It Is Written

Experiencing the New Covenant

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: John Bradshaw

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Series Code: IIW

Program Code: IIW001273


00:01 [Music] It has stood the test of time,
00:12 God's book, the Bible.
00:17 Still relevant in today's complex world.
00:22 It Is Written, sharing hope around the globe.
00:36 This is It Is Written.
00:37 I'm John Bradshaw.
00:38 Thanks for joining me today.
00:39 Today on It Is Written, I'm joined by a very special
00:42 guest.
00:43 We've met before when we talked about the covenants,
00:46 the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, but there's much
00:49 to talk about on these subjects and how the Old
00:52 and New Covenants impact our lives today and what they
00:56 really stand for.
00:57 My guest is Dr. Skip McCarty who for over four decades
01:00 has been a pastor, a teacher and an author.
01:03 Skip, thanks very much for joining me today.
01:06 SM Thank you John.
01:07 An honor to be here.
01:08 JB I appreciate this opportunity to speak
01:10 with you about the covenants.
01:11 You have written extensively on this subject.
01:13 You have engaged with theologians and scholars
01:17 from across the Christian spectrum on the subjects
01:19 of the covenants.
01:20 It's a relevant subject, a very pertinent subject today
01:22 because there is a lot of discussion among people who
01:24 say, well I'm a New Covenant Christian.
01:27 I don't want to be an Old Covenant Christian.
01:30 And I'm sure that's right because the covenant God
01:32 gave us today is the New Covenant.
01:35 What was the first Covenant God gave us and before
01:38 you answer that, what's a covenant biblically?
01:40 What's a covenant biblically and what is the first
01:42 one God gave us?
01:43 SM The covenants in the Bible were different kinds.
01:46 There were covenants between nations, there were covenants
01:48 between individuals such as David
01:50 and Jonathan, they had a covenant with each other.
01:53 But the dominant covenants in the Bible are the covenants
01:56 God made with human beings.
01:57 And those covenants are all God initiated.
01:59 They are promises God made to his people.
02:02 JB What is or what was the original covenant God made
02:05 with the human family.
02:07 SM I am going to back up even before the human
02:10 family.
02:11 You can go back in time far enough
02:13 where there was no creation and there was only God.
02:16 And Christianity understands God in terms of Father, Son
02:20 and Holy Spirit.
02:21 That's how we understand God.
02:23 Therefore, it can say God is love for eternity past
02:25 because you have Father, Son and Holy Spirit relating
02:27 to one another.
02:28 Those love bonds, those commitments of loyalty
02:30 to one another, each treating the other as they would want
02:33 to be treated if they were in the other's place.
02:35 That's covenant.
02:37 That's essentially covenant.
02:38 It's that whole sold commitment John Murray, a Presbyterian
02:42 scholar, he called it a whole souled commitment
02:44 to the other.
02:45 Once God began to bring creation into existence,
02:48 the Angels, they were just folded into that covenant.
02:50 This was the same commitment that was made to them when
02:53 he brought Adam and Eve into the existence, that same
02:56 commitment was made to them.
02:57 That kind of a covenant expects the same kind
02:59 of commitment back again.
03:00 JB The covenant represents God's total commitment
03:04 to the person he is making a covenant with.
03:06 SM Absolutely.
03:07 God does expect a whole souled commitment back
03:09 to him.
03:10 There is no question about that.
03:12 No, it's not a whole list of you do this and this
03:14 and this and this and this and then I'll be your God.
03:16 JB And many people see it that way.
03:18 SM Yeah, well, that's a mistake.
03:20 It was not that way with the Angels, it was not that way
03:22 with the Father, Son or Holy Spirit and when Adam and Eve
03:24 were brought into existence, God made that same
03:26 commitment to them.
03:27 Now he did give them a way that they could express
03:29 their trust in him and that was that tree in the garden
03:32 and they showed their distrust of him which
03:34 is essentially what that was.
03:35 It was distrusting him but every covenant from
03:38 that point on has been God reaffirming.
03:41 Once Adam and Eve sinned, the everlasting covenant
03:44 from eternity past was adapted into a covenant
03:46 of grace.
03:47 The covenant of grace is the bridge between Eden lost
03:52 and Eden restored.
03:53 Everything Adam lost, the Covenant of Grace,
03:56 the Everlasting Gospel -- the Book of Revelation calls
03:59 it the Everlasting Gospel -- is that Covenant of Grace.
04:02 Is God's initiative to restore to us everything we've lost.
04:06 So that's the four promises we talked about last time
04:09 I came here, the New Covenant.
04:10 God will write his law in our hearts.
04:12 He'll be our God, we'll be his people.
04:14 Eventually everyone is going to know him and he'll
04:16 forgive us of our sins.
04:17 That comes into that.
04:18 JB Important to discuss that because many people have
04:20 the idea the Old Covenant was the Ten Commandments,
04:23 obey this and live, the New Covenant is believe in Jesus
04:26 and be saved by grace.
04:27 You mentioned something that isn't often spoken
04:31 of in discussions of the covenants.
04:33 So we want to accurately understand what
04:36 the covenants are and you've expressed them always
04:39 as being God's expression of his commitment to his people
04:42 and as we participate in that covenant our expression
04:45 of our commitment back to him.
04:47 But you talked about an everlasting covenant.
04:51 And now, where did that come from and what's that?
04:53 SM The everlasting covenant came from God who
04:55 is everlasting.
04:56 The Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
04:58 That's where it originated in the commitments they have
05:00 made to one another and then enfolded the angelic host
05:03 and the human race into that commitment.
05:05 I am going to turn to one passage and that's Isaiah 24
05:08 and read verse 5 if you would for us.
05:12 JB The earth is also defiled under its in habitants
05:16 because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance,
05:21 broken the everlasting covenant.
05:25 SM Isn't that interesting?
05:27 This is the earth.
05:28 This is not just a little group of people here
05:30 or there.
05:31 It's not just a nation.
05:32 It's not just Israel.
05:34 The everlasting covenant involves everyone on
05:36 the earth and the covenants God made with his people,
05:39 for instance, the covenant he made at Sinai, he was just
05:43 grooming them to share with the world the knowledge
05:46 of the everlasting covenant, of God's commitment to everyone
05:49 and that they needed to put their trust in him too
05:52 and have this same experience with God that they were having
05:54 to have restored to them everything that Adam lost
05:57 on their behalf.
05:58 In Hebrews 13, this is the first time that
06:01 the everlasting covenant is associated directly
06:04 with Jesus in Hebrews 13:20.
06:08 Why don't you read that for us if you would?
06:10 JB Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord
06:14 Jesus from the dead, the great shepherd of the sheep
06:18 through the blood of the everlasting covenant
06:21 make you complete in every good work to do his will.
06:23 SM Exactly.
06:24 Isaiah said there is an everlasting covenant
06:26 the whole earth has broken.
06:28 In Hebrews it says when Jesus died it was his blood
06:31 of the everlasting covenant.
06:33 He atoned for the sins of the whole world and gave his
06:37 life for them so they could be restored to wholeness
06:39 again.
06:40 JB When do we find talk in the Bible
06:44 of the Old Covenant?
06:46 SM The term Old Covenant first shows up in the New
06:49 Testament.
06:50 It doesn't occur anywhere in the Old Testament.
06:52 The term New Covenant does in Jeremiah, after
06:54 the exile, when they are in Babylon for 70 years
06:58 and Jeremiah 31 God said I'm going to make a New Covenant
07:02 with you.
07:03 JB It's worthwhile reading that.
07:05 Can I look at that?
07:06 It starts in verse 31.
07:07 SM Yes.
07:08 JB Behold the days are coming, says the Lord,
07:10 when I will make a New Covenant with the House of Israel
07:12 and with the House of Judah.
07:14 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers
07:17 in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them
07:19 out of the land of Egypt.
07:21 My covenant, which they broke, though I was a husband
07:25 to them, says the Lord.
07:26 But this is the Covenant that I will make with the House
07:29 of Israel after those days, says the Lord.
07:32 I will put my law in their minds and write it on their
07:35 hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my
07:39 people and verse 34 goes on to say, no more shall every
07:43 man teach his neighbor and every man his brother saying
07:46 know the Lord for they all shall know me, from the least
07:49 of them to the greatest of them says the Lord.
07:51 For I will forgive their iniquity and their sin
07:54 I will remember no more.
07:55 SM Okay this is the new expression of New Covenant.
07:57 JB And it's in the Old Testament.
07:59 SM It's in the Old Testament and it's talking about God
08:02 is renewing his covenant with his people, with Israel,
08:05 that he had made with him at Sinai.
08:07 These same promises occur in the Sinai covenant,
08:10 they incur all through the Old Testament.
08:12 There is New Covenant all the way through
08:14 the Old Testament.
08:15 JB Which means, then, that the Old Covenant isn't
08:17 the Old Testament and the New Covenant, the New Testament,
08:19 which is commonly talked about.
08:20 SM Yes.
08:21 There's an element of truth to that.
08:23 Once Jesus came, there was something so significant
08:26 about that that the Book of Hebrews does talk about
08:29 the whole period before Jesus came as being Old Covenant,
08:33 all the sacrifices and all the temple ritual and so forth,
08:37 that was Old Covenant.
08:38 When Jesus came, the ritual changed.
08:41 We still have ceremonies.
08:42 We still have ceremonial law.
08:44 Our ceremonies are baptism and the Lord's supper.
08:46 There is still ceremonial laws but that changed
08:48 because all of those other ceremonies were looking
08:50 forward to Jesus coming, the ceremonies we now have look
08:52 back on his coming.
08:53 The moral law didn't change, it is still the same moral
08:56 standard, it is still the same standard for sin.
08:58 But the ceremonies change.
09:00 In that sense, you do have a historical Old
09:02 and New Covenant.
09:04 But that's not what the New Testament is focusing on.
09:06 When the New Testament talks about the two covenants
09:08 it's talking about something vastly different.
09:10 JB We are going to have to talk about that in just
09:12 a moment.
09:13 We'll be back with more on the covenants with Dr. Skip
09:15 McCarty, right ahead.
09:18 In Matthew 4:4, the Word of God says, "It is written,
09:22 man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that
09:26 proceeds from the mouth of God."
09:28 Every Word is a one-minute Bible-based daily devotional
09:31 presented by Pastor John Bradshaw and designed
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09:36 Look for Every Word on selected networks or watch
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09:43 Receive a daily spiritual boost.
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09:51 [Music]
09:59 In 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 Paul tells his readers that
10:02 the day of the return of Jesus is going to come
10:05 for many people like a thief in the night.
10:08 They're not going to be ready, even though they have the same
10:10 opportunities as everybody else to be ready.
10:12 And with the thought of Jesus' return in the center
10:15 of the picture, Paul adds in verse 6.
10:17 "Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us
10:20 watch and be sober."
10:23 There's nothing more important that being ready
10:25 to meet Jesus when He comes back, and people ought
10:27 to "watch" for that day: alert to the signs of the times
10:30 and living in a way that suggests you are serious
10:32 about meeting Jesus.
10:34 If ever there was a time to be living with eternity
10:37 in mind, this is definitely it.
10:40 Why?
10:41 Because Jesus is coming back soon.
10:45 I'm John Bradshaw for It Is Written.
10:47 Let's live today by Every Word.
10:51 This is It Is Written and I'm John Bradshaw
10:53 and my guest today is Dr. Skip McCarty and we are talking
10:56 about the covenants, the Old Covenant and the New
11:00 Covenant and Skip, must a moment ago you mentioned
11:04 something that is going to take our conversation a little bit
11:07 deeper.
11:08 There is an historical element to the covenants
11:12 and an experiential element to the covenants.
11:16 SM Correct.
11:17 JB There was an Old Covenant and there is a New Covenant.
11:19 Jesus stood between the two covenants historically
11:24 but what do you mean when you say there is an experiential
11:26 component?
11:27 SM In the writings of Paul, when he is talking about
11:29 the covenants, he is talking about something that God
11:32 himself hinted at when he gave the New Covenant
11:34 in the book of Hebrews.
11:35 When he gave the New Covenant in Hebrews 8, he said it's not
11:38 going to be like the covenant I made with those
11:40 I brought out of Egypt because they weren't
11:42 faithful to my covenant.
11:44 That was the difference.
11:45 It was a matter of faithfulness.
11:47 So God himself said what's going to be different about
11:49 the New Covenant is I'm expecting a different
11:51 response than I got at At Sinai, people said we'll
11:53 do it all, we'll do everything you said but they didn't.
11:56 They immediately made a golden calf.
11:58 JB Sure.
11:59 SM God says I want a different response from this generation
12:01 and so what he's talking about here is how people respond
12:05 to the gospel message.
12:06 Jesus said that which is born of the flesh is flesh,
12:08 that which is born of the spirit is spirit.
12:10 You must be born again and so if we stay in the flesh,
12:13 and that can be a rebellious response to God or a religious
12:16 response to God.
12:18 Religious response is where we just do what we think
12:21 is right and think that's going to put God in our debt.
12:24 We'll merit eternal life.
12:25 That's all Old Covenant.
12:26 And the other side, being born of the Spirit, being
12:30 born according to the Spirit is New Covenant.
12:32 JB So what you're saying, there's a historical component
12:35 to the covenants, Jesus stood between the two covenants
12:39 historically, but there is an experiential
12:41 component where somebody living in this very modern
12:44 age can have a very Old Covenant experience.
12:47 SM That's what he's warning against.
12:49 JB Tell me how a person in practical terms today
12:51 can have an Old Covenant experience.
12:53 SM Okay.
12:54 JB You might be living under the Old Covenant even
12:56 if you attend a church that says New Covenant church right
12:59 on the sign, if.
13:00 SM That's true.
13:01 I've knocked on many doors in my life just talking
13:04 to people about the gospel and somebody says well I don't
13:07 really need what you're offering because I think
13:09 I live a good life.
13:10 I live a good enough life.
13:11 If there's an after life, I think I'll be okay.
13:13 It's the law of Karma.
13:16 The law of Karma says I'm going to get coming back
13:19 to me.
13:20 If I don't get it all in this life I'm gonna get
13:22 it in the next life either good or bad.
13:24 The Gospel isn't Karma.
13:25 The Gospel is total faith in Jesus Christ.
13:28 His blood of the everlasting covenant is what washes away
13:32 my sins.
13:33 His promise to write his law in my heart and mind is what
13:36 empowers me to live a godly life and that's a process.
13:40 If I think going to church is going to help get
13:43 me salvation, just going to church - that's not going to
13:46 do it.
13:47 I have to have total dependence on the grace
13:49 of Jesus Christ's sacrifice for me and his promise to change
13:53 my life.
13:54 That's new covenant.
13:55 JB So secular people, without realizing it, can
13:57 have an Old Covenant attitude.
13:59 SM Exactly.
14:00 JB and modern New Testament church going Christians
14:03 can be under the Old Covenant.
14:04 SM John, we are born Old Covenant.
14:06 Every human being is born in Old Covenant.
14:09 .We have to be converted to become New Covenant people.
14:11 That's what Paul has in mind here.
14:13 Those who are born of the flesh are Old Covenant.
14:16 That's what he calls Old Covenant.
14:18 Those who are born of the Spirit are New Covenant.
14:21 So He is saying if you are Old Covenant, you will not
14:23 inherit eternal life.
14:25 So John, if the Old Covenant is the Covenant God made
14:28 with the people at Sinai, that would be saying
14:31 that anyone who is faithful to that covenant, as God asked
14:33 them to me, cannot have everlasting life.
14:36 That's why we absolutely, positively know
14:39 that it's not talking about any covenant he had
14:41 made previously.
14:42 It's talking about their response, an illegitimate
14:44 response, a legalistic or a rebellious response
14:47 to the gospel.
14:48 That's totally what the Old Covenant is in Paul's
14:50 thinking.
14:51 JB That's serious, isn't it?
14:52 Because there are Christians today who, based on their
14:55 attitude towards the gospel, might be Old Covenant
14:59 Christians because of the experience they are having
15:03 rather than New Covenant Christians because they are
15:05 missing something vital with Jesus Christ.
15:07 SM That's true.
15:08 And it has nothing to do with Oh, I believe in the Ten
15:10 Commandments, therefore you must be Old Covenant.
15:12 It has nothing to do with that.
15:14 It's how we are responding to God in faith.
15:16 Or if I'm responding to God and I say, Oh, I put faith
15:18 in God but I don't want anything to do with
15:20 the transformation of my life.
15:21 The New Covenant is I'm going to write my law
15:23 in your hearts.
15:24 I am going to forgive you but I am going to write my
15:26 law in your hearts as well.
15:27 It's a total submission to God, it's a total submission
15:29 to God to do everything he wants to do for us
15:31 in this life.
15:32 JB and entering into the transformation he wants to
15:34 bring into our lives.
15:35 SM Exactly.
15:36 JB Let's pick up on more and that in just a minute.
15:39 A great discussion with Dr. Skip McCarty.
15:39 I'll look forward to talking with you more about this
15:41 in just a moment.
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16:38 I'm glad you've joined me today on It Is Written.
16:40 My guest is Skip McCarty and our discussion is centering
16:45 on the covenants, the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.
16:48 And Skip, what we find in the Bible is that God wants
16:51 everybody to have a New Covenant experience.
16:53 SM Amen.
16:54 Old Testament, New Testament, it doesn't matter when they
16:56 lived, he wants them to have a New Covenant
16:58 experience.
16:59 It's the only way for salvation.
17:01 JB So somebody in the Old Testament living, it was God's
17:03 will that that person have a New Covenant
17:05 experience.
17:06 SM All those people in Hebrews 11.
17:08 They didn't have the Old Covenant experience
17:10 that Paul is talking about in Galatians 4.
17:12 They had a New Covenant experience.
17:14 JB Tell me how somebody living in the Old Covenant
17:16 times could have an Old Covenant experience
17:18 as opposed to a New Covenant experience.
17:20 SM Oh easy.
17:21 In Isaiah 1, God is saying you perform the sacrifices,
17:23 you go to the festivals but you are oppressing people.
17:25 He says I hate your sacrifices.
17:28 You need to live a godly life.
17:30 In other words, they weren't fully embracing the promise
17:33 God had given them to transform their hearts.
17:36 It's very clear God wanted love first.
17:39 Love me and keep my commandments.
17:41 And Love for God and love for others was always
17:44 at the top of the list of His commandments.
17:46 It always was.
17:47 And so God says you're not loving people, then the ritual
17:50 means nothing to me.
17:51 So people who say I'll treat people, I'll cheat them
17:54 in business, I'll get as rich as I can and oppress
17:56 the poor but yet I'll do the sacrifices and I'll perform
18:00 the rituals.
18:01 God says no, it's not what it's about.
18:03 That is Old Covenant.
18:04 JB New Covenant, it seems very clear, involves
18:07 a transformation in the life.
18:09 SM Absolutely.
18:10 JB God said if you love me, I'll write my law
18:13 in your hearts.
18:14 SM Exactly.
18:15 JB Now you would say that that law that he
18:17 is talking about is the Ten Commandments.
18:19 Can we be certain about that?
18:21 SM It's at least the Ten Commandments.
18:23 It's at least the Ten Commandments.
18:25 That's the law that God is writing on our hearts.
18:27 JB And saying that a person is going to keep the Ten
18:29 Commandments is not legalism.
18:30 SM It can be legalism if that is all they think about,
18:33 is the Ten Commandments and obeying those in order
18:35 to get to heaven.
18:36 That can be legalism.
18:37 But a person who sincerely seeks God, who trusts God
18:40 to do the work in them they can't do for themselves,
18:42 to make them godly people, loving people, and obedient
18:46 to His commandments, of course.
18:48 But the commandments become promises.
18:50 Once a person becomes a believer and converted,
18:52 they are ten promises.
18:53 JB And that's the New Covenant experience.
18:56 SM Yes it is.
18:57 JB You know, there's another passage that I have been
18:59 asked about frequently that deals with this.
19:02 It's found in 2 Corinthians 3.
19:05 Would you mind looking at that with me?
19:07 SM Yes.
19:08 JB What do we say about this passage that Paul
19:10 was talking about here.
19:11 In fact, you know, it has a little heading right here
19:13 in this Bible, glory of the New Covenant.
19:16 SM In 2 Corinthians 3 it's very much like his letter
19:19 to the Galations in his discussion
19:21 of the two covenants there.
19:22 So we bring that mindset here and we find out exactly
19:26 the same thing going on here because what he does here
19:28 is he contrasts New Covenant and another covenant here
19:31 that he has in mind.
19:33 He says we're ministers of the New Covenant,
19:36 not of the letter.
19:37 He calls the other the letter that many people
19:41 refer to the Sinai Covenant.
19:43 You have parallel columns again where he has Old
19:46 Covenant and he says the Old Covenant is the letter
19:48 and the New Covenant is the Spirit.
19:50 The Old Covenant is written on stone and the New Covenant
19:53 is written on the heart.
19:54 The Old Covenant is condemnation and death.
19:57 The New Covenant is righteousness and life
19:59 and when you go down those columns, you find out if you
20:02 just have the items he puts in the Old Covenant,
20:05 you have an unsaved person.
20:06 It's talking about an unconverted person.
20:08 So what you have is the Old Covenant again is an unbelieving
20:12 response to the gospel.
20:14 A rejection of it or a legalistic response to it
20:16 and the New Covenant being a faith-embrace
20:19 of the gospel, allowing God to do everything in us
20:21 he wants to do and he is going to change us from one
20:23 degree of glory to the other by the Spirit who does
20:25 this work in us.
20:26 That's New Covenant.
20:27 No matter when a person lived, they had to have
20:29 that experience and that is New Covenant.
20:31 JB So the covenants that God made with his people back
20:33 in Old Testament times were gospel-revealing covenants.
20:37 SM Exactly.
20:38 Each one in capsuled the gospel to be shared
20:41 with the people of the world around them.
20:43 It was the same gospel throughout.
20:45 Paul said in Galations 1 there's one gospel.
20:47 There is no other gospel.
20:48 If anybody preaches a different gospel, that would
20:50 be Adam, that would be Moses, that would be anybody
20:53 in the Old Testament who preached a different gospel,
20:56 Paul said let him be accursed.
20:57 JB God wants people today to have New Covenant experience
21:01 with Him.
21:02 SM Exactly.
21:03 JB Explain to somebody right now how they can have a New
21:08 Covenant experience with God, what that is going
21:11 to look like, what it will do for them.
21:13 SM Okay.
21:14 Every human being, John, no matter who they are,
21:16 is going to have times in their life when they are under
21:19 conviction by God.
21:21 You can't get away from that, no matter where you
21:23 are, whether you have even heard of Jesus or not.
21:25 You are going to come under conviction by the Spirit of God
21:28 that there is something wrong, you need something more.
21:30 Now people can try to make a transformation in their life
21:33 but that's futile too make that ultimate change that God
21:36 is asking us to make, and so they come to
21:39 the place where they say God, help me!
21:41 And God comes into the picture.
21:43 There's conversion.
21:44 The Spirit of God brings a new life into them
21:46 and the Bible calls that the new birth.
21:48 That's the New Covenant experience and then
21:51 it's a matter of continuing to trust God, trust his
21:53 promises, trust those promises.
21:55 God says I'm going to write my law in your mind.
21:57 I'm going to forgive you.
21:58 Don't keep bringing up the past.
22:00 Don't keep worrying about the past.
22:02 I am going to forgive you for that.
22:04 Let's go on from here.
22:05 I'm going to do a new thing in your life and I am going
22:07 to be your God, and you are going to be my child even
22:09 when things go rough for you when you fall, I'm still
22:11 your God, you're still my child.
22:13 We are going to get through this together.
22:15 The New Covenant is God promising people He is going
22:17 to do for them what they can't do and He is going
22:19 to save them.
22:20 It's his promise.
22:21 I am guaranteeing you, I will save you.
22:23 Just don't run away from me.
22:24 Hang on to me.
22:25 Hang on to me.
22:26 I am going to save you.
22:27 I am going to make your life more meaningful here than
22:29 you have ever dreamed here on this earth.
22:31 JB Allowing God to be in our life that which he wants
22:33 to be.
22:34 SM Yes.
22:35 JB To make us what he wants us to be.
22:36 SM Yes.
22:37 JB The discussion when we get into well New Covenant
22:38 you don't keep the commandments, Old Covenant you do keep
22:40 the commandments.
22:41 It's really a smoke screen, isn't it?
22:43 SM It's not in the New Testament.
22:44 It doesn't exist there.
22:45 That kind of thinking does not exist there.
22:46 Paul is not talking, when he is talking about the Old
22:49 Covenant, he is not talking about the covenant God made
22:51 with his people at Sinai.
22:52 Particularly the moral laws God gave his people
22:54 at Sinai.
22:55 Paul himself said if it wasn't for the 10th
22:56 Commandment, Thou shall not covet, I would not even know
22:58 I was a sinner.
23:00 He thought he was living a perfect life.
23:01 He says that in Philippians 3.
23:02 Before the law, I was faultless.
23:05 There is no argumentation in the New Testament against
23:07 the commandments of God, against the Ten Commandments.
23:09 Absolutely not.
23:10 It's only against this rebellious attitude
23:12 toward them.
23:14 Once you understand that's what the Old Covenant
23:15 is about, it's about a faulty response to God, an unbelieving
23:19 response or a legalistic response to God,
23:20 New Covenant is a faith-response to God, totally trusting
23:23 his grace.
23:24 It's our response to the law, it's a perversion of the law
23:27 that he has in mind.
23:28 If he is talking negatively about it, that's what he
23:29 is talking about.
23:30 He's not talking about a faith response to God's law,
23:33 see it as now the promise of God.
23:35 JB We've covered some ground today.
23:37 I'm thankful to you for taking the time and I want
23:39 to encourage you, friend, to know that God wants you
23:43 to have a New Covenant experience.
23:46 When you will come to God by faith and say here I am,
23:50 take me and do whatever it is you want to do in my
23:53 life, you are entering into a New Covenant experience
23:56 with God.
23:57 You see, when God enters your life and writes his law
24:00 in your heart, when Jesus begins to live his life
24:02 in you, what once might have seemed impossible to you
24:05 becomes possible.
24:06 You love the things you used to hate and maybe hate some
24:09 things you used to love and you find your life trending
24:12 in the very direction that God wants it to go.
24:15 Friend, there is only one thing, and that is to enter into
24:17 a New Covenant experience with Jesus.
24:19 Let him write his law in your heart.
24:22 Respond to him by saying as Jesus said to his Father,
24:25 not my will, but your will be done.
24:29 When you say to Jesus, let me have a New Covenant
24:32 experience with you, your life is going to bloom,
24:35 your joy will be full, you'll be walking with Jesus
24:38 the way he wants you to walk and you can look forward
24:42 with great certainty to the wonderful day
24:44 when Jesus comes to take you home.
24:47 [music]
24:59 The world in which we live is full of the phony and fake,
25:02 imitation of this and that, Photoshop pictures,
25:05 Internet hoaxes and we see people we want to
25:08 admire let us down with lies and deceit and broken promises.
25:13 But one person who won't let you down is God.
25:16 While people struggle to find meaning in a world full
25:19 of chaos you can find a religion that works.
25:24 That's my free offer to you today, this book.
25:26 A religion that works.
25:28 In this book you'll find out how you can have a real,
25:32 consistent, joyful experience in God and in the Bible.
25:36 I want you to have a religion that works.
25:39 To get your free copy, call right now 800.253.3000
25:43 and say you'd like to receive the book,
25:46 A Religion that Works.
25:48 But do call as soon as you possibly can because
25:51 supplies of this book are limited.
25:53 Call right away, 800.253.3000 or write to us
25:57 at It Is Written, Box O, Thousand Oaks, California,
26:00 91359 and we'll mail a copy to your address
26:04 in North America.
26:05 Now I said supplies are limited.
26:07 If we run out, we'll be sure to send you a copy of a book
26:10 that's very similar.
26:11 And remember, It Is Written is a donor-supported ministry.
26:15 Without the support of people like you, we're not able
26:18 to reach out around the world with the power and the blessing
26:20 of the Word of God.
26:21 Help us change lives for God's glory.
26:24 To support It Is Written, call that same number,
26:28 800.253.3000 or visit us on-line at itiswritten.com.
26:34 Do you have a New Covenant experience today?
26:37 It's the experience that God wants you to have.
26:39 Dr. McCarty, thanks for making this clear
26:41 for us today.
26:42 I'm just so thankful you've taken the time.
26:45 Friend, I want to pray for you that you can have
26:48 that experience with Jesus that he wants you to have,
26:50 an experience that is vital and vibrant, that even
26:53 when there are times of challenges, God can get you
26:55 through, an experience where the Lord's will is done
26:58 and you are made a new creature in Christ.
27:00 Let's pray for that now.
27:02 Father in heaven, thank you for giving us a New Covenant
27:05 experience, where we can open up our hearts to you
27:08 and allow you to be the God in our life, and allow Jesus
27:12 to work in us both to will and to do
27:14 for his good pleasure.
27:16 May we not choose to be Old Covenant Christians,
27:18 trusting our own works, doing our own thing
27:22 in order to secure salvation.
27:24 But may we trust fully in you.
27:26 Give us the grace today to lean on Jesus and expect
27:29 His will to be done.
27:31 This we pray, thanking you in Jesus' name, amen.
27:39 [Music]
27:53 Thank you for joining me today.
27:54 I look forward to seeing you next time.
27:56 Until then, remember, it is written, man shall not
27:58 live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds
28:03 from the mouth of God.


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Revised 2015-02-06