God's Covenant of Grace
to those who believe Him1. God made a covenant with us to make us part of His family. It is His covenant of grace and the terms are very exceedingly great. Indeed they are far beyond our ability to comprehend. For He said...
But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel (believers), after those days, says the Lord (Yahweh): I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. ...I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more. Jeremiah 31:333 & 35b
and He said...
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Ezekiel 36:26-27
note: God said, "I will give you a new heart." He would have to, because that's the only way our hearts could ever be changed! This is a sovereign act of the Spirit of God. Our fallen human nature is totally depraved, and sin sick. We could never just naturally repent on our own. That's how far reaching God's grace really is:: God would love me so much that He would give me a new heart... in spite of the fact that - naturally speaking - I don't want one. That's why I said the terms of this covenant of grace are beyond our ability to understand. If any man says he fully understands grace, he is a poor and dangerous man.
2. The question is this: Why would God - who is holy - desire to enter into covenant (eternal) relationship with sinful man? What could He possibly get out of it? The answer is all grace. There can be no other answer. Why would God love us so much? This covenant of grace (and the forgiveness of our sins), was sealed by the cruel death of His Son upon a cross and ratified by His resurrection - because that's what it took. What could possibly have caused God to do such a thing? There can be only one answer: His love for us drove Him to do it. "But why?" your heart asks again. And the answer comes back again, "Because I love you."
3. By this covenant grace God adopts us into His everlasting family and we receive - everything. Everything God has is given to us in His Son. (see lesson "Your Inheritance - In Christ")
4. By His gracious will God made us part of His family. Isn't that amazing? I suppose the best part of all this is that you can now crawl up into God's lap, look straight into His loving eyes, and call Him "daddy."
For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba (daddy), Father." The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Romans 8:15-17
5. What does God expect of us in return? What are the terms of this covenant? Well... basically speaking He doesn't want anything except your trust and love. He wants intimate fellowship. All He said was...repent and believe - so that we could enter into this relationship with Him. (And then He gave His Holy Spirit to accomplish that redeeming work in us.) He gave us a new heart that seeks that intimate fellowship with Him through repentance and a believing, and trusting relationship with Him.
note: To the early Hebrew Christians conversion meant repenting, and turning from mere head knowledge of God to childlike trusting in Him.
6. God likes to make covenants with people. He is a covenant God, and all of His covenants are covenants of grace. Remember His covenant with Noah?
Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying; "And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you; the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth. Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth." And God said: "This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations; I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth." Genesis 9:8-13
note: Just before God made this covenant with Noah and his sons, Noah had built an altar and offered animal sacrifices for sin. This was the Old Testament way of entering into covenant relationship with God. For without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. (see Genesis 8:20 and Hebrews 9:22) Sin has to be dealt with before we can enter into covenant relationship with God. God deals with sin by forgiving it! There is no other way. The same shedding of blood that brings remission (dismissal) of sins, also brings us into covenant relationship with God. Jesus shed His blood upon the cross, and God accepted that as the perfect sacrifice for sin. We don't have to make animal sacrifices anymore because Jesus made the perfect sacrifice - of Himself - for us. That's grace. It is a covenant of grace.
note: God Himself is the one who started animal sacrifices as a covering for sin when He clothed Adam and Eve with skins after their fall. But animal sacrifices were only a covering for sin. Sin was not finally taken away until Jesus came. He is the one who actually took our sins away by His death on the cross. John said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." John 1:29
note: Although people in the Old Testament made animal sacrifices to cover their sins, those sacrifices did not save them. They were saved by believing in the Coming Messiah, who would finally take away their sins completely.
7. God also made a covenant with the people of Israel at Mount Sinai.
Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant; then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine: And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." Exodus 19:5-6
This covenant was sometimes referred to as "the Mosaic covenant" because it was the covenant God gave to the people through Moses. This covenant also required animal sacrifices for sin. Sin has to be dealt with. But if God actually accepted those sacrifices for sin, it was only because of His grace. He had no other reason to accept the sacrifices. It would be ridiculous to think that any amount of blood from animal sacrifices could really take away sins - or even cover them. (see Hebrews 9:19-22)
note: The people believed that if they did not repent of their sins, God would not accept their animal sacrifices for sin. That is why there was a whole month of repenting (Teshuvah) followed by ten "days of awe" (Rosh HaShanah) which included personal and national repentance before the Day of Atonement, (Yom Kippur) when God "covered" (forgave) the sins of the people for that year. The point is this: God does not have to forgive sins. If He does, it is only because of His grace.
The Mosaic covenant was a covenant of grace and could be understood in no other way. For the people of Israel were stubborn and stiff necked. They were always rebelling and rejecting the love of God towards them. And yet... God had delivered them from the slavery of Egypt, put His love upon them, called them His own, and brought them to Himself. And even when they refused to ratify the covenant, and worshipped the golden calf instead - He still had mercy upon them, and did not destroy them, but loved them, and carried them into the promised land of Canaan. How could this not be grace? It really could be understood in no other way. And yet...
Yet they did not understand the nature of God. To them this covenant became the covenant of law so that by Jesus' day He had to say to them. "Go and learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice." Matthew 9:13 He was quoting from the Old Testament prophet Hosea when He said that. (Hosea 6:6)
8. So all of God's covenants are covenants of mercy and grace. He has no other covenant. But the covenant He has given to New Testament believers is the best one of all. It is the covenant of His Son.
But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, Hebrews 9:11-15a
note: In the Old Testament it was the people who brought the animal sacrifices for sin. But in the New Testament God Himself brought the sacrifice of His only Begotten Son! Sin was finally dealt with - once and for all - to make an everlasting covenant.
9. And what is this new covenant? Once again it is...
But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel (believers), after those days, says the Lord (Yahweh): I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. ...I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more. Jeremiah 31:333 & 35b
and
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.
Ezekiel 36:26-2710. This is God's covenant of grace by which we stand - in God's family. Amen! It's all of GRACE (God's Riches At Christ's Expense)