Better than what the OT Saints had

Bible Verses

Jer 32:27 I am the lord, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for me.

Jer 32:33 My people have turned their backs on me and have refused to return. Even though I diligently taught them, they would not receive instruction or obey.

Jer 32:36-42 I will certainly bring my people back again from all the countries where I will scatter them in my fury…. They will be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one purpose: to worship me forever, for their own good and for the good of all their descendants. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will NEVER stop doing good for them. I will put a desire in their hearts to worship me, and they will never leave me. I will find joy doing good for them and will faithfully and wholeheartedly replant them in this land. Just as I have brought all these calamities on them, so I will do all the good I have promised.

Jer 33:11 They will sing, “Give thanks to the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, for the Lord is good. His faithful love endures forever!” For I will restore the prosperity of this land to what it was in the past, says the Lord.

Jer 33:25-26 This is what the Lord says, “I would no more reject my people than I would change my laws that govern night and day, earth and sky. I will NEVER abandon the descendants of Jacob or David, my servant, or change the plan that David’s descendents will rule… I will restore them to their land and have mercy on them.

Rom 8:1-3 There is now no condemnation for those who belong to Christ. Now that you belong to Christ, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death…. God did what the law could not do… In Jesus’ body He declared an end to sin’s control over us…

Rom 8:6 So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.

Rom 8:12-13 Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have NO OBLIGATION to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live.

Rom 8:35-39 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? … nothing else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Devotional Thoughts

I always think it’s kind of cool to take the different scriptures that are in my Bible reading plan for the day and think about how they relate together and what message God has for me today. Typically you would never associate the truths of Romans 8 with the judgments and promises that God makes to Israel. But as I read these 2 passages today, the Lord gave me some encouraging thoughts.

In Jeremiah, God was encouraging his people that, even though they failed, even though he had to judge them, He promised he would NEVER abandon them and that he would NEVER stop doing good to them. While God is still working to fulfill those promises physically for Israel, in Christ, he has and is continuing to keep those promises to all of us. Jer 32:27 says He is the God of ALL the peoples of the earth and nothing is too hard for Him, especially keeping His own promises.

When God sent Jesus to be the sacrifice for our sin, and gave us his resurrected life to live in us, He fulfilled the promise to never abandon us. Jesus’ resurrected life living in us is
His guarantee that we will never be separated from His love!

But, for New Testament believers, God’s love has done so much more than just never abandoning us. Through the power of the life-giving Spirit (Jesus’ resurrected life in us) has freed us from the power of sin and made us free from all condemnation. (Rom 8:1-3) This was something the OT saints did not have.

Furthermore, we have NO OBLIGATION to do what our sinful nature urges because, by the power of the Spirit living in us we can put to death the deeds of the sinful nature. The OT saints had to struggle to do that without the Spirit.

I am so glad for the indwelling resurrected life of Jesus, through whose power I can say no to sin, and am free from it’s obligation and power! “What great love has the Father given to us that we should be called the children of God!” (1 John 3:1)

Prayer Outline:

1. I thank God today for his indwelling Spirit, the resurrected life of Jesus, through whom I am not condemned and have complete power over sin in my life.
2. I pray that we will choose today to not listen to the demands of our sinful nature, but that we will claim our victory and declare that we have no obligation to listen, because Jesus has put it to death.
3. I pray that we will choose to put to death any desires for sin and choose to live controlled by and motivated by God’s incredible love instead.