David Wilkerson explains the New Covenant and its secret

All of the following is from David Wilkerson’s book, “The New Covenant Unveiled” (2000).
This brief summary of the 11 chapters is presented in the exact sequence of the book.

1 -- Understanding the New Covenant
Like any contract, a covenant contains terms or duties that each party has to
perform in order to fulfill the agreement. Such covenants are legally binding.
… the parties can be penalized for not fulfilling their respective terms.
This summary in Hebrews details the eternal promises of God’s incredible New Covenant.
“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah … For this is the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord:
‘I will put My laws in their minds and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God,
… For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds
I will remember no more.’ ” (Hebrews 8:8-12)
It is clear from the context that the house of Israel refers to spiritual Israel, meaning all who are in
Jesus Christ … Throughout the New Testament, Paul distinguished between two kinds of Israel,
one natural and one spiritual … God, through Christ, made His covenant with spiritual Israel.
This covenant was a formal agreement between father and son … This covenant was cut with us also,
since we are one with Christ through faith … By mutual consent, the father and son made this covenant
to keep and preserve the seed of Christ. It is meant to ensure that we will endure to the end … We are
to stay in Christ – abide in him, trust him, depend on him. If we do this, we will surely see his glory.

2 -- Freedom from the Dominion of sin
It is simply impossible for any believer to deliver himself from sin’s dominion. That work can only be
accomplished by the Holy Spirit … First, God has to cause the sin-bound person to want to be free …
Second, God has to cause the sin-bound person to see the utter futility of his efforts to set himself free …
the Lord has to bring him to a point of absolute surrender, where he submits his struggle into God’s hands.
… this twofold work is accomplished in us by the Old Covenant.
… “… God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you,
in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.” (Acts 3:25-26)
… Under the New Covenant, the battle is not ours, but the work of God’s Spirit.
“… if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” (Romans 8:13)
… The Holy Spirit simply asks that we come to him believing he has all power and authority
to break sin’s dominion over us … Please understand: This New Covenant promise …
offers nothing to believers whose theology allows them to continue in their iniquity.
Such people are libertines, turning the grace of God into lasciviousness … Make no mistake –
God expects perfect obedience under the New Covenant just as he did under the Old
… God has sworn by an oath to give us a new heart – one that is inclined to obey.

3 -- The Cross and the New Covenant
Anything that you think contributes to your salvation other than the blood of Jesus Christ is worthless.
… Many believers remain under constant bondage to some doctrine of works because they think
it makes them holy … Only one person is holy – Jesus Christ. And all our holiness must come through
faith in him … I believe Jesus is asking for two simple things: repudiation of all self-dependency and
an uncomplicated devotion … It’s all a matter now of having childlike trust in Christ’s finished work –
of trusting in his covenant promises and provisions.

4 -- Entering the New Covenant by Way of Death
In forming the New Covenant, God obligated (or chained) himself by an oath to supply all the enabling
power and strength to fulfil every condition and demand of the covenant … The New Covenant is all
about our Lord’s commitment to keep his children from falling, and to console, comfort, and assure us
that the power and dominion of sin can and will be broken by the Holy Spirit who indwells us …
Only by having the New Covenant unveiled to us can we learn the secret to having total victory over sin.
… When you have given up all hope of overcoming sin by your own human power and will,
then you are ready to enter the glorious realm of freedom through the New Covenant.

5 -- The New Covenant and the Indwelling Power of the Holy Spirit
The only way you’re going to defeat the sin that has ruined your life is if God’s Spirit does the work in you.
He has to enter in and take total dominion of your life. Only he can bring you to life so that you can obey God.
This message is the very heart of the New Covenant … We’re to remind the Holy Spirit of God’s promises to us.
We’re to tell him: “Holy Spirit, the heavenly father promised me that he would put you in my heart – and I’ve
committed myself to that promise. I will yield and co-operate, for I want to be holy. You said that you would
cause me to walk in his ways and obey every word … you made an oath, and you cannot lie. This is all
written in the word, Holy Spirit, so, come – do your work in me. I’ve entrusted my very soul to this promise.”

6 -- The New Covenant and the Fear of God
God’s precedent work of the covenant is to put fear in our hearts, by the work of the Holy Spirit (Jer. 32:40)
… He’s going to put in you the true fear of God concerning sin … Many flesh-driven Christians …
claim the verse, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1)
… but they neglect to read the last part of this verse: “who do not walk according to the flesh,
but according to the Spirit.” If you continue in sin, you’re walking in the flesh – and you have
no claim on God’s promise of “no condemnation” … God considers hidden lusts and sins in Christians
to be as dangerous and hateful to him as the evil, open sins committed by wicked sinners.
… You are ready for the delivering promises of the New Covenant the moment you sincerely
ask the Holy Spirit to put the fear of God in you to never again take sin lightly.
… The longer we continue in sin, the more we are in danger of hardening our hearts.
… “lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13).
… New Covenant fear of God is heaven’s antidote against casualness toward once-besetting sins
… to walk in the fear of the Lord … means reminding yourself of his warnings.

7 -- The Delivering Power of the New Covenant
This is the one truth we must fully grasp, if we are to understand the purpose of the New Covenant.
God swears by oath that he will take matters into his own hands and by his power alone deliver us
from all dominion of sin.
… we’re neither trustworthy nor dependable. That is why God cut the covenant with his own son.
… We’re in covenant with him because we’re in Christ, and for that reason alone.
… The same Holy Ghost who empowered Christ to live a sinless life has been sent to abide in our hearts.
Have you accepted this incredible truth? Do you believe that Jesus agreed in covenant to keep you from
falling, guaranteeing you would never be forsaken, and you’ll be able to obey him fully and live in victory?
… I am convinced the revelation of God’s New Covenant … sets people free from sin’s dominion.

Continued in Post #2 …

 

Continuing from Post #1 …

8 -- Christ, Our High Priest of the New Covenant
Jesus Christ is our merciful, compassionate high priest who stands in the very presence of the holy father
and intercedes for us. He wants us to know that the battle in no longer ours, because he’s doing all the
work of intercession for us. And he’s doing it in keeping with the covenant he made with the father in
eternity … if you don’t rest on his blood sacrifice – if you attempt to be your own high priest, resisting
sin in your own power … your offering will be unacceptable. There is no other sacrifice than Christ’s.
And if you bypass his sacrifice in favor of your own, you count unworthy the blood of his covenant.
You insult Christ, your one and only high priest – and you will suffer his vengeance.
… he will send you greater fillings of his Spirit, to work a complete deliverance in you
from all power and dominion of sin. All that’s needed on your part is your step of faith.

9 -- The New Covenant Destroys Satanic Strongholds
“Satan, you can’t hold me with your lies anymore. I have acknowledged my sins, and I have a high priest,
Jesus, pleading my case. You say I’m not righteous – but he has sworn by covenant to bring me through
to victory, by His own righteousness.”
… “Today your adversary is Satan and his troops of demons. And he is coming against you … he is determined
to bring you back into captivity, binding and enslaving you. But I will deliver my people once again. I will take
your deliverance into my own hands. And if you’ll trust me, you will see your adversary crushed under my heel.”
… A stronghold is an accusation planted firmly in your mind. Satan establishes strongholds in God’s people
by implanting in their minds lies, falsehoods and misconceptions, especially regarding God’s nature.
… That weapon is the truth of the New Covenant – the living word of God … He promises to be God to us …
to cleanse us, forgive us and cast away all our sins … to fill us with his Spirit … to lead, instruct and guide us
by his Spirit, and put within us all the power we need to walk in holiness and obedience.
… If you will lay hold of these covenant promises, God pledges that the enemy will be scattered before your eyes.
… when you stand on the covenant promises of God, every demonic power is going to surrender its stronghold.
… He (the devil) fears every believer who walks in the almighty deliverer’s promises of his everlasting New Covenant.
… Make this your prayer: “Lord, you have promised by oath to be God to me ... You have also said the devil
would no longer be able to accuse me with his lies. I stand on your covenant promises now, father.
Deliver me – and glorify yourself in my life.”

10 -- The New Covenant and the Secret of the Lord
God has a secret he will only share with believers who are willing to pursue it with passion … I believe
this secret of the covenant is a lifeline God casts toward every Christian who is sinking in a mire of sin.
… God has hung the secret of the covenant upon the condition of seeking him with all our heart.
… The Lord says his covenant is your passport to victory – to gaining dominion over your sin.
… “And finally, all these things (promised blessings) will be freely given to everyone who diligently seeks me.”
… God wills both salvation for his people and prayer from his people.
… “I am tying the revelation of my covenant to this condition – that you seek me with all your heart.”
… His secret is about HOW the Spirit accomplished his work … it is his still small voice,
revealing his love to us in the midst of our failure and testing … Without grasping this incredible secret,
we simply cannot lay hold of the covenant. And we cannot do effective battle against the enemy of our soul.
… This secret of the covenant can revolutionize your life and change your walk with him forever.
… What is different about the New Covenant is HOW God shows us his mercy. He sends his Spirit
to empower us with a revelation of the almighty grace and loving kindness of Jesus Christ.
… Here, at this crucial point (after committing a sin), is where the secret of the New Covenant is revealed.
Instead of condemning that Christian, the Holy Spirit woos him, saying, “Come back quickly to the sprinkling
of Jesus’ blood. Repent, and accept your forgiveness. Stay in the love of God. You are forgiven unconditionally.
Return now to your walk with me.” That is the keeping power of the Holy Ghost.
… That’s where a hard heart comes from – not from falling back, but from continually rejecting God’s love.
… The secret of the Lord is a life-freeing revelation of his loving kindness to us at the point of our failures.

11 -- The New Covenant and the Preventing Love of the Lord
The word for prevent means … “to anticipate, to precede, to foresee and fulfil in advance, to pay a debt
before it is due” … Every victory we win over the flesh and the devil will soon be followed by an even
greater temptation and stronger attack … When you rest and trust in God’s covenant promises,
you can rejoice in victory even before you go against the enemy.
… God has promised us through the New Covenant: “I will subdue your enemies – your flesh,
your temptations and the devil. You can’t overcome them on your own. You have to trust in
my covenant promises. Then you’ll be able to rejoice in victory even before you go to battle.
You can claim your crown of dominion before the fight begins.”
… This is the doctrine of God’s preventing goodness: He has anticipated all our struggles –
all our battles with sin, flesh, and the devil – and in his mercy and goodness, he has paid our debt
before it can even come due. Through the covenant, he has prepaid for all our failures and relapses.
His covenant oath assures us of his preventing goodness in our lives.
… So, our victory is a done deal. Please understand, however, this doctrine doesn’t apply to Christians
who flirt with sin. By refusing to part with their lust, they have already surrendered to the enemy.
Such people simply don’t want to be free. And they have already developed a hardened heart.
They have tested God’s grace and love again and again, until finally they have come to despise it.
… In god’s eyes, our problem isn’t sin – it is trust … The real problem is our lack of faith in God’s
covenant promises. We refuse to accept his unconditional love, his unlimited forgiveness, his free
reconciliation. We’re not willing to believe he pardons and restores us simply because he loves us.
Instead, we become focused totally on our sin.
… “Without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is,
and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).
… Those who think they can continue in sin, testing God’s grace over and over, become hardened
by their repetitive sinning … They end up with hardened hearts, storing up wrath against themselves.
… Here is the way to cleansing and restoration – by receiving the Lord’s covenant promise:
“I will cause you to walk in my ways. And I will plant my fear in your heart. I know you can’t do this for
yourself, But don’t worry – I will do it all for you, with your cooperation. This work is accomplished only
by faith in the finished work of the cross. All I ask is that you trust my promises to you. The work has
already been accomplished by me. It is your work to accept it by faith. This is my everlasting covenant.”