The New Covenant
There are two major covenants in the Bible, Old and New. The old was based on the law and mans performance. The new is based on grace and in it God deals with man based on our faith in Jesus finished work on the cross. Study the New Covenant and realize for yourself that God states
"I will forgive their iniquity, I will remember their sin no more.”
Great video by Andrew Farley - The New Covenant
Make sure you are not trying to mix the New and Old Covenant. They are drastically different and are not meant to be mixed. The New completely replaced the Old as you can see HERE. "In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away." Hebrews 8:13 The book of Hebrews goes into detail explaining how we are under the New and no longer under the Old Covenant. Read an meditate on the book of Hebrews.
Hebrews 8:6-13 But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. For he finds fault with them when he says: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenantwith the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
Paul understood we are completely under the New Covenant of Grace and Truth and no longer under the first (covenant of law brought by Moses) or a mixture of the two. In the book of Galatians Paul rebukes the Galatians for abandoning the gospel of grace he preached to them. They actually had not abandoned it they had added the law to it. They had been deceived into mixing the Old and New Covenant. Legalistic Jews had slipped in and deceived the Galatians by saying yes you must believe in Jesus but you also must add to it and keep (required to keep, obligated to keep) the law of Moses to be saved. Today we still hear this deception in veiled ways. For many years I unknowingly lived with one foot in the Old and one in the New Covenant. The sad part is that the Old Covenant keeps mans eyes on himself and his performance (self conscious) which leads man into condemnation in his thoughts. The new covenant keeps mans eyes focused on Jesus (Christ conscious) and His finished work on the cross. The truth is that if you are in Christ (accepted Jesus as Savior) you have satisfied the law of Moses in Christ and are thus walking in the spirit. You have moved into the worship of God in Spirit and Truth. By acknowledging your need for a savior you agreed that Gods law is holy, just and right and you recognized you cannot keep it. Your actions uphold the validity of God's law over your life. The very fact that you cried out for Jesus means you want to obey God and admit you cannot. The new Covenant is about believing and trusting God. We cannot add to Jesus finished work with our works. We cannot perfect ourselves by doing more.
Here is a great example of what I am talking about. Like me, maybe you have struggled with producing the following attributes listed in 2 Peter 1:5-7 "For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love." Do you know why the Bible says you do not have these? "For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins." 2 Peter 1:9. In other words if we forget we are forgiven we will not act like we are forgiven. The truth is you have been completely forgiven and this goes hand and hand with how much God loves you. You need to soak daily in these truths eliminating all false beliefs planted by satan.
Another way to look at a believers situation is that the law of Moses required the law be kept or an acceptable sacrifice be paid if it was not. The acceptable sacrifice option was part of the law. In the old testament the priest did not examine the sinner who brought the lamb, he examined the lamb and if it was acceptable the sinner went home free. It is the same here, God already knows you have fallen short. The sacrifice you brought was the lamb of God, Jesus Himself. Your offering was more than acceptable. Your sins are forgiven and you are free. It would be similar to being charged with a crime today and finding out you need to pay the fine or go to jail. If you could afford it you would pay the fine and go free because in that payment the law would be satisfied. As believers we realized we are law breakers and on our own could never pay the required fine. Therefore we brought an acceptable payment/sacrifice that God himself provided (just like he provided the sacrifice for Abraham) when we accepted Jesus and his FINISHED work on the cross. Thus we satisfied the law of Moses in Christ. You are loved by God, forgiven, redeemed, blessed and will (never come under his condemnation John 3:18, Rom 8:1). Do not doubt God as Eve did, just believe. If you have accepted Jesus you are already in the spirit. Just like you needed to learn to walk when you were a baby, you are now learning to walk in the spirit.
Next look at how the Apostle Paul presented the gospel. This is really Good News! We should do the same. Jesus came to earth on an all out rescue mission. He did not pull you into the life raft to toss you out later.
"From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.(don't reject Jesus) For he says, In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you. Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation." 2 Cor 5:16-21, 6:1-2
The Bible states we are in a spiritual battle and the enemy will try and get you to fear as you let go completely from trusting in your own works and walk more by Gods grace from faith to faith. The argument he may try and present to you directly or through other believers is that too much grace will lead you to sin. This is the same accusation that was leveled at the Apostle Paul a number of times (Rom 3:8, 6:1, 6:15) leading him to strongly defend grace alone through faith alone. Scripture tells us this is a faulty argument but since we are so accustomed to living under a combination of law and grace you may be tempted to believe it. You may need to ask yourself "What is my motivation for wanting to walk completely in Gods grace?". I would bet that your motivation is not to be able to freely sin. If it is, then I would suggest that you are not born again and need to first accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Personally my motivation was to live and walk in the freedom Christ died to give me and to be a better example to others of the love of Christ. As I studied I realized how much of my life satan has stolen from me over the years. I can tell you from personal experience that relying totally on Gods grace does not lead a born again person to sin more. As a matter of fact the Bible teaches "For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace." Romans 6:14. sin will have no dominion over you specifically because you are under grace and not the law. The law actually aroused a desire within us to sin according to Paul. "But sin used this command to arouse all kinds of covetous desires within me! If there were no law, sin would not have that power." Romans 7:8 Paul states that apart from the law sin has no power. A full realization of God's unconditional love and grace will lead you to lose the desire to do some things you have done in the past. Things that may have haunted and condemned you for years. This change of heart and mind is true repentance due to the love and kindness of God. .....God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance Romans 2:4b. When you truly realize how much God loves you and that you have been totally forgiven, sin will lose its luster and you will desire on your own to please your Father. This is exactly what we as earthly parents want from our children. We want them to want to do the right thing of their own choice not because they fear our punishment. As a matter of fact it is not our desire to punish our children. Our Father in heaven is no different in this regard. "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" Romans 5:8. God took our punishment upon Himself. Praise God! The best way to counteract this attack from satan is to learn the truth, you are no longer under the Old Covenant, the law which includes the 10 commandments. You are under grace. This can be clearly learned by studying and renewing your mind with the New Covenant and understanding that it fully (not partially) replaced the Old Covenant.
Learn and Live In the New Covenant With These Powerful Written and Audio Teachings
Let's imagine you work for a large company and are a member of a union. Every so often the current contract comes to an end and a new contract between the employer and employee's is put into place. Which contract would you primarily be interested in reading? Which contact would contain the most up to date and correct information, the old or the new? The answer to both of these questions is obviously the new contract. The same truth applies here. We are under the New Covenant and should be primarily focused on how it states God now deals with us. While we can learn much from the Old Covenant too, it should always be read in the light of the New Covenant. After all the Bible clearly tells us that the Old Covenant is a shadow of things to come in the New Covenant.
Read the book of Hebrews to learn about the New Covenant.
Here is a great teaching on the New Covenant you can read HERE.
Free side by side comparison of Old and New Covenant HERE.
Several short Bible studies to grow in your Freedom in Christ can be found HERE.
Go HERE and scroll down the list until you find the 10 part free video series titled Hebrews Highlights.
Jesus, Our Willing Sacrifice (Hebrews 9:11-10:18) HERE
Another Great Book - The Naked Gospel
Growing list of short New Covenant Bible studies that apply to your Freedom in Christ.
All of the most up to date studies in the group below can be found HERE.
What is the only way the Bible teaches a person can be righteous, right with God?
Only Way to be Righteous, Literally Righteous in Christ, Seek First His Righteousness, I AM THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN CHRIST, Peace and Joy, One Man's
What is the New Covenant of Grace and did it replace the Old Covenant of Law?
The New Covenant of Grace Replaced the Old Covenant of Law, Justified by Grace Through Faith Alone, Bible Verses on Grace
But aren’t we still under the Old Covenant law?
We Are Not Sinners Because We Sin, We Sin Because We are Sinners, Christians Are Not Under the Law of Moses, Our Standard is Much Higher, Don't Rearm Your Enemy, Fallen From Grace, Letter Kills, Spirit Gives Life, The Only Place Sin Lies Dead, The Law of Moses is Doing its Job, 10 Commandments Are Not Gods Highest Standard
Can I lose my salvation for not confessing my ongoing sins?
A Christians Sins are NOT Counted Against Them, Can We Lose Our Salvation For Not Confessing Our Sin 1 John,
Can a Christian Lose their Salvation by Sinning? NO
What is the ONE unforgiveable sin?
What is the One Unforgivable Sin?, These People Will Not Inherit the Kingdom of God,
The Final Judgment Will You Be a Sheep or a Goat?
Does the Holy Spirit convict believers of their sins?
Holy Spirit Convicts Me of What?
How does God view a believer?
Sanctified or Not?, God SWORE I Will NOT be Angry With or Rebuke Believers, Jesus Never Called a Believer a Hypocrite, Will God Forgive Us if We do Not Forgive Others?
What do I need to do to be more like Jesus? Believe!
How to Read the Bible Understand God's Love and Grace for You First, How to be Transformed Into His Image, How to Stop Sin, Stop Disqualifying Yourself, Lacking These Qualities?, How to be Filled with The Fullness of God, Awake to Righteousness, Deny Your Self Righteousness and Follow Me, Sin Not The Problem,Can You Say This Christian?, Sin Consciousness Grieves the Holy Spirit, Joseph a Picture of Jesus, Self Occupied or Christ Occupied, Using Sin to Please God,Reconciliation vs Alienation, What is The One Thing That Keeps a Believer in Sin?
30 Questions/Objections to New Covenant Grace Alone Answered with Scripture
Regular listening, soaking in the pure message of grace as in the true gospel, will renew your mind, transforming you without effort into the image of Christ.You will reign in life over sin and the things that have plagued you all your life.
For if, because of one man’s (Adam) trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Rom 5:17
"I will forgive their iniquity, I will remember their sin no more.”
Great video by Andrew Farley - The New Covenant
Make sure you are not trying to mix the New and Old Covenant. They are drastically different and are not meant to be mixed. The New completely replaced the Old as you can see HERE. "In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away." Hebrews 8:13 The book of Hebrews goes into detail explaining how we are under the New and no longer under the Old Covenant. Read an meditate on the book of Hebrews.
Hebrews 8:6-13 But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. For he finds fault with them when he says: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenantwith the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
Paul understood we are completely under the New Covenant of Grace and Truth and no longer under the first (covenant of law brought by Moses) or a mixture of the two. In the book of Galatians Paul rebukes the Galatians for abandoning the gospel of grace he preached to them. They actually had not abandoned it they had added the law to it. They had been deceived into mixing the Old and New Covenant. Legalistic Jews had slipped in and deceived the Galatians by saying yes you must believe in Jesus but you also must add to it and keep (required to keep, obligated to keep) the law of Moses to be saved. Today we still hear this deception in veiled ways. For many years I unknowingly lived with one foot in the Old and one in the New Covenant. The sad part is that the Old Covenant keeps mans eyes on himself and his performance (self conscious) which leads man into condemnation in his thoughts. The new covenant keeps mans eyes focused on Jesus (Christ conscious) and His finished work on the cross. The truth is that if you are in Christ (accepted Jesus as Savior) you have satisfied the law of Moses in Christ and are thus walking in the spirit. You have moved into the worship of God in Spirit and Truth. By acknowledging your need for a savior you agreed that Gods law is holy, just and right and you recognized you cannot keep it. Your actions uphold the validity of God's law over your life. The very fact that you cried out for Jesus means you want to obey God and admit you cannot. The new Covenant is about believing and trusting God. We cannot add to Jesus finished work with our works. We cannot perfect ourselves by doing more.
Here is a great example of what I am talking about. Like me, maybe you have struggled with producing the following attributes listed in 2 Peter 1:5-7 "For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love." Do you know why the Bible says you do not have these? "For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins." 2 Peter 1:9. In other words if we forget we are forgiven we will not act like we are forgiven. The truth is you have been completely forgiven and this goes hand and hand with how much God loves you. You need to soak daily in these truths eliminating all false beliefs planted by satan.
Another way to look at a believers situation is that the law of Moses required the law be kept or an acceptable sacrifice be paid if it was not. The acceptable sacrifice option was part of the law. In the old testament the priest did not examine the sinner who brought the lamb, he examined the lamb and if it was acceptable the sinner went home free. It is the same here, God already knows you have fallen short. The sacrifice you brought was the lamb of God, Jesus Himself. Your offering was more than acceptable. Your sins are forgiven and you are free. It would be similar to being charged with a crime today and finding out you need to pay the fine or go to jail. If you could afford it you would pay the fine and go free because in that payment the law would be satisfied. As believers we realized we are law breakers and on our own could never pay the required fine. Therefore we brought an acceptable payment/sacrifice that God himself provided (just like he provided the sacrifice for Abraham) when we accepted Jesus and his FINISHED work on the cross. Thus we satisfied the law of Moses in Christ. You are loved by God, forgiven, redeemed, blessed and will (never come under his condemnation John 3:18, Rom 8:1). Do not doubt God as Eve did, just believe. If you have accepted Jesus you are already in the spirit. Just like you needed to learn to walk when you were a baby, you are now learning to walk in the spirit.
Next look at how the Apostle Paul presented the gospel. This is really Good News! We should do the same. Jesus came to earth on an all out rescue mission. He did not pull you into the life raft to toss you out later.
"From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.(don't reject Jesus) For he says, In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you. Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation." 2 Cor 5:16-21, 6:1-2
The Bible states we are in a spiritual battle and the enemy will try and get you to fear as you let go completely from trusting in your own works and walk more by Gods grace from faith to faith. The argument he may try and present to you directly or through other believers is that too much grace will lead you to sin. This is the same accusation that was leveled at the Apostle Paul a number of times (Rom 3:8, 6:1, 6:15) leading him to strongly defend grace alone through faith alone. Scripture tells us this is a faulty argument but since we are so accustomed to living under a combination of law and grace you may be tempted to believe it. You may need to ask yourself "What is my motivation for wanting to walk completely in Gods grace?". I would bet that your motivation is not to be able to freely sin. If it is, then I would suggest that you are not born again and need to first accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Personally my motivation was to live and walk in the freedom Christ died to give me and to be a better example to others of the love of Christ. As I studied I realized how much of my life satan has stolen from me over the years. I can tell you from personal experience that relying totally on Gods grace does not lead a born again person to sin more. As a matter of fact the Bible teaches "For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace." Romans 6:14. sin will have no dominion over you specifically because you are under grace and not the law. The law actually aroused a desire within us to sin according to Paul. "But sin used this command to arouse all kinds of covetous desires within me! If there were no law, sin would not have that power." Romans 7:8 Paul states that apart from the law sin has no power. A full realization of God's unconditional love and grace will lead you to lose the desire to do some things you have done in the past. Things that may have haunted and condemned you for years. This change of heart and mind is true repentance due to the love and kindness of God. .....God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance Romans 2:4b. When you truly realize how much God loves you and that you have been totally forgiven, sin will lose its luster and you will desire on your own to please your Father. This is exactly what we as earthly parents want from our children. We want them to want to do the right thing of their own choice not because they fear our punishment. As a matter of fact it is not our desire to punish our children. Our Father in heaven is no different in this regard. "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" Romans 5:8. God took our punishment upon Himself. Praise God! The best way to counteract this attack from satan is to learn the truth, you are no longer under the Old Covenant, the law which includes the 10 commandments. You are under grace. This can be clearly learned by studying and renewing your mind with the New Covenant and understanding that it fully (not partially) replaced the Old Covenant.
Learn and Live In the New Covenant With These Powerful Written and Audio Teachings
Let's imagine you work for a large company and are a member of a union. Every so often the current contract comes to an end and a new contract between the employer and employee's is put into place. Which contract would you primarily be interested in reading? Which contact would contain the most up to date and correct information, the old or the new? The answer to both of these questions is obviously the new contract. The same truth applies here. We are under the New Covenant and should be primarily focused on how it states God now deals with us. While we can learn much from the Old Covenant too, it should always be read in the light of the New Covenant. After all the Bible clearly tells us that the Old Covenant is a shadow of things to come in the New Covenant.
Read the book of Hebrews to learn about the New Covenant.
Here is a great teaching on the New Covenant you can read HERE.
Free side by side comparison of Old and New Covenant HERE.
Several short Bible studies to grow in your Freedom in Christ can be found HERE.
Go HERE and scroll down the list until you find the 10 part free video series titled Hebrews Highlights.
Jesus, Our Willing Sacrifice (Hebrews 9:11-10:18) HERE
Another Great Book - The Naked Gospel
Growing list of short New Covenant Bible studies that apply to your Freedom in Christ.
All of the most up to date studies in the group below can be found HERE.
What is the only way the Bible teaches a person can be righteous, right with God?
Only Way to be Righteous, Literally Righteous in Christ, Seek First His Righteousness, I AM THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN CHRIST, Peace and Joy, One Man's
What is the New Covenant of Grace and did it replace the Old Covenant of Law?
The New Covenant of Grace Replaced the Old Covenant of Law, Justified by Grace Through Faith Alone, Bible Verses on Grace
But aren’t we still under the Old Covenant law?
We Are Not Sinners Because We Sin, We Sin Because We are Sinners, Christians Are Not Under the Law of Moses, Our Standard is Much Higher, Don't Rearm Your Enemy, Fallen From Grace, Letter Kills, Spirit Gives Life, The Only Place Sin Lies Dead, The Law of Moses is Doing its Job, 10 Commandments Are Not Gods Highest Standard
Can I lose my salvation for not confessing my ongoing sins?
A Christians Sins are NOT Counted Against Them, Can We Lose Our Salvation For Not Confessing Our Sin 1 John,
Can a Christian Lose their Salvation by Sinning? NO
What is the ONE unforgiveable sin?
What is the One Unforgivable Sin?, These People Will Not Inherit the Kingdom of God,
The Final Judgment Will You Be a Sheep or a Goat?
Does the Holy Spirit convict believers of their sins?
Holy Spirit Convicts Me of What?
How does God view a believer?
Sanctified or Not?, God SWORE I Will NOT be Angry With or Rebuke Believers, Jesus Never Called a Believer a Hypocrite, Will God Forgive Us if We do Not Forgive Others?
What do I need to do to be more like Jesus? Believe!
How to Read the Bible Understand God's Love and Grace for You First, How to be Transformed Into His Image, How to Stop Sin, Stop Disqualifying Yourself, Lacking These Qualities?, How to be Filled with The Fullness of God, Awake to Righteousness, Deny Your Self Righteousness and Follow Me, Sin Not The Problem,Can You Say This Christian?, Sin Consciousness Grieves the Holy Spirit, Joseph a Picture of Jesus, Self Occupied or Christ Occupied, Using Sin to Please God,Reconciliation vs Alienation, What is The One Thing That Keeps a Believer in Sin?
30 Questions/Objections to New Covenant Grace Alone Answered with Scripture
Regular listening, soaking in the pure message of grace as in the true gospel, will renew your mind, transforming you without effort into the image of Christ.You will reign in life over sin and the things that have plagued you all your life.
For if, because of one man’s (Adam) trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Rom 5:17
