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2 Corinthians 3 | The Upward Way | Bible Study with A. Z. Adams — Transcript

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0:00Second Corinthians chapter [music] 3,
0:02are we beginning to commend ourselves
0:04again?
0:06Or do we need as some letters of
0:09commendation to you or from you?
0:13You are our letter
0:16written in our hearts, known and read by
0:19all men.
0:21Being manifested that you are a letter
0:23of Christ
0:25cared for by us
0:27written not with ink, but with the
0:29spirit of the living God.
0:32Not on tablets of stone but on tablets
0:35[music] of human hearts.
0:37Such confidence we have through Christ
0:39toward God.
0:41Not that we are adequate in ourselves to
0:44consider anything as coming from
0:45ourselves [music]
0:47but our adequacy is from God
0:49who has also made us adequate as
0:52servants of a new covenant not of the
0:55letter but of the spirit. For the letter
0:58kills, but the spirit gives life.
1:02Paul is broadly in a dispute
1:05over whether his apostleship is
1:07legitimate.
1:09And
1:10he's saying, "Do we need to give
1:13certificates
1:15and show that we are really what we
1:17claim to be?"
1:18And he says, "No, we don't need that
1:20because you are our certificate. You are
1:23our letter.
1:24You're written on our hearts, we're
1:26written on yours.
1:28We don't need tablets of stone because
1:30this letter wasn't written by man. It
1:34wasn't a strategy or plan that Paul
1:36scribbled out.
1:38It wasn't inscribed on parchment paper
1:40or
1:41stone. It was the work of the Holy
1:44Spirit. [music] It was
1:46written by the power of the Holy Spirit.
1:48It's what God did through his anointing.
1:51And that's what validates Paul's
1:53apostleship.
1:55What Christ did on hearts through his
1:58ministry by the Spirit,
2:01that's his letter of commendation.
2:05And then he says, "Now
2:09he's as such confidence we have through
2:11Christ toward God, not that we are
2:13adequate in ourselves."
2:16So, he's telling them,
2:17"We don't need letters. We don't need
2:19certificates. We don't need diplomas.
2:23You and your lives is all the proof that
2:25we need. You wouldn't be here to argue
2:27with us if it weren't for what we poured
2:29into you."
2:31But he says,
2:33"Our adequacy
2:35is from God,
2:38who has also made us adequate
2:41as servants of a new covenant."
2:44And then he tells us the difference
2:46between the old covenant and the new
2:48covenant. This hearkens all the way back
2:50to Jeremiah 31:31
2:52when the Lord says, "I will make a new
2:53covenant with the house of Israel, not
2:55like the old one.
2:57I'll put my law on their hearts. I'll
2:59write it on their minds, and I will
3:02teach them to walk in my statutes."
3:05He says the new covenant is not of the
3:06letter, but of the Spirit. For the
3:09letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
3:12The letter is the rules. The letter is
3:15the condemnation.
3:17The letter is the the weight of you're
3:19not enough, and this is the problem. Let
3:22me say it like this. The letter is the
3:23weight of the Levitical system that
3:26nobody can live up to.
3:29But the Spirit imparts something. It
3:32doesn't require something only, it
3:34imparts something. It empowers
3:36something. It gives life.
3:39One murders, one kills, and one imparts
3:43life.
3:46But if the ministry of death, so now
3:48he's going to talk a little bit about
3:51the contrast between these two
3:55epics, these two dispensations.
3:58The first ministry he's calling the
4:01ministry of death. That's the Levitical
4:04priesthood. If you do this, you get
4:06stoned. If you do that,
4:09you get
4:10punished in this form.
4:12And he's saying that's not what we're
4:13working in anymore. He says, "But if the
4:16ministry of death, meaning the Sinai
4:19ministry,
4:22in letters engraved on stones," talking
4:25about the Ten Commandments that Moses
4:27brought down,
4:29"if that ministry came with glory,
4:32so that the sons of Israel could not
4:34look intently
4:36at the face of Moses because of the
4:39glory of his face fading as it was,
4:43how will the ministry of the spirit fail
4:47to be even more with glory?"
4:52Glory describes
4:54when the presence of God
4:56the the the presence of of the divine
4:59comes and rests upon the mortal. That's
5:03the experience of glory. That's the
5:05encounter of glory. And he says,
5:08"Look at Moses. He brought down tablets
5:10of stone. But when he brought those
5:12tablets of stone down, that ministry, it
5:16was temporary, it was in death, but it
5:19had glory. Children of Israel couldn't
5:21look intently at the face of Moses. He
5:24had to put a veil over his face
5:26because they saw the glory of his face.
5:28He says, 'If that had glory,
5:30why wouldn't the ministry that we have
5:33in the spirit
5:34prove to be with more glory?
5:38For if the ministry of condemnation has
5:40glory, much more does the ministry of
5:42righteousness abound in glory.'
5:46He doesn't call one the ministry of
5:47righteousness and the other the ministry
5:50of freedom.
5:51He calls one the ministry of
5:52condemnation,
5:54meaning with damnation, and he calls the
5:57other the ministry of righteousness.
6:00For indeed, what had glory in this case
6:04has no glory because of the glory that
6:06surpasses it.
6:08He says,
6:09"When Sinai when the Sinai covenant was
6:12given, it was special. It was a moment.
6:16It's nothing in comparison to what God
6:18has given in Jesus and by the Spirit.
6:22For if that which fades away was with
6:23glory, much more that which remains is
6:26in glory. What a great principle.
6:29Whatever fades does not have lasting
6:32glory.
6:33Whatever endures has glory.
6:36Therefore, having such a hope,
6:39we use
6:41great boldness in our speech
6:45and are not like Moses,
6:48who used to put a veil over his face,
6:52so that the sons of Israel would not
6:54look intently
6:57at the end
6:58of what was fading away.
7:01But their minds were hardened.
7:03For until this very day, at the reading
7:05of the Old Covenant, the same veil
7:08remains unlifted because it is removed
7:11in Christ.
7:13Now, what is he saying here?
7:15He's saying we want to see the glory of
7:16God.
7:18And he's saying this glory is going to
7:19come through the new covenant that he's
7:21preaching,
7:24the covenant of the Spirit.
7:27But he says that
7:29we're not like Moses,
7:32who put a veil over his face,
7:35but we use great boldness of speech.
7:39And boldness here does not mean
7:42brashness or even courage.
7:45It means
7:46transparency.
7:48It means candor or frankness.
7:51To say it like it is.
7:53So, he is telling us that
7:56when the ministry of the church moves in
7:58the power and anointing of the spirit to
8:01say it like it is, we lift the veil.
8:04And when we lift the veil, what people
8:06see is not us,
8:08but they see the glory of God.
8:12And it's not in the face of Moses, it's
8:14in the face of the body of Christ.
8:17It's in the face of the mosaic face of
8:20Jesus' body on the earth.
8:23There's a kind of speaking that lifts
8:25the veil.
8:26And there's a kind of speaking that
8:28keeps the veil
8:30over us.
8:32We don't want to be like Moses, but we
8:34want to use great boldness of speech.
8:38And then he goes on and he says
8:40that the veil remains unlifted because
8:43it's only removed in Christ.
8:46Christ is where God parted the veil of
8:50the temple
8:51and showed his true nature.
8:54That he loved us.
8:55The almighty disclosed himself in
8:59Christ. So, John 1:18 says, "No one has
9:03seen God at any time. The only begotten
9:05Son of God in the bosom of the Father,
9:07he has revealed him, disclosed him,
9:10brought him out of obscurity and let him
9:13be seen."
9:14Jesus says, "When you have seen me, you
9:17have seen the Father."
9:20So, Jesus is the ultimate unveiling, the
9:24ultimate aletheia,
9:26revelation of the Father.
9:29Amen.
9:30But that revelation is still happening
9:32through the church as we speak under the
9:36anointing of the Spirit and the veil
9:38falls away.
9:39And people see who God really is cuz
9:42that veil is removed
9:45in Christ.
9:47But to this day, whenever Moses is read,
9:50a veil lies over their heart.
9:55So now he points to the Jewish community
9:57where Moses is being read
9:59and he says,
10:00"They've got a veil, too. We've removed
10:03the veil from our face by being anointed
10:06in our speech.
10:07But they have a veil and their veil lies
10:10over their heart.
10:12They don't feel in their heart about God
10:16the way they should.
10:18They don't see his true nature because
10:20it's only removed in Christ.
10:23They think God is Zeus with a big hammer
10:26out to get him.
10:27They don't see him kneeling and drawing
10:31in the dirt and saying, "Anyone without
10:33sin throw the stone."
10:35They don't see him weeping over
10:37Jerusalem and saying, "I wanted to
10:39gather you together as a mother hen
10:41gathers her chicks." They don't see the
10:44character and nature and glory of God in
10:48the face of Jesus Christ. A veil lies
10:51over their heart.
10:52And this veil refers to a darkened
10:55conscience, to a suspicion toward God
10:59that can only be taken away when you see
11:01him stretching out his hands and paying
11:04the ultimate price for you on the cross.
11:07When you see Yahweh inscribing you on
11:11the palms of his hands. When you look
11:13upon Yahweh whom you have pierced and
11:16mourn for him as one mourns for an only
11:19son.
11:20That's when the veil is taken away and
11:23you say with the Centurion, "Surely this
11:25was the son of God."
11:29So he says,
11:31"The veil is taken away in Christ. He
11:33says, "But to this day, whenever Moses
11:36is read in the Jewish synagogues, a veil
11:38lies over their heart,
11:40but whenever a person
11:43turns to the Lord."
11:45This is the metamorphosis. This is the
11:49attitude change. This is repentance.
11:53Whenever someone turns to the Lord,
11:57the veil is taken away.
12:00Whenever you say,
12:02"Oh,
12:03it's the Father in Jesus.
12:05It's the Almighty in human flesh."
12:09You can see who he really is. Whenever
12:11someone turns to the Lord, the veil is
12:15taken away.
12:17Now,
12:19the Lord
12:20is the Spirit.
12:22So, we can say, "Whenever someone turns
12:25to the Spirit that is still at work in
12:27the church, the veil is taken away."
12:30Now, the Lord is the Spirit.
12:33What Paul means by that is formerly, the
12:36Lord was
12:38a man from Galilee walking the streets
12:41of Judea.
12:43And Jesus in his bodily form has
12:44ascended into heaven, but he's still
12:47here. He did not leave us orphans. He
12:49has come in the mode and form of the
12:52Spirit.
12:53So, we can say, "He used to be known
12:55according to the flesh, but now that
12:58same Jesus is the Holy Spirit moving and
13:01working among us. Now, the Lord is the
13:04Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord
13:07is,
13:08there is
13:09liberty."
13:11Liberty from what?
13:12Liberty from the veil.
13:15Liberty from the suspicion toward God.
13:18Liberty from the distrust that views God
13:22as a harsh master.
13:24Liberty to see who he really is
13:27and thus to become like him.
13:31Then he says this,
13:33"But we all,
13:35with unveiled face,
13:38not faces,
13:40face,
13:43beholding as in a mirror
13:46the glory of the Lord,
13:48are being transformed
13:51into the same image from glory to glory,
13:56just as from the Lord,
13:58the spirit."
14:00What does he mean by this? He's just
14:02said where the spirit of the Lord is,
14:06there is liberty.
14:09And the liberty
14:11is the transformation.
14:13The liberty from who we were in falling
14:17short of the glory of God to the liberty
14:21of progressing from glory to glory.
14:25We all, with unveiled face,
14:28beholding as in a mirror the glory of
14:31the Lord, are being changed. When we see
14:35God's glory, we change. When we see his
14:39face, we change.
14:41If a veil lies over his glory, we don't
14:44change.
14:46Our failure, our bondage, our captivity
14:49is based on a misunderstanding of who he
14:52is.
14:53But as we see him for who he is, we
14:55become more and more like him.
14:58John would say that in heaven we will be
15:00like him because we will see him as he
15:03is.
15:04So what does he mean?
15:06I want you to picture a mosaic face.
15:11I want you to picture many tiles
15:15that together
15:17take on the face of Jesus.
15:20And he says that those tiles, those that
15:25face of the many
15:28is looking to Jesus.
15:32And as
15:33they look to Jesus, they are reflecting
15:36and refracting his glory back to one
15:40another.
15:41And as people see that glory,
15:44they change.
15:45It's not a perfect glory.
15:48For now we see in a mirror dimly. What
15:51were you made in the image of? The image
15:53and glory of God. Is that a perfect
15:56image? Is that a perfect glory? No.
16:00It's a It's a glass dimly. Now we see in
16:03a glass dimly.
16:05But it's a glory. When you have the Holy
16:07Spirit,
16:09when God is working in your life, and I
16:11look at you,
16:13you reflect the one whom you are facing,
16:16which is the Lord Jesus.
16:17Right now, if I if I faced this this
16:20phone to you, I can behold the sun out
16:24there and reflect it into your eyes. In
16:27the same way, if we're turned toward
16:29Christ,
16:31our brothers and sisters are seeing his
16:33visage
16:34in our mosaic composition.
16:37Do you get that? And as they see that,
16:40they change.
16:41That's the catalyst for change.
16:45We all with unveiled face,
16:48beholding as in a mirror the glory of
16:50God, are being transformed into the same
16:56image from glory to glory. And what does
16:58that mean? Does that mean from what I
17:00had yesterday to what I have today? Yes,
17:03but not mainly.
17:05What he's primarily meaning is that it's
17:07from glory [music]
17:08to glory.
17:09From your face to my face, from my face
17:12to his face, from her face to my face,
17:15from glory to glory. Perfect glory, no.
17:18Glory that sees Jesus exactly like he
17:21is, no.
17:23It's a mirror. It's not a perfect
17:25mirror. It's got scars [music] and
17:26cracks and failures and human
17:28fallibility, but it's got the Holy
17:30Spirit and it's turned toward the Lord
17:33and as we see him in that imperfect
17:35mirror, we keep becoming more like him.
17:38We are transformed into the same image
17:40from glory to glory just as from the
17:43Lord the spirit.
17:46So, we've got to look to the spirit and
17:48reflect Jesus back to each other.
17:52>> [music]
18:01[music]

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