The Gospel Begins with a Covenant, part 1
Introduction: What has been evident in this series of lessons is there are many facets to understanding the Gospel message. Not the least of these is that obedience to the gospel includes a covenant with God. When Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper and took the cup, he said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many…”
Unfortunately, as with many other aspects of the gospel, we do not give much thought to our covenant with God. However, the very first thing God did after bringing Israel out of Egypt and to Mt. Sinai, was to make a covenant with the people. Embedded in the covenant is deliverance, ongoing forgiveness, protection, and ultimate glory. When we remember the Lord each week in the taking of the Supper, it is the covenant with the Lord we are to remember.
In this lesson, we will look more closely at that covenant. You might be surprised that we can look at our covenant from a text in Deuteronomy, but as we will see, this text is a foretelling and foreshadowing of God’s covenant with us – as it is “gospel,” good news. But it is also a covenant, which carries responsibilities on our part.
This brings up the most rudimentary, foundational principle about God and his love for his creation. Delivering Israel is God’s notice to the whole world that humans are not designed nor able to successfully direct their own lives. But all mankind, from Adam on has been bound and determined to succeed on their own. Israel’s bondage illustrates the end result. Saving us anyway illustrates incomparable love.
“I know, O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps” (Jeremiah 10:23). Even many Christians do not learn this lesson!
Israel failed because they did not realize that even though God “delivered them,” they really were not yet delivered until they united their hearts to God and saw his commandments as their true deliverance. God was not looking for “servants,” he was doing what he pictured in Hosea; he took them out of bondage for the purpose of a marriage because that is their real salvation. The same is with us. Our God and King saved us from bondage to have a relationship because that is our real salvation. He wants our heart! 30:6 This was perpetually God’s problem with Israel, and unfortunately, is still a problem today. How would you summarize Israel’s wilderness wanderings? They would not tolerate hardship or inconvenience. They hated it that God would not satisfy their every lust in spite of the fact that they were going to the Promised Land. To avoid Israel’s doom we must look beyond the here and now and understand that baptism is not all there is to deliverance from bondage. (Cf. John 6:44-45) Israel “saw” the signs, but not really.) This is especially illustrated in the rebuke Jesus gave after feeding 5000:
John 6:25-27 “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.”
Then Jesus said, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” Therefore, the Gospel does not just happen when we were forgiven, but when we truly give up our own personal desires and live as is described in 30:6We could summarize Israel’s attitude: “We are glad to have you as our God. There are certainly some nice benefits. We are glad to adhere to some worship times. After all, we know you get angry when we don’t, and we don’t like it when you are angry. But really, we have our own lives to live and we would like to live our lives in ways that make us happy without your intervention.” This is exactly the way Gomer treated God. If you were married, would you tolerate that? Exactly! And God doesn’t tolerate it.Therefore, are we living according to Deut. 29:4 or 30:6? According to Deut. 30:15, that is the only way they/we will live! You have surely seen the point. The present-day half-hearted–when it’s convenient–don’t ask me to change my ways–or make a sacrifice, service to God is not keeping the covenant and will not give life.The post The Gospel Begins with a Covenant appeared first on Woodland Hills Church of Christ.
