The Old and New Covenant
By Dale Schmucker
September 1, 2017
What is the source of our justification?
Romans 8:6 says: For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
We can know whether we are living in the Old or the New Covenant by whether we are walking in life and peace. In the Old Covenant, the continual focus was; Do this, don’t do that, and you will be accepted by God. This is called the “spirit of bondage” leading to fear (Romans 8:15). Fear, insecurity, condemnation, and discouragement are the fruits of trying to find acceptance with God with our own performance. No matter how sincere or diligent we are, this mindset will always lead to death. Our good will never out-weigh our bad. Any righteous works we do to make ourselves acceptable to God will always be repulsive to Him (Isaiah 64:6).
Justification (to be declared righteous by God) can only be achieved by accepting, by faith, what God has provided (Romans 5:1, Ephesians 2:8-9). Church membership won’t do it. Confessing your sin to a priest won’t do it. A fairly good life won’t do it. Nothing and no one can make you righteous in God’s eyes except Jesus, who is the payment for our sin. And not nearly everyone who knows and agrees with these truths has actually received God’s justification by faith.
Sadly, I believe an enormous amount of people are just hoping things will turn out OK when they come before God. It won’t work that way. If you haven’t received God’s justification on earth and lived by it (the just shall live by faith), then it won’t be available for you on Judgement Day, either.
The normal life of a believer was intended to be a life of abundance and peace. This is available for all who will believe. There are many things the enemy will use to try and destroy it along the way, but in order to have life and peace, we must start where God starts. We must begin by throwing away all our false securities and trusting in Jesus alone. When this becomes established within us, we quit trying to live the New Covenant life with an Old Covenant spirit.
Are you living in life and peace? Is your justification acceptable to God? ~ 1 John 1:9 says: If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness.
Think about it! The justification God offers is so powerful that even the worst sinner can stand before an utterly holy God as though he had never committed a single sin his entire life! If that doesn’t describe you, it can. Believe what God says in His Word, and you too can experience life and peace.
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