THE GLORY OF THE GOSPEL
Text: 2 Corinthians 3:6-11
Intro: Paul is showing the superiority of the new covenant over the old covenant.
Many people refuse to be used by God because they think of
themselves as "not ready." But in a sense, we are never ready or worthy.
If we were, the sufficiency would be in ourselves, not from God.
_____Guzik
Romans 7:5,6 (GW) While we were living under the influence
of our corrupt nature, sinful passions were at work throughout
our bodies. Stirred up by Moses’ laws, our sinful passions did
things that result in death. But now we have died to those laws
that bound us. God has broken their effect on us so that we are
serving in a new spiritual way, not in an old way dictated by written words.
The Spirit is given to us as the law written on our hearts.
He is in us to guide us and be our "law."
It isn’t that the Holy Spirit replaces the written law,
but completes and fulfills the work of the written law in our hearts.
The Spirit gives life, and with this spiritual life we can live the law of God.
The Spirit makes us alive to the letter, fulfilling and completing the work
of the the letter in us.
Illustration: Sometime back the Associated Press carried this dispatch: "Glasgow, Ky.--Leslie Puckett, after struggling to start his car, lifted the hood and discovered that someone had stolen the motor." Trying to start anything without the Spirit of God is an exercise in futility. We are reliant on the Holy Spirit for the power to start up each new day, each new project and each new relationship.
Theme: Ministers of the new covenant: The idea of a new covenant was prophesied
in the Old Testament (Jeremiah 31:31)
and put into practice by Jesus (Luke 22:19-20).
Romans 11:22, "Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: ..."
THE CHARACTER OF
OF THE GOSPEL.
1. Spiritual.
2. Progressive.
3. Intrinsic.
4. Immortal.
5. Luminous.
6. Inviting. (W. W. Wythe.)
THE EXCELLENT GLORY
THE MOSAIC DISPENSATION.
1. Sensuous.
2. Stationary.
3. Artificial.
4. Transitory.
5. Shadowy.
6. Dangerous.
DEFINITION OF LEGALISM
Michael Brown in his book, "Go And Sin No More" tells the story about two
farmers who had a talk about Christianity.
One of the farmers was a Christian and he was asked by the other one,
"Well, what does it mean to be a Christian?"
The man replied, "I don’t drink, smoke or run around with women."
The other farmer then said, "Well, my mule must be a Christian because my mule
doesn’t drink, smoke, or run around with women."
That’s how it makes Christianity sound to many a sinner.
The Encyclopedia of Jewish Religion says, "Legalism is the preference of
legal norms and rules above moral and spiritual values."
Pastor Richard Dresselhaus says, "It is the persuasion that acceptance with God is
predicated on man’s ability to keep the laws of God, so that salvation is earned, deserved, and merited.
I. THE DESCRIPTION OF THE LAW
II. THE DESCRIPTION OF THE GOSPEL
III. THE SUPERIOR GLORY OF THE GOSPEL ABOVE THAT OF THE LAW
I. THE DESCRIPTION OF THE LAW
A. “The ministration of condemnation.”
B. “The ministration of death.” Its sentence is a death sentence. “The soul
that sinneth, it shall die.” Now from the execution of this sentence the law
provides no resource. Sacrifices for sin, it is true, were provided raider the
Mosaic dispensation; but they were merely typical of that great sacrifice for
sin, which was to form a part of another and more glorious dispensation.
“It is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away
sins.”
C. The ministry of death: Was it wrong to call the old covenant the ministry of death?
No, because that is what the law does to us: it slays us as guilty sinners before God,
so we can be resurrected by the new covenant. Not that the problem was with the law,
but with us: the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our
members to bear fruit to death. (Romans 7:5)
illu: Trapp on the ministry of death:
"David was the voice of the law awarding death to sin, ’He shall surely die.’
Nathan was the voice of the gospel awarding life to repentance for sin,
’Thou shalt not die.’"
II. THE DESCRIPTION OF THE GOSPEL
A. It is the “ministration of righteousness,” because it provides for the
believing sinner a complete satisfaction for the offences he has committed
against the law of God, and an obedience perfectly commensurate with its
demands, and so saves him from condemnation and death.
B. It is “the ministration of Spirit,” because of the great outpouring of the
Spirit with which it commenced, and the abundant communication of the
same Spirit with which it has ever since been attended
III. THE SUPERIOR GLORY OF THE GOSPEL ABOVE THAT OF THE LAW
A. Was glorious: There was a glory associated with the giving of the law and the old covenant. At that time, Mount Sinai was surrounded with smoke, there were earthquakes, thunder, lightning, a trumpet blast from heaven, and the voice of God Himself (Exodus 19:16-20:1). Most of all, the glory of the old covenant was shown in the face of Moses and the glory of his countenance.
B. "And although the gospel came not into the world as the law, with thunder, lightning, and earthquakes; yet that was ushered in by angels, foretelling the birth and office of John the Baptist, and of Christ; by the great sign of the virgin’s conceiving and bringing forth a Son; by a voice from heaven, proclaiming Christ the Father’s only begotten Son, in whom he was well pleased." (Poole)
C. Exodus 34:29-35 describes the face of Moses and how he would veil it after speaking to the people. As glorious as the radiant face of Moses was, it was a fading glory: which glory was passing away. The glory of the old covenant shining through the face of Moses was a fading glory, but the glory of the new covenant endures without fading.
D. How will not the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious: If the old covenant, which brought death had this kind of glory, we should expect greater glory in the new covenant, which brings the ministry of the Spirit and life.
E. The Jewish dispensation was glorious. It bade a glorious Author.
Its object was glorious, viz., to unfold the infinite justice, purity, and majesty of God.
It was published in a glorious manner. But, notwithstanding all this, the glory
of the law sinks into nothing when compared with the gospel. The names
which are here applied to the law and the gospel show us at once the
propriety of this language. But the superior glory of the gospel may be
made clear by other considerations.
1. It offers greater blessings to man than were offered by the law. The
Mosaic dispensation had a reference principally to the present life, and
most of its promises were temporal promises. The gospel places within our
reach a share of that very joy which satisfies the Redeemer for “the travail
of His soul.”
2. It offers these blessings more extensivelyThe promises of the law were
confined to one nation, and even of this nation it was but a little remnant
that inherited the spiritual benefits of the dispensation under which they
lived. The blessings of the gospel, on the contrary, are thrown open to all
the world.
3. It has a greater influence on the hearts of men. The law had no power to
touch the heart, and to cause men to love and obey it. The gospel, on the
contrary, was no sooner published than it made glorious changes in the
characters and lives of multitudes who embraced it.
4. It has a glory which will last for ever.
5. It is a brighter display of the Divine law.
6. The old covenant had glory.
But it is far outshone by the glory of the new covenant,
just as the sun will always outshine the brightest moon.
Compared to the new covenant, the old covenant had no glory,
because of the glory that excels in the new covenant.
Conclusion:
How great is the privilege which we enjoy in living under the
dispensation of the gospel!
How great a debt of gratitude and praise does every Christian owe to his
crucified Lord!
How unwise are they who hope for pardon and salvation on the ground
of their partial obedience to the law of God!
How ignorant are they of the gospel of Christ who make the influence of
the Spirit the object of their scorn!
How anxiously should every hearer of the gospel desire that it may be
made the ministration of the Spirit to himself, that he may experience its
softening and purifying influence in his own heart!
____Some portions adapted from the works of C. Bradley, M. A.
