Participants: Ty Gibson, James Rafferty, David Asscherick, Jeffrey Rosario
Series Code: TT
Program Code: TT000025
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00:11 [Music] 00:20 --Man, we have been making some incredible discoveries. 00:24 The conversations that we've been having centering in Christ, 00:29 but reaching back into the New Testament to see how the story 00:32 unfolds. 00:33 --Back in the Old Testament. 00:35 --What did I say? 00:36 Yeah, back in the Old Testament reaching forward and unfolding 00:39 to give his story meaning, to give his story depth and 00:44 features and it's just been such a great bible study 00:50 conversation. 00:51 We wanna just mention, I think that we're doing this series of 00:57 conversations not just for us to be edified and to grow 01:02 spiritually. 01:03 Yeah, but we have. 01:04 But we really wanna model this kind of bible study for 01:09 everybody and anybody. 01:11 We think that people all over the world should be sitting 01:14 together in living rooms and at tables and in churches and cafes 01:19 and wherever, sitting together around a table, so to speak, 01:25 just talking about the things that matter most, because it's 01:28 an amazing thing that happens when human beings speak what 01:34 they're thinking about the bible and about life in general, and 01:39 then somebody else speaks, building on what they said, and 01:42 then another and then another and it's what we've been kind of 01:46 calling cross-pollination where I couldn't have possibly thought 01:51 the way I'm thinking about that unless you and you and you had 01:57 contributed to my thinking on that subject, and so, I see God, 02:02 myself, the world, people in a more beautiful light with 02:06 greater clarity because of the fellowship that we have around 02:12 the word of God. 02:14 --Which was the original intention, right? 02:16 Body, it's a body and it has different members, and it's 02:19 supposed to all contribute to the same thing. 02:21 --When you talk like that, Ty, I love the text Proverbs 27:17, as 02:25 iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his 02:28 friend. 02:29 That's what's happening here. 02:30 If you have a piece of iron, it can be somewhat sharp, but when 02:34 you bring other pieces of metal to bear on it, it can become 02:37 better, sharper, more polished. 02:40 --We challenge each other's thinking, and not only 02:42 challenge, but literally, and I just said this, but I wanna say 02:45 it again, you cannot see a subject, you can't see God as 02:52 clearly, by your lonesome, all by yourself, just reading books 02:56 and studying the bible, you can't see God as clearly in 03:00 isolation. 03:01 You need community, you need fellowship, you need to come 03:04 together with others because their thinking is valid, and you 03:08 need to take it on board in order to process. 03:11 You may disagree with some of their thinking, you may forever 03:15 disagree with something, an opinion, a perspective that 03:17 somebody has, but you're benefitted by thinking through 03:20 things in the light of their perspective. 03:23 --Even the fact that there's multiple writers in scripture 03:25 almost suggest that. 03:26 The Holy Spirit could've chosen one voice, but yet he chooses 03:30 multiple contributors and it all comes together. 03:34 --That's a really good point. 03:35 --They're talking about the same thing, but they have a different 03:38 perspective. 03:39 --One sheds light on the other and vice versa. 03:41 --Hebrews 10, verse 24 and 25, and let us consider one another 03:45 in order to stir up love and good works. 03:48 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the 03:51 manner of some, but exhorting one another and so much more as 03:53 you see the day approaching. 03:56 That's not just going to church on Sabbath morning, or if you go 03:58 on Sunday morning, that's just not that, that's this. 04:01 That's these kinds of experiences, coming together and 04:05 talking about, as you said, the things that matter most. 04:06 --This experience, we've referred to it by certain 04:11 language in previous conversations and that is the 04:14 priesthood of all believers. 04:16 That's rich language. 04:19 It literally means, and it comes to us out of the protestant 04:22 reformation, it literally means that every believer in Christ is 04:28 to have the word in his or her hands and to be exploring that 04:34 word for him or herself. 04:37 And then, not to be arrogant about your views or my views or 04:41 be stubborn about it, but you have the privilege of exploring 04:45 the word of God for yourself, you don't need to be locked into 04:49 only receiving insights from the theological elite. 04:53 You can study the bible for yourself. 04:57 But then, in humility, to take that word and to intersect with 05:03 others who are studying the word in order to grow. 05:06 I think it's a wonderful process. 05:08 --It is a wonderful process, but what too often happens is that 05:12 we become emotionally attached to our own positions, we begin 05:16 to regard them as our positions and when someone contradicts 05:19 that, we take that personally and we say, and then it becomes, 05:23 in other words, there is a beautiful thing there, but it's 05:25 only beautiful if you can be humble and it can be an open 05:28 conversation where we're all learning together. 05:31 If you come in sort of prophecorial and I'm gonna show 05:33 you what's right and then you contradict and I've really 05:37 aligned myself emotionally, psychologically with this 05:39 position, even if I see in the text that maybe it's not as 05:42 sustainable as I thought, now it becomes a different, it can tip 05:45 over, and I would imagine that all of us at this table and 05:47 probably most people listening in have had really unfortunate, 05:52 what I'll say, I'll call generously religious 05:55 conversations that can turn into bitter arguments. 05:59 And there's a number of things to this, but one is just being 06:03 humble and the other is being okay with not insisting that 06:07 someone sees something exactly the way that you see it. 06:10 They're on a journey, you're on a journey, they're in a place, 06:12 you're in a place, even Jesus himself said, man, there is some 06:14 stuff I'd like to tell you guys right now, but you can't bear 06:17 it. 06:18 There's not a growth, you're not ready yet. 06:20 I remember when James yesterday, I think, gave the testimony of 06:26 how he got off the plane and he was fully loaded up to the hilt 06:30 with his ammo ready to go to battle, and he said his mother, 06:34 that's how I was a little bit with my family and friends. 06:36 --Or a lotta bit. 06:37 --Well, a lotta bit. 06:39 And what's really unhelpful to me in some ways, really helpful 06:42 and in other ways not helpful, I was like a top member of the 06:45 debate club in my high school. 06:47 Like, competing at national events. 06:50 So, here, I'm naturally inclined already toward debate and seeing 06:53 logical fallacies and weaknesses and understanding, you know, bad 06:56 arguments, and now, I think I'm right about the universe. 07:02 I'm right about ultimate reality and watch out. 07:06 You know, I got 2 brothers and 2 sisters, a mom and a dad, and a 07:08 lot of friends, and it's just like, watch out because here 07:10 come the spiritual hand grenades. 07:12 It wasn't pretty for the first year and a half and I tell you, 07:14 I have repented and asked forgiveness over and over and 07:18 over again, and finally, I just had to rest in the goodness of 07:21 God and believe that he's gonna make up the difference where I 07:24 blew it. 07:25 --You know what's powerful about this, Ty, the way that we're 07:27 direct going right now, I just wanna bring this thought in, and 07:30 that is, is that what we're talking about in relation to us 07:34 and to people, getting together, sharing thoughts, etc. is the 07:37 way the bible is written. 07:39 The bible is written that way. 07:41 God has put together people down through hundreds, thousands of 07:47 years, and his spirit has moved upon them to see him through 07:52 these different avenues, enlightening and giving them 07:55 insights based upon who they are and where they come from and 07:57 he's put that together. 07:58 In other words, we're not just sitting around a table ourselves 08:02 with ideas that the Holy Spirit is leading, but we're, this is a 08:06 table that people have sat around and contributed to and 08:11 what's really powerful about the whole principle is this, and 08:14 that is, you've already said this, but I'm gonna say it 08:15 again, as we explore the word of God and we come to a place where 08:20 one individual sees something that maybe another person 08:24 doesn't see and another person contributes, it's the same with 08:26 the bible. 08:27 When we look at the bible, and that's why we started in 08:30 Genesis, we've come through the whole story. 08:32 Isn't it amazing how the Old Testament and the individuals 08:37 sitting at the table, the Moses, the Abraham, the Isaac, have 08:40 helped to clarify the New Testament or give meaning to the 08:45 New Testament, substance the New Testament and cleared up some 08:48 things. 08:49 You know, I think about passages, you know, we're gonna 08:52 look at a few right now that are difficult, difficult to 08:54 understand. 08:56 And how that, as we have looked at the story from the beginning 09:00 and invited Abraham and invited Jacob, invited Isaac and invited 09:05 Moses and invited these others to sit with us, even the context 09:07 of what you said in Hebrews chapter 10, the context of that 09:12 is Hebrews 11. 09:14 Don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together. 09:17 With who? 09:18 Just with the faithful of all ages, because they've got some 09:20 things that they need to communicate to you, things that 09:23 they've learned that have been written down, and Paul writes 09:28 these things that can be understood here as we look at 09:33 the whole picture. 09:34 --Yeah, we all have a mutual friend named Fred Bishop and he 09:38 says something that has stood out to me over the years, and it 09:40 actually impacted the way I have conversation around the word of 09:45 God on theological subjects, if I'm conversing with him or I ask 09:49 a question, he says, well my current view on that. 09:54 --I've heard him say that. 09:55 --And I love that, and what he means is that, I'm in process, 09:59 I'm a student of the word, I mean, he's never defined it for 10:03 me, but I know that's what it means. 10:05 --My current view on that is, I've heard him saying. 10:07 --My current view. 10:08 Somebody asked me not long ago, well, they didn't ask me, they 10:12 were just literally swooping down and pouncing on me, walked 10:16 up to me on a series of meetings I was doing and the guy said, 10:20 that's not what you were preaching. 10:23 I said, when? 10:25 He said, you were preaching something different on that 15 10:28 years ago. 10:29 And he was upset about it, and I didn't know what to say, and 10:33 these are the words that came out of my mouth, I said, well, 10:36 what happened was, I kept reading. 10:39 I kept studying. 10:41 --I've quoted you on that many times. 10:42 I've quoted you on that story many times. 10:44 --The other day we were saying, I mean, you believed things last 10:48 year, probably, that now you see it differently. 10:50 I know it's true for me, and you discard beliefs and you include 10:54 others. 10:56 --Based on scripture, and I was gonna say, it's not always just 11:01 changing from A to B to C, often times, it's growing in and 11:05 solidifying in a deeper, more biblically holistic reason to 11:10 believe this thing. 11:12 --Believing the same thing, but for better reasons. 11:14 --That's extremely well said. 11:17 --Well, but do you still believe that? 11:18 I said, absolutely, I still believe it, I believe it in the 11:21 larger context with the other contributing factors that makes 11:26 it a more full orbed truth, the diamond has facets and the light 11:33 shines from different angles, and it gets more beautiful as 11:36 you take it in. 11:38 --It's funny that, and I've had a similar comment at times, 11:41 where people say, your preaching has changed, as if that's like, 11:45 a negative thing. 11:47 Well, I've changed as a person. 11:48 I'm a 40 year old man now, right? 11:50 With 2 children and a wife, my life has changed. 11:53 I'm not a 25 year old, single kid living out of the back of my 11:56 car. 11:57 My life is, I mean, people change through the course of 12:00 their life, and it doesn't mean that the truth changes, but it 12:02 reminds me of HMS Richards, one of the great preachers in our 12:05 church, he was quoted as saying, and I read his biography, by Bob 12:12 Edwards, I think it was, and he says, when I was young, he said, 12:15 I had many doctrines. 12:16 He says, but now that I'm old, I have one central doctrine, and 12:20 that is that... 12:21 --I used to believe a lot of things. 12:22 --He said, I had many doctrines, now that I'm old, I have one 12:23 central doctrine. 12:25 Do you know what it is? 12:26 He says, that I am a great sinner and Jesus is a great 12:29 savior. 12:30 And that doesn't, he's not saying that to diminish the 12:33 other things that he also believed, I mean, HMS Richards 12:35 was a preacher of scripture, one of the great exegetical 12:38 preachers of the church, however, what he was saying is, 12:41 every other truth is illumining that truth, that's the center 12:45 truth, the goodness of God. 12:47 It doesn't, it's not the diminishment of this, if 12:49 anything, it's the exaltation of those supporting truths. 12:52 --I think you could even say, if you haven't discarded a belief 12:55 or added a new one in the last few, then you haven't been using 12:57 your brain. 12:58 You haven't been thinking. 13:00 --Recently, Jeffery, I tweeted this thought came to me and I 13:03 wondered if people would resonate, so I sent this tweet 13:05 out that basically said, if you're not at least a little 13:10 embarrassed by where you were last year, then you're not 13:14 thinking. 13:16 So, we grow, we develop, and God wants us to and we ought to. 13:20 Not in an abandonment of truth, but in a growing in and 13:26 understanding of truth and if there are things that we believe 13:30 and if what we believe can't stand up against investigation, 13:37 then there's a problem. 13:39 The truth needs to be able to bear the weight of conversation. 13:46 --And of evaluation and examination. 13:47 --There's another statement that I've always loved because it 13:50 puts a smile on my face, if we think we will never have to give 13:53 up a cherished opinion, we will be sadly mistaken. 13:57 Isn't that good? 13:58 I love that. 13:59 --When we started this little sub conversation, I was reminded 14:01 of the one that you and I were quoting just the other day in 14:03 one of the breaks, that the bible was not written for the 14:06 scholar alone, but for the common person. 14:08 I love that. 14:10 And the interpretation given by the common person, when aided by 14:12 the spirit, that's the one that most often cords with the truth 14:15 as it is in Jesus. 14:17 --So, should we launch into our topic? 14:19 --That's a great lead-up conversation to a passage. 14:22 --That's perfect. 14:24 --Well, what we're talking about in this particular conversation, 14:28 which by the way, is number 12 in this 13 part series. 14:33 --So, we're down toward the... 14:34 --On the righteousness by faith, it's called the righteousness by 14:38 faith series, number 12, we're just calling this conversation 14:41 the new covenant, and we're going to ground our thinking in 14:44 2 Corinthians chapter 3. 14:47 So, let's just turn there to the passage. 14:49 Verse 6 is really where we wanna begin, but it's mid-sentence, 14:53 and so I'll just call our attention to really what the 14:57 thought is here as we begin getting momentum through the 15:01 passage. 15:02 In verse 6, where Paul's coming from is he's basically, he's 15:06 defining his ministry and the ministry of those who are 15:10 ministering with him. 15:12 He's saying, we have a specific kind of ministry, a particular 15:15 kind of calling. 15:16 We're up to something, we have an agenda, we're focused in a 15:19 certain direction, and God has given us that focus and that 15:22 ministry, and he defines it in this language. 15:24 He says that God has made us sufficient as ministers of the 15:31 New Covenant, not of the letter, but of the spirit, for the 15:37 letter kills, but the spirit gives life. 15:41 That's 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 6, and so he's essentially 15:45 saying here that we're ministers, we can identify with 15:49 that, we're all ministers of the gospel at this table. 15:53 We're ministers, but then he wants to make it very clear, 15:56 hey, our ministry is a ministry of the new covenant. 16:02 Not of the old, not of the letter, and then he gives a 16:06 rationale, he gives an explanation for why it's the new 16:13 covenant that needs to be preached and not the old. 16:15 And he says that reason is because the letter kills. 16:19 The letter deals out death in some way, and hopefully, we're 16:24 gonna define that in our conversation, it deals out 16:25 death, but the spirit is life giving. 16:29 The spirit creates life and that's his reasoning, and from 16:33 there, what happens is, from verse 7-18, Paul is going to 16:38 break down what the new covenant looks like in contrast to the 16:44 old. 16:45 What the effects of the new covenant are, what the effects 16:48 of the old covenant are, and it's all very, very 16:51 experiential. 16:53 It's not merely theology. 16:55 So, let's just move through the passage and break it down. 16:58 Who wants to begin with verse 7? 17:00 --But if the ministry of death written and engraved on stones 17:04 was glorious so that the children of Israel could not 17:06 steadily look at the face of Moses because of the glory of 17:09 his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the 17:12 ministry of the spirit not be more glorious? 17:15 --Okay, that's a good place to pause. 17:16 --Yeah, great place. 17:17 He's asking a question. 17:19 Right, it's a question, verses 7 and 8 are a question, and we 17:23 should probably say, and this was a bit of a tough pillow, 17:26 pill, pillows are tough to swallow, this was a bit of a 17:30 tough pill for me to swallow early in my experience because 17:33 when Paul says the ministry of death, written and engraved on 17:36 stones, he's speaking about the 10 commandments. 17:38 And when I first came into the church, you couldn't say 17:42 anything negative about the 10 commandments, right, because I 17:44 was ready to defend because I knew, for example, that Saturday 17:46 was the Sabbath, and my dukes were up, we're talking about our 17:50 earlier conversation. 17:51 So, there were literally texts in the bible, and I wonder if 17:54 any of us else here can relate to this, that you were afraid 17:57 of. 17:58 You know, you just, well, why should I read 2 Corinthians 3 18:00 when I can read 1 John 3? 18:04 You know, like, you just, there were passages that we'd 18:05 gravitate for, but I love to tell people, never be afraid of 18:07 scripture. 18:08 We don't wanna become creedal apologists or denominational 18:12 apologists or positional apologists. 18:14 We wanna be textual apologists. 18:15 So, if the text says A, let's believe A, if the text says B, 18:20 let's see B. 18:22 So, what he's saying here is that the ministry of death, and 18:24 we can talk about why it's the ministry of death. 18:26 It's the ministry of death not because the law is death in and 18:29 of itself but because the law defines sin and the wages of sin 18:32 is death. 18:34 --We could take it a step further, the law defines sin, 18:35 but in defining sin, Paul's point is, here, is that it 18:41 administers condemnation. 18:43 I happen to guilty. 18:45 I'm a sinner. 18:47 The law, by contrast to me as a sinner, is magnifying and 18:57 accentuating my guilt. 18:59 As long as I can evade the 10 commandments, as long as I can 19:02 evade the law, I can remain in a pretty good, solid moral 19:07 position in my own estimation of myself. 19:10 But then, there is, by contrast, the law's estimation of me. 19:13 --The law gives you the brutal facts. 19:15 --Let me just read one verse on this, just to scripturally 19:18 clarify the point. 19:19 Romans 7, verse 9, for I was alive without the law once, but 19:23 when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. 19:28 Okay, that's the point we're making. 19:30 --Whenever someone says to me, or I overhear someone saying, 19:33 you know, don't make me feel guilty, or you're making me feel 19:37 guilty, I always think to myself, you cannot make me feel 19:40 guilty for something I've not done. 19:42 Right, if you accuse me right now of being an international 19:44 drug dealer, you can heap all of the condemnation on me and guilt 19:49 and it would never stick. 19:52 --Even a local drug dealer. 19:53 --It doesn't stick. 19:55 You cannot make me feel guilty about that because there is no 19:59 guilt in me about that. 20:01 --So, when people say that they suggest that perhaps there's 20:03 something guilty. 20:04 --The only thing that I ever find that I get a guilt trip 20:05 about are the things that I'm actually guilty of and I 20:09 understand that there are people who try and, you know, really 20:12 give other people guilt trips but the point here is that, 20:14 according to scripture, and we've already seen this in 20:17 Romans 3, the whole world is guilty before God. 20:19 We stand in violation of God's law, which is a transcript of 20:23 his goodness and of his love. 20:25 --If that law defines what utterly perfect and selfless 20:31 other-centered love looks like, by contrast, I'm going to see 20:36 selfishness in myself and it's going to smart, it's gonna hurt, 20:41 it's gonna sting in my conscience, and that's what Paul 20:45 means. 20:47 You mentioned Romans 3, he says, by the law is the knowledge of 20:49 sin. 20:50 There's another way to translate that. 20:51 By the law is the consciousness of sin, and I say consciousness 20:56 because the word conscience in consciousness is big in Paul's 21:00 thinking, especially in the book of Hebrews, he says that we have 21:04 a defiled conscience. 21:06 He says that our conscience needs to be sprinkled with clean 21:09 water. 21:11 Our conscience is filled with a reservoir of stored up guilt of 21:17 all the bad things that we've ever done, all the violations. 21:19 It's there, ready to come to the surface of our consciousness, 21:24 given the right circumstances, like somebody saying, don't make 21:27 me feel guilty. 21:28 The guilt is coming to the surface. 21:30 If you're doing something right and I'm doing something wrong by 21:34 contrast, you're not exactly the kind of person I wanna hang out 21:37 with because your right doing magnifies my wrongdoing and 21:42 that's why people gravitate to certain social circles. 21:44 We hang out with people that validate us in our current 21:51 position, but it's not healthy. 21:52 We should gravitate toward people, who can, as we were 21:55 saying earlier, challenge us and make us think differently, 21:59 that's right. 22:00 I hate to say this, but we have to take a break right now and 22:02 then we're just gonna continue on. 22:06 [Music] 22:13 Want a seat at the table? 22:14 Well, you're certainly invited. 22:16 Visit our website at lightbearers.org. 22:19 In fact, you may wanna make it your homepage because we're 22:22 always adding something new to strengthen your relationship 22:26 with Jesus. 22:27 At lightbearers.org, you'll find thought-provoking blogs and 22:31 verse-by-verse bible studies on a variety of vital topics. 22:35 Our online resource center has an excellent lineup of books, 22:40 CDs, and DVDs that present God's word with clarity and power. 22:45 Our presenters include, Jeffery Rosario, James Rafferty, David 22:52 Asscherick, Ty Gibson, and more. 22:55 We also maintain an archive of audio and video messages you can 23:00 access free of charge. 23:02 Feel free to listen online, or download to your computer, 23:06 tablet, or smartphone. 23:07 Under events, you'll discover locations and dates where 23:11 ministry events will be held throughout the year. 23:14 We'd love to see you. 23:15 If you've felt a personal call to ministry, our Arise school 23:19 will help get you going. 23:21 We have training programs that vary from nine days to 13 weeks. 23:26 Click on the learn more link for more details about each program. 23:31 Stay up to date with the latest sermons, media, news, and events 23:36 by subscribing to our monthly newsletter. 23:38 If you'd like to help us continue producing gospel 23:41 resources, please donate using our convenient and secure web 23:45 page, and receive a tax deductible receipt. 23:48 We're here to serve and equip you in sharing your passion for 23:52 Christ and the global advancement of his benevolent 23:55 kingdom. 23:57 Lightbearers.org. 24:00 There's room at the Light Bearers table for you. 24:04 --We were seeing that Paul poses a question here in verses 7 and 24:08 8, so let's restate the question since we're coming back from a 24:12 break. 24:13 --Want me to just read it again real quick? 24:14 But the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones 24:15 was glorious so that the children of Israel could not 24:17 steadily look at the face of Moses because of the glory of 24:20 his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the 24:23 ministry of the spirit not be more glorious? 24:25 --So, we have a contrast here between one glory and another 24:29 glory. 24:30 We've got a glory that is lesser and a glory that is greater. 24:35 Parallel language that helps us to understand this in Romans 7 24:39 where the apostle Paul says, of the law, the 10 commandments 24:43 engraved with stone, right? 24:45 That it is holy, just, and good, and it's spiritual. 24:48 So, in and of itself, the law isn't bad. 24:53 In fact, it's glorious. 24:54 --And he's mentioning the glory from Moses from the face of 25:00 Moses. 25:01 So, he's using just this little simple example. 25:03 --It's the entire Sinai episode. 25:05 --So, you're saying if the old was so glorious that there was 25:09 residue glory on his face and this is better, how much more 25:14 awesome will this be than the old? 25:16 Basically, in dumbed down language. 25:18 --And what's the glory, what's the glory that supersedes? 25:22 --The glory of the spirit. 25:24 --The glory of the spirit, and ultimately, he's gonna break it 25:26 down and explain, it's the glory that we see in Christ himself as 25:30 the fulfillment of God's covenantal faithfulness. 25:34 That's what turns out to be the glory that supersedes and he 25:38 even says... 25:39 --He's gonna say that expressly in the next verse. 25:41 Okay, for the ministry, if the ministry of condemnation had 25:45 glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more 25:47 in glory. 25:48 --So, here's more language to help break it down for us. 25:51 He sees, he's explaining that the law given at Sinai, the 10 25:56 commandments engraved in stone has a function and that 26:00 function, it's a glorious function and it's the ministry 26:04 of condemnation. 26:05 It administers condemnation. 26:08 --And yet, he says, it's glorious. 26:10 --Because it's a transcript of the goodness of God. 26:12 --It's shocking language. 26:14 I mean, since when is condemnation... 26:17 --You know he's doing that on purpose. 26:18 He's making a point, because remember, he's not writing here 26:21 to Jeffrey, James, Ty, and David. 26:23 I mean, by extension he is, but he's writing to a Jewish 26:26 audience who would've been very familiar with and very tied to 26:29 gentiles of course, as well, to a grabbing onto and a clinging 26:34 to the law as the thing, the oracles of God that they 26:37 possess, they gave them a step above. 26:39 So, he's, to use a phrase that I used yesterday that I think you 26:43 liked, he here is intellectually outflanking them, right? 26:46 He's basically employing the thing that is their glory and 26:50 saying, yeah, that's glorious, but that's a ministry of 26:52 condemnation and death, there's something even more glorious, 26:55 directing the mind to another thing. 26:57 --Yeah, I love that because in verse 10, he goes on to say then 27:00 that, that thing that we've just identified as glorious actually 27:05 has no glory at all for this reason, the glory of the spirit 27:09 is so much exceeding the glory that it makes that thing have 27:14 absolutely no glory. 27:15 --You want me to read it? 27:16 --Yeah, read it. 27:17 --For even what was made glorious had no glory in this 27:20 respect because of the glory that excels. 27:22 --So, what's the glory that excels? 27:23 It's the glory of the spirit, number one, that's one kind of 27:26 language that he uses, it is the glory of administering 27:31 righteousness rather than administering condemnation. 27:34 So, that's what we were talking about in our previous session, 27:38 God can relate to us with condemnation and legitimately 27:42 so. 27:43 And the law does call our attention to our guilt, but we 27:46 see in Christ and in the gospel that God is actually choosing to 27:51 relate to us by bestowing righteousness. 27:54 --We spent a whole program on that. 27:55 Not imputing their trespasses unto them. 27:57 We spent a whole program on that. 27:59 Not imputing their trespasses unto them, that was, we were in 28:03 2 Corinthians 5. 28:05 --This isn't another chapter, this is, we're just going back 28:10 now. 28:12 --The illustration that I've used, you might've heard it 28:13 before is that the starts look absolutely beautiful at night 28:17 and the moon is glorious and it's shining, especially if 28:20 you've been out camping in the wilderness where you're away 28:23 from all light pollution and you get out in Wyoming or Montana or 28:26 even, you know, California, the sky is awesome. 28:30 And the moon is awesome. 28:32 I mean, I have hiked in my life hundreds of miles by moonlight. 28:35 Backpacking. 28:36 Yeah, just by moonlight. 28:38 Sometimes, it's so bright, your eyes adjust, you just hike. 28:39 But here's what ends up happening. 28:41 When the sun comes out the next day, those stars are still 28:44 there. 28:45 All those stars are still there in the sky. 28:48 It's not as though the stars go away, and even the moon is 28:50 there, but you can't see the starts. 28:51 Sometimes you can see them but it's faint. 28:53 --Can I say why, can I? 28:54 Because the glory that excels. 28:56 The sun eclipses the light of the moon and the stars because 29:01 it literally outshines them all. 29:05 --And if you take that illustration to its, and we 29:07 could have a lot of fun with it. 29:08 You can have a lot of fun with this because, for example, Jesus 29:13 is called, in Malachi, the sun of righteousness, S-U-N, right, 29:17 so we can, we were living in darkness and there's lots of 29:20 texts about that, you know, darkness covers the earth and 29:23 the people, and there were stars in the sky, there were prophets, 29:26 there were the oracles of God, there was the ministry of 29:29 condemnation written and engraved on stones, but when God 29:31 shows up in a manger, right, when Jesus shows up in a manger, 29:36 when he's hanging on Golgotha's tree, now this is like, 29:40 eclipses. 29:42 Is the other light still there? 29:43 Is it valid, is it important? 29:45 Of course it is. 29:46 --That language you just used about Jesus being born in a 29:48 manger, notice what the angel said in Luke chapter 2 when they 29:51 saw the babe in the manger. 29:54 They said, glory to God in the highest. 29:58 This is the highest manifestation of the glory of 30:00 God. 30:02 This is the eclipsing glory of God in the incarnation of 30:04 Christ. 30:06 --Okay, I got a question for you, I wanna read verse 11, and 30:08 we might have a disagreement here, so I'll be interested to 30:10 see if we do. 30:11 This could be a good example, a good opportunity for us to 30:14 practice what we were preaching. 30:16 Here we go, verse 11 says, for if what was passing away was 30:18 glorious, what remains is much more glorious. 30:21 Right, now I'm just gonna read a little bit more. 30:23 So far so good, because I have not said anything. 30:25 Therefore, since we have such hope, we use such great boldness 30:28 of speech, unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the 30:31 children of Israel could not steadily look at the end of what 30:32 was passing away. 30:34 Okay, now, here's my question. 30:35 --You were reading that really fast, by the way. 30:38 --Sorry, compared to you, I read fast. 30:39 Here's my question in verse 11, what is the thing that is 30:44 passing away that was glorious? 30:49 The silence is deafening. 30:52 --I was deferring. 30:54 --I was just looking at James, and anyway, go ahead. 30:56 --This is the heavy part, because there's 2 time, 31:01 actually, back in verse 7, the last 2 words of verse 7 is 31:04 passing away, and then again, he says here, in 11 and 12, passing 31:09 away. 31:10 And so, this passage has been controversial and uncomfortable 31:17 for those who validate the 10 commandments as a holy, good, 31:20 just law, because this passage is used by some to say the law 31:24 in total, the 10 commandments as a moral code, as an expression 31:29 of what love looks like, relationally, vertically and 31:31 horizontally, is done away with, it's invalid. 31:35 --Which is the most insane thing possible, but there are people 31:37 that say that. 31:38 --But what Paul, I think, is saying is that what's passing 31:42 away is one era and system that had existed, that is giving way 31:52 now to the new covenant experience and relationship, not 31:59 that nobody could have it before, but it's giving way to 32:03 basically the person of Christ as the fulfillment of the whole 32:08 system that was pointing forward to him, so it's the system as a 32:13 whole. 32:14 --So, it would be incorrect to say that the thing itself hasn't 32:17 changed, but that there were just 2 ways of relating to the 32:21 thing? 32:22 --What is the thing? 32:23 --There was an old way and a new way. 32:24 Well, it could be the covenant, it could be the law, the law of 32:29 the 10 commandments. 32:30 --I think Paul identifies it in verse 9. 32:31 It's the ministration of condemnation. 32:33 There's 2 ministrations, the ministration of condemnation, 32:35 there's a ministration of righteousness. 32:38 So, the ministration of condemnation is giving way to 32:41 the ministration of righteousness, so, but the 32:44 ministration of condemnation pointed to the ministration of 32:46 righteousness. 32:47 That's what he says right here in verse 13, he says, they 32:49 couldn't see the end of that which was giving way to this. 32:52 They couldn't see that the ministration of condemnation was 32:55 leading us. 32:56 It's kinds of like Galatians, the law is our school master to 32:59 lead us to Jesus, and they couldn't see that it wasn't an 33:03 end in itself, but it was leading us, it was pointing us 33:05 to it. 33:06 --Giving a hard definition of the ministry of condemnation 33:08 is... 33:11 --The work of... 33:12 --You're asking a question? 33:14 --I'm asking you. 33:15 The ministry of condemnation is? 33:17 --The ministry of condemnation is the 10 commandment law. 33:20 --Okay, and so the ministry of righteousness is? 33:23 --The work of the 10 commandment law exalted by Christ in filled 33:30 by the spirit. 33:31 --Okay, so then the point is that the thing doesn't change, 33:35 but that there are 2 ways of relating to the same thing, 33:38 right? 33:39 And that the old way of relating to the thing has been replaced 33:42 or superseded by the new way. 33:44 --Superseded is a much better word. 33:45 --Which is, yeah, not replaced, superseded with a new way of 33:49 relating to the thing and that new way of relating to the thing 33:53 is in the spirit, not in the letter but in the spirit, does 33:56 that make sense? 33:58 --Here's another verse that could complicate this for us. 33:59 --Don't complicate it. 34:02 --Look at John 1:17. 34:03 John 1:17 is also a difficult passage that those who wanna 34:07 validate the 10 commandments, such as us at this table, those 34:11 who would say with David, oh, how I love your law, alright? 34:17 John 1:17 is a parallel passage. 34:20 I say parallel conceptually, and the verse simply says, for the 34:24 law was given through Moses but grace and truth came through 34:29 Jesus Christ. 34:31 --The word but really shouldn't be there, because he's just 34:35 making two, but even conceptually, that's the 34:38 replaced thing, it's the difference between superseded 34:43 and replaced. 34:44 If it just said, for the law was given through Moses, and you 34:47 could say, and then grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 34:51 The but isn't totally inappropriate in a sense that 34:53 it's introducing a contrast, but it's not the replacement of a 34:57 thing. 34:58 Anyway, you unpacked the text, you're the one that took us 34:59 there, I just wanted to point out that it's not a hard 35:02 contrast, that's not his point, in the same way that Paul's 35:05 point here is not a hard contrast, it's a superseding. 35:08 That thing, the stars are still bright, the moon is still 35:11 bright, but now there's something that's even more 35:13 bright, that eclipses. 35:14 --Could we say it this way, what Paul is trying to communicate to 35:18 us and doing a good job of communicating it to us, is that 35:24 the law has its place and its function and the place and the 35:29 function that it has is not to save. 35:33 The law cannot administer righteousness, the law cannot 35:37 regard Jeffery as righteous. 35:41 The law cannot impute righteousness and not impute 35:46 your sins unto you. 35:47 That's a personal function, that's a relational function. 35:51 So, the law, as a code on tables of stone, has no saving virtue 35:56 in and of itself. 35:59 --The only just small clarification I would add to 36:01 that is that if someone is not a sinner. 36:04 --I was just about to say, unless I'm not guilty. 36:06 --Yeah, in other words, the law can communicate righteousness, 36:11 it can, I think the word you used was impute, I don't wanna 36:14 necessarily argue over that word, but the law can definitely 36:17 give a vote of confidence and a vote of righteousness to someone 36:21 who's never violated its principles and who has lived the 36:23 selfless love that is communicated therein. 36:27 But we find ourselves on the other side of that, all of 36:29 humanity does. 36:30 --But there's a deep truth there in what you just said and that 36:32 is there is one, one righteous man who came into this world, 36:38 Jesus Christ, and he never did violate the law, he consistently 36:42 manifested selfless love, and that is, and we never got to 36:46 this, and we probably won't have time to, that is the very reason 36:49 why he himself said and Paul articulates that the grave 36:53 couldn't hold him. 36:54 Jesus wasn't resurrected by arbitrary fiat, God didn't just 36:59 strong arm him out of death. 37:03 According to the gospel, Jesus whooped it, he was victorious 37:07 over death, he was triumphant over death, so he said, death 37:12 couldn't hold him. 37:13 He emerges from the tomb holding the keys of hell and of death, 37:16 he's victorious over it by virtue of the fact that he never 37:21 sinned, which sounds really kinda sterile, he never ceased 37:27 loving us. 37:28 --He never ceased loving God with all of his heart, mind, and 37:29 soul, and his neighbor as himself. 37:30 --Sin couldn't hold him, death couldn't hold him. 37:32 --I have another question. 37:33 --It had no legal right to him. 37:34 --Because the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is 37:37 law. 37:38 The sting of death, the thing that causes death to come upon 37:41 someone is sin. 37:42 --And if he has no sin, it has no sting. 37:44 --And that's 1 Corinthians 15:56. 37:47 --But what about the part that says about the law? 37:50 --Yeah, so the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is 37:53 the law, which is the point we're making here. 37:55 --Imagine if the law was abolished, let's just 37:58 hypothetically say for a moment, because some people interpret 38:01 Paul as saying, it's done away with, it's passing away, that 38:04 means the 10 commandments is gone, obsolete, doesn't exist in 38:08 God's system anymore. 38:10 It's invalid. 38:11 Let's just imagine, hypothetically, if the law of 38:14 God was just removed from reality, what would follow? 38:20 --It's impossible to imagine because it's completely 38:22 nonsensical. 38:23 --Well, for one thing, Jesus wouldn't have had to die. 38:27 I mean, think about it. 38:29 --If he died to save us from sin and death. 38:30 --And if there's no law, there is no sin and if there's no sin, 38:33 why would we need a savior? 38:35 --Step 2, if there is no law, if the law's done away with, then 38:39 there really is no such thing as love anymore. 38:46 No relational integrity is necessary, everybody can live 38:49 for himself. 38:50 Step 3, according to what James just read, death would come upon 38:54 all of creation if that law were extinguished. 38:58 The law of God is, as we say, immutable. 39:01 It's changeless and it is the very reason why the gospel had 39:08 to be enacted by Christ, Jesus had to die on the cross because 39:14 the law can't be changed. 39:16 So, we need to keep that in mind as we read Paul's language. 39:17 --Absolutely, so, in the context of 2 Corinthians 3, the thing 39:21 that was originally passing away was the glory that was on the 39:23 face of Moses. 39:24 He didn't continue to glow through the rest of his life, it 39:26 was a temporary, residual glow, as you said, But then Paul uses 39:30 that to say, hey, just as that glory faded away, so, too, the 39:35 glory of the ministry of the condemnation of death is not 39:38 replaced but superseded, the stars don't disappear when the 39:41 sun comes out, they don't literally go away, they're just 39:44 eclipsed. 39:45 Could I just kinda finish the passage here? 39:48 At least read the next part? 39:50 Verse 13, to remind us of context, unlike Moses, who put a 39:52 veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not 39:54 steadily look at the end of what was passing away, verse 14, but 39:58 their minds were blinded for until this day, the, and we've 40:02 already read this passage actually, a number of sessions 40:04 ago, for until this day, the same veil remains unlifted in 40:07 the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is 40:09 taken away in Christ. 40:11 I'll just read verse 15, but even to this day, when Moses is 40:13 read, a veil lies over their heart. 40:15 Now, he almost, he doesn't almost, he switches the point, 40:19 maybe he doesn't switch, that's the wrong word, he expands the 40:21 point and basically says, when that veil remains over the face, 40:27 right, when, the reading of Moses, that is to say, Genesis, 40:31 Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and all of the 40:33 prophets, there is a, something that has interposed itself 40:37 between what the text is saying and the point of the text and 40:41 their minds. 40:43 He says their minds are blinded, and that veil is removed, it's 40:46 taken away in Christ. 40:48 When we have a radical Christ-centered reading of 40:51 scripture, and in context of the law in the ministry of 40:54 condemnation, the ministry of death. 40:55 --Because now we see the spirit and not just the letter to 40:59 Christ. 41:01 --We see the point. 41:02 --Another thing that Paul just did, is he, and I thought that's 41:06 what you were going to say because I was seeing this in the 41:10 passage, I love the point that you just made, but did you see 41:12 that Paul now expanded it to the entire Old Testament, the 41:17 writings of Moses and the prophets in total. 41:19 --The Old Testament. 41:21 --Yeah, so, if you're going to say that it's passing away, 41:24 whatever he's talking about, you're gonna have to basically 41:27 negate the entire Old Testament which gives you no platform for 41:32 Christ whatsoever. 41:33 --And it's clearly not the way that the New Testament writers 41:37 related to the Old Testament, they saw, as they're writing 41:40 their gospels, their epistles, their letters, they're looking 41:42 back, oh, yeah, there's Jesus, there's Jesus, and if you 41:45 would've asked them, you would've said, hey, what's the 41:48 deal with the New Testament, what's the deal with this 41:49 writing? 41:50 Does that mean the Old Testament is invalidated? 41:52 No, the Old Testament is fulfilled. 41:54 The Old Testament is brought to its grand and climactic point, 41:57 its end, its conclusion. 41:59 Is that glorious? 42:00 Yes, that's glorious, but this is the point, this is even more 42:04 glorious, not that that has no glory, but that this is the 42:07 consummation, this is the conclusion, this is the climax 42:09 of the thing. 42:10 --The clock tells us we have to push the pause button right 42:13 there, but our excitement level's so high that we'll just 42:18 pick this up with equal enthusiasm. 42:20 [Music] 42:31 --A Light in Zambia is a moving video documentary that traces 42:35 the stories of 5 amazing African men and women who encountered 42:38 Christ through the powerful medium of gospel literature. 42:42 To receive your free copy, call 877-585-1111, or write to Light 42:48 Bearers, 37457 Jasper Lowell Road ,Jasper, OR 97438. 42:55 Once again, to receive your free copy of A Light in Zambia, call 42:59 877-585-1111, or write to Light Bearers, 37457 Jasper Lowell 43:07 Road, Jasper, OR 97438. 43:11 Simply ask for the Zambia DVD. 43:15 --So, we left off in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, we're 43:17 just working through the passage. 43:19 Where did we leave off? 43:20 What verse did we get to? 43:21 Verse 15, I think. 43:23 We got to verse 15. 43:24 I wanna call our attention to the fact that there's a parallel 43:29 passage to 2 Corinthians 3. 43:30 --So we're just gonna kinda keep our finger here. 43:31 --Yeah, keep our finger in 2 Corinthians. 43:33 --Because there's a passage I wanna look at as well. 43:34 --But there's actually a parallel passage where Paul is 43:37 addressing the same exact subject and he's using very 43:42 similar language, and it's Romans 7, the first 6 verses, 43:47 and what's happening in Romans 7 is that the apostle Paul is 43:51 addressing, according to verse 1, those who know the law. 43:57 So, he's addressing people who are aware of the law, they 44:01 believe in the law, the 10 commandments are valid in their 44:04 thinking and they have some kind of relationship with God that is 44:08 grounded in or has something to do with the law. 44:11 They know the law, they're not gentiles. 44:13 Or, they could even be Christians who are aware of the 44:17 law like those of us sitting at this table. 44:20 This is who he's addressing. 44:22 And then he tells a story. 44:24 It's kind of a short parable of sorts, in verse 2, he says, for 44:28 the woman who has a husband is bound to the law of her husband, 44:34 bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. 44:37 Now, watch this, but if the husband dies, she is released 44:42 from the law of her husband. 44:44 Fascinating. 44:45 So, then, if while her husband lives, she marries another man, 44:49 she will be called an adulteress, but if her husband 44:53 dies, she is free from the law so that she is no adulteress, 44:58 though she has married another man. 45:00 Now, he makes his application. 45:01 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law 45:07 through the body of Christ that you may be married to another, 45:12 to him who is raised from the dead, now watch this, that you 45:17 may bear fruit to God. 45:19 There has been a relationship with the law, those who know the 45:23 law, verse 1, that has not been fruitful. 45:26 They're striving to obey the law, no doubt, they see its 45:30 validity, but they're not bearing fruit to God. 45:32 So, there's a sense in which Paul says, actually, you have to 45:36 die to the law and come alive to Christ in order to have a right 45:41 relation to the law, to be successful in bearing fruit to 45:45 God in your obedience. 45:47 So, then he explains further, this is amazing. 45:49 Look at verses 5 and 6, Romans 7:5 and 6. 45:52 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were 45:57 aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to 46:02 death. 46:04 But now, we have been delivered from the law, having died to 46:08 what we were held by so that we should serve in newness of 46:13 spirit and not in oldness of letter. 46:17 --It's the same language from 2 Corinthians 3. 46:18 --The apostle Paul was essentially saying here that if 46:23 we attempt to relate to God with the law of the 10 commandments 46:28 and God's whole law of scripture, if we relate to God 46:32 through the laws, our primary mode of relationship with God, 46:36 we will not bear fruit because we are living under 46:40 condemnation. 46:41 We're striving to obey with an eye single to the law. 46:44 But Paul says, in a sense, you need to shift your focus, your 46:48 matrimonial focus, your heart, you need to not be married to 46:54 the old husband, the law, you need to be married to Christ. 46:57 Does that do away with the law? 46:58 Paul says, no, what it does with the law is it puts you in right 47:02 relation to the law and it produces a quality or a kind of 47:07 obedience that you couldn't have apart from Christ. 47:10 What kind of obedience does it produce? 47:12 An obedience, he says, in verse 6 that not the oldness of 47:16 letter, but newness of spirit. 47:19 --That's why he's so, basically the experiential transition of a 47:24 different relationship to the thing and you know, you can be 47:28 so devoted, you can be so focused on doing the right thing 47:32 and obeying the law, you wake up in the morning, you go down the 47:35 checklist, but you're miserable. 47:36 So, there's this... 47:38 --That's not fruit bearing. 47:39 --No, and it brings to my mind the whole ministration of death 47:41 and condemnation. 47:43 You're miserable doing the right thing as opposed to doing the 47:46 right thing and it being just the outflow of joy and of 47:50 pleasure. 47:51 --By the way, Jeffery, you're not only miserable, but because 47:53 you're miserable, you want to make other people just as 47:56 miserable as you are. 47:57 --Jeffery, add this, guilt does not produce genuine obedience. 48:05 It's not the proper motive or impetus, it doesn't produce the 48:09 right quality of relationship with God that would yield the 48:14 right kind of obedience to the law. 48:15 The only thing that yields the right kind of relationship to 48:20 the law and God is, he says, being married to Christ. 48:25 Falling in love with Christ as our spiritual husband produces a 48:29 whole different motivational mainspring. 48:32 There's something that is coming up from the inside toward God. 48:37 The law is somehow now as internally written and scribed 48:43 and realized. 48:44 --We need to get to that in Hebrews 8. 48:45 I've loved Paul, I called you Paul, I love, Ty, your 48:50 explication there of Romans 7 because that is a passage that, 48:53 misunderstood, will introduce an untextual antagonism between 48:58 Christ and the law. 49:00 He's not, and he actually develops that, if we just jump 49:04 forward to Romans 10, this idea that there's not an antagonism, 49:08 not a competition, but a complementarity between the law 49:13 rightly understood and Christ, and he fleshes that out with 49:17 tremendous clarity here in Romans chapter 10, and I'm gonna 49:21 do something because I can read really fast, I'm just gonna 49:23 start in 9:30, and I'm just gonna read that. 49:26 What shall we say, I'm in Romans 9:30. 49:29 What shall we say then? 49:30 That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have 49:32 attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith, but 49:36 Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained 49:38 to the law of righteousness. 49:40 Well, why? 49:41 How'd that happen? 49:42 Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the 49:44 works of the law. 49:45 That's the very thing that we were just saying in Romans 7. 49:47 For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. 49:50 As it is written, behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and 49:52 rock of offense, and whoever believes on Him will not be put 49:54 to shame. 49:55 Well, that cornerstone, that stumbling stone is Christ. 49:57 Now watch, Paul, you can just feel the pathos, the passion, 50:02 the pastoral concern here in 10:1, Brethren, brothers, my 50:07 heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be 50:10 saved. 50:11 That they might be in right relationship to the law and to 50:13 the God of the law through Christ, verse 2, hey look, I 50:17 bear them witness that they have a zeal, it's not a lack of zeal 50:20 or sincerity, but their zeal is not according to knowledge. 50:23 And I'm just gonna say the quickest thing, back in 2 50:25 Corinthians chapter 3, Paul said, man, they're reading Moses 50:28 every day. 50:29 Every day they're reading Moses in the synagogue, but there's a 50:32 veil over their face. 50:33 They've got it memorized, but they're not seeing the point of 50:37 it. 50:39 Now, here it is, verses 3 and 4, the penny is about to drop. 50:42 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, why? 50:44 Because they're blinded by the veil that's over their face. 50:47 They don't see God's righteousness, which is in 50:49 Christ, which is the thing the law is pointing to, and seeking 50:53 to establish their own righteousness, they have not 50:55 submitted to the righteousness of God. 50:59 Verse 4, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to 51:04 everyone who believes. 51:06 Whoa, now, if you just read 10:4 in isolation, in some vacuum by 51:11 itself, you just proof text, you just dive in, you don't read 51:14 anything, you just read 10:4, for Christ is the end of the 51:16 law, for righteousness to everyone who believes, there it 51:18 is, the law is done away with. 51:20 But that introduces, as you've already pointed out very nicely, 51:22 a chaotic situation in which there is not only no law, 51:25 there's no love, there's no standard by which to measure 51:28 relational integrity. 51:29 --The universe implodes. 51:30 --So, clearly, that's not what he's saying. 51:32 What he's saying is that Christ was the goal of the law all 51:36 along. 51:37 For those who now believe and who see Christ as the goal, as 51:40 the purpose, as the intent and conclusion of the law, you're no 51:44 longer trying to establish a righteousness of your own, by 51:46 your works, by your law keeping, which is being married to the 51:49 law, it's a wrong relationship. 51:50 Christ is the goal of the law, he's the point, he's the purpose 51:53 for everyone who believes. 51:56 Go ahead, that's it, that's it. 51:57 --It's just a funny illustration in a sense of an experience that 52:00 I had over a number of years. 52:03 I was out going door to door, knocking on doors and creating 52:06 bible studies, and I went to a door where there were a couple, 52:09 an older couple that were of a specific denomination and this 52:13 couple wanted to study the bible with me because their 52:15 denomination's really into bible study. 52:17 And I'd given them a tract, 100 facts about the Sabbath, came 52:20 back, there was another that came, 2 suitcases full of books, 52:23 we sat down and we went over it. 52:26 And this was one of the main verses, out of context, focusing 52:29 on, and we just argued and battled and argued and battled. 52:34 Finally, they didn't wanna pray with me, I left, it was done, it 52:36 was over. 52:37 Fast forward years ahead, fast forward, continuing as we talked 52:42 about to grow and mature and see different dimensions and 52:46 understand the context of this and the beauty of Christ. 52:49 Knock on the door. 52:50 --You went and found them again? 52:52 --Not me, I'm at a house, my mother-in-law's house, and 52:54 there's a knock on the door, and it's the same denomination, and 52:58 there they are at the door, doing their thing, bible study, 53:01 I'm like, oh, yeah, I'm a Christian, I love Jesus, I've 53:06 accepted him as my savior, I follow him, I believe in him, 53:09 just gospel, gospel, gospel, gospel, gospel, because it's 53:13 just coming out of me. 53:14 And you know what they said to me? 53:15 Same denomination, that years before had said, no, no, the law 53:18 is done away, Christ is the end of the law, you know what they 53:20 said? 53:21 They said, well, you know, we need to be keeping the 10 53:23 commandments. 53:24 And you know what I said? 53:27 I said, oh, yeah, I know that, but I can't stop talking about 53:30 Christ. 53:31 --It had shifted. 53:32 --Yes, totally shifted. 53:33 --Their response to you shifted when your emphasis shifted. 53:35 --David, I wanna emphasize something you said for clarity's 53:39 sake. 53:40 When you read verse 4 for Christ is the end of the law, you used 53:44 the word goal in place of end, and I just wanna affirm and 53:48 bring others into this conversation and this awareness 53:52 that that is an accurate translation, the Greek word 53:56 there is tellos from which we get, for example, the word 53:59 telescope, right, the idea, so you could literally translate it 54:04 this way, for Christ is the end goal of the law. 54:08 In other words, not end in the sense of negation or finality, 54:13 but end in the sense of in Christ, everything that the law 54:18 pointed forward to is realized. 54:19 --That's the word that Paul used in our primary passage, right, 54:26 in 2 Corinthians 3. 54:27 He's also using the same language, the same concept. 54:29 Well, in chapter 3, verse, is it 13? 54:32 It says here, that unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so 54:37 that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the 54:39 end of what was passing away. 54:41 So, this whole thing we're talking about that one thing has 54:44 passed and a new thing has come. 54:48 That thing that has passed, when we say it's at an end, we're 54:53 talking about the same concept here. 54:54 --And the word is tellos there. 54:56 --It's reached its goal, it's end goal. 54:59 --That is true, not only in the Greek, it's true in the English. 55:03 If somebody says, oh I did this and this and I did this and this 55:06 and then I did this, I would say, to what end? 55:07 To what purpose? 55:10 What was the reason you were doing that? 55:13 What was the goal. 55:14 In other words, it can be both a finality and it can be a 55:16 conclusion, it can be to the end that... 55:19 --Peter uses the same language, he talks about in 1 Peter 1:9, 55:24 he talks about the end of our faith is salvation. 55:28 So, by the word end, and the word end there, guess what word 55:33 the word end there is in Peter. 55:35 It's tellos, so the end, the goal of your faith is to bring 55:38 you into a salvation experience with Christ. 55:42 --Now, you spoke earlier, James about the law being an internal 55:45 principle that was written, that was either you or Ty. 55:48 --It was Ty. 55:49 --You wanna take us there? 55:51 --Hebrews chapter 8, I think, really, these verses sum it all 55:53 up, they bring it all together, and I'm just gonna read through 55:56 the verses and then we can comment on them because I don't 55:58 wanna miss any of these verses out of our discussion. 56:02 So, Hebrews 8, I'm gonna begin here with verse 7, for if the 56:05 first covenant, that's what we're talking about, first 56:08 covenant, second covenant have been faultless, then should no 56:10 place have been sought for the second, for finding fault with 56:12 them, that is the people, their promises, verse 6, he, God said, 56:16 behold the day's come, says the Lord, when I will make a new 56:19 covenant with the house of Israel, with the house of Judah, 56:22 verse 9. 56:23 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers 56:25 when I took them out of the land of Egypt, because they continue 56:28 not in my covenant. 56:30 I regarded them not says the Lord, for this is the covenant, 56:32 verse 10, that I will make with the house of Israel, after those 56:36 days, says the Lord, I will put my law into their minds, I will 56:39 write it in their hearts, I will be to them a God and they shall 56:43 be to me a people, and they shall not teach every man is 56:46 neighbor and every man is brother say the Lord, for all 56:48 will know me from the least to the greatest. 56:50 And I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins 56:54 and their iniquities I will remember no more. 56:56 In that verse 13, he says, a new covenant, he has made the first 57:00 old, now that which decays and waxes old is ready to vanish. 57:04 --In the New King James, it says, he made the first 57:08 obsolete, now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is 57:11 ready to vanish away. 57:13 Same language as 2 Corinthians 3. 57:15 He is doing a new thing, and here's a fascinating point. 57:19 And I think we wanna actually end in 2 Corinthians 3 because 57:23 we're literally there. 57:24 --We've got literally a minute left, but do it. 57:26 Go, man, go. 57:28 --So, in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, he brings this point about 57:30 writing his law on the external tablets of stone, but on the 57:34 fleshly tables of the human heart, so he says then, in verse 57:38 16, 2 Corinthians 3:16, nevertheless when one turns to 57:42 the Lord, the veil is taken away. 57:45 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, 57:48 there is liberty. 57:50 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the 57:54 glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image 57:57 from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. 58:00 --Our entire weight of emphasis and focus has shifted to Christ. 58:06 We see him and in seeing him, we begin to see God, ourselves, the 58:12 law of God, everything takes on clarity as the veil is removed 58:17 from our reading and study of scripture and we center our 58:20 faith in Christ, we're married to Christ, Paul says, and in 58:24 being married to him, we bear fruit to God of a whole new 58:28 quality by beholding his glory, we become changed, we become 58:32 transformed into the same exact image. 58:36 --Hallelujah. 58:37 [Music] |
Revised 2014-12-17