2 Corinthians, 3:1-5

OK, turning the Bibles, please, to 2 Corinthians chapter 2, chapter 3. 2 Corinthians chapter 3. Paul starts off 2 Corinthians chapter 3 with a question. He says, Do we begin again to commend ourselves, or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?

You are our epistle, written in our hearts, known and read of all men. For as much as you are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us written not with ink but with the spirit of a living God not in tables of stone but in fleshly tables of the heart. We'll look at these first three scriptures passages this morning and then we'll go on to verses four and five. Here's the question.

Paul starts us off with a question Do we begin again to commend ourselves or do we need a letter of commendation to you or some commendation from you? And the question is, why does Paul say, do we need this letter of commendation? And the letter of commendation was a letter saying that these guys have the credentials. And that's what Paul is asking. So the question is, why is Paul asking the question? The interesting thing is the meaning of the word commendation, as it's used mostly in the New Testament, is a commendation or a presentation of worthiness. So Paul is saying, do we need someone to present us as worthy to you?

That's his question. So why does he ask the question? Well, the custom of the time was that when people went into another area to do something, and especially, if you will, something religious, they needed some letter. They needed a letter saying, hey, this person has the authority.

So, just to show you this, keep your finger in 2 Corinthians, turn back to Acts chapter 9. Acts chapter 9. This is before Paul became a believer. Look at verse 1. And Paul is now Saul, or he was Saul, and Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he found any of this sort or any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

So Paul needed a letter of commendation. So as representing the Pharisees, He needs this letter of commendation, this letter saying that he has the authority then to do what he knew how to do well. What did he know how to do well? Persecute the Christians. Yeah, he knew how to do that well, and he needed this letter of commendation.

So the question is, do we need Do we need a letter of commendation? If we're going to minister, do we need some letter to present as worthy? Do we need some letter by man saying, hey, Hal Malloy is worthy, or Bob Beckel is worthy, or Jim Poole is worthy to teach? Do we need some letter? Why not?

OK. All right. We have his life. OK. We do agree. OK. That says we do in the degree we were looking for a pastor, we want to know what he taught, what he believed, where he was coming from. OK. OK. OK. And that's a good point. And what what was the reason So we were looking for a pastor. What were we looking for? What's the reason? What were we looking for?

We wanted to make sure his beliefs were the same as those caught in Ohio. Exactly. So we wanted to understand what he believed. Okay. So but did we need a letter saying, hey, this guy is worthy to to teach. So to me, not from the president of the seminary. Yeah. But just find out what he exactly we need to understand what he believed. OK.

Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 10 in terms of the one who presents us worthy. 2 Corinthians chapter 10 and look at verse 8. Paul says this, for though I should boast somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord has given us for edification, and not for your destruction, I should not be ashamed. So the one who gives us the authority is the Lord. The authority comes from the Lord. Look, where do I want to go? So the point, the point is this. Neither Paul nor we need such a letter to to minister. And the Lord commends us. The Lord is the one who presents us worthy, and not we or not any other man.

So, very quickly, turn to Matthew chapter 28. I think one of the key points is this. to understand the authority in which we come, to understand the authority that we inherently have and why. So Matthew 28, and everybody knows this passage by heart, in 28 verse 18 and 19, Verse 18, And Jesus came and spoke unto them, saying, All authority is given unto me in heaven and earth. And then verse 19, the passage that we're familiar with, Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And by the way, it looks, it appears, like in verse 19, that that's a command.

To go, you go. Because oftentimes you'll find a preacher getting up from the pulpit and talking to young people and saying, here's the command for you to go into the world and preach the gospel and be missionaries. But the go ye is a participle. Participle, and all it says is, while you're going, wherever you're going, okay? And it's not a command to go. The command is to make disciples. Okay, so the point is this.

In verse 18 of Matthew 28, it says, all authority is given to Jesus Christ. What does that say about us? Okay, we're in Him, we're identified with Christ, so if He has the authority, guess what? We have the authority. We don't need any letter of commendation from anybody. We share in the very authority that Christ has because of our identification with Him. Okay. Look at verse 3. And in verse 2, the interesting thing is, here's what Paul says. He says, we don't need a letter of commendation, a letter to present us worthy.

And he says to these believers, you You are our letter. And you're the ones that are being read and known by all men. And so there's nothing that we need to come with some presentation of authority because men can read you. And because they can read you and they can see Christ through you, they can see the very glory of Christ through you, then they know what we're about. We don't need to come with some credentials because our credentials is your very life.

Right? Isn't that great? Verse 3, for as much as you are manifestly declared to be the Epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the Living God, not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart. This passage of scripture is a critical passage.

A critical passage in understanding who we are in Christ. Now, oftentimes, when we think of who we are in Christ, help me here in terms of who we are in Christ. Somebody asks you, who are you in Christ? Yeah, you're in Christ, so who are you? So what would you say? What's the results of being in Christ?

New creation. Okay. New creation. We have His love. Okay. Rest. We have His rest. We're complete. Totally complete. Nothing needs to be added. We're righteous. Okay. And we're righteous. And our citizenship. We're seated with Him and in the heavenlies our citizenship is with Him. Okay. Okay. We're lights. Okay. We're sanctified. We're blessed with every spiritual blessing. We have the totality of the riches of Christ.

Question, whose side are we looking at that from? God's side or our side? No, no. When I say our side, I'm talking about believers. But those are all results that have happened to us. We're looking from our side that we're blessed, that we're complete, you know, what God has done for us, right? So we're looking from our side, Bob. Yeah, but it's an act of faith now. I mean, when you say it's our side, it's really... believing what God has revealed, is it not? And so, from our side, it's only the act of faith, but yet, if God is true, which we believe, then all this is from His side.

It should not come in. It's certainly true. I mean, are all these things you've just listed true? They are absolutely true. Why? But we look at them in terms of how we're blessed. And it's by faith. And certainly God has done it, right? God is the source of every one of those. But we're the recipients of that. So what I'm looking at is that we're looking at it from our side in terms of, wow, I'm totally blessed. Wow, my citizenship is in heaven. Wow, I'm totally complete in Christ. And it's by faith, and positionally.

So, you see the point I'm trying to make? I think verse 3, it says, you are manifestly declared Let me put it up on the screen here. For as much as you are manifestly declared to be the epistles of Christ, ministered by us and written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God. I guess the point what I'm trying to make is after I kill myself here, We're going to make a slight change. Hold off here. The point I'm trying to make is this. from God's side in terms of utilizing us in His eternal purpose. We're epistles of Christ. So he says that you are manifestly declared to be the Epistle of Christ. Well, what does all of that mean? In order to understand it, You have to look at the Greek and we're just going to take a look at this very simply in terms of what verse 3 is saying. Verse 3 has a subject and the subject is you and me.

And the verb is are, and it's an essence verb. You are, and it's really not a direct object. That's incorrect. It's a subject complement. Is everybody familiar with English? When you have an essence verb, you don't have direct objects. You have what is called a subject complement. But in the Greek, It's called either predicate-nominative or predicate-adjective, depending upon whether this is a noun or whether it's an adjective.

If this is a noun, it identifies the subject. If it's an adjective, it describes the subject. So, for example, God is good. All right? Subject. God is good. The verb, essence verb, to be, a to be verb is called an essence verb. God is good. Good is what? Adjective? Adjective? So, that would be a predicate adjective. It describes who God is. But if we say God is love, love is what? A noun or an adjective? It's a noun. So it identifies who God is.

So there's the link. That's why these are called linking verbs. It links the subject to the direct object. But if you didn't have an essence verb or a linking verb there, and you said that John hit the ball. Is there a link between John and the ball, in terms of, does the ball either describe or identify John? No. The ball and John are independent, right? Okay.

So, but here there's a dependency that says, you are, it's an essence verb, A verb, if you will, status quo. The state in which you and I continuously exist. You and I continuously exist as an epistle, as a letter. An epistle is a written message. OK? It's a written message. And it's a written message of Christ.

Now, of Christ is genitive case, and you could take it as genitive of possession, or genitive of source. So you could say either Christ epistle, Christ epistle, or the source of the message is the Lord Jesus Christ. I tend to take this as a genitive of source, that the source of this message is the Lord Jesus Christ, in fact, His very glory. And then being manifested is just a participle, and it just tells us something additional about the sentence.

And it says that this epistle, or this written message, is being made known. That's what it's saying. So, we as epistles of Christ are being made known. We're being manifested. And this is in the present tense. So, present tense means continuous action. It means it's durative. It's moment by moment. Every moment of your life.

You are this message of Christ, this epistle of Christ. It's an active voice which says that the action is through the subject, is through you. And it's in the indicative mood, which is a mood of reality, which says, this is real. Whether you know it, whether you believe it, whether you understand it or not, you are a message of Christ. You are a message of the very glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Your life. and being manifested, and it's being made known to all men. So you're being read. We are being read by all men. And as an epistle, it gives a message. The question is, what message is our life giving to men?

Is it the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ? I want you to see this so turn over to 2 Corinthians chapter 8 that the message that the Spirit of God has written onto our hearts is the very glory of our Lord Jesus Christ 2 Corinthians chapter 8 verse 23 Here's what Paul says, and he says, whether any do inquire of Titus, he is my partner. If there's any inquiries about Titus, I just want you to know that he's my partner and fellow worker concerning you. Or, if there's any inquiry of our brethren, they are messengers of the churches and What does it say?

And the glory of Christ. They are epistles of Christ. And so, wow. So from God's side, and this is the reason why I say it's from God's side. Oftentimes we think of God's purpose. the totality of God's purpose. That man is lost in sin, and so his purpose is the purpose of redemption, salvation, etc. So don't we think of the Bible, if we just summarize the Bible kind of that way, that this is God's total plan of redemption. If someone were to ask you, what is the Bible all about? What does it summarize? What is it all about? What would you answer? That's certainly His purpose, but I don't think that's His overriding purpose in Scripture. I think His overriding purpose in Scripture is about His glory.

I mean, as you go through both Old Testament and New Testament, it's all about His glory, right? Old Testament, the heavens what? Declare the glory of God. So, if we were to look at God's eternal purpose, it's about His glory. Declaring His glory, what else? Revealing His glory, sharing His glory, and then in turn, being glorified. So, in this eternal purpose, in terms of revealing His glory, He needs to reveal His glory somehow. And how does He reveal His glory? Well, He writes epistles. He writes messages. And He writes a message where? on our hearts, and people read that message. And so we are then very instruments in God's glory, in terms of revealing that glory, revealing the glory of His Son.

So, either the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ is revealed through you and me, or it's not revealed at all. You agree with that? Yeah, you're either in the flesh or you're in the Lord. And there's no other way that he can reveal his glory. I mean, with the exception of creation, that the heavens declare the glory of God, but is that a limited revelation of his glory? It is. I mean, we find out in Romans chapter 1 that the heavens and the earth reveal his glory in terms of his eternal power and his deity. Those two things. But it doesn't reveal His love, His mercy. Creation doesn't reveal His compassion, His grace. Okay? Bob?

Well, until the Word was complete, He was still in the business of doing miracles to reveal His love, correct? So now in the Church Age, this remains complete. We'll take on a new form, a new age or disposition. The question is, is God still doing miracles today as he did in the Old Testament or in the Gospel period?

Anybody want to answer that? That's a question, right? It is a question in terms of the revelation of his glory. I would contend that We don't need them, perhaps he is, but the issue is the epistle is us. The epistle is us. And there doesn't need to be some manifestation of some miracle to understand who he is, is what you're saying. Okay. Alright, so, go on here. I want you to look at verse 3 and just observe it. Just take a minute to look at it and here's the question I want you to answer.

How and where is the epistle written? Yeah, let me ask that first question. How and where is this epistle written? Say again, Doug? Okay. Okay, so it's written, you said... It's in Greek, not written with Acre, so it's in Greek. Okay, alright. I'm sorry, Harry? I said it's written on human hearts by the Holy Spirit. Okay, okay. So the Epistle is written on human hearts by the Holy Spirit.

How is it not written? Okay, not written with ink. What else? And not written on tablets of stone. So, it's not written with ink and it's not written with tablets of stone. But, now here's my question. Isn't God's Word written on tablets of stone? and isn't God's Word written with ink? Isn't God's Word written with ink? And wasn't it written on tablets of stone? So here's my question.

What's the distinction? What distinction is Paul trying to make, saying, not written with ink or tablets of stone, but written on the hearts of men? Certainly God's Word was written on tablets of stone and ink, right? So what distinction? Why the distinction between them? OK, on tablets of stone, it's corruptible. Temporary.

OK. It's everlasting. OK. All right. Incorruptible. All right. But since the Resurrection, we're in a period of grace, and I think that's the distinction. Okay. That the distinction, but if we take... He speaks to us in a different way now than he did when he did it on... But doesn't he speak to us via the written word with ink today? Okay, and it takes the Holy Spirit for us to understand that. Because he was talking to people from a Jewish background, and their focus of written word was the law, and he's trying to make a distinction possibly that we're not talking about the law, we're talking about what the Lord's done on your heart.

Okay. OK, so. OK, so there's there's a distinction that is Paul talking about the fact that the law was written on the tablets of stone or or or ink and in making it this he's making distinction between law and grace. I asked myself this question as I went through this. Why? Let me tell you the reason I came up with, which may be correct or not, but think about this. Is there anything wrong with the word that is written on tablets of stone or with ink? Everybody agree? The word written on tablets of stone represents what? It's the law, but what does it represent?

What's behind that? The mind of God. What else? What about Him? Okay. In fact, His righteousness. So, when Paul says there's nothing wrong with the law, the law is holy, righteous, good. Nothing wrong with those tablets of stone, right? Written word is communicated to us via ink, via the written word. That's objective truth, right? It's objective truth. What do we mean by objective truth? It's from outside of us, from God, it's fact, you can rely on it, it's trustworthy because of the source, and as when he says, it's not from within. What does God desire in our life about that objective truth? What does he want it to become in our life? What does he want us to do with it? What does he want us to do with it?

Believe it. Okay. Rest in it. Trust in it. Right? And when that happens, what kind of truth does it become? Subjective. We take ownership in that truth, subjective truth. And so what I think it's saying here in 2 Corinthians 3, verse 3, that it's talking about God's objective truth becoming subjective.

In other words, we are beholding Christ. How? as in a mirror. We'll get to verse 18, as in the mirror. And the mirror is the thing that reflects the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the mirror is the very Word of God written in what? Ink. Right? So we behold the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ in a mirror. the Word of God written in ink, and as we behold Him by faith and rest and trust, then that objective truth becomes subjective. We take ownership. It then becomes, we find out who we are, who we are in Christ. And I agree what was said in terms of it's written indelibly. And it can never be changed. Once it's written in our hearts, it's indelible. It can never be changed. No one can erase it. And it lasts for all eternity. It's eternal.

Question? Does God write his law upon our hearts? Because if you go back to the Old Testament, especially in Jeremiah 31, it says that God writes his law upon our hearts. So, is this what it's talking about? Turn to Jeremiah 31. Jeremiah 31. Look at verse 33. It says, But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord.

I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts. and will be their God, and they shall be my people." My son, one of my sons who lives in Telluride, goes to this church and they're having a all-church Bible study, if you will. And they're doing it from some lesson plan that someone has made up. And so they're talking about the fact that God writes his law upon our hearts.

So my son calls me up and says, hey, Dad, take a look at Jeremiah 31, 33. This is what they're teaching. So here's my question, how would you answer him? And he says, is this true? Okay, so it's for Israel in the Kingdom Age and it pertains to Israel in the Kingdom Age. It does not pertain to the Church, does it?

So what he writes in our hearts, the message the message that he writes in our hearts is the very glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why this book of 2 Corinthians is such a wonderful book because it has to do with the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. His very life and His very ministry. That's why we titled every section in this book, His Life, His Ministry, because it's about Him. I've said this before and I'll say it again. We may be the only epistle that anybody will ever read about Jesus Christ. the only epistle.

Does that put a big responsibility on us? The answer is no. If we're not to feel weighted down, that in every encounter that we have, that we are worrying about, oh, am I being a pestle of the Lord Jesus Christ? Am I? Right? Because then what are we doing? We're trying to imitate Christ. And there's no way that we can imitate Him. He has to live His life. He has to live His life through us. But let me ask you a question.

Can you think of anything greater in your life? then your heart as the subject of this divine writing, that God writes the very glory of the word Jesus Christ in your heart, and not only that, and being in correspondence with the true and living God, moment by moment, So the thing is, you know, if you go to the post office, they have dead letters.

And the dead letters either have no address or the wrong address. We are not dead letters. God knows the address. We don't know the address, but God knows the address as to where the message and where the letter is going. And the dead letters in the post office, it's an old message. It's outdated because of time. And Christ is continually being written in our hearts as we behold Him. So it's a living message and we are living epistles with an eternal message and revealing the very glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Look at verse 4 and verse 5. And such trust have we through Christ towards God, not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. I want you to notice, well, first in verse four. When it says that in verse 4, and such trust have we through Christ towards God, literally it says this, we are having such trust or confidence, I think the New American Standard is confidence, is that true? Trust, confidence, okay. We are having such trust or confidence through Christ toward God. So our moment-by-moment confidence is not in ourselves towards God, but through Christ towards God. And that's the key. It's not through us towards God, but through Christ towards God. So there's no confidence God would accept to be through Christ.

And Paul knew that confidence in the flesh and its results. In Philippians 3-4, turn there for a moment. If we ever think about having any confidence in the flesh, as opposed to our confidence being through Christ, In Philippians 3-4, Paul says, Though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinks that he has reasons for which he might trust in the flesh, I more. So if you think you have any reason to trust in the flesh, you're outdone by Paul.

And he talks about in verse 5, circumcised the eight day stock of Israel in charge of Benjamin. He goes on and goes on. And down in verse 7, he says, what things were gained to me, all of the confidence I had in the flesh, those things were gained to me. And now that I know Christ, I count those as loss for Christ. In verse 8, he says, ye debtless, I count all things but lost for the excellency of knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord who for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and you count them as what does your Bible say refuse rubbish done and you know and what he's saying is it's just a bunch of done very strong language Any confidence in the flesh is just a bunch of a dung.

Okay, verse 5. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. Turn back to chapter 2 and verse 16. Remember we talked about us being a saver. In verse 16 it says, to one we are the saver of death and to the other the saver of life, unto life. And who is sufficient for all these things, where does the sufficiency come for you and I to be a savor of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, the fragrance of the Lord Jesus Christ? Where does that sufficiency come from?

So he answers it in verse 5, not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to think anything of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. So what's interesting is this. In verse 5 it says, not that we are sufficient of ourselves, and that little word of is preposition ek, out of. There is no sufficiency that comes out of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God, or ek, out of God. So the source is God. So there is no, there is no, we are never the source of any sufficiency out of ourselves, but it's out from God. Okay. We'll close. You know, as you, as we look at all this, his life and his ministry is through you and me. It's His efficiency, not ours. It's by His grace and not our efforts. And the ministry is His ministry and not ours.

Any questions? Last minute questions. Let's pray. Father, again, we are just so thankful for your love for us. We thank you that you have written into our hearts the very glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, indelible, eternal. And Father, we thank you that as wherever you put us, that you're the one that manifests that very glory to others, that others can see. the Lord Jesus Christ through us. And we would pray, Father, that we would always be ready for an answer when the question is asked about the hope that's within us. And we thank you, Father, for our glorious hope, our absolute confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ. In His name we pray. Amen.