2004, Robert M. Kelley. Reprinted by permission.

The New Covenant

CHAPTER 5

© 2004, Robert M. Kelley

Look up all Scriptures in your own Bible. Read and/or write the Scriptures on paper. Writing Scriptures on paper slows down your mind and causes the Bible verses to be more deeply burned into your mind.

All Scripture is inspired and true. However, you cannot learn everything at once. Therefore, the three most important Scriptures on this subject are in bold type and the next seven most important Scriptures on this subject are underlined.

1. A covenant is an agreement or contract between two parties. The New Covenant is an agreement between an individual human being and God. he New Covenant has been offered, or is now being offered, or will be offered to every human being. Every human who has ever lived (in the past), or is living (now), or will live (in the future) will be offered the New Covenant. No human being will be excluded from the offer of the New Covenant.

2. In the Old Testament God prophesied the coming of the New Covenant:

"'The time is coming,' declares the LORD, 'when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,' declares the LORD. 'This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,' declares the LORD. '1 will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.''' (Jeremiah 31:31-33 NlV)

Here God discusses both the Old Covenant & New Covenant. In the New Covenant God puts His law in human beings' minds and hearts via the Holy Spirit. In the New Covenant the Holy Spirit guides the thinking of human beings.

3. A New Covenant participant is literally motivated and empowered by the mind of God:

"for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose." (Philippians 2: 13 NIV)

The Holy Spirit gives the New Covenant participant both the will ("to will") and the power ("to act") to perform God's desires.

If one is a New Covenant participant and performs the works of God, then all honor and glory for these works go to God, since He has both motivated them and given the power to perform them.

4. Jesus said that the relationship between himself and a human being formed via his blood is the New Covenant:

"In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.'" (I Corinthians 11:25 NlV)

Because a New Covenant participant has the Holy Spirit, he or she is a Christian:

"... And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ." (Romans 8:9 NlV)

In fact, "New Covenant participant" and "Christian" are totally synonymous. (For more information, see Chapter 3, "What is a Christian?," and Chapter 17, "The Holy Spirit.")

5. Beginning the New Covenant involves two calls: First, God must call a person to Christ:

"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him,. . ." ( John 6:44 NIV)

One can preach to a person throughout his or her entire life. However, if God is not calling that person to Christ in this life and at this time, then that person will not and cannot respond. God calls each and every person to the New Covenant at the time and place of His choosing (see 6. below).

Second, the called person must respond by calling on God:

"And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." (Acts 2:21 NIV as quoted from Joel 2:32)

The New Covenant cannot begin in a person's life until: (a) God draws a person to Christ, and (b) that person calls on the name of Jesus. This second call is the person's acceptance of Jesus' blood sacrifice for sin and the beginning of the New Covenant for that person.

6. When does God call each person to the New Covenant? In God's Master Plan Period One God is not calling all persons to Jesus. Consider this fact:

Between about 4000 BC to about 33 AD—about 4,033 years—no one was called to Christ.

(To learn more about when God will call certain groups of people, see the Chapters dealing with God's Master Plan:

9 "God's Master Plan: Overview"

10 "God's Master Plan: Period One"

11 "God's Master Plan: Period Two"

12 "God's Master Plan: Period Three")

Jesus talked about categories of people on Earth in reference to the New Covenant:

"And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever -- the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you." ( John 14:16-17 NIV)

Jesus defines three categories of people on Earth during Period One of God's Master Plan: (a) the world, which neither sees nor hears the Holy Spirit. (b) those who God is calling (the Holy Spirit is with them.), and (c) Christians (the Holy Spirit is in them).

7. In entering into the New Covenant one begins a direct relationship with God &.Jesus Christ:

"Jesus replied, 'If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him."(John 14:23 NIV)

No human institution, priesthood, or ministry can interfere with this relationship.

8. The New Covenant requires faith. New Covenant participants must believe: (a) in Jesus Christ, (b) in Christ's sacrifice, and (c) that God will perform His part of the New Covenant. "Believing in Christ" refers to the faith one must have to participate in the New Covenant.

"Jesus answered, 'The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.'" (John 6:29 NIV)

"For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." (John 6:40 NIV)

The New Testament book of Romans (chapters 1-8) is the only place in the Bible where the New Covenant is laid out in a methodical way. The entire chapter of Romans 4 describes the faith required for the New Covenant.

9. When the New Covenant relationship begins, Christ's blood forgives one's sins. One is forgiven and made totally clean. One is justified and made righteous before God:

"But now a righteousness from God, apart from the law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:21-24 NIV).

God made him who had no sin (margin: Or be a sin offering) for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (II Corinthians 5:21 NIV).

By one's self one can do nothing to be right with God. God has given all human beings the free gift of Christ's sacrifice, so one can be forgiven, made clean, and made righteous before God.

10. One of the rewards of successful participation in the New Covenant is eternal life . A number of Scriptures in the New Testament show this. Here are three:

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son (margin: Or his only begotten Son), that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." ( John 3:16 NIV)

"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him." (John 3:36 NIV)

"but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (John 4:14 NIV)

By contrast, the Old Covenant never offered eternal life.

11. A New Covenant participant becomes a new creation. The receiving of the Holy Spirit gives a person an entirely new outlook and approach to life. Throughout the New Testament, life under the New Covenant is described as new:

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (II Corinthians 5:17 NIV)

12. Entering into the New Covenant is often referred to as being "born again" (or "born from above" or "born anew" in some translations):

"In reply Jesus declared, 'I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again (margin: Or born from above);'" (John 3:3 NIV)

13. In contrast to the Old Covenant, the New Covenant is not written.

"But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code." (Romans 7:6 NIV)

The Old Covenant was written. Although the Old Covenant was given by God, men felt compelled to add many additional "rules" so that one would know "how" to keep the Old Covenant. The result was a mess which no one could keep. As Peter said:

"Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear?" (Acts 15: 10 NIV)

The New Covenant is not written. In the place of a written New Covenant, a Christian has the Holy Spirit in his or her mind. The Holy Spirit gives one the very mind of God. One's thoughts and actions become like God's thoughts and actions.

14. All New Covenant participants will occasionally sin; these sins can be forgiven:

"...the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (I John 1:7-9 KJV)

In addition, in the "Lord's Prayer," which is an outline for prayer, Jesus told human, beings to ask for forgiveness of sin:

"And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." (Matthew 6:12 KJV)

However, if one is a New Covenant participant, one is not going to exhibit a pattern of prevalent sin:

"No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God." (I John 3:9 NIV)

"We know that no child of God commits sin; he is kept safe by the Son of God, and the evil one cannot touch him." (I John 5:18 REB)

All persons are continually influenced by the world and Satan. However, those who are not seeking ,God have no defense for sin influences, and therefore sin frequently.

New Covenant participants, however, will sin occasionally, but not exhibit a pervasive sin pattern. In Romans 7 Paul talks about struggling to obey God. Many people have misunderstood what Paul says here. The struggle to obey God,—keeping the law vs. doing what is carnal—is a struggle which occurs in Old Covenant participants. This is not a struggle which occurs in New Covenant participants.

15. At the time of John the Baptist the message from God changed from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. Note carefully this Scripture:

"From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John." (Matthew 11:12::13 NIV)

Here Jesus is explaining God changing His message from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. The point in time for this transition was the beginning of John the Baptist's ministry. In the Bible the term "Law" (capitalized) refers to the first five books of the Old Testament (the Pentateuch). The term "Prophets" (capitalized) refers to the Old testament prophetic books: the major prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel), Daniel, and the twelve minor prophets (Hosea through Malachi). The Law and Prophets (portions of the Old Testament) spoke only of the Old Covenant. The "kingdom of heaven" is synonymous with "kingdom of God"; it refers to the New Covenant. Only successful New Covenant participants will be in the Kingdom of God.

One of the reasons why the Israelites could not understand Jesus' (New Covenant) message was that the New Covenant was totally new to them.

16. When the New Covenant arrived, it necessitated the end of the Old Covenant:

"Christ is the end of the law. . ." (Romans 10:4 NIV)

In the New Testament the word "law" (lower-case l) usually means the Old Covenant. (In the New Testament the word "Law" (upper-case L) usually means the Pentateuch,) When New Testament writers posed the question, "Are you living under law or grace?" they might as well have said, "Are you living under the Old Covenant or New Covenant?"

"Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law," (Galatians 3:25 NIV)

"By calling this covenant 'new,' he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear." (Hebrews 8:13 NIV) Some people today are still trying to live under the Old Covenant. Good luck! The Old Covenant is all over.

17. The New Covenant was created before the Old Covenant. Some people believe that God created the Old Covenant; when the Old Covenant "failed" He created the New Covenant. No statement could be further from the truth. God always offers the best first. God announced the New Covenant 430 years before the, Old Covenant was created! Paul explains:

"What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the Promise." (Galatians 3:17 NIV)

Read carefully Galatians 3. The "covenant previously established by God" (verse 17) was the New Covenant. Paul explained (a little earlier, in Galatians 3:8) that God announced the New Covenant to Abram in Genesis 12:3—the very first time God spoke to Abram.

18. Romans (chapters 1-8) is the only Bible book which methodically explains the New Covenant:

Chapter(s) Theme

1 All mankind has chosen sin.

2 Israelites (then mostly Jews) are not saved by the Old Covenant (the law).

3 All have sinned. Only the blood of Jesus can save.

4 The New Covenant requires faith.

5-6 History and nature of the Old Covenant & New Covenant.

7 The mental struggle which occurs in those who live under the Old Covenant.

8 New Covenant participants (Christians) live by the Holy Spirit.

Summary.

1. The New Covenant is an agreement between an individual human being and God.

2. In the Old Testament God prophesied the coming of the New Covenant. In the New Covenant God puts His law in human beings' minds and hearts via the Holy Spirit. In the New Covenant the Holy Spirit guides the thinking of human beings.

3. A New Covenant participant is literally motivated and empowered by the mind of God.

4. Jesus said that the relationship between himself and a human being formed via his blood is the New Covenant. Because a New Covenant participant has the Holy Spirit, he or she is a Christian.

5. Beginning the New Covenant involves two calls. First, God must call a person to Christ. Second, the called person must respond by calling on God.

6. When does God call each person to the New Covenant? Jesus defines three categories of people on Earth during Period One of God's Master Plan: (a) the world, which neither sees nor hears the Holy Spirit, (b) those whom God is calling (the Holy Spirit is with them), and (c) Christians (the Holy Spirit is in them).

7. In entering into the New Covenant one begins a direct relationship with God & Jesus Christ. No human institution, priesthood, or ministry can interfere with this relationship.

8. The New Covenant requires faith. The entire chapter of Romans 4 describes the faith required for the New Covenant.

9. Christ's blood forgives one's sins. One is forgiven and made totally clean. One is justified and made righteous before God.

10. One of the rewards for successful participation in the New Covenant is eternal life.

11. A New Covenant participant becomes a new creation.

12. Entering into the New Covenant is often referred to as being "born again."

13. In contrast to the Old Covenant, the New Covenant is not written.

14. If one is a New Covenant participant, one is not going to exhibit a pattern of prevalent sin.

15. At the time of John the Baptist the message from God changed from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant.

16. When the New Covenant arrived, it necessitated the end of the Old Covenant.

17. The New Covenant was created before the Old Covenant.

18. Romans (chapters 1-8) is the only Bible book which methodically explains the New Covenant.

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