Build Upon the New Covenant

What are your thoughts when you hear that Scripture? What do you think about what the Israelites did here? Have you noticed something about this covenant that they are signing before the Lord? Did you notice the phrase, “a curse and an oath?” Did you notice how much doing had to be done on the part of the Israelites?

It’s been said that a hero will either die a hero or live long enough to see him or herself become the villain. We see this evidence of change all over our society. Former moral standards have become oppressive forces.

Change can be good, bad, or value neutral. I want to take you back to a very good change.

We’re going to dial in on this covenant a little bit, but what I want you to learn and leave here knowing today is what a covenant is, and what it means for your life to be in covenant with God.

So what is a covenant? Simply put, a covenant is an agreement between two parties. When God cut a covenant with Abraham, he split a sacrificial animal in two, and both Abraham and God walked between the two halves of the animal. This was to signify that “If I am to break this covenant, I will be done just as this animal is.” This was a serious undertaking.

As a matter of fact, the consequences of a covenant became so intertwined with the idea of a covenant that you have this sense given in the scriptures that the Jews entered into a “curse and an oath.”

Let that weight sit with you for a moment… The Covenant had become known as a curse…

A Tale of Two Covenants

What we see happening here in Nehemiah 10 is a covenant being signed by people to return to the Old Covenant.

Now, there’s two covenants we’ll cover today. The Old Covenant, which I’ve mentioned, was brought in through Moses. It contains the Law of God, some 613 commandments that we find in the first 5 books of the Bible, Genesis through Deuteronomy. If you keep those commandments and remain a faithful Jew, you will experience closeness with God.

The New Covenant was ushered in through Jesus Christ, who did so by spilling His own blood for you, taking your punishment, so that if you believe and trust in Him for eternal life, He will give it to you, by giving you a new heart and a state of righteousness.

The whole Old Covenant is written in such a way that God is showing the world what He expects of people. His standard of holiness. And it was sent for an express purpose. A purpose that the Jews missed. It was a code of Law for a nation and conduct for individuals, but most importantly, the Law was never something we could live up to. Hear me again. You and I can never measure up to the Law of God.

Need proof? Let’s see what Paul has to say about the Old Covenant in 2 Corinthians 3.

In v. 3 we see the beginning of Paul’s comparison of the covenants: “Not on stone… human hearts.”

He goes on to say that sufficiency under the Law was self-driven, but in the New Covenant God is our sufficiency. And look at this, Paul says the letter kills, whereas the Spirit gives life.

There’s a reason Paul says that. The reason is that, according to the Law, each and every one of us stands guilty. And in any just system, those who are guilty deserve to be punished for their crimes. The Law is clear, anyone who breaks part of the Law is guilty of breaking the whole thing. And that’s God’s standard of righteousness. To break His Law is to offend an infinitely holy God.

That’s why verse 7 refers to the Old Testament Law is referred to as “the ministry of death.” It’s a ministry because it is accomplishing something on behalf of God. And the reason Paul calls it the ministry of death is because it reveals to us just how dead our hearts really are! And this covenant had so much glory that Moses’ face was left shining from it… So bright that he could not be looked at!

Verse 9 refers to the New Covenant as the “ministry of righteousness.” It accomplishes righteousness on our behalf!

Then, in vv. 8-11 we see just how much glory belongs to the New Covenant… So much that the Old Covenant has no glory at all…

Listen, these aren’t my words, these are the words of Scripture!

Last week we dealt with some of this and I told you that if you would trust that message, it could change your life! Today is of the same vein. Cassville, we must step out of a relationship with God that says, “I do, I work, I toil, and maybe, just maybe God will have favor on me.” This is a Law relationship, not a Gospel relationship.

Truthfully, a Law relationship was never meant to accomplish what a Gospel relationship can accomplish.

Moving From “I Must” to “God Did”

A little audience participation today. Someone tell me what’s wrong with this picture. Wrong tool for the job, right? So many times, this is what we run into when we think about our self-image. We compare ourselves to the commands of Scripture and find ourselves falling extremely short. Like this hammer to this screw, comparing ourselves to the commands of God is going to cause us to believe the worst of ourselves. Because that is what it is designed to do! You want to feel bad about yourself? Compare yourself to God’s Law. That is what it is meant to do.

The New Covenant is much different from that. Jesus is much different from that. Now, hear me clearly: Jesus affirms that, yes, we are helplessly condemned by the Law. He doesn’t change the Law. He doesn’t change God’s standard.

God’s standard is not changed by Jesus. This is where we can get into trouble. There are so many self-help books on the shelves trying to push the idea: “You are enough. You are perfect. There is nothing wrong with you.” And many of them are cloaked by being sold in the Christian Living section. Listen, this is not the message of hope the Bible gives.

And, if we deal with that honestly, that’s not a real message of hope, because I come to the end of myself all too often and find myself to be completely lacking.

What Jesus says is, “Yes, you do fall short. I fill in the gap.” Jesus removes the “I Must” to make you righteous and makes it “I have done.” “It is finished.” “I have fulfilled the Law.”

Again:

2 Corinthians 3:5–6 ESV

Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

So Christ’s sufficiency is now our sufficiency. You see, where the self-help books get it wrong is that they don’t account for Christ. Christ is enough. When I have Him, then I am enough, but it is only by Him that I am worthy of God’s kingdom. Don’t get that backwards. When you do it’ll do one of two things:

On the one hand, your ego will inflate like a balloon, and you will become insufferably arrogant and entitled. On the other hand, you’ll see this message fall short because you don’t like yourself much, and it’ll push you into a deep state of despair and unbelief because for whatever reason, your life doesn’t match what everyone’s telling you.

This is what happens when we hold ourself to a standard we can never meet. Marriage tip, it’s also what happens to your spouse when you hold them to a standard they can’t keep. What God did was make a way for Himself to be pleased. He wanted humanity for who we were. Do you want your spouse for who they are? Until you do… You will not be satisfied with the spouse you committed to have and to hold til death do you part.

Not Under the Law, but Undergirded by the Law

So, Christian, how are we to proceed? You may ask, “So are we under the Law?”

The answer is a clear, “NO.”

You are not under the Law. God does not hold you to that standard of behavior. He holds His Son to that standard of behavior, and if you are one with Him, then you are declared righteous in His sight.

Now, this isn’t an opportunity to go on living in such a way that you have no regard for God’s standard. See, that’s not evidence of salvation. That’s the flesh that is still waging its war inside of you. Jesus gave us a new heart, but listen, if you’re not going to engage that new heart, you will never see your life in the light of God’s grace and love toward you.

You’ve filled your head with negative self-talk about how you’ll never measure up. You’re right. You won’t. Not on your own. But if you refuse to see Christ and how He’s molding you, you’ll miss the hope.

2 Cor. 3:12-18 tells us we are very bold and we have a great hope.

WALK THROUGH THIS PASSAGE A BIT.

Instead of being under the Law, God has given you a new heart, set to accomplish His will. You are supported, undergirded by the Law. So when you see God’s commands in Scripture, and you begin to measure yourself against them, know that you will find yourself short.

Find your assurance in no one else besides Jesus Christ and Christ alone. He is the One who set you free from the demands of the Law, and gives you His Spirit, the enablement to live a new life.

Do you know Him?