Dr. Charles Stanley on God's faithfulness

1 Corinthians 1:9  God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Preachers and preaching and Dr. Charles Stanley
Every once and a while I like to give readers of  this blog a treat in the form of reading the thoughts of a past or current preacher/teacher of the Word.  Dr. Charles Stanley is a beloved Southern Baptist preacher of the word to many people throughout the world.  He has pastored the First Baptist Church of Atlanta since 1971, has a nationwide ministry called "In Touch Ministries" and is author of many many books.  For over 50 years Dr. Stanley has been faithful in his ministry of the Word (now that's a fine example of faithfulness).  

A summary of Dr. Stanley's Message about Relying on God's faithfulness
In his message, Dr. Stanley was laying out the five essential attributes that God has to have in order to be the faithful God.  I felt that what Dr. Stanley preached on was of such great encouragement, that it would be fitting on this Lord's day to share the main points of his message.  May you be encouraged by the following thoughts from Dr. Charles Stanley on the subject of God's faithfulness.

First and foremost, Dr. Stanley defined faithfulness as follows: "faithfulness for God is that in all times, in all things and in all circumstances God is always the same."  In following from that definition, we see the following five attributes of God that enable Him to be the Faithful God:

1. God is Omniscient. 
That is, God knows all things.  If God did not know everything about me, my circumstance or the future of where things are heading, He could not guarantee and of His promises or His pledge to those promises. 

2. God is Omnipotent.
Since God knows all things, then it follows that He must be omnipotent (that is, all powerful).  What would happen if He were not omnipotent?  He would not be able to carry out His promises.  To be the Faithful God, God must be omniscient and omnipotent.

3. God is Omnipresent.
God thirdly must be omnipresent - which means every present.  He is not only everywhere present, but every time present.  In order for Him to be faithful, He has to be ready to meet me in those times that I may not even be at yet. 

4. God cannot lie.
If God were to lie, He would not be faithful.  Titus 1:2 tells us that God cannot lie.  This is God's very character - to be truthful. 

5. God is unchanging
God is all knowing (omni-present) , all powerful (omnipotent) and every present (omnipresent).  He is the Truthful God Who cannot lie.  What other attribute must the God of scripture have in order to be absolutely faithful? Unchanging.  People change, circumstances change, but not God.  Because He remains ever the same, He Alone can be perfectly and absolutely faithful.

I pray these thoughts from Dr. Stanley have been an encouragement to you.  May you be blessed this Lord's day and may you and I be ever more faithful as we focus our attention on God's faithfulness. 

God's Faithfulness & Christian Faithfulness P2

Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful

Yesterday we noted how Moses, being a prime example of faithfulness, spelled out how God's faithfulness was to be the prime motivation for the people's faithfulness.  Having looked at Deuteronomy 1-4 and the rest of scripture, we established the fact that God's faithfulness must be considered first before moving to our own. 

God's Faithfulness is the foundation of the believer's faithfulness
We first of all want to reiterate how God's faithfulness is to be the foundation for the believer's faithfulness.  Below I cite further passages that were not cited in yesterday's blog to give you more scriptural support for this important truth of God's faithfulness being the driving force behind the believer's faithfulness:

Isaiah 25:1 "O LORD, You are my God; I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name; For You have worked wonders, Plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness." Here we see Isaiah's motivation for praise and worship being driven by his reflections upon God's faithfulness in all His works.

1 Corinthians 1:9 "God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." God's faithfulness is the basis for salvation, as well as the believer's continued growth and progress in sanctification. In fact as you read on in 1 Corinthians 1, Paul's exhortations for the Corinthians to be a united people is based upon God's faithfulness.

2 Thessalonians 3:3-4 "But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. 4We have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you are doing and will continue to do what we command." What is the guarantee that we as Christians will persevere to the end? God's faithfulness. Passages such as 2 Timothy 2:13 tell us that even when we are unfaithful, He is faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.

Hebrews 10:23 23 "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful".This great text of course gives us one of the clearest links between God's faithfulness and the motivations for the church to be faithful to Him and to one another. God's faithfulness is clearly shown to be the reason for the believer to be faithful.

Hebrews 13:6-8 "so that we confidently say, “THE LORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID. WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME?”
7Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith. 8Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." Sandwiched in between two magnificent statements on God and Christ's faithfulness is the exhortation to be faithful by following the example of faithful pastors and teachers of the Word.

As you can see, God's faithfulness is the bedrock of Christian faithfulness and commitment. So what kind of faithful people ought we to be as a result of basing our lives around God's faithfulness?

The true identity of a faithful people of God
Having looked at Deuteronomy 1:9-4:31 yesterday, we turn our attention to Deuteronomy 4:32-40 to see what traits identify God's faithful people. 

1. God's faithful people are a called people.  Deuteronomy 4:32-36
Moses points out that what marked the nation of Israel as being unique from all others is the fact that they heard the voice of God calling them to Himself.  Deuteronomy 4:33 states - “Has any people heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as you have heard it, and survived?" As you go down through the text, Moses writes in Deuteronomy 4:36 - “Out of the heavens He let you hear His voice to discipline you; and on earth He let you see His great fire, and you heard His words from the midst of the fire."  The only way we can be a faithful people to the Lord is if He calls us to Himself.  Jesus describes His followers as those who "hear His voice". (John 10:4,5,16)  Other scriptures further lend support to the fact that as a result of God's calling on our lives, we have the ability and motivation to want to follow Him in faithfulness. (2 Corinthians 13:5; Ephesians 4:1)

2. God faithful people are a chosen people.  Deuteronomy 4:37-38
In Deuteronomy 4:37 we read - 37“Because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their descendants after them. And He personally brought you from Egypt by His great power".  Over 100 places in God's Word designates God's people as His chosen people.  Since we are a called people of God, the Holy Spirit tells us in 1 Peter 2:9  -  "But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light."  

Like Israel, the chosen people of God in the Old Testament, believers in the New Testament are described as having been "chosen in Christ, in love" (Ephesians 1:3-4).  By God's choice for His people, that simply means that what He decided to begin, He will finish.1  The believer's ability to be faithful is dependant upon God's ongoing effort in working forth His choice in bringing the child of God to completion in Christ. Philippians 1:6 reveals - "For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus."  Ephesians 2:10 states - "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. "

3. God's faithful people are a committed people. Deut 4:39-40
Deuteronomy 4:39 tells us - “Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the LORD, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other."   Being that God's faithful people are a God called and chosen people, it stands to reason that they should and must be a committed people. They should be those that take what God says to heart.  Jesus tells us a New Testament Christians that we are to "love the Lord our God with all our heart" and "love our neighbor as ourselves, something of which is repeated throughout the New Testament. (Matthew 22:37-39; Romans 13:9)  We are those who as a called and chosen people of God, are to be committed to abstinence from fleshly lusts and having a positive testimony among unbelievers. (1 Peter 2:9-12)  Commitment is the backbone of faithfulness, and without the grace and calling of God cannot be done.  In fact, this takes us back to yesterday, where the journey of faithfulness first and foremosts considers the character and faithfulness of God Himself. (Ephesians 5:1; Colossians 3:13; 1 Peter 1:16)

Endnotes
1 The 2000 Baptist Faith and Message of the SBC calls God's choice or election of His people "God's purpose of Grace".  You can read the entire article online at www.sbc.net by clicking on "Baptist Faith & Message". 

God's Faithfulness & Christian Faithfulness P1

Deuteronomy 4:31 “For the LORD your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them."

Defining faithfulness
What is faithfulness? Faithfulness is the track record of consistency that one person exhibits in fulfilling their commitment to another.  Dr. Charles Stanley offers a better definition: "Faithfulness for God means that in all times, in all things and in all circumstances, God is always the same." 1 Corinthians 4:1-2 offers the best definition -  "Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy". That underlined word "trustworthy" is a Greek word which other English translations render "faithful".  To say that God is faithful simply refers to the fact that He is someone I can trust and rely upon no matter what.  As a faithful Christian, my aim is to be, in a progressive way, someone that God can count upon to follow through with whatever He gives to me to accomplish for Him. 

Moses - an example of faithfulness to the Lord
Certainly scripture tells us of the example of faithfulness Moses was to his generation.  Hebrews 3:5 reveals - "Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later." With this estimate of Moses coming from scripture itself, it benefits us to sit at his feet and learn what we can about faithfulness.  In Deuteronomy 1:9-4:31 we see Moses the man of God exhorting a new generation of Israelites to faithfulness.    As he does so, we see a consistent pattern: Focus on God's faithfulness in order to understand who your are to be as a faithful people.  Many scriptures, as well as Deuteronomy, bear out this two-fold pattern of God's faithfulness being the basis for your faithfulness and mine.  Only when we have focused on God's faithfulness, can we then understand the type of people we're to be.  Today I want us to focus on God's faithfulness, making the case as to why it is the proper foundation for the believer's faithfulness. 

Moses emphasizes God's track record of faithfulness
If you were to read the first four chapters of Deuteronomy, you would find Moses rehearsing for the new generation of Israelites the history of God's people.  Of chief interest in his opening address is the mention of God's faithfulness.  Over ten times Moses makes statements throughout those chapters of just how faithful God was to an often faithless people.  Below are some of the more noteworthy examples cited by Moses:

1. God was faithful in leading His people.  Deuteronomy 1:30-31 ‘The LORD your God who goes before you will Himself fight on your behalf, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, 31and in the wilderness where you saw how the LORD your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, in all the way which you have walked until you came to this place."

2. God was faithful in providing for His people.  Deuteronomy 2:7 “For the LORD your God has blessed you in all that you have done; He has known your wanderings through this great wilderness. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you; you have not lacked a thing.”’

3. God was faithful in His people's victories. Deuteronomy 3:21-22 21“I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, ‘Your eyes have seen all that the LORD your God has done to these two kings; so the LORD shall do to all the kingdoms into which you are about to cross. 22‘Do not fear them, for the LORD your God is the one fighting for you.’

4. God was faithful to His people in prayer.  Deuteronomy 4:29 “But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul."

Seeing God's faithfulness stated throughout the rest of scripture
As we look at what is to be the foundation of the believer's faithfulness, we discover that the only way we can be faithful is by noting God's faithfulness. We've done that in the immediate context of Deuteronomy, but what about the rest of scripture?  God's faithfulness is stated again and again throughout scripture, let the reader take note:

Numbers 23:19 “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?"

1 Samuel 15:29 “Also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind.”

1 Corinthians 10:13 "No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it."

Revelation 3:7 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:
He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says this"

With the establishment of scripture's testimony concerning God's faithfulness, we will continue tomorrow looking at what we are to be as a faithful people of God. 

Taking your spiritual temperature

James 1:25-26 26 If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless. 27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is 

this: to visit orphans and widows in        their distress, and to keep oneself unstained

                                     by the world.

How to practically assess one's Christian spiritual well-being- three areas in which to take your spiritual temperature

So how are you doing?  This common question can be a good question to ask yourself in evaluating the health of your Christian walk.  How do you practically do this? the Christian walk deals with almost endless variables and details.  James gives us a three-fold way for determining how well we have digested the Christian faith in its doctrinal, supernatural and practical dimensions:

1. How well does your current level of Christianity control your tongue? (James 1:26)
James' first area of evaluating your spiritual health has to to do with the area of your speech.  What he writes echoes thoughts from several Old Testament passages.  Psalm 34:1 for example states - "Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit." Psalm 39:1 tells us in the KJV - "I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me."  

2. How much compassion do you have towards those whom we would classify as widows and orphans? (James 1:27)
As a regular reader of the Old Testament, James would know how God repeatedly throughout its pages modeled to His people the need to have compassion towards those less fortunate.  As the Holy Ghost moved upon James to write his words, passages like Isaiah 58:6 might have been on James' mind: “Is this not the fast which I choose, To loosen the bonds of wickedness, To undo the bands of the yoke,  And to let the oppressed go free And break every yoke?"

3. How concerned are you about holiness? (James 1:27)
The three areas of speech, compassion towards widows and orphans and holiness carry their way from the Old Testament, through James' writing and into the New Testament.  The areas that measure spiritual health in either testament mark are spoken of by James.  Keeping oneself from being influenced by the world is mentioned again and again in such Old Testament texts as Exodus 19; Leviticus 11:55 and Isaiah 1:16-17.  
 

According to James, these three areas are the three benchmarks that will tell you and I how well we really are doing in our Christian walk.  I call these three areas the way in which one can take their spiritual temperature.  As James wrote with Old Testament categories on his mind, he clearly was writing about what God desires for every New Testament Christian in terms of a healthy spiritual temperature.

Jesus defined a healthy Christianity by these three benchmarks

When you look at what Jesus taught about the church, we can see evidence that His concern dealt with these three areas.  In regards to the area of the tongue, Jesus states in Matthew 12:36-37 36“But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. 37“For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”  

In terms of how people were to regard widows or orphans, Jesus throughout his ministry had much to say about the treatment of children.  In Matthew 18:5-6 5“And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; 6but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea."  In the judgment scene where Jesus has the nations situated before Him, we read in Matthew 25:45 “Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me."

Then in regards to the purity and personal holiness of his church, Jesus placed it first priority.  In Matthew 18 we have Jesus giving the first set of instructions to his church as to how she is to restore her membership and how she is to promote holiness and restoration.  Before Jesus ever issued the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20 or even the Great Commandment of Matthew 22:37-39, He issued what I term "The Great Concern" of Matthew 18. 

The remainder of the New Testament defines healthy Christianity by the realms of the tongue, treatment of children/widows and purity

Just like Jesus and James, the remainder of the New Testament took the spiritual temperature of Christian health by these three benchmarks.  For example, in Acts 6 we see the Apostles having to instruct the church to appoint Deacons to deal with the dispute among the Grecian and Jewish Widows.  The Apostles knew that if the early church could not minister to her widows properly, then their whole Christian witness would be questioned.  This is the main reason why the Apostle Paul had an entire chapter dedicated to the care and listing of widows in the early church in 1 Timothy 5. 

Numerous passages have the Apostles urging their readers to watch their tongues and to practice godliness in the realm of their speech-life. (Ephesians 4:21-24; 1 Peter 2:1-2, 3:9)  In fact, James himself at one point states that in the natural realm, no one has been able to tame the tongue - since it is an unruly member. (James 3:8)  So then if no one naturally can tame the tongue, then only the Holy Spirit governing the moral and spiritual dimensions of a person can tame it!  To have a Christianity that legitimately tames the realm of speech is to have a unique claim - since such a feat is not natural, but supernatural!

Then a truly healthy Christianity will hate worldliness and cling to what is holy.  Again numerous New Testament scriptures emphasize the believer's personal purity and holiness. (Romans 6:12, 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; 2 Corinthians 6; 1 Peter 1:15-16)

So how are you doing? My prayer is that you and I will have a healthier Christianity that is strong in the realms of a controlled tongue, compassion and concern for holiness. 

Distinguishing The New Birth, Justification & Adoption

Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Romans 5:1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 8:16-17 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

Yesterday we looked at three pieces of Goodnews that the Gospel states becomes realities in the life of a person upon saving faith: regeneration, justification and adoption.  If you will recall, all three simultaneously solve the sinner's spiritual death, legal guilt and alienation.  I wanted to look at these three again and consider how they relate to one another and are to be distinguished, since we often either lump them together or neglect one or more of them. 

The New Birth - The Forgotten Doctrine of the Baptist Church
In Baptist circles particularly, no one hardly ever hears any discussion of this doctrine of the New Birth.  I have a good Pastor friend who once term the doctrine of regeneration as the "forgotten doctrine of the Baptist church".  We have grown accustom (at least in Baptist churches) to asking people: "have you made a decision for Jesus Christ?"  or "have you ever accepted Christ as your Savior?"  These phrases have some biblical backing, however they fall short of the starting point the scripture urges us to begin in our Gospel presentations: "have you been born again"?.

The 2000 Baptist Faith and Message (2000 BFM) says this about salvation:
"Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord."

As you go into its next paragraph of the BFM 2000, the first topic discussed is the doctrine of regeneration: "Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God's grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace."  This move by the current edition of the SBC doctrinal statement retains what I believe is the Biblical pattern for presenting the Gospel - placing the New Birth first on the table.

Justification - the article by which the church rises or falls
Regeneration must and should always be at the head waters of any discussion of how a man, woman or child is to gain access into God's salvation in Jesus Christ.  However we must also give people the hope that is the Gospel.  As we saw yesterday, man's spiritual deadness is not the only issue, but also his guilt.  The 16th century witnessed a movement that came to recapture a doctrine that had been at the heart of the biblical Gospel - Justification by Faith alone.

At issue was whether faith by itself was deemed sufficient by God to declare the sinner righteous in God's sight.  Martin Luther and others like him taught that faith alone is not only necessary, but sufficient for being deemed innocent by Holy God.  The righteousness being credited in saving faith was the righteousness of Jesus Christ.  The church of Rome strongly disagreed, stating that in order for a person to be deemed right with God, he would have to become right by participating in baptism and the rest of the Church's rites and ordinances.  To this day Roman Catholicism still advocates justification as still being attained by faith plus participation in its system (i.e a faith plus works system of salvation). 

The 2000 BFM defines justification in this fashion: "Justification is God's gracious and full acquittal upon principles of His righteousness of all sinners who repent and believe in Christ. Justification brings the believer unto a relationship of peace and favor with God." 

Adoption - A sinner is made into a son
Regeneration, justification and adoption are three different ways of looking at the same moment of saving faith.  Logically speaking we mention regeneration first - since the dead sinner is suddenly seen with the life of God and saving faith pulsating through their heart.  Justification is viewing the same event from a legal point  of view, since at saving faith we are seeing God declare a guilty sinner to be an innocent saint in His sight.  In adoption, we are viewing the same moment of saving faith through relational eyes.  Passages such as Romans 8:16-17 and Galatians 4:1-7 both spell out the believer's adoption as a son.  According to numerous other passages in Paul's letters, the little phrase "in Christ" reveals my being united to Christ in His death and resurrection.  Hebrews 2:11-15 unfolds the fact that Christ is my older brother in the flesh by faith.  The language of "rights and privilege" is used when describing our places as God's adopted sons and daughters.

Though there is not a formal place in the 2000 BFM on the topic of adoption, there is one area where the subject is indriectly referred to.  Under Article IX entitled "The Kingdom", we read this thought:  "Particularly the Kingdom is the realm of salvation into which men enter by trustful, childlike commitment to Jesus Christ."

In having considered these three headings of regeneration, justification and adoption, my prayer is that you and I dear reader have gotten into our minds and hearts a richer view and appreciation of the gospel. 
 

 

The Gospel solves three major problems

Ephesians 2:5 "even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)"

How the Gospel addresses man's three-fold dilemma
In the Gospel I find that when I am born into this world, there are three sets of issues that are all interrelated and of which I cannot solve on my own: I'm spiritually dead to God, I'm legally guilty before God and I'm relationally alienated from God.  What the Gospel tells me is that upon the heels of the Spirit's work in my heart through saving faith, the glorious Gospel delivers the following Goodnews:

Man's Spiritual Deadness - Solved by Regeneration
The first issue of man's spiritual deadness is the most damaging of the three - since man is utterly dead in his tresspasses and sins.  For the past several days we have been looking at the truth of the New Birth, and how man must be born again.  In the doctrine of the New Birth, God addresses my spiritual deadness by bringing to me resurrection life.  Mankind is not merely a sick patient in a hospital needing an injection of moral improvement, nor is he merely an ignorant man in need of enlightenment, rather man is a corpse in need of a resurrection.  Jesus states in John 5:24-25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. 25“Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.

Regeneration, or the New Birth, comes from God, brings with it the necessary change of heart and includes faith and repentance.  We can view salvation from three angles, one of which is this supernatural angle - whereby a man or woman dead in their trespasses and sins is raised from darkness to light, from death unto life.  This first problem is solved.  But notice also another problem that is simultaneously solved all at once  by the Gospel.

Man's legal guilt - solved by Justification
Man upon receiving the New Birth by grace through faith is declared legally right with God by what the Bible terms "justification".  Romans 1-3 spells out in detail all of the legal problems sinful man has before Holy God.  In three Divine courtrooms man is guilty in the eyes of God.  The first courtroom is that of creation - wherein mankind's guilt is declared universally in creation. (Romans 1:18-31)  Then in the courtroom of the conscience, man knows deep down inside what his heart confirms - that he is not right before God, and that no amount of right living will make him clean. (Romans 2)  Then the courtroom of God's law makes the final declaration - man is a lawbreaker, worthy of death. Romans 3) 

To compound things further, man had inherited the guilt and condemnation of Adam's Sin, which came as a result of the Fall. (Romans 5).  What is man to do?  There is nothing he can do.  But thanks be to God what man could not do, One Perfect man did - Christ.  He alone lived the perfect life  demanded by creation, the conscience and God's law.  Furthermore, Christ died the death also demanded by all three.  As a result, when you and I by faith trust in what Christ accomplished, God credits us with His life and death - as if we lived perfectly and paid the price of justice. 

 Romans 4:25-5:1 states - "He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification. 5:1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."

So what the Gospel does is tell us that by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, my spiritual deadness to God is solved by regeneration and my legal guilty before God is solved by justification.  But what about my relational alienation from God?

Man's Relational Alienation - solved by adoption
Ephesians 2:12 states - remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.  Outside of saving faith in Jesus Christ, the profound alienation from God cannot be bridged.  What the scripture teaches is that in the grace of adoption, the formerly dead, guilty and alienated sinner is by grace through faith made alive, declared innocent and deemed a son. 

Romans 8:16-17 states - "The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. "  Galatians 4:7 "Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God. "

Thus the Gospel is truly Good news.  In it, by grace through faith, I'm raised from death to life in regeneration, transferred from guilt to innocence in justification and termed a son by way of adoption.  Three issues gloriously solved by One Grand Message -the Gospel, which credits it all to One Grand Person - Jesus Christ. 

The New Birth predicted in the Old Testament

Ezekiel 36:26-27 26“Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27“I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.

Even though the New Birth reality would not be in full function until after the Holy Spirit came in Acts 2, the prediction of it came centuries before the New Testament.  As we saw yesterday, The Holy Spirit was already doing a work in human hearts, a proto-type to the New Birth called "circumcision of the Heart".  In seeing His work in the Old Testament, the time would be inaugurated for a new, deeper and more abiding work.  When we arrive in our Old Testaments to the prophets, prophets such as Ezekiel and Jeremiah are the primary prophets we look to when grasping what would be the greater work of the New Birth.

The functions and limits of the Old Covenant
Israel as a nation had failed in her covenant obligations to God that He had outlined for them in Exodus 19-20.  Though God had given His promises to His people through the Abrahamic and Davidic Covenants, it was in the Mosaic Covenant of Exodus 19-20 that God outlined their redemptive identity.  The Mosaic Covenant or Sinaitic Covenant (so-called because it was made by God with His people at Mount Sinai), spelled out the type of righteousness God desired and expected if anyone is to have any relationship with Him.  This covenant that God made demanded righteousness, but could not deliver it.  God knew that the people of Israel would try to get to Him apart from grace, and so He gave the law to show them their inability to do so.  

The Covenant of Sinai, also called "The Old Covenant", awaited the day God would reveal a "New Covenant" to His people.  Since the people of Israel came to be identified with Moses and the "Old Covenant", the entire age leading up to the cross is called the "Old Covenant" or "Old Testament Age".  A " New Covenant" was needed.  Hebrews 8:7 "For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second."

The glorious revelation of the New Covenant
When God began to reveal His New Covenant promises to Israel in passages like Jeremiah 31:31-34 and Ezekiel 36:25-27, He was originally pointing to a completely future time, the final age in which Christ would reign on earth - the Millennial age.  Israel the nation was promised by God to be restored at Messiah's second coming.  The people as a nation would look upon the One whom they had pierced and be saved. (Zechariah 12:10)  What the New Covenant promises were designed for was to give hope to a nation that had been sent to exile in Babylon for 70 years.  They would become not only a nation once again, but would end up fulfilling the destiny which they forfeited.  

That time for Israel will come, and the New Covenant Promises do ultimately speak to them.  However from what we gather in the New Covenant scriptures (another name for the New Testament), this New Covenant has been spiritually inaugurated in the life of the Church.  When you read passages such as 2 Corinthians 3-5 and Hebrews 8-9, you discover that the "Age to Come" is overlapping with this current church age.  We as Christians, by way of the New Birth, are partaking spiritually of the promises communicated in Jeremiah and Ezekiel.  

How the New Covenant exceeds the Old Covenant

When we turn to passages such as Hebrews 8:7-13, we discover just how wonderful our salvation is in light of the fact that we are spiritual partakers of the New Covenant.  Let the reader take note:

Old Covenant                             vs                         New Covenant
Hebrews 8:10                                                      Hebrews 8:10
-Demands godliness                                             -Delivers godliness
-Principles for holy living                                      -power for holy living
-God was unapproachable                                 -God is approachable

Hebrews 8:11                                                       Hebrews 8:11
-I know about God                                               -I come to know God

Hebrews 8:12                                                       Hebrews 8:12
-sin is shown as sin                                              -sin is forgiven

Hebrews 8:13                                                       Hebrews 8:13
-change is not available                                       -change is expected

As you can see, by gaining an understanding of the New Covenant versus Old Covenant systems, we can better appreciate the background leading up to the work of the New Birth.  I hope this brief summary today has shed light and edified your heart dear reader.