Intro: (Show On Star/On Board Video)
-There’s something really cool and yet really frightening @ “On Star.” But it’s really neat to think that help is only a button away when you’re in your car. It’s my hope that thru the month of July you’ll discover that Jesus is even better than “On Star.” How so? “On Star” is good so long as you’re in your car. But Jesus is w/you at all times! In Heb. 13: 5 God tells us-“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Jesus said to His followers in Matt. 28: 20-“And surely I am w/you always, to the very end of the age.”
Sermon Idea: Today in our passage of Scripture we’re going to see Paul sharing w/the Corinthian church the freedom God provides. Unfortunately there are a lot of people who miss out on experiencing the freedom of God b/c we don’t realize what He offers us or we think we can find real freedom on our own.
-But we’ll see today wants to be w/us so we can experience the freedom He offers.
TEXT: 2 CORINTHIANS 3: 12-18
Bckgrd: The Corinthian church was a highly gifted group of people. But even though they were so gifted they had some major league problems. Paul wrote 1 Corinthians and just absolutely laid the law down on them. The people were fighting and living in sin and had a bad reputation in town.
-Of course this made them ripe to fall prey to false teachers. And many of the false teachers were people who relied on the OT Law to make them right before God as opposed to Jesus. So it’s here in our Scripture where we see Paul comparing what is known as the Old Covenant to the New Covenant and how the New Covenant God made w/His followers provides freedom.
-You may ask, “What does God give us freedom from?” For starters, He gives us freedom from:
DIV. 1: THE OLD COVENANT (vv. 12-14)
Exp: You may be wondering, “What exactly is the Old Covenant?” The old covenant is in reference to the Law that God gave Moses on Mt. Sinai. You remember that story? God gave Moses the 10 Commandments that the people were to follow. They had just come out of Egyptian captivity, they’d just found earthly freedom and were in the desert on their way to the Promised Land. But the people were looking for a sign that they belonged to God. So God gave them the 10 Commandments; the law, that they were to follow in order to please God. It was God’s covenant; God’s contract w/the Hebrews. And when Moses came down from Mt. Sinai w/the 10 Commandments, his face was shining b/c he’d been in the presence of God.
A. Ex. 34: 29-30-“When Moses came down from Mt. Sinai w/the 2 tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant b/c he had spoken w/the Lord. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him.”
1. Obviously the people were impressed w/Moses’ glowing face. It was a physical sign for them to see that Moses had been communing w/God. They didn’t just have to take him at his word that he’d been w/God. They could see it on his face. The glowing face of Moses was the residue of God’s reflection on him.
a. But Moses started wearing a veil to cover his face after he’d been w/God. Why? For one, it scared the people to death. Seeing a glowing face had to be a little frightening. But Paul said he covered his face b/c Moses didn’t want the people to see God’s reflection fading.
b. Seeing the reflection of God on Moses’ face fading could’ve been defeating for some of the people. They could’ve started wondering, “Hey, does that mean God’s abandoned us? Does that mean He’s no longer w/us?”
2. Paul was basically telling us that Moses’ glowing face was representative of the Old Covenant. It was a physical reminder that the Old Covenant was temporary; that it wasn’t to last forever, that something else was going to come along and replace it. Now why did it need to be replaced? B/c man couldn’t keep his end of the bargain w/God, which was to follow the Law!
a. You might say, “Well then why in the world did God even give us the Law?” Can you imagine what our world would be like w/o the Law? It’d be complete chaos. Many of the laws we have are based off of the Old Covenant. And those laws have helped society not to fall into complete chaos b/c they give us a standard we’re to shoot for.
b. But there’s one thing @ the law that’s hard to overcome. It always gets broken! And what’s really frustrating is you can keep all the laws of God, but if you just break one, you’re considered a law-breaker! You don’t have to break all the laws to get in trouble. How many do you have to break? Just one!
B. And the same thing is true w/God’s law. James 2: 10-11-“For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. For he who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.”
1. So if you just keep all of the laws you’ll be fine. But there’s another problem. No one has the ability to keep all of God’s laws. Every one of us has broken at least one of God’s laws. Romans 3: 10-12-“As it is written: ‘There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
a. It’s b/c of this that God gave a new covenant. B/c w/o a new covenant we’re all condemned by the old one. What is the new covenant? The new covenant is explained in Jer. 31: 33-34. It says, “‘This is the covenant I will make w/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. No longer will a man teach his neighbor or a man his brother saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ b/c they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest,’ declares the Lord. ‘For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.’”
b. You may wonder, “What makes the new covenant better?” A couple of things. It’s not dependent upon us to work. The Old Covenant didn’t work too well b/c followers of God kept breaking it, which nullified the covenant.
2. But the New Covenant is totally reliant upon God and that’s it! If you’re like me you probably worry a little bit @ putting people other than yourself in charge. Well, w/God we don’t have to worry @ it b/c He’s perfect! He’ll fulfill the contract even when we can’t b/c w/o Him there’s no way we can come out victorious.
ILLUS: The Pierre de Coubertin trophy is given out to sportsmen who demonstrate nobility of spirit. It’s considered by many athletes to be the highest honor you can receive in sports. The 1st trophy went to an Italian bobsledder named Eugenio Monti for his actions in the 1964 Winter Olympics at Innsbruck.
-Monti and his teammate were leading in the 2-man bobsled after their final run. The only team that could take the gold medal from them was Great Britain. But when the British team prepared for their final run, they discovered that a bolt on their sled had snapped at the last moment. There was no way they could compete in the race, which meant Italy would win the gold medal.
-But Monti didn’t allow that to happen. He generously approached the British team and gave them a bolt from his sled. After receiving the bolt from Monti, the British team was able to complete their run in world record time and win the gold medal.
a. W/o Monti’s generosity, the British couldn’t have won the race. W/o him coming thru for them, they couldn’t even have competed. In a similar sense, that’s what the Jesus has done for us thru the New Covenant. W/the Old Covenant, we couldn’t even compete in the race!
b. There was no way we could have victory under the Old Covenant. But when Jesus came along He did away w/the Old Covenant by fulfilling it for us and giving us the opportunity to make a covenant w/Him where everything relies upon Him and not us!
Reit: What does God give us freedom from? He gives us freedom from the Old Covenant. He also gives us freedom from:
DIV. 2: THE VEIL (vv. 15-16)
Exp: Alright, let me see how well you were paying attention. What was the veil in reference to? It was in reference to the veil Moses wore after he’d been in the presence of God. You recall being in the presence of God caused Moses’ face to shine. So he put a veil on to conceal the glory of God shining on his face. He did this b/c the people couldn’t handle it!
A. Well, Paul said that many people still were ignorant of God’s glory b/c a veil covered their heart! Some people can hear the message of Jesus their whole life, they can read what the Bible says, and yet still not see their need for Jesus. Why does that happen? B/c there’s a veil that covers their heart that keeps them from seeing their need for Jesus.
1. 1 Cor. 2: 14-“The man w/o the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, b/c they are spiritually discerned.”
a. It’s always frustrating when someone isn’t able to see something that’s obvious to you. And yet when it comes to spiritual matters we won’t be able to see clearly until we have the veil of ignorance removed.
ILLUS: For those of you who wear glasses or contacts, do you remember what it was like the 1st time you put your glasses on? Wasn’t that amazing? I was getting ready to go to college when I decided I needed to get glasses. For a couple of years I was having a hard time seeing road signs when I was driving. I didn’t think my vision was all that bad, but I knew it could be better.
-But when I first put on those glasses I was stunned. Everything came in to view crystal clear. I noticed I wasn’t squinting to read road signs. I noticed that pine trees had individual needles. What was now so obvious to me hadn’t been until I got those glasses.
b. The same thing is true spiritually. Some of you know your spiritual life could be better but you just don’t know how much better. There’s a veil that’s blocking your view. The veil for many of us, as it was for the people Paul was writing to, is we think we can gain a relationship w/God if we do enough good things! The people Paul wrote to thought if they could follow the Law of Moses they’d be good before God.
2. But do you remember what the problem w/the Law was? No one can perfectly follow it! So the Law actually ends up disqualifying us before God. So how can we be made right w/God? How can we find freedom from the Law? Well, to see that the veil must 1st be removed! So how can the veil be removed?
a. Look at v. 16 to see what Paul said. He said the veil can be removed whenever anyone turns to the Lord. There are a couple of important things to notice here. One, God desires everyone to have the veil removed! He doesn’t have favorites that he’s rooting for. He wants all of us to see clearly.
b. But I also notice the only way we’re going to have the veil removed is when we TURN to Jesus. The word “turn” is referring to conversion. It’s talking @ a person placing their trust and reliance upon Jesus as opposed to themselves. It’s like you’re saying, “I give up! I don’t know how to make myself right w/God! So I’m going to trust Jesus to do it for me!”
B. When you get to that point, the veil will fall off and you’ll be able to see! If you’re having a hard time understanding how to have freedom in your life; if you’re having a hard time seeing how you can be made right w/God; let me encourage you to do something.
1. Surrender. Talk to the Lord today and say, “Remove the veil from my heart. I trust you!”
Reit: Folks, God gives us freedom from the Old Covenant. He gives us freedom from the veil. And finally, He gives us freedom from:
DIV. 3: YOUR HEART (vv. 17-18)
Exp: More than likely this is going to be a little confusing b/c we’ve all heard people tell us time and time again, “Just follow your heart!” Well, I’m here to tell you not to follow your heart b/c your heart can’t be trusted. Jer. 17: 9-“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”
A. Before we can have real freedom in our lives, we must be transformed on the inside. Think back to Moses and his glowing face for a minute. Remember when I told you the glow was temporary? It eventually faded away.
1. The sacrificial system started during Moses’ day. And the people had to sacrifice animals to God constantly as a payment for their sins. Why did they have to do it constantly? B/c the sacrifices weren’t great enough to last for a long time. The sacrifices dealt w/the surface sins and not w/the heart of man.
a. You might wonder, “Why would the heart of man need to be dealt with?” B/c the heart is where everything comes from! Listen to what Prov. 4: 23 says. It says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” You want to know what kind of condition your heart is in? Then take a look and see how you treat others. Examine your thought life. B/c what comes out of you gives a reflection of what’s in your heart.
b. Prov. 27: 19-“As water reflects a face, so a man’s heart reflects the man.” So how can a man’s heart be changed if it’s naturally deceitful and beyond cure? We can only gain freedom from the nature of our hearts when we surrender ourselves to Christ’s leadership.
2. Rom. 8: 9 tells us that the Spirit of God takes residence in the lives of the people who follow Him. But you know what has to happen before the Spirit of God can take residence in our lives? We’ve got to move out.
a. Our heart is only big enough to house one. And it’s either Jesus or ourselves, but not both. Now if you want Christ to take up residence in your life, then you have to give yourself up; you have to die to yourself. This is making the decision that you will trust Christ w/your life and follow Him. When that happens you get a new heart; a new life.
b. Rom. 6: 6-8-“For we know that our old self was crucified w/Him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—b/c anyone who has died has been freed from sin.” This isn’t good sports speak but it’s true--You must give up to gain freedom!
ILLUS: I’ve told y’all this story before @ how to capture wild monkeys. Trappers take something like a coconut, hollow it out and place a shiny object or piece of candy at the bottom of the coconut, which is bolted to the ground. The hole is big enough for a monkey to get his hand in the hole, but it’s not big enough for the monkey to get his hand out w/the candy or object unless he’s willing to let go of; willing to surrender the object.
B. You want to experience freedom? You can when you’re willing to let go of your life and give it to Christ. You want to experience joy in your life? You can when you decide you’re going to give yourself to God and serve others.
1. Jesus is w/you right now ready to change your life and give you freedom. The question is, “Will you let Him do it?” Jesus can give you freedom from the Old Covenant. He can give you freedom from the veil. And He can give you freedom from your heart.
a. If you’re ready to die to yourself; to surrender your life to Jesus. Pray this prayer after me: Dear Jesus I know I’m a sinner. Forgive me of my sins. I know you died for me and rose from the grave. Come into my life and save me.
b. If you prayed that prayer, take your bulletin, tear out the Welcome Card on the right, put your name on it, check the box that says you committed your life to Christ and then place it in the offering basket. And we’ll get you some information in the mail @ how to grow in your walk w/Christ.
2. Others of you are believers who are still playing around in your old way of life. Some of you are messing around w/sinful behavior that you KNOW is ungodly. Don’t forget you’ve already died to that way of living, so that means it’s like you’re playing w/dead stuff!
a. And that’s disgusting before God! Lay it aside today. Call out to the Lord and ask Him to give you strength. One of the best ways to gain strength is to be held accountable in our LAN Groups. Check out our LAN Groups and determine you’re going to become a part of one.
