Am I Living Life Wearing Blindfolds?

Father, we all are very good at seeing the blindfolds that other people wear,

and we are blindfolded to the blindfolds that we wear and that we clutch to our eyes.

Father, we ask that your Holy Spirit would do a gentle but wonderful and deep work in our lives today as we read your word.

We ask, Father, that you do not help us to see the blindfolds that others wear,

but that you help us to see the blindfolds that we keep putting on or that we hold on.

We ask, Father, that you would do this work, that we would see our blindfolds.

Father, all this we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

Just recently in the same week, I had two remarkable conversations in different coffee shops.

I won't keep advertising the coffee shops that they both were.

Those of you who are regulars know what they probably were.

The first one happened just a few weeks ago.

I was talking to a young man, and the conversation, I've had lots of conversations with him,

and the conversation took a very sudden and surprising turn.

He said to me,

George, you know, I've been puzzled about this.

I have been raised by very, very secular parents who wanted nothing to do with religion or spirituality.

As I was growing up as a child and as a teenager and as a young adult when I still lived in my house,

my parents once never took me to a church or a mosque or a synagogue or a temple.

Never once.

I've had a completely and utterly secular education where I wasn't taught anything about God at school,

but I was taught ethics.

Yet as far back as I can remember, I have prayed.

And I pray virtually every day right now.

And I don't really understand why.

Isn't that a remarkable conversation?

I mean, just brothers and sisters, those of you who are here are Christians,

one of the great mistakes that we make when we talk to our non-Christian friends

is to presume that they never pray.

In fact, it might very well be that one of the things that will shock us

is that many Christians live prayerless lives.

And we might discover, if we actually had an honest conversation,

that our non-Christian friends pray more than we do.

And so,

the text that we're going to look at in a moment

actually talks a little bit about how I tried to answer the question.

It's a very important text, actually,

to help us to understand this phenomenon

as to why it would be that somebody in a completely secular environment

in a very, very secular culture

would pray every day

and have a basic belief that there must be a God that does exist.

This particular person also actually lives without hope,

which is a very, very interesting mixture of things.

Shortly after this conversation,

in the same week,

I had a conversation with a young woman

that went in a very different way.

Those of you who've taken the bulletins,

every week in the bulletin I have a blog.

It's in the bulletin and then it's online on Monday.

And the opening quote,

I mean, it might look a bit shocking.

I realize I should have put a question mark after it afterwards.

But this is pretty almost exactly word for word

an assertion that came to me

in a different conversation later in the week

with a different person.

And she said this repeatedly.

And this is what she said to me.

Christianity believes it is exceptional.

But every religion believes it is exceptional.

There have been at least 10,000 religions

and 100,000 gods.

There were religions that existed before Christianity

that do not exist today.

In 4,000 years' time,

Christianity will not exist.

And there will be other religions.

These are just facts that you have to accept.

And you can look at the blog.

The scripture text touches on this as well, by the way,

just slightly.

You can look at the blog yourself later on at your leisure

where if my sermon gets very boring,

you can look at it yourself

and see how I sort of responded to that.

But two very, very different conversations.

The second one would be a person

who clearly identifies themselves as an atheist.

The first one is,

I don't know how he would identify himself.

The scripture text addresses both of these issues,

but the first one in particular.

So it would be a great help to me

if you open your Bibles

and turn to the text that Anya read

just a few moments ago,

2 Corinthians 3, verse 7.

2 Corinthians 3:7

2 Corinthians 3, verse 7.

2 Corinthians 3:7

And actually, I'm just going to read

the very last sentence of verse 6

because it's sort of, it's part of the argument.

Actually, one of the things,

another bit of a time out here.

For those of you who call this your church home,

one of the things you can,

I really, really, really, really,

desperately need your prayers every week.

One of the hard parts about trying to preach

through 2 Corinthians, the first seven chapters,

is it's a very, very subtle

but sustained argument

where things keep looping back.

And it's hard to know.

A lot of what it's talked about here

is talked about in chapter 4 and 5 and 6.

It's just really hard to somehow figure out

how to preach it.

I really, really value your prayers

that as I'm listening to the Bible,

I know how to sort of bring you into the argument

without having to listen to all of the seven chapters.

So please pray for me.

Anyway, if we just, we're going to look at,

so remember, so this young man,

and why is it that I've prayed,

and I still pray, I've prayed today,

and I never had any religious background or upbringing.

So we'll begin at just the last sentence of verse 6.

For the letter kills,

but the Spirit gives life.

And then it goes on.

Now if the ministry of death,

carved in letters on stone,

came with such glory

that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face

because of its glory,

which was 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.

It's a big chunk of scripture.

It's, you know, said 7 to 11,

so that's five verses.

But here's the big idea

with this text.

It's Paul using

a different set of images

to try to communicate

a very fundamental Christian truth.

It's in virtually all of his letters.

It's what Jesus was trying to communicate.

It's a constant New Testament lesson.

It's a lesson that goes right back

to what we call the Old Testament

and our Jewish friends call the Tanakh.

And it's this.

And I'm sorry I don't have

this point up on a slide,

but this is it.

If all I have are rules

and rituals to follow,

I will die a failure.

If all I have are rules

and rituals to follow,

I will die a failure.

If all I have are rules

and rituals to follow,

I will die a failure.

One of the points

I was going to try to make,

and you can see it in my blog,

to the woman who said

that there's 10,000 religions,

100,000 gods,

is I tried to communicate

that it might be

that they're not all the same.

And I would suggest

that there are several

very, very distinctive things

about the Christian way

and about what Jesus taught.

That in a sense,

if there are 10,000,

I don't know if there have been 10,000,

but 9,999 share one common feature.

And that common feature

is that whether it's come

from a seer,

from a prophetic vision,

whether they believe

it's come directly

from the mind or mouth of God

or word of God,

they all teach

that there's rules

and rituals to follow.

And if you're successful

at following the rules

and the rituals,

you will be accepted by God.

Now, granted,

the 9,999,

they all disagree

on lots of things.

You know,

the rules and the rituals

that you have to follow

if you follow Muhammad

are going to be very different

than the rules

and the rituals

you have to follow

if you're listening to Buddha

or to Krishna.

And the consequence

for failing to follow

the rules and the rituals

are going to be very different

if you're following Muhammad

than if you're following Buddha

or Krishna.

With Buddha and Krishna,

you get another kick

at the can, so to speak.

You come back

and you keep doing it.

But it's all

a very, very common teaching

that there are rules,

there are rituals.

Some of it might involve

going to a temple

in Paul's time in Corinth.

You know,

the men would have said,

so long, dear,

I'm going to the temple

to worship

and it would have meant

that they were going

to have sex

with a temple prostitute.

You know,

now it might be yoga.

In other places,

it might be killing an animal

or a sacrifice.

It might be learning

how to say

a certain type of prayer

or following a practice.

But it's a very,

very common thing

I would suggest

for all 9,999 religions

and spiritualities

and systems of thought

that there are rules

and there are rituals.

You follow them

and God accepts you.

And the message of Jesus

and the New Testament message

is the message of Jesus

is that no human being

will ever follow

the rules and the rituals

sufficiently.

And if your hope

is following the rules

and the rituals,

you will die.

In fact,

if you go back

and you read Romans,

the book of Romans,

and just,

most scholars think

that the letter

that Paul wrote

after this

was the book of Romans.

And if you go back

and you read

chapter 2 of Romans,

one of the things

that Paul does

in an argument

is to say in a sense

that God is completely

and utterly fair.

Even if you don't believe

or know in his rules

and rituals

that he's revealed

in the Tanakh,

if you make your own,

just pick your own rules

and rituals.

You can pick

whatever rules

or rituals you want

and then just measure

your life by your own rules

or rituals.

You won't even keep them.

Very, very common thing

in movies.

You know,

I have these rules

and I'm going to break them

or they break them

and things happen.

And so,

what Paul is saying here

in verses 7 to 11

is that if all I have

are rules and rituals

to follow,

I will die a failure.

In this particular context,

he's saying,

he's referring to a story

that goes in Exodus

Exodus 32 · chapter mention

chapter 32,

33,

and 34.

where God

appears to Moses.

Moses goes up

in a mountain.

God appears

to Moses.

Of course,

Moses can't see him directly,

but Moses is in God's presence

and God himself

writes on tablets of stone

what we now know of

as the Ten Commandments,

the Ten Instructions,

the Ten Words

that are to be the basis

about how you live.

And when Moses comes down

from the mountain,

because he's been

in the presence of God,

his face is bright,

like the brightest spotlight,

and the people of Israel

can't bear to look at it,

so they,

his face,

so he puts a cover on it

so it doesn't frighten them.

And that's the background.

But if you understand

that it's,

that if you follow,

if you believe that

following rules and rituals

will make you right with God,

if that's what your religion is,

you should know

that you will die of failure.

If you keep that perspective,

listen again to verses 7,

verses 7 to 11.

Now if the ministry of death

carved in letters on stone,

see that's what it is.

They're words

carved in letters of stone,

but it ends up

just bringing you death

because you can't keep them.

I can't keep them.

I'm not just saying you.

Ha ha ha,

you can't keep them,

I do.

No, no, no.

I have three fingers

pointing back.

I'm more than you.

I'm probably worse

at keeping the rules

than many of you

who are here.

If the ministry of death,

that's what it ends up being

if you just have rules

and rituals,

carved in letters on stone,

came with such glory

that the Israelites

could not gaze at Moses' face

because of its glory,

which was being brought to an end.

Will not the ministry of the Spirit

have even more glory?

Listen again to this.

For if there was glory

in the ministry of condemnation,

because you see,

if in fact God reveals perfect rules

and we can't keep the rules,

then that actually is a word against us.

It's a type of condemnation of us.

The ministry of righteousness

must far exceed it in glory.

And just so you know,

every time you see

the word righteousness,

or most of the times

you see the word righteousness,

understand that it means

right standing,

making it right.

What makes you right with God?

Right?

The image is,

I don't know,

maybe you work in a Starbucks

or something like that

and a customer's complaining

and they're complaining

that the,

you know,

I don't know,

that the coffee's not right,

the bill's wrong,

et cetera, et cetera.

What is it that they do,

whether it's them

or the manager,

they come to make it right?

Right.

They come to make it right.

And they want to make it right

so that there's a sense

of satisfaction,

that there's a sense

of restoration of justice

and wholeness.

and it usually means

making it right

is that the restaurant pays.

They say,

here,

we'll give it exactly

the way you want,

we'll take it all back,

in fact,

we'll make it free for you.

We'll make it free

because why?

We want to make it right.

And that image

of making it right

is what the word righteousness

in English,

that's,

it's an English translation

of a Greek word,

that's what it's trying

to communicate,

that there's going to be

a ministry from God

that makes it right

with him.

Go back to verse 10.

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 that

which is permanent

have glory.

I'll talk about that

in a moment.

But here we can see

that there's this basic idea

that if all I have

are rules and rituals

to follow,

I will die a failure

and we just cannot

literally keep the rules.

In fact,

in the same conversation

with the young man

who was telling me

about prayer,

I knew that he liked

watching movies.

So I said to him,

because I was trying

to explain how Christians

understand this issue,

why it is that Christians

would understand

or should understand

that people pray naturally.

And I said,

if you saw a movie,

science fiction

or a fantasy movie,

but if you saw a movie

and in the movie

you come to a place

where everything

is perfect,

the people are perfect,

they follow all

of the rules,

everything is perfect,

wouldn't you know

that as the movie

progresses

that there's evil

behind it,

that it's an illusion?

And he said,

yes.

That's always

what it means

in Hollywood

where you see

something perfect.

It always means

there's evil

and that there's control.

I said,

one of the,

and this would be

another thing

to the woman

about the 10,000 religions,

the second thing

which is very distinctive

in the Christian faith

is the doctrine

of the fall.

that the idea

that God created

all things good

and that the creator

who created

all things good

created human beings

in a very special place

to tend the garden,

to in a sense

be a sub-creator

under God

and to manage

God's creation,

almost like a type

of priest and priestess

where we care

for the earth

and we at the same time

in a sense

offer the earth

up to God

under his direction.

and human beings alone

out of all the created order

are made in the image

of God.

The Greek word

translating is

icon,

E-I-K-O-N

and human beings alone

are made in the icon

of God

and when human beings

in Genesis 3

decided that they did not

want to be sub-creators

but wanted to be equal

with God

or superior to God

what happened

is that something

within us

was bent

and twisted

and because

you can never

leave yourself

to fix yourself

that which is now

bent and twisted

can't be unbent

and untwisted

because it'd be

a bent and twisted

being

trying to unbend

and untwist

a twisted being

and we only bend

and twist it more

and so

when we rebelled

against God

because we wanted

to be like God

ourselves

it isn't that God

erased

the image

and likeness

in us

and removed it

it stays in us

but we're now bent

we're now twisted

and

and that's why

it is

that every day

if we woke up

on Monday

and the newspaper

said

there's been

no wars

no robberies

nothing bad

happened in the entire world

we know we wouldn't

believe it

nobody in the city

would believe it

even the hardened

atheist

even the most

unbelievably

optimistic

Rousseau

following

sorry

bit of an

academic

reference

person who

teaches

in the education

faculty

that somehow

often teaches

that human beings

are inherently good

nobody would believe it

right

nothing bad

happened

like nothing at all

and even if we thought

that nothing bad

happened

we'd know in our

thoughts

that bad things

were going on

in our thoughts

why

because human beings

are bent

they're twisted

we're made in the image

of God

we were made

in a sense

in the image

of a creator

but we are bent

and we are twisted

it's another thing

which is unique

to what Jesus taught

what the Bible teaches

so human beings

are made in God's image

and we're bent

and we're twisted

it explains two things

it explains why

when I say

and when Paul

is saying here

that if God

gives us perfect laws

we won't keep them

all it will do

is give us reason

to understand

that God

has a very valid reason

to not allow us

into his heaven

in the new heaven

and the new earth

at the same time

the fact that

every human being

is made in God's image

it talks

it explains

very powerfully

why it is

that there have been

10,000 religions

I mean

I didn't put it

in my blog

but one of the things

I would have said

to my Dawkins

loving friend

with the 10,000

religion quote

is you know

atheism

has to account

for why there's

10,000 religions

and you know

what

Freud's explanation

doesn't work

Freudbox explanation

doesn't work

Marx's explanation

doesn't work

you know

they don't work

and you have to

account for that

but you know

for us as Christians

if in fact

every human being

has been made

in the image

and the icon of God

and we have a creator

there is something

in every human being

because we're made

in the image of God

that cries out

and longs for

and desires

that creator

in whom

whose

in whose image

we have been made

and the fact

that we can never

stop being creatures

as much as we might

think that we're gods

and our technology

and our techniques

can make us like God

and our politics

can make us like God

if we just follow Marxism

if we just follow

some utopia

that we will be like gods

we will manage

the means of production

we will manage

the created order

we will be perfect

that

none of those things work

but the creation itself

we're creatures

in a created order

that regularly reminds us

that there's a creator

even if we suppress it

and there is something

in every human being

that longs

to once again

be aligned

with that

with whom

we are made

and whom we are made

in his image

the true

and living God

the creator

and sustainer

of all things

so the question is

okay George

whoa whoa whoa

okay

George

does that mean

if I'm just reading this

all right

does this mean

that God did something

on purpose

to condemn us

does this mean

that God did something

that failed

like

how does that fit

George

how would it fit

that this

if God does all these things

and it just condemns us

and it

like

like

in fact actually

this

I explained some of these things

to the

to the young man

who first

asked me this question

about prayer

and his response was

because

he acknowledged

that

if we saw a movie

with utopia

we'd know there was evil

behind it

and he'd say

there's no hope then

and given that in fact

he has always struggled

with the fact

that there's no hope

he said

now I know

there's no hope

I'm really good

at cheering people up

and

and then I said

but that's why

we need grace

that's why we need grace

I'm going to read

verses 7 to 11 again

but take in mind

a different type of image

it wasn't as if

God said

well I'm going to try

this plan with Moses

I sure hope it works

and then after a period

of time

God went

oh dang

it didn't work

what on earth

am I going to do now

it wasn't like that at all

if any of you have

some

if any of you have watched

any of the

of the moon shots

any of the

of the

you know

on YouTube

or maybe some of us

watch it on TV

back when it actually happened

and they sent those

Saturn rockets up

to send

people on

to be on the moon

you'll know that

the rockets

were in several stages

it was glorious

wasn't it

watching it

I could just imagine

what it must have been like

to actually have

physically been there

and you probably

would have actually

not only seen

the rocket

you would have

probably felt it

and it would have

been in your body

like a throbbing

in your body

and in your ears

it would have been

very overwhelming

very glorious

but you know how long

the first stage

of the rocket

had to last for

and had to do its work

I only know this

because I looked it up

I find it on the internet

it has to be true

if you find it on the internet

right

two minutes

and 42 seconds

this huge

the biggest part

of the whole rocket

only has to last

for two minutes

and 42 seconds

and then if it's

doing its job

right at the end

of two minutes

and 42 seconds

the rocket

turns off

and the next rocket

keeps going

and all of the language

here

in the text

and it's

a bit more subtle

in English

it's very obvious

in the original language

is that God

was doing

a mighty work

through Moses

and at every stage

throughout that

he always knew

that it was leading

to the next stage

this isn't replacement

theology

or anything like that

this is part of God's

bigger plan

he always only has

one people

but it was always

every

Moses has all of these

promises and prophecies

of a greater prophet

of a

all of the

sacrifices are pointing

to a greater sacrifice

all of these things

it's always pointing

to something more

and that's this

language

that it's not a failure

part of it was to help

to communicate to us

that we can't follow

rules and rituals

but that it always

had an end

it always had a purpose

it always had

a next stage

it always had

the next thing

in mind

and that's why

if you listen to it again

listen to it within

that perspective

thinking of the

Saturn rocket

and when they built

the Saturn rocket

they built it

so the first stage

they had a plan

that it would stop

and that there'd be

these other stages

that would eventually

take human beings

to walk on the moon

now if the ministry

of death

verse 7

carved in letters

on stone

came with such glory

that the Israelites

could not gaze

at Moses' face

because of its glory

which was being

brought to an end

will not the ministry

of the Holy Spirit

have even more glory

for if there was glory

in the ministry

of condemnation

the ministry

of righteousness

a ministry

that's going to

make us right

with God

make it right

must far exceed

in its glory

indeed in this case

what once had glory

has come to have

no glory at all

because of the glory

that surpasses it

who looks at the final stage

when you can be looking

at the people on the moon

I mean who looks at

the first stage

when you can be looking

at the people on the moon

because of the glory

that surpasses it

for if what was being

brought to an end

came with glory

much more will that

which is permanent

have glory

since we have

such a hope

we are very bold

or we are very open

the word bold

can also mean

completely and utterly open

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

you see

God looks down

from heaven

at you and me

and he knows

that we cannot

keep rules and rituals

and that if all we think

if we are part of those

9,999 religions

that believe

it's just some rule

or some ritual

and if these ones don't work

if Islam's not working out

maybe we should try Buddhism

and if Buddhism

isn't working out

there's thousands

of different types

of Hinduism

maybe one of those

work out

and if those don't work out

well maybe we can make

our own little bit

of Hinduism

bit of Buddhism

bit of Judaism

bit of Islam

and put it all together

and he knows

that they're all

just not going to work

they're just not going to work

they're just not going to work

they're just not going to work

he knows that

he loves us

and so

he's going to do

something about it

he's going to do

something about it

now

in many ways

this is just a two point sermon

the first one

about the rules

and the second point

is going to culminate

in verse 18

and those of you

who have been here

other weeks

I think book of

2nd Corinthians

has more verses

to memorize

than just about

any verse in the Bible

could you put it up

on the stage

could you read this

out with me

we're going to say this

quite a few times

I really encourage you

if you have never

memorized scripture

to start memorizing scripture

and this is a great verse

to memorize

we're going to read it up

I just want to read it first

this is the conclusion

of this whole section

we're going to get to it

but could you read it

out loud with me

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

and

Paul begins

with this

very powerful

presentation

of in a sense

the bad news

and then he's going

to switch

to a different image

he sort of is

like a comedian

he takes

this image

of the veil

and he's going to

now all of a sudden

turn this into

something very powerful

and it's a very

human experience

to help us explain

how it is

see what God wants

he wants us

to come to the point

where we say

in a sense

that first person

the young man

that I talked to

who said

that there was

no hope

that acknowledged

that he could never

keep the rules

and the rituals

that he could never

that there would

always be things

that he would do

is wrong

in a sense

what God wants

is to come

to the point

to say

which I tried

to share with him

God unless you

do something

real and effective

I have no hope

I need you

to do something

because I can't

do it

I need you

to show

real and effective

and powerful

mercy and grace

I need mercy

and grace

I need mercy

and grace

and Paul

continues to deepen

this by developing

the image

of the blindfold

it's a very

very human problem

right

human beings

have multiple

blindfolds

the surprising

thing is that

for most of us

it's very interesting

I mean do we have

blindfolds

what is it that

supporters of

Hillary Clinton

say

those of you

who are here

who like Clinton

what do you say

about people

who if you find

out that somebody

after a drink coffee

that somebody here

might vote for Trump

you'd think to yourself

can't they see

are they blind

like

how can they look

at that guy

they're not looking

if they were looking

they wouldn't vote

for him

you Trump supporters

you quiet ones

you know who you are

what are you saying

about people

who are going

to vote for Clinton

he's saying

are they blind

can't they see

who on earth

could possibly

vote for her

I could do this

with just about anything

climate change deniers

and climate change

supporters

what do both of them

say about the other

can't they see

are they wearing

blindfolds

what do often

some of you say

in relationships

you know you have

your girlfriend

or whatever

and she starts

to be interested

in a particular guy

and you say

to your girlfriends

somebody has to

speak to her

can't she see

who that guy is

he's such a loser

like is she

what's she's blind

right we say this

all the time

no no Clinton

supporter thinks

that they might be

blind

no Trump supporter

thinks that they

might be blind

but the surprising

thing is is that

in the world

how do we deal

with blindfolds

we think that

if we can just

take off our

blindfolds

and take off

our blindfolds

and take off

our blindfolds

and maybe we'll

take off the

blindfolds

enough blindfolds

that we can see

God

the Bible says

you got it all

wrong

what we're going

to see in the

Bible here

is that the

Bible is going

to tell us

that the root

blindfold that we

wear

is a blindfold

that keeps us

blind to God

and so

one of the

images of

salvation

is that

one of the

ways that

God makes

us right

with himself

is that

he does it

all by

Jesus dying

upon the

cross

later on

in 2 Corinthians

it's going

to say

God made

him

who knew

no sin

to be

sin for

us

so that

in him

we might

become

the righteousness

of God

and explain

that when we

get to it

in a couple

of weeks

it's just

one of the

most powerful

compact

almost creedal

statements

of what

Jesus does

for us

on the

cross

it's going

to come

up in

a couple

of weeks

the end

of 2 Corinthians

God made

him who

knew no

sin

to be

sin for

us

so that

in him

we might

become

the righteousness

of God

and part

of that

whole process

is that

God takes

the blindfold

off

that the

root

blindfold

that

undergirds

the blindfolds

we have

about politics

and the

blindfolds

that we

have

about

relationships

that the

root

blindfold

is the

one

that we

wear

in regard

to

eternal

destiny

and a

relationship

with the

creator

listen to

verses 12

through 18

since we

have such a

hope

that is that

there's God

has some

greater thing

that he's going

to do

since we have

such a hope

we are very

bold

or very open

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

he's just

going to say

that briefly

but he's going

to get right

back to this

issue of a

hardening in the

blindfold or the

veil is the

same thing

but their

minds were

hardened for

to this day

when they read

the old

covenant

the same veil

remains

unlifted

that is because

we continue

time and time

and time

and time

again

Einstein said

that insanity

is trying to

do the same

thing over

and over

and over

expecting

different results

and the

very very

heart of the

religious spirit

is to think

that we can

keep changing

the rules

and eventually

we'll get the

rules that will

allow us to

succeed

but the problem

is that we

can't keep

the rules

so say that

again

verse 14

but their

minds were

hardened

for this day

when the old

covenant

when they read

the old covenant

that same veil

remains

unlifted

because only

through Christ

it is taken

away

is it taken

away

yes to this

day whenever

Moses is read

whenever the

rules and the

rituals are

read

a veil lies

over their

hearts

but when

one turns

to the

Lord

the veil

is removed

but when

one turns

to the

Lord

notice that

it doesn't

say when

one takes

off the

veil

it's saying

I can't

follow the

rules

I can't

look at

your glory

I can't

keep the

rituals

I'm

bent

and I'm

twisted

and I

can't

fix it

and I

still pray

but really

God

you're an

unknown

God

I don't

really know

you

but I

sense

there must

be a

God

there's

something

within me

which is

calling out

and in

the Greek

tenses

of this

original

text

it's a

very

interesting

ambiguity

it's

on one

hand

that God

has put

the

blindfold

and the

other

hand

it is

that I

have put

the

blindfold

and I

can't

use my

hands

father

and then

you turn

to the

Lord

you call

out

and say

father

God

I don't

know

everything

there is

to know

about you

I only

know a

little bit

about you

and I

don't

even

all I

know

father

is

if you

do not

do

something

that I

cannot

do

if you

do not

show

me

mercy

if

you

don't

do

what

I

cannot

do

I

have

no

hope

dear

God

do

what

I

cannot

do

I

trust

and hope

that you

have

mercy

when you

turn to

the

Lord

even

though

our

hands

want to

cling

to the

blindfold

on our

eyes

the

Lord

takes

the

blindfolds

away

because

only

God

can

do

it

that's

what

the

text

is

saying

verse

16

again

but

when

one

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

God

made

us

for

himself

and

our

hearts

are

restless

and

our

hearts

are

burdened

until

our

hearts

rest

in

him

and

we

all

could

you

say

this

verse

with

me

if

it's

still

up

on

the

screen

say

it

with

me

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

act

upon

the

cross

is

what

is

right

with

him

and

as

part

of

this

wonderful

act

it's

not

just

when

we're

made

right

with

God

it's

an

act

of

God

by

his

grace

and

his

mercy

if

we

were

to

become

more

like

Jesus

in

our

daily

life

it's

an

act

of

God

and

his

mercy

and

grace

and

if

we

are

glorified

in

the

new

heaven

and

new

earth

the

new

created

order

that

is

all

a

work

of

grace

and

it's

all

a

work

of

mercy

it's

all

grace

it's

all

mercy

it's

all

from

God

we

just

are

called

to

cooperate

with

it

and

all

of

the

language

of

transformation

here