Extreme Makeover: Human Edition
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Introduction:
1. Why Study the New Covenant?
2. Many Christians are trying to live and relate to God through the provisions of the Old Covenant. As a result they are missing out on the life God has provided for them. This often results in joyless, angry people.
3. In addition, they try to force their way of life upon others because misery loves company.
4. We are overwhelmed by the oughtas and shouldas of miserable Christians.
5. The good news is that the New Covenant has provided a new way of relating to God that frees us from a miserable, joyless Christianity and gives us the provisions to live in the full blessings of God.
6. In order to understand the New Covenant and its blessings we must first understand the Old Covenant and its requirements.
I. The Old Covenant is the Old Testament Law given to Moses for the Nation of Israel.
A. The Old Covenant was established in Exodus 24:1-8.
B. The Law (the Old Covenant) was a system of rules and regulations.
1. It was an agreement between God and his people for how a person should live and behave.
2. It was a set of dos and don’ts.
3. It provided a test of obedience.
4. It set Israel apart as a nation.
C. The Old Covenant had certain limits.
1. It did not provide for salvation. Gal. 3:19-21
2. It could not make one righteous. Gal. 2:21-22
3. It stirred up sin within. Rom. 7:7-10
4. The Law had no power to control the sinful nature. Rom. 8:3-4
5. It required a mediator to communicate with God.
6. It required continual blood sacrifices.
II. The New Covenant promised for a new way of relating to God.
A. The New Covenant was promised to the nation of Israel.
1. Jeremiah 31:31-34
2. Ezekiel 36:24-30
B. The provisions of the New Covenant were unconditional and eternal.
1. It promised Israel’s restoration and preservation.
2. It promised complete forgiveness of sin.
3. It promised the removal and cleansing of sin.
4. It promised a new mind to know God.
5. It promised a new heart to love God.
6. It promised the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
7. It promised that all under the covenant would be God’s people.
8. It promised that people could know God personally.
C. The New Covenant was established by the blood of Jesus Christ. Luke 22:20
1. The shed blood of Jesus instituted the New Covenant.
2. Every time we take communion, we should remember the New Covenant.
3. Hebrews 9:11-15
4. Jesus came to bring a new way of relating to God.
5. Jesus said you don’t put new wine into old wineskins. Matt. 9:16-17
6. He did not come to patch up the old system.
7. He did not come to refurbish the law.
8. He came to establish a whole new system, a new way of relating to God.
9. This was what caused the great tension between Jesus and the religious leaders.
10. This is why they hated Him.
11. Jesus told the Pharisees that there were white washed tombs full of dead men’s bones. Matthew 23:27-28
12. Jesus said the old way did nothing to cleanse a person on the inside.
13. Jesus did not come to patch up an old religion.
14. He did not come to create a new religion, to create Christianity.
15. He came to bring a completely new way of relating to God that did not require a list of legalistic dos and donts.
III. The Church is the recipient of the spiritual blessing of the New Covenant through Jesus Christ.
A. The Church is not the nation of Israel.
B. However, the New Covenant applies to the Church as well.
1. 2 Corinthians 3:4-6
2. Galatians 3:13-14
3. Hebrews 7:18-22, 8:6-13, 9:15, 10:9-25, 12:24
C. The Church of Jesus Christ receives the spiritual blessings of the New Covenant but not the physical promises.
D. The New Covenant provides a new way of relating to God.
1. There is complete forgiveness of sin through the blood of Jesus Christ. Rom. 5:9, Col. 1:20, 1 Peter 1:18-19
2. There is complete cleansing of sin on a regular basis through the blood of Jesus Christ. 1 John 1:9
3. No more blood sacrifice is required. Heb. 9:24-28
4. Work is removed as a way of rightly relating to God. There is no work one can do to be rightly related to God. Eph. 2:8-10
5. We have direct access to God. There is no need for a mediator. Hebrews 10:19-22
6. Christ indwells us personally. Col. 1:25-27
7. We are free from the Law and its limitations. Gal. 3:1-5
8. We are free from the controlling power of sin. Rom. 6
9. We are free to live for Christ. Gal. 5:1
10. We are free from the limits of our humanity. 1 Cor. 12:7-11
11. We have the indwelling Holy Spirit. John 14:15-17
12. We have a new mind to know God. 1 Cor. 2:16 (Mind of Christ)
13. We have a new heart to love and serve God. Ezek. 36:26-27
14. We are a new creation. 2 Cor. 5:17
15. The Old Covenant is humanity demonstrating what he can do for God through the limits of human flesh.
16. The New Covenant is God demonstrating what He can do for and through his people by means of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
17. God requires for us only what He has already placed within us.
E. Even though God has provided this wonderful way of relating to him, many are still living under the old way.
1. Many people love law more than they love freedom.
2. It is easier to set up standards of righteousness that we can measure.
3. It is easier to have rules that I can measure than to live by the spirit.
4. It is easier to live by legalism than by the Spirit.
5. You may ask, “Don’t you have rules at your church?”
6. There is a difference between setting up guidelines for an orderly structure and legalism.
7. We are also going to began looking how we appropriate the blessings of the New Covenant in our lives on a daily basis.
Conclusion:
Stop trying to relate to God through the provisions of the Old Covenant and stop trying to measure your spirituality by the provisions of the Old Covenant. The old way causes people to be stifled in their spiritual growth. The result of a believer trying to live under the old way is that they become angry, critical, and judgmental. They lose the joy of the life Jesus has already given them. They fail to truly communicate with the one true God.
God has provided a new way of relating to Himself through the blood of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus Christ has come to completely forgive sins and provide for our cleansing before God. He has established a new way of relating to God through the Holy Spirit. He has given us the Holy Spirit to dwell within us and to guide us. He has freed us from the law and the power of sin. He has set us free to live for Him and to fulfill our purpose on the earth.
Start relating to God according to His terms, the terms of the New Covenant. Start relating to God through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
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