Amen.
Let's turn our Bibles to Exodus chapter 33.
We're going to come back to 2 Corinthians 3,
but go back to the second book of the Bible, Exodus chapter 33.
And the title of my sermon this morning is The Face of Moses Shown.
The Face of Moses Shown.
That's referred to in 2 Corinthians chapter 3.
And I'm going to explain what's being taught in 2 Corinthians chapter 3.
But first we need to go back to Exodus to get the background of this story
about Moses' face shining with such brightness
that they actually put a veil over his face
because they were afraid to come near to him.
Now look at Exodus chapter 33 verse 18.
This is Moses speaking to the Lord at the tabernacle.
And it says in verse 18, he said,
I beseech thee, show me thy glory.
And he said, meaning the Lord said,
I will make all my goodness pass before thee.
And I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee
and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious
and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.
And he said, thou canst not see my face,
for there shall no man see me and live.
And the Lord said, behold, there is a place by me,
and thou shalt stand upon a rock,
and it shall come to pass while my glory passeth by,
that I will put thee in a cliff of the rock
and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by.
And I will take away mine hand and thou shalt see my back parts,
but my face shall not be seen.
So just to bring you up to speed in the story here,
the children of Israel were slaves down in Egypt
and Moses had gone down there and confronted Pharaoh
and said, let my people go.
He brought all the plagues upon Egypt
and eventually they left Egypt.
They crossed the Red Sea on dry land.
Pharaoh and his entire army were drowned in the Red Sea
and they've crossed into the wilderness
and they go to Mount Sinai.
And at Mount Sinai, God is going to give them his laws.
And so Moses goes up into Mount Sinai
and he receives the law of God,
but he's up there for weeks and weeks.
And the people at the bottom,
they don't know what happened to him.
They didn't expect him to be gone that long.
So instead of following the preaching
that they'd already heard,
instead of following the commandments
that they'd already been given,
they disobeyed the Lord
and they started to worship the golden calf with Aaron
and they sat down to eat and to drink
and they rose up to play.
And they basically had this drunken party,
this fornicating wicked party
that they called a feast to the Lord, right?
They even put a religious undertone on it
even though it was this wicked thing.
So Moses comes down from the mount
and Joshua comes down from the mount
because they were both gone.
And when they get down there
and they see what's happening,
they get angry and Moses gets so mad
that he takes the 10 commandments
and he breaks them.
I mean, they're written with the finger of God
and he received these stone tablets,
but he just throws them down and breaks them and shatters
and ends up, you know, punishing the people
and God punishes the people.
And he ends up after that setting up the tabernacle.
He puts it outside the camp
and those who love the Lord
and want to obey the Lord,
they would go out of the camp
and they would go to the tabernacle
to worship the Lord there.
And that's where Moses is in this story.
So in Exodus chapter 33,
he's in the tabernacle,
he's speaking to the Lord,
he's asking to see the glory of God
and God the Father tells him,
you can't see my face and live.
So I'm just going to show you just the back of me.
I'm going to pass by you and cover you with my hand.
And then as I'm departing,
I'll remove my hand and just allow you
to get a glimpse of my glory from behind.
Then he says in the next,
look at Exodus chapter 34 verse one.
And the Lord said unto Moses,
hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first.
And I will write upon these tables
the words that were in the first tables,
which thou breakest and be ready in the morning
and come up in the morning unto Mount Sinai
and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount.
So he goes back up into Mount Sinai a second time.
He's going to receive the 10 commandments
on the stone tablets.
Once again, he communes with God.
He gets more commandments.
Look at chapter 34 verse 29.
And it came to pass when Moses came down from Mount Sinai,
with the two tables of testimony in Moses hand,
when he came down from the mount that Moses wished not.
That means he did not know that.
He knew not.
He wished not that the skin of his face shown
while he talked with him.
Now shown is the past tense of shine.
So he didn't know.
But when he came down from the mountain,
his face is shining.
His face is glowing.
It's so bright that people were scared
when they saw him coming down from the mountain.
But Moses didn't even realize it.
That just by catching that glimpse of God's glory,
now his face is shining.
It says in verse 30,
and when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses,
behold, the skin of his face shown,
and they were afraid to come nigh him.
And Moses called unto them,
and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation
returned unto him.
And Moses talked with them,
and afterward all the children of Israel came nigh,
and he gave them in commandment
all that the Lord had spoken with him in Mount Sinai.
Until Moses had done speaking with him,
he put a veil on his face.
But when Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him,
he took the veil off until he came out.
And he came out and spake unto the children of Israel
that which he was commanded.
And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses,
that the skin of Moses face shown.
And Moses put the veil upon his face again
until he went in to speak with him,
meaning going back in to speak with God.
But when he speaks to the people,
he has to have a veil over his face
because his face is shining and glowing.
Now with that in mind,
let's go to 2 Corinthians chapter 3.
So 2 Corinthians chapter 3 is referring back to
that Bible story.
And when we read the Bible,
especially in the Old Testament,
sometimes we don't always understand what things mean.
And they're explained in the New Testament.
And so the best commentary on the Old Testament
is the New Testament itself.
So we don't really need to go to biblical commentaries
and study guides.
If you really want a study guide on the Old Testament,
go to the New Testament,
because most of these things are going to be explained
pretty clearly in the New Testament.
And so we don't have to wonder what this means
or why God had this story about Moses
and his face shining and having to put a veil over.
Why did God even allow that to take place?
Why did those events happen?
Well, the Bible explains it to us
in 2 Corinthians chapter 3,
and we can learn some important truths from this
in 2 Corinthians 3.
Look at verse number 1.
We're just going to go through the whole chapter.
It says,
Do we begin again to commend ourselves,
or need we as some others,
epistles of commendation to you,
or letters of commendation from you?
Ye are our epistle, written in our hearts,
known and read of all men.
For as much as ye are manifestly declared to be
the epistle of Christ, ministered by us,
written not with ink,
but with the Spirit of the living God,
not in tables of stone,
but in fleshy tables of the heart.
So what he's saying here in these first few verses
to the Corinthian Christians,
he's saying to them that they are basically
like a walking, talking Bible,
or a walking, talking epistle of God.
Not like a stone tablet that was engraved
with the finger of God,
or not like a piece of paper written with ink
with the Word of God,
but he's saying that you are manifestly declared
to be in verse 3, the epistle of Christ,
ministered by us,
and he said written in fleshy tables of the heart.
Verse 4, and such trust have we through Christ to Godward.
Verse 5, not that we are sufficient of ourselves
to think anything as of ourselves,
but our sufficiency is of God.
So what he starts out by saying in the first three verses
is that they are basically a walking epistle,
a walking letter from God,
because they're bringing the Word of God,
and they represent God as Christians, as the saints.
But he talks to them in verse 5
about not getting too puffed up about that,
and realizing that this sufficiency is not of ourselves,
but it's from God.
You know, God gets all the glory,
but yet we are a walking, living, talking, breathing,
epistle of Christ declared unto the world.
Now, I've heard the saying that
you may be the only Bible that some people will ever read.
Who's ever heard that saying before?
And that's biblical because that comes from this chapter saying,
hey, you might be the only Bible that some people will ever read.
Some people will never pick up the physical Bible
and look into its pages and read the Word of God.
But when we quote scripture to them,
we're like a walking Bible to them.
When we quote the Word of God,
and when we teach them the gospel and preach Christ unto them,
we are the epistle of Christ unto them.
Look what it says in verse 6.
God, at the end of verse 5, and then it says,
who has also made us able ministers of the New Testament,
not of the letter, but of the Spirit,
for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.
But if the ministration of death,
written and engraven in stones, was glorious,
so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly
behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance,
which glory was to be done away,
how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious?
So here we're talking about the difference between the Old Covenant
and the New Covenant, the Old Testament and the New Testament.
The Bible says that God has made us able ministers of the New Testament.
That means that we have the ability to be an effective minister of the New Testament.
We have the right to be.
We have the power to be.
We've been given the responsibility to be the epistle of Christ,
known and read of all men in this earth.
We have been made able ministers of the New Testament.
And he's saying, we're preaching the New Testament,
which is the ministration of the Spirit,
not the Old Testament, which is the ministration of death.
Now, why is the Old Testament of death?
Well, here's why.
Because the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.
You see, the commandments that God gave in the Old Testament,
the commandments that God sent down the mountain with Moses,
those commandments actually condemn people
because of the fact that they show that we're sinners.
I mean, the law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ,
because the law shows us that we're sinful.
And the fact that there are commandments,
when those are compared with our life, they condemn us to hell,
because the wages of sin is death.
And so if we have to keep the law to be saved,
if we have to keep the commandments to be saved,
if we're going to follow that as our way to heaven,
where we work our way to heaven by following all the commandments of God,
we're doomed.
We're damned.
And so it's the ministration of death unto us.
See, the Bible says the law was given by Moses,
but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
So the Bible says here that the ministration of death, verse 7,
written and engraven in stones, referring to the law of Moses,
it's saying that it was glorious,
so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses,
for the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away.
How shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious?
So what the Bible is saying is that the Old Testament,
the Old Covenant was glorious,
but that the New Testament is even more glorious.
It's even rather glorious, because it brings life and salvation.
See, if all we had was just an Old Testament with no New Testament,
then we'd all be doomed.
We'd all be dead meat, right?
Now, obviously, people in the Old Testament were saved and went to heaven,
only because the New Testament is coming,
because they are looking forward to the cross of Christ.
Jesus Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,
so they obviously could look forward to that,
and that's what all of the animal sacrifices that they did,
even signified, was that there was redemption,
that there was atonement,
that there was salvation coming through Jesus Christ.
So it says that the ministration of the Spirit is rather glorious.
Look at verse 9.
If the ministration of condemnation be glory,
how much more does the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory?
See, righteousness doesn't come by the law.
The Bible says if righteousness come by the law,
then Christ is dead in vain.
You see, the Old Testament, or the giving of the law,
is known in verse 9 as the ministry of condemnation,
the ministration of condemnation.
Why?
Because the law condemns us because it shows us that we're sinners.
When we compare our life to God's commandments and God's laws,
even just the Ten Commandments,
we can see that we come short of the glory of God.
But he says that the New Testament is the ministration of righteousness,
and it exceeds in glory.
Why?
Because the New Testament brings us righteousness.
We don't have righteousness by the Old Testament law,
because that would be us following all those commandments,
which none of us has followed them to a T.
But we have righteousness through the New Testament.
Why?
Because it's the righteousness of Jesus that's imputed unto us.
It's his righteousness put on our account.
It's the fact that Jesus Christ's righteousness is what saves us.
The Bible says in Philippians 3,
not having my own righteousness, which is of the law,
but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is of God by faith.
It's the righteousness of faith.
Let's keep reading.
It says in verse number 10,
for even that which was made glorious,
talking about the Old Testament,
had no glory in this respect by reason of the glory that excelleth.
So what he's saying is that the New Testament and its glory excels the Old Testament so much.
If you put the two next to each other,
the New Testament would be so much more glorious that
you wouldn't even see the glory of the Old Testament.
The brightness would excel it to that degree.
It says in verse 11,
for if that which is done away was glorious,
how much more that which remaineth is glorious.
Now let me just stop right there and point out something very important doctrinally in this passage.
The fact that the Old Testament is done away in Christ.
The Old Covenant is done away in Christ.
Nothing could be clearer in the New Testament,
but that the New Testament replaces the Old Testament.
And this is known as replacement theology.
And a lot of people will attack this and say,
oh, you believe in replacement theology?
Yeah, I do believe in replacement theology.
Now there's a false doctrine out there called dispensationalism
that teaches that the Old Testament and the New Testament are both in force side by side.
That they're both still in force.
The Old Covenant and the New Covenant.
And some people will even take this to such an extreme,
like for example John Hagee down in San Antonio, Texas,
who takes this to such an extreme that says that the Jews
don't even need to believe in Jesus to get to heaven
because they can just find salvation through that Old Covenant,
through that Old Testament.
They already have their own testament.
You know, the New Testament's for us.
The Old Testament's for them.
Wrong.
The New Testament's for everybody.
And the New Testament replaces the Old Testament.
You say, I don't believe you, Pastor Harrison.
Okay, well look at your Bible here.
What the Bible says three times in this one passage,
let alone all the other places we could turn.
What does verse seven say?
But if the ministration of death written in engraving in stones was glorious,
so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses,
for the glory of his countenance, watch this, which glory was to be done away.
Pay attention to those words.
Which glory was to be done away.
Now look at verse 11.
For if that which is done away was glorious,
much more that which remaineth is glorious.
Look at verse number 13.
And not as Moses, which put a veil over his face,
that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of
that which is abolished.
This is a pretty clear chapter.
In verse seven, it says, hey, it's been done away.
In verse 11, it's been done away.
In verse 13, it's been abolished.
Now, how can you be any clearer than to say done away, done away, abolished?
Okay.
Now keep your finger there and go to Hebrews chapter eight.
This is what the Bible teaches, and this is an important teaching to understand
that the New Testament supersedes the Old Testament.
This is also known as supersessionism.
That the New Testament supersedes the Old Testament.
Look at Hebrews chapter eight, verse 13.
It couldn't be any clearer, my friend.
The Bible says in Hebrews chapter eight, verse 13,
and that he sayeth a new covenant, he hath made the first old.
Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.
Now that's the same idea as being done away or being abolished.
It's about to vanish away.
The New Covenant makes the Old Covenant old.
Now let me just stop and explain this.
That we need to understand that when we talk about the Old Covenant being abolished,
the Old Covenant being done away, the Old Covenant vanishing away,
we're not saying that the scriptures go away or that we don't read the Old Testament
or that we don't believe the Old Testament or that we don't live by the teachings of the Old Testament.
That's not what we're saying.
What we have to understand is that when the Bible says Old Covenant or Old Testament,
we have to stop and understand what does the word covenant mean?
Or what does the word testament mean?
Okay, well, what that means is it's an agreement or a contract or a deal.
So if I made a covenant with you, it means I made a deal with you,
a bargain with you, an agreement with you.
I made a contract with you.
So when you get married, that's a covenant.
When you buy a house, it's a covenant.
Anytime you make any kind of a deal or an agreement or a contract or anything like that,
that's a covenant.
A testament is another way of saying the same thing.
And this is why even when a person dies, they'll have their last will and last will and testament.
And what does that mean?
It's their contract saying, okay, when I die, this is going to go to this person.
This is going to go to this person.
And sometimes it'll even have something that they have to do on their end.
Like it'll go to this person if they do X, Y, and Z.
And they have to fulfill certain criteria in order to receive that money, that inheritance,
because that's part of the deal.
It's part of the contract.
Well, in the old covenant, there was an agreement that was made because when we say old covenant,
the Bible says that it was the covenant that God made with the children of Israel in the
day when he took them by the hand to lead them out of the hand of Egypt.
Okay, so what is the Old Testament?
Let's define it.
It's the agreement that God made with the children of Israel the day that he took them
by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt.
That's why the Bible says the law was given by Moses.
Okay, because that old covenant is the agreement that God made with the children of Israel
when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.
And that agreement was that if they continued in the words of the law, if they followed
his commandments, if they followed his statutes, that he would be their God and they would
be his people.
And that they would be a chosen generation, they'd be a peculiar people, they would be
kingdom of priests, and he made that agreement with them to make them a special nation that
would be different than all the other nations in the world, they would be his chosen people.
And he made that agreement with them.
Now, they didn't continue in that covenant.
They broke that covenant and therefore God did not regard them.
Look, are you still in Hebrews 8?
Go back, if you would, to verse number 7.
For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for
the second.
For finding fault with them, he saith, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I'll
make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according
to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to
lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded
them not, saith the Lord.
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,
saith the Lord, I'll put my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts, and I
will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people, and they shall not teach every
man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for all shall know
me from the least to the greatest, for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and
their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
So you see how the new covenant involves forgiveness of sin.
It involves him not even remembering their iniquities and sins anymore.
Now, we don't have time to read the whole book of Hebrews, but if you read the whole
book of Hebrews, it teaches exactly what I'm teaching right now.
It just goes on and on, explaining, okay, here's what the first covenant was like.
Here's what the new covenant's like.
The first covenant, they shed the blood of bulls and goats, and they did animals.
The new covenant is sanctified by the blood of Jesus Christ.
The new covenant involves forgiveness of sins.
The new covenant involves Jesus Christ never leaving us or forsaking us.
See, the old covenant involved breaking God's laws and then him backing out of the covenant.
That's what he did.
He said, They didn't continue in my covenant.
I regarded them not.
Whereas under the new covenant, the way to become one of God's chosen people is not by
joining the nation of Israel, it's not by being a part of a physical group of people,
it's by believing in Christ in your heart, and it's through the blood of Christ
that you're saved and you're made a child of God, and you're one of God's people,
and he'll never leave you nor forsake you.
It's permanent.
So that's the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament.
The Old Testament, God's dealing with a special nation, and they have to keep these
commandments in order to be part of that nation.
The New Testament, it's opened up to all people to be his chosen people as long as they
just believe in Christ and so forth.
Now this isn't a different salvation because salvation has always been by faith.
In the Old Testament, salvation is by faith.
New Testament, salvation is by faith.
The difference between the Old and the New Testament is that in the Old Testament, the
Jews are God's chosen people.
In the New Testament, Christians are God's chosen people of all nationalities.
And the difference is that the Old Testament focused on the law which was to condemn and
show people their need for a Savior.
And then the New Testament focuses on that Savior having already come and pointing people
to that Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now go back if you would to 2 Corinthians chapter 3.
And I hope that this is making sense to you.
I'm trying to break it down as simple as I can.
I'm trying to make it so simple that even a theologian can understand what I'm saying.
Because obviously this is kind of a tough chapter.
2 Corinthians 3 is not a super easy chapter.
But if we take the time to read it and understand it, I think by the time this sermon's over
you're going to have a firm grasp of what's being taught in this chapter.
The Bible's clear on a few points though.
Number one is that the law is good for one thing, to condemn you.
It will not save you.
It's the ministration of death.
Okay, it will kill you.
Why?
Because of the fact that you will fail to keep all those commandments.
And the Bible says that whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point,
he's guilty of all.
Whereas the New Testament, through the blood of Jesus Christ, brings salvation.
It brings life.
And it's the only way to have life.
You can't go through the Old Testament as some kind of a back door into heaven.
The Old Testament cannot get you to heaven.
You need the New Testament to get you to heaven.
You need the blood of Jesus to get you to heaven.
The new covenant that he made.
And so the Bible's teaching in 2 Corinthians 3 that the old agreement, the old covenant,
the old deal, it's been done away, it's abolished, it's vanished away.
Now why don't people want to believe this?
Because they're stuck on this thing of, well, the Jews are still God's chosen people.
So they don't understand this.
They don't get this.
Now when we say that the old covenant is done away, abolished, vanished away, that does
not mean that now God wants us to commit all the sins that he told us not to commit in
the Old Testament.
It doesn't mean that the moral laws have changed.
Now God has done away with the ceremonial law.
God has done away with the meats and the drinks and the divers washings and the offerings
and the carnal ordinances.
But he's not done away with the moral law.
Obviously we still shall not kill or steal or commit adultery.
Any of the things that God tells us not to do in the Old Testament from a moral standpoint,
we still should not do those things.
Those are still sinful even in the New Testament.
And the Bible says, do we then make void the law through faith?
God forbid, yea, we establish the law.
So we want to establish God's laws as a standard for living but not as a covenant to get us
into heaven or as a covenant to make us God's chosen people or as a way of salvation or
anything like that.
So we need to differentiate those couple of things there.
Let's keep reading here in 2 Corinthians 3.
It says in verse 11, for if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which
remaineth is glorious.
Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech and not as Moses,
which put a veil over his face that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the
end of that which is abolished.
But their minds were blinded, for until this day remaineth the same veil, untaken away
in the reading of the Old Testament, which veil is done away in Christ.
But even unto this day when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart.
Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.
So what do we see here?
That the Jews today, when they read the Old Testament, they don't get anything out of
it because they're so blind they can't even see what it means.
So they are blind leaders of the blind.
That's what Christ called them.
And so when they read the Old Testament, they have a veil over them that they can't see
the glory of the Old Testament.
They can't even see what's being taught.
But the Bible says that when they turn to Christ, the veil is taken away.
So we as New Testament Christians, we turn back to Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and we
read that Old Covenant.
We read those Old Testament scriptures and we understand them.
We see the glory.
We see the brightness.
We don't have to have Moses put a veil over his face.
No, we say take off the veil, Moses.
We want to see everything.
We want to see the glory of God.
We want to see the power of God.
And we don't have that veil as New Testament believers.
But the Jews do.
So now can somebody explain to me why I would go ask Jews to interpret the Old Testament
to me?
But that's what Baptists will do.
They'll say, well, you know, if you study Jewish culture, if you listen to what this
rabbi said, why would I let a blind man lead me into a ditch?
We need to understand that the Jews have nothing to teach us.
Zilch, nada, nothing to teach us about the Old Testament because they are blinded.
Only a saved, born-again Christian can rightly divide the word of truth and can rightly interpret
either Old or New Testament unto us because they have that veil.
Now, if they turn to Christ, then the veil will be done away.
But as long as they're rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ, they are blinded by that veil.
They can't see what the word of God's actually teaching.
Now, the Bible tells in verse 12 what we should do.
What's the commandment?
You say, Pastor Andrew, you're teaching us all this doctrine, but what do I do?
How do I implement this?
He says in verse 12, seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech,
not as Moses.
So the example of Moses putting the veil over his face, he's telling us don't do that.
Does everybody get that?
He says we use great plainness of speech, not as Moses who put a veil over his face.
So we in the New Testament are to use great plainness of speech.
That's how we let our light shine.
See, the Bible tells in the New Testament we should let our light shine.
We should shine the light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ, and the way that we
do that is by using great plainness of speech.
So we should not speak in a way that is cryptic or hard to understand.
We shouldn't beat around the bush.
We shouldn't make it complicated and speak in parables and dark sayings.
We need to clearly and boldly proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ and just be explicit
with people, be clear with people, and use great plainness of speech when we preach the
gospel.
Why?
Because we don't want to hide it under a bushel.
We don't want to put a veil over it like Moses.
He says Moses put a veil over his face that the children of Israel could not steadfastly
look to the end of that which is abolished, but their minds were blinded.
We don't want the people around us to be blinded to the gospel.
So we want to remove the veil and preach clearly the truth.
Too many preachers today, they've got the veil on.
Even if they have the truth, they're not letting it shine brightening.
They're not using great plainness of speech.
They're not speaking clearly to sing.
People walk away not understanding what was taught.
They don't know where they stand.
They don't know what to believe.
They don't know what the Bible teaches.
We need to make things clear.
We need to make them plain.
We need to not hide it under a bushel but to shine the bright light of the glorious
gospel.
That's what he's saying here when he says we use great plainness of speech not as Moses
which put a veil over his face.
Okay, jump down if you would to verse 15 where it says but even under this day when Moses
is red, the veil is upon their heart.
Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.
Now the Lord is that spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed
into the same image from glory to glory even as by the spirit of the Lord.
Now that verse is kind of a mouthful and I think this is a verse that it's pretty easy
to just read over because it's a little bit tough to understand.
You might just kind of breeze past that and just jump right into chapter 4 but this is
actually a pretty amazing verse if you stop and think what it's actually saying.
It's actually a very profound verse.
See the Bible says we all but we all and what's the but contrasting as opposed to who?
You know the Jews who don't believe in Christ and they got the veil over there.
He says we all with open face.
Okay, what does open face mean?
It means no veil, right?
Veil is removed.
We all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord.
Now what is a glass there?
When the Bible talks about beholding something in a glass our modern way of saying that would
be looking in a mirror, looking in a mirror.
Like in James 1 when it talks about a man beholding his natural face in a glass.
He beholdeth himself it says because the glass is that which would reflect our image and
give us a reflection of who we are and what we look like, right?
So the Bible says but we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord.
Watch this we are changed into the same glory from glory to glory even as by the Spirit
of the Lord.
Now that's pretty amazing because what the Bible is saying is that just as when Moses
went up on the mountain and spent time with the Lord and even just beheld a little bit
of God's glory it caused his face to shine.
And you know what he's saying is that we in the New Testament we actually are changed
into that same glory and that we actually can look in the mirror and see the glory of
the Lord.
That's what the Bible actually says.
It'd be like if Moses would have looked in the mirror he would have seen his own face
shine, right?
And the Bible is saying we all with open face beholding as in a glass like in a mirror he's
saying the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as
by the Spirit of the Lord.
The Bible is saying that we are to reflect the glory of the Lord where when people look
at us they see the glory of the Lord.
Like when they looked at Stephen and they beheld his face as it had been the face of
an angel.
Now obviously we're not talking about our physical face.
Obviously we're not talking about hey we're all going to go out of here and we're all
going to shine.
Garrett didn't you wasn't there a problem?
Garrett preached one time about how back when he was in the charismatic church before he
was saved this guy got up and prophesied hey on Monday so and so the day we're all going
to be shining we're all going to be glowing.
And then that day came and went Garrett looked in the mirror expecting to shine or to see
something nobody was shining.
And then he went to church on Wednesday night and they just acted like they'd never even
made that prediction.
Is that my got the story roughly right?
Yeah you can go to him for the details.
But anyway we're not talking about a physical shine.
See the Old Testament had a lot of physical things happen that illustrate spiritual truths
for the New Testament.
Okay so God used these dramatic events of the Old Testament like a man's face literally
shining to teach us a truth in the in the New Testament.
Just like in the Old Testament there be physical battles where people have helmets and breast
plates and swords and they're fighting.
We're not fighting those physical battles.
We fight a spiritual battle but we learn the principles from the Old Testament battle.
Okay we don't physically put blood on the doorpost in the New Testament.
That's the blood of Christ that goes on the doorpost in our hearts.
So it's spiritual in the New Testament physical in the Old Testament.
So the Bible is saying that we shine the glory of the Lord.
Basically if people look at us what should they be looking at?
A reflection of the Lord.
That's what he's saying.
They see Christ reflected in us.
We are changed into the same glory.
I mean that's pretty amazing.
We're able ministers of the New Testament and we shine with the glory of Christ and
we are the epistle of Christ known and read of all men where people look at us and they
see a reflection of who Jesus is.
They see a reflection of the glory of God and they read us like they were reading the
Bible.
That's a pretty amazing chapter.
But flip over to chapter 4 because he continues on with the same thought.
2 Corinthians chapter 4 says in verse 1,
So what's Paul saying?
He's saying that keeps us going.
We don't faint because we realize what an amazing person we are and what an amazing
privilege we have and what an amazing ministry we've received.
That we're ambassadors for Christ.
That we've been changed into the glory of God.
I mean look we're like Moses where our face is just shining.
Amen.
With glory.
We're the epistle of Christ known and read of all men.
Now when you start talking like this people will accuse you of pride or you need to realize
that you're scum and you're dirt and it's all Christ and you're nothing and you're worthless.
You know you've all heard that but you know it's a false doctrine.
Calvinists tend to talk that way.
Don't get me started on them.
You know what I mean?
Just the self-deprecating and we're scum, we're losers.
Hey speak for yourself.
I'm not a loser.
I'm a king.
I'm a priest.
I'm the epistle of Christ known and read of all men.
My face shines with the glory of God like Moses when he came down from Mount Sinai except
it's even greater because that was abolished.
This is the New Testament.
Don't get this attitude that you're nobody, you're scum, you're dirt.
No, no, no.
We're children of the king.
We're ambassadors for Christ.
We've received a super important ministry and God says here that we are reflecting the
glory of God himself and Paul said that's why we don't faint.
That's why we don't quit.
I mean if you're that important, if you're that critical to God's mission and God's
plan, if he gave you such an amazing privilege, such an amazing responsibility, how could
you faint?
How can you quit?
How can you sit around and do nothing when you've been given such an awesome responsibility?
You think about people who get into important positions of power in the government.
Let's say they are an ambassador or a president or a senator or whatever.
Look, these people, they work a lot of hours.
They put a lot of time in.
They're very dedicated to evil but anyway, that's another story.
But anyway, when they get in these important positions of power, they're going to put
a lot of time in because they feel like, hey, I've got a pretty important job here.
If they're the CEO of the company or if they're the pastor of the church or if they're
the owner of this company, they're going to put in a lot of hours and they're going
to think twice before just calling in sick, taking time off.
Whereas the guy at the bottom rung who maybe he doesn't feel like his job is that important,
maybe he's just part of a cleanup crew, maybe he's just part of a mundane task, he might
think to himself, you know what, I'm just going to take a week off.
I'm going to take time off.
I'm going to quit and look for a new job, right?
But the President of the United States doesn't just decide, I don't feel like getting out
of bed this morning.
I need to just take a few weeks off.
I just want to chill out for a while.
No, he's probably going to redline it for four years straight and then figure I'll rest
when this is over because he feels like it's an important time, an opportunity, and he
has to do his best.
But the point is that we have a way more important job than the President of the United States,
way more important job than an ambassador of a foreign country.
We're ambassadors for Christ.
And if we realize that, that should keep us going.
We faint not.
But because a lot of people don't realize this, they faint.
They've heard too much preaching about how you're not important, you're expendable, you
can be replaced, if you don't do it, someone else will.
And then they end up just getting burned out and tired and just, you know, we all get tired,
right?
I know I get tired, I get burned out.
But you know what?
I forced myself to get up and preach Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, week
after week after week.
I forced myself to take another trip to the Indian Reservation, take another trip across
the country for a soul winning marathon, take another trip out soul winning, show up again
on my soul winning time, show up again and knock a few more doors.
Why?
I forced myself to do it.
Why?
Because I know that I am an important part of the team.
I'm an important part of God's plan.
I have received this ministry.
And so have you.
You're important too.
It's not just that you're the pastor.
No, you're important.
What did he say at the end of chapter 3?
He said, but we pastors, is that what it says in verse 18?
I mean, we pastors with open face.
No, no, no, he said, but we all.
Who's he talking to?
He's talking to Joe Church member.
He's talking to every man, woman, boy and girl, all the saints in Corinth, the whole
church in Corinth.
He's saying, you know what?
It's not just Moses whose face is shining.
It's your face that should shine.
It's all of us that can look in the mirror and behold the glory of God.
It's all of us that are an epistle of Christ.
Look, when you go to the public school, you're the epistle of Christ to that school, known
and read of all men.
When you go to your workplace, when you go to your job, you're the epistle of Christ.
You know, are you being a good reflection or do you have the veil over your face?
See, a lot of people, you know, we all laugh and scoff at the Muslims with their veiled
faces.
Of course, the Bible taught that a woman who veiled her face was a whore, right?
Remember when Tamar veiled her face, they thought she was a whore in Genesis.
That's what the Bible says.
But we all scoff at the, what do you call it?
The hijab or the, what are you, the burka or the, am I calling it the right thing?
We scoff at this thing of just, you know, the little two slits of the eyes or something,
like the ninja outfit.
We scoff at that.
But you know what?
If we can put on spirits or glasses and watch you go into the public school, that's what
you look like.
You got the glory of Christ.
You got Christ in you, the hope of glory, but you got a hijab over it.
You got a burka on spiritually.
Nobody can see that shine.
You're not letting it shine.
You know what?
You may be the only Bible that some people will ever read.
You got to think about that, but let's keep reading.
It said in verse one, therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we've received mercy,
we faint not, but have renounced the hidden things.
We're in chapter four, verse two, but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty,
not walking in craftiness, not handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation
of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
But if our gospel be hid, it's hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world
had blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel
of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
But how is the glory of the image of God going to shine unto them?
It's through your face.
Christ is not going to appear in your neighborhood.
Christ is not going to physically appear at your school.
The Bible says that they need to see that light of the glory of the gospel of Christ,
who is the image of God.
How's it going to shine unto them?
Through you, through me.
How did the children of Israel see the glory of God?
They didn't get to go in that cliff to the rock.
They didn't get to have him put his hand and show them the river.
No, no, they saw it through Moses.
That's how they saw it.
Verse five says, for we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your
servants for Jesus' sake.
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of
God and not of us.
So that's another verse that's thrown in to let you know, hey, be humble and realize
that it's not through your own power, but it's through the Lord's power.
See, the right kind of humility is to realize how important you are, how great you are in
God's plan, but then realize, hey, it's not because of me, though.
It's not because of my own goodness.
It's not because of my own power.
It's all due to him.
So he gets all the honor and all the glory and all the praise.
That's reminding us a few times throughout this chapter that, you know, we have this
treasure in earthen vessels.
You know, we're of clay.
We have faults.
We're human.
We're sinful.
We have issues.
But the bottom line is, though, that we need to realize that even though we are not perfect
and that we often fail and come short in our lives, we need to realize that we're still
the epistle of Christ.
We're still the reflection of the glory of God.
We still, I mean, Moses wasn't perfect, but yet his face shone.
And we need to get the veil off of our face today and not be like Moses who put the veil
over his face.
We need to remove the veil and we need to let our light shine.
And how do we do that?
By using great plainness of speech.
Go to Daniel chapter 12.
Last place we'll turn.
Daniel chapter 12.
We need to use great plainness of speech.
That means we need to just open our mouth and explain the gospel to people.
We need to just quote Romans 3 23 and just quote Romans 6 23 and quote Romans 5 8 and
quote Romans 10 9 and Romans 10 13.
And you know what?
Don't be afraid to tell people that hell's real and quote Revelation 20 15 and quote
Revelation 21 8.
And we need to plainly, distinctly, explicitly tell people, look, this is the gospel.
This is what you need to do to be saved.
This is what Christ did for us.
We need to let our light shine because if our gospel is hit, it's hit to them that are
lost.
But the Bible says in Daniel chapter 12 verse 2 and many of them that sleep in the dust
of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt
and they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and they that turn many to
righteousness as the stars forever and ever.
God wants us to turn many people to righteousness.
God wants us to win people to Christ.
God wants us to get those people baptized and God wants us to teach those people to
observe all things that Christ commanded us and God wants us to shine like the stars and
to shine like the face of Moses and don't faint.
Don't faint.
Look, there are going to be times when you don't feel like going to church on Sunday
morning.
Don't faint.
You need to be here.
You know, you've got a purpose.
You've got a role to play and you need to do your job.
God has given, look, God could have just given us a really unimportant job.
He could have just said, hey, I don't really trust you guys to do anything important.
Here, do this menial task.
But instead, God gave us this amazing ministry, this amazing ability, this amazing role to
play as ambassadors for Christ to be a living, breathing, fleshy epistle of Christ.
Do we even appreciate that?
And are we even fulfilling that role and doing that job?
Because it's a pretty big job.
And if our gospel's hit, it's hit to them, they're lost.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word and we thank you so much for giving us such
an important part to play in this world that our lives really have meaning and purpose,
Lord, and that we are kings, we're conquerors, we're priests, Lord, we are really elevated
in your plan, Lord.
Thank you for allowing us to play such an important role.
Help us not to listen to all the people who tell us that we're dirt and scum and losers
and everything, Lord.
Help us to realize that every single one of us can shine like Moses shown, except the
difference is that we're going to remove the veil.
And help us to fulfill our calling.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.