LETTER OF RECOMENDATION

2 CORINTHIANS 3:1-11

2 Corinthians 3:1–11 ESV

1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you? 2 You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. 3 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. 4 Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 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. 7 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, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? 9 For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. 10 Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. 11 For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.

1-TABLETS OF HUMAN HEARTS.

A- THE OLD

2 Corinthians 3:3 ESV

3 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.

Exodus 24:12 ESV

12 The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.”

B- THE NEW

2 Corinthians 3:4 ESV

4 Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God.

Ezekiel 11:19 ESV

19 And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,

2-THE LIFE OF THE SPIRIT.

A-THE OLD

2 Corinthians 3:7 ESV

7 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,

Exodus 34:29–30 ESV

29 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. 30 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.

B-THE NEW

2 Corinthians 3:8 ESV

8 will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?

3-THE MINISTRY OF GLORY.

A-THE OLD

2 Corinthians 3:9 ESV

9 For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory.

B- THE NEW

2 Corinthians 3:10–11 ESV

10 Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. 11 For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.

ILLUSTRATION OF OF 2 DIFFERENT LIGHTS