COVENANT – INTRODUCTION

1. One of the great words in our Bibles is “covenant.”

2. This is a common term in both testaments (it appears more than 300 times) and it is not hard to explain.

3. In the secular world, a covenant would describe a binding agreement between people.

4. Once a covenant has been established, both parties are legally bound to the conditions.

5. In religion, a covenant is just like this except there are some additional points.

6. The ones in the agreement are not equal; man is a covenant partner, but he is inferior to God.

7. Furthermore, God is the initiator of religious covenants.

ABOUT 20 YEARS AGO I HAD A TEACHER WHO SAID TO A GROUP OF STUDENTS, “IF YOU WANT A GOOD OVERALL UNDERSTANDING OF THE BIBLE, READ THIS BOOK” (AND HE WAS NOT TALKING ABOUT THE BIBLE).

a) Part of recommended book paid significant attention to ancient covenants (agreements).

b) We can study the Bible in a wide variety of ways.

c) On the one hand it is important to pay attention to many of the Bible’s finer details and points.

d) We recently did that by studying some of the words for sin.

e) It is also important to keep in mind the “big picture.”

2) Beginning today, we want to look at an overview of the Bible from the standpoint of covenants.

3) A key passage in this study is Gal. 3:15, a verse already read.

a) Many of us in this room have in the past signed an agreement involving money.

b) We borrowed funds for a house, car, or another large ticket item.

c) Most who borrow money are required to sign an agreement.

d) On these agreements is typically a place for an “interest rate.”

e) If 6% is the interest rate for the life of the loan, that is the rate.

f) A bank or other lending agency is forbidden from changing the rate.

g) We too are forbidden from altering the rate.

h) If we would rather pay 3% instead of 6%, we can’t cross out the 6 and reduce it to 3.

4) This is Paul’s point in Gal. 3:15; an agreement from men and between men is binding.

5) If agreements between men are binding, what about an agreement from God?

a) People look at the Bible in lots of different ways.

b) God tells us the Bible is a covenant (something like a binding contract).

c) As we look at the scriptures, we find it contains several different agreements.

d) Stated another way, the Bible is a record of many covenants.

6) If you examine the basic word for “covenant” you would find it first occurs in Gen. 6:18.

7) God made a covenant with Noah.

8) What was the agreement?

9) God intended to destroy what was on the earth, but the situation was not totally hopeless.

10) God had an agreement with Noah to save this man and those who went with him.

11) God initiated this covenant, and in this agreement, both heaven and Noah had obligations.

12) God kept His part of the agreement. So did Noah.

a) In Gen. 9 God re-stated His covenant with Noah.

b) When we see a rainbow we should think of the word covenant.

c) God said rainbows are a token of His covenant with Noah (Gen. 9:12).

13) After Noah we read about another significant Bible figure—Abraham.

14) Gen. 15:18 says God made a “covenant” with this man.

15) If we follow the Genesis record this word is used again and again in conjunction with Abraham.

16) Gen. 17:9 says Abraham had to “keep” the covenant.

17) This point is useful because it affirms God’s covenants are a two party deal.

a) Both parties (man and God) have duties.

b) We are not earning what we get from God; we are doing what God’s contract says.

18) Noah received a sign in conjunction with his covenant (a rainbow).

19) Abraham also received a sign of his covenant (circumcision, Gen. 17:10).

20) Knowing this helps us understand a little more about the New Testament.

21) What did Jesus say when the Lord’s Supper was instituted?

22) He spoke of His “blood” and said it was the blood of the “New Testament” (covenant).

23) Covenants in the Old Testament were associated with something; so is the New Testament.

24) All this is interesting, but what happened after Abraham died?

25) Did the covenant with Abraham continue?

26) Gen. 17:21 says the covenant would also be made with “Isaac.”

27) When we look at this reference, we find God’s covenants can include more than one person.

28) Furthermore, God’s covenants last a long, long time.

a) I want to read Ex. 2:24.

b) God had made great promises to Abraham and put them into the form of a covenant.

c) What had been promised to Abraham was like an iron-clad agreement.

d) Yet, after a great nation was born Abraham’s descendents were captives in the land of Egypt.

e) They were not in the place God said Abraham’s would ultimately go.

f) If you have found Ex. 2:24 let’s read it together – READ.

29) God remembers His covenants—He keeps His word.

30) Men and women may be faithless and forgetful; God doesn’t go back on His word.

31) God honors His promises, and He expects us to do the same.

32) When we are in a covenant relationship with God, we have responsibilities.

33) Part of God’s covenant with Israel involved being a special people.

34) Israel was supposed to be unique to and for God.

35) Because of this stipulation, God told the Hebrews something in Ex. 23:32.

36) Here is what He said – READ Ex. 23:32.

37) It is possible to form all kinds of agreements—secular and religious.

38) God told His people that they were forbidden from forming agreements with the heathens or pagan gods.

39) In man’s agreements with God there are restrictions; prohibitions; things that are not allowed.

40) Throughout the Old Testament we read about covenants.

41) Ex. 24:7 refers to the “book of the covenant.”

42) This expression describes other scriptures.

43) Furthermore, in this verse the Bible is presented as a contract between Israel and God.

44) Such is also the case with the New Testament.

a) Saying the New Testament is like a contract does not go over well with a lot of people.

b) When we describe the scriptures in this way, there is a lot less room for “interpretation.”

c) A contract—especially when written by God—suggests clarity and specificity.

d) It implies there is a set way of doing things.

e) All of these conclusions are right, and all are expressed by the word “covenant.”

45) When we look at the Old Testament we learn some additional things about covenants.

46) Ex. 24:8 refers to the “blood of the covenant.”

a) What did Jesus say in Mt. 26:28? He said “this is my blood of the covenant (ASV, NKJV, NAS).

b) Where did the Lord come up with that?

c) His words are rooted in the Old Testament.

d) The book I mentioned earlier is “Old Testament roots for New Testament faith.”

e) If we want to understand the new, we need to know some things about the old.

f) In the Old Testament blood and covenants often went together.

g) Our New Testament (covenant) was sealed with the blood of God’s Son.

47) Today we often hear people talk about the Ten Commandments.

48) A careful study of the Old Testament shows us something about them.

49) Ex. 34:28 refers to the Ten Commandments as “words of the covenant.”

50) What we know as the Ten Commandments were not random statements.

51) They were part of a binding agreement between man and God.

a) The Ten Commandments were like a miniature contract.

b) It was a contract God had to honor; the Hebrews were also bound by its terms.

52) Deut. 9:9, if you were to look at this passage, refers to the “tables of the covenant.”

53) It is also in the first books of the Bible that we read about the “ark of the covenant.”

54) We have heard that expression and maybe seen a movie with that title; what does it mean?

55) That ark was a symbol (token) of God’s covenant with man.

WHEN WE BEGIN TO THINK ABOUT WHAT THE WORD COVENANT MEANS, WE ARE IN A POSITION TO BETTER UNDERSTAND MANY OF THE CONCEPTS IN BOTH TESTAMENTS.

a) For instance, what is “righteousness?” That word occurs again and again in the scriptures.

b) Righteousness is keeping the covenant God has made with man.

c) What is sin? It is breaking the covenant we have with God.

d) We can break God’s covenant in all kinds of ways.

e) Many of those ways were recently discussed.

2) Justice: What is it? It is making decisions that harmonize with our agreement with God.

3) Who were prophets, apostles, and preachers?

4) People who proclaimed the terms of the covenant.

5) At different times there are statements in the Bible that refer to “loving God.”

a) Today lots of people claim to love God.

b) Multiple ways are used to show love for God in our culture.

c) Some jump around at a religious setting and appear to be almost possessed.

d) Others go around saying “Jesus, Jesus, oh how I love Jesus.”

e) Loving God means knowing about and doing what is found in the covenant.

f) This is why Jesus said some of the things He did.

g) If ye love me ye will keep my commandments.

h) “Not everyone that says unto me Lord, Lord will enter into heaven; He that does the will.”

i) It will be those in the covenant who are saved.

6) Consider some other terms found in the New Testament: called, elected, chosen, predestined.

7) If I were the CEO of a major corporation, I might be promised some huge benefits.

8) Those benefits would be mine because my name would be on a contract (agreement).

9) If have met the terms God has set, then our names are associated with the new covenant.

10) Those who are in a covenant relationship with God are called, elected, chosen, and predestined.

11) Being in the covenant means we have all spiritual blessings; being outside the covenant means we have none.

12) After entering into a covenant relationship with God, we can be rejected.

13) If we do not comply with the conditions of heaven’s agreement, the NT contract is broken.

a) Think about making an agreement with the bank: we get the car, house, boat, or something else.

b) Suppose we continue to want the boat but no longer want to make payments?

c) If we violate the terms of the agreement, the bank will repo the boat and sell it to someone else.

d) Such is also the case in the spiritual realm.

14) This is why Paul was able to say in places like Gal. 5:4, “ye are severed from Christ” (ASV).

15) Jesus was able to say in Lk. 15 (the prodigal son), he was “lost” (he broke the agreement).

16) If we break our agreement with God, there is still the chance for restoration.

17) Because God is a merciful God, even a broken agreement can again be made whole.

18) Today as we begin to think about a very special word and subject, we ask a simple question:

19) Are we in a right relationship with God: in a covenant with Him?