Keeping Our Covenant with God - Deuteronomy 28-29 and Mark 14:54-72
Most people think that keeping the covenant with God only applied to Israel keeping the Old Covenant. They do not realize that now we are under the new covenant, and we are still charged with keeping the covenant with God. I am not talking about salvation by works. Not even Israel was saved by works. Salvation has always been by grace through faith. However, God is a covenant keeping God, and He expects us to keep our covenant with Him. If we do, He blesses us. If we fail to keep our covenant with Him, He has to punish us.
Deuteronomy 28 goes over the blessings for Israel, if they kept the covenant and the curses, if they failed to keep the covenant. What was the covenant? They were to worship God and keep His commandments, while staying away from idols. It was really fairly simple. God kept His part of the agreement. He was always faithful to Israel. In Deuteronomy 29 God called on the new generation to renew the covenant with Him and to decide to follow Him completely. We will read more in chapter 30, but the decision was theirs to make. They had to decide to put their faith in God alone and to serve Him only. Now, think about the new covenant. What did God say about it? Jesus died and rose again to forgive our sins once and for all. If anyone repents of their sins and trusts Him in faith, they have forgiveness and eternal life. Is that where it ends? It does not end there. That is the beginning of the new covenant. Jesus told them that if anyone desires to come after Me, He must deny Himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. That is our part of the covenant. It is not just for special saints. It is for all Christians. If we fail to keep our part of the covenant, God punishes us as His children. Why does He punish us? The goal of the new covenant is for us to glorify God by being like Jesus and bearing fruit for Him. That is what God expects of us. We might criticize Israel for failing to keep the old covenant, but how are we doing on keeping the new covenant?
Look at Mark 14 in this way. Did Jesus keep His covenant with the Father? He came to give the perfect sacrifice of Himself for our sins. He did not deny being God. He fulfilled the Scripture. He was faithful in every way to do what the Father had called Him to do. Read John 17 as Jesus talked to the Father about completing His work. Now, think about Peter. Peter failed to keep his covenant with Jesus. He knew He was the Lord and the Messiah. He had confessed that to others, but here he denied Him three times. Peter did not deny himself and take up his cross and follow Jesus. He was afraid, and he failed. Later, Jesus came to him and asked him three times, if he loved Him. He was gently calling him back. Is God calling you back? He sent the prophets to call Israel back, but when the did not heed the prophets, He sent the curses. If we do not heed His Word, He will have to punish us, too.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Deuteronomy 30-31 and Mark 15:1-25.
Deuteronomy 28 goes over the blessings for Israel, if they kept the covenant and the curses, if they failed to keep the covenant. What was the covenant? They were to worship God and keep His commandments, while staying away from idols. It was really fairly simple. God kept His part of the agreement. He was always faithful to Israel. In Deuteronomy 29 God called on the new generation to renew the covenant with Him and to decide to follow Him completely. We will read more in chapter 30, but the decision was theirs to make. They had to decide to put their faith in God alone and to serve Him only. Now, think about the new covenant. What did God say about it? Jesus died and rose again to forgive our sins once and for all. If anyone repents of their sins and trusts Him in faith, they have forgiveness and eternal life. Is that where it ends? It does not end there. That is the beginning of the new covenant. Jesus told them that if anyone desires to come after Me, He must deny Himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. That is our part of the covenant. It is not just for special saints. It is for all Christians. If we fail to keep our part of the covenant, God punishes us as His children. Why does He punish us? The goal of the new covenant is for us to glorify God by being like Jesus and bearing fruit for Him. That is what God expects of us. We might criticize Israel for failing to keep the old covenant, but how are we doing on keeping the new covenant?
Look at Mark 14 in this way. Did Jesus keep His covenant with the Father? He came to give the perfect sacrifice of Himself for our sins. He did not deny being God. He fulfilled the Scripture. He was faithful in every way to do what the Father had called Him to do. Read John 17 as Jesus talked to the Father about completing His work. Now, think about Peter. Peter failed to keep his covenant with Jesus. He knew He was the Lord and the Messiah. He had confessed that to others, but here he denied Him three times. Peter did not deny himself and take up his cross and follow Jesus. He was afraid, and he failed. Later, Jesus came to him and asked him three times, if he loved Him. He was gently calling him back. Is God calling you back? He sent the prophets to call Israel back, but when the did not heed the prophets, He sent the curses. If we do not heed His Word, He will have to punish us, too.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Deuteronomy 30-31 and Mark 15:1-25.