'Appreciating God's Love'
A) New Covenant Promised
Jer 31:31,33-34 "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—.. 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, 'Know the Lord,' for they all 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."
Before the Israelites were carried off to exile in Babylon, God made a promise to them that He would made a New Covenant with them to help them keep His words and know Him and also be blessed.
In this new covenant, God will forgive them of their sins and this was fulfilled by our Lord Jesus shedding His blood on the cross for the remission of their sins.
Mat 26:27-28 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins."
Blessings of the New Covenant of Grace
1. God will forgive their sins
2. God will put the law in their mind
3. God will write the law in their hearts
4. God will be their God and they will become the people of God
5. God will teach them
6. They will know God.
B) Repentance of Israelites
Eze 18:30-31 "Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways," says the Lord God. " Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel?
The ministries of both John the Baptist and our Lord Jesus Christ and His disciples convicted many Israelites to repent of their sins and transgressions so that they could become devout Jews and believe the Gospel of grace.
At Pentecost three thousand devout Jews mainly from foreign nations (and also those who had accepted John's message of repentance and baptism), were saved for they believed the death and resurrection of Jesus their Messiah.
Each born again Christian was given the Holy Spirit of redemption, to help him to keep His word of life thereby creating in him a new heart of love. This grace from our Lord Jesus will also help him to forsake the wicked ways of old and to live in righteousness and holiness.
Eze 36:24, 26-27 For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. 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.
C) Eze 11:19-20 Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.
When a Jew believes and accepts the gospel of grace, God will seal him with the Holy Spirit of redemption and he becomes a born again Christian and is longer a Jew.
With his genuine salvation, the Holy Spirit dwelling within him will give him a new heart of love and he will begin to bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Gal 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
Unsaved So-called Christians
Eze 11:21 "But as for those whose hearts follow the desire for their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their deeds on their own heads," says the Lord God."
However, all those who are supposed to have been saved but still following the desires of their hearts in their sins and abominations, they will not be able to bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit nor the new heart of love for they were not saved in the first place.
They may have said the sinner's prayer, but they were not saved for they had not been sincere, nor believed the gospel of grace (Jesus' sufferings, death and resurrection and remission of his sins) nor repented of their sins nor believed Jesus as the Son of God.
