Title: The Covenants, Grace and Law (Part 12) 

Subject: Why the New Covenant is Better
Summary: John Ritenbaugh uses an analogy of a 1910 automobile as opposed to a modern one. Obsolete doesn't mean, as Protestant understanding would have it, "done away." The Old Covenant is obsolete only for those who "trade in" the Old Covenant, retaining significant and vital shared elements with the New Covenant. The fault of the Old Covenant was with the hearts of the people. Christ took it upon Himself, with His death, to amend the fault enabling us to walk in the light, keeping the commandments. Salvation and conversion is a cooperative effort between God and His called-out ones, requiring both a calling and a response (justification and sanctification), a circumcision of the heart, imposing responsibilities on the participants of the covenant. Though the process took a unilateral act of sacrifice on behalf of the Testator to make it work, God demands of us unconditional surrender.

Keywords: Access into grace Awesome gifts Balance Baptism Bike analogy Blessing covenant Calling Christ's righteousness Circumcision heart Cleansing Conditions covenant Conditions to peace with God Conversion Cooperative effort Death Death of Testator Enmity against God Ezekiel Fault in people Fellowship with Christ God with one another Foreskin heartGideon Giving Spirit God's patience Good leader Gravity human nature Hands laid on Hold fast Holy Spirit Jeremiah Justification Layer upon of revelation