Article 7. GODS COVENANT
LAST WEEK WE SAW BECAUSE OF THE FALL MAN IS HAS DISTANCED HIMSELF FROM GOD AND HAS FORSAKEN THE REWARD OF LIFE. THIS WEEK WE SEE THAT GOD HAS SEEN FIT TO MAKE A COVENANT OF GRACE IN ORDER FOR MAN TO HAVE COMMUNION WITH GOD RESTORED.
HAVE YOU SEEN YES MAN? CARL ALLEN (JIM CAREY) MAKES A COVENANT WITH A GURU WHERE HE HAS TO SAY YES TO EVERYTHING...... A COVENANT IS AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN TWO PEOPLE /GROUPS THAT INVOLVES PROMISES ON THE PART OF EACH TO THE OTHER, SO IT INVOLVES PROMISES ON BOTH SIDES.
OUR MODERN DAY CONTRACTS OR AGREEMENTS ARE SIMILAR - BUSINESS, FINANCE, INSURANCE OR WITH GOODS AND SERVICES THE CONTRACT HELPS TO SPECIFY TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF RETURN AND WARRANTY YOUR RIGHTS AND THEIR RIGHTS, THE SMALL PRINT ENABLE US TO FIND THE INCLUSIONS AND EXCLUSIONS AND OPT OUT CLAUSES.
BUT THESE CONTRACTS ARE SO OFTEN NOT WORTH THE PAPER THERE WRITTEN ON BECAUSE THERE OFTEN NULLIFIED AND BROKEN , JUST CONSIDER THE WORLD OF PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL WHERE MANAGERS AND PLAYERS SIGN CONTRACTS AND YET LATER DOWN THE LINE BREAK THEM.
WHAT ABOUT CLOSER TO GODS HEART THE COVENANT OF MARRIAGE,(GOD ORDAINED COVENANT TO DEATH DO US PART, IN SICKNESS AND HEALTH , FOR BETTER FOR WORSE) AS HUMAN BEINGS WE ENTER INTO ON A REGULAR BASIS AND YET ALSO WALK AWAY FROM IT ON A REGULAR BASIS .
BUT WHEN IT COMES TO GODS COVENANT OF GRACE, IT ALL ABOUT GOD, WE HAVE NO PART IN MAKING THE COVENANT, WITH HIM WE ARE NOT EQUAL PARTIES, OUR RESPONSIBILITY IS IN ACCEPTING HIS COVENANT OF GRACE IS SIMPLY THROUGH FAITH WHICH IS A GIFT FROM GOD ALSO.
THE CONCEPT OF THE COVENANT BETWEEN GOD AND HIS PEOPLE IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT TRUTHS OF THE BIBLE. IT RUNS RIGHT THROUGH IT FROM THE BEGINNING TO END.
A COVENANT IN THE BIBLICAL SENSE IMPLIES MUCH MORE THAN A CONTRACT , FOR INSTANCE.....
1. A CONTRACT WILL ALWAYS HAVE AN END DATE , WHILE A COVENANT IS PERMANENT.
(GEN 17:7 GOD PROMISED TO ABRAHAM AN EVERLASTING COVENANT) ( ISAIAH 55:3 PROMISE THROUGH DAVIDIC LINE THE MESSIAH)
2. A CONTRACT WILL INVOLVE ONLY ONE AREA OF A PERSON FOR INSTANCE A SKILL, BUT A COVENANT DEALS WITH THE PERSONS WHOLE BEING.
3. A CONTRACT IS SIMPLEY SEALED WITH A SIGNATURE - BUT THE WORD FOR COVENANT IN THE OT GIVES FURTHER INSIGHT INTO THE MEANING OF THE IDEA. A HEBREW ROOT WORD FOR COVENANT WHICH MEANS “TO CUT.” THIS EXPLAINS THE RITUALS THAT ALWAYS ACCOMPANIED A COVENANT.
• (JER. 34:18) TWO PEOPLE PASSING THROUGH CUT BODIES OF SLAIN ANIMAL AFTER MAKING A COVENANT. AGREEMENT . (GEN31:54.) JACOB OFFERED A SACRIFICED ANIMAL AND A HOLY MEAL.
• (GEN 17:10 -11) . ABRAHAM AND DESCENDANTS WERE CIRCUMCISED AS A SIGN OF A COVENANT
• (EX 24:8). THE INAUGARTION OF THE OLD COVENANT OF LAW THE SPRINKLING OF BLOOD ON THE ALTER AND THE PEOPLE.
NT APPLICATION: THIS IN NO DOUBT IN MY MIND IS ALL POINTING US FORWARD TO THE NEW COVENANT WHEN JESUS SHARES A MEAL AND TAKES THE CUP AND SPEAKS OF THE NEW COVENANT IN HIS BLOOD(LUKE 22:20). A CUT WAS MADE, BLOOD WAS SPRINKLED, UPON THE ALTER OF THE CROSS AND UPON ALL WHO RECEIVE CHRIST.
HEB 9:18 – 24. THE OLD ACTS WERE COPIES OF THE GREATER. 1PET 1:2 PETER SEES BELIEVERS “SPRINKLED WITH THE BLOOD OF CHRIST , WHICH REFERS TO OUR INITIAL ENTRANCE INTO COVENANT WITH GOD THROUGH CHRIST. BUT ALSO TO THE ONGOING CLEANSING WORK BY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST (LEV 14:6,7 , 1JHN 1:7 ) THE BLOOD OF JESUS CLEANSES US FROM ALL SIN. (ONGOING HOLINESS)
1. THE OLD COVENANT OF LAW. (EX 19 4-6. 20 ) .
GOD MADE MANY DIFFERENT TYPES OF COVENANTS ONE SPECIFIC COVENANT WAS THE COVENANT OF LAW GIVEN THROUGH MOSES AT MOUNT SINAI (EX. 20) THIS IS KNOWN AS THE OLD COVENANT THE TEN COMMANDMENTS AND OTHER LAWS. AT MOUNT SINAI GOD CALLS THE PEOPLE TO KEEP HIS COVENANT OF LAWS HE IS ABOUT TO RATIFY (EX 19 – 24) .
THIS COVENANT CALLED FOR A RESPONSE OF OBEDIENCE HERE WE SEE ISRAEL ENTERING INTO THE COVENANT AGREEMENT. (EX. 24:3, 7) THEY PROMISED TO DO ALL THAT THE LORD HAD SAID AND BE OBEDIENT TO HIS LAWS. SO THEN MOSES TOOK THE BLOOD OF THE SACRIFICED OXEN AND SPRINKLED IT UPON THE ALTER AND UPON THE PEOPLE (HERE THEY ARE ENTERING INTO THE AGREEMENT WITH GOD THERE PART IS OBEDIENCE TO GODS LAWS).
YET THEY CONTINUALLY BROKE THESE OATHS THEY FAILED TO KEEP THEIR PART OF THE COVENANT (2KING 23:3) AND WERE CONTINUAL CALLED BY LEADERS TO RENEW THEIR VOWS. HERE WE SEE INDICATIVE TO OUR HUMAN NATURE IS THE INABILITY TO KEEP THE COVENANT OF LAW - WHAT THEY FAILED TO DO - WE FAIL TO DO BY NATURE WHEN IT COMES GODS LAW......
• APPLICATION: MANY PEOPLE ARE STILL UNKNOWINGLY LIVING OUT THEIR BY THIS OLD COVENANT OF LAW KEEPING SEEKING TO DO THEIR BEST TO WIN THE APPROVAL OF GOD THROUGH LAW KEEPING .
EXODUS 20: 1- 17 TEN COMMANDMENTS READ. USE.... DO NOT WORSHIP OTHER GODS – NO IDOLS – DO NO MISUSE THE LORDS NAME - KEEP THE SABBATH HOLY - HONOUR FATHER AND MOTHER - DO NOT MURDER(JESUS TOOK TO ANOTHER LEVEL) - DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY (JESUS TOOK TO ANOTHER LEVEL) – DO NOT STEAL – DO NOT LIE - DO NOT COVET.
BUT GODS OLD COVENANT OF LAW STILL STANDS TODAY AND ITS PURPOSE IS TO CONVICT OF SIN, BECAUSE WHEN WE PUT OUR LIVES BEFORE IT WE SEE THAT WE HAVE NOT KEPT IT. AND TO LEAD US TO CHRIST TE ONE WHO FULFILLED IT.
PAUL GIVES US A WARNING (GAL 3:10 -11) WE MUST NOT DEPEND UPON OUR WORKS OF THE LAW. HE TELLS US IT IS A MINISTRY OF DEATH AND CONDEMNATION (2 COR 3:7,9) A COVENANT THAT CANNOT BE OBEYED (ROM 8:3) BECAUSE OF OUR WEAKNESS TO SIN.
HE GOES ON TO CONFIRM THAT ROM 3:20 NO- ONE WILL BE JUSTIFIED BY WORKS OF THE LAW RATHER WE BECOME CONSCIOUS OF SIN. WHICH POINTS US TO THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD THROUGH FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST (ROM.3:22) . IN THE NEW COVENANT WE ARE NO LONGER STRIVING – TO EARN OUR SALVATION THROUGH LAW KEEPING BECAUSE WE ARE SAVED BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH AND THIS IS NOT OF OURSELVES NOT OF WORKS (EPH 2:8).
• ACCORDING TO A THIRD CENTURY RABBI, MOSES GAVE 365 PROHIBITIONS AND 248 POSITIVE COMMANDS IN THE LAW . DAVID REDUCED THEM TO ELEVEN IN PSALM 15. ISAIAH MADE THEM SIX (ISAIAH 33:14, 15). MICAH 6:8 BINDS THEM INTO THREE COMMANDS. HABBAKUK REDUCES THEM ALL TO ONE GREAT STATEMENT: THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH. (UNKNOWN)
2. THE COVENANT OF GRACE .
THE ORIGINS OF GOD COVENANT OF GRACE ARE FOUND IN ETERNITY PASSED WHEN WITHIN THE DIVINE RELATIONSHIP OF THE FATHER SON AND SPIRIT THEY CHOSE TO ESTABLISH THIS COVENANT OF GRACE (EPH 1:1-5). IN ORDER TO SAVE GODS CHOSEN ELECT TO THE PRAISE OF HIS GLORIOUS GRACE.
A. THE COVENANT OF GRACE .
A BIG DIFFERENCE CONFRONTS US, WHEN WE STAND BEFORE GODS COVENANT OF GRACE, WE ARE NOT EQUAL PARTIES IN THIS COVENANT . BECAUSE GOD HAS MADE A COVENANT WITH INDIVIDUALS WHO IN AND OF THEMSELVES ARE SINNERS BY NATURE AND HE IS PERFECT WE OFTEN BREAK OUR PART OF CONTRACTS AND COVENANTS AND THAT IS WHY WE NEED A NEW COVENANT OF GRACE.
THE COVENANT OF UNMERITED GRACE IS SEEN RIGHT THROUGH THE BIBLE .... TO INDIVIDUALS WHO WERE FAR FROM PERFECT IN THEIR OWN LIVES YET GOD MADE AN EVERLASTING COVENANT WITH THEM TO WHICH WE ARE BENEFICIARIES OF TODAY.
• TO ADAM ( ORIGINAL SIN ) HE PROMISED THE DEVILS DOWNFALL (GEN 3:15) THROUGH THE SEED OF THE WOMAN.
• TO NOAH (WHO WAS A DRUNK) HE PROMISED HE WOULD NOT FLOOD THE EARTH AGAIN (GEN 9) AND THE RAINBOW IS THE SIGN OF THAT COVENANT TO THIS DAY. (GOD IS WITHHOLDING JUDGEMENT)
• TO ABRAHAM (WHO WAS A LIAR) GOD PROMISED TO BLESS HIS DESCENDANTS AND MAKE THEM HIS SPECIAL PEOPLE .. (GEN 12:3, 15: 5-6)
• TO DAVID (WHO WAS AN ADULTERER AND A MURDERER) WAS THE PROMISE THAT THROUGH HIS LINE WOULD BY ROYAL HEIRS (2 SAM 7:12)
• SOMEBODY ONCE SAW AN ADVERTISEMENT WHICH UNPACKS FOR US GODS COVENANT OF GRACE.... IT WAS ON THE SIDE OF A PLUMBER’S VAN IN SOUTH AFRICA, IT SAID. THERE IS NO PLACE TOO DEEP, TOO DARK OR TOO DIRTY FOR US TO HANDLE. WHAT A WONDERFUL EXPLANATION OF GODS COVENANT OF GRACE TOWARDS US. (BIBLE ORG ILLUSTRATIONS)
• FRIENDS GOD’S COVENANT OF GRACE ENTERS INTO THE DARKEST RECESSES OF OUR LIVES AND HE POUR OUT HIS UNMERITED GRACE ALL OVER US!
SO WE HAVE SEEN THE UNMERITED NATURE OF GODS COVENANT IN HIS GRACE TOWARDS SAVING SINNERS. BUT NOT ONLY IS IT COMPLETELY UNMERITED ITS ALSO A COVENANT OF PROMISE.
B. COVENANT OF PROMISE .
• WITH ADAM....FOR INDEED THOUSANDS OF YEARS LATER , A MAN WAS BORN FROM A SEED OF A WOMAN , CHRIST WHO CRUSHED THE HEAD OF SATAN.
• WITH NOAH..... GOD HAS KEPT THE PROMISE (GEN 8:21-22)THAT HE WILL NOT FLOOD THE EARTH AGAIN IN JUDGEMENT AND TO THIS DAY THIS COVENANT OF PROMISE HAS BEEN KEPT, UNTIL THE DAY OF THE 2ND COMING OF CHRIST WILL BRING REFINING FIRE OF JUDGEMENT.
• WITH ABRAHAM IS BEING FULFILLED AS MANY PEOPLE FROM DIFFERENT NATIONS ARE COMING TO CHRIST AND BEING BLESSED PROVING TO BE CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM.
• WITH DAVID THIS COVENANT PROMISE FOUND ITS FULFILMENT IN JESUS AS MESSIAH A DESCENDANT FROM THE LINE OF DAVID WHO REIGNS ON THE THRONE OF DAVID FOR ALL ETERNITY.
APPLICATION: LETS FACE IT WE LIVE IN AN ERA OF UNKEPT PROMISES. NATIONS SIGN IMPORTANT TREATIES AND THEN BREAK THEM AT WILL. AND MANY COUPLES SHOW LITTLE REGARD FOR THEIR WEDDING VOWS. IN THIS KIND OF SOCIETY, WE WHO ARE GOD’S PEOPLE SHOULD WE NOT BE KEEPING OUR PROMISES? SHOULD WE NOT BE LIKE OUR GOD?
THE CHRISTIAN SCHOLAR AND WRITER C. S. LEWIS TOOK THAT TRUTH SERIOUSLY. HE WAS DETERMINED TO PAY WHAT HE HAD VOWED. HIS BIOGRAPHY TELLS OF THE SUFFERING HE ENDURED BECAUSE HE KEPT A PROMISE HE HAD MADE TO A BUDDY DURING WORLD WAR I. THIS FRIEND WAS WORRIED ABOUT THE CARE OF HIS WIFE AND SMALL DAUGHTER IF HE SHOULD BE KILLED IN BATTLE, SO LEWIS ASSURED HIM THAT IF THAT WERE TO HAPPEN HE WOULD LOOK AFTER THEM. AS THE WAR DRAGGED ON, THE MAN WAS KILLED.
TRUE TO HIS WORD, LEWIS TOOK CARE OF HIS FRIENDS FAMILY. YET NO MATTER HOW HELPFUL HE TRIED TO BE, THE WOMAN WAS UNGRATEFUL, RUDE, ARROGANT, AND DOMINEERING. THROUGH IT ALL, LEWIS KEPT FORGIVING HER. HE REFUSED TO LET HER ACTIONS BECOME AN EXCUSE TO RENEGE ON HIS PROMISE. (SOURCE UNKNOWN).
CONSIDER YOUR OWN ACTIONS IN YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD, BEFORE/NOW. ARE WE LIKE CS LEWIS OR THE WOMEN PROBABLY BOTH IN OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD? THE AMAZING TRUTH IS GOD’S GOD COVENANT OF PROMISE TO SAVE YOU HAS COME TO BE. CONSIDER OTHERS TODAY, INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE GODLESS, WHO WANT NO PART OF GOD. YET GOD IN ETERNITY PASSED AND THROUGHOUT HISTORY AS MADE A COVENANT OF PROMISE TO SAVE AND THEIR SALVATION IS AT HAND.
THIS BRINGS GREAT SECURITY AND ASSURANCE TO US WHEN WE HAVE DOUBTS BECAUSE AS GOD HAS PROMISED TO SAVE AND TO KEEP US IF WE ARE HIS, ITS NOT DEPENDANT UPON US BUT UPON HIS PROMISES THAT MEANS THEY CAN BE TRUSTED ALL THAT IS SAID IN HIS WORD ALL HIS PROMISES WILL COME TO BE .......
3. THE COVENANT OF GRACE FULFILLED IN CHRIST. HEB 8: 6- 13. (JER: 31:31- 34).
ALL THE COVENANTS OF PROMISE SEEN IN THE OT ARE FULFILLED IN THE ONE NEW COVENANT OF GRACE THAT IS SEEN IN THE LIFE AND MINISTRY OF JESUS. HIS DEATH USHERED IN THE NEW COVENANT UNDER WHICH WE ARE JUSTIFIED BY GODS GRACE AND MERCY RATHER THAN HUMAN ATTEMPTS OF LAW KEEPING.
JESUS BECOMES THE MEDIATOR OF THIS NEW COVENANT (HEB 9:15) HE IS THE HIGH PRIEST WHO INTERCEDES, AND GOES INTO HEAVEN BEFORE GOD. YET HE IS ALSO THE SACRIFICE LAMB. JESUS SACRIFICIAL DEATH SERVES AS THE OATH OR PLEDGE “CUT” WHICH GOD MADE TO RATIFY THIS COVENANT BETWEEN GOD AND MAN.
HIS BLOOD IS WHAT SEALS THE COVENANT BETWEEN US AND GOD FOR WITHOUT THE SHEDDING OF BLOOD THERE IS NO FORGIVENESS OF SINS.
THE GLORIOUS CONSEQUENCES......
THROUGH THIS COVENANT GOD HAS DETERMINED TO GIVE US ETERNAL LIFE AND FELLOWSHIP WITH HIM , IN SPITE OF OUR SINS. AND THIS IS GODS COVENANT OF GRACE AND PROMISE FULFILLED IN CHRIST.
HOW CAN WE BECOME PART OF GODS COVENANT? WELL THE PROMISE HOLDS TRUE TODAY TOWARDS ANYBODY WHO CAN TURN TO HIM IN GENUINE REPENTANCE AND FAITH.
THE BIBLE SAYS JHN 3:16 FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONE AND ONLY SON THE WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM SHALL NOT PERISH BUT HAVE ETERNAL LIFE.
AMEN
