 Our text this morning is 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verses 12 through 18, the title of our sermon, From Glorious Hope to Bold Faith. If you've been with us and we've been working our way verse by verse through 2 Corinthians, we understand the context that we're in in this section of text where Paul is comparing and contrasting the Old Covenant with the superiority or the preeminence of the New Covenant. And what a glorious covenant that is. I pray that I'll make sense to you if you're visiting with us as we work through the text this morning. We want to consider that context, establish the setting, and then get into our text this morning. So we'll take a little bit of time to do that. We'll begin this text this week, finish up next week, Lord willing, and continue to work verse by verse through 2 Corinthians. So let's begin. I want to begin with a series of texts, right? And I want to set the stage for us as we consider the text before us. And so what I want you to do to begin with is just to listen to the text read, right, and consider the progress of Revelation, so to speak, as we consider God's redemptive plan, and specifically Paul's intention here in 2 Corinthians 3 verses 12 through 18. First text I want to reference is Genesis 1 verse 26. Genesis 1 verse 26. Then God said, Let us make man in our image. According to our likeness, let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth, over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. And so God created man in his own image, in the image of God. He created him male and female. He created them. Genesis 2 verse 15. Then the Lord God, he took the man and he put him in the garden that eaten to tend it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. But why is that? It's because God is holy. God is holy because God is holy. He demands perfect holiness. Adam was created to be holy. He was created to be holy. We are created to perfectly obey. We are created in perfect righteousness. God said that without holiness, no one will see the Lord. We know that the wages owed to you for your sin against God is death in hell forever. In the day that you eat of that fruit, God says, you shall surely die. Well, the serpent comes along in Genesis chapter 3 verse 4. The serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die, for God knows that in the day that you eat of that fruit, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil. And so when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes and the tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and she ate. She also gave to her husband with her and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed big leaves together and made themselves coverings. Paul explains the tragic implications of the fall here in Romans chapter 5 verse 12. Paul says therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world and death through sin thus death spread to all men because all sinned. He says through one man's offense judgment came to all men resulting in condemnation. By one man's disobedience, Paul said many were made sinners. Moses continues then in Genesis chapter 6 verse 5. Then the Lord, he saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he made man on the earth and he was grieved in his heart. And so the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth both man and beast creeping things and birds of the air for I am sorry that I have made them. Moses said that God looked upon the earth and indeed it was corrupt for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. David says in Psalm 14, the Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there are any who understand who seek God. God finds that they have all turned aside. They have all together become corrupt. There is none who does good, David says. No, not one. Basically destroys the argument that men are basically good, right? God sins a great flood of judgment upon all the earth, upon all mankind. A great flood. Do their sin and rebellion against God every single person on the planet dies with the exception of one family, eight people. Where sin abounded here, grace abounded much more and God spares for himself a remnant. By grace alone, eight people among millions are chosen to survive the flood on the ark, Noah and his family. For so many today, their conception of God is that he has suddenly since this time gone soft on sin. Their God is a figment of their imagination, not the God of the Bible but a figment, a creation of their own imagination that God will simply forgive your sin if you ask him nicely. They conceive of the God of the New Testament to be different than the God of the Old Testament. Somehow the God of the New Testament is a grandfatherly forgiving, elderly, peddling, lymphatic God. He's got his hat in his hand, wooing you to come. However, the God of the Old Testament is exactly like the God of the New Testament. The God of the Bible is the same yesterday, today and forever. In the New Testament now, Romans 3, Paul says that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin. Everyone is under sin. There is none righteous, no not one. There is none who understands, Paul says, there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside, quoting the psalmist, right? They have all together become unprofitable, worthless. There is none who does good, no not one. That's what the Bible says. That's what the Bible says. Verse 19, Paul says that all the world is guilty before God. All have sinned against him and fall short of the glory of God. Second Peter, chapter 3, verse 5 says, by the word of God, the world that then existed, perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by that same word are now reserved for fire until the day of judgment and the annihilation, the destruction, the ruin of ungodly men. God hasn't gone soft on sin. No one is off the hook. In fact, in fact, God has appointed a day on which you will die. You stop to consider why that is. It's because of sin, because of your sin. God has appointed a day on which you will die and then comes, Hebrews 9, 27, then comes your judgment. Why? Why? Because you've sinned against him. You've sinned against him. God is holy. God is just. God is righteous. God is good. And we aren't. We aren't. It's the testimony of Scripture. God's diagnosis and description of you. However, to display the riches of his grace in his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus, God intends to redeem a remnant for himself. Not just one family on the earth this time, but a people from every tribe, every tongue, every nation. In keeping with that gracious intention, God enters into covenant with Abraham. Genesis chapter 17 verse 1. But listen to the nature of this covenant. When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I am Almighty God. Walk before me, Abram, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you and will multiply you exceedingly. Note the demand. The demand hasn't changed for Abram, this covenant that God enters into with him. Walk before me, God says, and be blameless. God demands holiness. God's demand for righteousness remains. God's demand for perfect obedience stands. The sign of the covenant would be circumcision. Any male child not entering into that covenant relationship with God through circumcision, God says shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant. God's covenant here renewed with Isaac. God's covenant then renewed with Jacob. I am Almighty God says, walk before me and be blameless. Then the Lord God enters into covenant with Moses. And the children of Israel at Mount Sinai. Do you remember the story, the picture there from Exodus 20? The mountain circled, right? The people not allowed to go near the mountain let God break out against them and consume them and they die. Man, animal, woman, child, no one can go near the mountain. I am Almighty God, God says. Walk before me and be blameless. God said to Moses in Exodus chapter 34 verse 27, write these words, Moses. For according to the tenor of these words, I have made a covenant with you and with Israel. And he wrote on the tablets of stone, the words of the covenant, the ten commandments. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Honor your father and your mother. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. You shall not covet. This is God's law. God's law reveals his own holy, perfect, righteous character. It reveals his perfect, holy and righteous standard. God's law is glorious as God is glorious in the sense that the law illuminates and reflects God's glory. Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 7 that the law written and engraved on stones was glorious. It was glorious. In fact, when Moses would come down from speaking with God on the mountain or come out from speaking with God at the tent of meeting, the face of Moses would shine. Would shine. Residual rays of the divine glory. Consider with me. Consider with me the position that this puts us in. As glorious as it is, what can the law do? Think about those 10 commandments, the Mosaic law. What can the law do? The law can gloriously reveal God's character. It can reveal God's demands for perfect obedience. But at the same time that the law reveals God's character and his demands for perfect obedience, the law gloriously reveals our unholy character. The law radically reveals, radically exposes our guilt, radically exposes our shame. From the heart, it is an impossible standard. Oh God, if you count iniquity, who can stand? Can the law give life? No, can the law set us free? Is there any bondage to the law outside of God's provision of grace? Paul says the Scripture has confined or imprisoned all under sin. Can the law result in righteousness? Can the law result in perfect obedience? No, not for us. Under the law, Paul says all the world is guilty before God. Can the law change your heart? No. Can the law change your mind? Change your desires? No. Can the law give you a new nature? Give you a new life? Renew your thinking? No. Can the law cause you to obey? Does it have any strength in and of itself to help you obey God? No. Can the law justify? No. The law condemns? Can the law sanctify? No. Can the law glorify? Never. What then can the law do? Consider your position as a man, a woman, a child, a young person born under the law of God. What can the law do? The law can reveal our sin. The law reveals our sin before the one who will judge us in righteousness. The law stands as a witness. The law witnesses against us to condemn us for our sin. The law shouts to the heavens and should shout in your ears that you and I are covenant breakers. Paul says that the law is weakened by the flesh. What does he mean by that? We can by the flesh in the sense that we can't keep it in our flesh. We cannot please God. We can by the flesh in the sense that we are unwilling, unable to keep it in all of this. What can the law do? The law brings death. The law brings death. What is ultimately holy and just and good is for sinful man, is for you, is for me an instrument of death. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3 verse 6 that this letter of the law written on tablets of stone kills. In 2 Corinthians 3 verse 7, it is the ministry of death. In 2 Corinthians 3 verse 9, it is the ministry of condemnation. For you and I, apart from God's provision for sin, for you and I, the law is a ministry of hopelessness. Hopelessness. Maybe you've said this before. I've talked to plenty of people at the door witnessing out and about where someone says, I'm a pretty good person. I'm going to be okay. At the end, when I say before God, my good's going to outweigh my bad. It's going to work out. God's going to let me into heaven. The law condemns you. You cannot keep it. You have not kept it. From the heart, you've broken every one of those commandments repeatedly and without remorse. Instead, here today this morning, thinking about God's perfect character and thinking about His holy and just demand, rather than our face in our hands weeping before God that we have violated His perfect law, we can sit in pride or hypocrisy, shame, guilt. The law reveals our inability apart from God's gracious deliverance. You cannot keep the law. There's a fascinating interaction regarding this between Joshua and the people of Israel with respect to this. And Joshua 24, turn there with me to Joshua 24. Joshua judges Ruth, Joshua 24. So we look at our text this morning, I want to put you under the law of God. What does the law reveal? What can the law do? Joshua chapter 24. Look with me, beginning in verse one. Then Joshua, he gathered all the tribes of Israel to shek'em, and he called for the elders of Israel for their heads, for their judges, for their officers, and they presented themselves before God. And God proceeds through Joshua to remind them of all that he has done for them. All the saw that he did in Egypt before their eyes, the miracles that God performed on their behalf to rescue them with his mighty arm out of the fiery furnace in Egypt. All that God had done for them. And then he says to them down in verse 14, Now therefore, considering God's grace, considering God's provision, considering God's mercy, Now therefore, he tells them, Fear the Lord. Serve him in sincerity and in truth. And put away the gods which your father served on the other side of the river in Egypt. Put away those idols and serve me, God says. Serve the Lord. If it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. Whether the gods which your father served that were on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites and whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, Joshua says, we will serve the Lord. So the people answered and said, Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods. It was the same group who grew up in the wilderness and saw the entire first generation die in their sin. Verse 17, For the Lord our God is he who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the people through whom we passed. And the Lord drove out from before us all the people including the Amorites who dwelt in the land. We also will serve the Lord for he is our God. Consider your state this morning. You have clothes on your back. You have a roof over your head. You have air in your lungs. Most of all, you have a Bible in your hand. Access to the Word of God in numerous ways at such inexpensive costs. Jobs where you have a paycheck, families, people that love you. Food on your table, provision in gracious abundance. God has been so kind to you. He spared your life until now. When you sinned the first time, you didn't kill you. It's the long suffering of our God which is salvation to those who will turn to him in faith. Think of all the glorious grace that God has shown you, the kindness, the compassion. Even the trials and difficulties in your life designed to turn you independence upon him. To turn you to Christ, to point you to a savior. Even this morning the preaching of his law. God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but what? That the wicked would turn from his way and live. This is the grace of God to you this morning. God is gracious and merciful and long-suffering and kind and compassionate. He wants you to live. How do the people respond? Joshua 24 verse 18. Joshua said to the people, although they said we will serve the Lord, he is our God. Joshua said to the people in verse 19, you cannot serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign God, then he will turn and do you harm and consume you after he has done you good. If you turn and serve your idolatrous lusts, if you turn and serve your idolatrous desires, God will turn and do you harm in the end. The people said to Joshua, no, verse 21, we will serve the Lord. Joshua said to the people, you are witnesses against yourselves. You have chosen the Lord for yourselves to serve him. What in the world are they taking upon themselves? Joshua is essentially saying, you can't do it in your own strength. Cast yourself upon his mercy. Cast yourself upon his grace. You can't do it in your own strength. They said, verse 22, we are witnesses. Now therefore he said, put away the foreign gods which are among you. Incline your heart to the Lord God of Israel. And the people said to Joshua, the Lord our God, we will serve. And his voice, we will obey. We will obey. Joshua made a covenant with the people that day. Made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God. He took a large stone, set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. And Joshua said to all the people, behold, this stone shall be a witness to us for it has heard all the words of the Lord which he spoke to us. It shall therefore be a witness to you lest you deny your God. So Joshua let the people depart each to his own inheritance. Can't do it in our own strength. The law not intended to provide righteousness, not intended to provide life. It is a ministry of death, a ministry of condemnation written on tablets of stone. Here's the very terrifying news. Here's the very terrifying news. You are a sinner born under the law. You are a sinner born under the law. God demands perfect obedience, perfect righteousness, perfect holiness. You are unrighteous, disobedient and unholy. You have broken God's laws repeatedly. You are a rebel in God's court by nature. Paul says you are a child of wrath destined for hell. What will you do? What will you do? Try harder? I'm just going to try harder and try harder. I can be better. I can be better. That is a fool's hope. That is a fool's hope. John 3 18 says that you're condemned already. You are condemned already. You're waiting the execution of your sentence. Will you ask forgiveness? Maybe you say to yourself, when I stand before God, I'll ask forgiveness. God forgives. It's not enough to ask forgiveness. It is not enough to ask forgiveness. You need righteousness. You need perfect righteousness. It's not enough. Maybe in another church you walked an aisle at an invitation and an altar call. You said a little prayer. You admitted that you were a sinner. Maybe you went to mass. Maybe you got baptized. Maybe you think that by generosity you're a good person and you'll make it in. By giving money or whatever it is that you do. Listen, you are without hope in this world, if you think that way. You are without hope and you will face God's wrath in judgment. You will face God's wrath in judgment. Do you believe that this describes you this morning? Will you acknowledge your sin? Those who are well have no need of a physician. Those who are sick. Will you acknowledge this about yourself this morning? There are many in this room that would say that this once applied to them. Praise God. It applies no longer. God being rich in mercy, abounding in grace has provided for us a hope. Apart from God's provision of this hope. Apart from God's provision of deliverance. You are hopeless. You sit here today hopeless. And there is nothing that you can do. You will face the wrath of God in judgment. Unless you embrace the one hope that God has provided. He has made provision for that hope from the very beginning. We were in Genesis before. So we're in Genesis again after Adam sins in Genesis chapter three. God tells the serpent in Genesis chapter three in the hearing of Adam and Eve. I will put enmity between you and the woman. God says in between your seed and her seed. Her seed shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. In this God promises that there will be a descendant of the woman who will defeat the serpent. There's hope, right? Hope given. God told Abraham in Genesis chapter 15. One who will come from your own body shall be your heir. Then he brought him outside and he said to Abraham look now toward heaven Abraham. Count the stars if you're able to number them. And he said to him so shall your descendants be. And God has said the deliverer will come out of Zion. He will come as a descendant of Abraham. He will turn away godliness, ungodliness from Jacob. For this is my covenant with them. God says when I take away their sins. God provides for a hope. There's a hope. Moses told the Israelites in Deuteronomy chapter 18 verse 15. Your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your midst. From your brethren. Him you shall hear. There's hope. God provides hope. Alongside the condemnation of the law, God provides deliverance. God provides hope. Hope in a promised seed, right? Hope in a promised prophet. Hope in a promised deliverer. Hope in a promised messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. On the basis of His work, on the basis of His sacrifice. God says this in Jeremiah chapter 31. Behold the days are coming says the Lord. When I will make a new covenant. A new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. I will put my law not on tablets of stone. I will put my law in their minds. I will write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they shall be my people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor and every man his brother saying, No the Lord. They shall all know me. From the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity and their sin. I will remember no more. There's hope. Ezekiel chapter 36 verse 23. I will sanctify my great name, God says. Which has been profaned among the nations. Which you have profaned in their midst. And the nations shall know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God. I am hallowed in you before their eyes. Why? Verse 24. Because I will take you from among the nations. Gather you out of all the countries and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart. I will put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh. And I will give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you. And listen to this. I will cause you to walk in my statutes. And you will keep my judgments and do them. Far, far, far more glorious than the old covenant. Right? Promises of God. Promises of hope. God's demands do not change. His law remains. But this covenant. This covenant does for us what the law could never do. In this covenant, God does for us what we could never do for ourselves. Unlike those 10 words, right? Written on tablets of stone. This covenant would deal with the issue of man's corrupt heart. Man's corrupt nature. This covenant would provide forgiveness of sins. Amen? This covenant would cleanse the sinner. Not only cleanse, but this covenant would provide an imputed righteousness, a credited righteousness, a perfect obedience. God promises in this covenant to write His laws upon our heart so that we would and so that we could obey them. God promises a new heart, promises a new spirit, and He will cause us to keep His commandments. This covenant comes with regenerating power. Power that brings a sinner from death to life in Christ. This covenant does justify. This covenant does sanctify. God's people under this covenant are forever acquitted of guilt. Forever acquitted of their shame. This covenant, rather than being an instrument of death, actually results in everlasting life. This, by contrast, is a message that changes hearts, that changes minds, that changes desires, that transforms wicked sinners. This is a message that turns God-haters into lovers of God. God-haters into followers of God. Turns God-haters into worshipers of God. This is a covenant, this is a message that turns enemies of God into adopted sons and daughters of the kingdom. Turns the vessels of wrath into vessels of mercy. This is a covenant, this is a message that turns hard-hearted rebels into tender-hearted witnesses for Christ. This is a transforming, a transformational message. A powerful message, all based upon the perfect, finished, and all sufficient work of the Lord Jesus Christ. So glorious. So glorious is this covenant, in fact. But in 2 Corinthians 3 verse 10, Paul says it's as if the Old Covenant had no glory at all. How is it, how is it that wicked sinners like you, wicked sinners like me, enter into this sin, forgiving, life-giving, justifying, sanctifying, obedience-producing covenant, we enter in by faith alone, in Christ alone. The righteousness that you need, the perfect obedience, the righteousness that you need to stand before Holy God, will never come from within you. It will never come by your effort, it will never come by your desire, it will never come from within you. You need the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ that is freely given to you by faith in him. What is left for you to do? And trust yourself to him. Trust him for it. Turn from living life for yourself, turn from your sin, and just give yourself and trust yourself to him. Follow him as Lord. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. It's a glorious covenant, isn't it? That is a glorious message. Listen, it's the greatest message. There's no message like it. It's the only one that will bring life, the only one that will rescue you from wrath, the only one that will rescue you from death, death in hell, not the labor of my hands, the hymn says. Not the labor of my hands can fulfill thy law's demands. Could my zeal, no respite, no. Could my tears forever flow? All for sin could not atone. Thou must save and thou alone. Nothing in my hand I bring simply to the cross I cling. Naked, come to thee for dress, helpless. I look to thee for grace. Foul, I to the fountain fly. Wash me saviour or I die. While I draw this fleeting breath when my eyes shall close in death. When I soar to worlds unknown, see thee on thy judgment throne. Rock of ages cleft for me. Let me hide myself indeed. It's glorious, right? That is a glorious message. A glorious salvation for undeserving wretched, wicked, rebellious sinners like you and me. Amazing, it's amazing. Absolutely amazing. Such that, such that Paul says back in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 12, therefore, therefore, since we have such a hope, right? Since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech. What tremendous hope, right? Doesn't that put life on this side of eternity in perspective? What really matters here other than living for him? Right? What's most precious to you? Is it not your own soul? Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech. As we work through this text and considering this glorious hope that we have in Christ, Paul references three groups in verses 12 through 18. He references the bold, the blind, and the blessed. The bold, the blind, and the blessed. This first group we see referenced in verse 12. That group fueled by an incomparable hope are the bold. The bold in verse 12. Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech. The New King James implies speech there from the meaning of the word. The ESV translates verse 12. Since we have such a hope, we are very bold. However, consider with me in verse 12 that what Paul has in mind here is his witness for Christ with this message. With this hope, this gospel message. His witness for Christ given through the public proclamation of the gospel. Paul has in mind here his speech. Paul references the necessity of this proclamation in describing his ministry several times in the context. Chapter 2 verse 17. Paul says we're not peddling the word of God. But as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ. He says elsewhere, Corinthians chapter 1, we preach Christ crucified. Determined to know nothing among you but Christ and him crucified. He says in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 13. Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what is written. I believed and therefore I spoke. We also believe and therefore we speak. Chapter 5 verse 11. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. We implore men be reconciled to God. It's so tragically, ungodly today that you go to most churches and you just don't hear anything about your greatest need, which is salvation from your sin. You don't hear about the judgment of God. You don't hear about your sin. Listen, knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. Paul speaks the gospel. Why? Because wicked sinners will die in hell otherwise. You need to turn to Christ in faith and be saved from the wrath of God. Paul summarized his ministry. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 23. We preach. We preach Christ crucified. You may not ever be asked to teach a class. You might not be asked to or expected to preach a sermon. But every single Christian is called to be an evangelist. Every single Christian is called to speak as a witness for the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because this is a glorious message and sinners are dying. People will perish in hell under the law unless you come with this message of God's grace and deliverance. Every single Christian is called to be an evangelist. This requires, this requires that you speak for him. And the foolish statement that says, preach the gospel and if necessary use words. That is idiotic, absurd. To preach the gospel you always use words. Your life better match your testimony. Your life better match your witness. But to preach the gospel you use words. You preach Christ. Every Christian called to be an evangelist. Due to the glorious hope that we have. Think about that responsibility of preaching and bearing witness for the Lord Jesus Christ. Due to the glorious hope that we have. The primary character, equality of that speech is described in chapter 3 verse 12 as bold. As boldness. The Greek word is paracia. It means not shrinking back. Not shrinking back. Specifically with regard to speech it refers to a plain spoken and outspoken confidence. A courage. Saying what needs to be said. Part of delivering the gospel. The good news is delivering the very bad news of our state apart from Christ. Our condition apart from Christ which has opened up the first section of this sermon dealing with that issue. Placing ourselves under the law of God as rebels and sinners in his court. That is the very terrifying news that must be preached to give the good news proper perspective. How many times today people walk around touting good news that just without any perspective without any black backdrop is just no good news at all. They don't see themselves as sinners. They don't see themselves as deserving of death deserving of hell. They don't know what the Bible teaches about that. It is saying what needs to be said. The disciples were charged with testifying of the world that its deeds are evil. Fearlessness. The word implies being unconcerned with risk. Willing to face down risk. Stare down risk so to speak. Stare down persecution. It's courage. Let me give you an example of this from Acts chapter 4. Look at Acts chapter 4 with me. Peresia. Boldness. This is the character of that speech associated with this glorious hope. This glorious new covenant. Acts chapter 4. Look at verse 1. Peter and John here about to be arrested. In verse 1 as they spoke to the people. The priests, the captains of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them. Being greatly disturbed they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. They laid hands on them put them in custody until the next day for it was already evening. However many of those who heard the word believed and the number of men came to be about 5,000. Came to pass on the next day that their rulers held their scribes as well as Anas the high priest, Caiaphas, John and Alexander as many as were of the family of the high priest were gathered together at Jerusalem. When they had set them in the midst they asked by what power or by what name have you done this? Speaking of the healing that had been performed. And Peter verse 8 filled with the Holy Spirit said to them, rulers of the people, elders of Israel. Now listen to Peter's boldness, his peresia with his witness for Christ. Verse 9. If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man by what means he has been made well, let it be known to you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead by him this man stands here before you whole. Now Peter speaking to the very group that crucified him. That's boldness right? Staring down risk, staring in the face of this ungodly group. This is the stone which was rejected by you builders which has become the chief cornerstone. Nor is there salvation in any other for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Cowards today can't even say that, right? Cowards today, well I don't know, right? Jesus is the only way to heaven. I think there are many ways up the mountain to God. Worthless, godless cowards, traitors of the faith. There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. When they saw the boldness, verse 13, of Peter and John and perceived they were uneducated and untrained men they marveled, they marveled. They realized that they had been with Jesus. Seeing the man who had been healed standing with them they could say nothing against it but when they had commanded them to go outside out of the council they conferred among themselves saying what shall we do to these men for indeed that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem and we cannot deny it. Think about that statement for a minute, right? But so that it spreads no further among the people let us severely threaten them that from now on they speak to no man in this name. So they called them, they commanded them not to speak at all or teach in the name of Jesus Christ. I think bring them in in front of the people who literally at this point hold their lives in their hands so to speak they could easily sentence them to death. Here they commanded them verse 18 not to speak at all or teach in the name of Jesus but Peter and John verse 19 answered instead of them whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God you judge for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. What had they seen? Consider the life experience of these disciples with the Lord Jesus Christ during the three years of his ministry but then beyond that they saw the Lord Jesus Christ raised from the dead. They saw him raised from the dead. So when they further threaten them verse 21 they let them go finding no way of punishing them because of the people since they all glorified God for what had been done. Man was over 40 years old on whom this miracle of healing had been performed. Peter goes on in verse 27 truly against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together to do whatever your hand and your purpose determined before to be done. Now Lord look on their threats and look what Peter prays for grant to your servants that with all boldness they may speak your word. That needs to be our prayer amen. Because of our glorious hope the hope of these disciples fueled their boldness fueled their testimony their witness right? It motivated the preaching of the gospel. Our Christian hope back in 2 Corinthians hope this hope fueled the apostle Paul fueled Paul's resolve to continue in the face of tremendous difficulty right? Tremendous adversity flip the page and look at 2 Corinthians chapter 6 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and drop down to verse 3 consider this hope that motivates Paul. 2 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 3 Paul says we give no offense in anything so that our ministry may not be blamed but in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God in much patience listen in tribulations in needs in distresses in stripes in imprisonments in tummels in labors in sleeplessness in fastings by purity by knowledge by long suffering by kindness by the Holy Spirit by sincere love by the word of truth by the power of God by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left by honor and dishonor by evil report and good report as deceivers and yet true as unknown and yet well-known as dying and behold we live as chastened and yet not killed as sorrowful yet always rejoicing as poor yet making many rich as having nothing yet possessing all things what a list right? what a list because of the hope that we have in Christ because of the hope that we have in Christ as dying and behold we live chastened yet not killed sorrowful always rejoicing all says poor yet making many rich why? it's a gospel this glorious hope this message that we get to preach and it's been preached to us by which you are saved if you're in him the question to ask of Paul here is this Paul, why is it that you continue to get up every morning and go back for more? really Paul? we're back at it again? what Paul keeps you going back? because Paul has been given a glorious hope and because Paul with that glorious hope has been entrusted with a glorious message and a glorious ministry why is it Paul that stoned and left for dead illiterate you go right back into the city the next day to encourage the saints why Paul? because of this glorious hope of the gospel that others might be saved Paul has been entrusted with a glorious ministry you, me we've been entrusted with a glorious ministry we have this ministry of reconciliation entrusted to us it is a glorious hope the greatest of all messages to a lost and dying world I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God to salvation our glorious hope rightly understood rightly apprehended fuels Christian resolve fuels Christian determination fuels Christian zeal and fuels that in the midst of great difficulty in the midst of the greatest difficulty we've seen Paul on the pages of Scripture the Lord Jesus Christ himself but throughout church history martyr after martyr after martyr considering our circumstances it is highly unlikely that any of us would have to endure the kind of difficulty or the kind of hardship or the kind of persecution that Paul faced on virtually a daily basis very unlikely what about the daily necessity of denying yourself taking up your cross and following him where does the determination come from where does the resolve come from to daily to daily die to self and follow him what should motivate you what should fuel your zeal if you're apathetic why are you apathetic if you're indifferent or if you're cool or cold why what should fuel that fire a right understanding and a right apprehension of our hope our glorious hope Paul is teaching us here that the glory of the gospel that message that a holy God declares the guilty sinners righteous on the basis of the person and work of his own son who paid their debt on the cross and then freely gives his righteousness to those who turn to him in repentant faith that message that transforms wicked sinners into trophies of grace that message is glorious and Paul teaches us that that message of hope that glorious hope is sufficient to fuel your boldness sufficient to fuel your zeal to sustain you in Christian gospel preaching ministry even in the face of great difficulty great adversity even in the face of your own laziness even in the face of your own cooling desire at times we need a fired up hope don't we we fall into that kind of sluggardliness we have a glorious glorious hope the cause of Christ over the centuries has required that many give up their lives in a momentary flash of glory those that would go to the stake those that would die on the mission field murdered those that would stare down evil end of a gun barrel but the cause of Christ the cause of Christ also requires those who over the length of their life the length of life that God gives them requires those who will daily face the scorn of this world face their own fear of man face their own weakness face the scorn of friends face the scorn of family face the scorn of neighbors a gospel preaching witness for the Lord Jesus Christ the gospel requires it the cause of Christ the cause of the kingdom requires it those who because of hope in the light of this glorious hope that we have in him the gospel cause the cause of Christ requires those Christians who will subordinate worldly desires worldly pursuits worldly priorities and daily die to themselves to preach the gospel are you being faithful in this ministry where is your hope right if it's here and you aren't moved by that I don't know what will move you other than a miracle of God by a spirit right and pray for that if you're here unmoved today where is your hope you can pray for boldness right you can pray for boldness Paul did we saw that Paul tells the church at Ephesus Ephesians 6 verse 18 Paul tells them pray always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints and Paul says verse 19 pray for me pray for me that utterance may be given to me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains that in it I may speak boldly as I ought to speak not holding anything back plain spoken telling it like it is therefore since we have such hope we use great boldness of speech certainly this was the kind of boldness that Paul is referring to in 2 Corinthians 3 verse 12 this is the kind of boldness that we need to concern ourselves with as we consider our testimony for Christ if you're in Christ you're an evangelist for Christ you're a witness for Christ this kind of boldness doesn't it impact the rest of your life the rest of your thinking the way that we see the world the way that we perceive our lives everything changes when you have that hope in him right? however I want you to see also that this glorious hope that we have also produces another kind of boldness another context for boldness in the Christian life turn with me quickly to Hebrews chapter 10 Hebrews chapter 10 certainly boldness in speaking preaching Christ boldness in our testimony witness here another kind of boldness this glorious hope fuels this boldness in Hebrews chapter 10 verse 16 look at verse 16 with me back up and look first with me yeah verse 16 this is the covenant God says this is the covenant Hebrews 10 16 this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days as a Lord we've looked at this text haven't we I will put my laws into their hearts in their minds I will write them then he adds their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more praise God now where there is remission of these where there is forgiveness of these forgiveness coming through the provision that God has made for sin where there is forgiveness listen there is no longer an offering for sin therefore look at verse 19 therefore brethren considering this glorious covenant considering this glorious hope therefore brethren having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus listen apart from the blood of Jesus you enter the holiest you die right consumed by God you die no one goes into the presence of God apart from Jesus Christ who lives having boldness here we have boldness in Christ to enter the holiest of holies verse 19 therefore brethren having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh and having a high priest over the house of God verse 22 let us draw near not run in fear there is a true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water second let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering this little lettuce patch in chapter 10 of Hebrews right let us draw near secondly let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering because he who promised not you but he who promised is faithful let us consider one another to stir up love in good works not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some but exhorting one another in so much the more as you see the day approaching there is at times those maybe you have this experience in your own Christian life I know I have so maybe I'm just preaching to the choir here but where you have because of faithlessness or because of a lost sight of the hope that is provided for us in Christ we wallow in despair over our own corruption over our own flesh over our sin weighed through bogs of guilt and depression because of the inward corruption that remains in your flesh and what does our author say here have boldness and enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus draw near draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies watched with pure water embrace the hope that is the gospel embrace the salvation that we have in Christ let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering why because he is faithful the one who promised for now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus so don't live like there is don't subject yourself to guilt and despair and the quagmire of despair like you're under condemnation you're no longer under condemnation if you're in Christ live with a bold faith faith in Christ that you are forgiven of your sin if you confess your sin he is faithful and just we have sin when we sin we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous one fear death no more this is a glorious hope we have live in that hope draw near with boldness because of Christ in Christ trusting Christ for what he has done following him in faith turning from your sin and trusting yourself to him there's a penalty if you don't verse 28 anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses if you're under the law you die without mercy verse 29 if that's true verse 28 is true of how much worse punishment do you suppose will he be thought worthy who has trampled the son of God under foot counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing and insulted the spirit of grace grace we know him who said vengeance is mine I will repay says the Lord and again the Lord will judge his people it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God don't rest in your own strength don't rest in your own power depend upon him turn away from your sin turn away from self-righteousness turn away from law-keeping that you think somehow some way some shape or form is going to make you right with God turn to him by faith Paul preaches this in 2nd Corinthians 3 verse 12 we look at this text today with the hope that the spirit of God will stir our hearts to be moved with a holy boldness in following Christ and in preaching the gospel this boldness those who are in him characteristic of one who has rightly understood rightly apprehended this hope that we have in him it is a glorious hope amen so all praise, honor and glory to him who has given it to us