The Oberlin Evangelist

June 19, 1839

Lecture XII.

THE PROMISES--No. 3

by the Rev. Charles G. Finney

Modernized by Cliff Collins

“By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” (2 Peter 1:4)

Let me continue with the contrast between the Old and New Covenants.

6. The Old Covenant left men to exercise their own strength. The New Covenant is the effective sanctification by the Holy Spirit.

“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 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. I will PUT My Spirit within you and CAUSE you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.” (Ezek 36:25-27)

“That the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might RECEIVE the promise of the Spirit through faith.” (Gal 3:14)

I won’t have to quote the many promises that support this point. But, let me say here, that this is one of the great differences between the Old and New Covenants: that the New Covenant is the effective indwelling of the Holy Spirit, producing the proper state of mind required by the law or the Old Covenant. There is a tremendous difference between the Old and New Covenants concerning this. The difference does not lie in the fact that the New Covenant is a fuller revelation than the Old.

7. The Old Covenant was a mere outward covenant, written on stone tablets. It was the mere “letter that kills”. The New Covenant is an inward covenant. It is the indwelling of the Spirit of God, writing the law in our heart, producing and maintaining the very obedience required by the Old Covenant. If we overlook this, the New Covenant is worthless. And here lies the great error of the Church. They make the Old and New Covenants substantially the same thing, while, in fact, the Old Covenant was the mere requirement of that of which the New Covenant is the fulfillment of that requirement, by the leading, guiding, and indwelling of the Spirit of God.

8. Two parties were involved in the Old Covenant. We find both parties recognized in Exodus 19:8. “Then all the people answered together and said, ‘All that the Lord has spoken we will do’. So Moses brought back the words of the people to the Lord.” Both parties are also recognized in Ezekiel 24:3-8: “So Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, ‘all the words which the Lord has said we will do’. And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. And he rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, ‘All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient’. And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, ‘Behold, the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words’.” This covenant had no guarantee. But the New Covenant unites the parties in a mediator, who is also the guarantee of the New Covenant. “By so much more Jesus has become a surety (guarantee) of a better covenant.” (Heb 7:22) Now observe the Old Covenant has no guarantee pledged for its fulfillment, while the New Covenant has the most ample guarantee pledged for the fulfillment of every word of it.

9. The Old Covenant was broken. “My covenant that they BROKE, though I was a husband to them.” (Jer 31:32) This was the main reason why this covenant was set aside. “For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.” (Hebrews 8:7) “Therefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should rise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be called according to the order of Aaron?” “For on the one hand there is an ANNULLING of the former commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness, for the law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.” (Hebrews 7:11,18,19) However, those who receive the New Covenant will not break it. The great problem with the Old Covenant was that it wasn’t sufficiently effective to secure holiness. And if the New Covenant is not holiness, how can it be any better than the Old? In Hebrews 8:6, it is said, “But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises”.

Do you see the tendency of the Old Covenant? The reason why the Old Covenant was faulty was because it did not secure obedience. This was the very reason why God found fault with it, and introduced a new covenant that consisted on obedience. Look at Hebrews 8:7-11 again. “For if that first covenant had been FAULTLESS, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding FAULT with them, He says: ‘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. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them,’ says the Lord. ‘For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: After those days’, says the Lord, ‘I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord’, for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest’.” (Hebrews 8:7-11)

“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. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they BROKE, though I was a husband to them,” says the Lord. “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: After those days”, says the Lord, “I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord’, for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them”, says the Lord. “For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jer 31:31-34)

“Then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me.” (Jer 32:39-40)

“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.” (Ezek 36:26)

“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, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.” (Ezek 11:19-20)

“Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart.” (Jeremiah 24:7)

10. The Old Covenant was designed to develop sin. “Moreover the law entered that the OFFENSE MIGHT ABOUND. But where sin ABOUNDED, grace abounded much more.” (Romans 5:20)

“But SIN, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, SIN revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For SIN, TAKING OCCASION by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. Therefore, the law is holy, and the commandment holy, just, and good. Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But SIN, that it might appear SIN, was producing death in me through what is good, so that SIN through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.” (Romans 7:8-13)

Now the purpose of the Old Covenant, as declared in these texts, was not to make men holy. In other words, the Old Covenant was not expected to make men holy, but to develop their real character. It was designed to bring out their depravity so they could observe it, and thus convict and condemn them, rather than make them holy and justify them. Read the New Covenant once more time. “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. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them,” says the Lord. “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: After those days”, says the Lord, “I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord’, for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them”, says the Lord. “For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jer 31:31-34)

”Then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me.” (Jer 32:39-40)

“In those days and in that time”,' says the Lord, “The INIQUITY of Israel shall be sought, but there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, but they shall not be found; for I will pardon those whom I preserve.” (Jer 50:20)

“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your FILTHINESS and from all your idols. 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. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.” (Ezek 36:25-27)

“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in SIN that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to SIN live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 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. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of SIN might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of SIN. For he who has died has been freed from SIN. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to SIN once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise, you also, reckon yourselves dead indeed to SIN, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore, do not let SIN reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to SIN, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For SIN shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” (Romans 6:1-14)

“Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another, even to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. For when we were in the flesh, the passions of SINS which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. 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 7:4-6)

“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of SIN and death.” (Romans 8:2)

“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the LUST of the flesh. For the flesh LUSTS against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” (Gal 5:16-18)

I continue to quote these texts, and to write them out, so you can read them attentively in the different connections that they occur in this discussion. I want you to consider these passages attentively in all the different connections in which I quote them, and see if they prove the points for which they are quoted.

Now I ask you, beloved, don’t these texts prove that the New Covenant is the death of sin, in opposition to the Old Covenant, which is the “STRENGTH OF SIN”? 1 Cor. 15:56 says The STRENGTH of sin is the law”. Now notice again, that the New Covenant is not an outward precept, nor an outward promise, nor any outward thing whatever, but an inward holiness wrought by the Spirit of God. The New Covenant is the very substance and spirit of the law written in the heart by the Holy Spirit. Hence in Romans 6:1-14, people that are baptized by the Holy Spirit are said to be “dead”, “crucified,” and “buried”, I have just quoted it, but let’s read it again. “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who DIED TO SIN live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were BAPTIZED INTO HIS DEATH? 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. For if we have been UNITED together IN the likeness of His DEATH, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our OLD MAN WAS CRUCIFIED with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has DIED has been freed from sin. Now if we DIED with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, DIES NO MORE. DEATH NO LONGER HAS DOMINION OVER HIM. For the death that He DIED, He DIED to sin, once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise, you also, RECKON YOURSELVES DEAD INDEED TO SIN, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For SIN SHALL NOT HAVE DOMINION OVER YOU, for you are not under law but under grace.”

“Therefore, my brethren, you also have become DEAD TO THE LAW through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another, even to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. For when we were in the flesh, the passions of sins which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. 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 7:4-6)

“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has MADE ME FREE from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:2)

“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” (Gal 5:16-18)

Now what do these passages mean, if they do not teach a death to sin? And it is clear that these passages are not talking about some future state of existence; but they refer to the saints in this world. If these passages don’t contain an account of a state of entire sanctification, then I don’t know where such an account can be found in the Bible, referring either to sanctification in this world, or to heaven itself.

Again, if these passages don’t speak of a state of entire sanctification, then there are no passages that speak of a state of entire depravity. If to be “dead in trespasses and sins” is not a state of total depravity, then I don’t know where the doctrine of total depravity is taught in the Bible. But if to be dead in sin is total depravity, then to be dead to sin must be total or entire holiness.

Now by what rule of Biblical interpretation can this conclusion be denied or evaded?

11. The Old Covenant ministers death, but the New Covenant ministers righteousness and life.

“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. But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of RIGHTEOUSNESS exceeds much more in glory. For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious. Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. But their minds were hardened. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. (2 Cor 3:6-16) Here we have the two covenants beautifully contrasted by the Apostle; the Old as working spiritual death, and ending in eternal death; the New as consisting in righteousness and eternal life.

12. The Old Covenant was only a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. “Therefore the law was our TUTOR to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” (Gal 3:24) But the New Covenant is the reign of Christ in our heart. “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. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them,” says the Lord. “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: After those days”, says the Lord, “I will PUT MY LAW IN THEIR MINDS, and WRITE IT ON THEIR HEARTS; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord’, for they ALL SHALL KNOW ME, from the least of them to the greatest of them”, says the Lord. “For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jer 31:31-34)

“Then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will PUT MY FEAR IN THEIR HEARTS so that they will not depart from Me.” (Jer 32:39-40)

“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 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. I will PUT MY SPIRIT WITHIN you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.” (Ezek 36:25-27)

“To them God willed to MAKE KNOWN what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col 1:27)

“You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” (I John 4:4)

“But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.” (Romans 8:9)

“And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father’!” (Gal 4:6)

“"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Gal 2:20)

“And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also GIVE LIFE to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” (Romans 8:10-11,16)

“For I know that this will turn out for my salvation through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” (Phil 1:19)

Notice from these passages that the Old Covenant was designed to strip us of self-righteousness, and show us our need for Christ. The Old Covenant developed our selfishness and enmity, and our entire helplessness and dependence on a foreign influence to incline us to holiness. Thus, the Old Covenant prepared the way for accepting Christ as an indwelling and reigning Savior. Then, when the Old Covenant, like a schoolmaster, brings us to Christ, the New Covenant enters. In other words, Christ enters our heart, takes up His residence there, writes the law of love in our heart, takes away our stony heart of flesh, makes the New Covenant with our soul, and sheds His divine influence over our whole moral being. Now if as much as this is not taught in these scriptures, and in various other parts of the Bible, what is taught? If these passages are to be set aside and explained away like so many theologians commonly throw away the Scriptural testimony on this subject, what doctrine or truth may not be eliminated from the Bible?