2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
God has led me to write about some important topics lately that are not easy to explain. That is why I would like to spend this morning’s message responding to His command that I recap these things and say more about what I have titled this part of my covenant series “consistent covenants.” To begin, we need to recap the contrasts that are seen in GA 3. Law and Grace are two separate and distinct economies that can’t be combined. The Law was designed to help bring people to faith and to let them know what is acceptable and what isn’t to God. It was never designed to bring salvation. Living under the old covenant of the Law led to legalism and emphasis on ritual over the content of God’s word. Human intermediaries, the rabbis who added laws to the Law bringing the total to be obeyed from a manageable 10 to an unmanageable 613 and who put their spin on them, clouded the meaning of God’s word. The Holy Spirit was not indwelt in the old covenant believer, so a mechanism didn’t exist to clarify God’s word. Under the Law economy, works were thought to bring salvation. Anyone could have visits from the Holy Spirit, but He was not indwelt in the believer. Animal sacrifices could only bring temporary forgiveness from Yom Kippur to Yom Kippur [Day of Atonement].
With the onset of the Covenant of Grace, crucial improvements over the Law economy were put in place. This covenant was sealed by Christ’s death on the cross [1 COR 11: 25]. God made it clear that FAITH + NOTHING = SALVATION. Our willingness to repent from our sins coupled with faith in Christ gave us justification (being deemed acceptable to God and having righteousness imputed to our accounts [GN 15: 6; RO 4: 9]. Believers in a grace economy receive the Holy Spirit to dwell within them, and thus, have the advantage that comes from His teaching, clarification of God’s will, and His word. The process of sanctification is God’s way of perfecting us gradually to prepare us to go to that “meeting in the air” [1 THESS 4: 13-17] and to receive our resurrection bodies [1 COR 15: 42-49]. Participants in the Covenant of Grace have the hope of the resurrection given us in RO 8: 29. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was a “once-for-all” sufficient sin sacrifice, one that made animal sacrifices no longer necessary [PS 40: 6-8; RO 3: 24-25; HE 10: 5-7 & 14]. Good deeds are understood to be a natural outgrowth of living “in Christ” but not the source of salvation. Only faith in Him is. The participant in the Covenant of Grace looks forward eagerly to his glorification, that time when he is taken up to be with God, to rule for eternity as joint-heirs to the Kingdom with Christ [RO 8: 17]. This person will be victorious over death, whereas living under the old covenant would lead to spiritual death.
The Gospel was originally for the Jews. According to EX 19: 5-6, GN 12: 3 and IS 49: 6, the Jews were to be “a nation of priests,” “bless the nations,” and be a “light to the nations.” That hasn’t worked out so far for the traditional Jews. God decided about the time of Paul’s ministry that the Gospel would be given to the Gentiles. But God has not given up on the Jews, not at all. ZECH 13: 9 and RO 11: 25 make that clear. A remnant of Jews will have the veil lifted from their eyes, come to know that Christ is the Messiah, and will be saved. Today’s Messianic Jews have already done this and are growing in numbers so that there are at least 300 congregations of them in our country alone. More Jews will come to faith in the days of the Tribulation according to Zechariah’s prophecy. God alone knows when the time for this will be right. In the meanwhile, all believers have the responsibility (along with the privilege of being saved) to answer Christ’s great commandment of MT 28: 19-20 to spread the Gospel and teach people to obey God.
The old and new covenants are, even with all these differences, consistent covenants. That is because despite their differences, God’s will for His children has never changed. It is best stated in JER 31: 33-34, “I will put My law within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people. None of them will have to teach his fellow countryman to know the Lord, because all will know Me, from the least to the greatest. I will forgive their sins and I will no longer remember their wrongs. I, the Lord, have spoken.” In GA 3: 2, the Judaizers (Jewish Christian objectors to Paul’s teaching) were asked, “Did you receive the Sprit from doing what the Law requires, or from hearing and believing the Gospel?” GA 3: 10-11 revealed the traditional Jews were living under a curse from having 613 laws that no one (except Christ) could keep and were not justified by the Law. Abraham’s justification in GN 15: 6 came from faith alone. Only Christ’s Atonement freed believers from that curse [GA 3: 13-14]. It is my hope that today’s recap puts all of what we’ve learned together in such a way as to convey how crucial this is to our remaining strong in our faith, obedient to God, and mutually comforted by His presence in our lives and the hope of eternal life we share.
PRAYER: O Lord, in view of Your omniscience [complete knowledge], You must have created the old covenant, because You knew that Your children were not ready to appreciate the new one yet. Your will for us has never changed, which is why all your covenants are consistent. We know from certain Scriptures you have given us, AC 2: 23; JN 1: 29-30; AC 4: 27-28; 1 PET 1: 20-1; 1 COR 2: 7; COL 1: 15-20] that You had a plan since before the Creation that would bring salvation to believing mankind. That plan never changed, and You demonstrated great love and courage in carrying it out. You didn’t hold back your Son from us any more than Abraham held back Isaac from You [ JN 3: 16; GN 22: 12]. You have commanded us to believe in Christ, let Him be the Lord of our lives, to stay in Your word, and to spread it with accuracy. When You saw problems from objectors in Paul’s time, You inspired him to write the letters he did to the Galatians and others, so that Your teaching would be clear and the interjection of human interpretation would be seen for what it is. When You implemented the new and improved Covenant of Grace sealed by the blood of Your Son, You were taking the next logical step to carry out Your will. It has and always will be to bring as many people as possible to eternal life with You. Your unparalleled love is not available from any other source. We humbly offer You adoration, worship, loyalty, diligence, honor, glory, praise, and thanksgiving for this. We confess our sins and imperfections. We consecrate ourselves to the task of being Your friends, allowing You to sanctify us, and joining You in Your work in a way which pleases You. In Christ’s name, amen.
Tomorrow, we will recap the relationship of the Abrahamic Covenant and the old covenant. Because God repeats many important truths in the Scriptures, ones that He feels are important for us to really know well, I am taking the same track. This series of messages on covenants has been long, but that was God’s will. It won’t be too long before we are finished with it. However, I am led to feel that putting what we have learned together in these recaps is crucial to our walking away with a better understanding than ever before of what God wants us to know and believe. Let me say that I feel privileged to be God’s covenant partner and yours. God loves you and so do Peter and I.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn