Good morning, everyone and welcome to Calvary Bible Church via the internet. Unfortunately, I'm speaking to an empty sanctuary. But I know that you are there via the computers and all of the technology that we have. So I'm glad to be able to minister the word of God to you this way, unfortunately, the pandemic has come into our church with at least one individual that we know of. So as you're probably aware, we are going to shut down for a couple of weeks to quarantine ourselves. And Lord willing, this will pass and just pray for the individual that has this and pray that God will be merciful to the rest of us to keep us healthy.

Well, this morning, we come again to our study of First Corinthians or Second Corinthians, I'm sorry, Second Corinthians chapter three, if you will take your Bibles and turn there, we're going to be looking at the second part of this concept of celebrating the New Covenant. We're gonna be looking at verses six through 11 this morning. And as we begin, may I prepare your hearts and minds by reminding you of a little gland that we have on our body. It's called a pituitary gland. And the pituitary gland is about the size of a pea, it's right behind your nose, it's at the base of your brain, it's right in the very center of your brain. And until the invention of super powerful microscopes and technology that could measure infinitesimal amounts of hormones, scientists didn't really know what that little gland did. But once they discovered what it was really doing, they understood that it was, what they now call, the master gland. It was a gland that secretes hormones that regulate many of the organs in our body, many of the glands in our body. Well, I give you that as a little analogy of this passage of Scripture. We can come to this passage of Scripture, and we can think to ourselves, well, this really isn't all that important of a passage of scripture. And so we tend to just kind of read over these things and, and not really look into them. But as we take our time, and really look at what the Apostle Paul is saying here, we find ourselves just overwhelmed with a myriad of great truths that are both exhilarating to those of us who know and love Christ and very instructive as well. So I invite you to, to look at this portion of Scripture with me once again. Remember, Paul is defending himself against the slanderous attacks of the false apostles that had invaded the church at Corinth, Judaizers that were trying to mix Old Testament law with the new covenant and so forth. And, as I mentioned to you the first time we were together, there are five reasons that emerged from this text. Five Reasons to help us celebrate the New Covenant. We're going to see, as we looked at the first-time last week, that it is number one, the source of eternal life by the Holy Spirit. Secondly, the new covenant is the source of the imputed righteousness of Christ. Number three, it's the source of eternal glory. Number four, it's the source of courageous hope. And finally, it is the source of unveiled gospel, clarity. So we're going to look at least a couple of these this morning as we continue to make our way through this passage very carefully.

So let me read it to you. Second Corinthians chapter three, beginning in verse six. God, "also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, how will the ministry of the Spirit failed to be even more with glory? For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory. For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory, because of the glory that surpasses it. For if that which fades away was with glory, much more than that which remains is in glory."

Now the last time we were together, we looked at the first source of celebration of the new covenant. Number one, it's the source of eternal life by the Holy Spirit. I want to elaborate on that a little bit more, before we move to the second reason that we can rejoice. Now remember, if we come back to verse six, unlike the false apostles that were trying to mix Old Testament law with the new covenant, he against says, "God also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." Remember the letter of the law, in other words, it's legalistic, external requirements that the Jews were trying to keep in order to merit salvation, all of that kills; just what Paul says it kills your joy, it kills your peace, it kills your hope. And to know that if you violate one aspect of God's holy standard, then you have violated it all. And it's punishable by death. And so the old covenant saints were living under that bondage, plus all of the rules of the rabbis. I was reminded by a friend that sent me a video this week of Manhattan, where a lot of Orthodox Jews live, there is what's called an "eruv;" e, r, u, v--a Hebrew word that stands for a boundary. And in this case, in Manhattan, the whole urban area is enclosed by a single wire boundary. And you if you go to Israel, you will see this in many places, you'll see eruv in various parts of the land. But anyway, this wire boundary symbolically extends the private domain of Jewish households into public areas. And this in their mind permits them to have activities in a much larger area that would normally be forbidden in public on the Sabbath. And so it gets crazy, the types of things that people will come up with, to impress God. That particular wire, by the way, that circles around Manhattan, I believe, is 18 miles long. They say it costs $100,000 a year, just to keep it up, to make sure that it's not broken. And there's a rabbi that travels around every day, to make sure that it's not broken. So you see these types of things that rabbis impose on top of what God's law was.

They also have for example, "mezuzahs", as they're called. It's a little decorative box. And inside is a piece of parchment that has some of the Torah some of the law rolled up inside of it. They will have, for example, Deuteronomy six, four and following, "Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with, with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your might." And they take literally Deuteronomy 11:20, where God said, "You shall write them," referring to the law, "on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." So if you go to Israel, for example, you go to a hotel, you go into your room, right there on the doorpost is a little mezuzah; got some of the law in there. You'll see in a restaurant; they are right on the doorposts. In fact, I've been in restaurants in Israel, where the waiters and waitresses will go in and out of the kitchen, there's a mezuzah right there on the doorpost, every time they go by, they will touch it and kiss it. And you just see this routine going on and on and on.

Well, unfortunately, these are the types of things that people believe when they misunderstand the old covenant, and they do not appreciate the new covenant that it pointed to, that now surpasses it in all of its glory. And remember, the law never had the power to redeem people. That was not its intention. All it could do is condemn us. And obedience to the law was never meant to be a means to salvation Romans 3:20, "by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin." So we come back to verse six here at the end And Paul says, "but the Spirit gives life." And as we discussed the last time we were together, it is the Spirit that produces regeneration; he causes us to be born again. Otherwise we would remain under the power of the evil one; First John 5:19. John three, remember, in verse five, Jesus told Nicodemus, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water, and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." The Greek when it says, "he cannot," "ou dynamai," it means you have no power, you have no ability, in and of yourself to enter into the kingdom of God, by any other means whatsoever. I mean, it's very strong language. And he says, "you must be born of water and the Spirit."

By the way, that has nothing to do with water baptism. Water and spirit were frequently used in the Old Testament; they were used together to symbolize renewal and cleansing. And of course, this would have resonated with Nicodemus. He would have understood this very clearly because he was a great teacher of Israel. And he would have known that what Jesus is referring back to is Ezekiel 36, beginning of verse 24. And by the way these rabbis memorize, essentially the entire Old Testament, so he would have known about this, Ezekiel 36:24, God says, "'For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your land.'" By the way, that's part of the promise of the Abrahamic covenant that will ultimately be fulfilled, but that regathering and that restoration of Israel in the Land promises, cannot occur until there is salvation, until there's a new heart and so forth; and we see the beginnings of that now. But then he goes on to say, "'Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.'" My what a day that will be for those people, as it is today for many of us who have been saved by God's grace. And Paul uses the same metaphorical imagery when he describes regeneration as being sprinkled with clean water and being given a new heart. He uses this in Titus three, verse five, where he says, "He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit." So regeneration is therefore, shall we say, a cleansing from sin. It's a purifying renovation of our very nature, a creation of a spiritual life. It's something that the old covenant law was never intended to do. And this change is referred to in the New Testament as "a new creation" Galatians 6:15. We're called "a new creature" in Second Corinthians 5:17; "the new self," Ephesians 424. It's called "being born again," First Peter 1:23, and so forth. Oh dear friends, what a miraculous transformation. And we must celebrate this. This is part of the new covenant. There is a a supernatural breaking from what Paul said, "our former manner of life," Ephesians 4:22 and our quote, "former lusts," First Peter 1:14. As new creatures Paul says that, "the old things passed away, behold, the new things have come," and we can all who know Christ, we can see that in our in our lives, in our hearts, in our minds. Colossians 3:10, "We have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge, according to the image of the One who created him." In Romans 12 and verse two, "We are no longer conformed to this world, but we're transformed by the renewing of our mind." John 3:19, Jesus went on to tell Nicodemus that we, "no longer love darkness rather than light." Indeed, dear friends, we come to the light by the power of the Spirit, because he has made us to love the light; we have new affections, we have new desires because of the Spirit; new desires that the natural man cannot understand because the natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God. They "are foolishness to him," Paul says, and they "cannot understand them," First Corinthians 2:14.

Now think about this, have you ever noticed how different our desires are from the unregenerate from those that don't know Christ, all you have to do is look at the hideous display of depravity in the police brutality that we witnessed last week, and also the rioting and the looting of these depraved anarchists, and arsonists that are destroying parts of various cities around the country. And then to look at the the utterly astounding absurdity in the lack of response from these progressive leftist mayors and governors. It's astounding. I shake my head when I listen to some of these politicians and some of the pundits, they're utterly clueless about what's really going on; how to diagnose and therefore treat the problems in our country. And of course, the answers are always political--Oh, it's systemic racism. It's white privilege. It's white supremacy, it's income inequality. If we would just provide better jobs and educational opportunities and on and on and on it goes, then all of our problems will go away, folks, that's foolish. That is utterly foolishness. The problem is human depravity. And the answer is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, whereby the Spirit of God changes people's nature; changes their desires; changes their hearts. True Christians do not care about the fads of the world. They don't embrace its values or its wisdom, which God calls foolishness. They don't take up its causes. God has saved us to take us out of the world, not to make us conform to the world. "But whatever is born of God overcomes the world," First, John five and verse four. We know according to Romans 12, two that the believer is constantly seeking that which "is good and acceptable and perfect." And folks, we do this, because of the power of the Spirit of God at work within us. And this is why Paul told the Corinthians in First Corinthians two verse four, "my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit, and of power, that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God."

Now, the folks in Corinth understood this; most of them were true believers. Some of them were undoubtedly Christian in name only; you always have that in churches. But the important point to remember is this-- what validates genuine saving faith, what validates the fact that a person is regenerated or has been born again, is not some profession of faith. It is not church attendance, or denominational affiliation. It's not even outward morality; not even the conviction of sin. The real evidence is a changed life. And it is the indwelling Spirit of God that energizes that obedience.

If you drop down a little bit lower in our text in verse 17, Paul says, "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." Indeed, there is. There is liberty from the unsuccessful attempts of trying to impress God by keeping the law. It's the spirit that brings liberty from the bondage that people had to the law; Romans seven, one through six. It's liberty from the power of Satan, who terrorizes people with the fear of death and coming judgment. In fact, Paul says in Romans eight two, "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death." And certainly, it's also liberating in that it liberates us from the enslaving power of sin, so that we might walk in newness of life, as we read in Romans six. And if you also look at verse 18, at the end, he says, We "are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit." That's the work of the Spirit. This is why we celebrate the new covenant, just even in this aspect of it. Colossians three, beginning in verse eight, Paul says, "But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander and abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self, who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him." Folks, this is what the Spirit of God enables new covenant believers to do. And, of course, this is a great concern of mine; for the church today, even here at Calvary Bible Church. A person can make all kinds of affirmations about the gospel, all manner of professions of faith and yet be a total stranger to the saving and sanctifying power of the gospel. I remember the testimony of a good friend of mine who was saved out of a very liberal denomination that he attended faithfully for many years. But a denomination and a church where they never taught the gospel. He had no clue what the true gospel was. He eventually came to Christ. He's been a pastor for a number of years. But let me let me read to you part of his testimony. Here's what he said, "Having lived most of my life in the so called "Bible Belt," I have met and known scores of people who profess to be Christians. Yet in their daily lives have been indistinguishable from those who have never made such a profession. In fact, I myself used to be such a person. I have lived both sides and seen the fallacy of one and the truth of the other. Such people as I, once rarely read their Bibles, much less know them. They take no delight in talking about the things of the Lord, their lifestyles, are as worldly and self-indulgent as their incomes will allow. And oftentimes more than they will allow. Their minds are set on and preoccupied with earthly things. In their dress, they take their cues from the culture, or are driven by personal preference rather than biblical principles, and are just as immodest, provocative, ostentatious and sensual as the world. They allow the culture to dictate the standard of modesty and morality, and what is appropriate and inappropriate. They watch the same ungodly movies, listen to the same music, are influenced by and follow the same fads and trends and reflect the same values, priorities, thinking and reasoning of the culture. Their speech is often course and profane. Their social media platforms are shallow, vain, self-promotional, compliment-seeking and narcissistic. They have no devotion or love for spiritual truths and biblical principles; especially if they contradict some preference or presupposition, or require an alteration in their thinking, values, beliefs and lifestyles, and to forsake some cherished lust and sin." He goes on to say, "They're giving to the work of the Lord is sporadic, self-serving, and minimal at best, with virtually no inconvenience to their overall lifestyle. They are not only utterly incapable of discerning truth from error, the clean from the unclean, the holy from the profane, and the fruit that is from the spirit of the world, from the fruit that is of the Spirit of God, but they are completely indifferent toward them. They can listen to what is good and true and what is bad and heretical without any discrimination. But for all of this, they are quite certain they will go to heaven when they die. If you ask them. 'What is the basis for this confidence?' They will tell you that many years ago, they accepted Jesus as their Savior, and invited him into their heart,” end quote. ''Once saved, always saved,' is their comfort and assurance." But he says, "the sign and evidence that someone is truly regenerate, is not some empty prattling about how secure they are once they made a profession of faith. But," quote, "'that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed'--Romans 6:17," end quote.

And, folks, this is the great danger of cultural Christianity; a Christianity that is in name only; a Christless Christianity and may I humbly encourage all of you to examine your life. Later on in this epistle, Paul encouraged the folks of Corinthians, to do that very thing. He said in Second Corinthians 13, five, "Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless, indeed you fail the test?

Now, I want to make a very important digression; a very brief one, but an important one. I want to offer you three very basic tests that you can use to examine your heart, examine your life, and there's many others. There's a number of them in First John, for example. But these are evidences of regeneration. Number one, ask yourself, do others see Christ in me? You know, many professing Christians live respectable Christian lives on the outside, but they know nothing of the reality of the new birth on the inside. Physically speaking, we know that a child will manifest a likeness to his or her parents. When you see a baby, we always can very quickly say, "Oh, my goodness, that child has his father's nose and maybe his mother's eyes" or whatever. They will share many of the same qualities because they share that DNA. Well, the same is true spiritually. Those born of the Spirit will manifest qualities that are consistent with their divine nature. In fact, Second Peter one four we read that we have, quote, "become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust." But when we come a child of God, we began to manifest characteristics consistent with holiness. We're able to escape the power which the rottenness of the world can overcome us with. And we see this in this new life. And think about it all life manifests characteristics consistent with its nature. Jesus said that, "A good tree cannot bear bad fruit nor can a bad tree produce good fruit," Matthew 7:18. And Jesus went on, by the way, to tell Nicodemus remember, in John three and verse six, he said, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." Now, obviously, no believer can attain to perfect holiness; that is not going to happen until glory, but if you're truly born again, you're going to see decreasing patterns of sin, and an increasing hatred of it.

I can thankfully say, I am not what I want to be, but by God's grace, I am not what I was. And that is all the work of the Spirit in my life. And so many of you can say the same thing. First, John three, beginning in verse nine, the apostle says this, "No one who is born of God practices sin," why? "Because His seed abides in him, and he cannot sin." In other words, that will not be the pattern of his life, "because he is born of God. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God." So you want to ask yourself the question, "Do others see Christ in me?"

A second question that gives evidence to regeneration is this, "Do I have a hunger for spiritual food?" First Peter two beginning in verse two, "Like newborn babies, we are to long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow and respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord." Now we know that a little child cannot survive, and he certainly cannot grow, apart from proper nourishment. Well, the same is true of a person born of the Spirit. We cannot survive. We cannot grow apart from the word. And so like a newborn baby, a true believer is going to crave the pure milk of the word. He's going to crave that like a little baby craves mommy's milk. It's like a matter of life and death. The true believer is going to love the Word of God. They are going to love to read their Bibles. They're going to love to hear good solid preaching and teaching and read books that help them understand how to know and how to serve the Lord their God. The excellency and the majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ will be their food and drink. And they will constantly gaze upon the cross and all that Christ has done for them. They will have what Jonathan Edwards called, "holy affections." That is the work of the Spirit. They will therefore have a hunger for spiritual food. Those who have no appetite for the pure milk of the word, have no basis to believe that they have been born of the Spirit. It's very simple. I mean, think about it. By nature, carnivores love meat, and herbivores love plants. And by nature, vultures love roadkill. Human beings can't stand to even get near it. Only a change of nature can change those desires. And we know for example, according to Ephesians, two three that the unregenerate quote, "indulge the desires of the flesh and of the mind." Why? Well, by nature they are, quote, "enslaved to various lusts and pleasures." Titus three, three--from same sex attraction to pornography, from alcoholism to materialism, from self-exultation to self-fulfillment, that's where their mind is. They're enslaved by the lusts and pleasures that God abhors. But not so those who have been radically transformed by the Spirit of God, we have no desire for those things; the things of the world--the philosophies, the psychological theories, the values, the false religions, the false doctrines that are out there. Most forms of worldly pleasure and entertainment are like roadkill to the truly regenerate. We've got to change nature, but not so for those who had never been born again. According to Romans eight, five, "For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh." So you want to ask yourself, "Do I really have an appetite for the Word of God?"

So number one, do others see Christ in me? Number two, do I have a hunger for spiritual food? And finally, "Am I growing into the likeness of Christ?" Dear friends, this is a basic principle of lif; all living things grow. If they're not growing, they're dying. Those born of the Spirit will according to Second Peter 3:18, "grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." And biblically we know that growth is proportional to one's commitment to know and obey the Word of God. Growing into spiritual maturity requires a deepening knowledge of Scripture. This is why for example, God has given pastor teachers to the church, we read about this in Ephesians, four, beginning in verse 12. God has given pastors and teachers "for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the Body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ." He goes on to say as a result, "we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth and love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ." And as we grow up, we began to manifest the fruits of the Spirit, as we see in Galatians five, "love joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." This is what will grow on the vine of our life. Those who walk by the Spirit, in other words, those who yield to the Spirit of God as He has revealed Himself in Scripture--on a moment-by-moment basis--they are going to look, and they are going to act, they're going to talk differently than those who don't. They are not going to be ruled by the flesh. The unregenerate are ruled by the flesh. Galatians five goes on to say that in verse 19, there Paul speaks of the deeds of the flesh he gives a little list they are: "immorality, impurity," which is another term for fornication. "Sensuality idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing and things like these." So you need to ask yourself, can I see and can others see measurable growth into Christ's likeness in my life? Or do I just kind of play an external game? Am I just part of the churchianity crowd? Am I just a more religious version of the same self- willed, self-serving hypocrite that I've always been?

Well, the new covenant makes all of this possible, because it is the source of eternal life by the Holy Spirit. Now, some have asked, and I want to address this very briefly, an important footnote here; some have asked, did Old Testament saints receive the same type of spiritual blessings as the New Testament saints? In other words, were they born again as well? Were they regenerate? Well, the answer is ultimately, yes. The Holy Spirit regenerated Old Testament believers, and this is evidenced, by the way; there's a number of reasons we could go into, but certainly, Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus gives evidence to this because that occurred before the ratification of the new covenant with Jesus' death; as we read about in Luke 22:20. So regeneration essentially involved a quote, "circumcised heart," as you read in the Old Testament. But the Holy Spirit did not permanently indwell Old Testament saints. He did, however, abide in them, as we see, for example, in Haggai two and verse five. You might say that the spirit dwelt with the Old Testament saints through the community, but he did not permanently dwell in them individually and intimately, as Jesus indicated in John 14:17, where he said to the disciples, quote, "'You know Him, because He abides with you, and will be in you.'" And of course, that happened at Pentecost. This is what Jesus referred to in John seven, beginning of verse 37. There he says, "Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, 'If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.''" But he goes on to say, this, "He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified." So there John helps us see by quoting Jesus. So it's fair to say that that New Covenant believers enjoy a more permanent and more intimate experience of the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit than old covenant saints. But his essential work and salvation was the same.

So back to our examination here of this amazing passage, we can celebrate the new covenant number one, because it is the source of eternal life by the Holy Spirit, but secondly, it is the source of the imputed righteousness of Christ. Notice verse seven. "But if," or could be translated, "since"..."the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones"-- referring to the old covenant law, which God himself etched on tablets of stone, as we read about in Exodus 32--"but since the ministry of death and letters engraved on stones came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses, because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory. Now, this is fascinating. Remember, his opponents were telling everyone that Paul just doesn't see the glory in the old covenant; he is opposed to God's law. And we read about these charges, for example, in Acts 21. But of course, none of that was true. For example, in Romans seven beginning of verse 12, Paul says this, "So then the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Therefore, did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death, through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful." You see, again, the purpose of God's law was to expose man's depravity in light of God's purity and drive him to the Savior. Romans seven in verse seven at the end, "I would not have come to know sin," Paul says, "except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, 'You shall not covet.'" An interesting example that he uses "covet," "epithumeo" in the original language; it means to lust or to strongly desire; to have what belongs to someone else; to crave that which is forbidden. It carries the idea of an evil desire. We're not to have evil desires. By the way, this refutes the unbiblical and very misguided position that some evangelicals promote regarding same sex attraction. They say, Well, hey, that's just normal for some people, and therefore it's acceptable. But if they act on it, then it's sin. No, no, no, no, no. That is not true. The desire itself is sin. And the power of regeneration changes those desires. What a glorious truth that is. Regeneration just doesn't just merely change behaviors, it changes our very desires to act in ways that are reprehensible to God.

By the way, you shall not covet is taken from the Old Testament law and the 10 commandments that God gave to Moses in Exodus 20. And this is the 10th commandment actually, in Exodus 20, verse 17, we read, "You shall not covet." In other words, you shall not lust for or strongly desire for the following, "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant or his female servant, or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor." Now, it's also fascinating that Paul uses other concepts to describe how he wasn't opposed to the law. We see that the Holy Spirit inspired him to tell us something else that the law would do. And that is that the law would actually incite him to do more sin. And he wants people to understand this as well. We read about it in Romans seven in verse eight, "Sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind, for apart from the Law sin is dead." So on the one hand, he's praising the law because what it exposes, but also, he showing how sin took advantage of him.

By the way, the key to interpreting that text is understanding the little phrase, "taking opportunity through the commandment." "Taking" in the original language means "to seize or to grasp"-- what he's saying here is that it seized me and it's the idea of a cause to give occasion for something that is going to take a hold of you. In fact, the term was used to describe a staging area or a base of military operation to begin an expedition. So we could literally translate what Paul was saying, like this-- sin, making use of the commandment as a base of operations--produced in me coveting of every kind. It's a fascinating concept. And here, sin is personified as an evil power that is antagonistic towards the law, intent on making a mockery of it by producing more sin that will violate it. So what is he saying? He's saying this, when I understand the laws, once I understood the laws, strict prohibition against lust, against coveting, my rebellious flesh was incited to further covetousness, to further rebellion. It used the commandment as a staging area to launch an attack of every kind, on coveting. Its why he says "it produced in me," an interesting term. It was a powerful term in the original language to mean, "to accomplish something with absolute success and thoroughness." And what is it that that the law accomplished in him? Well, it incited further rebellion. Notice the last phrase, in verse eight, "For apart from the Law, sin is dead." So what he's saying is, yes, the law is holy, it's glorious; it exposes sin. But it also causes our sin nature to be provoked, to actually come alive as it were. It's as though we have these malignant cells that lie dormant within our bodies, as if they are dead until something activates them to more corruption.

You see, friends it is characteristic of our sinful nature to rebel against all manner of authority, especially God's authority. Man is by nature a rebel. Man is by nature one who despises rules and regulations. He is a fool that has no fear of God. Now we see this in our little children, right? I mean, do you tell them? No, or Yes, more than the other? Obviously, we tell them no far more than we tell them, yes. Because they're demanding their own way. Moreover, you can tell them, look, children, you can play anywhere in the house, anywhere on the property, but do not go into that red shed back there. Well immediately what's going to happen in the heart of a child? I'm going to get into that red shed one way or the other. I've got to go in there. Well, this began in the garden, didn't it? Remember with Eve? I mean, God told Adam and Eve that you can freely eat of every tree in the garden, except the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Of course, that was a test. They already knew good. But if they disobeyed, suddenly they would know evil. And what happened? Well, Eve basically said, as she responded to Satan's temptation, I don't care what God says, I'm going to eat that forbidden fruit.

So back to Paul's defense here in Second Corinthians three and verse seven. Paul was basically saying to them, Look, you know, if you try to rely upon the law for salvation, you're in for an eternity of suffering, because the law is, as he says, "a ministry of death." Now, mind you, this was in stark contrast to the Jewish idea that the law is life-giving, but rather it is life-taking. And then he uses the illustration of the Shekinah glory of God. Remember that dazzling light that was the visible manifestation of the perfections, and the power in the presence of God that encompassed Moses when he went up onto Mount Sinai and he stood in the Lord's presence, and the Lord gave him his law. This is recorded in Exodus 34, verse 29, let me just read this to you. "It came about when Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses hand as he was coming down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with Him. So when Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him." As we study that passage, we see that it was so bright it was like they couldn't really look at him. It was just a terrifying thing. And later on, and in that same section of Scripture, we read how that all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them the commandments; all that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai, and then what happened? He put a veil on his face. And this concealment prevented the people from seeing the fading splendor that accompanied the old covenant. But Paul's use of this illustration refutes any accusation that Paul did not see the glory of the law; that somehow, he opposed the Law. No, no, not at all. The old covenant manifested the ineffable glory of God, of his perfections and his power, his presence, but also his holy nature, his justice, his wrath. It shows his glory even in his judgment. But it only pointed to that which was far greater, namely the new covenant. The new covenant that reveals the ineffable grandeur of his compassion, of his mercy, of his grace, of his forgiveness.

So in verse nine, back to our text, Paul says, "For if the ministry of condemnation has glory," which obviously he's saying it did, "much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory." You see, the point here is the old covenant had no power to impute the righteousness of Christ to believers. And without his righteousness, there's no salvation; we can never enter into the presence of a holy God. And for this reason Paul declared in Romans three beginning of verse 21, “But now apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested." Oh, what a wonderful truth. "Apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, for all those who believe."

So Paul goes on in his defense here in Second Corinthians three, in verse 10. He says, "For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory, because of the glory that surpasses it." Yes, the moon is beautiful. It has glory, until you see the sun. Then he says, verse 11, "For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory." Folks, this helps us better understand Paul's amazing testimony. Remember, in Philippians three, there, he listed all of his impressive credentials. He gave his resume, you might say that would be reason that anyone would think that of all people, this man can have confidence in his religiosity. I mean, he was a super Jew, if you can put it that way. I mean, Superman wore Rabbi Saul pajamas in those days if we can imagine this. Chuck Norris, of that day, had Rabbi Saul's poster in his bedroom. I mean, Saul was just, he was just super Pharisee. And yet, look what he says in Philippians, three, beginning in verse four, all because of the new covenant. He says this, "If anyone else has a mind put confidence in the flesh, I far more: circumcised the eighth day of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless. But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I might know him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect, but I press on, so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus." My what a profound source of encouragement for every believer who can read that and say, my, I can attest to the same thing. I can look back at my life and realize that there, there's nothing in it that's worthy of showing a holy God and saying, aren't you impressed with what I've done. But rather, we see the horror of our sin and we see the righteousness of Christ that was imputed to us, that changed everything. All because of the new covenant; the power of the Spirit to transform our heart. Dear friends, we have so much to celebrate in the new covenant. Indeed, it is the source of eternal life by the Holy Spirit, and it is the source of the imputed righteousness of Christ.

Dave Harrell

I want to close this morning with a true story of a man who was born of the Spirit in Scotland in 1839. I love testimonies, because it puts the glory of Christ on display, not the glory of man. And this is a testimony that's going to thrill all of us who, by God's grace, have experienced what it means to really be born by the Spirit. But I might also add that this testimony will sober those who have not. This is actually an extract from a letter written by George Moody, Esquire; the son in law of Pastor W. H. Burns, who was the faithful pastor of the church in the little village of Kilsyth Scotland. He served there, by the way from 1821 till 1859 when the Lord took him home, and this letter was one that was written to give evidence of the Great Awakening that occurred there for a small period of time in that region in Scotland. And here's what the testimony reads, quote, "The case of D.S." He doesn't give the name to protect the man's name, "collier," which is another word for coal miner, he was a coal miner. The case of this coal miner "may be mentioned as interesting." He says, "he had for some time been thoughtful and had been given up entirely, taking any intoxicating liquor, and might be characterized as one of the more hopeful description. Since the present awakening, he was deeply convinced of his sin and misery. And for a month was deeply exercised in spending much time in secret prayer and reading the scriptures." By the way, folks, there's evidence of regeneration--being born by the Spirit. "On the evening of the 21st of August, he had a meeting with several of his praying companions, and spent the night in prayer, praise and converse. He appears to have obtained peace during that night and came home to his house in a very happy state of mind. After taking just two hours rest, he worshiped with his family, and proceeded to his work. Being the foreman, it was his lot to descend first into the pit, which he did with unusual alacrity and with prayer," alacrity is another word for enthusiasm. "On the reaching of the bottom, the air instantly exploded, and in a moment, he was ushered into eternity. How soothing and cheering, the thought that he has escaped the everlasting burnings and has passed literally, through the fire, to the regions of glory." O, dear friends, what hope we have in Christ. And if you're within the sound of my voice, and you know nothing of the miracle of the new birth, because you have never come to Christ in repentant faith and pled with him to save you, by his grace, which he will do instantly, then you are living in a very dangerous season of your life because you never know when something might explode, so to speak, and take you into eternity. And so I pray. I pray, especially for our children, for our youth, for anyone that has some phony religion or whatever. If you do not know Christ, you need to do business with God today. You need to cry out to him for his saving grace. And he will save you, even as he saved this dear saint that I just read about. And for those of us who know and love Christ, I just closed by asking you to just rehearse some of these great truths in your mind in your heart. We've got all of this terrible news out there, you turn on the television, and after a while, it just almost makes you sick. You're seeing all of this depravity. You're seeing all of the insanity. Folks come back to the glorious truths of the word of God. And it will bring refreshment to your soul. Celebrate what Christ has done for you, what he is doing, and what he will ultimately do. And because of this, we will worship him with great adoration, and others will see Christ in us. And by his grace and by his power, we can be salt and light in a world that desperately needs cleansing; it desperately needs truth. And hopefully, they can see that in our lives and in our testimony. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for the eternal truths that always emerge from your Word, and penetrate our hearts with such clarity and such conviction. And for those that don't know Christ, I pray that you will bring conviction and bring them to saving faith. Lord please don't let any of our people be self-deceived with a cultural Christianity. And Lord, for those of us who know and love you, even though we fail in so many ways, we celebrate the power of your grace. We celebrate what it means to be born again. And we thank you for the sanctifying power of your spirit. Use us mightily for your sake, in our families, in our workplaces and in our communities. I ask all of this in the precious name of Jesus, and for his sake. Amen.