The first and most important of the New Covenant blessings is the complete and total forgiveness of sin. Other blessings include the gift of Christ’s righteousness, holiness, indeed, His very life! All of these blessings testify to God’s Grace, which is one of six ways the new covenant can be distinguished from the old.
GOSPEL CIRCLE 002 3
1. ItisaCovenantofGrace
In the old law-based covenant you reaped what you sow, but in the new we reap what Christ has sown. In the old you did in order to get, but in the new we get because Christ has done it ALL. This is grace! And grace declares that all is a gift. Every spiritual blessing is ours in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:3).
2. It is a Covenant of Rest
Under the Old it was do, do, do, but in the New it’s done, done ,done. Faith is a rest, not a work. Is our right not our duty. Only when we rest in the finished work of Calvary can God begin His good work in us. And as His grace abounds, good works abound (2 Corinthians 9:8). Good works don’t produce faith — it never has it never will — but faith produces good works. 3. It’s a Covenant of New Life
Old covenant preaching will make you stupid and harden your heart to the goodness of God (2 Corinthians 3:14). But New Covenant preaching removes the veil and reveals the Glory of God. As you behold him you become like him, transformed by the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18).
Under the old, the best you could hope for was self-improvement that never lasts. But in the new, you become new (2 Corinthians 5:17) — a brand new person with a new heart and a new spirit. You are born of the Spirit, you are no longer a prisoner of sin, but a co-heir with Christ.
4. It’s a Covenant of Union
In the Old Covenant God lived in a temple that you could never enter anyway, but in the new, you are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16). You are one with the Lord and as he is — Holy, righteous, and perfect forever — so are you in this world (1 John 4:17).
You don’t need more faith, more anointing, more of God, more fasting, more Bible. That’s old covenant thinking. You are complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10). In the new, growth happens as we acknowledge every good thing that is already ours in Christ (Philemon 1:6) In the old, growth happens with your ability to keep up with the rules.
5. It is a Covenant You Can Never Break
The old covenant was underwritten by your weak promises to God, but the new rests on the “better promises” of God himself (Hebrews 8:6). In the old you loved God and forgave others because it was commanded of you to receive it from God, but in the new you love and forgive because He first loved and forgave you.
The old covenant was between God and Israel, but the new covenant is between God and God. God holds up both ends of this “contract,” he swore by himself and gave us His Spirit as a guarantee of what is to come (2 Corinthians 1:22).
Under the old covenant, you were blessed if you obeyed, but under the new you are blessed because Christ obeyed. Your salvation is eternally secured because it is Jesus who saves and keeps you, not your works, not your obedience, not your faithfulness. 6. It is a Covenant that Reveals your Father’s Heart
God gave grace to the first man Adam and called him a son (Luke 3:38), but Adam ran and hid. God gave grace to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but the children of Israel said, “No thank you. We rather do it our way.”
At Mount Sinai the children of Israel swapped a covenant based on God’s faithfulness for one based on their own. “We will do whatever you command us to do.” They said (Exodus 19:8). But it was the forbidden tree all over again, and that broke our Father’s heart.
An old covenant emphasis on rules will cause you to see God as a bookkeeper recording all your sins, and as a judge condemning your mistakes. But Jesus tells you today: “Hey, God is not like that! He’s your Heavenly Father who loves you and holds nothing against you. He longs for his prodigals to return home.”
