Living in the Freedom of the New Covenant pt.2

—Jeremiah 31:31–34 & Heb 8
(Part 56 of Seeing Jesus in the O.T.)

• Andrew Fountain – June 19, 2022

 
 
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Goal

When you really understand
the New Covenant,
it will transform your life,
bring you into a new freedom,
and enrich your relationship with God.
Sadly, it is rarely explained,
and most Christians are not entirely free from the Old.

Living in the Freedom of the New Covenant pt.2

1. What about James & good works?
2. The New Covenant – Jeremiah 31:31–34
3. Living in the Joy of the New Covenant

Covenant:
“A forever relationship with serious commitments”

Three Covenants

1. Covenant with Abraham (grace) —a picture of the New Covenant
2. “Old Covenant” (law)
3. New Covenant (grace)

James 2 – Faith & Works

14. What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?
15. If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food,
16. and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?
17. So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

James 2 – Faith & Works

21. Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?
22. You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works;
23. and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God.
24. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

Resolution

• When we have faith, we are given a new heart, alive by the Spirit
• A changed life is the evidence of this new heart
• Good works do not save us, but they are evidence of the faith that saved us
• So “faith”, without works, can only be a dead faith
• But our relationship with God is based on our faith

Living in the Freedom of the New Covenant pt.2

1. What about James & good works?
2. The New Covenant – Jeremiah 31:31–34
3. Living in the Joy of the New Covenant

Hebrews 8:6–13

6. But now Jesus has obtained a superior ministry, since the covenant that he mediates is also better and is based on better promises.
7. For if that first covenant had been faultless, no one would have looked for a second one.
8. But showing its fault, God says to them,
   ‘Look, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will complete a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
9. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their fathers, on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt…

10. For this is the covenant that I will establish with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord.

13. When he speaks of a new covenant, he makes the first obsolete. Now what is growing obsolete and ageing is about to disappear.

One thing to remember

• It is not the law that has changed, but our relationship to the law

Living in the Freedom of the New Covenant pt.2

1. What about James & good works?
2. The New Covenant – Jeremiah 31:31–34
3. Living in the Joy of the New Covenant

Summary:

• If you are a member of the New Covenant:

1. You have a new heart, that like a butterfly wants to soar
2. You are God’s beloved and he is your beloved. You are secure in the relationship
3. You relate to God directly, not through priests
4. You are totally forgiven and God is never judging you or condemning you

Abraham’s part

1. He wanted to be brought into this covenant
2. He trusted God

• God says that if these two things are true of you, and you ask him in prayer, he will make this covenant with you.

Response:

• God’s requirement for you is that you trust him with your life
• Do that, and he will take care of everything else
• “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus...” Rom 8:1