2 Corinthians 3:7-18 The Glory of the New Covenant

Intro:

Building Update

We’ve sold our building

Actually we sold it a month ago

We’ve been wanting to announce both the sale and the purchase of Coast Hills but our negotiations have taken longer than anticipated

We couldn’t wait any longer to tell you

We aren’t going anywhere

The farm company will take over the office area and we will lease back space to them

For the most part nothing will change

All we ask is that you pray between now and Wednesday night when the Coast Hills board meets to vote on our offer

This move will allow us to expand into much needed classroom and office space

It will also further our mission to teach to Bible, raise up disciples, and Release people to be used by God

Turn to 2 Corinthians 3

In the OT Moses and the elders went up Mount Sinai to have a meeting with God

There they declared that to God that the nation of Israel would obey the Law

That was the establishment of the Old Covenant

When Jesus was in the upper room at the last supper He established a new covenant

Luke 22:20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

His blood poured out on the cross is a covering to everyone who puts their faith in Him

It’s no longer about keeping the law, it about being covered in the righteousness of Christ

The New Covenant surpasses the Old in its glory

Read 2 Corinthians 3:7-11

Transition:

In this passage it talks about the New Covenant versus the Old Covenant but Paul mentions the word Covenant only once

He uses other words and phrases to express the glory of the New Covenant

Why? Because Jews didn’t refer to it as the Old Covenant, they called it the Law

Paul speaks in terms they understand by referring to the Old as the Law and the New as the Spirit

These covenants are important because they are made from God to His people and He will never break them

Paul shows us the glory of the New Covenant and how it both surpasses the old and transforms you

I. Surpassing Glory of the New Covenant vs. 7-11

The Glory of the New Covenant surpasses the Old 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

A Covenant is an unconditional promise by God to His people

The first promise was in the Old Testament and it promised multiple blessings if Israel kept the law

The second promise is in the New Testament and it promises that Jesus’ life would be given to us and that His righteousness would be ours

Paul refers to the old covenant as the ministry of death carved on stone tablets

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

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

Passing slow people in the fast lane

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.

The New Covenant is permanent

It gives life where the old only showed us our looming death

The New covenant surpasses the old in its glory

II. Veil Removed by New Covenant vs. 12-16

The new covenant is glorious because it removes the veil over our hearts

Ex 34 Moses descended from Mountain and put a veil over

It was a picture of Israel not understanding the Law

Moses wore a veil over his face after his times with God because his face shined in its glory

the people couldn’t handle seeing it so they asked him to put a veil over

It reminded them of their sin and shortcomings

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.

The veil meant intimacy

Men didn’t wear veils, women did

They wore them for modesty

The only time they removed them were in their home

If they removed it in front of their husband it was a signal for intimacy

I’m giving myself to you

When God removes the veil from your heart it is a sign that God is giving himself to you

Today those who accept the message of Scripture will go 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.

III. Transformed Under the New Covenant vs. 17-18

Finally, we are transformed under the New Covenant

We get two of the most powerful scriptures in all of the new testament in this section

First, you are set free from the slavery of sin

Second, you are transformed under the covenant

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

metamorphṓsō denoting change of place or condition, and to form. To transform, transfigure, change one’s form.

In Rom. 12:2 and 2 Cor. 3:18, the idea of transformation refers to an invisible process in Christians which takes place or begins to take place during their life in this age.