 The title of our text this morning is, You Are a Living Letter. You Are a Living Letter. This is part three, and we are in 2 Corinthians chapter three, verses one through six. So now as we turn our attention once more to 2 Corinthians chapter three, verses one through six, we are reminded here that Paul in the setting in our context is embattled with false teachers in Corinth. And he's losing influence for the sake of the gospel with the beleaguered Corinthian church. After having founded the church, after having worked and labored among them for 18 months, after preaching the gospel there and seeing many come to faith, genuine saving faith in Christ, Paul has now left. And in his absence, savage wolves have slipped in among the sheep, not sparing the flock. These false teachers that Paul sarcastically and derisively labelled super apostles because of their haughty claims, because of their arrogance and because of their presumption, these false teachers boast in their wisdom while ridiculing the teachings of Paul. They boast in their eloquence while mocking Paul's speech as contemptible. They boast in their own success and they deride Paul for his suffering in poverty. They boast of themselves that they are the true apostles of Christ and that Paul is the impostor. They have apparently come to Corinth with letters of recommendation. I'm sure these letters were very impressive, right, filled out by all their buddies. And what is heartbreaking here to Paul is that many in Corinth have been persuaded by their deception. Even though Paul says they come preaching another Jesus, a different spirit and a different gospel. So out of love for the Corinthians, because he loves these people, he loves and cherishes the gospel, he loves the Lord, he loves the Lord's church, Paul is not content to leave these immature and undiscerning Corinthian believers to essentially die at the hands of these false apostles. And so he, here in our text, reluctantly undertakes a defense of his apostolic ministry, beginning in chapter 2, verse 17, where he says, for we are not as so many peddling the word of God. In other words, we're not hucksters. We're not liars or charlatans preaching for profit. But in verse 17, as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ. Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, as these peddling hucksters obviously do, do we need epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? No, Paul says emphatically. We do not need a letter of commendation. Why? Verse 2, you are our epistle. You are our living letter, Paul says, written in our hearts, known and read by all men. Verse 3, clearly, you are an epistle, a living letter of the Lord Jesus Christ, ministered or served 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. In other words, the very fact that your heart has been changed, right? The very fact that you've been transformed by the gospel, the fact that you are a new creation in Christ, the very fact that a living, thriving, healthy, breathing, biblical church exists in the city of Corinth is a manifest evidence that the ministry of Paul and Timothy and Silas is decidedly of God. Now, if you doubt this, that's essentially what Paul is saying here in 2 Corinthians, chapter 3 verses 1 through 6, if you doubt this, then you're forced to question the very work of God accomplished through Paul, right? If these fake, counterfeit super apostles presumed to attack the ministry of Paul, they're going to have to explain away an awful lot, they're going to have to explain away the miraculous chains of heart in the Corinthians, they're going to have to explain away the spirit wrought work of God that has taken place through his preaching. God's work is obvious, isn't it? The Holy Spirit doesn't write with invisible ink. I once spent some time with a precious Christian couple, right? They loved the Lord, I love the Lord's people, I love the Lord's church, but they also dearly loved their pastor who had recently retired a few years earlier and moved away. And the man who had taken his place was less known to them, right? He preached differently, he was a different person, and the church seemed to them to be different. We talked, they fearfully asked the question, a woman had tears in her eyes, we talked, is the spirit of God still at work in our church? Has the spirit of God left our church? As we talked, it became apparent to me in our conversation that the differences they mentioned were more about style than they were about substance. As we talked about the substance, encouragement came from the Lord, right? Are there genuinely saved spirit and dwelt believers there? Yes. Is the whole council of God being preached? Yes. You want to know what a biblical church is? A Bible preaching, Bible teaching churches, there are love there among the people for God's Word. Yes. Is there conviction of sin? Yes. Are the people growing? Are they making progress in the Lord? Yes. Are they evangelistic? Are the people saved? Are disciples being made? Are people being saved? Is there love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, generalness, self-control? Is there a faithfulness to church discipline? Do they take sin seriously? Is there unity? Is there peace? Listen, if that exists, then be encouraged. Right? That is the work of God's spirit in God's church. That is the evidence of God's spirit at work in the church. Minister of Satan, those who come along and masquerade themselves as ministers of righteousness, those ministers, that church, won't produce those fruits, right? All that Satan can do, all that Satan can do is attempt to counterfeit them. And we see counterfeits like these today. They're a dime a dozen, they're a dime a dozen. The impastor will seldom, if ever, confront sin. Right? He'll claim to himself, I'm a teacher of grace. Right? Or I'm a preacher of encouragement, as if he has a choice about such things. Right? The central focus is not given to the Word of God. The central focus is often given to the music. Rather than conviction of sin, there's emotional height. Rather than the focus being on the commands of God, they focus on the emotional felt needs of man. In the place of God-centered worship, there's man-centered entertainment. We see this all over the place in our day, don't we? People are as biblically illiterate today as they were the first day they walked through the doors of that place. Man is allowed to spread unchecked in the church. No one seems concerned about it. There's an inordinate focus or attention given to experience or charismatic gifts talking in gibberish, those kinds of things. There's a superficial joy that disappears in trial, disappears in difficulty. There's a superficial love that gossips, that slanders, that is clickish, and then leaves when the going gets tough. This is the satanic counterfeit worship produced not by the Spirit of God, but by the Spirit of this age. And it is being mass produced at a rapid rate. Paul contends that the efficacious work of God's Spirit in the church, among believers, is manifestly evident. It is overtly obvious. Genuine spirit and dwelt believers are living letters of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are a visible display of God's grace at work through the gospel. The church, his church, is a living, breathing community, brought into being not through human effort, right, but through the authorship of Christ, served by his ministers and written wrought by the Spirit of the living God. So Paul continues that in verse 4, we have such trust through Christ toward God. That's where our trust is, through Christ toward God for these things. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, 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. What a commendation, right? So Paul's writing, and he's looking for commendation, so to speak, to defend his ministry with the Corinthian church. This is a great commendation, isn't it? This is the best commendation. God obviously at work through the ministry of Paul to produce living letters of Christ. It's a miraculous, encouraging work. That should have been inarguably clear evidence for the Corinthians, shouldn't it have? Certainly would have been a constant sort of great encouragement, constant source of great encouragement to Paul. Should be a tremendous source of encouragement to us also, right, in this church. We see all over this place, don't we, living letters of the Lord Jesus Christ. People who love the Lord Jesus Christ. They love his word. They love his worship. They love his church. They love his people. They hate their sin. They hate error. They hate that which stands opposed to the truth. We see living letters all over the place around here. And you and I, you and I, you and I called into ministry. We are ministers together of the New Covenant. Now look at verse six with me. Using the pronoun us in verse six to refer to himself, to Timothy and to Silas, Paul describes their role in this blessed work as being ministers of the New Covenant, ministers of the New Covenant. In other words, God's work in Corinth that we see described there in verses two through three is in keeping with New Covenant ministry and Paul, Timothy and Silas are ministers of that New Covenant. And we see God's work versus two and three. Paul describes himself then as a minister of that New Covenant in verse six. And much of what we know about the New Covenant directly from our text here is given to us through Paul's use of contrast, through Paul's use of contrast sticking to his metaphor of genuine Christians as being living letters of Christ. Paul says, first contrast that living letters verse two are authored by Christ rather than by the work of man. Do you see the contrast implied there verse two, the second contrast living letters of Christ are not written with ink or by means of man, not by human authorship, but by the spirit of a living God. Look at the third contrast. There are others here. Third, living letters of Christ are written on tablets of flesh that is of the heart rather than tablets of stone. And then that use of contrast continues now into verse six. Paul references here the New Covenant, obviously in contrast to the Old Covenant. That's right. There's a new often of necessity implies an old. That is further explained here by the contrast between the letter and spirit in verse six, the letter leading to death and the spirit leading to life. Paul says in verse six, we are ministers of the New Covenant, not of the letter, not of the spirit for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. Clearly then, right? Clearly then for us to understand what Paul is saying in verse six, we need to go to the Bible and understand what is meant by those terms. And that's fairly obvious, but not always the route taken, right? What is the Old Covenant? We're going to find out from the Bible. How is it connected here with the letter that kills? We need to understand that from scripture. What is the New Covenant? How is it connected here with this spirit who gives the life is extremely important that we understand the contrast here because there is rampant error associated with getting the contrast wrong. So as we look at this verse, verse six in particular, we've got to get that contrast right. And then we have to understand that contrast in the context of 2 Corinthians chapter three, either deceived or deceiving, there are many, as Peter says, who have twisted Paul's words here to their own destruction, twisted this to their own destruction. Some establish the contrast here as being between literal exegesis or literal interpretation and being a spiritual exegesis or a spiritual interpretation, contrast being between literal and spiritual. It's not what's going on here. There's been much damage done to the cause of Christ with that interpretation. Or they establish the contrast as being here between the word of God and the spirit of God. Now who is, who's the ultimate author of the word of God? The spirit of God. The spirit of God will not be in contrast with himself in the text. Not going to happen. All right? We have to be careful here and rightly divide the word of truth. Let's take a look first. Let's take a look first at the old covenant that which Paul alludes to as being of the letter which kills. And let's look at what he means by this. If you look at verse six, the Greek word translated their letter in verse six is the singular Greek word grama. Grama. It means a letter or a script means a written thing. Just something written. Right? Doesn't mean scripture. The Greek word should not be confused with the word for scripture. The word that Paul most often uses to refer to scripture is the word grafe. It's a different word. This is grama, meaning a letter or a written thing, a written code, so to speak. The word that Paul uses to refer to scripture is grafe. Now in other words, Paul here, and stick with me, hang in there with me, write some of these things down, maybe think about it later. In other words, Paul is referring to the old covenant as a written thing. Okay? It's going to be important to connect later. Paul's referring to the old covenant as a written thing. Paul's problem with the old covenant is grounded in the fact that it is only a written thing. In other words, as merely a written code carved on tablets of stone, so to speak, it lacks the power to effect the obedience that it demands. You see? It lacks the power to effect the obedience that it demands. It cannot change the heart, cannot change the mind, cannot change the desires, cannot change the will. It can't transform a person. It is merely a written thing. Right? It cannot supply strength. It will not effect obedience. In fact, all that the written code can do is stand back in condemnation against you. The only thing that it can do is stand by and witness your condemnation, those who fail to keep it. Galatians 3 verse 10, Paul says this, for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. Think about that with me. As many as are under the law, who does that include? Everyone born of Adam, right? Every single living human being, for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. The letter in and of itself kills, do you see? It pronounces a curse for disobedience, it kills. That's important. That's important, should be extremely important to you and I because you and I are born under the law, born in Adam. All are born under the law. Now Paul, thinking of verse 6 again now, Paul, referring to that which is written in verse 6, is making reference to the law of God and the old or the mosaic covenant. Turn with me to Exodus chapter 19 and let's look at this together. Let's look at the old covenant together, Exodus chapter 19, this writing so to speak or these 10 words so to speak, the old code, the old covenant, the law of God, Exodus chapter 19. The children of Israel have been delivered from Egypt, they've been brought into the wilderness of Sinai and God enters into covenant with them there. Look at verse 3, Exodus 19, verse 3, Moses went up to God and the Lord called to him from the mountain saying, Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the children of Israel, you have seen what I did to the Egyptians, haven't you? And how I bore you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to me above all people. For all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. And these are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel. After this, there's this terrifying scene on Mount Sinai. Such a scene of terror that Moses in Hebrews said that he was terrified, he was much afraid. And that depicts the holiness, the power of God. And then he gives his people the law encapsulated in the Ten Commandments, and those laws, those Ten Commandments reflecting the very nature, the very character of God himself. And this is the covenant. Look at Exodus chapter 20, verse one, chapter 20, verse one, God enters into covenant with his people. So in verse one, God spoke all these words saying, verse two, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt out of the house of bondage. Verse three, you shall have no other gods before me. In other words, you're not to have anything, anything in your life that is preeminent or superior to God. When you neglect the thought of God, you neglect prayer to God, you neglect the worship of God for something else, that's having something else in your life that's preeminent. You're displacing the worship of God, breaking that commandment. Verse four, you shall not make for yourself a carved image, in other words, a God of your own devising. People do that today all the time, right? My God wouldn't do this. My God wouldn't do that. That's not the God that I worship. Well, that's right. You're worshiping an idol. You're not worshiping the God of the Bible, right? Your understanding of God must be biblically informed, otherwise you're worshiping idols. You're making for yourself a graven image. Verse seven, you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, using his name as a curse word, right? Oh my, all the time, right? All the time we hear that. It's also calling yourself a Christian when you live like the devil. That's also taking the name of God in vain. Verse eight, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, a day set aside to worship the Lord your God. Verse 12, honor your father and your mother. Verse 13, you shall not murder. Jesus says in Matthew chapter five that to be angry in your heart without just cause is the seed of murder in your heart. You've committed murder in your heart. Verse 14, you shall not commit adultery. And that is to even look at someone with lust in your heart, is to commit adultery against God. Verse 15, you shall not feel. Verse 16, you shall not lie. Verse 17, you shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's. And we know the story, don't we? That before Moses could even make it down the mountain with the law of God written with the very finger of God on tablets of stone. The people under the leadership of Aaron plunge themselves into full blown idolatry making the golden calf. And Moses then destroys the two tablets. Nevertheless, in spite of this, God is faithful and God is long suffering. And so then God ratifies the mosaic or the Old Covenant with his people, turn over to Exodus 34, Exodus 34. And again, we're looking at the Old Covenant here, the Mosaic Covenant, Exodus 34, and look with me at verse one. And so the Lord said to Moses, right, makes two new tablets, the Lord said to Moses, cut two tablets of stone like the first ones. And I will write on these tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke. So be ready in the morning and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai and present yourself to me there on top of the mountain. And no man shall come up with you and let no man be seen throughout all the mountain, let neither flocks nor herds feed before that mountain. Otherwise they die, right? Verse four. So he cut two tablets of stone like the first ones. Then Moses rose early in the morning and went up the Mount Sinai as the Lord had commanded him. And he took in his hand the two tablets of stone. The Lord reviews the terms of the Covenant with Moses and then dropped down with me to verse 27. After reviewing the terms of the Covenant with Moses, then the Lord said to Moses in verse 27, write these words for according to the tenor of these words, I have made a covenant with you and with Israel. This is the Old Covenant. This is the Mosaic Covenant. Verse 28, so he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights, he neither ate bread nor drank water. It's a miraculous preservation. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the Covenant, the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments are the words of the Covenant, right? I'm thinking through this. God gives his law, God gives his law, provides for his people. He could have given his law to anyone. He chose the nation of Israel. That is his electing love toward them for that reason. He gave them his law. And then he sets up with them in the wilderness the sacrificial system. The sacrificial system was established in which almost a constant flow of blood, the blood of bulls and goats, takes place before the altar, all to temporarily cover the sins of his people. It is a bloody religion. There is no remission without the shedding of blood. In the altar, in the temple, at that altar, in the tabernacle in the wilderness, constant sacrifices being offered up, right, bulls, the blood of bulls and goats, blood constantly flowing. It would have been millions of animals and likely millions more gallons of blood spilt all to simply cover the sins of God's people in the wilderness. After the tabernacle, the temple is built and the bloodshed continues, right? Temporarily, temporarily covering the sins of his people. All pointing to the fact, all pointing to the fact that they can't keep themselves holy. They cannot obey the law. Sin upon sin, upon sin, sacrifice upon sacrifice upon sacrifice. And their complete failure to keep the terms of the Old Covenant, the first generation would fail to enter the Promised Land. God swore in his wrath that they would not enter his rest, and everyone from that first generation, except for the kids, Caleb and Joshua, died there in the wilderness. And then God, God in grace, God in mercy, God in patience, determines to renew the Covenant again with the next generation. Term with me to Deuteronomy chapter 30, Deuteronomy chapter 30. God again ratifies the Covenant with the next generation. In Deuteronomy chapter 30, and look there with me at verse 11, God reminds this next generation of the Covenant that he's made, and he says in verse 11, for this commandment, which I command you today, is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off, or is it clear to understand it's easily accessible. It's not in heaven that you should say who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us that we may hear it and do it, nor is it beyond the sea that you should say who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us that we may hear it and do it. But the Word, by God's grace and mercy, right, the Word is very near you in your mouth and in your heart that you may do it. See verse 15, the stakes get pretty clear. I've said before you today, life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments, His statutes and its judgments that you may live and multiply. And the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. But verse 17, if your heart turns away so that you do not hear and you are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I announce to you today that you shall surely perish. You shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore choose life that both you and your descendants may live, that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, that you may cling to Him for He is your life and the length of your days, that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to give them. That stands in force. God in His Word sets before you life and death. If you break His laws, He announces to you today that you shall surely perish. So how is it, how is it then that the letter kills? You see, the letter, the written thing, the written code, that letter kills. How does it kill? We can't obey it. We can't obey it. What's the history of Israel if not constant idolatry, right? Constant pattern of disobedience. If you're honest with yourself this morning, what is the pattern of your life? Constant disobedience. If you're not in Christ, born into the law, you live under the curse of the law. The law stands in judgment against you. We don't have the power to obey it. And listen, those stone tablets carry with them no power to help us obey it. Just because you know the Ten Commandments doesn't somehow acquit you of disobeying them. You're charged guilty by God's law. Covenant blessings, covenant blessings of God are given to the righteous. And what is that standard of righteousness? What's the standard of righteousness demanded by God's law? Perfect obedience. Perfect obedience. Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. James chapter two, verse 10, for whoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. Listen, God doesn't grate on a curse. You can't have your cake and eat it too. It's not going to work out in the end. If you're not in Christ, you're going to be condemned by this law in your sin. The law pronounces a sentence of death. It's in that the letter kills, do you see? The law brings guilt. The law brings shame, separation from God. Eternal everlasting damnation. As eternal and everlasting as the life God promises is for those who turn to Christ, is as everlasting and eternal as the death is for those who reject Him. The duty required by the law kills because it sets up this impossibly high standard that we can't possibly keep. It's based on the character of God Himself, right? It reflects His character, His moral attributes. God is perfect, perfect. God is righteous. We need the righteousness of God, don't we? We don't have our own righteousness. We stand before Him filthy, destitute, and hopeless under the law. The law condemns imposing a death sentence. Does that mean then that the law, that the old Mosaic administration, does that mean that it's sinful then or evil? Is the law wicked? No. No. Paul says in Romans 7 verse 12 that the law is holy and the commandment holy, just and good. So what's the problem then? Think with me, right? What's the problem with the old covenant? What's the problem with the old covenant? I am. I'm the problem, right? You're the problem. What's faulty? What's insufficient about the old covenant? You are. What's the weakness of the old covenant? I am. In my fallen condition outside of Christ, I have a heart of stone. Even though I appear to have life, the Bible qualifies me as dead in trespasses and sins. I'm like a walking zombie, right? Dead as I live. Even though I have life, presumably, John chapter 3 verse 18, I am condemned already. I'm just awaiting, so to speak, the execution of my sentence. Hebrews chapter 7 verse 18. On the one hand, there is an annuling of the former commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness for the law made nothing perfect. We can't be made perfect by the law. How many times when you're out witnessing, right? You're talking to somebody at the door, at the mall, at the restaurant, wherever you're at work, school. You're talking to someone and they say to you, yeah, I think I'm a pretty good person. I think at the end, I'm going to work out, write my good deeds, I'm going to outweigh my bad deeds. Really, please like read the Bible to them. The law makes nothing perfect. You can't attain to perfection. On the other hand, Hebrews 7 18 goes on to say, there is the bringing in of a better hope. There is a bringing in of a better hope through which, through that better hope, we draw near to God. Listen, by the grace and mercy of Almighty God, the last word wasn't given at Sinai. That old covenant is not the last word. By the grace of God, there's hope. That old covenant should leave. If that were it, you're left. I'm left hopeless, best to do without God, right without God, without hope in this world. But by the grace of God, the last word wasn't given at Sinai. The last word was given at the cross, where Jesus Christ said, it is finished. It is finished. Terminate Jeremiah 31. Jeremiah 31. Jeremiah 31. Hang in there with me. Jeremiah 31. We're going to a lot of text today. That's good, though. Jeremiah 31. Look at verse 31. Jeremiah 31 verse 31. Last word wasn't given at Sinai. Verse 31, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will 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 that I took them by the hand to leave them out of the land of Egypt, not according to that covenant, right? Not according to that covenant. There is a new covenant. My covenant, God says, which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. Verse 33. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my law in their minds. I will write it on their hearts, and 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, know the Lord, for 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. The promise of the new covenant, the promise of the new covenant is that we're not simply left to die. God doesn't simply leave us in our state, in great love, immeasurable love, right? With rebellious enemies, right? With rebels, wicked rebels, God lavishes grace upon them and says the word it signized, not the last word. The promise of the new covenant is that we're not simply left to die. The law isn't left as that external written code that kills, no more merely external do's and don'ts, right? Rather than on tablets of stone, the Lord writes his law in our minds and on our hearts. You think about that statement in Jeremiah 31, in verse 34, no more shall every man teach his neighbor and every man, his brother, saying, know the Lord, know the Lord. You think about that in second Samuel chapter two, the sons of Eli are members of the old covenant. They knew who Yahweh was, they knew the Lord, so to speak, and yet they were killed, judged by God. They didn't know the Lord in the way that God intends for them to do. The foreskin of their heart was not circumcised to know the Lord. The beauty of the new covenant is that everyone in this covenant will know the Lord. Everyone in this covenant will teach his neighbor, his brother, saying, know the Lord, they shall all know me. The least of them, to the greatest of them says the Lord, I will forgive their iniquity and their sin, I will remember no more. Look at Ezekiel 36, Ezekiel 36, after perpetual failures under the old covenant, God in grace and mercy in the Lord Jesus Christ gives the new covenant. Written not on tablets of stone, written on tablets of flesh, that is, on our hearts. Ezekiel 36, look at verse 25. Again, another iteration of the new covenant. Verse 25, then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean, praise God. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, praise God. 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 give you a heart of flesh. He's gonna remake us from the inside out. If you're in Christ, you are a new creation, amen. I will put my spirit within you, verse 27, and I will cause you to walk in my statutes and you will keep my judgments and do them. Why? Why? Because you have a new nature. You have a new heart. You have a new spirit dwelling within you, and God, by his spirit, causes you to walk in his statutes and to keep his judgments and do them. The promise of the new covenant is a new heart, right? The promise of the new covenant is a new nature in Christ, where the Lord indwells us with his spirit, where the Lord writes his law upon our hearts. We're not left to our own devices, right? With a heart of stone left to face the certain condemnation of an externally written law. Now, that law, that law, which remains, law's not been done away with, that law is met with power and met with strength from within. By virtue of the spirit's work in the believer, by virtue of the spirit's work under the new covenant, we have the ability for joyful, earnest, zealous, fervent, consistent, and persistent obedience from the heart. Doesn't mean perfection, this side of eternity, but it certainly means direction, this side of eternity, right? Every precept is met with power. Every statute is met with strength. And then now, immediately on the heels of this promise of the new covenant, the Lord gives us an illustration of what that looks like. Look at Ezekiel 37, very next chapter. We have an illustration of this. Look at verse one. The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the spirit of the Lord and sent me down in the midst of the valley. It was full of bones. And what does that signify? Signifies death, right death. They're littered there dead. Verse two, then he caused me to pass by them all around and behold, there were very many in the open valley and indeed they were very dry. They were very dead, not almost dead, very dead, not nearly dead, very dead. He said to me, son of man, can these bones live? So I answered, oh Lord God, you know, again he said to me in verse four, prophesy to these bones and say to them, oh dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord, God to these bones, surely I will cause breath to enter into you and you shall live. I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the Lord. God's people, God's people become the entleshment of the new covenant, right? We become living testimonies, living letters. Second Corinthians chapter three, verses one through six. We become living letters of the work of God in the heart of sinful men, right? Living testimonies of the grace and mercy of God in the new covenant. Verse seven, so I prophesied as I was commanded and as I prophesied there was a noise, suddenly a rattling and the bones came together bone to bone. Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them and the skin covered them over but there was no breath in them. Also he said to me, prophesy to the breath, prophesy son of man and say to the breath, thus says the Lord God, come from the forewinds, oh breath and breathe on these slain, they may live. And so I prophesied as he commanded me and breath came into them and they lived and they stood on their feet and exceedingly great army. And he said to me, son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say our bones are dry, our hope is lost. We ourselves are cut off. Why? Why, because of their sin. They broke in the old covenant. They broke in the old covenant. Therefore, verse 12, prophesy and say to them, thus says the Lord God, behold, oh my people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves and bring you into the land of Israel. That's a resurrection of the dead, amen. Verse 13, then you shall know that I am the Lord when I have opened your graves, oh my people, and brought you up from your graves, I will put my spirit. Interesting that the word for breath often used interchangeably for the spirit in the Old Testament. It's a picture of the spirit of God. God says in verse 14, I will put my spirit in you and you shall live. Second Corinthians chapter three, verse six, the spirit gives life, do you see? The spirit gives life. I will place you in your own land and then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it, says the Lord. Why is the new covenant better than the old covenant? Letter kills for the spirit, gives life. Letter kills for the spirit. Do you see how that fits together, how we understand that from Second Corinthians, chapter three, verse six? The letter kills for the spirit gives life. Not in any way, nearly incidental to this is the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is the one who purchased or secured this covenant at the cross, secured by the Lord Jesus Christ. First Corinthians chapter 11, verse 25, speaking of the Lord supper, Jesus said in the same manner, He also took the cup after supper saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Jesus Christ shed his own blood on the cross in purchase of the new covenant. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter eight. Hebrews chapter eight, let's look at another example in this contrast between old and new covenants. Hebrews chapter eight, I can sense so far. Hebrews chapter eight, look at verse six. Verse six, speaking of Jesus Christ, verse six says, but now he, the Lord Jesus Christ, has obtained a more excellent ministry. Excellent ministry. In as much as he, the Lord Jesus Christ is also mediator of a better covenant. Which was established. You Greek guys, that's perfect, passive, perfect, right? It was established. It's been done, was established on better promises. Something future about this, new covenant has been established. He has obtained then Jesus Christ, right? Now he has obtained a more excellent ministry in as much as he is also mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. He's obtained a better ministry, in other words, than all those priests under the old covenant. If you think about the old covenant administration and the work of those priests in the tabernacle, in the temple, always sacrificing, always at work, dealing with the sins of God's people. In contrast to Moses, he is the mediator. The Lord Jesus Christ is the mediator of a better covenant founded on better promises, right? The fact that it's better, in Hebrews chapter eight, the fact that it's better has everything to do with the Lord Jesus Christ himself. The reason that it's better is because of Jesus, right? Christ is the matchless and eternal high priest. Christ, his priestly service is perfect and it is eternal. His priesthood is a permanent priesthood. He abides, our author says, forever. He doesn't die, he doesn't get replaced, he doesn't sit down on the job, so to speak. He's accomplished, finished the job, and he always then lives to make intercession for his people. This high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, actually saves to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him. He actually saves from sin. A repeated sacrifice is not necessary. A singular sacrifice was all that was necessary, the sacrifice of himself. Listen to this, every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. That's the old covenant, right? That's the old covenant. But this man, the Lord Jesus Christ, this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time till his enemies are made his footstool. For by one offering, he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. Listen, there is nothing else needs be done. It is finished, right? The covenant that he mediates or for which he is the surety because of him, the covenant is certainly better. And that is an understatement. We just don't simply have words in English to convey how much better it is. Radically better. It's better, better. It's the bestest, better. Verse seven, if you're following me in Hebrews chapter eight, for if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Well, that makes sense, doesn't it? So then, what is the second covenant? So then, what is the nature, then, of the fault found concerning that first covenant, the old covenant? We're about to see it in the quote from Jeremiah that we find in verse eight, verse eight, because finding fault, what does it say? With them, finding fault with them. What's the problem with the old covenant? I am. You are. They are. They were, right? Finding fault with them, he says, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord. When I will 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 that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant and I disregarded them, says the Lord. Wow, right? However, not only finding fault with them, we can also see the fault or the shortcomings of the old covenant in that which is provided in the new covenant. Think with me now. We see the faults or the shortcomings in the old covenant by looking at the better promises contained in the new covenant. Make sense? We see that listed here in the text. The old covenant simply doesn't provide for these glorious promises. Look at verse 10. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. One, I will put my laws in their mind. Better, right? Better, two, I'll write them on their hearts. Better, three, I will be their God. Praise God, that is great, right? Four, they shall be my people. They shall be my people. What the old covenant failed to produce in them, God does, God does Himself in the better covenant, in the new covenant, with a better sacrifice, with a better mediator, with better promises. Verse 11, none of them shall teach his neighbor. None of them is brother saying, No, the Lord. We see this again, don't we? For all shall know me from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and to their sins and their lawless deeds. I will remember no more. Is that because he just turns a blind eye and sweeps sin under the rug and doesn't have any concern for whatsoever? No, it's because of Christ. And because of Christ. Because the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross, hanging on the tree, bore the wrath of God in himself for the sins of his people. He bore the punishment that you and I deserve. He took that, our mediator, right? The one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. He says in verse 12, I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, their sins and their lawless deeds. I will remember no more. Interesting again, 1 Samuel chapter 2 verse 12. Eli's sons, members of the old covenant, and yet they did not know the Lord in this capacity. They knew his name. They knew that he was the living God, but they did not have their hearts changed to know him. And the way that he's describing here. In this covenant, all those who enter in will know the Lord. All of them will. All will have their sins forgiven forever. Verse 13. In that he says a new covenant. In that he says a new covenant. The old is made obsolete. He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. A new covenant simply perfect and superior in every way. Incidentally, right? This doesn't mean a new way of salvation. Doesn't mean there are two peoples of God. Doesn't mean that there are two separate ways that people are saved. There's not a way in the old covenant that the people are saved. There's a different way in the new covenant that people are saved. All of those, all of those who enter into this new covenant experience what the remnant experienced in the Old Testament as they entered in by faith. Genuine conversion resulting in a transformed heart. Genuine conversion resulting in a changed heart, changed nature. What makes this covenant better is that all those who enter, not just the remnant, but all those who enter experience the fulfillment and the benefits of this covenant. This is the new covenant and the spirit gives life. Let's look at one more contrast. Look at Galatians chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3. Again, we began this by looking at contrasts within our texts. Second Corinthians chapter 3. We've expanded now looking at the old and new covenants in Scripture. And looking at contrasts between the two of them. Let's look at one more. Galatians chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3. And start with me beginning at verse 10, verse 10. This is the text we've already mentioned here this morning. We're going to put it to further use verse 10. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. For it is written, cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident. For the just shall live by faith. You see what's being said in verse 11? It's evident that no one is justified by works of the law. You're not going to be right with God by obeying or doing works of the law. Verse 12. Yet the law is not a faith, but the man who does them shall live by them. If you're going to pursue a righteousness of your own apart from Christ, you're going to have to pursue obedience to the law. The only other recourse you have. You have no other recourse apart from Christ. You're under the law. Verse 13 though, listen, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law having become a curse for us. Ford is written cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. So that verse 14, the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus that we might receive the promise of the spirit through what? Through faith. We might receive the promise of the spirit through works. No. Then we might receive the promise of the spirit through circumcision plus faith. No. We might receive the promise of the spirit through faith plus the feast days. No. We will receive the promise of the spirit through faith plus observing a seventh day Sabbath. No. Through the dietary laws plus faith. No. To just try and hard and faith. No. Just keeping one or two laws plus faith. No. None. Through faith. Right. You cannot do anything. It has been done. It has been done. Drop down to verse 21. Verse 21. Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not. For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been given, would have been by the law. But the scripture has confined all under sin so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who work. No. To those who have faith plus circumcision. No. To those who have faith plus circumcision plus keep the feast days. No. Faith plus seventh day Sabbath. No. All right. To those who believe. To those who exercise saving faith. Look at verse 26. For you are all, if you are a Son of God, then you are all Sons of God through faith alone in Christ alone. Verse 27. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There's neither Jew nor Greek. There's neither slave nor free. There's neither male nor female for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ, then you are, listen, right, then you are Abraham's seed. You are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. He who is a Jew outwardly. Not a Jew, Paul says, doesn't he? It is he who is a Jew. He who is a Jew is a Jew inwardly, right? We through faith in Christ are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Glory, right? Praise God. Paul was born under that old covenant. Paul lived under that old covenant. He pursued zealous faithfulness of that old covenant. He came to see the absolute hopelessness of it. Listen to this from Paul in Philippians chapter 3 beginning in verse 5. Paul describes himself circumcised the eight day of the stock of Israel. In other words, I'm keeping the law, right? I'm keeping the law of the tribe of Benjamin in honorable position. A Hebrew of the Hebrews. This is how Paul is describing himself. Not just an ordinary Hebrew. He's a Hebrew of the Hebrews, right? He was an exemplary Hebrew concerning the law, a Pharisee, about as religiously obsessive as you can get. Concerning zeal, persecuting the church, even at the point of death. Concerning the righteousness which is in the law, Paul considered himself blameless. Amazing, isn't it? But these things that I thought verse 7 were gained to me, I've counted them all lost for Christ. Give every one of them up. I give it all up, all that work, all that effort, right? I give it all up for Christ. Yet indeed, I count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish. The word literally means species, excrement. I count them as excrement that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. You see, when the Lord Jesus Christ came, he took the form of a man, took the form of a slave, and coming in the likeness of a man, he became obedient, obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. He perfectly obeyed God. In perfectly obeying God, he satisfied the just and righteous demands of God's law, where you and I sin, word, thought, and deed, all the time the Lord Jesus Christ was perfectly righteous. The end of his life was a stamp, a men, right? Perfectly righteous. God well pleased with the Son in everything, as a perfectly righteous man, and fully God, Jesus Christ goes to the cross, and on the cross as a perfect sacrifice, he takes the punishment that we deserve. He endures the wrath of God for his people, and he dies. He is buried, God finding his sacrifice perfectly acceptable, raises him from the dead in power, and now seated at the right hand of the Father, he always lives to make intercession for his own. He said, Paul says in verse 10, I want to know him, the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. You think that Paul rejoiced in being a minister of the new covenant? It was the joy and delight of Paul's heart. Paul had it hard. Why don't we see what Paul has suffered? It was the joy and rejoicing of his heart. The authentic gospel minister, the authentic Christian ministry, ministers of the new covenant, are those whose ministry, whose preached word are infused and invigorated with the power of the Spirit of God, with the work of God himself. Paul, the mouthpiece, God, the power, the strength, the transformation. Right? Not dealing here in moral improvements. We don't deal in behavior modification. We're not just trying to clean up your act a little, make yourself a little more presentable. You can't just, I'm going to make my life better. Right? It's time for me to get my life in order. I'm going to start going back to church. Somehow you think you're saved because of that? No. We're not talking about behavior modification. We're not talking about cleaning up your act a little. We're talking about the Spirit of the living God wrought salvation in your heart. Right? Working you over inside out to change you, making you a new creation in Christ. We preach the gospel of the new birth, the gospel of regeneration, the gospel of hope, hope in Christ from the dead, a living hope of eternal life and inheritance with him. You can see in this, can't you? Why Paul is so indignant over false teachers, false apostles who come along specifically here, the Judaizers, who want to corrupt that message. This is a glorious message, right? Wanting to add anything to the work of Christ. These Judaizers wanting to add circumcision, wanting to add the feast days, law keeping, the Sabbath. Paul calls them dogs. He calls them evil workers. You can't add anything to the work of Christ. He says in Galatians chapter one verse eight, but even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you, then what we have preached to you, let him be damned. Paul says, and that goes for us today. If you go anywhere, you hear anyone preaching anything other than what Paul preaches. And what the Lord Jesus Christ preaches, repentant faith alone in Christ alone. Paul says, let them be damned. The new covenant is perfect. It's completely in Christ and it is all of faith, all or nothing. All of faith or all of works, nothing in between. All of Christ where it's all on you. Don't think you can add your works. Don't think that you can be good enough. This salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. What's the response then? Right? What must we do then to be saved? Turn from your sin and entrust yourself to him. I'm not going to live my life, not one second longer for myself. I am bought at a price. I am owned by the king and I will give my life to him. I'm not going to live life for myself. I'm going to turn from my sin, turn from my rebellion. I'm not going to waste one more minute under the curse of the law when there is that glorious salvation that is offered to me freely in the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn from sin, trust Christ alone. The good news of the new covenant is that rebel sinners, wicked sinners, like you and I who are dead in their sin, hopeless before the perfectly holy standard of the perfection of God's law, that these rebel sinners can be entirely transformed from the inside out, changed by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone, apart from works forgiven of sin, adopted into the household of God. Heirs, joint heirs with Christ. It's a glorious, glorious covenant, amen. Have you believed that doctrine? Have you believed it? If you've believed it, then you turn from your sin, you put your faith in Christ. If you've not yet believed it, then as a messenger of God, a messenger of Christ, a minister of the new covenant, like there are many here today, I plead with you, I implore you, be reconciled to God. Be reconciled to God. Second Corinthians chapter 3, verse 6, we can put it all together. God 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. All praise, honor, and glory to him who has secured the new covenant for his people and his blood. Amen. Let's pray. Take a few moments. And again, consider where you are. Consider the state of your soul. Consider the mercy and goodness and grace and compassion and long-suffering patience of God. Consider whether you've turned from your sin to put trust and faith in Christ alone. Consider whether or not you're a member of the new covenant or under the curse of the old and do business before God. When you're done praying, you are dismissed. Let's pray.