Epistle of Second Corinthians #3A

The Great System of God for the New Covenant (Chapter 3)

In no way does 2-Cor. 3 say that the Old Testament or God's Law has been done away

Fred R. Coulter—June 9, 2018

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Greetings, everyone! Welcome to Sabbath services. We're going to continue, after quite a few Sabbaths without going through 2-Corinthians. This will help more complete, a verse-by-verse study of all the New Testament.

I got a nice letter from a woman the other day. She said that she really learned a lot from the Hebrew series. That's one of our longest ones: 41 studies verse-by-verse. She said, 'I'm getting into Romans. I'm learning so much.' That's what it's for. There are different ways we learn:

• we learn by reading through sometimes
• we learn by comparing Scriptures
• we learn by Old Testament/New Testament
• we also learn by repeat in what we've already covered

When you come back to it at a later date, you're bringing with it everything else you have covered from the last time you read it up to the second time. A lot of things come out when that takes place.

2-Cor. 3:7 and 14 says done away in the King James Version. Those two words are the Protestants favorite. As we will see, that is incorrect. If you look in the Faithful Version, the last line in v 7 is set aside, and then v 14 is telling you it's not removed.What on earth is this talking about? The Protestants believe this is the basis for getting rid of the Old Testament completely. Let's understand something before we get into it, so that you will see one of the differences in the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.

2-Corinthians 3:7: "Now if the ministry of death, which wasengraved in stones, came into being with glory…" The ministry of death means that they had in the Old Covenant the power of executing those for capital crimes!

Where did that come from and why is it different than the Church? Gen. 9 is where we find where God gave to the nations capital punishment, executing those who do crimes worthy of death.

This is the covenant that God made with all the nations and all the creation after the Flood. Notice what He says:

Genesis 9:5: "And surely the blood of your lives will I require. At the hand of every animal will I require it, and at the hand of man. At the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoever sheds man's blood, his blood shall be shed by man, for He made man in the image of God" (vs 5-6).

We don't find that in the earlier chapters of the book of Genesis. Apparently, as far as we're able to understand from Genesis, God continued to live in the Garden of Eden, and had the entrance protected with the cherubim. That actually turned out to be a type of the future tabernacle and temple with the cherubim. Also, they could come to the east gate where the cherubim were, and there they could be instructed by God. The tabernacle and temple faces east, and God is to come into the temple from the east.

This brings capital punishment, with the death sentence for those who commit crimes worthy of death. Exo. 20 is where this whole system was given to Israel. Every nation on earth has that authority, whether they use it or not, that's up to the nation. The difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant is that the Old Covenant was for the nation of Israel. Israel did not have power outside of its own boundaries, unless God said to go to war and eliminate that one.

Just like today, what is one of the big problems that we have? Every nation is sovereign and within the geographical borders of that nation there is to be one set of laws. How close they are to God's laws or not, that's not the question.

You cannot have two sovereigns within one geographical area. Where do we see how that works out today? Islam! They are a political system with their wrap of religion around them. Even the father can kill the daughter if she dates an infidel. That's called 'an honor death.'

What conflict does that present with us here? It's against the laws in the United States and other countries for individuals to execute the death penalty against someone, because God gave that to the government, to all nations!

In Exo. 20 we have the giving of the Ten Commandments in glory and power. Even Moses was given the privilege of seeing the backside of God in His glory; but he couldn't see His face.

Exo. 21 is part of the civil law. Remember that in the Old Covenant you have religious law and civil law. Here's part of the civil law:

Exodus 21:14: "But if a man comes presumptuously upon his neighbor to slay him with guile, you shall take him from My altar so that he may die." There is no judgment given that you cannot execute him, not even if he grabs hold of the horns of the altar.

Verse 15: "And he that strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. And he that steals a man and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death. And he that curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. And if men strive together, and one strikes another with a stone, or with his fist, and he does not die, but is confined to his bed; if he rises again and walks abroad upon his staff, then he that struck him shall be set free. Only he shall pay for the loss of his time and shall cause him to be completely healed" (vs 15-19). Not like you have it today!

Then it goes on and gets into thievery and things like that a little later. But this the ministry of death for capital crimes!

Let's see that it applies to all nations and that the Church is to honor those civil authorities. We'll see something in Romans that's very interesting, too, because a lot of people say, 'Paul didn't mention the Sabbath.' That's true, but yet, he did. I want you to think about the power of the Roman government. It was an absolute dictatorship. God did not say to rebel against it. He did not say that you do not have to be subject to it.

Romans 13:1: "Let everyone be subject to the higher authorities because there is no authority except from God… [all the nations receive their authority from God] …and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God; so then, the one who sets himself against the authority is resisting the ordinance of God…" (vs 1-2). That is deliberate rebellion against it.

• What if they enact a law that's contrary to the laws that God wants us to keep?
• What if they come and try and force us to keep it?
• We are not to go against God!
  • that's how persecution comes
  • that's how martyrdom comes

"…and those who resist shall receive judgment to themselves" (v 2)—two judgments:

• from the authorities
• from God

If it's really rebellion, rather than standing for the Truth, in spite of what the authorities tell you, you're going to have a judgment from God as well.

Verse 3: "For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil works.… [today you see what happens when it's all turned around backwards] …Do you desire not to be afraid of the authority? Then practice good, and you will have praise from it."

In other words, if you love God, keep His commandments and do the things that are right, regardless of what society you're living in, in the world, you will be able to get along because you will be considered a good person by them. Has anybody come knocking on your door to arrest you recently for:

• Sabbath-keeping? No!
• Holy Day-keeping? No!
• rejection of Christmas? No!
• rejection of Sunday, Easter, etc.? No!

That used to be what they did! Actually execute against the Churches of God!. That's pretty much the story of all the churches in the Alps, later known as the Waldensians, also known as the Boudois, and the Albigensians.

The way the Catholic Church did it was that they would have the civil authorities kill them after the religious authorities judged them. Even the Catholic Church itself did not execute the death penalty in the form of a regular Catholic ceremony to kill people. They left it to the Catholic civil authorities.

Verse 4: "For he is a servant of God to you for good.… [What if there were no police? How safe do you think you would be?] …But if you are practicing evil, have fear! For he does not wear the sword in vain because he is a servant of God, an avenger for wrath to the one who is practicing evil. Consequently, it is necessary to be subject to authority, not only because of wrath, but also because of conscience. For this cause, you are also obligated to pay tribute; for they are servants of God, continually engaged in this very thing" (vs 4-6).

Where does that go back to? Israel's rebellion against Samuel wanting a king! What did God say? 'I'm going to give you a king, and he's going to do this, he's going to do that, he's going to do other things, and he is going to take a tenth!' In the case of Solomon, he took so much more. In the case of Rehoboam, he said, 'My little finger's going to be heavier than my father's thigh.'

But the rebellion against Rehoboam was from God, because God said He was going to take the tribes away from Rehoboam. You can look at that and look at how this country was formed, and that obviously was from God. The Brits never have gotten it. They still look down upon us as 'the colonists.'

Verse 7: "Therefore, render to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor. Do not be indebted to anyone for anything, unless it is to love one another. For the one who loves another has fulfilled the Law" (vs 7-8).

Let's read on and we will see that Paul did include the Sabbath, without naming it.

Verse 9: "Because it says, 'You shall not commit adultery. You shall not commit murder. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. You shall not lust.' And if there be any other commandment…"

• Does that include the Sabbath?
• Does that include the first commandment?
• How can you conscientiously do the ones ahead of it unless you had the right God?
• unless you kept the first four commandments?

"…it is summed up in this saying, even by this standard: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'" (v 9).

They'll say, 'That doesn't say love God.' If you keep the Sabbath, and you do what is good and you do things that are right—because you love God, serve Him, and keep the Sabbath—is that not love toward your neighbor? Even those whom you don't meet? Yes! Why? Because you're not doing anything against them!

Verse 10: "Love does not do any wrong to its neighbor; therefore, love is the full expression of God'sLaw."

Anybody remember 1-John 5? For this is the love of God that we keep His commandments! So, you see how all of this ties together. You know if a Protestant comes to you next time and says that Jesus didn't mention the Sabbath.' Let's read it: "…any other commandment…" (v 9).

• Is the Sabbath another commandment?
• What do you do on the Sabbath that is loving your neighbor?
• You're learning how to love God and serve Him, and you are good to your neighbor!
• Have you robbed any of your neighbors lately?
• Have you torn down his fence?
• Have you committed adultery with his wife or daughters?
• No!

When you come on the Sabbath, you learn to love God and keep His commandments, so therefore, that is translated into loving your neighbor as yourself.

One of the biggest problems I have found with Protestants, especially when they are newly converted, is that they like to go to the most difficult Scriptures first, rather than the simple ones.

2-Corinthians 3:1: "Do we again begin to commend ourselves? Or do we, as some, need epistles of commendation to you, or epistles of commendation from you?"

If you want to know how that works, go to TBN (Trinity Broadcasting Network). They are always giving commendations to one another and patty-cake one another how good they are. I'm going to do a churchathome.org on it. Someone sent me all of the leading Protestant ministers and how much money they have. I was shocked at Joyce Meyer, she's got bucks galore.

Sidebar: I've almost given up on TBN, because it's so sanctimonious, it's unbelievable. She was being interviewed and she said, 'I don't know what God has for me. I've had one hip operation already and now I've got another one. I'm in a lot of pain. I don't know what God wants from me.' Then they started 'shmooshing' one another.

Verse 2: "You are our epistle, and are inscribed in our hearts, being known and read by all men."

That's talking about the work that they were doing in teaching them the commandments of God, keeping the Sabbath. Paul stayed there in Corinth for 18-months preaching on the Sabbath every week. Corinth started out with really quite a hassle. Paul went into the synagogue for three weeks and then when Timothy and Titus came down, then he declared Christ as the Savior. They had a big hassle and the Church split. The ruler of the synagogue—Crispus—went with Paul, and they went into a building that was right next door to the synagogue.

Verse 3: "For it is manifest that you are Christ's epistle…"—by:

• having repented
• received the Holy Spirit
• keeping the commandments of God
• living by the teachings that Paul was teaching them in addition

"…ministered by us; you were not inscribed with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God… [they had the Spirit of God] …not on tablets of stone, but on fleshly tablets of the heart" (v 3).

How is that different from the Old Covenant? This is the difference in the covenants, in Heb. 10; this is why it's different. There may be some things that people can see in our behavior from the outside that they can say, 'Yeah, you're a good person.' What makes a person really good or evil?

Sidebar: I heard Brit Hume say that he read that someone said, 'Be kind to people for everyone has a problem/burden that you know nothing about.' We all have certain things we carry in our mind between us and God! The things we need to change, to grow and overcome, that's our problem within that we know. We may not necessarily tell someone else. You may ask a friend to help you by praying for you. But I thought what Hulme said was pretty Biblical. Be kind to people, because everyone has a problem that you know nothing about!

Heb. 10 is the difference between the covenant with Israel, which was the nation and the covenant with the Church. Where was the Church to go? What did Jesus say to the apostles? Go into all the world teaching them to observe all things I have taught you!

The difference is, even the Christianity of this world does some good in keeping the civil society with the lower level of crime. Enter in Islam and what do they do? Another sovereign! We'll use the Kurdish nation today over there in Iraq; Islam comes in as another sovereign and they start killing those who profess Christ. Wherever Islam goes, sooner or later, they conquer by the sword or by lack of assimilation into the society. This is the problem that they are facing in Europe today.

Lesson from history; 1947 concerning Hindus and Muslims: What happened? India used to include everything that is Pakistan and Bangladesh! After it became a commonwealth county, and the Brits literally pulled out of India, then the Muslims were going around killing people. The Hindus were attacking, killing people. Finally they said, 'Let's end this.' Muslims go to West Pakistan, which is now just plain Pakistan today, and East Pakistan became Bangladesh later. Muslims cannot even get along with themselves, but are duty-bound to kill other people of other religions, so they take that upon themselves.

This is why the Church does not have the death penalty. We would be arrested for executing people!

• How do you change and convert the mind?
• Do you do it from things outwardly?

or:

• Do you have to do something inwardly? You have to do it inwardly!
• Can people do it themselves? No! They need Christ and the Spirit of God!

People can be good up to a certain degree and certain point, by being very disciplined. But that doesn't mean that they're converted. That means they may be counted as an extraordinary person in the community.

But here's the key: In order for there to be a lasting change in behavior, it must be with the Spirit of God and the commandments of God. You can't have the Spirit of God without the commandments of God. You can have the commandments of God without the Spirit of God, as we find in the Old Covenant. But that was never able to convert them; That was never able to change them inwardly!

Here we have the whole operation of the New Covenant; Hebrews 10:4[transcriber's correction]: "Because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. For this reason, when He comes into the world, He says, 'Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but You have prepared a body for Me'" (vs 4-5). That's the physical body that Jesus received!

Verse 6: "You did not delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin." What does God delight in concerning sin? When there's repentance! That's what God delights in.

Verse 7: "Then said I, 'Lo, I come (as it is written of Me in the Scroll of the Book) to do Your will, O God.'"

Jesus said, 'Of Myself, I can do nothing. What the Father commands Me, this I do. What He told Me to speak, this I do. I do the will of the Father in heaven.' What did He say about those who kept coming to Him, calling, 'Lord, Lord.' He said, 'Why do You call me Lord, Lord, and do not do the will of My Father Who is in heaven?'

Everything shifts around. The authority for law now becomes spiritual—from God the Father Himself directly, through His Spirit. That's the great system of God for the New Covenant.

Verse 8: "In the saying above, He said, 'Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin (which are offered according to the priestly law)…. [the law of the sacrifices] … You did not desire nor delight in.'"

What did God say there in Deut. 5, after reiteration of the Ten Commandments by Moses and then He explained how they didn't want to hear God, but they would hear Moses? What was God's reply? O, if there were such a heart in them that they would keep My commandments!

You can have the physical commandments in the letter, but unless there's conversion, it's not going to have the effect of changing you as a person from the inside out.

Verse 9: "Then He said, 'Lo, I come to do Your will, O God.' He takes away the first covenant in order that He may establish the second covenant."

What was the final blow to that covenant? Destruction of the temple in 70A.D.! There was the overlap for the 40-years between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. There was always the tension between the Jews and the Church. One of the last martyrdoms that was, was in 61A.D. when the Jewish authorities killed James, the brother of Jesus. It was just before that, that Paul wrote the book of Hebrews.

Verse 10: "By Whose will we are sanctified… [By the will of God the Father we are sanctified or considered Holy because we have the Spirit of God. How do we receive that?] …through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."

• His blood pays for our sins
• we're justified to God

Verse 11: "Now, every high priest stands ministering day by day, offering the same sacrifices repeatedly, which are never able toremove sins."

Why? You can forgive the action, but where does the action come from? It comes from the mind! What God is doing, is forgiving the overt sins out here, and also when we repent of the sins—which are in the mind—God forgives those, too! That could never be done under the Old Covenant.

Verse 12: "But He, after offering one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time, He is waiting until His enemies are placed as a footstool for His feet. For by one offering He has obtained eternal perfection for those who are sanctified" (vs 12-14).

It's not just the offering that brings eternal perfection, it is the offering plus the Holy Spirit. In other words, to have your sins forgiven without receiving the Holy Spirit is not going to change your nature. That's why we're told in Rom. 12 that we are to be transformed in our mind. That's the process of conversion.
Verse 15: "And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after He had previously said, '"This is the covenant that I will establish with them after those days," says the Lord, "I will give My Laws into their hearts, and I will inscribe them in their minds"'" (vs 15-16).

That's exactly what Paul was talking about in 2-Cor. 3. You are our epistle written in our hearts!Same thing here!

Verse 17: "'And their sins and lawlessness I will not remember ever again."' Now, where remission of these is, it is no longer necessary to offer sacrifices for sin. Therefore, brethren, having confidence to enter into the true Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He consecrated for us through the veil (that is, His flesh), and having a great High Priest over the house of God, let us approach God with a true heart, with full conviction of faith, our hearts having been purified from a wicked conscience, and our bodies having been washed with pure water" (vs 17-22). Then he goes on to let us hold fast and not waver!

All of that has to do with 2-Cor. 3:3. The way we are purified from a wicked conscience is the active working of the Holy Spirit in our lives every day. When you're going along and an evil thought comes into your mind, that's what you need to ask God to help you remove and control.

Remember that the finality of that will be death, then the resurrection. We still have the law of sin and death within us. Yes, Christ has delivered us from the law of sin and death by giving us the Holy Spirit, so we participate in the perfection of God's Spirit by our choices to get rid of the evil that lies within! That's all manifested through the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

2-Corinthians 3:4: "Now we have this confidence through Christ toward God; not that we are competent of ourselves…"

Notice what Paul thought of himself. What did he say? He thanked God that he was put into the ministry, but he said that what happened to him was an example for all of whom I am the chief sinner, because I killed those who were in the Church (1-Tim. 1).

This shows very clearly—when you tie that together with Matt. 6, forgive us our sins—that's a daily prayer. Repentance comes about by the washing of the water by the Word—that's the Spirit of God, with the Word of God.

How many times have you been studying, reading the Bible, and all of a sudden you saw that there's something there you need to repent of, that you didn't think about until you read it by the Word. Then God's Spirit is there to convict you in conscience so you will repent.

People in the world don't have this. That's reflected today with all the suicides they're having. People don't know what to do when they get down and out and discouraged. They don't know about God. The society is becoming more and more secular, and it's harder and harder to find out anything about God. Even those who are supposed to tell about God in the churches that they recognize, really are losing whatever they have concerning understanding. So, there are suicides. You add to that:

• all of the music
• all of the entertainment
• all of the extra wealth and things that people have

All of that combines together. Then add to that the prescription and illegal drugs, all of it. So they go to a psychiatrist and they say, 'What's wrong with me?' He says, 'There's something wrong with your brain, so here, take this medication.' Rather than saying that the way you can solve it is:

• get on your knees and repent to God
• ask God to help you out of this depression
• ask God to help you overcome these things then repent and be baptized and receive the Spirit of God

So you can work on overcoming these things!

(go to the next track)

2-Corinthians 3:6: "Who also made us competent as ministers of the New Covenant…"

Ken and I were talking about this the other day, it's almost like a covenant, the requirements of a minister, but not quite. We can't quite call it a covenant. Everything that is to be done is to help raise the disciple to be as the master, and the master as Christ. To also teach so that the disciple become as the teacher and the teacher as Christ, but actually the Father. It says, 'They shall all be taught of God' (John 6:45). That helps answer the question:

• How do you know what you know about the Bible? By the Spirit of God, with God Himself teaching you!
• How does that work? Jesus said that He and the Father would make Their abode, with the Holy Spirit, within us!

That can't be done under the covenant that Israel was given at Mount Sinai.

All the laws that were given there for the civil society were good. I refer back to this quite a few times, but I think they could stop all car theft if they ran it like they did with the cattle and lambs. You repay it four times. You want to steal the most expensive Lamborghini in the world? That's a million bucks! Even the most carnal person would think twice about that.

Here God says He wants repentance, forgiveness and spiritual growth. That's what He wants. "…competent as ministers of the New Covenant; not of the letter, but of the Spirit…" (v 6). What did Jesus of all the words that He spoke? They are Spirit and life!

"…for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life" (v 6)—because there is forgiveness.

Let's see an example of that back here in Psa. 51 concerning repentance. David and Bathsheba both were responsible for this, but David had to bear the brunt of it because he could have stopped it.

That's not to say that Bathsheba couldn't have stopped it. She could have. She could have said to the messenger who came to ask her to come to spend time with the king, 'Tell the king my greatest regrets are that I have other things, and I cannot come to him at this time. Tell him I'm sure he will understand.' You don't say no to the king, David abused his power! He should never have done it.

Notice, this tells us the operation of what God wants with us through conversion and repentance as well. How far into his life was David when this occurred? We don't know. But I would assume it would put him pretty close to 55, somewhere around there.

What happened to Hezekiah in his old age? He made a mistake. For all of us old fogies out there, be careful. Just because you're an old fogie doesn't mean you're exempt from doing stupid things. Be alert not to do stupid things! Because we can say what David did here was the most stupid thing he could possibly do thinking he was right and overriding the conviction of God's conscience to him.

Bathsheba was culpable as well, but she would have known having just bathed on the roof of the house where the king could see her, why he asked her to come. He would have understood the decline of the invitation, because he maybe would have come to the conviction, 'Maybe I shouldn't do that.' What happened to David's kingdom after that? For years it was all upset with the rebellion, and things like that.

Notice what God wants with repentance. He knew better than to do this. There are things that we do, we know better we shouldn't do it.

Psalm 51:1: "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your loving kindness; according to the greatness of Your compassion, blot out my transgressions"—plural!

He tried to pretend that the death of Uriah the Hittite was just a battle casualty when Joab knew all the dirty linen that David had. Joab was really upset with David for doing it.

Tie this in with the washing of the water by the Word (Eph. 5:26[transcriber's correction]), with the Spirit of God.

Verse 2: "Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin, for I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me" (vs 2-3).

Here is a key thing: Every sin, though it can be against a person, is actually against God, because sin is the transgression of the Law.

Verse 4: "Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done evil in Your sight, that You might be justified when You speak and be in the right when You judge."

Everything David did about that whole thing, after it occurred, was wrong. He abused his power as king. So, he had to be forgiven here.

Verse 5: "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." That's a way of explaining the inner working of the law of sin and death. He wasn't born of adultery with his mother, because he was child #8.

Here's what God wants with all of it; this is why God forgives, v 6: "Behold, You desire Truth in the inward parts…" Right here in the mind and heart: Truth!

Let's rehearse what the human mind is like. It is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked! That's the law of sin and death within us! That will never be fully gone away until we die. But we can overcome it through the power of God's Spirit. Let God's Spirit lead us, instead of being led by the lust of sin. That's what happened with David here.

"…and in the hidden part You shall make me to know wisdom" (v 6). How do we do it today if we do something that's not right? I don't know how you do it, but I know how I do it. Dumb, dumb, dumb! It's kind of like the movie, Dumb and Dumber. That's just the human nature and we need the wisdom of God.

Verse 7: "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." Tie that in with Isa. 1; If you repent, God will forgive! That's what it's all about.

If you have things that you do, that you sin, repent; God will forgive. Don't go around with a guilty conscience and say, 'Why am I sinning, I shouldn't do this.' Yes, you shouldn't do it, but you're sinning because you are not overriding the law of sin and death within you by using the Holy Spirit of God to transform the mind. Transform the mind requires thought, change of thought, as well as action. So this is what he had to do.

Then, instead of being depressed, wouldn't you say David was depressed at this point?

Verse 8: "Make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones, which You have broken, may rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God…" (vs 8-10).

That's what God wants! What does this say in Eph. 2:10? That we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto the good works that were ordained beforehand! You see how the Old and New Testament works together, hand in glove.

"…and renew a steadfast spirit within me" (v 10). Then he said don't cast me away or take away your Holy Spirit. He was pretty well on the edge and the brink of doing the thing that would have caused him to lose salvation. David was under a covenant very similar to the New Covenant.

2-Corinthians 3:6: "…for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." Think of that with this what they're going over in the news now. They can't figure out why there is such an increase in the number of suicides. It's because the nation is becoming more Godless, more satanic, more depressed.

Of course, one of Satan's things that he wants people to do is to kill themselves. If they were counseled that you can get your life squared around. Stop the music, stop the drugs, stop all of the extra marital sex, stop all of those things. Keep the commandments of God, repent, and be baptized. Then you can start repairing your mind and heart with God's Spirit and God's Word.'

I think the greatest majority of those who are in those very deep depressed states can come out of it. But the psychiatrist says, 'Here, take this pill.' It makes them more depressed.

Sidebar: On the other hand, every single one of the school shootings were because of psychiatric drugs. I'll tell you how I'd run school. I'd have the boys section over here and the girls section over here. Or maybe school/school, not section. For the boys, they come to school at 8 o'clock, 8:30 or 9. First thing we do, sports. Get out there and run and play, do all of these things. Then at 11 o'clock come in and they're going to sit still.

The problem is women don't know how to handle boys the way they should be handled. You give them something to do. They have more energy. Little girls are nice; they can sit there and do things. That's the nature of little girls. They're not as rambunctious as boys. Then you give them the things that they need to learn. First thing you do is give them math, then English. I tell you, if you had a school like that where boys could do that, they would all want to go to that school and have men teachers. That's what they ought to do; change the whole system. That's why I'd never work out in the politics of this world.

Paul is saying that this method of the Old Testament wasn't bringing about conversion, so God is setting it aside for the Church. The ministration of death has been removed for the Church because the Church must go into all the world. The Church cannot set itself up as a competing sovereign against the sovereign civil government.

Verse 8: "Shall not the ministry of the Spirit be far more glorious?" Yes, indeed! Isn't that the greatest thing in the world, to convert a mind, to change the heart? Yes!

Verse 9: "For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, to a much greater degree the ministry of righteousness overflows with glory… [because it changes the heart and mind] …And even the ministry of condemnation, which had glory, was not glorious in this respect, because of the surpassing glory of the ministry of life. For if that which is being set aside came into being through glory, to a much greater degree that which remains is glorious. Now then, because we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech" (vs 9-12). That's what we do; tell the truth!

Verse 13: "For we are not like Moses, who put a veil over his face, so that the children of Israel could not gaze to the end upon the glory that is now being set aside."

The Protestants read this that this is doing away with the Law of Moses. But it's not. In the King James Version instead of saying being set aside, it says done away. What was done away? The ministry of death for the Church! All the other commandments that pertain to personal behavior and the Ten Commandments all come through to the New Covenant. But the ministration of death does not. He wasn't doing away with the whole covenant with Moses and the Ten Commandments! That's why the Protestants say, 'All of that has been fulfilled. We don't need to worry ourselves about that at all.'

This answers it, v 14: "But their minds were blinded…" Like God said, 'Their hearts were hardened" (Deut. 5).

"…for to the present hour the same veil has not been removed…" (v 14). What is that veil? That veil is the carnal-mindedness of self-will against God! God has given independent free moral agency; so rather than choose God, they choose to blind themselves.

How does blinding come? When you know you need to do something from the Word of God, because you either heard it or you read it, the way that you continue in understanding is to do it. There are a lot of people who have heard about the Sabbath, but they don't do it. I talked to a man recently who said that when he was a Protestant he asked the minister, 'Isn't the Sabbath the 7th day in the Bible?' The minister said, 'Yes, it is.' Why don't we keep it? The minister said, 'Because our lifestyle is different today.' Whatever thing causes you to reject it, doesn't make it justified. 'Our lifestyle is different.'

Here's the answer; Matthew 13:13: "For this reason I speak to them in parables, because seeing, they see not; and hearing, they hear not; neither do they understand."

If you see and you don't comprehend what you're seeing, and you hear, but you're unwilling to change, you don't have understanding!

Verse 14: "And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which says, 'In hearing you shall hear, and in no way understand; and in seeing you shall see, and in no way perceive; for the heart of this people has grown fat…'"—and the veil is over their eyes.

You can hear this, when you hear carnal people talk. 'This applies to them, but not to me. Oh, that applies to those over there, but not to me.' That's how it works.

Verse 15: "For the heart of this people has grown fat, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed…" They choose not to, that's what it is. The reason they don't keep the Sabbath is because they choose not to!

…lest they should see with their eyes…" (v 15). 'We don't have to read the Old Testament.' Isn't that closing your eyes?

"…and should hear with their ears…" (v 15). If you try and keep the commandments, don't preach to me about the commandments. You're trying to work out your salvation yourself.

"…and should understand with their hearts, and should be converted, and I should heal them" (v 15). It shows it's available, if they want to, but they choose not to.

Then something else happens. Let's see what God does. This shows the descent into complete lawlessness of any society. Doesn't matter where you are in history, because this has happened over and over again. Rom. 1 says God has showed them about Himself through the invisible things.

Sidebar: Did you know that there are three things that show us about the Sabbath that are not written in the Law?

• beavers

This man studied beavers in northern California for 18 years. Beavers never work on the Sabbath! They stay within their little abode, never go out and work on the Sabbath. He's documented this for 18 years. He talked to another man about it and he said, 'I have this orchard and I noticed that the bees are not here on the 7th day.

• bees
• Siberian ox

This one man who was a Sabbath-keeper was given the duty of getting the water and bringing it up to the prison. He had an ox that would pull the wagon. Five days a week it would go slow. On the 6th day it ran down to get the water and bring it back. They made the trip so they always had enough water on the Sabbath. This ox was keeping the Sabbath as well. That's pretty interesting, isn't it? I've got the DVD on it. I never knew that beavers kept the Sabbath. They know more than all the Sunday-keepers.

Romans 1:19: "Because that which may be known of God is manifest among them, for God has manifested it to them; for the invisible things of Him are perceived from the creation of the world, being understood by the things that were made—both His eternal power and Godhead—so that they are without excuse; because when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but they became vain in their own reasonings, and their foolish hearts were darkened" (vs 19-21). Automatic law!

You can apply this to anything about the creation of God, about how there's no such thing as evolution. You can apply this to Sunday-keepers. They close their mind to the Sabbath and the same thing happens. That's how their minds are closed. That's what Paul is talking about, that the veil is lifted when the Law of Moses is read for those who are converted! You can understand the laws: why they're good, why they're right.

Verse 22: "While professing themselves to be the wise ones, they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed creatures, and creeping things…. [all different idols of supposed-gods] …For this cause… [God is not way off someplace doing something else. This happens; automatic law] …God also abandoned them to uncleanness through the lusts of their hearts, to disgrace their own bodies between themselves, who exchanged the Truth of God for the lie…" (vs 22-25). What's the big lie?

• evolution
• Sunday
• holidays

Those are the three big lies!

"…and they worshiped and served the created thing more than the One Who is Creator, Who is blessed into the ages. Amen. For this cause, God abandoned them…" (vs 25-26).

This is how lawlessness multiplies in the land. They abandon all the laws of truth and righteousness, even in the letter. That's how all this opioid thing—killing 60,000 people a year. They need to come back to God!

Verse 28: "And in exact proportion as they did not consent to have God in their knowledge, God abandoned them…" Would you say God has abandoned:

• San Francisco?
• Los Angeles
• New York
• Chicago?

especially in the area where they have all of these gang shootings

• Is God there? No!

They are abandoned to their own ways. It goes down to the lowest denominator of who has the most power to kill.

"…God abandoned them to a reprobate mind, to practice those things that are immoral" (v 28). That ties right in here that unless that is removed—and it must be through repentance, baptism, and the Holy Spirit! Then the constant growing and overcoming with the Spirit of God. That's why we have Sabbath-services.

• How long would you really remember about the Truth of God if you didn't keep the Sabbath?
• If we weren't taught on the Sabbath?

God tells the ministers and elders, 'You who teach others, don't you teach yourself? (Rom. 2). Yes!.

• we have to study
• we have to pray
• we have to really be on top of it in order to continue to understand

That's how it works!

2-Corinthians 3:14: "But their minds were blinded… [God abandoned them] …for to the present hour the same veil has not been removed… [because there's no repentance] …but remains at the reading of the Old Covenant; which veil is removed in Christ." What has been set aside?

• the death penalty
• the blindness to the laws of Moses

That has been set aside. The veil has been removed.

Verse 15: "For to this day, when Moses is read, the veil lies upon their hearts."

I sure saw that watching TBN when I was going through and looking at what the Protestants were doing. It's far worse than I ever expected. Even one minister stood up there and said, 'If you don't try and follow the Law, you're not going to have any sin. So, forget about the law entirely and you won't have any sin.' Without understanding!

Verse 17: "Now the Lord is the Spirit… [Christ and God the Father are the Ones Who send the Spirit] …and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom."

• freedom from the veil because it has been removed
• freedom from sin because we repent; we're under the grace of God
• freedom to pray
• freedom to study
• freedom to understand

Because we're not reading the Bible from the point of view of rebellion to find out something wrong with the Bible so we can reject it, which is what the atheists do. They say, 'The Bible is full of lies.' Have you ever read it? 'Yeah, I read it; couldn't understand it.' Then how do you know it's full of lies? Perfect example of the veil!
Verse 18: "But we all, with uncovered faces beholding the glory of the Lord as in a mirror… [this is a statement and a prophecy] …are being transformed… [transforming of the mind] …into the same image… [as Christ. Christ in you, the hope of glory] …from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."

In no way does 2-Cor. 3 say that the Old Testament has been done away with and that we have no profitability in Moses! All of that is a complete blinded fabrication by religionists who profess Christianity.

Scriptural References:

• 2-Corinthians 3:7
• Genesis 9:5-6
• Exodus 21:14-19
• Romans 3:1-10
• 2-Corinthians 3:1-3
• Hebrews 10:4-22
• 2-Corinthians 3:4
• Psalms 51:1-10
• 2-Corinthians 3:6, 8-14
• Matthew 13:13-15
• Romans 1:19-26, 28
• 2-Corinthians 3:14-15, 17-18

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Exodus 20
• 1-John 5
• Deuteronomy 5
• Romans 12
• 1-Timothy 1
• Matthew 6
• John 6:45
• Ephesians 5:26
• Isaiah 1
• Ephesians 2:10
• Romans 2

Also referenced: Sermon Series with Transcript Books:

• Hebrews
• Romans

FRC:lp
Transcribed: 6-17-18
Formatted: 6/19/18

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