HF100 - Life in the New Covenant
To: Hebraic-Foundations@yahoogroups.com
From: "Pastor Buddy Martin" <Bro.Buddy@ChristianChallenge.org>
Date: Sun, September 28, 2003
Subject: Bible Study HF100 - Life in the New Covenant
Hebraics,
One struggle that often confronts new believers has to do with the life that is given us in the new covenant. You've often heard me say that when folk try to live in the new covenant by measuring themselves against the former covenant, it can actually hinder the flow of grace in their life. The point is that the new covenant includes a life factor that was not available under any of the former covenants. Let's talk about it.
This is Bible Study HF100 - Life in the New Covenant.
The term 'old covenant' has a view towards the covenant of Moses, or what is called the covenant of Law. John said, "For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ." (Jn1:17) It is here that we see a major distinction between the two covenants. It is in Christ alone that we come to realize the awesome life given us in the new covenant.
To appreciate life in the new covenant the first place we need to look is at the life of Jesus as it is portrayed in the gospels. I'm not simply speaking of the miracles that He did. Those were Messianic miracles that set forth who He really was. But I am speaking of the life he exhibited. John said, "In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men." (John 1:4) It was the Life in Him that astonished the peoples. It was God's life in Him that drew the people to him.
What then does this have to do with new covenant life? It has everything to do with it. In one place Jesus said, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." (John 10:10) This statement alone tells us that Jesus came to give us a life that had been outside the experience of man. The life He came to give us was evident in Himself. This is why John later wrote, "The life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us." (1Jn1:2)
Once again the life John is speaking of was the life that was manifested in Jesus Christ. And it is this very life that is given to every true believer. It is the life factor that distinguishes the new covenant from any and every covenant given prior to the coming of Jesus. Because of the fall of Adam, God's life was not available to any person on this planet. Being born from above means that God's life has been placed in your spiritual being.
And so we have the former covenant [of Moses] which was a covenant of 'This you shall do.' The new covenant is a covenant of, 'This I shall do.' The covenant of Christ is a covenant of God working His will in our heart, in our will, and in the total of our life. This work is can be done because the very life of God has been placed in the believer. And yet in all the things that God does, a believer's personal will is never damaged. This is why a believer may even have a down-turn in life and yet in due time there is a restoration of full fellowship to God. It is because of the life that is in him or her.
This brings us back to spiritual dynamics of the new covenant. In the covenant of Moses there was no true spiritual atonement. The most the sacrifice could do was to the sanctifying of the flesh. This simply means that God would accept the worshipper on the only level that the worshipper could be accepted at that time. Yet all the Old Testament sacrifices could do was serve as reminders of sin and of man's need of a Savior. The Bible says that these sacrifices could never make the worshipper "perfect in conscience." (Heb9:9)
But what of the sacrifice of the cross? Christ offered himself as an 'eternal' sacrifice for sin, and through His atoning blood, the believer is given a cleansed conscience. Rather that having a heart that continues to speak of the condemnation of sin, the blood- atoned heart now speaks of grace and righteousness. The new covenant believer is instantly made aware of a new life principle at work and of his new relationship with God. His conscience has been cleansed.
None of this means that a new covenant believer is incapable of sin. Far from it. What it means is that the new covenant believer's life remains under the influence of the atonement of Christ, and thus the believer always has access to the blood for cleansing.
It is one thing to know we are saved by the sacrifice of Christ, it is altogether another to walk with a cleansed conscience. And so the new covenant has a built in 'spiritual-cleansing' or 'renewing' factor that will never lose its power for cleansings. Both John and Paul speak of this.
In one place Paul says, "We do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day." (2Co4:16) The term 'renewed' is anikainoo. Its basic definition is to 'make new.' But it carries the idea of spiritual restorations. Thus it can be translated that we are being made new in our spirit and mind, day by day. This is the living flow of the life that has been given us in Christ.
Paul added to this in saying, "He saved us (Don't you like that!), not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit." (Tit3:5) Once again Paul is speaking of the new life renewal that the Holy Spirit continues to manifest in each believer.
The apostle is careful to point out that we were not and are not saved by anything we can do or have done in our own power. James even gets in on this when he explains how a person is born from above. He said, "In this exercise of [God's] will He brought us forth by the word of truth." (James 1:18) It is so important to understand this. You don't work God's will in your life. God works God's will in your life. This is why even repentance can be said to be God at work in our hearts.
Now we need to hear from John. The apostle said, "If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from ALL sin." (1Jn1:6,7)
John doesn't stop here, for the simple reason that any believer can break fellowship with the Lord. He went on to say, "If we say that we have no sin [when in fact we really do], we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not [at work] in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (Vs8-10)
It is the conscience [heart; voice of our spirit] that is cleansed by the atoning blood of Jesus. Thus the new covenant believer has a living sacrifice. In Hebrews we hear, "He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them." (Heb7:25)
All this ties to the awesomeness of Life given of the new covenant. Even the prophet Jeremiah spoke of this Life. He said that a new covenant was coming that would not be like the covenant given to Moses. Listen to this quote as found in Hebrews: "They shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen, and everyone his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for all will know Me, from the least to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.' When He said, 'A new covenant,' He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear." (Heb8:11-13)
The Law of Moses was replete with visual reminders of man's need of God. The tabernacle/temple sacrificial system was always before the eyes of the people. But the covenant of Christ has no need for these reminders. The working power of the covenant of Christ takes place in the heart and soul of a believer. It is in this sense that we can say, "His mercies are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness."
We need to know that 'all' our sins were placed on Jesus Christ. Thus the Lord always deal with us as blood redeemed people. When we make mistakes, or fall into a temptation, or stumble, or whatever the case may be, the Lord is able to restore us in full fellowship through the atoning blood of Jesus. Our need is to acknowledge our need of cleansing.
But it is more to this than restoration from sin. It is the very life of the new covenant that we need to learn about. Paul was the one who said that when we try to live in the new covenant on an old covenant level, we end up frustrating grace. How can this be? It is because when we try to earn God's favor on the basis of keeping the Law, we place ourselves in the category of 'God owes me.' That is not how new covenant life works.
Paul gave the finishing touch on how new covenant life works in a single statement. He said, "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now life in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me."
The apostle then seals it in saying, "I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly." (Cf. Gal2:20,21) This is what Paul had in mind when he said, "For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." (2Co3:6)
In closing this part of the study, I need to point out that Paul never came against the moral precepts of the Law of Moses. Those precepts never change. What the apostle was teaching is that there is a higher spiritual law at work in the new covenant. It is called 'the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.' It is because of this Law of Life' that God can write in our hearts all that belongs to Him.
Think about it. Feel free to add your thoughts or ask questions.
The Lord bless you,
Buddy
Lawrence E. (Buddy) Martin, HF Host
email: Bro.Buddy@ChristianChallenge.org
Web: http://www.christianchallenge.org/
"See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled." (Heb12:15)