All Scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible 1995 Ed. (NASB95) published by the Lockman Foundation

The holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments emphatically teach that people are inwardly corrupt by nature, with no willingness, nor ability, to do anything that pleases God. This is because God weighs the motives of the heart, rather than simply the outward actions. And He demands that all we do be done out of a reverent trust and devotion to Him. Anything not done from faith in Him is sin, according to Paul in Romans 14:23.

Because of this, our salvation from God’s punishment that we deserve for our rebellion cannot be earned, nor attained by our own efforts. Salvation, redemption, and God’s forgiveness and peace must be a completely free gift, and must be granted to us solely by God’s own power. Due to our corrupt nature, even if we desire deliverance from our just destruction, we’re still unwilling to change our minds about our rebellion, to acknowledge that it’s truly harmful for us, and to freely put our trust in the Lord to forgive our sins, and save us from them. This teaching is sometimes called “total inability,” “total depravity,” or even “radical depravity.”

As a result of people’s complete enslavement to sin and rebellion, the only way we can be saved is if God takes the initiative, changes our hearts, and grants the ability and desire to abandon our sin and trust in His promise of salvation. This reality is alternately called “regeneration,” or “irresistible grace.” When the Lord does this to a sinner, He permanently changes him, lives inside of him through His Spirit, and begins the continual process of conforming that person’s thinking and behavior to the character of Jesus. This is one of the grounds from which we understand that all true believers will never stop trusting in Jesus, and will reach the end of their lives still trusting in Jesus, so that they will be vindicated on the last day as having their sins forgiven, being possessors of eternal life, and being God’s children. This teaching is sometimes called “eternal security” or “the perseverance of the saints.”

All three of these teachings are usually proven by the New Testament, but few believers realize that the Old Testament prophetic writings are just as clear in confirming the depravity of man; the gracious, sovereign, and omnipotent character of God’s work in salvation; and the eternality of the work that the Holy Spirit does on God’s chosen people. These teachings are actually based on the promises of God’s new covenant with His people, which is the set of promises secured by Jesus’s suffering and death that He made with His chosen people when the Jews still retained their religious and social identity. In fact, at the last supper of Jesus, He declared that the cup of the Supper is “the new covenant in My blood” (Lk. 22:20). It’s new because God had already made a covenant through Moses with the nation of Israel, at Mt. Sinai. The purpose of this covenant, which was a covenant of law (the Law of Moses), was to show that people are naturally hopelessly enslaved by sin, and utterly incapable of doing anything on their own to make up for their sins, to put God in debt to them, or to please Him. In contrast, the new covenant shows the glorious solution from God. It declares that, although people are naturally unable to receive God’s mercy and salvation, God has purposed to provide salvation by His own sovereign power, through the work of His Son and the Holy Spirit. These new covenant promises found in the OT prophets give us a vivid description of the true nature of people, of God’s salvation, and of people’s transformation that results from it.

There are three foundational new covenant passages found in the OT prophets that clearly prove several truths about God, people, and salvation:

  1. Sinners are radically, and destructively, depraved. This leaves them totally guilty before God of sin, and having nothing about them to commend themselves to Him.
  2. God’s work of salvation is completely undeserved, and uncoerced, by anything that a sinner does. It’s completely based on His own character and choice, which is ultimately not bestowed based on anything that a person does.
  3. Because salvation is solely God’s work, it must be that the salvation He accomplishes involves the essential transformation of a person’s disposition, affections, and devotion. And this transformation, being God’s work alone, can’t be hindered by anyone whom the Lord chooses to renew.
  4. Because salvation includes the radical transformation of a person’s moral and spiritual character, and is the result of the supernatural inward work of the Spirit, claiming a person to now belong to God, and to be His eternal child, it follows that God’s work of salvation is eternal and permanent. Once He has transformed a sinner into a saint, there is nothing that will reverse God’s work, and this work that God purposed before time began for the ultimate glorification of the person will reach its completion, no matter what hindrances, temptations, and sins assault God’s begotten child.

We will look at three landmark OT new covenant passages that beautifully convey the truths that we’ve outlined. One is the foundational passage of the new covenant in Jeremiah 31, another is found in the next chapter, and the last is found in Ezekiel 36:22-27. Note at the outset that all of these passages are prophecies which have been, are, and will be fulfilled through God’s redemptive work through the Lord Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.

God’s Promises to Irresistibly Redeem His Once Depraved People, and to Secure Their Eternal Devotion: Jer. 32:30-40

The Problem: The Jews’ Radical Depravity

Following the prophet Jeremiah’s complaint to the Lord about the sinfulness and punishment of the nation of Israel, God replies by confirming the guilt of the Jews, but also by promising the future ingathering, redemption, and transformation of them. He begins by describing the charges of rebellion against the Jews, highlighting that there is absolutely nothing morally, nor spiritually, pleasing about them:

“’Indeed the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have been doing only evil in My sight from their youth; for the sons of Israel have been only provoking Me to anger by the work of their hands,’ declares the LORD . . . ‘They have turned their back to Me and not their face; though I taught them, teaching them again and again, they would not listen and receive instruction. But they put their detestable things in the house which is called by My name, to defile it. They built the high places of Baal that are in the valley of Ben-hinnom to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech . . .’” (vss. 30, 33-35)

First, notice the comprehensiveness of Israel’s sin – they were “doing only evil” in God’s sight. Even the outwardly good things they did were evil, since they were all done from evil motives. Second, hear the naturalness of the Jews’ sins – they committed them “from their youth.” By saying this, the Lord is affirming that the Jews didn’t need to be taught to do evil, since they were born with evil in their hearts. Third, we see the blindness and obstinacy of Israel. Even though God taught them “again and again, they would not listen.” Of all people in the world, the Jews received the most revelation, preaching, and teaching — regularly, and continuously. But the amount and diversity of this teaching had no effect on persuading the majority of them to repent of their unbelief, pride, and idolatry. They were blind to the goodness of the Lord and His messages.

Rather than listening to the teaching of God, Israel did the exact opposite. They replaced God with their false gods, and zealously worshiped them through wicked deeds. Although they had already devoted themselves to false gods in their hearts, they boldly displayed their idolatry by first putting “their detestable things in the house which is called by My name,” or the temple. More than this, they worshiped outside the temple by sacrificing their children to the god Molech on “the high places” (v. 35). Although these actions demonstrate the height of depravity, they’re still only possible from the natural foolishness, pride, and self-love of the human heart.

In spite of the Jews’ extreme rebellion against the Lord, He still promised to take this type of people, to rescue them from their punishment, and to transform them into His loyal worshipers.

The Promise of Irresistible Deliverance

After God assures Jeremiah that the Jews will be taken from their home, and enslaved by the Babylonians, He then gives the wonderful promises of future salvation, and transformation, by proclaiming:

“’Behold, I will gather them out of all the lands to which I have driven them in My anger, in my wrath and in great indignation; and I will bring them back to this place and make them dwell in safety. They shall be My people, and I will be their God; and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always . . .’” (vss. 37-39)

In this passage, the Lord promises redemption, reclamation, and renewal. Obviously, the first promise was first fulfilled physically, but is a foreshadowing of the spiritual redemption accomplished by Jesus’s death, resurrection, ascension, and gift of the Spirit. But don’t miss the exclusivity of God’s work in rescuing them. He says that He will gather them; that He will bring them back, and that He will “make them dwell in safety.” They didn’t redeem themselves through anything they did. Likewise, those who are spiritually released from enslavement to sin and Satan are only redeemed by the Lord. Next, the Lord promises to restore their identity as His people, and His relationship to them as their Ruler and Caretaker. He will make them His people, so that He will be their God whom they worship. The last blessing is the cause of this restoration and reconciliation. He promises to “give them one heart and one way, that they may fear” Him always. Notice God’s initiative, and control over their attitude toward Him. It’s because He provides them with a heart – or mind – that is whole, or one, that they’ll fear Him. In other words, it’s only because of His work in them that they fear, or revere, Him as their God, Savior, and Ruler.

The Permanence of Irreversible Diligence

The last reality that God promises establishes the fact that His redemptive work will be permanent, and unchangeable. Citing the covenant that He promises to make with them, He assures Jeremiah that,

“’ I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me.’” (v. 40)

In this verse, we have a solid foundation for the reality that God’s salvation is eternal, and is never temporary. There are two reasons for this presented to us. First, the Lord promises that He will “not turn away from them, to do them good.” On the flipside, this means that He will always do His people good, since He’s making “an everlasting covenant with them.” This is the new covenant, which we will examine more explicitly later. The second reason we know that the Lord’s redemption and renewal is eternal is because of His repeated promise to make His people fear Him “in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me.” That is, once God has changed someone’s heart to fear Him, there’s no possibility that he will permanently forsake the Lord. He will always be somewhat turned towards the Lord in acknowledgement, since it’s God’s work that has caused him to revere Him.

The Undeserved Favor of God, and the Directing Force of God on the Jews: Ezekiel 36:22-27

Similar to how God reminds Jeremiah of Israel’s depravity, He does the same thing for Ezekiel in chapter 36 of his book. However, now the Jews are in captivity, and the Lord promises to deliver them, and to spiritually restore and renew them. In this case, He explains why He’s planning on redeeming them before detailing the specific works that He intends to do in their hearts.

The Lord Promises to Restore for His Own Sake

First, God makes clear that it isn’t because of any motivating factor in Israel that He’ll save them, but simply to reveal His character, which He calls His “name”:

“’Therefore say to the house of Israel, “Thus says the Lord GOD, ‘It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD,’ declares the Lord GOD, ‘when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight. For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land.’”’” (vss. 22-24)

The Lord is emphatic here – He’s not going to rescue His people for their “sake,” or because of who they are, but because of who He is. By claiming to be His people, and living contrary to His will, they’ve given Him a bad reputation among the nations in which they’re confined. But He promises to make His name look good by redeeming them, and renewing them, according to His previous promises. The ultimate way in which He plans to do this is what He goes on to describe.

The Lord Promises to Restore through Renewal

After bringing the Jews back into their land, God next promises to bring their hearts back to Him supernaturally:

“’Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.’” (vss. 25-26)

Thankfully, God will not allow His people to remain in their state of rebellion and corruption. He promises the cleansing of their sins, and the replacement of their hearts. What kind of cleansing is this? Although it’s immediately fulfilled by God’s forgiveness, it’s ultimately fulfilled by regeneration. The water here is clearly symbolic, and not literal, since physical water has no power to remove someone’s sins and idolatry from them. Rather, this watery cleansing is brought about mentally and morally through what is next promised. It’s through “a new heart,” which is “a heart of flesh,” that God’s people will be cleansed from radical sinfulness and idolatry.

By calling the Jews’ hearts “the heart of stone,” He’s describing it as unresponsive to His teaching and commands. In other words, the Jews, like all people, were unable to be inwardly transformed by God’s revelation, since their hearts were turned in the exact opposite direction. But by giving them new hearts of flesh, the Lord promises to make their minds, affections, and wills, receptive to His teachings and commands. Since their hearts will be moldable, He’ll be able to conform them into His image through His words. But the Lord’s promises go even further than this.

The Lord Promises to Rule His People’s Actions

Finally, this passage irrefutably proves that God is completely sovereign over people’s salvation, as well as their response to His salvation. The Lord shockingly declares,

“’I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.’” (v. 27)

He first promises to provide the Person who will accomplish the change in His people’s hearts. It is the Holy Spirit Himself, who will live inside of believers to renew and empower them. And what is the job of the Spirit, when He indwells a person? To cause the indwelt person “to walk in” God’s statutes. There is no qualification, nor alternative explanation for God’s promise. He will directly and all-powerfully cause His people to live their daily lives according to His commands. And the result is that they will take care to “observe [His] ordinances,” or rules. God is describing the amazing truth that, although we are responsible to trust and obey the Lord, it’s ultimately because of His action that we obey Him. In our natural state, we can’t all of a sudden decide to obey the Lord, no matter what arguments are given to us. Instead, our hearts of stone must be replaced with hearts of flesh, and the Spirit must live inside of us to do this, so that we’re no longer rebellious sinners, but reverent and obedient saints.

The Inwardly Written Law, Knowing God, and Forgiveness of Sin:

Jer. 31:33-34

Before Jeremiah records that the Lord promised to lead Israel out of captivity, and back to their land, where He would spiritually transform them, He records the clearest set of promises about the new covenant found in the OT. In this passage, we see the purpose of it, its timing, and its most fundamental blessings. These blessings show us the basic results of the gospel, now that the Lord has come. Since we’re examining the prophetic teachings on God’s sovereignty in salvation, we’ll focus on these blessings, rather than the promise-package as a whole.

God Promises an Inwardly Inscribed Law

The first promise points to the work of regeneration and renewal that we’ve already seen, but expressed like so:

“’But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,’ declares the LORD, ‘I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.’” (v. 33)

Rather than regeneration being described in terms of cleansing or the implantation of fear in people’s hearts, here the Lord speaks in terms of “His law”. By saying that He’ll write His law on His people’s hearts, He’s not simply saying that He’ll make them remember the law which He previously gave them. He can’t be referring to the Law of Moses – that set of over 600 regulations that governed all Jews – since this Law makes up the terms of the previous covenant that He’s said in the previous verse that Israel broke. Note that this includes the Ten Commandments, which were the summary of the Law.

Instead, the Lord is promising a far more wonderful and life-changing work. By pronouncing that He’ll write His law on His people’s hearts, He’s saying that He’ll make their very thinking and affections to function in accordance with His teaching and commands. In other words, He’s promising nothing less than inner love for, and devotion to, His will. This forms the basis for the restored relationship that He promises will result. By causing His people to have the desire to obey His law, they’ll then truly belong to Him, and He will be their worshiped and obeyed God.

He Promises Universal Knowledge of Him

The next great promise contained in the new covenant is the logical result of an inner conformity of the heart to the Lord’s law. It declares personal knowledge of God for all His people:

“’They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, “Know the LORD,” for they will all know Me, form the least of them to the greatest of them . . .’” (v. 34a)

What does God mean when He says that His people will “know” Him? A similar knowledge to what Adam experienced when he “knew his wife, and the woman conceived.” The Lord isn’t describing mere knowledge about Him, but loving, experiential, and mutual knowledge of Him. A roughly synonymous way of saying it would be that God’s people will love Him. And note that all of them will know Him, not just some. This is why, among God’s people, it’s no longer necessary for lovers of God to command those within their covenant community to know the Lord. All of God’s people know Him personally.

He Promises Inclusive Forgiveness of Sin

The last element of the Lord’s new covenant is the grounds of His people’s knowledge of Him. He explains that they’ll know Him,

“’For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.’” (v. 34b)

Here, we find the greatest promise of the gospel – full and eternal forgiveness of our sins. It’s only if all of our “iniquity,” or “sin,” is forgiven, that we can have peace with God, and know Him as our Savior and Father. Don’t miss the permanency of this forgiveness – “their sin I will remember no more.” This means that, for those who become God’s people, He will never hold their sin against them. Accordingly, this teaches that once a person has his heart changed by the Lord, he will never be punished for His sins afterward.

Paul’s Filling Out of the New Covenant Promises of Grace

From these three prophetic texts, we’ve seen that the prophets clearly taught most of the teachings that are today known as “the doctrines of grace,” or God’s sovereign work in salvation. The OT prophecies of the new covenant picture people’s radical depravity of nature as a problem that can only be overcome by the supernatural, gracious, and permanent work of God to transform sinners’ hearts, and to grant them the ability to love and obey Him eternally. Alluding to the very passages that we’ve just studied, Paul the apostle describes salvation in similar ways in his letter to his pastoral representative, Titus, when he proclaims,

“But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” (Tit. 3:4-7)

It’s worth pointing out several important truths from this passage. First, Paul is speaking of those who have been saved, not of all of mankind. Second, God saves not based on our righteous deeds. There is nothing we can do that will earn, merit, or even attain God’s salvation. On the contrary, it’s because of God’s mercy, or compassion, that He saves sinners.

And how does God save sinners? “By the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit” (v. 5). Thus, salvation isn’t merely relational, but is transformational. But this regeneration isn’t from the Holy Spirit, but “through Jesus Christ our Savior.” As our crucified and resurrected representative before the Father, Jesus is One who has the right and authority to give the Holy Spirit, and salvation, to whom He will.

Finally, the regeneration of the Holy Spirit is always accompanied by “being justified by [God’s] grace].” To be “justified” means to be “declared innocent,” or forgiven of all offenses against God. And justification is only given by God’s “grace,” or favor, which is not given “on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness.” The result of receiving God’s forgiving grace is that believers are “made heirs” of eternal life. In other words, their enjoyment of eternal life is guaranteed because God has forgiven them of all sin, and proved it by renewing them by the Spirit, and through Jesus.

Nearly all of these blessings are new covenant promises, but how were they all obtained? How was the new covenant made a reality? The author of Hebrews explains:

“For this reason [Christ] is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.” (Heb. 9:15)

How does Christ mediate the new covenant? At its base, it’s by taking our punishment from the Father on the cross, and by going into heaven is represent us before Him, so that all of God’s blessing that He deserves can be given to us. Peter the apostle gives a brief summary of the heart of the gospel in 1 Peter 3:18, where he declares,

“For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God . . .”

Man’s Depravity, God’s Sovereignty, and the Believer’s Security

Through this study, I hope you’ve seen the exceedingly sinfulness of sin, and the resulting inability of the natural person to do anything good, including anything that contributes to his salvation. I also hope you’ve grasped the reality that the Lord is the initiator of salvation, not in response to anything a depraved sinner does, but only because of His delight to save sinners for the display of His character, and the praise of His name. Finally, I hope you’ve realized that God’s sovereign and supernatural work in salvation can only mean that those who have truly been granted faith in Christ will never become unbelievers, nor be condemned. Those whom God has chosen to save, He has also purposed to “become conformed into the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Ro. 8:29).

For the believer, these truths give us great hope and joy in preaching the gospel. Since people are naturally unable to rightly respond to the gospel, their only hope is the almighty and sovereign power of the Holy Spirit. And since we wield this power through our piety, prayers, and proclamation, God can use all of these things to change sinners’ hearts and minds, so that they’ll repent and trust in the Lord, and become His worshipers and servants. As we walk in the Lord’s instructions because of the Spirit within us, and are granted the ability to persuade sinners to repent through our words and conduct, no one can ultimately credit us with saving people, but only God in His kindness, love, and mercy. And preeminently, our Lord and Savior Jesus the Messiah gets the glory for His work of redemption, renewal, and recreation, through His death and reign.