SOURCE - The New Covenant
Jeremiah 31:33-34 KJV
But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
Through the whole of the Old Covenant there was always one trouble: man’s heart was not right with God. In the New Covenant the evil is to be remedied. Its central promise is a heart delighting in God’s law and capable of knowing and holding fellowship with Him.
The four blessings marked by the New Covenant
- “I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts.”
… the inward parts, the heart, are the disposition, the love, the will, the life. Nothing can be put into the heart, and especially by God, without entering and taking possession of it, without securing its affection and controlling its whole being.
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“And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”
- Let us give our hearts time to meditate and wait for the Holy Spirit to work in us all that these words mean.
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“And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord.”
- Individual personal fellowship with God … is to be the wonderful privilege of every member of the New Covenant people. … As the Son knew the Father because He was one with Him and dwelt in Him, the child of God will receive by the Holy Spirit that spiritual illumination which will make God to him the One he knows best, because he loves Him most and lives in Him. The promise, “They shall be all taught of God,” will be fulfilled by the Holy Spirit’s teaching. God will speak to each out of His Word what he needs to know.
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“For I will forgive their iniquities, and I will remember their sin no more.”
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The Divine summary of the New Covenant Inheritance
- Pardon of sin - last named, but first in order - the root of all
- The fruit
- Having God as our God
- the Divine teaching
- The tree that grows upon the root and bears such fruit, and first named
- the law in the heart
It is on the state of the heart, it is on the new heart, as given by God, that the New Covenant life hinges.
- So why do we see so little of this life and experience so little of it in ourselves
- Because of your unbelief!!
The law cannot be repealed that God will not compel. He can only fulfil His purpose as the heart is willing and accepts His offer. In the New Covenant all is of faith.
Prayer
O Lord God!, teach us what Your Covenant means!
The teaching of God Himself, by the Holy Spirit, to make us understand what He says to us in His Word, is our Covenant right. Let us count upon it. It is only by a God-given faith that we can appropriate these God-given promises. And it is only by a God-given teaching and inward illumination that we can see their meaning, so as to believe them. When God teaches us the meaning of His promises in a heart yielded to His Holy Spirit, then alone we can believe and receive them in a power which makes them a reality in our life.
… we consider the glory of the New Covenant above the Old to consist chiefly in the redeeming work of Christ for us, and not equally in the sanctifying work of the Spirit in us. It is owing to this ignorance and unbelief of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, as the power through whom God fulfils the New Covenant promises, that we do not really expect them to be made true to us.
PRAYER
Oh Lord God, cause us to turn our hearts away from all past experience of failure, as caused by nothing but our unbelief; cause us to admit fully and heartily, what failure has taught us, the absolute impossibility of even a regenerate man walking in Your law in our own strength, and then cause us to turn our hearts quietly and trustfully to You, our Covenant God. Cause us to hear what You say You will do for us, and believe You; cause us to rest on Your unchangeable faithfulness and the surety of Your Covenant, on Your Almighty power and Your Holy Spirit working in us; please cause us to give up ourselves to You as our God. So that You will prove that what You have done for us in Christ is not one whit more wonderful than what You will do in us every day by the Spirit of Christ. Amen.