Faith

Does God Have More for You?

Exodus 19:1-6 (NLT)

“Exactly two months after the Israelites left Egypt, they arrived in the wilderness of Sinai.  After breaking camp at Rephidim, they came to the wilderness of Sinai and set up camp there at the base of Mount Sinai.

Then Moses climbed the mountain to appear before God. The Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “Give these instructions to the family of Jacob; announce it to the descendants of Israel: ’You have seen what I did to the Egyptians. You know how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. Now if you will obey Me and keep My covenant, you will be My own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to Me.  And you will be My kingdom of priests, My holy nation.’ This is the message you must give to the people of Israel.”

Exodus 19:9 (ESV)

“…Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever.”

Exodus 19:16-20 (ESV)

“On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder. The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.”

Exodus 20:2-18 (ESV)

 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

“You shall have no other gods before Me.

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate Me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love Me and keep my commandments.

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

“You shall not murder.

“You shall not commit adultery.

“You shall not steal.

“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

“You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.”

Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off.”

Pentecost

Old Covenant 

A cloud descended with loud noise and fire

God wrote the law on tablets of Stone

3000 people died that day. 

God established the nation of Israel that day.

Pentecost

New Covenant 

The Holy Spirit Descended with a loud sound and fire. 

Wrote His law on our hearts

3000 were saved

God established His church

Individuals received God’s Spirit

Act 2:1-4 (ESV)

“When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

The Silhouette of Redemption

Exodus 7:3-5 (ESV)

“…I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and though I multiply My signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay My hand on Egypt and bring My hosts, My people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out My hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.”

1. Nile turned to blood

2. Frogs

3. Gnats

4. Flies

5. Death of livestock

6. Boils

7. Hail

8. Locust

9. Darkness

Exodus 10:23 (ESV)

“They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but all the people of Israel had light where they lived.”

Colossians 2:15 (NIV)

“And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross”

Exodus 11:1 (ESV) 

“The Lord said to Moses, “Yet one plague more I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. Afterward he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will drive you away completely.”

Exodus 11:4-6 (ESV)

“So Moses said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘About midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt, and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the cattle. There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again.”

Exodus 11:9-10 (ESV)

 “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you, that My wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt. Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, and the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go out of his land."

Hebrews 3:15 (CSB)

“…if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts…”

Exodus 12:1-2 (ESV)

“The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you.”

1. Lamb: “without defect” vs 5
   Jesus: “Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” 1 Peter 1:19

2.  Lamb: “slaughter at twilight” vs 6
     Jesus: “as evening approached” Christ died Mark 15:42

3.  Lamb: “blood was to be shed” vs 7

     Jesus: “a sudden flow of blood” John 19:34

4.  Lamb: “Blood to be applied” to save you vs 22

     Jesus: “atonement (Salvation), through faith in his blood” Romans 3:25 

     
5.   Lamb: “No bones of the lamb were to be broken” vs 46
      Jesus: ““Not one of his bones will be broken.” John 19:36 

 6.   Lamb: “Those redeemed by the blood were God’s possession” Exodus 13:2
      Jesus: “You are not your own, you were bought with a price” 1 Corinthians 6:19,20

 7.   Lamb: “Eat it with your traveling clothes on” vs 11
      Jesus: “if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Corinthians 5:17

Exodus 12:21-24 (ESV) 

“Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever."

There Is a Way Out

Exodus 2:23-3:1 (ESV)

“During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew. Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.”

Exodus 3:1 (ESV)

“Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.”

Exodus 3:2-3 (ESV)

“And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.”

Exodus 3:4 (ESV)

“When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”

Exodus 3:5 (ESV)

“Then He said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”

Exodus 3:6 (ESV)

“And He said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.”

Exodus 3:7-9 (ESV)

“Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.”

Exodus 3:10 (ESV)

“Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

Exodus 3:11 (ESV)

“…Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

Exodus 3:12

“…I will be with you…”

Genesis 3:15(NIV)

“He will crush[b] your head,
    and you will strike His heel.” 

Genesis 12:1,3(NIV)
“The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you…in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Genesis 22:1-2(ESV) 

God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” 

Genesis 22:1-2(ESV) 

God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” 

John 1:14(NIV)
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 3:16(NIV)
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

“go to the land of Moriah”

“offer him (Isaac) there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” 

Gen. 22:3-6(ESV)
So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy[a] will go over there and worship and come again to you.” 6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. 

“(We will) come again to you.”

“Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son”

Genesis 22:7(ESV)
And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 

Genesis 22:8(ESV)
Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.

Genesis 22:9(ESV)
When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 

Genesis 22:10-12(ESV)
Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 

Genesis 22:13(ESV)

And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 

Galatians 3:16(NIV)
“The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,”[a] meaning one person, who is Christ."

John 19:1-6 (ESV)

“Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. 2 And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. 3 They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. 4 Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” 5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” 6 When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.” 

John 19:16-30 (ESV)
“So they took Jesus, 17 and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. 19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” 20 Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. 21 So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”

When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic.[d] But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, 24 so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says,

“They divided my garments among them,
    and for my clothing they cast lots.”

So the soldiers did these things, 25 but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” 29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”

Matthew 27:45-46(NIV)
From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. 46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli,[c] lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).

John 3:16(NIV)
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son.”

John 5:19

“I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.”

John 10:17-18(NIV)
“The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

Luke 23:46(NIV)
“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”[a] When he had said this, he breathed his last.”

Genesis 11:9 (ESV)
“…There the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.”

Deuteronomy 32:8 (ESV)
“…He fixed the borders of the peoples
    according to the number of the sons of God.”

Psalm 82:6-7 (ESV)

“You are gods,
    sons of the Most High, all of you;

nevertheless, like men you shall die,
    and fall like any prince.”

Deuteronomy 32:9 (ESV)
“But the Lord's portion is His people,
    Jacob (Israel) His allotted heritage.”

Genesis 12:1,3 (NIV & ESV)
“The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.” “…in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Galatians 3:16 (NIV)
“The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ.”

Genesis 15:1 (ESV)

“After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:” 

Genesis 15:1 (ESV)
“Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”

Genesis 15:2-4 (ESV)
“But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.”

Genesis 15:5 (ESV)
“And He brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then He said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

Genesis 15:6 (ESV)
“And he believed the Lord, and He counted it to him as righteousness.”

Genesis 15:7 (ESV)
“I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”

Genesis 15:8 (ESV)
But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?”

Genesis 15:12-21 (ESV)
“As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete. When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”

James 2:23 (ESV)

“Abraham believed God…and he was called a friend of God.”

Galatians 3:29 (ESV)
“…if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.”

John 15:15 (ESV)
“No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.”

We live in a Spiritual World

Deuteronomy 32:8-9 (ESV)

“When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,
    when He divided mankind,
He fixed the borders of the peoples
    according to the number of the sons of God.

But the Lord's portion is His people,
    Jacob (Israel) His allotted heritage.”

Deuteronomy 32:43 (ESV)

“Rejoice with Him, O heavens;
    bow down to Him, all gods…”

Genesis 11:1-9 (ESV)
“Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built.  And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.  Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech.” So, the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.  Therefore, its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.”

Deuteronomy 32:8-9 (ESV)

“When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,
    when He divided mankind,
He fixed the borders of the peoples
    according to the number of the sons of God.”

Psalm 82:1-8 (ESV)

“God has taken His place in the divine council;
    in the midst of the gods He holds judgment:

“How long will you judge unjustly
    and show partiality to the wicked? Selah 

Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;
    maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.

Rescue the weak and the needy;
    deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”

They have neither knowledge nor understanding,

   they walk about in darkness;
    all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

I said, “You are gods,
    sons of the Most High, all of you;

nevertheless, like men you shall die,
    and fall like any prince.”

Arise, O God, judge the earth;
    for you shall inherit all the nations!”

Genesis 12:1,3 (NIV & ESV)
“The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you…in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Deuteronomy 32:9 (ESV)
“But the Lord's portion is His people,
    Jacob (Israel) His allotted heritage.”

Deuteronomy 17:2-3 (ESV)
“If there is found among you, within any of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, a man or woman who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, in transgressing His covenant, and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have forbidden.”

Galatians 3:16 (NIV)
“The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ.”

Luke 10:1-3,9,16-21 (ESV)
“…the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of Him, two by two, into every town and place where He Himself was about to go. And He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.” “Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.” “The one who hears you hears Me, and the one who rejects you rejects Me, and the one who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me.” “The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

A Covenant-Making God

Genesis 6:5-8 (NIV) 

“The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The Lord regretted that He had made human beings on the earth, and His heart was deeply troubled. 

So, the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”

Genesis 9:9-17 (NIV)

“I now establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. I establish My covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.” And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between Me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set My rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember My covenant between Me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” So, God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between Me and all life on the earth.”

What is a Covenant?

Hebrew is: Berít

Greek: Diathéké         

Four OT Covenants: Noah, Abraham, Israel, and King David. 

God is a Covenant-Maker & a Covenant-Keeper

TRUST

Jeremiah 31:31-34 (ESV) [Eternal and unbreakable.] 

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put My law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be My people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Ezekiel 36:26-28, 33-36 (ESV)
“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes and be careful to obey My rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be My people, and I will be your God.” “Thus says the Lord God: On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be rebuilt. And the land that was desolate shall be tilled, instead of being the desolation that it was in the sight of all who passed by. And they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’ Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the Lord; I have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate. I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it.”

Ezekiel 37:23, 26-28 (ESV)

“…I will save them from all the backsliding in which they have sinned and will cleanse them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.” “I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them and will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.”

Hebrews 8:6-7,10-12 (ESV)

“But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant He mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.” “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put My laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”

Hebrews 9:15,24-26 (ESV)

“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.” “For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer Himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then He would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.”

2 Corinthians 3:4-6 (ESV)

“Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” 

Ephesians 2:12-13,19 (ESV)

“Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” “So, then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.”

Hebrews 13:20-21 (ESV)

“Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen!”

The Deliverance of the Heart

Genesis 4:1-2 (NIV)

“Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.” Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil.”

Genesis 3:15 (NIV)

“I will put enmity
    between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
    and you will strike his heel.”  

Genesis 4:3-7 (NIV)
“In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering He did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

Genesis 4:8 (NIV)
“Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.”

Matthew 24:10,12-13 (NKJV)
“…many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another…And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.”

Genesis 4:9-12 (ESV)
“Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?” And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to Me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.”

Matthew 7:1-3 (ESV)
“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment, you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?”

Hebrews 12:14-15 (NIV)
“Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.”

2 John 1:8 (NIV)

“Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully.”

Ephesians 4:29-32 (NIV)

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

God Knows Best

Genesis 2:8-9 (ESV)

"…the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

Genesis 3:1-13 (NIV)

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Adam and Eve:

-     Questioned what God had said.

-     Questioned the sufficiency of God.

-     Questioned the sovereignty of God. 

-     Trusted human reasoning over God’s instruction.

2 Corinthians 2:11 (NLT)
“so that Satan will not outsmart us. For we are familiar with his evil schemes.”

Place your faith in God: 

-       Trust what God has said.

-       Trust the sufficiency of God.

-       Trust in the sovereignty of God.

-       Trust in God’s leading over human reasoning.

Psalm 115:3 (NKJV)

“…our God is in heaven;
He does whatever He pleases.”