- Mar 4, 2012
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It is clear that the difference between New Covenant saints, and Old Covenant people of God is the New Nature.
Jer 2:7 And I brought you into a plentiful land to enjoy its fruits and its good things. But when you came in, you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination.
Jer 32:23 And they entered and took possession of it. But they did not obey your voice or walk in your law. They did nothing of all you commanded them to do. Therefore you have made all this disaster come upon them.
But these were people who didn't have the spirit of God dwelling in them - at least, not all of them.
And a young man ran and told Moses, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp." And Joshua the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from his youth, said, "My lord Moses, stop them." But Moses said to him, "Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the LORD's people were prophets, that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!"
(Num 11:27-29)
The law on the outside imposed on stony hearts within creates frightened slaves, but not holy saints.
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
(Rom 8:15-16)
So God made a promise to fix it by giving men holy natures and hearts:
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
(Eze 36:26-27)
He does not say, 'You might', but 'you shall'. This difference, this new approach would guarantee to produce the righteous conduct that God desires, because we would be 'new creations' in Christ; and furthermore, it would be 'not I, but Christ who lives in me.' The New Covenant life is not about how good man can be by obeying God, but about moving ourselves out of the way so that the nature and heart and will of God can take over and live his life through us. It's the difference between living FOR God, and God living THROUGH us!
There are many scriptures that describe this wonderful relationship and the effect, like;
Heb 13:21 God make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight
Php 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
Rom 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
Rom 8:11 But if the Spirit of the One who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the One who raised up Christ from the dead shall also make your mortal bodies alive by His Spirit who dwells in you.
But why didn't God do this from the beginning? He knew we couldn't live up to the law with sinful natures. Why give us a holy law and leave us as helpless sinners, hopelessly trying to fulfill it? It was a high bar that we couldn't possibly touch.
Rom 8:7 because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the Law of God, neither indeed can it be.
Rom 3:20 because by the works of the Law none of all flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law is the knowledge of sin.
Well that's just great! The whole point of the law was to just give us a knowledge of sin? It was just an acid test to prove to us that we all have fallen short of the glory of God! Why?
Rom 3:21 But now a righteousness of God has been revealed apart from Law, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets.
Rom 4:2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has a boast; but not before God.
Rom 4:7 "Blessed are those whose lawlessnesses are forgiven, and whose sins are covered...blessed is the man to whom the Lord will in no way impute sin."
So God wanted to show the glory of His grace by IMPUTING His own goodness on us, rather than us thinking that anyone could be justified by, or equal God with our own holiness and good works.
But that is just a matter of innocence. God promised to make us able to walk in holiness in order to glorify Him. It only glorifies Him, though, if it is Him doing it through us, and we would never take credit for it in that case. It would all be a matter of grace.
Grace would declare us innocent of all law breaking, but grace would also supply us with His Spirit in order to live holy lives in the Spirit, like we could not live while in the flesh and unregenerate.
The question is, then, do we still have a sin nature? Do we have an excuse for sinning after God has placed His holy nature within us? Is it progressive holiness, or are we just outright rebelling against God by deliberate disobedience?
The answer to the question is really in the question itself, because only carnivores eat meat. Sheep eat grass. Sheep love grass, and wolves love meat. It is their nature, their very design to do so. If a wolf is given the heart of a sheep, and he displays a love for grass at first, but is found to one day be munching on a burger, and loving it, then it should be clear that there is no argument. The wolf nature is still present, or this would not be a matter of choice.
Sheep dont have to wake up in the morning and discourage themselves from eating meat. They dont have to exercise the discipline of eating grass, no more than a fish has to choose whether to walk on land or remain in the sea.
But these are mere human arguments which mean nothing if Gods word disagrees. We have to know what exactly happen to us when we were born again -John 3:3.
We know that the new heart and the Spirit of God guarantees us to live holy, but did God leave a sin nature within us?
First Id like to review Gods intention.
Tit 2:14 who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify to Himself a special people, zealous of good works.
Eph 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.
1Th 4:7 For God did not call us to be impure, but to be holy.
Jer 2:7 And I brought you into a plentiful land to enjoy its fruits and its good things. But when you came in, you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination.
Jer 32:23 And they entered and took possession of it. But they did not obey your voice or walk in your law. They did nothing of all you commanded them to do. Therefore you have made all this disaster come upon them.
But these were people who didn't have the spirit of God dwelling in them - at least, not all of them.
And a young man ran and told Moses, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp." And Joshua the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from his youth, said, "My lord Moses, stop them." But Moses said to him, "Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the LORD's people were prophets, that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!"
(Num 11:27-29)
The law on the outside imposed on stony hearts within creates frightened slaves, but not holy saints.
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
(Rom 8:15-16)
So God made a promise to fix it by giving men holy natures and hearts:
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
(Eze 36:26-27)
He does not say, 'You might', but 'you shall'. This difference, this new approach would guarantee to produce the righteous conduct that God desires, because we would be 'new creations' in Christ; and furthermore, it would be 'not I, but Christ who lives in me.' The New Covenant life is not about how good man can be by obeying God, but about moving ourselves out of the way so that the nature and heart and will of God can take over and live his life through us. It's the difference between living FOR God, and God living THROUGH us!
There are many scriptures that describe this wonderful relationship and the effect, like;
Heb 13:21 God make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight
Php 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
Rom 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
Rom 8:11 But if the Spirit of the One who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the One who raised up Christ from the dead shall also make your mortal bodies alive by His Spirit who dwells in you.
But why didn't God do this from the beginning? He knew we couldn't live up to the law with sinful natures. Why give us a holy law and leave us as helpless sinners, hopelessly trying to fulfill it? It was a high bar that we couldn't possibly touch.
Rom 8:7 because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the Law of God, neither indeed can it be.
Rom 3:20 because by the works of the Law none of all flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law is the knowledge of sin.
Well that's just great! The whole point of the law was to just give us a knowledge of sin? It was just an acid test to prove to us that we all have fallen short of the glory of God! Why?
Rom 3:21 But now a righteousness of God has been revealed apart from Law, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets.
Rom 4:2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has a boast; but not before God.
Rom 4:7 "Blessed are those whose lawlessnesses are forgiven, and whose sins are covered...blessed is the man to whom the Lord will in no way impute sin."
So God wanted to show the glory of His grace by IMPUTING His own goodness on us, rather than us thinking that anyone could be justified by, or equal God with our own holiness and good works.
But that is just a matter of innocence. God promised to make us able to walk in holiness in order to glorify Him. It only glorifies Him, though, if it is Him doing it through us, and we would never take credit for it in that case. It would all be a matter of grace.
Grace would declare us innocent of all law breaking, but grace would also supply us with His Spirit in order to live holy lives in the Spirit, like we could not live while in the flesh and unregenerate.
The question is, then, do we still have a sin nature? Do we have an excuse for sinning after God has placed His holy nature within us? Is it progressive holiness, or are we just outright rebelling against God by deliberate disobedience?
The answer to the question is really in the question itself, because only carnivores eat meat. Sheep eat grass. Sheep love grass, and wolves love meat. It is their nature, their very design to do so. If a wolf is given the heart of a sheep, and he displays a love for grass at first, but is found to one day be munching on a burger, and loving it, then it should be clear that there is no argument. The wolf nature is still present, or this would not be a matter of choice.
Sheep dont have to wake up in the morning and discourage themselves from eating meat. They dont have to exercise the discipline of eating grass, no more than a fish has to choose whether to walk on land or remain in the sea.
But these are mere human arguments which mean nothing if Gods word disagrees. We have to know what exactly happen to us when we were born again -John 3:3.
We know that the new heart and the Spirit of God guarantees us to live holy, but did God leave a sin nature within us?
First Id like to review Gods intention.
Tit 2:14 who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify to Himself a special people, zealous of good works.
Eph 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.
1Th 4:7 For God did not call us to be impure, but to be holy.