Sermon Handout
Series Title: L.U.V.
Sermon Title: #3-Love’s Ultimate Victory
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 3: 12-18
February 14, 2010
I. M________ had this kind of relationship with God., v. 13
When Moses came away from interaction with God, his F_______ radiated
II. We often M________ having this kind of relationship with God, vv. 14-15.
‘dull,’ - “petrified like stone”, ’blind, or ignorant.’ They couldn’t S_______ the truth, or because they simply can’t understand the truth.
God gave the OT to instruct His people in how to live, but it was never to take the place of a personal, intimate F________________ with God.
III. God made a W________ for you to have this kind of relationship with Him, v. 14b, 16
V. 14, ‘taken away’ - unveil; remove the veil, so you can see
In Jesus, the God of all the universe came to earth in B__________ form. He had relationships with people. Which is what He wants with you and me.
V. 16, ‘turns’ - revolves.
‘taken away’ is different from the previous word. It means that an A____________ has been lifted, and we are free to move and live in a loving personal relationship with God through His Son, Jesus.
IV. You will be B_______________ in this kind of relationship with God, vv. 17-18.
“there is freedom.” In a loving relationship with Christ, we have the freedom to find M_________ in life, and joy and love and comfort.
2. “we ...reflect the Lord’s glory.”
B__________ Camp
“[we] are being transformed into His likeness.” Like a butterfly is transformed from a caterpillar, he wants to C______________ our lives from slavery to sin, into a victorious life in relationship with Him.
Because God L___________ us, He wants to give us ultimate victory over sin and rebelliousness and destructive behavior.
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Sermon
Series Title: L.U.V.
Sermon Title: #3-Love’s Ultimate Victory
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 3: 13-18
Scripture
13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away.
14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away.
15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.
16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (NIV)
Introduction
Well, I don’t really have to define the word, ‘victory,’ do I? If you keep up with the NFL, then you know that the New Orleans Saints won the victory in the Super Bowl last Sunday. If you’ve ever played any sport, then you have experienced a victory.
Well, I’ve never been much on sports. When I was in the 10th grade, some of the older students started a chess club, and I joined it. I had learned how to play chess in the 5th grade. I would play at lunch time, and any other spare few minutes I could find. I checked out books from the library that taught how to play better.
So the chess club decided it would sponsor a high school chess tournament. You had to win two games against your opponent to advance. Well, I won pretty easily all the way to the semi-final round. My opponent was an 11th grade guy, who was pretty smart. He came over to my house for the first game, and we sat down to play. And he was one of those thinkers. Our first game went for two hours. And I lost it. He came over a few days later to play our second game. And I guess I played well, and I won it. So, I went from sadness to excitement, So, we had to play a tiebreaker. He came over again, and we sat down to play. We began pretty basically, and after 20 minutes or so, it hit me that I was playing poorly. He was making all kinds of attacking moves, and I was running away, and I knew that it wouldn’t be long before the game would be over. And then it happened. He made a move that was not an attacking move. And it wasn’t a defensive move either. Maybe he was setting up for something down the road. But as I studied the board, I realized that I had put my pieces into very strategic positions early in the game. And even though he’d been chasing me around, everything was ready. And in 5 or so moves, I had won the game. I went on to the final round against the valedictorian, and though I was worried, I went on to win the victory.
It’s exciting to win, isn’t it?
I believe that God wants each and every person to win in life.
1 John 5:4-5 says "for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.
5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God."
Love’s Ultimate Victory is that we can be in a personal, intimate, love relationship with God through faith in Jesus.
I. Moses had this kind of relationship with God., v. 13
13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away.
From Exodus 34: 28-35, we learn that Moses would come before the Lord. He spoke to God face to face. He is called a friend of God. Moses had a close personal love relationship with God.
And when Moses came away from that interaction with God, his face radiated. The word for ‘shine/radiant’ comes literally from a word that refers to animal horns, which come out of the animal’s head. As people looked at the sun’s rays, they compared them to horns. When kids draw a picture of the sun, they almost always draw a circle, then they draw the sun’s rays all around the circle, which look like horns. So, this word came to be used to speak of something shining like the sun.
Whenever Moses ended his time alone with God in the Tent of Meeting, his face shone like the sun. And it got to the point that Moses had to cover his face with a veil, because the people noticed how much his face shone when he came from being with God, but they could also see that radiance begin to fade, until he went back into the Tent of Meeting to be with God. So, he wore a veil, so that neither the radiance, nor that lack of radiance would affect how the people received the instruction from God that he passed on to them.
So, Moses had a close personal intimate love relationship with God.
II. We often miss having this kind of relationship with God, vv. 14-15.
14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away.
15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.
The word, ‘dull,’ here literally means “petrified like stone.” The word can be translated, ’blind, or ignorant’ meaning that they couldn’t SEE the truth, or because they simply can’t understand the truth.
So, Paul is saying that from the time of Moses all the way to his day, whenever the Law was being read, a veil covered their hearts.
All the people could hear were the rules and regulations of the Law. A list of things they could and couldn’t do. And they could not get it, that God wanted them to have a love relationship with Him.
God gave the OT to instruct His people in how to live, but it was never to take the place of a personal, intimate fellowship with God. Whenever we substitute the doing of spiritual actions for intimate fellowship with God we are doing the same thing that they did with the Law.
But you know what? We often do it anyway. Here in the Bible Belt, many of us have been in church all our lives. We’ve heard the Scripture read since we were babies. And somehow we still reduce our faith to a list of things we need to do that are right, and a list of wrong things we need to avoid.
And as long as we go to church once a week, and help people when they need it, and, as long as we don’t get drunk, and act dumb, steal, or hurt anybody, then we’re good, Christian people.
But so many good, Christian people don’t read their Bibles, or talk to God in prayer, or really experience God’s presence in their lives. And maybe we think our religious business means that we’re being faithful, but it often makes us feel like we’ve done our duty, but it really keeps us from relating to God in a close, intimate way.
Sometimes I wish that the church just had 1 or 2 meetings per week, like worship and Bible study, and then had a way of encouraging and keeping members accountable to be spending time alone with God, and living out their faith daily.
Our relationship with God needs to be like our relationship is with the person we fall in love with. You know how that relationship is: you want to talk to the person, you want to BE with the person. But we often miss that.
III. God made a way for you to have this kind of relationship with Him, v. 16
14...because only in Christ is it taken away.
‘taken away’ means "unveil; remove the veil, so you can see"
I got an email the other day about the unveiling of a new product. You may not be as much into technology or computer-y kind of stuff like I am, but the new gadget from Apple Computers is called the iPad. It’s about the size of a magazine and about 1/4 of an inch thick. All you see is a screen, and I think there’s only 1 button on it. On the screen, there are pictures, which we call icons. You touch one of these icons and it runs a computer program. For example, if you want to write a letter or a book, you tap on a certain icon, and at the bottom of the screen, a keyboard will appear, and a white space appears at the top, representing a piece of paper. You type on the top of this screen, just like typing on a typewriter, and the words come onto your piece of paper. If you have a document that is 100 pages, and you are on page 1, you just put your finger on the side of the page and slide your finger over, and it will flip pages for you. I watched about 1.5 hours of the 2+ hour unveiling of this new gadget. And the company is very excited about unveiling this product.
And Paul says that the lack of understanding about the kind of relationship that God wants us to have is ’unveiled’ in Christ.
Jesus came to earth to die for our sins, and to teach us about God and His kingdom, but an incredible thing happened when Jesus came to earth. Paul writes in Col 2:9, For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity, or Godhead, lives in bodily form,” NIV.
Do you know what that means? I don’t know if we really get that. Listen: In Jesus, the God of all the universe came to earth in bodily form. He lived among men. He walked with men. He talked with men. He sat down and ate with men. He celebrated with men. He laughed with men. He cried with men. He was with people when they were sick. He was with people when their loved ones had died. He called some of them His friends.
He had relationships with people. Real relationships. Which is what He wants with you and me.
16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
‘turns’ means ’revolves.’ It’s not the exact same as the word, ‘repent,’ that means ‘to change your mind,’ but it literally means ‘to turn around’ It’s like you’re facing one way, and you just pivot completely around the other way.
When we are living in our sin, we’re going away from God. But when we turn around to the Lord, which we do when confess our sin and ask for God’s forgiveness, and we invite Christ to be in control of our lives, when we turn to the Lord that way, he says, the veil is ‘taken away.’ This word, ‘taken away’ is different from the previous word. It means that an anchor has been lifted. And we are free to move and live in a loving personal relationship with God through His Son, Jesus.
God made a way for us to be in right relationship with Him.
IV. You will be blessed in this kind of relationship with God, vv. 17-18.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (NIV)
When we have the kind of intimate relationship with God that He wants us to have, the Holy Spirit, who lives in every believer, is able to carry out His work. What all that includes is another whole series of teaching, but let’s just see what Paul reminds us of here.
1. He says, first, “there is freedom.”
Sin makes us slaves—slaves to wrong thoughts, attitudes, and destructive behaviors. I have never been addicted to drugs, but it is my understanding that people who are, are slaves to it. Their bodies and minds crave the feeling they get. So much that they want that feeling no matter what the cost. If they lose family and friends, it doesn’t matter. If they have to steal, it doesn’t matter. If they have to kill to get it, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is to get that feeling. In that loving relationship with Christ, we have the freedom to find meaning in life, and joy and love and comfort.
2. Second, “we ...reflect the Lord’s glory.”
Because we have this love relationship with Jesus, we don’t put ourselves first. We put Him first. And when we look in a mirror, we see a reflection of Him.
When a civilian enters the military, they go through boot camp. It’s my understanding that in boot camp, the individual is broken down, and they are retrained to see themselves as part of the unit. They are conditioned to be disciplined to obey the commands of their superiors. In a sense, they stop seeing themselves as they were before boot camp, and when they look into a mirror, they see the soldier they have become, and the qualities that are part of that.
As a believer in Christ, we are to reflect Him. And that comes about because, as we submit to Him, He leads us through a boot camp of His own. Paul says, “[we] are being transformed into His likeness.” Like a butterfly is transformed from a caterpillar, he wants to change our lives from slavery to sin, into a victorious life in relationship with Him.
Because God loves us, He wants to give us ultimate victory over sin and rebelliousness and destructive behavior.
Invitation
If you have not trusted in Jesus as your Savior and Lord, you can’t begin to have this victory. You can’t have this intimate, love relationship with God through Christ.
If you are a believer in Christ, you may not be experiencing true freedom, because of some sin that you allow into your life. Or, you may not reflect His glory, because you’re not being changed into His likeness. You’re just going through the motions of religious behaviors, and you’re not developing your relationship with Jesus the way you need to. Start looking at Jesus the way you do a husband or wife, son or daughter, mother or father, or best friend. Begin living your life like Jesus is standing right beside you all the time...because He is. Put Jesus first in your life. Make a commitment to God that Jesus is going to be more important to you than anyone or anything else in your life. Nothing else will do. When He is, you will have love’s ultimate victory.
