New Covenant Applications
The Israelites of the Exodus generation were given promises/oaths/Covenants of salvation without any mention of a condition. It seems impossible for a condition to interrupt the promises from being performed because the promises are said to be dependent upon the faithfulness and work of God alone, in the sufficiency of His spoken word. This manner in which God gives His promises is consistent throughout the Bible, leading all the way into the NT. I call it, “The Pattern of thePromises.” However, there are conditions to the promises given. The first condition given to the Exodus generation was in Exodus 15. The promises given to the Israelites were without conditions directly beside them, but the conditions were given at other times, and because they are not given directly beside the promises, it is easy to misinterpret the scripture and presume that this implies the impossibility of conditions. |
After Salvation: Lesson #1
Immediately after the Israelites were saved by faith in the Passover Lamb and were baptized by the Spirit of God, immediately AFTER salvation, then God gave the first verbal condition for the perseverance of their salvation (Ex. 15). This condition is emphasized for its importance, because it was the first thing that God spoke to them when He fully and finally delivered them from Egypt, and it was at the first instance of sin and rebellion after their salvation. The condition is given in Exodus 15:26, and it is emphasized as a means of present progressive salvation (through faith) in Jeremiah 7:21-23, 11:3-5. That is to say, our persevering faith is evident by obedience. This event in Exodus 15:26 was so emphatic that it was echoed by other prophets, like as the references of Jeremiah. Here is what happened…
The first emphasis, burden, and work of God with Israel was a “trial of their faith,” but the Lord speaks of it in the terms, “there He proved them” (Ex. 15:25). This happened right out of the Red Sea baptism. God seeks to know the heart of His people by trial, by their deeds, as if He did not already know their hearts, know their future, and/or determine it. This is God in the ways of man. A man is limited to knowing a person by fruit because only God can see the heart. Man does not know the future, nor can he determine it. The genuine nature of this trial can be seen in chapter 16 when the Lord institutes further means of trial. “Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in My law, or no” (Exodus 16:4). As God did relate to the them in the context of “proving” and observing, “whether they will walk” in His law or not, here God gave conditions to their salvation, because salvation is kept, or lost, as much as their trying proves them to be faithful or unfaithful. The result of their testing will decide if their salvation will be verified or persevered.
The trial was a three-day period of wilderness travel without finding water (Ex. 15:22), and when they found water it was bitter (Ex. 15:23). There they complained in distrust of the provisional hand of God, saying, “What shall we drink” (Ex. 15:24)? God showed them His provision by turning the bitter waters into sweet waters (Ex. 15:25). This is a type of their salvation – bitter bondage to sweet fellowship with God – and the Lord ensures a perseverance of provision, fellowship, and salvation, on one condition: “There He made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there He proved them, and said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in His sight, and wilt give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee” (Ex. 15:26).
Why is this a condition for salvation? Because God did show forth to the world His wrath upon the Egyptians (as “vessels of wrath fitted” to hell) by casting upon them the plagues of disease, the Lord is saying to Israel, generally speaking, if you do not meet this condition you will be damned to hell by the wrath of God, like as the Egyptians were damned, and so, the diseases of Egypt would come upon Israel. In other words, as Egypt was damned in wrath, so will you be. God tries them with hard experiences to know their faith. Diligent obedience to the voice of God (commandments, statutes, laws) is the life of their faith, and it ensures the persevering of salvation and healing. It is when people turn away from obedience to God’s voice that they are under the threats of damnation. A turning away from obedience is a turning away of faith. God testifies of this condition as damnation. This is the first condition given vocally, and it is the first instruction after their final deliverance from Egypt. This shows the supremacy of obeying God’s voice as the chief expression of saving faith! False prophets are skilled at bewitching men with misapplied true promises, distracting them from the condition by which those promises are applicable, namely– OBEDIENCE.
In Jeremiah 7, God is making the argument that this generation (that of the Babylonian Captivity) is forsaken and damned, just like those who were punished when God forsook His own Tabernacle, when He allowed His throne to be stolen, etc. (Jer. 7:11-16). God is testifying to former works of damnation by referencing what He did at Shiloh, to put them in a fearful assurance that the same thing is happening to them. Men do not want to believe they will be damned under the wrath of God, especially if they have tasted of the lovingkindness and goodness of God, or the riches of His mercy. So the Lord reminds them of the condition given in Exodus 15 to show how He is justified in condemning them to hell. NOTE: it is easy for those who are saved to focus on the sacrificial atonement provided by God, rather than the condition by which that atonement is made possible in continuance; namely – OBEDIENCE.
The first emphasis, burden, and work of God with Israel was a “trial of their faith,” but the Lord speaks of it in the terms, “there He proved them” (Ex. 15:25). This happened right out of the Red Sea baptism. God seeks to know the heart of His people by trial, by their deeds, as if He did not already know their hearts, know their future, and/or determine it. This is God in the ways of man. A man is limited to knowing a person by fruit because only God can see the heart. Man does not know the future, nor can he determine it. The genuine nature of this trial can be seen in chapter 16 when the Lord institutes further means of trial. “Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in My law, or no” (Exodus 16:4). As God did relate to the them in the context of “proving” and observing, “whether they will walk” in His law or not, here God gave conditions to their salvation, because salvation is kept, or lost, as much as their trying proves them to be faithful or unfaithful. The result of their testing will decide if their salvation will be verified or persevered.
The trial was a three-day period of wilderness travel without finding water (Ex. 15:22), and when they found water it was bitter (Ex. 15:23). There they complained in distrust of the provisional hand of God, saying, “What shall we drink” (Ex. 15:24)? God showed them His provision by turning the bitter waters into sweet waters (Ex. 15:25). This is a type of their salvation – bitter bondage to sweet fellowship with God – and the Lord ensures a perseverance of provision, fellowship, and salvation, on one condition: “There He made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there He proved them, and said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in His sight, and wilt give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee” (Ex. 15:26).
Why is this a condition for salvation? Because God did show forth to the world His wrath upon the Egyptians (as “vessels of wrath fitted” to hell) by casting upon them the plagues of disease, the Lord is saying to Israel, generally speaking, if you do not meet this condition you will be damned to hell by the wrath of God, like as the Egyptians were damned, and so, the diseases of Egypt would come upon Israel. In other words, as Egypt was damned in wrath, so will you be. God tries them with hard experiences to know their faith. Diligent obedience to the voice of God (commandments, statutes, laws) is the life of their faith, and it ensures the persevering of salvation and healing. It is when people turn away from obedience to God’s voice that they are under the threats of damnation. A turning away from obedience is a turning away of faith. God testifies of this condition as damnation. This is the first condition given vocally, and it is the first instruction after their final deliverance from Egypt. This shows the supremacy of obeying God’s voice as the chief expression of saving faith! False prophets are skilled at bewitching men with misapplied true promises, distracting them from the condition by which those promises are applicable, namely– OBEDIENCE.
In Jeremiah 7, God is making the argument that this generation (that of the Babylonian Captivity) is forsaken and damned, just like those who were punished when God forsook His own Tabernacle, when He allowed His throne to be stolen, etc. (Jer. 7:11-16). God is testifying to former works of damnation by referencing what He did at Shiloh, to put them in a fearful assurance that the same thing is happening to them. Men do not want to believe they will be damned under the wrath of God, especially if they have tasted of the lovingkindness and goodness of God, or the riches of His mercy. So the Lord reminds them of the condition given in Exodus 15 to show how He is justified in condemning them to hell. NOTE: it is easy for those who are saved to focus on the sacrificial atonement provided by God, rather than the condition by which that atonement is made possible in continuance; namely – OBEDIENCE.
"Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh. For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices: But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be My people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you" (Jeremiah 7:21-23).
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They clave to imputed righteousness and atoning mercy, but did not exercise faith in the atonement through a diligence to obey, thus they were damned. A false balance that inoculates the people to this end is the craft of the false prophets in every generation. Take heed, Church! God said to them, “Behold, even I have seen it,” and what does He see today (Jer. 7:11)? God said of these damned men, “This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth” (Jer. 7:28). Will you fancy yourself to be fixed on the rock-solid foundation of salvation, even while you see the storm of judgment and death on the horizon for every living soul, even when you do not do what Jesus says? Read Matthew 7:24-27 and see otherwise! See that you are in sinking sand! Oh, how the false prophets do subtly deceive the people of God to disobey under the guise of atoning mercy in Jesus! “The pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the LORD,” and “who is the wise man, that may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD hath spoken” (Jer. 10:21, 9:12)? Again, God reemphasizes this day in Exodus 15:26 wherein God gave the condition for their salvation in Jeremiah 11:3-5, justifying their condemnation again:
"And say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant, Which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Obey My voice, and do them, according to all which I command you: so shall ye be My people, and I will be your God: That I may perform the oath which I have sworn unto your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day. Then answered I, and said, So be it, O LORD" (Jeremiah 11:3-5).
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By this condition the promises, Covenant, and oaths are bound. God says, “Obey My voice… so shall ye be My people, and I will be your God: That I may perform the oath which I have sworn unto your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey.” This is not confusing. They were damned, yet God loved them, sought to save them, strove to do all that was possible for them (God in the ways of man), and still they refused to OBEY! Will you still deny this? Let God make His case for you in that He did exhaust the possibilities of His love (God in the ways of man) in trying to save Israel before they were in a damnable state.
"Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching His vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: And He fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and He looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt Me and My vineyard. What could have been done more to My vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to My vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah His pleasant plant: and He looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry" (Isaiah 5:1-7).
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As God said it metaphorically, now hear Him personally plead His love – “For He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men” (Lam. 3:33)…
“Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live? But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die. Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not My way equal? are not your ways unequal? When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die. Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die. Yet saith the house of Israel, The way of the Lord is not equal. O house of Israel, are not My ways equal? are not your ways unequal? Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye” (Ezek. 18:23-32).
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Many believe that God cannot damn a New Testament Christian because He promises He will not, but has God given any conditions to those promises? God promised that Israel would be saved as well. It is true that, according to the NT promises, we cannot lose our salvation, and by them we are assured an inheritance in the Promised Land of Heaven. This is all based upon the faithful word of God – but have you hardened your heart against the conditions of God? As sure as the promises are, so are the conditions to those promises! God “abideth faithful” to all His “faithful sayings” which He hath said, even – “If we suffer, we shall reign with Him: if we deny Him, He also will deny us” – and if we do not believe that He will deny us because we have been regenerated, even “if we believe not, yet He abideth faithful:” He cannot deny His own promise to deny us, i.e. His own faithful saying -“He cannot deny Himself” (2 Tim. 2:11-13).
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There is no question that the NT promises eternal security, but for many years I hardened my heart against the conditions and blinded myself from the actual teaching of scripture, thinking that the nature of the promise itself made impossible any condition, or, because there were no conditions side by side the plain promises, I thought there were no conditions at all. I did not know I was hardening my heart. Unconscious disobedience is the nature of my deception. Are you deceived? I was completely unaware of the two contexts by which God relates to men, and I only viewed God in the spectrum of His sovereign ways (God in the ways of God). Thus, I became a prey to the false doctrines of false prophets who allure the people with a confidence of salvation, even while they are breaking the commandments of God. May God reverse it, and restore what the locusts have eaten!
It is easy for men to trust a promise, but are we laying hold of the substances which those promises do proclaim? Many believe that they believe the promises, that God will confirm them unto the end that they may be blameless in the day of Christ (1 Cor. 1:8-9), but how many look at their life, conversation, and deeds to see if they are blameless, concluding that this is the evidence of their faith in that promise? Look not to a sentence on a page; look to Jesus, the Speaker and Writer of that promise – and cleave to Him, His works, His ways, and His present, continuous confirmation, and so, judge yourself rightly by the fruit in your heart instead of the creed on your lips. The devil can be in your heart while you kiss Christ with your mouth, as it is written, “Satan entered into him” (Jn. 13:27), so what about you? “Betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?” (Lk. 22:48)
It is easy for men to trust a promise, but are we laying hold of the substances which those promises do proclaim? Many believe that they believe the promises, that God will confirm them unto the end that they may be blameless in the day of Christ (1 Cor. 1:8-9), but how many look at their life, conversation, and deeds to see if they are blameless, concluding that this is the evidence of their faith in that promise? Look not to a sentence on a page; look to Jesus, the Speaker and Writer of that promise – and cleave to Him, His works, His ways, and His present, continuous confirmation, and so, judge yourself rightly by the fruit in your heart instead of the creed on your lips. The devil can be in your heart while you kiss Christ with your mouth, as it is written, “Satan entered into him” (Jn. 13:27), so what about you? “Betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?” (Lk. 22:48)