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This is day four together of our look at 2 Corinthians chapter 3. Today we're
going to look at verses 12 to 17. Yesterday we began to look at some contrasts
that Paul draws between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.

Death, he says, versus life, written on stone versus written on hearts, fading
versus increasing, condemning versus righteous. There's one final contrast that
he began yesterday but he really focuses on in these verses 12 to 17. He talks
about the difference between being veiled before God and being set free before
God.

Listen to what he has to say in these verses. "Therefore, since we have such a
hope, we are very bold. We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his
face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while their radiance was fading
away.

But their minds were made dull. For to this day that same veil remains when the
Old Covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it
taken away.

Even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever
anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit.

And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. " Paul gives this picture
from what happened in the Old Testament and he's saying in this picture, even as
Moses put a veil over his face, that old veil can sometimes cover our minds,
cover our thoughts. That the old is the enemy of the new thing that God wants to
do in your life.

Look closely with me at three things that Paul teaches about this veil. They are
all important. First of all, he talks about the veil over Moses' face.

And he says this veil over Moses' face was there to cover the fact that the
glory was fading away. It wasn't there to keep people from seeing the glory, it
was there to cover the fact that the glory was fading away. And then he talks
secondly about the veil that's over our hearts.

He moves now. He's not talking about Moses anymore, he's talking about our own
hearts, our own minds. And he says that veil remains for those who trust the
law.

Because we can't see. We're blinded to the fact that our own good works are not
good enough to get us to God. How could they be?

No one's perfect. But some people continue to think that somehow they're going
to be good enough to live in the presence of a holy God. Because they're living
a little bit better than their neighbor next door.

They're living a little bit better than some evil person from history. Paul says
you're blinded. You've got a veil over your face you don't see.

So he says when the Old Covenant, which here is the Old Testament, he talks
about the Old Covenant being read. He talks about Moses being read. He's talking
about the Old Testament, the first five books of the Bible particularly.

He says when the Old Testament is read, you can't see Jesus in it. And Jesus is
all through those books of the Bible. There's pictures of Jesus all the way
through.

His name isn't there, but he's being pictured by God through the sacrificial
system, through the promises, through even the life of Moses. He's being
pictured. But you can't see it.

Why? Because the veil is there. Why is the veil there?

Because you're trusting in your own good works. You're trusting in the law to
make you right before God rather than realizing that law is only there to make
me realize I need something and the something you need is Jesus. And so first he
says the veil over Moses' face and now he talks about the veil over your heart.

The third thing he talks about is how is the veil taken away? And he says only
in Jesus. Whenever anyone, whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken
away.

Not only does he say it's only in Jesus, he says it's always in Jesus. When you
turn to Jesus, the veil is taken away. All of a sudden you begin to see the
scripture in a new way.

You see yourself in a new way. This is the new covenant. And he says the new
covenant results in freedom.

This is the key verse I want to spend a few minutes on today. In verse 17, the
Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
Because of what Jesus has done, our hearts, our minds are set free to relate to
the Lord in a new way and tomorrow we're going to talk about also to reflect the
Lord in a new way in our lives.

But first, how do you relate to the Lord in a new way? You relate to the Lord in
a new way by realizing now by faith I can say I am free from the law. I am free
from the law.

Now the law is not bad. God put the law into place, but you just have to realize
what the law is. The law is not bad, but it's also not capable of bringing us
salvation.

It can show us our sin, but it cannot make us right before God. A parallel verse
with what we're reading is Romans 8-2 which says, "Through Christ Jesus the law
of the Spirit that brings life has made me free from the law that brings sin and
death. " I need Jesus to set me free from trying to depend on some law, some
list of rules and regulations to get me closer to God.

What does it mean to be free from the law? It certainly does not mean that now
you can just ignore the moral direction that God gives us in the Old Testament.
Obviously, being free from the law doesn't mean that now the Ten Commandments
are thrown out the door.

Murder is okay, adultery is okay, lying now okay, stealing okay, because now
you're free from the law. That's not at all what it means, obviously. To be free
from the law means that you now no longer look to the law for salvation.

You now no longer look to the law for the power to grow as a believer. The law
is powerless to save us. The law is powerless to grow us.

In fact, when you depend on the law, when you depend on your list of rules and
regulations, your goodness before God, you find yourself getting up day after
day trying to pull yourself up by your own spiritual bootstraps, trying to find
the power to do what is right and that which is powerless. It's a life where you
feel that all the burden is on your shoulders and that burden is too great to
bear. In fact, as we talk about the law and particularly your own growth right
now and freedom from some things in your life, would you just think these words
in your mind a few times through?

Just think through in your mind the words, "Rules cannot produce growth. " Rules
cannot produce growth. That's really what these verses are saying.

Rules cannot produce growth. Rules can force us to behave in certain ways for a
certain amount of time, especially if they come with enough reward or
punishment. No doubt about that, but they can't deepen our love.

They can't strengthen our relationships. They can't produce the kind of growth
that God is working to bring into your life. Think about this for those of you
that are parents.

If you give your children only rules, you should give them rules because you do
want to produce some obedience. You want to produce some right directions in
their life, but if you give them only rules, you never allow them to make a
decision all of their lives, all the way up until the time that they're out of
college. Are they going to be mature adults?

Are they going to be ready for life? Not a chance. Rules alone by themselves
produce either unthinking compliance or more often rebellion, but not growth.

God wants us to grow in our relationship to him, but rules cannot deepen
relationships. In fact, I found and seen the principle in my own life and other
people's lives, but also in the Bible that the closer the relationship, the less
the rules have to be because now you're living out of love. Now the law has a
purpose in our lives before we become believers, before we have the
relationship.

It shows us that we're far from God, but the law is not able to bring us near to
God. Only Jesus can do that. So does the law have any purpose in your life after
you become a believer?

Jesus in Matthew 5 said that he came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it.
He fulfills it by showing the meaning behind it and by giving you the power to
live out that meaning. Grace produces growth.

God's grace in your life. That's what produces growth. Read these verses we're
reading today.

Read the whole book of Galatians. Grace produces growth, but much of what is in
the law can show you the direction in which grace is going to grow you. Grace is
the jet that powers us, but the law gives us some insight into God's flight plan
for your life.

For instance, when you read in the Ten Commandments, do not accuse anyone
falsely. You can see the integrity that God wants in your life as a believer,
but only through God's Spirit are you truly empowered not to accuse anyone
falsely, to live with genuine integrity. We've been looking these last several
days at our feelings of inferiority and where they might drive us.

And we've talked about the fact that they can drive you to self-promotion or
trying to get promotion by others, or they can drive you to service, serving
others. We've talked about the fact that they can drive you to depending on
yourself or depending on God. And today we've talked about the fact that they
can take you to your list of rules, these feelings of inadequacy, or they can
take you to God's wonderful grace.

In one sense, your feelings of inferiority might be the best thing that ever
happened to you, because they're inviting you to a new trust in the Lord. To
say, "Lord, I know you have a new purpose for me, a new task for me. So I place
my trust in Christ.

I want to live by the power of your Spirit. Let's pray that right now. " Lord,
even when I feel inadequate for the task, I pray that instead of turning to
myself what I can get others to say about me, how I can get myself to feel about
me, a list of rules and regulations that make myself feel better about myself,
instead of turning to myself, Lord, help me to turn to you.

Refresh my commitment to live by the power of your Spirit. I ask this in Jesus'
name. Amen.

Tomorrow, we're going to look at the daily impact of what happens when Jesus
unveils our hearts.