New Covenant

New Covenant
Words of Faith 2-25-26
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2026
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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Hebrews 8
[7] For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. [8] But God found fault with the people and said: "The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. [9] It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord. [10] This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. [11] No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. [12] For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." [13] By calling this covenant "new," he has made the first one obsolete, and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.

There was actually nothing wrong with the first covenant, just the first covenant people. Actually, the flaw is in all people. While God is able to keep His side of the covenant, we are not. It is because of us that the old covenant just won't work.

So the Writer quoted the prophet Jeremiah 8:8‑13, which describes the new covenant of God. It is not a covenant based upon an external code of Law. It is a covenant relationship, with the law of God written upon the minds and hearts of His people. It is the embodiment of the first command.

When we love the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, His ways are written upon our hearts, and the right behavior comes from the inside out. We no longer struggle to know about God and His ways, because we simply know God.

How does that happen? The foundation of this new covenant is forgiveness. God must do for us what we could never do for ourselves in the first covenant. God must break down the barrier that keeps us from knowing Him. By forgiveness, God fulfills the old covenant. He provides His side of the contract and ours, and the old covenant is obsolete.

Are you living under the old covenant or the new one? It may sound like a silly question, but it is so easy to slip back into the Law. We begin to look to external things that will make us righteous. We start to think that the right Christian behaviors or right doctrines will make us right with God when all we really need is a relationship with Him. He has paid up both sides of the contract, yet we struggle to pay a debt we cannot pay.

Why do we resist a close walk with Him by which He will write His ways upon our hearts? It is the same failure that sabotaged the first covenant: SIN. Prideful sin does not want to surrender to God. But there really is no choice. The old covenant leads to death. The new covenant is our only hope. The new covenant gives life.

Lord, put Your laws in my mind and write them on my heart. I desire for You to be my God and for me to belong to You. I want to know You, Lord. Forgive my wickedness and remember my sin no more. I am helpless to help myself. Thank You for making me whole. In Jesus' name, Amen.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2026
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2026 Jeffrey D. Hoy.