“The Lost Secret of the New Covenant” by Malcolm Smith

About 40 years ago, Malcolm Smith was invited to speak at a church in Oregon. He preached about a
God who is irritated and annoyed with lukewarm believers. At the end of his message, he called for
people to rededicate their lives to Christ. And that was the last time Smith ever mixed grace with works.
The next morning, Smith had a life-changing encounter with the love of God. For the first time he saw
the gospel that declares the unqualified good news of God’s love. Changed by this revelation, he went
back to his hotel room and destroyed his sermons.

I’ve never heard Malcolm Smith preach, but I get the sense he’s been preaching radical grace longer
than some of us have been alive. If you want to learn some of the insights he’s acquired in his grace
walk, then read The Lost Secret of the New Covenant. This book is possibly the definitive introduction to
the new covenant. It’s outstanding.

Many of us are not intuitively geared to think in terms of covenants and this affects the way we receive
the gospel. We may confuse covenants with contracts, but they have little in common, as Malcolm
Smith explains:

A contract is the exchange and passing of property, possessions; a covenant is the exchange of persons.
The contract says, ‘This is now yours,’ while the covenant says, ‘I am now yours.’ So God does not
merely promise His impersonal blessings; His blessing is the gift of Himself in the person of the Holy
Spirit. (p.252)

In Lost Secret, Malcolm Smith unpackages the key ingredients of covenant – the oath, the meal, the
sacrifice, and, most importantly, the representative. Each party in a covenant has a representative. Who
represents humanity in the new covenant? Jesus, our Advocate, Mediator and High Priest (1 Tim 2:5).
The first thing you need to know about the new covenant, is that you played no part in setting it up:

The new covenant is not made with us as individuals. It is a covenant made by God the Father with God
the Son. (p.75)

The new covenant is out of our hands and guaranteed by God Himself. This makes it an eternal,
unconditional and unbreakable covenant for God cannot lie. In this arrangement we are like crippled
Mephibosheth being shown kindness by King David because of a covenant made before we were born.
We are the beneficiaries of Jesus’ sacrifice and God’s own oath. Dead religion is based on the worthless
promises of imperfect men, but we stand on the unshakeable oath of God Himself. It is His promise-
keeping – not ours – that provides a “firm and secure” anchor for the soul (Heb 6:19). What relief! What
freedom to know that our eternal security rests in Him:
I had always thought of my relationship with God as being between God and me… I cannot tell you what
it meant to know that my relationship to God was based on and dependent upon Jesus, who was acting
as me. (p.224)

The single most important thing I learned about covenant from this book is that God doesn’t need one.
He doesn’t need a covenant to prove His commitment to us, but He makes covenant in order that we
might clearly see His eternal lovingkindness. The gospel is the good news of God’s love expressed to us
in covenant. Why did He make a covenant where He forgives all our sin before we were even born?
Because He loves us with no strings attached! There is no other explanation.

The Bible is full of covenant stories that help us understand the new covenant. Consider the Gibeonites
who were Israel’s enemies. Through deceit they managed to trick Joshua and the Israelites into making a
covenant guaranteeing their lives (Jos 9). As Israel was in covenant with God, the result was that
Gibeonites were now also in partnership with God. When five Canaanite kings attacked Gibeon, the
Gibeonites appealed to their new covenant partners for help. And you know what happened next; God
intervened with one of the great miracles of all time and stopped the sun from going down. Gibeon was
saved (Jos 10). This shows us that God’s covenant love is unshakeable, even to those who don’t deserve
it. From the moment you put your trust in Jesus, you’re in God’s care forever. Just look at how
vigorously this truth is expressed in Scripture:

For He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without
support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you]
down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!] (Heb 13:5, AMP)

In Lost Secret, Malcolm Smith delves into the rich meaning of words like hesed (the lovingkindness of
God as expressed in covenant) and agape (love that originates in the heart of God and is unaffected by
the loveliness or unloveliness of the object of its affection). These words are essential if we are to
understand the new covenant. Afterall, God is not human. He doesn’t love in the way humans love. We
completely miss the gospel when we conceive of God as loving only those who are lovely or saving those
who deserve saving. The good news, from start to finish, is God’s idea.

From the very beginning, the initiative for our salvation has come from God. Humankind has not asked
Him for salvation, nor have we shown any desire to be saved. The newly fallen couple in the Garden of
Eden did not show any signs of repentance… ‘men loved darkness rather than light’. (p.118)
One of the great themes in Lost Secret is how God has always loved us with red-hot, unconditional love.
He didn’t have a change of heart after Calvary. The Old Testament is peppered with declarations and
promises of God’s forgiveness and lovingkindness. Even before the cross God was reaching out in love to
covenant-breakers like David, who murdered Uriah. David lived under the unforgiving law of Moses.
David should have been stoned to death for his sin, but he appealed beyond the law to the covenant
heart of God:

Have mercy (hesed) upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the multitude of
your tender mercies… (Ps 51:1)

And God did! David lived, even though his sin still had consequences. All through the Bible – both
testaments – the unconditional lovingkindness of a God who is love is shown to undeserving, sinful
people. His love is greater than any covenant, but is most clearly revealed in the new.

Lost Secret is really two books in one. The first half is describes the new covenant, while the second half
tells us how to live in that covenant. There is practical instruction on how to work out your salvation,
how to overcome temptation, and how to put on Christ. But ultimately this is more than a how-to book.
The main takeaway of Lost Secret is the call to know God and revel in His love. Wherever we are in life,
His unshakeable, unchanging, and limitless love is the true north by which fix our position. What is the
purpose of the new covenant? To reveal His love that we might know and enjoy Him:

It is a shock to many who would settle for a life of serving God that, above all else, He fervently desires
our friendship. He desires us infinitely more than we desire Him… He would rather die than not have you
with Him. This is the wonder of the message of covenant. (p.279)

To a religious mindset that worships a distorted image of God, this is scandalous, even blasphemous. But
for the rest of us, this is the greatest news in the world!

Freedom Ministries Satellite Fellowship

Having Great Faith

Opening prayer:

Praise and Worship: 10 minutes:

Testimonies: 5 minutes

Review: Having Great Faith

Jesus only mentioned “great faith” twice. He told the Centurion in Matthew 8 and the mother
of a demon-possessed child in Matthew 15 they had great faith. Both were Gentiles, and not
part of the Old Covenant. They relied completely on the unmerited favor of Jesus. When we
rely completely on the underserved favor of God, and not our own faith, Jesus looks at us
and says we have great faith.

Romans 4:16 says, “Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise
might be sure to all the seed.” In other words, the promises of God become sure when we
realize that it is because of grace, or unmerited favor, and not our own abilities, works or
faith. When we think we have to do something to activate the promises, they are no longer
sure because our faith can waiver. If God said He will do it, He will do it! We are supposed
to look at Jesus, and not examine ourselves to see if we have enough faith.

The Message translation makes it very clear that we are to have faith in Jesus, not work at
building our own faith.
Ephesians 2:8 The Message : “Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him
enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we
did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make
nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving.”
When we work to build our own faith, we become self-conscious and our faith actually
diminishes. We are to look at Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. When we look at
His nature, we realize His desire is to make us whole in every area of our lives. When you
look at Jesus’ compassion, His glory, His power and His grace, faith will automatically be
there. Our faith can waiver. But Jesus’ faith is a constant. When you look only to Him and
trust Him to complete every area of our lives, Jesus will credit you with “great faith.”
Prayer 1: 10 Minutes:
If there is any situation in your life that needs prayer, ask the Holy Spirit to pray through you
for that situation. As you pray in tongues, the Holy Spirit will give you the perfect words to
utter. It is the perfect prayer and will always be answered!

Offering: 5 minutes (Share one scripture and then take the offering.)

Announcements:
All services are streamed live and archived at www.freedomministries.org.

Share God’s goodness together.

Psalm 23:6 “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will
dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Amen

The Simplicity of Faith

Opening prayer:

Praise and Worship: 10 minutes:

Testimonies: 5 minutes

Review: The Simplicity of Faith

There has been a lot of confusion in the body of Christ concerning faith. Most of the
confusion comes from the fact that people have taken scripture out of context. You need to
know that you already have faith and are a believer the minute you hear about Jesus and
accept Him as your savior. If you believe in Jesus, you have faith. There is no longer any
need to struggle for something you already have. People have made faith a work. That
simply means people are teaching other Christians they need to “build” or “mature in their
faith.” As soon as the focus is on man, it has become a work. As soon as you look to
yourself, instead of Jesus, you will doubt yourself and begin to ask, “Do I have enough
faith.”

Let’s look at some scriptures in which Jesus talks about “little faith.” (Matt 8:26, Matt 16:8,
Luke 12:28 and Mark 9:19 and Mark 11:23). Do you notice anything similar in these
scriptures? Jesus was talking to Jews under the law. They were not men of faith. When In
Luke 17:5 when the Apostles asked Jesus to increase their faith, Jesus simply said, “all you
need is a mustard seed.” There is no need to increase anything. The smallest amount of
faith in Jesus works. He was telling them if they believed in Him, not having faith in their
own faith, they were limitless. They could speak to the tree, move mountains, etc. In the
book of John, the word believe appears about 100 times. The word “faith” appears 2-3
times. Why is that? Jesus was telling the Jews to believe in Him. If they simply believed in
Jesus, they would have great faith. They would become men of faith if they believed in
Him. The only time Jesus talked about “great faith” was to two gentiles. They simply
believed in Jesus. They didn’t pray, fast, meditate, mature, or build or confess. A mustard
seed of faith in Jesus IS GREAT FAITH.

Now lets look at Paul’s epistles. Paul was sent to the Gentiles. Nowhere in the epistles did
Paul tell believers to believe or have faith. Do you know why? If you believed the gospel of
Christ and accepted Him as your savior, you have faith and have become a believer. It took
faith to enter the Kingdom of God, but now you have all of the rights of a son. His name is
yours with all His authority. His ability is yours. He has already freely given you all things
(including a mustard seed of faith.) He has already blessed you with every spiritual
blessing. If He has already given you all things and blessed you with every spiritual
blessing, and already made every promise “yes and amen” what is the challenge?

The challenge is that we have made faith a work. We have been telling man to “increase
their faith.” That means we have been telling man to have faith in his own faith. Are we to
have faith? Absolutely, positively, yes! Our faith is in Jesus. Now you have great
faith. You are a believer and nothing is impossible to you. He has “freely” given you all
things. Praise Jesus!!!!

You Already Have Everything You Need

Opening prayer:

Praise and Worship: 10 minutes:

Testimonies: 5 minutes

Review: It’s Not a Faith Problem – You Already Have Everything You Need

There is not a problem with your faith. When you accept Jesus as your savior, you have been made
righteous by faith. Faith is the opposite of the law. We don’t need to increase our faith; we have faith.
Reinhard Bonnke, the famous healing evangelist who has witnessed numerous people being raised from
the dead, said Americans are the only people in the world who have the concept of “more faith” and
“little faith.” He stated, “we don’t need to hit various levels for our faith to work; if we have faith like a
grain of mustard seed, we can tell a mountain to move, and it will obey you. You can speak and your
faith will work.”

When we are born again, our spirits have been made perfect. 2 Corinthians 5:18 says that our born
again spirit has been completely reconciled to God through Jesus. This means that every sin has been
removed, and our spirits are the same as Jesus down to the very last detail. The power, favor,
prosperity, joy, and healing power of God dwell in us. We don’t need to increase our faith. We need to
renew our minds to the fact we already have every blessing from God in our born again spirit. When we
renew our minds to this fact, the spirit of God is able to flow out of us. It’s not a faith problem; it is a
knowledge problem. Most people have never been told they already have everything they need in their
spirits.

In 2 Peter 1:1, Peter says, “to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the
righteousness of God.” Peter was telling the group of believers that they have the same faith he has.
Peter walked on water, healed the lame man at the temple gate, and raised Dorcas from the dead.
Peter was confirming the fact that you have faith the minute you accept Christ. We need to stop trying
to increase faith, and simply renew our minds to the fact we already have everything we need dwelling
in us by the Spirit of God. We have already obtained the same faith that has the power to raise the
dead. When we renew our mind so that it agrees with our spirit, we will experience the anointing,
victory, power, prosperity and healing of God that dwells in us.

Prayer: 10 Minutes:

If there is any situation in your life that needs prayer, ask the Holy Spirit to pray through you for that
situation. The Holy Spirit makes intercession for us according to the will of God. It is the perfect prayer
and is always answered!

Announcements:

All services are streamed live and archived by clicking on our media tab. If you desire to help us share
the true gospel of Jesus and fund projects that impact lives, consider registering at
Godchangeseverything.com. Let’s share the good news of Jesus with the 99%.

Share God’s goodness together.

Psalm 23:6 “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever.” Amen

For more on this topic visit our recordings page

Not in a local house fellowship? You find a group meeting near you here.
If you didn’t read last week’s notes, go here for The Enemy is Defeated