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covenant of the law and not under the new covenant of grace. Under law, God demanded righteousness from man. Under grace, God provided righteousness for man. Under law, everything depended on man and his obedience. But under grace, everything depends on Jesus and what He did on the cross. The law demands, but will not lift a finger to help, while grace imparts and has accomplished everything on your behalf.
    Have you noticed that in the old covenant based on the law of Moses, it was all based on what YOU had to do and not do ? Just count the number of times the phrase “ you shall not…” appears in Exodus 20 where the Ten Commandments were given. Compare this with the new covenant of grace where the Lord says:
    Hebrews 8:8–12
    8 “… I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel… 9 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers… I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people… 12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”
    The old covenant of law is based on “you shall not… you shall not… you shall not...” while the new covenant of grace is the Lord saying, “I will… I will… I will…” It is clear that the emphasis and demand of the covenant of law is on you performing, while the emphasis and demand of the covenant of grace is on God Himself performing! He will do everything on our behalf. In fact, because Jesus has already died on the cross for us, He has already done everything on our behalf. Remember, Christianity is “done, done, done”, not “do, do, do”. Jesus came to establish the new covenant of grace and under this new covenant, God is no longer angry with you because His anger and wrath have already been exhausted on the body of Jesus on the cross.
    Grace imparts righteousness and has accomplished everything on your behalf.
    Pay close attention to this, for it will radically transform your life: The only reason Jesus could cry out “It is finished!” on the cross was that the full anger of God against sin had been totally exhausted on His body. Jesus cannot lie! And if the anger of God has already been completely exhausted, how can God be angry with you today? How can God be angry with you when He has already declared, “Your sins and your lawless deeds I will remember no more”?
    How Do You See God Today?
    The reason many believers are living a life of defeat is that they believe the LIE that God is angry with them. The reason many are not able to reign in life and experience a life of victory is that they carry around with them this guilt and condemnation that God is angry with them because of something that they have done in the past. My friend, be careful when you hear sermons that make God look like an old man with a big stick, waiting to unleash His wrath on you when you fail to live up to His standards!
    When I was growing up in the Lord, that was exactly how I pictured God. In my mind, He was an elderly, unsmiling man with white hair, white eyebrows and a white beard. I used to see Him holding a big club, waiting to bash me on the head as soon as I sinned. Of course, when I grew in the understanding of God, I started to see Him without that big menacing club, but He was still not smiling and He was still very old.
    One day, when I was a teenager, I was on a bus and praying to the Lord, and I heard God’s voice saying to me, “Son, why do you picture Me like that, as an old man?” I replied confidently, “Well, you are a Father and that’s how fathers look like, right?” He replied, “Son, do you know that growing old is part of the curse that came upon the earth because of Adam’s sin? In heaven, there is no curse. We are forever young.”
    When I heard Him say that, all of a sudden, I began to see God as the same God who spoke with Abraham as a friend under the terebinth trees and showed him the stars,