The New Covenant Life - Part 1 — Sandeep Poonen

I thought I'd take the next few weeks to share some of the things that are very fundamental to our church. We call ourselves New Covenant Christian Fellowship. The reason we call that is because the New Covenant is extremely important to us and it's extremely important that all of us understand and embrace and absorb and make it our own the New Covenant or the New Agreement.

So, some of this may be new, some of this may be a repeat, but it's extremely, extremely important. We'll start with Hebrews chapter 8. I put a few slides together to help it, to make it easy. There's a reason I put this picture of the Old Covenant being broken and the New Covenant, which was established through the cross, through the blood of Jesus, is because of this verse in Hebrews chapter 8 verse 13.

The New Covenant as a New Agreement

Now, a covenant is just an agreement. So, that's the first thing you need to remember. A covenant is an agreement. So, when we say New Covenant, we're talking about a new agreement. Who's the agreement from and who's the agreement to?

The agreement is between God and man. That's simple, but that important. The agreement between you and your boss pales in significance to the agreement between God and you. It should be very easy for us to understand.

Chances are we know more about the agreement between our boss and us. We know exactly what we shouldn't do at work, what we shouldn't do at school, what we shouldn't do in different places because there's a legal document.

But we know very little about the New Covenant, which is the agreement that God has established between God and us. So, that's how important understanding the New Covenant is because it's a new agreement that God made between God and us.

In Hebrews 8, verse 13, he says, when he said a new covenant or a new agreement, he has made the first obsolete. What does obsolete mean? No longer valid. Which means he has torn up the old agreement.

Which agreement has he torn up and made obsolete? The old agreement between God and man. And if you read in verse 7, in Hebrews 8, for if the first agreement or covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second.

Verse 8, for finding fault with the old agreement, he comes with a new agreement. So, these are God's word, not ours. And if you have any doubt about what this first or old agreement is, you go after verse 13.

He talks about the old agreement being made obsolete. He then goes on to say about the first agreement, in Hebrews 9, verse 1, he talks about this first agreement, which had regulations for divine worship and earthly sanctuary, and there was a tabernacle.

And there was the Holy of Holies and all that stuff. Very clearly talking about all of Hebrews 9, saying that the first agreement or the old agreement was the agreement between God and Moses. Symbolized through the Ten Commandments, but actually a lot more than the Ten Commandments.

Hundreds of laws, through the laws and the prophets, through Moses and the prophets. That is the old agreement. Now what has God done with it according to Hebrews 8, verse 13? He has torn up that old agreement.

That doesn't mean that his truth is no longer the truth, but the agreement between God and us on what he is going to do and what we need to do has changed. So it doesn't mean thou shalt not murder is no longer valid, but the agreement of what we must do about thou shalt not murder has changed.

And so it's not at all relevant to keep thou shalt not murder, because that was part of the old agreement. And as we understand the new agreement, we'll understand that the standard is much higher. As we read in Matthew chapter 5, Jesus said, you have heard it say, in the old agreement thou shalt not murder, but I say to you I'm coming with a new agreement.

Don't even be angry in your heart. You have heard it said, do not commit adultery. That's in the old agreement. But I'm breaking it up, I'm tearing it up, and I'm giving a new agreement, which means, which says, do not even lust with your eyes.

Whoever lusts after a woman in her heart has already committed adultery. So he has torn up the old agreement. This is why we don't believe in tithing. Because tithing is an old agreement. This is why we don't believe in a special day.

That was part of the Sabbath. That's the old agreement. There are many, many things. That is why we don't believe in any animal being clean or unclean. That was all part of the old agreement. There are many, many things that are in the old agreement.

That is why we don't believe that what we do when we sing and play instruments, we don't believe that that is worship. That was what was in the worship in the old agreement. In the new agreement, music has nothing to do with worship.

Many ways in which most of Christendom allow the old agreement to slip in with the new agreement. What is your spiritual act of worship? Romans 12, verse 1. Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice. Most musicians don't have to do much of a sacrifice to offer them to do anything what they're doing on Sunday morning.

But if we will stay consistent to scripture and understand the new agreement and be faithful to tear up the old agreement in our lives and be righteous and ruthless to stick to the new agreement, we will enjoy a level of freedom with God that we have never experienced.

This has been my testimony. This has been the testimony of those who have been in this church who have grabbed a hold of this new agreement. So we can go to the next slide. The new agreement is so important.

Conformed to the Image of Jesus

What is the goal of the new agreement? This is the goal of the new agreement. And this is in Romans 8, verse 29. So, you go to a workplace and you're always... We can start with Romans 8, verse 29. And you can turn there.

You go to a workplace and your workplace keeps telling you what is the goal of why it is in business. We are here to make medical devices. We are here to make software. We are here to make a pleasurable experience for the end user who is trying to buy car insurance.

Whatever it is, they have a goal and everything they do is focused towards that goal. Every dollar they spend, every hour they spend should be focused towards the goal. That's a well-run company. What is a well-run life?

A well-run life, a Christian life, living according to the new agreement is one that is laser-focused on its goal. And here's the goal of the new agreement. Romans 8, verse 29. He predestined you. So, it is as if an angel has come.

There's somebody way better than an angel has come. God Himself has come and told you here is the goal for your life. To become conformed to the image of His Son. That is the destination that has been predefined in advance.

That's what predestination means. He has been predestined to become like Jesus. Exactly like Jesus. And if we go to 2 Corinthians 3, verse 18. This is also a very important verse that we must never forget.

2 Corinthians 3, verse 18. But we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are being transformed or being conformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord.

Which image? The image of Jesus. This is my goal. This is your goal in the new agreement. This is the most important agreement there exists. There's no comparison between the agreement you sign from Monday through Friday that you're going through and you're faithful to go to work.

If your work tells you to go at 8 o 'clock and you'll be deducted $100 if you go one minute late, you'll be on time. That's how much care we take to follow the agreements made by man. This is a good example for us to think about how important this new agreement is and how critical it is for us to devote all of our lives to becoming more like Jesus.

And as we think about the life of Jesus, we recognize that there are some things that are very different and there are some things that are the same. For example, to be conformed to the image of Jesus as he lived on this earth means to be like Jesus as he lived for 33 years on this earth.

That is why it is very important that he was born as a baby, not come to earth as a 30-year-old man. God could have done that. That's as much of a miracle for God to just send Jesus as a 30-year-old man and for him to have a public ministry for three and a half years and to die on the cross.

As much of a miracle, but not God's way because God was interested for Jesus to be an example. And for him to be an example, he had to come as a baby and live for 33 and a half years. So what that means for me is that how he lived is absolutely critical for me to be like Jesus.

And as I think about Jesus, as let's say a 20-year-old man, he was a carpenter. He was not a minister. He was not spending all day, all night reading the Bible, going to the mountains and praying all day, all night, every day.

He was not in a monastery. He was not in a religious school, Bible school. He was just an ordinary man, a carpenter, working to earn his living for 90 of his life. He was just like what we would be doing.

30 years old is when he was called to ministry. 33 years he died. For 90 of his life, he was just doing secular work. This is so important for us to understand. Every time we think we need to quit our job, we need to do all these kind of fantastic things for God because we need to be like Jesus.

We need to walk on water. 90 of Jesus' life was no different from any of your lives and what you do externally. He helped his mother. He helped his father. He made tables. He had a business. He obviously wasn't giving away tables for free.

He was having to pay for his living. These are all practical things that we have to think about as we think about our life and say, this is the goal of the new agreement to be transformed, to be just like Jesus.

Then it becomes extremely important for us to understand what it is about Jesus, even as he was a carpenter, that we can be like. Let's even stop for a second here and let us ask ourselves, Lord Jesus, do I want to be like you?

Is this the goal of my life? Or is the goal of my life that my children may finish high school? Or that my children may finish college? How important is that on the shelving, in the priority list? And what should be the difference between me having to have enough money to retire on and me becoming like Jesus?

What should be the difference between one and two? Let's say one is I want to be like Jesus and two is I must have enough money to retire by the time I'm 70, let's say. How important should be one and two?

What should be the difference in value that we put in every day, every week, every month between one and two? I think you can answer the question yourself. It's not that complicated. If we are to be like Jesus, that should become so much more important.

It should almost look like all other goals don't even exist. Or like the way Jesus said it, one should look like love and another one should look like hate. If you don't hate the most loved ones in your family compared to your love for me, you're not worthy to be my disciple.

That was his analogy. Love versus hate. That's the difference between the priority that I put on my goal to be like Jesus and all other goals. This is at the very beginning of the new agreement. As you're reading the agreement, do you want to work for this company?

This is at the very top. The very agreement of this new agreement, this is at the very top in bold letters and in red. And as we unpack what it means to be like Jesus, it should sober us. It should make us realize how all-encompassing it is, but not to the point where I feel I need to quit my job or I need to give up on my family responsibilities to spend more time or that I need to wake up at 5 o 'clock in the morning instead of 6 o 'clock in the morning to spend extra time reading the Bible.

None of those things. None of those things. But we must make this our burning zeal and goal all day. It'll change us. It'll change what we prioritize in our life. It'll change how we spend our time. It'll change what we value.

It'll change how we respond when things go wrong. All of this comes back to Lord Jesus, let me look at the agreement. And the agreement you made was that I will be like you. But that's the agreement that I'm signing on.

And so when it says we have to be a Christian, those who call themselves Christians should walk as Jesus walked. 1 John 2, verse 6. That's extremely important. Those who say they want to live with me have to walk as I walked.

That doesn't mean I have to build tables like he did. That doesn't mean I have to do miracles like he did. But I must be like Jesus. So the next slide tells me how, in what area, just like Jesus, in what?

Purity as the Mark of Christlikeness

In his purity. 1 John 3, verse 2 and 3. If we do want to be like Jesus, this is what we do. This is what about Jesus we need to be like him in. And 1 John 3, verse 2 and 3 makes it extremely clear. 1 John 3, verse 2.

It says, Beloved, now we are children of God and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that when he appears we shall be like him. We shall be like him. When he comes again or when we see him we shall be like him because we shall see him just as he is.

Remember 2 Corinthians 3 .18 it says, Beholding the glory of God I am transformed. And then finally when I actually see Jesus face to face I will be fully transformed. The rest of the transformation happens.

But in the meantime, verse 3, everyone has this hope. What hope? That I will be exactly like Jesus. Remember that's the goal and everybody who has this goal this is what they do. If you have this hope fixed on being like Jesus this is what we would do.

We would purify ourselves as he is pure. So this gives me a very clear idea of what Jesus was when he was 12 years old. Making tables or going to school. I have no idea what he was doing when he was 12 years old or 22 years old but one thing I know that he was pure.

So that's the one thing that I have to be like Jesus in. At 2, at 12, at 22, at 32. For the entire life span the thing I need to become like Jesus is to be pure as he is pure. And the other verse in relation to that is Hebrews 4, verse 15 that tells me that Jesus was like me.

He was truly and fully God as well as he was truly and fully man. At the same time. Our brains can't fully understand that but it's the truth. And in verse 15 this is one of the proofs. What is the proof that Jesus was fully God while on earth?

One of the fundamental proofs that Jesus was fully God was that he accepted worship. No human being is allowed to accept worship when an angel came and when people came to Peter and bowed down to worship them they said no, no, no, no you only worship God.

Seven times Jesus accepted worship in the Gospels. That's one of the clearest proofs that Jesus was God. He also said it. I am the Messiah. I am the Son of God. But here is the flip side of it which is he was also fully man.

Hebrews 4, verse 15 which says in the second half of it which was that he was tempted in all things as we are. And James 1 says that God cannot be tempted. God cannot be tempted because he is God. So here we have Jesus who we know to be fully God because he accepted worship and he said he was the Son of God.

He fulfilled prophecies as the Son of God. But here we also see that he was tempted as a man and overcame as a man. And was perfected through obedience in his sufferings. But here is the difference between him who was tempted and I who was also tempted that he was tempted in all points, Hebrews 4, verse 15 and he is yet without sin.

And this is what I call the most you can't see what's written at the bottom of the screen but I call this Hebrews 4, verse 15 the most unbelievable verse in the Bible for me. Way more unbelievable than John 14, verse 6 which says Jesus is the way the truth and the life.

No one comes to the Father but by me. The reason why it's easy for me to explain John 14, verse 6 is because of Hebrews 4, verse 15. Hebrews 4, verse 15 tells me that Jesus was a man just like me just like one of us humans.

He was tempted for over 10 ,000 days and didn't sin even once. For over 290 ,000 hours he was tempted, tempted, tempted just like we are tempted in all points. 290 ,000 hours and didn't sin once. This is what it means when we say we are a Christian we sign up for the new agreement to say I want to be like Jesus.

I'm saying Lord Jesus I look at your track record for 10 ,000 days didn't sin even once and I'm not just going to say thank you I want to be like you. This is the new agreement. Most of us may have known this in our heads but this needs constant reminders because we know how quickly we slip into I didn't lust with my eyes or I didn't shout at my wife this week and I didn't tell a lie at work this week I'm pretty good as a Christian.

You've missed the goal. We've lost the goal. The goal is that we must be like Jesus who didn't sin for 290 ,000 hours not once. We sin every day in thought I'm talking about in thought in motive in attitude Jesus didn't sin even once.

Well he was God. No, he was tempted as I was. How did he overcome? By the power of the Holy Spirit who has been given to us too and by the word of God. You know when the devil tempted Jesus in Matthew chapter 4 Jesus could have just responded by saying just because I say it so.

He could have just said because I say so. Just because. He could have used all kinds of arguments because he's the son of God. He's God. But why did Jesus say it is written He was tempted as a man and he was being an example for us for all of us human beings how we too can overcome by the power of the Holy Spirit and the word of God.

We can overcome every single temptation. And 1 Corinthians 10 .13 says Nothing it comes my way that I cannot overcome that gives me a way of escape. We must break down this huge gap between what Jesus did and what we did and meditate on it to realize that what we are saying when we say these very well known verses that we want to be like Jesus WWJD all these things slip in well what does that mean?

That means never sinning. Not once. In 290 ,000 hours. Now I'm not saying we get there today or tomorrow but that must be our goal. We don't discourage some 5 year old who wants to become like Michael Jordan.

That's the goal they want to have. And well then you have to practice a lot. You have to make it your undying passion. If you have any chance dear son of mine of ever becoming close to Michael Jordan how could I expect anything less?

When we're talking not about Michael Jordan but the son of God Jesus who didn't sin even once. For 290 ,000 hours. This is how high the bar is but this is what we say when we say we're part of the new agreement.

Divine Transformation and Human Cooperation

How will we become pure like Jesus? That's the next slide. How will it happen? This is one of the fundamental differences between the old agreement and the new agreement. In the old agreement the 10 commandments always said thou shalt, you shall, you must you must not commit adultery.

Thou shalt not commit murder. Thou shalt not steal. That means you will not, you shall not, you shall not, you shall not. And the new agreement is in Hebrews chapter 8 verses 10 to 12 in that when it's talking about the new agreement where Jesus says God says I will do it.

I will do this. It says in verse 10 I will put my laws into their minds. I will. God is doing it now. God is doing it. But God doesn't do it to people who don't first sign up to the agreement. Who don't recognize what the agreement is.

There's a lot of people who say God will do it, God will do it, God will do it. God will do what? God will make you pure like Jesus. And it is not automatic. We have to cooperate. We have to cooperate.

Those who have this hope fixed on him will purify themselves. They will purify themselves as he is pure. So there's a part God does and there's a part we do. As we heard from Bobby, 1 John 4 verse 19 is the other verse.

We love because he first loved us. So he must pour his love into us and this is how we will be pure like Jesus. God will do it. God will be the author and the perfecter. He's going to be the one who writes the whole book from finish to end.

God will do it. And so we must be absolutely floored by the impossibility of our being able to live up to the agreement. That's extremely important. Before we come to this point that God will do it, we must absorb the weight that it is impossible for us to fulfill the new agreement by ourselves.

That shows us our need. Blessed are the poor, those who are needy, those who lack. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. It's to those who lack, who recognize the deep lack between their best ability to obey the commands and the life of Jesus.

It's to such people who God says, I will do it now. It is after Abraham's and Sarah's hopes were all done, there was no more hope. Sarah's womb was dead that God says, now I will birth Isaac. And he is the example for us in the new agreement.

Where Sarah, when Paul talks about the new agreement in Romans chapter 4, he uses the story of Abraham. And the impossibility of it is so important. And it's so easy for us Christians to forget the impossibility of it before coming to this truth that God will do it.

We are so surrounded by the message of grace, grace, grace, grace, grace. That it becomes a cheap grace because we have not recognized the impossibility of it. All because we have lowered the standard.

That the standard is that we must become like Jesus. In the purity of his character. So, let's do an analogy. What should affect us more? I'm not even saying it's true for me. But what should affect it more?

That I lose $100 ,000 or that I sin once? Losing $100 ,000, does it have an eternal consequence? Sinning once, and not addressing it, does it have an eternal consequence? How many sins do I need to commit to go to hell?

This should give us a sense of weightage that's fundamentally wrong with our weighing balance of what is important in our priorities. If the goal of the new agreement, the most important agreement is between God and me, and sinning once is horrible, much worse than losing $100 ,000.

This is where my weighing balance, I have to go before the Lord and say, Lord, I'm horribly corrupt. We don't have to fix the weighing balance, but we must go before God and understand, Lord, here's what's so horribly wrong about me.

$100 ,000, or you can multiply it by 10, $1 million, whatever number you need. $1 million, $100 ,000 affects me more than that I sin once. But this is not true according to your word. This is not true.

Jesus didn't have a lot of money, didn't mess him up at all, one bit. But we have to be like, Jesus means he never sinned. So that means, Lord, one sin is much worse than $1 million. That's the truth.

But Lord, I fall short of it. Lord, this is how horrible a predicament I'm in. This is how bad it is for me. You need to change me. You need to do it in me. I can never change this weighing machine to get there.

But God, you got to do it. What do I need? The next slide, what do I need? Here's the one thing we need. We talked about the love of God being important to us, but here's the one thing we need is faith.

Faith for Christlikeness Rather Than Earthly Comfort

Here's what we need faith for. We need faith, not that God will move us out of the wilderness, as we heard, not that God will move us out of the desert. We need faith that this is a new thing God is going to do in your life.

This is the new agreement that God will make a roadway in the wilderness. That God will make rivers in the desert. Tear up the old agreement. Tear up all the things that God has done to help us physically on this earth, the way God, as we heard, God freed us from the Red Sea, the Israelites from the Red Sea, how God shut the lion's mouths for Daniel.

God says tear it up. Now I'm going to put you in the lion's arena and they're going to eat you up. That's the new agreement. Tear up the old agreement. The new agreement is I'm going to make you like Jesus.

That when you die being eaten by a lion, you'll die like Jesus died. That's a different agreement altogether. A lot of us Christians want subtly to go to the Old Testament to get some kind of word of comfort that our enemies will be struck down, our bosses will get cancer so that they'll have to move out of the job.

Something or the other will happen. Lord I got that. No weapon formed against me will prosper so I'll claim it and somehow I'm hoping my enemy will not triumph over me because Lord I'm a Christian. I have to tear up that old agreement.

What did Jesus' enemies do to him? They ended up killing him through pretty hard death as we heard. I want to be like you Jesus in life, in death. God will do it. What God wants us to have is faith and the reason I'm talking about this word faith is because faith is a word that is used in Christendom so lightly.

You must have faith that God will give you a new job. No, you need to have faith that God will make you like Jesus. That he'll make a roadway. The wilderness may be the wilderness but he'll make a roadway.

God will take care of all of our needs. God will take care of everything I need to take care of my children. I may have to lower the quality of my life. I may need to send them to a much not as good a school as I'm sending them to right now.

I might have to live in a house much smaller than I'm living in right now. I might have to live on a whole lot less. I might just have to have one or two pairs of clothes. A lot of those things can be constricted but that's maybe all I'll need.

God will provide all that I need but have faith that he'll make you like Jesus. How can I compare have faith that God will give you a car compared to faith that God will give you like Jesus. I don't even want to use the word faith for this other stuff.

I want to reserve faith for the new agreement which is that God will make us like Jesus. That is what I need faith for. Because that stuff that is impossible by money or by fame or by power. If I know a very rich man.

If I know Bill Gates. He can get me a better car. He can get me a better house. He can get my children through the best schools. He can get my children to the best jobs that I could possibly get. He can do a lot of stuff for me.

Better to seek refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes. This is what faith is. Faith is for something that man cannot do. A lot of the things we have faith for man can do. But we must have faith for our new agreement that God will make me like Jesus.

Practicing Christlikeness in Daily Life

This must be circling around our minds. This must be constantly in our eyes. We must wash ourselves, our eyes of all the dreams and goals and ambitions we have and be singular focused. I want to speak standing here exactly like Jesus would speak.

With the same amount of grace. With the same amount of humility. I want to drive the same way Jesus would drive. I want to work the same way Jesus would work. With diligence. Hard working. Watching what he says with his mouth.

Not gossiping. Not criticizing his boss all the time. This and that. Lord Jesus I want to be like you. I want to wear your jersey every day as I go to work. Because you really are my hero. I want to be like you in the purity of your character.

The Blood of Jesus, Confession, and Freedom from Condemnation

And we know that the way the new agreement was introduced was through the blood of Jesus. So we never need to feel guilty as we are making this journey forward. We always need to understand the great weight of what every sin does.

We don't need to feel condemned. Because the blood of Jesus can cleanse us when we confess our sins to him. And when you say Lord Jesus, I reject that. I want to walk in the light. I want to walk with you.

I want to hate. I want to reject that lustful thought. I want to reject that love of money that's creeping in. And I want to confess it Lord. This is where I'm short. Here's where my weighing balance is completely different.

I want to walk in the light. As I do that, Jesus says the blood of Jesus cleanses you. There's no condemnation for such people. But when we do take sin lightly Hebrews chapter 10 tells us we have to be very worried when we keep on sinning and we sin lightly.

So we'll have a lot more to continue. I had more in this slide but we didn't get to it. This is as far as I think we need to get to. Let us reset all of our lives to our goal. This is the purpose God created you for.

He didn't send an angel. He sent his Holy Spirit to write to us and to tell us this is your goal. Be like Jesus. Be like Jesus. Don't know how to become a carpenter. Don't know how to walk on water. Be like Jesus in how he dealt with sin every single day.

Don't worry about your wife. Don't worry about your parents. Don't worry about your children. You worry about yourself most of all. Be like Jesus. Be like Jesus. Be like Jesus in the purity of his character and how he hated sin 290 ,000 hours.

Lord you did this. I struggled with one hour. I want to fall at your feet and worship you. You Lord Jesus who did what none of us can ever dream of doing. You did it. But now you tell me I need to be like you.

How will it ever be Lord? How is it possible? I'm like Mary. I'm a virgin. How is it possible? How will it be that I can ever birth Christ out of me? The Holy Spirit will come upon you. Holy Spirit will do it.

That's what the angel told Mary. Christ will be formed in you. You have to cooperate. Don't kill the baby in the womb. Don't abort it. No amount of Lamaze exercises will get you a baby. No. The Holy Spirit will come upon us.

We cooperate being the empty womb of Jesus and then the life of Christ will come. The Holy Spirit needs to come upon us and give us faith. And God will do it. It is written in his word. And God will do it.

We need to search his words and say, Lord, is it true? You have said it. Your word is true. Let God be true in every word alive. That is the life of faith dear brothers and sisters we need to live. Let us reject all faith.

I'm not saying this to try to condemn you. That some of you may be looking for a job. Some of you may be looking for healing from sickness. I'm not trying to condemn you for praying that prayer. Please pray.

God is a loving Father. I don't ever criticize my children coming to me with most insignificant of needs. But let's put it in its proper place. That's all I'm asking you to do. Please continue to come to Jesus with your most insignificant needs.

He's your Father who loves you. But for those of us who are deeply gripped to be like Jesus, who want to sign the new agreement, may I appeal to you to come up higher and say Lord Jesus I really want to have faith that I be like you.