Category: Thoughts

Covenant Contrasts Part 3

As we covered last time, the “DO and RECEIVE” of the old covenant is over.  So what process best describes our new covenant life with Jesus?  The new path for you and me is “BELIEVE, RECEIVE, and DO.”  First, BELIEVE the gospel message of Jesus Christ.  Then, when we BELIEVE, we immediately RECEIVE His complete forgiveness, a secure union with the Father, the gift of eternal life, and a new identity that comes with all kinds of “new”; a new purity, a new heart, a new indwelling Spirit, a new nature, a new self, a new power over sin, a new freedom, and so much more.

Notice this new order.  No more “DO and RECEIVE.”  Now our DO comes AFTER our RECEIVE.  We can only DO, we only have the power to DO, after we RECEIVE the life of Christ in us.  His life in us is the only way to pull off this Christian life.  We live from the inside out.  We live out of the righteousness that Christ has put in us.  Our DO is still important.  It just fully depends on and is energized and empowered by the new life that we have RECEIVED.  “BELIEVE, RECEIVE, and DO.”

Jesus introduced this new order to us this way, “Therefore they said to Him, ‘What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?’  Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you BELIEVE in Him whom He has sent.’ ” (John 6:28-29).  Under the new covenant, our “work” is to BELIEVE.  Under the old covenant, the “work” was to obey, to DO.

This distinction is so important to understand.  You are not working, like God’s people of the old covenant, to earn God’s approval, acceptance, and blessing.  You are under a new arrangement.  And it is an arrangement that is so FREEING.  The pressure is off.  The death of Jesus worked; it accomplished the Father’s plan to restore you into a right relationship with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  It is a relationship based purely on God’s gift of grace.

The pressure to live up to something is off.  Rather than “live up,” you are now free to “live out” of the righteousness of Christ placed in you at your new birth.  It’s in there!  Allow it to shine forth as you “BELIEVE, RECEIVE, and DO.”

Covenant Contrasts Part 2

(The old covenant verses that you will read in this series are true.  They are God-breathed Scripture.  But their time is over.  They have no bearing on our new covenant lives with Jesus.  Yet they are taught Sunday after Sunday as words to live by.  They fill our Christian books, devotionals, and sermons.  This mixed covenant message leads to confusion, frustration, angst, and a huge lack of confidence in our life with Jesus.  And this way of teaching must come to an end.  May you grow in the knowledge and grace of the new covenant as we study these covenant contrasts together.)

Another word for covenant is arrangement.  The Old Testament, for the most part, describes life under the old covenant; life under God’s old arrangement with the children of Israel.  In the New Testament, Jesus announced the coming of a new covenant.  This new covenant is our new arrangement with God ushered in by the death and resurrection of Jesus.  The old covenant, in effect prior to the coming of Jesus, is over, dead, gone, expired, and obsolete (Hebrews 8:13, II Corinthians 3:11).  The new covenant has come.

The foundation for life under the old covenant is best described as “DO and RECEIVE.”  Your RECEIVE depended on your DO.  Verses like Joshua 1:8 are prototypical of this arrangement.  “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success” (Joshua 1:8).

Do you see the pattern?  Be careful to DO according to all that is written in the Law in order to RECEIVE prosperity and success.  If you do X. God will do Y.  If you obey the Law, God will bless you.  If you keep His commandments, God will reward you.  Likewise, as we learn from other Old Testament passages, if you fall short, a curse will follow.

Even though all of these old covenant conditional promises of God are OVER, we have them preached to us in devotionals, books, and sermons.  My friend, if you have believed the gospel message of Jesus Christ, you are no longer under the “DO and RECEIVE” of the old covenant.  What we have now is so much better, because Jesus is the author of a better covenant (Hebrews 13:6).  I will describe our beautiful new arrangement of life with Jesus next time.

Introduction

Many years ago, I was reading in the gospel of Luke when I came across this verse, “And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood’ “ (Luke 22:20).

As a naturally curious person, I had two thoughts.  First, this new covenant must be pretty important.  It literally came to us through the blood of Jesus.  It must have gone into effect through the blood of Jesus.  It must have something to do with His death on the cross.

My second thought was, “What makes this new covenant ‘new?’  Is there an old covenant?  Does ‘new’ mean brand new, or some restating of an ‘old’ covenant.  If there is an old and new covenant, how do they relate to the Old and New Testaments?”

I soon learned that a “covenant” is an “arrangement.”  The new covenant is the new arrangement that we have with God by virtue of Jesus dying on the cross in our place and us accepting by faith that His death was sufficient to take away our sin and make us right with God.  I also learned that there is an old covenant.  It was God’s arrangement with the children of Israel as described in the Old Testament.

Alongside this understanding regarding the two arrangements or covenants, I came across this verse in the Message Bible paraphrase of the New Testament.  “By coming up with a new plan, a new covenant between God and His people, God put the old plan on the shelf.  And there it stays, gathering dust” (Hebrews 8:13).

Wait a minute.  The old covenant is over, expired, ended, obsolete, sitting on the shelf gathering dust?  Why then am I hearing so many old covenant principles being taught as instrumental in how to live the Christian life?

If you have followed my writing, you know what my lifetime of study has produced.  The old covenant is NOT for us, as New Testament saints in Jesus.  The blessings, the curses, the commands, the laments, the longings, the promise of prosperity, the weight of the Law, the stench of death, the punishments, and the condemnation are OVER.  We are no longer under the obligations or the conditions of the old covenant.

So with the old covenant being taken out of the way, why do I return now to write about it?  Because the principles of the old covenant are taught in many circles as formational in living the Christian life, and I feel compelled to return to the topic of the covenant contrasts as I see them in Scripture and elevate the superiority of life under the new covenant.

When we lay aside the outdated old covenant and embrace the new, we find joy, peace, forgiveness, acceptance, union, rest, freedom, power, and grace for the Christian journey through this life.  Join us in this series about the covenant contrasts and I believe that you will be blessed by all that the new covenant has to offer you, beloved child of God.

Hi Friends,

Rhonda and I have an exciting new project on the horizon for 2026, and we would love to have you join us in it.  We have developed a chapter-a-day Bible reading plan focused on every believer’s dynamic life with Jesus.  And we have launched a Facebook group, Christ in You Bible Reading Plan, to go along with it.  Each day in 2026, we will have an assigned chapter of Scripture to read.  And each day, Jay will post in this new group a short devotional to go with the chapter of the day.

This approach to reading Scripture together will take all of the New Testament and some of the Old and develop a beautiful portrait of what life with Jesus looks like for us.  Our devotional posts and reading assignments will start on January 1, 2026.  Between now and then, Jay will post a few updates, share the schedule for the first four months, and post some general introductory material to the group page.

We would love to have you participate with us.  Click on this link to our new Facebook group page, answer a couple of questions, and BOOM! you’re in.

Christ in You Bible Reading Plan

Here is a little bonus to whet your appetite.  Jesus’ identification as the “Son of God” is a cornerstone of the message we believe and preach.  If you begin your Bible reading plan in Genesis chapter 1 and read in chronological order, you must read 931 chapters before you hear God say, “Jesus, You are My Son!”  In this reading plan, you will hear these beautiful words on Day 3!

Will you join us on this chapter-a-day journey through the heart of the gospel as together we explore and celebrate … you in Christ and Christ in you?

When reading the book of Acts, it is important to keep two criteria in mind.  First, Acts is primarily a history book.  It is not a book of theology.  It is a chronological history of the first years of the church.  Second, Acts is about the people of God going through a complete upheaval in their practice and understanding of following God.  The apostles and the new believers are a people of God in transition.

Think about it.  Today, we have such a clear understanding of the sharp break between the old covenant and the new covenant, having the entire New Testament to inform us.  Jesus’ death and resurrection is understood to be the place where life went from the old covenant to the new.  But for the earliest disciples, things were changing radically and rapidly in their spiritual experience.

These believers in Jesus were going through a transition …

• From Law to grace
• From a sacrificial system to complete forgiveness in Jesus
• From children of Israel to children of God (Gentiles included!)
• From priests to apostles and elders
• From temple service to a community of faith
• From Sabbath observance to Sabbath rest
• From collection of the tithe to giving freely
• From God in the Holy of Holies to God in us
• From sin and sin management to Jesus and His finished work
• From Law to freedom

And I am sure there are more.

So keep all of these transitions in mind when you are confused by converted Pharisees insisting on following the Law.  Or extraordinary miracles involving handkerchiefs and shadows.  Or folks struck dead.  Or new believers receiving the Holy Spirit at a separate time.  Or the great debate in Acts chapter 15.  Or Paul, the champion of our freedom, taking part in a Jewish purification ceremony.  Give these leaders grace as they not only go through these transitions for themselves but also for the church they lead.  The book of Acts is a record of the church “figuring it out.”  And because of the transitional nature of this book, we should not build too much of a strident theology upon it.

But there is one consistent and unchanging theme in the book of Acts.  In sermon after sermon from Peter in chapter 2 to Paul in chapter 26 and every sermon in between, the message is incredibly the same.  Jesus arrived from the seed of David.  The Jews/Romans put Jesus to death.  God raised Jesus from the dead.  We proclaim forgiveness of sins in the name of Jesus for those who believe.  The Holy Spirit, Christ in us, has been given to us.  And great multitudes believed.