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Doctrine Series ± It¶s all about GodPart 6 ± Covenant: God Pursues
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God is Father, Son & Holy Spirit in what we believe is the Trinity. WhereHe is eternally satisfied as 1 God in a community of 3 persons.
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God speaks and His Word to us is revealed in the inerrant, inspired &authoritative writing of Scripture, that is the Bible.
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From His Word we understand that He is the Creator of everything for HisGlory and that we have been made under God and above creation as th eimage-bearers of God.
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s image-bearers we have fallen short of His glory and now have to takeresponsibility for our sin. God has judged us and as a result we have beenseparated from fellowship with God, which is the ultimate curse.But«The rest of scriptureafter the story of the Fall in Genesis 3 ± is the story of Godworking out in history the amazing plan of redemption whereby sinful peoplecould come back into fellowship with Himself.From the time we got it wrong, God has had a plan to restore! God is just, God isfair, but God is extremely gracious!Have you ever had someone betray you? Someone who was supposed to carefor you but rather rejected you or abused you? Someone who promised to loveyou, but in the end hated you or only love d them-self? Have you ever hadsomeone defraud you or gossip about you and drag your name through the dirt?How did it make you feel? What did you wish could happen?Today I want you to understand this from God¶sperspective ± He madeeverything for us, gave us purpose, life, love, promised to bless, to protect andhelp. Has given us spouses, homes, food, clothing! Has thought out plans for our lives that bring Him glory and us great joy! We respond to this by rebelling,rejecting, resisting, hurting, disobeying and blaming God.³Our response was sin ± damnable, horrible, inexcusable sinGod¶s responds to our sin ± with Covenant ± saving, glorious loving covenant.´
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We are using a book by Mark Driscoll & Gerry Breshears called ³Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe´, Crossway Books,2010 as a guide for our doctrine series. Todays message on Covenant, has been further resourced from, among others, one of my favorite books: Wayne Grudem¶s ³Systematic Theology´ IVP, 1994.
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Covenant is an amazing thing. God initiates it, He enters into agreement with us,because there isdeath at stake and understanding the situation, God gives usgraciousopportunity, covenant is always a life and death matter, because in itGod gives the opportunity to stay in death or come out into the blessing of lifewith Him which He ultimately wants. In a sense He is willing to make a deal. ³Stayas you are in your mess ± or do what I want you to do and I promise to act so thatyou can know real life!´Covenant is an unchangeable divinely imposed legal agreement between Godand man that stipulates the conditions of their relationship.Wayne GrudemA solemn commitment, guaranteeing promises or obligations undertaken by oneor both parties, sealed with an oath.Paul Williamson.³Cutting covenant´ is not a casual thing, it¶s a matter of li fe and death ± either youcall curses upon yourself by breaking covenant, or you enjoy the benefits of covenant which has been offered by grace in the first place. You cannotnegotiate, or earn its benefits; it¶s a matter of simply receiving what the Sover eignLord offers and establishes through it.It is a display of His HESED ± Loyal Covenant Love! The Jesus Storybook Biblesays it like this:³God loves us with a never Stopping, Never Giving Up,Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love.´Covenant a relational! God is Trinity and as a community He seeks relationshipwith us ± He does not initiate covenants with animals ± He initiates it with us sothat we may live in holy community / communion with Him! It¶s a great Creator ±creation privilege! Very similar to marriage!Covenants have essential elements or features that are highlighted: (Let merelate it back to marriage)1.
Parties to a covenant ± there may be a mediator whose role is torepresent one or both parties.(Husband, Wife, Minister ± representing God)2.
Conditions to a covenant ± Where something is required from us(Vows of commitment to equally love one another and fulfillcomplementary roles of Husband and Wife)3.
Blessings are promised in Covenant(What I have is yours and you what you have is mine)4.
There is a Sign to show that you are in Covenant (Ring)
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Community takes form as a result of Covenant.(Family under one name with mandate to bear children)In the Bible we came across 5 major Covenants that God makes:1.
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oah & His Family2.
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braham & His Descendants3.
Moses & the Israelites4.
David and the Kingdom of Israel5.
The
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ew Covenant of Jesus and the Church
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s we will see by going through each of these ± the goal is two-fold.
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ll of thempoint to and are ultimately superseded by the
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ew Covenant with Jesus whoalone can resolve our sin and our sin scared creation, and the heart of each of them is in these words:³I will your God, and you will be my people!´Lets have a look at these Covenants of Grace aimed at sinners like you and I:1.
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oah & His FamilyGenesis 6:5 ± 9
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The L
ORD
saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that everyintention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
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nd the L
ORD
wassorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.
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So theL
ORD
said, I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man andanimals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have madethem.
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But
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oah found favor in the eyes of the L
ORD
.
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These are the generations of
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oah.
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oah was a righteous man, blameless in hisgeneration.
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oah walked with God.
The first thing we need to make very clear is that
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oah was a sinner. He isincluded in God¶s statement about all man.
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nd here we have the beginningof the way that God deals with sin ± He offers grace! Salvation is by Grace!
For by grace you have been saved through faith.
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nd this is not your own doing; it isthe gift of God
(Ephesians 2:8)Favour ± is exactly that ± a free gift from God.
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nd because of
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oah¶s faith inthe grace of God he is enabled to walk a blameless life. He obeys God andbuilds an ark, and heralds righteousness!
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Part 6 - Covenant - God Pursues
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