holiness – Simply True

Deliver us from evil

This blog is a rewrite of the last piece in a series on the Lord’s prayer done some years ago.

I hope it comes to us all freshly!

The Lord’s prayer is nothing less than Jesus himself teaching us to pray. This is like being given a bar of gold—to have our Lord, who knows the Father, and who is now our Advocate with him, showing us how we may approach the living God.

And now, as the prayer closes, we, who have prayed for the Father’s honour and kingdom and will, and who are content to trust our daily needs to him, are deeply aware of sin. Those of the past we have asked him to forgive.

But what about the future? Anyone with any self-knowledge will know that the battle is not over yet. So, here is how we can pray. ‘Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’

We’re asking God to take pre-emptive action with regard to where he leads us, and we’re asking him to secure a good result—to deliver us.

Let us be clear that this is no mere correct formula to get a right result. As with all the previous requests, this is a felt need and a longing of our whole being. ‘I don’t want to sin!’ And ‘I want Christ’s victory over sin to be evident in my own life!’ We have an amazing relationship with our Maker, Father and Redeemer, and we don’t want anything to get in the road of it!

Living in this world isn’t simple. We’re in a battle. Satan has mounted a frontal attack. The world, as shaped by him, is providing a structure that makes sinning convenient. And our own fallen nature still includes lots that can drift, or even surge, into what is wrong.

But we can pray! And we can ask that we not be led into trials or temptations.[i]

Of course, as Jesus explains, trials are inevitable.[ii] They are a part of life from Adam onwards. God has wanted to know what is in our heart[iii], and this involves situations where we have to choose him rather than ourselves.

Think of Job. God lets Satan entice Job to sin with his lips—to curse God. But God has a purpose in allowing this, even though Job never discovers what it is. He wants Satan to know that Job loves him for who he is and not because of how much he gets out of it.

Think of Jesus himself. The Spirit drives him into a wilderness where he is tempted by Satan.[iv] Again, there is a battle to be won here that Israel has failed and that Jesus will win. He will forge a new human obedience, even under trial.

Think of Peter. He will deny his Lord. Jesus doesn’t pray that Peter won’t fail. He prays that his faith won’t fail.[v] His disciple needs to know how frail he is. But he also needs to know how God will keep him in faith through it all.

But if we understand the forces that are marshalled against us, and have come to understand the secret complicity of our own hearts in this war, we won’t relish the battle. Basically, we’re asking God to keep our struggles manageable.

So, God, in his wisdom, will allow us to pass through these times so that we may glorify him. But he won’t let the trial be beyond us![vi] Paul explains that we share the same battle as everyone else, and assures us that God will create an escape route in the midst of the trial so we may be able to bear it.

Here’s some examples.

Jesus encourages the disciples who share Gesthemane with him, to ‘watch and pray so that you may not enter into temptation.[vii] Like them, our spirit is willing but our flesh is weak.

And then, when Jesus is being arrested, he tells the soldiers to take him and let his disciples go.[viii] He knows their limit and steers them out of the way of trouble.

Jesus has earlier warned that Jerusalem will fall, and encourages followers to pray that their flight will not be in winter or on a Sabbath.[ix] He doesn’t want their life to be any more difficult than it will be.

And Jesus is doing the same now, at the right hand of God. He speaks to the Philadelphian church who have ‘kept [his] word about patient endurance’. He will keep them ‘from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole earth’.[x]

This ‘way of escape’ may be many things. We won’t know what it is until it happens, or when we look back at what has happened.

So, when we ask that we not be led into temptation, we’re acknowledging our frailty, but we’re trusting his faithfulness, and moving on confidently.

The other part of our prayer is to ask God to deliver us from evil (or sinning),or from the evil one—that is, Satan. Either way, it comes back to the same thing because Satan doesn’t just want to harm us. He wants to get us sinning like himself.

And now, Jesus has come among us to destroy the works of the Devil. And he’s saved us with a view to ruining our appetite for sin and making us accomplices in his project! So, we’re not just asking to be delivered from the results of evil but from doing it.

If we understand what our Lord is teaching us here, our prayer will be heartfelt! We want the same result as Jesus Christ. But we’re not volunteering as heroes. We’re offering ourselves to a gracious Father, and it’s important for us to know that he knows what we can handle, and how to get us through our trials.

I’m always nervous when Christians are challenged to rise up and do this or that. It can appeal to our ego and desire to prove ourselves. Let’s face it. We’re not up to it. We’re weak. We succeed by getting help from above. And the more we know our weakness, the better the result will be!

James does tell us that we can rejoice when trials arrive.[xi] But the reason for our joy is not our success. It’s finding out that our faith has grown, and it’s this testing of faith (and our prayer of faith) that produces steadfastness.

So, as James continues to tells us, we should ask God to help us act wisely, and believe he will do this for us. It is in this way that we will remain steadfast under trial and receive the crown of life.

Well, looking back over this whole prayer, we have been encouraged to be engaged with and to enjoy all of who God is and what he will do, but also to trust him with our whole life, including the frailty of our own faith. So now, in the words Paul writes to the Thessalonians, ‘…may the God if peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.’[xii]

[i] The Greek word (peirasmos) can mean temptation or trial. God doesn’t tempt anyone, so trial is probably the best translation, but then, God does lead us through waters in which Satan may attack.

[ii] Matt. 18:7

[iii] Deut. 8:2

[iv] Mark 1:12-13

[v] Luke 22:31-32

[vi] 1 Cor. 10:13

[vii] Matt. 26:41; Luke 22:40, 46

[viii] John 18:8-9

[ix] Matt. 24:20

[x] Rev. 3:8-10

[xi] Jam. 1:2-12

[xii] 1 Thes. .5:23-24

Dead to sin, alive to God (Rom. 6:1-14)

When Paul writes his letter to Christians in Rome, he’s eager to demonstrate the power of God’s kindness, a kindness that dwarfs the whole sorry business of our trying to take over from him.

And now, in the light of this abundant grace, Paul wants to show us how to live in a way that brings glory to God.

In fact, Paul begins by responding to some who doubt, or scorn, the good news he has announced—people who can’t believe, or don’t want to rely on God’s amazing grace. And he does so by answering two questions (vv. 1 and 15).

Here’s his first question. ‘Shall we just let loose and do as we please, so that God’s grace can shine out all the more?’ It’s a question calculated to throw scorn on the freedom of God’s grace.

‘This could never be’ says Paul. God could not want that! He responds with what God does want—two purpose statements. It’s so that we can live a new life (v.4), and so that our bodily sins can be disabled (v. 6).

God has set us up to really live differently! The gospel is not an escape route from being what we are created to be. It goes on being powerful in framing and empowering a change of life. So, we need to look again at what God has achieved in his gospel.

First, everything here depends on what has happened to Jesus.

Far from merely looking at Christ as a spectacle, or perhaps appreciating him as a benefactor, we have been included in his dying and rising, and in what those events have accomplished. When we believe in Christ, usually expressed in baptism, we’re accepting that our new life doesn’t start with us. It starts with what happens to him—and happens to us who, by faith, are in him.

And Paul tells us this because Christ’s death and resurrection is not only the way we are saved from our sins, but it’s the way in which our whole life can be recalibrated. Jesus doesn’t just die for our sins. He dies to sin (v. 10). We need to know what this means.

Obviously, Jesus doesn’t die to sinning because he never sinned. But when he dies, he so fully exhausts what sin and condemnation and death can do to sinners, that he’s died to anything more it can do to him. He’s died to the dominion of sin. Sin used to reign, but now, grace does.[i]

Think about this a little more. Jesus says before his death, and concerning those who come to arrest him, ‘… this is your hour, and the power of darkness’.[ii] Jesus knows that Satan will now do all he can to destroy him and his mission. But he also says, ‘…the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me.’[iii] What is going to happen to Jesus will look like the triumph of Satan and his evil intent. In fact, it is going to be Christ’s victory.

We need to know this because Jesus is taking us with him through all that happens here.

Satan gains power over us by accusing and condemning. He can get us in a corner! But now, God has reckoned his Son to be the guilty one, laid on him all that sin entails—its pollution and shame as well as its penalty.[iv] And he bore this in his body.[v] He has especially endured alienation from his Father—the worst of all.[vi] And he exhausts all that it can do to him—and to us. So, when he says ‘It is finished’[vii], all of this is included in what is finished. He’s ‘died to sin’. It can do no more to him. And he commends himself to the Father.

This is important for us because we’ve been united with Christ in ‘a death like his’ (v. 5). Sin can’t do anything more to him. So, it follows that it can’t do anything more to us either! In particular, it can’t keep us from coming to the Father.

But how can this be? Sin—as we see what it offers, and feel its tug, still seems to have plenty of influence on us.

It certainly doesn’t mean we have no temptations, no inner tendencies to do wrong, no failures. But God’s purpose is to disable our propensity to sinning (v. 6). Paul calls it ‘our body of sin…being brought to nothing’. We’ve been joined to Christ’s crucifixion specifically to bring this slavery to an end[viii].

This almost seems to be too ambitious! But Paul explains how this happens. Someone who’s died is ‘set free from sin’ (v. 7) But the word translated ‘free’ is actually the word ‘justified’.[ix] God is calling us righteous because we are trusting the Son who has fulfilled all God’s righteousness.

So, the freedom we have is the freedom Jesus has in his resurrection, freedom from sin’s pollution—we are clean in God’s eyes, we have freedom from guilt—God himself finds nothing to accuse, and freedom from penalty—we look forward to eternal life. And, as we have seen, we have access to grace. We can look to God and seek his favour. We can bear to be looked on by him! We will never be forsaken!

It helps if we think about the opposite of this. Consider the effect that personal failures have on our will to please God. Satan accuses us continually. He knows the effectiveness of guilt to keep us from doing good. Think of the sapping of energy when our conscience tells us we are compromised and contaminated. What can we do to lift our game?

But then, because Christ has hung on his cross where we compromised and soiled sinners should have been, and because he’s been raised from the dead, God may rightly call us righteous.

Someone who has been cleansed like this wants to stay that way and please his or her wonderful Benefactor. We don’t work towards getting a clear conscience. We start with one. And while we look to Christ and not to ourselves, we remain with one.[x]

And so, with King David, we may have felt God’s heavy hand on us as sinners,[xi] and longed to know the joy of his salvation. And God satisfies this longing. He forgives our sin, and upholds us with a willing spirit.[xii] Or, like Isaiah when God cleansed him, we can say, ‘Here am I Lord. Send me!’[xiii] Or, like the forgiven Peter, we can say, ‘You know that I love you’.[xiv]

Paul also tells us that we are united with Christ in his resurrection (v. 4). Jesus now has a human life that is renewed—after bearing our sins. He is alive to God, his Father.[xv]

Of course, he has always lived to God—eternally, but we couldn’t share in that. But he’s entered our world. He’s been where we were before God—forsaken. And he has been raised up to live with God. Death has lost its power over him.

And we’ve been raised up too. We can act and choose and think in the Father’s presence, as Jesus does now. We’ve been equipped to live as the righteous people he created us to be!

And we can be sure that if we are included in what he has done by dying for us, we will most certainly share in being physically raised from the dead as he was (v. 5).

So much for death being in charge of history! Sin, and condemnation, and the threat of death crippled our living (as Paul has shown in his previous section[xvi]). But not now! We’re ready to live.

Paul doesn’t want us to waste these privileges, and gives us three things to do. They belong together and they help us live in the blessing we’ve just considered. Here they are.

First, we must reckon our life the way God is reckoning it. We must breathe this new air deeply. We should notice what is controlling our thinking. We should give up our preoccupation with ourselves, or living by our own past, or our own piety, and start with ourselves where God has placed us—in Christ.

Second, we must say no—over and over again— to temptations we used to give way to. Problems don’t go away by meditating, or just knowing things. Sometimes we just have to say ‘No!’ We should tell sin that it’s not in charge. There’s no negotiation here. No hesitation. We might be surprised how powerful our ‘No’ is! It’s backed by all that Christ has won for us.

And third, we must say ‘Yes’ to God and his will—over and over again—to exercise the new freedom we’ve received. We’re not meant to be overfed consumers. This new life is built for action. We used to be the living dead! But we’re alive to God now.

And just in case we’ve forgotten, Paul reminds us that law is no longer in charge—to either condemn us or to congratulate us! But grace is in charge. And this reign of grace both commands and enables us to live to God. And our humble beginnings are a delight to our heavenly Father. A sceptics question has yielded a rich feast! Next time, we’ll look at a second objection people have raised about the reign of God’s grace. And we’ll learn how to live as God’s joyful slaves.

[i] This has been spelled out back in Rom. 5:21

[ii] Luke 22:53

[iii] John 14:30

[iv] Isa. 53:6

[v] Isa. 53:12

[vi] Mark 15:34

[vii] John 19:30

[viii] Jesus has said that whoever sins becomes a slave of his sin (John 8:34). Peter also tells us that Jesus ‘bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might dies to sin and live to righteousness’ (1 Pet. 2:24).

[ix] Every other time Paul uses this word, this is what he means.

[x] Heb. 9:14

[xi] Psa. 32:4

[xii] Psa. 51:12

[xiii] Isa. 6:7-8

[xiv] John 21:17

[xv] We refer here to his human nature rather his eternal relationship to the Father.

[xvi] Rom. 5:17, 21

God’s Happy Slaves (Romans 6:15-24)

We’re discovering what it means to live in the amazingly generous life that God provides for us in his Son. For some, this raises questions. In particular, how seriously does a Christian need regard sin in his or her life?[i]

In the previous section, Paul showed us that God has placed us wholly in Christ and in what he has accomplished[ii]. And he does this so we are able to live an entirely new life, and so our sinful propensities may be disabled.[iii]

And now, Paul asks the question again. ‘Are we free to sin?’

He has just said we’re not ruled by law. God’s law is no longer in a position to condemn us. Does this mean we can sin without consequences? If there’s no road rules, can we just do whatever we like?

As with the first question, Paul responds with some horror. ‘May this never be!’ Such a thought would cancel belief in a good God, or human responsibility or a moral universe. Unfortunately, much of the world embraces these ideas. And the results are clear. Total chaos.

Rather, we are shown what it means to be under the control of grace! This is what Paul knows personally, and he’s seen it work out in the lives of many new believers.

And every converted person knows it too. ‘Don’t you know…?’ Paul says. Sin had enslaved us. Now, righteousness—that is, justification—rules us. We have a new master.

Is this the truth we know? God is calling us righteous. If we understand this, the freedom and joy of it, we can’t live without it. We are ‘slaves’ to this new identity.

Paul knows that slavery isn’t really what Christian faith is like, but it’s like it in the ways he describes. And he’s happy to identify himself as Christ’s slave at the beginning of his letter.

And here’s what undergirds this. Sin doesn’t have dominion over us anymore. That’s what Paul has already shown us. And if we trust in Christ, we become obedient to his new regime of righteousness. To believe it is to obey it. That’s why Paul talks about ‘the obedience of faith’ later on.[iv] The gospel itself brings about this obedience.

Paul uses an unusual phrase to describe how the gospel comes to us. It’s a ‘standard of teaching’. It’s not just another lesson to learn. It’s God, speaking—to us. The word suggest that it’s imprinted on us. God knows how to speak to those he calls. When he forgives our sins, he writes his law on our hearts. He gives us a new heart.[v]

And we are ‘entrusted to’ it. In other words, God doesn’t trust us to believe his gospel. He entrusts us to his gospel and the gospel does the job he wants it to.

This gospel teaching leads us to righteousness. And in this context, righteousness is God’s gift[vi]. We are justified. But, as anyone who is justified knows, it’s liberating to be clean and at peace with God. Righteousness is a good way to be. We want righteousness. And Paul will tell us in his next section that he loves God’s law.

Here’s Paul’s opportunity to show that the news of God’s goodness is precisely the way he brings us to living well—to be his happy slaves.[vii] He’s led us out of sin, not freed us up to enjoy it.

So now, we need to choose which master we will serve—sin or righteousness. There’s no real freedom that isn’t related to an authority. We make this decision when we believe in Christ, but it’s a decision affirmed with each new day—to present ourselves to God for his service. This is what Jesus did as God’s suffering Servant.[viii]

In one sense, knowing what to do when sin is pressing for attention is simple. Run from it! Joseph is a good example.[ix] But we’ve got more resources than just running. We have powerful reasons for our choices. And there’s a wonderful reward.

Sin isn’t nice! It comes with an agenda of its own. It wants us as its victims.[x] We used to give ourselves to thoughts and deeds that God says are wrong. Paul gave us a list of them earlier in his letter.[xi]

We had an illusion of freedom because we felt free of any external demand. But sin has a destination in view. It wants us dead. Or, more accurately, he—Satan, wants us dead. Sin pays wages. In other words, we get what we deserve.

Now, contrast this with being obedient. We give ourselves to Christ who loves us. We trust him and are pronounced righteous. And righteousness becomes the desire of our whole being. Jesus teaches us that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled—filled with righteousness.[xii]

So—and here is the only command in this passage—give all you’ve got to this ‘standard of teaching’![xiii] It will lead you on to sanctification—that is, actually living as one devoted to God. You’ll increasingly want and be doing God’s will on earth, just as it is in heaven. And if that’s not happening, we’re not comprehending Christ’s victory over our sin. We need to go back to the beginning of this chapter and read it again! We need to pray for our stubbornness to be overcome!

And then, if we live in this imprinted teaching, we won’t get what we deserve! Who would want to live with this hanging over their head? Rather, we will receive a gift. Eternal life—in Jesus Christ our Lord.

So, living under the reign of God’s grace is not a free ride into irresponsibility. Neither is it an impossible journey of committing and recommitting ourselves to obey an unrelenting law. It’s trusting and enjoying and living in the amazingly generous decision of God to receive us as his righteous people. We’re happy to be his slaves. It’s here that we find our freedom.

[i] Rom. 6:1, 15

[ii] Rom. 6:1-14

[iii] Rom. 6:4, 6

[iv] Rom. 16:26

[v] Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:25-28

[vi] V. 16

[vii] Being Christ’s slave is the way Paul introduces himself in this letter.

[viii] Isa. 50:4

[ix] Gen. 39:6-12

[x] Jesus has already taught that when we sin we become it’s slave. The devil sees to this. And this isn’t a theory. We can watch it happen. It can happen to us.

[xi] Rom. 1:22-32

[xii] Matt. 5:6

[xiii] V. 19[xii] V. 19

We’re alive—because of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:1-17)

We’ve come to the part of Paul’s letter to the Romans where he tells us how ‘new life in the Spirit’[i] actually happens. In other words, this is how to live as a Christian. We belong to Christ because we have received his Spirit.[ii] That’s our new life. And now, we are to continue as we began.[iii]

We need to know what God has done (vv. 1-4), what has happened to us (vv. 5-11), and what we should do (vv. 12-17).

What God has done begins with him not condemning us. There’s no other starting point for us sinners. Those who try to stir us to action by making us feel guilty (what the world is doing all the time) are doing devil’s work, not God’s! And those who punish themselves to generate more effort will probably give up eventually. God has no other way to have people doing his will than by beginning with no condemnation.

What God has done is to send us his Son. He gives him a body like ours—not sinful as our flesh is, but like ours so that he can feel the effects of what sin does. He bears our sin. God condemns our sin, in his flesh. That’s why there’s no more condemnation of us. To ignore this, or work around it, is not only ungrateful and unbelieving. It’s useless.

And then God sends his Spirit—as life itself. He is nothing less than the outpouring of God’s love.[iv] And he hasn’t come as a mood changer. He’s come to be our Helper—as Jesus was to the disciples when he was physically present[v]. He enables us to know God and his salvation. And he also teaches us to love God and his will, and enables us to live in tune with that. We’re under a totally different regime[vi].

In this way, and no other, God has done what his law couldn’t do. Now, we will truly fulfil the righteous requirement of his law.

Our obedience in this life is never complete. But it’s real. And the blood of Christ cleanses all our sins—as they happen[vii]. Condemnation never gets a look in.

God doesn’t rescue us just to toss us back into the mess we made of our lives. And freedom is not choosing our own life style! It’s being liberated from condemnation and doing what we are created to do.

This is a massive claim and we need to know how it works out.

So, we look at what has happened to us.

What God has done means that there are now two kinds of people. There’s Spirit people as described above, and flesh people, meaning everyone ese.

What’s important to flesh people is things that can be seen, controlled and indulged—and certainly not God or his commands. There’s no way they are going to spend their lives pleasing God. But to choose this is to choose death—walking.

What’s important to Spirit people is what the Holy Spirit reveals and does. This way is life and peace—as we have already seen[viii].

Paul is confident that people reading his letter belong to this latter group—people like ourselves. The work of the Spirit in our lives is evident. He is creating new life in us—and all because we are justified—righteous in God’s presence.

We belong to Christ. Christ has come to us and lives in us. And even though we are still sinners (remember chapter seven!), and going to die, the Holy Spirit who is given to every believer, guarantees we will be raised from the dead—like Jesus.

With a life like that, isn’t that what you would set your mind on?

So then, what should we do?

If we’ve understood the gospel as God’s power[ix], and God’s grace[x], and God’s presence and God’s future—not just an ideology, we’ll know that we owe our old life nothing!

Rather, we owe everything to this beloved Holy Spirit. This is short-hand for saying we owe everything to what he has brought to us—God and Jesus and righteousness.

If we now set our minds on this, and if we say ‘No!’ to our miserable former selves, we will have life from God.

Look at it! We’re God’s children! His Holy Spirit doesn’t just rely on the psychology of gratefulness to make us obedient. He forms in us the same cry he formed in Jesus—‘Father!’ And, like him, we want to do our Father’s will. We’re happy to be slaves of Christ but don’t feel or act like slaves. There’s no anxious fear here!

And being part of this family has a future. We’re going to share with Christ in the family inheritance. There’s some suffering to endure—and Paul is going to talk about that in a moment. But if we set our minds on what the Spirit is about, we’ll share in the coming glory with Christ.

Every day, we will need to ask ‘What is important in this moment of my life? Where is my life coming from?’ What will be important when this coming day arrives? And every day, we will need to answer, ‘I’m going to listen to the Holy Spirit’.

[i] Rom. 7:6

[ii] Rom. 8:9

[iii] Gal. 3:3

[iv] Rom. 5:5

[v] John 14:16-17

[vi] This is probably what Paul means by ‘a law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus’.

[vii] 1 John 2:1

[viii] Rom. 5:1-11

[ix] Rom. 1:16

[x] Rom. 5:15

[i] Rom. 7:6

[ii] Rom. 8:9

[iii] Gal. 3:3

[iv] Rom. 5:5

[v] John 14:16-17

[vi] This is probably what Paul means by ‘a law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus’.

[vii] Rom. 5:1-11

[viii] Rom. 1:16

[ix] Rom. 5:15

Whose promise counts? God’s or mine?

The promises of God we often turn to are those that offer help with our daily life and its battles. But the promise we look at here is a promise that God will make us holy—that is, like himself.

This must be the best of all promises. It’s our one chance to be what we really are. We are God’s image, and if we are not reflecting him, every part of us is working hard to be something we are not built for.

This promise that God will make us holy—or sanctify us, is absolutely necessary. It’s like a parent’s confidence that their baby can walk. God believes we can be holy—and will make it happen. That’s what we need to hear.

Like Paul, we can ask God to sanctify young Christians, and keep them so they will be entirely blameless for when Christ returns. And Paul adds, ‘God is faithful. And he will do it’ (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24). To another group, he says God will keep them guiltless—to the very end. And he adds, ‘God is faithful’ (1 Corinthians 1:7-9). This is very different from telling people they are on their own!

If we are going to be godly—that is, trust him and become like him, we will need to know that this is something God has promised to do.

This is illustrated dramatically when Peter promises Jesus that he will be a faithful disciple. The Lord contradicts him. And by morning, Peter knows that his claims have been empty (Luke 22:31-34). But Jesus has prayed for him that his faith will not fail. And this is exactly what happens. He fails, but not his faith.

He thought he loved Jesus. Jesus knows better (John 14:28). But God’s promises are fulfilled, and, after the resurrection, he knows himself better, and he knows he loves Christ (John 21:15-19). His holiness is dependent on Christ’s prayer and promise.

This is the way with all of us. We fail, even often. But because God makes a promise to keep us, we get up again and make progress.

What Jesus is doing here is fulfilling God’s promise to write his law on our hearts (Jeremiah 31:31-34). In other words, what God commands will become what we want to do. And God vows to relate to us in such a way that this will happen. He will forgive our sins and enable us to know him.

God also promises to fill us with his Spirit. Instead of having hard hearts, he will make them clean and will live in them. And what he wants will be what we want (Ezekiel 36:25-28).

These promises are part of a new covenant that God makes when his earlier covenant has been broken. And it is this covenant that Jesus puts into action. Just before his death, he gives a cup of wine to his followers and says ‘this cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood’ (Luke 22:20).

This means that if we take the ‘cup’ he offers—if we entrust ourselves wholly to what he does when he dies for us, God will fulfil the promise he made and forgive our sins, enable us to know him, and his law will be written on our hearts. We will pray the Lord’s prayer with enthusiasm— ‘May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ (Matthew 6:10).

Don’t underestimate what is going on here. Our situation is hopeless. Jesus must do, for us, what we will not and cannot do for ourselves. We should love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and our neighbour as ourselves. But we don’t. And we should suffer God’s judgement for our failure. And we can’t do this without being destroyed forever.

But Jesus is keeping this new covenant promise. Because we share with Christ—in his body and blood—that is, in what he does with his body and blood, we will know God as he really is. We will want to live as his people. And he will forgive all that has happened beforehand.

We need to know this new covenant promise well. Here’s how it is spelt out by the apostles.

First, the letter of Hebrews tells us that we are forgiven—completely (Hebrews 8:6, 10-12; 9:14, 24-26). Sin has effectively been ‘put away’.

The sacrifice Jesus offers to God for our sins turns a light on inside our conscience. We can stop debating with ourselves about what we have done. We can stop inventing ways to appear righteous. Instead, our cleansed conscience can tell us what to run from and what to give ourselves to.

And when Jesus enters into God’s presence on our behalf, we travel there with him (4:14-16). We are ‘at home’ with God and want to please him.

Second, Peter, as we have seen, is renewed by this new covenant promise. He says there are many promises—great and precious. They enable us to share in what God is like (2 Peter 1:3-11).

Peter is not suggesting we be lazy. He urges us to give everything we have to pleasing God. We need to get some virtue into our faith, and some knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, affection and love. All these take work, but we have the enthusiasm for it because we know God is reliable. He’s guaranteed that our godliness is going to happen.

On the other hand, if we don’t do this, Peter says we have forgotten we are forgiven! God’s forgiveness is not just him emptying our trash can. It’s Jesus showing us that God is totally reliable and gracious. We’ve not just had an experience. We’ve met a person.

Third, Paul tells us how bold this can make us (2 Corinthians 3:4-18). There’s no life in just having instructions. The world is handing out instructions all the time but it has no power to put love in people’s hearts.

The promise we are living under is actually the outshining of God’s glory in Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6). And while we keep looking at Christ rather than at ourselves, we are being changed—being made more glorious!

With hope like this, we have every reason to be confident. And this is what God wants. We can come to him, we can live in this world, and we can look forward to the future God is making.