The verse above stresses the actual difference between the covenants. The sacrifices under the Law of Moses could not remove our sins from us. Therefore the sacrifices had to be offered every year. The implication is that under the new covenant the compulsion to sin is defeated.

The issue is that of taking away sin, not forgiving sin but taking away sin. Removing sin.

The superiority of the new covenant is that there is authority in the blood of Christ, working together with the power of the Holy Spirit, to put to death the compulsion to sin and finally remove it altogether. If this were not the case, we would be doomed to be bound forever by the chains of sin.

The Lord Jesus Christ came to destroy the works of Satan in us, and this He is well able to do. But we must be willing to cooperate with the Holy Spirit by confessing our sins as they are pointed out to us, by denouncing and renouncing them, and by turning to God for the grace to refrain from these sins in the future.

The new covenant forgives our sins and then sets out to remove them. Part of this process of conquering sinful tendencies includes the forming of Christ in us, and then the coming of the Father and the Son to dwell in the new creation that has been formed in us.

Not only does the power of the Spirit break the bondages of sin, the Spirit also writes the eternal moral laws of God in our mind and heart. The end result of the new covenant is a new creation in which the old has been done away and all things are new and of God.

For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. (Romans 6:14)

The above means while we were under the Law of Moses sin retained its mastery over us. Under the grace of God that comes to us through the Lord Jesus Christ, we are not only forgiven but also through the Spirit of God, enabled to gain victory over the compulsions to sin. We can live in victory over sin if we are willing to press forward in Christ, but only as the Spirit guides us to this victory. Through Christ we no longer can be compelled to lie, steal, swear, indulge in immorality, or perform any of the other actions of the sinful nature.

To the extent we are willing to turn away from our fleshly life and live in the Spirit of God, to that extent we can, according to the New Testament, cease gratifying the desires of our sinful nature.

To be continued.