A Covenant is an agreement.
The basic idea of a covenant is that, one party agrees to do certain things if the second party agrees to do certain other things. What someone does in a covenant always depends on what the one they are covenanted with is doing, or will do.
Those who are living for God now, are living under the Everlasting Covenant which is by the Blood of Christ.
I say those, "who are living for God now," because whoever is not abiding in the Covenant in the Blood of Christ cannot live for God, but can only live for self, regardless of what they do or what they think. There is simply nothing which will bring us into the Throne room of God or keep us there except the Blood of the New Covenant.
The previous Covenant with God was with the Israelites, and was a Covenant of Works of the Law. But it also required that the heart of the Israelites be near to God and have Faith(trust and reliance) in Him, looking forward to what the messiah would accomplish.
Listen to what God said through Isaiah to the Israelites as recorded in Isaiah 1:11-15.
To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto Me? saith the Lord: I am full of the Burnt Offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs. or of he goats.
When you come to appear before Me, who has required this at your hand, to tread My courts?
Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto Me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.
Your new moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates: they are a trouble unto Me; I am weary to bear them.
And when you spread forth your hands, I will hide My eyes from you: yea, when you make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.
This meant that they were to live to the best of their ability, following the precepts and works which were commanded by the Law, but to do it with a heart of love and faithfulness, even being glad that they may have opportunity to serve the Lord, trusting in the True Lamb of God who was to come, of which their sacrifices were a representation.
Failure would continuously occur however, because man not only has no ability to follow the works of the Law, but is more self conscious than God conscious, thereby usually seeking to do only that which is convenient, rather than that which is pleasing to God.
God knew this to be the case, so He included in the Law a way to escape from the penalty of breaking the Law. That way of escape was also part of the Law but was only a part in that it allowed for those who had sinned, to again regain their right position with God. However, without a sincere heart toward God and trust in what God wanted to do for them and in them, the sacrifices became a futile selfish gesture.
Faith was still required of each person under the Old Covenant, but it was not Grace by Faith but rather, faith in God's ability to keep them in a right position with Himself because of their various works of the Law, and because of there trust and reliance on Him.
Under the Old Covenant, a man who trusted in God must offer a sacrifice for his sin, where under the New Covenant, Jesus is our sacrifice for sin, once and for all. But both Covenants required trust and faith in God's capacity to bring us into a right position with Himself by said Covenant.
Under the New Covenant God gives to us and we give to Him. However, we certainly do get the best of the trade, for what He gives us is Atonement from sin, His own Righteousness, a Just position before Him, Victory over and Liberty from the Law, and Sanctification. On top of this God gives us the Holy Spirit so that we can actually walk in the position which He has placed us in. We must remember that our walk with God is not what makes us Righteousness in His sight but rather the Blood of the New Covenant, i.e., The Blood of Christ. For it is our faith in what Christ has done for us in the giving of His Body and the shedding of His own Blood that is our part in the New Covenant. Still, even in this better Covenant, the importance of a sincere heart toward God, along with our trust in what Christ has done for us and in what God will provide for us because of Jesus sacrifice, cannot be over stated.
People are not automatically under the New Covenant, no more than people were automatically under the Old Covenant. In order for someone to be under the Old Covenant they must have had faith in God to keep them in a right position with Himself because of them doing the Law. Under the New Covenant, we trust in God to place and to keep us in a right position with Himself because of What Christ did at Calvary, in shedding His Blood (the Blood of the New Covenant).
Something else about the New Covenant must be addressed here.
In the New Covenant, the Lord places His Laws into the heart and mind of the believer (Hebrews 8:10, says, "For this is the Covenant that I will make with the House of Israel after those days, saith the Lord, I will put My Laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts, and I will be to them a God and they shall be to Me a people." Also, Hebrews 10:16 says, "This is the Covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord, I will put My Laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them."). I believe this is only possible because in the New Covenant the Believer receives the infilling of the Holy Spirit, and only by the work of the Holy Spirit can we have any success at doing those things which are right, according to the Law (for the letter kills but the Spirit gives life, 2 Cor. 3:6). And not to forget that the Holy Spirit will not abide in us without our having Faith in the Blood and Body of Christ. So trying to perform the Law without our having the Victory over the Law through Christ first, is futile.
However, with the Holy Spirit living within us, he not only places the Law in our mind but in our heart. This means that we who are trusting in Christ will have a desire to do what is right, and the Holy Spirit within us brings about the desired effect. Our will is important in this, but it is the direction of our will which brings the power of the Holy Spirit to bare and not the strength of our will ( if it were the strength of our will that mattered, then those folks who have a weaker will power would have little success in living for the Lord. But that is not the case, and I see nowhere in the scripture where the Blood of Christ was shed to provide us with more will power). And the direction of our will must be; ever trusting in and relying on Christ.
I believe it is extremely important to realize that the process of our being led by the Holy Spirit and the doing of God's Will is not what brings unto us Righteousness (for Righteousness can only come by faith of Jesus Christ), but is what we do because God has imputed Righteousness unto us through Christ Jesus.
In Christ
Dennis Lackie
www.itsallinchrist.com
