Living In The Joy of The New Covenant

As we learnt last week, we are the generation that has enjoyed the best covenant, the covenant of grace.

We represent a kingdom of excellence and greatness.

Jeremiah 31:31-34

Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah - ³² "not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD.

 ³³ "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. ³⁴ "No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."

We are in the time of this new covenant that Jeremiah promised.

Luke 22:20, 1 Corinthians 11:25

In this new covenant we have no need for anyone to push us to know God, or even to rely on men to teach us about God. God Himself teaches us about Himself, and He puts it in our hearts. We deny ourselves blessings and joy when we refrain from studying the word and walking in it, allowing it place in our lives and hearts. The word is given to make us fruitful. When you allow the word of God to have place in your heart, then out of the abundance of your heart your mouth will speak (Matt. 12:34).

Mark 7:20-23, Prov. 18:21

The children of God have failed to pick the word of God and let it reign in our hearts as the new covenant outlines. For this reason, they fail to produce life when they speak, as they have not put life in their hearts through meditating in their hearts. Even in the midst of insecurity and lack in the country, we can still speak life when we meditate on God’s word, and our mouths speak with an abundance of the life in us.

God has already spoken the word. He has already told us that He is ready and willing to teach us about Himself; we have an obligation, to abide in His word and give Him an opportunity to teach us about Himself. We deny ourselves joy when we disconnect ourselves from the word of God.

The new covenant says we are forgiven. It does not matter what we did before we got in the new covenant, God says and promised that our sins are forgiven completely and He has forgotten them. We deny ourselves joy when we refuse to walk in this forgiveness, and walk in condemnation and guilt because of what we did in the past. We are forgiven completely. When the devil brings up our past, what we did back then, we should remind him that we are forgiven, and are under no condemnation. Not walking in forgiveness of sins that is under the new covenant hinders us from enjoying this new covenant that also guarantees us of an intimate relationship with God.

Hebrews 8:7-13

For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.

 ⁸ Because finding fault with them, He says: "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah-- ⁹ "not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the LORD.

 ¹⁰ "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.¹¹ "None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.¹² "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more."

¹³ In that He says, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

The new covenant has set us free from accusations from wherever and whoever, because we have Jesus, our advocate. No one can accuse you now, as you have Jesus who makes you acceptable to God, in this new covenant. He is our advocate.

Job 1:6-12

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.⁷ And the LORD said to Satan, "From where do you come?" So Satan answered the LORD and said, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it."

 ⁸ Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?" ⁹ So Satan answered the LORD and said, "Does Job fear God for nothing? ¹⁰ "Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.

¹¹ "But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!" ¹² And the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person." So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.

The devil is the accuser of the brethren. If we had not been set free from accusation, based on what we have already done, we would have so much accusation that we would not enjoy life.

The devil was roaming around the earth. When you have no plan and purpose in your life, you will find yourself talking about other people, minding other people’s businesses. The day we find ourselves walking around with no purpose, we are submitting ourselves to being used by the devil, falling prey to the devil. From today we should not live lives without a purpose or plan. We should wake up in the morning and find out what God wants us to do, to get a purpose and plan for the day.

God had a testimony of Job; what testimony does He have of you? What message can God speak of you? In those moments when we are pushed to the corner, what testimony can come out of our lives? We should enjoy a relationship with God and love Him with or without stuff.

Zechariah 3:1-5

Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him. ² And the LORD said to Satan, "The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?"³ Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the Angel.

⁴ Then He answered and spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, "Take away the filthy garments from him." And to him He said, "See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes." ⁵ And I said, "Let them put a clean turban on his head." So they put a clean turban on his head, and they put the clothes on him. And the Angel of the LORD stood by.

Job did not have a problem or sin, yet God allowed him to be touched. Still, the Lord did not allow Job to be touched.

Joshua the high priest had filthy garments, which represented sin. Still, God defended him and gave him a new and clean turban and clothes. No matter what you have done, God defense you against accusations from the devil. Because of the new covenant, no matter what you have done, your dirty garment comes down today. We walk free today because of the completed work of the cross.

It doesn’t matter what you did in the past, the dirty and old garment has been taken away. Receive and walk in the new and clean garment, that has no spots or stains. No one can accuse you. Your mind and body are clothed with a clean garment, by the new covenant.

Revelation 12:7-12

And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, ⁸ but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. ⁹ So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

 ¹⁰ Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, "Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. ¹¹ "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.

¹² "Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.

The Bible says salvation, strength and the kingdom of our God has come. Satan right here on earth has a business to deceive people, steal them, and pull them to his side, knowing that salvation, strength and the kingdom of God have come, knowing that he has no access to you, to accuse you.

The mission of the devil is to try and cheat people, but he can no longer accuse us. We overcome the enemy by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony, here on earth. We can wake up in the morning and declare that we will have a great and victorious day, declaring we are covered by the blood of the lamb, we are blessed, victorious etc., and what we testify is what will give us victory.

Those who are in the world and are languishing in sin are like human beings without skin, exposed to many dangers. We who have the blood of the lamb and have Christ have a testimony that we are covered.

1 John 2:1

My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

What is it that you have done that makes you feel like you deserve death? You have an advocate with the Lord. Because of what Jesus did on the cross, the blood He shed, the sins He took on Himself, He is our advocate, and now we can walk in freedom and forgiveness of sin whenever we sin. This is not giving you a license to sin. But the Bible says that if we sin, we should not live in the condemnation of yesterday, looking downcast; we should get up, receive forgiveness and walk in freedom.

Condemnation and guilt hinders us from enjoying the blessings of God. People who live in condemnation will still go to heaven if they have faith in Jesus, but they will have missed out on enjoying the blessings of God, having done nothing on earth. Get out from that caging you have put yourself in, of guilt. Stop living in guilt, the new covenant has set you free from guilt and condemnation. Because we are free, we start possessing the blessings of our God.

1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The above verse should not give us a license to sin, knowing we will be forgiven, as we are not of the devil:

1 John 3:8

He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

We are not of the devil, so we should not sin.

When the accuser comes to accuse you, Jesus presents Himself and what He did, and the 7 marks of perfection: the nail mark on His right hand, the nail mark on His left hand, the nail mark on His right foot, the nail mark on His left foot, the piercing on His side, the mark of the crown of thorns, and the marks of the stripes on His back). These marks represent our deliverance and perfection. The marks on the hands represent the freedom from toiling, that we no longer have to toil for blessing, making the work of our hands blessed, with no effort or toil. The feet represent what takes us to our blessings. Our feet are blessed, that wherever we walk or go, we possess blessings. Our backs, that carry blessings, have been set free to carry blessings, instead of carrying burdens and basically nothing. Now we can carry blessings when we go out and come in. Jesus had to receive the crown on His head, to represent the new mind and wisdom that He gave us. No one is foolish in Christ; have the reasoning capacity and memory of Christ in our heads. The thorns on His head caused His blood to trickle down all parts of His head, delivering every part of us from the curse of the law. Failure to reason and remember, ugliness etc., were all paid for by Jesus. The water and blood from his side because of the piercing represent us being cleansed and made whole.

Because of the work that Jesus completed on the cross, we were purchased and set free from all curses. Because of that we have the greatest key to enter to the covenant of love, peace, life, etc., that Jesus paid for for us to enjoy, in the covenant of grace.

We will continue from there, learning more about the covenant of God.

Amen. 

-- Pastor Mary Mugo.


13/04/14 Sunday service sermon, Teaching Transformation Ministry.

Pastor Mary Mugo is the Senior Pastor at Teaching Transformation Ministry. We are located along the Thika-Ruai Flyover Junction (at the Thika Rd./ Bypass intersection), Next to Eastgate Restaurant.