Man has continually failed when he tried to do things with his own strength. If it were possible to succeed by our own strength then the new covenant would not be needed. The Israelites even boasted that they will do all that the Lord commanded them to do (Exodus 19:8). But they could never keep to it. This is when the law was given and the reason why the law came to be was that of transgression (Galatians 3:19). Nobody can keep to God’s perfect standard. For you to be able to do so then you have to be perfect.
There is no perfect man that worked on this earth except one person. His name is Jesus. It was through Jesus that the new covenant of grace came. In the old covenant, it was all about your works. You must keep all the commandments for you to receive a blessing but nobody could keep it. Then the new covenant was established by Jesus fulfilling all the requirements of the old covenant. Now we can enjoy our sins being forgiven, dominion over sin and have an unhindered relationship with God the Father.
The Scriptures has shown us time and time again that if you focus on your goodness or your works to get you saved or get blessed then you will fail. People keep breaking promises of “I will not do this sin again” and before you know it, they will do it again and again and again. They keep staying and living in that cycle; trusting in their own strength. The Major difference between the old covenant and the new covenant is this; in the Old Covenant is all about man saying ” I will do it” while in the new covenant, it is God saying “I will do it”. Which one do you think will never fail? God’s “I will” never fails. Our words will fail but God’s word never fails.
In the old, what God requires, you provide. In the new covenant, what he requires, he provides himself. That is where we are supposed to rest our will on. We are to rest our will on God’s will. His will is to become our will. Someone who has committed a sin may say, “Oh God am sorry, I will never do it again”. That person will do it again and again even though the person is sincere. The reason is that he is still relying on his strength. He will remain in that vicious cycle until he comes to understand that in this new covenant it is not your work but Christ work. It is not your blood that established this new covenant, it is his blood. If it were your blood then your effort will work. But since it is Christ blood then it is his effort and his work that will make us operate under the new covenant.
Compare 1st Corinthians 10:12 to Jude 24. In the first scripture, the focus is “I can do it”. That is why there is a warning of falling. If you focus on your ability, you will fall. The 2nd scripture focuses on God emphasizing that you will not fall if he is your source. If the life we live now is God’s own then it will work by his ways and not ours; by his thoughts and not ours; by his words and not ours. So when you keep falling for the same sin rather than say “Lord forgive me, I will not do it again” which focuses on your strength, you say “I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Sin has no dominion over me.” When you say this, you are enforcing what God has accomplished under the new covenant through Jesus Christ. This can be applied to any area of your life.
Find out what God’s will for that situation is and rest on it. Those who understand how the new covenant work would not be saying every day “Father forgive me for this and that sin” but will rest on God’s will by saying “Thank you, Father, that my sins are forgiven.” (Ephesians 1:7). That person is resting on God’s will and not his. He is resting on Christ work that he did on the cross. If you rest, you will have dominion over sin. In no time that sin we no longer have any dominion over you for your focus is not on the old covenant of the law but on the new covenant of grace.