The Letter and the Spirit of the Law

[David Metzel] This time of the year we tend to ask ourselves questions. We give ourselves a test. At the Passover – leading up to and preparing for the Passover – we ask ourselves questions. During the Days of Unleavened Bread, we don't stop. We continue to ask ourselves questions.

I'm going to start today with a question for all of us.  Are you – that's we (you, me) – are you under the Old Covenant or the New Covenant?  Are you under the Old Covenant or the New Covenant?  Some are probably thinking, “Well, that's kind of a no brainer.” And yes, it is kind of a no brainer. However, some of us, in the past, have been accused of being under the Old Covenant. However, none of us are under the Old Covenant. We're not old enough. Even the most senior person here is just not old enough to have been under the Old Covenant. Well, here's a question for you.  How do we live?  Do we live like we're under the Old Covenant or under the New Covenant? How do we live? That's a different question. How do we know whether we live under the Old Covenant or the New Covenant?

Well, to help answer that question, again another question – how do we view the law of God?  How do we view the law of God? Do we believe and practice the letter of the law all of the time, some of the time or none of the time? Likewise, do we believe and practice the spirit of the law all of the time, some of the time or none of the time? What does the Bible say about the letter and the spirit of the law? What does it have to say about the spirit of the law? There is much written in both the Old and New Testaments about the law – both the letter and the spirit. What did Christ say about the law – both the letter and the spirit? What about the Apostle Paul? He wrote a lot in the New Testament. What did he have to say about the law?

Today we're going to take a look at some of what Christ said and some of what the Apostle Paul said – what the Bible says about the spirit and the letter of the law. We're going to see, what does that have to do with our heart – with changing us from the inside out?  This, obviously, is a very big subject.  I'm going to cover foundational principles today – stay with the basics – and you can go on from there. I mentioned this is a big subject. Then I'm going to talk about some basic concepts – the letter and the spirit of the law – and how that affects our hearts.

Let's, first, turn to Matthew 5, and I'll start reading in verse 17 – a basic scripture – one that we've gone over several times before, but there's always something we can learn as we go through scriptures, even though we're read them many times before. 

Matthew 5:17-20 – "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets.  (Now that term the law and the prophets is really a representation of the Old Testament – what we call the Old Testament. He said, I'm not come to do away with the writings) I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one title will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven."

That last statement in verse 20 is considered by many to be the SPS of the Sermon on the Mount – unless our righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees – the SPS. And I think that's familiar buzzword or acronym that most of us here – those who have been in Spokesmen club, or Ambassador Club, or any of the leadership clubs – is one statement of what the message is about.  If you could synthesize the message in one line, this would be it. This is the purpose of Christ's message at this point. When I said I would talk about the letter and the spirit of the law, that's the purpose of what I'm talking about. That was the SPS. As I said, there can be a specific purpose question as well, but this is a statement – very definitely.

But Christ definitely supported the law. He's not saying anything against law keeping. Again, later on, the apostle Paul also supported law keeping. And it's kind of interesting that both of them have been accused of doing away with the law – “You don't need to do that anymore.” But that's not what they're saying. Commentaries accused both Christ and Paul of doing away with the law. But we know what Christ said. I just read it. It's a plain statement. It's a strong statement. It's a simple statement. It's not complicated. He says nothing is going to fail – not even the crossing of a T or the dotting of an I. Nothing is going to fail until all is fulfilled.

Do we ever wonder why Christ made that statement? Why is He saying that? I'm sure glad that He did. It helps us a lot today. But He's not directly talking to us. Now He is by extension, but think of the concept. Who is He talking to at that point? Who is His audience? He's talking to Jews. He's talking to Pharisees. He's talking to people who keep the law. So again, why did He make that statement? Well, He knows that He's going to be making some changes. There are going to be some modifications – not destroying or doing away with, but He's going to modify. He's going to add the spirit of the law. And some of these things that He's doing – some of these changes – might be misunderstood. And again, they were accused in their day – both Christ and Paul – as well as in our day – of doing away with the law. Christ is saying that to the Jews so they won't think that He's doing away with the law. But He definitely, as I said, added something to the law.

It's kind of like our US Constitution – that is all of 300 years old. The document has remained unchanged since it was written. However there have been amendments added. The amendments don't change the original document. It's still there. But on some point it, makes it clear or expands, modifies, but it doesn't change the document. Christ did something similar. He did not destroy the law, but He definitely added to it. And what He added was the spirit of the law.  Interestingly enough, He said our righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the scribes and of the Pharisees. They were very good as law keepers.

Turn over to Philippians, the third chapter. This is the Apostle Paul, who is talking about himself as being a Pharisee. He wouldn't be the only one that is in this category, but he is talking about himself, in this case, and he's giving credentials, or bragging a littke bit in order to establish himself to the congregation at Phillipi.

Philippians 3:4-10  Though I also might have confidence in the flesh  (You know I can brag too) if anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so; circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church, concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. (I don't think there's anyone here that will say we're blameless as far as the righteousness of the law. He was a very righteous person. The Pharisees were very righteous people. I don't think any of us can come close to that.) But continuing on: But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. But indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ. and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.  So as Christ said, our righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and of the Pharisees.  Not that we're going to do it physically, but spiritually we can be way out in front of them.

With that background, let's take a look at something that Christ did change – an event that we all participate and that's the Passover. Turn back to Matthew 26 and look at something that Jesus Christ did change. I'm going to start reading in verse 19. However before I get there, I'm going to quickly look at a few other scriptures. 

Matthew 26:2 You know that after two days is the Passover. So this is giving the time setting.

Dropping down to Verse 17: 

V-17-18 Now on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus saying to Him, "Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?" And He said: "Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, The Teacher says, "My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with My disciples,"  

So what is the subject matter as we go through here? The Passover. Now picking it up in Verse 19:

V-19 So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and they prepared the Passover.

Then dropping down we see the changing of the symbols – verse 26:

V-26-28  And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed it and broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat, this is My body." Then He took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying, "Drink from it, all of you, for this is My blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." 

Here, at this point, Christ changed the symbols from the way the people, in what we call the Old Testament, kept the Passover to the New Testament or New Covenant Passover. He did not do away with the Passover. He didn't say, "No more, that's gone." You still keep the Passover, but we keep it in a different way. Rather than killing a lamb, as they did in the Old Testament, we drink wine and have some bread. The wine represents Christ's blood. And notice that it says in the New Covenant. Christ changed the symbols. He also changed the Covenant.

Now the concept of the New Covenant was introduced in the Old Testament in the book of Jeremiah and elsewhere. But Christ is actually bringing the New Covenant to come to pass. The Old Covenant was ratified by a shedding of blood. The New Covenant is also ratified by a shedding of blood, as we heard somewhat in the sermonette today. Another interesting thing was – and for those who were at Bible study have heard this, but I feel it's worth mentioning again – when Christ was keeping that Passover, He was doing this as far as Himself was concerned – as far as the New Covenant was concerned. He was not looking back to what Moses did and the children of Israel in the original exodus when they came out of Egypt. That Passover pointed to Christ. That Passover in the Old Testament – the Passover in Exodus – pointed to Jesus Christ.  When the Jews kept the Passover following that, they were doing that as a memorial to what Moses and the Israelites did, but also, whether they knew it or not, were looking ahead to the real fulfillment of the Passover of Jesus Christ – of His blood on us – washing and cleansing us with His blood. The Old Testament Passover was a type. Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of that type.  He ushered in the New Covenant. He was the fulfillment – not the other way around. 

Turn to 2 Timothy and we'll pick up another principle from the Apostle Paul. Again he's talking about the Old Testament. 2 Timothy 3:14 – a passage of scripture that’s familiar to many of us here.

2 Timothy 3:14-17  But as for you, continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them. And that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures…. So again, what scriptures did Timothy know from childhood? The New Testament wasn't written yet – what we call the New Testament was not written yet. He had what we call the Old Testament. Those are the scriptures that he had from childhood. …which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture – mostly, at this point, referring to the Old Testament, but probably to the New Testament too – is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Now here the Apostle Paul said, “all scripture is profitable,” and he chose the right word, He said it's profitable – it's useful, it's beneficial, it's helpful. Paul isn't hostile to the Old Testament at all – to what we call the Old Testament. He said it's useful and profitable, but as I said, he chose the right word here. He said profitable and to illustrate the point. Well, profitable means helpful and beneficial. It does not mean required.  Not everything in the Old Testament is required, but it is profitable. We can learn from the Old Testament. We can learn from sacrifices, are they profitable?  Yes they are. And we learn about the sacrifices of Jesus Christ. We learn about other sacrifices. We go back and look at the original Passover in Egypt. We look at the Exodus. There are lessons that we can and do learn from these days. It's profitable, but it's not required. Not everything in the Old Testament is required. What about circumcision? Our heart needs to be circumcised in order to be a part of the family of God – the children of God. We need to be circumcised. Of course we understand today that is through baptism. From the ceremonies…we learn from them how to approach God. We learn things about God. And again the Passover we keep is the New Covenant, or New Testament, Passover. We do not do this because of what Moses did. We do this because of what Jesus Christ did. Paul said the Old Testament was profitable.

Now I ask the question, are there times when it might not be profitable?  And I will say, yes there are, but that's basically when people are misusing the Old Testament, when they're arguing, when there's controversy, when there's debate and, specifically, I'll talk about it as debate of the original Passover and original Exodus. There have been reams of material written on when actually was it? What day? What time? When did that occur?

People argue, debate about this, and they study long and hard. There actually was a man here a couple years ago. Actually he visited the PM [service].  He may have stayed all day.  He may have been in the AM [service] too. I went up to talk with him and he literally, I would say, was an expert on the original Passover and the original Night to be Much Observed and Days of Unleavened Bread. And when I say an expert, I knew he was. He had studied years on this subject. He studied Hebrew. He studied Jewish traditions. He talked to Rabbis. He studied history. He studied calendars. He studied all sorts of things. He really was an expert, but when it really comes down to it, I asked the question, why? Aren't there better things to study then that?   Now there was an historical event, and I understand that, and it's interesting, I'm interested in things like this. This as a side point: this man had the correct information for the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread – the original one. How do I know that? Because his conclusion is as good as mine. (Laughter) No, that's not the reason. Besides, I don't know if he had the right day or not. I believe that he did, but we tend to do that. We think, “Well, if they agree with me, they must be right.” Well, sometimes they are and sometimes they're not. But in any case, all of this study. Aren't there other things that we could be studying? Again, its interesting, its historical, but we don't do what we do because of what Moses and Israelites did. We do it because of what Jesus Christ did. 

Turn back to 1 Corinthians 11th chapter. Again, these are scriptures that are familiar to us at this time of year. We've gone through several of these and will continue to do this, at least till we're out of the Days of Unleavened Bread.

1 Corinthians 11:17  Now in giving these instructions I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better but for the worse.  So he's going to give them instructions and specifically as far as the Passover is concerned. 

Dropping down to Verse 23: 

V-23-25 - For I – Paul – received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you; that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said: "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me." Very similar to what we read in Matthew. In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood.  This do as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me."

Interestingly enough, these instructions here were the first instructions – I can't make that statement – but as far as the New Testament is concerned, the Apostle Paul wrote these instructions before any of the Gospels were written. So this was the first instruction that are in the Bible.  I'm sure there was the tradition and maybe there were other messages or letters that were written but were not preserved. In any case, this is the first instruction in the Bible, chronologically speaking, about how to keep the Passover. Again, Christ did not do away with the Passover. He changed the symbols and we do what we do because of what Christ did. We don't kill a lamb, such as Moses did. We don't do what was done in the Old Testament. We follow the example of Jesus Christ. 

Turn over to Hebrews, the 8th chapter and we will take a look at something else Christ changed – I've already mentioned it today – and that's the New Covenant. He ushered in the New Covenant. I'm going to purposely start reading in verse 7 and say this particular scripture – verse 7 – I want to come back to and reference later. I won't turn back later since we've already turned here now.

Hebrew 8:7-8 For if that first covenant had been faultless (The Old Covenant)  then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, He says: "Behold the days are coming…."  

So there's a problem with the Old Covenant. And I think we know and understand what the problem is. I just read what the problem is. It's finding fault with them. Now covenant is a term that we do use nowadays. It's a legal term we sometimes use in business – a covenant, an agreement. A covenant is an agreement – an agreement between two or more parties. There are usually terms or conditions of the agreement. You will do this, I will do that. And, if that agreement is satisfied, then these results will happen. So a covenant, which we might think of in religious terms, is actually an English word – a legal term. It's an agreement. There was a problem with the Old Covenant. There were two parties involved. There was God involved and then there was the nation of Israel. There were terms and conditions. There was the law and then blessings would result, if everything was adhered to. The problem wasn't with the law. The problem certainly wasn't with God. As it says right here, finding fault with them.  The problem was with the people. They could not keep the law. In fact they broke the law. That's where the problem was. The problem wasn't with the covenant. It wasn't with God or the law. It was with the people. Continuing on in verse 8:

V-8-12 - ...because finding fault with them, He says: "Behold the days are coming," says the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah” – this passage is quoted essentially from Jeremiah 31:31 – "not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they – the people – did not continue in My covenant and I disregarded them,” says the Lord. “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days says the Lord, "I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be My people. None of them shall teach his neighbor and none his brother saying, "Know the Lord, for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more."  

Here we see the ushering in and the description of the New Covenant, written in the book of Hebrews. Obviously, the author of the book of Hebrews was well familiar with what we call the Old Testament. It's interesting. He's going to put His law in our hearts and – just as a comment here – under what law would that be? Well this is a quote from the book of Jeremiah. What law would Jeremiah be talking about? He talked about God's law – the same law that's here. It's not a different law.

Now when it talks about a New Covenant, that word new is interesting. There are, according to Barkley – this is William Barkley, the commentator – there are two words – two Greek words –   for new in the New Testament. The first is transliterated neos and that's my pronunciation – neos. It means new in respect to time, even though it's an exact copy. And what that means is,  let's say you go out and buy a new shirt, if you're a man, or a new dress, if you're a lady. It's new. It's brand new. It's not been worn, but you bring it home, and you've got several like it. So it's new, but it's not really different – it’s new. And the other word is kainos transliterated – that's new in time – that's brand new, but also new in quality. This is better. This is something that's been improved, or remodeled, or something better, and that's what the New Covenant is. It is something better than the old. And it is way better. According to the Expositors Bible Commentary, it says the two words are used somewhat interchangeably in the New Testament. However, sometimes neos implies newness – as in new shirt – and sometimes kainos implies superiority. When it talks about the New Covenant, the new is kainos – or superiority or greatly superior – as it references in 2 Corinthians 3, which we will go to in a little bit. For new means it's improved, it's better, it's refurbished, it's remodeled. It's not just the latest one to come down the line.

Obviously, we know that the New Covenant is going to be with everybody. It talks about the house of Israel, but it's going to be with everybody, and, in a moment, Paul talks about Gentiles are grafted in. Salvation is for everybody. This covenant is new and it's better in many ways. It has better promises than the old one. The law is now written in our hearts. In the Old Covenant was written in a different place. It was written on stone. The covenant now is within the individual. In the Old Covenant…that was national – it was with the nation of Israel. As I mentioned, the New Covenant is for everybody. You read in verse 12, from the least to the greatest – not just the educated or not just a certain class of people. It's for everybody. It's built upon a relationship between God and His people. It's not built on obedience, but on God's love and upon His mercy and forgiveness, as was mentioned in the sermonette. It's a rather interesting analogy, as far as justice and judgment. There still is justice in the New Covenant, but it's built on mercy. We have to be careful when we talk about mercy. Obedience is still required. It's not done away, but there is mercy and forgiveness involved now. We obey God because we love Him, and we want to be more like Him, and more like Jesus Christ – how we think and how we conduct ourselves, not because there's a threat of punishment hanging over our head. So here we have mercy and forgiveness through Jesus Christ.  

Well, I referenced 2 Corinthians 3. Let's turn back there. Paul is talking about the New Covenant. He has a lot of interesting insight and things to say about it. Now again, the law and the covenant are two separate entities – although the law is included in both the Old and the New Covenant, it's not identical to the covenant. Paul says in verse 1:

2 Corinthians 3:1-3 Do we begin again to commend ourselves?  Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you?  In other words, do we have somebody to say, “Hey, you know, Paul's an Apostle, he's asking….” Do I need that? You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; You are manifestly an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart. So he's kind of talking about the New Covenant right here. Where is this epistle written? It's not on stone, not on paper. It's written on your heart.  It's rather interesting. He says you are our epistle because of the change that took place in those people. Paul preached to them, they accepted, they responded to God, they responded to Jesus Christ, they became changed individuals. You are our epistle.

Now, I'll ask the same question today, someone asked me beforehand, and said, "Are you going to step on my toes today?" In a sense, I am stepping on all our toes. Are you an epistle? What kind of an epistle are you – as Paul said, "to be read by all men?” What is our example like? Our example counts a lot. What we do is far more important than what we say. Now we might say great flowery things, but if we don't back it up with our actions, it's empty, insanity, meaningless.  But anyway, Paul is saying here, you are our Epistle. I don't need a commendation.

Just another side, as far as that is concerned: Years ago someone wrote a question in to the home office saying. “There's another Church of God organization that has the copy rights of certain of Mr. Armstrong's documents, his writings, his articles, his books. Because they have these copy rights, does that make them the right church?” Well think about that a minute. Who is the real legal heir of Mr. Armstrong? It's really our parent organization. They're the ones are the legal heir? So if it's a matter of legality – words on a paper – then our parent organization is still the right organization. But it's not a matter of words on a paper, or on a stone – however it might be. It's not at all,! It's what's written on our hearts. It's our understanding. It's our following Jesus Christ – going forward with Him. 

Continuing on in verse 4:

V-4 -6 - And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of death of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God. Who also made us sufficient as ministers of the New Covenant – now Paul is saying he's a minister of the New Covenant – not of the letter but of the spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Now I'll come back here in a little bit, I'll just read the first part of verse 7:

V-7 – But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious – the administration of death or the ministry of death…. He's talking about the Old Covenant. Again, going back to the sermonette today, if you're under the Old Covenant, and you did something bad – you sinned – there's a penalty to pay. There was no mercy. You did this, you went to the priest and you'd have to bring a lamb, you'd have to bring a dove, you'd have to bring fruit and vegetables, bread – whatever you had to bring. But there's a penalty. There was no mercy. You did this and you had to pay. And specifically, sometimes the person had to pay with their life.  Generally speaking though, it was an animal that had to pay. But this was an administration of death. Someone or something died when you sinned. It was a reminder – a reminder to stay forward looking, as you will to Christ, whether they realized that or not. But the law said, “Kill –   kill something or someone. When I say a person had to die, there were certain crimes that were called capital crimes, or capital sins, if you will, of murder, of adultery, or kidnapping and a couple other things. I thought it was kind of interesting, in our society today, murder is still a capital crime. So is kidnapping. What happened to adultery? You look around at the society that we're in, we're a long, long way from where God wants us to be. But the sacrifices, the death, reminded the person of sin. It was a system of punishment. It didn't do anything for people's conscience.

But what would happen today? What should the minister do today? Well a minister is under the New Covenant today, and we don't have a system of punishment in the church. Say that you performed a sin and the pastor found out about it. We don't have a system of punishment when he says, “Well, what you did” – I’ll say, perhaps, telling a lie – a little white lie – that's not so bad – “your punishment is X.” Or, someone tells a whopper – a really big lie and deceives a lot of people – “Well, that's is terrible! Your punishment is 10X.” Obviously, we don't do that today. We do not have a system of punishment in the church. The pastor is not a sheriff, not a judge. He's not a jury. His role is to help and to teach – to point people to God – hopefully to teach them about repentance, so that the people will turn from their ways and be covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. In the Old Covenant there was administration of death. But I also want to caution all of us, the New Covenant does have a penalty. And it does have a death penalty. The wages of sin is death. God is serious about death. He's very serious. And when we're talking about death, we're talking about death forever – not death that happened in the Old Testament, but death forever. So there is a penalty. God is serious about sin. Continuing in verse 7:

V-7:  But if the ministry of death (And again it was an animal or some kind of a person had to die) written and engraved on stones, was glorious, (Well how about that?  This Old Covenant was blurry, it wasn't bad at all, in fact it was a very good way for dealing with the physical nation, for God dealing with a physical nation.) so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away.

Verse 8-11:  How will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation – again, of death, of the Old Covenant – had glory – and, as I mentioned, it did have glory – the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.

Now think about that for a minute. Barkley has an interesting comparison between the two covenants. He said the Old Covenant had glory, which again I said, but he said it was second best. Now I thought, “Well, that's interesting. It is second best.” He said it wasn't wrong – superseded right – it’s just incomplete – superseded by that which is complete. I thought, “Well, he's on to something there, but I think he's really missed the magnitude of it” – where he said it's second best. You know, you can have a race where someone crosses the finish line, and maybe a minute later someone else crosses the finish line. This isn't like that. Let's say that you'd like to go camping – you do go camping. I think most of us have camped overnight some time, and we have a little lantern – a kerosene or battery operated lantern. At night, it's okay. You can see to get around and you won't crash into anything or stumble. You probably also play cards, if you like, or maybe read a book. It's a little light. It doesn't see very far, but around yourself, you're okay. That same lantern, when the sun comes up the next day, the little lantern is sitting there burning away and you don't even see it. The sun has just totally obliterated…I mean this is light! This, to me, is the comparison between the Old Covenant – the little lantern – and the New Covenant, which totally overshadows it. Maybe overshadows isn't the right word. Overwhelmed would be a better word. It totally overwhelmed it. There is no comparison between the two. The New Covenant is much, much better than the Old Covenant.  Continuing on verse 12:

V-12-17 – Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech. Unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. But their minds were hardened .  For until this day the same veil this day, when Moses is me veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. It's only through Christ that we're able to see the meaning – what the Old Testament people of Israel failed to see and to comprehend. It's through Christ. If you don't come thru Christ, you're not going to see it. But even to this day when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the lord is, there is liberty. There is freedom. We were slaves to sin, just like Israel were slaves in Egypt. They were given liberty and we are given liberty. And, of course, it's liberty to continue to serve God. It's not liberty or freedom to sin, it's freedom from sin. It's liberty – true liberty. It's what the Days of Unleavened Bread are all about.

Turn to 1 Corinthians 5 – again, some more scriptures that we've gone through recently and the Days of Unleavened Bread are not over yet. You may go through them again.

1 Corinthians 5:7-8 – Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened.  For indeed Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the Feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

We need to be putting out the old leaven. And actually in a sermon a while back, I heard the minister say…and he was going along, and getting excited, and he was really exhorting, and really getting in volume, and said, "We need to put off the old leaven and we need to put on the new leaven." No, we don't do that. That's not what we need to do and of course that's not what the minister meant to say either. No, we put off the old leaven and we put on the unleavened of sincerity and truth. That's what the Days of Unleavened Bread are all about – of changing us from the inside out, of having a new heart, a different heart – a heart that is responsive to God and Jesus Christ, having His laws written in our minds and in our hearts, of looking to Him, of serving Him, of putting on sincerity and genuineness and in truth. We need to be epistles from God and from Jesus Christ – again, not credentials that we carry in our wallet. You know it's hard to remember – not documents – but we are the message – an epistle written by God in our hearts.

So brethren, we are forgiven. Again, I keep going back to the sermonette. Christ our Passover has died for us – has been sacrificed for us. We are free. We have true liberty. There is a price that has been paid for us. We are bought with a price. We are forgiven. Therefore we need to go forward, putting on the unleavened of sincerity and truth – not only the last few days of the Days of Unleavened Bread, but becoming more unleavened all the rest of our lives.