#450 The Great Divide Series# 1, The New Covenant

#450 The Great Divide Series# 1, The New Covenant
By: D. Karl Thomas

(Sermon notes & PowerPoint Slide links at the bottom of the page)

Imagination + Articulation = Manifestation

John 1:17 “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

The Great Divide — PICTURE OF THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE —

Now they like to say BCE/CE instead of BC/AD. Before Common Era / Common Era
They don’t like “Before Christ and Anno Domini” — Year of Our Lord Dividing line in History

John 5:39 (NLT) “You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me!”

The story of the New Testament (Covenant) begins at Matthew 1:1 but it was now put in effect until Jesus death. During last supper he said: “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.” Luke 22:20

My will and testament doesn’t go into effect until I die.
If there are two wills, then the will that is the newest is the one that is in effect.
A new will renounces all preceding wills.

Jesus teachings were in a time of transition.
Luke 10:25 “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?” So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul,…

…with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’ ” And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.” But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

OT – Our standard of love on how we would like to be treated.
NT – We base our standard of love on how Jesus has loved us.
John 15:12 “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”

Galatians 3:10 “For all who rely on doing the works of the law are under a curse, because it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not keep on doing everything written in the book of the law.’”

Galatians 2:16 “…yet we know that no one is justified by the works of the law but by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by the faithfulness of Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.”

1 Timothy 1:8-9 “But we know that the law is good if someone uses it legitimately, realizing that law is not intended for a righteous person, but for lawless and rebellious people, for the ungodly and sinners,…”

Romans 3:19-20 “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God …

“…Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”
The doesn’t provide and answer it raises a problem.

Galatians 3:19, 22
“Why, then, was the law given? … But the Scriptures (LAW) declare that we are all prisoners of sin, so we receive God’s promise of freedom only by believing in Jesus Christ.”

Wayne Grudem — Christian Ethics
“It is important to realize that the author of Hebrews is not saying that some old covenant laws are no longer binding on Christians (such as sacrificial laws or purity laws, for example), …

… but that the old covenant itself, that entire system of laws that defined the relationship with God and his people, is no longer in effect.”

Hebrews 8:13 (NLT) “When God speaks of a ‘new’ covenant, it means he has made the first one obsolete. It is now out of date and will soon disappear.”

Thomas Schreiner — (40 Questions About Christians and Biblical Law)
“Paul argues that the entirety of the law has been set aside now that Christ has come. …

…To say that the ‘moral’ elements of the law continue to be authoritative blunts the truth that the entire Mosaic covenant is no longer in force for believers.”

Ephesians 2:8 (NLT) “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.”

Romans 4:16 (NET) “For this reason it is by faith so that it may be by grace, with the result that the promise may be certain to all the descendants…”

Romans 6:14 “For sin will have no mastery over you, because you are not under law but under grace.”
You need new birth not behaviour modification.
John 3:7 “So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’”

Galatians 4:21-30 “Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons: … which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants:… from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar…and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is,— but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.”

“…But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted (TO PURSUE IN A HOSTILE MANNER) him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the bondwoman and her son…”
Where is that in Scripture? Genesis 21 “Weaning”

Genesis 21:1-12, “So the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast … And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, scoffing. Therefore she said to Abraham, “Cast out this bondwoman and her son; …shall not be heir with my son,…”

Sarah will be the only influence, GRACE!

“Jesus Christ has ended the old covenant once and for all, with all the Old Testament practices, promises, and expectations. We need to stop mixing the old with the new, because God has given us something better in Jesus Christ and his new command.” Andy Stanley

The Great Divide Series# 1, The New Covenant, Sermon Notes to print, PDF