Did God Become More Loving in the New Testament?

Did God become more loving in the New Testament? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Well, hi, this is Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez.

We hope you had a wonderful weekend. This is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. You can call us right now with your question. Here's the phone number. It's 833-832. And we answer a wide variety of questions on this program, theological, biblical doctrine, cultural, you name it. So give us a call. 833-843-2673. You can also post your question on our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts. You can watch Adriel right now live in the studio on our YouTube channel and send him a message that way. And of course, you can always email us your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up today, let's go to a voicemail we received from one of our callers last week.

I want to know exactly what that means. I know God will not let go of you. You can't be snatched out of his hands. But can you not let go? Does that mean if you let go, he'll just let you have your way and you're lost? Have a blessed day.

Bye. Hey, Ralph, thanks for that question. The book of Hebrews, there are two chapters in the book of Hebrews that cause a lot of concern for believers, Hebrews chapter six and Hebrews chapter 10. And oftentimes people who believe that you can lose your salvation will point to these two chapters in the Bible. And they'll point to verse 26, as you referenced, for if we go on sinning deliberately, after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment. And he's going to go on, the author of the Hebrews, to describe what that judgment is like and why that judgment is so severe. You know, if people who sinned against God's covenant under the old covenant were judged, you know, under Moses, how much worse punishment do you suppose? Will the one who has insulted the spirit of grace, the author of the Hebrews is going to say, trampled the son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, a common thing.

How much worse punishment do you suppose that person is going to deserve? The key here is understanding the background of the book of Hebrews, the context of this book. It's even just talking about struggling with sin generally. What the people in this church were tempted to do is go back to the old covenant sacrificial system, put their confidence in that instead of placing their confidence in Jesus. So they were essentially turning away from the faith, committing apostasy, we might say.

They were denying the gospel itself by saying, look, Jesus' blood is not sufficient for the forgiveness of our sins. We need to go back to the animal sacrifices. So when the author of the Hebrews says, if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, after you know the gospel, that Jesus Christ is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, if you go back to these old Testament, old covenant sacrifices, well, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. There is no other sacrifice besides Jesus. And so if we're trusting in something other than Christ, we come under the judgment of God because there's no sacrifice made, no sacrifice that we can make individually either that can atone for sins. It's only the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the blood of Jesus. And so that's the sin in particular that's being spoken of here. It's a denial of the gospel.

And you're right. You quoted from John's gospel, you know, that no one, nothing can snatch us out of God's hand. If you belong to the Lord by faith, if you believe in Jesus Christ, you're not going to lose your born again status.

You can't. And God is going to keep you. Those who are truly Christ persevere in the Christian life in faith. But there are some within the church who hear the promises of God. They've received the knowledge of the truth as the author of the Hebrews talks about here. And yet they never rested in it.

They never embraced it for themselves. And I think that's the problem here in this church in particular. And so the big warning for all of us today is look, you can hear the promises of God every single day, day in and day out.

You can go to church, hear the gospel proclaimed. But it's one thing to be able to recite those promises. And it's another thing to be resting in the promises of God and the promise of the gospel, the promise of the forgiveness of sins. And we have to ask ourselves, am I resting in the gospel? Have I received it truly by faith? Or is it just something I sort of recite I know about? And that was the problem in the book of Hebrews.

Thank you for that question. You know, Adriel, we often use the word trust on this program, trusting in Christ, which I love because it really does, I think, flesh that out. You know, we talk about accepting Jesus or inviting him into our hearts, but trusting in him, trusting in that his sacrifice is perfect. And that's all we need. That's the key, isn't it?

Absolutely. And it's helpful to define faith, I think, here. Faith is a saving grace. It's a gift that God gives to us, but there are three components of faith, if you will. Knowledge, so there has to be, you know, a knowledge of what it is that we're putting our faith in. And so you think of the proclamation of the gospel, the truth of the forgiveness of sins. There's an ascent, you know, you're embracing this truth, but then you're also trusting. And that's, I think, the key part when we're thinking about faith. It's receiving, resting, trusting in Jesus for yourself. It's not just being able to say, yeah, Jesus existed. I have this sort of historical faith.

I know that he lived that kind of a thing. No, it's resting in Christ and what he's done for you. That's the trust piece that you just brought up there, Bill, and it's so important. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adrian Sanchez. We'd love to get your question. If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, something going on in your church, here is the phone number to call. It's 833-THE-CORE. We'll be taking calls for the next 15 minutes or so. So hop on your phone right now.

833-THE-CORE or 833-843-2673. You can also email us your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com. Here's a question from Kristen. She says, I'm still struggling to believe the Old Testament. I am rock solid on the New Testament because of all the eyewitness accounts of Jesus. But as I get into the Old Testament, it feels hokey like in Exodus 20, where God is telling Moses to make an altar and burn animals for him and build an altar, but not walk up the steps because you could expose yourself. I'm just struggling with the parts where it's said that God is talking directly to someone and there are no eyewitnesses. God tells us not to be jealous. But then he tells Moses he's a jealous God and will punish the children for four generations down for someone's sin. Jesus is so loving, but God seems so harsh. I still believe in God and Jesus, but I need to figure out a way to reconcile my faith in the Old Testament scriptures.

Any advice would be appreciated. That's a great question. Well, I guess the first thing I would want to say is Jesus in the New Testament is the one who affirms what we find in the Old Testament and reinforces the fact that this is indeed God's revelation. He talks about stories that sometimes people think, oh, that was kind of hokey, Jonah and the whale, that kind of thing, or the Exodus, Moses, all of those things, and yet Jesus is the one who says this is God's very word. One of the reasons we believe in the Old Testament is God's inspired word is because Jesus himself, the eternal son of God, testified to that fact. But your question of is God in the Old Testament harsher, meaner than he is in the New Testament, has he changed in some way significantly, is a question that a lot of people have. Actually, there was a really early individual in the church named Marcion. He was actually a heretic, and he basically came up with this idea that the God of the Old Testament is different from the God of the New Testament.

There have been people who have said that same thing for the last 2,000 years, but really, I think what that demonstrates is we just don't have a deep enough understanding of the Old and the New Testaments. When we look at the Old Testament, what we see is God's covenant love and faithfulness, his promise to redeem his people over and over again, his long suffering. I'm preaching right now through the book of Genesis, the story of Abraham and Sarah, and God pledging himself unconditionally to this couple, Genesis chapter 15, despite the fact that over and over and over again, they have lapses in faith. They make foolish, sinful decisions, and yet God is committed to them. He's kind to them.

He's merciful to them. That's the God of the Bible. Ultimately, we see that commitment manifested most clearly in the fact that God sent his Son, Jesus, into the world, which was prophesied all throughout the Old Testament. Jesus is going to come back and judge the world. There is going to be this judgment for sin.

We just need to dig a little bit deeper into the Scriptures, and we realize this is one God revealing himself through the Old Testament and the New Testament. The last thing I'll say is you brought up the language of God being jealous. Exodus chapter 20, verse 5, where the Lord says, You shall not bow down to them nor serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me. There's a good kind of jealousy, and there's a bad kind of jealousy. There is the jealousy that's born out of selfish ambition, covetousness, and that's what we're called not to have. Coveting is a sin. But then there is the kind of jealousy that, let's say, a husband has for his wife because he loves her, because she's his one and only. In the Bible, idolatry is like spiritual adultery, so when God talks about being jealous for his people, he's talking about that special, unique, covenant love that he has for his people. That's the jealousy that he has for his people, that he has for his church today, and so it's really a good thing. It's a sign of God's love, his special love for his people. Hey, thank you for that question, and may the Lord bless you.

You know, a lot of people do struggle with that, Adriel. In fact, there even are some pastors nowadays that are saying, well, you know what, maybe we just shouldn't get into the Old Testament. We should just focus on the New Testament and Jesus as our loving Savior and just kind of forget all that stuff there because it could turn some non-Christians off. What are your thoughts on that? Yeah, I mean, what a tragedy that would be to neglect the teaching of the Old Testament because it really, it's God's revelation to us, and there's so much for us throughout the Old Testament that helps us understand our place in redemptive history, the work of Jesus Christ.

I mean, think of all of those shadowy types, you know, the sacrificial system, the temple, all of those things, the worship of Israel under the Old Covenant. All of these things give us a deeper understanding of the gospel today for us, and so I think it's just really unfortunate when people have that kind of view. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Our phone lines are open right now. If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, here's the number to call.

It's 833-THE-CORE, 833-THE-CORE or 833-843-2673. One of the key principles of Christianity is repentance. But what does true repentance look like?

We actually have a wonderful resource for you on that topic. Yeah, Bill, you know, on the program, we get a lot of questions about what it looks like to turn away from sin and to cling to Christ. How do I mortify or kill my sin, as the apostle Paul talks about in places like Romans 8? What does true repentance look like? So we have this resource, 7 Things Everyone Should Know About Repentance. It's a free download over at corechristianity.com, and it describes what it actually means to repent.

So get ahold of this resource. It's a perfect resource to help ground you in your faith in the work and love of Jesus Christ. Once again, it's absolutely free.

It's a download. You can find it on our website, corechristianity.com forward slash offers. Again, corechristianity.com forward slash offers and look for 7 Things Everyone Should Know About Repentance.

Let's go to Betty who's calling in from Battle Creek, Nebraska. Betty, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Yes, this is something that has been bothering me for quite a while. After the tribulation and everything is over and we're supposed to be living in the New Jerusalem where there'll be no more pain and sorrow and things. I'm just wondering what will keep people from going back to the old ways and sinning, like when God created the world, Adam and Eve right away sinned and came, and even Satan, one of his angels, did. And I know they say that he doesn't want robots, that people need to make their own choice, but how will they keep people from sinning after everything's all over if they're able to make their own choice?

Yeah, that's a great question. How tragic would that be, right? The story's over, we're all in the New Jerusalem, and oh no, all of a sudden it happens again.

No, it would be a disaster. But that's not going to happen because the reality is when we're in the New Jerusalem, glorified bodies, if you will, in this state of confirmed righteousness and holiness, we're not going to be able to sin. We're going to be made perfect in holiness, perfect in love, and that's what's going to make heaven so wonderful, being in the presence of God, no more sin, and able to worship Him, to love Him as we want to, but are unable to do now because of the presence of indwelling sin, that struggle that we still have.

And right now, we are making choices, and we do make choices. Betty, we're called to trust in Jesus Christ, to receive Him by faith. And so there is that choice, and God is at work in us by the grace of His Holy Spirit, drawing us to Himself, but when we're in the New Jerusalem, the new creation, all sin, all evil is going to be done away, eradicated.

And so there isn't going to be the threat, the danger of that creeping back in. The evil one, Satan, is going to be cast into the lake of fire, as the book of Revelation says, and so there's not going to be any more deception, any more lie, and we're going to live in perfect holiness and love for all eternity. And so you don't have to worry about that, sister, and may the Lord bless you as you look forward to that glorious new creation that the Bible talks about. Betty, thanks so much for your call, and thank you for listening to CORE Christianity there in Nebraska. Let's go to Scott, who's calling in from Western Iowa. Scott, what's your question for Adriel?

Hey, good afternoon. My question is, who decided what books would be included in the Bible and which ones put in, and about when did all that happen? Hey, Scott, thank you for that question. So you have the Old Testament, you have the New Testament. You had basically a Jewish Hebrew canon of scripture under the Old Testament leading up to the time of Jesus. Jesus received the teaching of the Old Testament as inspired, as authoritative. You know, the New Testament quotes from the Old Testament over and over again as God's inspired word. And then you have the question of the New Testament. How did these particular letters and gospels, how did these books get chosen? And sometimes people will suggest or hint at this idea that, well, maybe it was just a group of Christian leaders who, you know, sat down together one day and said, well, let's pick this book, we don't really like that book, that kind of a thing.

But the reality is, well, a couple of things. One, the church received God's inspired word. She didn't decide which books were inspired. You know, Paul in 2 Timothy 3 verse 16 says, all scripture is God-breathed. And so the church, as she was receiving these books from the apostles, received them as the very words of God.

And there were a number of factors that helped in realizing this and recognizing this and receiving them as such. So one thing that the early church was looking at is, were these books, were these writings written by an apostle or someone associated with one of the apostles? Eyewitnesses even of the Lord Jesus Christ, this idea of apostolicity.

So that was one of the criteria. Another one was the idea of catholicity. Now the word catholic just means universal. So were these books, these New Testament books, universally received by the church in all sorts of different places? Or were they only received by some churches in some places? And the books that we have in the New Testament were, generally speaking, received by all of the early Christians, embraced by them as the very word of God.

So there was this sort of universal acceptance because they realized that these books were written by the apostles or someone closely associated with the apostles. They're also old. There was that antiquity.

So they came very early on. They were written, you know, shortly after the events had taken place. And another one is just there's this theological coherence.

They fit together. They're not contradicting each other. This is another thing that you see with the books of the New Testament. And so when we think about God's inspired word, his revelation, it was something that was received by the church on the basis of some of these things. But the church was able to say this is God's word. And that's what helped in terms of formulating what we now call the canon of scripture. And so you do have, in early church history, some people that were putting together various canons, if you will, saying these are the books that we think should be in God's Bible, in the text of scripture. And generally speaking, what we find is a lot of similarity and coherence even there as well. And so there's a lot of good reason for us to embrace and believe in the authority of scripture.

There are even thousands of manuscripts of the New Testament that were copied over and over again, which helps to testify to the fact that these are the books that the early Christians really valued as the word of God. So thank you for that question, Scott. May God bless you.

Great historical lesson for all of us. Thank you so much for clarifying that, Adriel. Great question.

Great answer. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We do receive voicemails here. And if you ever call us and can't get through, you can always leave a voicemail. In fact, you can call 24 hours a day and leave your question at 833-THE-CORE.

Here's a voicemail we received a couple of days ago. Right now in my family, one of the people is very political, and they express their views a lot concerning these things. It's concerning to me the depth and the intensity of these feelings they take to listening to the news and reading loads of articles. And whenever they do that, they always come back and seem really upset and really afraid about all this. They can tend to be irritable and mean and say hurtful things to myself and others in the family. And I know the Bible says, you know, forgive. But I just, is there any way, besides prayer, because I have been praying for this person, that I can help? Or how do I distance myself in a way that, you know, helps protect me, help me to, you know, keep my family loving this person too? Because it's not easy.

Yeah, you're definitely not alone. I know that a lot of people are wrestling with this right now. There's so much tension in society, political tension, so much division. And oftentimes we can so focus on that, that we begin to treat each other in ungodly ways, in ways that are not very Christian.

And we become overwhelmed with, you know, the media cycle, what the news is saying, gripped by fear, right? The things that we shouldn't be gripped by as followers of Jesus. I think of Paul's exhortation to Titus in Titus chapter three. He says, remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. When the goodness and loving kindness of God our savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. And then he goes on to say in verse 10, as for a person who stirs up division after warning him once and then twice have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful, he is self condemned.

What's interesting to me here is that Paul says, look, we used to hate each other. That's how we lived in sin. We were hateful, hating one another, but when God's goodness and kindness appeared through Jesus, through the forgiveness that we sin, we were taught something totally different. That's not how we're called to be. And so when we're engaging in that kind of hateful rhetoric, when we're not showing perfect courtesy, as he says there, toward all people, we're being foolish. I think there's place for warning here and calling people, in particular Christians, back to how we ought to live.

Let's not be like everyone else around us right now who are so caught up in the news cycle, in frustration, in anger, in hate, towards the other side, whatever that side is. That's not how we've learned from Christ. No, he was merciful to us. He redeemed us.

And so I would say there is a place for warning here and for having a stern conversation with this individual, if indeed they're engaging in this kind of quarrelsome, divisive behavior. I think it's so important that we center back on what Paul is focusing on here, the kindness of God our Savior who saved us, not because of what we had done, but through what he had accomplished for us in the gospel. When we're focused on that, it allows us, it helps us love the people who think differently from us. Thanks for listening to CORE Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at corechristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833, the CORE. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program and be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together.