No man will walk in holiness and fulfill the requirements of the law without first receiving God's provision, gift, power and love to do so. Many attempt to fulfill the law without the knowledge of the gift or the Giver. God calls to men that are dead in trespasses and sin to the works of a holy life by showing them His love and great power that He so freely offers. He encourages them in this way so they may enter this wonderful experience.
Examine this promise that shows how God provides the solution for man's sinful condition and corrupt heart. He freely offers to give us the LOVE that the law demands and requires. He offers to put His love in our heart.
Deut. 30:6 ''And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou may live.''
Now the language of this promise means just as much as the language of the command. Most people understand the command to fully love God continuously, but when it comes to the promise many seem to try to dilute it or make it of less effect. Does not the promise mean just as much as the command? The truth is, the only way this command will ever be fulfilled is by first receiving the results of this promise.
Faith is an indispensable condition of the fulfillment of this promise. It is entirely impossible that we should love God with all the heart, without confidence in him. God births love in man in no other way than by so revealing himself as to inspire confidence, that confidence which works by love. For the interpretation of the promises it is said that where a command and a promise are given we should understand the language of the promise as meaning as exactly as much as the language of the command. This promise has been designed to cover the whole ground of the requirement.
Now change the language in this promise to a command, or change the form of this promise into that of a command. For example, if God said, ''Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul'', who would doubt that God designed this command to require a state of sanctification or consecration to Himself? How then are we to understand it when used in the form of a promise? God's promises of grace must be understood to mean as much as the requirements of His justice. His promises must mean as much as the language of His requirements. It is simple, God designed this promise so that when it is received it will completely satisfy the command to love Him. WHAT THE LAW DEMANDS, GRACE SUPPLIES. GOD FREELY OFFERS THE LOVE THAT THE LAW DEMANDS!!!
Examine these other promises that show His great provision which He freely makes available for us.
Jer. 24:7 ''And 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 unto me with their whole heart.''
Jer. 32:39-40 ''And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.''
Jer. 31:31-34 ''Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that 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; which my covenant they brake, although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.''
Ezek. 11:19-20 ''And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh: That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.''
Ezek. 36:25-27 ''I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean, I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from 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. And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will be careful to observe my ordinances.''
Ezek. 37:23 ''Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwelling places, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.''
Obedience is essential. God's provision does not provide a substitute for obedience, but through faith secures the obedience required by the law. It is simple, the new heart that God so freely offers mankind has the required preference, tendency, and holy inclination within it. This heart contains the love, liking, thirsting, delight, longing, for God and his law. This heart has both the power and the will to perform the law acceptably. The chief blessing of His gift is the power of a holy life, a heart delighting in God's law and a Life in which God causes and enables us, by His indwelling Spirit, to keep all the commandments. The law demanded obedience and man failed to keep it. God's gift is expressly made to provide for obedience. WHAT THE LAW DEMANDS, GRACE SUPPLIES. God's giving depends on our receiving and taking. He never forces spiritual blessings upon us. He gives divine power as our faith accepts the gift and it becomes consciously and experimentally our possession.