Darren Tappouras - The Power of His Presence - Class 2

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:00

   In Bonnells Bay, we go to the same Ecclesia. He worked at the school and my wife works. We have a lot to do with each other. He’s got kids, are friends with my kids and and we are, we are spatially close is the word we’re going to use. So as I said, I can I can walk to his house.

2. 0:18

   I don’t, don’t worry about that. I haven’t done that yet, but I could theoretically walk to his house. It’s that close. So yes, I’m close to Matt from that point of view, but we know that’s not what I totally meant when I said to somebody or responded to somebody and said we’re close, there’s another dimension to closeness.

3. 0:38

   And Matt and I are not just spatially close, which we are, but we’re also relationally close. We’re we’re, we’re good friends, good mates. We talk about the the truth a lot and the word of God a lot together. We go to the same meeting and are involved in things at the meeting together.

4. 0:56

   We go on holidays together sometimes and and and have family outings and all that sort of stuff. So when we got similar sense of humor and similar outlook on things as well. So, so yes, we’re close physically or spatially to use that word and we’re also close relationally. There’s this, there’s these two elements that make up that that the meaning of closeness and we’re going to see presence works exactly the same way and we’re going to have to work through that how God is close to us spatially and also close to us relationally.

5. 1:30

   We’ll we’ll look at that as we go through our our session tonight. So God is close to us spatially. And that’s not tonight’s session. That’ll be God willing in our next class. But God dwells with us. God never leaves us. And he’s made promises to that effect. You know, Hebrews talks about he will never leave or forsake us.

6. 1:50

   How does that work? God is imminent. He’s, He’s in Him. We live and move and have our very being. He’s right here with us. In Him everything exists and consists and there’s these interesting from the Lord’s Prayer in John 14151617, this, this this emphasis there, God being in US and Christ and God being in US and us and we being them.

7. 2:15

   And there’s this spatial closeness that is talked about throughout the Bible between US and God. And that’s a little bit of a a tweaking that subject when we get to it. I’m just trying to change our perspective of God being up in heaven with amazing vision to see us all the way down here. It’s it’s a bit more, it’s a bit more sophisticated than that and we’ll get to that in in due course. Tonight we’re going to focus on this part of the of the subject, the relational connection we have with God. And we come into relationship with God through something called a covenant.

8. 2:50

   We’ll try and unpack what that means a little bit more tonight, and that’s a really powerful subject. And I hope, as I said, it’s a little bit theoretical in a sense. We’re going to look at biblical concepts and try and unpack what it means, but it really is essential to lay the foundation for our later, later considerations. Just to show you these two dimensions and how they work through this subject.

9. 3:14

   He’s a really famous quote from the point of view of of God’s presence. It’s one of our New Testament temple references saying that we as God’s people are his temple. Just got all presence and God’s dwelling all built into it, that concept, and it’s Paul Wright says you are the temple of the living God as God has said. I will dwell in them and walk among them. And that’s picking up, isn’t it?

10. 3:40

    The spatial connection with God. God says I will dwell and I’m going to walk among you. There’s echoes back to Eden there isn’t there? God walking in the cool of the garden and God’s dwelling. There’s like there’s temple echoes there and references and references back to the Lord Jesus Christ. We haven’t got time to flesh all those out, but just to emphasize the spatial connection there in this subject. And then he goes on to say after that I will be their God and they shall be my people.

11. 4:12

    Now that little phrase is the covenant phrase runs all the way through scripture. It’s in every recital of the covenant, whether it’s covenant God makes back in Genesis with with Abram, right through to Revelation 21. When we get there, eventually we’re going to see when the covenant is completely realized in this full sense, that’s God repeats those words, I will be their God and they shall be my people. So it really ties the whole Bible together there. But hopefully those two dimensions are coming through reasonably clear.

12. 4:45

    Here we are in Revelation 21, and we can see those two dimensions again, John writes. I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, behold the Tabernacle of God. You’ve got another temple concept here, the Tabernacle of God. He is with men as we saw the the city which descends from heaven and he will dwell with them.

13. 5:07

    So there’s our spatial word if you like God dwelling with men. And then chapter 22 talks about they shall see his face and and all this language that he’s used that picks up the idea of God dwelling again echoes back to Eden as Revelation 21 and 22 are full of. But the idea of God FaceTime with God has been restored in this perfection and completion.

14. 5:31

    And then we’ve got very next words, the repetition of that phrase again, they shall be his people and God himself shall be with them and be their God, the covenant, the covenant phrase. And so we’ve got again those two dimensions to presence, just like we have with closeness. So I hope that makes hope that makes a little bit of sense. So this chart here is our road map, if you like, for where we’re going to go.

15. 5:56

    We’re going to spend some time, particularly tonight, looking at the relational connection to God and the benefits of that and what it means and our response to that. And God willing, next time we’ll look at the spatial proximity issues. And that’s to do with the Spirit and all sorts of interesting things. So we’ll spend some time on that as well.

16. 6:15

    And they feed into the temple idea, which unfortunately we don’t have enough time to really go into in this little series. But the temple then opens up those two ideas of God’s spatial presence and his relational presence in our lives and and shows that we are the living temple of God as as Jesus was.

17. 6:34

    So let’s look at this relational side. There’s this idea of a covenant or a connection with God and it leads to this idea and this concept of being God’s children. And we touched on that a little bit of our last session and we said that’s really a New Covenant concept. God being a Father is very rare in the Old Testament.

18. 6:54

    Under the Old Covenant, very, very rare. There’s about 15 references and they’re all metaphors or figures of speech. It’s nothing like we get when we hit the New Testament. And Jesus is Father, Father, Father, Father, and Paul’s references to ABBA, Father and all the Father aspects of God that come through because of Jesus Christ. But we’ll get to that later on.

19. 7:13

    So we’re going to talk about the New Covenant. I don’t know about you and it’s could just be me. But I’ve been to every Bible school, Bible camp, Bible conference, Bible weekend, study weekend that’s ever that I could ever get to all my life. And I’ve never really heard much about the New Covenant. Now that could because I wasn’t paying a lot of attention. That could be it.

20. 7:32

    That could be it Mica. Or it’s something we find hard to articulate because it’s a it’s an interesting concept and it’s it’s interesting. We just don’t really talk about it a lot even in our literature as far as I can find most references to the New Covenant because it’s anchored back in Jeremiah 31. And the context there is the second Exodus and the return of the natural people of Israel and God bringing them back and they look on Christ today of peace.

21. 7:59

    Because of that context, it’s pushed into the future as something that relates to natural Israel and yet we’re going to see tonight that’s definitely not the only application. It’s definitely something we are really front and centre involved with today. In fact they are we talk just talk about covenant. I don’t know if you know that when we talk about the Old Testament, the New Testament, the word testament is just the English version of the Latin word for the Greek word for covenant, if that makes a bit of sense.

22. 8:28

    So the word for covenant translated into Latin is like Testamanus and it comes through as testament. So even the way the Bible structure, the terminology and the vocabulary we use all the time, we’re referring to the Old covenant when we talk about the Old Testament and the New Covenant, and scholars say that that that division and that terminology, that nomenclature that goes goes right back to about the 2nd century, this concept of calling half the Bible old. And new covenant covenants also push the storyline of the Bible right through, don’t they?

23. 9:02

    So we see there’s a, there’s a, there’s a covenant building to Genesis into the creation itself. We haven’t got time to look at that tonight. There’s the covenant God makes with Noah, covenant with Abraham of course that we’re very familiar with covenant with David. And we’re going to talk how talk about how these covenants all converge into the new covenant and bring their elements with them.

24. 9:20

    So it it it really pushes the narrative of the Bible story along. So it’s a really important concept and it’s you know Christadelphian vocabulary. We we talk about the fact when someone gets baptized that they’re now coming into covenant relationship with God and that’s a very legitimate phrase to use that’s and we’ll see.

25. 9:40

    That’s very very legitimate and powerful phrase. And every Sunday morning when we take the emblems, we talk about the not maybe not every Sunday, but a lot of our Sundays of our lives. We’ve referred to the wine for example as the representing the blood of this new covenant. So it’s although you might, I might not have heard a lot of exposition on it and discussion on it from a expositional point of view. It’s definitely there in the background, isn’t it? Quite a lot.

26. 10:12

    Here’s a quote, 1st Corinthians 11, this is the new covenant in my blood. And Luke 22, the cup that he’s poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. So every Sunday, we’re talking and thinking about and focusing on the new covenant. So what is this new covenant and how does it relate to us? And then particularly for our session, how does it relate to the presence of God?

27. 10:34

    So we’ll get to that in a minute. What is a covenant? Well, probably the simplest way to think of a covenant is as an agreement, could even be a contract is a is another another word that might help us understand what a covenant is. It’s agreement. But the important thing to remember, it’s an agreement that creates a relationship between the two parties to the covenant.

28. 10:56

    And that’s a really important thing. This relationship comes into existence at that point. And often, and particularly in ancient times, there was a ritual of some sort that went along to confirm the covenant or to bind the parties to the covenant. So some sort of ritual of vowel. I remember Laban built a little pile of stones and all sorts of different little rituals that go along with a covenant when it’s made.

29. 11:23

    The one that we probably are very familiar with this simple covenant because there are two types of covenants in the ancient world. There’s a what’s called a parody. Covenant parody just means amongst equals. And there’s also a a vessel, A Suzrein vessel. Covenant which is a fancy word which is the vertical covenants between a powerful usually a great king like Nebuchadnezzar would make it with a local king of of a city. You know in the ancient times there was a king of Sodom and the king of Zor etcetera.

30. 11:54

    So that would have little kings, very minor kings. And a great emperor would be the would be the Suzrein and the small little king in Canaan would be the vessel and that that was a that’s a vertical covenant. That’s the one that reflects more closely the covenants in the Bible with God. And that makes sense.

31. 12:14

    Doesn’t God hears the great God and creator and his people connecting with that incredible being? If you like. So marriage would be. I better say this just in case Susan ever you know sees a copy of the IT is a horizontal covenant between 2 equals and Malachi uses that terminology. And I’m sure many of us already are aware of this. Where in the time period, that post exilic period there in Mali in after the exile, there was a problem where people were putting away their their wives, their wives of their youth and marrying younger women.

32. 12:51

    And they’re condemned here in Malachi too because they’ve been unfaithful to the wife of their covenant. So you see, a covenant was the initially the agreement that made this relationship come into existence. It’s interesting, just words, like at a wedding, just words I do. When I take you to be my husband and my wife, those words, they’re just words.

33. 13:11

    But the words reflect this commitment to form a new relationship. In this new covenant, I’ll be your husband and I’ll be your wife. And so this relationship comes out of almost nothing, doesn’t it’s like these two unrelated people now form a brand new unit. It’s like it’s a miraculous thing really. And just as there’s like a formula when we get married and commit to a each other, we also we say, I take you to be my wife, I take you to be my husband. I said it in this very hall.

34. 13:41

    There you go. Right, right, right there, many, many years ago. So there’s a covenant formula that, as I said, runs through the Bible. We’re committing to God and God’s also committing to us under the terms of this covenant. That’s really important. God’s committing to us as well, and he’s faithful to that commitment and we’ll remain faithful to that. So the covenant we’ve got, of course, we’ve already identified as a vertical covenant, God’s up in heaven. We’re on earth and we’re making that commitment to be joined together in a relationship that makes his presence possible and it puts us into the presence of God in a relational sense. And that’s why it’s really, really important now before we get into appreciate, I suppose, the new covenant and the power of the new covenant.

35. 14:29

    I just want to think about the Old Covenant and why that had to be superseded, why that wasn’t good enough to get us to where God wanted it wanted us to go. Look at some of the terms of the Old Covenant and you’re going to see how remarkably different they are to the terms of the of the New Covenant.

36. 14:49

    And you’ll notice as we really quickly flick through a bunch of verses, and I’ve colored them in to try and make this exercise quick as possible, You’ll notice there’s a familiar structure that runs through them, this conditional structure and the word if you’re going to say the word if and else and if and and and that and these words are conditional clauses if you like anyone here done computer programming and knows about if then else structures. So if you’re a nerd who’s done that, then that’s interesting. But no one’s putting their hands up here. Admitting to that, I was in IT many, many years ago. So it’s a it’s a way of writing computer code and sending instructions off in in different ways when different conditions are met.

37. 15:35

    Anyway, we won’t go into that now, but you’ll you’ll pick up the structure as you go through and you’ll notice a repetition of certain words and you’ll see those words are still there in the new covenant. But there’s the emphasis is different, which is really part of the power of the new covenant. So here’s a a reference in Jeremiah 7. Early in Jeremiah when there’s still appeal being made to the people to be faithful to the covenant and it says Jeremiah 7. But this thing commanded by them saying obey. So obey is a big word and it’s a conditional word. It’s like it’s part of what makes the old covenant tick, makes it work.

38. 16:12

    Obey my voice and I will be your God. You see how it’s structured there. Obey is the condition that makes this happen. Then I will be your God. But you got to obey for me to be your God and then you should be my people. There’s that little phrase, and as well as that you’ve got to walk in the ways that I’ve commanded you that.

39. 16:31

    So there’s a condition as well that it may be well unto you, so you can see how that is played out in the syntax there, in the structure of the way the old covenant was worded. Here’s another reference from Jeremiah. You’ll see the repetition again of these similar words which I commanded your Father’s in that day, that I bought them forth out of the land of Egypt from the iron furnace, saying obey my voice and do them according to all that I command you.

40. 16:58

    So shall you be my people and I’ll be your God. So you can see that conditional nature building to that obey my commandments and do then so I can be your God. Otherwise the the conditions aren’t being met for that to really happen. Exodus 19, a famous old covenant reference, of course. Exodus 19 Now, therefore, if you indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall conditional, you shall be a treasured position among all people.

41. 17:33

    The earth is mine, and you shall be to me a Kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Leviticus, if you walk in my statutes and do them, I will give you reins and blessings, etcetera. Jeremy 11 I’m saying before you today blessings and curses. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, and if you don’t obey, then you’ll suffer the consequences. Jeremy 28 If you fully obey my word, God will set you above the other nations.

42. 18:00

    If you obey the voice of the Lord your God, you see over and over again it’s very conditional. And God’s link to the people is very contingent on them obeying and doing and listening and heeding what what he says. So keeping that in mind, we’re going to look at the New Covenant and see it’s rather different.

43. 18:23

    So come to Hebrews 8, which Micah read for us. And the first thing I want us to see in the commentary here by the writer of Hebrews is a very big statement that he makes in verse nine when he talks about this New Covenant.

44. 18:41

    And when I say a statement, he’s actually quoting verbatim from Jeremiah 31, which we’ll get to in a minute, but he’s inserting this here, and he says, not verse nine, I should say, Yep, 9. This one not according. So this is this new covenant he’s going to articulate here from Jeremiah. But this covenant’s rather different. He says It’s not like it’s not according to the covenant I made with their fathers when I took them out of Egypt, which we just read in Exodus 19.

45. 19:09

    It’s something different. That covenant had a flaw in the sense that it required that obedience in order to make it work. If you keep my commandments and obey them, then I can be your God and you can be in my presence, and we can have this relationship and you can. I can show my loving kindness to you and all those things.

46. 19:29

    But that covenant wasn’t a it was conditional, wasn’t sort of permanent, and you could fall out of it, and it was, and it had had issues. And so there’s nothing wrong with that covenant. Of course it was wholly just and good, but because of the weakness of us, because the weakness of the people of Israel, of course it didn’t have the mechanism in it to to to help them in that in that situation. So this is, you could say, a whole this, this new covenant is really new.

47. 19:56

    It’s it’s a whole new ball game to use that, that that cliche. It’s a whole new. It’s not like I’ve said here, not Judaism 2.0. It’s not just an upgrade to the Old Covenant, it’s a whole new thing. It’s something totally different that has been introduced here, and he’s just a quick structure of Hebrews 8.

48. 20:16

    This code in verse 6 here, a better covenant. We talked about that last class, this better theme that runs of course through Hebrews, this reference in verse seven and eight, that there was an issue with the first covenant, because if the first covenant could do that, then we wouldn’t need a new one. So he says in verse seven, for the first covenant had been faultless, then there’d be no place for a second. You wouldn’t have needed a new one. Verse 8 For finding fault with them he says, Behold the days come, saith the Lord that I will make a new covenant, and he then goes on to say the work.

49. 20:49

    The fact he calls it new, the very fact God labels it a new covenant, is an indication that the old one is obsolete. The old one is no longer in force. So these, the fact he called it that it wasn’t just the covenant made to Paul or to he didn’t just relabel it like the other covenants had a progressive nature about the name the covenant to nowhere, the covenant to Abraham, David, etcetera. This, this, this one is not like a progression in a sense. It’s not like an upgrade.

50. 21:22

    It’s totally new, totally unique and totally amazing and it’s very, very powerful. And then from verses 9 to 12, it’s literally a cut and paste. So Paul, sorry, I don’t know if it’s Paul. The writer of Hebrews has has just basically picked up Jeremiah 31 and picked up the the references of this new covenant picked them up and pasted them here into Hebrews 8 and I got that in my new King James. It’s all in capitals for some reason when it quotes Old Testament’s got these capitals which is very hard to read. It’s like someone screaming at you, but it’s all it’s all there in capitals, this nine.

51. 22:03

    For this is a covenant that I will make with the House of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my law into their hearts, into their minds, and I’ll write it in their hearts, and I’ll be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. There’s our there’s our covenant formula. They shall not teach every man, his neighbor and his brother to say no the Lord.

52. 22:22

    Because everyone under that covenant, there’s no need for intermediaries. Everybody has a relationship with God. Everyone knows the Lord from the least of the greatest. I’ll be merciful. So it’s got mercy building to it. Verse 12 and their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more. And then verse that in in that he says a new covenant and gives it a label new.

53. 22:42

    He’s made the first one old by default and therefore indicated that it would pass away. So there it is in Hebrews 8. As I said, a cut and paste directly from Jeremiah 31. Now what do we make of this new covenant reference? It’s it’s challenging, isn’t it? Because the context where it’s taken from, where the writer of Hebrews takes it from, is a is is sort of a future event. It’s talking the context both in Jeremiah 31 and it’s we’re going to see in Ezekiel 36 and other places as well. The context is the new, the 2nd Exodus if you like, where the natural people of Israel, the natural Jews, if you like, come back.

54. 23:27

    And we talked a bit about that on Sunday, though I think Frank talked about that they’ll come back and they’ll look on him and they have pierced and they will turn their hearts back to God and accept Jesus as their Messiah. That’s the that’s the context that’s couched in there in Jeremiah 31. And that’s why all the study notes I could get my hands on seem to emphasize that side of it. It’s all it’s considered part of our event, subsequent studies. It’s all something in the future and yet there’s much more to it than that.

55. 23:59

    So how do we, how do we read this new covenant here in Hebrews 8? How do we apply it? What do we think about it? Option one, we could just take that approach because it’s from Jeremiah 31, Jeremiah 31’s talking about the 2nd Exodus, etcetera. It’s all in the future and it relates to natural Israel who have finally repented and God then gives them new heart and all those terms in Jeremiah 31 relate to them.

56. 24:22

    So it’s something we’re looking forward to in the future. Some, and particularly other religions take it very literally because they think God will literally, miraculously insert His spirit into us and insert his lore into our hearts and minds in some miraculous, supernatural way. And again, that that is would contradict other parts of scripture and the concept of free will and all those sorts of things. To read that hyper literally, it doesn’t. That would make sense, but it needs to be understood in some way.

57. 24:54

    The third option is which, Which which I believe is the right option. We’ll follow this through a little bit tonight, is the concept of imputed righteousness from God and the, the and the result of that and and the gratitude that’s generated if we really, really get it and really understand it and really appreciate it and fall in love with what God has done and just be so grateful there’s a power that God’s God is working in us at that at that point.

58. 25:21

    So we believe, which is faith. We have faith in God’s ways. We finally say, man hasn’t got the answers. I’m a Sinner. I need God. We have faith in what God’s promised and his promises God deems us. We’re going to talk about this in a minute. God deems us to be righteous and to be sinless and perfect. And because of that, if we really appreciate that and we really, really take that to heart and make it real, not just theoretical, then there’s some major power in that for us. And that.

59. 25:52

    That’s that’s really at the very heart of this New Covenant really explains the New Covenant perfectly. Let’s just make a few other observations about the New Covenant. Is it all about the future or is it about us today? There are hints throughout Jeremiah. We haven’t got time tonight to look them up. Where Jeremiah talks in the in when he when he refers to the these, when he refers to these covenant passages about God making his covenant, There are references inserted about the Gawi, about the Goyi is when you read that in Hebrew the Gentiles or Goyim is the plural.

60. 26:27

    So this new covenant is connected to Gentiles. So to push it all into the future and say it’s to do with repentant Israel, which it is, is not the full story. There’s something else going on. And here throughout the book of Hebrews, the repetition of it, the emphasis on it, the power that he’s drawn from the writer, Hebrews is joined from it.

61. 26:51

    There is no doubt at all that it is, it is relevant and enforced now. And he’s a verse we sort of read very quickly. But in Hebrews 8, verse six, it says as Christ has obtained a ministry that is much more excellent than the old, as a covenant he mediates is better. This is, this is from I think the ESV.

62. 27:14

    The New covenant is enacted on better promises. Now just that word enacted, just keep that in your mind for a minute. Enacted is a word we still use today in in the legal system. Enacted legislation means it’s been given royal assent and it’s in force. It’s actually happening. So they change the the penalties for speeding and it takes effect midnight last night and I get caught speeding on the way home from here.

63. 27:41

    I get hit with this new penalty, don’t I? Because it’s now enacted legislation. It’s enacted, it’s in force and that word, it indicates that the New Covenant is in force. When the book of Hebrews is written, this new covenant is now in force. It’s not something we’re waiting for events subsequent to happen.

64. 27:58

    Yes, the Jews will get the benefit of the in due course, of course, but it’s something that is in force right now and something that we are under, we are part of. And that’s why we really need to think about it and love it.

65. 28:12

    Sorry, I’m pressing the wrong button there all the way through Hebrews and I haven’t got time tonight to look at every reference, but there’s so many references to the New Covenant or a better covenant. Hebrews 9 He’s a mediator of the New Covenant. He is the mediator of the New Covenant. Hebrews 10, this is the covenant that I will make after them in those days and repeats the Jeremiah 31 reference and it applies it to the believers then and not just apply it but says to them As a result of this New Covenant, you can have confidence and boldness to come into the presence of God. That’s why we need to get a head around this because it’s linked to the presence of God.

66. 28:46

    Very much so, and we’ll get to that in due course. But the new covenant makes it possible to be in God’s presence for a non perfect being like me, to be in the presence of God. The new covenant enables that to happen. Without it, I would not be in God’s presence, whatever that means. Hebrews 12 talks about Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant.

67. 29:08

    It’s a very important thing and he’s that famous little prayer at the end of Hebrews. Now may the God of peace have brought again from the dead Our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant uses eternal covenant there. Obviously not to referring to the law of Moses. It’s an eternal covenant.

68. 29:22

    It’s this new covenant that we are now under. We’re thanking God for we’re benefiting from we’re praising God for it and we it’s part of our should be part of the very fabric of our life. Remember the quotes I looked at earlier on every single Sunday? Virtually we are talking about the new covenant. So it’s not we’re not taking the emblems going this is the blood of the new covenant that the Jews are going to get in the in the future.

69. 29:45

    Are we? We’re not we’re not doing that. And we take the wine of the new covenant. We’re saying this is the wine of the new covenant for my sins and for me and for my benefit and for my connection and relationship to God. Right now it’s something that we are we are totally under. And in fact Paul in Second Corinthians says our mission is ambassador, we’re ambassador, we’re New covenant ambassadors. So this new thing called the New Covenant, he says in Second Corinthians, show that you as people are a living letter. You’re not a dead letter or written on stone. You are living the the word of God in your life, not written with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tables of stone, but on on our human hearts. And he says such is the confidence that we have through Christ towards God that not that we are sufficient in ourselves and that’s a very powerful part of this, but our sufficiency comes from God who has made us sufficient to be ministers and some translations have ambassadors of a new covenant. So we are that that’s that’s like what we’re all about really.

70. 30:46

    We’re a new covenant ambassadors. So we really should get a handle on what this new covenant is and how it relates to us now and the power of it in our lives. And how it then relates to the why in Hebrews tenets is because of that new covenant. You can come with boldness into the presence of God and and that’s really important for us to get a handle on pressing the wrong button.

71. 31:08

    It’s very interesting. As I said before all the covenants in the Old Testament are all converging on this new covenant. None of them are. None of them are perfect in themselves or holistic in themselves. They all, they all are giving us an insight into God’s promises and what God plans to do. And all of them together, whether it’s a Noah covenant or the Abrahamic covenant, they’re they’re part of the everlasting covenant that will that that converges onto the new covenant.

72. 31:37

    I’ve got to stop pressing the wrong button. So the covenant got made to Noah in Genesis 9. He calls it an everlasting covenant because it’s it’s still here. It’s it’s merged into the new covenant. God made certain guarantees about the planet, about, about his people, etcetera. The Abrahamic covenant. It’s also called in Genesis 17 an everlasting covenant. It’s there, it’s a permanent everlasting covenant, but it it it, it finds it’s out working in the new covenant which takes it into the new, the new era if you like, and David’s covenant. Although in Second Samuel 7 the term everlasting is not there particularly the word forever is though in in other words that have a similar idea.

73. 32:26

    But Isaiah 50 five talks about David’s covenant being an everlasting covenant. So all these covenants are everlasting as they feed into if you like, the the new covenant that we are through Christ under right now. The only covenant that’s not called an everlasting covenant of course is the Lord of Moses the the the old the covenant under Moses or Hebrews calls it the old covenant.

74. 32:46

    The rest are everlasting. They all will find their way through into the new covenant and we get the Hebrews 13 which we’ve talked about already through the blood of the everlasting covenant. It’s the it’s the it’s the thing that we are in now. It’s part of our relationship to God. Now it’s interesting, you remember how how conditional the old covenant was, all those if then else conditional clauses that were there, all these other covenants are not conditional in the sense that you don’t fall in and out, in the sense of covenant.

75. 33:20

    You don’t. You don’t start off in the covenant then end up out and then come back in again and pop in, pop out. They that once you are in these covenants, they are there for for God has set them in motion and his covenant people are in them. The covenant to Noah for example.

76. 33:34

    There’s no conditions. God says this is it. I’m not going to destroy the world again. He doesn’t say. If you don’t do this, it’s like I’ve already destroyed it because of wickedness and man’s heart still evil continually. I’m not going to destroy it again and and that covenant’s not a conditional covenant. It’s what God has deemed to do the Abrahamic covenant.

77. 33:53

    We’ll look at Romans 4 in a minute. But it again is not conditional. It’s it’s in the sense that it’s it’s given to us by God. It’s a gift that we have from God. Don’t confuse conditions with be accessing the covenant. We need to respond in faith and be baptized, etcetera, be part of the covenant.

78. 34:11

    But the covenant itself, we do not fall in and out of it in that in that sense as you could have and Israel did under the old covenant that would. You know all those Sunday school stories about sin, suffering, supplication, and what are the other S was and all that exiles out of the land and then returns are all indication of the the fact that under the old covenant you fell out of it and then you had to find your way back in.

79. 34:31

    We are in Christ. We are in the New Covenant in a far more permanent sense. And this covenant is not conditional in that sense. There’s a there’s a recital of the New Covenant. It’s a little bit different, but it’s similar. And you’ll see the similarity straight away in Ezekiel 36 and look at the language here.

80. 34:51

    I’ll give you a new heart, same as Jeremiah 31, a new spirit. I’ll put in you exactly the same as again I’ll remove the heart of stone, same idea from your flesh, give you a heart of flesh. I’ll put my spirit within you so you can see the internal nature of the New Covenant.

81. 35:08

    The old covenant had all these blessings and conditions about crops and put into flight the enemies of of Israel. One man chasing 1000 and your crops being very productive and all these all these conditional blessings, physical blessings. The new covenant’s about the inner man it’s it’s it’s internal. I’m going to put my spirit within you and of course you walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. Now, interestingly enough, obedience is still there. But it’s taken us a little while in that verse to get to obedience, isn’t it?

82. 35:40

    So obedience isn’t the condition that leads us into it. It’s a result of something that happens within this new covenant. Obedience is still part of it, but not the condition that makes it makes the relationship happen. And you, You’ll dwell in the land I gave your father’s. You shall be my people. There’s a covenant recital. You should be my people and I’ll be your God. So notice the internal nature of of the New Covenant. And here I’ve just taken it from the NIV verse 27 of Ezekiel 36 And I just want you to focus on God’s involvement under the new covenant.

83. 36:16

    Remember, the old covenant was very much up to you. God was there offering things, but it was all but you must obey, you must do, you must walk before. If you want me to be your God and to be my people, this is this is the the focus is different now, he says.

84. 36:35

    I will put my spirit within you and I will cause you. The NIV has moved you. Something God’s going to do is going to cause you or move you to obey. You’re not obeying as the first base to get into the relationship. The obedience is coming as a result of the relationship. Something God’s doing in your life or for you personally generates moves you, causes you to obey. And that’s the power of the New Covenant. And I will give you a new heart.

85. 37:06

    I just put I just because it come out on there. I just put. I just highlighted the word I in red just to tell you this is Yahweh speaking. I will put my laws in their minds. That’s from Hebrews 8 quoting Jeremiah 31. Ezekiel 36. I will give you a new heart. I will put a new spirit in you. I will remove your heart of stone. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to cause you to walk in my statue.

86. 37:28

    I will cause you to walk in my statutes. So not putting them out there. You must walk in my statues if you want anything to do with me. It says under this New covenant I will cause you. I will move you. I will motivate you to obey me and to to walk in my ways.

87. 37:46

    I just want to talk quickly about the idea of the the mechanism here that makes this possible. I think it explains the power of the New Covenant is the idea of deemed or imputed righteousness. I I remember once there was a there was a there was many years ago back 1520 years ago I was a brother he was going through a really tough time and he was going to move up the NT and and he and he was in tears and God, I’m I’m useless. I’m hopeless.

88. 38:14

    I can’t I sin and I God would not be interesting me and he’s just he was totally depressed and I was trying to encourage him and he says I do all these stupid things and I sin and how what would God even be slightly interesting me. And I was, I remember trying to encourage him.

89. 38:31

    And I said, oh, but remember, we’re deemed, because I picked up this word before we’re deemed righteous. You know, you don’t have to be right. You’re deemed righteous. He sort of looked at me through his tears and smiled like, are you off your rocker? Like, and I I wasn’t convinced enough either to really push it because it’s like, oh, yeah, that sounds a bit weird.

90. 38:49

    Like, what does that? What’s that all about? And And it was hard to to make that brother see that there’s some power here because it was sort of a weird concept and I couldn’t really define it or articulate it properly. And it never quite resonated with him in that sense. But it is really the underlying power of the new covenant.

91. 39:09

    God’s going to cause you. How does he do that? It’s this idea of imputed righteousness or deemed similar sort of word. These words are accounting words, actually. If you want to get really boring, those on a pension will know that they can. You can have your income, you can have your assets deemed to be generated income. This is the point of it.

92. 39:28

    Deeming is something that’s not real and literal is deemed to be real. So any of the pensioners here will know if they’ve got, they have an assets test that says how much pension they get and they have an income test. Now the income test, the more income they have, the less pension they get. So the pensioner could say, well, I’m going to fix that. I’m going to convert all my money into diamonds and just keep it in a safe.

93. 39:52

    And it’s not generating income. It’s getting just capital growth, but there’s no income. And therefore I get the full pension and I don’t lose any. And the government goes, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No. We’re deeming. You’ve got you’ve got $1,000,000 of diamonds. We’re deeming you. And every year they put out a deeming rate.

94. 40:07

    We’re deeming you to earn 3% interest. But I didn’t earn any interest. We’re deeming you. But that’s that’s not true. But we’re deeming you. But it does. That’s not literally true, but it has real life effects, doesn’t it? That pensioner, his pension disappears and he goes hungry. It has real effects. Deeming is, it’s not real.

95. 40:25

    But the power that the government has gives that really incredible negative effects. And so deeming is a is a powerful concept if the power who is deeming is powerful and has the power to do it. There’s other examples what we’re running out of time. So the word comes. The word is really listed a few times here in Romans 4 in a very famous chapter of Romans 4, saying that Abraham believed God and as a result of his faith wasn’t anything he did.

96. 41:02

    It was his faith that on the basis of that faith, God deemed him on the I’ve got the new King James saying it counted him. And the next verse says counted. Verse five says it was counted him for righteousness. And verse six says imputed, which is the word we sort of pick up on a news imputed to him. God imputed righteousness to him and all the benefits of being righteous.

97. 41:26

    And it’s real. It’s absolutely real and it’s powerful because God has the power to do that through the Lord Jesus Christ. So Thayer’s definition of that word is highlighted, deem and impute from Strong’s. It’s got it. It’s something that’s not literally real and literally true. Like Darren, he’s not literally righteous. I can assure you. I know you, you’ll go, what?

98. 41:45

    That’s not true, but it’s not. But God deems me to be righteous, and all the benefits accrue to me of being righteous, which also, which as Hebrews 10, we’ll get to in a moment. We’ll get not tonight. We’ll get to another night, says I can have boldness in the presence of God. I can have euphoria in the presence of God.

99. 42:02

    I can have no shame in the presence of God. My conscience can be purely clear in the presence of God because he deems me righteous. He deems me perfect. It’s not theory, brothers and sisters, until it’s got to move from theory into reality for the power of it to work. And that’s our that’s our job to do one more example I just this is really important to get deeming worked out.

100. 42:26

     So OK, Michael wake up then he was asleep there on the very minute. All of a sudden he’s away. This is a bit of paper, right with a bit of ink on it. I did a quick calc, thinking of, you know, amortizing floor space and and and and other overheads and the and the amount of income of using. It’d be lucky to be worth $0.03.

101. 42:53

     That’d be lucky to be worth $0.03 worth of paper. If it wasn’t a $50 note and I dropped it, I wouldn’t pick it up at all. I would responsibly put it into a receptacle, but. But I would not value it in any way. It’s not worth. It’s a bit of paper, is that right?

102. 43:06

     It’s just a bit of paper, isn’t it? Rip it up. It’s just a bit of paper. Our government, because of its power, has deemed that bit of paper. It’d be worth 50 Australian dollars. Does that have real life effects? Is that true? Is that powerful? Does that have buying power? Could I go to Kohl’s and buy? What do you get from Kohl’s?

103. 43:30

     You know, like stuff like like washing up detergent and things and and things and groceries. Could I get, do I get a coffee shop and buy? Could I get a pizza, pizza shop and buy a pizza with that? Probably not in Sydney, but up my way. You can probably just squeeze the pizza in. That has real power, doesn’t it?

104. 43:48

     That has real power, but it’s a 3 cent bit of paper because the government has deemed it such. So deeming is real and powerful and has very real effects. It’s not just theory if the deeming authority has the power or has the ability to do that. So deeming is very real and very powerful.

105. 44:11

     However, let’s say some tin pot dictator in Africa, somewhere in some little African state, makes up his own, makes up his own currency, gets a bit of paper. And he says, I got to make this a 10 billion dollar, $10 billion currency. I’m going to deem, I’m going to deem that to be worth 10 billion, $10 billion, OK, so he says that’s a $10 billion piece of Now is that does that deeming effective?

106. 44:41

     Does that work? That’s nonsense. That deeming doesn’t work because he doesn’t have the ability to underwrite that. That he doesn’t have an economy that can underwrite $10 billion. So. So Demi isn’t Demi is not literal and not not literally true, but where the authority, the demon authority has the power, it is very true and very real.

107. 45:00

     And where they don’t have the power, it is not true at all. So our notes are actually underwritten. And in the old days, before the World War One, there was a thing called the gold standard, if you remember that. So anyone heard of Fort Knox, say all the gold people say the gold. Now the government would hold a certain ratio of of actual bullion, gold bullion in Fort Knox. the US government and issued currency, they’d given up on that, don’t worry about that anymore.

108. 45:27

     But that was that was before World War One that had this gold standard. And so the currency, although it’s a bit of paper worth three cents, it was underwritten by this gold bullion that was kept at Fort Knox. It was a real underwritten, you could say a surety or some sort of guarantee that was physically there behind the scenes.

109. 45:49

     That mean I could walk around Manhattan or you know somewhere in New York and I could get money for my USI could get goods and services, my U.S. dollar. Since World War One, there’s a new scheme called the Fiat scheme and it’s based on the underlying value of the economy and the interest rates and inflation, all the all those sorts of things.

110. 46:08

     But it still is based on the power of the economy. As I said, that dictator could come up with a $10 million note and it’s not worth to Bob. So you can see how there’s faith involved here, isn’t there? Because we are acknowledging through faith the power of the authority. Who says I will deem you? I deemed Abraham righteous, And those that are Abraham’s through faith and baptized into through a baptized into Christ, I will deem them righteous as well.

111. 46:37

     And we go, I don’t think you can. I don’t think you. I don’t think you got the power to do it because I’m really not that good like my friend I’ve been Darwin. So it’s it’s a faith in the power of God that he can do that and he does that righteously which means he does it not just as a he’s not just winking at seeing he does it through something.

112. 47:02

     And just like this gold is the surety or the, the guarantee underwriting, underwriting the in the old days, underwriting the notes and the value of the notes. So there is something in the new covenant which is called the blood of the Christ, the blood of the new covenant. There’s something about Christ that he’s sacrificed that acts as an underwriting power underwriting value if you like, that allows Darren, because of my connection with the Lord Jesus Christ to be deemed to be righteous.

113. 47:31

     Hope I haven’t butchered that too much. And I hope it’s coming through a little bit, because it really is the power upon which the New Covenant works and the forgiveness of sins and the imputation of sins. God says I’m not holding sins against them anymore. In fact, I’ve perfected them. It says in Hebrews perfected forever. These people that are in Christ because of Christ because he he is perfect, but he became perfect through suffering. We are imputed perfect because of our connection with him. Anyway, I better rush.

114. 47:58

     We’re just about finished. So if we break break the New Covenant down into its into its components, this first one here is really the the driving power of the New Covenant. It’s the, it’s the engine I think that makes it work. It’s the new covenant says I’ll remember their sins no more. And God says in Ezekiel 36 I’ll deliver you from an uncleanness, I’ll cleanse you from your iniquity.

115. 48:20

     So that’s the underlying power that makes the New covenant work as opposed to that old Covenant that made you achieve that God saying no, I’m going to forgive you your sins and not hold sin against you. And there the result of that if believed and loved and emotionally taken into your heart and mind and and responded to develops this internal transformation. And that’s what the New Covenant means when it says, I’ll put my law into their hearts.

116. 48:50

     Remember that quote we looked at in Corinthians as not written on stone, but it’s in it’s a living letter written in the in the in your heart. It’s something that changes your your desires and your affection and what you think is important and what you’re going to devote your life to. It’s it’s a response to the fact that you’ve got this incredible gift and God has given you a new heart and a new spirit that comes as a result of that, that amazing gift from God.

117. 49:15

     And then it develops this, this intimacy where we all know God individually. All of us Israel had priests and prophets and all these intermediaries. We are all connected to God through the power of the New Covenant. So here’s the power of deeming in its outworking. God deems us righteous. We respond. He’s just a quick diagram.

118. 49:39

     We respond with gratitude to the to what God’s given us through Christ. And that response generates in us this new spirit and this new heart and makes us just thank God from literally the bottom of our hearts. If you want to use that, because it’s the terminology here in in the New Covenant, it’s heart, heart, heart all the way through. So why is it so powerful?

119. 49:59

     Just a few points. We’ve got about 5 minutes before we finish up. Why is it so much more powerful than the Old Covenant? Think about the Old Covenant for a minute. The Old Covenant started with Abraham. So Abraham was the one in the relationship with God and Abraham’s genealogical descendants were offered to be to have access to this covenant and there was a sign that would give them connection to it.

120. 50:26

     But it was a was part Jew and virtue to the fact that they were descendants of that of Abraham. So they they would circumcise their their sons as a sign of that covenant. You see it’s all related to reproduction processes isn’t so. So people under the old covenant we’re really connected to Abraham who was the friend of God, who was The Who connected to God in in a covenant in the that we call it the Abrahamic covenant.

121. 50:54

     And so there was this. The connection was distributed, wasn’t it? Through through the population, through through genealogical connection, and within that grouping of people that came from Abraham I’ve just highlighted in blue. If you like, there were people that were faithful to the terms of the covenant, or attempted to be faithful to that covenant. There were others who rejected it, even though they were all natural descendants of Abraham.

122. 51:20

     And so we have something under the Old Covenant called the Remnant and the remnant of those who are faithful to the covenant, even though everyone in Israel was part of that covenant, through the natural reproduction process, there was a remnant who were faithful to the covenant. Now that’s old covenant terminology. You see sometimes how we slip into using old covenant terminology when we’re trying to explain our connection to God under the new covenant. The new Covenant is significantly different. We all of us as individuals are in Christ and under the new covenant we have the connection to God under this new covenant. And the ritual, if you like, is baptism. It’s the it’s the token that we we undertake. And at baptism God says you are my people and I am your God and and the relationships made.

123. 52:12

     But it’s done because we are and it works because we are in Christ and connected through Christ to God in that way but directly to Christ and in any relationship to God and added to the new covenant is the is the whole concept of sonship. We are now children we’re we’re adopted. If you want to use the the phrase from you know Ephesians one and Romans 8 etcetera in Galatians 4 that talks about the spirit of adoption the power of adoption.

124. 52:41

     We are we are we are now in Christ as a as children and children is a whole different ball game. It really helps explain both the power of the new covenant, but also the presence. When we get to trying to put the practical side together, We are children connected to a father. And that changes everything, doesn’t it?

125. 53:00

     Because you don’t. You have children. Those of us who do, and they they don’t always obey us. They drive us a bit crazy, but they’re always our children. We always love them. It’s not like I come home and say right, Phoebe, you’re no longer my daughter. Get out of the house. Go. And then 5 minutes later she comes back in and she’s back again. No, go.

126. 53:20

     Get out of there. She’s always my daughter, even if she’s doing things that I’m not totally excited about. So once we get that idea that we are God’s children as a consequence of this covenant, and that’s how when we get to Revelation 21, we’re going to see the language. It’s interesting that covenant formula says I’ll be their God, they will be my children. And the next verse says, and I’ll be a father unto them. So it’s the fatherhood of God that comes into force under the Under the New Covenant.

127. 53:48

     Israel. Israel as individuals were not sons of God in that same sense. So we’re not born again. They were a collective son, though out of Egypt, I’ve called my son, Hosea says. So they were a collective son, but they weren’t. They didn’t have that relationship to God like we do in our relationship with God Under the New Covenant. OK, I’m going to flick through this because we’re running out of time.

128. 54:16

     Where do you look at that? The New Covenant has a change of mindset from the Old Covenant, which is really powerful. And as I said, sometimes a lot of our language, even our views of Providence, our our views of how we got to keep God happy or good things happening happening to us because we’ve been good.

129. 54:31

     And all these these are old covenant concepts that are coming into our thinking and we’re because we love the Old Testament. We love the stories of the Bible and the ancient the Old Testament and we bringing across things that may not be relevant in the new Covenant. Remember every lesson you find in the Old covenant has to be has to be funneled through and filtered by the new covenant or the new commandment which underlies the the new covenant new commandment, the love one another to turn the other cheek.

130. 55:06

     All all these concepts are new covenant. So you can’t just look at the old covenant go well Elijah. Elijah killed prophets of Baal and spilt their blood. Therefore I’m allowed to go around beating people up. And you’ve taken an old covenant concept and under the New covenant you esteem others better than yourself And you.

131. 55:23

     You teach those who are who disagree with with with humility and gentleness trying to win them over. So all old covenant concepts have to be funneled through and filtered through the new covenant mindset. So Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount makes his very clear. He says you shall not murder. That was what the Old Covenant said and that’s what the and it’s true.

132. 55:43

     There’s nothing wrong with that Under the old covenant that was you could not murder and the teachers in Israel would emphasize that but Jesus says no I’m I’m adding another filter. That new covenant filter says you don’t even call someone a fool you don’t even get angry with someone you should not commit adultery under the old covenant.

133. 56:00

     Under the new covenant you don’t even look lustfully at somebody. It’s it’s a the genius of God is that he’s lifting the lifting our our objective. He’s lifting us up to to to great heights but at the same time he’s he’s got the safety net underneath us that we are saved in his through his grace we’re deemed through his mercy and he’s declared righteous and that has inspired us to reach these these heights that he’s calling us to. Under the old covenant you couldn’t swear falsely under the new covenant just let every day yes be yes be no be no don’t no special occasions for telling the truth. An eye for an eye that was it’s actually in the Bible and and and it’s in the Old Testament.

134. 56:41

     You could quote it. And Jesus says no resistance, not evil turned the other cheek. Love your neighbor. Hate your enemy. No. Love your enemy. Bless them that curse you, do good to them and hate you. Pray for them. That’s spiteful. Usual. So God is called us. Christ has called us on behalf of God to a higher level of obedience.

135. 57:00

     Ironically, ironically, it’s not a high level of obedience to be in a relationship with God. It’s because of the gift of the relationship with God, because we are in his presence with boldness and have no shame before him. Because of that, he’s calling us to a higher behavioral response, which is just powerful. And I’m.

136. 57:19

     I feel I’m not getting it across, as powerful as it really is. But hopefully you can take that into your hearts and minds. So here’s a new covenant ethic. If you like the new commandment, a new commandment I give to you that you love one another and notice this the syntax here as I have loved you. So under the new covenant Christ has lived this out and all of a sudden there’s a the new, you know, the new. We call it the new commandment, but we know it was always seated there under the old covenant.

137. 57:50

     But now Christ has lived it out. And so he says love one another as I have loved you. And then he goes on the next verse says, by this shall all men know that you are my disciples. That’s a that’s huge, isn’t it? Not by. And I’m not saying that’s wrong, not by your lectures and and all that sort of stuff.

138. 58:10

     It’s by the fact that you love one another and all those other things are necessary. But if they’re missing love, as we know from First Corinthians, studying everything else is not worth anything in God’s sight. So just a circumcision was a sign of the old covenant. Love is the power and the sign of the new covenant. So all the imperatives and commandments in the new covenant are all based on Jesus.

139. 58:32

     Walk like he walked. Love as he loved. Love your wife as Christ. Love the ecclesia. He follows with me as I’m of Christ. I’ve given you an example. You love one another. It’s all based on Christ. This is a new covenant. The blood of the new covenant is a powerful dynamic force that brings us to a point of gratitude and thankfulness that we are transformed and changed to be people that reflect God to be perfect as he is perfect because we are perfect.

140. 59:00

     Think about that. So he’s our road map. We’ll just finish up with this presence of God, these two dimensions. The relationship with God comes about because of this new covenant. It’s a powerful thing that has happened to us. We are now in covenant with God, the creator of the universe, and it’s not conditional of us keeping him happy all the time and having to earn it and live up to it.

141. 59:26

     There’s a virtue to the There’s a virtue in the fact that we are His children. There’s a compassion, there’s a chess, which is the the covenant word in the old under the old covenant, this chesed or this love and kindness that God has to his covenant people and we are recipients of that chesed or hesed or hesed or whatever you want to say it.

142. 59:46

     So this is the power of the new covenant that is lived out and experienced by us now and then we’ll look at the spatial side of it. God willing that our next class.