The New Covenant

Jesus tells us we are living under a New Covenant.
This has some radical and practical implications for our daily lives that we can easily miss.
Many Christians do not have clarity in this area which can lead to making poor choices in their lives.

Terry Virgo: “Many many people in churches have not had a revelation of [the new covenant] to their hearts... Many have a mixture of Old covenant and New Covenant” (9-1:00,3:07)

I want to do three things in this presentation
1. Describe what a covenant is
2. Talk about the Old Covenant
3. Explain the New Covenant

1. What is a Covenant?

a relationship (often friendship or family), not merely a legal contract.
- today we have legal contracts, enforced by putting our signature on the bottom (e.g. story of DirectBuy)
- the only things in our society which are like covenants are marriages and adoptions
- even they are not quite the same as a covenant
The Covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15
- We are going to read a passage from Genesis about God making a covenant with Abraham
- Before we read this passage, it might seem strange to you, but this was the common way making a covenant.
- In ancient times, suppose a king went to war against another king of a smaller nation
  - after a time the king surrendered
  - The two kings would often make an agreement
  - I will promise to pay you tribute of 1000 talents of gold every year
  - I promise to be loyal to you
  - The big king would promise to defend the small king against attackers
  - Then they would cut some animals in pieces and the two of them would walk between the pieces
- What do you think the walking between the cut up animals symbolized?
- We see a mention of this in Jeremiah 38:13-20 Where God is going to punish them for breaking the covenant by causing them to die like the animals.
Abram & the Smoking Torch
- Follow along in Genesis 15 ([role-play])
- Pictures of animals used in the Genesis 15 covenant
- Note that this was a special covenant with Abraham, not what we call the Old Covenant or the New Covenant
- why does only God go between the pieces (not dependent on Abraham)
So this is what a covenant is:
- very serious affair: life and death
- not just a legal agreement, but brings two people into a relationship
The covenant we have just read about was the original covenant with Abraham
- It was a picture of the New Covenant, as I will explain in a minute

2 The Old Covenant

God made a covenant with the whole nation of Israel in Old Testament times
He gave them a lot of laws and commandments
- If they kept them, then he would give them
  - financial blessing
  - health and long life
  - lots of children
- If then broke them then
  - He would punish them
  - He would take away all the good things
  - Ultimately the nation would be destroyed
It was all based on their performance
- It was gracious (they were totally undeserving)
- But that is not the same as saying it was a covenant of grace
It was mostly external
- (this is an oversimplification because mixed in with these laws were promises of a new covenant)
What does it mean to be living under the Old Covenant?
- They related to God as an authority figure
  - who would judge them if they failed
  - The Jews would never call God “Abba” (daddy)
- Blessings and cursings: Deut 27, 28, 29, 30 (e.g. Deut 28:1-2 & 28:15)
- in fact, it was impossible for them to completely keep all the laws
- God was actually very patient with them
  - In fact he was much more gracious than the covenant demanded, e.g. David was not stoned to death for adultery and murder
  - This gave them a hint (that David understood, e.g. Ps 32:1,2,11)
- but in the end the whole nation rebelled against God and all the curses came upon them

3 The New Covenant

Hebrews 8:6-13: The Four promises of the New Covenant
- This is a quote from Jeremiah 31:31-34

A. God’s law written on our hearts

In Galatians Paul tells us that no matter how many laws you make, it can’t change the heart.
- Just imagine that the government passed a law that everyone must love each other—no more hate!
But the Holy Spirit produces fruit in our lives: [Gal 5:22-23]
- “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”
However, it is not just that we have a new heart, the old one has been removed
- we have had a heart-transplant—we don’t have to carry on with our old lifestyle
- we are free to serve Christ
- Recently I saw a trapped butterfly, under a piece of glass on our deck.
  - If you throw a caterpillar up in the air and say “fly! fly!”, it won’t work
  - but a butterfly naturally flies (unless it is trapped, and there are things that can ensnare us but that is another subject)
Relationship to the law
- Moses brought the 10 commandments
- How many commandments did Jesus give?
  - Someone has cataloged the commands in the N.T. and come up with 1,050 !!
  - Did Jesus have a higher standard?
  - So do we end up replacing the OT laws with more and harder laws?
- Some teach that Jesus just gave us some more commands to add on to Moses, but that is a total misunderstanding
- The replacement for the law is not a new law, but a person, Jesus himself!!!!
- He says “follow me”, do what I do, think how I think, love others like I love others
  - Moses never said “follow me”!!
- Goes far beyond a written list of rules
- Can we do it ?
  - Not in our own strength, but Jesus is actually living in us through the Spirit.
    - Moses never said “I will come and live in you!”
  - We are united with him
  - he has defeated the power of sin and he is living within us
- e.g. girl who was recently saved. Her family started hostile, but stopped being antagonistic within days when they saw her change of life, and eventually were saved.
  - It wasn’t that she now had more laws to obey!!
- lovers outperform servants
So what does this mean in practice?
- Two ways of thinking: old heart (legal) or new heart:

Here is a key idea: what has changed is not the law
- but our relationship to the law
Sam Storms Story
Could we run the country like this: not by laws but by grace
- no speed limits, just tell people to drive in a way that would please Jesus?
(He is not in their hearts)
What about our children—can we run a family like this?
- Do we need rules in a home?
- Need to model grace as much as we can
- some books on bringing up children are pure behaviourism

If there is one thing to remember it is this:

It is not the law that has changed, but our relationship to the law

B. We belong to him and he belongs to us

The essence of the New Covenant:
- brought into God’s family
- we were enemies, in rebellion. Now we are brought into his family
- He is “ours”, in a sense he belongs to us as a possession, and we belong to him
- This is like love language, isn’t it:
  - “I am my beloved’s and my beloved’s mine” [SongSol 6:3]
- secure!!!
Three pictures or aspects of this relationship in the New Testament:
1. Servants (Paul calls himself a “bondslave of Jesus Christ”)
2. Children / Father (Adopted as “sons”)
  - Jesus taught us to call the father “Abba”
  - The Spirit puts that cry into us [Rom 8:1]
3. Bride / Bridegroom
  - A marriage is probably the closest thing we have today to a covenant (we don’t usually do the parts with the blood)
  - Our wedding rings are the seals (get Anne to hold her hand up)
  - What do they symbolize (all that is mine is yours)
  - What is the seal of the New Covenant? (The Spirit e.g. Eph. 4:30)
    - That is why it is so important that we experience being filled in a tangible way
How do we live?

C. We can all hear God for ourselves and don’t need to be totally dependent on “priests”

God still gives teachers to his people
- but they are to be listened to with discernment
- Since we have the Spirit, we can discern truth from error
There is a fundamental difference between the O.T. prophet and the N.T. prophet
- They spoke into a community who didn’t have the Spirit in the same way we do and so could not weigh their words
- Most people couldn’t read anyway
- Totally dependent on the priests to speak the truth
  - (That is why it was so serious when O.T. prophets spoke falsehood)
- In the N.C. we all have a responsibility to test what we here
- Not just from prophets, but from teachers as well
God’s written Word is our primary authority
- but in the New Covenant we can all read it and understand it for ourselves!
- Because all of us have the Spirit
In O.T. times if someone wanted to know God’s will, they had to go to a prophet,
- Even King David did (e.g. at Ziklag)
- but in the New Covenant, Jesus says “my sheep hear my voice”
This is a responsibility that many of us would rather not have
- It is much easier to have a priest who will tell you the answer to every question
  - Tell you how to live without you having to think it out yourself
- This is how cults get going
- Something in us wants to follow a leader
Christ is our leader—he leads us all directly
- This gives us encouragement
- “I thought something was not quite right, but I never liked to question the leader”
- You are empowered to disern the truth
But of course leaders should be honoured—they are gifts to the church

D. Our sins are all forgiven

You might say at this point, “how was anyone in the Old Covenant saved”
- Actually the O.C. never saved anyone:
  - Heb 10:4 “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”
- They were saved under the “promise” of the N.C.
  - They didn’t clearly understand it apart from what the prophets said
  - Jesus hadn’t died yet, but they were saved by faith in the promises
No Assurance
- In the Old Covenant you could never be sure that you had kept even the most basic laws
  - You could spend your life worried and anxious about whether God would accept you.
- But many Christians today live lives full of
  - condemnation
  - guilt
  - anxiety over their failings
  - feelings of being inadequate and failing God all the time
  - A sense that God is angry with them and is judging them
The covenant God made with Abraham was a picture of the New Covenant in that it was unconditional
- A free gift
- We don’t have to do anything to earn it -> It was received by faith
But God says: “I will forgive their wickedness, and their sins I will remember no more.”
- Don’t you get it? God is not counting your sins!!!!
- If you mess up today, he will have chosen to forget it tomorrow!
  - (That doesn’t mean their are not consequences—if you get drunk and crash your car, you may find the police remember it.)
  - (Also, God is committed to helping us get out of sinful lifestyle, but he will not ultimately count it against us)
  - Once I was taking a course and just about to go into the exam when I added up my marks and realized I had already passed!
    - What a relief! I didn’t even need to take the exam!
    - You can imagine how it took the pressure off!
    - We have already passed—Jesus has earned us a 100% grade
Scandalous
- Terry Virgo was preaching this once and a man at the back of the church interrupted him and shouted out:
- “That is the most scandalous thing I have ever heard!”
- “Then you very nearly understand it, Sir”
- People are offended by this teaching (and were when the Apostle Paul taught it), saying it will lead us into more sin...
  - This truth is almost dangerous (why is it actually safe?)
  - If it were not for the new heart and the relationship then it would!
  - But the New Covenant is a package
    - If someone does use it as an excuse for sinning freely, then they probably don’t actually have the new heart
Summary: if you are a member of the New Covenant:
1. You have a new heart, that like a butterfly wants to soar
2. You are God’s beloved and he is your beloved. You are secure in the relationship
3. You relate to God directly, not through priests
4. You are totally forgiven and God is never judging you or condemning you
Go back to the visual God gave Abraham
- God has made this promise to me
- It is so certain that God says he would cease to be God if he broke it
We need to respond to this message!
- Maybe you are feeling condemned and a failure and want to enter into these truths more.
  - “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus...” [Rom 8:1]