LIVING UNDER THE NEW COVENANT
Study #1: Defining the Covenants
Beloved I pray above all things that you might PROSPER - 3 John 2
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By: Dr. Bill Miller Volume XVIII Number 37 September 13, 2015
Greetings in the Name of Jesus and welcome to the PLN Sunday Night Bible Fellowship!
Welcome back from summer vacation everyone and with this issue of PLN we begin a new series that will discuss the subject of HOW to live under the New Covenant.
I believe the Lord is leading us to write about this subject because it seems like a lot of Christians these days are confused about what the New Covenant includes, AND what it doesn't include. The result is that we see many believers trying to please God by Old Covenant works when He has set it up for us to be FREE under the terms and conditions of a New Covenant that's BETTER than the LAW that Jews were CHOSEN to live under prior to the resurrection of Christ. Fully understanding the extent and power of the New Covenant leads to VICTORY in Christ in every area of life (1 Corinthians 15:57 and 2 Corinthians 2:14) which is something that we really need right now as we face secular challenges to what we believe and stand for.
AS ALWAYS I ENCOURAGE EVERYONE TO LOOK UP THE CITED SCRIPTURES TO CONFIRM FOR YOURSELVES WHETHER OR NOT MY STATEMENTS ARE GROUNDED IN THE WORD. Just read them as they're written, separated from any man-taught traditions and see if there's any difference. Open yourself to the possibility that you should at least consider (think about, evaluate, ponder, etc.) the possibility of a different point of view than maybe what you've been used to.
The Covenants of God
God has always made covenants with people so that among other things we can know what He expects. The word testament by the way comes from the Latin word for Covenant. A COVENANT is a formal agreement offered by an initiating party for acceptance by a second party. The first party offers to provide certain benefits subject to the fulfillment of the requirements called for by the Covenant. According to the Word, God has offered five major covenants through the following individuals over the course of history:
Adam
Noah
Abraham
Moses (under the Law, God also made a side-covenant with King David)
Jesus
The first, second and fourth covenants made with these three named mediators required that people keep the related terms and conditions in order to obtain God's favor, which they did NOT accomplish. The third covenant was a reward for Abraham's FAITH and it PROMISED that the blessing of God would come to one particular descendant (Galatians 3:14-16) which turned out to be Jesus. So now if you belong to Christ under the fifth and last Covenant (Galatians 3:29), you are an heir to the PROMISE that God made to Abraham BEFORE the LAW.
The fifth Covenant has been made with Jesus as an everlasting agreement that won't be broken because He's the One responsible for meeting all the requirements. We participate in it by GRACE through FAITH (Ephesians 2:8), NOT BY OUR WORKS. There's no act or work that we can perform that will impress God. He only requires our FAITH and our WILLINGNESS to submit to the authority of Christ by truly making Him Lord (Romans 10:9). Our job is to allow Christ to live and work in and through us. The rest of it has ALREADY been taken care of.
The Old Testament
The part of the Bible we call the Old Testament covers those first four covenants. The Book of Genesis covers the first three and the rest of the Old Testament covers the fourth which the Bible calls the LAW. More next week on the LAW but for now I wanted to establish that we no longer live under the LAW. Try to forget all those religious traditions as you contemplate the following scriptures:
Galatians 3:25 = now that faith has come we are no longer under the LAW.
Hebrews 7:18 = the covenant of the LAW has been set aside.
Hebrews 8:13 = the New Covenant made the LAW obsolete.
Romans 3:6-9 = we are servants of a New Covenant that brings life instead of death and condemnation.
Romans 6:14 = we are not under the LAW but under GRACE.
Romans 7:4 = we are dead to the LAW.
Romans 7:6 = we have been released from the LAW.
Galatians 5:18 = those who are led by the Spirit cannot be under the LAW.
Romans 10:4 = Christ is the end of the LAW. Matthew 5:17 = Jesus has fulfilled the LAW.
Friend, we aren't supposed to be living under the LAW. It has been replaced by a New Covenant that is BETTER than the Covenant of the LAW (Hebrews 7:22, 8:6). In future articles we'll be discussing what that means and how it sets us free to be all we can be in Christ, and Him alone.
KEY TAKEAWAYS TONIGHT: The Old Covenant of the Law was put in place for the Jews to live under prior to Christ. It contains a lot of spiritual principles that are helpful in life and provide deeper understanding of the power and freedom of the New Covenant. But believers do NOT live under the LAW. We DO live under the New Covenant with Jesus Christ as the sole Mediator between believers and the Father. The LAW was a Covenant of obtaining God's favor through obedience and good works and its purpose was to show people that they needed a Messiah (Galatians 3:24). The New Covenant is a Covenant of GRACE by FAITH that is grounded in LOVE.
Thanks for joining our discussion tonight. We'll be looking for you again NEXT Sunday night on September 20. In the meantime may the Lord bless you with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3), pushing you to VICTORY in every area of life!
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Sinners' Prayer
If you've never invited Jesus to be the Lord of your life, you can do it today just by saying out loud the following simple prayer:
Jesus I declare today with all my heart that I believe in you and I believe that God raised you from the dead. I acknowledge that my sins have been forgiven and I ask you to come into my life today and be my Lord and Savior. Thank you for salvation and eternal life.
If you were sincere as you prayed this prayer, God has already come into your life and you are a new creation, a totally new species recreated in His image. Now ask the Lord to lead you to a good faith-based, bible-teaching church where you can be equipped to fulfill your potential in the Kingdom of God.
When you get a moment have someone help you look up the following scriptures because they confirm what you've done by saying this prayer and believing what you said:
Romans 10:9
2 Corinthians 5:17
Ephesians 2:8
Prayer Requests
If you have a Prayer Request, please connect to the Link below and follow the promptings. The PLN staff members pray over Prayer Requests every Tuesday morning at 10:00 AM central time. Agree with us for God to answer your petitions.
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