Well, good morning to everyone. Glad to see you all made it this morning. A good day planned here, I think. Thank you. There's a tremendous amount of food. Thank you to Debbie and Kathy and everyone who brought food this morning. I don't know. I thought at first we wouldn't be able to eat it all, but we filled in a little bit. So you'll have to do your part.

Well, believe it or not, it's the last Sunday of the month. February is almost behind us. And so we're continuing. Yeah, praise God. And so we are continuing our doctrinal studies this morning. We'll be studying the doctrine of regeneration. Next month, we're going to study sanctification. And we'll kind of pick up some of regeneration with that, because regeneration is the basis for sanctification in the new covenant. 

But we're going to talk a little bit about the promise of regeneration, how that came about, and work up to a bit of a definition this morning. And this, in my mind, is the most important truth or doctrine that we could study, the one that is most integral to our understanding of the new covenant Christian life. 

We're going to spend some time in our message looking at the promise of regeneration in the Old Testament time, the fulfillment of the promise through the propitiation of Christ's death on the cross and the institution of the new covenant. And then we're going to have a discussion time where I really want to make sure that I answer all of your questions and become confident that each of you understand this doctrine. So please take notes and write down questions. And Mark will have the microphone again for our discussion time. And then we will have some fellowship time together afterward and try to eat all that food. 

Well, this is truly a vital doctrine for us to understand. And it has so many implications concerning our broad understanding of the Bible, of the unfolding of God's salvation plan through redemptive history, and the practical applications to our daily life. This doctrine teaches us so much and brings understanding to very practical concerns for God's will and intent for the church as well. 

So I'd like to begin by asking you to turn to Ezekiel. Ezekiel chapter 36. And we're going to begin at verse 25. Ezekiel 36, 25. This is a prophecy. God making a promise here. He says, then 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. I 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. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes. And you will keep my judgments and do them. 

Now, first of all, it's important to see that, in the context, this is a promise to the nation of Israel. And it is important to note that these promises will ultimately be fulfilled in the nation of Israel. But that certainly has not yet happened. These promises are the promises of the new covenant time. They include a new heart, a new spirit, and the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit. 

But I want you to go back to Ezekiel 36 and see the context of this new covenant promise. Look at verse 22. Ezekiel 36, 22. God says, therefore, say to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord God. I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for my holy name's sake, which you have profaned among the nations, wherever you went. And I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. And the nation shall know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when I am hollowed in you before their eyes. 

So let's stop right there for a moment. I don't know if you've noticed in the information that you imbibe from the news, from your phones, from teachers in the church, but the dispensational view of the Scriptures has been under special scrutiny and all-out attack in the last couple of years. And the heart of the attack lies around Israel and God's future plans for his chosen nation. And we have discussed this at length and studied it, but the attacks and the straw men just keep coming. 

So I want you to understand some super important principles regarding what is yet to come and why Israel is at the heart of God's eschatological plans. As we just read, God is concerned with his holy name. He is concerned with glorifying himself among the nations of the world, the whole world. This is not about Israel. It's not about what is going on in Israel today. It's not about sensationalism or finding a sign in every news story that rolls across your phone. 

God keeping his unconditional promises in the new covenant is all about his holy namesake, his glory displayed through his people Israel as he always intended. Look at verse 23 again at the end there. It says, the nation shall know that I am the Lord when I am hollowed in you, in Israel, before their eyes. And this is why Israel will be saved as a nation. And all of these new covenant promises will be fulfilled in that people. 

God will save the nation of Israel and bring the physical kingdom with Jesus reigning on David's throne for this purpose, that his name may be hollowed before all the nations. He says it has been blasphemed before all the nations because of Israel. It's being blasphemed today because of Israel. But his name will be hollowed among the nations. This is why God will save Israel, fulfill the new covenant promises to her, and follow with me again these clear words beginning in verse 22. 

Therefore say to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord God, I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for my holy namesake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went. And I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. And the nation shall know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when I am hollowed in you before their eyes. 

For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from your idols. I 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. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will keep my judgments and do them. 

Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers. You shall be my people. I will be your God. I will deliver you from all your uncleanliness. I will call for the grain and multiply it and bring no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of your trees and the increase of your fields so that you need never again bear the reproach of famine among the nations. Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and your abominations. 

Not for your sake do I do this, says the Lord. Let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel. Thus says the Lord God, on the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will also enable you to dwell in the cities, and the ruins shall be rebuilt. The desolate land shall be tilled instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass by. So they will say, this land that was desolate has become like the Garden of Eden. And the wasted, desolate, and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited. 

Then the nations which are left all around you shall know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken it, and I will do it. The final fulfillment of these promises will be in the kingdom of Christ on this earth. And all Israel, physical Israel, alive at his coming will be saved for one reason and one reason only, for his great namesake, because he made these promises. 

And he will fulfill them and carry them to completion for his namesake, so that the nations will know that he is the Lord. And that's why his creative intent will be fulfilled in the physical kingdom of Christ, the last Adam on this earth. And his chosen nation, Israel, will be redeemed, regenerated, and will worship him as he intended from the beginning to fulfill his will on earth and glorify his name in all the earth. 

So this is the final fulfillment of Ezekiel 36 and the promises of the new covenant, originating in the Abrahamic covenant and fleshed out throughout the Old Testament in passages like Ezekiel 11, Ezekiel 36, and Jeremiah 31. I want to look at that passage as well in Jeremiah 31 if you'd turn there with me. 

Jeremiah 31, beginning at verse 31. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, with the house of Judah. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. 

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, no, the Lord. For they shall know me from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity and their sin. I will remember no more. 

Thus says the Lord who gives the sun for a light by day, the ordinance of the moon, and the stars for a light by night, who disturbs the sea and its waves roar, the Lord of hosts is his name. If those ordinances depart from before me, says the Lord, then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before me forever. Thus says the Lord, if heaven above can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, says the Lord. 

Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that the city shall be built for the Lord from the tower of Hanel to the corner gate. The surveyor's line shall again extend straight forward over the hill Gerab. Then it shall turn toward Goath. And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes and all the fields as far as the brook Kidron to the corner of the horse gate toward the east shall be holy to the Lord. It shall not be plucked up or thrown down any more forever. 

Notice again, this is a promise of a new covenant. I will make a new covenant. The time is coming, says the Lord. It is not yet, not when Jeremiah wrote this, it is yet to come a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. God never, ever made a covenant with Gentiles. This new covenant is not like the old covenant, it says. It's an important point. 

The new covenant is not like the old covenant that he made with Israel on the mount, not like the law covenant, the conditional covenant, which they failed to keep. No, this one is unconditional, dependent only on God. Why? For his great namesake. So the nations may know that he is the Lord. It depends only on him, not for Israel's sake, but for his holy namesake. 

You see how glorious it will be when God takes a nation that has been stiff-necked and rebellious from the very beginning, the nation who rejected his son, crucified their Messiah. Do you see how he will get all the glory when Jesus comes from heaven and all Israel looks on the one whom they pierced? And they grieve. They loathe themselves, as we just read in Ezekiel. And they repent and believe and receive their Messiah. 

And this redeemed nation goes into the kingdom where they will worship Jesus and glorify God and lead men from every nation to Jesus, as God always intended. This new covenant is not like the old. It is dependent only on God and his grace and mercy and faithfulness. And he will bring it to pass for his great namesake. 

So how does this relate to the church? Well, we'll let the scripture teach us about that as we explore this great doctrine of regeneration, a new covenant doctrine. And that is precisely why it is applied to the church, because Jesus instituted the new covenant in his blood at the cross. And there's now a pre-fillment of these promises in the church age among the Gentiles, who are blessed out of, listen now, who are blessed out of the covenant made with Israel. 

I want to just read two texts together, and then we're going to get to our message after this prolonged introduction. First of all, let's turn to Hebrews 8. This was a point where I was going to tell you to listen and shake out the cup, but you all seem to be attentive, so I didn't say that. 

All right, Hebrews chapter 8, verse 1. Now, this is the main point of the things we are saying. We have such a high priest who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens. The author of Hebrews here says, here's the main point of all that we are saying. This is what the book is all about. The new covenant is superior to the old covenant. Jesus is better than all the various facets of the old. 

We have such a high priest, a minister of the sanctuary, verse 2, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord erected and not man. For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore, it is necessary that this one also have something to offer. For if he were on earth, he would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law, who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. He said, see that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain. 

Now, look at verse 6. But now he, Jesus, has obtained a more excellent ministry inasmuch as he is also mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. You get the idea that there's a distinction between the old and new covenants, a difference, a developing of God's salvation plan? Look at verse 7. 

Verse six again, he has obtained a more excellent ministry inasmuch as he is also mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. Verse eight, because finding fault with them, it says. Notice that word them. It's not that he found fault with the old covenant. There wasn't a problem with the law. What was the problem? The problem was with them. And because they couldn't be saved through the law, he brought a new covenant, because finding fault with them, he says, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 

And this is a quote from Jeremiah 31 that we just read. Their sins are lawless deeds, I'll remember no more. In verse 13, in that he says a new covenant, he has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. 

Let's also look at Romans 11 at verse 16, please. Romans 11 at verse 16. Paul's in the middle of his tree illustration here. He's talked about how God has set Israel aside. He's turned to the Gentiles in order to provoke the Jews to jealousy. He's explaining how the Gentiles are grafted in to the promise of the new covenant. Romans 11, 16, for if the first fruit is holy, the lump is also holy, and if the root is holy, so are the branches. 

And if some of the branches were broken off and you being a wild olive tree were grafted in among them and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches, but if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. You do not support the root, but the root supports you. That's what we mean when we say that we in the church are blessed out of the covenant made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Israel. 

All right, I've given you five points on your outline this morning, and we'll get to the message here. First, the new covenant was made with Israel. Second, the new covenant promises will be fulfilled in Israel. Third, the new covenant was instituted by Christ at the cross. Fourth, there is a pre-fillment of the new covenant promises in the church, and fifth, regeneration is a new covenant promise. 

We've already established from Ezekiel and Jeremiah as well as Hebrews 8 and Romans 11 that the new covenant was made with Israel and Judah and that those promises will be fulfilled in Israel. Hebrews 8 and Romans 11 make clear that there is an application of these promises with the institution of the new covenant in the church age. Specifically, as laid out in Ezekiel 36, which we considered before, a new heart, a new spirit, and the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit. 

The doctrine of regeneration, the new birth, the new creation is always associated with the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit. In Romans 11, Paul tells us in his tree illustration that we do not support the root, but the root supports us. It is the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to Israel, the new covenant that is the basis for the blessings we enjoy as we live in the new covenant time since the cross. 

And it is the cross that is the focal point of all salvation history. We see this transition from old to new covenant at the cross and the progression of the unfolding of the salvation plan of God. In Luke 22, 15, it says, then he said to them, with fervent desire, I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. 

Then he took the cup and gave thanks and said, take this and divide it among yourselves. For I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it and gave it to them saying, this is my body, which is given for you, do this in remembrance of me. Likewise, he also took the cup after supper saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you. 

Notice we see in this event, the transition from old to new, the Passover of the old covenant was a picture, a shadow of the fulfillment that would come at the cross and the true and final sacrifice of the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. It's not as the old covenant sacrifices that merely covered the Hebrew word kephar, that is covered the sins of the people, we're going to look at that in depth in a moment, but it is the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ, the one-time death of Jesus in our place for our sins that truly satisfied the wrath of God and actually accomplished the forgiveness of sins. 

This is the new covenant in my blood, Jesus said, and Jesus now ends the Passover and looks forward to the kingdom, where he says twice here, in the kingdom, he will eat this meal with his disciples again. This is an end of the old covenant and a bringing in of the new at the cross in his blood through his propitiatory sacrifice. 

So what is regeneration? And how does it fit into all of this? Well, we see a lot of scripture and explanation, answers to these questions in the New Testament. By contrast, we see very little revelation in the Old Testament, really only the future promise of this regeneration. And this is true precisely because regeneration is a new covenant doctrine. 

Let's go to Romans 5 at verse 18 to begin our study. Romans 5, 18. Therefore, as through one man's offense, judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation. Even so, through one man's righteous act, the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life or unto life. For as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience, many will be made righteous. 

Wiest comments on the words of life or unto life in verse 18 this way. He says, justification is unto acquittal, which brings with it the bestowment of life. The words of life are genitive of description in the Greek text describing the quality of the righteousness bestowed upon man. It is a righteousness which is connected with the impartation of spiritual life. In itself, this righteous standing, justification, is a purely legal matter and does not impart life nor change character. But it is accompanied by the life that God is imparted to the believing sinner in regeneration. 

So we see here that regeneration is an imparting of the life that God is. In chapter three and four of Romans, we saw Paul discuss the doctrine of justification, that is, positional righteousness imputed to us through faith. We talked about this last time. We are righteous in standing before God in Christ. This is justification, positional righteousness. Not true in any way of ourselves, that is, in and of ourselves, but only true in who Jesus is and what he has accomplished. Our sins imputed to him, God's righteousness imputed to us. 

But in Romans 5.18, Paul introduces a new doctrine, regeneration. This is practical righteousness, an actual impartation of divine life. This is why Paul uses the term of life or unto life in verse 18, in that just as we were made sinners in Adam, you understand that, don't you? Being a sinner in Adam. Indwelling sin, controlling and defining who we are in Adam. So in Christ, we are made righteous as he deals with indwelling sin. As our old man is crucified with Christ, as we die and are united to Christ in his burial and resurrection. We are raised to newness of life, a new creation in Christ. 

And this is, in this, we are imparted the divine nature. We died to sin and law and death were recreated on the inside, quickened in our spirit, permanently indwelt with the Holy Spirit. Let's look at Romans 6 at verse one, as Paul explains this in detail. Romans 6, one. He's just told us in 5, 20 and 21, wrapping up that section on contrasting Adam with Christ, that the purpose of this is that we might live under grace and that that would produce righteousness and end in eternal life. 

In 6, one, he says, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not. How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore, we were buried with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 

So you see these wonderful words here. We're placed into Christ's death, we're placed into his burial, we're united with him in his resurrection. This is regeneration. And then he says, just as Christ, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so also we should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of his death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that this body controlled by sin would be done away with or rendered powerless so that we would no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. 

Now, if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ having been raised from the dead dies no more, death no longer has dominion over him. For the death that he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life that he lives, he lives to God. Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

Here we find a detailed explanation of regeneration. Second Corinthians 5.17 sums it up in this way, it says anyone who is in Christ is what? A new creation. But here we have a detailed explanation of what that means, and actually going on to chapter seven and eight as well. Our old man was crucified with Christ. We died with Jesus, we were buried with him, we rose to newness of life with him. We shall be in the likeness of his resurrection, Paul says. We are no longer under law, sin, and death in the flesh, but we are now under grace, righteousness, and life in the spirit. This is the new creation, this is regeneration, this is an actual work that God did in us. 

It's just what Ezekiel promised. He would take out the heart of stone and put in a heart of flesh. He would give us a new spirit, make our spirit alive, and he would indwell us with his Holy Spirit. Peter says it this way in 2 Peter 1. As his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 

That was our problem in Adam, a corruption. You could think of it as like a corrupt hard drive, right? You ever had that on your computer where your hard drive gets corrupted and you go to the computer guy and you're like, can you please help me? And he's like, sorry, I can't help you, hard drive. We had a corrupted hard drive and God installed a new hard drive. It was imparted to us the divine nature. 

In Romans 7, we see the effects of this regeneration concerning our relationship to law and the spirit. Verse five, he says, when we were in the flesh, when we were in Adam, when our hard drive was corrupted, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now, but now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by so that we should serve in the newness of the spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. 

So regeneration comes into existence with the new covenant, is applied first to the church at Pentecost, it's tied always to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit as we see at Pentecost. And from this point on, all who believe Jesus experience by the spirit and the, experience regeneration by the spirit and the permanent indwelling of the spirit so that we now live by the spirit and not by the letter. 

In the Old Testament, believers were justified by faith, credited positional righteousness as we see with Abraham. But we see in Moses that they all lived under the law. We in the new covenant now experience a more full salvation in the promises of the new covenant and live by the spirit and not by the law. 

So I wanna look at one more text together and discuss further the old and new covenant truths concerning the cross and regeneration before we have our communion time and then we'll move on to some discussion time. So look with me at the text that Mark read this morning, Romans 3 at verse 21. Romans 3, 21. Says, but now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. 

But even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. For there's no difference for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Now, pay close attention to verse 25. Whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith in Jesus Christ. Faith, to demonstrate His righteousness because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. 

Let's consider the word propitiation in verse 25. God set forth Jesus as a propitiation by his blood. Now Paul uses a Greek word here for propitiation. It's the same Greek word used in the Septuagint translated mercy seat. It was at the mercy seat where the blood of the sacrifice was applied, covering the law, covering the sins of the people. In Exodus 25 17, you shall make a mercy seat of pure gold. Two and a half cubits shall be its length and a cubit and a half its width. You shall make two cherubim of gold of hammered work. You shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat. 

So here's the vivid imagery here in this word. This is the place where God could meet with man based on the death, the blood of the sacrifice. But we find something even more interesting when we look at the atonement of the Old Covenant, the picture and shadows of the animal sacrifices. The word atonement in Hebrew is kephar. Now kephar is used a hundred and two times in the Old Testament in the New King James. It's translated atonement, and it literally means a covering, like the blood that covered the law on the mercy seat. 

So the idea is that the animal sacrifices covered the sins of the people, and this is the English word atonement, okay? Paul helps us understand this better in verse 25. He says, "...whom God set forth as a propitiation by his blood through faith to demonstrate his righteousness," now look at this, "...because in his forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed." 

There are three key words that help us understand propitiation, which speaks of a full satisfactory expiatory payment, right? The sins are actually removed. But we also see this word forbearance, which means to tolerate, okay? God tolerated the sins that were previously committed. And the key word is paresis here, which means to pass over or cover. 

Now what's interesting is the word for atonement, kephar, is used a hundred and two times in the Old Testament, meaning to cover, and amazingly the writers of the New Testament do not use any of the words from this word group for kephar, or the Greek words used in the Septuagint for those words, a hundred and three times in the Old Testament, not once in the New in relation to Christ's sacrifice or his propitiatory sacrifice. The writers of the New Testament, and the English translators by the way, purposely avoided any association of Christ's propitiatory death with a mere covering, kephar, or atonement, of the Old Testament sacrifices. 

What this teaches us, particularly here in Romans 3.25, is that God, in the Old Testament, based on the blood of bulls and goats, chose to tolerate, put up with, cover the sins of those who believed. He did not punish their sins with death. They were passed over. But here at the cross, in Jesus' one-time death in our place for our sins, those very sins of the Old Testament believers were fully propitiated, put away, forgiven, expiated, paid for. 

Let's look at Hebrews chapter 9 in this regard. Hebrews 9, verse 11. Hebrews 9.11, it says, "...but Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood he entered the most holy place once for all," now look at this, "...having obtained eternal redemption." 

This is something that the Old Testament saints didn't have until the cross, eternal redemption. Verse 13, "...for if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, outward cleansing, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" That's another way of describing regeneration. 

Verse 15, "...and for this reason he is the mediator of the new covenant by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant," do you see that? "...that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance." They didn't receive the promise of the eternal inheritance before the cross. Listen to Hebrews 11, just a second, stay there in Hebrews 9, but listen to Hebrews 11. At the end of that great faith chapter, here's what he says, "...all these having obtained a good testimony through faith did not receive the promise. God having provided something better for us that they should not be made perfect apart from us." Isn't that amazing? 

So we see in chapter 9 that it was at the cross that he obtained eternal redemption, that he gave them the eternal inheritance. They received the promise that they never received before. Verse 12 says, "...at the cross he obtained eternal redemption." Verse 15 says, "...his death redeemed the sins of those Old Testament believers so that they might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance." 

Verse 24, "...for Christ has not entered the holy place made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." Not that he should offer himself often, I love this verse, I want to take this verse and just go down to the Catholic Church and talk to the priest, right? I mean, not that he should offer himself often like is in every Mass where he's immolated and killed in a true and real sacrifice for the expiation of our sins. No, he offered himself once, not often as the high priest enters the most holy place every year with the blood of another. 

He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world, but now once at the end of the ages he has appeared what? To put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. To put it away, not to cover it, not to tolerate it, not to pass over it, but to put it away. And it's appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many to those who eagerly wait for him, he will appear a second time apart from sin for salvation. 

Verse 26, he wants for all by his death on the cross has put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. This is the contrast that Paul is making in Romans 3.25. In the Old Testament, salvation was only pictured, not accomplished. It was prophesied, not realized. God tolerated, passed over the sins that were committed, didn't punish them, but covered them with the blood on the mercy seat. But Jesus at the cross in his one-time death actually propitiated, fully paid for, put away, removed sins, the guilt of sinful man before a holy God. 

And in the cross, God's righteousness was made manifest, punishing the sins of every man. The point that is germane to our study in regeneration is this, salvation was not accomplished until the cross. We need to see the whole of the Scriptures as an unfolding of God's salvation plan. It is progressive, moving from the simple promise of Genesis 3.15 after the fall, through the elaborate symbols and shadows and pictures of the old covenant sacrificial system, to the full accomplishment of propitiation for our sins and guilt before God in the sacrifice of Christ on the cross and the institution of the new covenant and its promises, and even to the consummation of all things in Christ, which is yet to come. 

Listen to the words of Romans 8, verse 18, For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope. Because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 

For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now, and not only that, but we also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves, groan within ourselves eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. This is the doctrine of glorification. We do not yet know this reality. It's further down the road in God's unfolding of his salvation plan, ultimately bringing all things to consummation in Christ. 

Abraham believed God and he experienced positional righteousness, but it was very early in the course of God's salvation plan. David was justified. His sins were passed over, covered, because he believed God. But he was under the law, not experiencing the new covenant truths of regeneration and indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The cross is the great dividing point, the focal point of history, and we now live in this new covenant time after the cross. 

We are much further down the road in the unfolding of God's redemption history than Abraham or David, but we are not yet fully saved. That is glorified. That is yet to come. God is working out his salvation plan from Genesis to Revelation, and we must understand the whole of the Bible in this way, and we must see the great distinction between the old covenant and the new, made distinct at the cross. 

The promises of the new covenant were instituted, predicted by Ezekiel and Jeremiah, promised by God. They were realized in a pre-filament at Pentecost and will be fulfilled in Israel in the kingdom after the second coming. Next month we're going to study the doctrine of sanctification, and this is so closely tied to regeneration, we'll spend some more time there in the New Testament. For regeneration in the new covenant is the basis of sanctification, a spirit-filled life being conformed to the likeness of Christ. 

But as we enjoy the blessings of the new covenant and look forward to the fulfillment, the fullness of God's salvation plan, as he brings all things to consummation in Christ, we should appreciate who we are and what we have in this time. We should rejoice and glorify God, that we experience this regeneration, that his Holy Spirit has come to live in us, to guide us, to comfort us, to teach us, to produce fruit through us for his glory, and we should live in light of who we are. 

That'll be our message next time. Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we thank you for the whole of your Word, we thank you for what we see promised and pictured and symbolized throughout the Old Testament, pointing us to the cross, and we thank you that you sent your Son to die in our place, to take our place on the cross, Lord, to accomplish that salvation, to pay the full penalty that we deserve for our sins, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. And we thank you for those fulfillments of the promises of Ezekiel, of Jeremiah, that we now experience regeneration, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, death to sin, death to the law, release from the bondage to fear of death. We now live by the Spirit. 

Thank you for these great truths, help us to understand them, help us to take them for ourselves, to trust you, to believe you, to reckon them to be so, that we might see by your grace, by your power, by your life in us, fruit for your glory. In Jesus' name, Amen.