Well, good afternoon, brothers and sisters.
As we come to look at God’s Word, there is a principle of Bible study that is absolutely indispensable—a principle that we can never take for granted, a principle we cannot live without.
In our study of the Word of God, He has given us many helps: concordances, word studies, commentaries, books of sermons, all kinds of helps. But at the end of the day, we must come as little children before the Lord. We must cry out to Him, and He must dawn Christ upon us.
Only God can reveal God. Only the Lord can make Himself known. And He has promised that if we would come as little children, if we would come hungry, as dry ground, that He would rain His water upon us. He has invited us to open our mouths wide so that He can provide for us.
He delights to unveil Himself. There is no reluctance on His side. He wants to make Himself known. And so, as we get ready to look in the Word of God, I’ll ask you to bow with me as we commit this time unto Him.
These words are from 1 John 5:20:
We know that the Son of God has come,
and has given us understanding,
so that we might know Him who is true.
Let’s pray.
Our heavenly Father, we pause now, and we thank Thee that Thou hast not left us on our own. As we come to Your Word, to a subject that seems like spiritual perfection, Thou hast put in our hearts Your life, Thy Holy Spirit, to search the depths of God and to make known unto us our Lord Jesus.
We know, in Your revelation of Yourself to us, You have made Christ central in the Godhead. We just pray, then, now that we might behold Him. We know when we see Him, we shall be like Him. So give us that present foretaste of the glory to come. Show us the Lord this afternoon.
Continue to meet with us as we gather in these meetings with Your precious people. These things we claim in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
Well, it’s a joy to be able to share with you again on this great theme. So much, as Dana suggested, has been written and spoken about this theme, it almost makes your head swim.
I don’t know if you’re familiar with the name Benjamin Warfield, but he was a Princeton Presbyterian. In fact, he was twice the president of that seminary—a Reformed theologian. After his death in 1921, they published his work in ten volumes, and two of those ten volumes are on this subject of spiritual perfection. He wrote over a thousand pages on spiritual perfection.
But I know you haven’t come this weekend, and neither have I, to hear what Benjamin Warfield thinks about spiritual perfection—or any man. You’re not interested in what Bishop Ryle said, or what Calvin said, or Wesley said. And, to be perfectly honest, you really haven’t come primarily to hear what Stephen Kaung says, or what Brother Anglin says, or Brother Miller says.
I hope you came because you want to know what God says. Is there a word from heaven? Has God spoken on this tremendous subject? I believe He has unveiled His heart.
We desire to lay before you what He has put on our hearts. We believe that the Holy Spirit has guided each of us as we’ve waited before the Lord, so you might have those portions that He has given to us. None of us knew beforehand what the other brother was going to prepare.
I think—I don’t know if the other brothers felt this way—but I really wanted to know the direction that they were going to go. But, by God’s grace, we have waited before the Lord. We have sought His face. We’ve asked Him to show Himself, and we believe that God will dovetail our lives to give us a more complete vision of our perfect Savior, the Lord Jesus.
Our brother Stephen has begun to set before our hearts what this spiritual perfection is and what it is not. He has pointed our eyes to our perfect Lord Jesus, His immaculate life, the death by which He released that life, and how we honor Him by allowing that life progressively to be revealed in us—bringing us to sonship and manifesting Christ through us.
He has also shown how we might know that we’re on that path. But now we can change gears just a little bit. I’d like to turn in a more pointed way to the how of this whole matter of spiritual perfection.
Whatever it is, how can I enter in? How can it be mine? How can I know, by experience, God’s provision for me to move on into spiritual perfection?
I think sometimes, at a conference like this, we can get sort of a general blessing, and the truth of God is somehow way up here, and we can’t get it down into our hearts, into our being. How I pray that the Lord will enable us to enter in.
I’d like to share a few thoughts concerning God’s provision and how to enter into this great matter. Let me share what I will be sharing today, and then give sort of an overview of the direction that I will be going tomorrow, in the privilege that I have.
There are so many texts that could be chosen. Actually, the Lord began to open up what I am going to share with you when I was studying Hebrews in another connection. I wasn’t thinking about this conference, this gathering, when I was going through Hebrews.
But as I went through, the Lord seemed to call my heart’s attention to how many times the word perfect, perfection, and perfected are used in Hebrews.
In Hebrews 6:1, we are told to press on to perfection. The book closes with this benediction in Hebrews 13:20-21:
Now the God of peace,
who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep
through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord,
equip you in every good thing to do His will,
working in us that which is pleasing in His sight,
through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.
The word there is “make you perfect in every good thing.” Hebrews has so much to say about spiritual perfection, and so I began to focus on that topic.
I believe God began to open up this truth: “So, you want to understand perfection? Then you have got to understand this.” And my heart began to study that. All of a sudden, Hebrews became alive with that. Closely connected to that, He said, “But you can’t get this unless you get this.”
God began to open my heart to those two realities. Let me set before you what they are.
Turn, if you would please, to Hebrews 7:19. I am just going to give isolated verses here to get my burden before you.
For the law made nothing perfect;
but the bringing in of a better hope did,
by which we draw nigh unto God.
Do you see that we’re on topic? The law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did, by which we draw nigh to God.
And then, if you’ll turn to Hebrews 10:1:
For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come,
not the very image of the things,
can never, with those sacrifices which they offer continually year by year,
make perfect those who draw near.
Clearly, the human author is telling us that the old covenant—that is, the law—could not bring anybody to spiritual perfection. Hebrews 9 says it could not bring the priests who carried out the ceremonies to perfection, and it could not bring the worshipers to perfection.
Hebrews 7:19 says, “The law made nothing perfect.” But the bringing in of a better hope did. The New American Standard says, “On the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope.”
And I am suggesting to you, brothers and sisters, since this cannot bring me spiritual perfection, and the better hope can, we ought to know what the better hope is. Would you agree with that?
Turn, if you would, to Hebrews 8:7-8:
For if that first covenant had been faultless,
then would no place have been sought for a second.
For finding fault with them, He saith,
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant.
That is the first thing God is assisting us to look at: the better hope, the new covenant. Because if we are ever going to reach spiritual perfection, whatever it is, God said, “I am going to provide that through the new covenant.” This will not work. It will never work. This will.
Then, Hebrews 7:11. Here is the second thing we need to look at, God helping us. If He is pleased, we will look at this tomorrow:
If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood
(for under it the people received the law),
what further need was there that another priest should arise
after the order of Melchizedek,
and not be reckoned after the order of Aaron?
Not only was there the need for another covenant; there was the need for another priest. Hebrews 5:8-10 tells us:
Though He were a Son,
yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered;
and having been made perfect,
He became unto all them that obey Him
the author of eternal salvation;
named of God a high priest
after the order of Melchizedek.
Hebrews 8:6 says the same thing: He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the Mediator of a better covenant. Hebrews 10:19-22 says the same thing.
There is another covenant, and there is another priest. I need both: a new covenant and a new priest. Or, to put it together, I need to see the new covenant, and I need to see Him who is the Mediator of the new covenant.
Hebrews 7:22 calls Him the surety—the guarantee—of a better covenant. He is going to offer me this in the new covenant, and then He is going to guarantee it.
Now, this afternoon I want to look with you at the new covenant, God’s provision to take me to spiritual perfection. But I will say it up front, and I will say it at the end: the new covenant is a wonderful thing, but it is not Him.
The most wonderful thing about the new covenant is not the new covenant. The most wonderful thing about the new covenant is Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant—the guarantee, the surety, of the new covenant.
So that is what I would like to look at in the privileges I have: spiritual perfection through the new covenant, and spiritual perfection through the Mediator of the new covenant.
Now, this is going to sound like I am going backwards, but I am really not, because this is the prayer of my heart. God opened two passages to me, and they have become the prayer for this weekend.
I am going to ask you to look at those prayers because I want you to pray for me and for the brothers in terms of these two requests. One is in Ephesians 6, and the other is in Colossians 4.
First, Ephesians 6. The apostle Paul says, “Please pray for me when I speak about the mystery of the gospel.” Listen to Ephesians 6:19-20:
Pray on my behalf,
that utterance may be given unto me
in opening my mouth,
to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel,
for which I am an ambassador in chains;
that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly,
as I ought to speak.
The apostle Paul desired to speak as he ought to speak. And he said, “When I speak the mystery of the gospel, here is how I ought to speak: boldly. Please pray for me. Pray that, as I speak the mystery of the gospel, I can speak boldly.”
Then look at Colossians 4. Beginning at verse 2:
Devote yourselves to prayer,
keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;
praying at the same time for us as well,
that God will open up to us a door for the word,
so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ,
for which I have also been imprisoned;
that I may make it clear
in the way I ought to speak.
Now he says, “I have got to present the mystery of Christ, and I want to do it as I ought to do it.” Only two times in the New Testament do you have the expression, “as I ought to speak,” and both times he says, “Pray for me. Pray for me. I want to speak as I ought to speak.”
When I speak the mystery of the gospel, I ought to speak boldly. When I handle the mystery of Christ, I ought to speak clearly. So he said, “Pray for me. Pray that I might speak boldly, that I might speak clearly, when I handle these mysteries.”
Now, you are familiar, aren’t you, with what a Bible mystery is? A Bible mystery is not something mysterious. That is not what it is.
Some people have the idea that if it is a mystery, that means it is difficult, confusing, complicated, deep, cryptic—something hard to get hold of. No, that is not a Bible mystery.
A Bible mystery is a truth that cannot be known unless God reveals it. That is a Bible mystery: a truth that needs God’s light. No amount of academics in the world, no amount of study, no amount of logic, no amount of human wisdom, can ever figure out a Bible mystery. God must reveal a Bible mystery.
Daniel 2:19 says, “Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel.” And verse 22 says:
He revealeth the deep and secret things;
He knoweth what is in the darkness,
and the light dwelleth with Him.
You know, once God opens a mystery, it is not a mystery anymore. Once God puts His light on it, it is as simple as pie.
There are many Bible mysteries. Mark 4 talks about the mystery of the kingdom. 1 Corinthians 15 says, “Behold, I show you a mystery”—the mystery of the rapture. Ephesians 1 talks about the mystery of His will. Ephesians 5 speaks of the mystery of Christ and the church, the bride and the Bridegroom.
Colossians 1 speaks of Christ in you, the indwelling Christ. This is a mystery. There is a mystery of iniquity. There is a mystery of godliness. There is the mystery of God. But all the mysteries are swallowed up in two: there is the mystery of the gospel, and there is the mystery of Christ.
Paul takes all those mysteries and says, “Pray. Please pray for me, that I might speak as I ought to speak.” We are going to look at the new covenant. That is the mystery of the gospel. Pray that I will be bold as I present the mystery of the gospel. Please take that seriously.
Then we are going to look at the mystery of Christ. Pray that I might speak as I ought to speak: clearly, simply, plainly, when we talk about the mystery of Christ.
Now, because I or my brothers speak boldly or clearly, that does not mean our light will be your light. It is a mystery. Only God can reveal God.
You are not going to get it because we are bold. You are not going to get it because we are clear. We can have the best illustration in the world, and you will not get it until God dawns it upon you.
So let us pray not only for the speakers, that as they handle the mystery of the gospel and the mystery of Christ they might be bold and simple, but that God might be with the listener, that He might open up that mystery so that we can know how to enter into these things. Well, God help us.
Let us begin, then, with the mystery of the gospel. God says, “If perfection could have come this way…” But the law made nothing perfect.
Why can’t the first covenant, the law, bring anybody into spiritual perfection? Now, the first covenant—that is what a covenant is. A covenant is made between two parties. God made a promise with His people. It is an agreement between two parties.
Basically, party number one fulfills the condition, and then party number two fulfills the promise. Basically, if you do this, then I will do this. That is a covenant.
Now, what is the “this”? Here is the covenant: if you will be spiritually perfect, then I will grant you life. Well, did it work?
Hebrews 7:11 again: “If there were perfection through the Levitical priesthood, what further need was there that another priest should arise?” Hebrews 7:19: “The law made nothing perfect.”
Hebrews 8:6-9 says:
But now hath He obtained a more excellent ministry,
by how much also He is the mediator of a better covenant,
which hath been enacted upon better promises.
For if that first covenant had been faultless,
then would no place have been sought for a second.
For finding fault with them, He saith,
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah;
not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers
in the day that I took them by the hand
to lead them forth out of the land of Egypt;
for they continued not in My covenant,
and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.
Let us say all you had was Hebrews 8:7. Look again at Hebrews 8:7 and pretend that is all you have. I speak as a fool—you have more—but pretend that is all you have.
For if that first covenant had been faultless,
then would no place have been sought for a second.
If all you had was verse 7, wouldn’t it look like God is saying there was some fault with the first covenant? “If that covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need for another.” It almost implies there is some fault with that first covenant.
But notice verse 8: “For finding fault with them.” The translation that says, “Finding fault, He says to them,” does not capture the Greek. The literal Greek is, “Finding fault with them.”
Wouldn’t you expect it to say, “Finding fault with it”? If this covenant had not been faultless—but finding fault with them. He did not say “it,” because the fault was not with the covenant. It was with them.
And we find, in that single word them, one essential difference between the covenants. There was nothing wrong with the covenant, the requirement to be spiritually perfect. There was nothing wrong with the law. The law is holy, and just, and right, and pure, and good, and spiritual. There was no fault with that. The fault was with the people. It was with them.
Romans 8:3 spells it out:
For what the law could not do,
in that it was weak through the flesh,
God, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh
and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.
That is the fault. They tried to do it in the flesh. It could not be done in the flesh. That is the weakness. That is why the law made nothing perfect. That is why the law could bring no one to maturity, to fullness, to completeness: because of the weakness of the flesh.
Now, if you are going to correct the problem, what is going to change? Not the law. Being spiritually perfect—that remains. You are not going to change that. What are you going to change?
The answer is them. I need a covenant that will change them, that will change the people. The new covenant was given to correct the fault. God helping us, we need to look at that covenant.
Here is the essential difference between the covenants: the first covenant was made between God and His people, and it did not work because they were weak in the flesh.
The second covenant was not made between God and His people. The second covenant was made between God the Father and God the Son on behalf of His people. That is not the same thing. It is different altogether.
God made a covenant with His Son. I am going to ask you to turn to Hebrews 8:10:
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, saith the Lord;
I will put My laws into their mind,
and on their heart also will I write them:
and I will be to them a God,
and they shall be to Me a people:
and they shall not teach every man his fellow-citizen,
and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord:
for all shall know Me,
from the least to the greatest of them.
For I will be merciful to their iniquities,
and their sins will I remember no more.
Hebrews 10:14-17 says basically the same thing.
Now, to make this intensely practical, let me share with you three characteristics of the new covenant. You are asking, “How can I enter in?” I will tell you: not this way. The law made nothing perfect. You have got to get yourself out of the picture altogether.
God makes another covenant with His Son on behalf of His people. God says, “Take a look at this covenant and see if that will help you along the path to spiritual perfection.”
The first characteristic of the new covenant—when I say three, that is not all-inclusive; these are the basics, and there are others. When you read Hebrews 8, Hebrews 10, Jeremiah 31, Ezekiel 36, and so on, there are other promises. But in all the new-covenant passages, this characteristic is there.
It is a mystery. You can hear me say it, and I will say it plainly and boldly, but God has got to dawn this on your heart. Thousands of Christians can recite this, and they do not know it. They have never learned it.
Here is the thing: the new covenant is absolutely unconditional. It is unconditional. It is filled with “I wills.” There is not a single “I will if.” It is just, “I will.”
Hebrews 8:8: “I will make a new covenant.” Verse 10: “I will put My laws. I will write them. I will be their God.” Verse 12: “I will be merciful. I will remember their sins no more.”
Read Ezekiel 36:22-32. You sort of have a sandwich there. In verse 22 God says, “Not for your sakes am I doing this.” In verse 32 He closes it and says, “Not for your sakes am I doing this.” What is in between the “not for your sakes”? Thirteen “I wills.”
“I will prove, I will take, I will sprinkle, I will give, I will make, I will call, I will multiply.” I will, I will, I will. And not once—not even once—does God say, “If.”
See, we are talking about Christian perfection, and we throw our hands up: “Oh no, how am I ever going to reach Christian perfection?” Does this help? There are no ifs. There are no conditions. It is one hundred percent unconditional. God is saying, “I will it.”
When He said that, man miserably failed because his flesh was weak. He could not keep the smallest condition. So God had to completely take man out of the picture and speak to our Substitute, a representative Man, the last Adam. And He met all the conditions. That is why you do not have any. That is why I do not have any.
Now, someone says, “Come on. I read my Bible. Aren’t there conditions in the Christian life?” Certainly. I am not blind. “If you love Me.” “If you keep My commandments.” “If you abide in My word.” “If you ask in faith.” “If you confess your sins.” “If you walk in the light.” There are plenty of ifs.
But not one of them has to do with the new covenant. These are superstructural ifs. You must learn to rest on the unconditional, and then the conditional is going to become automatic.
You rest on the covenant God made with His Son. I cannot begin to keep the conditional until I have learned to rest in the unconditional. The unconditional is foundational. The rest is superstructural. We lay hold of the conditional by laying hold of the unconditional.
I will tell you, my heart and my arms will be open to all the conditions of God if God would dawn on me the unconditional. If I could rest in that, thousands miss that.
You need to get the idea of spiritual perfection, and, as Dana said, perhaps you came frightened to a conference like this. “Spiritual perfection? Oh boy. Yes, I can mature. I can become a son. I can become mature if—if by study, if I cry, if I repent, if I have quiet time faithfully, if I give to missions, if I tithe, if I surrender, if I assemble, if I minister.”
I tell you, the natural heart has a critical case of if. We need a healing. Until God dawns that mystery on us, we are going to constantly fall into the fault that the new covenant came to correct.
I asked you to pray that I would speak with boldness. I do not know how to say it any clearer: absolutely unconditional. It is as unconditional as the love upon which it is based. There are no conditions.
That was the fault of the old covenant. The flesh could not meet the tiniest condition. So God says, “All right, I will take away all the conditions.”
The old covenant is “if.” The new covenant is “I will.” God does not say, “I will if.” He just says, “I will.”
Can you trust God to pull out all the stops and allow you to believe that with all your heart? If you bring in the tiniest condition, it will become an enemy of the new covenant and contaminate the grace of God. There can be no “if.”
Not seeing this truth—the unconditional nature of the new covenant—has left so many Christians just beating the air in their experience with the Lord.
If I put an if where God has put an is, I am a legalist. If you put an if where God has put an is, you are a legalist. Let us trust the Lord together on this basic thing.
If you are serious about spiritual perfection—and I do not think you would be here if you were not—then ask God to open your heart to that truth.
The law made nothing perfect. Never could. It cannot, because of the weakness of the flesh. But the bringing in of a better hope did. God made a covenant with His Son, and His Son met all the conditions so that He offers it to you.
I hope that is more inviting. Spiritual perfection: I can begin this way with no conditions. It is a mystery, and God has to show us that thing.
Look at Hebrews 8:10. Here is the second characteristic of the new covenant:
This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, saith the Lord;
I will put My laws into their mind,
and on their heart also will I write them.
There is a similar verse in Hebrews 10:16. The new covenant is not only unconditional; it is internal. Internal, as opposed to external.
One of the most graphic contrasts between the old and the new covenant is in 2 Corinthians 3, where the Christian is described as the letter of Christ, not written with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not on tables of stone, but on tables that are hearts of flesh.
God promised in Ezekiel 36:26 that He would give a new heart, put a new spirit in that heart, remove the heart of stone, and cause you to walk in His ways.
You see, when He speaks about spiritual perfection in these terms, you do not become afraid. God says, “I am going to offer you spiritual perfection.” All right, good deal.
“And I will write it in your mind.” What does it mean, “I will write it in your mind”? It means, “I will make you know it.” “And I will write it in your heart.” What does it mean, “I will write it in your heart”? “I will make you love it.”
He says, “I want you to have spiritual perfection. I tried that; it did not work. Now I have another way. I will meet all the conditions. I will make you know it. I will put it in your heart. I will cause you to love it.”
Are you familiar with the word phylactery? You know how Jesus spoke against the Pharisees for that in Matthew 23. There were little boxes, and they actually wore them on their forehead and on their left arm.
They thought they were obeying Deuteronomy 11:18, where God says:
Therefore shall ye lay up these My words in your heart and in your soul;
and ye shall bind them for a sign upon your hand,
that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.
And so they made little boxes. They put Bible verses in the boxes, and they wore them on their heads. They had a strap to hold it there.
It did not matter that their minds were vile and corrupt and full of dirty thoughts and unholy thoughts. Their hands did all kinds of evil. It did not matter. They had a Bible verse on their foreheads and on their arms, and they were carrying that around.
I tell you, I could tape the Ten Commandments to my forehead—you think I would look a little odd. I could tape the Ten Commandments on and walk around for ten years with that taped to my head, or tattoo it on my arm, and I am no closer to spiritual perfection. That is all outside. That is all external.
But God says, “I will write it in your mind. I will write it so you will know it. I will put it in your heart so you will love it.”
Someone says, “Well, I will tell you how you know it: just read it. God means what He said.” No, He does not. Don’t throw me out yet. He does not mean what He said; He means what He means.
He means what He means, and He has got to reveal what He says. You can hear one thing from the lips, but His heart might be saying another thing.
In Luke 17, He says, “Go show yourselves unto the priests.” That is what He said. Then, when the Samaritan came back and fell down before Him, dissolved in praise and worship, He said, “Where are the nine?”
Well, the answer is, “They showed themselves to the priests. That is what You told them to do.” He said, “No, that is not what I told them to do. That is not what I meant.” What I meant is that you give evidence that you have been cleansed of moral leprosy, and falling down before Me is evidence.
He can say one thing and mean another thing. King Solomon, in 1 Kings 3, said, “Bring a sword. Divide the baby.” That is what he said. But that is not what his heart said. His heart was saying, “Save the baby.” You have got to hear the king’s heart, not just the king’s words.
You need to understand what God means when He says, in Luke 14, to hate your father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters. What does it mean? Not just what it says.
“Be ye therefore perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” That is what He says. We need to get to His heart. And He said, “I will tell you what. In the new covenant, I will write it in your mind, inside, so that you will understand, so that you will know intuitively, spontaneously, internally. You will know.”
And not only that, “I will write it in your heart.”
Some of you sports fans out here—let us say you like baseball. What if God commanded you to play baseball? Would you have a hard time with that? Some of you like boating. Let us say God commanded you to go boating. If you love to do it anyway, what a nice command.
He says, “I will take all My commands, and I will write them in your heart so that you will love to do My will, so that you will lick your chops over the will of God.”
You want to talk about spiritual perfection? “Oh, I am going to have to do this. I am going to have to do this if I do it.” No ifs. No ifs. Unconditional. He is going to write it in your mind. He will make you know.
In this connection, I love Psalm 40:8:
I delight to do Thy will, O my God;
yea, Thy law is within my heart.
We do not just do God’s will by outwardly conforming to some command. New-covenant obedience has delight in it: “I delight to do Thy will.”
In fact, if the delight is not there, the obedience is not there. In spiritual perfection, He has promised to do this. We can fake the external. We can go through the motions. But you cannot fake the delight. God has to put that in there: joy in doing the will of God.
Some would teach, “Obey God whether you feel like it or not. Even if it is drudgery, obey the Lord. What we need is discipline. There are unpleasant things that He has called us to do.”
I think there is a more excellent way. That sounds so much like old-covenant thinking. There has got to be delight, or it is not new covenant.
Anyone can turn the other cheek in an outward way. Delight to do it. That is new covenant. That is a million miles removed. There is a note of joy in all new-covenant obedience.
The flesh can work and give and sacrifice and perform, but the flesh has no ability to generate joy. It cannot put the delight in there.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, “In everything give thanks.” Ephesians 5:20 says, “For everything give thanks.” How am I going to thank God in everything and for everything? The answer is: by the new covenant.
Sometimes I get bothered by testimonies that smell of smoke. You know, that is a reference to Daniel. “Here is my testimony: I passed through a bitter struggle, but I finally gave in to the will of God.”
That is not new covenant—the bitter-struggle part. That is the pain of the old covenant. It is a contradiction to say “new covenant” and “the burden is heavy and the yoke is hard.” It is a contradiction.
Do not answer; just think. Do you have a bitter struggle every time you have to forgive your brother or sister for some wrong they have done? Do you have a bitter struggle to love your wife as Christ loves the church? A bitter struggle to count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations? A bitter struggle when you have to be patient with evildoers?
You say, “I have a bitter struggle at the start, but then I am relieved at the end.” Well, praise God, you are relieved at the end. But the new covenant lets you get relieved at the start. That is what it is all about.
He gives His grace at the beginning and all the way through, and that is the end. That is His promise. It is internal. He will do it. He will make you know it. He will cause you to love His will.
You come to a theme like spiritual maturity and get so frightened and so afraid. No. If you see this—if you see the new covenant, the covenant God has made with His Son—He says, “I will meet all the conditions for you. I will put it in your mind. I will put it in your heart.”
Someone says, “Oh, that is just spiritual perfection. That is not for me. That is for the spiritual hotshot, for all those people who really know Greek and Hebrew.”
God put it within the reach of all of us. I like to paraphrase Hebrews 8:11, “from the least of them to the greatest,” this way: from the dumbest to the smartest. See, that is what He is saying.
Think of the dumbest Christian you know. I hope you are thinking of yourself. Is there hope for a dumbo like me to be mature in the Lord? Is there hope for a dumbo like you to be mature in the Lord? The answer is yes. Through the new covenant, there is.
Not the old, that made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did. And the better hope is the new covenant. The new covenant will work for anybody because it is unconditional.
The new covenant will work for anybody because God writes it in your mind. It will work for anybody because God puts it in your heart and makes you love it.
You know the difference between Christmas-tree righteousness and apple-tree righteousness. You can guess.
Christmas-tree righteousness is a life decorated with spiritual things, like a holiday tree. You have bulbs on it, tinsel on it, little balls on it, candy canes on it, stars on it, cards on it, and an angel on the top.
For years, that was my whole Christian life. People said, “You know, you are supposed to be a Christian and get to it. Move on. You have got to have quiet time. You have got to memorize Scripture. You have got to tithe. You have got to give to missions.”
So I would decorate my life. I hung a little Bible study over here and a few Bible conferences here. Here was a pretty little missions trip that I took. I thought I was alive: “Look at me, how beautiful I am.” Cut off at the bottom, dead as a doornail.
Apple-tree righteousness—that is from within. That is life. It is proved by its production. That is what He has promised He would do for us.
One more characteristic, and we will close. The new covenant is not only unconditional, not only internal, but it is intimate.
Lord willing, tomorrow we will develop this a little more. Hebrews 8:10b-11 says:
I will be to them a God,
and they shall be to Me a people:
and they shall not teach every man his fellow-citizen,
and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord:
for all shall know Me.
This word know is like Adam knew Eve and Abraham knew Sarah. It is the intimacy of the marriage tie—knowing in that intimacy. That is the end of the new covenant: to have union with Him.
It is union in such a way that you do not even have to say, “Know the Lord.” They see His character. He is manifesting Himself in your life.
The thing that separates a person from union with the Lord, as you know, is sin. Verse 12 says:
For I will be merciful to their iniquities,
and their sins will I remember no more.
That is part of the new covenant. Forgiveness is not just forgiveness. God does not forgive you so you will be clean. He forgives you to clear the deck so that He can have union with you and fellowship with you.
Notice He did not say in verse 12, “I will forget your sin.” Sometimes you hear, “God forgives; God forgets.” God does not forget. I remind you, He is omniscient. He cannot forget. That is an infirmity; that is a weakness. He does not forget it.
For me, forgetting is involuntary. Increasingly, as I get older, I forget more and more. But somebody can come and remind me of what I have forgotten: “Remember that person? Remember that name? Remember that time? Remember that experience?” And then I recall.
If God forgot your sins, then Satan could remind Him. He did not forget your sins. He wills not to remember. That is not the same thing. He chooses not to remember.
It is involuntary for me; forgetting is voluntary for Him. He chooses not to remember. Even when you try to remind Him of your sins, He chooses not to remember.
I tell you, this new covenant is something. No sin between you and the Lord, between the Lord and us; we can walk in this intimacy. He will be our God; we will be His people.
Talk about spiritual maturity. God said, “I have provided in the new covenant—I have provided in this mystery—a covenant that is absolutely unconditional, a covenant that deals with the inside, a covenant that will write His law in your mind so that you will know the will of God, you will know His purpose.”
You will love His will, delight in His pleasure, and walk in an unbroken union with Him.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, do not run scared from the glorious truth of Christian perfection. God has made provision in His covenant, and in the Mediator of the new covenant, to bring every one of us into spiritual perfection.
You say, “It just sounds so impossible.” Well, I hope after hearing about the new covenant, your heart is stirred to say, “That is not impossible. You know, that might even work. That might even be practical for me.”
If, in fact, there are no conditions; if He will really put that in my mind so I always will; if it is true, if it is actual—they called on us the first night to believe God for these things—and He will write it in my heart, cause me to love His will, walk in His ways, do His bidding, delight to do His bidding, and He will be my God, that I can be His child.
You say, “Wow, that is all I need. You are done. Go away. New covenant.” All right, now listen. If that is all you had, you would not reach Christian maturity.
You cannot separate that from Hebrews 7:22. Hebrews 7:22 calls our Lord Jesus the guarantee of the new covenant.
I have got to know how to get that in here. That is wonderful by itself, but that is theology. You cannot feed on a cookbook. You have got to have food. You have got to have the life of God.
And now God is going to show us how He takes this and brings that in here through the Mediator of the new covenant, through the Perfect One, through our Lord Jesus Christ. May He make this real to our hearts.
Our heavenly Father, how we do thank You so much for Your provision. We know nothing was ever made perfect by the old covenant.
And in Your great grace, You made a covenant with Your Son on behalf of Your people—a covenant that sets us free. You call it the bringing in of a better hope.
Write that better hope in our life, in our heart. And we pray that not one of Your children would leave this conference hopeless.
We ask in the name of the Mediator of the new covenant. Amen.