Covenant or Contract... There is a HUGE difference between a Covenant and a Contract, One is a Spiritual Commitment, the other a Human Agreement. One can never be broken by human hands, the other can be annihilated by human guise and clever thinking; One is clear and free of loop holes and is eternally binding, the other is scholarly and filled with caveats that could make null and void the agreement by failure to comply to well thought out schemes. How we look at our relationship with God can be drastically different, depending on how we view His word and our commitment to faith. If His word is a contract, then surely there are loopholes to free us when we fail, but if His word is a Covenant, then it is eternally true and unbreakable. His word is so solid that it has withstood the test of thousands of years of human thought. It is eternally true, and can never be broken through clever thinking or scholarly review. When He says thou shalt not, then we Should Not! Even if it means we have to radically overhaul our lives to meet the standards of His word. When He says something is detestable to Him, that is not a challenge, it is a standard! When He promises us something in return for honorable and faithful obedience, and we are unwilling to fulfill our end of the arrangement, then we will not be blessed for our failure to comply to His perfect will...no matter how much we try to convince others that the Bible does not say what is clearly stated. Do you view your commitment to Him as part of a Covenant, or Part of a Contract? Where you will spend eternity may depend on your answer. If you see works, or being a good person, as the means to salvation, then you see His word as a contract...but if you see Gods love for us in spite of ourselves, and that drives you to humility and thankfulness, resulting in sanctification and dedication to His word, of which works is no more than an outpouring for a debt we could never hope to repay, but for which we will eternally be grateful, then you are probably dedicated to the idea of a covenant relationship with your King. _____ Some Christians overlook the blessing of sanctification, and yet to a thoroughly renewed heart this is one of the sweetest gifts of the covenant. If we could be saved from wrath, and yet remain unregenerate, impenitent sinners, we should not be saved as we desire, for we mainly and chiefly pant to be saved from sin and led in the way of holiness. ---Charles Spurgeon The promises of the Bible are nothing more than Gods covenant to be faithful to His people. It is His character that makes these promises valid. ---Jerry Bridges So many times we say that we cant serve God because we arent whatever is needed. Were not talented enough or smart enough or whatever. But if you are in covenant with Jesus Christ, He is responsible for covering your weaknesses, for being your strength. He will give you His abilities for your disabilities! ---Kay Arthur Keep Gods covenant in your trials; hold you by His blessed word, and sin not; flee anger, wrath, grudging, envying, fretting; forgive a hundred pence to your fellow-servant, because your Lord hath forgiven you ten thousand talents: for, I assure you by the Lord, your adversaries shall get no advantage against you, except you sin, and offend your Lord, in your sufferings. ---Samuel Rutherford _____ Hebrews 13:20-21 ESV, Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Galatians 3:1-29 ESV, O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— Hebrews 12:28-29 ESV, Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.
Posted on: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 15:49:55 +0000
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