Happy Easter!

Picture a mean bunch of guys, big rocks in their hands, hate on their faces, kicking up dust in the ancient Judean sun.

“For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God!”

With these amazing words in John 10, the Jews gave their reason for trying once again to stone Jesus.

Not yet ready to die, and certainly not by stoning, Jesus escaped Judea and crossed the Jordan River to where John the Baptist had once baptized repentant Israelites, probably Perea.  He stayed there for a while, and many believed in Him there.

When word came to Jesus that his beloved friend Lazarus was deathly sick, He didn’t cross the Jordan back to Bethany near Jerusalem to visit his friend on his death bed.  No one could blame Him for staying .  After all, hadn’t the Jews repeatedly tried to seize and stone Him?  So the disciples didn’t blame Him, and they weren’t surprised that He stayed in Perea.  It only made sense.  Lazarus would have to rely on the comfort of His immediate family, Mary and Martha.

But the disciples were surprised a couple of days later, when Jesus said, “Let us go to Judea again.”  What?!

They said to Him, “Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are you going there again?”

And He told them He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead.  Do you think they believed Him?  I don’t.  I think Thomas spoke for all the disciples when he said, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”  They thought this was it.  The end.  Crazy, but hey, He’s the Lord.  We will follow Him and we will die with Him if necessary.

But they didn’t die that day.  They went to Bethany, and Jesus spoke the words that thrill our hearts, as believers in Him:

“I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE.  HE WHO BELIEVES IN ME, THOUGH HE MAY DIE, HE SHALL LIVE.  AND WHOEVER LIVES AND BELIEVES IN ME SHALL NEVER DIE…”

And he raised Lazarus from the dead.

And later He died on the Cross.  They finally got Him.  They finally put an end to the One whom they said blasphemed because He said He was God.  And the brave disciples who went to Bethany with Him, willing to die, cowered behind a closed door, mourning the loss of their Rabbi, and their dreams.

We appreciate His death now.  We know that it paid for our sins.  We cringe at the horror of the Innocent One being beaten and scourged and crucified and separated from His Father as He took the fury of the Wrath of God on Himself.  We appreciate it.  But we don’t exactly celebrate it.

What we celebrate is that on the third day, He rose from the dead.  He authenticated that He is Who He said He was.  He is the Anointed One, God the Son, the Christ, the Messiah!  And He is alive!  And we say Hallelujah!  He is risen!

Even as a historical event, it’s noteworthy.  But He did it for a purpose.  He was “raised for our justification”.  He was crucified, buried, and raised from the dead, that we might live.  He said He came that we might have life and have it more abundantly.  And in some mysterious way, when He died on the Cross, we died with Him, and when He was raised, we were raised with Him, and seated with Him in the heavenlies, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion.

We were made alive spiritually, with the promise that we will be raised physically as well, on that Great Gettin’ Up Morning!  We became New Creations!  Old things have passed away, behold all things have become new!  There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus!  Hallelujah, what a Savior!

And all because He died for our sins.  He became sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Christ!

He Is Risen!

It Is Finished

by Michele Rayburn

We have died once to the penalty of sin, and so we have peace with God. (“I have been crucified with Christ…”)

We are able to die daily to the power of sin because we stand in grace. (“… it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me…”)

And someday when we are present with the Lord, we will be free from the presence of sin. (“…and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God Who died for me and gave Himself for me.” – Galatians 2:20)

Jesus died once for our sins, and shed His blood for us, so that we can rest completely in His finished work on the cross.

Sometimes we as Christians live as if it isn’t “finished”. We live as if our sins are not forgiven, past, present and future. And we find ourselves trying to earn God’s favor each day.

But we stand in grace, in a permanent state of forgiveness, precisely because “It is finished.”

Why Christ Dying For Your Sins Was Not Enough

It’s easy to read over Romans 5:10 rapidly and miss its point.

And yet it’s one of the most sublime and poignant passages of Scripture.

“For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”

See, we were reconciled to God through the death of Christ. And that is a great truth. Our sins were paid for, the curtain of separation between us and God was taken out of the way. Nothing stood any longer between us and God.

Yet Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 that if Christ was not risen from the dead, then we Christians would be pitiful, because we would still be dead in our sins.

How can this be? Wasn’t His death on the Cross enough?

Being separated from God by our sins was only part of the problem. We also were spiritually dead. And even if our sins were paid for, it would have been no more valuable than paying for the Purina Dog Chow of a dead Doberman.

There also needed to be Life. New Life. A New Creation.

Being reconciled to God, as wonderful as that is, was not enough, and so the death of Jesus was not enough. He had to be risen from the dead, so that we too could be risen from our awful state, dead in our sins and trespasses.

“…according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead….even when we were dead in trespasses, [He] made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus…”, (Ephesians 1:19,20; 2:5,6)

And so Jesus had to rise from the dead, or we would be lost. And fools. And blind leading the blind.

But He did rise from the dead.

And so we have not only the reconciling to God from the death of Christ, but our salvation through New Life, given as a free gift by God through the same power He used to raise Christ from the dead!

And so we have Romans 5:10, with profound meaning that might escape us if we simply read over it rapidly. Romans 5:10…

“For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, WE SHALL BE SAVED BY HIS LIFE.”

To All You Readers of Grace For Life,

We Love You.

Happy Easter!

He Is Risen!

Church Membership Or Biblical Fellowship? (Notes)

Over the years the question of Church Membership swirls around the Christian world, and is debated and discussed, sometimes fought over, and sometimes just taken for granted.

Now by “Church Membership” here, I mean it in the commonly used sense of the phrase, referring to formally joining a particular local church, in a formal way, maybe agreeing to some doctrinal statement, or agreeing to some written covenant, and actually being put on a list of “Members”.

Is that Biblical? Is it O.K.? Is it demanded? Is it optional? And so forth.

Today I want to open a discussion in what I think is a new direction regarding Church Membership, especially as it relates to Fellowship.

See, I believe that the discussion of Church Membership is in one sense missing the real point of what the Church is to be about.

Is Membership Fellowship?

There’s a big elephant in the room that no one mentions. This elephant is ignored, walked around, or maybe mentioned only in passing. The big elephant in the room is Fellowship.

Now I’ve read many extensive studies which attempt to prove from Scripture that Membership Lists are taught in the Bible. And I will admit some of them SEEM logical, and SEEM to make sense in a certain way.

But the truth is, there are no commands for Church Membership Lists in the Bible. There are no examples of Church Membership Lists in the Bible. And there are no examples of formal joining of the local church in the Bible.

Because of this, and in relation to Biblical Fellowship, I have come to believe that Church Membership Lists, and the formal joining of a local church, is a man-made result of a lack of true Biblical Fellowship, or what the Bible in Greek calls Koinonia.

No let me make a disclaimer, before I go any further. If you attend a local church that practices Membership Lists, I’m not saying you shouldn’t join, or formally become a member. Because the Bible also does not PROHIBIT the making of Membership Lists. So I want to be clear on that. The Membership List itself is not the problem.

Three Aspects

With that, I want to look at three aspects of this question of Church Membership:

1. What does the Bible teach about membership in general?
2. What made one a member of a local church?
3. What does Fellowship have to do with it?

1. What does the Bible teach about membership in general?

Romans 12:4,5, “For as we have many MEMBERS in one body, but all the MEMBERS do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually MEMBERS of one another.”

1 Cor 6:15, “Do you not know that your bodies are MEMBERS of Christ? Shall I then take the MEMBERS of Christ and make them MEMBERS of a harlot? Certainly not!”

1 Cor 12:12, “For as the body is one and has many MEMBERS, but all the MEMBERS of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.”

1 Cor 12:18, “But now God has set the MEMBERS, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.”

1 Cor 12:20, “But now indeed there are many members, yet one body.”

1 Cor 12:25, “…that there should be no schism in the body, but that the MEMBERS should have the same care for one another.”

1 Cor 12:26, “And if one MEMBER suffers, all the MEMBERS suffer with it; or if one MEMBER is honored, all the MEMBERS rejoice with it.”

1 Cor 12:27, “Now you are the body of Christ, and MEMBERS individually.”

Ephesians 2:19, “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and MEMBERS of the household of God.”

Ephesians 4:25, “Therefore, putting away lying, let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor, for we are MEMBERS of one another.”

Ephesians 5:30, “For we are MEMBERS of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.”

Acts 2:47, “…praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.”

2. What made one a member of the local church?

Acts 15:41, “And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.”

Acts 16:5, “So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily.”

“The Church” vs. “the churches”

Belief in Jesus Christ, baptism, and then practicing “church”.

Acts 2:42, “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.”

3. What does fellowship have to do with it?

Fellowship = “koinonia”, “commonality”, as in “koine” greek.

1 John 1:3, “…that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have FELLOWSHIP with us; and truly our FELLOWSHIP is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.”

1 John 1:6, “If we say that we have FELLOWSHIP with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”

1 John 1:7, “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

Now we get back to Membership Lists, regarding church discipline and dis-fellowshiping a member.

Biblical “membership” involves “fellowship” — a commonality of spiritual Life in prayer, teaching, breaking of bread, drinking of cup, knowing one another, bearing one another’s burdens, sharing in one another’s financial needs, fervently loving one another, recognizing the hurt in one another and applying the balm of Jesus with warmth, stirring one another up to good works, exhorting, encouraging, blessing, hugging, welcoming, caring about, feeding with the true Bread, Who is Christ.

In other words, church discipline which may lead to dis-fellowshiping someone presupposes there is something to be dis-fellowshiped *from*. Something infinitely valuable, something one doesn’t want to miss, if they are a believer.

The modern American “church service”, where everyone files in at 11 and files out at Noon, with a, “How you doing?”, “I’m gr-r-r-eat!, how about you?” to a few people, followed by going home for another week apart from everyone else (or maybe till Wednesday for the truly “spiritual”) — doesn’t know what fellowship is. So it substitutes Membership Lists.

Then it either never dis-fellowships anyone, because “who cares?”, or it practices the church discipline of taking the unrepentent publicly sinful “off the Membership List”, whereupon the unrepentent publicly sinful either goes to the next church, or is “shamed” back onto the Membership List, not because they really miss the so-called “fellowship”, but because they are humiliated (too often they remain humiliated, with a red letter on their back…marked as a lesser being, not ike “us” who are incapable of falling so low…”How are you doing, Lesser Being?…O.K.?…go-o-o-d…see you next week…Ciao!”).

This is not meant to be a cynical comment at all, but a mere observation of many churches over many years, and a heart’s cry for a continual renewal of Biblical Fellowship.

“Church Membership Lists” is not primarily an exegetical question, it’s a spiritual one.

May God work His Fellowship in the churches.

Does God Love The Whole World?

An Open Letter To A Friend

By Michele Rayburn

I don’t think that the Church has only been teaching that God is love. The unsaved world may seem to be, but it seems that the Church is teaching doctrine (often legalistic doctrine) to the exclusion of love.

The Bible says that we are nothing without love, and yet I do not see its principles expounded upon very often. And I believe that it has had its effect on the body of Christ. If the Church is not “walking in love” then we are not spiritually mature…we are not “walking by the Spirit”. And that is what is so lacking.

I don’t think that we should deny that God loves the lost just because you think too much emphasis is being given to “For God so loved the world…”. That would not be a biblical approach. Because the concept that “God so loved the world” may confuse the unbeliever is no reason to downplay it. It’s not a matter of giving them “false hope” by telling them that God loves them, but rather, it is biblically accurate.

We can say that God will not save all people, even though “God so loves the world”, and it doesn’t matter if it confuses them, because it is the truth. “God’s ways are higher than our ways” and we can’t always understand His ways. “The deep things belong to God”. And, “The natural man cannot understand spiritual things”. The clay is not to ask the Potter, “Why did you make me this way?”

But, we know from John 3:16 that God loves the world (the whole world) because in that same verse, God says “whosoever believes”. This is a recognition that some (the “whosoevers”) in the world will “come out from them” (come out from the world) and believe.

And, nowhere does the Bible say God did not love His elect before He saved them. The Bible says that God chose you before the foundation of the world, which is an act of His love. He sees the end from the beginning and He still set His love upon you before you were created. When John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world…”, was it before He knew them or after? God so loved the world always. There is no mention of time limitations on God’s love or preconditions for His love.

God’s love is the motivating reason (or, at least, the best known reason) for our salvation. It is because He loved us that He saved us. You said the Gospel begins not with love. But even the giving of the Law to convict man of sin was an act of love.

John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world [His love comes first] that He gave His only begotten Son [the good news comes second]“. The reason God gave His Son is because He so loved the world. God was motivated by His love.

“We love Him [why?] because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)

Here are more Scriptures that show that God’s love came first and that His love was the motivation for His salvation plan:

Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

1 John 3:16, “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us.”

1 John 3:9, “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.

1 John 4:10 “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

This last verse, 1 John 4:10, by the way, together with 1 John 2:2 “And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world” is a clear Biblical statement of fact. For 1 John 2:2 to say “not for ours only, but also for the whole world” clearly states that God means “the whole world”. Because, who is left over after He is the propitiation for our sins?

The word “propitiation” does not mean “turn away God’s wrath”, but rather, it more closely means “to satisfy God’s wrath” (“It does not make God merciful; it makes divine forgiveness possible“–The New Compact Bible Dictionary). It means that Jesus Christ’s offer of Himself is a sacrifice that is sufficient for all. But it is not describing an act that is accomplished in all. The turning away of God’s wrath comes after the act of propitiation is received by those who repent.

The love of God is the motivation for the salvation of man, and the law is used to convict lost souls in order to show them their need for salvation.

If we see God as only angry toward unbelievers, I think we could very well become angry Christians, since we are imitators of God. God has the right to be angry because He knows how to be angry and not sin. He has a righteous anger, because underlying His anger is His perfect love.

************************************************************************************************

A Twitter follower made the following comment:

“He loves the whole world, but not everyone in it.” Then he gave the Bible verse “Jacob I loved, Esau I hated” from Romans 9:13.

This was my husband Terry’s response via TwitLonger:

The question of whether God loves every individual person can’t be settled by a single verse, or even several individual verses.

It must be REASONED from the whole of Scripture, for two reasons:

A. There are different kinds of “love” and “hate”.

In the case of “love”, for example, it’s clear that Jesus loved both Judas Iscariot and the “rich young ruler”, yet both showed no repentance and faith for salvation.

In the case of “hate”, Jesus told us that we must “hate” our families. Yet we must “love” even our enemies. Obviously this “hate” is a relative prioritizing kind of hate, indicating that our love and prioritizing of Christ must be first, relative [no pun intended] to our families.

Thus God can, and does, both “love” (in some sense) His enemy, and “hate” them (in some sense).

Romans 9:13, “Jacob I loved, Esau I hated”, is not a verse explaining love and hate. It’s a verse explaining God’s sovereignty in election.

B. When God tells us to love our enemies, He says that when we do we are being like Him, Who gives rain, for example, to the just and the unjust.

This makes no sense whatsoever [we're REASONING, remember] if He did not in fact love every individual.

Here’s the syllogism:

Premise 1: We are to love every individual, even our enemy.

Premise 2: This makes us like our Father.

Conclusion: Our Father loves every individual.

Now for that to be true we have to understand point “A” above, that is, there are different kinds of love.

Obviously, God does not love every individual in the same sense as He loves His elect, His children. But that doesn’t mean He doesn’t love them.

He has love (of a sort we might call “felt compassion”) for even His enemies, the wicked, even to the point that He says in Ezekiel, “I take NO PLEASURE in the death of the wicked,” while he yet justly consigns them to the lake of fire.

It’s as if the Dad of a mass murderer was a Circuit Court Judge, and justly sent his son to Death Row, yet with tears streaming down his eyes. (Of course no human analogy can fully satisfy).

But because God IS “love”, He cannot NOT love, any more than He cannot NOT execute justice as the JUST ONE. (Even in the case of the elect, Justice is not avoided, but is exercised in Christ on the cross.)

Again, if we don’t REASON from the whole of Scripture, we may conclude that there are some that God does not love in any sense, and I believe this violates His very nature and dishonors Him (though I’m certainly not implying that you would do so intentionally).

Blessings,
Terry Rayburn

Howard Hendricks 1924-2013

In 1980, I took an Amtrak train from Grand Rapids to Dallas.

I got off the train, rented a car (yellow Ford Pinto…classy), and drove straight over to my version of Oz, Mecca, Shangri-la, and Disney World rolled into one: Dallas Theological Seminary.

Just for a visit, though I would end up spending many hours in it’s fabulous library during the time I lived in Dallas.  Dallas, the wonderful town where I also met my wife, Michele.

Anyway, to my absolute amazement, as I pulled up in front of DTS, walking down the sidewalk toward me were…no, not Clint Eastwood and John Wayne.

Way better.

Dwight Pentecost and Howard Hendricks!  Chatting together, like regular guys.  Can you imagine?  Timing is everything, as they say.

Theologically geeky, I know. Whadaya gonna do?  I’ll never forget it.

But seriously, I thought, and still think, that DTS was on the cutting edge of breaking through centuries of theology crusted with musty Old Covenant-oriented misunderstandings and legalism, into the fresh air and sunshine of the Age of Grace, or as I would later refer to it more often, the New Covenant.

Dwight Pentecost and Howard Hendricks were just some of my Bible-teacher heroes at the time.

I’d read their books, studied their writings from the DTS Journal, Bibliotheca Sacra, and in Hendricks’ case, listened to many of his cassette tapes.

(Cassette tapes were an ancient technology, boys and girls, that…oh, never mind.)

Anyway, the beloved Howard Hendricks passed away this morning.  He was a scholar, a tough cookie, a sweetheart, a gentleman, and a very fine teacher.

Though I haven’t had much contact with his stuff for years, I will miss him.  Dearly.

Cat and Dog Theology – Profound (And Funny)

Yes, smile or even laugh, but listen too.  People who have owned both cats and dogs will grasp this.  I hope people who have not owned both cats and dogs can as well.  

What Every Christian Needs

by Michele Rayburn

NOTE: The following was written in response to a discussion about a prominent Pastor known for his course, foul language in the pulpit.


"Filthy speech puts those who are guilty of it among the chief of sinners, and to them will certainly be meted out a terrible vengeance in that day when God shall solemnly curse those who have so glibly cursed themselves."
-Charles Spurgeon, "A Great Gospel For Great Sinners"

[There seemed to have been some confusion among believers as to whether Spurgeon was speaking to believers or to unbelievers, that is why I said the following:]

Charles Spurgeon appears to be speaking to the unbeliever about his sin in this particular passage.

But what is the solution, the remedy, for the believer? What this Pastor in question needs is what we all need because we all sin just like him. James reminds us that "no one can tame the tongue".

Galatians 5:16 says:

"But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh."

and

Galatians 5:25 says:

"If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit."

I think that part of this Pastor's problem might be, like so many of us, that he was raised in a legalistic sin-focused church and was never truly grounded in the knowledge of God's grace and of spiritual living, but instead was taught to stop sinning in his own strength rather than relying on God to work that work in him by His Spirit.

I think his sin problem may be a backlash, a rebellion if you will, to the legalism that says "Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch..." (Colossians 2:21)

In context, Colossians 2:20ff says:

"If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, "Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!"... in accordance with the teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence."

What is the Biblical solution then?

Colossians 3:1-11:

"Therefore if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is...not on the things that are on the earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God...Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed...and in them you once walked, when you were living in them...put them all aside: anger, wrath...abusive speech. Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him...Christ is all, and in all."

And Isaiah says:

"You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You." (Isaiah 26:3)

I like to paraphrase it by saying that God didn't say to keep your mind stayed on sin. He said to keep your mind stayed on Him!

I was looking at a blog called "Herescope". And it said a very interesting thing in an article entitled "The Dominionism of Sin" (Aug. 4, 2007):

"This blog [Herescope] spends a considerable amount of time examining and exposing the swift rise in our age of the false doctrines and practices of Dominionism.

"Indeed, it is human nature to seek human solutions to overcome the fallen nature of man. And that, in brief, is precisely the temptation of the heresies of Dominionism.

"Dominionism promises that mankind can better himself, perfect his nature, change societies, cultures and governments; and even reverse the effects of the Fall, build the kingdom of God on earth, bring Jesus back as King, and restore Paradise.

"It is easier to look outwards at the world and try to fix it than to look inwards at the heart. For it is the heart, and the dominion of sin over the heart, that truly must undergo transformation."

http://herescope.blogspot.com/2007/08/dominionism.html

And that really sums it up for me. We can try to tell people what to do, do, do all day if we want to, but it will not change the person's heart unless he is told how to be, be, be.

It may seem easier to tell people what to do, but it cannot change the heart. There will usually only be a temporary fix, if anything. Only God can change the heart, and, with regard to a particular sin, that may take time...and in many cases, a lifetime.

The biggest problem with sin in the Church is that too many of us do not know who we are, so we don't know how to be. And until we do learn who we are (in Christ), and how to be (in the Spirit), we will not be able to control what we do, because that control can only come from God's Spirit, not by "the will of man".

As we learn who we are, and how to be, and our focus is on Him, He will control our sin, by His Spirit, and in His time...in His perfect timing.

Who Are We In Christ?

"But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light..." (1 Peter 2:9)

And we are Saints. Paul never said "To the Sinners who are in Ephesus..." He called us what we are, not by what we sometimes do.

Now, go and "be" that Saint by walking in the truths of who you "are".

Behold, He Makes All Things New

The First Sunrise of the New Year 2009

compiled by Michele Rayburn

Behold, He makes all things new…a New Covenant, a new creation in Christ, a new identity in Christ, a new spirit…

Psalm 40:3  He has put a *new* song in my mouth. Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear, And will trust in the Lord.

Psalm 96:1  Oh, sing to the Lord a *new* song! Sing to the Lord, all the earth.

Isaiah 42:9  Behold, the former things have come to pass, And *new* things I declare; Before they spring forth I tell you of them.

Isaiah 62:2  The Gentiles shall see your righteousness, And all kings your glory. You shall be called by a *new* name, Which the mouth of the Lord will name.

Isaiah 65:17  “For behold, I create *new* heavens and a *new* earth; And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind.”

Jeremiah 31:31  “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.”

Ezekiel 11:19  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.

Ezekiel 18:31  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?

Ezekiel 36:26  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.

Matthew 26:28  For this is My blood of the *new* covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

Mark 14:24  And He said to them, “This is My blood of the *new* covenant, which is shed for many.”

Luke 22:20  Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the *new* covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.”

John 13:34  A *new* commandment that I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

Romans 6:4  Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in *newness* of life.

Romans 7:6  But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the *newness* of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

Romans 12:2  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the *renewing* of your mind…

2 Corinthians 3:6  God…who also made us sufficient as ministers of the *new* covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

2 Corinthians 4:16  Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being *renewed* day by day.

2 Corinthians 5:17  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a *new* creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become *new*.

Galatians 6:15  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a *new* creation.

Ephesians 2:14-15  For He Himself is our peace…having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one *new* man from the two, thus making peace…

Ephesians 4:22-24  …put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to deceitful lusts, and be *renewed* in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the *new* man which was created according to God, in righteousness and true holiness.

Colossians 3:9-10  …you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the *new* man who is *renewed* in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.

Titus 3:5  …according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and *renewing* of the Holy Spirit.

Hebrews 8:8  “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…” (Jer.31:31)

Hebrews 8:13  In that He says, “A *new* covenant,” He has made the first obsolete.

Hebrews 9:15  He is the Mediator of the *new* covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

Hebrews 10:19-20  Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a *new* and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is His flesh…

Hebrews 12:22-24  But you have come…to Jesus the Mediator of the *new* covenant…

1 Peter 2:2  …as *newborn* babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby…

2 Peter 3:13  Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for *new* heavens and a *new* earth in which righteousness dwells.

1 John 2:8  Again, a *new* commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.

2 John 1:5  And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote a *new* commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning; that we love one another.

Revelation 2:17  And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a *new* name written which no one knows except him who receives it.

Revelation 3:12  And I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the *New* Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God. And I will write on him My *new* name.

Revelation 14:3  And they sang as it were a *new* song before the throne…

Revelation 21:1  And I saw a *new* heaven and a *new* earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.

Revelation 21:2  Then I, John, saw the holy city, *New* Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Revelation 21:5  Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things *new*.”

Morning Has Broken – sung by Cat Stevens