2 Corinthians 3 The New Covenant Brings Freedom

Intro:

On Friday I drove through my bank to make a deposit

There was a young teller working the window

He came back with a concerned look on his face

He asked, “Can you tell me who this Charles is?”

Af first I was confused. Who was he talking about?

I said “That’s me”

Then who is this Chuck who’s name is on the account

I said “Chuck”is a nickname for Charles, kind of like Jim is for James

He said “Oh” and put my receipt in the tube and sent me on my way

He didn’t ask for ID or any other questions

It was the first time in 25 years of banking there I had been questioned like that

There are some places where credentials and letters of recommendations are important

In the kingdom of God we don’t need no stinking badges, we have the New Covenant

The new covenant is being identified with Jesus Christ

When god looks at us He sees the blood of His Son on us and nothing else needs to be done

That new covenant brings freedom in the believers life

Read 2 Corinthians 3:1-6

Transition

Paul is in a battle to keep his authority over the church in Corinth

As the Apostle to the Gentiles and the founder of the church that should go without saying

Yet, there were false apostles who were challenging his authority

2 Cor 2:17 For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.

There were men who were itinerant speakers who went from town to town making a profit off of speaking God’s Word

They were Judaizers, people who followed Christ but required everyone to follow the OT law

They came with letters of recommendations from people like Peter and John

Paul argues with them that his time spent with them was his letter

He also uses it as a chance to show how the New Covenant supercedes the Old

In the next few chapters we get the best writing on the New Covenant in all of scripture

I. Written on Our Hearts vs. 1-3

Paul tells the Corinthians they are written on HIs heart

As these false apostles came in with letters they forced the church to expect those of Paul

Paul asks them “Do I need to commend myself again?”

Paul didn’t need to give his credentials or recommendations because his work spoke for itself

vs. 1-2 You are our Letters

He tells them that they are all the letters he needed

They were written on his heart because of the time, energy, and pain he had gone through for them

Everyone could see that Paul poured out his life for them

The false apostles were self-serving and hadn’t sacrificed anything for them

They wanted to profit off of the church

Paul didn’t take anything from them

The church in Corinth had forgotten that

Written letters may easily mislead, but living letters will reveal the truth.

vs. 3 Written by the Spirit

These letters on Paul’s heart had been written by the Holy Spirit

The false apostles had come with impressive letters

It is easy to get impressed with people’s credentials

They have education, training, and experience in all of the right places

But you have to ask yourself “Where have they bled?”

Where were they hurt and stayed in the battle?

Often you look at resumes and it shows vast experience but very little battle weariness

Once the heat turned up they moved on

Paul had these people written on his heart through the trusting of the Spirit

II. Sufficiency from God vs. 4-6

The New Covenant shows us that God is sufficient

Sufficient means enough or adequate

Everything you need and more can be found in Jesus Christ

Paul was quick to give the glory to God and not to himself.

His confidence (“trust”) was in God, and his sufficiency came from God.

Paul was a brilliant and well-educated man; yet he did not depend on his own adequacy. He depended on the Lord.

vs. 4 Our Confidence is in Christ

You need to find your confidence in the Lord

Even though Paul had everything the world says is successful he didn’t trust himself

He knew he was a sinner in need of grace

He totally depended on the Lord

Legalists tell people that any person could obey the law and become spiritual

Preachers who major on rules and regulations keep their congregations under a dark cloud of guilt, and this kills their joy, power, and effective witness for Christ.

Christians who are constantly measuring each other, comparing “results,” and competing with each other, soon discover that they are depending on the flesh and not the power of the Spirit.

If God isn’t enough for you nothing else will be

You need to find everything you need in Christ and that only happens through the Holy Spirit working through you

vs. 6 Sufficient thru the Spirit

In Vs. 6 Paul compares the Old Covenant to letters and the New Covenant to the Spirit

The Old covenant or law brings death but the new covenant thru the Spirit brings life

You can’t transform your life by obeying commandments

Only the grace of God, ministered by the Spirit of God, can transform lost sinners into living epistles that glorify Jesus Christ.

1 Cor 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

Paul was the hardest worker in the church but he knew that any blessing came from the work of grace in Him

God may have gifted you with many talents and He wants you to use them, but it will always be about His Spirit working through you

III. Glory of the New Covenant vs. 7-11

Paul starts to spend some time contrasting the old and New covenant

Before we get into that let’s be clear on what a covenant is

Covenant: diathḗkēs, to set out in order, to dispose in a certain order. A solemn disposition, institution, or apportionment of God to man, not in the sense that God came to an agreement or compromise with fallen man as if signing a contract. Rather, it involves the declaration of God’s unconditional promise

Paul refers to the old covenant as the ministry of death

The Old law brings death because it shows us how far we fall short of God’s standard

The New covenant brings life

The old covenant was indeed glorious itself. But the effect of the new covenant is so much more glorious in its ministry of righteousness

There was glory associated with the giving of the law and the old covenant.

At that time, Mount Sinai was surrounded with smoke; there were earthquakes, thunder, lightning, a trumpet blast from heaven, and the voice of God Himself

Most of all, the glory of the old covenant was shown in the face of Moses and the glory of his countenance.

Hebrews 8:6 But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.

Was it wrong to call the old covenant the ministry of death?

No, because that is what the law does to us: It slays us as guilty sinners before God so that we can be resurrected by the new covenant.

It isn’t that the problem was with the law, but with us:

Romans 7:5 The sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death.

If the old covenant, which brought death had this glory, we should expect greater glory in the new covenant, which brings the ministry of the Spirit and life.

IV. Freedom in the Spirit vs. 12-18

vs. 12-15 Veiled Hearts

Long after Moses and his veil were no more, a veil of hardness covered the hearts of Israel

Paul witnessed the veiling in his day when, despite the weekly Sabbath readings of Moses, the people’s hearts remained veiled.

The veil was not, and is not, intellectual but rather moral—a heart-veil.

Today those who accept the message of Scripture will go where the text leads, which is always to the Messiah who takes the veil away.

Has the veil been removed from your heart? Have the Scriptures become alive? Does Christ make sense to you? Or perhaps this is just beginning to happen to you.

Then pray, asking Christ to strip away the veil. If you do, I can promise you, on the basis of God’s Word, that he will.

2 Cor 4:4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

vs. 16-17 Freedom

Gal 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Through the work of the Holy Spirit there is liberation to do the right thing, to consider others first, to love others as we ought, to forgive the unforgivable, to return good for evil

John 8:31-32 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

We express the image of God by living according to the commandments, which express his nature

vs. 18 Transformed

ultimately, at Christ’s appearance, we will undergo a physical transformation in glory

1 Cor 15:49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.