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How how is it? So it's very interesting about.
Chapter 3, verse one.
Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or need we, as some others, the pistols of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you? Err epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men? For as much as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart. And such trust have we through Christ to God. Word not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is God.
Who also have made us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the Spirit? For the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. But if the administration of death, written in an engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away, how shall not the administration of the Spirit be rather glorious?
Or if the ministration of the condemnation be glory, much more doth administration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect by reason of the glory that excelled. For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech.
And not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished, but their minds were blinded. For until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament, which veil is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart nevertheless.
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When it shall be, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
I think it's always good to notice the setting of the truth in the Scripture when we think of the burden that was on Paul's heart in connection with those in Corinth and how he had to write to them things that must have grieved them of carnality and the need for discipline and all this. And yet when we come to the second epistle, how he seeks to turn their hearts and occupy them with Christ.
And may Christ the object before their souls. It is true we have to take notice of those things that are often a hindrance to our growth, whether individually or even collectively in the assembly. But the great object of our hearts should always be to have a person before us. And I think this is very preciously brought before us in this particular chapter, and in this epistle, as I say, the second epistle when.
He writes to them, He seeks to encourage them. In the 5th chapter. 2 The love of Christ constraineth us, that we should not live unto ourselves, but unto him who died for us and rose again. And we do all need to have that fresh glimpse of the Lord Jesus.
As we have in the end of the chapter with open face, beholding the Lord. And then two, we need to have the Saints of God upon our hearts. He said ye are in our hearts.
Known and read of all men.
The high priest in Israel had the names of the children of Israel carried on his shoulders and upon his heart. And if we have a heart for the people of God, we also have them upon our hearts, seeking their good and their blessing as well as God's glory in connection with their lives. If I just mentioned this because I think this is beautifully brought out to us in this third chapter of Second Corinthians.
Someone has put it, they said that the first epistle is like God in righteousness.
Whereas in the second epistle we see God in his love, in this, in the blessed truth of restoration for the one who had to be put away.
There's a beautiful thought in the last verse of the first chapter. 2 not that we have dominion over your faith, but our helpers of your joy. For by faith he stands.
So he didn't take the place of having dominion over their faith. Or should we? But uh, we should be helpers of their joy and, uh, character of God is light and love. We bear those things in mind, realize that God is light. You can't have sin in His presence. By the glorious work of Calvary, He has taken up the question of sin and it has been settled that we might know the love that is in his heart.
They often sing justice had withstood the purposes of love, but I believe it's true also in a practical way in our own lives that their hindrance to our joy and what is it maybe things allowed in our lives that are hindering us from hindering into what's in the heart of God because God is a holy God as well as a loving God. God is light and God is love.
After his.
Rebukes in the first Epistle So beautiful to see his confidence in his brethren in the Corinthians.
As he says here, do we begin again to commend ourselves, or need we as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you? Ye are our epistles.
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Nice thought to be, uh, if we can go on in such a manner as that others can see something of Christ in us as an epistle. Uh, and we, we find that there are those that are not reading the word of God very much. So it's good if we who read the word of God manifest that spirit and that they can see Christ in our whole life and attitudes. And I think it's very beautiful to think of that ye are our epistle.
I asked myself this question. What kind of an epistle am I before others?
Searches our hearts, doesn't it?
It is a certain situation to teach us truth, doesn't he? And here it seems that they were those in Corinth. There were some that didn't like Paul's faithfulness in connection with what he brought before them in the first epistle. And he said, do we need a letter of commendation? But God uses that to show that a letter of commendation is necessary if one is not known, because holiness becomes God's house.
And when one comes who is not known, we need to be careful. There's a great deal of teaching and Christendom that we're only responsible for our own conduct, but we're also responsible for our associations.
I've sometimes said, if I told I told you I was a member of a Co communist society, but I didn't believe in communism, you would say, well, why would you be a member of that if you're if you don't believe in communism? How the world recognizes that associations mean something and they do in the things of God too. And truth and error can't be mixed together. So letters of commendation are simply a means by which we're careful as to who is received because it's not our table, it's the Lord's table.
I was in a certain place and the brother had asked for his place at the Lord's table. But the brother knew that he was associated with a group where there was evil doctrine. And uh, they said to him, well, are you aware that they are associated with a group where they hold evil doctrine? And he said, don't ask me what the group believe. Ask me what I believe myself.
He didn't seem to realize that association with evil defiles.
And the scripture is very clear. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
I suppose a letter of commendation.
Without it being put in words, points out that, uh, we are one.
And in Christ Jesus.
We have the same hopes and the same aims.
We hold and we teach the same doctrines and, uh.
There's a oneness.
In between the person who brings the letters and those who read it, you know, it's a in a, in a in a business, a man goes from one city to another and he's introduced, but it's a formal cold thing. A letter of commendation mentions the love of Christ often times and mentions that God is our father. We're all part of that family. So the letter of commendation opens up.
The situation when a when a person goes from one assembly to another and they have never been there before.
I feel that.
There are things in the letter of commendation that are not put into words, but that the very spirit of the letter.
Tells us many things.
It's based on the Word of God, for one thing.
Lovely to see the way it's worded there.
Verse two, ye are our epistle written in our hearts. Oh, that's different. It's not on paper there, is it? Not as it says.
Written not with ink, you know, something written with ink can be eradicated or destroyed, but if it's written in the heart, just referring back, you don't need to turn to it. But over in John's first the epistle or the Gospel of John in chapter 13.
We have a lovely little sock there that I've enjoyed. Uh, he says in verse 33, little children, yet a little while I'm with you. But he's not he's he was going to leave them. He shall ask you shall seek me. And as I said unto you, whither I go, you cannot come. So now I say to you, he's talking now to his own a new commandment. I give unto you that you love one another.
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As I have loved you.
There's your real test.
What is this I say to you I love you well, do I mean it is it in my heart? It was in the heart of the Lord Jesus as I have loved you, uh, that you love one another as I have loved you that he also loved one another. But then he furthers that by saying by this shall all know that ye are my disciples. That's how they're going to know whether truth where a true disciple of the Lord because of the manifested love that the heart of God that God put has put into our hearts.
By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have loved one for another. That little word if always comes in in connection with our responsibilities to show us that.
There are the ifs in our lives, there are no ifs with God. But there are many ifs with us, and we need to be reminded of that.
A letter of commendation isn't just a cold formality, as you're saying, it's the expression of love. It's a, it's not just saying, well, this brother is faithful and so on, but it's, it's an expression of love. And, uh, the world notices that. That's why it says in the second verse here, our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men. And, uh, when is a business meeting? People come together and they discuss common interests, But there ought to be a testimony, brethren, when we come together, and I believe there is.
There's a real love that exists among the people of God. A letter of commendation is an expression of faithfulness as to who is received. But there is also that bond of love that is expressed by it, and the world looks on.
By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have loved one to another, and remember what?
Abraham said to Lot when there was a disagreement about the.
Possession of the land and so on, he said. He said there shouldn't be any strife among us. We're brethren, he said. And he gave the first choice to his, uh, nephew Lot. Rather than continue the strike, he said, will you go ahead? You make the first choice. He'd rather settle it, giving up his own rights that that love might be maintained.
In the Epistle to Philemon, like a letter of commendation for an SMS by the apostle Paul. Very lovely written, isn't it? Brings out the heart of the amount of your uh, by leaving, as well as an estimate and all that transpired during the interim.
The mouth reveals what is in our heart, doesn't it? I'd look at Matthew 12 and 34, the last part of the verse, For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. Our mouth reveals what is in our heart, doesn't it?
So with our brethren, we speak of love. That's what's in our heart for our brethren, that love.
Words by themselves don't mean anything, but when they come out of love, they know it comes from the heart.
This is right back to Romans, doesn't it? With the heart man believeth under righteousness.
Mouth is made of confession, but there are many mouths but not too many hearts.
As our brother Reuben said, the whole epistle to the Philemon is really a letter of commendation in connection with on estimates. But what a lovely, uh, opening up of truth we have in that beautiful epistle. Short little epistle of one chapter.
I heard of a group where they just had a printed letter of commendation. If you want to go someplace, they just filled in the name. But that isn't so and shouldn't be so, brethren. There ought to be a personal side to it, and Paul could speak of it in that way.
And he wrote it for an example too, for we learn very much from that epistle to Philemon.
I heard it said that a letter of commendation 2 shows the heart or the the emotion of the assembly to another assembly is sending accommodation, of course about the individual. But the letter speaks of the assembly, one assembly to another. And I often enjoy hearing the letter accommodation from another assembly. Sometimes you don't hear of anyone from that assembly for some time and it's just in it's heart warming to hear it.
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When it says you uh, uh, a **** ***.
Definitely. It's the way we act.
Reflects what's in our heart. You know, we can't really hide, we can act, but it it wiser to just be ourselves.
Uh, if we're timid like Gideon, it says known and read people are sizing us up. And I think, uh, the Bible says we should do it in the fear of the Lord.
We can't really hide our basic character from other people, can we? So how important it is to lay onto these wonderful things like the verse, verse 14 and 15 in the previous chapter, that God has every provision made to strengthen us as He strengthened getting in spite of what we actually are.
There is a written letter. A lot of things can be said on paper, but there's the life that we live, as you said here, and that's what we have. For as much as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ, that wasn't something written within because it says it was something done by the Spirit of the living God. Their lives were a living epistle. There is that written letter that's necessary, as it mentions in the first verse, but there's also that which we live.
And that is what he takes up. And really the rest of the chapter, the written thing was one thing. The way we live is another thing. And it's known, right, of all men. People are watching us.
Paul says in Corinthians were a spectacle to the world and to angels and to men. Everybody is looking on. They know what we profess, but they watch how we live, don't they?
Any other question? Who were these Corinthians?
Just going back to the first epistle on the 6th chapter and again thinking of how he could say here manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ. Here was the where these Corinthians.
But look at the look at the condition they were in. Just go back to the 6th chapter of the first Epistle. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor affectionate, affect, feminine or abusers of mankind, thieves, covetous, and so on. He goes on. Then verse 11. But such were some of you.
Such for some of you, well, I, I think that's so beautiful as we think of Paul Speaking of East Corinthians now who had acted such for some of you. But ye are washed, ye are sanctified and you're justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. What a complete change for those Corinthians who were in such a condition. Now then, washed, sanctified, justified.
By the Lord Jesus and our by the Spirit of our God. And now he can say ye are our epistles. You Corinthians who once didn't deserve this. Now you've been washed and sanctified and brought into a place of is that not true of each one of us?
Again, I'm thinking of it as an individual, so I think it's very beautiful to see how Paul can say that they were his epistle because they had gone on.
Then acted upon his injunction and had been restored.
Yeah, it's been on the spot. I believe in the first chapter, Philippians in connection with you said because it had gone on.
Sometimes quote parts of scripture, but.
Philippians chapter one and verse 6.
Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
Even it is meat for me to think this of you because I'm going to read the marginal reading. Ye have me in your heart.
Inasmuch as both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you are all partakers of my grace. That Paul was convinced that God was going to complete what he had begun in them because they had Paul in their hearts, is that they held the truth in their hearts not just as an understanding, but as a practical thing. And so it manifested itself in the way that they behave themselves.
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The reason the law was written on tables of stone is really it's a picture of the natural heart, because in the coming day it says you take away the Stony heart out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh. The law made known God's requirements.
But man had neither the power nor the desire to live to please God. They that are in the flesh cannot please God. We read so it was written on tables of stone. But when we minister the truth to children of God, we're not writing on tables of stone. We're not saying you have to do this and you have to do that. Not that we have dominion over your faith. But we know that there is happiness and joy in the path of obedience and there is a heart in every believer that responds to the claims of Christ.
Is it a wonderful thing, brethren, that everyone who sits in this room who has really come to know the Lord as Savior has the very life of Christ within him, which is a life that desires to please God our Father?
And more than this, we also have the Holy Spirit who is the power for this. And that's what he is contrasting here. That is, He made known the truth to them. If He could minister it in such a way that the new man would be brought in, shall I say, in contact with the truth, there would be a response. And that's what He is bringing out here. And I think it's very beautiful. Not in tables of stone, He said, I'm not writing telling you something that the new man doesn't want to do. I'm telling you something the new man does want to do. The new man and every believer wants to please the Lord.
The new man and every believer responds to his claims and is drawn by his love. And more than that, we have all the power that's necessary because the very Spirit of God dwells in the believer as the power for our life. He shall receive power after that. The Holy Ghost has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me, and Jerusalem and Jetia to the end of every part of the earth. How wonderful the provision. And I think this is a very.
Precious way, sometimes we minister the truth as if well, there's no response, no desire in that person to please the Lord. There is may be covered up with a lot of rubbish, as it often is within us, but there is a desire in the heart of every believer because he has the life of Christ within him.
It's so beautiful to see here, so it speaks of the.
In that third verse.
For as much as you are manifestly declared to be the Epistles of Christ, Epistle of Christ ministered by us, not with ink, but in the spirit of the living God.
You follow that little thing out and you'll find the living God is connected with the Church of God also here He brings an honor individual, a living God. You know our names are not just written in heaven.
They're engraved there.
There they can never be erased.
Spoke to a man one time about that here, it says they're not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God. And he's Speaking of the course of an epistle here. But I was thinking of this, ask this man, this brother who was an engraver. I said when you engrave something in a, in a piece of granite or rock, can it be erased?
Never, never.
And we find that in Hebrews 12, don't we? Our names are engraven in glory. They're engraven there. Can they ever be erased? Never. But don't tell me that you can be saved and lost. You can't be.
If the work is all done, isn't it by a living God, a God who lives? So I think that's very beautiful in the ending of that verse, living God not in tables of stone, but in the fleshy tables of the heart.
When Moses first came down, we know he had the tables of stone, but he broke them because actually if we were under pure law, it would be nothing but condemnation. And so as we see later on in the chapter, the second time he brought them down same tables of stone, but they were put inside the ark and the blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat that was on top of the ark. And so God provided a way that He could go on with the people.
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That were guilty that didn't respond to his holy claims, but he provided a way of blessing and that's all through the precious blood of Christ. Very lovely the way it's brought out here. But I I think that's important to realize not in tables of silly because sometimes when we press truth upon our brethren, we can do as if we were pressing on tables of stone. We are brethren where if they're really children of God. The new man and every believer responds to these claims.
And that's why he says, and such trust have we through Christ, through God word. We feel very insufficient in ourselves, but we have that confidence that there is that new life that delights in pleasing God. Brethren, we're not even going to have a different new life when we get to heaven. We already possess the life of Christ. It says in Colossians, when Christ, who is our life shall appear.
And so we also appear with Him in glory. Love it now are we the children of God doth not yet appear. What we shall be, we shall appear. We shall be like Him. Isn't that a blessed thing? And as the truth is ministered to always bear that in mind, even though we feel very insufficient, and we are totally insufficient in ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God.
In First Corinthians 127 and 28, you have what my fickle human heart is basically in itself.
The foolish.
Thing of the world, the weak thing of the world, the face thing of the world, the despicable thing of the world. And what a miracle that God can say something like that.
And work his glory in it.
That's that's a real miracle.
God starts all over again, doesn't He? When he? It's not that he patches us up or improves us.
As it says in chapter 5, if any man be in Christ, he is in all things are passed away. Behold, all things are become you. This is what the Lord was trying to impress upon Nicodemus.
Nicodemus says you are. There's nothing any good in you that I can use. We have to start all over again. You have to be born again and this is what the Spirit of God does.
We become new creatures, new creations in Christ Jesus.
You know the tables and stones remind you somewhat of the UH-6 water pots and stove there in John chapter 2. You know the heart of Israel, just as.
Cold and different, but I'm actually fables of the heart is something that we can feel has feelings, watch, feel something. You know when when the word of God is ministered, what we feel is don't be brethren. It touches US1 was those tables of stone were external, but the other is internal. It's a new nature speaks of a new nature, doesn't it?
When you have an exercise of the hardest to our sinful condition, it's lovely how the Lord is able to commune with us. I was just looking at Job 42 few verses.
Starting in verse two, I know that thou canst do everything, and that no thought can be withholding from thee.
Who was he that hide it counsel without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that I understand not things too wonderful for me which I knew not, and that verse 6 Wherefore I am for myself, and repent in dust and ashes.
And then after that we see how the Lord is able to commune with Joe and give him the place that he originally gave at the beginning of the Book of Job.
Do you have to go through that?
Abhorring himself and realizing that he is nothing. And we see how this communion with the Lord is so wonderful. After that the Lord gives him so much more than he has from the start.
He does that with us too. We don't maybe get the things of this world so much, but we have rich blessings of the Lord. When we have realized where we've come from, the Word is done for us.
Well, the Lord alone can turn the water into wine, can't eat water in those water pots of stone. And that's, that's the way it was through the Old Testament. God was continually giving his word, but it was being put into water pots of stone, so to speak. But here was the one who could turn that water into wine. And so many of us have been brought up in Christian homes. There are children here that brought up in Christian homes. Maybe they're not saved, but fill the water pots with water.
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We bring the Word of God before them, but we can't change it to wine. Only the Lord can do that. And so, as they said in these meetings, God may use His word and turn the water into wine, and they get the knowledge of salvation of Christ as their Savior, and that Christ is sufficient for their life. A wonderful thing. But I believe sex is man's number. The number of the man of sin is 666. You know, it's the total of man, so to speak, all that he is.
But God alone can do that work, and He does. We're no better than anybody else. But in His wondrous grace we have received His Word, and He has turned that water of His word into wine, giving us joy and knowledge of God. Is our Father Christ as our Savior, the wonderful truth of the blessing that we're brought into? And that's what Paul, I believe, felt so insufficient in himself says not that we're sufficient of ourselves.
But our sufficiency is of God. That's why, brethren, when we even come together like this, we need to pray very much because only the Lord can give the right and suited word. Not only the Lord can use it to touch our hearts or anyone else's heart. And so we have to rely totally on Him, but how He delights to bless.
We all have to learn that efficient sufficiency can be himself. I just dropping over.
To the 12Th chapter of this epistle.
And verse 12.
Well, verse nine. And he said unto me, That is the Lord speaking to Paul, My grace is sufficient for thee.
For my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. In other words, Paul's sufficiency with Christ wasn't it.
That was all he needed and he had trials too. You know, he wasn't without them. We know we can read the history in the second epistle in the 11Th chapter and many other places. He had great trials and he besought the Lord that the that the the trials might be removed. But God said, my grace is sufficient for these. So Paul had to learn this and each one of us have to learn something of the sufficiency of Christ in our lives, do we not?
What do you think to call and learn that job had to learn job?
Was in very favored circumstances and Paul had to learn that those things that he counted gain had to count them, but lost but two. Umm, as Job said, I uttered things too wonderful for me. And so on that 12Th chapter, there he was buffered of Satan lest he be exalted because he'd received tremendous revelations caught up into the 3rd heaven. And so that even in that, that he, he needed grace because he there that chapter, that second, uh, the 12Th chapter, the 2nd epistle, you see such a range of experience seriously caught up in the third heavens, seeing things that were not lawful to be uttered. And what does he come down and he finds railing and strife and trouble. And so he needed grace.
I think the proper translation is a thorn for the flesh, wasn't it because he might be exalted. We're likely to be exalted if we learned a certain amount of the truth of God. We can think we're better than others. And so this wonderful revelation of truth was given to Paul and he might be exalted. We find a great deal of that and Christendom and get honors. Even they get honors in the world, but they get honors in the Church of God. But if we really learn the truth of God and communion.
It makes us go down in our opinion of ourselves and more and more wanting to exalt Christ. It's always so fine with Paul. He said he was the chief of sinners. Then he said he was least, he was the least of All Saints. Then he would let the Lord. He was less than the least of All Saints and he went lower still and said so I be nothing. And that's what we learned rather than in the school of God. In the schools of man. We get degrees and we get certain things that.
We can glory in that we have accomplished, but not so in the things of God teaches us that we are really nothing. And the beloved apostle had to say not that we're sufficient of ourselves, but he did find our sufficiency as of God.
Remember our brother Doctor Dodds saying that often he would speak to patients while he was he was a dentist, as perhaps some know, and he would take the occasion to speak to them as they were in the chair about the things of God.
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And he said one time he said sometimes I felt I wasn't just getting anywhere at all. And he said, I just have to slip behind the chair and lift up of my heart to the Lord and say, Lord, I'm not approaching this the right way. Show me how to talk to this person. And he said the Lord showed him and he spoke in a different way. Spirit of God touched the heart of that person and brought blessing. So it isn't just knowing the Bible and being able to quote verses.
It's, uh, feed me with food convenient for me. Only the Lord can give the right word at the right time. A word in season, a word fitly spoken, is like apples of gold and pictures of silver. We all have to learn this, brethren, or at least we should be learning it in the school of God.
Very beautiful here too, to see that says umm, the end of verse three, or verse, uh, five. But our sufficiency is of God then in verse six, who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament.
The, when we see that everything that we have is of God, that he is the one who has accomplished it all for us, that anything we may have was given us of God, uh, then we can use it Who has made us able ministers of the New Testament, not of, not of letter. I understand that was left out there, not of letter, but of spirit. For the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. So it's good if we met, if we minister in any way.
We should minister as that which is given by the Spirit of God. That's where our sufficiency is, not in ourselves. Not because we're more clever, or because we know more than than our opponent may know, but because it comes from God Himself.
Could somebody explain the term the New Testament? As many young people here, when you talk about the Old Testament from Genesis to Malachi, we talk about the New Testament from Matthew to Revelation and Mr. Darby's translation, it says the New Covenant.
Someone explained of your pastor really meant ministers of the New Testament and may be different from a Paul had in mind when you wrote it than from what we understand as you sit in our chairs.
We were in the Old Testament makeup.
God, it was God based on law. They said all that thou hast said we will do. And so they made a promise and Jacob made wrestled with the Angel and he wanted to bargain with God. Bless me and I will give you the attent of all that I have. And the natural inclination of man is to bargain with God. And so really that's the way Christendom has become. It's become a great religion of do to get to do something and you'll get something from God. What is the Lord said, umm, after the supper, he took the cup and he said, this is the New Testament or the new covenant in my blood.
It was just based on the ground of sovereign grace that the work of Christ on the cross. And so it's now not doing something to get something, but it's because we have something in Christ. It flows from the heart of God. It's not man going up to God, but the other way around.
Perhaps there's a little explanation of it in the 8th chapter of Hebrews.
Begin at the sixth verse. But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second for finding fault with them. He said, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel, and with the House of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers when I took.
Them by the ham to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they continued not in my covenant. And I will make with the House of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts, and I shall I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.
And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, No, The Lord for all shall know me from the least.
Even to the greatest I will be merciful, to their unrighteousness, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. And perhaps you could turn back to Ephesians chapter 2.
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Verse 11 This is speaking now Gentiles. Wherefore remember that he being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, which are called uncircumcision by that which is called a circumcision in the flesh, made by hands, that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of a promise, having no hope.
And without God in the world, but now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off and made nigh by the blood of Christ.
Well, the first covenant was the law, and it made everything conditional on obedience, and if they could keep God's holy requirements, then they would get the blessing, but they forfeited every right to that. But the New covenant or the New Testament is all not founded on something that man can do.
But on what the Lord Jesus has done and what he has accomplished. But it's good to remember that the law was given to the nation of Israel. It wasn't given to the Gentiles. That's why it says that we were without covenant. But there was also the promise that God made even before the law, and that was what was promised to Abraham. And thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And that the blessing was not made conditional on something that they could do, but through the promised seed.
I've often illustrated it. Perhaps an illustration helps both. And I have two boys, and I say, I'm going to give each one of you a new bicycle. And so one of them says, well, Dad, tell me what you'd like me to do, and I'll do it. And I'll be able to tell my friends I really worked for this bicycle, and I earned it myself.
Well, I say, that's quite a thing for you to undertake. You sure you can fulfill this? Well, he says, yes, I can. No, that's what Israel did at Mount Sinai. They said, yes, we can obtain the blessing on the ground of obedience. All that the Lord has spoken, we will do and be obedient. But I had first made a promise that I was going to give it to them unconditionally. I can't forget that. And so now one of them has placed himself under a condition.
Well, he breaks down entirely and he can't fulfill the conditions that he has said. Is he going to get the bicycle is or can the other boy who didn't ask for that condition say, well, I deserved it because I was a better boy? No, he's a he's guilty too. And so the time comes when I want to give him the bicycle, but they're both disqualified. None of them deserved it. They only are get going to get it because of what was in my heart for them.
Now if I can illustrate that Brandon, the Gentile was not made any covenants, but God had said, in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. He had promised blessing through the promised seed, not only to the nation of Israel, but all the families of the earth. And so when Israel breaks down, then the Lord Jesus went to the cross, and he bore not only the guilt of guilty Israelites, but we too, who are Gentiles who are outside.
The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all, Jew and Gentile, the Lord Jesus.
Bore our sins in his own body on the tree, and so we sometimes were far off, or brought nigh through the blood of Christ. So Jew and Gentile are going to all be brought into blessing on the ground of that first promise that God made. In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
That you will never be able to say lie earned it, just as that boy can never say, well, I earned the bicycle. Someone steps in and bears all his guilt as a disobedient boy. And now the Father says, I can give it to you, but never say you earned it. You didn't earn it. Can it? Can we or Gentiles say we earned it? No thought through the blood of Christ. We're all Jew or Gentile brought nigh. So when the Lord instituted the supper, he said this is the blood of the covenant.
The only blessing is founded upon the precious blood of Christ. Israel are going to come into that blessing in a future day. And when God does that, then He's going to put His law in their hearts and then their minds really write them and their sins and iniquities Remember no more.
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They will receive a new life and they'll live to please God in the Millennial day, but not because they earned it all because of what Christ has done.
So if I'm answering the question, I answer the blessing, whether you or Gentile is the New Testament, the Testament, or the covenant or the promises, it's all founded upon what Christ and what He has done. We weren't under the covenant, just like one boy was not under a promise to try and earn the bicycle, but he gets it on the same ground on the same basis as the other boy. They both come in on one common ground. They didn't deserve it, and they get it because another took their place and bore their.
Guilt and punishment for them.
Isn't that beautiful too? To think you're mentioning Gordon, the, uh, just dropping back to the first chapter here that we're, uh, reading. For all the promises of God in him are yay and Amen.
The glory of God by us. So we're not resting on promises, we're resting on a work that is all done. But God uses that term, doesn't he?
Promises for all the promises of God in him are ye, and Amen. And how beautiful to think. Not only so it says unto the glory of God by us. And then he goes on a little bit further, and he says, Now he which establisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God. He goes back to the source. Who is it that has done this for us? God has if, if I have eternal life, if you have eternal life, if you have joy.
God has imparted that to us, to us, to each one of us. We didn't earn it, as Gordon has already said. But then notice what he says, verse 22 of that chapter. Who hath also sealed us.
And given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts, I.
Again, we go back to that thought of the hearts, the hearts, the hearts. God keeps that before us, doesn't He? Because that's the source. And God's heart of love has been extended to our hearts and all the truth of God and all that we enjoy is only because we have it in our hearts. Even the children of Israel, I understand they, they were given a law, They had said they would keep it, but they failed in it and their hearts were not in it.
God honored any of the Old Test Old Testament Saints if they had, if their hearts were right, not because they kept a law, but because their hearts were right before God. And so that's the necessary thing, isn't it? With the heart again, is what that which accepts Christ?
So many, many more thoughts on that. Is it the practical effect of a lot of bad teaching is that they're not ministering?
The New Testament, but that they are practically assuming that the Gentile is under law, something we were never under. And so there's a great deal of promises making promises, commitments, covenants. And that's why there's such a revival of what we hear of covenant theology and promise keepers and so on. And it really speaks as if the blessing of the believer rests not in the past. We have faith that's ministering to a willing heart, but the commitments and promises that I make to God, we were never under those covenants.
And God will have to take up with the Jews and the tribulation to show just what the result will be of Jacob's bargaining with God. He struck a bargain with God, and he's going to learn the time of Jacob's trouble, the bitter experience of having done that. And so he will be brought to an end of himself. And at that time the Lord will appear in deliverance. And in a practical sense that that can be the experience, though it is not Christian experience. It can be our experience to learn that if we bargain with God in that way.
And so Paul is showing here that really he is ministering, as you said, brother, little to a willing heart. My son, give me thy heart. And so it's, uh, going on in a pathway of obedience and submission to the Lord. It's not making commitments and covenants and promises to God, nor is it following a set of rules. But if the heart is right, then as we've often heard, then every word of God becomes a command to a heart.
Just might say this, that the law is good if the man use it lawfully and so that somebody is taken up with that system of things, that is by commitments and rules.
Uh, then we can take out the Word of God and we can show that it's not possible for a man to keep the law, but it's only to cut down and to show that a man that no flesh will glory in God's presence.
00:55:06
It says in Galatians 2, the law was our schoolmaster until Christ came. That's really the way the law was a schoolmaster. So as I sometimes said, maybe the teacher can keep a certain amount of order as long as he or she is in the classroom. She walks out and everything goes into disorder. But walking back in, there's a measure of order restored. But the children's hearts aren't changed by the teacher being there, but they are controlled a certain amount.
And that's why it says the law is good. If a man used it lawfully. You could properly say to an unsaved man, thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. That may convict him, but he'll never save him. He needs to get a new life. And then he won't take the Lord's name in vain because he loves that blessed Savior. He died for him. And his reason for not taking is not because the law says that, but because the name of the Lord Jesus is precious to him, and he honors him.
So that we're not under law, but we're under grace. But the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
In Galatians 3/8 it said God preached the gospel unto Abraham. That's the reason why Abraham will always be a picture. Not that he was the first, but a person who was saved by faith, who by believing the gospel exactly the same as us. He had a heart just like you and me.
I think the Fathers, especially the patriarchs in Genesis, they were under grace just the same as real.
Good, because the promises to them are absolutely uncondition.
They they run to like us. We're under grace. We're also under discipleship. We we have two sets of promises.
We have promises made of blessings, if we have been.
There is a thought, of course, in Christianity, I am come that they might have life, that they might have it abundantly because, uh, in the Old Testament, even though there was a new life in those who had faith, they still didn't, uh, have what we have that now, since the, uh, Lord Jesus has accomplished that work and he's gone up on high and the spirit has been given, uh, it's probably best brought before us in Galatians. Maybe we should just turn to that just to get the thought.
Galatians, just a moment. I think it's the uh, 4th chapter. Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be Lord of all, but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so, we when we were children were in ******* under the elements of the world, but when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them, that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
And because ye are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts. Crying, Have a father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son, and if a son, than an heir of God through Christ.
He takes up the possession of the Old Testament, saying something like a child born to the royal family. He's in the family all right, but he doesn't really enter into what his position is. But he has been born into that family. But the time comes when he's publicly declared to be the heir to the throne. He's not a different person, but he has an entirely different position and enjoyment because now he knows what his portion is.
And so those under the law had new life, but we couldn't say that they had life in a risen Christ. And what the Lord meant when he said, I am come that they might have life is and that they might have it more abundantly or abundantly, isn't a certain character of Christian life that some are living and not others? It's the contrast between those who had life in the Old Testament and those who have life in the New Testament since the work of Christ has been accomplished and the Holy Spirit has been given.
Oh, how much more blessed our position. We say have a father. They couldn't say that. They didn't enter into that. They didn't know the liberty. Just as the boy born into the royal family, he doesn't know his position, but he's in it. He doesn't know it. But the time comes when he's publicly declared to be the heir to the throne and all the light and all the liberties and joy of his position. Now he enjoys them. And the Spirit of God uses this to show the difference between an Old Testament.
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Saying to the New Testament saying, and isn't it wonderful, brethren, we know our possession, we can call God our Father, we can walk before him in holy liberty and more. We have the Spirit of God indwelling us as the power.
For our enjoyment and to lead us into all truths that we might know and enjoy these things. I think it's good to see this. The Old Testament Saints had life, but not abundant life as we have.
We began with Jesus. The bread of life is given to be our daily food. Within us dwells that well from heaven. The Spirit of our God. Lord tis enough. We ask no more that thy grace around us pours It's rich and unexhausted store, and all its joy is ours.
Is that we don't have any more to receive. We've re received in Christ all things that contribute to life and godliness. We're not waiting for a promise. We have it. But we have the Spirit of God within to make it good. And we need Christ brought before our souls. And that's Jesus, the bread of life. And that's what the ministry is. It's not as we've been reading, the graving of rules on a heart of stone.
Or to me, to live as Christ.
And to die and gain a lovely position. Paul's cup attained to their me to live is Christian hymn #1 I'm sorry.
#15 all that we are as things on earth, all that we hope to be.
When Jesus comes and for ignorance, we owe it all today #15.
Any reason I'll I'll.
Umm, where do you get the auto book or anything? Uh-huh.
OK.