2 Corinthians, 3:12-17
Bob Eckel · Aug 15, 2004
2 Corinthians (2004-05), No. 07
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/48262311245700

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Let's open our Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 3. Hal and I were talking a couple days ago about this text this morning. He had given me one more verse that I'm covering. You might think, gee, just one verse. But that one verse is 2 Corinthians 3.18. And that verse, perhaps, is a day in its own right. And I think Hal wants to teach you that one anyway. Right, Hal? OK. All right.

Let's look at 2 Corinthians 3.12 through 17. I can't help but read 18, too, because it really is a continuation of the previous verses. It's just a nice transition verse to what follows in 2 Corinthians 4. Remember last time we talked about the ministry that Paul had, the comparison of the spiritual and glorious with the legal, and we're going to continue on that theme today, and the verses really, I think, culminate the lesson that Jim Poole had last week. Verse 12, seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech, or if that could be interpreted, boldness.

And not as Moses, who put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished. But their minds were blinded, for until this day remain at the same veil, untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament, which veil is done away in Christ. Then even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil should be taken away.

Now the Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Lesson today, the text that we have before us is that his life and ministry is in his sufficiency, not ours.

And I think we'll see how we build upon that theme. In the Interlinear Greek, your text is probably not that before you. In verse 12 we have, having therefore such hope, much boldness we use. What hope are we talking about here? Perhaps. How about what? Glory. All right, that certainly plays into this. Think of the contrasting history of what Moses had in fact been dealing with versus what in fact the believer is dealing with. Let's turn back to verses 8 and 9 that Jim covered last week. Good morning. Good to have you with us. Verse 8.

How shall not the ministration of the Spirit be more glorious? Comparing it to Moses' glory that was portrayed in his face coming down from the mountain. For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. So what we're looking at here is the idea that the ministry is really not of death and condemnation, but it's of the spirit and of righteousness. I mean, is that not a hope? How does that play out as a hope? What do we think about when we think of hope? Wish? How about the remainder of the verse? What does hope really lead to?

Boldness. What's boldness? Confidence. Can mean that? It can mean freedom of speech, First Amendment kinds of stuff, right? In fact, if you think about that, that's really a good application of the boldness we have in the gospel, is it not? The ability to share the Lord Jesus Christ with our fellow man. First Amendment. Right? Right? Boldness.

And the second thing really is the unreservedness. How's that for a word? That's what I was able to find in the dictionary. Unreservedness of utterance. Now that's not arrogance, is it? I mean, boldness takes on a little bit different meaning than being arrogant, but it is the freedom to speak out back to the hope. What's the hope? What's the contrast here? All right, condemnation to death, which Moses represented, right? The law is only unto death, is it not? But the hope is spirit-led unto righteousness. What a hope!

And we are in a position to proclaim that without reservation. Let's turn to Ephesians 6, 19, and 20 to see where we're placed in this particular truth. Harry, when you get that, could you read that for us, please? 6, 19, and 20. that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in the chains, that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. How many times when you wake up in the morning do you remind yourself of being an ambassador? I mean, what a great truth that is. An ambassador is a message taker, is he or she not? So this freedom of speech is one in which we have confidence in the truth that we're in fact not dealing with death and condemnation, but with the spirit-led truth that is all of righteousness.

All right, let's go down to verse 13 now. In the King James it says, I have interlinear Greek up here just for you who would like to kind of look at it as it's originally stated in the Greek text. Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor..." Oh, I'm still in Ephesians. Let me get back to 2 Corinthians. Alright, here we are.

"...and not as Moses, who put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished, comma..." And we're going to stop there, because I think that this is really a very interesting part of our text today. What's this veil about anyway? Let's look at the original text in Exodus, and then we're going to discuss this, because this is really relevant. And to be honest with you, I'm not sure of the answer. So I'm really interested in what everybody has to think about this today.

Okay, in Exodus. Exodus 34, 33 to 35. Remember, this is Moses's second trip up there. Actually, maybe it's one of multiple trips. I mean, you get the idea from the Exodus text. I've looked back at it quite a bit over the last few days. Moses and the Lord were kind of communing day in and day out at times.

I mean, you think about it, it goes up once, brings down the tablets, it goes up again, but I think you get the idea that Moses and the Lord are really communicating frequently, often, and you don't get a real clear picture of whether it's up on the mountain or down.

But all this aside, this is what relates to the veil. Until Moses had done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. But when Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he took the veil off. until he came out. And he came out, and he spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded.

And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone, and Moses put the veil upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him," presumably the Lord. So here's Moses in the presence of the Lord God Almighty, Jehovah, with nothing on his face. Of course, he doesn't see the Lord's face. The Lord's face can never be seen, right? The Lord's back was to Moses. But nevertheless, in the presence of the Lord, there's no veil. But yet when he comes down out of the mountain, we in fact see a veil that's necessarily placed over his face.

So the question I would ask you, what's this veil about anyway? Let's look at some options that I've suggested that might be possible. The first option is one that I always thought was true, and it may in fact be the reality of what the veil was all about, and that the veil is there that God's glory not be seen. And you know, if you think of the veil over Moses' face, we also think of the veil that covered, you know, the ark at the tabernacle and ultimately before the temple, and those verses are listed there for you. And that's the same veil that was rent, right?

On the Lord Jesus Christ. was crucified. So we've got this kind of covering that represents this barrier, if you will, between man and God that Moses did not experience when he was on the mount. So perhaps that's one reasonable interpretation about what the veil is about. God's glory portrayed in Moses' face was in a position not to be seen by man. Now Moses was given the privilege of seeing it. And just like the high priest was each year, annually, when he went behind the the veil in the tabernacle or in the temple to carry out that annual event.

Let's look at other things that might be possible, and I'd like to discuss this with you. The other potential reason for the veil was that all was not made plain in the Law of Moses. The idea that there was some concealing of information, and moreover, perhaps the fact that that the nation of Israel was really blind to the truth of what God really represented, what his righteousness and truth was all about. I'm not sure I like that, but that's certainly another possibility that we see here for the veil. A third is suggested by one commentator I read, and I was going to bring that, but I decided maybe I could just mention this and we could look at the possibility here, is that When Moses left the mount and came down, God's glory faded in his face. And the idea here is that the veil was placed over him not to allow the nation to view God's glory as fading.

Interesting concept. I don't know about that. Another thing that I was thinking about here is, why wasn't the veil on Moses' face the first time he descended with the stones? If you look back at the original giving of the Ten Commandments, when he brought the tables down, and by the way, the Ten Commandments are given in Exodus 19 and 20, but the stones being brought down and thrown against the golden calf isn't for another 12 chapters or so. There's a whole intervening section of Exodus that deals with all the aspects of the law personified in many different areas of the Jewish life.

And then we think, as we look forward to a verse we're not going to cover today, is the fact that the believer is privileged that we are with unveiled face beholding in a mirror the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory. No veil over our faces, right? And remember the contrast. The contrast, if it's glorious, to think of the Lord portraying himself in Moses in the mount of smoke and with his back turned to Moses. Moses coming down with the glory of the Lord portrayed in his face and a veil necessary to keep it from the people.

But the writing without ink in our hearts, in the fleshly tables of our hearts, is more glorious. I mean, then verse 18 really takes on a very special meaning. Let's come back to this issue. What's going on here? Why no veil the first time? Why a veil this time? What does the veil represent? Jim, remind me your parents' names. Jim. Jim. Becky. Becky, good. Jim and Becky, good.

You like choice number two. If this were a multiple choice exam, The fact that the nation is blinded to God's truth and therefore the veil is because they're unable to see? Okay. Other thoughts on that one versus some of the other choices? Is it possible that this is all of the above? Or A, B, and don't you love that on a multiple choice exam where it could be 1, 2, and 4, 3, and 4? You're not allowed to write those questions anymore. I write endocrine board exams for the American Board of Internal Medicine. We can't write those kind of questions anymore. It has to be one answer only.

Have you ever thought about this much? I mean, you know, just the fact that I'm up here leading the class today made me think about it. I'm not so sure I'd ever allowed this to really capture me the way it has over the last few days, but it's really an interesting thing to think about, because again, as we think of the contrast between the law and the Spirit, and what the glory of the believer is placed in, it really then becomes fairly interesting to reflect back on this as to what this is all about. Why no veil on Moses' face when he came down the first time? I don't remember that specific text. 33 verse 18? Good, let's look back at that. as if he doubted what God had done the first time, right? Yes, you're correct. In fact, I even circled that. It obviously didn't sink.

And he said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. Good Lord, because I think that was where I was going a little bit with this. I'd forgotten actually what Hal said to the Lord was asked to reveal his glory in him.

Okay, good. Yes, correct. Okay. And you get a hint in verse 19, don't you, in terms of maybe this concept of the graciousness of God, too, in some ways playing out here. I mean, think about that. God could have declined Moses' request, right? But it's not this topic, because it almost if you read Chapter 33, it almost reads like most other things I've learned. No. But if you don't read it carefully, you almost come away with that. But he said that he's going to make all his goodness pass before thee, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee, and will be gracious to him, right? I mean, in a sense, there's a lot of mercy here, is there not?

I mean, God had threatened, right, death of all the nation, in fact, because of their behavior, right, and their lack of faith, and what the message that Moses had given them was. So the idea here is that maybe we're seeing the principle of grace played out to some extent with a second giving of the written law on the tablet. So back to the veil. Why the veil? So you like the first choice then, that God's glory not be seen by the people? So do you think, you like the third, the transitory nature of God's glory in Moses.

Right. And just working on it, looking at it, it would seem to me that their focus was on all of the glory that was associated with the law, and the giving of the law, as Jim went through lastly. And because their focus was on Moses, All right. Okay. So... I'm not sure which one that is.

Well, I think it's implied in the third that, in other words, God's glory is fading and in a sense that the veil is there to make them believe that God's glory is still being manifest. But ultimately, it would fade, would it not? I mean, Moses is ultimately going to be veil-less as he walks around down there. So a related question is, why is there a veil in front of the Ark?

Why is this a once-a-year deal, right? I mean, what were the people of Israel being asked to do here? with all this? No difference in God's principles with us today, is there? Exactly. Do you think the nation of Israel thought that obeying the law number one was possible, and number two would produce true salvation?

Do you think they All 631, was it? Is that correct? I think it's 631. Paul is a good example of that, is he not? I mean, as reflected in Philippians, about his tradition, his background in the law, in the law system. That's true. That's that's true. Good. All right. Let me get this story.

Any other thoughts about the veil here? I reflect any further on this. Your hat, Larry, keep it going. In chapter 34, verse 30, it says that when he came down, he didn't know what Satan was trying to do, and everybody was afraid of him, so they put the veil on him. For me, the veil was finally on him before he was in the first place, because in John's good will, when Satan came across the boulder, he covered it.

I don't believe in any of our statements, I just said it. In my mind, I just said it. I think the original purpose of it was that he didn't really focus on preparing everybody to put the veil on. But look at verse 33. It says, And when Moses had finished teaching his son, in other words, he had finished teaching, he put the veil on. So it was up there at the end, but it's not like it's here.

That's something that's really important. I hate to split it here and there, but I don't really understand why the fading is significant. I think it's the glory of God. It's not the fact that it's fading. I think it's the fact that we're all availed, we haven't actually anything else. It's God who suffered from us. We're just raising a number of possibilities here. The discussion's good. Hal, another thought? You look like you're ready to pop something out there. To some extent, all of these are true.

The question comes back, and I guess Hal answered the question, as to why no veil the first time? Presumably, God felt that his glory was adequately prescribed in the tablets. It's all we needed. It's all Israel needed for his glory to be revealed. And obviously, they didn't believe that.

All right. Good. Good discussion. As I said, I wasn't sure I had the answer. I think all these things potentially play out. Let's turn to verses 14 and 15. Again, the text before you is in the interlinear Greek. I'm going to be reading from the King James.

But their minds were blinded, for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament. Which veil? Which is done away in Christ? Veil is not in the original text. That even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. So the question is, who does the hardening or the blinding? that their hearts were hardened. It looks like it's a passive verb, right? Somebody's doing this.

Is this the idea that God hardens some hearts and the penultimate or ultimate Calvinistic truth that some people are hardened before the beginning of time and others are not, and those that are hardened don't really have a chance. Is that the concept here? We know that Judas was proclaimed ahead of time to carry out the task he did, but is that really the truth of all Scripture, that God's in a position of hardening men's hearts, that they will not come to know him?

I don't want to go too far with this today because this is a topic in its own right. Good, that's where I want to go. I didn't mean to look at the handout. Go ahead Jim, go ahead, that's fine. Yeah, I mean, it says to jump ahead in the same verses you're in, but in verse 3 and chapter 4, but if our gospel be hidden, it is hidden to them that are lost, right? I mean, the lost are blinded. I mean, it's true, right? It's indicative. It's unequivocally true. The lost are blinded. I mean, that's their position.

Being in a position of having been hardened and blinded by the And what are the three enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ? The world, the flesh, and Satan himself, right? And they're all wrapped up in kind of the same domain. So whether, you know, whether it's our flesh... I mean, Satan is the prince of this world and ultimately in control and, you know, keeps us in a position of being hardened and blind until we ultimately have the truth revealed in a way that we can respond.

The issue is, how does that happen? We have to believe that God is in the business of calling all men unto himself. None of us can answer why one of our relatives in each one of our families isn't saved for some reason. How can we deal with that? Nevertheless, this blinding and hardening process is really part of the world in which we live.

It's interesting to look at this because prophecy really is played out very nicely in this truth. I'd like to look at these verses if we could. Let's turn to Isaiah 42. Again, we're thinking about the nation of Israel here. And they're being blinded. Verses 19 and 20. And the prophet Isaiah says, who is blind but my servant? or death is my messenger that I sent? Who is blind is he that is perfect, and blind is the Lord's servant. See many things, but thou observest not, opening me ears, but thou heareth, or he heareth not."

Okay? Let's turn to the Gospel of John. And there are, by the way, multiple, multiple texts to speak to this. I'm just picking three here today. In John 9, 39 through 41, it reads, And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they who see not might see, and that they who see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees who were with him heard these words and said unto him, Are we blind also? And Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin.

But now ye say, we see, therefore your sin remaineth." Isn't that profound? That is really profound. If ye were blind, you should have no sin. But now you say, we see, therefore your sin remaineth. So, in a sense, the blinding or the hardening relates to the person who has been hardened or blinded to think they see. That's what's so profound about this. I mean, the Pharisee and all his righteousness sees perfectly, doesn't he? Through his own eyes. But the hardening process ultimately, I think, results in that blind state becoming even more profound and more severe.

All right, last one, Romans 11, 7 through 10. What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded. According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear unto this day. And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling-block, and a recompense unto them. Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see and bow down their back always."

Pretty harsh words. I mean, I think God's mercy, in part, is portrayed by the second set of stones, right? I mean, in a sense, his mercy to the nation of Israel repeated itself, you know, infinitely almost. And finally, this position of hardening and blinding is a position that he left the nation of Israel in. until the days that are yet before us. And we'll look at those just briefly, too. Any additional thoughts about this hardening process here? All right.

Does that in any way have anything to do with the darkness? Jack, I'm not sure I understand your question. You want to repeat it again? I'm just not sure I heard exactly what you said. You've mentioned darkness, right? The scripture mentions darkness, you know, and which is the result of sin and this first creation. being condemned because of sin, and I just wonder, is religion included in that? And I just don't know how it all relates.

I haven't had a chance to study it, but we're using those words, so the blindness, you know, and unable to see, and the darkness presumes and says, hey, you can't see. That's right. I mean, those are very easily equated. Are they not? Blindness and darkness and sin and death. I mean, all these things kind of are in the same soup.

And what do you think of when you think of light? I mean, you think of the Lord Jesus Christ, don't you? And you think of the truth and the Spirit. And we're lights that shine into darkness, according to the Sermon on the Mount, right? I mean, ultimately, that's maybe not for the Church, but the idea of the truth of the Gospel and of the Lord Jesus Christ is light, not darkness.

So yeah, those are very much equated. Now this position that Israel found themselves in was very disturbing to Paul. This was not something that he was ultimately very content with. And let's just turn back a couple of pages to Romans 9, 1 through 5, and this just reflects Paul's heaviness about his nation that he's ultimately been taken from to be made a part of the body of Christ.

Paul says, I say the truth in Christ, I lie not. My conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertains the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises, whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all God blessed forever. Amen."

So here's just I mean, Paul's writing about Israel frequently in the epistles, but you get the idea that Paul really is not in a position of comfort for his former nation. But yet he also is fully aware of the times that are henceforth, right? God's great prophecy of ultimately what will come of the nation of Israel. Let's look at verse 16 now. Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.

Question? What's it? What's that? The heart. Yeah, I think that's reflected by the verse that precedes it, isn't it? Then the heart of what? Of whom? Of a person? And? and a nation, the entire nation, correct? The nation of Israel is really written on the pages of Scripture. And notice, it says, but whenever it, meaning the heart of the nation of Israel, turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Taken away is a present passive indicative. I don't want to be too much of a Greek scholar here today, but this is relevant in terms of the text of the verb.

What's a present verb? What do we mean when a verb is in present tense? What's that? It's now and? Yeah, have continuous action. How about passive? Well, that's really true, isn't it here? And indicative? Yeah, it's a done deal. God's already established this as truth, right? It's fact.

So the nation of Israel, their heart will be in a position to have the truth revealed by the veil being taken away. So whatever the veil represents, in fact our previous discussion, it's going to be taken away. And this blindness that they're in ultimately can be revealed for what it is and ultimately perfect vision and light will be apparent.

Recall the veil of Moses. When did he wear it? When didn't he wear it in terms of the revelation of the truth of God? Yeah, when he's in the presence of the Lord. There's no veil. Well, he did. Well, but there are periods of time when he in fact had it on before the nation. Anyway, the truth here is that before the Lord, there's no veil, right? I mean, however you want to interpret all the veil on, veil off, and what it really represents, there's no veil before the Lord.

And here we're looking at really the great prophecy for the nation of Israel. Let's just turn to the second and third representation of that truth, Isaiah 29, 18. and we could read 17, is it not yet a very little while and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field and the fruitful field should be esteemed as a forest and in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness. Jeremiah 31-34 is even, I think, more Let's look at 33 first.

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 on their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."

So this is the great prophecy. It represents the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Millennial Kingdom before us. And as for Moses, Israel's veil will be removed in the presence of the Lord. This isn't anything you're going to be working for. This is prophecy declared, which will ultimately play out. Verse 17.

Now the Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. The transition, if we will. What can we say about the contrast of who the Spirit is and what the law is? What can we say about the Spirit? All right, and that's on my list here in 2 Corinthians 3.6. We can just go back a couple of verses and see that. It said, Who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the Spirit? For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Good, okay. What else? Have some up here.

Notice that the Spirit writes on the fleshly tables of the heart and not on stone. Again, I reflect back on last week's lesson that Jim taught. It's the idea, can you imagine seeing God's glory portrayed in Moses as he descended the mount and all the events that occurred at the time of the tablets being given by the Lord in terms of God's glory being manifested? And then we think that writing on the fleshly tables of our heart is far more glorious than seeing His glory revealed. We're so visual. Are we not so visual?

The Red Sea being parted and people being raised from the dead and all these other miraculous events that the Lord is fully capable of didn't save many, perhaps a few. But boy, the idea now is that we ourselves, each one of us, are more glorious than Moses coming down from Mount Sinai. I think that's pretty special. It means a lot to me. Absence of fear. Boy, that's something the Spirit does, right? There's no fear. There should be no fear.

We still have this flesh we carry around with us. Adam's very capable of responding that way, but the Spirit really spares us from the fear that ultimately is part of the earthly existence. Let's just turn to Romans 8 here and look at these two texts that are listed here. Of course, Romans 8, 1, there's therefore now no condemnation, right, to those who are in Christ Jesus. And verse 2 says, for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. freedom, liberty. The Spirit gives us freedom.

And as some people would say, particularly with the theology that this body of believers represents here, freedom to sin, right? What does that freedom mean as you think about the freedom of the Spirit? When you think of the freedom of the Spirit, does that mean we have a license to sin? Is that the way you think about that? That we can do anything we want? That's the freedom the Spirit gives us? Thanks, Jim.

Yeah, I think the freedom is to carry out a life that, in fact, we do not need to depend on sin to please ourselves, right? The freedom is to have the person Lord Jesus Christ revealed in us by faith. And he, you know, the Spirit's job is what? What is his main responsibility? To reveal Christ in us, right? John 14, I think, proof? Okay.

Romans 8.15 in terms of the absence of fear, For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, and if children, then heirs, and heirs of God join heirs with Christ. And then it gets into, if we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. There's another aspect of God's glory, is it not?

Through the sufferings and trials that we dealt with over the past six months before this lesson. Any other thoughts about today's text? 3.18 is before us, I presume. Hal, you're teaching next week on 3.18 then, right? You had one verse lesson next week. OK. So should everybody study about the veil some more? That's going to be one of the questions. OK. So do your homework on the veil, because if you don't want to do your homework, come anyway. All right.

Any other thoughts, comments about the text before us today? You haven't, Jack, I'm sorry. Larry's got his mind made up, but that's good. You've had some influence here, Larry, but there's no red, white, and blue ribbons here. This is not the Olympics, okay? This is not a qualifying event here. Who's got the corner on the truth right here?

I just wanted to ask a question. Please. Maybe those stone tablets were written without God being able to have them, or maybe they were up there. I tried to look around, and I said, oh, they're still on. Maybe they're tied in the law. Okay. Anybody want to respond to that? Does everybody need more coffee this morning? Okay, great. Well, let's close.

Father, we're thankful for the time together this morning, fellowship around your word. We seek truth and sometimes are not in a position to be absolutely sure of your word, but we know that we trust it and we know that you really are in the business of revealing all truth unto us. We're privileged because of your glory being actually written. with the Spirit in each of our hearts, that we have nothing to do with that, and you're just asking us to respond by faith, and we're thankful that you've chosen us and removed that blinded and hardened heart and spirit that you might, in fact, bear about the truth of the Gospel in each one of our lives. May we rest and trust in that as the days and weeks go by. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.