[Pastor Ralph]

Q2. (Jeremiah 31:31-34) How does the promised New Covenant differ from the Old Covenant? What are the promises God makes in the New Covenant? What are our responsibilities under the New Covenant?

[pickledilly]

The old covenant depended on man's ability to honor his end of the deal that Yahweh would be his God and that he would wholeheartedly, obediently belong to Yahweh. God made the promises, but man had to obey through his own determination and effort. It could never be perfectly upheld because man is flawed with sin. All it could ultimately do was show us our desperate condition of unrighteousness in contrast to the LORD's holiness. The new covenant is all about God and His merciful salvation for us. He made the promises AND He secured the way for the terms and conditions to be flawlessly met. This new covenant will forever be perfectly upheld because Yahweh is perfect. Our primary responsibility now is not to do, but to believe.

When we believe in our hearts and speak that belief with our mouths that Jesus Christ is the Anointed One whose blood has redeemed our sins, then we will receive the salvation that God has already accomplished (Rom.10:9-10). When we simply genuinely believe who God is, what God says, and what He has done through Christ, our very lives are transformed by the presence of His own Holy Spirit that comes to live within us. It is out of our believing that we then do those things God expects of us, such as obey His word, develop a prayer life, live in holiness with integrity, walk in the Spirit, replace fear with faith, do the good works that glorify Him, etc. It all starts with believing. What you believe is what shapes your life.

In the new covenant of grace, merciful forgiveness of repented sin is the primary thing God has promised. With His dying breaths, Jesus asked the Father to forgive sin. Out of that pardon, I think, comes every other promise. He promises to restore our broken relationship with Him in peace because we're forgiven. He promises to deliver us from judgment of sin . Christ's blood makes us holy and Christ's own righteousness becomes our covering before the LORD. As God's adopted children, we each gain personal access to our Father. The LORD writes His laws into our hearts. We receive the power of the Holy Spirit within us to help us obey those laws. He promises that Christ has become our mediator and sits at the right hand of God to intervene on our behalf. He promises that He will never leave or forsake us, but will make us overcomers. We become join heirs with Christ for all the victories and rewards that He gained through His death and resurrection. We are promised that when our bodies die, our spirits will go on to live in the presence of God forevermore. We will be united with Christ as His cherished Bride. One day we will reign with Christ. All this and even more - because of His covenant of grace - we have been forgiven !

[s8nfighter]

How does the promised New Covenant differ from the Old Covenant? The destination is different but the way is similar. 20 "See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. 21 Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him. 22 If you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you. 23 My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out.
John 15:9-17
9 "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
What are our responsibilities under the New Covenant? Yes we still have the responsibility to obey, nothing has been unwritten from the law. fullfilled does not mean removed.

Darrell

[heavenlymann]

Pastor Ralph, on May 18 2006, 11:08 PM, said:

Q2. (Jeremiah 31:31-34) How does the promised New Covenant differ from the Old Covenant? What are the promises God makes in the New Covenant? What are our responsibilities under the New Covenant?

The old covenant was external and depended on human will. The new covenant is internal and depends on the Holy Spirit to keep us connected to the Lord and in constant fellowship with Him.

His promises in the New are: salvation, eternal life, forgiveness of sins, and the provision of the Holy Spirit which enables us to follow Christ the Lord.

Our responsibilities are: faith in God; belief into His Son, Jesus Christ; trust in Him and to follow only Him.

Easy in written words, right? Then why is it so hard to do? Ah! The power of wretched sin! But still...God has done the hard part. The impossible(for us) part.

[Jezemeg]

The Old Covenant was restricted to a few individuals, prophets, priests, kings etc, and not to the general populace. Man tried to achieve righteousness by obeying laws, laws that only served to highlight his sin and worked from the outside in, therefore to achieve righteousness was an impossibility.

The New Covenant, delivered by Jesus Christ by His sacrifice on the Cross and His subsequent Resurrection, is one achieved by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in all believers, and so the work is from the inside out and not dependant on man's own works at all. While 'good works' will inevitably spring from the desire of the believer to follow Jesus, they are not a means to personal salvation. It is necessary for each believer to maintain his/her faith in Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. As Jesus' ultimate sacrifice has removed the need for the sacrifices decreed in OT times (during the Old Covenant) as a means of atoning for sin, there is no longer a need for the shedding of animals blood in an effort to cleanse oneself. God's infinite mercy is shown in that believer's are covered by His grace, yes we may still stray from His chosen path, but we are able to repent and receive forgiveness and move forward.

[steve.c]

Pastor Ralph, on May 18 2006, 11:08 PM, said:

Q2. (Jeremiah 31:31-34) How does the promised New Covenant differ from the Old Covenant? What are the promises God makes in the New Covenant? What are our responsibilities under the New Covenant?

God will put his Word into our hearts and minds. This will not be taught by men but by God himself. The promise is that He will be known by us and that He will forgive our sins. This passage from Jeremiah prophesies Jesus, the Son of God, as the teacher of the new covenant. Our responsibility is to hear the Word and to obey it and never, unlike Israel, backslide.

[Lisa Rupert]

Q2. (Jeremiah 31:31-34) How does the promised New Covenant differ from the Old Covenant? What are the promises God makes in the New Covenant? What are our responsibilities under the New Covenant?
THE OLD COVENANT ONLY A FEW COULD RECEIVE THE SPIRIT; PHOPHETS, ELDERS, AND SOME KINGS.
THE NEW COVENANT ALLOWS ANYONE THAT CONFESSES WITH HIS/HER MOUTH THAT JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD WHO WAS IN FLESH ON THIS EARTH.
OUR RESPONSIBILITIES UNDER THE NEW COVENANT ARE;
TO HAVE FAITH IN GOD.
TRUST IN GOD.
BELIEVE AND CONFESS JESUS THE SON OF GOD WHO WALKED IN FLESH AS MAN ON THIS EARTH, WHO GAVE HIS LIFE FOR SALVATION.
ALLOW THE HOLY SPIRIT TO DWELL WITHIN US SO THAT WE CAN FOLLOW CHRIST.

[Stan]

Q2. (Jeremiah 31:31-34) How does the promised New Covenant differ from the Old Covenant? What are the promises God makes in the New Covenant? What are our responsibilities under the New Covenant?

In the ole covenant the people were to remain sinless and be fatihful to God. In the new covenant we are to live the best lives we can in christian love for our fellow man and to be believers in Christ.


God promises us eternal life through Jesus if we just continue to believe in Him as our Lord and Saviour
He will give us the Holy Spirit to help us in our journey through llife as we continue our walk with Him.

We are to keep faith in Jesus and God and to trust Him to continue the work He has started in us to completion. We are to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that God raised Him from the dead and to sahre that with others we meet so that they may come to know Christ and become apart of the body oc Christ.

[Helenmm]

Q2. (Jeremiah 31:31-34) How does the promised New Covenant differ from the Old Covenant? What are the promises God makes in the New Covenant? What are our responsibilities under the New Covenant?

The Old Covenant was in effect a written (on stone) agreement concerning what God wanted to do for His people Israel, and what they needed to do for God in order to reeive the blessings of this covenant. It covered the whole Jewish nation.

Then new covenant is written in Jesus' blood. It covers "whosoever" (whether Jewish or any other nation) will call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved. To those who will come ('will' being a very operative word seeing that to see this covenant through requires determination and persistence) God gives His very own Holy Spirit to indwell them, and create in them the very mind of God, so that they will know intimacy and union with God, and again have dominion over the earth in the Name of Jesus. They will be seen as a harvest, yet are involved in the harvest themselves. They are those who choose to work with God in order to achieve His purposes in the creation of this earth, and they will be rewarded in Heaven with eternal life, crowns, homes, love, no tears, joy and a place at the wedding feast of the Lamb who makes it all possible.

The promises are that God's law will be written on their hearts, that they will know Him (a deeply rooted, intimate love relationship), that they will be forgiven and God will remember their sins no more.

Our part is to repent and be baptised, to walk in the light and be controlled by the spirit, not by carnal nature, to fellowship with one another in encouragement, and to keep short accounts with God in confessing sin and receiving forgiveness, to love and to forgive and to contribute to the great commission. There are many aspects to taking up the Cross, so studying the Word is very important, as is fasting and prayer. Father has a purpose for each of us and our need is to find and honour that purpose.

[masika]

The Old covenant was the covenant of law between God and Israel.The new and better way is the covenant of grace - Christ offers to forgive our sins and bring us to God through His Sacrificial death .This covenant is new in extent - it gives beyond Israel and Judah to include all the gentile nations .it is new in application because it is written on our heart and in our mind .It offers a new way of forgiveness , not through animals sacrifice but through faith .
The promises in the new covenant are limitless and we have free access to God through Jesus Christ.
Our responsibility under the new covenant is to trust and have Faith in Christ Jesus.

[JustJeff]

His New Covenant is not written in stone as was the Old. Through His blessed Holy Spirit, God has encrypted His law in our hearts, easily understood by the study and application of the Word. We have only to believe, trust, obey and excercise the grain of faith that He has equipped us with from the womb.

[haar]

The difference between the new covenant promised by Jeremiah and the old:

The old covenant was characterised by the repeated failure of the Israelites to fulfill their own part of the covenant. They would sin and God would punish them and they would repent but would sin again. In the new covenant promised by Jeremiah, God promised to make things easier for His people by writing His laws in their minds and hearts. They would also not require a teacher to teach them about God as His Spirit would be in them (and would teach them all things).

The promises God made in the New Covenant:

Salvation, eternal life, forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Our responsibility under the New Covenant:

We are to have faith in God. Trust in Him and believe that the Lord Jesus Christ was God who came in te flesh and died for our sins.

[Patsy Laycoax]

The New Covenant differs from the Old in that the old,they had to try to obey the Lord without a new nature. That is impossible. In the New Covenant the Lord gives us a new nature through the Holy Spirit when we put our faith alone in His name. By that new nature we have the power to obey Him!
The promises God makes in the New Covenant is,He will give us the Holy Spirit,purify us from all sin and forgive us of all our sin through His shed blood.
The responsibilities of the believer are: we must be willing to repent of our sin and be baptized. We must walk in the Light as He is in the Light and to keep fellowship with Him and fellow believers. Also we must be willing to confess sin in our life.

[PCHRIS]

Q2. (Jeremiah 31:31-34) How does the promised New Covenant differ from the Old Covenant? What are the promises God makes in the New Covenant? What are our responsibilities under the New Covenant?


It diifers because the Old Covenant was solemnized by the blood of sacrificial animals, the new Covenant is solemnized by the blood of Jesus Christ.

God's promise to us is salvation, forgiveness, providence, eternal life, and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Our part of the deal is to proclaim Him as our God, to love Him with ALL our total being, and to trust Him.

[Eudora]

Q. How does the promised New Covenant differ from the Old Covenant?

We are now indwelled by the Holy Spirit, which teaches us and holds us accountable. On judgment day we can not blame others for what we have done in our individual walk.

One day we will all have to give an account to God for our sins and it is the Holy Spirit who will bare witness to God on our behalf. The Holy Spirit is our defense in the highest court of all when we go before God who will judge the whole world.

It is the Holy Spirit that leads us and draws us near to God. It is our faith and trust in the leading of the Holy Spirit, whom teaches us to live and walk righteously. We are to seek Him and His Kingdom and we do this by staying in The Word. It is the Holy Spirit who reveals the Living Word to us and draws us near to Him. It is because of this nearness to God that we do not want to commit adultery, physically or spiritually with any other God.

What are the promises God makes in the New Covenant?

Our Father will now write His law on the tablets of our hearts, by the teaching of the Holy Spirit. God's law will be engraved in our hearts, so we will want to worship , adore and obey our loving Father. From this point on, it will be our hearts that turn to stone, if we turn away from Him.

It is the Holy Spirit, who helps us to build our temples in a way that would be desirable to God for His indwelling and it is also where we come into obedience, because we have the same desire, to have a relationship with our Father.

What are our responsibilities under the New Covenant?

We have been crucified with Christ [in Him we have shared His crucifixion]; it is no longer us who live, but Christ (the Messiah) lives in us; and the life we now live in the body we live by faith in (by adherence to and reliance on and complete trust in) the Son of God, who loved us and gave Himself up for us.

We are to live by faith in the spirit, and walk in the spirit so that righteousness might be fulfilled in us, and we are to go ... and sin no more and follow in the path of the Holy Spirit, teaching and sharing this faith, with others.

Romans 8:4
That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

[Salome Ross]

THERE ARE SOME BEAUTIFUL AND AWESOME ANSWERS ABOVE. HOWEVER TO PUT IT SIMPLY I THINK THE OLD COVENANT MEANT WE SHOULD LIVE ACCORDING TO THE 10 COMMANDMENTS. IF WE SINNED WE HAD TO MAKE A SACRIFICE TO SHED BLOOD.
WHICH MEANS SIN COSTS A LOT AND WE CAN NOT CLEANSE OURSELVES. IT TOOK BLOOD, OVER AND OVER TO GET FORGIVENESS FOR SINS IN THOSE DAYS. ALSO THEY WERE NOT SURE EVEN IF THEY DID THAT, THAT WE WOULD HAVE A PLACE IN HEAVEN.
WITH THE NEW COVENANT ALL OF US WHO ACCEPTS JESUS CHRIST AS SAVIOR AND ASKS HIM TO FORGIVE US OUR SINS AND CLEANSE US, WILL BE IN HEAVEN WITH HIM ONE DAY. HE WAS THE SIN OFFERING FOR US, THEREFORE WE NO LONGER NEED TO SHED BLOOD. HIS BLOOD WAS SHED FOR OUR SIN! NOTHING MORE IS NEEDED.
GOD PROMISED THAT WE WILL BE HIS CHILD AND WE NOW CAN CALL HIM FATHER IF WE LOVE AND ACCEPT HIS SON AND WE WILL BE WITH HIM ONE DAY. NOT BECAUSE OF THE SIN OFFERINGS WE MADE BUT BECAUSE OF WHAT HIS SON DID FOR US.
OUR RESPONSIBILITIES ARE TO LOVE GOD WITH ALL OUR HEARTS AND OUR NEIGHBOR AS OURSELVES.
THAT IS THE DIFFICULT PART, BECAUSE MOST OF US DO NOT REALLY LOVE OURSELVES, SO IT IS DIFFICULT TO LOVE OUR NEIGHBORS THE WAY WE SHOULD. IF WE COULD DO THAT IT WOULD BE A WONDERFUL WORLD TO LIVE IN.

[Lion of Grace]

The new covenant differs from the old covenant because we no longer have to depend on our will to live a life according to the law. It was impossible for man to do that perfectly anyway and a blood sacrifice needed to be offered over and over to atone for the sins constantly commited. Under the new covenant, Christ was the final blood sacrifice for forgiveness of sins. He also was the fulfillment of the law. What we could never do, He did perfectly. He took all our sins past, present and future and shed His own blood as an atonement for them. He then sent the Holy Spirit to us as a helper and a counselor for us. It is under this new covenant that we can know God's Word and live with the help of the Holy Spirit. I was amazed when I was first saved, that I knew of some things in the Bible before I had even read it! Later, I came to know that what the Holy Spirit revealed to me in other ways, was the actual written Word of God! That was Him, through faith, working in me!
The Holy Spirit is our helper to teach and protect and guard us. He also convicts us of our sins, but under the new covenant we are assured that we are forgiven of those sins when we confess them, through the blood of Jesus.
What are our responsibilities? To seek the Holy Spirit and His guidance and to seek everything of the Kingdom of God. If we do that, everything is added from there. We receive the fruit of the Spirit and come to know our Salvation and that there is now no condemnation for us in Christ. We can live in freedom to love God and each other and we enjoy fellowship with each other as well as with God. We give our lives to Him in service forgetting the past and embracing our freedom of a new day everyday! Love and forgiveness becomes our anthem in everything and we become like Christ who is in us.
Awesome!

[charisbarak]

The New Covenant differed from the Old Covenant in that the Old Covenant was for a special group of persons, dependent on their obedience. In the New Covenant everyone can be saved, given the Holy Spirit to live in them, and have eternal life. On our side, we must have faith & trust in Jesus, that He died for our sins, was raised & lives forever as our Advocate. We must allow the Holy Spirit to transform us into Jesus' likeness and love God with our whole self.

[godsanointed523]

[color=#33CCFF][b][i]What is the differences between the Old and the New Testamen?

It has to do with in the Old was the promises that God had made to the patriachs of Abraham,Issac,and Jacob. When Moses came to be in the book of Exodus,is where we see that God is bringing laws to them and in the book of Deuteronomy,is where God shows what will happen to the people when they are obedient.The other part is of the consequences if they do disobey.Yahweh wanted them to trust in Him but He saw that they didnt when they did not have enough faith they would complain. The convenant of the Old testament has to do with the Israelites and God the Father.

In the New Testament,is had to do with the convenant of the New Believers in Jesus Christ. Jesus wants us to have that salvation and that freedom in Him. It had to with the parables and teachings on the coming Kingdom of Christ. The promise of restoration to the Jews and to the Gentiles.

[Don W]

The promises of the New Covenant differ a lot from the Old Covenant primarily with a new relationship with God as our heavenly Father through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ; and obedience and love for God internalized in our hearts by the Holy Spirit living within us constantly to help us walk with our Lord in obedience to Him, and when we don’t, then to convict us of our sin and bring us into repentance for them in order to restore our relationship with God. Some of the promises God makes in the New Covenant are: that He will put His law in and write it on our hearts; He will be our God and we will be His people; we can know the Lord personally no matter how important or least we are (in the world, because we are all very important to God!); He will forgive all of our iniquities; and He will know longer remember our sins! (There are many more but to me the last one is one of the most remarkable things about God’s new covenant with us—that He will never even remember any of our sins because they are all forgiven through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ! What an awesome, loving and merciful God we have!). Our responsibilities under this New Covenant are: to put our faith and trust in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; to listen to and obey the Holy Spirit He has given to us; to obey His Word not with our words only but with our actions; to have love and fellowship with God as well as with each other; and many other things written to us from God’s love letter to us—His Holy Bible. Thank God that He has given us His Holy Spirit to enable us to love, follow and to obey Him because otherwise, we would still be in the same boat as the Old Testament people who had a cycle of obedience and disobedience to God depending upon their own human leaders and their own human wills. We now depend upon the Holy Spirit to enable us to love and obey Him. Amen!