The Difference Between Old and New Covenant

The Difference?Between?Old and New Covenant

Zac?Poonen

Let us look at a verse in?Romans chapter 6, which I think puts in a nutshell, in a very brief sentence, the essential difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. There we read in?Romans 6, verse 14: 'Sin shall not be master over you when you are not under law but under grace'.?The word?'law'?there symbolizes the Old Covenant and God's agreement with Israel, and the terms and conditions of that covenant are all included in that one word,?'law'. And grace, in one word, sums up God's new agreement through the Lord Jesus Christ and all the terms and conditions of that new agreement. And here, it says, you can be either under law or under grace. And the proof is this, when you are not under law but under grace, sin cannot be master over you. We could put it another way: that on the other hand, if you are not under grace but under law, then sin will have the mastery over you. So ultimately, the way we discover whether we are under the law or under grace is not by testing whether we're legalistic in relation to a lot of rules and regulations, but on the other hand, by a far more deeper test: does sin have the mastery over you? Or do you have the mastery over sin?

This is a very, very important question, because a lot of people do not understand the difference between what Jesus has come to give and what Moses came to give under the Old Covenant. Now if I were to ask you a simple question: who is greater, Moses, or our Lord Jesus Christ? That's clear, Moses is a servant and the Lord Jesus is the master. It is so clear that Jesus is far greater than Moses.

Now let me tell you, since you understand that clearly, that the covenant or agreement that God mediated with Israel, through Moses, is as inferior to the New Covenant that God mediated through Jesus, as Moses is inferior to Jesus. The implication is that if Moses and the law could bring people in the Old Testament to a certain standard of life, Jesus and the New Covenant should be able to bring them to what - to a higher standard or an equal standard? Of course, you'll say it has to be a certain standard. It would be something comparable to walking and flying; to a bicycle and an aero-plane. I mean there's a lot of difference between the bicycle and the aero-plane, with the speed and the ability to move from place to place. And if you can compare a bicycle and an aero-plane, there you see the difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. The Old Covenant can also take you from one place to another, like a bicycle can. And the New Covenant can take you from one place to another like an aero-plane, can and there's a world of difference between the two. The Old Covenant can bring a man to a certain point of fellowship with God but not beyond that. And in the Old Testament tabernacle, God illustrated this by putting a thick curtain between the holy place and the most holy place and told the Israelites?“Nobody can come into this most holy place, this veil blocks you. You can come so far but not further”.?And you know, beyond that veil, God Himself lived in that temple - Old Testament temple. And nobody could go there. Even the high priest could go only once a year, and that was only a token. But nobody could go there whenever they liked. But when Jesus died on Calvary, that veil was rent, torn from top to bottom, showing that the way into God's presence was open now. So now let me ask you, now that the way is torn and the way into the most holy place, into God's presence, is open, should our standard of life be higher or lower than people in the Old Testament? The answer is clear. If without personal fellowship with God, with just the law, people could come to a certain standard of life, how much higher our standard of life should be once we come into fellowship with God Himself, inside that torn veil? And yet, many, many Christians don't seem to have understood this. For example, why do we find or hear sometimes of Christians falling into some terrible sins? Can you imagine Elijah or John the Baptist running after women or running after money? And yet, they did not have grace; they did not have that open access into the most holy place like we have; and without it, they came to such a life. How much more we can come to if only we would have faith and rise up to our privileges under the New Covenant?

That's what Paul is saying here: sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. In?Matthew 11:11,?Jesus said that the greatest human being born until that day was John the Baptist (of course apart from Himself; He was not born of a human father so Jesus Himself is excluded, but among all others, John the Baptist was the greatest), and then Jesus went on to say, but, the one who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven - in God's kingdom - is greater even than that. What He was trying to say was that the highest that the law could take a man, was still inferior or less than where grace could take the weakest of God's children. So it's not going to be just an occasional believer who?rises?to a higher standard of life than John the Baptist. God's will is that every single one of His children who comes under grace?rises?to a higher level than John the Baptist. But whether they will actually live that life is quite another thing. But the possibility is there if they understand and receive grace as God offers it to us, through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, when we compare the word?'mercy'?- as we read, for example, in?Hebrews 4:16,?we're told there that we are to come with confidence to the Throne of Grace, so that we may receive mercy and find there grace to help in time of need - and as I mentioned in a previous study, there is a difference between?'mercy'?and?'grace'. 'Mercy'?is essentially an Old Testament word. It's a word which you find very frequently in the Old Testament - the Lord?Whose?mercy endures forever. David often speaks about it, and as a result of that mercy, people in the Old Testament have their sins covered and forgiven. They could not be cleansed, David could only say,?'Blessed is the man whose sins are covered'.?Nobody's sins could be cleansed until Jesus died on Calvary's cross. But they could be covered, until Christ came. They were forgiven. In the well-known psalm,?Psalm 103, David said,?'Bless the Lord, o my soul, and forget not all His benefits,?Who?forgives all your iniquity'.?That was mercy, and all of us need it too; we need mercy, we need our sins to be forgiven. But there's something more that we have in the New Covenant, and that is grace; something more than mercy; something to help us in the future; something to help us overcome the passions in our nature. And it says here, we can come to the Throne of Grace, and in the place where we receive mercy, we can find grace to help us in our time of need.

Now what is our time of need? Our time of need is when we're under tremendous pressure from the lusts in our flesh; tremendous pressure from the devil to sin. And in that moment, when we're tempted to sin and to fall, God says grace can help me; grace is help, help for my need, whatever it is. If my need right now is that I need help to overcome a particular sin, it says, grace can help me in my time of need. It's like, if I were climbing a mountain, and I'm about to slip and fall, if I ask for help, God can lift me up and make me stand so that I don't fall. But if I don't ask for help and I struggle on my own, I slip and fall and break my bones, and then I ask God for help, and an ambulance comes and picks me up, well that's help too. But that's mercy; that's after I have fallen that God picks me up, forgives me, takes me to a hospital, patches me up, and restores me. And that's the experience of many Christians. They fall, and they ask God for help. But isn't there a better way? There is - grace to help me in my time of need.

Now why don't you do it next time, when you find the pressure of temptation so strong that you're about to fall? Try this out and see if it doesn't work. You ask God at that moment; say,?'Lord, I'm not able to overcome this, I want you to help me. Give me grace to overcome this'.?And you will see in that moment, grace coming to carry you through.

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