Key Life Network

Matthew: Hey, Noah’s boat was just the beginning. Let’s talk about it on Key Life. This is Key Life. We’re here to let you know that because of what Jesus has done, God will never be any angry at you again. Jerry Perry has been teaching us all this week. Jerry serves as pastor at Christian Family Worship Center House of Grace, and he’s the author of *The Making of a Blended Family*.

Steve Brown: Thank you, Matthew. I hate this week coming to an end. We’ve had a great week of teaching on the covenants. The covenant made with Adam and the covenant made with Noah. Yeah. But listen, let’s talk to us about what all this has to do with me? What does it have to do with you and the people who are listening?

Jerry Perry: Well, one of the things that I’m just grateful about, Steve, is that God keeps His promises even when we don’t. The Bible says even when we’re unfaithful, God is faithful to us. And so we can look at these covenants and know that the rainbow in the sky still stands today. The covenant that God made with Adam, that we have dominion and power over our own life, still stands today.

And so these covenants represent the grace of what Jesus was going to do in this time for us. And just like those covenants, He kept those promises. The promises that He made to us pertaining to our salvation and His love and His forgiveness still remains.

Steve Brown: And that’s why Paul said in Ephesians 1:3, "All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ."

Jerry Perry: Yeah. And when you look at Ephesians the first chapter, the third verse all the way down to probably the 12th or 13th verse—the 14th verse—there’s some great stuff in there. Even verse four says, "Even before He made the world..." Listen to this: "Even before He made the world"—that means before He made Adam, before Noah, before all of the covenants—"even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into His family and bring us to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do, and it gives Him great pleasure."

Isn’t that incredible? That God chose you, God chose me because this was not an accident. Sometimes when people talk about Adam, we say, "Oh man, Adam screwed up, man, he messed God’s plan up." No, God planned this before the foundation of the world. You can’t surprise God.

Steve Brown: Listen, for those of you who are theologically minded, that’s called supralapsarianism. And it means that some people say that God was kind of surprised in the Garden of Eden. I mean, He didn’t plan it that way; He planned it the other way. Those are called infralapsarians. Listen, stick with me. You’ve been teaching me all week, and a supralapsarian says, "Oh, no. This started way before even the Garden of Eden. Every bit of it was planned by Sovereign God who was faithful and knew what He was doing." Okay, what did He do?

Jerry Perry: Absolutely. The Bible said even before the foundation of the world, Jesus was slain before the foundation of the world. That means that God had it all fixed. It’s a fixed fight. You and I have already been blessed by God. You and I have already been saved by God. You and I have already been redeemed by God.

And as the covenant with Noah had nothing to do with you, the covenant with Jesus, the only thing you have to do is receive it. And it belongs to you because He chose you before the foundation of the world. And gave you, by the way, every spiritual blessing. You know what every spiritual blessing is? It’s not cars, houses, and money. Spiritual blessings are peace, love, joy, the Holy Spirit. Those are the spiritual blessings that He has given every one of us. That’s the same thing that He gave to Noah at the beginning of time—that he had dominion and power over everything.

Steve Brown: That’s good. And doesn’t a tree appear again in Revelation 2?

Jerry Perry: Yes, it’s the tree of life again. The same tree.

Steve Brown: That’s kind of the end on the screen of the most wonderful movie that’s ever been produced. It’s that, and they ate of the tree of life.

Jerry Perry: They ate of the tree of life because God’s promise to Noah is that you would never die. And so God’s promise to us because we believe in Jesus and we have eaten off the tree of Jesus is that we will never die. I mean, He told Martha, "Martha, had you been here, my brother would not have died." Jesus says, "I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live."

And so you’ve got to realize that your eternal life has started right now. I’m talking to somebody who may be looking at somebody who may be passing and may be in a situation where they don’t know if they’re going to make it tomorrow. I have to tell you that your eternal life has already started because he that believeth in me, even though your eyes may close, your spirit still lives on through Jesus.

Steve Brown: You said our response to all of this, and you made it really simple. Is it really that simple?

Jerry Perry: It really is. Jesus says, "Take my yoke upon me and learn of me, for my yoke is easy and my burdens are light." We make this complicated. It’s really simple. It’s really easy. That if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that God has raised Jesus from the dead, that’s what saves you. That’s it.

You don’t have to do the work. Jesus has done the work for you. Your work is to believe. Your work is to receive. Your work is to accept the finished work of the cross. And it’s simple. All you have to do is say, "Father, I receive Jesus into my life. I receive Him as my Lord and Savior." And the moment you do that, the Holy Spirit comes in and your life is changed forever.

Steve Brown: Amen. You know, that is a message. Somebody has said the gospel is an ocean where elephants can swim and it’s a child’s wading pool where children can swim too. It’s really that simple.

Jerry Perry: It really is that simple. I like what the 14th verse said. The Spirit of God guarantees that He will give us the inheritance He promised and that He has purchased us to be His own people. He did this, Steve, so that we would praise and glorify Him.

And so when you realize all the things that God has done for you, when you realize that you have received every spiritual blessing, when you realize that He has adopted you into His family, when you realize that He has poured out all of His grace on you, all you have to do is receive it. There is nothing more you need to do to receive what God has given to you. Just believe.

Steve Brown: Now, this program is a teaching program for believers. But occasionally people will be driving along and they’ll have their radio on and this program comes on. And I said something similar to what you said years ago. And I said, "Now, if you’ve received Him, find somebody who’s a Christian and tell them, because they’ve got some more good news for you."

And this guy pulled his car over in front—he was driving by a church—parked his car unlawfully, got out of the car, walked into the church, and the organist was sitting there practicing on the organ. And he said, "I just heard a guy with a deep voice tell me I need to tell you what happened to me and that you would help me." And the whole world opened up. And the guy who was the organist wrote me a letter and told me the story. So if you’re just driving along and you’ve listened to us talk, what should you do?

Jerry Perry: Listen, here’s what you have to do. It’s real simple. Well, don’t bow your head while you’re driving. Keep your eyes open on the road. Just make this confession: Father, I receive you into my heart. I accept you as Lord and Savior of my life. I believe that you died for my sins, and I accept that I have been forgiven of my past, my present, and my future sins. I receive you into my heart. And from this day forward, I’m going to make you the Lord of my life. And if you make that confession and you believe it, my God, I just got some good news for you: Your name has just been put in heaven. You are saved. That’s all it takes. It’s done.

Steve Brown: Oh man. So what we should do, if somebody did that—and I’m sure some heard it, prayed, and listened to what you said—we should wish them a happy birthday, shouldn’t we?

Jerry Perry: Amen. Well, welcome to the family. Get ready, you’re getting ready to see some of the best days of your life because Jesus is the best thing that could ever happen to you.

Steve Brown: And that’s all because God has created the covenants which we have talked about this week. By the way, if you’re not a Christian and you prayed a prayer like that, let me know. Just drop me an email at steve@keylife.org and we have some material to give to you. Jerry, you’ve been great. I’ve loved the teaching this week.

Jerry Perry: Thank you, sir.

Steve Brown: I am encouraged, and I hope you guys are too. You think about that. I’m in.

Matthew: Wow, thank you, Steve Brown and Jerry Perry. I always learn so much when they team up. As mentioned before, we’re going to revisit the topic of covenants throughout the rest of this year, so stay tuned for those details in the coming months.

And hey, it’s Friday eve, so do join us tomorrow for Friday Q&A. Tomorrow, Steve and Pete will tackle the challenging questions you’ve sent in, including this one: Did God really love Jacob and hate Esau? Hmm, okay. Well, we’ve name-checked Jerry Perry and Pete Alwinson, so let’s just throw in another voice of Key Life: Matt Heard. Matt wrote a dynamite book called *Life with a Capital L*.

If you ever feel limited or stuck, guess what? That’s not the way it was meant to be. God intends the humanity in each of us to be deeply experienced, lavishly enjoyed, and exuberantly celebrated. And for a minimum donation of $15 to Key Life, this book is our gift to you. So call us at 1-800-KEY-LIFE. That’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also email steve@keylife.org to order that book, or go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing address. Again, the book is called *Life with a Capital L*.

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