The Preparation | Part Two

Joshua 5:1-12

We're going to look at three features of the new covenant. More could be said, but for now, chew on this:

1. The new covenant promises a new heart.
In Ezekiel 36:26, God is speaking about the new covenant to come saying, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a new heart of flesh."

He will replace your stony, hard heart with a soft one full of new desires. A heart He can mold until it looks like Jesus' heart.

Many are wrestling with a tangled mess of problems, addictions, bad habits - all issues growing from stony hearts that are hardened to God. God wants to give you a new heart that is pliable in His hands.

He doesn't just want to modify your behavior, but your essence, your identity, the core of you.

2. The new covenant promises new life.
Jesus explains this in Luke 9:23-25. You give up your plans. You give up your ideas about what's best for your future. You give up your priorities. You give up your life. THEN, God will give you His plans. His ideas about what's best for your future. His priorities. New life.

In the new covenant, you must die to your old self to become alive to God.

Note, we are not promised a new life. God doesn't promise to pluck you out of your crummy life and drop you into a new one with a great family and a huge house. Abundant life is living for God through Jesus in any circumstance.

3. The new covenant promises deliverance from sin.
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9). As Psalm 103:12 states, God is able to remove our sins from us as far as the east is from the west.

Our part: confess our sins (to God and all affected) and repent (turn away from sin to God). This is the Christian lifestyle. Until Jesus returns and completes our transformation, we will be confessing and repenting.

God's part: die in payment for the sins of all who will believe in and follow Him.

He also promises to help us to see our sin, forgive us of our sin, help us to repent fully (by massaging new desires into our new, soft heart), cleanse us of our sin, and restore us to right relationship with Him and others.

Many are sinking into the quicksand of sin. The harder we fight to get out, the stronger its grip. God wants to deliver us from sin, both its hold on our lives and the punishment it earns.

This is the new covenant in Jesus' blood. Not trying to live a good life, modifying our behavior, trying to escape bad circumstances. Many have settled for this and called it Christianity and have never experienced a new, softened heart, new life, or deliverance from sin.

If this describes you, perhaps it's time to enter into the new covenant. Maybe it's time to give God your heart,  your life, your sin - and receive His promises through Jesus.