Dale Partridge - Romans 3_1-4： How Covenantal Thinking Will Change Your Relationship With God

00:00:00.000 In this episode of Real Christianity, I begin Romans chapter 3 and teach why covenantal thinking

00:00:05.060 will change the way you view your relationship with God, the church, and your family.

00:00:10.180 All that and more coming up right now. 1.00

00:00:30.000 Welcome to Real Christianity. My name is Dale Partridge. Today's episode is titled Romans 3,

00:00:35.960 1 through 4, How Covenantal Thinking Will Change Your Relationship with God.

00:00:40.200 Now, as you know, this show is an audio and video ministry of relearn.org. If you're watching the

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00:02:46.780 forward slash relearn okay let's get started uh we just ended romans chapter 2 which was a

00:02:55.260 systematic stripping away of the redemptive hope that the jews had in three things it was in who

00:03:04.380 they were it was in what they had and it was how they were marked so they had this redemptive hope 0.55

00:03:11.420 really anchored down in those three things now remember paul's intention from romans chapter 1

00:03:18.380 verses 18 all the way to romans chapter 3 verse 20 is to dismantle religious practice as a way to

00:03:27.180 justify yourself before god now he's building this coordinated case that leaves a legalist

00:03:35.580 with a sense of hopelessness and that's the aim here and he's speaking to the jews who were

00:03:40.380 absolutely religious legalists now this is important for us to grasp and i'll tell you why

00:03:46.060 because the the good news of the gospel is only good if the bad news is bad you guys

00:03:54.620 guys might hear me say this often, we need a bad news, good news gospel. If you have just a good

00:03:59.800 news gospel, it's not good news, it's just news. And it's like telling someone that you have a cure

00:04:05.500 for their cancer, but they don't believe that they're sick. You need the bad news before you

00:04:10.960 have the good news. And it's why we have to commit to presenting a biblical gospel the same way that 0.53

00:04:17.080 Paul does here in Romans. Now, I want to give you just a quick summary and take me maybe 30 seconds

00:04:22.340 or so to get through kind of that presentation structure that we need to be having when we

00:04:27.940 present the gospel. And this is how Paul does it here in Romans. Number one, we have to first

00:04:32.520 make people aware of their sin. Number two, they have to feel the wrath of God that is coming for

00:04:39.900 them for their sin. Number three is they have to see that no amount of religious practice

00:04:46.720 will be able to make them righteous and appease God's judgment that's coming for them.

00:04:52.180 Number four, they have to come to a place of utter fear and hopelessness.

00:04:57.160 Now that fear is like Proverbs 1, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

00:05:01.500 It's a reverential fear.

00:05:04.280 Number five is they have to hear the good news of Jesus Christ.

00:05:09.460 Number six, they have to repent of their sin, to turn away of their sin

00:05:14.880 and turn away from their self-righteousness.

00:05:19.220 And number seven, they have to put their trust

00:05:21.400 or their faith or the belief or their hope

00:05:23.340 in Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of sin

00:05:27.960 and their justification before God.

00:05:30.420 They have to hope in the righteousness of Jesus Christ

00:05:34.580 that's imputed to them by faith.

00:05:36.320 That's essentially what Paul's getting across here

00:05:38.580 in the book of Romans.

00:05:39.720 And I just wanted to give you guys that background.

00:05:41.780 Now, chapter three is broken down into three sections.

00:05:44.380 The first is verses 1 through 8, the second is 9 through 20, and the third is 21 through 31.

00:05:51.880 Now, in chapter 3, we are actually going to finally see the sum of this great argument that I mentioned just a few minutes ago,

00:06:00.700 that he's going to actually talk about Jesus Christ being the solution to the Jews' problem having redemptive hope in religious practice, 0.63

00:06:10.020 which is empty and unable to save, unable to justify them before God. 0.52

00:06:15.660 So today's text is Romans 3, 1 through 4.

00:06:18.640 And Paul is anticipating a response and the obvious pressing questions

00:06:25.260 that a Jewish person would ask after reading chapter 2.

00:06:30.360 You know, if it doesn't matter that we're Jews, it doesn't matter who we are,

00:06:34.980 that we're God's chosen people through Abraham. 0.70

00:06:37.060 If it doesn't matter that we have God's law and that we know the moral righteousness of God, and it doesn't matter that we have the mark of circumcision as God's covenant people, the Jews are wondering, what is the advantage that a Jew even has then?

00:06:54.700 and this is the cultural context you need to really understand the historical posture and

00:07:02.440 the religious posture of a Jew that they they really anchored themselves hopeful for justification

00:07:07.940 in those things and so this is why in verse 1 of chapter 3 and I'm going to read through verse 4 0.71

00:07:14.340 it says this then what advantage has the Jew and again this is Paul's anticipation so he's writing

00:07:20.200 this. What advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? Great in every respect. 0.86

00:07:27.600 First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God. What then? If some did not

00:07:33.420 believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it? May it never be.

00:07:38.280 Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar, as it is written, that you may

00:07:45.500 be justified in your words and prevail when you are judged, end quote. So verses one through two,

00:07:52.080 let's break this down. Let's get through it. Help you have an understanding of Romans so you can

00:07:56.720 grasp the gospel message, the historical cultural context, the theological significance of this

00:08:02.000 beautiful epistle. And so the first two questions that Paul asks, they're foreseen questions. They're

00:08:09.240 expected, anticipated questions. He asked, what advantage has the Jew? And what is the benefit

00:08:15.840 of circumcision? Because he just dismantled those things in chapter two. And now he's moving in

00:08:21.340 chapter three, and he's anticipating these questions. So these questions come from a Jewish 0.99

00:08:26.740 perspective that are always viewing themselves as having some sort of superiority over the Gentiles

00:08:32.920 because of who they were, what they had, and how they were marked. And so since Paul claimed that

00:08:38.480 God is essentially impartial, God's impartial,

00:08:41.740 everyone is equally condemned by the law of God,

00:08:45.180 they're equally standing guilty before God's law,

00:08:49.680 then what was the advantage of being in covenant with God

00:08:54.420 as a Jewish person?

00:08:56.100 So it's a really, one of these questions that you go,

00:08:58.380 yeah, I would maybe be asking the same thing.

00:09:01.520 What is the advantage if God is impartial

00:09:04.620 and none of these things really made a difference

00:09:06.880 in my redemption?

00:09:08.480 what is it? And so Paul answers this question with a passionate and clear, yes, there is a

00:09:15.760 major advantage. And this should absolutely perk the interest of those that are reading along

00:09:21.740 in a Jewish culture. Okay, tell me what they are. So the point Paul wants to make sure they

00:09:28.240 understand is that their justification was not secured in who they were, what they had,

00:09:35.800 and how they were marked that's what he's really aiming at now those were outward administrations

00:09:43.800 of the covenant who they were what they had the law and how they were marked these were

00:09:50.360 outward administrations of the covenant they were related covenantal blessings that gave

00:09:57.560 the jewish people hope it gave them wisdom it prevented sin it granted them as a nation many

00:10:04.200 material blessings uh like land and influence and power and most importantly it foreshadowed

00:10:11.400 and prepared the jewish people for the promise of that covenant which is that god will redeem

00:10:18.120 his people through a promised savior a serpent crusher uh coming through the line of abraham

00:10:25.080 more more uh clarified through the line of david and uh in the the the tribe of judah

00:10:31.880 uh born of a virgin jesus christ the savior and so there is really a beautiful preparation that

00:10:39.640 they received in a looking for and awaiting and anticipating the coming savior but covenantal

00:10:48.120 inclusion does not equal justification now you need to grasp what i just said right there

00:10:54.540 Covenantal inclusion does not equal justification.

00:10:57.820 Now, this is incredibly difficult for a Jewish culture to understand

00:11:00.780 if they spent their entire life being God's chosen people.

00:11:04.540 And you're saying that covenantal inclusion doesn't mean that I'm justified before God.

00:11:09.280 Well, then what is, what does need to happen for me to be justified?

00:11:15.060 So just because you're in the visible community of the church,

00:11:20.800 or just because you're in the visible community of God's people in the old covenant does not mean

00:11:27.800 that you are redeemed, does not mean that you've been saved by grace through faith,

00:11:31.820 does not mean that you are even elect. And so this has not changed under the new covenant.

00:11:40.140 You might carry the sign of a new covenant believer. You might be baptized,

00:11:45.080 individual where you receive the blessings because you're in the covenant community

00:11:51.320 and you're hearing God's word, you're receiving prayer, you're experiencing the blessing of God's

00:11:58.160 people, you're obtaining guidance towards righteousness in your life, you have the

00:12:02.980 relational support from God's people, you're partaking of these things, maybe the Lord's

00:12:07.440 supper, baptism, you're experiencing covenant life. And these things don't necessarily mean

00:12:17.240 that you're justified. You could be in the church, the visible church, but not actually a member of

00:12:23.080 the born again, invisible church, the true people of God. And so there's only one path for

00:12:29.840 justification in the old covenant and the new covenant, which is you're saved by grace through

00:12:36.140 faith in jesus christ alone now the old covenant saints uh they were saved by grace through faith

00:12:43.420 in the promise of the messiah to come and we are on the other side of the cross so we're saved by

00:12:48.220 grace uh through faith in christ which we have seen come and in the same way that we anticipate

00:12:55.580 the second coming they were really anticipating the first coming and so this is just a central

00:13:01.820 uh understanding that you need to have when you look at the old covenant and the new covenant

00:13:07.420 but the central point that the apostle is trying to make in this section is that covenantal inclusion

00:13:14.380 regardless of justification is a great advantage and blessing in and of itself so i want you to

00:13:22.620 hear that one more time he's saying that that covenantal inclusion while it doesn't equal

00:13:29.340 justification is still a blessing in and of itself to be a part of God's people, to be a part of the

00:13:39.400 church, to be a part of Israel was still a blessing. And he's going to tell us why, but I want you to

00:13:45.140 grasp that reality. I mean, we even see unbelieving parents will send their kids to be a part of a 0.98

00:13:50.780 church. Why? Because they can even see the visible blessing about being in God's covenant community

00:13:58.580 of people. And so there are very real, tangible, spiritual, relational benefits of being in God's

00:14:07.380 covenant people that doesn't mean you're necessarily justified. And so there are lots

00:14:12.060 of people who came to the church, but never came to Christ. I say that often. And we all can see

00:14:18.600 that. We know that 31% of the world professes to believe in Christ. What's the real number? We

00:14:24.080 don't know. That's the difference between the visible and invisible church. So Paul explains

00:14:27.880 why uh the jews had uh an advantage and it was a blessing to be a covenantal member of the old

00:14:37.800 covenant so paul explains in verse 2b so the second half of verse 2 he says first of all that

00:14:44.460 they were entrusted with the oracles of god now paul qualifies the advantage he denotes that the

00:14:52.620 primary advantage of being in the covenantal community of god again regardless of salvation

00:14:58.700 was their privilege of receiving and retaining the communications of god so when you hear the word

00:15:05.260 oracles of god it's really holding the chronicles of the communications of god it's having that

00:15:14.620 they were a people that were basically holding god's words and that was a huge blessing

00:15:23.420 not only to themselves but to the world and that included the law it included the wisdom

00:15:29.340 literature it included the prophecies including the foreshadowing of the gospel

00:15:35.100 and this this was actually first delivered to the jews uh before and i'll even say this

00:15:43.820 they didn't just receive those old testament realities they were also the first individuals

00:15:50.220 to receive the gospel we know that jesus's ministry is overwhelmingly and i would even

00:15:56.540 say completely focused on the jewish people it wasn't until paul was commissioned to

00:16:03.340 go out and preach the gospel to the gentiles and when we start seeing you know peter shocked when

00:16:09.580 when the Gentiles start coming to faith. And so even the gospel, it's not just the law and the 0.92

00:16:16.880 wisdom and the Old Testament prophecies, but even John the Baptist's work, as well as Jesus's

00:16:23.580 ministry is all first coming to the Jews before it's going out to the rest of the world. And so

00:16:28.880 we have to remember that this privilege was exclusive to the Jews. God elected to show mercy

00:16:36.140 to them in this way and not other nations.

00:16:40.620 And so Psalm 147, 19 through 20 records that they knew this.

00:16:46.360 It says, he declares his words to Jacob, right?

00:16:50.260 Jacob's name is Israel, his statutes

00:16:52.720 and his ordinances to Israel.

00:16:55.460 He has not dealt thus with any nation.

00:16:58.620 And as for his ordinances, they have not known them.

00:17:02.300 Praise the Lord.

00:17:03.720 Essentially, this is a statement of,

00:17:05.720 thank God that we have been given the oracles of God.

00:17:09.780 He's shown us things that he's not shown other people.

00:17:13.000 And so election has its benefits.

00:17:15.040 And not just election, covenantal inclusion has its benefits

00:17:20.100 because there were people in the old covenant

00:17:22.960 who were not regenerate, who were not born again.

00:17:27.300 And so Paul wants the Jews to recognize this covenantal mercy.

00:17:33.160 So he's saying, hey, you got to see the value of what this is at the very minimum.

00:17:37.440 Now, there are many, many more covenantal benefits, even in the Old Covenant, but his focus is here.

00:17:45.720 He wants them to see that the possession of God's word still doesn't equal justification, but it's a huge benefit. 0.86

00:17:54.980 Now, as the Gentiles, we also should see the Jews as a blessing to the world.

00:18:01.560 They became the witness by which the whole world would know God.

00:18:05.580 They also became the witness that the creator of the world didn't forsake the earth and

00:18:13.240 just leave us to our sin to perish.

00:18:16.500 They were holding the oracles of God that gave hope, not just to the Jews, but eventually

00:18:22.180 to the whole world.

00:18:23.220 And so the Jews, in a very real way, are our root for the church.

00:18:29.900 they're they're the root to god's spiritual family tree too often we think of christianity as a

00:18:37.440 fairly new religion when in reality christianity is the fulfillment of the world's first and only

00:18:45.860 true religion and so we as gentiles have been grafted into an established faith there is a long

00:18:53.960 history and a long spiritual tree here. And this is why church history shouldn't begin not only at

00:19:02.780 Pentecost. I mean, when I studied church history at seminary, you don't just start at Pentecost

00:19:09.480 where you would naturally think that's the beginning of the church. You actually should

00:19:14.580 start all the way back into the first Christians. Now, I believe personally that Adam and Eve were 0.95

00:19:21.240 the first Christians. I believe they trusted and believed God and had faith and were regenerate

00:19:28.100 and believe the promise that was given to them and the curse that Eve will bear a son

00:19:35.800 down her family line, that the serpent crusher will come and restore them back to God and cover

00:19:44.960 their sin and redeem them and reconcile them to God and bring them back to a garden-like state,

00:19:52.220 which is like heaven. We know that Genesis 4-1, which is already after they have been removed

00:20:00.000 from the garden. Genesis 4-1 says, now the man had relations with his wife, Eve, and she conceived

00:20:06.600 and gave birth to Cain, and she said, quote, I have gotten a man-child with the help of the Lord.

00:20:14.960 She's already showing a demonstration of trust in God's providence in her life. Genesis 4, 25-26

00:20:25.680 says, and Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son called his name Seth, for she said,

00:20:33.080 God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel for Cain killed him. To Seth

00:20:40.400 also a son was born and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call upon the name

00:20:48.060 of the Lord. So that passage right there at the end of Genesis chapter 4 is the very first time

00:20:55.140 we see people praying. It's people calling upon the name of the Lord and what are they calling

00:21:01.080 on him to do they're calling on him to fulfill his promise his covenantal promise that he has with

00:21:10.040 uh what he made with adam and eve he said that there will be a serpent crusher and you better

00:21:15.720 believe that eve thought that it would be abel and then cain killed abel and then she had seth

00:21:23.880 and then seth um was born a son named enosh and they're wondering when are we going to have this

00:21:30.440 son that's going to bring us back and crush the serpent and restore us back to god and they start

00:21:36.360 calling out upon the name of the lord to fulfill the promises that he has made and so this is 0.97

00:21:43.960 the first experience we have in the old testament of prayer so the jews covenantal privileges were

00:21:49.640 great uh with both israel uh and the world and paul wants the jews and the gentiles to see this

00:21:57.880 so we move into verse three and four it says what then if some did not believe that is if some in

00:22:03.640 the covenant did not believe their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of god will it may

00:22:09.560 it never be rather let god be found true though every man be found a liar as it is written that

00:22:16.760 you may be justified in your words and prevail when you are judged okay what's paul saying here

00:22:22.440 we want to figure that out. Paul is pointing out that even though there is unbelief in God's

00:22:28.680 people in Israel, even though there is unbelief, even mass unbelief among those in the visible

00:22:37.500 covenant, it doesn't diminish God's faithfulness to his people. It doesn't diminish God's faithfulness

00:22:45.880 to the covenant with Abraham. He's saying, hey, I know that lots of people that are in the

00:22:52.060 covenant are rejecting Jesus Christ as Messiah, this doesn't mean that God is unfaithful to

00:22:58.500 fulfilling his covenant promises. This is that these people in Israel were unfaithful and are 0.86

00:23:06.040 receiving the covenantal curses. And so God did send his promised Messiah as he promised in the 0.63

00:23:14.560 covenant. However, the number of covenant people was smaller than those within the visible covenant

00:23:21.460 community. And so God is a covenant keeping God. And Paul is essentially defending God's integrity

00:23:29.620 here, saying, don't think that just because people didn't believe that God wasn't faithful

00:23:34.980 to the covenant. No, he was. They weren't. And so we have to remember that not all of the Jewish

00:23:41.520 people had rejected the Messiah. I mean, Paul even demonstrates that in his own story. But in this

00:23:50.320 verse by implication that some did believe if we read here in uh chapter or verse three it says

00:23:57.200 what them if some did not believe by that he's saying that some did believe and some didn't

00:24:04.960 so there are people that did believe we know also in john chapter 1 verse 45 philip

00:24:11.680 uh it says philip found nathaniel and said to him we have found him of whom moses in the law

00:24:19.680 and also the prophets wrote jesus of nazareth the son of joseph so we we do have a historical

00:24:26.560 biblical record of jews coming to faith we know that but it was absolutely far less than what we

00:24:37.280 had expected we know in john chapter 1 verse 11 i don't have it pulled up right here but it's

00:24:43.760 this talking of um he was rejected from his own people we know in matthew 7 13 through 14 talking

00:24:53.520 about the way is wide and the road is narrow uh you know and and few find it this is in the middle

00:25:00.880 of jesus's sermon on the mount i've exposited this passage of scripture and look at this passage not

00:25:08.160 as a universal statement about the gospel but really about showing that not many people in

00:25:14.720 the jewish culture are going to come to the gospel the way is wide that leads to destruction and the

00:25:20.480 road is narrow and very few find it very few jews are going to find it and we know that this is 0.99

00:25:28.000 recorded in matthew's gospel um matthew's gospel is the jewish gospel the context is that jesus

00:25:35.600 ministry is to the jews and so even by his own demonstration there's not a lot of jews that come

00:25:42.800 and we know that even the opening up of the covenant to the gentiles is really a way to make 0.66

00:25:50.000 the jews jealous and so there's lots of theological understanding required here to see this covenant

00:25:56.560 relationship and we can't go deeply there but paul's making the point that god's faithfulness

00:26:01.920 to his covenant people is not to be measured by the unfaithfulness of those in the covenant

00:26:09.200 and so again being in the covenant community does not equal justification or election

00:26:16.160 or regeneration it just means that you get to be in the blessing of being around god's people

00:26:22.080 understanding the things of god and it doesn't necessarily mean that god is going to regenerate

00:26:28.000 that individual so even today many people say uh they know god who don't many people say they love

00:26:35.120 god who don't many people are in the church and we can sense those who have been born again and

00:26:41.440 those who are not we have people that call themselves christian when in reality they've

00:26:46.560 never actually came through a biblical repentance and trusting in christ they've only heard a good

00:26:52.640 news gospel in america and that's that's a big reason why so many people are in the church but

00:26:58.320 never came to christ because they've never actually heard the biblical gospel now paul

00:27:02.880 is saying that these people who are in the church that think they believe or who are in god's

00:27:08.240 covenant people and think they've been regenerated and trust in god they're actually liars they're

00:27:13.760 not god is faithful to the covenant but these individuals are liars and uh their unfaithfulness

00:27:21.280 does not and should not be representative of God's faithfulness. So then he closes his argument by

00:27:26.300 justifying his point by citing a passage of scripture from Psalm 51 verse 4, which reads,

00:27:32.980 against you, you only, I have sinned and done what is evil in your sight so that you are justified

00:27:40.200 when you speak and blameless when you judge. Now this is David and he's basically repenting for

00:27:48.540 his sinfulness with Bathsheba. And he's repenting and saying against you, you only I have sinned

00:27:56.780 and done what is evil in your sight so that you're justified when you speak and blameless when you

00:28:03.420 judge. If you want to judge me and you want to just, you're justified in condemning me. And so

00:28:09.360 Paul, again, takes this passage of scripture in its context, applies it to a Jewish understanding,

00:28:16.360 reminding these Jews who think that they should be saved

00:28:19.500 because they've kept these covenantal things 0.91

00:28:22.340 like they're God's people, they've been circumcised,

00:28:25.260 they have the law.

00:28:26.320 He's reminding them, no, have this humble posture

00:28:28.940 that David has, that I've sinned against you.

00:28:31.840 You have every right to judge me. 0.95

00:28:33.640 We are all deserving of hell.

00:28:35.540 We don't deserve your mercy whatsoever.

00:28:37.980 And so the point that Paul's making

00:28:40.060 is that again, he's defending God's character here.

00:28:45.160 he's saying to not ever think that our unfaithfulness is due to God. It's not God,

00:28:52.520 it's our unfaithfulness. And this is obviously intertwining with the doctrine of man's

00:28:56.800 responsibility and God's sovereignty of salvation, which we're not going to discuss. But if you're

00:29:00.680 thinking that, I understand where you're coming from. Now, many people today also do the same

00:29:05.120 thing. They blame their unbelief. They say that they're atheists because if God was truly here,

00:29:10.780 then he would have revealed himself in a more sufficient manner.

00:29:15.640 And this is, again, already dealt with in Romans chapter 1,

00:29:18.760 what is it, 16, 17, 18, somewhere around there, 17 or 18.

00:29:22.840 God has revealed himself in the things that are made

00:29:28.240 so that people have no excuse.

00:29:30.520 There is enough revelation of God's existence for us to believe.

00:29:34.800 In addition to the fact that the gospel is here now,

00:29:38.120 it's being preached and God is saving people. But there is no reason, no justification for

00:29:44.240 atheism according to Romans chapter 1. And we know that our sin is never because of God. Our unbelief

00:29:51.900 is never because of God. James 1.3 says, let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted

00:29:58.880 by God. For God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one. And so these are just

00:30:05.020 important theological truths that you can kind of place in your mosaic of your theological

00:30:12.100 art piece that you're building in your own mind and heart. And so ultimately, this passage is

00:30:18.160 about a couple of things. It's about Paul distinguishing between covenantal inclusion

00:30:24.440 by outward administrations of the flesh and justification by inward administrations of the

00:30:33.620 spirit, the regeneration of the heart. This is the point that he's trying to make here. If you've

00:30:37.900 been following along since Romans chapter two, he's trying to draw a difference between the

00:30:42.280 outward administrations of the flesh, that they're not sufficient to bring about justification.

00:30:47.660 And the only way to bring about inward administrations of the spirit, that need for

00:30:56.560 that, you need a deeper, you need not just a circumcised flesh is what he says in Romans two,

00:31:00.600 but a circumcised heart. And so this is the point that he's making there. So he's doing what we

00:31:08.360 often need to do here in America. And he's preaching to people who think they're saved by

00:31:13.920 what they do, when in reality, something needs to be done on the inside and not the outside.

00:31:23.800 We know that spiritual activity doesn't equal spiritual security. We know that there's lots

00:31:30.080 of people who are religious. We know that lots of people who practice moralism. We know lots of

00:31:34.880 people who think that they're justified by works. These aren't people who understand the grace and

00:31:41.000 mercy of God. And so this is what Paul is doing to the Jews. He's explaining to not have hope in

00:31:47.060 these things. We often need to do this here in the church. But the pressing question that came to me

00:31:53.300 even after reading this passage, and I think is probably coming to you, is why would a Jew

00:31:58.900 want to be part of the covenant if it didn't result in salvation, right? I'm just, I was

00:32:05.320 sitting there thinking, you know, why would you want to be part of God's covenant people if it

00:32:09.160 didn't result in redemption? You know, why would a parent in the Jewish time, why would a parent 0.67

00:32:16.720 want their child to be in covenant through circumcision if it didn't guarantee them to be 0.71

00:32:22.760 saved. And even more, why would a modern believer desire to be in the covenant community of the

00:32:29.560 church if that didn't necessarily promise conversion? I mean, this is something that

00:32:37.460 we need to separate in our minds, that being a part of the church doesn't mean that you're saved.

00:32:42.160 Coming to church and praying a prayer doesn't equal salvation. Salvation is a work of God's

00:32:49.640 sovereignty. We hear the gospel. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ.

00:32:54.960 It is a sovereign work of God through the repentance and trusting in Christ alone.

00:32:59.400 We cannot born ourselves again. It's something that we have to have done to us. God is the one

00:33:07.060 that is sovereign over salvation, not us. So what advantage is there to be a member of the covenant

00:33:13.620 community of God? And more specifically for us, the covenant community of the church,

00:33:18.620 And more specifically for us as parents, why would we want our children to be a part of the covenant community of the church if it didn't necessarily end in conversion?

00:33:29.380 So these are important questions.

00:33:31.000 The answer is simple, and I want you guys to grasp what I'm about to say.

00:33:35.880 the normative path for god's blessings including salvation flow to those and through those who are

00:33:48.360 in covenant with him okay the normative path for god's blessings including salvation flow

00:33:56.840 through the church in fact i would even argue that every blessing that we see in the world

00:34:03.240 comes through the church comes through the church now meaning even if somebody hears the gospel

00:34:12.200 it's coming through somebody else who's a member of the church that presented the gospel to them

00:34:17.920 so that person's redemption while god does the saving faith comes by hearing and hearing by the

00:34:22.780 word of christ how are they going to believe if they're not sent a preacher romans uh is it chapter

00:34:28.000 9 chapter 10 says and so we have to remember that god's covenant people are really the

00:34:40.480 we are the means to blessing the world because we are the ones like the jews who hold the oracles

00:34:47.280 of god the church is the pillar and ground of the truth as paul writes in timothy and we uphold

00:34:56.800 god's gospel in the world we uphold the scriptures we are god's covenant people by which

00:35:03.840 the world will be blessed uh and anybody who comes to faith will come through god's body

00:35:11.840 uh christ's body the church and so there's some deep stuff here and so god always blesses his

00:35:17.680 people through his covenant now so being inside the covenant not speaking about the blessings

00:35:22.960 that come out of the covenant people to the world,

00:35:25.480 but also the blessings that are inside of the church.

00:35:32.440 That's where God pours out his blessings.

00:35:34.960 So we want to be, we want our children

00:35:37.340 and our family members to be

00:35:39.820 in the covenant community of the church.

00:35:41.500 We want them there.

00:35:43.260 Now, conversion is a work of the Lord.

00:35:45.580 And with our children,

00:35:47.320 they are going to be a part of the community of God

00:35:50.580 because they're in our families.

00:35:52.440 1 Corinthians 7.14 talks about them being even holy

00:35:56.300 if you're a child of a believing parent.

00:35:59.640 And so there's some covenantal inclusion and blessing there.

00:36:02.980 This is also a discussion between the Presbyterians

00:36:05.340 and the Reformed Baptists

00:36:06.220 about adding your child to the covenant

00:36:08.460 through the covenantal sign of baptism

00:36:10.960 is what a Presbyterian would say.

00:36:13.200 Is your child in the covenant by birth

00:36:16.140 or is your child in the covenant by baptism?

00:36:19.620 And so I'll leave you guys with your own research

00:36:21.740 to discuss there i'll have a further discussion on covenantalism later but for that reason um

00:36:28.860 we should desire that our families remain in covenant with god we should we should think

00:36:33.900 covenantally about our family that we have a covenant relationship with god to uphold

00:36:39.820 our jesus is obviously holding the covenant together but to um maintain the blessings

00:36:46.140 and receive the blessings of the covenant it doesn't matter our disobedience doesn't mean

00:36:51.740 covenantal removal. It means that we might not inherit some of the covenant blessings

00:36:59.960 that we could have. It's the same thing is that I spoke about a couple episodes ago.

00:37:05.480 We don't obey because disobedience means that we lose our justification. We obey because it

00:37:13.480 pleases God. We're justified by the works of Christ alone. We're in covenant because

00:37:18.720 of the work of Christ alone.

00:37:20.740 He is the one that's keeping the covenant.

00:37:22.920 But we can still please God

00:37:24.920 and receive God's blessings through obedience

00:37:26.860 and maintaining faithfulness

00:37:29.020 to the covenant relationship.

00:37:30.900 And so when we forsake the covenant people of God,

00:37:33.160 when we skip Sunday,

00:37:34.820 when we don't partake in the rich fellowship

00:37:37.440 that comes with the covenant community of the church,

00:37:42.000 we forsake the channel of God's blessings in our life.

00:37:46.800 And so those of you Christians

00:37:48.040 who sit at home on Sunday and watch church on Sunday

00:37:51.860 and aren't part of God's covenant community of people,

00:37:54.860 this should convict you.

00:37:55.900 You should want to be in covenant community

00:37:59.540 with this is the place, the normative location

00:38:03.160 for God's flowing out his blessings of admonishment

00:38:06.980 and correction and encouragement and accountability

00:38:09.400 and wisdom and the preaching of scripture and communion.

00:38:14.900 there is so much there that we should not want to remove ourselves in any capacity from the

00:38:22.600 covenant community of God's people. And so for that reason, we should also desire

00:38:27.700 others to be around us in our real life so that they can see the beautiful covenant blessings

00:38:35.800 and promises that are being fulfilled and the nature of our relationships and obviously our

00:38:40.880 savior uh through um their their observation of our covenant life and so first peter 2 9 says

00:38:50.320 but you are a chosen race a royal priesthood a holy nation a people for his own possession

00:38:58.240 that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous

00:39:03.520 light so the purpose of god putting together a people for his own possession again we don't

00:39:12.000 collect ourselves to god god collects us god selects and brings us to himself we are a people

00:39:19.840 of his own possession and the purpose is that we would proclaim the excellencies of him who called

00:39:28.800 us out of darkness and into his marvelous light. And so I think about the Old Testament relationship

00:39:35.320 of the Jews. God constantly reminded them, I'm the God who pulled you out of Egypt and brought 1.00

00:39:41.820 you into the promised land. And so there's this constant regular reminder of what God has done

00:39:46.880 so that they would be a holy people set apart to show the world how they behave differently as

00:39:55.020 they're in relationship with a holy God. And so, yes, the gospel is the spearhead of salvation,

00:40:01.480 but the gospel is heard most often within the covenant community of God's people.

00:40:06.500 And so therefore the church, like Israel, becomes the means of grace to the world.

00:40:13.660 And we're a city on a hill. We are a place where God's blessing rests, and we will bless the world

00:40:21.140 through the church, through the great commission

00:40:23.640 to bless the nations as we preach the gospel

00:40:26.760 and convert those through gospel proclamation 0.87

00:40:31.440 that are God's sheep.

00:40:34.440 And so I'm gonna read a passage of scripture,

00:40:37.900 Isaiah 42, five through seven.

00:40:39.640 It says, thus says God, the Lord,

00:40:41.500 who created the heavens and stretched them out,

00:40:43.840 who spread out the earth and what comes from it,

00:40:46.020 who gives breath to the people on it

00:40:48.200 and spirit to those who walk in it,

00:40:51.140 I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I will take you by the hand and keep you.

00:40:58.200 I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes

00:41:04.500 that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison, those who

00:41:10.180 sit in darkness.

00:41:11.400 So the covenant community of God's people have a mission, and it is the great commission

00:41:16.840 to go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,

00:41:20.120 to baptize them in the name of the Father,

00:41:22.140 the Son, and the Holy Spirit,

00:41:23.060 and to teach them all that Christ has commanded us.

00:41:27.220 And so we have to remember

00:41:28.080 that we are a covenant people with a purpose.

00:41:31.320 And we have to remember that it's our duty

00:41:35.440 to remain in covenant, to receive those blessings,

00:41:39.520 to be in the channel and the pathway of God's blessing,

00:41:43.160 and to make sure that we are a light

00:41:45.000 to the rest of the world.

00:41:46.540 So hopefully this was helpful for you guys

00:41:48.420 in understanding some of the basics of covenantal thinking.

00:41:51.020 There is a much greater discussion about this

00:41:54.420 that we will have at some point in the future.

00:41:56.840 But thank you guys for listening to this episode.

00:41:58.880 I hope it was edifying for you.

00:42:01.120 If you guys have any reviews

00:42:04.140 that you'd like to leave on the podcast,

00:42:06.160 those are really helpful.

00:42:07.360 So you can just leave those.

00:42:08.760 You don't need to write anything,

00:42:09.740 but if you do write anything, I'll read it.

00:42:11.900 You could just tap the stars.

00:42:13.420 They really do help the exposure of the show.

00:42:15.220 So on that note, thanks for joining me on this episode of Going Through Romans 3.

00:42:19.560 I'll see you guys next week to go through the next section of Romans chapter 3.

00:42:23.580 My name is Dale Partridge.

00:42:24.860 This is Real Christianity, and we'll see you next time. 0.98

Dale Partridge - September 16, 2022

Romans 3_1-4： How Covenantal Thinking Will Change Your Relationship With God

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