The Life and Times of

A Covenant Governs Our Relationship With God

What I have said about covenants governing the relationships men have with one another is the outgrowth of a higher truth: God governs man’s relationship with Him by means of a covenant. When God destroyed all mankind, because of their sin, He established a covenant with Noah and his descendants. When God entered into a relationship with Abram (soon to be name Abraham), He did so by means of a covenant, the Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 12:1-3, etc.). When God delivered the nation Israel from the bondage in Egypt, He entered into a new relationship with them, and this relationship was governed by the Mosaic Covenant. God’s actions toward Israel in the Old Testament can be seen as the outworking of this covenant. God acted in accordance with His covenant.

All of God’s dealings with men can be seen as the outworking of His covenant with them. But while God has always kept His covenant commitments, man has consistently demonstrated that he is a covenant-breaker. If our salvation depended upon our keeping of God’s covenants, we would never be forgiven of our sins and enter into the Kingdom of God. God knew that while men promised to keep His Mosaic Covenant, they would never do it:

28 “And the LORD heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me, and the LORD said to me, 'I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They have done well in all that they have spoken. 29 'Oh that they had such a heart in them, that they would fear Me, and keep all My commandments always, that it may be well with them and with their sons forever!” (Deuteronomy 5:28-29).

Later on in Israel’s history, when Joshua spoke his parting words to the Israelites, they once again promised to keep this (Mosaic) covenant. Joshua knew better:

19 Then Joshua said to the people, “You will not be able to serve the LORD, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgression or your sins. 20 “If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you after He has done good to you.” 21 And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the LORD.” 22 And Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves the LORD, to serve Him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” 23 “Now therefore, put away the foreign gods which are in your midst, and incline your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.” 24 And the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God and we will obey His voice.” 25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem (Joshua 24:19-25)

There was only one solution. There must be a salvation which did not depend upon man’s perfection and performance. There must be a salvation which depended upon God’s perfection and performance. And so it was in the Old Testament that God began to speak of a “new covenant” He would make with men which would result in eternal salvation:

31 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them, “declares the LORD. 33 “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 “And they shall not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more” (Jeremiah 31:31-34).

This “new covenant” was brought about by the promised Messiah, the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.

19 And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 20 And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood” (Luke 22:19-20).

4 And such confidence we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, 6 who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 7 But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, 8 how shall the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? 9 For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory. 10 For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory on account of the glory that surpasses it. 11 For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory (2 Corinthians 3:4-11).

11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; 12 and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 15 And for this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, in order that since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance (Hebrews 9:11-15; see all of chapter 8 as well).

It all comes down to this. God has always dealt with men in terms of a covenant. In every case, men have failed to keep God’s covenant, even though God has faithfully kept His covenant commitments and promises. In order to save men from their sins and give them entrance into His kingdom, God has set aside the old covenant(s) for a new and better one. This covenant is not dependent upon our performance, but on God’s. God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to live a sinless life, to perfectly fulfill the old, Mosaic Covenant. And then, when He died on the cross of Calvary, He bore the penalty for man’s sins. When He rose from the dead, He demonstrated God’s satisfaction, and His (Christ’s) righteousness. By Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, God provided men with a new covenant, whereby man could be assured of the forgiveness of sins and eternal. In order to be saved, we need only embrace this covenant as our only hope and provision for salvation. This covenant has been secured, once for all. It cannot be set aside or nullified. It needs only to be embraced as one’s own. By acknowledging our inability to please God by our own efforts, and by trusting in the work Christ has done on our behalf, we enter into this new covenant and all of its benefits. Have you entered into this covenant? I urge you to do so today. What a great God we have, who has offered us this covenant relationship with Him.

David: A Man After God’s Own Heart

#7 A Man Without a Country -- (1 Samuel 21:1--22:4)

We all have had embarrassing moments, and I wish I could hear your most embarrassing moment. Even King David had his embarrassing moments. In our text, David has several humiliating experiences, all due to Saul’s jealousy of David and his attempts to kill him. As bad as they are at the moment, these painful episodes prove beneficial to David. As we look at the things that happened to David, we begin to see how God uses similar situations to benefit us. Let us look carefully for what God has to teach us from our text.