The Wonders Of New Covenant Living

CHAPTER 1

The Old and New Covenants

When Jesus celebrated the Last Supper with His disciples, He said these momentous words – “This is the new covenant in my blood”. He initiated the new covenant that replaced the old covenant given under Moses. It had included the Law and the institutional priesthood with the sacrifices to be performed in connection with the Tabernacle and later David’s Tabernacle and Solomon’s Temple. The Tabernacle gave way to the glorious Temple built by Herod. It stood for eighty years and was destroyed by the Romans in 70A.D. It has never been rebuilt.

We as believers are not under the old covenant with the Law and accompanying institutional worship and the sacrifices that were necessary for the nation of Israel to be able to approach God and worship. They were not able to keep the Law. Their sins separated them from God. There was need for atonement to be made and sin dealt with. This was through sacrifices and the whole religious system in Israel supported that necessity.

This covenant finished as Jesus hung on the cross. God Himself bore witness to that by tearing the thick and high veil in the Temple from top to bottom. It was His supernatural act, closing a chapter of history as well as a system of priesthood, sacrifices, temple worship and a period when Israel was under the Law. For us, Romans 6:14 says, “You are not under law but under grace”.

What happened under the old covenant had a worldly and not a spiritual base. This is explained in Hebrews 9:10 where it says concerning the first covenant that “its own ceremonial observances” were “external regulations applying until the time of the new order”. In verse 1 mention is made of “a sanctuary belonging to this material world”. Before the fully spiritual could appear Christ had to come and die.

Romans 8:3 shows “There was one thing which the law was unable to achieve, because our lower nature had deprived it of all its power. And this God has effected. Sending his Son in a form like that borne by our own sinful nature, and doing so for the purpose of dealing with sin, he passed a judgment of condemnation on sin”. This chapter goes on with an exposition of the new order of the Spirit. He dwells within us, in a spiritual way. Therefore we are to live in the Spirit and worship Him in that kind of way. We are to pray at all times in the Spirit.

Under the New Covenant, our place of prayer and worship is not in a worldly sanctuary, with “carnal ordinances”, Hebrews 9:10. It is in heaven itself as so wonderfully stated in Hebrews 12:22, “You have come up to Mount Zion, even to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering”. Christ Himself, “entered not into the holy places made with hands, but into heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God for us”, Hebrews 9:24. We are “in Christ” and in that sense, appearing before God because He is there on our behalf. Our worship is to be spiritual, as Paul says in Philippians 3:3. We “worship God in the Spirit”.

Immediately we see the comparison between life under the Law of the old covenant and life in the Spirit under the new covenant.

We are not to walk as they did under the old covenant. We are to walk in the light of the new covenant which is a life in the Spirit of God.

Many believers try to adjust their lives according to Old Testament teaching, example and ideas. This is not the right way, as we can see from the following scriptures. 2 Peter 1:20, “There is no prophecy in scripture which should be considered a matter of private interpretation”, and 1 Timothy 3:16, “As for scripture, it is all divinely inspired, being serviceable for teaching, for convicting men of their errors, for showing them the right way, for training them for a righteous life”. The first verse here is about men who prophesied to give us the Old Testament. The prophecies did not come from their own will but were divinely inspired. Our understanding of them also must come from a similar source. This is to be the New Testament as given by the Holy Spirit for us who live in the end of the ages.

Of course, the New Testament with its gospel is what gives us the correct understanding. From the second verse we deduce or can see that the contents of the Old Testament teach us the principles of righteousness and the sinfulness of men so that believers live righteously in Christ.

The lives of believers today are not to follow the righteous principles of the Old Testament as legal and lawful demands. Through the Old Testament believers gain an understanding of what God is, how holy He is and how He acted according to that holiness through Israel in preparation for the birth of Christ, His salvation for the world.

The giving of the law for that nation, was for the reason as disclosed in Galatians 3:23-25, “we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian.” And verse 27 you “have clothed yourselves with Christ”.

The sum of all those Old Testament scriptures is Christ Himself. The Person of Jesus Christ the Son of God has been revealed in the world. He died and rose again and has sent His Holy Spirit so that we are personally united to Christ, are in Christ and His Spirit is in us. It is the Spirit who applies the Word of God in our lives. It is by the Spirit that we live holy and righteous lives.

Therefore, when we interpret the lives of the Old Testament saints we should differentiate between their being under the old covenant and we being under the new covenant. They did not have the wonderful experiences that we have now, of being born again and filled with the Holy Ghost. We should not try to copy their kind of living, their kind of worship, their kind of religious activities or their kind of relationships with God.

If we preach from the Old Testament we should make sure we present it as being in type only with all fulfilment of it in Christ Himself. We should not seek to give the Old Testament saints a character building and a walk with God that we must rigidly follow even though principles of righteousness are there. We cannot expect to be prophets and prophesying as occurred under the Old Covenant.

There is a prophecy regarding the Christ who was to come, given in Daniel 9:24. Christ would bring in the gospel of grace and also “to seal both vision and prophet”. This all would occur before anointing His church with the Holy Ghost on the Day of Pentecost. This meant that Old Testament prophets would never appear again. That kind of prophecy also would cease.

Today, members of the Body of Christ, filled with the Holy Ghost, are to prophesy in a different way. It is to be for “edification, exhortation and comfort”, 1 Corinthians 14:3. We are not under the old covenant. We are under the new covenant that is a covenant of the Spirit.

We see this is that kind of a covenant from a few scriptures of promise in the Old Testament. They are –

Jeremiah 31:32, that says of the new covenant, “It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors”; Ezekiel 36:26, “A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you”.

God has given as covenant concerning Christ, as in Isaiah 42:6 “I have given you as a covenant to the people”; Isaiah 48:16 (of Christ), “The Lord God has sent me and his Spirit”; Isaiah 49:8 (of Christ) “I have given you as a covenant to the people”.

This covenant is described as follows –

Isaiah 54:10, “And my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the Lord, who has mercy upon you”; Isaiah 59:12, “This is my covenant with them, says the Lord, my spirit that is upon you”. Isaiah 55:3, “I will make an everlasting covenant with you, of the sure mercies of David”; Ezekiel 34:25, “I will make with them a covenant of peace”.

God promised to make a new covenant that would be one of peace and mercy and of the Spirit. We, both believing Jew and Gentile, are under that covenant.

The book of Hebrews verifies the coming to pass of the new covenant. The writer commences to exalt Christ and to point to Him. This is in the first five chapters. He especially declares His greatness above all others, even above Moses, the great leader of God’s people. He uses the story of the children of Israel as an example of disobedience and gives warning to we believers. He mentions the promise God gave to Abraham, the father of Israel and of all believers. This opens up the priesthood of Melchizedek in chapter 7. He emphasizes that the greatness of this priest exceeded that of father Abraham. He explains how Abraham gave tithes of the spoils of the battle to that priest, the lesser giving to the greater.

It should be noted that Abraham did not tithe consistently. In fact there is no mention of his tithing at any other time. The only people who tithed to God were the Israelites under the Law. There is mention in history of races tithing or giving of the spoils of war to their gods. We can take India today as an example. There would be 800,000,000 Hindus in that country. Their temples all over the country are of gold, precious jewels and other riches. These have been given by the devotees, rich and poor. In fact there is so much wealth there that it could not be valued. Despite this giving of one tenth, more or less, the majority of those people live in abject poverty. Where is their blessing from giving or tithing as a religious principle?

These verses in Hebrews are all about the change of priesthood from that of Aaron to the one of the Melchizedek order. The subject is not tithing.

The priesthood of Melchizedek was a type of the priesthood that Jesus Christ entered into at the time of His death on the cross. Hebrews 7:17 states of Christ, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek” and not after the order of Aaron and the Levitical priesthood. This proves His priesthood will continue from the cross, through this age and on through eternity.

He will never cease performing this office. There will never be any priest on earth at any time, acting in any manner of priesthood before God. The Levitical priesthood will never be reinstituted, in any so-called millennium.

This portion of Hebrews is not about tithing or any necessity to tithe. Under the New Covenant, there is no necessity to tithe. The subject, being stated and proved, is that the priesthood of Melchizedek is greater than the priesthood of Levi. Christ is not of the priesthood of Levi. He is not a descendant of Levi. He is a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek. This man was placed in history by God as a type of Christ and His “being a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek”.

No one today, not even Jesus Christ (who is not here but in heaven) is appointed by God to receive tithes of any description. As He is in heaven it is impossible for Him to receive tithes. There is no tithing given to the Church of Jesus Christ. We need to understand that this chapter in Hebrews is there to prove to Jews the greatness of Christ in His Priesthood above that of priests of the old order.

In chapter 8:6-13, we learn that Jesus has now obtained a more excellent ministry. He is the mediator of a better covenant with better promises. The old covenant was not faultless. Therefore there was a need for a second covenant. This was promised in the Old Testament scriptures. In verse 13, he says, “In speaking of a new covenant, he implies that the first one has grown old. But then, if a thing is growing old and is aging, it is not far from vanishing altogether”.

Thus we have the new covenant of mercy, of peace and of the Spirit.

We need to see that this new covenant has been given by God. It was established in the blood of the cross. God will only deal with us according to this covenant. He cannot meet with us according to the ways of the old covenant. It has finished.

It is amazing how believers love to cling to that old covenant. This has to be unbelief, hardness of heart and a refusal to obey God’s way. They prefer to go their own way. As Samuel said to King Saul, “To obey is better than sacrifice”.   Samuel had told Saul previously what God said.  They were to do battle against the Amalekites and in their victory were not to keep any of the sheep or cattle of the enemy. However, Saul thought that he could follow his own wishes, using God’s ordained way according to the Old Testament order of worship.  The word of the Lord through His prophet of that day,  in 1 Samuel 15: 2, 3 was “Go and attack Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have”. In verse 21, after defeating the Amalekites, they took “sheep and cattle, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord”. The sin was such that verse 23 reveals it for what it was when Samuel said, “For rebellion is no less a sin than witchcraft and stubbornness is like iniquity and idolatry”.

We look at the church in Galatia.  At the beginning of their walk with God through the Saviour, the Galatians had followed the ways of the Spirit. They had understood the specifics of the new covenant. We see this in Galatians 3. They had believed as had Abraham and thus were blessed as he was. They were declared righteous just has he had righteousness reckoned to him. They listened to wrong teachers who came down from the Jewish Jerusalem church. Then they began to follow parts of the Law instead of walking in the Spirit. Paul told them they were in danger of losing their salvation, of “falling out of Christ”.

He was so concerned about their lapse that he felt as if he were going through birth pangs as he prayed for them and wrote to them. He had to tell them the truth. They desired to be subject to the law and yet failed to see the message of the gospel in the law. This is spelt out in chapter 4:21-28. The only way we should consider the law and the Old Testament is to see the message of the gospel contained therein. This they failed to do. Paul had to tell them, “If you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law”. He taught them to live by the Spirit and to be guided by the Spirit.

That is the right teaching for us today. We are not under the law. We must live our lives in the Spirit of God.

As he says in chapter 6 verse 15, circumcision according to the law is not worth anything to a believer. Similarly, if a believer has not been circumcised in a desire to follow the law, it is of no account. What does count and indeed that which is everything, is that a person is a new creation. He is a new being in Christ.

Do not try to follow law. It will not profit you anything. In fact it will be a sin for you to do so. You are a new creation. That is the most wonderful thing that could have happened to you. That is what makes you a believer and one who is in union with Christ, enabled in that way, to walk under the new covenant according to the Spirit of God.

If we want to have Jesus as the centre of our life and experience, we will never have it by living under the ways of the Old Testament.  Hebrews 12:24 gives us the true position.  "We have come to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant. He is not the mediator of the old covenant.

This new covenant is an eternal covenant. The old covenant that was given to Moses through angels is not an eternal covenant. It was broken by the children of Israel themselves. As far as God is concerned, it was not good enough. It is old. It is finished. The eternal new covenant has been put in place. It is there by means of an oath by God, Hebrews 6:17, “In the same way God desired to show even more clearly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it by an oath”.

Before the covenant with Moses, God had made  promises to Abraham in Genesis 12, 17 and 20. As Paul says in Galatians 3:16, “The promises were made to Abraham and his offspring, that is to one person, who is Christ”. All is fulfilled in Christ Himself. He is the guarantor of that covenant. It can never fail. He made it on our behalf with His Father God. It was brought into being through the shedding of His divine blood as Hebrews 13:20 informs us, “Now may the God of peace, who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant”. Jesus Himself let us know this great truth at the time of the Last Supper with His disciples in Luke 22:20, when He said, “This cup is the new covenant sealed with my blood, which is to be poured out for your sake”.

CHAPTER 3

THE CROSS ACCOMPLISHED THIS

We need to understand that the New Covenant had its beginning at the cross of Christ. The cross is and was necessary. Without His death on the cross and His resurrection, we would be lost sinners, without God and without hope in this world. We would be like a ship without an anchor being tossed everywhere by the waves of the storm.

What did the cross accomplish for us? Without our knowing this foundation, we can never have begin to understand what God has already done for us. We had no  part in it. He was the One who did it all.

The Bible is the only source for us and particularly the epistles of the New Testament. It can never be a new revelation that is something outside of God’s word. It cannot be our own understanding of scripture, something that is contrary to the general tenor of the Word.

There are many verses that let us know what Christ’s work on the cross did for us.

First of all, the cross is the place where our sin was dealt with. It was sin in us that brought about God’s judgment upon us. This is the reason there is so much trouble, heart-ache, fighting, wars, poverty and famine in the world. Our sin left us rebelling against God and His Christ. We were away from Him and did not desire the true and living God. Our lives were filled with darkness. There was not true light that shone within us. We were destined to end in an eternal hell, away from the presence of the God of love and light.

Then Jesus came, Son of God and Son of Man, in one Person. He came into this world to bring us salvation from our sin and its results.

The holiness and righteousness of God must judge sin in us. The cross was the place of this judgment that led to our freedom from its curse and its power. Christ took the guilt of our sin upon Himself. He died in our place as the judgment and wrath of God fell upon Him in our stead.

2 Corinthians 5:21, “For our sake he made him who was a stranger to sin become one with human sinfulness, so that, united to him, the very righteousness of God might become ours”.
We have become righteous with the righteousness of God, only because we are united to Christ. Christ Himself is our righteousness. That righteousness of God is not an integral part of our own human spirit. It is ours in our union with Christ Himself. It all depends on Christ being in us and our having a union with Christ. This was done for us through the operation of the Spirit when we first believed on Christ of the cross and the resurrection. It did not happen at the time of water baptism. It happened when we first believed and at that moment were born again of the Spirit and the Word.

The Bible speaks of our being “justified by faith”, Romans 5:1. Therefore, because of the cross and our faith in that Christ of the cross God looks at us as if we have never sinned. This is a position we have before God that will never change, as long as we remain “in Christ” and do not fall away. Every moment of every day as God looks at us He sees us without any sin. He sees us clean and pure before Him. He sees us made holy. We are sanctified, made holy, once, Hebrews 10:14, "For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified".  Verse 35 tells us not to throw away our confidence.  The cross was the place where remission of sins was procured but faith in Him brought it to us personally. Romans 4:24,25, “We were to have righteousness reckoned to us, we who believe in him who raised from the dead the Lord Jesus, who was handed over to death for our sins and raised to life again for our justification”. Note that Christ never had sin inside of Him. He never became a sinner. We was always pure and holy.

We live in this position, day by day. We are kept in this position daily, by the Lord Himself. God considers you and me holy, now.

We must walk in the knowledge of the justification that has been done for us. Never forget it. In the midst of sorrow, trouble, a falling into sin, a repentance, a cleansing for that sin, always remember that God has put you into this position and state forever of having been justified from all sin.  Therefore, we are not to "spurn the Son of God" or to "profane the blood of the covenant by which we were sanctified".

We have been redeemed from the power of sin. Sin no longer is our master. You may feel sometimes that you are forever failing, forever doing little sins and never totally following the standard of God’s holiness. Those feelings are correct. That does happen. Perfection of life is not possible while we are in this world. We are still carrying around the old carnal man, the old sinful nature with which we were born. God sees that old nature on the cross of Christ. We must see it there also, as Paul said in Galatians 5:20, “I have been crucified with Christ. And the life I now live is no longer my own life. It is the life which Christ lives in me”.  We also are to live that life.

How was this Paul’s experience? How is it our personal experience? Did he do anything for this to happen? Was he there in his body on the cross? Did he die physically? How was there in him, the life that Christ lived? It became his experience the moment he believed in Christ. It had been done on the cross when Christ died. It became Paul’s and our personal experience by the Spirit of God on believing in Christ. The life of Christ was received then. It was maintained by Paul’s appropriation of that life throughout his life. It is the same for each one of us.

It should be noticed that in this salvation experience, the emphasis is being placed on what Christ has done for us on the cross. There is so far no emphasis placed on the kind of Christian life we feel we are living daily. There is a reason for this. Our daily experience depends absolutely on what Christ has done for us on the cross. We either walk in faith of what has happened or we continue to believe the contrary. We believe the contrary when we are forever worrying about our sins, weaknesses, failures and lacks. Our faith must be maintained in what Christ has already done for us on the cross. The daily walk must follow on from that. What Christ has done is the starting point and the way to maintain the victory that He already accomplished for us on the cross.

Paul says triumphantly, “Sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under law but under grace”, Romans 6:14. We believe this word. We are triumphant in that belief. The grace of God has brought us redemption and salvation. It happened on the cross. The power of it is there. It has become our personal experience. We have already been brought back, or redeemed, from the darkness of sin, Satan and this world. We no longer are under the power of sin. Satan has lost all of his power over us. We do not need to be fighting Satan. He already is our defeated foe. We just take our stand on that. We do not belong to this world. As Paul said, Galatians 6:14, “May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world”. This being the case for us also, this world as a system and power holds nothing for us. Our redemption was finished on the cross.

Our sins that were many are all washed away in the blood of Christ. God Himself has thrown them “into the depths of the sea”. He does not remember our past sins as He said in His word. They are forgotten by God. We should forget them unless the remembrance of them brings great thankfulness to God for what He has done for us. He brought us up out of the miry clay of sin. Our feet are upon the rock, Christ Jesus. The blood of Jesus Christ keeps on cleansing us from all sin as we walk in the light, 1 John 1:7. The Greek word for “cleanses” has a continuous tense that really means, “keeps on cleansing”. Oh, what power in the blood of Jesus!

You have been born again into the family of God. You are part of His family. He has made you His child. You have been adopted and placed as a son of God, entitled to the inheritance He has for you. You are a joint heir with Jesus Christ. He is your elder brother. He is the King of kings but you are in His kingdom. This is the eternal kingdom of God that will never pass away. Heaven is your home. You are already a citizen there.

Ephesians 2:6 lets us know we are seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. He is before His Father’s throne and we are there in Him. That is our spiritual position. The realisation of this is sufficient to spur us on to living this high life continually. This spiritual life is our real life in Christ that shall never pass away. We have begun the enjoyment and privilege of it. We become more aware of its reality the more we think about it from the Word of God.

To be seated up there in heavenly places, means that in actuality we have risen with Christ as that verse 6 tells us. Our position is that when Christ arose from the dead we arose with Him. We do not need the world’s psychology to put our lives right. The cross of Jesus Christ instead has put our lives right before God. Our success in living before men in this world also depends on our appropriation of the blessings Christ obtained for us on the cross.

He has given us peace with God. We are no longer enemies. We have the right to approach God in prayer through our Lord Jesus Christ. There is to be no shame or feeling of guilt over past sins. He no longer condemns us. We are free from condemnation as we walk in the Spirit and not after the flesh, Romans 8:1. Walking after the flesh includes walking according to Law. We are part of the household of God and members of the heavenly city of Zion. He has given us the hope of the resurrection of the dead. We expect to be caught up to meet Him in the air at His second coming.

When we know that all the above are our actual experiences we are already living under the New Covenant.

The next chapter lets us know the how we are to live Christian lives under this New Covenant.

CHAPTER 4

THE CARNAL NATURE AND THE LAW

God has not given us a law that must be obeyed as if a taskmaster were over us. With regard to relationships with others, He has given us the law of love, in which to walk, as shown in Romans 13:8-10. In this matter of not doing wrong to others and instead to love others, it fulfils the Law. Paul has written this due to the controversies going on in the church in Rome, between Jew and Gentile and between Gentile and Jew. However, this matter of love does not answer the question as to how we are to walk under the New Covenant. It is merely a part of the whole. In fact, there is an over emphasis on love in the church throughout the world. This is due to a low understanding of the true gospel and also to the fact that psychology plays a major part in the thinking of Western educated society. The thinking is like this. God is love, therefore He could not allow wars, how can He stand by while there are terrible sicknesses, accidents and deaths. God is love, so how can there be a hell? Another idea is that it is probably better for many people to divorce but it is all right as long as you remain friends. This is a peculiar idea of “loving”.

We must look deeper than one portion of scripture to receive the true revelation of God from the scriptures in a right way. Law keeping as in the Old Testament has been replaced by a walking in the Spirit. This makes the walk to be supernatural. It is living naturally in a supernatural way. It covers first of all, the believer’s walk in Christ. It covers his heavenly calling, his heavenly relationship and his heavenly destination. All that is the main aspect of the Christian life. Without that, the believer will be living in a carnal, non-spiritual and worldly way. That is contrary to the will of Christ and of God.  This is the purpose of the believer’s life. All else is secondary.

 There is a book, “The Purpose Driven Life” that is a best seller. It places the natural purpose supposedly spiritually inspired as being the primary in a person’s life before God. Its contents are anti cross, anti Christ, anti Holy Spirit and anti gospel. The purpose of our living is “Christ lives in me” and “Christ in me the hope of glory”. When we were born again, it was a spiritual experience. There was nothing natural about it. Our walk after being born again is to be spiritual and in that walk as a believer, it is totally spiritual. As believers, we live natural lives, in a natural body, in a natural world, in a natural environment and also doing natural things. In the natural things of life must we exist as human beings with a heavenly calling and a heavenly citizenship. We bring that existence into submission to Christ.

This is done by starting at the cross and what happened to us personally in the cross, when we believed in the Christ of the cross. By faith we maintain a life that starting at the cross is forever related to what Christ did for us in His death on the cross. We can know by the Word of God what His will for us is in every one of life’s endeavours. Christ lives in us as we live every part of our lives. His Spirit teaches us from the Word. He leads us, corrects us, guides us and enables us.

Our real lives are “hid with Christ in God”, Colossians 3:3. The natural life is doomed to end. Our real lives are destined to live on for eternity. That eternal life in us has commenced and will never end. Therefore, the believer must see that it is this spiritual life that is to be the mainspring of his life on earth. He is to knowingly live his life on earth, in Christ. This is by the Spirit of God.

In Romans 7 and 8 we see the contrast between a believer living a life trying to please God through Law and a believer living a life pleasing God as he lives in the Spirit. It is either Law or Spirit. We cannot have the both together. Chapter 7 relates Paul’s own experience. He recognized that he was free from the law. He had died to the law, as we have, through the body of Christ, verse 4. He belonged to Christ who was raised from the dead, as we do, in order to bear fruit to God. He states a purpose in the believer’s life. It is to bear fruit to God, first of all, before anything else. Now that is being spirit-ual! “Spiritual” always means “Spirit-ual”, of the Holy Spirit.

Verse 6 states we have been discharged from the law. There is to be no more law over our lives. It had held Paul and us captive. Now, says Paul, “I am still a slave but I am not a slave under the Old Testament! I am a slave in the new life of the Spirit”. That is to be our position also. Notice we are slaves “in the new life of the Spirit”. We can do no other than live our spiritual lives in the new life of the Spirit.

Paul went on to say that the Law is good. However, he had sin in him. This sin made the Law useless for him and in fact it brought death. The problem, he said, is “sin working death in me”. He states his case as being “of the flesh, sold into slavery unto sin “. That means he still had his carnal nature, as we still have our carnal nature. The carnal nature can never be changed. It can never be improved. It can never be altered. It can never sprout righteousness as a shrub sprouts leaves. Our carnal nature is a sinful nature.  We can clothe it with fine words and deeds with kindness to others.  It can never be moulded as a potter moulds clay. God can never mould it. It is dead with Christ – on the cross. We have to reckon our old man, our carnal nature, dead with Christ, Romans 6:9-11. Paul realised this truth and believed it. We must also.  We read it,  "The death he died he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.  So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus".

In the remaining verses of chapter 7, he shows the power there is in sin that lives in the carnal nature. He himself had no power over it. Perhaps he could have learnt good manners, nice cultural things, improved behaviour as a child does but none of those would have changed his carnal nature. It was still a carnal nature. His behaviour before others may have improved but deep inside he had this sinful, carnal nature that could not be controlled. That is our position as believers. There was a war going on inside of him. He wanted to do good many times but could not because his carnal nature was too strong. So it is with us.

However, there is hope. He says it triumphantly in verses 24,25 “Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! He goes on to chapter 8, showing what the state of believers is and the hope and reality of being conquerors over sin daily. The secret lies in the whole of chapter 8.

CHAPTER 5

THE SPIRIT IN ROMANS 8

Here is one chapter that shows us the way the believer is to pursue his whole life under the New Covenant.

First of all, we are to understand that we have been freed totally from the Law. It was a Law that brought about the realisation of sin in us. It showed us our sin. It could only lead to “the wages of sin is death”, Romans 6:23, “For death is the wage paid out by sin, while God’s free gift is eternal life in union with Christ Jesus our Lord”. Under the Law, we could only expect our sinfulness would be revealed. That sin has a wage. We deserved it. It is death, eternal death. Then there is the comparison in this verse. On the other hand, God gives a free gift. It is not wages. We have not worked for it. It is eternal life. We have that eternal life and have it already, only because we are in union with Christ Jesus our Lord.

Our past sinfulness and even our present ability to sin that resides in our carnal nature, does not bring any condemnation before God. Can we not think about this deeply? Can we not rejoice in this wonder? We sinned in the past and even now sometimes sin even though we are not controlled by the power of sin now. Yet, that state of ours does not bring any judgment any more from God. We are not condemned at all. We should not condemn ourselves. Let us glory in the fact, yes, the fact, that we “are in union with Christ Jesus”.

We are free from the Law. It did not help us. It cannot help us now. If we want to be under that Law even now, we will find the same results as before. Therefore, we must make sure we know we are now free from the Law. We are not to try and obey it! Christ Himself obeyed the Law in all points – on our behalf, verse 4. God considers we have obeyed the Law. If God thinks that why do we try to obey it? The Law could never help us because our lower nature is carnal and sinful.  Only the Spirit can help.

Verses 5-11 show that those who are ruled by the lower nature are enemies of God. We are to set our minds on the Spirit. The believer, says Paul, are not to be ruled by the lower nature. They are ruled by the Spirit. You have been justified, says Paul, despite the carnal nature within and because of that justification, your spirit truly lives. Your spirit is in union with the Spirit of Christ. Christ is within you. Nevertheless, the carnal nature is still in your body and that body because of sin, must die. It can never be healed. It is doomed to death. Praise the Lord, the time is to come when that body will be raised incorruptible and immortal. There is hope for all believers. to have lives pleasing to God.  The Spirit of him who raised Christ from the dead lives within. He will work within your body, because of the Spirit that is in union with Christ. The Spirit will not change your carnal nature. However, He will bring the resurrection life of the holy, righteous Christ to operate within. The holiness and righteousness of Christ will shine through your spirits. The effect takes place in the body that is doomed to death. Even here on earth, that holy, righteous, resurrection life will come forth through the believer enabling him to live a life pleasing to the Lord.

Praise be to the Lord Himself!

We are to be ruled by the Spirit of Christ. That means obedience to Him. We know His ways by receiving the Word of Christ into our spirits and into the whole being. The words of Christ are Spirit and they are life. Somehow, the Holy Spirit takes those words within us and gives them place in our lives. This does not mean we are inactive in all this. We have read, memorised or meditated on some particular verse of scripture. There is a “communion” or “fellowship” of the Spirit. We enjoy this with the Spirit. He can even bring verses to our minds. However, sometimes the carnal nature will come to the fore and we forget to give place to the Spirit. We immediately confess our sin and the blood of Jesus immediately cleans us. We then at some time must give place to the Spirit in that particular matter. Mainly, we find ourselves following a course of being ruled by the Spirit.

We must be continually filled with the Spirit, as Ephesians 5:18-20 exhorts us - "Be continually filled with the Spirit, speaking among yourselves in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and in everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ".  This involves praying in other tongues and in our own language from the Holy Spirit.  It means we do much intercession by the Spirit.  This intercession is as the Holy Spirit prays through us for ourselves, situations and others.  It is always to start from much praying in other tongues, Romans 8:26,27 as the "Spirit intercedes".  It involves our filling ourselves with the Word of God.  Colossians 3:16 commands us, "let the word of Christ dwell in you richly". 

We put the vile deeds of the body to death – by the Spirit. This is not by trying, crying, fasting or good deeds but it is as it says, by the Spirit. He comes to our aid. We look to Him to do this. Often He does it without our consciously looking to Him, because these truths have become part of our innermost beings. As David said, “Your word I have hidden in my heart that I might not sin against You”.  There are good deeds prepared for us as in Ephesians 4:24, "and you must clothe yourselves with the new nature which has been created after God's likeness, and which expresses itself in righteousness and devotion to God founded upon the truth".

There is some teaching in the west that demons need to be cast out because believers have sin.  It appears that they think sin is not the problem but that it is Satan and demons.  That is error.

Sin is mentioned in the New Testament over one hundred times. Not once is there a direct association of sin in us with Satan or demons. It shows clearly that “sin” is the sum total of all that is wrong in us, of all that is rebellion and disobedience to God and of all that causes us to “miss the mark”. It is not the result of Satan affecting us or of demons attacking us. We are “born in sin and shaped in iniquity”. We were born with natures of sin. Adam and Eve went into sin due to Satan’s temptation but he did not cause the sin. The reason for their sin lay in themselves. They listened to Satan. They disobeyed God. They followed their own wills. They chose to ignore God’s will. There was something in them that was happy to do what Satan suggested and to go their own way. In actuality, they wanted to be as God. It was their own pride, not Satan’s. Mankind did not take on the nature of Satan. Man followed the lusts and desires of his own heart. He allowed his own nature to sin. Thus sin entered the world. Romans 5:12 says, “Just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned”. We were the sinners. Satan or demons cannot be blamed. When preachers teach that, they are doing what Adam did when he sinned. He blamed Eve. These preachers blame Satan instead of admitting “I am the guilty one who is a sinner”.

It is the Spirit who is to lead us. The leading of the Spirit is mentioned in the middle of the long discourse in Romans 8 about law, sin, the sinful nature, eternal death and victory over sin.  Being led by the Spirit is not mentioned in relation to anything else.  It is remarkable, in view of what one hears and reads from preaching all over the world that this is so.  It is despite the fact that preachers and believers are looking for “leadings” of the Spirit in relation to all kinds of things in life – even to the time of eating or going to the markets, in the purchase of say a sari, or a man’s shirt and in other details of ordinary life. We should mind what the Scriptures really say.

We are to be led by the Spirit because we are “sons of God”. The Greek means “sons” rather than “children” as translated in some bibles. We are His sons, now. Because God, the Father, is Spirit, we are born of the Spirit and now are led by the Spirit. Verse 14, "As many as are led by the Spirit are the sons of God".  As verse 15 reads, “After all, it is not the spirit of slavery which you have received, so as to fall back into a state of anxious dread. No, what you have received is the spirit of sonship which makes us cry, ‘Abba! Father! Besides, along with our own spirit, the Spirit himself testifies to the fact that we are God’s children”.  Our Christian experience first and foremost is about God and us personally and not about us and others.  It is in reality with regard to our situation before God and not before men.

 The Old Testament saints had not experienced this revelation. We, under the New Covenant, can rejoice in what the Spirit of God caused Paul to write. We are the sons of God. As such, His Spirit leads us. He will not lead us into sin. He will not lead us into Law. He leads us in the way of Christ, in His Word and in His will. This is how we “grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ”, 2 Peter 3:18. Old Testament saints did not have this privilege while they were on earth. We, now, have this wonderful privilege. This is what living as believers under the New Covenant is all about. One translation reads, “Your aim must be that the grace bestowed on you by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and the knowledge you have of him, should ever increase”. May it be your aim, dear reader.

CHAPTER 6

THE GALATIANS STARTED WITH THE SPIRIT

The gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ has its base in His cross. This is revealed in 1 Corinthians 1:17, “For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power”. As the hymn say, “the Cross of Christ towers over time”. In every day and in every generation, it has been and always will be the cross of Christ that must be preached and accepted. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief”, 1 Timothy 1:15, says Paul and we also can say that. Christ has done this by dying on the cross that although a place of shame for Him was also a place of glory. 2 Timothy 1:10 shows the purpose of the gospel, “Who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel”. The gospel has such power that as said in Romans 1:16, “the gospel is the power of God to salvation to everyone who has faith”. It is not the power of signs and wonders, with healings and miracles that the world needs. The need is for the preaching of the gospel. There lies the power of God.  God may confirm the message of the gospel by "signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost", Hebrews 2:4.

The Galatians had been given the true gospel. There came a time when they listened to the Law teachers from the church in Jerusalem. We need not wonder that there is great error in the preaching of churches today. It happened at the very beginning of the church and is still happening, probably now to a greater degree. Paul was led by the Holy Spirit to write in Galatians 1:9, “As we have said before, so now I repeat, if anyone proclaims to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let that one be accursed”. The church today is full of preachers, particularly on American television, who are preaching another gospel. It is not the one Paul preached.

In the third chapter, the first few verses, Paul shows how often they had heard the true gospel. The centre of the preaching had been the cross of Christ. The crucified Christ, not the wooden cross, had been preached to them so often that they could almost see Him hanging their in their imaginations. Do we hear this kind of preaching very often? Sad to say, in western countries at least, it is rare.

The cross of Christ is the sacrifice necessary before God for our sins. It is the integral part of the gospel. From these verses we see that the Holy Spirit is the One who as it were, administers its truths. The Galatians had received the Holy Spirit in a way similar to the mighty outpouring that took place on the Day of Pentecost. George Smeaton, Scotland’s greatest theologian, a Presbyterian, even states in his wonderful book on the Holy Spirit that these verses refer to that outpouring as well as to the Gifts of the Spirit that the early church witnessed and enjoyed. All this was part of the presentation and reception of the gospel.  Sadly, this ceased after a century or so.

 Paul had to rebuke the Galatians. They had left the true gospel with the ways of the Spirit and had gone back to the flesh. The flesh included a gospel of Law and works, a gospel according to the Old Covenant. Paul called it “the flesh”. He included in this the lack of the operation of the Spirit.  Salvation is revealed to hearts by the Spirit and applied by His act of renewal within.  It is God's only way.  Anything else comes under the classification of “the flesh”. That means carnality and of this world. We see this in Hebrews 9:1, where the true translation is “Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and a worldly (carnal)  sanctuary”. The dictionary meaning is indeed, “worldly”, even “corrupt”. It was the only way under the Old Covenant that God could have for worship by Israel.

We are not under that Old Covenant. We are under the New Covenant. Our sanctuary is in heaven. It is not worldly. It is heavenly. The gospel is a heavenly message. We must accept it as so and not include worldly things in it, as is done commonly in the church world-wide.

Our stand has to be a personal stand, as Jesus said so often in the books of Revelation, “If any man hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches”. Let us listen to the words of Jesus and read the Word of God so that we can “hear” what the Spirit is saying to the churches. It will always be according to the true message. Anything but that is worldly. We must will to hear what indeed the Spirit is saying through the Word.

From Galatians we can see the importance of the truth of the gospel and the operation of the Holy Spirit in conveying the gospel and in its acceptance by believers.

Before they believed in Christ, the Galatians had been in a sad situation, as indeed all of us were. Paul tells them this in chapter 4 verse 8-10. “Formerly when you did not know God, you were enslaved to beings that by nature are not gods. Now, however, how can you turn back again to the weak and beggarly elemental spirits. How can you be enslaved by them again? You are observing special days, and months, and season, and years”.

He is speaking to both Jew and Gentiles who had become believers. We can understand the above verses refer to Gentiles who had been idolaters. We know they had worshipped gods of their own making and imagination. However, it is all mankind to were under beggarly elemental spirits, that are in fact, demons, 1 Corinthians 8:4, “No idol in the world really exists. (or ‘wherever in the world an object of idol worship may be found, that object has no real existence – and moreover there is no God but one’). The actual objects of worship were demons. Even the Jews had been under a Law that placed them under demons. Paul shows this in verse 5 of that chapter when he says, “in order to redeem us who were under the law”. He has already included both Jewish and Gentile believers in “us” as he said in verse 3, “So with us; while we were minors, we were enslaved by the elemental spirits (demons) of the world”.

This being the case, do we as believers wish to go back to live under the ways of the Old Testament? Do we wish to go back to following legality and law? To keeping days, for instance, or to following other religious acts? May it not be so!

The way to live under the New Covenant is a way of living by the Spirit. This is a wonderful way. It means a communion with the Holy Spirit who has come to us as our Intercessor through us on earth. He has come to us as “the Comforter”, “the One alongside” or as “the Advocate”. Different English translations carry these meanings. We should know that the King James Version is not perfect. God’s Word is perfect but sometimes the translators make aberrations. That is why we need to look at different translations if we can understand English. As we fill our hearts with the Word of God, the Holy Spirit within helps us to a greater understanding. This means that many times we have to disregard the things we have heard and read. Let the Word of God be our true guide.

The wonderful words of Galatians 5:16-25 could well be committed to memory. They show that it is the “fruit of the Spirit” and “living by the Spirit”, “guided by the Spirit” that form the way of living under the New Covenant. The Spirit is our source for this kind of life.

Let us heed these words.

CHAPTER 7

HE WORKS IN US

When we look at the language Paul uses to instruct the church in Colosse, we can see that he gives many positive statements and commands. In the first chapter he points out their faith in Christ Jesus and their love for the saints. It is due to the hope they have come to embrace, “the hope which is treasured up for you in heaven”. They placed “faith in Christ” and operated in love from God in their hearts that was directed “for the saints”. They had positively “embraced” a certain hope. It was hope in their hearts that had grown there because they believed the gospel. The good news for them was that there was an eternity to spend in heaven. Their hope rested on the Word of God that revealed the glories, the holiness of an eternity in the everlasting Presence of God. There would be no tears, no sickness or sin, no sadness or death. This was their hope. It is to be our hope. Our hope of eternal joy is to eclipse any enjoyment or possibility of advance and good living on earth. We pin our hope on heaven and not on this earth. Sometimes, one wonders that this hope seems to have been removed from the church of Jesus Christ! Instead, there is a flurry of activity concerning earthly things and teaching about this world, even if some concerns the Kingdom of God.

These values the apostle mentions as being in the Colossian saints were not laws to follow, regulations or rules to obey and neither were they demands placed upon them. All of the factors of these positive things in them were spiritual deposits put within them by the Spirit. This was due to their acceptance and willingness of His working within them. Does He not also work within us in this way? This is to be our experience. We do not struggle for it. We merely see it and it becomes real in our lives.

Paul speaks of prayers for them so that they have spiritual wisdom and discernment of every kind. We can pray like this for ourselves. God answers these kind of prayers. Lives are to be lived worthy of the Lord. His word, particularly the epistles, show how we can live like that. This is the kind of life that “yields a harvest of good works of any and every kind”. Yes, we are to have good works but they are not works that we strive hard to do. Instead, our lives in Christ yield them, just as fruit trees bear and yield fruit or just as flowers yield their blooms. It is natural for trees and plants to do so. As we live worthy of the Lord, it is supernaturally natural for us to yield good works.

In chapter 2:7,8 they and we are to be “rooted and grounded in Christ and established in the faith”. The Spirit does the rooting and grounding but it is through prayer and the Word. Accepting the truth and doctrines of the Gospel will establish us. We can see already that we are not to be “doing acts of law and legality” but rather to be receiving and participating in what God has already given us in the gospel. We must therefore fill our beings with the Truths of the gospel and not the traditions and philosophies of men, even church men.

Some people receive so-called revelations of Scripture that are in reality contrary to what the Scriptures as a whole say. We are not to be like that. Others claim visions, prophecies, "Rhema" word and revelations within about people, situations and even their own lives and ministries. Many of such claims are not from God. They are from their own minds, their souls or emotions and not from their spirits. All of us need to distinguish what arises within, whether it is from the Spirit through our spirits or from our carnal minds and emotions.  There is a fine line.  Colossians 2:18 is translated, “people take a delight in self-abasement, take their stand on visions they claim to have received. A person of this sort is ruled by the groundless conceit he has of himself, by thoughts which have their source in his own worldly mind”. Those things are not the experiences of believers who do not walk in the Word and in the Spirit.

We are not to submit ourselves to rules and regulations “as though we still have our life in this world” (and not in Christ). We are not to obey “injunctions and teachings which have their source in mere men”. Rather, the Word of God within us is to bear fruit. It alone is powerful. Hebrews 4:12 shows it to be “living and powerful (active) and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow”; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart”. It is the Word of God within. It is Spirit and also it can be said, that Christ being the eternal Word is one with His written Word. It will lay bare to us the errors that will spring from our soul that is the seat of the carnal nature. It (or He) will live within our spirits and its resurrection life will flow forth in holy living. Our souls being made aware of sins and failings will give way to the Word within. The Word of God, Who is Spirit within, will spring forth in our daily lives as Truth and Righteousness. We will have some learning to do. We will need to learn to live in that area of righteousness. In other words, we will need to move in that spirit, Holy Spirit realm rather than in our soulish, carnal area. Hebrews 2:18, “Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to come to help those who are being tested”. We depend on Christ.

Believers under the New Covenant are to walk under the New Covenant with its teachings and Spirit.

In all aspects of our believer’s experience it must be by the Spirit. This includes our living, our walking the Christian life, our reading of the Word, our praying, our fellowship with believers and all the activities in our churches.

It also takes in “giving”. We "give", in the area of finances or any other way, according to the Spirit.  We are under the New Covenant.  It was only in the Old Covenant that the Jews, alone, were to tithe. That particular Law as given to the nation of Israel because it was a special nation. It was a Theocracy. There is no nation today that is a Theocracy. The church is not a Theocracy. There is no Moses to hear from God and give the Law and its institutions. There is no Prophet as were in the Old Testament – no Isaiah, Jeremiah or Ezekiel! Prophets today are to prophesy in a different way and anointing.

There is no command in the New Testament to tithe. There is no national Israel under God today. The Tabernacle or Temple with the instituted religions activities have finished, never to be rebuilt. Even Abraham did not tithe regularly to any priest or at any tabernacle. He indeed gave tithes or Melchizedek. However, it was the tithe of the animals, the skins, the gold and precious stones that had been taken in his victorious battle that were given to Melchizedek. God had in mind the new priesthood that would come after Jesus had died, risen again and became established in heaven as our High Priest. It was not to be after the order of the Old Testament. It was to be a new priesthood, according to the Melchizedek order. This is made clear in Hebrews 6:19-7:28.

Nevertheless, giving is an integral part of Christian living. “God loves a cheerful giver”. Jesus on one occasion was watching people entering the Temple. Many were giving into the “collection box”. One widow woman dropped a small coin into it. Jesus commended here more than all the others because she had given all that she had. Jesus loves us to give, whatever it is that we give. God is a Giver. He has given us all good things to enjoy in this world and eternal life and a home in heaven in the next. He has given us His all when He gave His Son to enter this world and become a man. He gave Him for us in death on the cross as the only sacrifice for our sins.

His Spirit is in our hearts. It has to be spiritually natural for us to give. There are many things to give. We give ourselves in sacrifice sometimes. It may be physically hard as we go and give what we are and have into proclaiming the wonderful message of the cross. We give of ourselves in effort when we minister to anybody. We give of our time in all these things. Often we give of our money. We indeed must give of our money. It was a coin, money, that the widow woman gave when Jesus was standing observing all the givers.

The New Covenant order is not tithing. It is giving. Of course, we may take an example from the Old Testament and say, “If they gave tithes, well, surely I in grace can do that and more!” We should note that their tithing came to around 25% and not 10%. They gave at least three kinds of tithes. Their capital holdings and wealth were included in the percentage of tithing. It was not just net income. In the church world-wide that wrongly teaches tithing and their kind of giving, hardly anyone teaches or follows the above kind of Old Testament tithing. Of course, neither do they present animal offerings at a temple as they did in the book of Malachi, in the middle of their tithing. Of course, their tithing was not done to the priests. The tither of the Levites went to them. To say that a Pastor (or Priest) is to receive tithes is totally unscriptural. To say that “You must tithe where you are fed spiritually” is also unscriptural.

In the book of Malachi, we should know that the Temple had a series of rooms around it that were used for storage of the tithes of grain etc. It was this “storehouse” that Malachi was speaking about. The place where they stored their tithes for use throughout the year. We are not in that kind of a situation, even spiritually. Our storehouse spiritually can never be likened to such a storehouse. The teaching to bring all the tithes where you are fed (spiritually or financially) is gross error.

Denominations feel they need much finance! Of course, much good is done. Yes, even people receive the gospel and the poor are helped (as well as the rich preachers).

Our responsibility is to follow the Word of God and not to follow any organization or man. Let us see what is said in Galatians 6:6-10, “Those who are taught the word must share in all good things with their teacher. Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow. If you sown to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit. So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up. So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us do good to everyone, above all to those who are fellow members of the community of faith”.

We are to be givers in relation to finance. First of all, in love, we should be doing what the scriptures say with those who benefit us in the preaching of the Word. Then the Spirit talks about reaping and sowing. It is in connection with giving, as it comes between the verse on sharing with our teachers and verses 9 and 10 that are also about giving and sharing of our good things with others. The others particularly are those fellow-believers. Before we give to non-believers we should be helping our fellow-believers. Many charitable and Christian organizations do not follow this verse.

This giving is sowing to the Spirit. It is by the Spirit, from the Spirit and through the Spirit. Its rewards are spiritual here and not financial or of this world. There are blessings for us in this world. Jesus taught that when He said in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well”. He was speaking about the natural things of life. Under the gospel, our heavenly Father will “give us this day our daily bread”. He also will give us the ordinary things we need. We can believe Him to provide us with housing, food and clothing as well as other things needed in this modern day. He will provide. We must believe and not worry, as Jesus said in verses 25-32. Our heavenly Father knows that we need all these things. He will provide. We must believe and receive. We live by the Spirit even as we expect God to provide for our natural needs.

There is another promise that Jesus gave, in Matthew 19:29 and Mark 10:30, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age – houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children and fields with persecutions – and in the age to come eternal life”. What a wonderful promise! Those of us who have so forsaken these things should take heart and believe the promises of God. We should remember that sometimes it takes time for our faith to see it happen.

There is also another wonderful promise in Philippians 4:16-19 that reads, “You sent me help for my needs more than once. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the profit that accumulates to your account. I have more than enough. I have received the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. And my God will fully satisfy every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus”. This is the promise New Testament believers can stand upon provided they give to those who minister the Word in Truth, not in error! To expect blessings from God because of Malachi 3:6-11. Notice in verse 6 that the words are not addressed to believers under the gospel or to all people. They are addressed to the “children of Jacob” alone – Israel at that time and not the Israel of today or the church of Jesus Christ. These verses are not for believers under the New Covenant. Why then are Preachers and churches using these verses to provoke people to give to them?

Believers who give according to Philippians can expect “My God” to supply their every need in every way. Let us believe it.

Pastors, preachers, evangelists and teachers should all receive of gifts from the children of God. It is wrong to give our money to those who receive plenty. Some T.V. evangelists, as we see on the Internet, receive up to $U.S. 100,000,000. No one ministry is entitled to this gross amount that is also an injustice against the poor workers in the vineyard of the Lord. Let us follow the scriptural pattern, where the Lord says in 1 Corinthians 9:13,14, “Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is sacrificed on the altar? In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel”.

Under the Old Testament, if we read the book of Leviticus, we will see that as the people brought their animal sacrifices, there were portions that were to be eaten by the Priests. Similarly, under the New Covenant, preachers (all and not the ‘big’ ones) are to get their living through the people they serve. Of course, we cannot make it happen. We can only do what we are able. We cannot force any Pastor to act as we might wish. We personally can only do what we can. It is sad that many do live in poverty. Generally, we cannot alter the situation. However, we can give to those who minister the Word to us. This is our first obligation under the gospel. We can also give, but only as we are able, to poorer Pastors. We cannot give beyond our means. The main thing is to give to those who minister the Word to us. Poor Pastors also cannot feel that they should be given support. None of us can have a feeling like that. Instead, the poor must believe the Lord. If possible, they should find work, even as Paul did very often.

There are principles for given that are laid out in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. These chapters are not about tithing or giving for church buildings or for the support of preachers. Giving for buildings and preachers is a necessity. However, these chapters are about giving to the poor. Paul was taking up collections from certain churches for the poor of Jerusalem. We notice a few things as we read through those chapters. They were to excel in generous giving. It was not a command. It was to be a test of their love. The Lord Jesus Christ was generous. He was rich but became poor for our sakes. This poverty had nothing to do with finance. This poverty was to do with the scriptures as revealed in Philippians 2. He left the spiritual wealth of heaven and came down to spiritual and natural poverty on earth. He left the showing forth of His Divine glory. He was born as a man – a state of poverty compared to His former place in heaven. More than that He was not born into a palace but into the home of a subject of the realm. He was born in a stable. He lived as a man. He died on the cross. Those were His poverty.

We also must have the grace of giving. He is not asking the poor to give beyond their means. The poor are not expected to give of their poverty to help others, let alone rich Pastors. They can only give according to their means. Of course, they can give in faith out of what they do not have. They can be like the poor widow woman Jesus saw giving at the Temple. God will bless and undertake for them. The rich can never give too much! We note that Paul always wanted to handle the finance honestly before God and before man. Every one in the church who handles finance should do likewise. Of course, many, especially the rich, do not. They will bear the result of their sin.

Let us note verse 7 of chapter 9, “Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver”. Very often I have seen in churches and on Television, people being “conned” out of their money, for the purpose of the building of some preacher’s empire. Often the money is used most unwisely and unjustly. Paul did not do that.

For those who give, the wonderful promises of verse 8-12 should be believed – “God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.

As it is written, ‘He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.’
He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.

You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us".

For the rendering of this ministry not only supplies the needs of the saints but also overflows with many thanksgivings to God.”

The reason we have laboured this point of tithing is that it is for those who were under the Old Covenant.  We are under the New Covenant, the Covenant of His Blood.  We must not do respite to the grace of God, even in this area of living.  We are to be givers.

Living as believers under the New Covenant is to be our blessing. It is the purpose of God for us all. Many, of course, do not so live. Let us be of those who do. It is by the Word and by the Spirit.

CHAPTER 8

A WONDERFUL HOPE

The prophet Daniel had been praying and seeking God on behalf of his people. This was during the reign of Darius in Babylon. The captivity of the Jews in that country had gone on for many years. In Daniel 9:2 he writes that he “understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years”. That time was fast approaching.

He prayed and fasted before God. His prayer is set out in verses 4-19. It is one of repentance for the wickedness and rebellion of the people of the Lord his God.

Towards the end of that prayer, he besought the Lord in this manner, “O Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our fathers have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us. Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, O Lord, look with favour on your desolate sanctuary. Give ear, O God, and hear, open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name”. This portion covers verses 15-19.

There was an answer. Gabriel came to him and told him of the wonderful mercies and blessings He had planned for Daniel’s people. Perhaps Daniel did not understand it fully. He could see from what we read in verse 24 that something good was promised. When he came to the words at the end of verse 26, he may have seen the future had some element of terror. Nevertheless, the promised blessings should have caused his heart to leap for joy – if he understood the implications.

According to Peter in his epistle, 1 Peter 1:10-12, “Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the suffering of Christ and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit”.

Daniel was one of those prophets.

Hope arises when we read verse 24, Young’s translation, “Seventy weeks are determined for your people, and for the holy city, to shut up the transgression, and to seal up sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in an age of righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophet, and to anoint the holy of holies”.

This is prophetic of the coming of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, to Israel.

He dealt with transgression, sealed up sins and covered iniquity. He did this by His atoning death on the cross. He shed His blood that entirely covers and removes transgression. He sealed up sins so that as Paul wrote to those who believe in Christ, “Sin shall not have power over you”. He so covered iniquity that the sin question was dealt with before God. He made atonement for sin. In doing that, He made reconciliation to God His Father, for us.

Jesus Christ brought in the righteousness age-during. For those who believe in Him and continue believing in Him, “He is made righteousness”. He is our righteousness. We are righteous in Him. Because of this, we stand before God righteous in Christ, with a righteousness that is ours forever and ever. Then we live in righteousness in heaven after leaving this earth.

Christ’s coming “sealed up vision and prophet”. He Himself said, “All the prophets prophesied until John”, Matthew 11:13. John was the Messenger of the coming of the Lord Jehovah, Malachi 3:1,2. The Lord came “to His temple”, born in a human temple in His reincarnation. There would no longer be a prophet as there was under the Old Covenant. Hebrews 1:1 boldly declares this. “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets, at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by His Son”.

In Romans 16:25,26 Paul says, “Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him – to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen”.

Surely Christ through His gospel has “sealed up vision and prophet”.

Gabriel had assured Daniel of the wonderful hope awaiting those of the people of God who would remain faithful to Him. Alas, the majority did not and meet with the fate set out in the last portion of verse 27. Jesus Himself repeated further dire warnings in Matthew 24 concerning the end of the Jewish nation, its Temple, worship and city of Jerusalem. When that occurred finally in 70A.D. under Titus, both the city was destroyed and the temple razed to the ground so that not a brick or a sign remained where the temple had been. The Messiah had confirmed the New Covenant by seeing to the end of the Old.

Jesus Himself told a parable concerning His judgment. In Luke 19:12-27 He spoke of a nobleman who gave pounds to his slaves while he went away. They were to use the money gainfully. One slave gained nothing. The point is that in verse 27, Christ Himself speaks personally, saying, “But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them – bring them here and slaughter them in my presence”. Thus was the terrible wrath of God poured on His rebellious and hard-hearted people.

It should be a warning to believers today. “Our God is a consuming fire”, Hebrews states.

These verses in Daniel 9 give an amazing view of what God’s plans were.

Gabriel in effect was saying to Daniel, “There is to be an end of the Old Covenant. The old forms of worship will cease. There will be no more need for a temple on earth. No longer will there be animal sacrifices. The necessity for a people to be under the Law will never be for any future time.

“The Messiah is coming. He is to save many from their sins. He is to be the Lamb of God. He will atone for sin. There will be a new people of God who will be reconciled to Him by the death of His Son. All that the Old Testament has been revealing concerning the salvation of God will be fulfilled. The Son is coming! Wonderful! The Mighty God! The everlasting Father! The Prince of Peace! The promised One is coming.

“The way to God, the way to the Father’s House, the way to heaven will be made known. God is going to have a righteous people. No longer will His true people go off into idolatry and forsake Him. They will be made righteous. They will live in righteousness. They will have everlasting life in the abode of the Lamb. The Father’s house has many mansions.

“There will be a new kind of Temple. The old one will be destroyed but it will not be needed. Far more glorious purposes of God are to be revealed. The Holy Spirit is to fall on people who are part of the Temple of the Lord. They will be anointed by God Himself. The Son will be cut off and die for the people. He will rise again. He will ascend into the Holy of Holies in heaven. He is the One who anoints.

“The rejection of Israel is the salvation of the world. That was always the plan of God when He made His covenant with Abraham. Israel is as branches broken off the olive tree so that believing Gentiles could be grafted in. Thus ‘God has bound all men over to disobedience to that he may have mercy on them all”, when the remnant Jewish branches are grafted in along with the Gentile ones.”

We trust Daniel’s faith and spiritual perception rose to the above hope. This would have over-ridden the despair he must have felt when Gabriel told him about the tragic desolation that was to come upon his people in future days – in the days of the Messiah.

This hope is prophetic of the New Covenant.

We do well to see the glory of the inspired verses in Daniel 9.

So great are the blessings of the New Covenant, under which we live, that we should note Hebrews 3:13, “But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness”, and Hebrews 4:11, “Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest (of faith in Christ of the gospel), so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience”.