Regeneration, Forgiveness, Satisfaction

 

"Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin."    -- Hebrews 10:15-18

 

Here the Spirit of God describes the remission of our sins by covenant grace. These verses are quoted from Jeremiah 31:31-34, where the Lord our God described the covenant of grace and promised its fulfillment in Christ. There are many other things spoken of and promised in the covenant. But here just three things are mentioned.

 

            Did I say, “Just three things”? These three things are indescribably great. Eternity will be spent learning the meaning of these three boons of God’s amazing grace. Meditate upon them. Roll them around in your heart and soul until you are utterly amazed by the fact that God has done these three things for you. If you are a believer, if you trust Christ, these three, great covenant blessings are yours in Christ

 

Regeneration

 

The God of all grace has put his law, his Gospel, his Word into our hearts. He has written his law in our hearts with the finger of his grace, causing us to love him, his will, his way, and his Word. His commandments are no longer grievous to us (1 John 5:3).

 

Forgiveness

 

The God of Glory says, concerning you and me, “Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” Oh, my brother, my sister, rejoice in this – There is forgiveness with our God! His name declares it. His glory demands it. His Son came to obtain it. All the prophets and apostles proclaim it. Multitudes in heaven and earth have experienced it (Ps. 32:1-5; 103:1-5; 130:1-8). He who is our God is God who “delighteth in mercy!

 

Satisfaction

 

Where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin." Justice satisfied demands no more. The blood of Christ is enough! God requires no more offering for sin. My conscience requires no more offering for sin. There is no more offering for sin. Why? Because Christ has put away our sins! Therefore, condemnation is not a possibility (Rom. 8:1, 33-34). “Where there is absolute remission, forgiveness and cancellation of penalty, there is no longer any offering or sacrifice to be made. If we are in Christ and redeemed by Christ, it is dishonoring to our Savior not to rest in his grace and his atonement.” (Pastor Henry Mahan)

Reconciliation

 

"Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And having an high priest over the house of God."                                                             -- Hebrews 10:19-21

 

We are all by nature enemies to God. Our hearts, by nature, are enmity against God. But God has reconciled us to himself in Christ. And in the new birth, he brings us into the blessedness of that reconciliation. Reconciliation is what Gospel preachers proclaim: – Reconciliation accomplished!

 

Twofold Work

 

Reconciliation is a twofold work of grace. Judicially, it was accomplished at Calvary when Christ died as our Substitute. God was in Christ reconciling the world of his elect unto himself by blood atonement. When atonement was made, reconciliation was done (Rom. 5:10-11; 2 Cor. 5:17-19).

 

            Experimentally, God’s elect are reconciled to him by faith in Christ. Though Christ put away our sins and justified us, we were born “children of wrath, even as others.” Hating God, we came forth from the womb as rebels against him, and lived as such, until he conquered us by his grace, and reconciled us to himself, granting us life and faith in his dear Son.

 

            In Christ every believing sinner has full freedom and confidence to enter the very presence of God in the name of Christ, by the power and virtue of his blood (Heb. 4:14-16), because he and God are at peace, by the work of God himself. When our Savior died at Calvary the veil in the temple was rent in two, and the ceremonies and sacrifices were all fulfilled and forever ended by Christ's effectual sacrifice in the flesh (Gal. 5:1). Christ is our great, eternal High Priest. He is a Priest upon a throne, the King-Priest, who rules and reigns by virtue of his atonement, who is accepted and has absolute authority! And we are forever, immutably accepted in him (Eph. 1:6).

 

Gospel Persuasion

 

In preaching the gospel, God’s servants speak as his ambassadors to rebel sinners who deserve his wrath, and we seek to persuade them to be reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:11-21). All who come to God by Christ, finding peace with God in his dear Son, enjoy the blessedness of perfect, indestructible reconciliation. Reconciled sinners stand before the holy Lord God in Christ as new creatures. Their old record of sin has been obliterated by the blood of Christ. A new record of perfect righteousness (the righteousness of Christ) has been written in heaven in their name. God himself has no quarrel with believing sinners, because God found a way to both punish our sins to the full satisfaction of justice and justify us by his grace. “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.