Good morning, another beautiful day. We're gonna turn the corner finally. We turned the corner once before and then it was spring, and then it was winter. Now it's gonna be spring again, so nice day today.

We're gonna be continuing our study in Hebrews 4, verses 11 to 16 this morning. We've been involved in a study over the past several weeks in the book of Hebrews in chapters three and four that's a warning. And I told you last week, it's not my favorite thing to preach on these warning passages, but they are prevalent in the Bible and they are important. 

The author's appealing to those within this fellowship who know the truths of the gospel, the claims of Christ, and may have even given intellectual assent to those truths. They've gone so far as to leave Judaism, to come into the church, and they have been part of the fellowship, but they have not gone far enough because they have not placed their faith in Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for them. 

And now under pressure from their Jewish family and friends and community, under persecution from the legalistic Jews, they are in danger of going back, of forsaking Christ and returning to the temple worship and the sacrifices that were still ongoing at this time and their old religion, the old law covenant. 

And so we've seen the author give stern and clear warnings complete with illustrations from the history of the nation of Israel and plead with these Hebrews not to make the same mistake as their forefathers, but to be diligent to enter the rest that God provides through Jesus Christ. 

The texts we've been looking at the past several messages have been negative in their approach, primarily warning what will happen if these people fail to go on to faith in Jesus Christ. These consequences are true and they are important and they're effective, but they're not the whole story of the gospel. Sometimes we get the idea that Christianity is just a warning, just a threat of the wrath of God for those who will not believe. 

And we use the negative approach in preaching and evangelism. And as I said, this is valid. It's important because it establishes the need of man and his sinful condition before a holy God and the truth of eternal punishment in the lake of fire. But I was thinking as I was preparing for this message of Romans 2:4. And Romans 2:4 tells us that it's the goodness of God that leads men to repentance. 

We've seen a long extended two chapter warning culminating in the first verses of our text this morning, a negative perspective of what happens if a man fails to come to Jesus in faith. But in our text this morning, the author is going to turn a corner and move to a positive exhortation. And that is all that a man gains when he comes to Christ. 

You see, it's not just the negative, not just the truth of eternal wrath and judgment that's involved in the gospel and in Christianity, but it's also the positive, the truth of eternal life through faith in Jesus and all the promises in Him. It's the goodness of God that leads men to repentance. 

So we will learn here in a rich way, in a way of full meaning for the Jewish mind, what they gain in coming to Christ. And we're going to expand on those truths with many other scriptures. So I'm happy to tell you this morning, after we wrap up the warning of the first three verses here in our first point, we're going to take our eyes off of the disobedient, stiff-necked Jewish people all through the history of Israel and their unbelief. 

And we're going to fix our eyes firmly on the Messiah, Savior, the great sympathetic high priest who's seated at the right hand of God and who gives us direct access to Him. And we will learn in our text today that faith in Jesus is so much more than a get-out-of-hell free card. It's a full, abundant life now, filled with peace and assurance and precious fellowship with God and with our Savior. 

And it is the fruit that is promised. It's the eternal life now and forever with Him. And we're going to discuss repentance. We so often hear preached and taught that repentance is turning from something. And there is truth to this—turning from sin, from what we were trusting in, from self-righteousness, from religion. 

What I'd like for you to consider in our message along with the goodness of God, the completeness of Christ and His high priestly work, is that repentance, coming to faith, is really in its essence turning to Jesus. 

Let's look at our text together in Hebrews 4, verse 11. 

Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. 

And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. 

Seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. 

I've given you three points on your outline this morning. First, God judges according to truth. Second, let us hold fast. And third, turn to Jesus. 

Well, in the first three verses of our text, the author makes an appeal and wraps up this warning section. And I wanna read those verses to you again. He says, let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. That would be the example of Israel in the wilderness. Then he says, for the word of God is living and powerful. It's sharper than any two-edged sword. It pierces even to the division of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow. And it's a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 

There is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. These are amazing and profound words. They remind me of Romans 2, where Paul says, God judges according to truth. 

Why don't you turn over to Romans 2 with me? Let's look at that passage. Paul's writing to the legalistic Jews and really to all religious men in Romans chapter two at verse one. He says, therefore, you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another, you condemn yourself, for you who judge practice the same things. 

But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? 

But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart, you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to each one according to his deeds. 

The context of Romans 2 is set at the end of Romans 1, particularly in verses 18 to 32. And this section highlighted the vile and wretched sins of men, the progression of God's judgment in giving men over to their sin when they would not come to him. And it lists those who the world, who the religious, would call sinners. 

But Paul really smacks these religious, self-righteous folks square in the nose with his words here in chapter two. The essence of what he says is that a man may be religious. A man may appear outwardly good. He may not be openly a sinner outwardly, such as the drunk or the prostitute. 

But he's a sinner just the same. And not only does he practice the same sins in his heart or even in his living secretly, but worse yet, he sits in judgment of those listed in Romans 1. Paul informs the religious man that God does not grade on the curve. God does not compare men with men and excuse or wink at sin. Rather, God judges according to truth. 

And the truth is that the most righteous, the most religious men of our world and of history are sinners just the same. And even worse, they think themselves righteous. What stunning words. And we see the same thing here in our text. The word of God searches the very mind and the heart of a man. 

It's sharper than any two-edged sword. It pierces, dividing even soul and spirit. It's a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. You know, man can hide many things from men. He can appear to be something that he's really not. In fact, he can even lie to himself. But he is bare and naked before God. 

God looks right down into the soul and the spirit of a man and God knows the truth and he judges according to truth. It is to God that every man must give an account. Now, my brother, my sister in Christ, can you imagine the effect of these words on the hearts and minds of those Hebrews to which he writes? If they are at all honest, if they're even a little bit honest with themselves, they must come to the conclusion that they are sinners in need of a savior. There's no hiding, there's no lying, no corruption of the standard of God. 

God judges according to truth. We see Jesus do something similar in the Sermon on the Mount. I'd like for you to turn to Matthew 5 with me, please, and I wanna show you something interesting about Jesus' famous sermon and what I believe his intent was in preaching law to self-righteous Jews. 

Look at Matthew 5:18, please. Jesus said, for assuredly I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle 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. 

Now look at this statement in verse 20. 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. Well, in the Jewish religion, the scribes and Pharisees were the most righteous. How could a man be more righteous than even the leaders and teachers of Israel? 

But it gets worse if you look down to 5:48. In chapter 5, verse 48, Jesus says, in summation of all he said in chapter 5, therefore you shall be perfect just as your Father in heaven is perfect. What is the standard for entering God's heaven? It's simple, perfection. You must be perfect as God is perfect. This is why it says in Deuteronomy that if a man lives by the law, all he must do is keep it perfectly. 

James says in chapter 2 at verse 10, if you keep the law perfectly but stumble at one point, sin one time, transgress the law once, you are guilty of all, you are a sinner deserving of wrath. My friends, Jesus is preaching law here in the Sermon on the Mount, and who is his audience? Self-righteous religious Jews. Not much different than the target audience in our text today in chapter 4. 

Now I want you to see how Jesus wraps up his law sermon, and here we'll see his intent over in chapter 7 at verse 21. Matthew 7:21. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven. That reminds me just now of chapter 6 in John's gospel. What was the will of God? Remember they said, what works must we do to enter the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus says, this is the work, this is the will of God. You believe on the one whom he sent. 

Verse 22, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, done many wonders in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you, depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock, and the rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew and beat on that house, and it did not fall for it was founded on the rock. 

But everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand, and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, and it fell, and great was its fall. Well, clearly Jesus is addressing religious men here, those who say, didn't we do mighty works in your name? Prophesied, cast out demon, worked wonders in your name. 

But they were not believers, and Jesus sends them into everlasting torment because he never knew them. Their hearing of the gospel was never mixed with faith. But please notice the wording in this last part, the conclusion of Jesus' law sermon. In verse 24, he says, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them. Verse 26, but everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them, what are his sayings? You can read back through the sermon. 

Do not lust in your heart. Do not be angry at your brother. Do unto others as you would have done unto you. Do not judge another. And it goes. These are the sayings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. So what is his intent in preaching this sermon to these religious people? What would have to be the conclusion of the religious Jew who listened to these words? What is your conclusion as you look back on your own life? Are you one who does these sayings or are you one who has fallen short of perfection, the perfect standard that God has set forth, His own righteousness and nothing less? 

The conclusion of any honest religious man would have to be that he has built on the sand. He has not done the sayings of Jesus. Now that might be different than a lot of sermons you've heard on this text, but it's what the words say. 

And the intent, as is always the case with law preaching, with warning, with an honest assessment of man and his sin and the holy standard of God, the intent is that a man would come to understand his sin. Romans 3:19 and 20, the purpose of the law is to show us our sin. No flesh shall be justified in his sight by the keeping of the law, by good works. Galatians 3:19, what is the purpose of the law? To show us our sin, to lead us to faith in Christ. 

The intent is that a man would come to understand his sin and his need, his desperate need for a Savior. This is the point of our searching words in the first three verses of our text. God judges according to truth. He searches the heart and the intent and even the thoughts of a man. And no religion can fix you. No works can save you. The fact is, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. 

I remember years ago, I was witnessing my brother. I have a Romans 1 brother and I have a Romans 2 brother. And the Romans 1 brother, I thought, boy, he'll be easy, you know? No, he still doesn't believe. But my Romans 2 brother, I thought, boy, I'll never get to him, you know? He's always done everything right. He's very religious. 

I remember one day at our deer camp, we were processing some deer and I'd witnessed to him some years and years ago, and he said, so what you're saying is that a man has to be perfect. I said, yeah, that's what the scriptures say, that's what Jesus said. My brother said, but nobody's perfect. I said, now you're starting to get it. Now you're starting to understand. And he did come to faith in Christ, praise the Lord. 

All have sinned and fallen short of the glory. All men are guilty and deserve wrath. All men need a Savior. And what we see next in our text is the glorious good news that Jesus is that perfect Savior. And we know that through faith in Him, by imputation, we can receive the very righteousness of God and be perfect in position in Christ as God is perfect, just as Jesus said. 

Well now, next we see in our text the exhortation. He says to them, verse 14, let us hold fast to this confession. Seeing then that we have a great high priest, Hebrews 4:14, who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 

The previous two chapters have warned these Hebrews what would happen to them if they fell short, if they failed to come to Christ in faith. But now here we see a positive exhortation as we begin to see all that they could gain in coming to Christ. Here we begin to focus on Jesus, who He is, and what He has done, and the very glory of His person, and His work, and the salvation that He provides and sustains by His high priestly work. 

Well, the concept of high priest would be very familiar and well understood by these Jewish people. Their entire system revolved around the priestly order and the sacrificial system of Judaism. This was prescribed in detail by God in the Law Covenant given to Moses, and it was meant to picture, to foreshadow, the coming of the perfect sacrifice of God, the Lamb of God, who would take away the sins of the world. 

The priest's job was to bring men to God, to stand as an intermediary, an intercessor, offering sacrifices first for himself and then for the sins of the people. But the high priest of Israel was always just a man, just a sinner, the same as the people. He had to offer sacrifices for himself. He had to continually offer sacrifices for the people. 

You see, there was never a completion. There was never perfection attained, never an end to the sacrifices. The pictures we see, the point and intent of the endless sacrifices was to show the children of Israel several things. First, the sinfulness of man, the holiness of God, the cost of sin, the price that had to be paid to redeem, to atone for sin and bring men into a right relationship with God. 

It was a massively bloody and costly affair to perform all of the sacrifices, and it was never complete. God prescribed the sacrifice of bulls, of rams, of lambs, of goats. He commanded the daily sacrifice, the Sabbath sacrifice, the new moon sacrifice, the sacrifices of Passover week, the Feast of Pentecost, the Feast of Trumpets, the most important Day of Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles. 

These were just the sacrifices for national Israel, and they totaled 1,246 animals, averaging three to four animals per day, every day. But this did not include the thousands upon thousands of personal sacrifices that were offered by the children of Israel, including burn offerings representing total commitment, sin and trespass offerings made for personal sins, and peace and votive offerings made as vows or for special thanksgiving. 

The sacrificial system, in other words, was an extremely bloody and costly affair involving many thousands of animals every year. And this was central to the worship of Israel, to the atonement for sin, to the satisfaction of God, to the picture, the foreshadowing of the Lamb of God, the perfect sacrifice, Jesus. 

Now imagine living in this system. Imagine the graphic nature and picture that would be indelibly burned into your mind as a Jew practicing this system, and at the center of this was the high priest. 

Now imagine a sacrifice that would end all sacrifices, where the priest could sit down, he could finish the work and accomplish salvation once for all. Imagine an end to the system, to the work, to the law covenant, and the sacrifices. This is all that would come to the mind of the Jew as he read the words before us, and with all that in your mind, I want you to turn over to Hebrews chapter 10 and we're going to look at some verses in that chapter for clarification. 

Hebrews 10:1 says, "...for the law having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year make those who approach perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered. For the worshipers once purified would have had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins." 

I look down to verse 8, he quotes scripture here referring to Jesus' incarnation, previously saying, "...sacrifice and offering, burn offerings, and offerings for sin you did not desire, nor had pleasure in them which are offered according to the law." Then he said, "...behold I have come to do your will, O God." Such an important phrase here, he takes away the first that he may establish the second. 

"...by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But this man, after he'd offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till his enemies are made his footstool. For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified." 

You see the importance of once. Hebrews 7:27 says, "...who does not need daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins and then for the people's. For this he did once for all when he offered up himself." 9:12, "...not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood he entered the most holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption." 

Verse 26, "...he then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world, but now once at the end of the ages he has appeared to put away sin by sacrificing himself." Verse 28, "...so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for him he will appear a second time apart from sin for salvation." 

My friends, the author of Hebrew wants us to understand that there was one sacrifice that ended all sacrifices, that accomplished salvation, that was a fulfillment of all that it pictured and foreshadowed. 

Listen to the first three verses of this book again. "...God, who at various times and various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds, who being the brightness of his glory, the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high." 

Jesus is our great high priest. He has accomplished our salvation. He has finished the work. He has sat down at the right hand of God, and now he ever lives to make intercession for us. It is finished. He sat down because the work is complete. 

He has perfected forever by one sacrifice those who believe him, those who are sanctified, who are set apart by faith in him. These are amazing truths. And in verse 14 of our text, it says it again, "...seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession." 

The high priest of Israel would pass through the outer court into the temple, into the holy place. Then he would pass into the holy of holies to present the blood on the mercy seat once a year for the sins of the people, and then he would get out. Jesus passed through the first heaven, our atmosphere, into the second heaven, space, and then into the third heaven, the dwelling place of God, and presented the blood. 

And my friends, he didn't have to hurry. He didn't have to fear. He didn't have to get out quickly. He sat down at the right hand of God, waiting until his enemies are made his footstool. The work is finished. The perfect Lamb of God took away the sins of the world, and God has been fully satisfied, propitiated, as manifest by the resurrection. 

And now Jesus is glorified. He is our high priest, and he sits at the right hand of God making intercession for us, keeping us by his power, and ever living as our great high priest. This is all that would have been evident in the mind of the Hebrew who read these words. 

And the author appeals to him to hold fast to Jesus, to the confession he's made, and we'll see next that he begs him just to keep coming closer, to keep drawing near, not to turn back to the law, not to go back to that which cannot save, which Christ made obsolete in the new covenant. 

Our final point found in the last two verses is this exhortation to turn to Jesus. Verse 15, For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. This is such an amazing verse, verse 16, especially for the Jew. 

We've studied the meat of this great truth back through chapter 2 that Jesus, God the Son, took on flesh. He became a man like us in order to deal with sin, to condemn sin in the flesh, to conquer sin and death and hell. And because he has become a man, because he has been tempted beyond anything that we could ever know, you understand that, right? Jesus' temptation was greater than anything we have ever endured, because he never gave in. He never broke, he never failed, he never gave in, so he was tempted to the uttermost and never sinned. 

But because of that, he can sympathize, he can empathize with us, he knows us now experientially, he understands our plight, our pain, our need, and he aids us, the sons of Abraham. And as it says at the end of chapter 2, he does not give aid to the angels, but he does give aid to the sons of Abraham, to those who believe. 

And not only this, but Jesus has given us direct access to God the Father. This would have been a mind-blowing concept for the Jewish man, the man living under the Old Covenant in that sacrificial system. One thing for sure, before the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ, there was no access to God. There was a veil between sinful man and holy God, and no man could approach God. This was one thing that the Jew knew for sure. 

Turn over to Hebrews 12, and we'll look at this account from the giving of the Law Covenant, 12:18. I want you to see the contrast here. He says, come to the mountain that may be touched, and that burned with fire, and to blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. 

For they could not endure what was commanded, and if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow." And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I am exceedingly afraid and trembling. This was the Old Covenant, my friends. The holiness of God on display, the sinfulness of man evident, no access. If you came near, if you broke through, then the holiness, the glory of God would consume you. 

God and man were utterly separate. There was no access to God, and this is the point of the whole law covenant, the system of the tabernacle, and the priesthood, and the veil, and the Holy of Holies, and the Day of Atonement. All of this pictured how sin separated God from man. 

But there's glorious good news in the New Covenant, the complete and final sacrifice. Look at verse 22. He says, but you have come to Mount Zion, to the City of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect. 

The New Covenant gives us access. In Matthew 27:45, at the crucifixion, it says, now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land, and about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, that is my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 

Some of those who stood by when they heard this said, he's calling for Elijah. Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge and filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed and offered it to him to drink. The rest said, let him alone, let us see if Elijah will come and save him. And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. He died. 

He paid the price of sin. And the next verse says, then behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. And coming out of the graves after his resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. 

And verse 51 again says, then behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. What was the significance of that? The significance of the New Covenant in Jesus' blood, my brothers and sisters in Christ, is that we now have direct access to God the Father. The wall of separation has been torn down. The veil has been rent from top to bottom. 

We can now come into the Holy of Holies. Think about this from a Jewish perspective. We can come now to our Abba, our Father, our Daddy. We see the word picture here in Romans 8 that we can boldly come to the throne of grace. Boldly come. We have direct access to God by the blood of Jesus. 

Now let me ask you, what is this man to do? What is a Hebrew in this context, in this time, to do with these amazing truths of the goodness and grace and provision of God in Jesus and the New Covenant in his blood? Yes, he is to turn away from Judaism, from works and rituals and sacrifices that are no longer effective in God's economy. Yes, he's to turn away from sin and self-righteousness and unbelief, but primarily he is to turn to Jesus. 

This is the essence of repentance and faith, my friends. We could say so much more about the salvation that Jesus provides, how I'd love to go to Romans 5 and 6 and talk about our deliverance from sin and death and hell, the new creation, regeneration, the full abundant fruitful life that God now intends for those who are in Christ. 

The promises that we have in Him, our destiny in the kingdom and eternity. But I want you to understand that the Christian life is not really mostly about avoiding the punishment of God, deliverance from the lake of fire. That's important and it's true, but the Christian life is really about Christ. It's really about who He is and what He has done, the glory of His person, the magnificence of a salvation and life in Him every day, one day at a time, just abiding in Him, enjoying Him, depending on Him, glorifying Him in all that we do. 

The essence of faith and repentance is turning to Jesus. I just want to leave you with 18 verses from 2 Corinthians 3 and I want you to give your full attention to these words and think about all that Paul is saying in light of what we've been studying this morning. 

2 Corinthians 3:1, do we begin again to commend ourselves or do we need as some others epistles of commendation to your letters of commendation from you? You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men. Clearly you are 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. 

And we have such trust through Christ toward God, not that we are sufficient 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, not of the letter but of the Spirit, for the letter kills but the Spirit gives life. 

But if the ministry of death written and engraved on stones was glorious, 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, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? 

For if the ministry of condemnation had 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. 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 blinded. For until this day, the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses has read, a veil lies on their heart, listen now, verse 16, 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's liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. 

What a great passage, giving us a contrast between the Old Covenant and the New, and all that we have in Jesus. When the heart turns to the Lord, the veil is lifted. And I would just ask anyone who would listen to this message, if you don't know Jesus this morning, if you've never placed your faith in Him, in your heart, make the choice to turn to Him in simple faith in the truth that He's the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. 

He's the sacrifice that ends all sacrifices, and the High Priest that ends the earthly priesthood. That He is the perfect and final sacrifice in your place for your sins, accomplishing completely your salvation. This is good news, this is the goodness and grace of God. We just need to turn to Him, believe Him, our Savior and our Lord. 

Let's close in prayer. Father, we're so thankful for Your Word, we're so thankful for Your heart manifest in these words, and Your provision in Jesus, and Your desire for men to be saved, and calling on them to come to You. Just turn to Jesus in simple faith. 

Thank You for that gift, thank You for salvation, and help us to come to a fuller understanding through Your Word of all that it means to be in Christ. In His name we pray, amen.