And he believed the Lord, and it was counted to him for righteousness.
Genesis 15:16
Galatians 4:24
Exodus 19:8
Mark 14:29-31
Genesis 12:1-3; 13:14-17; 15:4,5; 15:9-17
Romans 4:1,11-13,16-18
Galatians 3:23-26
Romans 4:3-6, 24,25.
The new covenant is God's one-way promise to write His law on our hearts, and to give us everlasting salvation as a free gift 'in Christ'. The old covenant was the vain promise of the people to obey (Ex 19:8) and gives birth to bondage. The spiritual failures of many sincere people are the result of being taught old covenant ideas. The new covenant truth, which is encapsulated in the term "righteousness by faith", lifts a load of doubt, despair, frustration and fear from many heavy hearts.
The covenant and promise of God are one and the same, for God's covenants with man can be nothing but promises to them. After the flood God made a covenant with every beast and every fowl of the earth, including man, that never again would he destroy the earth by flood. None of those creatures were asked to make a promise in return, and nor did they. (Gen. 9:9-16). They simply received the favour at the hand of God. This is all we can do; receive God's promises. God promises us everything, even "more than we can ask or think", as a gift. Even if we should offer ourselves in return, that is nothing but service. What God gave us...His only begotten Son...that is everything. We begin to get into trouble when we think that salvation is some sort of exchange. That we can make bargains with God making it a form of transaction whereby favours are swapped in a mutual agreement...such thinking puts us on a par with the Almighty. Recognition of, and humble acceptance of Christ as the gift of the Father without recompense or favours offered in return, and our simple child-like trust that God's promises in Christ are yes, and no, is our safeguard against the extremes of Calvinism and Arminianism, because it is what the Bible teaches.
Even God's commandments are promises. They must be so, because He knows we have no power, and that without Him we can do nothing. All that God requires is what He gives. When He says, "Thou shalt not", or Thou shalt", we may take this as His assurance...His promise...His spoken word of creative power..."thou shalt not"...that if we believe Him He will preserve us from the sin against which He is warning us, and will "with the temptation provide a way of escape".
2 Peter 1:1-4
Ezekiel 36:22-28
Galatians 2:20
2 Corinthians 1:18-24
John 15:5
Romans 7:4
Galatians 5:22,23
Ephesians 5:9
Philippians 1:11; 4:13
James 1:17
1 John 2:5
And many many more....
It is not us that must do what the Lord pleases. but "it, (My word) shall accomplish that which I please". We are not to hear or read the word and say, "I must do that", or "I will not do this", but rather to open our hearts to that word and believe God when He said that we are "sanctified by truth; My word is truth". Let God do what He promises. "Let the word of Christ dwell in us richly in all wisdom". Col.3:16
We just have to stop putting up barriers by our unbelief...by our unwillingness to obey. "But whosoever keepeth His word in him verily is the love of God perfected; hereby know we that are in Him". "So shall be the word that goeth forth out of my mouth; it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I send it.". "But on the good ground are they which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, bringing forth fruit with patience." "We are justified (made righteous) freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus".
The best efforts of sinful man cannot produce righteousness. The only way is as a gift. Romans 5:17