Sabbath: The Old Replaced by the New 2 Corinthians 3
We are spending a few weeks looking at the topic the fourth commandment: Remember the Sabbath day to keep it HOLY. Last week we saw that God rested on the seventh day after CREATING for six days. He didn’t command man to keep it holy because without sin, Adam and Eve only had to DELIGHT in God’s beautiful magnificent creation. With a GOOD AND GODLY creation, man had NO WEEDS in his life and had uninterrupted perfect fellowship with His Creator and His perfect creation.
After man sinned, weeds and hard work were imposed upon him. In Exodus 20, God gave the Law to Moses, which served as a stark reminder of the Holiness of the Almighty God and the fallen nature of man. The first four commandments spoke of man’s responsibility to the Holy Creator God, and in the fourth commandment, God demanded a Seventh Day sabbath to remind man that God CREATED the Heavens and the Earth and that man should not forget Him as Creator God.
Then in Deuteronomy 5, in the fourth commandment God said that a Holy Sabbath should be OBSERVED as a day of remembrance that God redeemed Israel from the bondage of Egyptian slavery. As the Church of the New Testament, we are reminded that God has redeemed His people from the bondage of sin and punishment. The Old Testament or Old Covenant pointed to Man’s need for a Redeemer (that was the lesson of the law: yet the sacrificial system (and the 4th commandment from Deut. 5) pointed to the reality that God would provide that Savior.
Last week we ended with Hebrews 4:9-10: “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his.” Jesus IS our Sabbath. The finished work of the Savior allows believers to enter His Kingdom on the basis of HIS WORKS by FAITH. I stand REDEEMED on account of Christ’s Righteousness not my own.
Today we look at the redeeming aspects of the New Testament (Covenant) in Christ, the Old replaced by the New from 2 Corinthians 3:1 NKJ: “Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you. 2 You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; 3 clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.” (The LAW was carved on stone, but the New Covenant of God’s love in Christ is written in the heart: Jeremiah 31:33- "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.)
False teachers in Corinth attacked Paul’s competency and authenticity as a minister of the Gospel and Paul responds: I don’t need any more letters of commendation; the love and sincerity that I have for God’s people and the transformed lives of the church are an open letter that can be read by all. It makes us ask: Are we that kind of LIVING epistle?
4 And we have such trust through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. ONLY God EQUIPS PEOPLE FOR SALVATION and for THE SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL by bringing dead hearts of stone to life!
A. The New Covenant is far superior to the Old: The New Covenant brings grace and gives LIFE. (Look at verse 6.) The letter of the law does what? It kills. The Law pointed to our sinfulness, but the Spirit, which is synonymous with the New Covenant, gives life through God’s Gracious Gift in Christ.
Romans 3, 7 and Galatians 3 says that if you break the law, you die, and that death means a spiritual eternal death apart from the life of God, and an eternal death; You can't keep the law, so it's totally frustrating in this life and provides for you a sort of a living death. The law was a killer in that it exposed sin. It showed you were a sinner because God's standard was perfect. When you look at your own life against the law, it kills you, and so what do you do?
The only possibility for sinners under the death sentence of the law is repentance and turning to God for salvation: Crying out to God to receive forgiveness by faith is the only answer. The New Covenant in Christ’s blood gives life, and even those under the Old Covenant were only saved by looking forward to God making provision for the forgiveness of sins on account of the shedding of Jesus’ blood on the cross. Sins were ALWAYS paid by trusting in God to provide redemption. The Letter of the Law, trying to KEEP the law, always killed; trusting in God to provide salvation by faith always brought life. It's something that God does in us to change us, to bring us into obedience. It's not the letter of obeying the law but It's the Spirit of God in us that brings us to salvation by faith in CHRIST’s Obedience.
7 But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, 8 how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? 9 For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. 10 For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. 11 For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.” (The words “Glory” and Glorious” are the Greek words “doxa”, meaning opinion, judgment, or splendor. In the NT it often refers to the Majesty and splendor which belong to God or Christ which demands a response of honor or praise.)
B. Secondly, Paul wants us to understand that the New Covenant provides something that the Old did not. The New Covenant provides RIGHTEOUSNESS BY WAY OF GRACE. The spirit of the Law gives LIFE because it provides righteousness. In verse 7, he calls the Old Covenant the ministry of death: It's the ministry of death in letters engraved on stones; It DID have some glory because it came with glory. It does reflect God's righteousness as HIS glorious, holy, just, and good law, but it did not provide forgiveness and righteousness. The New Covenant provides a RIGHTEOUSNESS, NOT OF OUR OWN, but Christ’s GIFTED righteousness given to us applied to our sin-debt. The CRY of a humble heart is: "God save me. I can turn to no one but you; You alone must forgive me. I throw myself on your mercy and your forgiveness in Christ."
C. Thirdly, the New covenant brought Hope because it brought Greater Glory than the Old. (7-11): The Law was glorious since it reflected the will of God, but it had no saving power. The law gave you no help, no space, no liberty no grace, no mercy. The law pointed to the inadequacy of sinful man to save himself: 2 Corinthians 4:6 NIV says: For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” It’s God’s grace in Christ which shines in our hearts now so that we are no longer darkened and dead in sin, but redeemed by the work of Christ. Anyone who was ever saved, was saved by the application of the New Covenant looking forward to the fulfilled promise of God’s Grace in Christ.
12 “Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech—“
D. Fourthly, the New Covenant brings boldness. Another version of Verse 12 says "Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold." What does he mean by that? The word for bold means “Openness, frankness, courage”. Now that wasn't like Moses. Moses put a veil on his face and kind of withdrew from the people. The people were fearful. Adam and Eve hid when they realized their sin. Any religious/works system has that same mentality, doesn't it? We fail, we try hard, we fail, we try harder, we become discouraged and disenchanted and give up because we live without hope. The New Covenant brings GRACE AND life and GIFTED RIGHTEOUSNESS and HOPE. God brings us mercy and grace and so there is a BOLDNESS to the New Covenant because it is BRIMMING WITH GRACE and NOT with THREATS and Punishment. No more hiding in the darkness. In Christ you are forgiven and given courage to share the Gospel with others! It’s your living testimony of His Goodness to you. HE works in you!
12 “Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech-- “13 unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. 14 But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ.
15 But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart.”
E. Uncertainty remains if all you have is Law. NOT SO TO THE BELIEVER in CHRIST! (Number five), The New Covenant brings clarity. The Saving and Redeeming truth of God’s Redemption is crystal clear. Moses used to put a veil over his face that Israelites would not look intently at the glory which was fading away. There were only SHADOWS and pictures of the Messiah who would come. We don’t have any shadows or mysteries anymore. We look in faith upon Christ crucified and risen, and ascended and reigning! That's the reality of the Christian. We don’t wonder if we have enough good works to cover our sins because we are NEW COVENANT BELIEVERS in the Lord Jesus Christ. HE gives life and provides righteousness which is permanent. His Life brings hope, and it's clear to us who have received true faith. And it leads us to the last verses and central thought of this passage in verse 16.
16 “Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. (WHY is the veil taken away when one turns to the Lord? Because:) 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, (right now) there is liberty. People misuse this verse ALL THE TIME. This verse (right up here on the wall!) is NOT a license to individual Christian freedom. It is by the Power of God through the operation of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God that HE takes the veil away and allows you by grace and faith to behold the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, as YOUR SAVIOR from sin. It is NOT by works but by the ALMIGHTY HAND of God to Redeem you. You were dead and unable to turn to Him to save, but He accomplished the utterly miraculous saving WORK OF God for you to escape the bondage of your sin, and has given you LIBERTY FROM SIN to SERVE THE LIVING God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. NEVER QUOTE this verse as a license to Christian so-called freedom, except freedom to submit to God, His Spirit, and to His PERFECT WILL for His Church. For the Believer is stating that NOW at last we can live as we SHOULD before God, and NOT to live as we please. AMEN?
18 But we all, (no one is restricted or exempt) but we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
F. The New Covenant brings GRACE and Christ-centeredness. When a sinner turns to the Lord Jesus Christ, what happens? The veil is taken away. You can't even understand the Old Testament if you don't believe the New. Go down to verse 18. This is quite amazing. Some of you are sitting there saying, "Well, I'm a new Christian. I don't know if I could be included in that." Yeah, you can. The first three words of verse 18, "But we all with...what kind of face?...unveiled." Hey, we all have an unveiled face. Now we don't all know everything about the Old Testament until we get into it a little bit, but we know the purpose of the law, to bring us to the point of our sin and penitence and to embrace Christ. Amazing. If you are filled with the Spirit, you have liberty, but liberty to do what? Freedom choose to love, live and please God.
The veil is gone, and we're looking in a glass with an unobstructed clear view of the glory of the Lord in Christ: and when the veil is removed, we see the glory of Christ, we begin to become transformed into the same image, from one level of glory (from the Glory of the Law and Old covenant to the Glory of the Covenant of God’s Grace, and that's being done by the Lord through His Holy Spirit and the Word.
The Old Covenant was written with ink or on tablets of stone but the New is written with the spirit upon hearts. The Old Covenant was inadequate whereas the New has makes us adequate and willing servants. The Old Covenant is of the letter of the law and the New is of the Spirit of God. The Old kills but the New gives life. The Old is a ministry of death but The New is a ministry of the Spirit. The Old Covenant came with glory that fades, but The New Covenant abounds with Eternal glory. WHAT GIFTED GRACE from a Loving God and Savior. A Gospel-centered life is a Christ-centered life.
What does this have to do with honoring God and the fourth commandment? It does! Tune in next week for the conclusion!
Outline:
I. Background:
1. Sabbath Observance: God is Creator and God is Redeemer.
2. The Old Testament (Old Covenant): Pointed to Man’s need for a Redeemer, and to the reality that God would provide that Savior.
II. The New Covenant brings grace and
1. Gives life.(vs.6)
2. Provides righteousness.(vs 7-8)
3. Brought Greater Glory (True Hope) (vs. 7-11, 2 Cor.4:6)
4. Brought boldness. (vs. 12)
5. Brings clarity. (vs. 13-14)
6. Is Christ-centered. (vs 16)
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Old Looking to the New in Christ: Isaiah 42:6; 49:8; 55:3; 59:21; 61:8; Jeremiah 31:31,33; 32:40; 50:5; Ezekiel 16:60,62; 20:37; 34:25; 37:26; Hosea 2:18).
