Pastor Jason will be sharing from a passage where the Apostle Paul talks about having unveiled faces.
Enjoy this message? Consider visiting Ravenna Church of the Nazarene where Pastor Jason is serving as the Senior Pastor. Have a prayer need? Want to share something with Pastor Jason? Send The Dirt Path Pastor a message. Linktree: https://linktr.ee/thedirtpathpastor
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Pastor Jason will be sharing from a passage where the Apostle Paul talks about having unveiled faces.
Enjoy this message? Consider visiting Ravenna Church of the Nazarene where Pastor Jason is serving as the Senior Pastor. Have a prayer need? Want to share something with Pastor Jason? Send The Dirt Path Pastor a message. Linktree: https://linktr.ee/thedirtpathpastor
Help spread the gospel through this podcast by subscribing, leaving a review, and sharing this episode.
Masks can be fun. Veils have a place. They can also be used to hide. Hiding protects an individual from being easily recognized, think Batman, but not Superman. But that hiding can also be negative, preventing others from really knowing someone.
The enemy of our souls is busy at work trying to keep us masked and veiled. He does not want us to see the full truth, which keeps us trapped in sin, guilt, and shame.
In our passage today, Paul is going to share how to unveil our faces and see the miracle of God’s grace in its fullness.
2 Corinthians 3:7-18(CSB)
Now if the ministry that brought death, chiseled in letters on stones, came with glory, so that the Israelites were not able to gaze steadily at Moses’s face because of its glory, which was set aside, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry that brought condemnation had glory, the ministry that brings righteousness overflows with even more glory. In fact, what had been glorious is not glorious now by comparison because of the glory that surpasses it. For if what was set aside was glorious, what endures will be even more glorious.
Since then, we have such a hope, we act with boldness. We are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from gazing steadily until the end of the glory of what was being set aside, but their minds were hardened. For to this day, at the revealing of the old covenant, the same veil remains; it is not lifted, because it is set aside only in Christ. Yet still today, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts, but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.
This is the Word of God.
For the people of God.
Thanks be to God.
In this passage, Paul is talking about the Law brought down by Moses, written by God, and shared with the Israelites. It contained the Ten Commandments and the process to make amends when God’s laws are broken. But at the end of verse 7, Paul says that has been “set aside.” That phrase means rendered idle or unemployed.
Paul is contrasting the letter of the Law vs life through Jesus. The Law was words chiseled on a rock. It revealed God’s will and standard for being a good human being, but knowing the standard did nothing to provide the cure. Human hearts are incapable of keeping these rules, and the Law cannot provide the life necessary to make it possible. Even if all the rituals were followed, they would have to do them again. Think of a lamp, it produces light in the darkness, but the lampshade casts shadows and limits the brightness of the light. And now, because of Jesus, that lamp is on outside in the daylight. Where the Law could not produce the cure, the blood of Jesus did. The blood of Jesus came from life, the Life, and has the power to wash away sin and cleanse hearts to the uttermost, transforming hearts that were strangers of God to sons and daughters of God.
Verses 12 through 16 continue Paul’s thought on the Law verse the Life. The Law was still a lamp; it shined light on the need for a remedy. While it pointed to a remedy, the shadows of human failure, shame, and guilt locked hearts in unbelief. However, in verse 16, Paul says, “But whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.”
Listening to this, we can form the false assumption that the Old Testament kills, and the New Testament gives life. And that would lead us to focus solely on the New Testament because the Old Testament is useless. This is false, remember Paul wrote to Timothy, “All scripture is God-breathed and profitable.” The Old Testament, including the Law, reveals the same heart of God as the New Testament. Faith in Jesus allows Christ to remove the veil from our minds to see the depth of God’s love. Believing in Jesus is the key to interpreting the Old Testament as well as the New Testament.
Verses 17 and 18 say, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.” Paul dumps a lot in these two verses, but they are so important.
Before Jesus, we would look into the mirror knowing our reflection should reflect God, but we are unable to see how it was possible because of the veil over our eyes. With faith in Jesus, we now stand before the same mirror seeing the image of God as the Holy Spirit is transforming us into His image. The role of the Holy Spirit is to transform followers of Jesus, reproducing His life in us. Not us doing it ourselves through rituals and rules, but the Holy Spirit in us, raising us up to God’s standard.
Notice how Paul begins verse 18 with, “We all.” Paul is urging the Corinthian Christians, as well as us, to experience freedom from guilt and shame through the blood of Jesus, and to experience the full power of Christ’s salvation through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Not a select few people, but “we all.”
That is the truth the enemy wants to keep us from discovering, salvation through Jesus which is full and free. The crazy thing is the enemy simply keeps us trapped by using the veil over our eyes. He did not put the veil there; it is not in his power to do so. The truth is the veil over our face is a result of our own heart. Sinful actions can cause blockage, but the real issue is our own hearts that are saturated in unbelief.
For those outside the faith, the veil is over your eyes. You know your life does not match what God wants, and you feel the condemnation and judgment. So, you either try to deny it or ignore it. The enemy helps to keep you trapped behind this veil.
For those in the faith, the enemy keeps us focused on “we have to sin every day,” “if I just follow all the rules,” or “If I just work hard enough” then I will surely please God. But for some reason, our image still does not match the image in the mirror.
Believe in Jesus and the power of His blood! The veil over our faces will be lifted. We do not have to be trapped in our guilt. We do not have to live under judgment and condemnation. There is freedom in Jesus. With Jesus, we do not have to work harder, jump through hoops, or live in a status less than full salvation. Jesus gives us the Holy Spirit who works through our surrender to birth a new heart in us and molds us into the image of God.
Are you living with a veil over your face? Are you living by the Law or serving in love through grace? You can live as a son or daughter of God, all you have to do is have faith in Jesus, trusting the Holy Spirit to breathe His life into you.