Law and Grace - The Spirit gives life

Good morning. We're going to be proceeding beginning today and for the next two weeks following through 2 Corinthians chapter 3. Courtney read for us the passage that we'll be looking at today and then we'll proceed through two more Sundays on the chapter.

We're looking at a chapter here that is a chapter from Paul's heart. Paul's writing very personally here. He's writing from his heart and with great care for the people that he is writing to. And it's a letter here. Not only does Paul use the word heart or hearts over a dozen times, but Paul says the saints in Corinth are letters written on his heart. So it's a very heartfelt letter, if you know what I mean.

The Corinthian believers are some that Paul loves especially, and he makes that clear most certainly in this chapter here. The law of Moses, which was once his heart's passion, he once had a great passion for the law, and about the Lord Jesus Christ, for whom he will lose all things, are all here in this passage. So we're also introducing a chapter that has momentous issues, big ones. Some of the most momentous issues that are brought forward in this chapter include how we, the church saints, are to view the law of Moses and the Ten Commandments within that law.

Are we under the Ten Commandments? Ought we to follow them? Ought we to memorize them and follow them? That's a question he's going to address here. What is the New Covenant and what relationship does the church have with the New Covenant? How is the church different from God's chosen people who are called Israel?

So those are questions he addresses in this chapter beginning in the very passage that we'll be taking a look at here today. We're also introducing a chapter of critical importance. It turns out The issues of this one chapter have great importance for how we live right now, even for our futures on into eternity. That's impacted by what's in this chapter here. This chapter helps define for us, who are church saints, who we are and to provide, well, it gives practical details about how we're going to live and, very importantly, how are we blessed. How are we blessed? It's also one that points to where is our adequacy from? Ever feel inadequate in a certain situation? So where does our adequacy come from?

That gets addressed here in this chapter. The chapter also answers the question about how God intends to change us. We'll see that here in just a couple of weeks. What change does God intend to make and how does he do that? We'll see that in here in this chapter. It's a really good passage.

Now, how will we interact with each other is a big issue here. We will focus our efforts on trying to get others, will we focus our efforts on trying to get others to have regard for us, as if that is what really matters. You see, that's what the Corinthians are trying to do. Or, will we rely on external endorsements and recommendations?

This person has written a letter of recommendation for me. I mean, me. Right? Okay. So, how will we go about getting attention? Oh boy. Okay. Or will the lives and hearts that are the result of our ministries be for us testimony enough? Testimony enough. Paul writes, you are our letter written on our hearts. Here's that heart word again. Known and read by all men being manifested that you are a letter of Christ. You're the message. You're the message. When that time comes, will it be paper or people passing over? What's going to go through heaven? A letter recommending you or you? What or who ought to impress us? What ought we to be impressed with? Or who ought we to be impressed with?

So this is one of adequacy and sufficiency. How will each one of us be adequate and sufficient for the ministries that the Lord has placed before us? And you might have noticed that at different ages and stages of life you have different ministries. How will we be adequate and sufficient for the ministries that the Lord has placed before us?

By the way, this is a passage on parenting. Why? How will you be adequate as a parent? It's a passage on parenting. What or who will we rely upon to meet the needs? Oh yes, there are lots of needs out there. How are we going to meet them? Where's the sufficiency going to come from that? Where will our confidence for our ministry come from? How will we have confidence, or will we? Our confidence is always to be found in Christ. Our sufficiency is always to be found in Him, as we'll see.

Now, one of the points we have to make is about the New Covenant. The New Covenant with Israel is the starting point. The Old Covenant with Israel was Israel under the Law of Moses. That was the Old Covenant. The Bible calls it that. It was the covenant that was made with Moses when he got Not just the Ten Commandments, but all the laws. And as we pointed out, all 613 laws, 365 of which were things not to do. All the rest were things that you must do. 613 laws, that's the Old Covenant.

The New Covenant will be enacted in a yet-to-come Millennial Kingdom. That Kingdom could happen as soon as seven years from today. Seven years from today could be the day when this kingdom begins. This reign of Christ on the earth. During that time, the people of Israel will all have the Holy Spirit and will be all of them empowered to know and live out the law of Moses from the heart without a teacher, without a rabbi. Let's ask this question. Has the law been written on your heart? No, because if the law is written on your heart, you will know all 613 laws by heart. Do you? No. I dare say none of us knows all 613 laws by heart.

And this without a teacher. No rabbis. You don't need them. Because you'll know it and be empowered. If you're a Jew living in this future millennial kingdom, you will be empowered to live out the law and you will know it without anybody teaching you. they will live out the law and because they live out the law Deuteronomy chapter 28 verse 14 verses they will all be blessed in the land materially on earth now here are God's covenants with Israel you have this on your handout as well the first covenant begins with Abraham the proto Jew if you will Here is Abraham. It's first spelled out in Genesis 12, 1 through 3, and repeated to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob throughout the book of Genesis. It's also not only repeated, but it's also expanded upon, added to, clarified as you go through the book.

Moses, then, has another covenant as he is bringing the law to the people of Israel. This is the Law Covenant. There is also the Land Covenant, 40 years later, under Moses, Deuteronomy 30, 1-10. You see that in the chart. There's also the covenant with David, just after 1000 BC, 2 Samuel 7, 12-16 spells that out. The Davidic Covenant, the covenant that says that a descendant of David will reign on the throne. Christ will be the ultimate fulfillment of that covenant. And then finally, the New Covenant. That's the one we're talking about here.

Those are 11 passages in the Old Testament. Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah. This Jeremiah 31, 31-34 is the definitive statement of the New Covenant. And you can see it there. It is fulfilled, ultimately, in the Second Coming and this Millennial Kingdom that we've talked about. Now, here's a New Covenant timeline. The Covenant is promised. We see in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. And those are some of the primary passages. It's not all of them, but some of the primary passages. So the Covenant is promised.

The New Covenant with Israel. The covenant is confirmed in Christ's crucifixion. This is a key point. There are many things that happened when Christ was crucified. One of the things that happened is that the covenant, the new covenant, was confirmed. Jesus said, this is the new covenant in my blood. His death confirmed that new covenant. And finally, the covenant is going to be fulfilled, as spelled out in Isaiah, the last chapters of Isaiah there, fulfilled in this coming millennial kingdom. Jeremiah 31, 31 through 34, Behold, days are coming, future, right?

Declares the Lord, and I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. So the new covenant is with Israel, the nation of Israel, and at this time it says house of Israel and house of Judah because the northern kingdom, Israel, and Judah, the southern kingdom, are divided. Israel is the overall title. not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day which I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, not like the covenant with Moses. My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them, declares the Lord. But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord.

I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it. And I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They shall not teach again each man his neighbor, and each man his brother, saying, Know the Lord. For they will all know Me from the least of them to the greatest of them, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity and their sin, and I will remember no more.

They will know the Law of Moses from the heart and be empowered by the universal indwelling of the Holy Spirit to live it out. That's not us. Here's the quick story on the Old Covenant. The Law of Moses was inspired by God Himself. When we talk about the law, all 613 laws, that was given by God. It was a God-given law.

It's not something to be spoken badly of, just we're not adequate for it, and it's not intended for us in the church. It reflected God's holiness in that God's immoral God, a moral God, unlike all the other pagan gods that surrounded Israel. When we study 1 Corinthians 10, which we finished last week, we even learn from that law. So it's not that we're to set it aside, we are to learn from it in fact.

But the really big problem with the Law of Moses, man can not do it. Man can not do it. Do it all perfectly? Uh-uh. One of the things we talked about in the elective that was held in this room right before this service, one of the things we talked about there is the fact that the Law of Moses was given under the Old Covenant. You do this, okay? But man doesn't have the capacity to carry it out.

It is possible for a person to be saved by faith, yet lose their life under the law. All you've got to do is accidentally pick up a piece of firewood at the wrong day. And you're dead, even though you're saved. Saved by faith, dead by the law. That's the way the law works. Man cannot do it. And all you've got to do is have one oops, and your life is ended. The Law of Moses never could save anyone. It wasn't designed to save you. The Law of Moses was made to bless those who obeyed it and curse those who didn't. Nobody is going to get saved by the Law. Nobody. Now, there have been several ideas, proposals put out there about the term New Covenant regarding the Church. Several different ideas.

One is that the church takes Israel's place and the new covenant that was intended for Israel is now upon us. That was one idea. We reject that because God has not rejected His people Israel and that passage we just read out of Jeremiah speaks specifically of Israel and Judah and that's not you and me. The Church does not replace Israel. Another idea is that the Church is a partial participant or a beneficiary of the New Covenant with Israel. You get some benefits of being a partial participant. Another idea is that the Church gets a New Covenant and Israel gets one in the Millennial Kingdom.

However, what God's written Word says promises the New Covenant specifically for the Jews. who will not be set aside. The other thing is, it makes this particular point, and you see this in the book of Hebrews, makes a particular point, is the law of Moses had the old covenant. This new covenant for the Jews, yet to be fulfilled, is a replacement for the old one. Where's the church's old covenant? There isn't one. We don't have any old covenant. Therefore, there can't be a new one.

Now, we in the church are not, however, empowered to live out the law, but instead God has a different program for us to live out righteousness, and he does that by having us die to the law. What do we mean by that? Die in relationship to the law. Is the law dead? No. The law is not. But we die in relationship to the law.

We are instead empowered by Jesus Christ himself living his life through us. We're going to see that in a few weeks here. We don't live moral lives by having an outside standard say, this is how you do it. We've discovered as we went through Romans 5-8 that if we try to live that way, that stirs up the sin nature big time. And all it takes is one law. Paul wrote in Romans 7, he says, I looked at thou shalt not covet. I said that's a great law. But all I could do was covet all the time. It doesn't work. Not even one law.

Life is to be lived out by Jesus Christ who indwells you and in whom you are. That's how life is supposed to be lived. God gave Israel the Law of Moses and the New Covenant for Israel is going to have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them and what's that going to do? It's going to result in them knowing the Law just from the heart. They will know the law right out. They will live out the law of Moses because they will not only know it but they'll be empowered to live it out and be blessed by that obedience.

That's God's promise and God's program for Israel in the future in the Millennial Kingdom. Not for you and I and not now. Not for us in the church. For us in the church, Christ died in part so that we have died to the law. We have the indwelling Holy Spirit to live the life of Christ in and through us apart from the law. Not by the law, not by any part of the law, not even one. Not even one law.

We in the church are not blessed if we obey and cursed if we disobey Ephesians 1.3 we are already blessed and then here's Ephesians he waits till the middle of chapter four to say after I've told you you're already blessed he says now let's talk about your stealing and lying problem then he talks about it but the blessings are already there they are guaranteed You've already got them. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you've already been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, in Christ, unconditionally.

Oh, and by the way, later on we'll talk about your stealing and lying problem. But that's later. The law blesses earthly. It says you're going to have great crops and great flocks. You'll be healthy and all those good things. We are blessed heavenly. I have no idea how good your crops are going to be. But we are blessed heavenly.

Now, how was the new covenant confirmed? It was confirmed in Christ's blood on the cross. The new covenant for Israel and our salvation and our identification with Christ cross in Christ's death. That's the touch point between the New Covenant for Israel, confirmed in Christ's blood, and our connection. The connecting point is the cross.

There are at least seven things, and by the way, last July I said at least five things, so I've added two more. There are at least seven things that happened on the cross as Christ was crucified that day. That's in addition to all the things about, okay John, here's Mary, take care of her, Mary, John's going to take care of you, and by the way, today you'll be with me. That was aside from all this. All the things he did talking to people, which is the first three hours on the cross, That's aside from and in addition to this.

But these are the spiritual things that were accomplished. Number one, Christ's death fulfilled the eternal covenant with the Father. So there was an eternal covenant between the Father and the Son about what would take place before God said, let there be light. So that's number one.

Next, Christ died for our sins in our place. That benefits and relates to every single person on the planet for all time. It starts with Adam and it ends with the last person born on the planet at the end of the Millennial Kingdom. For everybody, every person on the planet for all time, Christ died for our sins in our place.

Christ's death made the devil powerless. That's true for every person who believes. If you're a believer here today, you're impacted by that. So you shudder and shake at the devil? No. You resist him. You stand your ground. That Christ already won at the cross. The devil was made powerless. Christ's death confirmed Israel's new covenant. That's what Jesus meant by, here is the new covenant in my blood. It was the confirmation of that new covenant that was promised there in Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah.

Next, Christ paid the bride price for us in the church, you and me. Everybody from that first day of Pentecost in the church until the day the Lord comes for us and takes us home. That's the church. Christ paid the bride price for us. Next, Christ paid the price of a slave or a flock. That's spelled out in Acts chapter 20 and 1 Corinthians chapter 6. That benefits the church.

And then in the church again, we were identified with his crucifixion and with his death. When he was crucified, when the nails went in, we were identified with that. I could say all of us were there, the cross was crowded, But make sure that you also take it personally. I was crucified with Christ. And you can say I and put your name in there. I was crucified with Christ. So that's the seventh thing. And I say at a minimum, because I may discover some more. But the point we have here is Israel is the one who's the beneficiary of the New Covenant, and it is confirmed by Christ's death on the cross.

Just like Noah and Abraham also had sacrifices that went along with the covenants made with them. Now, someone might ask, so why are all Ten Commandments referenced in the New Testament? So this guy says, I've taken two tablets, why do I still have a headache? Why are all 10 commandments referenced in the New Testament? Well, let's take a look. Each one of the commandments referenced in the New Testament fulfills one or sometimes more of these particular points.

First, so that Christ as he addressed the Jews could point them to the law, because pointing the Jews to the law was appropriate and fitting. He sent out the disciples two by two, Matthew chapter 10, Two by two, he said, go only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. That was ministry to Israel. Later, Acts chapter 1, he said, you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and then you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. Then, because it will be a church ministry, when they were sent out two by two, it was ministry only to Israel.

They only knew the gospel of the kingdom. At that point in time, when they were sent out two by two, they did not know the gospel of substitution. That's very clear because even when Christ was being crucified, they hadn't a clue what was going on. They were distressed and worse. The next reason, to convey spiritual principles from the law that do apply to the church. We can be not under the law and still have principles from the law that apply to us in the church. An example is given right here in Ephesians 6, 1-3.

Children, obey your parents and the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with a promise, so that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth. Notice he didn't also say, but children, if you don't, you're going to get stoned to death, right?

Didn't also say that. To convey spiritual principles from the law without putting the church under the law. To learn from the law, not be under it. See the difference? Next, to show that we in the church are not under any of the law of Moses. And this is what we saw in Romans chapter 7. Romans chapter 7, 6-8 read like this, But now we have been released from the law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter. Then it says, You shall not covet. And that was all the law took to stir up the sin nature and for Paul to go just nuts. To go just nuts. Just one law was all it took. The sin nature got stirred up, and boy, all he could do was think of coveting.

It's like I told Hassan when he was here, you know. I tried to get this principle across. I said, Hassan, do not think of a pink hippopotamus. I'm telling you, those pink hippopotamuses, don't think of them! Right? I repeated that again and again. I said, Hassan, what are you thinking of? Hey? Uh-oh. Hey? He got the point.

Colossians 2, 6, 16, and 17. Therefore, no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or with respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. Isn't that one of the Ten Commandments? Yes. No one is to act as your judge. By the way, what was the judgment for breaking the Sabbath? Rocks. You're going to study geology real close. Rocks. And so he went the other way, he says, no one's even to judge you on this. Much less pick up stones. Much less pick up stones.

2 Corinthians 3, 3-14 is primarily about the Ten Commandments. We won't belabor that, but your last page in your handout will let you pursue it on your own. Your last page in your handout goes to lay out why this is about the Ten Commandments. One of the things he talks about is tablets of stone. It's the exact same word as is used in the Greek Old Testament about the commandments, the stones on which the commandments, the Ten Commandments were given.

2 Corinthians 3, 3-14 is primarily about those Ten Commandments, the Ten Commandments given on this fiery mountain, this fiery Mount Sinai. When there was fire, and smoke, and lightning, and thunder, and scary times, and the people were told, keep away, don't get close or you'll die.

Now, is that real similar to the idea that we can approach God and say, Abba Father? Not even close. We're not under the law of Moses. Not even the ten. Not even one of the ten. Not at all. Not at all. Page four of your handout has more detail on that point. The key thing, and we'll be looking at this in the weeks to come, the key thing to remember is that life is not for us in the church to be lived out by this external set of rules about do this, don't do that. Life is lived out, matter of fact, life is lived out and it's not our job. It's not our job. You're fired. You're fired. Matter of fact, it's worse than fired.

We'll be looking at Galatians 2.20. You've been crucified. It's beyond fired. You've been crucified.

Why? Because it's not your job to do the living. It's Christ's job to do the living in and through you. That's why God had us crucified right off. First thing. So that we're not under law, we've died to it. We're entirely and completely under grace, the operating system. It's the operating system for the Christian life. Completely under grace, the life of Christ, who indwells us, living through us.

That's what God has in mind. That's His plan. So, why do people get so confused? Ah, you know, I think we need to follow the ten. Excuse me, that Sabbath one, that got switched to Sunday. And then, Bob, you've got to tithe too, right? So you've got to tithe and add that in there, so you give a tenth. And so now we've got the 10 minus 1 plus 1. How many you got? Let's see.

Well, let's set aside the idea that right before the tithing law is the rule about things you're not supposed to eat. Of course, you don't eat lobster and crab and, you know, clams and oysters, right? Right? You don't eat pigs, right? And then right after that is the law about letting your land lie fallow. So every seventh year you don't mow and water your lawn, right? Anyway, people go and pick and choose and there's no basis for doing so.

People get confused about the law in Israel and the church. They don't understand that God's holiness can be lived out in more than one way. For us in the church, we have died to the law and Christ indwells us and the Holy Spirit indwells us so that Christ's life is how righteousness gets lived out.

For the Jews who were given the law but without any help, For Jews who were given the law without any help, they were indeed under the law, but they did very badly with it. They will in the future, a future that may start as soon as seven years from today, they will in the future be empowered to live out the law and to know it, all 613 of the laws, and to know it, and they will have a land and a temple in which they can carry it all out. Right now, if you wanted to carry out the law, if you're a Jew in Israel, you can't. You can't carry out the law if you're a full Jew living in Israel today.

All the stuff about the temple. Sorry, the Muslims have the area occupied. It's even under their control. You can't do it. God's righteousness and holiness, God intends to get lived out in different ways by different people. And the law is not God's assignment to you. Matter of fact, living here on earth is not God's assignment to you.

That's Jesus to carry out. I'm out of here. I'm seated in the heavenlies. And you are too. People also get confused because God does some things that seem to be similar, similar, since we fallen human beings have similar great needs that only God can fulfill by His mercy and grace.

So the Jews will have the ability and the knowledge to carry out the new covenant by God's grace. How about that? By God's grace. God will graciously enable them to live out the law. For us, we're not under the law at all, not even one. And God has graciously provided that He live out His life in and through us, and that holiness and righteousness gets expressed that way. We have been made to die to the law, Romans 7, 4, in order to be joined to Christ. He in us and we in him. That's God's plan. That's God's way of doing things with us. Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you as we look at this passage, as we look at the way you've laid things out here. We thank you for what you have promised so graciously to the Jews, that they would live out the law by your gracious provision. And yet for us, you've done something different. You've done something quite different.

We're not under the law. We can certainly learn from it, but we're not under it. And we're not to try to live it out. It is in fact your life that is going to live out righteousness. You are indeed the one of righteousness. We give you thanks for these things graciously given because you love us so very much. We pray in Jesus name.