In the last message we have dealt with the Abrahamic and the Mosaic Covenants and in this message we will deal with the Grace Covenant.
THE GRACE OR AS COMMONLY KNOWN, THE NEW COVENANT
The contents of the agreement between God, Israel and the Gentiles (as we know that this covenant is inclusive of Gentiles or Non Jews as well), are:
Jeremiah 31:33-34 (ESVST)
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘ Know the Lord, ’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
Notice how we only have the letter “I” which represents God and we see nothing of the word “you”. This is what we can call today as “a one man contract”. God is making an agreement with himself. He is making a promise to himself. Unlike the Mosaic and the Abrahamic covenants, Israel and later Gentiles as well, have to do epsolutely nothing. In this agreement, nothing is expected from Israel and later Gentiles, nothing. God has totally removed the people from the agreement. In Ezekiel 36, God explains how he will implement this agreement:
Ezekiel 36:24-27 (ESVST)
I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
Again, notice how it is only God in the agreement. There are no conditions or any work required from people. Remember that we as the people broke God’s covenant, which was the Mosaic covenant, by not obeying his voice and keeping his commandments so, by that we are already destined for eternal death, why, for the wages of sin is death.
Romans 6:23 (ESVST)
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Some might say but we are not all Israelites and should not be blamed for what Israel did. We did not even know the law of God but, you will be wrong to say that because, although Gentiles (non Jews) were not part of the Mosaic Covenant that Israel broke, they knew the law, for the law was written in their hearts and they still broke it.
Romans 2:14-15 (ESVST)
For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them
Was it God’s plan all along to save Gentiles? Of course yes!
Galatians 3:8 (ESVST)
And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “ In you shall all the nations be blessed.”
So, without the Grace Covenant, we are all simply on death row, waiting to be executed because we broke the Mosaic covenant. God send his son Jesus to die for us so that those who believe in him must not perish but have eternal life. God send his son to die on our behalf so we should not die. So, Jesus’s death removed us from death row. Does Jesus’s death include Gentiles (non Jews)? Of course yes!
Ephesians 2:11-13 (ESVST)
11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands — 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
This is the reason why this agreement is called the grace covenant, since it is purely based on the mercies and the goodness of God hearts, since we did nothing to deserve it and still are required to do nothing to deserve it. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the guarantor and the mediator of this covenant because only through his death may those who are called receive promised eternal inheritance.
Hebrews 7:22 (ESVST)
This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant.
Hebrews 9:15 (ESVST)
Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.
John 3:16-17 (ESVST)
16 “ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Since this agreement is between God and God, it does not make provision for cancellation. It is still enforce even today.
Remember that we as the people broke God’s covenant by not obeying his voice and keeping his commandments so, by that we are already destined for eternal death, why, for the wages of sin is death. So, without the Grace Covenant, we are all simply on death row, waiting to be executed. God send his son Jesus to die for us so that those who believe in him must not perish but have eternal life. God send his son to die on our behalf so we should not die. So, Jesus’s death removed us from death row.
John 6:28-29 (NLTse)
They replied, “We want to perform God’s works, too. What should we do?”
29 Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you:Believe in the one he has sent.”
The only thing that God expects from us is to believe in his Son Jesus Christ. Nothing else is required. To believe in Jesus Christ, is to accept what he has done. It is to accept that Jesus has done everything on your behalf and all you have to do is to receive the promised eternal inheritance. Think about it this way just as an example, the promised eternal inheritance which is kept for us in heaven, is kept in a bank and to access this inheritance, you need a pin code, the pin code is simply to believe in Jesus. So, if you believe, you don’t do, it is not an action but, if you believe, you actually receive.
Those who choose not to accept Jesus’s finished work of saving us from death row, choose to remain in death row.
John 3:18 (ESVST)
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
So, if you believe in Jesus, you are permanently removed from death row but if you don’t, you remain in death row. So, those that will eventually die an eternal death, it will be because of their refusal to be removed from death row.
Matthew 9:17 (ESVST)
Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”
This verse also applies to all my brothers and sister who for some reason, still are holding on to the dead covenant. It applies to my brothers and sister who are still trying to achieve salvation through the Mosaic or the Dead Covenant of obedience to the law. Even if God says the covenant is dead, they still insist and argue with God the the covenant is not dead. My brothers and sister still think that there is something that they can do to earn salvation. Even Peter accepted that they and even their forefathers could not comply with the Mosaic Covenant and accepts that they can only be saved by Grace which, is the Grace Covenant.
Acts 15:10-11 (ESVST)
Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? 11 But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”
Brothers and sisters, why do we think that we can earn salvation when it is clearly stated that salvation cannot be earned but it is a gift from God. You cannot earn a gift but, you receive a gift
Ephesians 2:8-9 (NLTse)
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
This is so ridiculous that, it is like someone giving a brand new car as a gift and after that, you spend the rest of your life trying to earn that very same car. It does not make sense. Something that has been given to you as a gift, is yours forever. You don’t need to earn it. You will not loose it. This is the same with our salvation. You have recieved it as a gift and you will never loose it, why, because Jesus gives us that promise. Once saved, always saved.
John 6:39-40 (ESVST)
And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
Romans 8:38-39 (ESVST)
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Father, thank you for such a wonderful sense of security that you have given to us through your son and our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you Father for all your mercy and grace and thank you for sending your son to die as a ransom for our lives. in Jesus name, amen.