The Covenant Agreement

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

in 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...