Author: Jay Lehman

When you believed the gospel message of Jesus Christ … you entered a NEW COVENANT.

Another word for covenant is an arrangement.  The Old Covenant, the old arrangement between God and man, was the Law.  The New Covenant, the new arrangement, was brought to us by Jesus.  His message of release from the Law, release from the penalty of our sin, was totally founded upon His death, as a substitute for each of us, on a cross.

Under God’s old arrangement, we stand guilty of breaking His Law.  But that all goes by the wayside when we agree to God’s new arrangement by acknowledging our guilt, accepting the free gift of Christ’s death in our place, and embracing what Jesus says as true.  When we do this, we are believing the gospel message of Jesus Christ.  And all the promise and provisions of the New Covenant become ours.

“Jesus said, ‘This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.’ “   Luke 22:20

“Our adequacy is from God, who made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”   II Corinthians 3:5-6

“When God said, ‘A new covenant,’ He has made the first one obsolete.  And whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.”   Hebrews 8:13

“Jesus is the mediator of a new covenant … so that those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”   Hebrews 9:15.

When you believed the gospel message of Jesus Christ … you received a NEW SELF.

When the Bible talks about “putting on the new self”, it is describing someone who is living in line with their new nature.  Remember “partakers of the divine nature” from yesterday’s post?  Well, just like our new nature, this new self has been created with a likeness to God that is righteous and holy.  Your old self with its sin nature was crucified with Christ.  Your new self, however, is constantly being renewed in the image of your Creator.

“Put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in true righteousness and holiness.”   Ephesians 4:24

“Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin.”   Romans 6:6

“Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.”   Colossians 3:9-10

When you believed the gospel message of Jesus Christ … you received a NEW NATURE.

You no longer have a sin nature.  You have a righteous nature.  You no longer have a propensity toward sin.  Your new nature is wired for righteousness.

Does that mean a believer cannot commit sin?  No, no, no.  We still have a capacity to sin.  But the propensity toward sin, our helpless default mode to sin, is gone.  Big difference between propensity and capacity.  And when we do sin, we have an advocate, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself as the payment for our sin.  But that is another post for another day.  For today, let’s focus on the new nature.

“For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world because of evil desires.”   II Peter 1:4

“No one who is born of God practices sin, because God’s seed [God’s nature] abides in him.”   I John 3:9

“By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.”   I John 4:17

When you believed the gospel message of Jesus Christ … you received a NEW PURITY

Another beautiful piece of your salvation experience is that you are declared “clean” in the sight of the Lord.  Your “sins of scarlet have been made white as snow”.  The slate of your sin has been wiped clean.

“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”   Romans 5:1

“The Holy Spirit declares, ‘Their sins and lawless deeds I will remember no more.’ “   Hebrews 10:17

Regarding the Gentiles, Peter said, “and God made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.”   Acts 15:9

“How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”   Hebrews 9:14

“Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”   Hebrews 10:22

“And everyone who has this hope fixed on Jesus purifies himself, just as He is pure.”   I John 3:3

“Blessed are the pure in heart (this is who you are right now!), for they shall see God.”   Matthew 5:8

When you believed the gospel message of Jesus Christ … you were given a NEW SPIRIT.

The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, came to you the moment you believed and now lives in you.  By the presence of His Spirit, you have become one with Christ and one with the Father.  Christ is living His resurrected life through you by the power of His Spirit in you.

“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.”   John 14:16-17

“Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”   I Corinthians 3:16

“Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.”   II Timothy 1:14

“However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you.  But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.”   Romans 8:9

Since the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit first descended and filled Christ’s followers, the Spirit has been a never-ending presence in the hearts and lives of God’s children.

“When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.  And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.  And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them.  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.”   Acts 2:1-4