By all these means and more the Divine grace given to us under the new covenant breaks the hold of the devil on us. Sin shall not have mastery over us because we are not under the Law of Moses but under new-covenant grace. The Law of new-covenant grace is the Holy Spirit Himself. The Spirit is our Law and as we follow Him each day He breaks the chains of sin that bind us and make us slaves.

As Paul says, we do not owe it to our flesh that we should fulfill its desires. Our body is dead because of sin. But the righteousness of God is living in our inward nature if we are obeying the Spirit. As many as are led by the Spirit are putting to death the deeds of their body and growing in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. These are the true sons of God. The remainder are only churchgoers. They are not participating in the program of removal of sin and they will not appear with Christ at the time of the first resurrection from the dead.

The Roles of Hearing, Faith, and Patience

Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. (Romans 10:17—NIV)

We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised. (Hebrews 6:12—NIV)

There are many Divine promises found in the New Testament: the promise of salvation; the promise of Divine healing; the promise of tongues and the other gifts of the Spirit; the promise of deliverance from slavery to sin.

All of the Divine promises are fulfilled in the same manner:

We have to hear the message or read the promise in the Bible. We have to know God gave the promise.

After we realize this is what God has promised, we have to accept the fulfillment by faith. We then have hope based on our conviction that what God has stated is true.

Once we have set our conviction and hope toward the fulfillment of the promise we must wait patiently for God to honor His Word.

Hearing, faith, and patience. This is how we are saved, healed, how we speak in tongues and minister, and how we are delivered from slavery to sin.

The question then becomes, does the new covenant promise the removal of the presence of sin from us? What does the New Testament say about this?

First, the New Testament promises us that we can gain the upper hand over sin. We can be an overcomer, a victorious saint. All the promises we associate with salvation are designated for the believer who through Christ gains the victory over sin.

For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, (Romans 8:13—NIV)

So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. (Galatians 5:16—NIV)

To be continued.