Equipping Eve: Salvation in the Old Testament

Is the church today doing everything it can to provide women a firm foundation of truth in Christ Jesus? Well, it's true there's no shortage of candy-coated Bible studies, potluck fellowships available to ladies.

But beyond Sunday morning, are Christian women being properly equipped to stand against the same deceptions that even enticed Eve in the garden? In an attempt to address the need for trustworthy, biblical resources for women, No Compromise Radio is happy to introduce Equipping Eve, a ladies-only radio show that seeks to equip women with fruits of truth in an age that's ripe with deception.

My name is Mike Ebendroth, and I'm pleased to introduce your host, Erin Benzinger, a friend of No Compromise Radio, and a woman who wants to see other women equipped with a love for and a knowledge of the truth of God's Word.

The Authority of God's Word and the Bible's Canon

Well, hello ladies, and welcome to Equipping Eve, the show that seeks to equip you with fruits of truth from God's Word. God's Word is the only objective word. We can know it to be true. It is infallible and errant, inspired by the Holy Spirit.

There are 66 books in the Bible. There are only 66. If you have a question about that, send me an email. I will talk to you about that. I will send you a link to a previous show that we did talking about the Bible.

66 books. That's it. If your Bible has more than that, it's a problem. Okay, so, let's see. How can you contact me if you are angry about that, or just interested? Maybe you're not angry, you're just curious, because your Bible does have more than 66 books.

So send me an email. The rest of you can send me an email as well. Please do. I like getting your emails. You can message me on Facebook. So if you search for Equipping Eve, you'll find us there. Or on Twitter, at Equipping Eve.

Or if you go to equippingeve .com or .org, both addresses get you there. You'll find the website. The website has a way to contact me. It has all of our podcasts since we started. How long ago was that?

I don't know. So all of the shows from beginning to now. It has our blog. The Equipping Eve blog has a link to the sister blog. Do not be surprised. It has recommended resources for you. So other podcasts or sermons you might want to listen to.

Some resources just for ladies. Bible study tools. Just other ministries. Things like that that we would agree with theologically and heartily recommend as a good resource for you. So that's what you can find at Equipping Eve .com.

You can also find a Bible study there through the Book of Zechariah. It uses Dr. John MacArthur's sermons through the book as the teaching. And then there are questions to guide you. So that is there.

It is not affiliated with Grace To You or John MacArthur in any way. But it is posted there with permission. So there you go. There's that. You can also find a way to contact me about speaking at your church, your women's group.

I don't like to promote myself, so I feel awkward saying this right now. But that is there. I do that on occasion if I am asked. So there's that. Yeah. Okay. So that was awkward. I don't like promoting myself.

So there it is. Okay. Anyway. I don't do that for a living. Just to be clear. Which is why it's awkward for me. Anyhow. So that's what you can find at Equipping Eve .com. If you have ideas for the website, send me a note.

If you have ideas for the show, send me a note. I may or may not use your idea. I don't know. We'll see how I feel about it. So fun fact. I'm allergic to honeydew melon. But I love honeydew melon. So I just ate a bunch of honeydew melon.

And it gives me a scratchy throat. So if I sound scratchy, that's why. I'm sorry. But it's a delicious melon. It's very sweet. I wasn't going to pass that one by. It's totally worth it. Okay. So. Really quickly.

Before I forget about this. I found this article, I don't know, like a month ago. I don't know when it came out. And it's from Lifeway Research. Churchgoers stick around for theology, not music or preachers.

So I never have figured out who these people are who answer these surveys. But actually, interestingly enough, if you scroll to the bottom of this article. And I'll link the article at Equipping Eve so you can find it.

It actually describes how they randomly select people and how they conduct the survey. Their sample size was 1 ,010 surveys. Which gave them a 95 confidence that the sampling error would be minimal enough.

Let me just leave it at that. Okay. So. I know you don't care. But the point being, they didn't just randomly go up to people on the street and say, Okay, we got 50 people answered. We're good now. They actually are conducting it in a reasonable manner.

So that's good. So anyway, yeah. Churchgoers stick around for theology, not music or preachers. By Bob Smitana. I'm sure I mispronounced his name. My apologies. He writes, most churchgoers will put up with a change in music style or a different preacher.

But don't mess with a church's beliefs or there may be an exodus. Study of Protestant churchgoers. And again, this article describes how they define Protestant. So that's important. Found most are committed to staying at their church over the long haul.

But more than half, it was 54%, say they would strongly consider leaving if the church's beliefs changed. You know, and I think that's really interesting. You know, most people wouldn't necessarily leave just because the pastor is retiring or this or that.

But what if that new pastor brings in new theology? I mean, one would hope that doesn't happen because that's why you have elders. And a pastoral search committee maybe. And maybe the previous pastor is involved in the search.

You would hope you'd bring someone on who has your same beliefs. But I'm sure it happens. That doesn't always happen that way. And yeah, you know, there are certain doctrines I would leave if my church changed doctrine on pretty much anything.

Because the reason I joined the church is because I believe in what they believe. So, you know, think about it. Even if it's a secondary or tertiary issue, it's still a big deal. Because you still teach portions of the Bible differently.

You know, an amillennialist and someone who's premillennial, dispensational, they teach the Bible differently. In certain portions of the Bible, you know, an amillennialist cannot teach the word literally in certain sections of scripture.

I don't mean to offend any of my amillennial friends or listeners, but that's just kind of the way it is. So, that's it. Well, I was about to say that's okay. I don't think that's okay, but that's okay.

I don't think that's okay. But if my church suddenly changed beliefs on that, that would be kind of a big deal for me. If my church suddenly decided we were going to baptize babies, that would be a big deal.

And I think most people feel that way. If they're in tune with what their church believes, then that is important to them. And it should be important to what your church believes and teaches. You know, these seeker-sensitive churches have very vague, very broad belief statements.

And so it's kind of easy to say, yeah, I agree with what they agree with. But I think, you know, even when churches start changing maybe on the women preaching thing, the seeker churches, I don't think they get that quite as much.

But maybe these mainline denominations, I think that probably caused a problem when that started to happen. Gay marriage, things like that. All of a sudden your church says, hey, we've had a change of heart.

It's okay to be gay. Please don't pull that out as a soundbite anyway. Because that's not what I believe. But what if your church suddenly said that? Yeah, you'd have a mass exodus, I hope. So that's kind of interesting.

And I guess it can be encouraging that only 54 would consider that a problem. But perhaps it depends on the doctrine that changes. But yeah, kind of an interesting little article. They break it down into subgroups that I think is unhelpful.

But yeah, we'll link this article. You can take a look at it. This is kind of interesting, actually. Education plays some role in how churchgoers view their church's theology. Churchgoers who have graduate degrees are less likely to accept all their church's teachings.

Only a third say their beliefs are completely aligned with those of the church. 60 say their beliefs are mostly aligned. That's interesting. But let me just put this out there. Because I think there are some people who think that pursuing education is evil.

Because all the schools are so bad. Just because that's there, I would say, does not mean that we should not pursue education. Even in things that aren't religious. If you want to go out and get your MBA or your graduate degree in something else, you go.

You go for it. I think that's fantastic. At the same time, just because you have letters after your name does not make you smarter. So if you feel like you need more letters just to have letters, you don't.

I'm there to tell you that. I know a lot of people with a lot of letters after their name. And it doesn't mean a thing. So anyway. It means that they spent a lot of money on school. That's good if you can do that.

We can't all do that. Anyhow. So yeah. Kind of an interesting little study there. We'll link it. So you can enjoy. Anyway. So let's get to the point. Today. Today, what do I want to talk about? So I have been thinking about salvation in the Old Testament.

I know. It's a complete... We're completely changing gears. But I wanted to mention that article to you before I forgot about it. So here we go. Salvation in the Old Testament. What's the deal? What's the deal?

How did people get saved in the Old Testament? Because you've got all the... Man, my grammar is really bad. So I'm sorry. So you have all of these. I'm trying to teach us to speak better. And yet here I speak so American-like.

Can you tell I went to Walmart today? I think that's the problem. Right there. You're bound to be uncouth if you go to Walmart. They've got good prices on some stuff. Alright. Anyhow. What is the deal?

How did people get saved in the Old Testament? Here they are. They have the temple. And they have all these rules. God told them how to build the tabernacle. And it's so specific. And there's all these different types of sacrifices.

And there's constant shedding of blood. And, I mean, what was the point of all of those sacrifices if they weren't salvific? Why did God have people doing that? We like animals. Here at Equipping Eve, we like animals.

So if you don't like animals, then we don't like you. No, I'm kidding. But I'm not sure about you. I'm just telling you. Anyway. What was the point? And I'm guessing many of you know this answer. But I'm also thinking that there is a misconception in Christendom.

Unintended, no doubt. But possibly more prevalent than we actually think. There's this misconception that folks in the Old Testament were saved by works. In some way, shape, or form. We know, yeah, Abraham, it was credited to him as righteousness.

You know, faith. But we had all those sacrifices. So there must have been some reason for that, right? Well, there was a reason for it. I can assure you of that, because God wouldn't have had people do it.

But was that reason salvation? Now, let's turn, ladies. Turn with me to Galatians. Spend a little time in Galatians here. Turn with me to Galatians 3, verse 11. Paul writes, Whoa, wait a minute. What?

No one is justified by the law before God. So that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Huh. Interesting. Verse 23. We were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith, which was later to be revealed.

Ah, wait. So Paul is saying that the law doesn't justify it. It doesn't save. That's what he's saying here in Galatians. Now, turn back with me, ladies, to Romans. Let's turn back to Romans. I love Romans.

For the record. Romans 20 says,. So we've seen that the law was a tutor to point us to Christ. And here Paul writes that through the law comes the knowledge of sin. The law shows us that we are not capable of saving ourselves.

God set forth this law. You must be holy as your Father in heaven is holy. Oh, dear. I can't do that. I can't even keep those ten little commandments. I can't even keep the first one. For like a second.

Let alone all ten. Every single second of every single day. For my entire life. That's unfortunate. So how, how in the world were people in the Old Testament saved? Because, you know, Christ hadn't come yet.

Christ hadn't come yet. And yet, in Romans 4, Paul writes,. He has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God. And it was credited to him as righteousness.

Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.

Just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven and whose sins have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.

Is this blessing then on the circumcised or on the uncircumcised also? For we say faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it credited? While he was circumcised or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised.

And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith, which he had while uncircumcised. In other words, Gentiles, Jews. Faith is available to all of us. But this is saying that Abraham had faith in God and that was credited to him as righteousness.

This is saying in verse 6 that David also spoke about God crediting righteousness apart from works. Verse 16. For this reason, it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.

The law doesn't save us. So the law doesn't save us today. Yeah, yeah, okay, that's because we have Jesus and Jesus died on the cross. So, of course, yeah, we don't need the law because we have Jesus.

But those people didn't have Jesus yet. Right? Well, turn with me, ladies, to Hebrews. And part of the reason that I love the book of Hebrews so much is that it speaks with so much clarity on this subject.

And as a result, it highly exalts and magnifies Christ. Okay, turn with me to Hebrews 9. We're going to do some reading here. Okay. Verse 11. But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, he entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation, and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, he entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.

For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

For this reason, he 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.

Let's skip down. Verse 22. According to the law, one may almost say all things are cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. Therefore, it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. Verse 28. So Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin to those who eagerly await him.

Chapter 10. For the law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near.

Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? But in those sacrifices, there is a reminder of sins year by year.

For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. It's right there. It's impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Therefore, when he comes into the world, he says, Sacrifice an offering you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me.

In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, Behold, I have come, and the scroll of the book it is written of me, to do your will, O God. After saying above, Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you have not desired, nor have you taken pleasure in them, which are offered according to the law.

Then he said, Behold, I have come to do your will. He takes away the first in order to establish the second. By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

The law, the sacrifices of the Old Testament, couldn't save those people. They were expected to keep the law, but they couldn't. The law pointed them to their sin and their need for a Savior. So the people of the Old Testament knew they needed a Savior.

And so it's not as if Christ was a complete mystery until the time of the Old Testament. Oh, open up, and there's Matthew. There he is. Wow, didn't see that one coming. No, no, no, no, no, no, not at all.

God made a promise in the Garden in Genesis 3 that a Savior, a Redeemer, would be sent. A promised seed. And the people of the Old Testament, the faithful believers of the Old Testament, knew that. And it wasn't like just, you know, one mention in Genesis 3.

It's woven throughout the Old Testament. And that's why John MacArthur has said why he spent so much time studying through the New Testament. Because he says, if you don't know what you're looking for in the Old Testament, you might miss it.

But if you know Christ as He's introduced to us in the New Testament, then when you read the Old Testament, then you see Him there because He's there. Because the whole Bible is about Jesus, right? It's not just those last 27 books.

It's the whole thing, from Genesis to Revelation. The whole thing. Now, MacArthur has made the point that this is not to say that Jesus is in every verse, or every word, or every paragraph. And we have to be really careful about that, right?

Because sometimes you'll hear pastors or teachers putting Christ, inserting Him where He just is not there. In that particular passage of the Old Testament. You know, it's just a historical narrative, and it's not talking about the future Savior.

It's just there. It's teaching us other important things, and they'll put Him there anyway. And that's not good. That's wrong. You can't force Him there. But MacArthur has said, quote, He is the theme of the whole of Scripture, old and new.

But if you don't know Him well, you'll miss Him in the Old Testament. But if you know Him, and you look and you study the Old Testament, you just see so much richness. And you see the hope that those Old Testament believers had in awaiting the promised Messiah.

You know, Jesus Himself said that He was there in the Old Testament. I mean, think about it. I mean, that was the Scriptures that the people had at the time of Christ. If you flip back to John 5, John 5, verse 39, Jesus says, You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life.

It is these that testify about Me. I mean, it's right there. The Old Testament Scriptures talk about Me, Jesus. Verse 40, You're unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life. I do not receive glory from men, but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves.

I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe when you receive glory from one another, and do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?

Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father. The one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me. For he wrote about Me. Well, what did Moses write?

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, the Pentateuch, right? The first five books of the Old Testament. Verse 47,. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words? And you think about all of the times throughout his teaching, throughout his ministry, that Jesus quoted and referenced the Old Testament.

And by Jesus doing that, He's saying, The Old Testament, that's legit. That's true. And that's talking about Me. Flip back a few more pages to Luke 24. Remember the story after Christ is resurrected, and He joins the two disciples on the road to Emmaus?

And Jesus says, Oh, why are you so sad? And they say, Well, haven't you heard what's happened? This man, Jesus, was crucified. But we thought He was going to redeem Israel, but it's been the third day since these things happened.

Some women, they told us the tomb was empty, and that they saw angels who said that He was alive. And other disciples saw this, but we don't know what's going on. Verse 25 of Luke 24,. And Jesus said to them, O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken.

The prophets said this would happen. Verse 26,. Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and enter into His glory? Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the scriptures.

So there, Jesus teaching from the Old Testament about Himself. Think about the rich man and Lazarus, that story in Luke 16. Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day.

And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate covered with sores, longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man's table. Besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores.

Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom. And the rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom.

And he cried out and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue for I am in agony in this flame. But Abraham said, Child, remember that during your life you received your good things.

And likewise, Lazarus, bad things. But now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you, there is a great chasm fixed, so those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and none may cross over from there to us.

And he said, Then I beg you, Father, that you send them to my father's house, for I have five brothers, in order that he might warn them, so they will not also come to this place of torment. But Abraham said, They have Moses and the prophets.

Let them hear them. But he said, No, Father Abraham. If someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent. But he said to them, If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded, even if someone rises from the dead.

That means that Moses and the prophets not only spoke about Christ, but that it was known the way of salvation was not through works. It was through a promised Messiah. The Old Testament saints knew that God was holy.

They knew that he was righteous. They knew that he wouldn't tolerate sin. They also knew that he was gracious and forgiving. That his loving kindness abounded and extended from generation to generation.

Think of the Psalms that talk about the Lord's loving kindness. And then think of Micah. Didn't we just read how Moses and the prophets, the prophets talked about me, the prophets talked about the way of salvation.

Micah 7, verse 18. Who is a God like you who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of his possession? He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in unchanging love.

He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities underfoot. Yes, he will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. He will give truth to Jacob and unchanging love to Abraham, which you swore to our forefathers from the days of old.

What does Habakkuk 2, verse 4 say? A very familiar verse to us, I suspect. Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right with him. Here's what we recognize. But the righteous will live by faith.

It's in the Old Testament. So the Old Testament saints knew that their salvation could not be earned. And they knew they needed a substitute. Way back when Adam and Eve sinned and animals had to die for their covering, God killed animals and made them coverings.

Through Abraham and his almost-sacrifice of Isaac, there was this theme, this recurrent theme of seeing a sacrifice, of seeing the shedding of blood. That was the purpose of the Old Testament sacrifices, the shedding of blood of the bulls and the goats.

And yet Hebrews tells us that can't take away sin. What it does is it reminds you year after year after year after year after year after year after year that something has to die, and yet it's not enough.

Otherwise you wouldn't have to keep doing it. So they knew, the Old Testament saints knew full well that they were incapable of meeting the demands of the law. That's why Scripture tells us that they were justified by faith, that it was credited to them by God as righteousness, not of anything that they did.

They were justified by faith in a Redeemer who they believed would come because God had told them in His Word. They believed in a future Redeemer. They looked forward to that future Savior, the future Messiah, just as we look back on Him.

They looked forward to the cross, not knowing that they were looking for a cross necessarily. And we look back at the cross. God's been good to give us that additional revelation and to put us on this side of the cross, I think.

But He's always been good to His people because He's always saved by faith alone in Christ alone. That is the God of grace that we serve. And I think what we will do in the next show, perhaps, is talk a little bit about this woven theme of Christ, this promised seed of Genesis 3 .15.

If that works for you, then I think that's what we'll plan on doing. But for now, ladies, we're out of time, so get in your Bibles, get on your knees, and get equipped. Thanks for listening.

Closing Reprise and Show Introduction

Is the church today doing everything it can to provide women a firm foundation of truth in Christ Jesus? Well, it's true there's no shortage of candy-coated Bible studies, potluck fellowships available to ladies.

But beyond Sunday morning, are Christian women being properly equipped to stand against the same deceptions that even enticed Eve in the garden? In an attempt to address the need for trustworthy, biblical resources for women, No Compromise Radio is happy to introduce Equipping Eve, a ladies-only radio show that seeks to equip women with fruits of truth in an age that's ripe with deception.

My name is Mike Ebendroth, and I'm pleased to introduce your host, Aaron Benzinger, a friend of No Compromise Radio and a woman who wants to see other women equipped with a love for and a knowledge of the truth of God's Word.