Reformation Matters: God's Glory Alone
Reformation Matters • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 41:41
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· 11 viewsTo the Glory of God Alone means that the chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever
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But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
Today we will conclude our series through the Reformation core doctrines.
All five of these “sola’s” are extremely important because they form the basis for our salvation.
The means of our salvation.
What we will look at today which is the ends of our salvation.
Do not remember against us our former iniquities; let your compassion come speedily to meet us, for we are brought very low.
Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver us, and atone for our sins, for your name’s sake!
Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!
For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.
What you’re hearing today I hope is not entirely new information.
But today’s message is centrally important.
All glory belongs to God.
But how can all glory belong to God while human’s can share His glory?
To the Glory of God Alone means that the chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever
In 2 Corinthians, Paul has already written to the Corinthian believers.
He has been delayed in coming to them because he wants them to put their gathering in order before he comes.
There were opponents of Paul which he will call, “super-apostles” (2 Cor 11:5)
The whole letter can be organized around Paul’s responses to their undermining claims.
One of those claims which stand at the heart of what we are talking about today is their desire for a “letter of recommendation”
Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you?
Since Paul was not initially one of the twelve apostles.
These “super-apostles” are claiming that they have a “letter of recommendation” or maybe even that Paul needs one to be validated.
Now Paul is not condemning letters of recommendation here.
But he is saying that these “super apostles” have a faulty system of validation.
Paul claims they have a faulty system because what they are doing is as silly as a son saying that a father needs a “letter to stay at his own son’s house” (Dane Ortlund)
Paul is the Corinthians spiritual father.
Have you ever experience someone doubting your credentials.
Paul could say, “How dare you?”
“Don’t you know who I am?”
But notice how Paul argues?
You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all.
And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
Paul argues that the Corinthians themselves stand as his letter of recommendation.
Since they have come to saving faith they now stand as witnesses to his apostleship (2 Corinthians 3:3).
Paul is arguing that they are his letter written by the Spirit of God on their hearts.
If they reject Paul’s apostleship, then they are rejecting their own conversion.
These Corinthians believers are a “letter from Christ delivered by us”
You want a letter of recommendation?
Look in the mirror.
But notice what he is talking about here....
The Letter and the Ten Commandments
And the Lord said to Moses, “Write these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”
So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.
Paul picks up the kind of letter that God writes.
As compared to the
Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God.
Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God,
who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Our Sufficiency from God
Our Sufficiency from God
Paul confidence is NOT in letters of recommendation but in God who makes Paul sufficient for the task before him.
God is the One who makes Paul a sufficient minister of the New Covenant.
The covenant that Jesus established in His own blood.
Luke 22:20 (ESV)
“This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
We are ministers of the New Covenant.
We are ministers of the New Covenant.
Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God,
Paul is contrasting here “the letter” with “the Spirit.”
“The Letter” does NOT mean that the OT was somehow bad.
The letter here is a reference to the old covenant.
Paul is setting up a contrast between the old and new covenant.
Application for the Christian
Stop trying to establish your own sufficiency.
Your sufficiency isn’t found in your parenting.
Your sufficiency isn’t found in your job.
Your sufficiency isn’t found in your relationships.
Romans–Galatians Response
The fundamental battle as we roll out of bed each day is to settle in our hearts the deeply counterintuitive truth of 2 Corinthians 3:1–6: Our “okay-ness,” our “enough-ness,” our sufficiency, is a gift to be received, not a prize to be earned.
We are ministers of the Spirit and not the letter.
We are ministers of the Spirit and not the letter.
Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God,
who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
The New Covenant sealed with Jesus’ blood serves as our bases for the Spirit’s activity.
Jesus, who is currently ruling and reigning from heaven, has sent the Holy Spirit to be our helper.
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,
even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.
In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
We are ministers of Life and not death.
We are ministers of Life and not death.
who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Paul is saying here that he is trying to bring life, not more death of law.
Non-Christian Application
You’re not sufficient in yourself.
You will try but I hope you’ll see that you’ll never succeed.
The desire to “prove yourself” is an evidence that you’re trying to establish your own sufficiency.
But when we enjoy Christ by the Spirit of God, we don’t seek our own sufficiency.
When we enjoy God in the face of Jesus, we bring God the glory.
To the Glory of God Alone means that the chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever
The Glory of the Promises
The Glory of the Promises
Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end,
will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?
Paul now compares the “ministry of death” with the “ministry of the Spirit.”
He refers to the “ministry of death” as the Old Covenant.
Notice the way he speaks of the glory associated with this Old Covenant.
When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.
Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him.
But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses talked with them.
Afterward all the people of Israel came near, and he commanded them all that the Lord had spoken with him in Mount Sinai.
And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.
Whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would remove the veil, until he came out. And when he came out and told the people of Israel what he was commanded,
the people of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face was shining. And Moses would put the veil over his face again, until he went in to speak with him.
Moses received the law of God (the ten commandments) on Mt. Sinai and he spoke to God.
Moses face shone because of he was talking to God.
Moses placed a veil over his face because the people were “afraid to come near him” (Exod 34:30).
Moses would wear the veil to cover his face before the people and when he would talk to God he would remove it.
Ministry of the Spirit greater than death.
Ministry of the Spirit greater than death.
Paul argues that the glory that Moses had would fade over time.
When the glory would fade, his face would no longer shine.
Paul’s point here is that the ministry of the Spirit is far greater because we don’t have a fading glory like Moses.
The glory that kept the people back in the OT is now the glory of God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ.
But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
Paul brings together the idea that it is through the Spirit that resurrection comes to the believer.
Ministry of Righteousness greater than condemnation.
Ministry of Righteousness greater than condemnation.
For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory.
Paul does not say that the Old Covenant did not posses glory.
He says that the “ministry of righteousness” that we now posses has infinitely more glory than the “ministry of condemnation.”
The OC is referred to as the “ministry of condemnation” because the law was never meant to save.
The law only revealed our sin all the more.
Our sin then used the law to condemn humanity.
But now the “ministry of righteousness” that is a righteousness that is revealed through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.
The Permanent Surpassing Glory
The Permanent Surpassing Glory
Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it.
For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.
It’s not that the Old Covenant had no glory.
Indeed, the OC did have great glory, but when compared to the present glory of the New Covenant the Old pails in comparison.
The OC’s glory is far surpassed in the current and present glory that we behold.
The present glory is much great but is also is a permanent glory.
This is compared to the kind of flittering glory seen in the OT.
Example of winning a super bowl and state championship.
God’s Glory Alone—The Majestic Heart of Christian Faith and Life The Spirit, Suffering, and the Glory to Come
The glory that rested over the tabernacle now rests upon each one of us, making us temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19). The Spirit, who revealed God’s glory in the cloud of old and now most eminently in Christ enthroned in heaven, is already at work in us. To have Christ’s Spirit is to have a share in Christ’s glory.
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
To the Glory of God Alone means that the chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever
The Veils of the Covenants
The Veils of the Covenants
Since we have such a hope, we are very bold,
not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end.
Moses and the veil of concealment.
Moses and the veil of concealment.
Why did Moses place a veil over his face at all?
The people of Israel were afraid of Moses when he came down off the mountain and his face was glowing.
There was a fear which struck them and the veil could have been an attempt to hamper that fear.
But I think there is more to what Paul is trying to show us in regard to the veil.
Notice that word in verse 13 which says, “outcome.”
Paul is driving home for the Corinthians that the veil was placed over Moses face because he did not want them believeing or thinking they were the height of God’s revelation to humanity.
You can imagine how easy it would be to see a man’s face shining and continue to stand in wonder and think,
“This is so great!”
“God has nothing more to show us here!”
Moses placed a veil over his face to remind the people of the greatness of His FUTURE promises.
Moses’ face though spectacular could have led the people to believe that it was height of God’s dealing with His people.
Rather, the veil showed there was more to be hoped for.
Israel and the veil of unbelief.
Israel and the veil of unbelief.
But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away.
Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts.
Now Paul makes a turn here and describes Israel’s hardened minds.
Their minds are hardened because they reject the glory of God as they have always done.
But now they reject it because they reject Christ.
Paul equates Moses’s veil to the veil that currently covers their hearts of stone.
This is true of all those who are hardened in their sin.
They are like people who dwell in the new state of things yet live as though they’re in the old state of affairs.
Where is all of this going?
Beholding the glory of God.
Beholding the glory of God.
But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
Who is “the Lord” here?
The veil of hearts is removed when the Lord removes it.
What is the freedom that Paul is talking about here?
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
As we behold Jesus Christ, who is the very image of God, we are transformed by the Spirit of God within us.
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Romans–Galatians Response
As we gaze at Christ in the pages of the Bible, the Holy Spirit is molding us even now into the final resplendent radiance that will be of such a bright beauty that the world will not be able to stand the sight.
To the Glory of God Alone means that the chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever