The Old Testament's Gospel

“The most urgent task facing evangelical Christianity today is the recovery of the Gospel”  J.I. Packer

  Many liberal Bible scholars and Bible deniers consider the Old Testament sub-Christian and not to be considered authoritative. For them, it’s a closed chapter with zero relevance for the Church and little meaning for us today. The common claim is the God of the Old Testament is harsh, brutal…even evil. Maybe you’ve heard questions like these: How could God kill all those innocent people, even children, in the Flood? Why would God send the Israelites into Canaan to exterminate the innocent Canaanites living in the land? Why did God continually require blood sacrifices?

  A logical and initial response to this can simply be, “How can a skeptic or non-Christian say God is harsh, brutal, and evil when they deny the Bible, the very book that defines harsh, brutal, and evil?” Add to that, for atheistic, materialistic or evolutionary worldviews, such things are neither morally right nor wrong because there’s no transcendent God in their view to establish what is right or wrong. It’s all subjective. Those who believe in a naturalistic worldview accept as “natural” animals raping, murdering and eating their own kind yet attack the God of the Bible and call Him evil.

  But even the most fanatical atheists have an innate sense of right and wrong, wanting justice. They’d be outraged if Omar Mateen, the Islamic Orlando shooter, had survived and were allowed to go free without facing justice or consequences for his cold blooded massacre of 49 victims. Yet, if God really doesn’t exist and the Bible isn’t His Word, then those who attack God and His Word by calling Him harsh and evil shouldn’t care. If Naturalism rules, if it’s a dog eat dog world, justice is only a cultural or subjective human derivative. For example, what is justice for us in America would be heroism for much of the Islamic world.

  It’s only in Scripture, we find true justice and grace. They go all the way back to the beginning, Creation and the Fall. From an honest human standpoint, God’s mercy is counter-intuitive. We wouldn't expect a God of perfect justice and righteousness to put up with stubborn sinners. No, we’d expect Him to stamp out evil entirely. After all, aren't we tempted to avenge ourselves for much lesser faults?

  The Old Testament is the Bible Jesus and the early church used to explain His coming, His sacrifice and God’s plan of grace. It’s what Jesus shared after His resurrection with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus: “‘O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into His glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:25-27).

  Even many well-meaning Christians have a file cabinet view of the accounts from the Old Testament. In that paradigm, the book of Psalms contains files of reassuring words for hard times. The Genesis file folder is full of interesting moral lessons. The book of Proverbs file is useful when one needs good advice. The Law and Minor Prophets? Many aren’t sure of their purpose. The file folders containing those stories often gather dust.

  This separate file folder approach to the Old Testament misses the connections between those accounts and the Gospel that Jesus explained on the road to Emmaus. As we look for the Gospel in the Old Testament, the file folders begin to open up and the characters stumble out of our filing cabinet, joining hands from Genesis until Jesus appears in person in the New Testament. Each story feeds the next, teaching us of God’s good plan before time even began – to forgive, show grace and redeem His people.

  This morning we’re beginning a new study: The Gospel in the Old Testament. God’s plan of forgiveness and redemption is not Plan B, or a New Testament God plan. It began in the Old Testament with the Fall when our first parents disobeyed God’s one command, bringing death upon themselves and the entire human race. If God had not rescued Adam and Eve, and the human race, if there had been no death and no plan of rescue, we’d have been forced to live in a sin-cursed world for all eternity.

  It’s why the path to the Tree of Life was guarded by an angel. Yet, by dying in this sin-cursed world with Jesus Christ as our Savior, one inherits the new heaven and new earth which will be restored to perfection, where there is no curse, death, or suffering for all eternity. Death will have no sting (1 Corinthians 15:53-56) for those in Christ. That’s the seed of the Gospel and goes all the way back to Genesis 3.

  Man sinned and God acted justly by punishing that sin, yet in love God also provided three blessings: a grace period, a means of salvation and a perfect place to live an eternal life without sin, death, or the curse. The New Testament simply can’t be understood in isolation from the Old Testament. The Scriptures which Jesus and the Apostles used in the authoritative proclamation of their message were those of the Old Testament. “The Gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures…” Romans 1:1-2. We miss so much of the force, as well as the richness and depth of the gospel, when we fail to see it against the backdrop of the Old Testament.

  The Old Testament is written in the context of the tragic human situation. Man, who was made in the image of God to rule, to inherit thrones and dominions and to enjoy God forever, is in a dire situation. He’s enslaved, oppressed and afflicted. The Old Testament rudely reminds us we’re victim to countless disorders and prey to the cruel tyrants of sin, misery and death. But there is hope...

  The Old Testament is filled with promises and prophecies of hope. They find their fulfillment in Jesus Christ and the Gospel. The Gospel announces God has acted in Christ to fulfill what He’d promised in the Old Testament. In Jesus these promises are no longer future tense. God has acted in Christ to do all He said He would do. It’s truly The Gospel in the Old Testament. 

  Please join us each Sunday this summer as we unpack God’s wonderful plan of grace for us from the dawn of time!

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Repentance: Without it "Christian" is just a nice meaningless word

True repentance starts with the recognition of the holiness of our God. We cannot rightly perceive the greatness of His goodness without apprehending the puniness of our own. Such a realization causes us to fall down in humility before God.”   Bryan Chappell

One of the great tragedies that a pastor periodically must deal with is spouse abuse. Can you imagine a man coming to his pastor for counseling because he periodically smacks his wife around? In their conversation, his pastor asks him, “How often does this happen?” The husband shamefacedly replies, “Every Friday night. I get home from a long week of work. I’m beginning to decompress, yet I look for something to pick a fight about. Before the night is over, I’ve lost my temper and smacked her around.” And the pastor responds, “Well, it’s obvious that this has become a habit. Everyone knows habits are hard to break. Why don’t you work at cutting back and only smack her around once a month?”

  Or a woman is committing adultery. Her lover is her neighbor and every day, as soon as her husband is off to work, her neighbor comes over and they have sex. She begins to feel guilty and goes to see a Christian counselor about it. And her therapist counsel her, “Well, it’s obvious that this has become a habit. Everyone knows habits are hard to break. Why don’t you work at cutting back and only commit adultery once a week?”

  By now (hopefully) you’re thinking that’s nuts! It’s repugnant that survey after survey reveal that there is little difference in the moral and ethical behavior between those who profess to know Christ and those who don’t. So what’s the problem? Repentance. We have bought into a Satanic and pernicious lie that someone can come to Christ and simply add Christ to his/her life, but not subtract sin. It is a change in belief without a change in behavior. Yet, the Bible is clear, that if there is salvation, if there is new life in Christ, there is repentance.

  So what is repentance?  According to renowned theologian, Dr. J. I. Packer, “The New Testament word for repentance means changing one’s mind so that one’s views, values, goals and ways are changed and one’s whole life is lived differently. The change is radical, both inwardly and outwardly; mind and judgment, will and affections, behavior and life style, motives and purposes, are all involved. Repenting means starting to live a new life.” Though the Bible continually commands repentance, as Acts 3:19 says, “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out.” Repentance is not optional, it’s an indispensable part of salvation. Yet, the vital word of repentance is one of the least used words in the Church today. Add to that, ours is a world that won’t tolerate the mention of sin. Even in churches sin is frequently defined only in psychological or sociological terms. As a result, the biblical teaching on repentance has inevitably been ignored. Yet, as Spurgeon wisely stated, “We shall not adjust our Bible to the age, but the age to the Bible.”

  Knowing what repentance is, and actually repenting, are essential to true Christianity. Jesus Christ Himself said that if we do not repent, we will perish! It’s vital for us to know and study what the Bible has to say about repentance. Our salvation and eternal destiny hangs in the balance. We risk being wrong about repentance at the cost of our eternal souls.

  As we study Scripture, we discover that in true Biblical repentance, there will be three spiritual actions that occur as repentance takes place and God does a work of grace in the sinner’s heart.

  Conviction. We admit our sin. Each lost person must see themselves as a lost, ruined, guilty, desperately wicked sinner without hope or help, in danger of eternal hell. In repentance, a lost sinner not only sees himself as a sinner, but recognizes the fact that he has sinned against a righteous and holy God. The message that Paul preached was: “repentance toward God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21). In repentance, there will always be confession of sin to God (Psa. 32:5; 51:1-4).

  Contrition. Our sin is looked upon with disgust, even hatred. When we see ourselves as we appear before God, we’re brought to a place where there is godly sorrow for our sin and we despise it. “I confess my iniquity; I am sorry for my sin” (Psalm 38:18); “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret…” (2 Corinthians 7:10).

  We must hate sin if we are going to love God. Can you imagine someone saying, “I’m Nazi who’s pro-Israel.” It’s one or the other. When there is true repentance, there’s not only the desire to escape the consequences of sin, but to be rid of sin itself as a thing displeasing to God. It’s detested like a foul bandage filled with disease.

  Conversion. When repentance takes place sin is abandoned. It’s like someone who has been committing adultery. For the marriage to be restored, there must be the abandoning of the partner in adultery and committing to one’s spouse anew. As Isaiah 55:7 says, “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” Repentance is not only a heart broken for sin, but also from sin. We must forsake what we want God to forgive. But it’s not enough just to turn away from sin; we must also turn to God for salvation. “To open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins…that they should repent and turn to God…” (Acts 26:18 & 20).

  When there is true repentance, there is conviction, contrition, and conversion as one turns from sin to the Jesus Christ for salvation. Salvation is deliverance from our sin, not merely from a sinful environment.

  Wabush, a town in a remote portion of Labrador, Canada, that was completely isolated for some time. Recently a road was cut through the wilderness to reach it. So Wabush now has one road leading into it, and thus, only on one road leading out. If someone would travel the unpaved road for six to eight hours to get into Wabush, there is only way he or she could leave—by completely turning around. Each of us, by birth, arrives in a town called Sin. As in Wabush, there is only one way out—a road built by God himself. But in order to take that road, one must first turn around. That complete about face is what the Bible calls repentance, and without it, there's no way out of town and there is no salvation.  

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