 The title of our sermon this morning is From Glorious Hope to Bold Faith. From Glorious Hope to Bold Faith, this is part two. We're working through our text, 2 Corinthians chapter 3, verses 12 through 18. The last words today, we spent our time unpacking the nature of the New Covenant hope and the believer's boldness in verse 12 of our text, 2 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 12, where Paul says, therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech. As we continue to work through the text now, we're considering the glorious hope that we have in Christ and we're doing that in reference to three groups that Paul references in verses 12 through 18. We looked at the first of those three groups last week, the bold. We looked at the bold. Today we're going to spend some time looking at the blind and then some time looking at the blessed, the bold in verse 12, the blind and then the blessed. The first group that we see referenced in verse 12 fueled by our incomparable hope are the bold, the bold in Christ verse 12. Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech. Therefore, at the beginning of verse 12, points us back to the truths that Paul describes in verses 7 through 11. In chapter 3 verses 7 through 11, Paul explains the ministry of the old covenant. That ministry, the ministry of the old covenant came with great glory, came with great glory. So glorious, in fact, that Moses' face would shine reflecting the glory of God when he came down from the mountain. However, the old covenant was a covenant or a ministry of death. It was the ministry of condemnation. The old covenant had no power to effect righteousness, no power to bring life, no power to change the heart of man, no power to bring about new birth from death. All the law could do is to inform man of God's demands and then sit back and bear witness to man's guilt, man's shame, and man of the failed to measure up. Simply engraved on stone tablets was the old covenant. Now Paul's point, Paul's point in the contrast, Paul's point in the text is that the new covenant, the new covenant can and does provide the power and that by God's spirit. It is a covenant of the spirit. It is the ministry of the spirit, not just letters on stone that kill, right? The new covenant provides the righteousness that we need by virtue of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The old covenant could not provide that righteousness, the new covenant does. The spirit floods in upon dead bones in the new covenant and breathes life into sinners dead in their trespasses and sins. The new covenant is the good news, the glorious news, the great news of forgiveness of sins and right standing with God through repentant faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the glorious news, the new covenant, the glorious news of new birth, new birth where God removes the heart of stone that lies in your breast, replaces it with a heart of flesh. The spirit of God then working in the heart of man to empower man, to enable him to live for Christ, to obey his commands, to walk according to his statutes and judgments. And because we believe such a glorious message, because we have such a glorious hope in him, we speak. We speak, Paul says in chapter 4 verse 13, we believe and therefore we speak. Everyone who is a genuine Christian, everyone who is a beneficiary of this glorious hope speaks for Christ. You may not be asked to teach a class, you may not be asked to preach a sermon, but every single Christian is called to be an evangelist. Every single Christian is a witness for the Lord Jesus Christ. Every Christian who truly believes, Paul says, speaks. And it's that gospel hope, that glorious message that fueled and fires the heart of the saint in ministry. Because of the nature of that hope that we have, right? How marvelous, how glorious, how triumphant, because of the nature of that hope that we have, the primary character or quality of that speech is described in chapter 3 verse 12 as boldness. ESV says this, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. The word is paracia, not shrinking back. Specifically with regard to speech, it refers to being plain-spoken and outspoken. Confidence, saying what needs to be said. Paracia involves fearlessness, right? Not concerned with risk or danger, maybe being concerned with risk and danger, having the courage to overcome them for the cause of Christ, for the cause of the gospel, right? Willing to face down danger. Willing to face down risk. We ask of Paul the question, right Paul? Why do you continue to preach the gospel in the face of such severe adversity, in the face of such severe persecution? Why do you keep going back for more, right? Day after day, week after week, persevering until the end, until Paul, his head removed from his shoulders? Why do you keep going back for more, Paul? Why would you or I face the scorn and derision of friends? Like we have, right? Many of us have. Face the scorn and derision of friends, of family, of neighbors. Why would you face down the fear of man and preach the gospel in the parks? At the abortion mill, right? On the campus. Why would you do that? Because God in Christ freely offers a glorious hope, a glorious hope. When you consider salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, the work of the Spirit of God to bring dead sinners to life and to transform them, it's easy to see, isn't it? Why Paul and why all Christians are bold to preach the gospel? We live in a lost and dying world, a wicked world, a world where men, women, children dying day after day, hour by hour, minute by minute, people falling into hell, dying and perishing apart from Christ. Why would we be bold to speak? Because we have such a glorious hope, a glorious message. The Lord Jesus Christ in the gospel has saved sinners. Paul told the Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 2, Paul said, but even after we had suffered before, even after we were spitefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we were bold in our God to speak to you, the gospel of God in much conflict, even after being persecuted, even after having suffered, even after having been spitefully treated, even in the midst of great conflict, Paul said we were bold in our God to speak to you, the gospel. Why? Why? He wanted to see them saved. He wanted to see them saved. He loved those people. Our glorious hope, rightly understood, rightly apprehended, fuels Christian resolve and Christian determination to preach the gospel in the face of difficulty, fuels our resolve. Boldness marks those who have this hope in him, right? Verse 12, therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech. With reference to our glorious hope, we've addressed the bold in verse 12. Next, the bold then are contrasted now with the blind in verses 13 through 16. The bold are contrasted with the blind. Look at verse 13 with me. The bold are unlike Moses who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. But their minds were blinded. For until this day, the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses has read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Paul says, in our ministry, ministry of the new covenant, we use great boldness of speech, not like Moses, not like Moses. The boldness of Paul, the boldness of all believers, is in direct contrast here with Moses in the ministry of the Old Covenant. We're not like Moses, the text says, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. With this statement, Paul goes right back to that scene, that imagery in Exodus chapter 34 in this pivotal event in Jewish history on the Mount Sinai. So turn there with me. Turn back with me to Exodus 34 and let's recall this scene with Paul. Exodus chapter 34, we're going to begin looking at verse 27. Exodus chapter 34, beginning at verse 27, verse 27. Then the Lord said to Moses, Moses, write these words. For according to the tenor of these words, I have made a covenant with you and with Israel. So he was there with the Lord 40 days, 40 nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water and he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. These are the words of the Old Covenant, the covenant, right? The Ten Commandments, the words. Moses had shattered the original tablets of the covenant law given to him by God when he came down off the mountain and found the Israelites in idolatry, worshiping the golden calf, if you remember that story. And now Moses back again on the mountain before God where God gives him the tablets for a second time. Look with me at verse 29 then. Now, as Moses is on the mountain again, it was so that when Moses came down from Mount Sinai and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses' hand when he came down from the mountain that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him, while he talked with God. Verse 30, So when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone and they were afraid to come near him, then Moses called to them and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him and Moses talked with them. Afterward, all the children of Israel came near and he gave them as commandments all that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. Notice verse 33 with me. When Moses had finished speaking with them, when he had finished speaking with them, then he put a veil on his face. But whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would take the veil off until he came out and he would come out and speak to the children of Israel, whatever he had been commanded. And whenever the children of Israel saw the face of Moses that the skin of Moses' face shone, then Moses would put the veil on his face again until he went in to speak with him. Now, to help us understand more clearly what Paul is communicating in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verses 13 to 16, I want you to note with me two points regarding this text in Exodus chapter 34, first is the pattern, the second is the people. First point involves the pattern, second point involves the people. First, let's consider the pattern together. After Moses, you're considering Exodus 34, after Moses spoke with God, the skin of his face would shine. The skin of his face would shine. We talked about that before as the residual rays of the glory of God, right? A face of Moses would shine after speaking, standing before the glory of God, so to speak. Verse 30, Exodus 34 verse 30 says that the Israelites were afraid to come near him because the skin of his face shone. They were afraid of the shining of Moses' face. So, verse 31, Moses called them to him. He spoke to them he gave them the commandments that he was given by God. And then in verse 33, after he spoke with them, then Moses puts the veil on his face. That's interesting, isn't it, right? He didn't put the veil on his face when they came to speak to him. He taught the commandments of God. After having taught them the commandments of God, then he puts the veil over his face. He would take the veil off to speak with the Lord. He would then with unveiled face tell the Israelites what he had been commanded by God. And then after instructing them, after giving them the commandments, he would put the veil on his face again. So now, although verse 30 says that they were afraid of Moses because his face shone, he kept his face unveiled before them while he taught the people of God what God had commanded. Although they were afraid, Moses obviously wanted them to see his face. You see, during that time, Moses wanted them to see his face. They saw, as Moses taught them the law, he gave them the commandments, they saw the residual glory, so to speak, the glory of God shining on the face of Moses as he taught them the commands of God. So why did then Moses veil his face at all? Why did Moses, if it wasn't only or merely because they were afraid, and why did Moses veil his face? Paul tells us to keep your finger in Exodus 34 and turn back with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and look there at verse 13. Paul tells us exactly why. Paul tells us exactly why in verse 13. So that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. So that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. The point of the veil, to consider Paul's statement here in chapter 3 verse 13, and this was something that Moses understood and Moses knew in Exodus 34, the point of the veil was to interfere with their view, to disturb their view, to interrupt their view of the glory of God. It was to keep them from gazing. I think with me, it was to prevent them from fixating on the residual glory of God in the face of Moses. Interesting, isn't it? It was to keep them from being overly enamored, so to speak, overly curious or overly fixated on the end of what was passing away. What was the end of what was passing away? The old covenant. The old covenant. The old covenant never meant to be permanent. Even in the giving of the old covenant, there is this reality, this truth that the old covenant would be going away, that it wasn't permanent, that it would be fading. And so that the children of Israel would not become fixated on the glory, so to speak, of that old covenant shining in the face of Moses himself. Moses veiled his face to keep them from gazing uninterruptedly, so to speak, right? He wanted to interrupt their view. Interesting, Moses, like Paul, understood even then, even at Sinai, Moses understood the temporary nature of the old covenant. The passing or fading glory of that covenant, which would be going away. The law, that covenant written on tablets of stone, right, would not be the final word in God's redemptive plans and purposes. The law could only condemn. And what did God intend to do? God intended to deliver. God intends to redeem, right? God intends to save a people to himself for the glory of the Son and the glory of his own name. God intends to save. The law could only condemn. Moses knew that there would be a surpassing glory that would one day render the old covenant obsolete. As Paul said, back in verse 12, I believe it is, so much glory, in fact, that the old covenant looks as though it has no glory at all. Moses knows there will be a surpassing glory that would one day come rendering the old covenant obsolete. Moses knew. Even at Sinai, Moses knew the purpose of the law, to expose the wickedness of man, to point man to God's ultimate provision of a greater covenant based on greater promises and secured by a greater mediator, right? The Lord promises the Messiah, promises the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, promises the coming of a new and better covenant. The people saw the residual glory of God whenever Moses taught them the law. As Moses taught, they see the glory of God shining in a reflective way, shining on the face of Moses. But every time Moses veiled his face, every time Moses put the veil over his face, it was an acted parable, so to speak, saying to the people, don't look here for ultimate glory, right? It was an enacted parable saying this glory is passing, this glory is fade. You can imagine, right? Moses comes down off the mountain and it's been like he's been hooked to a car battery and his face is like brightly glowing. And then as he becomes unhooked and he walks down the mountain, he comes back and even then the fading is beginning to dim, right? The glory is beginning to fade. And every time he speaks with God at the tent of meeting, the glory charged up again and then fading. It's as if Moses is saying with the veil, don't look here for permanent access to God. This is not the end. This is not the last word, right? The law is not to bring you life and righteousness. The law is to point out your wickedness, to point out your hopelessness apart from God's provision of a Messiah, of a deliverer of Christ. A new covenant is coming. A greater glory will be revealed. So we consider the pattern there, what Moses did before the people, the pattern. Second, let's consider the people themselves, the people. Verse 30, Mackenna Exodus 34, verse 30 says that when the people saw that the skin of his face shone, they were afraid to come near him. So the act of Moses then to veil his face would have been considered by the Israelites to have been an act of mercy. They were afraid to look on the face of Moses. And so Moses veiled his face similar to hearing God's voice at Sinai, right? The people begged Moses back in Exodus 20, you speak with us, Moses. Let not God speak with us unless we die, right? We want you to speak with us. However, think with me, how glorious must it have been? How glorious is it to hear the very voice of God? They're in the wilderness. They saw his wondrous works. They saw his glory displayed, manifested in his great work. They heard his audible voice booming from the top of that mountain. How glorious is that, right? How glorious. How glorious is it to see the residual glory of God shining in the face of Moses? How glorious is that? So then what the effect of the veil is then is to cut off the people of God from the glory of God. They may have seen Moses speaking to them rather than God as an act of mercy. They may have seen the veil over Moses' face as an act of mercy. But the effect of that veil, the effect of Moses' mediation was to cut the people off from the glory of God, to cut them off from the glory of God. One day, one day, they would see, or those who trust Christ would see, the unveiled glory of God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is glorious. Here, the veil, the mediation of Moses has the effect of cutting them off from the glory that God desires to show them, that he will show them in Christ, will show those who put their faith in trust in Christ. So what may have been initiated here is an act of mercy. Even pointing them to a future glory that would never fade away becomes an instrument or becomes a symbol of divine judgment. It becomes a symbol of divine judgment. Back in 2 Corinthians, chapter 3, look at verse 14. Even that that may have been initiated as an act of mercy becomes an instrument or a symbol of divine judgment. Verse 14, But their minds were blinded. Their minds were blinded. For until this day, the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament because the veil is taken away in Christ. As Moses placed the physical veil over his face for the very purpose of interrupting their gaze, so to speak, and pointing them forward, the Israelites, however, cling to the law. But their minds were blinded. But, verse 14, their minds were blinded. Romans 10 explains, Being ignorant of God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own righteousness through the law, they did not and they would not submit themselves to the righteousness of God by faith. They looked to the law, in other words, they looked to the law of God to do what it was never intended to do. They gaze upon the law to accomplish for themselves what God says they cannot accomplish for themselves. They looked for the law to do what the law was never intended to do. And a spiritual veil falls over their mind, falls over their heart, and they are blinded. The word there for blinded is the word parao. It means hardened, hardened. They became hard-hearted. They became insensible, insensitive, right? Their hearts were made impenetrable to the truth of God in Christ, impenetrable to the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Stephen said it this way in his sermon in Acts chapter 7 verse 51. Here's what Stephen said to them. Verse 51, you stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears. That's hardened, parao, right? They became hardened, blinded in their minds. You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears. You always resist the Holy Spirit as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the just one of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it. We all know what comes next, right? These hard-hearted, stiff-necked, blinded rebels stop their ears. They shout at him and they rush at him and they murder him. They murder him. The Jews of that day refused to trust the Lord for righteousness. They refused to put their faith in the Messiah that would come. They refused to trust for a righteousness that would come through faith alone in Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah alone. They refused to see the law as merely a tutor to point them to Christ that they might be justified by faith in him. They didn't see it because they wouldn't see it, right? They were blinded. They were hardened. And as the Lord Jesus Christ then comes in the first century, he came to his own, John chapter 1, and his own would not receive him. They were blinded. A veil lies over their heart and mind. They couldn't look past the law to see the glory of the new covenant fulfilled and secured in Christ. They would not. They could not because they would not. They refused to accept the old covenant's fulfillment in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so they couldn't see that the old covenant had come to an end. The old covenant had been rendered obsolete. They couldn't see the surpassing glory of the new covenant in the coming of Christ. Why? Because a veil, a veil, a thick, callous, hardened veil lies over their heart. Jesus told them, didn't He? Luke 24, you search the scriptures. We're not Luke 24 to the Pharisees. You search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life, and these are they which testify of me. For those Jews, if we look at verse 14, back in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, for those Jews, verse 14, sadly, the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament. The Jews clinging to the law for righteousness. Because verse 14, the veil is only taken away in Jesus Christ. Paul says in verse 15 then, even to this day when Moses or the old covenant is read, a veil lies on their heart. They do not believe it because they will not believe it. They didn't see it because they wouldn't see it. They were hardened. They were blinded, cut off by the veil from the glory of God in Christ. Verse 16, nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Why? When one turns to the Lord, why is the veil taken away? Because Romans chapter 10 verse 4, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Do you see? Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes, puts their faith and trust in him. No longer do we seek aimlessly and hopelessly a righteousness through the law, you stop that madness. The law is not intended to bring righteousness. You stop that madness and you turn and put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who puts their faith and trust in him. Just as the physical veil prevented Israel from seeing the glory of God in the face of Moses, a spiritual veil prevents the Jews from seeing the glory of God in the face of his Son in the first century. A spiritual veil prevents them from seeing the glory of God. Only when the Israelites turn to Christ at the preaching of the gospel will they see the true glory of the new covenant, only when they turn to Christ. Even to this day, Paul says, even to our own day, right? When Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. The law and the veil intended to point them to Christ. But Paul says their minds were blinded, their minds were blinded. If you think about it, it is essentially the very same spiritual blindness that veils your heart before you turn to Christ. Those of you here who have turned from their sin to put their faith and trust in Christ. Now, submitting to his lordship and living for the Lord Jesus Christ, do you remember a veil that lied over your heart, over your mind, before you came to Christ? It just didn't get it. Just didn't get it. Could not see the glory of God. Could not see the glory of God in the faith of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Could not see the glory of God in the gospel. You didn't see it because you wouldn't see it. You didn't want to see it, right? Your heart, hard, dull, insensible, blind to the gospel, death in your ears before you turn to Christ. You don't see yourself as the law exposes you, right? The law exposes you as a death deserving sinner, a hell bound citizen of hell, a damnation, of condemnation. Hell hangs over your head, hell beneath you, opens its mouth, ready to receive you, right? You don't see yourself as a wicked sinner. Why? Because the veil lies over your heart, a veil lies over your mind. You don't see your great need revealed by the law, right? You're rich, you have need of nothing. You don't see yourself as wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians. You're in 2 Corinthians chapter 3. Just look 1 chapter over 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and look at verse 3. Look at verse 3 there. Paul says, but even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. To those who are going to hell will spend an eternity in damnation. It is veiled to them. Those whose minds the God of this age has blinded, who do not believe lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. You see the contrast here with the veil in Exodus 34. But we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves bond servants, your bond servants for Jesus and sake. For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shown in our hearts now to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Once veiled, now light bursting forth in your heart, the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, the glory of God in the gospel. Do you see your need? Look at Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4. Do you see your need or do you remain hard-hearted? Think to yourself, I'm not so bad. I've never mourned over my sin. What really do I have to mourn over? You've never mourned over your sin. You're not a Christian. You don't understand your sin. You don't see. Why don't you see? Because you have a veil, a callous veil that hangs over your heart, that hangs over your mind. It is a spiritual blindness. Why don't you see your sin? Why don't you see your wickedness? Because your heart and mind are blinded. Your ears are deaf. You don't see God's prescription diagnosis of your spiritual condition. You become insensible, insensitive, hard. You don't see it because you won't see it. Ephesians chapter 4. Look down with me at verse 17. This I say, Paul says, therefore, and testify in the Lord that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk. Stop walking in the futility of your mind. Having verse 18, their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God. Why? Because of the ignorance that is in them. Because of the veil that lies over your mind. Because of the veil that lies over your heart. Because, Paul says, of the blindness of their heart. Verse 19, who being past feeling and what a terrible state. You can't feel conviction over your sin because of the veil that lies over your heart. Because of the hardness of your heart. Because of the callus that encrusts your heart and mind outside of Christ. You can't feel conviction over your sin. What a terrible condition. You're past feeling, verse 19. You've given yourself over to lewdness to work all uncleanness with greediness. But listen, verse 20, you've not so learned Christ if indeed you've heard Him and have been taught by Him. That's not your life if you're in Christ. If you've heard Him, if you've seen the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, this doesn't describe you. Amen. Amen. That you, verse 22, put off then concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lust and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Allow the scalpel of God's word to cut out the callus, right? To remove the gangrene, to remove the cancer, to remove the veil so that you can see. Verse 24, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. Not that fabricated holiness or righteousness that you think you've drummed up or generated on your own in your own strength and power. That righteousness which is as a filthy rag to God, no, but that you with unveiled face, beholding the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, remove the veil removed by the spirit of God you begin to put on the new man in true holiness, in true righteousness, in the power of the spirit. That's what happens when the veil is lifted, right? When the Lord in great grace and great mercy causes you to be alive again from the dead. That veil, if that describes you, that veil that lies over your heart may be lifted this morning. Though it is encrusted around your heart, reinforced with concrete and rebarb, even though it is calloused over and has become as hard as stone. That veil may be lifted in Christ this morning. Turn to him and be saved. Acknowledge your condition of veil blinds my heart from the glory of God. Then turn to him and be saved. Cry out to God now. God, lift the veil in Christ. I want to see your glory. Lift the veil in Christ. I want to see my own heart, my own condition that I might turn for my sin and trust you alone. Lift the veil on my dead heart that I might live. You want eternal life and turn to Christ. Stop living in the gutter of your sin. Stop living under the subduing, hardening influence of sin. Turn to him and have the veil lifted. Turn to him and be saved. Turn from the pollutions of your sin. Turn and embrace Christ as your only treasure. Stop relying on your own empty hope, your own perceived goodness. From now you think it's just all going to work out in the end, or maybe you don't think about it at all because you have a veil that lies over your heart and over your mind. You don't understand that if you walk out that door today and you get in an accident and you die, you will close your eyes in this life and you will open them in an eternity in torment. You don't see it. You don't see the reality of it. You don't see the urgency of it because you have a veil that lies over your heart. You have a veil that lies over your mind. It is calloused and encrusted and it prevents you from seeing. Ultimately, you won't see. You don't see because you won't see. Right? Turn to Christ. You must be born again. You must be given eyes to see. You must have that veil removed in Christ. The heart of stone ripped out of your chest, replaced with a heart of flesh. Your mind renewed in him. You need to veil lifted. It's like being encased in hopelessness. Just encased, unable to see, unable to hear, unable to perceive, dead. Those who know Christ outside, shouting, trying to get your intention. Me this morning, praying to the gospel to you, desiring you to be saved, praying, pleading that you would turn. You don't even have ears to hear. Incidentally, this is all part of the plan of God, the purposes of God. If there's a veil that lies over your heart this morning, that same veil lies over the heart of Jews today. You have no right, no right to the promises of God, no right to the blessings of God, no right to the hope that God gives, no right to any of that apart from Jesus Christ. You have no right to any of it. Does this mean that God has then abandoned Israel or abandoned his people? Now look at Romans chapter 11, Romans chapter 11. This didn't catch God by surprise. It wasn't that plan A didn't work out the way that God intended, and so had to come along in Christ and institute plan B. No, this is all plan A. There is no plan B. All of God's plans will come about. All God's purposes will be accomplished. If you look at Romans 11, chapter 1, I say then, Paul says, has God cast away his people? Certainly not. For I also am in Israel. I have the seat of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away his people whom he foreknew, or do you not know that the scripture says in Elijah how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, Lord, they've killed your prophets, torn down your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life. What does the divine response say to him? I've reserved myself 7,000 men who have not vowed that he need to bail. In God's election, verse 5, even so then at this present time, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. If by grace then it is no longer of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace, otherwise work is no longer work. What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks. But the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. Why did Israel not obtain what it seeks? Because they were seeking to obtain it in a way that God had not prescribed. Not going to get it through the law. It's not going to come. That righteousness is not going to come through the law. The elect have obtained it in Jesus Christ through the new covenant, through the gospel. Faith in him. The rest, all the rest, blinded, blinded. Just as it is written in verse 8. God, interesting isn't this? God has given them a spirit of stupor. Eyes that they should not see, ears that they should not hear to this very day. You're outside of Christ, that should terrify you. It should cause you to pursue with great zeal and great diligence God himself. That you would turn, that he would grant the blessing of new life by his spirit and cause you to be raised from the dead. Verse 9, David says, let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a recompense to them, let their eyes be darkened so that they do not see and bow down their back always. I say then, verse 11, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not. Through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. And if their fall is riches for the world and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness I speak to you Gentiles in as much as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry. If by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them. For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? Zechariah prophesies that in the end they will look upon him whom they have pierced and they will mourn for him as a son. If you look at verse 25, Paul says, I do not desire brethren that you should be ignorant of this mystery lest you should be wise in your own opinion that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved as it is written. The deliverer will come out of Zion. He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob for this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins. Concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. For as you were once disobedient to God yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, even so these also have now been disobedient that through the mercy shown to you, they also may obtain mercy. For God has committed them all to disobedience that he might have mercy on all. It's God who has done that. Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out. For who is known the mind of the Lord or who has become his counselor, who is first given to him and it shall be repaid to him. For of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever, amen. We see the bold. We see the blind. Lastly, we have the blessed, the blessed versus 17 and 18 back in 2 Corinthians chapter 3. Look at verse 17. Now the Lord, Paul says, is the spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the spirit of the Lord. Now the Lord is the spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Paul's not saying there that the Lord Jesus Christ is the spirit. That's modalism. That's a heresy. That's denying the Trinity. If you deny the Trinity, you go to hell when you die. That's modalism. This is a Trinitarian reference. Just as God the Father is referred to as Lord and just as Jesus Christ is referred to as Lord, here the spirit of God is referred to as Lord. One God, three distinct persons. Jesus Christ is not the spirit and the spirit is not Jesus Christ. This is a great text supporting the personhood and the deity of the spirit of God. The Lord is the spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. There is liberty. Eleutheria. Eleutheria. Freedom. There is freedom. Unlike Moses, there is freedom from the veil. Unlike Moses, there is freedom from the veil. The spirit is at work in those who turn to Christ in faith and where the spirit is at work, applying the benefits of Christ, the veil is lifted. The veil is lifted. The spiritual impairment that once veils our eyes, veiled our hearts, that spiritual impairment is taken away and that by God's grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 18, but we all, all New Covenant believers, all New Covenant believers with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory just as by the spirit of the Lord. We behold him now as in a mirror. Interesting, right? Mirrors then at that time, first century, weren't made of glass, weren't made of glass. They were made of like a polished bronze, polished metal. And the polished bronze would provide a relatively clear image, but less than ideal. Now you could see, you see a clear image, but less than ideal. This is how, a good depiction of how New Covenant believers see him on this side of eternity. This is the way that we see him. We see him now clearly, but clearly as in a mirror, certainly not as clearly as we will one day see him. Amen. Furthermore, what Paul is saying in verse 18 is that beholding, that seeing of the glory of the Lord in the mirror, so to speak, has a transformational effect on the believer. Verse 18, we are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory just as by the spirit of the Lord. Being transformed, a word that, Greek word that we get our word metamorphosis from, metamorphosis. And it's interesting for you Greek guys, it's a present passive indicative, a present passive. It's an ongoing process that is passive in the life of a believer transforming us into the image of the glory of the Lord. What is he talking about there? Talking about sanctification. It's a present passive, think with me. An ongoing process, passive in the life of a believer. That doesn't mean that the believer is passive in his sanctification, but his sanctification is passive to the believer. It's a work of God. It's a work of God. It's passive in the life of a believer transforming us into the image of the glory of the Lord. In that process of sanctification being described there in verse 18, we are moved from one level of glory to another level of glory. Paul told the Colossians in chapter three of his letter to them. He told them, but now you yourselves, you Colossians and all of us who read by implication here, you yourselves are to put off all these. You're to put off anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. He says, do not lie to one another. Since you have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man, listen, who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him. We're being renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created us. The desire of every single Christian is to be like his Lord. Would you say amen to that? The desire of every single Christian is to be like his Lord. The ongoing process wrought in us by the spirit of God. The ongoing process of that transformation called sanctification is making us more and more like our Lord, transforming us from one degree of glory to another, transforming us into the image of him who created us. One day that process will culminate in our glorification, in our glorification. Here in 1 Corinthians or 2 Corinthians chapter 3, flip just a few pages back to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. We are being transformed, verse 18, transformed into the same image of our Lord from glory to glory just as by the spirit of the Lord. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, look at verse 47. Verse 47. The first man, verse 47, was of the earth. Who's the first man? Adam, that's right. Made of dust, the second man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust. And as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are heavenly. Do you see the argument here proposed by Paul? Verse 49. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly man. You cannot wait. Amen. Verse 50. Now this I say, brethren, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, verse 51, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall be all changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet. The trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your sting? Oh, Hades, where is your victory? Amen. John says, 1 John chapter 3 verse 2, beloved, now we are children of God and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Speaking of the same time period here, the same event Paul is describing in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. In the same text, right, justification, sanctification, glorification, it's beautiful, it's beautiful, consider something with me. In writing this text back in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, in writing this text, Paul doesn't merely explain the greatness of the New Covenant. He doesn't simply show its greatness, describe its greatness. Paul explains the greatness of the New Covenant by showing how superior it is to the Old Covenant, right? He draws a contrast. Why does he do that? Why does he do that? We consider Paul's context, right? There are many in his day, his time in his context that are clinging to the Old Covenant. False teachers in Corinth who are espousing the Old Covenant, trying to add Old Covenant law to faith in order for people to be saved. So Paul shows the greatness of the New Covenant, not by merely describing the New Covenant, but by describing clearly how superior the New Covenant is to the Old Covenant. There are many, many today who cling to Old Covenant-esque religion for their salvation, as a means of salvation. They go through the motions, they go through their heartless ritual, they go to church on Sunday. Why? Because they're supposed to go to church on Sunday, right? They sing the hymns, why? Because those are the hymns being sung. They give their money to the church. Why? Because it's supposed to, we're supposed to give money to the church. They try to be good. Why? Because we're supposed to try to be good. Paul wants us here in this text, wants those in his context, wants those in our context to consider the surpassing superiority of the New Covenant to your heartless, mindless, ritualistic religion and for you to turn to Christ in faith and be eternally saved. Consider the superiority of Christ over all else, the superiority of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, above all the world religions outside of Christ, every single one of them, including much of dead so-called Christian evangelicals on the day, is just a false sham, hopeless, dead religion, far superior. Is the Lord Jesus Christ the New Covenant stands in contrast to your ritualistic, heartless, do-good man-centered religion? The New Covenant stands in contrast to every other religion in the world based upon works and they all are even many so-called Christian religions wanting to add work to the gospel, work of baptism, the work of some silly superstitious, stupid little prayer for salvation, some work that one must do in order to be saved and that work doesn't save, because Christ is the one who saves, Christ is the one who has died, Christ has accomplished it all and you are merely to put your faith and trust in Him and trust yourself to Him, follow Him as Lord, turn from your sin. It's all been done, the New Covenant is far superior. Many try to add a mixture of works with faith for salvation and Paul says, let them be damned. Anyone comes preaching another gospel, which is not another. Let them be anathema. The New Covenant stands in contrast to your hope that it's simply all going to work out in the end. The glory of Christ stands in contrast to all your effort to try to make it into heaven by doing good, just trying to be a good person by doing your heartless, ritualistic, religious little deeds. The glory of Christ stands in contrast to all of that. Put your faith in Christ and serve Him as Lord and be saved. There is no comparison. All of your effort will send you to hell. Apart from Christ, you will die in your sin. Turn to Him. He's done it all. Trust Him and follow Him. He's done it all. All praise, honor, and glory to Him who has secured for us this covenant by His own blood. Amen. Let's pray. What are you trusting in? Who are you trusting in? What are you doing? Do you see the life and death, sober seriousness of these things? Or is a veil, a wet blanket draped across your heart and your mind this morning? Cry out to God. A veil is removed in Christ. Put your trust and faith in Him.