Have you ever, in a sense, known what God wants? You know just innately. You know that you ought to be good. You know that you ought to do right. You know that you ought to treat people differently, but you blow it. And then you determine, hey, I’m not going to do that anymore. I’m not going to blow it anymore. But then the good that you want to do you can’t do. And you find out that you’re doing the evil that you don’t want to do. What’s the problem? The problem is it’s not life in the Spirit.
As we continue this vital series on life in the Spirit, and it’s vital, because there’s no life apart from the Spirit of God. And there’s no power and there’s no peace, and there’s no joy and there’s no gentleness and faithfulness and goodness and kindness and self-control and all those wonderful things that make life what it ought to be.
As we continue this series, remember we’re in the Old Testament. Remember we have seen the Spirit of God move. Remember we have seen man created in God’s image, filled with God and able to be God’s vice-regent on earth until man sins. And then when man sins God withdraws because man has chosen to walk his own way. And the wages of sin is death. And sin is simply independence from God.
It all lines up and all comes down to the root cause and that is that, excuse me God, but I will call the shots. You’re not going to. And so that’s what happens. And when man calls the shots himself, he gets messed up.
Well, what God does is God begins His redemption. Remember He doesn’t want man to be dead in trespasses and sins. He doesn’t want man to experience the second death.
So God says I’m going to send a Redeemer. Now, as He shows us this in the Old Testament and we saw that in Isaiah. We saw a number of scriptures in Isaiah 11 and in Isaiah chapter 42 and Isaiah 61 that there is a Messiah, there is a Promised One, a Savior that is going to come and rescue us. And the Spirit of God is going to rest on Jesus Christ.
All right, now I’m going take my handkerchief, okay just imagine me sitting here, as Jesus Christ, and the Spirit of God resting on Jesus. Now what God has to do in order to bring people to life is He has to take this Spirit that rests on Jesus; so imagine that handkerchief coming off my head and He’s got to put it into His people.
How’s He going to do that? Well God starts His plan of redemption with the Jews. From Abraham comes the very first Israelite, the very first beginning of this family of God. And so what you have is God raising up a nation. That nation is the Jewish nation.
And what He’s going to do is He’s going to take these Jews who know the law, who know what God says is right and who keep breaking the law. They know to do good, but they don’t do it. They know that they are to have no other god besides Him, but they choose other gods. They take other gods and they bow down and they worship those gods. And because of that God has to deal with them. He made a covenant with them. The covenant was the law. And the law said hey, here’s the standard of righteousness and I want you to live up to that standard.
But man can’t because man has no ability to do that. Man is dead in his trespasses and sins. So God cannot lower His standard because God is holy. So what He has to do is He has to change man. And He changes man by putting His Spirit within him.
So what He’s going to do is He’s going to show us how He’s going to bring the Jews to life in Christ. You say, but Jews and Christ don’t go together. They did at one time. They did at one time, not for the whole nation, but let me show you.
And what I want us to do is I want us to go first of all to Isaiah chapter 44, verse 3. All right now, I want you to look at the text. Remember what Precepts for Life is all about is bringing you face to face with God’s precepts, which is what the Word of God is for life, so that you know that you know and you just don’t say well I’m a follower of so and so. This is my favorite teacher. This is my favorite radio personality. This is my favorite television personality. No, unh, unh, no, it’s got to be God. It’s got to be God. He shares His glory with no one.
All right, so Isaiah chapter 44. And as we look at Isaiah chapter 44 I’m going to read to you verses 1 through 3. “Now listen O Jacob, My servant.” Now who is Jacob? Jacob is Israel and Jacob’s name is changed to Israel. So He says, “Now listen, O Jacob, My servant, and Israel, whom I have chosen: Thus says the Lord who made you.” In other words, I created you. All mankind was Gentiles and I created you as a separate nation. I don’t even number you among the nations because I’m taking you and I’m making a special entity out of all mankind. So all the rest of mankind is going to be called Gentiles, Goyem, to the Jews and you’re going to be a Jew.
So He says, “And Israel, whom I have chosen: Thus says the Lord who made you and formed you from the womb, who will help you.” You keep stumbling. You keep falling. You keep falling short of My standard, but I’m coming to help you. And He says, “Do not fear, O Jacob My Servant, and you Jeshurun whom I have chosen.” It’s a synonymous term. “For I will pour out water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground; and I will pour out,” now watch, “I’m going to pour out My Spirit.”
Think of the hankie on my head. I will pour out My Spirit on you. “I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring and My blessing on your descendants.” In other words, hey, I’m going to redeem you. I am going to put life; I am going to put My Spirit back inside of you.
Now, go to Jeremiah chapter 31. And as we go to Jeremiah 31, who was a later prophet than Isaiah, when we come to Jeremiah what we have is God’s people have failed Him so often that God is about to really chasten those people. He’s about to take them to His divine woodshed. And what He’s going to do is He’s going to bring the Babylonians, modern day Iraq; that’s where the Babylonians lived, the Chaldeans. It’s a synonymous term. And He’s going to bring the Babylonians, which is a world power down against His very own people because they keep disobeying His law. He’s going to take them into captivity, because they did not listen to God.
But He’s making them a promise. Before He takes them into captivity, He’s going to tell them about a great and glorious covenant that He is going to make with them. Now a covenant is a solemn, binding agreement. And any covenant that is ever made, like the marriage covenant, God becomes the administrator of that covenant. God watches over that covenant to see that both parties keep it. And if one breaks it, then God judges them.
That’s why when you see David and Jonathan making a covenant, then they say God do so to me and more if I break this covenant. In other words, God, You judge me.
All right now, Jeremiah chapter 31. He’s telling them this in the midst of their sins, in the midst of the fact that they keep failing. Now listen, what He’s telling them He would be telling you too. If you keep failing and you keep falling and you keep trying to measure up to a certain standard, and you can’t, no matter how much you try, you’re always crashing, then God’s got good news for you.
Because the covenant that He promises to the Jews, you’re going to see this in the weeks to come, but the promise that He gives to the Jews He’s also going to give to us. That is so neat. And you’re going to see it for yourself as we study the Bible inductively. Verse 31: “Behold, days are coming declares the Lord when I,” God is speaking, “will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.”
In other words, Israel, even because of their sin, defied it. And they became two kingdoms instead of one, the Northern kingdom, ten tribes and the Southern kingdom, two tribes. Jacob, Israel had 12 sons. Those 12 sons are the fathers of the 12 tribes of Israel. So they’re divided into Israel and Judah. And He says so a day is coming when I’m going to make a solemn, binding agreement with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
Now watch what He says. “Not like the covenant, which I made with their fathers on the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant, which they broke.” (Isaiah 31:32) Now what is He talking about? Imagine Moses up on the top of Mt. Sinai. What is he doing up there? He’s getting the commandments, by which they are to live, the standards that God sets for all mankind. I mean you can take the Ten Commandments out of the classroom, you can take the Ten Commandments out of the courthouse, you can take them and you can throw them away, but it doesn’t get rid of them, because that is God’s standard. That’s God’s standard for our worship for Him. That’s God’s standard for our worship for man.
You say I don’t need that standard, I just believe in the golden rule. And I say to you, what’s the golden rule? The golden rule is do unto others, as you would have them do unto you. Do you know what the law and the prophets hang on? Do you know what the Old Testament hangs on? It hangs on this, that you shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, with all they strength. This is the first and foremost commandment.
Well the first part of the Ten Commandments deal with your relationship to God and loving Him that way. And then it says and the second is like unto it. Thou shall love thy neighbor as yourself. (Mark 12:28-31)
Well, in a sense, that’s where we get the golden rule from or from another scripture that says that do to others like you want them to do to you. Treat them that way. (Matthew 7:12) So let me ask you a question, is society living that way? I mean they love that golden rule as long as others are treating them the way they want to be treated. But they don’t care about the way that they treat others.
So God is coming along and saying you’ve got the Ten Commandments; those Ten Commandments are broken. You’ve broken them over and over again. But this new covenant I’m giving you, I want to tell you something; it is such good news. Listen to what it is. He says in verse 33, “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, both houses. He says, “I will put my law within them and on their heart I will write it.” (Jeremiah 31:33a) Now there’s more good news and we’ll look at it in just a minute.
Welcome back my friend. Let’s go back to Jeremiah because this is good news. All right now, Jeremiah 31. “This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days. I will put My law,” where, “within them.” (Jeremiah 31:33a)
Under the old covenant, the Ten Commandments, where was the law? The law was on tables of stone. He says I’m going take My law and I’m going to go from tables of stone and I’m going to put it within you. Now watch what He says. He says, “And on their heart I will write it.” Before, I wrote it with the finger of God on tables of stone. Now I’m going to write it and He’s going to do it by the power of the Holy Spirit. I’m going to write it on your heart, on your heart.
You’re not going to have to look externally. It’s going to be internal. You’re going to have an internal power, an internal ability. All right, now watch what He says. “And I will be their God and they shall be My people.” (31:33b)
When you look out at people and you see them among the walking dead, so to speak, dead in their trespasses and sins, and you look at the Jews and they’re trying to be righteous and they’re not succeeding and part of that nation has just turned their back on God and they don’t even care about the Ten Commandments. Is God through with them or does God have a promise for them like He does for the whole world? Well this is His promise for them. And this is what He’s saying: I will be your God. You can be My people. And He says, “And they will not teach each man again, for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them declares the Lord.” Why will they all know Him? Listen precious one, He says, “For I will forgive their iniquity. And their sin I will remember no more,” no more. (31:34)
In other words, I’m going to take all that wretched past, all that failure, because you could not please Me and I’m going to blank it out. I’m not going to remember it anymore the day that this new covenant happens. Oh, I can’t wait to move on and tell you what it’s going to be like, but first we’ve got to take care of the Jews.
All right, so this is a promise now, to Israel. Let’s go to Ezekiel chapter 36, awesome chapter. Israel sins. God takes them into captivity. He disperses them around the world. He brings them back to the land again, after 70 years of captivity. And once again they still cannot obey God. They still are walking in their own way.
So eventually in 70 A.D., after Jesus Christ is crucified, after Jesus Christ is resurrected, after Jesus Christ is ascended to heaven, then because the Jews still collectively as a nation, have not believed in Jesus Christ, have not received Jesus Christ, not all of them, then God has to judge the nation. And he scatters them and disperses them again. Every place that you go you can find Jews in this world. But the fact that they are out in all those nations is a disgrace to God, because He’s their God. And so He’s saying all right, when you went out in all these nations you profaned My name, because I gave you this land. I said to the whole world, I’m the God of the Jews and look at what you’ve done. And I’ve had to judge you. I’ve had to discipline you. So He says, verse 24, “I will take you from the nations. I will gather you from all the lands and I will bring you into your own land.” (Ezekiel 36:24)
Now what is their own land? Well get a map of Israel and look at it. It’s all their land. In fact, Jordan is part of the land that God gave them. Syria and Lebanon is part of the land that God gave them. You go down into the Sinai and that’s part of the land that God gave them. He says, “I’m going to bring you back into your own land.” Now watch. Then I will cleanse you. “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you.” So you want to watch the time phrase. You want to put a little clock. Remember when you’re studying inductively you need to ask the who, the what, the when, the where, the why and the how. This is a when, so you mark a when with a clock and I color it green, so I can look down immediately and say hey, there’s a time phrase, or there’s a progression here. He says then I will sprinkle clean water on you. You will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.
See it was the idols and their filthiness that got them into trouble. They did not reach God’s standard. And so then He says, “Moreover, I will give you a new heart.” Oh. He says, “And I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh. In other words, He’s going to do a heart transplant. And give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26) I’m going to take out this heart of stone that is so cold towards Me and I’m going to give you a heart of flesh. And then He says, “And I will put My Spirit within you.” (36:27a)
Yeah, you’re right, you know what you’ve got to do. You’ve got to mark the word Spirit. Color it yellow. Go back and mark it nicely later if you want, or just mark it. All right, now watch this. “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes.” In other words, the Holy Spirit is going to empower you. He’s going to be your engine. He’s going to give you the power so that I the Spirit in you is energy. And I will cause you then, to walk in My statutes and to keep My commandments.
Oh, what good news because here was God’s standard. Here were the commandments, but they kept falling short. And what God is saying to them is hey, listen; I’m going to give you the ability to have life in the Spirit. I’m going to give you power so that you can live the way that I say live. This is His promise to the Jews. And as I told you, that if you would go. Well, let’s run there real quick, okay, I just can’t leave you without you seeing this absolutely, fabulous good news but and let’s look at Hebrews chapter 10.
It says in verse 15: “And the Holy Spirit bears witness to us; for after saying, this the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws upon their heart, and upon their mind I will write them. He then says, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin. And it says since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus.” (Hebrews 10:15-19)
What is He saying? He’s saying listen; once you come to know Me, I forgive your sins. I come back in and that gives you the confidence to come to Me, to come into the holy of holies, to the very throne of God. And what do you find there? You find that you are free of a guilty conscience and you have grace to help in the time of need.
O beloved, we want to have further contact with you. We want to show you how to go even deeper than what I’m doing on this program. Go to our website, that’s preceptsforlife.com, preceptsforlife.com. And listen; if you have received Jesus Christ through this program, then I want you to let us know, because I want to send you a gift that will help you grow. We really do care about you. We love you. We thank God for you and we want to know that you’re there. We want to know about you. So communicate with us so that you and I can talk about life in the Spirit
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