Where the Spirit of the Lord Is, There Is Freedom
Download MP3If you would, I invite you to open your bibles to second Corinthians chapter 3. 2nd Corinthians chapter 3. And we'll be reading the entire chapter. Are we beginning to commend ourselves again, or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you? You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts to be known and read by all.
Joel Brooks:And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink, but with the letter or but with the spirit of the living God. Not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts. His is, His is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything is coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the spirit. For the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.
Joel Brooks:Now if the ministry of death carved in letters on stone came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses's face because of its glory, which was bring being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the spirit have even more glory? For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all because of the glory that surpasses it. For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory. Since we have such a hope, we are very bold.
Joel Brooks:And not like Moses who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end, but their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, the same veil remains unlifted Because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is spirit.
Joel Brooks:And where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the spirit. Pray with me. Lord, the cry of all of our hearts is simply that you would speak and that you would give us us ears to listen.
Joel Brooks:Lord, we are naturally deaf. We, we can't hear from you. We've got so many things that we have put up in our life that block you out. And through your spirit. Now I pray you would tear all of those obstacles down, remove the veil.
Joel Brooks:Lord Jesus, may we see you clearly. In this moment, I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. But Lord, may your words remain and may they change us. And we pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.
Joel Brooks:We come to a very famous verse in the new testament verse 17, the Lord is spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Perhaps you've heard that verse quoted a number of times. I've quoted it a number of times. A few years ago, I was in Indonesia, with 6 Baptist pastors on a mission trip. They were all Baptist and they were all mega church.
Joel Brooks:So I was the only non Baptist, non mega church there. And Indonesia is really hot. And after traveling around for an entire day, speaking for an entire day, we were just completely exhausted, hot, tired. And so we went to a restaurant to get something to drink, and, and 1 by 1, it was Coke, Coke, Coke, Coke. And it got to me and I said, I'll take a beer unless you have something stronger.
Joel Brooks:And the look of horror of these 6 Baptist pastors as they looked at me. And I just said, sorry, where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And I am going to enjoy this freedom. Likely you've heard this verse quoted usually in the context of worship, where some worship leader is gonna get up there and say, you know, where the spirit of the Lord, there is freedom. And what they mean by that is, is you can raise your hands if you want to.
Joel Brooks:You can, you can do an interpretive dance if you want to. You can, you can go off to pray if you want to. There's there's freedom. And and of course, we welcome that. There there's there's freedom to do those things, but that's not really what this is talking about.
Joel Brooks:This first here is about being freed from the law. That's what Paul is telling the the Corinthians here. He is telling them that the spirit of god has set them free from the law. And I gotta tell you, when I when I was starting to study through this, I nearly laughed out loud when I got to this text, because it seems like Paul is making a huge mistake when he says this to the Corinthians. I mean, the Corinthian church is one of the most out of control churches you could imagine.
Joel Brooks:There there was all this, you know, charismatic chaos that was going on there, where where people were were everybody was, like, prophesying over one another. They were all standing up, and they were speaking in tongues, all at the same time. There was no interpretation and there was just chaos. And and on top of that, there was all these other sins of sexual immorality. They were getting drunk at the Lord's supper.
Joel Brooks:They were suing one another. And so this this church here was is borderline at times. I would think of like Lord of the Flies. That's that's what they had turned into. Thankfully, the repentance was happening.
Joel Brooks:God God was transforming them, but they still had enormous issues. And so you you would expect Paul in a church like this, It's time to come and bring the hammer. It's time to come and bring law. Somebody's gotta put some rule and order in this place. Somebody's gotta lay the smack down with these people.
Joel Brooks:That's what that's what I would be thinking. And he does the exact opposite. He he tells them where the spirit of the Lord is, there's freedom. He's preaching freedom to a church that was just celebrating a little too much freedom. I mean, if ever there was a church that you needed to crack the whip and bring in some rule, it was this one.
Joel Brooks:And Paul refused. He never went there. Instead, he had the audacity to preach that they were free from the law. So why does Paul do this? We're we're gonna walk through his argument here, and I've just got to forewarn you.
Joel Brooks:It's not a simple argument. This is one of the most difficult chapters that Paul ever wrote. It's certainly the most difficult in, 2nd Corinthians. And I thought we could either take 10 to 12 weeks and go through it, or I could take a step back and we kinda take a look at it as a whole. And that's what we're gonna do.
Joel Brooks:Let's take a look at it as a whole, but it's a hard chapter. You're you're really gonna have to focus to stay with Paul on this. It helps a lot that it's really hot in here too. But Paul, what he what he's gonna do here is he's gonna explain in a chapter the law, and he's gonna explain the gospel, and how you should see the law as it relates to the gospel. He's gonna talk about the old covenant, and he's gonna talk about the new covenant.
Joel Brooks:And my hope in me unpacking this for you is the same hope that Paul has, that this will transform the way that you live. Now this section, it begins somewhat unusually with Paul addressing the need for credentials. Apparently, you know, there's still some enemies within this church, and they're saying, alright, Paul, show us your credentials. We we need a letter of reference. And and this was common in this day.
Joel Brooks:And Paul responds to them, I love it, by saying, okay. You wanna reference? You're my reference. And it's actually quite a genius argument. He's saying, you wanna know if I'm qualified?
Joel Brooks:Look at yourselves. How did you turn out? Do you have the spirit of god? Great. Who do you think brought you the gospel in which you believed and you got the spirit of god?
Joel Brooks:Then he goes further in verse 3. Look at verse 3. He says, And you show that you are a letter written from Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God, Not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts. And here, now he's saying, you're not only my letter of recommendation, but this letter was actually written by the spirit of god himself. And so if you wanted to sum up the argument, Paul is saying, you want a letter of recommendation from me?
Joel Brooks:Seriously? You you want a letter of recommendation? Granted, I can't give you a letter of recommendation like all the other speakers who have come in and spoken to you. I'm not the best speaker. I come to you in weakness and fear and in much trembling.
Joel Brooks:I don't come with a slick presentation. I don't come with a 10 step program of how you could become a better person. I'm not a pastor of a megachurch coming in here. But you know what I did come and bring? I brought the gospel.
Joel Brooks:And with the gospel, I brought the spirit of Christ, and it has transformed you. That's my that's my recommendation. I didn't come in bringing a cheap trick or a little thrill. I came in bringing Jesus. I'd say that's a pretty good reference.
Joel Brooks:He brought to them an encounter with the holy spirit, and this is what made them come alive. It's what made them the church. And now the spirit of god, he is living inside of them, and he is transforming them into the image of Christ. Let me just tell you, as I was studying through this, this reminds me of my job as a pastor, what I'm called to do. And it's not simply to put a service in the right order, You know, pick the right songs, pick the right structure, you know, make sure things go smoothly.
Joel Brooks:That's that's not my job. My my job is to proclaim the word of god, and in that proclamation, mediate the spirit of god to us. My my my job as a pastor is to plead with the holy spirit to show up and to work real change in us. Otherwise, I'm just putting on a show. All of us are just putting on a show.
Joel Brooks:If the holy spirit doesn't come and work real change in us, we we might as well not be here. And we need we need to plead towards that end, not not just a a smooth service. Paul's now going to explain to them why. Why having the spirit of god, why being freed from the law is such a better thing than him just throwing the hammer down and giving them more law. And to do this, he goes back to the book of Exodus where the law was first given.
Joel Brooks:And the argument that he unpacks here is stunning. It's complex, but it's awesome. Go ahead and turn in your bibles to Exodus 32. This next section that Paul writes pretty much can be seen as just a commentary on Exodus 32 through 34. Earlier in this part of Exodus, Moses climbed up Mount Sinai to receive the 10 Commandments, the law of God.
Joel Brooks:And before Moses could even get down from the mountain, God's people had already broken the law. He he can't even get down to to to let them actually see it in written form. They've already broken it. And he got so angry, you know the story, he he he threw them down, and he smashed the commandments there. And god immediately issued judgment on all the Israelites or or on 3,000 of them.
Joel Brooks:3,000 of them were killed like that. And likely, god would have annihilated all of the Israelites if Moses had not interceded on their behalf, but he begs god. God, please don't kill these people. And so he intercedes on their behalf, and so only 3,000 people are killed. However, God says there's still gonna be a consequence for your sin.
Joel Brooks:You don't just bow down to an idol and there not be consequences. And we read about this consequence and look at chapter 33. The first four verses. The Lord said to Moses, depart. Go up from here.
Joel Brooks:You and the people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob saying, to your offspring, I will give it. Send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey, but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way. For you are a stiff necked people. And when the people heard this disastrous word, they mourned.
Joel Brooks:When the people heard this disastrous word, they mourned. I find that so interesting because I think a lot of people, if they were to hear that word, they would be like, score. So God, let me let me see if I get this right. You're saying, you're still gonna give us the land flowing with milk and honey. Right?
Joel Brooks:You're still gonna drive out all of the enemies. So you're still going to give us all of these riches. And we just don't even have to worry about you being with us. For for a lot of people, that's that's their view of heaven, getting everything they want. But it's actually the biblical view of hell.
Joel Brooks:Getting everything you want without the presence of God will only drive in the loneliness, drive in the despair. And and that the people of Israel, they they realize this. They realize that without the presence of god, it doesn't matter if we we build houses made out of bricks of gold. Our lives have no meaning. God, if your presence doesn't go with us, this is disastrous because in your presence is fullness of joy, and in your right hand, there are pleasures forevermore.
Joel Brooks:You have to go with us, God. Giving everything you want and not having God is a disaster. And they understand that. So Moses intercedes again. It's during one of these times of intercession that Moses again pleads with God.
Joel Brooks:God, would would you please please come and be with your people? And God says, okay. I'll do it. My glorious presence will go with you to Canaan. And then right after that, Moses said, well, can can I see your, see your glory?
Joel Brooks:And God says, well, you can see part of it. How about I hide you in the cleft of a rock? And I, I put my hand over and cover you, and I'll just walk by, and I'll let you just get a glimpse of my glorious presence. And then God does that. And then he he gives Moses the new law.
Joel Brooks:Moses writes them down on the tablets, and he comes down to the people. And this is where you get your surprise. It it it is a surprise to Moses. It's a surprise to the people. Because Moses had said, god, may your glorious presence may it come and be among my people.
Joel Brooks:And God said, well, I will send it among them. But what he did is he sent it through Moses. He sent it through Moses. Moses became the mediator of God's presence. Look at chapter 34 verse 29.
Joel Brooks:When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the 2 tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone, shone because he had been talking with God. And and all the people of Israel saw Moses and behold the the skin of his face shone and they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called to them and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him and and Moses talked with him. And afterward all the people of Israel came near and he commanded them all that the Lord had spoke, that the Lord had spoken with him in Mount Sinai. And when Moses had finished speaking with him, he put a veil over his face.
Joel Brooks:And whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would remove the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the people of Israel what he was commanded, the people of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses's face was shining, and Moses will put the veil over his face again, until he went in to speak with him. So Moses here is actually becoming the mediator of God's presence. God God's God's glory is is literally starting to shine through Moses. And and when people saw Moses's face, they're terrified.
Joel Brooks:They're terrified. Actually, there's there's paintings of this. Michelangelo has a famous painting of of Moses coming down from the mountain if you've seen it. And he actually has horns coming all out of his head because they mistranslated the word rays as horns. And so he's not shining.
Joel Brooks:He has horns coming all out of his head. And that would be terrifying too. But Moses, he's shining and says that the people are terrified. They're not gonna come anywhere near him. And the reason they won't come near him is because they've broken the law.
Joel Brooks:And god had already said, if my presence comes among you, I'm gonna kill you. A sinner can't be in the glorious presence of God. And so when Moses comes down all shining, they're running away. They're scared to death of him. They know that they would be judged.
Joel Brooks:And so Moses does the only thing that he can do is he puts a veil and he covers over God's glory so that they might not see it and that they might not be destroyed. This is why Paul calls Moses's ministry in verse 7, a ministry of death. It says that the people could not gaze at Moses's face because of the glory, because whoever gazed into that glory would be destroyed. Y'all with me? Alright.
Joel Brooks:So what Paul is is doing here is he's he's using this story to to to teach us about the old covenant. He say, alright. When we look at the old covenant, the old covenant is a beautiful thing. The old covenant is a it's a glorious thing. But it's a glory we can't look at because of our sin.
Joel Brooks:It destroys us. It'll smite us. So it is beautiful. It is good. It is glorious, but we can never be in the presence of god with that covenant.
Joel Brooks:This is why Moses veils himself. It's it's he's shielding people from the glory of god. And let me just say that's that's the only reason he is veiling himself. There's there's some older translations out there that say because the translates this word fading. There's some really old translations that say that.
Joel Brooks:Translates this word fading. There's some really old translations that say that. Let let's just look at verse 13 real quick, and and maybe I can unpack this. He says, but sorry. Let's look at verse 12 and 13.
Joel Brooks:Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses who put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. That phrase, what was being brought to an end, some of the translations might translate fading, and it it doesn't mean fading at all. That's why the ESV changed that. You could best translate it as this, to render inoperative to render an operative. So let's read verse 13 again with this says we're not like Moses, he would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end or gaze at what was being made inoperative.
Joel Brooks:And so this is the thought there. The thought is the glory of god, the way it normally operates among a sinful people is it destroys them. God has already said that. And so in order to keep the glory of God inoperative, Moses veils his face as an act of mercy, and he shields them from the glory of God. And what happens here, you see over and over and over in the old Testament.
Joel Brooks:God has to shield his glory. 1st, he has a tent of meeting. You can only meet with God in this little tent outside the camp. And then you have a tabernacle, which is going to have a thick curtain, and you can only meet the glory, the presence of God behind that curtain. And then he moved to the temple and there's another thick curtain.
Joel Brooks:And he could only meet the glorious presence of god behind the curtain. And all of these curtains, all of these tents, all there is veils. They're they're keeping people from seeing this glorious presence of god, because if you were to just walk right into the holy of holies, you're a goner. You can't behold the glory of God as a sinner. So Moses shields his face.
Joel Brooks:So that's his commentary on Exodus. Here's our problem. We've got a lot, but but but here's here's the main problem. We all want to see God. I I I think everybody.
Joel Brooks:I don't care who you are. I don't care where you've come from. You want to see God. It's the deepest longing of your heart. It's what you were made to do is to bask in his beauty.
Joel Brooks:And you, you feel that you, you know, the reason that, I love going to the mountains and seeing majestic peaks. The reason I love doing that is because I was made to behold glory. And I love looking and gazing at that. The the reason that I love sports, you know, you love seeing some, some athlete who's far superior than you doing something that only they could do. And you just, you celebrate that.
Joel Brooks:Sometimes I see that and I go, glory. Wow. Because you were made to behold it. You were made to celebrate that. And those things are just cheap imitations of what you were ultimately made to do, and that is to bask in the glory of God, to sit in his presence, and to celebrate him.
Joel Brooks:Every time you do that on a smaller scale, it's just a faint echo of what you were really made to do. And we feel that, And yet we can't because of our sin. And there's there's not a 10 step program that we could go through that's ever gonna get us into that inner room. There's no amount of law that we can have, you know, we just do one additional thing, and then I'm finally right with God, and I can sit in his presence. That's not the case at all.
Joel Brooks:As a law breaker, God's glory means our death. So what is the solution here? Paul gives it to us in verse 16. But when one turns to the lord, the veil is removed. Paul says all we have to do is turn to the lord.
Joel Brooks:We turn to Jesus, we turn to the Lord, and that that barrier is removed. And we see God in his glory by just turning to Jesus. And now we can look at the glory of God without judgment because Jesus has taken that judgment. This is the solution is simple. You look to Jesus if you wanna bask in god's glorious presence.
Joel Brooks:And I would say what Paul is describing here is what we would call simply conversion. Do you remember the day when you maybe you've heard the gospel a 1000 times over and over and over and nothing. And then also one day, God was like, click, veil removed. And and and you just you saw Jesus for who he was and he was calling to you, and you saw him as glorious. Do do you remember that day?
Joel Brooks:That's that's conversion. This weekend, I've been doing a retreat, for a college ministry at the University of Alabama. And, last night, a girl came up to me, and she said, Joel, when he preached Friday night, and you're you're just explaining the word of God, she said, for the first time in my life, it's like I understood it. And she said, and I I've heard God calling me. I mean, he was calling me.
Joel Brooks:I I I just, I feel changed. And she was kind of embarrassed about it. She goes, I think you would call that like, I was converted. I was like, yeah. That's that's what happens.
Joel Brooks:You you you turn to the Lord, and the veil's removed, and and also you see and there's no longer judgment, there's glory. And you were made for that. That's that's what Paul's describing here. And when this happens, when this veil is removed for the first time in your life, you feel alive and you feel free. And you're free from those laws.
Joel Brooks:And then the spirit comes inside of you and now you can actually obey those laws now that you're free from those laws. And And that's why Paul here talks about the freedom we have in the spirit. And, and it's here we come to that famous verse, verse 17. Now the lord is spirit, and where the spirit of the lord is, there is freedom. Let's read that again with verse 16.
Joel Brooks:But when one turns to the lord, the veil is removed. Now the lord is spirit, and where the spirit of the lord is, there is freedom. Now, hopefully, at at this point, you don't see that as it's like, well, that just means we're supposed to lift our hands and worship. If if if that's what you see, I failed, you know, or we're now allowed to drink, you know, or something like that. That's that's that's not what Paul's talking about.
Joel Brooks:He's saying that when we turn to the Lord, the veil's removed, and we now see the glory of god. And the way that we turn to the lord is we turn to his spirit. We turn to his spirit. We open up our lives. We open up our heart to his spirit.
Joel Brooks:We we seek the spirit's fullness in our life. And, and, and when the spirit comes inside, he frees us. He frees us from our sins. And then he enables us to actually keep the law. Look at verse 18.
Joel Brooks:Verse 18 tells us the results of being freed by God's spirit. He says, and we, all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the lord who is the spirit. You could land here for a while. Let me summarize about Paul is is saying this.
Joel Brooks:When through the spirit, you look at Jesus, you become more like Jesus. When through the spirit, you look at Jesus, you become more like Jesus. When when through the spirit, you sit in the presence of God's glory, God's glory rubs off on you. True heart transformation only comes from opening up your heart to the spirit's work in your life, And that's why Paul preaches freedom from the law, and he teaches you to plug into the spirit of God. Maybe I could flesh it out and just just tell you how this works.
Joel Brooks:We'll we'll end with this. The law of God says things like, you should not covet. Alright? You should not covet. Try doing that in America.
Joel Brooks:Alright? We are built our entire economy is built on people coveting. If People don't covet, there's no there's no economy. You've got to want things. You've got to long for all these things that you don't really even need.
Joel Brooks:You deserve a La Z Boy. I really do. I need to get a La Z Boy, you know. That that's that's how it works. So so you can't keep this command.
Joel Brooks:You're just being judged by this command. But if through the spirit, you look at Jesus and you just gaze at him, you begin realizing Jesus meets my every need. Jesus satisfies my every longing. And then he could look at these things and you're free from them and you don't covet. Let's let's look at, you know, you should not lie.
Joel Brooks:Okay? You shouldn't lie. Alright? Well, a lot of times we say a little white lie, maybe because we we wanna impress somebody or we want them to like us. And no matter how many times we really try hard not to lie, we, we, we always do that.
Joel Brooks:Paul would say freedom, seek the spirit, Seek give him control of your life because through the spirit, you're gonna look at Jesus and you know what? You're gonna find complete acceptance there. You're you're gonna see that you no longer need to pretend. You no longer have to try to be somebody you're not. You are fully loved and accepted in his presence.
Joel Brooks:There's no need to lie. The law says not to commit adultery or or or or not even to lust. Once again, good luck. Try driving around every single billboard, every magazine cover, every TV commercial is trying to get you to lust. Through the spirit, we look at Jesus and we see a lover that makes all the other little lovers out there trying to vie for our attention just seem tame and boring.
Joel Brooks:And we can keep the command to not commit adultery. You you could do that through the whole law. Okay? You could be able to try to bow up really hard and try to keep it, or you can look to Jesus, and Jesus liberates you from all of it. And then with a heart of worship, you just follow him.
Joel Brooks:And Paul is simply saying, look to Jesus, turn to Jesus, turn to the Lord. How do you turn to the Lord? Will you open yourself up to his spirit? That's the heart transforming truth that Paul's trying to get across. And I hope I hope you hear that from this pulpit.
Joel Brooks:Pray with me. Our father, that that that was a chunk. I'm dripping with sweat right now. Alright? And I'm sure they are too.
Joel Brooks:That that took a lot of energy to preach, and it took more energy to try to absorb. And so as always, Jesus, we need your spirit to take my, my mumbled words and bring clarity to them for what we have heard is glorious. It's transforming. So right now in this moment, spirit of God, write that on our hearts. We don't want to just show up and have an event and waste time.
Joel Brooks:So spirit of God, do your work. We pray this in the name of Jesus and for his glory. Amen.
