Everything that you have learned about salvation thus far has shown you that salvation is a gift of Grace that we receive by faith. When we are born again, we come into the New Covenant, or as some call it, the covenant of grace.

It is called the covenant of grace because grace means undeserved, unearned and unmerited favour. Through Jesus’ Blood we get to be a part of this beautiful new covenant of grace. We receive the benefits from this covenant, not because of anything we do, but because we believe in Jesus.

You will notice that your bible has both an Old Testament and a New Testament. Why is that? In the Old Testament, the Old Covenant was operating. This covenant was known as the covenant of Law. What this meant was that you would only be blessed if you obeyed all the requirements of the law and you would be cursed if you did not keep your side of the covenant (See Deuteronomy and Leviticus). Everything was therefore dependent on your works, what you did and didn’t do. The Old Covenant was all about doing! Do good get good, do wrong get punished. As we know, it is impossible for man to keep all the law perfectly. Thus, one of the purposes of this Old Covenant was to help man realize that he can’t keep the covenant. He needs a saviour, someone who can fulfill the covenant on his behalf (Galatians 3:24-25; Romans 3:20).

This is where Jesus, our savior, steps into the picture. We were unable to meet the requirements of the law under the Old Covenant. Jesus stood in our place and fulfilled all those requirements on our behalf. He did the work! By doing this, He then did away with the Old Covenant as it was now completed perfectly (Matthew 5:17).

Jesus ushered in a New Covenant between Himself and God. When we believe in Jesus, we are invited to be a part of it. The New Covenant is described in the New Testament of your bible. This covenant would not be based on works, but on belief in Jesus Christ and His works. Christ is perfect therefore all we need to do is believe in Jesus, the perfect covenant keeper, and in His blood that has made it possible for us to partake in the new covenant.

"For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant (Hebrews 9:15 NIV)".

This is like receiving an inheritance. When you inherit a vast amount of land or money from your parents, you did nothing to earn it and are directly benefiting from their hard work. That is what Jesus did for us by inviting us into the blessings of the New Covenant and giving us an inheritance. Abraham was our example of how to receive our inheritance by faith and not by works.

‘It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith” (Romans 4:13 NIV).

Does this mean then that I don’t do anything anymore as everything is done? No, of course not. I still do things, but my motivation is not from having to earn favour and try and keep my side of a covenant. I am part of the New Covenant because I believe in Jesus. I already have favor, and from that place of favor I do what the Holy Spirit tells me to do. These are called good works and will be discussed later.