their hard hearts. 00:28:44.410 --> 00:28:46.470 It was the death that came out of those hard 00:28:46.470 --> 00:28:49.470 hearts. It's the old covenant that brought about 00:28:49.470 --> 00:28:52.250 the destruction of Jerusalem in Jeremiah's day 00:28:52.250 --> 00:28:55.769 that caused him to write that masterfully sad 00:28:55.769 --> 00:28:59.509 work Lamentations. It's the old covenant that 00:28:59.509 --> 00:29:05.240 crucified our Lord. It's the old covenant that 00:29:05.240 --> 00:29:10.460 promoted or prompted these letters of recommendation 00:29:10.460 --> 00:29:13.619 by these peddlers of the Word of God in Corinth. 00:29:15.220 --> 00:29:19.579 It is life outside the Spirit of God. And life 00:29:19.579 --> 00:29:22.339 outside the Spirit of God always brings death 00:29:22.339 --> 00:29:26.160 and condemnation. Life outside the transformative 00:29:26.160 --> 00:29:29.980 work of the Holy Spirit. Let's think about this, 00:29:30.140 --> 00:29:34.690 right? Anybody know how many people around the 00:29:34.690 --> 00:29:41.009 globe today claim to follow Jesus? 2 .4 billion. 00:29:42.589 --> 00:29:46.869 2 .4 billion people. And of course, you may read 00:29:46.869 --> 00:29:49.609 the stats of how many people claim to follow 00:29:49.609 --> 00:29:57.990 Jesus in our own country. Nobody thinks. No one 00:29:57.990 --> 00:30:02.849 thinks that all those people are grabbing onto 00:30:02.849 --> 00:30:05.930 Christ and His cross, have put it paramount in 00:30:05.930 --> 00:30:10.569 their life, are seeking to put sin to death and 00:30:10.569 --> 00:30:13.890 live in the Holy Spirit. It's the wheat and the 00:30:13.890 --> 00:30:16.029 tares. And it's always been the wheat and the 00:30:16.029 --> 00:30:18.210 tares. It's the old covenant and the new covenant. 00:30:18.309 --> 00:30:21.390 It's always been that way. No one thinks that 00:30:21.390 --> 00:30:24.490 that 2 .4 billion people have circumcised hearts. 00:30:26.670 --> 00:30:30.759 We all know this. What do we make of the last 00:30:30.759 --> 00:30:35.140 paragraph and the veil? Well, so verse 12 says, 00:30:35.220 --> 00:30:38.980 since we have such a hope, we're very bold. Paul 00:30:38.980 --> 00:30:42.759 is very hopeful for this church. Maybe that they 00:30:42.759 --> 00:30:45.619 are living in the tension of the old and new 00:30:45.619 --> 00:30:47.799 covenant, but he's very hopeful for them. That 00:30:47.799 --> 00:30:49.960 word bold there is actually a transliteration 00:30:49.960 --> 00:30:54.200 from the Aramaic. So it's just Greek word. It's 00:30:54.200 --> 00:30:56.160 the Aramaic word just kind of written with Greek 00:30:56.160 --> 00:31:02.279 letters. But he's getting at this idea of veil 00:31:02.279 --> 00:31:07.319 specifically and how a veil in that culture Would 00:31:07.319 --> 00:31:11.700 mean shame and reproach and while an unveiled 00:31:11.700 --> 00:31:18.059 face a face that can be seen looked upon Open 00:31:18.059 --> 00:31:22.700 to you and to be received and given meant confidence 00:31:22.700 --> 00:31:26.990 and it meant freedom What Moses did in covering 00:31:26.990 --> 00:31:30.650 his face was to rebuke the reproach of the people 00:31:30.650 --> 00:31:35.390 because they lacked faith. They didn't really 00:31:35.390 --> 00:31:38.690 want God. They wanted him to give them certain 00:31:38.690 --> 00:31:42.589 things, to do things for them. Their hearts weren't 00:31:42.589 --> 00:31:46.130 bent toward him and knowing him, loving him. 00:31:47.630 --> 00:31:51.950 The veil was an act of judgment. He was depriving 00:31:51.950 --> 00:31:54.799 the people of Israel from the glory of God. as 00:31:54.799 --> 00:31:58.019 a way of telling them that if you continue in 00:31:58.019 --> 00:32:01.839 your unbelief, neither will you receive God now 00:32:01.839 --> 00:32:06.500 or later. If all you want is to take the law 00:32:06.500 --> 00:32:10.140 and do with it what you will, be puffed up, look 00:32:10.140 --> 00:32:13.940 down at others, whatever have you, you won't 00:32:13.940 --> 00:32:16.000 receive really the goodness of it, the glory 00:32:16.000 --> 00:32:18.119 of it, and you will not receive the glory of 00:32:18.119 --> 00:32:24.400 God. The gaze on the glory of God is a privilege 00:32:24.400 --> 00:32:28.000 for those who believe in the reality of God, 00:32:28.599 --> 00:32:31.759 the reality of Christ, the promise of His Holy 00:32:31.759 --> 00:32:36.680 Spirit within them. What Paul is saying, and 00:32:36.680 --> 00:32:39.339 this is kind of wild, what Paul is saying is 00:32:39.339 --> 00:32:42.559 that Moses actually preached with no effect to 00:32:42.559 --> 00:32:44.339 the people of his generation, and Moses would 00:32:44.339 --> 00:32:47.200 have agreed with that. They were the wandering 00:32:47.200 --> 00:32:50.140 generation that died with hardness in most of 00:32:50.140 --> 00:32:53.569 their hearts. But interestingly, Paul is saying 00:32:53.569 --> 00:32:55.809 that actually he preached with great effect in 00:32:55.809 --> 00:33:00.609 Corinth. He's trying to recall for them, hey, 00:33:00.710 --> 00:33:04.130 you're a letter of the spirit. You can't go back 00:33:04.130 --> 00:33:06.890 this other way. Think of what God's done for 00:33:06.890 --> 00:33:10.190 you. We can live with unveiled face. You've been 00:33:10.190 --> 00:33:14.869 transformed by God. Paul's teachers who had come 00:33:14.869 --> 00:33:18.710 in were like the Israelites of old. They were 00:33:18.710 --> 00:33:26.259 church folk. They knew the law. Like the Pharisees, 00:33:26.380 --> 00:33:31.400 like the scribes, like the lawyers who devoted 00:33:31.400 --> 00:33:35.140 themselves to the work of God and they were in 00:33:35.140 --> 00:33:37.960 it for themselves. They were in it to be puffed 00:33:37.960 --> 00:33:44.019 up. They didn't have God's Holy Spirit transforming 00:33:44.019 --> 00:33:49.109 them. This was the Jews back in the day. The 00:33:49.109 --> 00:33:51.569 Israelites of old under Moses. This was Jerusalem 00:33:51.569 --> 00:33:54.970 under Jeremiah. This was Galilee. This was Jerusalem 00:33:54.970 --> 00:33:58.309 under our Lord Jesus. And Paul says it's very 00:33:58.309 --> 00:34:03.769 possible that it could be you. Corinth. People 00:34:03.769 --> 00:34:07.309 of the Church of Corinth. There's always been 00:34:07.309 --> 00:34:08.829 a great deal of unbelief in the church. There 00:34:08.829 --> 00:34:14.650 has. There are churches, full churches, whose 00:34:14.650 --> 00:34:20.840 folk have no heart for Jesus. Truly. No real 00:34:20.840 --> 00:34:25.440 life lived depending on the Holy Spirit. There 00:34:25.440 --> 00:34:27.280 are churches where the ministers and the leaders 00:34:27.280 --> 00:34:33.440 and all the rest have no saving faith. And Paul, 00:34:34.199 --> 00:34:37.139 there's a sense in which Paul likely feared that 00:34:37.139 --> 00:34:39.679 if these other leaders grabbed a hold of this 00:34:39.679 --> 00:34:41.400 congregation, that is where they were heading. 00:34:42.119 --> 00:34:47.159 But he says, no, you've seen. You've beheld the 00:34:47.159 --> 00:34:49.440 glory of God because of the work of the Spirit. 00:34:49.559 --> 00:34:56.059 The veil has been removed. Walk. Walk keeping 00:34:56.059 --> 00:35:01.940 step with the Spirit. Maybe you noticed I put 00:35:01.940 --> 00:35:05.639 a little poem attributed to John Bunyan in the 00:35:05.639 --> 00:35:08.659 meditation page of your bulletin. It says this, 00:35:09.000 --> 00:35:13.619 run, John, run, the law commands, but gives. 00:35:13.920 --> 00:35:16.539 I didn't mean to say gives twice there, but gives 00:35:16.539 --> 00:35:20.599 us neither feet nor hands. It's unable. It only 00:35:20.599 --> 00:35:23.659 brings death. It's unable. Far better news the 00:35:23.659 --> 00:35:29.000 gospel brings. It bids us fly and it gives us 00:35:29.000 --> 00:35:34.460 wings. Daniel Defoe, the great author of Robinson 00:35:34.460 --> 00:35:36.780 Crusoe, he wrote of the church in England in 00:35:36.780 --> 00:35:40.260 his day. He said this, wherever God erects a 00:35:40.260 --> 00:35:42.880 house of prayer, the devil always builds a chapel 00:35:42.880 --> 00:35:47.980 there. And to be found upon examination, the 00:35:47.980 --> 00:35:54.579 latter has the larger congregation. Just folk 00:35:54.579 --> 00:35:59.079 showing up, not really loving Jesus, just going 00:35:59.079 --> 00:36:04.440 through the motions. I believe there are many 00:36:04.440 --> 00:36:07.219 in his day who could care less for Christ, who 00:36:07.219 --> 00:36:10.059 didn't abide in the spirit, whose lives hadn't 00:36:10.059 --> 00:36:15.559 been transformed by the cross. The story that 00:36:15.559 --> 00:36:18.380 Moses enacted with his veil, the story that Jeremiah 00:36:18.380 --> 00:36:21.719 lived out in his life, the story that brought 00:36:21.719 --> 00:36:25.599 about the death of our Lord Jesus himself, is 00:36:25.599 --> 00:36:27.980 the story that Paul is speaking to in the church. 00:36:28.039 --> 00:36:30.260 And brothers and sisters, we must hear this story. 00:36:31.320 --> 00:36:34.599 It is told time and time again for our salvation. 00:36:37.900 --> 00:36:40.260 Because it's an invitation for us to examine 00:36:40.260 --> 00:36:44.989 ourselves. The Old Covenant and the New Covenant. 00:36:45.429 --> 00:36:47.750 The wheat and the tares, side by side, right 00:36:47.750 --> 00:36:54.829 there in the church. Letter in the Spirit. I 00:36:54.829 --> 00:37:01.550 would ask you please, examine your hearts. Search 00:37:01.550 --> 00:37:10.030 them. Ask God to examine your heart. How do you 00:37:10.030 --> 00:37:15.070 know if you're of the wheat or the weeds? Good 00:37:15.070 --> 00:37:18.110 question, right? How do you know? How can you 00:37:18.110 --> 00:37:23.130 have a sense? Am I of the old covenant or the 00:37:23.130 --> 00:37:30.010 new? Of the letter or the spirit? What you will 00:37:30.010 --> 00:37:35.550 know by your love of the Lord Jesus? You'll know 00:37:35.550 --> 00:37:37.670 by the gratitude with which you have for His 00:37:37.670 --> 00:37:40.920 death upon the cross? You'll know that this is 00:37:40.920 --> 00:37:42.900 a strange way that you know this, which sometimes 00:37:42.900 --> 00:37:47.039 I do not enjoy. Often when the cross looms large, 00:37:47.239 --> 00:37:51.280 our sin seems more apparent. Maybe the Holy Spirit 00:37:51.280 --> 00:37:54.320 has given you a greater and greater sense of 00:37:54.320 --> 00:37:59.239 just how much you need the cross of Christ. That's 00:37:59.239 --> 00:38:02.599 an indication that you're of the spirit of the 00:38:02.599 --> 00:38:08.980 New Covenant. You will know because your love 00:38:09.039 --> 00:38:13.219 For the church, Christ's very bride grows. It 00:38:13.219 --> 00:38:19.800 doesn't diminish. You'll know by having a real 00:38:19.800 --> 00:38:23.639 desire to put sin to death and to live to righteousness, 00:38:24.480 --> 00:38:26.940 be done with the old man and put on the new. 00:38:30.679 --> 00:38:34.179 You'll know, let me end with this, because you 00:38:34.179 --> 00:38:37.699 can say, as Thomas Chalmers did, When the Holy 00:38:37.699 --> 00:38:42.639 Spirit grabbed onto him, above all, may I never 00:38:42.639 --> 00:38:49.800 recede by one single inch from my Savior. Let 00:38:49.800 --> 00:39:00.900 me pray for us. Lord, Holy Spirit, speak to us, 00:39:00.900 --> 00:39:18.969 please. invite us into the examined life, and 00:39:18.969 --> 00:39:23.570 in so doing draw us please to the cross of Christ, 00:39:26.809 --> 00:39:34.570 where the glory of which outshines the letter 00:39:34.570 --> 00:39:39.579 so much that the letter's glory feels like nothing 00:39:39.579 --> 00:39:47.380 at all. Holy Spirit, move among us, please. God, 00:39:47.460 --> 00:39:49.599 I pray that each one of us this afternoon even 00:39:49.599 --> 00:39:55.699 might take a moment and just ask you, Lord, am 00:39:55.699 --> 00:39:58.380 I of your people? Lord, help me to put to death 00:39:58.380 --> 00:40:07.880 sin. Help me to grab on to Jesus. I pray that 00:40:07.880 --> 00:40:11.340 we would be a church that delights in the Holy 00:40:11.340 --> 00:40:17.079 Spirit's work. That we've been transformed. That 00:40:17.079 --> 00:40:19.280 once we were enemies of God, and now we're your 00:40:19.280 --> 00:40:21.420 friends. And once we were living in darkness, 00:40:21.539 --> 00:40:23.960 and now we're in light. And once we were living 00:40:23.960 --> 00:40:25.880 by the letter, and now we're in the spirit. Once 00:40:25.880 --> 00:40:31.239 we were of death, now we're of freedom. How would 00:40:31.239 --> 00:40:34.159 we be a people? Individuals, a body together. 00:40:36.550 --> 00:40:40.010 that delights in this work of your Holy Spirit, 00:40:40.369 --> 00:40:43.630 bringing us from the old man to the new, the 00:40:43.630 --> 00:40:49.909 old covenant to the new covenant. God, please 00:40:49.909 --> 00:40:56.550 draw each one of us into this examination. And 00:40:56.550 --> 00:40:59.110 please pour out your Holy Spirit upon us. In 00:40:59.110 --> 00:41:02.090 Jesus' name, amen. Thank you for listening to 00:41:02.090 --> 00:41:04.809 Second City Sermons podcast. We hope this sermon 00:41:04.809 --> 00:41:07.090 has encouraged you to worship God and to celebrate 00:41:07.090 --> 00:41:09.949 the gospel of Jesus. Please consider subscribing 00:41:09.949 --> 00:41:12.789 to this podcast and joining us in person each 00:41:12.789 --> 00:41:15.690 Sunday at 10 a .m. You can find us online at 00:41:15.690 --> 00:41:18.829 secondcitychurch .org and on Instagram, Facebook, 00:41:19.090 --> 00:41:21.590 and YouTube. Thanks again for listening. God 00:41:21.590 --> 00:41:21.929 bless.