WEBINAR - Salvation OT/NT – Internal Consistency of the Bible

 

“The fulfillment of all the promises God made to Abraham, both those made before circumcision and those made after, is contingent upon obedience to God’s will, not simply faith alone.” Gerald Sigal (The Jews and the Christian Missionary 274).

“Live a holy and righteous life dedicated to Yahweh, the God of Creation. Fast, worship, and celebrate during the appropriate holidays.” (Wikipedia)

 

JEWISH UNDERSTANDING:  Repentance - Prayer – Obedience x  Animal sacrifice - Salvation, Blessing

CHRISTIAN UNDERSTANDING:   Grace - Regeneration - Faith/Repentance - Salvation - Obedience -Blessing   ·           Ephes. 2:8-10 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.   ·       Titus 3:5–7  He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

 

 

PROOF (In OT):

1. No one is deserving before God.

2. Israel certainly was not deserving.

3. Saved by grace entirely as a gift.

4. Regeneration, faith, and repentance are part of God’s gift.

 

 

NO ONE IS DESERVING BEFORE GOD:

 

·           Psalm 130:3-4 If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? 4But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared.

 

·           Psalm 143:2 Do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before you.

 

·       Deuteronomy 27:26 “‘Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’”

·       Deuteronomy 28:15 “But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.

 

ISRAEL CERTAINLY WASN’T DESERVING:

 

·           Isaiah 1:3-4 The ox knows its owner and the donkey its master's crib; but Israel does not know, My people do not consider. 4Alas, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children who are corrupters! They have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel, they have turned away backward.

 

·           Isaiah 9:13 For the people do not turn to Him who strikes them, nor do they seek the Lord of hosts.

 

·           Isaiah 64:7 And there is no one who calls on Your name, who stirs himself up to take hold of You; for You have hidden Your face from us and have consumed us because of our iniquities.

 

·           Isaiah 65:2-3 I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, according to their own thoughts; 3A people who provoke Me to anger continually to My face; who sacrifice in gardens, and burn incense on altars of brick;

 

·           Isaiah 66:4 So will I choose their delusions, and bring their fears on them; because, when I called, no one answered, when I spoke they did not hear; but they did evil before My eyes, and chose that in which I do not delight."

 

·           Jeremiah 5:3 O Lord, are not Your eyes on the truth? You have stricken them, but they have not grieved; You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to return.

 

·           Jeremiah 8:5-6 Why has this people slidden back, Jerusalem, in a perpetual backsliding? They hold fast to deceit, they refuse to return. 6I listened and heard, but they do not speak aright. No man repented of his wickedness, saying, 'What have I done?' Everyone turned to his own course,

 

·           Jeremiah 35:15 I have also sent to you all My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, 'Turn now everyone from his evil way, amend your doings, and do not go after other gods to serve them; then you will dwell in the land which I have given you and your fathers.' But you have not inclined your ear, nor obeyed Me.

 

·           Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

 

·           Hosea 7:10 And the pride of Israel testifies to his face, but they do not return to the Lord their God, nor seek Him for all this.

 

·           Zech. 1:4 Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets preached, saying, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts: "Turn now from your evil ways and your evil deeds." ' But they did not hear nor heed Me," says the Lord.

 

SAVED BY GRACE AS A GIFT 

 

·           The entire sacrificial system proclaimed grace (substituionary atonement) for the penitent.

·        Genesis 15:6 Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as          righteousness.

·           Psalm 32:1-5 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit…5I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord," and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.

·           2 Chron. 7:14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

·           Isaiah 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

 

·           Ezekiel 18:30-32 "Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge you, each one according to his ways, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. 31Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel? 32For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live! 

 

·       Zechariah 12:10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.

 

REGENERATION, FAITH, AND REPENTANCE ARE PART OF GOD’S GIFT:

·           Jeremiah 32:38-41 They shall be My people, and I will be their God; 39then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them. 40And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me. 41Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will assuredly plant them in this land, with all My heart and with all My soul.'

·           Ezekiel 36:24-29 For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. 25Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. 28Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. 29I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses.

·           Hosea 11:7 My people are bent on backsliding from Me. Though they call to the Most High, none at all exalt Him… 14:4 I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, for My anger has turned away from him.

 

·           Jeremiah 33:6-8 Behold, I will bring it health and healing; I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth…8I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned and by which they have transgressed against Me.

 

Conclusions

 

1.     Salvation is a gift from God from start to finish.

2.     OT~NT

3.     Rabbis fail to understand human depravity, God’s absolute hatred of sin, and grace.

4.     Intelligent Design

 

DISCONTINUITY WITHIN CONTINUITY: OT/NT FORGIVENESS/SALVATION:

 

Hebrews 9:13–15 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

 Hebrews 11:39–40  And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

AS A RESULT: Hebrews 10:19–22 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

•  Need for Jesus and His New Covenant!

• One harmonious plan of God! (ID)