THERE IS A COVENANT AGREEMENT...
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
We give BIG MO of Alabama a special thanks for the fodder for this lesson.
This is part one of a two part lesson...
Message
Ephes. 2:11 But don’t take any of this for granted. It was only yesterday that you outsiders to God’s ways
[12] had no idea of any of this, didn’t know the first thing about the way God works, hadn’t the faintest idea of Christ. You knew nothing of that rich history of God’s covenants and promises in Israel, hadn’t a clue about what God was doing in the world at large.
[13] Now because of Christ—dying that death, shedding that blood—you who were once out of it altogether are in on everything.
COVENANT:
A binding contract, compact or agreement between two or more parties.
The first Old testament Covenant was established between God Adam and Eve, then with Abraham in Genesis 15.
The Old Testament word for contract or covenant is BERITH.
BERITH comes from a root word: "TO CUT."
This cutting is in reference to CUTTING THE SACRIFICIAL ANIMAL IN TWO PARTS.
Then after the CUTTING OR DIVIDING THE TWO PARTS THE TWO PARTIES WOULD
PASS BETWEEN THE TWO PARTS... THUS ESTABLISHING A COVENANT...
Jeremiah 34:18 And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, which have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me, when they cut the calf
n twain, and passed between the parts thereof,
[19] The princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land, which passed between the parts of the calf;
The New Testament Greek word for COVENANT is DIATHEKE.
I. GOD ENTERED IN A COVENANT WITH ADAM AND EVE. THIS COVENANT IS
CALLED THE COVENANT OF NATURE OR THE CONVENANT OF WORKS....
A. God asked Adam and Eve to enter a COVENANT by OBEDIENCE...
B. God asked Adam and Eve to dress and keep the garden... To be fruitful and multiply...
And DON’T EAT ONE TREE... the covenant was clear...
Genesis 2:16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
[17] But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
C. THERE WERE EGO ISSUES AND DISCUSSIONS WITH THE ENEMY...
Genesis 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
D. THERE WAS BLAME AND NO ACCEPTANCE OF THE FAILURE...
Genesis 3:12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
[13] And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
E. THE COVENANT OF WORKS WAS BROKEN AT A TREE AND WILL BE REPAIRED
AT A TREE...
F. THE COVENANT OF WORKS FAILED MISERABLY...
While good works are sincere, at best works are imperfect and they can never be enough...
II. BIBLICAL COVENANTS CALLED ON JEHOVAH GOD AS THE WITNESS AND THUS THE
COVENANT IS CALLED THE CONVENANT OF THE LORD...
A. Jacob or Israel is leaving Laban, AFTER 20 YEARS OF WORK, 7 years for Leah, 7 years for Rachel, 6 years for a share of the flock.
B. Laban his father-in-law is very angry...
C. God warns Laban in a dream not to hurt or SPEAK BAD OF JACOB... Gen. 31:24...
D. In the middle of no where JACOB AND LABAN MAKE A COVENANT...
Genesis 31:44 Now therefore come thou, let us make a covenant, I and thou; and let it be for a witness between me and thee. [45] And Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar.
[46] And Jacob said unto his brethren, Gather stones; and they took stones, and made an heap: and they did eat there upon the heap.
[47] And Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha: but Jacob called it Galeed.
[48] And Laban said, This heap is a witness between me and thee this day. Therefore was the name of it called Galeed; [49] And Mizpah; for he said, The Lord watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another.
E. In the midst of no where Jacob and Laban called upon the Lord to witness the COVENANT. We call this the MIZPAH COVENANT...
F. To enforce and keep the covenant the two men called on GOD TO WITNESS IT...
Genesis 31:50 If thou shalt afflict my daughters, or if thou shalt take other wives beside my daughters, no man is with us; see, God is witness betwixt me and thee.
G. THUS WE CALL COVENANTS --- THE COVENANT OF THE LORD...
As the Lord God witnesses the covenants made.
III. COVENANTS CAN BE BETWEEN MAN AND ANOTHER MAN, BETWEEN MAN AND GOD
OR THEY CAN BE BETWEEN GOD TO MAN... THE BOW IN THE SKY, THE RAINBOW
BECAME THE TOKEN OF THE COVENANT...
A. God’s sweet revelation to man can become a promise or a covenant.
B. God can come in a COVENANT AGREEMENT WITH MAN...
GOD MADE NOAH A PROMISE, THIS BECAME A PROMISE THROUGH OUT THE HISTORY
OF THE PLANET EARTH...
Genesis 9:11 And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
[12] And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
C. THE RAINBOW BECOMES A TOKEN OF REMEMBERANCE...
Genesis 9:15 And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
[16] And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
[17] And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.
IV. THE TEN COMMANDMENTS ARE MORE THAN SUGGESTIONS OR OPTIONAL
TEACHINGS... THE TEN COMMANDMENTS ARE THE COVENANT OF THE SINAI...
PART OF THE ARK OF THE COVENANT...
Exodus 34:27 And the Lord said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel.
[28] And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.
A. WE HAVE A PROMISE OF GOD’S BLESSINGS AND FAVOR WITH MAN IF WE
STAY BENEATH THE TEACHINGS OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS... The two tablets
of stone constitute the "TESTIMONY OF THE EVIDENCE" of God’s covenant with PEOPLE.
THESE TWO TABLETS WILL BECOME PART OF THE ARK OF THE COVENANT,
ALONG WITH THE POT OF MANNA, AARON’S ROD...
B. God promised to enlarge our borders, give us increase, send rain, bless our fruit, be the lender, and WALK AMONG US... if we keep the commandments...
C. GOD PROMISED A CURSE IF WE WILL NOT HEARKEN HIS 10 COMMANDMENTS...
He will allow terror to rule us, sorrow to our hearts, punish us 7 times, faintness of heart, sickness and disease and God Himself will walk CONTRARY TO His people...
V. HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF THE COVENANT OF SALT?
A. A COVENANT OF SALT ILLUSTRATES AN EVERLASTING COVENANT...
Salt was used for food.
Salt was mixed with fodder for the animals to eat.
Salt was used as a SYMBOL OF HOSPITALITY
B. The COVENANT OF SALT was when the parties involved used salt to SEAL
or RATIFY--- AS A SYMBOL OF PERPETUITY...
Numbers 18:19 All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer unto the Lord, have I given thee, and thy sons and thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever: it is a covenant of salt for ever before the Lord unto thee and to thy seed with thee.
C. A NEW BORN BABY WAS RUBBED DOWN WITH SALT...
SALT WAS USED IN THE CLEANSING PROCESS...
SALT WAS USED TO PRESERVE AND KILL GERMS...
VI. MARRIAGE IS A COVENANT... PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL
A. Recall the blood on the sheets as a testimony?
B. JACOB WORKED 14 YEARS FOR RACHEL... TIME PASSED SO QUICK...
A MAN AND WOMAN COMING TOGETHER IN MARRIAGE BECOMES A
SOUL TIE...
Genesis 21:32 Thus they made a covenant at Beer-sheba: then Abimelech rose up, and Phichol the chief captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Philistines.
Proverbs 2:17 Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.
C. JESUS HAS COME INTO A MARRIAGE -UNION...
HE IS ESPOUSED TO HIS CHURCH... THERE COMES A GLORIOUS HOUR...
JESUS RETURNS FOR HIS BRIDE...
Jeremiah 3:14 Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
VII. THE ULTIMATE COVENANT OF ALL TIMES IS THE COVENANT OF GRACE...
THIS COVENANT CONTAINS THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION AND THE THREE
PERSONS OF THE GOD HEAD ENTERED INTO THIS COVENANT...
A. GOD THE FATHER is the invisible, sovereign Creator... GAVE HIS ONLY SON...
B. GOD THE SON BECAME THE SURETY --- BECAME THE MEDIATOR...
John 17:4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
John 17:6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.
John 17:9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
C. THE GIFT OF THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT... to endue power, teach, lead, guide, in danger He hides us...
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
[17] For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
This is a two part lesson on COVENANT AGREEMENT...
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
Help me pass it on...
