Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: From Law to Grace A Heart of Flesh 8/20 -8/27/26 (08/20/26)
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TITLE: A Change Of Heart | Previous Challenge Entry
By Doug Laird
08/24/26 -
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On the day they disobeyed, they experienced spiritual death. Spiritual death is not a state of non-existence, but existing while separated in one’s personal relationship with God.
When confronted with their disobedience (Gen. 3:11-13), they made excuses. Adam blamed the woman, and the woman (Eve) blamed the serpent.
Divine justice has no mercy, and accepts NO excuses for disobedience. It requires that the wages of sin be paid in full.
One of the consequences of their disobedience was banishment from the Garden of Eden, denying them access to the tree of life that would have otherwise provided them with the means to live on indefinitely in their physical bodies, HERE on Earth (Gen.3: 22ff).
Not only did Adam and the woman (Eve) become spiritually dead, they would pass this spiritual death condition down to all of the generations of Man, at the moment of conception (Psalms 51: 5).
As a result, Fallen Man comes into this world physically alive, but spiritually dead, and without the self-means to do a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g about it.
The Fall of Man did not come as a surprise to God. God had His plan of redemption, through the Person and the atoning Work (1John2:2) of Jesus,in mind BEFORE Man was even created (Eph.1:4).
Here in the Church Age, we have the advantage (and the responsibility) of having had the entire plan of salvation revealed and preserved for us in the pages of Scripture.
Unbelief is an unpardonable choice one makes.
The details of this plan became known to Man in stages throughout the course of human history.
Throughout all previous dispensations, the members of the human race were held accountable to the extent that the plan of God had been revealed to them, beginning with the concept of eternity that God places in EVERY soul that He creates (Eccl. 3:11).
Noah, Abraham, Jacob (later named Israel) Moses, Daniel, etc., and all the Gentile (non-Jewish) nations who lived and died during the Old Testament dispensation, had NEVER heard of calling on the name of Jesus (Acts 4: 12/Rom. 10: 13) to be saved.
That there would be a Savior coming into the world can be traced throughout many passages of Old Testament prophecy.
At the appointed time, John the Baptist, whose divine mission it was to do so, clearly announced and identified Jesus as being the, “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world (John 1: 29 NASB2020).”
During the course of the Old Testament dispensation, the religious and daily lives of the Jews were governed by the 600+ requirements and regulations documented in the Torah, which later became the first five books of the Christian Bible.
The punishments for violations of the Torah were to be carried out without mercy.
Obedience or disobedience to Torah determined individual and national blessings or divine discipline.
ALL of the sacrificial animal-blood offerings for atonement taking place in the Old testament Temple pointed to the one and final blood sacrifice of the coming Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ (Heb.10).
ALL the laws of God are in place UNTIL their purpose has been fulfilled (Matt. 5: 18).
Granted, there is the need for compliance with the moral standards of God to maintain a godly nation, society, family, and individual life that God can bless and use for His glory.
Promoting legalism, as the means of securing salvation, is alive and well, but it places a hurdle before us that Fallen Man is incapable of overcoming (Rom. 3: 10).
Our redemption was bought with a price (1Cor. 6: 20).
Before God could extend His mercy and grace, the sin debt of humanity had to be paid in full.
It was paid in full by the Person and the atoning Work of the Lord Jesus Christ (1John 2: 2).
This satisfaction of divine justice is what opened the door for God’s plan of salvation, revealing His attributes of love, mercy, and grace (Eph. 2: 8, 9).
The heart of flesh refers to a human soul that has been transformed from being hardened (Heb. 3: 8) and spiritually dead, to being responsive and spiritually alive (John 5: 24),seeking fellowship with God.
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Well written and inspirational. Well explained.
Thank you.