Sinclair Ferguson

Very interesting thing that people sometimes quote Jeremiah 31 in this context, don't they?

We don't live in the days of the old covenant, we live in the days of the new covenant and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

But the question is, what does the Holy Spirit do

What is the promise of the new covenant?

The promise of the new covenant is that when the Spirit of Christ comes and indwells believers, what does He do?

He writes the law of God into our hearts.

And we're bound to ask the question, well, which law of God does He write into our hearts?

the same law of God that was written for Israel and placed at the heart of the relationship in the Ark of the Covenant.

Because what the Spirit does is transform us into the likeness of Jesus Christ, that we may be restored to the likeness of the Heavenly Father.

In a sense so that we may be restored to Eden, but not only restored to Eden,

prepared for the new Eden that will come when, thank God, by the Spirit in the presence of Christ, at last the commandments of God will be easy to obey.

That makes you say, doesn't it, even so come Lord Jesus.

If you were listening to the podcast last week, you might remember we were thinking about the Bible.

And I imagine if someone asked, what was the Reformation in the 16th century all about?

You might actually say it was about the authority of the Bible over against the authority of the Roman Catholic Church.

Or you could say, well, it was all about justification by faith alone in Christ alone.

And certainly these would be both good and true answers.

But I remember years ago being struck by something I read in a book written by the reformer John Calvin.

He said that what really lies at the heart of things is worship.

And I must confess that for a moment that took me aback.