The New Covenant - Christ in You, The Hope of Glory

Welcome back to Applied Christianity.

This is episode 5 of a 52-week journey to becoming a true disciple of Christ.

Over the last four weeks, we’ve been laying a foundation.

In Week One, we asked what it actually means to be a disciple — not a Christian label, but a life that follows Jesus.

In Week Two, we asked who is actually in charge of our lives — because discipleship only makes sense if authority has shifted.

In Week Three, we looked at the Kingdom of God — not as heaven after death, but as the present reign of God that demands allegiance.

In Week Four, we came to a word that has been deeply misunderstood, reduced, or avoided altogether — repentance.

 

And now we come to the question that naturally follows.

If repentance is the doorway into the Kingdom…

how does real change actually happen once we step inside?

 

Because many sincere Christians feel this tension.

They believe Jesus is real.

They want to follow Him.

They know they’re forgiven.

And yet… they still feel stuck.

 

They keep hearing the call to obey.

They keep hearing the call to holiness.

They keep hearing the call to bear fruit.

But the inside of their life still feels like pressure.

Like effort.

Like trying to maintain a standard they can’t sustain.

 

And if that’s where you’ve been, you’re not alone.

 

Today, we’re talking about the New Covenant — and why the heart of Christianity is not trying harder for God,

but receiving a new kind of life from God.

 

The Old Covenant could show you what righteousness looks like…

but it could not put righteousness inside you.

 

The New Covenant does something radically different.

It doesn’t just give commands.

It gives a new source.

 

It gives Christ in you.

Jesus says something in John’s Gospel that, on the surface, sounds impossible.
He looks at the disciples—men who left everything to be with Him—and He says:
‘It’s better for you that I go away.’
Just stop and think about that.
Can you imagine anyone saying, ‘It’s best if Jesus leaves’?
That doesn’t make sense—unless you realize what Jesus is introducing.
He’s saying: what I’m about to give you is not less than My presence… it’s deeper than My presence beside you.
Because Jesus beside you is external.
But Jesus in you is internal.
Jesus beside you can be followed from a distance.
But Jesus in you becomes the source of your life.
That’s why the New Covenant isn’t just forgiveness.
It’s union.
It’s Christ in you—so the life you’re called to live isn’t powered by willpower, but by His Spirit within you.”

And that’s why the New Covenant isn’t just a theological category.

It’s the difference between external religion and internal transformation.

 

So today we slow down and ask a simple question:

What did Jesus actually mean when He said,

“This cup is the New Covenant in My blood”?

 

And what did the apostles mean when they described the Christian life as:

“Christ in you, the hope of glory”?

 

Here’s where many Christians get confused.

They think the Christian life works like this:

God gives me truth.

God gives me commands.

God forgives me when I fail.

And then I try harder.

 

And that framework produces two things.

Either pride when I’m doing well…

or despair when I’m not.

 

But the New Covenant is not God demanding that we produce righteousness.

It is God giving righteousness by giving His own life within us.

 

Here’s the difference.

 

The Old Covenant was written on stone.

It was external.

It revealed God’s holiness — and it exposed human inability.

It could tell you what is right,

but it could not make you love what is right.

 

But the New Covenant is written on the heart.

God doesn’t just tell you what is right.

He changes what you are by putting His Spirit within you.

 

This is why the Bible describes the New Covenant with promises like:

“I will give you a new heart.”

“I will put My Spirit within you.”

“I will write My law on your heart.”

 

In other words:

the New Covenant is not mainly about new rules.

It’s about a new source.

 

And that source is not better discipline.

It’s union with Christ.

 

Christ not only died for you.

He lives in you.

 

So the Christian life is not simply:

me trying to live for Jesus.

 

It is:

Jesus living His life through me.

 

That’s why Paul doesn’t describe Christianity as self-improvement.

He describes it as a new identity.

 

“I have been crucified with Christ…

and the life I now live…

Christ lives in me.”

 

So if repentance was the doorway into the Kingdom,

the New Covenant is the power source inside the Kingdom.

 

The Kingdom is not sustained by human effort.

It’s sustained by divine life.

 

And that’s what “Christ in you” means.

Not inspiration.

Not motivation.

Not religious energy.

 

But a new inward reality —

the Spirit of Christ at work in the one who has surrendered.

 

 

Now here’s the part many of us miss, and please hear this!: Christ in you is not the same thing as Christ being expressed through you.

 

His Spirit is given freely, but His life is not lived through a heart that insists on staying in control.

 

The Spirit does not force His way past your pride. He doesn’t bulldoze your will. He leads.

 

So the more I cling to self-rule—my right to be right, my need to win, my refusal to forgive—the less room there is for His life to flow.

 

This is why Jesus says, “deny yourself,” and why the apostles talk about putting the old self to death.

 

Not because God is asking you to earn transformation, but because self is the one thing that blocks union from becoming fruit.

 

When repentance continues—when I keep yielding, keep confessing, keep obeying in the small places—I’m not powering through the Christian life.

 

I’m making room for Christ’s life to take over more of me.

 

And over time, as self decreases and Christ increases, you become more like Him—because His Spirit has space to work.

 

 

And this matters, because if you misunderstand the New Covenant,

you will treat Christianity as a performance.

You will treat obedience as proof you’re accepted.

You will treat failure as proof you’re not.

 

But if you understand the New Covenant,

you will realize Christianity is participation —

a life shared with Christ.

 

You still obey.

You still grow.

You still fight sin.

But the engine changes.

The source changes.

The life you’re drawing from changes.

 

And when the source changes,

the Christian life stops being a treadmill.

And it becomes a path.

 

Not perfection…

but direction.

Not pressure…

but presence.

Not self-rule…

but Christ in you.

If your faith requires no change, no surrender, no obedience, it isn’t New Testament faith—it’s mental agreement. Belief that doesn’t lead to repentance isn’t saving faith; it’s religious comfort.

Have you ever heard someone say, ‘That’s not appropriate for church’—about a movie, a joke, language, or some activity?
Here’s the problem: if you think something is fine everywhere else but not ‘in church,’ you may have missed the New Covenant entirely.
Under the New Covenant, God doesn’t live in a building. He lives in His people.

Scripture

Read slowly. Do not rush. Pay particular attention to internal change, new life, and who is doing the work — you, or God in you.

 

• Jeremiah 31:31–34

  — Pay attention to the promise: God will write His law on the heart — not just give it externally.

• Ezekiel 36:26–27

  — Pay attention to the new heart and the Spirit within. Notice that God says, “I will…” — this is His action, not your willpower.

• Luke 22:20

  — Pay attention to Jesus’ words: the New Covenant is established in His blood. This is not advice. It is a new reality purchased by Christ.

• Hebrews 8:6–13

  — Pay attention to why the New Covenant is “better.” The issue is not information — it’s transformation.

• 2 Corinthians 3:3–6

  — Pay attention to the contrast: letters on stone versus the Spirit writing on hearts. The Spirit gives life.

• Colossians 1:27

  — Pay attention to the phrase: “Christ in you.” This is the hope of glory — not Christ near you, but Christ in you.

 

Christian Thinkers (Optional)

C. S. Lewis — Mere Christianity (Book IV)

Pay attention to how Lewis separates Christianity from mere self-improvement. Christianity is receiving a new life, not simply adopting better behaviors.

 

Weekly Reflection Questions

1. Have I been treating the Christian life as effort… or as a source of life?

2. Where am I striving in my own strength instead of abiding in Christ?

3. If Christ is in me, what inner change would I expect to slowly appear (desires, reactions, loves, humility)?

4. What practice this week would help me receive instead of perform (prayer, Scripture, silence, confession, obedience)?

 

Spoken Closing Line

The New Covenant is not about being pushed by pressure.

It’s about being changed by presence.

Christ in you is not a metaphor — it’s the source of a new life.

 

Forward-Looking Sentence

Next week, we’ll look at the Holy Spirit — and how life in the Kingdom is sustained, not by effort, but by walking in step with Him.